TO WHAT EXTENT DID SOCIALISM INFLUENCE THE DEVELOPMENT AND WIDESPREAD OF CHESS IN THE USSR UNTIL ITS COLLAPSE IN 1992 ?

This essay is based on the research question “To what extent did socialism influence the development and widespread of chess in the USSR until its collapse in 1992?” While examining this particular question, firstly the context before the October Revolution will be analysed, when chess was a leisure activity of the wealthy upper class individuals as in Europe. Then, the period between the revolution and World War II will be investigated, in which chess was adopted by the Bolshevik government as a tool of increasing the culture of the public, and was introduced to large masses by state-sponsored campaigns. After that, the Cold War period will be investigated, in which chess was used as a socio-cultural weapon by the Soviet Government and turned into a symbol of the struggle for supremacy of the USSR and the Western Block. After this investigations, the factors which led to the USSR hegemony in chess in the 20th century, which is still continuing in the 21th century by the former Soviet countries are clearly observed. Mainly, those are the state sponsored programmes and tournaments that aided the development and widespread of chess. Another reason is the chess becoming politicised in the USSR to be used as a tool of socialist propaganda and demonstrating the Soviet excellence to the world, which exceeded its limits in the Cold War period when it also became a matter of prestige and was taken more seriously than any other kind of sports. The last reason is the self motivation of the individuals for becoming professional chess players, which had numerous advantages, since chess was seen as a very prestigious profession in the USSR, and many opportunities were involved such as travelling abroad for international tournaments, which was not possible for regular citizens

How the mass media report social statistics: A case study concerning research on end-of-life decisions

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Social Science & Medicine. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2010 Elsevier B.V.The issue of whether it is right to be concerned about the accuracy with which mass media report social scientific research is explored through a detailed case study of media reporting of two surveys of UK doctors' end-of-life decision-making. Data include press releases, emails and field notes taken during periods of media interest supplemented by a collection of print and broadcast media reports. The case study contributes to existing knowledge about the ways in which mass media establish, exaggerate and otherwise distort the meaning of statistical findings. Journalists ignored findings that did not fit into existing media interest in the 'assisted dying' story and were subject to pressure from interest groups concerned to promote their own interpretations and viewpoints. Rogue statistics mutated as they were set loose from their original research report context and were 'laundered' as they passed from one media report to another. Yet media accounts of the research, fuelling an already heated public debate about ethical issues in end-of-life care, arguably acted as a conduit for introducing new considerations into this debate, such as the role played by sedation at the end of life, the extent to which euthanasia is practiced outside the law, and the extent of medical opposition to the legalisation of assisted dying. The expectation that accuracy and comprehensiveness should be the sole criteria for judging journalists' reports is, finally, considered to be unrealistic and it is argued that social scientists need to understand and adapted to the conditions under which mass media reporting operates if they are to succeed in introducing the findings of social research into public debates.The Nuffield Foundation, the National Council for Palliative Care, Age Concern, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Help the Hospices, Macmillan Cancer Support, and Sue Ryder Care

On some uses and abuses of topology in the social analysis of technology (Or the problem with smart meters)

This article examines different ways in which topological ideas can be used to analyse technology in social terms, arguing that we must become more discerning and demanding as to the limits and possibilities of topological analysis than used to be necessary. Topological framings of technology and society are increasingly widespread, and in this context, it becomes necessary to consider topology not just as a theory to be adopted, but equally as a device that is deployed in social life in a variety of ways. Digital technologies require special attention in this regard: on the one hand, these technologies have made it possible for a topological imagination of technology and society to become more widely adopted; on the other hand, they have also enabled a weak form of topological imagination to proliferate, one that leaves in place old, deterministic ideas about technology as a principal driver of social change. Turning to an empirical case, that of smart electricity metering, the article investigates how topological approaches enable both limited and rigorous ‘expansions of the frame’ on technology. In some cases, topology is used to imagine technology as a dynamic, heterogeneous arrangement, but ‘the primacy of technology’ is maintained. In other cases a topological approach is used to bring into view much more complex relations between technological and societal change. The article ends with an exploration of the topological devices that are today deployed to render relations between technological and social change more complexly, such as the online visualisation tool of tag clouding. I propose that such a topological device enables an empirical mode of critique: here, topology does not just help to make the point of the mutual entanglement of the social and the technical, but helps to dramatize the contingent, dynamic and non-coherent unfolding of issues

Pahiatua borough : the formative years (1881-1892) : a thesis presented in partial fufilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University

To the New Zealand citizen of the 1970's, surrounded either by the tall buildings of an urban landscape, or the predominantly open fields of a rural environment, the terms Seventy and Forty mile bush may connote more of a legendary forest tract, than the actual existence, less than 100 years ago, of a vast primeval forest, extending from Norsewood to Mauriceville, on the eastern side of the Tararua and Ruahine ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. The fact that nowadays, dairy and sheepfarms and the towns of Dannevirke, Woodville, Pahiatua and Eketahuna cover what was once bushland, is illustrative of how quickly the early inhabitants of the area adapted to their new environment, and turned their vision of viable communities surrounded by farmland into reality. This making over of the accessible parts of the North Island inland forest was the outstanding achievement of our people .... The achievements of all these ordinary struggling people makes the really significant history of the North Island. George Jobberns 1 1. Quoted in S.H. Franklin "The Village and the Bush", from J. Forster (ed.) "Social Processes in New Zealand", p.102. The story of Pahiatua is part of "this making over of the accessible parts of the North Island inland forest", though in many ways it is a unique variation on this theme

Review: Walt Whitman \u27s Selected Journalism. Ed. Douglas A. Noverr and Jason Stacy

Review of Walt Whitman\u27s Selected Journalism. Ed. Douglas A. Noverr and Jason Stacy

Public perceptions and community issues

This paper is the seventh in a series of 8 that make up the evidence base for SDC report 'The role of nuclear power in a low carbon economy'.Publisher PD

Glasgow time signals

From 1859 to 1864, both visual and audio one o’clock time signals operated in Glasgow. Although the University carried a remit to provide the city’s time, following convoluted processes of establishment, a local chronometer-maker operated a time ball for 4 years. Towards the end of the period, time guns were triggered by telegraph from the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. Both exercises caused aggravation for the University. For the ball, the Professor of Astronomy, John Pringle Nichol, failed to convince the City Council that the “drop” control should originate from the University’s Observatory. For the guns, Robert Grant, the newly appointed Astronomy Chair holder, was aggrieved by the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Piazzi Smyth, appearing to operate above his station. Rather than having only a once per day reference, both projects were abandoned as the University laid a dedicated telegraph cable from its observatory to control many public clocks and additional clocks with large sweep fingers indicating exact time to the second

The origins of SOE in France

This article explores the official motivation behind the authorization in 1960 of research into the activities of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War by M. R. D. Foot, leading to the publication of SOE in France in 1966. The work has traditionally been viewed as the official response to critical investigative works on SOE published during the 1950s, combined with the vocal campaign of Dame Irene Ward, who made several calls in the House of Commons for an official account of SOE to be published. Material now available at the Public Record Office reveals that these were not the sole considerations in official minds, nor the most significant, concerning the possibility of publishing such a work. The foreign office was particularly concerned that Britain's contribution to wartime resistance in Europe, exemplified by SOE, was being overshadowed by both soviet propoganda, emphasizing the communist contribution to resistance, and the publicity being given to SOE's American counterpart, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The ‘campaign’ of Dame Irene Ward, supported by the negative slant given to SOE in the books of Jean Overton Fuller and Elizabeth Nicholas, unknowingly gave support to a frame of mind that was already in existence in favour of an unofficial account of SOE activity, albeit for different reasons