Societies, Volume 12, Issue 4 (August 2022) – 25 articles

The field of tourism includes its own heritage, through which it is possible to valorize those components of the cultural environment and of the cultural heritage that truly have a touristic valence. The urban interventions in Bucharest during the communist period affected many central historical areas. However, a part of the Jewish architectural heritage continues to last, with the attention on it increasing in recent years with the awareness of its value. The aim of this study is to assess the tourist potential of the Jewish cultural heritage by using an index of tourist attractiveness and a set of values established as evaluation criteria; identifying the heritage values as well as the ways of its development and promotion within the cultural tourism in Bucharest, in the context of preservation, conservation and restoration; identifying new ideas, products or services, respectively improving existing ones. Full article

This article seeks to capture variations and tensions in the relationships between the health–illness–medicine complex and society. It presents several theoretical reconstructions, established theses and arguments are reassessed and criticized, known perspectives are realigned according to a new theorizing narrative, and some new notions are proposed. In the first part, we argue that relations between the medical complex and society are neither formal–abstract nor historically necessary. In the second part, we take the concept of medicalization and the development of medicalization critique as an important example of the difficult coalescence between health and society, but also as an alternative to guide the treatment of these relationships. Returning to the medicalization studies, we suggest a new synthesis, reconceptualizing it as a set of modalities, including medical imperialism. In the third part, we endorse replacing a profession-based approach to medicalization with a knowledge-based approach. However, we argue that such an approach should include varieties of sociological knowledge. In this context, we propose an enlarged knowledge-based orientation for standardizing the relationships between the health–illness–medicine complex and society. Full article

Many universities around the world depend on financial donations to maintain and enhance their operations. We propose that donating money to an organization is a specific form of organizational citizenship behavior. We theorize that perceived values congruence between alumni and their colleges/universities and normative organizational commitment each provide motivation for people to donate money. We tested our hypotheses using alumni from a private college in the USA, measuring both the amount as well as the frequency of their donations to the college. We also measured alumni self-reports of values congruence and normative organizational commitment. We found empirical support for a positive relationship between values congruence and commitment and between commitment and financial giving. Values congruence, however, was not related to giving behavior; normative organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between values congruence, and the alumnus’ financial giving behaviors. Higher education organizations that depend on donations from members to sustain their operations might focus advancement efforts on developing a perception of values congruence in potential donors, and/or by stimulating a sense of obligation to give back to the colleges from which they have previously derived benefits. Full article

The ethnic identity of international adoptees has been a transdisciplinary field of inquiry over the past decades. Taking China-born adopted Norwegian citizens as research subjects, this study uses a mixed-method approach to explore how they perceive their ethnic identity and origin in the host society of Norway. We find that Chinese adoptees mainly identify as racially Chinese but culturally Norwegian, and their Chineseness lies primarily in their appearance. They generally feel secure about their ethnic background despite the challenges and paradoxes caused by their Chinese looks. Most adoptees have no attachment to their birth country, and their interests in China and Chinese culture are usually instrumental and individual-based. Three main socio-cultural factors shape the ethnic identity of China-born adopted children: (1) the negligible impact of their pre-adoptive history upon them, (2) a supportive family environment acknowledging their differences, and (3) an inclusive socio-cultural environment that respects ethnic diversities. No clear tendency towards constructing or enacting double identities among the adoptees was found. Finally, our respondents reported fewer racist experiences than suggested by recent literature on migrants and international adoptees in current literature. This aspect needs further research, also in reference to other cohorts of adoptees. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has completely transformed the education sector. Almost all universities and colleges have had to convert their normal classroom teaching to online/remote or hybrid teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online teaching has been found quite useful during an emergency situation. This switch to online teaching forced educators to come out of their comfort zone and learn new tools and techniques for online teaching. It is important, therefore, to analyse the problems faced by educators in online teaching because this has become the new normal. There are several studies identifying the issues faced by educators in online teaching but less is known about the issues faced by Computer Science (CS) educators. In this paper, we perform an exploratory study of the problems, questions, and associated responses from CS educators posted on popular Q&A forums, e.g., CS educators StackExchange. We identified six main challenges related to online teaching: platform recommendation, Q&A management, academic dishonesty, pair programming, and feedback mechanism. Several recommendations are provided by other CS educators in each of the categories, which are discussed in detail in this paper. This study will help organizations come up with better solutions to support their educators so that they can deliver better quality education and reduce the overall stress levels of staff. Full article

This phenomenological study examined six mixed families living in Tallinn who are composed by French-/Italian-/Spanish-Estonian native speakers, who have at least one child who is being raised simultaneously with the combination of French-/Italian-/Spanish-Estonian and who all appeared to follow the one parent one language strategy as family language policy. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents. The theoretical aspect features family language policies and strategies, identity and its types, globalisation forces, bilingualism, and multiculturalism. The research aimed at highlighting the reasons behind parents’ ideological decision, more specifically, on how these bilingual families manage and adapt their language policies. The study shows how families control their chosen strategies. Research revealed in which languages children prefer to speak if they have been raised in multilingual environment. The results demonstrated that parents prefer to use a one parent–one language approach and they are led by their intuition and desire to speak in their own mother tongue with their children. It was found that bilingual reading to children during their first years contributes to their ability to speak in both parents’ mother tongues. Data showed that bilingual children living in Tallinn prefer to speak Estonian while having competency in both languages. This study revealed that parents were content about their children being bilingual. Full article

This article explores the connection between teaching effectiveness and participation in teacher learning communities (TLCs) in the context of a second-level co-educational urban school. In particular, it examines the role of educational leadership in their development and concomitantly toward the enhancement of teaching and learning. Seven teachers contributed to the research across two existing TLCs at the site school. It emerged that relationships and respect amongst the participants are pivotal to their effectiveness. It also transpired that both learning communities that were the focus of this study are characterized by a democratic style of leadership. Such however was possibly largely on account of the leadership style that this study found to be present in the school. Particular importance was attached to the significance of “professional relationships” for effective TLCs. It is recognized that further research on the nature of these relationships in the context of a constantly developing and changing education system will be beneficial and of the concomitant leadership styles that will provide the optimum context for these relationships to flourish. Full article

Biobanks have been established from the beginning of the millennium as relevant infrastructures to support biomedical research. These repositories have also transformed the paradigm of collecting and storing samples and associated clinical data, moving these practices from the healthcare services and research laboratories to dedicated services. In Portugal, the establishment of biobanks is happening in the absence of a specific legal framework, turning it difficult to fully understand the scope of their action. This ethnographic research explored how establishing a biobank challenges the dynamics between healthcare and biomedical research. The ethnography intended to follow the path of biological samples from the hospital, where they were collected, to the biobank in a research institute, where they were stored. Findings suggest that although the nature of the biobank’s technical work seemed to inscribe it as a research-oriented setting, the biobank’s daily work was performed through symbolic action in the logic of care. Biobank staff constantly recalled the human nature of the samples, and they built complex illness narratives of each sample, promoting a connection with the absent donor. These practices were crucial to constructing the biobank as a health place, one that was designed to be life-saving in the near future. Full article

In this paper I reflect on the methodological concepts of youth research, utilizing a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to the interpretation of interview data from young adults who have been on short-term work or distant education at Finnish ski resorts in Lapland during the coronacirus pandemic. The study received background from a previous study “From higher education to working life: Work values of young Finns in changing labor markets". I try to distance myself from this research by interpreting young people’s coronavirus experiences and future perspectives hermeneutic-phenomenologically. In the spring of 2021, I interviewed a total of ten (5 women and 5 men) young people aged 19 to 27 I met at the ski resorts. Interviews on young people’s coronavirus experiences and their implications for the transitions from education to employment and future orientations were semi-structured, partly discussions of topics related to education, work and transition to adulthood combined with young people’s COVID-19 experiences and their implications. In the interviews, young people combined their previous life experiences and perceptions of the world with the coronavirus experiences. The coronavirus experiences of young people were situational. The study analyzes the individual experiences of young people with the COVID-19 pandemic, describing them with own youth spoken language, and interpreting the essential contents of the meanings hermeneutic-phenomenologically. The COVID-19 interpretations of young people had positive and negative meanings to their transitions in education and the labor market. The basic themes that cut across the entire material were: (1) The small impact of the pandemic on the young person’s own life. (2) The uncertainty of life and uncertain future and (3) the experienced loneliness, which can provide for youth to confront their true selves. The implications of these results are discussed in the article, which also critically considers the applicability of the hermeneutic-phenomenological research, and discusses about ethical points of the study of young people in exceptional contexts. Full article

In recent years, the proliferation of tourists in the urban environment has generated several issues in the functioning of cities. As urban tourism has historically been linked to cultural and architectural attractions, this increased tourism pressure has involved and often compromised the common heritage uses. Therefore, many cases saw the implementation of measures that, if on the one hand reduced tourist flows, on the other also drastically restricted the access for residents and totally altered the sense of place in the community. This article explores this topic by applying a Critical Discourse Analysis methodology to the dispute that took place in Barcelona regarding the restricted access to Park Güell. The main results of this work concern the instrumentalisation of both the UNESCO label and participatory processes in the case of Barcelona, along with the failure of regulative measures to solve the problems related to tourism pressure. The article advocates the usage of more qualitative-oriented analyses to address the relationships between urban planning, heritage management and tourism management. Full article

In recent decades, ever more museums have begun to put a new emphasis on the education of the public, playing an important role in creating national or regional identities. This paper aims to assess the strategy chosen by the History Section of the Oltenia Museum in Craiova (Romania) to use knowledge, objects and narratives to create a sense of belonging and negotiate identities. Site visits, participant observations and discussions with museum curators, the analysis of texts and discourses were used in order to see if there is a master narrative related to regional identity and to determine the elements used to shape this identity. The results of this study point to the fact that there is an underlying master narrative of the exhibition, stressing the dominant understanding of Oltenia’s identity stemming mainly from cultural markers such as religion and language, while acknowledging wider European influences on the national and regional identity. Full article

People use digital media and the Internet daily. The time that young people spend connected to digital devices will increase as technology advances, which could have severe health risks and behavioral dependence implications. In the context of the current pandemic, in which socializing, studying, and working is changing, this question has become particularly relevant. Therefore, we propose to investigate the perceptions of young university adults—understood as generation Z—regarding their digital media practices, particularly during the pandemic, and to study the consequences of a permanent connection to these formats on the development of an addiction to the Internet. Our quantitative method approach applied questionnaires to a sample of 407 young university adults studying in Portugal. Through this survey, we could target a specific user group, quantify their consumption, and measure their online experiences. The results point to an increase in dependence on the Internet during confinement. While it is true that carrying out academic work is one of the reasons for this growth, it is noteworthy that the respondents sought the online world in a significan way to pass the time and escape their routine. In addition, they confess to experiencing some consequences of excessive use, such as sleep disturbances and adverse emotional reactions—such as instabilities, depression, and nervousness—when not online. We conclude that the pandemic has intensified online dependence. However, above all that, it is necessary to look at the mental and general health consequences that this excessive use has brought, which may not be visible or manifested by the youth in the short term, and may come to have consequences in the long term. Full article

A disease is considered neglected when it is not given due priority in health policies despite the social relevance of that disease, either in terms of the number of individuals affected by it or its morbidity or mortality. Although the causes are structural, neglect in health does not occur in a vacuum. In this paper, we explore how sickle cell disease (SCD) is constructed and neglected in Brazil, based on insights from our long-term participatory qualitative research in the state of Bahia. We present five overarching themes relevant to the social production of SCD, and associated health policies in Brazil: (1) The achievements and setbacks to overcome neglect in SCD, (2) Continuity of comprehensive SCD care; (3) Social movements of people with SCD; (4) Biocultural citizenship; and (5) Academic advocacy. We conclude that it is insufficient to merely recognize the health inequities that differentiate white and black populations in Brazil; racism must be understood as both a producer and a reproducer of this process of neglect. We conclude with a set of recommendations for the main SCD stakeholder groups committed to improving the lives of people living with SCD. Full article

The mosaic is one of the most durable monumental artworks, hence the belief in its permanence. It is resilient to shocks, abrasion, moisture, and frost, protecting, in turn, the walls it covers. These qualities made the mosaic one of interest to the communist authorities, who later considered it suitable for beautifying the exterior walls of various buildings. The article addresses the issue of the symbolic and identity aspect of art in the urban space. The authors discuss the exterior mural mosaics from Suceava, during the communist period, as an expression of the compromise between the ideological commands of the period and the neo-traditionalist and neo-folklorizing direction professed by the artists. Full article

Recognition of the importance of authentic leadership is growing in popularity amonleadership scholars. However, little remains known about how it is valued or received among practicing school leaders. The purpose of this research was to explore the perspectives and experiences of school leaders with reference to authentic leadership in Irish primary school leaders. As this is a scoping study, a qualitative research design was adopted, using semi-structured interviews with school leaders. Core traits of self-awareness, balanced processing, relational transparency and internalized perspectives, that are associated with authentic leadership emerged as important for those interviewed. Barriers and facilitators of authentic leadership were also identified including educational policy, procedures and school culture. Full article

This article looked at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of internationalized learning, and the disruption to the transitions to adulthood among students reliant upon the freedom to move within and between countries. We started by outlining the place of mobility in transitions, connected to debates about the ‘Mobility Turn,’ with particular relevance to developments in the European context, including the expansion of successive Erasmus student mobility programmes. Following the start of the pandemic, we hypothesize that we are now experiencing an ‘Immobility Turn’ in youth transitions, which, even if temporary, has the potential to disrupt personal and professional development of many young people in problematizing stays abroad at foreign universities. To explore this issue, we drew on evidence from Portugal, discussing issues including the measures taken by host institutions to maintain a safe environment and secure the integrity of educational courses for their international students, thus keeping open their mobile transition pathways. This research also enables us to illustrate the changes in the materiality of internationalized higher education that took place during the pandemic, and the challenges facing academic staff members. In conclusion, we look towards the future of mobile transitions, recognizing the important role played by staff members, and look towards future developments, including the heightened use of virtual mobility platforms for students with the potential to further transform the meaning of internationalized tertiary education. Full article

Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, an increasing number of European youth have joined Salafi-jihadist milieus in their home countries and/or in the Syrian/Iraqi conflict zone. Some are ardent believers in ending their days as—what they perceive to be—martyrs. Others renege on their commitment, return, and resocialize into conventional society. While engagement, disengagement, and resocialization have each been explored as phases separately within the existing literature, a coherent, criminological study of how those sequences are interconnected has still not been explored in a Danish context from an empirical angle. On the basis of qualitative interviews with three Danish Salafi-jihadist defectors (for example, from the Islamic State), this article unravels the connection and disconnection between engagement, disengagement, and resocialization. The analysis is theoretically informed by David Matza’s theory of drift (1964). However, the theory does have its limitations. As the commitment to Salafi-jihadism entails more than simply an “episodic release from moral constraint”, which defines drift, the informants are only part-time drifters, and here it is argued that the informants are rather entering and exiting a spiraling vortex of Salafi-jihadism. These entries and exits are fueled by the returnees’ nurtured and fractured fantasies. Full article

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted everyday life. Not only has it assailed the world’s populations with millions of deaths and cases, but COVID-19 has also ravaged global economies and affected the lives of women and their children. The purpose of this study was to detail women’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and the solutions they came up with to deal with the problems they encountered. Method: Data collection occurred in the midwestern United States, in the State of Indiana, from August 2020 to August 2021. Sixty-six women participated in the study. The study used open-ended survey questions. The data results were combined, analyzed, and constructed into themes based on their similarity in their subject matter. The researchers identified four main themes. Findings and Conclusion: Results indicated that, for some of the mothers, it was a struggle to be at home with their children at all times. Unique experiences faced by some expectant mothers who were already mothers, and thus had the experience of prenatal care pre-COVID-19, had to grapple with the fact that they were not allowed to come to their prenatal appointments with anyone. Participants complained about cooking all the time, with some needing to use the internet to look for new recipes. Poor eating habits by some children during the pandemic led to some parents needing to come up with a schedule for family members regarding breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks to curtail the COVID-19-related acquired poor eating habits. A shared experience from the study revolved around childcare policies and schedules. The results suggested that enacting a paid childcare leave, developing flexible working hours, and changing how employers conduct work reviews are critical to alleviating some of the burdens working women face during school closures during the pandemic. Finally, participants suggested identifying better ways to provide and prioritize childcare to lessen gender inequalities within the workforce. Full article

Whereas traditional teaching environments encourage lively and engaged interaction and reward extrovert qualities, introverts, and others with symptoms that make social engagement difficult, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are often disadvantaged. This population is often more engaged in quieter, low-key learning environments and often does not speak up and answer questions in traditional lecture-style classes. These individuals are often passed over in school and later in their careers for not speaking up and are assumed to not be as competent as their gregarious and outgoing colleagues. With the rise of the metaverse and democratization of virtual reality (VR) technology, post-secondary education is especially poised to capitalize on the immersive learning environments social VR provides and prepare students for the future of work, where virtual collaboration will be key. This study seeks to reconsider the role of VR and the metaverse for introverts and those with ASD. The metaverse has the potential to continue the social and workplace changes already accelerated by the pandemic and open new avenues for communication and collaboration for a more inclusive audience and tomorrow. Full article

Parenting support services and programs develop and strengthen existing parenting skills. However, in the UK and despite the 2010 UK Equality Act’s provisions, these programs are generally not accessible for Deaf parents whose first and/or preferred language is British Sign Language (BSL) because the medium of instruction is typically spoken and written English. This small-scale qualitative interview study gauged North Walian Deaf parents’ needs and preferences for accessing parenting classes. A structured interview assessed a small group of North Walian Deaf parents’ language practices, their perceptions of parenting support and accessibility, and their needs and preferences when it comes to parenting classes. An additional case study of a Deaf parent’s experience of participating in an 11-week-long parenting course with an English-BSL interpreter provides further insight into how such classes can be made accessible to Deaf parents. The main interview findings were that the participants had substantially lower English skills than BSL skills, that face-to-face delivery was preferred over online BSL support, and that all materials should be made available in BSL. The case study further uncovered several small adjustments that should be made to face-to-face classes to make them accessible to Deaf parents. In conclusion, materials from already existing parenting classes should be translated into BSL, interpreters should be available, and small adjustments to face-to-face classes should be made, so that Deaf parents can access and participate in already existing parenting programs. Full article

Key concepts and theories that are taught in order to develop cultural competency skills are often introduced to medical students throughout behavioral and social science (BSS) learning content. BSS represents a core component of medical education in the United Kingdom. In this paper, we examine, through (auto)ethnographic data and reflections, the experiences of BSS in medical education. The empirical data and insights have been collected in two ways: (1) through long-term ethnographic fieldwork among medical students and (2) via autoethnographic reflexive practice undertaken by the co-authors who studied, worked, examined, and collaborated with colleagues at different UK medical schools. Our findings indicate that despite BSS constituting a mandatory, essential component of the medical curriculum, medical students did not always perceive BSS as useful for their future practice as doctors, nor did they find it to be clinically relevant, in comparison to the biomedical learning content. We suggest that it is paramount for all stakeholders to commit to cultivating and developing cultural competency skills in medical education, through robustly embedding BSS learning content across the undergraduate medical curriculum. We conclude with recommendations for a wide range of educational practices that would ensure a full integration of BSS in the medical curriculum. Full article

Across the globe, there is little research that examines the impact of diversity on police practice, particularly whether it increases or decreases the competency of the police organization or whether police officers perceive diversity within the organization and the addition of diverse officers as positive or negative. Contributing new findings to the extant policing literature, this research analyzes data collected from interviews with forty-six constables working in one of the largest Australian state police organizations. Contributing five key findings regarding diversity and inclusion in policing, this research suggests that lack of acceptance of diversity broadly, and bias towards diverse identified officers, results in the exclusion of officers, and a workforce that is fragmented. The lack of unification constables in this research have with diverse colleagues is concerning given that a cohesive police team increases the safety of all officers, improves the effectiveness of police response, strengthens the communication between police and citizens (as well as communication within the organization), increases the morale of officers, and will support the legitimacy of the organization. Whilst constables in this study were not asked questions about their own implicit or explicit levels of bias towards members of diverse groups, the unsolicited responses from many of the constables, as well as the recognition of Whiteness in terms of the racial identity of many officers within the organization, suggests that constables in this study are biased towards officers that are not part of the majority group. Full article

In order for students to be the protagonists of the teaching and learning process, teachers must change their role in the classroom. A successful alternative is the flipped classroom methodology, where educational technology is integrated into a reorganisation and optimisation of class time. Based on this alternative, this paper aims to analyse the perceptions of future teachers about the FC as an active methodology. A quantitative longitudinal panel design was carried out with pre-test and post-test measures, with a descriptive, inferential and predictive approach. The sample consisted of 284 prospective teachers from the University of Malaga (Spain), who were asked about their perceptions of the FC using an ad hoc questionnaire. The results reflect positive perceptions of the FC methodology on the part of the future teachers, with significant differences by gender in favour of men. The variables gender, re-watching videos, digital competence and autonomous learning were predictors of the participants’ perceptions. In conclusion, it is important to highlight the importance of implementing active methodologies such as the FC with future teachers that they can use when carrying out their work. Full article

The transition from education to work in the global economy is no longer a straightforward one-time move for young people. In Bulgaria, this change started with the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy in the 1990s and was accompanied by the arrival of high rates of early school leaving, youth unemployment, and a growing group of disengaged youths (NEETs). The European initiatives in support of youth labour market integration are translated locally, with a narrow focus on “employability” while neglecting the many educational, training, and social needs of young people. The analysis in this paper is informed by the theoretical framework of life course research. It starts with an elaboration of the recontextualisation of EU policies such as the Youth Guarantee in the local realities of socioeconomic structures using Eurostat and national data. Second, we present 4 case studies (selected out of a total of 42 in-depth interviews) of young adults aged 18–30 in order to highlight the ways in which young people’s individual agency filters and influences the institutional policies and practices regulating youth social integration. Our qualitative analysis reveals the multiplicity and diversity of youth journeys into work through the institutions and social structures and the inadequacy of the applied policy measures. Full article

We share our collective stories as instructors and graduate students with an interest in decolonial education on how we learned together in a course on Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). The course occurred in the environmental studies department at a predominantly White graduate school in the Connecticut river basin in the area now known as the USA. The topic of IKS is steadily gaining interest in the environmental education (EE) field, as evidenced by an increase (albeit small) in the number of publications in peer-reviewed journals. At the same time, decolonial educators are looking for ways to teach IKS in an ethical and respectful manner. Our goal for this paper was to share how we grappled with questions around ethics and cultural appropriation. For instance, as decolonial educators who are not Indigenous to communities where we work and reside, can we facilitate lessons on IKS? If so, how can we do it in a manner that honors IKS and knowledge holders, is ethical, respectful and not appropriating? We learned that applying decolonization factors was crucial. Specifically, our work revealed four key decolonization factors: centering programs in Indigenous philosophies of education, privileging Indigenous voices and engaging Elders as experts, promoting Etuptmumk/two-eyed seeing, and employing Indigenous ways of teaching and learning. This paper makes contributions to the environmental education field, particularly decolonial educators who are seeking respectful and ethical ways to engage with Indigenous knowledge systems. Full article