Social Remittances and More: Reflections on 25 Years of Migration Studies
Instead of Preface: Reflexive Interview with Professor Peggy Levitt
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Instead of Preface: Reflexive Interview with Professor Peggy Levitt
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The purpose of this article is to provide an analytical review of the research of social mobility in post-socialist countries. The first section introduces the concept of social mobility and describes certain social mobility measurement techniques based on different models of social structure. In the second section of the article, we outline the features of social mobility research pertaining to the socialist period. Further, social mobility studies are grouped according to an application of different social structure models into class and non-class (status attainment) approaches. The third part of the article analyses the inter-class social mobility studies, with an emphasis on class schemes applied and the distinction between absolute and relative social mobility. The fourth section presents the research, relying on the status attainment model, highlighting the characteristic features and limitations of this methodology of the research on social mobility. In the fifth part of the article, we discuss the less common type of social mobility studies – subjective social mobility research. The final section provides an overview of social mobility research in Lithuania, discussing the social mobility studies both in socialist and post-socialist Lithuania.
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Рехабилитација националног идентитета свој почетак мора имати изван досега и опсега појмовног започињања његове деконструкције – да- кле, само на граници оног повијесног тренутка којим је зачета његова европска модернизација. Етаблирањем комунистичког интернационали- зма као вертикалне идентитетске основе наступа гранична ситуација српског националног идентитета - радикалан слом мјеродавности важећег националног самоискуства. Отуда, данас, конзервативизам постмодерне - кога се заправо понајвише прибојавају европеизирани учитељи будућноти, јер исти пружа могућност ванполитичког и ванекономског идентитетског утемељења (које је основни непријатељ отвореног друштва) – значи ни мање ни више него метадискурзивни отклон од простора колонијалне метафизике западног идентитета. Он (овај метадискурзивни отклон) за нас може да оствари свој пуни капацитет еманципативним искораком из дискурзивног простора којим је до сада научно обликована наша будућност таквим (ванповијесним) рехабилитовањем традиције у коме, уоста- лом и почива наша Балканска (есхатолошка) деконструкција пројекта Модерне.
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Two dominant images of mobile professionals, also known as “expats”, have long been common in the social sciences: on the one hand, they were described as super-mobile individuals, who easily move between places with no time frame in mind, with the openness to engage with diversity; on the other hand, more recent studies challenged the idea of “expat” cosmopolitanism, and investigated the boundaries constituted by these people in the course of their everyday life. The present article brings to the fore the complexity of these individuals’ and their families’ experiences of international mobility from a combined socio-cultural psychological and sociological perspective. We draw on qualitative research conducted in Switzerland in order to reflect on the role of family in the way these people make sense of diversity across time and space, make and un-make symbolic boundaries between themselves and others, and understand personal and their families' transformation.
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“Neo-medievalism” has become well known concept in contemporary social theory. It is widely used by historians, sociologists of culture and international relations theorists, not only for the critical reconsideration of heritage from “historical” Middle Ages, but also for the easier and more accurate distinguishing of their cultural-historical and international-political aspirations through analogies with contemporary social processes. This paper deals with the emergence of “neo-medieval motives“ in social theory and philosophy since Romanticism, throughout “catholic cultural renewal” and “Russian religious renaissance”, up to their influences on “theories of crisis of modernity” from the first half of 20th century and on significant works of Spengler, Toynbee, Ortega y Gasset and Pitirim Sorokin. Then, author follows the revival of interests for Middle Ages in the seventies of the last century along with the onset of postmodernism, and also the first use of “neo-medieval model” for explanation of international relations transformation (in the work of Hedley Bull and his followers). Finally, contemporary “neo-medieval” tendencies in scientific approaches are being observed – from the systemic transformation from a modern to a postmodern political economy, throughout urban studies, sociology and philosophy seeking again the indisputable epistemological support in religion and tradition.
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In a number of works dealing with cooperative teaching affective domain variables were in focus, while the cognitive domain variables were studied less. In this paper, we try to look on cooperative teaching from the point of conformation of declarative and procedural knowledge. The influence of three modalities of cooperative work in teaching Nature and Society on comformability of students’ declarative and procedural knowledge are experimentally checked. Arranging the students within small homogeneous and heterogeneous groups was the basis for the formation of the applied modalities. The sample consisted of 259 fourth-grade students of elementary school. The experiment was done with parallel groups. The results showed that students in the experimental group had better conformation of declarative and procedural knowledge not only at the final, but also at the subsequent measurings, as compared to the control group. Heterogeneous or homogeneous grouping led to the same conformation of declarative and procedural knowledge. Quality knowledge can not be obtained by accumulation of either declarative or procedural one, but by balancing these two kinds of knowledge, by their conformation. Conformed skills last longer and that is precisely the goal of a successful teaching in general, and not only cooperative teaching Nature and Society we dealt with in our study.
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This article discusses the concept of humane schools in the context of contemporary knowledge society, from pedagogical aspect. The authors specifically indicate that the knowledge society achieves its true meaning and proper importance as well as full pedagogical potential, only when the values on which it is based are defined, and what kind of knowledge it implies. The basic features of humane school are discussed, their interdependence explained and major paradoxes that may occur in this regard perceived. Listening to the voices of some ancient thinkers that can be clearly heard, the authors discover deep roots and distant traces of important arguments in favor of the implementation of a school of thought in a new way, that is authentic humane school. Accordingly, it is concluded that on the uncertain and laden with contradictions road towards European knowledge society for the 21st century and the humane school in it, we need solid guidelines. By all accounts, these guidelines may be sought and found in the creatively transformed and newly assumed ideas of ancient Greek philosophers and in their global application on lifelong education for all people, i.e. for each man as a conscious and self-responsible human being.
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Interpretation by the nature of things most of the authors in the field of legal hermeneutics view in the manner of Bidlinsky, Larense and Canaris. This approach is largely paradoxical because in explaining the examples from legal practice it fails to sustain and survive the idealistic understanding of the category of “things” that come from the philosophy of law. To paraphrase Horacio, who says that “we can impose on nature by force, it always returns” (expellas naturam furca tamen usque recurret), we will primarily state the following (1) any discussion on the interpretation must by the nature of things start or finally always ends up with the realistic definition of the category of “things” within the formula of the “nature of things”. This further means that (2) only when the essence of the “things” is examined through the lens of facts (realist, naturalistic) the formula “about the nature of things” gains a dimension of a relevant hermeneutical instrument. Also, (3) realistic understanding of “things” – that arises, not so much by the power of a theoretical paradigm as much as the by the needs of legal practice – make the interpretation by the nature of things look as a sociological analysis where it manifests itself as the fulfillment of needing from a legal norm, or filling legal gaps, starting from typical, ordinary or usual state of social relations expressed through the interpretation of the facts of the case. Accordingly, also on the level of discussion on the interpretation of the nature of things (4) the sociological theory of interpretation of the law confirmes itself whereby it views the procedure of interpretation of law as primarily an inductive logic operation, when favoring small premise of the juristic conclusion (working on the facts) and where the explanation of the facts of the case (which is inserted between the establishment of facts and qualifications of facts) emerges as a key criterion of interpretation of legal norms.
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Multiculturalism is a complex phenomenon that has different aspects (theoretical, political, normative, ideological, etc.). Its meanings are not uniform, and discussions about it are often very emotional, oscilating between uncritical glorification and the dispute. In political theory, however, there is a specific problem that has long been discussed – how multiculturalism, as a „policy of difference“, agrees with liberalism, and how the principle of collective fits in with the individualism, and the principle of equality with recognition of differences. In this paper I give very brief overview of these discussions, as a prelude to future dealing with the problem of multiculturalism, especially the way in which the notion of culture has been conceptualised in the disscussion, as well as whether and how it is realized in the Serbian society.
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The unity, autonomy and autoreferentiality of the representational model upon which the uniqueness of the communicational concept of postmodern mass-media rests, as well as interactivity within the framework of which, assisted by the fictional Other, the modus subsistendi of a spectator is being constituted, represents the main subject of the critical discourse of the following essay. The thesis which is here proposed is that it is possible to identify and scrutinize a fundamental difference between the generative core of meaning and the effects which the reality show The Big Brother produces within the Euro-American cultural circle on the one hand and within the cultural context of the societies involved in a process of assimilation of axiological paradigms originating from that circle on the other hand. The secularization of the techniques of confession which manifest themselves in a number of aspects of this programme transforms itself in these societies into a self-induced adoption of traditionalist mechanisms of control and their perpetuating in a form of illusory permissivness and anti-dogmatic social praxis.
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The author critically presents Talcott Parsons' theory of power. According to Parsons, power is a generalized capacity to secure the performance of binding obligations by units in a system of collective organization when the obligations are legitimized with reference to their bearing on collective goals and where in case of recalcitrance there is a presumption of enforcement by negative situational sanctions — whatever the actual agency of that enforcement. This definition of power does not offer enough satisfying answers to the issues of interest and power conflicts as well as of social and political change.
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This article presents the findings from a biographical study of repeat offenders serving prison sentences. It focuses on the experiences of male participants, particularly the turning points in the ways in which the offenders evaluated their lives. The starting point for the analyses were the following questions: How do repeat offenders construct turning points which so dramatically transform their perceptions of themselves and their identity in the eyes of others? What role does blind chance play in the process of rehabilitation and what role is played by institutional interventions? Four types of turning points were identified and discussed in this study: a change of social roles in the family, love for a woman, religious conversion, and participation in addiction therapy. These turning points triggered strong emotions and led to biography work aimed at breaking away from habitual offending.
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The article is an attempt to present the reflexive approach in its auto/biographic form. In this context, two representative reflexive essays featured in Volume 4 of the periodical “Educational Sciences. Interdisciplinary Studies” (“NOWIS”) are interpreted. Additionally, the text shows the problem of distance and proximity appearing among different perspectives of conducting educational-biographic research.
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The theoretical legacy of Zygmunt Bauman is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for sociological analysis, particularly bearing in mind the scope of his work and the diverse range of modern day problems that this British-Polish author dealt with. The first part of this article examines the question of personal identity in liquid modernity, which is the starting point of Bauman’s work. Similar to some other authors, Bauman discusses the paradox of the individual who is not free in an individualized society. Bauman’s diagnosis carries pessimistic features which in some places correspond to insights developed in classical sociology. Bauman makes occasional and sporadic incursions into the pitfalls of conservative thought, particularly in relation to the dichotomies of individual versus community, individualism versus togetherness, and egoism versus solidarity. However, it seems that the author manages to skilfully avoid the inherent theoretical traps of sociology, turning towards cosmopolitan theory. The second part of this article presents the thesis that Bauman’s thought is in fact cosmopolitan, especially bearing in mind his final public appearances and writings. This argument is based in his description of global society that is simultaneously integrating and developing, and dramatically disintegrating and regressing. Bauman writes about violent killings and expulsions of people in the 21st century and their inability to find refuge in the Western and democratic world that promotes human rights. Recalling the crucial cosmopolitan principles of solidarity and hospitality, Bauman makes an appeal to progressive forces to consolidate and work on opening and reaffirming the “cosmopolitan condition” of contemporary society.
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Death is an infallible part of the human life, and what makes human different from all other beings is fact that he knows that he is going to die. Knowing this, human beings are spending their whole life knowing that the day of their end is going to come. It is clear that death has its biological part, also as a huge event in the existence of all life forms, including human, death has its philosophical point of view, and finally, unlike some may disagree, death itself is a huge social phenomena as well, and as such, the social influence of death deserves close attention and its own part in the social science studies. This paper analyzes the presence of the death in human culture, including institutions, rituals and beliefs following the discourse of late Zygmunt Bauman who left huge influence on this field of study. Since the earliest forms of communities, humans are trying to overcome the death, the state of “after-life” and some form of immortality of the being is something that is common to all religions and beliefs ever known to mankind, which stands as a evidence that the final void of non-existence know to us as death is something that always presented horror in the mind of the humans.
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Prikaz knjige: “Sociolog kao izvidnica - Ivo Andrić i albansko pitanje” autora Milojice Šutovića; Beograd: Čigoja štampa. 2013.
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It is well known that there is never enough to want to do something, but it is necessary to know how to achieve the desired. So it is with devising a methodology for educational and scientific research purposes. It is not the same to talk about it in the field of philosophy, sociology, medicine, the arts, sports ... Of course, here we will focus only on the sociological and scientific field.
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The professor and scientist Anđelka Milić died in Belgrade on April 11th in 2014. She was born in Belgrade. On the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade she graduated in sociology (1965), got her master’s (1970) and PhD degree(1975). For those of us who have had the opportunity to meet her through the scientific work and personally, very briefly, the character of professor and scholar Anđelka Milić will never fade from memory. With her dignified posture of the professor and scholar, and her work she has left an indelible mark in science, sociology, more specifically, in the areas of family sociology and gender studies, but also in the fields of sociology of youth, sociology of education and anthropology. Her name has become the synonymous for the sociology of the family in this region and beyond. The professor and scientist Anđelka Milić gave a great contribution to the understanding of the family and its changes in contemporary society, as well as the sociological study of gender. Her scientific work listed her in the “immortal” academic and scientific community, as measured by universal scientific criteria.
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Opće je poznato da nikada nije dovoljno htjeti nešto uraditi, već je nužno znati kako željeno ostvariti. Tako je i sa osmišljavanjem metodologije za edukacijske i znanstveno-istraživačke potrebe. Jer, nije isto o tome govoriti u oblasti filozofije, sociologije, medicine, umjetnosti, sporta… Naravno, ovdje ćemo se fokusirati samo na sociološko znanstveno područje.
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Anthropological and sociological theories are often based on purpose-made dichotomies. A few years ago, Chris Jenks even published an entire book titled Core Sociological Dichotomies with a critical presentation of the principal types. This text aptly argued that, for better or for worse, for the past 150 years dichotomies have been a fundamental aspect of sociological and anthropological thought. This article illustrates how dichotomies, aside from the risk of essentializing, i.e. of creating static constructs of reality, are useful if not indispensable for a social analysis and for the creation of theoretical conceptions in social and cultural sciences.
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