Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Social sciences for University

Geography

Geography is the description of the land, including land survey systems (Geosistema) and the interrelationships of its component elements. These elements can be biotic or abiotic, and encompass the atmosphere (air), lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and pedosphere (soil, a mixture of the aforementioned). This includes aeromass, hydromass, biomass, lithomass, and artifactomass (the total mass of elements built by humans).

Economic Geography

Economic Geography is the study of the location and distribution of different activities that are part of the economic process.

Economic Activities

Economic activities represent an effort to meet human needs through the wise use of resources. They involve the economic issue, the production process,...

One of the main ideas is what Adam Smith's economy is based on, and it is the division of labour. He keeps the idea that people work because it is good for them. Adam Smith focused on liberal ideas, which is a free-market, where the government doesn't interfere with the market (laissez-faire). He supported that competition kept everyone honest. Smith is also a big supporter of government favoring war-related industries, so that they would be prepared in case of war. He thought about the importance of the risk. His beliefs were related to the relation between interests and rewards, and risk. If the reward is big, investors tend to forget about the risk. But Smith thought that the danger (real) was big capitalism or entrepreneurs cheating on...

General Research Questions

What is the relation between protocol and culture, political system, religion? Does it depend above all on culture, the political system or on religion?

How is the education in protocol organized in different cultures?

How does protocol affect social and political changes? How does protocol affect the gender relations?

Does protocol the protocol in the studied context still exist?

Definition culture

The way human beings give form to their environment and give meaning to their existence

Discussion culture

Elite culture / popular culture. Though the distinction is already discussed in the early modern period, nowadays this distinction disappears and is much more fluid.

Other oppositions, more or less apparent: countryside /...

Key Actors in Public Opinion Formation

The actors involved in shaping public opinion are diverse and influential. Here are some of the main players:

Politicians

Politicians and political parties regularly conduct polls, especially during campaigns. They also use focus groups to understand public sentiment. This research often aims to find ways to influence public opinion in favor of their policies. Politicians are keenly aware of the power of public opinion and work to shape it to their advantage.

Mass Media

The mass media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion. It is a major factor influencing how the public thinks about various issues. Media outlets conduct political surveys to create content for their audiences. Larger media organizations...

The Significance of Culture in Social Sciences

Social sciences are deeply intertwined with the study of culture. Here's a look at how different disciplines approach it:

Cultural Anthropology

Focuses on the origin of cultures, their evolution, development, and expressions, including music and language.

Sociology

Aims to scientifically understand the sociocultural reality of people, though sometimes struggles to fully grasp its nuances.

Social Psychology

Contextualizes and provides a framework for understanding how culture influences the formation of social and individual personalities.

History

Explains past societies and provides a sense of continuity to cultural changes and developments.

Economics

Examines how the economic organization of people is influenced...

Fundamental Factors Affecting Soybean and Corn

Modified fundamentals affect soybean and corn. Originally from the USA, they currently cover 8% of the cultivated area in the world. They spread to developed countries with serious and uncertain social and health consequences. The largest producers are the USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and China.

Implications

• Environmental: Loss of biodiversity, deforestation.
• Health: Uncertain global consequences.
• Economic: Dependence on purchasing seeds and herbicides from multinationals, impoverishment of small farmers.

Emerging Spaces (Characterization and Delimitation)

• High global importance (share of GDP): The majority are within the top 20 of the world's largest economies.
• Rapid industrialization.
• Increasing participation

EU Institutions and Key Concepts

Commission (Jean-Claude Juncker): Key issues include conferral, subsidiarity, and proportionality, as well as policy proposals (right of initiative). The right to propose new laws requires support from 25% of Member States, subject to the Court of Justice of the EU. White papers are used for public debate. The Spitzenkandidat process is also significant.

Regulation harmonizes data protection legislation.

Council of the European Union

The Council represents the governments of the Member States, comprising 28 national ministers. Decisions are often made by qualified majority voting (55% qualified majority), with at least four countries needed to block decisions. Some decisions require unanimity, reflecting state sovereignty....

Determinants of Health

Social Determinants and Health and Disease

Influencing Social Determinants

The way of life and the health, healthy life styles

Determinants of Health:

• Factors which, combined together, affect the health of individuals and communities → whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment
• E.g. as where we live, the state of our environment, genetics, our income and education level, and our relationships with friends and family
• Note: the more commonly considered factors such as access and use of health care services often have less of an impact

The determinants of health generally include:

• The social and economic environment
• The physical environment
• The person’s individual characteristics and

Homonymy

Three Ways in Which Homonymy Can Arise

1.1 Phonetic Convergence

Under the influence of ordinary phonetic changes, two or more words which once had different forms coincide in the spoken language and sometimes in writing as well. For example, meat and meet.

1.2 Semantic Divergence

When two or more meanings of the same word drift apart to such an extent that there will be no obvious connection between them, polysemy will give place to homonymy and the unity of the word will be destroyed. For example, pupil, meaning ward or scholar, and pupil, meaning the apple of the eye. Another example is collation, meaning comparison or light repast. It is difficult to say in particular cases where polysemy ends and where homonymy begins:

• If two words identical

Arnold's Concept of Disinterestedness

Matthew Arnold used the word disinterestedness with positive connotations. For Arnold, being 'interested' meant being socially or politically motivated, potentially creating an ideology. Literature was often criticized, he felt, because the 'interested' critic evaluated a work based not on its artistic values but on its political, social, and economic features.

The disinterested critic, in contrast, is not influenced by the practical affairs of everyday life; the critic is immune to external pressures. For Arnold, disinterestedness equates to objectivity. This type of criticism characterized the New Critics of the first half of the 20th century in Europe and the USA.

Arnold criticized publications like the...