COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY最新文献

Embarking on an exploration of socio-economic disparities within OECD countries over two decades, this research investigates the effects of the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic on income distribution, labor market dynamics, and health outcomes. Using Exploratory Data Analysis of time-series and mixed-effects models, the study reveals a context characterized by intensifying inequalities, with variations reflecting the unique socio-economic structures of individual countries. It uncovers a pronounced increase in income inequality in countries including Lithuania, Luxembourg, Italy, and the United States, alongside shifts in labor market conditions, with the United States being particularly notable. Furthermore, the analysis highlights a widening of health disparities, evidenced by a decline in life expectancy in countries like the United States, Poland, and Slovakia, and a slowdown in reducing infant mortality rates. The use of mixed-effects models elucidates the role of country-specific factors in shaping these inequalities, revealing a complex interplay of influences that highlight the varied impacts of the pandemic across the OECD. This study not only charts the evolving contours of socio-economic inequalities but also enhances the understanding of global crises’ effects on developed economies.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in most societies globally are perceived to be structured in an imbalanced way, such that one gender is of advantage over the other, most times the male gender. Extant research on gender and leadership has been criticised on different grounds, such as including a one-sided focus, the lack of gendered perspectives, and a neglect of structural, cultural and historical factors in research. This study interrogates the notion that the HEIs are gendered; examines the factors answerable for gender disparities in leadership positions in the selected universities in Nigeria and Ghana; and identifies ways leadership affects each gender’s career advancement in the selected institutions. The qualitative research method was adopted to elicit information from purposely selected men and women, who have held leadership positions, and those who aspired, but were denied in the selected universities. The study utilises the in-depth and key informant interview techniques. It concludes that women still remain under-represented in most male dominated higher education decision making positions, as a result of the institutional climate which does not give adequate room for gender equality and inclusiveness.

USAID democracy promotion programs might not only influence the democracy levels, but also increase the likelihood of revolutionary uprisings in the recipient states. Democracy promotion can strengthen political opponents of the incumbent regime via support for alternative media, civil society groups and political parties, on one hand, and, on the other, support democratic institutions that in contrast to autocracies are more tolerable towards political opponents and thus allow more room for expressing political will on the streets. Since democracy aid targets “democrats” who are less prone to exert armed violence, the authors expect it to be associated with unarmed uprisings. Using logit regression models, they find that the volume of the USAID financial democracy assistance appears to be a significant predictor of unarmed revolutionary destabilization, but its effect is relatively weak. Some particular sub-sectors of democracy assistance have an impact on revolutionary destabilization, namely: civil society, elections, human rights and media assistance. These correlations might be partly explained by the fact that USAID assistance goes disproportionately to anocracies. This aid tends to increase the probability of revolutionary destabilization in two ways – directly (through strengthening political opponents of the regime) and indirectly (through increasing the number of anocracies in the world).

This article analyses the recent rise of Islamophobic films in India. While it may seem that social media has led to a rise in Hindu nationalism and Islamophobia in the recent past, it is crucial to recognize that this narrative is incomplete. The rise of Islamophobia in the country can be traced back to the 20^th century freedom struggle where a counter-narrative to Gandhian concepts of communal harmony can be found in the writings of various leaders, artists and activists. Social media has allowed for a re-proliferation of those strands of thought in recent times through the platforms such as Youtube, which has led to the success of movies like The Kashmir Files or The Kerala Story.

Kazakhstan is in a state of transformation. This is due, on the one hand, to the internal processes of generational change, the economic crisis, and demographic changes. But also, on the other hand, to the collapse of the global security system and the dysfunctionality of international organisations such as Amnesty International, Red Cross, OSCE, and UN. These challenges lead to the construction of a new system of meanings that will help unite Kazakh society. Mythodesign can be a technology for achieving this. In scientific publications, there are gaps in the analysis of how mythodesign is used in Kazakhstan. The article will analyse the state and prospects of mythodesign development in modern Kazakh reality. Mythodesign in the first thirty years of Kazakhstan’s independence included the following elements. Domestic policy: multiculturalism and dialogue in Kazakh society, especially the between the titular (Kazakh) and non-titular (Russian) nations. Foreign policy: a multi-vector policy that came about as a response to Kazakhstan’s geopolitical position. This manifests itself in Kazakhstan’s participation in the Eurasian Economic Union. The key political figure who constructed the national myth was N. Nazarbayev, whose political brand followed these key elements. This study can be used to develop new mythologemes for Kazakhstan.

On the one hand, media is an instrument of social and political trust building: Through it, trustful citizens are formed and socialized as members of a political community. On the other hand, the media is also an object of trust. And the degree people trust the media and its products has important consequences for the legitimacy of government. The authors use data from their own survey to help answer the question of how trust correlates with patterns of media consumption. They find that consumption of legacy media increases social, political and media trust, whereas social media use demonstrates differing platform-specific patterns. The authors could also state some country differences in terms of how media consumption is related to trust.