Search

The socio-technological context of health care wherein patient-consumer involvement is central increases the importance of examining the impact of Internet information on health-related attitudes and behavior. This paper examined the extent to which deployment of e-health information is associated with patient distrust and non-adherence. We examined the hypothesized associations in gender-stratified subsamples to uncover whether any differential patterns of associations exist among women and men. Our analyses allowed for estimation of significant covariate effects at the composite index and item level for both men and women while controlling for the moderation effect of race/ethnicity. Results indicate differential outcomes for patient distrust and non-adherence depending on socio-demographic characteristics. Findings suggest that it is not just health-related information that influences health-related behavior, but also mechanisms through which socio-demographic characteristics shape whether Internet use is associated with distrust and patient non-adherence. e-Health information consumers are overall less trustful and more likely to deviate from health care provider treatment. Non-adherence among those who consume e-health information is more pronounced for non-white women. Highly educated non-white men were more likely to diverge from their medical care provider's treatment recommendations than White men. Given the increasing diversification of the demographic profile of the U.S. population, understanding the dynamics though which health-related Internet use becomes racialized and gendered represents a critical contribution to the literature on Internet and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the obstacles to understanding the links between social inequality and mental health distress is the reliance on heterogeneous diagnostic categories. In this paper, it is argued that a solution to this problem is to explore more homogenous experiences of distress. This paper investigates one particular form of distress: paranoia. The relationship between social inequality and paranoia is then examined, focusing on two aspects. Firstly, it is argued that social inequality might affect the experience of paranoia itself since the experience of the surveillance encountered in the everyday use of public space may vary depending on one's location in social categories like gender, 'race' and culture and class (these social categories are, of course, themselves stratified by social inequality). Secondly, mental health service users' locations in these categories may influence the way that the plausibility of ostensibly paranoid claims are evaluated by mental health professionals. Within the discussion of each category, links are drawn between community and clinical samples to understand how the experience of paranoia may be influenced by these social categories. The paper concludes with implications for research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on reflections concerning the initial stages of a research project focusing on women, 'race' and later life. The paper describes some of the aims behind the project and discusses some of the immediate methodological issues which have arisen. It then goes on to reflect upon some more general matters which are beginning to emerge. The paper is rooted in concerns about the gap between social research and social theory. These form the context for the problems selected for consideration here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a sample of general textbooks in sociology, this article proposes a heuristic, four-sided paradigm of the extant literature on ethnicity, gender and race and highlights their empirical referents: (1) order-integrative, which emphasizes the progressive adaptation of ethnic and racial groups to a dominant, Anglo-Saxonic, Eurocentric culture; (2) pluralist-multiculturalist, which emphasizes markers of social differentiation between ethnic and racial groups that are compatible with social diversity; (3) power-conflict-stratification, which frames successive generations of minority ethnics in contentious power relations amongst themselves relative to the perceived or actual mainstream white powerbrokers in society; and (4) gender-feminist, which critically analyses the white, male, heterosexual bias and hegemony built into the structures and practices of social institutions and social discourse. The paper concludes by suggesting further research on cross-national perspectives as developed countries become more diverse and, as a result, more culturally divisive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore how ‘ability’ is currently conceptualised in physical education and with what effects for different groups of young people. We interrogate approaches to theorising ability in physical education that draw on sociological and phenomenological ‘foundations’ together with notions of ability as ‘physical’ and ‘cultural capital’ drawn from the work of Bourdieu. We also look to data we and others have collected across a number of empirical projects to ask: where do we find talk about what we might identify as ‘ability’ in the context of physical education and sport; how is it talked about? And in what ways might this further our thinking of the meaning of ‘ability’ in physical education and school based sport? Our findings suggest that physical ability is far from a neutral concept and that how it is understood has important consequences for young people in relation to gender, race and social class. We argue that ongoing discussions around what we mean by ability, how we use it, and in relation to whom, are crucial in physical education where organised sport, recreation and exercise remain privileged over other constituents of physical culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online, anyone's words can easily be amplified – and on Twitter, the platform's algorithm highlights tweets that gain attention from other users, which can exponentially reinforce a tweet's popularity. Moreover, retweets can help spread a message well beyond the reach of its original poster. Thus, users' interactions with posts containing or making reference to racism or sexism both illuminate the ways individuals accept, challenge, or engage with racism and sexism online, and shape how those messages spread. Using an original dataset of 59.5 million tweets, I test how particular features of messages referencing Black and Asian women predict user engagement (retweets, likes, and replies). This analysis further focuses on messages including terms that express racist or sexist content. Generally, messages including covert racist or sexist insults have a modest positive effect on all measures of user engagement (retweets, likes, and replies), which may suggest that social media environments allow individuals the time and opportunity to contend with topics that can be more difficult in-person. Additionally, variations in engagement with tweets that include references to women, Black or Asian individuals implies that users respond differently to messages involving references to and normative images of different racial, ethnic, and gendered identities. This research illuminates how specific manifestations of racialized and gendered language referencing women, Black and Asian people can not only encourage more engagement, but also share, accept, or challenge messages about marginalized identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how White privilege and a hierarchy of oppression have resulted in competing identities in which gender has been given greater importance compared to race. I argue that the sociology of education needs to adopt an intersectional approach that travels in different directions if it is to remain valid. The article examines how gender, perpetuated by White privilege, continues to play a key role in the positioning of Black and minority ethnic staff, students and pupils within a range of stereotypes that operate to marginalise their life trajectories. The article argues that if sociologists of education are unwilling to challenge White privileged populist discourses and their own positions of White privilege, then they will become complicit in maintaining a socially unjust status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores issues of gender and race in the academic careers of female sociologists in South Africa by focusing on selected women who left academic departments in higher education institutions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants who left various Sociology departments at different times. It was found that young black female academics dwelled on issues of race in their careers, but paid scant attention to gender. Older white female academics, especially those who had been in senior positions, focused on gender issues, with only brief comments on racial issues. It is argued that racial challenges overshadow gender challenges for black female academics in South Africa and that gender discrimination is only experienced once women reach more senior academic positions. A minority status in academic departments contributes to experiences of racial or gender discrimination, although demographic changes within departments do not necessarily lead to the eradication thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological evidence under the auspices of the National Socialist regime was exaggerated, misrepresented and otherwise abused in various ways to support contemporary military and social agendas, ranging from invasion to genocide. This chapter will review and analyze the complex interplay between several organizations within the Nazi party from 1933 to 1945 that were actively involved in promoting or conducting archaeological research designed to underwrite the ‘racial hygiene’ agenda of the regime. Not only do the roots of this deadly symbiosis pre-date the twentieth century, they were neither uniquely German nor ultimately able to flourish unchallenged even in a totalitarian regime with all the oppressive mechanisms for social control at its disposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This address is a retrospective of the past 25 years of Sociological Spectrum, journal of the Mid South Sociological Association (MSSA). It is divided into three sections: some descriptive notes, a brief examination of challenges presented by previous MSSA presidents, and my recommendations for considerations of gender and globalization that I hope will appear in future research published in the journal. The descriptive notes contain a discussion of who publishes in Spectrum, what topical themes are found in the publications, and a brief consideration of how these themes reflect sociology as a whole, and particularly the MSSA. In the section on challenges, I discuss recommendations and concerns from past presidential addresses and whether or not subsequent research has “listened” to the presidents. The final section is a brief consideration of how gender is being defined within much of current sociological research and some recommendations for moving beyond these definitions, including integration with concepts of race and globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]