Character Of Social Relations Research Articles

Social relations and experiences of social isolation among socially marginalized people

We aimed to obtain a greater understanding of the characteristics of social relations and experiences of social isolation among homeless people, substance users and other socially marginalized users of shelters and drop-in centres in Denmark. Based on in-depth interviews with 46 shelter/centre users, we created a typology of five groups: the socially related and content, the satisfied loners, the socially related but lonely, the socially isolated and the in-betweens. The characteristics of the groups did not seem related to interviewees’ degree of social marginalization. Professionals played a pivotal role, providing social support and help to improve interviewees’ life circumstances. The findings provide insight into the social lives of shelter/centre users that is useful for developing initiatives to improve their social wellbeing.

The Promises of a New Social Capital Agenda

Some key pitfalls in social capital research stem from an uncritical belief in social capital as the solution to collective action problems, and a tendency to regard tight social relations within communities as an unproblematic field. In the effort to engage with these limitations and provide better insights into real-world development problems and solutions, the article argues for a more promising agenda. It does so by combining development microeconomics' insights on the determinants of trust and the uneven effects of social networks, with nuanced anthropological approaches to the context-dependent features of social relations and the role of status and power.

Not Growling but Smiling: New Interpretations of the Bared‐Teeth Motif in the Pre‐Columbian Caribbean

Insights into the character of social relations are rare but exciting glimpses when it comes to archaeological populations. This paper uses a multidisciplinary combination of archaeological and evolutionary biological approaches to assess the social value of the bared‐teeth motif (BTM) in pre‐Columbian iconography of the Greater Antilles. Bared teeth feature on discrete artifact categories within the material culture of many different groups in the Taino culture area after AD 1000. This BTM, usually part of facial anthropomorphic or zoomorphic decoration, is used for bodily adornments and items associated with healing and shamanic practices. It has generally been interpreted as representative of death, aggression, or the shamanic trance. However, the motif has never been examined in terms of its signal value as a positive facial expression. Studies of facial expression in human and nonhuman primates have shown that the bared‐teeth expression is used in social contexts as an unambiguous signal of nonaggres...

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivations to Volunteer and Social Capital Formation

SUMMARYAlthough intrinsic motivations receive increasing attention in explaining human actions, our knowledge on their causes and effects is incomplete. Quite surprisingly, the existing literature fails to consider the relationship between intrinsic motivations and social capital formation. The present paper increases the understanding on the effect of intrinsic motivations by studying the role that different motivations to volunteer have on the creation of volunteers' social capital which is intended as networks of cooperative relations.Our empirical analysis considers three indices of social capital, aimed at measuring both the quantitative (number) and the qualitative (degree of familiarity and cooperation) character of social relations, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to volunteer (ideal motivations, the desire to feel useful to others, the pursuit of social recognition and the desire to increase the number of acquaintances or friends).We find that the creation of social capital through participation in voluntary associations is not indifferent to the motivations which induced the volunteer to start his/her unpaid activity. In particular, we show that intrinsic motivations enable people to extend their social networks by creating relations characterized by a significant degree of familiarity. By contrast, extrinsic motivations, and in particular the decision to join an association in order to increase the number of acquaintances or friends, promote the creation of networks from a quantitative point of view, but they do not facilitate the creation of relations based on a particular degree of confidence.

Information loss, knowledge transfer cost and the value of social relations

The literature on knowledge transfer has long recognized the importance of social relations as a conduit of knowledge transfer. Two distinct features of social relations have been examined extensively: their strength and structure. Their effects on knowledge transfer remain unclear, however, and researchers have attended to one or the other of two constraints — information loss and transfer cost — in efforts to elucidate them. Yet, few studies analyse the joint effects of these constraints on knowledge transfer in a network directly. To examine their interaction, this article develops an agent-based simulation and experiment with four different kinds of relations: a sparse network with weak ties, a sparse network with strong ties, a dense network with weak ties and a dense network with strong ties. At the individual level, the study finds that dense networks comprised of weak ties afford more valuable knowledge if information loss is trivial and the cost of initiating ties is larger than the cost of transfer, but that the value of density declines rapidly as information loss increases. At the organizational level, in contrast, sparse networks with strong ties appear optimal for knowledge transfer via social relations.

Profiles of social relations among older adults: a cross-cultural approach

ABSTRACTThis study extends previous research on the profiles of social relations in three ways: (1) by including both functional and qualitative characteristics of social relations; (2) by examining the association of these profiles with mental and physical health and mortality; and (3) by exploring these profiles and associations in two cultures. Using samples of approximately 500 adults aged 60 or more years from theSocial Relations and Mental Health over the Life Coursestudies in both the United States and Japan, separate cluster analyses were conducted for each country. The common or shared network types were labelled ‘diverse’, ‘restricted’, ‘friend-focused’ and ‘family-focused’, but in the US we found two types of ‘friend-focused’ networks (supported and unsupported) and two types of ‘restricted’ networks (structurally- and functionally-restricted). In addition, we found a unique network type in Japan: ‘married and distal’. Multivariate analyses of variance and Cox regressions revealed that whereas individuals in the functionally restricted network type had the worse physical and mental health in the US, Americans in the structurally-restricted network type had the lowest survival rates at a 12-year follow-up. Interestingly, there were no wellbeing differences by network type in Japan. The findings have been interpreted in the light of social relations theories, with special emphasis on the importance of taking a multidimensional perspective and exploring cultural variation.

Book review of: Ian F. Shaw, Jennifer C. Greene and Melvin M. Mark, The SAGE Handbook of evaluation. Policies, programs and practices, London. SAGE Publications, 2006

Shaw, Ian F. / Greene, Jennifer C. / Mark, Melvin M. (Eds.) (2006): The Sage Handbook of Evaluation Sage, 2006, 608 pp. Hardcover, £85.00 / $130.00 /euro 108.90 (amazon.de) ISBN 978-0-7619-7305-8 Reviewed by Thomas Widmer This handbook is certainly an ambitious enterprise, since it is intended to offer a definitive, benchmark statement on evaluation theory and practice for the first decades of the twenty-first (p. 4). The editors continue: developing this Handbook, we strove to offer a coherent picture of the nature and role of evaluative inquiry in contemporary twenty-first century societies around the globe (ibid.). At the end of this review, I will return to these goals but first, let me briefly present the content of the handbook. This summary will by no means reflect the substance of this extensive volume; the intention is just to give some ideas. The handbook contains 26 chapters, authored or co-authored by 43 eminent scholars, organized along four main sections, namely: - Role and purpose of evaluation in society, - Evaluation as a social practice, - The practice of evaluation, and - Domains of evaluation practice. In the introduction the editors of the handbook (Melvin M. Mark, Jennifer C. Greene and Ian F. Shaw) provide an overview of the field of evaluation in general, and an introduction into the scope and the structure of the handbook. The first main section on the role and purpose of evaluation in society starts with a contribution by Eleanor Chelimsky on the relevance of evaluation in the political system of the USA, especially in three respects, namely accountability, development and knowledge purposes. Stewart I. Donaldson and Mark W. Lipsey highlight the practical relevance of theories (theory of evaluation practice, social science theory and program theory) in evaluation, by advocating a program theory-driven evaluation science approach. Patricia J. Rogers and Bob Williams discuss nine select evaluation approaches from the perspective of research in individual and organizational learning and organizational dynamics. In an intellectually challenging and thought provoking piece, Thomas A. Schwandt and HoIH Burgon explore the significance of lived experiences, and practices in and for evaluation. The next chapter, authored by Jennifer C. Greene, contains a rich and balanced discussion of democratically-oriented evaluation approaches (namely, democratic, deliberative democratic, participatory, critically, and culturally-contextually responsive evaluation). Peter Dahler-Larsen highlights in his contribution five factors that influence the field of evaluation: first popularization of evaluation, second organizational structures and processes, third the market, fourth the media, and finally fifth research. The second main section entitled 'Evaluation as a social practice' is introduced by an article authored by Philip Davies, Kathryn Newcomer, and Haluk Soydan describing different aspects and roles of governments in the context of evaluation activities. Based on three vignettes illustrating the relevance and significance of social relations in evaluation practices, Tineke A. Abma calls for more attention to the diverse characteristics of social relations in evaluation. In a chapter contributed by John Stevenson and David Thomas, the focus lies on the interdependencies between evaluation on the one hand and historical, cultural, and disciplinary traditions on the other hand. Ove Karlsson Vestman and Ross F. Conner discuss three distinct positions on the relationship between evaluation and politics; the value-neutral, the valuesensitive, and the value-critical evaluator. Helen Simons provides an overview of various (and distinct) forms of codifications and institutionalizations with ethical concerns. In their contribution on utilization, J. Bradley Cousins and Lyn M. Shulha compare the state of research in evaluation utilization and knowledge utilization. …

Explaining Norm Enforcement

This article presents a theory of norm enforcement. Dominant accounts explain norms by referring to their consequences. On this view, norms are enforced when doing so increases the welfare of group members. While useful, such approaches do not explain much of what we observe. The theory developed here argues that while sanctioning consequences are part of the explanation, characteristics of social relations — in particular, interdependence — have significant effects. Hypotheses are tested using unique data that include quantitative behavioral measures of norm and metanorm enforcement. The results show that the effects of sanctioning benefits and costs vary depending on the level of interdependence between group members. Further, concern with social relations, not sanctioning benefits and costs, explains metanorm enforcement. The research therefore suggests that explanations that focus on the direct consequences of sanctioning, and that fail to incorporate characteristics of social relations, may produce inaccurate predictions. Accordingly, understanding the role of social relations is essential for explaining norm enforcement.

Power relations and institutional outcomes: A case of pastureland development in Semi-arid Rajasthan

The paper critically examines institutional outcomes in conservation of village commons against the backdrop of rural power relations in two villages of Rajasthan (India). While one of the villages could achieve highest institutional outcome in terms of equity, the other one failed to do so. It failed because renovated institution reproduced same relations of unequal power and authority as a pervasive feature of social relations. The paper shows how the locally renovated institution in the other village sustains while managing its village common pastureland, despite perpetrating discrimination against the subordinates. It, however, does not suggest institutional practices under the authoritarian leadership that might collapse in the context of changing power equations in rural areas. The paper argues that primary condition for equitable entitlement to the improved resource base to emerge, as an institutional outcome is the removal of dependency syndrome of the subordinates on the powerful. It capacitates them to make claims.

The impact of structural and functional characteristics of social relations as determinants of functional decline.

This study examines whether aspects of social relations at baseline are related to functional decline at 5-year follow-up among nondisabled old men and women. The investigation is based on baseline and follow-up data on 651 nondisabled 75-year-old persons in Jyväskylä (Finland) and Glostrup (Denmark). The analyses are performed separately for men and women. Possible selection problems were considered by using three outcome measures: first, functional decline among the survivors (n = 425); second, functional decline, including death, assuming that death is part of a general decline pattern (n = 565); and third, mortality (n = 651). Social relations were measured at baseline by several items focusing on the structure and function of the social network. In men, no weekly telephone contact was related to functional decline and mortality. Among women, less than weekly telephone contact, no membership in a retirement club, and not sewing for others were significantly related to functional decline and mortality. The associations were stronger when the dead were included in the outcome measure. The results point to the importance of social relations in the prevention of functional decline in older adults.

Rockin' out of the box: gender maneuvering in alternative hard rock

Schippers' account of the rock music subculture in Chicago between 1992 and 1995 is an ethnographic study based on casual interactions with a core group of rock fans, interviews with rock musicians, and field trips into bars and clubs of the Wicker Park area. The result provides fascinating, informative anecdotal information. Drawing from theorists Anthony Giddens, Candace West, Don Zimmerman, Judith Butler, and others, Schippers interprets performances, gestures, and language as well as values-both implied and explicitly stated-as maneuvers employed by members of that subculture to undermine expressions of (and attitudes reflecting) sexism and bigotry.-Choice An astute analysis of rock music's gender politics that manages to be both perceptive and fun to read-a rare feat.- Arlene Stein, author of Sex and Sensibility: Stories of a Lesbian Generation Given the long history of feminism and its contested place in popular culture, important, practical questions arise: What effect, if any, have feminist ideas and practices had on the lives of young men and women who grew up with them? How do these individuals negotiate the realities of gender in their daily lives? Employing the crucial feminist insight that gender is a constantly shifting performance and not an essential quality related to sex, Mimi Schippers explores the gender roles, assumptions, and transgressions of the men and women involved in the alternative hard rock scene. She uses the innovative term gender maneuvering to explain how gender and sexuality are negotiated and always changing features of social relations. This process operates as a cultural practice and as an individual strategy of resistance to socially prescribed gender roles. Schippers conducted extensive interviews with fans as well as musicians, including Ian MacKaye of Fugazi, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Donita Sparks and Jennifer Finch of L7, Kat Bjelland and Lori Barbero of Babes in Toyland, Rose Marshack of Poster Children, Louise Post and Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, and Liz Davis and Valerie Agnew of 7 Year Bitch. As it documents the development of a rock music genre that has so far received little academic attention, Rockin' out of the Box also demonstrates how this musical culture contributes to our understanding of the daily practices of gender relations among young people. Mimi Schippers is an assistant professor of sociology and women's studies at Tulane University.

Assumptions of the Dialectical Method

Marx employed a wide array of analytical tools and strategies. However, how the elements of his approach across its range are related to one another was left rather undeveloped by him and Engel's contributions have done little to clear up subsequent confusions. Marx also considered that his science compared well in meeting the basic criteria of sound method. All scientific methods share the fact that they must start with a series of assumptions before data gathering commences. The ongoing debates over Marx's dialectical method would be wise to clear up the assumptions with which Marx worked as he gathered and analyzed his data. Toward that end, Marx's approach to “totality”, “abstraction”, “internal relations”, “necessity versus contingency”, assumptions about individuals and society, his approach to essentialism, materialism versus idealism, functionalism, organicism, and the dynamic character of social relations are examined.

REGULATING STREET PROSTITUTION AND KERB-CRAWLING

There has been a renewed interest over the last few years in public order offences. This has occurred for a number of reasons. First, criminologists and others have become increasingly aware that problems of what is generally termed 'disorder' can have a devastating effect upon social life and community cohesion (Skogan 1990; Wilson and Kelling 1982). In some cases the effects of disorder or 'incivilities' may be even more destructive than those of crime. Secondly, problems of disorder tend to be not so much a series of discrete acts as a 'condition', and may become an integrated feature of social relations (Kelling 1987). Thirdly, problems of disorder tend to be localized, concen trated in certain inner-city areas. Many of these may also be high-crime areas, but this is not necessarily so (Hope and Hough 1988; Matthews 1991a). Fourthly, and consequentially, public order problems create particular problems of regulation (Ramsey 1989): they are rarely amenable to traditional methods of policing and call for more comprehensive and imaginative responses. There have been significant changes both in the prevalence of disorder and in public attitudes towards these issues. Interestingly, much of the impetus to develop new approaches appears to come from 'below' rather than 'above' and signals a change in the levels of public tolerance and changing conceptions of public and private space. As concern increases around issues such as street drug-trading, public drunkenness and rowdiness, intimidation, and harassment on the street, growing interest has been expressed by researchers and policy-makers in historical and cross-cultural research to help to develop an adequate response. John Lowman's (1992) article on the control of street prostitution is a welcome contribution to this development. The question Lowman raises in his article is whether the approach which was employed to reduce the levels of street prostitution and kerb-crawling in Finsbury Park, in north London, could be adapted to the situation in Vancouver. The significance of the Finsbury Park initiative was that it transformed a well established 'red light' area into a relatively tranquil residential area over a two-year period. One of a number of attempts throughout the country to grapple with this issue (Matthews 1986a), it was different from most of the other interventions in that it was substantially more successful, and in that it not only provided a temporary reprieve from the problems associated with a high concentration of street prostitution, but did so with an apparently low level of displacement. It was the visible signs of this transformation in the social and personal life of the residents in this area—particularly women—which initially attracted my attention. The research which was carried out indicated that it was the departure from traditional styles of policing towards a more comprehensive multi-agency approach, in which the

Hierarchy in Organizations

Hierarchy is nowadays defined as a universal structural principle of any organizational system—biological, technical, or social. With regard to social systems, this principle is discernible at all levels, from small groups to society as a whole. Indeed, mankind does not seem to know any other mode of association than that of a pyramid. However, the inevitability of this principle in social organizations means that the problems to which it gives rise are also inevitable. These problems derive from the characteristics of social relations that are typical of a hierarchy, namely, relations of subordination, dependence, and inequality. In an organization, one worker is consciously given the preeminent right to take decisions concerning another, and, moreover, he also receives the means for monitoring the job behavior of the other. Such workers form a clear minority which, however, decides for the majority. Herein lies one of the most important characteristics of intra-organizational relations, and the objective basis for the shaping of their structure. But this is also one of the most disputed principles of organizational structure, and has long been the subject of criticism.

Religijos esmė – dieviškoji ir žmogiškoji

Straipsnyje analizuojami religijos koncepcijos antgamtiniai ir socialiniai elementai. Teigiama, kad dieviškoji religijos esmė yra orientuota į tikėjimą antgamtinėmis jėgomis, dievais, o žmogiškoji nukreipta į žmogų ir į socialinį gyvenimą. Religijos apibūdinimas remiantis arba antgamtiškumu, arba socialumu įgyja abstrakčios alternatyvos formą. Religijos apibrėžimas antgamtine tikrove neišeina už religinio patyrimo fenomenologinio aprašymo ribų. Ateistinis antgamtinės realybės neigimas kartu tampa ir religijos neigimu ir taip panaikina pačią apibrėžimo problemą. Ikimarksistinis ateizmas siekia išspręsti neišsprendžiamą problemą – gnoseologiškai paaiškinti klaidingus įsitikinimus. K. Marxas atskleidė klaidingų pažiūrų pagrindą atrasdamas jį materialioje sferoje – susvetimėjusiuose visuomeniniuose santykiuose ir taip atskleisdamas ideologijos (taip pat ir religinių vaizdinių) iliuzinį pobūdį. Marksizmas atmeta bet kokias religijos galimybes skraidyti abstrakcijų ir idėjų pasaulyje, jis atskleidžia religinio susvetimėjimo pagrindus ir iškelia jų pašalinimo uždavinį. Marksistinio ateizmo požiūriu, religinio susvetimėjimo kritika yra ne teorinis, o praktinis uždavinys.

The Social System of the Sumo Training School

Western sports began to be introduced into Japan in 1868. Rather than being wholly western, even today sports organizations in Japan retain certain charac teristics of traditional Japanese institutions. The description of a traditional sports organization, therefore, may provide clues in understanding the cultural context of Japanese sports organizations. For this reason, this monograph about pro fessional Japanese wrestling (Sumo) articulates the characteristics of social re lations in a traditional organization. Professional wrestlers' organizations were first established in the mid-18th century. Elders established a number of training schools which socialized and trained novices to become professional wrestlers. In such a school, the social system resembled the Japanese household (Ie) and the clan (Dozoku) in which seniority and brotherhood are the axes of social relations. In contemporary sports organizations in Japan, social relations of the same or of a similar quality can be observed.

Women in Court: Sex-Role Differentiation in Salem, Massachusetts, 1636 to 1683

I T is a commonplace of historical observation that social functions, activities, and behavior are differentiated by gender and that customary sex roles change over time. Yet even for a society as closely studied as that of seventeenth-century New England,' the distribution and changing content of men's and women's roles remain obscure. Local court records furnish useful and still largely untapped information on sex roles. They provide explicit data on criminal behavior and the contemporary legal code; they also give scattered but valuable glimpses of normal behavior in the depositions of ordinary townspeople. This article offers a report of findings from the Essex County, Massachusetts, Quarterly Court records for the years i636 to i683. The investigation focuses on the women of Salem and suggests connections between changes in sex roles and changes in the character of social relations during a period when Salem developed from a small farming community into a bustling mercantile town.2

Navvies: Their Social Relations

The navvies' like interest in, and value of, individual independence affects their social behaviour at work and their social status and relations with society. It would appear that this like interest inhibits not only the growth of common interest groups but even the development of social groups of any kind. Comparisons with other industries provide additional grounds for concluding that the nature of employment determines the pattern of interests and thereby many features of social relations at work and in the community.

Some Observations on Ideological Groups

The interpretative schemes hitherto advanced in sociology do not account for the character of social relations found in ideological groups; that is, in groups which require that their members orient themselves to one another primarily in terms of some central symbols and ideas-be they those of Zion, patrie, Volk, narod, or proletariat. Drawing upon historical evidence, this essay explores and tentatively conceptualized the basic modalities of ideological relationship and orientation.