scholarly journals ROLE OF THE INTERNET IN STRENGTHENING SOCIAL CAPITAL IN EU RURAL AREAS

Author(s):  
Magdalena KOZERA-KOWALSKA ◽  
Adam KOZIOLEK

The article discusses the role of the Internet as an innovative form of interpersonal communication. We assumed that Internet usage in rural areas may not only result in better access to knowledge and information, but also contribute to stronger social cohesion and prevent exclusion of the elderly. We analysed information about individual Internet users in Poland and the EU, including changes related to age, education and domicile. The data enabled us to identify expected change tendencies in rural areas. We highlighted the process of ageing of European farmers with its related social and economic consequences. Against this background, we show the dual role played by the Internet in strengthening social capital in rural areas. On the one hand, it is educational in that it educates and activates young farmers. On the other, it is social, i.e. it helps the elderly stay in touch and participate in social life. We also raised the problem of potential digital exclusion of the elderly.

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Pięta

Competitive advantage in the professional market is shaped by the competences possessed, i.e. skills, qualifications, and permissions. One of the eight types of key competences mentioned in the European Union documents is digital competence.It is a collection of knowledge, skills, and rudiments necessary for both, the purposeful point of view and active participation of a given person in social life. The low level of digital competences possessed is particularly visible among groups at risk of digital exclusion, in particular among people living in rural areas, the elderly and people with low education. The difference between people who have access to a computer and the Internet and people who do not have the possibility to use these devices is affected by the dynamic development of information and communication technologies. Digital exclusion is not only the lack of access to the appropriate infrastructure but also the lack of computer and Internet skills. In order to counteract the exclusion of these groups, activities aimed at developing social capital by strengthening digital competences play an important role.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-196
Author(s):  
Maja Dorota Wojciechowska

PurposeSocial capital, understood as intangible community values available through a network of connections, is a factor in the development of societies and improving quality of life. It helps to remove economic inequalities and prevent poverty and social exclusion, stimulate social and regional development, civic attitudes and social engagement and build a civic society as well as local and regional identity. Many of these tasks may be implemented by libraries, which, apart from providing access to information, may also offer a number of services associated with social needs. The purpose of this paper is to present the roles and functions that libraries may serve in local communities in terms of assistance, integration and development based on classical social capital theories.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews the classical concepts of social capital in the context of libraries. It analyses the findings of Pierre-Félix Bourdieu, James Coleman, Francis Fukuyama, Robert Putnam, Nan Lin, Ronald Stuart Burt, Wayne Baker and Alejandro Portes. Based on their respective concepts, the paper analyses the role of the contemporary library in the social life of local communities. In particular, it focuses on the possible new functions that public libraries may serve.FindingsA critical review of the concept of social capital revealed certain dependencies between libraries and their neighbourhoods. With new services that respond to the actual social needs, libraries may serve as a keystone, namely they may integrate, animate and engage local communities. This, however, requires a certain approach to be adopted by the personnel and governing authorities as well as infrastructure and tangible resources.Originality/valueThe social engagement of libraries is usually described from the practical perspective (reports on the services provided) or in the context of research on the impact of respective projects on specific groups of users (research reports). A broader approach, based on original social theories, is rarely encountered. The paper draws on classical concepts of social capital and is a contribution to the discussion on possible uses of those concepts based on an analysis of the role of libraries in social life and in strengthening the social capital of local communities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Grigory N. Utkin

The article reveals the conceptual, meaning-forming role of the categories of the unconditional and conditional in law. At the same time, their dialectical relationship with each other and with other categories is put in the center of attention. The dialectic of the unconditional and conditional is revealed by achieving the unity of the three stages of theoretical analysis, which allows us to present the unconditional and conditional, on the one hand, as the content of all concepts, through which the idea of law is generally expressed in various aspects and elements; on the other hand, the entire set of categories subject to dialectical analysis appears as elements of the content of the unconditional and conditional as semantic units that Express the universal characteristics of law in its features, isolation from other forms of social life.


Author(s):  
В. С. Мякотных ◽  
А. П. Сиденкова ◽  
Е. С. Остапчук ◽  
И. А. Кулакова ◽  
Н. А. Белых ◽  
...  

Высокий риск когнитивных расстройств у лиц пожилого и старческого возраста заставляет, с одной стороны, искать их причины, с другой - возможности профилактики. В связи с этим в последние годы получило распространение понятие когнитивного резерва, подразумевающего совокупность количественных параметров головного мозга и его способности сохранять высокую функциональную активность в процессе старения и на фоне связанной с возрастом патологии головного мозга. Представленный в статье материал на основе обзора научной литературы освещает два основных момента, касающихся возможности сохранения когнитивного резерва, - гендерный и образовательный факторы. Указывается на разные возможности женщин и мужчин, связанные со структурными и функциональными особенностями ЦНС у представителей разного пола, и на особую роль поддерживаемого в течение всей жизни образовательного процесса. Обозначена авторская позиция о необходимости разделения понятий образования и образованности, то есть уровня общей культуры и создания удобного инструмента для определения последнего. Это, в свою очередь, помогло бы в разработке модели когнитивного резерва, нацеленной на предотвращение трансформации физиологического когнитивного старения в патологическое. The high risk of cognitive disorders in the elderly and senile age makes, on the one hand, to look for their causes, on the other - the possibility of prevention. In this regard, in recent years, the concept of cognitive reserve has become widespread, implying a set of quantitative parameters of the brain and its ability to maintain high functional activity in the process of aging and against the background of age-related brain pathology. The material presented in the article on the basis of the review of scientific literature highlights two main points concerning the possibility of preserving the cognitive reserve-gender and educational factors. It is pointed to the different opportunities of women and men associated with the structural and functional characteristics of the Central nervous system in representatives of different sexes and the special role of the educational process supported throughout life. The author’s position on the need to separate the concepts of education and the level of General culture, and the creation of a convenient tool for determining the latter is indicated. This, in turn, would help in the development of a cognitive reserve model aimed at preventing the transformation of physiological cognitive aging into pathological aging.


2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk de Vos

AbstractAlthough community is a core sociological concept, its meaning is often left vague. In this article it is pointed out that it is a social form that has deep connections with human social nature. Human social life and human social history can be seen as unflagging struggles between two contradictory behavioral modes: reciprocity and status competition. Relative to hunter-gatherer societies, present society is a social environment that strongly seduces to engage in status competition. But at the same time evidence increases that communal living is strongly associated with well being and health. A large part of human behavior and of societal processes are individual and collective expressions of on the one hand succumbing to the seductions of status competition and one the other hand attempts to build and maintain community. In this article some contemporary examples of community maintaining, enrichment and building are discussed. The article concludes with a specification of structural conditions for community living and a short overview of ways in which the Internet affects these conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-46
Author(s):  
Abbas Strømmen-Bakhtiar ◽  
Evgueni Vinogradov ◽  
Marit Kristin Kvarum ◽  
Kristian Rydland Antonsen

The technological developments described in terms of industrial revolutions or disruptive innovations have been shaping economic and social life in rural areas. The global trend towards urbanization presents a major challenge to rural communities. The aim of this article is to study how the peer-to-peer economy influences rural municipalities. On the one hand, in the literature, it is argued that sharing economy may improve accessibility, encourage mobility, attract investments and reduce urban bias. On the other hand, both academics and practitioners are aware of the disruptive effects of sharing economy on e.g., local real estate and labor markets. This qualitative study is based on empirical data from a municipality on the Lofoten Islands of Norway. The results demonstrate that Airbnb has some positive and some negative effects on rural development, but the magnitudes of these effects are modest. Of positive effects, the authors can mention increased local tourism, stimulation of conservation/restoration of traditional houses, and increased recreational mobility for rural residents.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 446-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyyed Abolfazl Vagharseyyedin ◽  
Bahare Zarei ◽  
Mahdi Hosseini

Background Affective organisational commitment (AOC) refers to employees’ emotional attachment to the organisation and identification with it. It is vital that nurses explore contributors to their AOC because they stand as the largest group of employees in healthcare organisations. Aim This cross-sectional, analytical study explored the role of workplace social capital (WSC), compassion satisfaction (CS), and secondary traumatic stress (STS) in AOC in a sample of Iranian nurses. Method The study sample consisted of 250 nurses working in eight hospitals affiliated with Birjand University of Medical Sciences, eastern Iran. Participants’ WSC was measured using the Social Capital at Work Scale developed by Kouvonen et al. (2006). CS and STS were measured using CS and STS dimensions of the Professional Quality of Life measure (Version 5) developed by Stamm (2010). Results Significant positive associations were found between WSC and AOC ( p < 0.001), between the cognitive dimension of WSC and AOC ( p < 0.001), between the structural dimension of WSC and AOC ( p < 0.001), and between CS and AOC ( p < 0.001). The correlation between STS and AOC ( p < 0.001) was negatively significant. Conclusion Effort to promote WSC and CS on the one hand and prevention and early recognition of STS on the other hand can enhance nurses’ AOC.


Author(s):  
Brian O’Neill

Age-old debates on children’s encounters with media technologies reveal a long, fractured and contentious tradition within communication and media studies. Despite the fact there have been studies of effects of media use by children since the earliest days of broadcasting, the subject remains under-theorised, poorly represented in the literature and not widely understood in media policy debates. Old debates have intensified in relation to the study of children and the internet. Pitted between alarmist accounts of risks, excessive use and harmful effects on the one hand and the many accounts about "digital natives" and the transformational power of technology is the empirical project – represented by EU Kids Online among others – of building an evidence base for understanding the evolving environment for youth online engagement. In this paper, I situate that body of work in an ecological context, both in the sense of the Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model that has been so important in the new sociology of childhood, as well as in the more loosely defined theoretical approach of media ecology. The latter tradition, associated primarily with McLuhan and later Postman, frames the media environment as a complex interplay between technology and society in which modes of communication and mediated interaction fundamentally shape human behaviour and social life. These strands offer the basis for framing some of the issues of evidence-based policymaking relating to internet governance, regulation and youth protection online.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 218
Author(s):  
Janko Mursak ◽  
Jasna Mazgon

The local schools have always been the centers of the cultural and social life of the Slovenian communities. Functioning as a socio-cultural center of the local community, the school greatly surpassed its primary role of providing education to children. The process of urbanization that reached rural areas as well as the secularization of lifestyles brought about very interesting changes to the previously expanded function of local schools. In the research study we conducted in 2014 and 2015 we examined how contemporary schools perceive the need for collaboration and participation in their local environments. The results of qualitative analysis indicate that merging or closing of local schools could have negative demographic and socio-cultural consequences. Furthermore, the analysis has also revealed the underused potential of the localities lacking tradition, such as new urban areas where the school could be the crucial element in the social organization of the local community.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Vevy Liansari

This study aims to know how the pattern of interpersonal communication that occurs between parents and children with speech delay. While the use of this study is as a reference for parents, educators, observers and responsible of education in general in an effort to instill a good example of children and also in an effort to apply good interpersonal communication patterns between both parties. The data collection methods are in-depth interviews and observations. In the process of improving interpersonal communication patterns in parents and children found some obstacles both in the elderly and early age children. The results of this study indicate that the role of parents in establishing interpersonal communication patterns of early childhood greatly affect the behavior of young children. Therefore parents should be able to apply good interpersonal communication patterns to early childhood with speech delay and maintain an intense relationship to reduce the impact of speech delay from internal and external influences.


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