Talcott Parsons and the Sociology of Morality

In this article, we propose a brief reconstruction of Talcott Parsons’ writings − from his first major book, The Structure of Social Action, to his later writing on the 1960s and 1970s − in order to clarify his main contributions to a sociological discussion of morality. In so doing, we hope to place Talcott Parsons as one of the forerunners of the sociology of morality conceived as an emerging area of research in the social sciences. Throughout this reconstruction, we also try to situate Parsons in terms of his intellectual lineage pointing out that his formulations reveal important affinities with the theoretical perspective of morality that began with Émile Durkheim. Based on these assumptions, we aim to show, albeit on a preliminary basis, how this dialogue contributes to a more precise delineation of a research program in the field

Uma “laicidade interacional”? Norma constitucional e expressão religiosa em uma universidade pública do Brasil.

The university was an institution from middle age origin, whose moral orientation was Christian. However, since the modern rise of the nations, its moral root was changed: now the university serves to specific people and helps the generation of citizens, so became laic and public to promote the modernization process without the religions institution’s interferences. Recently, this moral roots has suffered new transformation, in concord with displacements of conceptions of modernity. However, the legislation does not follow this cultural change, so that is a juridical rule who conceives the secularization following the modern parameters. We investigated in this work how much this constitutional rule becomes an acquaintanceship rule in the public space, our case study being the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. The quanti-qualitative study of our sample, picked among students, professors and employees, indicated that circulate social representations both modern in a strict sense and multicultural, feature of late modernity, so the secularization concept also modified and seem to suggest that a religion’s experience as an individual cultural traits happens in this space - something unthinkable at the time of the formulation of the juridical rule. Ultimately, we prepare an explicative model about the dynamic raised in the experience of this secularism, whose we called pocket watch model.A universidade é uma instituição cuja origens remontam à Europa medieval, de modo que sua estrutura inicial não pode ser dissociada da orientação moral cristã. Todavia, a partir da constituição do Estado-Nação, houve uma progressiva transformação dessa estrutura, colocando, aos poucos, o conhecimento como um propósito intramundano. Em diversos contextos ela tornou-se laica e/ou pública, assumindo como tarefa a promoção do processo modernizador sem as interferências das instituições religiosas. Recentemente, ao menos no caso brasileiro, é possível identificar uma nova transformação que, segundo o argumento que defendemos aqui, está em consonância com os deslocamentos na concepção de modernidade, ainda que essas modificações não sejam plenamente acompanhadas pela norma jurídica. Nosso estudo de caso foi a Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. O estudo quanti-qualitativo de nossa amostra, colhida entre alunos, professores e servidores, indicou que circulam representações sociais tanto modernas stricto-senso como multiculturais. De modo que o conceito de laicidade também se modificou, o que dá a entender que uma experiência do religioso (como traço cultural individual) se dá nesse espaço, fenômeno impensável na época da formulação da norma jurídica. Elaboramos um modelo explicativo dessa dinâmica de vivência dessa laicidade, o qual chamamos de Modelo do Relógio de Bolso.

Signs of a lesbophobian culture in the narrative of lesbian teachers

Este artigo analisa como, no espaço escolar, fomenta-se ou contesta-se a lesbofobia a partir de narrativas de professoras lésbicas. Como base teórica, recorre-se a discussões do campo da Sociologia da Moral, bem como ao conceito de lesbofobia que, para Lorenzo (2012) é uma construção cultural que funciona como o mecanismo político de opressão, dominação e subordinação social das lésbicas. A metodologia envolveu entrevistas com quatro professoras da região metropolitana de Porto Alegre/RS que atuam na Educação Básica. As análises mostraram que, via de regra, a escola é espaço que fomenta a lesbofobia, sendo as professoras lésbicas silenciadas quanto à sexualidade, consideradas desviantes frente a uma moral heteronormativa. Contudo, há pequenas aberturas no espaço da docência, nas relações entre professores, na tematização curricular de alguns aspectos da sexualidade. A própria existência de professoras lésbicas no âmbito de uma instituição moderna e moralizadora como a escola é uma formapotente decontestação.Este artículo analiza cómo, en el espacio escolar, la lesbofobia es promovida o problematizada en las narrativas de maestras lesbianas. Como base teórica, se utilizan discusiones en el campo de la sociología de la moral, así como el concepto de lesbofobia, que, para Lorenzo (2012), es una construcción cultural que funciona como un mecanismo político para la opresión, dominación y subordinación social de las lesbianas. La metodología incluyó entrevistas con cuatro maestras de la región metropolitana de Porto Alegre/RS que trabajan en enseñanza. Los análisis mostraron que, por regla general, la escuela es un espacio que promueve la lesbofobia, con maestras lesbianas silenciadas en cuanto a la sexualidad, considerado como una desviación de la moral heteronormativa. Sin embargo, hay pequeñas aperturas en el espacio de enseñanza, en las relaciones entre docentes, en la tematización de algunos aspectos de la sexualidade. La existencia misma de maestras lesbianas dentro de una institución moderna y moralizante como la escuela es una forma potente de contestación.This paper analyses how lesbophobia is fomented or questioned inside schools based on the narratives of four lesbian teachers. The Moral Sociology was used as theoretical foundation, as well as the concept of lesbophobia, which means to Lorenzo (2012) a social construction functioning as a political mechanism of social oppression and social subordination for lesbian women. The methodology employed interviews with four teachers from the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre/RS, who worked in elementary schools. The analysis showed that schools, as a matter of course, foment lesbophobia, and lesbian teachers are silenced regarding sexuality, which is considered deviant related to the heteronormative morality. Nevertheless, there are small advances in the teaching realm, in the teachers’ relations, and in curriculum theming of some aspects of sexuality. The very presence of lesbian teachers in the scope of such a modern, moralizing institution as the school is a powerful questioningforce

Moral and cognitive refractions : contributions of durkheimian sociology to comprehending 2018 Brazilian presidential elections

O desafio proposto por este dossiê sobre a atualidade dos clássicos nas ciências sociais nos encorajou a produção de um ensaio coletivo no qual mobilizamos conceitos fundamentais oriundos da teoria de Émile Durkheim para compreender alguns aspectos do segundo turno das eleições presidenciais brasileiras de 2018. Para tanto, partimos da ideia das categorias e representações coletivas como mediações socialmente construídas de nossa relação com o mundo e, em seguida, indicamos as categorias de sagrado e profano como particularmente relevantes para o estabelecimento da estrutura e da dinâmica social. Ao final, procuramos indicar como essas noções basilares podem dialogar com a teoria da ação e a sociologia compreensiva de Weber, resultando na proposta de uma tipologia da escolha do voto, com o intuito de elucidar um fenômeno candente durante esse processo, qual seja, o do espanto diante de escolha radicalmente oposta por parte de pessoas próximas.The challenge posed by this dossier about the actuality of classics in social sciences encouraged us to write a collective essay in which we articulate fundamental concepts from Émile Durkheim’s theory to understand some aspects of the second turn of 2018 Brazilian presidential elections. To achieve it, we start from the idea of categories and collective representations as socially constructed mediations of our relationship with the world, and then, we indicate the sacred and profane categories as particularly relevant to the establishment of social structure and dynamic. In the end, we intend to indicate how our basic notions can dialogue with Weber’s theory of action and comprehensive sociology, resulting on the proposition of a typology of vote choice, in the hopes of elucidating a candent phenomenon along this process, which is, the shock before a radically opposite choice made by close people

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Aim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time period: Tree-inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied: Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location: Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods: We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree-inventory plots across terra-firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance-weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results: Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra-firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions: The disperser-availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities

Aim: Amazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across Amazonia, leading to a hypothesis, which we test, that lineages should not be strongly associated with either geographic regions or edaphic forest types. Location: Amazonia. Taxon: Angiosperms (Magnoliids; Monocots; Eudicots). Methods: Data for the abundance of 5082 tree species in 1989 plots were combined with a mega-phylogeny. We applied evolutionary ordination to assess how phylogenetic composition varies across Amazonia. We used variation partitioning and Moran\u27s eigenvector maps (MEM) to test and quantify the separate and joint contributions of spatial and environmental variables to explain the phylogenetic composition of plots. We tested the indicator value of lineages for geographic regions and edaphic forest types and mapped associations onto the phylogeny. Results: In the terra firme and várzea forest types, the phylogenetic composition varies by geographic region, but the igapó and white-sand forest types retain a unique evolutionary signature regardless of region. Overall, we find that soil chemistry, climate and topography explain 24% of the variation in phylogenetic composition, with 79% of that variation being spatially structured (R$^{2}$ = 19% overall for combined spatial/environmental effects). The phylogenetic composition also shows substantial spatial patterns not related to the environmental variables we quantified (R$^{2}$ = 28%). A greater number of lineages were significant indicators of geographic regions than forest types. Main Conclusion: Numerous tree lineages, including some ancient ones (>66 Ma), show strong associations with geographic regions and edaphic forest types of Amazonia. This shows that specialization in specific edaphic environments has played a long-standing role in the evolutionary assembly of Amazonian forests. Furthermore, many lineages, even those that have dispersed across Amazonia, dominate within a specific region, likely because of phylogenetically conserved niches for environmental conditions that are prevalent within regions

Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora

Using 2.046 botanically-inventoried tree plots across the largest tropical forest on Earth, we mapped tree species-diversity and tree species-richness at 0.1-degree resolution, and investigated drivers for diversity and richness. Using only location, stratified by forest type, as predictor, our spatial model, to the best of our knowledge, provides the most accurate map of tree diversity in Amazonia to date, explaining approximately 70% of the tree diversity and species-richness. Large soil-forest combinations determine a significant percentage of the variation in tree species-richness and tree alpha-diversity in Amazonian forest-plots. We suggest that the size and fragmentation of these systems drive their large-scale diversity patterns and hence local diversity. A model not using location but cumulative water deficit, tree density, and temperature seasonality explains 47% of the tree species-richness in the terra-firme forest in Amazonia. Over large areas across Amazonia, residuals of this relationship are small and poorly spatially structured, suggesting that much of the residual variation may be local. The Guyana Shield area has consistently negative residuals, showing that this area has lower tree species-richness than expected by our models. We provide extensive plot meta-data, including tree density, tree alpha-diversity and tree species-richness results and gridded maps at 0.1-degree resolution

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe