Reproduction of social inequality through housing: A three-generational study from Norway.

The means through which socioeconomic status is transmitted across generations has long been of central interest to scholarship on inequality. We explore multi-generational reproduction of socioeconomic status through transmission of housing wealth by investigating how the tenure, size and location of housing occupied by grandparents relates to the tenure and value of housing occupied by their grandchildren. We estimate OLS, tobit and structural equation models based on Norwegian register data on three generations of families linked from 1960 to 2015. We find that those whose grandparents owned a large home in Oslo in 1960 had a much higher probability of owning a home in 2014, and among owners their dwellings were valued substantially more, compared to otherwise similar individuals whose grandparents were renters not living in cities. A natural experiment of housing price deregulation in Oslo indicates that resource transfers, not socialization of housing-related norms, was the dominant mechanism behind this process. Influences on parents' and grandchildren's income and education are substantial mediators. Results document the crucial role played by housing wealth in perpetuating social inequalities across several generations.

The public display of plastinates as a challenge to the integrity of anatomy.

Anatomy has been thrust into the public domain by the highly successful public displays of dissected and plastinated human bodies. This is anatomy in modern guise, anatomy as perceived by the general public. If this is the case, the message it is giving the public about the nature of anatomy is that it is an impersonal analysis of the human body of value within a medical and health care environment. While this is in part true, and while it reflects important aspects of anatomy's history, it fails to reflect the humanistic strands within an increasing swathe of contemporary anatomy. These are manifested in growing recognition of the centrality of informed consent in the practice of anatomy, awareness of the personal dimensions and relationships of those whose bodies are being dissected, and manifested in thanksgiving ceremonies involving staff and students. The notion that the bodies undergoing dissection can be students' first teachers and/or patients is gaining ground, another indication of the human dimensions of the anatomical enterprise. Exhibitions such as Body Worlds ignore these dimensions within anatomy by dislocating it from its clinical and relational base. The significance of this is that loss of these dimensions leads to a loss of the human face of anatomy by isolating it from the people whose body bequests made this knowledge possible. What is required is greater transparency and openness in the practices of all who deal with the dead human body, trends that owe much to the writings of scholars from within a range of humanities disciplines as they have responded to the public displays of dissected plastinated bodies. Anatomists have much to learn from these debates.

Using and respecting the dead human body: an anatomist's perspective.

In his stimulating article enquiring into what the living owe the dead, Wilkinson (2013, Clin. Anat. DOI: 10.1002/ca.22263) sought to unpack a range of ethical questions of considerable interest to anatomists. In this, he looked closely at the extent to which we are or are not to respect all the prior wishes of the deceased, and the implications of this for the role of the family in providing consent, the use of unclaimed bodies, and the public display of bodies. Some of his conclusions challenge widely encountered views by anatomists. In this response I have re-visited these topics in an attempt to ground his arguments in the experience of anatomists, by emphasizing the many intimate connections that exist between each of these areas. The following emerge as issues for further debate. I accept that the wishes of the deceased are preeminent, so that authorities should make every effort to abide by these. This reiterates the importance of body bequests over against unclaimed bodies, and provides a context for assessing the role of family consent. This has repercussions for all activities employing dead bodies, from the dissecting room to public plastination exhibitions. In determining the extent to which the wishes of the deceased are followed the input of other interested parties is a relevant consideration. An ethical assessment of the public display of bodies needs to take into account the nature of the plastination process.

Do religious and cultural considerations militate against body donation? An overview and a Christian perspective.

The development of anatomy as a scientific undertaking appears to have left little room for religious and cultural input into the conduct of anatomical investigations. This has been brought to the fore by questionnaires regarding the willingness or otherwise of individuals to donate their bodies for dissection, with higher levels of willingness from those without religious affiliations. This has led to the assumption that there is inherent opposition to body donation by those with a religious stance, although there has been little exploration of this. This is increasingly important with growing awareness that anatomy is an international discipline, leading to increasing attention to the religious and cultural contexts within which it is practiced. There is a diversity of responses toward body donation within different countries, as well as by those influenced by Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Additionally, there are diverse cultural attitudes within Confucianism in Asia, Zulu in Africa, and Maori in New Zealand. Even those within the Christian church are influenced by a variety of values, some of which are in tension, with emphasis on the sacredness of life and the significance of burial being negative toward body donation, with informed consent and altruism pointing in a positive direction. The challenge for anatomists is to understand those within their communities, seek to appreciate their perspectives, and also make known the potential of body donation and dissection for enhancing medical practice and improving the education of future health workers.

Inheritances and work for pay - will the expected wave of bequests undermine active ageing policies?

It is frequently assumed that the inheritance of wealth undermines economic activity. If such an assumption is valid, the expected wave of bequests may have a negative impact on labour market activity of heirs, what might further weaken the financing of state pension systems. This paper provides a detailed review of the empirical findings on the associations of inheritances with labour market activity, that is labour force participation status and working hours, and presents own analyses based on the survey of health, ageing, and retirement in Europe. We find that the receipt of an inheritance is not related to labour force participation in general. Inheritance expectations even have a small, but statistically significant positive effect on remaining in the labour force for men. Women who expect an inheritance tend to reduce working hours, but the effect of having received an inheritance is not significant, neither for men nor for women. We conclude that the receipt of an inheritance will not affect labour market decisions, so that the expected wave of bequests will not undermine active ageing policies. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-022-00706-1.

Ethical Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Implications for the Ethos and Practice of Anatomy as a Health Science Discipline.

The move of much anatomy teaching online in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been successfully implemented within very short time frames. This has necessitated a high degree of dependence upon the use of digitized cadaveric resources, has entailed immense workload demands on staff, and has disrupted students' studies. These educational exigencies have been accompanied by ethical uncertainties for a discipline centered on study of the dead human body. An ethical framework for anatomy is suggested based on the principles of equal concern and respect, minimization of harm, fairness, and reciprocity, in which all staff and students are to be treated with respect and as moral equals. A series of ethical obligations are proposed as a means of maintaining the ethos of anatomy, coping with the suspension of body donation, providing adequate resources, and responding to increased dependence upon external providers. Good academic practice raises more general obligations stemming from the welfare of students, the increased workload of staff, and checking on online assessment and invigilation. As anatomists respond to the educational and ethical lessons prompted by this pandemic, they should plan for future disruptions to normal work patterns by adopting a sustainable and equitable course of action.

Human body donation programs in Sri Lanka: Buddhist perspectives.

Considerable attention is being given to the availability of bodies for anatomical education. This raises the question of the manner in which they are obtained, that is, whether they are unclaimed or donated. With increasing emphasis upon the ethical desirability of using body bequests, the spotlight tends to be focused on those countries with factors that militate against donations. However, little attention has been paid to cultures where donations are readily available. One such country is Sri Lanka where the majority of the Buddhist population follows Theravada Buddhism. Within this context, the expectation is that donations will be given selflessly without expecting anything in return. This is because donation of one's body has blessings for a better outcome now and in the afterlife. The ceremonies to honor donors are outlined, including details of the "Pirith Ceremony." The relevance for other cultures of these features of body donation is discussed paying especial attention to the meaning of altruism and consent, and justification for the anonymization of cadavers. The degree to which anatomy is integrated into the surrounding culture also emerges as significant.