Larger Society (larger + society)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The Australian Dominative Medical System: A Reflection of Social Relations in the Larger Society

THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2008
Hans Baer
This paper posits a working or tentative model of medical pluralism, a pattern in which multiple medical sub-systems co-exist, or what I term the Australian dominative medical system. I argue that whereas the Australian medical system with its various medical sub-systems was pluralistic, that is more or less on an equal footing, in the nineteenth century, by the early twentieth century it became a plural or dominative one in the sense that biomedicine came to clearly dominate other medical sub-systems. This paper also explores the growing interest of biomedicine and the Australian Government in complementary medicine to which Australians have increasingly turned over the course of the past three decades or so. [source]


Allowing the Market to Rule: The Case of the United States

HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2003
David D. Dill
There are increasing calls in the UK and other countries for deregulating universities so that they can better compete in the global market for higher education. Frequent allusions are made to the superiority of the US market-oriented system. But is market competition for first degrees in the US efficient for the larger society? Do the constantly increasing social expenditures for higher education in the US benefit the public interest or do they advantage certain students and faculty members? Two recent economic studies provide greater insight into the impacts of market competition on US higher education. The results of these studies are discussed and their possible implications for higher education policy making in other countries are explored. [source]


Comment on ,The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification Research'

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2008
LANCE FREEMAN
Abstract 'The eviction of critical perspectives from gentrification research' offers the premise that scholars are becoming less critical of gentrification and that this trend is detrimental to those most vulnerable to gentrification. This argument falls short on a number of grounds. First, the article does not persuasively show that the scholarly literature on gentrification has indeed become less critical. More significantly, Slater does not consider perhaps the most important reason that gentrification can be accurately described in both critical and less than critical terms , gentrification's impacts are multifaceted, affecting different people differently and even the same individuals in different ways. Finally, those most threatened by gentrification are likely to need a combination of resistance and persuasion to blunt the ill effects of gentrification. Slater's call for more critical approaches may inspire some to resist, but will do little to persuade the larger society to take their concerns seriously. Given that those most threatened by gentrification are among the least powerful, their cause will most benefit from a combination of literature that inspires resistance as well as literature that persuades others that gentrification is truly a predicament. Therefore, literature that not merely criticizes gentrification but offers a rationale for blunting its detrimental effects is needed as well. Résumé L'article intitulé The eviction of critical perspectives from gentrification research pose en principe que les chercheurs se font moins critiques sur la ,gentrification' et que cette tendance porte préjudice aux plus vulnérables face à ce phénomène. Cet argument ne tient pas pour plusieurs raisons. D'abord, il n'est pas montré de manière probante que la littérature académique sur la ,gentrification' soit vraiment devenue moins critique. De façon plus marquante, Slater n'étudie pas la raison, peut-être la plus importante, pour laquelle la ,gentrification' peut être décrit avec exactitude en termes à la fois critiques et moins critiques : en effet, ses impacts revêtent plusieurs aspects, affectant différemment les populations différentes, voire les mêmes populations. Enfin, les plus menacés par la ,gentrification' ont sans doute besoin d'un mélange de résistance et de persuasion pour atténuer les effets négatifs du processus. L'appel de Slater à des approches plus critiques peut susciter la résistance chez certains, mais va difficilement convaincre la société de traiter sérieusement le problème. Etant donné que les plus menacés font partie des moins puissants, leur cause bénéficiera surtout d'une combinaison de publications inspirant la résistance et de textes capables de convaincre de toute la complexité de la situation liée à la ,gentrification'. En conséquence, une littérature qui ne se contente pas de critiquer la ,gentrification', mais qui propose un raisonnement pour en atténuer les effets néfastes, a tout autant d'utilité. [source]


The Vanishing Trial: An Examination of Trials and Related Matters in Federal and State Courts

JOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2004
Marc Galanter
This article traces the decline in the portion of cases that are terminated by trial and the decline in the absolute number of trials in various American judicial fora. The portion of federal civil cases resolved by trial fell from 11.5 percent in 1962 to 1.8 percent in 2002, continuing a long historic decline. More startling was the 60 percent decline in the absolute number of trials since the mid 1980s. The makeup of trials shifted from a predominance of torts to a predominance of civil rights, but trials are declining in every case category. A similar decline in both the percentage and the absolute number of trials is found in federal criminal cases and in bankruptcy cases. The phenomenon is not confined to the federal courts; there are comparable declines of trials, both civil and criminal, in the state courts, where the great majority of trials occur. Plausible causes for this decline include a shift in ideology and practice among litigants, lawyers, and judges. Another manifestation of this shift is the diversion of cases to alternative dispute resolution forums. Within the courts, judges conduct trials at only a fraction of the rate that their predecessors did, but they are more heavily involved in the early stages of cases. Although virtually every other indicator of legal activity is rising, trials are declining not only in relation to cases in the courts but to the size of the population and the size of the economy. The consequences of this decline for the functioning of the legal system and for the larger society remain to be explored. [source]


My father's flags: psychoanalytic perspectives on being an American from the streets and the consulting room,

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND POLITICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2004
Rachael Peltz
Abstract In this paper the author explores the generational object of the American flag in three periods of American history: the post World War Two era, the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the period immediately following 9/11. In each of these periods the flag holds a difference resonance. In the first it symbolized the assurance of a measure of freedom and social security; in the second it represented the imposition of American dominance abroad; and in the third the flag was used to justify a new and unnecessary war. The author argues that a new flag is needed, one that signifies a revitalized ,progressive patriotism' dedicated to reclaiming and rebuilding the institutions that have been eroded in this period of American history. The paper then shifts from the symbol of the flag to the psychoanalytic consulting room. The author maintains that psychoanalytic development and clinical theories now stop short of the examining the psychic relationship to the social world outside of the family and that in order to truly help people live fully in the ,place that they live', psychoanalysis must extend its theories and clinical interventions beyond the Oedipal triad to communal groupings the larger society. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd [source]


W. Lloyd Warner and the Anthropology of Institutions: An Approach to the Study of Work in Late Capitalism

ANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK REVIEW, Issue 2 2009
Marietta L. BabaArticle first published online: 16 SEP 200
Abstract W. Lloyd Warner is re-interpreted as an institutional anthropologist whose approach to the study of work in a capitalist context has relevance to contemporary disciplinary problems and issues. The essay traces the development and influences upon Warner's thought and research strategies from their origin in Durkheim's sociology and Warner's fieldwork among the Murngin, to the Hawthorne Project, where Warner held an intermittent yet significant consultancy, and on to the seminal contributions of the Yankee City Series where, it is argued, the anthropological approach to contemporary institutions took its initial form. Warner's approach to the study of work in formal organizations at Yankee City was ground-breaking because it led away from the more conventional strategy of confining ethnography to a single organization (e.g., Hawthorne) by examining social relations and meanings that cross-cut the larger society and in which all formal organizations are embedded (i.e., class, rank, and status). Warner's commitment to rigorous empiricism, and to engaging the problems of an era, led him beyond functionalist theory to the hallmarks of an institutional approach to work in late capitalism that still resonates today. [source]