scholarly journals Seeking Sydney From the Ground Up: Foundations and Horizons in Sydney’s Historiography

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-203
Author(s):  
Grace Karskens
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Urban History ◽  
Demographic Profiles ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Ethnographic History ◽  
Housing Estates ◽  
Past Half

It was an essay by geographers Robyn Dowling and Kathy Mee on Western Sydney public housing estates in the 1950s and 1960s which prompted me to write that we need histories ‘from the ground up’. Dowling and Mee compared longstanding stereotypes of Western Sydney and public housing estates with real demographic profiles and the lived experiences of suburban people, stories that ‘highlight the social promise and ordinariness embedded in the building of estates’. Here was recognizable, human Sydney, full of ‘people doing things’, recovered from the condescension of almost everybody. In this article I want to first explore what ‘from the ground up’ has meant in my own work, and look at its implications for urban history more generally. Then I will trace some key movements and breakthroughs in Sydney’s urban historiography over the past half century, noting particularly what happens when close-grained research is fused with larger conceptual and theoretical approaches and models. My own approach to urban history ‘from the ground up’ is urban ethnographic history. The aim is Annales-inspired histoire total, for I seek to ‘see things whole, to integrate the economic, the social, the political and the cultural into a “total” history’. The Annales emphasis on space, and the perception, co-existence and interaction of different historical timescales, have of course been germane to the emergence of urban history since the 1960s, while cross-disciplinary exchange and thinking (something in which we bowerbird historians excel!) also lies at the heart of urban studies.

Pakistan’s Development: Successes, Failures, and Future Tasks (Presidential Remarks)

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4I) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Sarfraz Khan Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Golden Jubilee ◽  
Freedom Movement ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Do So

It is an honour for me as President of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists to welcome you to the 13th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society. I consider it a great privilege to do so as this Meeting coincides with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the state of Pakistan, a state which emerged on the map of the postwar world as a result of the Muslim freedom movement in the Indian Subcontinent. Fifty years to the date, we have been jubilant about it, and both as citizens of Pakistan and professionals in the social sciences we have also been thoughtful about it. We are trying to see what development has meant in Pakistan in the past half century. As there are so many dimensions that the subject has now come to have since its rather simplistic beginnings, we thought the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan to be an appropriate occasion for such stock-taking.

scholarly journals Undergraduate Econometrics Instruction: Through Our Classes, Darkly

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Angrist ◽  
Jörn-Steffen Pischke
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Causal Effects ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Back Seat ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Classical Regression

The past half-century has seen economic research become increasingly empirical, while the nature of empirical economic research has also changed. In the 1960s and 1970s, an empirical economist's typical mission was to “explain” economic variables like wages or GDP growth. Applied econometrics has since evolved to prioritize the estimation of specific causal effects and empirical policy analysis over general models of outcome determination. Yet econometric instruction remains mostly abstract, focusing on the search for “true models” and technical concerns associated with classical regression assumptions. Questions of research design and causality still take a back seat in the classroom, in spite of having risen to the top of the modern empirical agenda. This essay traces the divergent development of econometric teaching and empirical practice, arguing for a pedagogical paradigm shift.

Kids Today

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Duckworth ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Self Control ◽  
Half Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Past Half

Compared to 50 years ago, are children today better or worse at delaying gratification? If you answered “worse,” then you have company. Roughly 3 out of 4 parents believe that self-control has decreased over the past half-century. Likewise, when given a brief description of the famous marshmallow test, the same proportion of parents guess that preschoolers today are less able to delay gratification than their counterparts in the 1960s. Here's how one older gentleman described the decline of self-controlled behavior among kids of his generation. The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

How Ecology Has Changed

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene P. Odum
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
University Of Georgia ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University ◽  
Past Half

During the past half century, ecology has emerged from its roots in biology to become a stand-alone discipline that interfaces organisms, the physical environment and human affairs. This is in line with the root meaning of the word ecology which is ‘the study of the household’ or the total environment in which we live. When I first came to the University of Georgia in 1940 as an instructor in the Department of Zoology, ecology was considered a rather unimportant sub-division of biology. At the end of World War II, we had a staff meeting to discuss ‘core curriculum’, or what courses every biology major should be required to take. My suggestion that ecology should be part of this core was rejected by all other members of the staff; they said ecology was just descriptive natural history with no basic principles. It was this ‘put down’, as it were, that started me thinking about a textbook that would emphasize basic principles, which eventually became the first edition of my Fundamentals of Ecology, published in 1953. In those early days ‘ecology’ was often defined as the ‘study of organisms in relation to environment’. The environment was considered a sort of inert stage in which the actors, that is the organisms, played the game of natural selection. Now we recognize that the ‘stage’ and the ‘actors’ interact with each other constantly so that not only do organisms relate to the physical environment, but they also change the environment. Thus, when the first green microbes, the cynobacteria, began putting oxygen into the atmosphere, the environment was greatly changed, making way for a whole new set of aerobic organisms. Also, when one goes from the study of structure to the study of function, then the physical sciences (including energetics, biogeochemical cycling and earth sciences in general) have to be included. And, of course, now more than ever, we have to consider humans and the social sciences as part of the environment. So we now have essentially a new discipline of ‘ecology’ that is a three-way interface.

Does Progressive Finance Alter School Organizations and Raise Achievement? The Case of Los Angeles

2020 ◽  
pp. 089590482090147
Author(s):  
Joon-Ho Lee ◽  
Bruce Fuller
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
English Learners ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
High Poverty Schools ◽  
The Past ◽  
Poor Students ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Finance ◽  
Past Half

State finance reforms have raised per-pupil spending and elevated the achievement of disadvantaged students over the past half-century. But we know little about how fresh funding may alter teacher staffing or the social and curricular organization of schools, mediating gains in learning. We find that US$1.1 billion in new yearly funding—arriving to Los Angeles high schools after California enacted a progressive weighted-pupil formula in 2013—led schools to rely more on novice and probationary teachers. Schools that enjoyed greater funding modestly reduced average class size and the count of teaching periods assigned to staff in five subsequent years. Yet, high-poverty schools receiving higher budget augmentations more often assigned novice teachers to English learners (ELs) and hosted declining shares of courses that qualified graduates for college admission. Mean achievement climbed overall, but EL and poor students fell further behind in schools receiving greater funding.

1968: Towards a General Secularism

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Simon During
Keyword(s):  
Capitalist Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Middle Way ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Radical Movement ◽  
Movement Politics

The numerous interpretations and evaluations of 1968 that have been developed over the past half-century can arguably be divided into two. On one side, there are those accounts that regard 1968 as the threshold across which an older form of modernity passed to become what student revolutionaries of the period began to call late capitalism; and although late capitalism itself quickly became a fissured thing, this view has become orthodox. On the other side, there are those who insist that ’68 was a Badiousian event, an outbreak of liberatory possibilities to which we not only have a responsibility to remain faithful, but which provided a template for later more or less insurrectionary movements; undoubtedly the strongest argument for ’68’s enduring radical meaning and potential has been made by Kristin Ross in her 2002 book, May ’68 and its Afterlives. This article is partly committed to arguing for a middle way between these two views. I accept that the processes leading to and following the events of 1968 triggered the development of a new kind of capitalist society as well as formed the template for the radicalisms we now have. This mediation might seem to involve a contradiction, but in the end it is more accurate not to see these two views as they see themselves, namely as enemies, but rather as dialectically and functionally united. Without the kind of capitalism that the 1960s triggered, no radical movement politics; without radical, post-communist movement politics, no such late capitalism. To see that, we need to think about ’68 in larger contexts and terms than is usual. I will call the context I wish to bring to bear general secularization.

Sound change and social structure in a rural community

1983 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy C. Frazer
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
American English ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Rural Life ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
Past Half

ABSTRACTMost studies of sound change in the United States have focused on the social strata of urban societies. In the American cornbelt, however, the most important social distinctions are horizontal rather than vertical. A fundamental ethnic division dating back to original settlement of the area opposes town and countryside dwellers. A study of fifty-one speakers in a rural area of Illinois shows fronting and raising of (aw) to be considerably more advanced among countryside dwellers than among town residents. Furthermore, the countryside population underwent a profound social and economic change during the past half century as large numbers of subsistence farmers abandoned the land and rural life altogether, leaving behind a smaller number of farmers whose larger operations meant that the economic and social status of the average farmer considerably improved. An examination of town and countryside age groups from the data base shows that an increase in the fronting and raising of (aw) took place primarily in a single generation most affected by the change in the farm population. At least temporarily, fronted and raised (aw), despite an overt nonstandard status documented in more than a century of speech and language textbooks, suddenly acquired a new prestige – spreading even to town populations – along with a reassertion of rural values and rural life. (Sound change, social structure, rural society, American English, sociolinguistics, dialectology)

scholarly journals To Know Them is to Love Them

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 146-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Hunn
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Emotional Engagement ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Popular Song ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Cultural Appreciation ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Past Half

I connect the theoretical emphasis that motivated the cognitive ethnobiology of the 1960s and early 1970s with the contemporary emphasis on promoting ethnobiology as contributing to biodiversity conservation. I use the words of a popular song to highlight the necessary, if problematic, links between knowing nature – the focus of cognitive ethnobiology, loving nature, and acting to conserve nature. I argue that a highly elaborated knowledge of the living things in one's local environment is characteristic of Indigenous and other deeply rooted communities, which are dependent on sustainable harvests of local natural resources. Furthermore, this extensive knowledge goes hand in hand with a deep emotional engagement with those species (“love”), which is in turn powerful motivation to treat those species with respect, absent dominance of profit motives. I suggest in conclusion that ethnobiology may best contribute to biodiversity conservation by documenting the detailed knowledge of and cultural appreciation for biodiversity evident in such rooted communities – an effort that has defined the ethnobiological project for over the past half century. The wider community of activists dedicated to biodiversity conservation may thus better know and thus appreciate – respect, if not “love” – those who live with and depend for their livelihood on this biodiversity.

scholarly journals The Effects of Physical and Social Characteristics on Residents' Perception on Neighbourhood Quality in the Urban Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 122-145
Author(s):  
Olusola Oladapo Makinde
Keyword(s):  
Public Housing ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Systematic Sampling ◽  
P Value ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
The Social ◽  
Level Of Significance ◽  
Housing Estates

There are growing concerns for neighbourhood lowliness in public housing development which affect residents’ wellbeing. Three major neighbourhood components that comprise the socio-economic characteristics of the residents, physical and social characteristics of neighbourhoods were identified and assessed for this study. A questionnaire survey was used to acquire primary data. Five, representing 16.7% of estates, were randomly selected from thirty public housing estates in the urban area of Ibadan. Subsequently, using systematic sampling technique, questionnaires were administered to 985 (20%) of households from the total of 4,922 households in the selected estates. Data collected were analysed using percentages, Relative Importance Indices and Multiple Regression Analyses. The results showed that 74.5% were homeowners, while renters, inheritors and government allotters had 22.7 and 2.8%, respectively. The results on the perception of physical characteristics indices (PCI) show that Alalubosa estate had the highest value with 4.23 PCI, while the social characteristics indices (SCI) revealed that Old Bodija estate had the highest value of 4.09 SCI. The results of regression analyses show that PCI and SCI were significant to residents' perception of neighbourhood quality where P-value < 0.00 probability level. The study confirmed the linear relationship and level of significance among the three factors. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2020-01-03-03 Full Text: PDF

scholarly journals Climate warming has led to the degradation of permafrost stability in the past half century over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youhua Ran ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Guodong Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Climate Warming ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Unique Type ◽  
Half Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Past Half

Abstract. Temperature increases cause a unique type of damage to permafrost. This damage is often expressed as the degradation of permafrost thermal stability, which is very important for engineering design, resource development, and environmental protection in cold regions. This study evaluates the degradation of permafrost stability over the QTP from the 1960s to the 2000s using estimated decadal mean annual air temperatures (MAATs) by integrating remote sensing-based estimates of mean annual land surface temperatures (MASTs), leaf area index (LAI) and fractional snow cover values, and decadal mean MAATs taken at 152 weather stations using geographically weighted regression (GWR). The results reflect a continuous rise of approximately 0.04 °C/a in the decadal mean MAAT values over the past half century. Climate warming has led to a reduction in permafrost stability in the past half century. The total degraded area of stability is approximately 153.76 x 104 km2, which corresponds to 87.98 % of the permafrost area in the 1960s. The stability of 75.24 % of the extremely stable permafrost, 89.56 % of the stable permafrost, 90.3 % of the sub-stable permafrost, 92.31 % of the transitional permafrost, and 32.8 % of the unstable permafrost has been reduced to lower levels of stability. Approximately 49.4 % of the unstable permafrost and 95.95 % of the extremely unstable permafrost has degraded to seasonally frozen ground. The sensitivity of the permafrost to climate is dependent on its stability level. The mean elevations of the extremely stable, stable, sub-stable, transitional, unstable, and extremely unstable permafrost areas increased by 88 m, 97 m, 155 m, 185 m, 161 m and 250 m, respectively. The degradation mainly occurred from the 1960s to the 1970s and from the 1990s to the 2000s. This degradation has led to increases in risks to infrastructure, increased flood risks, reductions in ecosystem resilience, and positive climate feedback effects. It therefore affects the well-being of millions of people and sustainable development at the Third Pole.

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