Time pressure, social work stressors and blood pressure in a team of seven IT-workers during one week of intense work

Background. In the field of information technology (IT) time pressure is common. Working with tight deadlines together on the same task increases the risk of social stressors referring to tensions and conflicts at work. Purpose. This field study tested both the association of time pressure and social stressors with blood pressure during work. Method. Seven employees – staff of a small IT enterprise – participated in repeated ambulatory blood pressure measurements over the course of one week. Time pressure and social stressors at work were assessed by questionnaire at the beginning of the study. Results. Multilevel regression analyses of 138 samples revealed higher levels of time pressure to be related to marginally significant increases in mean arterial blood pressure at noon and in the afternoon. In addition, higher levels of social stressors at work were significantly associated to elevated mean arterial pressure in the afternoon. Conclusion. Findings support the view that threats to the social self play an important role in occupational health.

The Function of Norms and Values in the Construction of Social Identity in Groups who experienced intergroup Conflicts

I present my explorative research about conflict and social identity. The Social Identity Approach of Henri Tajfel and John Turner is used as theoretical frame in the study. The main question is how the construction of social identity of group members is influenced by an inter-group conflict. The research project consists of two parts: 1. An empirical study conducted with qualitative research methods to investigate a today’s congregation of the Swiss reformed Church who experienced a conflict about twenty years ago. This conflict ended by the separation of a sub-group from the congregations. This group forms an independent community today. Members of both congregations where interviewed about the meaning which membership has for them and about their interpretation of the conflict. 2. An analysis of the Gospel of Matthew with questions who where developed out of the empirical study and the Social Identity Approach to better understand the separation conflict between the Matthean community and the synagogue.

The strength of badenya ties: siblings and social security in old age – the case of urban Burkina Faso

In urban Burkina Faso, siblings play a decisive role in local social security. Badenya, the unity of children of the same mother, compensates in particular for the economic failure of an eldest son no longer in a position to fulfill his familial duties. Although the institution of badenya is strengthened as it increasingly comes into play to help a family avoid social marginalization, it is also overburdened, which makes its future uncertain. This article enhances the anthropological understanding of kinship by focusing on sibling relationships. Findings are based on interviews conducted between 2007 and 2010 with two generations in households in Bobo-Dioulasso and on participant-observation over the course of more than a dozen research stays since 1989.

Labor Regime and Social Justice: Consequences of Economic and Social Stratification among Maya Peasants in Central Quintana Roo, Mexico

The article explores consequences of socioeconomic stratification for milpa agriculture and for the organization of labor in a Lowland Maya peasant society. Both present-day and past situations are analyzed. The article includes a discussion of the concept of local social justice which serves as a framework of analysis of institutions that allocate goods and services and provide rules and norms for social interaction.