Moving Culture: Transnational Social Movement Organizations as Translators in a Diffusion Cycle

The central question of this chapter is how social movement actors produce and promote cultural change across national and local settings. We define culture as a set of practices that have shared meanings. Cultural change is thus a change in practices and/or in meanings attached to them. In an increasingly interconnected world, one way for social movements to induce cultural change is to borrow ideas and practices from other settings and install them in their own cultural environment, or to modify existing practices by incorporating borrowed cultural elements or new meanings into them. Social movements can also borrow cultural elements from international law and global discourses, such as environmental sustainability, labour rights, social justice, and human rights, and localize them in a specific cultural setting. In the social movement literature, this process of ideas and practices travelling across borders is referred to as diffusion

Quasi-elastic neutron scattering investigation of dynamics in polymer

Polymer dynamics in a cross-linked poly(ethylene oxide-propylene oxide) random copolymer, both neat and doped with an inorganic salt, is investigated by means of quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) as a function of temperature and momentum transfer. Data from a high-resolution backscattering instrument are reported. We present an original approach to the analysis of inelastic fixed energy scans. The findings from this approach lead to a detailed description of the polymer dynamics across the glass transition. The neat polymer dynamics is modeled in terms of two relaxation processes: Below the glass transition, the methyl side group hopping relaxation has been characterized and compared with the similar process occurring in pure poly(propylene oxide). Above the glass transition, a non-Debye, non-Arrhenius relaxation occurs, corresponding to the polymer segmental dynamics. In the case of the salt-doped rubber, the segmental dynamics is found to be more complex: while the methyl group dynamics is not affected by the salt addition, the present data set supports the view of a bimodal segmental dynamics as a consequence of salt addition

From Cultural Differences To Identity Politics: A Critical Discursive Approach To National Identity in Multinational Corporations

There is a paucity of knowledge of one key aspect of diversity in and around international organizations: national identity. This is especially the case with research on multinational corporations (MNC) that has focused on cultural differences instead of processes of national identification or national identity construction. Drawing on a critical discursive approach, this paper offers four perspectives that can help to advance this area of research. First, MNCs can be viewed as sites of identity politics, within which one can study ‘us vs. them’ constructions and the reproduction of inequalities. Second, MNCs can be seen as actors engaged in identity building and legitimation, and the analysis of the discursive dynamics involved illuminates important aspects of identity politics between the organization and its environment. Third, MNCs can be viewed as part of international relations between nations and nationalities, and analysis of discursive dynamics in the media can elucidate key aspects of the international struggles encountered. Fourth, MNCs can be seen as agents of broader issues and changes, which enables us to comprehend how MNCs advance neocolonialism or promote positive change in society.Peer reviewe