La partecipazione socio-politica e il consumo responsabile: tra dimensione collettiva e senso di efficacia

2009 ◽  
pp. 67-94
Author(s):  
Federica Volpi

- Participation has been studied from different points of view. One of the possible ways to address the topic is to interrelate it with cultural consumption, con- sidering the relevance of both terms with regard to social cohesion and integration. The essay is designed to evaluate the interaction between participation and cultural consumption, leading to a definition of some citizens' groups with homogeneous features compared to both variables. Moreover, the essay aims to examine the groups' behaviour, compared with a phenomenon related to both cultural consumption and socio-political participation: responsible consumption. The groups' behaviour relative to this variable helps the understanding of some social dynamics and, above all, highlights the close relationship between a particular group (the actives) and alternative consumption behaviours. A thorough analysis of the relationship between a high degree of cultural consumption and a high degree of political participation underlines that responsible consumption is a collective action and, at the same time, finalised to and endowed with political efficacy.Keywords: Political Consumerism, Participation, Cultural Consumption, Collective Action, Political Efficacy.

Res Publica ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-55
Author(s):  
Marleen Baetens ◽  
Marc Hooghe

Despite the fact that various authors have expressed concern about a general decline of civic engagement in Western societies, other indicators portray a transition from traditional and formal participation formats to more informal participation forms. This replacement thesis, however, entails the question whether these new forms can still be regarded as a form of political participation. The Alternative Food Circles in Belgium can be considered as a typical grass-roots example of 'political consumerism', which is portrayed as a contemporary alternative for institutionalised politics. In a member survey, 163 members of the Circles were questioned about their motives to participate. They clearly paid little attention to influencing the political system, but notions of solidarity and social change were clearl y present. This form of political consumerism therefore cannot be considered a full form of political participation (using an institutionalist definition of 'politics'), but it clearly is a form of 'life style politics' (Giddens).


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 462-476
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Ushkarev ◽  
Galina G. Gedovius ◽  
Tatyana V. Petrushina

The technological revolution of recent decades has already brought art to the broadest masses, and the unexpected intervention of the pandemic has significantly accelerated the process of migration of theatrical art to the virtual space, causing the corresponding dynamics of the audience. What is the theater audience in the era of digitalization and the spread of alternative forms of cultural consumption? How does the theater build its relationship with the audience today? In search of answers, we conducted a series of sociological surveys of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater’s audience — both at the theater’s performances and in the online community of its fans. The purpose of this phase of the study was to answer the fundamental questions: do spectators surveyed in the theater and those surveyed online represent the same audience; what are their main differences; and what are the drivers of their spectator behavior? The article presents the main results of a comparative analysis of two images of the Moscow Art Theatre’s audience based on a number of content parameters by two types of surveys, as well as the results of a regression analysis of the theater attendance. The study resulted in definition of the qualitative and behavioral differences between the theater visitors and the viewers surveyed online, and identification of the factors of theater attendance for both of the represented audience groups. The study made it possible to clarify the role of age and other socio-demographic parameters in cultural activity, as well as the influence of preferred forms of cultural consumption (live contacts or online views) on one’s attitude to art, motivation and spectator behavior. The conclusions of the study, despite the uniqueness of the object, reflect the general patterns of the modern art audience’s dynamics.


Author(s):  
Carolyn Wong

This book examines the political experience of the Hmong Americans immigrants, who first came to the United States as refugees of Vietnam War. In growing numbers, candidates of Hmong American ethnicity have competed successfully in elections to win seats in local and state legislative bodies in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. At the same time, average levels of Hmong American educational attainment still lag far behind levels in the U.S. population and high rates of poverty persist. Their relatively high levels of political engagement defy the logic of resource-based theories of voting, which explain a greater propensity of some individuals to vote resources available to them, such as higher levels of educational attainment or income compared to others Intergenerational mechanisms of social voting underlie political participation of Hmong Americans. Individuals are mobilized to vote through intergenerational social connections already established in associational, neighborhood, ethnic community, family, and clan networks. Identity narratives adapted to modern-day circumstances and popular notions from ancient oral texts serve to motivate collective action to redress of disparities of economic opportunity and cultural misrecognition. Only when local institutions effectively teach civic and political skills to immigrants and their descendants can political participation be sustained and deepened to combine voting with effective policy advocacy, the building of alliances across racial-ethnic divides, and collective action. The research included interviews of community leaders and grassroots residents from diverse backgrounds, primarily in three cities: Fresno, California; Saint Paul, Minnesota; and Hickory, North Carolina.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruaridh A. Clark ◽  
Malcolm Macdonald

AbstractContact networks provide insights on disease spread due to the duration of close proximity interactions. For systems governed by consensus dynamics, network structure is key to optimising the spread of information. For disease spread over contact networks, the structure would be expected to be similarly influential. However, metrics that are essentially agnostic to the network’s structure, such as weighted degree (strength) centrality and its variants, perform near-optimally in selecting effective spreaders. These degree-based metrics outperform eigenvector centrality, despite disease spread over a network being a random walk process. This paper improves eigenvector-based spreader selection by introducing the non-linear relationship between contact time and the probability of disease transmission into the assessment of network dynamics. This approximation of disease spread dynamics is achieved by altering the Laplacian matrix, which in turn highlights why nodes with a high degree are such influential disease spreaders. From this approach, a trichotomy emerges on the definition of an effective spreader where, for susceptible-infected simulations, eigenvector-based selections can either optimise the initial rate of infection, the average rate of infection, or produce the fastest time to full infection of the network. Simulated and real-world human contact networks are examined, with insights also drawn on the effective adaptation of ant colony contact networks to reduce pathogen spread and protect the queen ant.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4707
Author(s):  
Mariana Lopes ◽  
Sandra Louzada ◽  
Margarida Gama-Carvalho ◽  
Raquel Chaves

(Peri)centromeric repetitive sequences and, more specifically, satellite DNA (satDNA) sequences, constitute a major human genomic component. SatDNA sequences can vary on a large number of features, including nucleotide composition, complexity, and abundance. Several satDNA families have been identified and characterized in the human genome through time, albeit at different speeds. Human satDNA families present a high degree of sub-variability, leading to the definition of various subfamilies with different organization and clustered localization. Evolution of satDNA analysis has enabled the progressive characterization of satDNA features. Despite recent advances in the sequencing of centromeric arrays, comprehensive genomic studies to assess their variability are still required to provide accurate and proportional representation of satDNA (peri)centromeric/acrocentric short arm sequences. Approaches combining multiple techniques have been successfully applied and seem to be the path to follow for generating integrated knowledge in the promising field of human satDNA biology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 806-817
Author(s):  
Patrick Amfo Anim ◽  
Frederick Okyere Asiedu ◽  
Matilda Adams ◽  
George Acheampong ◽  
Ernestina Boakye

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationships between political marketing via social media and young voters’ political participation in Ghana. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role political efficacy plays in enhancing the relationship. Design/methodology/approach With a positivist mindset, and adopting the survey strategy, data gathered from the questionnaire administered from the sampled 320 young voters (18-29 years) in Greater Accra were quantitatively analyzed. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the research model. Findings The study revealed that a political party or candidate’s ability to achieve political participation from Ghanaian young voters’ is dependent on how effective they build customer relationship or gaining visibility through social media. In addition, the study showed that political efficacy mediates the relationship between customer relationship building or gaining visibility through social media and political participation among Ghana young voters. Thus, young voters in Ghana must see themselves to have a say in the affairs of political parties through the political messages they gather from social media platforms to enhance their political participation activities. Practical implications The results of this paper will enable political marketers and politicians not only in Ghana but across the globe, to better understand how social media as a communication tool could be used to positively influence users’ political participation. Originality/value Considering the uniqueness of this study in a Ghanaian context, this paper is the first of its kind to use the social capital theory in examining the mediating role political efficacy plays in enhancing the relationship between political marketing on social media and young voters’ political participation.


Author(s):  
P A Bracewell ◽  
U R Klement

Piping design for ‘revamp’ projects in the process industry requires the retrieval of large amounts of ‘as-built’ data from existing process plant installations. Positional data with a high degree of accuracy are required. Photogrammetry, the science of measurement from photographs, was identified in Imperial Chemical Industries plc (ICI) as a suitable tool for information retrieval. The mathematical formulation enabling the definition of three-dimensional positions from photographic information is described. The process of using ICI's photogrammetric system for the definition of complete objects such as structures and pipes is illustrated. The need for specialized photogrammetric software for design purposes is explained. A case study describing how the photogrammetric system has been applied is described and graphical outputs from this exercise are shown. It is concluded that this particular photogrammetric system has proved to be a cost effective and accurate tool for the retrieval of ‘as-built’ information.


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