Sociology Commons^™

Socioeconomic Status, Physical Inactivity, And Bmi In Transitional Urban China: Contextualizing The Theory Of Fundamental Causes, Jun Xu, Fang Gong, Wei Zhao

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Drawing insights from the theory of fundamental causes of disease, this study examined the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and selected risk factors in transitional urban China. Specifically, under China’s distinct institutional and sociocultural environment, we examined how contextualized SES (i.e., party membership, hukou status, housing ownership, and subjective social status) and conventional SES indicators (i.e., education, income, and occupation) were associated with physical inactivity and body mass index (BMI). Utilizing the urban subsample of the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), we found that individuals with higher education, income, Communist Party membership, and urban hukou status had lower risks …

Archetypal Energies And Global Mental Health, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

As a keynote speaker at the Global Mental Health Conference 2024, held at Sophia University, Costa Mesa, CA, in-person and virtually, August 16-18, 2024, my topic was "Archetypal Energies As A Framework for Self-Empowerment and Well Being". The theme of this 2024 global conference was: Enlightened Minds, Compassionate Hearts, and Embodied Wisdom. To supplement my keynote address, I wrote this blog article titled "Archetypal Energies and Global Mental Health".

How Has Telehealth Impacted Access To Mental Health Services In The Hispanic Population In Minnesota?, Jesse Ochoa

Theses and Graduate Projects

Background: The Hispanic population in the US continues to grow and mental health services still have barriers lowering access to care.

Purpose: The purpose of this literature review is to look at the stressors and perceptions of mental health in Hispanics and analyze how telehealth has impacted access to care despite the barriers present.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted using google scholar using the search terms With this search criteria, 600 articles were available. Inclusion criteria were studies that provided a comprehensive view about specific topics like telehealth with the hispanic population, mental health specific to Hispanic needs, …

Strategic Governance To “Silence The Guns” In Africa: Urban Sub-Saharan African Perceptions On War's Root Causes., Peter Tresor Miyalou, Chun Yan Hu

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

Despite the African Union’s campaign to silence the guns in Africa by 2020 (STGIA 2020), many African countries are suffering from wars and political instability, the primary causes of underdevelopment in Africa. This paper examines the roots causes of wars in Africa and provide a strategic governance to silence the guns beyond 2020. To accomplish this, we gathered data from 169 questionnaire responses administered across 25 African countries, to capture African people’s perceptions on the root causes of wars and whether employing strategic governance would help silence the guns in these countries. The results showed that political power struggle (47.9%), …

Introduction To The Special Issue

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Volume 26, Issue 2 (Special Issue) -- Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Statement From The Indiana Academy Of The Social Sciences And Board Of Directors

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Guest Editor's Note, Rajiv Thakur

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

The Decline Of Republican Democracy And Rise Of The Techno-Authoritarian State: Reading Dystopian Novels In Hindi Literature, Manindra Nath Thakur

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

In the past few decades, the nature of capitalism has changed fast as it has lost its philosophical justification based on the principle of the common good. There have been many avatars of the idea of the “common good”: “white man’s burden to civilize the world,” “welfarism,” and “neoliberal concept of freedom of choice.” Capitalism now seems to have moved in a new direction, however, and it has failed to produce any further philosophical justification for its existence as a mode of production despite generating unprecedented economic inequality. Consequently, there is a rising tension between capitalism and democracy in societies …

Displacement, Social Justice, And The Right To The City: A Review And Critical Reflections In The 21st Century, Tara Fitzgerald, Brij Maharaj

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This paper aims to review the literature and themes relating to displacement, social justice, and the right to the city in the 21st century. Displacement, in its various forms, is central to understanding the human rights abuses and livelihood implications when urban rights are revoked, forcing inhabitants to the periphery, and is the focus of this paper. Whereas the city’s services, resources, and opportunities should be a collective right advanced by local authorities for all who occupy urban space, displacements lead to resettlement and impoverishment, especially as livelihoods are disrupted. Urban renewal, through mega-projects, clean-up campaigns, and speculative gentrification processes, …

The Adaptation Wedge: Capacity-Building Scenarios For India’S Cities, Jagan Shah

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

The increasing frequency and severity of floods, heat waves, and storm surges impacting global cities, combined with the growing morbidity in public health, necessitates prompt and effective climate action. Adaptation and mitigation require adequate and appropriate institutional, technical, and societal capacities—all of which are in short supply in most low- and middle-income country cities that are experiencing growth while suffering vulnerabilities. Although national governments are alerted to climate risk and the imperatives of planning, financing, and managing climate transitions, their responses to capacity constraints and approaches to capacity building display neither urgency nor scale. We use a scenario-building methodology to …

Spaces Of Progress And The Challenge Of “Mindfulness” In A Postcolonial World, M. Satish Kumar

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Progress implied both change and improvement in the colonial and postcolonial world. Such a concept of progress came to be enshrined in specific geographical places. The notions of development and underdevelopment in the postcolonial context thereafter supplanted this idea. Over time, while the structures of colonial domination dissolved, those of embedded regional inequalities came to be deeply entrenched, thereby urging for Thich Nhat Hanh’s approach to “mindfulness” in a “postcapitalist,” postcolonial world. The key question is whether postcolonialism has reached an impasse in its delivery and deployment of ideas across the widening gulf between the spaces of progress and stagnancy. …

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Economic Development In Legacy Cities: Current And Emerging Challenges And Opportunities, Neil Reid, Sujata Shetty, Jane Adade

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

As manufacturing employment has declined in the traditional manufacturing regions over the past decades, many communities have experienced population loss and overall economic decline. Local economic development professionals have had to grapple with long-term structural changes in the economy as well as short-term jolts. To gain insights into the changing landscape of economic development, we interviewed economic development practitioners in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The interviews focused on their perception of current and emerging challenges and opportunities with respect to economic development in their respective communities. Having identified the major challenges and opportunities, we asked them to articulate the …

Notes On The Future Possibilities Of Engaged Anthropological Research: Why Decolonizing Anthropology Needs Black Diasporic Feminist Theory And Methodologies, Meryleen Mena

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

While in the past decade there have been more ethnographic accounts that shed light on minoritized stories and demystify the specific challenges that women and femmes experience during their research, much is desired to prepare students and junior scholars from marginalized identities for fieldwork research. Reflecting on a moment of precarity in the context of pre-impeachment São Paulo, I explain why the integration of Black diasporic feminist thought, method, and praxis is critical to further decolonizing efforts in anthropology. Beyond reflection, this narrative calls for sustained politically active engagement to establish an anthropology of liberation.

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Is This Home Truly? Reflections On Singapore As It Turns 59, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In a commentary, SMU President Professor Lily Kong shared her reflections on Singapore as it turns 59. She discussed Singapore's nation-building process and offered her views on how the country can strengthen its social compact to make Singapore a home for Singaporeans.

Border Soundscapes: Latinidad, Belonging, And Sense Of Place In The Paso Del Norte Region., Josã© Manuel Flores Fuentes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the acoustic ecologies of the Juárez-El Paso border, investigating how soundscapes shape and reflect the cultural identity, sense of belonging, and sense of place within this unique transnational region. Guided by the theoretical lenses of belonging (Kohut, Tajfel, Turner, Hooks), sense of place (Feld & Basso), and habitus (Bourdieu), the research takes a phenomenological approach, informed by Merleau-Ponty's concepts of perception and Ceraso's notion of embodied listening. The study analyzes soundscape samples through Krause's categories of biophonies, geophonies, and anthropophonies, uncovering how these sounds contribute to the development of Latino identity and cultural cohesion in the borderlands.Focusing …

Post-Productivism And Rural Revitalization In China: Drivers And Outcomes, Meiling Wu, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We propose that post-productivism offers a useful analytical framework for understanding the multi-scalar and diverse changes that are taking place in China’s rural revitalization. As a theoretical framework that emerged from the study of rural changes in the Global North, the applicability of post-productivism in the Global South has been contested. This paper offers the first comprehensive analysis of the emergence of post-productivism in rural China and uses post-productivism as a framework to conceptualize a wide range of changes in China’s rural revitalization. We conceptually clarify the driving forces that give rise to post-productivism and the outcomes these drivers produce. …

Ten Years As Boundary Object: The Search For Identity And Belonging As 'Hongkongers', John Lowe, Darlene Machell Espena, George Wong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article examines the complex process of symbolic boundary-making of ‘Hongkonger’ cultural identities through the lens of the controversial 2015 film Ten Years, which is a celebrated omnibus production comprised of five short segments that picture a dystopic end to Hong Kong’s cherished way of life in the year 2025. The article is premised on an interdisciplinary approach engaging with cultural studies and film studies. On one hand, it explores how Ten Years functioned as a boundary object, a vast terrain within which cultural identities of what it means to be a Hongkonger are constructed, banished, imagined, and performed under …

Social Capital, Institutional Change, And Rural Development In Transmigration Area, West Muna Regency, Indonesia, Ahmad Imron Rozuli, La Ode Machdani Afala, Muhtar Haboddin, Anif Fatma Chawa

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This study examines the development process in transmigration areas, utilizing the social capital concept in the study of three transmigration villages: Mekar Jaya, Wapae, and Suka Damai. We interviewed stakeholders, made observations, and analysed documents to collect data. Our findings highlight the important role of social capital and institutional change in supporting village development. Three critical factors emerged: First, village development involves the transfer of skills from the area of origin to the area of migration endowed with strong work ethics (etos kerja), particularly in agricultural and business sectors. Second, strong networks formed through ethnic and religious ties facilitate …

Transnational(Izing) African Communication: A Post-/Decolonial Approach To Nollywood And Globalization, Tomide Oloruntobi

Communication ETDs

In this dissertation, I examine culture and communication in transnational Nigeria, focusing on Nollywood and its industrial politics. Through a critical ethnographic examination of Nollywood’s reception among global and transnational audiences, I critique the evolving patterns of difference, power, and politics informing production, distribution, consumption, and performance/communication of otherness. With four composite dimensions of decoloniality: structural, epistemic, personal, and relational as theoretical foundation, I analyzed observations and interviews with 21 transnational Nigerians, online focus group discussions, user reviews, movies/series, and blogposts. I discuss the emergent themes of coloniality of space, mobility, and culture; re-making of racial otherness and hetero-patriarchy/normativity; cultural …

Ethnodoxy And Immigration Attitudes In The Middle East/North Africa, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Migration is a prevalent social concern in the Middle East/North Africa. In addition to emigration, the countries struggle to incorporate immigrant and transiting populations. This article examines the influence of ethnodoxy—the linking of Arab and Muslim identity—on public opinion on immigrants and migration in the MENA region. Using original surveys of Egyptian and Moroccan Muslims from February and May–June 2023, it shows the more ethnodoxic respondents are, the more likely they are to hold anti-immigrant views. These results are consistent with the principle that social identity complexity encourages tolerance and change acceptance. Thus, this study contributes to the growing literature …

Carrying Meaning, Bridging Worlds: Indigenous Language Localization In Western Courts, Nora K. Rivera

English Faculty Articles and Research

This work examines the localization practices of Indigenous court interpreters through prototyping and analyzing legal glossaries in eight Indigenous languages from the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. These languages are often needed in Mexican courts and immigration court hearings in the United States. Thus, examining the localization praxes of the court interpreters who use them can provide important intercultural technical and professional communication insights in global contexts. I compare the preliminary results of this ongoing study with the court interpreters' code of ethics from the State of California to demonstrate how Western court assumptions about language interpretation cause gaps between worldviews. …

Report On Findings From Household Needs Study, Paulin T. Straughan, Mathew Mathews

ROSA Research Briefs

The Household Needs Study (HNS) aimed to capture public perspectives on essential items and activities that are deemed necessary for a normal life in Singapore and to understand the extent to which Singaporeans are able to access these items and activities. To do so, the study adopted the Living Standards Approach (Saunders, Naidoo & Wong, 2022), which purports that individuals experience relative deprivation and/or social exclusion if they do not have access to items and activities that are deemed to be essential by society. In this study, a survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of around 4,000 respondents …

Bridging The Nature-Cultural Heritage Gap: Evaluating Sustainable Entanglements Through Cemeteries In Urban Asia, David Ocon, Wei Ping Young

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The expanding footprint of urban Asian settlements and increasing living standards have put pressure on cemetery sites. Public health narratives and the sanctity associated with death matters in Asian urban landscapes have fed into the rhetoric of cemeteries as undesirable heritage spaces. Often lacking protection, many cemeteries have been exhumed, cleared, and relocated to allow room for new developments and infrastructure, risking the survival of this quiet element of the urban cultural patrimony. Within an Asian context, synergies between nature and cultural heritage preservation are not prevalent in major cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok. …

Insourcing The Smart City: Assembling An Ideo-Technical Ecosystem Of Talent, Skills, And Civic-Mindedness In Singapore, Orlando Woods, Tim Bunnell, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article examines an alternative model of smart city formation, one based on the principle of insourcing technical competencies and capabilities to those responsible for city governance. This model counters the logic of technological outsourcing upon which many assumptions and critiques of the smart city rest, and thus reveals ways in which a more generative discourse can be forged. Drawing on a series of in-depth interviews with senior stakeholders from public and private sector organizations, we develop a case study of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative. Through coordinated efforts to reorganize the public sector’s technological functions, develop nation-wide skills upgrading programs, …

Redefining Boundaries: Women's Strategic Position In The Evolving International Public Realm, Hirshi Anadza

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

The dichotomy of public and private is always related to the binary oppositions of women and men in social realms. Men are always the representation of the public because masculinity emphasises public discourse, war, and peace, and vice versa with women. Consequently, exploring how women position themselves within the international public sphere is imperative, particularly as the boundary between the public and private realms becomes increasingly blurred. This article argues that women could play a crucial role in this more complex public-private dichotomy while facing the international realm. Nation-states have a role as publics domestically but then change their status …

Paradoxes And Potential Of Tourism Development In Nicaragua, Cody J. Silveira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation research evaluates the successes and challenges of tourism integration and expansion as both a broad human development strategy and a catalyst for local populations to achieve greater economic and social opportunities. The country of Nicaragua serves as the primary case study for such an evaluation due to its relatively recent promotion and expansion of tourism through government led incentives and oversight. As a case study, Nicaragua is a country whose tourism industry remains nascent, yet commands great economic potential and influence, which can serve as an example for future tourism development initiatives for developing countries in the region …

Sacred Space And Self: Feminist Reflections In The Church Of Mary, Ozan Can Yilmaz

Journal of Global Catholicism

This study recontextualizes Mary's obedience and nurturing characteristics as a counterbalance to Eve's disobedience, symbolically representing a trajectory towards reconciliation and redemption. It delves into Mary's multifaceted role as a bestower of life and grace, her intrinsic maternal compassion, and her facilitation of female empowerment. Through this analytical framework, it offers a nuanced perspective on pilgrimages to sacred sites associated with Marian veneration, suggesting that these journeys transcend mere historical and religious connections to become platforms for personal healing, spiritual growth, and the exploration of feminine identity. The research is underpinned by a fieldwork conducted at the Church of Mary …