Security as an Interesting Area of Scientific Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Ścibiorek

For every human being, the primary value is the protection of health and life and the desire to live in peace, be safe and be able to pursue their and professional goals. It will become real when the safety that has accompanied people since ancient times is guaranteed. Nowadays, it is not only a problem of a given person; the issues concerning protection and defence of a person against threats, resulting both from natural forces and the effects of human activity, are in the orbit of interest of many institutions. The present times create conditions for events unfavourable to people and to their safety, which is a timeless and high priority value. In security research, both initial hypotheses and results are formulated with the intention of better understanding threats treated as a relatively autonomous category of social phenomena. Security, as a category of social phenomena, is looked at from many points of view, with the aim of detecting more general mechanisms and regularities of social life, especially in the areas of growing threats and pathologies. The result of the research is not only in-depth knowledge of the causes of threats (diagnosis), but also proposals for changes and improvement of the mechanisms and institutions used to prevent and neutralise threats. In this context, it should be noted that the undertaken research activities shall be aimed at building a safe environment. In order to be highly effective, activities must use achievements of the world of science and act in accordance with this methodology. Interdisciplinary research should skilfully apply social research methods appropriate to the research problem being addressed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 205979912097699
Author(s):  
Martyn Hammersley

This article examines the character of a small but detailed observational study that focused on two teams of researchers, one engaged in qualitative sociological research, the other developing statistical models. The study was presented as investigating ‘the social life of methods’, an approach seen by some as displacing conventional research methodology. The study drew on ethnomethodology, and was offered as a direct parallel with ethnographic and ethnomethodological investigations of natural scientists’ work by Science and Technology Studies scholars. In the articles deriving from this study, the authors show how even the statisticians relied on background qualitative knowledge about the social phenomena to which their data related. The articles also document routine practices employed by each set of researchers, some ‘troubles’ they encountered and how they dealt with these. Another theme addressed is whether the distinction between quantitative and qualitative approaches accurately characterised differences between these researchers at the level of practical reasoning. While this research is presented as descriptive in orientation, concerned simply with documenting social science practices, it operates against a background of at least implicit critique. I examine its character and the closely associated criticism of social research methodology and conventional social science.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-119
Author(s):  
Karol Franczak

Abstract One of the main goals of contemporary media, along with the experts and professionals, who speak in them, has been to explain complex issues and provide the audience with clear descriptions of social reality. This is mostly achieved by the production of ideologically useful interpretative schemes that facilitate understanding of the issues present on the media agenda. An important strategy of shaping the public opinion in the way in which public affairs and the activity of social life participants is framed. Analyses of such practices have been conducted for over thirty years within various research approaches collectively referred to as framing analysis. This research provides several arguments helping one to develop a more critical perspective on the representations of social phenomena dominant in the media and discourses of symbolic elites (e.g. opinion writers, academics, experts, journalists, politicians), along with the analyses of the origin of such phenomena, moral judgements and preferred "corrective policies". One of the phenomena defined by the media in Europe as the most important one for the past several years, is the so-called "New Right". The aim of the paper is to analyse the interpretative schemes used by the journalists of four Polish opinion-forming weeklies and to describe the activity of its German manifestation – the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident (Pegida) social movement and the Alternative for Germany party (AfD).


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205395171881184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petter Törnberg ◽  
Anton Törnberg

This paper reviews the contemporary discussion on the epistemological and ontological effects of Big Data within social science, observing an increased focus on relationality and complexity, and a tendency to naturalize social phenomena. The epistemic limits of this emerging computational paradigm are outlined through a comparison with the discussions in the early days of digitalization, when digital technology was primarily seen through the lens of dematerialization, and as part of the larger processes of “postmodernity”. Since then, the online landscape has become increasingly centralized, and the “liquidity” of dematerialized technology has come to empower online platforms in shaping the conditions for human behavior. This contrast between the contemporary epistemological currents and the previous philosophical discussions brings to the fore contradictions within the study of digital social life: While qualitative change has become increasingly dominant, the focus has gone towards quantitative methods; while the platforms have become empowered to shape social behavior, the focus has gone from social context to naturalizing social patterns; while meaning is increasingly contested and fragmented, the role of hermeneutics has diminished; while platforms have become power hubs pursuing their interests through sophisticated data manipulation, the data they provide is increasingly trusted to hold the keys to understanding social life. These contradictions, we argue, are partially the result of a lack of philosophical discussion on the nature of social reality in the digital era; only from a firm metatheoretical perspective can we avoid forgetting the reality of the system under study as we are affected by the powerful social life of Big Data.


Author(s):  
Ю.В. Ковалева

Представлен историографический анализ развития понятия большие социальные группы и историко-психологический анализ социальных феноменов , связанных с массовыми общественными явлениями в России. Сформулированы актуальные проблемы психологии больших социальных групп, к которым относятся неоднородность оснований для их выделения, недостаточная дифференцированность со сходными понятиями, неравномерность исследований в различные временные периоды и идеологическая нагруженность их разработки. Данная работа была ответом на необходимость восполнения знаний о процессах в таких группах, происходивших в различные исторические периоды развития социальной психологии, с соответствующим им уровнем научного осмысления, а также обобщением этой целостной картины на уровне современного понимания и формулировка перспективных направлений исследований. Целью исследования является установление связи между определением и основными свойствами понятия «большие социальные группы» (его синонимов, аналогов) и особенностями социальной ситуации в определенный период времени, а также реконструкция социальных процессов данного исторического этапа. Проверялась гипотеза о том, что большие социальные группы как феномены социальной жизни формировались в соответствии с историческим временем, а соответствующее им понятие и его свойства с одной стороны отвечали уровню развития гуманитарного знания, а с другой - пытались удовлетворить общественный и политический запрос в объяснении и управлении социальной ситуацией. Использовались методы историографии социальной психологии и психолого-исторической реконструкции . Первая часть статьи посвящена анализу первых двух этапов развития социальной психологии - с середины XIX до начала XX вв. и в 1920-е гг. XX в. The historiographic analysis of the development of the concept of large social groups and historical and psychological study of social phenomena associated with mass social phenomena was presented. Topical problems of the psychology of large social groups are formulated, including heterogeneity of the grounds for their isolation, insufficient differentiation with similar concepts, uneven research in various periods, and ideological loading of the history of its development. The study's main problem was the need to replenish the processes in such groups that took place in various historical periods of social psychology development as well as a synthesis of this holistic picture at the level of modern understanding and the formulation of promising areas of research. The study's purpose was to establish a connection between the definition and the basic properties of the concept of "large social groups" (and its synonyms, analogs) and the peculiarities of the social situation in a certain period, as well as the reconstruction of social processes of this historical segment. The hypothesis was tested that large social groups as phenomena of social life were formed under the past time. The concept and its properties were corresponding to them, on the one hand, compared to the level of development of humanitarian knowledge. On the other, they tried to satisfy the social and political requests to understand and manage the social situation. Methods of the historiography of the history of social psychology and psychological and historical reconstruction were used. The article's first part was devoted to the analysis of the early two stages of the development of social psychology - from the middle of the XIX to the beginning of the XX centuries and 1920 of the XX century.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen J. Scott

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> I initiate the discussion with a statement about cognitive-cultural capitalism and its concentration in large global cities. This is followed by an argument to the effect that the specificity of the city resides in the manner in which the diverse social phenomena that it contains are brought into a composite pattern of spatial integration. With these preliminaries in mind, I examine the economic structure of the city in cognitive-cultural capitalism, with special reference to the emergence of a new division of labor and the changing configuration of intra-urban production space. This account leads directly to consideration of the restratification of urban society and its effects on neighborhood development and social life. The final section of the paper picks up on the notion of the Common in cognitive-cultural capitalism and offers some speculative remarks regarding the implications of this phenomenon for the economic and social order of cities.</p><p><strong>Methodology/Approach:</strong> Historical and geographical narrative combined with appeals to the theory of political economy.</p><p><strong>Findings:</strong> Cognitive-cultural capitalism is emerging as a dominant force of social and economic change in the twenty-first century. This trend is also evident in new patterns of urbanization that are emerging on all five continents. These patterns reflect dramatic shifts in the structure of urban production systems and the significant restratification of urban society that has been occurring as a consequence.</p><p><strong>Research Limitation/implication:</strong> The paper is pitched at a high level of conceptual abstraction. Detailed empirical investigation/testing of the main theoretical points outlined in the paper is urgently called for.</p><p><strong>Originality/Value of paper:</strong> The paper offers an overall theoretical synthesis of the interrelationships between cognitive-cultural capitalism and processes of urbanization.</p>


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damjan Maletič ◽  
Matjaž Maletič ◽  
Basim Al-Najjar ◽  
Boštjan Gomišček

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of maintenance in improving company's competitiveness and profitability. In the first part the paper aims to discuss the potential improvement areas from the company perspective. Second part of this paper examines maintenance impact on company's business. Design/methodology/approach – An empirical case study was utilized aiming to provide an understanding of the role of maintenance in improving company's business. The empirical data for this study were collected from a Slovenian textile company. A gap analysis was used in order to address the research problem and to identify potential improvement areas. Findings – Based on the gap analysis, the results suggest that from respondents’ points of view, maintenance practices related to condition-based maintenance approach represent the highest opportunity for improvement. The most notable empirical results of the case study showed that around 3 per cent of additional profit could be generated at weaving machine, especially if all unplanned stoppages and loss of quality due to decrease in the productivity would be prevented. Practical implications – This paper demonstrates to managers the potential benefits of maintenance policy in terms of productivity, quality and profitability. In this regard, this paper builds on a premise that company can gain higher performance benefits using more effective maintenance policy. Originality/value – The proposed conceptual model contributes to the existing literature by showing the interactions between maintenance and company's competitiveness and profitability. Empirical findings of this study therefore, acknowledge maintenance's potential of increasing the overall profit. In addition this study advances prior studies by utilizing a gap analysis which is rare in this type of research.


Author(s):  
Lovita Nurindah Sari

The Social Reintegration Program in Correctional facilities is not only aimed to reduce number of prisoners. But so far social reintegration aims at recovering the relationship, livelihood and life of WBP. WBP who get social reintegration programs such as Asimilasi Rumah, Cuti Bersyarat, Pembebasan Bersyarat, and Cuti Menjelang Bebas get guidance and supervision from the Correctional Center which is the responsibility of the social Advisers in the institution. This study based on qualitative descriptive method with the subject of Bapas Pamekasan clients who were selected by purposive sampling(adjusted to the research problem).The theory in this study is 4 dimensional elements in social research consisting of individual characteristics, (b) family relationships, (c) community context, and (d) state policy. Based on The results of the research, the Social Reintegration of Correctional Clients is a process of guidance and supervision carried out by the Social Adviser which has not been optimally implemented in accordance with the goal of life recovering, livelihood and life of the WBP. Social reintegration should be seen as a process of adjustment to the Correctional Client so that his relationship can be recovered socially and economically. The 4 Dimensions in social Research Balai Pemasyarakatan carried out by PK Bapas must be recreated after he gets Social Reintegration because the 4 dimensions are dynamic. This 4-dimensional approach in society research is the initial base for PKs to carry out guidance and supervision for those built by Social Reintegration. Keywords: Social Reintegration, 4 dimensions of Litmas (Society Research), Client Guidance


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Wilkie

Inventing the Social, edited by Noortje Marres, Michael Guggenheim and Alex Wilkie, showcases recent efforts to develop new ways of knowing society that combine social research with creative practice. With contributions from leading figures in sociology, architecture, geography, design, anthropology, and digital media, the book provides practical and conceptual pointers on how to move beyond the customary distinctions between knowledge and art, and on how to connect the doing, researching and making of social life in potentially new ways. Presenting concrete projects with a creative approach to researching social life as well as reflections on the wider contexts from which these projects emerge, this collection shows how collaboration across social science, digital media and the arts opens up timely alternatives to narrow, instrumentalist proposals that seek to engineer behaviour and to design community from scratch. To invent the social is to recognise that social life is always already creative in itself and to take this as a starting point for developing different ways of combining representation and intervention in social life.


Author(s):  
Kateryna Malyarchuk

Purpose of the article. The purpose of the article is to analyze the phenomenon of makeup art and its connection with social stratification and social myth. Methodology. The study of the phenomenon of makeup in connection with social mythology and social stratification is associated with the use of general scientific methods of analysis, generalization, synthesis, etc. Not only in line with art history and sociological knowledge, but also knowledge of psychology, cultural studies, philosophy, etc., which provides for the integration and inclusive combination of appropriate methods and approaches. The artistic and typological method made it possible to analyze the phenomenon of makeup, social myth and social stratification as integral phenomena with specific features. The combination of anthropological, axiological and historical approaches with the use of socio-cultural and art criticism tools made it possible to identify the main value-semantic and content-structural constants of these phenomena. Scientific novelty. The art of makeup is presented as the basis of social mythology and its connection with social stratification, which makes it possible to position makeup as one of the backbone components of the socio-cultural system, as well as facilitate the study of the entire spectrum of its cultural phenomena. Conclusions. Makeup, as an axiologically loaded phenomenon, is the basis for the creation of social mythology and support for social stratification, characterizes the processes of social development, significantly affects the public consciousness and behavior of both social groups and individual subjects. By the nature of the course of the processes of being, the phenomenon of makeup allows one to see the specifics of social phenomena and determine their place in the structure of social life. The positive role of makeup is that it is one of the conditions for the integrity of society, providing cultural, art, moral, etc. the continuity of its imperatives. The negative one is that it not only represents the social stratification of society, but also becomes a means of deepening it, stereotyping and accumulating in its practices both positive and negative patterns of sociocultural models of behavior. Because, as part of social mythology, the phenomenon of makeup is ambiguous: on the one hand, it partly threatens social development, and on the other hand, it helps to consolidate people and society in overcoming the challenges of our time.


Author(s):  
Norma Ruth Arlene Romm ◽  
Patrick Ngulube

This chapter provides an epistemological and ethical justification for (re)considering information science in terms of its potential to contribute to the way in which “information” and “knowledge” become co-constructed in social life in view of social justice aims. The chapter refers to and extends arguments for viewing information science as an interdisciplinary and indeed transdisciplinary endeavor. This is discussed in relation to transformative and indigenous-oriented paradigms for social research considered more generally and also considered specifically in relation to information science (as a social scientific approach). The chapter provides a detailed example of how the transformative potential of information science might be realized. This example can serve as a resource for information science researchers and for information systems practitioners who may find that it has some relevance to their continued work. The chapter also offers suggestions for expanding the research possibilities (co-inquiry options) provided by the example.


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