scholarly journals ‘I like to go out to be energised by different people’: an exploratory analysis of mobility and wellbeing in later life

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 758-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRIEDERIKE ZIEGLER ◽  
TIM SCHWANEN
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Older People ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

ABSTRACTThis paper adds to the growing number of studies about mobility and wellbeing in later life. It proposes a broader understanding of mobility than movement through physical space. Drawing on the ‘mobility turn’ in the social sciences, we conceptualise mobility as the overcoming of any type of distance between a here and a there, which can be situated in physical, electronic, social, psychological or other kinds of space. Using qualitative data from 128 older people in County Durham, England, we suggest that mobility and wellbeing influence each other in many different ways. Our analysis extends previous research in various ways. First, it shows that mobility of the self – a mental disposition of openness and willingness to connect with the world – is a crucial driver of the relation between mobility and wellbeing. Second, while loss of mobility as physical movement can and often does affect older people's sense of wellbeing adversely, this is not necessarily so; other mobilities can at least to some extent compensate for the loss of mobility in physical space. Finally, wellbeing is also enhanced through mobility as movement in physical space because the latter enables independence or subjectively experienced autonomy, as well as inter-dependence in the sense of relatively equal and reciprocal social relations with other people.

scholarly journals Science for Others or the Self? Presumed Motives for Science Shape Public Trust in Science

2021 ◽  
pp. 014616722110644
Author(s):  
Tessa M. Benson-Greenwald ◽  
Alejandro Trujillo ◽  
Andrew D. White ◽  
Amanda B. Diekman
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

Science can improve life around the world, but public trust in science is at risk. Understanding the presumed motives of scientists and science can inform the social psychological underpinnings of public trust in science. Across five independent datasets, perceiving the motives of science and scientists as prosocial promoted public trust in science. In Studies 1 and 2, perceptions that science was more prosocially oriented were associated with greater trust in science. Studies 3 and 4a & 4b employed experimental methods to establish that perceiving other-oriented motives, versus self-oriented motives, enhanced public trust in science. Respondents recommend greater funding allocations for science subdomains described as prosocially oriented versus power-oriented. Emphasizing the prosocial aspects of science can build stronger foundations of public trust in science.

Critical political economy and the critique of comparative capitalisms scholarship on capitalist diversity

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Bruff ◽  
Matthias Ebenau
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
The Self ◽  
German Language ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Comparative Capitalisms

This introduction to the special issue focuses on the rise to dominance in debates on capitalist diversity of approaches which take institutions as their starting point, rather than the wider social relations in which institutions sit and are constituted by. However, although this is part of broader trends across the social sciences over the last three decades, the self-marginalisation of critical political economy perspectives from these debates was also a factor, as was the declining dialogue between critical political economy researchers rooted in different geographical and philosophical traditions. Echoing the influence on the emergent Conference of Socialist Economists of German-language debates on the state in the 1970s, we call for renewed dialogue between researchers from different linguistic and intellectual backgrounds in the name of a renewed critique of dominant comparative capitalisms (CC) approaches. In so doing, we emphasise the range of alternative perspectives that can be offered through such dialogues and critiques, and thus the significant potential for further collaboration and advances in our understanding of capitalist diversity.

Confronting Representation(s)

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Duncan ◽  
J P Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
The Self ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Cultural Assumptions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Crisis Of Representation

The crisis of representation highlighted by recent postmodern works in the social sciences has exposed the ethnocentric nature of (re)presentations of the world. Although it is recognised that the self-reflexivity which this project introduces has undoubtedly opened up the possibilities for more culturally sensitive work, its rejection of any notion of hierarchy could be read as precluding the deployment of political projects beyond this opening. It is the authors' contention that this need not necessarily be the case, that the postmodern challenge can be met without having to discard a political standpoint. This move is important because the power structures inherent in colonial discourses largely remain in place. Instances are explored where conflicting representations can be brought into collision so that the naturalized assumptions of hegemonic representation can be challenged. This meeting of discourses can facilitate the undermining of certain cultural assumptions in the representative schema which have, until now, remained unquestioned.

Liberation in the Face of Uncertainty

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert J. M. Hermans
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
The Self ◽  
Pursuit Of Happiness ◽  
Dialogical Self ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Dialogical Self Theory ◽  
The Relationship

In this volume, Dialogical Self Theory is innovatively presented as a guide to help elucidate some of the most pressing problems of our time as they emerge at the interface of self and society. As a bridging framework at the interface of the social sciences and philosophy, Dialogical Self Theory provides a broad view of problem areas that place us in a field of tension between liberation and social imprisonment. With climate change and the coronavirus pandemic serving as wake-up calls, the book focuses on the experience of uncertainty, the disenchantment of the world, the pursuit of happiness, and the cultural limitations of the Western self-ideal. Now more than ever we need to rethink the relationship between self, other, and the natural environment, and this book uses Dialogical Self Theory to explore actual and potential responses of the self to these urgent challenges.

scholarly journals Science for Others or the Self? Presumed Motives for Science Shape Public Trust in Science

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa Benson-Greenwald ◽  
Alejandro Trujillo ◽  
Andrew David White ◽  
Amanda Diekman
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

Science can improve life around the world, but public trust in science is at risk. Understanding presumed motives of scientists and science can inform the social psychological underpinnings of public trust in science. Across five independent datasets, perceiving the motives of science and scientists as prosocial promoted public trust in science. In Studies 1 and 2, perceptions that science was more prosocially oriented was associated with greater trust in science. Studies 3 and 4a-b employed experimental methods to establish that perceiving other-oriented motives, versus self-oriented motives, enhanced public trust in science. Respondents recommend greater funding allocations for science subdomains described as prosocially-oriented vs. power-oriented. Emphasizing the prosocial aspects of science can build stronger foundations of public trust in science.

Resilience: thoughts on the value of the concept for critical gerontology

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
KIRSTY WILD ◽  
JANINE L. WILES ◽  
RUTH E. S. ALLEN
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Older People ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Social Resilience ◽  
Critical Gerontology ◽  
Ageing Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Usage

ABSTRACTThis article examines the utility of the concept of resilience to the field of critical gerontology. Resilience is an increasingly popular concept within the social sciences. We explore some key ideas about individual and social resilience from varied fields, and propose new ways to conceptualise these in relation to resilience in later life. This article examines the history of the concept of resilience; explores some of the diverse ways that gerontologists are attempting to apply it to later life; and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of using resilience as a conceptual framework within critical ageing research. We also suggest ways of conceptualising resilience and ageing, highlighting the different scales of resilience that impact on the ability of older people to negotiate adversity, and some key areas of resilience relevant to later life. The example of mobility resilience is used to illustrate how different scales of resilience operate within an area of resilience central to the ageing experience. Finally, some key principles for the use of resilience within critical gerontology are outlined, providing guidance on how to maximise the potential of the concept whilst avoiding some of the limitations associated with its historical usage.

Providing Freshmen with a Good “Starting-Block”

2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikaël De Clercq ◽  
Charlotte Michel ◽  
Sophie Remy ◽  
Benoît Galand
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Student Adjustment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Pivotal Phase ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Study Task ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Intention To Persist

Abstract. Grounded in social-psychological literature, this experimental study assessed the effects of two so-called “wise” interventions implemented in a student study program. The interventions took place during the very first week at university, a presumed pivotal phase of transition. A group of 375 freshmen in psychology were randomly assigned to three conditions: control, social belonging, and self-affirmation. Following the intervention, students in the social-belonging condition expressed less social apprehension, a higher social integration, and a stronger intention to persist one month later than the other participants. They also relied more on peers as a source of support when confronted with a study task. Students in the self-affirmation condition felt more self-affirmed at the end of the intervention but didn’t benefit from other lasting effects. The results suggest that some well-timed and well-targeted “wise” interventions could provide lasting positive consequences for student adjustment. The respective merits of social-belonging and self-affirmation interventions are also discussed.

Defending the Difference

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Natural Entities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Difference ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

Dreyfus argues that there is a basic methodological difference between the natural sciences and the social sciences, a difference that derives from the different goals and practices of each. He goes on to argue that being a realist about natural entities is compatible with pluralism or, as he calls it, “plural realism.” If intelligibility is always grounded in our practices, Dreyfus points out, then there is no point of view from which one can ask about or provide an answer to the one true nature of ultimate reality. But that is consistent with believing that the natural sciences can still reveal the way the world is independent of our theories and practices.

Benson and Miller in Perspective

1979 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 242-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Kuklick
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Applied Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Stock Of Knowledge

Despite differences in coloration Miller and Benson are birds of a feather. Although he is no Pollyanna, Miller believes that there has been a modest and decent series of advances in the social sciences and that the most conscientious, diligent, and intelligent researchers will continue to add to this stock of knowledge. Benson is much more pessimistic about the achievements of yesterday and today but, in turn, offers us the hope of a far brighter tomorrow. Miller explains Benson’s hyperbolic views about the past and future by distinguishing between pure and applied science and by pointing out Benson’s naivete about politics: the itch to understand the world is different from the one to make it better; and, Miller says, because Benson sees that we have not made things better, he should not assume we do not know more about them; Benson ought to realize, Miller adds, that the way politicians translate basic social knowledge into social policy need not bring about rational or desirable results. On the other side, Benson sees more clearly than Miller that the development of science has always been intimately intertwined with the control of the environment and the amelioration of the human estate.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document