Subordinate Groups Research Articles

Reading and Performing The Tempest in a Prison: Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood

This article aims to analyse Margaret Atwood's Hagseed as a rewriting of the educational project orchestrated by Prospero, and as a mirror of the process by which Elizabethan actors created and modified their performance in response to their own and their audiences' needs. Set in a prison and planned as both a rehabilitation for criminals and a vengeance, The Tempest is reenacted and adapted in a collective interpretation to suit the inmates' inner turmoil. Unlike Felix, they cannot leave the prison, but they dream of freedom. Freedom they will find by adapting Shakespeare's characters to their world of imagination and experience. Felix will allow them to find their own way of interpreting the text, which is very different from the attitude Prospero takes throughout The Tempest. In the end, the prisoners involved in adapting Caliban will write a sequel to his story, making him (and themselves) the protagonist and author/s of their own story. Undoubtedly functioning as a metatextual reading of the novel itself in relation to its hypotext, the Pirandellian scene allows us to see how a reader can become an author, and how a subordinate and inarticulate group of people can become confident and self-aware enough to reappropriate their own history. Then the Palimpsest is rewritten, bearing the memory of an educational project, but proposing a new one, more appropriate to our times, with new objectives and new tools.

Reading and Performing The Tempest in a Prison: Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood

This article aims to analyse Margaret Atwood's Hagseed as a rewriting of the educational project orchestrated by Prospero, and as a mirror of the process by which Elizabethan actors created and modified their performance in response to their own and their audiences' needs. Set in a prison and planned as both a rehabilitation for criminals and a vengeance, The Tempest is reenacted and adapted in a collective interpretation to suit the inmates' inner turmoil. Unlike Felix, they cannot leave the prison, but they dream of freedom. Freedom they will find by adapting Shakespeare's characters to their world of imagination and experience. Felix will allow them to find their own way of interpreting the text, which is very different from the attitude Prospero takes throughout The Tempest. In the end, the prisoners involved in adapting Caliban will write a sequel to his story, making him (and themselves) the protagonist and author/s of their own story. Undoubtedly functioning as a metatextual reading of the novel itself in relation to its hypotext, the Pirandellian scene allows us to see how a reader can become an author, and how a subordinate and inarticulate group of people can become confident and self-aware enough to reappropriate their own history. Then the Palimpsest is rewritten, bearing the memory of an educational project, but proposing a new one, more appropriate to our times, with new objectives and new tools.

Hierarchy as a signal of culture and belonging: Exploring why egalitarian ideology predicts aversion to hierarchical organizations

Variation in people's ideological preference for the maintenance of inequality between social groups (i.e., social dominance orientation; SDO) predicts important sociopolitical outcomes, such as endorsement of different social policies, institutions, and belief systems. We argue that SDO may also inform people's engagement with work organizations. Specifically, we propose that SDO may impact attraction to different organizational structures. Across 6 experiments (N = 3034), we find that people with relatively egalitarian values are less attracted to organizations with much (vs. little) managerial hierarchy; this gap in attraction is attenuated for relative anti-egalitarians (Studies 1a-b). These effects are not moderated by whether dominant vs. subordinate group members occupy positions of power in hierarchical arrangements (Study 2a-b) and are driven by signals concerning likelihood of organizational belonging that egalitarians (vs. anti-egalitarians) derive from managerial hierarchy (Studies 3a-b). We discuss implications for social dominance theory and research connecting ideology to organizational attraction.

State of exception, neoliberalism, and militarization of public security in Brazil

Brazil has historically employed a militarized strategy for public security, using violence as a means of social control over subordinate groups and repressing social and labor movements. The involvement of military personnel and state police in justice administration and politics reflects a distortion within the Brazilian state, which the 1988 Federal Constitution did not alleviate. Instead, since re-democratization, militarization has shifted from being an extraordinary measure to becoming the norm, representing an expansion of the state of exception. This trend has culminated in the military’s return to the political scene and the presidency. This article examines the complex relationship between the militarization of public security and the recent trend of radicalization in far-right political positions. The analysis centers on the theoretical debate regarding the relationship between a state of exception and neoliberalism. The research hypothesis posits a convergence between the militarization of politics, a state of exception, and state violence, which collectively impose limits on the rights enshrined in the country’s legal system.

When Group Appeals Backfire: Explaining the Asymmetric Effects of Place-Based Appeals

Abstract Group-based identities are an important basis of political competition. Politicians consciously appeal to specific social groups, and these group-based appeals often improve the evaluation of parties and candidates. Studying place-based appeals, we advance the understanding of this strategy by distinguishing between dominant and subordinate social groups. Using two survey experiments in Germany and England, we show that group appeals improve candidate evaluation among subordinate (rural) voters. By contrast, appeals to the dominant (urban) group trigger a negative reaction. While urban citizens’ weaker local identities and lower place-based resentment partly explain this asymmetry, they mainly dislike group-based appeals because of their antagonistic nature. If the same policies are framed as benefiting urban and rural dwellers alike, candidate evaluation improves. Thus, people on the dominant side of a group divide reject a framing of politics as antagonistically structured by this divide, even if they identify with the dominant group.

Whose Upward Mobility?: Evaluating Intersectional Effects of Gender Quotas

ABSTRACT Existing research shows that gender quotas implemented at the lowest level of government can have positive spillover effects on enhancing women’s representation at higher levels of government where gender quotas are not in place. Yet it is unclear whether this carry-over effect varies for different subgroups of women. I theorise why gender quotas may support the career progression of some women but not others. Analyzing India’s 40 years of state-level election data, I find that more women from privileged groups have run for higher-level political office with exposure to 50% gender quotas implemented at the village level political office. A closer look at the overall institutional context shows that women from traditionally disadvantaged groups benefit in higher-level elections in the presence of electoral quotas for subordinate groups. Had there been no quotas for marginalised groups at the higher level, the upstream effect of exposure to gender quotas would have been skewed toward women from dominant groups. This research contributes to our understanding of sustainable representation through an intersectional lens and emphasizes the importance of carefully designing institutional reforms in achieving political inclusion.

Spatial politics and struggle for hegemony: The role of Komala in the revolutionary movement of Iranian Kurdistan

The question of Kurds in Iran is a political as well as a regional issue. By applying the Gramscian spatial perspective, this paper examines how the socialist movement in Iranian Kurdistan has rethought and reshaped the collective identities of the Kurds through spatially collective mobilization. While “private spaces” were central for Komala as sites of group formation and political underground activities, after the fall of the Shah in 1979, the opening up of public spaces was of crucial importance for Komala to transform from a small organization to a social and influential current. The production and use of the public spaces enabled Komala to establish associational ties among subordinate social groups through strengthening a collective identity and political ideology. For Komala, the territoriality of the Kurdish region has been historically formed by class conflicts and class-relevant social relations in conjunction with the national question (self-determination for Kurdistan), and in relation to a specific spatial location in place, space, and scale.

Effect on Feeding Behaviour and Growing of Being a Dominant or Subordinate Growing Pig and Its Relationship with the Faecal Microbiota.

Pigs are a social species, and they establish hierarchies for better use of resources and to reduce conflicts. However, in pig production, the opportunities for growth can differ between dominant and subordinate animals. In the present study, a system was tested to perform a dominant versus subordinate test in growing pigs to investigate how the hierarchy affects feeding behaviour, growth, and gut microbiota assessed in faeces. Sixty-four animals housed in eight different pens were used, with four castrated males and four females in each one, weighing 18 kg at arrival and maintained during the whole growing period, until 140 kg. Three stool samples were obtained from the animals directly from the anus to avoid contamination of the faeces 58, 100, and 133 days after the start of the study to investigate the microbiota composition. The dominant animals had higher gains during the growing period than the subordinates. In addition, they were performing more visits to the feeder throughout the day. Differential abundance patterns were observed in five bacterial genera, with Oliverpabstia, Peptococcus, and Faecalbacterium being more abundant in dominant animals and Holdemanella and Acetitomaculum being overrepresented in subordinate ones. This microbial biomarker accurately classified dominant versus subordinate groups of samples with an AUC of 0.92.

Psych Unit Gangs: An Autoethnography.

The stigma against people with mental illness is a well-worn subject; however, stigma between groups of people with different mental illnesses is rarely discussed. Within the context of a psychiatric hospital, hierarchies form among patients based on symptomatology and diagnosis. In this perspectives piece, I explore, how, in my experiences with being on the bottom of this hierarchy as a person with a schizophrenia-spectrum psychotic illness in a psychiatric hospital. I, and my fellow "psychotics," were stigmatized and outcasted by other groups of individuals who were diagnosed with mental illnesses that are considered less serious than psychosis. I explore how one stigmatized, outcasted group (people with substance use and mood disorders) construct power relationships over an even more highly stigmatized, marginalized group (people with psychotic disorders). Utilizing Goffmanian and Tajfel theories, the perspective explores stigma within a total institution, and the formation of in-groups and out-groups. I explore how people, upon entering the psychiatric hospital unit, know almost immediately whether they belong to the dominant group or the subordinate group, and I conclude with recommendations to reduce the stigma of psychotic disorders within popular culture.

Education, perceived discrimination, and identity voting: evidence from Brazil’s 2018 election

ABSTRACT Brazil’s electoral arena has long been characterized as devoid of identity politics. Recent analyses, however, have uncovered shifting racial subjectivities and effects of race and gender on electoral preferences. This paper leverages Brazil’s 2018 election to reassess conventional wisdom and test whether recent findings derived from racial groups extend to other subordinate social groups in this context, namely women and sexual minorities. I test two hypotheses: (1) that higher levels of education correlate with greater perceptions of group-based discrimination, and (2) that perceptions of group-based discrimination explain within-group variation in support for Bolsonaro. Analysis of national survey data show that education correlates with group consciousness among subordinate groups, and that these individuals are more likely to oppose the far-right populist candidate. This article provides a more complete understanding of the electoral salience of identity in the Brazilian context, and provides evidence that insights derived from one marginalized group can extend to others.

Social Conflict and Social Change in Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys

Social conflict is a common phenomenon in everyday life. Basically, social conflict occurs because of differences in interests between the two groups. As a result, this triggers the emergence of social change in society. Not only in real life but conflict can also be represented in literary works, such as in the novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. The novel tells about the social conflicts that occurr in black and white US society, especially at the Nickel Academy. Furthermore, this study aims to determine the form and impact of social conflict on social change in the novel. This research is included in literary criticism, which uses the sociology of literature approach by applying Ralf Dahrendorf's conflict theory. The data in this study were taken from the novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, which was published in 2019 by Doubleday, US. Research data were analyzed by identifying, classifying, interpreting, and making conclusions. This research resulted in two findings. First, the social conflict in the novel is represented through several acts of discrimination that occur at Nickel Academy. This social conflict occurred as a result of differences in interests and goals between groups in the social structure there, namely the Nickel Academy staff group, which has the above social structure (superordinate group) and the Nickel Academy student group, which has the lower social structure (subordinate group). Second, the social conflict that occurs in the novel has an impact on social change which is related to the social structure that exists in the Nickel Academy. This change is represented by the removal of the social structure that was there by the US government. Moreover, the researcher suggests future researchers use another approach, such as structuralism, psychology, or others. In addition, they can also use other conflict theories, such as the conflict theory of Karl Marx, Lewis A. Coser, or George Simmel.

Hidden Transcripts of the Powerful: Researching the Arts of Domination

This article develops a submerged aspect of James C Scott’s work on ‘hidden transcripts’. Whereas Scott focused predominantly on the hidden transcripts of the powerless, here we propose a research agenda based upon studying hidden transcripts of the powerful. First, we define our terms. Second, we map existing literature, observing that although plenty of research exists into the public transcripts of dominant and subordinate groups, and that Scott initiated a productive research agenda into the hidden transcripts of powerless groups, research into hidden transcripts of powerful actors is lacking. We identify an assumption within this literature that because existing social institutions are already structured in such a way as to reflect and advance the interests of dominant groups, there is no need for separate spaces to foster the consciousness, cohesivness, and mobilisation of the powerful. Third, we ask how social scientists might study the hidden transcripts of the powerful, and what methodological challenges and opportunities such a research programme might present, identifying in particular the promising avenue of studying what we have chosen to call ‘transcripts hidden in plain sight’. Fourth, and finally, we question the epistemological status of these hidden transcripts, focusing on whether they can be used by social researchers as a reliable indicator of the ‘true’ consciousness of the social group that expresses them.

The protective effect of social support: Can humans reassure pigs during stressful challenges through social learning?

Farm animals can socially learn to trust a human after observing that human handling a familiar conspecific gently, even if they never positively interacted with the human themselves. This study aimed to evaluate whether pigs are reassured by a human during a stressful challenge, having previously acquired a positive perception of the human by witnessing the gentle handling of a high or low socially ranked conspecific. Additionally, the effectiveness of reducing pigs' stress response based on the degree of human familiarity was examined. Seventy-five pigs (21 days old, 5.6 ± 0.2 kg) housed in 15 nursery pens (5 pigs/pen) were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (5 pens/treatment): Dominant Demonstrator Group (DDG), Subordinate Demonstrator Group (SDG), and Control Group (CG). Pigs from DDG and SDG observed a high or low socially ranked conspecific ("demonstrator"), respectively, while the demonstrator received gentle handling consisting of stroking for 10 minutes and a sucrose solution twice a day for 5 weeks. The CG received minimal human contact required for feeding, cleaning, and health examination. Following the treatment period, pig behavior was evaluated in response to a familiar (handlers involved in treatments) or an unfamiliar person (unknown human) in a social support test, consisting of physical restraint in a cage for 3 minutes while the person provided stroking, followed by the release of the animal into a test pen for 1 minute. Data were analyzed using a mixed linear model in R Software. Post-hoc comparisons were conducted using the Tukey test. Both DDG (P = 0.009) and SDG pigs (P = 0.005) showed a greater frequency of behavioral reactions reflecting restlessness when tested with an unfamiliar human compared to a familiar human, whereas CG pigs exhibited no differences (P = 0.74). Moreover, when tested with their familiar human, DDG (P = 0.0001) and SDG pigs (P = 0.001) remained calm for longer compared to CG. When pigs were released from the cage by their familiar human, SDG (P = 0.0006) and DDG pigs (P = 0.001) contacted the human sooner compared to CG. Subordinate demonstrator group (P = 0.0007) and DDG (P < 0.0001) pigs also spent more time investigating the familiar human in comparison to CG. No differences in behavioral reactions based on the demonstrator's social rank were observed. In conclusion, the positive perception of humans acquired by pigs through social learning persists in aversive situations and can lead to positive reassurance by familiar humans during stressful events.

Global Refugee Crisis

This essay explores the often-ignored historical intersections of forced migration and disability. This intersectional approach directs attention to understudied dimensions of how crossing inequalities of race, class, national origin, and ability can shape the experiences of subordinate groups in various ways. Disabled refugees and asylum seekers are the most economically and socially disadvantaged members of society. This displaced population is at heightened risk for abuse, exploitation, and violence. Through the conceptual frameworks of human rights, disability studies, and critical refugee studies, this paper looks the United Nations 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1981 International Year of the Disabled Person and their impact on contemporary policies toward refugees. By analyzing these historical policies, we can gleam insight into ways for improving resettlement policies and practices for disabled refugees in the contemporary moment.

Too Much Hegemony: A Novel Theory of the Unintended Consequences of Dominant Narratives

This article builds on Gramscian conceptualisations of power. It does so by introducing `Hegemonic Excess Theory’ as a tool for understanding political crises. For Antonio Gramsci and his adherents, the political and economic establishment fosters consent and allegiance amongst subordinate classes through the dissemination, inculcation and appropriation of seductive and pacifying ideologies. In this article, I argue that subordinate groups may adopt such ideals too well and to such an extent that it undermines key objectives of the establishment. As such, Hegemonic Excess Theory encapsulates the idea that the leading class’s very success in imparting certain ideals among the population can magnify, become unwieldly, backfire and cause crisis for the political elite. I illustrate this through the 2016 Brexit vote, with a particular focus on how xenophobia and anti-migrant narratives and policy, including from the Remain campaign, played a pivotal role in sections of the electorate voting against the interests of the domestic and transnational establishment’s commitment to the neoliberal enterprise of the EU. While not necessarily insurmountable, this has caused a significant crisis for the ruling class. In the conclusion, I contend that Hegemonic Excess Theory has considerable analytical value in understanding political crises far beyond Brexit. Un excès d’hégémonie : Vers une nouvelle conceptualisation des effets indésirables des discours dominants à travers l’étude de cas du Brexit

Social Conflict and the Evolution of Unequal Conventions

Abstract We propose a theory of social norms (or conventions) that implement substantial levels of inequality between men and women, ethnic groups, and classes and that persist over long periods of time despite being inefficient and not supported by formal institutions. Consistent with historical cases, we extend the standard asymmetric stochastic evolutionary game model to allow subpopulation sizes to differ and idiosyncratic rejection of a status quo convention to be intentional to some degree (rather than purely random as in the standard evolutionary models). In this setting, if idiosyncratic play is sufficiently intentional and the subordinate class is sufficiently large relative to the elite, then risk-dominated conventions that are both more unequal and inefficient relative to alternative conventions will be stochastically stable and may persist for long periods. We show that the same is true in a general bipartite network of the population if most of the subordinate groups interactions are local, while the elite is more “cosmopolitan”. We apply the model to the evolution of wage conventions on the bipartite network of workers and employers, and find that an unequal monopsonistic wage convention is robust to the idiosyncratic play of workers that otherwise might displace it.

Happiness among subaltern groups: Dalits in India and blacks in South Africa

This study has two purposes; the first is to test differences between dominant and subordinate groups in India and South Africa. For India, the comparison is between caste groups: the dominant “forward castes” and the subordinate “non-forward castes”. For South Africa, the comparison is between racial groups: whites as a dominant group and non-Whites (Blacks, Coloured, and Asians) as a subordinate group. The second purpose of the study is to compare happiness levels between India and South Africa with a view to rigorously establishing where happiness is greatest and what its drivers are. These issues are examined using data from the World Values Survey (WVS). Covering in excess of 250,000 respondents drawn from 90 countries, and available for the period 1994–2014, WVS remains the most widely accessible database on well-being. This study establishes that, in general, Indians were happier than South Africans in this period, meaning that the predicted probability of being happy was, on average, higher in India (84.2%) than in South Africa (81.1%). Another important finding was that persons from the dominant groups were more likely to be happy in South Africa than in India but that persons from the subordinate groups were more likely to be happy in India than in South Africa.

An exploratory study of “large‐n” detrital zircon geochronology of the Book Cliffs, UT via rapid (3 s/analysis) U–Pb dating

AbstractDetrital zircon (DZ) U–Pb geochronology has improved the way geologists approach questions of sediment provenance and stratigraphic age. However, there is debate about what constitutes an appropriate sample size (i.e., the number of dates in a DZ sample, n), which depends on project objectives, sample complexity, and, critically, analytical budget. Additionally, there is ongoing concern about bias introduced by zircon grain size. We tested a recently developed rapid (3 s/analysis) data acquisition method by multicollector laser ablation‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) that incorporates an automated selection routine and calculates two‐dimensional grain geometry from polished sample surfaces. Eleven samples were analysed from below and above the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) basal Castlegate unconformity of the Book Cliffs, Utah, in a down‐depositional‐dip transect including Price, Horse, Tusher, and Thompson canyons. 12,448 new concordant dates were generated during two measurement sessions. Results are consistent with recent studies suggesting there is no major provenance change and little time (1–2 Myr) represented across the unconformity. Grain size and sample size both exert a strong control on sample dissimilarity. Age distributions constructed from subsamples of large grains are systematically less similar to whole samples; age distributions composed of small grains are overall more similar to whole samples. As such, North American sediment sources that produce large grains such as the Grenville and Yavapi‐Mazatzal belts can bias age distributions if only large grains are analysed. A sample size of n = 100 is inadequate for characterizing age distributions as complex as those of the Book Cliffs, whereas a sample size of n = 300 provides good characterization. Sample size of n ≈ 1000 or more is unnecessary unless project objectives include scanning for subordinate age groups, such as when identifying the youngest grains for calculating a maximum depositional age (MDA). Dates used in MDA calculations acquired with rapid acquisition are best re‐analysed with longer LA‐ICP‐MS acquisition methods or isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry for increased accuracy and precision. We include new MATLAB code and open‐source software programs, DZpick and DZmda, for automated spot picking and calculating MDAs.

Tactics of Resistance in Zimbabwean Post-2000 Street Theatre Performances

The aim of this article is to set post-2000 street theatre in Zimbabwe apart from earlier post-1980 postcolonial theatre as representing a new radical aesthetic based on “hidden” rather than “public” transcripts and representing new forms of subaltern aesthetic practice of more direct engagement with audiences. This article analyses performance techniques whose effect is to disguise the playing of resistance against Zimbabwe’s authoritarian regime. The article applies a combination of public and hidden transcript theory and post-linear theory, examining how street theatre adopts techniques that produce and disguise resistance, making the performance appear innocuous. The focus is on how post-linear techniques, which reject dominant theatre practice, provide convenient cover for subordinate groups, appearing less confrontational and placing the hidden transcript beyond the reach of the dominant. Through a combination of James C. Scott’s theory and post-linear theories, the article interrogates the use of performance techniques as necessary in rendering the performance innocuous in contexts where authoritarian regimes censor critical and divergent art.

Impact of Mexican Border rift structural inheritance on Laramide rivers of the Tornillo basin, west Texas (USA): Insights from detrital zircon provenance

Abstract Late Cretaceous to Eocene Laramide basement–involved shortening fragmented the Sevier and Mexican foreland basins. This resulted in a major drainage reorganization in response to the emerging topography of Laramide basement–cored uplifts and Mexican inverted Border rift basins. This study presents new depth-profile detrital zircon U-Pb data (3679 ages from 28 samples) from Upper Cretaceous–Eocene fluvial strata of the Tornillo basin in west Texas to determine sedimentary provenance and reconstruct sediment dispersal through the U.S.-Mexico border region. Detrital zircon U-Pb data are dominated by Hauterivian–Coniacian (130–87 Ma; ~20%) and Coniacian–Ypresian (87–52 Ma; ~30%) ages that represent Cordilleran and Laramide arc magmatism, respectively. Subordinate age groups are Paleoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic (1900–1300 Ma; ~12%), Ectasian–Tonian (1300–900 Ma; ~8%), Tonian–Pennsylvanian (900–300 Ma, ~10%); Permian–Triassic (300–200 Ma; ~8%), and Jurassic–Early Cretaceous (200–130 Ma; ~11%). Detrital zircon maximum depositional ages provide new constraints on the chronostratigraphic framework of the Tornillo Group, the stratigraphic nature of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, and the stratigraphic level of the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum. Depth-profile core-rim age pairs yielded Paleoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic and Jurassic cores with Cretaceous–Paleogene rims, which represent zircons derived from Laramide magmatic rocks that intruded Yavapai-Mazatzal basement and Cordilleran-Nazas magmatic rocks. Zircon grains with Ectasian–Tonian cores and Paleozoic rims likely represent Appalachian-derived and/or Coahuila terrane zircons recycled from the inverted Mesozoic Bisbee basin and Chihuahua trough. These results demonstrate that fluvial strata in the Tornillo basin were sourced from Laramide and Cordilleran magmatic rocks, Yavapai-Mazatzal basement, and recycled Mexican Border rift sedimentary rocks in the southwest United States and northern Sonora, and these sediments were delivered via a large (&amp;gt;103-km-long), axial-trunk river. Additional recycled detritus from Mexican Border rift sedimentary rocks in the Chihuahua fold belt was delivered via transverse tributaries. This drainage reconstruction indicates that the Tornillo river flowed along an inversion-flank drainage corridor adjacent to topography formed by the inverted Mexican Border rift. Therefore, inherited Mexican Border rift architecture represented a first-order control on sediment routing to the Tornillo basin.