Kulturpolitikk og sosiologi

Sosiologi i dag 44, 1/2014, 5-11 http://ojs.novus.no/index.php/SI

Occupational transaction after stroke constructed as threat and balance

Older adults who have had a stroke may experience anxiety, depression and difficulties participating in meaningful occupations while also experiencing excitement, discovery and satisfaction in creating a new occupational balance. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how older adults experienced the changes in their everyday occupations after a stroke. Five women and three men who had experienced a mild to moderate stroke participated in focus group discussions. Systematic text condensation was applied. The participants’ experiences revealed how the stroke was perceived as an ‘occupational threat’ that produced feelings of social exclusion which were experienced as occupational exclusion, deprivation, marginalisation and imbalance. However, at the same time, the participants reconstructed occupational balance by performing occupations in new ways. The participants’ experiences provided insight into how they perceived their occupations as threatened after their stroke, while at the same time endeavoring to reconstruct occupational balance. These findings indicate that everyday life after stroke is a time of transaction where people are actively involved in creating control, occupational balance and being socially include

Locally fabricated metal step wedge for quality assurance in diagnostic radiology

The code of safe practice for the use of x-rays in medical diagnosis requires that each x-ray facility has an appropriate quality assurance program in radiation protection, to ensure accurate diagnosis, and to keep doses as low as reasonably achievable. This requires an in-house system of regular checks and procedures. This research has investigated and carried out some of these checks via the step wedge, fabricated by adopting the model of a standard aluminum wedge obtained from the radiology department of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) using locally acquired metals. The wedges were exposed to x-rays and the optical densities of the processed films measured with a densitometer. The result indicates that standard equipment can be produced from locally sourced materials, as well as to investigate an alternative wedge material. The values of the both the local and standard aluminum wedges fall within range of the tolerance limit of +5% (Rehani, 1995)

Measurement of radionuclides in processed mine tailings in Jos, Plateau State

The Jos Plateau is situated in the central part of Northern Nigeria, on a rugged terrain of low lands at the edge of the Plateau surface (Hyde, 1986). It is the principal centre of tin and columbite mineralization, which forms the focal area of younger granites (Macleod et al., 1971). The mine tailings are associated with radioactive minerals as impurities such as monazite, zircon among others. These minerals are very radioactive and causes hazards to human health during mining and milling. A total of thirty-one (31) tailing samples were collected from a processing site in Jos at different directions and distances and analyzed for 40K, 226Ra and 232Th concentrations using NaI (TI) detector in order to estimate the level of their radiological impact to the public. The highest and lowest concentrations were in D8 of 232Th (27930.0Bqkg–1) and D5 of 226Ra (364.9Bqkg–1). All concentrations ranged from 364.9Bqkg–1 – 27930.0Bqkg–1 in the tailings. Keywords: Tailings, Radionuclides, Radiation and Dose Limit

Becoming and unbecoming academics: Classed resources and strategies for navigating risky careers

Academics influence not only knowledge production but also selection to the labour market and policy development. They have power. Despite the sociological attention paid to class in higher education, few studies have examined the way in which class interferes with the careers of those navigating from being students to becoming scholars. Building on Bourdieu's theory of social reproduction, this study examines how class influences different groups' experiences of becoming academics. Based on 60 interviews with Norwegian scholars in their early to mid‐careers, the analysis identifies the kind of classed resources that are in play in the unequal access to academic positions. Beyond more classical resources, such as financial, cultural, and psychological certainty, the interviewees point to the significance of an early familiarity with the rules of the game and strategic navigation of the academic system. We use these findings to discuss and nuance Pierre Bourdieu's perspectives on the role of incorporated, practical consciousness and disinterestedness in class reproduction in the academic world. This theoretical contribution facilitates the combined analysis of the implicit and the explicit ways that dominant classes preserve their position in the hierarchy, which the study demonstrates as key to social reproduction in academic careers.publishedVersio

Motherhood Penalty—Beyond Bias? From Stereotypes to Substitutability Structures

Mothers continue to experience lower wages and slower career progression than fathers. Are mothers penalized due to prejudice or due to the costs of family-friendly work conditions? Our review of experimental studies on motherhood bias reveals a paradox: implicit bias against mothers is evident in many US and European studies, but absent in Scandinavian experimental studies; yet, mothers still face a wage and career gap. We revisit explanations related to social structures and gendered work–family specialization, including Goldin’s theory of exponential rewards for time and availability. By reviewing longitudinal Scandinavian studies and exploring the role of individual competition in particular job markets, we offer a nuanced understanding of flexibility and substitutability. Finally, we outline a shift in the theoretical lens for examining and challenging the wage and career gap—from stereotypes to substitutability structures—and introduce a model predicting the relation between individualized versus collective substitutability structures and the degree of individual and/or gendered costs.Motherhood Penalty—Beyond Bias? From Stereotypes to Substitutability StructurespublishedVersio

Social Encounters and the Worlds Beyond: Putting Situationalism to Work for Qualitative Interviews

In Goffman's terms, qualitative interviews are social encounters with their own realities. Hence, the ‘situational critique’ holds that interviews cannot produce knowledge about the world beyond these encounters, and that other methods, ethnography in particular, render lived life more accurately. The situational critique cannot be dismissed; yet interviewing remains an indispensable sociological tool. This paper demonstrates the value that situationalism holds for interviewing. We examine seemingly contradictory findings from interview studies of middle-class identity (cultural hierarchies and/or egalitarianism?). We then render these contradictions comprehensible by interpreting data excerpts through ‘methodological situationalism’: Goffman's theories of interaction order, ritual, and frontstage/backstage. In ‘situationalist interviewing,’ we suggest that sociologists be attentive to the ‘imagined audiences’ and ‘imagined communities’. These are key to identifying the situations, interaction orders, and cultural repertoires that lie beyond the interview encounter, but to which it refers. In sum, we argue for greater situational awareness among sociologists who must rely on interviews. We also discuss techniques and measures that can facilitate situational awareness. A promise of situational interviewing is that it helps us make sense of contradictions, ambiguities, and disagreements within and between interviews.publishedVersio

A Comparative Study Of Gamma Radiation Level Selected In Industries In Jos Plateau State, Nigeria

In this research work, a comparative study of the gamma radiation dose level in different industries in Jos and environs was carried out. A Digital radiation detector (gamma Scout of a standard version GS2 –model with a serial number A20) was used to carry out the measurement in the industries. The industries were categorized as communication, mining, Timber milling shades, Food processing, printing press and other industries. The gamma radiation dose levels in communication industries ranged from 0.561 – 2.435 mSv/yr, mining industries from 35.522 – 40.813 mSv/yr, Timber milling shade from 0.613 – 2.961 mSv/yr, Food processing industries from 0.823 – 1.901 mSv/yr, Printing industries from 0.821 – 1.524 mSv/yr and other industries ranged from 1.034 – 3.600 mSv/yr. The highest dose level of 40.813 mSv/yr was measured at Tin processing shade in Utan, Rock Haven and lowest dose of 0.613 mSv/hr at one of the communication masts. Key words: Gamma radiation, industries, ionizing radiations, Background radiation

En armlengdes avstand eller statens forlengede arm? Om armlengdesprinsippet i norsk og internasjonal kulturpolitikk

Denne rapporten drøfter armlengdesprinsippet stilling i norsk og internasjonal kulturpolitikk: Kan og bør politiske myndigheter gripe inn og styre kunstområdene? Bør kulturinstitusjonene få operere helt fritt og uavhengig av kulturpolitisk styring? En gjennomgang av den faktiske kulturpolitikken i ulike land gir ikke noe enkelt og entydig svar. I mange land er det dessuten opprettet særskilte organer for forvaltning av offentlig kunststøtte på en armlengdes avstand fra politiske myndigheter - i Storbritannia «Arts Council», i Norge «Norsk kulturråd». Rapporten drøfter Norsk kulturråds utvikling de seinere år i lys av armlengdesprinsippet.Published versio

Etablering av nye kulturstudier innenfor akademia

In this paper we discuss the institutionalisation of âcultural studiesâ and âcultural policy researchâ as academic disciplines. Cultural studies was institutionalised from inside Academia, initially as an alternative to traditional humanistic disciplines. Despite its humanistic background cultural studies became profoundly influenced by the social sciences and their broad concept of culture. The paper discusses disciplinary characteristics of cultural studies:  It appears as an eclectic, radical and social constructivist discipline. The paper also describes the specific phases of the institutionalisation process, i.e. the establishment of centres, academic journals, conferences and study programmes. Cultural studies has a longer history and a broader impact as an academic study programme than cultural policy research. Cultural policy research rather forced itself into Academia from outside, i.e. from the political and administrative world. It has therefore often been looked upon as a low-quality and instrumental discipline. The institutionalisation of cultural policy research closely reflects the development of cultural policy and administration in many countries after World War II. Study programmes have been launched in order to respond to the need for competent personnel in the new public cultural administrations. International organisations also have attempted to develop competent cultural policy research. Since the early 1990s cultural policy research has gone through a gradual âacademic turnâ: Research conferences, referee journals, research projects and study programmes were established. The paper still describes cultural policy research as a multidisciplinary and eclectic discipline that lacks specific canonical texts and theoretical heroes. Cultural studies and cultural policy research have influenced each other. In some respects they also converge: While cultural policy research strives to become more academic and avoid the stigma of âinstrumentalityâ, are spokesmen for cultural studies trying to make cultural studies more âusefulâ by speaking up for educating âcultural techniciansâ