Sociological Position Research Articles

Modeling aboveground carbon stock under the forest canopy influence

The dominance, size, and sociological position of tree species are essential components of natural forest patterns, providing critical information for understandinh forest dynamics. These patterns can be influenced by a variety of factors. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of using spectral, hydrological, and geographical variables to estimate aboveground carbon stock (AGC) across four canopy strata, defined by diametric percentiles, in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest remnant. Our methodology, which employed machine learning techniques (Random Forest - RF + Genetic Algorithm - GA) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) to model AGC, proved to be highly efficient, as evidenced by our results. We observed a wide range of AGC values, from 0.37 to 467.71 MgC.ha-1, with an average of 77.4 MgC.ha-1. Trees in the 30th, 60th, and 90th percentiles contributed, respectively, 97.32%, 87.74%, and 52.02% of the total AGC. Spectral and hydrological variables combined with basal area explain AGC stock. Our findings demonstrate the robustness of machine learning techniques and MLR methods in obtaining accurate carbon estimates and generating an optimized dataset. Trees within the 30th percentile represent a smaller portion of the total AGC, and their removal does not interfere with the relationship between AGC and spectral variables.

SOCIAL PORTRAIT OF A STUDENT OF THE ADVANCED ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF KAZAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY

Background. In modern Russia, there is a task of creating a strong corps of highly qualified engineers capable of implementing the country’s scientific and technical strategies. Engineers should not only possess professional skills but also creative thinking to generate and implement innovative ideas. Purpose. The aim of the research is to develop and analyze the social portrait of students of the Advanced Engineering School “Cyber Auto Tech” of Kazan Federal University. Materials and methods. The study relies on an integrative approach that combines theoretical positions of psychology and sociology, as well as research methods of comparative analysis, modeling, and classification. Social statistics methods included surveying and data analysis. Results. The research revealed that the typical student of the Advanced Engineering School “Cyber Auto Tech” of Kazan Federal University is a young person aged 18-21 years, with high academic motivation and interested in receiving quality education. Students value the opportunity for budget-based education and the geographical proximity of the university, strive for professional development and financial stability. The research results emphasize the importance of adapting educational programs to modern requirements and challenges to support the youth in the engineering field and contribute to the development of the country’s technological and economic potential.

The Philosophical and Sociological exposition of Suicide in Lesotho

One of the philosophical problem is the phenomenon of suicide. In the Kingdom of Lesotho as many nations the nature of suicide can be understood from the philosophical and sociological lenses. Among the countries in the world with the highest suicide rate is Lesotho. How come? This research article delves into the complex relationship between individual agency and social factors in context of the existence of suicide in Lesotho, drawing upon philosophical and sociological approaches. The main philosophical and sociological positions of suicide in this paper are presented. A qualitative method has been applied in this paper, secondary data has been subscribed from electronic database from various reliable sources such as World Health Organization (WHO) reports, government and private documents related to suicide and mental affairs reports. A comparative analysis of philosophical and sociological perspectives, the article seeks to deepen our understanding of the factors contributing to suicidal behaviours and their implications for prevention and intervention strategies. This paper also discusses the richness of Durkheim’s insight on suicide and four etiological types of suicide. This paper concludes by putting forward that young people in Lesotho who have serious mental illnesses at an early age have a higher risk of suicide.

Repositioning the value of sociology for students studying sport in post-92 higher education institutions

The position of sociology within the UK post-92 higher education curriculum is increasingly under threat as neoliberal ideology continues to shape universities to be based on market principles. Here, the discipline is often thought to lack clear ‘practical’ outcomes which meet the demands of the job market and these challenges are particularly prominent within the capitalist nature of sport-based degrees. Using data generated from focus groups and interviews, this paper explores sport students' experiences of studying the sociology of sport within a UK post-92 higher education institution. The findings illustrate wide ranging benefits the students perceived to gain from studying the sub-discipline. From these empirical insights, we put forward the argument that the sociology of sport has potential to offer significant value to students on sport-based degrees which meet the demands of the current higher education system, as well as broader values beyond restrictive neo-liberal thinking.

Is the Civil Process an «Ideal Communicative Community»? The Idea of Discursive Ethics in Relation to Judicial Proceedings

From the philosophical and sociological positions of discursive ethics and an ideal communicative community (K.-About Apel, Y. Habermas, A.V. Nazarchuk), post-non-classical legal understanding and theory of communicative law (A.V. Polyakov, E.V. Timoshina, M. van Hook), the civil process is considered as public communication between society, the state and individuals on the topic of the ultimate concretization of subjective law (legitimate interest). The vector of judicial communication development as a form of social management is revealed, which does not coincide with the normative foundations of argumentative discourse in philosophy and sociology in a number of parameters. A typology of models of judicial communication in civil proceedings has been developed according to the criterion of interaction of the subjects of the dispute in procedural legal relations (there are five types in total). On the basis of an interdisciplinary approach, the most promising types of civil proceedings in the domestic legal order are identified for legal modeling.

Research on the Positivist Sociology by Comte

Research on the Positivist Sociology by Comte

In the Same Boat? “Methodological Debate” in a Changing Empirical Fiel

The article is devoted to the analysis of the current state of the methodological debate. This is a classic debate, which, however, should not be oversimplified: methods, paradigms, and research strategies form systems that go beyond the qualitative vs. quantitative dichotomy. The debate is in the center of attention, because, firstly, empirical texts are now written, read and cited more often than theoretical ones, secondly, new data and methods of their analysis appear, and thirdly, there is a simultaneous emergence of common ground and deepening methodological contradictions.One of the key differences between qualitative and quantitative proponents is the paradigms that underpin their work. However, the correspondence between the paradigm and the method is not always universal: for example, in qualitative methodology, both interpretive and post-positivist trends can be observed, and some quantitative researchers are close to the ideas of author's reflection and standpoint.Tools based on artificial intelligence can simplify the work of a researcher by solving some of the routine tasks, while the availability of big data allows you to go beyond survey and statistical databases and analyze new fields. However, the development of new tools leads to a number of problems. These are issues related to digital literacy and skills inequality, ethics and non-transparency of data production. Collaborative methodological work may be able to mitigate these kinds of difficulties and strengthen the position of sociology in an era of changing data and competing approaches.

Review of Translating Blackness: Latinx Colonialities in Global Perspective by Lorgia García Peña (Duke University Press)

In Translating Blackness, Lorgia García Peña offers a transnational conceptualization of Black Latinidad. Framing Black Latinidad as an epistemology, García Peña traces its historical and contemporary formations through the lives and the work of historical Black Latinx intellectuals as well as contemporary Black and Black Latinx individuals in the Carribean, Italy, and the United States. García Peña approaches Black Latinidad as produced through vaivén—coming and going across physical and symbolic borders of nation-state and migrant-citizen categories that characterizes the sociological position of Black Latinx individuals.

Under- or overexpansion of education? Trends in qualification mismatch in the United Kingdom and Germany, 1984–2017

Prominent theoretical positions in sociology and labor economics disagree whether educational expansion has outstripped the demand for qualified labor (overexpansion), or whether economies face a skill shortage despite increases in education (underexpansion). Focusing on the United Kingdom and West Germany, two countries with dissimilar skill formation institutions, patterns of expansion, and labor markets, this paper asks to what degree expansion of education has been absorbed. I point out shortcomings of wage-centered analyses and develop an approach that focuses on trends in self-assessed over- and underqualification. Using repeated surveys among workers and official labor market statistics, I estimate regression models that link the cohort-level expansion of education to the cohort-level prevalence of mismatch. Results suggest overexpansion in the United Kingdom, with overqualification increasing and underqualification decreasing over historical times and cohorts. West Germany, on the other hand, shows signs of underexpansion. While dominant theoretical accounts focus on the under-/overexpansion of tertiary education, my results show that mismatch-dynamics in both contexts are strongest for workers without university degrees.

Русская «христианская социология» о позитивистской теории прогресса

The article examines the views of the representatives of the so-called Russian “Christian sociology” – V.S. Solovyov, S.N. Bulgakov, N.A. Berdyaev, and S.L. Frank – regarding the positivist theory of progress. The rele-vance of such consideration is conditioned, firstly, by the ideological processes taking place in modern Russian society related to the formulation of national ideology, and secondly, by the need to deepen and systematize the ideas about the formation of national sociological knowledge. “Christian Sociology” from the standpoint of social theology proves the methodological, factual, logical and ethical failure of positivist concepts of progres-sive social development and its elements. The inability of positivist sociology and the theory of progress to be a general theory of society and to foresee the future is emphasized. The factual, logical and ethical inconsistency of the proposed ideals and criteria of progress, as well as the contradiction in the substantiation of the subject and boundaries of progress are noted.

Can norms bridge boundaries? Systems theory’s challenge to eco-theology and Earth system law

The following article was written to honour Johan Buitendag’s contribution to the discipline of eco-theology. Assuming an interdisciplinary stance, eco-theology in general and his work, in particular, is observed from the position of legal theory and sociology. As such, eco-theology is not assessed on theological grounds but is treated interdisciplinary through comparison with environmental law. More specifically, the project of eco-theology is shown to share certain characteristics with the nascent subdiscipline of Earth systems law within environmental law. It is argued that one of the most important of these is the use of norms as an ecological strategy. This is understandable as both the religious and legal systems rely on the norm form to a lesser or greater extent. However, in the legal sociology of systems theory, the shortcomings of norms have been eloquently argued. This article thus posits the limits of norms to eco-theology and Earth systems law as a challenge deserving attention. However, social systems theory has its shortcomings, and a preliminary line of flight away from this challenge is suggested in the shape of Agamben’s description of the monastic form-of-life, where life and norm overlap so intensely that suggestions of a new worldview gain plausibility.Contribution: This article argues for the similarity in theology and law’s respective strategies for combatting climate change, most importantly, that both employ a normative form. It points out that norms have crucial shortcomings but suggests that they might be overcome through reinterpretations of normativity.

New horizons in the sociology of sport.

The relevance of a sociological view on the problems of society has never been as important as it is today. To quote the editors of the journal Nature in their editorial, Time for the Social Sciences, from 2015: if you want science to deliver for society, you need to support a capacity to understand that society. In other words, the technological and scientific disciplines cannot simply transfer their findings into everyday life without knowing how society works. But this realisation does not seem to have caught on everywhere. The sociology of sport is entering a critical period that will shape its development and potential transformation over the next decade. In this paper, we review key features and trends within the sociology of sport in recent times, and set out potential future challenges and ways forward for the subdiscipline. Accordingly, our discussion spans a wide range of issues concerning the sociology of sport, including theories and approaches, methods, and substantive research topics. We also discuss the potential contributions of the sociology of sport to addressing key societal challenges. To examine these issues, the paper is organized into three main parts. First, we identify three main concentric challenges, or types of peripheral status, that sociologists of sport must confront: as social scientists, as sociologists, and as sociologists of sport, respectively. Second, we consider various strengths within the positions of sociology and the sociology of sport. Third, in some detail, we set out several ways forward for the sociology of sport with respect to positioning within academe, scaling up research, embracing the glocal and cosmopolitan aspects of sociology, enhancing plurality in theory, improving transnational coordination, promoting horizontal collaborations, and building greater public engagement. The paper is underpinned by over 60 years (combined) of work within the sociology of sport, including extensive international research and teaching.

РЕЦЕПЦИЯ ИДЕЙ ЗАПАДНОЙ СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ ФИЛОСОФИИ XIX – НАЧАЛА ХХ ВЕКА В ДУХОВНО-АКАДЕМИЧЕСКОМ ТЕИЗМЕ КАК ФАКТОР РАЗВИТИЯ ПРАВОСЛАВНОГО ЭТИКО-АНТРОПОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО УЧЕНИЯ

The article deals with the attitude of Orthodox doctrine about the person and society to a number of European and American social concepts, including "social evangelism," "positivist sociology" (using the example of G. Spencer), Nietzscheanism, "organistic" con-cepts of social development. It is concluded that, despite the desire to find their interpretation of social processes based on the patristic tradition, representatives of spiritual and academic philosophy used the conceptual ideas of Catholic and Protestant au-thors, especially the latter's criticism of positivism and Nietzscheanism when considering social issues. In addition, the article indi-cates a close connection between the Orthodox doctrine of society and the study of the ethical and social nature of man.

ПОХОРОНЫ РОМАНА Н. КОНОНОВА ЛИТЕРАТУРНОЙ КРИТИКОЙ (К ВОПРОСУ О РЕЦЕПЦИИ «ПОХОРОН КУЗНЕЧИКА»)

The article is devoted to the problem of production of the book value, faith in its value, carried out by literary critique as an Institute of the literary field. The material is the critical reception of Nikolai Kononov’s novel “The Funeral of a grasshopper”. Published in 2000, the novel gets the small Apollon Grigoriev’s Award (not the big one) and is included in a short list of The Russian Booker Prize, but does not win. The aim of the research is to study the role of critique in the fate of the Kononov’s novel. According to the author of article, literary critique has generated interest in the work of the writer, and has “buried” it. The methodological basis of the work is the position of receptive aesthetics and sociology of literature. The author studies pragmatic strategies of both positive and negative critique of the novel: giving the book the status of exclusive (in terms of content, poetics, produced effect) or banal text. The author concludes that the positive critique devoted to the novel is wordy, metalogical (the criticism is infected by Kononov’s style), often turns into a retelling. Negative critical judgment, the accusations of lack of originality and the banality of the idea, also contributed to the novel’s “funeral” and undermined the symbolic value of the text.

Adorno on Philosophy and Sociology

Philosophy and sociology appear to belong to separate spheres of thought, which might explain why they exist as separate academic disciplines. But in what way, if any, are philosophy and sociology different from, or related to, each other? In these series of lectures delivered at Frankfurt University in 1960, Adorno examines the relationship between philosophy and sociology and concludes that the subjects do not belong to separate spheres of thought. But Adorno has a bigger aim in mind. His attempt to reconcile philosophy and sociology takes the form of a wholesale attack on positivistic sociology, followed by a critique of philosophical idealism. There is, however, a debate as to whether the origins of Adorno’s critical sociology lie in Marx’s critique of political economy or philosophical idealism. These lectures throw further light on this question as they show the development of Adorno’s social philosophy and the critical theory.

Enhancing Height Predictions of Brazilian Pine for Mixed, Uneven-Aged Forests Using Artificial Neural Networks

Artificial intelligence (AI) seeks to simulate the human ability to reason, make decisions, and solve problems. Several AI methodologies have been introduced in forestry to reduce costs and increase accuracy in estimates. We evaluate the performance of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) in estimating the heights of Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze (Brazilian pine) trees. The trees are growing in Uneven-aged Mixed Forests (UMF) in southern Brazil and are under different levels of competition. The dataset was divided into training and validation sets. Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP) networks were trained under different Data Normalization (DN) procedures, Neurons in the Hidden Layer (NHL), and Activation Functions (AF). The continuous input variables were diameter at breast height (DBH) and height at the base of the crown (HCB). As a categorical input variable, we consider the sociological position of the trees (dominant–SP1 = 1; codominant–SP2 = 2; and dominated–SP3 = 3), and the continuous output variable was the height (h). In the hidden layer, the number of neurons varied from 3 to 9. Results show that there is no influence of DN in the ANN accuracy. However, the increase in NHL above a certain level caused the model’s over-fitting. In this regard, around 6 neurons stood out, combined with logistic sigmoid AF in the intermediate layer and identity AF in the output layer. Considering the best selected network, the following values of statistical criteria were obtained for the training dataset (R2 = 0.84; RMSE = 1.36 m, and MAPE = 6.29) and for the validation dataset (R2 = 0.80; RMSE = 1.49 m, and MAPE = 6.53). The possibility of using categorical and numerical variables in the same modeling has been motivating the use of AI techniques in different forestry applications. The ANN presented generalization and consistency regarding biological realism. Therefore, we recommend caution when determining DN, amount of NHL, and using AF during modeling. We argue that such techniques show great potential for forest management procedures and are suggested in other similar environments.

Centering Age Inequality: Developing a Sociology-of-Age Framework

The construct of age occupies a curious position in mainstream sociology: It is omnipresent but theoretically underdeveloped. The most prevalent approaches—age as control variable and age as life course—elide the aspect of age most relevant to the discipline, namely its operation as a system of inequality. Building on the foundation laid by scholars of life course sociology, age studies, and gerontology, I propose a new framework for thinking about age. The framework integrates insights from these fields and identifies inequality as a key axis on which several dimensions of age turn, thus placing age squarely in the domain of sociological research centering on inequalities. The article concludes with a discussion of how this framework can enhance the empirical and theoretical contributions of age-focused research. In particular, research that delves into how institutions, performances, and identities reproduce age inequality flows from this framework and constitutes a valuable contribution in its own right. Moreover, such an orientation positions the sociology of age as integral to the discipline, given its commitment to understanding how inequalities infuse social life.

Impact of the inclusion of the sociological position and upper-stem diameter in the taper modeling of Pinus taeda trees, subjected to different thinning regimes

The modeling of the taper and shape of the tree stem is of great interest to forest managers and can be carried out using different approaches. The objective of this study was to improve the accuracy of taper modeling, considering a methodology that combines generalization and calibration with an upper-stem diameter. An experiment was conducted with stands of Pinus taeda from southern Brazil that were unthinned and crown thinned at different levels. The destructive sampling was performed at age 30, accumulating the effect of the management regime over time. The model was developed in three parts: a) the Kozak variable exponent model was selected; b) the inclusion of variables was tested (sociological position, relative spacing index, thinning index, uniformity index, and site) in the exponent of the Kozak model of part “a”, allowing generalizations; c) upper-stem diameters at heights of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 m were tested to calibrate the part "b" model, using the algebraic restriction method. The inclusion of the sociological position in the model exponent and the calibration with the upper-stem diameter at the stem height of 6 m reduced the RMSE and the MAE by 3%, with respect to volume (m³). The reduction of the error was concentrated mainly in the lower-stem section, considered the most economically valuable part. The methodology developed uses information available from a forest inventory to compute the sociological position of the trees and from harvesting for a single upper-stem diameter. Although the equation has been developed for unthinned and crown thinned stands at different intensities of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), the extrapolation potential of the methodological approach is valid, making implementation feasible for other species and management alternatives.

Penerapan Sanksi Pidana Dalam Penegakan Upah Minimum Selama Masa Pandemi Covid 19

The increase in the minimum wage that occurs every year becomes a separate issue for employers because they have to prepare additional costs, because the minimum wage must be adhered to avoid criminal labor sanctions. The application of criminal sanctions violations of the minimum wage provisions into two sharp blades for employers, on the one hand meet the minimum wage provisions are considered burdensome amid tight business competition and decreased work productivity due to restriction policies from the government in order to cope with the covid-19 outbreak. Sociological position of employers higher and stronger than workers it is necessary to force power to protect it. Violation minimum wage provisions are absolute complaints. Enforcement of criminal sanctions against companies that pay workers wages below the minimum wage during the covid-19 period, it is necessary to protect workers by prioritizing the return of wages until in accordance with the provisions and settlement of the parties (restorative justice) and criminal sanctions are a last resort (ultimum remidium).

Buttigieg’s Method

Joseph Buttigieg’s introduction to his uncompleted edition of the Prison Notebooks is one of the best things ever written about Gramsci’s prison writings. The last section reproduces, with minimal changes, Buttigieg’s 1990 article “Gramsci’s Method,” and it has the same title. That title, however, is misleading, since what Buttigieg reconstructs is not so much Gramsci’s method of writing the notebooks as his own process, as editor, of reading them, which is far from being a factual report of how Gramsci “actually wrote.” It involves, instead, a set of interpretive hunches, which in turn presuppose a prior knowledge of all of Gramsci’s texts, without which it would not be possible to make the connections he makes between different topics or to rank them, to identify some – such as the critique of positivist sociology and the idea of the philosophy of praxis – as more important, more overarching than others. Symptomatic here is Buttigieg’s use of an apparently insignificant note, of just twenty words, “L’ossicino di Cuvier,” generally overlooked by Gramsci scholars, as a point of entry into a set of interconnected notes and from there to the whole intellectual edifice of the Prison Notebooks.