Historic Preservation

Sociology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Historic Preservation ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Urban Fabric ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Community Activists ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Key Questions

Historic preservation is an idea and a practice, an academic discipline and a field of political and cultural action. For social scientists, a critical approach to historic preservation means to interrogate the underlying assumptions about history, community, and culture that drive preservation contests as well as the sociospatial outcomes: how places are made, branded, and changed as a result of historic preservation. A number of key questions can be raised about any given preservation effort: What kinds of claims are being made when mnemonic activists declare a building or a neighborhood to be “historic”? Whose vision of history is being wielded when monuments and other spaces of consecration are laid down in the urban fabric? What are the cultural frames that are mobilized to socially construct such landscapes as “historic” versus those are simply “historical”? What are the debates that ensnare all kinds of social actors—urban planners and historians, community activists and politicians—in decisions about which historical landscapes to conserve, and which to leave as unprotected commodities? Lastly, what are the spatial scales where preservation and memorialization are enacted, contested, and materialized? This entry considers historic preservation from these many angles, presenting readers with a critical overview of the topic and raising questions and presenting important readings for further consideration.

scholarly journals Should Marx's theory of social development be forgotten?

Sociologija ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Silvano Bolcic
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Technological Determinism ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Complex Investigation ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Historical Societies ◽  
Key Questions

The first decade of the 21st century is marked by serious drawbacks in economic and overall social development even in the most advanced countries. New knowledge is being searched for, and at the same time interest is revived in classical and new theories of development. Without attempting to present a return to the 'big', classical theories of development, including Marx's theory of social development, as the sufficient starting ground for finding solutions to contemporary problems, this paper offers a relatively comprehensive 'rereading' of some of Marx's writings. The intention is to overcome certain misinterpretations of Marx's understanding of the 'logic' of the transformation of modern (pre-capitalist, capitalist and 'future') societies and to place again on the 'working table' of sociologists and other social scientists some of the key questions that Marx confronted while studying transformations of 19th century capitalist societies. Marx's theory of social development, it is argued, cannot be reduced to 'economism', 'technological determinism', or any other form of mono-causal explanation of key factors of social development. Of crucial importance is his complex investigation of historical 'formation of societies', differences in 'logics' of 'building', functioning and 'deconstruction' of specific 'historical societies', with a particular emphasis on the role of various 'social actors' in those transformations. If this 'rereading' is accepted, it becomes evident that is impossible and unadvisable to forget Marx' theory of social development.

Contemporary Urban China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja M. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Urban China ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Multiple Modernities ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Direct Reflection ◽  
Insight Into

This book provides detailed insight into the psychology of modern Chinese society and its implications for social actors’ socio-political agency and efficacy. Perceptions of social mobility and cohesion are at the heart of a sociological typology that is a direct reflection of China’s unique path towards modernisation. The book makes a contribution to the debate about convergence versus divergence of cultures and, ultimately, political systems. Using the example of China, it supports the argument of cultural divergence as proposed by Shmuel Eisenstadt’s notion of ‘multiple modernities’. It mainly builds on a qualitative interview study conducted in Peking, Xi’an and Wenzhou, whose key findings are discussed in the light of findings from national surveys. The book is aimed at political and social scientists who are interested in modernisation theory and at sinologists who are interested in contemporary Chinese society.

scholarly journals The Role of the Department Head or Chairman: Discipline, Sex and Nationality as Factors Influencing Faculty Opinion

1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Roy E.L. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Department Head ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
University Department ◽  
Natural Scientists ◽  
The University

The influence of academic discipline, sex and nationality upon one's definiton of the role of the head or chairman of a university department was studied by means of a question- naire administered to members of the Faculty of Arts and Science of the University of Victoria. Discipline was found to be of overriding importance. Social scientists, unlike either Natural Scientists or Humanists, rejected leadership while favouring the roles of coordinator and, to a lesser degree, of representative. Women in the Humanities and Natural Sciences were more likely to expect leadership than were their male colleagues. The nationality of the respondents, however, did not appear to influence their expectations of the department head or chairman.

Risk, Culture, and Cognition

2019 ◽  
pp. 448-466
Author(s):  
Daina Cheyenne Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Risk Perception ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Sociology Of Culture ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Culture And Cognition ◽  
Risk Culture

For many researchers, risk is objective, fixed, and measurable. Social scientists, however, have long worked under the belief that risk is a social construction and is culturally determined. This chapter follows Wilkinson’s use of the term “risk” and the goal of the chapter is to review and map out the ways social actors perceive and make sense of hazards and conditions of threatening uncertainty. Such a contribution is generally seen to lie in the area of risk perception, risk communication, and risk responsibility. This chapter explores key contributions in the study of risk in these three areas through the lens of a sociology of culture and cognition. The chapter ends with some observations on risk and cognition from ethnographic research on the long-term aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Reconstructing American Studies: Transnational Paradoxes, Comparative Perspectives

1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Giles
Keyword(s):  
American Studies ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Virgin Land ◽  
American Values ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Popular Subject ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
American Adam

While American Studies continues to be a popular subject in universities and colleges on both sides of the Atlantic, several influential critics have recently expressed some sense that its methodological direction appears increasingly uncertain. To be sure, there never was a time when this field's methodology has not been problematic: arguments about what American Studies should include, and indeed whether its eclectic narratives could reasonably be said to constitute an academic discipline at all, have circulated many times since the rapid growth of the subject in the late 1940s. This development has been well documented over the last few years. Philip Gleason has shown how the end of the Second World War led to a patriotic desire to identify certain specifically American values and characteristics; this led to various mythic idealizations of the American spirit in seminal critical works of the 1950s; and this in turn was followed by a more empiricist reaction in the 1960s and 1970s, when social scientists and historians of popular culture were concerned to demystify those earlier, holistic images of a “virgin land” and an “American Adam.” These are old controversies, and I do not intend to rehearse them in detail here. From the perspective of the early 1990s, what is more urgent is to consider how, or indeed if, the field of American Studies might continue to make an important contribution to our understanding of the United States, as well as a significant intervention within the world of learning more generally.

American History in Comparative Perspective

1977 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Walter Hugins
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
American History ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Past Century ◽  
World War ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Past ◽  
States History

Comparative history is as old as Herodotus, but only in the past quartercentury has it come into its own as an academic discipline. Yet historians, scholars of American history in particular, have generally fallen behind their colleagues in the other social sciences in developing and applying comparative methodology or models which could illuminate their teaching or open new vistas in their research. As a result, teaching and scholarship in United States history tend to be characterized by parochialism, ethnocentricity and an emphasis upon American uniqueness or “ exceptionalism.” Political scientists, sociologists and economists have increasingly studied the process of development and modernization since the end of World War II, doing more to stimulate comparative studies than all of their predecessors during the past century. While many of these social scientists have demonstrated only a superficial knowledge of history, leading them often to deal statically with the societies they are studying, some of them have at least made the effort, avoided by most American historians, to apply the comparative method to American history.

Preserving the Historical Memory of Honolulu's Chinatown

2013 ◽  
Vol 368-370 ◽  
pp. 41-44
Author(s):  
Shan Jin ◽  
Hai Bo Huang ◽  
Xin Geng
Keyword(s):  
Historic Preservation ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
National Level ◽  
State Level ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Historic Buildings ◽  
Urban Fabric ◽  
Special Districts ◽  
History Of

Honolulus Chinatown is a unique component of urban fabric of Honolulu and part of the Hawaiis multicultural mosaic. This paper states the brief history of Honolulus Chinatown and its uniqueness. It analyzes how the historic buildings in Honolulus Chinatown are impacted by three sets of historic preservation legislation at National level, State level and city level. This paper addresses the design guidelines which make a significant contribution to retaining the essential character of Honolulus Chinatown. As one of Honolulus seven Special Districts, Chinatown contains a rich and varied array of historic fabric, but it also faces the development pressures. The aim of this paper is to share the Chinatown preservations experiences, and hopefully provides inspiration for Chinas historic preservation.

scholarly journals WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? Social crime prevention in SA: A critical overview

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Frank
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Government Accountability ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Key Questions

Crime prevention is a relatively new enterprise in South Africa, and the nature of progress in this area has been mixed. While much activity has been noted, particularly among civil society organisations, the generation and utilisation of information is an area of weakness. Key questions remain: how to promote government accountability for service delivery, and how crime prevention advocates engage with issues such as human rights and the strengthening of democracy.

scholarly journals Tourism research, for what?

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 75-86
Author(s):  
Maximiliano Korstanje
Keyword(s):  
Essay Review ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Negative Image ◽  
Tourism Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
French Tradition

While tourism scholars have struggled over decades to establish tourism as a valid academic discipline, it’s no less true that social scientists have developed a negative image of our colleagues. This in fact happens because for social imaginary leisure and tourism are naïve activities, or practices enrooted in an alienatory nature. Paradoxically, many of founding parents of sociology of tourism was embraced this belief, the advance of modernity, as well as tourism, will disorganize the social ties. In this essay review, we place the French Tradition under the critical lens of scrutiny revealing alternatives in tourism epistemology between tourism as a profit-oriented industry and as a mechanism of discipline.

scholarly journals State-Society Relations in South Asia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhasish Ray
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
State And Society ◽  
V Region ◽  
Diverse Nations ◽  
Party State

South Asia, a region comprising roughly one-fifth of the world’s population, is home to some of the most diverse nations in the contemporary world, encompassing social cleavages across multiple dimensions. A critical facet of this diversity is that it has persisted, even as state-builders, starting from the precolonial period, have sought to impose the writ of centralized authority to make such diversity legible and governable. Not surprisingly, therefore, the region offers a fascinating vantage point for social scientists to develop and test theories of a range of state-society linkages and how these reconstitute our understandings of both “state” and “society.” This bibliography aims to provide a window into this continuously evolving body of research. As with any such endeavor, it is not possible to capture the vast depth and breadth of this research within the confines of a single work. Hence, the goal here is to introduce academics and policy practitioners to some of the key conceptual developments and empirical findings in the field. In what follows, the cited works have been classified under the following headings: (i) Capital-State Linkages, (ii) Labor-State Linkages, (iii) Land-State Linkages, (iv) Party-State Linkages, (v) Region-State Linkages, (vi) Caste-State Linkages, (vii) Migrant-State Linkages, (viii) Gender-State Linkages, (ix) Breakdown of State-Society Relations, and (x) Law and State-Society Relations. This schematic was adopted to underscore the sheer variety of social actors and institutions that impinge on the exercise of state power in the region. The concluding section offers an overview of the core academic Journals in the field.

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