The Emerging Social Structure of the World

1975 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Inkeles

An assessment of the forms in which, and tlie extent to which, the population of the entire world may be coming to participate in a coherent global social system may be made by crude measurement of variations in the degree of autarky, interconnectedness, dependence, interdependence, integration, hegemony, and convergence. In the recent modern era, we can show that interconnectedness has been rising at an exponential rate across numerous dimensions ranging from the exchange of students to world trade. Interdependence is also increasing, but less dramatically. The greater dependence of less developed countries is unmistakable, but integration has advanced very little in the period after World War II. In studying convergence we must differentiate among modes of production, institutional forms, patterns of social relations, the content of popular values, and systems of political and economic control, each of which may change at different speeds and even move in different directions. The argument that there is substantial convergence in political and economic forms at the national level may be seriously challenged. Marked convergence is widely prevalent, however, in the utilization of science, technology, and bureaucratic procedures, and in the consequent incorporation of whole populations into new social roles. These in turn induce new attitudes and values forming a widespread complex or syndrome identified as modern and postmodern. Countervailing tendencies are, however, evident and should be weighed.

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-86
Author(s):  
Charlotte Nunes

This article examines how P.E.N., an organisation born in imperial Britain, endeavoured in some cases and floundered in others to create conditions for collaboration between Indian and British writers. Drawing on the P.E.N. archives at the Harry Ransom Center (HRC), I examine communication among and between Indian and British writers in P.E.N.'s orbit during the World War II era and leading up to the Indian Independence Act of 1947. As a forum for collaboration among writers internationally not only to develop writing and editing projects together, but also to forge a unifying conception for the modern era of the relationship between literature and political freedom, P.E.N. aimed to create opportunities for exchange among Indian and British writers. Analysing Indian writers' articulation of the necessary conditions for cross-imperial collaboration, I consider how mutuality was compromised under political conditions of imperialism hinging on hierarchal notions of culture.


2017 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. 647-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahsivadhanan Col Sundaravadhanan

ABSTRACTStatistics prove that more Indians die in Road traffic related accidents than in wars. Prior to World War II, the death toll across the world used to be very high. It was at this juncture that a Military Neurosurgeon named Hugh Cairns introduced the compulsory wearing of crash helmets and brought about a reduction in mortality by more than 50%. Within a decade of introduction of crash helmets in Britain, the entire world followed suit. The results of his efforts are here for all of us to see. This innovative military neurosurgeon is credited as the one who introduced the concept of mobile neurosurgical units during world war and also the first proponent of usage of penicillin in war. His concepts in war surgery are still followed by militaries across the world. This article comes as a tribute to this great Neurosurgeon who helped in saving millions of lives.


1974 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 4-8

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund said recently that the world is facing ‘the most difficult combination of economic policy decisions since the reconstruction period following World War II’. It is unfortunate that action, so far, in the face of mounting inflation and balance of payments difficulties, has been at a national level rather than on the international level which the situation requires. In particular, there is still an urgent need to make concrete arrangements for dealing with the capital flows resulting from the rise in oil prices, and to offset the deflationary impact of the latter, while, unless aid is increased substantially, the plight of some developing countries will become increasingly desperate as the real value of existing aid flows is rapidly eroded by inflation, and as their oil bills fall due for payment. Nevertheless the restoration of oil supplies combined with the delay between the raising of prices and actual payments at the new rates seems to have induced an unwarranted mood of euphoria in the consuming countries in the first few months of this year.


Arthur Szyk ◽  
2004 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Ansell

This introductory chapter briefly describes the life and work of the artist, Arthur Szyk. It discusses his numerous and diverse works and places special emphasis on those works which contain topical commentary on contemporary political and social issues. Though it would seem difficult to reconcile these greatly disparate elements in one artist's work, the chapter argues that the concentrated political activity of the World War II years was not an aberration — however important — in Szyk's career. It was an integral part of an artistic life dedicated to serving humanity through his talents. To understand the interconnection of all aspects of his work, and to understand the man who was equally adept at rendering an entire world within a few square inches of exquisite beauty and savagely attacking a political enemy through caricature, the chapter argues that one must look beneath the decorated surface of the page to the meaning of the individual work and to its historical context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Tao Tang ◽  
Maged A. Aldhaeebi ◽  
J. Q. Lan ◽  
Ebrahim Bamanger

In this study, a comparison of the graduate education program between Canada and China is presented. Compared with some developed countries in Europe and America, Canada's graduate education does not start too early. After World War II, especially in recent decades, its graduate education has developed rapidly. The reason is that under the situation of the rapid development of science, technology, and economy in domestic and foreign scale, the Canadian federal government and provincial government gradually realize the importance of graduate education; therefore, they vigorously support and fund graduate education. China's graduate education has started later than Canada's. However, it has developed rapidly in recent years. Canadian and Chinese graduate education have their distinct characteristics with some similarities and some differences. The development history, present situation and problems, training mode and future development of graduate education in Canada and China are compared, and then some suggestions for the development of graduate education in China are presented accordingly.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajko Igic

Great scientific discoveries rarely originate from small and poor countries. However, the lives and achievements of three Yugoslav scientists who were active in the biomedical sciences, Laza K. Lazarevic ́ (1851-1891), Ivan Djaja (1884-1957), and Pavao Stern (1913-1976), serve as an example of success in this environment. These scientists, as well as the majority of other successful investigators in small and poor countries, weretrained in foreign and developed countries and, upon return, were given the freedom to start a self-dependent research program. They overcame many obstacles, including wars and civil unrests, to contribute significantly to certain medical fields. It is interesting that although a Jew, Stern was allowed to work during the World War II in Zagreb, which became capital of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state under German control. Perhaps his good name among pharmacologists helped him to keep position during this tough period. Nowadays, new technologies needed for biomedical research are rather expensive, and poor countries cannot afford to finance many scientists. Thus, selection of the most productive researchers is the challenge for those who finance scientific work.


Author(s):  
Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia

Since antiquity and through the modern era African societies maintained contacts with peoples in Europe, the Near and Far East, and the Americas. Among other things, African peoples developed local forms of Christianity and Islam, contributed large amounts of gold to European medieval economies, and exported millions of slaves through the Sahara, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Despite this, by the 19th century historians and philosophers of history thought Africa was a continent without major civilizations, whose peoples passively rested at the margins of history. These ideas persisted into the 20th century when historians undertook the challenge of writing histories that explained how communities around the world were connected to one another. In their early iterations, however, these “world narratives” were little more than histories of the Western world; Africa continued to be largely absent from these stories. After World War II, increasing interest in the history of African societies and a more generalized concern with the study of communities that were both mis- and under-represented by historical scholarship called for a revision of the goals and methods of world historians. Among the most important critiques were those from Afrocentric, African American, and Africanist scholars. Afrocentric writers argued that Africa had in fact developed an important civilization in the form of Egypt and that Egypt was the foundation of the classical world. African American and Africanist writers highlighted the contributions that peoples of African descent had made to the world economy and many cultures around the globe. Africanists also questioned whether world historical narratives, which meaningfully accounted for the richness and complexity of African experiences, could be achieved in the form of a single universal narrative. Instead, historians have suggested and produced new frameworks that could best explain the many ways in which Africa has been part of the world and its history.


Author(s):  
Julia J. Henderson

In the fifteen years since World War II, the international community has seen marked progress in prolong ing life, providing education for children, and in increasing the world food supply. Progress in the struggle against pov erty and bad housing is much less notable, and the achieve ments in lessening social tensions, in increasing human dignity, and other qualitative aspects of the standard of living are not measurable by the rough indicators we have at our disposal. The attempt to reach a new synthesis in the economic and social aspects of the development of less-developed countries, the widespread approval of governmental planning for social as well as economic development, the growth of public respon sibility for welfare of the total population, and the attention given to rural as well as urban development are cited as impor tant postwar developments in the philosophy and methods of international co-operation. The concern about extending as sistance in ways which stimulate active participation of the people is a hopeful response to the world social situation. Fi nally, the importance of basing assistance on mutual respect— with every country acting both as donor and recipient—is stressed in this co-operation.


Politeja ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1(58)) ◽  
pp. 361-376
Author(s):  
Marta Kubiszyn

"One Would Rarely Venture behind the Krakowska Gate…": Imaginary Boundaries of the Jewish District in Lublin in Memories of Pre‑war Inhabitants Up until the World War II, Jews played an important role in the history of Lublin. At least since the 16th century, Jews had lived in the segregated district of Podzamcze, called the “Jewish Town”. Although they started to inhabit the Old Town in 1862 and eventually lived in all parts of Lublin by the interwar period, the former boundaries between the “Jewish” and “Christian” parts of the city remained strongly imprinted in social memory, affecting everyday existence. This article analyses the imaginary boundaries that delineated the “Jewish” district of Lublin in the pre‑World War II period. Drawing on oral testimonies of Christian residents of the city recorded in years 1998‑2005 and archival materials such as articles from local papers, documents of communal institutions, and photos from the 1920s and 1930s, the opposing categories of “ours” and “theirs” have been used to describe social relations in urban space. The author of the article argues that the persistence of segregation in shared memory is expressed not only in visual forms, but it also has sound, smell and taste dimensions.


2004 ◽  
Vol 132 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 360-363
Author(s):  
Rajko Igic

Great scientific discoveries rarely originate from small and poor countries. However, the lives and achievements of three Yugoslav scientists who were active in the biomedical sciences, Laza K. Lazarevic (1851-1891), Ivan Djaja (1884-1957), and Pavao Stern (1913-1976), serve as an example of success in this environment. These scientists, as well as the majority of other successful investigators in small and poor countries, were trained in foreign and developed countries and, upon return, were given the freedom to start a self dependent research program. They overcame many obstacles, including wars and civil unrests, to contribute significantly to certain medical fields. It is interesting that although a Jew, Stern was allowed to work during the World War II in Zagreb, which became capital of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state under German control. Perhaps his good name among pharmacologists helped him to keep position during this tough period. Nowadays, new technologies requiring for biomedical research are rather expensive, and poor countries cannot afford to finance many scientists. Thus, selection of the most productive researchers is the challenge for those who finance scientific work.


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