Human totality and the total social fact

The volume “Shepherding in the Carpathians. Tradition and continuity” (2022) coordinated by Lucian David and Ionuț Semuc presents the practice of shepherding from an interdisciplinary perspective: historical, sociological, economic, cultural, political, and religious. This is the only methodological approach capable of describing the complexity of shepherding.

Summary Visibility is a capacity to be seen by others directly or through images and can be defined as a total social fact, which includes different domains of collective life. As Italian sociologist Andrea Mubi Brighenti argues, visibility is a form of “visuality at large” and the visible entails more than the visual, more than the sensorially perceptible, which becomes clear when we consider the fact that the visual itself needs to be visibilised, and examine the ways in which this happens. In the last decades visibility in a social sphere and media was largely “capitalised”. According to French sociologist Nathalie Heinich, the visibility capitalis firmly entrenched within Western society, culture and media. Non-material capital of visibility differs from other non-material symbolical or cultural capitals in Bourdieusian sense. This new phenomenon includes all features of classical material capital. The capital of visibility is measurable, accumulated, transmissible, earning interest and convertible. It can be measured by number of fans, showing results in Google search, number of views in YouTube, number of followers in social media Instagram, Facebook or number of images in other mass media. The cult of celebrity, the aspiration for visibility, and widespread practices of seeing within contemporary visual culture touched on many important social, political, cultural and intellectual spheres. Celebrity culture that arose out of the cinema industry underwent significant transformations, penetrated into existing social structures, fields and institutions. Visibility deeply changes cultural and intellectual life, influences our values and attitudes. The regime of visibility transforms social stratification by creating celebrities as a new social category called media elite. These persons are isolated from their original environment and placed in a context with its own logic and rules. These issues will be analysed using examples from the sphere of creative and cultural industries.

This essay is an excerpt from the forthcoming book - Critical Discourse in Sociology. Between Positivism and Postmodernism. The essay deals with the dilemmas of relativism. The sociological concept of relativity of last decades was formulated as the integral part of sociological inquiry, aimed at the methodological complexity and some critical character of sociological thought. The intellectual transformation of recent sociology has been accompanied by a proliferation of alternative theories and concepts. Given the acute understanding of socially determined and arbitrary character of knowledge, the new sociological identity is being shaped by the pluralist context of latter-day sociological inquiry. This essay attempts an appraisal of differences in alternative modes of knowledge by exploring critically its various thematic features. As sociology‘s ongoing internal struggles continue, it is appropriate to ask whether the multidimensional approach is able to employ its own relativistic elements and maybe analytic techniques in the process of keeping itself more useful to the social sciences. It is possible to identify some postmodern trends in contemporary sociology that are becoming quite diverse internally. It is clear, however, that sociologists attach a little deal of significance to these differentiating changes as one of the crucial criteria of the arrival of new and the more complex forms of theorizing. Sociologists devote also too little attention to the relationship between contemporary social transformations and the restructuring some basic concepts in sociology. Furthermore, the current debates on relativism in sociology do not account for the fact that “postmodernism”, as a distinct and multiparadigmatic intellectual activity, is unequally distributed throughout the history of the social sciences.
 The paper examines the problematic relationship between positivistic and postmodern sociology, using the recent development of the social sciences in Lithuania as a case study and discussing the alternative models of sociology and their implications for intellectual reflexivity and critical reconstruction in social sciences. The dilemmas of relativism are clear in Lithuanian social scientists’s treatment of what they calls “postmodernism”. The aim of this essay is to explore the dual relations between the positivistic and postmodern trends in sociology by specifying the historical aspects of its contemporary development. As a consequence of one-sided, undifferentiating understanding of postmodernism, the more narrow, monist and “purist” concept of science is shaped. The central thesis is that pursuit of a „pure” science model restricts the potentiality of sociological enterprise. The paper argues specifically for the differentiation of the concept of postmodernism and suggests a need for sociology to more thoroughly integrate postmodern insights into its theory and practice while highlighting such key aspects of the sociological tradition as the need to ground its discoursive forms in dialogical, conventional and communicative attempts. The main goal of this paper is to demonstrate and make explicit some positive connections between explanatory and discursive forms of sociology examined from the perspective of critical social theory.

The SARS-COV2 pandemic has emerged as a total social fact. It has overflown the public and politico-institutional spheres with doubts about the way society was answering to its needs before the crisis, and it has introduced new problems and needs, together with novel languages and practices to address them. What role has political sociology in this phase of radical change? The article argues that political sociology should not and cannot remain aphasic in this time, and that a reflection should start about the public role of political sociology. The first Section describes political sociology’s “duty” to intervene in public life. The second one offers an analytical key to read the impact of the pandemic on contemporary public policy. The last Section identifies a preliminary theoretical framework for defining the public role of political sociology and understanding its specific positioning in public life.

October 3rd 2010, a lovely fall day in Germany, and the people are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the German reunification. On the same day, many people from all over the world came to the beautiful city of Potsdam (next to Berlin) for the 10th biannual meeting of the German Society for Cognitive Science. When people think about the city of Potsdam, they almost immediately come up with statements about Schloss Sanssouci. This impressive castle with its widespread park and the botanical garden is definitely worth a visit, but it is also of great interest for people like me working in the domain of spatial cognition, especially on landmarks. Even though it would be interesting to discuss the history of the castle and other historic events that took place in Potsdam, I should better focus on the conference at the University of Potsdam (October 3rd–October 6th 2010). The building in which the conference was held is located a few kilometers away from Sanssouci but is close to the famous Babelsberg film studios. This modern and comfortable university complex is ideal for research and scientific discourses. During the meeting, the outgoing president of the German Society for Cognitive Science, Markus Knauff (University of Giesen, Germany), stated that the society reached the mark of ten biannual meetings in just 16 years (since 1994), which is probably a unique incident. Almost 300 scientists from 19 different countries—covering four continents—participated in and contributed to this year’s conference. They provided a total of 168 oral presentations (symposia talks not included) and about 40 posters. Five invited symposia were held on Complex Cognition; Decisions: Perspectives from Philosophy, Neuropsychology, and Cognitive Science; New Theories of Rationality; Optionality of Information Structure; and Symbolizing Emotions. Additionally, six regular symposia offered topics with the foci on Adaptivity of Hybrid Cognitive Systems; Cognitive Modeling in Human–Machine-Systems; Frames: A General Format of Representation?; Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Memory; Perspectives for Cognitive Ethnology in the Cognitive Sciences; and Visual Attention and Gestures in Language Processing. The majority of talks were presented in paper sessions covering research from Analogical Reasoning and Applied Cognitive Science to topics such as Spatial Cognition and Visual Perception. In order to realize such an enormous amount of research within 3 days only, parallel sessions had to be offered. Questions could be raised right after the talks, and there was some room for discussion. However, in many sessions—I not only experienced this in the session on Spatial Cognition where I presented my current wayfinding and landmark research—the discussions were continued right after the sessions in the lecture halls, in the seminar rooms, or (which was probably the best way to do it) in the foyer during the coffee breaks. The volunteers of the University offered plenty of beverages and snacks so that quite a few people had a hard time finishing the coffee breaks in order to reach the following presentations. But such breaks were excellent for personal meetings and maybe talking about future cooperations. On Monday late afternoon—right after the Presidential Address and before the Members Meeting—the hallway was very crowded, since the posters were presented at that time. Unfortunately, the authors only had 1 hour for K. Hamburger (&) Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str 10F, 35394 Giessen, Germany e-mail: kai.hamburger@psychol.uni-giessen.de URL: www.uni-giessen.de/cms/cognition/hamburger

Theory and Method in Recent British Sociology: Whither the Empirical Impulse?

Theopsych: A Psychological Science Primer for Theologians

Clinical GeneticsVolume 88, Issue 5 p. 505-506 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Toward an in-depth profiling of DTC users S. Oliveri, Corresponding Author S. Oliveri Interdisciplinary Research Center on Decision Making Processes IRIDe, Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Applied Research Unit for Cognitive and Psychological Science, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO), Milan, Italy Correspondence: Serena Oliveri, PhD,Applied Research Unit for Cognitive and Psychological Science, European Institute of Oncology, Via Ripamonti 435, Milano 20141, Italy. Tel.: + 39 0257489731; fax: + 390294379230; e-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorC. Renzi, C. Renzi Applied Research Unit for Cognitive and Psychological Science, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO), Milan, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorG. Pravettoni, G. Pravettoni Interdisciplinary Research Center on Decision Making Processes IRIDe, Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Applied Research Unit for Cognitive and Psychological Science, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO), Milan, ItalySearch for more papers by this author S. Oliveri, Corresponding Author S. Oliveri Interdisciplinary Research Center on Decision Making Processes IRIDe, Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Applied Research Unit for Cognitive and Psychological Science, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO), Milan, Italy Correspondence: Serena Oliveri, PhD,Applied Research Unit for Cognitive and Psychological Science, European Institute of Oncology, Via Ripamonti 435, Milano 20141, Italy. Tel.: + 39 0257489731; fax: + 390294379230; e-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorC. Renzi, C. Renzi Applied Research Unit for Cognitive and Psychological Science, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO), Milan, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorG. Pravettoni, G. Pravettoni Interdisciplinary Research Center on Decision Making Processes IRIDe, Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Applied Research Unit for Cognitive and Psychological Science, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO), Milan, ItalySearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 May 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/cge.12599Citations: 11Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume88, Issue5November 2015Pages 505-506 RelatedInformation

ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the effect of three-dimensional rehabilitation potential on the activity of daily living (ADL) among patients with stroke in rehabilitation wards.DesignProspective longitudinal study.SettingTwo rehabilitation wards situated within a nationally recognized referral centre in Northern Taiwan, followed by subsequent discharge.ParticipantsA total of 101 participants were admitted due to either a primary or recurring incident of infarction or haemorrhagic stroke, subsequently being transferred to the rehabilitation ward of a medical centre.InterventionsNot applicable.Main outcome measuresRehabilitation potential included biological (swallowing ability, muscle power, and urinary incontinence), psychological (rehabilitation motivation and cognitive function), and social (social support) dimensions. The rehabilitation treatment outcome was activities of daily living measured using the Barthel Index. Time-variant variables, including swallowing ability, rehabilitation motivation, social support, and ADL, were collected at the time of transfer to the rehabilitation ward, 1–3 days before discharge, and 1 month after discharge.ResultsThe results of the generalized estimating equations model revealed that poor swallowing ability, lower muscle power, and urinary incontinence in the biological dimension, along with lower rehabilitation motivation and moderate cognitive impairment in the psychological dimension, are significant indicators of rehabilitation potential among stroke patients. When the different dimensional rehabilitation potential was considered overall, both biological and psychological indicators can still predict ADL outcomes during and after inpatient rehabilitation therapy. Of these indicators, swallowing ability and rehabilitation motivation were positively correlated with ADL over time. Further, increased rehabilitation motivation enhanced the protective effect of swallowing ability on ADL.ConclusionImportant indicators of rehabilitation potential, which can predict ADL outcomes, were identified for stroke patients in the rehabilitation ward. Policymakers can design appropriate intervention plans to enhance the rehabilitation potential and improve the effectiveness of inpatient rehabilitation treatment for stroke patients.

SOCIOLOGY OR IDEOLOGY? Lately some questions have arisen with regard to the relation between sociology as a system of scientific knowledge and ideology as a system of “non-scientific” ideas. Questions regarding this relation especially arise in terms of an alleged — mostly implicit — ideological commitment in sociology, especially in certain approaches in contemporary sociology. Important aspects with regard to the problem under consideration are among other things the phenomenon of value-commitment of the sociologist; the sociologist's view of the aim, task, and method of science; and the changing social structure of sociology. Except for some positive value of the presence of ideology in sociology, the possibility seems — especially in some contemporary radical trends in sociology — that sociology may be changed into mere ideology, especially into political ideology. When one has to come to a balanced view regarding the practising of sociology as a scientific discipline, especially when considering the problem under consideration, it seems necessary that one has to take a certain standpoint. In this connection, the sociologist has to combine three roles into one, namely the role of objective scientist, the role of a communally and societally committed sociologist, and finally (if the sociologist maintains a Christian view of science) the role in which both the former two roles are always judged and adjusted to the principles set by God, Who created and still maintains and sustains the whole universe. The universe includes amongst other things the reality of human society, as well as the sciences and the scientists.

analysis of the investigation of air incidents indicates among the main causes (about 80%) the crew's failures in interpersonal communications, in decision-making and in the exercise of leadership, rather than of shortcomings in training, low experience or high workload. worst incidents in aviation history have, in fact, affected for an apparent paradox crews of long and proven experience. Errors as trivial as dangerous, such as the forgetfulness of the removal of the cart in the landing phase, are quite recurring and have led the specialists to develop interesting studies that have as an object man in his Psycho-physical integrity and interactions with the machines and the external environment. These studies are important not only for an operator in the field of aviation (pilot, designer, maintainer, air traffic controller) but affecting many business and professional sectors. In fact, there are no isolated cases of the neglect of gauze or pliers within the body of patients undergoing surgery or domestic accidents due to minor distractions that have led to disastrous events. These studies analyzing the errors in the incidents highlighted the importance of the human factor understood as that discipline which deals with the application of the knowledge related to how the human being sees, feels, thinks and physically acts in Design and use of tools and machines, with the aim of protecting their health and integrity . principle of the human factor can therefore be applied to the design of simple objects, for example a pen, and to complex systems such as the design and management of a nuclear power plant. It is interesting the definition of human factor that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) provides: Human factors have as an object of study the people, while they carry out their tasks, their insertion into the working environment understood in the physical and interpersonal sense, their relationship to the tools of work and the procedures to follow. The aim of this research is to pursue safety and efficiency. It is therefore a subject that collects a series of principles and studies related to the field of psychology, neuropsychology, ergonomics, engineering and cognitive science that aims to increase the productivity and performance of operators, aiming at the same time reducing errors, drawbacks and accidents. This article is an attempt to introduce the basic principles of cognitive and psychological sciences that apply to the human factor, dealing with processes through which information is selected, processed, stored, recovered from memory, reworked and used.

Applied Psychology: Health and Well-BeingVolume 12, Issue 4 p. 937-945 Editorial Health and Well-Being in the Early Stages of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Insights from Applied Psychology Jennifer Inauen, Corresponding Author Jennifer Inauen [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-7884-3222 Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Switzerland Address for correspondence: Jennifer Inauen, Department of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Email: [email protected]. Guangyu Zhou, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorGuangyu Zhou, Corresponding Author Guangyu Zhou [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-2053-6737 School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, China Address for correspondence: Jennifer Inauen, Department of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Email: [email protected]. Guangyu Zhou, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author Jennifer Inauen, Corresponding Author Jennifer Inauen [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-7884-3222 Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Switzerland Address for correspondence: Jennifer Inauen, Department of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Email: [email protected]. Guangyu Zhou, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorGuangyu Zhou, Corresponding Author Guangyu Zhou [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-2053-6737 School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, China Address for correspondence: Jennifer Inauen, Department of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Email: [email protected]. Guangyu Zhou, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author First published: 01 November 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12245Citations: 6Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume12, Issue4Special Issue: Health and Well‐Being in the Early Stages of the Covid‐19 Pandemic: Insights from Applied PsychologyDecember 2020Pages 937-945 RelatedInformation

The aim of this review is to examine concept being developed in cognitive science from perspective of cognitive anthropology. Cognitive science is inter-disciplipary field that was originally formed around joint interests of cognitive psychology and computer science and now includes cognitive anthropology and cognitive linguistics as well. Schemata (the plural), which are knowledge structures that are the building blocks of cognition, pervade theorizing about cognitive organization and function in cognitive science (173). Schema is most widely used term for these knowledge structures (7, 22, 39-41, 51, 80, 95, 96, 102, 120, 121, 142, 144-149, 1 5 1-154, 1 70-175,205,209,212), but they are also referred to as frames (138,219), scenes (69), scenarios (69! 159), scripts (1, 2, 183-188), gestalts ( 1 1 7-1 1 9), active structural networks ( 174), and memory organi­ zation packets ( 1 85). Schema and these other terms, although they are conceptualized somewhat differently by different writers, depending on their particular aims and in­ terests, bear a striking family resemblance to each other. The emphasis here will not be on differentiating among these terms and concepts, but rather on assembling a composite conceptualization that incorporates most important aspects of all these variants. Because is most commonly occur­ ring term, it will be used for this composite concept, and other terms will be reserved for distinguishing types of schemata and some of their interrela­ tionships. The schema notion and its importance ip cognitive research have been described and examined in numerous previous reviews. These have been reviews concerned either with cognitive science as a whole (21,94,144) or with work in cognitive psychology ( 100, 101, 142), cognitive social psycholo-

This paper arises from the need to explain expert decision-making in professional environments from a plural and interdisciplinary perspective. An extended review of Rational Choice Theory (RCT) from its first developments to current trends makes explicit the mismatch between RCT and empirical work settings. A review of recent theories on the cognitive abilities of agents makes clear the lack of integration between findings in evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, perceptual psychology and neurology, and those proposed by RCT. We will examine the causes for the failure of Good Old Fashioned Artificial Intelligence (GOFAI), the strongest empirical program for testing RCT premises. Contributions from the cognitive and social sciences put forward the weaknesses of analytical sociology at all four levels: the biological, the psychological, the epistemological, and the ontological. Alternative explanations from contemporary cognitive science will be put forward.

In their recent volume on the sociology of sociology Larry and Janice Reynolds (1970: v) noted that sociologists have not, except in rare instances, applied a sociological analysis to their own discipline. While this paper does not profess to apply a systematic sociological analyses to the discipline, it takes its direction from the comment by the Reynolds and will, accordingly, offer some views on the emergence of certain theoretical trends in sociology. Hence, will briefly identify and document various theoretical trends and prospects which appear increasingly imminent on the horizon of sociology. As will rapidly become apparent, am about more than iden tifying and documenting trends; am explicitly encouraging their in stitutionalization into American sociology. Thus, in this paper, to paraphrase a quip once made by C. Wright Mills: I will try to be ob jective. do not claim to be detached. While it is not my purpose to trace the historical development of these trends, it is worthwhile noting that all of them at some point were of central concern to the early history of sociology?either in classical European thought or in the body of theory which was promulgated at the University of Chicago early in this century. Indeed, if the ensuing prognosis is on target, it would be interesting to ascertain why con temporary sociology is just now rediscovering its roots and attempting to make a place for the very ideas which give it its birth.