Disability, citizenship and uncivilized society: the smooth and nomadic qualities of self-advocacy

People with the label of "intellectual disabilities"1 are often objectified and devalued by master narratives of deviance, tragedy and lack. In this paper, we draw on poststructuralist and feminist resources (e.g. Deleuze & Guattari 1987 and Braidotti 1994, 2002, 2006a) to argue that a disabling society is uncivilized in ways that block the becomings of citizenship. We draw upon our work with self-advocacy groups in England and Belgium where self-advocates open up different life worlds. We shed light on their politics of resistance and resilience, and map how they, as politicized citizen subjects, move in a web of oppressive disability discourses. However, we suggest, as nomads, they set foot on the landmarks of their lives in a never-ending search for smooth spaces in which something different might happen

Allport's prejudiced personality today: need for closure as the motivated cognitive basis of prejudice

In the long history of psychological research on prejudice, Allport's (1954) book The Nature of Prejudice is undoubtedly the foundational work, advancing ideas that remain highly influential and relevant to this day. Guided by the seminal ideas of this leading scholar, we illustrate how contemporary psychological research has accumulated evidence for a basic, motivated cognitive style underlying prejudice in its different forms. Specifically, we demonstrate that Allport's classic conception of this basic cognitive style is exceptionally well captured by the contemporary construct of need for cognitive closure (NFC), and we review the recent evidence for NFC effects on racism and sexism. Integrating Allport's writings with contemporary research, we also show that the effects of motivated cognition on prejudice are explained (i.e., mediated) by essentialist thinking and authoritarian ideology. Finally, we discuss recent evidence indicating that, in contrast to Allport's pessimistic predictions, intergroup contact is especially effective in reducing prejudice among people high in NFC. It is concluded that recent research on NFC provides a solid empirical basis for Allport's hypothesis that a general motivated cognitive style lies at the basis of prejudice

Personality effects on cardiovascular reactivity: need for closure moderates the impact of task difficulty on engagement-related myocardial beta-adrenergic activity

An experiment assessed the joint effect of dispositional need for closure (NFC) and task difficulty on engagement-related myocardial beta-adrenergic activity. Participants who scored either low or high on the NFC scale performed an ambiguous categorization task with either low or high difficulty. Confirming the theory-derived predictions, task difficulty effects on pre-ejection period (PEP) reactivity were moderated by NFC. If difficulty was low, PEP reactivity was low and independent of the participants NFC level. If difficulty was high, participants with high NFC showed increased PEP reactivity compared to participants with low NFC. These results extend previous research on Wright's model of engagement-related cardiovascular reactivity and suggest that the model may provide a useful framework for assessing the impact of personality on cardiovascular response

Openness as a predictor of political orientation and conventional and unconventional political activism in Western and Eastern Europe

The present study provides a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between Openness and political orientation and activism in Europe. Analyses were conducted on the four waves of the European Social Survey, including large representative samples in up to 26 European countries (total N > 175,000). In line with previous studies, a robust, positive relationship between Openness and left-wing political orientation was obtained in Western Europe. However, in Eastern Europe, the relationship between Openness and political orientation was weaker, and reversed in three out of four waves. Moreover, Openness yielded significant positive relationships with unconventional activism and to a lesser degree with conventional activism. The magnitude of the relationship between Openness and activism was dependent on political orientation and region. Stronger associations between Openness and activism were found for those having a left-wing orientation in Western Europe, whereas in Eastern Europe, Openness was somewhat stronger related to activism for those having a right-wing orientation. In the discussion we elaborate on the role of the geo-political context in the relationship between Openness and political variables

The intergenerational transmission of need for closure underlies the transmission of authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice

Previous research has identified need for closure (NFC) as an important motivational cognitive basis of authoritarianism and prejudice. However, to date, the role of NFC in the intergenerational similarity in authoritarianism and prejudice has remained unclear. In a sample of 169 parent-child dyads, we investigated the similarity between parents and children in NFC and tested whether this intergenerational similarity may account for the intergenerational similarity in authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice. Our results revealed that parental levels of NFC were indeed concordant with the levels of NFC in their children. Even more importantly, parental NFC was indirectly related to child authoritarianism and prejudice in two ways. The first pathway proceeded through the direct relationships between parental and children’s levels of authoritarianism and prejudice. The second pathway, however, bypassed parental levels of authoritarianism and prejudice and proceeded through the intergenerational similarity in NFC. Our findings thus indicate that a significant portion of children’s levels of authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice can be explained by parents–child similarity in motivated cognition. Implications for developmental theories of prejudice acquisition are discussed

Dealing with risk in child and family social work: from an anxious to a reflexive professional?

The rhetoric of risk has become a prominent issue in the field of child and family social work. As a consequence, an emerging politics of fear has re-oriented this field towards managing, controlling, and securing social work practice against risk, rather than responding meaningfully to the needs and concerns of children and families. In the available body of research, it is argued that this general tendency creates “anxious” professionals. As a response, different scholars refer to the need to “speak back to fear”. In this article, we analyze this claim in the context of a currently ongoing large-scale policy reform, named Integrated Youth Care (IYC), in the field of child welfare and protection in Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium). The debate on dealing with risk is often limited to an organizational and methodological discussion. We assert that we should reorient this debate and make a plea for a radical approach of applying a welfare perspective in child welfare and protection

Positive neighborhood norms buffer ethnic diversity effects on neighborhood dissatisfaction, perceived neighborhood disadvantage, and moving intentions

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Insette Uit Die Toegepaste Linguistiek Vir 'n Kursus Vir Akademiese Doeleindes

No abstract available

Protection of the human research participant: A structured review

The history of health research, and concerns about the protection of human participants, dates back as far as the 1800s. The regulation, legislation and ethics-review requirements regarding the protection of the human research participants cause lively debates among researchers and scientists. The objective of this article is to share the findings of a structured review that was aimed at investigating the impact of and challenges with regard to the legislation, governance and research regulations aimed at protecting human research participants. The thematic analysis of the findings revealed dissatisfaction with diverse operational practices; different legislation and regulation practices; and institutional governance. Simplified and universally agreed-upon regulations and operational practices are needed, as is a common understanding of all concepts relating to ethical research conduct.S Afr Med J 2017;107(10):847-85