Societies MDPI

📚 New Article Published

Diversity, Local Wisdom, and Unique Characteristics of Millennials as Capital for Innovative Learning Models: Evidence from North Sumatra, Indonesia

This article examines the intersection of identity politics, local wisdom, and millennial engagement in North Sumatra, highlighting how values such as gotong royong and Dalihan Na Tolu foster social cohesion and proposing an innovative education model to enhance millennials’ resilience against divisive identity-based narratives.

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Diversity, Local Wisdom, and Unique Characteristics of Millennials as Capital for Innovative Learning Models: Evidence from North Sumatra, Indonesia This study examines the intersection of identity politics, local wisdom, and millennial engagement in fostering social cohesion in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Against the backdrop of ethnic and religious diversity, identity politics has often served as a tool for polarization, particularly during elec...

📚 New Article Published

Effectiveness of a Cloud Learning Management System in Developing the Digital Transformation Skills of Blind Graduate Students

This article evaluates the effectiveness of a cloud-based learning management system (Moodle Cloud) in significantly enhancing digital transformation skills for blind postgraduate students, with no notable differences between remote and in-person applications.

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Effectiveness of a Cloud Learning Management System in Developing the Digital Transformation Skills of Blind Graduate Students Digital transformation has become a critical aspect of modern education, necessitating the development of digital skills among all students, including those with disabilities. Among these, blind students face unique challenges in acquiring the digital competencies needed for academic success and pro...

📚 New Article Published

Towards a “Social Justice Ecosystem Framework” for Enhancing Livelihoods and Sustainability in Pastoralist Communities

This article examines how pastoralist livelihoods in Northwest Cameroon are affected by the nexus of social justice, indigenous know-how, social security, and sustainability, and proposes a social justice ecosystem framework (SJEF) to uncover the enmeshments that either enhance or impede sustainable development.

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Towards a “Social Justice Ecosystem Framework” for Enhancing Livelihoods and Sustainability in Pastoralist Communities Aimed at understanding how pastoralist livelihoods are affected within the Northwest Region of Cameroon, this article explores the nexus of social justice, indigenous know-how, livelihoods, social security, and sustainability through a political ecology lens. Through a qualitative case study based o...

📚 New Article Published

Improving Innovative Work Behavior in Small and Medium Enterprises: Integrating Transformational Leadership, Knowledge Sharing, and Psychological Empowerment

This article explores the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work behavior in SMEs, finding that while transformational leadership does not directly influence innovative work behavior, it significantly enhances psychological empowerment and knowledge sharing, which in turn positively affect innovative work behavior and partially mediate the linkage between them.

🔗 Access the article: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/14/11/228

📚 New Article Published

The Socialization of Meritocracy and Market Justice Preferences at School

This article investigates how meritocratic values promoted in schools shape students’ beliefs about market justice, showing that students who endorse meritocracy are more likely to justify inequalities based on financial capacity, and that this association is already established at school age and is moderated by the school environment.

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The Socialization of Meritocracy and Market Justice Preferences at School Previous research has shown that schools often justify student performance differences using meritocratic ideals. One potential consequence of such ideals is the legitimization of outcome inequalities across various spheres, including those traditionally associated with equality and redistribution.....

📚 New Article Published

A Systematic Review of Economic and Concrete Support to Prevent Child Maltreatment

This article systematically reviews the effectiveness of economic and concrete support in reducing child maltreatment and child welfare involvement, while also improving child and adult well‑being, and finds consistent favorable evidence supporting these strategies as a prevention approach.

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A Systematic Review of Economic and Concrete Support to Prevent Child Maltreatment The association between poverty and maltreatment is well established, and numerous studies show the detrimental effects of economic and material hardship on maltreatment, child welfare involvement, and family well-being. In turn, an increasing body of literature suggests the value of programs and se...

📚 New Article Published

Pet Ownership and Psychosocial Factors in Adults Aged 40 Years and Over: Results of a Large Nationally Representative Longitudinal Survey

This article examines the longitudinal association between pet ownership and psychosocial factors—depressive symptoms, loneliness, social isolation, and life satisfaction—using data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) across two waves (2014 and 2017). This article reveals that unfavorable psychosocial outcomes linked to pet ownership are limited to specific subgroups, highlighting the need for more nuanced, longitudinal research in this field.

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Pet Ownership and Psychosocial Factors in Adults Aged 40 Years and Over: Results of a Large Nationally Representative Longitudinal Survey Thus far, few cross-sectional studies have investigated the association between pet ownership and psychosocial factors. As longitudinal studies on this topic are mostly lacking, this study aimed to analyze the association between pet ownership and psychosocial factors (in terms of depressive symptom...

📚 New Article Published

Rural Development Projects in Latin America: The Need to Integrate Socio-Economic, Political, and Empowerment Lenses for Sustained Impact

This article critically synthesizes and evaluates the key factors influencing the long-term impact of rural development projects in Latin America, where persistent poverty endures despite significant foreign aid. By integrating three often fragmented analytical streams—socio-economic and political contexts, project-specific characteristics, and levels of empowerment and local participation—the article lays the foundation for a comprehensive analysis. It highlights crucial considerations that have previously “fallen into the cracks” of segmented discourse, shedding light on why rural development initiatives often achieve outputs but seldom secure lasting outcomes.

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Rural Development Projects in Latin America: The Need to Integrate Socio-Economic, Political, and Empowerment Lenses for Sustained Impact Latin America has witnessed a significant influx of foreign aid aimed at fostering development, particularly in rural areas, over recent decades. Despite these considerable investments, persistently high levels of poverty endure, and rural communities have not consistently witnessed improvements in....

📢 Call for Papers | Special Issue

🧠 Health Inequalities, Gender and Wellbeing

We invite submissions exploring how the health inequalities experienced by women affect their health outcomes and, in turn, their wellbeing. We are interested in reconfiguring the role of gender in health inequalities as well as exploring the interlink of gender, health inequalities and wellbeing.

📝 Guest Editors:
Dr. Preeti Mahato
Dr. Pasang Tamang

📅 Submission Deadline: 1 May 2027

🔗 Learn more: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/societies/special_issues/B3F7N73N60

📚 New Article Published

Transforming the Creative and Social Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: The Broker Roles of Rural Collaborative Workspaces

This article examines how collaborative workspaces act as brokers in rural entrepreneurial ecosystems, using a case study of two creative social enterprises in Upper Austria to show how they transform resource networks and generate social impacts.

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Transforming the Creative and Social Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: The Broker Roles of Rural Collaborative Workspaces Creative social enterprises are increasingly emerging in rural regions, motivated by a desire to take social responsibility through creative approaches. These enterprises integrate entrepreneurial activities with creative social attributes and are sometimes set in rural collaborative workspaces (CWS...

📚 New Article Published

Digital Competencies in Verifying Fake News: Assessing the Knowledge and Abilities of Journalism Students

This article examines journalism students’ digital skills for fact-checking, finding they are confident in analysis and critical thinking but less so in computer applications and data journalism, with notable gender differences.

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Digital Competencies in Verifying Fake News: Assessing the Knowledge and Abilities of Journalism Students The surge of disinformation in the digital sphere following the COVID-19 pandemic presents a considerable threat to democratic principles in contemporary societies. In response, multiple fact-checking platforms and citizen media literacy initiatives have been promoted. The fact checker has indeed be...