Kenji Kosaka

Advances in E-state structuralism: further studies in dominance structure formation

Abstract E-state structuralism is a theoretical method that analyzes the formation and dissolution of network ties by merging the abstract core of expectation states theory with social network analysis. The method has been used to model dominance structure formation in infra-human populations. The work reported in this paper retains the specific problem focus on dominance while generalizing E-state structuralism in two directions. First, we incorporate potential parallelism in attack processes, and second, we allow for non-complementarity in the formation of orientational dominance/deference E-states. We analyze the effects of both these generalizations on the developments of stable forms of dominance structures. We find that under the more general assumptions, stable structures include various forms of coalitions in addition to the usual cycles and hierarchies. We view this generalized version of E-state structuralism as suggestive of ways to model the development of social structure in both infra-human and human populations.

Generating images of the shape of a class system

This paper builds on a formal theory of how certain observable properties of images of stratification and self‐location within an image are generated in ordinary social interactioa The new element is the attention to shape, involving the transformation of an actual distribution of actors in class locations into some distribution image. Such an image may resemble a simple form, such as a diamond or pyramid. As in all our work, such images depend upon the actors class location. We derive general results and analyze a number of special cases in detail.

A mathematical analysis of Boudon's IEO model

that even though in modern times educational opportunities have expanded enormously, with significant reductions in the inequality of educational opportunity (IEO), this has not been accompanied by comparable changes in patterns of social mobility. In other words, inequality of social opportunity (ISO) has been relatively steady amid great changes in IEO (see, for instance, Lipset and Bendix, 1959).

A Paradox of Economic Growth and Relative Deprivation

Rapid economic growth sometimes intensifies peoples frustration. In this article, we attempt to formulate this kind of paradox of economic growth, and to explain theoretically how economic growth increases peoples dissatisfaction by way of the notion of relative deprivation by employing the theoretical framework of Yitzhakis relative deprivation index. We introduce the problem of the China puzzle as the latest case of the paradox. Then, we introduce the definition of Yitzhakis index of relative deprivation, and use this to explain the China puzzle. Besides, through a theoretical examination of Yitzhakis index, we propose a proposition proving that an increase of relative deprivation in the society can occur even when the amount of wealth increases and the degree of inequality reduces.

Towards a further analysis of narratives

The present paper attempts to extend the comparative method of narratives by Peter Abell by incorporating Robert E Bales idea of interaction process analysis. Thereby, descriptions and analysis of syntax of social life would be elaborated further by retaining the information on who interacts with whom and on the nature of interaction with respect to Bales’ categories.

An algebraic reinterpretation of Iki No Kozo (Structure of Iki)

IKI NO KOZO (The Structure of IKI), authored by Shuzo Kuki in 1930, has been an influential piece of work on Japanese culture with its emphasis on IKI as an aesthetical cultural entity. The present paper attempts to reformulate the structure of IKI depicted by Kuki in terms of a group theory in mathematics. By deriving various implications from a group‐theoretic model of IKI, I want to show the significance of mathematical approaches to culture.

Reviews: Aspects of Globalization: Willem Schinkel, ed., Globalization and the State: Sociological Perspectives on the State of the State. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, 256 pp., ISBN 9780230574052, £50.00

216 Part IV of the book shares the views of intellectual and policy debates on globalization. The issues of trade, the crucial point of economic development, are reemphasized. World trade has been expanded not just for the purpose of supplying goods but also for rendering services. The view of the critics is that it will be difficult to conceptualize a ‘global society’ with the present state of social inequality. Part V reflects social movements which include feminist movements, antiglobalization movements, organized labour and environmental movements. What is most obvious in this book is the ‘globalization of activism’. In clear connection with this view, Held et al. (2001: 503) see globalization as the connections between different regions of the world – from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the environmental, and ways of changing and increasing over time. In conclusion, the book is richly co-authored with various debates by some 42 authors. It brings into focus the knowledge that globalization has been ongoing for centuries, but is different in nature and magnitude in this post-Cold War era. There is the speeding up of the world because of the new system of transport and communication, which enables ideas, goods and services, capital and humans to move more quickly. Therefore, it is difficult to separate domestic matters from international affairs; the line is increasingly blurred. In their analysis and arguments, the authors in the book extend their views beyond a rhetoric of defensive positions by producing a richer account of what globalization portends. It is also indicative of the fact that in order to understand the intricacies of globalization, there is a need to study the forms it has taken historically in all spheres of influence, which include politics, economy, culture, environment and feminism.

Stratification and Consciousness

The purpose of this chapter is provide a conceptual, theoretical and empirical background for our formal theory of images of stratification while at the same time beginning to employ some of the tools discussed in the prior chapter.

The Methodology of Formal Theorizing

Our approach to the theory of images of stratification involves two major methodological elements that we will explicate in this chapter. These are, first, a generalizing orientation as contrasted with a particularizing or idiographic orientation, and secondly, a deductive orientation as contrasted with a purely discursive orientation. After having discussed these two orientation elements, in the remainder of this chapter we will discuss several specific formal methods that we employ in our theoretical work and that implement these two general methodological orientation elements. This subsequent discussion will deal with models in sociology and with the mathematical axiomatic method that we will employ starting in Chapter 3.

Self-Location in a Stratified System

In this chapter, we turn to the second of our three major theoretical problems, which we will put in the following form. What are the implications of the axioms of the theory for the way in which actors locate themselves in a given stratification system?