Angela Fedi

Empowering Community Settings and Community Mobilization

Empowering community settings exist in many community domains. One domain includes groups and organizations that empower oppressed citizens to challenge societal culture and institutions, and take action to change them. To be considered empowering, a community setting must have both an empowering process, and lead to an empowered outcome. Our study tried to answer the following question: Does the empowering community setting model provide a potentially useful framework for analysis of community movements? Based on qualitative analysis of data related to the characteristics of the anti–High Speed Railway movement (Susa Valley, Italy) and to its effects on the larger community, the findings support the view that at least some types of community movements are usefully regarded as empowering community settings. Discussion focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of applying this conceptual framework to community movements, and highlights directions for future research.

Family or friends: what counts more for drinking behaviour of young adults? / Familia o amigos: ¿qué pesa más en los hábitos de consumo de alcohol de los jóvenes?

Abstract The scientific literature stresses the importance of culture and social environment in determining what people think about alcohol consumption and consequently do. Several pieces of research have proved the influence on young adults’ alcohol use of proximal social contexts of their family and peers. The present study aimed at investigating the influence of family behaviours and norms compared to the peers’ influence in a context where the culture of alcohol is changing between the different generations. Data were collected by means of a self-report questionnaire on a sample of 598 young adults (average age 22.20 years). The variables investigated were socio-demographic characteristics, the alcohol consumption of parents and friends and the parents’ and peers’ approval of alcohol consumption. The results confirmed the role of family and friends in influencing young adults’ consumption of alcohol, stressing a difference between perceived behaviours and norms. The perceived consumption of parents and friends influenced the participants’ consumption. On the contrary, the effects of the approval of drinking were limited. Globally friends had a stronger influence on alcohol consumption in comparison with family.

Correlates of work-alienation and positive job attitudes in high- and low-status workers

The concept of alienation boasts a long history in the academic literature. However, their empirical relations are not clear. The purpose of this paper is to test a model of predictors and outcomes of alienation. Since occupational status plays a key role in alienation processes, such model was tested with high- and low-status workers.,Participants were 340 workers holding high-status (n=98) and low-status (n=242) positions. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire. The authors verified the hypothesized relationships by means of a structural equation modelling, simultaneously tested on high- and low-status workers.,Results showed that individual determinants of alienation, i.e. locus of control, appear to play a more relevant role for high-status professionals, whereas organizational dimensions, i.e. perception of decision making, have an impact only for low-status workers. Relational variables, i.e. work-family conflict, fostered alienation, regardless the status. Concerning outcomes, alienation decreased both job satisfaction and job involvement.,The specificities of the cultural context have to be considered. Generalizing the results to other cultural contexts requires caution.,Work alienation has a negative influence on work attitudes that can be better managed by the knowledge of alienation’s correlates and peculiarities.,The study confirms the relevance of alienation for workers’ satisfaction and involvement highlighting the difference between high- and low-status workers.

Acculturation in the discourse of immigrants and receiving community members: Results from a cross-national qualitative study.

This study explores the bidirectional and interactional process of acculturation from the perspectives of immigrants and receiving community members (RCMs). Our aim was to understand the experiences and interactions of different ethno-cultural groups and their impact on the functioning and dynamics of multicultural communities. We conducted a cross-national, cross-cultural study of acculturation processes, using interviews collected across two countries (Italy: urban regions of Torino and Lecce; U.S.: Baltimore/Washington corridor) and three distinct groups of immigrants—Moroccans and Albanians in Italy and Latin Americans in the United States—and RCMs in Italy and the United States. Findings show that acculturation is a complex, situated, and dynamic process, and is generally conceived as an unbalanced and individual process of accommodation, which expects the immigrant alone to adapt to the new context. The boundaries among traditionally explored acculturation strategies were blurred and while integration was the most frequently discussed strategy, it often referenced a “soft” assimilation, limited mostly to public domains. Some differences emerged between ethnic groups and generation of immigration as well as among RCMs who differed by level of contact with immigrants. The need for more flexible models and for a critical perspective on acculturation is discussed.

If Stigmatized, Self-Esteem Is not Enough: Effects of Sexism, Self-Esteem and Social Identity on Leadership Aspiration

Ambivalent sexism has many pernicious consequences. Since gender stereotypes also affect leadership roles, the present research investigated the effects of ambivalent sexism on envisioning oneself as a leader. Our studies tested the influence of sexist attitudes (toward women – Study 1 – and men – Study 2) on leadership aspiration, taking into account the interaction among ambivalent attitudes, personal characteristics (e.g. self-esteem), and group processes (e.g. level of identification with gender). Specifically, the current study used a 3 (sexism: hostile, benevolent, control) x 2 (social identification: high, low) x 2 (self-esteem: high, low) factorial design. 178 women participated in Study 1. Results showed that, although sexism was not recognised as a form of prejudice and did not trigger negative emotions, in sexist conditions high-identified women increase their leadership aspiration. In Study 2 men (N = 184) showed to recognise hostility as a form of prejudice, to experience more negative emotions, but to be not influenced in leadership aspiration. For both men and women self-esteem had a significant main effect on leadership aspiration.

Protective versus risk factors for self-objectification in different age and gender cohorts

The harmful effects of objectification and self-objectification have been widely investigated, but few studies have examined factors that may predict self-objectification. This research intends to assess the protective versus risk role of sociodemographic and physical characteristics (age, BMI), psychosocial variables (self-esteem; self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism), and social factors (influence of family and friends; internalization of media standards) on self-objectification in men and women. The selfobjectification was assessed with two subscales of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale: Body Shame and Body Surveillance. Participants were 812 Italian adults of different age cohorts (age range 21-60 years; 50.7% females) recruited via a quota sampling method. Two regression models separately for males and females were performed. Results showed that mass media influence was the strongest predictor for body surveillance and body shame in both men and women, whereas gender-related patterns emerged for physical, psychological, and relational variables with age as moderator.

Donne e carriera tra stereotipi di genere e conciliazione lavoro-famiglia. Un’analisi psico-sociale

Nel mondo occidentale le disparita dei percorsi di carriera tra donne e uomini persistono ancora: le posizioni di status piu elevato rimangono una prerogativa maschile, le donne sono invece bloccate in posizioni intermedie, presentando percorsi di carriera accidentati e caratterizzati da difficolta, legate in gran parte all’equilibrio lavoro-resto della vita. Nel quadro teorico della Role Congruity Theory di Eagly e Karau (2002) e della conciliazione, la presente ricerca intende approfondire, attraverso interviste in profondita, la narrazione di 15 donne in posizioni lavorative di responsabilita. Nello specifico, lo studio intende indagare: il ruolo degli stereotipi di genere che hanno influenzato i percorsi di carriera e i vissuti di conciliazione lavoro-resto della vita e come questi hanno condizionato le scelte personali e professionali. Le interviste sono state sottoposte ad analisi del contenuto con l’ausilio di Atlas-ti 6.0.