Latest articles from sociology lens

Opinion

Examining possibilities for TVET among youth with care experience

There has been exciting and robust practice and policy attention aimed toward the population of young people have spent significant time in the care system and who may face life largely on their own when they reach adulthood.  A range of negative circumstances may have led to their need for out-of-home care (e.g., abuse, neglect, abandonment) and while in care they may have faced additional difficulty (e.g., disrupted relationships).  Research has done much to advance knowledge about these experiences and...

Opinion

Refugee Professionals: What are the challenges to their professional reintegration?

Imagine being a doctor, an engineer, or a teacher—forced to leave behind not only your profession, but also your country, your family, and your friends. Then imagine crossing multiple borders and arriving in a host country with professional aspirations, only to discover that your qualifications no longer count, and that you are viewed not as a professional but as a humanitarian burden. This is the lived reality for many forcibly displaced individuals with higher education and professional backgrounds—referred to as...

Research Brief

Between God and Ground: Invisible Chains Among Farming Communities

Slavery, in its modern guise, remains a pervasive issue. In South Asian countries, which are predominantly agricultural societies and home to nearly one-quarter of the world’s population, this issue often goes unseen and unnoticed (Bose & Jalal, 2022; Kara, 2017). The perspectives on slavery within these regions vary significantly compared to the modern world, featuring the hidden and complex nature of the problem. Far from being a relic of the past, slavery in South Asia is mainly perpetuated by a...

Opinion

Welcome No More? Shifting Attitudes towards Ukrainian Refugees in Europe

Almost seven million Ukrainians have fled Ukraine since Russia’s large-scale invasion in February 2022. Seeking refuge in other European states, they were welcomed. However, recent analyses have emerged which point to an increasing discrimination against Ukrainian refugees who were displaced by Russia’s aggression, including in previously supportive nations like Poland. The shifting treatment and belonging of Ukrainians could therefore become a pressing issue, both as the war continues and once it ends. This can be linked to the idea of...

Opinion

Technology and precariousness: the employment downgrading of Europe’s middle class

Since the advent of the first industrial revolution, the growing automation of production processes has been accompanied by concerns (or hopes) regarding the displacement of human labour. Although significant increases in productivity occurred over the last century, we can argue – evidence at hand – that no mass displacement has occurred following the diffusion of computing and robotic technologies. The latter (especially ICTs), together with globalization, are typically cited as the main engines driving advanced capitalist economies from manufacturing-based toward...

Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Social Movements / Social Change

Forging A Gender-Household Plastics Nexus in The Circular Economy

Inexpensive, lightweight and durable, it is difficult to imagine a world without the ubiquitous plastics. If you have ever looked around your kitchen, bathroom or living room, you will realise something: plastic is everywhere. From packaging and bottles to bags and straws, it is hard to escape the pervasiveness of plastics. However, plastics are a double-edged sword. Despite playing an indispensable role in modern society, plastic pollution has become a pressing environmental issue. Household plastics in particular, is a key...

Figure 1: A child abuse awareness and prevention poster, part of a public campaign managed by the national government. Image created by Riko Mukuta and the National Network for the Prevention of Child Abuse, 2023.

Applied Sociology / Opinion / Research Methodologies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Children

Care equity and the welfare state in Japan: Contextualizing what the child protection system seeks to safeguard

The child abuse crisis: Japan has a lively arena of research on children’s social care. Yet, there has been relatively little attention given to social constructions of childhood, abuse, and other pressing topics of debate, particularly in relation to structural and cross-cultural contexts. This is interesting considering how widespread visual and discursive representations of child abuse have proliferated throughout Japan in the past 30 years. I recently wrote a paper on the social-cultural construction of child abuse and its possible...

Opinion

Logistics Violence and Harm: Unpacking Supply Chain Capitalism for a Critical Southern Criminology

We live in a world where 10% of the population takes 52% of the global income, while the poorest half survives on just 8.5% (Chancel et al. 2022). This wealth inequality is more severe within the Global South, where there is an extreme disparity between wealthier and poorer zones. This economic inequality also comes with high levels of state and non-state violence. For example, in 2022, 177 environmental activists were killed, 88% of them in Amazon rainforest countries, while none...

Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Population & Demography / Sociology of Organizations & Work

At risk of social exclusion: the unemployed over 50s in Europe

In the last twenty years, the labour market participation of older workers in Europe is changing. Demographic transformation, better health and a different social role of older people are leading to a different approach to welfare called active ageing. Extending the labour market participation of older workers and delaying retirement are some of its aims. An active ageing policy can be successful if the working life extension does not expose older workers to the risk of unemployment. And, whether older...

Applied Sociology / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Organizations & Work

A gender milestone: First women presidents in U.S. higher education institutions

By In today’s tense higher education landscape, one may wonder why anyone would take on the role of a university or college president. Indeed, even before the recent accusations against women academics, women who sought to or served as executive leaders of higher education institutions (HEIs) faced gender bias, racial discrimination, and other challenges. Despite this, the number of women presidents in HEIs tripled from 9.5% to 33% between 1986 and 2023. In addition to the personal and professional satisfaction...

Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

How have scholars confronted the War on Drugs in the Philippines and what remains to be done?

The War on Drugs in the Philippines, a signature policy of then President Rodrigo Duterte, killed thousands of people, predominantly alleged drug users and street peddlers from poor communities. Paradoxically, it enjoyed huge support among Filipinos including the poor as reflected in various opinion surveys and in the electoral dominance of Duterte and his allies. Naturally drawn to this complex and intriguing anti-drug campaign and socio-political phenomenon, scholars asked questions like: how to “make sense” of the popularity of the...

Opinion / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Workplace innovation: a human-centric point of view

There is no consensus about the meaning of workplace innovation (WPI) (Oeij, 2024; Oeij & Dhondt, 2024). None is there agreement on whether WPI should be seen as a cause or an effect or a mediating variable. This leaves a void in understanding WPI both scientifically and practically. We regard workplace innovation as a practice to improve how an organisation performs while maintaining or creating a good quality of work for its employees. WPI has, therefore, a causal or mediating...

Opinion / Sociology of Organizations & Work

When is a review of workplace innovation useful for practice?

Unsurprisingly, workplace innovation (WPI) has many different interpretations since the field of research has been expanding substantially in the past 20 years. Reviewing what the field has to offer is warmly welcomed. But what makes a ‘good’ review? From the perspective of the applicability of workplace innovation, its practicality is essential. A number of systematic literature reviews of WPI have been carried out that do not meet the criteria of practicality. Are these really useful? My answer is negative, and...

Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Welfare / Sociology of the Family

The larger, the poorer, the more penalized families: an Italian perspective

In Italy, as in most other advanced economies, large families are much less common than in the past. But does this mean that their needs should not be specifically considered by social policy? This question is at the heart of an article we recently published on the International Journal of Social Welfare titled “The large family penalty in Italy: Poverty and eligibility to minimum incomes”. This blog article has the aim of delivering its main results to the broader public....

Opinion / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Social Welfare / Sociology of Children / Sociology of Health & Illness

Discussing the ‘obsession’ with childhood disorder labelling

In recent decades, we have too often passed the buck of social problems to children who lack the power to say no to stigmatizing psychiatric labels. Laura Batstra and Ernst Thoutenhoofd call for reflection on these non-evidence-based, ineffective and sometimes even harmful practices. The instability of labels Recently, a well-designed cohort study reported that nearly 40% of 213 toddlers classified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) no longer met the criteria for ASD at the age of 5-7 years. ‘Recovery’...

Opinion / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Children / Sociology of Health & Illness

You are what you swallow? Considering the moral implications of psychiatric diagnosis for children

It’s not easy to question things that have been life changing for some people. As more and more people seek or receive psychiatric diagnosis, it becomes a very personal thing to question its validity. When I wrote an opinion piece in 2023 suggesting moral implications associated with increasing psychiatric diagnosis of children, I felt nervous. Nervous of invalidating the experiences of others but also nervous of the implications of questioning medical hegemony without undermining the hard fought for systems of...