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In Dar es Salaam, an aesthetic politics of landscape shaped by the coloniality of space is central to middle‐class boundary work that drives the city's middle classes to congregate in the city's northern suburbs. The colonial city was divided into three racially marked zones that became known as uzunguni, uhindini, and uswahilini (the place of the European, Indian, and African, respectively). The coloniality of space remains as the spatial residue of this colonial enframing. It endures in an aesthetic politics of landscape in which ideas about what, and who, makes good urban space in terms of architecture, topography, and planning, and who deserves to live where. The paper examines how middle‐class suburban residents' mobilisation of the coloniality of space naturalises existing social and spatial hierarchies in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on social identity theory (SIT), this study explored social class group identity, intergroup attitudes, and views about social mobility and inequality among socioeconomically and racially/ethnically diverse adults in the U.K. (n = 457) and the U.S. (n = 595). U.K. participants evidenced greater consensus about the social class groups present in their society than did U.S. participants, but lower, working, middle, and upper class were commonly perceived in both contexts, and many participants self‐identified as working class (38% U.K., 17% U.S.) or middle class (45% U.K., 47% U.S.) Consistent with SIT, participants in both contexts identified with their social class ingroup (e.g., felt they belonged) and stereotyped it less harshly on dimensions (warmth or competence) on which it was generally negatively stereotyped. Importantly, middle and upper class participants tended to feel more positively (e.g., proud) about their ingroup, and believed society was more fair and equal, and upward mobility more likely, than did lower and working class participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue explores the shifting landscape of global middle‐class migration within and from East Asia by taking the relationship between mobility, parenting ideals and changing educational desires as its focus. Contributions explore how East Asian middle‐class families balance the emergent emphasis on their children's well‐being with the demands of global competitiveness as these often‐antagonistic desires are projected onto old and new migration destinations against the background of global geopolitical and economic power shifts. Instead of reifying the simplistic binary of hierarchical, achievement‐oriented East Asian 'Confucian educational norms' versus democratic, well‐being‐focussed Western ideals, the contributions offer a nuanced understanding of how these educational ideals coexist within the social, cultural, political and economic contexts of families. By carefully assessing the dialectically entwined intimate experiences of parents and children, the articles collected here set out to broaden our understanding of how middle‐class families in Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China attempt to negotiate the tension between prioritizing children's happiness and maintaining global competitiveness result in a variety of strategies from migrating to less obvious international destinations to crafting domestic alternatives. Taken together, the articles reveal consistent patterns of middle‐class migration and child‐rearing decisions that contest and reshape conventional notions of success, attesting to a shift in global middle‐class migration trends and to the importance of child‐rearing in migratory decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational migration to Poland has recently served to reshape the local Chinese community, previously known largely for trade and small entrepreneurship. This marks a broader trend, with a number of European countries promoted in China as sites of elite learning and increasingly fetishized among the Chinese middle class. Drawing on research among families, students and intermediaries, I discuss the process through which Poland has been embraced as one of such 'imagined' destinations, meant to provide an alternative to the pressures of life in modern Chinese society. I also show how, despite the growing access, the actual pursuit of new aspirations remains complex, often leading to a conflicted experience abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the expansion of the borstal system for young male offenders in late colonial India. Based on legislative debates and prison administration reports, it considers the ways in which young adults were defined and treated within the context of these penal institutions. It reveals how institutionalised care for young men was used to reinforce the power of middle class coercive networks; to define and produce particular forms of masculinity among the poor youth of India and to contribute to wider, emerging discourses about the distinctive position of adolescents in Indian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early data regarding gender implications of COVID‐19 suggest that men are more likely to die as an effect of infection while women are those who suffer the social consequences of pandemic as they dominate in care‐oriented professions and bear the consequences of increased caring needs at home. The latter includes caring for children, who, in many (European) countries have been subjected to homeschooling. However, the lockdown resulted in the fact that also men (usually white‐collar workers from middle class) changed their work organization and habits and have started working from home. Some studies suggest that this specific situation results in the increase of involvement of fathers into caring activities at home. Hence, the main goal of our paper is an attempt to answer the question if pandemic opened new opportunities for larger involvement of men in caring activities. The study will locate research outcomes in the context of gender regime in Poland in order to investigate if lockdown, online work and care responsibilities enabled to challenge or to reproduce existing gender relations, with a special focus on masculinities patterns. It will be done by analyzing data from Poland, namely, semi‐structured qualitative interviews collected in two waves – during spring lockdown 2020 and during late autumn and winter 2020/2021 with men and women working online at home and caring for underage children. By doing so, we expect to add more nuanced, crisis‐related theoretical understandings of caring masculinity concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Employment interruptions of mothers are still one of the main causes for different labour market outcomes between women and men. Employment subsidies can incentivise mothers to shorten employment interruptions after childbirth. We examine a German parental leave reform incentivising an early return to part‐time work. Exploiting the exogenous variation defined by the child's birthday, we apply unconditional difference‐in‐differences (DiD) estimation using administrative data. Machine learning augmented DiD estimation shows that our findings are robust to the inclusion of a large dictionary of potential covariates. Additionally, we estimate conditional effects in the DiD setting. Our results show that being eligible to the new regime yields positive average employment effects that are mainly driven by part‐time employment. In particular, the increased attractiveness of part‐time work does not cannibalise full‐time employment. The policy creates heterogeneous incentives depending on the opportunity costs of working part time: especially mothers with middle income and prior part‐time workers respond to the reform. Besides, diverging results for East and West Germany hint at the potential of a change in social norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthracnose (ANTH) caused by Colletotrichum lindemuthianum is a major disease of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The genetic basis of ANTH resistance in the Middle American Diversity Panel (MDP) is unknown. The objectives of this study were to identify (1) Middle American accessions resistant to races 7, 19, 51, 63, 167, and 1085 of C. lindemuthianum and (ii) genomic regions and positional candidate genes associated with resistance to these races. The MDP composed of 240 Middle American accessions was evaluated for resistance to races 7, 19, 51, 63, 167, and 1085. The MDP was genotyped with 211,763 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and mixed linear model analysis was conducted to identify genomic regions associated with resistance to the six races. Seven accessions were highly resistant to all six races, and these can be used as sources of resistance to improve specific market classes in the Middle American gene pool. The genomic region (385,894 bp) on chromosome Pv04 was significantly associated with resistance to race 167. Genomic regions on Pv02 (41,570,325 bp), Pv07 (24,122,343 bp), and Pv11 (51,707,917 bp) were significantly associated with resistance to race 19. Disease resistance (R) genes with the nucleotide binding‐APAF resistance protein and CED‐4 domain were identified as positional candidate genes on Pv04 and Pv11. There were no SNPs significantly associated with resistance to races 7, 51, 63, and 1085. Pyramiding the identified genomic regions on Pv04, Pv07, and Pv11 could provide durable ANTH resistance in Middle American varieties for races 19 and 167. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with a survey of the literature on the political economy approaches to labor income taxation. We focus on recent progress made by examining in detail the specific properties of nonlinear taxes derived in the context of voting. Next, we present new results on the existence of a majority voting equilibrium that unifies work in the standard framework. Finally, we discuss how recent theoretical results help us uncover empirical patterns from the last 50 years in the US tax system, namely, a sharp decrease in top marginal tax rates, the rise of the Earned Income Tax Credit, and increased progressivity in the middle of the income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research examining middle‐class parents' school choices often overlooks parents in post‐socialist nations, where social reproduction may occur differently than in Western urban contexts. To bridge this gap, our study illuminates the intersection of Czech middle‐class parents' school choices and parenting strategies. Drawing on 26 in‐depth interviews with parents, we depict "cultivation for wellbeing" as a distinct parenting approach prevalent within a subset of the Czech middle class that challenges prevailing Western depictions of middle‐class child‐rearing strategies in relation to school choice. We describe five areas in which the parenting approach contrasts with concerted cultivation and intensive parenting: the promotion of unstructured free time, autonomous socialization with selected peers, a propensity to avoid confronting teachers, gentle support for children's interests, and a focus on emotional and physical wellbeing. We posit that "cultivation for wellbeing" serves as a mechanism for social distinction among a segment of middle‐class parents, enabling them to distinguish themselves from other class segments by selecting and seamlessly accessing exclusive public school settings tailored to their nuanced educational preferences. The study underscores the need to reassess the dominant portrayals of middle‐class parenting strategies, highlighting the complex interplay between child‐rearing, school choice, and social reproduction in diverse cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the first English speakers in Namibia, South African Coloureds came to form an essential part of an ethnically fluid intermediate social class in colonial Namibia. This study seeks to pinpoint to what extent Coloured English varieties have been contributing to Namibian English and how much prestige is attached to them. To this end, this study simultaneously uses linguistic and perceptual data. One dataset consists of English phonetic data elicited from a representative urban sample of young Namibians. That dataset is analysed to establish what phonetic features mark out Coloured Namibian English varieties and to what extent they are found in other ethnolinguistic varieties and across social classes. The study then reports on a verbal guise experiment whose aim is to establish how young Namibians rate Coloured Namibian English varieties. Finally, the study analyses folk comments on Namibian English accents elicited from young Namibian focus groups. The study finds that, in terms of vowel realization patterns, Coloured Namibian English varieties sit in between White and Black Namibian English varieties, forming part of a continuum of which one extremity displays a White South African English imprint. The less ‘Afrikaans‐accented’ Coloured English varieties—associated with women—are developing middle‐class indexicalities. The fact that these varieties are targeted by young Black women and are perceived as ‘General Namibian English’, the study concludes, confirms that Namibian English is norm‐developing, as befits any Outer Circle variety. It is loosely tied to (South African) Inner Circle norms and has entered Phase 4 (‘endonormative stabilization’) of E. Schneider's Dynamic Model. The normative influence of Namibian Coloured English, the study argues, shows that the Dynamic Model needs fundamental adjustment to properly account for the role of non‐Europeans in Outer Circle dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corinthian FC (1882–1938) was one of the world's most famous football clubs, despite never winning a league championship or a cup competition. At a time when association football, especially in Britain, was establishing itself as a form of commercialised entertainment with clubs organised as businesses and employing working‐class professionals, the Corinthians became the principal standard‐bearers for gentlemanly amateurism, effectively creating and curating a niche brand which had middle‐class appeal and proved remarkably resilient. Pursuing this analogy focuses attention on the core values with which the club was associated and the strategies pursued to protect the brand it had created. This article seeks to explain the appeal of this elite touring club in England and also overseas, where it focuses especially on its visits to South Africa in 1897, 1903 and 1907. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the influence of class on migrants' social positioning strategies in transnational spaces. It contributes to debates about the processes of transnational class‐making and class formation. Going beyond an analysis of class in socio‐economic terms, the paper focuses on peoples' (changing) subjective understandings of middle‐class membership as a relevant factor in migrants' transnational social positioning strategies. Based on qualitative interview data with middle‐class migrants in Germany, the presentation relates their experiences with downward social mobility before and after migration to their subjective perspectives on middle‐class membership over time and in different places. The findings show that middle‐class performance is shaped by migration experiences but also shapes peoples' mobility trajectories and therefore influences and promotes different transnational lifestyles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinas represent one of the fastest‐growing groups of entrepreneurs in the United States, yet they are understudied in entrepreneurship research. Through three case studies of middle‐class and wealthy Latinas, we explore how ethnorace, gender, immigration, class, and community shape their entrepreneurial endeavors as they practice what we refer to as feminist ethnoracial entrepreneurship–entrepreneurial endeavors that aim to empower, assist, and/or build community amongst women through ethnic and gender‐specific services and experiences. Feminist ethnoracial entrepreneurship, in theory, aims to mitigate ethnoracial and gender inequality. Our participants draw from their lived experiences to inform their entrepreneurial motivations to make a profit and a social difference. By incorporating research centered on feminist approaches to entrepreneurship, we show how gender and the ethnoracial context combine with class to shape Latina entrepreneurs' ethnoracial capitalism and community empowerment practices at the levels of institutions, in community spaces, and markets as they navigate broader structures of racial and gender inequality. Our participants challenge structural ethnoracial and gender exclusion via entrepreneurial endeavors in finance that aim to address gender and racial gaps in access to commercial capital, by opening Latino coffee shops rooted in community and feminist ideology, and by fashioning physical and digital makers markets grounded in Chicana/Latina Feminisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Louise Otto‐Peters (1819–95) worked as a political activist, women's rights activist, publicist and writer in the turbulent decades before and after the March Revolution of 1848. These pursuits were closely linked, since Louise Otto, who came from middle‐class liberal circles, commented on social grievances and developments in her newspaper articles, novels and poems. This also applies to the poem 'Einst und Jetzt', written between 1840 and 1850, which is hermeneutically examined in this article. As the title suggests, the text outlines the dichotomy of past and present or future. The poem, in which the arrival of the railway is a symbol of industrial change, focuses on the contrast between the old, peaceful world and the new world with its noise, faster speed and growth. A young man is drawn into the new world, while his beloved stays at home and is excluded from the innovation resulting from social and industrial upheaval. I examine the poem according to the following questions: What perspectives on the Industrial Revolution and its consequences are expressed and how? In what ways is the poem a feminist text? And where does the poem sit in terms of Louise Otto‐Peters' literary‐political background? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A consensus seems to exist around physically attractive candidates winning elections more often. Unfortunately, we have limited understanding of how voters assess candidates with socioeconomically (dis)advantageous physical appearances. To bridge this gap, we studied the electoral consequences of candidates looking upper class, middle class, or working class. Using official electoral data for the 2017 Finnish municipal elections and a novel data set based on a representative sample of the Finnish population (N = 7,920), we found that Finnish citizens systematically vote for candidates who look like they have (and do have) upper‐class occupations. Furthermore, the data strongly suggest that a systematic electoral penalty exists, particularly for female candidates who look like they have (and do have) working‐class occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the concept of political disintegration and its impact on democracy, using the crisis of Weimar democracy in Germany as a case study. The perspectives of Carl Schmitt, Franz Neumann, and Hannah Arendt are explored, with each highlighting different aspects of political disintegration. Schmitt argues for a new form of authoritarian politics, Neumann identifies large business groups as a threat, and Arendt focuses on the spread of an antipolitical subjectivity caused by capitalism. The article concludes by suggesting that understanding this historical debate can inform our understanding of the current crisis of democracy. [Extracted from the article]

Bio-banking in research elicits numerous ethical issues related to informed consent, privacy and identifiability of samples, return of results, incidental findings, international data exchange, ownership of samples, and benefit sharing etc. In low and middle income (LMICs) countries the challenge of inadequate guidelines and regulations on the proper conduct of research compounds the ethical issues. In addition, failure to pay attention to underlying indigenous worldviews that ought to inform issues, practices and policies in Africa may exacerbate the situation. In this paper we discuss how the African context presents unique and outstanding cultural thought systems regarding the human body and biological materials that can be put into perspective in bio-bank research. We give the example of African ontology of nature presented by John Samwel Mbiti as foundational in adding value to the discourse about enhancing relevance of bio-bank research in the African context. We underline that cultural rites of passage performed on the human body in majority of communities in Africa elicit quintessential perspective on beliefs about handling of human body and human biological tissues. We conclude that acknowledgement and inclusion of African indigenous worldviews regarding the human body is essential in influencing best practices in biobank research in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, efforts have been put in place to address money laundering activities including financial crime and illicit funding controls. These efforts have been recognized to promote financial integrity and effective governance systems. They have been further adjudged by the United Nations' sustainable development (Goal‐16) with a major concern to achieve peaceful, just and inclusive development. Previous studies reveal that money laundering activities have major implications for economic growth. However, little is known about the main implications of anti‐money laundering (AML) regulations on sustainable development. On this note, this study contributes to the ongoing debate by investigating the relationship between AML regulations and sustainable development in 72 developing economies, consisting 29 upper middle income, 33 low middle income and 10 low income countries. Using instrumental variable generalized method of moment (IV‐GMM), panel quantile estimation technique and dynamic panel threshold analysis, the findings are as follows. First, AML regulations promote sustainable development. Second, the panel quantile regression reveals that countries with moderate AML regulations attain higher sustainable development than those with excessive regulations. Further results on regional analysis show that AML regulations are more effective in Latin America, South Asia, Europe & Central Asia and Middle East & North Africa than in Sub‐Saharan Africa and East Asia & Pacific. These results are robust and stable after conducting a number of robustness analyses. The study suggests that effective AML regulations should be moderate and well‐implemented to further improve economic, social and environmental sustainability in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prediabetes management is a priority for policymakers globally, to avoid/delay type 2 diabetes (T2D) and reduce severe, costly health consequences. Countries moving from low to middle income are most at risk from the T2D "epidemic" and may find implementing preventative measures challenging; yet prevention has largely been evaluated in developed countries. Methods: Markov cohort simulations explored costs and benefits of various prediabetes management approaches, expressed as "savings" to the public health care system, for three countries with high prediabetes prevalence and contrasting economic status (Poland, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam). Two scenarios were compared up to 15 y: "inaction" (no prediabetes intervention) and "intervention" with metformin extended release (ER), intensive lifestyle change (ILC), ILC with metformin (ER), or ILC with metformin (ER) "titration." Results: T2D was the highest‐cost health state at all time horizons due to resource use, and inaction produced the highest T2D costs, ranging from 9% to 34% of total health care resource costs. All interventions reduced T2D versus inaction, the most effective being ILC + metformin (ER) "titration" (39% reduction at 5 y). Metformin (ER) was the only strategy that produced net saving across the time horizon; however, relative total health care system costs of other interventions vs inaction declined over time up to 15 y. Viet Nam was most sensitive to cost and parameter changes via a one‐way sensitivity analysis. Conclusions: Metformin (ER) and lifestyle interventions for prediabetes offer promise for reducing T2D incidence. Metformin (ER) could reduce T2D patient numbers and health care costs, given concerns regarding adherence in the context of funding/reimbursement challenges for lifestyle interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquisition of visual attention‐following skills, notably gaze‐ and point‐following, contributes to infants' ability to share attention with caregivers, which in turn contributes to social learning and communication. However, the development of gaze‐ and point‐following in the first 18 months remains controversial, in part because of different testing protocols and standards. To address this, we longitudinally tested N = 43 low‐risk, North American middle‐class infants' tendency to follow gaze direction, pointing gestures, and gaze‐and‐point combinations. Infants were tested monthly from 4 to 12 months of age. To control motivational differences, infants were taught to expect contingent reward videos in the target locations. No‐cue trials were included to estimate spontaneous target fixation rates. A comparison sample (N = 23) was tested at 9 and 12 months to estimate practice effects. Results showed gradual increases in both gaze‐ and point‐following starting around 7 months, and modest month‐to‐month individual stability from 8 to 12 months. However, attention‐following did not exceed chance levels until after 6 months. Infants rarely followed cues to locations behind them, even at 12 months. Infants followed combined gaze‐and‐point cues more than gaze alone, and followed points at intermediate levels (not reliably different from the other cues). The comparison group's results showed that practice effects did not explain the age‐related increase in attention‐following. The results corroborate and extend previous findings that North American middle‐class infants' attention‐following in controlled laboratory settings increases slowly and incrementally between 6 and 12 months of age. Research Highlights: A longitudinal experimental study documented the emergence and developmental trajectories of North American middle‐class infants' visual attention‐following skills, including gaze‐following, point‐following, and gaze‐and‐point‐following.A new paradigm controlled for factors including motivation, attentiveness, and visual‐search baserates. Motor development was ruled out as a predictor or limiter of the emergence of attention‐following.Infants did not follow attention reliably until after 6 months, and following increased slowly from 7 to 12 months.Infants' individual trajectories showed modest month‐to‐month stability from 8 to 12 months of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the employment aspirations and struggles for upward social mobility of middle‐class Muslim female youth in Delhi, located in segregated and non‐segregated areas. The paper contends that women respondents navigate constraints such that their class, gender and religious background have an ambivalent role in the production of aspirations but a more definitive one in their realisation. This argument is anchored in the three key themes addressed in the paper. For women from middle and lower sections of the middle‐class the presence of high aspirations does not translate into gainful employment, leading to the problem of fraying hope and 'frustrated freedom'. They are engaged in prolonged waiting experiencing what Ghassan Hage would call 'stuckedness'. The upper stratum placed strategically in the Bourdieusian field, can leverage their economic and cultural capital to offset uncertainties around employment and marriage. The third section navigates religious, gender and class‐based constraints by participating in self‐employment activities in a segregated neighbourhood in Delhi. For these women, the segregated neighbourhood has a dual role as an enabler and a barrier to their aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on international students from West Africa and their migration trajectories. Based on in‐depth interviews, we investigate the migration drivers and students' motivations to become international students. Building on the analytical framework of multinational stepwise migration, we also explore their aspirations, obstacles and coping strategies at different stages of their migratory paths. This study maintains that this form of international mobility is not solely driven by academic aspirations. We find that international student migration is an increasingly important part of larger mobility projects for West African students. The paper also relates to facilitators of migration, constrained opportunities in the home countries and restrictive mobility regimes that, in conjunction, have impacted the stepwise migration toward the Global North. To fulfil their broader mobility projects, African students often have to engage in complex stepwise migrations and face various struggles and drawbacks. This study has demonstrated that African students from middle‐class backgrounds are not exempt from these struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I examine the simultaneous expansion of urban sprawl and influx of middle‐class migrants in the context of Gurugram, India, to highlight how physical and social space plays an integral role in shaping class distinction among the migrant middle classes. I make a case for social class, generally, and migrant middle classes in neo‐urban contexts, specifically, to be understood as a sociospatial category. My arguments build primarily on Bourdieu's argument that both physical and social space operates on similar principles of reciprocal externality of positions in the context of social class distinction. I highlight how the migrant middle classes formulate and consolidate their social class distinction against competing claims over sociospatial dominance of the local ancestral agrarian community in neo‐urban Gurugram, India. My findings highlight how existing local sociopolitical fractures interact with global capitalist circuits of capital to shape the sociospatial context in which social class distinction is formulated. The article allows for grounding theorizations of social class to accommodate local sociopolitical and sociospatial dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper proposes a deep generalisation for income inequality indices. A generalised income inequality index that depends on two parameters and that involves a large set of income inequality indices in the same framework is proposed. The two parameters control the sensitivity of the generalised index to different levels of the income distribution. A thorough investigation of the generalised index paves the way for understanding the influence of the low, middle and high incomes on various income inequality indices and thereby facilitates the choice of multiple indices simultaneously for a better analysis of inequality as advocated by several recent studies. Moreover, two methods for estimating the generalised index in the case of finite populations are shown. A new method for estimating the inequality indices is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International student mobility (ISM) is largely interpreted as a global middle‐class capital accumulation strategy. Cosmopolitanism, which is the named outcome and effect of these mobile forms of social and cultural capital, is therefore disproportionately available to already privileged students. This study moves beyond this prevailing interpretation by examining how students from working‐ or lower‐middle‐class families with limited resources in Global South countries combine bottom‐up cosmopolitanism with educational mobility to get selected into highly competitive spaces, such as the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, the most prestigious educational and cultural program in the United States. Based on 20 in‐depth interviews with successful Fulbright applicants and participant observation, my findings suggest that working‐ and lower‐middle‐class applicants are largely successful because of their cosmopolitan dispositions which they cultivate in creative and agentive ways. This article adds texture and complexity to existing discussions on middle‐class hegemony in ISM and cosmopolitan subject‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "The neglected moral effects of the market: Arguments from the last 300 years" from the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance explores the positive moral effects of capitalism that are often overlooked in discussions focused on economic aspects. It discusses how capitalism promotes individual autonomy, perpetuates family values, fosters self-interested solicitude, enhances connectivity and cooperation, and creates new possibilities for self-realization. While acknowledging the potential dark sides of these arguments, the article presents a nuanced perspective on the moral benefits of capitalism that are often underappreciated. [Extracted from the article]

This paper explores how uncertainty has become a central constitutive feature under the ongoing attempts at rapid extension of highway corridors across India. Contrary to the terra nullius assumption that India's highway programmes operate under, the pathways to accumulation they seek to open present a palimpsest of pre‐existing claims, occupancies and forms of dwelling that come into conflict with the attempts to extend urban space. The paper specifically follows the prolonged uncertainty surrounding a regional highway corridor between the cities of Delhi and Gurgaon, the Dwarka Expressway, which underwent multiple legal contestations over evictions and land disputes. In doing so, it analyses how managing uncertainty in the production of highway corridors becomes profitable for the state, powerful corporate actors and middle‐class homebuyer‐investors, presenting a form of value that can be commodified and exchanged. However, on the other hand, owing to its double‐edged nature, uncertainty also becomes productive for the urban majority in laying claims to urban space. As rapid extended urbanisation increasingly disrupts the lifeworlds of marginal communities, this paper calls for embracing the politics and practices of uncertainty in the continued efforts to push ex‐centric urban analysis beyond the narrow focus on state processes and commodification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "Soaking the Middle Class: Suburban Inequality and Recovery from Disaster" by Anna Rhodes and Max Besbris examines the impact of Hurricane Harvey on a predominantly white, middle-class suburban community in Friendswood, Texas. The authors found that many supposedly privileged residents were devastated by the hurricane and faced downward mobility due to factors such as lack of flood insurance and outdated flood maps. The book highlights the emergence of new inequalities within middle-class communities as a result of climate-induced disasters. It also explores the reluctance of residents to leave their homes despite the risks posed by climate change. The authors argue that the decision to stay is influenced by personal life plans and a lack of awareness about the disruptive force of climate change. The book provides valuable insights into environmental sociology, environmental justice, urban and community studies, and disaster studies. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the author's book on how cisgender men navigate transit spaces in Kolkata, India, specifically focusing on male auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers. The book explores the relationship between masculinities, gender politics, and the city, highlighting the precarity and resourcefulness of these men in their work. The article also addresses critiques of the book, including the overemphasis on breadwinner masculinity and the need for more ethnographic attention to middle-class masculinity and passengering. It concludes by discussing the role of everyday cooperative gestures in reproducing patriarchal power in cities and the inhibiting effect of the traditional family on the realization of a feminist city. [Extracted from the article]

Around the world, we witness not only growing levels of economic inequality but also the rise of protests whereby people from different social classes are demanding a more equal society. Our research uses a person‐centered approach to examine subgroups of participants in a social movement against inequality on the basis of their social class, intention to participate in conventional and/or radical collective actions, and social identification with the movement. We used longitudinal data from the Chilean student movement (two time points; total N = 1226) to conduct latent profile and latent transition analysis. We identified four profiles of participants: (1) inactive supporters (mostly from the upper class), (2) low radicals (mostly from the middle class), (3) moderate radicals (mostly from the middle class), and (4) high radicals (mostly from the middle class). The four profiles were generally stable over the one‐year period. We further found that group efficacy and a "nothing to lose" mindset predicted the profile membership of participants. Group efficacy also predicted transitions of participants between different profiles. Our findings highlight the key role that the middle class plays in diverse forms of collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that increased contact between different races under the right conditions can increase interracial tolerance. Research also shows that more white individuals are moving back to city centers through the process of gentrification. This research shows that gentrification is a process ripe with conflict which has implications on interracial contact. New development in neighborhoods not only prices out longtime residents who are often of color but is also geared toward newer middle‐class patrons who are often white. Literature on whites living in diverse or gentrifying neighborhoods illustrates habits and behaviors that result in the avoidance of people of color. Literature also illustrates that's these whites are likely to be more politically progressive and claim to value the racially diverse nature of their neighborhoods. Critical diversity research sheds some light on this paradox, but this is a small but growing field. More research needs to be done to better understand the habitus, the racial ideologies, and the relationships white individuals who live in diverse or gentrifying neighborhoods, have with people of color. Doing so would not only examine how gentrification is structuring interracial contact, but also provide a closer look at a new dominant racial ideology for whites in this context. Critical diversity ideology, while similar to color blind racism, in that it still reproduces racial inequality, is a distinct racial ideology that is potentially paramount in the contexts of racially diverse neighborhoods. Detroit makes an ideal location for this research due to its history of racial segregation and current influx of white individuals living in close proximity to their Black counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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Objective: Social media is becoming recognized as an effective platform for cancer health promotion, education, care, and support. However, its utility as a health promotion tool remains relatively unexplored. Methods: Using cross‐sectional data from the 2017–2020 Health Information National Trends Survey, we evaluated health‐related usage of social media among cancer survivors and individuals without a history of cancer. We also examined the participant characteristics associated with social media usage and evaluated the relationship between social media use and positive health behaviors among the cancer survivors. Results: Overall, cancer survivors (n = 2579) were as likely as individuals without a history of cancer to use social media for health promotion. Males [OR 0.65; 95% CI (0.45, 0.93)] and older adults (>60 years old) [OR 0.27; 95% CI(0.10, 0.77)] were less likely to use social media, while higher income [OR 2.27; 95% CI (1.05, 4.92) middle income; OR 1.90; 95% CI (1.17, 3.09) high income] and educational levels [OR 3.29; 95% CI (1.85, 5.84) some college; OR 2.36; 95% CI (1.30, 4.28) college graduate or more] were associated with more health‐related social media use among survivors. Cancer survivors used social media for online support groups more than other individuals, and those who used at least one form of social media for health‐related purposes increasingly meet national recommendations for strength training compared to non‐users [OR 2.15; 95% CI (1.48, 3.13)]. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate the potential utility of social media to promote positive health behaviors among cancer survivors. Further research is needed to describe the efficacy of social media‐based interventions for improving health behaviors in diverse cancer populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of the nineteenth century, literary manuscripts came to be seen as tangible evidence of the creative process and as a key to the personality of the author. The material traces of writing were understood to outlive their creators and promise to resurrect the authorial body through the magic of the relic. This article reconstructs how authorial script gradually transformed into a collectible object pursued as a memento and a commodity. Letters, drafts, and fair copies by major modern writers found their way into the collections of British aristocrats and American industrialists at the same time that hunting for literary autographs diversified into a middle‐class pursuit. Surveying recent scholarship on nineteenth‐century collecting and material culture, the essay offers a condensed cultural history of the literary manuscript as a collectible and draws attention to how collectors and collecting feature in fictional texts of the period. It focuses on the artefactual mobility and custodial afterlives of Romantic papers in Victorian literature and culture, exploring a form of collecting which crossed boundaries between periods and national literary traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an ecosystem approach to analyze open‐source data to identify populations vulnerable to human trafficking and to reveal underlying causal relationships. In the case of Bangladesh, our analysis suggests combinations of indicators that are highly predictive of human trafficking. The traditional narrative that poverty and unemployment are the main drivers for human trafficking may be an oversimplification. We find many areas where vulnerability is highest within lower‐middle to middle‐class societies with (a) moderate levels of income and education, (b) adherence to traditional gender norms of a male‐dominated patriarchal society, and (c) access to an urban center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The involvement of fathers in the care of new‐borns and young children is becoming a fact of life in contemporary urban India. However, there is little empirical research on changes in the gender social norms around childcare in India. We do not know if there are some childcare responsibilities that men are happy to take on while there are others which are still considered the 'Mommy domain'? The article is based on an exploratory research study interrogating the increasing role played by fathers in the care of their young children in urban India. Based on in‐depth interviews with two generations of fathers, it focuses on the differences in their participation in childcare activities. The study finds that both, the practice as well as the discourse concerning childcare among urban middle‐class Indians are changing and thus the gender norms for childcare responsibility can be said to be somewhat shifting for a certain class of Indian families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent debates on musical taste have centred on the collapse of cultural boundaries between high art and popular culture. This paper examines Chinese hip‐hop as a unique case study to explore taste preferences in a relatively new popular cultural phenomenon in the understudied context of Eastern popular culture. Drawing from 42 interviews with Chinese young hip‐hop followers, the article examines musical taste preferences within Chinese hip‐hop and different modes of appreciation deployed by listeners. The findings reveal that young Chinese hip‐hop fans display cultural openness to foreign influences and genre mobility. The openness is employed as a marker of cultural capital for the Chinese middle class that values hybridity and innovation. However, even the most open‐minded individuals draw thematic hierarchies within hip‐hop through the unanimous rejection of vulgar and violent themes in favour of more serious and wholesome music. This rejection is framed as a strategy to authenticate hip‐hop within the broader popular culture arena while cultivating personal qualities of civility and wholesomeness that are highly valued in contemporary Chinese society. The paper contributes to the literature on musical taste preferences in cultural consumption by shedding light on the social relevance of cultural openness and music in contemporary Chinese popular culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilize data from the 2010–2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys to examine middle‐class achievement of English‐speaking and non‐English‐speaking Hispanic households compared to non‐Hispanic white households in the United States. Using an innovative expenditure‐based middle‐class measure, our findings show that non‐English‐speaking Hispanics lag English‐speaking Hispanics, and English‐speaking Hispanics lag whites, in middle‐class attainment. We also identify significant structural differences among the three groups, particularly in how education, marriage, and employment affect middle‐class achievement. Non‐English‐speaking Hispanics have a lower rate of return on education compared to both whites and English‐speaking Hispanics. Non‐English‐speaking Hispanics experience lower marriage and employment premiums compared to their English‐speaking Hispanic counterparts, and English‐speaking Hispanics experience lower marriage and employment premiums compared to whites. This study contributes to the literature by introducing the innovative expenditure‐based middle‐class measure and emphasizing the importance of considering within‐group differences among Hispanics to reduce the Hispanic‐white economic disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of lay Buddhist practitioners have sought out alternative ways to incorporate Buddhist teachings in their daily practices and make positive changes in society by "doing good" for others. Sometimes recognized as part of "humanistic Buddhism," this approach emphasizes general morality and focuses on people who need help as a way to fulfill Buddhist teachings in this world. Some Chinese Buddhist practitioners who follow the Tibetan Buddhist tradition also carry out similar humanistic engagements but use more subtle space‐making processes and often "brand" these as Buddhist practices. Drawing on the ethnographic observations of lay Buddhist practitioners in urban China, this article examines how urban practitioners promote (middle‐class) morality and well‐being lifestyles through what I call "atmospheric Buddhism." Ultimately, the article argues that an alternative mode of Buddhist practice is emerging in Chinese urban environments in order to cope with politically constrained environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In what why can fiction help us craft and share ethnographic work when life is in flux and the people with whom we live with also have a hard time making "rational" sense of what is happening to them? This ethnographic fiction about love, quandary, and rebirth is set against the deep crisis in Venezuela—money has become worthless, families are shattered, mutual trust has evaporated, jobs and food are scarce, and everyone is trying to make a living. The creative endeavour arose during online exchanges with research participants and friends, the re‐reading of fieldnotes, and the surfacing of poignant memories while growing up with a Venezuelan family twenty years ago. The plot around the butterfly coalesced with these personal memories and an emerging understanding of natural abundance, human, fragility, and metamorphosis in how Venezuelans make sense of loss and inequality. The storyline follows the life of Marianela, an upper middle‐class woman born and bred in Caracas, who ends up in a goldmine in the south of Venezuela with her three‐year daughter Alba. One day, at the Brazilian border, a blue butterfly warns her that her beloved caretaker passed away. To overcome this loss, Marianela intents to finally break away from subjugation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the impact of globalization and neoliberal policies on the middle class in Chile. It highlights how the middle class has become increasingly vulnerable, leading to anxiety and dissatisfaction with the political and economic elites. The book "Identity Investments" focuses on middle-class market behavior in response to this vulnerability, examining five specific market areas: employment, housing, education, home decoration, and leisure. The author argues that the middle class engages in market behavior based on their identities to protect themselves within the neoliberal society. The book also explores the relationship between identity investment and sociopolitical phenomena in Chile, such as student movements for social change. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the challenges faced by the middle class and offers suggestions for addressing their increasing vulnerability. [Extracted from the article]

This article unearths the salient factors that trap the aspiring middle class in their progression towards a stable middle class in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. The study utilises a quantitative case study design, drawing on a sample of 449 aspirants and 578 middle‐class heads of households from the 2021 Gauteng City‐Region Observatory Quality of Life Survey. A binary logistic regression model was used to analyse these salient factors (key determinants) and their impact on the social mobility of the aspirant middle class. Findings reveal a significant relationship between social mobility and education, racial inequality, asset ownership, access to economic opportunities and proximity to amenities. We suggest local government policies that positively influence the conditions of these determinants for sustained mobility of the aspirant middle class over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel terrain of health care is emerging in Kenya at the intersection of a cancer epidemic, expanding medical and health insurance markets, the continued evisceration of public health care, and a middle class that can raise funds from credit, loans, and social networks. As middle‐class cancer patients and their families navigate these landscapes, they find themselves vulnerable both to the "ordinary crisis" of public health care undermined by austerity and neglect, and to an extractive medical marketplace offering state‐of‐the‐art treatment that is just within, or just beyond, financial reach. To analyze this, I build on Lauren Berlant's concept of cruel optimism, which captures how precarity is not only grounded in economic realities but also tied to hopes and expectations that always remain unfulfilled, creating constant anxiety and exhaustion. Further, I examine the double binds of cancer treatment and the entanglements between medical, health, and economic precarities, as families are drawn into private health care while the state disinvests in public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'last mile' is not only a powerful metaphor of contemporary life, but also the tangible site of a challenge, whether for governments wanting to reach their citizens or companies wanting to reach their customers. In urban Africa this challenge is compounded by the fragmented material condition of cities. As a result, a growing number of tech companies have been compelled by the possibility of creating digital platforms that address the unique logistical configurations of African cities, often enrolling informal systems such as motorcycle taxis to address spatial and economic fragmentation. Through the perspective of three Nairobi‐based startups that incorporate motorcycle taxis into their last‐mile platforms, this article illustrates how processes of 'algorithmic suturing' knit together the loose ends of splintered urban networks thanks to platform business models that visualize the last mile as a site of optimization. In parallel with common understandings of suturing within African infrastructure debates which foreground makeshift practices of the urban poor, this article argues that algorithmic suturing is a speculative endeavour through which urban fractures are made legible as sites of value. By stitching together city fragments, these platforms envision large data‐driven urban economies which interface with informal mobility networks and the shifting urban demographic of the lower‐middle class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Democracy (ND), the centre‐right party founded by Constantine Karamanlis in summer 1974 and currently led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, scion of a powerful political family, won the twin electoral contest of May/June 2023 with a landslide. The victory was comprehensive both in terms of the votes received—over 40 per cent of those who cast their vote (abstention was over 45 per cent)—and because of the near collapse of Syriza (17.83 per cent) and the weak recovery of the other centre‐left party, PASOK (11.46 per cent). Moreover, far right and conservative parties, three in total, entered parliament, amassing some 12 per cent of the vote. We argue that two interlinked phenomena account for these developments. The first was the eclipse of conditions that created the Syriza phenomenon in Greece (the 2010–15 debt crisis); the second was the lack of a credible programmatic alternative that spoke to the middle classes on behalf of both centre‐left parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We exploit exogenous variation from a pension reform in Denmark to estimate the effect of tax subsidies on total private saving. We present new evidence on individuals in the middle of the income distribution and show that a reduction in tax subsidies for retirement saving reduces total private saving. The reform changed the tax incentives for saving in the pension scheme that holds the highest tax advantage for middle‐income workers in Denmark. We find that for each unit of reduced saving in this pension scheme, only 64 percent is substituted to other types of saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence of tinea incognita (TI) appears to have increased over recent years owing to the easy availability of topical corticosteroids as over‐the‐counter preparations. Aim: Describing the various clinicoepidemiological aspects of TI and assessing the treatment strategies and prescribing practices followed for its management. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted with 170 patients in the department of Skin and STD of a tertiary care hospital at Salem from Jan 2022 to June 2022. The various sociodemographic information was obtained by interviewing the patients and a detailed dermatological examination was performed by the dermatologists to describe the morphology of lesions, and sites involved. Results: The results were statistically analysed and expressed in the form of percentages. Most of the patients were in the age group of 41–50 years. The majority of patients were illiterate, unskilled workers, married, belonging to the lower middle class, from rural localities, and with positive family histories. Most of the patients were suffering from TI for more than 1 year. The commonly used treatment modality was combinational therapy which comprises oral and topical antifungals and antihistaminic drugs. The commonly prescribed antifungal was itraconazole. Conclusion: This study emphasises the need to spread awareness among the pharmacist and the community regarding the adverse consequences of practicing self‐medication with topical corticosteroids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural America is undergoing a demographic transition, as the white population decline is matched by a growing movement of racialized minorities into small towns. In the current study, I examine processes of belonging among middle‐class racialized minorities living in predominantly white and rural Northern New England. Through an analysis of in‐depth interviews with n = 58 individuals of color, I show how "misrecognition," or the processes through which community members fail to affirm the humanity of others, can lead to diminished well‐being. I elaborate a novel conceptual model linking a stigmatizing cultural context (chilly social climate; ignorance and racism) with misrecognition (social distancing; having to prove oneself) and well‐being (unease; weariness). The study's main contribution is the generation of theory regarding symbolic boundary processes that undergird racialized minority residents' negotiation of the right to belong in a rapidly changing rural America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]