scholarly journals Political Affiliation of Canadian Professors

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 873-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Nakhaie ◽  
Barry Adam

The social role of universities has been subject to a lengthy debate as to whether those who teach in the academy are system legitimizing conservatives or radicals helping to generate critical thinking and challenge to the status quo. Despite this controversy, neoconservatives in the U.S. have used the evidence of professors’ strong support for the Democratic candidates as an indication of universities being dominated by left-leaning radicals. The aim of this paper is to evaluate political affiliations of Canadian university professors, based on a national survey conducted in 2000. The study shows that Canadian professors’ political affiliation can be identified as left and/or right depending on how we conceptualize the political orientation of political parties. Although, university professors tended to vote to the Liberal Party more than other parties, they themselves are more likely to view this party as a centrist party. Moreover, the study highlights a complex and non-monolithic picture of the Canadian academy. University professors are not politically homogenous but that their party vote depends on the prestige of their university, their discipline, gender, ethnicity, marital status, generation and extent of their own liberalism. Résumé. Le rôle social des universités fait depuis longtemps l’objet d’un débat sur l’orientation politique des professeurs : sont-ils des conservateurs qui légitiment le statu quo, ou des radicaux qui aident à créer une pensée critique qui le conteste? Le but du présent article est d’évaluer les affiliations politiques des professeurs canadiens telles qu’elles se dégagent d’un sondage national effectué en 2000. L’étude montre que leur affiliation politique peut être décrite comme de gauche ou de droite, selon la conception qu’on a de l’orientation des partis politiques. Ils votent plus souvent pour les Libéraux que pour d’autres partis, les voyant comme un parti du centre. D’ailleurs, l’étude donne des universités canadiennes un tableau complexe et nullement monolithique. Les professeurs n’ont pas de vues homogènes, ils votent en partie selon le prestige de leur université, leur discipline, leur sexe, leurs antécédents ethniques, leur situation de famille, leur âge et leur attitude envers le libéralisme.

1974 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Lalive d'Epinay ◽  
Jacques Zylberberg

The multiple forms of the religious phenomenon and its cosmologies have often been pointed out. The social role of a religion can never be defined once and for all. The role played by religion as an agent for social protest and awareness or as a factor of the status quo must be made explicit for each historical period and specific social group. How are the religions in Chili situated between these functions of alienation and awareness ? The authors of this article examine the positions of Indian animism, Catholicism and Protestantism and outline the complex relationships exist ing between the nation, classes, social groups, and religious behavior in Chili.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Kyker

The Shona chipendani (pl. zvipendani) is among dozens of musical bows found throughout southern Africa. An understanding of where the chipendani fits into the larger space of Zimbabwe’s musical and social life is markedly thin. Other than Brenner’s observation that the chipendani may occasionally be played by adult men while socializing over beer, descriptions of the chipendani seldom go further than remarking on theinstrument’s associations with cattle herding, and reducing it to the status of child’s play. In this article, I argue that conceptions of the musical and social identity of the chipendani must be expanded beyond its conventional portrayal as a herdboy instrument, since other groups of people have been actively involved in performing the instrument. I further maintain that the social role of the chipendani extends beyond providing accompaniment for a singular activity—that of cattle herding—into other contexts. By challenging Tracey’s conception of solo bow playing as “self-delectative,” my account of chipendani music opens up space for new readings of other musical bows throughout southern Africa.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58
Author(s):  
Gizela Horváth ◽  
Rozália Klára Bakó

Technical reproduction in general, and photography in particular have changed the status and practices of art. Similarly, the expansion of Web 2.0 interactive spaces presents opportunities and challenges to artistic communities. Present study focuses on artistic activism: socially sensitive artists publish their creation on the internet on its most interactive space – social media. These artworks carry both artistic and social messages. Such practices force us to reinterpret some elements of the classical art paradigm: its autonomy, authorship, uniqueness (as opposed to copies and series), and the social role of art. The analysis is aimed at Hungarian and Romanian online artistic projects from Transylvania region of Romania, relevant as intercultural communication endeavours. Our research question is the way they differ from the traditional artistic paradigm.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1060-1068
Author(s):  
Galina A. Dvoenosova ◽  

The article assesses synergetic theory of document as a new development in document science. In information society the social role of document grows, as information involves all members of society in the process of documentation. The transformation of document under the influence of modern information technologies increases its interest to representatives of different sciences. Interdisciplinary nature of document as an object of research leads to an ambiguous interpretation of its nature and social role. The article expresses and contends the author's views on this issue. In her opinion, social role of document is incidental to its being a main social tool regulating the life of civilized society. Thus, the study aims to create a scientific theory of document, explaining its nature and social role as a tool of social (goal-oriented) action and social self-organization. Substantiation of this idea is based on application of synergetics (i.e., universal theory of self-organization) to scientific study of document. In the synergetic paradigm, social and historical development is seen as the change of phases of chaos and order, and document is considered a main tool that regulates social relations. Unlike other theories of document, synergetic theory studies document not as a carrier and means of information transfer, but as a unique social phenomenon and universal social tool. For the first time, the study of document steps out of traditional frameworks of office, archive, and library. The document is placed on the scales with society as a global social system with its functional subsystems of politics, economy, culture, and personality. For the first time, the methods of social sciences and modern sociological theories are applied to scientific study of document. This methodology provided a basis for theoretical vindication of nature and social role of document as a tool of social (goal-oriented) action and social self-organization. The study frames a synergetic theory of document with methodological foundations and basic concepts, synergetic model of document, laws of development and effectiveness of document in the social continuum. At the present stage of development of science, it can be considered the highest form of theoretical knowledge of document and its scientific explanatory theory.


Author(s):  
Eduardo Manzano Moreno

This chapter addresses a very simple question: is it possible to frame coinage in the Early Middle Ages? The answer will be certainly yes, but will also acknowledge that we lack considerable amounts of relevant data potentially available through state-of-the-art methodologies. One problem is, though, that many times we do not really know the relevant questions we can pose on coins; another is that we still have not figured out the social role of coinage in the aftermath of the Roman Empire. This chapter shows a number of things that could only be known thanks to the analysis of coins. And as its title suggests it will also include some reflections on greed and generosity.


Author(s):  
James ROSE

ABSTRACT Within the context of the work and achievements of James Croll, this paper reviews the records of direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments made by Charles Lyell, Archibald and James Geikie and James Croll himself, in order to evaluate their contributions to the sciences of glacial geology and Quaternary environmental change. The paper outlines the social and physical environment of Croll's youth and contrasts this with the status and experiences of Lyell and the Geikies. It also outlines the character and role of the ‘Glasgow School’ of geologists, who stimulated Croll's interest into the causes of climate change and directed his focus to the glacial and ‘interglacial’ deposits of central Scotland. Contributions are outlined in chronological order, drawing attention to: (i) Lyell's high-quality observations and interpretations of glacial features in Glen Clova and Strathmore and his subsequent rejection of the glacial theory in favour of processes attributed to floating icebergs; (ii) the significant impact of Archibald Geikie's 1863 paper on the ‘glacial drift of Scotland’, which firmly established the land-ice theory; (iii) the fact that, despite James Croll's inherent dislike of geology and fieldwork, he provided high-quality descriptions and interpretations of the landforms and sediments of central Scotland in order to test his theory of climate change; and (iv) the great communication skills of James Geikie, enhanced by contacts and evidence from around the world. It is concluded that whilst direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments were critical to the long-term development of the study of glaciation, the acceptance of this theory was dependent also upon the skills, personality and status of the Geikies and Croll, who developed and promoted the concepts. Sadly, the subsequent rejection of the land-ice concept by Lyell resulted in the same factors challenging the acceptance of the glacial theory.


2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
António Carlos Valera ◽  
Thomas Xaver Schuhmacher ◽  
Arun Banerjee

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