Varying Degrees of Animal Reification by Stakeholders in Experimental Research

The attitude towards animals in research depends on both the role of the stakeholder and their personal characteristics. Most studies on the subject have been carried out on stakeholders from biomedical research institutes with comparatively few sociological studies on stakeholders from agricultural research centers. Previous findings suggest that animal caretakers at agricultural research centers felt undervalued by the hierarchy, and that animal reification was present in the sector. This may indicate that a lack of consideration for the animal subjects correlates with an inadequate sensitivity towards humans. Since these findings were published twenty years ago, there has been an increasing emphasis on the importance and actions of ethics committees in research, animal welfare bodies, and public concern for animals, which may have impacted the current perspective. To better understand current degrees of animal reification amongst stakeholders of agricultural research, we conducted semi-directive interviews at a leading agricultural research institute in France (INRAE). The interviews targeted both animal caretakers and researchers who were involved in the study of infectious diseases in livestock, or the behavior of horses and quails. After having transcribed the recorded interviews into text, semi-automatized analyses were carried out to categorize them into distinct groups, from which the most characteristic words and sentences were extracted. Three groups of stakeholders were identified: (i) animal caretakers involved in invasive infectious disease research; (ii) animal caretakers involved in behavioral research; and (iii) researchers. The findings show that animal caretakers felt acknowledged by their hierarchy. It is possible the increased skill criteria for people recruited into this position over the years, combined with greater prospects for continuous learning and development in the profession, may have fostered a more respectful regard across the hierarchy. The animal caretakers clearly expressed that their primary objective was to successfully execute the research protocols and that the animals were viewed as prototypes for research, with which they could, on occasion, develop a bond with. The bond was more important for animal caretakers involved in behavioral studies than for those involved in the study of infectious diseases, where invasive biological sampling and restraining of the animals is required. Researchers prioritized the procurement of robust data to test hypotheses, analyze phenomena, and publish their results. Their concern for the animals rather reflected the views of the general public opposed to thought-out personal opinions on the matter; this is possibly due to their comparatively limited interaction with the animals. They considered the animals in abstract terms that were indicative of reification. This study concludes that animal reification is still present, albeit to varying degrees amongst the stakeholders.

Selection of a Higher Educational Institution by Foreign Students: Motives, Factors and Problems (Based on the Results of Sociological Studies)

The article presents the results of two sociological studies carried out for the purpose of research of motivation of obtaining a higher education and factors of selection of a higher educational institution by foreign students, revelation of problems and elaboration of recommendations for their solution. It was revealed that foreign students in general praise obtaining a higher education, and that motivational postulates of obtaining education include not only commercial goals but cultural as well. It was established that Russian education is praised by foreign students in terms of quality, and that foreign students seek Russian education purposefully. It was found that Russia is a financially attractive country for foreign students, including employment. The study demonstrated a great significance of the website and social media of a higher educational institute for making decision on obtaining education in this higher educational institute. The results of the study showed that the level of competence in higher educational institutes of the city conforms to the requirements of foreign students and satisfies their demands maximally. At the same time several problems were revealed relating to training of foreign students: language problems; problems in training; communicational problems; social and cultural problems and social and everyday problems. Several recommendations were made to solve those problems.

Impact of Emigration in Dakshinkali Municipality

Migration refers to the process of movement from one place to another, such as crossing intra or international geographical boundaries. Sociological studies of migration are diverse. The motive for migration includes political, economic, social, and environmental cause. It is a known fact that Nepali migrants are scattered around the world and many of them are in Gulf country, followed by America and Japan. This micro level study to Dakshinkali Municipality Kathmandu District. The main objectives of this study are to study the causes of migration and its socio-economic impact of the foreign employment in the study area. The total of 71 respondents was surveyed during household questionnaire survey and altogether 6 key informants were interviewed. The trend of abroad migration for foreign employment and higher education has been increasing. Among the total 71 respondents, male migrants are maximum than the female migrants with the age group of 24-29 and 30-34. The majority of people were dependent on agriculture. Despite being farmer, most of them go to the abroad for foreign employment to maintain their living standards. Remittance was mostly used for education, pay debt and other daily accommodations and only few of them invest in land and small business. High rate of wage was the main push and pull factor. In recent years, the migration has been increasing due to increased unemployment and political conflict

A Pipeline for Graph-Based Monitoring of the Changes in the Information Space of Russian Social Media during the Lockdown

With the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, social media became a vital communication tool. The sudden outburst of online activity influenced information spread and consumption patterns. It increases the relevance of studying the dynamics of social networks and developing data processing pipelines that allow a comprehensive analysis of social media data in the temporal dimension. This paper scopes the weekly dynamics of the information space represented by Russian social media (Twitter and LiveJournal) during a critical period (massive COVID-19 outbreak and first governmental measures). The approach is twofold: 1) build the time series of topic similarity indicators by identifying COVID-related topics in each week and measuring user contribution to the topic space, and 2) cluster user activity and display user-topic relationships on graphs in a dashboard application. The paper describes the development of the pipeline, explains the choices made and provides a case study of the adaptation to virus control measures. The results confirm that social processes and behavior in response to pandemic-triggered changes can be successfully traced in social media. Moreover, the adaptation trends revealed by psychological and sociological studies are reflected in our data and can be explored using the proposed method.

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES OF A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER IN THE ERA OF DIGITALIZATION

The article reflects the results of some sociological studies, the results of which indicate the need for the formation of new, digital competencies for higher school teachers. Global economic processes and digital trends are transforming the content and technologies of pedagogical work, but many teachers are not ready for such innovations. The conclusion is made that the sustainable introduction of digital learning tools can be successful only if the general vector of digital transformation of the educational process is justified and supported by both the university administration and the teachers themselves.

Working in the Sphere of Food Trade and Service in Armenia: Patterns of Precariousness

The food trade and service sector is considered to be the most uncertain, with a strong expression of instability both worldwide and in Armenia. Currently, the term precariousness is widely used in the field to describe the uncertainty and risks in the field. Research on food trade and services in Armenia has been conducted recently, but there have been no sociological studies on patterns of precariousness in the field. The study of patterns of precariousness provides an in-depth look at sectoral uncertainty and risk in relation to broader social structures. The purpose of this article is to study the patterns of precariousness expressed in the field through secondary analysis, which will provide opportunities for deeper analysis in the future, emphasizing the expressions of social injustice and inequality.

Expenditure obligations of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation in the social sphere in the budget structure

One of the most pressing issues in financial law is the determination of the place of expenditure obligations for the social sphere in the structure of the regional budget. Expenditure obligations of a social orientation are legally fixed in the Budget Code of the Russian Federation, as well as in the legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation regulating budget relations for the financial year and the planning period. The analysis of the content characteristics of expenditure obligations in the social sphere and the practice of their consolidation in regional budgets, indicates the priority nature of their financing, as indicated by both conducted sociological studies and developed and tested methods, in particular, the assessment of the elasticity of expenditures on budget revenues.

Existence theory revisited: A reply to our critics

In this essay, we provide a comprehensive reply to the critical commentaries by David Inglis, Thomas Kemple, William Outhwaite, Simon Susen, Bryan S. Turner, and Robin Wagner-Pacifici. Our reply is structured along three main pillars. Firstly, we clarify what we aim to achieve with existence theory. Drawing on neo-pragmatist philosophy, our aim is to present a new and useful perspective on a wide range of social phenomena; we do not attempt to tackle or resolve broad philosophical issues. Secondly, we demonstrate that we do not subscribe to an algorithmic notion of society which posits that people’s trajectories have to fit a neat, linear pathway. Related, we do not wish to impose a normative model that endorses the existential milestones that are dominant in any particular society. Thirdly, building on various helpful pointers from our critics, we elaborate on various ways in which the theory could be enriched and further developed: for instance, by bringing in insights from the sociology of generations, critical theory, and sociological studies of the body.

The silent child: Reform pedagogy, the self and the problematization of shyness in the classroom

In the existing historical and sociological studies devoted to shyness scholars have identified the second half of the Twentieth century as an important period in which shy feelings have become a problem for Wes­tern societies. On the basis of the work of the American cultural histo­rian Warren Susman, and especially his ideas about the move from a character society towards a personality society, it is argued that the turn of the nineteenth century also played an important role in the emergence of negative interpretation of being and acting shy. In this article Susman’s attention for what happened at the start of the twentieth century is being taken up by examining the ideas about timidity in the work of one of the most important reform educators at that time, namely Maria Montessori. Montessori’s ideas are being contextualized by referring to the more en­compassing culture of personality and the self that paralleled the progres­sive era in education. By contraposing Montessori’s ideas to an eighteen­th-century ego-document written by someone who identified himself as a shy person we’d like to plea for a nuanced account with regard to the history of the problematization of shyness in general and shy children in particular.

Three questions to start the sociological study of heroism

Despite the understandable and predictable lack of sociological interest in the issues related to heroism, the search for clear and unambiguous conceptual and empirical definitions of the hero in the contemporary society seems to be a relevant sociological task, especially under the current pandemic which made the criteria of heroism interesting for the wider public. The authors briefly outline the main aspects of the traditional scientific interpretations of heroism as presented in the social-cultural narratives worldwide, and proceed to the issues that constitute the field of the sociological studies on heroism. The first research question is not so much a single definition of the hero as types of heroes based on social representations of when and how heroes reveal themselves in decisions and actions. The authors rely on the traditional typologies of heroes usually based on the psychological aspects of heroic thinking and behavior to suggest a sociologically relevant typology based on both literature and the Russian public opinion polls. This typology implies answers to the questions of why the society needs heroes and what makes someone a hero in the eyes of the society, and allows to better understand and to more precisely define the false/pseudo/antiheroism. The second research question is about the sources of images and understanding of heroism, which focuses on the mass media and especially cinemas potential to represent certain social practices as heroic and to construct heroic images. The third research question is about the possibilities of the empirical sociological study of the types of heroes and their representation in the media (cinema). The authors argue that sociology should use its own methods (in a combination with techniques for studying the audiences perception of movies) - content analysis and surveys, especially the unfinished sentences technique, and provide some examples of how this can be done, for instance, to compare the social representations of a real hero and a movie hero among different age groups and generations. The authors conclude with mentioning a new issue associated with heroism, which became evident under the pandemic - changes in the social representations of heroism determined by heroization of healthcare workers due to their selfless fight against the coronavirus epidemic.