Beyond Economic Factors: The Cultural Forces of Inequality

Marketing and marketing policy in international markets, must be based, according to the authoress, upon the level of economic development within a specific country and regions within a specific country. The authoress proceeds to provide stages in development and discusses the implications for product policy, pricing policy, promotion policy, and distribution policy. The impact of other economic factors, cultural forces, political and legal forces are also discussed. The authoress concludes by referring to rural versus urban distribution and its influence on international marketing.

What social forces are driving the increase in research requirements for tenure at teaching universities? Engaging Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, this case study examines a state comprehensive university, at multiple levels of analysis, and via multiple methods. Field theory is a viable alternative to neoinstitutional theory for higher education scholars. The methods used are quantitative content analysis, qualitative discursive analysis and interviews. The study provides a detailed account of whether economic or cultural forces are the stronger influence on the trend to increase research requirements. Economic factors, such as national enrollment trends, do not necessarily have a strong effect on individual institutions, Also, the drive to increase research is not always initiated by administrators, as suggested by the academic-economy argument. Instead, faculty preferences, at the department level, tend to favor of the teacher-scholar model. This varies by academic discipline. The trend to increase research requirements is moving from the ground up, as faculty preferences become part of university manuals and eventually university missions. It is is suggested that it is mission critical for teaching universities to recognize the worth of integrating teaching and research. Teaching and research are theorized as two sides of a coin. The production and dissemination of knowledge is a key source of legitimacy for professors. This core cultural value may be more important than short-term regard for economic gains.

<p>Childhood is a socially constructed phase of life shaped by political, economic, and cultural forces. While often perceived as a natural and universal experience, childhood is deeply influenced by governmental policies, socio-cultural norms, and historical contexts. This paper explores how political structures and socio-cultural positionality shape childhood experiences across different societies. By drawing from theories of social construction, political influence, and cultural diversity, the study examines the impact of policies, media, and economic factors on children’s rights and identities. It also discusses contemporary challenges such as digital childhood, globalization, and social inequalities. This interdisciplinary analysis highlights the need for policies that recognize childhood as a dynamic and context-dependent experience rather than a fixed biological stage.</p>

Reviewed by: Culture and Commerce in Conrad's Asian Fiction by Andrew Francis Joyce Wexler (bio) Andrew Francis. Culture and Commerce in Conrad's Asian Fiction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. 228 pp. 9781107093980. Andrew Francis's book may become as indispensable to Conrad's Asian fiction as The Golden Bough has been to The Waste Land. Francis brings detailed knowledge of commerce to Conrad's stories about European traders in Asia. While critics concerned with economic factors usually rely on generalizations about capitalism, Francis focuses on the particulars of commercial codes and legal regulations. He regards commerce as a "phenomenology" that is a more reliable source of knowledge than words, arguing that Conrad's accounts of trade compensate for the "inadequacies of language" (6). Francis bases his argument on the financial records of British and Dutch trading companies, legal documents, and accounting practices. He uses this archival research to familiarize readers with the period's business norms. Bypassing the usual criteria for assessing Conrad's Asian texts, his readings amplify the irony of the narrative voice and magnify the significance of material conditions. Texts that have been considered second rate become more interesting when explanations of trade move background information into the foreground. For example, Francis argues that double-entry bookkeeping represents "the force of Western culture" because it is "crucial to commercial success in the increasingly globalized world" (57). This accounting method provided controls that allowed corporations to raise capital and operate across vast distances. Francis points out that traders with "access to larger capital resources and bigger trade networks, whether Arab, Chinese, or European" displaced independent owner-captains (22). As the technology of steam replaced sailing, the independent shipowner could no longer compete with corporate-financed steamships. This kind of information helps readers perceive nuances of meaning between the extremes of scrupulous probity and the blatant criminality of slave trading, arms dealing, smuggling, and prostitution. Francis shows that [End Page 143] ledgers, like heads on stakes, can reveal ethical, moral, and psychological subtleties. In the chapter titled "Negotiating the Nets of Commerce and Duty: Lord Jim," Francis proposes that commerce provides another set of norms for judging Jim. In addition to legal and marine codes, Francis applies "commercial standards" as articulated in regulations covering bankruptcy, commissions, exchange rates, and fraud (85). Marlow insists that Jim's life can't be understood by facts alone, yet readers must at least know how Jim's contemporaries understood the "externals" (87). Given this context, Francis argues, readers can appreciate important differences between Jim and Stein. Stein is a paragon of integrity: his abilities are "illuminated as much as anything by his commercial record, which demonstrates the relevance of matters of conduct in the field of economic endeavor which connects humanity" (109). Unlike Jim, Stein is "trustworthy" (110). Illustrating the phenomenological thesis of the book, Francis points out that "the facts of his [Stein's] commercial life, in which the ethical and the economic are linked, speak for themselves, perhaps more so than his memorable utterances" (116). Thus, Francis argues, "Stein is Conrad's supreme portrait of the possibility of the productive presence of business in a rounded, imaginative life" (108). Shifting the critical discussion of Lord Jim from ethical quandaries to quotidian acts, Francis argues, "Commerce is not only a common experience of most of mankind, but also offers a metaphorical framework in which people's lives are lived in the everyday dimensions of time and space" (115). Francis's explanation of economic conditions also leads to a new interpretation of The Rescue. Aware of the practical constraints on adventurers like Tom Lingard, Francis defends the novel against the chorus of critics who regard it as an albatross that Conrad carried for twenty years. The common view is that the novel fails because Conrad was incapable of writing about sex or women, but Francis regards Lingard as a representative case rather than an individual who succumbs to passion. In this reading, Edith Travers is an independent woman who tries to resist "her society's severe limitations on her role" (73). Francis persuasively claims that in a broader cultural context, the novel is a "more successful depiction of romantic and...

Worldwide, and in pockets of poverty in the United States, there is growing evidence that poverty is a major contributor to the spread of human immunodeficiency virus infection. Specific socioeconomic forces contributing to the spread of the infection include the status of women, prostitution, drug use in poor populations, the role of prisons, economic factors that disrupt families, and cultural attitudes. A lack of awareness of or an unwillingness to address the social, cultural, and economic forces contributing to the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus have hampered attempts to stem the epidemic. A "social prevention" strategy is called for in which socioeconomic influences on human immunodeficiency virus transmission can be ameliorated. Practicing physicians should be aware of these forces because they profoundly influence the effectiveness of patient education, prevention, and treatment.

This chapter explores various facets of digital inequalities in the United States within the context of global digital divides. The extent of digital inequalities, including the adoption and use of the internet and a broad spectrum of online activities, is explored through the lens of intersectionality of social, economic, cultural, and political forces in the United States. Demographic factors such as age structure, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, extent of urbanization, and economic factors such as income and occupation are often found associated with disparities in internet access, use, and infrastructure – globally as well as in the United States. Other factors associated with digital disparities, particularly in emerging and developing nations, include the extent of human development and the effectiveness of telecom laws and regulations. This chapter discusses the implications of these underlying factors and the role of the built environment in the advancement of digital equity and inclusion.

An agricultural heritage system is a special type of protected area that is both culturally and ecologically important. Biological resources are an essential component of an agricultural heritage system. They are necessary to support human livelihood, and their usage is key to ensuring biodiversity. This study used a survey questionnaire and key informant interviews to investigate the use of edible biological resources (EBRs) in the Shuangjiang Mengku ancient tea and culture system (SMATCS). We investigated similarities and differences in EBR use between four minority groups as well as the driving forces behind them. The four groups used 245 EBR species in 113 families, and diversity of EBR use was found in terms of species, edible parts, harvest season, and usage. EBR use within groups was driven by natural, cultural, social, and economic forces. Two social factors (infrastructure and communication), two economic factors (overall economic development and farmer income), and a biological resource (species diversity) drove EBR utilization in all the groups convergently, while three cultural factors drove EBR utilization divergently. To assure the long-term sustainability of EBRs, the preservation of cultural diversity should be combined with the conservation of biodiversity. Targets must be set to adjust the impacts of the driving factors, and more stakeholders must be involved in the conservation of EBRs.

: The purpose of this report is to explore the issue of Hispanic propensity in more depth than has previously been available, and to identify possible causes of Hispanic youths' declining interest in military service. It is meant to complement other DoD efforts to understand declining propensity among young males in general, and among African-American males in particular. No single satisfactory explanation for declining propensity has yet been found. Rather, many factors involving both cultural forces affecting youth (e.g., changing attitudes, changing values, family transformations, etc.) and economic factors (e.g., employment rates, advertising expenditures, recruiting resources) may be contributing to declining interest in military service. This report addresses socio-economic forces that may be having specific effects on the Hispanic community. It also looks at how cultural aspects of the lives of Hispanic youth may be influencing their propensity to enlist in the Armed Forces.

IN I8I5 lower Languedoc was the scene of the White Terror and was dominated by Legitimists; a century later it had made a full swing to the Left and was dominated by Radicals and Socialists. The dramatic beginning of this transformation came during mid-century when the Revolution of I848 took the south by surprise. Among the political forces least prepared to take advantage of the situation created in Paris was the extreme Left; yet within a year men calling themselves by the revolutionary name of democratessocialistes won considerable support. Their activity initiated a new tradition that laid the basis for the broad transformation. This essay is an attempt to explain the origins of that tradition. It is a case study using three methods: electoral sociology, quantitative analysis, and, particularly, human geography. By placing men within their milieu, it hopes to reveal the possibilities and limitations available to them through the economic, social, and cultural forces surrounding their public activities. It seeks to define leadership in terms of social structure and economic activity and then to discover the role of leadership in the formation of a political movement. Such an approach, requiring an intimate knowledge of society, cannot yet be applied to French national history; information is still lacking or vague. It is, therefore, best applied to local studies or, more appropriately, regional studies sufficiently broad to permit comparison among variant geographic areas and to make possible some generalizations about the factors that influenced democratic movements in France. Lower Languedoc offers the historian a fruitful area of research. It is composed of the departments of Gard, Herault, and Aude.' In I848 they

This chapter explores the changing sociolinguistics of the Asian region with reference to economic, cultural and social forces linked to the dynamics of modernity and globalization. It is generally accepted that the spread of English in the Asian region has been fuelled by economic, educational, social and technological factors, many of which can be explained by the rather recent shift to modernity that is in progress, or has already taken place, in Asian societies, instantiated through urbanization and the evolution of ‘modern life’ in all its forms. This in turn has also facilitated the spread of English, proficiency in which is often regarded as a means of educational and economic advancement. This chapter discusses research from a range of Outer Circle (such as India, Singapore, and the Philippines) and Expanding Circle (for example, China, Indonesia and South Korea) societies, with particular reference to the dynamics of Asian Englishes.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to review and synthesize an interdisciplinary literature on ethnic entrepreneurship studies from a spatial perspective. The major goal is to develop an analytical framework for understanding how place plays a role in ethnic entrepreneurship processes at different geographic scales.Design/methodology/approachThe article starts with a review of perspectives on ethnic entrepreneurship from multiple disciplines in social sciences, mainly from a non‐spatial approach. It then critically discusses the spatial inquiries on ethnic entrepreneurship, with a focus on identifying the gaps across disciplines. Based on these discussions, a comprehensive, multilevel spatial framework is finally conceptualized. Following that, the concluding remarks highlight future directions and public policy significance by implementing this suggested social‐spatial approach.FindingsAs the central social actors, ethnic entrepreneurs weave through multiscaled geographic contexts in the process of creatively mobilizing and capitalizing entrepreneurial resources in the labor markets. The multiscaled geographic contexts provide a milieu of social, economic, political, cultural, and regulatory factors and forces. The interaction between the social actors and their social‐spatial contexts further influences entrepreneurs’ values of entrepreneurship, perception of entrepreneurial opportunities, practical management strategies, and ultimately their business performances.Practical implicationsThis study provides significant policy implications for entrepreneurship related public policies on regional development, economic recovery, and neighborhood revitalization especially when race and ethnicity are concerned.Originality/valueBy identifying gaps of knowledge in ethnic entrepreneurship and incorporating a multidisciplinary literature, this paper extends the discussion of “contextual effects” from spatial dimensions, explicitly brings race and ethnicity to the spatial framework of entrepreneurship.

This study focuses on how Xuanzang (602-64), the well-known monk who procured Mahāyāna Buddhist scriptures from India and translated them into Chinese, posthumously became an icon of soft and queer masculinities in East Asian popular culture. Through a historical survey of the transformation of this image in various cultural forms, including literature, films, TV shows, anime and manga, computer games, and memes in China, Japan, and Korea, this article explores the interplay between religion and gender in East Asia, and argues that the image of Xuanzang is the product of the negotiations among a variety of cultural and economic forces and factors, such as the Buddhist notions of gender transgression and reincarnation, the Confucian discourse of scholar masculinity and androgyny, the cult of homosocial bond and brotherhood, as well as commercial concerns in TV and cinematic adaptations. Despite concerns over the character’s effeminacy and various attempts to re-masculinize him, the most popular and widely accepted image of Xuanzang remains that of a young scholar characterized by vulnerability and feminine beauty – a prototype of the fashionable “little fresh meat” aesthetic today.

Although Ottoman cities long have been recognized as sites of significant ethnic and religious heterogeneity, very little scholarship exists that documents or analyzes patterns of residential sorting, be it segregation, the physical separation of groups from each other in the urban landscape, or its opposite, integration. GIS mapping of the Ottoman censuses of Jerusalem illuminates these urban patterns and reveals the importance of scale when considering this question. Even the most “integrated” neighborhood on the aggregate level reveals “segregated” zones of clustering and concentration at the smaller scales of quadrant, street, and building. At the same time, the proximity and exposure of residents to each other reveals how very porous boundaries were in the neighborhood. In order to understand how and why the city developed such a complex spatial pattern, qualitative sources like newspapers, memoirs, and court records are a necessary supplement to demographic records. This approach allows for a comprehensive outlining of the economic, legal, religious, and cultural factors and forces contributing to both segregation and integration in an Ottoman city. It also points to a multidisciplinary reconstruction of the social space of an historic neighborhood.

Resource suitability analysis in regional planning—with special reference to Wisconsin, USA

Extended Abstract 1. INTRODUCTION Spatial expression of increase in earth planet population as the consequence of industrialization, improving the living standards, and reducing the amount of epidemic diseases in the past century, has been the physical-spatial development of urban and rural settlements. This transformation, especially during past decade, beside the technological advances, has shown rapid trend and has made the subject of achievement to optimal pattern and sustain a great challenge for physical-spatial development of mankind settlement (spatially in developing word). This subject will be crucial in countries such as Iran with hot and dry climate characteristics. Since a considerable part of urban and rural settlements are located in plains and areas with fertile soil and water, the socioeconomic life of residents depends, directly and indirectly, on desirable soil and water resources. Based on the aforementioned facts, rural settlement of Tonekabon area has been under many transformations due to the internal and external factors in the past decades As a result, a scattered and fragmented spatial system has been formed which caused us to witness physical development of this settlement and buried high-quality agricultural land under construction. Actually proximity of this area to the great metropolis of the region (Tehran, Karaj and Ghazvin) has been lead to the formation of population and capital flows to the Tonekabon area. The outcome of this has led to excluding agricultural lands from production process and unplanned development and distribution of rural settlements. Due to the forces and factors which have affected this phenomena, the aim of this article is recognition and analysis of these forces and factors, and prioritization principles of smart growth to perform based on the spatial- temporal characteristics of rural settlements. 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Rural settlement is considered as a part of spatial system, which in the recent decade is facing excessive growth due to transformation obtained from external forces and internal factors. This has caused these rural communities to meet the broad challenge of maintaining rural character and also support the economic growth and opportunity; thus they require means that can be adjusted to reflect the diversity of rural communities and that can be applied to both expanding and contracting economies. Smart growth is an approach in the frame of its goals and methods be able to protect the environment and rural social dynamics. 3. METHODOLOGY The research method was descriptive-analytic. The methods and tools used for data gathering were library and field methods, questionnaires, and maps. Statistical population of this research was household’s residents of Akhond Mahale and Soleyman Abad villages which consisted of 894 villagers in 2011. Indicators examined in this study included: Economical (employment and investment), social (population and migration), and cultural (separation and car acquisition) forces and factors. 4. CONCLUSION The results of this research show that, change in population, entrance of immigrants with financial funds, change in the employment structure, investment of different kinds of residents, and the increase of private cars are the effective factors in sprawl phenomena. Directing the growth into the rural region, strengthening rural- urban linkage, and strengthening rural services and facilities are the main prioritization of smart growth in the rural settlements under study.