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2. Call centers and the new jobs of the 21st Century
- Author:
- Jordy Micheli Thirión
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- Call centers emerging industry is a dynamic sector in global economy and accounts worldwide jobs in millions. This article shows the tayloristic characteristics of labor process, geographical expansion trends of telemarket firms and concentration job in young people as well as the weakness of the labor relations in the industry. The conclusion is that structure of contemporary postindustrial capitalism constitutes a framework for call centers industry growth. That structure is characterized by: a need for managing the information and communication flows in a competitive way within several firms and organizations; the remarkable innovation wave in digital technology sectors and structural unemployment among young people, bachelors or graduates. In the context of an expanding tertiary economy, call centers become a pattern for managing work and creating jobs in 21st Century.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Globalization, and Science and Technology
3. Scope and limits of the Chinese technologic and scientific system
- Author:
- Gian Carlo Delgado-Ramos
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- Using the case of nanotechnology, one of the most promising technological niches of the 21st century and one that is increasing in China, the purpose of this article is three-fold. One, the article discusses the concepts of scientific-technology system and industrial network in order to characterize the structure of development in countries that are considered as emerging or peripheral economies. Two, the term maquila-technology is analyzed in relation with the endogenous development effects of science and technology on the linkages among national production networks in China. This includes an analysis of the role of the state, the private sector, and the knowledge centers of production. And, three, the article evaluates other aspects, such as the military, that result in a friction between a progressively technological competitiveness of China with the industrial interests of the West.
- Topic:
- Development, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
4. E-Activism: New Media and Political Participation in Europe
- Author:
- Óscar García Luengo
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- The demonstrations in Spain on March 13th, 2004 following the terrorist attacks in Madrid present an interesting challenge for political communication research. For the first time in the history of Spain, people employed communication technologies in order to create the dynamics of peaceful civil disobedience. Research on political communication has traditionally paid attention to the classic outlets in order to analyze the impact of media exposure on political affectation. Taking the cited framework as the main reference, this article compares the connection between political activism and the consumption of new and old media in European countries. Analyzing the use of these technologies is important because research on political communication has traditionally only focused on the classic media techniques to analyze the impact of media exposure on political disaffection. Therefore, using the March 13th demonstrations, this article compares the connection between political activism and the consumption of new and old media in European countries.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Politics, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Spain
5. What if different and opposing views of sociology were complementary to each other?: Reflections on the development of the knowledge of collective life
- Author:
- Pierre Tripier
- Publication Date:
- 09-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- Sociology was born at a time when the Newtonian paradigm was introduced as the hegemonic scientific model. However, this model was not sufficient to understand complex and unstable situations. The model was a unitary explanatory system that not only considered time and space as absolute, but is also drew sociology away from medicine, history, geography and the art of governing. With sociology, these disciplines could have been better understood. That is, when the Newtonian paradigm was discussed from the point of view of thermodynamics, quantum physics, and restricted relativity, other perspectives –dialogic and interactionists- could have conquered legitimate positions in the social sciences so as to compete with these deterministic points of view. Today, a third phase of evolution in physics and biology has allowed for non-contradictory stands in their different perspectives primarily because of the division of work and the awareness of their complementary elements. This question is could this also occuir in sociology?
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Development, and Science and Technology
6. ¡Bárbaros en Delfos! Geopolitical knowledge and International Relations before the 21st Century
- Author:
- Filibi López and Mariano Ferrero
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- The purpose of this article is to examine the connection between knowledge and power as well as scientific knowledge and politics. We use a sociology of knowledge perspective that provides a framework for the social and geopolitical situated nature of social science researchers and their academic communities. We will make sense of how the evolution of International Relations' (IR) knowledge production is tightly linked to the development of the international political context. From this point of view, American post-war hegemony came hand in hand with the Realist monopoly of the IR discipline. By the same token, the ongoing decentering process of academic spaces and theoretical approaches expresses the new world political landscape after the Pax Americana/Cold War era.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Civil Society, Politics, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- America
7. Political Science or How to Engage in Politics by Other Means
- Author:
- Iaki Martnez de Albeniz
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- This article is concerned with the scientific production of politics from a critical viewpoint. Using a constructivist perspective, it analyzes the so-called black box of political science, namely the essence of politics itself. Although protected from critique, because in principle a discipline cannot question the object of its analysis, it is precisely the definition of politics that is the most controversial and thus requires further analysis. Therefore, the central theme of political science is the definition of politics. I contend that once politics is defined, not as a certainty but as a scientific construction, it raises many questions: Why does the issue of the meaning of politics emerge? How does political science construct politics? What are the discursive effects of this construction in the political sphere? What does it mean to “do politics” and how do we define political action? It is these questions that I seek to address in this article.
- Topic:
- Development, Politics, and Science and Technology
8. Ethics for one world
- Author:
- Peter Singer
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- Technological advancement has made the increasing closeness among the diverse regions of the world inevitable. This article focuses on the ethical implications that this proximity entails. The author analyzes how global warming, commerce, and international law are topics that should interest and involve all nations because the decisions taken towards these matters have global consequences. He purports that there is a need to apply an ethic for one world that also goes beyond the human species.
- Topic:
- Economics, Environment, International Law, and Science and Technology