scholarly journals Digital pedagogies and biotechnical realities: Education and life after the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Alexios Brailas
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Web Technologies ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Emotional Distancing ◽  
Do So ◽  
Digital Pedagogies

What would have taken years to change in the world we knew, took just a few months during a global pandemic. Millions of teachers, therapists, and other practitioners around the world whose work requires direct contact with people, dived into every synchronous and asynchronous platform they could find. They had to in order to continue their work with students or clients, to maintain connections, to empower people during the crisis, to ensure that nobody felt alone, to protect and strengthen life, and to resist a vicious invisible threat. All these practitioners struggled to ensure physical distancing did not result in social or emotional distancing, and managed to do so through web technologies and digital media. The social pattern of life, the very pattern that allowed coronavirus to threaten humanity, is the same pattern helped maintain life during lockdown by taking advantage of digital media.

Why social scientists still need phenomenology

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 072551362110643
Author(s):  
Christopher Houston
Keyword(s):  
Social Scientist ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Natural Attitude ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Suspension Of Disbelief ◽  
Do So ◽  
Critical Science

Pierre Bourdieu famously dismissed phenomenology as offering anything useful to a critical science of society – even as he drew heavily upon its themes in his own work. This paper makes a case for why Bourdieu’s judgement should not be the last word on phenomenology. To do so it first reanimates phenomenology’s evocative language and concepts to illustrate their continuing centrality to social scientists’ ambitions to apprehend human engagement with the world. Part II shows how two crucial insights of phenomenology, its discovery of both the natural attitude and of the phenomenological epoche, allow an account of perception properly responsive to its intertwined personal and collective aspects. Contra Bourdieu, the paper’s third section asserts that phenomenology’s substantive socio-cultural analysis simultaneously entails methodological consequences for the social scientist, reversing their suspension of disbelief vis-à-vis the life-worlds of interlocutors and inaugurating the suspension of belief vis-à-vis their own natural attitudes.

Cycle of Poverty in Developing Countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-139
Author(s):  
Opeyemi Idowu Aluko
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Economic Cycle ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Cycle ◽  
The World ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Cycle Of Poverty ◽  
Do So

Poverty is no longer fashionable even in the less developed countries of the world. The world has deemed poverty-ridden regions of the world as ‘anathema', forbidden, and ignoble. At the same time ways to get out of the menace are regularly strategised over a period of time. The developed countries of the world had been able to nip poverty to the bud significantly, but the developing countries still have a lot to do so as to overcome the menace. Poverty in the developing countries operates in a cycle of repetitions. This makes it difficult to curtail. How can poverty be reduced in the developing countries? This study reveals the reason while poverty has become a domestic phenomenon in developing countries and the way forward. The theory on poverty is evaluated alongside the present economic situation in Africa. The cycle of poverty, which includes the social cycle of poverty (SCP), political cycle of poverty (PCP), and the economic cycle of poverty (ECP), are examined. This study analyses the strategies to break the cycle of poverty in Africa and other developing countries.

scholarly journals Changing Perception of Beauty in India

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Nitika Seth
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Digital Culture ◽  
New Wave ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

Key Words - Perception, Perfection, Stereotypes, Appearance, Transformation What do we perceive as beautiful and why? Is it a reflection of the social scenarios, economic backgrounds or perhaps our history that influences us? The paper investigates and analyses the reasons for the stereotypical perceptions of beauty and discusses the slow but evident transformation that is taking place in our country. With access to the world via social media there is an interesting emergence that seems to have gained momentum in the last decade. This instantaneous and uninterrupted access to all forms of media has left one either trapped in the hope to achieve superficial perfection or towards a sense of liberation. There is enough evidence that the hurried homogenized half-digested content being offered has led to an overwhelming obsession with one’s appearance. Feeding on the insecurities has benefited many organizations and individuals. The advent of this digital culture has also led to a change in the cosmopolitan ideal and the millennial woman of India does not want to conform to norms. Whether the consumption of both print and digital media as well as the visually illustrious embodiment of the shift in social power to the developing lifestyle results in a new wave for the legacy of perfection remains to be seen. 

The Oxford Handbook of Media, Technology, and Organization Studies

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Media Technology ◽  
Organizational Processes ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
The World ◽  
End Products ◽  
Basic Relationship ◽  
Technological Object ◽  
Do So

Humans are woven with technology; since their inception in myth, tools – things ready to hand for use – have been what defines us. Understood prosthetically, they are extensions of our physiological and sensory apparatus. Our most basic relationship with the world is thus a technological one. Rather than simply an array of instrumental equipment that enables the creation of end products, technology sets our skills, our understanding, and our action in relation to each other through the sense of productivity, and it is here that technology and organization are intertwined. This handbook will explore the largely unchartered territory of media, technology, and organization studies, and interrogate their foundational relations, their forms, and their consequences. The arrival of digital media technologies - the organizational powers that move people, data, and things – and their subsequent influence on the styles and forms of organizing highlights the need to survey the very technological materials and objects that enable and shape organization, and those that are enabled and shaped by organizational processes in return. To do so, each chapter focuses on a specific mediating, technological object, such as the Clock, High Heels, the Pen or the Smartphone, asking the question: How does this object or process organize? Rather than being a chapter ‘on’ an object in isolation, the chapters consider how we might think about their resonance in the way we have, and continue to, create organizational form.

Algorithm as Demiurge

2017 ◽  
pp. 146-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Kreft
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

Plato's Demiurge is the quintessence of perfection and power. “Whatever comes from me is indestructible unless I, myself, wish it to be destroyed” - says the creator of the gods, speaking to them in Timaeus. The gods and Demiurge are believed to collaborate on the creation of people in accordance with the standard of excellent ideas; soon the world, as we know, will be created. Plato's Demiurge is also the good, and the platonic gods are righteous. Without Demiurge the world is a chaos, an environment of irrational chances. Nowadays, the myth of Demiurge can be related to the perfection of creativity. Demiurge becomes equal to the anticipated, all-powerful driving force. Omnipotent, yet tamed and friendly. Demiurge is also the leader in the tradition of social research, the “divine” constructor of the economy, the originator of development. In the new media environment, Demiurge is a convenient metaphor for the presentation of the algorithm: mysterious, error-free, resistant to influence, free from human weaknesses. A transcendent being. The aim of this publication is to present new concept, the core myth of new media organizations - the myth of Demiurge associated with the operation of algorithms and critical analysis of myths created around it, which accompany the social, political and business role of algorithms. Considering the aspect connected with the interpretation of digital media operation and their social and business role, algorithms have not been so far analysed in the context of the presence of myths in organisational functioning. The author believes, however, that the common factor in the perception of algorithms in new media is their mythical aureole and mythical thinking associated with them.

Leading Law into the Abyss: What (If Anything) Has Sociology Done to law?

1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (03) ◽  
pp. 609-624
Author(s):  
Austin Sarat
Keyword(s):  
Social Good ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Do So

Every age must find its own particular meaning for the biblical admonition, “With much wisdom comes much sorrow.” Every age must come to terms, in its own way, with the fact that the quest for knowledge is not an unproblematic social good, that the world is neither ours to be known nor, through knowledge, mastered. How our age learns these lessons, and whether it will do so at all, is the question that animates Marianne Constable's “Genealogy and Jurisprudence: Nietzsche, Nihilism, and the Social Scientification of Law.”.

scholarly journals A topical methodology research subject in the European area of higher education: ELF, EFL or ESP?

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-44
Author(s):  
Yury Vsevolodovich Maslov
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Research Subject ◽  
European Area ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Educational Challenges ◽  
The Social ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Do So

The European “ecosystem” of higher education seems to have been affected by the global pandemic in a number of ways. Some of these impacts may well be viewed as negative; some others, as giving a new impetus to the development of the entire educational system. It is evident, for instance, that the dire necessity to “go virtual” has created new avenues for the intensification of contacts between educators who previously were less motivated to do so (Magomedov et al. 2020, Melnyk et al., 2020). That clearly manifests the fact that the ongoing process of transformations taking place in national higher education systems across Europe has not slowed down at all, which has made some of the current cultural and educational challenges even more pressing. One such challenge is the necessity to effectively use ELF (English as a lingua franca). Researchers working in post-communist countries have made valuable contributions to linguistic studies, especially in the area of EFL studies, as these countries clearly belong to the so-called Expanding Circle. However, the social and cultural realities of today call for more focus not on EFL studies but on research in the field of ELF and ESP (English for Specific Purposes). It is explained by the fact that the ability to use ESP is now a highly desirable skill for the majority of professionals working in the post-communist part of Europe.

scholarly journals More than ever a relational approach is needed: Social Construction and the global pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celiane Camargo-Borges ◽  
Sheila McNamee
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
To Come ◽  
Collective Interactions ◽  
Economic Need

We are living in challenging times, surfacing many reactions, thoughts, visions and beliefs in an attempt to understand and offer ways to cope with the COVID crisis and the recovery of the world. We believe a constructionist stance can help us respond to this moment.  Everyday life is uncertain, although we most often act as if it is predictable and dependably redundant.  We organize our lives around certainties that lead us to feel that we are in control. The pandemic has pulled the rug from under our feet and uncertainty is now the slogan of our time. However, one “silver lining” of the pandemic might be the way it exposes the unfolding nature of our worlds. To that end, the pandemic helps us embody and thus “know from within” (Shotter, 2010) a constructionist sensibility.  This embodiment of social construction takes us far beyond a simple academic understanding. The confluence of the pandemic and learning about social construction can create the opportunity to put ideas into practice and, in so doing, our understanding of constructionist ideas is deepened. From a constructionist perspective, COVID-19 is not separate from us.  It is happening through us, in us, between us and because of us. Social construction helps us see the world as an interconnected and complex system in which macro and micro levels, as well as human and non-human entities are constantly creating and re-creating possible realities (Simon & Salter, 2020). Indeed, this highly contagious virus, initially framed as a public health issue,  soon revealed its complexity, having also political, social, economic, environmental and relational entanglements. Our attempt to balance the shutdowns (staying at home), for health protection, with the economic need for business to operate is an illustration of how interconnected these systems are. The virus also makes it necessary to balance physical distance with social connection and collective support.  Despite the fear and discomfort, the potential for change ignited by this global crisis is substantial. By coming together with a diversity of voices, experiences, and perspectives, new performances can be enacted, new ways to respond and cope can be imagined, and new forms of living can be created – and these are all changes that could possibly be sustained once the pandemic has past. The pandemic therefore is a perfect time for dialogue and innovation. Dialogue and relationality are fundamental pillars in the construction, de-construction and re-construction of knowledge and society (Gergen, 2009a). Change starts with us in our interactions, one interaction at a time. SC invites us to come together and share the challenges we face, co-creating new possibilities for health and connection. Through collective interactions, new meanings and possibilities emerge; we re-invent realities. How can we address this interconnected and complex reality? And how do we ignite change that supports a reconstruction of our world in ways that address the inequities we currently face? What are the social conditions that can ignite new forms of understanding that generate new and resourceful ways of living? 

scholarly journals Problems and prospects for the development of the tourism industry in a global pandemic.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-331
Author(s):  
Viacheslav Zadoia
Keyword(s):  
Tourism Industry ◽  
State Budget ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Hotel Chains ◽  
The Media ◽  
Further Development

The author notes that in a global pandemic, global mobility restrictions have led to a deep crisis in international and domestic tourism. Other sectors of the economy related to tourism, such as transport, hotels, restaurants, services, etc., were also affected. Given that the tourism industry is an important component for the formation of the state budget of many countries, and for some countries - the main budget-generating industry, it is clear how important it is to find mechanisms to minimize losses caused by quarantine restrictions on mobility. Governments are trying to find ways to compensate for the loss of revenue caused by the slowdown in tourism growth, which is needed to finance public services, including in the social sphere, environmental protection, agriculture and the financial sector, and to take measures to meet debt maturities, both in the public and in the private segment. Forecasting and identifying trends for the further development of the tourism business and related sectors of the economy in a pandemic is one of the important tasks of analysts, economists, and logisticians from around the world. The measures currently proposed are aimed at reducing the rate of the global pandemic - mass vaccination of the population, regional and local lockdowns, self-isolation of tourists and various migrants, all this does not work in favor of improving the rate of tourist travel. Thus, it can be stated that the global pandemic has affected the entire tourism business - the work of operators, airlines, hotel chains, digital booking platforms, advertising in the media, so we can confidently predict a global contraction of the tourism industry for at least the next five years.

Introduction. An Introduction to Research Methods in the Social Sciences

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Ece Özlem Atikcan ◽  
Jean-Frédéric Morin ◽  
Christian Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Easy Task ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scientific Truth ◽  
Do So

Introducing research methods in the social sciences is not an easy task given how complex the subject matter is. Social sciences, like all sciences, can be divided into categories (disciplines). Disciplines are frequently defined according to what they study (their empirical object) and how they study it (their particular problematization of the object). They are, however, by no means unitary entities. Within each discipline, multiple theories typically contend over the ability to tell provisional truths about the world. They do so by building on specific visions of the nature of the world, reflections on how to generate scientific truth, systematic ways of collecting and analyzing data (methods) and of justifying these methods as part of a coherent research design (methodologies).

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