Contemporary Social Science最新文献

{"title":"Comparative perspectives on educational inequalities in Europe: an overview of the old and emergent inequalities from a bottom-up perspective","authors":"Lyudmila Nurse, E. Melhuish","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1948095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1948095","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Educational inequalities remain a major challenge to the social cohesion of modern societies. They affect the younger generations in the society throughout their development and are also becoming more varied and entrenched. Although most inequalities are linked to socio-economic factors such as income, access to material resources, educational attainment, and social class, new emergent types of inequalities are developing rapidly: spatial segregation, residence status (native-born or immigrant) (Barnes, J. (2007). Down our way: The relevance of neighbourhoods for parenting and child development. Chichester: Wiley. ISBN 9780470030721; Lareau, A. (2014). Schools, housing and the reproduction of inequality. In A. Lareau & K. A. Goyette (Eds.), Choosing homes, choosing schools (pp. 169–206). New York: Russell Sage Foundation; Lareau, A. (2015). Cultural knowledge and social inequality. American Sociological Review 2015, 80(1), 1–27. doi:10.117/0003122414565814); and the digital divide (Bynner, J., & Heinz, W. R. (2021). Youth prospects in the digital society: Identities and inequalities in an unravelling Europe. Bristol: Policy Press; Melhuish, E. (2019). House of commons education committee (2019). Tackling disadvantage in the early years. London: HMSO. Tackling disadvantage in the early years (parliament.uk)). The use of in-depth evidence about the nature and variations in experiences of inequalities by individuals, families, communities within and across European countries is an effective way to provide up-to-date insights into evolving inequalities and the social problems that arise. This paper shifts the focus of the debate about the changing nature of inequalities in modern societies by drawing upon qualitative and mixed methods advances in studying socially disadvantaged groups. Their chances to integrate into society through the educational channels are not likely to be fully achieved without significant change in the current social environment and re-organisation of education systems. The paper draws its conclusions based on recent research and analytical reports with a focus on Europe.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48776902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Specifics knowledge links between COVID-19 and urban food systems in Nigeria","authors":"O. T. Aduloju, A. Bako, A. O. Anofi","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1955957","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1955957","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant adverse impacts, in all ramifications, to the Nigerian society, especially in worsening the hunger situation resulting from the distortion of the urban food system. It has inhibited food choices and access for urban residents due to restrictions imposed on movement and human interactions. In Nigeria, the majority is in the informal economy who depend on the daily income for everyday needs, including food. This study, therefore, establishes specific knowledge links between COVID-19 and the urban food system. Also, it reviewed the impacts of adopted safety protocols and government policies during the COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian urban food supply system vis-a-vis state and non-state interventions to provide palliatives for the urban poor and vulnerable groups. The paper concluded that Nigeria has not adequately built a resilient strategy for eventualities, such as the COVID-19 emergency. Also, all measures instituted at different levels of government towards strengthening the urban food system during the pandemic were grossly inadequate as they could barely serve a fraction of the urban vulnerable. Therefore, the paper suggests a holistic policy review towards promoting resilience in the urban food system to withstand future emergencies.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1955957","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44912145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An exploration of the domains of the inequality trajectory in Zimbabwe","authors":"T. Nhapi","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1955956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1955956","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Pervasive natural climatic shocks and poverty combine to reinforce inequalities in Zimbabwe. Despite commitments to poverty eradication and socio-economic transformation through Sustainable Development Goals and the incoming Government of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic blueprint National Development Strategy 2021–2025, robust poverty mitigation gaps still exist. The aim of the article is to explore the domains of inequality in Zimbabwe. The article is secondary literature-based and relies on various applied action research studies, journal articles, evaluations commissioned by different Zimbabwean state and non-state actors. The article concludes by identifying pathways by which more robust pro-poor interventions can achieve desired outcomes of galvanising the social functioning of the Zimbabwean vulnerable.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1955956","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46991976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Governing ‘levelling-up’ in the UK: challenges and prospects","authors":"J. Connolly, R. Pyper, Arno van der Zwet","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1957495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1957495","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Following the Conservative Party’s victory in the 2019 UK General Election, and its success in achieving significant electoral gains across traditional Labour Party ‘red’ areas in the north of England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed not to let down the new Conservative voters and pledged that his government would address longstanding regional inequalities in the UK. Consequently, ‘levelling up’ became part of the public policy lexicon, and, in March 2021, the government published its Levelling Up Fund prospectus. The concept of levelling up enjoys widespread political support, has featured in important policy initiatives beyond the UK, and has been the subject of considerable theorising. This article considers how social scientists might evaluate the success or otherwise of the UK government’s levelling-up agenda. The article suggests that any evaluation of this agenda requires the need to take into account aspects of network complexity, the resource allocation arrangements attached to the policy, and what the policy signifies in terms of governance leadership in the context of delivering public value. The article concludes that the UK government’s plans risk falling short of delivering a sustained reform programme to reduce area-based inequalities.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1957495","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45249196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Immigrant families in France and their experience of professionals’ prejudice against their children","authors":"C. Delcroix","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1948094","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1948094","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Among social policies in France, those concerning childhood are primarily aimed at populations living in deprived neighbourhoods where immigrant families live side by side with disadvantaged native French single mothers, disabled workers and long-term unemployed families. However, immigrant families are ‘captives’, and they can neither move easily due to lack financial resources nor access private housing markets because some private landlords refuse to accept immigrant tenants. This article is based on in-depth studies using parents’ life-stories, family case histories and semi-structured interviews with professionals carried out in various French cities. It was found that immigrant families, most of whom come from former French colonies (North Africa, Black Africa), have expectations about the French health, social and school systems. The future of their children is at the heart of their migration project. This paper shows how these families report making sacrifices for their children to achieve success in French society, in spite of the risks of living in poverty. But one unexpected risk lies in the prejudices of some professionals against their children. The paper sheds light on how immigrant parenting in France is still shaped by colonialism and class, and how it influences the policy response with various consequences.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1948094","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47508369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"COVID-19: an age of fear, simulacra, or reality?","authors":"Zakia Resshid Ehsen, K. Alam","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1942964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1942964","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The present research aims to deconstruct the proclamatory discourses on COVID-19 circulating in the networks of cyberspaces. The study attempts to analyse whether the knowledge produced about the precautionary assumptions such as a lockdown or social distancing are intentionally highlighted through media and other social networks. For this purpose, the research borrows Jean Baudrillard’s concept of Simulacra and Simulation to analyse how the COVID-19 pandemic creates a sensation of unreal fear at the global level. This excessive sensation constructs a culture of exercising power that gradually replaces the real understanding of discrimination between reality and imitation. This projection of sustained discordance aligns with Baudrillard’s basic tenets of media simulation of reality, wherein a simulation process is a fabricated culture constructed by human beings that dominates nature through a reversal of commonsensical understanding about the relationship between nature and the culture that is constructed by man. Hence, whatever knowledge is consumed as a constructed entity remains a copy ad infinitum. The exploration demonstrates the stage of hyper-reality highlighted in the process of simulation and simulacra. The present analysis is interested in perusing the effects of interpenetration between the real/created media knowledge production through Baudrillard’s concept of simulation simulacra.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1942964","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41522109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Globalisation in the context of subjective identity, deviance and social control","authors":"G. Cifaldi, N. Malizia","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1941228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1941228","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The work addresses the issue of globalisation and deviance, in the context of subjective, social, and gender identity and forms of social control. According to many theories, over time the globalisation is destined to produce social fragmentation, destructuring of society, and increase in individual uncertainty, followed by a general amplification of forms of social deviance; moreover, the shift from social identity to cultural identity, the possibility that cultural interdependence could favour the transition from a subjectivity understood as a concept borderig with the idea of fusion of horizons, or shift to an open (cosmopolitan) subjectivity. Such uncertainties or alterations can have repercussions concerning deviance, where subjectivity prevails and leads the individual to place himself in the most useful and beneficial part of society bypassing limitations, exploiting all possible opportunities and where social control, now informal, is overtaken by self-control.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1941228","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47117363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"World disorder and peace research: a sociological, post-nationalist reading of the pathway to sustainable peace","authors":"Romina Gurashi","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1942183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1942183","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper offers a sociological reading of the concept of world order within the peace research debate, mindful of the complexity of systemic factors that influence changing interpretations. By addressing the clash of thought currents that have seen ‘traditionalist’ peace researchers interpret peace as a phenomenon opposed to conflict, while ‘progressive’ researchers view it as a social and sustainable development capable of mitigating conflict while containing disruptive aspects, this study critically reconstructs utopian conflict theories within a complex mosaic, which leads from conflict to a new vision of a peaceful world. In this view, there is no longer room for a concept of world order as expression of an arbitrary system of dominance, but a tendency to read social reality through the lenses of the complexity theories as a worldwide disorder. Following giants such as Kenneth Boulding and Johan Galtung, this paper investigates the four interconnected pillars of the new worldview – peace, society, economy, and nature – and the role played by conflict in defining its identity. Pursuing a vision that seeks to recompose the contents of positive peace and sustainable development, the researcher will try to understand the direction taken by the new sustainability paradigms.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1942183","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46514810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ascribed identities in the global era: a complex approach","authors":"Massimiliano Ruzzeddu","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1933157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1933157","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study focuses on the process of identity-building, wherein I aim to provide theoretical tools, other than social-psychology (especially symbolic interactionism), to help analyze the said process. Within the epistemic framework of complexity theories, I demonstrate that historical sociology provides sufficient background for understanding contemporary identity phenomena from a macro-sociological perspective. This enables the assessment of how, in the current scenario, identity dynamics can affect global phenomena and how the global social structure can affect identity-building processes worldwide. The notion of ascribed identities is, thus, crucial. In this study, I describe modernisation as a process where the ascribed characteristics (gender, religion, ethnicity) progressively lose their function of rigidly defining a person's identity, on behalf of personal achievements. Within this framework, I describe the current re-strengthening of ascribed identities and assess, through this description, which phase of the modernisation process is nowadays taking place.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1933157","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47904019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Polish low-income mothers: conversions of human, social and cultural capitals through their lifetime","authors":"K. Gajek, Paulina Marchlik","doi":"10.1080/21582041.2021.1931954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1931954","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to identify the human, social and cultural capitals of Polish low-income mothers, and to reconstruct the capitals’ conversion. The research was carried out using the method of (auto)biographical interview rooted in the tradition of symbolic interactionism, while data (autobiographical narratives about life) were collected in two Polish cities as part of the ISOTIS project, using the narrative interview technique developed by Schütze [(2008). Biography analysis on the empirical base of autobiographical narratives: How to analyse autobiographical narrative interviews – part one. European Studies on Inequalities and Social Cohesion, 1, 153–242], which was adapted by the ISOTIS project team. The analysis of women’s autobiographical narratives made it possible to reconstruct the events that were significant to them and the resources that they activated in everyday situations, compensating for the shortage of material capital. Recognition of the sequences of process structures occurring in the biographies revealed the narrators’ attitude to certain phases in their lives and the dominant forms of their activity that influenced their decisions and choices.","PeriodicalId":46484,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2021-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21582041.2021.1931954","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42678108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}