Theoretical Foundations for Digital Text Analysis

Much of social life now takes place online, and records of online social interactions are available for social science research in the form of massive digital text archives. But cultural social science has contributed little to the development of machine‐assisted text analysis methods. As a result few text analysis methods have been developed that link digital text data to theories about culture and discourse. This paper attempts to lay the groundwork for development of such methods by proposing metatheoretical and theoretical foundations suitable for machine‐assisted semantic text analysis. Metatheoretically I draw on the work of Elder‐Vass (2012), Kaidesoja (2013) and others to argue that digital text analysis methods ought to be (and in practice implicitly are) based on a realist constructionist ontology that treats discourses as ontologically real emergent social entities that have causal relationships with non‐discursive social and cognitive processes. Theoretically I follow Feldman (2006) and many others in arguing that language is fundamentally shaped by processes of embodied cognition. Researchers developing digital text analysis techniques must theoretically account for such processes if they wish to produce algorithms that can interpret texts in ways that supplement, and not only amplify, human interpretation. I critically survey contemporary text analysis methods that implicitly share these metatheoretical and theoretical positions and discuss some ways these can be further developed with newly available software.     

Social Acceleration Theory and the Self

In recent years, there has been a rapidly growing body of work in the social sciences that underscores the prevalence of the phenomenon of ‘social acceleration'—the speeding up of social life— in many parts of the Western world. Although research on social acceleration has tended to analyze the phenomenon on a social‐structural level, there is also a need to investigate how social acceleration has ‘ramifications for the socially dominant forms of self‐relation’. One way to gain a more in‐depth understanding of this facet of social acceleration is to investigate the speeding up of social life through the prism of the self. The central argument of this article is that there are at least five images of the self which can be associated with the social acceleration phenomenon: (1) the ‘detached’ self, (2) the ‘reflexive’ self, (3) the ‘reinventive’ self, (4) the ‘stationary’ self and (5) the ‘decelerating’ self. By explaining how these kinds of self relate to the speeding up process, we seek to advance a more nuanced and sophisticated theory of social acceleration, which captures some of the complexities and paradoxes that the phenomenon involves.     

Absent Role of the State: Analysis of Social Support to Older People with Disabilities in Rural China

China is experiencing rapid population ageing and already has 44 million older people with disabilities aged over 59 years. Yet social support of these older people with disabilities is undeveloped and not well researched. This article contributes by using a disability rights framework (right to life and protection, economic security and social support) to analyze local cases in rural China. It finds that, although the family is still the main provider of economic and care support to rural older people with disabilities, the absence of a state role in welfare provision has negative impacts on the well‐being of older and younger generations in rural families.     

社会地位、生活境遇与焦虑

本文运用定量研究方法,探讨了人们的社会地位和遭受不公正对待的生活境遇在焦虑形成中的作用。研究表明,社会地位（包括客观地位和主观地位）和生活境遇对焦虑的产生具有明显的影响,社会地位低的群体和生活境遇中遭受过不公正对待的人,更易产生焦虑。这些由社会地位和生活境遇等因素导致的焦虑对于个体的影响是偏向消极的;在社会因素的持续作用下,具有焦虑特征的个体增多,焦虑有可能从个体的心理问题转化为社会的心理问题。     

The Rules of the Game: The Politics of National Pensions in Korea

This article explores the conditions in which policy changes occur over time. It studies the institutional pathways taken by national pensions in Korea over an extended period by identifying the key moments which have pushed through their development: initiation (1973), implementation (1988) and reform (1998). Public pensions have developed over time in an incremental fashion, bringing an ever‐growing proportion of the population under their umbrella. What accounts for this development? A number of factors may be at work. The elderly population has rapidly increased; the traditional extended family has increasingly become a nuclear one, meaning that what used simply to be a family issue of protecting the elderly has become a social matter; urbanization and industrialization have resulted in an ever‐growing number of life‐time contingencies such as unexpected income losses. Convincing as these socio‐economic accounts may seem, however, they offer only a snapshot, underscoring the politics of national pensions which stretch over long periods. This article seeks to answer how and in whose interest national pensions come on to the political agenda; how they are framed and defined; and how political actors respond to pressures for national pension reform. In each of the three stages, it is suggested, somewhat different institutional rules have operated. Defining institutional rules as ‘the process of who gets represented in the decision‐making processes’, this article identifies the different institutional rules which have played a pivotal role in the social policy‐making processes.     

The Dynamics of a Social Turning Point Analytical Possibilities

The period now being experienced by Soviet society is characterized by a profound breakdown of social structures, which is bringing to light the latent springs and mechanisms of the life of the social organism. Some of these "springs" become visible when they fail, others when they are set into motion (e.g., the group and personal components of social life). This complex period could be considered fruitful for an analysis of current processes, as well as for an understanding of the nature of social phenomena if our social science had sufficiently reliable instruments for investigating such situations.     

Simmel on Acceleration, Boredom, and Extreme Aesthesia

By focusing on the unique velocity and over‐stimulation of metropolitan life, Georg Simmel pioneered an interpretation of cultural boredom that has had a significant impact on contemporary social theory by viewing it through the modern experience of time‐pressure and social acceleration. This paper explores Simmel's account of boredom by showing how—in the frenzy of modern life—it has become increasingly difficult to qualitatively distinguish which choices and commitments actually matter to us. Furthermore, this emotional indifference invariably pushes us towards more excessive and risky behavior, towards, what I call, “extreme aeshesia.” Insofar as novel experiences quickly become routine in the technological age, it appears that only extreme sensations and experiences can break the spell of boredom, allowing us to momentarily feel strongly for something.     

The disembedded digital economy: Social protection for new economy employment in China

This research focuses upon employment in the new economy, exploring labour protection and social protection in the digital age in China. Through an empirical survey conducted in three Chinese cities, social insurance and the labour rights of employees in the digital economic sector, such as gig employment, e-commerce, and various other forms of online employment, have been examined in-depth. This study reveals new regulatory loopholes in the digital labour market, which have substantially eroded the basis of social policy arrangements in China, “softening” participation in social insurance branches and compliance with labour regulations remarkably. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Polanyi on embeddedness and disembeddedness, we argue that the digital employment sector in China has been increasingly disembedded from social institutions and social control. The new configuration in the digital field of social policy requires novel conceptual models and institutional settings to cope with increasing social risks in virtual spaces.     

Clubs as vehicles for inclusion in the urban fabric? Immigrants and elitist associational practices in Antwerp, 1795–1830

In both migration studies and sociocultural studies of associational practices, membership of voluntary associations has been considered as a vehicle for inclusion in the urban fabric. In migration studies, on the one hand, attention has been focused primarily on migrants’ own organizations, revealing questions about the role of these organizations as obstacles or incentives for social embedding in the new living environment. Associational studies, on the other hand, have emphasized social practices and social differences between clubs, without taking into account the impact upon immigration. This article brings together both historiographical traditions, and emphasizes the structural and socio-cultural elements of incorporation processes. The research investigates a group of immigrant-businessmen and their participation in club life in Antwerp between 1795 and 1830, asking whether associational life was used as a vehicle for inclusion, or whether access was only feasible when other inclusion mechanisms had been successful. By situating the timing of any entry into club membership in relation to other aspects of their personal and professional life-course, it becomes clear that access was preceded by other social mechanisms. Indeed, even for wealthy businessmen, mechanisms of exclusion existed as a consequence of existing social hierarchies amongst voluntary associations in Antwerp.     

The Roles of Parenting Styles and Social Capital in the School Performance of Immigrant Asian and Hispanic Adolescents*

Objective. This study investigates the role of parenting styles and social capital (parental involvement, intergenerational closure, expectation, and trust) in accounting for school performance among ethnic groups and across immigrant generations. Methods. Using data from the Adolescent Health Survey, we estimate fixed‐effects models to analyze students' grade‐point averages. We compare three generations of Asian students and three generations of Hispanic students to the third‐generation (native born with native parents) white students. Results. We find significant differences by both race/ethnicity and generational status in parenting styles and forms of social capital. However, while family socioeconomic status (SES) accounts for the achievement gap between foreign‐born Hispanic and the third‐generation white students, parenting styles and forms of social capital do not moderate any ethnic‐generational differences. Conclusions. Family influences, apart from SES, cannot explain ethnicity‐generation differences in school grades among Hispanic and Asian adolescents. This study provides conceptual clarification and empirical evidence for the significant but independent association between students' school grades and parenting styles on the one hand, and social capital on the other.     

Creating sacred scenarios: opportunities for new rituals and sacred aging

Population studies within all communities have confirmed the rise of what has been referred to as a revolution in longevity. With the first wave of the baby boom generation about to join the existing over sixty-five generations, new life stages and experiences are being created in ways that will challenge religious communities. An important aspect of this revolution will be the opportunity to create new religious rituals that will respond to and reflect these new life stages and experiences. This growing multi-generational cohort will increasingly seek that their religious communities respond to their changing life experiences in ways that infuse their lives with meaning.     

网络场域、文化认同与劳工关注社群:基于话题模型与社群侦测的大数据分析

基于“网络与文化”和关系社会学的理论,本文指出网络场域与所沟通的文化内容之间存在互构关系。本文使用话题模型分析了关注劳工议题的用户所发布的51 288条博文,结果显示,劳工话题大致涉及以下几方面：文化与公益、工人的困境与问题、维权行动与工人组织、制度与劳工权。对用户间互动模式的社群侦测揭示了5个主要社群,结合社群关注的议题,作者将其称为：工人家园社群、工人维权社群、工人文化社群、劳工制度关注社群、工人权益关注社群。本文进一步指出劳工研究领域的两个新趋势：（1）随着新生代工人群体的壮大,工人文化与城市融入等议题受到较多关注;（2）微博促进研究者与劳工组织的互动,在一定程度上有助于后者从制度层面反思工人的境况。最后,本文讨论了大数据分析在网络文化与社会心态研究中的应用。     

Digital social security accounts for platform workers: The case of Estonia’s entrepreneur account

Advancements in technology enable new opportunities for creating digital social security accounts, but the effectiveness of these to solve the accessibility and eligibility issues facing platform workers has not been assessed fully in the literature. The potential of digital social security accounts lies in their ability to consider the possible different streams of income of atypical workers and to improve the effective access of these workers to social security. Tax and social security offices can now exchange information on the income of platform workers in real time, which offers the promise of formalizing the previously informal casual work relationships of the self-employed. This article explores the case of the Estonian entrepreneur account as a digital hybrid solution for improving the effective access to social security of platform workers. Digital portable accounts create the conditions for the structural improvement required to respond adequately to meet the changing social security needs of atypical workers. However, this also requires that the policy design be thought through carefully, to avoid digital portable accounts being simply a digital facilitator of outdated solutions.     

Public Works Programs

The acceleration of structural reform in the Russian economy dictated by the logic of the transitional period inevitably gives impetus to layoffs and mass unemployment. The reform of the economic mechanism is taking place in a period of gravest crisis, which has gripped literally all aspects of social life. Under these conditions, the experience of countries with a developed market economy in reducing the severity of the employment problem is extremely important to us. In the last six decades, state employment policy in these countries has been transformed into an extensive and relatively balanced system of measures which make it possible to correct processes in the labor market. Public works programs have become one of the important directions of this policy.     

Community Development, Partnership Governance and Dilemmas of Professionalization: Profiling and Assessing the Case of Ireland

Over the last two decades, Ireland has emerged as a paradigmaticcase of partnership governance. Underpinned by state-facilitatednational agreements that sought to maximize economic and socialdevelopment, ‘partnership’ was also held to includethe development of progressive social policies. The ‘communityand voluntary sector’ has been both the site and purportedvehicle for these progressive policies. In this context, communitydevelopment emerged as a discourse of social action that wasboth popular with what Donnelly-Cox and Jaffro (1999) have inthe Irish context called ‘second generation communitydevelopment’, i.e. the emergence of self-activated localcommunity groups informed by a social justice ethos, and tothe Irish state as a route to social inclusion for an arrayof marginalized social groups. Since the early 1990s, thesegroups have been the recipients of significantly increased statefunding. This resource has had a dramatic effect on the structureand nature of community development. In this paper, we outlineand assess the model of community development that has emergedin Ireland during this period. Based on empirical data arisingfrom a nationwide survey of community workers, we profile theextent of state funding; the consequent employment profile ofcommunity development workers and the impact on volunteerism;and the nature and consequence of community development’semerging relationship with the Irish state.     

Social protection systems and the future of work: Ensuring social security for digital platform workers

Digitalization is transforming societies and economies worldwide at an unprecedented scale and pace. In the wake of automation and digitalization, new forms of employment have been emerging in various occupations and sectors, such as the digital platform economy. The emergence of new forms of employment, such as work on digital platforms, requires that existing social protection systems adapt to the specific situation and needs of such workers, as to realize the human right to social security for all. Current social protection coverage for workers on digital crowdwork platforms reveals significant gaps in social security coverage. Where such coverage exists, it is often provided through the workers’ previous or additional jobs, or indirectly through their spouses or other family members. This raises questions about digital platforms free riding on the traditional economy with regard to the financing of social security. How can social protection systems adapt to changing forms of work to ensure full and effective coverage for workers in all forms of employment, including those in “new” forms of employment? How can workers in all types of employment, including those on digital platforms, be protected in an adequate and comprehensive way, combining contributory and non‐contributory mechanisms and based on equitable and sustainable financing mechanisms, so as to ensure adequate social protection to all?     

Digital by default? A qualitative study of exclusion in digitalised welfare

Digitalisation reforms have become increasingly pervasive across European welfare agencies and public sector institutions. As welfare provision becomes premised on the use of digital technologies, often in the form of “self‐service” solutions, new demands are imposed on citizens, including already disadvantaged groups. Although existing research has showcased how digitalisation often reproduces existing lines of stratification, little to no work has been conducted on such processes in the context of welfare provision and public administration. Through a study of citizen service centres in Denmark, based on ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews, this article analyses the new exclusionary mechanisms that emerge at the frontline of the digital agenda. The article argues that digitalised welfare agencies simultaneously sustain existing lines of social stratification and enhance these by producing new forms of digital exclusion. Taken together, the article contributes with new knowledge on the impact of digitalisation policies and their exclusionary consequences for disadvantaged citizens.     

Introduction: Social security and the digital economy – Managing transformation

This special issue of the International Social Security Review considers the multidisciplinary topic of social security and the digital economy. The selected articles that comprise this issue offer a number of varying perspectives on the changing and increasingly complex environment in which social security institutions operate and critically assess not only how social security institutions are likely to be impacted but also how they may respond to the challenges foreseen. Social security institutions do not have control over external factors that can negatively impact the financing and coverage of social security programmes. Nonetheless, with the shift to the digital economy, the task at hand is to manage an unprecedented process of change. Though ensuring service continuity is the primary concern, also required are improvements in service delivery for all stakeholders and the development of responses to meet new operational challenges and emerging coverage risks. Particularly in more developed economies, the socio‐economic challenges that accompany the labour market changes associated with the transition to the digital economy are often characterized as presenting a risk of growing precarity. Regardless, the global policy goal remains one of ensuring sustainable and adequate social security protection for all.     

Intergenerational Continuities and Their Influences on Children's Social Development

The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the recent efforts by psychologists to explore intergenerational continuities and their influences on children's social development. A primary criterion for inclusion in the review was use of three generations of subjects represented in the research, although two generation studies were included to supplement or expand upon the conclusions drawn from three generation studies. The following domains of research were reviewed: (1) literature regarding the repetition of child abuse across generations, (2) research examining the intergenerational continuity of attachment status, (3) investigations of the continuity of parenting and childrearing behavior parents experienced with their own parents, (4) research examining intergenerational continuities in parenting involving non-human primates, and (5) investigations of intergenerational continuities in both peer and sibling relationships. Across all literatures reviewed, evidence was found for intergenerational continuity with gender of parent affecting results. Two primary mechanisms for transmission appear to be cognitive schemas of relationships and modeling. A paradigm is proposed describing possible means of intergenerational transmission of influence on the social development of children.     

Intergenerational justice and the social discount rate

This paper applies the Harsanyi social welfare function to the problem of determining the social discount rate. It thus views the social discount question as one of justice between generations under conditions of individual uncertainty over position, rather than as one generation's paternalism or altruism for the next generation. Whether there is an accumulation of capital for future generations is shown to depend on the form of the individual (or collective) utility function. More importantly, the approach lends some insight into the kind of institutional structure which should be used to determine the social discount rate.This paper was written while the author was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Study of Public Choice at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Helpful comments were received on an earlier draft from James M. Buchanan, Pierre Pestieau, and Robert D. Tollison.