Cultural racism, language prejudice and discrimination in hospital contexts : an Australian study

This article explores the idea that racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare may be expressive of unacknowledged practices of cultural racism. In conducting this exploration, the researchers identify, describe and discuss the practice of language prejudice and discrimination by health service providers, discovered serendipitously in the context of a broader study exploring cultural safety and cultural competency in an Australian healthcare context. The original study involved individual and focus groups interviews with 145 participants recruited from over 17 different organisational and domestic home sites. Participants included health service managers, ethnic liaison officers, qualified health interpreters, cultural trainers/educators, ethnic welfare organisation staff, registered nurses, allied health professionals, and healthcare consumers. Participants self-identified as being from over 27 different ethnocultural and language backgrounds.

Analysis of the data revealed that English language proficiency, like skin colour, was used as a social marker to classify, categorise, and negatively evaluate people of non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) in the contexts studied. Negative evaluations, in turn, were used to justify the exclusion of NESB people from healthcare relationships and resources. Further data analysis revealed that underpinning the negative attitudes and behaviours in hospital domains concerning people who spoke accented English or who did not speak English proficiently were a dislike of difference, fear of difference, intolerance of difference, fear of competition for scarce healthcare resources, repressed hostility toward difference, and ignorance.

Highlighting the implications of language prejudice for the safety and quality care of NESB people, the researchers call for further internationally comparative research and debate on the subject.

Sex differences in past tense overregularization

Hartshorne and Ullman (2006) presented naturalistic language data from 25 children (15 boys, 10 girls) and showed that girls produced more past tense overregularization errors than did boys. In particular, girls were more likely to overregularize irregular verbs whose stems share phonological similarities with regular verbs. It was argued that the result supported the Declarative/Procedural model of language, a neuropsychological analogue of the dual-route approach to language. In the current study we present experimental data that are inconsistent with these naturalistic data. Eighty children (40 males, 40 females) aged 5;0–6;9 completed a past tense elicitation task, a test of declarative memory, and a test of non-verbal intelligence. The results revealed no sex differences on any of the measures. Instead, the best predictors of overregularization rates were item-level features of the test verbs. We discuss the results within the context of dual versus single route debate on past tense acquisition.

A sex difference in the cortisol response to tail docking and ACTH develops between 1 and 8 weeks of age in lambs

It is important to understand factors that may influence responses to stress, as these factors may also influence vulnerability to pathologies that can develop when stress responses are excessive or prolonged. It is clear that, in adults, the sex of an individual can influence the cortisol response to stress in a stressor specific manner. Nevertheless, the stage of development at which these sex differences emerge is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that there are sex differences in the cortisol response to tail docking and ACTH in lambs of 1 and 8 weeks of age. We also established cortisol responses in males when tail docking was imposed alone and in combination with castration at these ages. In experiment 1, 1 and 8 week old male and female lambs were subjected to sham handling, tail docking or, in males, a combination of tail docking and castration. In experiment 2, we administered ACTH (1.0 IU/kg) to male and female lambs at 1 and 8 weeks of age. There were significant cortisol responses to all treatments at both ages. Sex differences in the cortisol responses to tail docking and ACTH developed between 1 and 8 weeks of age, with females having greater responses than males. The data suggest that the mechanism for the sex difference in response to tail docking may involve the adrenal glands. At both ages, in males, the cortisol response to the combined treatment of tail docking and castration was significantly greater than that for tail docking alone.

Sex difference in the suppressive effect of cortisol on pulsatile secretion of luteinizing hormone in sheep

We tested the hypothesis that there are sex differences in the inhibitory effect of cortisol on pulsatile LH secretion and pituitary responsiveness to GnRH in gonadectomized sheep. In experiment 1, pulsatile LH secretion was examined in gonadectomized ewes and rams infused with either saline, a low (250 µg/kg·h) or a high (500 µg/kg·h) dose of cortisol for 30 h. In experiment 2, direct pituitary actions of cortisol were assessed by monitoring LH pulse amplitude in response to exogenous GnRH in hypothalamo-pituitary disconnected ewes and rams infused with the low dose of cortisol. In experiment 1, the mean (±SEM) plasma LH concentration was (P < 0.05) reduced significantly during cortisol infusion in both sexes, but the effect was greater in rams. In ewes, LH pulse amplitude and frequency were reduced (P < 0.05) at the high, but not the low, cortisol dose, whereas total LH output (LH pulse amplitude multiplied by frequency) was reduced (P < 0.05) at both doses. In rams, LH pulse frequency and amplitude and total LH output were (P < 0.05) reduced significantly at both cortisol doses. In experiment 2, plasma LH concentration and pulse amplitude in response to exogenous GnRH were not affected by infusion of cortisol in either sex. We conclude that gonadectomized rams are more sensitive than gonadectomized ewes to the effects of cortisol to inhibit LH secretion and that sex differences exist in the specific actions of cortisol on LH pulses. The results of experiment 2 suggest that intact hypothalamic input to the pituitary is necessary for cortisol to inhibit pituitary responsiveness to GnRH.

Short term reoffending by child victim sex offenders in New Zealand : a comparison of those with and without extended supervision

Sexual offenders with child victims in New Zealand who are considered at high risk for reoffending are subject to an Extended Supervision Order. This allows for a period of supervision of up to ten years following release to the community. The present study examined 89 offenders given Extended Supervision Orders over the 33 month period since the legislation was enacted. All types of reoffending resulting in criminal convictions by this group were included. A matched sample of sexual offenders with child victims released prior to this legislation and a sample of offenders judged to be lower risk were compared to those under extended supervision. Offenders under extended supervision reoffended faster and at a higher rate for both sexual and general offences than those deemed lower risk, but at a lower rate than pre-extended supervision high risk offenders. The relationship between specialist treatment programme attendance and completion, actuarial risk level, and recidivism in the extended supervision sample were also investigated. These variables were found not to be significant predictors of sexual recidivism.

Bureaucratic, corporate/market and network governance : shifting spaces for gender equity in education

Education as a field of policy, research and practice has been reconfigured over four decades by economic, social and cultural globalization in conjuncture with neoliberal policies premised upon markets and new managerialism. One effect has been shifting boundaries between, and understandings of what constitutes the public and the private with regard to the role of the state vis-á-vis the formation of gendered subjectivities and civil society and the gendering of public– private relations in and between family and work. Drawing on feminist readings of Bourdieu and critical policy sociology, I consider the implications of a move from bureaucratic educational governance framed by state welfarism to corporate or market governance framed by the post-welfare state, and consider whether particular constructions of globalization and corporate/market governance lead to network governance. Network governance, it is argued, is premised on new forms of sociality and institutional reconfigurations of knowledge-based economies and a spatialized state that coordinates rather than regulates multiple public– private providers. The question is how each mode of governance frames various possibilities and problems for gender equity in education.

Perceived discrimination in Mapuche discourse : contemporary racism in Chilean society

This paper documents the experiences of perceived discrimination by Mapuches, the largest aboriginal group in Chile, focusing on their oral discourse about the phenomenon. As part of a national research project, 100 Mapuches were interviewed about their perception of discrimination toward them. These interviews were analyzed using the four-level method developed by Merino, which is mainly based on local semantic strategies and argumentative sequences and topoi. The analysis suggests that racism is experienced in everyday interethnic interactions by means of four modes: verbal, behavioral, institutional and macro-social. Verbal racism includes name-calling (e.g. 'indio' [Indian]) and stereotyping (e.g. 'primitive'), and prejudiced remarks. Behavioral racism includes looking, ignoring, avoiding, segregating and denial of identity. In the institutional mode, denial of opportunities and discrimination in various public offices, private institutions and services are frequent, with perpetrators acting on behalf of the institution for which they work. The macro-social mode includes cultural dominance of the economic and educational systems, and an ethnocentric perspective of history. The findings suggest the presence of a racist ideology underlying Mapuche's discursive reproduction of the way Chileans talk and think about them and behave toward them.

Single-sex classes in co-educational schools

This research investigated social and academic outcomes from single-sex classrooms in a Tasmanian coeducational government primary school. Interviews, observations and surveys formed the basis of the evidence. Teachers, parents and children reported positive benefits from the class organisation, but these differed according to gender. Staff identified increased confidence and higher self-esteem among girls, whereas boys developed increased motivation and more commitment to schoolwork. Teachers and parents noted that boys' accountability and self-discipline improved. Teachers adopted different strategies from those used with mixed-gender classes and gained higher levels of satisfaction from teaching, attributable to increased children's time 'on task'. Paradoxically, standardised school testing indicated no increase in academic achievements. However, there may be an extended lag between establishing changed social relationships and measurable academic outcomes, suggesting that if the new class structure is to achieve its full potential, it should be established early in primary school and continue to adolescence.

Trade commitments in education services : the need to move out of the current impasse

Education services is included as part of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). This inclusion, however, has not gone without its critics, and discussions about the liberalization of education remain distinctly polarized. This article seeks to bring a more balanced debate to the mix by presenting the case of New Zealand, one of the most liberalized World Trade Organization (WTO) Members in trade in education services. Through this case study, it is discussed how New Zealand has chosen to shape the growth of the education market and steer its developments by including controlled mechanisms as part of its regulatory framework.