World System History

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Denemark
Keyword(s):  
World System ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Continuity Hypothesis ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intellectual Origins ◽  
History Of ◽  
Transition To Capitalism

World system history is a perspective on the global sociopolitical and economic system with a structural, long-term and transdisciplinary nature. The intellectual origins of the study of world system history can be characterized by three general trajectories, beginning with the work of global historians who have worked to write a “history of the world.” Attempts were also made by scholars such as Arnold Toynbee to write global history in terms of “civilizations”. A second pillar of world system history emerged from anthropology, when many historians of the ancient world, anthropologists, and archaeologists denied the importance of long-distance relations, especially those of trade. A third pillar emerged from the social sciences, including political science and sociology. One of the central ideas put forward was that sociopolitical and economic phenomena exhibited wave-like behavior. These various intellectual strands became self-consciously intertwined in the later 1980s and 1990s, when scholars from all of these traditions began to cross disciplinary boundaries and organize their own efforts under the rubric of world system history. This period saw Gunder Frank and Barry K. Gills questioning the value of identifying a uniquely modern system based on a transition to capitalism that was said to have occurred in the West. Frank and Gills introduced the “continuity hypothesis,” which suggests that too much scholarly emphasis has been placed on the search for and elucidation of discontinuities and transitions. World system history faces two important challenges from determinism and indeterminacy, and future research should especially address the implications of the latter.

Minimal Morality

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Moehler
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Moral Pluralism ◽  
Moral Diversity ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Restricted Form ◽  
Pluralistic Societies ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Just Society

This book develops a novel multilevel social contract theory that, in contrast to existing theories in the liberal tradition, does not merely assume a restricted form of reasonable moral pluralism, but is tailored to the conditions of deeply morally pluralistic societies that may be populated by liberal moral agents, nonliberal moral agents, and, according to the traditional understanding of morality, nonmoral agents alike. To develop this theory, the book draws on the history of the social contract tradition, especially the work of Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Rawls, and Gauthier, as well as on the work of some of the critics of this tradition, such as Sen and Gaus. The two-level contractarian theory holds that morality in its best contractarian version for the conditions of deeply morally pluralistic societies entails Humean, Hobbesian, and Kantian moral features. The theory defines the minimal behavioral restrictions that are necessary to ensure, compared to violent conflict resolution, mutually beneficial peaceful long-term cooperation in deeply morally pluralistic societies. The theory minimizes the problem of compliance by maximally respecting the interests of all members of society. Despite its ideal nature, the theory is, in principle, applicable to the real world and, for the conditions described, most promising for securing mutually beneficial peaceful long-term cooperation in a world in which a fully just society, due to moral diversity, is unattainable. If Rawls’ intention was to carry the traditional social contract argument to a higher level of abstraction, then the two-level contractarian theory brings it back down to earth.

The Modern City

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIANE E. DAVIS
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
The Social ◽  
Shifting Balance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The City ◽  
Rich History

What constitutes modern Mexico? Is there a clear distinction between the historic and modern Mexico City? And if there are, does this distinctions hold up throughout the twentieth century, when what is apparent is a mix of legacies coexisting overtime? This chapter discusses the semiotics of history and modernity. It discusses the struggle of the Mexico City to find its own image including its struggle to preserve historic buildings amidst the differing political alliances that either promote change or preserve the past. However, past is not a single entity, hence if the preservation of the rich history of Mexico is pursued, the question arises as to what periods of history represented in the city are to be favoured in its future development. In this chapter, the focus is on the paradoxes of the Torre Bicentenario and on the pressures to preserve Mexico’s past, the ways they have been juxtaposed against the plans for its future and how the balance of these views has shifted over time. It determines the key actors and the institutions who have embraced history as opposed to progress, identifies the set of forces that dominated in the city’s twentieth-century history, and assesses the long-term implications of the shifting balance for the social, spatial and built environmental character of the city. The chapter ends with a discussion on the current role played by the cultural and historical authorities in determining the fate of the city.

Alcohol and Humans

2019 ◽  
pp. 196-206
Author(s):  
Kimberley J. Hockings ◽  
Robin I.M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

Humans and alcohol have shared a very long history. In this final chapter, we highlight some of the key findings that emerge from the chapters in this book, in particular the evolutionary history of our adaptation to alcohol consumption and the social role that alcohol consumption plays, and has played, in human societies across the world. This raises a major contradiction in the literature, namely the fact that, despite this long history, the medical profession typically views alcohol as destructive. We draw attention to several avenues that would repay future research and how humans’ relationship with alcohol stands to change and evolve.

Long-Term Ecological Research Over the Long Term: A Historian’s Perspective

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hamlin
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ecological Science

There are many precedents for long-term research in the history of science. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program’s current identity reflects significant change—intended and accidental, both consensual and conflictual—from research concerns that were prevalent in the 1980s. LTER program has pioneered modes of research organization and professional norms that are increasingly prominent in many areas of research and that belong to a significant transformation in the social relations of scientific research. The essays in this volume explore the impact of the LTER program, a generation after its founding, on both the practice of ecological science and the careers of scientists. The authors have applied the agenda of long- term scrutiny to their own careers as LTER researchers. They have recognized the LTER program as distinct, even perhaps unique, both in the ways that it creates knowledge and in the ways that it shapes careers. They have reflected on how they have taught (and were taught) in LTER settings, on how they interact with one another and with the public, and on how research in the LTER program has affected them “as persons.” A rationale for this volume is LTER’s distinctiveness. In many of the chapters, and in other general treatments of the LTER program, beginning with Callahan (1984), one finds a tone of defensiveness. Sometimes the concerns are explicit: authors (e.g., Stafford, Knapp, Lugo, Morris; Chapters 5, 22, 25, 33, respectively) bemoan colleagues who dismiss LTER as mere monitoring instead of serious science or who resent LTER’s independent funding stream. But more broadly, there is concern that various groups, ranging from other bioscientists to the public at large, may not appreciate the importance of long-term, site-specific environmental research. Accordingly, my hope here is to put LTER into several broader contexts. I do so in three ways. First, to mainstream LTER within the history of science, I show that the LTER program is not a new and odd way of doing science but rather exemplifies research agendas that have been recognized at least since the seventeenth century in the biosciences and beyond.

scholarly journals “I could’ve had a better life”: Reflective life reviews told by late-middle-aged and older women and men with ongoing long-term alcohol problems

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Bergström
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Alcohol Problems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Work Related ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Self Development ◽  
Letting Go

Aim: This study accounts for how people aged 55-69 with ongoing long-term alcohol problems conceptualize past, present and future. Methods: A total of 19 interviews were performed, from which reflective life reviews were obtained and analyzed as narrative life accounts. Three structuring thematic traits were identified: resentment of life, acceptance of life and gratitude towards life. Results: The study shows how past, present and future intertwine into meaningful entities incorporating certain governing master narratives about recovery, familiar for example from expert discourse and the AA movement. When it comes to the theme of resentment, the participants articulated disappointment over what life had become and emphasized especially the missed work-related opportunities that the drinking had caused. In the theme of acceptance letting go of the past was viewed as important for creating a sober future. Within the dimension of gratitude the past was seen as a resource for self-development and future recovery. Conclusions: How long-term alcohol problems are conceptualized in the long view of a life narrative may have great implications for outlooks of a sober future. A closer look at the social and cultural material incorporated in the stories of this age group is an important task for future research.

scholarly journals TESTING THE MIDDLE GROUND IN ASSYRO-ANATOLIAN MARRIAGES OF THE KĀRUM PERIOD

Iraq ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Yağmur Heffron
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social History ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Cultural Contact ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Dynamic Time

Central Anatolia in the Middle Bronze Age is marked by a well-documented Old Assyrian presence during the kārum period (20th–17th century b.c.), a dynamic time of long-distance trade and cultural contact. One of the idiosyncrasies of the social history of this period is a special bigamous arrangement which allowed Assyrian men to enter second marriages on the condition that one wife remained at home in Aššur, and the other in Anatolia. In testing the extent to which a middle ground for cross-cultural compromise is recognisable in such Assyro-Anatolian marriage practices, this article considers whether the terminology used in reference to the first and second wives (amtum and aššatum respectively) can be interpreted as the crucial element of misunderstanding in middle ground formation.

scholarly journals Long-term Benzodiazepine Treatment in Patients with Psychotic Disorders Attending a Mental Health Service in Rural Greece

2016 ◽  
Vol 07 (S 01) ◽  
pp. S026-S030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaios Peritogiannis ◽  
Thiresia Manthopoulou ◽  
Venetsanos Mavreas
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Treatment Regimen ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Population Based ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Future Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mobile Mental Health

ABSTRACT Introduction: Long-term benzodiazepine (BZD) treatment in patients with mental disorders is widespread in clinical practice, and this is also the case of patients with schizophrenia, although the evidence is weak and BZD prescription is discouraged by guidelines and medical authorities. Data on BZD prescription are usually derived from national or regional databases whereas information on the use of BZD by patients with schizophrenia and related psychoses in general population-based samples is limited. Materials and Methods: Information for 77 patients with psychotic disorders who were regularly attending follow-up appointments with the multidisciplinary Mobile Mental Health Unit of the prefectures of Ioannina and Thesprotia, Northwest Greece, during 1-year period (2015) was obtained from our database. Results: From the total of 77 engaged patients, 30 (39%) were regularly prescribed BZDs in the long term, as part of their treatment regimen. Prescribed BZDs were mostly diazepam and lorazepam, in 43.3% of cases each. The mean daily dose of these compounds was 13 mg and 3.77 mg, respectively. Statistical analysis showed a correlation of long-term BZD use with the history of alcohol/substance abuse. Most patients were receiving BZD continuously for several years, and the mean dose was steady within this interval. Conclusions: A large proportion of patients with psychotic disorders were regularly prescribed BZD in long term. It appears that when BZDs are prescribed for some period in the course of a psychotic disorder, their use commonly exceeds the recommended interval and then becomes a regular part of the chronic treatment regimen. Future research should address the factors that may be related to the long-term BZD use by patients with psychotic disorders. Interventions for the reduction of regular BZD prescription should target the primary care setting and all those who treat first episode patients.

College Communities Abroad

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

In the early modern period, Catholic communities in Protestant jurisdictions were impelled to establish colleges for the education and formation of students in more hospitable Catholic territories. The Irish, English and Scots Colleges founded in France, Flanders, the Iberian peninsula, Rome and elsewhere are the best known, but the phenomenon extended to Dutch and Scandinavian foundations in southern Flanders and the German lands. Similarly colleges were established in Rome for various national communities, among whom the Maronites are a striking example. The first colleges were founded in the mid-sixteenth century and tens of thousands of students passed through them until their closure in late eighteenth century. Only a handful survived the disruption of the French Revolutionary wars to re-emerge in the nineteenth century. Historians have long argued that these exile colleges played a prominent role in maintaining Catholic structures by supplying educated clergy equipped to deal with the challenges of their domestic churches. This has ensured that the Irish, English and Scots colleges in particular have a rich historiography laid out in the pages of Archivium Hibernicum, the Records of the Scots Colleges or the volumes published under the aegis of the Catholic Record Society in England. Until recently, however, their histories were considered in isolating confessional and national frameworks, with surprisingly little attempt to examine commonalities or connections. Recent research has begun to open up the topic by investigating the social, economic, cultural and material histories of the colleges. Meanwhile renewed interest in the history of early modern migration has encouraged historians to place the colleges within the vibrant migrant communities of Irish, English, Scots and others on the continent. The Introduction begins with a survey of the colleges. It assesses their historiographies, paying particular attention to the research of the last three decades. The introduction argues that an obvious next step is to examine the colleges in transnational and comparative perspectives. Finally, it introduces the volume's essays on Irish, English, Scots, Dutch, German and Maronite colleges, which provide up-to-date research by leading historians in the field and point to the possibilities for future research on this exciting topic.

Possible Hepatotoxicity Associated With Daptomycin

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoonsun Mo ◽  
Fletcher Nehring ◽  
Andrew H. Jung ◽  
Seth T. Housman
Keyword(s):  
Liver Injury ◽  
Liver Failure ◽  
Acute Liver Failure ◽  
Pain Syndrome ◽  
Liver Function Tests ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Dose ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose To report a case of isolated daptomycin-induced acute liver injury without elevations in creatine kinase (CK) levels or kidney dysfunction. Summary A 49-year-old female with a history of pancreatitis, lupus, diabetes, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and chronic pain syndrome presented to the emergency department with alteration in mental status and acute liver failure. The patient had been treated with daptomycin for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) endocarditis for 3 weeks. After ruling out other possible etiologies, daptomycin was suspected as a cause of acute liver failure. Her liver failure resolved gradually following withdrawal of daptomycin. Conclusion Although hepatic abnormalities caused by daptomycin are rare, a handful of cases with daptomycin-induced liver injury have been reported in the literature. Of note, in most cases, patients on daptomycin therapy developed liver damage with elevations in CK levels. Our case report suggests possible severe liver injury associated with high-dose and long-term daptomycin treatment in the absence of rhabdomyolysis. Future research is warranted to further investigate the relationship between daptomycin use and liver injury, yet it is reasonable to monitor liver function tests at baseline and weekly thereafter along with CK levels, especially in patients requiring long-term daptomycin therapy.

How Should We Approach the Economy of ‘Early Modern India’?

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1606-1656 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHAMI GHOSH
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Specific Manner ◽  
History Of ◽  
Other World

AbstractTirthankar Roy's recent synthesis on the economic history of early modern India claims to provide a new, overarching narrative placing this period within the broader sweep of the history of what Roy defines as ‘capitalism’ in India in the very long term. This article provides a detailed critique of Roy's monograph, suggesting that it suffers from some serious methodological deficits, arising not least from a future-oriented paradigm that imposes anachronistic concepts on this period, including the very notion of ‘India’. Furthermore, Roy's view of the economy as being fundamentally driven forward by the rise of a coastal polity, expanding inwards from Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, sits awkwardly with his repeated claim that colonialism was of little significance for Indian economic history. Finally, this article suggests that this period might be more fruitfully approached not only by abandoning thetelosof what we know of India's future, but also by adopting both regionally focused and comparative approaches, turning away from long-distance trade as the primary lens through which to view the economy, and instead examining endogenous factors in the economies of individual regions and enriching our understanding of them by reference to studies of other world regions with comparable patterns of development in the same period. More nuanced ways of approaching economic change in the very long run, including the importance of developments in modes of consumption and market- and profit-oriented economic behaviour, are suggested as a better means of understanding both the economies of the late pre-colonial centuries in the Indian subcontinent and the development of capitalism, which should also be understood in a more specific manner than Roy allows.

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