Global Social Change Research Articles

Developmental Idealism: The Cultural Foundations of World Development Programs.

This paper extends theory and research concerning cultural models of development beyond family and demographic matters to a broad range of additional factors, including government, education, human rights, daily social conventions, and religion. Developmental idealism is a cultural model-a set of beliefs and values-that identifies the appropriate goals of development and the ends for achieving these goals. It includes beliefs about positive cause and effect relationships among such factors as economic growth, educational achievement, health, and political governance, as well as strong values regarding many attributes, including economic growth, education, small families, gender equality, and democratic governance. This cultural model has spread from its origins among the elites of northwest Europe to elites and ordinary people throughout the world. Developmental idealism has become so entrenched in local, national, and global social institutions that it has now achieved a taken-for-granted status among many national elites, academics, development practitioners, and ordinary people around the world. We argue that developmental idealism culture has been a fundamental force behind many cultural clashes within and between societies, and continues to be an important cause of much global social change. We suggest that developmental idealism should be included as a causal factor in theories of human behavior and social change.

Developmental Idealism

This paper extends theory and research concerning cultural models of development beyond family and demographic matters to a broad range of additional factors, including government, education, human rights, daily social conventions, and religion. Developmental idealism is a cultural model—a set of beliefs and values—that identifies the appropriate goals of development and the ends for achieving these goals. It includes beliefs about positive cause-and-effect relationships among such factors as economic growth, educational achievement, health, and political governance, as well as strong values regarding many attributes, including economic growth, education, small families, gender equality, and democratic governance. This cultural model has spread from its origins among the elites of northwest Europe to elites and ordinary people throughout the world. Developmental idealism has become so entrenched in local, national, and global social institutions that it has now achieved a taken-for-granted status among many national elites, academics, development practitioners, and ordinary people around the world. We argue that developmental idealism culture has been a fundamental force behind many cultural clashes within and between societies and continues to be an important cause of much global social change. We suggest that developmental idealism should be included as a causal factor in theories of human behavior and social change.

Three Challenges for Communication and Global Social Change

The field of communication and social change is periodically subjected to new questions and directions. Because the field has historically straddled academia and the aid industry, theoretical debates and programmatic directions were symptomatic of shifts in both settings. The current situation is no exception. Recent debates in communication scholarship and trends in global aid have set novel questions and priorities. The purpose of this article is to discuss three challenges that need attention: the fragmentation of the field, the paucity of research on policy advocacy, and the links between participation and aid effectiveness. Addressing these challenges is necessary to produce crisp theoretical propositions about the linkages between communication and social change and engage in current debates in global aid.

John Meara: helping to make surgery truly global

John Meara: helping to make surgery truly global

The Swahili novel: challenging the idea of 'minor literature'

For more than fifty years a dynamic modern literature has been developing in the Kiswahili language. The political weight that Kiswahili carries as the emerging national and pan-national language of many East African countries places this literature, much of it in the form of novels, at the centre of heated literary debates on the social function of literature in the context of rapid global social change. This obsession with social issues relates to larger, all-pervasive political debates running through East Africa: in its press, its streets, its public and private places. The novels both record and provoke these debates.

2014 Wakley Prize Essay winner: a good year for the Roses

Earlier this year we invited readers to submit entries for the 2014 Wakley Prize Essay. We were rewarded by a rich selection of submissions that ranged from memorable encounters with patients to personal experiences of illness. The winning essay, “On seeing Roses”, by Johanna Riesel, a Paul Farmer Global Surgery Research Fellow in the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change at Harvard Medical School and a General Surgery Resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, is published in this issue. Riesel refl ects on how the experience of helping a neighbour in cardiac arrest, and the subsequent friendship she formed with him and his wife, Rose, revitalised her interest in patient care. Riesel had, she writes, reached a moment in her career when “I was burnt out, wondering why I had ever committed myself to such a gruelling, unrewarding, and debilitating life”. All doctors, on honest refl ection, will admit to having had such thoughts at least once in their lives. Her developing relationship with Rose, however, reminds her that patients are “individuals whose existence is often intricately woven into the lives of others”. The experience leads Riesel to think about the idea of accompaniment in medicine. This idea—that physician and patient forge a partnership, a mutual community, as they journey together through good times and bad—is potentially transformative. But Riesel thinks it is rarely espoused in practice. She asks “would this change if all patients were treated as if they were our neighbours? As if they were those close to us both in location and commonality? As if they were one of ‘us’, a part of our communities?” This winning essay refl ects on a way to achieve the best of both worlds: science and humanity working together for better health for patients and doctors alike.

Social and Climate Change: Impact on Human Behavior

The nature of social change occurs at the center of human consciousness and based on a commitment, it cannot be reversed, rejected, or canceled (Vago, 2004). Therefore, there are economic and political orders as a result of conflict of ideologies within society. Historically, global social change is caused by the Industrial Revolution and Ideology and Gender Revolution. The invention of telegraph was the beginning of globalization, identified by the 4T revolution (Telecommunications, Transport, Tourism and Transparency). The revolution in agriculture, mining, manufacturing and industry results changes in lifestyle and exploitation of natural resources that can cause climate change. The second source of social change is the revolution of ideology and gender. When colonialism, slavery and deprivation of human rights occurred, the movement to struggle for human rights as its counterculture appeared, resulting in 1980 the pro-human right movement products. The sexual revolution in the 1960s in the USA demanded for equal rights between men and women. The 1975 UNFPA population convention held in Cairo have made an agreement to restrict population growth using contraception, resulting later-on the concept that sex is no longer for reproductive purpose but for recreation. People’s lifestyle has changed since then.

Social movements and global social change: the rising tide

1: Social Movements and Global Social Change 2: The New Republic 3: The Rise of the Republics 4: Dictatorship and Division in the Republics 5: The Democratization of the Republics 6: The Expansion of Citizenship in the United States 7: Persistent Inequalities 8: The Further Expansion of Citizenship 9: Social Movements and Global Social Change 10: Aspiring Social Movements 11: Altruistic Social Movements 12: Restrictionist Social Movements 13: Theories and Opportunities

Phenotyping and other breeding approaches for a New Green Revolution

Phenotyping and other breeding approaches for a New Green Revolution

Ecohydrology and Hydrologic Engineering: Regulation of Hydrology-Biota Interactions for Sustainability

AbstractIn the context of global environmental and social change, with increasing pollution and decline of biodiversity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems having its deep roots in drastic modifications to hydrological mesocycles, there is an urgent need for a new approach for sustainability. The two often contradicting approaches to water resources management, i.e., (1) hydrotechnical, and (2) ecological, can be reconciled within the context of ecohydrology (EH). It seeks for the understanding of the underlying water-biota interactions as well as providing a new tool for management of water resources. While the majority of changes are nonreversible in the framework of ecohydrology it is possible to regulate (dual regulation) the processes, especially in novel ecosystems, as an alternative to conservation and restoration measures, in order to increase their carrying capacity in the four dimensions, as follows: (1) water resources, (2) biodiversity, (3) ecosystem services, and (4) resilience. The propose...

Evaluating Global Education at a Regional University: A Focus Group Research on Faculty Perspectives

INTRODUCTIONIt is a widely held consensus among leaders in higher education institutions and policy decision makers that global education is a necessity for college students today (Hovland & Schneider, 2011; Haring-Smith, 2011; Reimer, 2009). With advancement of communication technology, expanding global trade, and intensified global conflicts and social change, it is imperative to prepare college students to become globally competent in an ever-complex global environment. According to Reimer (2009), global competency refers to the knowledge and skills that help people understand flat world in which they live, skills to integrate across disciplinary domains to comprehend global affairs and events, and intellect to create possibilities to address them...[it] also includes fostering an attitude that makes it possible to interact peacefully, respectfully, and productively with fellow human beings from diverse geographies (25). Skills and knowledge such as foreign languages and ability to understand and critically reflect on global issues are of essence in today's global education. This study reflects on question of whether or not college students today are effectively prepared to become globally competent citizens.This study assesses students' level of global competency in setting of a publicly funded, regional university. The three elements of global competency under discussion are (1) Global awareness: knowledge of global affairs and ability to discuss and reflect on issues in today's global context. (2) Global citizenship: understanding of responsible citizenship and action one takes to meet challenges in global community and (3) Global competitiveness and cooperation: professional knowledge and training to compete and work with other nationalities in global work force. The researchers invited college professors to assess and discuss level of global awareness and knowledge among college students, based on their experiences of teaching various disciplinary and general educations courses. Although a significant amount of literature on global education based their analysis on student body, mainly through use of surveys, we believe that college professors are in a unique position to evaluate level of global cultural awareness and knowledge among college students. Because of their regular classroom involvement and contact, faculty members have firsthand knowledge about their students. Additionally, faculty members possess broad perspectives on global issues and current affairs and have expertise in discipline specific knowledge. Therefore, they will be able to discuss expectations of global knowledge for undergraduate students in general and academic disciplines specifically. Faculty members can also identify and critically reflect on issues in academic curriculum and university resources; they can also provide directions and suggestions to enhance global cultural literacy education.We asked college professors, based on their years of experiences working with undergraduate students, to evaluate whether or not college graduates possess sufficient understanding and awareness of global issues to enable them to think critically of world they live in and to empower them to become active citizens in global society. Are college graduates equipped with sufficient knowledge and skills to compete and work with other internationals? If not, what factors contribute to lack of global awareness and knowledge among college students? The current paper will specifically explore cultural barriers that hinder global cultural acquisition. We focus on three aspects of barriers: cultural capital, media influence, and institutional culture.Cultural and Institutional Underpinnings of Global EducationThe acquisition of global awareness and knowledge is greatly affected by culture of higher education practices. American society's economic transformation during post WWI and WWII required professional training and expertise for trained employees and technicians, and institution of education needed to make adjustments and innovations to fulfill these needs (Frank and Meyer, 2007. …

Counter-hegemonic networks and the transformation of global climate politics: rethinking movement-state relations

Global financial and ecological crises have fueled the diffusion of ideas and discourses that challenge US hegemony and global capitalism and support the expansion of counterhegemonic alliances between states and social movements. Social movements are calling for rights for Mother Earth and for the development of new measures of well-being, putting forward increasingly credible alternatives to the state-led, market-based approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This paper traces the social movement processes that have advanced ecological and social justice critiques of capitalist development. It explores how regional and global networks of states and movements have contributed to the growing political salience of new claims and discourses that respond to the ecological threats posed by global warming. These observations reveal how social movement challenges contribute to an expanding realm of global politics that transgresses the traditional boundaries of the inter-state arena, calling for adaptations to our theoretical frameworks for understanding global social change.

A Cultural Crossroads at the “Bloody Angle”

In the early twentieth century in New York City, the tongs of Chinatown established themselves as one of the most resilient, and clever, organized crime enterprises in Lower Manhattan. Through spectacular violence and shrewd political dealings, they survived by adapting to, and helping to shape, the evolution of Chinese America. Groups like the Hip Sings and On Leongs, inspiring awe and fear, spiced a chaotic urban stew in which race, class, and politics bubbled into a peculiarly American amalgam. But the tongs were never mere street criminals. These sophisticated organizations represented a formative period in New York’s Chinatown and the Chinese American community. Though rooted in Chinese culture, the tong was a uniquely American response to the racist oppression and political disenfranchisement of the Chinese, who were criminalized and legally excluded under immigration codes until the 1940s. The changes that the tongs underwent, in both their public image and their economic and political activities, reflected evolving, often contradictory, relationships with local law enforcement, civil society, and transnational political movements. Previous scholarship on the tongs is sparse, yet the tong wars appear in numerous literary, cultural, and analytical works on Chinese American history. The article examines the histories of two rival tongs with similar political underpinnings, the Hip Sings (協勝堂) and On Leongs (安良堂), who negotiated cultural and political boundaries to build power in the emerging Chinese American community. During the Exclusion Era, which lasted roughly from the late 1800s through 1943, the tongs consolidated their power by curating elements of tradition and Western urban society. In response to local, national, and global social change, the tongs continually honed and recast their public roles in Chinatown as the community came of age in modern America.

Interdisciplinary professional education

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide a rationale for developing interprofessional competencies among graduates from professional and graduate programs, so that they are well prepared to participate in local, national and global social change strategies.Design/methodology/approach– After reviewing the literature on strategic social change initiatives the authors briefly describe two such initiatives: corporate social responsibility initiatives and social entrepreneurial ventures. After reviewing the interprofessional literature from various disciplines and professions, the authors categorized them into “competencies,” “rationale,” “conceptual framework,” “principles” and “challenges.” An examination of exemplar pedagogy from this body of literature suggests ways to prepare students to lead and actively participate in innovative, collaborative social change initiatives.Findings– Interdisciplinary competencies include teamwork, communication, contextual understanding, negotiation, critical thinking, leadership, openness and adaptability. Interprofessional educational models are difficult to implement, however, ethical responsibility of educators to prepare students for complex realities trumps the challenges.Practical implications– Interprofessional educational experiences can enable students to engage in generative and transformational learning which can later facilitate in creation of innovative solutions for society's recalcitrant physical, social and environmental issues.Originality/value– Based on the system's perspective, the paper provides guidelines and strategies for implementing interprofessional pedagogical initiative.

Change and Subjectivity in International Environmental Law: The Micro-Politics of the Transformation of Biodiversity into Genetic Gold

AbstractThere is no hope for international environmental law to be an engine for global social change when it can no longer provide a compelling account of itself. This article presents a theoretical framework, constructed from the works of Michel Foucault, capable of tracing this loss of descriptive capacity, as well as the resultant prescriptive confusion. The analysis examines the challenges posed by the triptych of biodiversity, biotechnology and neoliberalism housed under the idea of genetic gold, and calls for attention to micro-politics, in the shape of the apparatuses for the production of environmental subjectivity that operate outside the formal structures of the international legal sphere. The trope of genetic gold is revealed as an obsolete attempt to protect a fixed idea of biodiversity based on an outdated conception of environmental value. In response, the author argues for a mature confrontation with the end(s) of international environmental law.

Declining Manufacturing Employment as a Global Social Change: Implications for Azerbaijan

Existing literature provides striking empirical results about the declining manufacturing employment all over the world. This bare finding brought about clear definition of deindustrialization: systematic disinvestment in a nation's core manufacturing industries. In some studies we observe globalization as a main source of this concern. Only in Japanese economy between 2001 and 2004, 800 thousand jobs were lost in manufacturing SMEs. For the same period, job loss in all US manufacturing industry reached to 2, 1 million. Of the 10 countries tracked by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 1997 and 2009, United States lost highest number of jobs in manufacturing. By mid-2012, Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee submitted its report to Mr. Obama with the title of Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing. This report also includes concerns about declining share of manufacturing in the US Economy. From the social change standpoint, US is much concerned than others, because middle-class of America is built up by manufacturing. Also, US experience shows that, manufacturing jobs are more likely to be full-time and to offer 12 percent higher wages than other jobs. Other study suggests that between 1970s and 2000s external factors caused manufacturing sector employment decline across 18 OECD countries. About the developing countries, a comprehensive study including analysis of 64 countries comes up with interesting result: From 1980 to 2003 manufacturing employment increased in most countries. Declining relative importance of manufacturing in terms of employment and output made some countries to take pre-emptive steps. Developing countries such as Cameroon and Nigeria perceives manufacturing sector development plans as poverty reduction policy for the economy. Fostering non-oil industry, that is manufacturing, holds a national vital priority and provides potential employment opportunities for Azerbaijan economy too. During the rising concerns era of manufacturing employment, numerous policy implications are also supposed to be concluded for the Azerbaijan economy. This study will attempt to come up with some practical and plausible suggestions for the Azerbaijan, regarding manufacturing employment and its social impacts.

Global social policy studies: Conceptual and analytical reflections

This article reviews the conceptual and analytical contribution of one strand of ‘global social policy studies’ since the mid-1990s. It outlines some of the strengths and weaknesses of the core conceptual basis of the approach acknowledging that the theoretical aspects have remained more implicit than explicit in many core texts. The article advances the case for using the ‘Agency, Structure, Institution and Discourse’ (ASID) approach as a framework within which to advance the analysis of the formation and transformation of ‘global social policy’. The recent development of the ILO and UN policy on advancing social protection floors is then used to illustrate how the ASID approach might be applied to an actual global social policy change.

Regional Science-Society Interface within Global Environmental and Social Change towards Sustainability

This paper introduces the GEC (Global Environmental Change)-Japan/Asia platform as one of the attempts to enhance linkages and promote collaboration on transdisciplinarity approaches to global environmental and social change in Asia.This paper also attempts to contribute to discussions about new research directions and frameworks to promote science-society interface for sustainability research in Asia.

Navigating challenges and opportunities of land degradation and sustainable livelihood development in dryland social-ecological systems: a case study from Mexico.

Drylands are one of the most diverse yet highly vulnerable social-ecological systems on Earth. Water scarcity has contributed to high levels of heterogeneity, variability and unpredictability, which together have shaped the long coadaptative process of coupling humans and nature. Land degradation and desertification in drylands are some of the largest and most far-reaching global environmental and social change problems, and thus are a daunting challenge for science and society. In this study, we merged the Drylands Development Paradigm, Holling's adaptive cycle metaphor and resilience theory to assess the challenges and opportunities for livelihood development in the Amapola dryland social-ecological system (DSES), a small isolated village in the semi-arid region of Mexico. After 450 years of local social-ecological evolution, external drivers (neoliberal policies, change in land reform legislation) have become the most dominant force in livelihood development, at the cost of loss of natural and cultural capital and an increasingly dysfunctional landscape. Local DSESs have become increasingly coupled to dynamic larger-scale drivers. Hence, cross-scale connectedness feeds back on and transforms local self-sustaining subsistence farming conditions, causing loss of livelihood resilience and diversification in a globally changing world. Effective efforts to combat desertification and improve livelihood security in DSESs need to consider their cyclical rhythms. Hence, we advocate novel dryland stewardship strategies, which foster adaptive capacity, and continuous evaluation and social learning at all levels. Finally, we call for an effective, flexible and viable policy framework that enhances local biotic and cultural diversity of drylands to transform global drylands into a resilient biome in the context of global environmental and social change.

Book Review: The European Union and Global Social Change: A Critical Geopolitical-Economic Analysis

Book Review: The European Union and Global Social Change: A Critical Geopolitical-Economic Analysis