Gifts, Weapons, and Values

2021 ◽  
pp. 227-242
Author(s):  
Robert Brenneman

Central Americans from a variety of religious traditions and social classes speak freely of lo espiritual, or “that which is spiritual,” but they do so in widely diverging ways. This chapter attempts to make sense of the vast and varied ways in which Central Americans reference spirituality by describing four common threads of usage. Evangelical-Pentecostal pastors sometimes frame social problems like gang violence as having both spiritual causes and spiritual solutions. Other Central Americans use the term “spiritual” to describe supernatural entities with a strong bearing on political structures. Meanwhile, some Central Americans have come to use the term “spirituality” to refer to beliefs and practices with roots in precolonial Mayan narratives. A fourth means of utilizing the language of spirituality is as a catch-all term for quasi-religious meditative practices and prosocial values formation. In conclusion, religious background and social class influence how people define and conceive of “the spiritual.”

2018 ◽  
Vol XIV ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Volodimir Kemin

During Age of Enlightenment, the so-called “pedagogical age” significant activity was demonstrated by philanthropists, who recognizing the necessity to teach every social class, including young people from poor families, set up schools for lower social classes, wanted to create a family atmosphere in teaching and education, combining these processes with productive work. The article analyzes the philanthropic activity of Count Stanisław Skarbek (1780–1848), one of the largest magnates in Galicia, who undertook the implementation of a huge philanthropic project, which was the creation of a theater in Lviv and the establishment of a facility for the poor and orphans in Drogoviž. Unfortunately, Skarbek failed to completely implement his project, because modern people considered this undertaking a myth, a utopia. Nevertheless, the theater in Lviv was built in five years and it was thanks to the active activity of the originator. The theater was put into use in 1842. Six years later, in 1848, Stanisław Skarbek died without having completed the plans for setting up a charity, despite the fact that he made every effort to do so. With time, Skarbek donated all his assets to the institution along with the theater and the enterprises that were in it. Thanks to the efforts of Skarbek, the official opening of the plant for the poor and orphans in Drogoviž took place in August 1875.


2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-158
Author(s):  
Jonathan E. Brockopp

In Islamic Studies, charisma has usually been reserved for the study of marginalized individuals. I argue here that charisma may also be applied to leadership among legal scholars. To do so, I join a long line of scholars who have modified Max Weber’s initial insights, and put forth a new, dynamic model of charismatic authority. The purpose of my model is to account for the fact that religious histories emphasize the uniqueness of the originating charismatic event, be that Prophet Muhammad’s revelations, Jesus’ theophany or the Buddha’s enlightenment, while at the same time recognizing that the charismatic cycle never quite ends. In contrast with Weber, I argue that charismatic authority in religious traditions is best understood as a network of influence and interaction through which the routinization of charisma reinterprets and redefines the meaning of the originating charismatic event.


2021 ◽  
pp. 155545892098233
Author(s):  
Connor J. Fewell ◽  
Michael E. Hess ◽  
Charles Lowery ◽  
Madeleine Gervason ◽  
Sarah Ahrendt ◽  
...  

This case explores the complexities of how consolidation perpetuates stereotypes among different social classes in a rural Appalachian school setting. Examined are the experiences at the intersection of social class in rural U.S. school districts when two communities—one affluent and one underresourced—are consolidated. We present a nuanced critical incident that focuses on how school leaders perceive and address students’ experiences with tracking and stereotyping—particularly at a middle school level where elementary schools from diverse backgrounds attend school together for the first time.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022098207
Author(s):  
Niels J. Van Doesum ◽  
Paul A. M. Van Lange ◽  
Joshua M. Tybur ◽  
Ana Leal ◽  
Eric Van Dijk

People are quick to form impressions of others’ social class, and likely adjust their behavior accordingly. If social class is linked to prosociality, as literature suggests, then an interaction partner’s class should affect prosocial behavior, especially when costs or investments are low. We test this expectation using social mindfulness (SoMi) and dictator games (DG) as complementary measures of prosociality. We manipulate target class by providing information regarding a target’s (a) position on a social class ladder, and (b) family background. Three studies using laboratory and online approaches ( Noverall = 557) in two nations (the Netherlands [NL], the UK), featuring actual and hypothetical exchanges, reveal that lower class targets are met with greater prosociality than higher class targets, even when based on information about the targets’ parents (Study 3). The effect of target class was partially mediated by compassion (Studies 2 and 3) and perceived deservingness of the target (Study 3). Implications and limitations are discussed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 808-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirja Kalliopuska

The hypothesis tested was that adults of higher social status complete the Crowne and Marlowe Social Desirability Scale more honestly and less defensively than adults belonging to lower social classes. 341 parents of 215 different families were tested during home interviews. The hypothesis was verified among women, but not among men. These results suggest that social status is associated with defensive response style, perhaps reflecting at the same time academic education and cognitive-intellectual functioning.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Morgan

This report provides a coding of EGP social classes that can be implemented for data sources, such as the General Social Survey, that utilize the 2010 US Census occupational classification. The report explains the rationale for the coding as well as the specific coding decisions. It demonstrates how to implement the coding for the General Social Survey, and it presents a comparison of EGP social classes in both the GSS and the American Community Survey.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Lunnay ◽  
Barbara Toson ◽  
Carlene Wilson ◽  
Emma R. Miller ◽  
Samantha Beth Meyer ◽  
...  

Introduction: Before the pandemic, mid-life women in Australia were among the “heaviest” female alcohol consumers, giving rise to myriad preventable health risks. This paper uses an innovative model of social class within a sample of Australian women to describe changes in affective states and alcohol consumption patterns across two time points during COVID-19.Methods: Survey data were collected from Australian mid-life women (45–64 years) at two time points during COVID-19—May 2020 (N = 1,218) and July 2020 (N = 799). We used a multi-dimensional model for measuring social class across three domains—economic capital (income, property and assets), social capital (social contacts and occupational prestige of those known socially), and cultural capital (level of participation in various cultural activities). Latent class analysis allowed comparisons across social classes to changes in affective states and alcohol consumption patterns reported at the two time points using alcohol consumption patterns as measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test—Consumption (AUDIT-C) and its component items.Results: Seven social classes were constructed, characterized by variations in access to capital. Affective states during COVID-19 differed according to social class. Comparing between the survey time points, feeling fearful/anxious was higher in those with high economic and cultural capital and moderate social capital (“emerging affluent”). Increased depression was most prominent in the class characterized by the highest volumes of all forms of capital (“established affluent”). The social class characterized by the least capital (“working class”) reported increased prevalence of uncertainty, but less so for feeling fearful or anxious, or depressed. Women's alcohol consumption patterns changed across time during the pandemic. The “new middle” class—a group characterized by high social capital (but contacts with low prestige) and minimal economic capital—had increased AUDIT-C scores.Conclusion: Our data shows the pandemic impacted women's negative affective states, but not in uniform ways according to class. It may explain increases in alcohol consumption among women in the emerging affluent group who experienced increased feelings or fear and anxiety during the pandemic. This nuanced understanding of the vulnerabilities of sub-groups of women, in respect to negative affect and alcohol consumption can inform future pandemic policy responses designed to improve mental health and reduce the problematic use of alcohol. Designing pandemic responses segmented for specific audiences is also aided by our multi-dimensional analysis of social class, which uncovers intricate differences in affective states amongst sub-groups of mid-life women.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Dave Beine

There is not much known about Nepal during the historical period sometimes referred to as Nepal’s dark ages (750-1750 C.E.). And even less is known about the healthcare practices of the Sen Dynasty of Palpa, Nepal, which found its inception over 500 years ago, during the late fifteenth century. For this reason, anyone endeavoring to intelligently write on the subject must, much like an archaeologist, use a bit of educated conjecture to piece together a speculative, but historically plausible, picture of the healing practices likely employed during that period. In order to do so, this paper examines several pieces of evidence, both historic and contemporary, in order to infer what the healthcare practices of the populace of Palpa might have looked like at that time. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v6i0.8479 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 6, 2012 61-74


2021 ◽  
pp. 144078332110365
Author(s):  
Alejandro Carrasco ◽  
Manuela Mendoza ◽  
Carolina Flores

Sociological research has shown that marketized educational systems favour middle-class families’ self-segregation strategies through school choice and, consequently, the reproduction of their social advantage over poorer families. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of capitals, habitus and strategy, we analyse quantitative and ethnographic data on parents’ school choice from Chile to introduce nuances to this argument, evincing more extended and complex mechanisms of self-segregation in the Chilean marketized educational system. We found that not only middle-class parents but also parents from different socioeconomic groups displayed self-segregating school choice strategies. We also found that these strategies were performed both vertically (in relation to other social classes) and horizontally (in relation to other groups within the same social class). These findings unwrap a possible stronger effect of the Chilean school choice system over segregation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Adam Howard ◽  
Katy Swalwell ◽  
Karlyn Adler

Background/Context Though there has been attention to how class differences impact children's experiences in schools and how young people perceive racial and gender differences, very little research to date has examined how young people make sense of social class differences. Purpose In this article, the authors examine young children's conceptualizations of differences between the rich and the poor to better understand children's process of classmaking. Research Design To access young children's ideas about social class, the authors examined kindergartners’, third graders’, and sixth graders’ (N = 133) drawings depicting differences between rich and poor people and their corresponding explanations of their drawings. These children attended two schools, one public serving a majority working- class population, and one private serving a majority affluent population. Findings/Results Children understand social class to be inclusive emotions, social distinctions, and social status. Children's drawings and explanations show that perpetuated ideology-justifying status quo of poverty and economic inequality. Children have complex sociocultural insights into how social class operates that manifest themselves through four domains: material, intersectional, emotional, and spatial. Conclusions/Recommendations Educators should provide more opportunities for teaching about social class, and can do so in ways that engages students in processes of classmaking that do not reinforce stereotypes and that interrupts inequality.


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