Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Coining Societies. An Inter-Functional Comparative Analysis Of The Euro, Steffen Roth

Dr. Steffen Roth

The present analysis of the Euro looks for the marks that function systems make on what we commonly take for the European money. Clearly distinguishing between coins and currency, the Euro coins and banknotes are not taken for economic tokens per se but for storage devices that contain both economic and noneconomic information. A systemic analysis of the function system references on these storage devices shows that the economy has left fewer marks on the Euro than politics, art, and the mass media systems have. We, hence, argue that “the Euro” “is” not just money with a political second mission …

Fashionable Functions: A Google Ngram View Of Trends In Functional Differentiation (1800-2000), Steffen Roth

Dr. Steffen Roth

Computer communication is revolutionizing modern society to the same extend as the invention of writing or the printing press have unsettled the archaic or the ancient society, respectively. In the present article, this idea will be exemplified by a demonstration of how the Google Ngram viewer – an online graphing tool which charts annual counts of words or sentences as found in the largest available corpus of digitalized books – allows for checks and challenges of familiar self-definitions of modern society. As functional differentiation is considered the central unique feature of modern societies, the hypotheses focus on the testing of …

Measuring Social Capital And Its Influence On Individual Performance, Alireza Abbasi

Alireza Abbasi

Studies on social networks highlight the importance of network structure or structural properties of a given network and its impact on performance outcome. One of the important properties of this network structure is referred as “social capital” which is the “network of contacts” and the associated values attached to these networks of contacts. In this study, the aim is to provide empirical evidence of the influence of social capital and performance within the context of academic collaboration (co-authorship). This study suggests that the collaborative process involves social capital embedded within relationships and network structures among direct co-authors. Thus, association between …

Understanding The Evolutionary Dynamics And Adaptation Of Complex Networks, Alireza Abbasi

Alireza Abbasi

This study aims to explore the co-evolutionary processes of network structure and state for examining the evolutionary dynamic and adaptation of networks. The study addresses several major areas of network research: network structure dynamics (i.e., the longitudinal study of network structure); network evolution mechanisms (i.e., variation, selection, retention); actors’ attachment logics (i.e., cumulative advantage, embedding, multi-connectivity, homophily); and self-organized network behavior. Theories and hypotheses from the intersection of network theories, evolutionary theories and complex adaptive systems are drawn and synthesized. Finally the co-evolution of local dynamics versus global dynamics of networks over time has been explored through proposing a research …

Autonomia Y Dependencia En Las Ciencias Sociales Latinoamericanas, Jorge Gibert-Galassi

jorge gibert-galassi

Description paper about the problem of Latin American academics in terms of autonomy or dependence from the central countries and scientific institutions from the north. It is centrally a diagnosis on political science, sociology and economics in 5 Latin American countries.

Celebrating Student Scholars: An Introduction, Maureen A. Scully, Esther Kingston-Mann

Maureen Scully

The essays in this issue of Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge have received awards in The Kingston-Mann Student Achievement Awards for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship. Written by undergraduate students who address deeply urgent and important issues, each essay possesses a clear, distinctive voice. The authors do not turn away from difficult questions and do not waffle, even when they are dealing with questions and data that are ambiguous or contradictory. Although faculty may be accustomed to academic articles rife with qualifiers, indirect points, jargon, and a limited concern for relevance, the essays included here are …

Poverty Knowledge, Coercion, And Social Rights: A Discourse Ethical Contribution To Social Epistemology, David Ingram

David Ingram

In today’s America the persistence of crushing poverty in the midst of staggering affluence no longer incites the righteous jeremiads it once did. Resigned acceptance of this paradox is fueled by a sense that poverty lies beyond the moral and technical scope of government remediation. The failure of experts to reach agreement on the causes of poverty merely exacerbates our despair. Are the causes internal to the poor – reflecting their more or less voluntary choices? Or do they emanate from structures beyond their control (but perhaps amenable to government remediation)? If both of these explanations are true (as I …

The Immortal Spirit Of Harriet Tubman: Scholarly Reconceptualization Of Human Trafficking And Slavery, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

I propose a presentation in which I will describe my personal and professional experiences developing and teaching university level courses on human trafficking, including both sex trafficking and forced labor.

Although I have read about historic slavery all my life, my research, writing, and teaching has focused on contemporary human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking. Seven years ago, I developed and started teaching a course on sex trafficking and a course on human trafficking, which included forced labor. I have taught these courses every year since 2006.

For some time, I did not include historic slavery in the curriculum. My research …

Voice Without Say: Why Capital-Managed Firms Aren’T (Genuinely) Participatory, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Why are most capitalist enterprises of any size organized as authoritarian bureaucracies rather than incorporating genuine employee participation that would give the workers real authority? Even firms with employee participation programs leave virtually all decision-making power in the hands of management. The standard answer is that hierarchy is more economically efficient than any sort of genuine participation, so that participatory firms would be less productive and lose out to more traditional competitors. This answer is indefensible. After surveying the history, legal status, and varieties of employee participation, I examine and reject as question-begging the argument that the rarity of genuine …

An Ethnographic Study: Becoming A Physics Expert In A Biophysics Research Group, Idaykis Rodriguez

Idaykis Rodriguez

Expertise in physics has been traditionally studied in cognitive science, where physics expertise is understood through the difference between novice and expert problem solving skills. The cognitive perspective of physics experts only create a partial model of physics expertise and does not take into account the development of physics experts in the natural context of research. This dissertation takes a social and cultural perspective of learning through apprenticeship to model the development of physics expertise of physics graduate students in a research group. I use a qualitative methodological approach of an ethnographic case study to observe and video record the …

A Theory Without A Movement, A Hope Without A Name: The Future Of Marxism In A Post-Marxist World, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Just as Marx's insights into capitalism have been most strikingly vindicated by the rise of neoliberalism and the near-collapse of the world economy, Marxism as social movement has become bereft of support. Is there any point in people who find Marx's analysis useful in clinging to the term "Marxism" - which Marx himself rejected -- at time when self-identified Marxist organizations and societies have collapsed or renounced the identification, and Marxism own working class constituency rejects the term? I set aside bad reasons to give on "Marxism," such as that the theory is purportedly refuted, that its adoption leads necessarily …

Generalization And Induction: Misconceptions, Clarifications And A Classification Of Induction, Eric W. K. Tsang, John N. Williams

John N. WILLIAMS

In “Generalizing Generalizability in Information Systems Research,” Lee and Baskerville (2003) try to clarify generalization and classify it into four types. Unfortunately, their account is problematic. We propose repairs. Central among these is our balance-of-evidence argument that we should adopt the view that Hume’s problem of induction has a solution, even if we do not know what it is. We build upon this by proposing an alternative classification of induction. There are five types of generalization: (1) theoretical, (2) within-population, (3) cross-population, (4) contextual, and (5) temporal, with theoretical generalization being across the empirical and theoretical levels and the rest …

Generalization And Induction: More Misconceptions And Clarifications, Eric W. K. Tsang, John N. Williams

John N. WILLIAMS

In ‘Generalization and Induction: Misconceptions, Clarifications, and a Classification of Induction’, we comment on Lee and Baskerville’s (2003) paper ‘Generalizing Generalizability in Information Systems Research’, which attempts to clarify the concept of generalization and classify it into four types. Our commentary discusses the misconceptions in their paper and proposes an alternative classification of induction. Their response ‘Conceptualizing Generalizability: New Contributions and a Reply’ perpetuates their misconceptions and create new ones. The purpose of this rejoinder is to highlight the major problems both in their original paper and in their reply and to provide further clarifications. Lee and Baskerville’s so-called ‘new …

Dying Is Only Human. The Case Death Makes For The Immortality Of The Person, Steffen Roth Dr.

Dr. Steffen Roth

The claim of the present article is that human mortality makes a case for the discovery of the immortal nature of the person. Based on a clear distinction of the concepts of the human being and the person, human beings and persons are considered immortal insofar as both entities evidently do not qualify for a definition as living systems. On the one hand, human beings are presented as neither lifeless nor living systems. On the other hand, persons are introduced as lifeless systems and, as a result, immortal system. This claim is extended by the statement that, even if supposed …

Dolina Krzemowa I Inne Regiony Rozwijające Przemysły Wysokich Technologii, Dominika Latusek

Dominika Latusek

Artykuł omawia charakterystyki regionalnych klastrów wysokich technologii na świecie, na przykładzie Doliny Krzemowej w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Na podstawie przeglądu istniejących badań można wskazać cechy, które łączą takie regiony w różnych częściach świata. Jednocześnie jednak badania wskazują, że niemożliwe jest kreowanie nowych klastrów poprzez imitowanie istniejących rozwiązań, a każdy region wyróżnia się od innych własną specyfiką.

Uttarakhand Tragedy – The Questions One Prefers To Ignore, Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan

Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan

This article questions the existence of God. By invoking tragedies in natural disasters it asks the same question what the French philosopher Voltaire had asked two and half centuries before - How could a just and compassionate God seek to punish sins through such terrible means?

A Phenomenolical Study And Meta-Analysis Of Declining Membership And Participation In The Church, Cliffrod E. Jones Jr.

Cliffrod E Jones Jr.

This study seeks to establish a multifactor approach to the problem of declining membership and participation that allows a broader defense against the negative effects of separate causalities. A meta-analysis of past and current study into the phenomenon investigates currently recognized causalities, and forms a grounded basis for the study questions, while personal interviews from a sampling of churches, church leaders and church members provides additional quantitative data for review, comparison, weighting and analysis of the phenomenon.

Social Connectedness And Adaptive Team Coordination During Fire Events, Alireza Abbasi

Alireza Abbasi

Preparing for fire-related emergencies and consequence management is considered to be dynamic and challenging in managing crises, preventing losses, and in the allocation of resources. In this study, we argue that improving plans and operations of personnel involved in managing fire-related emergencies is an important area of investigation. Here, we investigate the effects of social connectedness among different team members to manage bushfires. We further analyze response coordination by exploring variables such as participants’ preparedness quality, quality of incident action planning, and quality of accessibility of resources. In doing so, we also test the effects of these variables on improved …

Are Women The New Dominant Sex?: Investigating The Impact Of Feminism On Masculine Roles And Identity, Lauren Boothby

Lauren Boothby

Women are becoming the new dominant sex in Western society. Pursuing feminist equality reform results in a trend toward extremes. The trajectory of women’s rights needs to be examined in light of its effects on men. The present paper examines the decline of patriarchy and progression of matriarchy, as evidenced by female superiority in educational and vocational attainment, degrading representations of men – “the idiot man” – in popular sit-coms, and feminist ideological dominance in political and academic discourse. Normlessness and anomie result from the subversion of masculine roles. Sociological theories – including those of Mead, Goffman, Hochschild, Schutz, Durkheim, …

Deleuze & Guattari And Minor Marxism, Eugene W. Holland

Eugene W Holland

This paper suggests a version of Marxism - a minor Marxism - derived from Deleuze & Guattari's political philosophy.

Digital Underground: Musical Spaces And Microscenes In The Postindustrial City, David Grazian

David Grazian

No abstract provided.

After Privacy: The Rise Of Facebook, The Fall Of Wikileaks, And Singapore’S Personal Data Protection Act 2012, Simon Chesterman

Simon Chesterman

This article discusses the changing ways in which information is produced, stored, and shared — exemplified by the rise of social-networking sites like Facebook and controversies over the activities of WikiLeaks — and the implications for privacy and data protection. Legal protections of privacy have always been reactive, but the coherence of any legal regime has also been undermined by the lack of a strong theory of what privacy is. There is more promise in the narrower field of data protection. Singapore, which does not recognise a right to privacy, has positioned itself as an e-commerce hub but had no …

Six Questions For Entrepreneurial Leadership And Innovation In Distance Education, Connie Reimers-Hild, James King

Connie I Reimers-Hild, PhD, CPC

Institutions offering distance education courses and programs may benefit by encouraging administrators, faculty, staff and students to be more entrepreneurial. Organizational cultures designed to support this type of environment are characterized by entrepreneurial leadership, innovation and change. This article provides information on how distance education institutions can incorporate entrepreneurial leadership and innovation into their organizations. Six questions for administrators of distance education to consider are presented in an effort to provoke discussion and thought on the importance of incorporating entrepreneurial leadership and innovation throughout distance education organizations.

An Entrepreneurial Approach To Career Development, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Connie I Reimers-Hild, PhD, CPC

This article explains how people can use an entrepreneurial approach to career development in and effort to advance their careers and employment opportunities.

Beyond Dogma: The Role Of "Evolutionary" Science And The "Embodiment" Of Archetypal Energies, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

At individual and collective levels (locally, nationally, and globally), humanity is currently entertaining many challenges and opportunities for growth. In my view, these challenges and opportunities are connected to Energy shifts that are taking place on the planet, and the inability of some to move beyond dogma in relating to these Energy shifts. By its pre- and proscriptive nature, dogma fosters limiting beliefs that often interfere with how best to relate to these Energy shifts as vibrational beings in an evolving, vibrational world. Here, I want to briefly identify some of the limiting effects of dogma, and the role of …

Usos E Significados Da Tecnologia Na Academia: Uma Abordagem Sociológica, João Monteiro Matos

João Monteiro Matos

perceives, uses, and interacts with new information and communication technologies (ICT) in their everyday working practices.

The main goal is to understand whether these new technologies can be an indicator of different scientific cultures, using the metaphor of the “two cultures” introduced by Charles Snow (1963).

I will make use of this metaphor to examine differences and specificities of two scientific communities: the natural sciences and the social sciences community at two institutions of the University of Lisbon.

This research follows a mixed methods strategy, combining the application of a survey and qualitative interviews.

This study will contribute to the …

Designing An Information-Experience Using Creativity Science & Tools, Stephanie Belhomme

Stephanie Belhomme

An “information-experience” encapsulated by a technological/digital audio-visual tool presents data and potentially meaningful information to prompt actionable knowledge concerning: “unspoken creative process elements;” their profound impacts on both how well our “physiology of creativity” functions but also; how well foundational creative thinking and behavioral prerequisites (energy, motivation, imagination, and ownership) are leveraged.

The product: 1) introduces the user to one component of the CPS (Creative Problem Solving) Facilitation Process - Exploring the Challenge; 2) features a content specific component which prompts exploration of the many correlations between societal, organizational / community, human physiological / behavioral data, and the direct relationships …

Managing Knowledge For The Development Of The Mekong Delta., Hans-Dieter Evers, Solvay Gerke

Solvay Gerke

No abstract provided.

Little Understood Knowledge Trap, Hans-Dieter Evers, Solvay Gerke, Thomas Menkhoff

Solvay Gerke

As knowledge increases, we realise how much else we do not know. Successful research always results in new questions. Any knowledge economy must be aware of such unknowns if it is to expand further through research and development. Debate on bridging the digital divide does not take this factor into account. Many of the strategies currently preached are misplaced.

Looking East, Looking West: Penang As A Knowledge Hub, Solvay Gerke, Hans-Dieter Evers

Hans-Dieter Evers

Penang has always been a focal point, absorbing nowledge (and popular culture) from civilizations to the East and West. In modern Penang the pattern of cultural contacts has changed over time. Research institutes and universities in Penang cooperate with foreign partners to produce research papers and reports. Based on an analysis of joint research output, the changing international position of Penang as an emerging research hub will be analysed. The paper will show that international cooperation has increased considerably between 1970 and 2010, but that there has also been a remarkable shift from European, Australian and American partners to East …