Showing papers in "Social Science Information in 2011"
TL;DR: This paper examined cultural variability in attitudes about food, commensality and its correlates among countries usually categorized as ‘Western’ and ‘modern’, hinting at possible relationships between cultural attachment to commensal and a lower prevalence of obesity and associated health problems involving nutrition.
Abstract: The founding fathers of the social sciences recognized commensality as a major issue but considered it mostly in a religious, sacrificial, ritualistic context. The notion of commensality is examined in its various dimensions and operations. Empirical data are used to examine cultural variability in attitudes about food, commensality and its correlates among countries usually categorized as ‘Western’ and ‘modern’. Clear-cut differences are identified, hinting at possible relationships between, on the one hand, cultural attachment to commensality and, on the other hand, a lower prevalence of obesity and associated health problems involving nutrition.
342 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the methodological gap that impedes the collection of empirical data on subjective experience and describe a new family of methods for social science research (Subjective Evid...
Abstract: This paper addresses the methodological gap that impedes the collection of empirical data on subjective experience. It describes a new family of methods for social science research (Subjective Evid...
146 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the role of ethnic minorities, social exclusion, and racism in the persecutions of ethnic minority, and social exclusion and racism, and found that popular forms of these phenomena arise from multitudes of beliefs, values a...
Abstract: Persecution of ethnic minorities, social exclusion and racism are phenomena that cannot be studied as isolated variables. Popular forms of these phenomena arise from multitudes of beliefs, values a...
57 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a convergent definition of emotion is proposed in the form of a componential model that is based on an appraisal mechanism that produces tendencies for action to deal rapidly with important and urgent events in an individual's life.
Abstract: The connections between emotion and rationality are reexamined. Historically, Plato’s doctrine of the tripartite soul has established the preconception of a strict separation of emotion/passion from cognition/rationality, encouraging the biased perception that emotions are inherently irrational. To examine whether emotions can be rational, one must first examine the various meanings of rationality as developed in philosophy, psychology and the social and economic sciences. In this article, three forms of rationality are distinguished, and it is suggested that they can act as criteria to judge the rationality of emotions. Furthermore, before examining the possible relationships between emotion and rationality, the concept of emotion needs a more precise definition. A convergent definition of emotion is proposed in the form of a componential model that is based on an appraisal mechanism that produces tendencies for action to deal rapidly with important and urgent events in an individual’s life. It is demons...
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of participants' evaluation of humorous comments made by presidential candidates during the 2008 electoral season was investigated, and it was found that previously held opinions about the presidential candidates influenced participant evaluation of the humorous comment.
Abstract: This study considers the effect of participants’ evaluation of self-deprecatory and other-deprecatory (attack) humorous comments made by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain during the 2008 electoral season. Humor, by evoking laughter in an audience, provides evidence of support for competitors for a leadership position through social contagion, and can be used to attack competitors (Alexander, 1986) while sanctioning behavior at odds with group norms, whereas humor focused on oneself may be seen as a way of attending to egalitarian norms while ascending the dominance hierarchy (Boehm, 1999). A total of 185 participants analyzed here took part in a web-based experiment carried out 2 weeks before the 2008 presidential election. Short video excerpts of the presidential candidates making both self-deprecatory and other-deprecatory humorous comments serve as stimuli. Findings suggest previously held opinions about the presidential candidates influence participant evaluation of humorous comment...
51 citations
TL;DR: The emergence of triadic interactions and taking the role of the other among university-industry-government in the transition from an industrial to a knowledge economy may be seen as a conscious innovative stream rather than a chance evolutionary event as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A process of normative change in academic science makes spin-off entrepreneurship compatible with the advancement of knowledge. A parallel process of normative change in industrial science produces a creative tension between organizational and scientific goals that enhances the attainment of both objectives. The creation of hybrid organizations mediating between university–industry and university–government brings these institutional spheres into closer contiguity. The emergence of triadic interactions and ‘taking the role of the other’ among university–industry–government in the transition from an industrial to a knowledge economy may be seen as a conscious innovative stream rather than a chance evolutionary event.
47 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the cognitive structures and dynamics of a form of scientific discipline that differs significantly from the disciplinary format of the 19th-century university system, and from the profile proposed by much post-modern interdisciplinary (anti-disciplinary) discussion.
Abstract: This article analyzes the cognitive structures and dynamics of a form of scientific discipline that differs importantly both from the disciplinary format of the 19th-century university system, and from the profile proposed by much postmodern interdisciplinary (anti-disciplinary) discussion. This recent form of discipline, here termed the ‘new disciplinarity’, is a product of the increasing complexity of scientific knowledge and activity. The approach privileges cognition. It emphasizes the concepts of disciplinary referent, robust boundaries, ‘borderland’, combinatorials and projects. It suggests that the new disciplinarity is highly elastic and that it is a spawning-ground for new disciplines.
41 citations
TL;DR: This article analyzes the process of the reduction of the gene to a chemical compound, and shows how this analogy made the practice of gene patenting routine long before it came to public attention.
Abstract: The ability to patent is bounded by a set of conditions that define what is patentable and what is not. In the 1980s, the problem of the patentability of genes was solved by the use of an analogy between genes and chemical compounds. In this article we analyze the process of the reduction of the gene to a chemical compound, and show how this analogy made the practice of gene patenting routine long before it came to public attention. When we did eventually see public controversies surrounding gene patenting in the 1990s, the chemical analogy allowed patent offices in the US and Europe to ‘close down’ these debates by presenting the issues as merely technical.
32 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the development of discursive knowledge presumes the communication of meaning as analytically different from communication of information, and knowledge can then be considered as a meaning which ma...
Abstract: The development of discursive knowledge presumes the communication of meaning as analytically different from the communication of information. Knowledge can then be considered as a meaning which ma...
32 citations
TL;DR: In 1928, Maurice Holland, Director of the Engineering and Industrial Research Division at the US National Research Council, produced a paper on what he called the "research cycle".
Abstract: In 1928, Maurice Holland, Director of the Engineering and Industrial Research Division at the US National Research Council, produced a paper on what he called the ‘research cycle’. He portrayed the...
20 citations
TL;DR: Forgiveness appeared to be fueled mainly by three largely independent kinds of motives: having recovered sympathy for a repentant offender, applying a moral principle and preserving a meaningful relationship as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The structure of the motives invoked by people for forgiveness and for unforgiveness was assessed, and the relationships between these motives and demographic characteristics, conceptualizations of forgiveness, forgivingness, personality and culture were examined. Forgiveness appeared to be fueled mainly by three largely independent kinds of motives: having recovered sympathy for a repentant offender, applying a moral principle and preserving a meaningful relationship. Forgiveness may sometimes, however, amount to exploiting the offense for dominating or for challenging the offender as well as others. Unforgiveness appeared to be fueled mainly by persistent anger and indignation, sometimes associated with the desire for self-affirmation and self-protection, and, for a few participants, it was the only response to outgroup members. For each kind of invoked motive a meaningful pattern of relationships with the other measurements, including culture, was found.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare two distinctly modern dietary movements of the 20th century: the living food diet and veganism, and show that both diets involve rather extreme forms of denial that can make everyday life difficult (rejecting cooked produce, rejecting all animal products), even though the two stem from rather different motives.
Abstract: The article compares two distinctly modern dietary movements of the 20th century: the living food diet and veganism. It shows that, although food is one of the principal areas where nature and culture converge, in modern society eating is no longer a mere problem of classification (edible/non-edible); it has also become the object of strong emotional and moral investments. Both living foodism and veganism emphasize the importance of ‘natural’ foods, yet both are very much products of modern individualistic culture. Moreover, both diets involve rather extreme forms of denial that can make everyday life difficult (rejecting cooked produce, rejecting all animal products), even though the two stem from rather different motives. The data on living foodism is based on face-to-face interviews and a postal questionnaire, both conducted in Finland in 2006, whereas the data on veganism is based on existing Finnish theses, interviews from which are used selectively in this paper. The differences and the similarities...
TL;DR: This paper found that the southern shamanism of the San, Andamanese and Australian Aboriginals differs substantially from the well-known "classical" Siberian version found in various forms in large parts of Eurasia and the Americas (Laurasia).
Abstract: This article seeks to establish that the ‘southern’ shamanism of the San, Andamanese and Australian Aboriginals differs substantially from the well-known ‘classical’ Siberian version found in various forms in large parts of Eurasia and the Americas (‘Laurasia’). The typical southern (‘Gondwana’) shamanistic features of heat rising up the spine are linked to medieval Indian Kundalini yoga and some representations in Paleolithic art. This process is an important aspect of the change of consciousness initiated by shamanistic initiation and practice.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors illustrate morphosyntactic characteristics of Thai, an isolating language, in contrast to the modern European languages by assuming non-hierarchical serial verb constructions as its basic sentence structures.
Abstract: The article illustrates morphosyntactic characteristics of Thai, an isolating language, in contrast to the modern European languages. Thai is characterized as a topic-prominent language, where the voluntary–spontaneous contrast rather than transitive–intransitive one plays significant roles in forming basic sentence constructions. By assuming non-hierarchical serial verb constructions as its basic sentence structures, the author claims that the modern hierarchical view of language structure is not appropriate for Thai. In Thai, verbs are serialized to denote not only successive actions or an action and its objective, but also a cause and its result, an action and its evaluation. Furthermore, causative and passive constructions are analyzed as part of verb serializations which are structurally identical, but antiparallel to each other in the direction of affectedness.
TL;DR: The critique of functionalist reasoning has deprived sociology of the means of assessing collective problem-solving capacity, as a consequence, neo-liberal economics and comparative political economy have come to dominate this issue as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Fifty years ago, around 1960, the widely accepted sociology of modernization divided the world into ‘modern societies’ and societies that still had to undergo processes of ‘modernization and development’. After fundamental criticism of its evolutionist and functionalist assumptions, the theory was widely discredited two decades later. Its demise, though, has left the comparative sociology of contemporary societies with numerous problems. First, modernization theory has not been replaced by any other approach that aims at providing a sociological analysis of the global social configuration, despite all the talk about ‘globalization’. Second, the critique of functionalist reasoning has deprived sociology of the means of assessing collective problem-solving capacity. As a consequence, neo-liberal economics and comparative political economy have come to dominate this issue. Third, the critique of evolutionism has tended to throw overboard all normative concerns in the sociological analysis of social configura...
TL;DR: The authors compare philosophiquement la theorie mathematique de la decision individuelle, d'une part, and the conception psychologique ordinaire de l'action, du desir and de la croyance.
Abstract: L'article compare philosophiquement la theorie mathematique de la decision individuelle, d'une part, et la conception psychologique ordinaire de l'action, du desir et de la croyance, d'autre part Il delimite plus strictement son objet en etudiant, sous cet angle comparatif, le systeme de Savage et son concept technique de probabilite subjective, rapporte, comme chez Ramsey, au modele elementaire du pari L'examen est scande par trois theses philosophiques: (i) la theorie de la decision n'est que la psychologie commune mise en langage formel (Lewis), (ii) la premiere ameliore substantiellement la seconde, mais ne s'affranchit pas des limites caracteristiques de celle-ci, en particulier de son inaptitude a separer empiriquement le desir et la croyance (Davidson), (iii) la premiere ameliore substantiellement la seconde, et par les innovations qu'elle comporte, s'affranchit de certaines de ses limitations On s'est donne pour but d'etablir la these (iii) a la fois contre la these trop simple (i) et contre la these subtile (ii)
TL;DR: The Second Earth Summit to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 will coincide with the ratification by the International Commission on Stratigraphy of the concept of a new geological era, the anthropocene as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Second Earth Summit to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 will coincide with the ratification by the International Commission on Stratigraphy of the concept of a new geological era, the anthropocene. This term emphasizes the acknowledgement of the increasing impact of human intervention on the future of the Spaceship Earth. Humanity is thus at a crossroads and we need, more than ever, to abide by the principle of responsibility. We must mobilize ourselves to learn how to speedily mitigate deleterious climate change without losing sight of the urgent need to reduce the abyssal social disparities. The immediate imperative is to propose long-term development strategies to go hand in hand with an aggiornamento of long-term democratic planning. Such strategies must rely on two pillars: food security and energy security. Last but not least, the United Nations ought to take advantage of the forthcoming Earth Summit to set in motion a global transition towards a socially inclusionary and environmentally sustai...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a better-grounded and more heuristic approach to reconversions that would also permit them to be clearly distinguished from conversions, and they mainly rely on research on the elite conducted in different geographical and historical contexts.
Abstract: Although they are often analysed as forms of reproduction, reconversions have been characterized as forms of mobility in a number of works. Both options are not strictly contradictory and can equally be justified. However, trying to better circumscribe this notion seems utterly necessary today. Although not pretending to offer a precise definition, the author mainly leans on research on the elite conducted in different geographical (France, Hungary, Russia) and historical contexts, and proposes a better-grounded and more heuristic approach to reconversions that would also permit them to be clearly distinguished from conversions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the links between trust and recognition, first in terms of value judgments about social categories, then by mutual commitments under inequality conditions, and finally by mutual recognition as competent members of a collectivity.
Abstract: This paper investigates the links between trust and recognition, first in terms of value judgments about social categories, then in terms of mutual commitments under inequality conditions, finally in terms of mutual recognition as competent members of a collectivity. It criticizes purely cognitive approaches of trust, which, because they reduce trust to propositional attitudes, fail to account for the dynamics and the rationality of its process.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that mutual understanding grows with cognitive harmony and that it is impossible to communicate between people who do not share values, beliefs and concerns, and that such communication seems impossible.
Abstract: Commonsense wisdom dictates that mutual understanding grows with cognitive harmony. Communication seems impossible between people who do not share values, beliefs and concerns. If carried to the ex...
IRSA1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an overview of the existing studies of social capital in the framework of regional innovation systems and attempt to answer the question of whether any new new social capital can be created.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the existing studies of social capital in the framework of regional innovation systems and attempt to answer the question of whether any new...
TL;DR: The purpose of the author in engaging with "the two great fears of 1789" in France is mainly to illustrate various emotional mechanisms that almost certainly had some causal role in the events as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The purpose of the author in engaging with ‘the two great fears of 1789’ in France is mainly to illustrate various emotional mechanisms that almost certainly had some causal role in the events. The...
TL;DR: The paradigm of cognition and communication has served as a methodological basis for interdisciplinary studies carried out within the framework of Franco-Russian research projects in the field of psychophysics as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The paradigm ‘Cognition and Communication’ has served as a methodological basis for interdisciplinary studies carried out within the framework of Franco-Russian research projects in the field of ps...
TL;DR: The authors suggests that the phylogenic basis for contemporary Western artistic practices lies in a social practice of the distinctive features found in the species, as seen in certain birds and mammals, and that the question of non-human artistic practices is not only largely unexplored, but that contemporary ethology and psychology are still incapable of really tackling the problem.
Abstract: The article suggests that the phylogenic basis for contemporary Western artistic practices lies in a social practice of the distinctive features found in the species, as seen in certain birds and mammals. Using the cases of birdsong, ape-paintings, knot-tying in certain orangutans and the intriguing stone-handling of some monkeys, the article shows that the question of non-human artistic practices is not only largely unexplored, but that contemporary ethology and psychology are still incapable of really tackling the problem. More generally, some of the problems encountered stem from the fact that one conception of the social sciences was constructed in opposition to the animal, leaving the study of the latter to biology. In this perspective, the study of artistic activity in non-human animals is a true challenge for the social sciences of the future.
TL;DR: The authors explored the historical and sociological relations between contemporary conservatism and medievalism and concluded that modern conservatism originates in and continues, with some adaptations or innovations, medievalism seen as the "golden past" becoming the original conservative ideal and model of society and history.
Abstract: This article explores the historical and sociological relations between contemporary conservatism and medievalism. It first registers the reemergence and increasing prominence of conservatism in contemporary society, most notably in America during the late 20th and the early 21st centuries. It then places conservatism and medievalism and their relationship within a historical-comparative framework. The article concludes that modern conservatism originates in and continues, with some adaptations or innovations, medievalism seen as the ‘golden past’, becoming the original and persisting conservative ideal and model of society and history.
TL;DR: In the space where humans and apes come together, the apes show a form of "becoming-human" that echoes the 'becoming animal' outlined by Deleuze & Guattari.
Abstract: This article explores certain collective representations related to the great divide between human and animal. But rather than engage on the reassuring path of inventorying human uniqueness, it mobilizes various places where humans and the ambassadors of four particular species – chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla and orang-outan – meet, and exchange habits and skills. A careful study of the few historical milestones in the history of the relationship between humans and the great apes allows us to highlight the limitations of the Western dualistic division of the animal kingdom into poles that radically separate the human species from the other animal species. In the space where humans and apes come together, the apes show a form of ‘becoming-human’ that echoes the ‘becoming-animal’ outlined by Deleuze & Guattari. The primates in fact adopt the customs, capabilities and lineaments of human ethos, thus blurring the often too linear boundaries between human and animal, and calling into question the rigidity of sev...
TL;DR: The ongoing revolutions in the media and practices employed by both writing and reading, together with the development of digitalization and the growth in Internet applications present a profound challenge to the activities of all actors involved in traditional publishing, and this includes libraries as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The ongoing revolutions in the media and practices employed by both writing and reading, together with the development of digitalization and the growth in Internet applications present a profound challenge to the activities of all actors involved in traditional publishing, and this includes libraries. These revolutions have a particular impact on the Human and Social Sciences (HSS), which are thereby offered what were heretofore practically inaccessible social prospects. Hence the importance for researchers in the HSS – in particular in France – of the stakes presently playing out around the policies conducted in this area.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the matrimonial web of migrants by first focusing on the economy of ethnic profiling which underlies it and found that such ethnicization of the 'love' encounter is closely dependant on...
Abstract: This article investigates the matrimonial web of migrants by first focusing on the economy of ethnic profiling which underlies it. Such ethnicization of the ‘love’ encounter is closely dependant on...
TL;DR: This article reviewed the history of anthropology through three globalization processes since its origin in the 18th century: discovery of the Other, social change and the historicity of its societies and cultures, settling all anthropologies at the same level.
Abstract: This paper reviews the history of anthropology through the three globalization processes it has undergone since its origin in the 18th century. The discovery of the Other, and then that of the social change and of the historicity (especially of the colonial period) of its societies and cultures, settles all anthropologies at the same level today. This phenomenon calls into question the so-called natural hierarchy that has favoured the Western tradition, though today many new traditions are being elaborated and activated in anthropology by the countries and even the indigenous populations of the South. Elaboration of a common sociology of knowledge should enable all anthropologists to compare and evaluate themselves and their various backgrounds and traditions. Such a detour allows us to have a more egalitarian view of both the theoretical and the field experience of all anthropologies qualified today as world anthropologies or anthropologies without boundaries.
TL;DR: This paper suggested that the emergence of the concept of ego in Western Europe may have something to do with the appearance of the obligatory use of overt grammatical subjects, especially in English, French and German, in the medieval period.
Abstract: When reading haiku poems in English, the knowledge that surface subjects (and personal pronouns) are not obligatory in Japanese is indispensable for interpretation. Considering the geographical and temporal distribution of the overt grammatical subjects, it is suggested that the emergence of the concept of ‘ego’ in Western Europe may have something to do with the appearance of the obligatory use of overt grammatical subjects, especially in English, French and German, in the medieval period. The fact that Descartes himself seemed to have stuck to the overt subject ‘ego’ even in the Latin version of his famous theme, i.e. Ego cogito ergo sum instead of Cogito ergo sum, is also thought provoking.