Cultural and Social Contexts and Influencing Factors

2014 ◽  
pp. 97-126
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Occupational Culture ◽  
Female Participation ◽  
Role Modelling ◽  
Hygiene Factors

The first two layers of the STEMcell Model are detailed in this chapter: the cultural and social contexts and their influencing factors. These are largely identified in the voluminous preceding research. Key cultural influencing factors are popular culture, cultural norms, parental expectations, and occupational culture. Key social influencing factors are stereotypes, role modelling, mentoring, clubs, networks, media, peers, family, hygiene factors, and social norms. These factors and the degree of their actual influence are discussed critically, highlighting potential warning signs and issues. The overall conclusion is that, with the exception of cultures that strictly limit female participation, both the contexts themselves and interventions targeted at them have much less influence than is commonly assumed.

Exploring normative perceptions and misperceptions of private, environmentally impactful behaviours

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Gallagher ◽  
Bas Verplanken ◽  
Ian Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Normative Influence ◽  
Change Mechanism ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Classical Studies ◽  
Referent Group

Social norms have been shown to be an effective behaviour change mechanism across diverse behaviours, demonstrated from classical studies to more recent behaviour change research. Much of this research has focused on environmentally impactful actions. Social norms are typically utilised for behaviour change in social contexts, which facilitates the important element of the behaviour being visible to the referent group. This ensures that behaviours can be learned through observation and that deviations from the acceptable behaviour can be easily sanctioned or approved by the referent group. There has been little focus on how effective social norms are in private or non-social contexts, despite a multitude of environmentally impactful behaviours occurring in the home, for example. The current study took the novel approach to explore if private behaviours are important in the context of normative influence, and if the lack of a referent groups results in inaccurate normative perceptions and misguided behaviours. Findings demonstrated variance in normative perceptions of private behaviours, and that these misperceptions may influence behaviour. These behaviours are deemed to be more environmentally harmful, and respondents are less comfortable with these behaviours being visible to others, than non-private behaviours. The research reveals the importance of focusing on private behaviours, which have been largely overlooked in the normative influence literature.

scholarly journals Fanfiction: Morality Challenges in Hyperreality Worlds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellita Permata Widjayanti ◽  
Chaerul Anwar
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Fan Fiction ◽  
Sexual Fantasies ◽  
Moral Ethics ◽  
Using Data

In 4.0 era, in which popular culture is flourishing, fanfiction is experiencing rapid growth. Many fans write about their idols, characters in movies, anime, games, and TV series. They make simulations, create simulacra, and hyperreality. Unfortunately, there are many fan-fiction productions which have pornographic content that is not in accordance with Indonesian cultural norms and moral ethics. This then becomes a moral challenge for the nation, especially for the youth, as they have free access to the internet. This research aims to look the challenges of morality within fanfiction, explaining it through the theory of hyperreality by using data taken from popular fanfiction platforms. The results show that pornography contained in fanfiction poses a threat to the moral codes of teenage readers, and renders pornographic practices more common. Besides, the hyperreality fosters sexual fantasies, which may lead to sexual harassment, free sex, and deviant sex. Keywords: fanfiction, simulation, simulacra, hyperreality, pornography, morality

scholarly journals Changing Culture to Change Society?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mireia Borrell-Porta ◽  
Joan Costa-Font ◽  
Azusa Sato
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Relevant Variable ◽  
Policy Variable ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
European Values ◽  
Cultural Persistence

Can culture be a policy variable, and hence of use to change society? What can we infer from the existing datasets and methods in economics? How different it is from what social scientists define as culture? Drawing on evidence from migrants interviewed in the European Values Study 2008- 2010 we show evidence of cultural persistence on a large set of attitudes suggesting that culture is a relevant variable for policy to account for. We then offer its downsides and then move to the meaning of culture in other social sciences which allows for more general equilibrium effects, and we propose to focus instead on cultural identity change reflecting newly internalized cultural norms. We argue that on the basis of the existing evidence there is some scope for changing cultural social norms that shape the locus of value (meaningfulness) in a society, which can in induce forms of ‘social change’. However, unlike with social norms, core beliefs in a society are likely to be culturally persistent.

scholarly journals The Making of Meaning through Dyadic Haptic Affective Touch

2022 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Sara Price ◽  
Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze ◽  
Carey Jewitt ◽  
Nikoleta Yiannoutsou ◽  
Katerina Fotopoulou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Qualitative Studies ◽  
Research Tool ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Affective Communication ◽  
Affective Touch ◽  
Design Considerations ◽  
Common Understanding

Despite the importance of touch in human–human relations, research in affective tactile practices is in its infancy, lacking in-depth understanding needed to inform the design of remote digital touch communication. This article reports two qualitative studies that explore tactile affective communication in specific social contexts, and the bi-directional creation, sending and interpretation of digital touch messages using a purpose-built research tool, the Tactile Emoticon. The system comprises a pair of remotely connected mitts, which enable users in different locations to communicate through tactile messages, by orchestrating duration and level of three haptic sensations: vibration, pressure and temperature. Qualitative analysis shows the nuanced ways in which 68 participants configured these elements to make meaning from touch messages they sent and received. It points to the affect and emotion of touch, its sensoriality and ambiguity, the significance of context, social norms and expectations of touch participants. Findings suggest key design considerations for digital touch communication, where the emphasis shifts from generating ‘recognizable touches’ to tools that allow people to shape their touches and establish common understanding about their meaning.

Committing to a Relationship

2019 ◽  
pp. 80-102
Author(s):  
Sarah Halpern-Meekin
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Multiple Role ◽  
Role Transitions ◽  
Transitions To Adulthood

This chapter draws on role theory and the changing cultural norms around relationships to explain how a risk of social poverty accompanies parents’ attempts to build lasting partnerships. These couples want to create and maintain healthy, lasting unions and parent their children together. Often their relationships are young, and so they are figuring out how to successfully occupy these roles. Role theory helps explain the challenges of the multiple role transitions—to adulthood, partnership, and parenthood—these young people are undertaking. This is particularly challenging given today’s relaxed social norms for romantic relationships, called “deinstitutionalization.” Despite these relaxed norms, which can make expectations and roles unclear, the partners often share relationship ideals. However, they often face an array of obstacles—such as finances and their concerns about their partners’ and their own abilities to be good spouses—to achieving these ideals; this increases the likelihood of social poverty in their lives.

Challenging Norms Supportive of Violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 126-141
Author(s):  
Obediah Dodo
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ways Of Life

Norms have a contribution in determining violence: how it starts, is unleashed, and its effect on the entirety of the society. They are important in moulding the behaviours of the people. However, they may be problematic and instigate violence. Realising an upsurge in violence emanating from some of the norms in Zimbabwean cultures, the study sought to understand all the various forms of norms, their functionalities, and how they influence violence before seeking to craft means of challenging them. The study is guided by the social norms approach. The study found out that social and cultural norms have over a period grown to define most societies' ways of life. However, there are elements that always try to create conflicts. To attend to the disruptive elements, there are interventions that may be applied to challenge some of these norms, usually combined with other methods, legislation and policies, education, adoption of contemporary world standards, communication, and inclusive lobbying and advocacy, among others.

Dimensions of Cultural Variation

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Multilevel Modeling ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Measurement Bias ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The Social ◽  
Do So

To understand cultural differences, we need to find ways to characterize the variations in the social contexts in which people are located. To do so, we must focus on differences between contexts rather than differences between individuals. Most research of this type has examined differences between nations in terms of dimensions. Treating each nation as a unit, contrasts have been identified in terms of values, beliefs, self-descriptions, and social norms. The most influential difference identified concerned the dimension of individualism–collectivism, which has provided the theoretical framework for numerous studies. The validity of this type of investigation rests on close attention to aspects of measurement to ensure that respondents are able to make the necessary judgments and to respond in ways that are not affected by measurement bias. Where many nations are sampled, multilevel modeling can be used to show the ways in which dimensions of culture affect social behaviors.

Profiling “User Bases” of Online Social Contexts

2020 ◽  
pp. 113-126
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Current User ◽  
Social Spaces ◽  
The Social ◽  
Common Practices

One aspect of profiling to enhance teaching and learning involves the various contexts in which learners will engage, such as particular social media ecosystems and their attendant microcultures (the social norms and common practices in these spaces), particularly if learners will be engaging with individuals outside of the formal classroom. Understanding the larger online social context helps define the affordances and constraints of what can be effectively taught and learned. This involves profiling the current user base of the online social spaces where the learners will be engaging and interacting and co-creating knowledge.

scholarly journals Public Safety Personnel’s interpretations of potentially traumatic events

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Ricciardelli ◽  
S Czarnuch ◽  
T O Afifi ◽  
T Taillieu ◽  
R N Carleton
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Public Safety ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Care Seeking ◽  
Occupational Culture ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Potentially Traumatic Events ◽  
Public Safety Personnel ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Background Many public safety personnel (PSP) experience trauma directly or indirectly in their occupational role, yet there remain barriers to accessing care or seeking help. Aims To understand how PSP interpret different potentially traumatic events and how perceived eligibility for being traumatized is determined among PSP. Methods We analysed open-ended comments provided by over 800 PSP in a survey designed to assess the prevalence of post-traumatic stress injuries and other mental disorders. Results We found evidence that a trauma hierarchy may exist among PSP. Certain experiences may be interpreted as more traumatic, based on both the event and the PSP role in the actual event. For example, involvement in a shooting may be interpreted as more traumatic than arriving on the scene later. Similarly, a single event may be deemed more traumatic than an accumulation of events. The role of the individual and social context in shaping experiences and interpretations of trauma may be largely ignored in line with confirmation biases. Conclusions The role that individuals and social contexts play in shaping experiences and interpretations of trauma appear suppressed by perceptions of a trauma hierarchy, facilitating systematic discrediting or valuation of some experiences, therein evidencing that trauma is subjective and reinforcing barriers to care seeking. A trauma hierarchy may also propagate stigma and legitimize discrimination regarding mental health. We argue that recognizing, engaging with, and dismantling the perception of a trauma hierarchy may help create a respectful and open occupational culture supportive of mental health needs.

scholarly journals Analysing Legitimation Strategies in Relationship Advice Articles of Women’s Magazines

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Sharifah Nurulhuda Alkaff ◽  
Reem Adib Lulu
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
English Language ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Women's Magazines ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Relationship

This study explores the strategies used to legitimate relationship advice articles in locally produced English language women’s magazines from three different contexts, which are, Malaysia, the US, and two Middle Eastern countries (UAE and Egypt). Six women’s magazines, two from each context, were chosen for this study. Sixty articles, ten from each magazine, from the relationship advice sections of each magazine were analysed using content analysis. We focused on the strategies used to legitimise these advice articles based on similar studies on the legitimisation of advice through the use of intertextuality and voices appearing in these texts. In addition, we also investigated if there are differences in the strategies of legitimation used in these articles due to differences in the cultural norms in the three contexts. Our findings revealed four legitimation strategies which were employed to construct advice in the texts we analysed, namely, ‘Cross-Section of Real-Life’, ‘Appealing to Authorities’, ‘Celebrity Endorsement’, and ‘Popular Culture References’. Our findings also revealed that the writers of sex and relationship articles in all three contexts have to carefully craft their texts in order to produce advice that is considered legitimate and can be accepted by their readers. Finally, our study showed that there appears to be a clear connection between the legitimation strategies used and the socio-cultural aspects of each society.

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