Social Sciences

Despite a small but growing literature on gang disengagement and desistance, little is known about how social networks and changes in networks correspond to self-reported changes in street gang membership over time. The current study describes the personal or “ego” network composition of 228 street gang members in two east coast cities in the United States. The study highlights changes in personal network composition associated with changes in gang membership over two waves of survey data, describing notable differences between those who reported leaving their gang and fully disengaging from their gang associates, and those who reported leaving but still participate and hang out with their gang friends. Results show some positive changes (i.e., reductions) in criminal behavior and many changes toward an increase in prosocial relationships for those who fully disengaged from their street gang, versus limited changes in both criminal behavior and network composition over time for those who reported leaving but remained engaged with their gang. The findings suggest that gang intervention programs that increase access to or support building prosocial relationships may assist the gang disengagement process and ultimately buoy desistance from crime. The study also has implications for theorizing about gang and crime desistance, in that the role of social ties should take a more central role. Full article

In a previous study on integrating minority groups in Ostrobothnia in 2019, one of the most influential challenges was that Finland was not including native Finns in the integration process. This finding was made using the structured democratic dialogue (SDD). For the present study, the same participatory methodology was applied, wherein 12 participants from diverse socio-economical, cultural, and educational background who reside in Ostrobothnia were brought together to explore feasible action plans to facilitate the inclusion of Finns in the integration process in the city of Vaasa in this region of Finland. The participants generated 66 action plans categorized under eight clusters. Based on the influence map generated by participants, Action #62 stated that the most influential one was “All projects are inclusive”. Action #55 stated, “Balanced representation of all the people (Finns, minorities and foreigners) in the political parties” and Action #49 stated, “Social-emotional education curriculum” were perceived as having great influence on other actions. Thus, drawing from the results of this SDD Co-Lab, these action plans should be considered priorities in order to successfully include Finns in the integration process. The low number of participants and the narrow representation of some minority groups are limitations of this study. Full article

Being a victim of abuse in childhood can lead to the development of trauma-related psychopathology, which could affect the testimony of the child victim. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a factor that can increase both the levels of suggestibility and the production of memory errors, such as confabulations, which can be identified in distortions and fabrications. No studies have analyzed the relationship between suggestibility, fabrications, distortions, and PTSD on samples of children and adolescents suspected of being sexually abused. This study aims to verify in a sample of 221 sexually abused children and adolescents the effect of PTSD, measured by Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Children, in increasing the levels of immediate and delayed suggestibility and the production of fabrications and distortions in immediate and delayed memory tasks, obtained by Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale 2, controlling age and non-verbal intelligence. Our results show that PTSD increases the levels of immediate and delayed suggestibility, but it has no effect on memory recall in immediate recall tasks. Moreover, PTSD leads to a greater number of distorted and fabricated information inserted in delayed memory. Forensic implications of PTSD consequences on memory tasks and suggestibility levels of sexually abused children are discussed. Full article

While big data (BD) has been around for a while now, the social sciences have been comparatively cautious in its adoption for research purposes. This article briefly discusses the scope and variety of BD, and its research potential and ethical implications for the social sciences and sociology, which derive from these characteristics. For example, BD allows for the analysis of actual (online) behavior and the analysis of networks on a grand scale. The sheer volume and variety of data allow for the detection of rare patterns and behaviors that would otherwise go unnoticed. However, there are also a range of ethical issues of BD that need consideration. These entail, amongst others, the imperative for documentation and dissemination of methods, data, and results, the problems of anonymization and re-identification, and the questions surrounding the ability of stakeholders in big data research and institutionalized bodies to handle ethical issues. There are also grave risks involved in the (mis)use of BD, as it holds great value for companies, criminals, and state actors alike. The article concludes that BD holds great potential for the social sciences, but that there are still a range of practical and ethical issues that need addressing. Full article

A growing literature advocates for using a labor perspective to study sex work. According to this approach, sex work involves many of the costs, benefits, and possibilities for exploitation that are common to many jobs. We add to the field with an examination of job attributes and mental health. Our analysis is comparative and uses data from a panel study of people in sex work and hairstyling. We examined job attributes that may differ across these occupations, such as stigma and customer hostility, as well as those that may be more comparable, such as job insecurity, income, and self-employment. Our analysis used mixed-effects regression and included an array of time-varying and time-invariant variables. Our results showed negative associations between mental health and job insecurity and stigma, for both hairstyling and sex work. We also found two occupation-specific relationships: for sex work, limited discretion to make decisions while at work was negatively related to mental health, whereas for hairstyling, mental health was positively associated with self-employment. Our results highlight the usefulness of an inter-occupational labor perspective for understanding the mental health consequences of being in sex work compared to hairstyling. Full article

There is a growing importance of competences as an essential curricular element in higher education since they allow for the transfer of knowledge to diverse academic and professional contexts. For the foundation, taxonomy and classification of this study, we obtained ratings from 543 students at two prestigious Spanish universities. The different competences were grouped by management and planning, higher cognitive skills, quality management and innovation, expression and communication and knowledge acquisition. We evaluated the attitudes of university students regarding competences in a pedagogical design; it was expected that students valued the importance of competencies in pedagogical contexts and the skill in these competences. Students highlighted the importance of management and planning, higher cognitive skills, quality management and innovation, expression and communication, knowledge society and teamwork. A correlation analysis between the importance of and skill in the studied competences was also included. Obtained data detail the importance that students give to competences. The participants also detailed the deficiencies in their skill on most competences. The lack of correlation between importance and skill is detailed, as well as the importance of management and planning competences in curricular design in higher education. Full article

Spanish healthcare workers’ professional identity is intricately associated with the idea of vocation, among others values. This attitude has become even more marked during the current COVID-19 pandemic—during which these professionals have endured a gruelling workload that has tested the limits of their physical and mental strength. The objective of this study is to open a debate on the symbolic dimensions of identity and culture among healthcare professionals (mainly doctors and nurses), analysing the factors that, on the one hand, might reinforce this symbolic system or, on the other, might question it or cause it to be restructured. The study follows an anthropological perspective, with the thematic content analysis of twenty-two in-depth interviews with primary healthcare professionals. The results show the need to dissect the symbolic and structural factors underpinning anxiety and fear in medical professional performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. These have a significant impact on the current model of medical practice and its most visible and worrying consequence, continuous occupational distress. The conclusions suggest that these models need to be reviewed since there is a notorious dissonance between their strengths and weaknesses. Full article

Research suggests that runaway and homeless youth (RHY) in the United States are vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking. In this paper, we report and analyze estimates of sex and labor trafficking collected as part of the Atlanta Youth Count 2018, a community-based field survey of RHY between the ages of 14 and 25 in the metro-Atlanta area. A total of 564 participants were recruited and completed a survey that included questions about their backgrounds as well as the Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST). We found that 39.9% experienced some form of trafficking while homeless. While 15.6% of the youth reported commercial sexual exploitation while homeless, coerced labor (29.3%) or fraud (25.2%) were even more common experiences. Women, transgender, and gender nonconforming youth, as well young people who had prior system involvement and those who had been homeless for more than a year were the most likely to report having been trafficked. The significance of these findings for research and policy on RHY and trafficking are discussed. Full article

Intimate partner violence is a threat to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 by 2030. The challenge of intimate partner violence is prevalent among immigrants. However, little is known about the peculiarity of intimate partner violence in intra-ethnic marriages, especially among immigrants within sub-Saharan Africa. This study examined the factors contributing to intimate partner violence among Senegalese immigrants who live in Nigeria. It also examined the extent of intimate partner violence in intra-ethnic marriages. Referrals and exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling were utilized to interview 20 participants. Results show that social factors such as gender norms, cultural norms, patriarchy, and economic challenges were the major factors contributing to intimate partner violence among Senegalese immigrants living in Nigeria. Marriage to someone from the same ethnic group does not prevent intimate partner violence as the factors contributing to this social problem are not exclusive to ethnic group affiliation. Informal measures such as ethnic group association and neighborhood assistance are the measures used to resolve household violence among immigrants. Contextually, programs aimed at reducing and stopping intimate partner violence should incorporate the support of informal groups and community leaders who are the custodians of culture in the society. Full article

A growing body of literature highlights how teachers and administrators influence Black girls’ academic and social experiences in school. Yet, less of this work explores how Black undergraduate women understand their earlier school experiences, particularly in relation to whether teachers advocated for their educational success or participated in discriminatory practices that hindered their potential. Using consensual qualitative research (CQR) methods, the present semi-structured interview study explored the narratives of 50 Black undergraduate women (mean age = 20 years) who reflected on their experiences with teachers and school administrators during high school. Five discriminatory themes emerged, including body and tone policing, exceptionalism, tokenization, cultural erasure in the curriculum, and gatekeeping grades and opportunities. Three anti-racist themes emerged, including communicating high expectations and recognizing potential, challenging discrimination in the moment, and instilling racial and cultural pride. Our findings highlight the higher prevalence of discriminatory events compared to anti-racist teacher practices, as well as how the women’s high school experiences occurred at the intersection of race and gender. The Authors discuss the need to incorporate gender and sexism into discussions of anti-racist teacher practices to address Black girls’ experiences of misogynoir. We hope our findings contribute to educational initiatives that transform the learning landscape for Black girls by demonstrating how educators can eliminate pedagogical practices that harm their development. Full article

Educational challenges for companies are created by market regulation less frequently versus market dynamics. Yet when law-enforced educational challenges appear, they have a significant impact on companies and their employees. This empirical study focuses on a new professional qualification regulation on the market of consumer credit in the Czech Republic. We analyze how companies cope with the new law-enforced educational requirements and whether the regulation has been successful. We analyzed more than 1900 certification tests. The sample accounted for approximately 10% of all employees tested in the Czech Republic in the first year of the regulation. All test variants were found unique, the expected point score of each variant had skewed distributions with only a small number of difficult variants. A significant majority of the tests showed expected values in an interval of 60–75% with only several outliers; test difficulty was balanced. The professional qualification tests separated employees with the required knowledge from those without and excluded accidental success. We identified a successful education management system that resulted in success rates above the country average: decentralized regional managers supervision, employee financial participation, and effective e-learning. We found structural changes in the market supply structure. Companies with professionally skilled employees met the regulatory conditions. The regulation combining centrally-provided requirements and questions with the market-based method of preparing for the professional qualification test was successful. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic, its duration, and its intensity are harbingers of demographic change. In the context of social demography, it is crucial to explore the social challenge emerging from the coronavirus disease. The main purpose of this study is (i) to explore the determinants that affected the population in Greece in terms of social isolation during the lockdown period and (ii) to examine possible differences in the assessment of the social isolation factors depending on whether individuals live in urban or rural areas or regions with relative geographical isolation. Field research was conducted with 4216 questionnaires during the first wave of COVID-19 (March to April 2020). Multivariate analysis methods were applied to detect the main factors that impacted the feeling of social isolation, and nonparametric tests were performed to detect possible differences between population groups. Despite the resistance shown to the spread of the disease, the Greek population totally complied with the measures of social distancing and thus was socially and psychologically affected. The results indicate that psychosomatic disorders, employment situations, changes in sleep habits, socialization on the Internet, demographic status, health concerns, and trust in government and the media response determine the Greeks’ social isolation feeling. Pandemic and confinement measures have consequences for individuals and social groups and may prejudice social cohesion at multiple levels. By understanding how the pandemic affected the societies, interventions and public policies may be implemented to ensure both social cohesion and populations’ wellbeing by addressing the social isolation feeling. Full article

The purpose of this study was to analyze the current status and needs of infrastructure for basic life in Gwangjin district in Seoul, South Korea. In this study, we examined whether the national minimum standard was satisfied in terms of the infrastructure for basic life in the district. Specifically, we employed and compared the empirical utilities of two types of geographic datasets, 100-square-meter grids and 500-square-meter grids. The study compares the prediction accuracy between two types of geographic datasets by employing multivariate linear estimation using influential factors. The evaluation methods for prediction accuracy were to compare the root mean of squared error (RMSE) and mean of absolute error (MAE) from each dataset. The results were as follows: (a) the dataset with 100-square-meter grids showed more significant associations among influential factors and the infrastructure than the dataset with 500-square-meter grids; (b) the 100-square-meter grids showed better prediction accuracy compared with the 500-square-meter grids; and (c) in terms of basic level local government, it was more powerful to use the datasets with 100-square-meter grids for finding blind sides of infrastructure than the datasets with 500-square-meter grids. The results imply that it is necessary to adjust urban policy by using appropriate datasets, such as 100-square-meter grids. Full article

Technology can be helpful for family relationships. Media multiplexity theory illustrates that the more technological connections (i.e., multimodality) an individual has with their family members, the stronger that relationship. Yet, this theory assumes that spending time face to face (FtF) is equitable to multimodality for relationship quality. The goal of this study is to examine the impact of online and offline interactions for the quality of family relationships. Data are from undergraduate students completing an online survey (N = 154). Results reveal that spending time FtF is better for the quality of relationships for one parent, but not the other. Although FtF was not significantly different for grandparent and sibling relationships, participants felt closer to siblings when they texted. Correlational analyses revealed that individuals scoring high in collectivism report that spending time FtF is associated with higher relationship closeness and love, particularly with parents, but not other family members. These results provide some evidence for the importance of spending quality time with family members, particularly for those who identify as collectivistic. Full article

Over the last few years, research in the educational field has conducted specific and broad analysis of intercultural education, with a solid theoretical basis and an advanced body of empirical research. However, the link between an intercultural approach and the theme of sustainable development, which has recently become an important aspect of international educational policies, remains less explored. The publication of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the definition of the goals for the millennium has made it necessary to deepen this link. The article aims to expand on the connection between intercultural education and sustainable development, highlighting the potential for the intercultural approach to contribute to reaching the objectives of the 2030 Agenda. An intercultural perspective is key to achieving the aims of ensuring quality education, combating exclusion and gaining a perspective of conscious and critical global citizenship. Full article

Over the previous decade, there has been a notable shift within sex work marketplaces, with many aspects of the work now facilitated via the internet. Many providers and clients are also no longer engaging in in-person negotiations, opting instead for communications via technological means, such as through mobile phones, email, and the internet. By analysing the qualitative interviews of indoor-based providers, clients, and agency managers, this paper addresses the occupational health and safety concerns that indoor sex workers experience in the digital age, as well as how technology use can both support and hinder their capacity to promote their health and safety. Using thematic analysis, we arrived at three salient and nuanced themes that pertain to the intersection of sex work, technology use, and occupational health and safety: screening; confidentiality, privacy, and disclosure; and malice. As socio-political context can affect the occupational health and safety concerns that providers experience, as well as their capacity to prevent or mitigate these concerns, we highlight our findings in light of prevailing societal stigma and a lack of legal recognition and protections for sex work in Canada. Full article

The Safavid society’s approach to sexuality and gender has made it a reference for the “pre-modern” discourse, in which gender and sexuality manifest—in contemporary terminology—queerness and fluidity. While it is important not to romanticize the image of the Orient as a queer heaven, it is possible to consider Safavid society as an important site of inquiry that offers valuable insights on pre-colonial gender and sexuality. A less discussed topic in Safavid literature on gender and sexuality is gendered and sexual slavery. This study conducts a review of primary and secondary literature on the Safavid period, including Western travelogues. The paper aims to outline the relations between existing forms of captivity and factors such as gender and ethnic background. The research explores the prevalence of slavery reported in Safavid literature and how slaves’ positions were defined within social hierarchies. Full article

While migration research is at the peak of its productivity, a substantial gap persists between scientific evidence and policy action. As societal complexity increases, migration theory loses track on the numerous factors of human migration; the information on the most relevant factors affecting human migration (i.e., migration drivers), essential for policy decision-making, are hidden and dispersed across the ever-growing literature. Introducing a novel approach to conducting a literature review, emphasizing an unbiased selection of literature and the approach to analysing literature by coding, we collect evidence on the most pertinent migration factors. The study establishes a methodology for a quick but rigorous, collaborative gathering of evidence, as well as an initial inventory and an interactive map of nearly 200 factors working at different migration corridors. Full article