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Many Societies (many + society)
Selected AbstractsComment on: Tattooing of skin results in transportation and light-induced decomposition of tattoo pigmentsEXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Gregor B. E. Jemec Abstract:, Decorative tattoos have become a common feature of many societies. Their popularity appears mainly driven by fashion, and scant attention has been paid to any associated risk. The risks can be associated either with the tattooees' proclivity for risk taking in general, or with the substances used in the tattoos. It is well established that tattoo pigments wander widely in the body after they have been injected, and research now suggests that azo pigments may become mutagenic after exposure to either natural light or laser light. This may not only affect the risk profile of tattoos themselves, but also tattoo removal using lasers. [source] Setting the rules: private power, political underpinnings, and legitimacy in global monetary and financial governanceINTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2008GEOFFREY R. D. UNDERHILL The role of private market agents in global monetary and financial governance has increased as globalization has proceeded. This shift in both markets and patterns of governance has often been encouraged by states themselves in pursuit of liberalization policies. Much of the literature views these developments in a positive light, yet there are other aspects of these developments that also merit attention. This article supports its central propositions with two cases of emerging global financial governance processes: the Basel II capital adequacy standards for international banking supervision and the International Organization of Securities Commissions-based transnational regulatory processes underpinning the functioning of cross-border securities markets. Based on the case findings, the article argues first that private sector self-regulation and/or public-private partnership in governance processes can leave public authorities vulnerable to dependence on the information and expertise provided by private agents in a fast-moving market environment. Policy in the vital domain of financial regulation has been increasingly aligned to private sector preferences to a degree that should raise fears of bureaucratic capture. Second, the article contends that the overall outcome in terms of global financial system efficiency and stability has been mixed, bringing a range of important benefits but also instability and crisis for many societies to a degree that has led to challenges to global governance itself. The case material indicates that the input, output and accountability phases of legitimacy in global monetary and financial governance are highly problematic, and much of the problem relates to the way in which private market agents are integrated into the decision-making process. Third, the article posits that a better consideration of these three ,phases' of legitimacy and their interrelationships is likely to enhance the political underpinnings and legitimacy of global financial and monetary order. [source] Epidemiologic and etiologic features of pigmentation disorders observed during consultation at the Dermatology Center of Abidjan, Ivory CoastINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 2005Pauline Yoboue MD Skin color is important to people in many societies. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the causes of skin disorders in patients presenting for consultation over a period of 5 years were assessed and identified. A total of 4510 dyschromia cases were recorded, representing 9% of the total number of patients attending for consultations at the Dermatology Center of Abidjan over this period. Pigmentation disorders were more often found in female patients (53.56%; sex ratio female:male = 1.44) and were predominant in patients 20,30 years old (50%). All socio-professional categories were represented. However, students and service professionals (hairdressers, dressmakers, traders and switchboard operators) represented 50% of the patients with pigmentation disorders. Hyperchromia was common (48.49%) and was found in exposed areas of the skin. Most of the pigmentation disorders (60.94%) were of post-inflammation origin. Vitiligo was the most frequent etiology of systemic or endocrine dyschromia (92.63%). Among the hereditary pigmentation disorders, pigmented naevus was the most commonly found (41.5%). Dyschromic chemical eruptions appeared most frequently in the form of fixed pigmented erythema (84.55%). This study demonstrates that pigmentation disorders are still a frequent reason for consultation due to their distressing consequences. [source] Points of View, Social Positioning and Intercultural RelationsJOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 1 2010GORDON SAMMUT The challenge of intercultural relations has become an important issue in many societies. In spite of the claimed value of intercultural diversity, successful outcomes as predicted by the contact hypothesis are but one possibility; on occasions intercultural contact leads to intolerance and hostility. Research has documented that one key mediator of contact is perspective taking. Differences in perspective are significant in shaping perceptions of contact and reactions to it. The ability to take the perspective of the other and to understand it in its own terms is a necessary condition for successful intergroup outcomes. This paper sheds light on the processes involved in intercultural perspective taking by elaborating the notion of the point of view based on social representations theory. The point of view provides a theory of social positioning that can analyse cultural encounters between social actors, and identify the conditions for positive relations. Insights are drawn from a study of public views on the relative merits of science and religion, following a documentary by Richard Dawkins in which it was suggested that religion is a source of evil. The findings demonstrate that the point of view may be categorised according to a three-way taxonomy according to the extent to which it is open to another perspective. A point of view may be monological,closed to another's perspective entirely, dialogical,open to the possibility of another perspective while maintaining some percepts as unchallengeable, or metalogical,open to another's perspective based on the other's frame of reference. [source] Neutrality, Rebirth and Intergenerational JusticeJOURNAL OF APPLIED PHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2002Tim Mulgan A basic feature of liberal political philosophy is its commitment to religious neut-rality. Contemporary philosophical discussion of intergenerational justice violates this com-mitment, as it proceeds on the basis of controversial metaphysical assumptions. The Contractualist notion of a power imbalance between generations and Derek Parfit's non-identity claims both presuppose that humans are not reborn. Yet belief in rebirth underlies Hindu and Buddhist traditions espoused by millions throughout the world. These traditions clearly constitute what John Rawls dubs "reasonable comprehensive doctrines", and therefore cannot be dismissed by political liberals. In many societies, including the USA, the UK, and India, belief in rebirth exists alongside other traditions, as well as modern Western views. A liberal theory for such societies must be impartial regarding rebirth, and the after-life in general. Two alternatives forms of liberal neutrality are sketched, based on Contractualism and Consequentialism. [source] The Swedish Legal Services Policy Remix: The Shift from Public Legal Aid to Private Legal Expense InsuranceJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 1 2003Francis Regan A number of governments in the 1960s and 1970s pursued the goal of equal access to legal services by establishing publicly funded legal aid schemes. Some societies also promoted Legal Expense Insurance (LEI) to fill some of the gaps in legal aid. The recent trend to small government means many societies are keen to experiment further with legal services policy. This article examines one such experiment in Sweden where reforms included major cuts to public legal aid and requiring most people to rely on private LEI. But how well does this policy mix promote equal access to legal services? And are there lessons for other societies? In this article I describe and assess the policy remix. I argue that the reforms are a bold policy experiment but that they had mixed and some undesirable consequences, and that there are few lessons for other societies. [source] The Noble House in Colonial Puebla, Mexico: Descent, Inheritance, and the Nahua TraditionAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 3 2000John K. Chance Claude Lévi-Strauss's concept of the 'house" has proven to be a viable alternative to traditional lineage theory in the study of many societies, and this paper applies the house concept to a Mesoamencan case. The teccalli, or noble house, was an important aspect of Nahua (Aztec) sociopolitical organization in prchispanic and early colonial central Mexico, particularly in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley. It is often characterized as a lineage with rights in land and commoner labor, yet the nature of descent, succession, and inheritance are little understood. Late colonial wills and lawsuits from the (formerly) Nahua community of Santiago Tecali in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley provide valuable insights into these matters that can also help us to understand earlier periods. It is argued that the Nahua noble house can be better understood as a house than as a lineage, [house, kinship, inheritance, Nahuas, Mesoamerica] [source] Demographic consequences of unpredictability in fertility outcomesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2002Paul Leslie Child survival is probabilistic, but the unpredictability in family formation and completed family size has been neglected in the fertility literature. In many societies, ending the family cycle with too few or too many surviving offspring entails serious social, economic, or fitness consequences. A model of risk- (or variance-) sensitive adaptive behavior that addresses long-term fertility outcomes is presented. The model shows that under conditions likely to be common, optimal, risk-sensitive reproductive strategies deviate systematically from the completed family size that would be expected if reproductive outcome is were predictable. This is termed the "variance compensation hypothesis." Variance compensation may be either positive or negative, resulting in augmented or diminished fertility. Which outcome obtained is a function of identifiable social, economic, and environmental factors. Through its effect on fertility behavior, variance compensation has a direct bearing on birth spacing and completed fertility, and thereby on problems in demography and human population biology ranging from demographic transitions to maternal depletion and child health. Risk-sensitive models will be a necessary component of a general theory of fertility. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 14:168,183, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Perceptual Diversity: Is Polyphasic Consciousness Necessary for Global Survival?ANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS, Issue 1 2001Tara W. Lumpkin Perceptual diversity allows human beings to access knowledge through a variety of perceptual processes, rather than merely through everyday waking reality. Many of these perceptual processes are transrational altered states of consciousness (meditation, trance, dreams, imagination) and are not considered valid processes for accessing knowledge by science (which is based primarily upon quantification, reductionism, and the experimental method). According to Erika Bourguignon's (1973) research in the 1970s, approximately 90 percent of cultures have institutionalized forms of altered states of consciousness, meaning that such types of consciousness are to be found in most human societies and are "normal." Now, however, transrational consciousness is being devalued in many societies as it is simultaneously being replaced by the monophasic consciousness of "developed" nations. Not only are we are losing (1) biodiversity (biocomplexity) in environments and (2) cultural diversity in societies, we also are losing (3) perceptual diversity in human cognitive processes. All three losses of diversity (bio, cultural, and cognitive) are interrelated. Cultures that value perceptual diversity are more adaptable than cultures that do not. Perceptually diverse cultures are better able to understand whole systems (because they use a variety of perceptual processes to understand systems) than are cultures that rely only on the scientific method, which dissects systems. They also are better stewards of their environments, because they grasp the value of the whole of biodiversity (biocomplexity) through transrational as well as scientific processes. Understanding through perceptual diversity leads to a higher degree of adaptability and evolutionary competence. From the perspective of an anthropologist who has worked with development organizations, development will continue to destroy perceptual diversity because it exports the dominant cognitive process of "developed" nations, i.e., monophasic consciousness. Destroying perceptual diversity, in turn, leads to the destruction of cultural diversity and biocomplexity. Drawing from research I conducted among traditional healers in Namibia, I conclude that development organizations need to listen to those who use transrational perceptual processes and also need to find a way to incorporate and validate perceptual diversity in their theoretical and applied frameworks. [source] Front and Back Covers, Volume 26, Number 2.ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 2 2010April 2010 Front cover caption, volume 26 issue 2 A positive, albeit anthropomorphized, view of badgers appears in this illustration for the original edition of the children's classic Wind in the willows. Badgers are shortly to be culled in north Pembrokeshire as part of a Welsh Assembly Government campaign against bovine TB. Pat Caplan's article in this issue discusses the arguments around the cull and the reasons behind the varying positions held by local people on this issue. Back cover caption Witchcraft and Child Sacrifice Above: a poster (supported by NGOs including Save the Children Uganda) against ,child sacrifice' in Uganda, a current topic of concern both to Ugandans and to anthropologists who have criticized media representations of this issue. Below: a Save the Children poster publicizing the main principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed by 191 countries. These rights include, among others, the rights to: be protected from being hurt or badly treated in any way; not be kidnapped or sold; be protected from being taken advantage of or exploited in any way; not be punished in a cruel or hurtful way. The article by Pat Caplan in this issue discusses a number of recent BBC broadcasts focused on allegations of witchcraft and child sacrifice, and asks what anthropologists have to offer in terms of understanding such topics. Caplan notes that they can not only contribute their knowledge of the occult in many societies, but also contextualize this realm in terms of historical processes and more material concerns. In addition, anthropologists can suggest links between apparently disparate issues and thereby go beyond surface manifestations. While anthropologists have no monopoly on truth claims, they can sometimes offer alternative explanations and show that things are not always the way they first seem. In order to play an effective role as public intellectuals in this regard, anthropologists need to be willing to grapple pro-actively with such matters of public concern, not least by engaging constructively with the media. [source] ,Child sacrifice' in Uganda?ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 2 2010The BBC, anthropologists (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate), witch doctors' This article discusses both several recent BBC broadcasts on allegations of ,child sacrifice' in Uganda and criticisms of the programmes by a number of British anthropologists. It pursues the idea that both the broadcasts and the criticisms raise two sets of crucial questions: the first is in regard to the interpretation of alleged ritual killings in contemporary Africa and the effects of their representation on lay audiences, both non-African and African; the second concerns media representations of Africa and public anthropology. Anthropologists (and indeed scholars from other disciplines such as history) have a lot of expertise to offer in terms of understanding the occult in many societies, including contextualising this realm in terms of historical processes and material concerns and suggesting links between apparently disparate issues. In this way, they can they can sometimes go beyond surface manifestations, offer alternative explanations and show that things are not always the way they first seem. However, in order to play an effective public role in this regard, anthropologists need to be willing to grapple pro-actively with such matters of public concern, not least by engaging constructively with the media. [source] | |||||||||||||