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Fátima Flores Palacios

Other affiliations: Autonomous University of Madrid
Bio: Fátima Flores Palacios is an academic researcher from National Autonomous University of Mexico. The author has contributed to research in topics: Social representation & Racism. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 15 publications receiving 158 citations. Previous affiliations of Fátima Flores Palacios include Autonomous University of Madrid.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a theory of the perception of hybrids, resulting from cross-breeding natural animals that pertain to different species and of children parented by couples with a mixed ethnic or racial background.
Abstract: This article presents a theory of the perception of hybrids, resulting from cross-breeding natural animals that pertain to different species and of children parented by couples with a mixed ethnic or racial background. The theory states that natural living beings, including humans, are perceived as possessing a deeply ingrained characteristic that is called ‘essence’ or ‘blood’ or ‘genes’ in everyday discourse and that uniquely determines their category membership. If, by whatever means, the genes or essences of two animals of different species are combined in a hybrid, the two incompatible essences collapse, leaving the hybrid in a state of non-identity and non-belonging. People despise this state and reject the hybrid (Study 1). This devaluation effect holds with cross-kind hybrids and with hybrids that arise from genetically combining animals from incompatible habitats across three cultures: Austria, India and Japan (Study 2). In the social world, groups and ethnic or racial categories frequently are essentialized in an analogue way. When people with an essentialist mindset judge ethnically or racially mixed offspring, they perceive a collapse of ethnic or racial essence and, consequently, denigrate these children, as compared to children from ‘pure’ in-group or out-group parents (Study 3). The findings are discussed in terms of the widespread ‘yuck factor’ against genetically modified animals, in terms of the cultural concepts of monstrosity and of racism and prejudice.

38 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, a study of the impact of the SIDA on representación social, implica reconocer el comportamiento social como sistema consensuado by groups sociales, in which se articulan diversos sistemas representacionales.
Abstract: El fenomeno del SIDA por sus propias caracteristicas representa un objeto de estudio que requiere una vision multidisciplinaria y un tratamiento multimetodologico. Por su naturaleza promueve multiples emociones, comportamientos y actitudes ancladas a los diversos registros de representacion social de los distintos colectivos, trazando asi el rostro del fenomeno mediante valoraciones y juicios morales estigmatizados que estructuran practicas especificas hacia el SIDA. Analizar una representacion social, implica reconocer el comportamiento social como sistema consensuado por grupos sociales en el que se articulan diversos sistemas representacionales. Una representacion social es un proceso mental sociocognitivo mediante el cual los colectivos se explican su realidad, la cubren de elementos afectivos y le dan un significado coherente en su estructura de pensamiento. Objetivo. Indagar la representacion social que un numero de jovenes universitarios del Estado de Morelos ha constituido acerca del SIDA, y el impacto de los medios de comunicacion en esta representacion. Metodologia. Participaron cuatrocientos estudiantes de una universidad publica en edad comprendida entre diecisiete y veinticinco anos. Se utilizo un cuestionario con preguntas abiertas y cerradas, autoadministrado, con su respectivo consentimiento por escrito y organizado en tres areas: representaciones sociales del SIDA, practicas sexuales, y medios de comunicacion y SIDA. El procedimiento del analisis se hizo de acuerdo con cada una de las categorias definidas. Se realizaron dos tipos de analisis: cuantitativo para las preguntas cerradas utilizando el programa estadistico SPSS y evaluativo-cualitativo para las preguntas abiertas, con el Programa ALCESTE complementado con un analisis de contenido. Resultados. Se encontraron dos ambitos de interaccion en la construccion simbolica del SIDA: un polo de la representacion se encuentra definido por el conocimiento especializado y el otro por un conocimiento de sentido comun sobre la enfermedad, particularmente sobre sus formas de contagio y prevencion. Existen miedo al contagio, inseguridad, sentimientos de control de la sexualidad y por lo tanto, los jovenes consideran ciertos componentes de valoracion moral particularmente cuando se refieren a observar conductas basadas en relaciones de fidelidad o a la misma abstinencia. Si bien es cierto que los estudiantes consideran que el SIDA no es una enfermedad exclusiva de homosexuales y trabajadoras del sexo, continuan pensando que estos son los grupos de mayor riesgo. Por otro lado, los varones entrevistados en esta muestra atribuyen una alta importancia al riesgo de contraer la enfermedad cuando se trata de evaluarla como un problema de salud publica que los aqueja. Su segunda preocupacion es el consumo de drogas. Para las mujeres la preocupacion central esta basada en la amenaza de embarazo, lo que demuestra una clara estructura de genero referida a su papel como procreadoras de la vida. Se observa que los medios de comunicacion, asi como las estrategias de informacion empleadas hasta ahora, han tenido un nivel de influencia aun limitado que no tiene un impacto especifico en la representacion social de la pandemia que lleve a tomar mayor conciencia respecto a la enfermedad y que induzca comportamientos de proteccion. Conclusiones. La actitud de los entrevistados frente a la pandemia es de distanciamiento y de poca o nula apropiacion de este problema. Asimismo, existen miedo al contagio, inseguridad, sentimientos de control de la sexualidad y un sistema de valores que interfiere con su propia libertad, cuando se refieren a conductas basadas en relaciones de fidelidad o la misma abstinencia. Estos dos registros constituyen la plataforma subjetiva en la que los jovenes actuan y donde se puede concluir que los medios de comunicacion asi como las estrategias de informacion empleadas hasta ahora, han puesto mayor enfasis en cierto cambio de actitudes y ofrecido una informacion que no influye de manera especifica en la representacion social del SIDA ni promueve comportamientos de proteccion. Es indispensable definir estrategias que consideren los elementos subjetivos y emocionales que estan operando fuera de la actitud frente al SIDA; no basta con la evidencia de los resultados, es fundamental considerar el proceso y el mecanismo mediante el cual se ha optado por cierto tipo de actitudes que no alcanzan a modificar la estructura representativa que finalmente es la que conforma los sistemas de comportamiento colectivo.

22 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented a study that revised a theoretical duality: the Social Representation (SR) and the Brief Family Therapy, under a multi-methodological approach, using associative techniques and in-depth interviews.
Abstract: Introduction: The main study’s premise was the conceptualization that drug users make decisions based on non-arbitrary reasoning. On the contrary, such decisions seem to rely on common sense based on: lay knowledge; socially shared beliefs and attitudes; and experiences and affectivities that give meaning to their actions. Drug consumption itself seems to be a social practice underlied by several decisions making: Subjects by themselves decide whether or not to consume, what kinds of drugs to use, whether or not to keep on using them, and when is the proper time to quit. One of the risks identified in the literature about drug consumption initiation is that drugs are offered by a friend, classmate or acquaintance. In the beginning, drug consumption is apparently maintained by peer pressure, and the search for treatment only begins when the problem seems to be unsolvable and difficult to handle. Nonetheless, which is the explicative common sense model that guided a group of users in rehabilitation toward their decision to begin, then continue, and finally, quit consumption? What representations and socio-cognitive processes support these decisions? This paper presents a study that revised a theoretical duality: the Social Representation (SR) and the Brief Family Therapy, under a multi-methodological approach, using associative techniques and in-depth interviews. The study of decision-making models comes from the psychotherapeutic tradition but it shows some limitations such as: ignoring the kind of problem, its evolution, experiences, historical-social background, and individual-society interactions. The Social Representation Theory is centred on the cognitive and social processes that make up the decisions of the addiction process. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explain how, and based on what social representation, the model that led to the decision to begin, maintain and quit drug use is constructed in users who are in rehabilitation. Method: A three stage transversal analytical-interpretative study based on the above mentioned theoretical duality was carried out. The study population was comprised by 57 teenage drug users, being treated at Centros de Integracion Juvenil (CIJ) in Guadalajara, Mexico. Free listing and context interviews were used in the first stage; the sorting technique was used in the second stage; finally, in-depth individual interviews were used in the third stage. Anthropac 4.9 and Atlas Ti software were used for data analysis. Results: The Social Representation (SR) on which the decision-making model was constructed was “the search for a different world” opposite to their family tradition, which emerged from three problem areas: (a) 90% of the families had

16 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an exploratoria y comprensiva of the manera in which le dan sentido y significado a los padecimientos emocionales in their vida diaria.
Abstract: Como parte de un estudio mas amplio sobre representaciones sociales de la salud mental en poblacion adulta de una comunidad urbana marginal, el objetivo de este trabajo consiste en conocer como se construyen los significados acerca de la salud mental, identificando la estructura del discurso de los entrevistados alrededor de este tema. La finalidad es lograr una aproximacion mas exploratoria y comprensiva de la manera en que le dan sentido y significado a los padecimientos emocionales en su vida diaria.La poblacion de estudio pertenece a una comunidad del sur de la ciudad de Mexico que se ubica en un asentamiento irregular que carece de todos los servicios (p.e. agua potable, drenaje, etc.). Se llevaron a cabo 16 entrevistas en profundidad con la poblacion adulta de la comunidad, de la cual 70% fue de mujeres y 30% de varones. El rango de edades oscilo entre los 27 y 58 anos, y la edad promedio fue de 36 anos.Los topicos de estudio fueron los siguientes: a) descripcion general de la comunidad, b) padecimientos percibidos y atribuciones en relacion con los mismos, c) respuesta frente a estos malestares, d) redes sociales de apoyo y busqueda de atencion y e) significados de los conceptos relacionados con la salud mental. El analisis cualitativo de la informacion obtenida a partir de las entrevistas se efectuo mediante dos estrategias: a) analisis tematico y b) analisis textual. El analisis tematico se baso en la identificacion de categorias y subcategorias a partir de las areas de estudio. Para efectos de este trabajo, solo se incluyeron la percepcion de los padecimientos y las fuentes de preocupacion. En los aspectos relacionados con la salud mental, el consumo de alcohol en adultos varones, el uso de drogas en adolescentes y la violencia intrafamiliar fueron los padecimientos mas importantes percibidos en la comunidad; otras problematicas manifestadas en este ultimo grupo fueron los problemas de lenguaje y los trastornos del aprendizaje en los ninos. Hubo otras fuentes de malestar relacionadas con la inseguridad percibida en la colonia, la falta de servicios y la corrupcion de lideres y autoridades.El analisis textual se realizo a traves de un programa especializado Alceste, version 4.5 (22) que permite la exploracion del discurso libre de los sujetos. Se identificaron cuatro clases que reflejan el universo de la vida diaria o el contexto dentro del cual se presentan los padecimientos y malestares emocionales en la poblacion estudiada: a) familia y ciclo vital, b) trabajo domestico y extradomestico, c) organizacion politica y comunitaria y d) aspectos emocionales y comunicacion intrafamiliar. Mientras que el discurso sobre las emociones y el trabajo domestico y extradomestico es eminentemente femenino, el de la esfera de la politica y el de la organizacion comunitaria pertenecen al dominio masculino.El discurso sobre estados emocionales fue el mas importante para la poblacion de estudio, discurso que parece estar en estrecha relacion no solo con los problemas y dinamicas intrafamiliares, sino tambien con las diferentes etapas de la historia de la familia, asi como con las condiciones sociales y materiales de vida. Se discuten los hallazgos sobre las implicaciones que tiene el empleo de estrategias complementarias de analisis con la finalidad de brindar una vision mas integral del contexto sociocultural bajo el cual se viven los padecimientos, lo que permite ampliar la definicion de lo que constituye un problema de salud mental desde la perspectiva de los miembros de la comunidad, pues solo de esta forma se evidencia de que manera dicho problema esta indisolublemente ligado con las inequidades sociales y economicas, la discriminacion de genero, la violencia politica, la desnutricion y las precarias condiciones de salud.

13 citations


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01 Jan 1973

269 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the causes of resource insecurity at the community level, coping responses to resource insecurity, and the effect of insecurity on emotional well-being and mental health at the individual level.
Abstract: Food and water shortages are two of the greatest challenges facing humans in the coming century. While our theoretical understanding of how humans become vulnerable to and cope with hunger is relatively well developed, anthropological research on parallel problems in the water domain is limited. By carefully considering well-established propositions derived from the food literature against what is known about water, our goal in this essay is to advance identifying, theorizing, and testing a broader anthropology of resource insecurity. Our analysis focuses on (1) the causes of resource insecurity at the community level, (2) “coping” responses to resource insecurity at the household level, and (3) the effect of insecurity on emotional well-being and mental health at the individual level. Based on our findings, we argue that human experiences of food and water insecurity are sufficiently similar to facilitate a broader theory of resource insecurity, including in how households and individuals cope. There are...

151 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that Internet forums can yield an abundance of useful “natural” discursive data for social scientific research, including data-sampling strategies, the refinement of the data for computer-assisted qualitative and quantitative analysis, and strategies for in-depth analysis.
Abstract: Within Internet forums, members of certain (online) communities discuss matters of concern to the respective groups, with comparatively few social restraints. For radical, extremist, and other ideologically “sensitive” groups and organizations in particular, Internet forums are a very efficient and widely used tool to connect members, inform others about the group’s agenda, and attract new members. Whereas members of such groups may be reluctant to express their opinions in interviews or surveys, we argue that Internet forums can yield an abundance of useful “natural” discursive data for social scientific research. Based on two exemplary studies, we present a practical guide for the analysis of such data, including data-sampling strategies, the refinement of the data for computer-assisted qualitative and quantitative analysis, and strategies for in-depth analysis. The first study is an in-depth analysis of discourses within a German neo-Nazi discussion board. In the second, nine online forums for young Ge...

143 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that intrahousehold gender disparities may be mitigated in times of severe water scarcity, and raises questions about the comparability of men's and women's expressions of emotional distress.
Abstract: This study is one of the first to examine the links connecting water insecurity, gender, and emotional distress. The article presents quantitative and qualitative analyses of interview data collected from randomly selected pairs of male and female household heads (n =48) living under the same household-level conditions of water insecurity. The results provide partial confirmation of past findings that women are more likely than men to be burdened with everyday water responsibilities. However, there were no significant differences between men's and women's experiences in household water emergencies (i.e., water shortages and last-ditch attempts to buy water) and reports on some measures of emotional distress (i.e., worry, annoyance, and anger with family members). The results suggest that intrahousehold gender disparities may be mitigated in times of severe water scarcity. The discussion raises questions about the comparability of men's and women's expressions of emotional distress.

126 citations

Dissertation
28 Feb 2017
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored how rigid the above exemplary alterities were by gathering data on the perceptions of their boundaries as reflected in electronic archives covering 16 years of newspaper reporting in the UK (1995-2010) and then subjecting this data to both a quantitative and qualitative analysis, measuring the fluctuation of ambiguity tolerance.
Abstract: We often pigeonhole our surroundings into dualistic categories, e.g., nature/culture. Perhaps evolutionary forces favoured dichotomous brains, or dualistic categories may be only social constructs. These lines of thought led to my research question(s): Do juxtaposed mechanisms of dichotomous black-and-white (essentialist) cognitive patterns exist; and, if so, how do such mechanisms affect cultural and scientific concepts of reality? My thesis focusses on four classic modes of othering (Human–Animal, Human–Machine, Male–Female, Heterosexual–Homosexual) oft-cited in biological anthropological studies, aiming to reconstruct the developmental forces that can bring about, stabilise or modify such binaries. My thesis therefore also is situated in discourses of sociology, psychology, animal studies, AI theory and gender/sexuality studies. I explored how rigid – respectively, fluid – the above exemplary alterities were by gathering data on the perceptions of their boundaries as reflected in electronic archives covering 16 years of newspaper reporting in the UK (1995–2010) and then subjecting this data to both a quantitative and qualitative analysis, measuring the fluctuation of ambiguity tolerance. My results strongly indicate similar temporal patterns of ambiguity tolerance across three out of four dichotomies – including a distinct “millennial effect” of intolerance – and a remarkably stable Male–Female dichotomy. This suggests firstly that received understandings of concrete descriptions in evolutionary theory such as “human”, “animal”, “species”, “tool (machine)”, “homosexual” and “heterosexual” may function as cultural concepts considered to be natural kinds, but also are temporally malleable in both popular and academic discourse; and, secondly, that we may have natal (arguably plastic) gender schemata. I show quantitatively and qualitatively that essentialist thinking – as expressed by ambiguity (in)tolerance in socially empowered individuals – functions as an infrahumanisation mechanism to protect one’s perceived ingroup, be that humans, males or heterosexuals. I argue instead for an ultrahumanisation that may allow for less anthropocentrism, less androcentrism and less heterocentrism.

80 citations