Topic Review
Ivan Illich
Ivan Illich (1926-2002) was a very well-known author, mainly in the 1970s, for his provocative publications, such as Deschooling Society (1970), where he proposed the eradication of the School as an institution.
  • 16.9K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Social Sciences and COVID-19
This entry seeks to provide an answer to the question of what is the relevance of Social Sciences for understanding the multiple implications and challenges posed by the COVID-19 contagion pandemic.
  • 15.2K
  • 16 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Social Theory
Sciences and societies are increasing their demands of contributions from social theorists. International programs of research strengthen now the priorities of social impact and co-creation. Social impact means the presentation of evidence that scientific studies are contributing to social improvements, for instance, oriented to the UN Sustainable Development Goals; in order to develop and evaluate social impact, all sciences need the dialogue and collaboration of social theories. Co-creation means to create knowledge through dialogue between scientists and citizens, what also needs social theories. This demand is generating an increasing relevance of those social theories able to make these contributions, most of them, elaborated by networks and teams of different individuals from diverse disciplines. Traditional social theories created in the 19th and 20th centuries, mostly developed by individuals, provided important elements that are now included in the new theoretical process. 
  • 14.5K
  • 22 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Value (Ethics)
In ethics, value denotes the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics), or to describe the significance of different actions. Value systems are prospective and prescriptive beliefs; they affect ethical behavior of a person or are the basis of their intentional activities. Often primary values are strong and secondary values are suitable for changes. What makes an action valuable may in turn depend on the ethical values of the objects it increases, decreases or alters. An object with "ethic value" may be termed an "ethic or philosophic good" (noun sense). Values can be defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of actions or outcomes. As such, values reflect a person's sense of right and wrong or what "ought" to be. "Equal rights for all", "Excellence deserves admiration", and "People should be treated with respect and dignity" are representatives of values. Values tend to influence attitudes and behavior and these types include ethical/moral values, doctrinal/ideological (religious, political) values, social values, and aesthetic values. It is debated whether some values that are not clearly physiologically determined, such as altruism, are intrinsic, and whether some, such as acquisitiveness, should be classified as vices or virtues.
  • 10.7K
  • 06 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Human Well-Being
The definition of human well-being is diverse and is often used interchangeably with happiness, human welfare, standard of living or quality of life and has become an all-around term to measure and promote human lifestyle.
  • 9.4K
  • 25 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Non-Governmental Organisations and Sustainable Community Development
Alternative healthcare, community development, social justice, and education are all areas where non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are increasingly being recognised or promoted, but these efforts are hampered by government inefficiency and resource constraints. However, the statement of non-profit organisations is more complicated than simply comparing them to the government, as they may also suffer from a lack of resources and ineffective management, just like the government. Meanwhile, NGOs are generally defined by four characteristics: they are voluntary, non-partisan, non-profit, and non-criminal. According to Salamon and Anheier, seven distinct characteristics were used to categorise and differentiate NGOs. The seven characteristics are as follows: (1) formal (officially registered and governed); (2) private (having a separate organisation from the government); (3) non-profit distributing (different from the objectives of establishing a business organisation); (4) self-governing (privately managed); (5) voluntary (worked voluntarily); (6) non-religious (not motivated by preaching); and (7) non-political (not involved in promoting candidates in elections). These characteristics are particularly useful for identifying and differentiating NGOs from other organisations.
  • 8.9K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Constructivist Epistemology
Constructivist epistemology is a branch in philosophy of science maintaining that scientific knowledge is constructed by the scientific community, who seek to measure and construct models of the natural world. Natural science therefore consists of mental constructs that aim to explain sensory experience and measurements. According to constructivists, the world is independent of human minds, but knowledge of the world is always a human and social construction. Constructivism opposes the philosophy of objectivism, embracing the belief that a human can come to know the truth about the natural world not mediated by scientific approximations with different degrees of validity and accuracy. According to constructivists there is no single valid methodology in science, but rather a diversity of useful methods.
  • 8.1K
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Benazir Income Support Programme
The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) also Known as Ehsaas Programme Pakistan is a federal unconditional cash transfer poverty reduction program in Pakistan . Launched in July 2008, it is the largest single social safety net program in the country with nearly Rs. 90 billion ($900 million) distributed to 5.4 million beneficiaries in 2016. The Department for International Development of the United Kingdom is the largest foreign backer of the program, providing $244 million (or 27%) of the total funds in 2016 with the Pakistani Government providing the rest. As of 2016, the program distributes Rs.19,338 (or approx. $195) per annum distributed per month. The stipend is linked to the Consumer Price Index and is paid through a smart card. For now, Dr Sania Nishtar is Chairman of BISP in regime of PTI governance.
  • 8.1K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Primary Socialisation
Primary socialization in sociology is the period early in a person's life during which they initially learn and build themselves through experiences and interactions around them. This process starts at home through the family, in which one learns what is or is not accepted in society, social norms, and cultural practices that eventually one is likely to take up. Primary socialization through the family teaches children how to bond, create relationships, and understand important concepts including love, trust, and togetherness. Several agents of primary socialization involve institutions such as the family, childhood friends, the educational system, and social media. All these agents influence the socialization process of a child that they build on for the rest their life. These agents are limited to people who immediately surround a person such as friends and family—but other agents, such as social media and the educational system have a big influence on people as well. The media is an influential agent of socialization because it can provide vast amounts of knowledge about different cultures and society. It is through these processes that children learn how to behave in public versus at home, and eventually learn how they should behave as people under different circumstances; this is known as secondary socialization. A vast variety of people have contributed to the theory of primary socialization, of those including Sigmund Freud, George Herbert Mead, Charles Cooley, Jean Piaget and Talcott Parsons. However, Parson's theories are the earliest and most significant contributions to socialization and cognitive development.
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  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Feminist Political Economy
Feminist political economy is a concept from feminist material scholarship.  It connects market relations with domestic relations. It examines the roles of women, tensions related to women’s paid and unpaid work, how production and reproduction issues affect women, and the interactions at the micro, meso, and macro level contexts within women's lives.  
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  • 28 Oct 2020
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