BACKGROUND Little is known about social capital and health among older adults in South Africa. This study investigates the association between social capital and several health variables, namely: self-rated health, depressive symptoms, cognitive functioning and physical inactivity, among older South Africans. METHODS We conducted a national population-based cross-sectional study with a nation...

I found just the place for me...even though one doesn’t accomplish great things. But we know what we want. We chose this...We aren’t going to give in to power, staying home. It’s good for us to be out in the street, doing something, awakening the recognition of folks. It’s tied to the solidarity of others with you... It comes from my father and sharing a plate of food, and the neighbours...You ...

Family composition and relationships may undergo significant changes upon immigration and settlement. This article approaches teen-parent relationships through the intergenerational solidarity framework, which addresses three areas of conflict and/or consensus related to (a) functional solidarity, (b) consensual solidarity, and (3) normative solidarity. Interviews took place in the Sri Lankan T...

Humor can serve numerous functions in discourse. This paper provides a tool for categorizing functions of humor, and uses this tool to highlight statistically some interesting patterns in the humor of New Zealand men and women. The humor occurring in 18 New Zealand friendship groups was analyzed according to function and these functions were organized into a taxonomy. Functions of humor occurri...

This article traces the way autonomy has become a recognised value in health care in France. In a country that based its social fundamentals on the very idea of solidarity for many years, autonomy has long been considered a foreign 'Anglo-American principle'. Taking the example of the end-of-life debate, the article shows, however, how the use of the French term 'accompagnement' allowed autonom...

Solidarity websites, such as The Hunger Site, where people can donate food at no financial cost and minimal effort, have become immensely popular and effective since 1999. These new forms of philanthropy are characterized by wide participation and direct assistance and feedback. The present longitudinal, quasi-experimental study aimed to examine whether online solidarity can be predicted by off...

Luck egalitarianism — the theory that makes individual responsibility central to distributive justice, so that bad luck underwrites a more compelling case for redistribution than do the bad choices of the disadvantaged — has recently come under a sustained attack from critics who are deeply committed to the broader struggle for equality. These egalitarian critics object, first, that luck egalit...