individual agency
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2022 ◽  
pp. 003232172110637
Author(s):  
Ingeborg Misje Bergem

In this article, I analyze whether the case of the Yellow Vest movement fits Paris Aslanidis’ definition of populist social movements, and find that within the discursive theoretical framework Aslanidis adheres to, it does. However, I use the case of the Yellow Vest movement to demonstrate how this discursive approach lacks explanatory potential. I therefore propose moving away from a discursive definition of populist social movements, and advocate for studying political content as a way of detecting common interests shaped by political and societal structures that are shared by participants in a populist social movement. A theory of populist social movements must look at political and economic structures as well as individual agency, framing, and collective identity as a way to explain mobilization. A discursive approach to populism, which only considers language, is therefore not sufficient to explain movements such as the Yellow Vest movement.


Author(s):  
Ruepert Jiel Dionisio Cao ◽  
Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis ◽  
Mistura Adebusola Salaudeen ◽  
Dongli Chen ◽  
Yanjing Wu

This article summarizes the events at Narrating New Normal: Graduate Student Symposium, held virtually on May 17–18, 2021. The symposium was organized by a number of graduate students from the School of Communication and Film (previously named the School of Communication) and was supported by Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Images and the School of Communication and Film. It was attended by an international roster of graduate students hailing from academic institutions and think tanks in different countries. The presentations focused on the usage of the phrase new normal, a popular term during crises, in various geopolitical, geocultural, and historical contexts. The essay discusses first the background and theoretical framework that informs the symposium. Conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic, a global crisis that has seen the use of the phrase new normal in describing the shifts in our daily lives or imaginations of a postcrisis future. Taking a critical approach, the symposium aims to interrogate how the phrase is used by different social institutions, corporations, and individuals in various crises, considering how it normalizes precarity. This essay also summarizes the keynote lecture delivered by professor Michal Krzyzanowski (Uppsala University) on the discursive strategies of normalization and mainstreaming. It also covers the papers and discussions across four panels that examined the different aspects of normalization and of new normal in its various incarnations: geopolitics, networked media spaces, normalization and precarity, and popular culture. The article ends by offering a synthesis of the major threads that tie the presentations and addresses together. It proposes that while the phrase new normal normalizes and obfuscates precarity, it also suggests that there are pockets of optimism during crises where we can witness human resilience and individual agency.


2022 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 02003
Author(s):  
Vylius Leonavicius ◽  
Apolonijus Zilys

The understanding of determinants of health in health policy and health promotion has shifted from a traditional focus on lifestyle (nutrition, exercises, addiction), toward a richer multidimensional approach. This shift has been strongly influenced by a body of research in the human capabilities’ approach, which emphasizes the role of person’s agency, freedom, and opportunities. Using survey data on 18–52 years old Lithuanian representatives, this paper explores the relationship between personal agency and subjective health perception as well as how it varies depending on the age and post-materialistic values. Human agency refers to the capability of an individual to control personal destiny and make choices to fulfill goals set autonomously (A. Giddens). The results show that agency is important factor of subjective health perception in Lithuania. The fact that capabilities that measure agency are aligned with subjective health measures support the view of human development as an integral process.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Maria Monteiro

This paper discusses the history of Cantor Cristão, the first official Brazilian Baptist hymnal, published in 1891, revealing important aspects of the development of Protestant hymnody in Brazil. It also exposes a web of long-distance connections, multiple linguistic and cultural elements, and distinct perspectives of those who chose to do missionary work and those who chose to welcome them. More specifically, I describe and reflect on the contributions of Solomon L. Ginsburg, an Orthodox Jew from Poland, converted to Christianity in England, and turned Evangelical missionary, who played a crucial role in the history of Cantor Cristão as publisher, author, and translator of hymns. In my analysis, I adopt a historical ethnomusicological perspective and utilize the concept of musical localization, as well as the complementary notions of negotiation of proximity and ethics of style as interpretative lenses. I am drawn to a more nuanced view of the legacy of the mission enterprise, one that is not blind to issues of power, ethnocentrism, and wealth, but makes room for a robust examination of all sorts of capital transfers and investments (economic, cultural, and social), and the real phenomena of musical localization and individual agency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles K. Omotayo

The history of the Yoruba is replete with individuals who through their activities changed the face of local tradition. In Ijede town, a suburb of Ikorodu in Ijede Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, exists the Iji Nla Association, an ancient traditional group that rose to local power through the agency of Prince Ajanaku during the first half of the twentieth century. Over time, it increasingly functioned as an institution providing traditional social control mechanisms and security. This article focuses on the origin, structure, and diversity of the Iji Nla Association as a traditional social mechanism and its continued relevance in Ijede. The methodology of this research is descriptive and analytical. It relies essentially on information from in-depth interviews and secondary sources such as books and journals.


Author(s):  
Magdaléna Jánošíková

Abstract Historians often address knowledge transfer in two ways: as an extension and continuation of an established tradition, or as the tradition’s modification in an act of individual reception. This article explores the tension between the two approaches through a case study of Eliezer Eilburg. It traces the footsteps of a sixteenth-century German Jew and his study of the late medieval Hebrew medical and mystical literature composed in the wider Mediterranean. As it uncovers the cultural, political, and social processes shaping knowledge transfer between various Jewish cultures and geographies, the article highlights the receiver’s individual agency. Under the thickly described intellectual traditions, it is the receiver’s lived experience that allows historians to grasp the impact of knowledge on the lives of premodern people—the impact on their body and its relation to the world and to God. Building this argument, this article problematizes the relationship between theory and practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Guilan Zhu

How to improve the performance and efficiency of a public administration system has been an eternal challenge and a regular item on the government agenda. In contrast to an institutional check-and-balance mechanism, cadre education and training plays a special role in the Chinese socialist system. Educational work to inculcate desirable contents in cadres’ thoughts has taken up a large part in the Party’s efforts to enhance cadres’ capability since the years of revolutionary struggle. It is a strategy adopted by the Party-state for the sake of making cadres loyal to the CCP in bothpolitical and administrative e aspects. The study reviews the conceptual and theoretical discussion on the term ‘responsibility.’ The practices that the CCP adopted to create cadre responsibility in China are analysed through the perspective of “structure-and-agency.” The paper argues that individual agency goes beyond institutionalaccountability within China’s Public Administration System.


PLoS Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. e1003552
Author(s):  
Astha Ramaiya ◽  
Linnea Zimmerman ◽  
Eric Mafuta ◽  
Aimee Lulebo ◽  
Effie Chipeta ◽  
...  

Background Interpersonal violence has physical, emotional, educational, social, and economic implications. Although there is interest in empowering young people to challenge harmful norms, there is scant research on how individual agency, and, specifically, the “power to” resist or bring about an outcome relates to peer violence perpetration and victimization in early adolescence. This manuscript explores the relationship between individual agency and peer violence perpetration and victimization among very young adolescents (VYAs) living in 2 urban poor settings in sub-Saharan Africa (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Blantyre, Malawi). Methods and findings The study draws on 2 cross-sectional surveys including 2,540 adolescents 10 to 14 years from Kinshasa in 2017 (girls = 49.8% and boys = 50.2%) and 1,213 from Blantyre in 2020 (girls = 50.7% and boys = 49.3%). The sample was school based in Malawi but included in-school and out-of-school participants in Kinshasa due to higher levels of early school dropout. Peer violence in the last 6 months (dependent variable) was defined as a 4 categorical variable: (1) no victimization or perpetration; (2) victimization only; (3) perpetration only; and (4) both victimization and perpetration. Agency was operationalized using 3 scales: freedom of movement, voice, and decision-making, which were further divided into tertiles. Univariate analysis and multivariable multinomial logistic regressions were conducted to evaluate the relationships between each agency indicator and peer violence. The multivariable regression adjusted for individual, family, peer, and community level covariates. All analyses were stratified by gender and site. In both sites, adolescents had greater voice and decision-making power than freedom of movement, and boys had greater freedom of movement than girls. Boys in both settings were more likely to report peer violence in the last 6 months than girls (40% to 50% versus 32% to 40%, p < 0.001), mostly due to higher rates of a perpetration–victimization overlap (18% to 23% versus 10% to 15%, p < 0.001). Adolescents reporting the greatest freedom of movement (Tertile 3) (with the exception of girls in Kinshasa) had a greater relative risk ratio (RRR) of reporting a perpetrator–victim overlap (boys Kinshasa: RRR = 1.9 (1.2 to 2.8, p = 0.003); boys Blantyre: RRR = 3.8 (1.7 to 8.3, p = 0.001); and girls Blantyre: RRR = 2.4 (1.1 to 5.1, p = 0.03)). Adolescents with the highest decision-making power in Kinshasa also had greater RRR of reporting a perpetrator–victim overlap (boys: RRR = 3.0 (1.8 to 4.8, p < 0.001) and girls: RRR = 1.7 (1.02 to 2.7, p = 0.04)), and boys in Kinshasa with intermediate decision-making power had a lower RRR of being victimized (Tertile 2: RRR = 0.6 (0.4 to 0.9, p = 0.01)). Higher voice among boys in Kinshasa (Tertile 2: RRR = 1.9 (1.2 to 2.9, p = 0.003) and Tertile 3: 1.8 (1.2 to 2.8, p = 0.009)) and girls in Blantyre (Tertile 2: 2.0 (1.01 to 3.9, p = 0.048)) was associated with a perpetrator–victim overlap, and girls with more voice in Blantyre had a greater RRR of being victimized (Tertile 2: RRR = 1.9 (1.1 to 3.1, p = 0.02)). Generally, associations were stronger for boys than girls, and associations often differed when victimization and perpetration occurred in isolation of each other. A main limitation of this study is that the cross-sectional nature of the data does not allow a causal interpretation of the findings, which need further longitudinal exploration to establish temporality. Conclusions In this study, we observed that peer violence is a gendered experience that is related to young people’s agency. This stresses the importance of addressing interpersonal violence in empowerment programs and of including boys who experience the greatest perpetration–victimization overlap.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 755-755
Author(s):  
Markus Klingel

Abstract With increasing life expectancy, late life has become a longer, crucial part of the individual and dyadic life course. New opportunities, tasks and decisions emerged. Successful aging norms emphasize agency and autonomy. This can be activating, but also alienating. With increasing constraints, agency is limited and ideals of autonomy become dysfunctional. This challenges also relationships. Aging, functional losses and approaching death threaten dyadic satisfaction and functionality. Potentially, successful aging norms could erode dyadic solidarity when needed the most: in late life. This mixed-methods longitudinal study combines interviews and questionnaires at three observations across five years. Its focus lies on change over time and findings at observation three. The sample consists of eight German couples (78-86 years old, 50-65 years married, high relationship satisfaction, white, urban). What does aging mean for individualized actors? How do aging couples negotiate, decide and act on aging, autonomy and death? How do successful aging norms modulate dyadic aging? Overall, actors have internalized successful aging and benefit by influencing their health positively. However, this has become ambivalent. Actors increasingly perceive their future as limited and beyond individual control. Acceptance of losses that challenge the self is difficult, autonomy ideals burdensome and death salient. As individual agency is constrained, the dyad is still a functional stronghold against aging. Yet, it has to adapt as well to – potentially differential - individual aging. Losses can and do threaten couples’ functional and emotional unity. Four patterns of self-dyad dynamics emerged and exemplify tensions between individualized and dyadic successful aging.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Schiestl ◽  
Bernhard Kittel ◽  
Maite Ibáñez Bollerhoff

AbstractRefugee women from the Near and Middle East face specific challenges when entering the Austrian labour market. Particularly gender-based factors, including care and reproductive work, exert pressure on these women and constitute major hurdles for successful entry into employment in Austria. Based on nine qualitative interviews with refugee women who swiftly gained entry to the labour market as well as ten qualitative interviews with experts from public and private support organisations, we investigate refugee women’s social and cultural capital as well as the individual agencies that foster paths into the labour market. We introduce the concept of enablement as the process of gathering the preconditions for overcoming the challenges that arise on that path. Finally, we illuminate the ways in which the three dimensions of individual, relational and institutional enablement interrelate and shape individual agency with regard to labour market integration.


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