Patterns of media use and leisure time among older adults

The aging population is rapidly growing both in the United States and many other parts of the world. Simultaneously, technology is rapidly progressing, and new forms of media have become integrated into daily life and societal participation. This study uses time diary data from a panel survey of members of nationally representative households ( N = 1776) to explore patterns of media use and functionally equivalent leisure time among older adults. The data support a three-profile typology of older adult use of media and non-media leisure activities. These include the computer socializer, the hobbyist, and the television watcher. We elaborate on these patterns of use and explore correlates with demographic and well-being variables. We find no evidence that well-being significantly differs across profiles of media use but identify income and employment status as potential drivers of older adults’ media activity, with implications for digital inequalities.

Exploring Women’s Experience of Gender-Based Violence and Other Threats to Safety on Public Transport in Bangladesh

Equal access to safe transport is increasingly conceptualised as a fundamental right for women, with demonstrated impact on health outcomes, social and economic mobility, and societal participation. This study analysed qualitative and quantitative data to examine travel patterns and experiences among 200 women (aged between 18-64 years) using paid transport for work or educational purposes in Bangladesh. Results showed that the women faced multiple threats to their safety, including gender-based violence, harassment and crime, and traffic and non-traffic injury and that the use of paid transport was associated with high levels of anxiety and fear. Despite these circumstances, the women were captive travellers, forced to make transport choices based on price, availability, and ease of travel rather than safety. Unable to choose safe transports, the women attempted to mitigate risks by changing their travel pattern and behaviour, and by restricted their travel frequency. These findings are discussed within the context of women’s rights and mobility justice.

Women and Fairness. Navigating an Unfair World

This collection brings together scholars from various disciplines to ask fundamental questions concerning how women handle the manifold impediments placed before them as they simply attempt to live full human lives. The collection explores narratives of women – real and fictional – who fight against these barriers, who succumb to them, who remain unaware of them, or choose to ignore them. It explores the ways we read women in cultural production, and how women are read in society. We assert the obstacles constructed into the very fabric of societies against fifty percent of the population are unfair, be they hindrances for women to attain their goals, encumbrances that limit women’s speech and societal participation – communal and artistic – or hindrances that prohibit specific behaviors and images of women.

Regional (dis)integration beyond governments: A comparison in social and civil society participation between Mercosur and SADC

The aim of this article is to analyse the involvement of civil society in regional integration organizations through a comparative analysis of social/civil society channels in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). We seek to analyse the level of openness and the trajectory of both blocs in relation to civil society participation. The instruments and strategies employed by civil society actors in both regions are contrasted, aiming to understand how prominent and successful they have been in terms of influencing the decision-making processes of Mercosur and the SADC, which have been traditionally marked by their intergovernmental and interpresidential characters. We argue that civil society involvement in regionalism is shaped by regional institutional design, member states’ support for societal participation and civil society resources. Thus, this article seeks to contribute to the comparative regionalism literature, setting out an analytical comparative framework for assessing the role of civil society in regional organizations from the Global South.

Third places and educational justice: public libraries in the context of COVID-19

Public libraries play an important role in supporting and safeguarding educational justice and societal participation. The so-called third place – with the home as the first place and the school or workplace as the second place – forms a central support structure beyond formal educational institutions. The corona crisis forced public libraries to close temporarily, adapt their services, and develop new formats. This article analyzes these latest developments in Germany and Europe, illustrating the challenges public libraries are facing as a result of the corona crisis. The main research focus is on public libraries’ recent transformation – not only during the corona crisis – and its implications for safeguarding educational justice. This study will discuss the challenges posed by these developments based on the case of the German city of Bonn, thereby illustrating the importance of public libraries’ geography in strengthening educational justice.

Fixing Technology with Society: The Coproduction of Democratic Deficits and Responsible Innovation at the OECD and the European Commission

Long presented as a universal policy-recipe for social prosperity and economic growth, the promise of innovation seems to be increasingly in question, giving way to a new vision of progress in which society is advanced as a central enabler of technoeconomic development. Frameworks such as “Responsible” or “Mission-oriented” Innovation, for example, have become commonplace parlance and practice in the governance of the innovation–society nexus. In this paper, we study the dynamics by which this “social fix” to technoscience has gained legitimacy in institutions of global governance by investigating recent projects at two international organizations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Commission, to mainstream “Responsible Innovation” frameworks and instruments across countries. Our analysis shows how the turn to societal participation in both organizations relies on a new deficit logic—a democratic deficit of innovation—that frames a lack of societal engagement in innovation governance as a major barrier to the uptake and dissemination of new technologies. These deficit politics enable global governance institutions to present “Responsible Innovation” frameworks as the solution and to claim authority over the coproduction of particular forms of democracy and innovation as intertwined pillars of a market-liberal international order.

Refining Insights on the Impact of SES on Perceived Health: A Positive Health Perspective

BackgroundRecent insights and developments on health and society urge for a critical look at the positive relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health. We challenge the notions that it is sufficient to distinguish only between two groups of SES (low and high) and that only overall health is taken into account. MethodsA new grouping of SES was developed based on both income and education, resulting in six SES groups. Health was defined in terms of a new positive health concept, operationalised into six health dimensions generating a measure of total general health (TGH). Next, six socioeconomic and demographic determinants of health were included. Linear regression, T-tests and one-way ANOVA were applied to investigate the relationships in a Dutch sample. A subjective way to measure health was applied: self-rated health. ResultsFour out of six dimensions of health determined TGH: bodily functions, daily functioning, quality of life, and social and societal participation. Three out of six socioeconomic and demographic determinants impacted TGH: housing situation, age, and difficulties meeting financial obligations. While this is the general picture for the entire sample, there were interesting similarities and differences between the six SES groups. The similarities refer to the positive impact of the evaluation of bodily functions and daily functioning on TGH in all SES groups. The other dimensions affected TGH in some groups and some dimensions only in one SES group. None of the socioeconomic and demographic determinants affected TGH in all SES groups. New insights on health inequalities are provided. ConclusionsThe well-known positive relationship between SES and health is confirmed in this study. Further refining the health concept into six dimensions provides more detailed insights on which dimensions impact health the most. The subjective approach applied offers more refined information to better understand which health issues really matter to people. This yields new and more effective ways to develop interventions aimed at increasing healthy behaviour.