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1 – 10 of 857Violence is still an alarming issue in Brazil, a country profoundly affected by social inequality. Since 1997, studies from UNESCO in Brazil have highlighted this worrying…
Abstract
Violence is still an alarming issue in Brazil, a country profoundly affected by social inequality. Since 1997, studies from UNESCO in Brazil have highlighted this worrying situation for youngsters from 15 to 24 years old, who are the portion of the population most exposed to violence, whether as victims, or agents. In terms of deaths that are caused by the so‐called external factors (i.e. homicides, traffic accidents and suicides), the quantitative data corresponding to the youth age groups are so high that they place Brazilian indices as the third highest in the world. In the light of the above, this paper provides a brief overview of the literature on the issue of violence in schools. In addition to that, the paper from the Director of the UNESCO Brasilia Office also analyses the series of studies and researches that UNESCO has been undertaking over the past years, an effort which would culminate into one of its most successful strategies to foster social inclusion through a community perspective, the “Making Room” program.
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J. David Johnson and Omar Souki Oliveira
Central to the study of intercultural communication has been the question of what promotes closer ties between nations. This research replicates and extends a model that specifies…
Abstract
Central to the study of intercultural communication has been the question of what promotes closer ties between nations. This research replicates and extends a model that specifies three factors (perceptions of homophily, shared interests, and threats), drawn from social distance and systems perspectives, that are posited to have an influence on the desire for closer ties between Brazil and the U.S. Each of the factors have previously been identified as occupying central positions in the development of international relationships. This research extends this model by explicitly incorporating a range of communication channels which are impacted by these factors and which are also hypothesized to effect the desire for closer ties. The results were supportive of the model, with excellent goodness of fit measures for the specified model to the observed data. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for conflict management.
Youths are known as a challenging group to be engaged in environmental programs due to their fickle characteristic. This study would like to offer Global South and developing…
Abstract
Purpose
Youths are known as a challenging group to be engaged in environmental programs due to their fickle characteristic. This study would like to offer Global South and developing countries' perspectives by using Indonesia as a case study. This study gives a lesson about the top-down approach in Indonesia's proenvironmental program and its trajectories toward youth participation.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case study approach, this article tries to deeply understand the issues happening in Indonesia, particularly among the young people living in several cities in Indonesia. The author was helped by the first participant, a student with experience with air pollution campaigns. Using snowball approach, the authors was helped by the first participant to contact with her friends from different cities to join as the participant in this research. To obtain their dynamic perspectives, the researcher conducted three focus group discussions via Zoom, each with a duration of 1.5–2 h. The researcher asked for their written permission to be participants through WhatsApp text and then verbally via Zoom video call. This research was done during the lockdown status of COVID-19 pandemic; thus, it was advised to do every research activity online. Based on their experience, the participants were divided into three groups: volunteers, influencers and university students aged 18–21. These Focus Group Discussion (FGD) results were transcribed and coded into behavior, peer support and knowledge by the author.
Findings
This study found that youths in Indonesia are concerned about the community's perspective on the environment; thus, their behavior will mirror others as part of a collectivist society. Parents, friends and the community are their role models when practicing proenvironmental behavior. Next, environmental education should be embedded in school curricula and religious centers. In addition, they should apply an open and democratic approach to reach youths' participation effectively. Programs and curricula with a top-down approach should be avoided to maintain sustainable actions. Last, there is an urgent need to develop citizens' literacy about environmental issues because it will highly influence young generations.
Research limitations/implications
There should be more discussion on developing environmental knowledge for citizens at large. First, the next research should focus on the curricula development in formal and nonformal organisations, focusing on youths' voices during the process. In a proenvironmental program, honoring and prioritizing youth voices is central to youth work. Second, there should be further research on using a democratic approach for building conversation and discussion on environmental issues rather than a top-down approach. Further, researchers must focus on Indonesians' literacy in general, especially older and mature citizens, since their perspective will affect youths' behavior in the long term. These positive attitudes cannot be perceived and sustained if the community comments negatively toward proenvironmental behavior. Last, there is a lack of exploration to the influencers group to show their differences with other groups. Other researchers could further explore this in the future.
Practical implications
Multiple approaches must be used continuously to ask and seek youths' opinions, listen to what youths want and then prioritize them in the program. Rather than using programmatic design and delivery to shape social attitudes and behavior, campaigners should discuss with youths and influencers on creating their campaigns rather than maintain the program's sustainability. Environmental campaign messages should integrate with creative storytelling to build engagement with young people. By implementing this, youths could share their expressions using photography, narration, music, etc.
Originality/value
Indonesia becomes a significant case study for this research due to its political and cultural system. Indonesia is known as a paternalistic and corporatist country where the practice of citizenship is challenged by the issue of power dynamics and imbalance. Therefore, a top-down communication is a common practice to create a quick-fix solution to foster productivity. Further, Indonesia has an environmental problem which made it vital for climate study. Globally, Indonesia ranks third in greenhouse gas emission after China and India. Recently, its capital city, Jakarta, is ranked as the worst-polluted city in the world.
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This paper intends to compare the sustainability reporting (SR) in three different national and institutional contexts, namely Italy, Brazil and USA, and aims to investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper intends to compare the sustainability reporting (SR) in three different national and institutional contexts, namely Italy, Brazil and USA, and aims to investigate whether companies show a different approach to SR depending on the institutional setting where they operate.
Design/methodology/approach
To reach this goal, a sample of 150 reports was content-analyzed through a methodology based on a coding process which overcomes part of the limitations in previous works.
Findings
Results observed a relationship between the SR and the characteristics of institutional contexts, thus suggesting that while there is a general acceptance and use of international SR standards and initiatives, the content is influenced by and shaped on the characteristics of the national institutional context. In other words, although a widely diffused base of data and information can be found in the SR of companies in different contexts, the accent is put on specific issues which reflect the political, cultural, religious, legal and otherwise defined institutions in the national system.
Originality/value
Using the institutional theory the paper demonstrated that institutional contexts is one of the drivers of contents of sustainability reports.
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Marina Sayon, Luciana Florêncio de Almeida and Mateus Canniatti Ponchio
This paper aims to systematically review male cosmetics consumption (CC) literature and, given the dearth of research about the topic, especially on Western emerging country…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to systematically review male cosmetics consumption (CC) literature and, given the dearth of research about the topic, especially on Western emerging country contexts, to shed light on the paradoxical behaviour concerning male grooming by empirically assessing the impact of some psychological and demographic antecedents of consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
Six hypotheses derived from a systematic review of the literature were tested through structured equation modelling (SEM), based on data of 476 Brazilian men.
Findings
The results empirically sustain the positive influence of vanity and masculinity in grooming product consumption, with partial mediation of vanity between masculinity and consumption. Counterintuitively, it also confirms the negative influence of income. Age and marital status are not statistically relevant.
Practical implications
Practitioners should invest in marketing actions focusing on low-income men, who showed genuine interest in grooming products, promoting them as powerful tools to improve appearance and social recognition. Additionally, educational and wellness-related campaigns could be effective.
Social implications
Beyond profitability, economic growth and men’s well-being, the results might affect the whole society through male cosmetics' contribution to blending gender paradigms.
Originality/value
This study focuses on an economically relevant segment that defies the status quo. It is the first to systematically demonstrate the state of the art of male CC knowledge and to illuminate the role of psychological and demographic variables in influencing CC, enriching the literature on appearance, gender and consumption.
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This paper aims to provide an overview of an expanded, workable conception of rural youth and adult education that will move Brazil closer to a fair, egalitarian society focused…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an overview of an expanded, workable conception of rural youth and adult education that will move Brazil closer to a fair, egalitarian society focused on human development.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a qualitative bibliographic perspective, analyzing historical data extracted from bibliographic and empirical research on rural education – assumptions for thinking about lifelong learning for young and adult peasants – and education and learning for all throughout life.
Findings
Education is critical in a democracy, forming the foundation of social, cultural and political citizenship, critical decision-making and an informed populace. Therefore, teacher education policies aimed at rural education in Brazil must be strengthened, funded and improved.
Research limitations/implications
This research does not present similarities and differences compared to European experiences; instead, it suggests expanding studies on this topic in other international contexts through developmental research to widen the discussion.
Practical implications
Providing high-quality, customized training for the teachers who teach the vastly diverse body of rural students is essential in terms of empowering and recognizing young and adult peasants’ right to learn.
Social implications
“Education for all throughout life” has become a recognized right. Democracies must universalize this right by developing public policies, implementing them throughout the entire population and monitoring progress to verify that everyone – including the poorest peasant in the remotest countryside – has the tools to learn effectively.
Originality/value
By placing this study in the context of youth and adult learning, the study complements research that has addressed this topic in different international contexts, contributing broadly to knowledge regarding teacher education for rural areas and, more generally, to the implications of lifelong learning.
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This article explains the process of construction and configuration of the Brazilian social imaginary on the global '68 using the daily press as source material.
Abstract
Purpose
This article explains the process of construction and configuration of the Brazilian social imaginary on the global '68 using the daily press as source material.
Design/methodology/approach
It looks at the narratives conveyed by the press about the condition, situation, motivations, aspirations and capacity for action of young university students. The analysis is focused mainly on the usage of totalitarian language and permits an in-depth view of the reality of life in Brazil at the time and the role played by the students in the resistance to the dictatorship. It also includes an analysis of how other students' protests of 1968 – in Poland and Mexico – were portrayed through the media, and how they helped to shape the collective imaginary about Brazilian university students, situating it in a conjuncture of broader dimensions and connections.
Findings
The youth of Brazil, Poland and Mexico were represented as active political and social subjects, capable of defying, and sometimes profoundly upsetting, the established order. Violence and the discourse of violence were constant unifying elements in the narratives created by the daily press. This helped generate an image of university students which portrayed them as a rebellious, revolutionary and/or subversive sector of the population, responsible for one of the most extensive and profound social and political crises which those countries had experienced in decades.
Originality/value
This is the first study of the Brazilian reception of the '68 Polish and Mexican students' protest and its implications for the social narrative of students' resistance in Brazil.
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Paulo Roberto Amorim Loureiro, Tito Belchior Silva Moreira and Adolfo Sachsida
An important question about the determinants of suicide refers to the role of media. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are groups of people who…
Abstract
Purpose
An important question about the determinants of suicide refers to the role of media. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are groups of people who are susceptible to suicide as a result of the effect of media.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data for the 27 Brazilian states, for the period 1980-2009, to investigate the impact of the media index, unemployment rate, divorce rate and other explanatory variables on the rate of suicide by gender and age. First of all, the authors estimated a model of fixed effects panel. The second estimation method makes use of dynamic panel data with instrumental variables. Each of the results generated by these two estimated models is compared with those obtained by ordinary least squares in stacked data. The authors develop a model about the suicide epidemic where the media works as a contagion effect to disseminate suicidal behavior.
Findings
The authors observe that, the media index is the third motivator of suicide, after unemployment and violence, for all groups of people. The estimated model shows that 1 percent increase in media index increases suicide rate of young men (aged between 15 and 29 years) at 4.22 percent.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical results are limited because the authors developed a media index based on quantities of televisions and radios. The authors suggest other research include social media in the index as well.
Originality/value
This result seems to suggest a type of contagion effect on suicide rates, which reinforces the results obtained by Cutler et al. (2001).
Sonia Tucunduva Philippi and Ana Carolina Barco Leme
– This paper aims to evaluate the effects of a school-based obesity prevention program targeting Brazilian adolescent girls on dietary intake and meal frequency.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the effects of a school-based obesity prevention program targeting Brazilian adolescent girls on dietary intake and meal frequency.
Design/methodology/approach
It was a six-month school-based group randomized controlled trial with female adolescents. The intervention was based on the Social Cognitive Theory and focused on ten nutrition and physical activity key messages. Diet intake was measured using a validated food frequency questionnaire, and the food items were aggregate into the eight food groups of the Brazilian Food Guide Pyramid. The meals frequency assessed were breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack-in-between-meals, the frequency ranged from never to everyday. Linear mixed models were used to examine the dietary effects and chi-squared test to identify proportional differences among groups in meal frequency. All analyses followed intention-to-treat principles and alpha levels of p ≤ 0.05 were set.
Findings
After six months from baseline, changes in the fruits (mean [SE] 12.48 kcal [7.86], p = 0.005), vegetables (8.80 kcal [7.11], p = 0.006) and sugar (−55.98 kcal [50.70], p = 0.036) groups were demonstrated. Proportional difference was shown for snack-in-between-meals (p = 0.001), and the frequency most cited was for “five to six days” per week.
Originality/value
The “Healthy Habits, Healthy Girls-Brazil” showed promise in the adolescents’ dietary intake and could be used as framework for future interventions. Also, the methods used for dietary intake can be enhanced and implemented for future studies.
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Adriano Stadler, Anete Alberton and Anne M.J. Smith
This paper examines entrepreneurship education (EE) in Brazil and Scotland and unpacks convergent and divergent practices in vocational education (VE). The authors evaluate access…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines entrepreneurship education (EE) in Brazil and Scotland and unpacks convergent and divergent practices in vocational education (VE). The authors evaluate access to EE in VE and suggest and how it might be advanced in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA); interpretative analysis of interviewee experiences with 12 educationalists, in management and academic roles, from two Brazilian and two Scottish VE institutions, contextual findings inform advances.
Findings
In Scotland, there is a well-defined entrepreneurial ecosystem where government policy and partners support and monitor provision of and accessibility to EE. In Brazil, government does not regulate policy provision of EE, and there is no defined entrepreneurial ecosystem of partners. IPA enabled the authors to examine divergent entrepreneurial education provision and evaluate accessibility to EE in Brazil.
Research limitations/implications
Implications include ways to advance educational inclusivity and accessibility for VE students in Brazil and a call to address availability through policy is underpinned by empirical data. Contextual characteristics of the study might be considered limiting but address a broad call to contribute to EE in VE settings.
Practical implications
The findings of this study equip educationalists with new knowledge about advancing EE provision and delivery in VE, which in turn supports inclusivity.
Originality/value
The authors contribute directly to an agenda that will create impact for young Brazilians through accessible EE models that place EE in VE at the forefront of social change in Brazil.
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