Immaterial Benefits Research Articles

Arguing Art: Evaluation of the Viability Argument in the Political Debate on Cutting the Subsidies for the Production of Art in Dutch Society

One of the arguments used by the Dutch government to support the cuts in the subsidies for the production of art is that of economic viability. In the political discourse faulty arguments are masked by the use of arbitrary language and incomplete statements, but through the restructuring of the Viability Argument with the method of Political Discourse Evaluation, several flaws have become apparent, of which the most severe one is that the value of art is equated with its economic viability. Art has many external, immaterial benefits that help shape the social and political aspects of a society; economic viability, on the other hand, only measures the intrinsic costs and benefits of art. The real value of art, which goes far beyond an economic cost-benefit analysis, is neglected by the Dutch government in its decision to cut the subsidies.

Citizens' view of legitimacy in the context of Finnish forest policy

The goal of forest policy is to enhance sustainable production of the material and immaterial benefits of forests to serve the needs of all citizens. A theoretical model for explaining the formation of legitimacy in a certain political sector was developed and empirically tested in the context of Finnish forest policy. Nationwide mail survey data was used to determine the differences in the perceptions of forest policy by Finnish forest owners and other citizens. The questionnaire measured the legitimacy of the forest policy, the acceptance of laws, the justice of the procedures, the fairness of power relations, the acceptance of forestry operations and the competence in forest policy issues. Overall legitimacy was evaluated positively, and the forest owners considered forest policy in general to be more acceptable than other citizens did. The most criticized aspects of forest policy were the justice of the procedures and the use of clearcutting. Procedural justice and acceptance of forestry operations were the strongest explanatory factors for the legitimacy. Acceptance of the power relations of different stakeholder groups explained legitimacy for non-owners but not for forest owners. In both groups, forest policy competence led to a more negative evaluation of legitimacy.

Crianças em cena. Sobre mobilidade infantil, família e fluxos migratórios em Cabo Verde

This article is aimed at demonstrating that the universe of kinship in the Creole society of Cape Verde is not pre-defined, kinship relations are not irrevocable and free from the need for reiteration. Family relations are analyzed as a construction, a project which results from constant negotiations among its members. The central argument is that, in Cape Verde, family relations are characterized by mutual commitment, regular social contacts and an intra and inter-domestic flow of material and immaterial benefits. These requisites are fundamental for the construction of the feeling of proximity and strengthen pre-existing kinship bonds. Key words: Cape Verde, family organization, kinship, relatedness.

Assessing, mapping, and quantifying cultural ecosystem services at community level

Numerous studies underline the importance of immaterial benefits provided by ecosystems and especially by cultural landscapes, which are shaped by intimate human–nature interactions. However, due to methodological challenges, cultural ecosystem services are rarely fully considered in ecosystem services assessments. This study performs a spatially explicit participatory mapping of the complete range of cultural ecosystem services and several disservices perceived by people living in a cultural landscape in Eastern Germany. The results stem from a combination of mapping exercises and structured interviews with 93 persons that were analyzed with statistical and GIS-based techniques. The results show that respondents relate diverse cultural services and multiple local-level sites to their individual well-being. Most importantly, aesthetic values, social relations and educational values were reported. Underlining the holistic nature of cultural ecosystem services, the results reveal bundles of services as well as particular patterns in the perception of these bundles for respondent groups with different socio-demographic backgrounds. Cultural services are not scattered randomly across a landscape, but rather follow specific patterns in terms of the intensity, richness and diversity of their provision. Resulting hotspots and coldspots of ecosystem services provision are related to landscape features and land cover forms. We conclude that, despite remaining methodological challenges, cultural services mapping assessments should be pushed ahead as indispensable elements in the management and protection of cultural landscapes. Spatially explicit information on cultural ecosystem services that incorporates the differentiated perceptions of local populations provides a rich basis for the development of sustainable land management strategies. These could realign the agendas of biodiversity conservation and cultural heritage preservation, thereby fostering multifunctionality.

Societal research perspectives on protected areas in Europe

Managed large protected areas today are faced with tasks that go beyond conservation and landscape protection, especially societal demands for regional development and an active role in shaping the future. This means that protected areas research needs to focus more on the involvement of protected areas in shaping the future of their regions. Analysing the results of a European expert workshop, the authors have identified six priority areas for research: first, the material and immaterial benefits of protected areas; second, tourism and recreation; third, innovations in regional economy geared towards conservation and landscape protection goals; fourth, images and regional identities; fifth, handling regional and global change, and sixth, participation and governance. What this means for protected areas research is a strong orientation on interdisciplinarity, more comparative analyses and greater involvement in transdisciplinary networks at the interface of research and practice.

"Making families" child mobility and familiar organization in Cape Verde

This article is aimed at demonstrating that the universe of kinship in the Creole society of Cape Verde is not pre-defined, kinship relations are not irrevocable and free from the need for reiteration. Family relations are analyzed as a construction, a project which results from constant negotiations among its members. The central argument is that, in Cape Verde, family relations are characterized by mutual commitment, regular social contacts and an intra and inter-domestic flow of material and immaterial benefits. These requisites are fundamental for construction of the feeling of proximity and strengthen pre-existing kinship bonds.

Changing Policies and the Persistence of Patron-Client Relations in Nepal: Stakeholders' Responses to Changes in Forest Policies

In 1978, following two decades in which all forest resources were nationalized, the government of Nepal introduced a policy for community forestry that promised to hand over most accessible forests to communities for protection and management.' Some recent assessments of the impact of community forestry policy implementation have shown mixed results.2 They all indicate that while the physical condition of most community forests has improved in some areas, the improvement is very uneven across the country. Moreover, community members have not yet benefited from any of these forests. In fact, in some areas, some households, especially the poorer ones, have been affected negatively by the community forestry policy.3 Community forestry policy, then, has not yet lived up to its expectations. The limited and, in some places, negative impact of community forestry policy in Nepal can be explained by looking at the relationships among stakeholdersdifferent individuals, groups of people, and organizations and institutions-who have interests in forest resources. In recent years, there has been an increased recognition of the existence of differing and often conflicting views on the ways in which forests should be used and managed and the need and ways for accommodating such multiple views.4 Worsley et al. describe how people in a given society are always divided into various strata, which are not only distinct from each other but also interconnected through such relationships as inferiority and superiority, usually of many kinds: political, economic, social, and religious. Often such stratification serves as a basis for regulating access to scarce goods, not just material objects of consumption, but rather all things valued and sought after in society, including the distribution and receipt of immaterial benefits such as prestige. People work and spend in order to acquire necessities of life, which include using wealth to gain