Hartmut Rödel, Volker Ulbricht, Sybille Krzywinski, Andrea Schenk and Petra Fischer
In this paper a model is presented for the calculation by approximation of a drape test standardized in the textile industry. As woven fabric is of low thickness compared with the…
Abstract
In this paper a model is presented for the calculation by approximation of a drape test standardized in the textile industry. As woven fabric is of low thickness compared with the other dimensions, the fabric can be considered to be a two‐dimensional continuum. For the simulation model, the shell theory is taken as a basis. Simulating the drape behaviour presents a geometrically non‐linear field problem with considerable displacements.
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Jonathan Menary, Stacia Stetkiewicz, Abhishek Nair, Petra Jorasch, Amrit K. Nanda, Adrien Guichaoua, Mariana Rufino, Arnout R.H. Fischer and Jessica A.C. Davies
Restrictions on social interaction and travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic have affected how researchers approach fieldwork and data collection. Whilst online focus groups have…
Abstract
Restrictions on social interaction and travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic have affected how researchers approach fieldwork and data collection. Whilst online focus groups have received attention since the 2000s as a method for qualitative data collection, relatively little of the relevant literature appears to have made use of now ubiquitous video calling software and synchronous, interactive discussion tools. Our own experiences in organising fieldwork aimed at understanding the impact of different “future-proofing” strategies for the European agri-food system during this period resulted in several methodological changes being made at short notice. We present an approach to converting in-person focus group to a virtual methodology and provide a checklist for researchers planning their own online focus groups. Our findings suggest data are comparable to in-person focus groups and factors influencing data quality during online focus groups can be safeguarded. There are several key steps, both before and during the focus groups, which can be taken to ensure the smooth running of such events. We share our reflections on this approach and provide a resource for other researchers moving to online-only data collection.
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Adwin Surja Atmadja, Parmendra Sharma and Jen-Je Su
The purpose of this paper is to address the small, women micro-entrepreneur dominated and heterogeneity limitations of the Atmadja et al. (2016) study. The sample is much larger…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the small, women micro-entrepreneur dominated and heterogeneity limitations of the Atmadja et al. (2016) study. The sample is much larger, includes more men and is more heterogeneous, which allows deeper insights and more meaningful explanation of the relationship between microfinance and microenterprise performance in the case of Indonesia, including the effects of gender, lending scheme and money separation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a survey of 556 respondents across five microcredit providers in the city of Surabaya using an updated instrument. Ordered probit is used to analyse data.
Findings
Microfinance may not matter for microenterprise performance in the case of Indonesia. Additionally, microcredit schemes (individual vs group) and gender may also not matter for performance, but money separation might have some influence.
Practical implications
Non-financial factors such as human capital, spousal involvement, and money separation should be considered as important factors for improving microenterprise business performance in Indonesia, with less focus on microcredit per se.
Originality/value
This study provides further evidence that microfinance may not matter for microenterprise performance in the case of Indonesia, a populous middle income country with a very long history of microfinance.
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This chapter draws on 10 years of ethnographic fieldwork collected in gay bars from three American cities to explore the strategies LGBTQ subcultures deploy to recreate meaningful…
Abstract
This chapter draws on 10 years of ethnographic fieldwork collected in gay bars from three American cities to explore the strategies LGBTQ subcultures deploy to recreate meaningful places within the vestiges of local queer nightlife. As gentrification and social acceptance accelerate the closures of LGBTQ-specific bars and nightclubs worldwide, venues that once served a specific LGBTQ subculture (i.e., leather bars) expand their offerings to incorporate displaced LGBTQ subcultures. Attending to how LGBTQ subcultures might appropriate designated spaces within a gay venue to support community (nightlife complexes), how management and LGBT subcultures temporally circumscribe subcultural practices and traditions to create fleeting, but recurring places (episodic places), and how patrons might disrupt an existing production of place by imposing practices associated with a discrepant LGBTQ subculture(place ruptures), this chapter challenges the notion of “the gay bar” as a singular place catering to a specific subculture. Instead, gay bars increasingly constitute a collection of places within the same space, which may shift depending on its use by patrons occupying the space at any given moment. Beyond the investigation of gay bars, this chapter contributes to the growing sociological literature exploring the multifaceted, unstable, and ephemeral nature of place and place-making in the postmodern city.
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This study examines employment dynamics of youth in the central highlands of Guatemala. It is during late adolescence and early young adulthood that rural youth explore and settle…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines employment dynamics of youth in the central highlands of Guatemala. It is during late adolescence and early young adulthood that rural youth explore and settle into occupational structures that often define their economic lives and the region’s economic outlook. However, the occupational orientations of this group are poorly documented.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. A three wave longitudinal design with six-month intervals was implemented. Households were identified using random sampling based on household maps. Two individuals per household were interviewed, a female adult and a younger woman/man between 15 and 25 years old in 451 households. In-depth interviews also were conducted with 25 individuals.
Findings
Youth occupational choices were associated not only with their health, income, and standing in their household, but also their self-image, sense of independence, and control. Nonfarm jobs were found to be most attractive to youth, who identify them as more “modern” and urban jobs. The study documents shifts from farm to nonfarm jobs, gender dynamics, the impact education has on jobs for youth, and health correlates of employment and unemployment.
Originality/value
Most characterizations of employment patterns in rural areas of Guatemala focus on the “head of household,” while overlooking the diverse job activities of other members of the household. The study not only addresses a population that is often understudied but also provides a longitudinal perspective to understand job switching and youth ideas of a “good” and “better” job.
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The Latin American region experienced an electoral shift to the political left during the 2000s but this leftist shift did not radically alter the political economy of the region…
Abstract
Purpose
The Latin American region experienced an electoral shift to the political left during the 2000s but this leftist shift did not radically alter the political economy of the region. Following Jessop’s (2008) strategic-relational approach to theorizing about the state, this paper focuses on the perspective that the structure of the state is both an outcome of prior social struggles and a structuring mechanism for the social actors that attempt to enact political and economic reforms.
Methodology/approach
After demonstrating what this has historically meant for the types of state that have existed in Latin America during the past century by reviewing some of the literature on the corporatist and bureaucratic-authoritarian states and clientelism, this paper argues that the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and 1990s constituted a new type of state – the Latin American neoliberal state. This analysis is then focused on the literature that seeks to describe the new lefts in the region, while continuing to focus on the role of the neoliberal state in structuring these new lefts’ terrain of struggle.
Findings
Understanding the new lefts in Latin America and the types of reforms that they are capable of making requires that we better understand this new type of state. Due to the structural limitations imposed by the neoliberal state, the lefts are not able to radically alter the region’s political economy.
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Lia Blaj-Ward and Petra Molthan-Hill
Chapter 5 opens with a fictional scenario of a Professor of Digital Marketing on the US East Coast, who is making a cup of coffee in the morning and reflecting on the climate…
Abstract
Chapter 5 opens with a fictional scenario of a Professor of Digital Marketing on the US East Coast, who is making a cup of coffee in the morning and reflecting on the climate impact of the coffee journey at the same time as considering how she could incorporate this knowledge into her lectures in an impactful way. The Professor is considering designing an authentic piece of assessment which leads to behaviour change and has positive impact on society. The mentoring conversation she engages in is with a former colleague who has extensive experience of education-focused initiatives in universities and is an active mentor in great demand in the scholarly community. The conversation builds on Molthan-Hill and Blaj-Ward (2022), a point-of-departure paper about assessing climate solutions in a personally and societally meaningful way.
The synthesis of scholarly literature which follows the scenario and conversation has two points of focus. One is assessment. Relevant literature is referenced to further contextualize themes such as alignment, authenticity, well-being, sustainability, inclusivity and meaningful use of digital tools in assessment to develop identities and spark action. The other is the overlap between mentoring and coaching; a combination of the two is likely to support richer professional development for academics and, consequently, for their students. Climate-focused approaches in coaching have more recently been developed and are being used to facilitate resourceful responses to climate change. Two volumes on climate coaching are reviewed, to offer insights into the process of linking professional knowledge and life experience.
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Khaled Aladwan, Ramudu Bhanugopan and Alan Fish
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of work values in Jordan; as well as to demonstrate empirically, the nature of work values.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of work values in Jordan; as well as to demonstrate empirically, the nature of work values.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reported in this paper tested the factor structure of work values among a group of 493 employees in Jordanian organizations using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.
Findings
The results established a three-factor solution (job accomplishment, work nature, and job advancement) which was found to be appropriate to test employees’ work values. The results from this study revealed interesting relationships between organizational variables (sector and type of business) and work values. The findings also demonstrated a significant relationship between demographic variables (educational background and work experience) and work values.
Research limitations/implications
The research surveyed frontline employees in the Jordanian organizations. Further research is required to confirm the generalizability of the findings in other Middle Eastern countries. Importantly, results suggest that caution should be exercised in different contexts, job levels, and sub-cultural settings.
Originality/value
The work-values construct represents a little-researched area of recent times and even less so in Islamic countries. The findings of the study offer new perspectives on the work values in the Middle Eastern settings and support the overall validity of the nomological network of work value factors.
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This paper discusses my perceived positionality in an ethnographic research project on the contentious issue of female circumcision in Southwest Cameroon. My bicultural identity…
Abstract
This paper discusses my perceived positionality in an ethnographic research project on the contentious issue of female circumcision in Southwest Cameroon. My bicultural identity as a Western‐trained, African anthropologist is associated with power because of my perceived alliance with the ‘Whiteman’ (western, rational, scientific knowledge) showing how the anti‐female circumcision campaigns based on discursive practices of mortality and the harmful health effect paradigm have backlashed, suggesting the need to re‐evaluate and be aware of power dynamics between practicing and nonpracticing societies in the construction of the diverse reality of female circumcision. The ritual practice should rather be seen as opened to both rationalisation and modernisation, suggesting that there can be a synergy between local and global, rational science.
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Marx's analysis of alienated labor still explains much about how the capitalist labor process shapes the thoughts and feelings of direct producers. But Marx's analysis fares less…
Abstract
Marx's analysis of alienated labor still explains much about how the capitalist labor process shapes the thoughts and feelings of direct producers. But Marx's analysis fares less well in explaining how the work people actually do with their hands and minds leads to specific psychological consequences. This weakness stems from an inadequate social psychology. The purpose of this article is to provide Marx with this needed social psychology by drawing on the work of G.H. Mead. Specifically, Mead's philosophy of the act and his concept of aesthetic experience will be used to show how alienated labor leads to a reified mode of consciousness and a dislike of work itself. This synthesis of Marx and Mead makes good theoretical sense when we consider, first, the remarkable similarity of their respective philosophical anthropologies.