To Brexit or not to Brexit: The roles of Islamophobia,conspiracist beliefs,and integrated threat in voting intentions for the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum

We used an identities approach to examine voting intentions in the June 2016 UK referendum on membership of the European Union (EU). In April 2016, 303 British adults (58.7% women, age M = 34.73) indicated their voting intentions for the referendum and completed measures of identification with the national in-group, perceived threat from Muslim immigrants, belief in Islamophobic conspiracy narratives, Islamophobia, general conspiracist beliefs, ambiguity tolerance, and belief in a clash of civilizations. Path and mediation analyses indicated that greater belief in Islamophobic conspiracy theories mediated the link between Islamophobia and intention to vote to leave. Islamophobia and Islamophobic conspiracist beliefs also mediated the effects of perceived threat from Muslims on voting intentions. Other variables acted as antecedents of perceived threat or Islamophobic conspiracy narratives. These findings highlight the role that identity-based cognitions may have played in shaping voting intentions for the UK EU referendum.     

Identity,politics, and the future(s) of religion in the UK: the case of the religion questions in the 2001 decennial census1>

With the publication of the results of the United Kingdom's decennial Census questions on religion it is important to situate this data within the wider social and religious contexts that led to the inclusion of these questions in the Census. This includes engagement with some of the issues likely to affect both the data itself and the uses to which it might be put. The varied forms of the questions on religion as asked in different parts of the UK are outlined within the context of a discussion of the scholarly taxonomy of religions. The questions are also explored in the light of the interplay between the varied categories of religions and the official ‘recognition’ implied by their use within the Census. Finally, the place of religious statistics within the ‘politics of identity’ as well as their potential contribution to the development of a communalist ‘identity politics’ are critically explored.     

Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) in the United Kingdom: A Preliminary Report

The authors report the results of a pilot project to introduce the STEPPS (systems training for emotional predictability and problem solving) treatment program for persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD) to the United Kingdom. STEPPS combines cognitive-behavioral principles and skills training with a systems component that includes family members and significant others. STEPPS was developed to supplement the patient’s ongoing treatment program (e.g. medication, individual therapy, case management) and boost its effectiveness, but not replace it. Thirty-eight subjects agreed to participate at six sites in West Sussex, England. A pre- and post-intervention comparison design was used, and over the 20 week program were found to have significant improvement in their mood, BPD-related symptoms (including affective, cognitive, and impulsive domains), and both negative and positive affectivity. Subjects reported high levels of satisfaction with the program. This study provides further evidence that STEPPS, a relatively brief fully manualized group treatment program, may be used in other countries and achieves high levels of acceptance from patients and therapists.     

Michael J. Balboni and John R. Peteet (eds): Spirituality and religion within the culture of medicine: from evidence to practice

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

The internet,empowerment, and identity: an exploration of participation by refugee women in a Community Internet Project (CIP) in the United Kingdom (UK)

This article considers the relationship between the Internet, empowerment, identity and participation; and focuses on refugee women in the United Kingdom (UK) participating in a Community Internet Project (CIP) to learn Internet skills. Semi‐structured interviews and a non‐participant observation were conducted with six refugee women and the course tutor participating in the final session of the CIP. Thematic analysis of the interviews supplemented with findings from the observation, revealed outcomes associated with technological engagement and participation. Technological engagement outcomes included intermediate outcomes of maintaining links and re‐building networks, and facilitating resettlement and integration; and empowerment and identity outcomes facilitating the maintenance and development of personal identities, and fostering psychological empowerment. Participation outcomes included the development of social identity and community narratives, and collective consciousness‐raising. These findings are used to reflect on the theory of the social psychology of participation (Campbell & Jovchelovitch, 2000 ), by contextualising technological engagement within participatory processes. The article concludes by discussing individual agency within participation; and calls for further research into the utility of digital technologies in community participatory processes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotions and the habitus: Young people with socio-emotional differences (re)producing social,emotional and cultural capital in family and leisure space-times

In this paper we explore the importance of emotionally inter-dependent relationships to the functioning of embodied social capital and habitus. Drawing upon the experiences of young people with socio-emotional differences, we demonstrate how emotionally inter-dependent and relatively nurturing relationships are integral to the acquisition of social capital and to the co-construction and embodiment of habitus. The young people presented in this paper often had difficulties in forging social relationships and in acquiring symbolic and cultural capital in school spaces. However, we outline how these young people (re)produce and embody alternative kinds of habitus, based on emotionally reciprocal relationships forged through formal and informal leisure activities and familial and fraternal social relationships. These alternative forms of habitus provide sites of subjection, scope for acquiring social and cultural capital and a positive sense of identity in the face of problematic relations and experiences in school spaces.     

Poverty and Wealth in the Orthodox Spirituality (with special reference to St. John Chrysostom)

Abstract : This essay deals with the right relation we should have to material wealth in modern society, a society often marked by rank consumerism. Material goods are given to humans only to be managed for the benefit of all people, regardless of faith or race. This ethical stance does not attack or seek to abolish the right to private property, but restores it to its proper place. Specifically, patristic spirituality, such as that articulated by St. John Chrysostom, does not invalidate the principle of individual ownership, but corrects it, meaning that, while owners are owners in relation to the poor, they are only managers of wealth in relation to God.     

Sex differences in behavioral and hormonal response to social threat: commentary on Taylor et al. (2000)

Taylor and colleagues proposed that women uniquely respond to stressors by tending to children and befriending other women rather than by fighting or fleeing (S. E. Taylor et al., 2000). In this article, the authors expand Taylor et al.'s evolutionary frame and incorporate several unique aspects of human social dynamics. First, humans are characterized by extensive paternal investment, and thus men's tending is predicted and observed in some stressful contexts. Second, the dynamics of women's befriending suggest an evolutionary elaboration of the mechanisms that support reciprocal altruism. Third, coalitional male-male competition indicates that men's befriending is a predicted component of their fight-or-flight response. Finally, men's tending should result in the evolution of female-female competition over this form of parental investment.