Social Artifacts Research Articles

The idea of society: the Spoken World Theory and the ontological conceptualization of society.

This article presents a new conceptualization of society with the ambition to sharpen thinking about social reality and to better understand how society relates to personhood. This exercise is framed in an attempt to develop the Spoken World Theory, inspired by the thinking of Rom Harré. It involves a radical rethink of the social ontology and is to be seen as an alternative to the traditional conceptualization of society as a social structure that is opposed to individual agency. The proposed alternative is based upon the disentanglement of four aspects of society along the Vygotskian public/private and individual/collective axes. As such, society can be said to manifest itself in four realms: (i) the world as we hear it: a worldwide and history-long ongoing web of conversations; (ii) the world as we see it: a set of materialized social artifacts, including a set of institutional facts; (iii) the world as we imagine it: individual umwelts or worldviews for each person based on appropriated knowledge and moral frameworks; and (iv) the world as we shape it: persons have the power to formulate intentions that they can bring to the conversational space or the space of artifacts. A major consequence of this conceptualization is that it no longer puts society outside human beings, nor that personality is only to be located inside persons. The proposed ontological framework allows us to speak in much clearer terms about how persons and society are entangled with each other in the sense that without the personhood of people, there can be no society, and that without society, people cannot have personhood. Both personhood and society are to be seen as two intertwined mechanisms that allow the individuals of the human species to complement the genetic basis of survival with a system of cultural resources that can be used for coping with everyday life. The article ends with a discussion of the practical implications of social theorizing.

The Probable Revolution

Abstract On April 25, 1974, everyday Portuguese citizens transformed a military coup into collective popular resistance, thus initiating a revolutionary process that marked an end to the Estado Novo. Image-makers, aware of the historical event unraveling in plain view, occupied public plazas and roamed city avenues to document a popular uprising that marked a clear end to Portugal’s Fascist project. In this impetus to record radical change, film and its associated technologies promised not only to document, capture, and freeze history in the making but also to make it material, to transform the push and pull of the revolutionary project into something that could be preserved and kept. The article questions the notion that digitization produces a straightforward dematerialization of the analogue print by proposing the concept of digital (im)materiality. This (im)materiality, it argues, not only allows the transformation of revolutionary images into heritage but also makes possible their (re)activation in ways that both speak to the past and reinvent the future. Attending to the (im)materiality of Portuguese militant cinema makes it possible to approach these images not as texts to be interpreted but as social artifacts through which meaning, knowledge, and memories are made. Following Morgan Adamson’s call to consider how “images of resistance endure” and how “enduring images resist,” the article traces the (im)materiality of Portugal’s revolutionary filmic images with the aim of thinking across temporalities. So while, on one hand. the text unpacks how images of the Portuguese Revolution were produced and, subsequently, transformed into heritage, it also reflects on the author’s own engagement with the Revolution’s visual archives and her co-direction of the film essay A revolução (é) provável (The Revolution [Is] Probable, 2022), where splicing, cutting, and juxtaposing digitized images makes it possible to interrogate the material texture of history while also producing other forms or knowledge and knowing.

Examining the link between social artifacts, solvability factors and case outcomes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing body of research literature on case clearance levels. Through a social artifact framework, the authors seek to understand the role that documentation of key solvability factors in investigative reports plays in shaping case clearance outcomes.Design/methodology/approachFor this study, 166 non-fatal shooting investigative case files were obtained from a local mid-sized urban police department and coded to assess whether investigators identified key solvability characteristics for non-fatal shooting incidents. Using a logistic regression, the authors assessed the extent that investigative characteristics mentioned in case files were associated with the odds that the case was cleared by arrest.FindingsThe findings from this study indicate that investigative case files as a data source are exceedingly unreliable. Investigators do not consistently document investigative practices and intelligence. And those that are consistently documented are a part of institutionalized practices that are unique to their corresponding police department.Originality/valueThis study is original in that it uses a social artifact framework to sharpen the focus on the role that the effective documentation of critical evidence plays in leading to arrests in gun violence cases.

Songs as a Subject of Sociological Enquiry: Reflections from Bhupen Hazarika’s Compositions

Music is a very significant cultural artefact of any society. Music is not merely a sum of different sounds and tonal arrangements, presented in a way to soothe the human ear and mind. Rather, much like other cultural arte facts, music/songs are potent areas of sociological analysis. ‘Songs’ or music in general is not independent from the social dynamics of the one who carves it/them - both as a reflection of his/her societal location and as a contribution towards it. Moreover, studying music as a social artefact can aid in uncovering complexities of human culture, organization, politics and identity.

How cultural framing can bias our beliefs about robots and artificial intelligence.

Clark and Fischer argue that humans treat social artifacts as depictions. In contrast, theories of distributed cognition suggest that there is no clear line separating artifacts from agents, and artifacts can possess agency. The difference is likely a result of cultural framing. As technology and artificial intelligence grow more sophisticated, the distinction between depiction and agency will blur.

Girl Students' Attitude towards Abortion and Abortion Services in Nepal

Varieties of social artifacts affect attitudes of adolescent girls towards abortion and abortion services in Nepal. Prevalence of Hindu religious beliefs and traditional socio-cultural norms and values in the existing Nepalese societies, people feel much uncomfortable in the performance of abortion among adolescents. This study explores the attitude of adolescent girl students in our community schools regarding the aforementioned services. The study mainly bases on primary data gained from 250 adolescent girl students of our community schools. It also shows the picture regarding attitude towards abortion and its services of the adolescent's girl students. For such a multi-cultural and religious nation, the traditional values, norms and beliefs have been affecting to perform the services. The result exhibits that almost 61 percent of the respondents trust the existing socio-cultural norms and values that affect the attitude towards abortion and its services, while 57 percent of them believe religious norms and beliefs affect the services. In the same way, only 43 percent of the respondents show confidence in prevailing abortion facilities. This shows that majority of the respondents do not believe on the existing abortion services. A large number of the participants respond that post abortion care is necessary after performing abortion. However, about 74 percent of the respondents believe unnecessary pregnancies should be terminated adopting safety measures rather than letting them to give birth. Resultantly, this study leads us, due to the effects of modernization, globalization and mechanization; adolescent girls in Nepal are in the growing tendency to take abortion performances positively. For this, various activities like awareness campaign, curricula, training and seminar, and media campaign to the marginalized and underprivileged sections work for the decrease of abortion ignorance.

Proactive contract theory in the context of corporate sustainability due diligence

The article discusses how proactive contract theory could be used to translate the ambitious objectives of the European Commission's current draft proposal on corporate sustainability due diligence into actual business practices in complex value chains and networks. Proactive contract theory regards contracts as legal, economic, managerial and social artefacts that should be designed to prevent undesirable results and promote favourable outcomes. Moreover, the theory highlights the need for multiprofessional collaboration and user-centricity in contract design. Based on these principles, we introduce four ways to promote corporate sustainability due diligence in supply contracts via proactive contracting: turning from one-sided safeguarding towards shared responsibility and collaboration, incentivizing responsible and sustainable business practices via promotive contract clauses, engaging end users in the contract design process and preventing disputes.

The treatment of the issue and the target group in sexual and reproductive health policy

This writing is an exercise of reflection on the way policy issues and policy target groups are addressed during the policy design process. Some theoretical approaches, from the cognitive realms of the policy studies, suggest that issues and targets’ treatment of public policies depends on a series of cognitive and socially constructed aspects that interfere in the design as it is a process handled by actors. The proposed written discusses sexual health and reproductive rights as a subfield of policies as well as on trans people as examples of a policy issue and target groups that depict the way in which social artifacts of making sense of the world and cognitive processes such as framing could affect the development of the policy and the benefits for a group of people.

Emergence of false realities about the concept of “Silaturrahim”: an academic social construction perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness among tourism and business scholars and professionals to avoid using socially constructed academic artifacts (such as “Silaturrahim”), which do not describe their real meanings but reflect false realities constructed by scholars over a period of time. In the last decade, academic research on identifying false information has played a significant role to raise awareness among electronic and social media users so that they may distinguish between false and true reality. In contrast, studies on misleading devices, such as false information reporting and citations in published academic literature, and their pejorative consequences are rare and scant. This paper, therefore, viewed the underexamined and relatively obscure issues of false information reporting and citations in published business and tourism research by highlighting a wrongly perceived concept “Silaturrahim” from the theoretical lens of social constructionism. It has been established that factors like false information, false information citation chains and falsely attributed meanings of academic artifacts pave the way for myths and urban legends which in turn formulate socially constructed academic artifacts. These artifacts are impulsively entrusted by the academic community but, in reality, their meanings are socially constructed, therefore, represent false realities. This paper calls the experts to invest their time and efforts to further explore the proposed concepts of “academic social construction” and “academic social artifacts.” Lastly, it is suggested to develop strategies to minimize or eradicate the dreadful psychological impacts of “academic social construction” on academic communities.

REPRESENTATION OF MENTAL PROCESSES AND THE USE OF ARTEFACTS IN STRUCTURING SPANISH LANGUAGE SENTENCES

According to Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky, 1978), the mental function can be enhanced through the process of mediation of language or cultural artefacts. This theory was based on the field of study that focuses on the concept of ‘collaboration’ with experts, peers or those who are more knowledgeable in the Proximal Development Zone (ZPD) to improve students' abilities. Most studies that involve the concept of ZPD are more focused on collaboration/effectiveness of interaction with experts or peers. The effectiveness of these collaborations is also often measured by pre-post test research designs. However, the mental activity within the ZPD that displays the use of artefacts during the writing process to result in the final text resulting from this collaboration is rarely demonstrated. Even in scenarios where students are learning a foreign language in Malaysia (especially Spanish), most of the time they were able to perform written assignments at their convenience and without the help of an expert or teacher. How students solve lexical and syntactic problems while structuring Spanish sentences without the presence of an expert during the sentence structuring process is a matter that is rarely studied. This study focuses on mental processes that display the use of artefacts that occur in ZPD during the Spanish writing process. Using the TAP (Think Aloud Protocol) method, the findings not only was able to display the ways to use the artefacts but also able to show representations of the mental process of lexical and syntactic acquiring activities. This study displays several forms of the use of language artefacts and social artefacts to solve lexical and syntactic problems encountered while structuring Spanish sentences. These findings also provide pedagogical implications in the teaching of foreign languages ​​such as Spanish.

Global by the Seaside

In a small coastal vacation community heavily dependent upon foreign workers, in-depth interviews with employers, participant observations, and an analysis of social artifacts evidence patterns of neo-assimilation, in the form of fused cuisine on menus, altered attitudes towards native-born workers among employers, and in a small number of cases, intermarriage. Findings also illustrate employer engagement with the culture of their workers and a sophisticated understanding of the global dynamics of international migration and work.

Ethical-Reparative Reconfigurations of the Literary Today

This essay aims to debate the evidence of an ethical-reparative function for literature and literary studies today. Therefore, it is divided into two fundamental moments, two argumentative channels that, without a totalizing intention, point out the general perspective of the current, changing, stuation. On the one hand, the literature of the 20th century is presented through the image of a supposed negativity or radical intransitivity, capable of “undoing the work” in its “aesthetics of suppression.” On the other hand, from an introductory debate around some of the places of transitivity envisioned for literature at the beginning of the 21th century, the literary is now conceived as an ethical-reparative field, responsible, among others, for “giving visibility,” “remembering,” “repairing damage,” “comforting,” etc. This transition results in a notion of growing discomfort in relation to social artifacts that, even in the artistic field, cannot be reconciled with a utilitarianism that cannot preserve anything intact, not even literature.

How Robots’ Unintentional Metacommunication Affects Human–Robot Interactions. A Systemic Approach

In this paper, we theoretically address the relevance of unintentional and inconsistent interactional elements in human–robot interactions. We argue that elements failing, or poorly succeeding, to reproduce a humanlike interaction create significant consequences in human–robot relational patterns and may affect human–human relations. When considering social interactions as systems, the absence of a precise interactional element produces a general reshaping of the interactional pattern, eventually generating new types of interactional settings. As an instance of this dynamic, we study the absence of metacommunicative abilities in social artifacts. Then, we analyze the pragmatic consequences of the aforementioned absence through the lens of Paul Watzlawick’s interactionist theory. We suggest that a fixed complementary interactional setting may be produced because of the asymmetric understanding, between robots and humans, of metacommunication. We highlight the psychological implications of this interactional asymmetry within Jessica Benjamin’s concept of “mutual recognition”. Finally, we point out the possible shift of dysfunctional interactional patterns from human–robot interactions to human–human ones.

Balance environmental obligations and socio-economic compulsion; the case of Kadamaian’s indigenous community proficiency needs

The community of Kadamaian is expected to have heightened sense of environmental and biodiversity awareness and an obligation towards protection and conservation since the community occupies an area adjacent to Sabah’s premier World Heritage Site i.e. Kinabalu Park. Of course, with support from the Sabah government, Kadamaian's community is compelled to exploit their natural surroundings as primary resources to better their socio-economic position to be at par with other communities elsewhere in Sabah. Will Kadamaian’s community be able to balance the obligation and the compulsion to exploit? An empirical study in a scientific expedition that was carried out in late 2019 at Kadamaian-Kota Belud answers this question. The unit of analysis in this study is the social relationship between Kadamaian’s community and its social artifacts. The documentation technique, direct observation technique and the interview technique were used to collect data, while data analysis was carried out according to the structuration theory using the triangulation method. The findings of this study showed the existence of three (3) interdependent social relationships that influenced Kadamaian’s community strive to balance environmental and socio-economic issues. While these relationships have somewhat contributed to the establishment of a non-governmental organization i.e. Kadamaian Biocultural Protocol Committee that focused on the environmental obligation of Kadamaian’s community, other small enterprising network focused on socio-economic compulsion. The implication of these relationships is discussed in the article.

International technology transfer through projects: A social construction of technology perspective

Despite the use of projects as vehicles for international technology transfer for over five decades, the results have been rather underwhelming. The consistent failure to produce the desired outcomes highlights a simplistic and inaccurate view of technology and its transfer that also fails to incorporate the practical complexity of the process in project settings. Using the social construction of technology lens, this paper contributes a complementary understanding of what occurs in a project-based attempt to transfer technology by focusing upon the nature of technology, the roles actors play, social artefacts, and the wider context. Focusing upon the case of the development of a new monolithic formwork technology on a mass housing project in Ghana, the analysis shows how introducing new technology can have far-reaching implications for the management of projects in terms of shaping project routines, production techniques, and end-deliverables. Consequently, the need for closer examination of the conceptual misnomer of technology transfer in project settings is highlighted, and the managerial implications are identified.

Remembering and forgetting: using photographs as social artefacts in an aged care setting

Visual methodologies employed within qualitative research projects can add deep insight and reflexivity to interview or observational data and are an ideal means to facilitate storytelling, reminiscence and encourage socialisation. This paper draws upon research using photography as a dual-purpose data collection and data dissemination tool within a residential aged care environment and explores the role they can play in resident socialisation and wellbeing in institutionalised settings. Using multiple lens-based methods, the research examined how photographs can act as artefacts of homeless and the ways this can contribute to the construction of identity and well-being post-transition to care. By exploring how photographs demarcate spaces and invoke memory, the work addresses how photographs can assist with the transition from the resident’s home environment to the aged care space. Whilst the dominant method employed was Photo Elicitation, collaborative and socially engaged photographic practices were also employed using participatory methods to create new photographic memories, which were then displayed and discussed publicly. This paper will report on and illustrate the effectiveness of photographic methods within institutionalised spaces, the ways in which it can give agency to the residents and the role of the researcher in visual research practices.

Exploring technological instantiation of regulatory practices in entangled financial markets

The literature on the sociology of financial markets and institutional theory promotes concepts of field, networks, performativity, agencement and financial entropy. This study builds a conceptual model of technological instantiation of regulatory practices in financial markets. We observe how asset management firms instantiate technology as a material and social artefact to regulate the actions and behaviour of human agents. The structural-agency divide reveals the coercive role of regulators who impose stringent compliance practices on financial organizations by embedding formal rules and regulations in the software. Socio-technical conditions show how human agents interpret and apply these rules to circumvent formal regulatory policies and practices. Context-specific analysis shows technological performativity and agencement co-exist in financial fields that are becoming more entangled and fragmented. Regulators respond with more complex mandates to reduce entropy in financial markets characterized by extreme volatility and instability.

Karpik in the Bottle: Can Judgment Devices Explain the Demand for Fine Wine?

Processes of valuation and evaluation are especially complex and uncertain in markets for unique products. Consider the purchase of a bottle of fine wine. Each wine was produced in a certain region, on a particular soil, by a famous wine producer, employing methods handed down for centuries. How can consumers compare unique products in order to make a choice? How is a market for singular products possible? According to Lucien Karpik’s economics of singularities, such markets necessarily rely on social actors and artifacts providing knowledge on how to compare unique products, called judgment devices. To systematically assess the explanatory contribution of Karpik’s approach, this paper empirically tests fundamental propositions of the economics of singularities in a quantitative framework, examining the case of the demand for fine wine. The analysis provides ample support for Karpik’s theory. First, wine demand is substantially correlated with the use of judgment devices. Second, the effects of judgment devices on product demand cannot be explained by information deficits, in line with the theoretical arguments. However, the analysis also reveals deviations from the theoretical expectations. Certain judgment devices prove more important for the demand for higher priced wines than predicted, whereas others play a more minor role. Furthermore, the use of judgment devices is substantially linked to social distinction, something Karpik’s theory overlooks.

Capitalising on water soft paths: new futures for urban communities

ABSTRACT As social artefacts born out of social and economic aspirations and ideologies, the design and application of critical infrastructures can meaningfully engage or alienate the everyday user; be complicit to the extractive economy or facilitate its sustainable extraction and regeneration; and generate outcomes that are productive for local human capital and community development or otherwise. This study applies a “soft path” interpretation of the sociality of water infrastructures in local community contexts. It examines how “water soft paths” – water infrastructures and shared systems intentionally designed to promote sustainable water consumption and production – can be delivered with and through local community participation, and in turn, facilitate community development as well as other socially productive and just outcomes. From a cross-case analysis of five global cases of water soft path implementations, numerous far-reaching benefits of the water soft path approach were discovered. Accruing to it were the attainment of pro-ecological outcomes, human capital creation, community identity building, improved social equity and justice; and multi-agency partnerships. The study thus prompts critical reconsideration of dominant planning philosophies and practice, and proposes a practical approach for instituting creative, user-centric forms of community-level urban planning.

Learning about construction behaviour from observing an artefact: can experience with conspecifics aid in artefact recognition?

Observation of or interaction with the enduring products of behaviour, called 'social artefacts' (e.g. an abandoned nest) is a potential source of social information. To learn from an artefact, that artefact needs to be recognized as the product of a behaviour that can provide relevant information (i.e. the artefact should be recognized as a nest). We used zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to experimentally test whether observing a conspecific using a nest facilitates recognition of a future artefact as a source of social information. We manipulated the opportunity to form an association between a conspecific and their nest: half the subjects observed a pair of birds incubating eggs in a nest, the control subjects did not get this opportunity. Then, subjects observed an artefact made of their non-preferred colour and finally were allowed to build a nest. We predicted that the subjects given the opportunity to associate a nest with conspecifics would copy the colour of the artefact (i.e. use social information). We found that subjects who had the opportunity to learn what a nest is used social information obtained from the artefact by increasing their use of the artefact-material colour after artefact observation, while control birds did not. These data suggest that forming an association between conspecifics and their nest facilitates recognition of an artefact as a nest affecting how first-time builders use social information. This finding is important because it demonstrates that social learning is not limited to observing behaviour, but rather inferring behaviour from an artefact.