Demystifying the COVID-19 Infodemic: Conspiracies, Context, and the Agency of Users

This article presents new empirical insights into what people do with conspiracy theories during crises. By suppressing the impulse to distinguish between truth and falsehood, which has characterized most scholarship on the COVID-19 “infodemic,” and engaging with claims surrounding two popular COVID-19 conspiracies—on 5G and on Bill Gates—in South Africa and Nigeria, we illustrate how conspiracies morph as they interact with different socio-political contexts. Drawing on a mixed-method analysis of more than 6 million tweets, we examine how, in each country, conspiracies have uniquely intersected with longer-term discourses and political projects. In Nigeria, the two conspiracies were both seized as opportunities to extend criticism to the ruling party. In South Africa, they produced distinctive responses: while the 5G conspiracy had limited buy-in, the Gates conspiracy resonated with deep-rooted resentment toward the West, corporate interests, and what is seen as a paternalistic attitude of some external actors toward Africa. These findings stress the importance of taking conspiracy theories seriously, rather than dismissing them simply as negative externalities of digital ecosystems. Situating conspiracies in specific dynamics of trust and mistrust can make an important difference when designing responses that are not limited to broadcasting truthful information, but can also enable interventions that account for deeply rooted sentiments of suspicion toward specific issues and actors, which can vary significantly across communities.

Of Vulnerability and Agency: Perspectives from Survivors of Sex Trafficking in India

The recent Anti-Trafficking Bill in India (2018) has received considerable criticism for perpetuating a paternalistic attitude towards victims of sex trafficking. Scholars, activists and legal experts have pointed out the failure of the Act to recognise the agency of trafficked girls and women. In thinking about victimhood and agency, we draw attention to the need for thinking of ‘vulnerability’ in terms of complex intersectional processes and situations that render certain persons more vulnerable to trafficking. This article delves into contexts and vulnerabilities in the process of trafficking by drawing on women’s narratives about the lived experiences of sex trafficking. It is based on a qualitative field study through in-depth interviews of 51 survivors of sex trafficking who were sheltered in government and non-government organisations in the cities of Chennai and Hyderabad.

RUSSIAN STRATEGY OF «CONSOLIDATION» OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE EMPIRE: PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL ELIMINATION IDENTITY OF ETHNICITY

The strategic orientation of the Russian government towards the conquered peoples is the policy of their alienation from their own values, material and spiritual. As a result, there is a steady trend towards depopulation, ie the extinction of a large number of indigenous peoples in their homeland. Such an orientation is inspired and supported by the authorities by destroying the traditional way of life, plundering natural resources, the impossibility of educational and cultural reproduction of the ethnos, and so on. Instead, the imperial type of identity is purposefully imposed, which is a convenient material for the implementation of the center’s new expansionist plans. It is in this context that we need to talk about the elimination of the identity of indigenous peoples: physical — in case of disagreement or resistance of the aggressor, and cultural and value — by creating artificial barriers to the preservation, dissemination and development of national identity. Recently, the Russian Federation has been steadily increasing its assimilation pressure on indigenous peoples, using both the legislative and administrative capabilities of the state. A striking example of this is the amendments to the law on education in 2018, which legitimize the total transition of national schools to the Russian language of instruction. At the same time, the authorities ignore, in particular through non-ratification, fundamental international agreements on ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples, and the usual elite, paternalistic attitude towards these paper «subjects» of the federation remains among the ruling elite.

The War on Women

This chapter looks at how the War on Women is manifested in multiple vulnerabilities for women, namely economic, bodily, and reproductive health. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate that the legal restrictions placed on women’s bodies and lives serves to police and limit women’s citizenship and contribution to America’s polis. A need to control women is an anxious response to women’s continued independence, which is seen as a threat to patriarchal structures. As such, the chapter turns to the language used by the National Coalition for Men, the Red Pill forum on Reddit, and Breitbart to describe women’s positions in US and international society, demonstrating the sexual objectification and violently paternalistic attitude toward women that helped promote the Trump campaign.

Paternalizm w prawie i etyce zawodowej

The concept of the paternalism is known since the end of the 19th century. The paternalistic attitude has been criticized not only by liberals. According to this criticism the essence of evil of paternalism lies in the negation of the autonomy of persons who are the subject of paternalistic activities. However some forms of paternalism are considered as acceptable not only in legal regulations but also on the ground of the legal ethics. The text shows in what a way ethics of legal professions in the USA and Poland protects the autonomy of clients and under what conditions lets lawyers to act paternalistically.

A STUDY OF THE POPULATION’S ATTITUDE TO TELEMEDICINE TECHNOLOGIES ON THE EXAMPLE OF ONLINE MEDICAL CONSULTATIONS

The new law “on telemedicine” requires the population’s participation in its implementation. The expansion of new methods of medical consulting should take place in a science-based context. The goal of this research is to educe the attitude of the population to online consultation. 50 semistructured interviews were conducted, analysis was used in analyzing the scripts. Main results are the picture of population’s attitude to online medical consultation, and the structure of the barriers to development of ones. The population understands the imminence of such a format, but relegates it to “not really medical” services and has a narrow interpretation of the scope of online consultation application – in terms of expanding access to services, but not in terms of improving the quality of diagnosis, for instance, in attaining a “second opinion”. Survey participants saw the advantage of this format in reducing the time spent and in leveling the territorial inequality in access to medical aid. Medical online consultations often cause distrust and anxiety (anxiety of inaccurate diagnosis, cost-saving at the expense of quality and fear of fraud). We have indicated three groups of barriers: patient and doctor availability, technical and regulatory availability of the healthcare system, and digital inequality in terms of age and geography. The respondents give the principal role in overcoming the barriers to the state, which reflects the general paternalistic attitude of the population in matters of health.

The Representative Culture of Modern Russian Students

The article touches upon the issues of several problems. Firstly, we attempt to determine the methodology of a sociological analysis of culture which is adequate for modern realities. Secondly, we will apply this methodological basis to the cultural specifics of modern Russian students in a transitive, transitional society. It is stressed that the formation of a global innovative society results in a permanent crisis with the destruction of the old sociocultural forms and the emergence of new ones, with the result that culture becomes not a “guardian of the foundations”, but an active “fermenting” power of society. In these nonlinear processes, a special importance is acquired by subjective culture. Based on F. Tenbrook’s ideas, an analysis of monostylism and polystylism of a student’s representative culture is carried out. It is noted that these processes of representation are contradictory and hybrid. Highly-valued by student youth, the values of independence, individuality, and freedom of the post-materialistic plan are represented primarily in the sphere of leisure and free-time activities. The presented typology of students’ lifestyles in the field of educational activity (“professionals”, “ritualists”, “public men”, and “conformists”) fixes a predominantly adaptive strategy of behavior based on the adoption of a paternalistic attitude on the part of the administration and the teaching staff of universities. The article is based on the materials of the authors’ interregional sociological research, conducted in the Southern Federal District in 2006, 2011, and 2016.

Pediatric Nurses’ Perception of Support for Families With Children With Congenital Heart Defects

The purpose of this study was to illuminate pediatric nurses’ (PNs) perceptions of support for families with a child with a congenital heart defect. The study used a qualitative design with narrative interviews with eight PNs in Northern Sweden, and the interview data were analyzed with content analysis. The analysis revealed that the nurses perceive that letting the parents be involved in their child’s care is of great importance in supporting the families. Although they have a paternalistic attitude to the families, they also stated that nurses should inform the parents about the care of the child, create a good relationship with the family, and build trust among all parties involved.

Dorin Cimpoeșu, Scurtă istorie critică a relaţiilor bilaterale dintre România şi Republica Moldova (1991-2016) / A Brief Critical History of the Bilateral Relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova (1991-2016)

In the 25 years since their establishment the bilateral relations between Romania and Moldova have developed very sinuous, sometimes with very steep ascents and descents. In this dynamic we can distinguish six periods, each with its own characteristics, which have been determined either by developments in the home political life of the two countries, or by some external factors which have exercised and still exercises influence over the two Romanian states. As is clear from this brief history of recent political relations between Romania and Moldova, Bucharest has seen the creation of the second Romanian state as a solution of its separation of the former Soviet empire. Romania has never had a paternalistic attitude of “big brother” to Moldova, which, however, is a historical province of his own, but treated it equally as any other state in accordance with international law.