From the Periphery to the Center: Young People's Agonistic Pathways Towards Higher Education

The present research analyzes the mobilities of young people from the periphery of Rio de Janeiro towards a renowned university situated in a central region of the city. Focusing on a case study with four students, we carried out an in-depth investigation of the dynamics of their professional trajectories. Their personal identifications and values, their future career expectations and the pressures and the demands of attending such a university were investigated. Three focus groups meetings were organized with these students. The results show that the displacement from home to the university, social and racial segregation, and arduous academic demands are factors that pose enormous difficulties to these students and require intense psychological work on their part to persist in their educational investment. Intense conflicts with regards to living up to their ideals characterize an agonistic pathway in their educational endeavor. On the other hand, the prestige of the university, family influence and the belief in upward social mobility were found to support these young people’s decision not to give up. This contradictory dynamic, riddled with uncertainties, mobilizes these young people to find a way to permanently renovate their personal stakes in higher education.

Decadence and relational freedom among China's gay migrants: Subverting heteronormativity by ‘lying flat’

Departing from the prevailing, individualist perspective of freedom, emphasizing individuals’ independence and the maximization of self-interest via unconstrained decision-making, this article applies the concepts of practised freedom and relational autonomy to explore the lived experience of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant gay men. Drawing on our ethnographic fieldwork in the ‘urban villages’ (城中村) of South China, we examine the ways in which rural migrant gay men achieve a sense of freedom, which is dependent on rural-to-urban migration, informal manufacturing jobs, and other queer peers, thus demonstrating a certain level of relational autonomy. Our article clearly shows how these men have come to identify as homeless guabi (挂逼, local slang for those who suffer a tragic and mysterious fate) and spend their days wandering, with no interest in stable work or long-term monogamous relationships. Our research offers a first-hand anthropological account of young adults from the rural working classes who prefer to ‘lie flat’ (躺平) – they refuse to strive for upward social mobility because they believe that upward social mobility is unattainable and a factory job too taxing.

Matrimonial Strategies in Transylvania. Mihály Teleki’s First Marriage. “Remember: embittered hearts are healed with wine”

"The wedding and the marriage was a very important stage of early modern society life, it was not only a social event, but the boundary between childhood and adulthood. For a noble like Mihály Teleki, successful marriage helped to develop in administration and to improve economic resources. To Mihály Teleki marriage is an opportunity of upward social mobility. In this paper we discuss about these matrimonial strategies and we identify their meanings. Keywords: Mihály Teleki, early modern society, matrimonial strategies, Transylvania "

Dutch trade and patronage networks as facilitators of transcontinental mobility in early modern Russia and the VOC Cape

The Swellengrebels were the most important family at the Cape under Dutch East India Company (VOC) rule to become members of the Netherlands governing elite. Hendrik Swellengrebel was the colony's only locally-born governor, while his father and other members of the family at the Cape were born in Russia. Their migration between Europe, Africa and Asia reflected the development and functioning of the Dutch trade and patrimonial networks. Even on the periphery, at the Cape and among Dutch expatriates in Russia, those networks provided opportunities for overseas employment and upward social mobility. The case of the Swellengrebels shows that not only goods but also people could make their way from Russia to the Cape and the VOC Asia. Patronage enabled both spatial and upward social mobility. Keeping mutually beneficial relations with influential patrons such as Nicolaes Witsen, members of the Swellengrebel family navigated their way within the Dutch trade networks and achieved prosperity and a high status in such culturally diverse societies as Russia and the Cape. The social advancement, identity transformations and transcontinental migrations of the Swellengrebel family demonstrate the materiality of transcontinental patrimonial networks in the early modern period.

Men, Capital and Hegemony: Male-Male Axis of Mappila Muslim Masculinities

This article explores how different forms of capital act in configuring power relations among differently positioned Mappila Muslim men. As such forms of capital as education and family status are influential in these relations, I consider ulama (religious scholars) and umara (community leaders) masculinities as analytical categories. While the former opens up access to non-hegemonic men to a rather hegemonic position upon accumulating religious knowledge, the latter restricts ascendancy to men from high-status families. Nevertheless, emergence of new elite men from non-hegemonic locations in the contemporary context of their upward social mobility challenges their hegemony, urging them to embody new forms of capital valued in the changing contexts.

Brain structural correlates of upward social mobility in ethnic minority individuals

Purpose Perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) is a neural convergence site for social stress-related risk factors for mental health, including ethnic minority status. Current social status, a strong predictor of mental and somatic health, has been related to gray matter volume in this region, but the effects of social mobility over the lifespan are unknown and may differ in minorities. Recent studies suggest a diminished health return of upward social mobility for ethnic minority individuals, potentially due to sustained stress-associated experiences and subsequent activation of the neural stress response system. Methods To address this issue, we studied an ethnic minority sample with strong upward social mobility. In a cross-sectional design, we examined 64 young adult native German and 76 ethnic minority individuals with comparable sociodemographic attributes using whole-brain structural magnetic resonance imaging. Results Results showed a significant group-dependent interaction between perceived upward social mobility and pACC gray matter volume, with a significant negative association in the ethnic minority individuals. Post-hoc analysis showed a significant mediation of the relationship between perceived upward social mobility and pACC volume by perceived chronic stress, a variable that was significantly correlated with perceived discrimination in our ethnic minority group. Conclusion Our findings extend prior work by pointing to a biological signature of the “allostatic costs” of socioeconomic attainment in socially disadvantaged upwardly mobile individuals in a key neural node implicated in the regulation of stress and negative affect.

Chinese Workers in Ethiopia Caught between Remaining and Returning

Ever since Beijing has sought to fuel domestic growth through Chinese-led development overseas—first under the aegis of Jiang Zemin's Going Out Policy and more recently as part of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative— thousands of Chinese have moved overseas for work. Africa has been one of the destinations of Chinese companies and their expatriate staff. Although we have learned a great deal about China's mega-projects across the African continent, little is known about the certified engineers and experienced builders who carry them out. What brings them to Africa? And, more importantly, what makes them stay for years on end, even if they wish to return to China? In this article I zoom in on the lives of Chinese men employed in Ethiopia's construction industry to show how three decades of domestic growth in China has pushed workers overseas, while jeopardizing their return. Workers' lives are marked by double displacement. They are not only isolated from local African communities through a dormitory labour regime that controls their time and limits their mobility, but also, more importantly, they are displaced from social life in China. Domestic development has at once increased aspirations and made them harder to obtain, especially for men, who are expected to fulfill the promise of upward social mobility for themselves and their families. In order to realize aspirations and meet social expectations related to social reproduction, geographic mobility has become a necessity for men who cannot rely on family wealth or connections, forcing them into a state of suspension.

Preprint of "Chinese perceive upward social mobility: How future mobility is influenced, but not limited by past mobility"

Perceptions of social mobility vary across countries. However, past studies have mostly focused on populations in Western developed countries. Little is known about perceptions of social mobility in non-Western developing countries. The current paper focuses on Chinese perceptions of social mobility using a large-scale nationally representative sample. We found that, overall, Chinese believed in upward social mobility. Moreover, different patterns of perceptions of social mobility were identified, which suggest that respondents experienced either upward or downward social mobility in the past, but all of them thought that they can move up in the future. Perceptions of social mobility were also linked to important socio-demographic and economic factors. We discuss these findings in relation to the Chinese economic context.