Characteristics Of Social Organization Research Articles

The Unusual Value of Long-Term Studies of Individuals: The Example of the Isle of Rum Red Deer Project

Long-term studies of individuals enable incisive investigations of questions across ecology and evolution. Here, we illustrate this claim by reference to our long-term study of red deer on the Isle of Rum, Scotland. This project has established many of the characteristics of social organization, selection, and population ecology typical of large, polygynous, seasonally breeding mammals, with wider implications for our understanding of sexual selection and the evolution of sex differences, as well as for their population dynamics and population management. As molecular genetic techniques have developed, the project has pivoted to investigate evolutionary genetic questions, also breaking new ground in this field. With ongoing advances in genomics and statistical approaches and the development of increasingly sophisticated ways to assay new phenotypic traits, the questions that long-term studies such as the red deer study can answer become both broader and ever more sophisticated. They also offer powerful means of understanding the effects of ongoing climate change on wild populations.

An Institutional Analysis of the Multi-layered Characteristics of Social Organizations in China

The actual state of affairs of Chinese social organizations and the latest theoretical findings on the subject indicate that independence and autonomy are concepts that are interrelated but not fundamentally interchangeable; their actual organizational relationship is complex and varied. Exploration of the relationship between the two concepts is a necessary step in the construction and improvement of a rule-based interpretation of the characteristics of Chinese social organizations. Combining resource dependence theory with the institutional logics perspective enables us to analyze the multiple mechanisms influencing the relationship between independence and autonomy at the organizational level and to test for these mechanisms using a mixed methods research design. Our empirical findings indicate that social organizations gain greater autonomy when they have greater independence from government resources and when they strongly identify, structurally and behaviorally, with classical third sector theory. Organizations’ behavioral identification can regulate the relationship between independence and autonomy. Further case studies support the value of the above findings. This shows that other mechanisms can often replace, offset or constrain the effects of resource dependence. In the real world, no single fixed theory can cover the independence-autonomy relationship.

Social capital and violence in poor urban areas of Honduras

Abstract Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world: the high level of violence threatens the economic and social development of the country as it erodes human and social capital and limits trust among people in poor urban areas. However, neither a detailed consideration of the complex manner in which distinct dimensions of social capital interrelate with violence, nor the potential for double causality has received much attention. Objectives The study examines the influence of structural social capital (social organization characteristics) and cognitive social capital (social trust and cohesion characteristics) on risk of violence in poor urban areas of Honduras. Methods The study was carried out in two urban communities of Tegucigalpa experiencing high levels of violence and insecurity. For the quantitative analysis, 1000 individuals older than 18 answered a structured questionnaire. Violence exposure was evaluated based on respondents' self-reporting. Social capital was defined based on the use of the short version of the Adapted Social Capital Assessment Tool. Results Our results support previous evidence from Guatemala showing that cognitive and structural social capital were inversely related to risk of violence: people with high cognitive social capital had a lower risk of violence (OR 0.46 CI 95: 0.28–0.76) compared to people with low cognitive social capital, whereas people with high structural social capital had a higher risk of violence (OR 1.68 CI 95: 1.04–2.71) compared to people with low structural social capital. Conclusions Social trust and social activism exhibit significant associations with risk of violence, however, these dimensions are consequences as well as causes of violence. Implications for practice In an intervention perspective it is important to recognize the difference between social organization and cooperative action for creating change, as these concepts represent very dissimilar levels of collective action toward violence. It is thus important to link the items of social capital, primarily within the structural dimension, to the specific objectives of a given intervention.

The Social Ecology of Public Space: Active Streets and Violent Crime in Urban Neighborhoods.

Drawing on one element of Jacobs' (1961) discussion of the social control benefits of "eyes on the street," this paper explores the link between the prevalence of active streets and violence in urban neighborhoods. Three distinct data sources from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods are merged to explore the functional form and potential contingency of the active streets-violence relationship: (1) video data capturing the presence of people on neighborhood streets; (2) longitudinal data on adolescents (ages 11 to 16) and their self-reports of witnessing severe violence; and (3) community survey data on neighborhood social organizational characteristics. Results from multilevel models indicate that the proportion of neighborhood streets with adults present exhibits a nonlinear association with exposure to severe violence. At low prevalence, the increasing prevalence of active streets is positively associated with violence exposure. Beyond a threshold, however, increases in the prevalence of active streets serves to reduce the likelihood of violence exposure. The analyses offer no evidence that the curvilinear association between active streets and violence varies by levels of collective efficacy, and only limited evidence that it varies by anonymity. Analyses of data on homicide and violent victimization corroborate these findings.

The Democratization of Democracy and Social Organizations of the Opposition

Venezuelan democracy has been considered one of the most mature and long-lasting in Latin America because of the continuity since 1958 of formally democratic governments. An additional factor is the existence of active social organizations that since the 1970s have mobilized their members in favor of the deepening of democracy and the incorporation of their values and identities into the political system. Since the 1980s, a number of proposals have been made for state reform to resolve the nation's political crisis, and in 1999, under President Hugo Chaivez, a new constitution was approved that promoted participatory democracy and included many of the social organizations' demands. This article will analyze the impact of the nation's political and economic crisis and the passing of the new constitution on the identities and practices of the social organizations identified with the political opposition.1 The neoconservative and liberal theoretical traditions have pitted organized society against the state, considering both as autonomous entities and civil society as a conveyor of ethical values that are above the state.2 Some writers emphasize that one of the defining characteristics of social organizations and movements is that they do not defy the logic of the democratic system, one of their purposes being to construct democracy (Melucci, 1995; Restrepo, 1998). This school of thought also asserts, sometimes without sufficient evidence, that civil society is multiclass and an interlocutor of the collective interests that permeate all social classes in their confrontation with the state. Writers such as Lander (1995) and Bresser Pereira and Cunill (1998) have argued, however, that it is misleading to assign a democratic logic and

Reconciliation in three groups of lion-tailed macaques

We studied postconflict behavior in three captive groups of lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus). After a conflict, we monitored the aggressee as the focal individual during a 10-min postconflict period and made control observations the following day on the same individual. Selective attraction between former opponents occurred in the first minutes of the postconflict period. The conciliatory tendency was relatively high, about 40%. Although no specific behavior was used to reconcile, postconflict contacts were especially intense and a rich repertoire of affiliative patterns was exihibited. With regard to the rate and form of reconciliation, lion-tailed macaques resemble Sulawesi macaques, which belong to the same phyletic lineage. We also discuss the possible interrelations between conciliatory patterns and other characteristics of social organization.

Reproduction and Social Organization in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Unlike most Asian and Latin American countries, sub-Saharan Africa has seen both an increase in population growth rates and a weakening of traditional patterns of child-spacing since the 1960s. It is tempting to conclude that sub-Saharan countries have simply not reached adequate levels of income, education, and urbanization for a fertility decline to occur. This book argues, however, that such a socioeconomic threshold hypothesis will not provide an adequate basis for comparison. These authors take the view that any reproductive regime is also anchored to a broader pattern of social organization, including the prevailing modes of production, rules of exchange, patterns of religious systems, kinship structure, division of labor, and gender roles. They link the characteristic features of the African reproductive regime with regard to nuptiality, polygyny, breastfeeding, postpartum abstinence, sterility, and child-fostering to other specifically African characteristics of social organization and culture. Substantial attention is paid to the heterogeneity that prevails among sub-Saharan societies and considerable use is made, therefore, of interethnic comparisons. As a result the book goes considerably beyond mere demographic description and builds bridges between demography and anthropology or sociology.

Social Organization

Because animal agriculture is largely concerned with the most efficient management of groups of animals, an understanding of the function and characteristics of social organization associated with each species is important for the optimal design of production systems.

Socioeconomic status and infant mortality: evidence from a rural agricultural state.

Abstract This research examines the nature and extent to which the tradtional inverse relationship between infant mortality and socioeconomic status holds true in Kansas for the years around 1950,1960, and 1970. A social-area ranking approach and correlation and regression analysis failed to show the significant inverse relationship reported by other researchers. Contrary to expectations, a blurring and narrowing of this relationship resulted over the three time periods. A significant negative correlation resulted between the percentage of rural farm residents in counties and infant mortality, indicating that the social organization characteristics of a rural state may provide a quality of life that transcends traditional socioeconomic differentials.

Social Organization of Young Children's Groups: A Comparison of Two Models of Dominance Relations

The dominance hierarchy has provided a central construct for analyzing the organization of social interactions between young children. Hierarchies, though, constitute only one way of ordering dominance relations It is therefore possible that non-hierarchical orderings of dominance may suggest different characteristics of social organization. In the present study, dominance relations were evaluated with both hierarchical and non-hierarchical models. Across three groups of 2-yr.-olds, the hierarchical measure did not correlate with non-agonistic measures. The non-hierarchical measure of dominance relations, however, proved to be strongly correlated with the orderings for the non-agonistic behaviors. It was suggested that if dominance relations are used to evaluate social organization, the structural characteristics that may be attributed to a group of young children may depend upon the kind of measure that is used to analyze the dominance relations. Hierarchic and non-hierarchic measures of dominance relations may not imply identical properties of social organization.

Cognitive Barriers to Equal Justice before the Law

Recently there has been growing concern with the degree to which the legal needs of the American public-and, more particularly, the poor in America-are being met. The inpetus for such concern has been the realization that if the protection of individual rights depends on income or social class, many individuals will not be guaranteed equal rights. Several studies have documented some of the structural barriers (primarily of an economic nature) to equal justice before the law. Others argue that while economic theories may help account for the adequacy of legal services, they do not fully explain patterns of contact between the public and attorneys. Instead, the overall social organizational characteristics of legal institutions are seen to best account for legal service utilization. We argue that a third set of variables are critical in understanding legal service outcomes. These are labeled social psycho logical disincentives for seeking legal assistance. At the affective level one finds deeply ingrained negativism toward lawyers and the broader legal system more generally. At the cognitive level, there are at least two major problems: 1) lack of information as to the availability of legal aid, and 2) lack of information on basic rights. The assumption guiding the present study is that injustice may be too frequently tolerated because of ignorance of both basic rights and of avenues for the redress of injustice. To test this assumption, data are examined from interviews conducted with four subsamples (total sample size was 398 respondents) selected from several communities in a Rocky Mountain state. Results indicate that ignorance of basic rights is widespread among all samples but is very closely related to such socio-economic characteristics as education and income levels. Some consequences for the functioning of the system are examined.

Forschungsinfrastruktur und Organisationsform von Universitätsinstituten / Infrastructure of Research and the Organization of University Institutes

Abstract Two samples of university research institutes are analysed in order to study relationships between the amount of research infrastructure (in terms of machinery and technical services) on the one hand, and the characteristics of social organization and contextual relationships on the other. In the Swiss sample, especially the variable “technical services” shows positive correlations with bureaucratization of social structure, elimination of educational functions and - especially when the institute is small - with a general tendency for contextual isolation. On the other hand, Canadian institutes seem to preserve a decentralized, “professional” organization regardless of their amount of material or social infrastructure.