The Information Processing Representation of Institutionalised Social Action

1976 ◽  
Vol 24 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 35-77
Author(s):  
Nick Axten ◽  
Thomas J. Fararo
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Social Action ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Symbolic Processes ◽  
Outstanding Work

The general idea proposed in this paper is that the fundamental properties of institutionalised social action may be understood in terms of the modelling of real systems of social action as information processing systems—systems whose activity is controlled by symbolic processes. A key property of the models is their generative character: from a given model, with appropriate inputs, it is possible to derive explicitly the sequence of activity of the system. In this way the model is not a merely static description of a system, nor a history of its activity, but shows the activity flowing from the proposed structure of the system. Within this framework the paper explores the issue of the theoretical justification and generalisation of possible models, and proposes an approach based on the interrelationships among the patterns of activity characteristic of various institutions. We discuss the idea of a generative theory in section 1, followed in section 2 by an explication of the formalism we employ based on the outstanding work of Newell and Simon in information processing theory. In section 3, we apply this formalism to the problem of representing the institutional aspects of a social action system, using a familiar institution—the restaurant—as a case study. In section 4 we discuss further aspects of the theory and method involved in this type of representation.

CONVERGENCE AND THE FORMATION OF AFRIKAANS

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul T. Roberge
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Important Case ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
History Of

As a phenomenon to be explained, convergence in historical linguistics is substantively no different than in creolistics. The general idea is that accommodation by speakers of “established” languages in contact and the formation of new language varieties both involve a process of leveling of different structures that achieve the same referential and nonreferential effects. The relatively short and well-documented history of Afrikaans presents an important case study in the competition and selection of linguistic features during intensive language contact.

Roger Bacon and Martin Joos

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Inverse Function ◽  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
The Past ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
Historical Accuracy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intellectual Context

Summary Expositions of the history of western linguistics, especially those designed for a novice readership, often refer to a passage from the writings of the twelfth-century scholar Roger Bacon. That passage is conventionally interpreted as an assertion of the existence of universal grammar, framed in the terms of early medieval language science. Among generative grammarians, the text from Bacon has been construed as evidence for the longevity of a concept which Chomskyan linguistics now reformulates in modern guise. Generativists also sometimes cite another passage, in this case taken from a 1957 text by the American descriptivist Martin Joos. The quotation from Joos performs an inverse function compared to that from Bacon, in that it is taken to epitomize the anti-universalism of early twentieth-century descriptivism. As such, Joos’ words are employed to distinguish generative grammar from the intellectual context of the immediately preceding school of linguistics. There are reasons to doubt the historical accuracy of the conventional readings of both these passages. This article re-opens the question of what Bacon meant and what Joos meant, then examines how their words have been incorporated into recent generative literature. As a case study in the historical orientation of modern linguistics, I find generative theory to be less interested in understanding other cultures’ ideas about language than in using historical material to advance its own self-representation. Is this a legitimate use of the past?

Sociology, theories of

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey C. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Empirical Processes ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
History Of ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S

Throughout the history of sociology, three types of theorizing have co-existed, sometimes uneasily. ‘Theories of’ provide abstract models of empirical processes; they function both as guides for sociological research and as sources for covering laws whose falsification or validation is intended to provide the basis for a cumulative science. ‘Presuppositional studies’ abstract away from particular empirical processes, seeking instead to articulate the fundamental properties of social action and order; meta-methodological warrants for the scientific investigation of societies; and normative foundations for moral evaluations of contemporary social life. ‘Hermeneutical theory’ addresses these basic sociological questions more indirectly, by interpreting the meanings and intentions of classical texts. The relation between these three forms of theorizing varies historically. In the post-war period, under the institutional and intellectual influence of US sociologists like Parsons and Merton, presuppositional and hermeneutical issues seemed to be settled; ‘theories of’ proliferated and prospects seemed bright for a cumulative, theoretically-organized science of society. Subsequent social and intellectual developments undermined this brief period of relative consensus. In the midst of the crises of the 1960s and 1970s, presuppositional and hermeneutical studies gained much greater importance, and became increasingly disarticulated from empirical ‘theories of’. Confronting the prospect of growing fragmentation, in the late 1970s and early 1980s there appeared a series of ambitious, synthetical works that sought to reground the discipline by providing coherent examples of how the different forms of sociological theory could once again be intertwined. While widely read inside and outside the discipline, these efforts failed in their foundational ambitions. As a result of this failure, over the last decade sociological theory has had diminishing influence both inside the discipline and without. Inside social science, economic and anthropological theories have been much more influential. In the broader intellectual arena, the most important presuppositional and hermeneutical debates have occurred in philosophy and literary studies. Sociological theorists are now participating in these extra-disciplinary debates even as they have returned to the task of developing ‘theories of’ particular institutional domains. The future of specifically sociological theory depends on reviving coherent relationships between these different theoretical domains.

scholarly journals Evaluation of a Paleontological Museum as Geosite and Base for Geotourism. A Case Study

Heritage ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1208-1227
Author(s):  
Gricelda Herrera-Franco ◽  
Karla Erazo ◽  
Carlos Mora-Frank ◽  
Paúl Carrión-Mero ◽  
Edgar Berrezueta
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Improvement Strategies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Santa Elena ◽  
Very High ◽  
Delphi Analysis

The Santa Elena province in Ecuador has outstanding geological potential in petroleum, mining and geosite resources. All the wealth of palaeontological samples and their inherent link to the history of this territory require a recognised museum with educational and scientific material to support the potential and promotion of geotourism development. The Megatherium Palaeontological Museum is located in this province and was the first Palaeontological Museum in Ecuador. It exhibits samples corresponding to the Late Pleistocene Megafauna that inhabited the area. This study aims to evaluate the museum (a geoheritage element) as a possible (palaeontological) geosite by analysing its contributions to the geoheritage of the Santa Elena province. Thus, we also aim to enhance the geotourism of the area and promote its collections as a geotouristic attraction. The methodological process was based on: (i) information processing and systematisation in the museum and its environment; (ii) assessment of the museum’s geological interest through the method of the Geological Survey of Spain, the Brilha method and the Geosites Assessment Model; and (iii) a qualitative evaluation using the Delphi and the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats methodologies to define strategies and proposals for museum development. Based on the results of the applied quantitative assessment, the museum has a “very high” (277/400) degree of geological interest, due to the high values of scientific (310/400), academic (310/400) and touristic (210/400) interest. In this same way, the results obtained through the Brilha method reflect a high scientific (290/400), educational (280/400), and tourist (315/400) interest and a low degradation risk (190/400) value in the museum. Furthermore, the applied Geosites Assessment Model shows the museum as a geosite with high main and additional values, placing it between the Z23 and Z33 fields of the global valuation matrix. The evaluation approached through Delphi analysis and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats matrix allowed us to propose improvement strategies to take advantage of the museum resources as an alternative that strengthens the geotouristic development of the area.

Press Propaganda and Subaltern Agents of Pan-Islamic Networks in the Muslim Mediterranean World prior to World War I

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odile Moreau
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
World War I ◽  
North Africa ◽  
World War ◽  
Subaltern Studies ◽  
Resistance Movements ◽  
The Press ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
History Of

This chapter explores movement and circulation across the Mediterranean and seeks to contribute to a history of proto-nationalism in the Maghrib and the Middle East at a particular moment prior to World War I. The discussion is particularly concerned with the interface of two Mediterranean spaces: the Middle East (Egypt, Ottoman Empire) and North Africa (Morocco), where the latter is viewed as a case study where resistance movements sought external allies as a way of compensating for their internal weakness. Applying methods developed by Subaltern Studies, and linking macro-historical approaches, namely of a translocal movement in the Muslim Mediterranean, it explores how the Egypt-based society, al-Ittihad al-Maghribi, through its agent, Aref Taher, used the press as an instrument for political propaganda, promoting its Pan-Islamic programme and its goal of uniting North Africa.

Turning Aliens into Socialists

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-93
Author(s):  
Jessica Moberg
Keyword(s):  
Outer Space ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Swedish History ◽  
Second World ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Highly Evolved

Immediately after the Second World War Sweden was struck by a wave of sightings of strange flying objects. In some cases these mass sightings resulted in panic, particularly after authorities failed to identify them. Decades later, these phenomena were interpreted by two members of the Swedish UFO movement, Erland Sandqvist and Gösta Rehn, as alien spaceships, or UFOs. Rehn argued that ‘[t]here is nothing so dramatic in the Swedish history of UFOs as this invasion of alien fly-things’ (Rehn 1969: 50). In this article the interpretation of such sightings proposed by these authors, namely that we are visited by extraterrestrials from outer space, is approached from the perspective of myth theory. According to this mythical theme, not only are we are not alone in the universe, but also the history of humankind has been shaped by encounters with more highly-evolved alien beings. In their modern day form, these kinds of ideas about aliens and UFOs originated in the United States. The reasoning of Sandqvist and Rehn exemplifies the localization process that took place as members of the Swedish UFO movement began to produce their own narratives about aliens and UFOs. The question I will address is: in what ways do these stories change in new contexts? Texts produced by the Swedish UFO movement are analyzed as a case study of this process.

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