SOCIETY – Page 8

Small Towns And The Global Pandemic How They Are Responding

19Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS, SOCIETY

Small Towns And The Global Pandemic How They Are Responding

Before the global pandemic hit, small towns across America were dealing with struggling economies, aging roads and bridges, and declining populations. The coronavirus added new challenges, like additional demand for limited hospital beds for an aging population, many of whom have chronic health conditions. Fortunately, as I’ve seen in my work at the Small Town Center at Mississippi State University, small towns have the advantage of being more nimble and responsive to crisis than cities, largely because they have fewer regulations and more opportunities to be creative about problem-solving. The pandemic has increased local leaders’ attention to their residents’ health – not just in terms of doctors and hospitals but also identifying new ways to help people get fitter, spend more time ou...

No Haven In Family Courts For Victims Of Domestic Abuse

2Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

No Haven In Family Courts For Victims Of Domestic Abuse

The #MeToo movement may have shifted the balance of credibility on sexual abuse and harassment at work more toward victims and away from alleged perpetrators. But the same cannot be said regarding men’s violence and abuse at home: In fact, women’s reports of domestic violence are still widely rejected, especially in one critical setting: the family court. When women, children or both report abuse by a father in a case concerning child custody or visitation, courts often refuse to believe them. Judges even sometimes “shoot the messenger” by removing custody from the mother and awarding it to the allegedly abusive father. For instance, courts reject 81% of mothers’ allegations of child sexual abuse, 79% of their allegations of child physical abuse, and 57% of their allegations of partner a...

Here’s The Evolutionary Explanation Of Why Cat And Dog ‘Moms’ And ‘Dads’ Really Are Parenting Their Pets

28Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

Here’s The Evolutionary Explanation Of Why Cat And Dog ‘Moms’ And ‘Dads’ Really Are Parenting Their Pets

Shelly Volsche, Boise State University A pup out for a stroll, without paws touching the ground. Shelly Volsche, CC BY-ND Have you noticed more cats riding in strollers lately? Or bumper stickers that read, “I love my granddogs”? You’re not imagining it. More people are investing serious time, money and attention in their pets. It looks an awful lot like parenting, but of pets, not people. Can this kind of caregiving toward animals really be considered parenting? Or is something else going on here? I’m an anthropologist who studies human-animal interactions, a field known as anthrozoology. I want to better understand the behavior of pet parenting by people from the perspective of evolutionary science. After all, cultural norms and evolutionary biology both suggest people should focus on...

In An Age Of Social Media Do Unbiased Jurors Exist? – Dzokhar Tsarnaev, (Boston Marathon Bomber) Supreme Court Appeal

18Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

In An Age Of Social Media Do Unbiased Jurors Exist? – Dzokhar Tsarnaev, (Boston Marathon Bomber) Supreme Court Appeal

Thaddeus Hoffmeister, University of Dayton The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on Oct. 13, 2021, in the case of Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the lone surviving Boston Marathon bomber. While much of the news coverage has focused on whether the court will uphold the death penalty for Tsarnaev, the case also presents a fundamental question for this era: Is it possible to find unbiased citizens to serve on a jury in high-profile cases during an age of ubiquitous social media? This aspect of the case focuses on the “voir dire” process, which employs a French term that roughly translates to “speak the truth.” Voir dire occurs prior to the start of trial, when lawyers or the judge, depending on the jurisdiction, question prospective jurors to determine whether they harbor any kind of bias or prejud...

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, SOCIETY

10 Years In 1 Day: How Did It Pass?

Envision this: You dozed off at a companion's New Year's celebration and you've quite recently woken up. The solitary thing is, it was Dec 31 2010 when you showed up however now you take a gander at the schedule on the kitchen divider you understand it's January 1st 2021! Much the same as that, 10 years have flown by! After you battle out the entryway, you end up remaining in a dubiously recognizable road and you locate that equivalent battered old earthy colored wallet in your back pocket. Some way or another you were cryogenically frozen (however that is a story for one more day) and now you have a ton of making up for lost time to do. How about we take a gander at the world around and perceive how things have changed, particularly for you-a tech enthusiast and one of the main computer...

Thanks To A Long-Overdue ‘Thrifty Food Plan’ Update, SNAP Benefits Are Rising For Millions Of Americans

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

Thanks To A Long-Overdue ‘Thrifty Food Plan’ Update, SNAP Benefits Are Rising For Millions Of Americans

Tracy Roof, University of Richmond The U.S. Department of Agriculture adjusts Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits to reflect changes in food prices once a year. The government agency will take two other factors into account when it increases those benefits, which help people buy food, on Oct. 1, 2021. One is an unprecedented update of the Thrifty Food Plan – an estimate of the minimum cost of groceries to meet a family’s needs. That revision is behind the largest-ever permanent increase in benefits and puts a healthier diet within reach for the 42 million Americans enrolled in SNAP, which replaced food stamps. The other change, the expiration of a temporary 15% increase in SNAP benefits to offset some of the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic, will hav...

How Clutter Accumulates – Psychological ‘Specialness Spirals’ Can Make Ordinary Items Feel Like Treasures

23Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

How Clutter Accumulates – Psychological ‘Specialness Spirals’ Can Make Ordinary Items Feel Like Treasures

Jacqueline Rifkin, University of Missouri-Kansas City Years ago, I bought a blouse at Target. That same day, I considered putting it on, but for no particular reason decided not to. That weekend, I again considered wearing the blouse, but the occasion didn’t seem good enough, so again, I passed. A week later, I considered the blouse for a date, but again, the event didn’t seem special enough. Fast forward to today. I have never worn my Target blouse. What had started out as ordinary now holds a special place in my closet, and no occasion feels quite worthy of my wearing it. What happened here? Why do people own so many unused possessions, treating them as though they are too special to use? I’m an assistant professor of marketing, and these are the questions that inspired my latest res...

Middle-Class Millennials With Student Debt Have Trouble Buying Groceries Too, It Isn’t A Problem Just For The Poor

9Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

Middle-Class Millennials With Student Debt Have Trouble Buying Groceries Too, It Isn’t A Problem Just For The Poor

Cassandra M. Johnson, Texas State University When I teach undergraduate and graduate students about food insecurity, I sometimes mention that my perspective is based not only on professional expertise but also on my personal experience. Food insecurity might sound like the same thing as hunger, but that’s not the case. The somewhat technical term food insecurity applies when people can’t get the food they need for themselves or their families because of a lack of money or other resources. Food security, on the other hand, is more of an ideal – being able to access culturally preferred foods to support an optimal diet and health. This is my personal take on the gray area between food security and food insecurity – and how student loan debt blurs the line between low-income and middle-inc...

For Millions Of Out-Of-Work Americans The Pandemic Hardship Is About To Get A Lot Worse

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, SOCIETY, WORK

For Millions Of Out-Of-Work Americans The Pandemic Hardship Is About To Get A Lot Worse

WORK Jeffrey Kucik, University of Arizona and Don Leonard, The Ohio State University Millions of unemployed Americans are set to lose pandemic-related jobless benefits after Labor Day – just as surging cases of coronavirus slow the pace of hiring. In all, an estimated 8.8 million people will stop receiving unemployment insurance beginning on Sept. 6, 2021. An additional 4.5 million will no longer get the extra US$300 a week the federal government has been providing to supplement state benefits. But with the pandemic still raging thanks to the rise of the delta variant, particularly in Southern states, the expiration of these benefits seems ill-timed. While some claim that the aid is no longer needed and doing more harm than good, we believe that the data tell another story. Benefits lo...

Landlords Continued To Find Ways To Kick Renters Out Even With The Eviction Moratorium

1Sep

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SOCIETY

Landlords Continued To Find Ways To Kick Renters Out Even With The Eviction Moratorium

SOCIETY Matthew Fowle, University of Washington and Rachel Fyall, University of Washington Millions of renters in the U.S. lost a key protection keeping them in their homes on Aug. 26, 2021, with a Supreme Court ruling ending a national moratorium on eviction. The federal stay on evictions was put in place during the coronavirus pandemic to protect renters falling behind on monthly payments and therefore in danger of needing to stay at homeless shelters or with friends or relatives. This pandemic response was designed to keep tenants in their housing, prevent overcrowding in shelters and homes, and reduce the spread of COVID-19. In early August, 7.9 million renter households reported being in arrears, with 3.5 million saying they were at risk of eviction within two months. The large nu...