scholarly journals Sounds like meritocracy to my ears: Exploring the link between inequality in popular music and private culture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Carbone ◽  
Jonathan Jan Benjamin Mijs

Economic inequality is on the rise in Western societies and ‘meritocracy’ remains a widespread narrative used to justify it. An emerging literature has documented the impact of meritocratic narratives in media, mostly focusing on newspapers. In this paper, we study music as a potential source of cultural frames about economic inequality. We construct an original dataset combining user data from Spotify with lyrics from Genius to inductively explore whether popular music features themes of economic inequality. In order to do so, we employ unsupervised computational text analysis to classify the content of the 3,660 most popular songs across 23 European countries. Informed by Lizardo’s enculturation framework, we study popular music lyrics through the lens of public culture and explore its links with individual beliefs about inequality as a reflection of private culture. We find that, in more unequal societies, songs that frame inequalities as a structural issue (songs about “Struggle” or omnipresent “Risks”) are more popular than those adopting a meritocratic frame (songs we describe as “Bragging Rights” or those telling a “Rags to Riches” tale). Moreover, we find that the presence in public culture of a certain frame is associated with the expression of frame-consistent individual beliefs about inequality (private culture). We conclude by offering reflections on the promise of automatic text classification for the study of music lyrics, the theorized role of popular music in the study of culture, and by proposing venues for future research.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Merrill

Different disciplines have shown interest in the auditory evaluation of song and speech production. Existing voice assessments have specific purposes and are used mainly by voice professionals to evaluate voices in clinical, linguistic, and pedagogical contexts. However, the voice in the context of art has been increasingly of interest to researchers in disciplines such as psychology or musicology, particularly those who focus on reactions and sensations that reflect the impact singing voices have on our everyday lives. To facilitate such research with participants from a larger population, a tool is needed that untrained listeners can use to generate comprehensive vocal profiles representing the particularities of different voices. To achieve this goal, in an interview (N = 20) and a group study (N = 48), free voice descriptions by untrained listeners of 23 primarily popular music singing voices were compared with terms used by voice professionals, revealing a set of nine bipolar items indicating sound quality, pitch changes, mode of phonation (song or speech), articulation, and overall expression. For validation, these items were used for the evaluation of six popular song voices by trained and untrained listeners in a German (N = 216) and an English (N = 50) sample. Providing proof of concept, a discriminant analysis revealed that the tool could be used to satisfactorily distinguish between these voices. As neither expertise nor language had an effect on the evaluation, this short tool can be used in future research whenever evaluations of singing voices in English or German are needed.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Dalmora ◽  
Tiago Tavares

Music lyrics can convey a great part of the meaning in popular songs. Such meaning is important for humans to understand songs as related to typical narratives, such as romantic interests or life stories. This understanding is part of affective aspects that can be used to choose songs to play in particular situations. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of using text mining tools to classify lyrics according to their narrative contexts. For such, we used a vote-based dataset and several machine learning algorithms. Also, we compared the classification results to that of a typical human. Last, we compare the problems of identifying narrative contexts and of identifying lyric valence. Our results indicate that narrative contexts can be identified more consistently than valence. Also, we show that human-based classification typically do not reach a high accuracy, which suggests an upper bound for automatic classification. narrative contexts. For such, we built a dataset containing Brazilian popular music lyrics which were raters voted online according to its context and valence. We approached the problem using a machine learning pipeline in which lyrics are projected into a vector space and then classified using general-purpose algorithms. We experimented with document representations based on sparse topic models [11, 12, 13, 14], which aims to find groups of words that typically appear together in the dataset. Also, we extracted part-of-speech tags for each lyric and used their histogram as features in the classification process.


Author(s):  
David Donohoe ◽  
Eamon Costello

The visualisation of data has become ubiquitous. Visualisations are used to represent data in a way that is easy to understand and useful in our lives. Each data visualisation needs to be suitable to extract the correct information to complete a task and make an informed decision while minimising the impact of biases. To achieve this, the ability to create and read visualisations has become as important as the ability to read and write. Therefore, the Information Visualisation community is applying more attention to literacy and decision making in data vis-ualisations. Until recently, researchers lacked valid and reliable test in-struments to measure the literacy of users or the taxonomy to detect biased judgement in data visualisations. A literature review showed there is relatively little research on data visualisations for different user data literacy levels in authentic settings and a lack of studies that pro-vide evidence for the presence of cognitive biases in data visualisa-tions. This exploratory research study was undertaken to develop a method to assess perceived usefulness and confidence in reporting dashboards within higher education by adapting existing research in-struments. A survey was designed to test perceived usefulness, per-ceived skill and 24 multiple-choice test items covering six data visuali-sations based on eight tasks. The study was sent to 157 potential par-ticipants, with a response rate of 20.38%. The results showed data vis-ualisations are useful, but the purpose of some data visualisations is not always understood. Also, we showed there is a consensus that re-spondents perceive their data visualisation literacy is higher than they believe their peers to be. However, the higher their overconfidence, the lower their actual data visualisation literacy score. Finally, we discuss the benefits, limitations and possible future research areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2097-2108
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Croft ◽  
Courtney T. Byrd

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify levels of self-compassion in adults who do and do not stutter and to determine whether self-compassion predicts the impact of stuttering on quality of life in adults who stutter. Method Participants included 140 adults who do and do not stutter matched for age and gender. All participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale. Adults who stutter also completed the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering. Data were analyzed for self-compassion differences between and within adults who do and do not stutter and to predict self-compassion on quality of life in adults who stutter. Results Adults who do and do not stutter exhibited no significant differences in total self-compassion, regardless of participant gender. A simple linear regression of the total self-compassion score and total Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering score showed a significant, negative linear relationship of self-compassion predicting the impact of stuttering on quality of life. Conclusions Data suggest that higher levels of self-kindness, mindfulness, and social connectedness (i.e., self-compassion) are related to reduced negative reactions to stuttering, an increased participation in daily communication situations, and an improved overall quality of life. Future research should replicate current findings and identify moderators of the self-compassion–quality of life relationship.


Author(s):  
Endy Gunanto ◽  
Yenni Kurnia Gusti

In this article we present a conceptual of the effect of cross culture on consumer behavior incorporating the impact of globalization. This conceptual idea shows that culture inûuences various domains of consumer behavior directly as well as through international organization to implement marketing strategy. The conceptual identify several factors such as norm and value in the community, several variables and also depicts the impact of other environmental factors and marketing strategy elements on consumer behavior. We also identify categories of consumer culture orientation resulting from globalization. Highlights of each of the several other articles included in this special issue in Asia region. We conclude with the contributions of the articles in terms of the consumer cultural orientations and identify directions for future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (8) ◽  
pp. 651-661
Author(s):  
Joshua T. Davis ◽  
Hilary A. Uyhelji

INTRODUCTION: Although the impact of microorganisms on their hosts has been investigated for decades, recent technological advances have permitted high-throughput studies of the collective microbial genomes colonizing a host or habitat, also known as the microbiome. This literature review presents an overview of microbiome research, with an emphasis on topics that have the potential for future applications to aviation safety. In humans, research is beginning to suggest relationships of the microbiome with physical disorders, including type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease. The microbiome also has been associated with psychological health, including depression, anxiety, and the social complications that arise in autism spectrum disorders. Pharmaceuticals can alter microbiome diversity, and may lead to unintended consequences both short and long-term. As research strengthens understanding of the connections between the microbiota and human health, several potential applications for aerospace medicine and aviation safety emerge. For example, information derived from tests of the microbiota has potential future relevance for medical certification of pilots, accident investigation, and evaluation of fitness for duty in aerospace operations. Moreover, air travel may impact the microbiome of passengers and crew, including potential impacts on the spread of disease nationally and internationally. Construction, maintenance, and cleaning regimens that consider the potential for microbial colonization in airports and cabin environments may promote the health of travelers. Altogether, the mounting knowledge of microbiome effects on health presents several opportunities for future research into how and whether microbiome-based insights could be used to improve aviation safety.Davis JT, Uyhelji HA. Aviation and the microbiome. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(8):651–661.


Author(s):  
Dzhyhil Yu. ◽  

Residential architecture has one of the most conservative styles based on its specifics. However, today this type of architecture seeks to actively respond to changes in the modern world. These changes are caused by multiple factors, among them are: technological and information progress; lack of resources and environmental pollution; military conflicts and population migration etc. The purpose of this article is to summarize the experience of the Department of Architectural Environment of Lviv Polytechnic National University over housing issues and outline the methodological principles of innovation in designing both individual houses and the architectural environment of residential formations. While writing this article, we analyzed the 15-year experience of Architectural Environment's Department diploma projects. The unique feature of these projects is the priority on the design of the environment. The evolution of diploma project topics is revealed on multiple distinctive examples such as the reconstruction of old buildings in Lviv and the construction of prefabricated homes and container-type housing. Futuristic settlements are represented in projects such as “The Ocean Settlements” and “Prykarpatsk - the City of Future”. Research projects were developed to study current trends in housing design and the impact of innovative technologies on planning decisions. These projects discoursed the protection of housing from traffic noise and issues related to environmental preservation. Innovative architectural ideas of future housing, developed by students in these projects, are based on a combination of aesthetic, technical, and social components of architecture. The conclusion indicates that when educating future architects, it is important to teach them the basics of the craft, as well as the ability to defend their innovative ideas. The emphasis is placed on the importance of educating the architect's personal responsibility for their own design solutions. It is stated that professional motivation and the ability to constantly renew previously acquired knowledge and skills will be among the main tasks in training future architects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Sura Altheeb ◽  
Kholoud Sudqi Al-Louzi

The current research investigates the impact of internal corporate social responsibility on job satisfaction in Jordanian pharmaceutical companies. Quantitative research design and regression analysis were applied on a total of 302 valid returns that were obtained in a questionnaire based survey from 14 pharmaceutical companies among employees, supervisors and managers. The results showed that internal corporate social responsibility was significantly related to job satisfaction and three of its dimensions, namely working conditions, work life balance and empowerment contributed significantly to job satisfaction, whereas employment stability and skills development had no contribution. This study implies that Jordanian pharmaceutical companies have to try their best to promote and facilitate internal corporate social responsibility among their employees in an effort to improve their job satisfaction, which will eventually yield positive results for the company as a whole. In light of these results, the research presented many recommendations for future research; the most important ones were the application of this study in other sectors, cultures, and countries, and using of multi method for collecting data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-135
Author(s):  
Mukhiddin Tursunmuratov ◽  

This article provides a detailed description and explanation of the term "popular culture". It also analyzes a number of aspects of "popular culture" that are becoming more widespread today, their role and influence in the formation of the minds and behavior of young people, and draws the necessary conclusions. Most importantly, it also describes ways to protect young people from threats in the form of "popular culture" that negatively affect their morale.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Bientzle ◽  
Marie Eggeling ◽  
Simone Korger ◽  
Joachim Kimmerle

BACKGROUND: Successful shared decision making (SDM) in clinical practice requires that future clinicians learn to appreciate the value of patient participation as early as in their medical training. Narratives, such as patient testimonials, have been successfully used to support patients’ decision-making process. Previous research suggests that narratives may also be used for increasing clinicians’ empathy and responsiveness in medical consultations. However, so far, no studies have investigated the benefits of narratives for conveying the relevance of SDM to medical students.METHODS: In this randomized controlled experiment, N = 167 medical students were put into a scenario where they prepared for medical consultation with a patient having Parkinson disease. After receiving general information, participants read either a narrative patient testimonial or a fact-based information text. We measured their perceptions of SDM, their control preferences (i.e., their priorities as to who should make the decision), and the time they intended to spend for the consultation.RESULTS: Participants in the narrative patient testimonial condition referred more strongly to the patient as the one who should make decisions than participants who read the information text. Participants who read the patient narrative also considered SDM in situations with more than one treatment option to be more important than participants in the information text condition. There were no group differences regarding their control preferences. Participants who read the patient testimonial indicated that they would schedule more time for the consultation.CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that narratives can potentially be useful for imparting the relevance of SDM and patient-centered values to medical students. We discuss possible causes of this effect and implications for training and future research.


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