Power, position and social relations: Is the espoused absence of hierarchy in Open Dialogue naïve?

Open Dialogue practitioners aim to reduce social hierarchies by not privileging any one voice in social network conversations, and thus creating space for a polyphony of voices. This sits in contrast to the traditional privileging of those voices credited with more knowledge or power because of social position or professional expertise. Using qualitative interviews, the aim of this current study was to explore Open Dialogue practitioners' descriptions of challenges in implementing Open Dialogue at a women's health clinic in Australia. Findings revealed how attempts to rhetorically flatten hierarchies among practitioners created challenges and a lack of clarity regarding roles and responsibilities. As the practitioners tried to adjust to new ways of working, they reverted to taking up engrained positions and power aligned with more conventional social and professional roles for leading therapy and decision-making. The findings raise questions about equity-oriented ways of working, such as Open Dialogue, where intentions of creating a flattened hierarchy may allow power structures and their effects to be minimised or ignored, rather than actively acknowledged and addressed. Further research is needed to consider the implications that shifting power relations might have on the roles and responsibilities of practitioners in the move to equity-oriented services.

The impact of digital technology use on nurses' professional identity and relations of power: a literature review.

AIM: This study seeks to review how the use of digital technologies in clinical nursing affects nurses' professional identity and the relations of power within clinical environments. DESIGN: Literature review. DATA SOURCES: PubMed and CINAHL databases were searched in April 2023. METHODS: We screened 874 studies in English and German, of which 15 were included in our final synthesis reflecting the scientific discourse from 1992 until 2023. RESULTS: Our review revealed relevant effects of digital technologies on nurses' professional identity and power relations. Few studies cover outcomes relating to identity, such as moral agency or nurses' autonomy. Most studies describe negative impacts of technology on professional identity, for example, creating a barrier between nurses and patients leading to decreased empathetic interaction. Regarding power relations, technologically skilled nurses can yield power over colleagues and patients, while depending on technology. The investigation of these effects is underrepresented. CONCLUSION: Our review presents insights into the relation between technology and nurses' professional identity and prevalent power relations. For future studies, dedicated and critical investigations of digital technologies' impact on the formation of professional identity in nursing are required. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION: Nurses' professional identity may be altered by digital technologies used in clinical care. Nurses, who are aware of the potential effects of digitized work environments, can reflect on the relationship of technology and the nursing profession. IMPACT: The use of digital technology might lead to a decrease in nurses' moral agency and competence to shape patient-centred care. Digital technologies seem to become an essential measure for nurses to wield power over patients and colleagues, whilst being a control mechanism. Our work encourages nurses to actively shape digital care. REPORTING METHOD: We adhere to the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis where applicable. EQUATOR reporting guidelines were not applicable for this type of review. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

The fight for power: historical women's movements of Russia and Great Britain in comparison.

In the second half of the 19th century, women began to organize worldwide to achieve the goal of gender equality. National women's movements emerged and were followed somewhat later by the first transnational political mobilization of women on a larger scale. The range of topics that were on the national and international agenda included, alongside the access to education and the enforcement of equal civil rights, as well as the fight for political participation, with the women's right to vote taking center stage. The political, social, and cultural contexts, in which women raised their voices, varied. On the national level, female activists often had conflicting positions and their strategies reflected a wide spectrum; the chosen forms and the course of the protest, on the other hand, showed similarities.

Gênero e violência sexual contra crianças: um debate sobre relações de poder / Gender and sexual violence against children: a debate about power relations

Este artigo traz um debate teórico a partir da interlocução entre produção de gênero e violência sexual contra crianças e adolescentes. Amparado por uma perspectiva histórica e teórica acerca dos estudos de gênero, assume-se que o processo de socialização e construção das identidades dos sujeitos é marcada por práticas e discursos que incidem continuamente sobre os corpos desde sua gestação. Modelos hegemônicos de masculinidades e feminilidades atravessam as vivências dos sujeitos produzindo marcas, relações de poder, possibilidades e proibições. Assim, compreende-se o gênero enquanto categoria de análise produtora de relações de poder assimétricas que, entre outros fatores, contribuem para a reprodução da violência sexual contra crianças e adolescentes. Esta trata-se de um fenômeno complexo, considerado problema de saúde pública, que se articula com questões micro e macrossociais. Nesta perspectiva, elementos como machismo, patriarcado e adultocentrismo, aliado às desigualdades étnico-raciais, socioeconômicas e de gênero mostram-se enquanto alguns dos fatores que atravessam a violência sexual infantojuvenil, tais elementos são debatidos ao longo do artigo. A prevenção e enfrentamento à violência sexual traduz-se tanto pela ruptura de práticas silenciadoras, maginalizantes e de desigualdades de poder entre os sujeitos, quanto pela efetivação de políticas públicas e criação de estratégias questionadoras das normativas de gênero.

This article seeks to outline a theoretical debate based on the dialogue between gender production and sexual violence against children and adolescents. Drawing on a historical and theoretical perspective about gender studies, it is assumed that the process of socialization and construction of the subjects' identities is marked by practices and discourses that continuously affect bodies since their gestational period. Hegemonic models of masculinity and femininity cross the subjects' experiences producing marks, relations of power, possibilities and prohibitions. Thereby gender is understood as a category of analysis that produces asymmetric power relations that - among other factors - contribute to the reproduction of sexual violence against children and adolescents. This is a complex phenomenon considered a public health problem that articulates itself with micro and macro-social issues. In this perspective elements such as machismo, patriarchy, adult-centeredness combined with ethnic-racial, socioeconomic and gender inequalities are shown as some of the factors that promote sexual violence against children and adolescents and are discussed throughout this article. The prevention and confrontation of sexual violence is also reflected in the rupture of silencing and marginalizing practices and inequalities of power among the subjects, as well as the implementation of public policies and the creation of strategies that question gender norms.

Gender inequities in women's access to maternal health care utilisation in Zambia: a qualitative analysis.

BACKGROUND: The role of gender inequities in women's ability to access maternal health care has mainly been analysed from either women's or men's perspective only. In this article, we explore the role of gender inequities in maternal health care utilisation from both men's and women's perspectives. METHODS: Thirty-six interviews were conducted with reproductive age women (n = 24), and men whose wives/partners gave birth within the last three years prior to our study in Zambia (n = 12). Our study sought to improve understanding of the normative environment in which women and men make decisions on maternal health care utilisation in Zambia. RESULTS: We found that men and women had different expectations regarding their gender roles in maternal health care utilisation, which created inequities reinforced by societal norms and traditions. Men make most household decisions including those related to reproductive health and they often have the major say in access to maternal health services despite not having holistic maternal health information which creates challenges in maternal health care utilisation. CONCLUSION: The study highlights the need for maternal health care utilisation decisions to be made by both men and women and that men should be fully involved in maternal health care from pregnancy until after child birth. Further, there is urgent need for concerted and sustained efforts to change traditional norms that reinforce these inequities and affect maternal health care utilisation if Zambia is to meet Sustainable Development Goal-3.1.

Problem of Power in Michel Foucault's Philosophy.

For many centuries, the issues of power, politics, and state have been widely discussed in scientific literature. Developing theories, philosophers proceeded from the side of hierarchical affiliation of power, which is confirmed in theological and biological concepts. Relevance of the presented article is conditioned by the fact that for the first time the French philosopher M. Foucault has offered innovative ideas of power concept from the social point of view. M. Foucault's works are of significant importance for modern researchers in various branches of science since he created a universal tool for the study of social relations. The objective of this study entails conducting a thorough examination of the development of his theory, as well as exploring diverse perspectives presented by scholars on this matter. The result of the research was a full-fledged analysis of the "power" category from the position of a comprehensive phenomenon, which penetrates the whole structure of the state, and not only selected organs or institutions. The main conclusion of the paper is that "power" is a complex social phenomenon that cannot be equated with categories such as "law", "discipline", "subordination", or "punishment".

A bit of medical paternalism? A qualitative study on power relations between women and healthcare providers when deciding on mode of birth in five public maternity wards of Argentina.

BACKGROUND: Whether women should be able to decide on mode of birth in healthcare settings has been a topic of debate in the last few decades. In the context of a marked increase in global caesarean section rates, a central dilemma is whether pregnant women should be able to request this procedure without medical indication. Since 2015, Law 25,929 of Humanised Birth is in place in Argentina. This study aims at understanding the power relations between healthcare providers, pregnant women, and labour companions regarding decision-making on mode of birth in this new legal context. To do so, central concepts of power theory are used. METHODS: This study uses a qualitative design. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers were conducted in five maternity wards in different regions of Argentina. Participants were purposively selected using heterogeneity sampling and included obstetrician/gynaecologists (heads of department, specialists working in 24-h shifts, and residents) and midwives where available. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to inductively develop themes and categories. RESULTS: Three themes were developed: (1) Healthcare providers reconceptualize decision-making processes of mode of birth to make women's voices matter; (2) Healthcare providers feel powerless against women's request to choose mode of birth; (3) Healthcare providers struggle to redirect women's decision regarding mode of birth. An overarching theme was built to explain the power relations between healthcare providers, women and labour companions: Healthcare providers' loss of beneficial power in decision-making on mode of birth. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis highlights the complexity of the healthcare provider-woman interaction in a context in which women are, in practice, allowed to choose mode of birth. Even though healthcare providers claim to welcome women being an active part of the decision-making processes, they feel powerless when women make autonomous decisions regarding mode of birth. They perceive themselves to be losing beneficial power in the eyes of patients and consider fruitful communication on risks and benefits of each mode of birth to not always be possible. At the same time, providers perform an increasing number of CSs without medical indication when it is convenient for them, which suggests that paternalistic practices are still in place.

In the last few decades, there has been a debate on whether women should be able to choose if they haver a vaginal birth or a caesarean section. This debate has been framed by the fact that an increasing number of caesarean sections are being performed. Since 2015, Argentina has a Law of Humanised Birth. We conducted a study to understand the power relations between healthcare providers, pregnant women and labour companions in decision making on mode of birth in this new legal context. To do so, we used central concepts of power theory. We conducted 26 semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers in five maternity wards of Argentina. The interviewees were obstetrician/gynaecologists (heads of department, specialists working in 24-h shifts, and residents) and midwives where available. We used thematic analysis to build themes from the data. We discovered that healthcare providers perceive themselves to be losing beneficial power in decision-making on mode of birth. Even though they claim to want women to make autonomous decisions, they feel frustrated when this happens. They also perceive it to be more difficult to communicate with patients regarding the risks and benefits of vaginal birth and caesarean section. At the same time, providers carry out an increasing number of CSs without medical indication when it is convenient for them, which suggests that paternalistic practices are still in place.

Deconstruction of science hegemony: discursive strategies of Chinese science communication on genetically modified foods.

This study analyzes Chinese online science communication and discussion about genetically modified foods (GMFs). Based on data collected from one of the largest Chinese GMFs science popularization website, it utilizes Wodak's discourse analysis to investigate how Chinese genetically modified (GM) scientific discourse is characterized by a range of discursive strategies that construct specific identity of Chinese GM scientists and explore science hegemony underlying Chinese GMFs debates. Findings show that discourse features of Chinese GM scientific discourse is objective as well as emotional, particularly conveying a strong sense of superiority realized by trope, argumentative strategies and intertextuality. The unequal power relationship between scientists and the public as well as Chinese intellectuals' knowledge hegemony could partly explain why those discursive strategies are employed in science communication practices of GMFs debates in Chinese context.

Working as a contact center attendant: Relating purpose, meaning, sustainability and mental health.

BACKGROUND: There are companies that can be considered financially successful while creating negative externalities for their workers. This is the case of contact centers. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this article is to investigate the challenges for a service company (such as a contact center) in reconciling its economic and financial objectives with the promotion of the work dimension, guaranteeing workers the possibility of professional, collective, and human development. METHODS: This research has a qualitative ethnographic approach. An activity-centered work analysis method, also known as "Ergonomic Work Analysis" (EWA), was carried out in one of the largest companies in the Brazilian contact center market. RESULTS: The case shows that the achievement of economic-financial objectives of the analyzed company is mainly done by harming the well-being of its workers. In particular, the work of the attendants did not bring any development perspective for them. The prevalence of instrumental rationality in decision-making processes and the asymmetry of power relations between stakeholders are the main reasons why workers' well-being is not considered. CONCLUSION: The discussion proposes that work-related sciences, such as ergonomics and psychodynamics of work, can bring another type of rationality to the decision-making processes of companies. The work also needs to be sustainable enough to allow the construction and development of professionals, and the health of working population, while improving the company's performance.

Parental emotionality and power relations in heritage language maintenance: experiences of Chinese and African immigrant families in Australia.

Emotionality is increasingly given prominence in the field of language acquisition and socialization in migration contexts. This cross-sectional study explores the emotional experiences of Chinese and African immigrant families in their practices of maintaining their children's heritage languages. We used open-ended interviews, field notes from informal conversations and observations, photographic evidence of children's literacy practices, and language portrait (LP) descriptions, to collect data. Results from an ethnographic analysis of the data revealed a whole range of negative and positive parental emotions (e.g., anxiety, loss, shame vs. enjoyment, accomplishment, and pride), in the discourse of maintaining heritage and minority languages. We discuss the language emotions, whether positive or negative, in light of language ideologies, which specifically points to the significance of profit discourse in the formation of family language policies (FLPs). This materialistic valorization reveals the complexities of power relations between English and minority languages, between Chinese and African languages, and within various Chinese and African languages. Consequently, the distinct hierarchies between English and minority languages and the hidden layers within minority languages further legitimate diasporic ideologies of Chinese and African parents in terms of the emotionality associated with prioritizing, maintaining, and forgoing languages. These findings suggests that language emotionality is of vital importance to the psycho-social wellbeing of immigrant families and has practical implications for policymakers and heritage language research.

Inter-Disciplinary Work in the Context of Integrated Care - a Theoretical and Methodological Framework.

Inter-disciplinary team working is an essential mechanism for the delivery of integrated care. This paper summarises a narrative review of the research on the 'work' that teams do to develop inter-disciplinary practices, addressing the question 'How do interdisciplinary teams 'become' in the context of models of integrated care?'. The narrative review identities a gap in our understanding of the active boundary work that different disciplines working together to deliver care integration engage in when creating new interdisciplinary knowledge, creating an inter-disciplinary team identity and negotiating new social and power relations. This gap is particularly significant in relation to the role played by patients and care-givers. This paper presents a way of examining inter-disciplinary working as a process of creating knowledge, identity and power relations both in terms of a theoretical lens, circuits of power, and a methodology, institutional ethnography. An explicit focus on understanding power relations within inclusive inter-disciplinary teams in care integration will contribute to our understanding of the gap between theory and implementation of care integration by focusing on the 'work' that teams do to create new knowledge.

An inconvenience to the nurse's practice: A Foucault-inspired study of ethnic minority patients.

Ethnic minority patients have been discussed and problematised in Western health literature. Drawing on an interpretation of central parts of the French philosopher Michel Foucault's authorship, we analysed a broad selection of materials to identify mechanisms through which the truth about ethnic minority patients is constructed. We identified a single, yet consistent discursive strategy that we termed 'figure of inconvenience' in which ethnic minority patients were classified and assigned a specific subjection illustrating them as 'inconvenient' to the nurse's practice. Concurrently, their relatives were afforded the position of substitutes. The discourse exemplifies how the behaviour or appearances of ethnic minority patients cannot be reconciled with the traits of ethnic Danish patients. Finally, we discussed implications that such a strategy may have for the provision of healthcare services for ethnic minority patients in Denmark.

Control of resources in the nursing workplace: Power and patronage relations.

Immigrant nurses make up a large percentage of the Australian nursing workforce. Since the support in the workplace is expected to be inclusive for all nurses, the aim of this article is to explore how support and opportunities for professional growth, learning and development are distributed across different categories of nurses working in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). An ethnographic approach has opened an examination of the everyday workplace practices in the NICU to gain insight into how nurses made sense of the social and power relations occurring between themselves and their senior colleagues and how they experienced the support and opportunities they received in their workplace. As today's workplaces such as the NICU are diverse in races, culture and experiences, the concepts of intersectionality and cultural safety assisted in identifying inequality and injustice related to such diversity. The results showed how patronage relations rendered nurses with immigrant status with major disadvantage and left them clinically and culturally vulnerable. Such inequity defeats the reasons for encouraging skilled migration of nurses and poses questions on the cultural competency of recruiting organisations. Considering how cultural safety might guide staff development offers opportunities for authentic support to culturally diverse nurses.

Uma incursão pelo lado "não-respeitável" da pesquisa de campo / An incursion into the "non-respectable" side of fieldwork

Resumo Este artigo foi originalmente publicado em 1981. Ele discute questões éticas e metodológicas envolvidas no trabalho de campo com pessoas da mesma sociedade da antropóloga, mas de grupos subalternos, indagando: o que legitima os métodos científicos de investigação da vida dos outros, fazendo com que pareçam aceitáveis, ao invés de questionáveis? O estudo baseia-se na análise de Foucault sobre regimes de saber-poder nas ciências sociais, para entender o que molda diferentes metodologias de pesquisa e as práticas da autora. Considera que a pesquisa de campo é estruturada no contexto de um regime de produção de conhecimento científico que legitima relações de poder nas quais um pede para saber tudo e o outro se sente obrigado a dizer a verdade que, no entanto, só quem pergunta será capaz de revelar. O artigo argumenta que o que é apresentado como verdade ou em entrevistas ou no texto da análise é produto de uma certa relação, marcada por diferenças de poder e desigualdade social. Além disso, sugere que a relação de trabalho de campo é produtiva: o que é dito não existia antes para ser revelado, mas foi construído nessa relação desigual. Assim, a interpretação de dados de campo sempre tem que considerar as condições de sua produção.

Abstract This article was originally published in 1981. It addresses ethical and methodological questions involved in fieldwork among people from the anthropologist's own society, but from a subaltern social group. It asks: What does legitimate the scientific methods of investigating other people's lives, making them appear as acceptable instead of as object of resistance? It uses Foucault's analysis of social sciences' regimes of power-truth to understand what frames different methodologies of research and the author's practices. It considers that field research is structured in the context of a certain regime of production of scientific knowledge that legitimates relationships of power in which one asks to know everything and the others feel obliged to tell the truth that, however, only the questioner will be able to reveal. The article argues that what is presented as truth either in interviews or in the text of the analyst is the product of a certain relationship shaped by power imbalances and social inequality. Moreover, it suggests that the field relationship is productive: What is said did not exist before ready to be revealed, but was constructed in this uneven relationship. Therefore, the interpretation of field data must always consider the conditions of its production.

"I was born a man - I'm close to myself": Israeli film directors and cinema in the MeToo era.

The MeToo movement exposed distinct inequalities between men and women on and offscreen. It shed light on the latent politics of power relations between the sexes and tremendously influenced various aspects of Israeli social life. Nevertheless, the question, addressed in this study, of how senior male film directors perceive the change in the gender power dynamics, has not yet been sufficiently addressed. This qualitative study is composed of semi-structured extended interviews with 13 award-winning Israeli directors, who are in the second half of their lives. Applying interpretative phenomenological analysis, the findings indicate that the directors acknowledged that the power relations between men and women have changed. However, the findings also demonstrate remaining difficulties and a backlash in reaction to the change. Based on the findings, two models have emerged. The first, The Phases of Change, demonstrates the process of change as consisting of awareness, avoidance, diversity, women's stardom and support. The second, The Cycle of Perseverance, elaborates the resistance to change as consisting of tokenism, neutrality, androcentrism and persistence.

Sobreviver na teia de poderes: do controle sobre a vida ao direito sobre a morte dos corpos femininos / Surviving in the web of powers: from control over life to the right over the death of female bodies

O registro de homicídio de mulheres, seja em seus lares ou no espaço público, tem crescido exponencialmente na sociedade brasileira. Neste ensaio teórico buscamos através dos estudos Foucaultianos de gênero e interseccionais problematizar a teia de poderes que fez e faz do corpo das mulheres território de soberania e disciplina dos homens e instituições. Apoiados por reflexões propostas pela psicologia crítica e pela psicologia social jurídica e, com o intuito de trazer fundamentos para aprimorar a intervenção psicossocial, narramos de forma genealógica uma história de controle sobre a vida e a morte das mulheres. Passamos pela caça às bruxas, escravidão, colonização das Américas, crimes de guerra, bem como os feminicídios públicos e privados, explorando as relações de poder que tornaram esses crimes atos legítimos, e, por vezes, necessários, para a manutenção das hierarquias de gênero que conferem aos homens privilégios sobre as mulheres. As reflexões aqui produzidas nos levaram a concluir que o número crescente de homicídios femininos não são frutos do acaso, mas da convergência de poderes que recaem sobre seus corpos e servem para a manutenção de um projeto de sociedade misógina que, através de dispositivos históricos, tornou e continua tornando a morte de mulheres inteligível e banalizada.

Women's homicide rates, whether in their homes or in public space, has exponentially grown in Brazilian society. Through a gender-related, intersectional and Foucaultian perspective, we seek to problematize the webs of powers that made and still make women's bodies the territory of sovereignty and discipline by men and institutions. Supported by reflections proposed by critical psychology and legal social psychology, and to bring foundations to improve psychosocial intervention, we narrate a history of control over women's life and death through a genealogical perspective. We go through witch hunts, slavery, colonization of the Americas, war crimes, as well as public and private femicides, exploring the power relationships that made these crimes legitimate, and sometimes necessary, to maintain gender hierarchies that confer privileges to men over women. The reflections made lead us to conclude that the increasing number of female homicides is not a result of chance, but the convergence of powers that have repercussions on female bodies, which serve to maintain a project of a misogynistic society, through which the exercise of historical devices has made and continues to make women's death intelligible and trivialized.

Espera, vulnerabilidades e subjugação no contexto das migrações / The waiting, vulnerabilities, and subjugation in the context of migration

Resumo: O artigo aborda, a partir do método de revisão sistemática da literatura, as condições de regularização dos imigrantes em que a espera para a obtenção de uma cidadania ativa é potenciadora de vulnerabilidade social, remetendo a população migrante para os mecanismos de poder da terra de ninguém. Foram analisados 548 artigos, documentos oficiais e relatórios de políticas públicas. Concluímos que a espera é a mãe da cidadania adiada, produtora da ausência de direitos no deserto da terra de ninguém.

Abstract: Based on the systematic literature review method, this article addresses the conditions of regularization of immigrants where the wait to obtain an active citizenship is potentiator of social vulnerability, referring the migrant population to the power mechanisms of no man's land. We analyzed 548 articles, official documents, and public policy reports. We conclude that waiting is the mother of deferred citizenship, producer of the absence of rights in the desert of no man's land.

Epidemiology of suicidal behaviors among junior and senior high school adolescents: Exploring the interactions between bullying victimization, substance use, and physical inactivity.

Suicide is a pandemic among global youths and adolescents. Still, there is insufficient evidence to show whether the interactions between bullying victimization, physical inactivity, substance use, and mental health illness aggravate suicidal behaviors among high school students. Based on the Global School-Based Student Health Survey, we analyzed the individual and interaction impacts of bullying victimization, physical inactivity, substance use, and suicidal behaviors among 3,632 adolescents. The 12-month prevalence of suicidal thoughts and plans among senior high school students was over fifty percent. Junior high school students had higher rates of suicide attempts and bullying victimization than senior high school students. Multivariate results indicate that bullying victimization, substance use, and physical inactivity were significantly associated with suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts among high school students. The interaction of physical inactivity and alcohol was significantly associated with suicidal thoughts in junior high school. In contrast, the interaction of bullying and alcohol was associated with suicidal plans among senior high school adolescents. We hope the findings from this study will generate interventions toward reducing the suicide epidemic in Ghana.

The role of legislation in K-12 school discipline: The silence of action.

Researchers have consistently identified the disparity between teachers' practical and legal knowledge regarding teachers' right to discipline students. However, few studies have investigated teachers' construction processes that form construction outcomes, which would help navigate the role of legislation in school discipline. This study contributes to a holistic picture of the neglected disciplinary rights that teachers construct in teaching practice and their underexplored attitude toward the law, using an interview-based constructionist method on twelve teachers of Lvliang city in a Chinese K-12 context. The findings suggest that the participants prefer to acquire discipline knowledge by interacting with multiple power relations in their local environment and that their knowledge is historically and culturally specific. Although the disciplinary right they construct is never static, balanced, or essentialised, the participants' constructions are commonly not in line with legal provisions or the aims of the law. Furthermore, school discipline legislation plays a silent role in empowering teachers to discipline students, but it is more visible in holding back teachers' use of corporal punishment. These findings illustrate the complexity of implementing school disciplinary law as a universal national policy.

"I Have Grown Accustomed to Being Rejected": EFL Academics' Responses Toward Power Relations in Research Practice.

While there has been an increasing interest in English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' research engagement and researcher identity construction, scant attention has been paid to tensions caused by the issue of power relations in their research practice. This study draws on data from semi-structured interviews complemented with data from narrative frames and document analysis to examine the influence of power relations on the research practice of six EFL academics and their coping strategies at a Chinese university. The data analysis reveals that for the participants in the study, even though they were driven to be engaged in research practice by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, they found that their research endeavors were undermined by the marginalized status of EFL researchers from non-elite universities, as imposed by the Chinese academic circle. Nevertheless, in the face of potential bias against their peripheral academic status, they exerted their agency with micropolitical literacy and tried to seek a way out of the unfavorable academic culture. As EFL teachers at regular universities are increasingly expected to be more research-active and research-productive, more attention and support are needed to facilitate their professional development and researcher identity construction.