‘La creatividad como exponente de las contradicciones sociales y culturales contemporáneas. Aproximación a su concepto desde la Teoría Sociologíca’

RESUMEN

A partir de las aportaciones de H. Joas y A. Reckwitz, este artículo trata de perfilar una sociogénesis del concepto de creatividad, asociándola más al contexto general social y cultural -el proceso de civilización moderna- en el que brota que a la acción creativa. Se trata, en concreto, de describir y analizar las contribuciones de la Sociología sobre la creatividad en relación con el proceso de civilización moderna y con las ambivalencias que éste presenta de manera inherente. Particularmente, las que contraponen lo individual con lo colectivo, el espacio con el tiempo y el orden con la crisis.

Al respecto, el artículo llega a dos conclusiones finales: la primera, que la creatividad se muestra como ambigua y contradictoria, es decir, que ha heredado las ambivalencias de la Modernidad; y, la segunda, que la creatividad sufre las turbulencias y las indeterminaciones propias de la etapa de transición y de crisis en la que vivimos. Así, la creatividad constituye un exponente más de las contradicciones de la sociedad moderna en la que se desarrolla, funciona fundamentalmente como una construcción social y cultural. Es decir, que está colaborando más en la edificación de lo que somos y menos de lo que nos gustaría ser.     

ASSESSMENT OF INTERPERSONAL FUNCTIONS: DEVELOPING MEASURES TO AID THE FUNCTIONAL FAMILY THERAPIST

One of the cornerstones of the functional family therapy model proposed by Alexander and Parsons (1982) is the assessment of interpersonal functions, which has traditionally been accomplished through intuition and clinical judgment. In this study, 109 college freshmen were recruited to evaluate the test-retest reliability of a videotaped scenario measure and a questionnaire designed to assess interpersonal functions. Subjects responded to both measures during an initial assessment phase and then again, during a second assessment phase, 2 weeks later. Pearson product-moment correlations and average agreement percentages indicate that both measures have adequate reliability. There were no sex differences, nor were subjects' responses related to a measure of social desirability.     

Tiempo líquido y cultura de la incertidumbre

The article tries to understand the evolution that sociocultural construction of the concept of time from a “solid” to a “liquid” as formulated by Z. Bauman has experienced in Western society. It tries also to understand what the characteristics that define this kind of time are and what were the resulting socio-cultural impacts have occurred in the postmodern society. Finally, we present here the way in which the progress on the definition of time is linked to the development of the loss of certainties and the establishment of a culture of uncertainty. We also propose how some aspects of social life exemplify the current culture.     

Monitoring Progress in Child Poverty Reduction: Methodological Insights and Illustration to the Case Study of Bangladesh

Important steps have been taken at international summits to set up goals and targets to improve the wellbeing of children worldwide. Now the world also has more and better data to monitor progress. This paper presents a new approach to monitoring progress in child poverty reduction based on the Alkire and Foster adjusted headcount ratio and an array of complementary techniques. A theoretical discussion is accompanied by an assessment of child poverty reduction in Bangladesh based on four rounds of the demographic household survey (1997–2007). Emphasis is given to dimensional monotonicity and decomposability as desirable properties of multidimensional poverty measures. Complementary techniques for analysing changes over time are also illustrated, including the Shapley decomposition of changes in overall poverty, as well as a range of robustness tests and statistical significance tests. The results from Bangladesh illustrate the value added of these new tools and the information they provide for policy. The analysis reveals two paths to multidimensional poverty reduction by either decreasing the incidence of poverty or its intensity, and exposes an uneven distribution of national gains across geographical divisions. The methodology allows an integrated analysis of overall changes yet simultaneously examines progress in each region and in each dimension, retaining the positive features of dashboard approaches. The empirical evidence highlights the need to move beyond the headcount ratio towards new measures of child poverty that reflect the intensity of poverty and multiple deprivations that affect poor children at the same time.     

Childhood trauma and problem behavior: Examining the mediating roles of experiential avoidance and mindfulness processes

Objective: Childhood trauma is associated with a variety of risky, unhealthy, or problem behaviors. The current study aimed to explore experiential avoidance and mindfulness processes as mechanisms through which childhood trauma and problem behavior are linked in a college sample. Participants: The sample consisted of college-aged young adults recruited November-December, 2016 (N = 414). Methods: Participants completed self-report measures of childhood trauma, current problem behavior, experiential avoidance, and mindfulness processes. Bootstrapped mediation analyses examined the mechanistic associations of interest. Results: Mediation analyses indicated that experiential avoidance was a significant mediator of the association between childhood trauma and problem behavior. Additionally, multiple mediation analyses indicated that specific mindfulness facets–act with awareness and nonjudgment of inner experience–significantly mediated the same association. Conclusions: Interventions for college students who have experienced childhood trauma might profitably target mechanisms such as avoidance and mindfulness in order to minimize engagement in problem behavior.     

Elders' Decisions To Enter Assisted Living Facilities: A Grounded Theory Study

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop a substantive theory of elders' decision-making process to relocate to an assisted living facility. The researchers interviewed a purposive sample of 28 elders who resided in assisted living facilities. The theory of elders' decisions to relocate to an assisted living facility is a story about elders weighing and balancing gains and losses to go to where the help is. Decision makers weigh and balance gains and losses before, during, and after relocating to an assisted living facility. Elders stay at their current residence if gains outweigh losses and they relocate if losses outweigh gains. Understanding the process of decision-making in this segment of the population may lead to the development of interventions that can promote positive relocation experiences among elders and increase the effectiveness of their decision-making behaviors.