This article aims to make a theoretical contribution to clarify the societal impact of the reorganization of public and private in the digital age. Drawing on the spatial-sociological approach of ...German sociologist HP Bahrdt, the discussion is guided by the thesis that the specific dynamics of privacy risk attributed to the digital revolution pre-date the digitized age, specifically in rural environments. The analogy between rurality and digitality is used to illustrate why the increasing blurring of public and private through transparency potentials—along with the accompanying convergence of social contacts (characteristic of both rural and digital space)—threatens not only individual privacy but also democratization by violating forms of individual freedom that are constitutive of a critical public realm. Therefore, this article serves as a call to understand digital privacy protection as one of the pressing challenges of our time.
The article presents a temporal and spatial analysis of the social structure of rural Poland – currently a home to two‐fifths of the national population. In the first – temporal – dimension, the ...focus is on changes that have taken place since the post‐communist transformation. The aim of the analysis was to explain the mechanisms of change, that is, identify the processes that brought about those changes. We assumed that transitions in the rural social structure progressed differently than in the rest of society: they were deeper, followed different trajectories and resulted in fundamentally changed proportions between the rural structure's elements. In the other – spatial –dimension, we investigated the territorial diversity of the contemporary social structure. The social structure morphology was analysed on the basis of the proportions between three major social/occupational segments: farmers, workers and the middle class. Their distinction was determined by the trajectories of social structure change starting from the 1990s: depeasantisation, proletarianisation and gentrification. The study has revealed the complexity of the process of change as well as the unique character of the process of deagrarianisation, its depth/intensity being determined by the spatial diversity of types of rural social structure.
For those experiencing them, educational transitions include not only the present time but are embedded within institutions that precede and extend beyond the individuals. This article explores how, ...as an institutional space, the early childhood education and care (ECEC) setting is (re)produced within young children's encounters with others during a transition period. Video-recorded observations of three infant-toddlers' first months of attendance to an ECEC setting were analysed following analytic induction and video interaction analysis. Two examples illustrating object ownership negotiations are discussed. The results show that, in their encounters with others, newcomers actively contributed to (re)producing the ECEC setting by advancing their own understandings of objects and ownership, practicing their own ways of being with objects. Moreover, the results indicate that teachers' contributions strongly influenced the outcomes of the encounters and, consequently, the constitution of shared understandings of objects and object ownership within the ECEC setting.
This volume was developed within the framework of the teaching course of Urban Sociology in which seminar activities had been planned to respond to a significant teaching demand: to show students the ...polyhedral nature of studies and research located within the discipline. At the same time, it was intended to highlight the common heuristic option, going beyond the first impression of a magmatic accumulation of research strands. By involving young researchers, the seminar activity thus was designed not to focus on a specific research topic to be explored in depth during the various scheduled classes but to draw attention to the explanatory value of the territorial dimension in understanding a multiplicity of social phenomena, even where this was not immediately evident and often not adequately recognized. The researches outlined in the volume have the merit of focusing on spatial and territorial aspects of the different social forms studied, contributing to the spatialization of sociological theory. In this reading, the territory emerges not just as a mere background and container for a set of social processes but a dimension socially structured by the forces in play and, at the same time, structuring them.
This volume was developed within the framework of the teaching course of Urban Sociology in which seminar activities had been planned to respond to a significant teaching demand: to show students the ...polyhedral nature of studies and research located within the discipline. At the same time, it was intended to highlight the common heuristic option, going beyond the first impression of a magmatic accumulation of research strands. By involving young researchers, the seminar activity thus was designed not to focus on a specific research topic to be explored in depth during the various scheduled classes but to draw attention to the explanatory value of the territorial dimension in understanding a multiplicity of social phenomena, even where this was not immediately evident and often not adequately recognized. The researches outlined in the volume have the merit of focusing on spatial and territorial aspects of the different social forms studied, contributing to the spatialization of sociological theory. In this reading, the territory emerges not just as a mere background and container for a set of social processes but a dimension socially structured by the forces in play and, at the same time, structuring them.
Social networks of socially disadvantaged individuals can help them in coping with everyday life and avoiding social exclusion. At the same time, social ties also have the power to bind an individual ...to their disadvantageous situation, perpetuating the risks of social exclusion. One mechanism through which ties can be established are “foci”: extra‐network structures around which common interactions occur (e.g., family, workplace, clubs) that usually have spatial anchor points (places) where joint interactions happen. To better understand this interplay of places and networks, we use a methodological novelty that connects a person’s everyday places with their ego‐centred network (two‐mode network). We analyse in depth two cases (elderly women living alone) from a mixed‐methods study conducted in rural peripheries in eastern Germany, and we combine data from GPS tracking, qualitative interviews, and egocentric networks. A central finding of our analysis is that tie formation in places is more successful if ego has certain resources (e.g., cultural, financial, or time resources) that allow them to utilise places as foci—hence, ego and places must “match” in their characteristics. Beyond that, the existing foci (and their spatial anchoring as places in everyday life) in which ego is integrated must be considered as structures. Even if a person has enough resources and easy access to places with characteristics that promote contact, this does not automatically mean that they will form ties in such places, as the person’s network plays a major role in whether they frequent these places and establish new ties there.
The paper shows how cross-cultural, cross-societal, cross-national, multinational and international comparative survey researchers have been handling space since the 1950s and how it can be used for ...spatial analysis. Using the concepts of the Survey Life Cycle and the Total Survey Error (TSE), the paper discusses two major methodological problems cross-cultural survey methodology faces: The problems of (1) equivalence and (2) demarcation.
The history of sociology has been one of borrowing and synthesizing methods and theoretical frameworks form sister disciplines in largely a reciprocal fashion. While these transitions are often well ...documented and attributed to a progression towards an "improved" sociology, a recent increasing interest in the spatial context in which individual and group actions occur has largely gone unnoticed. The current manuscript takes a historical approach in implementing a pseudo content analysis of all articles ever published in mainstream sociology journals. The results show that while sociology has historically been a leader within the social sciences concerning ecological analyses, a recent boom in its presence has solidified its place within the discipline. Ultimately, this is not surprising given the core tenets and roots of the discipline. However, what is somewhat surprising is the relative absence of acknowledgement of such a transition outside of the subdisciplines of demography, criminology and rural sociology. This manuscript looks to those areas as evidence of future work in the more general field of sociology and couples that argument with historical results substantiating the trend.
This article examines the importance of Ljubljana’s plot gardening in relation to three aspects: social, ecological and spatial. Plot gardening in a city, as a common urban practice, is comprised of ...several aspects, not only food supply, as is stressed in this text. As an informal social activity, it satisfies many individual needs and is related to the quality of life and living environment. It is also important when considering spatial values and preferences because in the process of studying plot gardening as a social phenomenon the cultural specifics and social importance of this activity for Ljubljana residents is being identified. Thus, with favourable conditions and management as well as monitoring of the activity, plot gardening is positive in numerous regards, not only for the plot users but also for the city and the environment as well because the green city system and a positive city image are important. Disagreements that arose due to issues of cleaning up plot gardens in Ljubljana required a suitable solution to the problems of plot gardening. Considering the facts and in order to prevent the problems that can arise from this activity, the importance of and justification for plot gardening is stressed, particularly concentrating on the advantages of the practice.
The article presents some key findings of the sociological survey research Rehabilitation of housing estates in Ljubljana – Savsko naselje. It focused on attitudes and opinions of the estate’s ...residents and estimated their future residential preferences. The key issue – coupled with significant distrust of the local authority as well as the interdisciplinary group of experts conducting the research – was above all the inability of the residents to finance rehabilitation, but also their vigorous resentment of any co-financing that would entail extensions or even new construction. The survey results show that, if the rehabilitation process is not undertaken comprehensively, including acceptable financial-loan arrangements, in the next decade the quality of maintenance will drop and consequentially the value of property in the neighbourhood.
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