Resisting sexism and speciesism in the social sciences: Using feminist,species‐inclusive,visual methods to value the work of women and (other) animals

Visual methods offer social scientists some promising possibilities for valuing the work of women and animals in domestic homes and formal organizations, such as schools, hospitals, residential care facilities and other workplaces. In this article, we consider how visual methods might be used to ‘put women and animals in the frame’. We draw data and inspiration from our What is it About Animals study [2015–2016], which involved an online call for people over 16 years of age, to post pictures, poems, stories and videos depicting what animals mean to them. We pay attention to attempts to resist sexism and speciesism in the valuing of work, including emotional labour. We consider the possibility of post‐humanist methods for animal subject‐hood, and a sociology of animals, emotions and work. We end with a discussion of possible future visual methods projects to value the work of women and (other) animals.     

The Socioeconomic Incorporation of Immigrant and Native‐born Day Labourers in Tshwane,South Africa

It has been widely documented that unauthorized immigrants experience adverse economic incorporation in destination countries, particularly in the global North. Faced with restricted employment opportunities, many are drawn into informalizing segments of the labour market where earnings are low and unstable. Much less is known about how immigrant workers fare in the informal economy of cities of the South. Using surveys conducted in 2004, 2007 and 2015, we examine the economic outcomes of immigrant and native‐born workers who participate in the day labour markets of Tshwane, South Africa. In 2004 there were signs that foreign‐born workers enjoyed modestly better outcomes than South Africa‐born workers. In the latter periods, however, these advantages have disappeared and there are indications of a downward convergence of employment outcomes. The article concludes with a call for creating worker centres to regulate informal job markets for the benefit of workers, regardless of immigration status.     

Brand image and equity: the mediating role of brand equity drivers and moderating effects of product type and word of mouth

In today’s competitive landscape, organizations are progressively searching for valuable practices to create strong consumer-based brand equity. Managers must remain vigilant and receptive to factors that influence brand equity. Accordingly, this paper addresses this issue. Specifically, the paper empirically investigates the mediating roles of three drivers of brand equity in the brand image—consumer-based brand equity relationship and explores the moderating roles of product type and word of mouth (WOM) on the linkages between brand image and brand equity. In order to understand these relationships, a questionnaire survey was administered among brand consumers, yielding a total of 321 responses. Confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha were utilized to estimate the validity and reliability of the measures. Structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was employed to test the hypotheses. The authors find that brand image positively affects brand attachment, brand attitude, and brand awareness. Brand attachment and attitude positively influence consumer-based brand equity. The findings show that brand attachment and brand attitude partially mediate the relationship between brand image and brand equity. Product type and WOM have a significant moderating effect on the relationships among brand image, drivers of brand equity, and brand equity. The authors discuss the limitations of the study and provide future research directions.     

Day Labourers' Work Related Injuries: An Assessment of Risks,Choices, and Policies

Literature and theory surrounding the informal economy in international contexts suggest that informal work arrangements may entail assuming various levels of risk, and that the higher the level of risk in an employment arrangement, the higher the premium paid to the worker. This study is designed to assess if a wage compensation for risk exists within the United States' day labour job market ‐ the most visible sector of the United States' informal economy. Using data from the 2005 National Day Labour Survey we find a statistically significant wage premium indicating that a risk‐wage tradeoff within the day labour informal economy exists. Ultimately, we argue that current policy interventions facilitated through day labour centres into the day labour market appear to be effective in mitigating the risks associated with this type of employment.

• Evidence of a risk‐wage premium in the day labour market suggests there is an incentive to assume higher levels of risk in work arrangements which presents significant concerns for worker safety.
• Higher levels of work related risks assumed by day labourers, may be minimized if they receive proper safety training through a formal venue such as a worker centre.
• Worker centres only serve 20 per cent of all day labourers in the United States, suggesting a need for the establishment of additional worker centres in other connected or industry based work sites, to help mitigate potential work related risks and injuries in the day labour market.

     

Public support for social security

This article reports the results of a nationally representative survey of 1,209 Americans that examines their support for Social Security and six other major social welfare programs. It probes the extent to which members of the public are willing to demonstrate their support, the differences in support among population subgroups, and the extent to which perceptions of Social Security and Social Security recipients predict overall support for Social Security. The authors find high levels of support among members of the public, including a willingness both to write letters to congress members and to pay higher taxes. Some groups of citizens—especially blacks and those who classify themselves as liberals—are more supportive than others, but the differences are not great and contribute little toward explaining the variance in support. The perceptions that the program makes a worthwhile contribution to society and that recipients have no alternative sources of income other than Social Security contribute the most toward predicting overall support for Social Security.     

Multi-objective multi-verse optimiser for integrated two-sided assembly sequence planning and line balancing

Research in assembly optimisation is presently inclined towards integrative measures. Several benefits of simultaneously optimised Assembly Sequence Planning (ASP) and Assembly Line Balancing (ALB) have been highlighted by researchers to have better solution quality, shorter time-to-market, and minimalised error during planning. Recently, several efforts have been made to realise integrated assembly optimisation. However, none of the published research considered the two-sided assembly line problem. This paper presents an integrated ASP and ALB optimisation in a two-sided assembly environment (2S-ASPLB), which is mainly adopted in automotive assembly process. In this study, the 2S-ASPLB problem was formulated and optimised using Multi-Objective Multi-Verse Optimiser (MOMVO) by considering line efficiency, reorientation penalty, and tool change as the optimisation objectives. The computational experiments were conducted in a few stages, beginning with the identification of the best decoding approach for 2S-ASPLB. Next, the best MOMVO coefficient was studied, followed by comparing MOMVO performance with well-established multi-objective optimisation algorithms. Finally, a case study problem was presented to demonstrate applicability of the proposed model and algorithm in real-life problem. The results indicated that the priority factor (PF) decoding approach had better performance compared with others. Meanwhile, in comparison with well-established algorithms, MOMVO performed better in convergence and solution distribution. The case study results indicated the applicability of proposed 2S-ASPLB model and algorithm to improve line efficiency in assembly line. The main contribution of the research is a new 2S-ASPLB model and optimisation scheme, which can assist manufacturer in designing better assembly layout.