scholarly journals Science in Social Contexts

2021 ◽  
pp. 129-157
Author(s):  
Frank Miedema
Keyword(s):  
Social Contexts ◽  
Choice Data ◽  
Production Chain ◽  
Safe Spaces ◽  
Academic System ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Practice Of Science

AbstractGradually since 1990 a growing number of critical analyses from within science have been published of how science was organized as a system and discussing its problems, despite, or paradoxically because the growing size of its endeavour and its growing yearly output. Because of lack of openness with regards to sharing results of research, such as publications and data but in fact of all sorts of other products, science is felt by many to be disappointing with respect to its societal impact, its contribution to the major problems humanity is facing in the current times. With the financial crisis, in analogy, also the crisis of the academic system as described in Chap. 10.1007/978-94-024-2115-6_3 was exposed and it seemed that similar systemic neoliberal economic mechanisms operated in these at first sight seemingly different industries. Most of these critiques appeared with increasing frequency since 2014 in formal scientific magazines, social media and with impact reached the leadership of universities, government and funders. This raised awareness and support for the development of new ways of doing science, mostly intuitively and implicitly, but sometimes explicitly motivated by pragmatism aiming for societal progress and contribution to the good life.To get to this next level we need the critical reflection on the practice of science as done in previous chapters in order to make systemic changes to several critical parts of the knowledge production chain. I will discuss the different analyses of interactions between science and society, in the social and political contexts with publics and politics that show where and how we could improve. The opening up of science and academia in matters of problem choice, data sharing and evaluation of research together with stakeholders from outside academia will help to increase the impact of science on society. It ideally should promote equality, inclusion and diversity of the research agendas. This, I will argue requires an Open Society with Deweyan democracy and safe spaces for deliberations where a diversity of publics and their problems can be heard. In this transition we have to pay close and continuous attention to the many effects of power executed by agents in society and science that we know can distort these ‘ideal deliberations’ and undermine the ethics of these communications and possibly threaten the autonomy and freedom of research.

Marriage and Sexual Relations in the New Testament World

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Loader
Keyword(s):  
Roman Society ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Many ◽  
Marital Sex ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Common Understanding

After a brief overview of the social context and role of marriage and sexuality in Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, the chapter traces the impact of the Genesis creation narratives, positively and negatively, on how marriage and sexuality were seen both in the present and in depictions of hope for the future. Discussion of pre-marital sex, incest, intermarriage, polygyny, divorce, adultery, and passions follows. It then turns to Jesus’ reported response to divorce, arguing that the prohibition sayings should be read as assuming that sexual intercourse both effects permanent union and severs previous unions, thus making divorce after adultery mandatory, the common understanding and legal requirement in both Jewish and Greco-Roman society of the time. It concludes by noting both the positive appreciation of sex and marriage, grounded in belief that they are God’s creation, and the many dire warnings against sexual wrongdoing, including adulterous attitudes and uncontrolled passions.

scholarly journals The Need for Shared Nomenclature on Racism and Related Terminology in Psychology

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 886-892
Author(s):  
Angela M. Haeny ◽  
Samantha C. Holmes ◽  
Monnica T. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Research ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Racial Microaggressions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Racial Hierarchy ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

With the increased desire to engage in antiracist clinical research, there is a need for shared nomenclature on racism and related constructs to help move the science forward. This article breaks down the factors that contributed to the development and maintenance of racism (including racial microaggressions), provides examples of the many forms of racism, and describes the impact of racism for all. Specifically, in the United States, racism is based on race, a social construct that has been used to categorize people on the basis of shared physical and social features with the assumption of a racial hierarchy presumed to delineate inherent differences between groups. Racism is a system of beliefs, practices, and policies that operate to advantage those at the top of the racial hierarchy. Individual factors that contribute to racism include racial prejudices and racial discrimination. Racism can be manifested in multiple forms (e.g., cultural, scientific, social) and is both explicit and implicit. Because of the negative impact of racism on health, understanding racism informs effective approaches for eliminating racial health disparities, including a focus on the social determinants of health. Providing shared nomenclature on racism and related terminology will strengthen clinical research and practice and contribute to building a cumulative science.

The Language of Cyberspace

2006 ◽  
pp. 396-403
Author(s):  
Leah P. Macfadyen ◽  
Sabine Doff
Keyword(s):  
Salient Feature ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Internet Communication ◽  
Semiotic System ◽  
Human Interface ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many ◽  
Computer Mediated Communications

Amid the many published pages of excited hyperbole regarding the potential of the Internet for human communications, one salient feature of current Internet communication technologies is frequently overlooked: the reality that Internet- and computer-mediated communications, to date, are communicative environments constructed through language (mostly text). In cyberspace, written language therefore mediates the human-computer interface as well as the human-human interface. What are the implications of the domination of Internet and computer-mediated communications by text? Researchers from diverse disciplines—from distance educators to linguists to social scientists to postmodern philosophers—have begun to investigate this question. They ask: Who speaks online, and how? Is online language really text, or is it “speech”? How does culture affect the language of cyberspace? Approaching these questions from their own disciplinary perspectives, they variously position cyberlanguage as “text,” as “semiotic system,” as “socio-cultural discourse” or even as the medium of cultural hegemony (domination of one culture over another). These different perspectives necessarily shape their analytical and methodological approaches to investigating cyberlanguage, underlying decisions to examine, for example, the details of online text, the social contexts of cyberlanguage, and/or the social and cultural implications of English as Internet lingua franca. Not surprisingly, investigations of Internet communications cut across a number of pre-existing scholarly debates: on the nature and study of “discourse,” on the relationships between language, technology and culture, on the meaning and significance of literacy, and on the liter

scholarly journals Through the eyes of others – the social experiences of people with dementia: a systematic literature review and synthesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 791-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty M. Patterson ◽  
Chris Clarke ◽  
Emma L. Wolverson ◽  
Esme D. Moniz-Cook
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relational Aspect ◽  
Person With Dementia ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTBackground:Psychosocial models suggest that the lived experience of dementia is affected by interpersonal factors such as the ways in which others view, talk about, and behave toward the person with dementia. This review aimed to illuminate how informal, everyday interpersonal relationships are experienced by people with dementia within their social contexts.Method:A systematic review of qualitative literature published between 1989 and May 2016 was conducted, utilizing the electronic databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and CINAHL-Complete. This was followed by a critical interpretative synthesis to understand how people with dementia perceive the attitudes, views, and reactions of other people toward them, and the subjective impact that these have.Results:Four major themes were derived from the findings of the 23 included studies: being treated as an “other” rather than “one of us”; being treated as “lesser” rather than a full, valued member of society; the impact of others’ responses; and strategies to manage the responses of others. Thus, people with dementia can feel outcast and relegated, or indeed feel included and valued by others. These experiences impact upon emotional and psychological well-being, and are actively interpreted and managed by people with dementia.Conclusion:Experiences such as loss and diminishing identity have previously been understood as a direct result of dementia, with little consideration of interpersonal influences. This review notes that people with dementia actively engage with others, whose responses can foster or undermine social well-being. This dynamic relational aspect may contribute to emerging understandings of social health in dementia.

scholarly journals Formal and Informal Russian Invitation: Context and Politeness Strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 994-1013
Author(s):  
Gayane Rubenovna Vlasyan ◽  
Irina Vladimirovna Kozhukhova
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
The Impact

Invitation is a speech act which is perceived differently across cultures. Understanding the pragmatics of invitation requires knowledge of the notion of politeness and politeness strategies which comprise culture specific elements. Politeness is realized in various discourses, social contexts and speech acts. The purpose of the study is to identify politeness strategies in Russian invitation in formal and informal contexts in three age groups and see how they correspond to the understanding of politeness in Russian communicative culture. The empirical data for the study were obtained through discourse completion tests with 101 participants (issuers of the invitation) of different age and social status as well as through ethnographic observation. The research is based on Discourse Analysis and Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson 1987; Larina2009, 2015; Locher 2006, 2013; Leech 2014; Mills 2003, 2017; Sifianou 1992; Terkourafi &Kadar 2017; Watts 2003, among others). We used discourse analysis to analyze the impact of the social and cultural context on the performance of invitation, the descriptive method which was used to analyze the pragmatic functions of invitation, as well as contextual interpretation of this speech act and the method of quantitative data processing. The study revealed some differences between a formal and informal invitation concerning politeness strategies and linguistic means of its expression. It also showed that in Russian culture issuing an invitation is not perceived as a face threatening speech act; in the analysed social contexts the preference is given to direct invitation, and the inviter’s imposition, as a rule, is perceived positively. The results contribute to a better understanding of Russian politeness and communicative style and can be implemented in intercultural pragmatics, intercultural communication and SL teaching.

Introduction: The Many Crises of Middle East Studies

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seteney Shami ◽  
Cynthia Miller-Idriss
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
University Restructuring ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Middle East Studies

This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to draw a portrait of the issues animating and challenging the field of Middle East studies (MES) in their academic and national contexts. The book presents some of the findings of a decade-long (2000–2010) research project organized by the Social Science Research Council in New York, which began with examining Middle East studies and expanded to investigate other area studies fields as well as the thrust toward the global in US universities. It is concerned with three main themes: the relationship between MES and various disciplines (political science, sociology, economics, and geography), current reformulations and new emphases in MES (in terms of university restructuring, language training, and scholarly trends), the politics of knowledge, and the impact on the field of MES of the many crises in the region.

Mosques, Mawlanas and Muharram: Indian Islam in Colonial Natal, 1860-1910

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goolam H. Vahed
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
The Social ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Minority Religion ◽  
Language Region ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis study examines the establishment of Islam in colonial Natal, attempting to fill a void in and correct the existing historiography.1 In comparison with other parts of Africa, the lack of a historiographical tradition on Islamic South Africa is conspicuous, but understandable given that traditionally the impact and consequences of racial segregation occupied the attention of most historians. Although Islam is a minority religion in South Africa, apartheid has created an impression of population density not reflected in the census figures. According to the 1996 census, there were 553,585 Muslims in a total population of forty million.2 Indian Muslims make up one of the two largest sub-groups, the other being Malay¸.3 There are 246,433 Malay and 236,315 Indian Muslims.4 The majority of Indian Muslims are confined to KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng, while most Malay Muslims live in the Western Cape. There is thus very little contact and interaction between them; indeed there are deep differences of history, culture, class and tradition. Muslims have played an important role in the social, economic and political life of the country. The many mosques that adorn the skylines of major South African cities are evidence that Islam has a living presence in South Africa, while the militant activities of the Cape-based People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) in the post-1994 period has ensured that Islam remains in the news. This study demonstrates that, apart from obvious differences between Indian and Malay Muslims, there are deep-seated differences among Indian Muslims. The diversity of tradition, beliefs, class, practices, language, region, and experience of migration has resulted in fundamental differences that have generated conflict.

scholarly journals Chopin, Polish national culture and the question of “racial Purity”: Zofia Lissa’s voice in the debate over racial issues in the 1930s

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Tuchowski
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
German Anthropology ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Physical Traits ◽  
Landed Gentry ◽  
The Many ◽  
Jewish Descent ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The question of racial “purity” or “identity” was part of the fashionable discussion on human races in the 1930s. In 1938 a debate over Chopin’s “racial identity” took place in the Warsaw press, triggered by the publication a book entitled Polacy-chrześcijanie pochodzenia żydowskiego (Poles — Christians of Jewish Origin) by Mateusz Mieses, an outstanding Judaist and representative of one of Poland’s Jewish communities. Mieses’ aim was to familiarise the Polish reader with the very little-known scale on which the ethnically Jewish element had penetrated over the many centuries into the families of the Polish landed gentry, intelligentsia and even aristocracy. As a result, Mieses claimed, many eminent Poles known in Polish history had some Jewish blood in their veins. In addition to the more or less convincing examples of such assimilation, Mieses also quotes some rather dubious ones, including the genealogy of Chopin. On the basis of unconfirmed rumours and the composer’s facial features in some unidentified portrait he claims that Chopin was half Jewish through his mother Justyna Krzyżanowska. Mieses’ conclusions — as well as his entire methodology — were sharply criticised by the reviewer of Wiadomości Literackie as well as by Zofia Lissa, at that time a young scholar at the threshold of a brilliant musicological career. Lissa pointed out that establishing Chopin’s “racial affiliation” is difficult for a lack of reliable and objective sources. For a long time all images of Chopin available to researchers had been either portraits or sculptures, which — as artistic creations — used to deform his face. However, Lissa argued that most of his portraits point to his Dinaric characteristics, which were also confirmed by the two surviving real-life likenesses of the composer (referred to by the author as “racially unprejudiced” sources) — namely, his death mask and the only surviving daguerreotype. Taking into account the findings of contemporary (mainly German) anthropology, Lissa concluded that Chopin was a typical Dinaric with some Nordic features, and it was from his mother that Fryderyk inherited his few physical traits characteristic of that type. On the other hand, Lissa denied that there was any connection between Chopin’s music and his “racial identity”. It seems a paradoxical that Lissa — a scholar of Jewish descent — drew on Nazi theories formulated by German anthropologists to show that Chopin had no demonstrable Jewish ancestors. But if we place this debate in the context of its time, and of one specific period in the ideological and scholarly evolution of Zofia Lissa herself — things do not look so simple any more. Her emphasis on the role of the social environment and her rejection of Einchenauer’s theses concerning the impact of “race” on the character of music testify to Lissa’s intensifying links to the Marxist-Leninist ideology, which she most likely began to absorb in that very period.

scholarly journals Work Culture in Indian Organizations

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-37
Author(s):  
Deep Kapoor
Keyword(s):  
Work Culture ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
The People ◽  
Metropolitan Cities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Opening Up

Work is a source of sustenance to human beings. The environment where the person works has a lot of effect on the efficiency and effectiveness. In a layman's language we can call this environment along with the processes working in it as the 'Work Culture'. With the opening up of Indian economy and the flourishing of knowledge based industries in India, this environment of work has considerably changed and it has a marked influence on the social lives of the people working in these kinds of industries. As these industries are located mostly in big/metropolitan cities and affects educated urban middle/upper class generally, this paper will be somewhat skewed towards these class of people working mostly in large organizations. I will also concentrate on defining work culture, on types of work culture, on the impact of society on work culture, on emerging work culture and finally focussing on the knowledge based industries.

scholarly journals How did covid19 change our communities? Acompared analysis of meetup communitiesbefore and after the pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pau Munoz
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
The Social ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The Impact

The year 2020 has been characterized by the outbreak of covid19. The spread of the disease has had a severe impact in many aspects of our lives that go beyond our health. From economical to psychological or social contexts, covid19 caused a halt in our daily activities and forced us to adapt or develop new habits. The following study uses data retrieved from 800 groups in the platform meetup.com to study and compare the impact of the coronavirus in the social life of two vibrant but culturally different cities such as Washington DC and Barcelona. Results suggest that though groups have been able to maintain their activity, mostly through complementing offline with online events, communities have become more fragmented in 2020. The results also suggest that the halt in activity along with the fragmentation has been higher in Barcelona where a very strict lockdown policy was implemented and that Washington DC has been more able to effectively switch to online events after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document