Intragenerational Social Mobility and Wellbeing in Great Britain. A Biomarker Approach

Social theory has long predicted that social mobility, in particular downward social mobility, is detrimental to the wellbeing of individuals. Dissociative and ‘falling from grace’ theories suggest that mobility is stressful due to the weakening of social ties, feelings of alienation, and loss of status. In light of these theories, it is a puzzle that the majority of quantitative studies in this area have shown null results. Our approach to resolve the puzzle is twofold. First, we argue for a broader conception of the mobility process than is often used and thus focus on intragenerational occupational class mobility rather than restricting ourselves to the more commonly studied intergenerational mobility. Second, we argue that self-reported measures may be biased by habituation (or ‘entrenched deprivation’). Using nurse-collected health and biomarker data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS, 2010–12, N = 4,123), we derive a measure of allostatic load as an objective gauge of physiological ‘wear and tear,’ and compare patterns of mobility effects with self-reports of health using diagonal reference models. Our findings indicate a strong class gradient in both allostatic load and self-rated health, and that both first and current job matter for current wellbeing outcomes. However, in terms of the effects of mobility itself, we find that intragenerational social mobility is consequential for allostatic load, but not for self-rated health. Downward mobility is detrimental and upward mobility beneficial for wellbeing as assessed by allostatic load. Thus, these findings do not support the idea of generalized stress from dissociation, but they do support the ‘falling from grace’ hypothesis of negative downward mobility effects. Our findings have a further implication, namely that the differences in mobility effects between the objective and subjective outcome infer the presence of entrenched deprivation. Null results in studies of self-rated outcomes may therefore be a methodological artifact, rather than an outright rejection of decades-old social theory.

Motivators of Participation and Non-Participation in Youth Environmental Protests

This paper is an exploratory study investigating motivators of teenagers to both attend and not attend a climate change related protest event. Using open-ended surveys and focus groups, 16–19-year-old Australian students were asked about their motivators to attend and abstain from School Strike 4 Climate events. Through qualitative analysis and thematic coding, results show key motivators to attend a Strike include climate change and acts of political participation that provide youth with a public voice. Protest is positioned as a key part of teen political repertoires. Reasons for non-attendance included prioritizing schoolwork and low efficacy in protest or participatory action. However, low efficacy in climate change mitigation, or an outright rejection of climate science, was not evident in this sample. Overall, reasons for attendance and non-attendance at a Strike event were not direct mirror images of the other, and implications for inclusion of non-participants in further studies is discussed in this light.

Trinitarian charity: Aquinas and Lombard on charity and the Holy Spirit

This paper examines Aquinas’ reception of Peter Lombard's disputed thesis that the charity with which we love God and neighbour is not a virtue, but rather the Holy Spirit himself. Through a close reading of the four passages where Aquinas engages directly with the thesis, I show how this reception evolved over the course of his career, such that he gradually came to incorporate the trinitarian insight underlying Lombard's thesis into his doctrine of created charity. Although this doctrine is often viewed as an outright rejection of Lombard's thesis, I argue that it is in fact a substantial development of it that was made possible by Aquinas’ assimilation of Aristotelian naturalism.

A Critical Analysis of the Eurocentric Dimensions of Ghose's Aesthetic Views

The present article has attempted to discuss the essential Eurocentrism of the Anglophone Pakistani writer Zulfikar Ghose that has shaped his subjective identity as well as literary outlook. The argument has used Frantz Fanon's theorization about the colonized intellectual whose exposure to foreign culture engenders anxiety and eventually becomes a precondition for his cognitive maturation. However, reading Ghose's prose, we find no traces of any such conflict in his subjective and artistic expression as he chooses to call himself a native-alien with an ambivalence which, turns many times, into an alienation, even outright rejection of his native identity as an Indian-Pakistani. The article concludes that instead of coming to terms with his native subjectivity, Ghose's voice remains Eurocentric as it is predominantly based on an explicit admiration and identification with the dominant English culture and his simultaneous distance from his native culture and its historical memory.

Sacred recipes: The praxis, power, and politics of Black food culture

Garth and Reese’s edited volume Black Food Matters paints a vivid picture of the evolution of Black food culture as it negotiates the socio-cultural and political complexities surrounding food and race in America. This work centers around the manifestation of Black food in all its stages, from seed to plate, recognizing that it is both a reflection of the lived experiences of Black people in America and an outright rejection of the harm inflicted on them through a persistently anti-Black structural context. The authors trace the resistance and sur­vival praxis of Black food culture from its earliest origins in the practices of slaves on the Middle Passage to the contemporary practices of local-food–based economies in Black urban and rural communities across the nation. In doing so, each of the authors highlights the ongoing threat that racial capitalism poses to the cultural integrity and socio-economic sustainability of Black com­muni­ties. Readers are able to draw valuable com­parisons between the past and present as they see how Black alimentary and economic autarky have consistently been met with multifaceted exploita­tion by mainstream, white-dominated society. And yet, the stories told by the book’s authors are ones of resilience and dignity, highlighting the innova­tion, adaptability, and forti­tude of Black people, as reflected in both African-American and Afro-diasporic food culture.

Antropología cristiana, desarrollo humano y Escuela Austriaca: un diálogo interdisciplinar

The article suggests an interdisciplinary dialogue among Christian anthropology, the social doctrine of the Church, the human development para-digm of the UN and the economics of the Austrian school. It emphasizes that the main difference between them is that Christian anthropology is based on transcendental personalism, but there are methodological points in common. In Christian thought and Austrian liberalism, human development is dynamic, inte-gral (of the whole man and for all men), solidary (under the subsidiarity princi-ple). But under the Christian view, the universal destination of goods limits pri-vate property, freedom is not absolute and the person is a social being, not just an individual. In addition, the Christian idea of development centers and culmi-nates in charity that goes beyond altruism and common good is done in com-munity discernment where the option for the poor is a priority, the option for justice is inescapable if the professed faith is true. Spontaneous order and dis-persed knowledge, the possibility of entrepreneurial profit as an engine of wealth creation are shared by Catholic doctrine, though with obvious nuances principles. The article shows that it is possible to cross-fertilization between disciplines as diverse, but to have a foundation in ethics and anthropology, which should never be absent from the economy. The outright rejection of libe-ralism and Catholic doctrine is an anachronism that should be overcome. Key words: love, development, poverty, wealth, spontaneous order, Austrian school JEL Classification: A13, B53, Z12, O1. Resumen: El artículo pone en diálogo interdisciplinar la antropología cristiana, la doctrina social de la Iglesia, el paradigma del desarrollo humano de Nacio-nes Unidas y la economía de la escuela austriaca. Enfatiza que la principal diferencia entre ellas es la antropología cristiana fundamentada en el persona-lismo trascendental, pero que existen puntos metodológicos en común. En el pensamiento cristiano y el liberalismo austriaco, el desarrollo humano es diná-mico, integral (de todo el hombre y para todos los hombres), solidario (bajo la subsidiariedad). Pero en la visión cristiana, el destino universal de los bienes limita la propiedad privada, la libertad no es un absoluto y la persona es un ser social, no sólo individuo. Además, el desarrollo cristiano se centra y culmi-na en el amor de caridad que supera el altruismo y la búsqueda del bien co-mún se hace en comunidad de discernimiento, donde la opción por el pobre se hace prioritaria, la opción por la justicia es ineludible si la fe profesada es verdadera. El orden espontáneo y el conocimiento disperso, la posibilidad de ganancia empresarial como motor de la creación de riqueza son principios compartidos por la doctrina católica, aunque con evidentes matices. El artículo muestra que es posible el enriquecimiento mutuo entre disciplinas tan diversas, pero que al tener un fundamento en la ética y en la antropología, que nunca deben estar ausentes de la economía, el rechazo frontal entre liberalismo y doctrina católica es un anacronismo que debe ser superado. Palabras clave: amor, desarrollo, pobreza, riqueza, orden espontáneo, Escue-la austriaca

Marcion’s Gospel and its Use of the Jewish Scriptures

Despite the popular notion of Marcion’s outright rejection of the Jewish Scriptures, his gospel draws on those Scriptures not infrequently. While this might appear inconsistent with Marcion’s theological thought, a pattern is evident in the way his gospel uses Scripture: On the one hand, Marcion’s gospel includes few of the direct, marked quotations of Scripture known from canonical Luke, and in none of those cases does Jesus himself fulfill Scripture. On the other hand, Marcion’s gospel includes more frequent indirect allusions to Scripture, several of which imply Jesus’ fulfillment of scriptural prophecy. This pattern suggests a Marcionite redaction of Luke whereby problematic marked quotes were omitted, while allusions were found less troublesome or simply overlooked due to their implicit nature.

A Comprehensive Guide to select a Suitable Journal for Research Publication

Selection of suitable Journal for publication of research findings in a peer-reviewed Journal is very critical and challenging for researchers. Selection of Journal for publication involves many factors, where the main factor is Journal metrics. In light of the proliferation of journals, some journals have come under increased scrutiny recently with terms such as questionable, illegitimate, dishonest, used to describe these journals. Generally, the young researchers or the first-time authors, would like to publish their findings in a less reputed Journal with very less rejection rate, as they want to publish their articles quickly. Wrong choice of journal for publishing spells outright rejection. Even if the article is very encouraging with sound and rigorous scholarly work, it will not stand the test. Another option for authors is to consult with librarians affiliated with organization or local public library. Librarians are well-suited to provide guidance in helping authors with selecting quality journals to consider for publication. Transparency and objectives are essential elements for scientific research and peer review process. Bibliographic software such as EndNote or RefWorks assist the authors to format reference section and to perform corrections suggested by reviewers. Hence, this review was delineated to provide an insight for the researchers to prefer a Journal based on the impact factor, H-index, SNIP, SJR and timeline of publication.

My article has just been rejected!

Unfortunately, articles submitted to journals are rejected more frequently than is desirable. Journals themselves estimate that more than 60% of submitted articles are rejected without review (for top journals, the figure may even be 80%). Thus, whatever an article’s content or quality, an outright rejection should be expected right from the time of submission, and a reaction strategy defined beforehand. Each rejection should be carefully examined and fully understood before attempting any response. Here are some hints for beginners—or for edgy authors.

Introduction: Contested narratives of the mind and the brain: Neuro/psychological knowledge in popular debates and everyday life

This special section evolved out of a workshop entitled ‘Minds and Brains in Everyday Life: Embedding and Negotiating Scientific Concepts in Popular Discourses’, held at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. Our discussions at the workshop and for this special section began with the observation that scientific interpretations and everyday explanations regularly meet and come together in debates about aspects of the mind and the brain. Such entanglements between science and the wider public have already been studied from multiple perspectives in history and the social sciences. Recently, however, warnings have intensified that researchers also need to take into account the limitations that certain scientific claims may encounter in everyday life, and to remain methodologically open to alternative explanations that are not derived from forms of (neuro)psychological knowledge. We suggest that focusing on contested narratives of the mind and the brain may be one approach to studying the interaction between science and the larger public, as well as investigating the ignorance, limits, counterforces, and outright rejection that scientific concepts may encounter in everyday life.