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. ^

QUALIDADE DE VIDA NO TRABALHO: COM A PALAVRA OS FUNCIONÁRIOS PÚBLICOS

O tema desta pesquisa é a Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho dos funcionários públicos da Secretaria de Saúde de Barra Mansa/RJ. Trata-se de um estudo de caso de natureza quanti-qualitativa, exploratória e descritiva que tem como objetivos compreender o que é a QVT na ótica do funcionário público, verificar que percepções ele possui acerca de sua própria QVT e, a partir daí, compreender se na esfera pública é possível construir um novo sentido para a QVT que se aproxime de um compromisso com a coletividade e com a vida. O modelo de QVT de Walton, a análise dos instrumentos de onze outras pesquisas realizadas em diversas instituições brasileiras e a coleta de sete depoimentos dos sujeitos pesquisados, acerca de suas histórias profissionais, suas impressões gerais sobre a QVT, orientaram a elaboração do instrumento utilizado nesta pesquisa. Coletaram-se 205 questionários válidos quantidade suficiente para a utilização da análise fatorial como método estatístico, por meio do software SPSS , além de mais dois depoimentos, em entrevistas abertas, os quais, somados aos sete já obtidos por ocasião da preparação do instrumento de pesquisa, foram utilizados na análise qualitativa que também se fez. Os principais resultados encontrados apontam que a QVT dos funcionários públicos pesquisados é de razoável a boa e que eles associam QVT a uma série de aspectos objetivos e subjetivos da vida no trabalho. Muitos deles estão presentes no modelo de Walton, porém emergiram alguns que vão além do que o modelo abrange. É exatamente nesta lacuna que parece ser possível construir novos sentidos para a QVT que a aproximam de um compromisso com a coletividade e com a vida, numa lógica diferente daquela individualista e instrumental que marcam sua origem no setor privado. A partir daí se abre a possibilidade de se pensar em políticas públicas participativas.

QUALIDADE DE VIDA NO TRABALHO: COM A PALAVRA OS FUNCIONÁRIOS PÚBLICOS

O tema desta pesquisa é a Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho dos funcionários públicos da Secretaria de Saúde de Barra Mansa/RJ. Trata-se de um estudo de caso de natureza quanti-qualitativa, exploratória e descritiva que tem como objetivos compreender o que é a QVT na ótica do funcionário público, verificar que percepções ele possui acerca de sua própria QVT e, a partir daí, compreender se na esfera pública é possível construir um novo sentido para a QVT que se aproxime de um compromisso com a coletividade e com a vida. O modelo de QVT de Walton, a análise dos instrumentos de onze outras pesquisas realizadas em diversas instituições brasileiras e a coleta de sete depoimentos dos sujeitos pesquisados, acerca de suas histórias profissionais, suas impressões gerais sobre a QVT, orientaram a elaboração do instrumento utilizado nesta pesquisa. Coletaram-se 205 questionários válidos quantidade suficiente para a utilização da análise fatorial como método estatístico, por meio do software SPSS , além de mais dois depoimentos, em entrevistas abertas, os quais, somados aos sete já obtidos por ocasião da preparação do instrumento de pesquisa, foram utilizados na análise qualitativa que também se fez. Os principais resultados encontrados apontam que a QVT dos funcionários públicos pesquisados é de razoável a boa e que eles associam QVT a uma série de aspectos objetivos e subjetivos da vida no trabalho. Muitos deles estão presentes no modelo de Walton, porém emergiram alguns que vão além do que o modelo abrange. É exatamente nesta lacuna que parece ser possível construir novos sentidos para a QVT que a aproximam de um compromisso com a coletividade e com a vida, numa lógica diferente daquela individualista e instrumental que marcam sua origem no setor privado. A partir daí se abre a possibilidade de se pensar em políticas públicas participativas.

The Egoist.

Editors: Jan.-June 1914, Dora Marsden: July 1914- Harriet S. Weaver.

Demographic effects on the use of vertical sources of guidance by managers in widely differing cultural contexts

Data provided by 7380 middle managers from 60 nations are used to determine whether demographic variables are correlated with managers’ reliance on vertical sources of guidance in different nations and whether these correlations differ depending on national culture characteristics. Significant effects of Hofstede’s national culture scores, age, gender, organization ownership and department function are found. After these main effects have been discounted, significant although weak interactions are found, indicating that demographic effects are stronger in individualist, low power distance nations than elsewhere. Significant non-predicted interaction effects of uncertainty avoidance and masculinity-femininity are also obtained. The implications for theory and practice of the use of demographic attributes in understanding effective management procedures in various parts of the world are discussed.

Loyalty without Conformity: Tailoring Self-perception as a Means of Balancing Belonging and Differentiation

We argue that members of individualist cultures balance their desire to belong with their desire to be different by maintaining a self-image as being loyal but relatively immune to group influence. Consistent with this, in Study 1 there was a strong tendency for people to rate themselves as being more independent (i.e., less conformist) than other people in their college. College students also rated themselves as being highly loyal to the group, however no self - other discrepancies were found on this dimension. This is despite the fact that traits of loyalty were rated more positively than were traits of independence. Study 2 provided evidence that culture influences the pattern of self - other discrepancies. Whereas people from individualist countries self-enhance on independence dimensions, people from collectivist countries self-enhance on loyalty dimensions. Again, these effects could not be explained as being a function of how positive these traits were seen to be, suggesting a cultural explanation rather than a straight forward superiority bias explanation for the observed discrepancies in self - other ratings. Results are discussed in relation to the SCENT model.

Group-directed criticism in Indonesia: Role of message source and audience

Research in individualist cultures has shown that group members are more likely to agree with criticisms of their group when the criticisms are made by another ingroup member as opposed to an outgroup member (the intergroup sensitivity effect). However, evaluations of ingroup critics are often harsher when they take their comments to an outgroup audience. In light of research on facework and tolerance for dissent, it seems important to test whether these effects are generalizable to a collectivist culture. Indonesian Muslims (N = 191) received a criticism of their religion stemming either from another Muslim or a Christian, and published in either a Muslim or a Christian newspaper. Participants agreed with the comments more when they were made by an ingroup as opposed to an outgroup member. Furthermore, consistent with previous research in Australia, the effects of audience on agreement were moderated by levels of group identification. Results are discussed in relation to theory about the functional role internal critics can play in group life.

QUALIDADE DE VIDA NO TRABALHO: COM A PALAVRA OS FUNCIONÁRIOS PÚBLICOS

O tema desta pesquisa é a Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho dos funcionários públicos da Secretaria de Saúde de Barra Mansa/RJ. Trata-se de um estudo de caso de natureza quanti-qualitativa, exploratória e descritiva que tem como objetivos compreender o que é a QVT na ótica do funcionário público, verificar que percepções ele possui acerca de sua própria QVT e, a partir daí, compreender se na esfera pública é possível construir um novo sentido para a QVT que se aproxime de um compromisso com a coletividade e com a vida. O modelo de QVT de Walton, a análise dos instrumentos de onze outras pesquisas realizadas em diversas instituições brasileiras e a coleta de sete depoimentos dos sujeitos pesquisados, acerca de suas histórias profissionais, suas impressões gerais sobre a QVT, orientaram a elaboração do instrumento utilizado nesta pesquisa. Coletaram-se 205 questionários válidos quantidade suficiente para a utilização da análise fatorial como método estatístico, por meio do software SPSS , além de mais dois depoimentos, em entrevistas abertas, os quais, somados aos sete já obtidos por ocasião da preparação do instrumento de pesquisa, foram utilizados na análise qualitativa que também se fez. Os principais resultados encontrados apontam que a QVT dos funcionários públicos pesquisados é de razoável a boa e que eles associam QVT a uma série de aspectos objetivos e subjetivos da vida no trabalho. Muitos deles estão presentes no modelo de Walton, porém emergiram alguns que vão além do que o modelo abrange. É exatamente nesta lacuna que parece ser possível construir novos sentidos para a QVT que a aproximam de um compromisso com a coletividade e com a vida, numa lógica diferente daquela individualista e instrumental que marcam sua origem no setor privado. A partir daí se abre a possibilidade de se pensar em políticas públicas participativas.

Singapore's online retail deviants:analyzing the rise of blogshops' power

Geography, retailing, and power are institutionally bound up together. Within these, the authors situate their research in Clegg's work on power. Online shopping offers a growing challenge to the apparent hegemony of traditional physical retail stores' format. While novel e-formats appear regularly, blogshops in Singapore are enjoying astonishing success that has taken the large retailers by surprise. Even though there are well-developed theoretical frameworks for understanding the role of institutional entrepreneurs and other major stakeholders in bringing about change and innovation, much less attention has been paid to the role of unorganized, nonstrategic actors-such as blogshops-in catalyzing retail change. The authors explore how blogshops are perceived by consumers and how they challenge the power of other shopping formats. They use Principal Components Analysis to analyze results from a survey of 349 blogshops users. While the results show that blogshops stay true to traditional online shopping attributes, deviations occur on the concept of value. Furthermore, consumer power is counter intuitively found to be strongly present in the areas related to cultural ties, excitement, and search for individualist novelty (as opposed to mass-production), thereby encouraging researchers to think critically about emerging power behavior in media practices.

Piaci rend és társadalmi normák. Hayek elmélete a társadalmi evolúcióról (Market order and social norms Hayek's theory of social evolution)

A hayeki szociokulturális evolúció elmélete a piaci rend elemzésének általánosítása. Hayek mind a piaci rend, mind a piaci rend alapzatául szolgáló társadalmi intézmények kialakulását és működését azonos logika alapján magyarázza. Ez a logika az egyéni cselekvések nem szándékolt következményeként értelmezi a spontán rend és a csoportszintű magatartásszabályok kialakulását és fennmaradását. A társadalmi normák magyarázatában a módszertani individualizmus elveinek érvényesítéséért az evolucionista perspektíva feladásával kellene fizetni. Hayek azonban a társadalmi normák magyarázatára is az evolucionista megközelítést alkalmazza, ezért egészíti ki a módszertani individualista megközelítést funkcionalista-evolucionista érvekkel. A szociokulturális evolúció hayeki elmélete példa arra, hogy a módszertani individualizmusra épülő magyarázat és a funkcionalista érvelés nem kiszorítja, hanem kiegészíti egymást. _____ Hayek's theory of socio-cultural evolution is a generalization of his theory of market order. He explains in the same way the development and operation of market order and those of the social institutions on which market order is based. This logic interprets the development and persistence of spontaneous order and group-level behaviour rules as an unintentional consequence of individual actions. In his explanation of social norms, enforcement of the principles of methodological individualism has to be paid for by abandoning the evolutionist perspective. But Hayek also employs an evolutionist approach in his explanation of social norms, and so he augments his methodological individualist approach with some functionalist-cum-evolutionist arguments. Hayek's theory of sociocultural evolution, for instance, exemplifies how an explanation resting on methodological individualism and a functionalist argument can complement, not preclude each other.

Contradições como força de mudança: o processo de formação continuada de professores do ensino médio enquanto potencializador da práxis transformadora à luz da teoria histórico-cultural

The intervention research proposed was based on the Cultural-Historical Theory based on the laws and logic of materialism historical-dialectical. Therefore, we tried to design a research process that involved all as responsible for the process. In the field of continuous teacher's training usually has been found dualistic relationship / paradoxical processes as a result of the adopted training models which are characterized by individualist human processes. The teacher training work sought to overcome this dualism, to promote the unveiling of the contradictions with regard to teaching models. As a hypothesis, we imagined that immersed in this process, teachers recognize such contradictions, and this recognition would make the contradictions become the driving force of change in teaching practice, realizing the teaching-learning-development triad as the basis of praxis. Aiming to develop a process of continuing education to bring results to the professional teachers development looking for answer the following research question: How and what the changes of teachers who participated in the Didactic-Formative Intervention process raised the quality of their teaching practices? In this context, the objective of the research was to develop a process of Didactic-Formative Intervention from the perspective of Cultural-Historical Theory with high school teachers in order to theorize about the changes in pedagogical practices of teachers and learn aspects that transform the essence teaching practice. The research involved two high school teachers of a public school in Uberlândia-MG. The training meetings took place at the school through a collective study group between the years 2013 and 2015. As procedures were used two interconnected aspects: classes observations, and a theoretical and methodological training, both for diagnosis and for the process evaluation, the second aspect has a formative dimension, and a didactic dimension (double meaning) to form didactically the teacher and to elaborate didactic procedures. The collected data were analyzed by observing the assumptions of the method, analysis by units and the processuality. As results teachers showed changes in their teaching practices regarding the organization of the pedagogical work and also centered their design educational actions based on learning and development of the students. The presence of continuous diagnosis during the classes, work with a systems of concepts and their conceptual links, problematization as a teaching method can be pointed as meaningful changes in their praxis. Regarding the training activities that emerged from the analysis of the compiled materials and analyzed throughout the process can be emphasized: forming a collective group of school teachers continuous training, diagnostics, development of practical activities, increase relationships among participants, the choice of scientific material used should have direct relation to the needs of the participants, promoting conditions that enable the emergence of contradictions between the pedagogical practice of teachers and teaching based on the perspective of the Cultural-Historical Theory. This research craved to develop and design a teachers' training processes that increase the quality of teachers life and ways of teaching in the Brazilian public school.

Exploring the Justificational Status of Assertions Made About Nursing’s Collective Beliefs

Nursing publications frequently reference groups (e.g. the group nurses). The nature and capabilities of group agents or collective subjects, and the relationship between nursing as a group and nurses as individuals is, however, rarely made explicit in these publications. Following Alvin Goldman, questions pertaining to groups can be classified as metaphysical or epistemic. Metaphysical questions take two forms. First, we might ask about the ontological status of group agents. For example, to what extent, if at all, do group agents exist and act independently of their constituent members? Second, we can ask whether group agents have psychological states or properties that can, for example, be formulated as propositional attitudes and, if they can, in what ways are group attitudes correlated with or tied to those of individual group members? In this presentation, having recognised the potential reality of group ontological and psychological being, I examine an under researched element of social epistemology. Specifically, the potential of non-individualist reliabilism (social process reliabilism) to justify doxastic group beliefs (i.e. statements such as “nurses believe that”) are considered. It is suggested that this issue has concrete implications for how we think about nursing.

“Refugee Voices,” New Social Media and Politics of Representation: Young Congolese in the Diaspora and Beyond

This article examines the role of new social media in the articulation and representation of the refugee and diasporic “voice.” The article problematizes the individualist, de-politicized, de-contextualized, and aestheticized representation of refugee/diasporic voices. It argues that new social media enable refugees and diaspora members to exercise agency in managing the creation, production, and dissemination of their voices and to engage in hybrid (on- and offline) activism. These new territories for self-representation challenge our conventional understanding of refugee/diaspora voices. The article is based on research with young Congolese living in the diaspora, and it describes the Geno-cost project created by the Congolese Action Youth Platform (CAYP) and JJ Bola’s spoken-word piece, “Refuge.” The first shows agency in the creation of analytical and activist voices that promote counter-hegemonic narratives of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, while the second is an example of aesthetic expressions performed online and offline that reveal agency through authorship and ownership of one’s voice. The examples highlight the role that new social media play in challenging mainstream politics of representation of refugee/diaspora voices.

Composite Indicators for the Family Change: ‘Familism' vs ‘Individualism' in the International Context

The aim of this paper is to propose a composite indicator to measure ‘familism’, conformed by two main dimensions: values on one hand (duty to take care of the family, importance of the family, sacrifices for the family...) and behaviours, on the other (predominance of married couples instead of cohabitant couples, high frequency of contact among members, family support…). In contrast to this idea of ‘familism’ we find that of individualism, that defends the independence of family members, tolerance to new family models, cohabitation instead of marriage,… , that implies less frequency of interaction among relatives and more governmental intervention towards children and elderly care. We observe that a higher degree of ‘familism’ does not always match with a lower degree of individualism when both dimensions, attitudes and behaviours, are considered. For instance, we find countries which are individualist in values but not in behaviours (such as Spain), whilst others, such as Japan, are ‘familist’ both in values and behaviours and finally, others, such as Sweden, are individualist with regards to both perspectives. We propose two different methodological approaches to the question. First, we use microdata from the Family, Work and Gender Roles module of the International Social Survey Programme-ISSP (years 1994, 2002 and 2012), in which 45 countries have participated. Information for the three rounds is collected for 17 countries with very different family values and welfare systems (for instance, Sweden, Japan, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom or the United States). From this data source, we create a first index on familism that can be related to individual sociodemographic characteristics. Second, we complete it through the inclusion of macro data (such as the divorce rate per country), in order to refine comparison at a country level by adding new variables to the previous index.

Composite Indicators for the Family Change: ‘Familism' vs ‘Individualism' in the International Context

The aim of this paper is to propose a composite indicator to measure ‘familism’, conformed by two main dimensions: values on one hand (duty to take care of the family, importance of the family, sacrifices for the family...) and behaviours, on the other (predominance of married couples instead of cohabitant couples, high frequency of contact among members, family support…). In contrast to this idea of ‘familism’ we find that of individualism, that defends the independence of family members, tolerance to new family models, cohabitation instead of marriage,… , that implies less frequency of interaction among relatives and more governmental intervention towards children and elderly care. We observe that a higher degree of ‘familism’ does not always match with a lower degree of individualism when both dimensions, attitudes and behaviours, are considered. For instance, we find countries which are individualist in values but not in behaviours (such as Spain), whilst others, such as Japan, are ‘familist’ both in values and behaviours and finally, others, such as Sweden, are individualist with regards to both perspectives. We propose two different methodological approaches to the question. First, we use microdata from the Family, Work and Gender Roles module of the International Social Survey Programme-ISSP (years 1994, 2002 and 2012), in which 45 countries have participated. Information for the three rounds is collected for 17 countries with very different family values and welfare systems (for instance, Sweden, Japan, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom or the United States). From this data source, we create a first index on familism that can be related to individual sociodemographic characteristics. Second, we complete it through the inclusion of macro data (such as the divorce rate per country), in order to refine comparison at a country level by adding new variables to the previous index.