The Missionary's Concern in Sociology and Psychology

Africa ◽  
1931 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-434
Author(s):  
Richard Thurnwald
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
The Mind

Opening ParagraphThe knowledge of the social organization and its changes, of the attitude of the average man towards his daily problems, of the emotional and intellectual background of conduct, must be the starting-point for every effort to influence a man in his particular world. The European missionary or teacher comes from another environment, he is accustomed to social conditions, mental ways, intellectual and emotional responses different from those of his pupils. This divergence in the mind of individuals and in the functioning of society often becomes a stumbling-block to the European, especially to a newcomer. A careful study of the situation he has to deal with is therefore essential for the missionary and teacher.

scholarly journals Toward a Taxonomy of Harm

NASKO ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Melissa Adler ◽  
Joseph T. Tennis
Keyword(s):  
Social Conditions ◽  
Knowledge Organization ◽  
Minimal Level ◽  
Potential Harm ◽  
Ethical Knowledge ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Knowledge Organization Systems ◽  
Greater Good ◽  
Naming Practices

When we organize knowledge we act. The wholesomeness of our actions can be measured in the proportion of good or harm they do. How then do we identify and define potential harm in knowledge organization systems? A starting point for contributing to the greater good is to examine and interrogate existing knowledge organization practices that do harm, whether that harm is intentional or accidental, or an inherent and unavoidable evil. As part of the transition movement, the authors propose that we take inventory of the manifestations and implications of the production of suffering by knowledge organization systems through constructing a taxonomy of harm. The aim of our work is (1) to heighten awareness of the violence that classifications and naming practices carry, (2) to unearth some of the social conditions and motivations that contribute to and are reinforced by knowledge organization systems, and (3) to advocate for intentional and ethical knowledge organization practices to achieve a minimal level of harm.

The Social World as Will and Idea: Schopenhauer's Influence upon Durkheim's Thought

1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 674-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stjepan G. Mestrovic
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social World ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intellectual Context ◽  
Nature Perception ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Unity Of Knowledge

The starting-point for this analysis is a remark made by André Lalande, that Durkheim was so enamoured with Schopenhauer's philosophy that his students nicknamed him ‘Schopen’. The intellectual context shared by Schopenhauer and Durkheim is explored, especially with regard to the opposition between the id-like ‘will’ and the mind. Schopenhauer's influence upon Durkheim's contemporaries is examined briefly. Then, this new context for apprehending Durkheim's thought is applied to selected problems in Durkheimian scholarship, problems that have to do with the dualism of human nature, perception, the unconscious and the unity of knowledge relative to the object-subject debate. The implications for sociological theory are also discussed.

scholarly journals Mapping the Social Organization of Labour in Moscow: Beyond the Formal/informal Labour Dualism

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C. Williams ◽  
Sara Nadin ◽  
Peter Rodgers ◽  
John Round ◽  
Jan Windebank
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Spatial Variations ◽  
Social Organisation ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Informal Labour

The starting point of this paper is recognition that the depiction of a formal/informal labour dualism, which views formal and informal labour as separate and hostile realms, is inappropriate for capturing the range of labour practices in societies. This is because labour practices cannot be neatly separated into discrete formal and informal realms, the differences within the formal and informal spheres are as great as the differences between the two realms, and formal and informal labour are not always embedded in different economic relations, values and motives. Here, an alternative more nuanced conceptual lens is proposed that resolves these problems and in so doing captures the multifarious labour practices in societies, namely the total social organization of labour (TSOL) perspective. This depicts labour practices as existing along a spectrum from more formal-oriented to more informal-oriented practices and cross-cuts this with a further spectrum from non-monetized, through in-kind and reciprocal labour, to monetized labour. Applying this conceptual lens, the results of a survey of the anatomy of labour practices in an affluent, mixed and deprived district of Moscow, comprising 313 face-to-face interviews, are then analysed. This reveals that socio-spatial variations in the organisation of labour are not solely about the degree of formalization of working life. Instead, this study unravels that populations range from relatively affluent ‘work busy’ populations undertaking, and voluntarily selecting from, a multiplicity of labour practices, to relatively disadvantaged ‘work deprived’ populations engaged in a narrower range of practices and more commonly out of necessity and in the absence of alternatives. The outcome is call for both the wider application and refinement of this TSOL approach when mapping the social organisation of labour and evaluations of whether the findings from Moscow are more widely valid in other societal contexts.

The Social Structure of the Nyakyusa: a Re-evaluation

Africa ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Mckenny
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Value System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Western Tanzania

Opening ParagraphThe Nyakyusa of south-western Tanzania have received very substantial ethnographic coverage. Nonetheless there remain certain gaps in our knowledge of this society. The field-work by Dr. Godfrey Wilson and Professor Monica Wilson was done largely in the mid 1930s before structural-functional analysis had achieved its present refinement and was evidently influenced by Malinowski who was not himself known for a concern in sociological analysis per se. In these studies of the Nyakyusa, values, beliefs, and ritual were a main object of attention; they present Nyakyusa society as though it were a direct result of the Nyakyusa value system, although the actual workings of the society have been left rather obscure. It is presented as coherent, values and social organization reinforcing each other at every point. But internal evidence contradicts this picture, and on a priori grounds it may also be seen that there were several structural pressures towards incoherence, or rather, conflict between the actual development of social organization through time and those presumably timeless values reputed to maintain it.

scholarly journals „Wenn ich es nicht tue, dann macht's ein anderer“ – Subjektwerdungen und Verantwortung

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-124
Author(s):  
Klaus Geiselhart ◽  
Tobias Häberer
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Central Idea ◽  
Autonomous Action ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Mind

Abstract. Poststructuralist theory focuses largely on describing how and why subjects reproduce the social conditions they have internalised. This is a deconstruction of the central idea of the Enlightenment, the human capacity for autonomous action. At the same time, however, it also denies all individuals any responsibility and ultimately leads criticism into a crisis. Pragmatist philosophy offers the possibility of determining the role of the mind in processes of becoming a subject without abandoning the achievements of the poststructuralist concept of subjectification. The concept of transaction describes how actors constitute each other as subjects within social situations. The relationships that arise through such processes depend, among other things, on the personalities of those people involved. Accordingly, it is possible to identify the responsibility of individuals to govern their social relations and personality development. Since these aspects can only be determined in localised individual cases, this offers a particularly suitable starting point for geographical critic.

Le développement idéologique en situation coloniale: essai de théorisation

1976 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-62
Author(s):  
Denis Monière
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Marxist Theory ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Slave System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Method Of Production ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Mode Of Production

The fundamental element in the Marxist theory of ideologies is that men's ideas and perceptions are determined by the way in which they earn their living and by the social conditions which ensue. But this view by itself does not adequately explain the ideological framework of a social organization and its process of development since other factors intervene. The dialectic governing the formulation of ideologies is not only vertical but horizontal as well, and in two respects. First, one must avoid being trapped by a logical assumption about the connection between the method of production and the creation of a social structure. We must recognize the co-existence of modes of production; that is to say that in a given social structure there can be several methods of production. Thus, while a capitalist mode of production may prevail, it can still accommodate perfectly well for a certain length of time the continuation of some elements of the feudal or slave system of production, even though the logical end of capitalism is to spread and eliminate them. Hence, depending on the relationship between methods of production, one can discover in the overall structure of the prevailing mode of production some traces of the method of production which previously was dominant, especially during a transitional period.

Land Reform among the Mbeere of Central Kenya

Africa ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 182-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brokensha ◽  
Jack Glazier
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
South West ◽  
Tana River ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Central Kenya

Opening ParagraphThe Mbeere live in the area east of Mount Kenya and south-west of the Tana River. Numbering just under 50,000 they are ethnographically much less well known than their related neighbours the Kikuyu, Embu, Meru, and Kamba. In this paper we first outline the social organization, then the system of land rights, continuing to describe the government's programme of land reform, concluding by assessing the probable consequences of changes in land tenure.

Chiefship and Politics in the Mlanje District of Southern Nyasaland

Africa ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-45
Author(s):  
R. L. Wishlade
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Administrative District ◽  
Southern Province ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphMlanje is an Administrative District in the Southern Province of Nyasaland. It is densely populated compared with other parts of Central Africa, having a population of 209,522 in 1945, which represented a density of 138 per square mile. The population is tribally heterogeneous, and was composed, in 1945, of 71 per cent. Nguru, 21 per cent. Nyanja, and 5 per cent. Yao people. The Nguru are the most recent arrivals, having immigrated into Nyasaland mainly during the present century. The term Nguru is used to refer to the representatives in Nyasaland of a number of tribes inhabiting that part of Portuguese East Africa which Lies to the east of Nyasaland; these immigrants call themselves Lomwe and in Mlanje are mainly Mihavani and Kokola. The Nyanja are the indigenous inhabitants of the area, who were living there before the invasion of the Mangoche Yao during the nineteenth century. Although they are linguistically distinct, the social organization of these three groups is markedly similar, and there has been a great deal of intermarriage between them, particularly between the Nyanja and the Nguru. No one of them is in sole occupation of a continuous stretch of territory, even the smallest residential groups are often tribally heterogeneous, the similarity of the social organization enabling Nyanja to be absorbed into Nguru hamlets and vice versa. For this reason it is impossible to use a tribal unit as a unit of reference in a discussion of the political organization of this area.

The Social Organization of Credit in a West African Cattle Market

Africa ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abner Cohen
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
West African ◽  
The Other ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
African Cattle ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Cattle Market

Opening ParagraphCredit is a vital economic institution without which trade becomes very limited. In the industrial Western societies, where it is highly developed, it operates through formal, standardized arrangements and procedures by which the solvency of the debtor is closely assessed, securities against possible default are provided, and the conditions of the agreement are documented and endorsed by the parties concerned. Ultimately, these arrangements and procedures are upheld by legislated rules and sanctions administered by central, bureaucratized, fairly impartial, efficient, and effective courts and police. In West Africa, on the other hand, where long-distance trade has been fostered by varying ecological circumstances, such organization has not yet evolved, particularly for long-distance trade. Nevertheless extensive systems of credit have been developed.

Polygamy in Mεnde Country

Africa ◽  
1937 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. H. Crosby
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Social System ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphPolygamy is a social system, and is intimately bound up with the subject of property, of labour, and of the difference in status between men and women. If this paper appears to trespass into other fields it is because of the complexity of the subject and because polygamy is not something that can be abstracted from the social organization generally and be examined by itself; it is both symptom and cause of widespread difference in Mende society from that of our own.

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