Guayaquil: un puerto colonial en los mares del sur, siglo XVIII (Estudios)

Este artículo analiza el emplazamiento urbano, las dinámicas económicas y las relaciones sociales que caracterizaron a Guayaquil durante el XVIII. El desarrollo económico y productivo que experimentó la ciudad-puerto se debió a su feraz entorno natural y a las posibilidades de comunicación que brindó el sistema fluvial del Guayas. Se analizan las particularidades de su estructura social, las relaciones entre la élite y los sectores subalternos, la estructura político-administrativa del Cabildo y la influencia que este centro urbano ejerció sobre los pueblos y partidos ubicados en su hinterland.

Ajustes y reformas económicas en los países andinos: entre el optimismo y la desesperanza (Coyuntura)

El autor describe las reformas económicas emprendidas por los países andinos desde la década del noventa. Este análisis se acompaña de una evaluación de los resultados obtenidos, sus efectos redistributivos, su impacto en la estructura social y el contexto internacional en que se desenvolvieron. El artículo concluye con una perspectiva crítica del Consenso de Washington, y alerta sobre la necesidad urgente de que los países del área realicen reformas dirigidas a mejorar el sistema educativo, la distribución del ingreso, el empleo y el acceso a oportunidades.

Cuerpos encerrados cuerpos emancipados: las políticas del cuerpo y las negociaciones identitarias de las travesías en el expenal García Moreno

La identidad sexual y de género como el cuerpo son espacios de poder y diferencia donde se evidencia la precariedad del sistema político económico heterosexual ‘blanco occidental’ y su impositivo sistema de sexo-género. Mediante un trabajo etnográfico la investigación indagó y analizó la situación actual de las travestis encarceladas en el Centro de rehabilitación para Varones Nº 1, vinculándolo con la estructura macro social circundante a la que pertenece y el ex-penal está inserto activamente. El estudio da cuenta de la actualidad enmarcada entre junio 2005 y enero 2007. Hace referencia a hechos sociopolíticos e históricos que visibilizan y evidencian dentro del contexto nacional la situación de la violencia socio cultural, física-psico afectiva, como las circunstancias de marginalización y discriminación que se ejerce sobre las travestis; así como la persistente violación a sus derechos fundamentales como consecuencia de su identidad sexual y de género abyecta; por parte de otros agentes sociales.

Reactive crisis management in construction projects

Patterns of communication and behaviour emerge within a construction project in response to a construction crisis. This paper investigates, within a grounded theory framework, the nature of these patterns, the sociological and psychological forces which shape them and their relationship with crisis management efficiency. A grounded theory is presented in four parts. The first part conceives a construction crisis as a period of social instability, arising from conflicting interest groups, seeking to exercise power in the pursuit of social structures which suit their political and economic interests. The second part sees a construction crisis as a de-sensitizing phenomenon which results in a period of behavioural instability and conflict which is self-perpetuating. The third part cites social structure as an important influence upon construction crisis management efficiency, in determining the efficiency of information flow, and the level of uncertainty between those affected. The fourth part points to the in-built defence mechanisms which construction crises have and to three managerial ironies which make construction crisis management difficult.

Reflections on the sociology of law: A rejection of law as 'socially marginal'

Rejecting the concept of law as subservient to social pathology, the principle aim of this article is to locatc law as a critical matter of social structure - and power - which requires to be considered as a central element in the construction of society and social institutions. As such, this article contends that wider jurisprudential notions such as legal procedure and procedural justice, and juridical power and discretion are cogent, robust normative social concerns (as much as they are legal concerns) that positively require consideration and representation in the ernpifical study of sociological phenomena. Reflecting upon scholarship and research evidence on legal procedure and decision-making, the article attempts to elucidate the inter-relationship between power, 'the social', and the operation of law. It concludes that law is not 'socially marginal' but socially, totally central. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digital code-switching between Cypriot and Standard Greek: performance and identity play online

Studies of code-switching in writing are very limited in comparison with the numerous investigations of this phenomenon in oral communication. Recent research has revealed that in text-based computer-mediated communication internet users bring into play the various languages available in their linguistic repertoire and, consequently, switch between them. In this case study, I investigate digital code-switching between Cypriot and Standard Greek, the two varieties of Greek spoken on the island of Cyprus. Following Auer’s conversation analytic approach and Gafaranga’s view that conversational structure coexists with social structure, I investigate code-switching in online interactions. The data to be analysed here, unlike those considered in most studies of code-switching, are written data, obtained from channel #Cyprus of Internet Relay Chat. The results suggest that code-switching in writing is influenced not only by macro-sociolinguistic factors, but they are also shaped by the medium- and social-specific characteristics of Internet Relay Chat. This, in turn, allows internet users to gain access to different roles and perform various identities within this online context.

The Usefulness of Caries Frequency, Depth, and Location in Determining Cariogenicity and Past Subsistence: A Test on Early and Later Agriculturalists From the Peruvian Coast

Dental markers have been used to unravel particularities of paleodiet, subsistence, social structure, and health. This article aims to compare oral pathology among four pre-Columbian groups with different degrees of agricultural and socio-cultural development but comparable ecological conditions who lived on the coastal desert of Peru. Three of these groups are assigned to distinct phases of the Formative Period (2500-1 BC), a time critical for our understanding of the development of agriculture and social complexity. The fourth group corresponds to the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1470 AD), when agriculture had its apogee and society was highly stratified. In this study we test whether there is an increase (1) in the frequency of carious lesions and (2) in caries depth, and (3) if there is a shift from occlusal to extra-occlusal caries locations with the development of agriculture. Therefore, we analyze the frequencies of carious lesions and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL), the caries distributions by age, sex, and type of tooth, as well as the tissues affected by, and the location of the carious lesions. Since there are no significant differences in the frequencies of carious lesions and AMTL between the groups, we reject hypothesis 1. In contrast, caries depth does increase, and caries location changes from occlusal to extra-occlusal sites with agricultural development. However, we can only corroborate hypothesis 2 and 3 when taking into consideration dental wear. Thus, we recommend that caries depth and locations should be used with evaluations of dental wear to reconstruct subsistence in ancient populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:75-91, 2010. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Sexual System, Sex Ratio, and Group Living in the Shrimp Thor amboinensis (De Man): Relevance to Resource-Monopolization and Sex-Allocation Theories

The sexual system of the symbiotic shrimp Thor amboinensis is described, along with observations on sex ratio and host-use pattern of different populations. We used a comprehensive approach to elucidate the previously unknown sexual system of this shrimp. Dissections, scanning electron microscopy, size-frequency distribution analysis, and laboratory observations demonstrated that T amboinensis is a protandric hermaphrodite: shrimp first mature as males and change into females later in life. Thor amboinensis inhabited the large and structurally heterogeneous sea anemone Stichoclactyla helianthus in large groups (up to 11 individuals) more frequently than expected by chance alone. Groups exhibited no particularly complex social structure and showed male-biased sex ratios more frequently than expected by chance alone. The adult sex ratio was male-biased in the four separate populations studied, one of them being thousands of kilometers apart from the others. This study supports predictions central to theories of resource monopolization and sex allocation. Dissections demonstrated that unusually large males were parasitized by an undescribed species of isopod (family Entoniscidae). Infestation rates were similarly low in both sexes (approximate to 11%-12%). The available information suggests that T. amboinensis uses pure search promiscuity as a mating system. This hypothesis needs to be formally tested with mating behavior observations and field measurements on the movement pattern of both sexes of the species. Further detailed studies on the lifestyle and sexual system of all the species within this genus and the development of a molecular phylogeny are necessary to elucidate the evolutionary history of gender expression in the genus Thor.

POSTMARITAL RESIDENCE PRACTICE IN SOUTHERN BRAZILIAN COASTAL GROUPS: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

The coastal plains of the States of Parana and Santa Catarina, in Southern Brazil, were first settled around 6000 B.P. by shellmound builders, a successful fisher-hunter-gatherer population that inhabited the coastal lowlands practically unchanged for almost five thousand years. Shellmounds were typically occupied as residential sites as well as cemeteries, and are usually associated with rich alimentary zones. Around 1200 B.P., the first evidence of ceramics brought from the interior is found in coastal areas, and together with ceramics there is a progressive abandonment of shellmound construction in favor of flat cold shallow sites. Here we consider if these changes were reflected in the postmarital residence practice of coastal groups, i.e., if the arrival or intensification of contact with groups from the interior resulted in changes in this aspect of social structure among the coastal groups. To test the postmarital residence practice we analyzed within-group variability ratios between males and females, following previous studies on the topic. and between-group, correlations between Mahalanobis distances and geographic distances. The results suggest that in the pre-ceramic series a matrilocal, postmarital residential system predominated, while in the ceramic period there was a shift toward patrilocality. This favors the hypothesis that the changes experienced by coastal groups after 1200 B.P. affected not only their economy and material culture, but important aspects of their sociopolitical organization as well.

Consumed by Faith: The development of Christian Fundamentalism and its applications in contemporary society

My research aims to understand how and why fundamentalists justify violence against people who do not fit their profile of "righteous" or "saved" persons, such as abortion doctors and clinic workers, gays and lesbians, and Jews. The first section of this paper travels through the history of fundamentalism since its origins in the British and American apocalipticism, or belief in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. However, my history of Protestant Fundamentalism in the United States will focus on the ways in which Fundamentalism developed in response to many changes in American social structure. I interpret Fundamentalism as an anti-modern movement seeking to reassert "traditional" Christian values.

A democratização do acesso ao ensino superior: um estudo sobre o Programa Universidade Para Todos (PROUNI) e sobre o sistema de reservas de cotas de vagas étnico-raciais

Brazil is an extremely unequal country and this inequality has been a permanent characteristic of its economic and social structure. Some scholars generally consider that the economic growth has generated extreme conditions of space and social inequalities, which reveal themselves within Brazil¿s regions, states, rural and urban areas, central and peripheral areas and among its ethnic groups. Such conditions negatively affect the quality of life of the population and will be reflected in the reduction of life expectancy, in the increase of the indexes of infant mortality and illiteracy, amongst other aspects. Education is considered one of the ways to promote the development of a country, however, access to education, specially higher education in Brazil, since it was first implemented, had been limited to a small group of privileged people, the elite of society. Thus, it becomes necessary to extend the access of students to higher education and consequently to generate individuals capable of changing the reality of the place where they live in and as a result, to develop the country. The purpose of this research is to analyze two programs destined to the amplify the access to higher education in Brazil, namely, the University for All Program (ProUni) and the System of Quotas, with the objective to verify at which level their drawings and strategies will allow the democratization of the access to higher education and the reduction of regional inequalities. In order to achieve its objective, the study is initiated with the issue of development and inequalities in Brazil, then it goes through the history of higher education in Brazil and it is finished with the analysis of ProUni and the System of Quotas.

A impossível simetria : distinção, interdependência e poder na relação entre agricultores ecologistas e mediadores sociais

Esta dissertação analisa a relação entre agricultores ecologistas organizados em uma associação e mediadores sociais vinculados a uma ONG do Rio Grande do Sul. Parte-se da hipótese de que a construção da simetria pretendida nesta relação encobre interesses sobre os quais não se fala, mas que compõe as bases de uma disputa velada estruturada no espaço social no qual interagem agricultores e mediadores, entre outros agentes. Busca-se, a partir de dados empíricos, problematizar alguns elementos que estão ocultos ou que não são considerados relevantes, exatamente por estarem subjacentes à doxa que configura a relação em questão. Para isso, foram empregados conceitos como espaço social, capital, participação, mediação, interdependência e identidade. Trata-se, portanto, de evidenciar como se processa a relação de poder existente entre estes agentes dotados de volume e estrutura de capital diferenciados e de compreender como são constituídas as identidades do agricultor ecologista e do mediador social que estão envolvidos com esta proposta distinta de se fazer agricultura. Nesse sentido, a trajetória destes grupos, os agentes influentes nessa constituição, as disputas estabelecidas no campo das diferentes propostas de se fazer agricultura e os contextos onde se desenvolvem as relações são algumas das dimensões empíricas que foram consideradas para o desenvolvimento das análises contidas nessa dissertação. Assim, verificou-se que a pretensão, anunciada por certos agentes, de uma horizontalidade entre os agricultores ecologistas e os mediadores sociais é ilusória. A diversidade de interesses e de atuações que os mobilizam ao redor da agricultura ecológica geram disputas e, ao mesmo tempo, uma interdependência entre eles. Porém, a lógica desse jogo social está, em grande medida, determinada pelo agente de maior poder e, ainda que haja variações, são os mediadores sociais que mais produzem interferência no curso desse jogo. Ficou constatado, finalmente, que é nesse cenário de posições e contraposições, ação e reação, que vão se constituindo as fronteiras das identidades desses agentes e a realidade de suas relações.

Escolariedade, salários e empregabilidade: implicações no mercado de empregos do Rio de Janeiro

The high degree of flexibility has been pointed as one of the outstanding characteristics of the Brazilian job market. Employability is being a frequent discussion issue among the professionals of the human resources area. The Human Capital Theory and the contemporary discussion concerning Employability argue the relationship of the educational practice and of the production practice in a capitalist economical-social structure as a whole. The education consequences in the individuals' life are reflected in several ways, direct and indirectly. Our objective is to evaluate, with statistics methods, and in that universe of consequences, the explanatory events of the relationships between education-wage and education¿job. The main reason of this work is to evaluate the relationship between education, wage and Employability from a structural model perspective, seeking to compare and to contrast two effective theories: the one from the human capital and other from the Employability. To make this analysis, a database of individuals that are working at the formal work market in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area, had been used. The results showed the education importance on the wage level, as well as, on the Employability factor, whose values and highest taxes correspond to the individuals graduated on the university.

Estudo do inter-relacionamento dos problemas humanos e organizacionais.

Este estudo-piloto é uma tentativa de abordar a questão do inter-relacionamento entre os problemas humanos e organizacionais, centrando-se a análise na descoberta dos fatores que facilitam ou impedem a satisfação no trabalho, em uma empresa de prestação de serviços públicos a todo o estado do Rio de Janeiro. Já o modelo de análise organizacional proposto considera a organização e o indivíduo como um sistema permeável às características da sociedade tornando-se, desse modo, fundamental que se determina-se há inter-relações entre os fatores socioeconômicos, mais diretamente ligados à estrutura social, e os fatores motivacionais, mais diretamente ligados à estrutura interna do indivíduo e da empresa. Através da discussão dos resultados, alguns subsídios foram dados à empresa para fazer frente aos complexos problemas que surgiram em face da modificação de seu meio-ambiente (interno e externo). Várias considerações foram feitas quanto ao problema da "medida" da satisfação no trabalho, tendo sido discutida, no último capítulo, a viabilidade de se estender a presente pesquisa a toda a organização.

Um processo de autogestão: crônica e crítica de uma experiência em psicologia institucional

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo fazer uma análise dos dados levantados pelo Departamento de Psicologia, de um Estabelecimento Escolar, que utiliza conceitos de Psicologia Institucional, desde a implantação (agosto de 1974), até o presente momento, (julho de 1978) pois seu desenvolvimento continua acontecendo. Durante este período os objetivos principais centralizaram-se em procurar investigar todas às formas do "latente" institucional a fim de desinvestir e desmontar as estruturas repressivas que pudessem estar impedindo o crescimento do estabelecimento no sentido de proporcionar um trabalho autogestivo com um máximo de liberdade e espírito crítico. Para que então, estes conceitos sejam aplicados tem-se praticado, de forma permanente, a metodologia da Análise Institucional, pois é através dela que se pretende realizar uma abordagem aos diferentes aspectos inconscientes e/ou desconhecidos da estrutura psico-socio-comunicacional do Estabelecimento. Tenta-se através de contextos técnicos vivenciais (grupos, etc) fazer com que os diferentes quadros do estabelecimento elaboremos aspectos acima mencionados, instrumentando-os para controlar as posições contraditórias, que ocupam, simultaneamente, todos os seus integrantes, por serem servidores do instituído e também encarregados de uma função instituinte.