Institute of Social Sciences - University of Lisbon

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Publications

Capital científica: práticas da ciência em Lisboa e a história contemporânea

Publication . Saraiva, Tiago; Macedo, Marta

Este livro propõe-se fazer da ciência praticada em Lisboa um elemento essencial para a compreensão das dinâmicas históricas do Portugal contemporâneo. Se parece certo que a condição de capital explica o facto de que grande parte da ciência feita em Portugal se tenha concentrado em Lisboa, o conjunto de textos aqui reunido explora as formas como essa centralidade foi construída por meio de objetos técnicos e discursos científicos de modernidade ou decadência. A partir do estudo de uma série de instituições dá-se conta do modo como ao longo dos séculos XIX e XX os problemas urbanos lisboetas inspiraram o trabalho científico. Mas sobretudo, mostra-se como é que os projetos políticos do liberalismo, da república e do fascismo se fizeram na prática com doses elevadas de ciência e tecnologia e, talvez mais inesperado, como é que cientistas, engenheiros e médicos forneceram matéria de facto para que esses projetos políticos pudessem ser imaginados.

2019Book

Open access

Societies Under Threat: A Pluri-Disciplinary Approach

Publication . Jodelet, Denise; Vala, Jorge; Drozda-Senkowska, Ewa

This book illuminates the importance of threat on the representation of everyday life, from an interdisciplinary perspective. Divided into three parts, the book sets out by addressing the conceptual aspects of threat and by opening views on phenomena and social processes associated with threat. It shows how threat constitutes an analytical category that simultaneously involves social, psychological, religious, historical and political factors, and calls for a sufficiently broad conceptual definition to integrate pluri-disciplinary contributions. The second part focuses on the building of threats, mainly the environmental threats that have reached a tragic dimension today and are a core aspect of world concerns, the contemporary global terrorism, the migrations and the challenges these bring to contemporary societies, as well as the threats associated with the emergence of nationalism and the diverse aspects of excluding the Other. The final part examines the coping strategies, including oblivion, denial and defiance associated with different sources of threats, for instance those arising from epidemic and collective diseases, financial technology, natural disasters and collective traumas.

2020Book

Open access

Threat and Oblivion: Interpreting the Silence Over the Spanish Flu (1918–19)

Publication . Lima, Maria Luisa; Sobral, José Manuel

The Spanish influenza epidemic (1918–19) was the biggest demographic disaster in the 20th century and, for some, the greatest epidemic in human history. Despite its enormous worldwide relevance, until recent years there were few studies on this catastrophe. This silence has been usually understood as the result of the competition with another worldwide event—the Great War. In this chapter, based on a social memory approach, we propose some other interpretations. Firstly, the absence of the flu in collective memory is a way of concealing an event that was experienced as a threat to the existing health services and a failure of the medical science of the time. Secondly, in terms of risk perception, the flu has some attributes that justify its lack of notoriety and normalization. Finally, the lack of collective meaning conferred upon the disease makes it easier to understand how Spanish flu survived in family memories as a traumatic event but not in public, national ones. Overall, this paper illustrates how social and cognitive processes can contribute to the oblivion of a disaster.

2020Book part

Open access

Alimentação em tempos difíceis - entre a família e a escola

Publication . Truninger, Monica; Ramos, Vasco

Em Portugal, os dados estatísticos mais recentes apontam para uma diminuição da taxa de pobreza, face ao pico da crise de 2008-2015. Apesar da evolução positiva, os números continuam a ser muito elevados, estimando-se que 2,2 milhões de pessoas estivessem em risco de pobreza ou exclusão social em 2018. Existe igualmente um número muito significativo de pessoas que continua a recorrer a ajuda de emergência para suprir necessidades alimentares básicas. Alguns estudos revelam que os impactos da crise financeira global e a intervenção musculada de medidas de contenção orçamental no período austero da Troika (2011-2014) atingiram com mais força as famílias com crianças, sendo o risco de pobreza maior entre as famílias monoparentais e as famílias numerosas. No entanto, são muito escassos os dados sistemáticos sobre as famílias com crianças em situação de pobreza alimentar ou acerca das suas experiências alimentares quotidianas.

2019Other

Open access

Elections as vehicles for change? Explaining different outcomes of democratic performance and government alternation in Africa

Publication . Sanches, Edalina; Macuane, José Jaime

Does having more regular elections improve democratic performance in Africa? And have elections transformed the patterns of alternation in government? To answer these questions, two analyses are conducted drawing on an original dataset of 179 elections in 27 African countries, from the founding multiparty elections until 2019. The first tests the effects of alternation in government on democratic performance and shows that while alternation in government in the founding elections improves democratic performance, opposition victories in subsequent elections do not produce democratic gains. The second examines why alternation in government is more frequent in certain countries than in others; and reveals that the odds of turnover are increased by alternation in government in the founding elections, the level of political competition and the quality of elections. These findings contribute to literature linking elections, democracy and turnover in Africa.

2020-03-08Journal article

Open access