OBJECTIVES Social inactivity predicts adverse health events, but less is known about how different dimensions of social activity are related to health. The aim of this study was to investigate collective (e.g., cultural and organizational activities) and productive (e.g., helping others) social activity as predictors of risk for mortality and institutionalization in old age. METHOD A total of...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate predictors of change in household size and institutionalization in late life. METHODS The Duke Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly cohort (n = 3730) was assessed annually (1986-1996). Independent variables included home ownership, income, cognitive and functional ability, chronic illness, mood, household size, s...

This article analyzes the organization of Brazil's social protection system after the Federal Constitution of 1998 (CF 1988). It also demonstrates that 1988 Federal Constitution favored the institutionalization of universalist public policies. This institutionalization took place amidst conflict with the stabilization goals of the Real Plan. The paper argues that such an institutionalization pr...

The notion of enacting change in lieu of the forces that promote institutionalization is troublesome to Institutional Theory, which generally predicts isomorphism as a condition of survival. Here, we offer borrowed legitimacy through coalitions as an explanation for how an organization might successfully deviate from social norms to enact change, yet still gain sufficient cognitive and sociopol...

This paper analyses some aspects of the trajectory of the Argentinian physician and sociologist Juan César García (1932-1984) in the field of Latin American Social Medicine. Three dimensions constituting his basic orientations are highlighted: the elaboration of systematic and reflective social thought; a critical attitude in questioning teaching and professional practices; a commitment to the ...

Most studies on higher education transformation tend to focus on the factors (e.g. leadership, resources, and “culture”), processes (e.g. initiation, implementation, management) and theories (e.g. teleological, social cognition, cultural) of organizational change. Relatively little attention has been paid to how and at what level externally funded initiatives, like the NSF ADVANCE program, are ...

We analyze the conditions under which a practice moves from rare and unacceptable to preponderant and legitimate through bottom-up, relational processes. To better understand the mechanisms and contingencies of such "emergence-based institutionalization," we combine computational agent-based modeling with insights from a setting where a seemingly deviant local practice became institutionalized:...

This paper examines transitions in living arrangement decisions of the seniors using the first six cycles of the Canadian longitudinal National Population Health Survey microdata. Transitions from independent to intergenerational and institutional living arrangements are uniquely analyzed using a discrete-time hazard rate multinomial logit modelling framework and accounted for unobserved indivi...