Socio-political Backgrounds Research Articles

A comparison of gender role portrayals in magazine advertising

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to try to determine to what extent differences and similarities in sociopolitical, cultural and economic backgrounds are reflected in gender role portrayals in magazine advertisements in the USA, China and Thailand.Design/methodology/approachContent analysis is used. Five different magazine categories are selected from the USA, China and Thailand in 2007: news and general interest; sports; entertainment; women's and business. The coding system employed is modified from Courtney and Lockeretz.FindingsOverall, the paper finds that advertisers in Thailand, China and America shared some gender stereotyping. In addition, Chinese and Thai magazine advertisements show more gender stereotyping, while US advertisements show more egalitarian representations. These findings are consistent with their respective culture backgrounds.Research limitations/implicationsThe use of content analysis is limited because it is mainly descriptive in nature and adequate causal explanations cannot be established. Besides, this research is cross‐sectional and the changes in gender role portrayals in cultures over time cannot be sufficiently captured.Practical implicationsThe paper's observations support the hypotheses that the sociopolitical, cultural and economic differences of the three countries lead to different gender role attitudes in each society, and these different attitudes need to be considered by international advertisers. The paper also suggests that international advertisers should carefully consider the use of gender role stereotypes in their creative design, for the benefit both of the advertisers and the society.Originality/valueNo similar studies have been conducted on Thai advertisements and the most recent study in China was in 1997. It is also worthwhile to examine gender role portrayals in advertisements from three countries with unique sociopolitical backgrounds: the capitalistic USA (with Judeo‐Christian values), socialist China (with weak Confucian values) and capitalistic Thailand (with strong Confucian values).

Indigenous Footprints on Health Curriculum

Abstract There are numerous aspects to becoming an effective, culturally competent health practitioner, among these is the need to “become knowledgeable about the historical and sociopolitical backgrounds of clients” (Bemak et al., 2003, p. 26). It has been established that culturally sensitive empathy has the potential to contribute greatly to the healing process when working across cultures. It is therefore essential for an effective and productive client-healer relationship. Indeed it is said that “empathy bridges the gap” between practitioner and client (David & Erickson, 1990). This paper explores a model to develop cultural competence within health related courses.

Recent life events and suicide: A case-control study in Tallinn and Frankfurt

The purpose of this study was to analyze the differences in the disposition and frequency of recent life events preceding suicide in two cities with different socio-political backgrounds: Tallinn in Estonia and Frankfurt/Main in Germany. The information about 156 suicidents in Tallinn and 163 suicidents in Frankfurt was compiled using the psychological autopsy technique [Shneidman, E. S. (1981). The psychological autopsy. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 11, 325–340; Jacobs, D., & Klein-Benheim, M. (1995). The psychological autopsy: A useful tool for determining proximate causation in suicide cases. Bulletin of American Academy of Psychiatry Law, 23(2), 165–182]. General population controls were matched by age and sex. The occurrence of recent life events was similar among suicidents in Tallinn (81%) and Frankfurt (77%). However, in both sites only male suicides had higher risk of occurrence of any life event than controls (Tallinn: OR′=1.9; 95% CI=1.1–3.7; Frankfurt: OR′=2.0; 95% CI=1.0–4.1) and the mean number of life events was significantly higher among male suicidents in Tallinn in comparison with controls. This may indicate that males are more sensitive to the rapid changes in a society undergoing transition. It seems that it is not the number of life events, but rather their meaning and disposition that creates the risk of suicide. Family discord (weighted OR=4.5; 95% CI=2.5–8.1), loss of job (weighted OR=2.6; 95% CI=1.0–6.4) and financial deterioration (weighted OR=2.2; 95% CI=1.3–3.8) were more prevalent among suicides in Tallinn in comparison with those in Frankfurt. The most significant differences between suicides and controls were family discord, separation and loss of job in Tallinn and somatic illness in Frankfurt. These differences between the two societies, post-Soviet Estonia and Germany, could be explained by the different positions of Estonia and Germany on the survival/self-expression dimensions recorded by the World Value Survey. People in Estonia tend to emphasize economic and physical security above all other goals, and feel threatened by the changes taking place in society. In Germany, good health is considered a necessity for a consumer and self-expressive style of life, and poor health is perceived as a serious threat to the quality of life in a post-materialistic value system.

WHAT EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES ARE CONSIDERED IMPORTANT BY PRESCHOOL TEACHERS IN HELSINKI AND TALLINN?

Introduction The role of preschool education and its influence on a child's ability to cope at school is considered important in many countries. Questions related to children's school readiness have become especially topical in the Nordic countries where compulsory school education begins later compared to many other countries. In some Nordic countries (Iceland, Norway) compulsory school education begins at age six, whereas in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia children go to school at age seven. The aim of the present article is to compare the views of teachers living in Estonia and Finland, countries that have similar cultural space but different socio-political backgrounds, about the teaching and development of a child going to school. The comparison is based on the principles of child-centred pedagogy. The authors of the present article view school readiness as a consistent process, taking place in the preschool period, which continues uninterruptedly in the context of school. Proceeding from this, it is extremely important for a kindergarten as well as a primary school teacher to become aware of the objectives of preschool education and the ways of achieving them. The term preschool training in the present context means education given a year before the beginning of compulsory school education. There is no uniform understanding of school readiness and the methods of testing it. Shepard & Graue (1993:304) have noted that tests should not be applied to forbid a child entrance to school, to leave a child in kindergarten for a longer period or to send the child to a special class for risk-group children which has been separated from mainstream classes. The studies on testing school readiness by Shepard & Graue demonstrate that there exists a conceptual confusion while defining children in need of special training and those at risk because of their living environment. The various tests used do not allow differentiation because of their ambiguous objectives. Parents, teachers and educational administrators may give different content to the 'readiness' and look at it from different perspectives. Different visions of school readiness may give rise to different courses of action, which mainly complicate the situation of the children who belong to the so-called risk group and need special measures to support their learning. Postponing the beginning of school is no longer considered the main way of achieving school readiness. Measuring school readiness helps class teachers to compile individual programmes for children based on their results, which will help to prevent further academic problems. At the same time, the results of the tests do not allow adequate assessment of the real school readiness of a child or whether the child is in fact ready to go to school. In both Estonia and Finland the most essential requirements for the qualification of kindergarten teachers, teacher training and educational activity at kindergartens have been taken under state supervision and regulation. The article gives an overview of the general pedagogical basis of the study, of state regulations and objectives related to preschool education, and the methods of research, as well as presenting a comparative analysis of research data. Theoretical background The objectives of preschool training include teachers' views of the ways children learn and of educational theories. The theoretical basis of the present article relies on the principles of child-centred pedagogy where compiling the curriculum and planning the activities proceed from the child and his/her character traits. Child-centred education has a long tradition (Hytonen 2001, Hytonen 2002), which relies on respecting individuality and the idea of the equality of individuals: each child is considered good the way he/she is. Learning is viewed as an active process where cooperation with and learning from each other has an important role. …

Providing mental health services to Arab Americans: recommendations and considerations.

Arab Americans are an extremely heterogeneous and frequently misunderstood group whose unique characteristics and cultural heritage have received little attention in the mental health literature. To effectively address the needs of Arab Americans, mental health professionals need to be aware of their own biases and misperceptions regarding Arab Americans, have an accurate understanding of Arab cultural and sociopolitical backgrounds, and be able to identify culturally appropriate interventions for use with Arab American clients. This article reviews common stereotyped beliefs many Americans have about Arab Americans and the negative impact these stereotypes can have on the development of a positive Arab American ethnic identity. It also provides detailed information about the cultural and sociopolitical experiences of Arab Americans and offers specific recommendations for providing culturally relevant mental health services to Arab American clients.

Quirípas and Mostacillas: The Evolution of Shell Beads as a Medium of Exchange in Northern South America

This article examines the evolution of quirípa, a primitive valuable from the Orinoco Basin, from a world-systems perspective. This process must be understood as a result of the economic and symbolic uses given to beads by different social actors based on their ethnic and sociopolitical backgrounds through time. The history of this primitive valuable illustrates how some aboriginal economic institutions evolved as a result of exchange among Amerindian and European economies and societies, not merely as the product of the imposition of Western economic rationality.

Diskursus Intelektual tentang Civil Society di Indonesia

It is widely believed that the Democratization movements In Chekoslovakia, Poland, East Germany and Russia, have inspired a lot of Indonesian prodemocratic activists who are today still searching for a new paradigm of political movements through the consept of civil society. However, the Indonesian Intellectual society is still arguing about the consept; some experts view it from the perspective of Hegelian and Gramscian, some others perceive it from that Tocquevellian. Never theless, it should be noted that the consept relates to the historical and socio-political backgrounds of Indonesia in order to be more helpful for civil society formation.