Sociological Processes Research Articles

Relevant Factors in Sustainable Urban Development of Urban Planning Methodology and Implementation of Concepts for Sustainable Planning (Planning Documentation for the Master Plan Skopje 2001-2020)

Cities as complex and multilayer systems are part of a sustainable policy, because they are huge consumers of resources and show clear signs of unsustainable behavior. Cities around the world today are faced with intense degradation, pollution, overpopulation, etc. Sustainable development refers to the environmental, economic and sociological processes in the city and its physical structure. Researchers and planners are therefore encouraged to think about the city that will focus on self-regulation. Therefore challenge for this research. This research paper explores the relationship between urban development and sustainable development through the relevant factors and indicators in the methodology of sustainable urban planning. The knowledge obtained should help considers and methods for encourage sustainable urban planning thought in the Republic of Macedonia.The subject of this research is implementation of sustainable concepts and how they affect the methodology of urban planning. In this sense, the focus is on identifying the indicators and factors relevant to sustainable development where the aim is to systematize the concepts of sustainable urban development and operationalization in urban planning documentation and development of the city Skopje.This paper attempts to encourage research and further deepening the methodology of sustainable urban planning. Given the nature of this research work consistently are observed ambitions that I had in conducting and systematization of the factors that reflect sustainable urban development, while, in exposure to the material and setting up of the thesis, parallel are reviewed several aspects that are distributed concentrically and are embedded in the concluding observations of the actual state of the model implementations in the planning of the city of Skopje.

Identifying what matters: Science education, science communication, and democracy

Identifying what matters: Science education, science communication, and democracy

The American Marketing Association

Purpose– This paper aims to explore the sociological process behind the development of the American Marketing Association (AMA). It shows how the shift from isolated endeavors to an organized movement happened in marketing, how and why marketing pioneers merged to build a professional body and what this body provided to its community and to society at large.Design/methodology/approach– This paper studies the history of the AMA from the perspective of the sociology of science and relies on the marketing literature and other written sources.Findings– The paper shows that the AMA is both the result and the center of a coupling procedure. Isolated pioneers in the marketing field found it useful to communicate with those who were engaged in endeavors similar to their own. The meeting resulted in a dialog, and the dialog had necessitated the establishment of the AMA as a common reference point. The AMA provided the marketing community with a language and an institution that could help them to exist and move forward together.Originality/value– This paper provides an up to date account of the history of the AMA as well as a sociological analysis of its development.

Alterity and the transformation of social representations: a sociocultural account.

This article uses sociocultural theories of self-reflection to theorize how social representations are transformed. While there are several ways in which social representations change, we focus on one way that entails interactions with alterity, that is, other people, groups and representations. We use sociocultural psychology to explore how social representations can shift from being the medium of thought and action to becoming the object of thought and action. This process, we argue, entails alternative representations becoming the new medium of thought and action. Although this account relies upon the psychological process of self-reflection, it avoids psychological reductionism, because the psychological process is based on social and sociological processes. Self-reflection, however, is more of an exception than a rule, and the ways in which self-reflection is blocked are also examined. Future research, it is argued, should examine the ways in which self-reflection arises through the interaction of representations within situated contexts, thus forging a third way between psychological and sociological reductionism.

Movements Making Knowledge: A New Wave of Inspiration for Sociology?

Sociology’s marginality to public discussion of the current economic, social and political crisis stems partly from naïveté about the sociology of its own knowledge, in particular about its interlocutors’ interests. Historically, sociology has repeatedly re-established its intellectual relevance through dialogue with movements for social change; this article argues that another such dialogue is overdue. Starting from existing discussions of social movements and their knowledge production, the article focuses on the organisational dimension of such knowledge and explores how this is elaborated in the current movement wave. Looking at movement spaces of theoretical analysis, new popular education processes and movements’ knowledge creation institutions, the article highlights potential contributions to renewing sociological processes of theorising, teaching and engaged research respectively, paying particular attention to movement practices of ‘talking between worlds’. It concludes with a call for a dialogue of critical solidarity between public sociology and new forms of social knowledge production.

Economic value analysis of Galanthus sp. in Turkey

The economic value analysis has been carried out by detecting the production, good and service value functions of Galanthus sp. in Turkey. In the analyses, economical valuation techniques, group comparisons, ecological and socio-cultural valuation criteria had been used. Total flow value for goods and service functions of Galanthus sp. had been calculated as $68/year/unit per Galanthus sp. and the potential flow rate per Galanthus sp. had been estimated at $137/year. The total value of Galanthus sp. had been calculated as $544,000,000/year for annual export of 8 million Galanthus. When the positive added value, which was included in ecological and sociological processes and created by non-pecuniary values and the wealth and heritage value were added, it was easily seen that the economic value of the Galanthus was considerably high. Moreover, it had been determined that especially, the medical source value ($23/year) was a crucial factor among this value. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjb.v43i1.19748 Bangladesh J. Bot. 43(1): 65-71, 2014 (June)

How Our Majors Believe They Learn

In this study, I set out to gain a better understanding of the learning strategies typically used by sociology majors, whether and to what extent they engage in metacognitive strategies, and whether teaching about learning results in students reporting greater use of self-regulatory behaviors. I discuss the importance of self-regulated learning and metacognition for student success and describe the ways in which I incorporated instruction in these skills into an undergraduate theory course. Data collected over the past five semesters illustrate the positive effects of these activities on student motivation and use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Students report greater use of higher-level cognitive learning strategies such as critical thinking and are more intrinsically motivated as a result of taking the course. This quantitative investigation of students’ use of cognitive and metacognitive skills adds to McKinney’s (2007) qualitative research on the process of learning sociology.

Native games: indigenous peoples and sports in the post-colonial world

Research on Indigenous participation in sport offers many opportunities to better understand the political issues of equality, empowerment, self-determination and protection of culture and identity. This volume compares and conceptualises the sociological significance of Indigenous sports in different international contexts. The contributions, all written by Indigenous scholars and those working directly in Indigenous/Native Studies units, provide unique studies of contemporary experiences of Indigenous sports participation. The papers investigate current understandings of Indigeneity found to circulate throughout sports, sports organisations and Indigenous communities. by (1): situating attitudes to racial and cultural difference within the broader sociological processes of post colonial Indigenous worlds (2): interrogating perceptions of Indigenous identity with reference to contemporary theories of identity drawn from Indigenous Studies and (3): providing insight to increased Indigenous participation, empowerment and personal development through sport with reference to sociological theory.

An alienation-based framework for student experience in higher education: new interpretations of past observations in student learning theory

This article orients a recently proposed alienation-based framework for student learning theory (SLT) to the empirical basis of the approaches to learning perspective. The proposed framework makes new macro-level interpretations of an established micro-level theory, across three levels of interpretation: (1) a context-free psychological state (alienation), (2) a context-bound psychological state (student alienation), and (3) sociological processes from which these psychological states arise. Evidence for the viability of this macro–micro framework is, however, lacking, as is a clear path to seeking such evidence due to the framework’s complexity. The dichotomy of state and process implied by the framework reflects a recognised ‘dual interpretation’ of alienation, by which micro-level experiences are linked to behaviours through mediating macro-level psychological states. We use this dual interpretation together with Seeman’s (Ann Rev Sociol, 1975) six variants of alienation to construct a clear and well-ordered overall framework, and to hypothesize comprehensive explanations for the correlations observed between surface approaches to learning and five dimensions of learning experience emphasized in SLT. These five hypotheses are presented as succinct if…then statements, and assessed according to established qualitative criteria. Overall, the article prepares the way both for empirical verification of what is a complex theoretical structure, and for other future research in this vein.

Book Review: Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry, by Kristin J. Lieb

Kristin J. Lieb Gender, Branding, and Modern Music Industry. New York: Routledge Press, 2013. 194 pp.The introduction of MTV to world in 1981 not only Killed Radio Star (MTV's first music video) but also shifted consumption of music from a predomi- nantly audio medium, to one which highlighted visual performance of music. This subject, specifically trajectory of female pop music stars' careers, is subject of Kristin Lieb's book.Gender, Branding, and Modern Music Industry includes data gathered in twenty-one extensive interviews with industry insiders, citing identified sources as well as anonymous contributors. Their frank assessment of sexism that dominates music industry is somewhat surprising, yet assuredly insightful.Lieb's fundamental argument is that while music industry is constantly chang- ing, emphasis on female appearance, and particularly one's sexuality, is a con- stant in world of female pop music stars. By interrogating the social forces underlying patterned and problematic representation of female artists, readers can more fully understand how they become so culturally embedded in today's society (p. 164).Chapter 1 establishes theoretical basis of book by identifying relevant research in sociology, mass communication, and communication studies. Lieb intro- duces notion of Cultural Diamond based on work of Wendy Griswold. The interaction between four key elements-the social world, a cultural object (in this case female artist), creator (the music industry and artist herself), and receiver (or consumer) of music serves as a basis to understand sociological process of constructing female pop music stars. Together with theory, Lieb combines a variety of theoretical constructs to complete framework for studying female pop music stars. Here, Lieb suggests that critical theory is insufficient to explain this phe- nomenon. However, in final analysis of life cycle of female pop music stars (Chapter 6), she draws largely from critical theory scholars, so while it is true that book approaches topic with a broad scope of academic literature, critical theory undoubtedly plays a significant role in conclusions reached.Chapter 2 merges two previously separate components of branding: short-term and person brand. This concept serves as basis for much of analysis that follows. In addition, Lieb explores various strategies, such as an artist's accessibil- ity, which may be used to keep brand relevant. Chapter 3 chronicles evolving nature of music industry (post-MTV) with particular attention to success of sales operations such as Amazon and impact of new technological avenues for obtaining music.Chapters 4 and 5 explore phases through which most successful female pop music stars must traverse. Using wide-ranging examples of artists from Madonna, Brittney Spears, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and others, Lieb analyzes evolution of their careers. The phases begin with stereotypic good girl and progress through roles labeled with more explicitly sexual overtones (i.e., temptress, whore, diva) and conclude with less commonly achieved phases such as self-imposed exile, protected status (generally by a male figure), and, finally, legends. …

Making educational spaces through boundary work: territorialisation and ‘boundarying’

Globalising processes are shifting the established nation-building project of twentieth-century national education systems. This historic axis between education and territorialised state power is being re-spatialised and remade as a globally networked, lifelong learning educational order. Political sociology of education theorises these de- and re-territorialising trajectories; yet the practical processes of remaking educational spaces are less well documented. The concept of ‘boundary work’ provides a lens for understanding the interplay between political and sociological processes that remake educational spaces over time and scale. Analysing two visions of education at the start of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, I track the shifting configuration of actors and processes involved in boundary work. I argue that educational spaces are ‘things of boundaries’ and lifelong learning reforms indicate processes of boundary work involving emergent educational actors: ‘professionals-who-educate’.

The Birth of the Humanist Movement at the Turn of the Fifteenth Century

This article provides an overview of how humanism evolved into a “cultural movement” in Italy during the pivotal years between 1400 and 1430. It examines the very notion of “movement” as a specific and challenging concept for intellectual history. It also identifies a significant threshold effect that resulted from related memorial, sociological, and literary processes. The emergence of a collective consciousness grounded in a reflexive relationship to history, the development of practices and references connected to the creation of a dynamic form of sociability, and the establishment of several distinctive markers of inclusive identity all converged to produce a powerfully symbolic “space of possibles” based on the paradigm of the “return to antiquity.” The development of an enduring cultural phenomenon was at work through the circulation and interaction of ideas, social practices, and elements emerging from the collective imagination. This phenomenon flourished well beyond the works of the period’s major authors and created a certain “topicality.”

Liminality in the Multiracial experience: towards a concept of identity matrix

Although researchers have investigated Multiracials for their racial identity ‘choices’, many scholars continue to conceptualise racial identity as monolithic. This article both problematises and extends the notion of racial identity with an ‘identity matrix’. This concept grounds the sociological processes of constructing and deploying a racial identity as strategic and agentic in interactional, political, cultural, physical (embodiment) and institutional contexts. Using insights from survey data from 231 black-white Multiracial young adults and follow-up in-depth interviews with 24 of these respondents, we develop the concept of ‘identity matrix’ both theoretically and empirically. This article provides heuristic results that we hope will encourage more development of methodological and theoretical complexity in the study of racial identity, allowing scholars to think about the various identities of Multiracials, the possibility of and conditions enabling an emergent Multiracial consciousness, as well as the socio-cognitive structure and active deployment of identity matrices across other social groups.

Taking a geometric look at the socio-political functioning schemes of the living. Catastrophe theory and theoretical sociology

The aim of this communication is to consider morphological processes in sociology, mainly through the study of the stability of forms of sociality. At the same time, it aims to study the regulation of constraints, related to an increasingly conflictual environment, through political organization. We use a specific theoretical framework: the catastrophe theory developed by René Thom in topology, further developed by Claude Bruter from a physics point of view, and reworked by Jacques Viret in biology. The idea is to show the existence of archetypal processes organizing social forms.

Социологическое конструирование новой профессии

A new profession design technology is reveled in this article. A tool of this design is operational sociology. The main directions related to
 innovative program of training of higher education specialists in the area of humanitarian technologies are discovered. The sociological construction process consists of several stages. The fi rst one is theoretical basis for the professional fi eld of humanitarian technology. Human technologies have non-material elements as their components which includes knowledge, ideas, sign environment. The second stage of design is building of model of professional competences. The third stage is interaction of high education institution with competent expert community. It has been found that a new type of relationship, the priority of which is involvement of employers in development and implementation of high education institution’s educational policy appears in the modern conditions. The fi nal stage is creation of innovative educational program for new profession staff training — “specialists in the area of humanitarian technologies”.

PREDICTING DESISTANCE IN A HIGH‐RISK SAMPLE: EXAMINING THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL AND CONTEXTUAL FACTORS

Delinquent behavior typically emerges in early adolescence, peaks in mid-adolescence, and decreases in early adulthood (Tremblay et al., 2004). The age crime-curve has been observed across crime categories, countries, and historical periods (Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1983). Further, childhood antisocial behavior strongly predicts later antisocial behavior, yet not all children who display early behavioral problems continue to exhibit such behavior into adulthood (Moffitt, Caspi, Dickson, Silva, & Stanton, 1996). Thus, adolescence becomes a critical period for determining whether a youth will persist in or desist from criminal behavior (Loeber & Farrington, 2012). Desistance is the process that results in the termination of antisocial behavior and criminal activity (Laub & Sampson, 2001). As noted above, desistance typically takes place during late adolescence and early adulthood, irrespective of antisocial behavior onset (Loeber, Farrington, Stouthamer-Loeber, & White, 2008). Desistance is likely to result from a range of complex developmental, psychological, and sociological processes (Laub & Sampson, 2001). Although few theories exist to specifically explain desistance, both ecological and developmental-ecological perspectives have been applied to examining antisocial behavior in children and adolescents (Belsky, 1980; Bronfenbrenner, 1979;

Architectural Anthropology and the Study of the Built Environment

Architecture has long been viewed as the monumental and formal edifices of society. In general, description mostly focuses on the material aspects of the building, which typically concern techniques of construction and types of building, environmental conditions, resources, technology, and some aspects of spatial organization, symbolism, and aesthetic values of the built forms. But relatively little is said about social facts of the people who live inside. In recent decades, many architects and anthropologists have begun to connect works with the development of social and cultural and coined the term architectural anthropology to describe the bridge between the two disciplines. As a result of the interest, this approach has become the subject of a growing literature. Several works written from different perspectives have in common a more holistic focus, emphasizing the theoretical significance of architecture as intellectual, political, and sociological processes. Various systematic techniques in have been applied to describe the interrelation between men and their built environment. This relation confirms that architecture is determined by socio-cultural factors: man within a specific social complex. Based extensively on historical documents, this paper devotes its attention to the chronological developments of and aims to illustrate how this approach is important to the study of the interconnection between man and the related built environment.

Community Group Actions: Their Emergence, Continuance and Links to Social Wellbeing

Community group actions are a process whereby individuals as part of a group, recognise and develop their theoretical and practical abilities, understand their potential and organise themselves to respond to problems, issues and social needs that they share. It supports the establishment of strong communities that control and use intellectual and practical assets to promote social justice and help improve community wellbeing and quality of life. However, explaining group actions is a challenge because of the interplay between psychological and sociological processes. Most psychological explanations seek to determine human activities as an individual cognitive process entailing minimal or negative cultural or group interference in the perceptions of such actions, but group explanations that fall into the orbit of sociology seek to account for such actions by reference to the forces outside the individual. Drawing on data from a study examining African Caribbean community group actions, this paper presents analyses of community group actions in the north of England and explores the reasons for the existence and continuance of such group actions and the links to social wellbeing. Data was generated from ninety-three community groups with extensive information from individuals representing eleven groups. The findings confirmed that group actions are partly determined by the links individuals have with their communities; consequently, social welfare practitioners need to take into account the various characteristics of community group actions in order to adopt and plan effective strategies to mobilise and support community actions that benefit the social wellbeing of particular communities.

Liberal bourgeois Protestantism: the metaphysics of globalization

This work analyzes the Protestant metaphysical origins and basis underlying the sociological process of globalization. Specifically, it outlines the different conceptions of globalization in the sociological literature, and then examines the nature of identity and identity politics in the age of globalization. The work concludes by drawing a connection between the nature of identity politics and the globalizing process.

Call for Papers—Special Issue on Routine Dynamics: Exploring Sources of Stability and Change in Organizations Submission Deadline: September 1, 2013

<b>Call for Papers</b>—Special Issue on Routine Dynamics: Exploring Sources of Stability and Change in Organizations <b>Submission Deadline: September 1, 2013</b>