Search Results (241)

This study employs Gaussian kernel principal component analysis to construct a composite indicator of environmental behavior willingness from nine dimensions. Using multiple categorical ordered linear regression models and their interaction models, it examines the differential influence mechanisms of social strata (economic status, education, social prestige) and environmental perception from gender, inter-provincial, and regional perspectives. Key empirical findings are the following: (1) Environmental willingness formed within the same social stratum based on shared perception levels shows consistent characteristics, with no significant gender differences observed. (2) Higher education deepens understanding of environmental policies, promoting the shift from awareness to willingness. However, it also enhances recognition of environmental complexity, which may foster a situational sense of powerlessness, often channeled into systemic advocacy rather than the belief that individual actions are insignificant. (3) Regional disparities are evident. For example, the perception of air pollution positively correlates with willingness in Hebei and Jiangsu but negatively in Beijing and Liaoning. (4) The middle social stratum in eastern and central regions shows more stimulable environmental willingness, contributing to sustainable regional environmental engagement. Conversely, in the western region, improving the economic status of lower- and middle-stratum residents is key to significantly enhancing the sustainability of overall regional willingness. This study reveals the varied drivers of environmental willingness by integrating multidimensional indicators and a social-class perspective, highlighting the regional role of environmental perception and advancing theory on socio-cognitive interactions in environmental sociology. Practically, it provides evidence for differentiated policy design, suggesting tailored incentives across social strata and regions, including measures to address “action paralysis” among the highly educated and to combine economic support in western China for fostering sustainable public environmental participation. Full article

Attitudes towards COVID-19 and lived experiences during the pandemic depended greatly on people’s level of education. This study extends a previous analysis of vaccine hesitancy as a function of formal education and examines additional indicators from the COVID-19 Trends and Impacts Survey for the United States during 2021–2022. The monthly values for social and health-related activities and constraints, testing and vaccination decisions, and information-seeking behaviours, as well as trust and beliefs, often varied markedly between education-defined classes. Many indicators present a significant gap between the attitudes and experiences of better-educated groups, represented by college/university graduates and those with post-graduate studies, on the one hand, and less-educated groups, including those with only high school or some college education, on the other hand. These patterns suggest that the academic and professional-managerial classes, which supply the vast majority of societal decision-makers, may be ill-equipped to understand and respect the needs and worries of the working class in an emergency situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Given growing concerns about the benefit–harm balance of many government policies, a more inclusive pandemic response could have been achieved by respecting and adopting the common sense, scepticism, and outright opposition of the less-educated groups vis-a-vis restrictions and public health measures. Full article

This article examines digital inequalities in Italy through a sociological lens, arguing that the digital divide is not merely a technological issue but a manifestation of broader social stratification. Drawing on data from ISTAT (2023–2024), the analysis explores disparities in Internet access and computer use among families with minors and young people aged 6–24. While connectivity has reached near universality, significant territorial, educational, and social gaps persist, reflecting enduring inequalities in resources and opportunities. The study interprets these patterns through the framework of first-, second-, and third-level digital divides, linking them to theory of cultural capital and digital capital. Results indicate that inequalities extend beyond access, encompassing differences in digital skills, motivation, and the capacity to translate online participation into educational or social advantages. Gendered expectations further influence these dynamics, shaping distinct patterns of engagement with technology. The discussion highlights how digitalization acts as a mechanism of social reproduction, where access and competence are mediated by pre-existing disparities in education and culture. From a policy perspective, the paper calls for a shift from infrastructure-oriented strategies toward capability-based digital education that fosters critical, ethical, and future-oriented digital citizenship. Full article

This article explores the crucial role of media education and media literacy as effective tools in combating disinformation. In the context of the growing influence of digital media and the increasing spread of fake news, propaganda, and manipulative content, the authors examine the level of awareness among young people regarding key media-related concepts such as media literacy, fake news, propaganda, and disinformation. A sociological survey was conducted among students from two Ukrainian higher education institutions—Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and Lviv Polytechnic National University—involving 277 respondents. The research aimed to evaluate the depth of understanding and preparedness of youth to critically assess media content and recognize signs of manipulative information. The findings indicate a clear trend: media awareness and critical thinking skills improve progressively from secondary school students to university students. This article emphasizes the importance of integrating media literacy into formal education systems as a long-term strategy to build a more informed and resilient society. The authors highlight the need for systematic educational initiatives and practical training in media literacy to empower young audiences in navigating the complex media environment and resisting the impact of disinformation. Full article

The entry is intended to define the concepts of risk communication and emergency communication. At the same time, it explains the difference not only from a communication point of view but also from a cultural one. Risk and emergency are two sociologically relevant events, and they are culturally constructed. They are events that bring about a socio-cultural change, which, in turn, is triggered by the population’s responses on the basis of the social perception of the events themselves, also conveyed by the different forms of communication. When communicating risk and emergencies, it is essential to educate people about alert and emergency systems. Above all, what they refer to and what kind of message they contain. The “warning communication” must be specific and refer exclusively to the threat to start the first phase of the communication through which it is possible to understand the type of threat and define the communication plan to be implemented later. The use of social media, which is strongly spread in digital society, allows not only rapid dissemination of information but also rapid communication and message selection (speed and content of the message are equally important). Alert and warning systems are very often linked to risk systems, since the risk from natural disasters (eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis) or technological catastrophes (nuclear power plant explosions) follows emergency phases when the phenomenon occurs. The communication processes, in and emergency, must be able to explain, persuade but also confer an assist the political decision-maker and the decision-making process itself through an alert system (especially in the first phase), followed by continuous dissemination through the media that the digital society offers, as well as through the usual systems adopted by government bodies (for example, bulletins and news), specialized research institutions and institutes with information and communication functions. In risk and emergency management, information and communication are to be considered, respectively, a basic element and a means of dissemination and training to educate the population to perceive a risk, to recognise emergencies and the possible impact of the risk. Differences will be expressed and analysed with reference to international examples. Full article

Patriarchy has long structured Christian life and practice. In many Baptist settings, even formal affirmations of women in leadership leave a gap between stated commitments and women’s lived experience. This study investigates how Baptist congregations cultivate empowering environments for women by tracing the interplay of beliefs, practices, and processes through which theology is enacted in congregational life. Drawing on feminist theology and lived-religion perspectives, and using constructivist grounded theory, we conducted nine semi-structured interviews with 15 women clergy across seven U.S. Baptist congregations. Analysis proceeded through iterative initial, focused, and theoretical coding with attention to reflexivity and trustworthiness. Findings highlight four interlocking dynamics: structural shifts in leadership and policy that institutionalize gender equity; cultural and theological intentionality in worship and congregational routines; relational practices of support and education; and the persistence of microaggressions and benevolent sexism that complicate progress. Synthesizing these themes, we adapt Cornwall’s cyclical account of empowerment and Carr’s feminist praxis into a Spiral of Congregational Empowerment for Women comprising six phases (see Discussion). This study contributes to feminist theology, congregational studies, and the sociology of religion and offers practical implications for congregations and ministerial formation to align worship, policy, culture and accountability for sustained gender equity. Full article

Labour migration from Central and Eastern Europe plays a significant role in the labour market of the European Union, yet few studies examine the direction and extent of occupational mobility triggered by migration. This study introduces a new analytical tool, the Career Benefit Index, which measures the direction of change in occupational status between the labour markets of the country of origin and the host country. The tool also enables the assessment of sociological factors that explain these changes. The index was developed using data from Hungarian workers living in Austria and Germany. The analysis revealed that educational attainment has no significant impact on career mobility. In contrast, demographic factors such as gender, age, and particularly very high-level German language proficiency strongly influence career trajectories. The index demonstrates that labour market capacities play a limited role in shaping migrants’ career paths, as the host labour markets tend to “evaluate” migrant workers primarily based on their linguistic and demographic attributes. The index and the findings contribute to a deeper understanding of labour market integration among Central and Eastern European migrants and may offer new directions for migration and employment policy analysis. Full article

Mentoring is a series of communication interactions over time that involve the exchange of experiences or accumulated knowledge between individuals in a relationship with the intent of assisting growth and developing capacity. More specifically, mentoring frequently occurs in dyads that provide developmental mentoring, career development, psychosocial support, and role modeling across a continuum of formal and informal mentoring relationships, including episodic interactions. Mentoring has a long history, from guidance documented in Homer’s “Odyssey” dating back to 700 BCE, to structured mentoring programs used by organizations such as the Big Brothers (founded in 1910). However, mentoring research did not gain widespread prevalence until the 1980s when mentoring was applied across various employment sectors. This entry encompasses international scholarly publications across disciplines such as communication, business, education, medicine, engineering, psychology, sociology, and more to identify and explain key mentoring concepts, provide a comprehensive summary of existing research findings, offer strategies for effective mentoring practices, and highlight future research directions. Full article

Background and Objectives: Young people of all ages are now prematurely overexposed to a tech-addicted life, with negative psychological, physiological, sociological, and educational effects. Ease of access to and normalization of exposure to technology are indicated as the main causes of internet addiction and a mental health concern, especially in Romania, a country with widespread and easy access to the internet. Methods: This exploratory cross-sectional study with 132 participants investigated the relationship between emotional regulation difficulties (ERDs) and the risk of internet addiction (IA) among medical and technical students—two educational cultures defined by intense educational and emotional stress—with the aim of identifying specific patterns of variability. Standardized self-report data were collected, and specific descriptive and correlational statistical methods were used. Results: Key findings suggest similar moderate difficulty in emotional regulation for each student sample and normal-to-mild internet use for technical and medical students. A moderately strong Pearson correlation was observed between internet addiction and emotional regulation difficulties across the entire group of students (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). However, higher levels of emotional dysregulation and internet addiction risk were evident for the medical students. Conclusions: These results suggest that IA is closely linked to ERD rather than to the exposure to technology itself, as we presumed in the case of technical students. Moreover, medical students have a greater need for institutional support measures than their technical peers to cope with a highly challenging educational environment that exceeds individual levels of effective self-regulation. Full article

The deployment of large language models (LLMs) in academic paper evaluation is increasingly widespread, yet their trustworthiness remains debated; to expose fundamental flaws often masked under conventional testing, this study employed extreme-scenario testing to systematically probe the lower performance boundaries of LLMs in assessing the scientific validity and logical coherence of papers from the humanities and social sciences (HSS). Through a highly credible quasi-experiment, 40 high-quality Chinese papers from philosophy, sociology, education, and psychology were selected, for which domain experts created versions with implanted “scientific flaws” and “logical flaws”. Three representative LLMs (GPT-4, DeepSeek, and Doubao) were evaluated against a baseline of 24 doctoral candidates, following a protocol progressing from ‘broad’ to ‘targeted’ prompts. Key findings reveal poor evaluation consistency, with significantly low intra-rater and inter-rater reliability for the LLMs, and limited flaw detection capability, as all models failed to distinguish between original and flawed papers under broad prompts, unlike human evaluators; although targeted prompts improved detection, LLM performance remained substantially inferior, particularly in tasks requiring deep empirical insight and logical reasoning. The study proposes that LLMs operate on a fundamentally different “task decomposition-semantic understanding” mechanism, relying on limited text extraction and shallow semantic comparison rather than the human process of “worldscape reconstruction → meaning construction and critique”, resulting in a critical inability to assess argumentative plausibility and logical coherence. It concludes that current LLMs possess fundamental limitations in evaluations requiring depth and critical thinking, are not reliable independent evaluators, and that over-trusting them carries substantial risks, necessitating rational human-AI collaborative frameworks, enhanced model adaptation through downstream alignment techniques like prompt engineering and fine-tuning, and improvements in general capabilities such as logical reasoning. Full article

The educational philosophy of the Nuns’ Buddhist Academy at Pushou Monastery, Mount Wutai, is based on the principles of “Hua Yan as the foundation, precepts as the practice, and Pure Land as the destination.” This philosophy draws upon Buddhist scriptures, integrating descriptions of the Pure Land practice found in the Avatamsaka Sūtra and the Amitābha Sūtra. This approach translates the textual teachings of Buddhist classics into real-life practice, expressing the concept of “the non-obstruction of principle and phenomenon” in the tangible activities of practitioners. It also allows for the experiential understanding of the spiritual realms revealed in the scriptures during theoretical learning and practice. The philosophy of the Nuns’ Academy embodies the practical emphasis of Chinese Buddhism, guiding all aspects of learning and practice. This paper argues that the pure land practice is living. In order to understand pure land practice, there should be a comprehensive viewpoint. It is needed to explore this way of practice through the analysis of textual analysis, figuring its root in Buddhis sūtra, as well as a sociological method to investigate its manifestation at the present society. Moreover, the spiritual dimension should not be neglected for a full-scale study. In this sense, the pure land school is living at present. Full article

Sociology provides essential insights into the social and cultural determinants of health and is critical to holistic nursing education. However, its integration into Greek undergraduate nursing curricula remains underexplored. This study employed a qualitative content analysis of the curricula from the eight public university nursing departments in Greece to examine the inclusion of sociology-related courses. Findings show that seven out of eight curricula (87.5%) include dedicated sociology courses, indicating a strong incorporation of sociological content. Compared to medical curricula in Greece, where sociology is largely absent, nursing education demonstrates greater engagement with sociological frameworks. The results support the need for curriculum harmonization across institutions and more robust interdisciplinary collaboration and interprofessional care. Standardizing the inclusion of sociology in healthcare education can strengthen interprofessional collaboration between doctors and nurses to address health inequities and improve patient-centered care. Full article

This article explores the concept of Inclusive Learning Communities (ILCs) by combining theoretical perspectives with practical school-based case studies. Drawing from interdisciplinary fields such as education, sociology, and social work, this study investigates how inclusive practices can be implemented in both formal and informal educational settings. Through five distinct projects—ranging from civic participation to writing workshops and service-learning—this article highlights how inclusive pedagogical approaches can foster equity, participation, and social cohesion. The findings underscore the importance of long-term partnerships, collaborative design, and context-sensitive implementation strategies aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ultimately, this article demonstrates that inclusive learning communities can serve as transformative spaces for lifelong learning and social empowerment. Full article

Sustainable development in modern conditions is impossible without the support of processes by competent specialists with the necessary skills in technology and other areas of economic activity. Studying the methods and principles of implementing SDGs in higher education is crucial. The study was based on a multi-aspect sociological survey to determine the form of implementing SDGs in educational programs, as well as on the analysis of the possibilities of introducing educational modules in the environmental direction into the practice of existing educational programs as integrated modules. It was found that, on average, the allocation of the subject “Sustainable Development” as a separate course received 5.41 out of 10 possible points, which indicates the need to change the paradigm for implementing SDGs in higher education not as a separate discipline but as components of educational courses. While the integration of SDGs into curricula promotes value changes and highlights the importance of best practice examples, expert opinions differ on the need to establish “Sustainable Development” as a separate sub-discipline in the social sciences, despite the active implementation of SDGs by universities and the proven effectiveness of educational modules on reducing CO₂ emissions. When forming such components or modules, special attention should be paid to the practical focus, which is especially important when determining the potential positive impact of the results of using educational modules both in the primary and continuing education systems. Full article

(1) Background: Data literacy is becoming increasingly important for healthcare professionals in both outpatient care and research. Since healthcare data and the possibilities for its use and misuse are increasing in these areas, healthcare professionals need diverse knowledge regarding the collection, use and evaluation of data. A core component of this is an understanding of the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of working with health data. (2) Methods: Within the DIM.RUHR project (Data Competence Center for Interprofessional use of Health Data in the Ruhr Metropolis), the challenge of training in data literacy for different healthcare professionals is addressed. Based on a learning objectives matrix for interprofessional data literacy education, an ELSI concept was developed through collaboration with interprofessional project partners. The study was conducted between December 2024 and April 2025. (3) Results: The foundational structure of the ELSI concept was based on the learning objectives matrix and an unstructured literacy search for ELSI concepts in similar contexts. Using an iterative design-based research approach, a group of experts from different fields (didactics, applied ethics, health sciences, law, sociology, informatics, and psychology) developed an ELSI concept for healthcare professionals. The following categories were identified as crucial: 1. philosophy of science: a basic understanding of science and the hurdles and opportunities; 2. ethics: an overview of the biomedical principles and a technological assessment; 3. law: an overview of the reservation of permission and self-determination; 4. social aspects: an overview of health inequalities and different forms of power relations and imbalances. (4) Conclusions: The ELSI concept can be used in the orientation of healthcare professionals in outpatient care and research—regardless of their profession—to develop data competencies, with the aim of providing a holistic view of the challenges and potential in the collection, use, and evaluation of healthcare data. The DIM.RUHR project’s approach is to develop open educational resources that build on the ELSI concept to teach specific skills at different competence levels. Full article