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This paper investigates the role of social media in mobilizing environmentalism amid authoritarian restrictions, focusing on the Vietnam coastal pollution of 2016. It contributes to current academic debates by showing how elements that are apparently mundane and irrelevant become the stage for political action within social media. We examined the interface of connective actions (social media activism) – collective actions (protests) and the role of food symbolism in translating digital activism into physical resistance that bridges the distance between rural and urban areas. Data were collected from Facebook and Twitter, as well as semi-structured interviews, policy documents, and national newspapers and broadcasts. Food symbolism, exemplified by #ichoosefish, helped personalize grievances and materialize protest actions amid the government's countermeasures. The results further show that by using social media, especially Facebook, the activists managed to rationalize their political engagement in a non-participatory context and mobilize protests during political restrictions by arguing that their 'apolitical' actions were motivated by food-based grievances associated with personal, environmentalist and nationalist concerns. Food symbolism is thus essential in transitioning from connective actions to collective actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: "To change the world, we must first change the way the babies are being born", said Michel Odent, the famous French obstetrician and pioneer of the "natural birth" movement. This quotable phrase has been widespread in activism campaigns, and it refers to a project for social change that goes beyond birth. Conceiving childbirth in the broader social context, it is not surprising that this emblematic quote inspires emancipatory struggles around birth. This paper results from a study of childbirth activism in different European contexts, where the author explores the emergence and modes of action of social movements advocating for the humanization of childbirth and women's rights in pregnancy and childbirth. (2) Methods: Starting from the analysis of the main characteristics of childbirth activism, in this paper the author briefly analyzes the cases of organizations from Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, as well as a campaign promoted by the European Network of Childbirth Associations (ENCA). The author mobilizes empirical data resulting from a triangulation approach, essentially based on documentary analysis, complemented by conversations and participant observation in different settings. (3) Results: Preliminary results show how childbirth activism is contributing to the construction of alternative conceptions of birth, challenging established paradigms. (4) Conclusion: In its differences and similarities, childbirth activism assumes distinct features, but it also has the ability to adapt and promote changes, depending on the specificities of the contexts where it operates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer is best known for his contribution to the development of philosophical hermeneutics, an interpretive approach to knowledge, understanding and meaning-making. It has become a well-established research approach in the health sciences to shed light on the lived experiences of people living with challenging chronic health conditions. Some feminist scholars have gravitated to Gadamer's hermeneutics for its steadfast rejection of positivism and its intention to uncover preunderstandings and prejudices. However, others have critiqued the approach for its lack of focus on prescribing action for social change and its reluctance to evaluate the prejudices present in its own tradition. In this paper, the authors will demonstrate how using feminist hermeneutics can help health researchers deepen their understanding of illness narratives by examining the power structures contributing to the marginalization of chronically ill people within and outside the healthcare system. They will juxtapose a reflexive investigation of the first author's experiences with a focused literature review of the dialogue between hermeneutics and feminism. By examining the first author's experiences with Gadamerian hermeneutics and feminist hermeneutics through self-study, she can in turn unearth her own preunderstandings. This approach will allow the authors to leverage the depth of interpretive understanding generated by hermeneutics while exploring the power structures involved in the complex process that is patient care, particularly that of people with chronic illness. They conclude that this combined approach of feminist hermeneutics allows health researchers to deepen their understanding of illness narratives with issue-specific and effective recommendations to clinicians and public health officials, leading to better-adapted services through a more just approach to chronically ill people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the theological concept of 'ark' as a useful metaphor for assessing the potential of cathedrals for effective mission and social action. The popular concept of ark as shelter and means of salvation is but one way of thinking about cathedrals, but the paradoxical and complex nature of what it means to be 'ark' for others in Scripture and tradition provides other ways of assessing and developing mission potential. These different ways of thinking about the cathedral will be set against stories obtained from talking to people seeking different forms of help from cathedrals, in order to show in what ways the cathedral was 'ark' for them and to test what the limits of that perspective might be. The paper concludes with some suggestions for strategic action within cathedrals to maximise this particular mission and social justice lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources management and the broad concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) attract varied perspectives about their effectiveness and equity as they address diverse needs across sectors and contextual situations. Managers in the water sector generally support their current governance models, while anti-poverty advocates seek more equity in the distribution of resources. Another group of stakeholders claims a lack of inclusivity in decision-making, leading to inequitable outcomes due to hegemony and colonialization of the water management domain by sector experts, officials, and other actors. IWRM focuses on reforms in water governance to achieve greater participation and sharing of power by all sectors of society in decision-making. It can facilitate the involvement of all groups of stakeholders, including those who may in some cases need to engage in social action to address water issues. This paper reviews the claims about the validity of IWRM and analyzes them according to management scenarios where water is a connector among sector issues. The scenarios show that participation in utility and local government decisions is the main pathway for urban water, wastewater, and stormwater management, while the same pathway is more difficult to organize in dispersed situations for domestic supply and irrigation in rural areas, some cases of aquifer management, and management of sprawling flood risk zones. The body of knowledge about participation in water resources management is robust, but organizational and financial capacities among existing entities pose barriers. Water resources management and IWRM do involve hegemony, and the field of practice has been colonialized, but the existential issues and complexity of the decisions and systems involved challenge society to manage successfully while assuring equity and participation through governance reform. The debates over hegemony and colonialization in water management provide an opportunity to continue improving the norms of practice and water resources education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how advocates in Ontario have resisted neoliberal restructuring in education since the 2018 general election, which marked an intensification of market-oriented reforms. Shaped by the insights of 23 participants, this paper shows how resistance has been accessed through multiple entry points and has been spatially heterogeneous, replete with internal contradiction. It also highlights the cost of resistance for participants whose relationship to systems engender oppression and harm. Broadly, this paper calls for vulnerable reflection on fantasies of a "good life" shaped by a normative neoliberal order that interferes with collective flourishing. Through emergent strategy, which aligns action with a vision for social justice, this paper values the non-linear and manifold ways individuals are embedded in systems; the fractal nature of change, which takes place at all scales; and a love ethic, which sustains relational the spiritual growth necessary for solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore metalinguistic discourse in Zinacantec Family Homesign ('Z sign'), an emergent sign language developed by three deaf siblings and their hearing family members. In particular, I examine how metalinguistic discourse unfolds between a hearing Z signer and various members of her family—including her deaf siblings, her elderly hearing father, and her young hearing son. I do so via a close examination of several snippets of conversation in which the Z signers talk about the "right" way to sign, paying close attention to how they mobilize various semiotic devices, including manual signs, eye gaze, facial expressions, and speech. I aim to understand not only the formal components of metalinguistic discourse in Z sign but also how it functions as a form of social action in this small linguistic community. How do members of this family position themselves and others as (in)competent, (non-)authoritative signers in light of existing social divisions among them? How do they reinforce or challenge those social divisions through metalinguistic discourse? How might metalinguistic discourse contribute to the propagation of emergent linguistic norms throughout the family? I find that a recurrent device for enacting metalinguistic critique among the Z signers is the partial re-production and transformation of others' utterances and other visible actions, manifested in a way that exploits the availability of multiple, semi-independent manual and non-manual articulators in the visual modality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pedagogía Social is the property of Pedagogia Social 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 International Welfare Policies & Social Work Journal / Revista Internacional de Políticas de Bienestar y Trabajo Social is the property of Asociacion Internacional de Ciencias Sociales & Trabajo Social 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.)

This article is methodological in nature, addressing and discussing the challenges the research team encountered in constructing a new international well-being index called the World Love Index. This index represents the first quantitative operationalization of the concept of Social Love, which seeks to capture actions or social relationships characterized by excess and care for the benefit of individuals outside the primary circle, loved for their irreducibility. Starting with a discussion of the project's objective rooted in the Beyond GDP debate, the article first analyzes the theoretical definition of Social Love and its semantic dimensions for operationalization. It then focuses on the methodological construction of the index through secondary data analysis, particularly examining the transition from the first wave to the second wave. Through the first wave of the WLI, this concept was systematically investigated on a transnational level. However, the first wave faced criticism for its weaknesses due to decisions made during the index's construction. This paper, from a purely methodological perspective, demonstrates how the second wave of the WLI aims to address these challenges and turn them into strengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Estudios Andaluces is the property of Revista de Estudios Andaluces 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.)

This paper proposes a multimodal discourse method for analysing empathy-related actions in the interactive narratives of serious games. It first reviews recent theories of socially impactful designs in serious games, particularly the debates about whether serious games should focus on actions of tackling social issues or on the player's emotional engagement. This paper then sets out a multimodal discourse method of event action patterns, which bridges the analyses of actions and empathy-related perspective-taking. The multimodal discourse method that we propose in this paper establishes a fine-grained semantic web, systematically tracking the three core narrative design aspects: types of event actions, character developments and the player's participatory roles. Through analysing the empathy game That Dragon, Cancer, this paper uncovers how interactive narratives have the potential to both achieving empathetic impacts and highlighting a system of actions related to the serious issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being a central topic, current theories of motivation in sociology remain underdeveloped. This paper supplements existing sociological theories on motivation with insights from affective and cognitive neuroscience to address this issue. The resulting sociological affective model of motivation treats affect as an independent force that sometimes coordinates with cognition while taking charge at other times. Drawing on recent work in the neuroscience of motivation and reward, the paper shows how two affective mechanisms—wanting and liking—can shed light on various behavioral outcomes of interest while allowing for sharper theorizing of key distinctions that need clarification in the literature. By examining the distinctive contribution of each process, the paper reveals a proactive, desire‐driven agent often overlooked by prevailing sociological models emphasizing a reactive actor responding creatively and deliberately when internal meanings and external cues are incongruent. The paper concludes by outlining the broader implications of this synthetic affective model of motivation for sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Southern African societies are presently beleaguered by manifold socio-economic, political, and environmental challenges. Ordinary people long for answers to questions about how to mitigate these challenges. Meanwhile, the Church mostly preaches the gospel and establishes and grows denominations across the world. Proclaiming the gospel in word is good; however, without demonstrating the gospel with transformational deeds, the Church remains Salvationist and partially missionary. Bearing in mind that the integral mission of the Church is advancing the gospel holistically, fractional mindfulness of the gospel, hearing the words without performing the corresponding deeds, is defacing its identity. Today, this situation is problematic and helpless, as society is in dire need of a wholesome Church that acts in accordance with its own faith and values and attends to the soul, the body, and all other facets of life. Much has been published about the integral mission of the Church, though little has been said about its role in social action. By qualitatively reviewing the literature and observing the Southern African context and some biblical examples, this paper finds the integral mission to be the predominant and comprehensive purpose of the existence of the Church. While the Church could be aware of its mandate, it should be reawakened so that it becomes a doer of the Word and stands out as the salt and light of the world by contributing to addressing the needs of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social network is an important way to promote subjective poverty alleviation. Based on China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS) data from 2014, 2016, and 2018, this paper analyzes the action mechanism of social networks on the subjective poverty of Chinese residents. The results find that social network acts on subjective poverty through social support and reference groups. Specifically, social networks provide emotional and instrumental social support for individuals, which can effectively alleviate subjective poverty. In addition, when the social network members serve as the reference group, the higher the status of individuals in the network, the weaker the subjective poverty. Secondly, objective poverty is the mediating path between the social support function of social networks and subjective poverty. Finally, objective poverty is a regulator of the effect of social networks as a reference group on subjective poverty. When individuals are objectively poor, the alleviating effect of social networks as a reference group on subjective poverty is weakened. In summary, placing social networks' social support and reference group functions under the same framework helps fully grasp social networks' social benefits. As a result, consolidating China's poverty reduction achievements and focusing on the informal social insurance role of social networks are conducive to alleviating subjective poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interprets the changing traits of religiosity in modern and postmodern societies from the perspective of spatial turn. The analysis examines the impact of social experience and action on spatial structure and how changes in spatial structure have influenced individual actions and experiences over the past decade, with a specific emphasis on the relationship to transcendence. The analysis explores the impact of the interaction of social spaces and actions on religiosity, in order to provide new insights into the interpretation of religious phenomena through a novel approach to the study of religion. It focuses on the consequences of individualisation, hybridisation, and globalisation, and analyses how these transformations are shaping contemporary religiosity in the global north. The paper argues that spatial structural changes are reinforcing more individualised forms of religiosity, often separated from traditional institutionalised religiosity. This gives greater scope to subject-organised 'patchwork religiosity', which inevitably reinforces a new kind of religious syncretism. The reflection unravels the spatial aspects of this transformation in a novel way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates offensive animal metaphors in blog comments about the management of donations of money and medical relief during the coronavirus pandemic in China. Rather than understanding the metaphorical usage of language as a cognitive process, we consider its situational usage as a social action and invoke insights from Conversation Analysis. Based on data retrieved from Sina Weibo, we show how discussants use animal metaphors to accomplish varying actions and construct intelligibility between themselves and others about the relationship between actions, moral accountability, and description of social events. We therefore argue that CA with its focus on topicality, action and societal membership can complement the cognitive understanding of the proximity between the source and the target domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on translanguaging practices in multilingual contexts has explored how translanguaging highlights the multilingual and multicultural nature of social interactions and its transformative nature in transgressing established norms and boundaries. This article aims to provide an alternative view of interactional competence by connecting it to the notion of translanguaging and its emphasis on the active deployment of multiple linguistic, semiotic, and sociocultural resources in a dynamic and integrated way. We argue for extending the notion of interactional competence as we suggest that translanguaging is the practice of drawing on a speaker's interactional competence for constructing new configurations of language practices for communicative purposes. Such a conceptualization reinforces the meaning-making process as a locally emergent phenomenon and a jointly accomplished social action. It also conceptualizes the undertaking of co-constructing social interactions as a process of translanguaging whereby interactants need to seek out available multilingual and multimodal resources and make strategic choices among these resources in order to achieve their social actions on a moment-by-moment basis. This article utilizes Sequential-Categorial Analysis, which combines Multimodal Conversation Analysis and Membership Categorisation Analysis, in its analysis of classroom video recordings of vocabulary instruction in a beginner-level adult English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages classroom in order to demonstrate our argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the field of pragmatics and its role in understanding language use in online settings. It highlights various pragmatic phenomena that have been studied in online discourse, such as face, (im)politeness, the moral order, identity construction, and humor. The article also explores the micro-level analysis of online interaction, focusing on sequential organization, turn-taking, repair, and categorial work. It introduces a special issue of Internet Pragmatics that examines how social action is constructed in online interactions, using examples from platforms like Tinder, YouTube, and Facebook. The papers in the special issue explore topics such as offline and online communities, joint fantasizing, public denunciation, and the co-construction of social action. Overall, the article demonstrates how a micro-level analysis of online interaction can provide a nuanced understanding of meaning construction in digital discourse. [Extracted from the article]

This paper traces the emergence, politicisation and spread of healthcare provision tactics by (contentious) collective actors in Greece between 1990 and 2015. Drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews with relevant field actors (N=40), and documentary analysis, the paper develops a diachronic typology that analyses and compares; (1) the appearance of those tactics in the Greek context in the 1990s, (2) their appropriation by contentious actors after the December 2008 riots, and (3) their diffusion, and eventual modularisation over the course of the 2010 crisis and the cycle of anti-austerity contention. In so doing, the paper helps disentangle the dynamics of repertoire innovation through an understudied set of tactics. This is achieved through the reconstruction of the genealogy of healthcare Direct Social Actions (DSAs) - pace Bosi and Zamponi (2015) - in Greece, their transmutation from "consenting" to contentious tactics after 2008, and their wide diffusion among contentious milieus after 2010. In addition, the paper discusses the interplay between the contextual and strategic dimensions of those tactical preferences across actors and across time. To be sure, early utilisation of those tactics on the side of marginal players can be understood as attempts to tactically differentiate themselves vis-à-vis those traditional and hegemonic players in the arena who relied on indirect, protest tactics. The crisis, however, disturbed the seeming equilibrium of the healthcare arena thus prompting tactical convergence around healthcare DSAs among contentious actors, on the one hand, while reinforcing strategic convergence among some actors and strategic divergence among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study is based on extensive evidence-based assessments. The aim of this paper is to evaluate how well Jordan's health information system (HIS) incorporates social determinants of health inequity (SDHI) and to propose suggestions for future actions. Methods: An extensive evidence-based assessment was performed. A meta-synthesis of the inclusion of the SDHI in the HIS in Jordan was conducted. After searching and shortlisting, 23 papers were analyzed using Atlas.ti 9.0 employing thematic analysis technique. Results: The HIS in Jordan is quite comprehensive, comprising numerous data sources, various types of information, and data from multiple producers and managers. Nevertheless, the HIS confronts several obstacles and fails to ensure the timely and secure publication of available data. The assessment of the inclusion of the SDHI in the HIS showed that the HIS allows for the measurement of progress in relation to social policies and actions but has a very limited database for supporting the inclusion of health inequity measures. One reason for the difficulty in identifying fairness is that certain crucial information necessary for this task cannot be obtained through the available institutional HIS or population survey tools. Additionally, relevant modules for fairness may be missing from population surveys, possibly due to a failure to fully utilize the capabilities of the institutional HIS. Conclusion: There are opportunities to make use of Jordan's dedication to fairness and its already established strong HIS. Some social determinants of health exist in the HIS, but much more data, information, and effort are needed to integrate the SDHI into the Jordanian HIS. A proposal from a regional initiative has put forward a comprehensive set of indicators for integrating SDHI into HIS, which could aid in achieving health equity in Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses in testing the power of reciprocity and leadership as collective action incentive structures and cooperation economic benefits in explaining collective action initiation in the context of a post‐communist transition economy. The paper is based on a structured survey targeting Albanian export‐oriented farmers. Different from most previous studies, this paper uses both regression analysis and machine learning procedure which is better suited for analysing non‐linear relationships. The empirical findings are at odds with common sense that non‐cooperation is the dominant strategy, because the presence of tolerant reciprocators and leadership resources provide promising incentive structures for collective action development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the experience of three mentors working with a group of 12 practitioner action researchers; practitioners who were recipients of an Action Research Grant (ARG) in a programme initiated and managed by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS). The EIS is a trade union, which represents over 80% of Scotland's teaching professionals. The paper draws on these experiences, the views of participants and the research literature, to illustrate how action research, particularly that which is mentored by experienced colleagues, can empower teachers and enhance their practice to make positive difference to their learners and beyond and so becomes participatory action research (PAR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the openings for educational change enabled by framing inequality through the concept of rights, considering how variations of this framing have emerged historically and in current debates. Taking as our starting point the 1970 publication Rights and Inequality in Australian Education, we suggest that it is important to pay attention to the ways in which rights gain force within social action and through demands made by differently constituted publics. In the 1960s and 1970s, a right to educational equality garnered greater recognition, prompting moves towards needs-based funding and curriculum diversification, led by the Commonwealth Schools Commission. These moves were responsive to social movements that helped to shape new publics. In a second and more politically conservative moment, rights and inequality were increasingly separated in policies influenced by neoliberalism. We argue that the strategies currently adopted by Indigenous scholar-activists are promoting a return to a rights-based perspective, which is distinctive in casting inequality as ontological and epistemic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

So far, valuable studies have been done about the paintings of the Qajar Period from an artistic point of view, especially visual analysis. But their more accurate understanding requires the application of meta-aesthetic approaches such as the sociology of art, since, based on illustrated historical documents such as the ancient reliefs of Iran, the social role of art was in the service of the ruling political class. Based on this, the following paper examines the social function of the first image illustrated in the number one of the second court newspaper during the Naseri era. The approach is based on "reflection," which could be used to answer this question: What social actions does the image of the fourth shah of the Qajar Period reflect? By studying the mentioned image, this article seeks to achieve a meta-aesthetic analysis, so the purpose of this article is not to analyze the subject from the perspective of visual structure or press graphics, but rather to identify the social actions. The research is done using qualitative and descriptive-analytical approaches. The data collection was done based on the library method and the analysis of illustrations. To answer the question mentioned, the approach was determined based on the theory of reflection. According to this theory, artworks convey many concepts about the state of society, such as the political structure. The results show that the expressive language of art as a promotional strategy has an effective action in the direction of strengthening the political and social domination of society, and therefore, Naser al-Din Shah consciously ordered the formation of a range of types of art, such as the court illustration press, in such a way that it is clearly able to reflect the face of the power and strength of his reign in a real way. This is important because, on the one hand, it reflects the social action of art for a long time, and on the other hand, it has reflected the twoway connection between art and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Latinoamericana de Metodología de la Investigación Social is the property of Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Sociologicos 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 purpose of this paper is to experimentally examine stakeholder punishments in response to poor CSR performance communicated through either internal or external channels. Across two experiments, we find that receiving negative CSR information communicated through internal channels (CSR reports) or external channels (news articles) causes individuals to punish a firm (less investment, lower employment interest, buy less, post negative comments on social media). Furthermore, we find sensitivity to a conflict of information from internal and external channels, which increased Calls to Action on social media. This is a concern for firms because such social media posts can elicit further punishments from stakeholders and inflict reputational costs on the firm. The findings of our studies suggest that firms should accurately report CSR performance, especially if external channels are likely to communicate negative CSR information regarding the firm because such conflicting information can elicit a strong online backlash. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restitution has predominantly been described as a legal rather than a social action in international law, as well as in South Africa's history of truth, reconciliation and redress policies after the end of apartheid. Introducing the concept of 'social restitution' this paper argues for a reimagined and wider understanding of restitution to address the need for social justice in the spaces between the law court and individual acts of charity, and between policies for redress and personal antipathy against these. Social restitution can be defined as intentional voluntary actions and attitudes developed through dialogue based on a sense of moral obligation aimed at addressing the damage done to individuals and communities by unjust actions and legacies of the past. Drawing on international debates about and understandings of the meaning of restitution, social restitution is shown to be both continuous with legal restitution and distinguished from it through its voluntary nature, its potential to be forwardlooking rather than punitive, generative rather than accusatory, and offering everyday opportunities to bridge the gap between 'knowing' about injustice and 'acting' to repair it. Following this discussion, the latter part of the paper outlines the need for new categories of actors in contexts of injustice beyond those of victim, perpetrator and bystander (the Hilberg triangle of actors), introducing the ideas of beneficiaries and resisters; argues for the potential social restitution has as a mechanism for rehumanising all actors; and offers recommendations for how engaged action-oriented dialogues might contribute to achieving this aim, while noting the limits and dangers of dialogue. It draws on an empirical study on the meaning and actions of restitution conducted with black and white adult South Africans in making some of its arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nóesis: Revista de Ciencias Sociales is the property of Revista Noesis 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.)

Drawing on interactional pragmatics and membership categorisation analysis, with a focus on (un)accomplished intersubjectivity, categories and social action, this paper explores some new aspects of multimodal joint fantasising in online interaction. The data for this study comes from the public Facebook event page regarding the 'ski field opening' in Brisbane, a sub-tropical city in Australia. The first part of the analysis examines how intersubjectivity is accomplished through joint fantasising co-constructed among the posters, serving entertainment purposes. Invoking their membership in the category 'fantasisers', this is done in two ways: (1) flat co-construction gradient; and (2) upgraded co-construction gradient. The second part focusses on the instances wherein intersubjectivity in relation to the fantasy world is unaccomplished. It is indexed through (1) metapragmatic labels of humour types; (2) treating the event as real; and (3) doubting the authenticity of the event and challenging the joint fantasising posts. As a result, additional categories emerge, thereby constructing category relations, namely, oppositional categories such as 'fantasisers'-'the gullible' and 'fantasisers'-'sceptics'. This in situ change, I argue, creates a shift in the pragmatic function of joint fantasising, moving from a category-implicative action (serving entertainment) to a category-relations-implicative action (serving jocular criticism). This paper adds to the research on joint fantasising, categorial work and social action, and broadly contributes to our understanding of how members of the society orient to contexts and categories in and through talk-in-interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the intersection of culture, ethnicity, gender, and religion, this paper offers insights into the lived experiences of Nigerian women by adopting Nkomo and Ngambi’s multilevel framework on African women’s leadership to understand their work-family experiences in the Nigerian banking sector. Employing data from interviews with eleven Northern women and ten Southern women who live in the following states: Kano, Kaduna; Akure, Lagos, Ibadan; and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, the findings confirm the existence of patriarchal systems at the macro (social), meso (organizational), and micro (individual) levels of social action that shape Nigerian women’s work-family experiences. Nevertheless, as tradition and modernity interact to provide a hybrid social space within which these women negotiate the different levels, they demonstrated the ability to redefine femininity and womanhood and reject constraints that confine them. The women from both regions resisted conformity to the patriarchal systematic ideologies and cultural processes that placed them in a disadvantaged position. Despite social and cultural criticisms that restrict women’s movement and career options, their agency was evident in their narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This perspective emerged from ongoing dialogue among ecologists initiated by a virtual workshop in 2021. A transdisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners conclude that urban ecology as a science can better contribute to positive futures by focusing on relationships, rather than prioritizing urban structures. Insights from other relational disciplines, such as political ecology, governance, urban design, and conservation also contribute. Relationality is especially powerful given the need to rapidly adapt to the changing social and biophysical drivers of global urban systems. These unprecedented dynamics are better understood through a relational lens than traditional structural questions. We use three kinds of coproduction—of the social-ecological world, of science, and of actionable knowledge—to identify key processes of coproduction within urban places. Connectivity is crucial to relational urban ecology. Eight themes emerge from the joint explorations of the paper and point toward social action for improving life and environment in urban futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines environmental communication among activists on social media, specifically on Instagram. Drawing from an ethnographic study, it highlights a new type of activism that focuses on daily actions, departing from traditional public protests, based on the belief that collective small-scale actions can drive significant changes. It is performed mainly by individuals, often with large followers, who adopt the influencers' narrative to promote sustainability. We contend that this social media activism relies on personal and visual narratives, and proactive actions to engage the public in sustainability and affordable solutions to the environmental crisis. Through interviews and analysis of their narratives, we explore activists' motivations, hybrid identities, and communication practices around their communities, which can be characterized as a networked collective action for social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the work of the Public Space Authority (AEP) in Mexico City to explore the politics of site selection in public space infrastructure investment. By focusing on a pocket parks program as a case study, we explore how governments and agencies make efforts to configure their distributional criteria for urban public goods. We develop an explanatory framework around showcase politics, where agencies favor high-profile locations to create rapid demonstrations of their programs and their effectiveness for an audience of governmental and social actors. Through showcase politics, agencies deploy their limited resources for maximum exhibitionary effects with the aim of justifying the existence of the agency and its programs as a legitimate solution to urban problems, and to support the overall political agenda of the party in power. While this decisional logic makes sense for the maintenance of a newly created agency within a bureaucracy, it contradicted the agency's own stated policy goals to distribute public space amenities broadly throughout the Mexican capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-government extremism in Germany may represent examples of the significant shift and growth of anti-government movements and anti-system activism in the past few years. Conspiracies and insurrections to overthrow a democratically elected government are certainly not new phenomena, but they are uncommon in consolidated Western democracies. The paper tries to convey the manifestations of delegitimization movements of sovereign citizens with an emphasis on the potential of political violence in the context of correlations of conspiracy theories and disinformation and radicalization group mobilization.Selected sovereign citizen movements are introduced based on their motivations, goals, and strategies of resistance to existing government structures.. The evaluation is done with the help of an analytical model of three dimensions of assessing the level of anti-government extremism of sovereign movements: 1. delegitimization of the democratic order, 2. offensive social action, 3. democratic norms within the sovereign movement. Expressions of coercion against public authorities, state institutions and courts in the Czech Republic copy the expressions of foreign sovereign citizen movements, including the terminology and form used. With the development of the anti-systemic scene in recent years, frustrations that have been embedded in society for a long time crystallized, among other things. Among them for example deep-rooted hostility is towards the division of Czechoslovakia among a certain part of the population. It appears a lot in the 40/50+ generation, which, by the way, is becoming the main driver of the antisystemic discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary reinforces a central commitment of life course research: to make visible how social change matters in human lives. This paper captures a moderated conversation with four senior scholars about how they came to study the intersection between social change and life experience, why this intersection is so important to life course studies, and theoretical and methodological imperatives and challenges that come with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employment in responsible organizations is psychologically more valuable to a large segment of employees that desire to create a significant social impact and environmental protection through work. This paper investigates the potential social and environmental responsibility to reduce employee turnover, considering the growing importance employees place on creating this responsibility at the corporate level. Drawing upon the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study examines the development of attachment orientation as a psychological resource and its influence on turnover intention and organizational deviance. With 3 surveys, we collected time-lagged multisource data from middle managers and their colleagues working in the Pakistan-based oil and gas development company. A total of 243 responses were collected, resulting in an 81% response rate. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for data analysis. Data analysis helped us to find that by being deviant, employees cannot gain more social support resources at the workplace, and that can also deplete their identification. The results demonstrate that employees who prioritize environmental concerns exhibit reduced turnover intentions and deviant behavior when their organization engages in environmental actions as compared to social actions. These findings highlight the significant bifactor role of corporate environmental and social responsibility in nurturing organizational resource caravans of pride and identification as valuable psychological resources, contributing to the retention of talent and employees. Implications of this study for theory and practice are discussed, emphasizing the importance of integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility initiatives to reduce turnover and foster positive organizational outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Danish Tinder chats that in the very first message after 'matching' immediately launch the prospect of meeting. A collection of 41 threads is analyzed using Goffman's (1967, 1974) concepts of face and interactional framing, outlining methods participants use to open a chat after having matched and addressing the interest and purpose they have approached in the other party. Methods include, in particular, inferences that can be made based on the type of activity or setting suggested for a future meeting, indirectness and ambiguity related to how the social actions are designed, and the conversational cues used such as emojis and enthusiasm markers. The analysis also shows how participants work out and negotiate whether they have a common interest in meeting, in particular, how they exploit and deal with ambiguities used extensively as a mechanism for flirting. The analysis further suggests that practices adhere to gender-stereotypes showing how participants may handle and orient to a norm that women should not agree to meet with a stranger early on in a chat correspondence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the social action of sanctioning an interlocutor's conduct in public spaces through social media. Using membership categorisation analysis (Hester and Eglin 1997), we examine how, in offline face-to-face disputes filmed by one party, interactants deploy the name 'Karen' to sanction someone and threaten the transposition of the recording onto social media to impose accountability to the public at large. Our findings show how sanctioning through categorising an individual as a 'Karen' is interactionally achieved through framing conduct as entitled or otherwise problematic, distinguishing in-situ production of 'Karen' from a delivery that is perceptually unavailable to an interlocutor. We explore how social media functions as a resource to shape the ongoing encounter by orienting to the camera, and thus the online audience, as an external authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On October 1, 2022, the Kanjuruhan Football Tragedy in Malang, Indonesia, marked a poignant event, drawing significant media coverage, particularly by The New York Times. This incident, involving the police, supporters, and the government, unfolded amidst complex dynamics of action and response. This paper aims to dissect the media portrayal of these entities, examining the nuances of representation in news narratives. Adopting Van Leeuwen's (2008) Critical Discourse Analysis framework, the study employs a qualitative methodology to analyze how Social Actors are depicted through inclusion and exclusion strategies, alongside the portrayal of Social Actions through action and reaction approaches. The analysis of The New York Times' coverage reveals that the police were frequently portrayed as the enforcers of security, often resorting to measures like firing tear gas, while the supporters were depicted as reacting to these measures and significantly impacted by the tragedy. The government was represented as the overarching authority, responsible for managing the situation and its aftermath. This study uncovers a multi-layered narrative in the news discourse, highlighting the complexity of representing different actors in high-impact events. It concludes that media narratives in such scenarios are intricate, often shaped by the interplay of various actors' roles and actions. The findings emphasize the need for comprehensive discourse analysis in understanding media representations, suggesting future research should extend the scope of analysis by integrating broader elements from Van Leeuwen's framework and other Critical Discourse Analysis theories to gain deeper insights into media portrayals in similar situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the idea that sexual violence is a "structural" problem is not new, the lack of specification as to what that entails blocks effective responses to it. This paper illustrates the concept of sexual violence as structural in the sense of containing a type of moral wrong called "structural wrong" and discusses its practical implications. First, I introduce a distinction between two types of moral wrongs—interactional wrongs and structural wrongs—and I argue that the moral problem of sexual violence includes both types, each of which calls for a different set of moral responses. Second, drawing on Iris Marion Young's social connection model of responsibility, I argue that recognizing the structural-wrong element of sexual violence does not reduce individual perpetrators' responsibility for it. Instead, it implies that a broader group of agents are required to join collective actions to reform the social structure. I conclude by evaluating some preventive programs against sexual violence through the lens of structural wrongs and providing directions to advance them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a large body of literature discusses the advancement of community engagement in higher education, a less substantial body of scholarship explores how engagement is promoted and institutionalized within universities. In this exploratory study, using a discourse analysis of official reports posted on the websites of three university cases, the qualitative results unfolded how community engagement was institutionalized. The study identified some of the basic mechanisms social language uses to create institutions within institutions, like university engagement. The study provided data to support the theoretical assumption that language, through a host of possible configurations of texts, generates discourses that engender social actions such as institutionalization. Those processes disclosed how engagement was produced, and it is still evolving. Further research strategies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Gertrude Buck and collaborators developed a sociologically and pragmatist‐informed approach to language that has been neglected in later scholarship. Buck approached the study of language from the standpoint of pragmatist functional psychology, which is indebted to John Dewey's pragmatism at the University of Michigan, and which views language as a normal, dynamic action of human organisms engaged in necessary cooperative relations with one another. Her approach overcomes the small‐minded pragmatism that would criticize figurative or poetic language as impractical, and instead shows how figuration is essential to the particular ways in which language is action that conveys meaning to others and serves broader social functions. Buck's forgotten work helps overcome criticisms of the application of pragmatic action theory to language and literature, sketching how language structure may be explained on the basis of language as a natural social‐communicative act, how figurative language is inherent in the normal act of communicating situated bodily experiences to others, and how rhetorical speech and writing contributes to participation in democratic social processes. This paper also indicates how Buck's work has been partially rediscovered in Composition Studies, as well as prefigures later reader‐response esthetics and feminist analyses of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are ecovillages suited to the challenge of climate change and radical social transformation? While often framed as social experiments with the potential to support dramatic social change, we argue that ecovillages should be seen as more than that - complicated sites which both enable and constrain social action in the fight to stem the effects of climate change. As ethnographic researchers with a variety of experiences researching ecovillages, we critically examine some of the factors that affect the power of ecovillages to accomplish this mission, including governance modes that support reduced individual consumption patterns and impact; a commons infrastructure with decreased socioeconomic demands on members, and differing geographic locales with varying socio-political limitations. We conclude this piece by discussing how these factors should inform future research on the transformative nature of ecovillages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej formulated the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP). "Sufficiency" means balancing reasonable moderation in production against the need for protection from sudden internal and external shocks. SEP follows the middle path as a guiding principle for all classes of society and government. Knowledge, thoughtfulness, prudence, and ethical integrity are essential to achieve the middle path. This paper explores the use of SEP as a method of social innovation for enhancing delivery of public services and for localizing the process of sustainable development. Such innovative use of SEP is illustrated by three exploratory case studies of local administrative organisations (LAOs) in Thailand. All three LAOs' case studies have mayors with significant entrepreneurial talent useful in teaching entrepreneurial action to their residents, their staff, and other local leaders. Together, these cases show the potential of SEP as a method of bottom up social action and sustainable development. A brief discussion of the wider need for and use of innovation, including social innovations, and underpinning entrepreneurship, is included prior to the Thai case studies. There is also a short section examining similar types of activities to those observed in the cases in the European context by way of comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinx youth are often engaged in critical action to transform social injustices, yet we know little about the wellbeing of Latinx youth activists. This study draws on critical ethnographic research to understand the multidimensions of wellbeing that Latinx youth experienced when they engaged in critical action toward anti-immigrant politics during the Trump Era. Data collected through open-ended interviews with Latinx youth who participated in social protests revealed that (a) concepts of wellbeing need to be extensively explored for a more nuanced understanding of its characteristics, and (b) when youth engage in critical action, they experience physical and socioemotional wellbeing in distinct ways. This research contributes to the critical consciousness and wellbeing scholarship by (1) adding to the dearth of research on Latinx youth physical wellbeing and critical action, (2) theorizing nuances of physical, mental, and socioemotional wellbeing as simultaneously present during critical action, and (3) centering the voices and experiences of Latinx youth, specifically Latina youth, who have historically been omitted from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although eating disorders (EDs) are among the most stigmatised mental illnesses, a number of individuals break past this stigma and engage in ED advocacy by sharing their recovery stories. Little is known, however, about the role of such advocacy in their healing journeys. Methods: To bridge this gap, the authors examined the role of autobiographical oral storytelling in the ED recovery of adult advocates. Autobiographical oral history interviews were carried out with adult advocates (n = 16) recovering from EDs. The data were analysed using a mixture of actantial and thematic analyses. Authors also used activity theory to categorise how storytelling was translated into concrete social actions. Results were then interpreted through frameworks of embodiment and the intersectionality of identity. Results: Advocates chose to share their ED stories as a way to embody resilience and make meaning from their ED experiences. Beyond personal gains, the social benefits of sharing their stories included raising hope and openness to converse further with audiences, advocating for greater ED resources (e.g., ED literacy among school staff), and offering new training initiatives for healthcare professionals. The ties between storytelling and the unique aspects of one's identity are also discussed. Conclusions: Engaging in advocacy through storytelling can positively affect both the advocates and the audiences with whom they connect. Future studies, informed by feminist biopsychosocial frameworks, can examine storytelling as a therapeutic intervention. Such frameworks serve as alternatives to biomedical models of EDs and mental illnesses. They also emphasise the need for broader changes that destabilise oppressive body cultures and display how storytelling can help mobilise change. Plain English summary: Eating disorders (EDs) have been identified as one of the most stigmatised mental illnesses, making it difficult for individuals to seek professional help or disclose their mental health situation. Nevertheless, a handful of individuals become advocates who combat this stigma by sharing their personal struggles and ongoing healing journeys. The researchers of this study used a narrative-based approach to analyse the experiences of such advocates while identifying the personal and social benefits of their storytelling advocacy. The outcomes of this study suggested that advocates found these storytelling initiatives to be deeply meaningful because they were able to reflect on how far they have come while increasing hope among audiences that recovery is possible. The findings from this research support the ongoing need for novel interventions against ED stigma, including the potential to incorporate storytelling as a way to normalise conversations on EDs while enhancing the resilience of individuals undergoing recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on conversation analysis, this study examines primary-concern solicitation in Mandarin-speaking medical encounters in China. Based on the observation of naturally occurring solicitation sequences, we identify the major question formats and problem-solicitation patterns in China's mainland. It is found that Chinese medical openings feature both the dominance of generic solicitation in primary-concern solicitation and the recurrence of phase-skipping business-specific solicitation. Chinese primary-concern solicitation tends to be both more permissive and restrictive than its English counterpart, driven by the same concern of consultation efficiency. The study contributes to a cross-cultural comparison of the medical activity and enriches the understanding of culture and language's influence on performing social actions in medical encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]