Introduction to the Special Issue. Connecting sociological research with social problems and public policies: implications for Southern European Societies

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-13
Author(s):  
Mar Venegas ◽  
María Dolores Martín-Lagos ◽  
Ana Romão ◽  
Luis Baptista
Keyword(s):  
Social Problems ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Sociological Knowledge ◽  
Research Systems ◽  
Employment Education ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Work And Employment

Europe is facing new and radical challenges that demand extraordinary resilience from EU members, especially southern European societies, because of their outlying position and specific social problems in comparison with their EU neighbours. The difficulties of building a united Europe in the wake of the economic, financial and political crisis have exposed divergences in EU governance. In this context, sociology is an important tool to inform public policies and to provide the general public with an understanding of current challenges. The uses of sociology have social, political and practical implications in fields that are especially significant for southern European societies, such as welfare, work and employment, education, migration, social cohesion and political participation. However, the usual tensions in the organization of scientific research are now particularly intense in terms of how the sociological knowledge utility is understood and communicated. The trend toward internationalization in current research systems forces research communities to compete in a global market of scientific production, where English is the dominant language, and to publish results for an academic audience. Simultaneously there is a pressing need to make sociological knowledge relevant and applicable to regional and localproblems.

Introduction to the Special Issue. Connecting sociological research with social problems and public policies: implications for Southern European Societies

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-13
Author(s):  
Mar Venegas Medina ◽  
María Dolores Martín-Lago ◽  
Ana Romão ◽  
Luis Baptista
Keyword(s):  
Social Problems ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Sociological Knowledge ◽  
Research Systems ◽  
Local Problems ◽  
Employment Education ◽  
Practical Implications

Europe is facing new and radical challenges that demand extraordinary resilience from EU members, especially southern European societies, because of their outlying position and specific social problems in comparison with their EU neighbours. The difficulties of building a united Europe in the wake of the economic, financial and political crisis have exposed divergences in EU governance. In this context, sociology is an important tool to inform public policies and to provide the general public with an understanding of current challenges. The uses of sociology have social, political and practical implications in fields that are especially significant for southern European societies, such as welfare, work and employment, education, migration, social cohesion and political participation. However, the usual tensions in the organization of scientific research are now particularly intense in terms of how the sociological knowledge utility is understood and communicated. The trend toward internationalization in current research systems forces research communities to compete in a global market of scientific production, where English is the dominant language, and to publish results for an academic audience. Simultaneously there is a pressing need to make sociological knowledge relevant and applicable to regional and local problems.

Public space of the trustworthiness of sociological knowledge: The case of electoral research

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
OLEKSANDR STEGNII
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
Sociological Knowledge ◽  
The Public ◽  
Approval Ratings ◽  
The Impact

The paper analyses specific features of sociological data circulation in a public space during an election campaign. The basic components of this kind of space with regard to sociological research are political actors (who put themselves up for the election), voters and agents. The latter refer to professional groups whose corporate interests are directly related to the impact on the election process. Sociologists can also be seen as agents of the electoral process when experts in the field of electoral sociology are becoming intermingled with manipulators without a proper professional background and publications in this field. In a public space where an electoral race is unfolding, empirical sociological research becomes the main form of obtaining sociological knowledge, and it is primarily conducted to measure approval ratings. Electoral research serves as an example of combining the theoretical and empirical components of sociological knowledge, as well as its professional and public dimensions. Provided that sociologists meet all the professional requirements, electoral research can be used as a good tool for evaluating the trustworthiness of results reflecting the people’s expression of will. Being producers of sociological knowledge, sociologists act in two different capacities during an election campaign: as analysts and as pollsters. Therefore, it is essential that the duties and areas of responsibility for professional sociologists should be separated from those of pollsters. Another thing that needs to be noted is the negative influence that political strategists exert on the trustworthiness of survey findings which are going to be released to the public. Using the case of approval ratings as an illustration, the author analyses the most common techniques aimed at misrepresenting and distorting sociological data in the public space. Particular attention is given to the markers that can detect bogus polling companies, systemic violations during the research process and data falsification.

The Puzzle of the Underdog’s Victory

2021 ◽  
pp. 624-646
Author(s):  
Peter Ping Li ◽  
Shihao Zhou ◽  
Monsol Zhengyin Yang
Keyword(s):  
Global Market ◽  
Global Competition ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
The Past ◽  
Chinese Companies ◽  
Salient Features ◽  
Practical Implications

Traditionally, Chinese companies have been viewed as underdogs in global competition, but many Chinese latecomers have actually caught up and become major players in the global market in the past decade. This begs the question about this puzzle. Based on the authors’ case evidence, the central theme of this chapter is that many successful corporate underdogs share a pattern with two salient features. First, these firms tend to have stretch goals, that is, seemingly impossible goals given their available capabilities. Second, such firms tend to behave in a way similar to the notion of bricolage in terms of “making do by applying combinations of the resources at hand to new problems and opportunities.” By focusing on the question of how stretch goals and exploratory bricolage work together in the context of China, this chapter identifies the bricolage pattern with both theoretical and practical implications for both scholars and practitioners within and beyond China.

Cameroonian perspectives on entrepreneurship: discovering subcultural heterogeneity

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-277
Author(s):  
Dave Valliere
Keyword(s):  
National Culture ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Q Methodology ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regional Effects ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to explore cultural attitudes and beliefs about entrepreneurship in the southwestern region of Cameroon. This study also identifies the existence of subcultural variations with important implications for the development of entrepreneurial activities in Cameroon. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the hybrid qualitative/quantitative Q methodology to survey and analyze a purposively diverse sample of individuals and thereby discover subcultural structures and patterns to the attitudes and beliefs that exist in Cameroonian culture. Findings This study discovers three distinct subcultures that differ significantly in their attitudes and beliefs about entrepreneurship. These subcultures can neither be predicted from commonly used national measures of cultures, such as those of Hofstede, nor are they directly attributable to regional effects. Research limitations/implications The author calls into question the continuing use of national culture as a construct in explaining and predicting entrepreneurial activities, through discovery of subcultures at odds with national measures. Further research should be undertaken to assess the prevalence within Cameroonian society of the three widely different subcultures identified here. Practical implications This paper highlights the importance of incorporating subcultural variations in attitudes and beliefs (whether regional, tribal or other) in the development and implementation of public policies to affect national entrepreneurship. Originality/value The paper applies a novel methodology to qualitatively explore the subjective variations in the meaning and value of entrepreneurship in Cameroonian society, and to quantitatively develop a structure or typology to these variations.

scholarly journals Mediating Access: The Utilization of Status Evaluation Processes in the Work of Bouncing

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Sarah McLennan-Dillabough
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Social World ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Violent Behaviour ◽  
Sociological Knowledge ◽  
Grounded Theory Study ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Status Characteristic ◽  
Evaluative Processes

Evaluative processes play a central role in our social world. These processes are especially salient in the work of bouncing, the work carried out by security staff at establishments licensed to serve alcohol. Bouncers have the power to admit or deny patrons who seek admittance to bars and nightclubs. Although the continual evaluation of patrons’ statuses (including their social status, race, and age) is common in this line of work, little sociological research has focused on these processes. Using interviews and participant observations, this article provides a grounded theory study that aims to expand the sociological knowledge about evaluative processes in the work of bouncing. This article argues that bouncers rely on socially constructed stereotypes in their evaluations of patron attitude and dress, associating certain attitudes and dress with violent behaviour. Bouncers’ reliance on status characteristic stereotypes systematically excludes classes and races of patrons who are perceived to have characteristics associated with violence.

scholarly journals Prospects for the Development of Sociology in Russia in the XXIst century (discussion with V. Ilyin, K. Clement, I. Olimpieva, E. Zdravomyslova, A. Temkina, A. Kondakov, M. Burawoy, March 24, 2015)

Inter ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 7-18
Author(s):  
Svetlana S. Yaroshenko
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
State University ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Xxist Century ◽  
European University

The purpose of the discussion is to discuss the prospects for the development of Russian sociology: its possibilities to explain what is happening in Russian society, to respond to social challenges and to represent the interests of those social strata that are crowded out to the periphery along with global market development. Russian sociologists who study social inequality from different perspectives and develop critical discourse in Russian sociology participate in the discussion: Vladimir Ilyin (St. Petersburg State University), Karin Clement (St. Petersburg State University), Irina Olimpieva (Centre for Independent Social Research), Elena Zdravomyslova and Anna Temkina (European University St. Petersburg), Alexander Kondakov (European University St. Petersburg), with closing remarks — Michael Burawoy (University of California, Berkeley). Moderator of the discussion — Svetlana Yaroshenko (St. Petersburg State University). Can sociology be independent of society and the processes occurring in it? What is the relationship between sociologists and society today? What are the prospects of sociology as a science, as a profession and as a vocation? What are the features of social order for sociological research and how does it affect the commercial environment? How relevant is the class approach to today’s social theory? Does today’s Russia need a public sociology and what should it be? What are the most relevant dimensions of social inequality? These and other issues were discussed during the discussion.

PROBLEMS OF FORMATION OF TAX POLICY OF UKRAINE IN THE IT SPHERE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Razborska ◽  
◽  
Khristina Khabik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Information Technology Industry ◽  
It Services ◽  
State Budget ◽  
Priority Areas ◽  
Technology Industry ◽  
The Right ◽  
Taxation System

The article considers the peculiarities of taxation of IT services in Ukraine. It is determined that IT technologies are one of the priority areas of economic development of Ukraine. It is determined that the IT sphere is very important for Ukraine, because against the background of the general economic and political crisis, IT technologies are identified in Ukraine as one of the priority sectors of economic development, as evidenced by the significant contribution of export industry to total GDP and taxes. to the state budget. The volume of exports of IT services from Ukraine is researched and analyzed. The necessity of tax regulation of the IT taxation system in Ukraine is determined, the main tasks, principles and factors on the basis of which the taxation system of IT technologies is based are revealed. In the course of the research, tax incentives (privileges) used in the taxation of IT services in foreign countries were identified as appropriate and considered. In Ukraine, of all these benefits, only VAT exemption applies to all software supply transactions, ie benefits are applied not by a specific entity that has received the right to use them, but by all entities that carry out the relevant transactions. Thus, it was found that the application of such a benefit is not a right but a duty of the taxpayer. Priority areas for optimizing the IT industry have been identified. The priority directions of optimization of the branch of IT technologies are defined. It is determined that one of the main factors contributing to the development of the information technology industry and IT business in Ukraine is the ability to use a simplified taxation system, the so-called "third group", which is currently analogous to industry incentive systems in other countries. Therefore, for Ukraine, which is still successfully competing in the global market, it is necessary to create a tax regime similar to those in force in foreign competitors.

Learning organization – organization emerging from presence

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Nataša Rupčić
Keyword(s):  
Learning Organization ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Wicked Problems ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possibilities of transcending individual, organizational and social problems through the prism of presence as suggested by Senge et al. (2012). Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the critical review of previous contributions. Findings The idea of a learning organization seems romantic and elusive, as well as difficult to implement, especially when the definition by Senge (1990) is considered. At the same time, organizational and social complexity is increasing and resulting in numerous difficult or wicked problems. To reach integrative and transcending solutions, a change in perception and surrender to presence is key. Research limitations/implications Conclusions provided in the paper could benefit from further practice to corroborate the findings. Practical implications Suggestions for practitioners have been provided on how to solve personal, organizational and social problems on the basis of the paradigm shift and the shift in perception. Originality/value In this paper, the individual, organizational and social dimensions in terms of their intricacies are considered and solutions are offered that could simultaneously solve wicked problems on all three levels.

The blame game

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 11-13
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Failure ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Why do firms fail? The reasons behind given for corporate failure vary widely. During the financial crisis, firms failed because of the financial crisis, or during the Coronavirus pandemic firms failed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. When there are global market problems, those problems tend to get the blame for most things, including firms going under. But other reasons are sometimes given as well – that a firm is carrying too much debt to be sustainable, or a hypercompetitive market, or there are unsurmountable problems in the supply chain. Very often, these reasons are not scrutinized very closely as everyone moves on to invest in another company or try and find work elsewhere. Practical implications Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Original/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

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