Occupational Diversification as Livelihood Strategy Among the Agricultural Labour Households of West Bengal, India

It is now difficult for an agricultural-labour household to get employment as agricultural labourers throughout the year. So, this type of household for survival purposes has to depend on diversified occupations when sometimes only the household head participates and sometimes more than one able-bodied household member participate. Based on a village-level field investigation in West Bengal, the article explores that possibility to keep an agricultural labour household above the poverty line will be more effective if more than one adult member participates in different types of occupations throughout the year. Except this, other possible determinants which can play an effective role to keep an agricultural-labour household above the poverty line are higher operational land among the marginal farmer household who are also working as hired agricultural labour in others’ land and accessibility of microcredit for income-generating activity for the female member(s) of a household from self-help groups (SHGs).

Tracing the Use of the Family Management Framework and Measure: A Scoping Review

This article reports the results of a scoping review of research applications of the Family Management Style Framework (FMSF) and the Family Management Measure (FaMM). We identified 32 studies based on the FMSF and 41 studies in which the FaMM was used, 17 of which were based on the FMSF. Both the framework and measure have been used by investigators in multiple countries, with most applications of the FaMM outside the United States. Although the FMSF and FaMM were originally developed for use with families in which there was a child with a chronic physical condition, both have been applied to a broader range of health conditions and to studies focusing on families with an adult member facing a health challenge. Based on our findings, we make recommendations for how researchers can more fully address all aspects of the FMSF.

Types of Vulnerable Household across Social Classes in Rural India

The eighth part of the Social Change Indicators series presents data on vulnerable households, that is, mean household size, percentage of female-headed households, percentage of households with no literate adult, percentage of households with no adult member and percentage of landless households dependent on manual casual labour across different social classes in rural areas of different states.

The impacts of refugee repatriation on receiving communities

Using longitudinal data from Burundi, we explore the consequences of refugee repatriation for stayee households in a context in which returnees faced restrictions on economic activities and mobility while abroad. We use geographical features of the receiving communities, including altitude and distance to the border, for identification. We find that a 1 percentage point increase in the local share of the population accounted for by returnees leads to a reduction in the livestock of stayee households which is equivalent to 1 fowl per adult member or a 5% with respect to the mean. A higher share of returnees in a community also leads to less land access, lower subjective well-being and higher food insecurity for stayees. The negative effects on subjective well-being and food security disappear over the rounds of the survey (5 years), likely as a consequence of stayee households adjusting their economic activities in response to the presence of returnees.

Bearly Guilty: Understanding Human–Andean Bear Conflict Regarding Crop Losses

Conflicts between wildlife and humans are increasing worldwide, especially in areas where they coexist and share resources. To investigate attitudes and opinions of the human population towards human-Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) conflicts in two indigenous Aymara communities, Chuñavi and Lambate, Bolivia, semi-structured interviews were directed to an adult member of families in the communities. Simultaneously, we registered, monitored, and evaluated 70 farm plots to record evidence of Andean bear and other wildlife damage to the maize crops and plants. We found that the locals thought the bear caused the most damage when, in actuality, the most harmful issues identified for maize crops were environmental factors, followed by parrots and birds. Knowledge of the interactions between wild animals and productive systems can contribute to an understanding of Andean bear-human coexistence.

Trends of Paediatric Nutrition in Developing Countries

An infant born and reared in an ade-quate environment will obtain growthand development adequately and de-velop his genetic potentials to becomean adult member of his communityoptimally in quality.Such is in average the case in develo-ped countries.In developing countries, however, pro-bably infants of only 10 to 20% ofthe population could be categorizedas such.

Insights into the shifting perspectives of members of the Gypsy and Traveller community on schooling, and implications for school leaders

This article focuses on the perceptions and experiences of education of two female adult members of the Gypsy and Traveller community and one female adult member of the settled community who works closely with Travellers. Narrative interviews were conducted in England in 2016, to gain some understanding of the factors contributing to the persistently relatively low educational outcomes of Travellers. Data were analysed in accordance with the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Findings suggest that traditional cultural aspects of the Traveller community strongly influence attitudes to education and whether formal education is accessed. Whilst there are indications that negative perceptions of formal schooling have been entrenched in the Traveller community, this research found that attitudes to education may be slowly changing, particularly with younger generations. This largely stems from a recognition of the need for a level of formal education and qualifications owing to changes in the availability of traditional forms of employment for Travellers. Nonetheless, it emerged that deeply rooted negative views about formal schooling remain, particularly with regard to the perceived dangers and safety concerns associated with secondary schools. There are far-reaching implications for school leaders. Pivotal to this is a need for schools to be fully inclusive to ensure that the cultural needs of Gypsies and Travellers are met, particularly since the Traveller Education Service (TES) has been vastly reduced. For this to be possible, educators, school leaders and governors require a deeper understanding of the culture of the Gypsy and Traveller community, which should inform proactively inclusive policies, procedures and practices in formal educational settings. This might encourage more Travellers to engage with and remain in formal education, at primary and secondary school and beyond, and could also help foster positive relationships with local communities.

A Society of Individuals

In “A Society of Individuals,” I sketch a society that has no good of its own, no social end, but exists to enable each individual member better to pursue his own good, facilitating cooperation, and resolving the basic Interaction Problem (exemplified by the Prisoner’s Dilemma): that utility-maximization and Pareto-optimization are sometimes incompatible. The orthodox defend the rationality of maximization; I defend Pareto-optimization. I argue that if (per impossible) we could determine the features of our society by prior agreement we would agree to a Society of Individuals, and that we would agree ex ante to some social practice or institution is the best possible justification of it holding for us.I then sketch some of the main features of the Society. In doing this I assume that members of the Society are not all adherents of contractarianism, but may hold any of a number of reasonable views, which the Society must seek to accommodate. I consider how several alleged rights, such as a right to resources, fare in the Society. And I conclude with the idea that contractarianism, in arguing that each adult member of society enjoys equal citizenship, must afford each the right to participate in choosing and dismissing governments. We may then think the emergence of a Society of Individuals is democracy’s fulfillment.