Culture: nations, banks and the organisation of power and social life

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Hearn
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Science Concept ◽  
General Direction ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Organisational Cultures

With this chapter the book shifts from the contextualisation of the original study to the close examination of that study and its data. It presents ethnographic data on the discourses in the Bank relating to the ideas of national and organisational cultures. It examines how staff members compared and contrasted the cultures of the two merging organisations, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, and how they construed the differences between Scottishness and Englishness, especially in terms of culturally encoded notions of ‘diffidence’ and ‘confidence’. It shows how all these notions of culture became bound up with the making sense of the tensions engendered by the merger and the general direction of organisational change. A ‘conceptual interlude’ in the middle of the chapter explores the social science concept of culture, arguing that this tends to be too narrow and ideational, and insufficiently attuned to the organisation of power in the generation of culture.

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.

Everyday Ritual and Ethnographic Practice: Two Cases Showing the Importance of Embodiment and Reflexivity

2021 ◽  
pp. 089124162110606
Author(s):  
Cindy L. Cain ◽  
Brie Scrivner
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Social ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
And Training

Moments of ritual reveal symbolic meanings, reinforce boundaries of the social group, and tie actors to one another. Because rituals are so important to social life, ethnographers must be attuned to both institutionalized and everyday rituals of their sites. However, methodological literature rarely discusses how everyday rituals should be treated during data collection, analysis, or presentation. We use data from two ethnographic sites—a yoga studio and training for health care volunteers—to illustrate the challenges of observing others during rituals and making sense of our own experiences of rituals, especially given varying levels of participation and resistance to rituals. We argue that greater reflexivity, especially of embodied experiences, is needed when studying everyday rituals and provide methodological recommendations for improving ethnographic study.

scholarly journals The ecology of linking technologies: toward a non-instrumental look at new technological repertoires

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocío Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Social Life ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Mobile Telephone ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social

The article examines one of the analytical fronts dealt with in the doctoral thesis “Making Sense in the Contemporary City: Young People and New Technological Repertoires”. The paper focuses on the follow-up and examination of the framework of technological relationships between human and non-human agents. The study allowed us to advance in the comprehension of the new technological repertoires (mobile telephone, chat, Internet) not as isolated instruments which are added to the social life of the subjects, but as technological mediations for the construction of social links, that is, as linking machines. The people do not relate with discrete and individualized technologies but with authentic technological settings in which both convergent and divergent relationships are generated.  We denominate this conjunction of technologies as the ecology of technologies. It proposes eight technological techno-mediation linking systems which are useful for analyzing the variations of the techno-linking settings of the urban young people, that is, the variation of ways in which young people operate different technologies to build and strengthen their social links.. It questions some of the frequently simplifying conceptions regarding “the young user of new technologies”.

The social life of screenshots: the power of visibility in teen friendship groups

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1378-1393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Jaynes
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Friendship Groups ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Feminist Media Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Ethnographic Data

Taking a screenshot, an exact duplication of the content on the screen of a device, is a taken-for-granted practice. Through an analysis of ethnographic data, this article considers the everyday use of screenshots among teenagers. I examine the taking, possession, and circulation of screenshots among teens to ask: What is screenshot? What function do they have? and How are screenshots significant beyond teens? The article draws attention to the ‘social life’ that screenshots have beyond their duplicative function. Screenshots were framed by teens as an everyday aspect of digital communication that are integral to negotiating hierarchies of friendship, power, and for establishing peer trust. This article takes screenshots seriously in their own right, drawing on existing insights from feminist media studies to demonstrate how the visibility afforded by screenshots is gendered in practice. This article explores screenshots as powerful communicative tools and as a socio-cultural phenomenon worthy of further interrogation.

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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