Search results for "Ocio"

Towards a Coming Together of Transhumanism and Play

2018

We note a trend on utilizing interactive technology to extend human capacities through bodily cyborg-like integrations such as artificial limbs and implantables. This trend is often captured by the term "transhumanism", referring to the use of technology to extend human capacities. We find that many transhuman discussions appear to focus on instrumental benefits (i.e. exploiting opportunities to be more productive). We extend this by proposing engagement with transhumanism also from a perspective of "play". We reflect on our own and other's work to articulate three strategies for game designers on how they can engage with transhumanism when aiming to facilitate playful experiences. Ultimate…

Spatial Perspective on Everyday Transitions Within a Toddler Group Care Setting

2017

This chapter builds on spatial approaches to study everyday life, and in particular to consider Henri Lefebvre’s (1901–1991) theory on the social production of space. Lefebvre’s ideas on the social production of space are based on a dynamic “spatial triad” of conceived (representations of space), perceived (socio-spatial practices), and lived space (representational space). The aim of this chapter is to discuss, by building on Lefebvre’s approach, the spatial dynamics involved within the small-scale (horizontal) transitions for children in toddler group care. The discussion is based on a study where one Finnish day care group for 1- to 3-year-olds was investigated by applying a spatial, rel…

The measurement of populist attitudes: Testing cross-national scales using item response theory

2019

Recent research in the populism literature has devoted considerable efforts to the conceptualisation and examination of populism on the individual level, that is, populist attitudes. Despite rapid progress in the field, questions of adequate measurement and empirical evaluation of measures of populist attitudes remain scarce. Seeking to remedy these shortcomings, we apply a cross-national measurement model, using item response theory, to six established and two new populist indicators. Drawing on a cross-national survey (nine European countries, n = 18,368), we engage in a four-folded analysis. First, we examine the commonly used 6-item populism scale. Second, we expand the measurement wit…

Quantification and classification in education: What is at stake?

2021

Histories of statistics and quantification have demonstrated that systems of statistical knowledge participate in the construction of the objects that are measured. However, the pace, purpose, and scope of quantification in state bureaucracy have expanded greatly over the past decades, fuelled by (neoliberal) societal trends that have given the social phenomenon of quantification a central place in political discussions and in the public sphere. This is particularly the case in the field of education. In this article, we ask what is at stake in state bureaucracy, professional practice, and individual pupils as quantification increasingly permeates the education field. We call for a theoret…

Book Review: James Midgley, Espen Dahl and Amy Conley Wright (eds) Social Investment and Social Welfare: International and Critical Perspectives

2018

The walk-and-talk methodology – researching place and people

2020

The article focuses on walk-and-talk interviews, which are yet a little-used research method in Latvia. The term is used in the social sciences and humanities and is an appropriate method for gathering data in order to determine the relationship of an individual or a social group with a specific place. The method in a pilot project was used to listen to life experiences in Tūja, a village along the Baltic coast in Latvia. The study focused on social change in Tūja and the influence of the economic and political changes of the 1990s on the living conditions and lifestyle of the local inhabitants. The pilot project was conducted by the researchers from the Institute of Philosophy and Sociolog…

Social determinants of identity in communities: A social capital- and social categorization-based approach – findings from Latvia

2017

The article investigates the relations, in the light of new paradigms of economic development, between trust and economic wealth at the micro level in the Republic of Latvia, by means of a structural equation modelling-based approach and a framework combining social capital and social identity theory, in a rationale of cross-fertilization between social and cognitive science. Results are also tested against control dimensions reflecting relevant divides in Latvian society (residence place dimensions; ethno-linguistic belongings; educational differences). General results support the hypothesis of the existence of a causal path connecting personal wealth, institutional trust, social engagemen…

Street Names through Sociological Lenses. Part II: Constructionism and Utilitarianism

2021

Abstract As toponymic means of inscribing urban space, street names have been addressed mainly by human geographers, who have articulated the field of critical place-name studies. In this paper, I continue the endeavor started in the previous issue published in Social Change Review of reading street names through sociological lenses. Whereas in the first part of this two-part contribution the analysis was made from functionalist and conflictualist perspectives, this second and final part employs social constructionism and the utilitarian theoretical tradition in making sociological sense of street nomenclatures. First, conceiving of street names as forming discursively constructed linguisti…

Revista complutense de educación

2020

espanolEn un barrio de la ciudad de Valencia, dos grupos de mujeres, uno de cultura gitana y otro de no gitana, junto con el profesorado y las familias de la escuela publica, inician un recorrido de conocimiento y transformacion mutuos. En el citado barrio y en el centro escolar se habian detectado problemas de convivencia entre los grupos de diferentes culturas. El proyecto se basa en una pedagogia comprometida con la investigacion-accion participativa y transformativa de la comunidad que hunde sus raices en las narrativas, en la reflexion y en la practica transformadora. En el diseno y seguimiento del proyecto, aplicamos una metodologia etnografica para analizar el conjunto de la realidad…

Selves, interactive representations and context

2021

Abstract In this paper, I re-examine the notion of ‘clause-as-representation’ in Michael Halliday’s systemic functional theory of language. I argue that ‘representation’ is a mode of linguistic action that cannot be understood in terms of the experiential metafunction alone. Instead, a theoretical account of representation must be undertaken in relation to all the metafunctions. Rejecting encodingist accounts of representation, I develop the argument that representations are interactively constituted and emergent in languaging activity. The paper develops these arguments in relation to a process ontological account of the relations between language and the world-side phenomena that language…