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Begin New Search Publishing Institution CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política

41. 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

42. 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

43. Narrativas del cambio: Cultura y desarrollo económico regional.

Author:
David Goodman
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
China's economic growth since the late 1970s challenges economic theory so strongly that cultural explanations are often sought. A prime difficulty in such approaches is the operationalisation of the concept of Chinese culture. Culture is more readily and usefully analysed at the local rather than the national level. Local culture has been demonstrated to be important to politics and the emergence of modern Chinese nationalism. The relationship between local culture and economic development is more complex. Local culture provides ideology and often organisation that supports entrepreneurship and the development of specifically local economic activity. Through local studies in three Chinese provinces – Shanxi, Qinghai and Hainan – it is argued that local culture is not only a significant factor of production but also helps explain the trajectory and organisation of local business.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
China and Asia

44. Analysis of a publishing position: The case of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe re-election

Author:
Ana Cristina Vélez López
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
This article is a descriptive and analytical text. The investigation of which the article is a product is about the presidential re-election in Colombia. That research began as an analysis of eighteen editorials published by the most important newspaper in Colombia: El Tiempo. The method of analysis was ACD (Critical Analysis of speech) by Teun A. Van Dijk. The investigation concluded that El Tiempo changed radically its position about the immediately presidential re-election because the editorial did not support it at the begging but at the end it supports the re-election with own name: Alvaro Uribe Velez.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
Colombia and South America

45. Transborder movements Mexico-United States: “Polleros” as mobility agents

Author:
Gaxiola y Guajardo García
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The human traffic networks of Latin-Americans immigrants, managed by human traffickers or “polleros”, constitute an actual social phenomenon that affects the security structures in all borders of the American continent. The objective of this research is to analyze how the impact that problems, like uneven distribution of income and the lack of job opportunities in Latin America, affect the raising of human traffic networks and “polleros”. At the same time, it will be exposed the abuses that the “polleros” commit against the immigrants, and several measures that have been adopted in the international level to eradicate this problem.
Topic:
International Relations and Migration
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, Central America, North America, and Mexico

46. The philosophy of subject and the sociology of knowledge in the theories of Jürgen Habermas and Niklas Luhmann

Author:
Monica Judith Sánchez Flores
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
In this article I show that, in spite of essential differences between Habermas and Luhmann with respect to the philosophy of the subject, they both depend on the modern idea of the individual self to pose their theories of meaning (Habermas 1989 and 1990, Luhmann 1998). Habermas and Luhmann belong to divergent theoretical schools (critical and functionalist respectively) and yet they both use essential lessons about language from the German “sciences of the spirit” (Geisteswissenschaften); the phenomenological perspective and the sociology of knowledge. Even though their positions on the value of the modern individual self are opposed, the latter is an essential element in the theoretical perspectives of both sociologists: Habermas describes the individual subject as a linguistically competent, rational, and critical entity; while Luhmann rejects this anthropocentric conception outright and contemplates society as a set of systems oriented towards their own functionality. Luhmann produces a very useful sociological perspective, but rhetorically rejects the substantive aspect of the philosophy of the subject without recognizing that his perspective depends on the consciousness of the subject that he rejects at the same time. In the light of this dilemma I argue that it is necessary to remember essential lessons from Max Weber's methodology of the social sciences.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Education
Political Geography:
Europe

47. In the multicultural edge: A linguistic political evaluation of the Mexican State around its indigenous communities

Author:
Roberto Morris Bermúdez
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The goal of this dissertation is to assess to what extent Mexican language policy towards indigenous minorities is congruent with the guidelines that multicultural, language policy and language planning theory prescribe. These theories were chosen because current legislation indicates that these are the ideals which Mexico, as a country, The aim of this research is to present a comparison of current Mexican multicultural language policies and how these diverge from multicultural theory, this in order to make inferences applicable to further developing multicultural language policies in Mexico.
Topic:
Civil Society, Demographics, and Government
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

48. 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

49. "We exist, but we are not seen..." Collective Action and Non-governmental Organizations: the demands of sexual minorities

Author:
Bertha Alicia Bermúdez Tapia
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
This article presents the results of a study about the ways of social mobilization held by the sexual minorities of the gay-lesbian community in Monterrey, México. Some indicators related to the genesis and development of the collective action process are examined, having as a staring point the analysis of certain situations experienced by this community. Making an emphasis on the gay-lesbian community demands and the strategies driven to funnel them, as well as on the simultaneity of the process by which collective action and identity are shaped.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, Human Rights, and Non-Governmental Organization

50. 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