SocialPosition : Social Position Indicators Construction Toolbox

This R package provides to sociologists (and related scientists) a toolbox to facilitate the construction of social position indicators from survey data. Social position indicators refer to what is commonly known as social class and social status. There exists in the sociological literature many theoretical conceptualisation and empirical operationalization of social class and social status. This first version of the package offers tools to construct the International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI) and the Oesch social class schema. It also provides tools to convert several occupational classifications (PCS82, PCS03, and ISCO08) into a common one (ISCO88) to facilitate data harmonisation work, and tools to collapse (i.e. group) modalities of social position indicators.

Non-take up i det svenska välfärdssystemet : Om betydelsen av social position för kvinnors beslut kring mammografiscreening

Non-take up in the Swedish welfare system: On the impact of social position on women’s decision-making regarding mammography screening Central to a well-functioning and effective welfare system is that benefits reach the people to whom they are intended. By focusing on an example of so called non-take up – namely women’s decision not to attend mammography screening – this article discusses decision making in relation to living conditions, i.e. social position, and to the public health intentions of the welfare state. The main theoretical basis for the analysis is Rogers’ humanistic/existential theory. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were made with 18 women who had abstained from mammography screening. Their decision was described, analyzed and problematized focused on whether their living conditions, leading to a strong or weak social position, is of relevance to their decision to refrain from this health promoting examination. The women’s own experiences clearly showed how their social position was of great importance for how they explained their decision to abstain. Furthermore, social position affects how women handle different impact from living conditions, society’s expectations and personal experiences of mammography screening. This study makes visible the gap between public health intentions of the society and individual conditions.  

Self-reported social class in adolescents: validity and relationship with gradients in self-reported health

Background: Analyzing social differences in the health of adolescents is a challenge. The accuracy of adolescent's report on familial socio-economic position is unknown. The aims of the study were to examine the validity of measuring occupational social class and family level of education reported by adolescents aged 12 to 18, and the relationship between social position and self-reported health.Methods: A sample of 1453 Spanish adolescents 12 to 18 years old from urban and rural areas completed a self-administered questionnaire including the Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition (CHIP-AE), and data on parental occupational social class (OSC) and level of education (LE). The responsible person for a sub-sample of teenagers (n = 91) were interviewed by phone. Kappa coefficients were estimated to analyze agreement between adolescents and proxy-respondents, and logistic regression models were adjusted to analyze factors associated with missing answers and disagreements. Effect size (ES) was calculated to analyze the relationship between OSC, LE and the CHIP-AE domain scores.Results: Missing answers were higher for father's (24.2%) and mother's (45.7%) occupational status than for parental education (8.4%, and 8.1% respectively), and belonging to a non-standard family was associated with more incomplete reporting of social position (OR = 4,98; 95%CI = 1,3–18,8) as was agreement between a parent and the adolescent. There were significant social class gradients, most notably for aspects of health related to resilience to threats to illness.ConclusionAdolescents can acceptably self-report on family occupation and level of education. Social class gradients are present in important aspects of health in adolescents.

Contexts and typologies in the analysis of welfare state legitimacy : a social psychological approach to political opinion formation

This dissertation analyses public opinion towards the welfare state across 29 European countries. Based on an interdisciplinary approach combining social psychological, sociological, and public opinion approaches to political opinion formation, it investigates how social position and shared beliefs shape perceived legitimacy of welfare institutions, and how social contexts impact on the processes of opinion formation. Drawing on social representations theory, as well as socialization and self-interest approaches, the dissertation analyses the role of social position in lay support for institutional solidarity. Normative beliefs-defined as preferred views regarding the organisation of social relations-mediate the effect of social position on welfare support. In addition, drawing on public opinion literature, the dissertation analyses opinion formation as a function of country-level structural (e.g., level of social spending, unemployment) and ideological factors (e.g., level of meritocracy). The dissertation comprises two theoretical and four empirical chapters. Three of the empirical chapters use data from the European Social Survey 2008. Using multilevel and typological approaches, the dissertation contributes to welfare attitude literature by showing that normative beliefs, such as distrust or egalitarianism, function as underlying mechanisms that link social position to policy attitudes (Chapter 3), and that characteristics of the national contexts influence the processes of political opinion formation (Chapters 3 and 4). Chapter 5 proposes and predicts a typology of the relationship between attitudes towards solidarity and attitudes towards control, reflecting the two central domains of government intervention. Finally, Chapter 6 examines welfare support in the realm of action and social protest, using data from a survey on Spanish Indigados activists. The findings of this dissertation inform contemporary debates about welfare state legitimacy and retrenchment. - Cette thèse avait pour but d'analyser l'opinion publique envers l'Etat social dans 29 pays européens. Basée sur une approche interdisciplinaire qui combine des perspectives psycho-sociales, sociologiques et d'opinion publique sur la formation d'opinion politique, la thèse étudie comment la position sociale et les croyances partagées façonnent la légitimité perçue des institutions de l'Etat social, et comment les contextes sociaux influencent les processus de formation d'opinion. Basée sur la théorie des représentations sociales, ainsi qu'une approche de socialisation et d'intérêt propre, cette thèse analyse le rôle des positions sociales dans le soutien envers la solidarité institutionnelle. Les croyances normatives-définies comme les visions préférées de l'organisation des rapports sociaux-médiatisent l'effet de la position sociale sur le soutien pour l'Etat social. De plus, s'inspirant de la littérature sur l'opinion publique, la thèse analyse la formation d'opinion en fonction des facteurs structurels (ex. le taux de dépenses sociales, le chômage) et idéologiques (ex. le degré de méritocratie). Cette thèse est composée de deux chapitres théoriques et quatre chapitres empiriques. Trois chapitres empiriques utilisent des données provenant de l'enquête European Social Survey 2008. Appliquant des approches multi-niveux et typoloqiques, la thèse contribue à la littérature sur les attitudes envers l'Etat social en montrant que les croyances normatives, telles que la méfiance ou l'égalitarisme, fonctionnent comme des mécanismes sous-jacents qui relient la position sociale aux attitudes politiques (Chapitre 3), et que les caractéristiques des contextes nationaux influencent les processus de formation d'opinion politique (Chapitres 3 et 4). Le chapitre 5 propose et prédit une typologie sur le rapport entre les attitudes envers la solidarité et celles envers le contrôle, renvoyant à deux domaines centraux de régulation étatique. Enfin, le chapitre 6 examine le soutien à l'Etat social dans le domaine de l'action protestataire, utilisant des données d'une enquête menée auprès des militants espagnols du mouvement des Indignés. Les résultats de cette thèse apportent des éléments qui éclairent les débats contemporains sur la légitimité de l'Etat social et son démantèlement.

Social entrepreneurship practices and social change In Brazil: a qualitative study in three non-governmental organizations

Social Entrepreneurship (SE) has attracted growing interest from a wide variety of actors over the last 30 years, especially due to a general agreement that it could be an important tool for tackling many of the world’s social ills. In the academic sphere, this growing interest did not translate into a matured field of study. Quite the opposite, a quick look at this literature makes it evident that: SE has been consistently subjected to numerous theoretical discussions and disagreements, especially over the definition of the concept of SE which is often based on a taken-for-granted notion of social change; it has been more systematically investigated in restricted contexts, often leaving aside so called developing/emerging countries like Brazil and especially lacking in-depth qualitative studies; SE literature lags behind SE practices and few studies focus on how SE actually occurs in a daily and bottom-up manner. In order to address such gaps, this thesis examines how social entrepreneurship practices accomplish social change in the context of Brazil. In this investigation I conducted an inductive practice-based, qualitative/ethnographic study in three Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) located in different cities in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Data collection lasted from February 2014 until March 2015 and was mainly done through participant observations and through in-depth unstructured conversations with research participants. Secondary data and documents were also collected whenever available. The participants of this study included a variety of the studied organizations’ stakeholders: two founders, volunteers, employees, donors and beneficiaries. Observation data was kept in fieldnotes, conversations were recorded whenever possible and were later transcribed. Data was analyzed through an iterative thematic analysis. Through this I identified eight recurrent themes in the data: (1) structure; (2) relationship with other organizational actors (sub-themes: relationship with state, relationship with businesses and relationship with other NGOs); (3) beliefs, spirituality and moral authority; (4) social position of participants, (5) stakeholders’ mobilization and participation; (6) feelings; (7) social purpose; and (8) social change. These findings were later discussed under the lens of practice theory, and in this discussion I argue and show that, in the context studied: (a) even though SE embraces a wide variety of different social purposes, they are intertwined with a common notion of social change based on a general understanding and aspiration for social equality; (b) this social change is accomplished in a processual and ongoing manner as stakeholders from antagonistic social groups felt compelled to and participated in SE practices. In answering the proposed research question the contributions of this thesis are: (i) the elaboration a working definition for SE based on its relationship with social change; (ii) providing in-depth empirical evidence which accounts for and explains this relationship; (iii) characterizing SE in the Brazilian context and reflecting upon its transferability to other contexts. This thesis also makes a methodological contribution, for it demonstrates how thematic analysis can be used in practice-based studies.

Os empoderados da agricultura familiar: capital social nos territórios do seridó e do sertão do Apodi/RN

The study of social practices aims to overcome the theoretical dichotomies that insist on separating the individual from the social structures and vice versa. In this sense, the debate between objectivism and subjectivism in the construction of social reality still has occupied much time and reflection of various scholars of the humanities. Pierre Bourdieu has extensive work that seeks to advance in relation to the theoretical framework of traditional sociological explanations. Bourdieu`s approach regarding social practices is considered by some researchers as a synthesis of classical theories and by others as an attempt of complexify contemporary studies on the significance of social life. This thesis sharesthis effort to understand the social practices of agents, aiming to analyze the strategies of social and political leaders of family farming in the territories of Seridó and Apodi in Rio Grande do Norte, and it has as reference the theoretical and methodological concepts of habitus, field and capital, in Bourdieu. Therefore, we studied the trajectories of social leaders, here called agents as family farming in the two locations in Rio Grande do Norte. As techniques and procedures of the study, we resortedto semi-structured interviews, observations, participation in events and other researches. In conclusion, this thesis gives an account of the construction of two different relational fields for the activities of agents of family farming in the territories of Seridó and Apodi. Although the relational fields in the territories have been structured under the same prevailing institutions, which are: church, union and political party, the social practice of agents shows itself from social position and political variety. Even with the similarities and differences identified and analyzed in different fields of construction, the social relations of the agents in the territories result in the construction of gated communities, the social capital that is the substrate which the agents called empowered .

Escola, televisão e internet na modernidade reflexiva: um estudo sobre a estruturação social a partir dos jovens

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Quando mudar é condição para permanecer: a escola Casa Familiar Rural e as estratégias de reprodução social do campesinato na Transamazônica (Pará-Amazônia)

Neste trabalho são analisadas as relações entre escolarização (configurada na Casa Familiar Rural) e as estratégias de reprodução das organizações sociais representativas do campesinato em interface com as famílias de agricultores na Transamazônica, frente pioneira de colonização no Oeste do Pará, particularmente no município de Medicilândia. Esta escola, pensada por estes agentes sociais e coletivos em um cenário nacional e regional de publicização dos quadros que fragilizam a agricultura de base camponesa, a partir de meados da década de 1990, tem sido instrumento da luta social. As tensões no espaço social, lidas como ‘crise da base’ e ‘crise dos sistemas de produção’, teriam desenhado simultaneamente uma ‘crise de formação’ na qual as finalidades da escola foram sendo construídas por desafios sócio-econômico e políticos. Este cenário teria constituído os jovens agricultores como categoria social, investidos da expectativa coletiva de tornarem-se, sob a mediação da CFR, técnicos agrícolas e/ou dirigentes, a fim de dar continuidade ao grupo (seja dos atores, nos campos das organizações sociais/sindicais e comunitário-religiosas; seja das famílias, na sucessão agrícola e na manutenção de sua posição social). As repercussões da CFR na condição camponesa destes jovens são analisadas a partir de dados qualitativos e quantitativos, tomando-se como referência os interesses e investimentos dos agentes sociais, das famílias, bem como as inserções sócio-profissionais no campo e/ou na cidade destes jovens após a escolarização. Os resultados da CFR, considerando-se esta escola como estratégia coletiva organizada que visa transformar para conservar o campo de lutas enquanto sistema de relações objetivas do grupo social que a constitui, revelam que a mesma tem possibilitado a permanência dos jovens agricultores no campo sob diversos arranjos em que se imbricam as relações com o campesinato, com a cidade, com o conhecimento escolar/técnico, e com uma ética de trabalho e relação com a terra/natureza “ambientalizada”. No âmbito dos grupos domésticos e da coletividade camponesa (nas quais se incluem as organizações representativas do grupo estudado), a posição social destes jovens caracteriza-se por formas de distinção social visíveis nas práticas sócio-produtivas intercedidas pelo capital escolar, bem como na posição de mediadores dirigentes e técnicos.

O serviço social no Brasil: a reinstrumentalização necessária

Pós-graduação em Serviço Social - FCHS

Ambiete de tanque-rede aumenta as interações agressivas e o estresse social na tilápia-do-Nilo

Pós-graduação em Aquicultura - FCAV

Deixis social en la relación Odiseo/Iro en Odisea 18.1-157

El enfrentamiento entre Odiseo e Iro ha sido usualmente interpretado como una secuencia más en el itinerario de violencia que debe sufrir Odiseo hasta su restauración como basiléus. El presente artículo realiza una lectura descriptiva y analítica de los deícticos utilizados en el combate Odiseo/Iro; así como de la escena consecuente que le sigue. Ambos personajes hablan desde una posición social ajena al espacio en el que se inscriben y el campo verbal que generan resulta el recipiente de una lectura de clases sociales en Odisea. Analizaremos cómo las diversas categorías de la deixis - personal, temporal, espacial y discursiva- inciden en la deixis social que el texto de Odisea 18.1-157 expone.

Territorio y extensión universitaria. Una experiencia de organización social en el Parque Pereyra Iraola

El trabajo que aquí se presenta recupera la experiencia de organización social y extensión que universitarios, militantes y técnicos rurales viene desarrollando en el Parque Pereyra Iraola desde el año 2001 junto a un grupo de 40 familias, como una estrategia de respuesta a la crisis. Se propone entender el proceso de transformación en la toma de posición territorial de los quinteros como un sistema de relaciones complejo entre la posición social de los productores, la irregularidad en la forma de tenencia de la tierra, la resistencia espontánea al desalojo, el posicionamiento de los extensionistas rurales que brindan asistencia técnica y la estrategia de conversión a la producción sin agrotóxicos.

Territorio y extensión universitaria. Una experiencia de organización social en el Parque Pereyra Iraola

El trabajo que aquí se presenta recupera la experiencia de organización social y extensión que universitarios, militantes y técnicos rurales viene desarrollando en el Parque Pereyra Iraola desde el año 2001 junto a un grupo de 40 familias, como una estrategia de respuesta a la crisis. Se propone entender el proceso de transformación en la toma de posición territorial de los quinteros como un sistema de relaciones complejo entre la posición social de los productores, la irregularidad en la forma de tenencia de la tierra, la resistencia espontánea al desalojo, el posicionamiento de los extensionistas rurales que brindan asistencia técnica y la estrategia de conversión a la producción sin agrotóxicos.

Territorio y extensión universitaria. Una experiencia de organización social en el Parque Pereyra Iraola

El trabajo que aquí se presenta recupera la experiencia de organización social y extensión que universitarios, militantes y técnicos rurales viene desarrollando en el Parque Pereyra Iraola desde el año 2001 junto a un grupo de 40 familias, como una estrategia de respuesta a la crisis. Se propone entender el proceso de transformación en la toma de posición territorial de los quinteros como un sistema de relaciones complejo entre la posición social de los productores, la irregularidad en la forma de tenencia de la tierra, la resistencia espontánea al desalojo, el posicionamiento de los extensionistas rurales que brindan asistencia técnica y la estrategia de conversión a la producción sin agrotóxicos.

Social differentiation of risk: perceptions of the future in drought-prone Central Niger

A snapshot of two Tuareg-dominated 'communes rurales' in the pastoral-agricultural transition zones of Maradi and Tahoua regions, Central Niger, shows that, despite the openly shared 'inevitable natural hazard' drought discourse, risk-taking action in response to drought-related dangers is sharply polarized according to social position. On the one hand the dominant Tuareg minority perceive drought not only as danger for their herds but also as opportunity to increase their political following through the channelling of drought relief benefits to their supporters. On the other hand, the majority of commune households, living on the brink of economic viability, cultivate social links with the dominant families in order to secure access to water, land and humanitarian aid; and household members are forced into more and more frequent and distant out-migration. Certain leaders, well-informed about national land policy and practice, focus their efforts for a better future on the consolidation of community land rights through the promotion of certain sedentarization and land privatization initiatives; however the resulting increased land pressure in key locations may unwittingly expose inhabitants to even worse drought-linked crises in the future. Bibliogr., notes, sum. in English and French