While there may be some debate over whether Russia’s or Canada’s version of “Naked News” came first, for many social observers the beginning of serious news delivered by naked women or women in the act of stripping indicates a crisis in the practice of journalism. To say that the boundary between journalism and entertainment has
Music in various functions plays an increasingly important role both as an indicator of and as a medium for changes in society. Popular music is with us constantly; it is part of our everyday environment, and increasingly part of the aural or sonic soundscape that surrounds us. Not only do we listen to music in
Myth comes from the Greek word mythos meaning “speech” or “story.” Contrary to popular parlance that says a myth is something untrue, false, or fake, mythology is in fact true stories and timeless tales passed down from generation to generation. Myths provide answers and explanations for the big questions of life, such as: where did
Reality TV became an increasingly prevalent global entertainment genre in the 1990s and early 2000s. The popularity of reality shows with producers is due in large part to the fact that they represent a cheap, flexible form of programming that is easily customizable to different audiences and lends itself to forms of interaction and participation
“Popular communication” can be characterized by the various ways in which the general public engages popular forms of communication including radio, television, film, popular music, and print media such as magazines, newspapers, and popular literature, as well as new technologies such as the Internet, email, and mobile phones. In addition to their general utility, these
“Communication” derives from the Latin term communicare meaning to share or impart and to make common. “Popular communication” refers to those efforts of, by, and for the people that establish and maintain this sharing and commonality. In this sense, communication is the basic requirement for sustaining any social group. “The people” are generally understood as
Rituals and ritualization can be found in all aspects of contemporary social life: religion, education, politics, popular culture, work life, family life, friendship, consumption, and leisure. Formal ceremonies such as religious observances, weddings, funerals, or oaths of office are familiar; the rest of social life is also punctuated by small bits of ritual and ceremoniousness
The community of East Asian communication researchers has been growing rapidly in recent years, which shows that communication studies in East Asia has reached a certain level of maturity (Miike & Chen 2006). In the United States the academic study of communication began after World War I. In East Asian culture, however, the academic study
The communication discipline in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Hong Kong is strong and diverse. Although regional research clearly emerged from a strong US and British tradition, it has matured. This maturity is evident not only in the region’s contribution to evolving communication research, but also in identifying and analyzing significant trends as the region’s
Present-day communication education in Africa has not been able to build on a rich tradition of a longstanding university system. Widespread university education in Africa is a postcolonial phenomenon, with North Africa and South Africa being the main exceptions. Like other academic disciplines, communication studies suffers much of this postcolonial legacy, be it the effect
Applied communication research refers to a type of communication scholarship as well as to a sub-field of communication with which that research is identified. In the more specific sense, applied communication research is communication scholarship that emphasizes the creation of knowledge about communication in specific contexts, applicable to social issues, and often for the solution
The International Communication Association (ICA) began more than 50 years ago as a small association of US researchers and is now a truly international association with more than 4,000 members in 76 countries. With its headquarters in Washington, DC, the ICA publishes four refereed journals (a fifth will begin in 2008), a yearbook, and a
The International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) is an international professional organization in the field of media and communication research. Its aims are to promote global inclusiveness and excellence in research, to stimulate interest in media and communication research, to disseminate information about research results, and to provide a forum where researchers can
Communication research is intimately related to politics, especially if politics is understood widely as the deliberate management of society. Research on media and other aspects of communication such as election campaigns has typically been inspired and financed by political motives. On the other hand, research has influenced politics by producing concepts and findings about how
Despite a common interest in communicative activity, mass communication professionals and communication scholars have long been at odds with each other. Scholars argue that media performance can only be enhanced by professionalization of the workforce and the self-knowledge generated from systematic, criteria-based analysis and assessment. They have also systematically criticized a great deal of mass
The field of speech emerged out of changing teaching practices in US higher education in the early twentieth century. Between 1880 and 1920, many of the academic fields in the US formed associations and university departments. University education, with the rise of the research university and the land-grant schools, was becoming accessible to a larger
Perceptions of reality, or social reality, can be conceptualized as an individual’s conception of the world (Hawkins & Pingree 1982). What intrigues many social scientists is the exploration of the specifics of these perceptions and the ways in which they are developed. Social perception has been considered from both individual- and social-level perspectives. The individual-level
Sportswriters cover the news in sports for newspapers and magazines. They research original ideas or follow up on breaking stories, contacting coaches, athletes, and team owners and managers for comments or more information. Sometimes a sportswriter is fortunate enough to get his or her own column, in which the sportswriter editorializes on current news or
Sports trainers, also referred to as athletic trainers, certified sports medicine trainers, and certified sports medicine therapists, help amateur and professional athletes prevent injuries, give first aid when an injury occurs during a practice or event, and manage the rehabilitation programs and routines of injured athletes. Athletic trainers often consult with physicians during all stages
Sports scouts observe athletic contests to gather information that will help the team that employs them. They may attend a game in the hopes of recruiting a player, or they may accumulate information about an opponent’s players and strategies. There are approximately 1,000 professional sports scouts in the United States. History of Sports Scout Career
There are two types of sports publicists: those who work for professional and amateur teams and those who work for individual professional athletes. Sports team publicists handle the daily press operations for the organization. They handle the media relations, set up interviews with players, ensure that the correct information is distributed to the press, and
Sports physicians, also known as team physicians, treat patients who have sustained injuries to their musculoskeletal systems during the play or practice of an individual or team sporting event. Sports physicians also do preparticipation tests and physical exams. Some sports physicians create educational programs to help athletes prevent injury. Sports physicians work for schools, universities
Sports photographers are specialists hired to shoot pictures of sporting events and athletes. They work for newspapers, magazines, and photo stock agencies to bring photos of events of all sizes (from a Little League game to the Olympics) to the pages of periodicals, the Internet, or other publications. Their pictures should clearly capture the movements
Sports instructors demonstrate and explain the skills and rules of particular sports, like golf or tennis, to individuals or groups. They help beginners learn basic rules, stances, grips, movements, and techniques of a game. Sports instructors often help experienced athletes to sharpen their skills. Coaches work with a single, organized team or individual, teaching the
Sports agents act as representatives for professional athletes in many different types of negotiations, providing advice and representation concerning contracts, endorsement and advertisement deals, public appearances, and financial investments and taxes, among other areas. They may represent only one athlete or many, depending on the sport, the size of their agency, and the demands of
Sporting goods production workers are involved in manufacturing, assembling, and finishing sporting goods equipment such as golf clubs, fishing tackle, basketballs, footballs, skis, and baseball equipment. Their tasks range from operating machines to fine handcrafting of equipment. Throughout history, every society and culture has developed games and sports for relaxation and competition. Bowling, for example
Speech-language pathologists and audiologists help people who have speech and hearing defects. They identify the problem and use tests to further evaluate it. Speech-language pathologists try to improve the speech and language skills of clients with communications disorders. Audiologists perform tests to measure the hearing ability of clients, who may range in age from the
While anthropologists in the United States developed cultural anthropology, the British developed social anthropology. In the present, despite the fact that social anthropology departments still exist in Great Britain and in other parts of the world, social anthropology existed as a distinct discipline only from the early 1920s to the early 1970s. Historically, social anthropologists
The Need for Visual Anthropology Since the advent of modern photographic technology (still and moving), the use of visual methods for anthropological documentation and inquiry has been an integral part of the discipline, although it was not formally known as visual anthropology until after World War II. Visual anthropology has been used to document, preserve
Anthropology may be best viewed as the comparative scientific study of human societies and cultures throughout the world and throughout time. This seems to appropriately summarize the nature of anthropology and the depth of the ability of this discipline to provide a holistic approach to the study of humankind. Anthropology is comparative in that it
As the science of humankind, anthropology strives to give a comprehensive and coherent view of our own species within material nature, organic evolution, and sociocultural development. Facts, concepts, and perspectives converge into a sweeping and detailed picture of human beings within earth history in general and the primate world in particular. To give meaning and
Anthropometry is the measurement of the size and proportions of the human body. Anthropometric measurements include those of the whole body, such as weight and stature (standing height). Also, anthropometry assesses specific areas of the body, as with circumference measurements around a body part, like the arm or skull. Furthermore, specific body tissues can be
The term is composed of two words of Greek origin: anthropos (man) and morphe (form, aspect). It defines the attribution of properly human characteristics to nonhuman beings, that is, either divine entities or animals. Anthropomorphism of Divinities In many religions, polytheistic or monotheistic, the divine was or is believed to possess external or internal characteristics
Unlike nearby Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand is not a multicultural society, but rather, according to local terminology, a bicultural society. The two cultures referred to in this notion are those of the original indigenous people, the Maori, and an emerging indigenous people, the Pakeha. In te reo Maori, the Maori language, pakeha means stranger; the term
Evolutionary biogeography addresses the historical relationship between geographic space and the processes of biological differentiation, such as speciation and adaptation. Darwin observed that the evolution of related species in different locations required that they also share a common ancestral location he called the “center of origin.” Darwin thought this requirement was so obvious that it
Biological anthropologists use the comparative perspective in their efforts to reconstruct human evolutionary history. As our closest living relatives, primates are often used to frame comparisons and to test hypotheses about various human features. A feature (behavioral, genetic, or anatomical) that appears in all primate species is at least initially assumed to also characterize the
Language is a collection of symbols that represents objects, actions, and thoughts. It is representational, allowing for the transmission and relocation of information between minds. It can be written, spoken, gestured, and/or signed for purposes of communication. It is often debated whether or not humans are the only animal possessing language capabilities. In particular, some
In the mid-twentieth century, many developing countries experienced a ‘demographic transition’: a transition from a society in which women had many births and many infant deaths, to a society with lower fertility and lower infant mortality. This pattern was particularly pronounced in China and India, which enjoyed rapid improvements in public health and steep declines
Health workers are at the center of health systems, and the health workforce plays a key role in increasing access to health services for populations in developing countries. There are numerous challenges in this critical area of health policy in developing countries. At the global level, a 2006 World Health Organization analysis found that an
A total of 7.6 million children and 287 000 mothers (2010 data) die every year, and approximately 95% of these deaths occurred in 75 countries with the highest burden of maternal and child deaths. Of these, more than two-thirds could be avoided if everyone had access to known effective interventions. Making such interventions available is
At the end of 2011, according to Joint United Nations Program on Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (UNAIDS), an estimated 34 million people were living with HIV worldwide. The number of people dying of AIDS-related causes fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid- 2000s.
This article discusses internal imbalances of health care in low-and middle-income countries. Throughout this article, ‘internal’ refers to within country, and the emphasis will lie on the differences between rural and urban areas. Much of the work in this area focuses on the imbalance in the quantity of health workers, but recent evidence indicates that
Health and nutrition outcomes are critical to the well-being of households and individuals and their economic productivity and prosperity. Although it seems evident that a debilitated worker will be less productive, there are numerous indirect, subtle, and complex pathways that link poor health and nutrition to economic output, such as sick children, or children of
Poor performance of health care providers plagues the delivery of health services in many low- and middle-income countries. The underlying reasons are complex and incompletely understood, but poor performance is not simply due to inadequate training or deficiencies in provider knowledge. Instead, a growing body of evidence documents substantial deficits in provider effort. One striking
Governments throughout the world intervene in the health sector. One motivation is that under Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights access to adequate healthcare is a fundamental human right. A second motivation is that the health sector is subject to many market failures, due to, for example, consumption externalities, imperfect information, and
Water supply and sanitation are at their core a public health issue. Every year, 2.2 million people die from diarrheal diseases, a leading cause of which is unhygienic water and sanitation. Improving health and mitigating diarrheal morbidity and mortality is the underlying rationale for water and sanitation Millennium Development Goals, which call for reducing by
Cost–value analysis (CVA) is a type of formal economic evaluation that can be used to inform decision makers in a public health service about the value to the public of different health technologies and what ought to be the public health service’s maximum willingness to pay for them. In estimating value and limits to willingness
Although Big Science is a rather nebulous term, most commentators have used it to describe an array of perceived changes in science and scientific practice during and after World War II. Following Alvin Weinberg’s Reflections on Big Science, the term has often been associated with the rise of a military industrial government academic complex, the
A classic analytical distinction between a citation and a reference reads: ”if paper R contains a bibliographic footnote using and describing paper C, then R contains a reference to C, and C has a citation from R.” According to this, citation and referencing are relations among published texts. But whereas referencing is an intratextual relation
Neither science based industry nor university involvement in commercially relevant science is a new phenomenon. In certain sectors, US firms employed scientists in the late nineteenth century, and examples of university-industry collaboration in the United States can be found in the early twentieth century. That said, the advent of the biotechnology industry in the late
Ethnographic studies of science have their origins in the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies (STS) that emerged out of the Civil Rights Movement, feminism, and environmentalism of the 1960s. STS research illustrates that science and technology are a human achievement, composed of actors, social systems, and social processes. Or, in other words, science
The terms fact, theory, and hypothesis are sometimes treated as though they had clear meanings and clear relations with one another, but their histories and uses are more complex and diverse than might be expected. The usual sense of these words places them in a relationship of increasing uncertainty. A fact is usually thought of
Finalization in science is a theory concerning the relationship between science and society from a historical and political perspective. It was developed in the 1970s by Gernot Bohme, Wolfgang van den Daele, and Wolfgang Krohn (Bohme et al. 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978). Its main thesis is that modern science has internal dynamics that allow it
Although the double helix structure of DNA was discovered in 1953 by James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin, it was not until the 1980s that powerful sequencing and information technologies were developed that enabled scientists to identify particular genes associated with hereditary diseases and to begin to map all of the genes
One of the most persistent commonsense accounts of science is that in which scientists are understood systematically to assemble observations and arrive at reliable generalizations based upon them. Sometimes, wrongly, this simple inductive empiricist view is laid at the door of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and dubbed ”Baconian inductivism.” In fact, Bacon’s views were considerably more
The most prominent laboratory studies – produced in the late 1970s and early 1980s -continued a trend in the sociology of science and technology away from attention to the institutional character of science and toward a sociological understanding of the process of knowledge production itself and the ”technical core” of science. To comprehend the process
Studies of scientific practice were the first to investigate scientific practice and science in the making empirically, something that had not been done by philosophers and historians of science. The outcomes of these studies opposed the standard view of science and instead showed how science and scientific knowledge are produced locally and scientists, instruments, computers
Consumer culture, the creation and cultivation of self-and social meaning from the marketing, purchase, and display of commodified goods, is a central characteristic of modern and postmodern society. Although related to other forms of culture, such as commercial culture, material culture, and popular culture, it is a theoretically distinct realm that includes the symbolic qualities
Cultural appropriation describes the use and exploitation by a majority or dominant group, of cultural knowledge or expressions originally produced by a minority or dominated group. It is applied to media and popular communication when ideas, images, sounds, and narratives produced by one group are appropriated for personal, professional, or commercial gain by members of
The study of the culture industries has become increasingly more complex in the field of communications in light of the ways in which expanding research into their organization, activities, and logics connects with questions and arguments concerning culture, commercialism, and social control. Largely originating in Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s The Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944)
On the terrain of popular communication are cultural artifacts with a potential to entertain, inform, or persuade. Accordingly, dramatic media content has been investigated by way of five interdependent perspectives: (1) genre, (2) medium, (3) narrative, (4) ideology, and (5) meaning. Especially with regard to film and television, this generic designation has been fluid, with
A fan is someone who is more than an ordinary, occasional television viewer, book reader, Internet user, music listener, or movie-goer. The etymology of “fan” is the Latin word fanaticus, which is also the source of the word fanatic. Bielby et al. (1999, 35) state, while being a consumer of a medium is one thing
Fashion, as extension of a human being beyond the corporeal body, is also a method of demarcating sameness and difference. As communicated through advertising, fashion not only reflects an individual’s self-image, but also is done in anticipation of how others will regard the dramaturgical display (Goffman 1959). As an expression of popular preferences and culture
Fetishization refers to a process of imbuing an object or idea with power. A fetish object is often associated with sexual gratification, desire, and worship. Fetishization marks a cultural, psychological, and social technique of fetishizing things by making them appear larger than life, animate, or sexually desirable. It is argued that this process has profoundly
Within the discipline of communication there has been a long history of studying the relationship between girls, media, and other cultural artifacts. Until recently, however, the focus of such studies has been almost solely on girls as consumers of media and other products and/or as passive victims of mediated portrayals of femininity. For example, the
Communication created and shared through the Internet has proliferated since the mid-1990s, with more people adapting to the web’s creative spaces through easy-to-use technology. Indeed, much popular communication today is likely also to be classified as computer-mediated communication. The Internet not only provides access to web spaces where people view or listen to digital video
Media ecology is a multidisciplinary field that studies the evolution, effects, and forms of environments. Media ecology is most often defined as both the study of media as environments and the study of environments – such as situations or contexts – as media. Scholars work within expansive definitions of media, ecology, and technology. Although “medium”
Organizations communicate core messages (position themselves) to different types of audiences (target groups) that they select out of a list of possible audience segments or profiles, defined according to a number of segmentation criteria. On the basis of this segmentation, audience profile selection, and positioning decision, organizations will define communication objectives and messages and build
The South Asian region comprises Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Given the relatively undeveloped nature of communication as an academic discipline in most of South Asia with the exception of India, the major focus of this article will be on the scenario in India. Phase 1: 1940 –1989 Communication as
The institutionalization of communication as an academic field in Israel began with the establishment of the Communication Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1966 when founded by Elihu Katz, and through the 1990s, the Communication Institute acted as a sole academic authority, a conceptual model, and a source of faculty recruitment for communication
The history of communication as an academic field of study in the Arab world goes back to 1939 when the Higher Journalism Institute (HJI) was established within the College of Arts at Cairo University (Cairo University 2004). By the early 1970s, Egypt and Iraq (Baghdad University) were the only countries in the Arab region to
There is general agreement that the communication discipline, as we know it today, began in the USA. There is, however, a degree of disagreement as to how to trace the origins of the discipline. Arguably, the organizational roots of the communication discipline could be divided into two traditions: the “speech” tradition and the “journalism” tradition.
Communication as an academic field of research in Western Europe scarcely predates World War II and, with minor exceptions, did not develop as a full program of study until the last quarter of the twentieth century. The main exception was Germany, where a press science (Zeitungswissenschaft) was quite well established in some German universities before
The international history of communication and media studies has yet to be written. To this point, most histories have been national, with the bulk of attention devoted to North America and western Europe. These emphases are not unwarranted, for the field established itself first on either side of the North Atlantic, was disseminated outward from
Communication and media studies matured into an integrated discipline in the years following 1968. Research and education became centralized in independent schools of communication, while at the same time drawing from related disciplines to improve methodology and explore new paradigms. By the early 1960s, communication studies began to move out of departments of sociology, psychology
In Latin America communication studies started during the late 1960s, and were characterized by two very different conceptions. On the one hand, there was the functional paradigm, from the United States (where many Latin American professors had been trained), which related the study of communication to the diffusion of innovations, and which was part of
Media communication, mass communication, political communication, and other aspects of social communication represent a dynamic academic field in contemporary central and Eastern Europe and Russia. In particular, communication on the societal level, which was the subject of the most visible and remarkable changes during the 1990s (reintroduction of “free” media and deep structural change of
Surgical technologists, also called surgical technicians or operating room technicians, are members of the surgical team who work in the operating room with surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other personnel before, during, and after surgery. They ensure a safe and sterile environment. To prepare a patient for surgery, they may wash, shave, and disinfect the area
Stunt performers, also called stuntmen and stuntwomen, are actors who perform dangerous scenes in motion pictures. They may fall off tall buildings, get knocked from horses and motorcycles, imitate fistfights, and drive in high-speed car chases. They must know how to set up stunts that are both safe to perform and believable to audiences. In
Surgeons are physicians who make diagnoses and provide preoperative, operative, and postoperative care in surgery affecting almost any part of the body. These doctors also work with trauma victims and the critically ill. Approximately 52,930 surgeons are employed in the United States. History of Surgeon Career Surgery is perhaps the oldest of all medical specialties.
Stock clerks receive, unpack, store, distribute, and record the inventory for materials or products used by a company, plant, or store. Approximately 1.6 million stock clerks are employed in the United States. History of Stock Clerk Career Almost every type of business establishment imaginable— shoe store, restaurant, hotel, auto repair shop, hospital, supermarket, or steel
Stevedores, commonly known as longshore workers or dockworkers, handle cargo at ports, often using materials- handling machinery and gear. They load and unload ships at docks and transfer cargo to and from storage areas or other transports, such as trucks and barges. Members of the water transportation industry, stevedores are employed at ports all over
Stenographers take dictation using either shorthand notation or a stenotype machine, then later transcribe their notes into business documents. They may record people’s remarks at meetings or other proceedings and later give a summary report or a word-for-word transcript of what was said. General stenographers may also perform other office tasks such as typing, filing
Steel industry workers melt, mold, and form iron ore and other materials to make the iron and steel used in countless products. These workers operate furnaces, molding equipment, and rolling and finishing machines to make iron pipes, grates, and other objects and steel slabs, bars, billets, sheets, rods, wires, and plates. Iron and steel products
Stationary engineers operate and maintain boilers, engines, air compressors, generators, and other equipment used in providing utilities such as heat, ventilation, light, and power for large buildings, industrial plants, and other facilities. They are called stationary engineers because the equipment they work with is similar to equipment on ships or locomotives, except that it is
Stage production workers handle the behind-the-scenes tasks that are necessary for putting on theatrical performances. Their responsibilities include costume and set design, installing lights, rigging, sound equipment, and scenery, and set building for events in parks, stadiums, arenas, and other places. During a performance they control the lighting, sound, and various other aspects of a
Stadium ushers take tickets, escort spectators to their seats, and provide spectators with information and direction upon request. Stadium vendors sell a variety of food items and other wares either by walking around and calling out the name of the food or product they are selling, or by operating small booths or kiosks. Sometimes vendors
In all their professional endeavors, anthropologists study human experience and behavior within a cultural context, which means that they can be employed in a wide array of settings. While the market for academic anthropologists has remained relatively limited, opportunities for nonacademic employment of anthropologists have expanded. The demand for those able to analyze and interpret
The term anthropocentrism indicates a point of view that accords to the human being (anthropos in Greek) the central place, the one of the highest importance, around which everything else gravitates. This tendency, implying an overevaluation of the human race compared to other forms of life, is particularly manifest in two fields: cosmology and philosophy.
Anthropology is the study of people, society, and culture through all time and everywhere around the world. Three of its main characteristics are an ongoing debate between evolutionism and cultural relativism, the use of cross-culture comparison, and ethnographic research based on “participant observation.” Anthropology shares certain basic characteristics with her sister disciplines of biology, history
The defining characteristic of clinically applied anthropology is that it is anthropology practiced in health care settings: hospitals, clinics, health professional schools, and health care delivery systems of all kinds. The health care arena is so wide ranging and complex that it almost requires the kind of complete immersion that comes from working within the
Cultural Anthropology Definition Cultural anthropology is the study of human patterns of thought and behavior, and how and why these patterns differ, in contemporary societies. Cultural anthropology is sometimes called social anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, or ethnology. Cultural anthropology also includes pursuits such as ethnography, ethnohistory, and cross-cultural research. Cultural anthropology is one of the four
Economic anthropology includes the examination of the economic relationships found among precapitalist societies (nonmarket economies); this includes band, village, and peasant societies. Economic anthropologists study the historical incorporation into the world market economy (capitalism) or state socialist economies of tribal peoples and peasant societies. Formal Economics Cross-disciplinary studies are both an admirable and a desired
Anthropology, the study of humanity seen from the perspective of social and cultural diversity, was established as an academic discipline in the mid-nineteenth century. At the time, broad, evolutionist perspectives were predominant, but would be eclipsed in the early twentieth century by the cultural relativism introduced by Franz Boas and the fieldwork revolution championed by
As Eric Wolf notes in “Anthropology,” his 1964 essay, anthropology is “the most scientific of the humanities, the most humanist of the sciences.” Anthropologists have commonly taken into consideration the human condition—that which makes us distinctly human. However, maintaining balance between anthropology as a science that is concerned with causation, structure, function, and the predictability
Modern philosophical anthropology originated in the 1920s. During the 1940s it became the representative branch of German philosophy. It arose with, and has absorbed, Lebensphilosophie, existentialism, and phenomenology, although it is not identical with them. It has affinities with pragmatism and the sociology of knowledge. Although it is historically based on certain German traditions, it
Practicing anthropology primarily refers to anthropological work performed outside academia to address issues in areas such as community development, agriculture, health care, environment, resource management, housing, criminal justice, marketing, and technology. Although a majority of practicing anthropologists work in urban or other local settings, some work on international projects, especially in development and health. Practicing
Introduction The way economists look at the production of health care is to examine the relationship between the inputs into and the outputs from a production process as illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1 is a flow diagram showing how inputs such as medical staff and equipment produce health care, for example, the services offered
Introduction Any society must come to a decision concerning the allocation of health resources, of which access to medical services, or health care, is the clearest focal point. For many theorists and ordinary citizens health care services are a ‘special’ type of good that should not be distributed on the market-based principle of ability to
Introduction: What Are Health Inequalities? Health inequalities are observed in all societies. Although some inequalities may be considered unavoidable, resulting from sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, and genes, many of these health inequalities are associated with socioeconomic characteristics that are potentially amenable to policy interventions and could be considered as avoidable. In Europe, measuring
Introduction Health economics is a relatively young sub discipline, and the measurement of inequalities in the health domain has only relatively recently received attention from health economists. Nevertheless, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the topic has a very long history outside health economics, in particular in public health, demography, sociology, and epidemiology. The notion of a ‘gradient
Introduction Health inequality can be defined as variations in health status across individuals within a population. To compare inequalities between countries or over time periods, it may be, for example, interesting to know how much more healthy the healthier individuals are than the unhealthy individuals. However, it may be more interesting to know how health
Introduction Equity in the delivery of health care is an important policy objective in many countries, and some, such as Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the UK, distribute healthcare resources on the basis of explicit equity objectives. Such objectives often subscribe to egalitarian goals, which suggest that health care should be distributed according to need and
Introduction Publicly funded health care systems require some form of resource allocation funding principles, usually in the form of formulae, to enable the payer (typically a government body) to distribute health care budgets across population groups. Population groups are typically defined by geography and a population within each geographic boundary is likely to have variations
Introduction In recent years there has been an increased interest in the notion of the health ‘system,’ the ultimate goal of which is to protect and improve the health of its population. The definition of the health system is contested, but a frequently invoked starting point is the World Health Report in 2000, which ‘‘…
Welfarism and extra-welfarism are alternative normative economic frameworks for ranking resource allocations. By normative, we mean economic analysis intended to answer questions such as, What ‘ought’ we to do? or Which resource allocation is the best? or Is policy A preferred to policy B? Normative analysis unavoidably rests on value judgments regarding, for example, as
In the course of development, few processes are as intertwined with economic growth as human capital accumulation. Schooling makes workers more productive, speeds the development of new technologies, and better equips parents to raise skilled children, all of which promote economic growth. Growth, in turn, incentivizes investment in human capital. Causal links point in every
One of sociology’s original and most fundamental questions is: how does the city shape social life? The answer provided by urban political economy is: as a mechanism in the accumulation of wealth, with all the power and inequality that results. ‘‘Political economy’’ generally refers to the scholarly paradigm that examines how material processes of production
The built environment deteriorates with the passage of time and the stresses of use and neglect. Unemployment, poverty, shortages of affordable housing, health epidemics, and transportation problems often accompany physical decay in modern cities. Attempts to relieve these social problems through the maintenance, rehabilitation, and rebuilding of the physical environment are known as urban redevelopment.
The urban revolution refers to the emergence of urban life and the concomitant transformation of human settlements from simple agrarian based systems to complex and hierarchical systems of manufacturing and trade. The term also refers to the present era of metropolitan or megalopolis growth, the development of exurbs, and the explosion of primate or mega
It is not an easy task to provide a definition of urban space because such a definition must consider the social parameters of its constituent parts: urban and space. The difficulty of defining urban space is enhanced if one considers that urban space is an artifact of urbanization – a social process that describes the
Urban tourism refers to the consumption of city spectacles (such as architecture, monuments, and parks) and cultural amenities (such as museums, restaurants, and performances) by visitors. Studying urban tourism requires taking seriously leisure activities and transient populations, features of the city that much of past urban theory declines to address. However, a number of developments
No social science concept has generated more discussion and controversy in recent years than that of the urban underclass. Some argue that it is little more than a pithy and stigmatizing term for the poor people who have always existed in stratified societies (Gans 1990; Jencks 1989; Katz 1989; McGahey 1982). Others contend that the
Among the various definitions of the urban way of life in Japanese social science, Susumu Kurasawa’s (1987) definition is most widely accepted in sociology. ‘‘Way of life’’ here refers to a way of coping with common and collective problems in the community. A ‘‘rural way of life’’ is characterized by a strong capacity of residents’
“With a year old son and a husband who traveled several days a week, she knew she wanted something more than a neighborhood. She wanted a community” (Richards 2005: 64). Urbanism refers to the distinctive social and cultural patterns that develop in cities. “City,’’ ‘‘urban site,” “urban society,” and “urbanization” are often used to refer
Urbanization refers to the process whereby ever larger numbers of people migrate to and establish residence in relatively dense areas of population. It is a phenomenon that has existed throughout the ages, from ancient times to the present. Large numbers of people have gathered and created urban sites in places like ancient Rome and Cairo
The problem of the role of experts in society may seem to be a topic marginal to the main concerns of sociology, but it is in fact deeply rooted in the sociological project itself. Sociologists and social thinkers have long been concerned with the problem of the role of knowledge in society. Certain Enlightenment thinkers
Bearing the dubious distinction of being one of the oldest, yet least understood, concepts in social science, public opinion continues to inspire and perplex scholars from communication and other fields. The term can be adequately defined as a general measure of the directionality and strength of issue-specific views and sentiments held by a relevant group.
The public sphere is an indispensable element of a democratic society and the institutional core of democratic decision-making. Every democratic political order is essentially based on the idea that citizens participate in collectively binding decisions, articulate their interests and opinions openly, listen and evaluate the opinions and arguments of others, and, on that basis, make
The public sphere is defined as a network of all the communicative spaces within which public affairs are debated and a public opinion is formed. Such an infrastructure of political communication is crucial for democratic self-government and the social integration of modern society. Both functions seem to be threatened if the public sphere decays into
The term “spin doctor” is an amalgam of “spin,” meaning the interpretation or slant placed on events (which is a sporting metaphor, referring to the spin a pool player puts on a cue ball), and “doctor,” derived from the figurative uses of the word to mean patch up, piece together, and falsify. The “doctor” part
In habitual language use, symbolic politics means a publicly displayed deception or surrogate action that is used to detract from actual political reality. In this sense symbolic politics is considered to be a surrogate for politics. Symbolic politics differs from substantial policy. As a policy of signs (terms and slogans, badges, banners and pictures, gestures
Televised debates have become a key feature of election campaigns in many countries around the world. Unlike regular campaign media coverage, they provide voters with the chance to directly listen to the candidates and learn about their stands on the issues and their personalities without the filter of the media’s news selection. Unlike campaign ads
The underdog effect is a phenomenon of public opinion impinging upon itself: when at an election voters perceive a particular party or candidate to be the likely winner, they tend to support a competitor who is expected to lose – an “underdog” in the race. This implies that apparent success may undermine itself. The origin
The term “anime” is abbreviated from the Japanese word animéshon, which in turn is a direct transliteration of the English word animation. Comprised mainly of TV series created in Japan, anime features distinctive characters, long-running storylines, and unique aesthetics. As Japan’s most visible export, anime and related products – manga, toys, action figures, and video
Artifacts are generally understood to be simple objects that show human workmanship. They are important to scholars for the role they play in reflecting a society’s level of technological development and aesthetic taste, among other things. Archaeologists analyze artifacts and other aspects of everyday life from ancient civilizations and try to reconstruct these civilizations from
Perhaps the most rapidly expanding facet of today’s media landscape is celebrity culture; entertainers’ work in the film, television, music, and fashion industries accompanies gossip about their personal lives in magazines and newspapers, on television, and online. The major players in celebrity culture are known worldwide – today, there are few who do not know
How effective is advertising in contemporary markets? What does advertising effectiveness mean? By the term “advertising effectiveness,” we mean what change advertising achieves in markets. Advertising also creates changes in awareness, attitudes, beliefs, and intentions. These are all valid effects of advertising. However, in the interest of focus and parsimony, this article focuses on the
In the 1990s, accountability of advertising came high on the agenda in the commercial communication world. As a result a growing need for knowledge about the way the media environment influenced advertising effectiveness emerged. Standardized tools and new media studies were developed. And after 2000, greater actionability for media planners even on a day-to-day basis
Simply stated, “ethics” refers to standards of conduct derived from moral values. Those standards vary greatly from discipline to discipline and person to person, and even philosophers approach ethics from multiple directions (Spence & Van Heekeren 2005, 8). But in its most basic form these are concepts of right and wrong behavior, not limited to
Advertising has been defined as “Any paid form of non personal communication about an organization, product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor” (Alexander 1965, 9). Advertising intrudes into our lives and is not always welcome. Some scholars suspect that we are being manipulated by dark arts (e.g., Packard 1957). This article examines current practice
The frequency and timing of advertising message exposures plays an important role in advertising campaign management, specifically media planning. However, when planning an advertising campaign, this is not as important as addressing questions about the advertising goal (what is to be achieved), the target groups (who is to be reached), and the budget (amount). The
Advertising strategy is the set of decisions an organization takes with respect to the employment of advertising to reach one or more objectives among a specific target group. Each advertising strategy is based on the marketing strategy that encompasses the strategic decisions regarding all marketing activities, such as packaging, price, distribution, and promotion. Within this
With the globalization of markets, advertisers are faced with the question whether to internationally standardize their campaigns or to tailor them to each country’s target audience. This controversial issue is discussed in the so-called standardization/differentiation debate in international marketing literature. Although standardization has the advantage of saving cost, companies that stress global standardization do not
Marketing communication is often equated with mass advertising using media such as television, radio, and print. This is often referred to as above-the-line advertising. Besides these media, organizations can also use more directly targeted media, which include direct mail, telephone, email, etc. This is referred to as below-the-line advertising or direct-to-consumer advertising. Remarkably, spending on
Emotions are fundamental to the human experience, so it is not surprising that advertisers employ emotional appeals to evoke specific feelings in consumers. Today’s commercials, print ads, and Internet interstitials generate a range of emotional reactions from humor and elation to shame and disgust, from arousal and fear to sorrow and pity. Emotions serve several
In the fields of consumer research, communications, and persuasion, few concepts have been studied more over the decades than that of endorsers in advertisements. An endorser can broadly be defined as any individual who appears in an advertisement as a spokesperson for that product. The endorser can be a well-known actor, athlete, or any other
Telephone and private branch exchange (PBX) installers and repairers install, service, and repair telephone and PBX systems in customers’ homes and places of business. In 1876, the first practical device for transmitting speech over electric wires was patented by Alexander Graham Bell. The telephone device Bell invented functioned on essentially the same principle as the
Telemarketers make and receive phone calls on behalf of a company in order to sell its goods, market its services, gather information, receive orders and complaints, and/or handle other miscellaneous business. According to the Direct Marketing Association, the activities most frequently performed by telemarketers are inputting mail orders and verifying names and addresses. A reader
Teacher aides, also called teacher assistants, perform a wide variety of duties to help teachers run a classroom. Teacher aides prepare instructional materials, help students with classroom work, and supervise students in the library, on the playground, and at lunch. They perform administrative duties such as photocopying, keeping attendance records, and grading papers. There are
Taxidermists preserve and prepare animal skins and parts to create lifelike animal replicas. Taxidermists prepare the underpadding and mounting to which the skin will be attached, model the structure to resemble the animal’s body, and then attach appropriate coverings, such as skin, fur, or feathers. They may add details, such as eyes or teeth, to
Taxi drivers, also known as cab drivers, operate automobiles and other motor vehicles to take passengers from one place to another for a fee. This fee is usually based on distance traveled or time as recorded on a taximeter. There are currently about 144,280 taxi drivers and chauffeurs in the United States. History of Taxi
Tax preparers prepare income tax returns for individuals and small businesses for a fee, for either quarterly or yearly filings. They help to establish and maintain business records to expedite tax preparations and may advise clients on how to save money on their tax payments. There are approximately 86,000 tax preparers employed in the United
An agent is a salesperson who sells artistic or athletic talent. Talent agents act as representatives for actors, directors, writers, models, athletes, and other people who work in the arts, advertising, sports, and fashion. Agents promote their clients’ talent and manage their legal contractual business. History of Talent Agent and Scout Career The wide variety
Tailors and dressmakers cut, sew, mend, and alter clothing. Typically, tailors work only with menswear, such as suits, jackets, and coats, while dressmakers work with women’s clothing, including dresses, blouses, suits, evening wear, wedding and bridesmaids’ gowns, and sportswear. Tailors and dressmakers are employed in dressmaking and custom-tailor shops, department stores, and garment factories; others
Systems setup specialists are responsible for installing new computer systems and upgrading existing ones to meet the specifications of the client. They install hardware, such as memory, sound cards, fax/modems, fans, microprocessors, and systems boards. They also load software and configure the hard drive appropriately. Some systems setup specialists install computer systems at the client’s
Swimming pool servicers clean, adjust, and perform minor repairs on swimming pools, hot tubs, and their auxiliary equipment. There are millions of pools across the country in hotels, parks, apartment complexes, health clubs, and other public areas. These public pools are required by law to be regularly serviced by trained technicians. In addition, the number
Taxonomically, animals belong to the kingdom Animalia, which is one of several kingdoms of living beings. Although there is disagreement on how to best classify the various forms of life on Earth, other major groups of living beings include the bacteria, protists, fungi, and plants. The traits that define the kingdom Animalia are: Mobility. With
Animatism is the belief that inanimate, magical qualities exist in the natural world. Specifically, it is the attribution of consciousness, personality, and common life force, but not of individuality, to phenomena observable in the natural universe. The animatistic force can be an innate part of objects, such as trees or rocks, or embedded in observable
The ultimate source of the term animism is the Latin word, anima, meaning spirit, soul, or life force. In contemporary anthropology, animism is the generic term for numerous and diverse religions focused on the belief that nature includes spirits, sacred forces, and similar extraordinary phenomena. This is reflected in the classic minimal definition of religion
The anthropic (or, literally, human-centered) principle entails several propositions, all focusing on the relationship, if any, between the natural physical universe and the existence of human beings in this universe. It grew out of discussions in astronomy and cosmology, where some argued that the existence of life in the universe automatically set constraints on how
Business and industry are fundamental ways of organizing economic activity to meet basic human needs in modern market societies. Business means the buying and selling of goods and services in the marketplace (also known as commerce or trade), while industry refers to the organized production of goods and services on a large scale. When we
Epistemology is that discipline of philosophy devoted to the nature of knowledge and how we acquire it. It is further divided into prescriptive and descriptive epistemology. Rules of how to proceed to acquire knowledge are called “methods,” and hence a prescriptive epistemology is a “methodism.” Descriptive epistemologies are sometimes referred to as “sociology of knowledge,”
Origins and Evolution of the Concept “Third World” The term Third World ( tiers etat) was coined in 1952 by Alfred Sauvy, a French demographer, to describe the poor, marginalized, and powerless class of prerevolutionary France. Its meaning expanded rapidly to denote areas of the world that were distinct from the industrialized capitalist countries, the
Prior to the advent of the women’s movement, anthropological research tended to focus on men’s lives, rituals, and interactions, but without articulated awareness or remark. The majority of early anthropologists were men; they had more access to men’s than to women’s lives, and gender had not yet emerged as a salient problem within anthropology. Early
This article traces the history of the anthropology of religion from the nineteenth century to the present. It argues that a focus on such questions as rationality and ritual was central to the emergence of the discipline. These themes, along with topics such as witchcraft, belief, language, and the body, have remained of perennial interest.
There are two ways to interpret “the anthropology of women:” One is as the work of women anthropologists, and the other is as anthropology that focuses on women as its subject. This entry deals with the latter, although for many reasons, the two often go hand in hand. Feminist anthropology, the ethnography of women, and
Introduction The economic evaluation of health care is a general framework for informing decisions about whether particular health-care technologies represent a cost-effective use of health-care resources. Commonly, the evidence required to inform a decision about the cost-effectiveness of a given set of competing health technologies is not available from a single source. The use of
Introduction Economic modeling techniques are widely used to provide a quantitative framework for economic evaluations that aim to inform policy decisions. Central to the validity of judgments that are based on the results of economic models is an assessment of the quality of the models themselves. Decision makers should have confidence that the quality of
Outline Economic evaluations in the form of decision-analytic models draw on many different types of secondary evidence in addition to costs and effects. The additional types of information used include natural history, epidemiology, quality of life weights (utilities), adverse events, resource use, and activity data. This information is drawn from different sources which can be
Introduction In countries such as Australia, the UK, and Canada, public funding decisions for health technologies (e.g., pharmaceuticals) are based predominantly on cost-effectiveness data. National reimbursement bodies in these countries, such as the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee in Australia and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK, provide guidance to the government
Introduction As health economic evaluation has become increasingly popular, so it has become much more common that individual patient data are collected alongside clinical trials. This has opened up the possibility of using statistical methods to analyze health economic data with the purposes of informing health economic evaluation. In this article, statistical methods for analyzing
Introduction As a vehicle for economic evaluation, model-based cost-effectiveness analysis offers major advantages over trial-based analysis. These include the facility of models to widen the set of options under comparison and to incorporate all relevant evidence. To achieve these, appropriate clinical evidence needs to be indentified and synthesized, particularly that relating to treatment effects on
Value of Information (VOI) is an outgrowth of advances in Bayesian decision theory and welfare economics that seeks to quantify prospectively the benefits and costs of research and development (R&D) activities under uncertainty. VOI allows for the identification of sources of treatment uncertainty and provides a method to calculate the incremental value of pursuing research
Informal care is the mainstay of support for many people living in the community, particularly those with long-term care needs. It refers to the care provided to individuals who would have difficulties managing without this help, by family or friends who are unpaid, although they may receive some nominal payment or state benefits. Some definitions
Background Normative Context In recent years, the concept of inequality of opportunity, rather than inequality of achieved states, has received growing attention in the economic literature. The simple advocacy of equal health, for example, fails to hold individuals accountable for their choices. This can be seen as significant limitation. Equality of opportunity co-opts one of
Being efficient means ‘doing something well without wasting time or energy.’ To economists, efficiency is a relationship between ends and means. What is important to note is that economists refer to the relationship between the value of the ends and means, not physical quantities. In economic terms, the value of using resources is equivalent to
Claude Fischer’s (1975, 1995) subcultural theory of urbanism is designed to explain how and why social relationships vary by size of population in settlements. According to the theory, urban life is bifurcated into public and private domains. In the public domain social relationships are typically superficial because people are usually interacting with others whom they
Suburbanization is one aspect of the more general process of the expansion and spatial reorganization of metropolitan settlements. Settled areas that are beyond the historical boundaries of what have been considered cities but still are clearly functionally linked to the cities or may not be considered suburban. What is suburban is a matter of social
Social scientists in the US usually identify a city’s suburbs as the municipalities (plus any ‘‘urban’’ unincorporated areas) that are located outside the political boundaries of that city, but are adjacent to the city or to its other suburbs. A city’s suburbs form a band around the city that has (1) lower population density overall
‘‘Traditional consumption city’’ is one of the categories introduced by Susumu Kurasawa (1968) in his typology of Japanese cities in the early 1960s. His typology emphasizes that the patterns of historical development of cities determine their distinctive social structures. The traditional consumption city refers to cities founded during the feudal era. A contras ting type
Urban community studies consist of a range of case studies, comparisons, and local analyses that explore the local cultures, relationships, interactions and identities. As cities in the US experienced rapid growth during the early twentieth century, sociologists speculated about how the interactions and relationships in these urban settings would be influenced by a swelling population
The term urban consumption describes how the meanings of goods and commercially oriented experiences intermingle with space, place, and social identity in ways made possible by metropolitan life and are thereby specific to it. Urban consumption refers not just to purchases that occur within the confines of a city – as opposed to a suburb
Urban ecology is the study of community structure and organization as manifest in cities and other relatively dense human settlements. Among its major topics, urban ecology is concerned with the patterns of urban community sorting and change by socioeconomic status, life cycle, and ethnicity, and with patterns of relations across systems of cities. Of particular
Urban education has been the subject of ongoing discussions in the US, with policies aimed at urban school improvement vigorously debated over the last 40 years. Since the 1960s, as cities became increasingly poor and populated by minority groups, urban schools have reflected the problems associated with poverty. Although rural and many suburban schools have
Urban movements are social movements through which citizens attempt to achieve some control over their urban environment. The urban environment comprises the built environment, the social fabric of the city, and the local political process. An alternative current term is ‘‘urban social movements.’’ Pickvance (2003) suggested that the term ‘‘urban movements’’ is to be preferred because
Urban policy actively shapes the ways in which people live in cities. As well as reflecting con temporary understandings of the role of cities in economic and social development, it also helps to create those understandings. Definitions of urban policy are elusive in part because the term appears so self explanatory. It seems to be no
To take part in the democratic process, citizens should be well informed about politics, which implies they should keep up with current affairs through the news media. Given this essential role of the media for democracy, it seems important to know to what extent and why citizens actually use political media content. While comparatively few
Political news was published in leaflets and early newspapers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, shortly after the advent of printing. However, only the cheap, mass circulation press in the nineteenth century and, most notably, radio and television about a century later made political news available to a general audience. Today, regular newscasts on many
With the advent of television, the public appearance of political processes has changed fundamentally. Television makes visual impressions of political events easily available and provides politicians with the opportunity to project an image of themselves to the general public. This is assumed to have been contributing to a personalization of politics in general, and particularly
Persuasion is an integral part of politics and a necessary component of the pursuit and exercise of power. Political persuasion is a process in which communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or behavior regarding a political issue through messages, in an atmosphere of free choice (Perloff 2003, 34). As the field
There is a great deal of controversy concerning the effects of mass communication on political socialization, in terms of both its size and direction. Political socialization can be understood as the processes through which democratic societies instill the proper norms among their members to maintain social institutions and practices. Most research on this topic focuses
Political symbols are entities that stand for things other than themselves, elicit responses, and assume meaning in relation to the objects, beliefs, values, or attitudes to which they refer. In the field of political science, symbols have been studied from two key approaches. Behavioralist scholars have examined the functions of symbols, tracked their appearance across
Election polls have a long history of a symbiotic relationship with the media, dating back to the nineteenth century (Converse 1987; Frankovic 2008). However, it was not until the 1920s that polls insinuated themselves into the news operations of election coverage on a regular basis. Before the advent of the modern polling period, the major
Populism and responsiveness are rather broad and messy concepts. They are not only used for scientific analysis but for political allegations as well. A simple and general definition of the two terms shows what holds the two concepts together: responsive refers to politics that are open to the electorate and respond to what the people
The term “propaganda” is of Latin origin, meaning spreading, extending, or propagating with the help of the laity. It was first used by the Catholic church to denominate its mission. In 1622, the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, a council of cardinals responsible for the spread of the Catholic faith, was established in Rome under
As mass media play an increasing role in our societies by providing an arena of public debate and making politicians, policies, and relevant facts widely known, they are expected to follow certain rules of conduct. These rules and the normative media theories they draw upon typically imply presumptions as to the public interest the media
Strategic communication is the study of how organizations or communicative entities communicate deliberately to reach set goals. Although the term “strategic communication” has been in use for years, scholars are only now fully engaged in defining the field and its theoretical influences. Traditionally communication in its organizational context has been studied through various disciplines academically
As users we will come to rely on our handset as a single device to manage not just communications but much of our lives. It will truly become a “remote control for life,” with massively enhanced capabilities, advanced methods of user interaction and in-built tools . . . The substantial change that end users are
The study of visual communication comprises such wide-reaching and voluminous literatures as art history, the philosophy of art and aesthetics, semiotics, cinema studies, television and mass media studies, the history and theory of photography, the history and theory of graphic design and typography, the study of word–image relationships in literary, aesthetic, and rhetorical theory, the
Media economics is the application and study of economic theories and concepts to the media industries. Media economics encompasses all forms of media, including traditional media such as print, broadcasting, music, and film, and new media forms such as the Internet. Media economics scholarship is broad and diverse and includes such topics as policy and
The concept “mass media” is a collective term that stands for a broad variety of print media like newspapers, magazines, books and electronic media like radio, television, and the Internet. The concept “newspaper,” in turn, comprises daily and weekly newspapers, and “magazines” publications like news magazines, fashion magazines, sports magazines, etc. All mass media offer
Media history as a concept in its own right possesses a relatively recent lineage. In the early decades of the twentieth century, when references to “the media” – newspapers, magazines, cinema, radio, and the like – were entering popular parlance, university academics tended to be rather skeptical about whether these institutions were important enough to
Research in the sub-field of media production and content seeks to describe and explain the symbolic world of the media with reference to a variety of contributing societal, institutional, organizational, and normative factors. It draws boundaries around a large and diverse body of research efforts, predominantly social science, but also including more interpretive cultural analysis.
Typologies of media systems date to the publication of Four Theories of the Press, which proposed a typology of authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility and Soviet Communist media systems. Hallin and Mancini’s typology of media systems in Western Europe and North America has influenced most recent work in comparative analysis of media systems. Hallin and Mancini proposed
The key to unified and successful advertising campaigns is solid management. Each advertising campaign contains visible as well as unseen aspects. To the average consumer, a campaign is a series of advertising messages that look or sound alike. To the practitioner, a campaign embodies a wide range of activities that may include brainstorming, consumer surveys
Advertising as persuasion may be defined as an instrumental and intentional form of commercial communication by which a deliberate attempt is made to convince consumers of the value of the message position, i.e., the product or brand advertised. Advertising as persuasion focuses on the impact of advertising stimuli on cognitive, affective, and behavioral consumer responses
Urologists are physicians who specialize in the treatment of medical and surgical disorders of the adrenal gland and of the genitourinary system. They deal with the diseases of both the male and female urinary tract and of the male reproductive organs. History of Urologist Career Medieval “healers” who specialized in the surgical removal of bladder
Urban and regional planners assist in the development and redevelopment of a city, metropolitan area, or region. They work to preserve historical buildings, protect the environment, and help manage a community’s growth and change. Planners evaluate individual buildings and city blocks, and are also involved in the design of new subdivisions, neighborhoods, and even entire
Umpires and referees ensure that competitors in athletic events follow the rules. They make binding decisions and have the power to impose penalties upon individuals or teams that break the rules. Umpires, referees, and other sports officials hold about 12,800 jobs in the United States. History of Umpire and Referee Career The history of sport
Veterinary technicians provide support and assistance to veterinarians. They work in a variety of environments, including zoos, animal hospitals, clinics, private practices, kennels, and laboratories. Their work may involve large or small animals or both. Although most veterinary technicians work with domestic animals, some professional settings may require treating exotic or endangered species. There are
Using typewriters, personal computers, and other office machines, typists and word processors convert handwritten or otherwise unfinished material into clean, readable, typewritten copies. Typists create reports, letters, forms, tables, charts, and other materials for all kinds of businesses and services. Word processors create the same types of materials using a computer that stores information electronically
Title searchers and examiners conduct searches of public records to determine the legal chain of ownership for a piece of real estate. Searchers compile lists of mortgages, deeds, contracts, judgments, and other items pertaining to a property title. Examiners determine a property title’s legal status, abstract recorded documents (mortgages, deeds, contracts, and so forth), and
Tire technicians, employed by tire manufacturers, test tires to determine their strength, durability (how long they will last), and any defects in their construction. Approximately 19,800 tire builders are employed in the United States. History of Tire Technician Career Before tires came into use, wheels were banded by metal. Copper bands were used on chariot
Textile manufacturing workers prepare natural and synthetic fibers for spinning into yarn and manufacture yarn into textile products that are used in clothing, in household goods, and for many industrial purposes. Among the processes that these workers perform are cleaning, carding, combing, and spinning fibers; weaving, knitting, or bonding yarns and threads into textiles; and
Employees who work on an assignment or contractual basis are called temporary workers. They usually work through agencies, staffing offices, or placement centers that place qualified workers in jobs lasting from one day to months according to their educational background, work experience, or profession. People work as temps for several reasons. The majority of people
Telephone operators help people using phone company services, as well as other telephone operators, to place calls and to make connections. There are approximately 213,000 switchboard operators, 29,000 telephone operators, and 4,200 other communications equipment operators employed in the United States. History of Telephone Operator Career In the years since Alexander Graham Bell was granted
The Aleuts inhabit the Aleutian Archipelagos that span from the Alaska Peninsula to the Commander Islands in Russia. Their original name is Unangan and Unangus, meaning “the people.” Their aboriginal lifestyle was based on survival and developed in response to their environment in this land they called “the birthplace of the winds” and “the cradle
Algonquian is a linguistic term that describes the language family belonging specifically to a large number of North American Native nations. The Algonquian linguistic family is believed to have originated from a Proto-Algonquian parent language spoken as far back as 2,500 to 3,000 years ago. The area in which it originated is thought to have
Alienation refers to the process by which individuals become disconnected or divorced from their social worlds. It also operates on a broader societal level when the very forces created by human beings appear to be separate and alien from their creators. The concept is commonly used by economic and political anthropologists questioning the conditions of
Often called the “Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic Art,” the prehistoric Altamira Cave contains paintings and artifacts dating from 18,000 to 13,000 years ago (BP). Located on Monte Vispieres in Cantabria, Northern Spain, it was first explored in 1879 by Don Marcelino Sanz de Santuola. Early controversy raged over the age of the site, as many
Altruism is the attitude that consists of according one’s regards to the Other (alter in Latin), personally or globally, as a principle of one’s choices and actions. Opposed to egoism, it implies sincere and unselfish concern for the well-being of others, expressed practically. Its most current use is referred to interhuman relationships; in this sense
Amazonia. The name conjures western images of luxuriant vegetation, unbridled nature, and vast, unexplored lands. Whether envisioned as a tropical paradise or a “green hell,” the salience of the naturalistic and idealistic features associated with Amazonia has implications for the perception of its human inhabitants. From its inception, Amazonian anthropology has been a highly contested
The Amish are an Anabaptist religious isolate. There are currently over 180,000 Amish residing in the United States and Canada, with about two thirds living in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The terminology Old Order Amish distinguishes them from Mennonites and New Order Amish, who are also Anabaptists but who follow a lifestyle that allows more
In the American Southwest, the four corners area of southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, and northern Arizona was home primarily to a culture typically referred to as the Anasazi. Now called Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning “ancient enemy”), thoughts of this culture bring to mind the cliff dwellings scattered throughout
Ancestor worship is often referred to as the ancestral cult, namely, a set of religious beliefs and ritual practices that commemorates the continued existence of the deceased ancestor beyond death. The rites of this cult are meant to cater to the needs of the diseased in the afterlife. The beliefs of this cult center on
King Jayavarman II founded Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire, in the 9th century AD in northeastern Cambodia. Angkor reached its peak of development in the 12th century under the rule of Kings Suryavarman II and Jayavarman VII. Angkor Wat is a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and is the most well-known
Introduction The overarching central issue addressed by the discipline of economics is resource scarcity. In one sense or another, all economists are working on questions that have some connection to scarcity and limits. Thus, the primary purpose of economic analysis, and cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) in particular, is to support decision-making necessitated by the
Introduction The flow of new medical technologies is a response to several factors including an ageing population, changes in environmental conditions creating new epidemiological profiles and scientific development. This impacts on health care systems which, to satisfy increased demand for medical technologies, are faced with the need to increase expenditure on healthcare or to disinvest
Introduction As healthcare costs increase because of the aging population and technological developments in healthcare, the need by healthcare decision makers for economic evaluations of new healthcare interventions becomes more important. A comprehensive economic evaluation of a new healthcare intervention requires an analysis of both the efficiency of the intervention compared with current treatment patterns
Introduction There has been a growing use of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) in the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions. There are now many agencies around the world using evidence on the incremental cost per QALY to inform reimbursement decisions or clinical guidelines. The QALY provides a metric for valuing the impact of healthcare interventions
Introduction Decision-modeling is increasingly used or required by health technology funding/reimbursement agencies as a vehicle for economic evaluation. The process of developing and analyzing a decision analytic model as part of a health technology assessment (HTA) involves many uncertainties. Some relate to the assumptions and judgments regarding the conceptualization and structure of a model, others
Introduction Health sector programs often have important policy objectives relating to the reduction of unfair health inequality, as well as the improvement of total population health. Health inequality reduction objectives are particularly common in public health decision-making, for example, in relation to screening and vaccination programs, and are sometimes also relevant to decisions regarding the
Introduction The first recorded mathematical model describing a communicable disease was constructed by the Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli and read at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1760. His model aimed to evaluate the impact on human life expectancy at birth if smallpox were to be eliminated as a cause of death through
Policy Relevance The general issue of balancing the value of evidence about the performance of a technology and the value of providing patients with access to a technology can be seen as central to a number of policy questions in many different types of healthcare systems (HCS). For example, decisions about approval or reimbursement of
Introduction The goal of an economic evaluation of medical interventions is to provide actionable information for policy makers. Modern policy decision makers are driven by data-backed arguments regarding what might change as a result of an intervention. As analysts, this requires specific attention to determining the causal impact between a given intervention and future outcomes.
Background The past two decades have seen a revolution in the science that underpins new health technologies. Many new technologies offer hope for previously untreatable conditions and potential step changes in the outcomes of care for many others. Regulators committed to supporting the translation of the breakthroughs in biomedical knowledge into the clinic often approve
The Chicago School of Urban Sociology refers to work of faculty and graduate students at the University of Chicago during the period 1915– 35. This small group of scholars (the full time faculty in the department of sociology never numbered more than 6 persons) developed a new sociological theory and research methodology in a conscious
The central business district (CBD) is the down town of the American city, which in the early twentieth century possessed two sorts of centrality: first, it was usually at or near the city’s geographical center and, second, it hosted its most important economic functions. The term emerged as business districts were developing in outlying areas
A city is a relatively large, dense, permanent, heterogeneous, and politically autonomous settlement whose population engages in a range of nonagricultural occupations. Definitions of cities and their associated phenomena vary by time and place, and by population size, area, and function (Shryock, Siegel, and associates 1976, pp. 85-104). The city is often defined in terms
As part of a broader investigation of the connections between sexuality and space, researchers in a number of disciplines have explored the relationship between particular sexual practices and identities and urban space – either at a generic level or in terms of particular cities around the world. There are a number of intersecting strands to
The European city concept derives from Max Weber and historians of the Middle Ages. In ‘‘The City,’’ Weber characterizes the medieval western city – in modern language, western European city – as having the following features: a fortification, a market, and a specifically urban economy of consumption, exchange, and production; a court of law and
City planning encompasses the policies and processes that influence the development of towns, cities, and regions. While planning occurred in early cities, it was not until the early twentieth century that city (urban) planning emerged as a distinct discipline. In response to the rapid growth of cities that accompanied industrialization, early urban sociologists sought to
According to Japanese political scientist Keiichi Matsushita, ‘‘civil minimum’’ is a minimum standard for living in urban society that should be assured by municipalities. It comprises social security, social overhead capital, and public health. Civil minimum is based on the right to life, and should be considered as the postulate of urban policies, decided through
Compositional theory of urbanism asserts that urban unconventionality and urban–rural differences are due mainly to the social characteristics (i.e., class, race/ethnicity, age) of city dwellers. The density and heterogeneity that define the urban environment do not affect how people relate to one another or cause people to deviate. In other words, there are no independent
Ecological models of urban form describe and explain the spatial patterns taken by the distribution of people, buildings, and activities across a city’s terrain. This orderly set of spatial arrangements is known as the city’s land use pattern or spatial form. Through the years ecological researchers have identified three major models of the geometry of
Rural sociology is the study of social organization and social processes that are characteristic of geographical localities where population size is relatively small and density is low (Warner 1974). Thus, rural sociology can be defined as the sociology of rural society. Since rural societies do not exist in isolation, rural sociology also addresses the relation
Communication is considered to be political if it relates to the exchange of messages among political actors. For example, most of what politicians do is political communication. Likewise, citizens communicate politics when they discuss political issues with friends or family members, phone in to political radio talks shows, or participate in political chats on the
Looking at political communication phenomena in a systems framework is a common approach in this field of study. The term “system,” in its general meaning, denotes a multitude of component parts, depending on each other, and functioning as a whole. The nature of the political communication system is thought of as a structure of producing
A political consultant is a paid, outside advisor to candidates, political parties, or interest groups. The rise of political consultants started in the United States when Whitaker and Baxter formed Campaign Inc. in the mid-1930s, which is considered the first political consulting firm. But while in the late 1950s only roughly thirty or forty individuals
Political cynicism is recognized as an important political sentiment. However, there is little agreement about the nature, measurement, and consequences of political cynicism. Webster’s Dictionary defines a cynic as “one who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self-interest. A person who expects nothing but the worst of human conduct and motives.” Cappella and
In general usage, political discourse comprises all forms of communication in and by political institutions or actors and all communication with reference to political matters. Thus, political public relations, both internal and external, news, commentary, film, talk shows, citizens’ everyday talk about politics etc. are all sites of political discourse. Different sites follow different rules
A multidimensional concept that links political cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors, political efficacy refers generally to citizens’ beliefs in their ability to influence the political system. In the half-century since its emergence, research on political efficacy has focused much on its conceptualization and operationalization. In communication research, however, scholarship has emphasized defining its antecedents and outcomes.
One of the foundational assumptions of democratic theory is that the public must be sufficiently informed about public matters in order to be capable of fulfilling their roles in making collective decisions. The centrality of an informed public in democratic theory has made the study of political knowledge integral to the study of political communication.
Political language has been studied by sociolinguists, communication scholars, political scientists, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and marketing professionals. Shared assumptions across these fields are that (1) citizens come to know their political worlds through messages and symbols, and (2) political words do not have meaning in themselves; rather their meanings are a function of contexts
Political marketing arose when, in the middle of the twentieth century, the methods developed by commercial marketing specialists were adopted for political campaigning. Political marketing replaced unilateral propaganda exactly as commercial advertising has become a plain subsidiary of commercial marketing. Political marketing is considered as one of the most demanding applications of political communication research.
Media content is usually considered “political” if it refers to current events and issues, to political institutions or actors, as well as to the public discourse among these actors. If the term “quality” is used to speak of more than just a trait, it refers to a trait that is desired according to some standard
The definition of “international communication” is constantly in flux. Whether we have in view sociologist Émile Durkheim’s suggestion in his classic work Elementary forms of religious life (1917) that relations between different Aboriginal tribes constituted international communication, or historians’ and political scientists’ studies of diplomacy among modern nation-states, or the rush of contemporary theorizing on
Interpersonal communication concerns the study of social interaction between people. Interpersonal communication theory and research seeks to understand how individuals use verbal discourse and nonverbal actions, as well as written discourse, to achieve a variety of instrumental and communication goals such as informing, persuading, and providing emotional support to others. Although interpersonal communication has been
Journalism is a constellation of practices that have acquired special status within the larger domain of communication through a long history that separated out news sharing from its origins in interpersonal communication. Telling others about events in one’s social and physical surroundings is a common everyday activity in human cultures, and news as a genre
Language and social interaction (LSI) refers to the area of communication research that studies how language, gesture, voice, and other features of talk and written texts shape meaning-making. LSI includes a loosely bounded set of topics and intellectual commitments. In contrast to the domain-of-life approach (e.g., political, interpersonal, or organizational communication) that is the typical
Because investigations of organizational communication involve the intersection of two complex concepts – organization and communication – the discipline of organizational communication involves a number of diverse topical interests. Most scholars would agree that “organizations” are social collectives, embedded in a larger environment, in which activities are coordinated to achieve individual and collective goals. The
Political communication relates to the exchange of messages among political actors. For example, most of what politicians do is political communication. Likewise, citizens communicate politics when they discuss political issues with friends or family members, phone in to political radio talks shows, or participate in political chats on the Internet. Demonstrations and other forms of
Popular communication is an interdisciplinary, multi-theoretical, multi-methodological philosophy of media and audiences. It has evolved as a nonhierarchical perspective that emphasizes the value of objects, behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs associated with everyday life. Gunn and Brummett (2004, 705) ask provocative questions about popular communication that capture the difficulty of defining the term: “Whose child is
However old the practice of public relations is (Heath 2005a), in the identity we know today it became a serious professional practice in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the USA and in other democratized parts of the world, especially in Europe. Its emergence paralleled the development of mass production society, as a
Alongside theories, research methods shape academic disciplines such as communication. Whereas theories determine the subject matter (i.e., the part of reality a discipline is looking at), methods determine how a discipline gathers information about its subject matter. Which methods are acceptable and how methods are applied is subject to an ongoing debate and communication process
The rhetorical impulse may be conceived as the desire to express one’s thoughts in a way that affects the thoughts of others. Such an impulse is universal among humans, and historical evidence exists for its cultivation in ancient civilizations of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas (Lipson & Binkley 2004). Early instances of theoretical inquiry
Watch and clock repairers clean, adjust, repair, and regulate watches, clocks, chronometers, electronic timepieces, and related instruments. Watch and clock repairers work in department and jewelry stores, at home, or in repair shops. Currently there are approximately 3,080 watch and clock repairers in the United States. Keeping track of time has always been important to
Wastewater treatment plant operators control, monitor, and maintain the equipment and treatment processes in wastewater (sewage) treatment plants. They remove or neutralize the chemicals, solid materials, and organisms in wastewater so that the water is not polluted when it is returned to the environment. There are approximately 102,940 water and liquid waste treatment plant operators
Truck drivers generally are distinguished by the distance they travel. Over-the-road drivers, also known as long-distance drivers or tractor-trailer drivers, haul freight over long distances in large trucks and tractor-trailer rigs that are usually diesel-powered. Depending on the specific operation, over-the-road drivers also load and unload the shipments and make minor repairs to vehicles. Short-haul
Travel agents assist individuals or groups who will be traveling by planning their itineraries, making transportation, hotel, and tour reservations, obtaining or preparing tickets, and performing related services. There are over 88,500 travel agents employed in the United States. History of Travel Agent Career The first travel agency in the United States was established in
Transplant coordinators are involved in practically every aspect of organ procurement (getting the organ from the donor) and transplantation. There are two types of transplant coordinators: procurement coordinators and clinical coordinators. Procurement coordinators help the families of organ donors deal with the death of a loved one as well as inform them of the organ
Toy industry workers create, design, manufacture, and market toys and games to adults and children. Their jobs are similar to those of their counterparts in other industries. Some work on large machines, while others assemble toys by hand. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than half of all employees in the toy
Toxicologists design and conduct studies to determine the potential toxicity of substances to humans, plants, and animals. They provide information on the hazards of these substances to the federal government, private businesses, and the public. Toxicologists may suggest alternatives to using products that contain dangerous amounts of toxins, often by testifying at official hearings. There
Tour guides plan and oversee travel arrangements and accommodations for groups of tourists. They assist travelers with questions or problems, and they may provide travelers with itineraries of their proposed travel route and plans. Tour guides research their destinations thoroughly so that they can handle any unforeseen situation that may occur. There are approximately 32,000
Tobacco industry workers manufacture cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, smoking tobacco, and snuff from leaf tobacco. They dry, cure, age, cut, roll, form, and package tobacco in products used by millions of people in the United States and in other countries around the world. History of Tobacco Industry Worker Career The use of tobacco has been
The veterinarian, or doctor of veterinary medicine, diagnoses and controls animal diseases, treats sick and injured animals medically and surgically, prevents transmission of animal diseases, and advises owners on proper care of pets and livestock. Veterinarians are dedicated to the protection of the health and welfare of all animals and to society as a whole.
The African concern for the state and society socioeconomic and political advancement led to the consideration of both capitalist and socialist paths of development, which brought about a wealth of anthropological studies on precapitalist forms of the social organization, colonialist policies innovating the society, and the challenges of post independence times to carry out sustainable
African American thought has been uniquely influenced by the African love of nature, cruelties of aggression, and an increasing need to adapt to hostile environments and to contribute creatively to overcome the challenges of new worlds, civilizations, and lifestyles tremendously different from the African ancestral heritage. The resistance of Africans to the hardships of life
The quest for equality among African Americans has always been difficult, and some may argue with good reason that our present-day society has much further to go in reaching a semblance of equity for this minority group in American society. A casual perusal of economic, social, and political situations in the United States makes this
In the cradle of humanity, Africa, thought was creatively practiced in a natural environment of bountifulness and human diversity. Languages, artistic works, inscriptions, cave paintings, and architectural constructs of huge irrigation schemes and other colossal monuments testify to the intellectual abilities of the African peoples who thought about them, and then designed and erected them.
Aggression is simply defined as “Any form of behavior directed toward the goal of harming another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment.” Aggression is most commonly studied in its application to humans and may include both verbal confrontations and physical gestures. Singular aggression between two humans is the most typical form of
The agricultural revolution is a notion applied to a wide spectrum of new kinds of human activities and a variety of new forms of social and cultural life resulting from the practice of soil cultivation, cattle breeding, and livestock raising. In some cases, it could be understood as opposition to the “Neolithic revolution” concept, proposed
Agricultural intensification can affect any of the inputs of an agricultural system—the crops planted, the labor expended, and the productivity exacted from the land. It can be driven by increasing population relative to the land available or by changes in market prices and demand for crops. It can result in dramatic investments in and transformations
The origins of the practices of soil cultivation, crop harvesting, and livestock raising traditionally are regarded as the main criteria of transition to the next stage of human society and culture development following hunter-gatherers community and directly preceding the formation of state and private property. The premises of the origin of agriculture as well as
Slash-and-burn agriculture, sometimes known as swiddening or shifting cultivation, involves felling trees and vegetation on a plot of land, leaving them to dry, and then setting fire to them. Crops planted on the plot benefit from the nutrients provided by the ash. A diversity of crops tend to be planted and intermingled with each other.
The last few decades have seen the growth of a vigorous research program investigating alchemy and a subsequent increase in our understanding of how it functioned both in late antiquity and early Europe. The ultimate origins of alchemy, however, are still obscure. Different scholars place its genesis either in Egypt, India, or China. In fact
In their seminal 1965 study, Kitagawa and Hauser documented that mortality in the US fell with education. Since then a very large number of studies have confirmed that the well-educated enjoy longer lives: for example, in 1980, individuals with some college education at the age of 25 years could expect to live another 54.4 years
/ Health Effects of Illegal Drug Use Introduction The potential health risks associated with using illicit drugs remain the key argument for maintaining their criminal status. And although many studies find that drug users are in worse health than nonusers, the proper interpretation of this evidence is contentious. This is because, in order to conclude
/ Intergenerational Effects On Health Introduction Today an understanding of health is not complete without considering the role of in utero and intergenerational effects. The recent popularity of the fetal origins hypothesis, asserting that early life influences through the fetal environment (e.g., nutritional deprivation) have latent long-run effects on health, has nudged economists to think
Introduction The first evidence of mortality being procyclical had been provided by Ogburn and Thomas during the 1920s – procyclical means increasing in good economic times and falling during periods of decline. Additional confirmatory analysis was supplied by Eyer during the 1970s. Nevertheless, until the preceding decade, the conventional wisdom was that health and macroeconomic
Introduction Mental illness is a common occurrence. Epidemiological evidence reveals that mental disorders are prevalent across more- and less-economically developed countries (WHO World Mental Health Consortium, 2004), and some mental health problems have been understood as being an illness since the time of Hippocrates. Mental disorders are known to have major consequences for longevity, quality
/ Economics of Nutrition Introduction The close relationship between economics and nutrition runs in two directions. First, nutrition influences economic conditions. Economic historian Robert Fogel has argued that improved nutrition was a decisive factor for improved health and successful economic development in Europe and the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Fogel, 2004).
/ Peer Effects in Health Behaviors Introduction Health economists have long been interested in examining the determinants of, and potential policies for, reducing unhealthy behaviors in the population. Although a main focus in this area has historically been on issues of policy involving taxation, access restrictions, advertising, etc., a shift toward evaluating the basic social
Introduction A primary objective of environmental policies worldwide is to protect human health. Optimal policy design, however, is typically hampered by limited information regarding both the benefits and the costs associated with regulation. Benefits assessments frequently rely on translating laboratory findings to uncontrolled settings, extrapolating from high- to low- concentration exposures within and across societies
/ Sex Work in Developing Countries Introduction The literature on the economics of sex work in developing countries has been a burgeoning area of recent growth for various reasons. First, unprotected commercial sex is a major human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission vector. Sex markets play an integral role in the spread of sexually transmitted infections
What Is The Economics Of Smoking And Why Should One Care? Economists divide markets into demand and supply. Demand reflects individual preferences, relative prices, income, and other factors. Supply differs according to market structure; prices depend on whether the market is competitive or not and the extent of government intervention in the market. On the
When most people think about racism, they think about the concept of individual prejudice – in other words, negative thoughts or stereo types about a particular racial group. However, racism can also be embedded in the institutions and structures of social life. This type of racism can be called structural or institutional racism (hereafter, institutional
Reparations refer to the actions of an aggrieved nation, group, or individual to seek redresses and compensations for the loss of land, money, works of art, jewelry, or other valuable objects, due to the actions of a country, group, or another individual. The claim of those seeking redresses or reparations is that their property was
Science has a long and fraught history of entanglement with the social myth of biological race. The modern sciences of biology and physical anthropology were founded on the conviction that racial difference was real, fundamental, and key to understanding the proper relationships between human groups. Advances in these very sciences, however, have shown that race
Perhaps the oldest form of human oppression is that of slavery. Slavery, with its roots in antiquity (e.g., Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Israel, and Greece), is defined as the forced labor of one group by another. The institution of slavery, where the slave was considered merely a piece of animate property or chattel, was first developed
Racial real estate steering occurs when home seekers are guided by housing providers to communities where their race is already highly concentrated. So as racial minorities are channeled to integrated or predominantly non white neighborhoods and whites are shown homes primarily in white communities, steering con tributes directly to the segregated housing pat terns that
Tribalism refers to customs and beliefs transmitted and enacted in groups (tribes) sharing a common identity and in which centralized political organization and authority are absent. Academic and public references to tribalism have been expanded to refer to behaviors and beliefs associated with diverse populations, including those that share any one, or all, of the
Like water to the proverbial fish, whiteness has been largely invisible in the ”modern world system” of European creation. This invisibility is somewhat unique among the racial categories. The uniqueness does not consist of the ”normalization” of whiteness: the idea that whiteness is the ”default” racial status, that whites are ”just people” who ”don’t have
Derived from the Greek words xeno, meaning “foreigner,” “stranger,” or “guest,” and phobia, meaning fear, xenophobia literally refers to a phobic attitude toward foreigners. However, “phobia” in this context is not meant in the clinical sense but rather refers to a part of the network of racist ideologies predicated on discriminatory discourse and practice. Xenophobia
There is more to Burundi and Rwanda than the arcane histories of two overpopulated (7 million each), poverty stricken micro-states in the heart of the African continent: their minute size belies the magnitude of the tragedies they have suffered. The first will go down in history as the site of one of the biggest genocides
Black urban regime refers to large, majority or near majority black cities in the United States governed by black mayors. The first examples of a black urban regime were Carl Stokes’s and Richard Hatcher’s election in Cleveland and Gary, respectively, in the late 1960s. The majority of black urban regimes arose in the 1970s and
The one drop rule was a social construction that emerged discursively in US history. The language was first used by the government in the Fourteenth Census in 1920 when the color line was redefined by the Census Bureau. Instead of using the category “mulattoes,” the Bureau adopted the one drop rule. According to it, ”the
Passing is a process by which an individual crosses over from one culture or community into another undetected. The historical connotation of the term, however, is intimately connected with black America, and “passing,” ”crossing over,” or ”going over to the other side” typically refers to a black person whose appearance is such that they can
Paternalism is evidenced by a pattern of gift giving (or sponsorship) from a more powerful or higher status group or individual to a lower status group or individual that is consistent with a system designed to maintain privileged positions. It usually occurs in situations where there are sharp differences in power and status between groups