Article
Social Issues
Megumi Kojima
Summary: This study uses unique Japanese data and applies social network analysis to investigate the impact of formal and informal social networks on volunteering. The results show a positive correlation between participation in formal social networks and the probability of any volunteering and specific types of volunteering. Friendships within informal social networks also have a positive influence on volunteering.
Article
Substance Abuse
Marike Andreas, Nadja Grundinger, Nadine Wolber, Daria Szafran, Ute Mons, Sabine Vollstaedt-Klein, Valerie Lohner, Tom Hughes, Sven Schneider
Summary: The study found that e-cigarette users experience addiction-related behaviors such as automatic use, craving, and sensory dependence, and identified unlimited usability, unobtrusiveness, and pleasant taste as key properties contributing to the addictive potential of e-cigarettes.
ADDICTION RESEARCH & THEORY
(2023)
Article
Social Issues
Luchan Liu
Summary: This study evaluated the effects of the labour service cooperation policy implemented in pilot provinces in China and found that it reduced the number of unemployed people. The policy created a new approach by combining all stakeholders and had a delayed policy effect on employment promotion. It was more effective when implemented in regions with a high burden of unemployment in the manufacturing industry.
SOCIAL POLICY AND SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Rehabilitation
Mason Ameri, Terri Kurtzberg
Summary: This study examines the knowledge and practices of small businesses in interviewing and hiring job candidates with disabilities. The findings demonstrate that it is challenging for small businesses to hire employees with disabilities and bias is difficult to avoid. Small business owners express a need for clear information on how to comply with the ADA and other laws and practices.
JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL REHABILITATION
(2023)
Article
Public Administration
Linda Bakker, Jaco Dagevos, Maja Djundeva
Summary: This article examines the relationship between different policies for asylum permit holders in the Netherlands and their command of Dutch. The study found that participation in activities and Dutch language classes in the asylum seekers reception centre contributes to an improvement in Syrian asylum permit holders' language proficiency. However, a prolonged period of stay and frequent relocations between reception centres have a negative impact. Those who have completed the civic integration programme also show better language proficiency compared to those still undergoing the programme. Early participation in the labor market or as a volunteer is also beneficial for language proficiency.
JOURNAL OF SOCIAL POLICY
(2023)
Article
Ethics
Shelly Simana, Vardit Ravitsky, I. Glenn Cohen
Summary: Embryo mix-ups have occurred in various countries and pose ethical and legal complexities. This article explores four approaches to address such cases and recommends proactive resolution through legislation and guidelines to ensure consistency and comprehensive information provision.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2023)
Article
Political Science
Herbert P. Kitschelt, Philipp Rehm
Summary: This article proposes a framework to analyze the realignment processes in countries transitioning from industrial to knowledge societies. It divides the electorate into four groups based on income and education levels and predicts how their voting propensities change over time.
POLITICS & SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Social Issues
Steven Balsam, Connie X. Mao, Min Xu, Yinge (Jack) Zhang
Summary: The impact of minimum wage increases on employment growth varies for different types of organizations. In particular, nonprofit organizations experience a larger decrease in employment compared to for-profit organizations. This is accompanied by an increase in investment in automation and a higher likelihood of nonprofit exit.
NONPROFIT AND VOLUNTARY SECTOR QUARTERLY
(2023)
Article
Political Science
Yan Xu
Summary: A considerable number of superwealthy business elites have emerged in China, but they often struggle to sustain their wealth due to the autonomous and unchecked state power in the country. The state's developmental orientation limits predatory behavior, but it can also discipline tycoons who go against its priorities. Business networks among tycoons help alleviate threats from the state, setting China apart from other capitalist societies.
POLITICS & SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Social Issues
Majid Daneshgar
Summary: This article discusses the creation and development of the scientific miraculousness of the Qur'an, which claims that the Qur'an contains scientific findings and has specific scientific features. The article highlights how it became a political-theological tool used by Muslim preachers and activists.
Editorial Material
Social Issues
Arthur C. Petersen
Article
Political Science
Diana Graizbord, Luciana de Souza Leao
Summary: This article explores how state officials promote reform without sanctioning power through the deployment of culture as a category of practice. The study findings suggest that culture-talk helps reformers account for failure and differentiate their efforts, while culture-work facilitates cooperation and access to different parts of the state. The cultural narratives and practices have important political effects in terms of legitimation, expanding jurisdiction, and survival of reform niches in Mexico.
POLITICS & SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Social Issues
Sebastian Peredo Cardenas
Summary: This research examines the political role of emotions in public discourse, focusing on the problematic nature of disgust in Martha Nussbaum's theory of emotions and its compatibility with the goal of a liberal society. Nussbaum acknowledges the inherent nature of disgust as a pre-social emotion rooted in our animal heritage, but argues that its social effects are always negative. The author discusses whether the liberal values of equality, liberty, and justice can coexist with the emotion of disgust and argues that excluding disgust from the political sphere is insufficient and incompatible with the project of a liberal society. Instead, properly utilized disgust can actually help defend the values of equality, freedom, and justice.
REVISTA LATINOAMERICANA DE ESTUDIOS SOBRE CUERPOS EMOCIONES Y SOCIEDAD
(2023)
Article
Social Issues
Majid Daneshgar
Summary: This article provides a systematic discussion of the scientific interpretation of the Qur'an both inside and outside the Muslim world, revealing Muslims' interactions with Euro-Americans and how Muslims promoted this exegetical genre from the Middle East to Southeast Asia.
Article
Social Issues
[Anonymous]
Article
Political Science
David M. McCourt, Stephanie L. Mudge
Summary: The Marshall Plan is typically explained as a result of bipartisan embrace of liberal internationalism in US foreign policy. However, this analysis argues that existing accounts overlook interpretive contention, historical contingencies, and counterfactual possibilities. The study identifies two interconnected processes behind the Plan's implementation and emphasizes their significance for the current era of great power competition.
POLITICS & SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Social Issues
Leon Turner
Summary: This article analyzes whether certain cyborgs and AI robots can be considered persons and explores how we can determine when they have achieved personhood. Depending on the interpretation of personhood, some cyborgs and AI robots could theoretically be considered persons. However, distinguishing them from nonpersonal AI entities poses a practical problem that is both significant and difficult to solve. By defaulting to treating AI entities as persons, we can avoid the potential consequences of wrongly denying personhood to a whole group of eligible entities.
Article
Political Science
Debjani Dasgupta, Glyn Williams
Summary: This research examines the development of Village Development Committees in West Bengal, India, as an example of how democratic forms of state-citizen engagement can be engineered under unfavorable political conditions. The study reveals that well-designed institutions can enhance democratic participation, but the abrupt reversal of the reform suggests that leftist parties are not always wholehearted supporters.
POLITICS & SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Public Administration
Maarten Keune, Maurizio Ferrera, Francesco Corti
Summary: This article emphasizes the need for a new systematic framework to capture the increasingly complex relationships between the European level and national and local levels in the creation and implementation of social rights, and summarizes the main contributions of the articles in the Special Issue, including the development of innovative power resource theory, the exploration of social citizenship theory, and the discussion of how social rights in the EU are increasingly the result of creative combinations of different resources, leading to a "marble cake" pattern.
JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY
(2023)
Book Review
Ethics
Monica Consolandi
THEORETICAL MEDICINE AND BIOETHICS
(2023)
