Contesting racism: how do the black middle-class use cultural consumption for anti-racism?

ABSTRACT

Drawing on interviews with thirty-two black British professionals, and ethnographic work in middle-class cultural spaces across London, this paper asks ‘How do the black middle-class use cultural consumption for anti-racism?’ I argue that the black middle-class contest the racial hierarchy at three levels through their cultural consumption: the material, the ideological, and the symbolic. At the material level, black middle-class people consume cultural forms they decode as ‘white’ in order to establish an equity with whites in levels of cultural capital. At the ideological level, black middle-class people consume cultural forms that uplift meanings and representations of blackness, thus challenging controlling images of blackness. Lastly, at the symbolic level, black middle-class folks create and sustain cultural spaces where black people’s cultural and symbolic knowledge is given proper recognition and authority.     

Making Space at the Nations' Table: Mapping the transformative geographies of the international indigenous peoples' movement

Social movement scholarship has focused increasingly upon the roles played by symbolic resources and movement discourses in the process of social transformation. Current socio-political approaches, often characterized by an excessive focus on movement structure to the exclusion of larger cultural considerations, still struggle to address adequately the process of transmutation from idea to form, from symbolic shift to material change. Through an examination of the international indigenous peoples' movement, this article illustrates the ways that space constitutes a mediating dimension of the transformative processes through which the symbolic potential of movement discourses may be manifested. The alternative spatialities and new geographies generated, deployed and legitimized by this movement have provided critical locations for indigenous peoples to enact the creative work of mobilization. It is argued that incorporating the work of critical geographers into existing sociological and political perspectives will contribute to the better apprehension of these transformative processes as well as those associated with the particularly spatialized phenomena related to globalization, development, nationalism and geopolitics.     

Young people and the gendered and aesthetic dimensions of ‘enterprise’: stories from a ‘Rust Belt’ city

ABSTRACT

In the ‘Rust Belt’ city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia, discourses of young people’s enterprise and innovation provide a counter-narrative to the prevailing material and symbolic consequences of industrial decline, job losses, and the growing insecurity of employment and income. GT Magazine is a weekly, large circulation magazine in Geelong with a significant focus on the activities and aspirations of enterprising young people. In this paper, we examine, by utilising techniques of content analysis and discourse analysis, the particular ways in which young people’s innovation and enterprise are framed and enacted in GT Magazine. Our analysis reveals that ‘youth’ and ‘enterprise’ are, in GT Magazine, given an embodied form that is powerfully marked by aestheticised, normalised enactments of gender, class and race. In doing this work, we make productive contributions to three key themes in contemporary youth studies: new work orders and the youthful self as enterprise; the gendered and aesthetic dimensions of affective labour in these new work orders; and the emerging spatial turn to examine young people's embodied, place-based experiences of employment and enterprise. We seek to make problematic the sense that solutions to multiple disruptions and crises in capitalism and the environment are to be found in young people’s enterprise. Particularly when that enterprise is given form in ways that are aestheticised, gendered, classed, individualised and responsibilised.     

General symbolic definitions and subjective well‐being

In recent years evidence has suggested that demographic factors such as income and status have only a modest relationship to subjective well‐being. As a result, much attention has been paid to internal rather than external factors. Discrepancy perceptions approaches, particularly multiple discrepancy theory, link internal subjective factors with external conditions in explaining subjective well‐being. This study suggests that discrepancy perceptions are only one way people differ in defining reality, and that symbolic interaction theory provides a broader and better framework with which to examine subjective well‐being. Specifically, using the General Social Survey, this study tests whether differing general symbolic definitions have an independent influence on subjective well‐being. Results indicate that general symbolic definitions influence subjective well‐being, and this influence does not depend on their conditioning discrepancy perceptions or demographic life conditions.     

Prayer and Charitable Behavior

Abstract

I propose a theoretical framework to understand how prayer influences charitable volunteering and financial giving. Drawing on work from symbolic interaction and cognitive psychology, I argue that individuals’ concepts of divine others become more cognitively accessible during the act of prayer. Because most people attribute the characteristics of omniscience and the desire for humans to help others to divine others, people are more likely to help known and unknown others the more cognitively accessible divine other concepts are to them. This lead to the prediction that frequency of prayer will be positively and linearly association with the frequency of volunteering, frequency of giving money to charity, and amount of money given to charity in a year. Using data from the General Social Survey, I find evidence for my argument. Frequency of prayer is positively and linearly associated with these charitable behaviors, even after controlling for other religiosity and sociodemographic variables.     

Integrating Pharmacotherapy and Psychosocial Interventions in the Treatment of Individuals with Alcohol Problems

Abstract

Both research and clinical experiences suggest that there are separate and overlapping benefits of medications and psychosocial treatments for alcohol problems. Evidence has shown that medication(s) combined with a moderate intensity psychosocial therapy can produce outcomes beyond what each of these approaches can produce alone. Taking medication can be helpful in facilitating longer periods of abstinence that in turn affords practitioners a greater opportunity to enhance patients' individual and social coping resources and to increase their motivation to change. Combining effective pharmacological and psychosocial interventions may provide the impetus to integrate alcoholism treatment into the general health care delivery system, thereby helping to increase the accessibility of care and well-being for individuals seeking or needing help with alcohol problems.     

Spanish migrants to European Union countries: predictors of psychological adjustment / Españoles que emigran a países de la Unión Europea: predictores de su ajuste psicológico

In recent years, the migration of Spanish people to other countries in Europe has increased; however, there are hardly any studies on this phenomenon. The aim of this study is to identify the predictive sociodemographic and psychosocial factors of psychological adjustment (life satisfaction and absence of internalizing symptoms) of emigrants and to determine the indirect effects of these factors through perceived stress. This study also seeks to examine whether the psychological adjustment of Spanish emigrants was similar to Spanish non-emigrants. The sample was made up of a group of Spanish emigrants to Germany and England (n = 858) and an equivalent control group of Spanish non-emigrants (n = 328). The results show that fulfilment of expectations, emotional support and job quality are the best predictors of perceived stress and psychological adjustment. These factors are confirmed to have indirect effects on psychological adjustment through perceived stress. Finally, the mental health of emigrants and non-emigrants was similar, and the implications of these findings are discussed.     

Understanding stress as an impediment to academic performance

Abstract

Objectives: Stress is the most commonly reported impediment to academic performance among college students. The objectives of this study were to examine the accuracy of these perceptions, identify demographic and psychosocial factors that distinguished among students who differed in perceptions of how stress affected their performance, and assess the relations between these factors and grade point average (GPA). Participants: Undergraduate students (N?=?8,997) from 20 Midwestern schools. Methods: Participants completed online surveys during February–March 2015 that assessed perceived impediments to academic performance, cumulative GPA, demographic information, and psychosocial factors. Results: Students who reported that stress affected their performance had lower GPAs, and reported more stress and lower coping self-efficacy, resilience, and social support. Male, heterosexual, and ethnic-minority students were less likely to report having stress (but did not have higher GPAs). Conclusion: Stress reduction interventions should target psychosocial factors related to perceiving stress as an impediment and to poorer performance.     

Relationship-based thinking and practice in social work

Abstract

Relationships with the users of social work are increasingly seen in procedural, legal and administrative terms. However, research studies examining both client satisfaction and intervention effectiveness regularly find that the psychosocial qualities of the worker-client relationship are a major component in the success or otherwise of the service offered. The case is made that the psychological selves of both practitioners and users acquire many of their characteristics, including personality, esteem, efficacy and defensive behaviours, within relationships throughout the lifespan. The level of social understanding and social competence that people develop depends on the quality of their relationship history. If poor relationships are where psychosocial competences go awry, then good relationships are where they are likely to recover. This observation has major implications for the quality, character and skill of the relationship experiences offered to clients by social workers     

Introduction: Mobilities and Enclosures at Borders

Our central agenda is to rethink the concept of movement in anthropology and other social sciences. We do this through two themes-mobilities and enclosures-both of which draw our attention to power and its diverse outcomes, especially at borders. Enclosure addresses processes that delimit and restrict the movement of specific goods, people, and ideas, while mobilities concern processes that enable and induce such movements. Consideration of these themes breaks with theoretical tendencies that celebrate unbounded movement, and instead focuses us on the political-economic processes by which people, nature, commodities, and knowledge are bounded, emplaced, and allowed or forced to move. Mobilities and enclosures are plural, favoring close-grained ethnographic studies. They involve unequal rights and powers, demanding precision about the political implications of movements of various sorts. This introduction situates these themes in recent border studies and social theory more generally and summarizes how the authors in this special issue advance scholarship on these matters.     

Boundaries are Made to be Crossed: The Magic and Politics of the Long-lasting Amazon/Andes Divide

The construction of Amazonia as a distinct entity, opposed to the Andes, results from processes associated with the expansion of Andean-centered state formations. Analysis of five short texts on the Amazon region, written in colonial and postcolonial Peru by a diversity of social actors, reveals a pervasive rhetoric of alterity whose content varies according to the particular objectives the authors had in mind. In all cases, however, the aim is the same, namely the imposition of boundaries of differentiation as justification for state integration, expressed in the commodification and symbolic consumption of the Amazonian Other. If the politics of boundary making consist in "peripheralizing" and "othering" the Amazon and its people, the magic of boundary making resides in the discursive sleight of hand through which contemporary agents conceal the fact that the Amazon has long ago been incorporated into the nation-state.     

Making Sense of a Transnational Merger: Media Texts and the (Re)construction of Power Relations

In this study of symbolic power relations in a transnational merger, we suggest that the popular media can provide a significant arena for (re)constructing national identities and power in this kind of dramatic industrial restructuring, and are an under-utilized source of empirical data in research studies. Focusing on the press coverage of a recent Swedish-Finnish merger, we specify and illustrate a particular feature of discursive (re)construction of asymmetric power relations; superior (Swedish) and inferior (Finnish) national identities, which, we argue, are embedded in the history of colonization and domination between the two nations. The findings of the present study lead us to suggest that a lens taken from post-colonial theory is particularly useful in understanding the wider symbolic power implications of international industrial restructuring.     

Relationships Between Psychosocial Risks and Stress in Homeless Children

Homeless children are typically exposed to the worst environmental conditions associated with poverty. Despite recent attention to psychosocial risks associated with homelessness, limited attention has been paid to stress-related symptoms in homeless children. Better understanding of homeless children's experience of stress could point the way toward improvement of services for them. The purpose of the present exploratory study was to assess associations between child psychosocial risk factors and emotional and behavioral symptoms of stress in homeless children. Twenty-two homeless mothers of 29 children between the ages of 2 and 10 were surveyed about known psychosocial risks for homeless children and completed the Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale (PEDS), a 17-item measure of stress-related symptoms in children. Findings suggest that the stress-related symptoms of these children are related to the cumulative effects of environmental risk factors. The PEDS appears to be a sensitive measure of stress in children, and its brevity provides an advantage in assessments in high-stress situations. More developmental work with low-SES samples, however, is recommended.     

Relationships Between Psychosocial Risks and Stress in Homeless Children

Homeless children are typically exposed to the worst environmental conditions associated with poverty. Despite recent attention to psychosocial risks associated with homelessness, limited attention has been paid to stress-related symptoms in homeless children. Better understanding of homeless children’s experience of stress could point the way toward improvement of services for them. The purpose of the present exploratory study was to assess associations between child psychosocial riskfactors and emotional and behavioral symptoms of stress in homeless children, Twenty-two homeless nlothers of 29 children between the ages of 2 and 10 were surveyed about known psychosocial risks for homeless children and completed the Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale (PEDS), a 17-item measure of stress-related symptoms in children. Findings suggest that the stress-related symptoms of these children are related to the cumulative effects of environmental risk factors. The PEDS appears to be a sensitive measure of stress in children, and its brevity provides an advantage in assessments in high-stress situations. More developmental work with low-SES samples, however, is recommended.     

An Empirical Investigation of the Envelope Theory

Abstract

The Envelope Theory stipulates that, if perceived and expended energy levels are kept relatively at the same levels, people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) will slowly gain strength and energy. Based on this theory, an intervention was developed that provided feedback to participants with CFS about discrepancies in perceived versus expended energy levels. As part of this intervention, a buddy was provided to help with household tasks in order to reduce excessive energy expenditures. Post-test results revealed a decrease in participants' fatigue severity ratings, and positive changes were recorded for five CFS somatic symptoms. Participants also reported increases in optimism regarding recovery, positive re-interpretation and growth, and information seeking behavior. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Measuring Success in Intentional Communities: A Critical Evaluation of Commitment and Longevity Theories

Abstract

Intentional Communities (ICs) are groups of people that form for a specific agreed-upon purpose and live in close proximity to achieve their desired end. The prevailing scholarship in the study of these communities is that communal processes of commitment, as well as ethnic and linguistic homogeneity, play a strong role in determining a community's success when defined as how long-lived a community was. However, most of these conclusions are based in historical research on communities that no longer exist. In this article, we use survey data collected from present-day ICs to find that those assumptions do not necessarily hold true, and we propose a definition of success that incorporates how well communities report satisfaction fulfilling their intentions. By testing a sample of living ICs, we find that the community decision-making structure is more important than any other factor in determining whether communities reports progress toward this metric of success.     

Psychosocial distress,physical illness,and social behaviour of close relatives to people with substance use disorders

ABSTRACT

This study explores how a family member with substance use disorder (SUD) affects the psychosocial, behavioral, and physical states of other family members. Sixteen in-depth interviews with relatives of Icelandic individuals afflicted with SUD were performed. The interviewees were selected from a pool of Icelandic families whose members included one or more chronic SUD users. They represented different relations to the user (spouses, parents, children, and siblings) and both genders. All participants except for siblings expressed that SUD had negatively affected their mental health by inducing depression, anxiety, and stress-related physical illness. All had experienced physical violence, mental abuse and financial loss. Parents indicated that the SUD of the family member had isolating psychosocial impacts on their children and caused a loss of connection among their family members. All participants, except the siblings, regarded their workplace as a shelter. The study’s findings can help social professionals to better understand the effects of SUD on families, family systems, and public health in general.     

"They're Worse Off Than Us"- The Social Construction of European Space and Boundaries in the German/Polish Twin-City Guben-Gubin

In the context of globalization and European integration, the interplay between social boundaries and territorially defined political borders becomes more complex in that they become increasingly delinked. In some regional settings, this might imply that while the political border is softened, the socio-cultural closure between the border communities becomes even tighter. This article investigates this issue in relation to the German-Polish border region. Looking at the German-Polish twin-city, Guben-Gubin, the first section describes the ways in which cultural closure materializes. Emphasis is given to the link between cultural closure and an increasing alienation of local people from the Europeanized symbolic cross-border politics pursued by the local and regional political elite(s). The second section, however, argues that the "cultural closure" thesis is perhaps too simplistic to grasp the complexity of cross-border interaction of local people. Investigating the cross-border strategies of three milieux, the article concludes that what can be found in a setting like Guben-Gubin is in fact a complex configuration of openings and closures at various spatial and symbolic levels, sometimes taking place simultaneously in one and the same milieu.     

Signal crimes and signal disorders: notes on deviance as communicative action

In this paper a 'signal crimes' perspective is outlined in an effort to unpack the relationships between experiences of crime and disorder, and perceptions of criminogenic risk. Grounded in symbolic interactionist sociology, and developing a social semiotic understanding of risk perception, it is a perspective that focuses upon processes of social reaction and the ways in which people interpret and define threats to their security. It is proposed that people interpret the occurrence of certain incidents as 'warning signals' about the levels of risk to which they are either actually or potentially exposed. These signals tend to take the form of signal crimes and/or signal disorders and are important in terms of how social space is symbolically constructed.     

Chapter 2 Environmental Support to Assist an Older Adult with Independent Living

Abstract

With aging, people experience decrements in the areas of sensory, neuromuscular, cognitive, and psychosocial function. In thispa-per, anoccupational therapistexplainsage-related decrementsin termsof their effect on wellness or function. Then, function is matched with suggestionsforenvironmentalmodificationsandaccommodationsthatfa-cilitate the occupational therapy objectives of safety and activity. The overall goal is to enable a senior's independent function with the help of hishome.