The cultural swirl: anthropological perspectives on innovation

Abstract As the emergence of a globalized economy transforms the conditions under which economic performance and productivity growth occur, the ability to innovate has come to the fore as the key factor determining the competitive advantage of national economies, entire industries and individual firms alike. Linking the economic concern with the new products and services to more general questions of the social organization of culture, this essay sets out to explore the contribution of anthropology to an understanding of how innovation occurs. Against the backdrop of theories of cultural change and the identification of parameters that define innovative environments, anthropology enquires into how historical contingency and social agency make innovation possible. In‐depth ethnographic studies emphasize that innovation is much less dependent on the creative individual than on the interaction within social milieux that create what anthropologist Ulf Hannerz calls a ‘cultural swirl’. Such milieux appear to function best when they incorporate heterogeneous actors and are not closed systems but exposed to serendipitous encounters and exchanges with others actors and milieux.     

Exit is the answer: The political nature of Central American migration

This article provides evidence that many Central Americans who have joined the migrant caravans to the north manifest a profound discontent with the political institutions of their home countries. It is based on surveys with migrants in refugee centres, compared with similar data from the AmericasBarometer survey, and complemented with contextual qualitative data on the experience of immigrants passing through Mexico. The article shows that several Central Americans in route to the north do not trust their political institutions and express little support for their political system. It demonstrates that in contexts where economic instability, rampant crime, and environmental uncertainty prevail, many citizens keep exiting their countries under the conviction that government institutions have lost the capability to protect them from existential threats.     

Lying in defence of privacy: anthropological and methodological observations

This article deals with three topics: lying, privacy and anthropological research. Their complex intertwinement is analysed using fieldwork notes and through engagement with relevant literature from various disciplines. Experiences of privacy, among researchers as well as among respondents, is underexposed in the literature on social research methodology. Furthermore, lying is sometimes the only effective way to protect one’s privacy. Starting from a research experience with lying respondents in Ghana, I discuss the various circumstances and reasons that lead to lying in defence of privacy, and in particular, concerns about respect in the context of research. Next, I return to the concept of privacy and explicate cultural variations in the experience of privacy. I then look at the consequences for research ethics. The paradoxical conclusion is that lying, a discredited tool of deception, is often applied in order to uphold a widely accepted basic human necessity of life – privacy. Qualitative social researchers should take these concerns about privacy and respect into account and engage in conversations that do not threaten the security of their interlocutors.     

Pathological gambling in Montreal's Chinese community: an anthropological perspective

Pathological gambling has been identified as a major issue in Montreals Chinese community. A variety of sources attest to the fact that, though we live in an increasingly heterogeneous society, the services provided to minority communities for preventing and treating pathological gambling are inadequate. An anthropological approach that takes into account cultural characteristics of ones community could lead to better strategies for acknowledgement, definition, diagnosis and treatment of pathological gambling among culturally different communities. Research paths that could help to provide effective treatment and services to specific populations are suggested. An overview of the way the Chinese view gambling, pathological gambling and treatment is presented. The concepts of fate, destiny and luck in Chinese thought, as well as Montreals Chinese community social norms related to gambling are then described. The incorporation of those cultural understandings in future studies and treatment attempts is suggested.     

广府龙舟文化"跨界"精彩

龙舟不仅是一种体育活动,还是一种集音乐、戏剧、饮食、造船工艺于一身的"跨界"文化,体现出广府文化的与众不同. 一、龙舟与音乐、文学紧密结合 龙舟是一种体育活动,培养我们团结协作、奋勇向前精神;同时,广府文化还有一个与北方区分的特质,就是大量融入了音乐元素.     

The Human Right to Safe Exit: University Evacuation Policy and Mobility Impairment

The case of Gustafson v. Regents of the University of California suggests that students with mobility impairments may face great peril when needing to evacuate multi-level university buildings, yet this problem is rarely considered in the research literature. To address this gap, the extent of this problem was assessed in a sample of 210 universities that house MSW programs. Documents representing university evacuation policy were obtained from university websites and analyzed with respect to three domains of disability rights. Results indicate that the failure to adequately respect these rights was widespread within the sample. To support the advocacy efforts of those seeking to change university policy, model language was extracted from university documents and presented as a goal.     

LEAVING IN DROVES: Exit Chains in Network Attrition

The article examines the emergence of “exit chains”—temporal clusters in attrition, which are expected but rarely documented. Studying attrition in an industry peer network (IPN), we compare the three modes of leaving: as an initial exit in a chain (“leader”), a subsequent exit in a chain (“follower”), and a stand‐alone exit (“loner”). Combining regression and simulation techniques, the analysis affirms the role interdependence between leader and followers, whose rationales for leaving are distinct but complementary, one internal based on exchange imbalances, the other external based on exposure to peer influence. Exit chains are depicted as a by‐product of social embeddedness and the inherently high costs of relationship termination.     

Framing Black women: The utility of knowledge

This article reviews the literature on the socially constructed knowledge or myths about Black women by placing it within a cultural context. I identify three domains of research within this field. The first is the cultural production of socially constructed mythologies of Black women throughout various historical epochs, which includes an analysis of books, journals, scientific/medical documents, images, and other cultural products. I focus on two primary categories of stereotypes found in the literature: 1.) the myth of pathology and primitiveness and 2.) the myth of antithetical womanhood. The second is the utility of cultural knowledge—which is to control and regulate culture and to justify and establish particular types of norms, preferences, laws, policies, and practices within society. Lastly, I will discuss the resistance culture of Black women, which developed in response to stereotypical perceptions created about them.     

龙舟竞渡:从民俗到现代全民健身运动

龙舟竞渡作为中国传统民俗的重要组成部分,也是一个重要的历史文化遗产.它在国内起源很早,在广东也是历史悠久,尤其在珠江三角洲这些水乡地带更为常见.根据史料记载,龙舟竞渡的发展经历了早期、昌盛、鼎盛几个阶段.     

Disaffiliation from a New Religious Movement: The Importance of Self and Others in Exit

Challenging the popular belief that people who join new religious movements (NRMs) become “entrapped,” this study describes the way in which 23 former members of 11 different “cults” personally negotiated disaffiliation. The current findings support previous studies that posit exit as a resolution to unresolved doubts and dissonances, and contribute to this literature by suggesting that the nature of these dissonances, and the way in which exit constitutes a “solution” to these dissonances may vary. It is suggested that for approximately half of the participants in this study, the dissonances that precipitated exit, were relatively minor, primarily caused by organizational changes and inconsistencies in the teachings. While generally doubts were resolved privately and commitment sustained, exit occurred when alternate discourses or other identity resources became available through which doubts could become resolved. The remaining participants describe the conflicts that precipitated disaffiliation as pertaining to tensions between the groups' expectation of conformity and their sense of autonomy. These participants describe exit as a solution to the stress and emotional exhaustion of membership. To make sense of these different disaffiliation narratives, symbolic interactionist notions of the self as constructed in both the realm of “Self” and “Others” are applied.     

Disciplinary knowledge revisited: The social construction of sociology

In Making Science (1992) I make the distinction between two types of knowledge: research frontier knowledge and core knowledge. Core knowledge is the small body of knowledge for which the entire scientific community treats as indisputable facts. The research frontier is all new knowledge which makes claim to being facts but in practice there is no consensus on this knowledge. The two types of knowledge are linked together by the evaluation process. Most frontier knowledge turns out to be insignificant and is ignored. A small part of frontier knowledge is taken as candidates for the core and evaluated. Most of this knowledge turns out to be “wrong.” Thus the important data of Jacobs ( 1989) loses a good deal of its impact because he forces it into a theory which he calls “social control”: a theory for which there is no evidence. Stephen Cole is professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of Making Science: Between Nature and Society and, with Jonathan R. Cole, Social Stratification in Science. Stephen Cole is professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of Making Science: Between Nature and Society and, with Jonathan R. Cole, Social Stratification in Science.     

Predicting enterprise choice: Exit from dairying in New Zealand

Change in enterprise from dairying to beef farming has been common in Northland, New Zealand during the 1970s and early 1980s. Data from intensive farm interviews on two random samples of farms (one group which ceased to practice dairying between 1975 and 1983 and a second which continued during this period) are used to distinguish the two groups of properties. Significant differences in size, land cover, production, capital value and age of farmers are identified. A stepwise logistical regression model with age of farmer and milkfat production in 1975 as the independent variables predicts the enterprise choice of 75% of the farm families for 1983. These two independent variables are summarising broader characteristics of the properties because age is shown to be colinear with equity, value of property and inputs and milkfat production with other measures of productivity. The necessity of including such structural variables in any behavioural analysis of enterprise choice is emphasised.