Search results

The social and cultural duality perspective suggests dual ordering of interpersonal ties and cultural similarities. Studies to date primarily focus on cultural similarities in interpersonal dyads driven by principles such as homophily and contagion. We aim to extend these principles for sociocultural networks and investigate potentially competing micro-principles that generate these networks, taking into account not only direct dyadic overlap between interpersonal ties and cultural structures, but also the indirect interplay between the social and the cultural.

The empirical analysis utilizes social and semantic network data gathered through ethnographic studies of five creative organizations around Europe. We apply exponential random graph models (ERGMs) for multiplex networks to model the simultaneous operation of several generative principles of sociocultural structuring yielding multiplex dyads and triads that combine interpersonal ties with meaning sharing links.

The results suggest that in addition to the direct overlap of shared meanings and interpersonal ties, sociocultural structure formation is also affected by extra-dyadic links. Namely, expressive interpersonal ties with common third persons condition meaning sharing between individuals, while meaning sharing with common alters leads to interpersonal collaborations. Beyond dyads, the dual ordering of the social and the cultural thus operates as asymmetrical with regard to different types of interpersonal ties.

The paper shows that in addition to direct dyadic overlap, network ties with third parties play an important role for the co-constitution of the social and the cultural. Moreover, we highlight that the concept of network multiplexity can be extended beyond social networks to investigate competing micro-principles guiding the interplay of social and cultural structures.

Adolescence is a period of new experiences, including dating. Romantic relationships can be a source of stress; one-third of teens experience dating violence (Molidor & Tolman, 1998; Straus, 2004). Teens are also at a heightened risk for suicide; it is the third leading cause of death among teens (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2013a). Suicidal ideation, threats, and attempts occur within the context of a relationship where there is also dating violence (Chan, Straus, Brownridge, Tiwari, & Leung, 2008; Else, Goebert, Bell, Carlton, & Fukuda, 2009). Due to life course, adolescence may not have knowledge, experience, or skills to manage these situations. Furthermore, these experiences may shape romantic relationship expectations as adults. Both dating violence and suicidality have short- and long-term effects (for example, see Castellví et al., 2017; Coker et al., 2000; Exner-Cortens, Eckenrode, & Rothman, 2013; Holmes & Sher, 2013; Jouriles, Garrido, Rosenfield, & McDonald, 2009; Magdol et al., 1997; Zaha, Helm, Baker, & Hayes, 2013). However, little is known about how young women that experience teen dating violence and partner suicidality respond (except, see Baker, Helm, Bifulco, & Chung-Do, 2015). This study seeks to explore this gap.

As part of a larger study, 16 young women who had experienced a “bad dating relationship” as a teenager also disclosed that their boyfriends had threatened suicide. These young women completed in-depth, retrospective interviews to discuss their experiences. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using HyperResearch. Life course and grounded theory guided this research.

The young women that experienced suicidal threats by their dating partners were also victims of a range of abusive behaviors in their dating relationships, including verbal, physical, and sexual abuses and controlling behaviors. The young women struggled with how to deal with the suicidal ideation and the abuse concurrently. Some of the young women believed that the threats of suicide were real, and had concerns for their boyfriends’ well-being. Others believed that their boyfriend was using this as a manipulative tactic to get them the stay in the unhealthy relationship. This impacted how young women dealt with and reacted to the abuse, including if they chose to stay in the relationship or not.

This study provides narratives from young women in relationships where there is dating violence and threats of suicide, which adds to our understanding of the dynamics of how life course impacts both dating violence and suicide. The sample is small and not generalizable. Future research should include both partners to provide a more holistic picture of the relationship. Additional research should also examine any differences of experiences based on gender, race and ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation.

This has serious implications for prevention education and intervention. Policy-makers may want to consider: (1) mandating additional training for teachers and other adults that work with teens, in order to identify warning signs of both dating violence and suicidal ideation, (2) require education for teens on these topics, and (3) ensure evidenced-based interventions are accessible to teens dealing with these issues.

This paper provides a deeper understanding of teen experiences with suicidal threats and how they respond to them within the context of an abusive dating relationship. Policy-makers, advocates, school personnel, and youth may benefit from these findings, particularly in regard to developing appropriate prevention education and interventions.

Popular self-help pregnancy literature suggests a “generational disconnect” between pregnant women and their mothers, emphasizing the incommensurate experiences of the two generations. Based on longitudinal, in-depth interviews with a diverse group of 64 pregnant women and 23 grandmothers-to-be, this chapter explores how different generations of women negotiate the idea of a disconnect and its implications for the medicalization of pregnancy. My findings showed limited support for the generational disconnect. Nearly all of the pregnant women I interviewed who were in contact with their mothers consulted them to assess issues related to pregnancy embodiment. Black and Latina women and white women with less than a college degree disregarded or even rejected the disconnect; they tended to frame their mothers’ advice as relevant. Their mothers attended prenatal care appointments and frequently expressed skepticism about medical directives. By contrast, I found that highly educated white women tended to endorse the generational disconnect when it came to matters related to pregnancy health behaviors – what to eat, how much to exercise – and their obstetric care. The mothers of these women not only largely supported the generational disconnect, but also bonded with their daughter over a shared appreciation for scientific understandings of pregnancy. Foregrounding women’s perspectives provides insights into meaning-making in pregnancy and the ways that mothers of pregnant women can both stymie and deepen medicalization of childbearing.

In Weberian scholarship, conventional wisdom views the corruption of the modern rational-legal bureaucratic state by local patrimonialisms as an endemic feature in non-Western postcolonial state formation. The resultant neopatrimonial state is often blamed for the social, political, and economic ills plaguing these societies. This essay challenges conventional wisdom and argues that neopatrimonialism is a process of hybrid state formation that has its origins in the cultural politics of colonial state building. This is achieved by drawing on a comparative study of British Malaya and the American Philippines, which offers contrastive trajectories of colonialism and state formation in Southeast Asia.

Because of the precariousness of state power due to local resistance and class conflicts, colonial state building involved the deepening of patron–client relations for political control and of rational-legal bureaucracy for social development. In the process, local political relations were marked and displaced as traditional patrimonialisms distinguished from the new modern center. Through native elite collaborators and paternal-populist discourses, new patron–client relations were institutionalized to connect the colonial state to the native periphery. However, colonial officials with different political beliefs and ethnographic world views in the center competed over native policy and generated cyclical crises between patron-clientelist excess and bureaucratic entrepreneurship.

Instead of the prevailing view that postcolonial states are condemned to their colonial design, and that authoritarian rule favors economic development, my study shows that non-Western state formation is non-linear and follows a cyclical pattern between predation and developmentalism, the excesses of which could be moderated.

Depression is a prevalent, debilitating condition that will replace cancer as the second leading cause of morbidity within the next decade and, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study, ranks number one in disability-adjusted life years for females 5 years and older worldwide (Blehar & Oren, 1997; Murray & Lopez, 1996). Depression in the workplace has been linked to increased absenteeism and productivity loss, is equal to the costs of diabetes and hypertension, and these costs are almost equal to the direct costs of depression treatment (Kessler et al., 1999; Marlowe, 2002; Druss, Rosenheck, & Sledge, 2000; Elinson, Houck, Marcus, & Pincus, 2004). A national study of individuals 15–54 years documented a lifetime prevalence of 17.1% and found that depression was more common in females, young adults, and those with less education (Blazer, Kessler, McGonagle, & Swartz, 1994; Kessler, McGonagle, Swartz, Blazer, & Nelson, 1993; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2000; Kessler et al., 1994a, 1994b; Bebbington et al., 2003).