scholarly journals Transnational Class Formation? Globalization and the Canadian Corporate Network

2011 ◽  
pp. 379-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Klassen ◽  
William K. Carroll

The issue of transnational class formation has figured centrally in recent debates on globalization. These debates revolve around the question of whether or not new patterns of cross-border trade and investment have established global circuits of capital out of which a transnational capitalist class has emerged. This paper takes up the notion of transnational class formation at the point of corporate directorship interlocks. Using Canada as a case study, it maps the changing network of directorship interlocks between leading firms in Canada and the world economy. In particular, the paper examines the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in the Canadian corporate network; the resilience of a national corporate community; and new patterns of cross-border interlocking amongst transnational firms. Through this empirical mapping, the paper finds a definite link between investment and interlocking shaping the social space of the global corporate elite. Corporations with a transnational base of accumulation tend to participate in transnational interlocking. While national corporate communities have not been transcended, transnational firms increasingly predominate within them, articulating national with transnational elite segments. This new network of firms reconstitutes the corporate power bloc and forms a nascent transnational capitalist class.

Author(s):  
Torun Reite ◽  
Francis Badiang Oloko ◽  
Manuel Armando Guissemo

Inspired by recent epistemological and ontological debates aimed at unsettling and reshaping conceptions of language, this essay discusses how mainstream sociolinguistics offers notions meaningful for studying contexts of the South. Based on empirical studies of youth in two African cities, Yaoundé in Cameroon and Maputo in Mozambique, the essay engages with “fluid modernity” and “enregisterment” to unravel the role that fluid multilingual practices play in the social lives of urban youth. The empirically grounded theoretical discussion shows how recent epistemologies and ontologies offer inroads to more pluriversal knowledge production. The essay foregrounds: i) the role of language in the sociopolitical battles of control over resources, and ii) speakers’ reflexivity and metapragmatic awareness of register formations of fluid multilingual practices. Moreover, it shows how bundles of localized meanings construct belongings and counterhegemonic discourses, as well as demonstrating speakers’ differential valuations and perceptions of boundaries and transgressions across social space.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone M. Müller ◽  
Heidi J.S. Tworek

AbstractThis article uses the example of submarine telegraphy to trace the interdependence between global communications and modern capitalism. It uncovers how cable entrepreneurs created the global telegraph network based upon particular understandings of cross-border trade, while economists such as John Maynard Keynes and John Hobson saw global communications as the foundation for capitalist exchange. Global telegraphic networks were constructed to support extant capitalist systems until the 1890s, when states and corporations began to lay telegraph cables to open up new markets, particularly in Asia and Latin America, as well as for strategic and military reasons. The article examines how the interaction between telegraphy and capitalism created particular geographical spaces and social orders despite opposition from myriad Western and non-Western groups. It argues that scholars need to account for the role of infrastructure in creating asymmetrical information and access to trade that have continued to the present day.


2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Márcia Spanó Nakano ◽  
Márcia Cristina Guerreiro dos Reis ◽  
Maria José Bistafa Pereira ◽  
Flávia Azevedo Gomes

This study aimed to identify agents or institutions taken as reference by women when breastfeeding. A qualitative study was carried out on 20 primiparous who were assisted, for reasons not related to breastfeeding, in the five health services selected by this study. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews carried out in the participants' households and were analyzed by content analysis in the thematic mode. We identified that health professionals play a standardize role of breastfeeding based on scientific knowledge. In the daily breastfeeding routine, the family is the first reference for women, transmitting beliefs, habits and behaviors. We believe in the valorization of the family context by the health professional, in which actions and interactions in the breastfeeding issue are developed in order to constitute the foundations for a new care model in breastfeeding. This model should, therefore, consider the practice diversity, adapting actions to the multiple roles of being mother/fortress/wife/worker in the social context.


Author(s):  
Yunming Shao ◽  
Lei Shi

This paper is a case study of FORGE, the first UK-China cross border accelerator program, conducted in the context of TusPark Newcastle, an overseas innovation center by TUS Holdings in the United Kingdom. It engages with current research that examines the role of trust, particularly in the area of cross-border trade. We suggest that this is especially pertinent for early stage technology companies, since in many cases, their products, business models and even founder reputations, are more unformed. We also look at the topic of cross-border incubation, particularly with China as the target market, and provide new insights for understanding the channels and barriers for international commercialization in China for early stage tech startups. Finally, we provide some suggestions for policy-makers on both sides to better coordinate efforts to increase innovation relationships like FORGE.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-139
Author(s):  
Konstantin Kharchenko

The paper presents an analysis of the capacity of target groups of the population which are considered as a social base for the implementation of strategies of socioeconomic development. The aim of the study is to define the ways of identifying and tools of activating of the capacity of various groups of the population in relation to strategy planning and implementation. The capacity of target groups is considered in a context of the concept of capacity as a managerial category with its both objective and subjective senses. The capacity of target groups is identified among the various sorts of capacity of a territory. The concepts of target groups capacity and social capacity, social and labor capacity, social and target groups are correlated. The capacity of target groups is shown on the example of two certain localities: Mostovski raion (Krasnodar krai) and the city district of Megion (Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous okrug – Ugra). As a result of reflection analysis of the process and outcomes of strategic planning there were revealed more than ten target groups typical for both localities. Specific target groups were also identified. The role of each of group under the condition of both inertial and purposeful development of the locality was highlighted. The identification of target groups had let to classify them by the criteria of typicality, localization in relation to the borders of the locality, cohesion, presence in the real world / result of intent construction. It was proposed to form a ‘thesaurus’ of target groups to apply while analyzing the social potential of the other localities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-167
Author(s):  
Karol Kurnicki

Space gains significance through processes of social differentiation and bordering, and in consequence is connected with the creation and maintenance of social divisions. The author seeks confirmation of this fact at the level of everyday practices in housing settlements, tracking the mechanisms used by people in situations of contact and confrontation with others in the social space. He sets himself several aims: (1) he attempts to analyze selected spatial practices (parking within the settlement, the creation of belonging), reflecting the internal structuring strategies of housing settlements; (2) he points to the causes of that structuring, that is, the main contexts in which these practices occur and are strengthened; (3) he highlights the important role of space in processes of bordering and differentiation. Practices connected with parking and the creation of belonging, although apparently disparate and deriving from contrary spheres of social life make it possible to hypothesize that the striving for separation and the increased importance of space determine the organization of borders, divisions, and social relations in housing settlements.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Smart

Urban metropolitan city-centers offer the most complex, socially connective environments in the built world. The social structures fundamentally embedded in city life are, however increasingly being overshadowed by an isolating system of city densification. The City of Toronto, as a territory of exploration, is one of many cities that are evolving a dense array of restrictive boundaries that increasingly challenge human connectivity, and the deep-rooted ability of these environments to establish vibrant city life. It is the role of architecture to mediate the relationships between the public and private territories and to understand how these environments are utilized and engaged by the surrounding context. This thesis has extracted critical environmental components exemplified in city, community, and building territories, and has re-integrated these defining characteristics into an alternative design strategy that establishes a balanced symbiotic relationship between the private and public realms of Toronto’s future City Core.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhixi Cecilia Zhuang

The increasing suburbanization of immigrant settlement in Canada’s major receiving cities has created unprecedented challenges for municipalities. Despite emerging research about the rise of ethnic suburbs in Canada and abroad, the role of suburban municipalities in facilitating immigrant integration and planning with diversity remains unclear. Based on mixed-method ethnographic research, this article investigates how immigrant and racialized communities in the Greater Toronto Area have significantly transformed suburban places and built institutionally complete communities. However, the rapid development of these spaces has not been fully recognized or supported by municipal planning authorities. Conflicts related to land use, public engagement, and public realm development expose planning’s failure to keep pace with the diverse needs of immigrant communities, who must continually negotiate and fight for their use of space. Furthermore, the lack of effective civic engagement not only ignores immigrant and racialized communities as important stakeholders in suburban redevelopment, but also threatens to destroy the social infrastructure built by these communities and their ‘informal’ practices that are often not recognized by the planning ‘norm.’ Without appropriate community consultation, planning processes can further sideline marginalized groups. Lack of consultation also tends to prevent cooperation between groups, impeding the building of inclusive communities. It is imperative for municipalities to better understand and encourage community engagement and placemaking in ethnic suburbs. This study offers several recommendations for suburban planning with diversity. Keywords: Canada; diversity; ethnic suburbs; immigrant settlement; institutional completeness; social infrastructure; social space; Toronto


Author(s):  
Agnès Vayreda ◽  
Francesc Núñez

This chapter focuses on the role that metaphors play in the social relationships of people who use CMC. We analyze the metaphors used by contributors to three different electronic fora when they refer to the process of interaction. One of our main objectives is to show that the study of metaphors allows us to understand how CMC users reach agreement as to the nature of the social space that they inhabit and what behavior is considered to be appropriate or inappropriate in such a space. This chapter will show that metaphors facilitate the construction of social life and allow CMC users to propose norms of behaviour; they also facilitate the process of identification, generate confidence in a group, and orient users to the cultural contexts in which social action takes place.


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