scholarly journals E- migrant: technological, geographical and social spaces. New actors and spaces for political participation?

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 91-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio Nihil Olivera
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Social Spaces ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Migratory Movement ◽  
Public Decision

This article is based on the results provided by the research project named “A study of recent migratory movement from Spain to Uruguay. New technological, geographical and social spaces for citizen vincluation” (Olivera et al., 2014) and, by using the concept of “e-migrant”, it analyses if the introduction of ICTs enables the renewal of the traditional forms of political participation and public decision-making. Having the concept of e-migration as a starting point, the article aims at identifying what are the forms and the type of communication networks used by the new Spanish migrants as well as the way they connect and communicate (politically, socially and culturally) in Uruguay. It also aims at problematizing these issues under the light of the Social Sciences theories, following the critical investigative line of research about the “Information Society”. The authors argue that the ways new Spanish migrants connect to each other in Uruguay are dialectic relationships and are also a result of a social process that depends on the decisions and on the significances given by individuals. These decisions and subjectivities are not determined solely by the structures that are inherent to their condition as migrants, neither are they totally contingent to this condition; they move in a space of possible configurations in order to be re-signified in concrete situations.

Social Ontology and Model-Building: A Response to Epstein

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-192
Author(s):  
Nadia Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Model Construction ◽  
Ontological Commitments ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social

Brian Epstein has recently argued that a thoroughly microfoundationalist approach towards economics is unconvincing for metaphysical reasons. Generally, Epstein argues that for an improvement in the methodology of social science we must adopt social ontology as the foundation of social sciences; that is, the standing microfoundationalist debate could be solved by fixing economics’ ontology. However, as I show in this paper, fixing the social ontology prior to the process of model construction is optional instead of necessary and that metaphysical-ontological commitments are often the outcome of model construction, not its starting point. By focusing on the practice of modeling in economics the paper provides a useful inroad into the debate about the role of metaphysics in the natural and social sciences more generally.

scholarly journals ПОНЯТТЯ ТА СУТНІСТЬ СОЦІАЛЬНОЇ ІНКЛЮЗІЇ У СОЦІАЛЬНІЙ РОБОТІ

2019 ◽  
pp. 233-241
Author(s):  
О. О. Стрельнікова
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Mechanism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ukrainian Society

The present article is devoted to the problems of inclusion in modern Ukrainian society. The concept and essence of inclusion are studied from the point of view of the theory of social comprehension (of the essence of inclusive group), dynamics of social structure and social interactions. The inclusion is divided into social and educational forms according to the modern approaches to considering types of inclusion. The main forms of inclusion are analyzed from the point of view of pedagogical and social sciences. Special attention is given to the social inclusion in modern Ukrainian society. The comparative analysis of the categories «integration» and «inclusion» is carried out and the main common and distinctive features of these categories are determined in the article. It is said that social inclusion can be analyzed only in context of social exclusion, because they are both parts of the same social process. The potential of such further analysis are researched. The peculiarities of the process of social inclusion in modern Ukrainian society are analyzed. The main characteristics of social inclusion are described in the article on the basis of analysis of modern scientific literature. Special attention is given to the social inclusion in social work and social science. From the point of view of socio-pedagogical science social inclusion is analyzed as democratic action about comprehension somebody or the whole social group into some activity or cultural process. Social inclusion in modern Ukrainian society becomes social mechanism, some kind of an instrument, aimed at overcoming the barriers and constraints on the path to social well-being, which radically changes the existing state social politics. The results of the research are used in the social work, pedagogical and social sciences.

Epistemology, social inquiry and quantum theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-242
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Monk-Turner
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Social World ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern Physics

PurposeThis work examines assumptions of positivism and the traditional scientific method.Design/methodology/approachInsights from quantum mechanics are explored especially as they relate to method, measurement and what is knowable. An argument is made that how social scientists, particularly sociologists, understand the nature of “reality out there” and describe the social world may be challenged by quantum ideas. The benefits of utilized mixed methods, considering quantum insights, cannot be overstated.FindingsIt is the proposition of this work that insights from modern physics alter the understanding of the world “out there.” Wheeler suggested that the most profound implication from modern physics is that “there is no out there” (1982; see also Baggott, 1992). Grappling with how modern physics may alter understanding in the social sciences will be difficult; however, that does not mean the task should not be undertaken (see Goswami, 1993). A starting point for the social sciences may be relinquishing an old mechanistic science that depends on the establishment of an objective, empirically based, verifiable reality. Mechanistic science demands “one true reality – a clear-cut reality on which everyone can agree…. Mechanistic science is by definition reductionistic…it has had to try to reduce complexity to oversimplification and process to statis. This creates an illusionary world…that has little or nothing to do with the complexity of the process of the reality of creation as we know, experience, and participate in it” (Goswami, 1993, pp. 64, 66).Research limitations/implicationsMany physicists have popularized quantum ideas for others interested in contemplating the implications of modern physics. Because of the difficulty in conceiving of quantum ideas, the meaning of the quantum in popular culture is far removed from the parent discipline. Thus, the culture has been shaped by the rhetoric and ideas surrounding the basic quantum mathematical formulas. And, over time, as quantum ideas have come to be part of the popular culture, even the link to the popularized literature in physics is lost. Rather, quantum ideas may be viewed as cultural formations that take on a life of their own.Practical implicationsThe work allows a critique of positivist method and provides insight on how to frame qualitative methodology in a new way.Social implicationsThe work utilizes popularized ideas in quantum theory: the preeminent theory that describes all matter. Little work in sociology utilizes this perspective in understanding research methods.Originality/valueQuantum insights have rarely been explored in highlighting limitations in positivism. The current work aims to build on quantum insights and how these may help us better understand the social world around us.

scholarly journals Augmented intelligence technology. The ethical and practical problems of its implementation in libraries

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Wójcik
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Information Science ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Scientific Databases ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject

PurposeThe subject of the article is the concept of augmented intelligence, which constitutes a further stage in the development of research on artificial intelligence. This is a new phenomenon that has rarely been considered in the subject literature so far, which may be interesting for the fields of social sciences and humanities. The aim is to describe the features of this technology and determine the practical and ethical problems associated with its implementation in libraries.Design/methodology/approachThe method of literature review was used. Systematic searches according to specific questions were carried out using the Scopus and Web of Science scientific databases, as well as Google Scholar and the LISTA abstract database.FindingsThe results established that the issue of augmented intelligence has barely been discussed in the field of librarianship. Although this technology may be interesting as a new area of librarian research and as a new framework for designing innovative services, deep ethical consideration is necessary before this technology is introduced in libraries.Research limitations/implicationsThe article deals with some of the newest technologies available, and this topic is generally very rarely discussed in scientific publications in either the social sciences or humanities. Therefore, due to the limited availability of materials, the findings presented in the article are primarily of a conceptual nature. The aim is to present this topic from the perspective of librarianship and to create a starting point for further discussion on the ethical aspects of introducing new technologies in libraries.Practical implicationsThe results can be widely used in practice as a framework for the implementation of augmented intelligence in libraries.Social implicationsThe article can help to facilitate the debate on the role of implementing new technologies in libraries.Originality/valueThe problem of augmented intelligence is very rarely addressed in the subject literature in the field of library and information science.

Human Nature and Economic Institutions: Instinct Psychology, Behaviorism, and the Development of American Institutionalism

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pier Francesco Asso ◽  
Luca Fiorito
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
United States ◽  
William James ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Analysis ◽  
Thorstein Veblen ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social

Recent articles have explored from different perspectives the psychological foundations of American institutionalism from its beginning to the interwar years (Hodgson 1999; Lewin 1996; Rutherford 2000a, 2000b; Asso and Fiorito 2003). Other authors had previously dwelled upon the same topic in their writings on the originsand development of the social sciences in the United States (Curti 1980; Degler 1991; Ross 1991). All have a common starting point: the emergence during the second half of the nineteenth century of instinct-based theories of human agency. Although various thinkers had already acknowledged the role of impulses and proclivities, it was not until Darwin's introduction of biological explanations into behavioral analysis that instincts entered the rhetoric of the social sciences in a systematic way (Hodgson 1999; Degler 1991). William James, William McDougall, and C. Lloyd Morgan gave instinct theory its greatest refinement, soon stimulating its adoption by those economists who were looking for a viable alternative to hedonism. At the beginning of the century, early institutionalists like Thorstein Veblen, Robert F. Hoxie, Wesley C. Mitchell, and Carleton Parker employed instinct theory in their analysis of economic behavior. Their attention wasdrawn by the multiple layers of interaction between instinctive motivation and intentional economic behavior. Debates on the role of instinctsin economicswere not confined to the different souls of American Institutionalism, and many more “orthodox” figures, like Irving Fisher or Frank Taussig, actively participated.

scholarly journals “Where are you from?” Adolescent formulations of place identity

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-53
Author(s):  
Donna Starks ◽  
Kerry Taylor-Leech
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Place Identity ◽  
School Students ◽  
Critical Awareness ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social

AbstractIn globalized times, high mobility has complicated the meanings of allegiance to place, creating a need for a critical awareness of place identity. Although place identity has made important contributions to the social sciences, there is little empirical research on how it can be operationalized, or critically interrogated. In response to this need, we analyzed ways that Australian secondary school students responded to the question, “If someone asks you ‘Where are you from?’ how do you answer this question and why?”, and created a basic typology of place formulations to serve as a starting point for interpreting notions of place identity in research, professional and educational settings.

scholarly journals Social Theory after Strathern: An Introduction

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 7-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Street ◽  
Jacob Copeman
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Subject And Object

Taking its cue from the articles in this special issue, this introduction explores what value a critical engagement with Strathern’s work might have for the social sciences by setting such an engagement in motion. It argues that Strathern’s writings are a particularly fruitful starting point for reflecting on our assumptions about what exactly theory might be and how and where it may be made to travel. Through the juxtaposition of articles published in this special issue and Strathern’s writings on Melanesia it explores the theorization of power in the social sciences as one arena in which Strathernian strategies might be harnessed in order to reflect on and extend Euro-American concepts. It also takes Strathern’s own interest in gardening as a metaphoric base for generating novel topologies of subject and object, the particular and the general, and the concrete and the abstract. This introduction does not provide a primer for ‘Strathernian theory’. Instead it reviews some of the original strategies and techniques – differentiation, staging of analogy, surprise, bifurcation, the echo, and an unremitting focus on how we make our familiar categories of analysis known to ourselves – that Strathern has used to ‘garden’ her theory: it can be used, if you like, as a conceptual toolkit.

scholarly journals Migraciones “Al Margen”: grupos rumanos, diversidad y control social

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 229
Author(s):  
José López Riopedre
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Property Crime ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Youth Groups ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Migratory Movement ◽  
Biographical Approach ◽  
Criminal Groups

Introducción: Este artículo propone una aproximación socio-etnográfica a aquellos grupos de la circulación migratoria rumana que quedan relegados “al margen” y ubicados estratégica y simbólicamente “al otro lado”, esto es, al margen de la ley, la sociedad y fuera del foco de atención de las ciencias sociales. Así, nos detendremos en las brigadas, formaciones de jóvenes que organizan sus actividades en torno a los delitos contra la propiedad y la práctica de la prostitución trasnacionales; y los clanes romaníes, grupos con vínculo familiar que desempeñan actividades como la recogida y venta de chatarra, las tareas agrícolas de temporada o la mendicidad.Método: El enfoque biográfico se sustenta en la etnografía “multi-situada” (España/Rumanía), dando especial relieve a la construcción de contextos de convivencia e intimidad con los actores. Estos se hallan agrupados en diferentes núcleos familiares procedentes de las regiones de Valaquia, Moldavia y Transilvania, y que hoy participan de una experiencia migratoria trans-nacional.Resultados: Se trata de una investigación iniciada en 2013 y que se encuentra en curso, por lo que los resultados son provisionales. En el caso de la minoría romaní se observa una notable discriminación por parte de los Estados, que produce una injustificada alarma social. En relación con el delito y la prostitución trans-nacionales, las políticas de control social tienden al pánico moral y se concentran en grupos delictivos de baja intensidad, buscando la permanente legitimación en una lucha simbólica (e ineficaz) frente a los fantasmas del “crimen organizado”.Discusión: El paradigma de la victimización criminalizadora contribuye a ahondar en el proceso de estigmatización de estas poblaciones, cuya esperanza emancipadora pasa necesariamente por des-afiliarse de los discursos dominantes. No obstante, evidenciar el carácter heterogéneo de las migraciones rumanas no debe llevarnos a ignorar la influencia de las estructuras socio-políticas ni el peso de la historia. Introduction: This article proposes a socio-ethnographic approach to those groups of the Romanian migratory movement that are reduced to living "on the Margins" and strategically and symbolically located "on the other side", that is, outside the law, society and the attention of the social sciences. Therefore, we will focus on the brigadas, youth groups that organise their activities around property crime and transnational prostitution; and the Roma clans, groups with family ties that survive through the collection and sale of scrap, seasonal agriculture or begging.Method: The biographical approach is based on the "Multi-sited" Ethnography (Spain / Romania), with special emphasis on the building of close and personal relationships with the participants. These are grouped in different family nuclei originated from the regions of Valaquia, Moldavia and Transilvania, and that today participate in a trans-national migratory experience.Results: This research was initiated in 2013 and is still in progress, so the results are provisional. In the case of the Roma minority, there is a considerable discrimination on the part of the state, which feeds an unjustified social alarm. In relation to trans-national crime and prostitution, the social control policies are driven by moral panic and concentrate on low-intensity criminal groups, seeking a permanent legitimisation of a symbolic (and ineffective) struggle against the ghosts of "organised crime".Discussion: The paradigm of criminalising victimisation contributes to deepening the process of stigmatisation of these populations, whose emancipatory hope requires an escape from the dominant discourses. However, illustrating the diversity of the Romanian migrations should not lead us to ignore the influence of socio-political structures or the weight of history.

scholarly journals NONLINEAR METAMORPHOSES OF INFORMATION SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONDITIONS OF GLOBAL BIFURCATION PERIOD

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Information Society ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Global Bifurcation ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Actual Problem ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Synergistic Approach ◽  
Bifurcation Process

The actual problem based on the complexity of the study of information society that had been developing in the period of Global Bifurcation is analysing in the paper. Notised that in order to detect society’s nonlinear metamorphoses in the conditions of Global Bifurcation, new knowledge, new theoretical principles and ideas, new modern methodology, techniques and research algorithms are needed.The main aim of the article is the conceptualization of non-linear metamorphoses of information society development in the conditions of Global Bifurcation.Themethodology requires analysis of the current human developmentat the turning point of the nonlinear metamorphoses correspond to the synergetic methods and techniques. The principles of trialetics, interdisciplinary approach and socio-synergetic allows to the deeply understanding the non-linear metamorphosis of information society development in the conditions of Global Bifurcation are the basis of the methodology. It is proved that the information society development is the discrete social process, with a change of evolutionary and bifurcation stages in the context. The structural synergistic approach as an expression of an interdisciplinary approach to the information society development allows to penetration into the bifurcation process, which the national elite and political actors have a decisive influence on. When the Socio-Synergetic focuses on the bifurcation processes, the Structural-Synergetic methodology focuses on the transhistorical structures and societal bifurcation. The scientific novelty is associated with an appeal to the structural-synergetic methodology that has not been used for the information society analysis yet.Conclusion: societal patterns act as a probabilistic tendencies, that play an important role in the victory of dominant societal tendency (the structure-attractor) where the inverse mechanisms stimulated by charismatic leader works. Outcomes outputs – the social process is not predefined, and there are new opportunities for historical creativity at the point of bifurcation in front of society. The non-linear methodology contributes to the analysis of the information society ideology in the context of Global Bifurcation period.

scholarly journals Protest communication ecologies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Mercea
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Communication Studies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Growth Area ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Communication Practices ◽  
Media And Communication

The flurry of protests since the turn of the decade has sustained a growth area in the social sciences. The diversity of approaches to the various facets and concerns raised by the collective action of aggrieved groups the world over impresses through multidisciplinarity and the wealth of insights it has generated. This introduction to a special issue of the international journal Information, Communication and Society is an invitation to recover conceptual instruments—such as the ecological trope—that have fallen out of fashion in media and communication studies. We account for their fall from grace and explicate the rationale for seeking to reinsert them into the empirical terrain of interlocking media, communication practices and protest which we aim to both capture with theory and adopt as a starting point for further analytical innovation.

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