scholarly journals Family Firms as Institutions: Cultural reproduction and status maintenance among multi-centenary shinise in Kyoto

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 793-831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Innan Sasaki ◽  
Davide Ravasi ◽  
Evelyn Micelotta

Our study investigated how multi-centenary family firms in the area of Kyoto – collectively known as shinise – maintain a high social status in the community. Our analysis unpacks the socio-cultural practices through which the ongoing interaction among these actors re-enacts and reproduces the social order that ascribes shinise a distinct social standing in exchange for their continued commitment to practices and structures that help the community preserve its cultural integrity and collective identity. By doing so, our findings trace a connection between status maintenance and the expressive function that a category of firms performs within a community. At the same time, our study reveals a dark side of high status, by showing how their commitments lock shinise in a position of ‘benign entrapment’ that may impose sacrifices on family members and severe limitations to their personal freedom.

2021 ◽  
pp. 202-236
Author(s):  
Claudia Mesa Higuera

RESUMEN: Este ensayo propone una lectura de La pícara Justina y sus paratextos, a partir de la relación de complementariedad entre el self-fashioning y las artes plásticas. Este análisis subraya el potencial de emblemas y jeroglíficos, escudos y empresas, de moldear la identidad individual y así contrarrestar la fijación del orden establecido con la genealogía, el abolengo, y la “limpieza de sangre”. El caso de Rodrigo Calderón, poderoso ministro de Felipe III, cuyo escudo de armas figura en la portada de la editio princeps, sirve como ejemplo para investigar la conexión entre la heráldica y el fenómeno del self-fashioning, en la España de la temprana modernidad. Por una parte, la manipulación de la identidad a partir de formas simbólicas representa un desafío al sistema; por otra, la adopción de sus paradigmas perpetúa y sustenta los idearios culturales sobre los que está construido. ABSTRACT: This essay proposes a reading of La pícara Justina and its paratexts based on the complementary relationship between self-fashioning and artistic modes of expression. This analysis emphasizes the potential of emblems and hieroglyphics, imprese and coats of arms, to shape individual identity in order to counteract the establishment’s fixation with genealogy, ancestry, and the so-called “purity of blood”. The case of Rodrigo Calderón, a powerful political figure at the court of Philip III whose coat of arms is featured on the title page of the first edition, offers an example to investigate the connection between heraldry and the process of self-fashioning in early modern Spain. On the one hand, the exercise of shaping one’s public persona through symbolic forms of representation constitutes a challenge to the social order; on the other hand, the adoption of its own paradigms, contributes to perpetuate discriminatory cultural practices and prevailing ideologies.


2015 ◽  
pp. 4-9
Author(s):  
Elizaveta N. Levandovskaya ◽  
Anna V. Pryakhina

Culture or Ethnicity (being usually heterogeneous) are the subject of a practical action, such as classification and categorization of Others or through Others, or existing cognitive systems (the denoted and perceived principles of the social world). These scientific problems can be attributed to the national-cultural prerequisites for the realization of intercultural communication and the phenomenon of hybridization. The dynamically developing process of transformation of contemporary states (from national to polycultural-national) is a subject of interdisciplinary discussions. The existence of ethno-social problems, misunderstanding, alienation, intolerance (racism, xenophobia, etc.), conflicts and violence (nazism, fascism, national-socialism, totalitarianism) testifies to the destruction of past strategies of formation of the conceptions of national identity, cultural integrity and intercultural communication. It is necessary to invent some new theoretical basis to the multi-ethno-cultural practices appearing in the multicultural globalization environment.


2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142110571
Author(s):  
Sebastian Weingartner ◽  
Patrick Schenk ◽  
Jörg Rössel

In times of cultural omnivorousness, authentic products are highly valued by high-status consumers. The article scrutinizes the social and individual preconditions for attributing hedonic and economic value to authentic products. Taking the concept of cultural capital as a starting point, it argues that cues indicating a product’s authenticity affect taste and price evaluations only if individuals perceive authenticity cues correctly (descriptive beliefs) and regard authenticity as an important product feature (evaluative beliefs). This interplay of descriptive and evaluative beliefs explains the appreciation of authentic products. The model is tested by combining an experimental tasting of apple juice samples with a survey. We find that cues of authenticity causally influence the hedonic evaluation of products only for consumers with both strong descriptive and evaluative beliefs. Attribution of economic value depends on descriptive beliefs only. In addition, such beliefs are socially structured: descriptive beliefs correlate with higher formal education, whereas evaluative beliefs covary with highbrow cultural practices.


2020 ◽  
pp. 019372352092859
Author(s):  
Kate Moles

This article examines the particular relations and entanglements of practices, bodies, and water in the social world of outdoor swimming. Using ethnographic data to describe how the relations, interactions, and meaning-making unfold and happen before, during, and after a swim, we can consider the ways the social world of outdoor swimming is ordered, the ways in which participants produce and are enrolled into that social order and the sense of belonging and connection that this enables. This article uses this case to highlight how we need to consider a sociology of and in water; to consider the ways interactions and meaning-making occur in and around bluespace; and to do this in ways that disrupts and expands our understanding of social worlds and life.


Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802110265
Author(s):  
Leandro Rodriguez-Medina ◽  
María Emilia Ismael Simental ◽  
Alberto Javier López Cuenca ◽  
Anne Kristiina Kurjenoja

It is frequently claimed that cultural agents are necessary to sustain and strengthen the social fabric, to guarantee economic growth and social development and to consolidate knowledge economies based on innovation. These arguments tend to avoid inquiring what kind of sociality these cultural actors are enacting. To address this point, we researched three Mexican midsize cities: Puebla, Tijuana, and Monterrey, between 1984 and 2017. Sociality produced by cultural dynamics, sponsored either by the public (cultural policy) or the private sector (cultural market), is generally characterised by a focus on social order, the construction of local identity, a hygienic view of public space and disempowerment of local actors. Differing from these views, our research has found a new form of sociality that we call ‘rough sociality’, produced by cultural agents from civil society. This sociality is conflictive, ephemeral, spatially bounded and affective, which has implications not only for the cultural work but, most importantly, for the social relations and the being/doing-togetherness that such work may enact and reproduce.


2019 ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Roberto Narváez Collaguazo

La antropología jurídica remite su ámbito de investigación e interpretación a los sistemas jurídicos que establecen el orden interno de las sociedades, y tiene en la etnografía un método de investigación que permite un acercamiento sistemático a las prácticas y particularidades culturales de los grupos sociales, analizándolos y desarrollando una descripción que nos permite una comprensión de sus aspectos culturales. La antropología jurídica utiliza la etnografía como un método para comprender el orden social y los sistemas legales imperantes en un grupo humano. El estudio de caso nos remite al pueblo waorani que habita la Amazonía ecuatoriana, contactado en la década del sesenta del siglo anterior y en proceso de cambio cultural, con influencia de preceptos religiosos evangélicos y de moral occidental. Después de más de cincuenta años de contacto, una institución del orden social tradicional, la guerra, mantiene vigencia y se expresa como un espacio de reafirmación cultural en un contexto moderno, con un nuevo marco simbólico y referentes históricos y tradicionales previos al contacto. La guerra, para los waorani, es un articulador social que otorga prestigio a sus participantes y rememora el ethos tradicional waorani siendo una expresión vigente de la cultura tradicional.Ethnography: a research instrument in legal anthropology.A case of amazon peopleAbstractLegal anthropology refers its research and interpretation field to legal systems establishing the internal order of societies, and – in ethnography – it has a research method with a systematic approach to cultural practices and particularities of social groups, analyzing and describing them for understanding its cultural aspects. Legal anthropology uses ethnography as a method for understanding the social order and legal systems prevailing in a human group. The case study refers us to the Waorani people who live in the Ecuadorian Amazon, contacted in the 1960s and in process of cultural change, influenced by evangelical religious precepts and Western morality. After more than fifty years of contact, an institution of the traditional social order, i.e. war, remains valid and expressed as a cultural reaffirmation in a modern context, with a new symbolic framework and historical and traditional references prior to contact. For the Waorani, war is a social articulator giving prestige to its participants and recalling the traditional Waorani ethos, being a current expression of the traditional culture.Keywords: Ethnography, war, Amazonian peoples, interculturality, culturaltradition.A etnografia: instrumento de pesquisa em antropologia jurídica. O caso de um povo amazônicoResumoA antropologia jurídica remete seu âmbito de pesquisa e interpretação aos sistemas jurídicos que estabelecem a ordem interna das sociedades, e tem na etnografia um método de pesquisa que permite uma aproximação sistemática às práticas e particularidades culturais dos grupos sociais, analisando-os e desenvolvendo uma descrição que nos permite una compreensão de seus aspectos culturais. A antropologia jurídica utiliza a etnografia como um método que lhe permite uma compreensão da ordem social e dos sistemas legais imperantes em um grupo humano. O estudo de caso nos remete ao povo waorani que habita a Amazônia equatoriana, contatado na década do sessenta do século anterior e em processo de mudança cultural, com influência de preceitos religiosos evangélicos e de moral ocidental. Depois de mais de cinquenta anos de contato uma instituição da ordem social tradicional, a guerra, mantém vigência e se expressa como um espaço de reafirmação cultural em um contexto moderno, com um novo marco simbólico e referentes históricos e tradicionais prévios ao contato. A guerra, para os waorani, é um articulador social que outorga prestígio a seus participantes y rememora o ethos tradicional waorani sendo uma expressão vigente da cultura tradicional.Palavras-chave: Etnografia, guerra, povos amazônicos, interculturalidade,tradição cultural.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-43
Author(s):  
Alexander Manterys

This article focuses on problems with correlating a value system to human activity. The author approaches analyzing this issue in terms of cultural capital. Subject to examination is the key component of social order, which can be described as “developing relations of the highest and lowest order”, as orientation towards oneself of one’s community in a social group or network. This work attempts to define what social capital consists of in terms of privileged and legitimized cultural practices. Presumably a culture of common values bears self-worth if it can be materialized within the boundaries of various types of relations. This allows for predicting trends of change in interpersonal relationships, by means of generalizing the results and conducting comparative analysis. Highlighted is the fact that such analysis makes sense if it were to be conducted in terms of cultural capital. As such, a special role is assigned to cultural competence. The ability and/or skills in practically using cultural achievements under certain conditions, with the goal of converting them into other types of capital later down the line, are especially valuable. Also noted is the fact that an understanding of cultural capital, as well as its transformations, is vital for analyzing actual practices which reflect the processes of the “achievements, approval or rejection, reproduction or transformation” dynamic. The author confirms the conclusion which had already been drawn by foreign scientists who are well-known in this field of knowledge, namely that there exists a certain pattern: either society brings forth specific channels for the flow of class cultures with their impenetrable boundaries, their peculiar and somewhat autonomous standards of purpose (of taste), or a dilution of class distinctions occurs. This inevitably has an effect on the decline of the role of cultural capital, and therefore on belonging to the elite. A hypothesis is brought forth about the need to define a person’s place within social networks, their affiliation with those who are typically considered to be members of “exclusive cultures”. Otherwise a connection to such networks implies the “lowest level of cultural competence” and an unfavorable place in the social hierarchy.


1958 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 158-160
Author(s):  
LAWRENCE SCHLESINGER

1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgene H. Seward
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
ROY PORTER

The physician George Hoggart Toulmin (1754–1817) propounded his theory of the Earth in a number of works beginning with The antiquity and duration of the world (1780) and ending with his The eternity of the universe (1789). It bore many resemblances to James Hutton's "Theory of the Earth" (1788) in stressing the uniformity of Nature, the gradual destruction and recreation of the continents and the unfathomable age of the Earth. In Toulmin's view, the progress of the proper theory of the Earth and of political advancement were inseparable from each other. For he analysed the commonly accepted geological ideas of his day (which postulated that the Earth had been created at no great distance of time by God; that God had intervened in Earth history on occasions like the Deluge to punish man; and that all Nature had been fabricated by God to serve man) and argued they were symptomatic of a society trapped in ignorance and superstition, and held down by priestcraft and political tyranny. In this respect he shared the outlook of the more radical figures of the French Enlightenment such as Helvétius and the Baron d'Holbach. He believed that the advance of freedom and knowledge would bring about improved understanding of the history and nature of the Earth, as a consequence of which Man would better understand the terms of his own existence, and learn to live in peace, harmony and civilization. Yet Toulmin's hopes were tempered by his naturalistic view of the history of the Earth and of Man. For Time destroyed everything — continents and civilizations. The fundamental law of things was cyclicality not progress. This latent political conservatism and pessimism became explicit in Toulmin's volume of verse, Illustration of affection, published posthumously in 1819. In those poems he signalled his disapproval of the French Revolution and of Napoleonic imperialism. He now argued that all was for the best in the social order, and he abandoned his own earlier atheistic religious radicalism, now subscribing to a more Christian view of God. Toulmin's earlier geological views had run into considerable opposition from orthodox religious elements. They were largely ignored by the geological community in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain, but were revived and reprinted by lower class radicals such as Richard Carlile. This paper is to be published in the American journal, The Journal for the History of Ideas in 1978 (in press).


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