Context Of Social Change Research Articles

Spirit of Bureaucratic Change of Decision Makers in Banyumas District Facing Challenges in the VUCA Era

Decentralization requires the bureaucracy to be able to solve various problems faced by the community at the local level. Meanwhile, the context of social change in society is directly proportional to the complexity of opportunities. The greater the complexity of the opportunity, the greater the uncertainty. The VUCA Era created uncertainty in human civilization, including public administration. Public administration must ensure how far the uncertainties in the VUCA Era can be anticipated in efforts to organize public administration, particularly in the decision-making process. For this reason, this article aims to identify the spirit of change in decision-making bureaucrats in Banyumas Regency to face the VUCA Era. The method used is a descriptive quantitative approach. Data was collected using a survey method for decision-making bureaucrats within government agencies in Banyumas Regency. The results of the study show that the level of spirit of change in decision-maker bureaucrats in Banyumas Regency in facing challenges in the VUCA era is at a moderate level. This indicates that decision-making bureaucrats still need support and encouragement in facing challenges in the VUCA era, especially adaptability and sustainable positive change.

Genetic and Shared-Environment Effects on Stature and Lifespan. A Study of Dutch Birth Cohorts (1785–1920) Based on Genealogies

Historical demography is generally concerned with the changing economic, social and normative contexts of human behaviour and health outcomes. To most historical demographers, the 'genetic' component of behaviour and health is either unknown or assumed to be constant. However, several studies point at the shift over time in the relative importance of environment and genes: in periods and social groups with strong normative or economic constraints on behaviour, the 'genetic potential' is often not realized. Therefore, to some extent, the waning of environmental constraints on heritability plays a role in changes in demographic outcomes over time. Determining the relative importance of heritability versus shared environment in historical populations for which only genealogies are available poses a challenge. Kin may live in different periods, and in different cultural and social settings. This explorative paper analyses the association between heights of conscripted relatives, as well as their life span. I estimate how the associations are affected by respectively genetic relatedness, shared historical period and shared social and geographical environment. Furthermore, I make a distinction between kin related via the mother versus kin related via the father. All kinds of kin are involved in the analysis: (half, full and twin) brothers, fathers, grandfathers, uncles and cousins. The data consist of about 3,000 men culled from Texel island genealogies, which also include descendants of families who had left the island. Life span has a weak, but still discernible, genetic element. The heritability of height is much stronger, especially at age 19/20. The correlations of mother’s kin with her son's heights are stronger than those of her husband's kin. The analysis does not yield a consistent effect of a protective environment on kin correlations in either height or life span.

A distant city: Assessing the impact of Dutch socioeconomic developments on urban and rural health using respiratory disease as a proxy

ObjectivesTo investigate the prevalence of respiratory disease in several populations from the Netherlands across different time periods and socioeconomic conditions. MaterialsWe analyzed 695 adult individuals from six different Dutch contexts of urban and rural settlements dating to different time periods (i.e., early-medieval, late-medieval, post-medieval). MethodsFor each individual, the presence/absence of chronic maxillary sinusitis, otitis media, and inflammatory periosteal reaction on ribs was recorded macroscopically according to accepted methods. ResultsStatistically significant associations were found in the presence of sinusitis diachronically (early-medieval to late-medieval period, and early-medieval to post-medieval period) both in rural and urban environments. Differences in prevalence rates of otitis media were found statistically significant when comparing rural to urban environments in the early-medieval and late-medieval periods. ConclusionOur results suggest that factors such as increased contact between towns and countryside, higher population densities, and intensification of agricultural production impacted the respiratory health of past populations both in rural and urban settings. SignificanceOur study provides new insights into the impact of environmental changes and urbanization on respiratory disease prevalence, shedding light on the relationship between health and changing social and environmental contexts. LimitationsResearch limitations included the complex etiology of respiratory diseases, and the impact of uncontrollable factors such as hidden heterogeneity, selective mortality, and rural-to-urban migration. Future researchFurther research in different contexts is advised in order to continue exploring urbanization and its impact on human health across both time and space.

Truth Telling, Historiographical Agonism, and the Colonial Past in Germany and Australia

Via an examination of the current state of German attempts to come to terms with the country’s genocidal Nazi past, this article underscores the utility of an approach to historical scholarship and ‘truth telling’ that might be called historiographical agonism. It articulates how historiographical agonism deals with the difficulties of assimilating and reconciling problematic national pasts such as the Holocaust and the radical violence and dispossession that characterises Australia’s settler colonial history. It also demonstrates historiographical agonism’s capacity to adapt to changing social and political contexts.

Misa, Lefa, Puang: ritual, piety, and performance in opening the ocean season in a Southeast Asian marine hunting community

ABSTRACT Lamalera, a small community on the island of Lembata in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, is home to a rich tradition of marine hunting and an environmental cosmology that brings together its people, their ancestors, and the Savu Sea. Each year the community, its diaspora, and other island residents gather to celebrate, demonstrate symbolic patronage of, and observe the opening of the ocean hunting season, or Musim Lefa. Over time the ritual cycle has adapted, and taken on different layers of significance, as Lamalerans have worked to preserve their hunting-based way of life, in the face of changing economic, social, and legal contexts. Applying the overall conceptual framework of this thematic issue, this article examines the opening of the Lefa as an adaptive constellation of piety, performance, patronage, and protection through time. It argues that the festival represents a unique moment each year for contestation and renegotiation of symbolic and practical power.

Polish Press on the Armenian Genocide in 1991-2018

Key words: the Armenians, Turkey, Poland, Yeghern, massacre, newspaper, recognition, condemnation The article prօvides a comprehensive analysis of the coverage of the Armenian Genocide in the Polish press in 1990-2018. Polish newspapers with the highest rating and reputation were selected for the research. The study illustrates that the Polish press sympathizes with the just demand of the Armenian people, emphasizing the need to recognize and condemn the crime. In many articles, Polish authors draw parallels between the tragic pages in the history of Armenians and Poles, highlighting the need to condemn such crimes in order to avoid similar cases in the future. The framing of the Armenian Genocide has shifted over time in relation to the changing political and social context in Poland. If in the 1990s the moral imperative to recognize the genocide was mainly discussed, then in the 2000s calls for the civilized world to put pressure on Turkey and force it to face the criminal pages of its own history became noticeable. In many articles, the coverage became more critical because of Turkey’s policy of denial. Additionally, the issue of recognition of the Genocide by other countries is analyzed in the context of international political issues. Particularly active discussions are being held in the Polish press about the adoption of a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide by the Sejm of Poland in 2005, then in 2015 in the lead-up to the centennial anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Localizing Learning: The Literati Enterprise in Wuzhou, 1100–1600 by Peter K. Bol

<i>Localizing Learning: The Literati Enterprise in Wuzhou, 1100–1600</i> by Peter K. Bol

The Socio-Political Faces of Clara Schumann on German Film

Filmic portrayals of Clara Schumann from World War II to the present provide a fascinating insight into changing conceptions of her professional and domestic roles. Just as fictional reshapings of her biography from the late-nineteenth century to the present can be understood to relate to changing social and political contexts, filmic portrayals of this great musical figure over the past 80 years speak to both constancy and change. The image that remains constant, the depiction of a loyal wife in the service of her husband's art, takes on different guises as it is reflected in the mirror of each film's historical, social, and political moment. In Träumerei (1943/44) Clara Schumann provides an idealized depiction of the German woman in the context of war, one who sacrifices her performance career for love of husband, children and domesticity. Song of Love (1947) reflects the revered role of the mother of a large family in post-war America. Limiting its narrative frame to the years leading up to Robert Schumann's death, Frühlingssinfonie (1974) casts a new light on the domestic strands explored in Träumerei, reflecting then recent developments in research in the Neue Schumann-Gesamtausgabe. In Geliebte Clara (2008), whereas the titular focus shifts explicitly to Clara herself, this passionate retelling is based on the familiar narrative that informs all four films. Building on the historiographical work of Beatrix Borchard, Matthias Wendt, and Yael Braunschweig, this article provides a rich cultural context for each film, and explores how that context relates to source materials including letters and diaries. Reaching beyond that scholarship, this article challenges the familiar narrative found in these movies by re-reading passages of Clara's letters and diaries that can be understood to express regret and frustration at the limitations that her domestic life imposed on her artistic career.

COVID-19, Changes in educational practices and the perception of stress by university educators in Latin America – a post-pandemic analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about profound changes in social and professional contexts. Schools and universities all over the world were closed to curb the contamination. In a short period, many educators were forced to reinvent their classes in a non-classroom mode, mediated by technology. This scenario of overwork can lead educators to stress, favoring distress, anxiety, and depression due to the uncertainties resulting from the pandemic and the search for new knowledge acquisition. This paper shows the research results conducted by university educators in Latin America who have been exercising teaching activities during social isolation imposed by COVID-19. The results show that with just one exception, educators from all countries reported suffering from some stress-related aspects concerning some manner to remote teaching. Higher workload perception came from women, unfolding gender inequalities amplified during pandemics. There is no clear relationship between the degree of technological expertise and stress factors, although, in general, educators use more time to prepare learning material and monitor students’ progress. Technological infrastructure was not a big concern for those educators in big cities, but some fundamental infrastructure problems were reported due to each country’s economic reality or geographic conditions.

Socioeconomic Positions and Midlife Health Trajectories in a Changing Social Context: Evidence from China, 1991-2006.

Cumulative (dis)advantage theory posits that socioeconomic disparities in health may increase with age. This study examines individuals' midlife health trajectories, taking account of how their life courses are embedded within changing social contexts. Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1991-2006), it examines the health gap between Chinese rural peasants and urban nonpeasants in three adjacent time periods, during which a rapid process of social change increased the inequalities between rural and urban areas. Findings show that the health gap increases more rapidly in the more recent time periods, with higher levels of inequality, indicating that health inequalities between the two groups are contingent upon the social contexts in which individuals' lives unfold. To better understand the differences observed over these time periods, further analysis will examine the roles of two structural factors: income inequality and differential access to medical care.

The Role of Moral Anger in Social Change Efforts

Drawing upon the functional account of emotions—the view that emotions can facilitate adaptive responses—I analyze how Javed Abidi harnessed moral anger to promote inclusion of persons with disabilities in India. The data comprise articles obtained from digital archives covering the period from 1993, when Abidi began his work, to 2018, when he passed away. Findings suggest that harnessing moral anger can facilitate social change through two mechanisms: disciplined collectivization wherein aggregated stakeholders can appraise injustice; and enabling collective enactment wherein they can redress injustice by choosing if, when, and how to effect change. Despite ongoing propriety breaches, moral anger can remain functional when stakeholders can balance their immersion across initiatives and can perceive change as a beneficial proxy for or an expansion of existing values. As such, the study contributes by drawing attention to the theoretical significance that a functional account has for expanding the literature on moral anger as it applies within the context of social change.

Prediction of Emotional Empathy in Intelligent Agents to Facilitate Precise Social Interaction

The research area falls under the umbrella of affective computing and seeks to introduce intelligent agents by simulating emotions artificially and encouraging empathetic behavior in them, to foster emotional empathy in intelligent agents with the overarching objective of improving their autonomy. Raising the emotional empathy of intelligent agents to boost their autonomic behavior can increase their independence and adaptability in a socially dynamic context. As emotional intelligence is a subset of social intelligence, it is essential for successful social interaction and relationships. The purpose of this research is to develop an embedded method for analyzing empathic behavior in a socially dynamic situation. A model is proposed for inducing emotional intelligence through a deep learning technique, employing multimodal emotional cues, and triggering appropriate empathetic responses as output. There are 18 categories of emotional behavior, and each one is strongly influenced by multimodal cues such as voice, facial, and other sensory inputs. Due to the changing social context, it is difficult to classify emotional behavior and make predictions based on modest changes in multimodal cues. Robust approaches must be used to be sensitive to these minor changes. Because a one-dimensional convolutional neural network takes advantage of feature localization to minimize the parameters, it is more efficient in this exploration. The study’s findings indicate that the proposed method outperforms other popular ML approaches with a maximum accuracy level of 98.98 percent when compared to currently used methods.

Природа Русского Севера в иллюстрациях Анны и Варвары Кендель

The image of a place is closely related to the meanings assigned to it by various cultural and historical communities, therefore changes in political and social contexts and generations will influence the content of representations of the region in book graphics. The illustrator conveys the attitude towards a certain territory, laid down by his education and upbringing, personal experience. The depiction of the nature of the Russian North in the drawings of Anna and Varvara Kendel is considered as a continuation of the tradition dating back to the image of the Russian North created by I. Ya. Bilibin. Bilibin’s chronotopos, which can be designated as the “traveler’s chronotopos”. It intermediates between the liminary Astafiev’s and the idealizing Prishvin’s chronotopes. In the works of the sisters there is a tendency towards greater appeal and a decrease in the distance between the natural world and man.

Trends in Neighborhood Social Cohesion among Families with Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had far-reaching economic and social consequences, affecting economic well-being, health, mobility, relationships, and daily routines. What effect did the COVID-19 pandemic have on neighborhood social cohesion? Drawing on data from the National Survey of Children's Health, the authors examine trends in neighborhood social cohesion as reported by caregivers of U.S. children from 2016 to 2021. Despite the substantial changes spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors find that the pandemic did not lead to a significant change in perceived neighborhood social cohesion. These findings reveal the durability of perceived neighborhood social cohesion, showing that it appears to be unaffected even by sizable changes in social and economic contexts. Moreover, the findings provide additional evidence of disparities in perceived neighborhood social cohesion across social groups and contribute to ongoing debates related to potential declines in neighborhood relationships.

Adapting to Change: The Evolutionary Path of Identity-Based Political Activists in Rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Pakistan

This research presents a thematic analysis of the evolving trajectories of change, dissent, transformation, and reflexivity of Islamic activists in the rural areas of Mardan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. In a reflective manner, the activists shared their experiences spanning a period of thirty-five years. Drawing on interview data, ethnographic notes and extended interaction with these activists, the study finds the complex interplay of activists’ ideology, local culture, national and global politics, and the competing religious interpretations. The study identifies four stages in their journey: breakdown of primordial ties, blind following, dissent and transformation, and critical engagement. The breakdown of primordial ties was triggered by the introduction of Islamist ideology, which challenged tribal and primordial affiliations and set conditions for blind following of political Islam as an ideology of life. However, skepticism later emerged, leading to dissent and transformation. This phase of transformation was marked by reflexivity and a critical reevaluation of their past actions and beliefs, and a growing disenchantment with rigid interpretations, conservative discourses, and political use of religion. The final stage of critical engagement is characterized by a proactive approach towards larger social and religious reforms. These stages are interconnected and nonlinear and reflect the activists’ evolving engagement with their own past and their changing social and political contexts. The study provides insight into the multifarious and meaningful ways in which religious and social contestations shape individual and collective trajectories of change and transformation in northwest Pakistan. Keywords: Political Islam, Ethnography, Post-Islamism, Deradicalization, Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Psychiatric semiology in postmodernity

This article intends to reflect on the validation of psychiatric semiology and nosography that is taught in clinical psychologists and psychiatrists training programs. The vision of academic psychiatry of our times, strongly influenced by scientific narrative, seeks to consolidate an universal nosography that aims to erase the culture marks. However, the prevalence of certain diagnoses over others is determined by the social context and cultural changes that determine, in turn, the classifying standards of professionals. For this reason, it is important to include the contributions of public intellectuals and cultural theorists for an updated and culturalized semiology of clinical phenomena. We will use the developments of Mark Fisher on Capitalist Realism to rethink the main symptoms of depression.

Impact of Various Social Movements in Advocating for Change in the 21st Century

The following study has been focused on evaluating the impact of social movements on driving social changes in the 21st century. Social movements involve conducting public campaigns with the common aim of leading a change in society or the implementation of a new policy or rule associated with social interest. In short, social movements are closely connected to achieving some determined social goals. Therefore, a secondary data collection method has been followed and relevant data has been collected from different journals, newspaper articles and websites. The findings suggest that social movements have become vital for driving a new change in society and the changing social, industrial and business contexts have led to several destructive impacts which are encouraging to conduct these social campaigns. These movements have been identified to be vital for society as well as for protecting public rights, environmental sustainability and inclusion in society. Several vital social movements of the 21st century have been explored, including “Black Lives Matter”, “Occupy Wall Street” and “MeToo Movement”. Additionally, their potential impact on contemporary society has been addressed and the changes brought by these movements have been explained. It has been identified that the “Occupy Wall Street” movement has not brought new changes in society, while the “MeToo” movement has convicted several persons accused of sexual exploitation, mainly in workplaces. The Black Lives Matter movement has changed the perception of racial discrimination, whereas the “MeToo” movement has increased the rate of “sex-crime reporting”. Keyword : 21st Century, Public Campaigns, Social Change, Social Movements.

Changes in Research Abstracts: Past Tense, Third Person, Passive, and Negatives

Research abstracts are an increasingly important aspect of research articles in all knowledge fields, summarizing the full article and encouraging readers to access it. Graetz suggests that four main features contribute to this purpose—the use of past tense, third person, passive, and the non-use of negatives, although this claim has never been confirmed. In this article, we set out to explore the extent to which these forms are used in the abstracts of four disciplines, the functions they perform and how their frequency has changed over the past 30 years. Drawing on a corpus of 6,000 abstracts taken from the top 10 journals in each of four disciplines at three distinct time periods, we found high but decreasing frequencies of past tense and passives, an increasing number of third person forms, and more than one negation every two texts. We also noted a remarkable decrease of past tense and passives in the hard sciences and an increase in applied linguistics, with sociologists making greater use of negation. These results suggest that abstracts have developed a distinctive argumentative style, rhetorically linked both to their communicative function and to the changing social contexts in which academic writing is produced and consumed.

Ontogenetic change in social context as a cue for a behavioural switch in spiderlings

In many taxa, variations in the early social context are well known to influence the expression of a suite of behaviours later in life. For species living temporarily in groups, relatively few studies have examined how the ontogenetic change in the social context experienced by individuals during their transition from social to solitary influences their responses to environmental variation. It can be hypothesized that the presence of conspecifics during the gregarious phase may constrain the expression of any behavioural changes in response to external variations that would be detrimental to group cohesion and reduce the benefits associated with social life. In this study, we investigated the interplay between early social experience, satiation and ontogeny in the development of aggressive behaviours in juveniles of the solitary spider Agelena labyrinthica . First, we exposed spiderlings to a period of social isolation of similar duration at different ages, while others were continuously reared socially. Second, we examined how feeding influences the onset of agonistic interactions in spiderlings reared in isolation or socially. When spiders were socially deprived, we found that aggressive behaviour towards siblings increased both when they experienced isolation at a later developmental stage and when they were fed. This was in contrast to spiders maintained in groups, which, regardless of their age and whether they were fed or not, remained tolerant. Overall, our study suggests that changes in the social environment during ontogeny set the context for the expression of behavioural plasticity that prepares individuals for living alone. • Late social isolation during ontogeny increases aggression in spiderlings. • Food intake in socially isolated spiderlings increases aggression. • Spiderlings reared socially are less sensitive to environmental conditions. • The expression of behavioural plasticity depends on the social context.

HIV-related stigma among Spanish-speaking Latinos in an emerging immigrant city following the Solo Se Vive Una Vez social marketing campaign.

HIV-related stigma exacerbates Latino immigrants’ risk of HIV infection and delayed care. Following the implementation of the social marketing campaign Sólo Se Vive Una Vez (You Only Live Once) to increase HIV testing that addressed stigmatizing beliefs, we conducted a survey among Latinos in Baltimore, Maryland (N = 357). The aims of this paper are to 1) characterize the sociodemographic characteristics, HIV-related stigma beliefs, and testing behaviors of the survey respondents by campaign exposure, and 2) model the effects of Vive exposure on stigma beliefs and testing behaviors. Comparing post-campaign survey respondents exposed and unexposed to the campaign to survey findings previously obtained and reported before the campaign implementation, respondents to the post-Vive survey continued to hold high levels of stigma beliefs, and compared to the pre-Vive survey sample, were more likely to hold four or more stigmatizing beliefs (from the six survey items). Among the post-Vive survey respondents, those for whom religion was important or very important had an increased odds of 1.6 of holding four or more stigmatizing beliefs. Survey respondents who were exposed to the campaign, however, had an increased odds of 2.25 of reporting ever having been tested for HIV. Our findings demonstrate the importance of the changing social context in addressing stigma within emerging immigrant communities and highlight the critical role of religious leaders in efforts to address HIV-related stigma.