Sexuality and the Spatial Dynamics of Capitalism

1992 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 651-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Knopp
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Symbolic Space ◽  
Physical Mobility ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Gender Based

Sexuality, gender, and class (with race, ethnicity, physical mobility, and other social categories related to power) are deeply implicated in the constitution of each other as social relations. Spatial structures and conflicts that are constitutive of class relations are therefore also constitutive of sexuality. An examination of recent developments in feminist, lesbian and gay, and radical social theory, and certain elements of the historical geography of capitalism, reveals specific ways in which this is so. Urban spatial designs in Britain and the USA in the 19th and 20th centuries, for example, implicate hegemonic constructions of sexuality in gender-based and class-based spatial divisions of labor. Similarly, struggles over the social definitions of sexuality have involved individuals and groups recoding spaces that have been devalued by the market in potentially counterhegemonic ways. Thus, struggles over sexuality manifest themselves as struggles over sexual representations of, and sexual symbols in, space as well as over spatial organization. Indeed, these sorts of struggles may actually be more important in the contemporary era than those concerning the spatial organization of sexuality. This is because the sociospatial construction of otherness, which has as much to do with representational and symbolic space as with physical space, has become key to the survival of capitalism.

Topographies of the Possible

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laila Huber
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Symbolic Space ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The City

This article explores the creation of new structures of participation and counter imaginaries within the city between the poles of arts and politics. On the basis of two case studies, one situated in the non-institutionalised artistic field and one in the non-institutionalised political field, I will explore narratives of a 'topography of the possible' in the city of Salzburg. Aiming to outline collage pieces of a topography of the possible and of counter-narrative in and of the city – the city is looked at in terms of collage, understood as overlapping layers of the three spatial dimensions materiality (physical space), sociability (social space) and the imaginary (symbolic space). These are understood as differing but interrelated spatial dimensions, each one unfolding forms of collective appropriation of a city. The focus lies on the creation of social relations and collective imaginaries on the micro-level of cultural and political self-organised initiatives, looked at under terms of narration and storytelling. My ethnographic project asks for the creative potentiality of a city and for the creative power of social relations and collective imaginaries.

Recent Developments in Composite Construction in the USA

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto T. Leon
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Design Procedure ◽  
Concrete Columns ◽  
Short Description ◽  
Smooth Transition ◽  
American Institute ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Column Design ◽  
Main Change

This paper presents an overview of the proposed changes in composite design provisions for the upcoming American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) 2005 Specification. The main change insofar as member design is concerned relates to how composite column design is handled. The new provisions will provide a more smooth transition between design of composite and reinforced concrete columns and a more rational, mechanistically-based design procedure. Insofar as member detailing is concerned, the main change is in the strength values for shear studs, which have been considerably lowered under some circumstances. The paper also presents some ongoing developments in composite floor and lateral load resisting systems, and concludes with a short description of an unusual composite truss.

Gender-based perception of civil engineering and construction students towards infrastructure and community resilience

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Rokooei ◽  
Farshid Vahedifard ◽  
Solomon Belay
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Community Resilience ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Civil Engineers

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of gender differences in the perception of civil engineers and construction (CEC) students toward resilience to natural hazards and extreme events in a changing climate. This study also explores to what extent CEC students perceive the status of the US infrastructure systems similar to an external evaluation model (i.e. American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card). Design/methodology/approach An empirical study was conducted to examine the perception of resilience among 103 females and 279 male CEC students from 15 universities across the USA. The obtained data were quantified, and different statistical methods were used to explore the similarities and differences in the gender group responses. Findings The results indicated a significant mean difference (disagreement) between male and female groups in the importance of community resilience, management and handling of natural hazards. In addition, while there was no meaningful difference between female and male students in their content knowledge, female students showed a more accurate perception about impacting factors involved. Originality/value The findings of this study offer new insight into the impacts of gender differences in the perception of resilience, which can be used to enhance the educational experience of CEC female students in areas related to community and infrastructure resilience.

Understanding Minoan In-House Relationships on Late Bronze Age Crete

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Driessen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Social Unit ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Production And Consumption

Houses, space, and architecture are ways through which identities and social relations are enacted and performed; they produce and support practices that themselves are needed to reproduce or generate identities and interpersonal associations. As archaeologists, we are especially interested in the ways static structures can be used to identify ever-changing social relations; and this chapter is an attempt to approach the architectural configurations and spatial organization of larger residential complexes of Minoan Crete more socially and to see what structured these (Ensor 2013). My aim is to advance our knowledge on the micro-scale of proximate interactions, in other words what the evidence is for in-house relationships. As such it may help in an eventual peopling of the past. For a house to become a home, more than an architectural form is needed. Hence the linkage of house and household and the need for a house to become a social unit, the place of reproduction, socialization, and the setting of primary social and economic dealings. In this sense, the house as a home is also a nexus of social and economic activities and hence achieves a political importance since its roles in production and consumption are pivotal to the amalgamated whole which is the community. He who rules the home, rules the community. The house is the society. Throughout the different periods of Minoan civilixation, houses are given great prominence and many of them are striking architectural creations, surprising because of their size, design, elaboration, and decoration, clear signs of the significance of houses in interpersonal relationships. They are unmistakably more than physical residences; they are also transcendent categories with a life of their own (Bloch 2010: 156–7). Houses stand for social groups and are symbolic foci, something also underlined by J. D. Schloen (2007) in his monograph The House of the Father as Fact and Symbol: Patrimonialism in Ugarit and the Ancient Near East.

Situating Hobby Drone Practices

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia M. Hildebrand
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Location Awareness ◽  
Common Reference ◽  
Low Profile

Abstract Consumer drones are entering everyday spaces with increasing frequency and impact as more and more hobbyists use the aerial tool for recreational photography and videography. In this article, I seek to expand the common reference to drones as “unmanned aircraft systems” by conceptualising the hobby drone practice more broadly as a heterogeneous, mobile assemblage of virtual and physical practices and human and non-human actors. Drawing on initial ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with drone hobbyists as well as ongoing cyber-ethnographic research on social networking sites, this article gives an overview of how the mobile drone practice needs to be situated alongside people, things, and data in physical and virtual spheres. As drone hobbyists set out to fly their devices at a given time and place, a number of relations reaching across atmospheric (e. g. weather conditions, daylight hours, GPS availability), geographic (e. g. volumetric obstacles), mobile (e. g. flight restrictions, ground traffic), and social (e. g. bystanders) dimensions demand attention. Furthermore, when drone operators share their aerial images online, visual (e. g. live stream) and cyber-social relations (e. g. comments, scrutiny) come into play, which may similarly impact the drone practice in terms of the pilot’s performance. While drone hobbysists appear to be interested in keeping a “low profile” in the physical space, many pilots manage a comparatively “high profile” in the virtual sphere with respect to the sharing of their images. Since the recreational trend brings together elements of convergence, location-awareness, and real-time feedback, I suggest approaching consumer drones as, what Scott McQuire (2016) terms, “geomedia.” Moreover, consumer drones open up different “cybermobilities” (Adey/Bevan 2006) understood as connected movement that flows through and shapes both physical and virtual spaces simultaneously. The way that many drone hobbyists appear to navigate these different environments, sometimes at the same time, has methodological implications for ethnographic research on consumer drones. Ultimately, the assemblage-perspective brings together aviation-related and socio-cultural concerns relevant in the context of consumer drones as digital communication technology and visual production tool.

‘Same Race’ Adoption Policy: Anti-racism or Racism?

1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Macey
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Transracial Adoption ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
White People ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Usa

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of ‘same race’ (‘black on black’) adoption policy in Britain and the accompanying antagonism to transracial adoption. In order to highlight the assumptions on which current policy and practice are based, it refers to infant adoption, not to the placement of older children who have already experienced family life in particular class and ethnic locations. The author suggests that current policies, amounting to a virtual ban on transracial adoption in both Britain and the USA, are based on a binary opposition between black and white which denies differences within these categories and similarities across them. She also suggests that this portrayal of black and white people in monolithic terms rests on racist stereotyping and is a distortion of the reality of social relations in contemporary society which marginalises large numbers of people whose origins include both black and white. It draws attention away from crucial questions on adoption in heterogeneous, hierarchical, racially ordered societies and has implications for social relationships in such societies.

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