Frontiers in Sociology最新文献

This article explores the spatial dimensions of racial discrimination in a refugee camp in Bensheim, Hesse, Germany, using three photo-based methods. In response to the growing adoption of visual methodologies in refugee research, it critically examines the potential and limitations of each method, as well as contested academic assumptions that become visible through their combined application. I conceptualize photography as an embodied practice in the co-production of academic knowledge. Employing a layered framework, this article proceeds through three distinct methodological steps, examining in turn an aerial perspective using maps, researcher-generated photo-documentation during a "go-along" with a political representative (etic perspective), and auto-driven photo-elicitation with five refugees (emic perspective). The findings show how different perspectives on the tent city in Bensheim reveal the intersection of spatial dimensions of racial discrimination, including territorial stigmatization, peripheralization, and internal zoning. Photographs taken by female refugee respondents further emphasize embodied experiences of gendered and ethnicized discrimination within a space designed to contain and surveil "young Muslim men." I emphasize the importance of researchers' reflexivity regarding both epistemological frameworks and locale when employing photo-based methods.

This paper, originally delivered as a keynote at De Montfort University, interrogates the persistence of colonial amnesia within educational, institutional, and cultural contexts in the UK. Through an autoethnographic lens, it explores both structural and embodied barriers to meaningful decolonisation, drawing attention to the epistemic violence of historical erasure alongside the deeply personal labour of self-decolonisation. Combining conceptual critique with situated narrative, the paper presents three autoethnographic vignettes that examine naming, diasporic dissonance, and joy as a mode of refusal. It argues for a dual praxis that foregrounds structural transformation while simultaneously centring introspective reclamation. The analysis ultimately underscores the need for healing, justice, and historical redress within ongoing struggles for equity and recognition.

In recent decades, the focus on masculinities as a means to sustain or challenge patriarchy has gained significant attention. Concepts such as "hegemonic masculinity", which embodies the legitimation of patriarchy, and "toxic masculinities", which encompasses its socially destructive dimensions, have been central to this debate. More recently, "caring masculinities", have emerged as a potential entry point-not without challenges or ambivalences-for deconstructing patriarchy and the gender-based violence that it perpetuates. The construction and validation of patriarchy have always been closely tied to representations of traditional ideals of masculinity and femininity. Similarly, dismantling patriarchy and gender-based violence is intrinsically connected to representations that foster and uphold gender equality. Given their capacity to create and validate specific representations, media text play a crucial role in shaping, challenging, and reinforcing gender norms and roles. By producing powerful, mobilizing gendered scripts and narratives, media can serve as a transformative tool for either maintaining or disrupting established gender hierarchies. This article focuses on TV advertisements in Portugal to analyze the portrayal of "caring masculinities" and explore how these representations challenge traditional ideals of masculinity. From a collection of 1,602 videos corresponding to TV advertisements for the ten most promoted brands on Portuguese TV in 2015, 247 ads were selected for their alignment with themes of fatherhood, domestic work, and caregiving. Using quantitative content analysis to examine this final corpus of 1,602 videos, this article explores how caring masculinities are represented and negotiated, and discusses how the presence of caring masculinities and their practices, which tend to showcase alternative models of "being a man", challenge or coopt notions of hegemonic and toxic masculinities-cornerstones of patriarchy and gender-based violence. While some ads present alternative models of masculinity associated with care, emotional availability, and non-violence, others reframe care in ways that reinforce heterosexual, middle-class, and consumerist norms, thereby limiting their transformative potential. The article concludes that media representations of caring masculinities tend to hold both emancipatory possibilities and significant constraints in the sense that while they can challenge aspects of hegemonic and toxic masculinities by legitimising care-oriented practices, they may also co-opt feminist and equality discourses in ways that ultimately stabilise patriarchal structures.

Focusing on segmentation practices in an automotive manufacturing cluster in South Africa allows us to present a detailed picture of a specific industrial labor market in the Global South. Segmentation practices are outlined in terms of the variation in employment security and quality, encompassing the use of different types of employment, wage levels, and working hours. To explain these practices in collective bargaining and at the firm level, we draw on the insights of the global production network approach, as well as the labor market segmentation approach, which emphasizes national institutional settings such as general labor law, collective bargaining systems, but also power resources of different actors. Using a deductive qualitative design, we subjected 17 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2023 to qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. This qualitative inquiry was further supplemented with quantitative data for the period 2022 to 2025 on labor norms and collective agreements, integrated within a theory-driven analytical framework. Although we find that South Africa formally adheres to a universalist labor law regime, opportunities for flexible forms of employment persist and are actively utilized within the sector. In addition, the bifurcated bargaining structure constitutes a key mechanism for segmentation. The structural power asymmetry between lead firms and suppliers is effectively transmitted to the workforce and its representation structures. This is reflected in substantially lower wages, longer working hours, and reduced employment and income security for workers at suppliers compared to those employed by lead firms. These findings demonstrate that, despite the presence of a universalist labor law regime, the power asymmetries between employers within the production network and along the supply chain as well as the bifurcated bargaining structure influence power relations between unions and employers and reproduce the distinctly segmented labor market practices in the South African automotive manufacturing network in Gauteng.

Introduction: Research on ethnoracial inequality in Trinidad and Tobago has principally focused on intergroup comparisons using broad census categories to examine differential access to key outcomes. Fewer studies, however, have examined how colorism-the systemic conferral of (dis)advantages based on one's rank on a skin shade gradient-shapes life chances. Using skin shade, an embodied cue used in the ascription of race, may offer more nuanced and comprehensive understandings of inequality. Conceptualizing colorism as a continuum bounded both between and within racialized groups, this study offers a unique lens on how skin shade structures socioeconomic outcomes.

Method: Using nationally representative data from the 2010-2023 AmericasBarometer surveys, I examine the impact of interviewer-rater skin color on two key indicators of socioeconomic wellbeing-educational attainment and relative wealth-both inter- and intraracially. I also assess the relative effects of intraracial colorism by ethnoracial group.

Results: Findings show that darker skin is significantly associated with reduced odds of attaining higher levels of education and reduced access to household amenities. Intraracially, color-based disparities persist across all groups: East Indians are most affected in terms of educational access, while mixed-race individuals show the largest disparities in household amenities.

Discussion: The study highlights the multidimensionality of colorism by integrating intraracial and interracial analyses. By centering the case of Trinidad and Tobago, the findings highlight the enduring power of embodied cues-i.e., skin shade-in structuring social outcomes. Moreover, this study emphasizes the need for increased recognition of colorism as an active and salient racialized stratifier that shapes life chances, apart from more commonly centered "racial" divisions.

Aim: This study aims to distinguish between the usage of complementary medicine and alternative medicine often jointly referred to as CAM. Furthermore, the analysis focuses on the role of religion, healthcare system satisfaction and the country of residence.

Subject and methods: The analysis uses data of the International Social Survey Programme 2021 "Health and Health Care II" (ISSP 2021) to estimate the prevalence of complementary medicine and alternative medicine. A nested logistic regression model was applied to distinguish between no medicine use, conventional medicine, complementary medicine and alternative medicine.

Results: The findings indicate that complementary medicine is significantly more prevalent than alternative medicine, though substantial cross-country differences are observed. While religious affiliation alone does not show a significant relationship with CAM usage, individuals who attend religious services regularly are more likely to use CAM in a complementary manner, alongside conventional medicine. Individuals who are dissatisfied with the health care system also are more likely to use both complementary medicine and alternative medicine. Higher levels of education are negatively associated with the use of alternative medicine. Younger individuals are more likely to use CAM and specific alternative medicine, compared to older age groups. Being female is consistently associated with a higher chance of CAM usage overall.

Discussion: Treating complementary and alternative medicine as distinct reveals different prevalence rates and influencing factors. Religion, satisfaction with the healthcare system, education, age, and gender play varying roles depending on whether CAM is used alongside or instead of conventional medicine. Cross-country differences point to cultural and health system influences. For public health, distinguishing between complementary and alternative use can support more targeted strategies to promote safe integration and reduce risks from substituting conventional treatment.

Gender continues to influence participation in rural governance and economic development. This study examines how gender roles influence participation and leadership in local development organizations (LDOs) and local economic organizations (LEOs) in Ampekale Village, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Using a qualitative case study design that combined in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation, this research draws on insights from 24 key informants (12 men and 10 women), including village officials, organizational leaders, women's groups, NGO facilitators, and community members. The data were thematically coded and analyzed to capture the dynamics of gendered participation. The results show that men dominate leadership and infrastructure planning within LDOs, whereas women's involvement is often symbolic and restricted to welfare and social concerns. In LEOs, women are increasingly active in small-scale enterprises such as crab and snack production. Although these roles are aligned with domestic responsibilities, they enhance household bargaining power and expand women's visibility in governance. Men continue to lead physically demanding production and procurement, but women contribute substantially to value addition, marketing, and household welfare. The findings indicate that entrenched cultural norms, unequal access to resources, and limited leadership opportunities constrain women's influence. To foster equitable rural development, gender-sensitive reforms, such as quotas, participatory budgeting, training, and leadership mentoring are essential.

Introduction: Newly emerging human enhancement technologies such as brain chip implants, CRISPR-Cas9-based gene editing, and polygenic embryo screening (PES) alongside preimplantation genetic testing (PGT-P) are highly controversial in Islam. However, the prevailing sociocultural dynamics encourage their uptake. In the current era of declining fertility rates, increased parental investment in fewer children has resulted in a flourishing tuition industry, accompanied by heightened academic pressure on students and widespread parental anxiety. These emerging technologies can be employed for cognitive enhancement, thereby providing an expedient solution for parents and students navigating a highly competitive educational environment.

Materials and methods: To inform and facilitate future policy decision-making, an online survey was conducted among 575 undergraduate Muslim students at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) to assess their perspectives and opinions regarding these newly emerging technologies.

Results: The findings indicated a significant level of opposition among respondents to the uptake of human enhancement technologies, with 54.8% opposing polygenic embryo screening, 69.2% opposing gene editing, and 75.3% opposing brain chip implants, reflecting substantial concerns about altering natural human attributes. The results also indicate that numerous Muslim respondents believe that Allah created humans flawlessly and purposefully, asserting that humanity lacks the authority to alter or amend this creation.

Discussion/conclusion: A three-pronged governance approach for human enhancement technologies is thus proposed, which encompasses (i) bioethical safeguards, (ii) public engagement and education, and (iii) economic accessibility. It is suggested that the Malaysian government should actively consult relevant stakeholders and various segments of the public before enacting future legislation on these technologies.

This paper explores the extent to which recognition struggles can be considered as legitimate by looking into both their ends and means. It probes into the conditions why such political resistance is waged and whether or not violence is warranted as a necessary means to achieve legitimate political objectives. The paper argues that to make struggles for recognition legitimate, they should be motivated by a just cause such as experiences of oppression as is the case of misrecognition. To prevent accusations that such experiences of injustice are subjective, they have to pass the test of the publicity criterion. Meanwhile, although recognition struggles can become violent particularly in the context of political resistance, they need not be. Violence can be resorted to as a last resort but it has to be regulated by the principle of proportionality, meaning, the use of violence does not lead to more injustices. In the final analysis, violence has to be kept at the minimum because what defines a social protest or political resistance is not the use of violence but restraint and control.