Download or read book Sociality Hierarchy Health written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sociality, Hierarchy, Health: Comparative Biodemography is a collection of papers that examine cross-species comparisons of social environments with a focus on social behaviors along with social hierarchies and connections, to examine their effects on health, longevity, and life histories. This report covers a broad spectrum of nonhuman animals, exploring a variety of measures of position in social hierarchies and social networks, drawing links among these factors to health outcomes and trajectories, and comparing them to those in humans. Sociality, Hierarchy, Health revisits both the theoretical underpinnings of biodemography and the empirical findings that have emerged over the past two decades.
Download or read book The Group Effect written by John Bruhn and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-06-06 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sociologists and anthropologists have had a long interest in studying the ways in which cultures shaped different patterns of health, disease, and mortality. Social scientists have documented low rates of chronic disease and disability in non-Western societies and have suggested that social stability, cultural homogeneity and social cohesion may play a part in explaining these low rates. On the other hand, in studies of Western societies, social scientists have found that disease and mortality assume different patterns among various ethnic, cultural and social-economic groups. The role of stress, social change and a low degree of cohesion have been suggested, along with other factors as contributing to the variable rates among different social groups. Social cohesion has been implicated in the cause and recovery from both physical and psychological illnesses. Although there has been a large amount of work established the beneficial effects of cohesion on health and well-being, relatively little work has focused on HOW increased social cohesion sustains or improves health. This work is based on the premise that there are risk factors, including social cohesion that regulate health and disease in groups. One of the challenges is how to measure social cohesion – it can be readily observed and experienced but difficult to quantify. A better understanding of how social cohesion works will be valuable to improving group-level interventions.
Download or read book Subjective Social Status and Health Environmental Antecedents and Molecular Mechanisms written by Melissa Renee Fales and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social status, one's relative rank in a social hierarchy, is a ubiquitous part of human social life. A large focus of the literature has been on subjective social status (SSS), more specifically, which is one's psychological perception of his position within the social hierarchy. It is also one factor that accounts for variation in health. While there is abundant evidence for an association between SSS and health, there are several important gaps in this literature. First, the antecedents of SSS remain largely unknown. What developmental and contextual factors (Chapter II) and observable cues (Chapter III) predict whether an individual will experience high or low SSS? Second, there is limited research regarding how social hierarchies unfold over time in a population of young adults. How does SSS in young adults change in a new social group and affect physical and mental health (Chapter IV)? Beyond needing to clarify the antecedents and stability of SSS, the molecular mechanisms explaining the relationship between SSS and health remain unclear (Chapter V). Chapters II, III, and IV tested aims in a sample of 94 undergraduate college freshmen living in residence halls. Results of Chapter II indicated that how individuals appraised potentially negative social situations predicted SSS, whereas early life stress did not. Chapter III results suggested that other-rated attractiveness, and dominance to a lesser extent, positively predicted SSS rated by an individual and by outside observers. Together, Chapters II and III highlight contextual and observable cues that predict SSS. The findings of Chapter IV identified that SSS was stable or increased for the majority of freshmen throughout the academic year, but SSS did not reliably predict physical or mental self-rated health; this is perhaps due to the nature of the social group targeted. Chapter V, a study conducted in a population of 47 young, healthy women, revealed that lower SSS individuals have heightened pro-inflammatory gene expression. Thus, those lower in SSS likely perceive diminishing social resources and a threatening social world, which manifests as heightened inflammatory processes, and has potential downstream consequences for inflammatory-related illness.
Download or read book Social Capital and Mental Health written by Kwame McKenzie and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. This book was released on 2006-03-21 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: `The effects of social context and social structure on health are well documented. The concept of social capital provides a slightly different take on the issue, as it attempts to discover the features of populations in different areas that are crucial in determining the extent and the quality of social interactions and the social institutions within society. Such factors as social networks, levels of participation in civil life (as a citizen) and levels of trust within communities are all associated with social capital. This book provides a detailed exploration of the concept, on its effects on psychological functioning and on the risk factors for mental health that are associated with communities that have either high or low levels of social capital.' - Community Care Why do some areas have a higher prevalence of mental illness than others? How does the structure of a society affect its inhabitants' mental health? This remarkable book is the first to explore in detail the concept of social capital and its implications for mental health policy. Drawing on evidence from international research and fieldwork, the contributors examine the risk factors for mental health associated with both low and high social capital communities. They discuss the importance of relationships between individuals, groups and abstract bodies such as the state and outline different systems of social capital, for example intra-group `bonding' and inter-group `bridging'. The authors challenge the notion of community as a strictly area-based concept and call for broader-based studies of communities built around race, faith or even around a common social exclusion. Social Capital and Mental Health also reviews methods of measuring social capital, analyses the implications of research findings for future policy developments and makes clear recommendations for future practice and research. This book will be an informative and engaging read for sociologists and psychiatrists, and an incisive resource for policy makers and practitioners.
Download or read book Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health written by Jeannine Coreil and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2010 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is intended as a core textbook for courses in public health that examines current issues in health from a social and behavioral science perspective. It is a cross-disciplinary course (public health, medical sociology, health psychology, medical anthropology) and thus there are many ways to teach the course based on a particular instructor's perspective. The authors wrote the book because they were dissatisfied with the way other texts apply social science to public health and found that many texts being used were from related fields such as medicine, nursing or general health.The authors are planning to do a major revision based on reviews they have collected and the reviews we have collected. We believe the revised edition will essentially be a new text based on rich feedback. They will include new theory, new cases, new research, and a rich ancillary package. They will also reduce the frameworks presented to make the book more readable to students.
Download or read book Systems Theory and the Sociology of Health and Illness written by Morten Knudsen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-10-30 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern societies and organizations are characterized by multiple kinds of observations, systems, or rationalities, rather than singular identities and clear hierarchies. This holds true for healthcare where we find a range of different perspectives – from medicine to education, from science to law, from religion to politics – brought together in different types of arrangements. This innovative volume explores how this polycontexturality plays out in the healthcare arena. Drawing on systems theory, and Luhmann’s theory of social systems as communicative systems in particular, the contributors investigate how things – drugs, for example – and bodies are observed and constructed in different ways under polycontextural conditions. They explore how the different types of communication and observation are brought into workable arrangements – without becoming identical or reconciled – and discuss how health care organizations observe their own polycontexturality. Providing an analysis of healthcare structures that is up to speed with the complexity of healthcare today, this book shows how society and its organizations simultaneously manage contexts that do not fit together. It is an important work for those with an interest in health and illness, social theory, Niklas Luhmann, organizations and systems theory from a range of backgrounds including sociology, health studies, political science and management.
Download or read book Social Structure and Health in a Changing Society written by Sonja Hedström and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Animal Social Networks written by Dr. Jens Krause and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The scientific study of networks - computer, social, and biological - has received an enormous amount of interest in recent years. However, the network approach has been applied to the field of animal behaviour relatively late compared to many other biological disciplines. Understanding social network structure is of great importance for biologists since the structural characteristics of any network will affect its constituent members and influence a range of diverse behaviours. These include finding and choosing a sexual partner, developing and maintaining cooperative relationships, and engaging in foraging and anti-predator behavior. This novel text provides an overview of the insights that network analysis has provided into major biological processes, and how it has enhanced our understanding of the social organisation of several important taxonomic groups. It brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines with the aim of providing both an overview of the power of the network approach for understanding patterns and process in animal populations, as well as outlining how current methodological constraints and challenges can be overcome. Animal Social Networks is principally aimed at graduate level students and researchers in the fields of ecology, zoology, animal behaviour, and evolutionary biology but will also be of interest to social scientists.
Download or read book Status Syndrome written by Michael Marmot and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title asks whether you live longer if you choose the right career?. Why do Oscar winners live for an average of four years longer than other Hollywood actors? Who experiences the most stress - the decision-makers or those who carry out their orders? Why do the Japanese have better health than other rich populations, and Keralans in India have better health than other poor populations - and what do they have in common? In this eye-opening book, internationally renowned epidemiologist Michael Marmot sets out to answer these and many other fascinating questions in order to understand the relationship between where we stand in the social hierarchy and our health and longevity. It is based on more than thirty years of front-line research between health and social circumstances. Marmot's work has taken him round the world showing the similar patterns that could be affecting the length of your life - and how you can change it.
Download or read book The Health Gap written by Michael Marmot and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-10 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Punchily written ... He leaves the reader with a sense of the gross injustice of a world where health outcomes are so unevenly distributed' Times Literary Supplement 'Splendid and necessary' Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm, New Statesman There are dramatic differences in health between countries and within countries. But this is not a simple matter of rich and poor. A poor man in Glasgow is rich compared to the average Indian, but the Glaswegian's life expectancy is 8 years shorter. The Indian is dying of infectious disease linked to his poverty; the Glaswegian of violent death, suicide, heart disease linked to a rich country's version of disadvantage. In all countries, people at relative social disadvantage suffer health disadvantage, dramatically so. Within countries, the higher the social status of individuals the better is their health. These health inequalities defy usual explanations. Conventional approaches to improving health have emphasised access to technical solutions – improved medical care, sanitation, and control of disease vectors; or behaviours – smoking, drinking – obesity, linked to diabetes, heart disease and cancer. These approaches only go so far. Creating the conditions for people to lead flourishing lives, and thus empowering individuals and communities, is key to reduction of health inequalities. In addition to the scale of material success, your position in the social hierarchy also directly affects your health, the higher you are on the social scale, the longer you will live and the better your health will be. As people change rank, so their health risk changes. What makes these health inequalities unjust is that evidence from round the world shows we know what to do to make them smaller. This new evidence is compelling. It has the potential to change radically the way we think about health, and indeed society.
Download or read book Status Syndrome written by M. G. Marmot and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We have remarkably good health in the rich countries of the world. Yet still our position in the social hierarchy is intimately related to our chances of getting ill and to how long we live.
Download or read book Hierarchy in the Forest written by Christopher BOEHM and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are humans by nature hierarchical or egalitarian? Hierarchy in the Forest addresses this question by examining the evolutionary origins of social and political behavior. Christopher Boehm, an anthropologist whose fieldwork has focused on the political arrangements of human and nonhuman primate groups, postulates that egalitarianism is in effect a hierarchy in which the weak combine forces to dominate the strong. The political flexibility of our species is formidable: we can be quite egalitarian, we can be quite despotic. Hierarchy in the Forest traces the roots of these contradictory traits in chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, and early human societies. Boehm looks at the loose group structures of hunter-gatherers, then at tribal segmentation, and finally at present-day governments to see how these conflicting tendencies are reflected. Hierarchy in the Forest claims new territory for biological anthropology and evolutionary biology by extending the domain of these sciences into a crucial aspect of human political and social behavior. This book will be a key document in the study of the evolutionary basis of genuine altruism. Table of Contents: The Question of Egalitarian Society Hierarchy and Equality Putting Down Aggressors Equality and Its Causes A Wider View of Egalitarianism The Hominoid Political Spectrum Ancestral Politics The Evolution of Egalitarian Society Paleolithic Politics and Natural Selection Ambivalence and Compromise in Human Nature References Index Reviews of this book: This well-written book, geared toward an audience with background in the behavioral and evolutionary sciences but accessible to a broad readership, raises two general questions: 'What is an egalitarian society?' and 'How have these societies evolved?'...[Christopher Boehm] takes the reader on a journey from the Arctic to the Americas, from Australia to Africa, in search of hunter-gatherer and tribal societies that emanate the egalitarian ethos--one that promotes generosity, altruism and sharing but forbids upstartism, aggression and egoism. Throughout this journey, Boehm tantalizes the reader with vivid anthropological accounts of ridicule, criticism, ostracism and even execution--prevalent tactics used by subordinates in egalitarian societies to level the social playing field...Hierarchy in the Forest is an interesting and thought-provoking book that is surely an important contribution to perspectives on human sociality and politics. --Ryan Earley, American Scientist Reviews of this book: Combing an exhaustive ethnographic survey of human societies from groups of hunter-gatherers to contemporary residents of the Balkans with a detailed analysis of the behavioral attributes of non-human primates (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos), Boehm focuses on whether humans are hierarchical or egalitarian by nature...[Boehm's hypotheses] are invariably intriguing and well documented...He raises topics of wide interest and his book should get attention. --Publishers Weekly Boehm has been the first to look at egalitarianism with a cold, unromantic eye. He sees it as a victory over hierarchical tendencies, which are equally marked in our species. I would predict that his insightful examination will reverberate within anthropology and the social sciences as well as among biologists interested in the evolution of social systems. --Frans de Waal, Emory University Hierarchy in the Forest is an original and stimulating contribution to thinking about the origins of egalitarianism. I personally find Boehm's ideas convincing, but whether one agrees with him or not, he has formulated his hypotheses in such a way that this book is likely to set the terms of the discussion for the forseeable future. --Barbara Smuts, University of Michigan The most unique and interesting feature of this clear, well written book is the way Boehm links the study of nonhuman primates (particularly chimpanzees) to traditional concepts of political anthropology. As a political scientist, I was intrigued by Boehm's suggestion that democracy, both ancient and modern, could be understood as the expression of the same natural dispositions that support the egalitarianism of nomadic bands and sedentary tribes. I expect that many scholars in biology, anthropology, and the social sciences would learn from this stimulating book. Even those who disagree with Boehm's arguments are likely to be provoked in instructive ways. --Larry Arnhart, Northern Illinois University Chris Boehm boldly and cogently attacks a whole orthodoxy in anthropology which sees hunter-gatherer 'egalitarianism' as somehow the basic form of human society. No praise can be too high for Boehm's brilliant and courageous book. --Robin Fox, Rutgers University
Download or read book Social Hierarchy and Health Among Adolescents written by Miranda Lucia Ritterman and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a well-established inverse graded relationship between social class and infant, child, and adult health but this gradient is inconsistent and understudied among adolescents. The empirical inquiry into health inequalities among adolescents is of particular significance because health in adulthood is strongly influenced by early life circumstances. Current research suggests that social stratification, as reflected by adolescent perceived class identity, may be an important determinant of adolescent health independent of traditional objective social class indicators. This dissertation research was conducted using data Mexican adolescents living in poverty with the following objectives: 1) to examine the associations between adolescent risk behaviors and adolescent perceived class identity, using two subjective social status (SSS) scales and introducing a new indicator: "anticipated social mobility"; 2) to examine whether or not these associations persist after controlling for traditional indicators of socioeconomic position; and 3) to investigate demographic, psychosocial and socioeconomic correlates of adolescent class identity within a new national context and among a socioeconomically homogenous cohort. Adolescents were from households that qualified for the Mexican government's poverty alleviation program, "Oportunidades". Individual, household and neighborhood data were collected on urban households in seven states in Mexico in 2004 as part of the evaluation of this welfare program. The adolescent module was completed by approximately 7900 adolescents aged twelve to twenty-two. This dissertation highlights the known and unknown dimensions of adolescent class identity and health, filling in gaps in the scientific understanding of the social gradient in health during adolescence. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the dissertation. Chapter 2 reports on the shape of social class gradients for substance use among Mexican adolescents. Multiple logistic regressions are used to estimate the associations of objective indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) and SSS--at both community and societal levels-with smoking, alcohol and drug use. Chapter 3 examines multiple dimensions of social position in relation to obesity-related behaviors. Multiple objective and subjective measures of social position are used including parental education, household expenditures, community and society SSS, and school dropout status. Ordinal logistic regressions are used to estimate the associations between parental, household and adolescent indicators of social position and obesity risk. The first objective of Chapter 4 is to examine the association between adolescent risk behaviors and a new indicator of adolescent relative social position, adolescent anticipated social mobility. Anticipated social mobility was calculated for each subject by taking the difference between their rankings on two 10-rung ladder scales that measured (1) projected future social status and (2) current SSS within Mexican society. This chapter then investigates potential underlying demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial determinants of this indicator. Multiple logistic regression analyzes are used to estimate the strength of associations in this chapter. Chapter 5 provides a summary of the findings from Chapters 2, 3 and 4. In addition, suggested future research directions and policy implications are discussed. This dissertation has contributed to the literature on health inequities by providing data on cross-sectional associations between objective and subjective indicators of social class and multiple risk behaviors in a vulnerable urban adolescent population. Findings provide evidence that there is a social gradient in health during adolescence. Adolescents who have dropped out of school and perceive themselves as having little control over their destinies are more likely to perceive themselves as having low social status and being downwardly mobile. Subjective measures of adolescent class identity, including subjective social status and anticipated social mobility, may be more effective than conventional indicators of social class in explaining the association between social position and health during this transitional period. The conclusion from this work suggests the usefulness of subjective indicators of adolescent class identity for further studies of adolescent populations, particularly those with a restricted range of socioeconomic statuses.
Download or read book Social Media Sociality and Survey Research written by Craig A. Hill and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-09-25 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides the knowledge and tools needed for the future of survey research The survey research discipline faces unprecedented challenges, such as falling response rates, inadequate sampling frames, and antiquated approaches and tools. Addressing this changing landscape, Social Media, Sociality, and Survey Research introduces readers to a multitude of new techniques in data collection in one of the fastest developing areas of survey research. The book is organized around the central idea of a "sociality hierarchy" in social media interactions, comprised of three levels: broadcast, conversational, and community based. Social Media, Sociality, and Survey Research offers balanced coverage of the theory and practice of traditional survey research, while providing a conceptual framework for the opportunities social media platforms allow. Demonstrating varying perspectives and approaches to working with social media, the book features: New ways to approach data collection using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter Alternate methods for reaching out to interview subjects Design features that encourage participation with engaging, interactive surveys Social Media, Sociality, and Survey Research is an important resource for survey researchers, market researchers, and practitioners who collect and analyze data in order to identify trends and draw reliable conclusions in the areas of business, sociology, psychology, and population studies. The book is also a useful text for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level courses on survey methodology and market research.
Download or read book The Social Biology of Wasps written by Kenneth G. Ross and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-06 with total page 699 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this edited collection, 17 internationally known authorities bring together the results of recent research on the natural history, ecology, behavior, morphology, and genetics of wasps as they pertain to the evolution of social behavior. The first part of the book opens with a review of the classification of the family Vespidae along with a revision of the subfamily Polistinae. Seven subsequent chapters deal with the natural history and social biology of each of the major taxa of social and presocial vespids. The second part of the book offers chapters on reproductive competition; worker polyethism; evolution of nest architecture, of queen number and queen control, and of exocrine glands; population genetics; the nutritional bsis of social evolution; and the nest as the locus of social life. The final chapter is a comparative discussion of social behavior in the Sphecidae, the only family of wasps besides the Vespidae in which well-developed social behavior is known. Providing a wealth of information about the biology of wasps, this comprehensive, up-to-date volume will be an essential reference for entomologists, evolutionary biologists, behavioral ecologists, ethologists, and zoologists. Contributors: James M. Carpenter. David P. Cowan. Holly A Downing. Raghavendra Gadagkar. Albert Greene. James H. Hunt. Robert L. Jeanne. Makoto Matsuura. Robert W. Matthews. Hudson K. Reeve. PeterFrank Roseler. Kenneth G. Ross. J. Philip Spradbery. Christopher K. Starr. Stefano Turillazzi. John W. Wenzel. Mary Jane West-Eberhard.
Download or read book Social Dominance written by Jim Sidanius and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-02-12 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume focuses on two questions: why do people from one social group oppress and discriminate against people from other groups? and why is this oppression so mind numbingly difficult to eliminate? The answers to these questions are framed using the conceptual framework of social dominance theory. Social dominance theory argues that the major forms of intergroup conflict, such as racism, classism and patriarchy, are all basically derived from the basic human predisposition to form and maintain hierarchical and group-based systems of social organization. In essence, social dominance theory presumes that, beneath major and sometimes profound difference between different human societies, there is also a basic grammar of social power shared by all societies in common. We use social dominance theory in an attempt to identify the elements of this grammar and to understand how these elements interact and reinforce each other to produce and maintain group-based social hierarchy.
Download or read book The Behavioral Ecology of the Tibetan Macaque written by Jin-Hua Li and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-18 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book summarizes the multi-disciplinary results of one of China’s main primatological research projects on the endemic Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana), which had continued for over 30 years, but which had never been reported on systematically. Dedicated to this exceptional Old World monkey, this book makes the work of Chinese primatologists on the social behavior, cooperation, culture, cognition, group dynamics, and emerging technologies in primate research accessible to the international scientific community. One of the most impressive Asian monkeys, and the largest member of its genus, the Tibetan macaque deserves to be better known. This volume goes a long way towards bringing this species into the spotlight with many excellent behavioral analyses from the field. - Frans de Waal, Professor of Psychology, Emory University, USA. Macaques matter. To understand primate patterns and trends, and to gain important insight into humanity, we need to augment and expand our engagement with the most successful and widespread primate genus aside from Homo. This volume focuses on the Tibetan macaque, a fascinating species with much to tell us about social behavior, physiology, complexity and the macaque knack for interfacing with humans. This book is doubly important for primatology in that beyond containing core information on this macaque species, it also reflects an effective integrated collaboration between Chinese scholars and a range of international colleagues—exactly the type of collaborative engagement primatology needs. This volume is a critical contribution to a global primatology. - Agustín Fuentes, Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, USA. I have many fond memories of my association with Mt. Huangshan research beginning in 1983, when together with Professor Qishan Wang we established this site. It is such a beautiful place and I miss it. It is gratifying to see how far research has progressed since we began work there, becoming more internationalized and very much a collaborative endeavor under the long-term direction of Professor Jin-Hua Li and colleagues. This book highlights the increased interest in this species, representing a variety of disciplines ranging from macro aspects of behavior, cognition and sociality, to micro aspects of microbes, parasites and disease, authored by a group of renowned Chinese and international primatologists. I applaud their efforts and expect more interesting work to come from this site in the years ahead. - Kazuo Wada, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University, Japan.
