Search

Efforts to control and regulate alcohol has recently gained steam in Botswana. Inspired by a public health perspective, the government of Botswana has recently increased the alcohol tax levy, reduced the hours of operation for bars and increased penalties for alcohol-related offences to control alcohol-related harm. While these reforms have been central to policymaking, and caused some controversy, not much is known about the everyday experiences of alcohol consumers in Botswana. Drawing from semi-structured interviews (n = 40) collected amongst drinkers over a five-year period, this paper examines the everyday use of alcohol in Botswana. The analysis demonstrates that alcohol use constitutes an important part of leisure and night-time economy (NTE) activities in Botswana. It is a functional social activity that is used by people to take time away from the routines and pressures of daily life. More importantly, it is pleasurable to people, enhances sociability, and partaken as a form of transaction between men and women in bars. There is need for policy makers to consider the embodied experiences of alcohol use when designing alcohol interventions in Botswana.

Background Emerging data suggest that problem/pathological gambling may be highly prevalent among Asian-Pacific Islanders (APIs) and that can be a major concern to their communities. Methods This study surveyed problem/pathological gambling knowledge, attitudes, and perceived community impact of problem gambling among self-identified male and female APIs and non-APIs attending one of two API community events in Los Angeles County. Results Unexpectedly, our results indicated no effect for ethnicity with regards to ratings of problem/pathological gambling knowledge, community impact, or consequences. However, a gender effect with women reporting less problem/pathological-gambling-related knowledge than men, regardless of ethnicity was found. Over 40% of all respondents reported that problem/pathological gambling impacted their communities ‘a lot’, and the ratings for the impact of problem/pathological gambling was equal to ratings for other significant public health issues like diabetes, depression, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse. Discussion Based on these results, it is recommended that evidence-based legislation support the development of culturally-relevant prevention and intervention programs for problem/pathological gambling in Los Angeles County.

Following the work of Hellman, this paper examines homosexism (the stigmatisation of non-penetrative sexual activities of men who have sex with men as non-sexual practices) in relation to hegemony, masculinity, and sexuality theories. In doing so, it discusses the function of sides, men who have sex with men but do not engage in penetrative sexual practices, in relation to the maintenance of established, normative, and damaging notions of masculinities. The central question this paper addresses is what the significance of the stigmatisation of sides is. In addressing this question, the potential of sides to facilitate and inhibit normative hegemonic structures is considered while more in-depth research is deemed necessary. The aim of this paper is to extend the discussion on homosexism, acknowledge non-penetrative sexual practices as legitimate forms of sexual expression, and encourage further scholarly research that focuses on the potential of sides to challenge and subvert established normative understandings of genders and sexualities, as well as the power structures that are involved in the construction of such understandings.

This paper sets out to present a novel construal of one of the notions of Vygotskian cultural-historical theory viz., zone of proximal development (ZPD) drawing upon dynamic systems theory. The principal thesis maintains that ZDP is an emergent and dynamic system which is engendered by a dialectical concatenation of psychogenesic and sociogenesic facets of human development over time. It is reasoned that Vygotskian cultural-historical theory of human development, by invoking dialectical logic, has transcended Cartesian substance dualism and in turn has proffered a monistic and process-anchored ontology for emerging becoming of human consciousness. Likewise, it is contended that dynamic systems theory, having assumed fluent flux of reality with a capital R as its ontological axiom, entails a consilience of cognitive and contextual conceptual schemes to describe, explain, and optimize human development. The paper concludes by drawing some interpretive conclusions in regard to ZPD from dynamic systems theory perspective. peerReviewed

Christian Smith’s paper “The Incoherence of ‘Culture’ in American Sociology” is a valuable provocation that can prompt us to reflect on the role of concepts and on the role of agreement on the definition of concepts in scientific research. In this comment paper, I raise questions about Smith’s empirical expectation that sociologists should agree on a concept of culture based on debates in the sociology of science. I also suggest that in terms of the future agenda for the sociology of culture, we should distinguish between dialogue and clarification on the one hand, which I agree is needed, and standardization on the other hand, which seems incompatible with open-minded empirical research. Rather than work on agreement on what culture is, we might work on clarifying relevant distinctions among dimensions of culture.

This paper analyses the nature of the relationship between risk and responsibility. Since neither the concept of risk nor the concept of responsibility has an unequivocal definition, it is obvious that there is no single interpretation of their relationship. After introducing the different meanings of responsibility used in this paper, we analyse four conceptions of risk. This allows us to make their link with responsibility explicit and to determine if a shift in the connection between risk and responsibility can be outlined. (1) In the engineer's paradigm, the quantitative conception of risk does not include any concept of responsibility. Their relationship is indirect, the locus of responsibility being risk management. (2) In Mary Douglas' cultural theory, risks are constructed through the responsibilities they engage. (3) Rayner and (4) Wolff go further by integrating forms of responsibility in the definition of risk itself. Analysis of these four frameworks shows that the concepts of risk and responsibility are increasingly intertwined. This tendency is reinforced by increasing public awareness and a call for the integration of a moral dimension in risk management. Therefore, we suggest that a form of virtue-responsibility should also be integrated in the concept of risk.

Background: The rise of genomic studies in Africa – not least due to projects funded under H3Africa – is associated with the development of a small number of biorepositories across Africa. For the ultimate success of these biorepositories, the creation of cell lines including those from selected H3Africa samples would be beneficial. In this paper, we map ethical challenges in the creation of cell lines. Discussion: The first challenge we identified relates to the moral status of cells living in culture. There is no doubt that cells in culture are alive, and the question is how this characteristic is relevant to ethical decision-making. The second challenge relates to the fact that cells in culture are a source of cell products and mitochondrial DNA. In combination with other technologies, cells in culture could also be used to grow human tissue. Whilst on the one hand, this feature increases the potential utility of the sample and promotes science, on the other it also enables further scientific work that may not have been specifically consented to or approved. The third challenge relates to ownership over samples, particularly in cases where cell lines are created by a biobank, and in a different country than where samples were collected. Relevant questions here concern the export of samples, approval of secondary use and the acceptability of commercialisation. A fourth challenge relates to perceptions of blood and bodily integrity, which may be particularly relevant for African research participants from certain cultures or backgrounds. Finally, we discuss challenges around informed consent and ethical review. Summary: In this paper, we sought to map the myriad of ethical challenges that need to be considered prior to making cell line creation a reality in the H3Africa project. Considering the relative novelty of this practice in Africa, such challenges will need to be considered, discussed and potentially be resolved before cell line creation in Africa becomes financially feasible and sustainable. We suggest that discussions need to be undertaken between stakeholders internationally, considering the international character of the H3Africa project. We also map out avenues for empirical research.

This paper analyses culture as a determinant of technology adoption in a developing country. While the literature discusses the influence of culture upon economic growth, little attention has been paid to the mechanisms at the micro level. Therefore, we postulate that culture plays a crucial role in hindering or fostering the diffusion of innovation, a key trigger of the engine of growth. This empirical study uses the Ethiopia Rural Household Survey to disentangle between individual cultural traits, namely, ethnicity and religion, and the cultural homogeneity of the environment as co-determinants of fertiliser adoption. To examine our hypotheses, we apply a multivariate survival model for clustered and correlated observations to account for time and location effects. The results reveal significant differences in the probability of adopting fertiliser among cultural groups. Moreover, habits and social norms, proxied by ethnicity, provide a better explanation for the role of culture, than religious beliefs, as usually posited in the literature. Also, the cultural environment turns out tobe a decisive trigger. The probability of adoption is higher in rural societies with a homogeneous ethnic environment but distinct religious variety.

Worldwide interest in the cultural landscape concept—covering rural and urban spheres—is now a major theme in considerations of the management of cultural heritage places. The roots of this interconnection lie in the social, political and economic relationships between people and landscape which, in turn, is related to how human attachment to landscape plays a major role in determining our sense of place. Notably the fundamental actuality of place attachment through landscape is cross cultural. Epistemologically it crosses the boundaries of differing values across diverse cultures underscoring the fundamental cross cultural significance of landscape. Co-incidentally the phenomenon of the ‘rise of cultural landscapes’ (Jacques 1995) has been intimately interconnected with the way in which thinking has changed— philosophically and professionally—on what heritage is. There is in effect a clear link between heritage and landscape. It is in this context that this paper addresses challenges of thinking and acting associated with China’s commitment to a rural revitalisation program.

Background Regulatory authorities in healthcare are authorised to develop and assess the cultural competence of their professionals. There remains significant diversity on approaches to cultural competency training and assessment. Little evidence exists about whether existing cultural competency training leads to improved patient health outcomes and reductions in health disparity. Discussion In this paper I frame cultural competency as analogous to the ocean and consisting of three zones: surface competency zone, bias twilight zone, and the confronting midnight zone. The surface competency zone focuses on deployment of culturally-specific knowledge: what people see, say, and do. The bias twilight zone is where people engage in critical reflection on their inherent/unconscious biases, and how such biases inform their thoughts and practices. The confronting midnight zone is where people engage in critical consciousness and self-awareness. Here they look beyond their biases to interrogate their power and positionality in society (their own privileges and centralisation). This attention is coupled with a commitment to social justice and to working within their means to reduce health disparities. Conclusions I suggest surface cultural competency is somewhat easier to see, teach and reach than the bias twilight or confronting midnight zones. But it is these deeper zones that cultural competency training needs to attend to if we are to see systemic cultural changes in healthcare provision. Research assessing the extent by which cultural competency training within each zone informs improved patient outcomes and reductions in health disparity is called for.

Although a great deal of literature has looked at how individuals respond to stigma, far less has been written about how professional groups address challenges to their self-perception as abiding by clear moral standards. In this paper, we ask how professional group members maintain a positive self-perception in the face of moral stigma. Drawing on pragmatic and cultural sociology, we claim that professional communities hold narratives that link various aspects of the work their members perform with specific understanding of the common good. These narratives allow professionals to maintain a shared view of their work as benefitting society and to perceive themselves as moral individuals. As a case study, we focus on the advertising industry, which has long been stigmatized as complicit in exploitative capitalist mechanisms and cultural degradation. We draw on nine total months of fieldwork and seventy-four interviews across three US advertising agencies. We find that advertising practitioners use narratives to present their work as contributing to the common good, depicting themselves as moral individuals who care about others in the process. We analyze three prevalent narratives: the account-driven narrative, which links moral virtue to caring for clients; the creative-driven narrative, which ties caring to the production of meaningful advertisements; and the strategic-driven narrative, which sees caring in finding meaningful relationships for consumers and brands.

This paper aims to explain survey findings regarding disaster recovery processes among ethnic groups in a rural Texas community. The research was conducted over a 4-year period with most of the survey data collected over the summer of 2004. The research was descriptive in nature, attempting to document processes and sources of recovery aid acquisition following a natural disaster, and viewed through the lens of cultural and ethnic literature regarding minorities and disaster recovery processes. The difficulty in explaining research findings comes from the fact that data was collected at the household level, yet the explanations which best elucidate the findings are derived from a different level of analysis than that of the survey. The variation in aid acquisition between ethnic groups is best understood as a manifestation of community cultural norms, which implies both individual, cognitive norms, as well as social norms. Ethnic literature focused on minorities in disaster situations, excerpts from qualitative data, and personal observations are used to support the interpretation of the data presented herein pointing to cultural flexibility in recovery processes, which are stifled by institutional barriers hampering recovery efficiencies.

This paper addresses Chinese interrogation rules from historical and comparative perspectives by relating them to the very different development of interrogation procedure in Europe. A fuller understanding of the evolution of the rules in both contexts is relevant to the present day controversy concerning the universal versus relative nature of interrogation fairness. The comparative analysis reveals that, in fact, the influence of ancient Greek and Chinese civilizations resulted in a great difference between Europe and China regarding legal cultures and institutional arrangements for criminal interrogation procedure. Considering future legal reforms in China, and given the very different historical and institutional context, the likelihood seems low that an ‘autonomous version’ of the right to remain silent and the privilege against self-incrimination will develop on China’s very different soil. However, traditional native resources are also available to legal reformers to ensure a cooperative interviewing style in criminal questioning, and eliminate police-coerced confessions.

The paper retraces the elaboration of a model that accounts for the emergence of subjectivity—the possibility to distance self from others and oneself—if we consider people as always taken in social and cultural streams of meaning and tensions. It builds a model considering first, human experience as possible when a person takes distance from the here-and-now. Second, it suggests considering two general semiotic streams that feed in, or support, that distancing—social and cultural discourses, and personal experience. Third, a knitting model suggests the constant creation of personal patters out of these two streams. Fourth, a dynamic, star-like model is proposed to account for the actual and constant emergence of subjectivity out of such social and cultural configurations. The model is constituted by a 2, 3 or N-number of eight-shaped crossing loops, resulting in a star-like model situated in a 3 dimensional space. The proposition is to analyze a person in a specific situation: the attractors enabling these loops, or end-points of the star, are the relevant social and cultural elements: others with whom he or she interacts, specific bodies of shared knowledge, social representations, cultural elements and tools, and so on. In each situation, the relative strength of these elements, or the tension they generate, are negotiated by the person; the unique ways of dealing with that situation and inviting solutions can thus be seen as the emergent subjectivity. The model is explored to account for developmental dynamics at various scales in the lifecourse. Finally, the pragmatic interest of a model emphasizing complex configurations, not simple causalities, is recalled.

In this paper, we first discuss various vantage points gained through the authors' experience of approaching conservation through a "cultural lens." We then draw out more general concerns that many anthropologists hold with respect to conservation, summarizing and commenting on the work of the Conservation and Community Working Group within the Anthropology and Environment Section of the American Anthropological Association. Here we focus on both critiques and contributions the discipline of anthropology makes with regard to conservation, and show how anthropologists are moving beyond conservation critiques to engage actively with conservation practice and policy. We conclude with reflections on the possibilities for enhancing transdisciplinary dialogue and practice through reflexive questioning, the adoption of disciplinary humility, and the realization that "cross-border" collaboration among conservation scholars and practitioners can strengthen the political will necessary to stem the growing commoditization and ensuing degradation of the earth's ecosystems.

It is often suggested in the mass media and popular academic literature that scientists promote a secular and reductionist understanding of the implications of the life sciences for the concept of being human. Is adhering to this view considered to be one of the components of the notion of being a good scientist? This paper explores responses of geneticists interviewed in the UK, the USA and Russia about the cultural meanings of their work. When discussing this question the interviewees distinguished between their 'personal' and 'professional' views. When talking as 'lay people' they demonstrated a wide range of opinions none of which was perceived as incompatible with scientific practice. When talking as 'scientists' the respondents stressed that the cultural implications of their research were not a matter of their professional concern. It is suggested that these two trends in their answers could be explained by scientists tending to relegate the implications of their work to the realm of the social which they construe as divorced from scientific practice.

This paper develops a model of remarriage for women with particular emphasis on the role of investments in marriage-specific human capital. A distinction is made between marriage-specific skills that are transferable across marriages and those that are specific to a particular spouse. It is hypothesized that transferable marriage-specific skills constitute an asset and a major component of gains from marriage for previously married women. A high level of such skills is expected to be associated with fast remarriage. The presence of children is expected to delay remarriage, because it indicates lower levels of past and future investments that would be relevant to a new partnership. These hypotheses are examined using Cox-regression techniques with data on white and black women from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth. The empirical results are consistent with the hypotheses. A systematic pattern of race differentials is uncovered, which can be interpreted within the context of the model.

This paper examines two topics in Japanese medical ethics: non-disclosure of medical information by Japanese physicians, and the history of human rights abuses by Japanese physicians during World War II. These contrasting issues show how culture shapes our view of ethically appropriate behavior in medicine. An understanding of cultural context reveals that certain practices, such as withholding diagnostic information from patients, may represent ethical behavior in that context. In contrast, nonconsensual human experimentation designed to harm the patient is inherently unethical irrespective of cultural context. Attempts to define moral consensus in bioethics, and to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable variation across different cultural contexts, remain central challenges in articulating international, culturally sensitive norms in medical ethics.