scholarly journals Gender, science, and academic rank: Key issues and approaches

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 1001-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Frank Fox

In the social study of science, gender is a critical research site because relations of gender are hierarchical and inequality is a central feature of science. The focus here is on a key dimension of gender and scientific careers: academic rank, particularly that of full professor. This article concentrates on quantitative and qualitative approaches that have occurred in two focal problem areas related to gender, science, and rank: collaboration patterns and evaluative practices. The approaches encompass analyses of large and small groups and comparative cases, with surveys, bibliometrics, experiments, and interviews. This breadth of approaches reflects a search for explanations of the pervasive and persistent relationships between gender and academic rank. The analyses presented here point to the complexities of gender disparities in collaboration. These appear in team compositions, divisions of labor and power dynamics, integration into departmental units, and international coauthorship. The analyses also reveal ways that limited clarity in evaluation bears on gender disparities. Continuing understandings of gender, science, and rank will result in multi level analyses: those at organizational levels along with those of individual scientists.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-14
Author(s):  
Ayesha Fahim

Background: Pakistan is a proud country with its rich cultural values. A perfect woman is considered the one who is a good subordinate and most skillful in the kitchen, making round chapatis is the highlight of those skills. Although as a nation, stereotypical norms have shifted and females are encouraged to get medical education and become doctors, their academic contribution and representation in higher academic rank seems scarce. Methodology: In this study, we investigate gender differences in academic ranks and research in renowned Medical Institutions of Pakistan. Websites of three institutions were used to identify male and female faculty members, their respective publications were counted using “Pakmedinet.com” and “Scholar.google.com”. Results: A one-way ANOVA showed significant difference in the male female ratio at higher academic ranks. This ratio drastically increases at Full Professor level where males are three times more than female Professors. ANOVA results also show that publications by male faculty members is significantly higher than females. Even on the same rank, women have not published their work in the same capacity as men. Conclusion: The results are in alignment with several previous studies that indicate gender disparities between males and females especially as they climb up the academic ladder. Publications are a measure of academic productivity. This study suggests that although female representation as faculty members have increased over the years, their lack of frequent publications might be a factor that hinders women in advancing in academic ranks. Continued studies are required to explore more reasons for this gender inequality and highlight methods to address the imbalance.  


Author(s):  
Gary Totten

This chapter discusses how consumer culture affects the depiction and meaning of the natural world in the work of American realist writers. These writers illuminate the relationship between natural environments and the social expectations of consumer culture and reveal how such expectations transform natural space into what Henri Lefebvre terms “social space” implicated in the processes and power dynamics of production and consumption. The representation of nature as social space in realist works demonstrates the range of consequences such space holds for characters. Such space can both empower and oppress individuals, and rejecting or embracing it can deepen moral resolve, prompt a crisis of self, or result in one’s death. Characters’ attempts to escape social space and consumer culture also provide readers with new strategies for coping with their effects.


Author(s):  
Ismael Puga

Using a mixed-methods approach based on discussion focus groups and panel surveys of the Longitudinal Social Study of Chile, this chapter demonstrates that Chilean’s neoliberal economic order is not legitimized by the vast majority of the population. Instead, the author argues that social norms are in serious conflict with the prevailing socioeconomic order. Within Chilean society, both citizens and social analysts are prone to agree with the existence of a “neoliberal consensus” due to the strategic adaptation of social practices that take place within a socioeconomic order that most individuals accept as a given. As a consequence, a “fantasy consensus” emerges in Chilean society in order to stabilize the social economic order, thus avoiding collective mobilization and social change. In this scenario, the protest waves that Chilean society has faced since 2011 offer additional proof that the “fantasy consensus” has experienced serious fissures, thus opening a window of opportunity to delegitimize Chile’s neoliberal order in the country.


Author(s):  
Llewellyn Ellardus van Zyl

AbstractThe first intelligent COVID-19 lockdown resulted in radical changes within the tertiary educational system within the Netherlands. These changes posed new challenges for university students and many social welfare agencies have warned that it could have adverse effects on the social wellbeing (SWB) of university students. Students may lack the necessary social study-related resources (peer- and lecturer support) (SSR) necessary to aid them in coping with the new demands that the lockdown may bring. As such, the present study aimed to investigate the trajectory patterns, rate of change and longitudinal associations between SSR and SWB of 175 Dutch students before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. A piecewise latent growth modelling approach was employed to sample students’ experiences over three months. Participants to complete a battery of psychometric assessments for five weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown was implemented, followed by two directly after and a month follow-up. The results were paradoxical and contradicting to initial expectations. Where SSR showed a linear rate of decline before- and significant growth trajectory during the lockdown, SWB remained moderate and stable. Further, initial levels and growth trajectories between SSR and SWB were only associated before the lockdown.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-134
Author(s):  
Dilek Kurban

In his well-researched biography, Mike Chinoy chronicles Kevin Boyle's life and career as a scholar, activist and lawyer, bringing to light his under-appreciated role in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and the efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, as well as his contributions to human rights movements in the United Kingdom, Europe and the world. Are You With Me? is an important contribution to the literature on the actors who have shaped the norms, institutions and operations of human rights. In its efforts to shed light on one man, the book offers a fresh alternative to state-centric accounts of the origins of human rights. The book offers a portrait of a social movement actor turned legal scholar who used the law to contest the social inequalities against the minority community to which he belonged and to push for a solution to the underlying political conflict, as well as revelations of the complex power dynamics between human rights lawyers and the social movements they represent. In these respects Are You With Me? also provides valuable insights for socio-legal scholars, especially those focusing on legal mobilisation. At the same time the book could have provided a fuller and more complex biographical account had Chinoy been geographically and linguistically comprehensive in selecting his interviewees. The exclusion of Kurdish lawyers and human rights advocates is noticeable, particularly in light of the inclusion of Boyle's local partners in other contexts, such as South Africa.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Joyce

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the 2016 elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and to compare them with those that took place in 2012. It seeks to evaluate the background of the candidates who stood for office in 2016, the policies that they put forward, the results of the contests and the implications of the 2016 experience for future PCC elections. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based around several key themes – the profile of candidates who stood for election, preparations conducted prior to the contests taking place, the election campaign and issues raised during the contests, the results and the profile of elected candidates. The paper is based upon documentary research, making particular use of primary source material. Findings The research establishes that affiliation to a political party became the main route for successful candidates in 2016 and that local issues related to low-level criminality will dominate the future policing agenda. It establishes that although turnout was higher than in 2012, it remains low and that further consideration needs to be devoted to initiatives to address this for future PCC election contests. Research limitations/implications The research focusses on the 2016 elections and identifies a number of key issues that emerged during the campaign affecting the conduct of the contests which have a bearing on future PCC elections. It treats these elections as a bespoke topic and does not seek to place them within the broader context of the development of the office of PCC. Practical implications The research suggests that in order to boost voter participation in future PCC election contests, PCCs need to consider further means to advertise the importance of the role they perform and that the government should play a larger financial role in funding publicity for these elections and consider changing the method of election. Social implications The rationale for introducing PCCs was to empower the public in each police force area. However, issues that include the enhanced importance of political affiliation as a criteria for election in 2016 and the social unrepresentative nature of those who stood for election and those who secured election to this office in these contests coupled with shortcomings related to public awareness of both the role of PCCs and the timing of election contests threaten to undermine this objective. Originality/value The extensive use of primary source material ensures that the subject matter is original and its interpretation is informed by an academic perspective.


2021 ◽  
pp. 239448112110203
Author(s):  
Supriya Rani ◽  
Neera Agnimitra

Devbans are the parts of forest territory that have been traditionally conserved in reverence to the local deities in various parts of Himachal Pradesh. Today, they stand at the intersection of tradition and modernity. This paper endeavours to study the political ecology of a Devban in the contemporary times by looking at the power dynamics between various stakeholders with respect to their relative decision making power in the realm of managing the Devban of Parashar Rishi Devta. It further looks at howcertain political and administrative factors can contribute towards the growth or even decline of any Devban. The study argues that in the contemporary times when the capitalist doctrines have infiltrated every sphere of the social institutions including the religion, Devbans have a greater probability of survival when both the state and the community have shared conservatory idealsand powers to preserve them.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Carolina M. Arch ◽  
Amandus Jong Tallo

Minat calon siswa pada program studi teknik di perguruan tinggi swasta dan negeri semakin berkurang. Data menunjukan  hanya 14%  mahasiswa yang memilih program studi teknik. Pada lingkup yang lebih kecil, jumlah peminat mahasiswa teknik di salah satu universitas swasta hanya 25% dibandingkan program studi ilmu sosial. Tujuan dari dilakukannya penelitian ini adalah untuk merumuskan penyebab rendahnya minat calon mahasiswa terhadap program studi teknik sekaligus mencoba untuk menyusun solusi-solusi aplikatif yang sudah dicoba, teori-teori yang relevan, yang dirasa dapat membantu dalam memecahkan masalah. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kuantitatif. Data yang digunakan  berasal dari hasil kuesioner mahasiswa baru dan data-data terkait dengan jumlah mahasiswa baik ditingkat kopertis III maupun di internal Universitas ABC.  Berdasarkan hasil analisis data, ditemukan bahwa program studi teknik yang menjadi minat masyarakat kini adalah program studi teknik yang memiliki social senses, diantaranya Teknik Arsitektur, PWK dan Desain Produk. Sejalan dengan teori 4 (empat) unsur dibalik popularitas ketokohan seseorang, hal tersebut didasari akan trend calon mahasiswa terhadap daya tarik ilmu sosial yang bisa menemukan problem solving, kesuksesan public figure, dan industry branding. Upaya meningkatkan jumlah peminat program studi teknik, dapat dilakukan lewat kegiatan workshop dosen keilmuan kepada calon mahasiswa secara langsung serta open house universitas. Kata kunci: kuliah, minat, strategi, teknik Title: Workshop to Increase the Number of Students at Engineering Study Program Interest of prospective students toward engineering courses both in public and private universities keep decreasing. Data shows that only 14% of students choose engineering courses. In smaller scale, in one private university, students interest taking the engineering course are only 25% compared to student interest on taking the social courses. Purpose of this research was to conclude the reasons why student’s interest toward engineering courses are low, and to comprise some proven solutions, related theories, in order to help solving the problems. Method used in this research is descriptive quantitative. Data used comes from new student’s quisionaire, and related data with student’s number studying engineering course in Kopertis III and in the internal of ABC University. Data analysis showed that current engineering courses which have more students, are engineering courses with social senses such as Architecture, Regional Planning, and Design Product. Along with the theory of 4 (four) aspecs behind the popularity of a figure, all caused by the current trend of prospective student’s interest towards the social study attractiveness which leads to problem soving, the existence of success’s public figures, and industry branding. Direct workshop between lecturer and prospective students, and doing open house in the university could be strategies to increase the numbers of prospective student who want to take engineering course. Keywords: lecture, interest, strategy, technique


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