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Abstract: This paper expands comments made upon receipt of the Distinguished Contributions to Theory and Research in Community Psychology, August 2015. Examination of the discipline's originating intent is reviewed as a foundation for considering its potential for distinguishing it from other social and behavioral sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ethnologie Française is the property of Presses Universitaires de France and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article consists of two parts. In the first one, the authors pointed out an argument in the social sciences concerning ability to reasonably use the „culture” concept in scientific discourse. In the second one, they analyzed opinions Benedict XVI ( Joseph Ratzinger) expressed about present condition of the Western culture. Views of this figure were selected to study due to recognizing significant influential role the Pope plays in the public sphere. In the opinion of Benedict XVI, today there are two cultures of the West that coexist: rational Christian culture and Enlightenment (neo‑Enlightenment) culture. There is a deep contradiction between them due to acknowledgment or rejection of God as Logos, hence as the source of human intellect and rules shaping interpersonal behaviour. The fundamental danger connected with domination of Enlightenment attitude Benedict XVI sees in relativism and glorification of total freedom which in the Pope’s opinion ultimately leads to treating man solely as an object. In Ratzinger's opinion, Christian and Enlightenment cultures are in conflict, with the latter playing the role of aggressor from the beginning. However, Benedict XVI hopes that the argument can be appeased by agreement on a set of basic values which, irrespective of attitude towards Logos, could be acknowledged as fundamental for existence of modern civilization. The ground for the agreement should be the acknowledgement of the inviolability of human dignity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Marxist communism and attempts to understand by looking at communist state Yugoslavia and has put forward fifteen theses. This thesis elaborates in the concept of two-headed Janus of emancipation through the state wherein individual emancipating in one way and alienating in other ways. It underlines until social power does not separate from himself in the form of political power, only then human attains emancipation.

This study explores how genre formation is influenced by contextual factors through a cross-lingual and -cultural comparison of three groups of texts. The corpus is from English MA thesis introductions in the field of linguistics and applied linguistics written by Chinese and Norwegian students in contrast to their English native counterparts, with 20 texts from each group. Following Swales' CARS model of move and step analysis, the study reveals some interesting features and tendencies among the three groups in their text construction. It concludes that genre formation is an ongoing process influenced by linguistic, social, cultural and other contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An article on the economization of society as a method of increasing options for sociological theories is presented. The author recommends the application of semantics to the discussion of the economics of non-economic portions of life, applies sociologist Talcott Parsons' AGIL paradigm to the political logic of society, and discusses social integration. The views of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu on the relationship between economism and the social sciences are analyzed, and compared with those from classical Marxism.

This contribution records the story of a community education project established to create a 'living museum' at an important historical site in Auckland. It provides an example of the potential for co-operative ventures between local Mãori and interested pãkehã people and institutions to establish educational reminders of the past. It demonstrates the importance of recognizing informal learning. However I warn of the difficulties for community organisations of meeting the demands of the 'performative' environment of neo-liberalism, and raise the question about the need to make these explicit. My role in this project was as the Chair of the Trust between 2002 and 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers opinions on Marxism. It is stated that Marxism remains philosophically valid in both sociology and political science. What is said to the obvious existence of different economic and social classes in real life is said to demonstrate the accuracy of Marxist analysis, despite what is acknowledged to be the almost invisible role played by Marxism in world politics in the 21st century.

The article explores the history of the Soviet Sociological Association by the Communist Party and the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. The author reflects on sociology in Russia and the diversity of research and subjects investigated. Chronological changes are presented that include expansion of the network of sociological institutions, political ideologies behind science, and the collapse of communist rule. Other topics include integration of the scientific community, foreign readership, and historical materialism.

Questions about the agency of the Communist Party — especially its failure to effect and support radical social transformations — formed one crucial aspect of the socio-political context in which the agent—structure debate was rejoined by social scientists in the 1960s and 70s. Moreover, the Party had long existed as a hieroglyph for Marxist thought. And deciphering the historical importance of the Party in processes of world development required the theorisation of an inter-societal dimension to the agent—structure problem. I contend that using an Ideas in Context approach to the agent—structure debate in order to consider this pre-existing Marxist literature on the agency of the Party illuminates issues obscured in the progress of the debate in IR. To this effect I examine the seminal writings of Trotsky, C. L. R. James and Althusser in order to reveal how the debate, imported into IR in the late 1980s, was already framed by the problem of analytically and ethically coming to terms with the inter-societal dimension of socio-political transformation, especially when this dimension pushed to the fore the generative nature of inter-societal alterity manifested in the condition of — and `advantage' of — comparative backwardness. Crucially, the attempts made to decipher the hieroglyph of the Party are instructive in that they reveal foundational challenges for the intellectual production of knowledge of inter-societal alterity and its centrality to issues of continuity and change, the identification of structural constraints and sources of transformative agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Sociology / Sosyoloji Dergisi is the property of Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

"Human Studies," has fomented a sea change in the character of inquiry in social sciences and professional fields during the past 25 years. When "Human Studies," began publishing there were hardly any outlets for essays and studies in "human science." If one attempted to publish such work, much scarce space had to be given to explaining, nay, justifying, one's non-normal approach to topics of non-obvious interest to readers of established journals. To say that "Human Studies," filled a niche is to miss the emergent, and fragile, nature of alternate inquiry enterprises. If "Human Studies," and its intrepid editors had not persevered, much scholarly work would not have seen the light of day, or would have appeared in the firmament as mere pinpricks of light. Sociologists exercising the luxury of abstraction might postulate that some such journal would have come into being, given a developing supply of articles in a publish or perish environment. Busy academics know, though, that few among us are willing to expend the energy to produce an outlet for other academics to publish. And even fewer of us have the tenacity, tact, and talent to make a journal at the margins become more than a marginal journal.

An agent-based model in which economic exchange and military conflict are emergent processes is used to explore the relationship between trade and war. The model of exchange is an applied analysis of the economics of trading networks. The model of conflict treats war as a breakdown in interstate bargaining due to incomplete information. The simulations explore how initial economic geography, state revisionism, defensive advantage, and technological advancement akin to globalization affect both trade and war. The results show that the relationship between trade and war depends on third factors, and an inverse relationship between trade and war emerges from compact geographies with revisionist states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper questions the conceptions found in the principal theoretical approaches developed within psychological and social sciences to the problem of community and psychological sense of community. Some core assumptions that are recurrent in the various definitions of the concept of community are discussed. From these assumptions stem the idea of community as a sort of ideal-type of the forms that social relationships may take and as a type of social collectivity characterized by a high degree of homogeneity and similarity. With reference to urban contexts, a more encompassing definition of community is needed so that the city may be regarded both as a local community and a local society. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A generalized version of Coleman's rational choice model for pure exhange in a perfectly competitive setting is extended by introducing the possibility of imperfect access between actors. Imperfect access is assumed to affect the individual opportunity set for purchasing control over more interesting resources. Starting from this conceptualization, the effects of restricted access on the central outcomes of exchange are studied without leaving the general equilibrium framework. Structural variables such as actor dependency, prestige, centrality, and status are specified for exchange situations with imperfect access between competing market participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term structure is one of the most common words in the vocabulary of the social sciences. Yet, even a cursory glance at the literature reveals that a clear conception of what it means and does, is quite generally lacking. In this contribution we try and develop just such a conception, and show that, and how, it is essential to understanding the mechanics and dynamics of social systems at any level of inquiry. In particular, it will appear that both individuals and social groups of any kind or size represent nonlinear dynamical systems, something which is not without important consequences for behavioral or sociological research. Moreover, the structure of these several systems turns out to have precisely the same form. As a consequence, too, the common distinction between micro- and macrosociology loses much of its dogmatic or theoretical meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the state of social scientists in East Germany. Proletarian; Ideological legacy; Marxist self-conception; Impact of the de factor elimination of an entire scholarly elite on social sciences; Ideologically compromised sciences; Political issues.

This article focuses on legal policy making in Soviet Union, specifically, the kinds of policies made by the Communist Party that bear on the social regulation process in Soviet society. There are several pioneering studies of legal policy making in certain branches of Soviet law, yet there is a need to examine closely the broader legal policy-making context within which the narrower codification issues have been and are being resolved. Metalegal policy has a significant impact on the social regulation process, although it is not intended to apply exclusively to that process. A metalegal policy may be either a general political policy with system-wide application within which the social regulation process is subsumed or a policy more limited in scope that is primarily directed toward another systemic process but has a "spillover" effect on the social regulation process or one of its component parts. The domestic sources of metalegal policy include individually or in combination, leadership conflict or change, ideological reinterpretation or emendation, major reorganization or reconstruction of another systemic process tightly interrelated to the social regulation process.

Examines the historical development and theoretical underpinnings of the connections between archaeology and Marxist social thought in Latin America. Emergence of social archaeology in Latin America before the Russian Revolution; Luis Valcarcel's theses that opened the dialogue between archaeology and Marxist theory in Peru; Convergence of various strands of cultural-evolutionary thought in the postwar years.

A reanalysis is given of data presented by Gillmore in which a paired-item design permitted differentiation between reliability and communality. This analysis yielded results "inconsistent" with traditional reliability theory. A new model based on assumptions about memory is presented which fits Gillmore's data. The implications of this theory are indicated for reliability artifacts, measurement, factor analysis, and the measurement of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the democratization process in Russia. Political parties and movements played a significant role in the transition of Russia from a totalitarian state into a democratic country. Details concerning the essential factors that led on the collapse of communism in Soviet Union is presented, followed by discussion on the events at the Seventh Congress of People's Deputies in December 1992. The Congress focuses on the division of legislative and executive power in the new Russian democracy. The emergence of political consciousness and democratic structures in Russia reflect the process of democratic development in the country.

One of the most popular and pressing problems in the attempts of contemporary Western social and cultural commentators to understand these times is the question of whether it is possible to identify a worrisome and unstoppable process of de-moralization. This process is frequently taken to involve the cutting of the ties and identities of citizenship so that individuals are left to wallow in swamps of anomie and disrepute; swamps in which the supposed achievements of civilization are undermined by the reappearance of activities which are taken to be more reminiscent of the mythical state of nature. In this article I will examine one of the most well-developed and intellectually plausible versions of this de-moralization thesis. I will outline and attempt to contextualize arguments rehearsed by Gertrude Himmelfarb in her book The Demoralization of Society (Himmelfarb, 1995). I hope to show that the de-moralization thesis is based upon a specific articulation of citizenship to civilization. I will then offer aspects of a sociological critique of Himmelfarb and, implicitly therefore, of the connection of citizenship to civilizaton. I will develop this possible critique through an account of some themes contained in the work of Zygmunt Bauman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El papel de la escuela y de los diferentes agentes que operan en el territorio, en relación con la educación y la satisfacción de las necesidades socioeducativas, se ha visto modificado de forma dinámica e interdependiente a raíz de los numerosos y rápidos cambios que afectan a nuestra sociedad y al propio conocimiento dentro de las Ciencias Sociales. El desarrollo de redes educativas de ámbito local está emergiendo en diferentes municipios catalanes bajo el impulso de la Diputación de Barcelona como una forma verdaderamente innovadora de atención eficaz y eficiente de las necesidades socioeducativas de los ciudadanos. Este tipo de experiencias, aun pendientes de una verdadera consolidación, son de gran interés teórico y práctico en cuánto que pretenden superar el encorsetamiento marcado por las clásicas políticas del bienestar, desconcertadas ante la nueva era del conocimiento y de la complejidad. En el presente monográfico, partiendo de investigaciones y experiencias concretas de asesoramiento a redes desarrolladas por nuestro grupo de investigación, se reflexiona sobre las bases conceptuales que fundamentan el trabajo en redes, sobre la necesidad de converger hacia modelos integradores e integrados de acción socioeducativa y sobre las formas de asesoramiento que lo hacen posible (artículo 1). También se reflexiona sobre las implicaciones éticas y profesionales que se derivan del nuevo enfoque comunitario y transdiciplinar (artículo 2). Un recorrido por las experiencias, bien consolidadas, de trabajo en redes que impulsan la Diputación de Barcelona (artículo 3) y del caso de la Red Educativa Local de Sant Vicenç dels Horts (artículo 4) permiten completar la revisión de esta nueva forma de entender la acción educativa desde la perspectiva local, más allá de la escuela, con la pretensión de construir procesos de mejora y dónde, por encima de todo, se consigan cambios transformadores y cualitativos para la población en su conjunto.The role of the school and different agents operating in the region, in relation to education and satisfying socioeducational needs, has undergone a dynamic and interdependent transformation as a result of the numerous and rapid changes affecting both our society and knowledge itself within the Social Sciences. Educational networks are being developed at a regional level in different Catalan local authorities promoted by the Diputación of Barcelona or County Council as a truly innovative form of effective and efficient attention of citizens'' socioeducational needs. This type of experiences, still to be truly consolidated, have a great theoretical and practical interest in that their aim is to overcome the limitations of classical welfare policies –disconcerted in face of the new knowledge and complexity era. The present monograph, founded on research work and the specific experience of consultancy for networks developed by our research group, reflects on the conceptual bases of working in networks, on the need to converge towards integrating and integrated socioeducational action models and forms of assessment that make it possible (paper 1). The ethical and professional implications that are derived from the new community and transdiciplinary approach are also the subject of reflection (paper 2). A review of well consolidated experiences working in networks that are promoted by the Diputación de Barcelona (paper 3), and the case of the Local Educational Network of Sant Vicenç dels Horts (paper 4) complete the current analysis of this new form of understanding educational action from a local perspective that goes beyond school. Its aim is to build processes for improvement, and above all to achieve transforming and qualitative changes for the overall population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the revival of the social sciences in Eastern Europe since the decline of communism. Social and economic transformation in the region; Little contact by Eastern Europeans with Western social scientists during the era of the Soviet Union; Intellectual activity in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary; Economic obstacles to improvements in the social sciences; Funding of the Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary, by George Soros. INSET: Bright Spots in a Bleak Russian Landscape.

The article focuses on the concept of sociological Marxism. The Midwest meeting in Chicago, Illinois was organized in April 1993 to address the issue of the relevance of sociology in Marxist style of analysis. The papers presented in the meeting were very well received but triggered off much discussion. A key question informing Marxist discourse in recent decades concerned whether or not socialists coming to power could use bourgeois state structures to further their goals. Obviously much of the urgency has gone out of this question. Douglas V. Porpors in his article "The Theoretical Status of Marxism," does not argue that Marxism should be the only perspective employed by sociologists. But he does argue that Marxism does many things that other perspectives simply do not do and that in many instances it does them far better. He provides a convincing rationale for judging a framework on strengths and widths of its positive heuristic across an entire band of problems of disciplinary interests.