Rethinking Urban Epidemiology: Natures,Networks and Materialities

How should we understand the relationship between urban environments and infectious diseases? This article addresses this question from three particular perspectives: that of the materialities of health, that of nature and that of networks. The first perspective analytically blends biological dynamics, environmental influence and social practice. The second perspective, mainly influenced by multispecies ethnographies, foregrounds the liveliness and unboundedness of cities. Finally, the third perspective analyses how health is drawn into the domain of security. The article argues that while globalization and urbanization are often discussed as having triggered the emergence and spread of pathogens, urban epidemics are not self‐evident and ‘natural' consequences of these pro‐cesses. They do not fall neatly into universal categories of space, modernity or risk; rather, they are produced and shaped by a range of social, political, biological and economic sites and scales. Accordingly, the emergence of pathogens depends on its articulation through specific analytical frameworks. This article suggests that a critical focus on how infectious diseases manifest themselves differently in different local contexts may not only provide insights into the manifold forms of urban life, but also into the multiple, complex and highly political constitution of health.     

Ist die Katharsis-Theorie zu retten?

Catharsis theory is regarded as refuted. This widespread belief can be questioned for two reasons. First, most test films used in experimental studies do not meet the requirements of catharsis theory; second the social consequences of catharsis were not measured. Two films were produced for our experiment, one which meets the requirements of catharsis theory and should reduce aggressiveness and one which, according to alternative theories, should increase aggressiveness. A control group saw a neutral film. As dependent variables (a) level of general aggression, (b) aggressive inclinations in social situations, and (c) willingness to use aggressive stereotypes were measured. The film that was assumed to reduce aggressiveness increased aggressiveness even more than the film that was assumed to increase it. This surprising finding and its consequences are discussed.     

PLease do not answer if you are reading this: respondent attention in online panels

This paper reports on the relevance of attention checks for online panels, e.g., M-Turk, SurveyMonkey, SmartSurvey, QualTrics. In two SmartSurvey studies approximately one third of the respondents failed a check that instructed them to skip the question. Attention-enhancing tools reduce this to approximately one fifth. The failure rate is not affected by replacing multiple-item scales with single-item measures. We find that failing the attention check relates to other attention indicators and that decreased attention levels often apply across the length of the survey. In support of relevance, our empirical findings show respondent inattentiveness systematically biases survey responses.     

New institutional arrangements and standard adoption: Evidence from small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers in Thailand

GlobalGAP is the most important private standard for producers in the Thai horticultural sector concerning access to high-value markets, especially to Europe. This paper presents an analysis of GlobalGAP adoption by small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers in Thailand focusing on GlobalGAP group certification, the costs and perceived benefits of GlobalGAP adoption, and the factors influencing standard adoption. In our research area, GlobalGAP group certification has encouraged the formation of new institutional arrangements between farmers, exporters and donors. Farmers participating in a development program were organized in certification groups where the Quality Management System (QMS) was either run by the donor, by the exporter, or by farmers themselves. Results of our adoption model suggest that support by donors, exporters and public–private partnerships are vital to enable small-scale farmers to adopt the standard. Furthermore, farmers are more likely to adopt if they are better educated and more experienced, and if they have access to female family labor, improved farming technology, and information and extension services.