The Geometry of Culture Kozlowski, Austin C.; Taddy, Matt; Evans, James A.
American sociological review,
10/2019, Letnik:
84, Številka:
5
Journal Article
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We argue word embedding models are a useful tool for the study of culture using a historical analysis of shared understandings of social class as an empirical case. Word embeddings represent semantic ...relations between words as relationships between vectors in a highdimensional space, specifying a relational model of meaning consistent with contemporary theories of culture. Dimensions induced by word differences (rich–poor) in these spaces correspond to dimensions of cultural meaning, and the projection of words onto these dimensions reflects widely shared associations, which we validate with surveys. Analyzing text from millions of books published over 100 years, we show that the markers of class continuously shifted amidst the economic transformations of the twentieth century, yet the basic cultural dimensions of class remained remarkably stable. The notable exception is education, which became tightly linked to affluence independent of its association with cultivated taste.
Generation Y is currently one of the largest age cohort representatives performing military service worldwide and in the Lithuanian armed forces. Generation Y individuals are more individualistic ...compared to previous generations: generation X or-Baby Boomers. Meanwhile, military service requires greater involvement and dedication to collective goals from individuals, compared to civilian professions – it is a greedy, total, and more socially isolated profession (Soeters 2018, Soeters and et al. 2006). Research shows that Generation Y individuals leave the labor market more easily – they change jobs if they do not satisfy their expectations. The purpose of the article is to reveal the value features of social integration in the military service of generation Y individuals (officers and non-commissioned officers) serving in the Lithuanian armed forces. The study is exceptional because it reveals the value aspects of the social integration of generation Y soldiers – the implementation of which in the military service is a condition for social inclusion. The research is conducted using a semi-structured interview with 22 generation Y individuals who are actively performing military service in the Lithuanian armed forces or who have served previously but terminated their contracts prematurely. The article presents unique cultural aspects of the social integration of generation Y individuals into the armed forces, like the need for creativity and growth or alienating features like the imitation of work, stagnation, or suppression of innovations. That allows us to consider not only the current expectations of generation Y individuals in the military service but also to foresee the challenges awaiting Lithuanian armed forces in the future.
The purpose of the article is to conceptualise the phenomenon of modern popular culture as a cultural practice of creating meanings. Methodology. General scientific research methods were applied: ...analysis and synthesis were used during the review of the main studies of popular culture theorists, by virtue of using systematic method, popular culture was reviewed as a whole, with the coordination of its components, comparative methods was used to collate the features of popular culture with others. The scientific novelty is that the definition of popular culture has been clarified from the perspective of modern Ukrainian cultural studies, considering the meaning-creation processes of its makers. Conclusions. Popular culture is a type of modern culture that recognises the importance of the ordinary, mundane, while everyday life is perceived as an important component of cultural formation. In everyday life, meaning-creation occurs when popular culture makers are not trained specialists, but rather ordinary people, consumers of cultural products, who imbue them with feelings and emotions, give them meaning, based on their own opinions and customs. Such vision allows us to move from a simplified view of the hierarchy of "high" and "low" cultures to a more complex multi-layered picture of the functioning of modern culture.
The interruption of Japan's foreign relations, which has lasted since the beginning of the 7th century, was interrupted by the signing of the treaty of Kanagawa and the seizure of power by the ...emperor Mutsuhito, who called his reign the Meiji period, or „Enlightened rule.” It was during this period that the foundations for modernization of today's sophisticated Japan were laid. Japan begins to open up to the world, but it retains its independence, combining tradition and modernism in all segments. The journey and the exchange of ideas that have inspired many literary works, not only by the French writer Pierre Loti, on whose work this paper is partially based, then artistic ideas and artefacts, aim to explore the author of this paper, which focuses on the presentation of elements of Japanese art and culture at the Exibition Universelle in Paris, 1867. The analytical-comparative method used in this paper shows the remarkable place of Japan in the cross-section that transported silk from the Mediterranean to East Asia, which has become a symbol of the connection between East and West and metaphors for various myths and legends from previous periods, and today the link between western and eastern cultural development models, whose proximity and distance are constantly changing, leaving a strong mark on all societies.
In the early 21st century, TV series audiences in Croatia started fragmenting, and Turkish telenovelas began dominating terrestrial television. The research aimed to compare viewers and non-viewers ...of Turkish telenovelas in terms of value-based cultural proximity to Turkey, their cultural capital characteristics related to cultural engagement and foreign language knowledge, and their television taste. At the same time, for the first time on a Croatian adult sample, the research classified television fiction and entertainment genres into three genre styles (lowbrow, middlebrow, and highbrow genres) and established connections between the viewers' cultural capital and preferences for these styles. The research was conducted using the snowball method via Facebook. There were 1185 participants divided into two groups: viewers (316) and non-viewers of Turkish telenovelas (869). The results indicate that viewers of Turkish telenovelas express a pronounced cultural proximity to Turkey and a weaker cultural engagement and knowledge of foreign languages than non-viewers. Their spectrum of genre preferences is narrow, mostly gravitating towards lowbrow genres, especially domestic telenovelas. Non-viewers of Turkish telenovelas do not express a pronounced cultural proximity to Turkey. They are more culturally engaged and know foreign languages better than viewers of Turkish telenovelas. They accept middlebrow and highbrow genres while ignoring lowbrow ones. Regarding the cultural stratification related to television tastes, the largest, statistically significant positive correlations were found between cultural engagement, knowledge of foreign languages and education on the one hand and highbrow genres and then middlebrow genres on the other. The correlations were negative for lowbrow genres.
Apart from originating contemporary norms and cultures among its viewers, Nigerian television series portray new and emerging constructions and practices that the populace is able to identify with. ...Recently, one television series that has become popular in Nigeria is Jenifa’s Diary. Its popularity stems from its incorporation of the Nigerian English, the British English and the indigenous Yoruba language, as well as the antics and codification(s) of the eponymous character, Jennifer. Her utility of a distinctive English language which deviates from the Nigerian Pidgin and the British English, has made this series popular among viewers. This has created a new linguistic culture and also appropriated what I term the Jenifanlingua franca. It is not a rarity to see children, teenagers and adults communicate in the same manner as Jennifer. Against this backdrop, this paper examines Funke Akindele-Bello’s television series Jenifa’s Diary as Nigerian social reality and a medium for cultural propagation. This study examines socio-cultural nuances in Jenifas Diary. The research is qualitative as it utilises the literary and content analysis methods. The study reveals that Jenifa’s Diary captures the plight of the African been to in the Western world and that the television serial is rich with its incorporation of the Nigerian Pidgin English, the British English and some indigenous Nigerian languages such as the Yoruba language, as well as the antics and codification(s) of the eponymous character, Jennifer. While Jenifa’s Diary and other Nigerian television series are products of social realities, they also create spaces for new socio-cultural landscapes. The study has been able to explain the imperative of television series on the Nigerian socio-cultural space. Cineastes should produce television serials that will educate and stimulate the populace towards becoming better people in the society.
This article revisits the notion of ‘postfeminism’ 10 years after its formulation in critical terms as a sensibility characterizing cultural life. The article has two broad aims: first to reflect ...upon postfeminism as a critical term – as part of the lexicon of feminist scholarship – and second to discuss the current features of postfeminism as a sensibility. The first part of the article discusses the extraordinary uptake of the term and considers its continuing relevance in a changed context marked by deeply contradictory trends, including the resurgence of interest in feminism, alongside the spectacular visibility of misogyny, racism, homophobia and nationalism. I document a growing attention to the specificities of postfeminism, including attempts to map its temporal phases, its relevance to place, and intersectional developments of the term. The second part of the article examines the contours of the contemporary postfeminist sensibility. I argue that postfeminism has tightened its hold upon contemporary life and become hegemonic. Compared with a decade ago, it is much more difficult to recognize as a novel and distinctive sensibility, as it instantiates a common sense that operates as a kind of gendered neoliberalism. It has both spread out and intensified across contemporary culture and is becoming increasingly dependent upon a psychological register built around cultivating the ‘right’ kinds of dispositions for surviving in neoliberal society: confidence, resilience and positive mental attitude. Together these affective, cultural and psychic features of postfeminism exert a powerful regulatory force. This article forms part of ‘On the Move’, a special issue marking the twentieth anniversary of the journal. It also heads up a special online dossier on ‘Postfeminism in the European Journal of Cultural Studies’.
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