A Transformation of the Philosophical Thought of West European Liberalism in the Multi-National Central and South-Eastern European Milieu

This work was devoted to individual child development. Psychogenetic research has emphasised the importance of social factors in children's intellectual development and two social factors are looked at here, family size and birth order. The effect of the formal parameters is, however, very unstable and they should therefore be considered together with certain informal factors. Of these, parental educational style, which is an expression of national traditions at the family level, is of particular interest. Educational style is culture-dependent and only a comparative cross-cultural study can reveal the real mechanisms through which educational style influences children's intellectual and personality development. Dumitrascu carried out an experimental cross-cultural study dedicated to the effects of family environment on child intellectual development. This involved three distinct populations, each of which has a distinct status in their geographical area, namely Romanians, Romanies from Romania, and Russians from the Republic of Moldova. It showed a significant difference between child intelligence in those from large families and in only children, with a huge gap in the case of Romany children. This suggests that the simultaneous action of several negative factors (low socio-economic status, large family size, socio-cultural isolation of the population) may delay a child's development. Subjected to such a precarious environment, Romany children do not seek self-realisation but rather struggle to overcome hardship and the majority remain outside civilisation. Unfortunately, adult Romanies rarely show concern about their children's successful social integration, placing no value on the school as a major socialising tool. This leads to the conclusion that a major effort is needed to help Romanies' social integration.

Primary care physician supply and other key determinants of health care utilisation: The case of Switzerland

Background The Swiss government decided to freeze new accreditations for physicians in private practice in Switzerland based on the assumption that demand-induced health care spending may be cut by limiting care offers. This legislation initiated an ongoing controversial public debate in Switzerland. The aim of this study is therefore the determination of socio-demographic and health system-related factors of per capita consultation rates with primary care physicians in the multicultural population of Switzerland. Methods The data were derived from the complete claims data of Swiss health insurers for 2004 and included 21.4 million consultations provided by 6564 Swiss primary care physicians on a fee-for-service basis. Socio-demographic data were obtained from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. Utilisation-based health service areas were created and were used as observational units for statistical procedures. Multivariate and hierarchical models were applied to analyze the data. Results Models within the study allowed the definition of 1018 primary care service areas with a median population of 3754 and an average per capita consultation rate of 2.95 per year. Statistical models yielded significant effects for various geographical, socio-demographic and cultural factors. The regional density of physicians in independent practice was also significantly associated with annual consultation rates and indicated an associated increase 0.10 for each additional primary care physician in a population of 10,000 inhabitants. Considerable differences across Swiss language regions were observed with reference to the supply of ambulatory health resources provided either by primary care physicians, specialists, or hospital-based ambulatory care. Conclusion The study documents a large small-area variation in utilisation and provision of health care resources in Switzerland. Effects of physician density appeared to be strongly related to Swiss language regions and may be rooted in the different cultural backgrounds of the served populations.

Citizenship Education – Between Social Inequality and the Promises of Modernity

For several reasons citizenship and democracy has moved into political and research focus. Socio-cultural tensions and inequalities created by globalisation processes boosted by neo-liberal modes of government seem to inspire a concern with “social cohesion”, and the European Community assigns a key role to education in engendering European democratic citizenship. It can be questioned whether it is within the scope of educational programmes to ensure social integration and democracy. However, to clarify the perspectives of the educational issue, the article discusses the conflicts and relationships between cultural identity and democracy within a framework of modernity before returning to the issue of education for democratic citizenship. It is shown on the basis of empirical studies that family background interacts with school factors in the reproduction of democratic inequalities. It is also indicated, however, that this must not be considered an unchangeable pedagogical fact, and the article briefly sketches a set of pedagogical and research challenges concerned with educating for democratic empowerment at different levels of school practice. Although this paper focuses on education and the educational system, the arguments and findings presented can also claim relevance for social pedagogy and social work, esp. in respect of recent developments that stress the educational dimensions of social work.

Is There a Culture of Violence in Colombia?

During the past decade, economic factors have been given a prominent role in explaining political violence. The example of Colombia shows that economic factors can explain the ubiquitous nature of violence in that country only in the context of a socio-culturally rooted propensity to use violence. The study draws on relevant published research to identify evidence of a culture of violence in Colombia and discusses the structural conditions that allow or cause such a culture to arise. It is shown that violence in Colombia cannot be explained without taking into account cultural factors that are in turn dependent on other explanatory factors, including economic ones.

Crossing borders: Ethnic minorities matter? A meta analytic examionation of the alliance-outcome relationship

Objectives: The purpose of this meta analysis was to examine the moderating impact of substance use disorder as inclusion/exclusion criterion as well as the percentage of racial/ethnic minorities on the strength of the alliance-outcome relationship in psychotherapy. It was hypothesized that the presence of a dsm axis i substance use disorders as a criterion and the presence of racial/ethnic minority as a psychosocial indicator are confounded client factors reducing the relationship between alliance and outcome. Methods: A random effects restricted maximum-likelihood estimator was used for omnibus and moderator models (k = 94). results: the presence of (a) substance use disorder and, (b) racial/ethnic minorities (overall and specific to african americans) partially moderated the alliance-outcome correlation. The percentage of substance use disorders and racial/ethnic minority status was highly correlated. Conclusions: Socio-cultural contextual variables should be considered along with dsm axis i diagnosis of substance use disorders in analyzing and interpreting mechanisms of change.

Economic analysis of soil conservation: Case studies from the highlands of Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Soil degradation is widespread in the Ethiopian Highlands. Its negative impacts on soil productivity contribute to the extreme poverty of the rural population. Soil conservation is propagated as a means of reducing soil erosion, however, it is a costly investment for small-scale farming households. The present study is an attempt to show whether or not selected mechanical Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) technologies are profitable from a farmer’s point of view. A financial Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is carried out to assess whether or not the considered SWC technologies are profitable from a farmer’s point of view. The CBA is supplemented by an evaluation of aspects from the economic and institutional environment. Whether or not soil conservation is profitable from a farmer’s point of view depends on a broad range of factors from the ecological, economic, political, institutional and socio-cultural sphere and also depends on the technology and the prevailing farming system. Because these factors are closely interlinked, it is often not sufficient to change or influence one to make SWC profitable. Several recommendations are formulated with regard to improving the profitability of SWC investments from a farmer’s point of view. Because the reasons for unsustainable resource use are manifold and highly interlinked, only a multi-stakeholder, multi-level and multi-objective approach is likely to offer solutions that address the underlying problems adequately.

Culture and the social context of health inequalities

There has been a great deal of interest and debate recently concerning the linkages between inequality and health cross-nationally. Exposures to social and health inequalities likely vary as a consequence of different cultural contexts. It is important to guide research by a theoretical perspective that includes cultural and social contexts cross-nationally. If inequality affects health only under specific cultural conditions, this could explain why some of the literature that compares different societies finds no evidence of a relationship between inequality and health in certain countries. A theoretical framework is presented that combines sociological theory with constructs from cultural psychology in order to identify pathways that might lead from cultural dimensions to health inequalities. Three analyses are carried out. The first analysis explores whether there is a relationship between cultural dimensions at the societal level and self-rated health at the individual level. The findings suggest that different cultural norms at the societal level can produce both social and health inequalities, but the effects on health may differ depending on the socio-cultural context. The second analysis tests the hypothesis that health is affected by the density of social networks in a society, levels of societal trust, and inequality. The results suggest that commonly used measures of social cohesion and inequality may have both contextual and compositional effects on health in a large number of countries, and that societal measures of social cohesion and inequality interact with individual measures of social participation, trust, and income, moderating their effects on health. The third analysis explores whether value systems associated with vertical individualist societies may lead to health disparities because of their stigmatizing effects. I test the hypothesis that, within vertical individualist societies, subjective well-being will be affected by a social context where competition and the Protestant work ethic are valued, mediated by inequality. The hypothesis was not supported by the available cross-national data, most likely because of inadequate measures, missing data, and the small sample of vertical individualist countries. The overall findings demonstrate that cultural differences are important contextual factors that should not be overlooked when examining the causes of health inequalities. ^

The effect of African Americans' ethnographic paradigms and cultural explanatory model of breast cancer in framing the male partner's attitudes and behaviors about the woman's breast cancer diagnosis

The disparate burden of breast cancer-related morbidity and mortality experienced by African American women compared with women of other races is a topic of intense debate in the medical and public health arenas. The anomaly is consistently attributed to the fact that at diagnosis, a large proportion of African American women have advanced-stage disease. Extensive research has documented the impacts of cultural factors and of socioeconomic factors in shaping African American women's breast-health practices; however, there is another factor of a more subtle influence that might have some role in establishing these women's vulnerability to this disease: the lack of or perceived lack of partner support. Themes expressed in the research literature reflect that many African American breast cancer patients and survivors consider their male partners as being apathetic and nonsupportive. ^ The purpose of this study was to learn how African American couples' ethnographic paradigms and cultural explanatory model of breast cancer frame the male partners' responses to the women's diagnosis and to assess his ability to cope and willingness to adapt to the subsequent challenges. The goal of the study was to determine whether these men's coping and adaptation skills positively or negatively affect the women's self-care attitudes and behaviors. ^ This study involved 4 African American couples in which the woman was a breast cancer survivor. Participants were recruited through a community-based cancer support group and a church-based cancer support group. Recruitment sessions were held at regular meetings of these organizations. Accrual took 2 months. In separate sessions, each male partner and each survivor completed a demographic survey and a questionnaire and were interviewed. Additionally, the couples were asked to participate in a communications activity (Adinkra). This activity was not done to fulfill any part of the study purpose and was not included in the data analysis; rather, it was done to assess its potential use as an intervention to promote dialogue between African American partners about the experience of breast cancer. ^ The questionnaire was analyzed on the basis of a coding schema and the interview responses were analyzed on the principles of hermeneutic phenomenology. In both cases, the instruments were used to determine whether the partner's coping skills reflected a compassionate attitude (positive response) versus an apathetic attitude (negative response) and whether his adaptation skills reflected supportive behaviors (the positive response) versus nonsupportive behaviors (the negative response). Overall, the women's responses showed that they perceived of their partners as being compassionate, yet nonsupportive, and the partner's perceived of themselves likewise. Only half of the women said that their partners' coping and adaptation abilities enabled them to relinquish traditional concepts of control and focus on their own well-being. ^ The themes that emerged indicate that African American men's attitudes and behaviors regarding his female partner's diagnosis of breast cancer and his ability to cope and willingness to adapt are influenced by their ritualistic mantras, folk beliefs, religious teachings/spiritual values, existential ideologies, socioeconomic status, and environmental factors and by their established perceptions of what causes breast cancer, what the treatments and outcomes are, and how the disease affects the entire family, particularly him. These findings imply that a culturally specific intervention might be useful in educating African American men about breast cancer and their roles in supporting their female partners, physically and psychologically, during diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. ^

Latino perceptions of and barriers to preventive healthcare maintenance in the southwest United States

Between the 1990 and 2000 Censuses, the Latino population accounted for 40% of the increase in the nation’s total population. The growing population of Latinos underscores the importance for understanding factors that influence whether and how Latinos take care of their health. According to the U.S. Department of Human Health Service’s Office of Minority Health (OMH), Latinos are at greater risk for health disparities (2003). Factors such as lack of health insurance and access to preventive care play a major role in limiting Latino use of primary health care (Institute of Medicine, 2005). Other significant barriers to preventive health care maintenance behaviors have been identified in current literature such as primary care physician interaction, self-perceived health status, and socio-cultural beliefs and traditions (Rojas-Guyler, King, Montieth and 2008; Meir, Medina, and Ory, 2007; Black, 1999). Despite these studies, there remains less information regarding interpersonal perceptions, environmental dynamics and individual and cultural attitudes relevant to utilization of healthcare (Rojas-Guyler, King, Montieth and 2008; Aguirre-Molina, Molina and Zambrana, 2001). Understanding the perceptions of Latinos and the barriers to health care could directly affect healthcare delivery. Improved healthcare utilization among Latinos could reduce the long term health consequences of many preventable and manageable diseases. The purpose of this study was to explore Latino perceptions of U.S. health care and desired changes by Latinos in the U.S. healthcare system. The study had several objectives, including to explore perceived barriers to healthcare utilization and the resulting effects on health among Latinos, to describe culturally influenced attitudes about health care and use of health care services among Latinos, and to make recommendations for reducing disparities by improving healthcare and its utilization. The current study utilized data that were collected as part of a larger study to examine multidimensional, cross-cultural issues relevant to interactions between healthcare consumers and providers. Qualitative methods were used to analyze four Spanish-language focus group transcripts to interpret cultural influences on perceptions and beliefs among Latinos. Direct coding of transcript content was carried out by two reviewers, who conducted independent reviews of each transcript. Team members developed and refined thematic categories, positive and negative cases, and example text segments for each theme and sub-theme. Incongruities of interpretations were resolved through extensive discussion. Study participants included 44 self-identified Latino adults (16 male, 28 female) between age 18 and 64 years. Thirty seven (84.1%) of the participants were immigrants. The study population comprised eight ethnic subgroups. While 31% of the participants reported being employed on a full-time basis, only 18.4% had medical insurance that was private or employee sponsored. Five major themes regarding the perceptions and healthcare utilization behaviors of Latinos were consistent across all focus groups and were identified during the analysis. These were: (1) healthcare utilization, experience, and access; (2) organizational and institutional systems; (3) communication and interpersonal interactions between healthcare provider, staff, and patient; (4) Latinos’ perception of their own health status; (5) cultural influences on healthcare utilization, which included an innovation termed culturally-bound locus of control. Healthcare utilization was directly influenced by healthcare experience, access, current health status, and cultural factors and indirectly influenced by organizational systems. There was a strong interdependence among the main themes. The ability to communicate and interact effectively with healthcare providers and navigate healthcare systems (organizational and institutional access) significantly influenced the participant’s health care experience, most often (indirectly) impacting utilization negatively. ^ Research such as this can help to identify those perceptions and attitudes held by Latinos concerning utilization or underutilization of healthcare systems. These data suggest that for healthcare utilization to improve among Latinos, healthcare systems must create more culturally competent environments by providing better language services at the organizational level and more culturally sensitive providers at the interpersonal level. Better understanding of the complex interactions between these impediments can aid intervention developments, and help health providers and researchers in determining appropriate, adequate, and effective measurers of care to better increase overall health of Latinos.^

Perspectivas socio-educativas en Educación Especial

Estamos transitando un tiempo histórico que nos remite a profundas transformaciones emergentes que han desestabilizado las matrices heredadas de las instituciones modernas. En este escenario, pensar en las perspectivas socio-educativas en Educación Especial, supone dar cuenta de dimensiones simbólicas que aluden a una diversidad de concepciones sobre -la realidad en diferentes contextos, la función pedagógica y sus múltiples relaciones, la producción de conocimientos y su distribución socio-cultural, la razón jurídica y las relaciones de poder- que articulan y otorgan complejos sentidos a nuestros espacios de actuación profesional. Esta publicación convoca principalmente al diálogo, con la intencionalidad de intercambiar y dar a conocer construcciones compartidas entre -investigadores, formadores y profesionales de diferentes disciplinas- quienes contribuimos a mejorar la calidad de vida de personas con discapacidad. Ser lectores de las acciones humanas no significa a nuestro criterio, determinar cuál es la lectura correcta entre todas las posibles. Explorar el sustrato de las propias ideas y experiencias para compartirlas con otros, da lugar al pensamiento divergente. Producir conocimientos entre diferencias, interpela nuestros posicionamientos teóricos y prácticos, abre al debate, permite plantear contradicciones y dilemas, tópicos fundamentales para fortalecer el trabajo académico. En este marco, la idea es apostar a un espacio de difusión de las producciones científicas, en el ámbito nacional e internacional, con un espíritu dialogal y activo, con responsabilidades sociales, éticas y políticas. Como decía Paulo Freire… “por la práctica del diálogo y no de la polémica. Por la receptividad de lo nuevo, no sólo por nuevo, y por la no negación de lo viejo, sólo por viejo, sino por la aceptación de ambos, en cuanto a su validez. Por inclinarse siempre a la censura. Esta posición transitivamente crítica implica un regreso a la verdadera matriz de la democracia".

Inversiones extranjeras vitivinícolas y desarrollo socio-económico

En esta tesina se aborda el estudio de la relación entre las inversiones extranjeras directas (IED) y el desarrollo social dentro de la trama vitivinícola en Mendoza. En primer lugar, el propósito general de este estudio es investigar de qué manera han marcado estas inversiones el entorno donde se radicaron; si modificaron de alguna manera o mejoraron las condiciones de vida de los habitantes, en una nueva concepción del desarrollo social y humano. En segundo lugar, se pone de manifiesto el gran aporte en conocimiento e innovaciones tecnológicas que significaron las IED y, que dejaron fuera de esta trama a muchos pequeños productores que no tuvieron la capacidad o instrumentos para efectuar una rápida adecuación e integración. Por último se pone de manifiesto la millonaria inversión y el escaso compromiso socio-cultural de estas inversiones extranjeras en todo lo referido a lo que representa la vendimia, como hecho cultural, del pueblo mendocino.

Clínica de odontología : la orientación hacia el paciente

En el ámbito de la relación profesional odontólogo-paciente, se verifica la tendencia hacia la consideración del lugar que ocupa el paciente como sujeto portador de derechos, lo que se complementa con un modelo de teorías y acciones orientadas primero hacia la salud y luego hacia la enfermedad. Proponemos, a modo de introducción, una perspectiva interdisciplinaria basada en la imbricación de factores de orden socio-cultural y una filosofía de trabajo centrada en el reconocimiento del rol de paciente como sujeto que demanda acciones en favor de su salud.

La cuestión del "xarnego" en la literatura de Juan Marsé : identidad cultural y conflicto social

La comunicación propuesta trata sobre los diferentes aspectos de la narrativa de Juan Marsé relacionados con la figura y la imagen de lo que en la cultura catalana se ha denominado como "xarnego", es decir, el inmigrante (por lo general "andaluz") en Catalunya. Esta denominación conlleva un matiz discriminatorio y racista con respecto a los catalanes "puros" y además conforma todo un arquetipo social del español arrogante, resentido y de origen incierto. Tales son a grandes rasgos los aspectos que Marsé "representa" en su literatura, basada ya en las novelas de Candel de los años 50 y que atañe a la identidad cultural del "ser" de Catalunya y a un conflicto social en el marco del desarrollo económico y cultural de la posguerra y de las décadas siguientes. La comunicación tiene como hilo conductor las siguientes novelas de Juan Marsé: Últimas tardes con Teresa, La oscura historia de la prima Montse y El amante bilingüe. Cada una de estas novelas serán analizadas desde una perspectiva socio-cultural siguiendo el desarrollo de la imagen del "xarnego".

Propuestas desde la antropología para el abordaje de las dimensiones socio-culturales del cuerpo : Un aporte al debate Educación Física / Educación Corporal

El objetivo de este artículo es realizar un aporte desde la Antropología socio-cultural al debate que se está dando entre Educación Física y Educación Corporal. Dado el énfasis de esta última perspectiva por incluir en sus prácticas la consideración de que el cuerpo no es asimilable al organismo biológico y que es indisoluble de los contextos socio-culturales, haré referencia a la noción contemporánea de cultura y a los debates que se han dado en la Antropología acerca de la distinción entre naturaleza y cultura. Junto con este problema, y haciéndome eco del interés actual en el campo de la Educación Corporal por analizar las diferencias entre las nociones de organismo y de cuerpo, y sus implicancias en las prácticas de las profesoras y los profesores del área, revisaré las conceptualizaciones socio-antropológicas sobre el cuerpo, distinguiendo diferentes líneas de abordaje sobre lo corporal. Para ejemplificar esta problemática, haré referencia a la concepción pionera de Marcel Mauss de "técnicas corporales"

Propuestas desde la antropología para el abordaje de las dimensiones socio-culturales del cuerpo : Un aporte al debate Educación Física / Educación Corporal

El objetivo de este artículo es realizar un aporte desde la Antropología socio-cultural al debate que se está dando entre Educación Física y Educación Corporal. Dado el énfasis de esta última perspectiva por incluir en sus prácticas la consideración de que el cuerpo no es asimilable al organismo biológico y que es indisoluble de los contextos socio-culturales, haré referencia a la noción contemporánea de cultura y a los debates que se han dado en la Antropología acerca de la distinción entre naturaleza y cultura. Junto con este problema, y haciéndome eco del interés actual en el campo de la Educación Corporal por analizar las diferencias entre las nociones de organismo y de cuerpo, y sus implicancias en las prácticas de las profesoras y los profesores del área, revisaré las conceptualizaciones socio-antropológicas sobre el cuerpo, distinguiendo diferentes líneas de abordaje sobre lo corporal. Para ejemplificar esta problemática, haré referencia a la concepción pionera de Marcel Mauss de "técnicas corporales"