Sociocultural Forms Research Articles

#Nature is trending: Social media, viral landscapes, and digital environmental activism in Oman

Influenced by social media and COVID-19, human relations with ‘nature’ are increasingly shaped by media infrastructures and logics, leading to a global surge of interest in nature tourism and outdoor activities. This article examines the mediatization of relations with nature—or, the more-than-human world—in the Arabian Gulf country of Oman, where nature tourism has developed in the past decade. Through a mixed-methods approach involving fieldwork and interviews between 2022–2024, relations with nature in Oman are shown to be informed by global social media logics, as with the trend of ‘viral landscapes’ in which a nature destination is popularized due to its high value in social media attention economies. However, local practices are also platformed, as Instagram users in Oman exploit three affordances to address the environmental problem of litter. Mediatization may thus entail a circulation of global discourses and practices as well as the emergence of syncretic sociocultural formations.

Defining geoeconomics amid shifts in global hegemony: Critical geographies of new international conjunctures

Recent shifts in global hegemony make the need for critical geographical accounts of geoeconomics and geopolitics that much more critical. They underline that we need to come to terms with their dialectical relationships and tensions, doing so in relation to both underlying struggles over international hegemony and uneven capitalist development as well as in relation to all sorts of complex overlying socio-cultural formations. Critical geographers can combine their diverse approaches more effectively to do this analytical work by adapting recent forms of conjunctural analysis in urban, economic and regional geography.

An Approach to Evolutionary Sociology and its Implications for Theorizing on Socio-Cultural Evolution

A theoretical research program is outlined that seeks to use the Modern Synthesis in explaining human evolution, but also recognizes its limitations in explaining the evolution of socio-cultural systems. The universe, from a human perspective, is composed of physical, biological, and socio-cultural dimensions, each revealing unique properties and dynamics. In the case of the socio-cultural universe, modern evolutionary theory is relevant for some explanations, but not to the degree assumed by socio-biology, evolutionary psychology, and even co-evolutionary models. The program proposed is built around social network theory, cladistic analysis, and comparative neuro-anatomy, and outlines where biological analysis is appropriate and useful. An understanding of the biological basis of human behavior will allow sociologists to develop theoretical approaches to explaining the emergent properties of the socio-cultural universe. The strategy outlined will allow us to see what a mature evolutionary sociology can do: develop abstract theoretical laws about the dynamics of selection on socio-cultural formations in human societies.

Особенности социальных конструкций Дагестана и их влияние на общественно-политические процессы в регионе

The article examines the features of geographical diversity and socio-political development of Dagestan in the 18th – early 19th centuriy. The major role of natural-geographical determinism is emphasized, which influenced the forms of economic structure, the dominant sectors of economic activity and the socio-political processes that differed depending on the spatial localization of the regions. In high mountain areas, due to harsh landscape conditions and a shortage of available vital resources, archaic forms of economic activity and social structure were preserved for a long time. It was dominated by free rural communities with collective ownership of the main means of production. Foothill, coastal and lowland areas, due to their less closed nature and accessibility to external influences and mutual influence, as well as the possibility of obtaining a large set of life benefits, went beyond the socio-cultural archaism and represented territories with a developed system of social differentiation, which most domestic researchers define as feudalism. In such areas, local societies, earlier than in the mountainous ones, were forced to socio-political development, which took them beyond the boundaries of communal-tribal relations. In economic and socio-political terms, Dagestan was divided into socio-cultural formations that differed and competed with each other.

Late Modern Projectivity and Existentialism

The article addresses the issue of the relationship between existentialism and late modern projectivity interpreted in terms of project work and of biographical projectivity. It does so from the perspective of transformations of subjectivity in modernity and late modernity, and, therefore, from the perspective of the process of individualization. The objective is to answer the question of the belonging of existentialism to one of these sociocultural formations. For these purposes, some major categories of existentialism such as project, anxiety, and temporality are analyzed. Their analysis leads to the conclusion that there is a close, structural correlation between existentialism and sociocultural structures of modernity as well as that existentialism, in contrast to late modern projectivity, has some emancipatory potential related to its alienating status in modernity. The article refers to the methodology of qualitative sociology.

Семиотическое прочтение сценического костюма

The aim of the study is to identify cause-and-effect relations in semiotic interpretation of stage costume. The article explores the history of stage costume development, briefly presents its periodization with characteristic features of each stage, and socio-cultural forms of encoding. The scientific novelty of the research lies in focusing on the issue of costume semantics as an important component of the expressive system of modern music and theater productions. The research establishes that stage (theatrical) costume has its own developmental regularities and periodization caused by many factors. It is found that in the 20th and 21st centuries, there is an increasing interaction of two main trends: 1) stage costume is characterized by a high degree of codification and symbolism, with significant transformations in the specific content of symbols; 2) a variety of techniques are observed in achieving various aspects of “authenticity” in relation to theatrical action as a whole and theatrical costumes in particular.

Cultura, conflicto y usos del agua en la comunidad ñäñho de Santiago Mexquitilán

The text analyzes the conflict raised around water in the ñäñho community of Santiago Mexquititlán, which was presented from the taking of a water well and continued with the protection before the enactment of the Law regarding water in the state of Querétaro of the year 2022. The work exposes the methodological approach of Participatory Action Research and ethnography for the description and contextualized analysis of the conflict of uses, management, social organization and cultural elements around water. The objective was to recover these aspects for the elaboration of an anthropological expertice. The theoretical reading was based on cultural materialism and political anthropology to highlight the conflict between the State and socio-cultural formations... Finally, it is concluded that the care and management of water in the community, is based and strengthened in the organizational tradition, in the ritual cycles, in the myths and beliefs of their culture. Therefore, the cultural reproduction of the people is intrinsically related to the water resource, to the extent that it depends for its care and good management in the place, of the practices, knowledge and beliefs of the Ñäñho culture.

Archaeologiques of sight: The visual world fosters the engagement between doing, seeing, and thinking

The paper examines how materializations of human practices relate to human cognition and to socio-cultural contexts. By combining evidence on the relationship between material culture and perceptual behaviour, we aim to understand the interactions between the mind, objects, and the world. The research is based on data regarding the visual perception of prehistoric pottery that was analyzed using Eye-Tracking techniques in a way that has not been applied previously to archaeological material culture. The datasets come from Galicia (NW Iberian Peninsula) and range from the Middle Neolithic until the end of the Iron Age (6000–200 BP). They belong to very different contexts that comprise a long-term history through diverse socio-cultural formations. A rigorous methodology makes it possible to unveil cross- and intra-cultural patterns of visual response to materiality, while avoiding presentism and subjective bias. The results provide new insights into the agency of material culture, which contribute to our understanding of the relationship between the mind and the material world, and account for the transitive engagement between the way of thinking, seeing, and making things.

Representations of ancestral sexuality in rock art, Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil

This essay aims to present some sexual representations in rock art in the Serra da Capivara National Park (PNSC), in southeastern Piauí, Brazil. Since immemorial times, humans have created ways to express themselves, and rock art, engravings and/or paintings were sociocultural forms found to store and safeguard the most varied everyday information of group interests. More than 1,000 archaeological sites are known in the park, representing subjects related to the sociability of ancestral life, such as hunting, gathering, fighting, ceremonies, sexualities and much more. These depictions have been studied since the 1970’s and allowed the creation of a national park recognized as a World Heritage site. Although the paintings depict scenes considered by Western observers as obscene, barbaric and immoral, it is necessary to remember that primitive sexuality was not separate, private subject, to be hidden from the eyes of the social human life, as it is considered by us in 21st century. Key words: sexuality, rock art, prehistoric life, Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí.

Literary and Publishing Activities of Poetic Groups of the Russian Far Eastern First-Wave Émigré

The material laid down in the basis of the article is drawn on various bibliographic sources and library collections (Russian State Library, Russian National Library, Research Library of Tomsk State University). The object of the article is for the first time to present and systematize the main body of literary and fiction texts of the 1920s–1940s in the context of publishing activity of literary groups and associations of the Russian Far Eastern First-Wave émigré. The poetic activity of this period initially realized itself through groups, following the Silver Age traditions, and creative persons brought together, as fate willed it, in the situation of “Russian scattering.” In this aspect, the literary group is considered as a sociocultural form due to the methodology of Yu. N. Tynyanov, B. M. Eikhenbaum and A. I. Reitblat. Such tendencies were most apparent in the second period of the literary process formation among the Russian Far Eastern émigré in Harbin, where “Young Churaevka” literary association (1926–1935) had a very well-thoughtout program and concept. In addition to regular general gatherings and discussions among like-minded people, the typology of the literary group includes public speaking and promotion of joint undertakings in the press. As a rule, the activity of any literary group or association is directly connected with some publishing body, so the defining genre of such creativity is a literary collection – the most flexible type of literary publication with all kinds and genres of fiction. All this outlines the perspective for systematization of collections of that type and revealing their common typology with the determining role of socio-cultural environment.

Combating colonial mentality within higher learning spaces: The case of sub-Saharan African universities

As former colonies of Western imperial powers, virtually all aspects of African life have been invaded by forces of Western hegemony. Colonial mentality is the blind assimilation or internalisation of the colonial powers’ socio-cultural forms resulting in the destructive and disruptive abandonment of the ways of life of the colonies. As it applies to Africa, colonial mentality is a product of African cultural invasion in which, having been exposed to colonial experience for a long time, an average African has internalised foreign ideas and ideals—so much so that she has lost the authentic African ways of life in the process. Using philosophical methods of argumentation and critical engagements, this paper contends that a connection exists between colonial mentality and the observed failure of African universities to efficiently effectuate their relevance as Africa’s development partners. The paper identifies four key areas in which colonial mentality plays out most profoundly in African universities, namely, the nature of knowledge produced, the mode of certification, the language of instruction, and research funding. The paper argues that the incursion of colonial mentality in these vital areas continues to impede African universities’ capacity to substantively contribute to African development drives and aspirations. Given this close nexus, the paper maintains that African universities may never realise their potential as a critical sector in African development discourse. This qualitative research is based on critical inquiry through a process of identifying, questioning and assessing deeply held assumptions about Western hegemony. The paper concludes that decolonisation in learning spaces can only be a feasible project if it is accorded the seriousness that it deserves by all stakeholders both within and outside the university.

In lieu of “keywords”: Toward an anthropology of rapport

AbstractThe identification of socioculturally important “keywords” remains a distinctive feature of critical social theory. This article asks why this is so while offering a critique of “keyword projects” as they have been formulated and pursued across cultural studies and anthropology. Such projects often remain inattentive to wider patterns of sign relations, concealing from ethnographic view the very patterns within which key “words” emerge and are embedded. Overlooking these patterns precludes finer‐grained considerations of what makes certain words situationally “key” within sociocultural life. Engaging with migrant mobilities across the borderlands and borderwaters of Indonesia and Malaysia, the article examines keywords not simply as sociocultural formations or semiotic regularities, per se, but as captions for and construals of fashions of speaking and forms of life. Connecting hitherto unconnected accounts of “rapport,” it illustrates how anthropologists might move beyond “keyword talk” to more fully consider how rapport configures anthropological assumptions about “keyness” itself.

Gastronomic culture of Vietnam in proverbs and sayings

Food, which was previously considered simply as a resources to meet the basic need, is increasingly being studied as one of the most important parts of the daily lives of people from different cultures.Food traditions are the object of cultural studies and are considered within the framework of the study of the culture of everyday life.The article considers the traditional Vietnamese feast as a phenomenon of culture, reflected in proverbs and sayings, in a figurative and aphoristic form conveying to us the socio-cultural forms of human behavior: rites, rituals, ceremonies.

Socio-cultural aspects of ensuring civilizational security in conditions of increasing economic complexity

Subject. The article addresses crisis of globalization, inter-civilizational contradictions. Objectives. The purpose is to identify the key socio-cultural forms that directly characterize civilizational security, to show their dynamic relationship in conditions of continuous complication of the economic system. Methods. The study rests on methods of systems analysis. Results. Within the framework of the interdisciplinary approach, we underpinned the necessity of new socio-cultural practices that meet the requirements of ensuring the civilizational security of Russia under the dominance of neoliberalism in the form of "westernization without modernization". Conclusions. In conditions of aggravation of inter-civilizational contradictions, it is crucial to form such an innovative political and economic model, where the reproduction of necessary socio-cultural forms at all levels is carried out within the fair rules, the observance of which will be ensured by the rule of law.

Alienation as a Phenomenon of Destruction of Socio-Cultural Tradition

The article considers the category of alienation in the context of tradition as a philosophical category. The purpose of the article is to analyze sociocultural alienation as a form of destruction of a person’s spiritual being, integrally represented in the form of tradition. The hypothesis is substantiated, according to which the category of tradition as reproduction of spiritual life in the forms of socio-cultural practice of a person is relevant. Alienation can be considered as a result of the rupture of a spiritual/socio-cultural tradition. The conclusion is substantiated that only the development of the socio-cultural tradition and its main spiritual and ideological “core” allows a person to become a person and consolidate the skills and abilities with which a person can overcome problems in his life, find new, effective forms of interaction with the socio-cultural environment and harmonize his inner world to prevent self-alienation. A living cultural tradition and the connection of generations is the main foundation for a harmonious personal existence. Therefore, the “key” to solving the problem of alienation is the restoration of the destroyed traditions of human spiritual existence in their specific socio–cultural forms including religion, art, morality and traditional ethics. Currently, this de facto restoration has become the state strategy of Russia, without which its survival in the modern competitive world is impossible. This opens up a new perspective of philosophical and cultural studies of both the forms of existence of tradition in culture and its spiritual and value content.

Narcissism and Nihilism as Manifestations of the Axiological Crisis of Culture

This work is aimed at identifying socio-anthropological and socio-cultural forms in which the health-saving crisis is manifesting itself today. The article analyzes abnormal forms of attitude to one’s health, which are quite common today. These are narcissistic hyper-concern about bodily health and appearance, and the opposite nihilistic attitude to one’s life and health, manifested in an incredible dominance of bad habits, including among young people. If narcissism is individualism elevated to the absolute degree of indifference to others, then nihilism is the triumph of Thanatos over Eros, that is, destructive life-denying forces over vital life-affirming ones. There are no criteria for “good enough” health in the narcissistic paradigm: it is an endless process of influencing oneself, which is ultimately not only transferred to the digital format, but also begins to have a negative impact on the individual’s real body. Nihilism is based on an indifferent, but more often negative attitude towards the norms and ideals of a healthy lifestyle and on the denial of their practical implementation in daily behavior. This is its difference from narcissism, in which the main thing is unconcern towards others. The article shows that the source of these anomalies lies not in the psychological plane of motivation loss, but in the ethical-existential, that is, in the axiological plane. In this context, there is proposed to consider these phenomena as social, testifying to the value crisis of culture. The article concludes that both in the case of narcissism and in the case of nihilism, there is a loss of the spiritual value and meaning of life as a metaphysical gift. In relation to health, this signals something more than just a loss of psychological motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle. We are talking about the crisis of the individual’s value attitudes, going deep into the unenlightened existence of the individual.

Gender Relation in Family in Post-COVID-19 Era: Study Among Working Couple in Semarang, Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic which has been running for two years has resulted in changes in work patterns for employees, both private and public. Due to consideration of preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus, government agencies and private offices are imposing WFH (work from home). As a result, for working couples, the household arena becomes a joint work arena, in which formal and domestic work is carried out. This study aims to discuss the division of labor between husband and wife in the household before the pandemic; the division of labor during the pandemic, and the impact of the division of labor during WFH on the division of labor after the pandemic. The study used qualitative methods and field studies were analyzed using gender theory. Data collection is done by way of interviews, observation and documentation. This research found that there were three trends in relationship changes that were prior to the COVID pandemic, the division of labor was carried out based on the habits that had been built by the couple since they were married, namely families who had a commitment to work together since the beginning of the marriage, so with the pandemic this commitment made it stronger, but for families who do not have a commitment to gender relations, the work arena formed by the pandemic does not really affect gender relations. This finding reinforces the perspective that gender relations are socio-cultural formations so they are not easy to change

The sacredness of history as a subject of theoretical discussions and socio-cultural practice

The subject of the study is the correlation between the variants of relation to the sacred as a phenomenon of perception of the past and the practical embodiments of these modalities in various sociocultural forms. As a methodological basis, the principle of separation of history (historical science) and collective memory, implemented in "memory studies", in particular, by M. Hvalbvaks and P. Nora, was used. The original application of this principle in this study made it possible to establish two interdependencies between internally differentiated value-ideological attitudes (secular/sacred) regarding the historical past and their objectifications in the norms of law and the scientific ethos, the features of the education and education system, in the development of art. The secular assessment of sacred involves its elimination from the field of being, the mechanisms of spiritual development of the past, and finds expression either in the use of strict, formalized tools of historical knowledge, in the requirement of maximum deideologization of the latter, or in such a relation to the past, in which it turns into a material of subjective interpretations. In the opposite setting, the sacred is understood as a necessary and irreparable part of collective memory, the source of which in one interpretation is the transcendental plan of being, and in the other - the transcendental universals of culture. This installation turns out to be an obstacle to the complete elimination of sacred and from the practice of specialized historical knowledge, which finds normative expression in the integration of theological discourse into the structure of scientific knowledge.

The value of the urban field in technology-driven knowledge economies: The role of the state

This article shows how the market valuation of start-up companies and the corporate-designed creation of human capital reveal some of the material and more intangible ways in which the economisation of the urban field plays out in the contemporary knowledge economy. The proposed analysis seeks to make visible how both direct and indirect state action enables the different dimensions of the urban field to come together, become valuable and jointly constitute what Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri have called the ‘metropolis’. In so doing, the article underlines that the different dimensions of the urban field figure prominently albeit differently partake in processes of extraction of knowledge value in monetised or sociocultural form. At the conceptual level, we critically engage with the existing literature on emergent forms of state capitalism by putting forward a governmental analytic on state power in contemporary urbanised knowledge capitalism. Empirically, we develop our arguments through two case studies. First, we examine the start-up unicorn Wolt, often considered as one of the national champion start-ups in Finland (together with a handful of mobile game developers). Second, we scrutinise the arrival of the Apple software developer Academy in Naples, a widely celebrated state-capital interaction in an economically struggling urban context in southern Italy. These cases are among the many that motivate one to re-think the entanglement of urban space, state governmentality and value extraction as it unfolds today in urbanised knowledge economies.

Quality of life on type 2 diabetes patients in Indonesia: systematic review

To review various quality of life questionnaires related to patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The systematic review comprised search on SAGE, PubMed, ProQuest, Ebsco and Google Scholar databases for studies using quality of life questionnaires related to patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus published between January 2012 and January 2022 in either English or Bhasha language. Data extraction and assessment was done in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses checklist. Of the 25 studies reviewed, 23(92.2%) were in the English language. They were conducted in 17(51.5%) of the 33 provinces in Indonesia. The questionnaires used were 36-item Short Form 8(32%), EuroQol 5-dimension 5-level scale 6(24%), World Health Organisation Quality of Life-Brief version 6(24%), Diabetes Quality of Life 3(12%) and Diabetes Quality of Life Clinical Trial Questionnaire 2(8%). Variables associated with the quality of life of the diabetics included education, gender and age. The internal factors included glycaemic control, psychological condition, self-efficacy, perception of illness, self-care management, medication adherence, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and complications. The external factors included family support, medication counselling and pharmacists' intervention. Many instruments measure quality of life related to patients of diabetes mellitus. Countries with different socio-cultural forms have different quality of life perspectives, and the assessment tool should be picked accordingly.