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The purpose of this chapter is to determine the level of readiness of the Russian society for information economy’s formation. For the formation of information economy, the authors use the methods of classification and structural analysis, as well as the proprietary method of criterial evaluation of society’s readiness. This method envisages structuring of population according to the main criteria: territory of residence (geographical criterion), age, level of education, level of income, and susceptibility to innovations (adaptation criterion). Based on the statistical data on readiness of various social categories for information economy’s formation and the share of these categories in the structure of population, the index of society’s readiness for information economy’s formation is calculated. The authors perform criterial evaluation of readiness of the modern Russian society for information economy’s formation as of 2017 and compile the model of the modern Russian society, structured according to the criterion of readiness for information economy’s formation. As a result, they conclude that information economy’s formation could face unreadiness of society, which is a serious barrier on the path of implementation of this process. During evaluation of the level of society’s readiness for information economy’s formation, it is expedient to structure it as per the five main criteria: territory of residence (geographical criterion), age, level of education, level of income, and susceptibility to innovations (adaptation criterion). The received structure of society allows compiling general impression on readiness for information economy’s formation of representatives of various social categories. The example of modern Russia could be the basis for similar evaluation of the level of society’s readiness for information economy’s formation in other countries of the world. This will allow developing and conducting more effective state social policy, which is directed at target influence on representatives of various social categories in the interests of increase of their readiness for information economy’s formation.

Born to a family of ultratraditional values constructed by the Baptist church and the United States military, I was introduced to a world of strict binary roles which defined the way one must present through thoughts and behavior. Such roles emerge from and bolster claims to membership in specific sex and gender categories. My gender was a socially scripted dramatization of the culture's idealization of feminine nature in which I was casted into a role that I must play to successfully navigate through life. This essay follows the course of my life in which I, as a young child, began to notice the drastic characteristics that differentiated the lives of males and females and the struggle of realization that one could deviate from this binary. The recognition that I was gender nonconforming, and a lesbian led to feelings of isolation and fear. With the support of social theory, I illustrate how the experience of social othering and social oppression aids in providing a unique lens that drives my research interests and academic career. Through my own individual identity structurization, the process of pulling off only a minuscule amount of the multifaceted layers of society was difficult and time consuming. However, it was through this necessary process that led me to the capability of thinking in terms of planetary sociology. As a criminologist, I study how people are categorized into specific social groups and deemed vulnerable to violence or harm. The paradox in studies of oppression is that social scientists do not blame the individual, but the institutions that prey on people's self-description. It is within this paradox that I study institutional and structural harm and strive to promote a more just, humane worldview for my students both in and out of the classroom.

Our attitudes, values and tastes are shaped by our position in social space. At least, that was the argument Pierre Bourdieu set out in his seminal work, La Distinction. The purpose of this paper is to consider Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction and his argument that working-class families exhibit cultural attitudes and tastes for social necessity.

Attitudinal data relating to social necessity are taken from a national social survey of the British population. The results provide a rich source of data for exploring classed attitudes towards necessity in contemporary Britain.

Bourdieu's original claims for working-class “choice of the necessary” and working-class “taste for necessity” are based on his observations grounded in social survey evidence drawn from 1960s French society. Analysis of contemporary British social survey and attitudinal data also reveals sharp contours and differences in attitudes and tastes according to class fractions. These are evident in classed tastes and preferences for food, clothes, the home and social life.

Within the Bourdieusian theoretical framework, we understand that the tastes of necessity are preferences that arise as adaptations to deprivation of necessary goods and services. La Distinction and Bourdieu's approach to unmasking inequalities and structures in social space continue to be relevant in contemporary Britain. More generally, study findings add to the growing evidence that casts some doubt on current arguments concerning “individualisation”, claiming that social class has ceased to be significant in modern societies.

This paper sheds fresh light on the empirical validity and continuing theoretical relevance of Bourdieu's work examining the role of social necessity in shaping working-class culture. Bourdieu argues that the real principle of our preferences is taste and for working-class families, this is a virtue made of necessity.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate students' social networking strategies based on learning values in the social context of Iranian universities.

This research has used the case study method to investigate students’ networked learning (NL) strategies among students of four different universities in the context of Iran. They were explored by semistructured in-depth interviews about the nature or current conditions of their study life. The data were analyzed by the qualitative analysis method based on the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin (1998).

The researchers in this study found the special concept of NL in the social context: “NL as a continuous process of thinking to understand the environment through multiple/ diverse careers of learning knowledge and skills for environmental modeling towards creating added-value.” According to this definition, various networked strategies were identified as follows: 1) interactive and multidimensional searching, 2) multidimensional studying and learning, 3) environmental and social management, 4) studying and social wandering.

Designing dynamic curriculum, which integrates various careers of learning, multidimensional knowledge and abilities and subject matters with environmental events and social structures of the society. Given the exploratory nature of the research, the paper cannot provide empirically justified findings.

The research had identified diverse approaches of networking strategies, which do not appear just as a positive instrument to improve learning conditions. However, there is such an extreme degree of social wandering among students in universities that makes their efforts useless.

Possible reasons for using kites to kill gazelles are comprehensively reviewed in this article. Even though they are now well inventoried and documented, desert kites are still not well understood, as exemplified by the recurrent controversies about their function and dating. According to the dominant view, kites were hunting structures used to drive and to mass kill large herds of wild ungulates, particularly gazelles. Although kites were intensively used during the Early Bronze Age, some of them could have been built and used before that. Beyond these issues, the cultural and socioeconomic aspects of the kites phenomenon are even less understood, and therefore, we focus on changing reasons for the long-lasting use of kites as hunting devices. We contend that the reasons why they were used during the period of utilization for hunting gazelles changed, in most cases, in response to socioeconomic development. It is hypothesized, for example, that, as a result of urban development, kites may have been increasingly (but not exclusively) used to kill gazelles to trade their products with urban communities and farmers, even though they had other uses as well which are also considered. The main hypothesis presented in this article enables diverse opinions about the types of uses and reasons for utilizing desert kites to be reconciled, including in particular varied reasons given in the literature about why they were used for killing gazelles.

The institution of the university has played a significant role in the economic, social, political, and cultural developments of society throughout history, which has resulted in presenting different but also contradictory views on university missions. After the middle of the twentieth century, some economic developments, especially technological ones, have led to the maximum domination of economic discourse over university missions and, consequently, the marginalization of other aspects of university missions, which constitute a significant part of the contribution of universities in society. In this regard, this study aimed to identify the missions of universities based on a comprehensive understanding of the contribution of universities in society. This study uses a systematic qualitative review strategy for collecting and investigating the data and a metasynthesis method to analyze and synthesize the findings. The data included 130 valid studies related to university missions. The research findings indicated 18 important university missions, 11 of which are considered transeconomic missions, including social, political, and cultural ones. Among the implications of this research are: the necessity of redefining higher education policy frameworks based on a more comprehensive understanding of the missions of universities and a warning about policy frameworks based on the exclusive authorization for their role in the knowledge-based economy.

The present article pertains to recent advances in social systems theoretical analyses of moral communication.

An introduction to basic concepts and requirements for systems-theoretical approaches to morality and communication is provided, as is an introduction to 14 contributions to a pertinent special issue of Kybernetes.

The review of these 14 cases suggests that social systems theory enables researchers to study moral communication without necessarily performing it.

This article reappraises and challenges Niklas Luhmann's occasionally distanced attitude to morality, which has occasionally been understood as a form of moral communication itself.

Children comprise a significant component of developing countries’ populations, but are rarely present in a substantive way in urban decision-making. The first step toward changing the exclusion of children in urban planning is through analyzing the roots of the problem. Applying a critical approach, this research aimed to explore and challenge the structural patterns of society that exclude children and marginalize them in the case of Iran. The present study interviewed Iranian urban planning professionals in a range of roles, to explore the roots of the persistent failure to incorporate children’s voices. The findings revealed various obstacles to including children: on the one hand, these impediments consisted of broad macro-level barriers derived from the cultural context; on the other, obstacles included micro-level barriers associated with planning processes and the urban management system. Together these embedded sociocultural roots provide insights into mechanisms maintaining a top-down approach and preventing it from shifting to a more inclusive and child-friendly approach in planning modern Iranian cities.