scholarly journals The Social Life of Gas Stations

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Giulio Giovannoni
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Gas Stations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Youth Subcultures ◽  
Post War

Literature on gas stations is attributable to a handful of approaches: a nostalgic/historical approach on the first vernacular manifestations of such roadside artifacts; an opposite bleak approach, stressing their features of "non-places"; the obvious branch of technological literature; and a few others. Almost never are gas stations considered as public spaces. However gas stations, as well as other curbside artifacts, abound of social life. This is particularly true in Italy, where thanks to the post-war tradition of Autogrill, gas stations are often much more than just a place to fill up. They provide coffee shops, restaurants, pastry shops, as well as newsstands, stores, food vendors, not to say of the inevitable Mac Drives. Al that accessible, easy to park, and in many instances open 24/7, in a country which shuts at 7.00 pm, or at best at 9.00 pm. Therefore gas stations end to be the crossroads of many social interactions, especially – but not only –of youth subcultures. For these reasons gas stations deserve being studied for what they are, avoiding both nostalgic and bleak approaches. The paper presents the first results of an ongoing research on the social life of gas stations in central Italy. It is structured in five main sections. Section one synthesizes the main positions on gas stations, from the pessimistic ones equating gas stations to nonplaces, to the more optimistic framing gas stations within street and car cultures. Section two frames the relevance of gas stations within the wider transformation produced on cities by the advent of car. Section three provides an historical framework in order to explain today’s social relevance of gas stations in Italy. Section four presents the research findings on the social life of such ‘architectures in motion’, confirming the importance of gas stations for public life. The conclusive section of the paper draws policy implications of such findings claiming the necessity of explicitly designing gas stations as places for public life.

scholarly journals Electrophysiological modulations of lexical prediction by conversation requirements

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Baus ◽  
Anne-Sophie Dubarry ◽  
F.-Xavier Alario
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Interactive Nature

Language mediates most of our social life and yet, despite such social relevance and ubiquity, little is known about language processing during social interactions. To explore this issue, two experiments were designed to isolate two basic components of a conversation: 1) the interplay between language production and comprehension systems, and 2) the participation of a social partner. We explored how prediction processes in language comprehension are modulated by two basic components of a conversation. Participants were asked to perform a cross-modal priming paradigm in two blocks, one involving only comprehension trials and another in which trials requiring production and comprehension were intermixed. In the first experiment, participants were alone during the task and in the second experiment, participants believed they were performing the task jointly with an interactive partner. A critical electrophysiological signature of lexical prediction was observed, the N400 component, allowing to assess its modulation across conditions and experiments. when production was involved in the task, the effect of lexical predictability was enhanced at the early stages of language comprehension (anticipatory phase), irrespective of the social context. In contrast, language production reduced the effect of lexical predictability at later stages (integration phase), only when participants performed the task alone but not in the social context. These results support production based-models and reveal the importance of exploring language considering its interactive nature.

A light burden: cultural discourse of light in Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Lok Hang Hui
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Local Case ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Post War

PurposeThis paper explores the sensory experiences and cultural meanings of light in Japan in relation to Japanese changing lighting practices. It demonstrates that these sensory experiences and cultural meanings form an integral part of social life in Japan.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts a blended approach that combines historical research and ethnographic data in the research on the meanings of light. The findings are presented in three parts. Two of them describe the social history of light, and the third draws on ethnographic data collected in suburban Japan.FindingsThe findings suggest that light in Japan has maintained a close symbolic connection with certain positive values despite the changing lighting practices. For example, light is related to cleanliness in early historical records on candle-making. In post-war Japan, new light metaphors such as “bright family” were invented to accommodate new aspirations for modernity and progress. In the latest development, the moral dimension of light is emphasised. This is evident in the concerns on being seen as a “bright person”, a person with a cheerful personality. Light in this way is related to the sensory experience of feeling a “social weight”, the pressure for one to act according to social norms.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to our anthropological understandings of light. It also provides a local case study of Japan, supported by original ethnographic research conducted by the author.

scholarly journals Slovene critics on Sinclair Lewis's novels

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Vanja Avsenak
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Sinclair Lewis ◽  
World War ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

The purpose of this article is to present the reception of Sinclair Lewis's novels by Slovene critics. Initially, the article focuses on the life and workof Sinclair Lewis, giving special emphasis to social influences that made the author a representative figure in the literary and social world. Thus his works are nowadays to be understood primarily as fiction, but on the other hand also as sociological documents of a social and political situation of the period between the two world wars. Generally, the effect they produce is one of a critical discussion of the nation of the United States. When speaking of the social relevance that Lewis's novels have, it is obvious that his works are the portrayals of Americans and their deficiencies. At the time of their publication Lewis's novels received unfavourable criticism on accountof his overly open pro-European attitude and Slovene critics of the period before World War II emphasise this in much detail. It was precisely this anti-American propaganda in the novels themselves and sincerity on the part of the novelist that won the European critics as well as the readers whenit came to appreciating his works. However, Lewis's view of the Americans, as presented throughout his works, only enhanced his literary credibility as a modern writer. That is why the articles by Slovene critics that appeared after the Second World War, and even more significantly after Lewis's death, almost minutely reflect a more favourable attitude to Sinclair Lewis, which was also the case with foreign literary criticism of the post-war period. Critics still discuss the qualities and flaws of Lewis's novels, but being more lenient they no longer profess that the novels lack in artistic value. They remain, however, primarily relevant as social documents of the pre- and post-war era, which fully presented the American middle-class mentality in America and elsewhere. For this reason, the Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to Sinclair Lewis in 1930 seems duly justified. It signifies appreciation and respect that the American and European readers as well as critics used to have and still have for Sinclair Lewis. Therefore, it is no surprise that his novels are being translated in several foreign languages even in modern times.

Low-educated immigrants and the social relevance of second language acquisition research

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Young-Scholten
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
The Social

Since the 1980s’ decoupling of the formal study of second language acquisition from pedagogical concerns, the social relevance of such research has been of little concern. Early studies, in the 1970s, of uninstructed adult learners’ acquisition of morphosyntax pointed to social implications: these working class immigrants had varying levels of schooling, and it turned out that those with the least education made the slowest progress. With a shift in interest to consideration of poverty of the stimulus effects, researchers no longer needed to rely on adults who were uninstructed in the second language (L2) while immersed in the target language. Reliance on easy-to-recruit middle-class secondary school and university participants has had the – unintended – consequence of diminishing the attention paid to socially excluded adult L2 learners. This has left a range of language-external factors unaddressed in second language acquisition (SLA) at the international level; however, at the local level, interest in the language acquisition and literacy development of adult immigrants has risen along with increased immigration by adults with little or no native language schooling. These adults face considerable challenges in acquiring the linguistic competence and literacy skills that support participation in the economic and social life of their new communities. Those who teach such adults have very little SLA research to refer to in dealing with increasingly politicized policies and worsening provision. A return to the type of studies conducted in West Germany and the rest of Europe in the 1970s and 1980s would serve this population of learners well.

Some aspects of Islam in the public life of the Kumyks at the turn of the 20th — 21st centuries

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (11-1) ◽  
pp. 192-197
Author(s):  
Yusup Guseynov
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Public Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Islamic Religion

The article is devoted to the influence of some aspects of the Islamic religion on the social life of the Kumyks in the XX-XXI centuries. After the collapse of the USSR, another stage of Islamization began in Dagestan. Gradually, the fulfillment of religious rites and regulations in accordance with Sharia norms became an integral part of the life of the Kumyks.

scholarly journals Vilfredo Pareto. History, his history

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-98
Author(s):  
Mario Aldo Toscano ◽  
Chiara Santini-Parducci
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Life ◽  
First World War ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
World War ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post War ◽  
First Moment ◽  
First World ◽  
Life Work

Pareto biographical and intellectual experience offers a privileged point of view on First World War. His life work, Treatise on General Sociology, was published in 1916 by Barbera Publisher in Florence. It is through the conceptual tools contained in this work that he deciphers the ongoing conflict. His interpretative method is based on the distinction between residues and derivations. The firsts are the real motifs that determinate actions, the seconds are false explanations men create to justify their behaviour. War is a conflict between residues and more specifically between two residues: the persistence of aggregates – a conservative residue, politically represented by Germans and Central Powers – and the instinct for combinations – typical of innovators, represented by the Allies. Post war disorder cannot last and be tolerated by any stable social system. Pareto in a first moment is sceptical toward Fascism but he was fascinated by Mussolini’s personality later, when he recognises him as the only man capable to re-establish social order in a country out of control. Pareto’s support to Fascism is ultimately a support to a realistic principle able to use Machiavelli methods to beat all fractions that without a political synthesis can threat the social life of a country.

Current Postvention Research and Priorities for the Future

Crisis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Andriessen ◽  
Dolores Angela Castelli Dransart ◽  
Julie Cerel ◽  
Myfanwy Maple
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Intercultural Collaboration ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Suicide Bereavement ◽  
Ethical Approval

Abstract. Background: Suicide can have a lasting impact on the social life as well as the physical and mental health of the bereaved. Targeted research is needed to better understand the nature of suicide bereavement and the effectiveness of support. Aims: To take stock of ongoing studies, and to inquire about future research priorities regarding suicide bereavement and postvention. Method: In March 2015, an online survey was widely disseminated in the suicidology community. Results: The questionnaire was accessed 77 times, and 22 records were included in the analysis. The respondents provided valuable information regarding current research projects and recommendations for the future. Limitations: Bearing in mind the modest number of replies, all from respondents in Westernized countries, it is not known how representative the findings are. Conclusion: The survey generated three strategies for future postvention research: increase intercultural collaboration, increase theory-driven research, and build bonds between research and practice. Future surveys should include experiences with obtaining research grants and ethical approval for postvention studies.

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