Suchergebnisse

A review essay on a book by Ulf Hannerz, Cultural Complexity: Studies in the Social Organization of Meaning (NY: U of Columbia Press, 1992 [see listing in IRPS No. 81]). Hannerz adopts a cultural anthropological view of postmodern times in attempting to explain why so many individuals have difficulty in making sense of the contemporary world. This difficulty stems from the time-space compression of postmodernism. Greater & more intense contact between different cultures & perspectives has resulted in cultural complexity of contemporary societies both at the core & at the periphery. This phenomenon is illustrated through discussion of three cities of cultural complexity: Vienna, Austria; Calcutta, India, during the Bengal Renaissance; & San Francisco, CA, of the late 1950s. In response to the postmodern shift to greater cultural complexity, anthropologists must shift their focus from the replication of uniformity to the organization of diversity. 1 Reference. D. Generoli

The formation of the European Community puts pressure on the UK to address questions about the relationship between England & the other UK nations, as well as about general constitutional theory & the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy. These national & constitutional issues are linked, since discussion of constitutional issues will bring national issues to the public foreground. A model of a future constitution is emerging wherein Parliament will retain supremacy, but will be rebalanced via proportional representation & institution of an elected second chamber, with extended powers to replace the House of Lords. Difficulties in this proposed constitution with the representation of Scotland & Wales are discussed. Twelve innovations for a written constitution are proposed, based on the assumptions that the present executive is too powerful, & that general decentralization should take place. M. Pflum

Investigates ways in which the new information society might contribute to economic development at the regional level & help to lessen the gap between central & peripheral regions. Reports & policy statements by the Commission of the European Communities are optimistic that combining information-based goods & services with diffuse electronic networks can help offset the "tyranny of geography" that has relegated certain areas to the nether regions of social & economic participation. Here, the development of a telecommunications infrastructure in various European regions is outlined, exploring how the adoption of new information & communications technologies gives peripheral regions enhanced work mobility by (1) industrializing the service sector, (2) creating a spatial separation of production & consumption, & (3) allowing firms to manage at a distance. Barriers to such development are identified, & the concept of "learning region" is introduced to describe the prerequisites necessary to successful adoption of information & communication technologies at both the individual & organizational levels. 2 Tables, 1 Figure. K. Hyatt Stewart