Technology and Social Change: East-West Comparisons

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Jerzy J. Wiatr
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
East West

Mapping Social Change through Youth Perspectives on Homosexuality in India

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keshia D'silva
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Knowledge Structures ◽  
Cultural Imperialism ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Class Families ◽  
East West

Social representations theory (SRT) is considered a theory of social change, accounting for democratic transformations in knowledge. However, its applicability in the Global South, where there is a long history of subjugation, has not been sufficiently explored. This essay integrates the contributions of postcolonial theorists with the tools of SRT to track changes in knowledge structures among Southern youth. In doing so, it shows the limits imposed by an enduring colonial legacy and modern cultural imperialism on Southern youths’ ability to challenge hegemonic representations on their own terms. This is further illustrated by a case study on youth perspectives on homosexuality in India which utilizes data from interviews conducted in Bengaluru with three generations of middle-class families representing India’s three major religions. While the youth accepted homosexuality, elders displayed their resistance. Yet tolerance was perceived as a Western import, revealing an East-West divide in understandings of homosexuality.

Values and intergroup perceptions of East Germans and West Germans in 1998 1This research was supported by a grant from the German Research Society (We 1106/3-1).

1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-272
Author(s):  
Jörg Doll ◽  
Michael Dick
Keyword(s):  
Research Society ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
The West ◽  
Need For Uniqueness ◽  
German Research ◽  
East German ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
East West

The studies reported here focus on similarities and dissimilarities between the terminal value hierarchies ( Rokeach, 1973 ) ascribed to different groups ( Schwartz & Struch, 1990 ). In Study 1, n = 65 East Germans and n = 110 West Germans mutually assess the respective ingroup and outgroup. In this intra-German comparison the West Germans, with a mean intraindividual correlation of rho = 0.609, perceive a significantly greater East-West similarity between the group-related value hierarchies than the East Germans, with a mean rho = 0.400. Study 2 gives East German subjects either a Swiss (n = 58) or Polish (n = 59) frame of reference in the comparison between the categories German and East German. Whereas the Swiss frame of reference should arouse a need for uniqueness, the Polish frame of reference should arouse a need for similarity. In accordance with expectations, the Swiss frame of reference significantly reduces the correlative similarity between German and East German from a mean rho = 0.703 in a control group (n = 59) to a mean rho = 0.518 in the experimental group. Contrary to expectations, the Polish frame of reference does not lead to an increase in perceived similarity (mean rho = 0.712).

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