Discursive strategies of self-promotion by doctors in online medical consultations in China: an e-commercialised practice

The online mode of medical consultation has been gaining increasing popularity. Online medical consultation (OMC) in China is largely mediated through e-healthcare websites which are featured with an online evaluation system for patients and caregivers to assess OMC doctors’ service. The evaluation system facilitates an e-commercialised way for delivering healthcare services. It is of interest to study how doctors make efforts to promote themselves in the e-commercialised OMC practice, in particular how language is used to elicit positive comments and evaluations in doctors’ self-promotion. However, this, to my best knowledge, has not been studied. The present study thus examines discursive strategies for eliciting feedback by doctors who contribute to OMCs on a widely used e-healthcare website in China. By the approach of mediated discourse analysis, five strategies have been identified. These discursive strategies are discussed in relation to the disruption of stereotypical roles of doctor and patient and the influence of non-stereotypical positions on power relations between doctors and patients. This study provides a new perspective on doctor-patient relationship and serves as a starting point for further studying neoliberal medical discourse.

Race and AI: the Diversity Dilemma

This commentary is a response to ‘More than Skin Deep’ by Shelley M. Park (Park, More than skin deep: A response to “The Whiteness of AI”, Philosophy & Technology, 2021), and a development of our own 2020 paper ‘The Whiteness of AI’. We aim to explain how representations of AI can be varied in one sense, whilst not being diverse. We argue that Whiteness’s claim to universal humanity permits a broad range of roles to White humans and White-presenting machines, whilst assigning a much narrower range of stereotypical roles to people of colour. Because the attributes of AI in the popular imagination, such as intelligence, power and passing as human, are associated by the White racial frame with Whiteness, AI is cast predominantly as White. Following Sparrow (Science, Technology, & Human Values 45:538–560, 2020), we suggest this presents a dilemma for those creating or representing AI. We discuss three possible solutions: avoiding anthropomorphisation, explicitly critiquing racial role-typing, and representing powerful AI as non-White.

Eating disorders among men in the context of mental health and socio-cultural gender issues

The paper undertakes the issues of epidemiology, conditions, and treatment of eating disorders in men, which are not widely recognised both in Polish and international research. The text is based on desk research analysis of research reports on eating disorders. Authors discuss the issue of eating disorders in the context of gender, indicating that the clinical picture of them (including the perception of one's own body, the ways and motives for striving for a perfect figure) is mainly related to the stereotypical roles and tasks that society and culture impose on men and women. The empirical material analysis allows us to assume that ED symptoms in men are more often (than in the case of women) related to (self) stigmatisation, diagnosis difficulty, coexistent dimorphic disorders, substance addictions, and more significant physical activity.ty.

Analysis of Archetypal Characters in Anita Nair’s Mistress and Lessons in Forgetting

The present paper analyses the archetypal elements present in the select women characters in the novels Mistress and Lessons in Forgetting. The archetypal presence is in the form of Indian mythological characters. This presence resides in the unconscious psyche of the characters Radha and Akhila. Radha identifies herself with mythological Radha and Ahalya. Akhila identifies herself with goddess Kanyakumari. The paper also analyses how these archetypal presence make them subjugated women and also how they help them to move beyond their stereotypical roles they play in the family and society. The characters Radha and Meera are ordinary women who emerge as potential, emancipated women at a later stage. They struggle in the process of transition from tradition to modernity. In their quest for identity, they emerge as strong and independent women. The paper is analyzed from Jungian perspective of archetypes.

Rapport to Fit In—Rapport to Stand Out

This study examines rapport management language used for role alignment among participants in a group interview conducted as part of research on Indonesian youth language. Particularly relevant are repetition, vocatives, use of English, and questions. Role alignments emerge interactionally as participants (re)negotiate varied stances and subject positions and thus manage degrees of harmony and disharmony within the group. While most participants in this particular interview enact fairly stereotypical roles (e.g., as participant/interviewee or researcher/interviewer), one participant uses rapport management language in unusual ways and thus enacts for himself a liminal position between participants and researchers. Role alignments can thus be used differently by various participants in the production and maintenance of differing and flexible identity positions. Rapport is shown to be not only the concern of the researcher during a fieldwork encounter, but also something that community members are attuned to, both with the researcher and with each other.

Representation of Gender in Documentary Saving Face: A Semiotic Analysis

The purpose of the current study is to analyze how gender is represented in the documentary Saving Face through the use of different signs. The study of the portrayal of gender in Pakistani documentary has been conducted through the analysis of signs. For this purpose, 8 visuals from Saving Face were analyzed using elements of the stills such as camera angle, character's body language, physical appearance, gestures, dressing, background objects or props and colors. Employing the theoretical framework of Peirce's theory of signs on documentary, various types of signs such as iconic, indexical and symbolic signs representing gender and sketching out distinct aspects of gender roles in Pakistan, were unearthed. Two major findings were deduced: (1) laid in the domestic and public sphere, Pakistan men are more celebrated and respected than women; and (2) the existing gender roles have observed a breach of unconventionality from the stereotypical roles.

Shuffling On

This chapter discusses the aftermath of the success of Shuffle Along; Eubie’s ten-year relationship with lead actress Lottie Gee and the strains it put on his marriage and his partnership with Sissle; and the first touring companies. It also describes how Josephine Baker joined the main company in Boston and made a success as a comic chorus girl and the troupe’s grand reception in Chicago after their successful Boston run. Furthermore, the chapter examines white critics’ discomfort with the success enjoyed by the show’s writers and their concerns about black actors breaking from stereotypical roles; Blake’s triumphant return to Baltimore and his mother’s continuing disapproval of his secular career; Sissle and Blake’s recordings for Victor Records; growing tensions with Miller and Lyles that led to a breakup of their partnership; and how Sissle and Blake’s next show, In Bamville, hit the road to mixed receptions.

The Problem of Teaching of English Pronominal Pronouns in Genderless Society as Applied Linguistic Domain

The paper demonstrates one of the most recent problems in research of grammatical and natural genders in language. The targets of the article are to research gender representations in English from the perspectives of speakers in genderless society and the ways EFL professionals identify the existence of gender-related problems of teaching and learning of English pronominal usage in EFL settings. Literature review discusses how the field of language and gender is becoming re-conceptualized under the influence of theory of language of signs in society construction. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the generic pronoun and he/man approach have been used to perpetuate negative attitudes towards women, exclude them or relegate them from stereotypical roles. The objectives of this paper are to identify the use of gender-insensitive English language use and to suggest ways of making the gender-exclusive language a gender-inclusive one. In order to figure out the awareness and convention of generic pronouns among Georgian speakers of English, a questionnaire was conducted and distributed among EFL professionals working at higher educational institutions in Tbilisi, Georgia. According to the research findings, genderless languages are sexist to a specific degree and representatives of genderless languages might apply biased forms of discourse.

Pipelines on the Gridiron: Player Backgrounds, Opportunity Structures and Racial Stratification in American College Football

Stacking – the tendency of playing positions to be racially segregated in sports – remains prominent in gridiron football. This raises questions of how stacking persists and how opportunities arise for athletes of different races to assume different roles. Demographic data on 41,484 NCAA football players reveal differences in opportunities and playing roles for student-athletes of different races. In concert with previous racial stacking studies, white players continue to be overrepresented in central, leadership positions. Racial minorities are overrepresented in peripheral ‘skill’ positions. Stacking at each playing position is affected differently by the demographics of player high schools and college teams. Players assuming non-stereotypical roles are much more likely to come from a racially homogenous high school or college team. Even though racially homogenous schools provide stereotype-defying opportunities, they also exhibit intense racial stacking. The few white (or black) players on such teams are overwhelmingly slotted into stereotypical positions. Since stereotype-defying opportunities tend to emerge in racially homogenous schools, blacks playing typically white positions come from relatively poor schools. In contrast, whites playing typically black positions are relatively affluent, since such opportunities tend to emerge in whiter, wealthier schools. Implications for student opportunities and talent inculcation beyond the football field are discussed.

Analysis of gender representation in basic level English textbooks in Ghana

Textbooks are known to influence the behaviours and worldview of children. Apart from imparting critical knowledge to pupils, textbooks also encourage pupils to form certain perceptions and stereotypes, including the ‘appropriate’ gender-specific roles in society. This paper examined gender stereotypes in the content and design of the Pupil’s English textbook at the Basic Level in Ghana using content analysis. The study revealed that, as teaching materials, the English Pupil’s Books 1, 2 and 3 displayed gross gender bias that reinforces the stereotypical roles of males and females in Ghanaian society. This does not reflect the development of society towards equality between men and women since there was no equality in how both genders are represented in the textbooks.Keywords: Gender; stereotype; gender stereotype; textbooks