scholarly journals Rhetorics of Radicalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 726-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Karell ◽  
Michael Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Social Ties ◽  
Relational Understanding ◽  
Social Domains ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Networks Of Support

What rhetorics run throughout radical discourse, and why do some gain prominence over others? The scholarship on radicalism largely portrays radical discourse as opposition to powerful ideas and enemies, but radicals often evince great interest in personal and local concerns. To shed light on how radicals use and adopt rhetoric, we analyze an original corpus of more than 23,000 pages produced by Afghan radical groups between 1979 and 2001 using a novel computational abductive approach. We first identify how radicalism not only attacks dominant ideas, actors, and institutions using a rhetoric of subversion, but also how it can use a rhetoric of reversion to urge intimate transformations in morals and behavior. Next, we find evidence that radicals’ networks of support affect the rhetorical mixture they espouse, due to social ties drawing radicals into encounters with backers’ social domains. Our study advances a relational understanding of radical discourse, while also showing how a combination of computational and abductive methods can help theorize and analyze discourses of contention.

scholarly journals Rhetorics of Radicalism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Karell ◽  
Michael Raphael Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Social Ties ◽  
Relational Understanding ◽  
Social Domains ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Networks Of Support

What rhetorics run throughout radical discourse, and why do some gain prominence over others? The scholarship on radicalism largely portrays radical discourse as opposition to powerful ideas and enemies, but radicals often evince great interest in personal and local concerns. To shed light on how radicals use and adopt rhetoric, we analyze an original corpus of more than 23,000 pages produced by Afghan radical groups between 1979 and 2001 using a novel computational abductive approach. We first identify how radicalism not only attacks dominant ideas, actors, and institutions using a rhetoric of subversion, but also how it can use a rhetoric of reversion to urge intimate transformations in morals and behavior. Next, we find evidence that radicals’ networks of support affect the rhetorical mixture they espouse, due to social ties drawing radicals into encounters with backers’ social domains. Our study advances a relational understanding of radical discourse, while also showing how a combination of computational and abductive methods can help theorize and analyze discourses of contention.

Evolution, Societal Sexism, and Universal Average Sex Differences in Cognition and Behavior

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Industrial Countries ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
Shed Light

During the past century, social scientists have documented many cross-cultural sex differences in personality and behavior, quite a few of which now appear to be found in all human societies. However, contrary to most scientists’ expectations, these so-called universal sex differences have been shown to be more pronounced in Western industrial societies than in most non-Western developing societies. This chapter briefly reviews the evidence bearing on these findings and offers a biologically based theory that could help shed light on why cross-cultural sex differences exist. The following hypothesis is offered: The expression of many genes influencing sexually dimorphic traits is more likely among descendants of couples who are least closely related to one another. If so, societies in which out-marriage is normative (i.e., Western industrial countries) will exhibit a stronger expression of genes for sexually dimorphic traits compared to societies in which consanguineal marriages are common.

Understanding Student Retention through a Look at Student Goals, Intentions, and Behavior

2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy L. Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
Graduation Rates ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Shed Light

Historically, retention, persistence, and graduation rates have been used as indicators of a college's success. While these measures may shed light on what is happening among an institution's students, they are not always as meaningful as they appear. This community college believed that these performance indicators were not accurately reflecting the success of its students. As an offshoot of the college's Retention Committee, the Student Intention Survey was created and administered to the college's credit students as a means to identify student goals, accomplishment of these goals, and how they relate to retention. The results of this study helped explain student retention in terms of student goals and intentions, and identified factors related to positive and negative attrition.

scholarly journals Making community through the exchange of material objects

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Gift Exchange ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Community Studies ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Extended Families ◽  
Networks Of Support

Classic community studies have identified several ways in which material exchanges lie at the heart of kinship relationships and informal networks of support in working-class communities. This article re-examines some key emergent issues in light of social shifts that have occurred in East Manchester, a locality drastically reshaped by de-industrialization and numerous phases of urban regeneration. The ethnography explores how a group of older women made community in these neighbourhoods, which they perceive to be fragmenting through their extended families and friendship networks. The women continued to engage in strategies to support and care for each other and sustain social ties through the exchange of material objects. The analysis suggests that theories of gift exchange and material culture offer useful resources to reinvigorate community studies literature by identifying the ways in which gifts and objects remain central to sustaining kinship and friendship relationships.

Brouwer versus Hilbert: 1907–1928

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Posy Carl
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Philosophy Of Mathematics ◽  
Formal Logic ◽  
Foundations Of Mathematics ◽  
Theory Of Meaning ◽  
Classical Mathematics ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Way

The ArgumentL. E. J. Brouwer and David Hubert, two titans of twentieth-century mathematics, clashed dramatically in the 1920s. Though they were both Kantian constructivists, their notorious Grundlagenstreit centered on sharp differences about the foundations of mathematics: Brouwer was prepared to revise the content and methods of mathematics (his “Intuitionism” did just that radically), while Hilbert's Program was designed to preserve and constructively secure all of classical mathematics.Hilbert's interests and polemics at the time led to at least three misconstruals of intuitionism, misconstruals which last to our own time: Current literature often portrays popular views of intuitionism as the product of Brouwer's idiosyncratic subjectivism; modern logicians view intuitionism as simply applying a non-standard formal logic to mathematics; and contemporary philosophers see that logic as based upon a pure assertabilist theory of meaning. These pictures stem from the way Hilbert structured the controversy.Even though Brouwer's own work and behavior occasionally reinforce these pictures, they are nevertheless inaccurate accounts of his approach to mathematics. However, the framework provided by the Brouwer-Hilbert debate itself does not supply an adequate correction of these inaccuracies. For, even if we eliminate these mistakes within that framework, Brouwer's position would still appear fragmented and internally inconsistent. I propose a Kantian framework — not from Kant's philosophy of mathematics but from his general metaphysics — which does show the coherence and consistency of Brouwer's views. I also suggest that expanding the context of the controversy in this way will illuminate Hilbert's views as well and will even shed light upon Kant's philosophy.

scholarly journals Boldness and exploration vary between shell morphs but not environmental contexts in the snail Cepaea nemoralis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Dahirel ◽  
Valentin Gaudu ◽  
Armelle Ansart
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Ecology ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Thermal Response ◽  
Credible Interval ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Cepaea Nemoralis ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Shed Light

Understanding the maintenance of among-individual behavioral variation in populations, and predicting its consequences, are key challenges in behavioral ecology. Studying the association between repeatable behaviors and other traits under selection may shed light on the underlying selective pressures. We used the model snail Cepaea nemoralis to examine whether individual behavior is associated with shell morph, a key trait that has been extensively studied in the context of thermal tolerance and predator avoidance, and which is known to be under strict genetic control in this species. We quantified proxies of boldness and exploration in snails of three morphs coming from two habitats with different thermal contexts. We show that both behaviors were repeatable at the among-individual level (within-state Rboldness = 0.22 [95% credible interval: 0.15, 0.29]; Rexploration = 0.20 [0.15, 0.25]). Behavior was associated with shell morph, with the darker morph (five-banded) being consistently shyer and slower to explore. There was no evidence that thermal environment of origin influenced behavior. Snails became faster when test temperature increased; we found no evidence morphs differed in their thermal response. Boldness and exploration were correlated among individuals, forming a syndrome (r = 0.28 [0.10, 0.46]). We discuss what these results may tell us about the type of selection exerted by predators. We also detail how our results hint to a genetic link between shell morph and behavior, and the evolutionary implications of such a link. Finally, we discuss how our findings combined with decades of evolutionary research make C. nemoralis a very valuable model to study the evolution of behavior in response to environmental changes.

Who is a typical woman? How race biases representations of gender across development

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Leshin ◽  
Ryan Lei ◽  
Magnolia Red Byrne ◽  
Marjorie Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Black Men ◽  
White Women ◽  
Asian Women ◽  
Gender Representations ◽  
Multiple Classification ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Hispanic White

From early in development, race biases how children think about gender—often in a manner that treats Black women as less typical and representative of women in general than White or Asian women. The present study (N = 89, ages 7-11; predominately Hispanic, White, and multi-racial) examined the generalizability of this phenomenon across children and the mechanisms underlying variability in its development. Replicating prior work, children were slower and less accurate to categorize the gender of Black women compared to Asian or White women, as well as compared to Black men, suggesting that children perceived Black women as less representative of their gender. These effects were robust across demographic variation within the sample (e.g., across age and participant racial-ethnic background). Children’s tendencies to view their own identities as expansive and flexible, however, attenuated these effects: Children with more flexible identities also had gender concepts that were more inclusive of Black women. In contrast, the tendency for race to bias children’s gender representations was unrelated to children’s multiple classification skill and negatively related to children’s racial essentialism. These findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying variation in how race biases gender across development, with critical implications for the development of intergroup cognition and behavior.

Editorial: Rethinking operational governance and board composition

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Author(s):  
Mireille Chidiac El Hajj
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Organizational Effectiveness ◽  
Ethical Leadership ◽  
Board Composition ◽  
Present Issue ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
And Performance ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Shed Light

There is a lot going on, nowadays, in terms of corporate governance (CG). The amount of discussion concerning CG and the boardroom dynamic, and behaviors is quite phenomenal; even in developing countries with weak institutions (Aguilera, 2005), where scholars are doing valuable work to shed light on what is missing to reinforce the CG practices. Poor ethical leadership, fraud, corruption, lack of cultural homogeneity, lack of diversity, and mismanagement are the main contributors to failures. Rethinking operational governance, the board composition, and how decisions are made, executed, and monitored can deeply affect organizational effectiveness and corporate performance (Wyman, 2015). The following papers published in the present issue mainly discuss how organizational effectiveness and performance are a function of the board composition, diversity, and behavior

Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 372 (6549) ◽  
pp. 1429-1433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yossi Zaidner ◽  
Laura Centi ◽  
Marion Prévost ◽  
Norbert Mercier ◽  
Christophe Falguères ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Lithic Analysis ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Production Technologies ◽  
Radiometric Ages ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Two Populations ◽  
Shed Light

Fossils of a Middle Pleistocene (MP) Homo within a well-defined archaeological context at the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel, shed light on MP Homo culture and behavior. Radiometric ages, along with cultural and stratigraphic considerations, suggest that the fossils are 140,000 to 120,000 years old, chronologically overlapping with H. sapiens in western Asia. Lithic analysis reveals that MP Homo mastered stone-tool production technologies, previously known only among H. sapiens and Neanderthals. The Levallois knapping methods they used are indistinguishable from that of concurrent H. sapiens in western Asia. The most parsimonious explanation for such a close similarity is the cultural interactions between these two populations. These findings constitute evidence of contacts and interactions between H. sapiens and MP Homo.

Conflict and Nationalist Frames

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Eve Desrosiers
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Ethnic Relations ◽  
Framing Theory ◽  
Conflict Studies ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Armed Violence ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Religious Nature ◽  
Shed Light

In the context of nationalist and ethnic struggles, framing refers to strategic communication aimed at changing perceptions and behavior, such as persuading members of a group to unite and fight or their opponents to demobilize. The concept and theory behind framing stem from sociology, and in particular American social movements theory, where they have helped reconcile an interest in the construction of identities and “meaning work” with the study of structures that favor participation in collective endeavors. Framing not only unpacks the processes behind this form of strategic communication through notions such as alignment and resonance, but it has also produced extensive scholarship on types of frames that foster mobilization and the socio-psychological keys they play upon in so doing. Framing theory has also focused on some of the elements contributing to the success—or lack thereof—of communication aimed at persuasion. Considering that participation in crises and conflicts is an extreme form of mobilization, framing has, since the mid-2000s, made headway in conflict studies, where scholars have turned to framing processes to shed light on how people can be convinced to rally around the nationalist or ethnic flag and even take up arms in their group’s name. More recently, framing-centric approaches have been used to shed light on frames deployed in conflicts of a religious nature, as well as in the study of radicalization and the ideological or ideational framing behind it. The future of framing theory with regards to identity-based conflicts depends, however, on scholars’ ability to produce framing concepts and theoretical insights specific to conflict studies able to federate the community or researchers adopting the approach to study armed violence. As growing research on armed conflict turns to understanding the links between national and local realities, framing theorists may in addition benefit from greater attention to local frames and framing dynamics, and how they relate to the broader, elite-driven frames more commonly focused on in the study of armed violence. Finally, though so far little explored, framing proponents may stand to gain from engaging with literature using survey experiments or other promising quantitative approaches that have also sought to generate insights into ethnic relations or government representation and policy regarding crises and war.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document