To examine the importance of kin selection in shaping human societies, this study analyzed the kinship system practiced in traditional China for two millennia and teased apart its underlying genetic and other, presuma...To examine the importance of kin selection in shaping human societies, this study analyzed the kinship system practiced in traditional China for two millennia and teased apart its underlying genetic and other, presumably cultural, components. The results demonstrate that, in the traditional patrilineal Chinese family, both genetic relatedness and the cultural factor of generation were important in determining kinship status for male agnates (genetically related relatives). For female agnates, however, only genetic relatedness was important. Another surprising finding was that the influence of gender was not as important as genetic relatedness. The most interesting finding in this study, however, was that kin selection and culture (i.e., seniority in generation and age) played vastly different roles in different lineages in the Chinese family: for collateral (indirect) agnates, genetic relatedness was the most important factor in determining their kinship status, but for lineal (direct) agnates, its importance was overridden by seniority in generation and age, a cultural factor. Several other bio-cultural factors also explained a considerable amount of variance in kinship status. Since kinship profoundly affected, and was often the foundation of, the legal and social systems in dynastic China, kin selection, while its strength may differ remarkably between lineal and collateral relatives, could act as a selective force in Chinese families展开更多
This study was carried out within the European research project "Biology, Health and Environmental Education for Better Citizenship". It is a comparative analysis of textbooks from eight Mediterranean countries whic...This study was carried out within the European research project "Biology, Health and Environmental Education for Better Citizenship". It is a comparative analysis of textbooks from eight Mediterranean countries which differ by their cultures, their socio-economical levels, and their religions. This work is focused on the sensitive educational topic "Human Reproduction and Sex Education". And 43 biology textbooks are analyzed among eight countries: four are in Europe and four in Africa and Middle East. Grids were built to identify implicit values in the texts and images. It is a more precisely explicit or implicit presence of cultural, socio-economical, and ethical dimensions. The investigation concerns whether the authors of textbooks present differently this theme depending on the socio-cultural, ethical, and religious contexts. The content of the textbooks was analyzed as reflecting the conceptions of their authors and publishers. The outcomes of the analyses show that several textbooks present images of human beings restricted to only one ethnic type, usually white-skinned and with fair hair. The social, cultural, economical, and ethical dimensions were generally absent, except for some interest for them in few European textbooks.展开更多
This article focuses on the factors that influence the dynamics of the sociological imagination. The author argues for the codependence of sociological theorizing, thinking, and imagination that are analyzed through t...This article focuses on the factors that influence the dynamics of the sociological imagination. The author argues for the codependence of sociological theorizing, thinking, and imagination that are analyzed through the prism of the increasing complexity of social and cultural dynamics of the society, the accelerated complex development of human communities within the "arrow of time". He critically discusses the types of sociological imagination worked out by C. Wright Mills, P. Sztompka, S. Fuller, and U. Beck, and proposes his own model of sociological imagination in the form of a non-linear humanistic one that is based on the synthesis of social, hard and humane science. It deals with the acceleration of socio-cultural dynamics and glocal complexity, the integrity of the interdependent humanity, and synergetically takes into consideration paradoxical synthesis, breaks, risks, and dispersions of socium, its obiective, subjectively constructed, and virtual realities, searching for new forms of humanism, based on men's existential needs. It presupposes humane praxis--nowadays the world needs the passing over from technological to humane modernization that can be achieved due to a humanistic turn in sociology, its orientation on a non-linear humanistic sociological imagination.展开更多
Euphemism, as the linguistic and cultural phenomenon, is a lubricant in linguistic communication used in different aspects of social lives. With the rapid development of science and progress of human civilization, eup...Euphemism, as the linguistic and cultural phenomenon, is a lubricant in linguistic communication used in different aspects of social lives. With the rapid development of science and progress of human civilization, euphemism, as one of the most important components in English language, has the tendency of multiplying. This paper, based on the development of euphemism in modem American English, sums up the basic features of euphemism in modem American English and analyzes its formation and application in modem American society and culture with the objective of improving learners' communication ability in the context of cross cultural communication.展开更多
Peaceful living has become increasingly difficult to attain in today’s world of globalization, modernization, mechanization, and competition for existing resources on all levels. Conflicts and violence are intensifie...Peaceful living has become increasingly difficult to attain in today’s world of globalization, modernization, mechanization, and competition for existing resources on all levels. Conflicts and violence are intensified due to population explosion, food insecurity, climate change, ecological and economic disaster, political and religious differences, and wars over territories and scarce resources. Additionally, health concerns are increasing, which can be partially linked to our current chemical-oriented agricultural and industrial practices. Furthermore, diverse life species are endangered from habitat loss, urbanization, and farming. By losing natural land and native species, we are losing ecosystem diversity. In an era when our planetary existence is threatened, what are the world’s communities doing to save our collective existence? This paper, based on India’s intellectual traditions, proposes a conceptual model or a system of philosophy of three related categories-diversity, ethics, and peace-for understanding diversity and differences at all levels of existence, individual (biological), collective (socio-cultural), and planetary (cosmological). The main purpose is to make this interdisciplinary study part of an educational philosophy for the creation of civilized societies that will value all lives on the basis of equitability, and recognize ethics of dignity, respect, liberty, justice, and peace.展开更多
In this paper, a number of basic differences in the contemporary accounting research are explored: (1) American versus European research perspectives; (2) mathematically-based versus non-mathematically-based rese...In this paper, a number of basic differences in the contemporary accounting research are explored: (1) American versus European research perspectives; (2) mathematically-based versus non-mathematically-based research approaches; (3) positive versus naturalistic methodologies; (4) objectivist versus subjectivist assumptions concerning the accounting craft; and (5) functionalist versus interpretive paradigms on the accounting theory. In this paper, the accounting literature is discerned from its methodological characteristics combined with some basic metaphors of accounting (e.g., accounting as the economic goods, the political output, the social process, or the cultural product). Facing these differences, a synthetic view is called for to recognize the unique strengths of different perspectives. It is believed that different perspectives can enrich themselves by learning from each other. The synthetic view can then enhance the overall quality of the accounting research. Facing the wide-ranging needs of the contemporary accounting research, the important strategy is to match research methods/perspectives with research questions/purposes.展开更多
In a recent historical process of economic stabilization and of social policies focused on the disadvantaged, major changes in the composition of the Brazilian social pyramid are happening. Driven by the increase of e...In a recent historical process of economic stabilization and of social policies focused on the disadvantaged, major changes in the composition of the Brazilian social pyramid are happening. Driven by the increase of employment and income, in conditions of low inflation and abundant credit, millions of Brazilians have increased in recent years their purchasing power and started to acquire their own home and car--gaudiest symbols of joining the middle class--as well as a wide range of consumer goods. It appears that this set of transformations profoundly altered the perceptions and strategies of social mobility. So this phenomenon is being called the shaping of the new Brazilian middle class. The fact is that there is a group growing, sustained mainly by a decrease in income inequality. In this study, we attempted to draw a clear overview and some disagreements about the emergence of a new Brazilian middle class. On the topic of the emergence of a new Brazilian middle class, one can say that it is not a completely true fact, and that there was actually an expansion of the income of families who still harbor extreme ties with the working classes and why not, popular classes. What to some scholars would be the emergence of a new working class, whose average income is approaching the middle income of what is considered as the lower middle class?展开更多
The paper traces back women like Celie, Shug, Sofia or Nettie engaged in journeys of self-discovery and development, ones that follow predicted feminist patterns, who try to get free from any dominance, either be it m...The paper traces back women like Celie, Shug, Sofia or Nettie engaged in journeys of self-discovery and development, ones that follow predicted feminist patterns, who try to get free from any dominance, either be it male, social or cultural. The colour purple signifies a metaphysical, social and personal rebirth reflected into different shades by their inner self. The social oppression for black women in their quest for freedom is the main theme of Walker's novel The Color Purple, written in the epistolary technique of Samuel Richardson's in the XVIllth century English novel. In our attempt to analyse the theme and the female characters of the novel we are also trying to cross a bridge from the slave woman of the past belonging to a completely different culture and race to the contemporary paradigm of the liberated woman. The movement in time encompasses possible similitudes and differences.展开更多
In today' s era of globalization, intercultural communication has become an important subject. Space is an aspect of crosscultural communication Nonverbal communication, it implies the psychological boundaries of hum...In today' s era of globalization, intercultural communication has become an important subject. Space is an aspect of crosscultural communication Nonverbal communication, it implies the psychological boundaries of human communication, conducting this study helps to understand different cultures, and reduces cultural conflict. Culture reflects the characteristics of a nation, guiding people behavior in concept of society. With globalization developing, people are eager to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds, so cross-cultural communication society today is one of the most fashionable terms. The differences between cultures tend to give unexpected difficulties caused by differences.展开更多
Cultural Psychology emerged as an interdisciplinary subfield roughly in the 1980s/1990s. With about thirty years of momentum, this discipline has grown from little more than a special interests group to a topic to whi...Cultural Psychology emerged as an interdisciplinary subfield roughly in the 1980s/1990s. With about thirty years of momentum, this discipline has grown from little more than a special interests group to a topic to which multiple institutions and journals have been dedicated. This paper presents an outline of the discipline of Cultural Psychology from an American interdisciplinary perspective. The pitfalls of General Psychology (research methodology, politicization, and an essentialist hermeneutic) and Anthropology (an epistemological gap in the four fields approach, psychophobia, and the role of the researcher in cultural change) are addressed, in turn. Cultural Psychology provides an alternative to these pitfalls by drawing on the strengths of each discipline to address both theoretical and empirical problems. Cultural Psychology urges for a critical reflection on the social structure and history of its own discipline, resulting in a broader academic canon and a more nuanced understanding of interdisciplinary relations within the human sciences.展开更多
Rapidly emerged creative industries receive increasing attention from a variety of disciplines. However, the space features of creative industries and its association with local socio-cultural contexts have not been f...Rapidly emerged creative industries receive increasing attention from a variety of disciplines. However, the space features of creative industries and its association with local socio-cultural contexts have not been fully understood, especially at a micro-city level. This study attempts to understand the agglomeration of creative industries in Shanghai from the sociology perspective. For this study, this paper utilizes primarily a questionnaire survey to explain the space features of creative industries in Shanghai. The results indicate an extensive socio-cultural embeddedness of the agglomeration of creative industries in Shanghai. First, strong emphasis on face-to-face contacts by creative professionals makes geographical agglomeration necessary for creative industries. Second, the reason why inner city of Shanghai is popular among creative professionals and enterprises lies in the diversity of cultures and special environment of the former colonial zones of Shanghai. Additionally, highly concentrated dining and entertainment facilities in the central city of Shanghai offer creative workers social networking places and nightlife venues. Third, as the educational attainment of local citizens and the protection of intellectual property are highly stressed by creative professionals, research and design specialized creative industries are more likely located near universities and research institutes.展开更多
This paper traces the social limitations in the development of Asian American literature. The label "Asian American literature" is so instrumental in instituting the literature, can also regulate creativity. As a st...This paper traces the social limitations in the development of Asian American literature. The label "Asian American literature" is so instrumental in instituting the literature, can also regulate creativity. As a strategic term and group identification, "Asian American" lends itself to the illusion of unity and homogeneity. Scholars differ in the way they elect to demarcate Asian American literature. One of the fundamental barriers to understanding and appreciating Asian American literary expression has been the existence of race stereotypes about Asians in American popular culture. For many Asian American writers, ethnic authenticity is a necessary but weak choice Most early immigrant writers write to challenge the negative view of Asia in the West and see themselves as ambassadors of goodwill to the West. The purpose is to mark difference as exotica and appeal to the benign curiosity of the Western readers while appeal to notions of universal humanity. This type of strong ethnic quotient writing continues to exist in various guises even today. The trade publishers have a predilection for Asian American personal narratives that stress the "model minority" discourse, "good workers" image, and Asian Americans' ability to accommodate to the basic rules of American society. Asian American writers never stop attempting to build bridges. But we should remind ourselves that boundary crossing must not be merely an aesthetic and intellectual exercise .展开更多
Michel Houellebecq is perhaps the most successful, the most famous and controversial of all current novelists writing in French. He has become a global publishing phenomenon: His books have been translated worldwide,...Michel Houellebecq is perhaps the most successful, the most famous and controversial of all current novelists writing in French. He has become a global publishing phenomenon: His books have been translated worldwide, film adaptations of his novels have been produced, and the author is the subject of a million-euro publishing deals and successive media scandals in France. The novels depict surprising forms of imaginary resources, a radiating end of the world, a post-nuclear anxiety, and depressive characters. Houellebecq shocks us leaving us in a world where the feelings of love, tenderness and goodwill have disappeared. The purpose of Houellebecq's novels is to alert about the real problems of the human society in the twenty-first century. Indeed, in the books we can easily recognize the essential features of contemporary society and the fact that the individual assumes a dehumanization process in which one has to cope with his solitude in a world of emptiness. This socio-cultural dimension is indeed the background of Houellebecq's novels, novels in which the protagonists seem to be wedged in a mechanism from which it is difficult to escape: reification and dehumanization on the one hand, "robotization" of love on the other. This article focuses on the analysis of the texts revealing the poignant characteristics of"L'Ere du vide" ("The Era of Emptiness") as described by Gilles Lipovetsky: Loneliness, the lack of love and its replacement by sexual relations.展开更多
In this age of modernization and mechanization, we seem to have lost sensitivity to a collective awareness regarding the welfare of our surroundings, people, animals, microbes, and plants. We seem to encounter systemi...In this age of modernization and mechanization, we seem to have lost sensitivity to a collective awareness regarding the welfare of our surroundings, people, animals, microbes, and plants. We seem to encounter systemic problems of corruption, moral bankruptcy, and spiritual decay. This leads to a rise in violence at various levels: individual, familial, societal, global, environmental, and biological. In order to combat these problems, it is necessary to examine the diverse semantics of the concept of peace: positive peace, negative peace, world peace, socio-cultural peace, and individual peace. The semantics of peace changes according to the context, for example, "May he rest in peace," is quite different from: "His beautiful memories will give you peace." Since society is constituted of a group of persons, an individual becomes society's substantive foundation with his/her conscious self, made of mind, body and spirit. The individual with creative power can become an agent of positive change. Using the interdisciplinary socio-linguistic/semantic and humanistic-philosophical approaches, this paper analyzes the "all-inclusive" and "interdependent" nature of life and the role and power of the individual (self) in the creation of peace at diverse levels: personal, community, the globe, and the cosmos. The paper draws heavily from India's spiritual worldview and humanistic techniques in resolving conflicts and attaining freedom from ill-health for peaceful living.展开更多
There are deep-rooted traditions of researches on the youth problems in Russia, By their trends and purposes they partly concur with the traditions of the humanities in Europe and America. In Russia in different times...There are deep-rooted traditions of researches on the youth problems in Russia, By their trends and purposes they partly concur with the traditions of the humanities in Europe and America. In Russia in different timesmit was the same way in the West-diverse youth concepts had been conveying and continue to express the society's expectations for new generations. This is in a sense a theoretical mirror of the natural process of generation change. Under modern conditions these concepts can be reduced to three directions: youth-"no man's land", youth-social danger, youth-hope of society. At the same time youth theories have the mark of the socio-cultural contexts and contexts of the development of the humanities in Russia. In this article these similarities and distinctions will be examined.展开更多
As the aging population increasingly accelerates, the construction of the endowment culture has been putting on the agenda. In fact, the endowment culture plays an irreplaceable part in the social old-age care system....As the aging population increasingly accelerates, the construction of the endowment culture has been putting on the agenda. In fact, the endowment culture plays an irreplaceable part in the social old-age care system. In the period of social transition, the excellent traditional old-age pension culture is destroyed, which makes the cultivation of the old-age social fashion imminent. The atmosphere of respecting the old and establishing a harmonious generation relationship is an important cultural guarantee to establish "five old" and build a harmonious society, in which our country or government bears inescapable responsibilities.展开更多
Peter Burke once said, using images as historical evidence could not only stand as proof of political events, economic trend, and social structure, but also as an illustration of the history of daily life, material cu...Peter Burke once said, using images as historical evidence could not only stand as proof of political events, economic trend, and social structure, but also as an illustration of the history of daily life, material culture, mental state, and physical body. Photography is the extension of human vision, the appearance of which has changed the way in which people see the world, molded the subject identity of modernity, and participated in the social construction of visual modernity. To witness the history is not the only purpose of studying on photograph-based pictorials in the republican period, for which it is more important to provide visual reference for the construction of China's modernization, and to witness the multiplicity, mobility, and inner-diversity of modernity.展开更多
文摘To examine the importance of kin selection in shaping human societies, this study analyzed the kinship system practiced in traditional China for two millennia and teased apart its underlying genetic and other, presumably cultural, components. The results demonstrate that, in the traditional patrilineal Chinese family, both genetic relatedness and the cultural factor of generation were important in determining kinship status for male agnates (genetically related relatives). For female agnates, however, only genetic relatedness was important. Another surprising finding was that the influence of gender was not as important as genetic relatedness. The most interesting finding in this study, however, was that kin selection and culture (i.e., seniority in generation and age) played vastly different roles in different lineages in the Chinese family: for collateral (indirect) agnates, genetic relatedness was the most important factor in determining their kinship status, but for lineal (direct) agnates, its importance was overridden by seniority in generation and age, a cultural factor. Several other bio-cultural factors also explained a considerable amount of variance in kinship status. Since kinship profoundly affected, and was often the foundation of, the legal and social systems in dynastic China, kin selection, while its strength may differ remarkably between lineal and collateral relatives, could act as a selective force in Chinese families
文摘This study was carried out within the European research project "Biology, Health and Environmental Education for Better Citizenship". It is a comparative analysis of textbooks from eight Mediterranean countries which differ by their cultures, their socio-economical levels, and their religions. This work is focused on the sensitive educational topic "Human Reproduction and Sex Education". And 43 biology textbooks are analyzed among eight countries: four are in Europe and four in Africa and Middle East. Grids were built to identify implicit values in the texts and images. It is a more precisely explicit or implicit presence of cultural, socio-economical, and ethical dimensions. The investigation concerns whether the authors of textbooks present differently this theme depending on the socio-cultural, ethical, and religious contexts. The content of the textbooks was analyzed as reflecting the conceptions of their authors and publishers. The outcomes of the analyses show that several textbooks present images of human beings restricted to only one ethnic type, usually white-skinned and with fair hair. The social, cultural, economical, and ethical dimensions were generally absent, except for some interest for them in few European textbooks.
文摘This article focuses on the factors that influence the dynamics of the sociological imagination. The author argues for the codependence of sociological theorizing, thinking, and imagination that are analyzed through the prism of the increasing complexity of social and cultural dynamics of the society, the accelerated complex development of human communities within the "arrow of time". He critically discusses the types of sociological imagination worked out by C. Wright Mills, P. Sztompka, S. Fuller, and U. Beck, and proposes his own model of sociological imagination in the form of a non-linear humanistic one that is based on the synthesis of social, hard and humane science. It deals with the acceleration of socio-cultural dynamics and glocal complexity, the integrity of the interdependent humanity, and synergetically takes into consideration paradoxical synthesis, breaks, risks, and dispersions of socium, its obiective, subjectively constructed, and virtual realities, searching for new forms of humanism, based on men's existential needs. It presupposes humane praxis--nowadays the world needs the passing over from technological to humane modernization that can be achieved due to a humanistic turn in sociology, its orientation on a non-linear humanistic sociological imagination.
文摘Euphemism, as the linguistic and cultural phenomenon, is a lubricant in linguistic communication used in different aspects of social lives. With the rapid development of science and progress of human civilization, euphemism, as one of the most important components in English language, has the tendency of multiplying. This paper, based on the development of euphemism in modem American English, sums up the basic features of euphemism in modem American English and analyzes its formation and application in modem American society and culture with the objective of improving learners' communication ability in the context of cross cultural communication.
文摘Peaceful living has become increasingly difficult to attain in today’s world of globalization, modernization, mechanization, and competition for existing resources on all levels. Conflicts and violence are intensified due to population explosion, food insecurity, climate change, ecological and economic disaster, political and religious differences, and wars over territories and scarce resources. Additionally, health concerns are increasing, which can be partially linked to our current chemical-oriented agricultural and industrial practices. Furthermore, diverse life species are endangered from habitat loss, urbanization, and farming. By losing natural land and native species, we are losing ecosystem diversity. In an era when our planetary existence is threatened, what are the world’s communities doing to save our collective existence? This paper, based on India’s intellectual traditions, proposes a conceptual model or a system of philosophy of three related categories-diversity, ethics, and peace-for understanding diversity and differences at all levels of existence, individual (biological), collective (socio-cultural), and planetary (cosmological). The main purpose is to make this interdisciplinary study part of an educational philosophy for the creation of civilized societies that will value all lives on the basis of equitability, and recognize ethics of dignity, respect, liberty, justice, and peace.
文摘In this paper, a number of basic differences in the contemporary accounting research are explored: (1) American versus European research perspectives; (2) mathematically-based versus non-mathematically-based research approaches; (3) positive versus naturalistic methodologies; (4) objectivist versus subjectivist assumptions concerning the accounting craft; and (5) functionalist versus interpretive paradigms on the accounting theory. In this paper, the accounting literature is discerned from its methodological characteristics combined with some basic metaphors of accounting (e.g., accounting as the economic goods, the political output, the social process, or the cultural product). Facing these differences, a synthetic view is called for to recognize the unique strengths of different perspectives. It is believed that different perspectives can enrich themselves by learning from each other. The synthetic view can then enhance the overall quality of the accounting research. Facing the wide-ranging needs of the contemporary accounting research, the important strategy is to match research methods/perspectives with research questions/purposes.
文摘In a recent historical process of economic stabilization and of social policies focused on the disadvantaged, major changes in the composition of the Brazilian social pyramid are happening. Driven by the increase of employment and income, in conditions of low inflation and abundant credit, millions of Brazilians have increased in recent years their purchasing power and started to acquire their own home and car--gaudiest symbols of joining the middle class--as well as a wide range of consumer goods. It appears that this set of transformations profoundly altered the perceptions and strategies of social mobility. So this phenomenon is being called the shaping of the new Brazilian middle class. The fact is that there is a group growing, sustained mainly by a decrease in income inequality. In this study, we attempted to draw a clear overview and some disagreements about the emergence of a new Brazilian middle class. On the topic of the emergence of a new Brazilian middle class, one can say that it is not a completely true fact, and that there was actually an expansion of the income of families who still harbor extreme ties with the working classes and why not, popular classes. What to some scholars would be the emergence of a new working class, whose average income is approaching the middle income of what is considered as the lower middle class?
文摘The paper traces back women like Celie, Shug, Sofia or Nettie engaged in journeys of self-discovery and development, ones that follow predicted feminist patterns, who try to get free from any dominance, either be it male, social or cultural. The colour purple signifies a metaphysical, social and personal rebirth reflected into different shades by their inner self. The social oppression for black women in their quest for freedom is the main theme of Walker's novel The Color Purple, written in the epistolary technique of Samuel Richardson's in the XVIllth century English novel. In our attempt to analyse the theme and the female characters of the novel we are also trying to cross a bridge from the slave woman of the past belonging to a completely different culture and race to the contemporary paradigm of the liberated woman. The movement in time encompasses possible similitudes and differences.
文摘In today' s era of globalization, intercultural communication has become an important subject. Space is an aspect of crosscultural communication Nonverbal communication, it implies the psychological boundaries of human communication, conducting this study helps to understand different cultures, and reduces cultural conflict. Culture reflects the characteristics of a nation, guiding people behavior in concept of society. With globalization developing, people are eager to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds, so cross-cultural communication society today is one of the most fashionable terms. The differences between cultures tend to give unexpected difficulties caused by differences.
文摘Cultural Psychology emerged as an interdisciplinary subfield roughly in the 1980s/1990s. With about thirty years of momentum, this discipline has grown from little more than a special interests group to a topic to which multiple institutions and journals have been dedicated. This paper presents an outline of the discipline of Cultural Psychology from an American interdisciplinary perspective. The pitfalls of General Psychology (research methodology, politicization, and an essentialist hermeneutic) and Anthropology (an epistemological gap in the four fields approach, psychophobia, and the role of the researcher in cultural change) are addressed, in turn. Cultural Psychology provides an alternative to these pitfalls by drawing on the strengths of each discipline to address both theoretical and empirical problems. Cultural Psychology urges for a critical reflection on the social structure and history of its own discipline, resulting in a broader academic canon and a more nuanced understanding of interdisciplinary relations within the human sciences.
文摘Rapidly emerged creative industries receive increasing attention from a variety of disciplines. However, the space features of creative industries and its association with local socio-cultural contexts have not been fully understood, especially at a micro-city level. This study attempts to understand the agglomeration of creative industries in Shanghai from the sociology perspective. For this study, this paper utilizes primarily a questionnaire survey to explain the space features of creative industries in Shanghai. The results indicate an extensive socio-cultural embeddedness of the agglomeration of creative industries in Shanghai. First, strong emphasis on face-to-face contacts by creative professionals makes geographical agglomeration necessary for creative industries. Second, the reason why inner city of Shanghai is popular among creative professionals and enterprises lies in the diversity of cultures and special environment of the former colonial zones of Shanghai. Additionally, highly concentrated dining and entertainment facilities in the central city of Shanghai offer creative workers social networking places and nightlife venues. Third, as the educational attainment of local citizens and the protection of intellectual property are highly stressed by creative professionals, research and design specialized creative industries are more likely located near universities and research institutes.
文摘This paper traces the social limitations in the development of Asian American literature. The label "Asian American literature" is so instrumental in instituting the literature, can also regulate creativity. As a strategic term and group identification, "Asian American" lends itself to the illusion of unity and homogeneity. Scholars differ in the way they elect to demarcate Asian American literature. One of the fundamental barriers to understanding and appreciating Asian American literary expression has been the existence of race stereotypes about Asians in American popular culture. For many Asian American writers, ethnic authenticity is a necessary but weak choice Most early immigrant writers write to challenge the negative view of Asia in the West and see themselves as ambassadors of goodwill to the West. The purpose is to mark difference as exotica and appeal to the benign curiosity of the Western readers while appeal to notions of universal humanity. This type of strong ethnic quotient writing continues to exist in various guises even today. The trade publishers have a predilection for Asian American personal narratives that stress the "model minority" discourse, "good workers" image, and Asian Americans' ability to accommodate to the basic rules of American society. Asian American writers never stop attempting to build bridges. But we should remind ourselves that boundary crossing must not be merely an aesthetic and intellectual exercise .
文摘Michel Houellebecq is perhaps the most successful, the most famous and controversial of all current novelists writing in French. He has become a global publishing phenomenon: His books have been translated worldwide, film adaptations of his novels have been produced, and the author is the subject of a million-euro publishing deals and successive media scandals in France. The novels depict surprising forms of imaginary resources, a radiating end of the world, a post-nuclear anxiety, and depressive characters. Houellebecq shocks us leaving us in a world where the feelings of love, tenderness and goodwill have disappeared. The purpose of Houellebecq's novels is to alert about the real problems of the human society in the twenty-first century. Indeed, in the books we can easily recognize the essential features of contemporary society and the fact that the individual assumes a dehumanization process in which one has to cope with his solitude in a world of emptiness. This socio-cultural dimension is indeed the background of Houellebecq's novels, novels in which the protagonists seem to be wedged in a mechanism from which it is difficult to escape: reification and dehumanization on the one hand, "robotization" of love on the other. This article focuses on the analysis of the texts revealing the poignant characteristics of"L'Ere du vide" ("The Era of Emptiness") as described by Gilles Lipovetsky: Loneliness, the lack of love and its replacement by sexual relations.
文摘In this age of modernization and mechanization, we seem to have lost sensitivity to a collective awareness regarding the welfare of our surroundings, people, animals, microbes, and plants. We seem to encounter systemic problems of corruption, moral bankruptcy, and spiritual decay. This leads to a rise in violence at various levels: individual, familial, societal, global, environmental, and biological. In order to combat these problems, it is necessary to examine the diverse semantics of the concept of peace: positive peace, negative peace, world peace, socio-cultural peace, and individual peace. The semantics of peace changes according to the context, for example, "May he rest in peace," is quite different from: "His beautiful memories will give you peace." Since society is constituted of a group of persons, an individual becomes society's substantive foundation with his/her conscious self, made of mind, body and spirit. The individual with creative power can become an agent of positive change. Using the interdisciplinary socio-linguistic/semantic and humanistic-philosophical approaches, this paper analyzes the "all-inclusive" and "interdependent" nature of life and the role and power of the individual (self) in the creation of peace at diverse levels: personal, community, the globe, and the cosmos. The paper draws heavily from India's spiritual worldview and humanistic techniques in resolving conflicts and attaining freedom from ill-health for peaceful living.
文摘There are deep-rooted traditions of researches on the youth problems in Russia, By their trends and purposes they partly concur with the traditions of the humanities in Europe and America. In Russia in different timesmit was the same way in the West-diverse youth concepts had been conveying and continue to express the society's expectations for new generations. This is in a sense a theoretical mirror of the natural process of generation change. Under modern conditions these concepts can be reduced to three directions: youth-"no man's land", youth-social danger, youth-hope of society. At the same time youth theories have the mark of the socio-cultural contexts and contexts of the development of the humanities in Russia. In this article these similarities and distinctions will be examined.
文摘As the aging population increasingly accelerates, the construction of the endowment culture has been putting on the agenda. In fact, the endowment culture plays an irreplaceable part in the social old-age care system. In the period of social transition, the excellent traditional old-age pension culture is destroyed, which makes the cultivation of the old-age social fashion imminent. The atmosphere of respecting the old and establishing a harmonious generation relationship is an important cultural guarantee to establish "five old" and build a harmonious society, in which our country or government bears inescapable responsibilities.
文摘Peter Burke once said, using images as historical evidence could not only stand as proof of political events, economic trend, and social structure, but also as an illustration of the history of daily life, material culture, mental state, and physical body. Photography is the extension of human vision, the appearance of which has changed the way in which people see the world, molded the subject identity of modernity, and participated in the social construction of visual modernity. To witness the history is not the only purpose of studying on photograph-based pictorials in the republican period, for which it is more important to provide visual reference for the construction of China's modernization, and to witness the multiplicity, mobility, and inner-diversity of modernity.