Misunderstanding corruption and community: comparative cultural politics of corruption regulation in the Pacific

This paper will take as its empirical foundation the author’s experience of corruption and regulation in small Pacific island states. The argument is that notions of corruption and strategies for its regulation suitable for modernized societies, which lack cultural specificity and community engagement, may in fact stimulate corruption relationships in transitional cultures. The other consequence of the imposition of inappropriate definitions and regulation strategies is a profound misunderstanding of communities of dependence. In fact, corruption control can misconstrue and exacerbate economic and political dependence environments, fostering the conditions for corruption which accompany socio-economic development. Two remedies are suggested. First, corruption requires an appreciation which is ‘community-centered’, while at the same time not being neutralized by disconnected cultural relativity. Second, an enterprise theory of corruption in modernized societies and international political/commercial entities may assist in the relevant translation of global anti-corruption policies in a way which advances good governance in traditional communities. This is so when corruption is conceived as dependant on phases of modernization, and the tensions which arise when the interests of societies at different phases intersect. Corporate citizenship and compliance with anti-corrupt business practices by major corporations with a commercial interest in these transitional economies may be more beneficial than deference to uniform international codes of governance

New structures of inequality: some trends of social change in modernized societies

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a cross‐national Analysis

Above all, Pierre Bourdieu’s work has argued that there is a homology of social classes on the one hand and cultural consumption on the other. In contrast, theories of individualization posit that social class plays only a minor role in shaping lifestyle in contemporary societies. In this paper, using extensive survey data, we examine a) how much contemporary highbrow lifestyles are structured by class membership, b) the extent to which highbrow consumption varies according to the level of modernization of a society and c) whether the explanatory power of class status in relation to highbrow consumption decreases in more modernized countries. The findings show that highbrow lifestyles are strongly influenced by social class, and that highbrow consumption is more common in more modernized societies. Moreover, the findings confirm the suspicion that the formative power of social class on lifestyle decreases in highly modernized societies, albeit without disappearing completely

Social class and highbrow lifestyle - a cross‐national analysis

"Above all, Pierre Bourdieu’s work has argued that there is a homology of social classes on the one hand and cultural consumption on the other. In contrast, theories of individualization posit that social class plays only a minor role in shaping lifestyle in contemporary societies. In this paper, using extensive survey data, we examine a) how much contemporary highbrow lifestyles are structured by class membership, b) the extent to which highbrow consumption varies according to the level of modernization of a society and c) whether the explanatory power of class status in relation to highbrow consumption decreases in more modernized countries. The findings show that highbrow lifestyles are strongly influenced by social class, and that highbrow consumption is more common in more modernized societies. Moreover, the findings confirm the suspicion that the formative power of social class on lifestyle decreases in highly modernized societies, albeit without disappearing completely." (author´s abstract

New structures of inequality: some trends of social change in modernized societies

"With my contribution I am refering to the controversial discussion on the old topic of social inequality, which the international sociological community has preoccupied during the last 15 years or so: Are the traditional concepts of social class and social stratification still valid or are they becoming more and more obsolete due to significant changes in the economic and social structure? Is a trend towards individualization eroding the traditional structure of inequality? Are new forms of inequality replacing the old ones (Hradil 1987) or, even, is the problem of inequality becoming less important if not outdated (Hondrich 1984)? Should we conclude that the end of the 20th century does not only face the end of ideology and history (Fukuyama 1992), or the end of a century of social democracy (Dahrendorf 1991) - as has been stated by some prominent scholars - but also the end of class and stratification? Or are conclusions like these largely overestimated or even artificial and more due to changes in the perceptions of social scientists than in reality?" (excerpt)Der Autor beleuchtet die kontroverse Diskussion über das Thema "soziale Ungleichheit" und versucht, Anworten auf folgende Fragen zu geben: Sind die traditionellen Konzepte von sozialer Klasse und sozialer Schichtung noch gültig - oder veralten sie mehr und mehr angesichts weitreichender ökonomischer und sozialer Veränderungen in den gesellschaftlichen Strukturen? Untergräbt der Trend hin zur Individualisierung die traditionelle Struktur von Ungleichheit? Ersetzen neue Formen von Ungleichheit die alten, oder wird das Problem der Ungleichheit unwichtiger bzw. ist es bereits überholt? Heißt das, daß wir am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts nicht nur mit dem Ende von Ideologie und Geschichte oder dem Ende eines Jahrhunderts sozialer Demokratie konfrontiert sind - wie einige namhafte Wissenschaftler behauptet haben -, sondern auch mit dem Ende von Klasse und Schichtung? Oder sind Schlußfolgerungen dieser Art stark überzogen oder gar unrealistisch und lassen sich eher auf die veränderte Wahrnehmung bzw. Einschätzung von Sozialwissenschaftlern als auf die Realität zurückführen? (HH

Family size and intergenerational social mobility during the fertility transition: evidence of resource dilution from the city of Antwerp in nineteenth century Belgium

It has been argued in sociology, economics, and evolutionary anthropology that family size limitation enhances the intergenerational upward mobility chances in modernized societies. If parents have a large flock, family resources get diluted and intergenerational mobility is bound to head downwards. Yet, the empirical record supporting this resource dilution hypothesis is limited. This article investigates the empirical association between family size limitation and intergenerational mobility in an urban, late nineteenth century population in Western Europe. It uses life course data from the Belgian city of Antwerp between 1846 and 1920. Findings are consistent with the resource dilution hypothesis: after controlling for confounding factors, people with many children were more likely to end up in the lower classes. Yet, family size limitation was effective as a defensive rather than an offensive strategy: it prevented the next generation from going down rather than helping them to climb up the social ladder. Also, family size appears to have been particularly relevant for the middle classes. Implications for demographic transition theory are discussed

The Concept of Culture in Critical Mathematics Education

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of a chapter published in The Philosophy of Mathematics Education Today. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77760-3A well-known critique in the research literature of critical mathematics education suggests that framing educational questions in cultural terms can encourage ethnic-cultural essentialism, obscure conflicts within cultures and promote an ethnographic or anthropological stance towards learners. Nevertheless, we believe that some of the obstacles to learning mathematics are cultural. ‘Stereotype threat’, for example, has a basis in culture. Consequently, the aims of critical mathematics education cannot be seriously pursued without including a cultural approach in educational research. We argue that an adequate conception of culture is available and should include normative/descriptive and material/ideal dyads as dialectical moments

Family size and intergenerational social mobility during the fertility transition

It has been argued in sociology, economics, and evolutionary anthropology that family size limitation enhances the intergenerational upward mobility chances in modernized societies. If parents have a large flock, family resources get diluted and intergenerational mobility is bound to head downwards. Yet, the empirical record supporting this resource dilution hypothesis is limited. This article investigates the empirical association between family size limitation and intergenerational mobility in an urban, late nineteenth century population in Western Europe. It uses life course data from the Belgian city of Antwerp between 1846 and 1920. Findings are consistent with the resource dilution hypothesis: after controlling for confounding factors, people with many children were more likely to end up in the lower classes. Yet, family size limitation was effective as a defensive rather than an offensive strategy: it prevented the next generation from going down rather than helping them to climb up the social ladder. Also, family size appears to have been particularly relevant for the middle classes. Implications for demographic transition theory are discussed.Belgium, demographic transition, fertility, nineteenth century, parental investment, quantity-quality trade-off, resource dilution, social mobility

Second Language Acquisition As A Clash Of Consciousness

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98334/1/j.1467-1770.1976.tb00282.x.pd

Mediatization theory : what is in it for the philosophy of communication? : on Stig Hjarvard’s The Mediatization of Culture and Society

The present essay advances a critical assessment of The Mediatization of Culture and Society (Hjarvard 2013) with an emphasis on its valuable contribution to the philosophy of communication and its current debates. The examination focuses on three specific aspects: first, the epistemological advantages of middle-range theorization over micro and macro levels of analysis; second, the usefulness of mediatization as groundwork for a critique of postmodern media theory; third, the ontic features of technology as the spatiotemporal bender of communication and action today