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AbstractIn a 1954 essay Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton coined the term homophily to describe similarity-based friendship. They based their findings on friendship patterns among neighbors in a biracial housing project in the United States, using a combined quantitative and qualitative, empirical and speculative analysis of social processes. Since then homophily has become a guiding principle for network science: it is simply presumed that similarity breeds connection. But the unpublished study by Merton, Patricia S. West, and Marie Jahoda, which grounds Lazarsfeld and Merton's analysis, and the Merton and Bureau of Applied Social Research's archive reveal a more complex picture. This article engages with the data traces in the archive to reimagine what enabled the residents of the studied housing project to live in difference, as neighbors. The reanimation of this archive reveals the often counterintuitive characteristic of our imagined networks: they are about removal, not addition. It also opens up new imagined possibilities for a digital future beyond the hatred of the different and online echo chambers.

Le 29 janvier 2009, à l'occasion de son 50e anniversaire, le CRISP organisait un colloque à la Bibliothèque Solvay sur le thème « Les groupes d'entreprises et la décision politique ». Ce sujet, choisi par le CRISP avant qu'éclate la crise financière de l'automne 2008, s'inscrivait dans le cadre de ses travaux sur les groupes d'entreprises, étudiés depuis l'origine en tant que structures les plus importantes du pouvoir économique, mais aussi en tant qu'acteurs de la décision politique. Plutôt que de proposer des actes complets du colloque, qui auraient été disparates et, pour une part, trop redevables à la situation du moment, le CRISP a choisi de publier dans le présent Courrier hebdomadaire quatre exposés présentés lors de cette journée : l'analyse des origines de la crise financière mondiale proposée par le professeur François Morin, ainsi que trois éclairages sur les relations complexes entre pouvoir économique et pouvoir politique dans la Belgique d'avant et d'après la réforme de l'État, dus respectivement à Ginette Kurgan, Dirk Luyten et Vincent de Coorebyter. Leurs textes, édités dans une forme aussi proche que possible de leur version initiale, conservent ici la vivacité et l'acuité propres aux communications orales.

The concept of sustainable development of domestic entrepreneurship has a growing influence on the adjustment and change of adaptive business models. Today, ESG principles are the basis for ensuring the sustainable functioning of business structures, which occurs under the influence of setting and achieving the goals of companies' involvement in solving environmental, social and managerial problems. In the emerging context, we note the emergence and permanent strengthening of vector, regulatory and reputational effects on the activities and development of business structures. The subject of the research results presented in the article is the assessment of the impact on the adaptation of entrepreneurial structures of the implemented ESG approach as one of the key challenges in the activities of modern business. The methodological basis of the study is a consistent analysis of the impact of changing approaches on key aspects of small and medium-sized businesses, identifying qualitative and quantitative characteristics, assessing possible risks and benefits associated with the introduction of sustainable development principles by business entities. The result of the study is an assessment of the impact of the ESG approach on the adaptation of entrepreneurship to modern challenges, as well as on the financial performance of enterprises. As applied to small and medium-sized businesses, practical recommendations on adaptation risk management are proposed, which demonstrate the importance for the absolute majority of the company's activities. It is obvious that sustainable development makes it possible to improve modern models of adaptation of small and medium-sized businesses for the survival of people whose money is the goal of the economic agents of the system. If consumers do not buy the goods or services offered by the company, it means that the company cannot generate profit and, therefore, it is not viable.. Therefore, it is quite logical not only to build adaptive models for small and medium-sized businesses, but, equally important, to use new consumer motivation and a changing environment, social relations and corporate practices in the interests of business development. When a company's ESG activities are considered not so much as a way to neutralize risk, but also as a method of assessing and determining future opportunities, ESG becomes an area of increased attention and importance for institutional investors and creditors. The conclusions and recommendations made in the article may be significant for companies in various sectors of the economy if they are interested in improving the stability of their own financial situation and increasing the interest of investors in them.

There are many approaches to assessing the level of adaptation of the population to modern challenges, but all of them are not perfect: they consider only certain aspects and factors of the problem. The aim of this article is to substantiate the tools for assessing the effectiveness of adaptation mechanisms of the border area of the public administration sector from the standpoint of a statistical approach. The authors attempt to determine the result of the adaptation of the population on the basis of criteria of the reproductive (adaptive) potential of the territory. They have developed criteria for evaluation from the position of: creating conditions for the accelerated adaptation of the population, the nature of the impact of the transformation process on the population, the effectiveness of adaptation mechanisms, people's response to modern challenges, stresses and risks. The study uses the theory and methodology of official statistics, including the following methods: comparison, index, balance, grouping, and multivariate analysis. The tools for assessing the effectiveness of the mechanisms of the adaptation of the population are substantiated, the main factors influencing the speed of people's habituation to changing living conditions are identified. The dynamics of the most important indicators characterizing the living conditions of the population and the reproductive potential of the territory according to 14 key quantitative and qualitative indicators for the period 2013–2020 is analyzed. During the period under review, the following should be attributed to positive results: the pandemic and sanctions do not have a significant impact on the lives of people and the activities of enterprises. The negative consequences include: a reduction in the birth rate and an increase in mortality; an increase in financial inequality; a decrease in the purchasing power of the population, etc. The authors onclude that the use of a statistical approach makes it possible to increase the reliability of information for an objective assessment of the degree of adaptation of the population of the border area to modern challenges based on the analysis of the level of the effectiveness of adaptation mechanisms and their impact on reproductive potential. Constant monitoring will show in the future the positive and negative factors affecting the living conditions of people and the speed of adaptation of the population of the country's regions.

Machine generated contents note: Part I. The Pioneering Years (1863-1914): The Quest for a Leadership and the First Stages of the Internationalization: 1. First steps: when vision and reality meet; 2. A multinational pioneer; 3. Reaching a dominant position; 4. Labor organization, social policy, and societal vision; 5. The consolidation of power; 6. Conclusion of Part I; Part II. The Years of Crisis (1914-50): The Making and Unmaking of International Alliances: 7. The multiple fronts of World War One; 8. From ashes, 1918-22; 9. The making of international alliances; 10. Family and finance through the crisis; 11. The electrolytic industry; 12. Facing war again; 13. Solvay's second post-war; 14. Conclusion of Part II; Part III. The Era of Diversification and Globalization (1950-2012): 15. Growth through diversification: the successful entry into plastics and peroxides; 16. Enlarging scale and scope: backward and forward integration in the 1960s and 1970s; 17. Solvay goes public: financial and organizational limits of a family firm; 18. The long and winding road to Deer Park: Solvay's return to the United States; 19. From bulk to brains: Solvay's entry into pharmacy and the life sciences; 20. Solvay in the age of globalization; 21. Towards sustainable product-leadership; 22. Chemical and plastics of the future: major turning points at the start of a new century; 23. Conclusion of Part III

Ernest Solvay, philanthropist and organizer of the world-famous Solvay conferences on physics, discovered a profitable way of making soda ash in 1861. Together with a handful of associates, he laid the foundations of the Solvay company, which successfully branched out into other chemicals, plastics and pharmaceuticals. Since its emergence in 1863, Solvay has maintained world leadership in the production of soda ash. This is the first scholarly book on the history of the Solvay company, which was one of the earliest chemical multinationals and today is among the world's twenty largest chemical companies. It is also one of the largest companies in the field to preserve its family character. The authors analyze the company's 150-year history (1863–2013) from economic, political and social perspectives, showing the enormous impact geopolitical events had on the company and the recent consequences of global competition

The article contains results of analysis of the historical change of paradigms presented by mass visions of the place and mission of a state within political process; the paradigms within which society designed political functionality of the "state of the future". The author proves that in the face of pandemic and active fight of modern state institutions against it, social interest in optimization of political functions' allocation between civil society and bureaucratic structures has risen. As a result, a new paradigm of designing ("new normality") was born within public consciousness; conceptual formation of this paradigm was due not so much to science but to different network communications inside civil society. The author offers political science interpretation of content aspects of "new normality" paradigm and risks for further development of democratic process in our country and throughout the entire world entailed by commitment of public consciousness to it while designing political functionality of a state.