scholarly journals THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RETIREMENT AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RETIREMENT TIMING

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S383-S383
Author(s):  
Michelle Silver

Abstract Retirement is an ever-evolving, dynamic, and complex social construct we associate with the end of one’s career. For some the term is a bad word and a term that needs to be retired, while others can’t wait to retire and enjoy the good life. This paper examines a brief history of retirement and theoretical work from feminist gerontology, while focusing on gender differences in the social construction of retirement and policy implications of 10 different government pension plans. In doing so, it looks at policy implications associated with the standard retirement age tied to public pension plans in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Findings indicate that women live longer than men in each country, yet women retire earlier and receive lower pensions than men. As the landscape surrounding women’s work experiences changes and concerns about gender equity in salaries and workplace compensation continue to be raised, this paper extends the concerns to raise important questions about inequities in retirement.

Author(s):  
Erik Jon Byker

The purpose of this chapter is to describe and report the development of an original theoretical work which emerged from comparative and international empirical research. The theory is called, “Technological Play Theory.” In sharing about Technological Play Theory, this study has three purposes. First, the study explains how Technological Play Theory emerged in a grounded theory way (Glaser & Strauss, 1968) from research findings about the social construction of technology among elementary school teacher and students in England, Cuba, India, South Korea, and the United States. Second, the study examines the contours of the Technological Play Theory in relationship to empirical findings. Third, the study examines how Technological Play Theory can be empowering and utilized as an “agent of change” in education and schooling.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Cheneval ◽  
Kalypso Nicolaidis

The Eurozone crisis has brought the imperative of democratic autonomy within the EU to the forefront, a concern at the core of demoicratic theory. The article seeks to move the scholarship on demoicratic theory a step further by exploring what we call the social construction of demoicratic reality. While the EU’s legal-institutional infrastructure may imperfectly approximate a demoicratic structure, we need ask to what extent the ‘bare bones’ demoicratic character of a polity can actually be grounded in a full-flesh social construct that is or could be acted out in the democratic experience and the self-awareness of its peoples. Ultimately, such an enquiry should help us understand whether a polity like the EU is actually and potentially a stable or unstable political form. We develop a consistent theory of popular sovereignty drawing on John Searle and HLA Hart to conceive the constitutionalised people ( dêmos) as a social fact and the sovereignty of the people as a status ascribed to the people. We use this construction of demoicratic reality as a conceptual framework to understand the possibility of popular sovereignty being exercised concurrently by several rather than just one dêmos.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 886-892
Author(s):  
Angela M. Haeny ◽  
Samantha C. Holmes ◽  
Monnica T. Williams

With the increased desire to engage in antiracist clinical research, there is a need for shared nomenclature on racism and related constructs to help move the science forward. This article breaks down the factors that contributed to the development and maintenance of racism (including racial microaggressions), provides examples of the many forms of racism, and describes the impact of racism for all. Specifically, in the United States, racism is based on race, a social construct that has been used to categorize people on the basis of shared physical and social features with the assumption of a racial hierarchy presumed to delineate inherent differences between groups. Racism is a system of beliefs, practices, and policies that operate to advantage those at the top of the racial hierarchy. Individual factors that contribute to racism include racial prejudices and racial discrimination. Racism can be manifested in multiple forms (e.g., cultural, scientific, social) and is both explicit and implicit. Because of the negative impact of racism on health, understanding racism informs effective approaches for eliminating racial health disparities, including a focus on the social determinants of health. Providing shared nomenclature on racism and related terminology will strengthen clinical research and practice and contribute to building a cumulative science.


2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Jeanne M. Powers ◽  
Kathryn P. Chapman

Background In the past decade, the laws governing teachers’ employment have been at the center of legal and political conflicts across the United States. Vergara v. California challenged five California state statutes that provide employment protections for teachers. In June 2014, a California lower court declared the statutes unconstitutional because they exposed students to “grossly ineffective teachers.” Purpose The purpose of the article is to document and analyze how Vergara was presented in the print news media. It is important to understand how the print news media presents education policy debates to the public, because the print news media shapes the general public's understanding of education and other public policy debates by providing frames and themes for interpreting the issues in question and people associated with them. Research Design Using the social construction of target populations and political spectacle as conceptual lenses, we conducted a content analysis of print news media articles on the Vergara case published between June 2012 and November 2014. We provide a descriptive overview of the full corpus of articles published during this period and a thematic analysis of the 65 unique news articles published in the aftermath of the decision. The latter focuses on news articles because they are intended to provide more objective coverage of the case than opinions or editorials. Findings In the print news media coverage, the word “teacher” was often paired with a negative qualifier, which suggests that Vergara was an effort to change the relatively advantaged social construction of teachers. Similarly, metaphors and the illusion of rationality associated with political spectacle were used in ways that bolstered the plaintiffs’ claims. While Vergara consumed a substantial amount of philanthropic and public dollars, ultimately it did not change the policies that govern teachers’ employment in California. Vergara may have been more successful in shaping the general public's perceptions of teachers and the conditions of teachers’ employment in the period following the trial.


Author(s):  
Rachel F. Seidman

Seidman describes the origins of the social media called Who Needs Feminism and how that led her to undertake oral history interviews with feminist activists around the United States. She explains that her focus is on people who came of age during and after the anti-feminist backlash of the 1980s. Her interviews are all people who earn their living or center their major activist commitments and actions in feminist work, and include non-profit leaders, writers, journalists, philanthropists, labor unionists¬¬, budding politicians, media professionals, and students. They share a fundamental belief that women still face barriers and challenges based on their gender, and that laws, policies, attitudes and behaviors need to change in order to reach the goal of gender equity. She discusses narrators general rejection of the construct different “waves” of feminism; how the rise of social media as has reshaped feminist activism in both positive and negative ways, with special attention to Twitter and tensions within the movement that arise there; feminists’ goals and strategies; and how these interviews reveal the different ways that feminism has unfolded across the life arc of her interviewees. Seidman argues these interviews help explain the rise of the Women’s March on Washington and the #MeToo movement.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina Curcio ◽  
April Pattavina ◽  
William Fisher

Redemption research examines how much time must pass after a criminal offense before an offender is considered “redeemed.” This study adds to redemption research by using a nationally representative sample from the United States to determine whether years to redemption found in prior research replicate and will be the first to determine whether there are gender differences. We also explore factors that influence who makes it to the redemption point. Findings reveal that while men reach the redemption point after 10 years, women reach the redemption point after 4 years. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.


Author(s):  
Justin Gest

In recent years, the world has been re-introduced to the constituency of “white working class” people. In a wave of revolutionary populism, far right parties have scored victories across the transatlantic political world: Britain voted to leave the European Union, the United States elected President Donald Trump to enact an “America First” agenda, and Radical Right movements are threatening European centrists in elections across the Continent. In each case, white working class people are driving a broad reaction to the inequities and social change brought by globalization, and its cosmopolitan champions. In the midst of this rebellion, a new group consciousness has emerged among the very people who not so long ago could take their political, economic, and cultural primacy for granted. Who are white working class people? What do they believe? Are white working class people an “interest group”? What has driven them to break so sharply with the world’s trajectory toward a more borderless, interconnected meritocracy? How can a group with such enduring power feel marginalized? This perplexing constituency must be understood if the world is to address and respond to the social and political backlash they are driving. The White Working Class: What Everyone Needs to Know® provides the context for understanding the politics of this large, perplexing group of people. The book begins by explaining what “white working class” means in terms of demographics, history, and geography, as well as the ways in which this group defines itself and has been defined by others. It will address whether white identity is on the rise, why white people perceive themselves as marginalized, and the roles of racism and xenophobia in white consciousness. It will also look at whether the white working class has distinct political attitudes, their voting behavior, and their prospects for the future. This accessible book provides a nuanced view into the forces driving one of the most complicated and consequential political constituencies today.


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