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11 – 20 of over 85000Stephen G. and Paul S. Ciccantell
Incorporating local space, matter, and society into our concepts of the global in analytically compatible ways poses a major challenge for contemporary scholars of both world…
Abstract
Incorporating local space, matter, and society into our concepts of the global in analytically compatible ways poses a major challenge for contemporary scholars of both world systems and globalization. Many analysts ignore both materiality and locality of production. They assume the global as their point of departure, and attempt to incorporate the local into it. In this chapter, we aim to reverse that logic. We will take into account and theorize the interaction of natural and social processes. In other words, we will integrate ecologic or materio-spatial logic with sociologic within the economic logic of global markets.
The purpose of this chapter is to describe how indigenous social and economic networks of rural women in Uzbekistan function as collective action for social and economic…
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to describe how indigenous social and economic networks of rural women in Uzbekistan function as collective action for social and economic empowerment since 1991 to the present, the time when Uzbekistan moved from Soviet centrally planned to a market-oriented economy. This system of economic empowerment shows how women's agency, power, and knowledge reorganizes male dominated gendered space. In particular, I will examine women's gap and chenrnay kassa function as a mechanism for livelihood resilience and social and economic empowerment in the post-socialist economy.
Gaps, or more precisely the institution of the locally organized rotating savings association and recreational network known as gap or sometimes called as gashtak, tukma, or ziefat, are the local structures of power and authority of socio-economic communal life in Uzbekistan. Gaps are social gatherings of approximately 12 or more women who meet at least once a month. Each gap is headed by jo'ra boshi (a leader) who sets rules with its members, solves conflicts and takes care of accounting. These social networks operate also as indigenous economic networks where all participants contribute fixed funds that are given in turn to the host of the event which they receive as a lump sum payment at a future gathering. Each member take turns in hosting the event at their homes until the full rotation is complete. Then the next round of gap starts. At the time of the fieldwork, 1Kg of meat was worth 6–8 thousand so'm (equivalent of US$4–6), and is the index that is used in calculating the amount that each member contributes. The contribution amount is influenced by the gap's purpose, the status, and wealth of its members.
I argue that traditional socio-economic networks structures function not just as anticolonial solidarity groups against regimes, but also decolonizing networks for social justice, redistribution of resources, healing, meaning making, voice, knowledge, agency, and conflict resolution.
Economic cybernetics – a very important branch of cybernetics – has elaborated and founded concepts, models, techniques and methods for the investigation both qualitatively and…
Abstract
Economic cybernetics – a very important branch of cybernetics – has elaborated and founded concepts, models, techniques and methods for the investigation both qualitatively and quantitatively of the laws of optimal balanced and proportional growth of the components of the national economy system. At the same time, economic cybernetics performs the role of a “Dialog” between Microsystems and Macrosystems, thus allowing a better understanding and management of the economic mechanism as a whole. The economic approach of economic phenomena and processes of organising and managing economic systems, of achieving the unity between micro‐ and macro‐economics is an obvious reality, confirmed by the results obtained in economic practice. The application of the methods proper to economic cybernetics, in order to find solutions to problems concerning organisation and management of the economy, the design of economic growth trajectories, the achievement of a permanent dialogue between decision and its component of the management of society, is discussed.
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Borisas Melnikas, Petras Baršauskas and Vaida Kvainauskaitė
The paper aims to evaluate the problems and theoretical characteristics of integral cultural space development in the context of transition processes in Central and Eastern Europe.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to evaluate the problems and theoretical characteristics of integral cultural space development in the context of transition processes in Central and Eastern Europe.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper has used the outcomes of the research conducted over recent several years, dedicated to the diagnostics of the problems of transformations as well as economic and social development in Central and Eastern Europe with a special reference to the development of the integral cultural space.
Findings
Major findings show that the creation and development of the integral cultural space in Europe is a very complex and controversial process, and in this course various problems and conflicts arise. Therefore, to encourage the creation of the integral cultural space in Europe appropriate cultural policies need to be implemented in Europe. These policies may embrace many priorities including the preservation of cultural diversity, adaptation and dissemination of integrated European dimensions and elimination of inappropriate factors within humanism and democracy of all European countries.
Practical implications
For implementation of key priorities of cultural policies the use of a number of pan‐European scale special programmes is suggested.
Originality/value
The new non‐traditional ideas of possible economic and social development in Central and Eastern Europe are discussed.
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The purpose of the paper is to present an integrated approach concerning intertemporal choices and the location of economic activity under a simple endogenous growth model. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to present an integrated approach concerning intertemporal choices and the location of economic activity under a simple endogenous growth model. The idea is that time analysis concerning the choices about present and future consumption and the choices on the allocation of scientific resources should be combined with a space analysis regarding the dissemination of economic activity through geographical locations.
Design/methodology/approach
Two optimal control problems are considered. These relate to a standard utility maximization set‐up, in which spatial considerations are incorporated, and to a problem of allocation of scientific/technological resources. Steady states and transitional dynamics are addressed.
Findings
It was found that the long‐run steady state does not have to be a state of unchangeable geography – consumption, production conditions and technological progress determine not only long‐term growth but also the long‐term tendency for the economy to geographically concentrate or disperse.
Research limitations/implications
In its essence, the model is just a conventional Ramsey growth model, sophisticated in order to include endogenous location decisions and endogenous technology choices. Further insights can be gained by readdressing the model (e.g. by assuming a monopolistic competition environment instead of a purely competitive set‐up).
Originality/value
The determinants of growth are, on the one hand, the decisions about how to allocate technological resources and, on the other hand, the strength with which productive activities can agglomerate in order to generate increasing returns to scale.
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Few of the spaces of Milan are so strongly loaded with cultural and political baggage as “Chinatown” – the ethnic neighborhood on Paolo Sarpi Street – where a handful of roads…
Abstract
Few of the spaces of Milan are so strongly loaded with cultural and political baggage as “Chinatown” – the ethnic neighborhood on Paolo Sarpi Street – where a handful of roads, the global flow of Chinese goods, and the daily routines of elderly people and families are merged. The complexity of the “Sarpi Question” is precisely determined by the discussion of social dimensions, space and ethnoracial, economic and political, all at once.
In order to come to a deeper understanding of the economic mechanism of development of a city, this chapter begins by examining the causes that led to the break of an apparent balance in the practices of local cohabitation of the Chinese District in Milan. This chapter will also examine the relationship of power and conflict between the local government and the social groups, from the point of view of an urban change process. This framework deals with reclaiming urban space and the requalification processes aimed at improving the physical context of the Sarpi area, and especially at starting up processes of financial revitalization.
“No buses, no taxis, no cars and no trading. Why don't you just build a wall around us?” reads a banner displayed by traders on Sarpi Street in the 2008 Christmas season, the first month of controlled traffic flow. Ethnographic research attempts to explain how this result was reached.
The voice of Italian residents is only one of those emerging from the results of this research, along with those of business owners, city users, and local politicians. It is an interplay between antagonism and juxtaposition in which I have tried to highlight the existing conflict with the aim of understanding and explaining the tension in this urban space. Most importantly, this case demonstrates that the problem of cohabitation in a socially mixed neighborhood is a problem of representation and perception, which is essentially political.
The opening conclusions deal with the paradox of the urban safety policies promoted by the Milan local government as a place of decompression in the face of strong social pressure on immigration, precariousness, and insecurity. Strategies aimed at places to act on people.
Alessandro Bonanno and Josefa Salete Barbosa Cavalcanti
At the outset, though, and before brief summaries of each of these cases are presented, it is important to underscore two key points that guide the organization of the entire…
Abstract
At the outset, though, and before brief summaries of each of these cases are presented, it is important to underscore two key points that guide the organization of the entire volume. First, capital mobility is a complex phenomenon that assumes various forms as different types of capitals move at different velocities. Second, capital mobility is a necessary and irreplaceable component of capitalism. As for the first aspect, we will consider three types of capital: financial capital, productive capital, and labor. Obviously, these three forms of capital are endowed with different features that affect their behaviors and their ability to move through time and space. While all these three forms of capital share the common requirement that they need to be utilized in increasingly accelerated manners if capital accumulation had to expand, they also display tendencies that favor financial and productive capital and subordinate labor. If effect, the subordination of labor to financial and productive capital is one of the primary characteristics of globalization and one item that allowed the rapid expansion of capital accumulation over the last two decades.
The purpose of this paper is to present how high quality public spaces contribute positively to people's quality of life. However, sources of credible evidence in support of this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present how high quality public spaces contribute positively to people's quality of life. However, sources of credible evidence in support of this statement are surprisingly scarce. One impact is that it can be frustratingly difficult to quantify links between investment in the public realm and improvements to people's quality of life.
Design/methodology/approach
CABE Space, the government's national advisor on well‐designed, planned and maintained urban public spaces, fund a scoping study which seeks to determine and understand useful correlative relationships between existing data on quality of life and existing data on the quality of public space. The researchers analyse a total of 34 national datasets to ascertain what they can tell us about how the quality of public spaces affects people's quality of life.
Findings
Numerous small scale research studies have examined the benefits of high quality public spaces in terms of their economic, social and environmental value. However, a national evidence base to inform policy agendas relating to well‐being and liveability is lacking.
Research limitations/implications
Better understanding is needed to maximise the benefits of provision for individuals and the areas that they live in, especially because the poorest areas suffer from the poorest quality of environments.
Originality/value
Linking the quality of public spaces and the quality of life is a complex and multifaceted area that suffers from a meagre evidence base. This research aims to further this area of research and is original in its national scale of analysis.
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This research article addresses the role of processes of normative regulation, driven by distinct approaches to collective action and underlying narratives of social change, in…
Abstract
Purpose
This research article addresses the role of processes of normative regulation, driven by distinct approaches to collective action and underlying narratives of social change, in the construction of “solidarity economy” initiatives as parallel spatialities to that of the mainstream economy.
Design/methodology/approach
This article is based on a comparative case study analysis, informed by aspects of the Grounded Theory and Extended Case Study methods, of an ecovillage, an alternative commercialization network and an “integral cooperative”. The analysis is illustrated with fieldwork data on food production, commercialization and consumption, given its centrality in the construction of human livelihoods and lifeworld.
Findings
The resulting conceptual framework identifies three methodologies of normative regulation: Prefigurative social technologies and capitalizing upon power and reputation to exert influence over other economic actors; being part of a wider class-based emancipatory political project; mobilizing online peer-to-peer platforms and community currencies to construct an alternative institutionality.
Research limitations/implications
This article constitutes an exploratory analysis. Further research, based on the application of mixed methodologies to larger samples, will further expand the setup and applicability of these concepts.
Practical implications
This analysis will allow scholars and practitioners alike to gain a deeper understanding of how different approaches to collective action, based on distinct structural standpoints and narratives of change, constitute alternative economic spatialities to those of the mainstream economy.
Social implications
The comparative approach used in this article, as well as the resulting concepts, have the potential of contributing to the convergence of “solidarity economy” strategies between initiatives and movements with different approaches to collective action, therefore contributing to improve their capacity to exercise influence upon incumbent institutional regimes, as well as promote socio-economic change.
Originality/value
This article aims to bridge a significant gap in the understanding of how “solidarity economy”-based parallel spatialities emerge and coexist with the mainstream economy: It analyses how processes of normative regulation result from narratives of change with distinct approaches to collective action, based on the standpoint of actors located differently within structural power relations.
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