Contexts of diffusion: Adoption of research synthesis in Social Work and Women's Studies

Texts reveal the subjects of interest in research fields, and the values, beliefs, and practices of researchers. In this study, texts are examined through bibliometric mapping and topic modeling to provide a birds eye view of the social dynamics associated with the diffusion of research synthesis methods in the contexts of Social Work and Women's Studies. Research synthesis texts are especially revealing because the methods, which include meta-analysis and systematic review, are reliant on the availability of past research and data, sometimes idealized as objective, egalitarian approaches to research evaluation, fundamentally tied to past research practices, and performed with the goal informing future research and practice. This study highlights the co-influence of past and subsequent research within research fields; illustrates dynamics of the diffusion process; and provides insight into the cultural contexts of research in Social Work and Women's Studies. This study suggests the potential to further develop bibliometric mapping and topic modeling techniques to inform research problem selection and resource allocation.Comment: To appear in proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction (SBP2014

Evolution of Music by Public Choice

Music evolves as composers, performers, and consumers favor some musical variants over others. To investigate the role of consumer selection, we constructed a Darwinian music engine consisting of a population of short audio loops that sexually reproduce and mutate. This population evolved for 2,513 generations under the selective influence of 6,931 consumers who rated the loops’ aesthetic qualities. We found that the loops quickly evolved into music attributable, in part, to the evolution of aesthetically pleasing chords and rhythms. Later, however, evolution slowed. Applying the Price equation, a general description of evolutionary processes, we found that this stasis was mostly attributable to a decrease in the fidelity of transmission. Our experiment shows how cultural dynamics can be explained in terms of competing evolutionary forces

The application of Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (RAAIS) to agricultural adaptation to climate change in Kazakhstan: a critical evaluation

Place-based social, cultural, institutional and political dynamics not only influence the innovation capacity of agricultural systems, but also the willingness of relevant actors to be involved in participatory research processes, and the dynamics of their participation. This paper critically discusses the modification and application of one particular participatory approach to agricultural systems analysis (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems [RAAIS]) to agricultural adaptation in Southeast Kazakhstan. We consider the overall effectiveness of the method as a research tool, practical issues in the implementation of workshops, definition of and selection of participant groups, as well as the questions of participation and empowerment within the workshops themselves. We find that although RAAIS is adaptable to alternative theoretical frameworks, its implementation in different socio-cultural and political contexts may require more consideration than is apparent in previous discussions. In particular, the appropriate training of workshop organisers is of crucial importance to the success of this methodology. These findings will be useful to those adapting participatory research methods to different research topics and contexts more broadly

Comment concerning cumulative cultural evolution, on M. O'Brien and K.N. Laland 'Genes, culture and agriculture: an example of human niche construction'

O’Brien and Laland point out that human culture is exceptional in its cumulative nature. This is often characterized by the ratchet effect, highlighting that high-fidelity social transmission can underpin the accumulation of trait modifications. They also note that the developmental niche-construction processes underlying cultural evolution are understudied. I agree that the evolutionary consequences of culturally constructed learning environments are indeed understudied and that attention to this area may provide a fresh assessment of cumulative cultural evolution. An important focus of cumulative cultural evolution research is in assessing individual cognitive prerequisites that facilitate high-fidelity cultural transmission and the adoption of adaptive innovations (Ehn and Laland 2012). However, it is also important to consider the role of developmental niche construction and the ecological inheritance of learning environments, including forms of symbolic representation and material culture, on cumulative cultural evolution (Cole 1995; Sterelny 2012; Wheeler and Clark 2009). Culturally derived scaffolding for learning can have a direct effect on the differential adoption and retention of cultural traits (cultural selection). For instance, pedagogical traditions in apprenticeships, including traditional patterns of intervention, correction, and collaboration may influence the fidelity of transmission and the potential for cumulative cultural evolution (Gergely and Csibra 2006; Tehrani and Reide 2008; Tennie, Call, and Tomasello 2009). There is also the potential for cumulative cultural evolutionary dynamics to be shaped by forms of symbolic representation. Mathematical history provides particularly obvious examples, where invention of new notation systems, for instance Hindu-Arabic in place of Roman numerals or Feynman diagrams in quantum mechanics, dramatically altered the evolvability of research fields (Gauvain 1998). Thus, for the cumulative cultural evolution of many traits, high-fidelity social transmission and the potential for invention may be critically affected by culturally constructed learning environments (Tennie, Call, and Tomasello 2009). Furthermore, a complete account of cognition required for cumulative cultural evolution may often be reliant on its extension beyond the mind of the individual and on its distributed nature across people and artefacts (Donald 2000; Hutchins 1995, 2008). Without accounting explicitly for the role of developmental niche construction and the ecological inheritance of learning environments, there can be an over- or misattribution of cognitive facility to the mind in order to explain the cumulative cultural evolution of skills such as computational tasks (Hutchins 1995). O’Brien and Laland provide a detailed account of potential gene-culture coevolutionary pathways affecting the cumulative cultural evolution of farming technologies and medicinal practices. A key process in these dynamics is likely to be the niche construction of inherited learning environments, which themselves can be subject to cultural selection and affected by ecological and genetic evolutionary dynamics of human, crop, livestock, and pathogen populations. Thus, the simple ratchet analogy hides complex mechanisms that can result in cumulative cultural evolution of knowledge and beliefs (Tennie, Call, and Tomasello 2009)

Pronominal choice: Indonesian diglossic code-switching on the Kick Andy show

Indonesian language contains a variety of pronouns and pronoun substitutes which enable speakers to position themselves in a variety of ways in relation to others for communicative purposes. Factors such as social standing, age, gender and cultural background influence pronominal choice but also reflect language alternation between standardised formal and informal Indonesian, a phenomenon known as diglossic code-switching. To study this, we examine the effects of pronominal choice by speakers on an episode of the popular Indonesian television talk show, Kick Andy. We first apply quantitative Discourse Analysis to sample conversations to identify the range of pronominal choice by speakers and instances of diglossic and English code-switching. Next we examine the use of diglossic code-switching through qualitative Conversation Analysis, to explore how speakers index themselves and others through individual linguistic choices of pronoun selection. In this study, we apply social positioning theory as a useful framework to analyse these dynamics. We detail how pronouns reflect social positioning of speakers and serve as a key indicator of societal power dynamics that broadly link to cultural norms. Our study contributes to sociolinguistic literature arguing that pronominal choice in Indonesian language is closely linked to diglossic code-switching.

Coral reef ecology in the Anthropocene

We are in the Anthropocene—an epoch where humans are the dominant force of planetary change. Ecosystems increasingly reflect rapid human-induced, socioeconomic and cultural selection rather than being a product of their surrounding natural biophysical setting. This poses the intriguing question: To what extent do existing ecological paradigms capture and explain the current ecological patterns and processes we observe? We argue that, although biophysical drivers still influence ecosystem structure and function at particular scales, their ability to offer predictive capacity over coupled social–ecological systems is increasingly compromised as we move further into the Anthropocene. Traditionally, the dynamics of coral reefs have been studied in response to their proximate drivers of change rather than their underlying socioeconomic and cultural drivers. We hypothesise this is limiting our ability to accurately predict spatial and temporal changes in coral reef ecosystem structure and function. We propose “social–ecological macroecology” as a novel approach within the field of coral reef ecology to a) identify the interactive effects of biophysical and socioeconomic and cultural drivers of coral reef ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales; b) test the robustness of existing coral reef paradigms; c) explore whether existing paradigms can be adapted to capture the dynamics of contemporary coral reefs; and d) if they cannot, develop novel coral reef social–ecological paradigms, where human dynamics are part of the paradigms rather than the drivers of them. Human socioeconomic and cultural processes must become embedded in coral reef ecological theory and practice as much as biophysical processes are today if we are to predict and manage these systems successfully in this era of rapid change. This necessary shift in our approach to coral reef ecology will be challenging and will require truly interdisciplinary collaborations between the natural and social sciences. A plain language summary is available for this article

Cultural transmission results in convergence towards colour term universals.

As in biological evolution, multiple forces are involved in cultural evolution. One force is analogous to selection, and acts on differences in the fitness of aspects of culture by influencing who people choose to learn from. Another force is analogous to mutation, and influences how culture changes over time owing to errors in learning and the effects of cognitive biases. Which of these forces need to be appealed to in explaining any particular aspect of human cultures is an open question. We present a study that explores this question empirically, examining the role that the cognitive biases that influence cultural transmission might play in universals of colour naming. In a large-scale laboratory experiment, participants were shown labelled examples from novel artificial systems of colour terms and were asked to classify other colours on the basis of those examples. The responses of each participant were used to generate the examples seen by subsequent participants. By simulating cultural transmission in the laboratory, we were able to isolate a single evolutionary force-the effects of cognitive biases, analogous to mutation-and examine its consequences. Our results show that this process produces convergence towards systems of colour terms similar to those seen across human languages, providing support for the conclusion that the effects of cognitive biases, brought out through cultural transmission, can account for universals in colour naming

Fashion forecasting and selection process of womenswear retailers: the co-production of fashion by producers and consumers

Looking at the working practices of designers, buyers and merchandisers this thesis attempts to explore the dynamics that govern high street womenswear retailers. By concentrating on the retailing rather than manufacturing of womenswear the thesis takes into account that the balance of power between clothing manufacturers and retailers has shifted - today the creative, i.e. design, capital within the fashion industry is in the hands of the retailers who dominate and direct fashion at the high street level.Broadly following production of culture and symbolic interactionist approaches to the culture industries, the thesis opens with an exploration of collective activity as an important dimension of the production of cultural artefacts. Attention is drawn to production of culture proponents' models of selection processes in culture industries, where cultural artefacts enter a set of gatekeeping or filtering stages that determine their acceptance or rejection. However, while these selection models provide significant insights into some of the dynamics that govern the production of culture, the non-conflictual, unidirectional portrayal of selection processes and the exclusion of consumption-related issues not only leaves important areas of investigation untouched, but distorts the actual working practices of culture industry practitioners. The aim of this thesis, therefore, is to open up the 'black box' of fashion production and provide an alternative model of selection processes through an empirical investigation of how fashion forecasting and garment selection are executed. Based on data from semi-structured interviews with designers, buyers and merchandisers it is suggested that selection processes in high street womenswear retailers can be divided into two distinct levels - forecasting and garment selection. Each level is characterised by (a) the occupational group that dominates it and (b) by a specific interplay between teamwork and conflict. It is proposed that the construction of a shared customer image among key players in the industry acts as an ordering principle which not only helps practitioners overcome differences in occupational outlooks, but which also directs their efforts towards the creation of garments that they feel will gratify their customers' taste. Practitioners' perceived customer image, therefore, plays a significant role in fashion industry forecasting and selection processes, because it influences the fashion production cycle at all levels.In addition, the thesis draws attention to variations in retailers' organisational set-up and shows how they influence the balance of power between key players and the competitive strategies companies adopt to survive in the market. These observations are grounded in a discussion of the transformation of Western economies from Fordism to post-Fordism, while also drawing on arguments regarding the co-existence and differential development of diverse fashion systems within the UK clothing industry since the mid-nineteenth century