Societies, Volume 12, Issue 5 (October 2022) – 26 articles

Cholera, a disease originating in India, until the beginning of the 19th Century had rarely manifested itself in the West. The disease arrived in Argentina for the first time in an epidemic form in 1859. Since that date, cholera has entered the country on other occasions and spread to the interior, causing serious disorders, which sometimes added to other tragic events, such as the War of Paraguay or the yellow fever epidemic. The aim of this study was to calculate the excess deaths associated with the cholera epidemic from 1867 to 1868 in the province of Córdoba, a population of more than 175,000 inhabitants. Parish data on excess deaths precisely respond to this need. The excess mortality associated with the cholera epidemic was calculated as being seven times higher than the previous year; that is, the number of deaths from the disease was 1767 cases in the province of Córdoba. During the peak of the disease, in January 1868, mortality rose to 12.2 times higher. Excess deaths are an essential measure to monitor the impact of the epidemic. Full article

Renewed calls for localization and the “decolonization of aid” are raising questions about whose knowledge and control are privileged. This article argues that in order to support local decision-making on food systems and agricultural aid, international solidarity work should look towards food sovereignty and agroecology approaches. Food sovereignty and agroecology, informed by feminist approaches, can provide important lessons for localization as they prioritize local knowledge and decision-making, and are based on social justice principles. They also provide alternatives to the problematic concept of “development”, particularly the agro-industrial development model which contributes to environmental and health crises, corporate concentration, colonialism and inequality. An example of the trajectory of the NGO SeedChange is provided to help illustrate how food sovereignty can: (1) provide an alternative to problematic development concepts, and (2) encourage localization and greater priority to global South perspectives. While acknowledging that there exist contradictions and challenges to shared decision-making, learning from partners in the global South working for seed and food sovereignty has been crucial to shaping the organization’s programs and policy advocacy. Full article

The current study examines the association between peer behaviors, self-efficacy, and internalizing symptoms in a sample of 1545 children aged 11 to 13 years old who attended middle schools in eastern Ukraine. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the role of self-efficacy in the relationship between child internalizing behaviors (anxiety, depression, and somatic complaints) and exposure to prosocial and antisocial friends among girls and boys. Higher self-efficacy was linked with fewer internalizing symptoms for girls and boys. For both boys and girls, exposure to prosocial friends was not statistically associated with changes in internalizing behaviors. However, girls and boys who reported having more antisocial friends had significantly more internalizing symptoms. For girls, association with a greater number of prosocial friends and fewer antisocial friends has been linked with higher self-efficacy and fewer internalizing symptoms. For boys, having more prosocial friends was also linked with higher self-efficacy and fewer internalizing symptoms; however, there was no statistically significant association between having more antisocial friends and self-efficacy. The study discusses the cultural and gender aspects of child socialization in the context of antisocial and prosocial friends, and the development of internalizing behavior problems. Full article

Rehabilitation technologies are rapidly evolving, presenting promising interventions for people with neurological impairments. Access to technology, however, is greater in metropolitan than rural areas. Applying a capabilities approach to this access issue foregrounds healthcare recipients’ rights and personhood within the discourse on resource allocation. Within this context, this study aimed to investigate the economic viability of robotics-based therapy (RBT) in rural Victoria, Australia. A regional health network developed a model of care to provide equitable access to RBT following stroke. This explorative economic evaluation examined both the clinical and economic impact of RBT program implementation across six program iterations compared to 1:1 out-patient rehabilitation. While clinical outcomes were equivalent, the per patient RBT cost ranged from AUD 2681 (Program 1) to AUD 1957 (Program 6), while the per patient cost of usual care 1:1 out-patient rehabilitation, was AUD 2584. Excluding Program 1, the health service cost of usual care 1:1 out-patient rehabilitation was consistently higher, indicating that an established RBT program may be cost-effective, specifically providing less cost for the same effect. This research demonstrates the economic feasibility of delivering RBT in a regional public health stroke service. More broadly, it provided a reduction in the capability gap between rural and metropolitan stroke survivors by tackling an access disadvantage. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire world population at multiple levels. Within the most vulnerable population, the elderly have seen their usual fragilities worsened in an epidemiological context. Thus, it was necessary to reinforce the gerontological response to aging at home, or in place, framed in situations of comorbidities, health problems, economic need and isolation, among other situations of premeditated situations of aging fragility. Objective: Seeking to explain a model of gerontological response to aging-in-place in future pandemic situations. For that purpose, we have explored, through a scientific literature review, the relationship between public participation and the gerontological response to aging-in-place during COVID-19, considering the four main European welfare models. During this analysis we also intended to identify the reconfigurations from those responses, considering their place-based/neutral order. Methodology: To proceed in this analysis, we used a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to identify a series of articles that add value to this problem. Next, in order to identify current research trends, we undertook a Bibliometric Analysis (BA), using the metadata from the same set of articles collected from Scopus and Web of Science. Results: The literature on the subject is interdisciplinary, dispersed throughout areas such as health; social sciences; politics; and computational, molecular, and even environmental fields of study. Through the use of keywords, the literature found on the relationship between the type of gerontological responses to aging-in-place and providence systems is still insufficient. There are, however, other research possibilities, such as exploring indicators of gerontological responses, of public expenditure or of the type of support from interlocutor stakeholders through a comparative study between countries, which allowed us to robustly answer the central question: Is there any relationship between the different public welfare systems and the public participation model, which included community participation, in the gerontological response to aging-in-place during the COVID-19 pandemic? Full article

Aiming to compare capability across persons with impairments using and not using assistive products and persons without impairments in Bangladesh for 16 different functionings, we contrast two sets of self-reported cross-sectional data from eight districts of Bangladesh: (i) data from persons with hearing impairment not using hearing aids, persons with hearing impairment using hearing aids and persons without impairments (N = 572); and (ii) data from persons with ambulatory impairment not using manual wheelchairs, persons with ambulatory impairment using manual wheelchairs and persons without impairments (N = 598). Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to compare levels of capability across the three groups in each data set. Results showed that, for all functionings in both data sets, the levels of capability were statistically significantly highest for persons without impairments. Compared to persons with hearing impairment not using hearing aids, persons with hearing impairment using hearing aids scored higher in all functionings, with statistical significance at the .05 level for 12 of them. Persons with ambulatory impairment using manual wheelchairs scored higher than persons with ambulatory impairment not using manual wheelchairs for 11 of the functionings, but none of the comparisons between the two groups were significant at the .05 level. Assistive products—hearing aids more than manual wheelchairs—enhance capabilities but do not fully equalize opportunities between people with and without impairments. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted higher education, imposing the need to add new strategies to academic educational models to facilitate young people’s transitions from education to work. Among the new challenges, the research study focuses on the importance of valuing and incrementing inclusion, raising awareness of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) strategies and policies. Many universities have yet to develop inclusive processes and cultures that provide equality of opportunity for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, identity, and cultural background. Since 2019, the European Commission has financed “European Universities”, networks of universities creating international competitive degrees that combine excellent study programmes in different European countries. Today, 340 institutions in 44 European University Alliances (EUAs) promote European values and identity and revolutionise their quality and competitiveness to become the “universities of the future”. This article proposes a comprehensive approach to promote EDI within the EUA “ULYSSEUS” involving Spanish, Italian, Austrian, French, Finnish, and Slovakian universities through micro-actions to apply EDI principles at the project level. The authors will frame the theoretical basis of the experience through documentary analysis and their academic expertise in promoting strategies connected with the European values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union: pluralism, tolerance, justice, solidarity, non-discrimination and equality. Implementing these values through visible micro-actions could document and counteract the disadvantages underrepresented groups face in academia. In the mid-term, the experience had by the students in the EUA could facilitate the higher education-to-work transition, allowing them to replicate their EDI-related experience as students to their future roles as citizens and workers. The outcome could thus contribute to a life-wide learning perspective for a more inclusive Europe in the long term. Full article

Migration and migrants’ integration are prominent aspects of globalized contemporary society. In this respect, a key question appears of how to foster the full participation of migrants in the host society. This article investigates the role of migrant entrepreneurship as a vector of integration. Based on case-study research conducted among Bangladeshi vendors in Nuovo Mercato Esquilino in Rome, the article highlights the potentialities in terms of social and market innovation of such activity. However, it points out that this way forward cannot be considered a generalized solution, relying on strong social and cultural capital that not all migrants, in particular asylum seekers, may have. Thus, it proposes a normative adjustment to empowering migrants and facilitating their endeavors. Full article

We live in a global society in which conflicts arise from the non-acceptance of existing diversity. To achieve more inclusive and fair societies, it is necessary that education and, specifically, Social Sciences, attend to the development of identities from the school itself. We present a qualitative case study with Primary Education teachers in initial training at two Spanish universities: the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Seville. By means of a questionnaire with open and closed questions, we explored the representations of future teachers on the construction of their identity, as well as their practical perspectives on the approach to identities in the primary classroom. Quantitative and qualitative techniques were used for data analysis. The most relevant results of the study indicate that in the two cases analyzed the students have a mixed perspective on the construction of their identities, in which the elements linked to local, social, and linguistic contexts are more important. In relation to the approach to identities in the classroom, there are some differences and similarities between the groups that make us reflect on the need to promote a model of initial training that links the teaching of identities not only with knowledge of our present and past, but also with social transformation and the future. Full article

Controversies are an inseparable part of social systems which, if constructed properly, can create a unique condition for higher-order learning. In addition, design inquiry, as a process of thought and planning, is also a constructive process. This provokes the question of how to construct controversies from a designerly perspective in order to steer higher-order learning. This paper presents a theoretical contribution to the field of social system design by providing the first insights into design intervention to facilitate a network of allied construction. Through a systematic review of the concept of conflict and disagreement, the link between controversies and knowledge transmission is examined in order to highlight the benefit of controversies in a constructive way. Next to that, the essential steps for constructing a network of allies are proposed. These steps are compared with specific aspects of design in order to unfold the advantages of design for network construction. Finally, the paper wraps up with concluding remarks about the necessity of having a bridging step from theory to action in order to facilitate the construction of controversies in a real-life context. Full article

Music and its study have always been present among people. Its learning is significant, as it provides benefits and helps in the acquisition of many abilities and skills. However, didactic, methodological, and pedagogical changes have begun to appear that nurture and provide new challenges to their learning. Fully adapting to the 21st century and abiding by the great demand for technologies, we have seen the rise of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), which have also been conceived as educational technology (EdTech), when applied to education. Due to these reasons, the need to conduct a systematic literature review in four databases has arisen to find out whether the use of technology in music education helps to facilitate the teaching-learning process of students. Evidence from this research has been collected using concept mapping to organize the training process. Finally, it is relevant to comment that evidence has been found and verified that the use of Edtech helps in the learning of Music Education; given that, in various documents, it is observed that they increase motivation, musical-technological thinking, critical thinking, creativity, musical practice, and musical improvisation and that they give rise to fun, playful, enjoyable, and stimulating learning. Full article

This article explores arts, cultural and community engagement (ACCE) in the context of enduring austerity in England. Working with a methodically crafted synthesis of theoretical perspectives drawn from (1) the critical political economy (CPE) tradition, (2) the sociology of cultural production, (3) cultural studies and critical strands of community development scholarship, and (4) pertinent discourses on the creative economy and place-based development, the article reviews the political, economic and institutional ecosystem within which a bottom-up approach to ACCE operates. Making use of ethnography for data-gathering, the article explores how three carefully selected case studies respond to the demands and pressures generated by, and associated with, corporate interest and top-down, policy-driven subsidy—including how such responses shape and position the work of the case studies in the contemporary creative economy and local place-based development. The article argues that ACCE contributes meaningfully to the development of self-governance and organic growth through egalitarian cross-sectoral alliances and cultural and social entrepreneurship. However, this happens only if the said ecosystem genuinely supports equality and social justice. Where such support is non-existent, established hierarchies perpetuate domination and exploitation. This stifles wider creative and cultural engagement on the terms of communities. Full article

The climate of division and polarization in the US politics is increasing, going beyond the time in the office of a specific leader. Several political or technological challenges have ended up eroding this trust, making social cohesion difficult. In this context, this research examines the communication strategies of the elected president Biden after the 2020 elections, shedding light on how his legitimacy was built. All the messages that the Democrat published on his personal Twitter account (@JoeBiden) were collected, from the day after the presidential elections (4 November 2020) until his inauguration as president of the United States (20 January 2021). Using a content analysis method on issue/game frame and dissemination of the messages (n = 379), and an analysis of the 100 first keywords, results showed a plan of the Democratic candidate to reinforce the role of public institutions but without interaction with the polarized electorate. In this sense, the strategies of the president-elect related to the promotion of political action, the call for unity, and the fight against the pandemic stood out. The frequent use of words with a positive attitude reveals how Biden avoided confrontation with Donald Trump. Full article

Genetically modified (GM) foods have been commercially available in the US for more than two decades, yet Americans know very little about them. With the implementation of the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard of 2016, food manufacturers will be required to disclose the presence of GM ingredients in their food products. How food manufacturers communicate with consumers about GM ingredients may have consequences for public understanding of GM technology. In Study 1, we explore how food manufacturers characterize GM ingredients within their food products on SmartLabel, a digital disclosure website established by the Grocery Manufacturers Association. In Study 2, we test the effect of those characterizations on perceived risks and benefits of GM food. Overall, we find that varying characterizations of GM ingredients do not significantly affect perceived risks and benefits. Post hoc analyses suggest that knowledge of GM technology and moral evaluation of GM technology significantly predict perceived risks and benefits. Implications for the public communication of GM technology are discussed. Full article

It can be difficult to define what “identity” means and encapsulates in groups and communities. This is particularly true in ethnic communities, where identity can overflow neat categories like religion, culture and nationality. Yet understanding what makes and shapes identity in a community can provide insight into its activities, tensions and motivations, aiding community research. In this paper, I document a methodology of the elicitation of self-understanding, from members of a community group, of their own identities within the group context, using a case study of members of an Australian Jewish community. The themes that arise from analyzing the elicited responses, and the participants’ discussions of them, highlight key ways that contemporary identity might be understood within this particular community. The exercise uncovered trends and tensions within the negotiation of identity as part of a minority community, which could inform and enrich broader study with this group. Full article

The sociological understanding of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination offers the possibility to understand society better as the processes that shape health beliefs and influence HPV vaccine decisions relate to gender, power, and identity. This research aimed to locate, select, and critically assess scientific evidence regarding the attitudes and practices towards HPV vaccination and its social processes with a focus on health equity. A scoping review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and the recommendations made by the Joanna Briggs Institute was undertaken. Medline and Scopus were searched from their start date until December 2021. The review followed the Population/Concept/Context (PCC) inclusion criteria: Population = General population, adults and adolescents, Concept = Empirical data on determinants of HPV vaccination, Context= Studies on attitudes and practices towards HPV vaccination and its social processes with a focus on gender, class, and ethnic/racial inequalities. Of the 235 selected articles, 28 were from European countries and were the focus of this review, with special attention to socio-economic determinants in HPV vaccine hesitancy in Europe, a region increasingly affected by vaccination public distrust and criticism. Barriers and facilitators of HPV vaccine uptake and determinants of immunization were identified. Given the emphasis on health equity, these data are relevant to strengthening vaccination programs to promote vaccination for all people. Full article

Based on notions from the Capability Approach, this study investigates the service delivery process for assistive technology in Hungary. The research aimed to explore whether the service delivery is person-centered, with a specific focus on the users’ possible choices. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of legislative and policy documents, qualitative data were collected in semi-structured interviews with users and professionals (n = 31) to gain a deeper understanding of personal experiences. Our findings indicate that the service delivery system is product-centered and dominated by financial considerations. The policy and legislation framework does not provide an institutional guarantee for users to be able to have their voices heard; the extent to which their opinions and preferences prevail depends on the attitude, knowledge, and goodwill of the professionals involved in the process. The realization of a person-centered approach will be hindered as long as the users’ needs are viewed from a medical point of view. Full article

The paper aims to analyze, on one hand, the evolution and interpretation of graffiti and street art phenomenon in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, and at international level, and on the other hand how this subculture is related to aspects of culture and heritage. The analysis of the evolution followed by graffiti and street art in Bucharest is doubled by the investigation of the messages transmitted in relation to the national and local culture and history, as street art may be seen as an efficient tool contributing to local cultural identity building. The methods used rely on a complex approach, combining observation and photos from field research, documentation, and data collection from different organizations and online communities. Street art works have various positive effects on the urban landscape, including in relation to culture and heritage in time. The results demonstrate that in Bucharest, street art contributes to highlighting mainly the key-moments and the personalities in culture and history that contribute to shaping a part of cultural identity. Full article

Policing organisations are increasingly expected to be representative of the diversity (e.g., gender, sexuality, ethnicity and religion) in the communities they serve. However, inclusion of these officers in the workplace often requires them to fit into prevailing police culture, meaning that the cultural changes expected in association with increased diversity are not achieved as readily in police organisations. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews with twenty police detectives, in this article, I assert that there are three core characteristics required of police officers needed to promote inclusion and acceptance in their workplace, regardless of their diversity status. These characteristics are cultural congruence, competence and team-player ability—together known as ‘inclusion capital’. The definitions of these three inclusion capital characteristics are shaped by the prevailing police culture and organisational policy and are subject to change. An individual officer’s understanding and ability to prove these three characteristics are reflected in how well they are included and accepted amongst their colleagues. This paper contributes to previous findings on police culture using Bourdieu’s theories of ‘capital’ in a new way to explain how and why police are included in their workplace. It also describes how these findings might be used by police managers to improve workplace inclusion for all minoritised officers. Full article

In 2014, the National Heritage Board of Estonia began the procedure for declaring the town centre of the former Soviet secret uranium town of Sillamäe in Northeast Estonia a heritage conservation area. The process is expected to be finalised in 2023, making it the first area where Soviet architecture would be under protection in Estonia. By approaching the town theoretically and methodologically as a heritagescape where components of tangible landscape are used to create a distinct place of the past, looking at how the town’s official development policy relates to the existing representations of the past in the town’s memory institutions, and interviewing local stakeholders, this article provides a broader and more nuanced understanding of Sillamäe and its tourism potential. Sillamäe as heritagescape offers tourists the chance to experience a curated version of the Soviet era and contemplate on the legacy of nuclear industry, while remaining in the safety of a resort town in the periphery of the European Union. Full article

Women going through a termination of their pregnancy (VTP) face a stressful situation that should be managed by hospitals in a multidisciplinary way: law, public health, and communication. This paper aims to analyze how the information sessions organized by hospitals influence women’s decisions when facing a VTP. To achieve that, we resorted to four main methodologies: (a) literature review about law, public health, and communication; (b) a 4-week participant observation at Port Royal Hospital (France) and in a social restaurant in Katowice (Poland), as well as three focus groups in the first institution (2012); (c) an online survey addressed to 500 women in Poland, France, and Switzerland (2012–2014); and (d) two focus groups and one deep interview with doctors and nurses from Geneva University Hospitals and Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland (2017–2018). Based on our quantitative results, we developed a medical protocol to help doctors interact with patients going through a VTP. This protocol was approved by the Geneva University Hospitals’ Ethics Committee (BASEC 2018-01983). We concluded that women’s informed consent is an intimate, reciprocal decision; doctors should help them to make independent decisions; and hospitals need to establish a harmonized discourse based on a code of internal communication, train their doctors in communication skills, and help them adopt a more flexible approach when taking care of these patients. Full article

Children and young people are often labelled the “digital generation”, naturally equipped with the skills to reap the benefits of digitised education, working life and communication through social media now and in the future. However, this age group’s use of information and communication technology (ICT) is not uniform, nor are the outcomes of their adaption to ICT. Shaped by their social environment and socioeconomic conditions, the potential benefits of children’s and young people’s ICT use may vary greatly, contributing to increased inequalities that exacerbate vulnerability for some while promoting health and well-being for others. This paper presents a protocol for conceptualising, systematically identifying and synthesising the literature on which conditions contribute to children and young people being negatively or positively impacted by their use of ICT. Here, children and young people are seen as social actors in four domains of their everyday lives illustrated through the digital ecosystem: family, leisure, education and civic participation. This protocol’s overview of the actors’ navigation within and across the different domains and potential for studying the interactions between the different spheres of the ecosystem may advance the understanding of both the risks and benefits facing children and young people in their digital lives. Full article

Health care systems are increasingly complex, and evidence shows poor coordination of care within and between providers, as well as at the interface between different levels of care. The purpose of this study is to explore users’ and providers’ (stakeholders’) perspectives of integrated care in Denmark. We conducted qualitative interviews with 19 providers and 18 users that were analysed through inductive content analysis. Providers’ and stakeholders’ perceived deficits in system-level factors, lack of organizational culture, weaknesses in communication, a need for a shift towards considering equity in access to health services and focus on person-centeredness. Fundamental changes suggested by participants were better sharing of information and knowledge, focus on stronger trust building, efforts in making communication more effective, and changes in incentive structure. Users perceived poor navigation in the health care system, frustration when they experienced that the services were not based on their needs and lack of support for improving their health literacy. The study showed health care weaknesses in improving user involvement in decision-making, enhancing the user–provider relationship, coordination, and access to services. Public health within integrated care requires policies and management practices that promote system awareness, relationship-building and information-sharing and provides incentive structures that support integration. Full article

Metropolitan areas tend to be materialistic/consumerist, and materialism/consumerism is usually considered immoral. Some literature argues that in cities, in general, there is more vice and immorality. In this study, we empirically explore the relationship between urbanness and materialism/immorality using 1972–2018 US General Social Survey. We find much support for a hypothesis that urbanness is associated with higher materialism and immorality. Seven out of eight measures show some evidence of more materialism/immorality in large cities, and four measures remain significant even in the most oversaturated models. However, we caution, as it is one of the first quantitative studies in the area, that the evidence is provisional. While there is a lot of theory, more empirical quantitative research is needed. The study is associative, not causal, and results may not generalize outside of the US. Full article

With his text “Philosophy of Landscape” (German original: “Philosophie der Landschaft”), the German sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel laid a foundation for landscape research that is still significant today. In the text, he equates the creation and perception of landscape with the creation of a painting. In doing so, he provided an essential foundation for landscape research with a constructivist orientation. In order to be able to grasp the differentiated nature of landscape analytically and to apply it to Simmel’s understanding of landscape, we resort to the approach of the three landscapes, which was developed from Karl Popper’s theory of the three worlds. The pictorial metaphor of Simmel’s understanding of landscapes, however, had the effect of limiting landscape to the visual, and often to what he described as ‘natural’. It did not address the power-bound nature of landscape. These aspects, however, are of great importance in current discussions about landscape. Aspects of power, multisensuality, and the incorporation of non-natural elements gain additional currency through the creation of augmented and virtual landscapes. This concerns, on the one hand, the creation of these landscapes, on the other hand, their individual internal consciousness, as well as their social construction. These show, not least, the contingency of landscape construction. They offer possibilities for the investigation of landscape stereotypes, and how innovations can be fed into the social construction of landscape to engage other senses beyond the sense of sight. The aim of our paper is to use conceptual critique to reflect on the conceptual development of social and cultural studies in landscape research since Simmel and to present its potential for framing research on AR and VR landscapes. Full article

This study examines whether pro-environmental behavior crowds-in (associates positively with) or crowds-out (displaces) political activism. This research is part of a broader debate on the nature of individual pro-environmental behavior and whether it can be considered a political act. Studies generally show a positive association between pro-environmental behavior and political activism. However, few have differentiated between types of pro-environmental behavior. In contrast, our study uses Flemish survey data to examine the relationship between political activism and different modes of pro-environmental behavior: sustainable transport, shopping decisions, energy curtailment, and waste sorting. The results are generally consistent with previous studies. Political activism was positively related to sustainable transport, shopping decisions, and waste sorting. However, it was negatively associated with energy curtailment. Results thus suggest that energy curtailment may displace political action. In conclusion, by differentiating between various modes of pro-environmental behavior, our study confirms but also nuances the usefulness of concepts such as sustainable citizenship. These notions often frame individual pro-environmental behavior as part of broader political and collective strategies to address environmental issues. Our study shows that this may exclude some forms of ecologically significant behavior such as energy curtailment. Full article