Existing theoretical explanations of the mental health consequences of unemployment are outlined, critically reviewed and an alternative theory proposed. Theories reviewed include the rehabilitation approach, the stages model, Jahoda's functional model, Warr's vitamin model and Fryer's agency critique. A discussion of the effects of moderating variables--including the quality of work, work comm...

Recent applications of social capital theories to population health often draw on classic sociological theories for validation of the protective features of social cohesion and social integration. Durkheim's work on suicide has been cited as evidence that modern life disrupts social cohesion and results in a greater risk of morbidity and mortality-including self-destructive behaviors and suicid...

In order to produce effective advisory messages, knowledge coming from different research fields has to be reconciled. Domain knowledge is only part of what is needed: sociological theories of behaviour change are of great help, and, as the messages have to be conveyed with some wording, argumentation theories are definitely crucial. The issue of integrating diverse knowledge representations is...

Building on a recent theoretical development in the field of sociological social psychology, we develop a formal mathematical model of social influence processes. The extant theoretical literature implies that factions and status should have non-linear effects on social influence, and yet these theories have been evaluated using standard linear statistical models. Our formal model of influence ...

Education, by regarding the social and critical elements can be traced back to the 20th century. Critical pedagogy was started out of the need of reforming education in a way that it would acknowledge the influence of the present social and political elements in each and every educational context. Some critical theorists applied ideas in critical theories to education in the society....

Human beings care a lot about being viewed as ‘smart’. This paper defines social status as the public beliefs about one’s ‘smartness’ inferred from one’s publicly observed social mobility experience. This status motive can easily generate multiple equilibria based upon self-fulfilling beliefs. It also tends to amplify the inequality of economic success between agents with different social origi...

Criminologists have long observed a strong correlation between age and crime. The age crime relationship has withstood stringent testing since the 1920’s and repeatedly demonstrated that criminal activity peaks at age seventeen and then gradually declines. These efforts have resulted in the formation of several theories; however, quantitative assessment of these theories are incomplete and fail...

A variety of theories in the social science, as profound as they may seem, cannot break away from “either-or” dualism. In which, many of them assume dualistic substantialisms in terms of the dichotomies like: methodological individualism vs. methodological collectivism; positivistic sociology vs. intepretivist sociology; agency vs. structure, and so on. In addition to that, there is also anothe...

We study the response to the Charlie Hebdo shootings of January 7, 2015 on Twitter across the globe. We ask whether the stances on the issue of freedom of speech can be modeled using established sociological theories, including Huntington’s culturalist Clash of Civilizations, and those taking into consideration social context, including Density and Interdependence theories. We find support for ...

In order to produce effective advisory messages, knowledge coming from different research fields has to be reconciled. Domain knowledge is only part of what is needed: sociological theories of behaviour change are of great help, and, as the messages have to be conveyed with some wording, argumentation theories are definitely crucial. The issue of integrating diverse knowledge representations is...