This account demonstrates the key challenges faced in producing engaging educational content for information and communication technologies deployed in rural India. The ‘Stills in Sync’ project aims to enhance literacy through the revival and proliferation of popular regional folksongs with social awareness themes in rural India. This product entails the use of the Same Language Subtitling karaoke feature that won the Worldbank Development Marketplace award in 2002 and the ‘Tech Laureate’ honor from the Technology Museum of Innovation in 2003. (...) This case study highlights the struggles faced in the production process as we sought to negotiate localism with scalability. The paper is meant to stimulate discussion and further research on the process of digitalizing cultural and educational content in muliple languages for literacy gains and empowerment. I attempt to give three‐dimensionality to current buzzwords in education content creation using ICT: localism, relevance and engagement. (shrink)

The appearance of mass media and a versatile medium of videos can serve the convenience and instructive information for children; on the other hand, it could abet them in implicit image consumption. Now is the time for kids' to be in need of thinking power which enables them to make a choice, applications andcriticism of information within such visual cultures. In spite of these social changes, the realities are that our curriculum still doesn't meet a learner's demand properly. This (...) research, in this context, is aimed at looking out on the currently implemented art appreciation learning process in a critical fashion, and also aimed at suggesting a plan for visual culture learning by applying the philosophy program for kids as a new alternative. The purpose of such education is toenhance the capability to solve a variety of problems they are facing in the course of daily life by reflecting their matter of concern in a curriculum. What we have to pay attention to in visual culture learning is 'visual literacy.' Such an interpretative faculty of a critical reading of images is a must especially when kids should make a judgment of value hidden in images in their daily events, make an analysis of an ideological message and make an information-oriented decision. Therefore, learners have to enrich their higher-order thinking power as well as critical thinking faculty in modern society. If there is no objection to these social surroundings, it is quite natural that philosophy education, which forms a base of a higher-order thinking for children should be handled significantly at school. (shrink)

This study concentrates on an investigation on how the variable of collaboration moderates the relationship between cultural typology of variety and work outcome in the cross-cultural work settings. The author predicts that collaboration will have impact on the relationship between variety of cultural character of gender egalitarian and task satisfactory. The empirical study conducted in the multinational companies located in China supported the assumptions. The result shows that by using the moderator of collaboration, gender variable is no (...) longer the cultural character of separation reflecting conflict in cultural diversity team, instead, under the circumstance of collaboration, the attribute of cultural variety – coexistence of symmetry and asymmetry (e.g. Gender egalitarian) demonstrates more inclusive solution that benefit work outcomes in cultural diversity team. (shrink)

As the world’s most populous country, China is experiencing unprecedented magnitude and speed of population ageing since it entered the ageing society two decades ago. The rapid population ageing- driven by decreasing fertility rate and prolonged life expectancy- has profound impacts on economic development and poses significant challenges for formal and informal care provision. Although the Chinese government has implemented a series of progressive policy reforms on pension, healthcare, and long-term care systems, the capacity gaps regarding the coverage, adequacy, affordability, (...) and sustainability remain large. At the same time, social and economic changes have eroded the supportive role of family, especially for rural-dwelling, childless, and empty-nest older adults. This chapter documents the statistical and social reality of ageing in China, introduces a series of policy reforms implemented by the Chinese government in response to population ageing, and describes the family dynamics and intergenerational support patterns under the changing socioeconomic background. Besides pressing challenges of ageing for family and society, this chapter also looks at the emerging lifestyle and proactivity for active ageing in China. (shrink)

This study investigates the role of religion in shaping the norms of citizenship from a cultural perspective for an East Asian country that exhibits fundamental differences in social contexts from Western advanced democracies. Using data drawn from the Taiwan Social Change Survey, we find that the Eastern religions of Buddhism, Taoism, and Folk Religions are important for explaining the formation of the concept of being a good citizen. This study further examines the relationships between citizenship norms (...) and various conventional and unconventional types of political participation. The empirical results herein suggest that duty-based citizenship and engaged citizenship have significant differences in their effects on political participation. (shrink)

I FORMS AND PROBLEMS OF CULTURE INTEGRATION AND METHODS OF THEIR STUDY I. Culture Integration And Culture Unity — A Dark Problem Is every culture an ...

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Images >> Quan Zhou Wu and Linaje’s GenealogyJulia Haeyoon Chang (bio) Click for larger view View full resolutionQuan Zhou WuENJOY (Linaje 2024)Art and design by Quan Zhou WuDigital infrastructure by Marco Fratini[End Page 5] Click for larger view View full resolutionQuan Zhou WuUNA DE ELLAS (Linaje 2024)Art and design by Quan ZhouWu Digital infrastructure by Marco Fratini[End Page 6] Click for larger view View full resolutionQuan Zhou WuMEMORIAS RETORCIDAS(Linaje (...) 2024)Art and design by Quan Zhou WuDigital infrastructure by Marco Fratini[End Page 30] Click for larger view View full resolutionQuan Zhou Wu,NEGATIVOS (Linaje 2024)Art and design by Quan Zhou WuDigital infrastructure by Marco Fratini[End Page 31] Click for larger view View full resolutionQuan Zhou WuELLAS Y YO (Linaje 2024)Art and design by Quan Zhou WuDigital infrastructure by Marco Fratini[End Page 49] Click for larger view View full resolutionQuan Zhou Wu,STATEMENT (Linaje 2024)Art and design by Quan Zhou WuDigital infrastructure by Marco Fratini[End Page 74] Click for larger view View full resolutionQuan Zhou WuLAS ARTISTAS QUE NO FUIMOS (Linaje 2024)Art and design by Quan Zhou WuDigital infrastructure by Marco Fratini[End Page 75]Quan Zhou Wu’s followers will surely be struck—as I was—by the multisensory digital exhibit “Linaje” (“Lineage”), which was published in 2024 and departs, perhaps unexpectedly, from the artist’s previous well-established oeuvre. Before delving into the work in question, it may be fruitful first to have a glimpse at the artist’s iconic aesthetic. In 2015, and at the age of twenty-seven, Wu, a self-taught artist, debuted her first graphic memoir, Gazpacho Agridulce. The book commences with her parents’ newfound life in Spain after leaving Qingtian, a province of Zhejiang, China, to run a restaurant in Algeciras, a municipality of Cadiz. The opening pages of Gazpacho pack a punch, depicting Wu’s dramatic and untimely birth in a taxicab en route to the hospital.Gazpacho’s publication initiated a crucial sea change in the predominantly white Spanish publishing world, which would soon after be rocked by a boom of racialized1 authors penning anti-racist memoirs and other works of non-fiction.2 Gazpacho would also eventually become the first of the author’s trilogy of graphic memoirs, which was completed by the sequels Andaluchinas por el mundo (2017) and the most recent La agridolce vita (2023).Wu’s narratives capture the familial, identarian, and social conflicts that erupt from cultural disloyalties and racism—direct consequences of migration. She and her sisters, for example, loathe their family’s rigid Chinese and Christian mores and long for the cultural markers of an ordinary Spanish childhood, structured of course by U.S. global consumer culture, e.g. Barbie, Pizza Hut, and McDonald’s.An illustrator, cartoonist, and podcaster, Wu’s talent as a storyteller lies in her complex use of humor. With great care for her subject and her reader, Wu deploys humor to tend to the uncouth, raw, and ugly parts of life. In so doing, the author invites us to laugh and ultimately reckon with our own discomfort as we with sit with the heaviness of racism, sexism, and post-migration melancholy—using humor as a salve.At her best, Wu serves irreverence, rawness, and wit. To be immersed in her books is to rub up against the rough-hewn emotions that bring her characters to life. The vibrancy of her palette and the whimsy of her pen strokes are inviting, animated, and deceptively light-hearted. In an instant, lines and pigment rearrange into abstractions dense with affect. Fiery hollowed eyes, a gaping mouth, and flushed skin burn through the frame—making the volcanic rage of a migrant mother immediately palpable. It’s so emotive, it practically singes your skin. Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 1.Cover of Wu’s first graphic memoir Gazpacho agridulce: Una autobiografía china-andaluza[End Page 102] Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 2.Excerpt from Gazpacho agridulce (courtesy of the artist)[End Page 103]While... (shrink)

This paper presents the results of the authors’ study of the philosophical heritage of the Ancient Chinese philosopher Pan Maoming, who played an essential role in the development of spiritual culture, as well as Philosophy and Science of Ancient Southern China. The authors carried out historiographical research of currently available ancient and modern sources, which contain data on the life and philosophical ideas of Pan Maoming; reconstructed the Pan Maoming’s intellectual biography; revealed the main features of his worldview. The authors (...) reconstructed the social, cultural, and philosophical context of the historical epoch in which Pan Maoming’s philosophical and scientific views arose and developed; clarified the philosopher’s historical role in the development of local culture in the Southern region of Ancient China.The article contains the author’s description and interpretation of the main philosophical ideas of Pan Maoming, the main amid which the authors consider the ethical concept of “peace and emptiness,” the concept of “clumsiness”; the idea of “monasticism for the happiness of the people.” The authors compared Pan Maoming’s philosophical ideas with Lao-tzu’s philosophical doctrine and came to the conclusion that Pan Maoming formed his own unique and original elaboration of Taoist philosophy, significantly developed its linguistic apparatus and worldview. The authors paid particular attention to the description and analysis of Pan Maoming’s cosmological views, which include the doctrine of “Inner alchemy”, the doctrine of “chaos, order and causality.” The authors concluded that Pan Maoming’s cosmological ideas significantly developed a way of understanding the Universe, the relationship between “inert” and “living” matter, the “world of nature” and the “world of human” in the Taoist philosophical culture. The authors also presented and substantiated their point of view that some philosophical and cosmological ideas of Pan Maoming have not only of historical value but can also be used for developing and enriching the local spiritual culture of Guangdong Province in the form of ethical and educational practices, as well as practices of strengthening cultural unity and identity. (shrink)

Riassunto: La filosofia originale cinese è una sublimazione della coscienza culturale umana di base - la coscienza della vita e della riproduzione - che è l’unificazione del “Concetto di yin e yang” e del “Concetto di ciclo di vita “ in cui “lo yin e lo yang si uniscono per creare tutte le cose, e il ciclio dà una vita senza fine. La cultura originale cinese determina la visione filosofica, la visione artistica, il temperamento emotivo, la benessere psicologica e lo (...) spirito nazionale della nazione cinese. Il sistema filosofico cinese, che rappresenta l’unificazione della cosmologia, dell’epistemologia e della metodologia della nazione cinese, è un sistema filosofico completo e maturo che si è formato nella società tardo primitiva molto prima delle Dinastie Xia, Shang e Zhou. La cultura originale cinese, dalla cultura della ceramica dipinta di 7.000 anni fa fino ai giorni nostri, dalla cultura archeologica sotterranea alla cultura di massa terrestre, è un concetto ampio di belle arti, determinato da una visione filosofica dell’arte plastica di osservare gli oggetti e prendere immmagini. La cultura originale e la filosofia originale della Cina primitiva sono ancora conservate in un’eredità storica estremamente ricca e completa nella vita sociale della cultura di massa. Per questo motivo la Cina è l’unico Paese tra le civiltà antiche che non aver subito una frattura culturale. (shrink)

Literature is a reflection of a certain era of social life, in particular in the creative process of the natural landscape and cultural environment, and through the writer's aesthetic and its profound impact. Sui and Tang dynasties ago, China has experienced 300 years of confrontation between north and south during the regime of political division and military confrontation, the literature in the isolated north and south of the closed state, the two sides to strengthen and develop their aesthetic (...) characteristics of this region: North Chongyang just of the gas, the South is still feminine style. Sui Zuo short years, and by the Tang Dynasty to consolidate and develop the political unification, so that the north and south to strengthen the development of literature and their two aesthetic fashion is becoming integrated. In general, the development of Tang poetry to melt north and south sides of the two United States in one extreme, to energetic quality is actually a bone to soft Wanhua Li for their skin, the two complement each dependent, the formation of a Tang Dynasty theme of sound. (shrink)

This paper presents the results of the authors’ study of the philosophical heritage of the Ancient Chinese philosopher Pan Maoming, who played an essential role in the development of spiritual culture, as well as Philosophy and Science of Ancient Southern China. The authors carried out historiographical research of currently available ancient and modern sources, which contain data on the life and philosophical ideas of Pan Maoming; reconstructed the Pan Maoming’s intellectual biography; revealed the main features of his worldview. The authors (...) reconstructed the social, cultural, and philosophical context of the historical epoch in which Pan Maoming’s philosophical and scientific views arose and developed; clarified the philosopher’s historical role in the development of local culture in the Southern region of Ancient China.The article contains the author’s description and interpretation of the main philosophical ideas of Pan Maoming, the main amid which the authors consider the ethical concept of “peace and emptiness,” the concept of “clumsiness”; the idea of “monasticism for the happiness of the people.” The authors compared Pan Maoming’s philosophical ideas with Lao-tzu’s philosophical doctrine and came to the conclusion that Pan Maoming formed his own unique and original elaboration of Taoist philosophy, significantly developed its linguistic apparatus and worldview. The authors paid particular attention to the description and analysis of Pan Maoming’s cosmological views, which include the doctrine of “Inner alchemy”, the doctrine of “chaos, order and causality.” The authors concluded that Pan Maoming’s cosmological ideas significantly developed a way of understanding the Universe, the relationship between “inert” and “living” matter, the “world of nature” and the “world of human” in the Taoist philosophical culture. The authors also presented and substantiated their point of view that some philosophical and cosmological ideas of Pan Maoming have not only of historical value but can also be used for developing and enriching the local spiritual culture of Guangdong Province in the form of ethical and educational practices, as well as practices of strengthening cultural unity and identity. (shrink)

Supporting families of people with developmental disabilities from culturally diverse backgrounds is receiving increased attention in the era of globalisation. However, there is little information about how disability policy and cultural values work together to support families. This article examined how disability policy and Chinese cultural values influence family care of children and young people with developmental disabilities. By comparing qualitative interview data from Chinese families in Taipei (15) and Sydney (10), we analysed how their expression of (...) class='Hi'>cultural values in family care differs by policy context, relative to ethics of care claims for recognition, rights and redistribution. We found that positive expressions of Chinese culture in family care fade if policies do not complement them. Policies can alleviate potential tension with cultural values in three ways: reinforcing family capacity to care; ensuring the rights of both family caregivers and people with disabilities; and extending care choices for families. These approaches resonate with ethics of care principles. We argue that culturally responsive disability policy for families means working with cultural values to achieve ethics of care. This implies that incorporating principles of ethics of care could inform cultural responsiveness in disability policy development. (shrink)

A comparison of the analyses of West German society in the 1960s in Dahrendorf's Society and Democracy in Germany and in the 1980s in Beck's Risk Society provides the historical frame for a reconsideration of the student movement of the late 1960s in terms not of its own self-understanding but of its place and role in the larger processes of social and cultural change in the Federal Republic. The idea of cultural revolution - one of the (...) central, defining themes of the student movement - and its outcome are examined with reference to Schulze's cultural sociology of postwar German society. (shrink)

This article explores how `social harmony' as cultural performance, is conducted by Chinese in their conversation at the surface level, with turbulence and manipulation concealed beneath superficial politeness. Although their more collective cultural orientation may lead them to greater cooperation and less confrontation, Chinese also develop artfully crafted messages to communicate competition and frustration. Selected discourse samples collected in Taiwan were analyzed in depth to show how social harmony may become a matter of external display, constructed, (...) enacted and negotiated through participants' verbal exchanges in their moment-to-moment interaction. It is concluded that superficial harmony allows the extensive web of interpersonal connections and hierarchical positioning to be maintained with minimal discord, while at the same time concealing underlying aggressiveness and ulterior motives. (shrink)

Background: Healthcare workers in the front line of diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 are at great risk of both infection and developing mental health symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the following: whether healthcare workers in general hospitals experience higher mental distress than those in psychiatric hospitals; the role played by religion and alexithymic trait in influencing the mental health condition and perceived level of happiness of healthcare workers amidst the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic; (...) and factors that influence the resilience of healthcare workers at 6 weeks' follow-up.Methods: Four-hundred and fifty-eight healthcare workers were recruited from general and psychiatric hospitals, and 419 were followed-up after 6 weeks. All participants filled out the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, five-item Brief-Symptom Rating Scale, and the Chinese Oxford Happiness Questionnaire.Results: Under the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, 12.3% of frontline healthcare workers in general hospitals reported having mental distress and perceived lower social adaptation status compared with those working in psychiatric hospitals. Christians/Catholics perceived better psychological well-being, and Buddhists/Taoists were less likely to experience mental distress. The results at 6 weeks of follow-up showed that the perceived lower social adaptation status of general hospital healthcare workers was temporary and improved with time. Christian/Catholic religion and time had independent positive effects on psychological well-being; however, the interaction of Christian/Catholic religion and time had a negative effect.Conclusions: Collectivism and individualism in the cultural context are discussed with regard to alexithymic trait and Buddhist/Taoist and Christian/Catholic religious faiths. Early identification of mental distress and interventions should be implemented to ensure a healthy and robust clinical workforce for the treatment and control of the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

School moral education in any country is carried out in a particular social and cultural context. The renewal of policy and practice in moral education in China has come about because of a rapidly changing Chinese society, as a result of the government's ‘reform and opening up’ policy since the end of the 1970s. The consequent changes in the Chinese economy, politics and culture are innovatory and challenging. It is these changes that have brought about, and will continue (...) to bring about, new ideas and practices in moral education. This paper describes how Chinese moral education has been influenced according to recent social changes and modernization in China, including the formation of the market economy, the impact of globalization, mass media and the Internet, cultural diversity and value pluralism, trends to democratization in politics, and structural changes in the family. It also considers the kind of social issues and challenges which are being dealt with and anticipated in policy, theory and practice in contemporary Chinese moral education. (shrink)

Marking the 50th anniversary of Pitirim A. Sorokin’s death, this Brief offers a critical analysis of the renowned sociologist’s theories while highlighting some of his more overlooked ones. Topics explored include cultural dynamics; the relationship between culture, society, and personality; social mobility; and the socio-cultural causality of time and space. In addition, this book updates these theories by discussing their relevance in current cultural contexts. The Brief aims to extend the work started by Sorokin on the (...) promotion and application of “integralism”, an approach that conceives the change of any sociocultural phenomena as the result of the combination of external and internal forces. It uses this method to analyse socio-cultural phenomena, propose new policy, and enhance the development of humanity from the point of view of culture. -/- This book also discusses sociology’s relationship with other sciences. In particular, it touches upon the interplay between sociology and psychology and pushes for a new scientific awareness that is transdisciplinary. The end point is a new vision of humanity and its development from a cultural context. -/- Social and Cultural Dynamics will be of interest to social scientists, sociologists, and psychologists as well as professionals in these disciplines. (shrink)

The phenomenon of the social, economic, political, cultural, and spiritual activities of the Focolare Movement, implemented in the economy of communion businesses on the global scale for more than 20 years, inspired Biela to formulate the paradigm of unity concept to show its importance in the social sciences field. The author of this research paper has expanded Biela’s concept on the basis of the new paradigm theoretical analysis in the social sciences field, particularly in management sciences, (...) and has conducted an empirical investigation in 110 businesses of the economy of communion in 22 countries. The need of essential mental and cultural changes by the entrepreneurs, as well by the employees, in the management processes is presented in this paper according to the paradigm of unity. The necessity of these changes results from the fundamental assumptions of this same paradigm: from the new holistic look on the management process and interpersonal relationships between shareholders and stakeholders; from the personalistic treatment of each participant in the economic process; and from the role human, relational, and spiritual capitals play in the modern management. (shrink)

The current issue of Approaching Religion is based on a summer school and conference arranged in Åbo/Turku, Finland, in June 2021, with the theme ‘Religion and Cultural Change’. The event was organized jointly by the Polin Institute for Theological Research, the Centre for the Study of Christian Cultures, and the Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture. The aim was to bring together doctoral candidates and researchers from various academic fields who engage with the study of religion, (...) such as theology, religious studies, history, philosophy, the arts, social and political sciences and so forth. This included presentations that engaged with the theme Religion and Cultural Change from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as looking to the future where possible. As conference organizers, we wanted to highlight cultural change both as dramatic breaking points in history and as slowly evolving transformations. Hence, the conference theme allowed us to address past, present and emerging trends and trajectories within culture, society and the scholarly community. The issue is financed and published by the Polin Institute for Theological Research at Åbo Akademi University, Finland: https://www.polininstitute.fi. (shrink)

In this article we describe four previous Tai-Chi models based on the I-Ching and their limitations. The I-Ching, the most important ancient source of information on traditional Chinese culture and cosmology, provides the metaphysical foundation for this culture, especially Confucian ethics and Taoist morality. To overcome the limitations of the four previous Tai-Chi models, we transform I-Ching cultural system into a psychological theory by applying the cultural system approach. Specifically, we propose the Jun-zi Self-Cultivation Model, which argues that (...) an individual can become an ideal person, or jun-zi, through the process of self-cultivation, leading to good fortune and the avoidance of disasters. The state of jun-zi is that of the well-functioning self, characterized by achieving one’s full potential and an authentic, durable sense of wellbeing. In addition, we compare egoism and jun-zi as modes of psychological functioning. The JSM can be used to as a framework to explain social behavior, improve mental health, and develop culturally sensitive psychotherapies in Confucian culture. Finally, an examination of possible theoretical directions, clinical applications, and future research is provided. (shrink)

The paper is in four parts. The first part offers a brief reminder of the historical context for human rights as women's rights. The second part notes the relative lack of attention in human rights theory to the roles of social meaning and what has been called the ‘social imaginary’. The third part suggests that the social imaginary — understood in terms of the always present backdrop to meaningful social action — may be seen as a (...) fruitful ‘middle ground’ upon which negotiations may take place between human rights and cultural norms. The fourth part examines a case where women's entitlements to basic human rights are compromised by men's claims to cultural or group rights. I conclude by arguing that if human rights are to accommodate women's rights then women must be recognized as legitimate stakeholders in, and valuable contributors to, the necessarily ongoing re-invention and recreation of social meaning and cultural identity. (shrink)

This article addresses salient conceptual issues in social organisational psychology in probing change in organisational systems, e.g., culture, innovation and implementation, reflective practice and change models. Insights from chaos–complexity research in the natural sciences which underpin the dynamics of flux and change to unravel the hidden, the unexplained, the disordered will be built on to explore the phenomena of change from a social psychological perspective. The concept of nano-psychology is introduced to open up a (...) creative debate in the social psychological field on creative change which builds on the nano-insights evolving in the natural science field. (shrink)

The International Panel on Social Progress is an independent association of top research scholars with the goal of assessing methods for improving the main institutions of modern societies. The IPSP has produced a report consisting of twenty-two chapters in three volumes that distills the research of these scholars and outlines what the best social science has to say about positive social change. Written in accessible language by scholars across the social sciences and humanities, these volumes (...) assess the achievements of world societies in past centuries, the current trends, the dangers that we are now facing, and the possible futures in the twenty-first century. It covers the main socio-economic, political, and cultural dimensions of social progress, global as well as regional issues, and the diversity of challenges and their interplay around the world. The authors offer a cautious optimistic conclusion: multiple ideas for social progress and better policies are already available and deserve to be tested and implemented. (shrink)

History, as a science, has been developing in the context of a concrete epoch of scientific paradigms and types of scientific rationality. The period of constitutionalization of social and humanitarian knowledge and history refers to the middle of the 20th century, to the epoch of a triumphal approach of positivism. The formation of a ‘classical‘ historical science was connected with the fact, that history was not considered to be an art any more. It was proclaimed, that history should be (...) based on natural sciences, dealing with real facts. The review of a ‘classical‘ scientific paradigm of history was stated in the 19th-20th centuries and it was connected with the confirmation of a principal difference between social, humanitarian and scientific knowledge. The discussion of the method and the language of science took the central place. Nonclassical paradigm of social and humanitarian science began to form. At this period, it develops the concept of ‘humanitarian story‘. At the end of the 20th century, the historical science entered postclassical period. This circumstance was accompanied by new methodological approaches with the basis on social and philosophical discourse. Integrative paradigm in history, which is based on the principle of additionality, has been forming. Within this paradigm, history becomes stereoscopic acquiring the character of ‘social and humanitarian‘ history. (shrink)

Learning disabilities are highly prevalent on college campuses, yet students with learning disabilities graduate at lower rates than those without disabilities. Academic and psychosocial supports are essential for overcoming challenges and for improving postsecondary educational opportunities for students with learning disabilities. A holistic, multi-level model of campus-based supports was established to facilitate culture and practice changes at the institutional level, while concurrently bolstering mentors’ abilities to provide learning disability-knowledgeable support, and simultaneously creating opportunities for students’ personal and interpersonal development. Mixed (...) methods were used to investigate implementation of coordinated personal, interpersonal, and institutional level supports for undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students with learning disabilities. A one-group pre-test post-test strategy was used to examine undergraduate outcomes. Participants included 52 STEM undergraduates with learning disabilities, 57 STEM graduate student mentors, 34 STEM faculty mentors, and 34 university administrators and personnel as members of a university-wide council. Enrolled for two years, undergraduates were engaged in group meetings involving psychoeducation and reflective discussions, development of self-advocacy projects, and individual mentorship. Undergraduates reported improved self efficacy (p =.001), campus connection (p <.001), professional development (p ≤.002), and self advocacy (p <.001) after two academic years. Graduate student mentors increased their understanding about learning disabilities and used their understanding to support both their mentees and other students they worked with. Council members identified and created opportunities for delivering learning disability-related trainings to faculty, mentors and advisors on campus, and for enhancing coordination of student services related to learning and related disorders. Disability-focused activities became integrated in broader campus activities regarding diversity. This research explicates a role that college campuses can play in fostering the wellbeing and the academic and career development of its students with developmental learning and related disorders. It offers an empirically tested campus-based model that is multilevel, holistic, and strengths-based for supporting positive outcomes of young people with learning disabilities in STEM. Moreover, findings advance the knowledge of supports and skills that are important for self-regulating and navigating complex and multi-faceted disability-related challenges within both the post-secondary educational environment and the young adults’ sociocultural context. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Achieving Social and Cultural Educational Objectives through Art Historical Inquiry PracticesJacqueline Chanda (bio)Some overburdened art or generalist teachers may ask: "With all the things we have to know and do these days, why should we be interested in art history inquiry processes? What educational value is there in promoting the use of art history inquiry processes in teaching and learning?" The answer to the first question lies (...) in art history's relationship to the humanities and the visual arts. The humanities is the branch of learning concerned with human thought and relations. We turn to the humanities when we wish to understand the human condition, social and cultural values, and ourselves. But some might say that historical inquiry methods do the same thing. What distinguishes art historical inquiry from general historical inquiry is the focus on the visual arts. Visual arts are in the branch of learning that deal with the production and study of visual imagery and material objects. In the context of art history inquiry, visual imagery and material objects are the primary data used for the study of changes in ourselves; religious, social, and cultural values; and human conditions. Visual imagery is one of the universal ways that the human condition and social and cultural values of the past and present are expressed. It is one of the fundamental means by which humans communicate feelings, emotions, ideas, ideologies, etc.Art educators have acknowledged for a long time the importance of the study of images and visual elements in the lives of children and the field of art education. This is even more evident today as the discipline moves to embrace notions of "visual culture," which emphasize exploring and studying all the things that visibly shape our lives. The acknowledgment of art history as an inquiry process rather than simply the study of facts about past artworks developed in the discipline-based arts education (DBAE) [End Page 24] movement of the 1980s and 1990s.1 In spite of the recommendations that art history be explored as a discipline of inquiry, much of the art history investigations that take place in the classroom today focus on understanding the artist through his/her biography and understanding the work of art through analysis of style and formal description.2 While the artist biography brings to light the artist's intention and a formal description examines what one can see in the work and makes reference to aspects of style and formal elements, the two approaches do not provide enough information to generate meaning and speculate about what social and cultural elements may have caused the work of art to look the way it does or the effects it may have had at the time of its creation. Unfortunately, many educators are not aware of how to extend their investigations to uncover these levels of analysis.Erickson provides one definition of inquiry as describing, attributing (determining who created the work), reconstructing (determining what the object originally looked like), and interpreting the artwork.3 While these aspects are all a part of an art historical investigation, they do not go far enough into the practices utilized by art historians when exploring a work of art. Therefore, in the context of this article the phrase "art historical inquiry processes" refers to the use of authentic activities (asking questions, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting, speculating about cause or effect, and disseminating knowledge) and approaches that art historians use when studying works of art; this approach goes beyond what is clearly seen in visual imagery in order to reveal not only the denotative but also the connotative meanings that are relevant to the historical and cultural context of the artwork. These authentic activities incorporate approaches related to structural analysis (that is, contemporary analysis—iconography, iconology semiotics, feminism, etc.—that draws from literary reading skills to generate meaning) and explore, examine, and facilitate the drawing of conclusions about the significance and place of visual imagery and material objects in the societies from which they come.4 The purpose of this article is to discuss the value of studying visual images and material objects using authentic art history inquiry processes to uncover meanings, and by extension... (shrink)

This is the third of three volumes containing a report from the International Panel on Social Progress. The IPSP is an independent association of top research scholars with the goal of assessing methods for improving the main institutions of modern societies. Written in accessible language by scholars across the social sciences and humanities, these volumes assess the achievements of world societies in past centuries, the current trends, the dangers that we are now facing, and the possible futures in (...) the twenty-first century. It covers the main socio-economic, political, and cultural dimensions of social progress, global as well as regional issues, and the diversity of challenges and their interplay around the world. This particular volume covers topics such as world cultures and religions, families, global health, education, and the contributions of social sciences to institutional change. (shrink)

An examination of the salient literature on hospital clinical directorates (CDs) is presented. A critique of the largely managerialist, instrumental, hortatory and normative extant literature about CDs is offered. In analysing the literature this way the earlier promotional and critical literature is eschewed in favour of an evaluative approach. CDs are then reconceptualised by locating them within two overarching accounts of social structure—formalised, prescribed frameworks, and enacted, patterned interactions—following the kinds of distinctions made by Giddens, Weick, social action (...) and institutional theorists. Social structure as it relates to culture is also considered, following Martin. Such an approach facilitates an understanding of the general weaknesses of health service perspectives and methods of analysis, and exposes the strengths of Giddens–Weick type paradigms. (shrink)

The results of two observational studies of clinical directorates (CDs) are presented. The paper exposes fresh perspectives about the management of hospitals and CDs, and suggests that the most important axis on which hospital decision-making rests continues to be profession rather than the CD, even though CDs are designed at least in part to mitigate professional tribalism and bridge professional divides. In empiricising social structural and cultural theories it seems clear that changes to the prescribed organisational framework, which (...) CDs represent, have had negligible effects on behaviour. This being the case, the paper questions the benefits alleged to have accrued from establishing CDs and calls for more effective, micro-behavioural change strategies than merely altering the structure. (shrink)

Writing this article was motivated by the wave of protests in 2013 in Bulgaria. The long and massive protest in the summer of 2013 combined three important features: 1) young people and middle class as the main driver of the events, 2) political action for non-economic value and 3) denial of partisanship and political representation, and support for participatory democracy. These features of the protest relate well to the Inglehart’s framework and describe the profile of “postmaterialists”: people with self-expression values. (...) A question I ask is: how, in a “materialistic democracy” like Bulgaria, with only 2% of postmaterialists, was it possible to take place a large-scale protest for a non-economic value like “moral in politics”, which at the same time resembles other protests that have taken place around the world? The protests were closely connected with the usage of the Internet and social networks and in my article I discuss how the Internet can facilitate behavior consistent with higher-order, postmaterial values. (shrink)

This article considers different ways in which keywords and concepts have been, and might be, explored. It summarizes the methodological discussions of a project to analyse 'commonwealth' in the period 1450-1800. 'Commonwealth' was a part of a conceptual field of terms to do with the public good and thus serves as a case study for wider problems of approaching such keywords through a collaboration across disciplines and reflects the importance of recent attempts to provide social and literary contexts for (...) political discourse. Early modern states and their authority are now recognized to be as much socially and culturally as politically constructed, thus widening not only the essential 'context' which students of political discourse must take into account, but also requiring social historians to engage with the language of politics, the metaphors, images and genres of which scholars of literature and art likewise can illuminate. This social and cultural turn to political discourse helps the recovery of the language of vice and virtue which was so intrinsic to the deployment of keywords and concepts. The German conceptual history school is also relevant and useful in requiring us to think about how concepts were constituted and change over time, though its chronological focus needs to be extended to embrace more fully the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Finally, the article offers some pointers about how technology might be utilized to maximize the necessary collaborations that have been outlined. (shrink)

The changes that have taken place in Ukrainian Protestantism since the independence of the country have repeatedly attracted the attention of domestic religious scholars. V. Yelensky, V. Lyubashchenko, O. Nazarkina, Y. Reshetnikov, V. Titarenko, V. Franchuk, P. Yarotsky, TV, addressed the problem in their works. Further analysis, however, is greatly complicated by the lack of empirical material that would be accompanied by primary interpretations.

With the increasing urbanization in China, the mental health problems of migrant children have attracted widespread attention. From the perspective of social cognition, psychological capital, self-esteem, and other factors are closely related to the social and cultural adaptation of the group. In order to explore the relationship among the psychological capital, self-esteem and socio-cultural adaptations of migrant children, a total of 245 Chinese migrant children were investigated with the psychological capital scale, self-esteem scale, and socio-cultural (...) adaptation scale. At the same time, 24 months group longitudinal intervention exercises was designed scientifically, the participants were provided with it continuously to enhance their psychological capital. According to the results, there were significant differences in t-test in experiment group and control group of migrant children. At the same time, there was a significant linear correlation between predictive variables’ psychological capital and self-esteem and outcome variable’s socio-cultural adaptation. In the next step of mediating effect analysis, psychological capital and self-esteem were adopted for predicting socio-cultural adaptation. The psychological capital could not only directly affect the social and cultural adaptation of migrant children, but also indirectly affect the degree of social and cultural adaptation of migrant children through changing self-esteem. The results showed that the self-esteem mediation model fitted well with the data. Furthermore, the mediation effect accounted for 17.3% in the direct effect. Longitudinal group intervention could improve the psychological capital and social and cultural adaptation of migrant children. In a word, the research was helpful to explore the influence mechanism of migrant children’s psychological capital on social and cultural adaptation, and had certain practical value in preventing and reducing the crisis caused by the social and cultural adaptation of migrant children. (shrink)

Inspired by Weber’s charismatic carrier groups, Eisenstadt coined the term institutional entrepreneur to capture the rare but epochal collective capable of reorienting a group’s value-orientations and transferring charisma, while making them an evolutionary force of structural and cultural change. As a corrective to Parsons’ abstract, ‘top-down’ theory of change, Eisenstadt’s theory provided historical context and agency to moments in which societies experienced qualitative transformation. The concept has become central to new institutionalism, neo-functionalism, and evolutionary-institutionalism. Drawing from the (...) former two, a more robust theory of institutional entrepreneurship from an evolutionary-institutionalist’s perspective is posited. In essence, entrepreneurs formulate institutional projects with dual logic: a collective side focused on innovation where efforts are directed towards organizational symbolic mechanisms of integration and a self-interested side directed towards resource independence, monopolization, mobility, and power-dependence. While outcomes vary based on numerous environmental factors, success leads to greater structural/symbolic independence and ability to reconfigure physical-temporal-social-symbolic space. (shrink)

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at Harvard University in November 1985 and at Princeton University in March 1987. I am grateful to the George Seferis Chair of Modern Greek Studies, Harvard University and to the Committee on Hellenic Studies, Princeton University for their invitations.

Modern education attaches great importance to interdisciplinary skills, among which computational thinking is a core element, and heralds a new era. IT application has shaped education in the 21st century. Computational thinking has provided further impetus for building an all-encompassing social network and fostering a DIY culture enabled by digital technologies. One empirical study used four apps to test children's development in computational thinking and fluency. The article will help students overcome their fears of coding. Peer reviews provide students (...) with an opportunity to learn from each other and become more motivated. These reviews also serve as feedback for teachers to evaluate students' performance. Experimental design is used in this study, and a peer review system is implemented. Freshmen attending a programming class in a university are used as samples. At the class, students write computer programs with f-Chart, which provides a graphical user interface for students to learn programming logic and design. Zuvio, a cloud-based interactive response system, is used to conduct the peer reviews. The data of this study are analyzed through R. The results show not only an improvement in students' learning performance but also a gap between students' peer review scores and teachers' evaluation scores. Learning feedback and evaluation is crucial to transform education between students and teachers into a sustainable cycle system. (shrink)

1t is encouraging that many Christians are now familiar with the notion of Worldview. This means that they readily recognize that it is not possible to understand or assess the social changes that take place without asking fundamental questions about the basic beliefs of a culture. For, even when it is unconscious of the process, every culture is an outworking of some response to deeply religious questions of life and meaning. Questions about God, reality, human personhood, time, history, evil (...) and salvation underly the way of life in every society, whether we focus on its sexual morality, its family values, its legal and political structures or its economic and trading practices. So it makes sense to assume that changes in societal practices reflect more than simply changes in technology or economics. They reflect changes in worldview. (shrink)

Abstract:Catastrophe has increasingly become a consumer product. Perhaps because of this, we have become desensitised to the idea of catastrophe, so much so that narratives that should elicit fear and anxiety due to their reflecting a truth about our current world do not causally produce the necessary affective responses that would motivate us to act. This is the case with climate change. Through a superficial engagement with the climate change issue through social media, media, films, television, and (...) other literature, we experience catharsis daily. The release of the fear and anxiety that should lead us to action against climate change does not make us act against it. In this article, I put forth this argument by discussing how we superficially interact with climate change and catastrophe through the media, social media, films, television, and other literature. I refer to empirical evidence that supports my position. I consider how this superficial interaction leads to desensitization and causally produces a catharsis, leading to inaction. I put forth some initial remarks on how artmaking could be approached in a way that does not desensitize us to catastrophe by considering what Heidegger, Adorno, and Marcuse have to say about the function and origin of art. (shrink)

Humans are born with the ability and the need for affection, but communicating affection as a social behavior is historically bound. Based on the digitized books of Google Ngram Viewer from 1960 through 2008, the present research investigated the affectionate communication (AC) in China and in the US, and its changing landscape along with social changes from collectivist to individualistic environments. In particular, we analyzed the frequency in terms of verbal affection (e.g., love you, like you), non-verbal affection (...) (e.g., hug, kiss), and individualism (indicated by the use of first-person singular pronouns, such as I, me, and myself) in Chinese and in American books. The results revealed a convergent increasing trend of AC over the past decades, although the frequency of affection words was lower in Chinese than in American books. Further, the individualism was found to be positively related to the frequency of affection words in both Chinese and American books. These results demonstrate the effect of cultural changes on AC, in that affection exchange becomes popular in adaptation to individualistic urban environments, which provide the evidence about the cross-cultural difference in love expression and the cultural universality of social change in Eastern and Western societies. (shrink)

The government concern towards preservation of Economic, Social and cultural rights of citizens of a country can be clearly visible through the fiscal policy changes and the trends in public finance. This article intends to decompose and analyse the trends of government expenditure of Sri Lanka over the past years and to investigate whether the public expenditure has been allocated for productive sectors which truely facilitate public welfare and uplift the Ecoomic,Social and cultural rights of the (...) citizens.The considered period for the data analysis is 2010 to 2018 and also a special emphasis has been given on 2019 budget as the latest. The trends of Public expenditure on education, health and main welfare programs and recent taxation policies have been taken into account as a proxy of the attention towards ESCR by the government. The study has illustrated a significant decline in the public expenditure on education, health and welfare with heavy burden generated by indirect taxes that can draw harmful impacts on economy’s future productive potential as well as on the obligation of protecting ESCR. (shrink)

This book demonstrates that the important educational developments of the Elizabethan and early Stuart periods, which are often portrayed as new and revolutionary in nature, were in fact the culmination of an evolutionary process more than two centuries old. It also shows that popular literacy was considerably more widespread by the time of Spenser and Shakespeare than most recent studies suggest. The book treats the long period 1348–1648 as a unit by discounting the importance of the year 1485, which marked (...) the end of one dynasty and the beginning of another but had no discernible effect on educational and cultural conditions. Additionally, it argues that the massive changes of the final years of Henry VIII, which momentarily disrupted the universities and the grammar schools of the realm, were beneficial in the long run, since local energies were thereby unleashed and greater public support for educational institutions of all kinds soon materialized. A period of steady growth continued until the 1640s and 1650s, when the bitter experiences of the Civil War and rancorous arguments about the role of the universities and the grammar schools in precipitating the outbreak of hostilities caused the mainstream of public opinion to question the efficacy of advanced education, which increasingly came to be seen as a threat to established values and traditions. Thereafter an era of decline began that lasted until the mid-nineteenth century. Finally, the book treats the important contributions made by both clerics and women during the long period 1348–1648. Although laymen were the greatest beneficiaries of the steady widening of educational opportunity during those three centuries, clerics and women provided most of the funds, without which many fewer colleges, schools, and scholarships for poor boys would have been established. They did so because of their belief that improved education was necessary for the further spread of the Christian message. (shrink)

This groundbreaking study explores the ways young Americans today understand right and wrong, how they think out their morality, and how they live it out. It describes contrasting ethical styles in the biblical, utilitarian, and personalist traditions of our culture; first, as they structured the conflict between mainstream and counterculture during the 1960s, and second, as they have shaped the transformation of these values in new religious movements since the early 1970s. Coupling descriptive ethics with interpretive sociology, this study pursues (...) biography and moral dialogue with sixties youth who participated in a charismatic Christian sect, a Zen Buddhist meditation center, and a human potential organization (est). It shows the significance of these movements for the adherents' changing ideas of their own identity; their relationships, sex roles, courtship, and marriage; and their politics and vision of society. It analyzes the cultural logic and the social location of their ideas, which break down, recombine, and find renewal in the course of conversion. (shrink)

During the colonial contact and especially after the 2nd World War in the Solomon Islands local communities various traditions of woodcarving and other handicrafts have transformed from religious and ritual objects to commercial 'tourist arts' that have become economically important for local communities. In the course of culture change Western concepts such as art and culture have been adopted to local languages and they have replaced local terminologies and classifications in various ways. These processes may be described as 'conceptual (...) colonialism'. The meaning shifts and emerging new conceptual categories produce homogenising effects that transform the local ways of cultural thinking towards the direction of hegemonic Western interpretations of socio-cultural phenomena. The concept of art should be treated as one major element in this linguistic power play between the local and the global. (shrink)