Search Results (204)

This contribution examines the role of artificial intelligence technologies in the co-construction of social reality, with specific attention to AI-generated data as emergent agents of knowledge production. Building on perspectives from science and technology studies and recent debates on algomorphic sociology, the contribution conceptualizes generative AI systems not as research instruments, but as active participants in epistemic processes. The analysis argues that AI-generated data exhibit a performative character: they do not simply represent social phenomena but actively contribute to their stabilization, classification, and circulation. This performativity fosters a shift from researcher-centered interpretation toward hybrid configurations in which meaning emerges through human–machine assemblages. Through a theoretical synthesis of recent methodological and epistemological reflections, the contribution highlights a transition from anthropocentric models of knowledge production to post-anthropocentric, relational frameworks in which agency, cognition, and sense-making are distributed across sociotechnical networks. The contribution concludes by outlining the implications of this shift for the future of digital social research and also for reflexivity, methodological design, and the ethics of social research, advocating a critical and adaptive stance toward AI as a co-producer of knowledge rather than a subordinate analytical tool. Full article

This paper proposes a sociological reinterpretation of the concept of sustainability, understood as a cultural dispositive capable of shaping habitus, social representations, and models of action. From a culturalist perspective, sustainability is analysed as a process of social construction grounded in the internalisation of values, knowledge, and practices that contribute to the formation of responsible citizenship. Within this theoretical framework, the school assumes a strategic role in processes of sustainability education by fostering the ethical, collaborative, and inclusive competences required to address contemporary socio-environmental transformations. The paper presents the Edumat+ design protocol, developed within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme, aimed at experimenting with innovative methodologies for digital education in primary schools through the integration of STEAM approaches, with reference to coding, educational robotics, and information design. The protocol involved the development of infographic mats and digital learning activities focused on themes of environmental sustainability. The findings highlight how the integration of digital education, visual storytelling, and collaborative learning can contribute to the construction of inclusive and participatory educational environments capable of supporting processes of sustainable citizenship from primary education onwards. Although the activation of such pathways is consistent with recent European policies promoting the integration of digital technologies and STEAM approaches within schools, particularly through initiatives focused on teacher education and the acquisition of technologies and software, the widespread dissemination of the project still requires further governmental support, especially for the development and dissemination of the project outputs. Full article

Climate change, depleting fossil fuel reserves, and instability in petroleum prices are driving developing economies to explore cost-effective, efficient, and sustainable energy sources such as hydropower. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the relevance, suitability, and impact of mega-dams. Much of the existing research on mega-dams examines this debate through the lens of development theories. However, mega-dams impact a wide range of stakeholders at local, national, regional, and global levels, necessitating exploration of their role from a socioeconomic perspective. This interdisciplinary case study draws knowledge from management, sociology, and economics and provides a comprehensive account of multi-stakeholder perspectives on the impact of a mega-dam and addresses the research question: How do stakeholders perceive the impact of the Merowe Dam on agricultural livelihoods, and how do they interpret the role of governance processes? Participants included farmers, a focus group with 10 members from the affected communities, and 32 key informant interviews from non-governmental organizations, political actors, academics, businessmen and leaders in the catchment areas of the Merowe Dam, Sudan. The findings suggest that despite some concerns about motivations and processes of mega-dam commissioning, these projects are perceived as beneficial for long-term and sustainable socioeconomic growth and gaining support for renewable energy use in developing economies. The participants reported that modernization of agriculture, following the establishment of the dam, increased crop yields, e.g., wheat production has increased per hectare. Farmers’ income and irrigated land have increased substantially per family due to an increase in land sizes allocated to relocated communities, leading to an overall increase in land size. Therefore, with improved processes in both pre- and post-commissioning stages, transparency, accountability, and deeper stakeholder engagement, mega-dams can facilitate a smoother transition from fossil fuels to large-scale hydropower on one hand and livelihood enhancement through agriculture and other income generating activities on the other. Full article

The Social Study of Science (SSS) constitutes an interdisciplinary domain dedicated to examining the profound influence of social, political, and cultural factors on the development of scientific research and practice. Rejecting conceptions of science as an autonomous, self-directed enterprise, SSS posits that scientific knowledge is fundamentally a social product, deeply embedded within specific historical and cultural contexts. This field employs analytical frameworks from sociology, history, philosophy, and anthropology to elucidate the practices, institutions, history, and intellectual content of science. The scrutiny of science’s social dimensions has fundamentally reconfigured understandings of scientific work and methodology. During the 1960s and 1970s, the field was significantly shaped by contemporaneous protest movements, with historical materialism emerging as a critical framework for sociologists and historians of science seeking to critique power structures and alienation inherent in scientific practices. However, a subsequent intellectual shift witnessed a movement away from this materialist approach towards postmodern and constructivist analyses. Recently, a resurgence of interest in Marxian historical materialism has become evident. This is marked by a renewed engagement with pre-World War II Marxist theorists such as Boris Hessen and Edgar Zilsel, whose works are being republished and re-evaluated in light of the ongoing technological revolution in automation and machine intelligence. This paper delineates this development within SSS, highlighting the contributions of these foundational Marxist thinkers to the critical assessment and understanding of the social ramifications of the new technological revolution. Full article

Grasping the complex field of interdisciplinary collaboration in education has been an ongoing topic of interest in both research and teaching practice. Research highlights several elements such as common goals (boundary objects), interdependency, shared mental models, trust, mutual respect, reflexivity, epistemological transparency, awareness of discipline specific routine behaviors, quality of communication, stability and construction of the team. However, research also agrees that interdisciplinary collaboration is complex and that educational attempts to create these settings often fail in practice. Further, the literature heavily focuses either on the actors’ involvement and actions within the interdisciplinary context or on the structural elements of said context, giving less attention to the interplay and interconnectedness between actors and structures in interdisciplinary collaboration. By introducing the concept of relational space, interdisciplinary collaboration is provided with a holistic approach to understanding the complex system students encounter when participating in an interdisciplinary collaborative space. Through a reconceptualization of Löw’s sociological model within education, this article expands the literature with an integrated perspective of interdisciplinary collaboration in education including both structural and interpersonal elements. By analytically bringing together actors and institutions, the Interdisciplinary Collaborative Space in Education (CO-SPACE) framework enables an examination of interdisciplinary collaboration as a relational participation space. This approach highlights interdisciplinary collaboration as a multidimensional system, including multiple interacting layers and aspects. Institutional structures, social goods and people all influence the “prefixed” space, affecting how students interpret and place themselves and others within the established participation space, in turn determining access possibilities and how power unfolds. The analysis particularly brings attention to the emergence of sub-spaces, temporal dynamics, and knowledge-related access asymmetries. Full article

Sociotechnical imaginaries are collectively held and institutionally stabilised visions of desirable futures that link scientific and technological development with social and political order. Developed within Science and Technology Studies, the concept highlights the co-production of knowledge, technology, and governance, showing how ideas of progress are embedded in cultural values, moral assumptions, and political priorities. These imaginaries function as normative horizons that orient innovation, legitimise policy, shape regulation, and guide clinical practice. In health and biomedicine, sociotechnical imaginaries are particularly salient, as medical innovations directly affect life, death, and embodiment. Within medical sociology, the concept has been used to analyse how technologies such as assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), genomics, regenerative medicine, and digital health are framed through narratives of hope, responsibility, risk, and transformation. These imaginaries shape what counts as legitimate knowledge, who accesses treatment, and how ethical debates are structured, from autonomy in ARTs to individualised care in precision medicine. Imaginaries are also shaped by national and institutional contexts. Comparative research shows that the United States, Europe, and East Asia produce distinct biomedical futures, reflecting different political traditions and governance models. As an analytical lens, sociotechnical imaginaries reveal health and biomedicine as domains where futures are imagined, contested, and enacted. Full article

This critical review interrogates how contemporary diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) reforms in STEM education engage the deeper project of epistemic decolonisation. Framed by critical race theory, feminist science studies, and decolonial scholarship, it asks whether inclusion agendas move beyond representational expansion to disrupt Eurocentric hierarchies of legitimacy; which pedagogical and curricular innovations enact pluriversal STEM; and what institutional conditions constrain transformation. A multi-stage search of Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, Google Scholar, and grey literature (2010–2025) yielded 152 records; PRISMA-informed screening produced 80 sources for interpretive thematic synthesis. Findings show that DEI initiatives have increased access and participation, yet typically preserve assumptions of scientific neutrality and universalism, leaving epistemic injustice largely intact. In contrast, decolonial innovations, such as two-eyed seeing, culturally sustaining and place-based pedagogies, history, philosophy, and sociology of science integration, and project-based learning grounded in indigenous knowledge systems, reposition learners and communities as co-producers of knowledge and reframe science as situated and relational. However, these practices remain peripheral due to assessment regimes, accreditation pressures, funding and tenure incentives, disciplinary gatekeeping, and limited educator preparation. The review argues that meaningful reform requires structural reconfiguration of curricula, evaluation, and institutional reward systems to recognise multiple epistemologies, cultivate ethical relationality, and enable sustained community partnership. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a significant paradigm of methodology and epistemology in the social sciences. Machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and generative models enable researchers to work with big, multimodal datasets, identify complex patterns, and recreate events in the social world in ways that previously were not feasible. At the same time, these innovations also lead to ethical challenges related to algorithmic bias, black boxes, data extractivism, and reinforced structural inequalities in welfare, government services, education, and criminal justice. The article critically questions the social sciences in the light of AI on three dimensions that are inextricably linked, namely: (1) the opportunities that AI provides to social-scientific inquiry; (2) the biases and constraints generated through data, models, and institutional application; and (3) ethical pathways that are necessary for the responsible governance of AI-facilitated research and decision support. The article is based on a scoping, critical thematic review of the recent literature, and its conceptualization of AI as a socio-technical infrastructure is that it produces knowledge and, at the same time, offers power. It explains the impact AI practices have on restructuring disciplines like sociology, psychology, political science, and policy analysis, and how it blindly predicts how data practices, design choices, and governance arrangements can either preserve or destroy existing hierarchies. The paper suggests an analytical framework synthesizing AI practices, social research practices, and governance structures in ethical frameworks. It argues that the emancipatory promise of AI in the social sciences is dependent on the attainment of something beyond principle-based claims of so-called ethical AI by operational governance mechanisms that make systems visible, debatable, and responsible in their respective situations. Full article

This article examines how artificial intelligence and algorithmic systems are reconfiguring truth regimes in digital societies, introducing the concept of “Artificial Truth” to describe an emerging form of epistemic governance where knowledge production and validation become infrastructural functions of sociotechnical systems. The study develops an integrated theoretical framework combining Foucault’s notion of truth regimes, Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic capital and fields, and Actor-Network Theory’s constructivist approach. Through conceptual analysis, the article investigates how algorithmic recommendation systems, generative AI, and automated fact-checking operate as epistemic devices that actively shape what is recognized as credible, authoritative, and true in public discourse. The analysis reveals three fundamental transformations: (1) the restructuring of trust economies, with epistemic authority shifting from institutional expertise to platform-native capital based on engagement metrics and affective proximity; (2) the emergence of generative AI as an epistemic actor producing “synthetic truth” through linguistic fluency rather than propositional understanding; (3) the institutionalization of computational veridiction in algorithmic fact-checking systems that translate situated epistemic judgments into probabilistic classifications presented as neutral. These dynamics configure a regime where truth is evaluated less by correspondence with reality and more by computational plausibility and platform integration. The article’s primary contribution lies in providing a unified theoretical framework for understanding contemporary transformations of epistemic authority, moving beyond disinformation studies to analyze AI as an epistemic actor. By integrating classical sociological perspectives with Science and Technology Studies, it conceptualizes algorithmic systems as epistemic infrastructures that embody specific power relations, restructure symbolic capital economies, and distribute epistemic authority asymmetrically, with profound implications for democratic knowledge, citizen epistemic agency, and public sphere pluralism. Full article

This article investigates how site-specific audiovisual performances can reconfigure the contemporary relationship between art and the sacred in contexts characterised by religious plurality and late-modern disenchantment. In response to the erosion of traditional religious language, it examines how non-verbal mediation through sound, moving images and embodied presence can enable alternative ways of engaging with sacred spaces. Drawing on three artistic interventions created within different religious contexts, the article shows that performative memory emerges as a presence-in-absence phenomenon, activated through sensory, spatial and atmospheric engagement. The analysis reveals that religious spaces act as active agents in the process of performative remembrance, generating shared experiences centred on themes of shelter, humility, and fragility. Methodologically, the research takes a practice-as-research approach, informed by an emergent research design. This approach combines site immersion, audiovisual performance and reflexive analysis in order to articulate the knowledge produced through artistic practice. The findings suggest that these performances counter the accelerated temporal regimes characteristic of late-modern life by cultivating slowness, attentiveness, and affective resonance. The article concludes that performative memory functions as a relational practice through which the sacred persists and is reimagined beyond doctrinal representation, fostering inclusive forms of encounter within plural religious environments. In this way, the study contributes to broader sociological and humanistic debates on art, religion, and the transformation of sacred experience in contemporary society. Full article

Generative artificial intelligence increasingly mediates how individuals interpret information, perform cognitive tasks, and participate in economic and political life. While such systems promise efficiency and expanded access to knowledge, their societal effects are unevenly distributed. This article develops the concept of societal bifurcation to explain an emerging structural divergence between a cognitively resilient minority, capable of integrating AI reflectively, and a cognitively dependent majority, whose reliance on automated interpretation reduces interpretative autonomy. Drawing on contemporary empirical evidence from cognitive science, labour research, and human–AI interaction studies, the article shows how unstructured AI use diminishes metacognitive monitoring and inflates confidence, while labour-market restructuring amplifies differences in adaptability and resilience. These cognitive and economic dynamics interact with an increasingly fragile democratic information environment shaped by synthetic communication and declining epistemic trust. The article argues that these processes form a self-reinforcing sociotechnical mechanism through which cognitive dependency, economic inequality, and democratic vulnerability become mutually constitutive. By conceptualising societal bifurcation as a distinct analytical framework, the article contributes to sociological and science and technology studies debates on inequality, agency, and governance in AI-mediated societies, while highlighting the importance of sustaining interpretative autonomy in the age of generative AI. Full article

Against the dual backdrop of the rural revitalization strategy and the pursuit of high-quality, balanced urban–rural education, optimizing rural campus spaces has emerged as an important lever for addressing educational resource disparities and improving pedagogical quality. However, conventional evaluation of campus space optimization faces two systemic dilemmas. First, top-down decision-making often neglects the authentic needs of diverse stakeholders and place-based knowledge, resulting in spatial interventions that lose regional distinctiveness. Second, routine public participation is constrained by geographical barriers, time costs, and sample-size limitations, which can amplify professional cognitive bias and impede comprehensive feedback formation. The compounded effect of these challenges contributes to a disconnect between spatial optimization outcomes and perceived needs, thereby constraining the distinctive development of rural educational spaces. To address these constraints, this study proposes a novel method that integrates regional spatial feature recognition with digital media-based public perception assessment. At the data collection and ethical governance level, the study strictly adheres to platform compliance and academic ethics. A total of 12,800 preliminary comments were scraped from major social media platforms (e.g., Douyin, Dianping, and Xiaohongshu) and processed through a three-stage screening workflow—keyword screening–rule-based filtering–manual verification—to yield 8616 valid records covering diverse public groups across China. All user-identifying information was fully anonymized to ensure lawful use and privacy protection. At the analytical modeling level, we develop a Transformer-based deep learning system that leverages multi-head attention mechanisms to capture implicit spatial-sentiment features and metaphorical expressions embedded in review texts. Evaluation on an independent test set indicates a classification accuracy of 89.2%, aligning with balanced and stable scoring performance. Robustness is further strengthened by introducing an equal-weight alternative strategy and conducting stability checks to indicate the consistency of model outputs across weighting assumptions. At the scenario interpretation level, we combine grounded-theory coding with semantic network analysis to establish a three-tier spatial analysis framework—macro (landscape pattern/hydro-topological patterns), meso (architectural interface), and micro (teaching scenes/pedagogical scenarios)—and incorporate an interpretive stakeholder typology (tourists, residents, parents, and professional groups) to systematically identify and quantify key features shaping public spatial perception. Findings show that, at the macro level, naturally integrated scenarios—such as “campus–farmland integration” and “mountain–water embeddedness”—exhibit high affective association, aligning with the “mountain-water-field-village” spatial sequence logic and suggesting broad public endorsement of ecological campus concepts, whereas vernacular settlement-pattern scenarios receive relatively low attention due to cognitive discontinuities. At the meso level, innovative corridor strategies (e.g., framed vistas and expanded corridor spaces) strengthen the building–nature interaction and suggest latent value in stimulating exploratory spatial experience. At the micro level, place-based practice-oriented teaching scenes (e.g., intangible cultural heritage handcraft and creative workshops) achieve higher scores, aligning with the compatibility of vernacular education’s “differential esthetics,” while urban convergence-oriented interdisciplinary curriculum scenes suggest an interpretive gap relative to public expectations. These results indicate an embedded relationship between public perception and regional spatial features, which is further shaped by a multi-actor governance process—characterized by “Government + Influencers + Field Study”—that mediates how rural educational spaces are produced, communicated, and interpreted in digital environments. The study’s innovative value lies in integrating sociological theories (e.g., embeddedness) with deep learning techniques to fill the regional and multi-actor perspective gap in rural campus POE and to promote a methodological shift from “experience-based induction” toward a “data-theory” dual-drive model. The findings provide inferential evidence for rural campus renewal and optimization; the methodological pipeline is transferable to small-scale rural primary schools with media exposure and salient regional ecological characteristics, and it offers a new pathway for incorporating digital media-driven public perception feedback into planning and design practice. The research methodology of this study consists of four sequential stages, which are implemented in a systematic and progressive manner: First, data collection was conducted: Python and the Octopus Collector were used to crawl online comment data related to Fuwen Township Central Primary School, strictly complying with the user agreements of the Douyin, Dianping, and Xiaohongshu platforms. Second, semantic preprocessing was performed: The evaluation content was segmented to generate word frequency statistics and semantic networks; qualitative analysis was conducted using Origin software, and quantitative translation was realized via Sankey diagrams. Third, spatial scene coding was carried out: Combined with a spatial characteristic identification system, a macro–meso–micro three-tier classification system for spatial scene characteristics was constructed to encode and quantitatively express the textual content. Finally, sentiment quantification and correlation analysis was implemented: A deep learning model based on the Transformer framework was employed to perform sentiment quantification scoring for each comment; Sankey diagrams were used to quantitatively correlate spatial scenes with sentiment tendencies, thereby exploring the public’s perceptual associations with the architectural spatial environment of rural campuses. Full article

Vascular diseases remain a major global health burden despite remarkable technological advances in vascular surgery and endovascular therapies. Conditions such as peripheral arterial disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, carotid stenosis, chronic venous disease, diabetic vasculopathies, and vascular chronic ulcers are not only biological entities but are deeply shaped by social structures, cultural norms, and economic inequalities. This article introduces Vascular Sociology as an interdisciplinary field that integrates vascular surgery with medical sociology to provide a more comprehensive understanding of vascular health and disease. Drawing on classical and contemporary sociological theory, including concepts such as social determinants of health, embodiment, illness narratives, and the disease–illness–sickness triad, the article argues that vascular pathology reflects cumulative social exposures across the life course. Socially patterned behaviors, work conditions, food environments, healthcare access, gender norms, and geographic inequalities profoundly influence disease onset, progression, treatment decisions, and outcomes. The paper highlights how surgical success is contingent not only on technical excellence but also on patients’ social contexts, including health literacy, trust in institutions, caregiving resources, and the capacity to adhere to long-term follow-up and rehabilitation. By outlining conceptual foundations, epidemiological evidence, and mixed-methods research strategies, the article positions Vascular Sociology as a framework capable of bridging biomedical knowledge with lived experience. This approach expands the definition of vascular outcomes to include social reintegration, identity transformation, and equity of care, ultimately aiming to improve patient-centered practice, reduce disparities, and inform more socially responsive vascular health policies. Full article

This essay reads Grant Allen’s “Pallinghurst Barrow” as folk horror about the late-Victorian spiritualist debates. We read Allen’s story as not only sympathetic to spiritualism, but also as critical of the gendered and genred politics of fin-de-siècle scientific materialism which would preclude such occult experiences—or what we frame as feminine ways of knowing. In both form and content, “Pallinghurst Barrow” challenges masculine science by foregrounding the powerful influence (on Rudolph, the protagonist) of the Gothic ghost story (“gipsy” Rachel’s cautionary tale, repeated by young Joyce). Allen’s interest in the folkloric origins of religion can be traced back to Herbert Spencer’s “Ghost Theory,” a proto-sociological explanation for the cultural construction and transmission of myth (or spirits). A lifelong friend and devotee of Spencer, Allen employs his mentor’s sociology as a way to make sense of non-material forces, including the ghost story circle and its production of Gothic awe or wonder (the wonder tale). Ultimately, then, Allen’s infamous folk horror reads as an allegory of late-Victorian spiritualist debates and, more importantly, as a defence of feminine modes of knowledge and myth-making through collective story-telling. Full article

The widespread dispersion of microplastics (MPs) has been recognized as a pervasive and persistent environmental contaminant in worldwide freshwater ecosystems, and although relative studies have skyrocketed, there are still significant knowledge gaps in areas like southern Europe. This study assesses the microplastic pollution in seven Greek inland aquatic ecosystems which vary in morphology, trophic status, and anthropogenic pressure. Surface and vertical samples were taken with 200 μm plankton nets. MPs were present in all samples, with fibers being the dominant form, having an abundance range between 0.47 and 149.4 items/m³ with fragments between 0.08 and 9.17 items/m³. Fibers and fragments had greater abundance in the vertical than in the surface samples. There were no significant abundance differences between lakes and lagoons, and among the sampling sites in each ecosystem. Blue and transparent were the colors that prevailed, and most of the fibers and fragments were smaller than 1 mm. Four types of MPs were recorded, with PET (polyethylene terephthalate) being the most frequent. The use of the novel Relative Anthropogenic Pressure (RAP) index resulted in positive correlations between certain sociological parameters and the microplastics’ abundance, efficiently reflecting the impingement of human populations on the inland aquatic ecosystems. Full article