Forms of uncertainty reduction: decision,valuation, and contest

Uncertainty is an intriguing aspect of social life. Uncertainty is epistemic, future-oriented, and implies that we can neither predict nor foresee what will happen when acting. In cases in which no institutionalized certainty about future states exists, or can be generated, judgment is needed. This article presents the forms by which uncertainty is reduced as a result of judgments made about different alternatives in a process involving several actors. This type of uncertainty may exist, for example, about which artist is the best, which offer in the market is more valuable, which football team is better than all the rest, or which research proposal will get a grant. The result of different forms of uncertainty reduction is increased certainty concerning alternatives in relation to one another, such as good and bad, rank lists, scores, quality assessment, and “winner and losers.” Based on the result, uncertainty is reduced and action is facilitated. The forms are structural and comprise roles; may be legitimate in a smaller or larger domain; and may exist in all spheres of life, as exemplified in sports competitions, in labor markets, and in the ranking of universities. Three forms of uncertainty reduction based on judgment are identified in this article: (1) decision, made by an authority; (2) valuation, by means of which order arises as a result of actors ascribing values; and (3) contest, by which an order is the result of direct struggle.     

Associate and Baccalaureate Degree Education for Social Work: A Tentative Proposal

This paper provides a preliminary model which may be an effective approach to some of the problems which have to be solved in relating two- and four-year programs in undergraduate social work education. First, a baccalaureate program for students of the social professions is described. Then, two- and four-year programs are related and a set of predictions for the future of higher education which underlie the proposal is discussed. Finally, an appraisal is made of inherent problems in interdigitation which arise in part from the model and in part from a misapplication of management theory which characterizes much of organizational planning for social work manpower development and utilization. Because the purpose here is to explore structures and structural relationships, specific content of courses is elaborated only to the extent required for illustration of intent. The analysis is incomplete which may make it more useful for the various contingencies in “live” schools than a tightly logical model could be.     

Transitive and acyclic rationality indicators of fuzzy choice functions on base domain

In the present paper we introduce the indicators of the fuzzy transitive congruence axiom, fuzzy direct-revelation axiom and fuzzy acyclic congruence axiom. These indicators measure the degree to which a fuzzy choice function satisfies these axioms. We use the indicators of fuzzy transitive congruence axiom and fuzzy acyclic congruence axiom to calculate the minimum degree to which the direct fuzzy revealed preference relation is the transitive and acyclic respectively. We established that (i) the degree to which the fuzzy choice function is full rational is the degree to which it satisfies fuzzy transitive congruence axiom and (ii) the degree to which the fuzzy choice function is acyclic rational is the minimum degree to which it satisfies fuzzy direct-revelation axiom and its fuzzy revealed preference is acyclic. We show that a similarity relation on the set of fuzzy choice functions preserves the indicators of fuzzy transitive congruence axiom, fuzzy direct-revelation axiom, fuzzy acyclic congruence axiom and (transitive and acyclic) rationality indicators.     

清真寺文化与穆斯林核心价值观之形成

清真寺文化涉及生活的诸多方面,不仅促进了穆斯林核心价值观的良性发展,还为和谐社会的发展奠定了一定的基础。这种兼顾精神与物质建设的穆斯林核心价值观,具有丰富的内涵和深远的现实意义。     

The second project of ethnicity: Transnational migrant communities and ethnic minorities in modern multicultural societies

The theory of ethnicity has been developed in recent years largely in connection with the study of nationalism. What this paper seeks to show is that while there is a common core in the theory of ethnicity, nationalism is not the only project on which it is focused. The other project is that of migration which leads to the formation of transnational communities, which have no nationalistic ambitions, nor necessarily a diasporic urge to return to the homeland. The paper seeks to outline some of the main structural features of such communities using the example of Punjabi Sikh migration. It also seeks to describe the main structural features of the relationship which emerges between such communities and modern national societies in which they settle.     

Negotiating Psycho-emotional Dimensions of Disability and their Influence on Identity Constructions

This paper uses Foucault's concept of 'technologies of power' to explore the ways in which the psycho-emotional dimensions of disability are created and maintained within society. The manner in which gaze and self-surveillance operate on the bodies of people with impairments to leave them feeling worthless, unattractive and stressed is considered, and the effects of impairment on these processes are also discussed. However disabled people are not simply passive victims of this form of emotional disablism--many exercise agency and resist. The manner in which disabled people resist the negative stereotypes is described and the process of 'coming out' as a disabled person is offered as an example of a 'technology of the self'. This interplay of dominating and emancipatory forces is shown to contribute to a disability identity, which is fluid and which better represents the diversity of the disability experiences of disabled people than an essentialist disability identity.     

Market arbitrage, social choice and the core

 This paper establishes a clear connection between equilibrium theory, game theory and social choice theory by showing that, for a well defined social choice problem, a condition which is necessary and sufficient to solve this problem – limited arbitrage – is the same as the condition which is necessary and sufficient to establish the existence of an equilibrium and the core. The connection is strengthened by establishing that a market allocation, which is in the core, can always be realized as a social allocation, i.e. an allocation which is optimal according to an ordering chosen by a social choice rule. Limited arbitrage characterizes those economies without Condorcet triples, and those for which Arrow’s paradox can be resolved on choices of large utility values. Received: 30 December 1994/Accepted: 12 August 1996     

Representation of effectivity functions in coalition proof Nash equilibrium: A complete characterization

The concept of coalition proof Nash equilibrium was introduced by Bernheim et al. [5]. In the present paper, we consider the representation problem for coalition proof Nash equilibrium: For a given effectivity function, describing the power structure or the system of rights of coalitions in society, it is investigated whether there is a game form which gives rise to this effectivity function and which is such that for any preference assignment, there is a coalition proof Nash equilibrium.  It is shown that the effectivity functions which can be represented in coalition proof Nash equilibrium are exactly those which satisfy the well-known properties of maximality and superadditivity. As a corollary of the result, we obtain necessary conditions for implementation of a social choice correspondence in coalition proof Nash equilibrium which can be formulated in terms of the associated effectivity function. Received: 24 June 1999/Accepted: 20 September 2000     

Training for civil work in the probation service

Social work education is under constant pressure to give increased attention to various issues relating to practice. This is in large part a reflection of the nature of the social work task which is continuously evolving as it responds to shifts in social policy and changes in social work perspectives and practice. One such issue which is currently the focus of substantial change is the civil work role of the probation service. The author draws on the findings of a recent survey of probation officers which highlights a number of important questions about the adequacy of current training provision, both pre-entry and in-service, and which also raises fundamental issues about the relationship between theory and practice.     

Combining monotonicity and strong equity: construction and representation of orders on infinite utility streams

This paper studies the nature of social welfare orders (SWO) on infinite utility streams, satisfying the efficiency principle known as monotonicity and the consequentialist equity principle known as strong equity. It provides a complete characterization of domain sets for which there exists such a SWO which is in addition representable by a real valued function. It then shows that for those domain sets for which there is no such SWO which is representable, the existence of such a SWO necessarily entails the existence of a non-Ramsey set, a non-constructive object.     

A RELATIONAL EVENT FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIAL ACTION

Social behavior over short time scales is frequently understood in terms of actions, which can be thought of as discrete events in which one individual emits a behavior directed at one or more other entities in his or her environment (possibly including himself or herself). Here, we introduce a highly flexible framework for modeling actions within social settings, which permits likelihood-based inference for behavioral mechanisms with complex dependence. Examples are given for the parameterization of base activity levels, recency, persistence, preferential attachment, transitive/cyclic interaction, and participation shifts within the relational event framework. Parameter estimation is discussed both for data in which an exact history of events is available, and for data in which only event sequences are known. The utility of the framework is illustrated via an application to dynamic modeling of responder radio communications during the early hours of the World Trade Center disaster.     

On the Vicissitudes of Cyberspace as Potential-Space

This paper examines some issues which emergefrom the use of cyberspace within organizations,focusing on the extent to which cyberspace facilitatesand/or interferes with individual and organizational growth. It is argued that the Internet has cometo facilitate a form of interaction which may appearlargely social and related, while remaining relativelyisolated, asocial or at best partially social, self-protective, and removed. This is a form ofinteraction which is often characterized by partialrelationships as well as confusion or ambiguity betweenwhat is happening and what is imagined. In much of our relational life, we maintain a tensionand dynamic interplay between our experience ofourselves and of the world as structured and ordered andour experience of ourselves and of the world asdisordered and chaotic. In the organizational Internetinteractions explored in this paper, this tension isoften suspended, or at times obliterated. However, it isproposed here that, as profoundly ambiguous and disturbing as these Internet interactions maybe, they may at times serve the function of a potentialspace in which growth is facilitated. In otherinstances, however, they serve to inhibit or evendestroy potential. The theoretical basis for thesefindings is built on the contributions of Klein,Winnicott, and Matte-Blanco and is illustrated byclinical examples from organizations.     

Lessons from The Wire: epistemological reflections on the practice of sociological research

Recent debates and controversies have highlighted several issues surrounding sociological research, which relate to the general conditions under which it is undertaken and how this is changing. There is a pressing need to respond to these issues as a whole, in particular by examining what they tell us about research practices. This article argues that a consideration of themes raised by the American television drama The Wire is useful for facilitating such a response, since it may be read as a discussion of working conditions within neoliberal societies. The following themes are pertinent here: the need to reflect upon the terms by which research is framed by funders, to take adequate time to conduct and complete research, and to encourage critical debate within research. Whilst these relate to influential epistemological discussions by Pierre Bourdieu and Michael Burawoy, this reading of The Wire is particularly helpful for highlighting the practical and inter‐relational situations in which sociological research is carried out but which tend not to receive the systematic attention they deserve.     

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT: UNIVERSITIES, NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND THE US SUPREME COURT

The legal context in which universities operate is among the forces shaping the ways in which new information technologies are taken up and used. In the USA, constitutional law - that law which addresses how society is to be structured and what types of processes should be permitted within it - is particularly important in determining what institutions can do. The ultimate arbiter of constitutional law is the US Supreme Court, the decisions of which establish basic principles for the US legal system. This article reviews the entire body of US Supreme Court decisions that deal with higher education and mines them for their implications for the use of new information technologies by universities.     

Genre,suicide et sexualité(s) en Algérie

According to a popular and widespread belief, suicide is a rare phenomenon, if not absent at all, in Muslim societies. It is considered as a sociologically irrelevant because of the cognitive power and efficacy of religion. This idea is reinforced by the upheaval of suicide bombings and terrorism, the clamour of which conceals the phenomenon of civil suicide. This article will explore civil suicide through interviews held in Algeria, in which suicide is described as a more feminine, young and rural phenomena. These three dimensions are marginal in social science studies on ‘Islamic’ suicide, which are mainly centred on a Durkheimian analysis – that is to say an analysis which considers suicide as an essentially urban and male phenomenon, far from gender issues and conformed to dominant regimes of discourse.     

Preaching to the converted: conversion language and the constitution of the TV evangelical community

A paradox is noted in the presentation of conversion in TV evangelism; this is that although the necessity of being converted is a common theme it is clear that the evangelists are aware that their audience is already converted. An attempt is made to resolve the paradox by showing how TV evangelists use conversion language as rhetoric to legitimate their role and the rationality of the organisation which they represent. It is further shown how this legitimation is itself made possible through another use of conversion language which creates a sense of moral community embracing evangelists, organisation and audience as copartners in the shared project of conversion. Finally, it is shown how the presentation of TV evangelism as the central ritual of a moral community generates a further conversion rhetoric which depicts the community as both exclusive of and yet open to non-members; a contradiction which is resolved through the establishment of distinctive roles within the community related to the activity of winning converts.     

The good,the bad and the unnatural: a study of coroners' decisions in Northern Ireland

This paper is concerned with an examination of the investigatory resources and explanatory principles which surround the dead. The central focus is upon the distinctions which are drawn between natural and unnatural death, and the paper has two main aims. First, it attempts to measure the direction and flow of investigatory and observatory power which emanates from the coroners’ court. Second, it attempts to unravel the connotations embodied in the concept of unnatural death. It is argued that the characteristics of the natural and the unnatural are not to be found within the anatomy or physiology of the corpse, but rather in the principles of an aetiological framework which seeks to decontextualise death and disease from their social base, and which consequently distorts our vision of the human condition at death. The data on which the arguments are based are drawn from studies of those deemed to have died unnaturally in Belfast at various periods during the twentieth century.     

The True Love and Humanism in Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a Shakespeare's early tragedy work, which is adapted according to an Italian folk story. Though Romeo and Juliet is not included in Shakespeare's four tragedies, the story of Romeo and Juliet is known to many people. Chinese writer Luxun has said that "tragedy is the valuable thing which is used to show people in a broken way." That is luxun's comment in order to describe his thoughts about tragedy. The story of Romeo and Juliet which happened in medieval Italy can show the beautiful tragedy. Under the dark and feudal environment in medieval times, in order to pursuit free love, Romeo and Juliet dare to deny family force and feudal system, which reflects the power of humanism at that time. Shakespeare's the love story not only praise free love, the liberation of human nature, and Renaissance humanism spirit, but also tell people this ideal will win through the final outcome.     

Fertility Behavior and Interspousal Authority Relationships

Abstract

The most important issue which surrounds attitude theory today is the so called “consistency issue.” It is an issue which focuses on the failure of attitude theory and research to demonstrate the kind of causal relationship between attitudes and behavior which has been traditionally asserted in the logical underpinnings of that theory.

For some time, the critics of attitude theory and research have suggested that the inconsistency between attitudes and acts would not be reduced until attitudes were rooted in the social process within which human behavior occurs. This criticism has been responded to by contemporary attitude specialists who have made notable modifications in theory and research to take account of social variables which influence the assumed relationship between attitudes and behavior.

However, some of the criticisms of attitude theory have gone beyond pointing out the lack of a “socialized” conception of the problem to attack the logical underpinnings of the entire enterprise. While this paper is not a renewal of these criticisms of attitude theory, it is an attempt to identify and explicate a conception of attitudes which is a true sociological alternative to more traditional psychological conceptions.     

Korea''s spatial development strategies for an era of globalisation

The impact of globalisation upon the Korean economy is an important issue to Korean researchers. This paper is concerned with the current spatial policy and planning in Korea which is designed to facilitate the benefit from globalisation. As such, the paper discusses the meaning of globalisation in order to provide a framework for the review of policies and strategies. There follows a review of Korean policies within the area which have been adopted, as well as those which are expected to be followed in the future. The paper concludes with some critical comments about the approach which has been followed.