Agents of Representation: The Organic Connection between Society and Leftist Parties in Bolivia and Uruguay

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232922110424
Author(s):  
Santiago Anria ◽  
Verónica Pérez Bentancur ◽  
Rafael Piñeiro Rodríguez ◽  
Fernando Rosenblatt
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Electoral Competition ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Organizational Attributes ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
Organizational Features ◽  
Leftist Parties

Parties are central agents of democratic representation. The literature assumes that this function is an automatic consequence of social structure and/or a product of incentives derived from electoral competition. However, representation is contingent upon the organizational structure of parties. The connection between a party and an organized constituency is not limited to electoral strategy; it includes an organic connection through permanent formal or informal linkages that bind party programmatic positions to social groups’ preferences, regardless of the electoral returns. This article analyzes how the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement toward Socialism, MAS) in Bolivia and the Frente Amplio (Broad Front, FA) in Uruguay developed two different forms of relationship with social organizations that result from the interplay of historical factors traceable to the parties’ formative phases and party organizational attributes. Party organizational features that grant voice to grassroots activists serve as crucial mechanisms for bottom-up incorporation of societal interests and demands.

The Psychology of the Main Social Groups

2020 ◽  
pp. 102-138
Author(s):  
Jon Elster
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
The Social

This chapter refers to the beliefs of individuals that occupied various positions in the structures of the old regime. For histoire des mentalités, the chapter tries to determine popular beliefs, elite beliefs, and beliefs about beliefs in accordance with reasons given in the Madisonian caveats. It also analyzes the behavior of the main agents in the economic and political system, which includes the peasantry, local authorities, several urban groupings, the parlements, provincial estates, the royal administration, the royal court, and the king himself. It includes the top-down beliefs of the authorities about their subjects and the bottom-up beliefs of the subjects about the authorities. This chapter also describes beliefs of the members of any group in the social hierarchy about other members of the same group.

Dynamics of the social structure of the Russian middle class

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-54
Author(s):  
Алексеенок ◽  
Anna Alekseenok ◽  
Гальцова ◽  
Anna Galtsova
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Social Self ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Financial Position ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Analysis Of Dynamics

The article presents a study of the dynamics of the social structure of the Russian middle class. It examines the dynamics of a number of different social groups in Russia in 2003-2014, «blocking» signs for the population which is not a member of the middle class, 2003-2014, self-assessment of the dynamics of 2014 and the possible dynamics for the next year of the financial position in the last year prior the survey in the different groups of the population. Also the analysis of dynamics of value orientations of different population groups, social identity, of the ways and the main types of leisure in the middle class is held. The article compares the model of Russian social structure, built on the basis of social self-assessment of the status of the Russian people in 2014 and 2000.

Culture, history, and psychology: Some historical reflections and research directions

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brady Wagoner ◽  
Ignacio Brescó de Luna
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Method ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
Culture History ◽  
Cultural Processes ◽  
History Narratives ◽  
The Mind

Psychologists have typically narrated their discipline’s history so as to glorify an experimental method, which analyzes the mind independently of cultural and historical factors. In line with Jahoda’s sociocultural sensitivity to psychology, this article critically interrogates the plausibility for this vision of psychology as cut off from wider social processes, and offers an alternative based on a re-appropriation of concepts and methods from psychology’s past that highlight cultural processes. This approach is illustrated with a study of how people remember history narratives on the basis of cultural resources taken over from social groups they belong to, and which thus embed them within a stream of history. Both psychologists’ narratives of their discipline and people’s everyday memory of history are shown to be motivated toward the justification of particular visions of social reality.

scholarly journals Unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies in a population of wild group-living mammals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E Nadin ◽  
David W. Macdonald ◽  
Sandra Baker ◽  
Christina D. Buesching ◽  
Stephen Ellwood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
European Badgers ◽  
Wild Group

Allogrooming can relate to social status in mammalian societies, and thus, be used to infer social structure. This relationship has previously been investigated by examining an individual’s dominance rank and their total amount of allogrooming. This, however, does not account for the identity of allogrooming partners. We applied a novel approach, calculating the linearity and steepness of unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies using actor–receiver matrices in European badgers (Meles meles) groups. Badgers have relatively unstructured social groups compared to most group-living carnivores and allogrooming in badgers is currently hypothesized to have a hygiene function. We examine whether allogrooming is linked to social status by investigating: 1) the presence, linearity, and steepness of unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies; 2) the trading of unreciprocated allogrooming for the potential benefit of receiving reduced aggression from dominant individuals; and, 3) whether unreciprocated allogrooming is associated with relatedness. We found weak unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies, with marginal linearity, steepness overall, and variation between social-group-years. Unreciprocated allogrooming was positively correlated with directed aggression, potentially providing evidence for the trading of allogrooming for reduced aggression. Allogrooming was not correlated with relatedness, possibly due to high relatedness within social groups. Our findings reaffirm that European badgers have a relatively unstructured social system; likely reflecting a relatively simple state of sociality in Carnivores, with little need for hierarchical order. Using actor–receiver unreciprocated allogrooming matrices to test for linearity and steepness of unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies in other social species will improve knowledge of group social structure.

Globalization, Cleavages, and the Radical Right

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Bornschier
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Party System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
System Change ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Scale Transformations ◽  
Relative Salience

This chapter underscores the merit of studying the emergence and growth of the radical right from a cleavage perspective, which sees party system change as rooted in large-scale transformations of social structure. The chapter begins by discussing explanations for the rise of the radical right in terms of the educational revolution, the processes of economic and cultural modernization, and globalization, showing where these perspectives converge and where they differ. It then goes on to show how the structuralist perspective has been combined with a focus on agency. Under conditions of multidimensional party competition, the behavior of mainstream parties is crucial, because it determines the relative salience of competitive dimensions and whether they offer space for radical right-wing challengers. Some of the most exciting recent research studies how the processes of dealignment and realignment structure the propensity of specific social groups such as the manual working class to support the radical right.

scholarly journals ‘Soviet Young Man:’ The Personal Diaries and Paradoxical Identities of ‘Youth’ in Provincial Soviet Ukraine during Late Socialism, 1970-1980s

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei I Zhuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
The Self ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Cultural Products ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Late Socialism

Using personal interviews and six diaries of contemporary male authors representing various social groups of urban residents in Soviet Ukraine (two from the cities, and four from towns), written in Russian and Ukrainian, from 1970 to the beginning of the 1980s, this article analyses archival documents and contemporary periodicals and explores the influences of the massive exposure to audio and visual cultural products from the “capitalist West” on the self-construction of identity of Soviet youth from provincial Ukrainian towns. This article seeks to study a concrete development of cultural détente from “the bottom up” perspective, avoiding the Moscow/Leningrad “elitist/conformist” emphasis of recent scholarship.

scholarly journals Ambiguous Platforms and Correlated Preferences: Experimental Evidence

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
JUHA TOLVANEN ◽  
JAMES TREMEWAN ◽  
ALEXANDER K. WAGNER
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiment ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Electoral Competition ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Treatment Variation

This paper studies, theoretically and experimentally, a model of electoral competition that allows for platforms where candidates may be ambiguous about which policy they will implement if elected. We argue that uncertainty about the policy preferences of the electorate, combined with perceived similarity of voters and candidates, can lead to the latter running on these ambiguous platforms. By appealing to voters from both ends of the spectrum, such platforms can ensure electoral success for noncentrist candidates in a sufficiently polarized society. Ambiguous platforms pose a threat to democratic representation because winning noncentrists always implement policies in favor of a minority and against the preferences of the majority. In our laboratory experiment, ambiguous platforms are chosen frequently by candidates and gain notable support from voters. Our main treatment variation provides causal evidence that ambiguous platforms are more popular among noncentrist voters if one of the candidates is a known centrist.

scholarly journals Role of sociality in the response of killer whales to an additive mortality event

2019 ◽  
pp. 201817174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marine Busson ◽  
Matthieu Authier ◽  
Christophe Barbraud ◽  
Paul Tixier ◽  
Ryan R. Reisinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Foraging Success ◽  
Killer Whales ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Mortality Event ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Fishing Vessels ◽  
Additive Mortality

In highly social top predators, group living is an ecological strategy that enhances individual fitness, primarily through increased foraging success. Additive mortality events across multiple social groups in populations may affect the social structure, and therefore the fitness, of surviving individuals. This hypothesis was examined in a killer whale (Orcinus orca) population that experienced a 7-y period of severe additive mortality due to lethal interactions with illegal fishing vessels. Using both social and demographic analyses conducted on a unique long-term dataset encompassing periods before, during, and after this event, results indicated a decrease in both the number and the mean strength of associations of surviving individuals during the additive mortality period. A positive significant correlation between association strength and apparent survival suggested that the fitness of surviving individuals was impacted by the additive mortality event. After this event, individuals responded to the loss of relatives in their social groups by associating with a greater number of other social groups, likely to maintain a functional group size that maximized their foraging success. However, these associations were loose; individuals did not reassociate in highly stable social groups, and their survival remained low years after the mortality event. These findings demonstrate how the disruption of social structure in killer whales may lead to prolonged negative effects of demographic stress beyond an additive mortality event. More importantly, this study shows that sociality has a key role in the resilience of populations to human-induced mortality; this has major implications for the conservation of highly social and long-lived species.

scholarly journals Religion and Globalization in Laos

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-29
Author(s):  
Boike Rehbein
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Global South ◽  
Functional System ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Private Matter ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Structure Division

According to Eurocentric sociology, modernization is supposed to make religion secular, a functional system, or a private matter. A closer analysis of the impact of contemporary globalization on religion in Laos shows that these tendencies can only be observed in certain social groups and in certain realms of religion. Some social groups preserve or reinvent religious traditions, others construct a new identity, and some do tend towards secularism or differentiation. The paper investigates these tendencies, referring to an empirical case study. It proposes to explain them within a conceptual framework adapted to societies of the global South which focuses on the concepts of social structure, division of work, socioculture, and institution. On the basis of these concepts, the paper proposes to distinguish between different religious realms, namely, belief, performance, and knowledge. In each of these three realms, different tendencies and social distributions can be observed.

Starchitects in Bohemia: An Exploration of Cultural Cities from the “Top-Down” and “Bottom-Up”

2020 ◽  
pp. 107808742093404
Author(s):  
Hyesun Jeong ◽  
Matt Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
National Level ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Ecological Relationship ◽  
Significant Attention

Urban scholars have devoted significant attention to the “cultural city,” but less attention has been paid to how different forms of culture relate to each other and to the larger urban environment. In this article, we compare two quintessential forms of culture-led urbanization that represent opposite ends on a spectrum: iconic architecture and neo-bohemia. While iconic architecture is a “top-down” approach to culture involving large budgets, elite “starchitects,” and powerful clients, neo-bohemia tends to be a “bottom-up” phenomenon formed as individual artists gravitate toward particular neighborhoods, establishing arts scenes. Using a combination of neighborhood case studies and national-level quantitative analysis, we investigate the ecological relationship between these two phenomena. In doing so, we provide new insights into the geographic and social structure of the cultural city.

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