Socio-cultural Power Research Articles

Benefits obtained from cattle by smallholder farmers: a case study of Limpopo Province, South Africa

A survey of livestock production systems was conducted in the Vhembe District, located between 22°85′ latitude and 30°71′ longitude in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The objective of the study was to investigate the benefits obtained from, and key functions of, cattle production, as well as related breeding objectives in smallholder livestock production in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Data were collected by means of a general survey questionnaire and a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercise. The results indicate that almost 60% of farmers own < 10 cattle. Female animals constituted the largest component of the herd (55.02%). Although the bull : cow ratio was extremely high (1 : 3.7), the calving rate was low at 35.60%, with an extremely high herd mortality of 15.70% and a low off-take of 8.70%. In a pairwise ranking, the benefits obtained from cattle by smallholder livestock farmers are as follows: selling and meat consumption (4), wealth, status and savings (3), socio-cultural activities (2) and draught power (1). The ‘cattle complex’, where cattle are kept for prestige and status, is still appropriate, but cattle also make significant contributions in respect to selling and meat consumption, and arable inputs such as draft and fertiliser. It is concluded that benefits obtained from cattle form the basis of decision-making by smallholder cattle owners with respect to livestock production.

La traduction dans la culture multilingue

RésuméLe présent article discute certains concepts clés des Etudes Descriptives de la Traduction (DTS) par le biais de la traduction dans les sociétés multilingues, i.c. des traductions de prose flamande en français dans l’entre-deux-guerres belge. Dans des contextes géopolitiques multilingues, les frontières géolinguistiques entre les cultures ‘source’ et ‘cible’ sont floues de sorte que les traductions, tant comme procès que comme produit, fonctionnent également dans la culture source. Celle-ci codétermine e.a. les stratégies textuelles de traduction et la réception des textes traduits. La notion d’ ‘interculture’ devient fondamentale et les rôles des agents interculturels (auteurs, traducteurs, critiques) sont interchangeables. Toutefois, ‘sources’ et ‘cibles’ survivent dans la perception de ces acteurs : leurs définitions respectives sont fonction de l’intériorisation des structures institutionnelles et discursives et des relations de pouvoir socio-culturelles par ces acteurs ainsi que de leurs (prises de) positions dans les cultures ‘source’ et ‘cible’. Une redéfinition nécessairement plus flexible de ces concepts clés s’impose donc ; elle nécessite une orientation plus sociologique des DTS, dans le sens d’une intégration et d’une élaboration du concept d’habitus dans le modèle.

CONTEXTUALIZING A MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH: AN OVERVIEW OF THE CASE OF IVF

In this article I examine the ways in which the technology of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is embedded in prevailing sociocultural perceptions and power relations in North American and Western European contexts. From this perspective, I look at the efforts involved in developing reproductive technologies and at the particular direction such attempts have taken. I then examine the policies and laws through which IVF is regulated; the technical characteristics of the technology and its implementation; the social implications of IVF for poorer women, women of color, and single and lesbian women; and the media coverage of the subject. Women's responses to IVF and their roles in its shaping are also addressed. I conclude with a reference to the social and cultural repercussions of IVF in the industrialized world. The overview suggests that IVF embodies social continuity while also encapsulating a potential for radical social transformations.

Intersektionalitet - ett användbart begrepp för genusforskningen

This article presents the concept of "intersectionality" and argues for its usefulness for feminist research. The concept is used in recent international feminist debates in order to theorize how gender and other sociocultural power differentials such as ethnicity, race, sexual preference, age and nationality interact in the construction of subjectivity and material conditions of subjects. The first part of the article introduces the concept, a couple of key reference texts and political contexts. It is argued that thinking in terms of intersections between gender and other markers of sociocultural power differences is a much more integrated part of feminist thinking than a first glance at the actual use of the concept "intersectionality" reveils. The argument is based on references to feminist theoretical and political debates around the relationship between gender and class, gender and sexual preference, gender, race and ethnicity, gender and age - and discussions, started in the 1970s and early 1980s. Other related feminist theoretizations, transversalism (Yuval-Davis), nomadism (Braidotti), inappropriate/d otherness (Haraway), are also interpellated in order to sustain the argument that thinking in terms of intersections is an integrated dimension of much feminist thought.
 The second part of the article mobilizes key arguments for the usefulness of intersectionality as a theoretical and political tool in feminism and refers, moreover, to possible problems. Six principles are articulated on which feminist intersectionality analysis, according to the author, should be based. The main argument in favour of feminist intersectionality analysis is that this approach makes it possible to speakabout differencesand diversity in political collectives, as for exemple, women's movements, and to take into account different positionalities, without creating a slippery slope towards a discursive situation, where gendered power differentials can be "legitimately" ignored in favour of an exclusive focus on other diversity markers.

Sexual assault and other types of sexual harassment by workplace personnel: a comparison of antecedents and consequences.

Although sexual assault by workplace personnel is widely viewed as a type of sexual harassment, little is known about whether these overlapping constructs may possess some unique characteristics. This article compares the theoretical antecedents and consequences of sexual assault by workplace personnel and other types of sexual harassment among 22,372 women employed in the U.S. military. Path analysis revealed that low sociocultural and organizational power are associated with an increased likelihood of both types of victimization. Organizational climate and job gender context are directly associated with sexual harassment but are only indirectly associated with sexual assault by workplace personnel. Both types of victimization are associated with a variety of negative outcomes, but the pattern of negative consequences differs.

Disentangling the Power Bases of Sexual Harassment: Comparing Gender, Age, and Position Power

To better understand the effects of organizational and sociocultural power on decisions in a sexual harassment case, harasser gender (male/female), position power (supervisor, subordinate, and coworker), harasser age (older/younger), and target age (older/younger) were manipulated. Participants read a sexual harassment case and rated their verdicts, perceived unwelcomeness of the behavior, and the organization's responsibility. Subordinate-to-supervisor cases were rated more harshly than coworker cases. Behavior by older males and younger females was perceived as more welcome. Female mock jurors rated the organization as more responsible than did males, but males and females did not differ on verdict or unwelcomeness ratings. Findings for harasser gender were inconsistent. Results suggest more support for a role-discrepant model of sexual harassment (Pryor, 1985) than either the organizational or sociocultural model.

Core symbols in south african intercultural friendships

Focus group discussions among Afrikaner, British, Coloured, Asian and Black groups in South Africa were held in which respondents discussed intercultural friendships. Groups were asked to suggest core characteristics for friendships, to describe instances in which they managed cultural differences, to describe rule violations which would necessitate the termination of the friendship, and to make recommendations for appropriate and satisfying friendship conduct to persons from different cultural groups. Afrikaner discourse about intercultural friendship centered upon themes of Pride in Cultural Identity and Decorum, British themes were Individualism and a Future Orientation the themes for Coloured respondents were Flexibility and Relationship Orientation, Asian themes were Responsibility for Actions and Openness, while Black themes were Honor, and Compassion. The core symbols were interpreted in the political and social context of transition in 1992. A positive relationship between level of sociocultural power in South Africa and the intensity and salience of the ethnic identity emerged in that groups with greater sociocultural power expressed the most negative ascriptions about members of other groups, as well as expressed preferences for their own group or individual norms for the intercultural friendship. While dialectic tensions in group and individual orientations were evident in the discourse of friends from all groups, group members with higher sociocultural power criticized Blacks as looking too much toward the past instead of the future.