Man's Acquisition Research Articles

Culture and law in the theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of social progress by domestic Marxists in the XXI century

In the present paper from the positions of dialectical method and comparative-historical analysis the problem of culture and law in relation to social progress and its study by modern domestic Marxists is considered. The authors prove that the study of social transformations at the level of theoretical generalizations or specific conditions of development of systems of social relations by modern authors is based on the original ideas of historians and philosophers of the 1960s. The paper focuses on the analysis of the interaction between culture and law in the spatial and temporal dimensions. Particular attention in the article is paid to methodological contradictions in approaches when analyzing social progress in the society of "real" socialism. The authors consistently prove why the conclusions of representatives of the neo-Marxist school of T. Adorno and H. Marcuse about the forms of human alienation of late capitalist society cannot be considered fair to societies at the legal level that deny private property. According to the conclusions of the article, culture and law in the idea of social progress in the theory of modern domestic Marxists develop on two levels. The first level is characterized by theoretical rethinking of the category of socio-economic formation and statement of social progress in the analysis of large historical epochs. The second level focuses on the development of Marx's humanistic ideas, which are based on the principle of identifying social progress with man's acquisition of full freedom.

To be liked or feared: Honor-oriented men's sensitivity to masculine reputation concerns depends on status-seeking strategy

Cultures of honor are societies that strongly emphasize values of loyalty and integrity, as well as the need to defend and maintain one's reputation. Research has focused heavily on men's acquisition of repute as tough and masculine and their use of physical aggression for reputational defense, but much less is known about whether men display similar vigilance in managing their reputation for other elements of honor (e.g., loyalty, integrity). The two primary routes for men in honor cultures to acquire reputation—through acts of aggression or integrity—resemble evolutionary accounts of status acquisition in which men can gain status via dominance or prestige. Using a sample of undergraduate men (N = 221) from a U.S. honor culture, the present work tested the hypotheses that (1) honor endorsement would positively predict both status-seeking strategies, (2) that dominance-strategists would be sensitive to masculinity threats and boosts, and (3) that honor-oriented men's sensitivity to masculinity threats (and boosts) would be indirectly explained by the use of dominance-based, but not prestige-based, strategies to acquire status and reputation. Results supported these hypotheses. We also found evidence that the prestige-based strategy seemed to buffer against masculinity threats. Implications for men's mental health outcomes are discussed.

Brothers are doing it for themselves?: Men's experiences of getting into and getting out of debt

Research on debt and gender has typically had an individual focus. In research on households, and the distribution of income within them, studies have typically focussed on women. When it comes to over-indebtedness, women are also more likely than men to seek debt advice. This article reports on a UK study of men and over-indebtedness that focused on the dynamics of couple relationships. The research used in-depth interviews with menin partnerships and living alone after family breakdown to explore how gender relations and gendered identities figure in men's acquisition and management of problematic personal debt, including their orientation towards and experiences of debt advice. It was undertaken when a period of readily available credit and soaring levels of borrowing had been followed by the ‘credit crunch’, when recession had left many families struggling with problematic debt and when debt advice services were coping with increasing levels of demand. In this context, there were some signs that the effects of the recession were leading men to seek debt advice more than had been the case in the past. Findings illustrate the dynamics of male control of household expenditure and the acquisition of problematic debt. They also suggest that when men have sole responsibility for managing incomes constrained by over-indebtedness, they experience the anxiety and depression more typically reported by women; but ‘male pride’ in relation to financial matters that forms a significant component of their identities acts as a barrier to seeking advice.

De Flores between the acts

ABSTRACTWhen the adult companies moved to performing indoors in London, as they did progressively after 1609, following the King's Men's acquisition of the Blackfriars playhouse, an important structural and performative change occurred. The need to trim candles, used to help illuminate the indoor stage, meant the introduction of pauses between the acts. Surprisingly little research has been conducted in this area. This article considers several textual examples which script and record business between the acts, and explores in detail a remarkable instance of the use of the interval in Middleton and Rowley's The Changeling (1622). De Flores's skulduggery while the candles are being attended to is examined in terms of its theatre logic and the practicalities of its staging. It is proposed that this fascinating moment is best understood in the context of contemporary political concerns, specifically the unpopularity of King James's foreign policy towards Spain. As is well known, Middleton's plays are conspicuous for their allusions to both court scandal and Anglo-Spanish relations. The article concludes that De Flores's ‘trespassing’ onto the stage while play is apparently suspended may be read as being suggestive of a deep-seated Protestant anxiety about Spain and fear of the threat it posed to England.

International Marriage in Japan: 'Race' and 'Gender' perspectives

ABSTRACT Despite an image of ethnic and cultural homogeneity, Japan in fact is host to significant minority populations. A considerable part of these minorities derive from flows of labour migrants from the Asian periphery to Japan-a process dominated by female labour migrants who work mainly in the entertainment and sex-related industries. One social phenomenon resulting from the presence of female labour migrants is the rise in cases of international marriages. With regard to Asian women, in Japan mainly negative images prevail in their representation as entertainers and sex workers. Public discourse has almost exclusively dealt with problems they experience as hostesses and/or prostitutes, and they are hardly ever portrayed as the ordinary wives of Japanese citizens-a role in which they have much in common with Japanese wives. Previous research on the problems occurring in international marriages has mainly concentrated on the 'racial' or 'ethno-cultural' differences between the spouses and has neglected the broader issue of gender inequalities. The latter is, however, of crucial importance, and it is argued by feminists that 'marriage' is often only a disguise for men's acquisition of cheap domestic and sexual services. In this article, I provide a preliminary analysis of international marriage as the result of labour migration by exploring the interconnectedness of patriarchal relations 'at home' and abroad. The situation of Asian women, primarily Filipinas, married to Japanese men, is explored through interview data. The issue of gender is, however, not sufficient when discussing Filipino wives of Japanese men. 'Racial' stereotypes also have to be taken into account as factors which circumscribe the social reality of Asian women in Japan.

Virtue and Manners in Macpherson's Poems of Ossian

Macpherson's Poems of Ossian derived its extraordinary popularity from its power to resolve, in imaginary terms, the vexing ethical contradictions of the mid-eighteenth century. The poems effectively reconcile the age's nostalgia for the ancient polis ideal with its modern taste for polite manners. In the character of Fingal, the passionate fierceness of the citizen-warrior combines with the delicate affections fostered by domesticity, precommercial civic virtue joins with politesse, and the traditional attributes of masculinity merge with those of femininity. The abiding irony of Macpherson's text, however, is that its “feminization” of male heroes is offset by the dramatic elimination of all heroines, suggesting a certain male resentment toward women as sponsors of men's acquisition of manners.

Nature versus Nurture: The Genesis of Language. A Review Article

This is a potentially important book. I believe this to be so not because of the analyses it provides or the answers it proposes, but because of the grand scope of the questions the author asks, questions which require a sophisticated knowledge of linguistics, cognitive psychology, anthropology, genetics, and neurology before they can even be enunciated in meaningful terms. As the title suggests, Bickerton's inquiry concerns nothing less than the origins of human language. In the first two thirds of the book Bickerton attempts to justify the assertion that the human language faculty is innate, the result of a genetic bioprogram. In the last third he then sketches possible evolutionary and neurological developments which resulted in man's acquisition of this genetic program for language. In brief, this is the thrust of the book, but let us investigate Bickerton's data and arguments in greater detail. Roots of Language is divided into four chapters plus a short conclusion. Chapter 1 deals with the phenomenon of pidgin languages and their relationship to the subsequent creole languages. Pidgin languages are trade jargons that developed in various parts of the world as a result of colonization. In areas like the West Indies or the Pacific, European colonizers brought together speakers of diverse language backgrounds as slaves or indentured laborers on plantations. These laborers shared no common language, and within this context pidgin languages grew up to meet this need. With the first generation of speakers of these languages (Muhlhausler 1977), they are characterized by great instability in grammar and vocabulary, with great variation among speakers. As subsequent generations learn and use these languages, their structure becomes more standardized and the usage of speakers more uniform. Creole languages are generally defined as pidgin languages which have become the native, first language of a population. In many formerly colonized areas such as Haiti or Papua New Guinea, pidgin languages have become creolized and function as major vehicles of communication.

New Knowledge and Current Problems in Human Virus Infections

FROM his most primitive existence, man's acquisition of knowledge, while helping to resolve existing problems, has created new and, at times, seemingly more complex problems which demand solution. This has seemed to be the effect of each increment to our knowledge of virus infections. As more viruses are discovered, the wo,rk of classifying, differentiating, and establishing the clinical significance of these agents becomes more intricate. Until 1947, 60 viruses had been cataloged as producing illness in man (1) but only 18 of these were strictly human pathogens. The others, including the arbor or arthropod-borne viruses as well as viruses of other lower animals (zoonotic viruses) are not obligated to man for their parasitic existence. Thus, man served as the sole reservoir for but a small fraction of his virus infections. In 1947, the enterprise of Dalldo,rf and Sickles (2) in utilizing suckling mice for isolation of a pathogenic virus, other than poliovirus, from the stools of two upstate New York cases of suspected poi iomyelitis opened the door to the identification, in the ensuing 10 years, of 19 types of Coxsackie A and 5 types of Coxsackie B viruses. Although the Maitlands, several decades ago, pioneered tissue culture for the study of pathogens, the technique was complicated, if not formidable, since an additional animal host systenm was necessary to demonstrate ithat growth of virus had occurred. The major impetus to virus isol'ation and culture came with the discovery by Enders and his co-workers (3) in 1948 that clear-cut cytopathogenic effects indicating viral activity and growth could be demonstrated in tissue cultures directly, without the need for a secondary animal indicator system.

The Scientific Breakthrough of the Twentieth Century

PRESUMABLY MAN'S INQUIRIES into himself and his surroundings began when men first appeared on the globe. Perhaps his attempts to learn could be considered as having begun even earlier in whatever form of animal life man's predecessors in the evolutionary progression may have been. In any event, there are many indications that man's acquisition of 'knowledge'l has been both slow and gradual, a prolonged process of accumulation by nearly infinitesimal increments. Lost in the mists of antiquity are those great successes in the conduct of inquiry that enabled man to use fire as a household convenience, to talk and later to write, to use the wheel, and to 'know' countless ways and means of doing what he wishes to do, ways and means that most of us today take for granted. We surmise that even such a great advance as writing must have been achieved gradually rather than suddenly, but that it marked one of the significant breakthroughs in man's learning behavior seems apparent. More recently and well within the range of recorded history man has achieved other significant breakthroughs. One frequently mentioned is the application of modern scientific method in the physical sciences as epitomized in the story of Galileo. Another is the application of similar methods of inquiry in the physiological sciences, where the work of Vesalius provides an outstanding example. Noteworthy is the fact that these more recent breakthroughs reflected great forward strides in the development and application of methods of inquiry. In fact, some skilled observers have insisted that the Galilean advance in particular was revolutionary in its effects on the conduct of inquiry in the physical sciences.2 In this twentieth century man once again has achieved a significant breakthrough carrying him beyond certain barriers of ignorance that have