In memoriam. Ángel de Lucas, mestre de sociòlegs

Necrològica en motiu de la mort del sociòleg madrileny Ángel de Lucas

Reseñas

Obra ressenyada: Johann MICHEL, Ricoeur y sus contemporáneos. Bourdieu, Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, Castoriadis. Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 2014

Lo que “marcan” las marcas: una aproximación socio-histórica al consumo de marcas

From an historic, sociologic and motivational perspective, we analyse the role of brands and theirs consumes in the frame of the XX century in Spanish kingdom. Following a concrete periodization of the stages established by each consume model, we observe as brands “marking” objects, individuals and groups in different ways depending of historic and social context. Far of economicist model (which characterise the consumer only as rational and maximized), this work registers, in its different analytical stages, the brands consume as way and strategy of a symbolic fight in order to integration and/or social differentiation of groups and individuals, which are overdeterminants in the motivational processes. But conceiving the consume of brands as strategy for the reconstruction of “social link”, as well show as the capitalism transform the constitution of social life into pure merchandise. Indeed, the “relational” brands consume, a special feature of the current consume model, is an expression of a concrete way of companies power domination, in the field of private consume. This concrete form of domination generates particularised communities, that cannot constitute new channels of social and collective integration and should be approach as the fragmentation process that characterise the current societies.Desde una perspectiva sociológica, histórica y motivacional, se analiza el papel de las marcas comerciales y sus consumos dentro del marco que establecen los distintos modelos de consumo en el estado español desde inicios del siglo XX. Siguiendo una periodización concreta de las etapas establecidas por cada modelo, se observa como las marcas “marcan” a objetos, individuos y grupos de distintas formas, en función del contexto socio-histórico donde estas se consumen. Alejado del modelo economicista (que caracteriza el consumidor como únicamente racional y maximizador), este trabajo inscribe, en sus distintas etapas analíticas, el consumo de marcas como forma y estrategia de luchas simbólicas para la integración y/o diferenciación social de grupos e individuos que sobredeterminan sus procesos motivacionales. Pero concibiendo el consumo de marcas como una vía para la reconstrucción del “vínculo social”, también se pone de manifiesto cómo el capitalismo transforma la propia constitución de la vida social en pura mercancía. Pues el consumo de marcas “relacional”, característico del actual modelo de consumo, vendría a expresar una forma de dominación concreta del poder empresarial en el campo de los consumos privados, generadora de comunidades particularistas, que lejos de constituirse como nuevas formas de integración social y colectiva, deberían identificarse con los procesos de fragmentación social característicos de nuestras sociedades actuales

Ressenyes

Luis Enrique ALONSO i Carlos Jesús FERNÁNDEZ RODRÍGUEZ, Los discursos del presente. Un análisis de los imaginarios sociales contemporáneos. Madrid: Siglo XXI, 2013

Relative contribution of groundwater to plant transpiration estimated with stable isotopes

Water stored underground in the saturated and subsurface zones below the soil are important sources of water for plants in water-limited ecosystems. The presence of deep-rooted plants worldwide, however, suggests that the use of groundwater is not restricted to arid and seasonally dry ecosystems. We compiled the available data (71 species) on the relative contribution of groundwater to plant water estimated using stable isotopes and mixing models, which provided information about relative groundwater use, and analyzed their variation across different climates, seasons, plant types, edaphic conditions, and landscape positions. Plant use of groundwater was more likely at sites with a pronounced dry season, and represented on average 49 per cent of transpired water in dry seasons and 28 per cent in wet seasons. The relative contribution of groundwater to plant-water uptake was higher on rocky substrates (saprolite, fractured bedrock), which had reduced groundwater uptake when this source was deep belowground. In addition, we found that the connectivity between groundwater pools and plant water may be quantitatively larger and more widespread than reported by recent global estimations based on isotopic averaged values. Earth System Models should account for the feedbacks between transpiration and groundwater recharge

La transcendencia de lo cotidiano: vínculos, chistes y subjetividad

This paper proposes a psycho-sociological approach to the configuration of human bonds. Bonds are discussed in its most latent, less obvious and explicit, in order to reveal those emotional and representational elements that tend to be expressed in a rather obvious. The empirical material of the research has been the set of jokes told in different “focus groups”, formed from social homogeneity criteria. We analyzed the associative chains developed in group dynamics. We find that the jokes being universal social phenomenon, the "dormant accounts" arising from the analysis of each discus-sion group, have shown significant differences between them, being expressive loop model of each social context. It also confirms the phenomenon of the joke as a valuable tool for social research.En este trabajo se propone una aproximación psico-sociológica a la configuración de vínculos humanos. Se analizan los vínculos en su vertiente más latente, menos obvia y explícita, con el fin de desvelar aquellos elementos emocionales y representacionales que tienden a expresarse de forma poco evidente. El material empírico de la investigación han sido el conjunto de chistes narrados en diferentes grupos de discusión, construidos a partir de criterios de homogeneidad social. Se han analizado las cadenas asociativas desarrolladas en las dinámicas de los grupos. Constatamos que siendo los chistes un fenómeno social universal, las “narraciones latentes” surgidas del análisis de cada grupo de discusión, han evidenciado notables diferencias entre sí, siendo expresivas de modelos de vínculo propios de cada contexto social. Asimismo, se confirma el fenómeno del chiste como un valioso instrumento al servicio de la investigación social

Magnetic properties of Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with oleic and dodecanoic acids

Magnetic nanoparticles (NP) of magnetite (Fe3O4) coated with oleic acid (OA) and dodecanoic acid (DA) were synthesized and investigated through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM),magnetization M, and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements. The OA coated samples were produced with different magnetic concentrations (78, 76, and 65%) and the DA sample with 63% of Fe3O4. Images from TEM indicate that the NP have a nearly spherical geometry and mean diameter ~ 5.5 nm. Magnetization measurements, performed in zero field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) processes under different external magnetic fields H, exhibited a maximum at a given temperature TB in the ZFC curves, which depends on the NP coating (OA or DA), magnetite concentration, and H. The temperature TB decreases monotonically with increasing H and, for a given H, the increase in the magnetite concentration results in an increase of TB. The observed behavior is related to the dipolar interaction (DI) between NP which seems to be an important mechanism in all samples studied. This is supported by the results of the ac magnetic susceptibility Xac measurements, where the temperature in which X' peaks for different frequencies follows the Vogel-Fulcher model, a feature commonly found in systems with dipolar interactions. Curves of H vs. TB/TB(H=0) for samples with different coatings and magnetite concentrations collapse into a universal curve, indicating that the qualitative magnetic behavior of the samples may be described by the NP themselves, instead of the coating or the strength of the dipolar interaction. Below TB, M vs. H curves show a coercive field (HC) that increases monotonically with decreasing temperature. The saturation magnetization (MS) follows the Bloch's law and values of MS at room temperature as high as 78 emu/g were estimated, a result corresponding to ~80% of the bulk value. The overlap of M/MS vs. H/T curves for a given sample and the low HC at high temperatures suggest superparamagnetic behavior in all samples studied. The overlap of M/MS vs. H curves at constant temperature for different samples indicates that the NP magnetization behavior is preserved, independently of the coating and magnetite concentration.Comment: 8 pages and 9 figure