Patterns Of Social Organization Research Articles

Beyond the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B interaction sphere

This article aims to provide a critical evaluation of the influence of the culture-historical paradigm in the Neolithic archaeology of Western Asia through the re-assessment of currently established theoretical concepts, notably the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) interaction sphere, demic diffusion and acculturation. It is argued that these concepts are too abstractly defined to enable meaningful insights into the dynamics of Early Neolithic societies. A different theoretical framework is needed in order to achieve an historical understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of regional socio-cultural interactions and population displacement. This framework begins with the detailed analysis of local patterns of social organization and exchange. Exchange itself is seen as a socially situated process that was integrally related to the negotiation and reproduction of collective identities during the Neolithic.

Social organisation of female field volesMicrotus agrestis in a population in Southern England

The social organisation of a population ofMicrotus agrestis (Linnaeus, 1761) was studied by live trapping and radiotracking in southern England. Radiotracking revealed significant differences in both female home ranges and core areas with breeding condition. Lactating females had the smallest home ranges and core areas, and pregnant females the largest. There were no significant differences in female home range and core areas during the breeding season or between years despite different densities. Females were only territorial whilst lactating during which time their core areas were small. There were some overlaps of core areas among females at the beginning of the breeding season which are thought to be due to familiarity or kin associations. Associations between females were short-lived, lasting approximately one breeding event. As the breeding season progressed core areas became distinct suggesting a change to a territorial system although densities were low and most females were lactating. Patterns of social organisation among females were similar in both 1995 and 1996. Mean nearest neighbour distances tended to increase as the breeding season progressed and were uncorrelated with density.

Understanding Differences: Searching for the Social Processes that Construct and Reproduce Variety in Science and Economic Organization

Given the socially constructed nature of social phenomena, such as scientific knowledge and economic systems, and the considerable differences in how they are organized in different societies, the comparative analysis of variations in patterns of social organization and their consequences seems to me to be central to the social sciences. Beginning with the study of how and why scientific fields are differently organized and then comparing business schools and their graduates in Britain and France, a core theme in my intellectual career has been to understand how the organization of particular kinds of social activities varies between different contexts and has contrasting outcomes. More recently, this concern has been extended to the comparative analysis of economic organization in different institutional contexts, first of all in East Asia and then in Europe, leading to the elaboration of the comparative business systems framework. In all cases, I have developed intellectual frameworks for describing the central ways in which these phenomena varied and then attempted to show how particular kinds of institutional contexts can explain these differences. The same approach helps us to understand how the changing environment of research in business and management studies in many countries is influencing research goals and styles.

Emerging future issues in HIV/AIDS social research

Peter Piot (Executive Director of UNAIDS) challenged Bangkok International AIDS Conference attendees to think ahead 10 years or more so we will be prepared to meet the challenges that will face us [1]. Over this next decade, many formidable challenges are likely to stem from the interactions of social, ecological, political, and economic change; existing social structures; the changing HIV epidemic, and changes produced by emerging biomedicine and viral evolution. Although some challenges will be unpredictable, we should plan ahead for those we are able to anticipate. This paper identifies important social research issues regarding the changing global epidemic so funding agencies, journal editors, social science communities, individual researchers and students, non-governmental organizations, communitybased organizations, and the general public can debate them and, hopefully, act on them.

Slavery in the Greater Lower Columbia Region

During the early contact period (1792-1830), distinct patterns of social organization made slavery in the region centered on the lower Columbia River somewhat different from slavery found farther north along the Northwest Coast. The maximal Northwest Coast culture area was a two-hundred-mile-wide strip bordering the Pacific, extending over fifteen hundred miles from the Copper River delta in Alaska to Cape Mendocino in California. This diverse area can be subdivided into the matrilineal north, the bilateral central portion, and the patrifocal south. Along the lower Columbia, marriage ties created a region marked, in particular, by a distinctive type of head deformation. While conflicts within the region were limited, raids on people to the south and east, who did not practice head deformation, yielded captives and other booty. Goods were classed into two spheres of exchange: wealth (including slaves) and subsistence goods. The advent of the fur trade expanded slavery and added foreign goods to the sphere of wealth, but like other social arrangements exchange spheres were altered considerably. Records from the fur trade era show interrelationships among slavery, warfare, and the economy.

The Archaeology of the Plateau of Northwestern North America During the Late Prehistoric Period (3500–200 B.P.): Evolution of Hunting and Gathering Societies

The Plateau of northwestern North America offers one of the world's most important records of hunter–gatherer cultural diversity and evolutionary process. During the late prehistoric period, Plateau hunter–gatherers participated in a wide variety of mobile and sedentary mobility regimes, maintained diets emphasizing anadromous fish, roots, and larger game animals, and held patterns of social organization spanning egalitarian through ranked societies. In this paper, we provide a broad overview of the final 3500 years of human occupation on the Plateau that includes two primary goals. First, we provide a new chronology of late prehistoric cultural change and stability that integrates data from the Northern or Canadian Plateau and the Southern or Columbia Plateau. Second, we offer new ideas concerning the emergence, dispersal, and diversification of Plateau hunting and gathering societies. We close with recommendations for Plateau archaeology in the 21st century.

Celso Furtado e Karl Mannheim: uma discussão acerca do papel dos intelectuais nos processos de mudança social

In this article emphasis is given to Celso Furtado’s discussion of the intellectuals’ role in the development of useful knowledge for propositional actions which would lead to a deeply re-defining social change of social and political exclusion conditions. Combating defeating, pessimistic and nationalist perspectives would be a task for the intellectuals who are committed to the reconstruction of the country in all spheres. Such combat should occur by means of an ample discernment on the underdevelopment bases, their causes and consequences in the establishment of a social organization pattern of excludable political domain. Intellectuals intervene in a favorable way towards a democratic redefinition of society as their reflections illuminate social and historical reality, leading to adequate perception of its problems, dilemmas and possibilities

The regional pattern of renewal in urban residential areas in Germany since the 1970s

This study uses the case of Nuremberg to investigate the regional pattern of renewal in urban residential areas on a middle scale from the standpoint of physical and social structure in Ger-many since the 1970s when the supply of dwellings surpassed demand and many urban renewal projects have been carried out. I study the regional pattern of social structure, social housing units, urban renewal projects and the number of construction in the urban area. The regional pattern of renewal is divided into two types in the urban area located within a radius of 3 km from the city center and in the southern area.

The regional pattern of renewal in urban residential areas in Germany since the 1970s

This study uses the case of Nuremberg to investigate the regional pattern of renewal in urban residential areas on a middle scale from the standpoint of physical and social structure in Ger-many since the 1970s when the supply of dwellings surpassed demand and many urban renewal projects have been carried out. I study the regional pattern of social structure, social housing units, urban renewal projects and the number of construction in the urban area. The regional pattern of renewal is divided into two types in the urban area located within a radius of 3 km from the city center and in the southern area.

Diet and Feeding Ecology of Woolly Monkeys in a Western Amazonian Rain Forest

I investigated the diet and feeding ecology of two social groups of woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha poeppigii) in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador between April 1995 and March 1996. Woolly monkeys in Yasuni were predominantly frugivorous, with fruits comprising ca. 77% of the yearly diet; the next most common food type in the diet was insect and other animal prey. The fruit diet of woolly monkeys in Yasuni is the most diverse yet recorded for any ateline primate, including spider monkeys (Ateles), which are often regarded as ripe fruit specialists: ≥208 distinct morphospecies of fruits were consumed by woolly monkeys either during the study or during several preceding months of pilot work. Nonetheless, close to one-third of the yearly diet came from just 3 plant genera—Inga,Ficus, and Spondias—and only 20 genera each contributed to ≥1% of the diet. For one study group, the proportion of ripe fruit in the diet each month was correlated with the habitat-wide availability of this resource, a pattern evidenced by several other ateline species. However, the relationship was not apparent in the second study group. The modal party size for feeding bouts on all food types was a single monkey, and, contrary to reports for other atelines, neither feeding party size nor the total number of feeding minutes that groups spent in food patches was well predicted by patch size. Both results highlight the independent nature of woolly monkey foraging. Given that woolly monkeys and closely-related spider monkeys focus so heavily on ripe fruits, their very different patterns of social organization are intriguing and raise the question of just how their ecological strategies differ. Two important differences appear to be in the use of animal prey and in the phytochemical composition of the ripe fruits that they consume: spider monkeys rarely forage for animal prey, and woolly monkeys seldom consume the lipid-rich fruits that are an important part of spider monkey diets.

Transnational mercantilism and the emergent global trading order

It is often argued that the problems currently facing the World Trade Organization stem from an important shift in the trade agenda from tariff reduction to the harmonisation of domestic regulations considered as non tariff barriers. From this perspective, the lack of harmonisation of domestic regulations severely impairs the capacity of the WTO to fulfil its mission. This article argues, in contrast, that the underlying problems facing the contemporary trade agenda are different, and are caused by a lack of differentiation in the regulatory framework of the WTO. To substantiate this claim, a conception of transnational mercantilism is derived from recent scholarly revisions of classical mercantilism. This clarifies a continuity between the external dimension and the comprehensive pattern of social organisation involved in the political economy of international trade. This framework is used to appraise four structures upon which trade policy is predicated: the implementation of market mechanisms, the embeddedness of trade in state-society relations, the link between trade and the natural environment, and special and differential treatment for developing countries.

Spatial patterns of social organization in the Early Bronze Age of South Scandinavia

An explanatory framework invoking the existence of chiefdoms has governed the interpretation of Early Bronze Age social structure in South Scandinavia since the 1970s. The comprehensive evidence provided by the burial mounds has played a prominent role in advancing this model. A chiefdom organization implies a specific, centralized spatial organization, and in this connection important evidence afforded by the burial mound record has been neglected—namely, the distinct linear structures evident in their distribution. This contribution focuses upon the barrow line structures and their relation to interaction and social organization. Taking as its point of departure a discussion of agency and structure, it proposes a theory of the formation of the barrow line structures. This constitutes the basis of a comparison of network analyses of the barrow distribution with correspondence analyses of artefacts, within a region in Denmark. A distinct correlation between a material expression of wealth, and nodes of high centrality in the network of barrow lines, is demonstrated. Based on these analyses, it is argued that though the Early Bronze Age of South Scandinavia was complex, the chiefdom model is not the most appropriate explanatory model available for understanding the social and spatial organization of this society.

What Do College Students Have To Lose? Exploring the Outcomes of Differences in Person-Environment Fits

This article continues a series of analyses using of developed by John Holland (1966, 1973, 1985, 1997) to examine patterns of student stability and change inherent in college experience--as part of an effort to understand satisfaction, learning, and retention of college students (see Smart, Feldman & Ethington, 2000; Feldman, Smart & Ethington, 1999; and Feldman, Ethington & Smart, 2001). The underlying basis of Holland's theory is that human behavior is a function of interaction between individuals and their environments. The theory focuses on an assessment of individuals, their environments, and interaction or fit between individuals, and their environments. Three specific assumptions are associated with these three essential components of theory: (1) people tend to choose environments compatible with their personality types; (2) environments tend to reinforce and reward different patterns of abilities and interests; and (3) people tend to flourish in environments that are congruent with their dominant personality types. Most research assessing validity of three assumptions has tended to examine merits of each assumption separately. The collective evidence from literally hundreds of studies over past three decades or so has been summarized in several literature syntheses and meta-analyses (see, for example, Assouline & Meir, 1987; Holland, 1985, 1997; Spokane, 1985, 1996; Tranberg, Slane, & Ekeberg, 1993; Walsh & Holland, 1992). Because Holland's theory intends to explain vocational behavior, most evidence of validity of basic assumptions of theory has been derived from studies of employed adults. Moreover, attention has been directed primarily to vocational choices of individuals and significance of these choices for their vocational stability, satisfaction, and success. This dominant focus on individuals may be understood as a consequence of primary focus of theory itself and scholarly interests of those who have conducted much of relevant research. As a theory of careers, Holland's work is intended primarily to be of assistance to individuals in their search for careers that are satisfying and rewarding, and research on theory reflects this orientation toward individuals. The vast bulk of research literature in this area concentrates on validity of personality types and their searching behavior (the self-selection assumption) and on consequences of individuals' choices of congruent or incongruent vocational environments (the congruence assumption) rather than on reward and reinforcement patterns of vocational environments (the socialization assumption). Holland has acknowledged this differential emphasis in research literature, noting that the environmental models are only occasionally studied 160). As Walsh and Holland (1992) have put it: We view theory as primarily psychological in nature and one in which personality variables are most powerful and influential .... The theory tends to emphasize person variables and [to be] lean on concept of reinforcement ... (p. 63). Given psychological orientation of Holland's theory and of those who have conducted most of research on theory, it is not surprising that work environments (in general) and interpersonal and social structural patterns of environmental reinforcement (in particular) have not been of central interest. While his theory is intended to explain vocational behavior, Holland has noted repeatedly that theory and its basic assumptions are equally applicable to educational settings such as college and universities. The research evidence supporting basic assumptions of Holland's theory is sparser as it pertains to college students; even so, dozens of relevant studies have been conducted over past three decades (as reviewed in Smart et al. …

Retired and Making a Fresh Start: Older Russian Immigrants Discuss their Adjustment in Israel

AbstractSocial research on immigrants has usually centred on working age groups or youth, while studies on retired immigrants were typically driven by the social work, geriatric, or nursing agendas, centring on the issues of health, stress, social, and medical services. Trying to explore migration in old age from a broader sociological perspective, this qualitative study addressed different aspects of the socio‐cultural adjustment of older Russian immigrants of the 1990s in Israel. Drawing on group discussions and in‐depth interviews conducted in two major urban centres, the study covers senior immigrants' attitudes toward the host Israeli society; material privations and coping tools; intergenerational families; patterns of social organization, communication, and cultural consumption; ties with places of origin in the former Soviet Union (FSU); and the perceived sum total of losses and gains from migration. The findings indicate that older immigrants have developed multiple ways for meaningful identification with Israel and generally perceived their resettlement experience as difficult but positive. As their social networks were limited to the Russian immigrant community, most elders did not see their poor knowledge of Hebrew as a major integration obstacle. The main reported difficulties were in the areas of housing, low income, and weakening ties with younger family members.

Educação e mudança social em Fernando de Azevedo

The industrialization, in general terms, would have enabled worldwide the flourishing of societies based on the ideals of freedom, equality and cooperation, according to Fernando de Azevedo. He wondered if it was possible to create in Brazil a urban industrial civilization to strengthen the emergence and substantiation of those principles. In a country in which the political and cultural traditions tended to prevent those values' growth, one should not suppose that the own economical modernization would bring along a new pattern of social organization. The organization of an educational policy concerned with the public and universal school valorization would play, according to him, an essential role in this process of social evolution, to the extent that it could effectively be the cause of the Brazilian society democratic transformation

The social organisation of communication in the home of the twenty-first century: an analysis of the future of paper-mail and implications for the design of electronic alternatives

This paper reports ongoing investigations into the use and role of paper-mail communications in domestic environments. It utilises ethnographically informed data to analyse how paper-mail supports various social roles within the home, particularly a division of labour whereby women tend to be largely responsible for what may be called "managing the home". Implications for the future of paper-mail are considered, as well as suggestions made about how email tools may be designed to reflect the patterns of social organisation within the home.

Cultural Diversity and Population Policy in Nigeria

Nigeria's ambitious population policy, adopted in 1988, had its origins in the international population and development thinking of the time, set out in documents such as the World Population Plan of Action and the Kilimanjaro Programme of Action. The policy has had at most a modest effect in curbing the country's high fertility. This failure, it is argued, stems from the policy's implicit assumption of a single, monolithic cultural reality and its disregard of male reproductive motivation. Belief systems in Nigeria are extraordinarily diverse in detail but share a common interest in the fertility of crops, livestock, and people. Patterns of social organization are similarly varied. For an effective population policy, the government needs to find ways of incorporating distinct elements of the cultures of the different ethnic groups, leveraging rather than suppressing the country's cultural diversity.

Caste morphology and development in Termitogeton nr. planus (Insecta, Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae).

The termite family Rhinotermitidae displays a wide diversity in its patterns of social organization in castes. The genus Termitogeton probably branched off early in the evolution of this family. We studied the developmental pathways of a putative undescribed species from New Guinea, Termitogeton nr planus. The development begins with two white inactive instars (larvae), the second of which possesses small wing buds. These are followed by a relatively homogenous group of active immature stages (pseudergates) among which a biometric study revealed the presence of four instars. The first of these instars possesses wing buds that regress at subsequent molts. The external morphology of older instars resembles that of higher termite workers. Older pseudergates can differentiate into presoldiers and then into soldiers, but they are also able to molt into a unique stage with long wing pads (nymph), preceding the imago. Colony maturity can be reached with about 10(3) individuals. The sex ratio is near 1:1 in all castes except soldiers, among which females are more numerous than males. The caste pattern of T. nr. planus is reminiscent of those of the Kalotermitidae and Termopsidae, and of Prorhinotermes among the Rhinotermitidae. None of these taxa possess a true worker caste, permanently diverted from imaginal development: social tasks are done by unspecialized immatures that retain a full array of developmental options, including that of proceeding to the imago. The most remarkable trait of T. nr. planus is the presence in all second-instar individuals of wing buds that later regress to reappear in the single nymphal stage. We suggest that the traditional definitions of the terms larvae, nymphs, and pseudergates should be revised because they cannot be satisfactorily applied to the castes of Termitogeton.

Footloose and fossil-free no more: Evolutionary psychology needs archaeology

Evolutionary theories of human cognition should refer to specific times in the primate or hominid past. Though alternative accounts of tool manufacture from Wynn's are possible (e.g., frontal lobe function), Wynn demonstrates the power of archaeology to guide cognitive theories. Many cognitive abilities evolved not in the “Pleistocene hunter-gatherer” context, but earlier, in the context of other patterns of social organization and foraging.

Paper mail in the home of the 21st century: An analysis of the future of paper mail and implications for the design of electronic alternatives

This paper reports on ongoing investigations into the use and role of paper mail communications in domestic environments. It utilises ethnographically informed data to analyse how paper mail supports various social roles within the home, particularly a division of labour whereby women tend to be largely responsible for what may be called ‘managing the home’. Implications for the future of paper mail are considered and suggestions made about how e-mail tools may be designed to reflect the patterns of social organisation within the home.