Socio-political Perspective Research Articles

Hundun’s Mistake: Satire and Sanity in the Zhuangzi

This paper discusses various interpretations of the narrative of Hundun’s death which concludes the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi . First, it recapitulates readings of the story from mythological and medicinal as well as from metaphysical and moral perspectives. Then it presents a reading of the story as a satirical parody of failed Confucian and Daoist sages. It is argued that in this way, too, the story addresses medicinal issues of sanity and insanity, albeit from a sociopolitical perspective, and provides insights into a philosophy of “genuine pretending.”

El discurso urbano en la Baja Edad Media castellana: la delimitación de los marcadores discursivos y la identificación de las conductas políticas correctas. la fiscalidad como espacio de legitimación política

By and large the world of business and money in the Middle Ages (and beyond the Middle Ages) is linked to a perception of the «economic fact» that absorbs everything or, at least, places it on a basic socio-political perspective. These approaches being correct, nevertheless, dealing that is participating in some manner in the broad field of economic management had, on occasion, a social dimension that transcended by far the possible economic profit any businessman could naturally aspire to, even casting a shadow over the economic profit, reducing that aspect of his activity to the persecution of a purely social and ideological benefit. This profit did not derive straight from the specific economic activity but from the perception by the community of the reasons underlying the agent’s «extra-economic behaviour». This perception and the evaluation of these conducts, and the actors’ persecution of a behavioural model that positively fixed into that perception frame, explain a whole set of economical attitudes linked to the referential frameworks «service» and «common good». These attitudes were pursued by these individuals, were promoted by urban governments, and were positively perceived by the entire community.

Professional academic development - the influence of context on motivation

This study explores the relationship between intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and contextual social and material conditions influencing the desire of academics to learn to teach at three South African universities. It considers these three influences from the perspective of self-determination theory, and argues that the theory is relevant for a discussion on motivation to learn to teach, but that the theory should be modified to take into account a more socio-political perspective. A careful analysis of these forms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in combination with contextual influences has implications for national and institutional policy on professional academic development. The study suggests that extrinsic forms of motivation may play an important role in encouraging academics to participate in professional development opportunities, but they are rendered less effective by sub-optimal social and material conditions, and thus by issues of social injustice and inequality. The study is based on interviews with 31 academics at three South African universities.

My Junglee Story Matters: Autoethnography and Language Planning and Policy

The present paper discuses the value of autoethnography as a research methodology in the area of language planning and policy in investigations of language, power, and identity. Traditionally, research methodology in the area of language planning and policy focuses on language, power, and identity from a sociopolitical perspective at the national level. These methodologies do not easily examine how the issues of language, power, and identity are related to the lives of individuals. Therefore, this paper argues for the use of autoethnography as a research methodology in language planning and policy research because it systematically analyzes personal experiences in order to understand the researcher’s cultural experience regarding her or his perspectives, beliefs, and practices of language as a language user. This paper also argues that autoethnography can be combined with traditional research methods such as historical-structural analysis and ethnography of language policy to make language planning and policy research more diverse and critical.Keywords: Language planning and policy; autoethnography; research methodology; power; identity

Who Decided College Access in Chinese Secondary Education? Rural-urban Inequality of Basic Education in Contemporary China

This paper investigates the rural-urban inequalities in basic education of contemporary China. The China Education Panel Survey (2013-2014) (CEPS) was utilized to analyze the gaps between rural and urban inequality in junior high schools in terms of three domains, which include the equalities of access, inputs, and outcomes. From the sociocultural and sociopolitical perspective, the household registration system impeded the improvement and development of Chinese basic education. The study found that insufficient funding and support provided the cumulative negative impacts on educational mobility and equality. The regional basic education divide was caused by ineffective and unequal allocation of education resources. This analysis also addresses a number of pertinent economic and political issues related to basic education in current China.

A Sociopolitical Perspective on the Illegal Take of Wildlife in the Southeastern, USA

A Sociopolitical Perspective on the Illegal Take of Wildlife in the Southeastern, USA

The Politics of Race and Educational Disparities in Delaware’s Public Schools

Delaware has long played a pivotal role in the nation’s struggle to end school segregation and promote educational equality. This article discusses racial disparities in educational achievement and outcomes by examining the state’s political history and the politics of race in public education. This article explores educational disparities from a socio-political perspective, which takes into consideration the direct and indirect influence of historical, political, socio-economic, and socio-cultural events on educational achievements and outcomes in the state. It finds that Black students in urban areas are influenced more by the politics of race in public education than Black students in non-urban school environments in the state. It also shows that the educational achievement and outcomes of Black students are influenced more by the politics of race than White students. It suggests that the politics of race in public education is influenced by political factors that extend well beyond those associated with the process of educating.

TRANSCULTURAL POLITICS OF DEPARTMENT STORES: COLONIALISM AND MASS CULTURE IN EAST ASIA, 1900–1945

This study presents a transcultural mapping of department stores in modern East Asia from a socio-political perspective centered on colonialism and nationalism. Department stores in the region exhibited a coeval culture, as suggested by the common use of the term “hyakka/baihuo/baekhwa.” While focusing on the common impact of Japanese colonialism, this study examines mainly Mitsukoshi in Tokyo; Wing On and Sincere in Shanghai; and Mitsukoshi, Minakai, and Hwashin in Seoul. It consists of four parts. The first part traces the translingual-scape of “hyakka” and shows how the modern universalism celebrated in the term, in reality, contributed to shaping an exclusive social group. The second part expands the etymological survey of “hyakka” into the physical dimension and analyzes items for sale at department stores, select lifestyles, and social group formations. The third part illuminates the patriarchal, militaristic managerial styles that developed under the influence of Japanese imperialism. The last part delves into Japanese department stores' colonial expansion within East Asia. This study employs a transcultural methodology to highlight multidimensional connections and coeval localities as well as differences, though it is often differences that are highlighted by research that involves straightforward country comparisons.

Moral Imperatives and Political Realities: Edward Marciniak and the Fight to End Chicago’s Dual Housing Market

EDWARD MARCINIAK (1917-2004) was a major force in Catholic and civic affairs in Chicago. For some he was and has remained an enigma. Msgr. John Egan, a leader in justice issues, said of Marciniak, Ed never followed the parade. If there's a voice of conscience in this town, it's Mar- ciniak____He never trims his sails. Mayor Richard J. Daley noted: can always believe his answers____His social conscience, his concern for others, is as deep as his knowledge of the city and its people. But there were others who adamantly disagreed. Elinor Richey Soderberg, an African American free-lance writer, was so angered by Marciniak in 1963 that she wrote him the following postcard: Sometimes when you are in your bed at night doesn't your soul ache for the lies you concocted for the sake of ameliorating a vicious democracy-crushing political machine? A year after Marciniak's death, Alderman Leon Depres of the Fifth Ward, who once supported him, portrayed Marciniak as an obstacle to racial justice, claiming in his autobiography that he provided for Daley an essentially political cover-up.1Was Marciniak a pawn or a misguided do-gooder who got in over his head when Richard J. Daley tapped him to be Director of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations in i960 as the Civil Rights Movement built momentum? Or was he consistent in the mission he set out for himself as a young man to make Chicago a better and more just place for all? Why would an idealist such as Marciniak work for Richard J. Daley, who according to historian Roger Biles, held atavistic racial views?2 At first glance there seemed to be an irresolvable conflict between this progressive social idealist and his service in Mayor Daley's cabinet. Pubic service working for a political and public leader required Marciniak to moderate his clarion voice for racial justice in order to be an advisor and mediator. This role change caused consternation on the part of some in the Civil Rights Movement.Edward Marciniak was a man to be reckoned with in the Chicago Catholic community and in the affairs of the city. His life, religion, and work were one. He often said that it was a pity if a person was unemployed, but it was tragic if someone did not have a vocation in life. He had a vocation and it compelled his engagement in the issues of his time from union organizing to fighting economic and social injustice. The years he served as the Director of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) under Richard J. Daley between i960 and 1967 were defining for Chicago and for Marciniak. His unique religious and socio-political perspective informed his work and his role working to end Chicago's segregated housing market. In i960 civil rights change was inevitable, the nature and pace of that change was not.Edward Marciniak's Social ConscienceMarciniak was the first of three children born to a Polish immigrant steel worker a-nd the daughter of Polish immigrants. The family moved frequently around the South Side of Chicago during the Great Depression and eventually settled in Brighton Park, a working-class neighborhood within smelling distance of the city's Union Stock Yards, where they opened a small grocery store. He grew up working in the store along with his parents and brother and sister. Marciniak spent his high school years at the archdiocesan preparatory seminary but did not to go on to prepare for the priesthood. He experienced a vertigo of indecision, he wrote a friend. became certain that my job as an instrument of God's will was to be accomplished in the world I was going to be a lay agitator-God willing, he wrote. wanted to give my body, my mind, my heart, my life to whatever cause Christ's revolution demanded. I made no definite plans. How could I? My job was to do whatever came along.3Marciniak (Figure 1) was profoundly influenced by his religious training both at home and at school. Marciniak believed that all people were called to perfect the kingdom of God on earth. …

A Research Agenda on Reform

In the past 10 years, state legislatures from across the political spectrum have passed or considered reforms aimed at reducing prison populations. The breadth of reform challenges social science scholarship that views mass incarceration as “locked-in” by political, social, and economic forces and, as such, presents an important area of scholarly inquiry. In this article, I argue that new research on reform should be animated by a sociopolitical perspective on punishment that developed out of social science research explaining the rise of mass incarceration. In particular, I pose research questions, hypotheses, and potential methodologies related to (1) the causes of the new moment of reform; (2) the variation in reform efforts; and (3) the process, content, and political effects of reform. I conclude by briefly summarizing what we know about the underlying rationales and strategies of this new moment.

Broadening, deepening, and governing innovation: Flemish technology assessment in historical and socio-political perspective

This article examines the socio-political dynamics in the evolution and development of Flemish technology assessment (TA). Broadly defined, TA encompasses activities and programs that expand and deepen the knowledge base of contemporary knowledge-based economies (KBEs), typically by including new actors (e.g. trade unions), ideas (e.g. science in society), and rationales (e.g. participatory techniques) in science, technology, and innovation (STI) processes. Starting from the regionalization of STI policy in Belgium and the convergence of Flemish STI around global KBE principles, the article exemplifies how since the 1980s successive Flemish TA waves (early-warning, bottom-up, and interactive TA) have co-evolved with successive generations of Flemish innovation policy. Building on these findings, it argues that Flemish TA has counteracted and accommodated dominant STI paradigms. By providing a historical and socio-political perspective on TA and innovation policy, the article draws critical attention to the institutional settings and societal contexts in which TA is embedded, and questions TA's strategic utility within contemporary KBEs. This perspective sheds light on the Flemish government's recent decision to close its parliamentary TA institute and the institutional expansion of TA elsewhere in Europe.

Mobilização social e mudanças políticas: revisitando o conceito de gramáticas de ação política

<p>A partir de 2003, com a posse de Néstor Kirchner na Presidência da República Argentina, ocorreram mudanças na dinâmica da mobilização social. Que forma assumiram os efeitos da mobilização social: foram assimilados, integraram-se ou criaram novas pautas de ação? Produziu-se uma reedição do populismo de meados do século XX? Os primeiros estudos nesse sentido utilizavam uma perspectiva pós-estruturalista, sobretudo a partir da obra de Ernesto Laclau. Esses, apesar das contribuições, apoiavam-se na oposição entre momentos de mobilização e de institucionalização. Ao contrário, o objetivo deste artigo é analisar esses processos em uma perspectiva sociopolítica, em especial a partir da noção de “gramáticas de ação política”, considerando as características que assumiram e os modos como se institucionalizaram os efeitos da mobilização. Sem pretender ser exaustivo, o texto analisará o caso argentino durante o Kirchnerismo, como base para um exercício de Sociologia Política.</p>

English

The term ‘crimes against humanity’ has been widely used by different people to mean different things. The media has referred the term to include a variety of contemporary political events that they have reported on. The media practitioners and social workers have used the term loosely to refer to situations where the governments or any other people holding power, authority or influence have done any wrong. Politicians and political scientists deploy the term while referring to unacceptable and unfair activities in the political field. To International law scholars, the term has been used to refer to a specific crime under international criminal law, as distinguished from Genocide and War Crimes. This paper traces how crimes against humanity as a category of international crimes emerged and its essential requirements and how courts and institutions have developed and interpreted it, since the term crimes against humanity has acquired both a legal as well as socio-political perspective. Key words: Crimes against humanity, political violence, hostis humani generis.

The formation of public-private partnerships in China: an institutional perspective

AbstractThis study offers a sociopolitical perspective on the worldwide diffusion of liberalisation reforms in infrastructure industries. It unpacks the heterogeneity in the extent to which the private sector is allowed to participate in these industries through an analysis of the formation of public-private partnerships in Chinese cities. This study considers the effects of horizontal and vertical diffusion mechanisms on the adoption of different types of public-private partnerships in different infrastructure sectors. An analysis of projects with private participation in 333 Chinese cities between 1992 and 2008 reveals that the spatial effects appear to be significantly modulated when the influence from structurally equivalent peer cities are considered; moreover, the effects of the vertical diffusion mechanisms are moderated by the liberalisation index of the contract forms, and the horizontal diffusion mechanisms are moderated by the marketability of the infrastructure segments.

A tale of two statues in Astana: the fuzzy process of nationalistic city making

In the summer of 2009, statues stood leaning in a yard, beyond Independence Square in Astana. The situation was incongruous and constituted an enigma: Why were these monuments left alone in shambles? This paper argues that nationalistic city making is more of a resource for people involved in patron/client relationships and a contingent outcome, rather than a planned strategy. This case study, drawing on evidence gathered through qualitative methods with artists and urban-planners, hence reveals a paradox: in Kazakhstan, there surely is a state incentive to produce nationalistic symbols, but in the absence of a mid-term strategy, city-planners and the people they work with improvise in order to answer local authorities' demands, and use this opportunity to advance their own interests. Hence, the political production of space is considered a fuzzy process, contingent on the agency of multiple subjects, and treated as an outcome of Foucauldian “micro-physics of power.” But even though it is erratic, it still creates the built environment which will be reacted upon by citizens. Finally, this sociopolitical perspective on nationalistic urbanism demonstrates that Astana's scenery is a fuzzy “landscape of power” instituting an erratic Kazakhstani regime, based on the political economy of symbolic goods.

O panorama actual das industrias culturais galegas: as políticas públicas culturais

Based on a socio-political analysis perspective, this work is about the state before the autonomy of Galicia and the immediate evolution of Galician public politics once its autonomy was set up, with the aim of understanding the current situation of our culture. At the same time, it exposes in detail the current concept of cultural industries and it reviews the strategies developed by this sector in our autonomous region as a mechanism to guarantee the cultural projects’ viability and autonomy.

Complexity in Multigenerational Organizations: A Socio-Political Perspective

Modern organisations operate in multinational environments, with workforces increasingly becoming multicultural and multigenerational. One of the major challenges confronting managers is managing a...

SOVIETINIS REŽIMAS IR KULTŪRINĖS NOMENKLATŪROS KAITA VĖLYVUOJU SOVIETMEČIU LIETUVOJE. RAŠYTOJŲ APLINKOS ATVEJIS

Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas kultūrinės nomenklatūros santykis su sovietine sistema, pabrėžiant šių kultūrininkų orientacijos ir elgsenos pokyčius septintajame–aštuntajame dešimtmečiuose ir didėjančią paramą nacionalinei ideologijai. Remiantis kokybine analize ir tarpdalykine prieiga, straipsnyje dėmesys skiriamas sovietmečio kultūrininkų susisluoksniavimui, neformalių tinklų įtakai, dalyvavimui komunistinės indoktrinacijos veikloje ir mobilizuojant nacionalinį tapatumą. Remiantis rašytojų atvejo analize parodoma, kad vėlyvajame sovietmetyje gana akivaizdžiai išryškėja rašytojų konservacininkų (nomenklatūros dalis) vietininkiškumo laikysena, sovietmečio sąlygomis demonstruojanti paramą etniniams bei lokaliniams interesams ir atskleidžianti įsivyravusį oficialaus kultūrinio elito abejingumą sistemai. Analizės rezultatai leidžia teigti, kad ši pozicija buvo ypač svarbi gilinant sovietinės sistemos eroziją ir prisidedant prie nacionalinių procesų stiprėjimo devintajame dešimtmetyje.

Community as locus for health formal and non-formal education: the significance of ecological and collaborative research for promoting health literacy.

The World Health Organization (2002) considers that a balance between government, community, and individual action is necessary for health education and promotion, recognizing that non-governmental organizations, local groups, and community institutions are central in this process. This argument reinforces the idea that individuals should be empowered and encouraged to make use of accurate health-related information. This paper highlights the potential of a socio-political perspective for the development of health literacy within children and adolescents and presents two studies conducted in two daily life contexts: a community organization and a school. Both studies are based on methodological pluralism and collaborative research approaches and explore the promotion of health knowledge in formal and informal settings. Study 1 is based on a mixed methodology, using focus group discussions and questionnaires with children and youth with chronic diseases to explore the perceived impact of their participation in support associations. Study 2 presents four intensive case-studies in schools where adolescents used community profiling, a participatory research methodology, to explore health rights and access to healthcare in both a historical and prospective vision. The results enable a deeper understanding on how powerful tool ccommunity resources can be for individual and collective empowerment on health issues.

The Brazilian policy for reduction of accidents and violence aligns with international perspectives?

The study analyzed The Brazilian Policy for Reduction of Morbidity and Mortality from Accidents and Violence, in the socio-political perspective. We used as a base the chapter "Violence: a global public health problem" from the World Report on Violence and Health. The analysis revealed convergent and divergent elements of the Brazilian Policy in comparison with the international perspectives. We verified that the Brazilian Policy tried to converge to the international policies, however: it emphasizes the health promotion actions, but are limited to the context and behavior of individuals and individual communities; the performance of health professionals is expected without providing more structural investments, as the improvement in work conditions, the increase of financial and material resources; there are few clear definitions of the government and economical sector responsibilities.