Understanding the Complexities of Private Standards in Global Agri-Food Chains as They Impact Developing Countries

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of private standards governing food safety, food quality and environmental and social impacts of agri-food systems has raised concerns about the effects on developing countries, as well as the governance of agri-food value chains more broadly. It is argued that current debates have been ‘clouded’ by a failure to recognise the diversity of private standards in terms of their institutional form, who develops and adopts these standards and why. In particular, there is a need to appreciate the close inter-relationships between public regulations and private standards and the continuing ways in which private standards evolve.     

Sex Trafficking and Moral Harm: Politicised Understandings and Depictions of the Trafficked Experience

This paper explores notions of harm in sex work discourse, highlighting the extent to which essentialist ideas of ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ sex have pervaded trafficking policy. In a comparative examination of Australian Parliamentary Inquiries and United States congressional hearings leading to the establishment of anti-trafficking policy, we identify the stories that have influenced legislators, and established a narrative of trafficking heavily dependent upon assumptions of the inherent harm of sex work. This narrative constructs a hierarchy of victimisation, which denies alternative discourses of why women migrate for sex work. We argue that it is not sexual commerce that is harmful, but pathological, systemic inequalities and entrenched disadvantage that are harmful. A narrow narrative of trafficking fails to adequately depict this complexity of the trafficked experience.     

Sustainable Design and Social Entrepreneurship A Common Path Toward Social Innovation？

The purpose of this article is to introduce the connection of social entrepreneurship （SE） and sustainable design （SD） as a successful strategy for social innovation. Design is increasingly recognized by different stakeholders as an important contribution to social innovation. However, research linking SD and SE as a tool to sustain these social ventures is limited. This article takes an international approach to viewing SE. It presents concepts and main characteristics of both SE and SD, and discusses its similarities and differences of these concepts, based on a literature review and the analysis of two case studies addressing SE. The case studies presented in Norway and the United States are evaluated based on the role that SD strategies played in their establishment and implementation phase. Finally, this article seeks to contribute to the discussion of SE challenges and benefits, in addition to furthering research on the connection of SE and SD. Analyzing this connection means exploring uncharted paths toward sustainability and socially responsible growth.     

COVID-19 Specific Risk Markers for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

Intimate partner violence (IPV) rates have grown alongside the sweeping changes, challenges, and transitions necessitated by the onset of COVID-19. The goal of this exploratory study was to examine COVID-19 related risk markers for IPV perpetration. Data were collected from a national sample of 365 U.S. individuals who were in a relationship during August 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic. Unadjusted odds ratios were calculated for 27 unique risk markers related to lifestyle changes due to COVID-19, mental health, isolation, financial impacts, and COVID-19 diagnoses. The strongest risk markers for IPV perpetration were feelings of loneliness, followed by anxiety symptoms, perceived stress, fear, boredom, substance use and lifestyle changes. Understanding risk markers associated with an increase in IPV perpetration can aid helping professionals identify individuals who may be at risk for IPV, or target these factors to aid in IPV prevention and intervention efforts.

     

How Serious is the Global Warming Threat?

Despite the media’s and politicians’ insistence that the science of global warming is “settled”, there are good reasons to distrust climate model projections of future global warming. While the supposed scientific consensus is that mankind is very likely to blame for recent global warmth, this is mostly a statement of faith made from a position of relative ignorance about natural variability in the climate system. Since we do not understand what causes decadal- to century-scale natural climate variability, it has simply been assumed to either not exist, or to be relatively small. But even if predictions of catastrophic warming are accurate, the worldwide demand for energy is so large that there is little mankind can do without radically new energy technologies. Since it is only the wealthy countries of the world that can afford the R&D efforts to develop those technologies, punishing the use of fossil fuels, and the resulting negative impact on economies, might well delay the development of cost effective carbon-free energy sources that so many people are now calling for.

Fatal positional asphyxia associated with rollover crashes

Motor vehicle rollover crashes result in complex occupant kinematics with the potential for severe injury. Five cases of fatal asphyxia in occupants suspended from their safety belt upside down after a rollover crash are presented. These fatalities accounted for 13.5% of all motor vehicle related asphyxia deaths in San Diego County over a 10-year period. This study supports previous research noting that incapacitation due to other injuries, alcohol, or obesity may be associated with fatal positional asphyxia due to inversion during rollovers. Safety belts are proven to prevent serious injury in motor vehicle crashes and should always be worn. However, redesign of the buckle could be considered to permit easier release by an occupant. We also suggest that pre-existing heart disease may contribute to the possibility of a fatal asphyxia outcome. Although this is a rare cause of motor vehicle related death, our results suggest that these are potentially preventable deaths.     

Social Class is Dead. Long Live Social Class! Stereotype Threat among Low Socioeconomic Status Individuals

Stereotype threat effects occur when members of a stigmatized group perform poorly on a task because they fear confirming a negative stereotype that is associated with their ingroup. The present study investigates whether the observed achievement gap in standardized testing between high- and low-socioeconomic status (SES) American students can be due, in part, to this phenomenon. Participants were placed in one of four conditions that varied in level of “threat” related to socioeconomic status. Results show that when socioeconomic identity is made salient before taking a test, or when the test is presented as diagnostic of intelligence, low-SES students perform significantly worse, and report much lower self-confidence, than low-SES participants in the non-threatening conditions. When threatening conditions converge, performance of low-SES students is at its worst level. These results help us better understand the role stereotyping plays in the academic performance of low-SES students, and may partly explain the disparity on standardized test scores between low- and high-SES students.