scholarly journals A sociology of the Covid-19 pandemic: A commentary and research agenda for sociologists

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 726-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R Ward
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Jean Paul ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Shed Light

During the early part of 2020, there has been an abundance of critically important research on Covid-19 from medical, epidemiological and virological disciplines. There is now an urgent need for sociologists to engage theoretically and empirically on the social impact of issues related to Covid-19. As we have moved further into 2020, governments around the world have imposed different types of restrictions on social life, in order to quell the spread of Covid-19 and ‘flatten the curve’. These have included imposing various degrees of social isolation and restrictions on things like social gatherings, travel, sport and leisure activities, and going to work/school/university. This commentary explores the ways in which different branches of social theory can shed light on the implications of Covid-19 restrictions for social life ‘as we know it’. The broad fields of social theory in the commentary cover concepts such as risk, trust, fear, uncertainty and happiness. The process of developing the social theory driven research agenda contained within this commentary took a rather unusual route – it started by re-reading Jean-Paul Sartre’s ideas on existentialism, which led to me painting a visual sociology of Covid-19 (an image of my painting is provided), and ultimately to this piece.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE AMARNA LETTERS TOWARDS A STUDY OF SYRO-PALESTINIAN SOCIAL STRUCTURE (1). TERMINOLOGY FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 788-832
Author(s):  
Lukas M. Muntingh
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Social ◽  
Amarna Letters ◽  
Free People ◽  
Shed Light

Egyptian domination under the 18th and 19th Dynasties deeply influenced political and social life in Syria and Palestine. The correspondence between Egypt and her vassals in Syria and Palestine in the Amarna age, first half of the fourteenth century B.C., preserved for us in the Amarna letters, written in cuneiform on clay tablets discovered in 1887, offer several terms that can shed light on the social structure during the Late Bronze Age. In the social stratification of Syria and Palestine under Egyptian rule according to the Amarna letters, three classes are discernible:1) government officials and military personnel, 2) free people, and 3) half-free people and slaves. In this study, I shall limit myself to the first, the upper class. This article deals with terminology for government officials.

scholarly journals Application of Biomimetics to Architectural and Urban Design: A Review across Scales

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Uchiyama ◽  
Eduardo Blanco ◽  
Ryo Kohsaka
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
Sustainable Society ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Shed Light

Application of biomimetics has expanded progressively to other fields in recent years, including urban and architectural design, scaling up from materials to a larger scale. Besides its contribution to design and functionality through a long evolutionary process, the philosophy of biomimetics contributes to a sustainable society at the conceptual level. The aim of this review is to shed light on trends in the application of biomimetics to architectural and urban design, in order to identify potential issues and successes resulting from implementation. In the application of biomimetics to architectural design, parts of individual “organisms”, including their form and surface structure, are frequently mimicked, whereas in urban design, on a larger scale, biomimetics is applied to mimic whole ecosystems. The overall trends of the reviewed research indicate future research necessity in the field of on biomimetic application in architectural and urban design, including Biophilia and Material. As for the scale of the applications, the urban-scale research is limited and it is a promising research which can facilitate the social implementation of biomimetics. As for facilitating methods of applications, it is instrumental to utilize different types of knowledge, such as traditional knowledge, and providing scientific clarification of functions and systems based on reviews. Thus, interdisciplinary research is required additionally to reach such goals.

scholarly journals Co-Design of Social Impact Domains with the Huntington’s Disease Community

Disabilities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-131
Author(s):  
Natasha Layton ◽  
Natasha Brusco ◽  
Tammy Gardner ◽  
Libby Callaway
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
The Social

Background: For people living with or affected by Huntington’s Disease (HD) to experience a good quality of life, tailored support is required to meet physical, cognitive-behavioral, psychological, and social support needs. Substantial service and knowledge gaps regarding HD exist across support providers and service systems. Measuring unmet needs and what quality of life looks like is a fundamental step required to determine the social impact of service investment and provision. The objectives of this study were to validate and map a draft set of HD Social Impact Domains (HD-SID) against existing national and international outcome frameworks; and evaluate and finalize the HD-SID set using a co-design approach with people with lived experience of, and expertise in, HD. Methods: This research used a qualitative co-design process, with 39 participants across four stakeholder groups (people who were HD gene-positive, gene-negative family members, academics, peak organizations, and service providers) to: (i) map and verify the social life areas impacted by HD; (ii) undertake a rigorous three-phased, qualitative process to critically evaluate the draft HD-SID; and (iii) seek feedback on and endorsement of the HD-SID through this co-design process, with a final set of HD-SID identified. Results: Endorsed HD-SID comprised risks and safety (including housing stability, and economic sustainability) and social inclusion (including health and symptom management, physical wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, and building resilient relationships). Conclusions: Effective measurement of the impacts and outcomes for people with HD is informed by both extant measures and an understanding of the specific population needs. This qualitative co-design research demonstrates that HD-SID resonate with the HD community.

Bridging the Gap between Citizens and Decision-Makers

2010 ◽  
pp. 573-586
Author(s):  
Karamagioli Evika
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness

Over the past few years the concepts of government and governance have been dramatically transformed. Not only is this due to increasing pressures and expectations that the way we are governed should reflect modern methods of efficiency and effectiveness, but also that government should be more open to democratic accountability. The following chapter will introduce the social impact dimension of e-democracy while proposing concrete directions and incentives that should be provided for engagement through electronic means. The intention is to highlight the fact that technology is the result of a combination of tools, social practices, social organizations, and cultural meanings. It not only represents social arrangements, but also has the potential to facilitate and / or limit different types of interaction.

scholarly journals Social Impact of IVF (After COVID-19 Pandemic and New Normal)

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Dunya Ahmed ◽  
Mohamed Buheji ◽  
Noor Albakri
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Family Stability ◽  
New Normal ◽  
Fertility Ratio ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Impact On Family

This study aims to analyse the different IVF services and its possible impact on family and social life, after the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors selected the Kingdom of Bahrain as a context for the research and explored the IVF influence on the ‘family stability’ and the ‘social stability’. The framework proposed shows the importance of future foresight of IVF transformation in both the area of life and livelihood.The study used a quantitative method to understand the type of demands on the supplied IVF services, and where the capacity could be raised in the new normal. The paper concludes that IVF could be a source for family stability and as one of the means of controlling the rising of psychosocial phenomena in the future. The other implication of this study calls for monitoring the rapid increases of dependency ratio, as fertility ratio drops, and how IVF services should be planned as part of a national policy; especially with the repeated emergency crisis.

Social Impact in Product Design, An Exploration of Current Industry Practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew T. Pack ◽  
Emma Rose Phipps ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Eric C. Dahlin
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Government Regulations ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
The Social

Abstract Though academic research for identifying and considering the social impact of products is emerging, additional insights can be gained from engineers who design products every day. This paper explores current practices in industries used by design engineers to consider the social impact of products. Forty-six individuals from 34 different companies were interviewed to discover what disconnects exist between academia and industry when considering a product’s social impact. These interviews were also used to discover how social impact might be considered in a design setting moving forward. This is not a study to find “the state of the art,” but considers the average engineering professional’s work to design products in various industries. Social impact assessments (SIA) and social life cycle assessments (SLCA) are two of the most common processes discussed in the literature to evaluate social impact, both generally and in products. Interestingly, these processes did not arise in any discussion in interviews, despite respondents affirming that they do consider social impact in the product design. Processes used to predict social impact, rather than simply evaluate, were discussed by the respondents. These tended to be developed within the company and often related to industry imposed government regulations. To build on this study, the findings herein should be further validated for executives, managers, and engineers. A study specific to these roles should be designed to understand the disconnect better. Additionally, processes should be developed to assist engineers in considering the social impact of their products. Work should also be done to help educate engineers and their leaders on the value of considering the social impact in product design.

THE SOCIAL LIFE OF ACADEMIC DISCOURSE: REFLECTIONS ON THE ANALYSIS OF PIETY POLITICS

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-415
Author(s):  
Dunya D. Cakir
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Women Intellectuals ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Discourses ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Intellectual Activism

AbstractExamining the writings of prominent Islamist women intellectuals in Turkey, including Fatma Barbarosoğlu, Cihan Aktaş, Yıldız Ramazanoğlu, and Nazife Şişman, this article explores the repercussions of their intellectual activism for how scholars understand and study piety politics. These Islamist women intellectuals, whose discourse and subjectivities have been translated into analytical categories by scholars of piety politics, contest the terms of their encounters with academics and, more broadly, the conversion of Muslim women into objects of research. Their writings shed light on the complex interpretative interplay between academic and lay discourse when the objects of scholarly study speak back to social scientists. I argue that these kinds of critical engagements between Islamist women intellectuals and social scientific discourses attest to the mobility and circularity of social scientific categories, which have infused and reconstituted Islamist debates in Turkey. Rather than uncritically endorse or dispute these intellectuals’ interpretations of social scientific accounts, I leverage their claims to underscore the social life of academic discourse and to promote an enriched vision of piety politics and reflexive methodology.

scholarly journals Dialog Pemikiran Tentang Norma Riba, Bunga Bank, Dan Bagi Hasil di Kalangan Ulama

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-264
Author(s):  
Hisam Ahyani ◽  
Dian Permana ◽  
Agus Yosep Abduloh
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Profit Sharing ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Interest Rate ◽  
Mutual Tolerance ◽  
The Impact

This research found that the Norma of Riba in Islamic Economics is a khilafiyah problem as well as the law of Bank Interest, in principle, mutual tolerance and mutual respect and respect for inter-opinions must be put forward. This is because each group of ulama has devoted their energy to seeking the law of the problem, and in the end their opinion remains different. Profit sharing norms in Islamic economics are an innovative step in an Islamic economy that is not only in accordance with people's behavior, but more than that profit sharing is a social balance step in obtaining economic opportunities. Thus, the profit sharing system can be seen as a more effective measure to prevent conflict between the rich and the poor from occurring in social life. The impact of Bank Interest (Riba) on the Country's Economy, among others, has an impact on several sectors including the Economic Impact. The higher the interest rate, the higher the price to be set on an item. Social Impact, the social impact of society related to Riba in terms of unfair income. Impact of Company Resilience, only companies that have resilience will survive

scholarly journals Social Impact Analysis of Products under a Holistic Approach: A Case Study in the Meat Product Supply Chain

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12163
Author(s):  
Juan Aranda ◽  
David Zambrana-Vásquez ◽  
Felipe Del-Busto ◽  
Fernando Círez
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Impact Assessment ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Life Cycle Impact

Social impact assessment of products can be approached through different methodologies that need to be adapted to the particularities and features of the studied subject. Thus, the Social Life Cycle Assessment methodology can be used to assess different innovative practices of product manufacturing, under a circular economy approach, by identifying potential positive as well as negative impacts along products’ life cycle. This paper presents the results of the Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment of a reference product from the Spanish meat industry using existing and new innovative methods of social impact analysis. Worker discrimination, health and safety for workers, consumers and local community were identified as the social aspects with relevant significance into the business or for the influence on customer’s perception of the products studied. Therefore, results can represent a reference scenario for the future assessment of innovative solutions in the Spanish meet sector. Despite the scarce use of Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment, this case study is a good example of how this innovative kind of assessment can be helpful for companies to identify their weak and strong social performance areas and design strategies to improve in Social Responsibility Management.

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