Search

Although the 2015 "refugee crisis" dominated Europe's policy-making agenda, little research was actually conducted with refugees. Using focus groups, interviews and photovoice, this study explores the identity and integration processes of 20 refugees, in two German towns, in 2017. While previous scholarship has rightly emphasized the importance of secure legal status for integration, this study highlights the critical role of community support by national citizens in fostering a greater sense of belonging and integration. The study calls into question new integration policies, like Germany's, which absolve national citizens of any responsibility for integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post‐pandemic context has changed the modes for collecting data in sensory and consumer science. The objectives of this research were to analyze consumers' associations of food consistency and to study two virtual modes of the Free Word Association test (FWA). This test was administered to 209 consumers (180 women, 29 men, 18–45 years old) asynchronously (i.e. self‐administered) and synchronously (i.e. face to face interviews). The Cognitive Salience Index (CSI) was calculated, and the structure of the social representation was analyzed. Correspondence analysis showed that food consistency was a mixture of concepts related to structure, hardness and several aspects of auditory (e.g., Crunchy, Crispy), tactile (e.g. Smooth, Spreadable) and oral texture (e.g., Creamy, Gummy). Slightly consistent food was associated with something soft, liquid or semisolid, and very consistent food to something hard and resistant. Consistent food was more related to "very" than to "slightly consistent." The CSI depended on the stimulus presented (p < 0.05). Regarding the social representation structure, the central core had the highest CSI for all stimuli (CSI ≥ 0.13, p < 0.05). Consumers defined "very consistent, consistent and slightly consistent food" by naming more foods in the synchronous mode than in the asynchronous one. In the asynchronous mode, consumers took more time to complete the test. The virtual FWA test (asynchronous or synchronous) showed some differences in the associations of term consistency, due to the lack of spontaneity in the first minute. It is important to adjust the methodologies to standardize the times in both modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malnutrition gives rise to stigmatisation worldwide and is a pressing societal issue. Drawing on social representation theory and on the process of othering, a lexicometric analysis of Nepalese press articles (N = 440) was conducted to explore if, and how, Othering of the malnourished is at play and how articles (re)construct the threat of malnutrition. The results indicate that Othering takes different forms depending on the threat the malnourished represent: (a) the malnourished in foreign countries are perceived as suffering from hunger due to a lack of social development and democracy whereas (b) the malnourished in Nepal are perceived as being afflicted because they hold traditional beliefs. However, (c) when the threat can be attributed to natural disasters, no negative attributes were associated with the malnourished in Nepal. This suggests that Othering is neither systematic nor monolithic. These findings illustrate how social psychology can address urgent societal questions while equally offering an opportunity for new theoretical developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this study was to examine how people think about problem gambling, i.e., persistent gambling despite its negative effects, through the social representations (SRs) that they share about this issue. SRs are organized collections of beliefs, opinions, and knowledge that members of a social group have in common, and past research highlighted them as significant predictors of people's behavior, and therefore valuable for public health interventions. We investigated the content of the social representation (SR) of problem gambling in a sample of Romanians and we also aimed to examine the variations in this representation according to individuals' involvement in gambling, and the relations between these variations and life satisfaction. Sex differences were also assessed. We approached the SR content using the free association technique with the inductive stimulus "individual with problem gambling" on a convenience sample of Romanians (N = 313). Results of the comparative statistical analyses indicate significant differences in the core of this SR between groups with different positions on the variables considered. They suggest several elements of social stigmatization of people struggling with problem gambling within the SRs shared by certain groups, specifically by individuals with no gambling involvement (mostly female) and by those with low life satisfaction. Our findings indicate that the SR of individuals with gambling involvement (mostly male) is as focused on the psychological dynamics that attract and keep one's involvement in gambling, but also on its risks, including that of social exclusion. Finally, our findings indicate that individuals with high life satisfaction share a more empathic perspective on the struggles confronted by people with problem gambling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on femicide news revealed discriminatory narratives against the victims in specific cases and social contexts. This article uses a quantitative approach to analyze the news content that serves to create social representations of victims and perpetrators. We propose a methodology based on examining independent elements in the descriptions, identifying extratextual patterns, and providing the data to compare the social representations of intimate partner violence (IPV), familiar, and non-IPV femicides. Three online news outlets were analyzed from July 2014 to December 2017, creating a corpus of 2,527 articles. The results revealed that it is more common to create negative representations of victims than negative representations of the perpetrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian Amazon is at the very core of current economic disputes driven by different versions of capitalism, which have determined a history of environmental devastation, and commercial and environmental exploitation. Accordingly, we thought about elaborating a study based on the following research aims: getting to know the environments' social representations and the Environmental Education giving meaning to environmental governance concepts, in the context of Pará State's Amazon. In methodological terms, this research was substantiated by the Theory of Social Representations, based on the ethnographic approach. It counted on the collaboration of 121 teachers trained in Pedagogy who work in municipal public schools in Castanhal City—Pará State. We used questionnaire, focus groups and participatory observation to collect data. Based on the main results, the environment's social representations and the Environmental Education elaborated by teachers provided powerful elements for natures' defense aimed at environmental awareness and citizenship participation in decision-making processes. Due to an adverse environmental scenario—of nature's commercialization and aggressive exploitation—the herein approached representations can help the population to redefine its history and, simultaneously, to set environmental governance processes to preserve the forest and the life of local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building caring communities is fundamental to achieving a community-based approach to mental health. Understanding how communities perceive mental illness provides critical insight into fostering mental health awareness and care. We explored the perceptions of mental illness among members of two urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana. Qualitative data were collected from 77 participants through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and situated conversations. Using theory-driven thematic analysis based on social representations theory, findings revealed cognitive-emotional representations of mental illness. The communities demonstrated high awareness of the multilevel factors contributing to mental illness risk and experiences, drawing on five sources of knowledge: embodied, common sense, medical, cultural, and religious. Mental illness representations informed the classification and legitimization of mental illness based on the severity of conditions and the identity of sufferers. These findings provide valuable insights for planning community mental health interventions that address both social and institutional care needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizenship as an object of study goes beyond the mere recognition of formal rights and responsibilities and includes cultural and social practices in different spheres. In this sense, the exercise of citizenship is linked to different forms of political participation. Recent studies show that young people are distanced from traditional political participation and prefer alternative civic practices. Within this framework, the present study aims to investigate the social representations of citizenship of Argentinean adolescents (N = 32) aged between 16 and 18. To this end, participants were asked to elaborate a narrative about their experiences with citizenship in the framework of semi-structured interviews guided according to the Piagetian clinical method. The results obtained allow the construction of four analytical categories intended to describe how these adolescents represent citizenship: civic engagement, rights, nationality and voting. It is concluded that there is a plurality of social representations of this object, and it is necessary to elucidate their development, maintenance and transformation processes in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to perform a theoretical and empirical analysis to identify psychological factors, establish key correlations, and determine the differences in junior athletes' re-adaptation to competitive activity after a forced break. Methods: The research involved 36 junior athletes from both individual and team sports, representing sports schools for children and youth -- "LSSCY Enerhetyk" (Lviv, Ukraine), "SSSYOR №1" (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine), and junior academies of professional football and handball clubs from Kherson and Mykolaiv. A forced break in competitive activity was the primary criterion for participant selection. Valid and reliable psycho-diagnostic tools, previously tested in sports studies, were employed. Results: No statistically significant differences were observed in the re-adaptive capacity parameters across the examined junior samples. An algorithm for creating a profile to assess junior athletes' ability to re-adapt is proposed. It considerably simplifies the management of recovery process and is capable of increasing the accuracy of planning competitive activities. It was established that the following parameters are the most dependent parameters of re-adaptation (three correlations for each): "adaptability", "acceptance of others" and "internality". The most dependent coping strategies (five correlations for each) are as follows: "problem-solving planning" and "escape--avoidance". It was explained that the strongest direct correlation of "internality" with the coping strategy "problem-solving planning" (rs = .549; p <.001) testifies that the efforts made by the re-adapting individual have the greatest readapting effect. It was found that the opposite effect is in the correlation between "emotional comfort" and the coping strategy "escape--avoidance" (rs = -.525; p = .001) which is the most undesirable combination at the stage of re-adaptation. Discussion and conclusions. It was substantiated that juniors' re-adaptation to competitive activity after a forced break is the return of athletes to active training and competitive processes in order to resume a sporting career. It was noted that the comparison of two groups with low and high levels of the parameters of re-adaptation confirmed that adaptive capacity and internal orientation towards problem-solving is the most effective combination of juniors' competences at the stage of re-adaptation to competitive activity after a forced break. It was summarized that re-adaptation is an important scientific problem in research into sporting activities which requires empirical study and implementation of effective practices in sporting activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cet article propose de considérer l'expérience du cancer traité par chimiothérapie orale comme support d'investigation de la construction et de la transmission des savoirs sur la maladie et son traitement en contexte d'éducation thérapeutique du patient. Cette réflexion se base sur un travail de thèse effectué en psychologie sociale de la santé dans lequel nous avons investigué, selon une approche d'orientation socio-constructiviste, les contextes et les circonstances où les savoirs des malades sont assimilés et mobilisés. À partir d'une enquête de terrain menée dans un centre hospitalo-universitaire rhônalpin, nous avons combiné une étude par entretiens de recherche (n = 27) et une ethnographie d'un programme éducatif dédié à des malades recevant une chimiothérapie orale (incluant l'observation non participante de 44 séances d'éducation thérapeutique). Pour l'analyse de ce matériau, nous nous sommes appuyés sur les principes de l'analyse par catégorie conceptualisante. Nos résultats montrent que le rapport des malades au cancer et à leur traitement renvoie à l'intrication de connaissances médicales et de savoirs profanes, qui se construisent et s'actualisent dans les relations thérapeutiques et les situations sociales de vie avec la maladie. Cette connaissance polyphasique intervient comme processus actif de décodage des perceptions du corps et de la maladie, et oriente les conduites de santé. Cet article montre les apports d'une approche compréhensive et holistique ainsi que de l'adoption d'un dispositif pluri-méthodologique pour investiguer la complexité du processus d'élaboration représentationnelle de la maladie et de son traitement, en mettant en évidence ses dimensions cognitives, affectives, sociales et symboliques. This article aims to consider the experience of cancer treated by oral chemotherapy as a frame for investigating the construction and the transmission of knowledge related to illness and treatment in the context of therapeutic patient education. This work is based on a doctoral thesis carried out in Social and health Psychology in which we investigated, according to a socio-constructivist approach, the contexts and the circumstances in which patients' knowledge are assimilated and mobilized. Based on field research conducted in a Rhone-Alpes university hospital center, we led two qualitative studies, which combined research interviews (n = 27) and ethnographic data of a therapeutic education program (including non-participant observation of 44 therapeutic education sessions). For analyzing these qualitative data, we relied on the principles of analysis using conceptualizing categories. Our results show that the relationship between sick people and cancer and treatment refers to the intertwining of medical knowledge and lay knowledge. These are constructed and actualized in therapeutic relationships and the social situations through which participants experience their illness. This polyphasic knowledge operates as an active process of decoding the perceptions of the body and of the disease, and guides health behaviors. This article shows the contributions of a comprehensive and holistic approach as well as a multi-methodological design to investigate the complexity of the illness and treatment representational elaboration, by highlighting its cognitive, affective, social, and symbolic dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The 2019 Senate hearings on the proposed anti-LGBT + discrimination legislation in the Philippines re-ignited the 20-year-long debate on LGBT + protection in a country both known as a "gay-friendly nation" (Kohut in Pew Research Center, 2013; Manalastas et al., 2017) and "the last bastion of conservative Catholicism in Asia" (Bloomer et al. in Policy Press, 2020). Prior studies have looked at various positions on the bill and how it was constructed to lobby for or oppose its passage. The present study contributes to the existing literature by looking at how LGBT + people are socially represented in these legislative debates—highlighting how public talk in political spaces has social and material consequences on LGBT + people. Method: The current study used archived livestream recordings of the 2019 Philippine Senate hearings and social representations theory (SRT) to explore how LGBT + people are socially represented by groups who are positioned as pro- and anti-SOGIE Equality Bill. Results: The results of this study show how the pro-Bill speakers focused on representing "LGBT + as human," particularly as "normal humans," "God's creation," "marginalized humans," "exemplary marginalized humans," and "productive members of society." Meanwhile, anti-Bill speakers represented "LGBT + as wrong," specifically as "just feelings, not fact," "disordered condition," "wrong lifestyle choice," "harmful foreign ideology," "social problem," and "respectable without their LGBT + identities." Conclusion: Public talk in a political setting can (de)humanize LGBT + people, legitimizing both inclusionary and exclusionary social practices. Policy Implications: Anchoring on social representations can direct how to shift future talks toward supporting the SOGIE Equality Bill and delegitimizing exclusionary practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS) provides automatic access to subsidized dental care for eligible Australian children, but uptake is low. As cost is not a factor, socially constructed perceptions, which may be subscribed to without personal experience, were explored as potential barriers. Methods: Two studies with parents (child <18 years) were conducted. In Study one (N=317) participants completed a free‐response task eliciting socially constructed perceptions about the dentist. These were factor‐analysed in Study two (N=231), and the salience of these perceptions in relation to uptake was measured for the 113 eligible to access the CDBS participants. Results: In Study one, similar positive, negative, procedural and time words were elicited across conditions. Study two revealed Negative, Positive and Hassle perception factors associated with the dentist and that 61% of eligible participants had accessed the CDBS. Generalized Structural Equation Modelling with eligible participants revealed Positive and Negative perceptions were negatively correlated, Negative perceptions were positively correlated with Hassle, and, as Hassle increased, the probability of parents accessing the CDBS significantly decreased. Conclusions: Confusion around eligibility to access CDBS is still an issue. Low CDBS uptake may be associated with perceived hassle associated with the dentist, which may reflect parental negative perceptions. © 2024 Australian Dental Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Retos: Nuevas Perspectivas de Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación is the property of Federacion Espanola de Asociaciones de Docentes de Educacion Fisica 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.)

Abstract The main aim of this study was to examine how people think about problem gambling, i.e., persistent gambling despite its negative effects, through the social representations (SRs) that they share about this issue. SRs are organized collections of beliefs, opinions, and knowledge that members of a social group have in common, and past research highlighted them as significant predictors of people’s behavior, and therefore valuable for public health interventions. We investigated the content of the social representation (SR) of problem gambling in a sample of Romanians and we also aimed to examine the variations in this representation according to individuals’ involvement in gambling, and the relations between these variations and life satisfaction. Sex differences were also assessed. We approached the SR content using the free association technique with the inductive stimulus “individual with problem gambling” on a convenience sample of Romanians (N = 313). Results of the comparative statistical analyses indicate significant differences in the core of this SR between groups with different positions on the variables considered. They suggest several elements of social stigmatization of people struggling with problem gambling within the SRs shared by certain groups, specifically by individuals with no gambling involvement (mostly female) and by those with low life satisfaction. Our findings indicate that the SR of individuals with gambling involvement (mostly male) is as focused on the psychological dynamics that attract and keep one’s involvement in gambling, but also on its risks, including that of social exclusion. Finally, our findings indicate that individuals with high life satisfaction share a more empathic perspective on the struggles confronted by people with problem gambling.

Artificial Intelligence, the AI 2.0 version (Pan, 2016), implies continuous adaptation to the information environment. The development of AI is generated by research and development requirements and by the need for an optimal response to the changing information environment. The change in the information environment entails the development of AI and, consequently, the development of information networks understood as human-machine hybrid-augmented intelligence. This dynamic is not reduced to the information or physical dimension, but to the cognitive one (JCOIE, 2018), which can be affected by the information flows necessary for the decision-making process. Overall, these are a few sources of AI-generated corruption of truth. The first of them is related to the generalization process through which statistical algorithms create instructions to be able to build the artificial neural network. The second concerns the human selection of samples on which statistical algorithms are applied to produce learning and the selection of principles on which information filtering occurs. Both produce trust-twisting errors, similar to those that operate in prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination and leave ideological imprints on how AI operates. This article aims to analyse from the perspective of AI ethics, the forms of truth falsification through the process of machine learning specific to AI. In this respect, an interpretive/ qualitative meta-analysis of primary studies regarding the political biases of AI is proposed.

Abstract Building caring communities is fundamental to achieving a community-based approach to mental health. Understanding how communities perceive mental illness provides critical insight into fostering mental health awareness and care. We explored the perceptions of mental illness among members of two urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana. Qualitative data were collected from 77 participants through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and situated conversations. Using theory-driven thematic analysis based on social representations theory, findings revealed cognitive-emotional representations of mental illness. The communities demonstrated high awareness of the multilevel factors contributing to mental illness risk and experiences, drawing on five sources of knowledge: embodied, common sense, medical, cultural, and religious. Mental illness representations informed the classification and legitimization of mental illness based on the severity of conditions and the identity of sufferers. These findings provide valuable insights for planning community mental health interventions that address both social and institutional care needs.

Background. Technological innovations have become an important agent of social change, creating new socio-psychological meaning. In this context, G.M. Andreeva's idea that social psychology should help people adapt to changing environments remains relevant. Objectives. This paper aims to highlight the socio-psychological perspective on the role of innovative technologies in social change. We present two empirical studies that demonstrate emerging socio-psychological patterns in the context of open-source software development (study 1) and the use of virtual assistants (VA) for economic decision-making (study 2). Study Participants. Study (1): 900 posts from a collaborative development platform. Study (2): 200 users of the VA popular in Russia, residents of Russian cities with a population of more than 500,000 people. Methods. Study (1): Content analysis using large language models. Study (2): Quantitative online survey assessed users' perception of their VA and previously unknown VA across 15 characteristics, subjective trust levels, and economic trust through scenarios involving monetary transactions. Results. Study (1): A pre-configured GPT-4 turbo model with an instruction consisting of two examples achieved 56% accuracy in classification. Using a fine-tuned model of the previous generation, DeBERTa-v3-Small, increased the efficiency of classifying developer messages by up to 70%. This allowed the model to be used to encode developer interactions in order to identify the factors that contribute to effective collaboration. Study (2): Both forms of trust (declared and economic) are significantly related to components of social representations (SR) of VA. Individual components of these perceptions correlate with both declared and economic trust at the level of r > 0.3, p < 0.05. However, there is a difference in the strength of these relationships for familiar and unfamiliar VAs. An assumption can be made about the possible influence of the duration of use of VA on the strength of connections between SR and trust in VA. Thus, SR formed through interaction with VA contributes to a trusting attitude towards it and, accordingly, to decision-making processes involving its use. Conclusions. Socio-psychological knowledge about the changing socio-psychological meaning can form the foundation for the development of human-centered technologies. As a part of professional work, a developer can improve current tools for the creation, management, and optimization of collaborative activities. In everyday life, it is also important to establish a level of trust that is appropriate for the situation in which a Virtual Assistant is used.

The research was initiated out of concern for the lack of knowledge that education students have regarding the concepts of emotion and culture. The specific objective was to investigate the social representations of education students in the region of La Araucaní a, Chile, regarding the concepts of emotion and culture. The method is based on the theory of social representations, so it is descriptive with a non-experimental crosssectional design. The participants were 129 higher education students from a university in the Araucaní a region, selected under a nonprobabilistic and intentional criterion. The results indicated that the words with the highest semantic weight in the core of emotion were feeling, joy, happiness, and calmness. In the case of culture, the highest semantic weight was given to custom, tradition and diversity. It is important to note that most students showed an understanding of the links between culture and emotion in their social representations, the former being a mediating element in the processes of emotional regulation. These findings support the potential of intercultural education to deconstruct the instrumental discourse of education in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examined the topic of online psychological counselling, focusing on the perspectives of both clients and professionals. In light of the widespread adoption of computer‐mediated psychological support during the COVID‐19 pandemic, the research analysed how it has taken shape in the collective consciousness, the role of trust, and perceived effectiveness. Method: The sample consisted of 133 professionals (M = 46) and 716 patients (M = 33), recruited through non‐probabilistic snowball sampling. Data, collected through two ad hoc questionnaires, were analysed using the EVOC 2005 software (for social representations) and SPSS (for quantitative data). Results: Overall, regarding the social representation of online psychological support, in the central core of the therapists' representation there seems to be a structured idea of the emotional distance that online therapy inevitably brings with it. In the core of the patients' representation, the idea of online support has been structured as a form of assistance that has shown its full usefulness during the pandemic. Quantitative data reveal a perceived efficacy of online psychological support comparable to in‐person therapy. Efficacy is enhanced by an already‐established trust relationship. The adoption of the online mode seems to have favoured the deployment of new resources by therapists and patients, attesting to an adaptation to this new way of conducting therapy. The online mode, in particular, will continue to be chosen by both, along with face‐to‐face meetings, as a mode of psychological support post‐pandemic. Conclusion: Based on these findings, this study holds strong potential for practical application in the field of remote therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal for Educational & Vocational Guidance is the property of Springer Nature 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.)

Abstract Aiming to debate the the power of the counter-mobilization that emerged on Twitter during the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil, we carried out a documental study on Twitter collecting texts and images associated with the #BolsonaroGenocida hashtag, between March 13 and June 6 of 2021, a period in which intense public demonstrations took place against the Bolsonaro’s government in the country. We analysed 1243 tweets and 503 images, identifying the main contents anchored and objectified by the hashtags, revealing the various dimensions that compose the social representations associated with Bolsonaro and his management during the pandemic. The tweets’ contents comprehend the social and political demonstration arising from part of the Brazilian people against the actions taken by the president of Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to thousands of deaths that could have been avoided; regarding the images, the results point out an emotional anchoring of Bolsonaro’s image to death. It is therefore important to demarcate the nature of Twitter as an specific platform for the mobilization of SR through the sharing of images and texts, which ends up evoking emotions that contribute to accentuating the social identity of the group that is expressed.

Under the contemporary mediatization, the role of media figures in information processes has increased. Popular journalists and bloggers perform the functions of presenting and interpreting socially significant content, thus, competing for the attention and trust of the audience. The study of this role of media figures is of particular relevance, since the Russian media landscape, especially its online segment, is an open space in which actors promote different information agendas. The empirical study was conducted in Russia’s Central and Northwestern Federal Districts in April-June 2023. According to its results, the leading positions in the public trust ranking are taken by journalists and bloggers whose speeches are characterized by the state-patriotic orientation, but part of the audience seems to trust liberal content. The use of multidimensional classification procedures allowed the authors to identify some stable typological groups in the structure of the audience, differing in the set of trusted media figures, but groups that trust state-patriotic journalists and bloggers prevail. There are significant socialdemographic differences in the level of trust: journalists and bloggers with liberal orientations are supported mainly by young people, while journalists and bloggers with state-patriotic orientations - by representatives of the middle and older age groups. There is an increase in trust in liberal media as the financial situation of respondents improves. The authors also identified variables that increase the likelihood of trusting media figures: respondents’ ideological values; attitudes towards the Russian political system; the state support for democratic norms; perception of current social-economic issues. Social representations that correlate with trust in media figures reflect gaps in the “picture of the world” of certain social segments, which requires informed management decisions to consolidate society under the global challenges.

Even with the most “naked” eye it is difficult not to notice the growing prevalence of tattoos in the Russian society (beyond any generational, gender, professional or social boundaries), which makes tattooing an important object of sociological analysis and requires identifying its subject field, since tattooing is such an ancient social phenomenon that it has long been the focus of interdisciplinary research (historical, anthropological, philosophical, art-historical, cultural studies, etc.). The article outlines this subject field as consisting of several thematic blocks. First, these are reasons for the popularization of tattooing in the social history of recent centuries: the results of the colonial era; interest in other cultures; “labeling” of subcultures; expansion of the listed “niche” reasons beyond certain social/professional groups and subcultures (mass distribution of tattoos in the contemporary consumer culture). Second, the conceptual foundations of the sociological study of the functionalsymbolic features of tattooing: the “critical theory”; theories of subcultures; identity theories; gender approach within identity research; sociological theories of the body. Undoubtedly, the specificity of the sociological analysis of tattooing is the focus on its functions in a given social context, which today is set by the mass consumer culture of the information society and, in part, by various subcultural and “elite”-reference groups. Third, the possibility of empirical study of tattooing outside the socialanthropological (historical-visual or semiotic-symbolic) field - in the perspective of highlighting existing/sustainable social representations about tattooing. Sociologists have two main methodological tools: mass representative surveys and semi-formalized (expert in the broad sense of the word) interviews. The article presents the results of the all-Russian survey conducted by WCIOM in 2019 and of the small online survey supplemented by semi-structured interviews, which showed a clearly expressed trend of social ‘normalization’ of tattooing in the Russian society as mainly a widespread and a generally neutrally perceived method of (aesthetic and decorative) self-expression.

Background. Psychological well-being ensures the positive functioning of the artist's personality, which includes internal (subjective) and external (objective) factors. The dynamism of the art market, instability of demand and orders, displacement of individuality by mass art lead to emotional tension, increased anxiety and, as a consequence, to a decrease in the level of well-being and to the growth of psychological insecurity of artists. Psychosemantic space reflects social representations that reveal the most significant and prioritised sources of maintaining an optimal level of psychological well-being for artists. Objectives. The aim of the study was to identify and describe meaning groups of sources of psychological well-being of artists. Study Participants. The research participants were 57 people aged 19 to 60. Data processing was carried out by content analysis. The criterion for selecting the sample was the profile education obtained in a specialized secondary or higher education institution. Methods. A survey with an open type of questions about well-being among artists was conducted. Data processing was carried out by content analysis and by the method of condensation of meaning. Results. The most frequently occurring semantic groups of factors of psychological well-being are identified. External factors of psychological well-being of artists include environment, relationships, quality of life and educational environment. The internal factors of artists' psychological well-being include: health and self-perception. Conclusions. The selected semantic groups are reflections of emotional, communicative and behavioral components of external and internal sources of psychological well-being of artist. They determine the psychosemantic space of the studied phenomenon. Practical application of the results. The findings give rise to the study of social representations of artists’ psychological well-being. These results can be used by artists to optimize their current state; by psychologists and teachers to develop psycho-corrective and psycho-prophylactic programmes aimed to increase the level of well-being through the actualization of artists' personal resources.

Abstract The relationship between mainstream media and social media for news reporting is a complex one. Mainstream media news is relied on as a source of information on key social issues, carrying and reproducing the social representations of a society. South African townships have been reported as a hotbed of anti-migrant unrest, with the growing reliance on the communities’ lens through their social media representations shared online often considered by mainstream media as authentic sources of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Townships are spaces of contestation for belonging and despite the diversity of those communities, there remains stigmatizing social representation between migrants and citizens, with communities attributing social ills to migrants. This study analyses how social media has influenced the reproduction of social representations in mainstream media of anti-migrant township unrest. Through a qualitative exploratory approach, mainstream news articles were analyzed for how social representations from social media are reproduced in mainstream media reporting. Social media representations reproduced in mainstream media reporting may risk perpetuating communication risks of othering, affect social cohesion in those communities, and fuelling mistrust among citizens and migrants living in South African township communities.

Abstract The purpose of this exploratory study is to present a discussion on new developmental perspectives for international social work (ISW) theory. In order to examine the various aspects of this theory, the author first discusses different theoretical social work frameworks. Since some aspects cannot be discussed according to these frameworks, three main perspectives are applied to examine these ISW theoretical assumptions: (1) the roots of ISW; (2) ISW actors, practitioners, and scholars; and (3) the future of ISW. A new ISW definition is then introduced, after which several proposals are presented to revitalize the discussions on future ISW theory that moves beyond the dominant ISW discourses largely based on Western-rooted professional social work, and related aspects such as positionality and language issues. In this regard, using new ISW viewpoints and recognizing the importance of emotional experiences in such perspectives will not only allow academics and practitioners to move forward, but will also help overcome the dichotomies between ISW theory and practice as well as between the West and the rest.

AbstractResilience, the process of successful adaptation to adverse circumstances, is traditionally studied as an individual characteristic. However, more recent multisystem perspectives underline the interrelatedness of systems, within and outside of the individual, in shaping coping and adaptation processes. This challenges the assumption that pathways to resilience are the same across the world, given the diversity in people’s contexts globally. In light of the preponderance of resilience research being conducted in higher-income countries, this study taps pathways to resilience in survivors of the 2018 earthquake-tsunami-liquefaction disaster in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Guided by a social representations approach and using a novel free association technique, forty caregiver-adolescent dyads (N = 80) who survived the disaster were interviewed regarding their subjective experiences of coping and adaptation. Thematic analysis of their narratives demonstrated that survivors focused on mutual support, religious beliefs and intrapersonal psychological resources of seeking strength and calmness as routes for fostering psychological recovery. The results foreground group-specific aspects of such resilience: differences between caregivers and adolescents highlight how social roles and life stage shape resilience-related beliefs and practices. Moreover, the form their resilience takes is underpinned by sociocultural values of reciprocity and social cohesion. Thus, this paper points to similarities in resilience processes across contexts, but also to differences shaped by societal roles, developmental stage and cultural values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we aim to describe the societal meaning-making process of peace processes. Peace processes as proposals for societal change toward peace are challenging because they require not only imagining a future but also reconstructing the conflict history and maintaining a sense of continuity in terms of identity. We look at how the diversity of social knowledge and dealing with this diversity in the meaning-making process can influence social change toward peace. In particular, we investigate how different ways of representing the peace process in Turkey define different forms of actions as appropriate or inappropriate. We conducted a critical discourse analysis of 34 articles from five ideologically different newspapers about the three most important events of the peace process. We identified the existence of three different social representations: (a) a political struggle for democratization, (b) a way to develop Turkey, and (c) a process of destruction and deception. The peace process is made familiar by drawing on various identity constructions, cultural resources, and argumentation strategies; political actors introduce new norms about political participation by using these features of the representations and attributing agency, rights, and duties to the people. We interpret how the way the peace process is represented functions to deal with representations of others and to claim support for or resistance to social change toward peace. Public Significance Statement: This article presents an in-depth analysis of the political construction of the peace/resolution process regarding the Turkish–Kurdish conflict in Turkey. It illustrates how political actors introduce new norms about political participation. It emphasizes the importance of examining communication and action strategies in understanding how the diversity of views can foster or hinder debate and dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social progressions such as the feminist movement and technological advances may have influenced the way young adults perceive romantic relationships. Although long-term relationships are traditionally viewed favorably in society, short-term relationships are becoming more popular in recent years. It's important to understand the common perceptions of romance among young adults because it affects their partner choices and expectations. While experts can define the concepts of long-term and short-term relationships, we believe the most reliable method is to ask young adults directly. Therefore, we collected data from 229 self-reported British nationals aged between 18 and 33 (M = 19.66; SD = 2.72) to understand their perceptions of long-term and short-term romantic relationships. We asked them to write down the words or phrases that come to mind when they think of these concepts. Using the structural approach of the theory of social representation, we analyzed the values and norms of young British adults regarding these concepts. Based on our study, we observed four important things. Firstly, short-term relationships (STRs) are associated with "fun", "excitement", and "passion", while long-term relationships (LTRs) are associated with "love", "commitment", "trust", and "loyalty". Secondly, while sex is important in romantic relationships, it's only a peripheral component of STRs and not a significant factor in LTRs. Thirdly, both those in relationships and single individuals agree that "fling" and "passion" are primary aspects of STRs, but those in relationships tend to use the term "fun," while single individuals use "exciting" to describe STRs. Lastly, "love", "trust", and "commitment" are essential elements in LTRs for both single individuals and those in relationship. However, individuals in relationships also value loyalty as a critical aspect of romantic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The transition to adulthood is especially critical for young people who have been in the child protection system, as they face significant challenges in areas such as education, mental health, employment, and economics. Methods: This qualitative study examines the perceptions of 20 young adults from Spain who have exited the child protection system regarding their transition to adulthood. Structured interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed using IRAMuTeQ software to identify thematic patterns. Results: The young adults reported inadequate preparation and a need for ongoing support, and they faced challenges in areas such as housing, employment, financial education, and mental health. They emphasized the importance of social and emotional support networks for successful adaptation. The results reveal a deficit in training programs and structural support, suggesting the need for a review of existing Spanish policies. Conclusions: Social educators play a crucial role in facilitating the transition to adulthood for young people who have been in protective systems in Spain, providing emotional support and resources to aid in their integration and autonomy. Effective coordination between institutional actors and Spanish society is vital to ensure a successful transition to adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming to debate the the power of the counter-mobilization that emerged on Twitter during the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil, we carried out a documental study on Twitter collecting texts and images associated with the #BolsonaroGenocida hashtag, between March 13 and June 6 of 2021, a period in which intense public demonstrations took place against the Bolsonaro's government in the country. We analysed 1243 tweets and 503 images, identifying the main contents anchored and objectified by the hashtags, revealing the various dimensions that compose the social representations associated with Bolsonaro and his management during the pandemic. The tweets' contents comprehend the social and political demonstration arising from part of the Brazilian people against the actions taken by the president of Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to thousands of deaths that could have been avoided; regarding the images, the results point out an emotional anchoring of Bolsonaro's image to death. It is therefore important to demarcate the nature of Twitter as an specific platform for the mobilization of SR through the sharing of images and texts, which ends up evoking emotions that contribute to accentuating the social identity of the group that is expressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social identities and representations are factors of necessary analysis for a better understanding of why collective action arises and endures. In this direction, this article investigates such elements and their diffusion through Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in two social movements in Mexico and Spain. To this end, a mixed methodology is used, consisting of interviews and questionnaires on activists. The results highlight the high degree of identification of activists first with the way in which each movement conceives reality and the goals they pursue, and second with the status attributed to communication as a key tool for generating social change through the digital dissemination of their own contents and values. In conclusion, the research directly verifies the interrelation of the social representations of each activist with the causes of participation, the ends they pursue, the strategies employed and the values and contents disseminated through ICTs by the movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Colombia has had a tobacco control legislation since 2009, however there is no specific regulation on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). Therefore, it is crucial to characterize the qualitative dimensions of consumption. The study aimed to answer the question: What are the representations and practices of the university population regarding the consumption of SEAN? The objective of the study is to identify the practices and representations of ENDS consumers in order to obtain elements to guide the necessary actions to prevent their consumption. Methods: This paper presents the results identified in the qualitative component of a main study on the prevalence of ENDS use among university students. 14 individual interviews and 1 focus group were conducted and analyzed with the NVivo10® software. The corpus consisted of the transcripts of the 14 interviews and 1 focus group, which constitutes a total of 116 pages of raw data. The techniques used were semi-structured interviews and focus groups, using the Microsoft Teams platform. Taking into account ethical aspects, in each interview and in the focus group the informed consent was read and authorization was requested for the interview to be recorded. The average duration of each interview was one hour and forty-five minutes and the focus group lasted a total of 120 minutes. The capture of practices and representation related to the use/non-use of SEAN was achieved by incorporating two phases of analysis: a)Inductive phase: it was developed with an ordered matrix on the theoretical categories of the project, b)Phase of deductive analysis was carried out based on processes typical of the founded theory that allowed expanding the analytical framework having as its axis the identification of consumption practices and the elements that make up the central core and the peripheral system of representation. Results: The main results are the identification of consumption practices, from which it was derived that the central nucleus of the social representation of SEAN is non-autonomous, which enables a change that discourages its consumption. The reasons and practices for consuming ENDS are closely related to conventional cigarette consumption, which corresponds to the fact that 11 of the 14 interviewees who identify themselves as consumers have consumed conventional cigarettes and only two have been exclusive ENDS consumers. The following practices were identified: a) The consumption motivations were grouped like social, economic and socio-emotional; b) Three types of consumption spaces: prohibited, exclusive and recovered spaces. These last ones are places where you couldn't smoke cigarettes and now they feel empowered to vape; c) There are forms of differential consumption and access to ENDS related to the quality, price, exclusivity and adherence; d) Habits and rituals are not related to moments of daily life, as with cigarettes, but to practices such as searching for and mixing "salts" to obtain flavors, cleaning and maintaining the device, smoking tricks; e) About information channels among the interviewees it was noted that the practice of informed consumption is not frequent and that there are few sources of information that offer low confidence. Finally, the peripheral system of representation is made up of three elements: social dimension, the consumption of SEAN as a lifestyle, bodied and emotional dimension. Conclusion: It is concluded that the actions to prevent the consumption of ENDS should start from the identification of particular and exclusive characteristics of the consumption of ENDS and the incorporation of the elements of the peripheral system that allow addressing a consumption not based on making informed decisions. The main finding is the identification of a non-autonomous representation that stems from the difficulty of establishing notable differentiations between conventional cigarette consumption and e-cigarettes. Therefore, the main vein of research that opens up is to delve into the particular and exclusive characteristics of this consumption. It is essential to incorporate bodily, emotional, and especially social (interpersonal) dimensions as important variables in understanding the practices and representations of e-cigarettes through complex approaches that can break the solid elements on which conventional cigarette consumption is anchored, as it continues to define dynamics of electronic device consumption. It is important at this point to recognize that emotions can be understood as the intermediary between the lived experience in the body and everything that happens in the environment. Thus, it is not possible to think of this representation without recognizing that consumption is an embodied exercise, and the absence of the body in discourses about e-cigarettes can be a revealing element of a disconnection between practices and meanings that are reinforced in the insistence on an action (smoking is smoking) despite the recognition of its negative effects on health (even though it should not be). The understanding of the social representation of e-cigarette consumption in relation to specific practices related to it provides some clues on which to work on processes of information, communication, prevention, and regulation to discourage this consumption that appears relatively new. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is part of a broader investigation into the portrayal of disability within the context of the Paralympic Games. Focusing on media coverage from 2008, 2012, and 2016 in French and Tunisian newspapers, representing two distinct cultural landscapes, we explore the nuances of how disability is depicted. Employing a multifaceted approach involving statistical analysis utilizing the Chi-squared test, discourse content analysis, and photo analysis, we delve into uncharted territory by examining the treatment of impaired athletes in Tunisian media. Our findings highlight significant disparities and instances of discrimination, not only between disabled and able-bodied athletes but also among genders within each nation. Of particular concern are the disparities in photo representation, notably the portrayal of Tunisian women athletes. By contextualizing ourfindings within the existing body of literature, this study provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics of disability representation in sports media. Furthermore, it contributes to a deeper understanding of societal attitudes towards disability and offers actionable recommendations to foster more inclusive media coverage in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychosocial intervention program described in the present paper is implemented in five modules. The general objective is to provide an initial protocol in the procedure of psychosocial interventions to prevent alcoholism in adolescents through the empowerment of new social representations of its consumption. This proposal resides in a multi-methodological strategy, starting from the Historical-cultural approach, specifically from the social situation of development as a category. The epistemological platform is expected to facilitate a valuable methodology to prevent alcoholism in adolescents. Systematizing said prevention process will aim at setting the course for a theoretical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant repercussions, particularly among healthcare professionals who have faced drastic changes in their work routines, increased exposure to risk, the precariousness of services, and experiences of loss and anxiety. This study aimed to analyze the structure of social representations of COVID-19 among health professionals in Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. A qualitative study was conducted using the Theory of Social Representations and included nursing professionals (nurses, nursing technicians, and assistants), physicians, and physical therapists who were 18 years of age or older. The sample consisted of 1317 participants who were selected using convenience sampling. Due to restrictive measures, data collection was carried out remotely through a questionnaire created using Google Forms. Out of the 1317 participants, 737 (55.5%) were nurses, 191 (14.4%) were nursing technicians, 254 (19.1%) were physicians, and 145 (11%) were physical therapists. Additionally, 1123 (84.6%) of the participants were women, with a mean age of 34 ± 8.9 years. A total of 6635 words were elicited during the study, with 1316 different evocations. The central core of the social representations was composed of the terms "fear," "anxiety," and "anguish." The similarity tree analysis revealed that "fear" (n = 802) served as the organizing structure, with 18 associated terms and five cores: "death" (n = 502), "sadness" (n = 203), "anguish" (n = 185), "anxiety" (n = 171), and "insecurity" (n = 144). The structural analysis of the social representations of COVID-19 among health professionals indicated that fear, anxiety, and anguish formed the central axis, highlighting the prevalence of negative emotions. This finding was supported by the presence of terms such as death, isolation, sadness, insecurity, and pain in the first periphery of the representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meanings that people construct about concepts influence public policy; therefore, identifying them is significant for achieving a successful implementation process. In Mexico, the obligation of public officials to mainstream the gender perspective (GP) coexists and comes into tension with social debates surrounding the GP and its growing disapproval by conservative groups. The objective of the study was to understand and analyze the social representations (SR) of the gender perspective (GP) among teachers during the 2017-2018 school year in three public primary schools in León, Guanajuato, as well as its influence on the application of the GP in the school environment. The methodological design was qualitative and based on feminist theory and SR theory. Group interviews were conducted with 21 teachers from 1st, 4th, and 6th grades. Findings suggest that the SR held by teachers about the GP do not lead to actions that result in a correct application of the GP because their way of meaning gender and the GP lacks adequate information and is based on notions acquired from colloquial and media use. This poses an obstacle to achieving substantive equality in the educational field and is a consequence of a broader problem where the concept of gender has been trivialized, causing a theoretical and practical issue that needs further analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian gender advocacy has been criticised for promoting individualistic neoliberal solutions to issues requiring structural change. Such solutions are most accessible to middle‐class women and their dominance in gender advocacy is attributed to the middle‐class viewership of campaigns. Few studies have researched how this intended audience responds to such messages. As patriarchy benefits men, it is also important to understand how gender intersects with social class to shape responses. Accordingly, this research explores the reception of neoliberal feminist ideals in Indian gender advocacy amongst an urban middle‐class audience of 25 participants, comprising of 13 women and 12 men in Bengaluru, India. The theoretical and methodological framework is the social representations theory. Participants viewed three campaign videos and undertook semi‐structured interviews. Thematic analysis was employed to explore their perceptions of the causes and solutions to the issues portrayed in the campaigns, leading to three themes being identified. In the theme of 'individuals', participants held women responsible for resisting oppression. In the theme of 'culture', participants viewed culture as a cause of patriarchy, with cultural change seen as a solution. In the theme of 'institutions', participants discussed institutional sexism but were pessimistic about institutional reform. These findings suggest that whilst patriarchy is blamed on cultural norms and institutional failure, solutions are often conceived in terms of self‐transformation of individual women. These results are situated in social representations' theoretical premise of themata and positioning to analyse how social locations like gender, class and regional identity were mobilised by participants to contest or maintain a neoliberal feminist ideology. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To reveal the Social Representations (SRs) that the population of Sincelejo, department of Sucre, Colombia, has regarding the Corralejas tragedy of 1980, which occurred in that city. Methodology: Grounded theory, applied to the analysis of information that was collected from various sources, key informants, and texts found on social networks through videos and comments. Finally, the information was analyzed using Atlas.Ti. Results: Six categories were revealed: premonitions or bad feelings, popular stories and legends, isolated rain, human-animal interaction, funerary aspects and cemeteries, and, finally, the central image associated with death, pain and trauma. Conclusions: The categories revealed become SRs of tragedy from the concretization of magical thinking, which sought non-rational and less stigmatizing explanations of a tradition that clashes with the modernity, and that has deep cultural roots in the Colombian Caribbean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Educación y Ciudad is the property of Instituto para la Investigacion Educativa y Desarrollo Pedagogico 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.)

Copyright of Romanian Journal of Information Technology & Automatic Control / Revista Română de Informatică și Automatică is the property of National Institute for Research & Development in Informatics - ICI Bucharest 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.)

The relationship between mainstream media and social media for news reporting is a complex one. Mainstream media news is relied on as a source of information on key social issues, carrying and reproducing the social representations of a society. South African townships have been reported as a hotbed of anti-migrant unrest, with the growing reliance on the communities' lens through their social media representations shared online often considered by mainstream media as authentic sources of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Townships are spaces of contestation for belonging and despite the diversity of those communities, there remains stigmatizing social representation between migrants and citizens, with communities attributing social ills to migrants. This study analyses how social media has influenced the reproduction of social representations in mainstream media of anti-migrant township unrest. Through a qualitative exploratory approach, mainstream news articles were analyzed for how social representations from social media are reproduced in mainstream media reporting. Social media representations reproduced in mainstream media reporting may risk perpetuating communication risks of othering, affect social cohesion in those communities, and fuelling mistrust among citizens and migrants living in South African township communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this exploratory study is to present a discussion on new developmental perspectives for international social work (ISW) theory. In order to examine the various aspects of this theory, the author first discusses different theoretical social work frameworks. Since some aspects cannot be discussed according to these frameworks, three main perspectives are applied to examine these ISW theoretical assumptions: (1) the roots of ISW; (2) ISW actors, practitioners, and scholars; and (3) the future of ISW. A new ISW definition is then introduced, after which several proposals are presented to revitalize the discussions on future ISW theory that moves beyond the dominant ISW discourses largely based on Western-rooted professional social work, and related aspects such as positionality and language issues. In this regard, using new ISW viewpoints and recognizing the importance of emotional experiences in such perspectives will not only allow academics and practitioners to move forward, but will also help overcome the dichotomies between ISW theory and practice as well as between the West and the rest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to investigate the causes behind teachers leaving their profession in France, as well as the aspects that influence some teachers to stay in. The phenomenon of teacher dropout and abandonment is increasingly prevalent in OECD countries, particularly affecting new teachers. Taking a social psychological perspective, the research delves into the representational content of teachers' attitudes towards their profession. By distinguishing between teacher dropout and abandonment—the latter being considered an earlier phase, the results suggest that pupils play a central role in preventing teachers' dropout, along with the love and passion for teaching and the discipline they teach. Conversely, lack of consideration, inadequate resources, working conditions and classroom management challenges are identified as aspects contributing to increase teachers' dropout phenomenon. The findings provide an empirical basis for future studies and valuable insights for enhancing initial teacher training programmes. Understanding these phenomena through the lens of social representations provides valuable insights for developing supportive environments that foster teacher retention and well‐being and facilitate intervention and prevention strategies targeting key elements linked to teachers dropping out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to map the global scientific production on social or cultural representations and breast cancer in Public Health and discuss how it is presented in the literature. We conducted a scoping review guided by the question: "How are cultural or social representations in the context of breast cancer described in the global scientific Public Health production?". We searched for works in five scientific literature sources and included 45 studies. The analytical process followed the content analysis technique in the thematic modality. The analyzed collection can be thematized into the following categories: (1) Compromised body image and interactions, (2) Spirituality, (3) Loss of control over life, (4) Going on with life, and (5) Association with ethnic-racial issues. Despite advances in biomedicine, we observed that representations of breast cancer still have metaphors associated with cancer in the last century. We conclude that, among other aspects, care for women with breast cancer cannot be guided only by biomedical and epidemiological approaches since this disease is traversed by knowledge that competes with these approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Hochschild proposed the notion of a 'deep story' to address a collective emotional structure (particularly resentment) underpinning political attitudes and social divisions in the contemporary USA, this category has been widely embraced across social sciences to reflect upon links between sedimented emotions, motivations, actions and means of social mobilization. Simultaneously, however, criticism of this concept has been articulated which pointed out that Hochschild was inconsistent in her understanding of deep stories and the role this category performs in a sociological investigation. Acknowledging critical addresses presented so far, the article aims at the reconstruction of this concept as an analytical device which can be used to account for collective emotional dynamics accompanying prolonged social transformations. I propose that a deep story can be best understood as a social space in which emotions emerge through an interactional, collaborative process of storytelling. I draw, first, from social-psychological investigations into collective processes of meaning-making to analyse the interplay between the emergence of group-based cognitive categories and their affective implications. Second, I employ narrative theories to account for socio-psychological processes in which group-based, collectively generated cognitive and affective elements are integrated into actual lifeworlds and deployed in sense-making. Finally, I consider the insights pertaining to emotions collectively felt and practised to reflect upon the social dynamic of emotion-sharing. I argue that the notion of a 'deep story' is analytically useful only insofar it is embedded in clearly articulated theoretical assertions about cognitive and affective, collective and interpersonal, dynamics of meaning-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) 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.)

Copyright of Revista Punto Género is the property of Revista Punto Genero 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.)

On 14 July 2021, the western states of Germany, Rheinland Palatinate and North-Rhein-Westphalia experienced major flash floods and about two hundred people died. This article explores how those affected and journalists they spoke to created meaning from the mayhem of an unprecedented disaster and how social representations of flooding emerged in which language, politics and values were intimately intertwined. Combining thematic analysis with elements of social representations theory, and analysing a sample of articles from a national news magazine, we show how social representations of the floods were shaped by the objectification of the floods through metonymy (mud and debris) and the anchoring of the floods through personification and metaphors (natural and mechanical forces), thus adding a new dimension to the existing body of work on flood and metaphors. We claim that the immediate focus on the extreme force of the 2021 floods, on the one hand, and the weakness of political response, on the other, may entrench feelings of helplessness and divert attention away from more systematic and long-term engagement with flood dangers in the context of climate change, including extreme weather events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]