tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/society-5761/articlesSociety – The Conversation2024-03-20T04:06:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2262192024-03-20T04:06:40Z2024-03-20T04:06:40ZTerrorist content lurks all over the internet – regulating only 6 major platforms won’t be nearly enough<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583026/original/file-20240320-17-wn83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C241%2C2619%2C1761&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/burning-car-unrest-antigovernment-crime-581564755">Bumble Dee/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s eSafety commissioner <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-19/social-media-esafety-commissioner-terrorist-violent-extremist/103603518">has sent legal notices</a> to Google, Meta, Telegram, WhatsApp, Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) asking them to show what they’re doing to protect Australians from online extremism. The six companies <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/tech-companies-grilled-on-how-they-are-tackling-terror-and-violent-extremism">have 49 days to respond</a>.</p>
<p>The notice comes at a time when governments are increasingly cracking down on major tech companies to address online harms like <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-fined-x-australia-over-child-sex-abuse-material-concerns-how-severe-is-the-issue-and-what-happens-now-215696">child sexual abuse material</a> or <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-apologizes-parents-victims-online-exploitation-senate-hearing/">bullying</a>.</p>
<p>Combating online extremism presents unique challenges different from other content moderation problems. Regulators wanting to establish effective and meaningful change must take into account what research has shown us about extremism and terrorism.</p>
<h2>Extremists are everywhere</h2>
<p>Online extremism and terrorism have been pressing concerns for some time. A stand-out example was the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack on two mosques in Aotearoa New Zealand, which was live streamed on Facebook. It led to the <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-and-france-seek-end-use-social-media-acts-terrorism">“Christchurch Call” to action</a>, aimed at countering extremism through collaborations between countries and tech companies.</p>
<p>But despite such efforts, <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA1458-2.html">extremists still use online platforms</a> for networking and coordination, recruitment and radicalisation, knowledge transfer, financing and mobilisation to action.</p>
<p>In fact, extremists use the same online infrastructure as everyday users: marketplaces, dating platforms, gaming sites, music streaming sites and social networks. Therefore, all regulation to counter extremism needs to consider the rights of regular users, as well.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-attacks-5-years-on-terrorists-online-history-gives-clues-to-preventing-future-atrocities-225273">Christchurch attacks 5 years on: terrorist’s online history gives clues to preventing future atrocities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The rise of ‘swarmcasting’</h2>
<p>Tech companies have responded with initiatives like the <a href="https://gifct.org/membership">Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism</a>. It shares information on terrorist online content among its members (such as Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube, X and others) so they can take it down on their platforms. These approaches aim to <a href="https://gifct.org/hsdb/">automatically identify and remove</a> terrorist or extremist content.</p>
<p>However, a moderation policy focused on individual pieces of content on individual platforms fails to capture much of what’s out there.</p>
<p>Terrorist groups commonly use a <a href="https://static.rusi.org/20190716_grntt_paper_06.pdf">“swarmcasting” multiplatform approach</a>, leveraging 700 platforms or more to distribute their content.</p>
<p>Swarmcasting involves using “beacons” on major platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Telegram to direct people to locations with terrorist material. This beacon can be a hyperlink to a blog post on a website like Wordpress or Tumblr that then contains further links to the content, perhaps hosted on Google Drive, JustPaste.It, BitChute and other places where users can download it.</p>
<p>So, while extremist content may be flagged and removed from social media, it remains accessible online thanks to swarmcasting. </p>
<h2>Putting up filters isn’t enough</h2>
<p>The process of identifying and removing extremist content is far from simple. For example, at a recent US Supreme Court hearing over internet regulations, <a href="https://law.stanford.edu/podcasts/the-netchoice-cases-reach-the-supreme-court/">a lawyer argued</a> platforms could moderate terrorist content by simply removing anything that mentioned “al Qaeda”.</p>
<p>However, internationally recognised terrorist organisations, their members and supporters do not solely distribute policy-violating extremist content. Some may be discussing non-terrorist activities, such as those who engage in humanitarian efforts.</p>
<p>Other times their content is borderline (awful but lawful), such as misogynistic dog whistles, or even “hidden” <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/isj.12454">in a different format</a>, such as memes.</p>
<p>Accordingly, platforms can’t always cite policy violations and are compelled to use other methods to counter such content. They report using various content moderation techniques such as redirecting users, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/google-to-expand-misinformation-prebunking-initiative-in-europe">pre-bunking misinformation</a>, promoting counterspeech and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57697779">offering warnings</a>, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-shadowbanning-how-do-i-know-if-it-has-happened-to-me-and-what-can-i-do-about-it-192735">implementing shadow bans</a>. Despite these efforts, online extremism continues to persist.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/disinformation-threatens-global-elections-heres-how-to-fight-back-223392">Disinformation threatens global elections – here's how to fight back</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is extremism, anyway?</h2>
<p>All these problems are further compounded by the fact we lack a <a href="https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/terrorism/module-4/key-issues/defining-terrorism.html">commonly accepted definition</a> for terrorism or extremism. All definitions currently in place are contentious.</p>
<p>Academics attempt to seek clarity by using <a href="https://www.ijcv.org/index.php/ijcv/article/view/3809">relativistic definitions</a>, such as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>extremism itself is context-dependent in the sense that it is an inherently relative term that describes a deviation from something that is (more) ‘ordinary’, ‘mainstream’ or ‘normal’. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, what is something we can accept as a universal normal? Democracy is not the global norm, nor are equal rights. Not even our understanding of <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/humanrights/2016/09/14/are-human-rights-really-universal-inalienable-and-indivisible/">central tenets of human rights</a> is globally established.</p>
<h2>What should regulators do, then?</h2>
<p>As the eSafety commissioner attempts to shed light on how major platforms counter terrorism, we offer several recommendations for the commissioner to consider.</p>
<p>1. Extremists rely on more than just the major platforms to disseminate information. This highlights the importance of expanding the current inquiries beyond just the major tech players.</p>
<p>2. Regulators need to consider the differences between platforms that resist compliance, those that comply halfheartedly, and those that struggle to comply, such as small content storage providers. Each type of platform <a href="https://ksp.techagainstterrorism.org/">requires different regulatory approaches</a> or assistance. </p>
<p>3. Future regulations should encourage platforms to transparently collaborate with academia. The global research community is well positioned <a href="https://gifct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GIFCT-TaxonomyReport-2021.pdf">to address these challenges</a>, such as by developing actionable definitions of extremism and novel countermeasures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marten Risius is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Australian Discovery Early Career Award funded by the Australian Government. Marten Risius has received project funding from the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stan Karanasios has received funding from Emergency Management Victoria, Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, and the International Telecommunications Union. Stan is a Distinguished Member of the Association for Information Systems.</span></em></p>Online extremism is a unique challenge – terrorists use methods that can’t be captured by standard content moderation. So, what can we do about it?Marten Risius, Senior Lecturer in Business Information Systems, The University of QueenslandStan Karanasios, Associate Professor, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2246802024-03-11T13:10:44Z2024-03-11T13:10:44ZHow alternative communities have evolved – from pacifist communes to a solution to the ageing population<p>People have sought solace and strength in communal living for thousands of years. But unlike traditional villages bound by kinship or geography, “intentional communities” are deliberately constructed by people who choose to share not just space, but also a specific set of values, beliefs or goals. Such forging of a collective path is often in response to times of social change. </p>
<p>Here are three instances where people have turned to intentional communities to seek sanctuary, purpose and alternative ways of living. </p>
<h2>Second world war</h2>
<p>As the war raged across Europe, one particular group of people was looking for alternative solutions. Conscientious objectors were people who refused to fight for moral or religious reasons. </p>
<p>It is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwy002">estimated</a> that there were around 60,000 male conscientious objectors in Britain. Some took up non-combatant roles, such as medics, but others sought out less conventional opportunities. With farming identified as an exempt occupation, some conscientious objectors joined pacifist “back to the land” communities. </p>
<p>One such community was <a href="https://www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/little-toller/no-matter-how-many-skies-have-fallen-by-ken-worpole/">Frating Hall Farm</a> in Essex. It provided a safe haven for those who did not wish to fight in the war. As well as farming, the community lived, ate and worked together. </p>
<p>Another such community was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/dec/05/conscientious-objectors-lincolnshire-collow-abbey-farm-play-remembrance">Collow Abbey Farm</a> in Lincolnshire. This was a farming cooperative set up by a different set of conscientious objectors. Again, the principles of pacifism, farming and community brought individuals and families together in a time of need. </p>
<p>Many of these communities dissipated after the war ended, having served their purpose as safe havens for pacifists. </p>
<h2>1960s</h2>
<p>Still in the shadow of the second world war, the 1960s blossomed into a more permissive era which allowed for a freer sense of self and expression. This decade heralded a sense of social change with movements such as civil rights and women’s rights emerging. As the decade progressed, so did the different types of intentional communities. </p>
<p>The 1960s commune movement has been described by some experts as a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203615171-18/sixties-era-communes-timothy-miller">hotbed</a> of free love, drug taking and loose morals. But others <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203790656-7/collective-profile-communes-intentional-communities-yaacov-oved">argue</a> they embodied something much more important and were representative of the social changes under way at the time. </p>
<p>In an attempt to escape “straight” society, many young people sought out spaces that allowed them to experiment with alternative forms of living and identity. These were communities that often embraced the non-nuclear family alongside other “counter cultural” ideas such as veganism and non-gendered childrearing. </p>
<p>One well documented example of this is <a href="https://www.braziers.org.uk/buildings-and-land/main-house/">Braziers Park</a> in Oxfordshire. It was a community that formed in the 1950s but flourished in the 1960s and 70s. Braziers was initially set up as an educational community. </p>
<p>Its alternative nature attracted the likes of Rolling Stones frontman, Mick Jagger, and his then girlfriend <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Faithfull/wLGpJ_8I6WYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">Marianne Faithfull</a>, who had lived there during her early life.
She described it as “otherworldly” in her memoir. Braziers still exists today and now offers courses, workshops and retreats.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-reasons-to-consider-co-housing-and-housing-cooperatives-for-alternative-living-99097">Four reasons to consider co-housing and housing cooperatives for alternative living</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another example was <a href="https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-a-beautiful-way-to-live-1971-online">Crow Hall</a> in Norfolk, which was founded in 1965. Although they denied they were a commune, it had all of the marks of being one, with elements such as shared accommodation and collective child rearing. The community operated an open door policy, inviting others to “come find themselves”. It eventually dispersed in 1997. </p>
<p>Like Braziers, some communities set up during the 1960s are still in place today such as <a href="https://www.postliphall.org.uk/">Postlip Hall</a> near Cheltenham, or the <a href="http://www.ashram.org.uk/">Ashram Community</a> near Sheffield. But many others ended as society moved on. Experts who have <a href="https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/911v7/nineteen-sixties-radicalism-and-its-critics-radical-utopians-liberal-realists-and-postmodern-sceptics">reflected</a> on this period describe it as both a time of freedom and, for others, mistakenly liberal.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p9Ilvsza8IE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">New Ground Cohousing in High Barnet, north London.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Today</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/#">communities scene</a> continues to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/17/is-the-boom-in-communal-living-really-the-good-life">flourish</a> but this time under new challenges such as an ageing population and climate change. It’s difficult to estimate how many such communities exist in the UK, as nobody keeps official figures. </p>
<p>Arguably, some of the same generation who were “tuning in and dropping out” in the 1960s are now seeking equally alternative solutions for their older age. For some, this is to be found in the phenomenon of <a href="https://cohousing.org.uk/news/how-the-rise-of-cohousing-is-enriching-seniors-lives/">“senior cohousing”</a>. These are intentional communities run by their residents where each household is a self-contained home alongside shared community space and facilities. </p>
<p>One example of senior cohousing is <a href="https://newgroundcohousing.uk">New Ground</a> in north London. This is a community of older women, founded in 1998, who took their housing situation into their own hands. Defying some of the more traditional models of housing for older people, such as sheltered accommodation, New Ground is an intentional community for women over 50. They live by the ethos of “looking out for, rather than looking after each other”.</p>
<p>For others, the solution involves joining an intergenerational community such as <a href="https://www.oldhall.org.uk/old-hall-community/">Old Hall</a> in Suffolk where octogenarians live alongside children and adults under one roof. This is a community of around 50 people who farm the land, share their meals and manage the manor house in which they live.</p>
<p>As society evolves, so too do the forms that intentional communities take.
While the specific challenges may change, the human desire for connection and a sense of belonging remains constant.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirsten Stevens-Wood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From conscientious objectors to hippies and seniors, intentional communities offer refuge and purpose for people seeking a different way of life.Kirsten Stevens-Wood, Senior Lecturer, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2246662024-02-28T11:23:56Z2024-02-28T11:23:56ZNet zero to the housing crisis: how we’re using expert evidence to help policymakers improve UK society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578593/original/file-20240228-28-4mivz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-above-drab-rooftops-run-2352209899">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Three years ago, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversation-partners-on-2m-research-policy-project-to-mitigate-covid-19-pandemics-social-impacts-150476">The Conversation partnered</a> with a group of leading universities, including UCL, Cardiff and Queen’s Belfast, on the ESRC-funded <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/">International Public Policy Observatory (IPP0)</a>. The project’s goal was initially to assess and report to UK policymakers evidence from around the world on the best ways to mitigate the devastating social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>IPPO has since evolved and expanded – and from January 2023 has been tailoring its work to focus on a wide range of key UK social challenges, from net zero to inequality.</p>
<p>For example, the UK is committed to reaching net zero by 2050. But the country’s uptake of green technologies, such as heat pump installation, currently lags far behind that of many other European nations such as Norway, Finland, France and Italy.</p>
<p>Consequently, UK policymakers must urgently find new ways to get so-called “able to pay” households to spend their money on green technologies such as better insulation and heat pumps.</p>
<p>IPPO’s <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/home-energy-behaviour-change-barriers-green-purchases-evidence-review/">recent review of the published evidence</a> suggests policy interventions that support the behavioural and emotional reasons for making these choices could increase the likelihood of consumers moving towards green purchases.</p>
<p>New policy ideas could include the establishment of <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/the-case-for-home-upgrade-agencies-mobilising-data-for-net-zero/">Home Upgrade Agencies</a> across the UK to coordinate consistent messaging and offer bespoke advice to householders. <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/society-wide-conversations-recommendations/">Storytelling</a> around net zero should also be made more relevant to people’s everyday lives: binning the jargon; being honest but hopeful; appealing to people’s emotions and everyday realities rather than just reporting the broad, technocratic detail, and acknowledging the current impact of falling living standards on many communities. </p>
<h2>Finding our place</h2>
<p>Post-pandemic, remote and hybrid working have become the new normal – leading to substantial social change. Indeed, the UK is facing unprecedented challenges as people decide where to work and live.</p>
<p>While, overall, <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/hybrid-work-and-disabled-people-post-pandemic-policy-problems/">remote and hybrid working</a> can benefit people’s subjective experience of work, we need solid research to truly learn from the dramatic social changes wrought by the pandemic.</p>
<p>We must also ensure that certain groups, such as those with disabilities, have sufficient support to make positive changes to their working lives.</p>
<p>As fewer people head to the office, policymakers must also consider how we use this increasingly vacant space – particularly as the UK is facing a chronic housing shortage. Indeed, the UK government is proposing to widen planning rules to encourage developers and builders to convert empty commercial spaces into housing.</p>
<p>This sounds superficially positive – but can trigger its own, deeper problems. Work by IPPO, for example, <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/why-converting-office-space-into-flats-wont-solve-the-housing-crisis/">shows</a> that converting commercial buildings into housing under these proposed “permitted development rights” tends to result in smaller, lower-quality homes in worse locations than homes given full planning permission. And this directly impacts people’s lives.</p>
<p>Indeed, this change to planning rules is likely to make the existing housing quality crisis even worse, as already cash-strapped local authorities lose oversight of the development process.</p>
<h2>Finding the right evidence</h2>
<p>IPPO is also establishing the most effective ways of gathering evidence and filtering it for the use of policymakers.</p>
<p>In September 2023, the team launched a series of <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/innovations-in-evidence/">public, online events</a> on new methods for mobilising evidence for greatest impact, to guide researchers, policymakers and intermediaries.</p>
<p>Our events have included sessions on digital tools, rapid evidence assessments, systems mapping, the transferability of evidence, using evidence during a crisis, and including lived experience in analyses of how policy can solve socioeconomic problems.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, IPPO also ran its first <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/international-public-policy-observatory-winter-school-northern-ireland/">knowledge exchange winter school</a> to bring together civil servants from Northern Ireland and a selection of expert speakers.</p>
<p>There is much still to do. But by acting as a bridge between research evidence and the policymakers who can use it to better inform their decision making, IPPO aims to benefit the British public and particularly disadvantaged groups.</p>
<p><em>For more information about IPPO, or if any of these topics are relevant to your work, please visit our <a href="https://theippo.co.uk/">website</a> or <a href="mailto:%20s.o'meara@ucl.ac.uk">get in touch</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
As a partner on the International Public Policy Observatory, The Conversation is making an impact.Sarah O'Meara, IPPO/Communications and Engagement ManagerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2233992024-02-26T13:09:06Z2024-02-26T13:09:06ZRelationship anarchy is about creating bonds that suit people, not social conventions<p>By its very nature, friendship is <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/anarchy">anarchic</a>: it has few rules and is not regulated by the government. Our friendships are usually egalitarian, flexible and non-exclusive. We treat our friends as individuals and care about their interests. We support them and don’t tell them what to do; our friendships fit around, rather than govern, our lives. </p>
<p>But interestingly, friendship is the exception when it comes to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/10/people-who-prioritize-friendship-over-romance/616779/">intimacy</a>. Few of us want anarchic love lives, or to treat our children as equals. We gravitate instead towards more rigid, hierarchical, structured forms of intimacy in these relationships. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/i-have-4-partners-and-several-comet-romances-this-is-what-its-like-to-be-a-relationship-anarchist_uk_64ba8dcfe4b093f07cb48251">Relationship anarchists</a> do not hold with these ideas. They argue we must try harder to relate as equals, reject hierarchy between relationships and accept that intimate life can take many forms. </p>
<p>Critics would suggest relationship anarchy is just a lifestyle – an attempt to evade commitment. But the concept is best understood as political, and a development of the core themes of anarchist thinking. This reflects the values and practices involved, and reminds us that the flourishing of intimacy might require radical change. </p>
<p>These core themes include rejecting the idea that there should be one dominant form of authority – like a president, boss or patriarch; wariness of social class or status which arbitrarily privileges some people other others; and a deep respect for the idea that individuals should be able to govern their own lives and support each other. Applied to intimate relationships, these themes define relationship anarchy. </p>
<p>But political anarchism is not above violence and disorder. As someone whose work explores the philosophy of love, sex and relationships – and different approaches to intimacy – I view it as an attitude towards our social predicament where people try to relate as equals and reject unnecessary constraints. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l1xBdffi0m4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Equals without constraints</h2>
<p>Relationship anarchists critique society and imagine alternatives. Their main target is the idea that there are different kinds of relationships and some are more important than others.</p>
<p>They reject how relationships appear in the media; good relationships needn’t last forever, be exclusive, between two people, domestic, involve romantic love or practical entanglement. This critical eye also extends to our attitudes towards children, animals and the environment. </p>
<p>Relationship anarchy’s aversion to hierarchy separates it from <a href="https://www.womenshealthmag.com/relationships/a46109633/what-is-a-swinger/">swinging</a> or forms of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/japp.12240">polyamory</a> which distinguish between sex and romance, <a href="https://www.morethantwo.com/polyconfigurations.html">“primary” and “secondary” partners</a>, or which think the government should privilege some relationships through marriage law. </p>
<p>The practical heart of relationship anarchy is the idea that we design relationships to suit us, not mirror social expectations. Do we want to share a home? Is sexual intimacy important? If so, what kind exactly? This process also involves creating a framework to guide our broader intimate life. How will we choose together? How and when can we revise our framework? What about disagreements?</p>
<p>Relationship anarchists will disagree about the content of these frameworks. Can two relationship anarchists agree to be romantically exclusive, for example, set rules for each other, or decide to never revise their framework? Should they retain, repurpose or reject common labels such as “partner”?</p>
<p>My own view is that agreements are acceptable if they support our <a href="https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=romantic-agency-loving-well-in-modern-life--9781509551521">ability to be intimate</a>, but we should embrace “minimal non-monogamy” and remain open to the possibility our desires will change. </p>
<h2>Community and self-development</h2>
<p>Community is central to relationship anarchy. From queer feminist Andie Nordgren’s “<a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andie-nordgren-the-short-instructional-manifesto-for-relationship-anarchy">short instructional manifesto</a>” – which jumpstarted relationship anarchy – to <a href="https://ia803109.us.archive.org/14/items/rad2019zine/RAD%202019%20Zine%20for%20online%20reading.pdf">zines</a> like Communities Not Couples, the <a href="https://violetbeau00.medium.com/relationship-anarchy-smorgasbord-practical-applications-78ad8d911b0b">relationship “smorgasbord”</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/decolonizing.love/?hl=en">social media influencers</a>, relationship anarchists educate each other and share resources. </p>
<p>They also embrace <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2722-mutual-aid">supporting each other</a> when social institutions are inadequate. This might involve providing money, establishing accessible community spaces, sourcing contraception and caregiving.</p>
<p>Relationship anarchy requires self-development. Since we are shaped by our social context, we often lack the skills needed to overhaul our relationships, whether that’s communicating effectively or managing emotions such as jealousy and insecurity.</p>
<p>Relationship anarchists embrace the idea that we cannot behave now in ways that would be <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Prefigurative+Politics:+Building+Tomorrow+Today-p-9781509535910">unacceptable in our ideal society</a>. We cannot be callous or dishonest in trying to bring about open and equal relationships. Instead, trying to embody our desired changes in our actions helps us develop the skills needed to ensure these changes are sustainable. </p>
<p>Talk of relationship anarchy often prompts objections. Liberals think government involvement in private life prevents harm, and that common social norms and ideals of relationships prevent anxiety. A relationship anarchist would ask us to consider the real source of these worries. </p>
<p>We are well able to harm each other within existing government frameworks: police, immigration, social and health services often harm people in unconventional relationships through policies that <a href="https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/21/orphaned-by-decree-italy-same-sex-parents-react-losing-rights">do not recognise the family life of non-heterosexual people</a>. Or which make it hard for immigrant families to be together, or deny visitation rights to unmarried people, for example.</p>
<p>Community networks of care are active in resisting and repairing these harms, and their efforts are evidence that we can successfully oversee our own needs when it comes to intimacy. </p>
<p>Similarly, a more active approach to our relationships, where we reflect on our needs and desires, set boundaries and communicate, <a href="https://scribepublications.co.uk/books-authors/books/polysecure-9781914484957">builds confidence and decreases anxiety</a>. A realistic and flexible attitude towards intimacy makes it harder to trip on the <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2019/09/why-love-ends/">gap between ideals and reality</a>.</p>
<p>Realism, not revolution, is at the heart of relationship anarchy. Social criticism can be radical – ranging from love and domesticity to childcare, companionship and co-operation – but efforts to remould our relationships should be done with care. We can both expose social contradictions and oppressive laws and accept common ground with other views and initiatives.</p>
<p>Most of all, we should be wary of attempts to cast relationship anarchy as a fad or lifestyle. It is political – a commitment to nurture agency when it comes to intimacy. Like conversation, relationship anarchy is a process; it can be messy, loud, and unpredictable, but it can change us entirely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Brunning does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Relationship anarchists argue that we should relate to one another as equals and accept that intimacy can take many forms.Luke Brunning, Lecturer in Applied Ethics, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230882024-02-16T01:15:24Z2024-02-16T01:15:24ZTruman Capote was ruined when he published his society friends’ secrets. Was Answered Prayers worth it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575868/original/file-20240215-16-p01yfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=221%2C0%2C1293%2C790&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Naomi Watts as Babe Paley and Tom Hollander as Truman Capote in Feud: Capote vs the Swans.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Binge</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In November 1975, Truman Capote, the proudly gay author of <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/breakfast-at-tiffanys-9780241951453">Breakfast at Tiffany’s</a> and <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/in-cold-blood-9780241956830">In Cold Blood</a>, unveiled the hotly anticipated second instalment of his unpublished novel, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2288.Answered_Prayers">Answered Prayers</a>. It was published in Esquire magazine.</p>
<p>To say it caused a scandal would be a gross understatement. Reputations were trashed and real harm caused. Capote ended his days a social pariah in his former New York society circles, incapacitated by a lifetime of prodigious substance abuse.</p>
<p>The unprecedented moral and social uproar that stemmed from the scandal has captured the attention of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36203384-swan-song">many</a> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/25279165">writers</a>, and is now the subject of the new anthology television series, <a href="https://binge.com.au/shows/show-feud-capote-vs-the-swans!25258">Feud: Capote vs. The Swans</a>.</p>
<p>The story to blame, <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a40376194/truman-capote-la-cote-basque/">La Côte Basque, 1965</a>, takes its title from its setting: an achingly fashionable French restaurant in Manhattan. Industrial quantities of expensive champagne are consumed over lunch. All of a sudden, everyone in the room starts to stare and whisper:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mrs. Kennedy and her sister had elicited not a murmur, nor had the entrances of Lauren Bacall and Katharine Cornell and Clare Booth Luce. However, Mrs. Hopkins was <em>une autre chose</em>: a sensation to unsettle the suavest <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_C%C3%B4te_Basque">Côte Basque</a> client.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As her all-black attire suggests (“black hat with a veil trim, a black <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainbocher">Mainbocher</a> suit, black crocodile purse, crocodile shoes”), Mrs. Hopkins is in mourning. This doesn’t go unnoticed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Only,” said Lady Ina, “Ann Hopkins would think of that. To advertise your search for spiritual ‘advice’ in the most public possible manner. Once a tramp, always a tramp.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What, the reader wonders, has Ann Hopkins done to deserve such an admonishment? Lady Ina Coolbirth leaves us in no doubt whatsoever. Ann Hopkins is simply not to be trusted. If Ina is to be believed, we are dealing with someone who once quite literally got away with murder:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>But it <em>could</em> have been an accident. If one goes by the papers. As I remember, they’d just come home from a dinner party in Watch Hill and gone to bed in separate rooms. Weren’t there supposed to have been a recent series of burglaries thereabouts? – and she kept a shotgun by her bed, and suddenly in the dark her bedroom door opened and she grabbed the shotgun and shot at what she thought was a prowler. Only it was her husband. David Hopkins. With a hole through his head.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a true story. The only difference? Capote changed the names.</p>
<h2>The real-life ‘Mrs. Bang-Bang’</h2>
<p>Ann Hopkins is a fictional cutout for the socialite <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Woodward">Ann Woodward</a>, born Angeline Lucille Crowell on a farm in Kansas in 1915. In 1943, she married one of America’s richest men, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Woodward">William Woodward Jr</a>.</p>
<p>On 30 October 1955, the Woodwards, whose marriage was violent and fractious, were guests at a dinner party held in the honour of <a href="https://theconversation.com/media-deference-to-the-royals-must-have-a-limit-just-look-at-how-edward-viii-and-wallis-simpson-were-treated-191101">Wallis Simpson</a>, the Duchess of Windsor, in Oyster Bay, New York. There was talk of the spate of burglaries that had recently occurred in the area. Ann, who suffered from insecurity and social anxiety, drank more than usual. </p>
<p>Returning home with her husband, she washed down some sleeping pills and went to bed, not long after midnight. At two in the morning, Ann was woken by the sound of her dog growling. Thinking there an intruder in the house, Ann grabbed the shotgun she kept by her bedside. She moved out into the hallway, where she saw the silhouette of a man. She opened fire without issuing a warning. The body crashed to the floor.</p>
<p>Or rather, as the researcher <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60321411">Roseanne Montillo</a> notes, “that is the story she would tell the police, her mother-in-law, and all who asked during the rest of her life. Many would doubt her, including Truman Capote.”</p>
<p>Capote crossed paths with Ann Woodward in the Alpine town of Saint Moritz in the autumn of 1956. Ann did not take kindly to having her meal interrupted. She dismissed Capote with a homophobic slur. </p>
<p>He returned fire, calling her “Mrs. Bang Bang”. The sobriquet stuck to Ann for the remainder of her life. Montillo adds that Capote “would repeat the story of how he had met the notorious Ann Woodward whenever the opportunity presented itself, embellishing his tale and relishing each detail”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-clearings-investigation-of-the-family-invites-us-to-ask-whats-the-appeal-and-risk-of-crime-stories-based-on-real-events-206514">The Clearing's investigation of The Family invites us to ask: what's the appeal – and risk – of crime stories based on real events?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘What I’m writing is true’</h2>
<p>While they would have been loath to admit it, Truman Capote and Ann Woodward were similar in certain ways. </p>
<p>Both overcame childhood hardship and adversity. And much like Ann, the precocious Capote, who was born Truman Streckfus Persons in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1924, craved success, stardom and access to the trappings of elite society from a very early age. </p>
<p>Regardless of whether he truly appreciated this, it seems fair to say Capote’s encounter with Ann Woodward made quite the impression on him.</p>
<p>Capote’s authorised biographer, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99170.Capote">Gerald Clarke</a>, reveals Ann Woodward was on the author’s mind when he came up with the initial idea for Answered Prayers in 1958. Clarke describes how Capote originally “planned to make Ann his central character; in a list of eight names he jotted down in his journal, hers was the only one he had underlined”. </p>
<p>Capote’s conception of Answered Prayers, which he struggled with and talked about for decades, developed over time. Marcel Proust loomed large in Capote’s imagination. In his monumental novel-cycle <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/remembrance-of-things-past-9780241610527">Remembrance of Things Past</a>, Proust scrutinised the social machinations of the Parisian upper classes at the turn of the 20th century.</p>
<p>Capote conceived of his project – which took shape as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_%C3%A0_clef">roman à clef</a> – in equivalent terms. Clarke quotes Capote as saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am not Proust. I am not as intelligent or as educated as he was. I am not as sensitive in various ways. But my eye is every bit as good as his. Every bit! I see everything! I don’t miss nothin’! What I’m writing is true, it’s real and it’s done in the very best prose style that I think any American writer could possibly achieve. […] If Proust were an American living now in New York, this is what he would be doing. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Capote clearly wasn’t lacking confidence. Answered Prayers was going to depict “American society in the second half of the twentieth century. This book is about is about you, it’s about me, it’s about them, it’s about everyone.” </p>
<p>Capote was to tell the story of American society via thinly fictionalised versions of some of the wealthiest and most fashionable women in the world. As journalist <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/laurence-leamer/capotes-women-watch-tvs-feud-capote-vs-the-swans">Laurence Leamer</a> tells it, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>everyone knew these characters were based on his closest friends, the coterie of gorgeous, witty, and fabulously rich women he called his “swans”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Capote coined the term in an essay written for <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12474/truman-capote-essay-1115/">Harper’s Bazaar</a> in October 1959. He claimed that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>as is generally conceded, a beautiful girl of twelve or twenty, while she may merit attention, does not deserve admiration. Reserve that laurel for decades hence when, if she has kept buoyant the weight of her gifts, been faithful to the vows a swan must, she will have earned an audience all-kneeling; for her achievement represents discipline, has required the patience of a hippopotamus, the objectivity of a physician combined with the involvement of an artist, one whose sole creation is her perishable self.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is a lot to unpack in this passage. Capote is essentially suggesting there is more to beauty than youth and looks alone. He considered style and self-presentation to be infinitely more important when it came to determining whether a beautiful women might be elevated to the position of a swan.</p>
<p>Leamer holds that there were probably only “a dozen women who Truman could have deemed true swans. They were all on the International Best-Dressed Lists, they were each celebrated in the fashion press and beyond, and they all knew one another.”</p>
<p><a href="https://harpersbazaar.com.au/who-was-babe-paley/">Babe Paley</a> (wife of CBS chairman William S. Paley). <a href="https://wwd.com/shop/shop-fashion/slim-keith-feud-truman-capote-vs-the-swans-1236162583/">Slim Keith</a>, ex-wife of director Howard Hawks and producer Leland Hayward (and the model for Lady Coolbirth). <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a46320559/who-was-cz-guest-true-story/">C.Z. Guest</a>, a renowned beauty painted by Diego Rivera and Salvador Dalí. And Lee Radziwill, deemed, in La Côte Basque, 1965, so superior to her sister Jackie Kennedy, she was “not on the same planet” (the sisters are also described as “a pair of Western geisha girls”). </p>
<p>This is a <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/feud-capote-vs-swans-gloria-guinness-pamela-harriman-marella-agnelli">partial list</a> of the world-famous women who counted Capote as their close friend throughout the 1960s and 70s. He dined with them, holidayed with them, and spent countless hours talking with them. </p>
<p>Having earned their trust, the swans told Capote everything. This gave the writer, an outsider and perceived social inferior, unrivalled access to the upper echelons of American aristocracy.</p>
<p>Capote spent years getting to know and understand these women. In Leamer’s retelling, Capote </p>
<blockquote>
<p>appreciated the challenges of their star-crossed lives, what they faced, and how they survived. He had everything he needed to write about them with depth and nuance, exploring both the good and the bad, the light and the darkness. Answered Prayers would be his masterpiece, he knew – the book that would give him a place in the literary pantheon alongside the greatest writers of all time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Capote seems to have genuinely believed this. But things did not go according to plan.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575885/original/file-20240215-26-ibrjd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575885/original/file-20240215-26-ibrjd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575885/original/file-20240215-26-ibrjd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575885/original/file-20240215-26-ibrjd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575885/original/file-20240215-26-ibrjd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575885/original/file-20240215-26-ibrjd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575885/original/file-20240215-26-ibrjd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575885/original/file-20240215-26-ibrjd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diane Lane as Slim Keith, one of the ‘swans’ exposed in Answered Prayers, in Feud: Capote vs the Swans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Binge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Masturbation, misogyny, murder</h2>
<p>In retrospect, it is clear that the odds were stacked against Capote from the very beginning. </p>
<p>At the start of January 1966, Capote signed a contract with Random House for a novel titled Answered Prayers. The advance was an eye-watering US$25,000 (equivalent to approximately US$240,000 today).</p>
<p>However, by the time he actually sat down to write the book, he was already under a great deal of pressure. Part of the problem had to do with his “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/12/comment.film">real-life novel</a>” In Cold Blood, which appeared in print just two weeks after he signed the paperwork for Answered Prayers. </p>
<p>In Cold Blood is a creative recounting of the brutal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clutter_family_murders">Clutter family murders</a> of 15 November 1959, which took place in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. It was a massive hit with American readers, selling over 300,000 copies in 1966 alone.</p>
<p>The book made Capote the most famous writer in America. Everyone now wanted a piece of him. He was interviewed in countless magazines and appeared on numerous television talk shows. An indefatigable self-promoter, he talked up Answered Prayers whenever he possibly could. </p>
<p>In Cold Blood, which took six years to research and write, left Capote physically, mentally and creatively exhausted. He struggled to maintain focus and missed multiple deadlines. Answered Prayers kept getting pushed back. People started to wonder if it would ever see the light of day. </p>
<p>Things came to a head in 1975. Under pressure to deliver the goods, Capote, who had until this point been incredibly secretive about the contents of his book, agreed, against the advice of his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/30/nyregion/joseph-m-fox-a-senior-editor-at-random-house-dies-at-69.html">editor</a>, to publish four chapters of Answered Prayers in Esquire.</p>
<p>The first excerpt – <a href="https://classic.esquire.com/article/1975/6/1/mojave-truman-capote">Mojave</a> – appeared in June, but garnered little attention from readers and critics. In contrast, the October publication of the scabrous, sexually explicit La Cote Basque, 1965 shocked the literati and set the tongues of socialites wagging.</p>
<p>Capote had spent years tantalising friends and readers with the promise of an epoch-defining, Proustian masterpiece, only to deliver something else entirely. </p>
<p>Masturbation, menstruation, misogyny, murder. Adultery, gossip and gallons of alcohol. Readers who thought they were getting a finely wrought piece of social critique were left scratching their heads in bemusement. What on earth could have possessed Capote? What was he hoping to achieve by besmirching the reputations of those closest to him? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-killers-of-the-flower-moon-true-crime-reveals-the-paradoxes-of-the-past-210283">In Killers of the Flower Moon, true crime reveals the paradoxes of the past</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Was the book any good?</h2>
<p>With the benefit of hindsight, I think the overwhelming majority missed the memo when it came to Answered Prayers.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575887/original/file-20240215-30-ob6ko4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575887/original/file-20240215-30-ob6ko4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575887/original/file-20240215-30-ob6ko4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575887/original/file-20240215-30-ob6ko4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575887/original/file-20240215-30-ob6ko4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575887/original/file-20240215-30-ob6ko4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575887/original/file-20240215-30-ob6ko4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575887/original/file-20240215-30-ob6ko4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To be sure, the work is infinitely more explicit and graphic (in terms of tone and subject matter) than many, if not all of Capote’s earlier literary ventures. By the same token, it is clear Answered Prayers responds to (and even builds on) advances made in his earlier work. </p>
<p>Take, for instance, In Cold Blood: Capote’s conceptual breakthrough came when he realised “objective” forms of journalistic inquiry could be brought into productive dialogue with practices more closely associated with creative writing.</p>
<p>My hunch is he thought he could pull off an equivalent trick with Answered Prayers. Only this time, he uses gossip.</p>
<p>As the art historian <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/Between-You-and-Me/">Gavin Butt</a> reminds us, gossiping is a serious business. Gossip can serve a positive, even joyous function: it is a “social activity which produces and maintains the filiations” of community. </p>
<p>To put this another way: if used in a strategic and appropriate fashion, gossip can bring people together. It can help to build and sustain social groupings predicated on the basis of shared knowledge (of sexual matters).</p>
<p>But when it came to Answered Prayers, Capote took things a step too far. Pretty much all we get is a constant stream of gossip. Characterisation, for one thing, goes entirely out of the window. So does plot. We see this, of course, in La Cote Basque, 1965. But the same is true of the other available sections of the novel.</p>
<p>Consider <a href="https://classic.esquire.com/article/1976/5/1/unspoiled-monsters">Unspoiled Monsters</a>, the first chapter in the posthumously published book. Our narrator, P.B. Jones, is an aspiring writer and bisexual gigolo. (His clients include an acclaimed American playwright who is a thinly veiled Tennessee Williams: “a chunky, paunchy boose-puffed runt with a play mustache glued above laconic lips”.)</p>
<p>This is how Capote introduces his narrator to the reader (note, here, the emphasis on journalistic reportage):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“My name is P. B. Jones, and I’m of two minds whether to tell you something about myself right now, or wait and weave the information into the text of the tale. I could just as well tell you nothing, or very little, for I consider myself a reporter in this matter, not a participant, at least not an important one. But maybe it’s easier to start with me.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Having offered his greetings, Jones, whose hardscrabble biography reads very much like his creator’s, starts gossiping and name-dropping indiscriminately. He never lets up. Certain of the swans crop up from time to time, as does Capote’s literary touchstone:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Think of Proust. Would Remembrance have the ring that it does if he had made it historically literal, if he hadn’t transposed sexes, altered events and identities? If he had been absolutely factual, it would have been less believable but […] it might have been better.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To which the reader of Answered Prayers might simply reply: touché.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575890/original/file-20240215-24-owlyx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575890/original/file-20240215-24-owlyx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575890/original/file-20240215-24-owlyx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575890/original/file-20240215-24-owlyx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575890/original/file-20240215-24-owlyx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575890/original/file-20240215-24-owlyx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575890/original/file-20240215-24-owlyx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575890/original/file-20240215-24-owlyx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Capote’s swans as portrayed in Feud: Capote vs the Swans. Second from left: Chloe Sevigny as C.Z. Guest. Far right: Diane Lane as Slim Keith and Naomi Watts as Babe Paley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Binge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Settling scores</h2>
<p>Be that as it may, Gerald Clarke is surely right to suggest Capote had "more than literature on his mind” when he agreed to publish parts of Answered Prayers. In part, he was looking to settle scores. Answered Prayers represented an opportunity “to get back at some of his rich friends who, for one reason or another, had offended him over the years.”</p>
<p>The psychologist <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11626800-tiny-terror">William Todd Schultz</a> concurs. He reasons that with La Côte Basque, 1965 in particular, Capote “bit down hard on the smooth, socialite hands that fed him.” </p>
<p>Capote’s decision to do so came with some unintended, yet disastrous consequences. Having gotten hold of an advance copy of La Cote Basque, 1965, Ann Woodward, who had a long history of depression, overdosed on barbiturates and passed away. She was a few months shy of her 60th birthday.</p>
<p>Schultz makes the point that Ann Woodward’s reaction to Capote’s story “was the first, by far the saddest and most anguished, but hardly the last”. Capote’s swans, having recognised their fictional selves, recoiled in horror and disgust. They immediately cut Capote out of their lives.</p>
<p>Try as he might, Capote, who claimed his intentions had been misunderstood, couldn’t win the swans back over. Many of them never spoke to him again.</p>
<p>Capote never recovered. And he never came close to finishing Answered Prayers. Dulled by a poisonous cocktail of drink and drugs, his literary skills deserted him long before he died on 25 August 1984. </p>
<p>As chance, or maybe fate would have it, he died at exactly the same age as Ann Woodward. From start to tragic finish, it really does seem as if the lives of these two ambitious social outsiders ran along parallel lines. Given how much they despised each other, I can’t help but wonder what Capote and Woodward would have made of such dismal symmetries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Howard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new TV series, Feud: Capote vs the Swans tells the story behind Answered Prayers, the never-finished gossip novel that made its author a social pariah. But what was in the book – and was it any good?Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2173272023-12-19T16:53:50Z2023-12-19T16:53:50ZHow a programme giving millions to residents to improve their neighbourhoods also risks entrenching inequality<p>Over the past quarter century, the idea has taken hold among politicians across the spectrum that one of the best ways to address inequality is to give local communities the resources to do the work themselves. Provide them with funding and they can spend it on the projects that their communities really need. But our research has shown that while many of these projects can be very positive, they can also entrench existing inequalities.</p>
<p>The UK’s largest community empowerment programme, the National Lottery-funded <a href="https://localtrust.org.uk/big-local/about-big-local/">Big Local</a> is a prime example of this thinking. Launched in 2010, it supports resident-led partnerships in 150 relatively disadvantaged areas across England. Each receives at least £1 million to improve their neighbourhood.</p>
<p>With colleagues from six universities, we’ve been examining the impact of Big Local on social and health inequalities since 2014. The achievements are impressive but <a href="https://doi.org/10.3310/GRMA6711">our findings</a> reveal something else, too.</p>
<p>Differences in power between individuals and groups in the communities, as well as with professionals and organisations, meant some residents benefited far more than others. Power differentials also limit the extent to which Big Local can deliver lasting change in social and health inequalities.</p>
<h2>Positive impacts</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/GRMA6711#/s3">Our research</a> used data from surveys and public services to assess benefits among the residents involved in the 150 partnerships and the people living in their local areas. Interviews and observations in 15 areas provided more detail on these experiences. </p>
<p>The improvements delivered by these communities are many and varied. They have set up football clubs, built sports facilities, created community gardens, opened community hubs, increased work-related skills and improved public transport, deepening community cohesion along the way. </p>
<p>One partnership in south-west England employed a chef to provide free meals for children during school holidays. Another, in the north-east, supported an open-door mental health group after it lost its funding. As one resident put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For me, the stuff that Big Local does that has a lot of value is actually more of the quieter stuff.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our findings concur with the resident who described involvement in Big Local as “uplifting”. Until COVID hit in 2020, <a href="https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/GRMA6711/#/s6">mental wellbeing among residents</a> on Big Local partnerships was improving. Levels of anxiety <a href="https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/GRMA6711/#/s5">in Big Local populations</a> had reduced compared to other areas. </p>
<p>And our <a href="https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/GRMA6711/#/s9">cost-benefit analysis</a> suggests Big Local is good value for money. We put a monetary value on the increase in residents life satisfaction and it was £60 million more than the cost of the programme.</p>
<h2>Burdensome responsibilities</h2>
<p>But it’s not all positive. Among residents on Big Local partnerships, those with higher educational qualifications (a measure of higher socio-economic position) <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdac073">reported</a> improved mental wellbeing but those with no formal qualifications did not. And, at least initially, men were more likely to report improved mental wellbeing than women.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/GRMA6711/#/s8">Residents’ stories</a> help explain these inequalities. Some spoke about being burnt out from the volume of work. A resident in north-west England said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I went through a period about 18 months ago where I was completely frazzled by the whole thing. As the partnerships mature, they take on more responsibility and one of the areas where we took on that responsibility was employing people. Yet as a partnership board we had no legal constitution; we had no procedures to speak of.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Difficult relationships also contributed. As a resident in north-west England explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The negative was when the board was divided. Just grinding me down. It was just like the same thing over and over; the same argument, and it was draining.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Residents were very committed but combining Big Local and family responsibilities was too much for this interviewee in Yorkshire:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The gala I found very stressful this year because it were down to me to organise it all. Then you just think, all this hassle; you’ve got your mum and dad who are getting older and poorly. Two sisters who are disabled. So, your family comes first. That’s why what I said is “I’ll step back”.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>When community power isn’t enough</h2>
<p>While <a href="https://www.dannykruger.org.uk/files/2020-09/Kruger%202.0%20Levelling%20Up%20Our%20Communities.pdf">Conservative</a> and <a href="https://www.newlocal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/A-Labour-Vision-for-Community-Power-compressed.pdf">Labour</a> politicians support the idea of community power, giving communities responsibility for improving conditions in their neighbourhoods takes a heavy toll.</p>
<p>If agencies work alongside communities as equals, invest long term and use resources flexibly it could reduce the burden. But the way power is distributed and exercised also needs to change.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113176">The £1 million</a> changed power dynamics in communities. Residents said just having money in their back pocket gave them more influence with local agencies. </p>
<p>Big Local also built other forms of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapro/daaa019/6056665">community power</a>. People felt confident in their ability to act together and started to understand how to build and sustain alliances within their community and with external agencies. They collected skills and knowledge to create conditions conducive to change.</p>
<p>But these powers were unequally distributed. Surviving poverty and discrimination is hard work at the best of times so the more people were focusing on that, the less they were able to get involved in Big Local. This, combined with gendered inequalities in power, contributed to the unequal distribution of benefits.</p>
<p>The power wielded by organisations such as <a href="https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/GRMA6711#/s7">local councils</a> could also constrain Big Local communities. For example, some resident-led partnerships were expected to navigate complex legal processes, such as buying and managing community assets (like land or buildings) with little or no expertise or professional support.</p>
<p>Those involved in community initiatives need to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaa133">map how power dynamics</a> affect community action, how they create inequalities in the benefits of involvement and how they need to change.</p>
<p>But however good they are, community empowerment initiatives like Big Local can only ever be one part of the solution to social and health inequalities. The main drivers of social and health inequalities lie outside the control of communities living in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>For example, from 2010, as Big Local was launched, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0141076813501101">austerity</a> began to decimate public services, hitting disadvantaged areas <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f4208">hardest</a>. Also from 2010, tighter eligibility rules and reduced welfare benefits further impoverished some residents and negatively affected their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.009">mental health</a>. Significant as they are, Big Local’s achievements could not compensate for what was lost as a result of these cuts.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newlocal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Community-Power-The-Evidence.pdf">Research</a> shows that communities are uniquely able to identify and prioritise problems that need solving. But that does not mean they should be left to solve them. So-called “community power” will become a form of DIY welfare if communities are expected to carry all the responsibility.</p>
<p>The result would be to further disadvantage those already bearing the heaviest burden and leave inequalities untouched. Community power can contribute to action for greater equity but only if disadvantaged communities use their power to build alliances beyond their neighbourhoods, locally, nationally and internationally to achieve transformational change.</p>
<p><em>In response to the issues raised in this article, Local Trust chief executive Matt Leach said: “Trusting local people to make key decisions about how to improve their neighbourhoods has to be at the heart of plans to address deprivation and regenerate communities that have missed out. For over a decade Local Trust has demonstrated how this can work in practice, working to support residents of 150 neighbourhoods across the country in the biggest ever Lottery-funded investment in community-led change.</em></p>
<p><em>"Many of the biggest disparities in outcome and opportunity are most profound at a neighbourhood level. This report, ten years into the Big Local programme, shows just how much can be achieved by putting local people in the lead, providing a strong evidence base that government and other funders can draw on when seeking to address disadvantage and deprivation, rebuild social infrastructure and transform our most left behind neighbourhoods.”</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennie Popay receives funding from the national Institute for Health Research Public Health Programme and from the NIHR School for Public Health Research.
This piece draws on the final report of the Communities in Control Study. The authors wish to acknowledge the wider team who produced that report and are based at the Universities of Newcastle and Liverpool and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine. The CIC team also thanks Local Trust, members of the Big Local partnerships and other local stakeholders for their support for the research.
Phases 1 and 2 of the Communities in Control study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) School for Public Health Research and Phase 3 by the NIHR Public Health Research Programme. The views expressed in this piece are the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health & Social Care.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Halliday receives funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) including the NIHR Public Health Research Programme; NIHR School for Public Health Research and NIHR Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Teams (PHIRST)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Mead receives funding from the national Institute for Health Research Public Health Programme and from the NIHR School for Public Health Research.</span></em></p>A nine-year study shows local projects to tackle inequality can themselves cause inequalities among the people who get involved.Jennie Popay, Professor of Sociology and Public Health, Lancaster UniversityEmma Halliday, Senior Research Fellow in Health and Medecine, Lancaster UniversityRebecca Mead, Senior Research Associate in Public Health Policy, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134902023-10-11T15:15:40Z2023-10-11T15:15:40ZWhy ‘toxic masculinity’ isn’t a useful term for understanding all of the ways to be a man<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551355/original/file-20231002-17-jilxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C8%2C5812%2C3874&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Masculinity is complex, diverse and can be expressed in multiple ways.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-back-lonely-standing-man-high-1469768498">yanik88/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There seem to be as many interpretations of what “<a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-masculinity-what-does-it-mean-where-did-it-come-from-and-is-the-term-useful-or-harmful-189298#:%7E:text=The%20phrase%20emphasises%20the%20worst,%22toxic%22%20for%20two%20reasons.">toxic masculinity</a>” means as there are uses of the term.</p>
<p>Some believe it’s a way to criticise what they see as specific negative behaviour and attitudes often associated with men. Others, such as broadcaster Piers Morgan, claim that media interest in toxic masculinity is part of a “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/wake-up-why-the-world-has-gone-nuts-piers-morgan?variant=33046214377506">woke culture</a>” that aims to emasculate men. Others believe toxic masculinity is a fundamental part of <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/work/boys-will-be-boys/">manhood</a>. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385231172121#bibr26-00380385231172121">research</a> into working-class young men in south Wales shows how masculinity is changing. Some men remain hostile to the notion of toxic masculinity and see the term as a vehicle for shaming men. And some are caught in a conflict between changing ideas of masculinity and traditional, unhealthy expressions of manhood. This is further complicated by the term itself.</p>
<p>In its simplest sense, toxic masculinity refers to an overemphasis or exaggerated expression of characteristics <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Toxic_Masculinity.html?id=9FzBDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">commonly associated</a> with masculinity. These include traits such as competition, self-reliance and being stoic, which produce behaviours such as risk-taking, fear of showing weakness, and an inability to discuss emotions. These have negative implications for both men and women. </p>
<p>For example, a rejection of weakness and vulnerability may prevent some men from <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Dying-to-be-Men-Psychosocial-Environmental-and-Biobehavioral-Directions/Courtenay/p/book/9780415878760#:%7E:text=Description,In%20this%20book%2C%20Dr.">discussing issues</a> such as mental health. Similarly, an inability to express emotion may expose itself through frustration, anger and acts of physical violence. </p>
<p>But masculine traits such as being stoic can equally be valuable in some circumstances, such as emergencies and making lifesaving decisions. In essence, masculinity is complex, diverse and can be expressed in multiple ways.</p>
<h2>More than one type of masculinity</h2>
<p>However, masculinity that involves courage, toughness and physical strength has <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3149/jms.0703.295">historically</a> been held in high regard by society. </p>
<p>Masculinity is socially, historically, culturally and individually determined, and subject to change. It can be influenced by a person’s status, power, place, social class and ethnicity. So, a person’s differing circumstances establish or enable different expressions of masculinity. </p>
<p>For example, traditionally high rates of manual employment in heavy industries and family relationships helped establish the gender roles of the male breadwinner and female homemaker. This reinforced masculine traits such as toughness and stoicism in men.</p>
<p>In recent decades though, the way people in western countries work has changed a lot. Manual jobs have <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-10792-4_6">decreased</a> while service sector work has increased. These alterations have contributed to the increase in <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/introducing-gender-and-womens-studies-9781352009903/#:%7E:text=With%20fully%20revised%20chapters%20written,examples%20and%20questions%20to%20consider.">the number of women</a> working, and their wages have became an <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Redundant+Masculinities%3F%3A+Employment+Change+and+White+Working+Class+Youth-p-9781405105866">important part</a> of household incomes.</p>
<p>Movements like <a href="https://metoomvmt.org">#MeToo</a> and brands like Gillette and its We Believe: The Best Men Can Be advert have led to further <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/15/gillette-metoo-ad-on-toxic-masculinity-cuts-deep-with-mens-rights-activists">examination</a> of masculinity. They have challenged negative expressions of masculinity, encouraging men to change their behaviour and instead adopt a <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442232921/Masculinities-in-the-Making-From-the-Local-to-the-Global">more positive</a> version of masculinity. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EkRxdtmJ4L4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Gilette’s We Believe The Best Men Can Be advert from 2019.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Against this backdrop, we urgently need to reassess what the current research tells us about men and masculinity.</p>
<h2>Men are changing</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Inclusive-Masculinity-The-Changing-Nature-of-Masculinities/Anderson/p/book/9780415893909">studies</a> suggest that men are changing their behaviour as society and the economy change. For example, studies of white, middle-class men who attend university have found that they are more likely to express their emotions verbally and physically.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-78819-7">critics</a> of that idea say that such young men can transgress typical notions of masculinity because of their higher social status.</p>
<p>A new wave of qualitative research has shown that some <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Young-Working-Class-Men-in-Transition/Roberts/p/book/9780367473723">working-class</a> young men are changing their behaviour. They are more open about their emotions, admit to feeling vulnerable and have more egalitarian views on housework. However, they still sometimes use sexist and homophobic language. </p>
<p>My recent <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385231172121#bibr26-00380385231172121">study</a> is part of a growing criticism of how masculinity is defined and talked about. I carried out my research at a youth centre and focused on a group of working-class young men aged between 12 and 21. I talked to the young men about their school experiences, work ambitions and looked at their behaviour. </p>
<p>The study was based in the Gwent valleys, a former coal mining community. It is a place known for its traditional ideas of masculinity, such as being strong and tough. But also I found that these young men showed softer sides of masculinity, such as empathy, compassion and sensitivity.</p>
<p>These changes and softer sides of masculinity coexisted with behaviours often linked with negative expressions of masculinity, such as violence and crime. I describe this as “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385231172121#bibr26-00380385231172121">amalgamated masculinities</a>”.</p>
<p>My findings strengthen the idea that positive changes in masculinity are happening socially. </p>
<h2>Changing the narrative</h2>
<p>We must be aware of the harm caused by exaggerated masculine traits but language like “toxic masculinity” can be unhelpful. We should focus on promoting the benefits of positive expressions of manhood, such as emotional openness and empathy. </p>
<p>We should also do more work to try to understand why positive changes in masculinity are happening. Once we understand this, we can think about how to encourage these positive changes to make them more common in society. This could help to make masculinity better for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gater works for Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data. He receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>A new wave of research shows how working-class young men are changing their behaviour. But some remain hostile to the term “toxic masculinity” and see it as a vehicle for shaming men.Richard Gater, Postdoctoral research fellow at the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142362023-10-09T13:31:59Z2023-10-09T13:31:59ZWitchcraft in Ghana: help should come before accusations begin<p>Witchcraft is generally understood to refer to a supernatural power possessed by an individual. In Ghana, particularly in the northern parts of the country, the subject continues to <a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Should-witch-camps-in-Ghana-be-closed-down-1023430">spark fierce debates</a>.</p>
<p>In regions such as Northern, Savanna and North East, people accused of witchcraft are banished from their communities. In response, other communities have provided refuge for displaced people. These places of refuge have themselves <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/witch-camps-elderly-women-die-ghana-1754907">sparked controversy</a>. Critics contend that they have become centres of “abuse” and have called for their closure. </p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/821110-matthew-mabefam">lecturer</a> in anthropology and development studies. I set out to understand the controversy around what are often called “witch camps” and whether they should be abolished. I conducted a year long ethnographic study in the Gnani-Tindang community in northern Ghana. Gnani-Tindang provides refuge for people accused of witchcraft who have been banished from their communities.</p>
<p>I conclude from my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681392.2023.2232052">findings</a>
that government and NGOs aren’t proving capable of managing the problem, because they are starting at the wrong place. The focus is on witchcraft accusations, by which time people have already been stripped of their “social citizenship” and been forced to relocate. </p>
<p>Engaging with the experiences of people accused of witchcraft and their communities shows that intervening at an earlier point matters more.</p>
<h2>The background</h2>
<p>Victims of witchcraft accusations face alienation or exclusion from their communities. Exclusions can be social, physical, economic or psychological.</p>
<p>Some villages in northern Ghana have become known as places that provide refuge to people banished from their communities. These villages were not created for this purpose. Rather, they are already existing communities that have chosen to provide such refuge. </p>
<p>Banishment happens when someone accused of witchcraft is no longer welcomed in their community. They are asked to leave and never return. Not heeding such advice comes with consequences including violence, abuse, social exclusion and murder. </p>
<p>Sometimes people relocate to a village that’s offering them safety after they’ve been forced to leave their homes following direct threats. In some instances people move when they hear rumours that they risk being accused of witchcraft. </p>
<h2>What people who had been banished told me</h2>
<p>The purpose of my research inquiry was to gain insights into how individuals accused of witchcraft speak about themselves and their circumstances.</p>
<p>The experiences of those accused varied. As one told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They finally threatened that they were going to do their juju, and if I had any knowledge about the child’s sickness, I was going to die within four days. I told them they should go ahead; I was willing to die if I were the one responsible for the child’s sickness. After the ritual, I didn’t die. However, they said I could no longer stay with them in the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another gave this account: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>After the death of my husband, the relatives accused me of witchcraft. My in-laws said I killed my husband, but I don’t know anything about it. He fell sick and died afterwards. How can I kill my husband? I was lucky I wasn’t killed. There were lots of chaos, and some of the people suggested that I should be killed. Others disagreed and suggested that I should be brought to Gnani-Tindang … It’s my husband’s people who brought me here.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We also observed that elderly people with little strength to fend for themselves were often targeted. One person, who was 80 years old, said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Look at me; I’m old and weak now. I can’t do much for myself. But I must fetch water, firewood and beg for food to eat. It is lonely here. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What next</h2>
<p>Ghana’s parliament has recently <a href="https://www.songtaba.org/wp-content/uploads/Press-Release_antiWitchcraftBill-28072023.pdf">passed</a> an anti-witchcraft bill. It seeks to criminalise the practice of declaring, accusing, naming, or labelling people as witches. Making such an accusation would lead to a prison sentence.</p>
<p>But, in my view, the bill alone isn’t the solution. This is because declaring certain behaviour illegal – and therefore punishable in a court of law – doesn’t address the issue of prejudice and discrimination which often relates to people’s age, gender and economic status. In other words, the law won’t deal with the tensions that emerge when culture intersects with the reality of people who become victims of witchcraft accusations.</p>
<p>Additional steps need to be taken. </p>
<p>Firstly, attention needs to be given to the underlying social issues driving accusations of witchcraft. For example, extreme inequalities among men and women, old and young, rich and poor. Creating avenues that provide a balance in society will have an effect on witchcraft accusation and banishment. </p>
<p>Early gender-tailored education needs to be introduced by the government and development actors on the value of both boys and girls. This is particularly important in the patriarchal societies of northern Ghana. This could help address gender inequalities that lead to witchcraft accusations. Witchcraft accusation is gendered: more women than men are accused, confronted and banished. </p>
<p>There is a need to engage widely with the Ghanaian society about the dangers of witchcraft accusation and to put in mechanisms to protect those who are abused and violated as a result of such accusations. </p>
<p>Finally, there is a need to listen to the voices and experiences of those who are victims of witchcraft accusations. This will ensure that interventions aren’t detached from their reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214236/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Mabefam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Victims of witchcraft accusations face alienation or exclusion from their communities.Matthew Mabefam, Lecturer, Development Studies, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134122023-09-20T13:20:17Z2023-09-20T13:20:17ZSuicide in Ghana: society expects men to be providers – new study explores this pressure<p>Suicide is a complex behaviour that is widely regarded as a significant public health issue across the globe. It is influenced by psychiatric, psychological, biological, social, cultural, economic and existential factors. In most countries, the rate of male suicides is between <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0706743718766052">3 and 7.5 times</a> higher than that of females even though suicide ideation (thoughts) and attempts are <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241564779">more frequent</a> for females. </p>
<p>The World Health Organization <a href="https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/ghana-suicide">reported</a> in 2020 that approximately 1,993 suicides occurred in Ghana annually. A report in Ghana on suicide attempt trends over four years also <a href="https://www.ug.edu.gh/news/prof-akotia-advocates-change-attitudes-towards-suicide">revealed</a> that 707 suicide attempts occurred in 2018, 880 in 2019, 777 in 2020 and 417 as of June 2021. </p>
<p>Studies continue to reveal a disproportionately high number of males in both suicide and attempted suicide in Ghana. Suicidal behaviour in Ghana is a predominantly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953610007471?via%3Dihub">male problem</a> – which is one reason it’s of interest to me as a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Johnny-Andoh-Arthur">psychologist who studies</a> men’s mental health. </p>
<p>I undertook a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17482631.2023.2225935">study</a> that focused on the way loss of job and income influenced relationships with close family members prior to suicide. This is not to suggest that loss of income or job is the only cause of men’s suicide in Ghana. Other <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953610007471?via%3Dihub">studies</a> have highlighted chronic illness, substance use, interpersonal conflict and loss, marital challenges, economic difficulties, perceived shame, and mental illness as other contributing factors. </p>
<p>My study used a qualitative research approach, interviewing 21 close relatives and friends of nine men who had all suffered some economic challenges in ways that affected their relationships with family members. All nine had died by suicide. </p>
<p>Even though these men lived in social settings that valued mutual support and reciprocal obligations, some of them suffered abandonment during their economic difficulties. Even those who could depend on spouses in their situation appeared to find that dependency emasculating.</p>
<h2>Men and suicide</h2>
<p>The term <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9560163/">gender paradox</a> in relation to suicide describes the observation where females have higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviour than males, yet mortality from suicide is typically lower for females compared to males.</p>
<p>Biologically, it is suggested that <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24101-testosterone">testosterone</a>, which is linked to impulsivity and aggression, is about ten times higher in males than in females. Thus the likelihood for males to engage in risky behaviours including aggression towards themselves is linked to high testosterone levels. </p>
<p>The high male suicide rate is also connected to gender stereotypes and <a href="https://www.psychiatrist.com/jcp/depression/suicide/suicide-men/">role socialisation</a>. Society expects certain things of men. </p>
<p>The patriarchal nature of most societies in Africa makes being economically independent a key social expectation of being a man. Men are expected to be employed, with a regular income, and to start a family. </p>
<h2>Family support in Ghana</h2>
<p>My study highlighted Ghana’s extended family system. This system encourages support and care for one another, belonging and seeking help in times of adversity. The study found that the deceased men had perceived being a burden, loss of respect, social abandonment and anxiety when faced with crises like job losses and financial difficulties. The relative of one of the deceased stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I even got angry the day this incident (suicide) happened. People even said we have been starving him, etc, etc. For Christ sake, he was 27 years. Must I keep on taking care of him? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A friend of another deceased person said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>His relatives visited him a lot when he was doing well in business but they stopped visiting when his problems started. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thus a dysfunctional, transactional social system existed around them. The implicit rule appeared to be that the victims were as valuable as their ability to provide for others and be economically independent.</p>
<p>The finding aligns with an earlier <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-47852-0_10">study</a> in Ghana that shows that the motivation for male suicides is not that men seek to reject their social responsibilities. Instead, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>it is an intense sense of personal responsibility towards meeting prescribed social norms and roles associated with gender. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>My study also found that even though it was possible for some of the men to depend on their wealthier wives during economic difficulty, doing so created distress. Depending on their wives and seeing them assume hitherto <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-occupy-very-few-academic-jobs-in-ghana-culture-and-societys-expectations-are-to-blame-200307">“male” roles</a> were seen as emasculating. </p>
<p>A spouse illustrated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He felt that due to the problems he was going through, there were some responsibilities I was not supposed to do as a wife that I was doing and all of those thing got him worried. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Where they were intent to live as <a href="https://theconversation.com/death-and-mourning-in-ghana-how-gender-shapes-the-rituals-of-the-akan-people-212398">benevolent patriachs</a> in line with internalised masculine codes, their economic predicament constrained the men’s social roles and created distress. </p>
<p>As another spouse explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Things were not going so well with his job, it got to the extent that he could not help people the way he wanted to, and he was worried. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Men as providers</h2>
<p>The findings of this study highlight the patriachal system that defines men partly in terms of their capacity to provide materially for others. Men who strictly adhere to such <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-parenting-in-ghana-shapes-sexist-stereotypes-51823">male norms</a> may struggle to adjust when they have to depend on others, including their spouses. The extended family system should support such men emotionally and materially, but some family members chose to abandon them. </p>
<p>Public education is vital to change unhealthy gender norms that affect men in social and economic adversity. It will enable men to learn effective ways of coping and alternative <a href="https://theconversation.com/young-fathers-in-ghana-are-expanding-the-meaning-of-manhood-153807">ways of being men</a>. Education will also help change societal notions of who a man is and foster more support in times of adversity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johnny Andoh-Arthur does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Suicide in Ghana is regarded as taboo for most families.Johnny Andoh-Arthur, Senior Lecturer, Psychology, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2061512023-09-01T14:24:12Z2023-09-01T14:24:12ZWomen are less happy than men – a psychologist on why and four things you can do about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544784/original/file-20230825-29-eolc04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=451%2C0%2C4335%2C3401&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Carve out time for yourself to avoid getting overwhelmed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/faceless-unhappy-woman-covering-face-6383282/">pexels/liza summer</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/women-are-less-happy-than-men-a-psychologist-on-why-and-four-things-you-can-do-about-it-206151&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>Something strange is going on in women’s happiness research. Because despite having more freedom and employment opportunities than ever before, women have <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.1.2.190">higher levels of</a> <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w29893">anxiety and more mental health challenges</a>, such as depression, anger, loneliness and more restless sleep. And these results are seen across many countries and different age groups. </p>
<p>A recent survey conducted by the American Psychological Association may hold some clues as to why. The results found that most US women are <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/03/numbers-women-society">unhappy with how society treats them</a>. </p>
<p>Many women are still the main caregivers for children and elderly relatives. Most also have the double burden of <a href="https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/10625/56506/IDL-56506.pdf">managing the home and family arrangements</a> on top of paid work responsibilities. And within the workplace three in five women have experienced bullying, <a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/new-tuc-poll-2-3-young-women-have-experienced-sexual-harassment-bullying-or-verbal-abuse-work#:%7E:text=Three%20in%20five%20(58%25),poll%20published%20today%20(Friday)">sexual harassment or verbal abuse</a>.</p>
<p>The gender gap in wellbeing was notably documented during the pandemic, as many women took on more domestic and caregiving responsibilities <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00737-020-01092-2">on top of work</a>. But it was also noted that although women took a bigger hit to their wellbeing they were quicker to recover, <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w29893/w29893.pdf">which seems to indicate that</a><a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w29893/w29893.pdf">women are more emotionally resilient</a> than men.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/womens-health-matters-143335">Women’s Health Matters</a>, a series about the health and wellbeing of women and girls around the world. From menopause to miscarriage, pleasure to pain the articles in this series will delve into the full spectrum of women’s health issues to provide valuable information, insights and resources for women of all ages.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/spain-is-the-egg-donation-capital-of-europe-heres-what-its-like-to-be-a-donor-205780">Spain is the egg donation capital of Europe – here’s what it’s like to be a donor</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/dirty-red-how-periods-have-been-stigmatised-through-history-to-the-modern-day-206967">‘Dirty red’: how periods have been stigmatised through history to the modern day</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-tracking-menopause-symptoms-can-give-women-more-control-over-their-health-209004">How tracking menopause symptoms can give women more control over their health</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>One of the factors that may contribute towards women’s resilience is social connection. In one 2019 study, researchers found that women scored higher than men for positive relationships with others as well as <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/19/3531">capacity for personal growth</a>. In essence, women tend to be better than men at getting support. They ask for help sooner and so are more likely to overcome adversity quicker.</p>
<p>Women have also been found to place greater value on social connections than men. Studies have found that <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-020-00155-z">women’s friendships are more intimate</a> – women favour face-to-face interactions that enable more self-disclosure and emotional support. Whereas men’s friendships tend to be more <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-011-0109-z">side by side, pursuing shared activities</a>. Think catching up watching a football match versus catching up over coffee. Again this may explain the buffer to women’s mental health. </p>
<h2>Happiness versus purpose</h2>
<p>Although women may not be as happy in the moment as men and face greater social inequality, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022167818777658?casa_token=OaqZQu3c9NQAAAAA%3AfQsOc1SccjHMqHDsTTpeDAT60kS2zgY_dXlSm5csM0g_zOOa0LVi7Kopxg7-weQiAhKT1uHp-jA9">a recent study suggests</a> that women report having more purpose in their lives. And having meaning and purpose in life is associated with better health and living longer.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women, old and young spending time together." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544782/original/file-20230825-24-pzte95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544782/original/file-20230825-24-pzte95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544782/original/file-20230825-24-pzte95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544782/original/file-20230825-24-pzte95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544782/original/file-20230825-24-pzte95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544782/original/file-20230825-24-pzte95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544782/original/file-20230825-24-pzte95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women are more likely to take on caregiving roles as well as volunteer to help other people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/joyful-adult-daughter-greeting-happy-surprised-senior-mother-in-garden-3768131/">pexels/andrea piacquadio</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The study found that women tend to engage in more altruistic endeavours, such as supporting others and charity volunteering which leads to a greater sense of meaning and purpose. </p>
<p>However, the researchers also point out that this is likely linked to cultural norms of women being encouraged to put the needs of others first. While putting others first does not necessarily make you happier, having a sense of meaning in life definitely contributes towards happiness.</p>
<p>Given all this, women need to make time for themselves to protect their wellbeing. Here are four evidence-based ways to help you do this:</p>
<h2>1. Try therapy</h2>
<p>Having a place just for you, where you can talk about how you feel and express your emotions is important for your psychological wellbeing. Art-based therapies are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17454832.2017.1317004?casa_token=JZ3JZDeTtK4AAAAA%3A-RN84vcWUDDDHTuPsjWtTFafCiBbdRfYV6Y765r1lm2AubXRL4fBvGcrFoxuwM-pXv-aj9vobUUa2Q">particularly beneficial for women</a> as are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jocn.12168?casa_token=hhEGS5Y90tIAAAAA%3APZbZLIiFuYydiPbBDhgrfp5qnzDJCXXHZaLlF1ecZ4NcjlWPzdCs8X2J-0NeouCL5q7-oZ1kmVaCD1c">group-based interventions</a> that allow women to speak openly with other women – which can <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jocn.12168?casa_token=A5uR9LrmsvEAAAAA:062vY0B6NXh1yoJ84C35T5_SHNcIrkuIWXbiKGAGaRCZX1zfsESoLBbeKJhlXQwOfL_q96gepabjook">reduce feelings of stigma and shame</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Connect with nature</h2>
<p>Spending time outdoors in natural settings can be very comforting. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02508281.2021.1917892?casa_token=n1rYt4Je7RQAAAAA%3AkBm1mtyqLaL1AUoUUEgHhqs1n2CFFCDYRByd23CVTHa9tgffKEJLACsh7yGXdflZ1_rLj7lP0zMu">A recent study</a> found that nature-based interventions are particularly healing for women who have experienced trauma or illness . Indeed, as women, our biology and values often <a href="https://rupture.ie/articles/women-and-nature">align with the natural world</a>. The term “Mother Earth” reflects the feminine tendency to be life-giving and nurturing. </p>
<p>So make sure you factor some time outside in nature into your daily or weekly plans. A walk on the beach, a run through the woods or reading a book in the park, it all helps.</p>
<h2>3. Move yourself</h2>
<p>Studies show that when women engage in regular physical activity it increases <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211266923000142">self-acceptance and personal growth</a>. Aerobic exercise is particularly helpful for <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-neuropsychological-society/article/longterm-effects-of-resistance-exercise-training-on-cognition-and-brain-volume-in-older-women-results-from-a-randomized-controlled-trial/EE3CD46849DB34FAFCC6E00D8FC3E8F7">cognitive health as women age</a>. High impact, weight-bearing exercise such as jumping and running improve <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/2/846">bone health for women in middle age</a> and regular moderate exercise, such as walking has been shown to <a href="https://journals.lww.com/menopausejournal/abstract/2020/08000/can_walking_exercise_programs_improve_health_for.17.aspx">improve symptoms of the menopause</a>.</p>
<h2>4. Cut down on alcohol</h2>
<p>Women face gender-specific risks related to alcohol, including a greater risk of being a <a href="https://movendi.ngo/news/2019/05/28/who-alcohol-major-factor-in-violence-against-women/">victim of violence</a> and more health-related issues such as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/womens-health.htm">heart disease and breast cancer</a>. Women also become intoxicated quicker than men which can make them <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6502688/">more vulnerable</a>. </p>
<p>Given that women are twice as likely as men to experience anxiety, reducing or eliminating alcohol may be sensible. Indeed, research shows quitting alcohol can significantly <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/for-women-quitting-alcohol-can-improve-well-being">improve women’s health and happiness</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lowri Dowthwaite-Walsh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Women’s wellbeing paradox: unhappier than men but more social, with higher levels of emotional resilience.Lowri Dowthwaite-Walsh, Senior Lecturer in Psychological Interventions, University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2105942023-08-16T20:10:23Z2023-08-16T20:10:23ZIt is not just heat waves — climate change is also a crisis of disconnection<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542024/original/file-20230809-28-ur0cq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C0%2C4755%2C3160&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Political tribalism has severely hampered genuine action on climate change and developing more environmentally just practices and standards.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/it-is-not-just-heat-waves-climate-change-is-also-a-crisis-of-disconnection" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Climate change is widely recognized by the scientific community as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60922-3">the biggest global health threat of the 21st century</a>.” </p>
<p>However, climate change isn’t just about greenhouse gas emissions. At its core, it is both a symptom and a cause for the centuries-long trend in declining social connection and community cohesion.</p>
<h2>A modern atomized life</h2>
<p>Consider this: If <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2017.22114">human history</a> was summarized in 100 minutes, modern life would only take shape in the last 30 or so seconds. </p>
<p>In these last 30 seconds, human beings began <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01019">domesticating plants and animals</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0965-40">built cities</a>, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vgbJbZi00bQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=history+of+the+factory&ots=9UAgXOExlf&sig=5-Xc1cKNB8lOOguT21xyv8j7tPE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20the%20factory&f=false">invented factories</a> and began harnessing <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2876929">electric power</a>. These novelties <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3631212">totally revolutionized how we relate to each other</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24690565">the world around us</a>. </p>
<p>Prior to the modern age, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.03.005">most humans lived in small collective bands</a>, surrounded by extended family, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43050800">and hardly ever ventured far</a> from home. These traditional lifestyles are increasingly rare <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctv6q52rv">as the pressures of capitalism and colonialism homogenize our lives</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541767/original/file-20230808-27-i8u8og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An Indigenous community on the boundaries of a clear-cutting operation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541767/original/file-20230808-27-i8u8og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541767/original/file-20230808-27-i8u8og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541767/original/file-20230808-27-i8u8og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541767/original/file-20230808-27-i8u8og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541767/original/file-20230808-27-i8u8og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541767/original/file-20230808-27-i8u8og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541767/original/file-20230808-27-i8u8og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Clear-cutting operations in Brazil reveal with particular clarity the exponential growth of our demands upon this planet, in stark contrast to our ever shrinking social networks and communities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andre Penner)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Across the globe, people <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview">increasingly live in cities</a> and are forced to abandon traditional lifestyles. <a href="https://www.americansurveycenter.org/why-mens-social-circles-are-shrinking/">Social networks have divided and grown smaller and smaller</a>. Despite efforts to resist declining social connection, we increasingly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-015-0440-z/%22%22">organize ourselves into disconnected and competing family units</a>. As a result, rates of loneliness <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-067068">are elevated</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.06.006">and increasing</a> in nearly every global region and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696820962599">our attachments to one another are becoming less and less secure</a>.</p>
<h2>Consequences for our planet</h2>
<p>The consequences of modern life don’t end with <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/03/new-surgeon-general-advisory-raises-alarm-about-devastating-impact-epidemic-loneliness-isolation-united-states.html">growing rates of loneliness and social disconnection</a>. Indeed, in the same fraction of time that we revolutionized human social life, we have also dramatically increased our demand on the world around us — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1079/9781780642031.0005">clearing billions of acres of forests</a>, releasing <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2057-2017">billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere</a> and <a>imposing vast infrastructure upon this planet and its non-human inhabitants</a>. Moreover, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10745-021-00237-w">we are losing traditional ecological knowledge needed to protect our environments</a>. These atomized lifestyle changes have been costly to the environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A baby in a pram stares at a phone on a subway carriage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541963/original/file-20230809-16-tydw85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=48%2C0%2C5400%2C3564&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541963/original/file-20230809-16-tydw85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541963/original/file-20230809-16-tydw85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541963/original/file-20230809-16-tydw85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541963/original/file-20230809-16-tydw85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541963/original/file-20230809-16-tydw85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541963/original/file-20230809-16-tydw85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Climate change is as much a crisis of disconnection with ourselves and our planet as it is a failure of policy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to the more environmentally intensive lifestyles we now lead, our increasingly individualistic culture has emerged as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2019.100198/%22%22">key driver of environmental degradation</a>. Studies suggest that tribalism and polarization are stifling our ability <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40665-016-0018-z%22%22">to respond to the environmental threats we are increasingly facing</a>. </p>
<h2>A vicious feedback cycle</h2>
<p>Perhaps of greatest concern, it is apparent that there is a vicious feedback cycle between climate change and poor social cohesion. In fact, there is a growing body of research showing that climate change will not just be worsened by our social disconnectedness, but will itself contribute to greater disconnection. Climate change and our modern social ills are linked.</p>
<p>As exemplified by recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/style/modern-love-relationship-climate-change.html">media reports</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.623757">even close families and friends experience conflict over climate change</a>. Such conflicts may arise from disagreements about <a href="https://theethicalist.com/partner-does-not-care-climate-change/">how to live our lives in an environmentally conscious way</a> and this potential is increased by <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4168583">important gender differences in climate anxiety</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eco-anxiety-climate-change-affects-our-mental-health-heres-how-to-cope-202477">Eco-anxiety: climate change affects our mental health – here's how to cope</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Couples worried about the future may therefore experience conflicts over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15674-z">whether to have kids</a>. For other couples, climate change may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-018-0690-7">reduce intimacy</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.1958">increase intimate partner violence</a> and threaten <a href="https://womendeliver.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Climate-Change-Report.pdf">sexual and reproductive wellbeing</a>. Indeed, there is compelling evidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-018-0690-7">unseasonably warm weather is associated with a decline in births</a> nine months later, which suggests that changes in the climate could impact intimacy between partners. Climate change is a wedge issue that has the potential to drive us further and further apart.</p>
<p>While the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91611-4">decision to not have kids may have many environmental benefits</a>, living and ageing without children can have its own difficulties – including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X22000824">increased risk for loneliness and isolation</a>. The feedback cycle goes both directions.</p>
<p>Moreover, at the population level, these impacts are compounded. Extreme weather effects can increase the rate of interpersonal violence. Declining birth rates lead to considerable economic impact. And mass migration creates cultural challenges such as those driving the re-emergence of extreme-right parties in Europe.</p>
<h2>The way out</h2>
<p>Put simply, human life has changed at a breakneck pace and our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2022.12.005">biology, ecology and psychology have failed to keep up</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111303">Indigenous peoples have taught for centuries</a>, it’s time we recognize that all things are interconnected. If we don’t act, climate change will worsen our social bonds, which will only reduce our capacity to respond to the environmental threats that lie ahead. The climate will worsen and the cycle will continue.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fearmongering-about-people-fleeing-disasters-is-a-dangerous-and-faulty-narrative-200894">Fearmongering about people fleeing disasters is a dangerous and faulty narrative</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, there is a way out of this vicious feedback loop: we can reverse the centuries-long trend in disconnection by treating social and environmental health on par with physical and mental health. </p>
<p>Our own research suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8226568">promoting social connection is key to reducing the harmful effects of climate change, including its effect on mental health</a>. Other studies also show that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625211020661">more connected we are, the better we will be able to discuss</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F08941920.2019.1709002">respond to</a> climate change. </p>
<p>Of course, if the last few decades are any indication, we must acknowledge that social connection and cohesion is difficult to achieve. If modern life were conducive to healthy social lives, we would not be where we are today. </p>
<p>This is exactly why we need renewed public and philanthropic investments in social cohesion and community life. For example, <a href="https://www.friendshipbenchzimbabwe.org/">friendship benches in Zimbabwe</a> provide a leading example for how relying on and strengthening community <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08767-9">can help people live happier and healthier lives</a>. We must learn from communities leading the way across the globe if we are to survive and thrive in the midst of environmental change. Indeed, climate change requires us to come together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210594/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kiffer George Card has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Health Research British Columbia, Canadian Red Cross, Public Health Agency of Canada, Government of British Columbia, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kalysha Closson receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program.</span></em></p>Dealing with climate change requires us to address not just our carbon emissions but also the disconnection with ourselves and our planet which fuels ecological destruction.Kiffer George Card, Assistant Professor in Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityKalysha Closson, Adjunct Professor and Post Doctoral Fellow, Faculty of Health SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2032532023-04-16T07:18:36Z2023-04-16T07:18:36ZJuvenile offenders in Ghana aren’t prepared for rejoining society - how the system is failing them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520498/original/file-20230412-20-ggiujw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Juvenile offenders face stigma once released</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Globally, about <a href="https://www.penalreform.org/issues/children/key-facts/">one million children</a> are held in police custody annually; 410,000 of them are held in detention and remand centres. On any day, it is <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-56227-4_11">estimated</a>, remand homes around the world hold about 160,000 to 250,000 children. </p>
<p>Time in prison can have lasting impacts on the lives of young offenders. It can affect social, emotional and other areas of development. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child">Convention on the Rights of Children</a> requires that incarceration should be a measure of last resort. The <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36804-treaty-african_charter_on_rights_welfare_of_the_child.pdf">African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child</a> also provides guidelines; <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36804-treaty-african_charter_on_rights_welfare_of_the_child.pdf#page=17">article 17</a> specifically deals with juvenile justice.</p>
<p>In Ghana, correctional centres are intended to help juvenile offenders gain vocational skills to help them become productive citizens after serving their sentence periods. They also receive religious and moral guidance. But there’s little follow-up of what happens to them.</p>
<p>As a social work researcher and volunteer in Accra, Ghana, I constantly interact with the senior correctional centre and remand home. I became worried about the number of male teenagers I encountered there and the sometimes seemingly trivial offences that had got them into trouble. Ghana as at April 2023 had 254 male juvenile offenders in <a href="https://ghanaprisons.gov.gh/about-us/statistics.cits">detention</a>. I wondered about what the future held for these teenagers once they rejoined society. </p>
<p>The literature says very little about the experiences of juvenile offenders in Ghana after their release. I therefore conducted a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10509674.2023.2182864">study</a> to explore this. I wanted to know more about the challenges they encountered and what had contributed to these challenges. </p>
<p>Knowledge about their experiences may be useful in designing policies and
effective strategies to mitigate the harmful impacts of imprisonment on young people’s lives.</p>
<p>In my view the results of my study highlight the need for a more effective and holistic approach to juvenile justice reform – one that considers the long-term impact of detention on young offenders. Ghana needs a more rigorous and comprehensive reintegration programme. And existing policies must be put into practice.</p>
<h2>Life after detention</h2>
<p>I interviewed 12 young men who had completed their sentence at Ghana’s senior correctional centre. I wanted to understand, in a qualitative way, the varied challenges they faced post-release and how that affected their lives. </p>
<p>The age range of participants at the time of the interview was between 19 and 28 years (average 22). All of them had entered the correctional centre as juveniles (some as young as 15) and exited as adults. They served an average of two years at the correctional centre.</p>
<p>Eight participants received skills training and education while at the centre – skills like general electrical, ceramics, carpentry and tailoring. The other four attended school while at the correctional centre.</p>
<p>Six participants had been charged with defilement, three with stealing, two with assault and one with unlawful entry. </p>
<p>One participant had a diploma, six had either started or completed junior high school, and five had either started or completed senior high school.</p>
<p>The study participants told me that they faced stigma after their release. Constant reminders of their offending history from friends and family led to feelings of shame, guilt and isolation. Indirectly, the confidence of these youths was challenged. They felt people saw them as beyond redemption and unsuitable for society. This feeling affected their social relationships with friends. One said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People are saying many things about me. I don’t have friends anymore in the area. So, though I live with my parents comfortably, I feel very sad and alone in that area.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The participants had given up on continuing their education. Some felt it was better to do something else. Others could not afford schooling in financial terms. </p>
<p>The correctional centre didn’t offer formal transitional programmes and support. This is one of the major threats to the successful reintegration of released juvenile offenders into society. Ghana has a Justice for Children <a href="https://www.mogcsp.gov.gh/mdocs-posts/justice-for-children-policy/">policy</a>, which outlines strategies such as the use of district probation officers and social workers to reintegrate young offenders, but it lacks proper implementation. </p>
<p>When released, the young men in my study returned to a background of poverty. This seemed to be what was contributing to the initial offence committed. Poverty limited the kind of help a family could provide for them. And they were unable to get work because employers were not willing to give them a chance.</p>
<p>For those who had acquired certain skills at the senior correctional centre, financial limitations made it hard to start a business. One said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have plans to open my shop to start an electrical business but I have got no help. It has been very difficult and disturbing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It meant they were unable to break the cycle of poverty, making reintegration even more difficult.</p>
<h2>A call to do better</h2>
<p>The successful reintegration of released juvenile offenders into society requires the implementation of formal transitional programmes and support such as Ghana’s Justice for Children Policy. </p>
<p>Comprehensive strategies for education, employment and financial support must be put in place to ensure that these youths can establish meaningful lives after release. They need opportunities to start businesses or gain vocational skills that allow them to break free from poverty cycles. </p>
<p>Justice should not end with detention. Reintegrating ex-offenders should be an essential part of restorative justice efforts aimed at reducing recidivism and increasing public safety and social cohesion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ebenezer Bosomprah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana needs a more effective approach to juvenile justice reform that considers the long-term impact of detention on youth offenders.Ebenezer Bosomprah, PhD Candidate, Institute of African Studies, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022762023-04-11T01:41:21Z2023-04-11T01:41:21Z‘It’s like you’re a criminal, but I am not a criminal.’ First-hand accounts of the trauma of being stuck in the UK asylum system<p><em>Warning: this story contains graphic descriptions of violence. Pseudonyms are used to protect the interviewees’ identities.</em></p>
<p>Angela had already been in the UK as an asylum seeker for nine years and four months when we interviewed her. She was still in a state of limbo, unsure whether asylum would be granted, and her story was disturbing to hear.</p>
<p>Angela told us she had left Nigeria after an appalling terrorist attack. Her father was a high-ranking regional politician, a Christian in a mainly Muslim area. Following a political dispute, the family compound was attacked by members of the militant Islamist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram">Boko Haram</a> organisation. Angela told us that her father, her husband and others were killed – and that she was shot at, raped, beaten and left for dead:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was raped not one, not two, not three … I can’t remember how many times. The shocking thing is the person – I remember his face – who chopped my husband’s legs is still very much alive. He comes on social media almost every day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Angela is one of 12 asylum seekers and refugees from Africa and the Middle East we interviewed for <a href="https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/6557/">a study</a> published in 2020. We wanted to examine not only the experiences that drove them to the UK, but also the psychological effects of their subsequent experiences in the UK’s asylum system. </p>
<p>These accounts bear revisiting amid current widespread concerns about the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/uks-asylum-backlog-tops-160-000-for-first-time-since-current-records-began-12817733">record numbers</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/01/death-of-detainee-near-heathrow-prompts-immigration-detention-crisis-fears">welfare</a> and <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/inside-the-asylum-hotel-16-months-and-no-end-in-sight-92sw66xq7">experiences</a> of asylum seekers detained in the UK immigration system.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Like all the women and men we spoke to, Angela now lives in West Yorkshire. A decade after the attack on her home in Nigeria, she told us she was still having regular flashbacks and experiencing severe trauma. She probably wouldn’t have survived the attack without the help of an elderly couple from a nearby village, who initially cared for her. But incredibly, this wasn’t the end of her ordeal. </p>
<p>The couple contacted their daughter in Lagos and arranged for Angela to travel there, where they thought it would be safer. But when she had medical treatment in the city, members of a Boko Haram cell became aware of her presence and attacked the hospital. She escaped unharmed – but when the elderly couple’s daughter collected her, the car was shot at and their daughter was killed. Angela told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had to pretend I was dead as well because there was blood all over the car. I think that’s when they stopped shooting, because they thought I was dead.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As she talked, Angela pointed to a scar on her calf caused by one of the bullets. It was one of many scars all over her body that offered graphic evidence of her traumatic experiences in Nigeria. Despite this, when a friend of her father’s arranged a UK visa for her, she was only thinking in terms of a temporary stay:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I didn’t seek asylum at first because it didn’t even cross my head. I never thought I’d end up living in the UK.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Taken into detention</h2>
<p>Once she reached the UK, Angela hoped her suffering would be over. For the next ten years, she lived in a variety of detention centres, hostels and shared houses in different towns and cities around the UK. For most of this time, she survived on food vouchers and the help of charities and refugee support organisations.</p>
<p>Asylum seekers currently receive a maximum <a href="https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/asylum-support-inflation/#:%7E:text=On%2021%20December%202022%2C%20the,the%20legal%20obligation%20to%20be%20'%E2%80%A6">allowance</a> of £45 per week, compared with £77 for those on unemployment benefit. If asylum seekers live in accommodation that provides food (such as a hotel), this <a href="https://fullfact.org/immigration/hotel-asylum-seekers/">drops to</a> to £8.24 per week to cover clothes, non-prescription medication and travel.</p>
<p>Angela was sometimes unable to find a solicitor, so had to represent herself at court hearings and appeals. But since her cousin in Nigeria was a barrister and her mother had a law degree, she adapted to this role quickly – describing how her encounters in court “brought out the boldness, the lioness in me”. She recalled telling one judge:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had a beautiful life in Nigeria and it’s not something I would ever [give up] in my wildest dreams … For the Home Office representative to grate me down to rock bottom – I will not take it … I won’t come here and start fabricating lies because I want to stay in the United Kingdom.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A few months before we spoke, after almost a decade in the asylum system, Angela was served with a deportation notice and redetained. She told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>That was worse than the first time because there was a very hopeless situation. I had no case anymore. All my appeals, everything, court hearing, everything, had been dismissed, refused.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Angela was desperate, aware of the danger she would face on her return to Nigeria. A friend advised her to contact <a href="https://medicaljustice.org.uk/what-we-do/">Medical Justice</a>, a charity that supports victims of torture in immigration detention. It found her a lawyer who made a last-minute legal intervention – and she was reprieved:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My ticket was supposed to be for the 25th of May, and it was cancelled on the 24th – ten o’clock in the night … I just ran to the room and rolled on the floor like I was going crazy. It was such a shock.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Victims of torture</h2>
<p>We didn’t seek out traumatised individuals for our research, nor people who had been subject to torture. Yet all 12 who we interviewed described highly traumatic experiences before coming to the UK, including several accounts of torture. Given the sensitivity of their cases, our interviews were all conducted under the condition of strict anonymity.</p>
<p>Gloria had been living in the UK for three years – the shortest time of all our study’s participants – having arrived from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country in the grip of civil war and conflict for decades. Gloria described how her home was attacked by an armed group who abducted both her and her brother. He was killed; she was raped and tortured.</p>
<p>Gloria was vague about how she had arrived in the UK, telling us: “I was brought here by someone … I had tortures and then someone helped me to flee and come to here.”</p>
<p>She hoped she had reached a safe haven but was put straight into detention, despite her traumatised state. Like Angela, the multiple scars on her body bore witness to the torture she had experienced. Yet she told us in her halting English:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Detention is not just detention – it is prison … It’s like you’re a criminal, but I am not a criminal. I am in trouble. I am sick but I go in the prison … In the detention, I never ate. I was just crying [and I thought:] “It’s better maybe they kill me even here.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Gloria’s account came soon after a <a href="https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/what-we-do/asylum-and-rights/decision-making/proving-torture/report-proving-torture">report by Freedom From Torture</a> found that the Home Office would sometimes reject the evidence of scars from torture on the grounds that these might be self-inflicted wounds. This changed in 2019 when the <a href="https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2019/03/15/self-inflicted-torture-by-proxy-inherently-unlikely/">UK Supreme Court declared</a> that self-inflicted torture was “inherently unlikely”.</p>
<p>A supportive solicitor fought for Gloria’s release from detention, and she was moved to a hostel in Leeds, then one in Wakefield. Her solicitor organised an appeal for asylum, but it was rejected after a few months.</p>
<p>Gloria told us she was then coerced into signing a form agreeing to her deportation after being denied an interpreter – despite <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-11-asylum">immigration rules</a> stating that interpreters are available to all asylum seekers, free of charge, whenever necessary. Her claim of coercion is in line with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/feb/02/border-staff-asylum-seekers-whistleblower">historical allegations</a> made of some Home Office officials. Refugee organisations also highlighted to us other cases of asylum seekers reporting that they had been tricked or forced into signing <a href="https://www.gov.uk/return-home-voluntarily">“voluntary return” forms</a>.</p>
<p>Gloria told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was not able to understand or to speak English well. I told them there [should] be an interpreter because I’m not going to understand. They said: “No, it’s not the big interview” … Then they give me the papers to sign. They just said: “We need to put your status, that you are Congolese, in your documents.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When Gloria was finally allowed to read the text translated into French, she realised it related to “travelling documents to take me back and deport me. But they didn’t tell me that. They told me it was for my nationality.”</p>
<p>After this Gloria was taken into detention again, until her solicitor managed to free her and put her in contact with <a href="https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/what-we-do">Freedom From Torture</a>, a charity supporting torture survivors in the UK. It arranged a medical examination including photographs of her scars, which enabled her to make another appeal for asylum which, at the time we spoke, was still ongoing.</p>
<p>Gloria told us she had made a mistake coming to the UK, due to the hostility she encountered from the Home Office and the constant uncertainty, anxiety and stress she experienced in the asylum system. She said she had frequently contemplated suicide, even while out of detention and living in a hostel. Despite the horrors she had suffered in DRC, she told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought I come here to find refuge but … I’ve come to find worse problems for me.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>After their suffering, further trauma</h2>
<p>Having come to the UK to escape appalling suffering, all of our interviewees described experiencing further trauma while in the asylum system.</p>
<p>Between them, they highlighted a number of factors, including the protracted nature of the process, the perceived hostility of the Home Office, the traumatic effects of detention, a lack of control over their own lives, and the humiliation and frustration of being unable to work or contribute to UK society while seeking asylum here. (Asylum seekers cannot do paid work while their claims are being considered. They can do voluntary work as long as it does not interfere with their appointments and hearings.)</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519265/original/file-20230404-1198-k992e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman waving in the window of a detention centre" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519265/original/file-20230404-1198-k992e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519265/original/file-20230404-1198-k992e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519265/original/file-20230404-1198-k992e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519265/original/file-20230404-1198-k992e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519265/original/file-20230404-1198-k992e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519265/original/file-20230404-1198-k992e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519265/original/file-20230404-1198-k992e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman inside Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bedfordshire-uk-08-aug-2015-detainee-351707972">Pete Maclaine/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the most protracted cases was Joy’s, an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe who had been trapped in the UK system for 14 years when we met her. She was a political activist who came to the UK to escape persecution after fellow activists in Zimbabwe had been arrested, abducted and tortured. She explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m one of the people at the forefront of campaigning against the human rights abuse that are happening in Zimbabwe … We have activists on the ground [there] who have suffered. They’ve been tortured, they’ve been beaten, they’ve been arrested. They are being abducted for voicing [against] what the government is doing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Joy had left two young children in the care of her parents in Zimbabwe, hoping to return when it was safe. After her initial asylum claim was rejected, the Home Office ended Joy’s financial support and ordered her to move out of her accommodation. Her solicitor appealed the decision while she survived on weekly food parcels from the Red Cross.</p>
<p>In all, she had made four applications for asylum when we met her, all of which were beset by very long delays. In the most recent case, she told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The judge at the judicial review ruled the Home Office had made an error, and that they should go back and have a look at the case again … [But] the Home Office … just sort of copied-and-pasted the same refusal letter again – although this time they said I could appeal to the tribunal.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When we spoke, Joy was still hoping to return to Zimbabwe and see her children again, but knew the situation was too dangerous. After 14 years, she accepted the uncertainty of her life:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve come to a point where I … don’t want to keep on thinking of what if, what if, what if, what if? I will just take it as it comes. And then I will make a decision from there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Home Office says it aims to process initial claims within six months, but in practice it takes much longer. For example, in November 2022, the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/home-affairs-select-committee-oral-evidence-on-channel-crossings-refugee-council-response/">Home Affairs Select Committee</a> revealed that, of all people who arrived in the UK by boat to claim asylum in 2021, <a href="https://righttoremain.org.uk/what-is-causing-the-huge-home-office-delay-in-processing-asylum-claims/">only 4%</a> had had their claims processed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519281/original/file-20230404-20-h4sfhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters outside a hotel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519281/original/file-20230404-20-h4sfhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519281/original/file-20230404-20-h4sfhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519281/original/file-20230404-20-h4sfhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519281/original/file-20230404-20-h4sfhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519281/original/file-20230404-20-h4sfhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519281/original/file-20230404-20-h4sfhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519281/original/file-20230404-20-h4sfhm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters outside the Beresford Hotel in Newquay, Cornwall, where around 200 refugees have been staying.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/newquay-cornwall-0225-beresford-hotel-protest-2267945293">J. Mundy/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Sleeping with fear’</h2>
<p>For all our interviewees, the protracted UK asylum process brought a constant sense of uncertainty, and the continual fear of sudden deportation. </p>
<p>Farah, from Iran, described awaiting a decision from the Home Office as “living fear for four years”. Fleeing persecution from the Islamic regime, she had paid for a smuggler to bring her into the UK by plane, along with her 11-year-old daughter.</p>
<p>In the UK, they lived in shared houses and hostels with other asylum seekers and refugees from a variety of countries. Farah said that every so often, Home Office officials would arrive to deport residents. She was constantly afraid that they would be next:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I couldn’t get out of the depression it made for me … I used to open my window to hear if [the immigration authorities] were coming … Imagine every single night, you are sleeping with fear. I was scared to open the door to people. I didn’t have confidence to go out.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But Farah was one of the lucky ones. After four years, her asylum appeal was accepted. In the seven years since then, her daughter has completed a university degree, while she has worked as a teaching assistant and in a variety of voluntary roles – most recently, as an interpreter at her local GP surgery.</p>
<p>Most of our participants expressed a strong desire to contribute to UK society while stuck within the asylum system. They found it intensely frustrating that they were unable to do so, since they weren’t allowed to work. Some are highly educated and professionally successful in their original countries, and were desperate to use their knowledge and expertise. As Farah put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You need to contribute something … I’m not a parasite person. You know, I wanted to do something.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to Anne Burghgraef of <a href="https://www.solace-uk.org.uk/">Solace</a>, a Leeds-based organisation that offers mental health support for refugees and asylum seekers:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People who come with great knowledge and expertise are forced into years of passivity. There are so many highly skilled people who just need to learn the language properly and adapt to the UK system.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nevertheless, most of our participants strived to be of service to others within the limited environment of the refugee and asylum seeker community – for example, by volunteering as interpreters or organising social activities. In fact, our research highlighted this as an important coping strategy for our interviewees, to mitigate their ongoing anxiety and trauma.</p>
<h2>A hostile environment</h2>
<p>It is hard to imagine how any of the asylum seekers and refugees we spoke to would have coped – and in some cases, even survived – without the support of national and local organisations such as Solace. </p>
<p>In every case, our interviewees’ initial applications for asylum had been rejected. They quickly learned – either from fellow asylum seekers or legal advisers – that this was common practice, a ploy of deterring even the most valid claims. As another asylum seeker from Nigeria, Ebele, said of her initial rejection:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s part of the process – it’s like they want to stress people … They want [you] to think … that you can go back [home].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Leon had paid for a trafficker to take him to the UK from Guinea. From an affluent family, he was making a comfortable living as a businessman and owned several shops. However his father, a high-ranking soldier, had a dispute with government officials. Leon described government-sponsored thugs ransacking his shops, stealing his goods, then burning the shops to the ground.</p>
<p>On arrival in the UK, he was taken to a detention centre where he stayed for “three months and 11 days. And it was really bad for me, because I’d never been to jail in my life.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519284/original/file-20230404-14-y8wa7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial view of Manston migrant processing centre in Kent" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519284/original/file-20230404-14-y8wa7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519284/original/file-20230404-14-y8wa7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519284/original/file-20230404-14-y8wa7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519284/original/file-20230404-14-y8wa7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519284/original/file-20230404-14-y8wa7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519284/original/file-20230404-14-y8wa7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519284/original/file-20230404-14-y8wa7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Manston migrant processing centre in Kent was closed after reports of severe overcrowding and the death of a migrant in November 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/migrants-wrapped-blankets-waiting-be-medically-2241997471">Edward Crawford/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After a lawyer helped Leon apply for asylum, he moved to temporary accommodation in Huddersfield and then Leeds. His initial application was processed within six months, and refused. He was instructed to leave his accommodation immediately, but had no money and no other options:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the winter, the Home Office told me to leave the house. I didn’t have anywhere to go. It was snowing everywhere. I had to go to stay in the park.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Shortly afterwards, Leon was beaten up and had his bag stolen:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[I lost] all my clothes. I didn’t have anything. The same clothes I was wearing. I didn’t have anywhere … I was crying.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Leon sought help from <a href="https://pafras.org.uk/">Pafras</a>, a Leeds-based asylum seekers charity which assigned him a case worker, gave him clothes, and found him temporary accommodation. He told us the Home Office officials that he dealt with had no concept of what life was like in Guinea or any other troubled African country, and couldn’t comprehend the terror he had experienced or would encounter if he returned:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They think we are fine – that everything’s fine in my country. Anything you tell them, they always say it’s a lie … And you can’t force them to believe you.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Having been a successful businessman in Guinea, Leon – like many of our interviewees – told us he found it humiliating to live on food vouchers, food parcels, clothes donations, and other forms of charity.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The only thing I hate all my life is begging – to beg for something. I work. I always worked … So [if] I stay with you and you’re helping me for some time, I’m having difficulty – because it’s like I’m begging you, or I’m telling you my problem [so you will] help me.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Digging my grave’</h2>
<p>Imani is one of our three interviewees who were eventually granted refugee status – in her case, after six years as an asylum seeker. She had come to the UK from Guinea aged only 13.</p>
<p>After the death of her mother, she said she was treated as a slave by her stepmother and suffered genital mutilation. Her family arranged for her to marry an elderly man, but an old friend of her mother’s helped her to escape and paid for her to be trafficked to the UK.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519290/original/file-20230404-24-t23qv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Placard lit by candle during night-time protest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519290/original/file-20230404-24-t23qv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519290/original/file-20230404-24-t23qv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519290/original/file-20230404-24-t23qv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519290/original/file-20230404-24-t23qv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519290/original/file-20230404-24-t23qv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519290/original/file-20230404-24-t23qv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519290/original/file-20230404-24-t23qv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vigil in Falmouth, Cornwall, highlights the estimated 200 migrant children that have gone missing from government-approved hotels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/vigil-around-200-candles-were-placed-2259660651">J. Mundy/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the six years of her asylum process and despite her young age, Imani said she was faced with constant disbelief and hostility by officials who regularly threatened her with deportation. The Home Office questioned her stated age, and didn’t believe “that my parents can give me to marriage at the age of 13 years to someone who has another wife”.</p>
<p>In her words, the Home Office were “digging my grave without even killing me. It was so difficult.”</p>
<p>The Home Office notes that cases involving <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1140168/Assessing_age_March_2023.pdf">age disputes</a> can be extremely challenging, and that the safety and welfare of children in its care is paramount. In Imani’s case, there was a positive resolution. </p>
<p>Having finally attained refugee status, she was able to secure a paid job as a mental health support worker. She also campaigns against female genital mutilation, organising conferences and speaking in the media. She told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I share my story, to let them know I’m a survivor.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>On suicide watch</h2>
<p>Previous studies have shown that asylum seekers and refugees generally are around ten times more likely to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15823380/">experience psychiatric disorders</a> than the general population. They have been found to experience high levels of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19654388/">post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicidal ideation</a>.</p>
<p>This was true of all of our participants. Several reported seriously contemplating suicide. Some, including George, an African asylum seeker who had spent 11 years in the UK system when we met him, had attempted to take their life. He told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve thought of committing suicide. I was on suicide watch for some time. Twice now, I’ve tried to take my own life.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>George, who is bisexual, described in graphic detail how, as a teenager, he had been designated a “witch” and subjected to severe physical and sexual abuse during rituals. He showed us multiple scars and injuries all over his body, including marks where his fingertips had been cut to draw blood.</p>
<p>After 11 years in the UK, George told us that his case was “still ongoing, and ongoing and ongoing”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s hard to be living this life of uncertainty. You don’t know what is going to happen. You could just be in the house tonight and they’ll come with their squad, break down your door and get you out. Just like that. You just take the life hour by hour.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Like Gloria, George told us he was experiencing constant flashbacks to his earlier violent trauma:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I try to sleep, I see faces. Sometimes I hear the voice of my mother – she’s crying sometimes … And I hear the man that abused me – you know, what he was saying to me. And there was this sperm that he rubbed, you know, he put on my face when he was abusing me. That smell never leaves my nostrils.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>More detention and trauma</h2>
<p>Under the government’s controversial <a href="https://theconversation.com/illegal-immigration-bill-does-more-than-push-the-boundaries-of-international-law-201332">illegal migration bill</a>, introduced on March 7 2023, none of the individuals we’ve heard from would have been admitted to the UK. The bill effectively denies asylum to anybody who is not part of an <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1011824/Resettlement_Policy_Guidance_2021.pdf">agreed scheme</a>, no matter how compelling or urgent their case.</p>
<p>If the bill is passed by parliament, anyone who seeks asylum in the UK without being a part of an agreed scheme will either be returned to their home country or shipped to a third-party country, such as <a href="https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/uk-rwanda-asylum-agreement-why-is-it-a-memorandum-of-understanding-and-not-a-treaty/#:%7E:text=On%2014%20April%202022%2C%20the,their%20asylum%20claims%20processed%20there.">Rwanda</a>, without recourse to any form of legal appeal.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-toxic-policy-with-little-returns-lessons-for-the-uk-rwanda-deal-from-australia-and-the-us-201790">'A toxic policy with little returns' – lessons for the UK-Rwanda deal from Australia and the US</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In reality, however, it is doubtful that more than a tiny number of asylum seekers will be shipped anywhere. If enacted, the government’s bill is predicted to lead to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/22/draconian-migration-bill-could-leave-tens-of-thousands-destitute-or-locked-up">more long-term detention</a>. As Peter William Walsh from the <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/about/">Migration Observatory</a> has <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-governments-plan-to-remove-asylum-seekers-will-be-a-logistical-mess-and-may-not-deter-people-from-coming-to-the-uk-201248">pointed out</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One strange quirk of the new bill is that it appears to make it harder, not easier, for the government to remove people who are not considered refugees.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Asylum seekers can only be sent back to their home countries if they are deemed safe – but since the new bill doesn’t allow claims to be assessed, there is no way of determining this. This suggests that they would have to be sent to a third-party country.</p>
<p>So far, though, only Rwanda has agreed to serve this role, and is presently only capable of taking 200 people. No one has actually been sent there yet, and it is possible that, due to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/asylum-seekers-appeal-against-deportation-britain-ahead-first-rwanda-flight-2022-06-13/">legal challenges,</a> no one will be. The implication is that most new asylum seekers will be detained indefinitely in the UK, no matter how valid their claims.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01403/">most recent statistics</a>, the Home Office has a backlog of 166,100 asylum cases, including 101,400 cases awaiting an initial decision, 4,900 awaiting the outcome of an appeal, and around 38,900 cases subject to removal action.</p>
<p>The Home Office acknowledges the asylum system has been under mounting pressure for several years. It states that it is recruiting more decision-makers to help clear the backlog of cases, with a target of employing <a href="https://www.ein.org.uk/news/immigration-minister-says-home-office-aims-have-2500-asylum-caseworkers-place-august-2023">2,500 by September 2023</a>.</p>
<p>However, research by the Refugee Council suggests the government’s new illegal migration bill could mean that, over the next three years, 190,000 more people are “<a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/nearly-200000-people-could-be-locked-up-or-forced-into-destitution-new-report-on-asylum-bill-reveals/">locked up or forced into destitution”</a>. This figure – which the Home Office has disputed – includes 45,000 children and even factors in the possibility that 30,000 asylum seekers could be sent to Rwanda. The cost to the British taxpayer is estimated at around £9 billion by the Refugee Council study.</p>
<p>In practice, the government’s new bill may achieve little beyond, in the words of Solace’s Burghgraef: “Exerting unbearable pressure on thousands of already traumatised and extremely stressed sanctuary seekers, putting them at risk of long term entrenched mental health difficulties.”</p>
<p>When some of the issues raised by this article were put to the Home Office, a spokesperson commmented:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have not been able to investigate the individual [anonymised] accusations as we have not received their details. But we recognise many asylum seekers have experienced challenging circumstances when making their way here, which is why we ensure our staff are robustly trained to identify vulnerabilities throughout the process.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The spokesperson added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The UK has a proud record of providing protection to individuals fleeing persecution, underpinned by a robust framework of safeguards and quality checks to ensure protection is granted to those who genuinely need it.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Tired of everything’</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Dead_(novel)">The House of the Dead</a>, the Russian novelist Dostoevsky wrote that “the degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons”. In a similar way, we can judge how civilised a society is by the way it treats asylum seekers and refugees. By this criterion, we are clearly failing.</p>
<p>Our interviews offer a reminder that every asylum seeker or refugee is not a political statistic but an individual with a complex personal history. At a time when some MPs and commentators are attempting to delegitimise the whole concept of seeking asylum – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/02/priti-patel-urged-to-justify-claim-most-boat-migrants-not-real-refugees">claiming</a> that “most” asylum seekers are either criminals or economic migrants – the stories illustrate that a great many are, in fact, deeply traumatised individuals with extremely poor mental health.</p>
<p>Mariama, from Sierra Leone, was one of the lucky ones whose claim for asylum had been approved when we interviewed her. She had previously struggled to survive in the UK for nine years, spending most of the time “squatting” on the floors and sofas of acquaintances or strangers – who, she told us, often exploited her by requiring her to work for them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You have to work in houses, cook for them, do everything for them – and during those times you don’t even have your freedom. You’re not free because you are in somebody [else]’s house.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now that she had refugee status, however, Mariama said she felt relieved and grateful to still be alive – like a survivor at the end of a long war. But she was also quick to point out that many others in the UK’s asylum system are not so fortunate:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve heard of asylum seekers who committed suicide – left a note [saying] they shouldn’t blame anybody. [They’re] just tired of everything … So I feel grateful I’m still alive. And I feel grateful that there are still good people out there, who can come to your aid when you need them.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>If you’re struggling with suicidal thoughts, the following services can provide you with support. In the UK and Ireland – call Samaritans UK at 116 123. In the US – call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or IMAlive at 1-800-784-2433. In Australia – call Lifeline Australia at 13 11 14. In other countries – visit IASP or Suicide.org to find a helpline in your country.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-toxic-policy-with-little-returns-lessons-for-the-uk-rwanda-deal-from-australia-and-the-us-201790?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘A toxic policy with little returns’ – lessons for the UK-Rwanda deal from Australia and the US</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-heroes-left-behind-the-invisible-women-struggling-to-make-ends-meet-198210?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">COVID heroes left behind: the ‘invisible’ women struggling to make ends meet
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/its-like-being-in-a-warzone-aande-nurses-open-up-about-the-emotional-cost-of-working-on-the-nhs-frontline-194197?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘It’s like being in a warzone’ – A&E nurses open up about the emotional cost of working on the NHS frontline</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. He is the author of DisConnected: The Roots of Human Cruelty and How Connection Can Heal the World (Iff Books).</span></em></p>We wanted to examine not only the experiences that drove asylum seekers to the UK, but also the psychological effects of their experiences in the asylum system.Steve Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2010742023-03-30T12:26:18Z2023-03-30T12:26:18ZThis course uses science fiction to understand politics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517151/original/file-20230323-14-w936wx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C3594%2C2667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Science fiction offers a glimpse of what governments of the world are – and can become.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/abstract-technology-eye-royalty-free-image/178077889?adppopup=true">agsandrew via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“Politics and Science Fiction”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>While watching “<a href="https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/show/andor">Andor</a>” – a science fiction TV series that is part of the “Star Wars” galaxy of films, books and TV shows – I realized that what fascinates me most about science fiction is the political aspect, especially regarding power. </p>
<p>I decided to create an upper-level political science course that explores politics and government through the lens of science fiction, with a focus on literature. </p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>We explore issues of racism, gender, anarchy and the end of civilization. I chose books that encourage students to focus on the political aspects of each work. At the beginning of the course, I ask students how closely they connect science fiction and politics. At the end of the course, students have the opportunity to revisit and revise their response to that question. By that point, students have participated in discussions, written papers and completed short assignments that ask them to explore and articulate political themes in each book.</p>
<p>I find that students in this course begin to take science fiction more seriously as a political genre, and those who come into the class as new readers of science fiction learn to appreciate its many subgenres and perspectives.</p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>As numerous state legislatures seek to restrict what can be taught regarding many issues, <a href="https://theconversation.com/advanced-placement-courses-could-clash-with-laws-that-target-critical-race-theory-186018">including race</a>, it’s important to understand the power structures behind racism. Science fiction is an ideal way to explore issues of power and oppression. </p>
<p>Derrick Bell, the author of “<a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/derrick-bell/faces-at-the-bottom-of-the-well/9781541645530/">The Space Traders</a>,” is one of the originators of <a href="https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752">critical race theory</a>, which holds that racism has been codified in American law and society. Bell’s story blends science fiction and politics to illustrate how politicians could use the Constitution and the law to extend racist policies to an extreme degree, all for the benefit of white Americans. </p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>In one of the writing assignments I ask students to compare the political themes of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-dispossessed-ursula-k-le-guin?variant=40991763988514">The Dispossessed</a>” – including utopia, anarchy, gender and power – to another work of science fiction that they enjoy. The goal is to help them make connections to political perspectives in other science fiction works and to get them to reexamine a piece of science fiction they’re already familiar with. </p>
<p>This semester, students made comparisons to political themes in multiple science fiction formats and subgenres including “Star Wars,” “<a href="https://www.hbo.com/the-last-of-us">The Last of Us</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/">The Hunger Games</a>.”</p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<ul>
<li><p>Ursula K. Le Guin’s “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-dispossessed-ursula-k-le-guin?variant=40991763988514">The Dispossessed</a>,” a novel that closely examines anarchy, utopia and gender relations.</p></li>
<li><p>Stanislaw Lem’s “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-futurological-congress-stanislaw-lem?variant=40968643313698">The Futurological Congress</a>,” a novel about a future in which the government uses hallucinogenic drugs to create the illusion of utopia.</p></li>
<li><p>Naomi Alderman’s “<a href="https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/naomi-alderman/the-power/9780316547659/">The Power</a>,” a novel that imagines a world in which women gain physical and political power.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>This course is designed to expose students to themes in science fiction that will expand their understanding of politics and power. I ask students to explore and articulate the explicitly political aspects of science fiction. My goal is for students to leave the class with a new perspective on politics and government that will make politics more interesting to them and inform how they engage with works of science fiction, whether as books, movies or some other format.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Pankiewicz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Science fiction does more than entertain – it can also be used to better understand the political forces that shape the societies in which we live.Nicole Pankiewicz, Assistant Professor of Political Science, College of Coastal GeorgiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003072023-03-23T13:34:58Z2023-03-23T13:34:58ZWomen occupy very few academic jobs in Ghana. Culture and society’s expectations are to blame<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516646/original/file-20230321-1480-be3c0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is a dearth of women teaching at institutions of higher education in Ghana</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In many parts of the world, men dominate the higher education sector. A 2022 UNESCO <a href="https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/SDG5_Gender_Report-2.pdf">report</a> found that, globally, fewer than two out of five senior academics are women. In an earlier report it showed that <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/women-science">less than 30%</a> of the world’s researchers are women.</p>
<p>Ghana is no exception. The country has made some progress in improving gender parity and inclusion through various <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2017">national policies</a>. But this progress has not extended to jobs in the higher education sector. In 2009, drawing on data from six of the country’s public universities, the regulator for tertiary institutions, National Council for Tertiary Education <a href="https://gtec.edu.gh/download/file/FINAL-STATISTICAL-REPORT-ON-TERTIARY-EDUCATION16.pdf">reported</a> that just 19.5% of academic staff were women. </p>
<p>Our recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2022.2048636">research</a> suggests these figures have not improved in the past few years. We set out to understand why so few women occupy academic positions in Ghanaian universities. We did this because understanding the reasons will help efforts at developing appropriate policy responses. </p>
<p>Our findings showed that traditional gender norms were the main barrier to Ghanaian women pursuing academic careers. There are set ideas in Ghanaian society about what women can and should do. Examples include the fact that women are seen primarily as caregivers and mothers rather than as professionals seeking careers. Entrenched ideas about what women can or should do is a major issue because it evokes negative gender stereotypes. Many women have in many circumstances internalised these stereotypes and shared them. In turn, this has contributed to the low numbers of women academics in Ghanaian universities. </p>
<h2>Low representation</h2>
<p>The gender composition from nine Ghanaian universities based on <a href="https://gtec.edu.gh/download/file/Tertiary%20Education%20Statistics%20Report%202018.pdf">data</a> from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission showed that:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Only 10.2% of all full professors – the most senior academic level – were women</p></li>
<li><p>Women accounted for just 14.2% of those ranked as Associate Professors</p></li>
<li><p>Only 13.4% of senior lecturers were women; the figure was 22.8% for lecturers and 26.4% for assistant lecturers.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These numbers reflect similar numerical trends elsewhere in the world. <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/staff-data">For example</a>, in Australia, women held 54.7% of lecturer ranks, 46.8% of senior lecturer ranks, and only 33.9% of women held ranks above senior lecturer. In Nigeria, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1261106/female-staff-in-nigerian-universities/">women represented </a> only 23.7% of academic staff in universities in the 2018/2019 academic year. In Sierra Leone, out of the 1779 full time academic staff only 267 were women <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/857591468302730070/pdf/ACS43930PNT0P10x0379833B00PUBLIC00.pdf#page=23">representing only 18%</a> of the total academic staff . </p>
<h2>What women told us</h2>
<p>We interviewed 43 female academics who represented a variety of academic disciplines categorised into three academic domains. These were biological/agriculture sciences, humanities and social sciences, and engineering/Information Technology. </p>
<p>Respondents included 3 professors/associate professors, 4 senior lecturers, 29 lecturers and 7 assistant lecturers. The interview questions were centred on participants’ own experiences and events within their work environment and the wider society. We also asked about female employment participation in higher education.</p>
<p>A number of respondents said that society expected them to have children while they were still young and that there was a perceived age limit for getting married. Education was only valued up to a point, as one respondent explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everybody would want to see their child complete (a) first degree and once you are done with that you are virtually on your own. A lot of us would want to get married right after and that’s when you are lucky to have been grabbed whilst you were in school. And the next thing you have in society is that you get married and settle. And once you get married, in the first year everybody is expecting you to have a child. If you are deferring your childbearing to pursue education, society will raise a lot of concerns.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Others said that being highly educated limited their prospects of marriage. Ghanaian society felt men should care for women rather than women having a career of their own or being more successful than their husbands.</p>
<p>An interviewee told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… usually (in families) the man is known as the bread winner, so it is just normal that they will sacrifice the woman’s education for the man to improve and to be more economically secure to be able to take care of the family.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cultural and societal norms meant that men were viewed as being better suited to teaching at a university level and forging careers in academia. Women, on the other hand were considered to be better teachers at the basic education level. </p>
<p>The interviewees also told us that, in their experience, academic institutions were unaware of the bias against them. </p>
<p>An interviewee told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… Many of our institutions are gender-blind in the distribution of PhD scholarships and other career development opportunities. They do not even know that the small number of women lecturers in the departments and faculties is a problem and that they need to do something urgently to address it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is known as <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-gender-blindness-5204197">gender blindness</a>. It shows that, even with the rise and widespread dissemination of national policy actions on gender equality, inclusion and grassroots activism, changes in behaviour and attitudes have not reached all institutions.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>There is a great opportunity to alter social structures to improve employment outcomes of women in the higher education sector – starting from societal norms, where attitudes and behaviour need to change. </p>
<p>This requires a multidimensional approach including social reconstruction through advocacy, social change activism and legislation. While the state should be driving legislation and social change advocacy, gender-based civil society organisations, universities, families and individuals also have a role to play. </p>
<p>The limited number of women occupying academic positions in Ghanaian universities undermines government efforts and national policy actions designed to improve gender equality in the workforce across the different sectors of the economy. <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/delivering-through-diversity">Research</a> has shown that there is significant value in a diverse gender mix in employment. It can help to achieve social justice and social inclusion with major economic benefits to the economy.</p>
<p>Changing society’s expectations is crucial. But Ghanaian universities should establish transparent gender-neutral policies towards recruitment and promotion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Desmond Tutu Ayentimi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghanaian traditional gender norms are the main barrier to Ghanaian women pursuing academic careers.Desmond Tutu Ayentimi, Senior Lecturer in Management, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1956912022-11-30T17:03:22Z2022-11-30T17:03:22ZNew grant will fund The Conversation partnership on critical research into COVID recovery, net zero, cities and levelling up and inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498297/original/file-20221130-24-5rg1qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/team-paper-doll-people-holding-hands-144653342">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world has changed in manifold ways since the height of the pandemic – and research evidence can help governments respond to them. In the last few years, <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/ishybridworkingheretostay/2022-05-23">homeworking</a> has become the new normal, there’s been a disturbing increase in <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/effective-scalable-interventions-mental-health-population-systematic-review/">mental health problems</a>, and millions have suffered the devastating <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-10/long-covid-eases-with-time-but-disables-millions-study-shows">effects</a> of <a href="https://theconversation.com/long-covid-why-its-so-hard-to-tell-how-many-people-get-it-188270">long COVID</a>.</p>
<p>These are just some of the pandemic’s deep and lasting impacts that researchers can now begin to quantify and understand.</p>
<p>In late 2020, The Conversation partnered on the ESRC-funded <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/">International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO)</a>, a collaboration of UK academic institutions – including UCL, Cardiff University, Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Oxford – and global networks. Its goal is to help UK policymakers address COVID-19’s social impacts by connecting them with the best global evidence. A new tranche of funding – £2,000,000 – from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is announced today and IPPO will now start a second two-year phase in January 2023.</p>
<p>IPPO has already assessed the <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/https-covidandsociety-com-ippo-rapid-evidence-review-uk-school-closures-children-covid-19-pandemic/">impact of school closures on pupils</a>, <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/https-covidandsociety-com-rrapid-evidence-review-impact-lockdowns-school-closures-parents-carers-uk/">parents and carers</a>; explored how we can better manage the growing <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/effective-scalable-interventions-mental-health-population-systematic-review/">global mental health crisis</a> that was exacerbated by the <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/how-policymakers-responded-mental-health-issues-covid-19-pandemic/">pandemic</a>, and improved governments’ understanding of the role played by volunteers during emergencies.</p>
<p>The second phase will have a renewed focus on how research can inform policy to support recovery from seismic shocks and broaden its reach to engage with the wider challenges UK policymakers are facing. Forthcoming research topics will include COVID recovery, net zero, levelling up and cities, and inequality.</p>
<p>Working closely with the Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) at Cardiff University, the University of Glasgow, Queen University Belfast, and the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA), the next iteration of IPPO will also establish how the four UK nations can work together and learn from each other when it comes to putting evidence into practice.</p>
<p>The Conversation will play a key role in communicating IPPO’s critical findings.</p>
<h2>Public events</h2>
<p>As 2022 draws to a close, IPPO will stage three public events to discuss its latest research.</p>
<p>The first event – on <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-governments-used-intelligence-for-decision-making-during-covid-19-tickets-458358962997">Tuesday, December 6, 2022</a> – will mark the release of IPPO’s report on how governments across the world used intelligence to make decisions during the pandemic and draw on examples from countries including Taiwan, Korea, Estonia and Portugal to provide insights for policymakers and experts.</p>
<p>Led by UCL professor, Geoff Mulgan, the event will include expert commentary from Ed Humpherson, director general for regulation at the UK Statistics Authority; Paula Graciela Daza Narbona, who led Chile’s pandemic response as undersecretary of public health; Juliet Gerrard, the prime minister’s chief scientific adviser in New Zealand, and Rob Orford, chief scientific adviser for health for NHS Wales.</p>
<p>On Thursday, December 8, 2022, a <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ippo-cities-how-do-cities-cultivate-social-capital-tickets-469299877567">second event</a> will tackle the initiatives and interventions <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/ippocities/">that cities can take</a> to encourage and enhance social capital.</p>
<p>An expert panel of city policymakers will discuss topics ranging from the mechanisms to promote volunteering and mainstreaming social capital to the benefits of social action.</p>
<p>Speakers will include the Greater London Authority’s Alice Wilcock, assistant director of civil society and sport and Carla Garnelas, senior manager of civil society and volunteering; Adrian Nolan, lead officer for industrial strategy at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, and Amalia Zepou, co-founder of social innovation and culture at non-profit NPO KOLLEKTIVA and former vice-mayor of Athens for civil society and innovation.</p>
<p>The final event of the year will be held on <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/debunk-inform-avoid-tickets-427047238787">Thursday, December 15, 2022</a>, when IPPO will launch its most recent rapid evidence review on countering misinformation and the effectiveness of debunking strategies.</p>
<p>IPPO’s research, led by UCL’s EPPI Centre, has explored which debunking strategies might be most effective, and why.</p>
<p>The demand for this work came from IPPO’s discussions with public health communicators and policymakers who wanted to better understand how evidence might inform communications strategies that effectively tackle misinformation.</p>
<p>For more information IPPO and its events, please <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/events/">click here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The COVID-19 virus found its way into every area of our lives.Sarah O'Meara, IPPO/Communications and Engagement ManagerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1877772022-11-21T02:58:44Z2022-11-21T02:58:44ZThe concept of class is often avoided in public debate, but it’s essential for understanding inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495777/original/file-20221117-20-d6joj9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4480%2C3353&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Bergsma/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Australian news, opinion and popular culture, the figures of the hipster and the bogan are everywhere. These figures are proxies for cultural, commercial and moral aspects of class, signalling differences in fashion, accents and tastes. Perhaps one of the most recognisable examples is the popular television series, Upper Middle Bogan. </p>
<p>So potent and provocative are these figures in Australian popular culture, that in our experience of talking about class in the media earlier this year, following the release of our book <a href="https://publishing.monash.edu/product/class-in-australia/">Class in Australia</a>, interviewers most often wanted to talk about hipsters and bogans. </p>
<p>These figures are important for understanding class in Australia, including how moralised classed judgements about “good” versus “trashy” culture are made. But to talk about class in Australia involves talking about material inequality, work conditions, and the social, economic and political relations that produce wealth and poverty. </p>
<p>In a settler colony like Australia, it also involves addressing how class relations have been built on the foundations of colonialism and the exclusion and exploitation of Indigenous people, as Eualeyai/Kamilaroi academic, lawyer, filmmaker and advocate Larissa Behrendt noted in her contribution to our book. </p>
<p>The ongoing crisis of COVID-19 has highlighted the need to acknowledge the drastically different experiences of the global pandemic, depending on the kind of work you do. Front-line “essential” workers, often precariously employed, many of whom are in working-class jobs, have fundamentally different experiences of risk and exposure than white-collar workers able to work from home. </p>
<p>COVID-19 has also exposed the complex and <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/57949/978-981-19-3155-0.pdf?sequence=1#page=48">fragile global flows of migrant agricultural workers</a>, whose labour Australians rely upon to put food on the table, and whose lives were put in limbo. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495773/original/file-20221116-27-chh7pu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495773/original/file-20221116-27-chh7pu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495773/original/file-20221116-27-chh7pu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495773/original/file-20221116-27-chh7pu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495773/original/file-20221116-27-chh7pu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495773/original/file-20221116-27-chh7pu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495773/original/file-20221116-27-chh7pu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495773/original/file-20221116-27-chh7pu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eight-hour day procession, Melbourne, April 1914.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public domain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-race-class-and-gender-influence-your-dreams-for-the-future-183904">How your race, class and gender influence your dreams for the future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The rhetoric of class</h2>
<p>Class has a unique place in Australian public life. At times it looms large, acting as an organising frame to declare interests and political sentiments. In Australia, the concept of “class” has a cultural history with deep connections to unionism and the struggle for workers’ rights, including, for instance, <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/eight-hour-day">the campaign for the eight-hour day</a>. </p>
<p>Yet often class is obscured. It is markedly absent from contemporary public and political debates on poverty, inequality, disadvantage and wealth. These other terms appear to roll off the political tongue with ease. They lend themselves to policy discourse and political rhetoric where structural inequalities are broken down into a series of “risk factors” attributed to individuals.</p>
<p>When the concept of class is mentioned, it is often presented in an inverted top-down manner. Some of Australia’s most privileged and powerful people routinely use anti-“elite” rhetoric. The notion of elitism is used to stereotype and denigrate so-called inner-city latte sippers. Their education and “progressive” political values are cited as evidence that they fail to grasp the needs and beliefs of “ordinary” people, exemplified by the “quiet” Aussie “battler”. </p>
<p>The symbols of class are invoked when our highly paid politicians cosplay as working class, dressing in high-vis and helmets, wearing army fatigues, or getting on tractors when visiting farms. These performances are attempts to connect the political class with the everyday worker, while at the same time glossing over social and employment inequalities. </p>
<p>Whenever arguments about income or economic redistribution arise, we hear immediate invocations of a “class war”. For instance, arguing in favour of lowering the minimum wage in 2012, Australian mining magnate <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-30/rinehart-sets-out-road-to-riches/4232326">Gina Rinehart</a> implored Australians to </p>
<blockquote>
<p>get through the class warfare smokescreen […] if you’re jealous of those with more money, don’t just sit there and complain; do something to make more money yourself – spend less time drinking, or smoking and socialising, and more time working.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems that in Australia, as elsewhere, as US-based billionaire investor Warren Buffett <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/business/yourmoney/26every.html">quipped</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s class warfare all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gentrification-is-dividing-australian-schools-53098">Gentrification is dividing Australian schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is class in Australia?</h2>
<p>The term “class” – as distinct from related concepts like socio-economic status, inequality or disadvantage – remains useful because it refers to the cultural, social, economic and employment relations that have produced <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/new-report-wealth-inequality-australia-and-rapid-rise-house-prices">widening inequality</a>. It means acknowledging that some must sell their labour for wages, while others generate wealth from the capital produced from that labour. </p>
<p>At the same time, any genuine understanding of class in Australia requires qualifications. Class also refers to deep cultural and social practices which shape our identities, our communities and ways of being. </p>
<p>Class is a term that is hotly contested. Many have revisited the term, considering it in relation to, for instance, Indigenous experiences, gender and women’s work, and questions of race and racism. Not all distinctive experiences of difference, disadvantage and inequality – gender, race, Indigeneity, sexuality, ability, age for instance – represent equivalences that can be subsumed into class.</p>
<p>For instance, in our book, Rose Butler, Christina Ho and Eve Vincent discuss how ethnicity complicates straightforward understandings of class when it comes to education. Their research shows that many white parents denigrate Asian-Australian parents who invest in tutoring for their children, believing that it is “unfair” and does not allow kids to be kids. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487197/original/file-20220929-18-46ny3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487197/original/file-20220929-18-46ny3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487197/original/file-20220929-18-46ny3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487197/original/file-20220929-18-46ny3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487197/original/file-20220929-18-46ny3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487197/original/file-20220929-18-46ny3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487197/original/file-20220929-18-46ny3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Behrendt, too, reflects on how Indigenous people have been left out of debates about class, as the concept itself was imported from Europe and, in many colonial settler histories, Indigenous people were not even treated as people. These examples and others in the book highlight the need for continual reflection on how different contours of inequality interact with class. </p>
<p>Class is often omitted from public debate because it reveals the systemic nature of inequality and poverty. It does not fit with the political narrative that society is meritocratic. The realities of class-based inequity call into question the idea that if you work hard and make the right choices, you can rise to the top. </p>
<p>The problem is that when wealth, inequality and success are understood to be the result of individual choices, the social relationships and structures that create such inequalities are hidden from view. This kind of thinking gives rise to individualised responses to inequality, or a presumption that inequality might be the result of personal characteristics or “failings”. </p>
<p>It is this kind of thinking that enables Bernard Salt to declare that young people might be able to buy a house if they just <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/15/australian-millionaire-millennials-avocado-toast-house">didn’t eat avocado toast</a>, or former prime minister Scott Morrison to suggest that if you want to earn more all you need to do is work harder. Such comments demonstrate the significant and increasing discrepancy between political rhetoric and the reality of inequalities.</p>
<p>A richly informed understanding of class can play a powerful role in grasping how unequal social and economic experiences are articulated through relations of property, labour, capital and value in capitalist societies. </p>
<p>To put it plainly, class allows us to understand inequalities not as personal failings, but as experiences that are produced through social and economic relations. Using the term class makes inequality a public issue anchored in material structures and socio-cultural institutions. This makes class a necessary concept for understanding how Australian society functions, how the powerful maintain their interests, and how social and cultural institutions work to reproduce inequalities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187777/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Gerrard receives funding from the Australian Research Council </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Threadgold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Class allows us to understand inequality not as a consequence of personal failings, but as a socioeconomic issue.Jessica Gerrard, Associate Professor, The University of MelbourneSteven Threadgold, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1889672022-11-07T13:34:06Z2022-11-07T13:34:06ZWhy some people think fascism is the greatest expression of democracy ever invented<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492858/original/file-20221101-24-gxmzky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=74%2C0%2C8256%2C5475&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Donald Trump is one of many political leaders through history who has claimed he embodies the voice of 'the people' – but which people he means matters quite a lot.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/former-u-s-president-donald-trump-speaks-at-a-save-america-news-photo/1435729108">Brandon Bell/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Warnings that leaders like Donald Trump hold <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/01/joe-biden-donald-trump-january-6">a dagger at the throat of democracy</a> have evoked a sense of befuddlement among moderates. How can so many Republicans – voters, once reasonable-sounding officeholders and the new breed of activists who claim to be <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/08/18/1117171029/how-the-hard-right-turn-in-the-arizona-gop-is-an-anti-democracy-experiment">superpatriots committed to democracy</a> – be acting like willing enablers of democracy’s destruction?</p>
<p>As a political philosopher, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xruNAnYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> spend a lot of time <a href="http://www.thecritique.com/articles/trumpandliberalism/">studying</a> those who believe in authoritarian, totalitarian and other repressive forms of government, on both the right and the left. Some of these figures don’t technically identify themselves as fascists, but they share important similarities in their ways of thinking.</p>
<p>One of the most articulate thinkers in this group was the early-20th-century philosopher <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315125954/origins-doctrine-fascism-giovanni-gentile-james-gregor">Giovanni Gentile</a>, whom Italian dictator Benito Mussolini called “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Giovanni-Gentile-Philosopher-of-Fascism/Gregor/p/book/9780765805935">the philosopher of fascism</a>.” And many fascists, like Gentile, claim they are not opposed to democracy. On the contrary, they think of themselves as advocating a more pure version of it.</p>
<h2>Unity of leader, nation-state and people</h2>
<p>The idea that forms the bedrock of fascism is that there is a unity between <a href="https://sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/2B-HUM/Readings/The-Doctrine-of-Fascism.pdf">the leader, the nation-state and the people</a>.</p>
<p>For instance, Mussolini famously claimed that “<a href="http://www.historyguide.org/europe/duce.html">everything is in the state</a>, and nothing human or spiritual exists, much less has value, outside the state.” But this is not an end to be achieved. It is the point from which things begin. </p>
<p>This is how Trump, according to those around him, can believe “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/us/politics/trump-fbi-classified-documents.html">I am the state</a>” and equate what is good for him is by definition also good for the country. For while this view may seem inconsistent with democracy, this is true only if society is viewed as a collection of individuals with conflicting attitudes, preferences and desires.</p>
<p>But fascists have a different view. For example, <a href="https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/19015/6919293.PDF?sequence=1">Othmar Spann</a>, whose thought was highly influential during the rise of fascism in Austria in the 1920s and 1930s, argued that society is not “<a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203806944">the summation of independent individuals</a>,” for this would make society a community only in a “mechanical” and therefore trivial sense. </p>
<p>On the contrary, for Spann and others, society is a group whose members share the same attitudes, beliefs, desires, view of history, religion, language and so on. It is not a collective; it is more like what Spann describes as a “super-individual.” And ordinary individuals are more like cells in a single large biological organism, not competing independent organisms important in themselves.</p>
<p>This sort of society could indeed be democratic. Democracy is intended to give effect to the will of the people, but it doesn’t require that society be diverse and pluralistic. It does not tell us who “the people” are.</p>
<h2>Who are the people?</h2>
<p>According to fascists, only those who share the correct attributes can be part of “the people” and therefore true members of society. Others are outsiders, perhaps tolerated as guests if they respect their place and society feels generous. But outsiders have no right to be part of the democratic order: Their votes should not count.</p>
<p>This helps explain why Tucker Carlson claims “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-democracy-functioning">our democracy is no longer functioning</a>,” because so many <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/the-demographic-shift-isnt-driving-white-people-to-the-right">nonwhites</a> have the vote. It also helps explain why Carlson and others so vigorously <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/17/republicans-have-invoked-the-great-replacement-theory-over-and-over-and-over">promote</a> the “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/us/replacement-theory-shooting-tucker-carlson.html">great replacement theory</a>,” the idea that liberals are encouraging immigrants to come to the U.S. with the specific purpose of diluting the political power of “true” Americans. </p>
<p>The importance of seeing the people as an exclusive, privileged group, one that actually includes rather than is represented by the leader, is also at work when Trump <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/rino-just-means-disloyal-to-trump-now.html">denigrates Republicans who defy him</a>, even in the smallest ways, as “Republicans in Name Only.” The same is also true when other Republicans call for these “in-house” critics to be cast out of the party, for to them any disloyalty is equivalent to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/16/david-ball-toomey-pennsylvania-gop/">defying the will of the people</a>.</p>
<h2>How representative democracy is undemocratic</h2>
<p>Ironically, it is all the checks and balances and the endless intermediate levels of representative government that fascists view as undemocratic. For all these do is interfere with the ability of the leader to give direct effect to the will of the people as they see it.</p>
<p>Here is Libyan dictator and Arab nationalist Moammar Gadhafi on this issue in 1975:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="http://openanthropology.org/libya/gaddafi-green-book.pdf">Parliament is a misrepresentation of the people</a>, and parliamentary systems are a false solution to the problem of democracy. … A parliament is … in itself … undemocratic as democracy means the authority of the people and not an authority acting on their behalf.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, to be democratic, a state does not need a legislature. All it needs is a leader.</p>
<h2>How is the leader identified?</h2>
<p>For the fascist, the leader is certainly not identified through elections. Elections are simply spectacles meant to announce the leader’s embodiment of the will of the people to the world.</p>
<p>But the leader is supposed to be an extraordinary figure, larger than life. Such a person cannot be selected through something as pedestrian as an election. Instead, the leader’s identity must be gradually and naturally “revealed,” like the unveiling of religious miracle, says Nazi theorist <a href="https://theconversation.com/carl-schmitt-nazi-era-philosopher-who-wrote-blueprint-for-new-authoritarianism-59835">Carl Schmitt</a>.</p>
<p>For Schmitt and others like him, then, these are the <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262192446/political-theology/">true hallmarks of a leader</a>, one who embodies the will of the people: intense feeling expressed by supporters, large rallies, loyal followers, the consistent ability to demonstrate freedom from the norms that govern ordinary people, and decisiveness.</p>
<p>So when Trump claims “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/trump-rnc-speech-alone-fix-it/492557/">I am your voice</a>” to howls of adoration, as happened at the 2016 Republican National Convention, this is supposed to be a sign that he is exceptional, part of the unity of nation-state and leader, and that he alone meets the above criteria for leadership. The same was true when Trump announced in 2020 that the nation is broken, saying “<a href="https://www.politico.com/video/2020/08/20/trump-at-2016-rnc-i-alone-can-fix-it-085403">I alone can fix it</a>.” To some, this even suggests he is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/25/rick-perry-donald-trump-chosen-one">sent by God</a>.</p>
<p>If people accept the above criteria for what identifies a true leader, they can also understand why Trump claims he attracted bigger crowds than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/us/politics/donald-trump-npr-interview.html">President Joe Biden</a> when explaining why he could not have lost the 2020 presidential election. For, as Spann wrote a century earlier, “<a href="https://worldcat.org/title/1292075168">one should not count votes</a>, but weigh them such that the best, not the majority prevails.” </p>
<p>Besides, why should the mild preference of 51% prevail over the intense preference of the rest? Is not the latter more representative of the will of the people? These questions certainly sound like something Trump might ask, even though they are actually taken from <a href="http://openanthropology.org/libya/gaddafi-green-book.pdf">Gadhafi</a> again. </p>
<h2>The duty of the individual</h2>
<p>In a true fascist democracy, then, everyone is of one mind about everything of importance. Accordingly, everyone intuitively knows what the leader wants them to do. </p>
<p>It is therefore each person’s responsibility, citizen or official, to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777300000382">work towards the leader</a>” without needing specific orders. Those who make mistakes will soon learn of it. But those who get it right will be rewarded many times over. </p>
<p>So argued Nazi politician <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777300000382">Werner Willikens</a>. And so, it appears, thought Trump when he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/us/politics/donald-trump-subpoenas.html">demanded</a> absolute <a href="https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-unitary-executive-and-the-scope-of-executive-power">loyalty and obedience</a> from his administration officials. </p>
<p>But most importantly, <a href="https://nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/capitao-rioters.html">according to their own words</a>, so thought many of the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/president-trump-dozen-capitol-rioters-trumps-guidance/story?id=75757601">insurrectionists</a> on Jan. 6, 2021, when they tried to prevent the confirmation of Biden’s election. And so Trump signaled when he subsequently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/trump-jan-6-rioters-pardon/">promised to pardon</a> the rioters.</p>
<p>With that, the harmonization of democracy and fascism is complete.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark R. Reiff is a registered Democrat. He does not work for, consult, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no other relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some fascists claim that democracy and fascism have the same goal – to give effect to the will of the people. But who the people are is where the ideologies divide.Mark R. Reiff, Research Affiliate in Legal and Political Philosophy, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1892982022-09-21T20:01:36Z2022-09-21T20:01:36Z‘Toxic masculinity’: what does it mean, where did it come from – and is the term useful or harmful?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485235/original/file-20220919-60031-3kyhyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C2%2C1433%2C799&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jacob Elordi as Nate in Euphoria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">HBO</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s hard to avoid encountering the term “toxic masculinity” these days.</p>
<p>It has been linked to Australian soldiers’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-soldiers-commit-war-crimes-and-what-we-can-do-about-it-185391">war crimes</a> in Afghanistan, the Morrison government’s low credibility <a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-the-scott-morrison-horror-show-has-a-way-to-run-yet-188985">with women</a> in the lead-up to this year’s election – and further afield, the rise of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-sort-of-place-is-a-shithole-it-depends-on-your-gender-90342">Donald Trump</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-trump-to-putin-why-are-people-attracted-to-tyrants-186988">Capitol riots</a>. </p>
<p>It is regularly applied to pop-culture characters as diverse as the hypersensitive dinosaur nerd Ross Gellar from Friends, the alcoholic adulterer <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-the-mad-men-don-draper-and-american-masculinity-24800">Don Draper</a> in Mad Men, and the violent, repressed Nate in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-euphoria-challenges-viewers-expectations-of-what-a-television-show-should-be-179991">Euphoria</a>, who regularly tells his girlfriend, “If anyone ever tried to hurt you, I’d kill them.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485258/original/file-20220919-875-7qpetf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485258/original/file-20220919-875-7qpetf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485258/original/file-20220919-875-7qpetf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485258/original/file-20220919-875-7qpetf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485258/original/file-20220919-875-7qpetf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485258/original/file-20220919-875-7qpetf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485258/original/file-20220919-875-7qpetf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485258/original/file-20220919-875-7qpetf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Donald Trump is an example of toxic masculinity in many ways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore">Gage Skidmore/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The term “<a href="https://theconversation.com/stop-scolding-men-for-being-toxic-113520">toxic masculinity</a>” was obscure in the 1990s and early 2000s. But since around 2015, it has become pervasive in discussions of men and gender. </p>
<p>So what does it mean?</p>
<p>“Masculinity” refers to the roles, behaviours and attributes seen as appropriate for boys and men in a given society. In short, masculinity refers to society’s expectations of males. </p>
<p>In many societies, boys and men are expected to be strong, active, aggressive, tough, daring, heterosexual, emotionally inexpressive and dominant. This is enforced by socialisation, media, peers, and a host of other influences. And it plays out in <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-the-man-box-how-rigid-ideas-of-manning-up-harm-young-men-and-those-around-them-143081">the behaviour of many boys and men</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-soldiers-commit-war-crimes-and-what-we-can-do-about-it-185391">Friday essay: why soldiers commit war crimes – and what we can do about it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The term “toxic masculinity” points to a particular version of masculinity that is unhealthy for the men and boys who conform to it, and harmful for those around them.</p>
<p>The phrase emphasises the worst aspects of stereotypically masculine attributes. Toxic masculinity is represented by qualities such as violence, dominance, emotional illiteracy, sexual entitlement, and hostility to femininity.</p>
<p>This version of masculinity is seen as “toxic” for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, it is bad for women. It shapes sexist and patriarchal behaviours, including abusive or violent treatment of women. Toxic masculinity thus contributes to gender inequalities that disadvantage women and privilege men. </p>
<p>Second, toxic masculinity is bad for men and boys themselves. Narrow stereotypical norms constrain men’s physical and emotional health and their relations with women, other men, and children.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EbAoSnaXVkI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Toxic masculinity shapes men’s involvement in sexist and patriarchal behaviours and relations – as epitomised in Mad Men’s famous Jaguar pitch.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sherlock-holmes-and-the-case-of-toxic-masculinity-what-is-behind-the-detectives-appeal-149561">Sherlock Holmes and the case of toxic masculinity: what is behind the detective's appeal?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Origins of the term</h2>
<p>The term <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1097184X20943254">first emerged</a> within the mythopoetic (New Age) <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1097184X00003001002?casa_token">men’s movement</a> of the 1980s. </p>
<p>The movement focused on men’s healing, using male-only workshops, wilderness retreats and rites of passage to rescue what it saw as essentially masculine qualities and archetypes (the king, the warrior, the wildman, and so on) from what it dubbed “toxic” masculinity. </p>
<p>In the 1990s and early 2000s, the term spread to other self-help circles and into academic work (for example, on <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jclp.20105?casa_token">men’s mental health</a>). Some US conservatives began applying the term to low-income, under-employed, marginalised men, prescribing solutions like restoring male-dominated families and family values. </p>
<p>“Toxic masculinity” was virtually non-existent in academic writing – including feminist scholarship – up until 2015 or so, other than in a handful of texts on men’s health and wellbeing. </p>
<p>But as it spread in popular culture, feminist scholars and commentators adopted the term, typically as a shorthand for misogynist talk and actions. Though the term is now associated with a feminist critique of the sexist norms of manhood, that’s not where it started. </p>
<p>It is virtually absent from the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/444498/International_Encyclopedia_of_Men_and_Masculinities_2007_">scholarship on men and masculinities</a> that developed rapidly from the mid-1970s, though its use in that area has increased in the last decade. This scholarship has, however, long made <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243205278639?casa_token=9sXi4TmHCc0AAAAA:a9jm8X3Qg0W39XvMKbZJYbZqzq7NTF_bNJT2li3N069a4IK3Xfk0ADwYbcsnFiPwva0LcoN0grkJyDA">the claim</a> that culturally influential constructions of manhood exist, and that they are tied to men’s domination of women.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7kAqAFOHIxw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Coach David Brockway explains what toxic masculinity is and why phrases like ‘man up’ are so destructive.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Merits and risks</h2>
<p>Understood properly, the term “toxic masculinity” has some merits. It recognises that the problem is a social one, emphasising how boys and men are socialised and how their lives are organised. It steers us away from biologically essentialist or determinist perspectives that suggest the bad behaviour of men is inevitable: “boys will be boys”.</p>
<p>“Toxic masculinity” highlights a specific form of masculinity and a specific set of social expectations that are unhealthy or dangerous. It points (rightly) to the fact that <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-study-reveals-the-dangers-of-toxic-masculinity-to-men-and-those-around-them-104694">stereotypical masculine norms</a> shape men’s health, as well as their treatment of other people.</p>
<p>The term has helped to popularise feminist critiques of rigid gender norms and inequalities. It is more accessible than scholarly terms (such as <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_zhDDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA35&dq=Hegemonic,+Nonhegemonic,+and+%E2%80%9CNew%E2%80%9D+Masculinities&ots=KB__25ZhNi&sig=rDYHMFOVDVvgeY-VRT7CN0Ftl_8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Hegemonic%2C%20Nonhegemonic%2C%20and%20%E2%80%9CNew%E2%80%9D%20Masculinities&f=false">hegemonic masculinity</a>). This has the potential to allow its use in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0216955">educating</a> boys and men, in similar ways to the concept of the “<a href="https://jss.org.au/what-we-do/the-mens-project/the-man-box/">Man Box</a>” (a term describing a rigid set of compulsory masculine qualities that confine men and boys) and other <a href="https://www.equimundo.org/programs/manhood-2-0/">teaching tools on masculinity</a>. </p>
<p>By emphasising the harm done to both men and women, the term has the potential to prompt less defensiveness among men than more overtly political terms such as “patriarchal” or “sexist” masculinity.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/perpetrators-of-family-violence-sometimes-use-threats-of-suicide-to-control-their-partner-182416">Perpetrators of family violence sometimes use threats of suicide to control their partner</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Toxic risks</h2>
<p>“Toxic masculinity” also carries some potential risks. It is too readily misheard as a suggestion that “all men are toxic”. It can make men feel blamed and attacked – the last thing we need if we want to <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/gender-equity-male-engagement">invite</a> men and boys to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260517748414">critically reflect</a> on masculinity and gender. Persuasive <a href="https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/-/media/ProgramsandProjects/HealthInequalities/VicHealth-Framing-masculinity-message-guide-2020.pdf">public messaging</a> aimed at men may be more effective if it avoids the language of “masculinity” altogether.</p>
<p>Whether it uses the term “toxic masculinity” or not, any criticism of the ugly things some men do, or of dominant norms of manhood, will provoke defensive and hostile reactions among some men. Criticisms of sexism and unequal gender relations often provoke a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajs4.137">backlash</a>, in the form of predictable expressions of <a href="https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/-/media/ProgramsandProjects/HealthInequalities/Attachments/VicHealth-Attitudes-to-men-and-masculinity-report-July-2020.pdf">anti-feminist</a> sentiments.</p>
<p>The term might also draw attention to male disadvantage and neglect male privilege. Dominant gender norms may be “toxic” for men, but they also provide a range of unearned <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/731614.The_Gender_Knot">privileges</a> (workplace expectations of leadership, freedom from unpaid care work, prioritising of their sexual needs over women’s) and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207091&utm">inform</a> some men’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15248380211030224?casa_token">harmful behaviour towards women</a>. </p>
<p>“Toxic masculinity” can be used in generalising and simplistic ways. Decades of scholarship have established that constructions of masculinity are diverse, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/18902138.2014.892289?casa_token">intersecting with</a> other forms of social difference. </p>
<p>The term may cement the assumption that the only way to involve men in progress towards gender equality is by fostering a “<a href="https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/-/media/ResourceCentre/PublicationsandResources/Health-Inequalities/Healthier-Masculinities-Scoping-Review.pdf">healthy</a>” or “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15248380211030242?casa_token">positive</a>” masculinity. Yes, we need to <a href="https://xyonline.net/content/men-and-man-box-commentary">redefine norms of manhood</a>. But we also need to encourage men to invest less in gendered identities and boundaries, stop <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fmen0000318">policing manhood</a>, and embrace ethical identities less defined by gender. </p>
<p>Whatever language we use, we need ways to name the influential social norms associated with manhood, critique the harmful attitudes and behaviours some men adopt, and foster healthier lives for men and boys.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Flood has received funding from the Australia Research Council, Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute Foundation, Jesuit Social Services, Victorian Government, and Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.</span></em></p>“Toxic masculinity” has been used to explain everything from the election of Donald Trump to why Ross from Friends is awful. But what does it actually mean?Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1906862022-09-16T15:31:00Z2022-09-16T15:31:00ZQueen Elizabeth: what we mean when we say we are mourning her for the values she embodied<p>The feeling and public expression of grief and sorrow following the death of Queen Elizabeth on September 8, 2022 has caught much of the British population off guard. It was inescapable that, at the age of 96, the Queen was nearing the end of her life. As retired palliative care doctor and author Kathryn Mannix <a href="https://twitter.com/drkathrynmannix/status/1569067840409419783">tweeted</a>, she had likely been dying for some time. </p>
<p>However, photographs of her meeting both the outgoing and incoming prime ministers just 48 hours prior meant that the announcement that she had died was unforeseen. Her passing is in that category of death in old age that end-of-life specialist Diana Teggi <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618305446">defines</a> as expected but still sudden, and somewhat of a shock.</p>
<p>The coverage of the Queen’s death in the last week reflects how death is increasingly “spectacularised”, to use a term <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Age-of-Spectacular-Death/Jacobsen/p/book/9780367368272">coined</a> by death studies sociologist Michael Hviid Jacobsen. </p>
<p>We have seen blanket media coverage – on television, radio and online – of the extensive and highly choreographed pageantry involved in transporting the Queen’s coffin, with crowds of onlookers along the various routes, from Balmoral to Edinburgh, from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. This serves to make of her death a spectacle. It creates a narrative of a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14616696.2019.1616795">national community of grief</a>.</p>
<p>The question, though, is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/15/crowd-behaviour-london-mourning-queen">whether what we are seeing</a> actually is a community of grief. Labelling the public response in this way simplifies what is a profoundly social event. </p>
<h2>A collective reluctance to face up to death</h2>
<p>There is a growing death-positive movement in the UK and around the world. It proposes the concept of death and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07481187.2020.1739780?casa_token=pOKT-JrQBcEAAAAA%3AtEa1llWmf8zm_Ugdy1OQid-UkuexK0onfVqOUlwQbJqbiLFV3lT9MR8Vu8y0rwXwHUJAFgeG1_k">grief literacy</a> which champions talking about and preparing for death. </p>
<p>Rather than having dying be only the purview of the medical establishment, it frames death as a collective, social responsibility. The idea is that greater openness and greater compassion can increase collective wellbeing and a sense of community. It can make people feel less isolated in both their grief and facing up to their mortality.</p>
<p>Despite this, <a href="https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/end-of-life/data">most deaths</a> still remains abstracted from everyday life and hidden from view. As sociologist Tony Walter <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/death-in-the-modern-world/book255329">has put it</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Death in the modern world is profoundly subject to medicalisation, professionalisation, rationality, and bureaucracy. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a result, actual, raw grief is still largely concealed too. It can be difficult to face up to and talk about openly, <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-prince-charles-and-his-mother-down-why-britain-finds-it-hard-to-talk-about-death-107155">even for the monarchy</a>.</p>
<p>Losing the Queen is likely, therefore, a significant moment in people’s lives as a very public, shared and visible reminder that you can be here one day and gone the next. </p>
<h2>The Queen’s death as a societal loss</h2>
<p>It is this shared quality of the Queen’s death that makes this national period of mourning so interesting and the term “grief” to describe public responses so inadequate. Only a handful of the British people actually public knew her as a person. </p>
<p>By all accounts she had enduring relationships and was well liked by her inner circle, as evidenced by the multitude of affectionate anecdotes that have been shared since she died. To those people, the impact of her death <a href="https://theconversation.com/grieving-for-a-grandparent-a-counsellor-explains-how-they-help-people-through-such-a-loss-190456">will be deeply felt</a>. </p>
<p>But for others who did not know the Queen personally, more than the death of an individual, they are perhaps mourning the loss of what she represented. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13576275.2012.755505?casa_token=cp7-9LO2RfMAAAAA%3A6tnRVcp3zWA5XJUa9XzQOHjZfcTyBD_40dD05MEM6p4YPLVUts-ZtjRi74UvQw0ZIZ3iRCvEqVg">This has been seen</a> in funerals for “ordinary” people, where it is not only the deceased individual who is being remembered but also the values and beliefs that they embodied. </p>
<p>These values in turn are expected to be reflected in the funerary rituals chosen by the organisers. A sign of a “good funeral” is when the values espoused in the funeral align with those of the individual who has died and the memories of those bearing witness to said ritual. </p>
<p>So far, this seems to be the case with the Queen. The respect being shown for her by people visiting makeshift shrines and filing past her coffin lying in state mirrors the esteem with which she was held in life and the values of reverence and resilience that she personified. </p>
<p>Such sentiment has been echoed in countless <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/08/world-leaders-pay-tribute-death-queen-elizabeth-ii">news</a> articles, <a href="https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/the-queen-was-a-rock-of-stability-and-a-champion-of-timeless-values-3zGIweyowuwnkoEvCu9aqs">opinion pieces</a>, statements from <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/queen-platinum-jubilee-canada-1.6341571">politicians</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2022/sep/14/king-charles-iii-prince-william-harry-accompany-queen-elizabeth-ii-coffin-casket-westminster-hall-lie-lying-in-state-live-updates-latest-news?page=with:block-6321ab898f0818891db89366#block-6321ab898f0818891db89366">interviews</a> with people on the street, where time and again it has been recognised that the Queen was a unique individual worthy of such attention and public response. </p>
<p>Over 70 years her behaviour and apparent value system was absolutely consistent, with commentaries reflecting on her humility, tolerance, discretion, pragmatism, graciousness and sense of civic duty. The sadness being expressed by those mourning in public then becomes about not just the loss of her as an individual but also the way she conducted herself and the values she embodied.</p>
<h2>Why we have ritual</h2>
<p>Much like attending a funeral but taking part on a much grander scale, participating in the public mourning for the Queen – standing on the pavement to watch the coffin cortege pass, waiting in the queue to pay one’s respects – is thus about bearing witness to this loss together. In his <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-954X.00344">analysis</a> of where people went to mourn the death of Princess Diana in 1997, sociologist Tony Walter describes the rare sense of solidarity these mourners experienced. </p>
<p>In mourning Diana, much like in remembering the war dead on Remembrance Sunday, a sense of society – of togetherness with others people did not know personally – was constructed. For everyday people, this is typically the purpose of a funeral service, to come together and feel a sense of community in remembering the deceased. </p>
<p>Such rituals of remembrance, whether highly or orchestrated or spontaneous, have a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/death-and-the-regeneration-of-life/2C26BF619DD42B131CF9C971DB014C99">restorative and social function</a> after a significant event. Rather than being simply about the expression of grief, it is this social function that we are observing right now in the public mourning for Queen Elizabeth, as we mourn the loss of what she represented.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Woodthorpe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As words go, grief feels inadequate for describing public sentiment in the wake of the Queen’s death.Kate Woodthorpe, Reader in Sociology, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1876472022-08-22T15:14:30Z2022-08-22T15:14:30Z‘Muslim culture’ is routinely blamed for lower levels of employment – but my research shows this is not what is behind the problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477943/original/file-20220806-23-3551xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C77%2C5682%2C3750&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/job-applicants-having-interview-1288395415">Shutterstock/adriaticfoto</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People who identify as minority ethnic are at a disadvantage in the labour market compared to the British white majority. They are more likely to <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/research-report-108-the-ethnicity-pay-gap.pdf">earn less</a>, <a href="https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/work-pay-and-benefits/unemployment-and-economic-inactivity/economic-inactivity/latest#:%7E:text=Summary%20of%20Economic%20inactivity%20By,out%20of%20all%20ethnic%20groups">be outside of the labour force</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1539241">be unemployed</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1539254">remain unemployed for longer</a>.</p>
<p>Research also shows that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12220">Muslims are worse off</a> than any other religious group relative to white British Christians. Academics refer to this fact as the “Muslim penalty”. Importantly, the Muslim penalty remains even after accounting for factors that are likely to affect employment, such as education, age, region of residence, English language proficiency and health. </p>
<h2>The ‘cultural norms’ argument</h2>
<p>The existence of a Muslim penalty does not in and of itself indicate that discrimination is taking place. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.2015.1082903">Some</a> therefore argue that so-called “cultural norms” are at play – that Muslims, and particularly Muslim women, are less likely to be working because the values of their own communities hold them back. These purported norms include a unique “taste for isolation” and a commitment to “traditional gender roles”. </p>
<p>But investigating a decade of data from the <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/">UK Household Longitudinal Study</a> – one of the largest surveys of its kind, which gathers information on the socio-economic situation and cultural contexts from around 100,000 people – I did not find this view to be supported by the evidence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A collection of CVs with different pictures of job applicants on them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477944/original/file-20220806-35572-lyuhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477944/original/file-20220806-35572-lyuhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477944/original/file-20220806-35572-lyuhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477944/original/file-20220806-35572-lyuhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477944/original/file-20220806-35572-lyuhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477944/original/file-20220806-35572-lyuhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477944/original/file-20220806-35572-lyuhyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What information counts in a CV?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By using information on people’s religious beliefs, membership in social organisations, and the extent to which they agreed with statements such as “Husband should earn, wife should stay at home”, and “Family life suffers if mother works full-time”, I was able to account for a range of attitudes in my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2022.2097887?src=">study</a>. </p>
<p>If “cultural norms” are really so important then we would expect the Muslim penalty to be substantially reduced – if not completely disappear – after taking them into account. Yet, adjusting for this information did not reduce Muslim men and women’s comparatively high likelihood of being unemployed or inactive in any significant way. </p>
<p>In other words, my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2022.2097887?src=">study</a> found no association between so-called “socio-cultural attitudes” and the likelihood of Muslims being unemployed or inactive. </p>
<p>What then is driving the Muslim penalty? Survey analysis like mine cannot prove discrimination is at play, but my findings lend support to the overwhelming evidence from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1622826">field experiments</a> that suggests discrimination is a significant barrier to Muslims looking for work – even if it is not the only driver of such disparities. </p>
<h2>A growing body of evidence</h2>
<p>Findings from field experiments – generally taken as the gold standard for establishing whether discrimination is at play – provide strong evidence that discrimination in Britain contributes to differences in employment outcomes. </p>
<p>For example, a 2019 study examining employer behaviour towards Muslim job seekers across five European countries, including the UK, found high <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1622826">levels of discrimination</a>. One of the study’s findings was that Muslims who disclose their religion to employers experience a lower callback rate, but Christians from the same country who disclose their religion do not. </p>
<p>This is persuasive evidence that the discrimination is targeted at Muslims, and is not an uneasiness with religion in a general sense. Another study has shown that even in cosmopolitan London candidates with a Muslim name secure three times fewer job interviews <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38751307">compared with those with Christian-sounding names</a>.</p>
<p>Evidence of racist and prejudicial <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-racist-is-britain-today-what-the-evidence-tells-us-141657">attitudes in Britain</a> and the continued vilification of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/applij/article/34/3/255/202289">Muslims in the media</a> lend further support to the discrimination thesis. Importantly, it’s not only the white majority who harbour anti-Muslim feelings. Research shows that Muslims are also <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-4446.12250#:%7E:text=Firstly%2C%20social%20distance%20from%20other,and%20minority%20groups%20is%20reciprocal,%20p.%20431">“singled out for unique hostility from (…) other minorities”</a>.</p>
<p>While subscribing to racist beliefs does not necessarily translate into action, suggesting that holding such views doesn’t influence a person’s behaviour, for example, in their hiring decisions, implies that employment is negotiated outside the social environment in which it operates. This is not a plausible assumption. </p>
<p>When all the evidence is analysed in combination, it is difficult not to see that discrimination plays an important role in bringing about the Muslim penalty.</p>
<h2>The consequences of ignoring the facts</h2>
<p>The argument that Muslims’ “problematic norms” hold them back appears to be more of an ideological position than one supported by evidence. It trivialises the reality Muslims face in the world of work and fails to acknowledge the complexities of <a href="https://sk.sagepub.com/books/understanding-everyday-racism-an-interdisciplinary-theory">how racism operates</a> – which in turn delays efforts to improve the situation.</p>
<p>Poor labour market outcomes affect multiple aspects of a person’s life. Among other things, they affect what people can afford to eat, where they can afford to live, the education they and their children can access, as well as their physical and mental health. Delaying work to tackle anti-Muslim discrimination in the British labour market therefore reinforces a range of inequalities that extend well beyond the world of work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samir Sweida-Metwally receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Study shows that so-called “socio-cultural attitudes” are not a plausible explanation for the Muslim penalty.Samir Sweida-Metwally, Doctoral Researcher, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1840952022-06-06T12:26:26Z2022-06-06T12:26:26ZTechnology is alienating people – and it’s not just those who are older<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466388/original/file-20220531-26-1dgfp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5744%2C3809&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many types of people feel disengaged with technology</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-attractive-latin-woman-lying-home-1147331624">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We take it for granted that technology brings people closer together and improves our access to essential products and services. If you can’t imagine life without your smartphone, it’s easy to forget that people who can’t or don’t want to engage with the latest technology are being left behind. </p>
<p>For example, there have recently been reports that <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1618497/parking-poll-results-cashless-car-parks-card-smartphone-app-only-elderly-drivers-spt">cashless payment systems</a> for car parking in the UK are seeing older drivers unfairly hit with fines. This has led to calls for the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10851103/Esther-Rantzen-tells-ministers-pensioners-not-use-apps-pay-parking.html">government to intervene</a>.</p>
<p>Age is one of the biggest predictors of <a href="https://ageing-better.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-08/landscape-covid-19-digital.pdf">digital exclusion</a>. Only 47% of those aged <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/itandinternetindustry/bulletins/internetusers/2019">75 and over</a> use the internet regularly. And out of the 4 million who have never used the internet in the UK, only 300,000 people are <a href="https://ageing-better.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-08/landscape-covid-19-digital.pdf">under 55</a>.</p>
<p>But older people are not the only ones who feel shut out by new technology. For example, research shows vulnerable people, such as those with disabilities, are also disengaging with e-services and being <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0267257X.2012.691526">“locked out” of society</a>. </p>
<h2>The digital transition</h2>
<p>From train tickets to vaccine passports, there is a growing expectation that consumers should embrace technology to participate in everyday life. This is a global phenomenon. Out in front, Sweden predicts its economy will be <a href="https://sweden.se/life/society/a-cashless-society">fully cashless</a> by March 2023.</p>
<p>Shops increasingly use QR codes, virtual reality window displays and self-service checkouts. Many of these systems require a smart device, and momentum is building for QR codes to be integrated into <a href="https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/technology-and-supply-chain/the-time-has-finally-arrived-for-electronic-shelf-labels-heres-why/661068.article">digital price tags</a> as they can give customers extra information such as nutritional content of food. Changing paper labels is a labour intensive process. </p>
<p>Technology pervades all aspects of consumer life. Going on holiday, enjoying the cinema or theatre, and joining sport and social clubs all make people feel part of society. But many popular artists now use online queues to sell tickets to their shows. Social groups use WhatsApp and Facebook to keep their members updated. </p>
<p>When it comes to booking a holiday, there is a <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/919811/number-of-travel-agents-united-kingdom-uk/#:%7E:text=Overall%2C%20there%20were%203%2C710%20retail,as%20TUI%20and%20Hays%20Travel.">decreasing number</a> of in-person travel agents. This limits the social support to make the best choice, which is particularly important for those with specific needs such as people with health issues. And once travelling, aircrew expect flight boarding passes and COVID passports to be available on smartphones. </p>
<p>Essential services such as healthcare, which can already <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0267257X.2022.2078861">be difficult</a> for older and other people to navigate, are also moving online. Patients are increasingly expected to use the GP website or email to request to see a doctor. Ordering prescriptions online is encouraged. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Older man sits alone in a green chair at a park, autumn leaves on the ground" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466389/original/file-20220531-26-ycjd7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466389/original/file-20220531-26-ycjd7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466389/original/file-20220531-26-ycjd7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466389/original/file-20220531-26-ycjd7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466389/original/file-20220531-26-ycjd7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466389/original/file-20220531-26-ycjd7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466389/original/file-20220531-26-ycjd7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most of the people who have never used the internet are over 55.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-sitting-alone-on-park-bench-1669176061">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not just older people</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-lifeline-a-qualitative-evaluation/digital-lifeline-a-qualitative-evaluation">Not everyone can afford</a> an internet connection or smart technology. Some regions, particularly rural ones, struggle for phone signal. The UK phone network’s plans for a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-61377944">digital switchover</a> by 2025, which would render traditional landlines redundant, could cut off people who rely on their landlines. </p>
<p>Concerns about privacy can also stop people using technology. Data collection and security breaches impact people’s confidence in organisations. A 2020 survey into <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/the-consumer-data-opportunity-and-the-privacy-imperative">consumers’ trust</a> in businesses showed no industry reached a trust rating of 50% for data protection. The majority of respondents (87%) said they would not do business with a company if they had concerns about its security practices. </p>
<p>Some people view “forced” digitisation as a symbol of consumer culture and will limit their technology use. Followers of the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228310981_The_Voluntary_Simplicity_Movement_Reimagining_the_Good_Life_Beyond_Consumer_Culture">simple living movement</a>, which gained momentum in the 1980s, try to minimise their use of technology. Many people take a “less is more” <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JCM-04-2020-3749/full/html">approach to technology</a> simply because they feel it offers a more meaningful existence. </p>
<p>One of the most common reasons for digital exclusion, however, <a href="https://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/esss-outlines/digital-inclusion-exclusion-and-participation">is poverty</a>. When the <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament/briefings-and-responses/tackling-digital-divide-house-commons-4-november-2021">pandemic hit in March 2020</a>, 51% of households earning between £6,000 to £10,000 had home internet access, compared with 99% of households with an income over £40,000.</p>
<p>Limited access to tablets, smartphones and laptops can result in feelings of isolation. Many older consumers have developed strategies to manage and overcome the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0267257X.2021.1945662">digital challenges</a> presented by these devices. But those unable to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-older-people-are-mastering-technology-to-stay-connected-after-lockdown-165562">engage with technology</a> remain excluded if their family and friends don’t live close by. </p>
<h2>Smart change</h2>
<p>The solution is not simply to give devices to those without smart technology. While there is a need to provide affordable internet access and technology, and offer support in learning new skills, we need to recognise diversity in society. </p>
<p>Services should provide non-digital options that embrace equality. For example, cash systems should not be abolished. There might be a demand for services to become digital, but service providers need to be aware of the people who will be isolated by this transition. </p>
<p>Retailers, local councils, health providers and businesses in tourism, entertainment and leisure should try to understand more about the diversity of their consumers. They need to develop services that cater for the needs of all people, especially those without access to technology.</p>
<p>We live in a diverse world and diverse consumers need choice. After all, access to and inclusion in society is a human right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184095/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Think again if you assume only older people are isolated by technology.Carolyn Wilson-Nash, Lecturer, Marketing and Retail, Stirling Management School, University of StirlingJulie Tinson, Professor of Marketing, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1794052022-03-21T13:05:57Z2022-03-21T13:05:57ZFree online event: what we’ve learned two years into COVID, and how to deal with the fallout<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453284/original/file-20220321-17-9lb5js.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-view-young-business-people-putting-1731284125">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 – and the lockdowns it triggered – have reshaped tens of millions of lives around the world. In the UK, for example, prime minister Boris Johnson announced on March 23 2020 that people “must” stay at home. With those words, which launched the country’s first lockdown two years ago, every facet of daily life in Britain came under an unprecedented and extraordinary stress test. </p>
<p>But like the virus, the pandemic’s wider social and economic effects had the potential to remain invisible – and analysis was needed to uncover and understand what was happening behind the UK’s closed front doors. </p>
<p>Since December 2020, the <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/">International Public Policy Observatory</a> (IPPO) has been doing just this. A £2 million, ESRC-funded partnership between The Conversation, UCL, Queens University Belfast, the universities of Oxford, Cardiff and Auckland and <a href="https://ingsa.org/">the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA)</a>, IPPO identifies and reviews evidence from around the world to better inform UK policymakers on the social consequences of COVID-19. Its rapid evidence reviews and global data scans have helped officials formulate better responses to mitigate the biggest social impacts and accelerate the UK’s recovery from the crisis.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversation-partners-on-2m-research-policy-project-to-mitigate-covid-19-pandemics-social-impacts-150476">The Conversation partners on £2m research-policy project to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic's social impacts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Now, during a major one-day event on March 24, IPPO is bringing together government leaders, scientists and academics to focus on the future – and what we’ve learned from the past. </p>
<p>They include: Sir Peter Gluckman, President of the International Science Council; Inaya Rakhmani, Director of the Asia Research Centre; Andy Haldane, who led the government’s recent levelling-up white paper; Professor Alison Park, Chair of the ESRC; BBC and Times commentator David Aaronovich; Siobhan O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s Mental Health Champion; Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University; Angela Scott, Aberdeen Council’s Chief Executive; and Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol. </p>
<p>Chaired by Professor Joanna Chataway and Professor Sir Geoff Mulgan, both from UCL, a range of panel sessions will draw on IPPO’s research programme to consider ways to move forward on a variety of issues, from mental health and <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/social-capital-roles-during-covid-19-harnessed-for-recovery/">social capital</a> to education. Joined by Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees of the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/what-chairing-the-covid-peoples-inquiry-taught-me-about-how-a-public-inquiry-should-be-designed-and-run/">Michael Mansfield QC</a> and <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/range-variety-models-public-inquiry-innovative-inquiry-design-process-practice/">Professor Matthew Flinders of the University of Sheffield</a>, sessions will also explore what must happen next, as the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-covid-19-inquiry-draft-terms-of-reference/uk-covid-19-inquiry-draft-terms-of-reference-html">COVID-19 inquiry process</a> gets underway in the UK.</p>
<p>For more details or to register for the online event, which runs between 9am and 4pm GMT on March 24, please follow <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-pandemic-two-years-on-tickets-221311948997">this link</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179405/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
On March 24, government leaders, academics and scientists are gathering to discuss a better future for all.Sarah O'Meara, IPPO/Communications and Engagement ManagerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1725622022-03-15T15:32:33Z2022-03-15T15:32:33ZWhy we trust experts – even when they admit they don’t know the answer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452203/original/file-20220315-27-1ob05s4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-top-view-young-business-people-1498583432">REDPIXEL.PL/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We constantly make decisions about who to trust. </p>
<p>Much of the time we’re bombarded with massive amounts of information on all sorts of different subjects, from science and health, to social issues, economics and politics. But no matter how hard we try – or brilliant we are – none of us can understand everything, and correctly assess the risks associated with the issues affecting ourselves and our communities. </p>
<p>We have no choice but defer to others, and the decisions we make about a person’s or organisation’s trustworthiness can play a huge part in our health and mental wellbeing. In some situations, such as whether to take a vaccine, it can be a matter of life or death.</p>
<p>During the pandemic, researchers conducted a series of large surveys investigating which factors were linked to vaccine hesitancy. One survey questioned <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/52/e2112266118">more than 8,000</a> Americans in five different states, another <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0248334">almost 7,000 individuals</a> in 23 countries and a final one included over 120,000 respondents in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01115-7">126 countries</a>. They all found that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8406882">trust in science</a> was a key factor in determining whether people intended to be vaccinated.</p>
<p>But what influenced this trust in science? Researchers on “epistemic trust” – which is our trust in someone as a knowledgeable source of information – have <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0139309">identified three main factors</a> which we use to determine trustworthiness: how we perceive an expert’s level of expertise, integrity and benevolence (concern and care for society).</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0262823">study in Germany</a> measured trust in science throughout the pandemic, and the factors affecting it. By analysing data from four surveys done at different points in time, and involving over 900 respondents, the researchers found that trust in science increased substantially after the pandemic began – and it was mainly due to positive assumptions about the scientists’ expertise in their field. </p>
<p>In contrast, the most pronounced reason for distrusting the scientists was a perceived lack of benevolence because scientists are often dependent on the funders of their research. So, the researchers recommended that science communication emphasised the good intentions, values and independence of the scientists. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-some-cultures-less-trusting-than-others-89830">Are some cultures less trusting than others?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the UK, <a href="https://wellcome.org/reports/wellcome-monitor-2020-covid-19-study">72% of people</a> reported a high level of trust towards scientists during the pandemic, compared to 52% towards the government. Although no studies specifically investigated perceptions of the scientists’ expertise, integrity and benevolence, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3716874">negative attitudes</a> towards the vaccine were mainly caused by lack of trust in the benefits of vaccination and concerns about future unforeseen side effects.</p>
<h2>It’s okay to say “I don’t know”</h2>
<p>Many of us, whatever our field of work, fear that showing uncertainty can damage our image – and we may compensate by expressing overconfidence in an attempt to win trust. This strategy has been seen from university <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6833989">press officers</a> when writing about the findings of academic research – and also from some public health officials when communicating to the public <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/02/pandemic-communications-public-health/622044/">during the pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>But some studies show that while confident advisors are judged more favourably, people <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797617739369?casa_token=CI6qHf3KY1AAAAAA:_1iySW8eh0Ecg-DyM0vlXSgAvLO01w5iLC3gnoRh8NAmONmibHkhhe6b0Ux-4VLLvIbWJ1pYKH8">do not inherently dislike</a> uncertain advice. In fact, when faced with an explicit choice, people were more likely to choose an advisor who provided uncertain advice (by providing a range of outcomes, probabilities or saying that one event is “more likely” than another) over an advisor who provided certain advice with no doubts. </p>
<p>It seems that advisors benefit from expressing themselves with confidence, but not from communicating false certainty.</p>
<p>In many situations, people are willing to trust those who can admit they don’t have a definitive answer. Good news come from recent experimental studies on <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00465.x">physician–patient interactions</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01847.x?casa_token=1aaiLobpkhoAAAAA:F6fyGs5zqSzsN2UGtz6rgKPekgmownvhu0SnfbK2LGkN2RDHk455BRt9crbS7fJweyRUaq8q0o0">witness credibility</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S142448961630039X">science communication</a> which found that communicating uncertainty and even admitting our mistakes is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0261927X211044512#_i30">not detrimental</a> and can even <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S142448961630039X">be beneficial</a> to trustworthiness.</p>
<p>So, failure in “expertise” <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09636625211022181">can be compensated</a> by higher integrity and benevolence. When communicating uncertainties in a transparent way, we are perceived as <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/commun-2019-0123/html">less biased</a> and willing to tell the truth.</p>
<h2>There’s a neurological basis</h2>
<p>Another characteristic of trustworthiness is that it can also be weakened by what is known as “guilt by association” (you can be judged by the company you keep) – or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103113000954">moral contagion</a> – the psychological mechanism behind that belief.</p>
<p>There’s a saying that a spoonful of tar can spoil a barrel of honey. And in fact, the food analogy makes some sense.</p>
<p>It is believed that throughout evolution, our disgust mechanisms, originally evolved to assess contamination and avoid disease from rotton or soiled food, also started to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1170492">assess people</a>. Our disgust reaction - when disgusted by people’s untrustworthy behaviour - is the same neurologically as our disgust reaction if food is off. </p>
<p>In support of this hypothesis, both disgust in food and moral judgement activate the same areas <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/jocn/article/20/9/1529/4564/Infection-Incest-and-Iniquity-Investigating-the">of the brain</a> and the same <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1165565">facial muscles</a>.</p>
<p>Interestingly, our disgust sensitivity (how easily we are disgusted) does indeed show a <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01038/full">positive association</a> with our level of distrust in others. In other words, if we are inclined to worry about pathogens on food, we’ll also be inclined have a lower level of social trust and feel that most people should be avoided.</p>
<p>But it is still unclear how this psychological process of “moral contagion” can affect our trust towards many organisations or individuals allegedly collaborating closely with each other, such as scientists, government, pharmaceutical corporations, universities and international bodies during the pandemic. In such a melting pot of organisations, it will depend on the groups we feel drawn to, and our personal sensitivities to misconducts <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2021/08/when-should-government-lie-its-citizens">such as lies</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_scandals_in_the_United_Kingdom#2021">political scandals</a>, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conflicts-of-interest-and-covid/">conflict of interests</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/nepotism-is-bad-for-the-economy-but-most-people-underestimate-it-103909">nepotism</a>.</p>
<p>In the current climate, any person or institution who genuinely wants to be trusted should work on communicating their expertise, honesty and benevolence – and encourage those they work with to do the same.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erik Gustafsson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A look at how we decide which experts are the most trustworthy - and the possible biological basis behind it.Erik Gustafsson, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1763842022-02-22T14:11:34Z2022-02-22T14:11:34ZKenya’s push to promote traditional food is good for nutrition and cultural heritage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447533/original/file-20220221-22-1g436qw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A man pairs Kenyan maize flour staple ugali with a traditional vegetable known as murenda (jute mallow).
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years ago, traditional vegetables and local foods in Kenya were largely perceived as foods <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3152/146155110X488817?needAccess=true">of the poor and of the past</a>. Local markets were dominated by three exotic vegetables: cabbage, kale (locally known as sukuma wiki) and Swiss chard (spinach). </p>
<p>Unhealthy ‘junk’ food was <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/oped/comment/fast-food-chains-invade-kenya-unleashing-obesity-ncds--1359086">gaining popularity</a>, especially among younger people. This trend was worrying because Kenyan communities risked losing their healthy traditional foods and the cultural heritage associated with them, including language, knowledge, skills and practices. </p>
<p>This carried the risk of serious consequences. First, it would narrow dietary diversity. Second, it would increase the dependence on market food, which consequently increases household spending on food. Third, it would have a negative impact on people’s health. And lastly, it would deny producers and marketers of traditional foods (who are mainly women) opportunities to make money. </p>
<p>To address the growing bias against traditional Kenyan foods, local and international institutions, including research organisations, government ministries, non-governmental and community based organisations, and universities rolled out <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/104087">nutrition research</a> on the value in local foods. </p>
<p>This was done in three phases. The first phase, 1995 to 1999, prioritised 24 vegetables out of a total of 210 in Kenya for detailed research and promotion. Prioritisation was based on preference by local communities, marketability and health benefits. </p>
<p>Phase two (2001 to 2006) focused on vegetable seed collection, improvement and distribution, as well as developing protocols for cultivation. Researchers also documented recipes, carried out nutritional analyses, increased awareness of the health benefits of these 24 vegetables and linked farmers to markets. </p>
<p>By 2003, the tide had begun to turn. Traditional vegetables had been introduced in most supermarkets and negative attitudes had largely changed. Today, traditional leafy vegetables such as mchicha, managu and saga are <a href="https://www.bioversityinternational.org/e-library/publications/detail/african-leafy-vegetables-come-out-of-the-shade/">commonplace</a> in restaurants, street markets and homes. And eating them no longer attracts stigma.</p>
<p>This push to promote and safeguard traditional foods in Kenya, <a href="https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=vcUtv87pFIcC&pg=PT7&lpg=PT7&dq=promoting+traditional+vegetables+in+in+kenya,+patrick+maundu,+coordinated&source=bl&ots=osdrT2h2fE&sig=ACfU3U0mJ8F-2KBsFdtnkGuTABeyyE139Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpiqmTuZH2AhUCQBoKHQdCBMQQ6AF6BAgcEAM#v=onepage&q=promoting%20traditional%20vegetables%20in%20in%20kenya%2C%20patrick%20maundu%2C%20coordinated&f=tru">which I was a part of</a>, caught UNESCO’s attention. During the institution’s 16th session of the <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/functions-00586">Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage</a> in December 2021, Kenya’s efforts were nominated and then placed on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices (<a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/Decisions/16.COM/8.c.3">Decision 16.COM 8.c.3</a>).</p>
<p>UNESCO’s Register of Good Safeguarding Practices allows states, communities and other stakeholders to share successful experiences and examples of transmitting their living heritage (traditional foods, in the case of Kenya). </p>
<h2>The case for selection</h2>
<p>The intangible heritage in traditional foods includes knowledge, social practices, skills, language, beliefs and taboos related to food. All these constitute the foodways of a cultural group. Foodways also include knowledge and practices about producing and using food, and encompass recipes, decorative skills, names of food species and uses of food in ceremonies.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/BSP/success-story-of-promoting-traditional-foods-and-safeguarding-traditional-foodways-in-kenya-01409">selecting the Kenyan case</a>, the intergovernmental committee noted that it:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>led to the safeguarding of foodways and traditional foods</p></li>
<li><p>promoted traditional foods for wider use for better health and livelihoods</p></li>
<li><p>promoted intergenerational exchange of knowledge by including schoolchildren</p></li>
<li><p>addressed major threats to the use of traditional foods</p></li>
<li><p>was supported by evidence.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The listing of Kenya’s efforts on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices is a significant decision for the country, and reflects the principles and objectives of the <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/intangible-heritage-domains-00052">2003 Convention</a> on safeguarding intangible heritage. </p>
<p>This means that the approaches used to promote local foods in Kenya can be applied at regional and international levels, and can serve as a model for safeguarding food cultural heritage.</p>
<p>Years of research have shown that these neglected traditional foods are highly nutritious. They are also part of the local food culture and are adapted to local environments. </p>
<h2>Nutritional and cultural value</h2>
<p>The leaves of the <a href="https://www.feedipedia.org/node/144">spider plant</a>, for example, give <a href="https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201301903979">many times</a> more vitamin A than cabbage. <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-a/">Vitamin A is vital</a> for skin, eyes and general growth. </p>
<p>Another important plant is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10681-014-1081-9">leaf amaranth</a>, which gives up to 12 times the amount of iron and calcium, and nearly twice the amount of fibre as cabbage.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924224415000990#:%7E:text=Cassava%20leaves%20are%20a%20rich,protein%2C%20minerals%2C%20and%20vitamins.&text=Antinutrients%20and%20cyanogens%20in%20cassava%20leaves%20restricts%20their%20use%20as%20human%20food.&text=Consumption%20of%20improperly%20processed%20cassava%20leaves%20might%20cause%20various%20diseases.&text=Economical%20detoxification%20processing%20without%20degrading%20the%20nutrients%20is%20required.">leaves of cassava</a>, a major vegetable in central African nations, are rich in proteins. A single serving, or 100 grams of the leaves, can provide up to three times the recommended daily intake of vitamin A in children and adults. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-020-02447-2">fruit pulp of the baobab</a> can supply as much as ten times the amount of vitamin C as an orange, by weight.</p>
<p>Insects, such as flying termites, and birds, like quails, are a major source of protein, and many communities have developed skills for trapping them. Other important local foods include mushrooms, of which there are hundreds of edible types. A loss of knowledge about them is rendering them unusable.</p>
<p>The high nutrient content in traditional foods and vegetables means they can help alleviate malnutrition. In Kenya, for instance, <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr308/fr308.pdf#page=187">stunting in children</a> under five years in 2008-2012 was at 35.3%, going down to 26% by 2014. </p>
<p>Additionally, many developing countries, including Kenya, are battling a <a href="https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/fast-food-eating-away-africas-progress">new problem</a> – the rise in non-communicable diseases like <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5912924/">cancer and heart diseases</a>. Traditional vegetables show high antioxidant activity and can be useful for preventing these diseases.</p>
<p>When a species loses its value in a community or society, it is likely to disappear. When the species is lost, it takes with it all its associated intangible cultural heritage. Promoting indigenous foods promotes conservation of species (and biodiversity), which is good for the planet. It also slows or halts cultural erosion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176384/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Maundu receives funding from the Government of Kenya and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to support work on traditional foods</span></em></p>Facing a growing bias against indigenous crops, Kenyan researchers set out to showcase the value in local options - and set a global standard.Patrick Maundu, Ethnobotanist, National Museums of KenyaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.