scholarly journals Is social cohesion produced by weak ties or by multiplex ties? Rival hypotheses regarding leader networks in urban community settings

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257527
Author(s):  
Silvio Salej Higgins ◽  
Neylson Crepalde ◽  
Ivan L. Fernandes

In his seminal work, Mark Granovetter (1973) challenged sociologists to test sociometric hypotheses regarding collective action in communitarian settings. In this article, we tested the two main hypotheses which consider social cohesion in communitarian urban settings–these being firstly cohesion by weak ties and secondly cohesion by multiplex ties. We studied the elite leaders of two slum communities of Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Three social processes were examined as multiplex interactions: recognized status, exchange of useful information and collaboration. Our findings reveal, on the one hand, that multiplexity is associated with the frequency of ties and, on the other, that reciprocity and shared domains of performance fuel such strong multiplexity. If we assume that elite connections conform to a high order structure, our findings, in contrast to previously well-established hypotheses, reveal a segmented social order in which multiplexity does not mean the overlapping of social circles. On the contrary, multiplexed social exchanges are restricted to specialized domains.

Author(s):  
Patrick M. Morgan

This chapter focuses on the social aspects of strategy, arguing for the importance of relationships in strategy and, in particular, in understanding of deterrence. Deterrence, in its essence, is predicated upon a social relationship – the one deterring and the one to be deterred. Alliance and cooperation are important in generating the means for actively managing international security. Following Freedman’s work on deterrence in the post-Cold War context, ever greater interaction and interdependence might instill a stronger sense of international community, in which more traditional and ‘relatively primitive’ notions of deterrence can be developed. However, this strategic aspiration relies on international, especially transatlantic, social cohesion, a property that weakened in the twenty-first century, triggering new threats from new kinds of opponent. The need for a sophisticated and social strategy for managing international security is made all the more necessary.


Author(s):  
O. Deineko

The article is dedicated to the systematic analysis of the peculiarities of the formation and functioning of amalgamated territorial communities in Ukraine as new local social communities. Analyzing the legislative procedure of amalgamation, the author distinguishes the essential features of amalgamated territorial communities that are different from other settlement communities. Within the framework of this investigation, the newly amalgamated hromadas appear as a “second-order” phenomenon, which is a socio-legal construct that is formed in a consensual manner and on a voluntary reciprocal basis. Basing on the analysis of qualitative sociological research data the author demonstrates the importance of the functioning of reciprocity mechanisms at the level of orientations and practices of all social actors involved in the procedure of territorial communities amalgamation. It is illustrated that the "failure" of reciprocity mechanisms contributes to the change of merger scenarios, causes the postponement of this process and the emergence of conflict situations. The paper substantiates that the legislative procedure of territorial communities amalgamation intensifies the formation of social capital and the establishment of a new civic social order. The special, different social status of amalgamated territorial communities in comparison with other settlement communities is explained by the emergence of the phenomenon of social cohesion, the mechanisms of activation of which are contained in the legislative order of territorial communities amalgamation. It is concluded that an important theoretical basis for the sociological conceptualization of ATC is the concept of reciprocity, which explains the mechanism of successful amalgamation, which is facilitated by the attitudes and practices of reciprocity of all involved social actors. According to the author’s point of view, the sociological synthesis of spatial and activity approaches to the analysis of social communities within the framework of sociological conceptualization of united territorial communities is considered heuristic. The synthesis of these approaches emphasizes both the importance of the spatial context of interactions emergence and reproduction, and their essential functionality in the formation and reproduction of hromada social order.


Author(s):  
V. Lysenko

The social order posed by the society to the training of highly qualified personnel for the strategic needs of the labor market is associated with the changes in the economy, including the processes of its computerization and digitalization. Transformations in the digital economy determine new requirements for specialists’ training, their competences and qualification. The rapid changes in socio-economic conditions cause the need to transform the system of vocational training in order to meet the demands for competencies that correspond to the current technologic trends and methods of production. The reforms of vocational education system can be significant in resolving contradictions between the quality of training, on the one hand, and public and employers’ demands, on the other hand. Close cooperation of professional educational institutions, employers and social partners through their joint design and development of teaching technologies and methods for advanced vocational training of qualified specialists can be considered as one of the most efficient factors and conditions for resolving the above mentioned contradictions. These new conditions have already been created in the Centers for Advanced Vocational Training (CAVT), which can be characterized as a new type of infrastructural solution to the problem of aggregation of advanced vocational training programs and material and technical resources owned by science, education, production. The article focuses on some features of interaction and cooperation among vocational educational institutions, employers and social partners (social and public-private partnerships, networking cooperation, educational and technological cluster), which are taken into account in the performance of the Center for Advanced Vocational Training of the Kemerovo region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-128
Author(s):  
Łukasz Duśko ◽  
Mateusz Szurman

Recently, the role of the victim in criminal proceedings became more significant. An observation was made that the legal interests of the victim are much more severely affected by the crime than the collective legal interests in the form of public or social order. However, the differences in the rights the victim is vested with differ substantively between particular countries. The authors present the position of the victim in American, English and French law. The solutions provided for in these systems are confronted with legal regulations adopted in Poland, i.e. the home country of the authors. It shows, surprisingly, that the role of the victim in criminal proceedings has evolved somehow independently of the implementation of the concept of restitution. On the one hand, there are legal systems in which the criminal court may order the offender to pay compensation for the damage caused, but the role of the victim still remains marginal. On the other hand, there are systems in which the victim is not only entitled to receive restitution, but he or she also has significant powers which enable him or her to play an active role in the criminal proceedings.


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet Strydom

This article offers a critical assessment of the prospects of the emergence of a global cosmopolitan society. For this purpose, it presents an analysis of the different interrelated types of structure formation in the process of cosmopolitisation and the mechanisms sustaining each. It deals with both the generation of a variety of actor-based models of world openness at the micro and meso level and with the reflexive meta-principle of cosmopolitanism forming part of the cognitive order of society at the macro level. But the focus is on the formation of an intermediate, substantive, situational, cultural model of cosmopolitanism which is on the one hand guided by the abstract principle of cosmopolitanism and on the other selectively brings together the actor models. Central to this analysis of cultural model formation is the threefold or triple contingency structure of the communication involved. The diagnosis, which takes a variety of conditions into account, is that the vital central moment of the formation of a substantive cultural model that would frame the organisation of a normative social order is deficient, which implies that the societal learning process supposed to engender it is being diverted, impeded or blocked. An explanation along the lines of critical social theory is proposed with reference to socio-structural and sociocultural causal factors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Ruslana Moskotina

This article dwells upon the importance of finding methods and ways of studying protest behaviour that can explain its emergence. Protest behaviour is considered as the result of protest engagement. It is assumed that there are social ties between individuals, potential protesters. M. Granovetter proposes to distinguish strong ties and weak ties. Strong ties tend to form closed and cohesive groups but weak ties can be the bridges that match groups and/or individuals. The author of this article conducts a research with applying a method of agent-based modelling. Its aim is to test the Granovetter’s thesis about the strength of weak ties towards protest behaviour. In this research the linear threshold model is used. Our research with applying method of the agent-based modelling includes the computer experiments (simulations) with the social networks. There are generated five networks, three of which contain only strong ties and the rest of the networks contain only weak ties. Simulations with the networks allow us to determine the number of inactive agents that are involved in the protest, the speed of the protest engagement and the effectiveness of overcoming the resistance of inactive agents. It is found that both weak ties and strong ties can determine protest behaviour. Strong ties contribute to a quicker protest engagement. Weak ties can better overcome the resistance of inactive agents. At the same time weak ties slow down the process of the protest engagement and strong ties are generally less effective in overcoming the resistance of inactive agents. Agent-based modelling helps us to conduct the fundamental research. On the one hand we test Granovetter’s thesis about the strength of weak ties towards protest behaviour. On the other hand we cannot draw conclusions about protest behaviour in Ukraine. But we can conduct an empirical sociological study in order to test the results of our research and understand its relevance towards protest behaviour in Ukraine.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 197-225
Author(s):  
Hernán Maltz

I propose a close reading on two critical interventions about crime fiction in Argentina: “Estado policial y novela negra argentina” (1991) by José Pablo Feinmann and “Para una reformulación del género policial argentino” (2006) by Carlos Gamerro. Beyond the time difference between the two, I observe aspects in common. Both texts elaborate a corpus of writers and fictions; propose an interpretative guide between the literary and the political-social series; maintain a specific interest in the relationship between crime fiction and police; and elaborate figures of enunciators who serve both as theorists of the genre and as writers of fiction. Among these four dimensions, the one that particularly interests me here is the third, since it allows me to investigate the link that is assumed between “detective fiction” and “police institution”. My conclusion is twofold: on the one hand, in both essays predominates a reductionist vision of the genre, since a kind of necessity is emphasized in the representation of the social order; on the other, its main objective seems to lie in intervening directly on the definitions of the detective fiction in Argentina (and, on this point, both texts acquire an undoubtedly prescriptive nuance).


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 350
Author(s):  
Ismail Marzuki ◽  
Faridy Faridy

In life, humans certainly cannot be separated from their social interactions with others. Friction between individuals or between nations is something that is inevitable. That is because the understanding of the legal system and culture of a different society. The difference in opinion certainly needs to be harmonized by not locking up the meeting room of everyone's expression. From here, the existence of legal rules/norms on the one hand becomes important in people's lives. On the other hand, the recognition, respect and protection of human rights are also important to be accommodated. Therefore, this article examines the law as a means of maintaining social order, and human rights as a set of rights that describe the existence of human freedom in expressing their actions, and how relevant they are to the reform agenda, namely enforcing the law against violators of human rights seriously, both in national and international.


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