So Far,so Similar? Labour Market Feminization in Italy and Chile

Social Indicators Research - The article aims to analyse gender segregation in the labour market while comparing two national contexts in Europe and Latin America. Specifically, it will consider...     

Justice as social representation: diffusion and differential positioning / La justicia como representación social: difusión y posicionamientos diferenciales

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the diffusion process of social representations of justice by the press and their appropriation by readers. Two simultaneous cross-sectional studies were carried out. Study 1 analysed the meaning and the frequency of the word justice in the most important newspaper in Buenos Aires. The results indicate that the representation of justice has a retributive and institutional meaning. Study 2 investigated university students’ social representations of justice (N = 404) through a word association technique. The results showed that the central core of social representation has a retributive and institutional meaning, similar to the representations diffused by the most important newspaper. Nevertheless, significant differences were found with regard to the value attached to justice depending on the newspaper that the participants claimed to read. We can conclude that there is a mutual constitutive circular movement between the social representation of justice diffused by the newspapers and university students’ social representations. Moreover, the differences identified in the way justice was evaluated in the peripheral elements might express the existence of different positionings related to a hegemonic social representation.     

‘I am not poor. Poor children live in Africa’: Social identity and children's perspectives on growing up in contexts of poverty and deprivation in the Netherlands

This study focuses on problems children living in contexts of poverty face in daily life and how they perceive poverty. Findings are based on research with children (8–12 years) from impoverished areas in the Netherlands. Besides the problems as identified by the children, such as the poor quality of playgrounds and the lack of money for activities, we identified a striking paradox, namely the taboo on or denial of poverty versus the pervasiveness of poverty. To understand and handle this contradiction, we reflect on representation of children growing up in contexts of poverty through a social identity framework.     

‘I Eat the Vegetables because I Have Grown them with My Own Hands’: Children's Perspectives on School Gardening and Vegetable Consumption

Inadequate vegetable consumption is a global public health concern related to numerous health risks. A promising intervention to increase children's vegetable consumption is school gardening, although earlier studies have shown mixed results. This study explores how gardening might contribute to changed attitudes towards eating vegetables from a child's perspective. Findings are based on qualitative research with children in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We reflect on how children enact agency regarding their vegetables. Results show that children report that changes occur in their attitudes towards vegetables as they not only eat more vegetables but also advocate the consumption of vegetables at home.     

‘McDonald’s Is Good for My Social Life’. Developing Health Promotion Together with Adolescent Girls from Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods in Amsterdam

There is limited knowledge about key factors that enable adolescent girls with a low socioeconomic position (SEP) to adopt a healthy lifestyle. This paper aims to better understand the complexity of addressing health behaviour of adolescent girls with a low SEP by gaining insights into (i) the perspectives of adolescent girls with a low SEP (n = 26) on a healthy lifestyle, (ii) how to develop health promotion that fits these girls’ daily realities, by using participatory action research (PAR) in which girls developed health promotion materials. The study offers an understanding of girls’ daily lives and how health promotion could be improved.