Eastern Societies Research Articles

Oral Health Hazards of Water Pipe Smoking: Current Evidence.

Water pipe smoking (WPS) has been a traditional habit in the Middle Eastern Society for hundreds of years. The WPS users have a false sense of safety due to its casual use in social gatherings. It was estimated that about 70% of WPS users believe it to be a safe alternative to cigarette smoking.1 Further, the use of flavored tobacco has led to its growing popularity, especially among youngsters.

Human Rights Social Context: East–West Cultural Dialogue

Objectives: The study investigates theoretical, methodological, and applied problems of human rights enforcement in Eastern and Western societies, including the socio-cultural context of human rights. Methods: The authors of the study undertake the analysis of the non-Western concepts of human rights, legal specifics of personal status in Eastern and Western communities, cultural specific features that affect the human rights situation. Findings: The key concepts and categories, the principles and the systems of human rights enforcement and protection in eastern and western states have been demonstrated. The analysis of modern international legislation in the sphere of human rights has been carried out; the issues of improving the efficiency of human rights protection in the West and in the East have been considered. Applications/ Improvements: As a result, principal theoretical assumptions have been formulated and the recommendations have been developed to improve the efficiency of human rights practices at both national and global levels.

Effect of Spousal Appraisal of Identity Consistency on Well-being of Married Females

Our research frame work concerned on delineating the relationship between the perceived spousal appraisal of female’s Identity Consistency(IC) and its impact on their sense of wellbeing. Identity refers to a person’s sense of self as unique being developed out of the various intimate figures and associations of adolescence (Erikson, 1959). Previous research suggests that consistent self-image across intimate relationships is more valued in western society than eastern society (Heine, 2001; Heine & Lehman, 1997, 1999; Markus & Kitayama, 1994; Suh, 2002, English and Chen, 2011). Moreover, contradictory findings have been observed in eastern culture where Shuh (2002) in her study found consistency of Identity is less valued in eastern culture where as Dhar (2010) in her study concluded with reversed findings that Consistency is valued in eastern culture. Shuh (2002) used 20 maximum variability traits to measure one’s Identity Consistency (IC) whereas Dhar (2010) used 80 moderate variability traits to measure one’s Identity consistency. Hence, It was needed to investigate further this contradictory findings in eastern culture. The sample comprised of 130 love married couples (non working female partner).They were administered Identity Consistency scale ( Prepared by Dhar,2010) and Subjective wellbeing Scale (Sell and Nagpal, 1992). Trait Selection for Identity Consistency Scale: For the present study, initially 52 maximum variability traits (like sensitive, talkative etc) along with 80 moderate variability traits from Dhar’s study (like anxious, submissive etc) were considered and finally 50 traits were selected with mixed of maximum variability and moderate variability traits to assess Identity Consistency of females for the present study. Internal consistency of each female has been obtained in terms of percentage of variance by using factor analysis by principal component method. Mean, standard deviations ,’t’ test , Product moment coefficient of correlation and Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis have been carried out for further analysis with the considered variables in the present study. Results showed that appraised spousal overestimation of females’ IC by females are leading to a satisfactory sense of wellbeing of them may be indicative of the fact that they find the meaningfulness while appraised positively about their inner integrity by ‘the person with whom they share the most intimate relation’. However, females’ self appraisal of IC is independent on their sense of wellbeing leading to the fact that they are less disturbed by this incongruity.

Secularism, Islamism, and Sectarianism: The Inevitable Linkage

Abstract Through the lens of three notable intellectuals, this article explores several different explanations for the limited success of secularism in the Middle East. The “Arab Spring” of recent years, far more than it has been a struggle between the forces of democracy and the forces of autocracy, as portrayed by so many, was in fact yet another clash between the forces of modernity and the traditionalists. Most Western scholars and observers failed to identify the centrality of the forces of tradition, ignoring the social and political undercurrents of Arab societies, especially the importance of religion as a critical marker of collective identity. Middle Eastern societies were “not just like us.” Culture mattered.

Secularism, Islamism, and Sectarianism: The Inevitable Linkage

Abstract Through the lens of three notable intellectuals, this article explores several different explanations for the limited success of secularism in the Middle East. The “Arab Spring” of recent years, far more than it has been a struggle between the forces of democracy and the forces of autocracy, as portrayed by so many, was in fact yet another clash between the forces of modernity and the traditionalists. Most Western scholars and observers failed to identify the centrality of the forces of tradition, ignoring the social and political undercurrents of Arab societies, especially the importance of religion as a critical marker of collective identity. Middle Eastern societies were “not just like us.” Culture mattered.

Biobank Lodz – DNA Based Biobank at the University of Lodz, Poland

The Biorepository in Department of Molecular Biophysics of the University of Lodz was established in 2010 as an internal bioresource to collect and store Polish population-based biospecimens. In 2014 biorepository started to act as Biobank Lab of University of Lodz (BLUL/Biobank Lodz). The Biobank Lodz joined the BBMRI_PL (consortium of Polish biobanks) in 2014 and in 2016 BLUL became a member of the BCNet (Biobank and Cohort Building Network) and ESBB (European and Middle Eastern Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking). The BLUL stores over 12.200 samples and their data, including section of formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) and fluid samples (serum, full blood, saliva). Biobank Lodz is expanding the collections to include some important human diseases as well and is open for the international scientific community for the purpose research projects.

Cultural context in word-of-mouth activity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how monetary incentives foster purchase intention in WOM settings. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates offering mobile coupons as an incentive and word-of-mouth (WOM) tool. An empirical study compares achievable effects on WOM behavior in an Eastern cultural context, which an Indonesian sample represents, and in a Western cultural context, which a German sample of incentivized WOM represents. Findings Providing senders and receivers’ with differing incentives leads to German consumers having an unfavorable attitude toward such incentives, but not for Indonesian consumers. Furthermore, Indonesian consumers base their decision to redeem mobile coupons more on their personal judgment and their overall deal proneness, while German consumers rely on their personal judgment and on others’ opinion. Research limitations/implications There is a need to explore more countries to enrich the Western and Eastern cultural perspectives. Practical implications Western firms should consider providing senders and receivers with the same incentives. Alternatively, a non-transparent strategy might be a solution. For firms located in Indonesia, or in other Eastern societies, the transparency of the provided incentives is not a main concern, because inequality is not a big issue in an Eastern society, while senders’ or receivers’ deal proneness character strongly influences their intention to redeem a coupon. Originality/value The use of a mobile coupon as a novel incentive and WOM tool.

Soap operas: A Potential tool for women empowerment

AbstractThe Eastern society has come a long way in terms of progress and development. Yet, gender inequality is an issue that still needs to be addressed. Although many women in these places have attained greater heights, majority of women in these areas still find education and career development a struggle. In this study, we analyze the media portrayal of the educational qualification and career choices of the female characters of the soap operas. We consider soap operas broadcast by Hum TV during the prime time and analyze the extent to which gender biasing still exists in terms of education and career. We seek to highlight how a positive portrayal of women in soap operas can effectively change perceptions and promote the independence of women with respect to career and education in real situations.

Transition to parenthood during the transition to modernity in Jordan: New parents' views on family and healthcare support systems

Aims and ObjectivesThis study aims to explore new parents' experiences of family support during their transition to parenthood. BackgroundFamily support is widely considered a crucial factor in contributing toward positive outcomes for parents during transition to parenthood. However, inter-generational and socio-cultural differences among family members in understandings and practices of childcare can be a source of tension between new parents and family members. Few studies have examined the role of family support in the context of rapid social change taking place in Middle Eastern countries. This study aims to address this gap by examining the parenting experiences of young Jordanian couples within the family context they are embedded in. Research Design and MethodsA qualitative study was conducted in Jordan involving sixty semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Twenty mothers, twenty fathers, and twenty family members identified as support providers were interviewed. ResultsThe key theme, “it's too much” emerged from interviews to describe the nature of family support experienced by new parents from marriage to pregnancy and until after the arrival of their first child. The study found varied interpretations of traditional child-care practices among older and younger generation of family members, leading to family conflict. This study also found that the lack of credible information from the health system about child-care compelled them to accept the only available information for them from their parents, often times with much resistance and reluctance. This created a situation of stress and anxiety among young parents and undermined the potential for healthy parenting experience. This study also found that not all social support during early days of parenthood led to beneficial health outcomes to mother and child.”Social visiting” by family members to hospital and home, was particularly found to interfere with new parents' pursuit toward privacy and family bonding, immediately following the birth of child. ConclusionThis study has produced a new understanding of the experience of Jordanian new parents' transition to parenthood. This study particularly sheds light on the current dilemma in which these Jordanian new parents find themselves in, which reflect a clash between traditional and modern values. Although the findings aim to contribute to the body of literature that deals with cultural influences on new parents' experiences in Jordon, the learning could be relevant to the other contexts in the Middle Eastern societies.

A cantiga medieval como memória histórica da construção social do gênero feminino: reflexões para o ensino de literatura

Este artigo tem como objetivo demonstrar como a representação social da mulher foi construída historicamente para a consolidação de uma memória social estereotipada, sexista e patriarcal do gênero feminino na sociedade ocidental cristã e como, a partir de uma perspectiva multidisciplinar e crítica, com aporte teórico da proposta sociocognitiva dos Estudos Críticos do Discurso e da Crítica Literária, é possível propor discussões para essa questão no ensino do texto literário medieval e recuperar o diálogo com questões sociais que, ainda hoje, representam motivo de preocupação para nossa sociedade. A partir do estudo de uma cantiga medieval de Afonso X (século XIII), procuramos apresentar as estratégias discursivas que revelam a construção polarizada da representação social medieval de um grupo duplamente minoritário: a mulher (gênero) e a soldadeira (atividade profissional). Os resultados deste artigo, ao delinear as formas pelas quais alguns conceitos produzidos nos Estudos Críticos do Discurso podem contribuir para uma consciência dialógica do aluno no ensino do texto literário, apontam para a necessidade de se considerar questões sociais no ensino, que não só propiciem aos alunos a percepção das relações dialógicas entre épocas distintas, mas também recuperem a discussão de uma memória histórica, cultural e social sobre o tema da mulher.

A Comparative Study of Modernism in the Poems of Forough Farrokhzad and Adunis

Clash of the West with East countries (Iran, Lebanon and Syria) was a factor in changing the structure of Eastern societies, resulting in the emergence of political and social developments like constitutional movements. There are undeniable similarities between Arabic and Persian poetry because of the long historical ties, similar political and social contexts, close cultural backgrounds and the influence of European culture on their literatures. After the literary revolution occurred under the influence of European culture and literature, attention to modernism is a common approach used by Persian and Arabic poets. In both Arabic and Persian literature, Modern poet expresses his surrounding issues according to the needs of the community. Attention to the culture of the West is a common point closing Forough Farrokhzad and Adunis as two contemporary poets. Due to the different cultural and intellectual situations as well as the degree of their familiarity with the West, they have differences and similarities in the methods and the effects of modernization in the West. Using a descriptive-analytical approach, this article will show that Forough and Adunis have used modern manifestations such as secularism, feminism, nihilism, freedom, deconstruction, city and nationalism in their poems due to their relations with the West under the influence of cultural-political developments in their own societies.

Honour between Different Cultures and Legal Systems: Social Status, Reputation, Struggles for Recognition

This article pursues a comparative approach to honour, a choice determined not only by the fact that anthropology, with regard to other disciplines, has striven to build its specificity on comparative analysis ever since its beginnings in the nineteenth century. A further reason is to steer clear of methodological nationalism,1 i.e. to sidestep forms of Orientalism.2 The point, therefore, is to avoid the pitfall by which issues of honour and its more violent forms, such as honour killings or blood feuds, are downscaled to a ‘Turkish’ or ‘Albanian problem’ or to a phenomenon specific solely to Middle Eastern societies.

Is “Unconsummated Marriage” Still an Appropriate Term? A Snapshot of Reality

Objective: In the middle eastern (MES) and western (WS) societies, sexuality follows different patterns in terms of meaning and rules. Moreover the evolution of societies all around the world created new contexts and kinds of relationship. This could hamper a correct taxonomy of such sexual dysfunctions where social variables are crucial. The aim of the present work is to collect and review data on Unconsummated Marriage (UCM) all around the world, to understand if in different societies it refers to the same situation. Design and Method: A review of published literature on UCM from different areas of the world was conducted. Results: Substantial difference emerged from MES to WS. In MES, sexuality is allowed only in marriage, while in WS sexuality and relationship are not strongly linked. This could suggest that the term “marriage” is unable to cover the phenomenon in such different countries. Moreover, the mean time before the consultation, causal attribution and prevalence are very different in such societies. Conclusions: We found that the term “Honeymoon impotence” could better describe male, female or both difficulties related to ignorance about sexuality or state/performance anxiety, typical in MES. On the other hand in WS over the individual category of sexual dysfunctions, we suggest a new term as “Unconsummated relationship”, where individual difficulties are involved creating a couple’s dysfunction.

Economic and Social Institutions: Modelling the Evolution Paths for the Archaic Society

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)IntroductionThere are two key elements that motivated the researchers to investigate socio-cultural differences between different cultures and ethnic groups: Firstly, every country and ethnos has its own national idea that is explicitly or implicitly stated (e.g. wakon yosai in Japan combining Japanese spirit and Western knowledge) (Sawamura, 2002). Secondly, every national idea is based on a great historical period of a specific country that preceded and caused the appearance of the idea. And history is a process of cultural codes' mutation and accumulation (Canevacci, 1992). Cultural code is an object that represents cultural values as a sequence of characters. Therefore, there is an issue researchers have to face: using mathematical approach to describe the process of culture codes formation on macro-level (Malloy and Malloy, 1998). Cultural differences of Western and Eastern society models can be described by the means of sociology (Barkema et al., 2015).The most advanced from application potential point of view is the work of Rapaille (2007) that is dealing with the subject of studying various societies on the basis of collective unconscious. Bourdieu (1990) employs the frequency analysis of texts used to study the subject that was also studied in Rapaille (2007) by the means of sociological polls and interviews. National idea in these terms can be described as a system of cultural codes that that for some time can be considered to be a constant source of society evolution component. Turchin (1977) is close to our approach from the point of complexity theory as in this work meta-system transitions are described and substantiated in the humanity evolution process. The idea of cognitive factor in evolution process of living matter that was also well-described in Wynn (2002, Donald (1993), or, most notably, Red'ko (2014), with the latest being complementary to our work. Also, we most certainly agree with Bourdieu (1990) that cultural code is something similar to every set of habitus (system of acquired dispositions functioning on the practical level as categories of perception and assessment or as classificatory principles as well as being the organizing principles of action) of a particular social system.There are also other well-executed attempts to solve this problem that can be found in other research works (see e.g. Grinchenko and Shchapova, 2010; Lakic and Draskovic, 2015). However, their attempt is considered to be questionable because of the lack of substantiation for the statement that periods of human society development can be matched to a range of Fibonacci numbers. Other approaches that are described in other publication (see e.g. Walton and McKersie, 1965) are much closer to our approach from the point of methodology. However, some authors describe the methods that use labor division as a main criterion and therefore are more detailed and do not cover the very early phase of society evolution when gathering and hunting was the main domain of the human development. From our point of view, such approaches also provides questionable results by applying cultural values table to the global history without mentioning how these values were formed. From our point of view it might be much more correct to consider mega-historical role of cultural codes in lifestyles of nations and ethnos as it is done in Rapaille (2007). The effectiveness and high quality of Japanese labor is assumed to be a consequence of tough living conditions of high-populated nation with scarce natural resources. Antithetic situation was observed in America where the opposite cultural code hindered effective application of Japanese business strategies (see Rapaille, 2007, p. 108).1. Research methodologyIn outlining our research methods, we make an attempt to overcome the difficulties described in the similar works of other authors. These works are based on an idea that an increasing difficulty of social relations can be represented by increasing number of social institutions (kernels) and relations (evolution cycles) between them. …

Вплив конфуціанства на процеси модернізації та контрмодернізації в суспільствах конфуціансько-даоської ідентичності (на прикладі інституцій підприємництва та менеджменту)

The article discusses the influence of Confucianism on the processes of modernization and kontrmodernizatsii societies Confucian­Daoist identity on the example of enterprise and management institutions. The authors concluded that the enterprise and management institutes in China, Korea and Japan is largely based on the Confucian family values. It stated that representatives of the eastern societies show a different commitment to ethical rationalist industrial modernization of the sample, providing isolation from the household enterprise. For the Chinese, entering into a relationship on the production, guided, first of all, to my family, and not on the production team. Focusing on the production team is largely inherent to the Japanese, and, to a lesser extent – the Koreans, which can serve as an indirect indicator of various ratios in the Chinese, Korean and Japanese Confucianism and modernzative and kontrmodernizative contents. A common feature of the eastern societies is increased attention to education, which is a pass­through for Confucianism. Actually, it creates an ambivalent attitude towards modernization on the one hand – high mobility of the labor force and its ability to re­training and re­training, which is necessary for the development of capitalism. On the other hand, it contributes to society through institutions zakonservovuvannyu political Confucianism, which becomes a factor kontrmodernization. It is noted that the Confucian concepts of entrepreneurship, production and Confucian moral gains are related idea of the primacy of the public benefits of private, public service of prosperity, which acquire a universal value in the crisis of the world financial and economic architecture of classical liberalism, which is based on the principles of material gain.

Impact of Wars and Conflicts on Women and Children in Middle East: Health, Psychological, Educational and Social Crisis

The wars and armed conflicts in many regions of the world and especially in the Middle East have an eloquent impact on all life's happenings most especially in areas affected. Wars destroys community infrastructure such as health, education and other social services sectors. As of present, the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East had left a significant impact on the family and the individual in the areas affected. In the family, it has lead to disintegration and roles change. It is also lead to forced migration and asylum. At the individual level, it have impacted negatively in terms of psychology, social and physical wellbeing. Women and children are the most affected by traumatic events of war and they are the most vulnerable to all types of exploitation and abuse. The devastating effects of war on this vulnerable group can hardly be overemphasized. This paper discusses the problems faced by children and women in war and conflict zones. It also explores physical, mental health, social and educational crisis experienced by women and children in the Middle Eastern society. A society that is known to have witnessed many civil wars and armed conflicts. In addition, the study also discusses social and health services which must be provided to women and children in conflict affected area from the social work perspective.

A New Intersectional Model to Illuminate the Workplace Discrimination of Arab-American and Muslim Women in the U.S.

Prejudices about Middle Eastern women have created a trend of male-centric approaches to studying Middle Eastern people and societies. Following terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001; increases in stereotyping and prejudices have made these studies more discriminatory in addition to excluding the women that these prejudices impact. In this paper, I examine how changes in the conceptualization of Arab-American identity following the attacks of September 11, 2001 impacted the experience of all Arab Americans and how discrimination models have failed to account for this. I use intersectionality theory, specifically, the works of Kimberle Crenshaw and Rachel E. Luft to argue that discrimination models are faulty because of their focus on men in a sexist system, as well as, their focus on Islam in an Islamophobic era in American history. I review the data and research that has been collected on sexual and ethnic harassment in the workplace, highlighting the absence of Arab-American women in these works as evidence of male-centered study. I argue that an improved discrimination model must use tools of intersectionality such as narratives and decentralize religion in order to demonstrate that cases of discrimination are a racialized gendered problem rather than a cultural problem.

The effects of fatalism and denial on earthquake preparedness levels

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of awareness and beliefs on college students’ preparedness for earthquake risks in Lebanon.Design/methodology/approach– A questionnaire was used to investigate Lebanese college students’ (n=901) perceptions and preparedness for earthquake hazards. Three factors were assessed to determine students’ disaster preparedness (DP): hazard and vulnerability awareness (HVA), fatalistic beliefs (FB) and denial beliefs (DB).Findings– The findings indicate an above average level of earthquake HVA among college students. Although the results do not reflect a high tendency towards DB, participants showed some inclinations to FB. Multiple regression showed that earthquake HVA plays the most important role in determining earthquake preparedness while denial and FB have a negative effect on DP. Fatalism is embedded in Middle Eastern societies, so higher education institutions are urged to increase the preparation knowledge of college students.Originality/value– This study offers a discussion of the interaction of awareness and belief factors and their effects on vulnerable communities.

SUFISME-PERSIA DAN PENGARUHNYA TERHADAP EKSPRESI BUDAYA ISLAM NUSANTARA

There are numerous religious and cultural ethnic groups worldwide, many of which have mutual interactions with each other. For hundreds of years, Persian as well as Shi‘a communities have been known as minority groups with considerable influence on some Eastern and Western societies. The following article try to uncover modes of Indonesian Islamic culture, which have influenced by Persian Sufism, along with its Syi’ah tendencies. The purpose of this essay is to display the influence of Persian Sufism in the cultural expressions of Moslems in Indonesia in early Islam era. With this purpose in mind, a comprehensive bibliography of works published related to the issues is presented. An attempt is also made to present the influence of Persian Sufism figures and elements on the historical and modern Indonesian Islam.

The effects of paternalistic leadership on organizational identification: the mediating role of trust in leader

Leadership as a topic holds an important place in literature in the area of organization and management. Despite the research on managerial approaches and practices based on the cultural characteristics of western societies is abundant, the research reflecting cultural characteristics of eastern societies in the same field is scarce. On the other hand, recent research has frequently demonstrated that the leadership model based on paternalism phenomenon which reflects the dominant cultural characteristics of eastern societies is highly effective in those societies (Pellegrini et al., 2010). As substantial amount of studies show paternalistic leadership phenomenon is also a positive cultural value in our country. It is important to investigate the effects of this phenomenon on different affective and cognitive mechanisms that lead to positive employee behaviours. Regarding this, the purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of trust in the leader on the effect of paternalistic leadership on organizational identification. The data is collected from 148 employees who work in three different industries in Izmir. The path analysis findings indicated that trust in leader mediates the relationship of benevolent leadership and identification. These findings compatible with hypothetical model. Keywords: Paternalism, paternalistic leadership, trust in leader, organizational identification, SEM. JEL Classification: M10, D23, M50