Perspectivas del debate en torno al concepto de europeidad al interior de la Unión Europea a la luz de los criterios de adhesión de Copenhague

Cuando se habla de los límites y fronteras de Europa, actualmente no están definidos en su totalidad, resultando problemático en la subregión del este, donde se encuentran Estados como Ucrania, Bielorrusia, Turquía y otros más. La delgada línea que divide a Europa de Asia aún es confusa, por lo cual delimitar el concepto de europeidad implica contemplar más variables que lo geográfico y cultural. De esta manera, la incertidumbre que existe está relacionada con los atributos que tiene la europeidad, y como los ciudadanos se identifican con ella. La europeidad antes que un conjunto de valores atribuible a los ciudadanos o una herencia cultural común, es un concepto difuso, efímero y esquivo para algunos autores. La trascendencia de este concepto se hace manifiesta en el artículo 49 del Tratado de la Unión Europea donde se estipulan las condiciones para ser miembro de la Unión Europea (UE). Aunque ser miembro de la UE no es lo mismo que ser europeo hasta este momento es la forma más aceptable para denominar a un Estado como europeo.

Bogotá no tiene mar pero tiene playa: el vallenato y sus intérpretes costeños en Bogotá

La Playa es un sector de la ciudad de Bogotá, donde se encuentra la oferta de músicos informales más grande de Colombia: mariachis, tríos de cuerda y grupos vallenatos. En esta investigación, se analiza la migración de músicos vallenatos provenientes del Caribe colombiano a este sector de la capital del país; se examina el trabajo de estos músicos en La Playa; y se revisa el proceso de consolidación del vallenato como música nacional.

Sociology, Gender and Educational Aspirations: Girls and their Ambitions

This study helps develop an overall understanding as to why some students achieve where others don't. Debate on the effects of class on educational attainment is well documented and typically centres on the reproductive nature of class whilst studies of the effect of class on educational aspirations also predict outcomes that see education reinforcing and reproducing a student's class background.Despite a number of government initiatives to help raise higher education participation to 50 per cent by 2010, for the working class numbers have altered little. Using data from an ethnographic case study of a low-achieving girls school, the author explores aspirations and argues that whilst class is very powerful in explaining educational attainment, understanding educational aspirations is somewhat more complex. The purpose of this book, therefore, is to question and challenge popular assumptions surrounding class-based theory in making sense of girls' aspirations and to question the usefulness of the continued over reliance of such broad categorisations by both academics and policy makers

The Political Candidacy of EU Migrants in their European Countries of Residence. The Case of British and Romanians Standing in Spanish Local Elections

What explains the variation in how European citizens of diverse origins are politically incorporated in the member states of residence? This paper argues that immigrant groups’ status in the host society plays an important role in political party responses to immigrants’ political participation. Drawing on the case of Romanian and British candidacies in the Spanish local elections from 2011, the paper finds that the level of competition between parties is the key mechanism for incorporating candidates from a positively/neutrally perceived group. Instead, a greater level of ethnic diversity encourages the incorporation of candidates from the negatively perceived group. To demonstrate this, the paper uses an original data-set with the Romanian and British candidates in a large number of Spanish localities.

A systematic review of the methods used to assess race and racial disparities in uterine fibroid research

Context: Black women are reported to have a higher prevalence of uterine fibroids, and a threefold higher incidence rate and relative risk for clinical uterine fibroid development as compared to women of other races. Uterine fibroid research has reported that black women experience greater uterine fibroid morbidity and disproportionate uterine fibroid disease burden. With increased interest in understanding uterine fibroid development, and race being a critical component of uterine fibroid assessment, it is imperative that the methods used to determine the race of research participants is defined and the operational definition of the use of race as a variable is reported for methodological guidance, and to enable the research community to compare statistical data and replicate studies. ^ Objectives: To systematically review and evaluate the methods used to assess race and racial disparities in uterine fibroid research. ^ Data Sources: Databases searched for this review include: OVID Medline, NML PubMed, Ebscohost Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Plus with Full Text, and Elsevier Scopus. ^ Review Methods: Articles published in English were retrieved from data sources between January 2011 and March 2011. Broad search terms, uterine fibroids and race, were employed to retrieve a comprehensive list of citations for review screening. The initial database yield included 947 articles, after duplicate extraction 485 articles remained. In addition, 771 bibliographic citations were reviewed to identify additional articles not found through the primary database search, of which 17 new articles were included. In the first screening, 502 titles and abstracts were screened against eligibility questions to determine citations of exclusion and to retrieve full text articles for review. In the second screening, 197 full texted articles were screened against eligibility questions to determine whether or not they met full inclusion/exclusion criteria. ^ Results: 100 articles met inclusion criteria and were used in the results of this systematic review. The evidence suggested that black women have a higher prevalence of uterine fibroids when compared to white women. None of the 14 studies reporting data on prevalence reported an operational definition or conceptual framework for the use of race. There were a limited number of studies reporting on the prevalence of risk factors among racial subgroups. Of the 3 studies, 2 studies reported prevalence of risk factors lower for black women than other races, which was contrary to hypothesis. And, of the three studies reporting on prevalence of risk factors among racial subgroups, none of them reported a conceptual framework for the use of race. ^ Conclusion: In the 100 uterine fibroid studies included in this review over half, 66%, reported a specific objective to assess and recruit study participants based upon their race and/or ethnicity, but most, 51%, failed to report a method of determining the actual race of the participants, and far fewer, 4% (only four South American studies), reported a conceptual framework and/or operational definition of race as a variable. However, most, 95%, of all studies reported race-based health outcomes. The inadequate methodological guidance on the use of race in uterine fibroid studies, purporting to assess race and racial disparities, may be a primary reason that uterine fibroid research continues to report racial disparities, but fails to understand the high prevalence and increased exposures among African-American women. A standardized method of assessing race throughout uterine fibroid research would appear to be helpful in elucidating what race is actually measuring, and the risk of exposures for that measurement. ^

Neighborhoods neighboring neighborhoods: adjacency, relative position and tract-level racial change in the U.S. 2000 to 2010

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Strategies against racism: a comparison of a social movement and case studies of anti-racist policy and practice in the local state

The thesis compares two contrasting strategies employed with the aim of combating particular forms of racism within contemporary Britain. Both are assessed as political strategies in their own right and placed within the broader context of reformist and revolutionary political traditions. The sociology of social movements is examined critically, as are Marxist and post-Marxist writings on the role of human agency within social structures and on the nature of social movements. The history of the Anti Nazi League (ANL) in the late 1970s and its opposition to the National Front is considered as an example of anti-racist social movement based on the Trotskyist model of the United Front. The degree to which the Anti Nazi League corresponded to such a model is analysed as are the potential broader applications for such a strategy. The strategy with which the ANL is compared is the development of anti-racist and equal opportunities policies within local government in the 1980s, primarily by Labour-controlled local authorities. The theory of the local state and the political phenomenon of municipal socialism are discussed, specifically the role of various groups operating in and around local authorities in the formation and implementation of anti-racist policy and practice. Following this general discussion, two case studies in each of the areas of local authority housing, education and employment are explored to consider in depth the problems of specific anti-racist policies. In summation the efficacy of the two strategies are considered as parts of wider political currents in tandem with their declared specific objectives.

The influence of perception of forgetting and gender, ethnicity, and closeness on likelihood of caregiving

As life expectancy increases, the population of older adults is increasing rapidly. The caregiving of older parents by adult children has become a normative experience. Much of the gerontological literature has examined the caregiving experience, particularly in terms of the stresses involved. However, research is only beginning to examine the factors which motivate adult children to begin caregiving. The research described here examined how an elderly parent's memory behavior might influence caregiving decisions. In addition, gender, ethnicity, and parent-adult child closeness were examined to explore how these individual difference variables might influence those caregiving decisions.^ Participants read one of two vignettes describing a social visit with an elderly widow (target). In the vignette, the elderly target experiences several instances of forgetting. The vignettes depicted forgetting behavior established in pilot work as normal or serious. The normal forgetting vignette did not arouse concern and the serious forgetting vignette did arouse concern when the middle-aged participants imagined their mothers in the role of the vignette target. Participants rated their likelihood of engaging in eight caregiving behaviors if their mothers behaved like the vignette target. They also rated their closeness with their own mothers.^ Multivariate analyses of variance indicated main effects for vignette type, gender, ethnicity, and attachment. The likelihood of caregiving was higher when forgetting was more serious and when participants were female, Hispanic, and were highly attached to their mothers. Interaction effects showed that gender differences decreased with increased seriousness of forgetting, and ethnic differences were only significant for the normal forgetting condition.^ Multiple regression analyses indicated that attachment was the most significant predictor of likelihood of caregiving. Gender and ethnicity predicted specific caregiving behaviors. Females were more likely to engage in phoning and cooking, and Hispanics were more likely to engage in visiting and suggesting mother move in. ^

The body matters: Understanding social differences in mental health

This doctoral dissertation illuminates the salience of body image to sociological investigations of mental health. It is argued that concerns over body-appearance evident in America embody a dimension of distress over the physical self that may be appropriately considered a mental health outcome, called body dysphoria. Using cross-sectional data on 1,183 young adults comprising Hispanic, African American, and non-Hispanic white males and females from varying social classes, a valid and reliable measure of body dysphoria is developed and demonstrated to be a distinct dimension of psychological distress. ^ From the standpoint of the sociology of mental health, the social distribution of body dysphoria makes known individual consequences of the stratified arrangements of society based on gender, race/ethnicity, and social class. Results reveal significant social differences in body dysphoria that are both consistent with and contrary to clinical studies attributing eating disorders to white, upper-class females. Body dysphoria is substantially greater among females supporting that unrealistic cultural ideals and standards of body-appearance remain disproportionately targeted at females in the development and presentation of self. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics exhibit higher average levels of body dysphoria while African Americans exhibit lower levels of comparable proportion. The question is addressed whether identification with the dominant (white) culture influences distress over body-appearance among racial/ethnic minorities. A small inverse association is revealed between social class origin and body dysphoria suggesting that individuals from lower social class backgrounds are as greatly affected by body image concerns generally presumed to preoccupy upper social classes. ^ The stress process is a widely used theoretical paradigm for explaining structurally driven social differences in mental health outcomes. New evidence is introduced that the stress process may contribute to understanding body image problems. Regression analyses reveal that stress exposure has a significant positive association with body dysphoria that is mediated by varying psychosocial resources. Overall, the stress process explains the effects of social class origin and African American race/ethnicity on body dysphoria but does not account for the larger effects of being female or Hispanic. ^

Longitudinal effects of family factors on alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among males from pre-adolescence to adulthood

The goal of this study was to examine the longitudinal effects of five family factors on alcohol use among adolescent males. The family factors included familism (family pride, loyalty, and cohesion), parent derogation (being put down by parents), parent/child communication, family alcohol problems and family drug problems. The study focused on the effects of the family factors reported by a sample of 451 White-non-Hispanic and African American males during early and mid-adolescence on (1) the intensity of alcohol use in mid-adolescence, and (2) the number of problems associated with alcohol use during the transition to young adulthood. The study also explored racial differences in the effects of the family factors. The data for this study were derived from a two-phase longitudinal epidemiologic cohort study of male and female adolescents enrolled in middle schools in Miami, FL. Data were collected at four points between 1990 and 2001. Linear and logistical regressions were used to analyze the effects of the family variables on the dependent variables. ^ The results of the analyses indicated that all of the family variables except family drug problems were statistically significant predictors of the level of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Familism had a moderate influence on both of the dependent variables at all data points, while parent derogation, parent/child communication and family alcohol problems were weak predictors. While the family factors varied by race, their impact on the dependent variables did not vary substantially. ^ This study had methodological shortcomings related to measurement and design that may have contributed to the weak influence of the variables. Future studies should explore possible mediating effects of these variables, and should employ more sensitive measures that are culturally appropriate. The results suggest that, since early family factors have long-term effects on children's substance-using behaviors, the family environment should be addressed in prevention and intervention efforts. ^

The development and testing of a multivariate model of differentiation of self among Hispanics

Individuals of Hispanic origin are the nation's largest minority (13.4%). Therefore, there is a need for models and methods that are culturally appropriate for mental health research with this burgeoning population. This is an especially salient issue when applying family systems theories to Hispanics, who are heavily influenced by family bonds in a way that appears to be different from the more individualistic non-Hispanic White culture. Bowen asserted that his family systems' concept of differentiation of self, which values both individuality and connectedness, could be universally applied. However, there is a paucity of research systematically assessing the applicability of the differentiation of self construct in ethnic minority populations. ^ This dissertation tested a multivariate model of differentiation of self with a Hispanic sample. The manner in which the construct of differentiation of self was being assessed and how accurately it represented this particular ethnic minority group's functioning was examined. Additionally, the proposed model included key contextual variables (e.g., anxiety, relationship satisfaction, attachment and acculturation related variables) which have been shown to be related to the differentiation process. ^ The results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses confirmed and extended previous research, and helped to illuminate the complex relationships between key factors that need to be considered in order to better understand individuals with this cultural background. Overall results indicated that the manner in which Hispanic individuals negotiate the boundaries of interconnectedness with a sense of individual expression appears to be different from their non-Hispanic White counterparts in some important ways. These findings illustrate the need for research on Hispanic individuals that provides a more culturally sensitive framework. ^