scholarly journals Getting the most out of family data with the R package fSRM

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Stas ◽  
Felix D. Schönbrodt ◽  
Tom Loeys

Family research aims to explore family processes, but is often limited to the examination of unidirectional processes. As the behavior of one person has consequences that go beyond that one individual, Family functioning should be investigated in its full complexity. The Social Relations Model (SRM; Kenny & La Voie, 1984) is a conceptual and analytical model which can disentangle family data from a round-robin design at three different levels: the individual level (actor and partner effects), the dyadic level (relationship effects) and the family level (family effect). Its statistical complexity may however be a hurdle for family researchers. The user-friendly R package fSRM performs almost automatically those rather complex SRM analyses and introduces new possibilities for assessing differences between SRM-means and between SRM-variances, both within and between groups of families. Using family data on negative processes, different type of research questions are formulated and corresponding analyses with fSRM are presented.

Author(s):  
Mauro Caprioli ◽  
Claire Dupuy

This chapter studies levels of analysis. Research in the social sciences may be interested in subjects located at different levels of analysis. The level of analysis indicates the position at which social and political phenomena are analysed within a gradual order of abstraction or aggregation that is constructed analytically. Its definition and boundaries vary across social science disciplines. In general, the micro level refers to the individual level and focuses on citizens’ attitudes or politicians’ and diplomats’ behaviour. Analyses at the meso level focus on groups and organizations, like political parties, social movements, and public administrations. The macro level corresponds to structures that are national, social, economic, cultural, or institutional — for example, countries and national or supranational political regimes. The explanandum (what research aims to account for), the explanans (the explanations), the unit of analysis, and data collection can be located at different levels. The chapter then considers two main errors commonly associated with aggregation and levels of analysis: ecological and atomistic fallacies.


Author(s):  
Nataliia Lytvynova ◽  

The article reveals the method of working with the child's immediate environment, which helps to ensure optimal conditions for reintegration. Partnership between parents, relatives, other important people, social professionals, practical psychologists, specialists and organizations involved affects the overall well-being of the child at different levels of social interaction. The consequences of the specific conditions of keeping and living of orphans and children deprived of parental care in boarding schools, as well as the conditions necessary to achieve the welfare of the child are described. The reintegration of the child should take place as a gradual and controlled process. Constant changes in the conditions of care, forms of placement are detrimental to the child's development, the formation of attachments, so during this process you need to avoid sudden changes and conflicting decisions. The author analyzes the specifics of the process of reintegration of orphans and children deprived of parental care, identifies three levels of social interaction, characteristic of this category of children: sensory-emotional, emotional-social, social-institutional level. In this context, the process of reintegration is to some extent similar to the process of socialization of the individual, which involves the active entry of the individual into all social institutions. The technologies of compiling a map of the social environment are presented, which provides a more detailed, reasonable answer regarding the quality and functioning of the client's social relations; ecomaps, to identify a number of interactions between the client and people related to the client, relevant social institutions, the environment. Based on the analysis of interpersonal connections and relationships, the specialist identifies important and significant people for the child and together with the child explores the possibility of organizing a meeting within the social network, which can be attended by people listed in the map of the social environment.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Bobrovnyk

The process of socialization associated with the development of the social nature of an individual or social group is gaining importance for modern society. The main direction of socialization within sociology is the person as the main element of society. However, given that the socialization of the individual is determined by the nature of society itself, its characteristics and needs, we can say that the process of socialization is inherent not only personal but also other spheres of society. Although we will not deny that the anthropologization of social relations brings to the fore the sociologization of the individual as the main element of social communication. In this regard, the study of the peculiarities of the process of socialization of social interaction, factors, conditions and differences that accompany socialization is becoming increasingly important. Since the process of socialization is associated with a system of information exchange between members of society, the need to reflect and consolidate various social interests, the importance of finding social compromise, it is fair to say that socialization encompasses socio-political communication, in which law plays an important role. The study of the legal aspect of socialization is the theoretical basis for increasing the social role of law, the effectiveness of its regulatory action and ensuring public order. In our opinion, important aspects of socialization of compromise are its characteristics as a means of communication, features of manifestation within social institutions of different levels and substantiation of ways to increase the effectiveness of social functions of legal compromise and means of socialization in law. Compromise at the categorical level can be considered within the three directions of research related to its relationship with the category of conflict. We are talking about organic-structural, conflict-radical and anthropological-communicative directions. The first direction of research reflects society and the forms of its organization as coherently functioning systems. Here the category of "compromise" dominates over the category of "conflict". The second direction of research is characterized by the fact that the category of "compromise" is considered as a special manifestation of the category of "conflict", the latter is dominant in the field of public relations. Regarding the third area of ​​research, the problem of compromise and conflict within this concept is considered at the level of relationships between people, whether macro (state) or micro (group of people). At the same time, compromise and conflict are studied as equivalent interacting categories of public life. A legal compromise has legal consequences, as the result of the agreement of the wills of the parties is the imposition on them of obligations to exercise mutual will. Moreover, the violation of a legal compromise is the basis for the legal liability of the parties. Legal compromise, due to its mediation by legal norms, acquires the attribute of binding and enforced measures. Characteristic of the social action of law is the reflection of its existence at different levels of social interaction, ranging from the individual, social groups, society as a whole. A legal compromise is no exception. Social institutions create an objective reality for a person, that is, it is his social world, in which the appropriate social order is established. At the same time, social institutions are both subjectively and objectively a reality. In view of this, compromise in the behavior of subjects is manifested differently depending on the level of social institution. In simple social institutions (interpersonal, intragroup), the conflict and compromise of the behavior of subjects usually depends on subjective factors that are influenced by objective reality by operating in a single space of other social institutions. In turn, in social institutions of a complex level (intergroup and state, world system) compromise is necessarily "tied" to the order objectively established in such institutions. Thus, compromises always arise between two subjects and are carried out in the corresponding interaction. At the same time, compromises at the state level, in addition to the relationship between its subjects, are necessarily characterized by a constant connection with society through the functioning of legal requirements enshrined in the relevant sources of law.


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christer Jönsson

Negotiation can be seen as a dynamic social process. Perspectives emphasizing the social context and dynamics of negotiations have been largely neglected in the negotiation literature. This article addresses the question of why social relations have received such scant attention, reviews the existing literature on negotiation as a social process, and spells out some ingredients of a social contextual approach. Finally, by way of illustration, such an approach is applied to international negotiations. Whereas ideas about social dynamics emanate from a focus on individuals, international negotiations take place at a level of aggregation and representation most remote from the individual level. Yet, even at this macro level, social context matters in negotiations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTHEW T. PIETRYKA ◽  
DONALD A. DEBATS

Individual-level studies of electoral turnout and vote choice have focused largely on personal attributes as explanatory variables. We argue that scholars should also consider the social network in which individuals are embedded, which may influence voting through variation in individuals’ social proximity to elites. Our analysis rests on newly discovered historical records revealing the individual votes of all electors in the 1859 statewide elections in Alexandria, Virginia and the 1874 municipal elections in Newport, Kentucky, paired with archival work identifying the social relations of the cities’ populations. We also replicate our core findings using survey data from a modern municipal election. We show that individuals more socially proximate to elites turn out at a higher rate and individuals more socially proximate to a given political party’s elites vote disproportionately for that party. These results suggest an overlooked social component of voting and provide a rare nineteenth-century test of modern voting theories.


Author(s):  
Gulbarshyn Chepurko ◽  
Valerii Pylypenko

The paper examines and compares how the major sociological theories treat axiological issues. Value-driven topics are analysed in view of their relevance to society in times of crisis, when both societal life and the very structure of society undergo dramatic change. Nowadays, social scientists around the world are also witnessing such a change due to the emergence of alternative schools of sociological thought (non-classical, interpretive, postmodern, etc.) and, subsequently, the necessity to revise the paradigms that have been existed in sociology so far. Since the above-mentioned approaches are often used to address value-related issues, building a solid theoretical framework for these studies takes on considerable significance. Furthermore, the paradigm revision has been prompted by technological advances changing all areas of people’s lives, especially social interactions. The global human community, integral in nature, is being formed, and production of human values now matters more than production of things; hence the “expansion” of value-focused perspectives in contemporary sociology. The authors give special attention to collectivities which are higher-order units of the social system. These units are described as well-organised action systems where each individual performs his/her specific role. Just as the role of an individual is distinct from that of the collectivity (because the individual and the collectivity are different as units), so too a distinction is drawn between the value and the norm — because they represent different levels of social relationships. Values are the main connecting element between the society’s cultural system and the social sphere while norms, for the most part, belong to the social system. Values serve primarily to maintain the pattern according to which the society is functioning at a given time; norms are essential to social integration. Apart from being the means of regulating social processes and relationships, norms embody the “principles” that can be applied beyond a particular social system. The authors underline that it is important for Ukrainian sociology to keep abreast of the latest developments in the field of axiology and make good use of those ideas because this is a prerequisite for its successful integration into the global sociological community.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 610-619
Author(s):  
Morris Fishbein

THE POET John Donne wrote that no man is an island. Never was this more apt than when applied to the person who is suffering with a crippling disease. For him isolation is disastrous. If intelligent and left too much alone, he becomes embittered, sullen and perhaps an enemy of society. If unintelligent, he deteriorates slowly and steadily into a parasitic, vegetable-like existence, which may eventually sap the lives of all about him. The modern approach to the problem emphasizes adjustment of the handicapped person to the family, the community, and even the nation. All these forces are brought to bear from the social, economic and psychologic points of view, so that such a person is able to live an existence as nearly normal as possible. He contributes to rather than lives upon the society that encompasses him. This consideration of the social aspects of rheumatic heart disease is concerned with these problems and with the extent to which the individual, the family, the community and the nation are able to solve them. On July 29, 1789, Edward Jenner, who first introduced vaccination against smallpox, reported to the medical society in Gloucestershire, England, on "Disease of the Heart Following Acute Rheumatism." The case was illustrated by dissection. This was probably the first reference to rheumatic fever in scientific medical reports. Unfortunately neither the paper nor any record other than its title has ever been found. Perhaps the first physician who pointedly called attention to the association of acute rheumatism and heart disease was David Pitcairn, born in 1749.


While debt has the capacity to sustain social relations by joining together the two parties of a debt relation, it also contains the risk of deteriorating into domination and bargaining. Throughout history, different understandings of debt have therefore gravitated between reciprocity and domination, making it a key concept for understanding the dynamics of both social cohesion and fragmentation. The book considers the social, spatial and temporal meanings of this ambiguity and relates them to contemporary debates over debts between North and South in Europe, which in turn are embedded in a longer global history of North-South relations. The individual chapters discuss how debts incurred in the past are mobilised in political debates in the present. This dynamic is highlighted with regard to regional and global North-South relations. An essential feature in debates on this topic is the difficult question of retribution and possible ways of “paying” – a term that is etymologically connected to “pacification” – for past injustice. Against this backdrop, the book combines a discussion of the multi-layered European and global North-South divide with an effort to retrieve alternatives to the dominant and divisive uses of debt for staking out claims against someone or something. Discovering new and forgotten ways of thinking about debt and North-South relations, the chapters are divided into four sections that focus on 1) debt and social theory, 2) Greece and Germany as Europe’s South and North, 3) the ‘South’ between the local, the regional and the global, and 4) debt and the politics of history.


2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauri Rapeli

It is widely assumed that a representative democracy requires an enlightened citizenry in order to function properly. The competence of citizens has been studied extensively and the sociodemographic determinants of political sophistication are particularly well known. Much less is known about whether and how citizen competence affects electoral behaviour and outcomes. This article reviews the existing literature on these topics. Despite the widespread consensus that, generally speaking, citizen competence matters for electoral outcomes, the review produced a mixed result: some studies suggest that the political left would benefit from a better-informed electorate, while other studies suggest the opposite. Although the majoritarian electoral context is overrepresented in the evidence, the review shows that at the individual level, political knowledge greatly increases a person’s ability to match personal preferences with the right candidate or party in an election. The article also identifies several gaps in existing knowledge, thereby suggesting future research questions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 984-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Costa de Oliveira ◽  
Jacó Fernando Schneider ◽  
Cíntia Nasi ◽  
Marcio Wagner Camatta ◽  
Agnes Olschowsky

ABSTRACT We aimed to understand the expectations of families about a Psychiatric Inpatient Unit in the perspective of Alfred Schutz's phenomenological sociology. This is a qualitative and phenomenological research, with families of patients at a psychiatric inpatient unit of a university hospital in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data were collected through phenomenological interviews, and the analysis was constructed in the light of phenomenological sociology. The results show that the expectations of the family in the Psychiatric Inpatient Unit are related to the interpretation and experiences they have in the world of everyday life; that these expectations should be valued in patient and family care; and that they may integrate the family in care for the patient. We hope to contribute so that professionals and managers reflect about the importance of understanding the expectations of families on a Unit, aiming to implement more effective health actions, based on the social relations among the subjects.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document