Social Sciences

The question of gender equality is increasingly being raised today and is present at all levels of society. The topicality of the issue on farms is particularly evident, due to the particular inheritance processes on farms, the clear division of labour, and intergenerational cooperation that characterise the agricultural sector. In this research, a multi-criteria model (DEX-SOCIAL) was developed to understand the broader aspect of rural sociology and the issue of women’s status on the farm. The paper discusses the status of women on a farm and assesses their social and economic situation. The methodology includes an online questionnaire in which women in the Eastern and Western Cohesion Regions participated, as well as other farm members and owners. Subsequently, the questions were transformed for the requirements of the assessment model, which assessed the life prospects of women on farms in both the Eastern and Western Cohesion Regions who were aged both over and under 40 years (criteria for “young successor”). The results of the study show that there is a clear difference in the qualitative assessment of women’s socio-economic position in relation to the East–West cohesion region. The social position of women does not differ according to age structure. The conclusions of the study also present broader applications of the results in the field of rural development and rural sociology. Full article

The paper departs from the observation that the role of migrant organisations (MOs) in Germany has changed significantly since the strong influx of refugees in 2015/16. As a result of this specific historical situation, it seems that MOs were able to strengthen their position as important civil society and integration policy actors and reduce reservations about them. While there has been growing attention on MOs’ civic and social contributions, both in public and academic debates, this article also highlights the risks of failure and inflated expectations and the often rather fragile structures of MOs. Thus, the article aims to broaden the view on MOs by focusing on aspects which have been neglected in the course of recent public and academic interest and rather optimistic perceptions. The methodological approach is one of “embedded research”: the author has been a senior executive of one of the largest German MOs for six years and, at the same time, a migration researcher for many years. From this special inside/outside view, an ambivalent picture emerges: despite a significantly greater appreciation of the achievements of MOs and much verbal recognition, there is a clear lack of the necessary material/structural support, jeopardising the sustainability and viability of many MOs. Full article

School violence remains a major concern for scholars, policymakers, and the public in the United States. Despite the implementation of various school violence prevention programs, information regarding their effectiveness in the United States is outdated and limited. This systematic review identified current elementary school programs that effectively reduce school violence in the United States and determined the types of elementary school violence prevention programs implemented, their effectiveness, and the types of tools used to enhance such programs. A qualitative methodological approach was employed, and four databases were searched. English articles published between 2012 and 2023 were selected. Furthermore, data involving elementary school education, school personnel, teachers, and children (5–12-year-old) in the United States were included in the thematic analysis. Results confirmed that the school-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports program effectively decreases violence, suspensions, office referrals, and disruptive behaviors, whereas positive action effectively reduces negative violent behaviors. Social–emotional learning (SEL) implementation also reduced behavioral issues. The findings of this study are relevant for guiding teachers, school administrators, policymakers, teacher education preparation programs, and health professionals in constructing evidence-based violence prevention programs with an added SEL component for elementary schools. Full article

In 2022, Greece became the fifth country in the world to legally ban Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM). The bill was prepared by the Ministry of Health and the intersex-led organisation “Intersex Greece”. Even though the organisation was only established in 2021, it was actively engaged in the whole law-making process, which resulted in a legal text that became a best practice worldwide. This article tracks the history of the intersex movement in Greece and shows that the movement emerged around 2009. Then, based on online interviews, blogs, videos and articles, all strategies and alliances used by the movement over the years to advocate for intersex rights are explored, especially in the year 2017 when the law on Legal Gender Recognition (LGR) was passed and in 2022 when IGM was banned. Furthermore, online public documents from the Greek Parliament are consulted to provide a comprehensive analysis of how the social, cultural, economic, and political environment in the country affected these legal developments. Based on the above evidence, this article shows that the law-making process on IGM in Greece started 13 years before the law and was the outcome of a long process of multiple and unique intersecting factors. Full article

The question of how Aboriginal Elders influence the leadership of non-Aboriginal led service organisations when working biddiya to biddiya (boss to boss) emerged while conducting a qualitative analysis as part of the evaluation of the Looking Forward Moving Forward project. This project brought together non-Aboriginal service leaders, Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal researchers to implement and evaluate a framework for engagement to promote organisational change and transform the way in which services respond to Aboriginal people in need of mental health and drug and alcohol support in Perth, Western Australia. This paper uses a case study to demonstrate how Elders on Nyoongar Country have influenced one non-Aboriginal service leader. At the heart of this case study is a close examination of a recorded, semi-structured, in-depth focus group exchange between a non-Aboriginal leader, Elders and co-researchers. This exchange foregrounds the Elders’ and co-researchers’ voices, capturing the dialogic nuances and interplay of the interaction to provide a more detailed picture of how building long-term relationships with Elders influences leaders. A key theme to emerge from the data was the developmental change in leadership approaches resulting from the biddiya to biddiya working relationship between Elders and this non-Aboriginal leader. The data show that, along with their deepening relationship, the leader demonstrated an openness and humility to be teachable. This leader demonstrated how he applied his new learning, integrating new ways of working into his leadership practice to change the way his organisation responded to Aboriginal people seeking support and to enhance the organisation’s cultural safety. Full article

The U.S. federal government manages many domestic and global operations, including environmental disasters. With the need to both mitigate and adapt to climate change, legislative and executive branches have spurred research efforts as the impacts of the Anthropocene accelerate around the country. The Army Corps of Engineers’ overlapping interest in security and providing technological answers to mitigate weather disasters has led to recent research and development, including facilitating the federal mandate to convert military fleets to electric vehicles by 2027 while also building a hydrogen fuel cell emergency operations vehicle. The emergency vehicle, H2Rescue, has recently been tested in the field, and further refinements in the technology are leading towards a transition out of development and into production. However, the engineered solution must also attend to the social dimensions of disaster relief. This paper examines past environmental disasters in one location, the Navajo Nation, to describe how the vehicle could provide a combination of technological and societal future research possibilities for environmental anthropology. Full article

Anti-trafficking programmes in Italy have been implemented for more than two decades. Yet, little empirical evidence is available regarding their functioning. This paper draws on 56 semi-structured interviews carried out in the period of 2019–2021 with practitioners and beneficiaries of the N.A.Ve anti-trafficking programme. The interviews focused on practitioners’ experience working with Nigerian women and on Nigerian women’s experiences of the programme upon completion. By building on critical anti-trafficking studies and the autonomy of migration perspective, this contribution looks at the relationship between practitioners and Nigerian women admitted to the programme by addressing the following questions: what is the experience of practitioners and beneficiaries in the N.A.Ve programme? To what extent is the structural violence of the counter-trafficking apparatus reproduced in the relational dynamics between practitioners, particularly Case Managers, and beneficiaries? How do beneficiaries cope with such violence? I argue that the Case Managers’ approach builds on “stratified layers of institutional knowledge” and that this concept is useful to highlight how their knowledge derives both from the counter-trafficking apparatus and their social work background. Furthermore, I present evidence that such an approach reproduces structural violence through processes of “conditional inclusion”. Nigerian women denounced this violence but also seized the relational capital grown from rapport, calling for more engagement with people rather than programme objectives. Full article

Different theories addressing the motivational process in educational practice highlight the importance of the teacher’s perspective in the effective integration of technologies as pedagogical–didactic tools in the classroom. The current study consists of a manifest content analysis applying a non-experimental, cross-sectional, qualitative research design. A longitudinal study was conducted through semi-structured individual interviews over three academic years (2020–2023) with a sample of 36 teacher-training students, including undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Valencian Community. The results obtained reveal the participants’ perceptions of the motivations for using technology in their self-learning process, highlighting the positive value they attribute to these tools as resources to motivate their future students. The narratives compiled highlight the relationship between the use of technology and improved academic performance in teacher training. Furthermore, they underline the need to incorporate educational models that not only foster digital skills but also provide solid pedagogical training in this area. Full article

It has long been stated that children have the rights to protection from, e.g., abuse and to the provision of age-appropriate leisure, play, and recreational activities along with participation in all matters that concerns them. Yet, the full range of children’s rights to and in sport has not yet been explored in detail. To do so, it is relevant to turn to the Scandinavian countries, which are praised for promoting children’s rights and well-being, with organized sport forming part of the daily lives of many children and youths. In this paper, we examine the organizational policies in Scandinavian sport in order to develop foundational knowledge about how the range of children’s rights to and in sport may be supported. Comparing key policy documents of the major sports confederations in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, these analyses identify great variety in the following: 1. when and how children’s rights to and in sport have been made explicit in the three countries; 2. whether the emphasis is on protection and/or provision of sport to children and youths or their participation in shaping sporting activities; 3. the degree to and ways in which such rights are regulated. In sum, our findings reflect a disparity between organizational policies in the three countries, with a more liberal and individualistic approach to public policy in the Danish context, providing some explanation of the only recent development in and scattered enaction of regulations to support children’s rights to and in sports. Furthermore, we identify that political attention has mainly been drawn to the protection and provision of sports to children and youths, while their participation in shaping sport is a shared challenge for sport confederations in the Scandinavian countries and beyond. Full article

The discourse that has so far dominated in Sweden, and which has manifested itself in various legislation concerning children who commit crimes, is going to change soon. We argue that this discourse is set to be replaced by one that does not consider the subordinate position of children as a result of their age but rather equates them with adults, thus making invisible the power imbalance between children and adults. In this article, we analyze a political document, the Tidö Agreement, and its articulations on youth criminality. We consider the Tidö Agreement to be an important tool in the process of social change, and we carry out this discussion in connection to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which became law in Sweden in 2020. By using a discourse theory perspective, we examine the articulations in the Tidö Agreement and discuss how these articulations can reproduce or challenge the current discourses by fixing meaning in certain ways. For instance, the word “child” is ambiguous, and its identity changes depending on how it is positioned in relation to other words in a concrete articulation. In this article, we discuss how this word is used in some contexts but avoided in others, and what consequenses this has. Full article

According to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, the interaction between micro- and macro-factors improves human development. Previous studies suggest that community social capital, which refers to the interaction between residents and communities, promotes the subjective well-being of residents in residential communities. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study explored the link between community social capital and life satisfaction among urban residents and examined the mediating role of psychological flourishing and moderating effect of educational level. Data were obtained from a cross-community survey of 816 urban residents in China aged 20–60 years. The results indicated that psychological flourishing mediated the link between community social capital and life satisfaction among urban residents after controlling for gender, age, marital status, dwelling time, and monthly income. Furthermore, educational attainment moderated the association between community social capital and psychological flourishing. The mediating effect of psychological flourishing was stronger among residents with low educational attainment than those with high educational attainment, indicating that the benefits of community social capital were greater among the former group. This study extends our knowledge of the effect of community social capital on urban residents’ subjective well-being, including its role in reducing educational inequality in human well-being. Full article

People with disabilities are increasingly actively involved within research projects. For many of them this is a temporary role, but some work on longer-term projects and even build a career out of it. This is the case for the first author of this paper. He has worked as a researcher for almost six years. He is involved in various projects, all highly diverse in terms of subject, design, scope and collaboration with fellow researchers. In this paper, he looks back on his experiences in recent years. Together with colleagues, he reflects on his contribution to the various projects, his own development as a researcher and the impact of the work on his personal life. He finds that the essence of the motto ‘Nothing about us, without us’ has become increasingly intertwined with his life and identity through his work. Full article

During the Edwardian period, women’s physical education colleges were graduating significant numbers of gymnastics and games teachers, the demand for whom had increased rapidly following an expansion in the playing of team sports in girls’ schools. Much of the subsequent development of women’s physical activity in the 1920s can be credited to the passion and commitment of these women, who were not only key role models within the school setting but who also coached and organised women’s sport at club, regional, and national level. Given that the education sector operated a ‘marriage bar’ until 1944, the critical juncture in their careers was the decision to marry or not, and several of these women decided to remain single. This, and the strong bonds they often formed with other practitioners, has resulted in a great deal of unsubstantiated speculation about their private lives. Combining evidence from a variety of primary sources, including newspapers, census returns, college records, literature, girls’ annuals, specialist periodicals, photographs, and local and family histories, this paper illuminates some of the biographies and experiences of these women and questions the stereotypical image of the games mistress as an unfulfilled spinster. Full article

Burnout Syndrome is considered a chronic response to occupational stressors in the work environment. Social interactions constitute one of the stressors at work that can generate negative feelings that trigger a process of contagion of the syndrome among workers in interdependent relationships. This study aimed to analyze whether emotional labor (emotional demands, emotional dissonance) at the level of the leader and subordinate dyad contributes to the manifestation of Burnout Syndrome. The participants included 244 leader–subordinate dyads who answered a questionnaire with sociodemographic and labor data, the Spanish Burnout Inventory, a subscale of the Questionnaire on the Experience and Assessment of Work, and a subscale of the Frankfurt Emotion Work Scale. Analyses were performed using the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) through path analysis. The results indicate that the emotional demands of the leaders and the emotional dissonance of the subordinates predict the leader’s Burnout Syndrome. The Burnout Syndrome of subordinates was predicted only by the emotional demands of subordinates. Organizational actions are necessary for the better functioning of this dyad, aiming to mitigate the negative consequences of emotional labor on workers’ mental health. Full article

(1) Background: As helping professionals, social workers are more susceptible to compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and burnout due to regular exposure to clients’ trauma, traumatic situations, and heavy caseloads. Social work students also face similar experiences during their field placement as they prepare to enter the profession. In addition, stress, a significant factor affecting academic performance, is prevalent among social work students. Prolonged stress can lead to chronic health conditions, emphasizing the need to develop effective stress management practice techniques. (2) Objective: To examine the impact of a four-week mindfulness strengths-perspective synchronous series and the impact on social work students’ personal strengths, self-care, stress, and coping strategies. (3) Methods: The purpose of this study was to examine social work students’ experiences with using mindfulness from a strengths perspective. Twenty-three (n = 23) social work students participated in a four-week synchronous mindfulness series that incorporated a strengths perspective, focusing on stress reduction and self-care practices. The series consisted of weekly mindfulness activities and writing prompts, concluding with a focus group in the final week. A thematic analysis was utilized to identify key themes. (4) Results: The researchers identified six themes: consistency and commitment, affirmations and self-love, a caring community, mindfulness strategies, physical restoration, and enrichment and learning. (5) Conclusion: Students were able to develop a better understanding of self-care and the benefits of taking time to incorporate practices for their health and wellness. Full article

The study of participants’ motivations in sporting events is a recurring topic that provides valuable information for stakeholders interested in the event’s success. This motivation structure varies between geographies and evolves, so addressing new case studies from fresh perspectives updates and enriches the knowledge on the subject. Through a survey of 416 participants in the Córdoba Half-Marathon, Spain, we aim to explore the existence of new dimensions of motivation to participate in running events, as well as to analyse if there are statistically significant differences between men and women in their participation motivations and the magnitude of these differences. To this end, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) has been conducted, and the Mann–Whitney U and Hedges’ G statistics have been utilised. The results of this research complement previous studies with two new dimensions of motivation: inclusivity at various levels and the posting of images on social networks. Additionally, the leading role of female participants is evident, as they are more motivated than men to compete and surpass themselves. Full article

The year 2024 marks one decade of scholarship in the new interdisciplinary field of Digital Death, concerning the study of death, dying and grief in the digital age. This paper addresses one key subfield of Digital Death Studies, here termed Digital Grief Studies, which centres on theory, research and design concerning grief in today’s digitally saturated contexts. It argues that a classic grand pattern in scholarly treatments of grief—Grief Universalism—with a long, problematic history in Grief and Bereavement Studies, is reappearing in Digital Grief Studies. The Continuing Bonds theory of grief and its application in theory, research and design in Digital Grief Studies is used to demonstrate Grief Universalism in action in our field via hypothetical and fictional examples. This builds toward this paper’s big aim: to illustrate what we as an emerging field stand to gain from positioning the established field of Grief and Bereavement Studies as a veritable goldmine of advances—as well as pitfalls, wrong turns, and recurrent problem patterns to be avoided—generated over a hundred years of scholarship concerning human grief. Harnessing this wealth of prior learning and leveraging it toward the furtherance of our field in the coming decade and beyond becomes more crucial as we repel the seemingly perennial magnetism of Grief Universalism, as we operate within an interdisciplinary field vulnerable to Universalism and as yet unaware of its perils, and amid contemporary digital cultures and environments that may preserve and reinforce universalist grief framings. Full article

During the last decades, Nigerian migrant women in the European sex market, described as victims of trafficking, have generated consistent concern and outrage. This article analyzes data from an ethnographic study of more than 800 Nigerian sex workers in southern Spain, describing the networks used by these women to carry out their migration projects and the relationships they establish with their agents. Thus, it contributes to refuting the hegemonic narrative about trafficking and its victims by contrasting it with data collected and systematized over almost a decade of participant observation and informal conversation. This paper argues that the stereotypical image of the Nigerian migrant women as victims of abuse and violence by transnational trafficking networks functions to justify strict migration-control policies and the denial of labor rights to sex workers. As an antidote to the dominance of narratives based on stereotypes and pseudoscientific claims, this paper underscores the urgent need for ethnographic research and its focus on emic (participant) perspectives. The goal is to develop tailored and effective policies and practices for the prevention of and intervention in migrant women’s experience of exploitation, abuse, and violence. Full article

Gendered understandings of housing transitions amongst women and especially amongst those in substance use disorder recovery are under-researched. To address this gap, this study explores the multifaceted challenges and pathways to housing stability amongst women in substance use disorder recovery in the UK. Through qualitative analysis of life course interviews with 15 women in recovery, it becomes evident that housing insecurity, instability, and frequent transitions are common experiences. The women in the sample faced housing instability, ranging from temporary supported accommodations to homelessness. Notably, escaping negative relationships with male partners emerged as a primary cause of homelessness among these women. What this article highlights, which has not been found elsewhere to date, is that housing transitions are essentially a social process for women in recovery. This study highlights the social dimension of housing transitions. The potency of social capital and social networks in determining housing stability and security amongst women is emphasised as they exchange negative forms of social capital for positive forms of social capital. Recommendations stemming from this study include the need for drug recovery and housing policies to integrate gender-specific strategies to adequately support women in recovery. Further, they need to adopt a broader perspective, emphasizing the importance of fostering positive social connections and networks when considering housing options for individuals in recovery. For women who have spent a long time in supported residential and therapeutic environments, there is a need to develop a scaffolded support system to help women transition to independent living. The utilisation of recovery capital (and CHIME) as frameworks may provide a basis upon which to map out holistic and sustainable pathways to housing stability and security for women in recovery due to their acknowledgement of interconnected and related life domains that produce change and transformation. Full article