Culture in Policy Making: The Symbolic Universes of Social Action – serie

This book investigates whether, how and where the cultural milieu of European societies has changed as a result of the socio-economics crisis. To do so, it adopts a psycho-cultural approach, which views the cultural milieu as a set of meanings, placing the generalized image social actors have of themselves, the world, events and their relationships in the context of the socio-political and institutional environment, including policies. By analyzing the changes in cultural milieu and social identity, the book develops strategic and methodological guidelines for the design of post-crisis policies, providing a concept of how the cultural dynamics are associated with certain individual characteristics and specific socio-economic phenomena.

This book investigates whether, how and where the cultural milieu of European societies has changed as a result of the socio-economics crisis.

This book presents the main findings of an empirical exploration of media discourses on social representations of “otherness” in seven European countries.

This book presents the main findings of an empirical exploration of media discourses on social representations of “otherness” in seven European countries.

This book advances the understanding and modelling of sensemaking and cultural processes as being crucial to the scientific study of contemporary complex societies.

This book advances the understanding and modelling of sensemaking and cultural processes as being crucial to the scientific study of contemporary complex societies.

This book is an important contribution to narrative research and highlights how narratives can produce social change. The book reconstructs the relationships between future, uncertainty and risk through everyday how narratives exert power over individual and social life by influencing individual or collective decisions and choices.

This book is an important contribution to narrative research and highlights how narratives can produce social change. The book reconstructs the relationships between future, uncertainty and risk through everyday how narratives exert power over individual and social life by influencing individual or collective decisions and choices.

This book provides qualitative analyses of intercultural sense making in a variety of institutional contexts. It relies on the assumption that in an increasingly culturally diverse world, individuals often enter contexts that have communal, historically determined and stable sets of values, norms and expected identities, with little cultural compass to find their bearings in them. The book goes beyond interpreting differences in people’s ethnic or linguistic roots and discusses instead people’s interpretive efforts to navigate different sociocultural situations. The contributors examine such situations in educational, organizational, medical and community settings and look at how participants with different levels of sociocultural competences (such as, migrant patients, migrant adult learners, children) try to cope with institutional constraints and expectations, how they understand symbols, practices and identities in institutional contexts,and how their creative adjustments come to light. This book provides insights from the fields of psychology, education, anthropology and linguistics, and is for a wide readership interested in cultural meaning-making.

This book provides qualitative analyses of intercultural sense making in a variety of institutional contexts. It relies on the assumption that in an increasingly culturally diverse world, individuals often enter contexts that have communal, historically determined and stable sets of values, norms and expected identities, with little cultural compass to find their bearings in them. The book goes beyond interpreting differences in people’s ethnic or linguistic roots and discusses instead people’s interpretive efforts to navigate different sociocultural situations. The contributors examine such situations in educational, organizational, medical and community settings and look at how participants with different levels of sociocultural competences (such as, migrant patients, migrant adult learners, children) try to cope with institutional constraints and expectations, how they understand symbols, practices and identities in institutional contexts,and how their creative adjustments come to light. This book provides insights from the fields of psychology, education, anthropology and linguistics, and is for a wide readership interested in cultural meaning-making.

This volume develops a theoretical framework for the modelling of meaning-making and cultural processes as crucial to the scientific study of contemporary complex societies.

This volume develops a theoretical framework for the modelling of meaning-making and cultural processes as crucial to the scientific study of contemporary complex societies.

participant behaviour, festival “rituals” and additional festival programs are shaped on the basis of values, and cooperation is built between the festival and the local community.

participant behaviour, festival “rituals” and additional festival programs are shaped on the basis of values, and cooperation is built between the festival and the local community.

This volume provides in-depth discussions on the challenges of intercultural encounters in Brazil. It analyzes existing policies related to migration and minorities and proposes innovative approaches to policy-making. It also highlights policies that have had a real social impact. The volume consolidates theoretical contributions from authors of different but convergent fields to indicate the role of culture and cultural processes in a wide range of phenomena such as psychosocial intervention with immigrants, emigrants, returnees and refugees, homelessness, mental health and interculturality, mobility in urban settings, monolingualism and monocultural curriculum at Brazilian schools and universities, besides narratives of new and older immigrants. Displacement is one of the 21st century's greatest challenges, and this volume provides interdisciplinary perspectives on mobility and people in cultural contact in Brazil, the largest country in South America and the fifth most populous in the world. Although seen from a Brazilian scenario, issues discussed here permeate all other countries that are diverse and receive immigrants, and shed light on the complex socio-cultural world in which we live.

This volume explores the relationship between humans and technology across a variety of contexts, with particular attention to how technology mediates interactions between individuals. It considers a wide range of settings, including education and training, professional and entertainment environments, as well as social, artistic, and economic domains. Drawing on diverse theoretical frameworks, the volume presents research conducted in several countries.Key themes addressed here include edutainment and the future of learning; immersive experiences and their influence on human engagement with art and cultural heritage; digital and AI-mediated platforms, and the evolving on dynamics of human-human and human-machine interaction, including human-robot interaction. The volume opens with a historical and cultural overview of the human-technology relationship, and each chapter presents original empirical data alongside a review of relevant research and developments within its specific field. This structure enables readers to gain both a historical perspective and insights into emerging trends. A unifying thread throughout the volume is the focus on the cultural dimension of technology, contributing to the discussion about whether technology creates new culture or the current culture creates technology. It also discusses associated social and digital policies and potential future directions technology may take. It provides critical reflections on a rapidly evolving field of study.The volume will be of interest to a broad audience of scholars and researchers engaged in the study of human-technology interaction and the development of related policies.

This volume explores the dynamic dialogue of art within society from a multitude of perspectives across the world. It highlights art as a process that is interwoven with notions of physical and metaphysical transition and represents a fundamental awareness of how art is represented and shaped through everyday social challenges. The chapters in this volume link the idea of symbolic universes with social practices of art in different societies and through different historical epochs, under the assumption that art leads the development of cultural systems underlying society. The volume looks at art that is shaped by forgotten or/and hidden perspectives. It suggests that art may have crucial, phenomenologically approachable variations that have been misunderstood in the scientific fields. The work considers art and science as complementary, instead of as counterparts/opposing forces.Divided into an introductory and four thematic parts, the volume reflects on historical signs preserved in artwork; explores the meaning behind art and the experience of cultural cultivation; delves into the dynamic shaping of creative expression through art; and, finally, looks at the artists’ own experiences of performance. This volume is of interest to researchers and students in the fields of cultural psychology, semiotics, arts and aesthetics, and cultural studies.

This volume delves into intersections of identities in complex societies, which reproduce and cross symbolic boundaries and form as well as challenge power relations. The volume offers both descriptive and analytical contributions with evidence-based suggestions of the ways forward in the messy reality of human superdiversity. It comprises studies from across four continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, South America), and ensures a global scope. The common theme across chapters is their concentration on broadly understood intercultural encounters, their features and implications for the engaged parties. Thus, the recurring themes discussed in the chapters are relations between minority and majority groups, including the issues of migration and indigenous cultures, the dynamics of integration processes, and their impact on the cultural identity of the participants of intercultural encounters. Several of the chapters present a linguistic perspective of intercultural communication, referring to post-conflict and postcolonial contexts, and focus on language policy and the related tensions between the development of linguistic diversity and social cohesion. The chapter authors provide qualitative methodological approaches against theoretical frameworks, looking at particular case studies, and refer to sociological and psychological aspects of interculturalism, sociolinguistics, and concepts relating to cultural identity.This interdisciplinary volume is of interest to a wide readership, including those coming from cultural studies, cultural psychology, discourse studies, identity research, and sociolinguistics.