The importance of survival units for Norbert Elias's figurational perspective

In this paper, we argue that Norbert Elias's concept of survival unit is a distinctive part of the development of his figurational sociology and one of the most consistent contributions to relational thinking. The survival unit is a particular form of figuration which provides security and the material foundations for life such as food and shelter. Every human being is born into a survival unit. This unit is a relational concept which cannot be conceived outside a relationship with other survival units.
By introducing the concept of survival unit Elias overcomes one of the key problems in relational sociology: how to demarcate primary social relations. Elias argues that human societies from very early on have been divided into survival units. These survival units are demarcated and constituted in their relationship to other survival units. Consequently, their boundaries are generated in a confrontation with other survival units.
This relationship can be peaceful or conflict ridden but in the last resort it can end with violent confrontation. Only the survival unit with the ability to defend a domain of sovereignty will survive. This observation places Elias among the few sociologists with an understanding of the role of warfare in social relationships.     

“Memory: Lewis and Clark in Yellowstone,circa 2004”

Drawing on Walter Benjamin's concept of history as literary montage, “Memory: Lewis and Clark in Yellowstone, circa 2004” interrogates the place of memory in the bicentennial celebrations of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–06. Quoting from historical documents, I attempt to crack the racist facade that surrounds Lewis and Clark and the place of their project in our national imagination.     

Effects of segmentation patterns on the perception of deception

Subjects viewed videotapes of truthful and deceptive messages. Channels presented were either face or body with or without speech. Subjects were instructed to segment each message into either large, medium, or small units; following the segmentation of a message, subjects rated its truthfulness. Results showed that subjects who organized the behavior into small units perceived the messages as more truthful than those who organized the behavior into either medium or large units. In addition, when speech was available, accuracy of lie detection was highest when the behavior was segmented into medium units; when speech was not available, accuracy of lie detection was highest when the behavior was segmented into small units. The effects of observation set on the perception of deception were discussed.     

The general relevance of the impossibility teorem in smooth social choice

A complete classification theorem for voting processes on a smooth choice spaceW of dimensionw is presented. Any voting process is classified by two integersv ^* () andw(), in terms of the existence or otherwise of the optima set, IO(), and the cycle set IC().In dimension belowv ^* () the cycle set is always empty, and in dimension abovew() the optima set is nearly always empty while the cycle set is open dense and path con nected. In the latter case agenda manipulation results in any outcome.For admissible (compact, convex) choice spaces, the two sets are related by the general equilibrium result that IO() union IC() is non-empty. This in turn implies existence of optima in low dimensions. The equilibrium theorem is used to examine voting games with an infinite electorate, and the nature ofstructure induced equilibria, induced by jurisdictional restrictions.This material is based on work supported by a Nuffield Foundation grant.     

Short-term treatment with the adolescent client

Short-term treatment is proposed as the treatment of choice for adolescents because it is consistent with the developmental needs and goals of that age group. Several case illustrations have been provided to show the value and benefit of such an approach for the adolescent client as well as for the therapist.     

The Incompatibility of Materialism and the Desire for Children: Psychological Insights into the Fertility Discrepancy Among Modern Countries

We examined factors related to attitudes toward marriage and the importance of having children in both the US and Singapore. Path analysis indicated that life dissatisfaction leads to materialism, and both of these factors lead to favorable attitudes toward marriage, which leads to greater desire for children. Further analysis indicated this model was effective in explaining the difference in desire for children between Singaporeans and Americans, whereby Singaporeans have lower life satisfaction, higher materialism, and lower attitudes toward marriage and children. Materialistic standards of success were also related to the emphasis women placed on potential marriage partners’ earning capacity. As Singaporean women had higher materialistic standards, they also placed higher emphasis on potential mates’ earning capacity. Results suggest a consideration of psychological variables such as life satisfaction, materialism, and mate preferences may lead to a better understanding of larger-scale socioeconomic issues, including low fertility rates among developed East Asian countries.