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Abstract: Abstract This paper explores the Marxist concept of primitive accumulation and its relationship to capitalist development. Primitive accumulation occurs as a historical process before the complete emergence of capitalism as the dominant mode of production. Primitive accumulation is distinguished from other forms of exploitation employed by capitalist societies to spread capitalism into non-capitalist regions. An exploration of different interpretations of primitive accumulation within Marxist theory highlights the transition from primary accumulation to capitalist accumulation in specific contexts. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted nature of primitive accumulation and its significance in the development of capitalism. It argues that many uses of primitive accumulation in the present context are erroneous. PubDate: 2023-11-06
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Abstract: Abstract This study examines a novel relationship between volatility and dynamic herding behavior during COVID-19 by examining the relationship of oil market volatility, Global volatility and Infectious disease equity market volatility with time-varying herding behavior in energy stock of Developed markets. Using country level data, this study observes that market switch between anti-herding to herding state during pandemic and all three volatility measures have significant impact on dynamic herding state under high dispersion regime. However, in low dispersion regime only global volatility has significant impact on time-varying herding behavior. This study suggests that the level of speculation in energy sector affect investor behavior; therefore, policy makers should monitor and model possible signals related to health crisis that can be transformed in to financial market crisis. PubDate: 2023-11-02
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Abstract: Abstract This study links social capital with people’s health and well-being using data from the seventh wave of the World Value Survey, logistic regression, and path analysis. The study’s findings show that happiness and life satisfaction are two different measures of the same construct, or well-being. The determinants of each are also characterised differently: while life satisfaction is more of a stable and relative measure and is more strongly influenced by civic cooperation, social participation, and educational attainment, happiness is more of an unstable measure and is more strongly influenced by community belonging, trust and confidence aggregates, including employment and location of residence of an individual. Moreover, freedom of choice, financial satisfaction or social comparison, and state of health were the most important factors influencing happiness and life satisfaction. The findings also show that self-reported health (SRH) has a greater impact on happiness than a measure of life satisfaction. Path analysis shows out of the three other components of social capital—community belonging, civic engagement, and social participation—trust and confidence aggregates are the ones that have the biggest impact on increased social capital. For both well-being measures, SRH mediated the relationship. The life satisfaction measure had a higher level of mediation of SRH than happiness, but social capital had a smaller direct impact on life satisfaction than on happiness. SRH was found to be partially mediating this relationship for both happiness and life satisfaction measures, which means that people with higher social capital reported feeling better off. PubDate: 2023-10-15
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Abstract: Abstract Internationalizing technical standards is crucial for global standardization efforts. However, the reasons and influencing factors due to which some states pursue a leading role in certain international standards but not in others have not been thoroughly examined. This study uses an integrated theoretical framework and case analysis to explore the internationalization of Chinese standards in broadcast marketing, railway, electrified railway, and university–business partnerships. The findings suggest that the maturity of the standardization field and the complexity of technical standards are the primary factors influencing choices, with the decision to lead being largely dependent on the latter. Specifically, when technical standards are highly complex, a country can choose to take the lead, while a high maturity of the standardization field or less advanced technical standards make following appropriate. These conclusions provide valuable insights for economists, policymakers, and non-governmental standards-setting groups in emerging countries, encouraging their participation in various international standardization domains. PubDate: 2023-10-02
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Abstract: Abstract While Pinter's earliest plays have been recognized in the modernist history of theatre as comedies of menace and his later plays as political comedies, this article argues that his earliest plays are equally very liable to be interpreted as political comedies. Regardless of their absurdist dramatization of people's helpless exposure to external, unidentifiable threats, a common post-WWII characteristic feature of human experience, I claim that The Room and The Dumb Waiter (both written 1957, staged 1960), two model examples of Pinter's earliest oeuvres, do not simply follow the aesthetic of absurdist theatre to express human futility. The audience's experience of viewing the theatrical performances of both plays in terms of discursive cyclicality or character normality is subverted into one of changeability, strangeness, and contradiction. To foreground the political implications of such revolutionary theatrical experience, Pinter's plays are examined in the light of his unique use of defamiliarization, relying not on Brecht’s traditional techniques of singing, dancing, image-projecting, or captioning, but on a simple, dual technique of image destruction and creation. It consists of divesting characters of their normality and portraying them instead as individuals who identify only with unusual images of place, time, body, and consciousness. Using this special technique of defamiliarization, both plays are examined to reveal Pinter's central political theme of undermining reality for purposes of mental and physical subjections. PubDate: 2023-09-07
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Abstract: Abstract The intention of achieving objectives through art seemingly conflicts with Kant’s tenet that judgments of taste should be devoid of conceptual determinations. According to Kant, beautiful art must be viewed as the product of genius, a rare gift of nature that operates through the work of aesthetic ideas. This prompts inquiries into the respective roles of genius and taste in the production of beautiful art. It has been proposed that genius is a mere concept, a universal capacity, or a collaborator with taste, but these accounts are found to be deficient. Drawing upon Kant’s distinction between free beauty and adherent beauty, this paper demonstrates that genius is neither sufficient nor necessary to produce beautiful art. Furthermore, this paper investigates the significance of taste in artistic production, taking into consideration the autonomy and refinement of taste over time. PubDate: 2023-09-05 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00388-8
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Abstract: Abstract This study presents an analytic overview of forty years of study of Western Marxism by Chinese scholars. Organised into four main sections, it begins with an emphasis on the wider institutional context of this Chinese research. Here, I deal with the beginnings of research on Western Marxism in China and outline the two main periods of this research, which turn on the important educational reforms of 2005. The next section focuses on the initial period of research on Western Marxism, from the early 1980s to the education reforms, which may be characterised in terms of the work of “wary onlookers” writing introductions and surveys of Western Marxist scholars. The following section covers the last two decades after the 2005 education reforms. This period is of most interest, so more attention is devoted to developments during this time. It has been a time of increasingly confident participants on the world stage, who focus on core issues, realistic demands, and problem-based research. The final section concerns assessments of the limitations of Western Marxism, which have been identified through the in-depth research of the second period. In conclusion, while Western Marxism may be seen as a legitimate development of Marxism in a capitalist context, it is a tributary from the mainstream. PubDate: 2023-09-05 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00389-7
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Abstract: Abstract This article investigates the dynamics of rivalry and state sponsorship of non-state actors by explaining the Saudi-Iranian rivalry through the lens of securitization theory. The study elucidates that despite the enduring nature of their rivalry, both Iran and Saudi Arabia have exhibited a degree of restraint in escalating their conflicting dyadic relationship. It further notes that this behavior has forced them to securitize various issues in the region, framing them as potential threats to national and regime security, that has allowed them to build alliance and provide critical support to non-state actors across the region. By so doing, Tehran and Riyadh seek to expand their influence and hunt their strategic and tactical objectives within the Middle East. This policy is primarily driven by geopolitical concerns rather than ideological or ethnic entitlements. PubDate: 2023-08-29 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00387-9
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Abstract: Abstract Language transfer is one of the most significant aspects of cross-linguistic influence. It can be divided into two types: positive and negative, the beneficial and detrimental use of one language’s acquired characteristics in another. This study aims to investigate the L1 (Chinese) influence on Hong Kong ESL learners’ acquisition of conjunctions and whether the use of L1 has an impact on this influence. An online questionnaire combining questions about students’ English learning experience and a grammatical judgement task was sent to a government-funded secondary school in Hong Kong and completed by 79 students. Evidence of both positive and negative transfer from Chinese to English was found by testing six conjunctions or conjunction pairs: although…but, because…so, not only…but also, either…or, neither…nor, and despite. The results suggest that Chinese is likely to have an impact on students’ acquisition of conjunctions, and the use of Chinese in English classes can worsen negative transfer and boost positive transfer. The degree of transfer might increase when more Chinese is used in class. To alleviate the impact of Chinese transfer and to provide more effective L2 teaching, monitoring the use of L1 and regular evaluation might be useful. Teachers can also adjust the amount of Chinese used according to the students’ English proficiency level. PubDate: 2023-08-26 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00384-y
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Abstract: Abstract This article examines Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) as traditional Indonesian Islamic educational institutions, showing a new face as agents in nature conservation, especially forest conservation and considering Indonesia as a country with the best tropical forest land in the world and pesantren as indigenous Islamic educational institutions owned by Indonesia. This study finds pesantren as the landscape of a forest conservation movement started by the Al-Ittifaq pesantren and the Ecopesantren community. By focusing on the eco-centric paradigm where Islamic teachings teach the concept of forest conservation, this concept is rarely taught in traditional Islamic educational institutions such as pesantren. The results found that the eco-pesantren model was created by integrating religious education and ecological conceptions of dialectical qauliyah and kauniyah verses through the involvement of community alliances. Kyai’s leadership behaviour is a key factor where all three (meditation, mediation, and reflection) are formed based on the two powers of authority in Weber’s tripartite (legal-formal and transformational). This study contributes that Islamic education is a religious institution that teaches forest conservation movements through an eco-pesantren format. This research contributes that pesantren can synergise religion and forest conservation movements through the eco-pesantren format. PubDate: 2023-08-24 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00386-w
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Abstract: Abstract What recurring pattern did the interactions between imperial China and the surrounding regimes follow' When imperial China was economically prosperous, what kind of policies did it generally adopt toward others' The “Confucian long peace” continuously proclaimed by many international relations scholars and some historians may not stand up to empirical testing. The research finds that the relationship between the four major dynasties of imperial China, i.e., the Han, Tang, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and their surrounding regimes as well as their relationship with nomadic empires were not always peaceful. During the prosperous age of each dynasty, defensive realism more or less explained the state behavior of imperial China. As its economic power increased, the frequency of China's use of force also increased dramatically. As the frequency of wars greatly decreased with the end of the prosperous age, the long peace between imperial China and the surrounding regimes can be explained by the theory of hegemonic stability. This research helps us understand contemporary China's foreign relations and state behavior. PubDate: 2023-08-05 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00385-x
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Abstract: Abstract AI has a long tradition of borrowing insights from psychology. There is also a voice of embracing ontogenetic elements in AI since ontogenetically earlier developing subsystems look easier to be the target of computational modeling. But due to be the fundamental difference between natural organisms and digital computers on the hardware level, this analogy does not always hold. For instance, as reported (Carey The origin of concepts, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2009a), (Carey in JP 106:220–254, 2009b) ontogeny about the development of the cognitive mechanism cannot be smoothly mapped onto an AI context, although many of her psychological/philosophical insights, especially the indispensability of a quasi-phenomenological interface for manipulating numerical concepts, could still be kept. PubDate: 2023-08-01 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00381-1
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Abstract: Abstract The existing discourses on the Russia–Ukraine war mainly focus on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the implications for the global economy. There is a lack of policy and scholarly attention to how the war threatens the prospects for realising Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Underpinned by a critical document analysis of secondary sources available in academic and grey literature and focusing on Africa, the article explores various global challenges ensuing from the crisis. It demonstrates how such challenges impact prospects for achieving SDGs in Africa. Using the first two SDGs as an example, the study found that with the disruption of the global supply chain by the war and the international sanctions imposed on Russia, Africa now experiences food commodity and energy shortages, soaring inflation, and commodity price hikes which now threatens to worsen poverty and hunger. The article recommends that Africa prioritise structural change and regional cooperation, reconsidering the global financial system and how development finance is structured and maintaining a steady commitment to building resilience. Future research could be focused on the effectiveness of non-sanctions-based conflict resolutions. PubDate: 2023-07-26 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00383-z
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Abstract: Abstract China claims that the Belt and Road Initiative is a cross-regional comprehensive initiative covering the economy, social and environmental pillars. When it was first proposed, it identified five main areas which call for cooperation priorities, i.e. policy coordination, interconnection of facilities, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond. Scholars globally are focusing on the development of the Belt and Road Initiative as it has gone through several development stages. The Belt and Road Initiative initially focused on economic development, equal dialogue and cultural interchange between the Belt and Road Initiative partners and China, and now it has added the concept of green development. This paper reviews the Belt and Road Initiative documents since 2013 and analyses the changes of environmental policies in the Belt and Road Initiative, aiming to identify the challenges and implications of green development. The outcome of this paper provides insight into how the Belt and Road Initiative can contribute towards sustainable development with its partner countries. PubDate: 2023-07-22 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00374-0
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Abstract: With its rising number of publications and expanding international collaborations, China’s humanities and social sciences (HSS) research is displaying its potential for global prominence. Researchers have been exploring the development of China’s HSS from different perspectives. However, the examinations from the perspective of sentiment analysis are scanty. Our aim is then to examine the sentiment features in Chinese HSS academic writing, by analyzing a large-scale corpus with over 275 million characters and with a time span from 2000 to 2020. Considering that most studies only focused on abstracts, we examined both the abstracts and the full texts, as well as a direct comparison between them. We found that Chinese HSS academic writing has evolved to be more positively biased in the past two decades, showing an upward trend in the use of positive words and a slight downward trend in the use of negative words. However, the upward trend of positive words in the full texts is not that clear, resembling a fluctuating pattern. Regarding the comparison, the abstracts are more likely to use positive words while the full texts tend to use more negative words. These phenomena can be explained with the social cognitive theory, in that they may be shaped by a joint force of the nature of human beings, the nature of language, the particular socio-cultural background in China and the features of the academic genre. PubDate: 2023-06-28 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00380-2
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Abstract: Abstract The outbreak of COVID-19 caused human activities to be affected in one way or another. As a result, measures were put in place by various national governments to reduce the spread of the virus. This paper examines adherence to COVID-19 guidelines in Nigeria among itinerant traders, using a total of 40 eligible participants from selected local governments in Enugu state, Nigeria. The study adapted purposive sampling techniques to identify eligible participants; while in-depth interview was the method used for data collection. Among other findings, result shows that the control measures rolled out by government were seriously undermined. Nomadic traders, driven by economic gains, played covert role in the spread of the virus. This signalled a weak link in the efforts to curb the spread of the virus in Nigeria. The study contributes to a more exact diagnosis of the weak link in the efforts to contain the spread of the virus and how the quest for economic gains drove the abuse of COVID-19 mitigation protocols with its attendant health implications. It therefore recommends that government should strengthen the institutional capacity for detection and control, and provide the critical infrastructural facilities that will make for intensified surveillance in future epidemic or pandemic outbreak. Economic incentives and the effective monitoring of protocol enforcers saddled with the responsibility of enforcing government directives are also encouraged in order to curb compromise. PubDate: 2023-06-05 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00376-y
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Abstract: Abstract This study examines the realizations of variable /ð/ sound in Ammani Arabic (AA) as well as the correlation between this variation and a number of sociolinguistic factors. Four phonetic variants ([ð], [d], [z] and [ðˤ]), four social factors (sex, age, region and educational attainment) and two linguistic factors (the position of the variant in the word and the syntactic category of the word) were investigated. To achieve the objectives of the study, 40 native speakers of AA were interviewed for approximately 30 min each. A multivariate analysis using GoldVarb X was carried out in order to discern the effects of the operationalized factors on the variant choice. The results confirmed that the social and linguistic factors condition the variant choice. Additionally, the study examined the possible social meanings of variation in pronouncing the variable /ð/ in AA adopting Silverstein’s (Lang Commun, 23(3–4), 193–229, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0271-5309(03)00013-2, 2003) concept of indexical order. The sociolinguistic investigation of the variable /ð/ in AA appears to suggest that it is an object of stylistic variation. PubDate: 2023-04-26 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00373-1
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Abstract: Abstract In this article, we examine the syntactic derivation of subject wh-words in Jordanian Arabic. Firstly, we provide empirical evidence that questions with a subject wh-word are syntactically derived by overt movement of the given subject wh-word to the left periphery. This empirical evidence is based on the position of the subject wh-words to the left of the high IP adverbials, including epistemic adverbials and evidentials, as well as the position of the subject wh-words relative to topical elements. Secondly, we examine the intriguing ban on the use of subject wh-words in VSO sentences although non-interrogative subjects are permitted to occur in such clauses, and other wh-words may appear in their thematic positions (given the appropriate context). We show that this ban results from the effects of a proposed economy-driven condition that disallows the use of an expletive (to fill Spec, TP) while the thematic subject is available (in Spec, vP). Additionally, we show that this ban results from the interactions of the effects of criterial freezing and the conditions that licence elements in the low IP area. PubDate: 2023-04-18 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00372-2
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Abstract: Abstract Research on international students’ learning experiences pays much less attention to those studying semester and/or year-long programmes in a country that differs significantly from their home country with respect to culture and the education system. Adopting transformative learning theory as the theoretical framework, this paper explores the learning effectiveness of students on such programme in a Chinese and in a UK university. It analyses the narratives of 27 students in relation to their cognitive and behavioural activities and also their self-reflective and collaborative reflective activities. The findings indicate that these students only partially achieved transformative learning. The main reasons are: (1) the duration of this type of programme was not long enough to achieve a full transformation and (2) both host universities did not include reflection in the learning process properly. This paper makes a contribution to cross-border learning literature in the Chinese and the UK contexts. PubDate: 2023-04-03 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00370-4
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Abstract: Abstract The two purposes of the research are (a) to develop an analytical model that views the economy/polity as a social system with interactive subsystems of actors: households, firms, government, political parties and other significant actors, and (b) apply the analytical model to construct and verify a timeline that figures major events in world development that shaped the evolution of the western economies, and the relative strength of their interacting subsystems. The timeline highlights the changing and evolving dominance of the major subsystems in the economic history of the western world. We differ from the convention of looking at history as the occurrence of exogenous consequential events and offer instead a system dynamics analysis that makes historical events endogenous and to be affected by the powerplay within the system. The current dominance of the firm subsystem in western countries is demonstrated to be the accumulated result of centuries of past events: wars, discoveries, colonies, trade, political enlightenments, and industrial revolutions that strengthened participation and interactions in the firm subsystem at the cost of weakened dominance of rival subsystems (those of traditional households, theocrats, manors, communes, royals, and the modern state subsystem). The behavioral orientation of a social system is explainable in terms of (a) interactive influence (which occurs during the participation and interaction of agents in multiple settings, with some settings having more interactive influence than others), and (b) regulative influence (where the conduct of the one subsystem overrules that of other subsystems). Western economic history suggests a positive conditional correlation and convergence between (a) and (b). Being conditional, the convergence between (a) and (b) may not hold in other world contexts, i.e., China, India, Arab and African countries. PubDate: 2023-03-30 DOI: 10.1007/s40647-023-00371-3
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