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• Assessing human rights engagement as a series of events rather than long-term trends. • Paying attention to events allows conceptualization of multiple types of state performances when it comes to human rights. • Arab Spring changed voting patterns of most repressive states serving on the Human Rights Council. • A few repressive states (China, Cuba, Russia) did not shift their voting patterns. Sociological research on human rights analyzes the degree to which states engage with international human rights commitments over time. Yet we have a limited understanding of how specific events shape the long-term trajectory of human rights norms. This paper explores the effect of the Arab Spring on voting in the UN Human Rights Council. Using multiple growth curve models, I find that the emergence of the Arab Spring changed the voting patterns of most non-free states, but only temporarily, and that this holds even when controlling for protest events facing a given country. In contrast, a small set of non-free states did not change their votes during the Arab Spring. Drawing on research from cultural sociology, this paper explains these divergent voting patterns as heterogenous performances in the face of an event causing deep uncertainty such as the Arab Spring. The paper concludes that commitments to human rights norms must account for how events puncture broader trends, and that engagement with the human rights regime – and perhaps other performances of state legitimacy — requires an understanding of the multiple audiences, events, and policy possibilities to which states are attuned in international forums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expression “spiritual, but not religious” (SBNR) has gained considerable traction among sociologists of religion and culture, media outlets, and the broader public in recent years. Though the expression itself has achieved wide appeal, few studies have explored what SBNRs believe about God, religion, or spirituality. This paper uses survey data from Wave IV of the Baylor Religion Survey (2014) and draws from the theory of “cultural omnivorousness” to show that SBNRs have significant sociotheological differences when compared to those who are both religious and spiritual (RAS). The expression “spiritual, but not religious” is more than a manifestation of religious deinstitutionalization or “believing without belonging.” Rather, being “spiritual, but not religious” involves sociotheological boundary work that distinguishes SBNRs from traditional monotheists. When compared to RAS respondents, SBNRs are more likely to view God as a higher power or cosmic force instead of a personal being and are more likely to adopt an individualistic ethic as opposed to finding moral authority in God or Scripture. By examining the historical context and sociotheological characteristics of SBNRs, this paper locates a boundary between SBNRs and RAS monotheists and offers theoretical reasons why SBNRs engage in sociotheological boundary work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to broaden economic discourse by importing insights into human behavior not just from psychology, but also from sociology and anthropology. Whereas in standard economics the concept of the decision-maker is the rational actor , and in early work in behavioral economics it is the quasi-rational actor influenced by the context of the moment of decision, in some recent work in behavioral economics, the decision-maker could be called the enculturated actor . This actor's preferences, perception, and cognition are subject to two deep social influences: (a) the social contexts to which he has become exposed and, especially, accustomed; and (b) the cultural mental models —including categories, identities, narratives, and worldviews—that he uses to process information. The paper traces how these factors shape behavior through the endogenous determination of preferences and the lenses through which individuals see the world—their perception and interpretation of situations. The paper offers a tentative taxonomy of the social determinants of behavior and describes the results of controlled and natural experiments that only a broader view of these determinants can plausibly explain. The perspective suggests more realistic models of human behavior for explaining outcomes and designing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes and analyses the Hadrami migration to and adaptations in Hyderabad, India. The various adaptive niches exploited by the Hadramis in Hyderabad before the merger with India in 1948 are outlined, particularly the ones relating to the military field. Hadrami officers and soldiers were a typical features of the Nizam's army. But this was to change with the Indian take-over in 1948. The second part of the paper outlines these changes as they relate to Hyderabad in general and to the new adaptive strategies adopted by the Hadramis in particular. The new evolving adaptations during the 1950s was based on petty trade and represented a downward turn in the fortunes of the Hadramis. During this period the Hadrami identity was fading and they tended to disappear among the other Muslims in the city. In the 1970s, however, labour migration to the Gulf helped improve the economic status of the Hadrami families, and it lead to a strengtheneing of the diasporic organisations that could facilitate the migration and which also strengthened the Hadrami diasporic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper develops a sociological model to explain collisions between two drivers or more. The “Social Accident” model presented here integrates empirical findings from prior studies and extant sociological theories. Sociological theory posits that social groups have unique cultural characteristics, which include a distinctive world view and ways of operating that influence its members. These cultural characteristics may cause drivers in different groups to interpret a given situation differently; therefore, they will make conflicting decisions that may possibly lead to road accidents. The proposed model may contribute to an understanding of the social mechanism related to interactions and communication among drivers by presenting new directions for understanding accidents and collisions. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research that will employ the model to assess its predictive and practical utility. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper deals with an underdeveloped notion in the EAP sub-discipline of contrastive rhetoric: culture. It argues that a better conceptualization of contrastive rhetoric needs to include a better conceptualization of culture. After engaging with the complex question “What is culture?” the paper moves on to consider four sets of current issues regarding the concept of culture: (1) received culture versus postmodern culture versus cultural studies culture; (2) culture as product versus culture as process; (3) culture in the head versus culture in the world; and (4) big culture versus small culture. The paper then ends with a call for greater attention to the culture concept in contrastive rhetoric studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Classic studies of medical education have examined how professional socialization reproduces the prevailing professional culture, as well as how students actively negotiate their place in educational processes. However, sociological research has not re-examined student culture in light of structural transformations in medical education, such as the introduction of new assessment types and their use as modes of commensuration. In this paper, we examine data from two studies of online forums where medical trainees and applicants to medical school discuss their experiences preparing for tests of professional skills, including judgment, empathy, and communication. Examining how medical students talk about these tests on such forums allows us to understand the meaning-making processes at work as students negotiate the commensuration processes such tests enable. We examine how these negotiations take place in online forums, where participants confront common challenges, form common perspectives, and share common solutions, all hallmarks of student culture. Through qualitative analysis, we find that online communities are spaces where students grapple with these new forms of commensuration, interrogate the standards and quantifications that underlie them, and collectively negotiate how to approach these assessments. Using the case of online forum communities, our findings advance past work on student culture in medical sociology by theorizing student culture as an extra-organizational phenomenon that spans multiple career stages. In so doing, we highlight the importance of online forum data for studying social processes. • Students grapple with their experiences of assessment in online forums. • Forums show students' meaning-making as they negotiate commensuration processes. • Students confront common challenges and share solutions, forming "student culture". • We theorize student culture as an extra-organizational phenomenon. • We highlight the importance of online forum data for studying social processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: While structure and culture often are proclaimed dual and yet autonomous, this paper spells out a processual approach in which structure and culture are seen as intertwined and interdependent formations. To that end, we aim at understanding how meanings come to be, then build into process, and become integrated in a set of constructs of differing scopes, scales, and levels collectively known as “culture.” Meanings are “sparks” generated by irregular switchings across socio-cultural compounds called “netdoms,” mixtures of social networks and semiotic domains. Switchings originate from identities mitigating uncertainty from biophysical sources and from attempts at control by other identities. A “story” concatenates meanings in a relational structure within a horizon of possibilities. Netdoms constitute the fabric of socio-cultural life, wherein domains—through stories—provide the interpretive texture, while networks—through relations—supply the social texture. Socio-cultural formations invoking more complex compounds of stories (story-lines and plots) thereby frame social time, enabling, through narratives, mobilization for social action. We further model a level of syncopated complexity, denoted “style,” which illuminates the puzzle of how culture and structure fit together. (Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Seminar Series in Social Network Analysis in Manchester, UK on January 15th, 2008, at the Harvard Business School on March 17, 2008, and at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco on August 8, 2009.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we attempt to characterize the key differences and points of convergence between two contemporary approaches to the relationship between culture and cognition in sociology which we label the toolkit and strong practice theory perspectives. We follow recent work at the intersection of culture and cognition in attempting to explicitly formulate the cognitive underpinnings of these two approaches in terms of the assumptions that they make about cultural acquisition, transmission and externalization. Our analysis suggests that in spite of very important differences in emphasis and explanatory range, toolkit and strong practice-theoretical approaches are complementary, although the specific types of modal situation for which each of them is best suited need to be more clearly specified. We develop a framework that shows how the two approaches can be deployed in conjunction as well as specifying the modal settings and situations that each will be more likely to handle best as well as those in which they will run into trouble. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

From the pioneering works of Enriquez, Covar and Salazar, which paved the way for the production of social science knowledge that is particularly meaningful and sensitive to Philippine culture and society, this paper explores the social significations of kapwa, kapatiran and bayan. In the context of the dominant influence of Western perspectives in Philippine social science, the understanding, appreciation and evaluation of their contributions continue to be an important undertaking. As a preliminary attempt to contribute to this discourse, a panlipunang pagbabanghay is offered as an approach or an outline for the analysis of Philippine social organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]