Showing papers on "Social dynamics published in 1982"

The Web of Computing: Computer Technology as Social Organization

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter examines web models for understanding the dynamics of computing development and its use in organizational life. The chapter describes the study of the relative explanatory power of the discrete-entity model and web model by drawing upon the existing research literature and three case studies. The chapter explores different kinds of insights each model provides into the social dynamics of computing development and use. The chapter also illustrates the ways by which each model provides analytical power for making evaluations and predictions. Five major propositions that web analysts essentially make about the dynamics of computing development and use are also presented. The chapter concludes by examining two additional cases of computer developmentand use. It is noted that web models allow better predictions of the outcomes of using socially-complex computing developments in contrast to the discrete-entity models. Web analysts examine the interaction between people and technologies as part of a larger social and technical mosaic, in which the development and use of the focal technology is embedded.

Community Organization Reflected by the Household: a Study of Pre-Columbian Social Dynamics

Abstract: This study presents a methodology for identifying the precise nature of the mechanisms of social structure operating in a complex urban settlementAndean settlement archaeology has traditionally used complex ceremonial and religious architecture to study social organization and evolution Although a few projects have identified residential patterns and noted their significance as social definers, this work has only superficially examined the specific nature of population organization embodied in the residential architecture of individual settlements Thus only general commentaries are possible regarding the form of social control and wider aspects of cultural integration associated with organizational mechanisms that operated within these settlementsThis paper describes an intensive study of the residential architecture of the urban Moche V site of Galindo (ca 600–750 AC) in the Moche Valley of northern Peru Detailed statistics pertaining to architectural form, range of variation, differenti

Social Dynamics of Terrorism

Abstract: Effective strategies for avoiding the projected “legitimation crisis” presuppose the clarification and resolution of issues regarding the definition, causation, and justification of political violence. It is proposed that terrorism be defined as an ideology or strategy justifying terror—defined as lethal or nonlethal violence intended to deter political opposition by maximizing fear, specifically by random targeting. On causation, it is argued that terrorism is to be explained as the product not of discrete causes but rather of systemic processes generated in functional and interactive relationships of inequality. Examples of relational dynamics encouraging groups to adopt terrorism are considered. Such dynamics encouraging groups to adopt terrorism are considered. Such dynamics are found to vary among as well as within authority structures. Terrorism is more likely to appear in totalitarian structures, but acts of terror are more frequent in democratic structures, which is largely attributable to the dis...

Accounts as assembled from breaching experiments

Abstract: A good deal of recent sociological literature has been involved with statements and explanations of the so-called “breaching experiments” or “incongruity procedures” originally introduced to sociological literature by Harold Garfinkel in his article “A Conception of, and Experiments with, ‘Trust’ as a Condition of Stable Concerted Actions.” The recent literature has essentially explained the breaching experiments as demonstrations of a means of eliciting social order through the disruption of taken-for-granted realities. An area, however, which has not been explained is the mental state of the persons who voluntarily involve themselves in these breachings. Persons who do these experiments almost unanimously remark that conducting these breachings creates anxiety and dread for them. Although there are numerous occasions in everyday life when persons find themselves in untoward positions, the breaching experiment can be used as a method of creating experimenter anxiety which is localized and pinpointed in such a way that it can be researched. This paper produces a sociological explanation of this breaching experiment anxiety. It offers therefore some insights into the influence of social situations on individuals' mental states, as well as a better understanding of the social dynamics behind the accounts people provide to explain their behavior.

On the therapy in clinical administration: Part II

Abstract: Administrative decisions require a detailed knowledge of the social dynamics of a whole ward, as well as the psychodynamics of the individual patient. Proper administrative decisions are therapeutic interventions which provide corrective emotional experiences for the individual patient. These decisions presuppose the existence of proper techniques for the collection and exchange of information, as well as a scientific theory of human behavior in terms of which these data can be scrutinized.1

Le Public Choice et la croissance de l'Etat

Abstract: This article re-examines the main propositions which underlie Public Choice argumentation in respect to the growth of the state and evaluates their plausibility in light of current knowledge. The majority of the hypotheses are confirmed, at least partially. Their principal contribution is at the level of strategies which can be attributed to political and bureaucratic personnel, although the influence of the latter appears to be exaggerated.The Public Choice explanations remain very partial. Taking state intervention as a theme, Public Choice shows well how once an activity is begun, it has a tendency to expand. However, Public Choice says nothing of the social dynamics responsible for the fact that the state has been induced to intervene from the start. Intervention has had as its first function the quelling of social conflicts. The argumentation of Public Choice can explain only the recent growth of the state at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s. The new trend of putting a ceiling on government expenditures rests largely unexplained. These gaps are not inherent in the model and can be corrected. When the Public Choice authors adopt a more historical perspective, which brings about a relative treatment of the phenomenon, they will be able to propose more convincing interpretations.

A Pragmatic Approach to Chimpanzee Language Studies

Abstract: Recent studies of language development in children have begun to take into account the contextual, cognitive and social parameters which affect the acquisition process. The increasingly sophisticated concern with these problems probably has been best exemplified by the work of Elizabeth Bates (1976). As she points out, “It is…no longer appropriate for psycholinguistics to apply linguistic concepts directly without first considering their fit to current knowledge about cognitive processing and social dynamics” (p. 6). This orientation toward the study of language acquisition has been termed a “pragmatic approach.” It concentrates on the relationship between content (what is spoken) and use (what is accomplished, in terms of information communicated and actions which result from spoken words). Pragmatics, as Bates (1976) explains, is “the study of linguistic indices, and indices can be interpreted only when they are used. One cannot describe the meanings of indices—one can only describe rules for relating them to a context, in which meaning can be found” (p. 3). Her work, however, does not cease with the study of language use. It delves deeply into the cognitive levels of awareness and the complex inferential process that permits the same set of words to be used to mean many different things.

Social Dynamics From Saul To Jehu

Abstract: others too the various laws within Leviticus 25 tie up into a synthesis legislations covering a wide range of societal Justice. Whether or not that unification bore some relation to the Judges-era, the chapter as now formulated incorporates practices existing from the Kings-era or even later. The real focus of the book of Ruth is similarly socioeconomic legislation though idyllically related to marital love and to the lineage of David (Sasson: 60; Gordis). But in the Kings-era there are also some quite different socialjustice movements, linked to a large extent with the prophets. Due attention has long been paid to the social teaching of the classical or &dquo;book-&dquo; prophets after Amos and Isaiah (Berger: Schottroff). Our aim here is rather to examine the movements of the pre-classic or &dquo;mantic&dquo; prophets’ era, and update or unify our several already published proposals. The key-word of my &dquo;Sociology of the Biblical Jubilee&dquo; has been generally ignored, even in quite recent researches &dquo;discovering&dquo; that sociological issues deserve a much larger place in exegesis (Reviv: 125). Some few exegetes, it is true, have obliquely corroborated my finds (von Waldow : 193; Sarna; Wallis; Westbrook; Neufeld). More preoccupying was the fact that the far-flung and powerful sociological fraternity showed no interest for a research based largely on Max Weber, universally acclaimed by them among the top four or five giant founders of modern sociology (Schluchter; Parente, Shmueli; Rodd; Sekine). It is understandable thast sociologists are fed up with zeal-

The social dynamics of lifecourse timing in historical perspective : transitions in an Australian rural community, Boonah, 1850-1978

Abstract: Using data compiled in the reconstruction of 4,500 families who lived in the Boonah shire between 1850 and 1978, this study establishes the timing of individual lifecourse transitions in a socio-historical context. The underlying notion is that lifecourse transitions from infancy to school, from school to marriage and parenthood, occur in a dimensional perspective which is framed by the individual's historical era, background social characteristics and experience. Taking marriage cohorts as the unit of analysis, this study demonstrates that the shape of the lifecourse varied over time and within each cohort because of differential experience and expectation.Lifecourse decisions are enacted in a world of rules and normative schedules reflective of a social and historical ethos. The assumption of various roles in life Is variable In its age-specificity, being derived of existent conditions, whilst at the same time effecting subsequent social reality. Thus the establishment of an Interactive context in which to view lifecourse behaviour is the essential aspect of this study.Because a person's position in the social structure is important in moulding patterns of experience and expectation, local Boonah society is documented showing the relative compositions of socio-cultural categories over time. Having established the nature of the community, subsequent analysis tabulates the processes of social metamorphosis between 1870 and 1978 showing how mobility and inter-marriage re-defined the social composition of the population and with it the normative background to lifecourse decisions.Lifecourse activity patterns are broken down firstly in terms of marriage cohorts to show the long-term trends, and then in terms of socio-cultural categories within each cohort which demonstrates differential experience borne of the variables depicted in the model. Interpretation of the data is further clarified by multiple regression and multiple classification analysis of lifecourse timing. Both processes point to the fact that the cumulative effects of experience, and the influences derived from individual position in the social structure were variable in shaping the lifecourse over time.At a broad level, the evidence in this study highlights the fact that community behaviour is not always synonymous with patterns found in national aggregates. Certainly, in the timing of marriage and later in the forming of families, the Boonah couples reveal themselves to be out-of-step with Australian transitions. This owes much to the distinctive socio-cultural character of the Boonah community and demonstrates clearly the utility of local studies in dissecting the fabric of broader national history.Indeed, this study is as much an exploration of the viability of a method of historical analysis, as it is of a particular topic. By combining inter-disciplinary concepts with a quantitative data base, it is possible to unearth something of the day-to-day ethos of people whose historical existence is largely forgotten. In so doing, the scope of Australian historiography is extended and the utility of the explanatory model of behaviour is validated.