Singing with Dignity

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-87
Author(s):  
Prabhir Vishnu Poruthiyil

Scholars of organization studies are right to be concerned with the limited contributions the field has made to public policy despite the societal relevance of the insights it contains. The combination of bulkiness and of insulated pockets of specialization could help explain the relative isolation from policy making that tends to require a combination of speed and multifaceted application. The social quality (SQ) approach is simultaneously an analytical tool and a political project to secure dignity of precarious individuals. The multilevel framework adopted by SQ can effectively channel the wide range of contributions from organization studies in the service of public good. Using an ethnography of music lessons followed by older adults in a cultural institution facing imminent closure because of austerity measures, the article connects SQ work to contributions from organization theory, which can shed light on organizing principles critical to well-being of older persons.

2021 ◽  
pp. 016224392110051
Author(s):  
Annekatrin Skeide

Unlike sonographic examinations, sonic fetal heartbeat monitoring has received relatively little attention from scholars in the social sciences. Using the case of fetal heartbeat monitoring as part of midwifery prenatal care in Germany, this contribution introduces music as an analytical tool for exploring the aesthetic dimensions of obstetrical surveillance practices. Based on ethnographic stories, three orchestrations are compared in which three different instruments help audiences to listen to what becomes fetal heartbeat music and to qualify fetal and pregnant lives in relation to each other. In the Doppler-based orchestration, audible heartbeat music is taken as a sign of a child in need of parental love and care cultivated to listen. The Pinard horn makes esoteric fetal music that can be appreciated by the midwife as a skilled instrumentalist alone and helps to enact a child hidden in the belly. The cardiotocograph brings about soothing music and a reassuring relationship with a child but also durable scripts of juridical beauty. This material-semiotic analysis amplifies how well-being is shaped in midwifery prenatal care practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mie Thorborg Pedersen ◽  
Per Lyngs Hansen ◽  
Mathias Porsmose Clausen

Useful attempts to shed light on the nature of gastronomy from a scientific point of view and to unravel the crucial connection between food, eating and well-being are currently underrepresented in the scientific literature. However, several scientific disciplines ranging from the natural to the social sciences offer valuable new perspectives on gastronomy. As one of the key disciplines in natural science, physics offers original and rigorous perspectives on all processes and structures constrained by the laws of nature. The emerging discipline called gastrophysics employs the full range of concepts, techniques and methods from physics to generate useful scientific input to the complex and holistic reflections on gastronomy. Relying on a review of the existing literature, this article illustrates how a science-based gastrophysics emerges, to a large extent from the convoluted history of food science as well as from various recent – and often overlapping – attempts to combine modern scientific methodology to questions from gastronomy. However, the present review also insists on a physics-inspired methodology to handle scale and complexity in food preparation and consumption across length scales from sub-molecular to entire foods. We exemplify how gastrophysics directly helps to develop gastronomy and how it adds to current approaches in traditional food science. We also suggest that gastrophysics may prove relevant in the context of the ongoing food transformation, which focuses strongly on sustainability, but where the importance of gastronomic aspects in this transformation is greatly needed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-75
Author(s):  
Inga Jēkabsone ◽  
Biruta Sloka

Abstract During the last three decades, social capital has gained prominence throughout the social sciences. The concepts has been analysed in various manners (from perspectives of economics, political sciences, sociology, anthropology etc.) providing wide range of theoretical conceptualizations. The aim of paper is to analyse the relation of social capital and possibility to improve the well-being of the municipality’s citizens using co-responsibility approach. In order to achieve the aim, the tasks are formulated as follows: 1) to review theoretical background for concept of social capital and subjective well-being, 2) to analyse the factors of social capital at local level, and 3) to use the results of conducted empirical research at Salaspils municipality in analysing the correlation of level of social capital and possibility to improve well-being implementing inclusive local management. Research methods used: Scientific literature studies, several stages of focus group discussions, statistical data analysis, SPIRAL methodology, scenario method. The main findings of the paper - there are evidences on relation of social capital and possibility to improve the well-being of the municipality’s citizens. In municipalities with sufficient level of social capital are good opportunities to use participatory techniques for achieving higher level of overall well-being. The paper consists of practical value how to mobilise the social capital of the municipality in order to ensure the inclusive management of the territory.


1984 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wornie L. Reed ◽  
Betty B. Washington

This article describes the development of a scale, the Social Well-Being Scale, to measure the extent to which institutionalized older persons perceive their social needs as being met. For persons over sixty-five years of age, the scale score is not affected by age or sex, but it does distinguish them by race, health, and type of living arrangement. Further, the Social Well-Being Scale predicts the level of psychological well-being.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Richie ◽  
Wanling Zou ◽  
Sudeep Bhatia

Recent advances in machine learning, combined with the increased availability of large natural language datasets, have made it possible to uncover semantic representations that characterize what people know about and associate with a wide range of objects and concepts. In this paper, we examine the power of word embeddings, a popular approach for uncovering semantic representations, for studying high-level human judgment. Word embeddings are typically applied to linguistic and semantic tasks, however we show that word embeddings can be used to predict complex theoretically- and practically-relevant human perceptions and evaluations in domains as diverse as social cognition, health behavior, risk perception, organizational behavior, and marketing. By learning mappings from word embeddings directly onto judgment ratings, we outperform a similarity-based baseline as well as common metrics of human inter-rater reliability. Word embeddings are also able to identify the concepts that are most associated with observed perceptions and evaluations, and can thus shed light on the psychological substrates of judgment. Overall, we provide new methods and insights for predicting and understanding high-level human judgment, with important applications across the social and behavioral sciences.


Author(s):  
Madona Kekelia ◽  
Eliso Kereselidze ◽  
Ina Shanava

The disease COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), was first detected in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, and, due to its high degree of virulence, it has spread rapidly around the world ever since. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization descried the situation as a pandemic, and in March 2020, a state of emergency was declared in Georgia. To limit the spread of the virus “lockdown” was ordered and, except in emergencies, the population was restricted from leaving home, the learning process in educational institutions was suspended, and all sorts of gatherings and public transport were put off. In these circumstances, as well as the risks associated with deteriorating health and economic problems, students also found themselves in a difficult situation in terms of getting access to education, caused by the transition to distance learning. The social category of students is characterized by an active lifestyle, a wide range of relationships and contacts. In consequence of the social distancing policies and measures implemented across the country to slow the spread of the virus, the reduction in contacts has given rise to feelings of loneliness and depression. The entire situation is likely to negatively affect the psychological well-being of students. It has been proven that high levels of stress among students are associated with low mental wellness, which in turn, may lead to poor academic performance and the emergence of social and psychological problems. Based on the abovestated, the aim of the present paper was to establish a link between the indicators of loneliness, depression and psychological well-being with students in the context of constraints caused by the COVID pandemic. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4), Loneliness Scale (UCLA) and Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS) were used for the purpose. Analysis of the results revealed that depression, anxiety and loneliness have a negative bearing on psychological well-being. The differences were analyzed in obedience to demographic characteristics.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Astrid Siegmann

This article investigates the role of international labour migration from Pakistan’s Northwest for the sending communities’ social resilience. It focuses on the implications of male out‐migration for the women who stay behind. This article refers to Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice to shed light on the gendered nature of vulnerability and resilience. Contradictions identified between heightened vulnerability at the level of individual women and strengthened resilience of the household underline the social construction of scale in the analysis of resilience. With his emphasis on material as well as symbolic resources determining opportunities and well‐being, Bourdieu provides an analytical key for the identification of such ‘uncomfortable layers of resilience’.


Author(s):  
Anna Waligora ◽  
Alona Revko

Urgency of the research. Social entrepreneurship covers a wide range of tasks from area of social policy that should ensure the normal living conditions of the local community. From this point of view, the main task of social entrepreneurship is to improve the well-being of local community and meet its needs by the implementation of social infrastructure services. Target setting. In the paper the hypothesis is formulated that Ukraine has worse conditions for the formation and development of social entrepreneurship than Poland. The study is proved that development of social entrepreneurship in Poland in the light of EU regional policy consists in the support of social enterprises by the state in accordance with the National Program for Social Economy Development, the European Union. Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. Some aspects of social entrepreneurship and community development are covered by the studies of such scientists as J. Defourny, J. Hausner, Jan-U. Sandal, A. Nicholls, G. Keohane, J. Kerlin, O. Pankiv and others. Uninvestigated parts of general matters defining. It should be admitted that there is a problem of state support for social enterprises at the appropriate level in Ukraine. This only deepens the differences between the social enterprises in Ukraine and Poland. It is worth noting that as a consequence of this, social entrepreneurship of Ukraine is more business-oriented than in Poland. The research objective. The study on the social entrepreneurship and its impact on the local community development undertaken at national and regional levels, i.e. on statistical material concerning 22 regions of Ukraine and 16 voivodships of Poland. The study used a comparative method of developing social entrepreneurship in Poland and Ukraine. In addition, the study carried out in the paper was enriched with drawings made on the basis of graphic and cartographic data presentation methods. The statement of basic materials. As part of the research, the concept of social entrepreneurship (prosocial business) was defined, the features of the social entrepreneurship in Poland and Ukraine were analysed, and the ways of the social entrepreneurship development in Ukraine were presented. Conclusions. Based on the results obtained, recommendations were presented to strengthen and develop social entrepreneurship in Ukraine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (10) ◽  
pp. 512-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faryle Nothwehr ◽  
Diane Rohlman

Employer-supported volunteerism has the potential to benefit employees and ultimately have a positive business impact. Volunteerism has been linked to improved quality of life, reduced morbidity, and higher self-rated health. This study was designed to understand what small, rural worksites are doing with regard to volunteerism, and what their barriers are to such activities. An online survey was distributed to worksites using the social network of a Resource, Conservation, and Development Council, a rural nonprofit entity. Analyses included descriptive statistics, and for qualitative data, review and summary of common themes. Thirty-eight worksites responded, representing a wide range of worksite types. Volunteer activities requiring less time and resources to organize were more commonly employed versus group-based activities. Identified barriers included time, costs, small staffing numbers, perceived employee lack of interest, worksite policies, distance to volunteer sites, language barriers, and lack of awareness of opportunities. Despite a variety of challenges, some forms of employer-supported volunteerism seem feasible even in very small rural worksites. Worksite type, culture, and leadership are likely to be determinants of the extent and nature of employer-supported volunteerism. Strategies to encourage greater volunteerism need to be tailored to the interests and resources of each site. Occupational health nurses should consider incorporating some form of employee volunteerism activities within their health promotion programming, as it is consistent with an overall strategy of enhancing employee well-being. This could lead to positive business impacts such as increased employee engagement, improved recruitment and retention, and improved productivity.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Bulmer

Social indicators have not fulfilled their promise, or at least have not lived up to the expectations held of them in the late 1950s and 1960s. Despite the continued growth of social statistics, produced both by governments and other organisations, the aim of producing precise, concise and evaluatively neutral measures of the state of society and of change in society has apparently eluded some of the best minds of the social science and governmental statistics communities. Whereas a wide range of economic indicators and data are readily available, if not without their problems (cf. Johnson, 1988), and integrated into the concepts of economic theory, standard measures of crime, health, well-being, education and many other social characteristics have proven much more difficult to construct and establish as standard yardsticks of social conditions. This note considers some of the reasons for these difficulties. It relates specifically to the aspiration to construct social indicators, not to social statistics more generally (as reviewed in, for example, Carley, 1981).


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