Gifts and Informal Profits of Office

2021 ◽  
pp. 374-415
Author(s):  
Mark Knights
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationship ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Ways Of Thinking

Fiduciary trust sought to put a clear boundary between the private interests of the official and the interests of the entrustor and beneficiary. This chapter argues that these boundaries, and hence also those between licit and illicit behaviour, were blurred by a nexus of intertwined social and cultural norms, expectations, and practices that changed only slowly. Office was embedded in social and cultural practices that conferred interpersonal trust; but those practices were increasingly seen as encouraging, and being defined as, bribery and corruption. Gifts and fees thus represented a tension between two types of trust. Some success was achieved in barring state and corporate officials from taking presents that could be construed as bribes; but this was a fractious and protracted process, reflecting different ways of thinking about office as a social relationship. The chapter concludes with some reflections on friendship and patronage, which proved similarly resistant to rapid change.

Deviance as Pedagogy: From Nondominant Cultural Capital to Deviantly Marked Cultural Repertoires

2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
High Status ◽  
Marginalized Youth ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Cultural Repertoires ◽  
Meaningful Experiences ◽  
The Cost

Background/Context Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital has been employed extensively in sociological, educational, and anthropological research. However, Bourdieu's conceptualization of cultural capital has often been misread to refer only to “high status” or dominant cultural norms and resources at the cost of overlooking the meaningful and productive practices of nondominant and marginalized cultural communities. Focus of Study By reconceptualizing Cohen's politics of deviance, this paper leans on post-structuralist thinkers to develop a conceptualization of the cultural repertoires of marginalized communities, hereafter referred to as deviantly marked cultural repertoires, that places at the center labeled practices of deviance. It is posited that in these labeled deviant cultural practices—which are often overlooked, shunned, and ignored—are valuable and meaningful experiences of learning and development. Research Design Using scenes from the HBO series The Wire as a cultural text, a materialist analysis is conducted to demonstrate empirically the pedagogically rich processes of deviantly marked cultural repertoires. Conclusions This paper argues for a research agenda on the learning and development present in the often overlooked, shunned, ignored, and marked/labeled practices of deviance as a way to explore the transformative pedagogical possibilities in marginalized youth cultures.

Redefining norms, exploring new avenues: Negotiations of women informal workers in Delhi

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 178-199
Author(s):  
Sakshi Khurana
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Gender Oppression ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Production Relations ◽  
Organization Of Production

The changing nature of production activities in developing countries has brought into focus the contribution of large numbers of women who get pulled into the labor force either by choice or by compulsion. Women in the latter category often find themselves engaged in informal employment, in work that is inconsistent and low-paid, carried out under suboptimal working conditions. Their ability to improve their conditions of work and life is constrained not just by capitalist structures and the organization of production relations, but also by social structures of norms and cultural practices. The analysis in this article, based on ethnographic research among women engaged in the garment and construction industries in Delhi provides insights into the strategies that some women workers, in the two sectors that also largely comprised women belonging two different religious communities, adopt to contest precarious working conditions and patriarchal norms, and transition into more autonomous positions. This article asks that given the constraints particular to the garment and construction sectors, why and how do some women resist against structures of gender oppression? How do the differences or similarities in the socio-cultural norms of the two communities constrain and at times, also enable women’s choices and actions? This article brings forth the factors that lead women to resist against structures of gender oppression, challenge inequalities inherent in the organization of work, and the new meanings that they may assign to their own negotiations and interpretations of norms.

Development of Culturally Appropriate Educational Material to Improve Home Case Management of Diarrhea in Rural Lombok, Indonesia

1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-243
Author(s):  
A. A. Gde Muninjaya ◽  
Tangking Widarsa
Keyword(s):  
Health Education ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Signs And Symptoms ◽  
Formative Research ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Oral Rehydration ◽  
Rehydration Solutions

Indonesia is a country of many different ethnic groups and cultural norms. Despite this fact, most health education materials in Indonesia have been designed for an overall national audience. These materials rarely take into account local cultural perceptions and ideas about disease causation and appropriate treatment. Once materials are developed, they are rarely pretested to ensure that they are understood and accepted by the communities for which they are intended. We believe that educational messages and illustrations should be based on thorough research and analysis, not only of the health problem, but also of the perceptions, beliefs, and cultural practices of the target audience. In order to develop a culturally sensitive health education campaign on appropriate home case management of diarrhea, we first conducted formative research with mothers of young children and health care providers in West Lombok, Indonesia. This research showed that the people recognize four different types of diarrhea according to signs and symptoms and perceived etiology. Based on the results of the formative research, a flipchart was designed incorporating five messages. The flipchart was then revised on the basis of two pretests. The pretest results showed that visual messages about child health, the course and treatment of diarrheal diseases, and the preparation of oral rehydration solutions were often misinterpreted or not considered in accordance with local cultural norms. Most of the respondents understood the messages but felt that several of the illustrations did not accurately reflect their ways of living. After changes were made, the materials were easily understood and accepted by respondents. To maximize the benefit of educational materials, the national health education sector should be more flexible in the adaptation of materials to local customs and perceptions.

Creating cultural spaces in the Australian university setting

2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana A. Eisenchlas ◽  
Susan Trevaskes
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Exchange Program ◽  
Academic Settings ◽  
Cultural Spaces ◽  
Cultural Mores ◽  
The University ◽  
Task Oriented ◽  
University Setting

This paper reports on a structured exchange program between Chinese and Australian students which focuses on discussion and reflections on everyday cultural practices and behaviours, the most relevant but often least accessible aspect of culture for international students. We ground these discussions in a setting common to both groups: the situationally familiar, yet culturally unfamiliar, environment of Australian universities. The interactions allow students to create a comfortable and non-threatening ‘cultural space’ from where they reflect on their own and others’ cultural mores and practices that occur within the context of the university setting. Students discuss the underlying values that drive behaviours in situations ranging from social gatherings such as parties, to task-oriented academic settings such as tutorials. The program includes a strong language component. We ask students to reflect on the language used in daily conversations, the language appropriate for particular situations, and the cultural norms that interface between situations and language appropriate to them. The aim of our program differs from that of models since it proceeds from less conventional understandings about culture, agency, and authenticity, and therefore the extent to which cross-cultural communication should involve interpretation rather than enculturation as the traditional programs appear to advocate.

scholarly journals Anticorruption, Cultural Norms, and Implications for the APUNCAC

Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Danny Singh
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
International Donors

Corruption is a phenomenon that has received global attention from academics, policy makers and international donors. Corruption may be defined as the abuse of power for private gain. Activities include bribery, extortion, rent-seeking behaviour, cronyism, patronage, nepotism, embezzlement, graft and engagement with criminal enterprises. However, patronage, nepotism and gift giving are frequently viewed in many Asian and African cultures as acceptable practices that promote efficiency and smooth relationships. This article examines these practices in contexts including Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, China and South Asia, discusses various rationales for these practices, and seeks to understand how these practices can be reconciled with international efforts to combat corruption. This article focuses on the implications with regard to the Anticorruption Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (APUNCAC) and the proposal to establish a body of United Nations (UN) inspectors to investigate charges of corruption and refer cases to dedicated domestic anticorruption courts. This article suggests that UN inspectors and international norms against corruption are not incompatible with traditional cultural practices. This article draws upon the experiences of Hong Kong and Singapore, where corruption was endemic, to demonstrate that local cultural norms can be rapidly changed when independent inspectors are established and receive support from institutions that are free from manipulation by domestic authorities.

Sexual risk behaviors and influencing factors among Muslim adolescents on southern border of Thailand

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fusiyah Hayee ◽  
Warunee Fongkaew ◽  
Chawapornpan Chanprasit ◽  
Thanee Kaewthummanukul ◽  
Joachim G. Voss
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Sexual Risk ◽  
Risk Behaviors ◽  
Parental Monitoring ◽  
Sexuality Education ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Sexual Risk Behaviors ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Contraceptive Pills ◽  
Southern Border

AbstractObjectivesTo describe individual, interpersonal, and environmental factors and sexual risk behaviors among Thai Muslim adolescents.MethodsWe recruited adolescents from four schools and one vocational college on the Southern border of Thailand during October 2018 to January 2019. We used password-protected online questionnaires for each respondent to protect their privacy.ResultsWe recruited N = 700 participants of which 9% were sexually experienced. Of those participants, many had never used a condom (41.3%) or considered taking contraceptive pills (71.4%). Moreover, 54% of them have had sexual intercourse more than once. Some had been infected with an STI (17.5%), and (14.3%) became pregnant more than once. Adolescents reported individual factors such as high religiosity (58.7%), and (47.6%) practiced Islam daily with no differences between boys and girls. Girls had significantly higher refusal of sex self-efficiency than boys (96 vs. 119.5, p < 0.05). In the interpersonal factors, boys had more uninvolved parenting style, lower parental monitoring, higher parental approval of sex, and higher perceived peer norm than girls. The environmental factors besides cultural norms impacted girls and boys equally.ConclusionsWe showed low rates of sexual activity, but in those adolescents who were sexually active we showed high rates of lack of knowledge and higher rates of sexual risk behaviors. Individual, interpersonal, and environmental factors all influenced sexual risk behaviors. We recommend comprehensive sexuality education that includes Islamic context for adolescents and their parents embedded in policy, religious, and community cultural practices.

scholarly journals Making Sovereignty Mean Something: Native Nations and Creative Adaptation

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22
Author(s):  
Michelle Watts
Keyword(s):  
Alaska Native ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
Federal Policies ◽  
Indian Gaming ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Tools ◽  
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

Scholarship regarding Native Nations has often focused on the problems of Native Nations caused by a brutal history of genocide, repression and forced assimilation. Relatively little attention has been paid to how Native Nations creatively adapt to their circumstances in a continual process of reinvention. This article provides insights into Native Nations through examples in the lower 48 states and Alaska. This study, based on 16 interviews the author conducted with Native Nations leaders in Alaska and the lower 48 states, demonstrates how Native Nations adapt to their unique circumstances to make sovereignty meaningful, because of and in spite of federal legislation that seeks to govern Nation Nations. Ultimately, I argue that many Native Nations today are purposefully modernizing by creatively adapting to their circumstances, transforming systems of governance, and leveraging economic tools, integrating their own evolving cultural practices. While modernization implies following a Western developmental path, purposeful modernization is driven by the choices of the people. While change was forced upon Native Nations in numerous, often devastating, ways since colonization, they have nevertheless asserted agency and formed governments and economic institutions that reflect and reinforce their own cultural norms. This article highlights examples of how Native Nations and the lower 48 have adapted given the very different circumstances created in part by state and federal policies such as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) and Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

scholarly journals Back space: exploring residual territories and landscapes of deletion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Carter-Shamai
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Connective Tissues ◽  
Half Century ◽  
The City ◽  
City Centres ◽  
By Products

"This research is about the informal uses of small public spaces in the city: the laneways, residual spaces and connective tissues of neighbourhoods. They are undergoing rapid change and transition. By drawing attention to the unintentional by-products of periods of growth and the residual adaptations of periods of decline, I will identify unique qualities and characteristics of transformation, gentrification and ephemeral cultural practices of city centres and downtown neighbourhoods over the last half century."--Introduction.

scholarly journals An Understanding of the Students’ Perception about COVID-19 Pandemic and its Impacts on Pakhtun Society

sjesr ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-221
Author(s):  
Jan Alam ◽  
Akhtar Munir ◽  
Nauman Tahir
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Psychological Wellbeing ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Important Class ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Interpretive Approach ◽  
The University

COVID-19 Pandemic has different effects on society. Its effects have been differently perceived by different classes; one such important class is the university students because they play an important role in the development of a society. To explore their perception, this article used an interpretive approach to understand its impacts on education, the economy, and socio-cultural practices. The researchers used in-depth open-ended interviews for data collection. The sample size of the study consisted of twenty-four students i.e. six each from FATA University, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Preston University, and University of Peshawar. The primary data were analyzed by using the thematic analysis technique. The results reveal that there are divergent beliefs and superstitions about the prevention and presence of coronavirus. These included conspiracies about physicians and hospitals as death houses, and social distancing being a violation of cultural norms and values. The major impacts are observed on education, economy, psychological wellbeing, and socio-cultural practices. This study provides a roadmap for policymakers and future scholars to understand socio-cultural, educational, economic, and psychological problems that emerged due to COVID-19 Pandemic.

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