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Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Pesticide: A Contemporary Cultural Object
The article provides a narrative review of the social and cultural interpretation of pesticides in contemporary society. In so doing, it highlights the main fields of exploration investigated by social scientists concerning the perception and role played by these products among farmers and consumers. Following the WHO definition, pesticides are chemical compounds used to kill pests, including insects, rodents, fungi, and unwanted plants. They are contemporary cultural artefacts that social sciences explore in synergy with other disciplines to highlight their socio-cultural connections at both local and global levels. Specifically, the use of these products is connected with power relations, which are embedded in and reflect imbalances and inequalities in access to rights and resources, as well as specific articulation of the perception of risk arising from environmental contamination in terms of individual and collective psychophysical health. Furthermore, pesticides fit into various environmental conceptions and multiple local knowledge systems, representing the intersection of different cultural heritages, worldviews, and rationales that make the tradition–modernity dichotomy complex and dynamic. In this respect, therefore, pesticides can be understood not just as mere tools for agricultural practice but as vital windows through which to investigate multiple layers of meaning to support transitions towards sustainable pest management systems, both environmentally and socio-culturally.
  • 712
  • 29 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Importance of Accurate Information about Migration
Misinformation, which can include fake news, rumors, and the misinterpretation of facts, can be disseminated by known brands, by fake news sites, and by the means of manipulated or parody content. Misinformation is often connected with tweaking or twisting information instead of fabricating it entirely, often recurring to the misinterpretation of facts or scientific evidence. The ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding the situation described, but also a lack of or the excessive availability of data or controversies in the interpretation of existing information, are all contributing factors towards misinformation. Misinformation has become pervasive in the context of migration. Accurate information regarding migration is crucial. Verified facts, reliable sources, and precise data play an essential role in countering misinformation. Misinformation, which can include fake news, rumors, and the misinterpretation of facts, can be disseminated by known brands, by fake news sites, and by the means of manipulated or parody content. Misinformation is often connected with tweaking or twisting information instead of fabricating it entirely, often recurring to the misinterpretation of facts or scientific evidence. The ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding the situation described, but also a lack of or the excessive availability of data or controversies in the interpretation of existing information, are all contributing factors towards misinformation. Misinformation has become pervasive in the context of migration. Addressing this issue is especially vital in the realm of migration, where accurate information is paramount.
  • 695
  • 16 Aug 2023
Biography
Abdel Hernández San Juan
Abdel Hernández San Juan, American theorist and thinker of Cuban origin who has developed a return of contemporary thought towards the most abstract classical philosophy (Kant, Hegel), while retheorizing the science of semiotics back to logic and exploring new intersections between abstract classical philosophy in a phenomenological and hermeneutic sense, logic (Hegel, Husserl), etc., phenomeno
  • 691
  • 30 Jun 2025
Topic Review
Effect of Health Change on Long-Term Settlement Intentions
Settlement intention refers to immigrants’ willingness to reside permanently in the society to which they move, and a great deal of research has considered the factors that influence the settlement intentions of immigrants. The research objects include not only migrants from rural areas to cities in the process of urbanization, but also international immigrants in the process of globalization. How to design and formulate relevant policies to promote the settlement and integration of immigrants is a common problem that is faced by societies in places that receive immigrants. Therefore, the issue is also a common focus of researchers. Strictly speaking, investigating the actual settlement behavior of immigrants must rely on large-scale and longitudinal survey data. However, such data are very difficult to obtain, and especially in developing countries. Thus, an alternative approach is to understand the motivations of potential settlers and returnees by analyzing the settlement intentions of immigrants. A large number of studies have examined the determinants of immigrants’ permanent settlement.
  • 690
  • 13 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Children of Armenia Fund
Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) The Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that employs community-led approaches aimed at improving the quality of life in rural Armenia, with a particular focus on children and youth. COAF’s target development areas are education, healthcare, social and economic development. COAF launched its programs in 2004, starting in one village and expanding to 44 villages in Armavir, Aragatsotn, Lori, Gegharkunik, Shirak and Tavush regions, impacting over 75,000 people.
  • 683
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Environmental Sociology
Environmental sociology is a subfield of sociology that examines the relationship between society and the environment, focusing on how social structures, cultural norms, economic systems, and political institutions shape human interactions with nature. It explores how environmental issues—such as climate change, pollution, deforestation, and resource depletion—are socially constructed, perceived, and managed. This field integrates macro- and micro-sociological perspectives to analyze topics such as environmental justice, sustainability, risk perception, ecological modernization, and the role of social movements in environmental change. Environmental sociologists critically assess how industrialization, capitalism, and globalization contribute to ecological crises and explore possible social solutions to environmental problems.
  • 677
  • 04 Mar 2025
Topic Review
Faluche
A faluche is a traditional cap worn by students in France. It is a black velvet beret, decorated with colored ribbons and badges. Several student groups wear the faluche, especially bitards, basochards, and faluchards. Previously, the faluche was associated almost exclusively with faluchards, although other folklore exists concerning the faluche.
  • 656
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Data Imaginaries
Data imaginaries refer to the collective visions, narratives, and imaginings that shape societal perceptions, understandings, and aspirations surrounding data and its use. They encompass cultural, social, and political representations of data, including beliefs, values, and expectations about its potential benefits, risks, and implications for individuals, communities, and societies. Data imaginaries influence public discourse, policymaking, and technological development, shaping the ways in which data is collected, analyzed, and governed in contemporary society.
  • 634
  • 08 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Personal Web Page
Personal web pages are world wide web pages created by an individual to contain content of a personal nature rather than content pertaining to a company, organization or institution. Personal web pages are primarily used for informative or entertainment purposes but can also be used for personal career marketing (by containing a list of the individual's skills, experience and a CV), social networking with other people with shared interests, or as a space for personal expression. These terms do not usually refer to just a single "page" or HTML file, but to a collection of webpages and related files under a common URL or Web address. In strictly technical terms, a site's actual home page (index page) often only contains sparse content with some catchy introductory material and serves mostly as a pointer or table of contents to the more content-rich pages inside, such as résumés, family, hobbies, family genealogy, a web log/diary ("blog"), opinions, online journals and diaries or other writing, examples of written work, digital audio sound clips, digital video clips, digital photos, or information about a user's other interests. Many personal pages only include information of interest to friends and family of the author. However, some webpages set up by hobbyists or enthusiasts of certain subject areas can be valuable topical web directories.
  • 632
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Sociology of Art
The sociology of art examines how social, cultural, economic, and political factors shape artistic production, distribution, and reception. It explores the social construction of artistic value, the role of institutions, and how art reflects and reinforces identities, ideologies, and power structures. Key theories include Marxist critiques of class struggle in art, Bourdieu’s cultural capital, and Becker’s Art Worlds framework. The field also addresses contemporary issues such as digital media, globalization, and activism in art.
  • 630
  • 04 Mar 2025
Topic Review
OpenSocial
OpenSocial is a public specification that defines a component hosting environment (container) and a set of common application programming interfaces (APIs) for web applications. Initially, it was designed for social network applications and developed by Google along with MySpace and a number of other social networks. Recently, it has been adopted as a general use runtime environment for allowing untrusted and partially trusted components from third parties to run in an existing web application. The OpenSocial Foundation moved to integrate or support numerous other Open Web technologies. This includes OAuth and OAuth 2.0, Activity Streams, and Portable Contacts, among others. It was released on November 1, 2007. Applications implementing the OpenSocial APIs are interoperable with any social network system that supports them. At launch, OpenSocial took a one-size-fits-all approach to development. As it became more robust and the user-base expanded, OpenSocial modularized the platform to allow developers to only include the parts of the platform it needed. On December 16, 2014 the W3C issued a press release, "OpenSocial Foundation Moving Standards Work to W3C Social Web Activity", stating that OpenSocial would no longer exist as a separate entity, and encouraging the OpenSocial community to continue development work through the W3C Social Web Activity in the Social Web Working Group and Social Interest Group. The OpenSocial Foundation stated that "the community will have a better chance of realizing an open social web through discussions at a single organization, and the OpenSocial Foundation board believes that working as an integrated part of W3C will help reach more communities that will benefit from open social standards." On January 1, 2015, opensocial.org began redirecting all page requests to https://www.w3.org/blog/2014/12/opensocial-foundation-moves-standards-work-to-w3c-social-web-activity/.
  • 629
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Incapacity Benefit
Incapacity Benefit was a British social security benefit that was paid to people facing extra barriers to work because of their long-term illness or their disability. It replaced Invalidity Benefit in 1995. The government began to phase out Incapacity Benefit in 2008 by making it unavailable to new claimants, and later moved almost all the remaining long-term recipients onto Employment and Support Allowance.
  • 615
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Flour Rise in Italian Lockdown and Consumption
The lockdown imposed on Italian citizens in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic allowed for unprecedented scenarios regarding consumption activities. While it may be predictable that there was an increase in purchasing through digital channels—even of basic consumer goods—some product categories are of particular interest considering the general situation: the unprecedented context of forced domestic confinement and the psychological state of the population confronted with a situation that was as unexpected as it was new and disarming.
  • 612
  • 26 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Trade Adjustment Assistance
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is a federal program of the United States government to act as a way to reduce the damaging impact of imports felt by certain sectors of the U.S. economy. The current structure features four components of Trade Adjustment Assistance: for workers, firms, farmers, and communities. Each cabinet-level department was tasked with a different sector of the overall Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The program for workers is the largest, and administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. The program for farmers is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the firms and communities programs are administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
  • 610
  • 03 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Personalized Advertising Design Based on Individual’s Appearance
Market segmentation is a crucial marketing strategy that involves identifying and defining distinct groups of buyers to target a company’s marketing efforts effectively. Visual elements, such as color and shape, in advertising can effectively communicate the product or service being promoted and influence consumer perceptions of its quality. Similarly, a person’s outward appearance plays a pivotal role in nonverbal communication, significantly impacting human social interactions and providing insights into individuals’ emotional states.
  • 609
  • 13 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Digital Risk Cultures in Human Development
As digitalization evolves, so do the experiences and perceptions of digital hazards, leading to a multifaceted interaction involving consciousness, vulnerability, and remediation. With the growing integration of societies and individuals into the digital landscape, there is a corresponding rise in their vulnerability to cyber dangers such as security breaches and misinformation campaigns. 
  • 607
  • 18 Feb 2024
Topic Review
How Chinese Young Adults Perceive E-Cigarettes
Medical discourse is an important evidence-directed outcome of scientific debates, but value-based voice cannot be ignored. This entry discusses Clients' perspectives on e-cigarette use and the meaning they give to the substance. Researchers find that users refer to e-cigarettes as a 'snack', suggesting that their frequency of use and addiction is manageable and can be stopped at any time. This is a cultural symbol that is very different from medical perceptions.
  • 596
  • 30 May 2023
Topic Review
Benefit Fraud in the United Kingdom
Benefit fraud is a form of welfare fraud as found within the system of government benefits paid to individuals by the welfare state in the United Kingdom.
  • 580
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Historical Sociology
Historical sociology is a subfield of sociology that examines how social structures, institutions, and processes evolve over time. It integrates historical analysis and sociological theory to understand long-term social transformations, including changes in power, economy, culture, and social relations. Historical sociology draws from classical sociological traditions, including the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim, and is used to analyze phenomena such as state formation, revolutions, capitalism, colonialism, and social movements.
  • 579
  • 04 Mar 2025
Topic Review
PAST Foundation
The PAST Foundation, Partnering Anthropology with Science and Technology. PAST is a federal 501(c)(3) non-profit educational and research team located in the United States that builds partnerships around compelling scientific and educational projects, making them accessible to students and the public through transdisciplinary program-based learning, experiential field schools, documentary film, and interactive websites.
  • 577
  • 26 Oct 2022
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