scholarly journals Complex concepts with varying connotations: In search for conceptual definitions

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-376
Author(s):  
I. V. Trotsuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Sociological Perspective ◽  
General Picture ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
Social Standards ◽  
Conceptual Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Key Terms

One of the fundamental challenges for sociology is the interpretation of its key terms, which is determined by the fact that many words of everyday language and scientific discourse are the same despite implying a much higher level of generalization as sociological categories. Certainly, such challenges are more typical for the empirical research - when sociologists turn their theoretical concepts into sets of empirical indicators which have to be clear enough for the respondent to understand and answer the questionnaire and for the sociologist to interpret these answers correctly. Nevertheless, the lack of generally recognized conceptual definitions is no less important, because the general picture of social reality is necessarily made of them (the society is described as either fair, consisting of trustworthy institutions that provide opportunities for being happy, or in the opposite statements). The article presents a possible reconstruction of the strategy that sociologists use in the search for conceptual definitions for such complex concepts with varying connotations as love, happiness, trust and justice. This strategy consists of two steps: focus on the macro-sociological dimension of the phenomena under study as determining its various manifestations and everyday interpretations (the key step in the study of love and happiness); and identification of objective and subjective indicators of the phenomenon under study (the key step in the study of trust and justice). For instance, in the study of love and happiness, there is the obvious micro-sociological perspective that implies personal responsibility for being happy and loved, and the hidden macro-sociological perspective that implies social standards for identifying and achieving love and happiness; trust is defined as a source of social order, cooperation, institutional, organizational and everyday interactions, which reduces the level of uncertainty; in the searches for the conceptual definition of justice, there are two main approaches - the first approach considers justice as one of many grounds for developing some theoretical model; the second approach reconstructs justice either as an ideal political-philosophical model of social order or as a means of the comparative analysis of its practical implementations.

scholarly journals The origins of the theory of values in sociology and directions of its development

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-609
Author(s):  
A. S. Ryndina
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Value Diversity ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

Since the first stages in the development of society and its scientific models, the term value has become a center of theoretical and applied concepts. On the one hand, in everyday life, we all understand the importance of value diversity; however, on the other hand, it is not clear how this diversity can be combined with the social order. The article presents an attempt to identify those interdisciplinary origins of the theory of values that are the most significant for the conceptual definition of value and for the empirical study of the value system of the contemporary society in sociology. The author identifies two conditional trends in the development of the theory of values, which are fundamentally important for sociology: the first trend is presented by the development of a kind of axiological concept which was originally purely philosophical. As a rule, the origins of this trend are found in the works of I. Kant (morality as duty, its relationship with freedom and natural aspirations, objective goals, absolute values, etc.), since all subsequent philosophical interpretations of values either followed or criticized his transcendental approach. Thus, representatives of neo-Kantianism focused on such concepts as revaluation of values, value devaluation, imaginary values and guiding cultural values, values and estimates. The origins of the classical sociological theories of values are found in the works of E. Durkheim: he believed that values formed a kind of objective reality on which social harmony can and should be based; therefore, the main social phenomena (religion, morality, law, economics, aesthetics) are systems of (very different) values, or social ideals. The evolution of sociological interpretations of values was determined by the gradual departure from purely theoretical concepts to generalized methodological models, which allowed to describe the role of values in the institutionalized performance of the functions of preserving and reproducing a cultural model, and then to empirical-instrumental models based on the terms value orientations and social attitudes. Thus, the second conditional trend in the development of the theory of values in sociology is determined by the introduction of methods for the empirical study of value diversity in the historical and comparative perspectives.

Responsibility in Health and Risk Messaging

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber K. Worthington
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Conceptual Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Health Intentions ◽  
Societal Responsibility ◽  
Message Strategies

Health risk messages may appeal to the responsibility of individuals or members of interdependent dyads for their own or others’ health using many different message strategies. Health messages may also emphasize society’s responsibility for population health outcomes in order to raise support for health policy changes, and these, too, take many different forms. Message designers are inherently interested in whether these appeals to personal, interdependent, and societal responsibility are persuasive. The central question of interest is therefore whether perceptions of responsibility that result from these messages lead to the desired message outcomes. A growing body of empirical research does suggest that there is a direct persuasive effect of perceptions of personal responsibility and interdependent responsibility on health intentions or behaviors, as well as indirect persuasive effects of responsibility on intentions or behaviors via anticipated emotions, specifically regret, guilt, and pride. Research also suggests that perceptions of societal responsibility increase support for public health policy (i.e., the desired message outcome in societal responsibility messages). Important to this area of research is a conceptual definition of responsibility that lends itself toward identifying specific message features that elicit perceptions of responsibility. Specifically, attributions of causation and solution, obligation, and agency are identified as effect-independent message features of responsibility.

Principles of economic security management of institutions of higher education

2019 ◽  
pp. 174-181
Author(s):  
Nataliia Tsymbalenko
Keyword(s):  
Management System ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Security Management ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The University

The subject of research-theoretical concepts of economic security managementof universities. The purpose of the article. The study of the essence of the economicsecurity management system of the university and the definition of its main tasks,the formulation of principles of economic security management of the university.Methodology. The dialectical method, methods of analysis and synthesis, methodsof structural-logical and semantic analysis were used to study and summarizescientific papers on the research topic. The results of the work. The essence of theuniversity’s economic security management system has been reviewed. The maintasks of the control system have been identified. A definition of the university’seconomic security system has been proposed. Principles of management of economicsecurity of the university have been formulated. These are: scientific andorganizational and social principles. Conclusions. The proposed principles allow totake into account the economic role and social mission of universities in managingeconomic security.

scholarly journals What is a firm? A reply to Jean-Philippe Robé

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Simon Deakin ◽  
David Gindis ◽  
Geoffrey M. Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of The Firm ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
Modern Capitalism ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
Common Parlance ◽  
The Law ◽  
Business Entities ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

Abstract In his recent book on Property, Power and Politics, Jean-Philippe Robé makes a strong case for the need to understand the legal foundations of modern capitalism. He also insists that it is important to distinguish between firms and corporations. We agree. But Robé criticizes our definition of firms in terms of legally recognized capacities on the grounds that it does not take the distinction seriously enough. He argues that firms are not legally recognized as such, as the law only knows corporations. This argument, which is capable of different interpretations, leads to the bizarre result that corporations are not firms. Using etymological and other evidence, we show that firms are treated as legally constituted business entities in both common parlance and legal discourse. The way the law defines firms and corporations, while the product of a discourse which is in many ways distinct from everyday language, has such profound implications for the way firms operate in practice that no institutional theory of the firm worthy of the name can afford to ignore it.

The Effect of Frames on Personal Narratives of Bullying Memories

2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412110063
Author(s):  
Abigail M. Stark ◽  
Olivia H. Tousignant ◽  
Gary D. Fireman
Keyword(s):  
Peer Relationships ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Psychosocial Effects ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Bullying Experiences ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Past Experiences

Research demonstrates the malleability of memory; a dynamic process that occurs across development and can be influenced by internal and external frames. Narratives of past experiences represent one modality of understanding how memories are influenced by these frames. The present experimental study examines how memories of bullying are affected by two distinct yet common cultural frames. College students ( n = 92) were randomly assigned to one of two groups; one with a definition of bullying framing the experience in terms of resilience and one framing it in terms of negative psychosocial effects. Participants then wrote about a remembered experience with bullying. The researchers coded the narratives for coping strategies used in response to bullying as well as for positive or negative emotion words and story endings. The results demonstrated statistically significant differences between groups in the ways bullying experiences were remembered and described. Participants in the Resiliency Group more often had positive endings to their bullying narratives and used more coping skills and positive emotion words overall. The implications of a subtle frame influencing memories of bullying and its relation to development, identity, social order, peer relationships, and resilience are discussed.

The Multi-Relationship Evaluation Design Framework: Designing Testing Plans to Comprehensively Assess Advanced and Intelligent Technologies

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Weiss ◽  
Linda C. Schmidt ◽  
Harry A. Scott ◽  
Craig I. Schlenoff
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Systems ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Evaluation Design ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Summative Assessments ◽  
Extensive Evaluation ◽  
Level Of Knowledge ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Key Terms

As new technologies develop and mature, it becomes critical to provide both formative and summative assessments on their performance. Performance assessment events range in form from a few simple tests of key elements of the technology to highly complex and extensive evaluation exercises targeting specific levels and capabilities of the system under scrutiny. Typically the more advanced the system, the more often performance evaluations are warranted, and the more complex the evaluation planning becomes. Numerous evaluation frameworks have been developed to generate evaluation designs intent on characterizing the performance of intelligent systems. Many of these frameworks enable the design of extensive evaluations, but each has its own focused objectives within an inherent set of known boundaries. This paper introduces the Multi-Relationship Evaluation Design (MRED) framework whose ultimate goal is to automatically generate an evaluation design based upon multiple inputs. The MRED framework takes input goal data and outputs an evaluation blueprint complete with specific evaluation elements including level of technology to be tested, metric type, user type, and, evaluation environment. Some of MRED’s unique features are that it characterizes these relationships and manages their uncertainties along with those associated with evaluation input. The authors will introduce MRED by first presenting relationships between four main evaluation design elements. These evaluation elements are defined and the relationships between them are established including the connections between evaluation personnel (not just the users), their level of knowledge, and decision-making authority. This will be further supported through the definition of key terms. An example will be presented in which these terms and relationships are applied to the evaluation design of an automobile technology. An initial validation step follows where MRED is applied to the speech translation technology whose evaluation design was inspired by the successful use of a pre-existing evaluation framework. It is important to note that MRED is still in its early stages of development where this paper presents numerous MRED outputs. Future publications will present the remaining outputs, the uncertain inputs, and MRED’s implementation steps that produce the detailed evaluation blueprints.

scholarly journals A Conceptual Definition of Vocational Rehabilitation Based on the ICF: Building a Shared Global Model

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuben Escorpizo ◽  
Michiel F. Reneman ◽  
Jan Ekholm ◽  
Julie Fritz ◽  
Terry Krupa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vocational Rehabilitation ◽  
Global Model ◽  
Conceptual Definition ◽  
Definition Of

Ambiguous terminology in animal personality research: a self-report questionnaire and a systematic review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar ◽  
Maria Moiron ◽  
Petri Toivo Niemelä
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Animal Personality ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Biological Organization ◽  
Personality Research ◽  
Conceptual Definition ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Key Questions

Whether animal personality studies provide insights of broader evolutionary and ecological relevance to behavioural ecology is frequently questioned. One source of controversy is the vast, but often vague conceptual terminology used. From a statistical perspective, animal personality is defined as repeatable among-individual variance in behaviour; however, numerous conceptual definitions of animal personality exist. Here, we performed a 1) self-report questionnaire and 2) systematic literature review to quantify how researchers interpret conceptual and statistical definitions commonly used in animal personality research. We also investigated whether results from the questionnaire agree with those of the literature review. Among the 430 self-reported researchers that participated in our questionnaire, we observed discrepancies in key questions such as the conceptual definition of animal personality or the interpretation of repeatability. Our literature review generally confirmed the global patterns revealed by the questionnaire. Overall, we identified common disagreements in animal personality research and discussed potential solutions. We advocate for the usage of statistically-oriented terminology because conceptual definitions can seemingly be interpreted at multiple levels of biological organization. We expect that adopting such statistically-oriented terminology will, at least partly, avoid the confusion generated by the label “animal personality”, and ultimately help to clarify and move the field forward.

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