On the Pragmatics and Problematics of Defining Beauty and Character: The Greek Poet Lucian (120-200) Engages Exacting Portraitures and Difficult Subjects

Although best known as a satirist of the classical Roman era, Lucian's (c120-200CE) Essays in Portraiture and Essays in Portraiture Defended provide considerable insight into the problematics of people knowing and defining objects (along with the consequential and related matter of people sharing their definitions of reality with others). Engaging notions of admiration, beauty, and character in these two statements, Lucian not only faces the task of establishing viable frames of reference for linguistically defining the essence of a woman deemed to be particularly beautiful and gracious but also assumes the challenge of defending one’s preferred definitions of particular subject matters from others who do not share these views. Whereas Lucian uses the works of prominent sculptors, painters, poets, and philosophers as reference points in articulating beauty and grace, this paper also acknowledges the perils of people who sincerely express their viewpoints on others even when these descriptions of others are cast in clearly positive terms. Lucian may be a lesser-known classical Greek (Syrian) author, but he is an astute observer of human endeavor. Lucian’s work on portraiture also has a striking cross-cultural and transhistorical relevance for a more enduring pragmatist emphasis on human knowing and acting. Not only is Lucian (a) explicitly attentive to the necessity of people establishing frames of reference for describing objects to others in meaningful terms, but he also overtly recognizes (b) the multiple viewpoints that people may invoke with respect to describing particular objects, (c) the resistances that people may encounter from others, and (d) the importance of speakers articulating the foundations for their claims amidst contested notions of reality. Approached from an interactionist perspective (Mead 1934; Blumer 1969; Strauss 1993; Prus 1996, 1997, 1999), wherein attention is given to the more general matters of people acquiring perspectives, defining objects, and sustaining particular notions of reality, this paper uses Lucian’s materials on portraiture as a cross-cultural and transhistorical resource both for assessing (and qualifying) existing interactionist conceptualizations of human group life and for suggesting some more particular areas of inquiry to which contemporary scholars may attend.

Using Flies to Understand Social Networks

Many animals live in groups and interact with each other, creating an organized collective structure. Social network analysis (SNA) is a statistical tool that aids in revealing and understanding the organized patterns of shared social connections between individuals in groups. Surprisingly, the application of SNA revealed that Drosophila melanogaster, previously considered a solitary organism, displays group dynamics and that the structure of group life is inherited. Although the number of studies investigating Drosophila social networks is currently limited, they address a wide array of questions that have only begun to capture the details of group level behavior in this insect. Here, we aim to review these studies, comparing their respective scopes and the methods used, to draw parallels between them and the broader body of knowledge available. For example, we highlight how despite methodological differences, there are similarities across studies investigating the effects of social isolation on social network dynamics. Finally, this review aims to generate hypotheses and predictions that inspire future research in the emerging field of Drosophila social networks.

Attention and Meaning in the Democratic Group Life

Bringing Simone Weil into conversation with Roberto Frega’s Pragmatism and the Wide View of Democracy

Forms of Group Involvement: Alternatives to the Standard Question

Deciding whether Americans have become decreasingly involved in group life entails a methodological issue: Does the standard question about the associations to which respondents belong, asked for decades by the General Social Survey (GSS) and many others, miss newer and more diverse forms of group involvement? Following on Paxton and Rap, we mine a recent panel survey, UCNets, that provides several different means for allowing respondents to describe their group involvement. We observe more and much more varied kinds of group involvement than those elicited by the last GSS administration of the standard question in 2004. (Analyses in the Supplement of a few additional surveys confirm this diversity.) These results lead to suggestions for how to better measure involvement in groups, in particular being more sensitive to many axes of difference in the general population. The results have implications for the larger debate as well.

The influence of group life-design-based counselling on learners’ academic self-construction: A collective case study

The purpose of this study was to explore how life-design-based counselling can influence young learners’ academic self-construction within a group context. The study involved a qualitative mode of enquiry with 12 participants. Life-design-based intervention strategies, together with various (postmodern) qualitative techniques, were used to gather data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and identify themes and sub-themes. The findings indicate that the participants exhibited enhanced academic self-construction in general after the intervention. More specifically, they displayed improved future aspirations as they made sense of their current learning. Future research could assess the feasibility and value of life-design counselling as early as the primary school years, as it seems to hold numerous benefits for young individuals that may positively influence their life-long career development.

Farmers’ work-related social security in Finland, implemented by Mela

Mela is the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution of Finland (in Finnish: Maatalousyrittäjien eläkelaitos) founded in 1969. It provides comprehensive pension cover and social security to farmers, reindeer herders, fishermen, forest owners and recipients of scientific or artistic grants and scholarships living in Finland. In addition to providing pension insurance (MYEL), Mela provides its customers: statutory occupational accident insurance, leisuretime accident insurance, Mela sickness allowance, occupational rehabilitation, group life insurance, and farm closure support for farmers and reindeer herders. It also administers the farmers’ holiday and stand-in scheme, and provides advisory services related to occupational safety and wellbeing at work. The social security provided by Mela was originally addresses to farmers, reindeer herders, fishermen, forest owners. Since 2009 also recipients of scientific and artistic grants/scholarships are Mela’s customers. This article presents the most important stages in the development of social insurance for agricultural entrepreneurs in Finland and the evolution of this system until today. It also explains different benefits offered by Mela and the rules of being subject to social insurance by Mela, as well as the financial economy of Mela, including Mela’s sources of revenue. Finally, it presents tailored programmes and actions offered by Mela to the insured.

Specification of social conflicts in democratic society

Man is a social being, therefore, he has a group life that results in close and distant contact between diverse individuals. These contacts concern culturally disparate people holding values, desires, views or habits of variable acceptability. Therefore, we are witnessing that what some find good, others consider strange or wrong. Disputes, controversies and conflicts are characteristic of the democratic system, and pluralism is one of the constitutional foundations of democracy. The existence and clashing of differences are often the source of conflicts in democratic societies. Social conflicts have been, are, and will continue to accompany us every day, because their scale is very wide, from ordinary quarrels, even to wars. We just need to learn to deal with them, primarily through recognition, action and elimination of effects.