Society's Response Research Articles

Appreciating contributions more than celebrating resilience: Reflections on the disclosure of substance use in Appalachia.

Disclosure of personal substance use often places people who use drugs (PWUD) at risk, both personally and professionally. Yet disclosure can positively influence governmental and organizational policies as well as improve programs meant to serve PWUD. Through numerous autobiographical conversations, six researchers and professionals in their thirties and forties who live in the Appalachian region of the United States examined what it meant for us to discuss our illicit substance use publicly. We examined the limitations of the term "lived experience" and detailed our non-problematic use. Most of us have, at times, experienced negative consequences of substance use, but these consequences are as tied to society's negative responses to substance use as to use itself. When disclosing use, we have often found that others are keen to portray PWUD as resilient, but are less willing to highlight the contributions of PWUD while they are using. We agree that making disclosure more acceptable as well as acknowledging the positive aspects of drug use would alter societal responses to use to be more effective at preventing harm. We conclude by highlighting societal and institutional policy changes that will increase the ability of PWUD to openly disclose use.

Cultivating society's environmental concern through green advertising: an empirical analysis among Jaipur citizens

The current study examines the society's response toward green advertising through measuring its impact on customers' intent to act for a specific brand associated with environmental concern. The c...

SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE OF WOMEN BEING VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The urgency of the problem of domestic violence is due to the fact that violence against women is one of the most common forms of human rights violations in the world. Every year, almost 70% of women are subjected to various forms of bullying and humiliation, and society's response to accidents of domestic violence is often inadequate and even hostile. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the phenomenology of domestic violence and to experimentally study the socio-psychological condition of women who have been victims of domestic violence. The study has used such diagnostic techniques as ‘Individual-typological ITQ questionnaire’ and ‘Wagner’s Hand-Test (Hand-Test)’. The study has found that women who have been victims of domestic violence can be divided into two groups: ‘weak’ and ‘strong’. Women of the ‘weak’ type are characterized by high anxiety, hypersensitivity to environmental influences, vulnerability, self-doubt, passivity, inertia in decision-making, pessimism, tendency to self-blame, self-criticism, emotional imbalance, tendency to excessive drama in stress situation. Women of the ‘strong’ type are characterized by extraversion, lability, activity, appeal to the external, objective world of things, a tendency to broad social contacts in the absence of a tendency to introspection. According to the results of the study, it is established that women of both groups have a conformal style of interpersonal behavior, which is manifested in self-doubt, excessive focus on generally accepted norms of behavior. Also, in the first group, women have a very pronounced intrapersonal conflict and, in situations of violence, they often have conflicting feelings of the hatred and the guilt. And, in the second group, the women’s reactions of communication and affectation, in a situation of violence, become more mundane. The results of the study have shown the need for training to overcome anxiety and fear of women who have been victims of domestic violence.

The Missing Uterus, the Missed Diagnosis, and the Missing Care. Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser Syndrome in the Lives of Women in Malaysia.

To explore the effect of the diagnosis of Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome on affected Malaysian women. Qualitative study with a quantitative component. Pediatric and adolescent gynecology unit at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Malaysia. Twelve women with MRKH. Face-to-face interview and short questionnaire. Thematic analysis was used to understand participants' experiences. There were 7 themes identified: (1) delayed diagnoses; (2) doctors' roles and attitudes; (3) gender identity; (4) family and society's response; (5) reaction toward infertility; (6) managing sexual intimacy; and (7) coping mechanisms. Several participants consulted their physicians regarding their primary amenorrhea at an opportunistic setting. When they were referred to the gynecologists, they were dismayed at the lack of information given. The term, "MRKH" plays an important role to ease information-seeking. Participants felt that the doctors were insensitive toward them. Mental illness is a significant complication of MRKH. All participants acknowledged that infertility was the hardest part of the condition. The importance of blood lineage affects their outlook on childbearing options. Some were afraid of sexual intimacy and worried that they would not be able to satisfy their partners. Participants gained support and bonded with their counterparts in the MRKH support group. A multidisciplinary approach including medical, psychological, and social support is essential for the management of MRKH. Adequate information and sexual education plays the utmost importance in preventing social-related complications of MRKH.

Supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A tribute to some of the doctors who died from COVID-19

A tribute to some of the doctors who died from COVID-19

Pewarisan Budaya dalam Pengembangan Ekonomi Masyarakat

This study aims to determine the process of cultural inheritance in society. This study also aims to determine the community's response to cultural phenomena and economic developments that are currently happening. The theory used to analyze this research is the theory of cultural inheritance from Hari Poerwanto about the processes and forms of inheritance and the theory from Pierre Bourdieu about habitus, capital, and arenas, which are related to the survival of a community group. This study uses a qualitative method with a descriptive approach in which data is obtained directly from the object of research. This data was collected using techniques: observation, interviews, and literature study. The research results found in Kelurahan Regol, Garut, West Java show that the process of cultural inheritance occurs where the environment in which there is a community group tends to dominate. Culture as the habitus of society has not yet supported the progress of the community's economy because the social capital they have is less able to bet on an increasingly competitive arena. Thus, it causes a weak economic culture related to society's passive response when it collides with cultural phenomena and economic development that is not progressing.

The COVID‐19 pandemic: A learnable moment for conservation

The <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 pandemic: A learnable moment for conservation

The Virocene Epoch: the vulnerability nexus of viruses, capitalism and racism

COVID-19 has ushered in a new planetary epoch—the Virocene. In doing so, it has laid bare the limits of humanity's power over nature, exposing the vulnerability of 'normal' ways of living and their moral and pragmatic bankruptcy in coping with those vulnerabilities. 'Normal' is powerless against the virus and has not worked for a majority of the world's human and non-human population. Whatever new normal humanity fashions depends on the socio-ecological change set in motion by mutations between human and non-human species. The outcomes of society's responses to the pandemic depend on how human agency, as an embodiment of social, ecological, and metaphysical relations, transforms the relations now shaped by capitalism and racism—the two mutually reinforcing processes at the root of the Virocene's social and ecological vulnerabilities. A deeper understanding of vulnerabilities is necessary to avoid recreating a 'new normal' that normalizes the current oppressive and vulnerable social order, while inhibiting our ability to transform the world. At the same time, the sweeping possibilities of alternative ways of organizing humanity's mutual wellbeing and nature lie at our fingertips. The emancipatory political consciousness, rationalities, and strategies inherent in such intuitively sensible and counter-hegemonic approaches, first and foremost, are matters of justice, embodied in the power that shapes human-nature metabolism. The Virocene is thus a battleground for social and ecological justice. To be effective partners in these struggles for justice, political ecology needs a universal perspective of social and ecological justice that functions both as a form of critical inquiry—that is, as a way to understand how social and ecological inequalities and justices arise and function—and as a form of critical praxis—that is, as a way to reclaim and transform capitalism and racism's power in valuing and organizing social and ecological wellbeing.Key Words: Virocene; political economy of health; capitalism; racism, vulnerability, pandemic

Cultivating society’s environmental concern through green advertising: an empirical analysis among Jaipur citizens

The current study examines the society's response toward green advertising through measuring its impact on customers' intent to act for a specific brand associated with environmental concern. The contemporary research enriches the understanding of green advertising and the role of green advertising in the development of consumers' various intent toward environmental fortification. A total of 517 dataset incorporated to examine the consumers' response toward green advertising on the ground of various variables. The hypothesised model delivers the excellent fit of the dataset and results depict that consumer shared the positive intentions toward the green advertising based on the brand image, environment concern, purchase intention, claims credibility and customer relation. This research assignment verifies the role of green advertising as its effect on the consumer in educating the green concerns of the environment.

Citizen Engagement Circumvented: An Analysis of Liquid Waste Information/Knowledge, Control and Environmental Policy Perspectives in Harare, Zimbabwe

Abstract Evidence of the socio-political and economic impacts of liquid waste at the global level is rapidly emerging as an important new field of study in the twenty-first century, as testified by the works of Gandy, Reid, Barnes, Alley and Zimmer on the politics and history of liquid waste. This evidence is increasingly being considered by scholars from multidisciplinary backgrounds (Economic History, Water Engineering, Biology, Geography and Environmental Science), who focus on different types of liquid wastes, wastewater, sewage control and waste management. However, whilst the work on environmental forewarnings by Kwiatkowska and Holland plausibly notes that 'modern environmental consciousness was slow to form', its reflections may be extended to include information and education as a management tool and as a catalyst for speeding up awareness/consciousness levels in the policy formulation and practice processes. This article proffers an economic history analysis of citizen perception to encapsulate major forces on how citizen engagement on liquid waste management - emphasising information and education - was circumvented by influential decision-makers in Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2016. There was a lot of political change and scientific advancement throughout this era. Whilst this is quite a lengthy time, it is used to flag enough about decision making or policy perspectives in liquid waste management. The paper does so by analysing common longitudinal trends, using different methods, to give the 36-year period reasonable treatment. The overall aim of the paper is to use environmental policy and education perspectives on liquid waste control and society's responses (and attitudes) to them to identify and understand the major policy constraints and the environmental impact of liquid waste on Zimbabwean urban society, based on the case study selected of the capital city, Harare.

Towards transforming a system: re-thinking incarceration for youth (and beyond)

Rethinking crime and punishment, especially with regard to youth, is a priority for South Africa; a country with high crime rates, recidivism and an overburdened criminal justice system. The present punitive and retributive system often only exacerbates many underlying causes of crime and violence, especially in young people. The failure of the present system suggests that the time is right for a paradigm shift in society's response to crime and punishment. A challenge to implementing any alternative justice model is to ensure that it does not continue to prop up the under-resourced, overburdened and dysfunctional criminal justice system it seeks to reform. The current systemic crisis demands radical reform, not merely adopting a few well-meaning tweaks to a broken system. This article argues that the system and its various forms (including residential options but with an emphasis on community-owned interventions) need to be both trauma-informed and infused with an ethos of restorative justice. We articulate our explanations with youth as the focus and make proposals in light of this and suggest a path towards implementation.

LIBERAL CREED AND ITS CRITICS

Em 1944, duas obras marcantes da teoria política, A Grande Em 1944, duas obras marcantes da teoria política, A Grande Transformação e O Caminho da Servidão, apresentam visões quase opostas da relação entre o nascimento do “mercado” e os fascismos: no primeiro caso, o mercado provoca o fascismo como reacção de defesa da sociedade, condenada ao pauperismo, contra o credo liberal; no outro, o mercado é a melhor, senão única defesa da liberdade contra o regresso das tendências totalitárias que asfixiam a liberdade, agora sob a forma da planificação. O texto examina os argumentos dos dois autores, procurando elucidar e discutir as concessões de Hayek à intervenção do estado e explicar porque, posteriormente, ele se inclina a abandonar a proposta de uma rede de segurança que defenderia as vítimas das falhas do mercado.

Disaster early warning and damage assessment analysis using social media data and geo-location information

Societies are confronted with destructive natural disasters of increasing frequency. Social networks are playing an increasingly important role as early warning systems, aiding with rapid disaster assessment and post-disaster recovery. There is a need for both the public and disaster-relief agencies to better understand how social media can be utilized to assess and respond to natural disasters. However, existing research on the role of social media in society's response to natural disasters is neither holistic nor systematic. In this study, we conduct a hierarchical multiscale analysis based on multiple data resources, combining social media data, economic losses, and geo-information. We verify the role played by social media before, during, and after a natural disaster. We investigate whether the combination of social media and geo-location information can contribute to a more efficient early warning system and help with disaster assessment. This paper draws attention to the fact that during a disaster, citizens turn to social media and the majority of tweets contain information about the hurricane and/or its impact with negative sentiment. We demonstrate that the severity of damage in one area is positively correlated with the intensity of disaster-related activity. Meanwhile, the coastal areas and areas with close proximity to Hurricane center tend to suffer from higher losses during a disaster. Our findings explore the role played by social media from individuals in affected populations and how they respond to unfolding natural disasters. Results hold significance with regard to providing timely assistance for both official institutions and netizens.

The French Infectious Diseases Society's readiness and response to epidemic or biological risk–the current situation following the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus and Ebola virus disease alerts

ContextIn 2012, the French Infectious Diseases Society (French acronym SPILF) initiated the “Coordination of epidemic and biological risk” (SPILF-COREB - Emergences [SCE]) group to support the readiness and response of healthcare workers (HCWs) to new alerts. ObjectiveTo present the SCE group, its functioning, and the main support it provided for frontline HCWs. MethodsA multidisciplinary group of heads of infectious disease departments from reference hospitals was created to build a network of clinical expertise for care, training, and research in the field of epidemic and biological risk (EBR). The network developed a set of standardized operational procedures (SOPs) to guide interventions to manage EBR-suspect patients. ResultsA working group created the SOP aimed at frontline HCWs taking care of patients. Priority was given to the development of a generic procedure, which was then adapted according to the current alert. Five key steps were identified and hierarchized: detecting, protecting, caring for, alerting, and referring the EBR patient. The interaction between clinicians and those responsible for the protection of the community was crucial. The SOPs validated by the SPILF and its affiliates were disseminated to a wide range of key stakeholders through various media including workshops and the SPILF's website. ConclusionSPILF can easily adapt and timely mobilize the EBR expertise in case of an alert. The present work suggests that sharing and discussing this experience, initiated at the European level, can generate a new collective expertise and needs to be further developed and strengthened.

Cultural dimensions of risk perceptions: A case study on cross-strait driftage pollution in a coastal area of Taiwan

Constant exploitations of the ocean render numerous present challenges as the ocean is linked to human development. The study focused on cross-strait driftage pollution that poses a great threat to coastal environment under climate change. Several hundred packs of herbicides drifting across the Taiwan Strait were discovered along the coastline of Guanyin District of Taiwan. We compared risk perceptions of the local ethnic groups, Hakka and Fulao, residing in a coastal area of Taiwan and exposed to the herbicide coastal incident under climate change. It is of concern that society's response to every dimension of global climate change is mediated by culture. The Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) cause-effect framework was applied in semi-structured interviews to explore coastal sensitivity and human adaptability. As a result, we indicated that despite the presence of two ethnic groups in the same place exposed to the incident they presented very different risk perceptions on both environmental degradation (ED) and adaptive capacity (AC) due to cultural values. We argued that the herbicide coastal incident involved people's risk perceptions and subsequently influenced their opinions and attitudes towards environmental problems. We concluded that the ethnic trait contributed to adaptive behaviors during environmental change. Culturally appropriate adaptations appeared to enhance risk perceptions and adaptation actions, suggesting a need for more rigorous cultural adaptation guidelines towards climate resilience when designing adaptation interventions for different ethnic groups.

Community, identity, orientation: sexuality, gender and rights in ASEAN

ABSTRACTThe Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) escalated its community building project significantly over the last decade, culminating in the launch of a reformed and substantially integrated ASEAN Community at the end of 2015. This article considers what might follow from this newly reformed and rhetorically people-focused version of ASEAN for matters of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE). In claiming to be people-oriented and people-centred, and by developing a regional rights regime, ASEAN opens itself to standards by which it can be measured and held to account. We critically review ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together, and consider civil society's response, focusing on the critique offered by the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, the peak civil society organisation for ASEAN SOGIE matters. We focus on three themes: identity, visibility politics, and rights. We argue that while ASEAN falls short of its own rhetorical standards, these same standards support a politics which keeps rights in contestation, enabling civil society to push for accountability to international standards, and a more democratic politics.

Book Review of Essential Criminology

Book Review of Essential CriminologyEssential Criminology (4th ed), by Mark M. Lanier, Stuart Henry, and Desire J. M. Anastasia, ISBN 9780813348858, Westview Press, November 18, 2014, 422 pages, $52.Those who want to study criminology; they must understand the concept of and the various theories of and criminology. To frame the apt policy for the reduction or to modify the existing policy in accordance with the changing scenario, the policy makers must analyze or frame the policy with the help of these theories. Essential Criminology is one of those books which discuss various important criminological theories. The 4th edition of this book is written by Mark M. Lanier, Stuart Henry along with Desire Janelle-Marilyn Anastasia (previous editions have been written by Mark M. Lanier, Stuart Henry). This book contains 400 pages and 20 chapters. Contemporary issues and developments in criminology and criminal law got addressed in this recent edition.The authors have explained the concept of in legal sense along with sociological context through their detailed analysis of various scholarly observations. They have emphasized the importance of having wider notion about the definition of crime. They explained how has evolved through consensus and conflicts approach. They have elucidated the relationship between and morality. They also pointed out that some acts are considered as because, those acts are declared as by the powerful groups. They also explained that the Sutherland's view of social must be considered as along with the critic's views.The authors have also explained John Hagan's pyramid of (the degree of consensus or agreement about the wrongfulness of an act, severity of society's response in law, relative seriousness of based on the harm it has caused) in a detailed manner; they also identified the limitation of the John Hagan's definition (public awareness about the commission of the crime, number of victims, response of seriousness of the crime-powerless people likely to be convicted). The authors have added one more pyramid and they called this amended pyramid as crime prism. The later pyramid is beneath the earlier one; the former pyramid is about visible crimes and the later one is about invisible crimes especially modern employment/work place crimes.The authors have discussed about various criminological theories and its applicability with contemporary issues and case studies. They have also explained the limitations and criticisms of each theory. While explaining each theory, the authors have given examples from scenario of the United States and preventive measures along with other developed and developing countries scenario, prevention measures and criminal law. They have discussed 2008 economic crisis along with Russia's economic crisis around 1990s (anomie/strain theory), James Eagan Holmes-2012 mass shooting (psychology theory of criminology), Bernie Madoff-classic Ponzi scheme 2008 (social learning theory), three strike and two strike laws in various US states. …

Japanese Society's Response to the ISDS Provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) at the End of the Obama Administration

Japanese Society's Response to the ISDS Provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) at the End of the Obama Administration

Geochemical and flow modelling as tools in monitoring managed aquifer recharge

Due to a growing world population and the effects of anthropogenic climate change, access to clean water is a growing global concern. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a method that can help society's response to this increasing demand for pure water. In MAR, the groundwater resources are replenished and the quality of the recharged surface water is improved through effects such as the removal of organic matter. This removal occurs through mechanisms such as microbial decomposition, which can be monitored by studying the isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Nevertheless, the monitoring can be difficult when there are other factors, like dissolving calcite, affecting the isotopic composition of DIC.The aims of this study were to establish a method for monitoring the decomposition of organic matter (dissolved organic carbon – DOC) in cases where calcite dissolution adds another component to the DIC pool, and to use this method to monitor the beginning and amount of DOC decomposition on a MAR site at Virttaankangas, southwestern Finland. To achieve this, we calculated the mean residence times of infiltrated water in the aquifer and the fractions of this water reaching observation wells. We conducted geochemical modelling, using PHREEQC, to estimate the amount of DOC decomposition and the mineral reactions affecting the quality of the water.