Does Social Transformation Drive Out-Migration? Perceptions and Changes

JEL Classification Codes: F60, F63, 035, 044 1. Introduction The notion of transformation (from Latin) means conversion, modification. One should take account that transformation can introduce both rather positive and negative, crisis features of destructive type social changes. It has been known that changes are integral attribute of any normally developing society. At the same time social transformation represents a wide spectrum of social phenomena, starting from insignificant changes (in the organization, management, force balance inside production sphere, reforms in some social systems), finishing full-scale fundamental changes in the social sphere itself. Fundamental transformations in the social systems result from the processes of modern globalization, which are basis for colossal changes actually in all systems of the social relations in the nearest and distant future of the mankind. In modern scientific literature there are three main approaches in the discourse of Global Studies: revolutionary, developed by K. Ohmae, R. Keohane, J. Nye and others. These authors welcome the processes of economy's denationalization, development of trade and production nets among countries as well as transnational financial links. These authors insist on very positive consequences of globalization. But there are others (E. Giddens, J. Rosenau), who develop so called evolutionary approach in which different countries will adapt to global processes gradually, difficultly, but in the whole positive for the world social integrity. It is necessary to mention the skeptics who see mainly negative consequences. Ch. Kegley, E. Vittkopf are among those. (Hopefully they are minority). But all the authors agree that the inevitable globalization will expose the society to the complex transformations and simultaneously will create the conditions for new social systems. Obviously when speaking about transformations of the systemic type as a rule an extremely complex set of factors transforming the whole spectrum of social conditions is usually meant. This article is concentrated on only some features of social and economic transformations, which, in our opinion, are fundamental. 2. Theoretical, Informational and Empirical, and Methodological Grounds of the Research First of all it should be mentioned that modern planetary society is not just a conglomerate of different social organisms. Modern society most probably is the result of historical formation of very complex in their interaction and intersection of social systems. On this background transformation may differ greatly depending on the type of society where they occur. The Western social systems, which underwent modernist changes, are the result of long-lasting co-evolution, i.e. the process of interaction and mutual influence of different social changes on each other which resulted in comparatively moderate pace of social development (Thalassinos et al., 2015). This temporary regime allowed introducing the processes of social transformations gradually for four-five centuries (the period of capitalistic system formation). In the course of these transformations economic and political innovations were growing into life, that made this process necessary for every next generation and fixed it on the mental level as well. In other words according to V. Kollontay, the model of evolutionary social transformations was realized in the Western countries. In the course of its development it was becoming more open, perceptive to efforts to regulate it and manage as well as more predictable for prospective transformations. Currently the relations of the EU countries obey to the new processes of co-evolution. It is clear that this process is far from being completed as it has deep contradictions connected with the necessity of integration as one of the manifestations of globalization, on the one hand, and rather complex process of adaptation of the countries to each other, on the other. …

Background: The purpose of this article is to examine the contributions, gaps, and normativity problems in mainstream sociocultural theories, curriculum theory, and educational leadership studies, considering reflective education theories that provide a less normative alternative. Framework: Our framework introduces reflective education for social change as a less normative perspective, contrasted with two dominant sociological perspectives: social reproduction and social transformation. Within each of these perspectives, we consider consonant curriculum theories and educational leadership studies that have developed in disparate fields. Research Methods/Approach: This study utilized data from a previous qualitative study that examined a high-performing high school/district in a working-class, increasingly diverse community. Data sources featured field notes and interviews. We acknowledge the limitations of the interpretive paradigm that framed this study, suggesting the need for a new research paradigm. Illustrative Examples From the Findings: Participants primarily considered education as preparatory for existing social norms and values through their long-standing curriculum system. Reliance on neoliberal policy discourses contributed to an institutionalized “culturally neutral” curriculum system that often reinforced deficit views of diverse students. Leaders had awareness of social changes but often missed opportunities for mediation and reflection. Thus, reflective education for social change may be useful to move beyond the normativity problems of social reproduction and transformation. Implications: When leaders apply reflective education perspectives to their praxis, they transcend existing norms and values. Importantly, the future is an open question, thus avoiding the normativity problems of dominant sociocultural perspectives. Implications are provided for theorizing, research, leadership preparation, and practice.

Introduction: This article presents an excerpt from the author`s doctoral research, which demonstrates that the availability of new technologies and technology-mediated education to riverside communities has contributed to regional development. Objective: The objective of this article is to present the benefits of the use of communication technologies to regional development in riverside communities, demonstrating that access to and use of new technologies in education promotes economic and social transformations and impacts the lives of an entire society. Theoretical Framework: The study's theoretical framework is based on literature that highlights the relationship between technology, education, and regional development, such as Amartya Sen (2000), Castells (2005, 2017), and Dorothea Kleine (2013). These authors argue that access to information and knowledge is essential to expanding freedoms, generating inclusion, and fostering social transformation. The research also incorporates topics such as territory, identity, and public policies aimed at riverside communities in the Amazon. Method: The bibliographical research on which this study was based was complemented by an analysis of empirical studies already implemented in the Amazon. Priority was given to scientific articles, dissertations, theses, technical reports, and public policy documents published between 2000 and 2024, with an emphasis on literature addressing technology-mediated education, regional development, and riverside communities in the Amazon. Results and Discussion: The research that was undertaken revealed that regional development in remote communities can be fostered by providing them with improved communication and access to education, furthering the development of the entire community. Research Implications: The research demonstrates that technology-mediated education plays a transformative role in riverside communities, promoting access to knowledge and social inclusion by reducing geographic barriers and expanding educational opportunities, directly contributing to regional development. Furthermore, it strengthens citizenship and the ability to demand rights. Finally, it demonstrates that technology, when efficiently applied, is a driver of economic, educational, and social change in these regions. Originality/Value: The originality and value of this study lie in its approach to the use of technology-mediated education as a regional development strategy in riverside communities, which have been traditionally excluded from formal educational processes. The research highlights the social and economic transformation generated by access to digital education, going beyond the simple transmission of knowledge. The study also demonstrates how public policies and technologies can be integrated in isolated regions, and offers an interdisciplinary perspective applied to the Amazonian reality. Its value lies in proposing viable pathways to inclusion and educational equity.

Realism and Power in Mark Twain's

<p>During World War Two the peaceful “occupation” of the Samoa Islands by US Forces combined with existing colonial conditions to transform the lives of Samoans in important yet also subtle ways. Drawing on thirty two oral history interviews and the papers of the colonial administrations this thesis examines the wartime lives of Samoan women. Their accounts of their experiences reveal how they understood the war at the time and after years of life experience. Using approaches from social history and women’s history this thesis illustrates women’s agency in finding ways to manage the new social contexts and situations created by the war. The central argument of this thesis is that it was the ordinary business of negotiating daily life during the war that engaged and normalised social changes. These mundane everyday acts were significant historical moments that wove new and unique motifs into the tapestry of Samoan women’s history. The war brought to Samoa a multitude of American servicemen who saw Samoa through a ‘romantic’ lens as an arcadia of unrestrained social mores. In contrast, through this research Samoan women reveal their wartime experiences in their own words. The women’s narratives indicate that the war interrupted lives in many ways causing them to rethink their roles in response to the changes. The four areas of Samoan women’s lives that this thesis examines are their roles in their families and communities, their involvement with the churches, their engagement with wartime popular culture and lastly their wartime sexual encounters. The discussion opens with a portrait of Samoan society during the 1920s and 1930s, depicting the social and political forces that shaped women’s lives and influenced their understandings of their wartime experiences. This discussion highlights how colonial entanglements had a bearing on the different trajectories that women’s lives took during the war. The thesis then turns to explore the arrival of the war, examining the women’s initial experiences and reactions with a particular focus on what they learnt from their experiences and how they adapted to change in the context of their communities and families. The study finds that social transformation was a response to the war’s disruption of physical and cultural space and the critical structures and ideologies that are central to Samoans’ way of life. The second part of this enquiry examines how wartime circumstances affected Samoan women’s sometimes tense relations with the Christian churches. The churches occupied a central place in Samoan society as a provider of both spiritual nurture and secular education for women during the war years, so they deserve specific attention. Wartime conditions created opportunities that expanded and rejuvenated the scope of Samoan women’s agency which had been marginalised and narrowed by Christian influence before the war. At the same time, the war heightened the pre-war tensions between Samoan women’s agency and the power of the churches. Despite the clergy’s reluctance, the churches provided spaces in which American troops socialised with the Samoan population, creating social situations that were difficult to control. The third area analyses Samoan women’s engagement with wartime popular culture and how the consumption of introduced material culture galvanised their autonomy and enabled them to tailor social transformation to suit their personal perceptions. Wartime popular culture in its many forms contributed to the rapid absorption of new ideas and the adaptation of cultural practices. Women’s engagement with this popular culture resulted in ‘on the ground changes’ that stimulated social transformation and which should be appreciated as significant historical moments in their own right. The fourth area of discussion investigates Samoan women’s wartime sexual encounters. The perception that Samoan women’s sexual encounters with American servicemen were characterised by an unrestrained morality on their part ignores other factors that shaped these encounters, including violence and their own bodily knowledge and preparedness. This study shows that Samoan women had a variety of sexual encounters during the war and their narratives speak volumes about the pains of such life-changing moments. There was no single or archetypal wartime experience. The thirty two interviewees experienced the war in different parts of the Samoa islands and their social and political alignment has influenced their perceptions and understanding of their wartime lives. The social transformation brought by the war involved considered responses from the women who sought to balance personal and family interests and Samoan values. Exploring the women’s wartime lives reveals their resilience and their ability to overcome difficulties and effect change for the better of their community.</p>

The article summarizes, expands and substantiates scientific knowledge about legal transformation as a component of modern legal development. The problems of transformations are understood by scientists of various directions and branches of social knowledge, primarily philosophers, political scientists, sociologists, economists and lawyers, since historical progress is directly determined by the ideas of democracy, freedom, free market, law and statehood. The points of view available in the specialized literature regarding the understanding of social transformation, its types, forms, trends and factors are analyzed. Social transformation covers the entire sphere of relations and interests (needs) in society, is the basis of the material and ideological structure on which both theory and practice of human life are based. Social transformation means the process of transformations in society, in particular in the cultural, political, economic and legal spheres. Qualitative and quantitative indicators of these transformations depend on many reasons and factors – internal and external, purposeful and spontaneous, objective and subjective, etc. Based on the study and systematization of transformational issues in legal science, the essence of legal transformation is revealed, under which it is proposed to understand qualitative and quantitative, substantive and formal, progressive and regressive, rational and irrational, regular, random and tendentious transformations of legal matter, legal life,legal reality, legal phenomena and processes under the action, influence, in the context, in the conditions of internal and external, purposeful and spontaneous, objective and subjective causes and factors (globalization, European integration, digitalization, sustainable development, etc.). The prerequisites for determining the common, distinctive and special features of legal transformation and legal reform within the framework of the development of the theory of the latter are outlined. Legal transformation is a component (component) of legal development along with such legal changes as formation, functioning, destruction, and is also carried out in the form of legal evolution, legal revolution, and legal reform. Turning to transformational (transformative) processes in legal reality is intended to continue the scientific search for an optimal, effective model of legal development, initiated by domestic scientists, in fundamentally new realities – in the conditions of war and post-war state reconstruction. Key words: development, social development, legal development, changes, social changes, legal changes, transformation, social transformation, legal transformation, transformation of legislation, transformation of the legal system, reform, social reform, legal reform, theory of legal reform.

China’s rapidly expanding engagement with Africa has been heralded as one of the most important developments in the continent’s post-colonial history, and has been ascribed the potential to radically transform Africa’s economic and political position in the world (Moyo 2009). There are many strands to China’s renewed involvement in Africa and, while most attention has focused on high-level diplomacy, trade and investment, it is increasingly recognised that the growing presence of Chinese migrants on the continent is a key factor in determining how China-Africa relations unfold. As Chris Alden (2007, 128) has argued, “The behaviour of thousands of newly settled Chinese businessmen and the conduct of the African communities in which they live and work will matter as much as the diplomacy and concessions made at the government level.” Consequently, studies of Chinese migrants in various African countries are emerging and these have begun to deepen our understanding of the nature of this migration and how those involved organise their economic activities and operate transnationally (Haugen and Carling 2005; Ho 2008; Dobler 2009; Huynh et al. 2010; Giese and Thiel 2014). Yet our knowledge of how the Chinese presence is impacting upon African development remains limited. In attempting to better understand the impact of migration on development, we turn to the relationship between migration and social transformation. This has been conceptualised most coherently by the sociologist and migration scholar Stephen Castles (2009 and 2010) and his work broadens and complexifies the often narrow, normative and over-simplified debates about the developmental role of migration that have re-emerged over the last 15 years. The notion of social transformation therefore offers a more sophisticated framework for exploring the dynamics and effects of migration and reminds us that migration is profoundly embedded in wider processes of social change, being both a driver and an outcome. Our analysis begins by discussing in more detail the potential and limitations of migration and social transformation approaches. While these approaches offer a more nuanced and contextualised understanding of migration and its effects, their focus has been on South-North migration rather than on South-South flows. Furthermore, we argue that these conceptualisations need to expand to incorporate the agency of local actors with whom migrants interact and the way these relationships and their outcomes are shaped by the politics of class. In developing this argument, we draw on our data to chart some of the social changes and new social relations with which the expanded Chinese presence is involved. We argue that, while many of the social, economic and political effects of the Chinese presence are significant, they are not necessarily transformative in and of themselves. However, we contend that the ways in which these effects are entwined in localised social, economic and political dynamics mean that they have the potential to contribute to broader processes of transformation, although not always in ways deemed positive or progressive. Here, we aim to demonstrate that the impact of Chinese migrants is incorporated into wider processes of social change through the agency of local actors and the politics of class – factors that have been underplayed not only in social transformation perspectives on migration but also in the emerging body of work on resurgent China-Africa relations (Corkin 2013; Mohan and Lampert 2013).

The article discusses the economic, political and cultural factors which led to the transformation among the parties and in the Italian democracy. The sudden outbreak of the crisis in 1992 is described as a conjunction of external and internal crisis factors. International adjustment constraints, economical missmanagement, the inefficiency of the central govemments, social and political movements in Northern and Southern Italy, as well as the resolute action of judges and public prosecutors against the corrupt political elite, finally made the historical break with the traditional conditions in Italian politics possible. But only in Southem Italy the political caesura was accompanied by social transformations. Finally, this continuity of social conditions explains the rise of Berlusconi.

During the sterling crises between 1947 and 1952, the empire occupied a prominent position in Britain’s external economic relations and fulfilled a pivotal role in the discriminatory management of the sterling area. The following analysis will cast light on the question of whether British policy phased in a promising new imperial deal or was doomed from the start. The international context, sanctioned by the United States, defined the feasibility of Britain’s discriminatory management. The economic conditions in the colonies determined where commodity exports were viable. Moreover, during the 1930s and the war considerable social transformations had taken place that affected British policy in the sterling area, and the legacy of the colonial state and its economic institutions to some extent facilitated discriminatory management. After the war, socio-economic movements increasingly manifested themselves politically and challenged the colonial state. British policy was a balancing act between shielding key economic institutions and fostering austerity management to achieve export surpluses on the one hand, and securing alliances with local groups conducive to British aims on the other. Britain’s management of the colonial sterling area had a distinct political rationale. The considerable literature dealing with Britain and the colonies during the period is generally not concerned with this dimension, though it touches upon numerous aspects of the problem.1 However, innovative research links sterling relationships with British colonial development policy. This research and the present account are genuinely complementary to one another.2

Police tasks have not changed for years and mainly consist in ensuring order and security for citizens. However, the police function as an organization in a certain legal order, it is subject to certain rules that determine its effective operation. Since 1989, that is from the political and social transformation in the functioning of the Polish Police has started in our country, two periods could be distinguished in which it was forced to make organizational changes. The first such moment came with the political transformation when Poland was entering the path of the democratic system. It was not an easy period because the mere change in legislation was not enough. It is worth mentioning that young Polish democracy was struggling with many negative factors, mainly inherited from the previous political system, e.g. the state of the economy, and inflation. From the perspective of the police 30 years of operation, based on statistical data, it can be concluded that the period directly related to political transformation was conducive to negative social phenomena such as crime, social pathologies or the lack of appropriate legal regulations in the new economic conditions. In 1990, the Polish Police leadership faced a lot of work to be done to ensure that the newly formed formation was not identified with the previous system as well as the role it played in the communist system. The second such event forcing a change in the organization of the police activities was January 1, 1999, when the administrative reform of the country entered into force. A difficult task was set up before the formation. After less than 9 years of functioning in the new reality, the then management was faced with adapting the organization to the situation related to, among other things, the new administrative division, transfer of many tasks and competences previously reserved for the central level to the level of local governments, or intensification of efforts to build civic self-governance at all levels of government. The following article presents issues related to police tasks, powers of the Police Commander-in-Chief, and police structures operating in the period in question

The social framework and conditions of revolution - In this article an attempt has been made to put the analysis of revolution in what seems to me a new framework or new dimension. We do not attempt here to add anything new to the analysis of the causes of revolutions - be they inter-elite or class conflicts, frustration of rising levels of expectation, or the like. While there is no doubt that there is yet quite a lot to do in this field both in the detailed analysis of causes of single cases and in a comparative study of different revolutions, this is not to be the purpose of this study. Rather it addresses itself to a different question which seems to have been neglected in literature - namely, under what circumstances and under what conditions do such causes, whatever their concrete constellation, give rise to what has been called revolutions and revolutionary transformation, that in some cases also arises during the decline and disintegration of regimes or Empires; in still others they may give rise to far-reaching social change and transformation, but not - as we shall see especially in chapters 4, 5 and 9 - in the revolutionary mould. Or, in other words, while social conflict, heterodoxies, rebellion, change and transformation are inherent in human societies, that combination of different components of social action which comes under the umbrella of ”pure”, “true” or “classical” revolutions is a very special type of process through which social change and transformation takes place in human societies. Even the fact that once modern revolutions occur and become a model and symbol of change, does not mean that all processes of social change which have taken place since then indeed combine all the symbolic, organizational and institutional components of the change in this model of revolution. Hence, the central problem of this article is to analyze under what conditions -in what kinds of societies and civilizations - and under what historical circumstances such causes give rise to what has been designated as revolutions and revolutionary transformation. Such an approach puts the problem of revolution in the framework of comparative studies of civilization. The major conclusions of this article are that revolutions tend to develop in certain Imperial-feudal or Imperial political systems, which are a part of civilization in whose major cultural orientations there is a perception of strong tension between the transcendental and the mundane order; in which the focus of the revolution combines this and other-worldly ones -in situations of transition from traditional to modern political class systems, along with the development of open economic markets.

This article discusses African feminist approaches to decolonization and social transformation. In recent years, there has been a significant shift in African feminist scholarship towards African concerns and Africa-centered solutions. Today’s turn to Indigenous knowledge, social structures, and gender relations is no longer just about shedding light on the precolonial past, but about fundamentally changing the epistemic framework in the sense of developing alternative epistemologies beyond the dominant ‘Western’ framework. But what is meant by ‘alternative epistemologies’? How do African feminist thinkers conceptualize social change today? And how do they relate epistemic and social change in their thinking? These questions are explored in this article, focusing on work by Sylvia Tamale (Uganda), Wangari Maathai (Kenya), and Anthonia Kalu (Nigeria) and drawing on the discourse of ecofeminism and Ubuntu as two models of alternative epistemologies.

This chapter illustrates connections between meditation and social change, distinguishing assimilative and radical currents recognizable in the adoption of meditation as a tool of social stability and social transformation, especially within a North American context. The assimilative approach rests on the assumption that individual meditation practice will naturally lead to social transformation. It underlies the incorporation of meditation into established public institutions such as schools, hospitals, and the political arena. The radical current shifts focus from individual practice to structural change and collective liberation and is most visible in progressive social activist communities, which have adopted meditation as a strategy of self-care and a creative tool of protest. Both radical and assimilative currents have roots in the modernization of Buddhism that began during colonialism, which has led to the de-contextualization of meditation from its traditional religious matrix and its re-contextualization in various new matrices including ones primarily geared toward social transformation and justice.

On 30 July 1984, 11 mercury miners locked down in the mines of Almadén (Ciudad Real, southern Spain) to protest against their precarious economic and social conditions. 650 metres deep inside the oldest and most productive mercury mines in world history, the miners endured the dark and contaminated galleries for 11 days and nights until their claims were addressed. As an emigrated local filmmaker, I come back to post-industrial Almadén in 2019 to make a documentary film about the mining strike. The premise is to find young locals willing to live inside the now-closed mines for 11 whole days in homage to the older miners and to recreate the experience of 1984, 35 years later. Apart from engaging our collective mining past, performing the form and duration of a previous workers strike, Encierro proposes the underground as a living and symbolic space to foster a series of conversations, encounters, and social and political propositions to reimagine Almadén, which rose from a mine shaft more than 2000 years ago, as ‘something else besides’ a mining town. This exposition explores the potential of documentary film fieldwork to take on a different relationship to normal life that the same or similar events would have as ‘untransformed reality’ – a strike versus the reenactment of a strike – and its potential for activism and social transformation. I will also explore the use of the conditional tense in documentary; a speculative and hypothetical approach to reality sensitive to the ‘potentially’ real, the ‘possible’, and the ‘what if’ as modes of documentation. What happens when the forms of ‘documentary’ and ‘reenactment’ are exceeded, and act upon the world rather than only represent it?

We currently find ourselves living in precarious times of segregation with old and new inequities on the rise. One space where such segregation is (re)produced is school physical education (PE). Despite decades of critical research and curriculum reforms, PE is still typically delivered with an emphasis on skill learning associated with competitive sport. Relatedly, PE continues to make ‘friends and enemies’ which leads to inequitable educational outcomes and issues that can transcend beyond the PE classroom. So, what makes PE and its practices so resistant to change? Our interest as critical PE scholars lies in examining power: the nature of power, how power works, how unequal power relations are constructed and maintained but ultimately how PE can become a space for more equal power relations. That is, we believe that critical research on PE practice can make a difference. In this paper, we will discuss what makes PE seemingly resistant to change and how unequal power relations are (re)produced through the theoretical lens of Foucault. Through doing so we draw attention to the opportunities for resistance and social transformation which could shift and rearticulate prevailing power relations making PE a more inclusive and socially just educational space for all students.