scholarly journals Mechanics and mathematicians: George Biddell Airy and the social tensions in constructing time at Parliament, 1845–1860

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-325
Author(s):  
Edward J. Gillin

In mid-Victorian Britain, reconciling elite mathematical expertise with practical mechanical experience presented both engineering and social challenges. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the construction of the Westminster Clock at Britain’s Houses of Parliament. Realizing this scheme engendered the collaboration between Cambridge mathematicians George Biddell Airy and Edmund Beckett Denison, and the clockmaker Edward John Dent. Transforming theoretical mathematical drawings into physical apparatus challenged existing relations between conveyors of privileged scientific knowledge and those with practical experience of what was, and what was not, mechanically possible. My article demonstrates how, within this project, physical models and devices provided material solutions to ambiguities over authority and social disorder in Victorian Britain.

Author(s):  
Svetlana Morozova ◽  
Dmitrij Zhatkin

The article is devoted to the perception of K.I. Chukovsky’s works by a famous English writer G.K. Chesterton. K.I. Chukovsky was one of the first to point out the ambiguity of the literary works by the English writer and called his journalistic activity more convincing. Describing G.K. Chesterton’s essays, K.I. Chukovsky believed that the writer is second to none in this genre. He praised G.K. Chesterton’s journalistic talent in responding to all the phenomena of contemporary social life. K.I. Chukovsky considered it obligatory for the Russian readers to familiarize themselves with the critical works of the English author. In the essay «Gilbert Chesterton. Manalive» (1924) K.I. Chukovsky substantiated why, for all the variety of genre forms that G.K. Chesterton used, Russian readers were familiar with only a few of his works. K.I. Chukovsky’s critical attitude to the novel «Manalive» is explained by his rejection of G.K. Chesterton’s utopian attitude to the social situation in England at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries. In G.K. Chesterton’s works K.I. Chukovsky saw a simulation of revolutionary pathos that did not solve pressing issues of social disorder.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110265
Author(s):  
Dorothy M. Goulah-Pabst

The complicated grief experienced by suicide loss survivors leads to feelings of abandonment, rejection, intense self-blame, and depression. Stigma surrounding suicide further burdens survivors who can experience rejection by their community and social networks. Research in the field of psychology has delved into the grieving process of suicide loss survivors, however the effects of suicide require more sociological study to fully understand and support the impact of the suicidal bereavement process on the social interactions and relationships of those left behind after death. This study aims to contribute to the body of research exploring the social challenges faced after the suicide of a loved one. Based on the analysis of powerful personal narratives through qualitative interviews shared by 14 suicide loss survivors this study explores the social construction of the grieving and healing process for suicide loss survivors. Recognizing that the most reliable relief is in commiseration with like experienced people, this research points to the support group as a builder of social solidarity. The alienation caused by the shame and stigma of suicide loss can be reversed by the feelings of attachment to the group that listens, understands and accepts. Groups created by and for suicide loss survivors should be considered a necessary tool to be used toward healing those who suffer from loss by suicide.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-180
Author(s):  
Janne Ikäheimo

Purpose As Finland became an associate member of the European Free Trade Association in early 1960s, the domestic brewing industry faced a new threat posed by imported beer. It was neutralized effectively with joint and individual efforts of the breweries. This paper aims to analyze the maneuvers taken by Tornion Olut Oy to brand its new product, Lapin Kulta, which ultimately became the most popular beer in Finland. In addition, the contemporary changes in the Finnish society with related social tensions are shown to have contributed to its success significantly. Design/methodology/approach Archival research focusing on primary sources complemented with biographies, historical newspaper and magazine articles as well contemporary research papers with an aim to reconstruct and better understand the historical and social context of the events. Findings The success of the Lapin Kulta beer in 1960s was not only based on the effective marketing, although a well-thought name, the successful participation in international beer “competitions” enhancing the brand and both improved distribution and logistics certainly contributed to it. Instead the success is shown to have depended also on seemingly odd collection of external factors. However, when put together, the success is shown to have been based on brand's capability to address the social tensions present in Finland during 1960s. Originality/value The importance of the context reconstruction in historical marketing research is underlined as developments traditionally attributed solely to product qualities and marketing may equally stem from a multitude of external factors. As a case study, the research represents a fresh take on the subject through a variety of previously neglected sources.


2014 ◽  
Vol 878 ◽  
pp. 831-839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keng Hang Fan

Waste separation bins that are mainly categorized into recyclable and non-recyclable are being installed almost everywhere in China. It is notable that China is pushing hard to get the public involved in garbage separation and recycling. As an ethnographic research, this paper provides social and cultural explanations of why the roles of these newly designed bins are extremely limited. Explanation of such limitation is deeply concerned with, first, the beliefs and knowledge about recycling of the general publics, and more importantly, the history and hard-to-be-changed culture of informal recycling involving garbage pickers in China. As a foreign Chinese, the author has been running around Beijing and other cities in China to explore into the behind the scene Chinese informal garbage collection system. Using a series of informative social surveys, interviewing the public and personal observation, the paper illustrates and discusses the social challenges and current dilemmas China is facing in attempts to formalize its garbage separation and recycling. The aim of the paper is to address the importance of integrating the existing culture and knowledge of the people with the making of future environmental technologies and policies.


1949 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Easton Rothwell

A PROJECT of collaborative research concerning major world trends affecting international relations has been launched this year at the Hoover Institute and Library. This project has been made possible by a three-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.1Beneath the original planning for the project lay the conviction born of wartime experience, that a deeper understanding of the dynamics of international relations could be obtained by pooling the contributions of the social sciences and related disciplines and by taking account of practical experience in the international field. The need for new and more penetrating approaches to international relations had been put by Arnold Toynbee in a few challenging words: “There is nothing to prevent our Western Civilization from following historical precedent, if it chooses, by committing social suicide. But we are not doomed to make history repeat itself; it is open to us through our own efforts, to give history, in our case, some new unprecedented turn.” Natural scientists, as well as social scientists are agreed that any “new unprecedented turn” must be sought in deeper understanding of relations among people and among nations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-75
Author(s):  
SONYA STEPHENS

This article examines the relationship between Baudelaire’s prose poem, “Assommons les pauvres!” (Le Spleen de Paris, 1869) and Shumona Sinha’s 2011 novel of the same title. Focusing on questions of reading and intertextuality, from Baudelaire’s reference to Proudhon to Sinha’s engagement with the prose poem and Le Spleen de Paris more broadly, it explores forms of confinement and creativity, the connections between narrative and freedom and the ways in which lyrical subjectivity and literary form reflect the social challenges of each period. In expressing socio-cultural and linguistic alienation, these texts centre the textual in an exploration of the marginal, thereby demonstrating that the connection between them goes beyond a critical act of violence and the presumed equality or dignity it confers, to represent a shared interrogation of universalism, multiculturalism, and authorial and political power.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Ayuso ◽  
Xavier Carbonell ◽  
Laia Serradell

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess higher education institutions’ (HEIs) social sustainability by applying Integrated Social Value (ISV) analysis to eight universities belonging to the Catalan Association of Public Universities in Spain. Design/methodology/approach ISV analysis is a social accounting methodology that considers both the economic value and the social value created for all the organisation’s stakeholders through a participatory and systematic process. Findings The authors have shown that ISV analysis can be effective to assess the impacts on social sustainability of HEIs. The monetised results facilitate understanding about the valued impacts and allow integration with the universities’ financial data. Research limitations/implications The research advances the under-researched topic of social sustainability assessment in higher education. Practical implications Quantifying universities’ social impacts in monetary terms may help to transform conventional financial accounting and improve HEIs’ internal strategy and management according to sustainability principles. Social implications The process of measuring the social value created by universities provides a way to meet the rising demands for greater accountability and transparency and facilitates engagement with stakeholders on how these institutions are contributing to sustainable development. Originality/value ISV analysis represents an innovative approach to assess how HEIs create benefits for its internal and external stakeholders and contribute to solutions to social challenges.


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-138
Author(s):  
Т. П. Голопич ◽  
І. М. Голопич

Legal aspects of the social regulator of contractual relations in labor law of Ukraine have been revealed. The concept of social partnership and social dialogue as a legal regulatory mechanism of collective relations has been studied. Legal regulation of labor conditions at different levels, through agreements, reflecting the will and interests of the parties to the agreement, has been analyzed. It has been found out that the personal nature of work, the definition of the specific labor function, duration of working time, remuneration of labor, etc., shall be reflected in a contractual relationship, which requires new forms of relationship between a state, an employer and an employee. Such new forms are acts of social partnership representing the interests of employees, employers, and the state in general. Special attention in this process has been paid to the collective agreement, wherein the interests of the labor collective and the employer are reconciled. The significance of the collective agreement is enhanced in the context of the market economy transformation and the development of new forms of management. Based on international experience it has been proved that problems of economic and public life are addressed optimally, if the orientation is implemented not towards the confrontation, but towards the achievement of social compliance, adjustment of social partnership on the principles of cooperation between employers and employees, which are realized in forms of negotiations, the conclusion of collective agreements and collective arrangements, coordination of draft regulatory and legislative acts and consultation in decision-making by social partners at all levels. It has been defined that social partnership is implemented by means of social dialogue, as a set of coordination procedures of interests of association of employees, employers and the state. Social dialogue helps to provide social harmony and stability in the society, it addresses diverse social and economic problems; it is the universal mean of collective relations for each country, it takes into account its traditions and particularities, and it is based on the significant practical experience of real cooperation.


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