The Influence of Farmers’ Socio-Economic Characteristics on Their Choice of Opinion Leaders: Social Knowledge Systems

Smallholder farmers’ social knowledge systems are evolving in connecting key actors within and outside their knowledge systems. These key actors play a vital role in navigating the complexity and the dynamics of organisations, and effectively influence the community. This study identified the opinion leaders of smallholder farmers and measured the extent of their influence on the quality of these farmers’ knowledge of agriculture. Furthermore, the study explored the reasons why farmers choose their opinion leaders. A structured questionnaire was administered to 219 purposively selected smallholder farmers in the rural areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data were captured and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 and STATA to run multinomial logistic regression model (MNL). The results showed that farmers participated in field visits and attended farmers’ group meetings to communicate with agricultural advisors and group leaders. In addition, the findings showed that interactions could be a crucial element of knowledge and learning for farmers. This showed that the farmers required a consistent flow of material resources and knowledge. The time and energy spent by farmers building social relationships with these opinion leaders reflected the accumulation of information and resources gathered. Issues related to accessibility, availability and, quick feedback regarding farmers’ problems emerged, which seemed to influence the farmers’ choice of an opinion leader. The language and accessibility to sources of knowledge and feedback were crucial to the smallholder farmers included in the study. Furthermore, the results revealed that farmers’ educational level, farmers who engaged in agriculture for household consumption, and opinion agricultural skills have statistical significance on farmers’ choice of opinion leaders. Considering the findings, it is suggested that efforts to improve farmers’ active knowledge systems and access to the opinion leaders within these active knowledge systems should take into consideration the socio-economic factors that influence farmers’ choices and participation in social systems and social interactions. These findings may help agents develop a better understanding of the dynamics of local communities and the social complexity that shapes farmers’ environments and decisions. To be a progressive and effective opinion leader, constant, continuous assessment is needed to increase leadership skills. In addition, the enhancement of programmes, which will recognise the active opinion leaders within the communities, are needed to strengthen the efforts and impact for more resilient outcomes.

The Learning Situation in the Computer-Oriented Centers for Children in Tunisia, Interchangeability, and Interdependence: Contexts, Challenges and Experience’s Building Ethnographic Approach

There are several non-formal learning experiences related to the use of computer technologies. Tunisia presents one of these experiences that merits study. I have devoted part of my research to this matter, non-formal education. In this chapter, I have studied the experience of the computer-oriented centers for children. The study was conducted in the educational year 2002–2003. The importance of the data in this study remains reliable to this day. The goals of this chapter is to examine (1) the impact of elements of non-formal learning situation to the informatics project realized by children in its centers, and (2) the impact of the problem situation to social reality shaping, and (3) the impact of the use of computer technology in a learning situation that is different from the formal learning. I consider that a careful constructivist analysis is required to achieve this objective. The results show that an organizational context that operates according to a logic in which social knowledge is interconnected. So, to attain these results I proceeded with an ethnographic approach. I observed 60 children in 67 sessions; each session lasted 1h: 30 mn. I analysed interactions between children and between children and their educators, its are the product of a cognitive and affective commitment, that oriented by the principle of reciprocity.

Opóźnienia w funkcjonowaniu językowym jako wczesny symptom zaburzeń w rozwoju dziecka1

Human linguistic development is constitutionally conditioned and is achieved through contact with adult language users. All children follow the same rules and stages in the development of speech. The knowledge of their course and consequences enables early recognition of deviations from the norm, which may be delayed speech development or a symptom of other, often serious developmental disorders. The analysis of the research results shows that the most common reason for parents’ seeking diagnosis and therapeutic support is an incorrect linguistic functioning of the child. Diagnostic procedures often end with the diagnosis of other developmental disorders in which linguistic retardation was an early symptom. Therefore, it is legitimate to increase social knowledge and sensitivity of parents and specialists in monitoring the linguistic development of children under 3 years of age.

Social Constructionism and Social Representation Theory

This chapter considers how the perspectives of social constructionism and social representations theory can overlap and cross-fertilize more than was once recognized, when the study of change is at stake. This applies particularly to the study of meaning-making through practices and relations via social artifacts. Focusing on those scholars considered to be the main initiators and developers of these two perspectives in social psychology—Serge Moscovici and Kenneth J. Gergen—the authors analyze their works on different levels: meta-theoretical, theoretical, and methodological. Grounding their reasoning on research that they themselves and others have conducted on the two frameworks, mainly on aging in an aging society, the authors call for a further erasure of distinctions between the two. They conclude by suggesting a fruitful future enrichment of the dialogue and a reciprocal cross-fertilization that might overcome nominalistic barriers in the study of social knowledge, particularly where change and continuity are concerned.

On the origins of the methodology of social knowledge in Russia: A.S. Lappo-Danilevsky and contemporary discussions

The article considers those aspects of the development of sociological knowledge in Russia that were determined by the scientific and organizational activities of A.S. Lappo-Danilevsky (1863-1919). His contribution to the development of the Russian social and humanitarian thought is associated mainly with the development of the foundations of history, historiography and source studies, which is widely admitted in scientific works. However, Lappo-Danilevskys contribution to the development of sociology, to the identification of the specifics of its subject and to the creation of a model of systemic courses on the historical reconstruction of sociological knowledge are still widely discussed. The authors consider the creative component of Lappo-Danilevskys legacy and the strategy he developed for creating an interdisciplinary methodology for social sciences. The article aims at describing his contribution to the institutionalization of Russian sociology, which allows not only to clarify the origins of social knowledge in Russia, but also to actualize Lappo-Danilevskys legacy. The authors pose new questions and problematize the research potential of the works of Russian scientists at the turn of the 20th century, which has prospects for supplementing the history and methodology of sociology. The description of the activities of Lappo-Danilevsky - from the development of the institutional foundations of Russian sociology to the clarification of the methodological principles of social knowledge - raises the question of the influence of positivism and neo-Kantianism on the scientific community. On the other hand, the study of the scientific and organizational activities of Lappo-Danilevsky allow to expand the field of history and methodology of sociology by supplementing it with a description of the institutionalization of sociology in Russia. The study of the foundations of sociological knowledge emphasizes three points: creation of methodology, separation from related disciplines, and acceptance of the historical component in the development of academic sociology. The article also mentions contemporary discussions which consider the sociological legacy of Lappo-Danilevsky not only as a historical reconstruction of the development of social knowledge, but also in the interdisciplinary perspective of contemporary sociology.

An Investigation into Learners’ Perception Towards Peer Assessment in Tertiary EFL Writing Class

The current paper attempts to investigate learners’ perspectives towards the strengths and weaknesses of peer assessment in academic writing in the context of tertiary education at a private university. The study was conducted on 55 third-year university students who had finished the academic writing module that applied peer assessment in writing. The research adopted the mixed method of qualitative and quantitative approaches via the questionnaire with both close and open-ended questions. The results of the study reveal that the use of peer assessment was feasible for large-size classes at university to provide learners with the opportunities to reflect and enhance their language scope and social knowledge to improve their writing performance. However, certain limitations were acknowledged, such as the lack of assessment competence among learners and the time constraint in the classroom, especially the hesitation to violate the positive face of their peers.

The Impact of Social Knowledge on the Efficiency of the Financial Markets: A Case Study on the Erbil Stock Exchange

This study was designed to investigate the factors that can have an impact on the efficiency of financial markets, and the Erbil Stock Exchange was chosen as a case study. The researchers sought to evaluate the level of social knowledge by concentrating on certain dimensions which have a direct influence on the public’s perspective regarding financial markets – namely religion, culture and economic awareness – and the number of people participating in the sale and purchase of stocks and shares. This study tested the hypotheses by applying some statistical analyses, and the outputs are detailed in the tables, figures and factors. According to the results, the efficiency of the stock market is affected by monthly income, culture and religion, and public experience. It was also found that there is no difference in perspective between men and women regarding investing in the stock market. This is supported by the hypothesis test results, which indicated that there is no correlation between gender and economic awareness, number of participators, culture, and religion. The results of the factor analyses show that there is a significant correlation between religion, culture, economic awareness and the number of people participating and social knowledge, and that these factors significantly affect the efficiency of the stock market.

Zwischen Naturgeschichte, Statistik und Gesellschaftsroman. Soziographische Wissensordnungen im Kontext einer europäischen Publizistik im 19. Jahrhundert

During the first half of the nineteenth century, the rise of market-oriented periodical publishing correlated with an increasing desire to inspect the modernizing societies. The journalistic pursuit of examining the social world is in a unique way reflected in countless periodical contributions that, especially from the 1830s onwards, depicted social types and behaviours, new professions and technologies, institutions, and cultural routines. By analysing how these “sociographic sketches” proceeded to document and to interpret the manifold manifestations of the social world, this article discusses the interrelationships between epistemic and political shifts, new forms of medialization and the systematization of social research. It thereby focuses on three main areas: the creative appropriation of narratives and motifs of moralistic essayism, the uses of description and contextualization as modes of knowledge, and the adaptation of empirical methods and a scientific terminology. To consider nineteenth-century sociographic journalism as a format between entertainment, art, and science provokes us to narrate intermedial, transnational and interdisciplinary tales of the history of social knowledge production.

How Readers Construct New Testament Characters: The Calling of Peter in the Gospels in Cognitive-Narratological Perspective

The discipline of cognitive narratology applies insights of cognitive linguistics to narrative analysis. This study seeks to demonstrate the value of cognitive narratology by exploring the role of the reader and the extent of the reader’s knowledge in constructing characters. While traditional narrative criticism often limits itself to the world of the text, cognitive narratology recognizes that the reader’s knowledge from other texts and the real world also contributes to the construction of characters. This study will show that the extent of the reader’s literary and social knowledge of a text affects the construction of characters. As a case study, we will examine the calling of Peter in the canonical Gospels and show how four readers with varying degrees of knowledge will arrive at different constructions of Peter’s character.

The concreteness of social knowledge and the quality of democratic choice

Democracy relies on citizens who are politically knowledgeable and engaged. However, when a voter gains political knowledge regarding important issues, through television, town halls, or social media, she also learns that there are many other politically knowledgeable voters, highlighting the importance of social knowledge in political participation. Will a voter with concrete—as opposed to hypothetical—knowledge about other voters’ political knowledge have an increased incentive to participate? Or instead, will concrete social knowledge about other voters actually inhibit participation? In this article, we develop a novel experimental design that focuses on whether concrete knowledge about other voters’ political knowledge influences political participation. Our main result shows that concrete social knowledge decreases individual voters’ willingness to vote, and thereby reduces the probability democracy chooses the majority preferred alternative, i.e. the quality of democratic choice.