Social Sciences

The purpose of this qualitative research is to explore the role of service quality on customers’ patronage decision of Malaysian health insurance products. Through a critical review of the literature about service quality and customers’ patronage intention this research proposed a relationship of service quality, customer’s satisfaction, perceived value and corporate image on customer’s patronage intention. This research applied qualitative approach (in-depth interview) from 20 participants. This research is also the starting point for better understanding, in a dynamic way to discover the role of service quality on customers’ patronage decision of Malaysian healthcare insurance products. The outcome of this study allows researchers and policy makers to specify the antecedents of the service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value and corporate image towards the clients’ patronage purpose in health insurance products in Malaysia, which has not previously explored yet.

Parmi les modèles utilisés pour penser l’Église, la cité est souvent présente, qu’elle soit décrite selon la vision d’une Jérusalem céleste, ou selon les modalités bien concrètes de la vie des chrétiens au sein d’une entité civile réelle. Si le texte d’Augustin a compté dans l’élaboration de ce modèle, il s’agit plus largement d’examiner, autour d’Étienne Gilson (Les métamorphoses de la cité de Dieu, 1952) et de Joseph Ratzinger (Volk und Haus Gottes in Augustins Lehre von der Kirche, 1954), sa postérité doctrinale et historiographique aux XIXe-XXe siècles, et la manière dont l’ecclésiologie utilise et transforme ses aspects politiques et sociaux.

Through the case of the Helix_T wind turbine project, this article sets out to argue two points: first, on a theoretical level, that Commons-based peer production, in conjunction with the emerging technological capabilities of three-dimensional printing, can also produce promising hardware, globally designed and locally produced. Second, the Commons-oriented wind turbine examined here is also meant to practically contribute to the quest for novel solutions to the timely problem of the need for (autonomous) renew- able sources of energy, more in the sense of a development process than as a ready-to-apply solution. We demonstrate that it is possible for someone with partial initial knowledge to initiate a similar, complex project based on an interesting idea, and to succeed in implementing it through collaboration with Commons-oriented communities, while using peer-produced products and tools. Given the trends and trajectories both of the current information-based paradigm and the problems of the predominant industrial modes of production with all the collateral damage they entail, this may be considered a positive message indeed.

Esta pesquisa trata da influência das tecnologias da informação para os processos de criação e de circulação de
mercadorias. Uma vez que estes ocorrem sempre de forma culturalmente mediada, tal relação precisa ser analisada a
partir de contextos práticos de interação humana. Neste sentido, a presente investigação se voltou para um fenômeno
no âmbito da cultura jovem, na cidade de Fortaleza: o otakismo. Emergiu no Japão na década de 1980, entre jovens
aficionados por animações e tecnologia. Os otakus, não mais exclusivos ao Japão, possuem um impacto global,
fazendo parte hoje da moderna cultura de consumo e, embora sendo uma cultura alternativa, acabam por impulsionar o
novo capitalismo. A este respeito, pode-se constatar que as tecnologias para informação e comunicação, já há algum
tempo, vêm afetando de muitas formas a cultura de consumo, sendo a subcultura otaku uma das mais proeminentes
nesta inter-relação. O referencial empírico deste trabalho gira em torno de indivíduos jovens e suas sociabilidades,
inseridos ou simpatizantes da cena otaku. Os fãs de animes e mangás, respectivamente, desenhos animados e revistas
em quadrinhos de origem japonesa, tiveram surpreendente expansão em Fortaleza, Brasil. Esse crescimento pôde ser
observado também na Super Amostra Nacional de Animes (S.A.N.A), que ocorre todos os anos em Fortaleza, sendo
uma das maiores convenções de animes do Brasil e do mundo. Os métodos de análise foram qualitativos e, em menor
grau, quantitativos, com enquete exploratória na ocasião da realização da S.A.N.A., entrevistas não-estruturadas e
etnografia em ambientes virtuais, direcionada para a descoberta de códigos e conteúdos em mídias multidirecionais.
Concluiu-se que a subcultura otaku vem adaptando as novas tecnologias digitais para seus propósitos de consumo e
interação. Neste sentido, o fenômeno é representativo de uma sociedade onde, sobretudo os mais jovens, organizam as
próprias mídias e constroem suas próprias narrativas e ficções.

Humans have long had relationships with microbes; before we knew of the micro-processes involved, humans used bacteria to ferment beverages, cheeses, and preserve olives. Some contribute to chronic diseases and conditions while others are absolutely necessary for the health and well being of humans and the earth’s ecosystems: in our bodies, bacteria aid us in digesting food and in the ocean, they create half of the earth’s oxygen. Viruses have always coexisted with life, plagues and diseases have affected bodies, populations, and events across continents, changing the course of human history, but viruses are also essential to sea and freshwater regulation and human reproduction. This chapter will examine these delicate and complex relationships humans have with microbes, both benign and pathogenic, as an encounter that allows us to revisit our ethical and political commitments: international relations from this perspective is both more modest and yet more vital. Habits—from what is eaten or what medical choices are made, from antibacterial soap to misuse of antibiotics—can alter global networks and either improve or inflict harm on communities humans might not even know exist. Most importantly, to respond with care to other forms of life, even if we may never meet them or know precisely what their claims of rights and wrongs may be, is seen as vital to survival within earth’s fragile ecosystem.

Quoi de plus naturel que d'étudier les phénomènes sociaux en les situant dans un cadre national : le conservatisme britannique, les échanges commerciaux franco-japonais, l'immigration espagnole au Maroc etc. ? Mais ce faisant, les sciences sociales ne sacrifient-elles pas leur caractère scientifique au profit d'un angle national qu'elles reprennent à leur compte ? Les sciences sociales contribueraient-elles à renforcer le nationalisme ? Autant de questions auxquelles ce volume cherche à répondre en présentant un débat d'actualité en sciences sociales : la critique du nationalisme méthodologique.