bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Asia Comes to Main Street and May Learn to Speak Spanish: Globalization in a Poor Neighborhood in Worcester
Authors: Derickson Kate Driscoll , Ross Robert J.S.
Published: September 2015

This paper considers how and why an Asian enclave of small businesses has appeared in a poor neighborhood characterized by Puerto Rican and other Latino immigration in the post-industrial city of Worcester, Massachusetts. We begin by examining the role of the US in the world system, and argue that the US hegemonic role and specific political economic aspects of global capitalism (ie. deindustrialization) account for some of the migration stream. Next, using socio-economic and historical data, interviews, and observations, we outline the history of Worcesters economy and immigration patterns. We demonstrate that the increasing economic inequality leaves few promising employment options for newcomers to Worcester. Drawing on existing literature on immigrant entrepreneurs and ethnic enclaves, we argue that some aspects of the literature appear to shed light on the Vietnamese enterprises which have so visibly appeared (e.g., ethnic niches), while others, (e.g., middle-man minority theory) are not now reflected in local conflict. We conclude by considering the prospects for immigrants to this neighborhood in light of its political economic context.
OIL FOR FOOD: THE GLOBAL STORY OF EDIBLE LIPIDS
Authors: Pitts Martin , Dorling Danny , Pattie Charles
Published: September 2015

This paper addresses the issue of the globalization of food production and consumption in the last half-century through the medium of fats and oils, or lipids. The dual traits of being essential for human life and signifying a diverse range of regional styles of consumption make lipids an ideal bulk commodity to study international differences in food. FAOSTAT food balance sheet data on fats and oils from 1961 and 2003 are interrogated using correspondence analysis, which provides a means of displaying the principal trends in large tables of data. The analyses reveal evidence for a global convergence in lipid availability from 1961 to 2003 (from animal fats to vegetable oils), in addition to a trends towards an increased disparity which at the extremes is between the wealthiest, as importers of diversity, and least affluent regions, as the most resistant areas to homogenizing trends.
Debt, Structural Adjustment and Deforestation: A Cross-National Study
Authors: Shandra John  M. , Shor Eran , Maynard and London Gary and Bruce
Published: September 2015

We present cross-national models that examine the determinants of deforestation from 1990 to 2005 for a sample of sixty-two poor nations. We test dependency theory hypotheses that both debt and structural adjustment affect forests. We find substantial support for this theoretical perspective. The results indicate that both factors increase deforestation. We also find support for world polity theory that international non-governmental organization density decreases deforestation. We conclude with a brief discussion of the findings, policy implications, and possible directions for future research.
Book Review Essay: Capital Resurgent? The Political Economy of Gérard Duménil and Dominique Lévy
Authors: Nichter Matthew
Published: September 2015

Written from a broadly Marxist perspective, Capital Resurgent proposes a sweeping interpretation of nearly one hundred and fifty years of capitalist development, illuminating the neoliberal revolution of the past quarter century through comparisons with earlier periods. French economists Gérard Duménil and Dominique Lévy have produced an ambitious book, replete with useful data and provocative hypotheses, that summarizes and synthesizes their growing oeuvre.
Natural and Unnatural Paths
Authors: Coyne Gary
Published: September 2015

Adam Smith in Beijing is Giovanni Arrighis attempt to make sense of the rise of China and the fate of the neo-conservative Project for a New American Century, while at the same time speculating about the role of East Asia in the twenty-first century. In interpreting these current events Arrighi draws much from The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith classic of political-economy which proves to be surprisingly relevant despite being over two-hundred years old. One of the books unifying themes is Adam Smiths prediction that one day the inhabitants of all the different quarters of the world may arrive at that equality of courage and force, which by inspiring mutual fear, can alone overawe the injustice of independent nations into some sort of respect for the rights of one another (p. 3).
Histories of the Present: Giovanni Arrighi & the Long Duree of Geohistorical Capitalism
Authors: Reifer Thomas E.
Published: September 2015

One of the more telling features of the present conjuncture is the scarcity of analysis able to squarely place todays global turbulence and the current crises in geohistorical perspective. In terms of the longue duree of capitalism since its late medieval and early modern origins right up to the present, arguably no intellectual has developed a more formidable analysis of the present crisis than Giovanni Arrighi. Arrighi of course, along with Immanuel Wallerstein (1974, 1980, 1989) and the late Terence Hopkins, was one of the originators and foremost proponents of the world-systems perspective on European domination, global capitalism, global income inequalities and development (see Arrighi, Hopkins & Wallerstein, 1989). The world-systems perspective itself  challenging as it did the dominance of post-World War II modernization theory - came out the movements of the 1960s and brought together fruitful synthesis of Marxism, Third World radicalism, and critical currents in social science, from the work of the French Annales school to that of the German historical school (see Goldfrank 2000).
Studying Long-Term Large-Scale Change: Concluding Reflections on the Relevant Unit of Analysis
Authors: Moran Timothy Patrick
Published: September 2015

When I first received the papers as discussant for the ASA panel, Methodology for World-Systems Analysis (the papers that would come to constitute this journals special issue), I didnt quite know how to proceed. In large part, the papers used innovative methodology to answer interesting substantive questions, so quality was not a question. The authors were rigorous in how this methodology was applied, and creative in searching for and manipulating worldwide data, so no need to comment there. The problem was semantic. Not in the petty dispute over word choice sense of semantic, but in the ontological relationship between distinctive concepts and their intended (in this case theoretical) meaning.
(In)Fertile Ground? Social Forum Activism in its Regional and Local Dimension
Authors: Smith Peter J. , Smythe Elizabeth
Published: September 2015

Since its inception in 2001 World Social Forum (WSF) has grown in numbers and drawn activists from all areas of the globe. It has also spawned a myriad of social forums around the world. But the pattern of participation within the WSF global event or within other forums has not been evenly spread in geographic or spatial terms. This chapter examines how and why social forum activism emerged in some places and not others. We map the social forum from the first WSF in 2001 through its proliferation and fragmentation over time as it has taken root at various levelscontinental, national, regional and local. Then we provide comparative case studies of sub-global forums drawn from North and South America, Europe and Africa. We also compare different manifestations of social forumism along a number of dimensions. Drawing on comparative politics and its emphasis on the specifics of place and the role of context we discuss these patterns and the factors that might account for why these forms of resistance find barren or fertile ground around the world.
Understanding Ancient Interactions
Authors: Schortman Edward
Published: September 2015

Archaic State Interaction casts valuable new light on how extra-societal contacts may be implicated in processes of increasing social complexity. As the title makes clear, the contributors ground their discussions of interaction theory in the specific sequence of events dating to 3100-1000 BCE in that portion of the Mediterranean basin stretching from Italy to the Levantine Coast. Their goals, as stated clearly by Parkinson and Galaty in the introduction, are to consider how local social and economic changes, on the one hand, were related to: variations in the intensity of interactions occurring at differing spatial and temporal scales; changes in how, and by whom, such contacts were conducted; and, shifts in the routes these transactions followed. The result is less a consensus than a healthy, productive debate on these issues. The main points of contention concern: rates of socio-political change; how to translate patterns among static material remains into dynamic political and economic processes; whose interests drove and shaped the course of cross-border contacts; and what interpretive frameworks are best suited to modeling the latter interactions. With respect to the last point, a consistent theme running throughout the papers deals with the utility of world-systems theory (WST) in describing and understanding the developmental significance of inter-polity contacts.
The Effects of Foreign Bank Participation on the Turkish Banking System and Crisis
Authors: Degirmen Suleyman
Published: September 2015

There is an assertion that the participation of foreign banks in emerging markets is often thought to improve overall bank soundness. Therefore, if the share of foreign banks in a national banking system is large, the system will quickly overcome both financial or currency crises, and quickly recover itself. Since Turkey has been experienced mentioned crises, the aim of this study is to reveal if the assertion is valid for Turkey. Our expectation from the study using VAR method is to reach a conclusion that countries with large market share of foreign banks have safely passed the crises by virtue of foreign banks best management policies. The test results indicate that foreign banks have more positive effect for helping TBS capital structure; foreign bank participation did not cause any decline in loans and last one, after crisis, existence of foreign banks worsens TBS liquidity in interest and exchange rate shocks.
Introduction to the Special Section
Authors: Jones Terry-Ann , Mielants Eric
Published: September 2015

Several theories of international migration have emerged to explain and predict the patterns created by the international flows of people. While used as an explanatory tool for other sociological phenomena, world-systems analysis has also emerged as a dominant paradigm through which international migration may be explored. In April 2008 Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT hosted the thirty-second annual conference of the Political Economy of the World-System section of the American Sociological Association. The theme was Flow of People and Money across the World-System: Past, Present and Future. The collection of papers presented at this conference was academically rich and produced a wealth of scholarship, some of which is presented in this issue. Vernengo and Bradbury examine the risks associated with dollarization in Ecuador, arguing that although these risks are minimized by the influx of migrant remittances into the country, the trend remains unstable and unsustainable, as was evident in Argentina. Rocha deconstructs the optimistic visions that present remittances as an opportunity for developing countries, instead arguing that they are part and parcel of a process of economic imperialism. Dick and Jorgenson focus on environmental consequences of foreign investment dependence for less-developed countries and how various types of ecological degradation can contribute to mass migration. Kentor, Sobel and Timberlake discuss the hierarchy of global cities through which so much money flows back and forth, and specifically the spatiality of inter-corporate integration in the global economy such as the spatial distribution of intra-firm corporate headquarter-subsidiary networks operations and centrality in transportation networks. Lastly, Degirmen presents a case study of globalization of capital in Turkey and how interest and exchange rate shocks produced particularly interesting effects on capital and liquidity structures.
Local Utopia as Unobtrusive Resistance: The Greek Village Micro-Economy
Authors: Karides Marina
Published: September 2015

In late 2008 Athenian youths, triggered by extreme police violence, took to the streets with collective and intensive protests against the growing poverty, unemployment, and political corruption in Greece. The subsequent, regular protests in urban Greece speak not only to the rejection of Greek governance but also to the political and economic promise of the Euro-zone falsely promoted as a boon for its periphery. The oft-reiterated headline Athens is burning is varyingly used by left and right media reporting on Greece and its populations fierce dissent.
Urbanization before Cities: Lessons for Social Theory from the Evolution of Cities
Authors: Thomas Alexander
Published: September 2015

This article examines the role of the world-system in the structure of cities. Data from the evolution of cities in the Fertile Crescent shows that a number of traits of modern cities were also present in the earliest cities. Specifically, mass production, social differentiation and inequality, cultural mechanisms utilized for social control, and a tendency  even a need  for territorial expansion were all characteristic of ancient cities. Such characteristics of cities are rooted in the process of urbanization, understood here as the creation and maintenance of networks of economic and cultural exchange amongst communities in disparate regions. Citiesare understood as nodes in this system of exchange. It is argued that urbanization predatescities by thousands of years, and that the social dynamics arising from urbanization must be teased out of the data in order to understand cities better.
Green Technology and Ecologically Unequal Exchange: The Environmental and Social Consequences of Ecological Modernization in the World-System
Authors: Bonds Eric , Downey Liam
Published: September 2015

This paper contributes to understandings of ecologically unequal exchange within the world-systems perspective by offering a series of case studies of ecological modernization in the automobile industry. The case studies demonstrate that green technologies developed and instituted in core nations often require specific raw materials that are extracted from the periphery and semi-periphery. Extraction of such natural resources causes significant environmental degradation and often displaces entire communities from their land. Moreover, because states often use violence and repression to facilitate raw material extraction, the widespread commercialization of green technologies can result in serious human rights violations. These findings challenge ecological modernization theory, which rests on the assumption that the development and commercialization of more ecologically-efficient technologies is universally beneficial.
Land, Livelihoods, and the Decline of Work: South African Lessons for Current Debates
Authors: Scully Ben
Published: September 2015

This article presents a comparison of central debates in South African labor sociology in the1970s and the contemporary era. I argue that scholars can break through impasses in currentlabor sociology debates by reviving attention to the land-labor-livelihood (LLL) connections thatinspired theoretical advancements in the South African literature of the 1970s. After anintroduction and definition of LLL connections, the paper analyzes an exemplary work of thelabor literature of the 1970s, giving special attention to the way in which the LLL focus shapedthe questions asked by the authors. The article proceeds to a review of central debates from thecurrent labor literature, which focuses primarily on issues of the labor movement. It is arguedthat this focus on movements has limited the scope of labor scholarship, resulting in an impassein South African labor debates. An emerging literature that renews attention to the LLLconnections is proposed as a model for moving beyond this impasse. I close the article bydiscussing the implications for this review of South African literature for global laborscholarship.
East Asian Developmental Path and Land-Use Rights in China
Authors: Trichur Ganesh K.
Published: September 2015

This paper highlights contemporary Chinas long-term continuities with the historical EastAsian developmental path in relation to its post-1978 revival of market-economy traditions. Therevival of market economy traditions does not exemplify the unfolding of processes associatedwith the one-size-fits-all Washington Consensus. Rural land reforms were driven from belowand strongly influenced policy changes from above. Neither rural nor urban land use relationssuggest a more general unfolding of neoliberal processes of capitalist accumulation bydispossession. Contemporary Chinese land relations reflect the effects of continuities withhistorical East Asian regional traditions more strongly than do some discontinuities andruptures that emerged in the conjuncture of the mid-1980s. These continuities remain moreimportant in understanding the future of the China-led East Asian region. Like the Ming andQing dynasties, Chinas Party-State is sharply focused on problems of governance. Retaininglegitimacy and recreating a welfare state to promote harmonious development rather thangrowth fetishism appears to characterize Chinas current trajectory.
Dispossession, Class Formation, and the Political Imaginary of Colombia's Coffee Producers over the Longue Duree: Beyond the Polanyian Analytic
Authors: Hough Phillip A. , Bair Jennifer
Published: September 2015

For more than a decade, social scientists have been analyzing the implications of the neoliberalturn in development policy and the implications of market-led agrarian reform for agriculturalproducers in the global South. Among this work is a spate of recent scholarship celebrating anumber of flagship movements, such as the Zapatistas in Mexico or the landless movement inBrazil, which are interpreted as efforts by rural communities to resist the threat posed by thecommodification of livelihoods and the privatization of natural resources. In this article, we aimto problematize what we diagnose as the Polanyian analytic underlying accounts of thecurrent conjuncture which emphasize the imminent potential of neoliberalism to spawnprotective counter-movements of the sort described in The Great Transformation. We do sothrough an analysis of the Unidad Cafetero Nacional (UCN) movement, an organization ofColombian coffee farmers that effectively mobilized large numbers of cafeteros in the 1990s toprotest the liberalization of the global coffee market and the decline of state support for thedomestic coffee sector. While the UCN may be read as a struggle to resist the dispossession ofColombian coffee farmers, we argue that it represented a particular segment of rural producerswho wanted, first and foremost, a restoration of their relatively privileged status within thepolitical economy of Colombian agriculture. Our interpretation of the UCN suggests thatwhether movements emerge in response to neoliberalism depends on the political imaginaries ofthe social actors who would create them, and further, that these imaginaries are producedthrough processes of class formation over the longue durée that shape the meaning ofdispossession in particular contexts.
Expelled: Humans in Capitalisms Deepening Crisis
Authors: Sassen Saskia
Published: September 2015

As the Cold War was winding down, a new struggle began. Following a period of diverse versions of Keynesian-led relative redistribution in developed market economies, the United States became the point actor for a radical reshuffiing of capitalism. Key to this reshuffiing was expulsion - of people, places, and traditional economies (see Sassen 2014). While this is a socio-economic condition it is a critical, but invisible, element of the current political crisis. Measuring economic growth to understand whether government policies are working, or measuring political participation in terms of voting, excludes growing portions of our political economy - people, specific types of firms and economic circuits, and spaces. The Keynesian period was one of mass production and mass construction of suburban space: this brought with it an economic logic that valued people as workers and consumers, though not necessarily as human beings. The logic guiding the current phase of advanced capitalism does not value people as workers or as (mass) consumers. Thus, in the last two decades there has been a sharp growth in the numbers of people that have been "expelled" from the economy in much of the world. The active expanding of a middle class in that earlier period has been replaced by the impoverishment and shrinking of the middle class.
The Impacts of Terrorism and Capitalist Incorporation on Indigenous Americans
Authors: Jalata Asafa
Published: September 2015

This article demonstrates the connections between terrorism, colonial state formation, and the development of the capitalist world system, or globalization, exploring the consequences of colonial terrorism on indigenous American peoples. First, the piece introduces the central argument and conceptualizes and theorizes terrorism. Second, it examines the structural aspects of colonial terrorism by connecting it to specific colonial policies and practices. Third, it explains the ideological justifications that Euro-American colonial settlers and their descendants used in committing crimes against humanity and dispossessing the homelands of indigenous Americans, as well as in amassing wealth/capital by ignoring moral, ethical, and philosophical issues and human rights.
On Vivek Chibber's Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital
Authors: Sewell Jr. William H.
Published: September 2015

Review Symposium Commentary
Comparing Critical Capitalist Commodity Chains in the Early Twenty-first Century: Opportunities For and Constraints on Labor and Political Movements
Authors: Sowers Elizabeth , Ciccantell Paul S. , Smith David A.
Published: September 2015

There have been a number of critical historical opportunities for labor to exert power by interrupting long distance flows of commodities at the extraction, processing, and transport stages. This vulnerability has been used by workers in these industries to gain higher wages and better working conditions and to achieve political goals in national and international arenas. In this paper, we compare two commodity chains that are critical components of the global economy. The first, which we describe as transport, is a broad category involving a range of manufactured goods, whose delivery to customers around the world was fundamentally changed in the past fifty years via "containerization" and "the logistics revolution." The second is oil and gas, which also has experienced recently dramatic changes in both extraction (via "tar sands" and "[racking") and transportation. In each case, we discuss possibilities and challenges for labor and political organizing to disrupt capital in these key commodity chains. We identify the "stakes" in each commodity chain by demonstrating the vulnerabilities on which labor and political organizations/movements could capitalize, which usually stem from the capital intensity and global integration of each critical commodity chain. These vulnerabilities are the factors which form the most basic opportunities for organizing in these sectors. Our analysis further suggests that while transport and raw materials remain vulnerable nodes in capitalist commodity chains, there are also constraints and challenges to be faced by labor and social movement organizations (SMOs) that might attempt to leverage power over these circuits of the world-economy.
Bringing Commodity Chain Analysis Back to Its World-Systems Roots: Rediscovering Womens Work and Households
Authors: Dunaway Wilma A.
Published: September 2015

Globally between 1980 and 2000, women's economic activity rate expanded, narrowing the gender gap in labor force participation. Thus, females now account for one-third or more of the "officially-counted" personnel of export industries (UNICEF 2007), and export agriculture is now feminized (Deere 2005). Today women account for one-third of the manufacturing labor force in developing countries, and females hold more than one-half of the industrial jobs in Asia (Barrientos, Kabeer and Hossain 2004). In much of the global South, females account for a majority of the waged labor force in export agriculture, and they are more heavily concentrated than men in service jobs that provision the supply chains of global production. As a reflection of fewer opportunities for males, women are now less likely to withdraw from the labor force during their childbearing years. In addition, females account for a majority of the income earners in the informal sectors of a majority of global South countries, generate a significant proportion of global commodities through subcontracted work they complete in their households, and provide most of the unpaid family labor needed to support household-based farms and businesses that are dominated by males (United Nations 2003).
Sociology in Times of Crisis: Chen Da, National Salvation and the Indigenization of Knowledge
Authors: Candela Ana Maria
Published: September 2015

Chen Da was one of the foremost sociologists of China from the 1920s to the 1940s. His intellectual habitus took shape from the long crisis that defined Chinese intellectual life from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, a period of continuous imperial assault on Chinese sovereignty. As China integrated into the capitalist world-system, neo-Confucian structures of knowledge came into question. Intellectuals took up sociology to guide China’s transition from an empire to a nation-state. Through his studies on labor, migration, and population, Chen Da contributed to the institutionalization of sociology in China. Chen sought to craft a theory of Chinese development that followed universal trajectories of progress but was also attuned to the complexity of Chinese society on the ground. Through his efforts to indigenize sociology, Chen developed a non-Marxist historical materialism, a deterritorialized and pluralistic conceptualization of China as a nation, and a theory of eugenic transformation centered on the concept of “mode of living.” The questions which Chen Da confronted are emblematic of the predicament faced by Chinese social scientists today, who again struggle with the dynamics of a deterritorialzied “Greater China,” rising social fragmentation, and refigured eugenic discourses and policies that aim to craft the Chinese people into ideal national subjects fit for post-socialist development.
Economic Entitlements via Entrepreneurial Conduct? Women and Financial Inclusion in Neo-liberal India
Authors: Kalpana K.
Published: September 2015

This paper examines the gendered local character of neoliberalism at the household level by focusing on microcredit/finance programs in India. Microfinance promoted by the state as an informal activity targeting women is intended to alleviate income inequalities, even as it contributes to maintaining the world capitalist system. In India the inception of microfinance-based Self Help Groups (SHGs) or peer groups of women savers and borrowers in the 1990s has coincided with a rightward turn towards neoliberal policies of structural adjustment, privatization and economic deregulation. In this paper, I show how Indian policy makers have endeavored to make women's economic entitlements contingent upon their disciplined financial behavior and their willing participation in neoliberal agendas of creating and deepening 'self-regulating' markets at village levels. Drawing on an ethnographic study conducted in a South Indian state, I show that the community level 'neoliberal disciplining' that microfinance entails does not proceed without resistance. Whilst SHGs seek to constitute women as fiscally disciplined savers and borrowers, women stake their 'rightful' entitlement to bank credit even as they reject outright the entrepreneurial subjectivities they are expected to assume. They pursue purposes and ends that extend well beyond 'financial inclusion.'
The Origins of Turkey’s “Heterodox” Transition to Neoliberalism: The Özal Decade and Beyond
Authors: Karataşlı Şahan Savaş
Published: September 2015

This article examines the origins of Turkey’s neoliberal transformation in world-historical perspective by highlighting interactions between the crisis of U.S. hegemony, social and political movements in Turkey, and Turgut Özal's political career as the architect of the country’s neoliberal reforms. I argue that Turkey’s neoliberal transition during the “Özal Decade (1980-1989/1993)” was not primarily related to resolving the profitability crisis of the existing national bourgeoisie (Istanbul-based industrial bourgeoisie) or reconstituting class power in favor of this segment of capital. The Turkish neoliberal project was more concerned with establishing a stable political-economic environment that would help Turkey's political society reassert its hegemony over civil society and allow for the penetration of the changing interests of the world-hegemonic power in the region. Because of these social and geopolitical concerns, Turkey's neoliberal reforms (1) contributed to the development of an alternative/rival segment of national bourgeoisie which had the potential to co-opt radicalized Islamic movements, (2) aimed at creating a large middle class society (instead of shrinking it), (3) utilized populist attempts at redistribution to lower segments of society to co-opt the grievances and anger of the masses. As a paradoxical consequence of these dynamics, income inequality decreased during Turkey’s transition to neoliberalism. Neoliberal reforms in the post-Özal period – with similar “heterodox” features – resurrected and further deepened during “the Erdoğan decade” (2002-present) although Erdoğan did not share a single aspect of Özal’s professional career as a neoliberal technocrat.
El modelo del sistema viable: una referencia estratégica para el estudio organizacional del sector cooperativo chileno
Authors: Narvarte Arregui Pedro Antonio , Careaga Díaz Catalina
Published: September 2015

El Sector Cooperativo Chileno (SCCh) puede ser explicado como un sistema de actividad humana de alta complejidad, el cual persigue mantener una existencia autónoma, es decir, ser viable. Desde esta perspectiva, el Modelo del Sistema Viable (MSV), como referencia conceptual, presenta una oportunidad real para estudiar la organización sectorial del cooperativismo en Chile.El objetivo central del trabajo, se refiere a estudiar la viabilidad del SCCh en un contexto de organización sectorial, considerando el entramado social, legal y económico del país en la actualidad.Para ello, soportado por una metodología sistémica, se realizaron: una caracterización de la situación problema del sector -identificando algunos factores relevantes en los ámbitos de estructura de mercado, regulaciones legales, e inter cooperación-, un diagnóstico organizacional y la propuesta de un conjunto de orientaciones para su desarrollo.De lo anterior se concluye que existe una pertinencia entre las características del caso de estudio y el enfoque teórico metodológico. La metodología, toma herramientas probadas en otras prácticas organizacionales, tal como VIPLAN, y las aplica al SCCh. Su aporte en el campo de estudio se orienta en torno a una mirada holística de la organización y la promoción de su viabilidad, generando de este modo un enfoque que entrega estrategias concretas de desarrollo sectorial, superando la aproximación de caracterización descriptiva. Así, entregamos un modelo diagnóstico del Sector Cooperativo Chileno y proponemos lineamientos que apoyen su desarrollo organizacional.
La formación en economía social. Análisis de la oferta universitaria de posgrado en España
Authors: Flores Ruiz David , Guzmán Alonso Carmen , Barroso González María de la O
Published: September 2015

En el presente artículo se analiza la importancia que tiene la formación para el fomento de la economía social, prestando especial atención a la caracterización de la oferta formativa de este tipo de estudios y diferenciándola respecto a la oferta formativa convencional en el área de Administración y Dirección de Empresas, emprendimiento e innovación. Previo a ello, se reflexiona, en base a un breve análisis bibliográfico, sobre las relaciones que se establecen entre educación y economía para, posteriormente, centrarnos en la caracterización de este tipo de formación, prestando especial atención a la que se centra en la Economía Social. Para ello, en primer lugar, se ha elaborado una base de datos en la que se incluyen todas las titulaciones de posgrado relacionadas con los estudios de Economía. Asimismo, se ha diseñado un cuestionario estructurado con el objetivo de caracterizar este tipo de formación. Se concluye la escasa importancia que tiene en el sistema universitario de posgrado español la formación en Economía Social, detectándose algunas diferencias significativas en la caracterización del proceso formativo entre las titulaciones de Economía Social y las convencionales de Administración y Dirección de Empresas, emprendimiento e innovación empresarial, en aspectos tales, como: los valores, las competencias, las habilidades, la forma de entender y transmitir el funcionamiento de la economía, etc. A partir de estas conclusiones se dan una serie de recomendaciones que pueden contribuir a fomentar y dinamizar, mediante la formación en posgrados, la Economía Social.
Levothyroxine Dosage Requirement During Pregnancy in Well-Controlled Hypothyroid Women: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Kashi Zahra , Bahar Adele , Akha Ozra , Hassanzade Samane , Esmaeilisaraji Leila , Hamzehgardeshi Zeinab
Published: September 2015

BACKGROUND: Untreated maternal hypothyroidism can have adverse effects on both the mother and fetus, but it can potentially be prevented by adequate levothyroxine replacement. This study was conducted to determine what percentage of hypothyroid pregnant women who were taking levothyroxine needed to adjust their medication dosage, and when and how much it should be increased.

METHODS: In this longitudinal study, 81 well-controlled hypothyroid women (TSH≤ 2.5 mIU/L) were monitored throughout pregnancy. Thyroid function tests were performed before conception, after the first missed menstrual period, in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and one month after delivery. Levothyroxine dosage was adjusted according to TSH levels measured.

RESULTS: Of the 81 pregnancies studied, the pregnancy outcomes were 74 full-term births, six abortions and one pre-term birth. The levothyroxine dosage needed to be increased in 84% (CI95%= 74-90) of the pregnancies (OR=5.2, CI95%= 2.9-9.4). Most levothyroxine dose adjustments were made in the first trimester of gestation. The levothyroxine requirement increased 50% (CI95%= 41-59) in the first trimester, 55% (CI95%= 45-64) in the second trimester and 62% (CI95%= 52-72) in the third trimester. Levothyroxine dosage was decreased for 6 cases (7.4%), and no adjustment was made for 7 women (8.6%).

CONCLUSIONS: Increases in levothyroxine dosage administered in pregnancy appear to be indispensible in the majority of patients with well-controlled hypothyroidism, especially in the first trimester. However, this change was not universal and levothyroxine dosage decreased in a few cases and remained unchanged in others.
An Investigation on the Status of Implementation of Communications and Information Management System (MCI) in Khorasan Razavi Hospitals
Authors: Shojaei Saeed , Farzianpour Fereshteh , Arab Mohammad , Rahimi Foroushani Abbas
Published: September 2015

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The aim of this investigation is to determine the mean scores of the possibility of implementing the MCI standards in Khorasan Razavi hospitals, from the perspective of Managers, in order to provide a suitable model for evaluating and promoting the system.

METHODS: This was a Research and method (R&D) and Survey Research method, which is of the type of Cross- Sectional, descriptive-analytic Studies conducted in two steps in hospitals of Khorasan Razavi from July to December 2014. This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in 2013/6/10. About the nature and purpose of the study was explained to the participants. Were used to apply functional assessment, based on Accreditation Model. In order to collect data, two questionnaires were used, all of which were taken from the standards of MCI. The reliability and validity of the questionnaires were approved by experts.Cronbach's alphas for the questionnaires were obtained to be (0.95, 0.86), respectively. In order to analyze information, statistical analyses, including one way ANOVA, and Independent sample t-test were used.

RESULTS: The mean scores of the possibility of implementing the MCI standards in Khorasan Razavi hospitals, were (51.6 and 12.27), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: According to half (43.8%) of managers, the MCI standards are applicable in hospitals of Khorasan Razavi; however, their application requires greater efforts by the hospitals.
Study of Effect of Household Parental Smoking on Development of Acute Otitis Media in Children Under 12 Years
Authors: Amani Soroush , Yarmohammadi Parastoo
Published: September 2015

BACKGROUND & AIM: High prevalence of acute otitis media (AOM) in children represents a combination of the factors developing eustachian tube dysfunction and higher susceptibility to upper respiratory tract infections in children. This disease is relatively prevalent in Iran and much cost is spent annually to treat it. This study investigated the effect of household parental smoking on development of AOM in children under 12 years.

METHODS: In this case-control study all patients under the age of 12 years with AOM referring an ENT clinic in Shahrekord, southwest Iran between April 2014 and August 2014 were enrolled by convenience sampling. This study included two groups. Group 1 (G1) was exposed to parental smoking at home and group 2 (G2) was not. For the patients, a questionnaire of demographic data such as age and gender, the disease symptoms, parents' education level, history of respiratory diseases, allergy, surgery (adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy, and tympanostomy), and household smoking was filled out by a specialist through interview.

RESULTS: In this study, 250 children 1-12 years with AOM, 145 in G1 and 105 in G2, were investigated. Clinical symptoms including fever (p=0.001) and hearing loss (p=0.014) were significantly more frequent in the children of G1 than G2, and otalgia, discharge, and tinnitus were similarly frequent in the two groups (p>0.05). Also, eardrum inflammation was more frequent in G1 than G2, with no significant difference (p>0.05). AOM was reported 70.3% in G1, which was higher than 26.7% reported in G2 (p=0.001). Also, asthma, recurrent ear pain, enlargement of the tonsils, and respiratory problems were more frequent in G1 than G2 (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Parental smoking was a risk factor for AOM and respiratory problems and therefore the parents are recommended to avoid smoking near children to reduce the likelihood of AOM development and exacerbation in children.
Social Consequences of Infertility on Families in Iran
Authors: Amiri Mohammad , Khosravi Ahmad , Chaman Reza , Sadeghi Zakieh , Raei Mehdi , Jahanitiji MohammadAli , Mehrabian Fardin
Published: September 2015

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Social reactions to infertility are one of the concerns infertile people. This study aimed to investigate the social consequences of infertility among urban and rural population of Shahroud in northeast of Iran.

METHOD: This study is a comparative study that was conducted in 2013. In this study, 1,528 women (511 infertile and 1017 fertile ones) were randomly selected. The 36-item questionnaire included 18 items about women’s attitude towards infertility and 18 questions about the consequences of infertility was used. Data were analyzed using chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance and t test.

FINDINGS: The prevalence of infertility in rural areas was estimated to be 2.23 percent. 42.2% of the participants were living the city (n= 645) and 57.8 % were living in the village (n= 883). 49.2% of the participants had education below high school diploma (n=751), 31.7% had high school diploma (n=484) and 19.2% had university degrees (n=293). 51.9% of the people referred to the infertility problem among distant relatives, 24.9% referred to infertility among the close relatives and 9% reported the infertility among their family members. The mean score of attitude of the fertile was 56.6±7.0 and that of the infertile was 56.8± 6.6 and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). There was a significant association between fertility status and encouraging divorce, encouraging remarriage and encouraging adoption (P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Infertility causes a negative attitude toward infertile people. But the interference of others leads to further encouragement of divorce and remarriage among the infertile people.
A utilização da estatística na inspeção de segurança em veículo com gás natural veicular instalado
Authors: Camporeze Jair , Wacha Reinaldo , Fermam Ricardo Kropf Santos
Published: September 2015

A correlação entre o ano de fabricação do veículo e o tempo de inspeção pode ajudar na identificação da capacidade produtiva de um Organismo de inspeção, uma vez que é difícil relacionar a produtividade desses organismos a sua infraestrutura e ao seu corpo técnico. O objetivo desse artigo é levantar a curva estatística entre o ano de fabricação do veículo e o tempo de inspeção de segurança em veículo com GNV instalado, realizada por um Organismo de Inspeção Acreditado em Segurança Veicular, a fim de comprovar a eventual existência de correlação entre esses parâmetros. O estudo foi desenvolvido em duas dimensões: a primeira consistiu no levantamento de informação segundo os parâmetros da revisão bibliográfica; a outra dimensão implicou em realizar um estudo de caso sobre a relação entre o ano de fabricação do veículo e o tempo de inspeção dentro dos Organismos de Inspeção Acreditados na Área de Segurança de Veículos com GNV instalado. Observa-se que não há relação entre o ano de fabricação do veículo e o tempo de inspeção, de forma que em termos da duração da inspeção o ano de fabricação do veículo é irrelevante.
Gestão sustentável: desafios ou oportunidades em organizações internacionalizadas?
Authors: Dias Valéria da Veiga , Schuster Marcelo da Silva , Battistella Luciana Flores , Talamini Edson
Published: September 2015

O contexto organizacional esta tomando uma postura mais sensível aos problemas ambientais e sociais ou mesmo a aceitação da responsabilidade sobre os impactos causados por seus processos produtivos, inserindo-se no que foi chamado inicialmente de Responsabilidade Social dentro de um contexto empresarial e evoluiu ao conceito difundido por Elkington (1998) gerando a discussão em torno de um novo movimento que foi chamado de paradigma sustentável. O tema apresenta-se no limiar de novas oportunidades para as organizações, com isso o objetivo deste estudo foi verificar: de que forma empresas com atuação internacional incluem a gestão sustentável em seus negócios? Os resultados do estudo foram obtidos a partir de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, com os principais gestores de três grandes organizações. Observou-se que a gestão sustentável ainda está muito ligada a ferramentas de apoio e não como parte da construção da estratégia das empresas apesar de ser possível perceber que as mesmas buscam um envolvimento maior neste sentido quando passam a rever suas estratégias. A gestão sustentável se mostrou como fonte de oportunidade para negócios no exterior para as empresas estudadas, já que a preparação para atuação com legislação ambiental, exigências globais, matérias-primas e processos ecologicamente corretos preparou as organizações a comercializarem em esfera global.
Práticas estratégicas que proporcionam mudança incremental
Authors: Araújo Marcilene Feitosa , Lavarda Rosalia Aldraci Barbosa , Farina Milton Carlos , Brito Márcia Regina Coelho de , Machado Jacquelaine Alves
Published: September 2015

O objetivo deste estudo é analisar as práticas estratégicas (strategizing) buscando saber: Como as diferentes práticas estratégicas influenciam e/ou caracterizam os processos de mudança da organização? Considerando a perspectiva teórica da estratégia como prática. Estabeleceu-se como proposição que: As diferentes práticas estratégicas influenciam diretamente como facilitadoras dos processos de mudanças na organização. Foi adotada a metodologia qualitativa por meio do estudo de caso. Evidenciaram-se as práticas estratégicas adotadas pela Faculdade Atual da Amazônia (FAA), por meio dos principais eventos promovidos pela instituição, como: “Semana Roraimense de Comunicação e Marketing”, que objetiva proporcionar à comunidade acadêmica e profissional espaço de aquisição de informações e debate das mais novas tendências regionais, nacionais e internacionais em marketing; “Atual Empreendedor” que estimula e dissemina o conceito de empreendedorismo na comunidade roraimense, e o “Atual Tec”, que difunde a cultura do software livre e sua importância social. Como resultado encontrou-se que as diferentes práticas estratégicas utilizadas pela instituição, na elaboração e execução dos eventos, têm propiciado mudanças incrementais contínuas agregando valor para a mesma, uma vez que a IES é reconhecida como referência no meio acadêmico e empresarial da região, pela elaboração e execução de eventos, que contam com a participação de alunos, empresários e comunidade.
De Miles e Snow a Bracker e Pearson: o caráter estratégico das empresas de pequeno e médio porte
Authors: Menezes Cassio Roberto Conceição de , Barbosa Jenny Dantas
Published: September 2015

É inegável a contribuição dos pequenos e médios negócios para o fortalecimento socioeconômico das nações. Apesar disso, há indicativos de que a falta de instrumentos de gestão tem elevado os índices de mortalidade desse agrupamento empresarial principalmente no nordeste brasileiro. Para comprovar essa assertiva foi realizado este estudo que tem como objetivo analisar o planejamento, o comportamento estratégico e o desempenho das empresas industriais de pequeno e médio porte em Sergipe, com base nos modelos de Miles e Snow (1978) e Bracker e Pearson (1986). O método de pesquisa utilizado foi o estudo de casos múltiplos e a coleta de evidência empírica foi realizada mediante entrevistas semiestruturadas com doze empresas de pequeno e médio porte. Os principais resultados indicam que os dirigentes dessas empresas recorrem ao planejamento intuitivo - não formalizado, apoiam-se em estratégias defensivas e prospectoras para enfrentar a dinâmica do ambiente dos negócios e percebem o desempenho da empresa de forma positiva.