Los problemas del tabaco: Gobierno, campesinos y mujeres en la década de 1930

Durante la década de 1930 el capitalismo industrial organizó diferentes espacios de la política y la cultura en Colombia. A través del estudio de caso de Coltabaco, se caracterizan tres momentos de los vínculos del capitalismo industrial con la sociedad colombiana. En el primer momento, se la describen los vínculos políticos que hicieron visible diferentes formas de participación política del sector industrial y su relación con las regiones, las instituciones (públicas y privadas) y las elites dominantes, así como se subraya la importancia del mercado interno para la industria del tabaco. En el segundo momento, se caracterizan los vínculos entre Coltabaco y el sector rural a partir de la labor pedagógica de Coltabaco para la producción de la hoja, así mismo, se describen las representaciones del cultivador vinculado a la industria que fueron difundidas en el sector rural; finalmente, los vínculos entre Coltabaco y el sector urbano se analizan en la tensión por la relación mujer-cigarrillo. En el consumo del cigarrillo, el placer femenino se desligó de condicionantes morales e higiénicos, ganando, a través del gusto, una nueva circunstancia para experimentar la subjetividad de la mujer moderna. Los Problemas del Tabaco no se limitaron exclusivamente al espacio de la política económica, también fueron las costumbres campesinas desvinculadas del ritmo de la industria, y las ideas morales e higiénicas que organizaban la costumbre en la relación mujer-cigarrillo.

Evaluación e intervención en habilidades sociales con alumnos con discapacidad visual.

Estudiar la situación de las personas con deficiencia visual en lo referido a la competencia social y ver si presentan limitaciones en habilidades sociales. Determinar qué instrumentos y programas existen, dirigidos a evaluar e intervenir en estos aspectos y qué tipo de intervención puede favorecer la mejora de intercambios sociales de estos alumnos. Se diseñan 4 estudios empíricos y un programa de intervención. En cada estudio tenemos la correspondiente muestra. En el primero participan 59 alumnos que cursan educación primaria y secundaria en colegios públicos y privados de las provincias de Salamanca y Zamora. Las edades están comprendidas entre 6 y 15 años. Esta población se divide en dos grupos, el grupo objetivo, integrado por 29 alumnos con deficiencia visual, y el grupo de comparación, integrado por 30 alumnos sin discapacidad. En el segundo grupo encontramos 6 sujetos con deficiencia visual, a los que se aplica un programa de entrenamiento en habilidades sociales. En el tercer estudio tenemos un total de 128 alumnos. El grupo objetivo está formado por 64 sujetos, con edades comprendidas entre los 4 y los 18 años, integrados en el sistema educativo ordinario. El grupo de comparación está formado por el mismo número de sujetos, con las mismas edades, sin discapacidad pero en general con características similares (edad, sexo, nivel socioeconómico) a los del grupo objetivo. En el cuarto participan 8 alumnos con deficiencia visual, a los que los profesores de apoyo, aplican el programa de intervención en habilidades sociales. Las edades oscilan entre los 6 y los 16 años. Prácticamente el total de los alumnos con deficiencia visual de los 4 estudios están inscritos en programa de apoyo a la integración llevado a cabo por la ONCE. En la primera parte se exponen los resultados del análisis de investigaciones previas respecto al tema tratado. La segunda parte comprende cuatro estudios empíricos sucesivos, con el fin de comprobar la existencia de déficits en los alumnos, y, a partir de ello desarrollar un programa de intervención para enseñar habilidades sociales y mejorar la adecuación de sus intercambios. Una de las bases del programa es por un lado la aplicación de técnicas cognitivo-conductuales para el desarrollo de las habilidades sociales, y por otro la actuación de los iguales sin discapacidad, como tutores de los que la tienen, a fin de enseñarles estrategias de relación y conseguir el afianzamiento y generalización de las mismas. Con el fin de evaluar las habilidades sociales se utiliza diversas fuentes de información e instrumentos: a) informes procedentes de las personas significativas que habitualmente están en contacto con el alumno; b) autoinforme del alumno; c) la observación directa del alumno en su ambiente natural; d) el cuestionario de evaluación de las habilidades sociales en niños de Matson; e) la lista de observación de habilidades sociales de Caballo y Verdugo; f) El código de observación de conductas de interacción social de Caballo y Verdugo; g) un cuestionario sociométrico en el aula. Los datos finales se obtienen mediante el análisis de comparación antes-después. En lo que respecta a la primera parte de revisión teórica, la mayor parte de los estudios coinciden en que existen limitaciones en habilidades verbales y no verbales de interacción social en niños y jóvenes con deficiencia visual. En lo que respecta a la parte empírica y en relación a las personas con deficiencia visual se realizan las siguientes observaciones: se confirma que los alumnos con deficiencia visual obtienen puntuaciones más bajas en distintas habilidades verbales y no verbales de interacción social; se aprecian mejoras en la adecuación de las conductas de iniciación y mantenimiento de relaciones sociales, y de habilidades no verbales después de aplicar el programa de enseñanza de habilidades sociales; se indica la necesidad de incluir en la enseñanza de habilidades sociales, además de conductas verbales y no verbales utilizadas habitualmente, otras conductas alternativas específicas que estos alumnos pueden precisar. Se sugiere que el Programa de Intervención construido que incluye aquellas aportaciones derivadas de la práctica del mismo, puede ser una herramienta de utilidad para todos aquellos profesionales dedicados a mejorar la calidad de vida de estos alumnos. Con esta intención el programa se ha distribuido entre estos profesionales.

Programa SPSS : Statistical Package for Social Sicences.

Se reseña la celebración del cursillo sobre 'Statistical Package for Social Sciences' en enero de 1980, en el Centro de Cálculo de la Universidad Politécnica de Barcelona, organizado por el Departamento de Investigación del INCIE, en el marco de las actividades del Seminario Permanente que sobre Metodología de la Investigación Educativa desarrolla este organismo. También, se ofrecen explicaciones teóricas y prácticas de este programa de tratamiento de la información llamado SPSS cuya aplicación se dirige, en especial, a la investigación en ciencias humanas.

Cartografías simbólicas para la cultura y el desarrollo

El presente trabajo tiene como punto de partida la convicción que es necesario explorar nuevos marcos teóricos y metodológicos para la producción de conocimiento sobre las múltiples relaciones de la cultura con el desarrollo. Para tal efecto revisa la naturaleza polisémica del concepto cultura, su tratamiento por las ciencias sociales y la economía y su concepción actual como explicación última de toda actividad humana. Subraya la necesidad de generar un conocimiento propio del campo cultural que adopte renovadas concepciones y bases epistemológicas provenientes de las artes y las humanidades que privilegian lo intuitivo, lo individual frente a lo colectivo. La revisión de fuentes provenientes de la filosofía permite una lectura y un enfoque reformado de la naturaleza de la cultura que cuestiona la clásica concepción antropológica que reduce lo religioso a una expresión cultural. Los argumentos presentados exponen que en toda forma cultural está implícita una particular cosmovisión, una visión de la vida; una valoración del mundo que se conecta con el significado último de la existencia humana que es de naturaleza religiosa. Todas las comunidades culturales tienen en su haber una serie de prácticas, tradiciones, usos, costumbres, expresiones creativas que dan cuenta de una identidad particular y que son registradas a través de mapeos culturales y sistemas de información. El texto hace referencias a políticas y programas culturales sobre cultura y desarrollo en la región centroamericana

Contemporary social variations in household water use, management strategies and awareness under conditions of 'water stress': the case of Greater Amman Jordan

One of the distinctive characteristics of the water supply system of Greater Amman, the capital of Jordan, is that it has been based on a regime of rationing since 1987, with households receiving water once a week for various durations. This reflects the fact that while Amman's recent growth has been phenomenal, Jordan is one of the ten most water-scarce nations on earth. Amman is highly polarised socio-economically, and by means of household surveys conducted in both high- and low-income divisions of the city, the aim has been to provide detailed empirical evidence concerning the storage and use if water, the strategies used by households to manage water and overall satisfactions with water supply issues, looking specifically at issues of social equity. The analysis demonstrates the social costs of water rationing and consequent household management to be high, as well as emphasising that issues of water quality are of central importance to all consumers.

Teachers’ voices about being a teacher: comparative studies in England, Finland and Sweden

The aim of the article is to present and discuss a study in which Finnish, English and Swedish teachers and student teachers described the implications of being a teacher. It is cross-national and consists of multiple case studies. Data were collected through twenty-four focus group dialogues, and 110 teachers/student teachers participated in the study. According to the study, we have found that teachers and student teachers in all three countries promoted pupils’ development of critical thinking, which is another way of saying that they focused on ‘the attitudes and values’ aspect of citizenship education; however, this was most evident in the Finnish and the Swedish focus groups. In England there is a subject emphasis to the professional role, the three countries ranked the topics (the pupils; the subject; the organization; the society; teacher identity; parents) equally, in Finland the teacher role did not appear to be as post modern as in the two other countries.

Motivating farmers: insights from social psychology

We are social beings. What we do and don’t do, what we think, the decisions we take are all influenced by those around us. Sometimes we are conscious of those influences, often we are not. Those who influence us are not just our close family and friends, our own social and professional networks, but the wider societies and cultures to which we belong. The goals we espouse, the values we hold, the image we have of ourselves are all molded to a large extent by our interactions and relationships with other people. The social sciences offer a range of concepts and tools for exploring these influences. In this paper, I introduce some of these and illustrate them with recent research I and my colleagues have been doing at the University of Reading among livestock farmers in the UK, with a view to providing insights that can then be used to plan and implement more effective interventions.

Effective communication to improve udder health: can social science help?

Improved udder health requires consistent application of appropriate management practices by those involved in managing dairy herds and the milking process. Designing effective communication requires that we understand why dairy herd managers behave in the way they do and also how the means of communication can be used both to inform and to influence. Social sciences- ranging from economics to anthropology - have been used to shed light on the behaviour of those who manage farm animals. Communication science tells us that influencing behaviour is not simply a question of „getting the message across‟ but of addressing the complex of factors that influence an individual‟s behavioural decisions. A review of recent studies in the animal health literature shows that different social science frameworks and methodologies offer complementary insights into livestock managers‟ behaviour but that the diversity of conceptual and methodological frameworks presents a challenge for animal health practitioners and policy makers who seek to make sense of the findings – and for researchers looking for helpful starting points. Data from a recent study in England illustrate the potential of „home-made‟ conceptual frameworks to help unravel the complexity of farmer behaviour. At the same time, though, the data indicate the difficulties facing those designing communication strategies in a context where farmers believe strongly that they are already doing all they can reasonably be expected to do to minimise animal health risks.

The effectiveness of non-executive directors in Chinese state-owned enterprises

Purpose – The primary aim of this paper is to examine whether boards of directors with independent members function as effective corporate governance mechanisms in Chinese State-Owned Enterprises(SOEs), by analysing four characteristics of non-executive directors (NEDs) that impact on their effectiveness, namely their degree of independence, information, incentive, and competence. Design/methodology/approach – Being exploratory in nature, the research uses qualitative methods for data collection. It is based on an interpretivist perspective of social sciences, analysing and explaining the factors that influence the effectiveness of NEDs. Findings – The findings indicate that the NED system is weak in China as a result of the concentrated ownership structure, unique business culture, intervention of controlling shareholders and the lack of understanding of the benefits brought by NEDs. Research limitations/implications – The paper examines the salient features of and challenges to the system of NEDs of SOEs in present-day China. It provides an understanding of how the various perceptions of the board, gathered from in-depth interviews of corporate directors, leads to new interpretations of board effectiveness. The research, however, is limited owing to a relatively small sample size and the sensitive nature of the information collected. Originality/value – The study aims to fill gaps in the literature and contribute to it by assessing the “real” views and perceptions of NEDs in China in an institutional environment significantly different from that of the USA, the UK and other western economies.

Models of human behaviour in social-ecological systems

Environmental change research often relies on simplistic, static models of human behaviour in social-ecological systems. This limits understanding of how social-ecological change occurs. Integrative, process-based behavioural models, which include feedbacks between action, and social and ecological system structures and dynamics, can inform dynamic policy assessment in which decision making is internalised in the model. These models focus on dynamics rather than states. They stimulate new questions and foster interdisciplinarity between and within the natural and social sciences.

Rerum cognoscere causas: part II - opportunities generated by the agency/structure debate and suggestions for clarifying the social theoretic position of system dynamics

This is the second half of a two-part paper dealing with the social theoretic assumptions underlying system dynamics. In the first half it was concluded that analysing system dynamics using traditional, paradigm-based social theories is highly problematic. An innovative and potentially fruitful resolution is now proposed to these problems. In the first section it is argued that in order to find an appropriate social theoretic home for system dynamics it is necessary to look to a key exchange in contemporary social science: the agency/structure debate. This debate aims to move beyond both the theories based only on the actions of individual human agents, and those theories that emphasise only structural influences. Emerging from this debate are various theories that instead aim to unite the human agent view of the social realm with views that concentrate solely on system structure. It is argued that system dynamics is best viewed as being implicitly grounded in such theories. The main conclusion is therefore that system dynamics can contribute to an important part of social thinking by providing a formal approach for explicating social mechanisms. This conclusion is of general significance for system dynamics. However, the over-arching aim of the two-part paper is to increase the understanding of system dynamics in related disciplines. Four suggestions are therefore offered for how the system dynamics method might be extended further into the social sciences. It is argued that, presented in the right way, the formal yet contingent feedback causality thinking of system dynamics should diffuse widely in the social sciences and make a distinctive and important contribution to them. Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Happy is he who comes to know the causes of things Virgil - Georgics, Book II, line 490. 29 BCE

Virgil's fourth Eclogue and the visual arts

Virgil's poetry has frequently appeared in illustrated editions, and has regularly provided subjects for other works of art, including some of the most celebrated masterpieces of the western tradition. In view of its constant appropriation in literary contexts over the course of the centuries, we might expect the famous fourth Eclogue (the so-called ‘messianic’ eclogue) to have exerted more of an impact on visual culture than it appears to have done. This paper considers some of the possible reasons for the apparent scarcity of engagement with Virgil's poem beyond the literary sphere, and examines the uses to which the poet's text is put when it does make an appearance in visual media — perhaps more often than has sometimes been supposed.

Kinesiska affärsetableringar i Sverige : Kartläggning över områden som förbättrar chanserna att lyckas

Aim and starting point: The aim of the Bachelor thesis is to examine and define the paramount knowledge Chinese businessmen need in order to succeed with their establishment in Sweden. The authors also seek to answer what incentives attract Chinese businessmen to come to Sweden, as well as how Chinese establishments in Sweden can be predicted to appear in the future. Results/conclusions: The study outlines key areas in which Chinese businessmen should have knowledge in order to succeed with their establishment in Sweden. The results also gives an indication on how Chinese business establishments in Sweden will appear in the future, into which areas the Chinese mainly invest/establish in, as well as why and how these are done. On the basis of this material the authors generate proposals for educational packages which among others can be sold to Chinese businessmen. Knowledge overview: Here relevant theory connected to the area of study is presented. The knowledge overview presents the Swedish in relation to the Chinese perspective in areas such as: culture, hierarchy, relations, Face, communication, HRM, education, CSR and labour law. The knowledge overview can itself contribute to fostering an understanding of differences between Sweden and China. Method: The area of research has been accessed by a combination of methods. The study is both deductive and explorative. The main channel of information and data collection are in-depth interviews which are used as a deductive starting point, an expert investigation and as a Grounded Theory. As a complement the authors have also conducted a delphi study in which an expert panel answered questions concerning the future of Chinese establishments in Sweden. The deductive and explorative parts have been analyzed individually and have each generated a conclusion. These conclusions have then been interwoven in a synthesis that highlights and creates new knowledge.