scholarly journals Racialisation rules: The effect of educational upward mobility on habitus

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-50
Author(s):  
Zsanna Nyírő ◽  
Judit Durst

This paper explores the subjective experiences of education-driven upward mobility among firstin-family majority and minority (Roma) graduates in Hungary. The central question is how social ascension through educational mobility and the concomitant movement between different social worlds influence the habitus. Under what conditions does the habitus become destabilised as a result of upward mobility? The paper benefits from the empirical results of a 3-year study during which our research team has conducted 153 life history interviews with first-generation graduates in Hungary. The inclusion criteria for the sample of our study was that respondents had to complete college or university despite none of their parents have had a university degree. We identified the most important factors that contribute to the destabilisation of the habitus, either temporary or permanent. We examined the social and geographical range of our respondents’ education-driven mobility; the speed and the destination of their mobility (field of occupation); their belonging to the majority or a minority group; and the mobility aspirations of their family of origin (or the lack thereof). We explore the effect of these factors through an intersectional lens. We demonstrate that the unique combination and intersection of these factors greatly affect the subjective experience of mobility. However, some biographical conditions and contingencies also play a role in the outcome of upward mobility. According to our results, the dislocation of habitus is a particularly common experience for our Roma interviewees, at least at some stage of their mobility trajectory. This is because they have to carry the psychic burden of race in a society where institutional racism is permeated in many areas of everyday life and the question of loyalty to their group of origin is more complicated for them.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Liviano Wahba ◽  
Ísis Fabiana de Souza Oliveira

Using Analytical Psychology as a theoretical basis, the present study aimed at clarifying and understanding the meanings that the man, who does not work, nor has an income of his own, attributes to himself, to his situation and to the social expectations related to working. Another objective was to elucidate which would be, in that case, the existing factors of investment and/or disinvestment in the work. Therefore, the study explored subjective aspects, using the qualitative approach and employing the Life History interview as a research tool. The research included four participants living in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The inclusion criteria required that the participants be men, in the age group of approximate 30 years, without any paid work nor any type of income for at least five months, and financially dependent on their family members or spouses. The results show that the perception of work is an elementary configuration in the life trajectory. Work may signify a constant obligation — an imposition that endures — or be a meaning in transformation — leading to resignifications. The association between work and identity affirmation — as well as conscious and unconscious motivations — stands out. The research also made it possible to infer the existence of complexes resulting from the work experience. The survey of the subjective experiences linked to an increasingly prevailing conjuncture in the current society points to the intense affective load related to work. In this context, the assistance of the clinical psychologist becomes relevant.


Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Morton

This chapter provides a background on ethical costs of upward mobility. It explains what ethical costs are, why they matter, and how to contend with them. The chapter outlines the elements of a new narrative of upward mobility, one that is honest about the ethical costs involved. It also emphasizes how narratives are powerful tools in shaping the understanding of people and their future. The ideas introduced are not only backed up by arguments or evidence from the social sciences, but also illustrated by the stories of real-life strivers. It does not intend to serve as a rigorous, systematic empirical study of the experiences of first-generation students. Rather, it is meant to show narratives of upward mobility that are far more ethically complicated than is generally acknowledged.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiva Alifanovienė ◽  
Odeta Šapelytė ◽  
Tatjana Kryukova

<p>The paper deals with the social pedagogues’ subjective experience in the context of reconstruction of stress factors. The main aim is to reveal subjective experiences of social pedagogues from the aspect of stress factors they experience and how they express them in various social, cultural, and educational contexts. The respondents were chosen by target convenience sampling, i.e., social pedagogues (N=14), working at education and training institutions for at least two years of work experience; all having higher university education. To analyse the specialists’ experience a qualitative method of data collection have been chosen. Reconstructing a multi-layered context of social, cultural and educational diversity, a complex character of professional stress experienced by these specialists has been revealed. Evaluating the semantics of the chosen social pedagogues’ reactions to stress, overall stress harm to people, covering all layers of the personality structure manifests itself, and it can cause somatic and psychic complaints, social and professional maladaptation.</p>


2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-5
Author(s):  
Sheila Wendler

Abstract Attorneys use the term pain and suffering to indicate the subjective, intangible effects of an individual's injury, and plaintiffs may seek compensation for “pain and suffering” as part of a personal injury case although it is not usually an element of a workers’ compensation case. The AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides), Fifth Edition, provides guidance for rating pain qualitatively or quantitatively in certain cases, but, because of the subjectivity and privateness of the patient's experience, the AMA Guides offers no quantitative approach to assessing “pain and suffering.” The AMA Guides also cautions that confounders of pain behaviors and perception of pain include beliefs, expectations, rewards, attention, and training. “Pain and suffering” is challenging for all parties to value, particularly in terms of financial damages, and using an individual's medical expenses as an indicator of “pain and suffering” simply encourages excessive diagnostic and treatment interventions. The affective component, ie, the uniqueness of this subjective experience, makes it difficult for others, including evaluators, to grasp its meaning. Experienced evaluators recognize that a myriad of factors play a role in the experience of suffering associated with pain, including its intensity and location, the individual's ability to conceptualize pain, the meaning ascribed to pain, the accompanying injury or illness, and the social understanding of suffering.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine V Talbot ◽  
Pam Briggs

Abstract People with dementia can experience shrinkage of their social worlds, leading to a loss of independence, control and reduced well-being. We used ‘the shrinking world’ theory to examine how the COVID 19 pandemic has impacted the lives of people with early to middle stage dementia and what longer-term impacts may result. Interviews were conducted with 19 people with dementia and a thematic analysis generated five themes: the forgotten person with dementia, confusion over government guidance, deterioration of cognitive function, loss of meaning and social isolation, safety of the lockdown bubble. The findings suggest that the pandemic has accelerated the ‘shrinking world’ effect and created tension in how people with dementia perceive the outside world. Participants felt safe and secure in lockdown but also missed the social interaction, cognitive stimulation and meaningful activities that took place outdoors. As time in lockdown continued, these individuals experienced a loss of confidence and were anxious about their ability to re-engage in the everyday practises that allow them to participate in society. We recommend ways in which the government, communities and organisations might counteract some of the harms posed by this shrinking world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Tamás Mizik ◽  
Gábor Gyarmati

As Earth’s fossil energy resources are limited, there is a growing need for renewable resources such as biodiesel. That is the reason why the social, economic and environmental impacts of biofuels became an important research topic in the last decade. Depleted stocks of crude oil and the significant level of environmental pollution encourage researchers and professionals to seek and find solutions. The study aims to analyze the economic and sustainability issues of biodiesel production by a systematic literature review. During this process, 53 relevant studies were analyzed out of 13,069 identified articles. Every study agrees that there are several concerns about the first-generation technology; however, further generations cannot be price-competitive at this moment due to the immature technology and high production costs. However, there are promising alternatives, such as wastewater-based microalgae with up to 70% oil content, fat, oils and grease (FOG), when production cost is below 799 USD/gallon, and municipal solid waste-volatile fatty acids technology, where the raw material is free. Proper management of the co-products (mainly glycerol) is essential, especially at the currently low petroleum prices (0.29 USD/L), which can only be handled by the biorefineries. Sustainability is sometimes translated as cost efficiency, but the complex interpretation is becoming more common. Common elements of sustainability are environmental and social, as well as economic, issues.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097318492110070
Author(s):  
Amithy Jasrotia ◽  
Smriti Srivastava

The current study explores the multifaceted and entwined structure of constraints and spaces of the possibilities of moving ahead among the Dooms of Jammu, India, where the possibilities of upward mobility through education as a means have been observed. Interviews and detailed case study were done with eight cases. Four overlapping super-ordinate themes developed during the course of study: (a) challenges of different generation learners, (b) lack of different forms of capital, (c) dis-identification from own and emulating others and (d) mushrooming of hybrid and mimic generation. The participants experienced the very process of change and continuity through education in their lives. It is observed that education helped in converting the morphology of their existing structure. Each of the interviewee has some exclusive experiences to share, offering significant insights into their lives, struggles and their conditions. The results indicate that the first-generation learners have to face many obstacles. The study concludes that education gives better results under certain circumstances. The chances of low caste children performing better are higher if the educational institutions run with mixed batches with students belonging to all the sections of the society.


2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHAEL DOBSON

AbstractThis article argues that constructions of social phenomena in social policy and welfare scholarship think about the subjects and objects of welfare practice in essentialising ways, with negativistic effects for practitioners working in ‘regulatory’ contexts such as housing and homelessness practice. It builds into debates about power, agency, social policy and welfare by bringing psychosocial and feminist theorisations of relationality to practice research. It claims that relational approaches provide a starting point for the analysis of empirical practice data, by working through the relationship between the individual and the social via an ontological unpicking and revisioning of practitioners' social worlds.


1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Leyendecker ◽  
Michael E. Lamb ◽  
Axel Scholmerich ◽  
Maria P. Fracasso

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