Social Forces最新文献

Fractal scaling of feminist politics and the emergence of woman life freedom movement in Iran

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-04-16 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf050

Mahbubeh Moqadam

{"title":"Fractal scaling of feminist politics and the emergence of woman life freedom movement in Iran","authors":"Mahbubeh Moqadam","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf050","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents a socio-historical analysis of the ways women’s everyday resistance and struggles over several decades have contributed to the emergence of the Woman, Life, Freedom (WLF) movement in Iran. Drawing on archival and (digital) ethnographic data spanning from the mid-19th century to the 2022 WLF movement, I take a spatiotemporal approach to illustrate the evolution of feminist politics in social (non)movements in Iran. I argue that while state policies have historically constrained women’s access to and participation in sociopolitical spaces, these very constraints have gradually fueled the growth of grassroots feminist politics, which have incrementally scaled up to sustain and generate new forms of resistance and struggle. I specifically argue how the ongoing dialectical interaction between the state and women’s everyday resistance and historical struggles have led to the fractal expansion of feminist politics through decentralized feminist friendship networks that cultivate (in)visible forms of everyday resistance. This study has implications for understanding how women in general and feminist activists, in particular, navigate material circumstances and different forms of spaces for change across various spatiotemporal scales, particularly in authoritarian states, where feminist politics’ creativity and adaptability become essential forces for sustaining resistance and advancing social change.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143841234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The politics of the Norwegian capitalist class: the inner circle and wealthy owners

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-04-10 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf047

Marte Lund Saga

{"title":"The politics of the Norwegian capitalist class: the inner circle and wealthy owners","authors":"Marte Lund Saga","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf047","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates the political activities of different segments within the capitalist class, comparing an inner circle of interlocked directors to a list of Norwegian wealthy owners. Drawing on a unique dataset that combines data on corporate boards with political participation records, the study compares wealthy owners and an “inner circle” of corporate directors. The findings reveal a division of labor within the capitalist class: while directors who are embedded in corporate networks participate more actively in institutionalized political settings, such as government advisory boards and business associations, wealthy owners exert their influence through financial contributions to political parties. Contrary to arguments suggesting that fragmentation of corporate networks weakens political power, this study shows that these groups continue to effectively promote their interests through distinct yet complementary strategies. The analysis highlights the continued political significance of both ownership and corporate directorships in influencing political processes, even in an “egalitarian” Scandinavian context. These findings challenge assumptions about a lack of cohesion and unity in the capitalist class and offer new insights into how economic power is translated into political influence.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143813893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Evidence for the welfare magnet hypothesis? A global examination using exponential random graph models

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-04-08 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf048

Tim S Müller

{"title":"Evidence for the welfare magnet hypothesis? A global examination using exponential random graph models","authors":"Tim S Müller","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf048","url":null,"abstract":"The welfare magnet hypothesis states that welfare generosity in destination countries is a migration pull factor. However, supporting evidence is mixed. Previous research has focused on explanatory factors in destination countries rather than in origin countries, examined migration from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development country perspectives rather than from a global perspective, and typically ignored that migration flows are not independent, thus overestimating welfare spending effects. We used exponential random graph models to examine migration flows between 160 countries and treated welfare spending in origin and destination countries as the main explanatory variable. Our findings show that social spending attraction effects largely disappear after controlling for various explanatory variables (gross domestic product, population size, geographic distance, democracy levels, and common spoken language). The migration preferences of low- and high-income groups do not mediate social spending attraction effects. Furthermore, flows between countries with similar spending levels are greater than flows between very low- and very high-spending countries, indicating migrant status maintenance. In conclusion, we find insufficient evidence that welfare spending strongly impacts migration.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143805927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Not paying unto Caesar: Christian nationalism, politics, race, and opposition to taxation

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-04-07 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf041

Samuel L Perry, Ruth Braunstein

{"title":"Not paying unto Caesar: Christian nationalism, politics, race, and opposition to taxation","authors":"Samuel L Perry, Ruth Braunstein","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf041","url":null,"abstract":"Americans’ views on taxation exercise a powerful influence on political outcomes. Yet these views cannot be solely attributed to partisanship or even racial or economic self-interest. Recent work on the cultural sociology of taxation stresses that Americans’ views on taxes are shaped by their understanding of proper social order. Integrating these insights with burgeoning work on Christian nationalism (representing an idealized ethno-cultural social order), we examine how Christian nationalism corresponds to Americans’ views on taxation and the moderating influences of key social identities. We analyze data from three national surveys containing three different multi-item Christian nationalism indexes and numerous taxation questions. Even after accounting for partisanship, political ideology, religious characteristics, and other relevant correlates, the more Americans affirm Christian nationalist views, the more likely they are to believe their own income tax is too high; favor tax cuts to promote economic growth; oppose redistributive taxes on wealthy persons and corporations; believe the rich pay too much in taxes while believing poorer Americans often do not pay their fair share; and oppose taxes to help the environment. Interactions indicate Christian nationalism’s association with opposition to taxation is often stronger among White Americans compared to Black Americans and most often more pronounced among liberals and Democrats since those on the ideological or partisan right largely oppose taxation regardless of their views on Christian nationalism. Findings extend research on both taxation and Christian nationalism, elucidating relational dynamics at play in the former and clarifying the racialized, partisan, classist, and libertarian nature of the latter.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143797833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Welfare benefit cuts in early childhood and future educational outcomes: a natural experiment

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-04-06 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf042

Dana Shay, Esther Adi-Japha, Yossi Shavit

{"title":"Welfare benefit cuts in early childhood and future educational outcomes: a natural experiment","authors":"Dana Shay, Esther Adi-Japha, Yossi Shavit","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf042","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the long-term effect of early childhood poverty on a child’s life prospects presents a methodological challenge due to the potential endogeneity of family income, making it difficult to establish a clear causal relationship. This study addresses this challenge by exploiting a natural experiment: a major reduction in child allowances and income support benefits for families with young children, which disproportionately affected large and low-income families. We examine the subsequent impact of this policy change on children’s educational achievements. Using administrative population data, we compare the standardized test scores of Israeli fifth-grade students born in 2002—just before the reform, when social security allowances were more generous—to those born in 2004, immediately after the reform was implemented. OLS and Difference-in-Differences analyses reveal a significant negative effect on the test scores of pupils from low-income, large families born after the reform. In particular, fifth-and-last birth-order children in low-income families exhibited significantly lower scores compared to their counterparts born before the reform. No similar effect was observed among children of lower birth order or those from higher-income families born after the reform. These findings underscore the lasting effect of early childhood socioeconomic disparities on educational outcomes and highlight the critical role of social security policy changes in shaping long-term inequality among vulnerable social groups.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"63 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143790119","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

It is not what you weigh, it is how you present it: body size, attractiveness, physical functioning, and access to partnership and sexuality for older men and women

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-04-06 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf046

Yiang Li, Linda J Waite

{"title":"It is not what you weigh, it is how you present it: body size, attractiveness, physical functioning, and access to partnership and sexuality for older men and women","authors":"Yiang Li, Linda J Waite","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf046","url":null,"abstract":"Physical attractiveness has been linked to better economic, dyadic, and health outcomes but is understudied. We focus here on the gendered implications of attractiveness for one component of social well-being, access to intimate partnership and sexuality, among older adults. In addition, we examine the role of body size, as measured and rated by an observer, in evaluating attractiveness and the diverging consequences for women and men. We use data from Rounds 1 (2005–2006) and 2 (2010–2011) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 2,144) to explore the association of two measures of body size, weight relative to height (body mass index [BMI]) and interviewer assessments of body size, with sexual behavior that requires a partner and sexual behavior that does not. We find that at larger body sizes as reflected in both the BMI and rated body shape, women—but not men—face a lower probability of having a partner and engaging in partnered sex, and a lower frequency of vaginal intercourse and receiving sexual touch. These associations are mediated by physical functioning for the BMI and by attractiveness as rated by the interviewer for rated body shape. We also find that women—but not men—are more likely to report finding sex not pleasurable at a higher BMI, which partly operates through the mechanism of functional limitations. We suggest that these findings reflect different attractiveness standards for men and women, which reduce women’s access to partners and partnered sex but not solitary sex, such as masturbation.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"251 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143790118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The limits of feminization: gender composition and mental wellbeing in the medical profession

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-03-18 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf039

Tania M Jenkins, Alyssa R Browne

{"title":"The limits of feminization: gender composition and mental wellbeing in the medical profession","authors":"Tania M Jenkins, Alyssa R Browne","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf039","url":null,"abstract":"As more women enter traditionally male-dominated professions, it is important to understand how feminization has—or has not—impacted work cultures, with implications for women’s mental wellbeing. Research on proportional representation and mental health suggests that as professions feminize, women’s mental wellbeing should benefit from shifting peer cultures. However, gender stratification scholars argue that interactional cultures are also shaped by macrolevel factors like institutional rules and hegemonic beliefs that may temper cultural change. We examine the case of medicine, a profession that has feminized rapidly but unevenly over recent decades, to investigate the extent to which increasing representation of women shapes not only local peer cultures, but also the professional logics and rules that frame those local cultures, in ways that may affect women’s mental wellbeing. Drawing on interviews with physicians and trainees in more- and less-feminizing specialties, we find that masculinized norms persist across fields, regardless of feminization, because these ideals are codified through enduring professional rules and logics. These ideals can negatively shape women’s mental wellbeing, as they either disengage from their work or grow frustrated with sexist expectations—especially those in more feminized specialties who expected a more “women-friendly” experience. Our findings suggest that increasing proportional representation may be necessary but insufficient for prompting profession-wide cultural change and improving women’s mental wellbeing, given the complexity of the gender structure.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143653355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Colonial legacy and contemporary civil violence: a global study from 1960 to 2018 殖民遗产与当代国内暴力：1960 年至 2018 年的全球研究

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-03-10 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf036

Christopher Kollmeyer

{"title":"Colonial legacy and contemporary civil violence: a global study from 1960 to 2018","authors":"Christopher Kollmeyer","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf036","url":null,"abstract":"This study assesses whether the legacy of colonialism continues to influence patterns of civil violence in the contemporary era. A large and established quantitative literature attributes civil violence to low levels of economic development and limited political rights, but few quantitative studies consider whether colonial legacy plays an enduring role in such conflicts. This is surprising given the substantial evidence showing that colonialism impeded long-run development in many parts of the world. Drawing on ideas from macro-comparative sociology, institutional economics, and political science, the study develops several theoretical expectations regarding colonialism’s effect on contemporary civil violence. These ideas are tested with a global sample of 152 countries observed annually from 1960 to 2018. Results from logistic regression models support the contention that (1) post-colonial societies are more prone to civil violence than non-colonized societies, that (2) ex-British colonies are especially prone to ethnic-based civil violence while ex-Spanish colonies are especially prone to socio-economic-based civil violence, and that (3) these historical effects change and evolve but never fully abate. This latter finding implies that elevated levels of civil violence are a path-dependent legacy of colonialism. The study ends by running robustness checks and discussing the theoretical implications of the study’s findings, in particular reflecting on our understanding of the long-run consequences of colonialism.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143599944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Institutional anomie, religious ecologies, and violence in American communities

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf034

Samuel Stroope, Rachel J Bacon, Michael S Barton, Elizabeth E Brault, Rhiannon A Kroeger, Joseph O Baker

{"title":"Institutional anomie, religious ecologies, and violence in American communities","authors":"Samuel Stroope, Rachel J Bacon, Michael S Barton, Elizabeth E Brault, Rhiannon A Kroeger, Joseph O Baker","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf034","url":null,"abstract":"Institutional anomie theory (IAT) posits that religion is a social institution that influences crime, yet religion has been relatively neglected in empirical research on IAT. We elaborate the role of religion within IAT, methodologically differentiate religious traditions, and empirically test hypotheses regarding local religious ecologies and community homicide over time in the United States. In analyses of county-level panel data, we find that increases in the evangelical Protestant adherent rate are directly associated with increases in homicide rates, while increases in the Catholic adherent rate are directly associated with decreases in homicide rates. Using spatial analysis to examine spillover effects from adjacent locations, increases in the Catholic adherent rate and the evangelical Protestant adherent rate are indirectly associated with increases in homicide, while increases in the mainline Protestant adherent rate are indirectly associated with decreases in homicide. The total effect (both direct and indirect) for changes in the evangelical Protestant adherent rate is the largest in the model. In sum, elaborating and extending IAT, this study theorizes and then demonstrates the importance of differentiating between specific religious traditions for understanding spatial and temporal patterns in crime.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"3-4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143528385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Overstatement of GDP growth in autocracies and the recent decline in global inequality

IF 4.8 1区社会学

Social Forces Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaf026

Roshan K Pandian

{"title":"Overstatement of GDP growth in autocracies and the recent decline in global inequality","authors":"Roshan K Pandian","doi":"10.1093/sf/soaf026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf026","url":null,"abstract":"After rising for almost two centuries, global income inequality declined substantially after 2000. While past scholarship on global inequality has explored several causes for this recent decline in inequality, these studies take for granted the official GDP figures released by national governments. A parallel social science literature has documented the manipulation of official data to exaggerate economic performance in autocratic countries, but this work has stopped short of examining the broader implications of this phenomenon. In this study, I explore the overstatement of GDP growth figures in autocracies as another contributor to the recent decline in estimates of global inequality based on officially reported GDP figures. Drawing on satellite-based night-time lights data and an empirical strategy from recent research, I compute model-based estimates of GDP overstatement in autocracies. I then combine this information with data on within-country income inequality to arrive at adjusted estimates of global income inequality in a sample of 109 countries constituting 92 percent of the world’s population. I find that between 1995 and 2014, ~20 percent of the decline in global inequality can be explained by the overstatement of GDP growth in less democratic countries. I conclude by discussing the broader implications of these findings for our understanding of global inequality and its political economy.","PeriodicalId":48400,"journal":{"name":"Social Forces","volume":"137 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143528386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0