As if subjects existed: analysing social discourses

Les discussions au sujet des méthodes littéraires en recherche sociale ont échoué jusqu'ici, à souligner les spécificites des manières sociales (en opposition à littéraires) de lire les textes ou en général, d'analyser les systémes de signifiants. Il n'existe pas de discours sociaux comme il en existe des littéraires, mais cet article argumente le fait qu'il y à des manières différentes de considérer la multiplicité des discours autour de nous. Alors que des modes littéraires de lecture cherchent à découvrir le fonctionnement interne des discours, l'analyse sociale est caractérisee par le probleme de la formation ou de la re-formation à la subjectivité sociale. On argumente le fait que le caractere politique de la subjectivité sociale donne un tour spécifique à la tâche de l'analyse du discours social et nous aide à choisir parmi une pléthore de techniques littéraires. En conséquence, déconstruction, science de la narration et analyse de tournures rhétoriques sont évaluées dans cette optique. Debates about literary methods in social research have thus far failed to highlight the specificities of social (as opposed to literary) ways of reading texts or, in general, analysing systems of signifiers. There are no social as opposed to literary discourses, but this article argues that there are different ways of considering the multiplicity of discourses around us. While literary modes of reading seek to uncover the internal workings of discourses, social analysis is characterized by a concern for the formation and re-formation of social subjectivity. It is argued that the practice-oriented character of social subjectivity gives a specific twist to the task of social discourse analysis, and helps us to choose among a potential plethora of literary techniques. Accordingly, deconstruction, narratology, and the analysis of rhetorical tropes are evaluated in this light.     

Multidimensional poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean: new evidence from the Gallup World Poll

This paper studies poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean from a multidimensional perspective, exploiting the Gallup World Poll, a survey that provides a unique opportunity to perform intercountry comparisons. By applying factor analysis we find that welfare can be appropriately summarized by three dimensions: income, subjective welfare and “basic needs”. Another finding is that the US$ 1 line appears to be a reasonable cut-off value to measure food deprivation.     

PROMETHEE IV through kernel density estimation

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a new version of PROMETHEE IV, which considers the empirical distribution of the criteria through kernel density estimation to evaluate alternatives. The developed method has the ability to treat criteria according to their distribution. The classic PROMETHEE IV can produce divergent integrals, and this could be the cause for its insufficient exploration in literature. The proposed method overcomes this situation since large values have little weight compared to values near the mean.     

On a variance stabilizing model and its application to genomic data

In this paper, we propose a model based on a class of symmetric distributions, which avoids the transformation of data, stabilizes the variance of the observations, and provides robust estimation of parameters and high flexibility for modeling different types of data. Probabilistic and statistical aspects of this new model are developed throughout the article, which include mathematical properties, estimation of parameters and inference. The obtained results are illustrated by means of real genomic data.     

Health care privatization processes in Europe: Theoretical justifications and empirical classification

This article analyses the health care system reform process in Europe based on the concept of privatization. This notion is understood from two perspectives. First, privatization may concern the health care financing or the provision of health services. Second, privatization can be “imposed” on individuals or be “internalized” and then introduced by individuals (patients and doctors). So we emphasize the diversity that privatization can assume. We classify privatization mechanisms used by different countries and identify which of the perspectives presented are more common in 14 European Union countries since the 1980s. The article shows that even if privatization processes are widespread, they assume different patterns in each country.     

Urban poverty and labor market dynamics in five Latin American countries: 2003–2008

Latin America experienced a long period of sustained growth since 2003 that positively impacted social and labor market indicators, including poverty. This paper contributes to the understanding of this process as it carries out a comparative study of poverty dynamics in five Latin American countries during 2003–2008. It analyzes the extent to which countries with different levels of poverty incidence diverge in terms of poverty exit and entry rates, identifies the relative importance of the frequency and impact of events associated to poverty transitions and examines how these events affect households with different characteristics. For this, a dynamic analysis of panel data is carried out using regular household surveys. Sizeable rates of poverty movements were observed in all five countries and it was found that a large proportion of household experienced positive events, mainly related to the labor market; however, only a small fraction of them actually exited poverty. Demographic events and public cash transfers proved to be of little relevance; in particular, the latter did not contribute much either to intensify poverty exits or to prevent poverty entries. Households with children experienced more (less) negative (positive) events than those without children. It appeared therefore that even when the economy behaved reasonably well at the aggregate level, high levels of labor turnover and income mobility (even of a negative nature) still prevail, mainly associated to the high level of precariousness and the undeveloped system of social protection that characterize the studied countries.     

The relational costs of crossing class lines

How do low socioeconomic status students navigate cross-class interactions in extremely unequal contexts? Previous research has described the high costs of college integration for underprivileged students, which in turn, negatively impact academic performance and general wellbeing. These studies tend to concentrate on cultural capital costs, such as catching up with assumed middle-class or elite capital and dealing with two worlds. Less has been said about social capital costs, the costs of making friends, especially more privileged friends. Through 61 in-depth interviews with various types of students as part of a broader ethnographic fieldwork, this article analyses the experiences of low-income scholarship holders in an elite institution in a very unequal society, Colombia. Rather than isolating themselves or resorting to safe homophilic relations, they faced their new elite environment engaging with the hidden relational cost of making friends with more affluent students. In so doing, they had to overcome fears and experiences of discrimination and micro-aggressions, as well as cultural and economic capital barriers, and employed either camouflaging or disclosure strategies, sometimes becoming culturally and socially omnivorous. Symbolic belonging to the institution and the acquisition of middle-class cultural capital were among the benefits that made overcoming the costs worthy. Our results shed light on what institutions can do to reduce the costs for underprivileged students and, theoretically, unveil an important mechanism and barrier for social mobility: building cross-class ties.     

Procedure to identify outliers through cumulative distribution of extremes in a Gamma response model

This work aimed at proposing a procedure based on the cumulative distribution of maximums and minimums to identify outliers in generalized Gamma-response models. In order to validate such method, we used simulations scenarios defined by the combination of different samples, contamination rate and distributions with different degrees of asymmetry. In this context, probabilities related to errors in classification and accuracy were obtained by carrying by Monte Carlo simulations. Using cumulative distribution of extremes to identify outliers in a Gamma-response model is recommended, since it is not likely to present errors and was highly accurate in all assessed scenarios.     

Flora of the tram tracks of Bratislava

Urban Ecosystems - Tram and railway tracks represent specific urban habitats, which host a specific type of flora. This study aims to compile the information about species composition of flora of...     

Resident Service Coordinators: Roles and Challenges in Senior Housing

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore the challenges that Resident Service Coordinators (RSCs) encounter in senior housing and the meanings they attach to their role. Using a mixed methods approach, surveys and interviews were conducted with RSCs working in age-segregated housing in Connecticut. Survey responses indicate that, despite certain similarities, no single profile characterizes the scope of the role. Analysis of the interview data reveals 5 themes: interpersonal conflicts, mental health problems, inadequate resources, unclear policies regarding residents' rights, and inconsistencies in role definition. These results underscore the need for increased training for RSCs, and additional research is needed to understand the role and identify best practice models.