1,721,017 research outputs found

    Key Contemporary Social Theorists

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    Key Contemporary Social Theorists is a comprehensive introduction to the most significant figures in social, cultural, political and philosophical thought in the twentieth century. Over forty leading theorists from around the world are profiled in short essays that cover the thinkers' lives, ideas, and major criticisms. The contributors, themselves distinguished authors and leading academic scholars, cover individuals who have developed key schools of though in social theory: Benjamin, Elias, Goffman, Lacan, Said, Jameson, Heidegger, Giddens, Bauman, Williams, and many others. Readers will find this to be an authoritative guide and invaluable reference for understanding the roots and trends of development in modern social thought

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Ideology and Utopia in Social Protests in Bulgaria - Beyond the Transition's 'Liberal Consensus'

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    This thesis offers a critical examination of political struggles in post-socialist (and post-transitional) Bulgaria. Through a focus on the protest mobilisations of 2013, and specifically on their internal antagonisms, it attempts to understand the dynamics of class and power on the terrain of civil society in the country more than twenty years after it began a 'transition' to liberal democracy and free market economy. To grasp these, it places a focus on their discourses, adopting a Critical Discourse Analysis approach to study the ways in which the language of the protests reflected and at the same time constructed specific power configurations. The theoretical framework it builds to understand the socio-political context of the protests draws on the social theory work of Antonio Gramsci and Ernst Bloch. The theoretical synthesis of their work on ideology and utopia, and its application to the political contestations in Bulgaria, enables this thesis to argue that the 2013 mobilisations were underpinned by a historical class struggle between a more conservative and a more radical line of contention. The latter was designed by and for subaltern groups whose anti-systemic programme called for not just the eradication of corruption, but for more participatory forms of democracy, for social justice, and for freedom from want. The former, on the other hand, was designed by large sections of the powerful group of intellectuals, for the middle classes, in whose imagined figure the intellectuals saw the historical strata capable of advancing the 'catch-up' projects of modernisation and Europeanisation which they zealously champion. In arguing for the significance of these insights, the thesis calls for more attention to be paid to class antagonisms in political mobilisations across the post-socialist region, as well as for a stronger theoretical focus on the intersection between ideological constructions and genuine utopian longings in studies of popular protest, since such a focus can help us better understand what propels many to enthusiastically support projects for social change which often fail to correspond to their own (class) interests

    Formal Sociology: Work of George Simmel

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    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

    Author Index

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    High Expectations: Black professional parents' aspirations for their children

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    Qualitative research on education and aspirations has been produced with the sole focus on the reproduction of class inequalities within a White middle class structure. There has only been a handful of studies of analytic engagement with Black professional middle class parents' expectations and aspirations regarding their children's futures in Britain. This gap creates an opportunity for new research to gain deeper insight into what decisions and choices are made by Black professional middle class parents and bring to light important knowledge of professional middle class educational attainment. The research presented here explored how Black professional middle class parents’ construct strategic approaches towards creating better futures for their children within a predominantly White middle class structure. Drawing on primary data taken from interviews with 25 Black African and Black Caribbean middle class parents’ (half from African or Caribbean heritage) , this thesis analyses parents’ strategic decision making and navigation in an unequal playing field of education. Findings indicate adaptations of Bourdieu’s social, cultural and economic capitals to prepare and engage their children along certain pathways in order to create aspirational opportunities. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) it is argued that while class is very influential in explaining educational attainment, understanding Black professional middle class parents’ aspirations for their children requires a deeper understanding of race. Evidence from in-depth narratives provided an insight into parents' own biographies that were either originally working or middle class backgrounds in shaping their orientations to, and manner of engagement with, their children's futures. Drawing from the data middle class parents were beginning to be geographically mobile, moving out of inner London areas in search of a better quality of life for their children and a preferred school choice – with a higher quality of education found around the surrounding areas of London and the South East suburbs. Parents’ subjective biographies illustrated diverse parenting practices and values such as those sets of parents using their Christian faith to help build a solid foundation for moral values, self-confidence and respectability. The research offers new insights into the choices made and strategic approaches used to nurture high aspirations for Black professional middle class children’s futures
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