Feelings of dual-insecurity among European workers: A multi-level analysis

This article analyses European Social Survey data for 22 countries. We assess the relationship between feelings of employment and income insecurity (dual-insecurity) among workers and national flexicurity policies in the areas of lifelong learning, active labour market policy, modern social security systems and flexible and reliable contractual arrangements. We find that dual-insecurity feelings are lower in countries that score better on most flexicurity polices, but these effects are in all cases outweighed by levels of GDP per capita. Thus feelings of insecurity are reduced more by the affluence of a country than by its social policies. However, affluence is strongly correlated with the policy efforts designed to reduce insecurity, especially active labour market policies and life-long learning, two policy areas that are threatened with cuts as a result of austerity

Differentiated Threat and the Genesis of Prejudice: Group-Specific Antecedents of Homonegativity, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, and Anti-Immigrant Attitudes

In this article we argue that an exclusive focus on the generalized aspect of prejudice limits understanding of the structure and genesis of prejudice towards particular out-groups. In order to conceptualize the specific nature of particular prejudices, we propose the differentiated threat approach. This framework postulates that different out-groups challenge diverse realistic and symbolic interests, and that these out-group specific threats affect various socio-economic strata and cultural groups differentially. The differentiated threat approach is applied to analyse majority-group Belgians’ attitudes towards immigrants, Muslims, Jews and homosexuals. The results show that a common denominator of prejudice can be distinguished, but that the prejudices towards the various out-groups contain substantively relevant unique components that are influenced by socio-demographic and attitudinal predictors in diverging ways. Gender traditionalism is found to reinforce homonegativity and temper Islamophobia at the same time. Feelings of relative deprivation are more strongly related to Islamophobia than to other forms of prejudice, and are unrelated to homonegativity. Religious involvement plays a more decisive role in the formation of antiSemitism and homonegativity than it does in the other forms of prejudice. Anti-immigration attitudes show a class gradient that is absent in attitudes towards other out-groups. Our results evidence that the concrete realization of attitudes towards a specific out-group cannot be understood without paying attention to structural and contextual factors, such as social positions, the nature of inter-group relations, power balances and elite discourses

Gedifferentieerde dreiging en de verklaring van vooroordelen: Anti-immigranten attitudes, islamofobie, antisemitisme en homonegativiteit vergeleken

Deze bijdrage stelt dat een te eenzijdige aandacht voor de veralgemeende component van vooroordelen een obstakel vormt om de structuur en genese van vooroordelen tegenover specifeke groepen te begrijpen. We stellen een model van gedifferentieerde dreiging voor dat toelaat het particuliere karakter van specifeke vooroordelen te conceptualiseren en te toetsen. Deze benadering postuleert dat verschillende uitgroepen diverse economische en culturele belangen uitdagen, en dat deze specifeke bedreigingen diverse socio-economische lagen en culturele segmenten van de bevolking in verschillende mate treffen. Vervolgens passen we het model van gedifferentieerde dreiging toe om de houdingen van autochtone Belgen tegenover immigranten, moslims, joden en homoseksuelen te analyseren. De resultaten tonen aan dat het inderdaad mogelijk is om een gemeenschappelijke component in de diverse vooroordelen te onderscheiden. Maar tegelijkertijd bevatten de onderscheiden vooroordelen elk een relevante, unieke component die op verschillende wijze samenhangt met structurele kenmerken en attitudes. Traditionele genderopvattingen, bijvoorbeeld, hebben tegelijkertijd een versterkend effect op homonegativiteit en een temperende invloed op islamofobie. Gevoelens van relatieve deprivatie zijn dan weer sterker gerelateerd met islamofobie dan met andere vormen van vooroordeel en hebben helemaal geen impact op homonegativiteit. Religiositeit speelt een meer beslissende rol in de formatie van antisemitisme en homonegativiteit dan het geval is bij andere vooroordelen

European parents’ attitudes towards public childcare provision. The role of current provisions, interests and ideologies

Despite the large volume of literature on childcare provision across countries, individuals’ attitudes and preferences concerning the role of government in the provision of childcare remain largely unexplored. This study examines how current policy provision structures influence the degree to which parents in European countries support public provision of childcare. Current provision is measured here through objective and subjective indicators, both at the individual and national levels. The relative importance of current provision structures on support for public childcare is then compared with other welfare attitude determinants; i.e., self-interest and political attitudes. This is done using data from 22 European countries in 2008/9 and a multilevel modelling technique. Results show that in general parents across Europe are largely supportive of public childcare provision. Furthermore, current provision structures, and people’s assessment of it, are consistently related to parents’ support for public childcare. Current provisions are salient factor explaining variance in childcare support (both at the individual and national level) over and beyond the most commonly used frameworks, namely self-interest and ideologies. The results of this study provide evidence for a vicious and virtuous cycle in the relationship between policy provision and support, where investment in policies may drive up support while rolling back of policies may further decrease support

“Not in the mood”: The fear of being laughed at is better predicted by humor temperament traits than diagnosis in neurodevelopmental conditions

BACKGROUND: Research has shown that autistic individuals seem to be more prone to develop gelotophobia (i.e., the fear of being laughed at) than typically developing individuals. The goals of the present study were to discover whether the high levels of gelotophobia found in autism in previous studies were replicated here, to expand the research to Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS), and to assess the relation between individual differences and social impairments, affective predispositions, and humor temperament. METHODS: Questionnaires were distributed to parents of autistic individuals (N = 48), individuals with DS (N = 139), and individuals with WS (N = 43) aged between 5 and 25 years old. RESULTS: Autistic individuals were shown to frequently experience at least a slight level of gelotophobia (45%), compared to only 6% of individuals with DS and 7% of individuals with WS. Interestingly, humorless temperament traits (i.e., seriousness and bad mood) manifested as the strongest predictors of gelotophobia. This relation even transcended group differences. CONCLUSION: The results confirm that gelotophobia seems to be particularly concerning for autistic individuals, whereas individuals with DS and WS seem to be more protected from developing such a fear. Moreover, it appears that gelotophobia seems to be more linked to high seriousness and irritability than diagnosis

Aging of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells: Hematopoiesis disturbances and potential role in the development of hematologic cancers

Aging of bone marrow is a complex process that is involved in the development of many diseases, including hematologic cancers. The results obtained in this field of research, year after year, underline the important role of cross-talk between hematopoietic stem cells and their close environment. In bone marrow, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are a major player in cell-to-cell communication, presenting a wide range of functionalities, sometimes opposite, depending on the environmental conditions. Although these cells are actively studied for their therapeutic properties, their role in tumor progression remains unclear. One of the reasons for this is that the aging of MSCs has a direct impact on their behavior and on hematopoiesis. In addition, tumor progression is accompanied by dynamic remodeling of the bone marrow niche that may interfere with MSC functions. The present review presents the main features of MSC senescence in bone marrow and their implications in hematologic cancer progression

Apolipoprotein E mediates evasion from hepatitis C virus−neutralizing antibodies

Background & Aims Efforts to develop an effective vaccine against hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been hindered by the propensity of the virus to evade host immune responses. HCV particles in serum and in cell culture associate with lipoproteins, which contribute to viral entry. Lipoprotein association has also been proposed to mediate viral evasion of the humoral immune response, though the mechanisms are poorly defined. Methods We used small interfering RNAs to reduce levels of apolipoprotein E (apoE) in cell culture−derived HCV−producing Huh7.5-derived hepatoma cells and confirmed its depletion by immunoblot analyses of purified viral particles. Before infection of naïve hepatoma cells, we exposed cell culture−derived HCV strains of different genotypes, subtypes, and variants to serum and polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies isolated from patients with chronic HCV infection. We analyzed the interaction of apoE with viral envelope glycoprotein E2 and HCV virions by immunoprecipitation. Results Through loss-of-function studies on patient-derived HCV variants of several genotypes and subtypes, we found that the HCV particle apoE allows the virus to avoid neutralization by patient-derived antibodies. Functional studies with human monoclonal antiviral antibodies showed that conformational epitopes of envelope glycoprotein E2 domains B and C were exposed after depletion of apoE. The level and conformation of virion-associated apoE affected the ability of the virus to escape neutralization by antibodies. Conclusions In cell-infection studies, we found that HCV-associated apoE helps the virus avoid neutralization by antibodies against HCV isolated from chronically infected patients. This method of immune evasion poses a challenge for the development of HCV vaccines