Goodbye to the golden cage: Transformations in gender norms and family morality for working‐class women in occupations considered masculine in Mexico

This article seeks to contribute to the debate, within the feminist sociological theory and gender studies, about the possibility of ‘undoing gender’ in different social fields, mainly family relations. It is based on the premise that as women's objective dependency in the social structure decreases, the unstable character of what Bourdieu called ‘submissive dispositions’ becomes visible, and that women act reflectively, both to adapt to the challenges posed by their participation in different social fields and to gain personal liberties. The results of qualitative research, based on discussion groups and narrative interviews in which 109 women in working‐class sectors in Mexico City participated, are presented. Conflicts around breadwinning, housework distribution and personal liberties demonstrate a displacement of gender norms, parallel to efforts to maintain certain assurances regarding the traditional family model within the context of economic precariousness.     

On sufficient conditions for the comparison of some quantile-based measures

In this article, we focus on characterizations and sufficient conditions for the comparison of some quantile-based measures. Mainly we focus on crossing conditions and changes of monotonicity of the quantile functions. The results are given for the comparison of the tail value at risk, total time on test, and the expected proportional shortfall measures.     

Do all roads lead to Rome? Effect of educational trajectories on educational transitions

“Non-traditional” educational trajectories are increasingly common among American students. This study assesses the implications of this phenomenon for inequality in educational attainment. A proper account of educational trajectories requires simultaneous consideration of qualitatively different types of destinations within educational transitions, of the timing at which different transitions occur, and of the sequence of events within educational levels. To examine “traditional” and “non-traditional” pathways through post-secondary education, this study relies on detailed educational histories from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979–2002. Findings reveal that deviations from a traditional trajectory are widespread, are more frequent among students who enrolled in less selective colleges, and also among socioeconomically and academically disadvantaged students. Results show that following a “non-traditional” pathway reduces students’ chances to enroll in college and to complete a post-secondary degree. In the case of bachelor's degree completion, most of the observed gap among students from different socioeconomic backgrounds is accounted for the different trajectories students follow. This study demonstrates that a fine-grained analysis of students’ trajectories improves our understanding of the persistent socioeconomic disparities in educational attainment.     

Reflections on the concept of interculturality in the current educational debate in Argentina

In this paper, we analyze the relevance of intercultural education within contemporary educational debates in Argentina. First, we will review Argentinean legislation. Then, we will discuss the core characteristics of the Argentine educational system in order to study the historical incorporation of indigenous people into the school system. Later, we will explore concrete legislation regarding intercultural education, emphasizing the potential of such legislation as well the limitations. Finally, we will present how our findings connect to the main discussions in the field of anthropology and education.     

Comfort model for automobile seat

Comfort on automobile seats is lived daily by thousands of drivers. Epistemologically, comfort can be understood under the theory of complexity, since it emerges from a chain of interrelationships between man and several elements of the system. This interaction process can engender extreme comfort associated to the feeling of pleasure and wellbeing or, on the other hand, lead to discomfort, normally followed by pain. This article has for purpose the development of a theoretical model that favours the comfort feature on automobile seats through the identification of its facets and indicators. For such, a theoretical study is resorted to, allowing the mapping of elements that constitute the model. The results present a comfort model on automobile seats that contemplates the (physical, psychological, object, context and environment) facets. This model is expected to contribute with the automobile industry for the development of improvements of the ergonomic project of seats to increase the comfort noticed by the users.     

Cognitive and organizational ergonomics in the transition of the new integrated center of control of an oil refinery: human reliability and administration of changes

The conception of a product is closely tied to its adaptation level to the users. In this view, designers are increasingly oriented to survey the needs and features of the users. This paper aims at developing a diagnosis of employees working in high-complexity activities in a petrochemical company, in light of the physical and operating changes in the Integrated Center of Control; assessing the reception sensibility to changes; assessing the cognitive pattern of the group; and making suggestions that might eliminate or minimize the difficulties in the transition process of the change, in order to reduce the adaptation period. The field of study comprised 111 production, transfer and storage operators, forming 5 groups of desktop activities. The stages of the study followed the following flow: survey of the prescribed tasks and organizational structure; Concentrated Attention test; application of the Work and Disease Risks Inventory (ITRA, Portuguese acronym); and structured psychological interview. The ITRA results pointed to a serious cognitive cost (3.83) for all five groups, this being the largest intervention focus. The items: division of task contents (3.52), social professional relationships (2.93), quality of the physical environment (2.91), physical cost (3.24), emotional cost (2.71), freedom of expression (3.77), professional fulfillment (3.41); experience and suffering (2.75), lack of recognition (2.18) and physical injuries (2.07) were considered critical. Meanwhile, social damages (1.64) and psychological injuries (1.35) are bearable. As to the Concentrated Attention test, most workers registered average level. In the individual interviews, workers showed that larger involvement in the process of physical, organizational and operational change in the desktops and on field works was required, as well as the follow up of implementations, so as to reduce the adaptation process and prevent rework (furniture, equipment, noise, form of communication with the area and training for the changes). As a result of the findings handed to the management and returned to the workers, several actions were implemented on ergonomic non-conformities found in the analysis. It is possible to prove the importance of the insertion of cognitive and organizational ergonomics in the building projects of new facilities for high-complexity activities in petrochemical plants.     

Organizational ergonomics of occupational health methods and processes in a Brazilian oil refinery

Organizational ergonomics refers to the optimization of social technical systems, including their organizational structures, policies and processes. The relevant topics include communications, management of resources, work projects, temporal organization of work, team work, participative project, new work paradigms, cooperative work, organizational culture, network organizations and quality management (IEA, 2000). The purpose of this study was the reorganization of the methods and processes of the occupational health sector (SMS/SO - Portuguese acronym of the area) of a petrochemical company. The work involved thirty professionals: a coordinator, two occupational physicians, one cardiologist, one occupational dentist, two occupational nurses, eleven occupational health technicians, one social worker, one nutritionist, one phonoaudiologist, one ophthalmologist, one biochemist, two ergonomists, three administrative assistants, one administrator and one psychologist, during a six-month period. The methodology that was used sought to establish a cooperative alliance focused on change, transformation and acquisition of skills, reflecting directly on the attitudes and performance of the leaderships and their work teams. In addition to the feedback practice, the following supporting tools were used for the study's success: "Functional Polyvalence Matrix", "Management of Failures", 5W2H", "6M", "5 Why" and "process mapping". The intended results after the organization ergonomics restructuring process will allow the leader to help his or her team to make a diagnosis of the problems, identify options, develop strategies, establish targets and action plans, remove barriers, review contexts and implement the business management fundaments: planning, organization, management, coordination and control. The transformation possibilities allow us to consider some hypothesis: Before: Focus only on results. After: Engage collaborators to create sustainable results. Before: Operating profile. After: Tactical/strategic profile. Before: Find errors. After: Value effort and development. Before: Listen to what is being said. After: Understand what is being said. Before: Create fears of the consequences. After: Create room for risk. Before: Be the one who approves and decides. After: Be the cooperative support.     

Not <Emphasis Type="Italic">Merely</Emphasis> TLC: Nurses’ Caring Revisited

The profession and practice of nursing has been studied from quite diverse scholarly perspectives in the United States and abroad. Feminist critiques focus on the gendering of caring and its knowledge/skill features, while professionalization advocates view emotive caring as secondary to other critical activities necessary for the occupational advancement of nursing. Based on ethnographic observations 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nurses across different units working at a large urban hospital, this paper examines how nurses define caring as knowledge-based, skilled work. Specifically, nurses described four types of skills—observational, analytical, interactional, and comforting—that they deploy in the accomplishment of caring work at the bedside. My findings go beyond previous literature in this area by showing how nurses think of caring work in line with occupational strategies that emphasize their biomedical knowledge and diagnostic skills and uphold an advocacy or intermediary role in health care. I argue that while this ideological work may reassure nurses of their professional identity and critical role in health care, it may also reinforce the dilemma of nurse professionalization by obscuring the organizational nature of caring, as it remains an unsupported dimension of their work.