Generations Later: The Same Furious Passage of the Black Graduate Student

In this article, the author relies on a narrative based format to explore the interactions between everyday race-making processes and the white space of academia. Recognizing the unique ways systems of power interact with their experiences in the social world, they chronicle their engagements detailing the pervasive ways rules of white space are placed. The article recognizes three informal rules of white space in academia: the accepted reification of white sociological thought; the acceptance of white professional standards; and the continued centering of white comfort.

Motivations to reciprocate cooperation and punish defection are calibrated by estimates of how easily others can switch partners

Evolutionary models of dyadic cooperation demonstrate that selection favors different strategies for reciprocity depending on opportunities to choose alternative partners. We propose that selection has favored mechanisms that estimate the extent to which others can switch partners and calibrate motivations to reciprocate and punish accordingly. These estimates should reflect default assumptions about relational mobility: the probability that individuals in one’s social world will have the opportunity to form relationships with new partners. This prior probability can be updated by cues present in the immediate situation one is facing. The resulting estimate of a partner’s outside options should serve as input to motivational systems regulating reciprocity: Higher estimates should down-regulate the use of sanctions to prevent defection by a current partner, and up-regulate efforts to attract better cooperative partners by curating one’s own reputation and monitoring that of others. We tested this hypothesis using a Trust Game with Punishment (TGP), which provides continuous measures of reciprocity, defection, and punishment in response to defection. We measured each participant’s perception of relational mobility in their real-world social ecology and experimentally varied a cue to partner switching. Moreover, the study was conducted in the US (n = 519) and Japan (n = 520): societies that are high versus low in relational mobility. Across conditions and societies, higher perceptions of relational mobility were associated with increased reciprocity and decreased punishment: i.e., those who thought that others have many opportunities to find new partners reciprocated more and punished less. The situational cue to partner switching was detected, but relational mobility in one’s real social world regulated motivations to reciprocate and punish, even in the experimental setting. The current research provides evidence that motivational systems are designed to estimate varying degrees of partner choice in one’s social ecology and regulate reciprocal behaviors accordingly.

The media’s role in shaping the public opinion on education: A thematic and frame analysis of externalisation to world situations in the Portuguese media

This article uses thematisation theory (Luhmann, 1996; Pissarra Esteves, 2016) and frame analysis (Entman, 1993) to analyse externalisations to world situations (Schriewer, 1990) in the Portuguese print media’s discussion of education. Our data constitutes news and opinion articles collected after each PISA cycle’s results was published. The analysis demonstrates that the education themes discussed in the media between 2001 and 2017 are consistent, despite occasionally being discussed more intensively, frequently following the themes highlighted by PISA reports and OECD media communications. The frames used for these themes are more diverse, changing according to the speaker’s agenda and viewpoints. Externalisations (frequently PISA, OECD, and other participants in the survey) serve as sources of authority that help in thematising and framing education. This process works as a mechanism of double reduction for the complexity of the social world, narrowing the possibilities of how education is seen and interpreted by the public.

Grounded Theory and Serendipity. Natural history of a Research

The paper deals with the issue of “serendipity” (which constitutes the context of discovery) in field research and the analysis of data by using the grounded theory methodology. The thesis of the paper is: the methodology of grounded theory is naturally associated with serendipity. We describe two aspects of serendipity in grounded theory: 1. substantive, and 2. theoretical. We present in the paper serendipity phenomenon by using the case of research on the “social world of pet owners”. We show how the research is developed by a sequence of decisions being made by researchers. The process of emergence of the main analytical category, subcategories and the whole theoretical construction during the long time of the field research and theoretical group analysis is presented, as well as the procedure of coming to unanticipated theoretical conclusions. It was all possible because of the interactional character of serendipity happening during the research in grounded theory style of investigation.

Walden como ponto de chegada da reflexão sobre modernidade em América / Walden as the arrival point for the reflection on modernity in America

Resumo: Monteiro Lobato participou de forma ativa do processo de modernização pelo qual o Brasil passou nas décadas iniciais do século XX. O escritor vivenciou a modernidade sentindo o abalo nas estruturas referenciais que davam aos indivíduos estabilidade no mundo social. Ele experienciou, assim como seus contemporâneos, as profundas transformações pelas quais a sociedade passava e, a partir disso, buscou por meio da literatura e de suas outras atividades cumprir o papel de crítico dessas experiências, reagindo, portanto, ao “turbilhão de permanente desintegração e mudança” (BERMAN, 2007, p. 24), que, a nosso ver, figura-se como uma maneira de caracterizar a modernidade. Compreende-se, então, que um estudo sobre a obra de Monteiro Lobato deve incluir a discussão sobre a modernização e a modernidade. Escolhe-se, para tanto, América, obra desse autor que de forma mais explícita e constante discute essa temática. O presente artigo objetiva, assim, analisar uma das formas pelas quais a modernidade se vê representada nessa obra, a saber, através do diálogo que ela estabelece com a obra Walden, do escritor norte-americano Henry David Thoreau, pensada aqui como ponto de chegada para a reflexão sobre a modernidade em América.Palavras-chave: Monteiro Lobato; América; Henry David Thoreau; Walden; modernidade.Abstract: Monteiro Lobato actively participated in the modernization process that Brazil went through in the early decades of the 20th century. The writer experienced modernity feeling the shock in the referential structures that gave individuals stability in the social world. He experienced, as did his contemporaries, the profound transformations that society was going through and, from there, he sought through literature and his other activities to fulfill the role of critic of these experiences, reacting, therefore, to the “turmoil of permanent disintegration and change” (BERMAN, 2007, p.24), which, in our view, appears as a way of characterizing modernity. It is understood, then, that a study on the work of Monteiro Lobato must include the discussion on modernization and modernity. To this end, America is chosen, as the work of this author that more explicitly and constantly discusses these themes. This article aims, therefore, to analyze one of the ways in which modernity is represented in this work, namely, through the dialogue it establishes with the work of Walden, by the American writer Henry David Thoreau, thought here as a point of arrival for reflection on modernity in America.Keywords: Monteiro Lobato; América; Henry David Thoreau; Walden; modernity.

In between Birth and Death, Past and Future, the Self and the Others: An Anthropological Insight on Commemorative and Celebrative Tattoos in Central Italy

European society has been described more than once as poor in shared rites of passage. The manipulation of skin seems to be an increasingly popular solution to fulfil perceived cultural gaps. Can contemporary tattoos be interpreted as tools of commemorating life events, especially in the occasion of births and deaths? This article analyses meanings associated with tattoos collected during two ethnographies in central Italy. Based on qualitative interviews and participant observation, the first fieldwork focuses on death-commemorative tattoos, while a 2020 (n)ethnography investigates birth-celebrative tattoos. Data confirm that the body is the mirror of the self and the skin works as the plastic stage where the embodiment of mourning and other emotions meets the social world. Tattoos are attempts of personalized spiritualities, where births and deaths become key-moments of existence that are elected pillars of the self. However, they are not (only) a private affair. This paper addresses the intersubjective valence of tattoos and their communicative purpose. In parallel with references related to both the self and the others, ethnographical data support an interpretation of tattoos as modern self-making strategies, applied to re-ordinate the past and to project a suitable self for the future.

Slavery in Achaemenid-Period Babylonia: The Social World of Rībat, Son of Bēl-erība

This paper argues for a historically grounded view of slavery in Achaemenid-period Babylonia by examining the life of one particular individual, Rībat son of Bēl-erība, an ardu of the Murašû family (whose archive spans c. 454–404 BCE). In contrast to other studies which focus on the terminology or legal aspects of slavery, we examine the lived experience of Rībat. We do this in two ways. First, we study all of Rībat’s attested business ventures and demonstrate that, although Rībat occasionally acted under the direct orders of his masters, he more often pursued activities ancillary to those of the core Murašû business. Secondly, we use social network analysis of over 700 Murašû texts to demonstrate that, although Rībat was crucial in linking distinct individuals to the Murašû business, he lay outside his masters’ group of core associates. We then compare Rībat’s social position to that of other known Murašû subordinates to argue that Rībat’s experience was representative of that of other Murašû subordinates. We conclude by arguing for more social-historical studies of Babylonian servitude in the future.

Stress and Anxiety in the Digital Age

While digitalization undoubtedly has improved the access to information and communication with the world, increased cases of cyberbullying, harassment, cyber abuse, and suicide numbers have also surfaced among teens. The hype of the online world, the celebrity culture, and their high status seldom generate the fear of inadequacy, dissatisfaction, and isolation which ultimately aggravate the feeling of anxiety and depression. This chapter will underline the causes of the digital stress and technology-related anxiety among adolescents, their deteriorating psychophysical behavior, factors disintegrating their mental fitness and physical well-being, and most importantly, the answer to the problem. Various small steps can be taken to avoid serious problems such as talking with your family and friends. Some other approaches include cutting off from the negative digital surroundings, limiting the watch time, etc. With the growing online world, there is an urgent need to control the exposure one gives to the social world.