Socio-political Changes Research Articles

The Consequences of Reunifications in Chinese History: The Founding of the Sui vs. the Founding of the Song

Although all reunifications in Chinese history can be conceptualized as adhering on the surface to similar patterns, in fact each was the consequence of a complex assortment of contingent circumstances. Moreover, the particularities of the founding years of a dynasty had a wide-ranging impact on subsequent historical development. This article compares the circumstances and process of the founding of the Sui to the circumstances and process of the founding of the Song in order to show how differences between them might explain the very different political cultures of the Sui-Tang period as compared to the Song period. Thus, the pre-dynastic size of the north Chinese elite and patterns of inter-state interactions had repercussions on the subsequent geographic distribution of political power. In addition, distinct strategies of political legitimation at the inception of each of the two dynasties help account for strikingly different attitudes concerning the relationship between the past and the present, as well as the desirability of transformative and fundamental sociopolitical change.

Unveiling ancient Jerusalem’s pastoral dynamics (7th to 2nd centuries BCE) with multi-isotope analysis

This study explores changes in pastoral practices in the Jerusalem region (Iron Age II - Late Hellenistic) through a multi-isotope approach (strontium, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen). Based on the analysis of 135 sheep, goat, and cattle teeth and bone samples from Givati Parking Lot we demonstrate the value of this method in reconstructing past animal husbandry, revealing adaptation and resilience of pastoral communities amidst environmental and socio-political changes. Isotopic analysis indicates local sourcing for most animals, with intriguing outliers from distant regions up to 150 km away, suggesting regional exchange networks. Notably, the Persian period (5th century BCE) exhibits a wider isotope range, implying increased flexibility and exploitation of diverse grazing lands, potentially driven by climate shifts and political upheavals. Conversely, Late Hellenistic (2nd century BCE) livestock display restricted movement, while showcasing a rise in desert caprines, indicative of increased import compared to the Persian era. These findings highlight the dynamism and adaptability of past pastoral communities, adjusting their strategies in response to various pressures. This study opens new avenues for understanding human-environment interactions in the Levant and underscores the power of multi-isotope approaches in unraveling intricate socio-economic and ecological dynamics of the past.

Gravity’s eastern voyage: the introduction, transmission, and impact of Newtonian mechanics in late imperial China (1727–1912)

This study traces the intricate journey of Newtonian mechanics in Qing China from 1727 to 1912, elucidating the complex interplay of science, religion and politics in cross-cultural knowledge exchange. Initially introduced by Jesuit missionaries through lunar theory in calendrical reform, followed by cometary and heliocentric concepts, the dissemination of Newtonian mechanics gained momentum after the Opium Wars (1839–1842). Subsequently, Protestant missionaries and Chinese scholars collaborated to translate and propagate Newton’s laws of gravitation and motion, often contextualized within natural theology, through Western texts, popular science literature, and periodicals. This process culminated in the integration of Newtonian principles into national educational curricula in the early twentieth century. Significantly, Newtonian mechanics transcended its scientific realm, infiltrating political discourse as reformist thinkers leveraged mechanical terminology to advocate for sociopolitical change. This historical episode illustrates how the assimilation of Newtonian mechanics was influenced by missionary approaches, indigenous intellectual traditions, pragmatic national interests, and the tumultuous political landscape of Late Qing. By challenging Eurocentric narratives and highlighting Chinese agency in adapting Western knowledge, this study contributes to a more inclusive history of Newtonian science, offering a nuanced perspective on global scientific circulation.

“Pous van die Kaap”

“Pope of the Cape”: Koot Vorster and ultra-right politics in the 1960s The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC), with an entrenched relationship with Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid, had to face socio-political changes in Afrikaner society in the 1960s. International pressure on the state, economic prosperity of Afrikaners, cultural exposure to the West, and internal criticism from cultural and academic spaces began to crack the bastion of Afrikanerdom during this decade. While the state had so-called dangers from outside under control at the time, it was the DRC’s focus to strengthen the people from within against unseen dangers such as liberalism and communism. In this context, Dr Koot Vorster emerged from the Cape NG Church as a leading national figure of Afrikaner anticommunism when he became head of the newly established National Council for the Fight against Communism in 1964. This article shows how Vorster was in fact a foreman for an ultra-right political pressure group from the Transvaal. Vorster is therefore considered here as a churchman and “organisation man”, as termed by N.P. van Wyk Louw, within verkrampte ranks. As the political winds blew against the verkramptes under the leadership of Koot’s brother, Prime Minister John Vorster, Koot also stood more and more on the periphery of popular politics as he tested the boundaries at the right of Afrikaner politics. As an organization man he would then stand on the periphery, but as a church man he did not lose his prestige.

Job Opportunities in Various Field for Criminology Graduates: Indian Perspective

ABSTRACT The study explores the wide range of career options available to criminology graduates in India, focusing on both traditional fields and emerging ones that have developed due to technological, sociopolitical, and economic changes. Employers in areas such as public policy, corporate security, intelligence, and the criminal justice system are increasingly seeking criminology graduates. In this evolving job market, these graduates face both opportunities and challenges, as employers demand specific skills, practical experience, and real-world knowledge from new candidates. This research provides a thorough analysis of how criminology graduates can adapt to the Indian job market and offers targeted recommendations for curriculum reform, industry collaborations, and government initiatives to enhance employability. Drawing from both international and Indian studies, the paper highlights how technological advancements and contemporary security needs have shaped employment patterns in India’s private sector and its criminal justice system.

Ambivalent citizenship: political cynicism, community engagement and belonging among youth in Brazil

ABSTRACT This article interrogates the role of urban peripheries in creating political imaginaries and understandings of citizenship among children and grandchildren of insurgent citizens in urban Northeast Brazil. The analysis draws on data collected through 10 ethnographically informed focus groups with youth between 18 and 35. The article argues that, contrary to beliefs that young people are apathetic about politics or enthusiastic to engage in progressive social movements, youth have an ambivalent relationship with the state, informed by everyday encounters with precarious infrastructure, awareness of previous forms of collective action that determines their civic engagement, and feelings of belonging to home communities. The article suggests revisiting the concept of insurgent citizenship considering new socio-political changes that framed the lives of young people living in urban peripheries in the past two decades in Brazil and proposes ambivalence as a productive theoretical angle to make sense of ruptures and discontinuities in political practices.

Colour-Coding Aegean Elites: Status and Cultural Identities in Linear B Dyed Textiles and Late Bronze Age Socio-Political Changes

Abstract This paper analyses the dyed textiles that are recorded in Linear B tablets and explores their role within the changes that the Late Bronze Age Aegean socio-cultural and economic scenario underwent. Additionally, it addresses how Aegean elites visually conveyed cultural messages on power and identities through colours and coloured textiles. As such, this paper (i) hypothesises new associations between red-dyed textiles, the chronology of Linear B tablets from Knossos, and the socio-political and cultural development of the Late Bronze Age; (ii) contributes new insights into the cultivation of plants producing red dyes throughout the period of the Knossos tablets use; (iii) challenges the interpretation of terms referring to the red natural colour of the wool; (iv) critically reviews the interpretation of terms referring to the grey natural colour of the wool; (v) hypothesises a new interpretation of how green-dyed textiles were obtained.

Difficulties In Assisting Students With Special Educational Needs In Armenian Schools During History Lessons

Inclusive education in Armenia has changed quite much over the years, which were stipulated by various historical, socio-political, and economic changes. The system of inclusive education is oriented toward mainstreaming students with special needs into the common educational process in schools with an equal attitude toward providing all of them with appropriate education. This study is aimed at analyzing the present situation, obstacles, and management peculiarities of inclusive education in Armenia during the History lesson from the viewpoint of the history teachers. Within this frame, the current study used qualitative research methodology as a content-based approach to combine thought, emotions, ideas, and attitudes. It was intended to understand the experiences of history teachers in working with students with special educational needs and go deep to have a richer understanding of the research question. The findings of the study revealed that Armenian inclusive schools are facing various challenges in appropriately supporting students with special educational needs in the History learning environment. These areas of difficulty involve inadequate teaching differentiation to cater to the different learning needs, failure to cope with various students' comprehension levels, and lack of one-on-one attention in a mainstream class. Inadequate resource provision, limited teacher training, and poor specialized support complicate the effective delivery of history education for such learners even further.

Local crime and substance use disorders: A comparison of midlife adults in the 1990s and 2000s

This study investigated how sociopolitical changes in the United States between the 1990s and 2000s may explain the increase in substance use disorders and reduced longevity in more recent cohorts of US midlife adults. The 2008 recession which drastically increased unemployment rates across the country may have had negative implications for downstream contextual and individual processes, including both local crime rates and substance use disorders. The Midlife in the United States Survey cohort (1995; n = 6148; 20–75 years) and the MIDUS Refresher cohort (2011; n = 3543; 23–76 years) reported on substance use disorders. These data were linked to Uniform Crime Reporting violent crime rates to determine whether associations between local crime and substance use disorders changed among two separate cohorts of US midlife adults assessed before or after the 2008 recession. In 1995, despite higher local crime rates, substance use disorders were not associated with local crime. The comparatively lower crime rates of 2011, however, associated with greater prevalence of substance use disorders. Considering unemployment rates from the Decennial Census and American Community Survey, which were substantially higher in 2011 relative to 1995, completely diminished the local crime rate-substance use disorder association. The increased prevalence of substance use disorders observed in the more recent cohort of midlife adults assessed in the current study may represent maladaptive coping to local crime after the 2008 recession.

Modern information technologies for studying the cost of working time as an important tool for effective management of business processes

Relevance. In the context of economic, social and socio-political changes, growth and increased competition, it is becoming increasingly interesting to study the issues of scientific organization and labor rationing, as well as factors affecting labor productivity, and, ultimately, the effectiveness and profitability of production processes in general. There is an objective need to improve not only the methods of managing the cost of working time, but also to skillfully apply modern digital technologies. That is why it is so important to develop and modify, in accordance with the requirements of the market environment, methods, tools and methods of analysis using artificial intelligence (AI) when studying the cost of working time of employees of an organization.The purpose is based on the study of theoretical and methodological approaches to improving the system of organization and rationing of labor, to provide a scientific justification for the relevance of the development of the processes of accounting for working hours of employees of the organization through the integration of modern information technologies.Objectives: to analyze the existing approaches to the organization and rationing of labor; to identify the potential of integrating modern information technologies into the processes of working time accounting; to develop practical recommendations for improving the system of accounting for the working hours of employees of the organization using modern information technologies.Methodology. The theoretical and practical basis for the study of modern approaches to the modernization of the system of organization and rationing of labor at the enterprise were the methods of analyzing literary sources, statistical data, expert assessments, as well as using an integrated approach.Results. The result of the research in the work is a comprehensive analysis of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in studying the cost of working time to modify the processes of rationing labor functions through the integration of information technologies.Conclusions. In the course of the study, we proved the positive effect of the introduction of modern information technology systems at the enterprise, as well as scientifically substantiated the relevance of the development of processes for analyzing the cost of working time and rationing employees of enterprises through the integration of modern information technologies.

Narratives at the Crossroads: Media Reporting on Suicide in Slovenia in the Context of Socio-political Changes in 1959-1999

This study examines the representation of suicide in Slovenian newspapers from 1959 to 1999, a period characterised by profound socio-political changes. By analysing 1,785 articles from the archives of two major newspapers, Delo and Večer, we identified a dynamic relationship between the style of media reporting on suicide and the evolving societal context. Our findings suggest a transition from predominantly provocative to increasingly preventive reporting on suicide over the decades. Interestingly, despite an overall trend towards preventive approaches, the ratio of provocative to preventive aspects per article consistently favoured provocative reporting in each period studied. In the early years studied, reporting on suicide tended to be sensationalised, which could be due to a variety of factors, including less informed media practices. In the 1990s, however, a surprising increase in both preventive and provocative reporting was observed, coinciding with Slovenia's independence and the liberalisation of the media. This mixed trend contrasts with worldwide studies, but underlines the link between media, socio-political changes and public perception of suicide. The study highlights the significance of the media, and the challenge of balancing public interest and social responsibility when reporting on suicide.

Discrimination, critical consciousness, and mental health in American youth of color.

To resist and cope with oppression, youth of color may use the process of critical consciousness which involves understanding racial injustices (critical reflection), developing motivation to fight these injustices (critical motivation), and taking action to enact sociopolitical change (critical action). However, little is known about how each dimension of critical consciousness affects mental health in adolescents of color. In a sample of 367 ethnically and racially diverse American adolescents of color (age range = 13-17; 68.9% girls, 28.6% boys, and 2.5% gender minority; 84.4% US-born), we conducted multivariate regressions in Mplus to examine the cross-sectional links between each critical consciousness dimension (reflection, motivation, and action) and mental health outcomes (anxiety, depression, and stress) over and above the impact of everyday discrimination. We also investigated the interaction between critical consciousness and discrimination in predicting mental health outcomes. Controlling for age, gender, nativity, and social class, we found that discrimination and critical action were both positively associated with anxiety, depression, and stress. For our covariates, girls and gender minority adolescents reported worse outcomes. No interactions were significant. Overall, critical action, while necessary to enact societal change, may have a complex relationship with youth's depression, anxiety, and psychological stress symptoms and warrants careful exploration. Future research should focus on understanding the longitudinal mechanisms of critical action and how we can maximize the benefits by protecting youth from those negative effects.

RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE IN CHANGING INDONESIA: The Political Struggle and Movement of Hidayatullah

This article seeks to endeavors and strategies of an Islamic organization, Hidayatullah, to survive in changing political regimes in the New Order to Reformation period of Indonesia. It was established as an Islamic educational and dakwah (Islamic proselytizing) institution in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, in 1973. Despite socio-political changes in the country, it has expanded to several provinces in Indonesia which transformed it to become the largest Islamic educational institution with 402 branches of Islamic schools. The organization focuses its activities on Islamic education and dakwah through various ways including printed media such as Suara Hidayatullah magazine, distributed weekly to its branches, mosques, and schools. Based on a literature review of Suara Hidayatullah magazine and interviews with Hidayatullah prominent figures, this article delves into the struggles and movement of Hidayatullah through its dynamics and transformation in socio-political changes in Indonesia. This article argued that in political dynamics and transformation within Hidayatullah organization show the resistance and resilience to survive in the socio-political crisis of Suharto’s New Order era (1966-1998), which discriminated against Islam as a political ideology and in the aftermath of reformation. One of the strategies to comply with the political repressions is to declare Hidayatullah as an Islamic organization like Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah in 2000. This transformation process proves Hidayatullah’s strategic foresight and adaptability in socio-cultural and political changes.

Социальные и политические основания конструктивной девиации студенческой молодежи: анализ цифровых следов в региональных сетевых сообществах

Deviant behavior is a popular research topic. The article examines interdisciplinary approaches to its causes, types, and consequences in university students. Constructive deviation is a relatively new phenomenon, which requires systematization and formalization. The current socio-political changes encourage certain socially significant values and helping behavior practices, which makes it possible to develop social resources, as well as social, intellectual, and civic potential in young people. The authors studied internet activities of first-year university students to reveal the social and political prerequisites of constructive deviation. These foundations included the institutional conditions for the development and implementation of the state youth policy, youth initiatives, helping behavior practices, hypernormality, such socially significant values as patriotism and altruism, etc. The sociological interpretation of constructive deviation clarifies the challenges that are relevant for young people and directions for their social consolidation.

“Exploring Gender and Identity in 20th-Century Literature: Feminist Perspectives in Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook and Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber”

This research investigates the themes of identity and gender in twentieth-century literature, with an emphasis on the role of feminism in Doris Lessing's The Brilliant Notebook )1962) and Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber (1979). The research aims to examine how the two writers question and dismantle conventional gender roles, featuring the impact of women's activist ideas in molding female identity inside the setting of the sociopolitical changes of the 20th 100 years. The objectives are to examine the women's perspectives introduced in every text, research the depiction of female independence, and investigate the crossing point of gender, power, and personality in the account structures. The methodology is a relative scholarly examination, using women's activist and gender theory structures to examine the texts. Essential sources, including the two books, are broken down closely by optional academic deals with women's activist scholarly analysis. Key subjects like female freedom, the disruption of man-centric designs, and the rehash of personality are investigated through character development, narrative techniques, and imagery. The outcomes show that both Lessing and Carter utilize their attempts to challenge regulating gender builds, with Lessing's The Brilliant Notebook focusing on the fracture and remaking of female identity, and Carter's The Bloody Chamber utilizing Gothic and fantasy themes to scrutinize conventional gender roles. The conversation underlines how each creator adds to women's activist artistic talk by offering complex, nuanced depictions of ladies who explore, oppose, and eventually reshape the jobs forced upon them by man-centric culture. This study concluded that Lessing and Carter, through their specific strategies, offer tough women's dissident assessments that continue to reverberate in contemporary discussions on gender and identity. Their novels feature the phenomenal ability of writing to test gender principles and advance feminist ideologies. Keywords: Gender, Identity, Feminism, The Golden Notebook, The Bloody Chamber

Етнічні меншини України: роль греків Приазов'я у формуванні національної ідентичності

The purpose of the article is to explore the role of the Greeks of the Azov region in shaping the national identity of Ukraine, as well as to analyze the impact of their ethnocultural heritage on the development of modern Ukrainian society. The methodology of the research is based on a combination of historical-ethnographic and cultural-anthropological approaches, as well as the use of interdisciplinary methods of analysis, including comparative analysis, data systematization, and synthesis. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of the national identity of the Greeks of the Azov region has been carried out, from their resettlement from Crimea to the modern period, particularly in the context of socio-political changes in Ukraine and the influence of external factors, such as the war in Donbas. Conclusions. The article concludes that the Greeks of the Azov region have played a significant role in forming the multinational identity of Ukraine. Their cultural heritage, preservation of language, and traditions in the face of historical challenges serve as an example of the resilience and adaptability of an ethnic minority within the context of modern Ukrainian society. Further research in this direction may contribute to a deeper understanding of the processes of ethnic and national identification in Ukraine.

Why Has Migration Research So Little Impact? Examining Knowledge Practices in Migration Policy Making and Migration Studies

Scientific and expert knowledge on migration is often disregarded in policy making and plays only a minor role in public debates - despite the massive growth and institutionalization of migration research in recent years. This article interrogates the limited impact of migration research(ers) by examining knowledge practices in both policy making and academia. We first look “outwards” at migration policy making. Revisiting and integrating the hitherto separate scholarship on knowledge use and knowledge production, we identify the main mechanisms that characterize knowledge practices of policy actors, such as individual and institutional self-preservation, issue politicization, or unequal power dynamics. We then mobilize these insights to look “inwards” at our own knowledge practices in migration studies, showing that similar mechanisms shape how migration scholars produce and use knowledge. In particular, we identify a fragmentation of migration studies into ever-more fine-grained sub-fields, each with their own knowledge practices and impact strategies - and with little dialogue across them. In fact, rather than acknowledging their complementarity, these sub-fields tend to delegitimize each other's knowledge and efforts to achieve socio-political change. We argue that such “academic tribalism” creates a self-sabotaging dynamic that undermines the field's wider credibility and impact. Ultimately, we hope that this paper empowers migration researchers to act upon this diagnosis and inspires a collective discussion on how to foster more mutually-reinforcing knowledge practices that strengthen the field's role in political debates and public life.

The Abu Dhabi adhan: An orienting soundmark through scaled configurations of space and time

AbstractAmid its superdiverse population, the call to prayer, the adhan, identifies the UAE as an Arab, Muslim nation state while forming discrete ethno‐class publics around its numerous urban mosque calls. I conceptualize the adhan as a soundmark, which functions as a vital sonic place‐maker and orients listeners' attendant actions through a series of scaled chronotopes. I posit two intersecting umbrella chronotopes, masjid and jāmi‘, which frame how each adhan is listened to and taken up. For autochthonous Emiratis, the chronotope of masjid opens up a portal of copresence with God and attendant rituals of ethical self‐formation. Meanwhile, the chronotope of jāmi‘ positions Emiratis in the iterative constitution of their nation, community, and family. Through these chronotopes, I examine how members of an extended Emirati family use the adhan to reinforce discourses of ethnonational and gendered socialization within their cloistered urban tribal enclave in the capital, Abu Dhabi. However, as the state gradually divests from full economic dependence on oil, infrastructural transformations are leading young Emiratis toward two‐income single‐family homes in multiethnic suburbs. Accordingly, I show how the marked reduction in the adhan in new developments becomes a synecdoche for sociopolitical changes and Emiratis' ambivalence toward them.

Unusual times: Remembering Turkey’s long sixties

The two decades spanning from 1960 to 1980 in Turkey marked a period of profound socio-political change, characterized by the emergence of new ideas, movements, and transformations that significantly influenced the entire society. This era, punctuated by three coups d’état and other pivotal historical events, shaped the formative experiences of diverse members of the young generation of time, regardless of their level of involvement. This article seeks to present a pluralistic memory narrative of Turkey’s long sixties, derived from the lived experiences of ordinary people, rather than solely focusing on the perspectives of activist individuals of the time. In doing so, the article aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of Turkey’s long sixties, shedding light on both the violence and utopian ideals that characterized the era. Furthermore, it seeks to contribute to an “agonistic memory” narrative of this contested period by acknowledging its complexity and bringing to light other perspectives alongside the dominant narratives.

SOCIAL MOOD OF RUSSIAN SOCIETY AS A MARKER OF SOCIO-POLITICAL CHANGES IN CONDITIONS OF UNCERTAINTY

Based on the analysis of monitoring research data, the article proposes a view of social mood as a marker of socio-political changes, including a socio-psychological mechanism of adaptation to a traumatic period of uncertainty. Based on the data of the Institute of Socio-Political Problems of the Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in comparison with the results of studies by leading analytical centers of the country, the psychological state of Russian society is characterized, in particular, the dynamics of social mood over the past three years through the prism of emotional and rational indicators: an assessment of the current situation in the country, the dynamics of social expectations, the direction of social optimism, the spectrum of the problem field of Russians, an assessment of the perception of power, political loyalty and political alienation, political participation. The mobility and variability of social mood is presented in the values of its intensity and the vector of changes. The interdependence of the tonal and subject socio-political orientation of social mood is revealed. A conclusion is made about the positive tonality and restrained right-center political orientation of the social mood of Russian society. At the same time, the accumulation in social memory of the result of reflexive orientation toward social changes forms in the mass consciousness a potential source of both obstacles and opportunities for the transformation of social memory. The question is raised about the direction of such transformation, about the possible mutual influence of social mood, socio-political practices, changes in the structure of social memory depending on the socio-political context and time.