Shtetls, Taverns, and Baptisms

Author(s):  
Ellie R. Schainker

Chapter 3 explores the social dynamics of religious toleration and the confessional state from below by examining the spaces of Jewish conversion. The chapter presents a range of conversion narratives which locate interfaith encounters at the local tavern as the springboard for migrating to a different confessional community. It analyzes daily social interactions among Jewish and neighboring Polish, Lithuanian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian communities, and how these encounters nurtured intimate knowledge of other confessional lifestyles, facilitated interfaith relationships, and provided access to the personnel and institutions of other faiths. By taking a geographical approach, the chapter presents the western provincial towns and villages of imperial Russia as interreligious zones wherein conversion was predicated on interconfessional networks, sociability, and a personal familiarity with Christianity via its adherents. In exploring forms of encounter, the chapter highlights the role of the local godparent—often local elites or civil/military personnel—in facilitating confessional transfers.

Author(s):  
Gulbarshyn Chepurko ◽  
Valerii Pylypenko

The paper examines and compares how the major sociological theories treat axiological issues. Value-driven topics are analysed in view of their relevance to society in times of crisis, when both societal life and the very structure of society undergo dramatic change. Nowadays, social scientists around the world are also witnessing such a change due to the emergence of alternative schools of sociological thought (non-classical, interpretive, postmodern, etc.) and, subsequently, the necessity to revise the paradigms that have been existed in sociology so far. Since the above-mentioned approaches are often used to address value-related issues, building a solid theoretical framework for these studies takes on considerable significance. Furthermore, the paradigm revision has been prompted by technological advances changing all areas of people’s lives, especially social interactions. The global human community, integral in nature, is being formed, and production of human values now matters more than production of things; hence the “expansion” of value-focused perspectives in contemporary sociology. The authors give special attention to collectivities which are higher-order units of the social system. These units are described as well-organised action systems where each individual performs his/her specific role. Just as the role of an individual is distinct from that of the collectivity (because the individual and the collectivity are different as units), so too a distinction is drawn between the value and the norm — because they represent different levels of social relationships. Values are the main connecting element between the society’s cultural system and the social sphere while norms, for the most part, belong to the social system. Values serve primarily to maintain the pattern according to which the society is functioning at a given time; norms are essential to social integration. Apart from being the means of regulating social processes and relationships, norms embody the “principles” that can be applied beyond a particular social system. The authors underline that it is important for Ukrainian sociology to keep abreast of the latest developments in the field of axiology and make good use of those ideas because this is a prerequisite for its successful integration into the global sociological community.


Author(s):  
Lexi Eikelboom

This chapter proposes a framework for approaching the theological significance of rhythm through phenomenology, prosody, and the social sciences. In accordance with the general categories of phenomenology established by Merleau-Ponty and the “rhythmanalysis” of Henri Lefebvre, the chapter investigates two experiences of rhythm: approaches to analysing the human encounter with rhythm in the reading of poetry and the role of rhythm in social interactions introduced through commonalities between rhythm in conversation and in jazz performance. These explorations establish two features of rhythm that are of analytical importance for the chapters that follow: (1) the synchronic and the diachronic as two necessary but distinct theoretical perspectives on rhythm, each of which emphasizes different features of rhythm and (2) the importance of interruption for understanding rhythm’s significance.


Africa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Padrão Temudo

This article aims at contributing to our understanding of violence and warfare in contemporary West Africa by adopting a bi-focal analysis that looks both at power struggles within the urban elite and at the grassroots multi-ethnic setting in southern Guinea-Bissau. I pay close attention to the social dynamics of rural peoples' perspectives, coping strategies and inter-ethnic conflicts. Local conflicts are elucidated as an ongoing process that traverses times of war and peace. Although they are subject to manipulation by urban actors, local conflicts are also a matter of continuous negotiation and partial consensus at the grassroots. In stark contrast to this, the struggles in the ruling group are characterized by an escalating spiral of factionalism, diminishing compromises and elimination of rivals. By analysing the relationship between urban and rural actors and the role of cosmology, the article also aims to shed new light on the multiple shapes patron–client relations can assume in Africa.


Author(s):  
Beste Nigar Erdem

The present study discusses how a masculine violence is presented in the news narrative in Turkey. Moreover, this study aims to analyze how the mental designs are reflected to the multimedia platforms and how it constitutes the social interactions and reflexes. Fundamentally, this study queries how the social reality area is reconstructed. Constructing the theoretical frame and the literature review of the masculine violence are the major concerns of this study. Additionally, the role of the news narrative in the construction of the social reality and the representation of the news of masculine violence are examined in this study. Finally, a case of masculine violence in Turkey has been examined in the social production context of the transmedia storytelling.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Françoise Bartiaux ◽  
Luis Reátegui Salmón

Based on empirical data on “green” practices according to household size, this article questions the role, if any, given to close personal relationships by social practice theories in sustaining or not daily life practices. Data are mainly drawn from an Internet survey conducted in Belgium in 2006 by WWF-Belgium on daily practices, related to food, energy consumption, mobility, and tourism. Results show that smaller households carry out more numerous “green” practices than larger ones. The concluding discussion underlines the relevance of including social interactions—namely within the household—into the conceptual framework derived from the social theories of practices, to take into account the rearticulating role of social interactions and domestic power claims when carrying out a practice or a set of practices, and when changing it.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dor Shilton

AbstractRecently, a growing number of studies have considered the role of language in the social transmission of tool-making skill during human evolution. In this article, I address this question in light of a new theory of language and its evolution, and review evidence from anthropology and experimental archaeology related to it. I argue that the specific function of language—the instruction of imagination—is not necessary for the social transmission of tool-making skill. Evidence from hunter-gatherer ethnographies suggests that social learning relies mainly on observation, participation, play, and experimentation. Ethnographies of traditional stone cultures likewise describe group activities with simple, context-bound interactions embedded in the here and now. Experiments comparing gestural and verbal teaching of tool-making skills also demonstrate that language is not necessary for that process. I conclude that there is no convincing evidence that language played an important role in the social transmission of lithic technology, although the possibility that linguistic instruction was involved as part of the social interactions accompanying tool-making cannot be excluded.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 184797901772161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Peter Ferdinand ◽  
Uli Meyer

In this article, we develop a programmatic notion of innovation ecosystems, which emphasizes the analysis of different forms of distributed innovation without reducing the perspective to the role of a focal organization. It highlights relationships between communities and corporate firms as nexus for distributed innovation and elaborates how different facets of openness shape the dynamic of the ecosystem. Thus, our model allows for the analysis and comparison of a broad scope of constellations, their particular coordinating mechanisms as well as related advantages and disadvantages. We apply this framework to two specific cases of distributed innovation, the RepRap 3D printer and the ARA modular smartphone, in order to delineate how differences in the forms of openness affect the prevalent relationships between communities and firms as well as the constituting functions of their particular innovation ecosystem.


Author(s):  
Vitaly V. Rubtsov

The report highlights the fundamentals of L.S. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory and discusses the system of concepts of this scientific school. The report analyses L.S. Vy-gotsky’s approach, according to which the basis for the development of human psyche is created by a qualitative change of the social situation or, in A.N. Leont’ev’s terms, by a change of human activity. The importance of intelligence and emotions, which are inter-nally connected, is demonstrated in relation to the change of human activity. The role of social interactions in learning and development of children is discussed referring to the challenges of the “new school”.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Siti Djazimah ◽  
Ihab Habudin

Islam has expressly regulate the division of tasks and roles between husbands and wives fairly. Although the husband is obliged to provide sustenance for his wife and children, but the family law of Islam does not forbid a wife from helping her husband in making a living with her husband's consent and does not interfere with her obligations as a housewife. There is a wife in a family of craftsmen in the village of Tegal Kembang, Imogiri, Yogyakarta, which acts as the main breadwinners for their families. This article examines the wives who work as the wage earners by using the concept of maqa> s} id ash-shari'ah < 'ah. The impact that emerges of the role of the kapok craftsmen woman is more on the impacts that are in positive traits and it is associated with the hajjiy and daruriy needs. The wife who has an income has the economic independence power that can even sustain the needs of the family. Social interactions that occur in kapok craftsmen community, make a strong emotional connection between kapok craftsmen. While the social interaction with the "outside world" (consumers) clearly provides insight of the Kapok Craftsmen. As for the negative impact of the mother's role of Kapok craftsman towards parenting does not seem significant.[Islam secara tegas telah mengatur tentang pembagian tugas dan peran antara suami dan istri secara adil. Walaupun suami berkewajiban memberi nafkah kepada isteri dan anak-anaknya, tetapi hukum keluarga islam tidak melarang istri membantu suaminya dalam mencari nafkah dengan persetujuan suaminya dan tidak mengganggu kewajibannya sebagai seorang ibu rumah tangga. Ada istri pada keluarga perajin kapuk di dusun Tegal Kembang, Imogiri, Bantul,  Yogyakarta, yang berperan sebagai pencari nafkah utama bagi keluarganya. Tulisan ini mengkaji para isteri yang bekerja sebagai pencari nafkah dengan menggunakan konsep maqa>s}id asy-syari<‘ah. Dampak yang ditimbulkan dari peran yang dijalankan para ibu perajin kapuk adalah lebih pada dampak yang sifatnya positif dan hal ini terkait dengan kebutuhan yang sifatnya daruriy dan hajjiy. Para isteri yang mempunya penghasilan tersebut memiliki kemandirian dalam ekonomi bahkan dapat menopang kebutuhan keluarga. Interaksi sosial yang terjadi dalam komuitas perajin kapuk, menjadikan kuatnya hubungan emosional di antara perajin kapuk. Sementara  interaksi sosial dengan “dunia luar” (konsumen) jelas memberikan wawasan perajin kapuk semakin bertambah. Adapun dampak negatif peran ibu sebagai perajin kapuk terhadap pengasuhan anak tidak nampak secara signifikan.]


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