Social Inertia Research Articles

Less diversity but higher satisfaction: An intelligent product configuration method for type-decreased mass customization

In the industrial 4.0 era, the development of an intelligent manufacturing business model is driven by satisfying customer needs and intelligent algorithms. Enterprises are desirous of adapting a product to the personalized needs of customers to the maximum possible extent. Thus, they increase production configuration diversity, and this leads to increased cost and less efficiency. In order to improve the economy and efficiency of production, this paper proposes an intelligent type-decreased mass customized product configuration method with an improved fuzzy clustering algorithm that combines the Kano’s model and social inertia. The Kano’s model is improved, and social inertia is introduced into the product configuration to adapt to customer psychology and gain better configuration results. We apply this intelligent proposed algorithm to the design of a tablet PC and verify that the improved algorithm is operable and effective in dealing with customer demands and decreases in the variety of products.

Social Inertia: the Methodological Potential of the Concept for the Study of Traditional Eastern Societies

Social Inertia: the Methodological Potential of the Concept for the Study of Traditional Eastern Societies

Frugality, desire and sustainability

El concepto de frugalidad empieza a aparecer en algunos ámbitos críticos con nuestra forma de vida actual. Este concepto contiene una significación que comporta un choque con la inercia económica, social y cultural en la que hemos vivido desde los albores del capitalismo. En el presente artículo analizaremos con detalle tal concepto. Partiendo de la filología y pasando por la filosofía llegaremos a la conclusión que, frente al denostado concepto de austeridad, la frugalidad representa algo más que una actitud personal, representa el germen de una transformación cultural, necesaria para encaminar los retos de sostenibilidad que la humanidad tiene ante sí hoy en día.

Sociocultural Parameters of Demonstrative Consumption in Russian Society: The Effect of Social Inertia

The article deals with demonstrative consumption in modern Russian society; the field of research is determined by the justification of the sociocultural parameters of this type of consumption in the context of addressing the inertial component of sociocultural transformations in modern Russia. The orientation to consumption (consumerism), which has become quite common in Russian society, despite its inconsistency with the sociocultural code and mentality of Russians, threatens to be transformed into a space of life-meaning values (Gryshai, et al., 2018), filling the current vacuum with the values of consumerism, and this has already confirmation in the form of indicators and attitudes for life goals and plans clearly correlated with consumption strategies and values, fixed in the mass consciousness, primarily of youth. Recognizing the objectivity of the spread of mass culture and consumer ideology in the era of globalization, one should be aware of the dangers and risks of this process, which threatens the destruction of the sociocultural space of Russian society and the macrocosm of sociocultural dynamics. Based on the results of the analysis, the article states that the format of the consumer trajectory of the sociocultural dynamics of Russian society with a pronounced demonstrative component is a demonstration of the logic and trajectory of crisis sociocultural development that does not fit into the trajectory historically formed and characterized by the priority of spiritual values. However, this atypical for the Russian society in the past, consumer trajectory of development is a consequence of social and cultural transformation of modern Russia, in which the destruction of the space of meanings and ideological orientations and failed democratic transition updated the issue of the return to the past (imperial and Soviet - in general, sovereign) socio-cultural tradition of society development with relevant archetypes of mass consciousness and culture. This reversal to the “past” becomes a source of additional risk factors in the context of a significantly changed Russian reality, consolidation of the ideology of consumerism with a clearly expressed demonstrative component in the system of meaningful life values of Russians, and therefore social and philosophical reflection of other ways out of large-scale and deep sociocultural crisis of Russian society.

Citizenship in Multicultural Communities in the South of Russia

The study deals with the analysis of citizenship as a perception, value, and attitude in mental programs of various social groups, determining their civic behavior in regional communities in the south of Russia. Characteristic aspects of citizenship as an attitude in the structure of mental programs determine civic practices involving the participation of respondents in civic initiatives and resolution of social problems. The methodological basis of the study of citizenship in regional communities in the south of Russia consists of a multidisciplinary approach that allows using information that was obtained in various fields of scientific knowledge. The multidimensional methodological construct of social research of the structure of mental programs as a set of perceptions, values, and attitudes that determine the civic engagement of various social groups is methodologically important for the study of characteristic aspects of citizenship. Findings of social research into perceptions of citizenship established in regional communities in the south of Russia, serve as an empirical basis. In the course of the study, the authors conclude that regional communities in the south of Russia are lacking a stable attitude towards civic participation, which allows drawing a conclusion about the low level of formedness of the culture of civic participation. The reason for social inertia consists of, first, the lack of belief in the effectiveness of joint civic activity in the majority of the population, second, in the lack of social trust in the regions of the South of Russia. Findings obtained allow us to understand the reasons for the low level of development of civic engagement in regional communities, which stem from etatist and paternalistic structures of mental programs impeding the formation of civic society institutions in multi-ethnic regions of the South of Russia.

Neo-Institutional and Behavioral Concept of Labor Productivity

The presented study examines the neo-institutional and behavioral concept of labor productivity using an interdisciplinary approach.Aim. The study aims to conduct an empirical assessment of labor productivity using the fundamental provisions of the neo-institutional and behavioral economic theory.Tasks. The authors determine the attitude of workers to their labor productivity and analyze the results of a statistical sample survey using an interdisciplinary approach.Methods. This study uses analytical and content research methods, including a sample survey of workers, the results of which are processed using economic, statistical, and mathematical methods. Results. The surveyed workers show signs of labor (economic) and social inertia, which may be due to the dominance of informal institutions over the perception of labor and low efficiency of formal norms and rules that regulate labor relations in modern society. The authors propose a reformation of the institutions that provide benefits (including pension and medical benefits) to the working population and the citizens who do not declare income officially. This proposal is based on the assumption that greater responsibility of workers for their future improves the efficiency and effectiveness of their labor. The obtained results and conclusions presented in the study can be used in the development of federal and regional socio-economic programs and in the creation of personified approaches to employee motivation in organizations and enterprises in the real and financial sector of the economy.Conclusions. Labor productivity should be viewed not only as a result of the labor activity of workers, but also as the ability of an individual to use knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve top performance, including in areas that ensure the most equitable distribution of socio-economic benefits.

The contrasting roles of science and technology in environmental challenges

Sustainable development is widely recognized as an existential challenge. To address it, humanity needs to change its ways. However, people seem slow to act, not always understanding and often denying environmental imperatives, creating substantial social and psychological barriers. Social inertia and denial have been allegedly amplified by a public discourse increasingly distrustful of science. But is this discourse a rejection of science or an erosion of trust in how science is applied? The paper examines the main differences between environmental science and technology, reviews how the wider science-technology convergence has affected them and evaluates potential implications for sustainability challenges. We question whether the “convergence” between environmental science and technology, could be behind the growing public dissatisfaction and distrust of environmental science and policies. Although environmental science plays a role in enabling understanding and communicating complexity, technology requires political, social and economic skills, beyond conventional disciplinary expertise. To avoid putting academic freedom at risk, environmental technologists, a new breed of professionals, should have a clear understanding of scientific capacity and uncertainty and be able to engage with stakeholders, policy makers and the public to design integrated, interdisciplinary and holistic solutions, and also better define the many environmental problems we face.

Social surfing as a model of youth lifestyle

Inspired by Z. Bauman’s ideas this empirical study attempts to analyze the structure and logic of a way of life corresponding to the “liquid modernity” emerging both in Western countries and modern Russia. It is described by the metaphor of social surfing. One of the key characteristics of this way of life, mainly typical for young people, is overcoming the effect of social inertia (individual path dependency) in all spheres: education, labor market, professional activities, housing strategy, leisure, and private life. Following the logic of Grounded Theory and using a series of biographical semi-structured interviews with residents of large cities, mostly aged 17 to 35 years, the author constructs a model of social surfing as a way of life. The theoretical sample primarily consists of informants demonstrating the elements of the lifestyle under consideration (social surfers). Such a nature of the sample precludes generalizations applicable to the entire Russian youth. The social surfing model consists of two main blocks: (a) the logic of social surfing in different spheres of life, and (b) the factors that increase the probability of choosing such a lifestyle. The model of social surfing includes several levels that permeate all spheres: 1) macro-level institutional shifts (flexibilization of structures), 2) patterns of social surfers’ practices, and 3) surfer’s personal characteristics.

Avoiding cultural trauma: climate change and social inertia

ABSTRACTThe failure of societies to respond in a concerted, meaningful way to climate change is a core concern of the social science climate literature. Existing explanations of social inertia display little coherence. Here, a theoretical approach is suggested that integrates disparate perspectives on social inertia regarding climate change. Climate change constitutes a potential cultural trauma. The threat of cultural trauma is met with resistance and attempts to restore and maintain the status quo. Thus, efforts to avoid large-scale social changes associated with climate change constitute an effort to avoid cultural trauma, and result in social inertia regarding climate change at individual, institutional, and societal levels. Existing approaches to social inertia are reviewed. An intellectual framework utilizing the work of Pierre Bourdieu is proposed to integrate these different levels of social interaction. Social processes that maintain social order and thus avoid cultural trauma create social inertia regarding climate change.

Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture: How do we change our profession? Using the lens of behavioural economics to improve evidence-based practice in speech-language pathology

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a well-accepted theoretical framework around which speech-language pathologists strive to build their clinical decisions. The profession’s conceptualisation of EBP has been evolving over the last 20 years with the practice of EBP now needing to balance research evidence, clinical data and informed patient choices. However, although EBP is not a new concept, as a profession, we seem to be no closer to closing the gap between research evidence and practice than we were at the start of the movement toward EBP in the late 1990s. This paper examines why speech-language pathologists find it difficult to change our own practice when we are experts in changing the behaviour of others. Using the lens of behavioural economics to examine the heuristics and cognitive processes which facilitate and inhibit change, the paper explores research showing how inconsistency of belief and action, or cognitive dissonance, is inevitable unless we act reflectively instead of automatically. The paper argues that heuristics that prevent us changing our practice toward EBP include the sunk cost fallacy, loss aversion, social desirability bias, choice overload and inertia. These automatic cognitive processes work to inhibit change and may partially account for the slow translation of research into practice. Fortunately, understanding and using other heuristics such as the framing effect, reciprocity, social proof, consistency and commitment may help us to understand our own behaviour as speech-language pathologists and help the profession, and those we work with, move towards EBP.

Aktéři, struktury a šance v transformaci společnosti

The aim of the article is to give a view of the major sociological dilemma of agency versus structure as a prism of the transformation processes in society after the demise of „real socialism“. It concludes that the depth of the systemic transformations sets general theoretical questions in a clearer context. Attention is devoted to the general public, social classes and specific socio-economic strata as the agents of social inertia and change (e.g. with a view to the processes of the legitimisation of intervention in property relations). In this context the article brings together various empirical and conceptual reflections on the one hand, and the instruments or consequences of intervention on Ihe other. It considers the sources and effects of solidarity value orientations, practical limitations in entrepreneurial careers, the process of formation of „proto ownership“ behaviour and also, for example, the differential influence of institutionalised forms of public pressure on the development of what is known as „major“ and „small-scale“ enterprise. The founding acts of the transformations are considered through the optic of the reconstruction of the class structure, and Ihe theoretical sources of the contemporary picture of social organisation are „tested“ especially with regard to questions of structurally instituted responsibility as the counterpart of the (class) conflict that is usually stressed. The conclusion draws attention to the consequences of a certain inconsistency in the social stratification in a real social context (of enterprises, above all) for the transfer of patterns of behaviour and transformation as a whole.

The Concept of Convergent Development of Rural Areas of the Russian Federation

The article examines approaches to solving the problem of overcoming the depressiveness of Russian rural areas, increasing social differentiation and territorial disintegration, which becomes the most important factor hampering the country's socio-economic development. The main factors inhibiting the development of rural areas and contributing to the deepening of the systemic crisis of the Russian village are examined. The urgency of forming an effective mechanism for overcoming economic and social inertia in rural areas, responding to modern challenges and risks, is substantiated.

Territory size decreases minimally with increasing food abundance in stream salmonids: Implications for population regulation.

How the local density of territorial animals responds to changes in food abundance will depend on the flexibility of territory size. Quantitative estimates of territory size over a broad range of food abundance are relatively rare because of the difficulty of measuring food abundance in the wild. Stream salmonids are an ideal model system for investigating flexibility in territory size, because food abundance can be quantified in the field and manipulated in the laboratory. We conducted a meta-analysis to test whether territory size decreases with increasing food abundance, and a mixed model analysis to test among three competing predictions: with increasing food abundance, territory size will be (1) fixed-the slope of a regression of log territory size vs. log food abundance=0; (2) flexible and decreasing, as if individuals are defending a fixed amount of food-a slope=-1; and (3) initially compressible, but with an asymptotic minimum size-a slope between 0 and -1. We collected data from 16 studies that manipulated or measured food abundance while monitoring changes in territory size of young-of-the-year salmonids; 10 were experimental laboratory studies, whereas six were observational field studies. Overall, territory size decreased significantly with increasing food abundance; the weighted average correlation coefficient was -0.31. However, the estimated slope of the relationship between log territory size and log food abundance was only -0.23, significantly different from 0, and also significantly shallower than -1. Our estimated slope suggests that attempts to increase the density of territorial salmonids by increasing food abundance and reducing territory size will be inefficient; a 20-fold increase in food abundance would be required to double population density. Our analysis may also have implications for other species with a territorial mosaic social system-i.e. contiguous territories. In these social systems, social inertia will dampen any effects of changes in food abundance on the local density of settlers, compared to non-territorial species or those with non-contiguous territories.

Harnessing social class, taste and gender for more effective policies

ABSTRACTThis paper explores why domestic energy policies, thermal retrofitting and the operation of domestic energy-efficient technologies are often met with social inertia in practice. Two sets of interview data – UK homeowners who have retrofitted their property and social housing tenants living in energy-efficient housing – reveal a very different mix of habits, skills and attitudes regarding domestic heating, rooted in socio-economic background and further determined by tenure. Middle-class homeowners’ retrofit design were part of their social and economic capital and self-expression of taste. These aspirational retrofits were characterized by comfort, conspicuous consumption and do-it-yourself (DIY) activities. Policy should strengthen these ‘paths of least resistance’ by providing resources to harness the taste-motivated retrofit stream. In contrast, the less-privileged tenant group struggled with the basic interaction with new technologies imposed on them and need more tailor-made paths: simpler heating controls; a simpler manual for some; and practical measures such as burglar-proof natural ventilation. The paper explores how social stratification and status-led consumption can be brought into understandings of energy retrofitting practices. Reflecting on gender in such contexts could also help to overcome exclusion practices and stereotyping, and there are market opportunities for retrofit packages to engage women and harness their emerging interest in DIY.

An Abstract Model of Historical Processes

A theoretical model is presented which provides a way to simulate, at a very abstract level, power struggles in the social world. In the model, agents can benet or harm each other, to varying degrees and with diering levels of inuence. The agents interact over time, using the power they have to try to get more of it, while being constrained in their strategic choices by social inertia. The outcomes of the model are probabilistic. More research is needed to determine whether the model has any empirical validity.

The Emergent Properties of Conspecific Attraction Can Limit a Species' Ability to Track Environmental Change.

Multiple biotic, abiotic, and evolutionary constraints interact to determine a species' range. However, most species are not present in all suitable and accessible locations. Dispersal ability may explain why many species do not occupy all suitable habitat, but highly mobile species also exhibit a mismatch. Habitat selection behavior where individuals are site faithful and settle near conspecifics could create a social pressure that make a species' geographic range resistant to change. We investigated this possibility by using an individual-based model of habitat selection where habitat quality moved each year. Our model demonstrated the benefits of conspecific attraction in relatively stable environments and its detrimental influence when habitat quality shifted rapidly. These results were most apparent when adult survival was high, because site fidelity led to more individuals occupying poor-quality habitat areas as habitat quality changed. These individuals attracted other dispersing individuals, thereby decreasing the ability to track shifts in habitat quality, which we refer to as "social inertia." Consequently, social inertia may arise for species that exhibit site fidelity and conspecific attraction, which may have conservation implications in light of climate change and widespread alteration of natural habitats.

Функционирование менталитета в обществе: социокультурная гипотеза

Category of mentality has additional heuristic capabilities
 as compared to traditional categories of the mental life. Firstly, it
 serves as an integral characteristic of the uniqueness of the man’s
 mental world, and secondly, gives an understanding of the specific
 type of perception of the world by the subject, thirdly, it explains
 the distinct way of subject’s activity – his behavior, communication,
 performance. Because the mentality determines the mode of activity
 of a social group or an individual; the human activity orientation
 and it’s specificity, so the mentality can be interpreted as a core for
 the group and personal culture, also as a strategic cultural program
 of the subject. One of the basic clashes of society has the form of
 a contradiction between the mentality, containing new cultural
 forms, and the social relations. In the course of the individual
 cultural creativity development as a response to the multiple challenges
 of history, new mental characteristics are generated in the
 mentality of the intellectual elite representatives. They represent
 innovative programs of human being activity – performance, behavior,
 communication. The new mental characteristics spread in
 society and become components of group mentalities. This accrued
 contradiction between the mass mentality and the old social relations
 generates a constructive tension; negotiation the tension
 through the reproductive activity of subjects can establish the more
 progressive social relations. Old elements of mentality, in turn,
 inherent social inertia and conservatism. They can obstruct the new
 social relations establishment. Therefore, mentality has the contradictory
 nature, embodying the dual opposition of tradition and
 innovation. In the same time mentality is a social progress stimulating
 factor, and a factor that holds back excessively large and excessively
 rapid social changes. There is a difference between the mentality
 of the creators of innovative cultural meanings and the mentality
 of the masses. In the mentality of the creators that make up
 the intelligent elite of the society, the innovational component is
 more intense than the traditional. In the mentality of the masses
 is vice versa - the traditional component dominates over the innovational.
 There are many driving motives of the society development:
 changes in a way of material production, in the culture in
 general and in education in particular, in engineering, in science.
 But the most significant force, apparently, displays the changes in
 mentality that generate new forms of reproductive activity of the
 subject in the economic, political, social and mental spheres.

Political inertia and social acceleration

There is a complicated relation between social and political inertia – the failure of institutions to respond adequately to social, technological and environmental change – and social acceleration – the tendency of social change to go faster and faster. Social stasis and acceleration are not simply opposed but also causally related. This article contrasts two theories of political and social inertia. Francis Fukuyama argues that political inertia is a result of a cognitive and institutional rigidity which is ultimately grounded in human nature, and that therefore inertia is a feature inherent in political systems. Hartmut Rosa, by contrast, sees inertia as a specifically modern phenomenon, which is the result of the inability of political institutions to cope with the accelerating rate of change in other social systems. It will be argued that a broad approach combining historical, institutional and normative perspectives is needed to explain political inertia.

An Abstract Model of Historical Processes

A game theoretic model is presented which attempts to simulate, at a very abstract level, power struggles in the social world. In the model, agents can benefit or harm each other, to varying degrees and with differing levels of influence. The agents play a dynamic, noncooperative, perfect information game where the goal is to maximize payoffs based on positional utility and intertemporal preference, while being constrained by social inertia. Agents use the power they have in order to get more of it, both in an absolute and relative sense. More research is needed to assess the model’s empirical validity.

Противодействие коррупции: социально-правовой аспект

The article covers the range of issues on the efficiency of combating corruption from the perspective of taking into account the role of social perception of legal norms. The author lays emphasis on the perception of corruptive relations as an object of legal pressure, and the law, as means for the implementation of the anti-corruption policy through their social nature. The author acknowledges the issuance of specialized laws and regulations to be a restricted measure, and states the need in ensuring effectiveness of the institutionalized anti-corruption norms. In this respect the author introduces the concept of social reality as a key attribute necessary to ensure the efficiency of law-making and implementation of law-enforcement processes. The article pays special attention to the problems of appearance of social alienation and formation of a consumer society, which are very topical for modern Russia. Besides, as part of the identified range of issues, the author examines taking into account of structural specific characteristics of the existing society, and the factor of social consciousness inertia which collectively considerably influence the efficiency of legal anti-corruption initiatives.