scholarly journals Emergence of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: Anthropological and Social Science Perspectives

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harshal B Sonekar ◽  
Manickam Ponnaiah
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Outbreak Response ◽  
Public Health Importance ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Source Of Infection ◽  
The People ◽  
Control Disease ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

ABSTRACT With the ongoing coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, SARS-CoV-2), the entire community of health professionals is working to control disease and investing crores in vaccine development. The present discussion is to bring the focus on various social issues that emerge during outbreak and calls for equal attention as that of other health-care interventions. These issues are summarized in three categories: first, stigmatization due to lack of knowledge about the source of infection; second, speculations and their consequences around lack of knowledge about transmission; and finally, the concern regarding miscommunication during such a crisis. Most of these concerns emerge from press and social media coverage of the episode. The Ebola outbreak response is an example of how social scientists and anthropologists can work with other experts to solve questions of public health importance. Their approach toward the community with the objective to understand the sources, reasons, and circumstances of the infection will help to manage the current outbreak. In this context, we suggest collaboration of diverse scientific community to control and sensitize the people to tackle the misinformation in the affected and non-affected community during the outbreaks.

scholarly journals Informaciniai nutylėjimai: priežastys ir pasekmės

2014 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 127-146
Author(s):  
Mantas Martišius
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
General Context ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
The Media ◽  
Political Economic

Šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje žiniasklaida atlieka svarbią funkciją. Ji ne tik informuoja, teikia pramogą ar šviečia, bet ir kuria bendrąjį kontekstą. Žiniasklaidos temų darbotvarkės kūrimas formuoja visuomenės temų darbotvarkę. Medijos teikiamos informacijos kokybė lemia visuomenėje naudojamo diskurso lygį, o pastarasis turi įtakos bendrųjų politinių, ekonominių ar socialinių klausimų sprendimui. Siūlomas naujas teorinis bendrojo konteksto nagrinėjimo aspektas – informacinis nutylėjimas. Informaciniai nutylėjimai – tai svarbios informacijos nepasakymas, kuris veikia bendrąjį kontekstą. Empirinis tyrimas nėra atliekamas, nes siekiama į reiškinį pažvelgti komunikacijos teorijos aspektu. Kitas aspektas, kad informacinių nutylėjimų empirinis nagrinėjimas vestų prie konkrečios istorijos pateikimo analizės. Būtų prarastas holistinis teorinis požiūris į informacinį nutylėjimą, kai, pateikiant informaciją ir sąmoningai ar atsitiktinai dalį svarbių žinių, duomenų ar faktų paliekant paraštėse, kuriamas nevisavertis visuomenės informuotumas. Straipsnio tikslas – analitiniu teoriniu būdu panagrinėti informacinio nutylėjimo reiškinį, jį sieti su propaganda ir bendrojo konteksto formavimu. Aptarti informacinio nutylėjimo priežastis ir poveikį Jurgeno Habermaso viešosios erdvės teorijos aspektu.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: informacinis nutylėjimas, propaganda, bendrasis kontekstas, žiniasklaida. Informative veiling: causes and consequencesMantas Martišius SummaryIn the modern society, the media play an important role. They not only inform, educate and provide entertainment, but also provide to the people the general context. Creating the news, the media shape the public agenda. The information provided by the media determine the quality of society’s discourse level and affect the political, economic, and social issues. The article theoretically proposes a new aspect of the examination, which is the information veiling. Informative veiling is an important information suppressing, which affects understanding of the context of general events. The information veiling can be intentional or accidental, but the effect will be the suppressing of important knowledge, data or facts and their unbalanced awareness. The purpose of the article is to examine analytically and theoretically the phenomenon of information veiling, linking it with propaganda and the context formation in general. In the deliberate or accidental information veiling, the result appears to be similar. Such information creates a weakly informed audience which is not using the valuable information for making the most effective decisions. If the public space is dominated by a large percentage of information veiling news, in society evolve myths, false assessments, and incorrect conclusions. In order to reduce the influence of information veiling, the audience should be careful as to the source of information and its expected effect. Examination of the media interest in the material reduces its propagandistic effect, and a more critical approach to the media coverage could reduce the information influence on the audience. On the other hand, we have to admit that it is a more idealistic approach rather than the reality.

scholarly journals A model of an agile organization designed to better manage the COVID-19 crisis

2020 ◽  
pp. 084047042098047
Author(s):  
Fabrice Brunet ◽  
Kathy Malas ◽  
Danielle Fleury
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Health Centre ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
The People ◽  
Model Of Management ◽  
Agile Organization ◽  
Decentralized Model ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

COVID-19 strongly hit healthcare organizations due to three factors: the lack of knowledge of this new virus, the fear of the people, and the continuous modifications in the management of the crisis. This situation required flexibility and adaptability of organizations, as our university health centre demonstrated. It relied on a decentralized model of management based on three pillars: a culture of innovation and creativity, an agile organizational structure, and an open innovation ecosystem and network. These assets were already developed prior to the onset of COVID-19 and helped our organization to better respond to the crisis.

Organic Crisis, Integral State, Passive Revolution: Twilight of the Neoliberal Order?

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-95
Author(s):  
Ian McKay
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
The People ◽  
Passive Revolution

Abstract A reconnaissance of the 2020 pandemic begins by registering the moments of refusal and supersedure, demonstrating the extent to which it seemed to many to be an organic (transformational) crisis re-ordering neoliberal capitalism’s fundamental elements. Vaccine development and debates over lockdowns illustrate the emergence of a neoliberal integral state, one in which the lines between government, industry and finance are blurred to the point of invisibility. Yet the pandemic also suggests that such states are hobbled as effective organisers of hegemony by their incapacity to safeguard the lives and interests of the people they purportedly represent and to break with imperial patterns of global dominance. Passive revolutionary attempts to contain revolutionary critiques and activism are to be expected; yet they may not succeed, given that the covid-19 pandemic arose from the environmental consequences of the global processes of capitalist accumulation neoliberals defend. The ‘next left’ has an opening, provided it soberly addresses the crisis of the neoliberal order and develops a convincing strategy for overcoming it.

Broad neutralization of H1 and H3 viruses by adjuvanted influenza HA stem vaccines in nonhuman primates

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (583) ◽  
pp. eabe5449
Author(s):  
Nicole Darricarrère ◽  
Yu Qiu ◽  
Masaru Kanekiyo ◽  
Adrian Creanga ◽  
Rebecca A. Gillespie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Influenza A Virus ◽  
Influenza A ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Protective Efficacy ◽  
Neutralizing Antibody ◽  
Gene Families ◽  
Influenza Viruses ◽  
Public Health Importance ◽  
Water Emulsion

Seasonal influenza vaccines confer protection against specific viral strains but have restricted breadth that limits their protective efficacy. The H1 and H3 subtypes of influenza A virus cause most of the seasonal epidemics observed in humans and are the major drivers of influenza A virus–associated mortality. The consequences of pandemic spread of COVID-19 underscore the public health importance of prospective vaccine development. Here, we show that headless hemagglutinin (HA) stabilized-stem immunogens presented on ferritin nanoparticles elicit broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) responses to diverse H1 and H3 viruses in nonhuman primates (NHPs) when delivered with a squalene-based oil-in-water emulsion adjuvant, AF03. The neutralization potency and breadth of antibodies isolated from NHPs were comparable to human bnAbs and extended to mismatched heterosubtypic influenza viruses. Although NHPs lack the immunoglobulin germline VH1-69 residues associated with the most prevalent human stem-directed bnAbs, other gene families compensated to generate bnAbs. Isolation and structural analyses of vaccine-induced bnAbs revealed extensive interaction with the fusion peptide on the HA stem, which is essential for viral entry. Antibodies elicited by these headless HA stabilized-stem vaccines neutralized diverse H1 and H3 influenza viruses and shared a mode of recognition analogous to human bnAbs, suggesting that these vaccines have the potential to confer broadly protective immunity against diverse viruses responsible for seasonal and pandemic influenza infections in humans.

Untrustworthy News and the Media as “Enemy of the People?” How a Populist Worldview Shapes Recipients’ Attitudes toward the Media

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nayla Fawzi
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Representative Survey ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Commercial Media ◽  
The People ◽  
Normative Expectations ◽  
The Media

A common feature among populist parties and movements is their negative perspective on the media’s role in society. This paper analyzes whether citizens with a populist worldview also hold negative attitudes toward the media. From a theoretical point of view, the paper shows that both the anti-elite, anti-outgroup and people centrism dimension of populism contradicts the normative expectations toward the media. For instance, the assumption of a homogeneous people and the exclusion of a societal outgroup is incompatible with a pluralistic media coverage. The results of a representative survey in Germany predominantly confirmed a relation between a populist worldview and negative media attitudes. However, the three populism dimensions influenced the evaluations not in a consistent way. A systematic relation could only be found for antielite populism, which is negatively associated with all analyzed media evaluations such as media trust or satisfaction with the media’s performance. This indicates that in a populist worldview, the media are perceived as part of a detached elite that neglects the citizens’ interests. However, the results confirm the assumption of a natural ally between populism and tabloid or commercial media. Individuals with people centrist and anti-outgroup attitudes have higher trust in these media outlets.

Drowning Not Waving: The ‘Children Overboard’ Event and Australia's Fear of the other

2003 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Slattery
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Global Village ◽  
Print News ◽  
The People ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Selection Of

The last few years have been an awakening time for the people, communities and governments of the global village. Escalating problems in the Middle East, global economic uncertainty and an increase in asylum seekers, refugees and migration worldwide have reignited tensions involving boundaries and borders, both geographical and cognitive. One event which highlighted these tensions in Australia, and which was given much media coverage, was the ‘children overboard’ event in October 2001. Utilising a selection of print news coverage of the event, this paper explores how the ‘children overboard’ event demarcated national identities and spaces through the construction and representation of ‘good’ Australian citizens and ‘bad’ asylum seeker ‘others’. Specifically referring to ‘children overboard’ as an ‘event’, I seek to highlight the constructed and representational nature of ‘children overboard’ as a media story and political tool, one which promoted a continuing threat of ‘others’ to the nation in order to gain support for government policy and legitimize national security, and in so doing creating a model of Australian citizenship and identity based upon fear.

scholarly journals Anthropological contributions for thinking and acting in the health area and its ethical dilemas

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cecília de Souza Minayo
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Health Area ◽  
Health Council ◽  
Mandatory Requirement

This paper attempts to analyze the way in which the issue of ethics in social research is dealt by institutional commissions based in biomedicine criteria. This discussion is particularly important for Social Sciences in Health, as our projects must necessarily be presented to Committees for assessment. In actual fact, Resolution Nº 196/1996 issued by the National Health Council establishes this mandatory requirement for all social areas. However, there is a question among researchers working with social issues, arguing that the health sector is moving outside its field when attempting to regulate actions in other fields of investigation. Grounded on philosophical anthropology, this paper is divided into three parts: (1) elements of anthropological foundations of ethics; (2) contributions of Anthropology to thinking about ethics and human rights in health; (3) internal and external questioning about anthropological practice. I conclude that if the ethical issue that involves human beings cannot be reduced to the procedures established by Ethics Committees, discussions in greater depth are required among social scientists on the construction of a practice based on and guided by respect for the intersubjectivity of all the players engaged in a research project.

scholarly journals The Inference Engine: A Grand Challenge to Address the Context Sensitivity Problem in Social Science Research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Goroff ◽  
Neil Anthony Lewis ◽  
Anne M. Scheel ◽  
Laura Danielle Scherer ◽  
Joshua A Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Inference Engine ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
Grand Challenge ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The People ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Sensitivity Problem

Social science has a ‘context sensitivity’ problem: the people that we study, and the situations they engage in, are so complex and variable that predicting how they will think, feel, and behave in a given situation is very challenging. Even when we are able to make such predictions, it is often unclear how accurate they will be if some feature of the studied subjects and/or situation changes. This limits the utility of our research for application and policy, as the ‘contextual factors’ that might change our conclusions are often unknown. It is time to address this context sensitivity problem in social science research. While do not yet know how to solve it, we believe social scientists can make great progress by working together to build an inference engine.

scholarly journals Written Text on Pakistani Vehicles: A Critical Discourse Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-57
Author(s):  
Sidra Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Motor Vehicles ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Written Text ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social

Linguistically, the word ‘language’ has shifted into ‘discourse’ which is a social phenomenon not only to express the thoughts but also to reflect the mindset and contexts of a specific community. The purpose of this study is to examine the slogans written on Pakistani automobiles and to understand the logic behind the social and cultural affiliations of these slogans. Pakistani culture of the art of making pictures and written phrases, poetic verses and imperative sentences on vehicles is famous all over the world. The study has analysed the writings found on vehicles, and although these writings might look trivial on the automobiles, they address various social issues. The Three-Dimensional Model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by Fairclough (2001) is used as a theoretical framework that explains the study at three levels: lexical, syntactic patterns, interpretations, and social practices. The discourses written on the vehicles are characterised into different categories, which are life’s mission statements, loud messages, mind baffling messages, everyday life annoyances, provoking statements, and religious looms. Twenty images and pictures have been captured from vehicles as a random sample of this study. The results reveal the mindset behind these discourses. They are used to highlight social issues which Pakistan faces, being a developing country. In short, the study discloses the strong link between the vehicles and the people using them to convey messages to the society which can bring harmony among the public. The current study is limited to only Pakistani motor vehicles.

scholarly journals The Role of Literary Artists in Environmental Movements: Minamata Disease and Michiko Ishimure

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Orika Komatsubara
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Minamata Disease ◽  
Environmental Resistance ◽  
The People ◽  
Poetic Expression ◽  
Study Methodology

By offering new fantasies, perspectives and representations, artists have the power to make people aware of social issues and inspire them to action. This paper describes how artists can offer a vision of environmental resistance by employing fantasy and using tools of poetic expression for communities affected by environmental destruction. This paper employs a case study methodology to examine the Minamata disease victims’ movement in Japan through the lens of environmental justice. As part of this movement, writer Michiko Ishimure created a fantasy called Mouhitotsu-no-konoyo, based in a mythical world and featuring the moral relationships that the people of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, had embraced before modernisation. I will show the importance of this fantasy for the movement, analysing it from two perspectives: those of ningenteki-dori (the human principle) and the invisible fantasy about the mythical world. Ishimure’s fantasy offers a moral message to prevent further environmental harm.  

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