Why resist?: opposition to mask-wearing during the Covid-19 pandemic in Greece

This study investigates the factors that might have affected the implementation of the mask-wearing measure in Greek society from March 2020 to November 2021. To do so, this study utilizes a critical review of dominant characteristics of modern Greek society followed by a systematic review of the most recent literature on mask-wearing attitudes. The data in this study is derived from official Greek governmental announcements regarding the mask-wearing measure during the pandemic and the depiction of attitudes towards mask-wearing through Greek digital media, including digital newspapers, informative magazines and websites, and digital news sites. The article argues that the main preventive factors relate to distrust towards authority, including specific identified barriers according to relevant literature. More importantly, this study reinforces the significance of the adequate appreciation of the historical, cultural and social context within which political measures are implemented regardless of their global scale and universal necessity. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Southeast European & Black Sea Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

From Bad to Worse: The evolving nature of "cult" rhetoric in the wake of Covid-19 and QAnon

The rhetoric "cult wars," which began in the 1970s and 1980s, has stagnated in recent decades. Having empirically undermined the "brainwashing" hypothesis, academic research has progressed beyond the classic typologies and discussion of "dangerous cults." Terms such as "New Religious Movement" became academized in a bid to recalibrate the discussion of religious phenomenon around the individual. However, "cult" rhetoric is still prevalent in popular vernacular, incipient in multiple discourses that redefine the terminology beyond an historic understanding of "religious." In this article, I outline my initial intention to revisit the terminology currently used in the academy as a result of reflections from participants in my doctoral research. I designed a survey that sought out the thoughts of everyday people in how they perceive the key terms: "cult," "brainwashing," "new religious movement" and "minority religion." Having used the Facebook Advert Centre to widen the reach of the survey, I quickly found that those commenting on the survey were engaging in a battle that is synonymous with the "cult wars" of old. I found that the discourse was predicated upon COVID-19 and a general distrust of "the establishment." This article analyses the comments engaging with the advert and explores the usage of "cult" rhetoric in contemporary society.

Análisis de las Apps Covid en la Unión Europea: entre la excepcionalidad y la protección de los derechos fundamentales

Los retos a los que se enfrenta la Unión Europea crean en ocasiones situaciones de tensión, en las que la organización debe responder al mismo tiempo a la protección y garantía de los derechos fundamentales de su ciudadanía, y a necesidades de índole global que excepcionalmente requieren la suspensión de esos mismos derechos por un bien mayor. Este fue el caso durante la pandemia de 2020, en el que la Unión Europea y los Estados miembros decretaron cuarentenas en contra de la libertad de movimiento, para restringir los contactos e intentar contener los contagios. En este contexto se produjo también una implementación de políticas digitales para afrontar la gestión de la crisis, en concreto nos referimos a las aplicaciones covid de rastreo y vigilancia de los contactos entre individuos. Estas aplicaciones estaban sujetas a los requisitos y garantías del marco legislativo comunitario, que hemos visto evolucionar en los últimos dos años, para hacer frente a la creciente digitalización de los servicios públicos. El caso de las aplicaciones covid es paradigmático para observar cómo se ha producido esa adaptación. La injerencia de los estados de forma excepcional durante la crisis, pero regulada hoy en instrumentos de coordinación comunitarios, ha creado nuevos marcos de navegación en internet. Los usuarios cuentan ahora con un nuevo nivel de protección de sus datos personales y su derecho a la privacidad, que si bien venía garantizada por el Reglamento de Protección de Datos (679/2016), ha dado un importante paso adelante con la aceleración de la digitalización de la administración durante la pandemia. Además, a través de una crítica desde la teoría contractual, podemos ver cómo la Unión Europea ha respondido a las dinámicas globales a nivel de normativa digital, priorizando hoy un sistema de contrapesos y límites tanto a las empresas como a las administraciones públicas, en su intercambio con los usuarios en internet. Las aplicaciones covid materializan esas limitaciones y garantías de protección de los usuarios (esencialmente de su privacidad y derechos fundamentales), que nos llevan a plantear la creación de un nuevo contrato social digital, igual que se ha transformado en otras ocasiones para responder a cuestiones como la clase, el género, la raza y la ecología.Alternate :The challenges facing the European Union (EU) can sometimes create tensions, in which the organization must answer both to the protection and guarantee of the fundamental rights of its citizens, and to global needs that exceptionally require the suspension of those same rights for the greater good. In its liberal political tradition that believes in the existence of a public and a private sphere, it has established systems of checks and balances, rule of law and stable institutions to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens.Yet sometimes these must be suspended in cases of exceptionality for their own preservation. This was the case during the 2020 pandemic, when the European Union and its member States decreed quarantines against the consolidated and fundamental freedom of movement of persons, to restrict contacts and try to contain contagions. In this context, digital policies were also implemented to deal with crisis management, like Covid applications for tracing and monitoring contacts between individuals. This invasion of the private sphere of citizens had to be accompanied by a set of limitations and guarantees, to protect this inherent and private individual's right. These applications were subject to the requirements of the European legislative framework (the commonly known acquis communautaire), which included several legal instruments laid out by the EU to create a framework to guide the performance of its member-state Governments on this matter. Apart from the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, we underline the importance of Recommendation (EU) 2020/518 that connects health rights, health management and data protection;and also, the importance of Communication 2020/C 124 I/01 th t set a series of ideal elements to guide apps functions, and established the importance that it is Government agencies that manage digital apps, so there is a guarantee of the protection of citizens' rights. Through the comparative study of how apps were managed when they first appeared in 2020 throughout most of 2021, and how apps evolved (both in management and use) in 2021 and throughout 2022, we can address the evolution of EU policy on digital matters, which have meant to create new frameworks for internet navigation. At first, there were 24 different apps for the 24 out of 27 Member States who decided to create and promote the use of these instruments among their citizens. Most of them were managed by national authorities (except for Austria and Romania who were managed by Red Cross and a local NGO respectively), and were developed by a public-private collaboration, or only public agencies.At the end of the crisis, at least politically since societal weariness and the economic crisis rendered it difficult to keep up the restrictions introduced in the spring of 2020, in June 2021 the EU created its GreenPass or vaccination passport.This policy was implemented in most countries and even though 24 different national health services were still in place, they all used the EU passport, available to citizens via their national health websites or apps. Even though the exceptionality of the pandemic has ended, one of the outcomes has been the establishment of a system of data gathering, storage and management for public means, managed by National Authorities, which has technically created a digital contract where the State guarantees citizens' digital rights. This is even more important as we attend to an increase in the digitalization of public services, especially since 2020.The changes were thus promoted in a state of exception during the crisis to regulate Government interference in the citizen's private sphere but have laid a roadmap for the development of the digital framework, which may lead to the conclusion of a digital social contract. The social contract appears in the EU's liberal tradition as a metaphor of the relation between the State and the individual, it defines the notion of sovereignty as the set of rights possessed by the citizen that may be subject to special protection. Hence, the social contract serves as the basis for creating modern societies, yet it is not permanent and can (and will) change when societies change accordingly. Several critiques have been made to the original social contract, creating new and developed contracts, including the class critique (from worker's movements and Marxism during the 19th Century to Piketty's present denouncing of social inequalities), the gender critique (as Carole Pateman's Sexual Contract puts it, the social contract institutionalized patriarchy), the racial critique (where Charles W. Mills develops the gender critique from a racial point of view where the social contract created a system of domination by the Western world) and finally the environmental critique (where its advocates claim for an eco-social contract or a nature social contract that shifts the approach to a bio-centric system). Therefore, the contract serves as a theoretical framework that can be changed, and in this case, it challenges the evolution towards a digital social contract. The evolution of internet and tech structures that support the web and its processes has been marked by three stages: its birth in the 80s by the hand of the State and linked to military research;its deregulation during the 90s and the privatization of the main telecommunications enterprises (in the case of the EU, the digital policy followed this trend);and the consolidation of a digital sphere in the 21st century, where the EU has taken a step back and created a set of instruments to guarantee the protection and freedom of its citizens when they navigate the internet. We can see how the EU has responded to global dynamics at the level of digital regulation, prioritizing today a multistakeholder system with s veral actors, and counterweights and limits for both companies and public administrations in their exchange with users on the internet. With the emergence of new spaces for social relations such as in the digital sphere, new types of sovereignty must be considered in order to guarantee the rights and privacy of users (we must not forget the importance of the separation between spheres, as fear liberalism reminds us, and of limiting exceptionality to those circumstances that really appear as such). Once the foundations on which the model of digital guarantees can be developed have been laid, the next step can be the creation of a real digital contract between users and the state on the internet. However, the contract is but an idea of reason for understanding politics and institutions, which begs the question of what digital politics we aspire to as societies.

Conversion of Virus into Eschatology Myth: Coronavirüs.

Myths include stories about the beginning, creation and the end and destruction of the world and the universe. The narrative types about the beginning constitute the myths of cosmogony, while the narratives about the end of the world constitute various eschatological myths. The general acceptance about eschatology myths is that these myths take place in oral or written products and beliefs that contain traces of the archaic period. For this reason, the beliefs of distant past communities are seen as the source of eschatology myths. However, in recent years, some beliefs about the end of the world and humanity show that eschatology myths have been produced among modern societies as well. Therefore, it is possible to say that myths continue their existence in different ways today. These myths can be encountered in communities, beliefs, daily practices, ritualistic actions, and verbal narrative types. These myths can also be encountered in recent social events, which are highly sought after by the society, or in the case of doomsday scenarios spread over social media. These scenarios have included the coronavirus since the beginning of 2020. When coronavirus first emerged, it did not cause fear in human communities. However, with the subsequent deaths from the virus and the declaration of the contagiousness of the virus, the virus has put the world into a transformation that will leave deep traces in the history of the world. The fact that the virus has such a social impact has brought along many discussions on the source of the virus, the reason for its emergence, its effects on the human body and its consequences. The lack of information about the virus and the characterization of the virus as an invisible enemy made it easier to evaluate the virus as a doomsday scenario. Particularly, the posts on social media platforms that have no scientific basis about the virus provided content for the negative scenarios of the epidemic. Based on the beliefs about the virus in social media, this study aims to determine the emergence of a new element of the eschatology myth. In order to make this determination, first of all, an analysis is carried out regarding the formation of beliefs about the end of the world and humanity around the virus. The rapidly changing scientific views about the virus, the negative epidemic process such as the variant of the virus, caused the acceleration of the fear and panic process based on false information called infodemic. The mystery of the virus, the increasing fear and panic, and the negative thoughts about the virus that spread rapidly on social media fed the process of turning the epidemic into an eschatology myth. The fact that people have recently increased ideas about the abuse of nature during the epidemic has made the virus compatible with the traditional content of eschatology myths. In the findings obtained in the study, it is seen that a context has emerged that will enable the virus to become a current element of eschatology myths. Finally, there are two important outputs about the relationship between myth and virus. The first is that eschatology myths have been revived in modern societies through coronavirüs, making the virus a new element of eschatology. The second is that the virus turns into a mythical element and regains its influence and sanction power on the community with the holiness of coronavirüs. As a result of this, it is possible to say that the beliefs formed around the virus and the effect of these beliefs are a current example for the continuity of the myth, the context of the performance of the myth and the function of the myth. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Mitler başlangıcı, yaratılışı esasa aldığı gibi dünyanın ve evrenin sonu ve yok oluşuyla ilgili hikâyeleri de içermektedir. Başlangıç hakkındaki anlatı türleri kozmogoni mitlerini, dünyanın sonuyla ilgili anlatılar ise çeşitli eskatoloji mitlerini oluşturmaktadır. Eskatoloji mitleri ile ilgili genel kabul, bu mitlerin arkaik dönem izlerinin bulunduğu sözel ya da yazılı ürünlerde ve inanışlarda yer aldığıdır. Bu nedenle eskotoloji mitleri dünyanın sonuna ilişkin olsa da bu mitlerin kaynağı olarak uzak geçmiş toplulukların inanışları görülmektedir. Oysa son yıllarda dünyanın ve insanlığın sonu ile ilgili yayılan bazı inanışlar, modern topluluklar arasında da eskatoloji miti üretildiğini göstermektedir. Dolayısıyla mitlerin günümüzde de varlığını ve etkisini farklı şekillerde sürdürdüğünü söyleyebilmek mümkündür. Bu mitler ile toplulukların inanışlarında, gündelik pratiklerinde, ritüelistik eylemlerinde, sözel anlatı türlerinde karşılaşıldığı gibi bazen de toplumun önemle rağbet gösterdiği sosyal medya üzerinden yayılan kıyamet senaryoları hâlinde de karşılaşılabilmektedir. Bu senaryolara 2020 yılının başlarından itibaren koronavirüs de dâhil olmuştur. Koronavirüs ilk ortaya çıktığı anda insan toplulukları üzerinde bir korku meydana getirmemişken ilerleyen zamanlarda virüsten kaynaklı ölümlerin meydana gelmesi ve virüsün bulaşıcılığının açıklanmasıyla dünyayı insanlık tarihinde derin izler bırakacak bir dönüşümün içerisine sokmuştur. Virüsün bu denli toplumsal bir etki oluşturması virüsün kaynağı, ortaya çıkış nedeni, insan vücudu üzerindeki etkileri ve sonuçları üzerine birçok tartışmayı da beraberinde getirmiştir. Virüs hakkındaki bilgilerin az olması ve virüsün görünmeyen bir düşman olarak nitelendirilmesi virüsün kıyamet senaryosu olarak değerlendirilmesini kolaylaştırmıştır. Özellikle sosyal medya platformlarındaki virüsle ilgili bilimsel dayanağı olmayan paylaşımlar salgının olumsuz senaryolarına içerik sunmuştur. Halk arasında yayılan dolayısıyla sosyal medyada yer alan virüsle ilgili inanışlardan hareketle bu çalışma eskatoloji mitlerinin bugünkü icrasına ve yeni bir unsurunun ortaya çıkışına yönelik bir tespiti amaçlamaktadır. Bu tespiti yapmak için öncelikle virüsün etrafında dünyanın ve insanlığın sonuna ilişkin gelişen inanışların oluşma sürecine yönelik bir çözümleme gerçekleştirilmektedir. Virüsle ilgili hızla değişen bilimsel görüşler, virüsün varyantlaşması gibi olumsuz seyreden salgın süreci infodemi olarak adlandırılan yanlış bilgiye dayalı korku ve panik sürecinin hızlanmasına neden olmuştur. Virüsün gizemi, gittikçe artan korku ve panik, virüse dair sosyal medyada hızlıca yayılan olumsuz düşünceler salgının bir eskatoloji mitine dönüşme sürecini beslemiştir. Ínsanların son dönemlerde doğanın kötüye kullanımına yönelik artan fikirlerinin salgın sürecinde cereyan etmesi ise virüsün eskatoloji mitlerinin geleneksel içeriğiyle uyum göstermesini sağlamıştır. Çalışmada elde edilen bulgularda virüsün eskatoloji mitlerinin güncel bir unsuru hâline dönüşmesini sağlayacak bir bağlam oluştuğu görülmektedir. Nihayetinde mit ve virüs ilişkisine dair elde edilen önemli iki çıktı bulunmaktadır. Birincisi eskatoloji mitlerinin modern topluluklar üzerinde koronavirüs aracılığıyla yeniden canlanarak virüsün eskotolojinin yeni bir unsuru olması, ikincisi virüsün mitik bir unsura dönüşüp koronavirüsün kutsiyet kazanmasıyla mitin topluluk üzerinde etkisinin ve yaptırım gücünü yeniden kazanmasıdır. Bunun neticesinde virüs etrafında oluşan inanışların ve bu inanışların etkisinin mitin sürekliliği, mitin icra bağlamı ve mitin işlevine yönelik güncel bir örnek niteliğinde olduğunu söylemek mümkündür. (Turkish) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Milli Folklor is the property of Milli Folklor and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Understanding Polarization Effects on Voice-Based Social Media: A Clubhouse Analysis ¹

Modern societies have been strongly influenced by the development of digital media, which has facilitated not only the transmission of information and symbolic content, but also the creation of new forms of action, interaction, and social relations. The pervasiveness of digitization increased between 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the lockdown of the entire world population and moved sociality predominantly online. The year 2020 also saw the emergence of a new social media platform called Clubhouse, which was based entirely on oral communication. The "global village" is recovering what Walter Ong calls secondary orality, which is typical of electronic media in literate societies, characterized by the recovery of speech in electronic form. Today, the development of technologies has introduced what Derrick de Kerckhove calls tertiary orality. The objective of this article is to follow the re-emergence of oral cultures as a new mode of online communication, focusing on the Italian community and the divergence between different groups of users strictly associated with polarization in highly propagandistic discourse.

Pandemic, homo somatis, and Transformations of the Russian Orthodox Ethos

The article examines the reactions within the Russian Orthodox Church to the coronavirus pandemic, especially its first year of 2020. Based on materials from the official institutions, press, religious and secular Internet portals, and online forums, the article systematizes the nature of the responses of church leadership, priests, and laity to the unprecedented curtailment of liturgical practices and social interactions during the quarantine period. The extraordinary challenges of the period of the pandemic made evident some important trends in the rhetoric and practices of the Orthodox environment and reveal tensions that are rooted in the ambivalent relationship of religious culture with the key epistemes of late modern society. © License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Henrik Ibsen and Conspiracy Thinking: The Case of Peer Gynt

Generating countless websites, books, films, series, and podcasts, and encompassing nearly every major negative event that has taken place since the end of World War II, conspiracies have become a phenomenon that anyone as a citizen and thinking individual has had to cope with in the last few decades, arguably reaching a peak during the Trump presidency, with the rise of QAnon and various conspiracy theories about the current Covid-19 pandemic (Barkun 2017;Amarasingam and Argentino 2020;Mitchell et al. 2020;Uscinski et al. 2020). Not surprisingly, the rise of conspiracy theories has also coincided with an increasing scholarly interest, especially within psychology and the social sciences, although studies of conspiracies in literature and film have also grown in number during the last two decades. Just to mention two famous examples, the same Brown's Inferno (2013) draws upon the long-standing tradition of conspiracy theories related to Dante's Divine Comedy, and the works of William Shakespeare have been subjected to a long series of conspiratorial readings, arguably reaching a peak-at least in a Norwegian context-with Erlend Loe's and Petter Amundsen's mashup of theories about Shakespeare's persona and the coded messages that the English dramatist allegedly left in his texts (Loe and Amundsen 2006). Drawing upon Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's rejection of a fixed identity in late modern society and cultural production, she makes a clear argument against two main avenues of scholarly interpretation of the play, a Hegelian and Cartesian one: "I argue that Peer Gynt should be understood as expressing a fundamentally non-transcendent world-view" (Rees 2014, 13, 19). [...]according to Rees, Peer Gynt's status as a "national epos" is highly paradoxical, and the play hardly seems to contain a clear-cut "message" or to allow a straightforward interpretation, be it about cultural identity or otherwise.

ЦИФРОВЫЕ РАЗРЫВЫ В СОВРЕМЕННОМ МЕГАПОЛИСЕ: ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЕ ИЗМЕРЕНИЕ: POLITICHESKIE ISSLEDOVANII︠A︡

Статья посвящена проблематике новых социальных и политических разделений, связанных с широким использованием жителями мегаполисов и администрациями городов информационно-коммуникационных технологий. Рассмотрены различные подходы к концептуализации цифровых разрывов и к исследованию их социально-политических последствий. Проанализированы основные измерения и уровни цифровых разрывов в контексте актуальных социально-политических процессов и трендов развития, в том числе в период пандемии COVID-19, описаны некоторые подходы к их преодолению в условиях современного мегаполиса. Выделены и охарактеризованы три главных уровня цифровых разрывов в современных обществах: 1) наличие материальной базы для использования цифровых технологий (технический уровень);2) навыки их использования у различных людей (социальный уровень);и 3) реальные возможности полноценного участия индивида в жизни современного "цифрового" общества и демократического участия в политических и социальных процессах, в том числе в реализации своих гражданских прав и свобод, в расширении социальных связей и отношений (политический уровень). Показано, что при сохранении и росте актуальности этих трех "традиционных" типов цифровых разрывов в условиях мегаполиса все большее значение приобретают такие их новые аспекты, как доступ к наборам больших данных, степень зависимости от автоматизированных систем принятия решений (алгоритмов) с использованием технологий искусственного интеллекта, а также цифровое отчуждение и разделение по отношению к онлайн-образованию. Выявлены некоторые социально-политические последствия цифровых разрывов и связанные с ними политические риски. Сделан вывод, что предпринимаемые меры по смягчению и уменьшению цифровых разрывов в современном мегаполисе носят пока что главным образом частичный и паллиативный характер, причем основное внимание уделяется улучшению материальной базы для использования цифровых технологий, а не преодолению более глубоких социально-политических причин и последствий цифровых разделений и разрывов. Показано, что политика сокращения цифрового неравенства и цифровых разрывов в современных мегаполисах играет особенно важную роль, поскольку в них сосредоточено наиболее политически активное население.Alternate :The article deals with the problems of new social and political divisions associated with the widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by inhabitants of megacities and city administrations. The author considers different approaches to the conceptualization of "digital divides" and to the study of their socio-political consequences, analyzes the main dimensions and levels of digital divide in the context of current socio-political processes and development trends, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and considers different approaches to overcome them in a modern megacity. Three main levels of digital divide in modern societies are identified and characterized: 1) the availability of the material basis for the use of digital technology (technical level);2) the skills for its use by different people (social level);and 3) the real opportunities for full participation of the individual in the life of a modern "digital" society and democratic participation in political and social processes, including the realization of their civil rights and freedoms, in expanding social connections and relations (political level). It is shown that while these three "traditional" types of digital gaps – inequalities in access to ICT, in the level of digital skills and in the possibility of full participation in the political life of modern digital society – remain and grow in importance in the megacity context, their new aspects, such as access to big data sets (Big Data), the degree of dependence on automated decision-making systems (algorithms) using artificial intelligence technologies, and digital exclusion and separation on the relational level are becoming increasingly important. Some socio-political implications of the new digital divide and the associated political risks are identified. It is concluded that the measures taken to mitigate and reduce the digital divide in the modern metropolis have so far been mostly partial and palliative, with a focus on improving the material basis for the use of digital technologies rather than on overcoming the deeper sociopolitical causes and consequences of digital divisions and gaps. It is shown that policies to reduce the digital divide and digital inequality in modern megacities are particularly important because megacities are home to the most politically active populations.

The Refugee Issue in the Greek, German, and British Press During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The media hold an essential role in circulating information, disseminating knowledge, constructing representations, shaping ideologies, and influencing contemporary societies. Since the outburst of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, their attention has been mostly paid to the protection and the health situation of citizens worldwide. Although millions of refugees are also exposed to a new risk with their vulnerable position being deteriorated, the refugee issue in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have been downgraded. In this regard, the current article explores to what extent the refugee issue was salient in the Greek, German, and British press during the pandemic. At the same time, it looks at how the media outlets in all three countries addressed it, focusing on the key topics reported and the interpretive schemata of the pertinent coverage. We use a qualitative content analysis, examining a sample of newspaper articles that were published between 1 January 2021 and 1 May 2021. The results presented by this article suggest that the epidemiological developments or other health aspects related to local populations seem to overshadow the situation of refugees. Yet, media outlets mostly perceive refugees as victims of the pandemic, underlining their vulnerability and marginalisation in health, economic, and education terms. The findings seek to feed the public discussion, providing a fruitful approach to the media narratives and representations of refugees during the Covid-19 crisis.

False Information as a Threat to Modern Society: A Systematic Review of False Information, Its Impact on Society, and Current Remedies

False information and by extension misinformation, disinformation and fake news are an ever-growing concern to modern democratic societies, which value the freedom of information alongside the right of the individual to express his or her opinions freely. This paper focuses on misinformation, with the aim to provide a collation of current research on the topic and a discussion of future research directions. It argues that a major current issue is the lack of reliable verified datasets and, by extension, the algorithmic learning models based on them. Through the understanding of different variations of false information, it has been possible to see the impact this absence is currently having on society. At the core is a focus on misinformation. A deeper investigation shows that artificial intelligence-based techniques are widely used to counter the effects and confusion caused by misinformation. Potential consequences of misinformation are being highlighted to allow insight into potential issues that may arise from this form of false information to highlight the severity of the issue and to demonstrate the growing need for reliable detection and prevention systems.

COVID‑19 and Redesign of the Late Modern Society

The article supports the hypothesis that the COVID‑19 pandemic accelerated and legitimized societal change associated with the decline of representative democracy, mass employment and economic growth. The ideological coordinates of the society of mass labor are becoming obsolete as a relevant model of description. As a result, a decrease in the military, economic and civil-political significance of the majority is observed. The request of precariat groups to restore their usefulness in alternative criteria is expanding, which will eventually bring about a new political and economic normality. Civil protest intensified by the pandemic and the radical practices of minorities are part of the process of a critical revision of the consolidating values in the labor society and transition to a new normality. The conclusion is argued that the growth of "unnecessary people" actualizes demand for non-economic communitarian values and resources provided mainly by the state. The revision of the usual market and labor hierarchies of society is empirically confirmed by the value gap between generations. First, the pessimism in rising generation regarding the prospects of improving standard of living compared to previous generations. Second, the life strategies of generation Z prefer adaptive practices associated with rent-oriented behavior and loyalty to the generation of parents. Third, late modern society is characterized by a decline of political subjectivity. All this limits potential scope of future transformations, mainly related to basic unconditional income and selective expansion of rental access.Alternate :Ð’ статье обосновывается гипотеза, что пандемия COVID-19 ускорила и легитимировала социальные изменения, связанные с упадком представительной демократии, массовой занятости и экономического роста. Идеологические координаты общества массового труда устаревают в качестве релевантной модели описания. Ð’ результате фиксируется снижение военной, экономической и гражданско-политической значимости большинства. Расширяется запрос прекариатных групп на восстановление своей полезности в альтернативных критериях, которые со временем зафиксируют новую политическую и экономическую нормальность. Усиленные пандемией гражданские протесты и радикальные практики меньшинств являются частью процесса критического пересмотра консолидирующих ценностей общества труда и перехода к новой нормальности. Аргументируется вывод, что рост «лишних людей» актуализирует запрос на внеэкономические коммунитарные ценности и ресурсы, обеспечиваемые преимущественно государством. Пересмотр привычных рыночно-трудовых иерархий общества эмпирически подтверждается ценностным разрывом поколений. Во-первых, пессимизмом молодежи в отношении перспектив повысить жизненный уровень относительно предшествующих поколений. Во-вторых, жизненными стратегиями молодого поколения, предпочитающего адаптивные практики, связанные с Ñ€ÐµÐ½Ñ‚Ð¾Ð¾Ñ€Ð¸ÐµÐ½Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð°Ð½Ð½Ñ Ð¼ поведением и лояльностью к поколению родителей. Ð’-третьих, позднемодерное общество характеризуется упадком политической субъектности. Все это ограничивает потенциальные масштабы будущих преобразований, преимущественно связанных с базовым безусловным доходом и избирательным расширением рентного доступа.

An Appraisal of the Multifaceted Effects of Coronavirus on the Sport Industry

It is evident that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected every facet of live. The continuation of sporting activities being an integral part of the modern society, in the light of the COVID-19 new normal presents a scenario of 'business unusual' for both sport practitioners and followers alike. Using a desktop methodology, the paper adopts a systematic review approach to assess the multifaceted impact of COVID-19 (physical, psychological, economic, and social spheres) on the sport industry. The paper found that the effect of the pandemic is both horizontal (sport managers and administrators) and vertical (sport practitioners and fans). It argued that while the precautionary act of limited social interaction may provide temporary protection from the disease, it is likely to reduce the immune functionalities of persons as well as destroy the balance of normal physiological, economic, and social mechanism in the longterm. With the massive disruption and widespread suffering that the pandemic has inflicted on sports communities, the need to respond in the most positive and constructive way is paramount. However, it is plausible that the sport industry’s response should this pandemic continue, or ends will definitely change the operations of the events for the industry as we know it.

REONTOLOGIZATION OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN THE LIQUID AND GLOBAL WORLD

In this article, I intend to highlight the fact that the realities that are being recorded at the morphological level of contemporary societies (the phenomenon of migration, wars, the dynamics of mobility and communication, the economic pace, the health crisis generated by Covid-19) are bringing to the fore the redefinition of religious identity. What is undeniably clear is that Western societies have become an ethnic and religious mosaic, a diversity that requires specific regulations in terms of norms in order to avoid conflict. However, this ethno-religious diversity also calls for an interpretation of the relationship between identities. The aim of my analysis is to argue as to whether or not religious identity is an inflexible, immobile reality, static in its representativeness towards and in relation to other identities representing different religious cultures. In this respect, I will insist on the role that migration plays in the construction of religious identity. Is religious identity decomposing in the context of the liquid flow of global society? Are the boundaries of such an identity, as structures of individual, social, cultural validation, desubstantiated in the daily experience of religious diversity and in the dynamics of current societal transformations?Alternate :Dans cet article, j'entends souligner le fait que les réalités qui s'enregistrent au niveau morphologique des sociétés contemporaines (le phénomène de migration, les guerres, les dynamiques de mobilité et de communication, le rythme économique, la crise sanitaire générée by Covid-19) mettent au premier plan la redéfinition de l'identité religieuse. Ce qui est indéniable, c'est que les sociétés occidentales sont devenues une mosaïque ethnique et religieuse, une diversité qui nécessite des régulations spécifiques en termes de normes afin d'éviter les conflits. Mais cette diversité ethno-religieuse appelle aussi une lecture des relations entre les identités. Le but de mon analyse est d'argumenter pour savoir si l'identité religieuse est ou non une réalité inflexible, immobile, statique dans sa représentativité envers et par rapport à d'autres identités représentant différentes cultures religieuses. A cet égard, j'insisterai sur le rôle que joue la migration dans la construction de l'identité religieuse. L'identité religieuse se décompose-t-elle dans le contexte du flux liquide de la société mondiale? Les frontières d'une telle identité, en tant que structures de validation individuelle, sociale, culturelle, sont-elles infondées dans l'expérience quotidienne de la diversité religieuse et dans la dynamique des transformations sociétales en cours?Alternate :În acest articol îmi propun să evidenţiez faptul că realităţile care se înregistrează la nivelul morfologic al societăţilor contemporane (fenomenul migraţiei, războaiele, dinamica mobilităţii și comunicării, ritmul economic, criza de sănătate generată). de Covid-19) aduc în prim plan redefinirea identităţii religioase. Ceea ce este incontestabil clar este că societăţile occidentale au devenit un mozaic etnic și religios, o diversitate care necesită reglementări specifice în ceea ce privește normele pentru a evita conflictele. Cu toate acestea, această diversitate etno-religioasă necesită și o interpretare a relaţiei dintre identităţi. Scopul analizei mele este de a argumenta dacă identitatea religioasă este sau nu o realitate inflexibilă, imobilă, statică în reprezentativitatea ei faţă de și în relaţie cu alte identităţi care reprezintă diferite culturi religioase. În acest sens, voi insista asupra rolului pe care îl joacă migraţia în construirea identităţii religioase. Se descompune identitatea religioasă în contextul fluxului lichid al societăţii globale? Graniţele unei astfel de identităţi, ca structuri de validare individuală, socială, culturală, sunt desubstanţiate în experienţa zilnică a diversităţii religioase și în dinamica transformărilor socie ale actuale?

IDENTITY CHANGES IN CRISIS SITUATIONS. ANXIETY, FRUSTRATION AND ANGUISH DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In this article, a review of the socio-anthropological literature on the impact of pandemics on the mental health of the population is made. Also, the way this pandemic affects the construction of identity of the population affected by pandemic is taken into discussion. The historical-anthropological perspective refers to the plague epidemic that affected Europe during the Middle Ages, to its psychological impact from the perspective of the individual's relationship with otherness - as a possible source of danger. The article presents a series of similarities and differences from the perspective of anguish, anxiety and frustration caused to the population by the plague pandemic and the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the results of studies published during 2020 in journals indexed in Web of Science, dedicated to the impact of the pandemic. of Coronavirus on the mental health of the population. The research focused on several dimensions of the social construction process of the Covid-19 pandemic, among which we mention: information on the pandemic, restrictions imposed by the authorities as elements of social (re)construction of the limit of the human condition, medicalization of the social life and the perception of the contemporary society as a risk society. In this article we will refer exclusively to the results aimed at changes in the identity construction of people affected by the pandemic.Alternate :Dans cet article j'ai passé en revue de la littérature socio-anthropologique sur l'impact des pandémies sur la santé mentale de la population. Aussi, la manière dont cette pandémie affecte la construction identitaire de la population touchée par la pandémie est prise en compte. La perspective historico-anthropologique fait référence à l'épidémie de peste qui a touché l'Europe au Moyen Âge, à son impact psychologique du point de vue de la relation de l'individu avec l'altérité - comme une source possible de danger. L'article présente une série de similitudes et de différences du point de vue de l'angoisse, de l'anxiété et de la frustration causées à la population par la pandémie de peste et la pandémie de Covid-19, mettant en évidence les résultats d'études publiées en 2020 dans des revues indexées dans Web of La science, dédiée à l'impact de la pandémie. du coronavirus sur la santé mentale de la population. La recherche a porté sur plusieurs dimensions du processus de construction sociale de la pandémie de Covid-19, parmi lesquelles nous citons : les informations sur la pandémie, les restrictions imposées par les autorités comme éléments de (re)construction sociale de la limite de la condition humaine, médicalisation de la vie sociale et perception de la société contemporaine comme société du risque. Dans cet article, nous nous référerons exclusivement aux résultats visant les changements dans la construction identitaire des personnes touchées par la pandémie.Alternate :În acest articol se realizează o trecere în revistă a literaturii socio-antropologice privind impactul pandemiilor asupra sănătăţii mintale a populaţiei. De asemenea, este luat în discuţie modul în care această pandemie afectează construcţia identităţii populaţiei afectate de pandemie. Perspectiva istorico-antropologică se referă la epidemia de ciumă care a afectat Europa în Evul Mediu, la impactul ei psihologic din perspectiva relaţiei individului cu alteritatea – ca posibilă sursă de pericol. Articolul prezintă o serie de asemănări și diferenţe din perspectiva angoasei, anxietăţii și frustrării cauzate populaţiei de pandemia de ciumă și pandemia de Covid-19, evidenţiind rezultatele studiilor publicate în cursul anului 2020 în reviste indexate în Web of Science, dedicate la impactul pandemiei. de Coronavirus asupra sănătăţii mintale a populaţiei. Cercetarea s-a axat pe mai multe dimensiuni ale procesului de construcţie socială a pandemiei de Covid-19, printre care amintim: informarea asupra pandemiei, restricţii impuse de autori ăţi ca elemente de (re)construcţie socială a limitei condiţiei umane, medicalizare. a vieţii sociale şi a percepţiei societăţii contemporane ca societate de risc. În acest articol ne vom referi exclusiv la rezultatele care vizează schimbări în construcţia identitară a persoanelor afectate de pandemie.

Challenging Black Box Technology Power Imbalances by Exposing Them: "Persuasive System" as a Prism for Decomposing Contemporary Surveillance

This article contributes to the discussion around surveillance invisibility by engaging with the existing literature and discussing Salvatore Vitale's "Persuasive System" installation as a case study. Based on the conceptualization of surveillance as a black box, the article frames power imbalances involved in biometrics and video surveillance technologies and shows how Vitale's installation aims at playing with and exposing these dynamics by reconfiguring them. Inserted in the prolific tradition of surveillance art, the installation contributes with a focus on the fluidity of the dynamics behind mechanisms interplaying within controllers and data subjects. Following this line of thinking. "Persuasive System" helps to analyse and explore the dynamics behind systemic monitoring, providing a closer look into the interactions happening between all the actors taking part in a specific surveillance play. The ultimate goal of the installation is to invite a reflection on the process of normalizing surveillance in the wake of recent social and political events that are promoting the construction of a new reality where surveillance becomes central to the functioning of modern societies.

Science and environmental crisis amid fires and pandemia

[...]the processes of climate change and the significant increase in global average temperature were very evident. According to data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the United States Space Agency, and the European Union’s Copernicus System, the major global fires of 2020 were the most devastating, considering the 18 years of research and generation of global data on forest fires. According to environmental historian Stephen Pyne, contemporary society is experiencing the Pyrocene era, a historical period in which mega-fires are more frequent, more dangerous, and more disturbing. According to Pyne, the Pyrocene would be equivalent, in environmental terms, to the global effects of the great glaciation (PYNE, 2020).

Medical Applications of Artificial Intelligence (Legal Aspects and Future Prospects)

Background: Cutting-edge digital technologies are being actively introduced into healthcare. The recent successful efforts of artificial intelligence in diagnosing, predicting and studying diseases, as well as in surgical assisting demonstrate its high efficiency. The AI’s ability to promptly take decisions and learn independently has motivated large corporations to focus on its development and gradual introduction into everyday life. Legal aspects of medical activities are of particular importance, yet the legal regulation of AI’s performance in healthcare is still in its infancy. The state is to a considerable extent responsible for the formation of a legal regime that would meet the needs of modern society (digital society). Objective: This study aims to determine the possible modes of AI’s functioning, to identify the participants in medical-legal relations, to define the legal personality of AI and circumscribe the scope of its competencies. Of importance is the issue of determining the grounds for imposing legal liability on persons responsible for the performance of an AI system. Results: The present study identifies the prospects for a legal assessment of AI applications in medicine. The article reviews the sources of legal regulation of AI, including the unique sources of law sanctioned by the state. Particular focus is placed on medical-legal customs and medical practices. Conclusions: The presented analysis has allowed formulating the approaches to the legal regulation of AI in healthcare.

The Digital Divide in the Modern Megalopolis: Political Dimension

This article deals with the problems of new social and political divisions associated with the widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by inhabitants of megacities and city administrations. The author considers different approaches to the conceptualization of "digital divides" and to the study of their sociopolitical consequences, analyzes the main dimensions and levels of the digital divide in the context of current sociopolitical processes and development trends, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and considers different approaches to overcoming them in a modern megacity. Three main levels of the digital divide in modern societies are identified and characterized: (1) the availability of the material basis for the use of digital technology (technical level);(2) the skills for its use by various people (social level);and (3) actual opportunities for the full participation of the individual in the life of a modern "digital" society and democratic participation in political and social processes, including the exercise of their civil rights and freedoms, in expanding social connections and relations (the political level). It is shown that while these three "traditional" types of digital gaps-inequalities in access to ICT, in the level of digital skills and the possibility of full participation in the political life of the modern digital society-remain and grow in importance in the megacity context, their new aspects, such as access to big data sets, the degree of dependence on automated decision-making systems (algorithms) using artificial intelligence technologies, and digital exclusion and separation on the relational level are becoming increasingly important. Some sociopolitical implications of the new digital divide and associated political risks are identified. It is concluded that the measures taken to mitigate and reduce the digital divide in the modern metropolis have so far been mostly partial and palliative, with a focus on improving the material basis for the use of digital technologies rather than on overcoming the deeper sociopolitical causes and consequences of digital divisions and gaps. It is shown that policies to reduce the digital divide and digital inequality in modern megacities are particularly important because megacities are home to the most politically active populations.

The Borders of #MeToo: A Conversation about Sexual Violence Against Women in Ciudad Juárez

Latino/a sociology draws from and expands on interdisciplinary feminist standpoint theories;Latino/a sociology uses emerging critical methodologies such as personal narratives, auto-ethnography, testimonios, and visual ethnography that seek to incorporate the voices of excluded groups;Latino/a sociology is neither neutral nor value free but instead takes a stand against social injustice and promotes activist and political agendas for change;Latino/a sociology seeks to produce knowledge for social justice, human rights, and social change (Baca Zinn and Mirandé 2020, 5–6). [...]different themes emerged during the conversation between the authors and only three major topics are included in this essay. [...]Cathy J. Cohen and Sarah J. Jackson engage in dialogue to examine the Black Lives Matter movement and feminism in contemporary society (2016). [...]this article was inspired by the power of conversation as a method. The authors believe in the potential of dialogue to make meaning of the social realities and gender inequalities lived in Ciudad Juárez in the #MeToo era, and they expand it by including two additional dimensions: context and analysis. [...]the structure this article follows—context, and conversation & analysis—is intentionally designed to be unconventional. Context: Why Ciudad Juárez? Since the early 1990s, hundreds of women living in the industrialized border city known for housing hundreds of assembly plants—maquiladoras—have been exposed to the most grotesque expressions of violence against women.