Category: Research Brief

A graphic showing how to move from inequalities to inclusion by growing together

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Research Brief / Rural Sociology / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Behind Every Business: Smallholder Struggles and Shared Hope

‘Through fields of uneven fortune and lean harvests, untiring hands of the farming communities across the Global South cultivate life and hope against the odds.’ In agricultural societies of developing economies, small-scale farmers rise early to farm the lands that have sustained their families for generations. Their labour, however, extends far beyond local needs—these crops fuel regional economies, support industrial supply chains, and cross borders to feed communities in the Global North. Despite playing a critical role in global food...

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 / Research Brief / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Social Welfare / Sociology of Children

Can we play to address violence? Feeling vulnerable while free (at school) with LOVE

“Terroriste: This word resonated in my 5th grade ears during lunch. A girl who I had barely talked to began calling me this. It wasn’t just the 5 boys in my class would come up to me shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as if it were a joke.” — Notebook entry of youth participant in LOVE program LOVE Quebec is a non-profit organization that offers programming to youth, through a social development approach with artistic means such as writing, photography, and drawing....

Political & Economic Sociology / Population & Demography / Research Brief / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Urban Sociology

Earthquakes in Turkey: reflections from past experience

On 6 February, at 04.17 in the morning, an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 on the Richter Scale hit eastern Turkey, caused by the rupture in the East Anatolian fault. Scientists have been warning about the seismic gap in Kahramanmaras province and the vicinity, and an earthquake in the area was expected sooner or later. The earthquake hit 10 provinces and affected approximately 16 million people. Nine hours later there was a second earthquake of magnitude 7.6. The scale of the...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Research Brief / Sociology of Children / Sociology of the Family

UK Secondary Education Social Mobility and Links to the PATA Theory

Financial disadvantage for children and families in the UK is a historical, persistent, and increasing issue, which affects young people’s long-term future well-being and life chances (The Equality Trust, 2022; Social Mobility Commission, 2014). For students in secondary education the achievement gap between those from low socio-economic (SES) households and their more affluent peers continues to increase, amplifying inequalities and disrupting opportunities for progression (HM Government, 2015; 2017, 2021).  Social mobility in an educational context focuses on how best to...

Applied Sociology / Opinion / Research Brief / Science & Technology / Sociology of Health & Illness

What is Medical AI Good For?

The use of artificial intelligence has grown rapidly, especially in the field of medicine, with the promise of offering advances ranging from more efficient diagnoses to safer treatments. Yet, this promise overlooks the fact that artificial intelligence still faces some pretty serious limitations, you know, the kind of limitations that prevent the machine from operating like we see in television and movies. Simply stated, artificial intelligence is still not yet that intelligent. Yes, artificial intelligence can do well at particular...

Black man raising fist in protest amidst crowd

Opinion / Peace, War & Social Conflict / Research Brief / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication

Tweeting Abolition in an Age of Mass Incarceration and Social Unrest, Part II: From the Margins to the Mainstream

Abolition, from police abolition to prison abolition, is largely thought about as being a pretty radical theory. Even amongst critical criminologists who argue against mass incarceration, the torture of solitary confinement, or the racist nature of the over surveillance, policing, and sentencing of Black and Latinx folks, abolition is often seen as an extremist or unrealistic response to a broken system. Identifying concrete ways of fixing problematic aspects of the system is for many preferable than wanting to tear the...

Opinion / Peace, War & Social Conflict / Research Brief / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Tweeting Abolition in an Age of Mass Incarceration and Social Unrest, Part I: What is Abolition?

For many people in the United States and the world over, 2020 was a pivotal year for learning about and engaging in radical protests against extrajudicial killings of Black and Latinx people by police officers. It was a year that brought a lot of attention to the now common slogan “defund the police,” especially after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd. As the world had also come to a screeching halt because of the global Coronavirus pandemic, with...

Opinion / Research Brief / Social Identity / Social Welfare / Sociology of Children / Sociology of Culture

School teachers’ perceptions of the bystanders’ role in school bullying

This particular piece of research was conducted with teachers employed in Finnish primary/lower and upper secondary schools. Ten in number were asked to unfold their perceptions of what role the bystanders play in school bullying. This text draws from their expertise to address a problem with several facets as, for example, it fuels other school problems as absenteeism. Many children choose absenteeism to avoid school because they are bullied there. Considering the long-lasting effects of bullying on victims, it is...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Research Brief / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Well-being is a characteristic of companies – not just individual workers

Work-related well-being has garnered significant public attention since the onset of COVID-19. Discussions of remote work, flexible work, and the importance of work/life balance have received heightened consideration as people and organizations across the globe adapt to an unprecedented historical moment and begin reassessing how they want to work (and live). While simply discussing work-related well-being is a step in the right direction, popular and academic understandings of well-being in the workplace have room for improvement. This is because well-being...

Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Research Brief / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Children / Sociology of Culture

Trans Children & Pathologisation in the UK

What happens when a society, backed by powerful institutions, media and majority culture designates a minority population as inherently disordered? When that categorisation and stigma is weaponised to legitimise abuse and discrimination? A new study highlights the legacy of one example of such pathologisation, focusing on transgender children in the UK. Introduction Across the globe, growing numbers of transgender (trans) children are being supported to live authentically in childhood. Global healthcare consensus now recognises trans identities, including in childhood, as...

Research Brief

Approaching normative coherence in development from different perspectives

We all have certain principles, values or norms in our lives that we follow. But what about those principles in politics? Especially since the launch of the 2030 Agenda and its set of sustainable development goals (SGDs), norms should be represented in policies ranging from the global to the local. The 2030 Agenda provides normative standards for development policies as well as sectors where the Agenda might not seem relevant at first glance. One policy can have (intended or unintended)...

Research Brief / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Organizations & Work

If you want to prevent accidents at work – then think about social, cultural or organizational aspects – before the individual.

Accidents at work are estimated to kill more than 380,000 workers worldwide every year (Concha-Barrientos et al., 2005; EU-OSHA, 2017). Although the risks of accidents at work have been reduced over the last about 30 years, the increased complexity and multidimensional characteristics of risk to workers have challenged the existing approaches to accident prevention. In recent years social, cultural and organizational aspects have become important additional perspectives included in accident prevention programs at work, and referred to as the “third...

Research Brief / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Globalization

What Are Challenges from COVID-19 to Internationalization of HE and Global Responses?

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to many aspects of higher education (HE), with a particularly obvious and profound impact on the internationalization of HE These challenges range from the restrictive cross-border movement of students and academics to various forms of international collaboration in teaching and research [i]. Moreover, earlier studies suggested that, the pandemic of 2020 would affect some countries and systems more radically than others [ii] [iii] [iv]. For example, the challenge from the pandemic to countries such...

Research Brief / Science & Technology / Social Theory / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Health & Illness / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Put to the test: For a new sociology of testing

A test can be defined as an orchestrated attempt to reveal an entity’s potentially unknown properties or capacities. A drug trial, a pregnancy test, and a planetary probe are all procedures designed to ascertain the properties of some entity. However, while tests and testing are well‐established social forms, their role in culture, economy, politics, and everyday life seems to be expanding. With smart city experimentation, randomized controlled trials in economic development, and apps to test your personality and the performance...

Feminist Theory / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Research Brief / Sociology of Health & Illness / Sociology of Organizations & Work / Sociology of the Family

Pregnancy and childbirth in prison

“I’ve got baggy tops, so I just always have to hide my bump, and like most people couldn’t recognise that I’m pregnant, so that’s a good thing”. With a prison population of approximately 9000 women in England, it is estimated that approximately 600 pregnancies and 100 births occur annually.  Despite there being an extensive literature on the sociology of reproduction, pregnancy and childbirth, there has been scarce qualitative research looking specifically at pregnant prisoners. Our recently published open access paper:...