Transnational crime: features and basic models

The study found that the features of modern transnational organized crime are: rapid adaptation to realities, instant response to changes and transformations in life and economy, the ability to improve and adjust the methods and tools used in activities; coordination; rationality; thoughtfulness and systematic actions; systematization; the desire to minimize potential risks and get the most profit and maximum profits. Such models of transnational organized crime as: corporate, trade unions, partnerships, ethnic, network are considered. Modern transnational criminal groups, regardless of model, have been shown to be “well-concealed, well-off criminal communities with a well-defined internal structure, distribution of spheres of influence and functions, and extensive interregional or international ties. It is emphasized that now transnational crime is turning into cybercrime. This is made possible by the fact that it is easier to hide criminal activity on the Internet, anonymity is ensured, and it is possible to act uncontrollably, which, in turn, guarantees security for criminal activity

The Saami webcommunities in the eyes of moderators (on the example of “VKontakte” social network)

The article discusses the problem of moderation of ethnic network communities on the example of the Sami virtual groups “VKontakte”. An expert survey was conducted with moderators of webcommunities, on the basis of which the goals of creating groups, their main functions and prospects for further development were determined. According to the interviewed moderators, the priority goal of creating these groups is to unite representatives of the Sami people on a single, albeit virtual platform, within which certain individual and collective interests can be realized (searching for like-minded people, gaining knowledge, a sense of common ethnicity, etc.). Among the main functions of the Sami webcommunities, the moderators single out those that are inherent in such virtual ethnic associations: communicative, integrative, information-cognitive, entertainment and a number of others. The moderators consider the most important topics for dissemination to such topics as the preservation of the Sami language and culture (including a significant part of the content related to material culture), environmental problems and traditional crafts. At the same time, it is noted that the greatest response from the audience of these groups is received by posts devoted to art, entertainment and everyday life topics. Moderators carefully monitor the thematic focus of the content and try to avoid various “sensitive” topics and discussions, especially those related to politics. The audience of the Sami online communities is assessed by the moderators as conflict-free, but at the same time not active enough. In general, the moderators highly appreciate the technological capabilities of social networks for disseminating relevant information, establishing contacts, self-presentation, socializing Sami youth, broadcasting their culture and expressing ethnic identity.

Vloga reformacije v slovenski etnogenezi: Etnična kolektivna identiteta na premici zgodovine dolgega trajanja ▪︎ The Role of the Reformation in Slovene Ethnogenesis: Collective Ethnic Identity in Long-Term History

Although the Reformation in both Europe and Slovenia was primarily of a religious nature, its long-term impact on Slovenes is much more visible in their collective ethnic than religious identity. While the sovereign Counter-Reformation abolished Protestantism in the Inner Austrian lands between 1598 and 1628, the Catholic Revival used certain achievements of the movement in its own pursuits. For the further development of Slovenes as an ethnic community, especially four Reformation creations are important: 1) the linguistic norm, 2) the concept of the Slovene church, 3) the myth of the chosen ethnicity and 4) a topos about the great extent of the “Slavic”/Slovene language. In accordance with the ethnosymbolist paradigm, the discussion therefore estimates that in the second half of the 16th century Slovenes developed from an ethnic category into an ethnic network. The Slovene language, which was sporadically written from the end of the first millennium onwards, was finally consolidated as a literary language in 1550 with the first two books published by Primož Trubar. The Protestant literary work reached its peak in 1584, when a translation of the Bible by Jurij Dalmatin and a grammar by Adam Bohorič were published. The concept of the “Slovene church”, which is supposed to unite the entire Slovene-speaking Christian community, was also conceived by Trubar. He presented his idea for the first time in 1555 and completed it in his Cerkovna ordninga (“the Church Order”) from 1564. Although the conceptual programme was not established in the church administration, it significantly influenced the mindset of both Protestant and later Catholic writers in the 17th and 18th centuries. The emergence of the Slovene myth of the chosen ethnicity, which is based on a sentence from the Letter of Paul to the Romans: “and every tongue will praise God” (Romans 14:11), also dates back to the Reformation and as a maxim connects the key literary creations of this period. In addition, Protestant writers relied on the humanistic tradition of emphasizing the great extent of the “Slavic” language, which in fact served to increase the importance of Slovene. This topos was first introduced to Slovene grammars by Bohorič and represents a somewhat later entry of Slovenes into the “(inter)national competition for national honor”, which emerged in Europe during the humanism.

Main results of fundamental research of FSBSI “Institute of Pedagogy, Psychology and Social Problems” for the 2020 year

В 2020 году Институт педагогики, психологии и социальных проблем (далее Институт) работал по государственному заданию Министерства образования и науки Российской Федерации, по трем проектам: № 0N59-2019-0013 «Проблема современной методологии изучения формирования и развития человека в эпоху цифровизации»; №0599-2020-0006 «Проблема бесконфликтного социального взаимодействия»; № 0599-2019-0043 «Проблема отклоняющегося поведения в системе современного человековедения». В статье описаны основные результаты исследований сотрудников Института, в частности, раскрыты: сущностные характеристики когнитивной парадигмы образования; обоснованы потенциал и инструментарий когнитивной педагогики в эпоху цифровизации образования; обосновано использование концептов «габитус» «информационное общество», «виртуальная этничность», «реальная виртуальность» применительно к этническим сетевым сообществам; расширены системно-коммуникативные параметры в деструктивных молодежных сообществах; обоснована роль социальных проектов в профилактике ксенофобских и экстремистских настроений. Разработана концепция «дерадикализации и ресоциализации личности, склонной к террористической и экстремистской деятельности». Предложен инструментарий сопровождения лиц категории особого внимания. Проведены пилотажные исследования сфер личности: лиц категории особого внимания и лиц осужденных за террористическую и экстремистскую деятельность. Статья предназначена научным сотрудникам и исследователям в социогуманитарной сфере, работникам системы образования, руководителям образовательных организаций; сотрудникам отраслевых министерств и ведомств, представителям духовенства и общественных организаций. In 2020, the Institute of Pedagogy, Psychology and Social Problems (hereinafter the Institute) worked on the state order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, upon three projects: No. 0N59-2019-0013 "The problem of modern methodology for studying the formation and development of a person in the era of digitalization"; № 0599-2020-0006 "The problem of conflict-free social interaction"; № 0599-2019-0043 The problem of deviant behaviour in the system of modern Human sciences The article describes the main research results of the Institute's employees, in particular, following aspects are revealed: the essential characteristics of the cognitive paradigm of education; substantiated the potential and tools of cognitive pedagogy in the era of digitalization of education; substantiated the use of the concepts “habitus” “information society”, “virtual ethnicity”, “real virtuality” in relation to ethnic network communities; systemic and communicative parameters in destructive youth communities have been expanded; the role of social projects in the prevention of xenophobic and extremist sentiments is substantiated. The concept of “deradicalization and resocialization of a person prone to terrorist and extremist activities” has been developed. A toolkit for accompanying persons of the special attention category is proposed. Pilot studies of the spheres of personality were carried out: persons of the category of special attention and persons convicted of terrorist and extremist activities. The article is intended for researchers and researchers in the social and humanitarian sphere, employees of the education system, heads of educational organizations; employees of sectoral ministries and departments, representatives of the clergy and public organizations.

“We are not Hard to Reach, but we may find it Hard to Trust”…. Involving and Engaging ‘Seldom Listened to’ Community Voices in Clinical Translational Health Research: A Social Innovation Approach.

Background: Public involvement in clinical translational research is increasingly recognized as essential for relevant and robust research. Public involvement must be diverse and inclusive to enable research that has the potential to reach those that stand to benefit from it the most, and thus address issues of health equity. Several recent reports, however, indicate that public involvement is exclusive, including in its interactions with ethnic groups. This paper outlines a novel community-led methodology – a community sandpit – to address the inclusion of ethnic groups in public involvement in research, reports on its evaluation, findings, legacy and impact.Methods: Through careful planning, relationship-building, co-design and co-delivery between the Public Programmes team based at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and the Greater Manchester Black and Minority Ethnic Network, the community sandpit was held in July 2018. Results: 15 community organisations took part in the participatory 2-day event, as well as 6 researchers, and 6 creative practitioners. 6 community-based partnership projects were seed-funded; 4 of these carried on to receive additional funding.Conclusions: Evaluation of the sandpit showed the format to be well-received by all: it levelled power relationships between community organisations, health researchers and research infrastructure; it developed capacity amongst researchers about the accessibility, role and potential of community organisations. Described as “not another community seed fund” by community partners, the sandpit offered equitable avenues for collaboration within Greater Manchester translational research and led to the formation of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Research Advisory Group. The method has the potential to be replicated elsewhere to support inclusive public involvement in research and inclusive research.

Ethnic penalty and occupational mobility in the Italian labour market

The article examines the occupational mobility of immigrants in Italy in a double perspective. First, this work compares immigrants and natives in order to understand whether, and to what extent, in a country characterized overall by low social mobility, natives and migrants have the same chances for improving their social position, or the latter are disadvantaged on an ethnic basis that affects their career (research question 1). Then, the article investigates what are the factors (referring to immigrants’ human capital, socio-cultural assimilation process and ethnic network) fostering occupational mobility among immigrants (research question 2). We conduct an ordinary least squares analysis on microdata from two retrospective cross-sectional surveys, for natives and migrants, with the same sample design, questionnaire structure and variable classification, thereby allowing the comparison of results. The empirical findings confirm that intra-generational occupational mobility in Italy is overall very limited but that geographical origin is a significant factor influencing upward mobility. Thus, the existence of an ethnic penalty is confirmed. Furthermore, among migrants, high human capital improves (short-range) upward mobility, while the socio-cultural assimilation process only partly leads to economic assimilation. Conversely, the recourse to the ethnic network acts as a trap in low-qualified occupational careers, hindering an improvement of socio-economic position.

How Does the Man-Know-Man Network Culture Influence Transnational Entrepreneurship?

Scholars broadly agree that ethnic network and culture facilitates opportunity formation amongst transnational entrepreneurs (TEs). This article explores shared practices such as cultural values and traditional beliefs in entrepreneurial behaviour to expound how it influences decision-making process amongst TEs. The man-know-man guiding framework is introduced, and scenarios are presented that will allow in-depth understanding regarding how TEs engage in such practices. The article contributes to existing knowledge through the exposition of the new framework for analysing man-know-man network practices and how they influence transnational entrepreneurship. It also presents a novel strategy for building business relationship on quid pro quo conditions.

Ethnic Networks and Language Proficiency Among Immigrants

Recent research on the linguistic adjustment of minority-language-speaking immigrants in several destinations has found that acquisition of destination language skills is inhibited by living in an area where many others speak the same minority language. This chapter uses a unique data set for Australia (1988) that includes a variety of ethnic network variables to analyze the role of the language concentration measure. These ethnic variables, in particular, ethnic press, relatives in Australia, and spouse's origin language, are highly statistically significant. Their inclusion in the equation eliminates the effect of the minority-language concentration variable. The model for analyzing the determinants of English reading and English writing skills in Australia is also shown to be very similar to the model for speaking fluency, including the effect of the ethnic network variables.