Duivelse verleiding - Univers

Masterpiece
Don’t hesitate,
just copulate
To opt for a childless existence was quite rock ’n roll in the sixties.
Now however, no Dutchman will have a fit when a married
couple walks along without a pram. But the Dutch acceptance
of being childless by choice, is not representative of Europe as
a whole.
Back in the sixties, a couple’s choice to not have any children
was considered acceptable by a mere twenty percent of the
Dutch population. By the mid-nineties, ninety percent feels it is
entirely normal to decide to be childfree by design. PhD student
Suzanne Noordhuizen has researched the differences in public
opinion across Europe about voluntary childlessness. In her thesis,
Fertility norms in a dynamic and cross-national perspective,
she studies the fertility norms in and outside of Europe.
The assumption is often made that the decline of birth rates is
a direct consequence of economic progress. After all, in poorer
countries, children are often regarded as a source of provision
for old age. However, other factors also play their part: the indi-
Eureka!
Multicultural pays off
The multicultural society is a pain in
the ass. It’s a common enough opinion
nowadays. Nevertheless, PhD student
Youssef Boutachekourt has researched
how companies can obtain a competitive
edge in a multicultural environment.
And what are the results? When companies
are culture-oriented when acquiring
a position on the market, having an ethnically
diverse staff and working on their
cultural networks will strengthen their
market position. Ethnic diversity will lead
to more specialized knowledge within
companies, and, as British philosopher
Francis Bacon already wrote: knowledge
is power.
Your Jekyll factor
And finally, good news for people who
are well into their twenties and feel
they’ve got stuck in a rut. Personalities
can, also later in life, be changed, emphasizes
developmental psychologist Jaap
Denissen.
Although the core of our personality is
within us from a young age, it will develop
in accordance with life experiences.
Adults do react with the same emotional
response to certain situations; that’s a
matter of routine. But, by investing in
self regulation, adults are able to influence
their personality. Denissen has even
designed a theoretical model for it. ‘That’s
just the way I am’, can therefore be no
excuse for bad behavior.
Pizza!
Healthy eating doesn’t exactly rank
high on the priority lists of many
students. You shouldn’t feel too guilty
though, when you’ve lived solely on pizza
and beer for another day in a row. According
to health economist Johan Polder,
we are suffering from a health epidemic.
“We used to consider fat people to be
jolly, but these days they are regarded as
people who are incapable of controlling
themselves”, Polder says in reference to
his new book De gezondheidsepidemie
(The Health Epidemic). Nowadays, healthy
vidualization in Western countries for example, family ties, birth,
social customs and values.
It turns out that the acceptance of childlessness by design in the
Netherlands is not a given in Europe as a whole. People living in
Eastern or Southern European countries regard having children
much more a duty than those living in Northern and Western European
countries. There, the motto ‘don’t hesitate, just copulate’,
still goes. For instance, 71 percent of the Bulgarians feel it is their
duty to society to have children.
On an individual level, differences can also be found within the
Netherlands. With regard to deciding to have, or not to have
children, it is shown that both partners have an equal say in the
matter. But in general, it turns out that men, less educated people
and people with a religious background are often not in favor
of childlessness by choice. This has to do with the status that parenthood
brings with it. It seems that even though childlessness
is accepted, family will always be the cornerstone of society.
eating has become somewhat of an obsession.
But reports about healthy foods are
often a little exaggerated. For instance,
there is nothing wrong with red meat, unless
of course, you wolf down pounds of it
every single day. So don’t stress out when
you’re eating your next burger!
Science & School .23
Don’t worry,
eat burgers.
Photography:
Byron Solomon
Univers
12 april 2012