An approach to consensus measurement of linguistic preference relations in multi-attribute group decision making and application

This paper studies the group decision making problem with linguistic preference relations. We first study the consensus measure between the individual preference relations and the collective (group) preference relation by defining the concept of degree of similarity between two linguistic values and two linguistic preference relations. Then we propose a concept of the acceptance consensus threshold value for group decision making with linguistic preference information. We show that the consensus between individual preference relations and the collective (group) preference relation is greater than the weighted similarity degree of a given individual preference relation with respect to other individual preference relations in group decision making with linguistic preference relations. The results will help in the analysis of crucial issues of conflict and agreement among preferences of decision-makers, which affect the consensus of group decision making with linguistic preference relations. Theoretical foundations are then established for the proposed method. Finally, the proposed method is applied to evaluate the degree of consensus of individual overall preference values with respect to the collective overall preference values for multi-attribute group decision making with linguistic information. The main contribution of this paper is twofold. One is to present a new way to measure the consensus between the individual preference relations and the collective (group) preference relation in group decision making with linguistic preference information. Another is to provide an effective approach to evaluating individual overall preference values with respect to the collective overall preference values in multi-attribute group decision making with linguistic information.     

The implications of ‘naming’ on Roma and Sinti right to education and social inclusion: an ethnography of education among a Sinti family network

Acknowledging the European political commitment to Roma education and the research in this field, my article deals with the experience of education of a Sinti ‘minority’ (The terms ‘minority’ and ‘majority’ will be used in this article, according to the meaning that is given to them within Anthropology and Education studies (cf.). The inverted commas are used to note that they are categories, used with the aim of a clearer explanation for the present text but not necessarily showing the complexity of the social and cultural contexts observed) in northern Italy. The study presents an interpretation of the observations collected during 21 months of ethnographic research among a Sinti family network and in a multicultural middle school, attended by their teenage children in Trent. The ethnographic interpretations point out how the languages and communication codes used within schools partly reproduce the asymmetric power relationships that exist between Roma and Sinti ‘ethnic minorities’ and the Italian so-called majority society. The process of ‘naming’ the ‘other’ plays a crucial role in this analysis, as it shows how meanings are imposed and handled in the relationship between institutions, ‘groups’ and individuals. Consequently, this process highlights the important role of anthropologists in pointing out the ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ (The concepts of ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ were coined in 1954 by the linguist Kenneth Pike and then used by anthropologists. ‘Emic’ refers to the ‘insiders’ points of view on their cultures, and ‘etic’ refers to the ‘outsiders’ accounts on cultures that are not their own) dimensions of every culture. Furthermore, the study’s methodology testifies to the author’s choice of pursuing an ‘engaged anthropology’. Finally, the relevance of the concept of propriospect will be stressed as a means to interpret educational and cultural processes in which the subjects actively take part, with particular attention to young Sinti and their peer groups.     

The Perpetuation of Neighborhood Reputation: An Interactionist Approach

How is neighborhood reputation performed and reproduced? Drawing on ethnographic observation in a Philadelphia neighborhood known for stable racial integration, I show how residents engage in Goffmanian interactional teamwork, particularly deference‐demeanor rituals, that perpetuate the neighborhood's reputation. My observations demonstrate how the ideology of racial integration is collectively performed and maintained through these deference rituals. I show that these deference rituals can also have the unintended and undesirable consequence of maintaining, rather than challenging, preexisting racial hierarchies. This work highlights the tenuous nature of reputations for inclusivity in the face of persistent social inequality.     

Politics as a Vocation: Notes Toward a Sensualist Understanding of Political Engagement

Drawing data from works of political non-fiction that help to reveal the moral and sensual underpinnings of political practice, this paper seeks to adumbrate a sensualist understanding of political engagement. After beginning with a brief discussion of Weber’s seminal essay “Politics as a Vocation,” I then construct an ideal type of political passion with which to highlight the inherent shortcomings that plague traditional explanations of political action. My argument is that these approaches are all vitiated by their reliance on Chinese-box epistemology. I go on to suggest that in order to obtain a genuinely sociological account of political engagement, one must develop methods that are true to the experiential specifics of politics while recognizing the conditions that shape the possibility of those very experiences.

Ethics and social media: Implications for sociolinguistics in the networked public1

As a popular agora for writing identity into being, the networked public of social media sites presents exciting and unprecedented possibilities for sociolinguistic research. At the same time, these sites raise a wealth of unfamiliar methodological and ethical issues, and debate concerning appropriate ethical measures for research targeting online discourse communities is emergent. One of the most pressing debates concerns the visibility of online interaction (i.e. its locus between the public and private ends of the continuum). Although they exist freely online, networked publics are not public forums. They are governed by both personal and communal norms, and they are networked. This combination of factors gives rise to unique ethical challenges, particularly in the case of Facebook, an accessible and data‐rich, yet problematic, research site. This paper reviews the ethical difficulties presented by Facebook, and presents a framework for ethnographic sociolinguistic research that uses this site as a source of data. En tant qu’espace public privilégié pour la création de l’identitéà travers l’écriture, le public ?réseauté? (interconnecté) des sites des médias sociaux présente des possibilités prometteuses et sans précédent pour la recherché en sociolinguistique. Cependant, ces sites soulèvent de nombreuses questions méthodologiques et éthiques qui sont nouvelles, d’où l’émergence de discussions portant sur les mesures éthiques appropriées pour la recherche qui vise les communautés discursives en ligne. Un des débats concerne la visibilité de l’interaction en ligne (c.‐à‐d. sa place entre les extrémités privée et publique du continuum). Bien qu’ils existent de façon libre en ligne, les réseaux publics ne sont pas des forums publics. Ils sont gouvernés à la fois par des normes personnelles et communautaires, et ils sont interconnectés. Cette combinaison de facteurs donne naissance à des défis éthiques uniques, en particulier dans le cas de Facebook, un site de recherche accessible et riche en données, mais problématique. Cet article passe en revue les difficultés éthiques que Facebook présente, et offre un cadre de travail pour la recherche sociolinguistique ethnographique utilisant ce site comme source de données. [French]     

Exactness and precision

Policy Delphi methods have not received the level of methodological scrutiny evidenced by more established techniques. This paper provides an examination of the potential for study participants to opt in/opt out of consecutive Delphi rounds. The literature proposes that this is a positive feature of the approach but evidence to support this position is lacking. This paper provides a brief review of the Policy Delphi method and than presents details of participation patterns in a study where the opt‐in/opt‐out option was available. Findings showed that participants exercised the option of opting in/opting out of different Delphi rounds. Although only 20.6% of the original participants completed all three Delphi rounds, the response rate (regardless of participants’ involvement in previous rounds) across all three Delphi rounds held fairly consistent at around 40%. These findings are significant as they relate to the need for an expanded repertoire of research tools that can address the complex, non‐linear questions emerging in post‐modern society.     

重温"语言相对论"

"语言相对论"是关于语言、文化和思维三者关系的重要理论,即不同文化的语言具有结构、意义和使用等方面的差异,人类的思维行为与这些差异有关,程度不同地受其影响和制约.该理论最杰出代表是20世纪上半叶的"萨丕尔-沃尔夫假设".由于该"假设"局限于语法结构的差异,所以曾一度遭受到批判和冷遇.然而,随着语言使用研究的深入,它的理论基础及其活力得到加强,理论意义也得以进一步彰显.     

Personalization and the Determination of News

This article addresses the relationship between the construction of news and personal experiences. Ethnography and narrative approaches are used to study a metropolitan newspaper where it is discovered that personalization contributes in large part to the decisions made by editors regarding whether or not an event is considered newsworthy. This discovery adds another dimension to the perspective that news is a social construction because it presents news as a decision-making process and highlights the human elements which contribute to the determination of news.     

北极民族学考察记——兼谈民族志的写作

本文通过对俄罗斯北极地区涅涅茨人的一次民族学田野考察,记录了该民族传统的驯鹿文化及生活方式,并在此基础上讨论了民族志写作方面的相关问题,特别强调了中国民族学加强国外民族志建设的重要意义。