Pakistan Review of Social Sciences (PRSS)

Book Review: "Theories of International Politics and Zombies" by Daniel W. Drezner

2023-12-29T10:54:40+00:00

The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran

2023-08-23T06:39:18+00:00

The Effect of Birth Order on Personality Trait (Extraversion)

2023-09-30T14:37:19+00:00

This study examines how birth order affects personality traits, specifically extraversion, in firstborn and lastborn individuals. A comparative research design was used, and data was gathered from 160 participants - 80 firstborns and 80 lastborns. Both groups consisted of 40 male and 40 female participants between the ages of 16 and 22 who were selected through purposive sampling. Eysenck's Personality Inventory was used as the assessment tool, and the data were analyzed using an independent sample t-test. The results showed a significant difference in extraversion between firstborn and lastborn individuals but no difference based on gender.

THE IMPACT OF INTERNET BANKING THE IMPACT OF INTERNET BANKING ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF FRENCH BANKS

2023-10-22T14:01:20+00:00

The financial sector has known profound changes since the 1980s with the development of technologies and the massive adoption of the internet and mobile phones. In this research paper, we investigate to examine the impact of internet banking on bank performance in France. To reach this objective, we used as a regression estimation method for panel data and the Hausman test (1978).We have highlighted the effect of control and specific variables related to banks on the return on assets and the return on equity. Our sample is composed of 31 commercial banks during the period 2008-2019.The results confirm the majority of our hypotheses which demonstrate the positive effect of digitization and internet banking on the performance of banks.

The Prospects of Normalization and Strengthening of Iran-Saudi Relations and its Implications for the USA

2023-12-09T13:02:59+00:00

Iran and Saudi Arabia are two of the most significant states in the Middle East. Historically, the two nations have been bitter rivals, and the nature of their relationship has played a considerable role in shaping the geopolitical dynamics of the region and the involvement of great powers in regional affairs. If Iran and Saudi Arabia reconcile their differences and form a closer relationship, it could lead to greater stability in the region, as well as increased economic and political cooperation. As the United States is one of the most heavily involved extra-regional powers, the normalization and potential strengthening of the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia may have significant implications for the traditional role of the US in the region. On the one hand, a closer relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia could lead to a decrease in tensions and conflicts in the region, which would be a positive development for the US. The US has traditionally viewed Saudi Arabia as a key ally in the Middle East, and any shift away from this relationship, on the other hand, may negatively affect its foreign policy objectives in the region. Ultimately, the implications of a strengthened Saudi-Iran bilateral relationship for the US will depend on a variety of factors, including the nature of the evolving relationship, the degree of cooperation between the two nations, and the overall impact of it on regional stability and American interests in the Middle East.

Digital transformation and finan Digital transformation and finance: Analysis of economic development strategies: the case of Crowdfunding

2023-10-22T13:55:35+00:00

The objective of this study is to identify the obstacles to the integration of Crowdfunding into the national economy as an economic development strategy. In early 2018, the Central Bank of Tunisia looked into the subject of Crowdfunding for innovative startups by raising funds following a meeting with the governor of the BCT and members of the Tunisian diaspora living abroad. By distinguishing the phases of its adoption process and based on 10 semi-structured interviews lasting an average of 1h10, and an observation of several crowdfunding platforms (cofundy, afrikwity), as well as the observation of blogs and other networks social, we show that there are internal barriers (lack of trust, poor coordination with participants) and external barriers (absence of a legal framework, lack of support by the State, lack of information on the market). We also show that these barriers are far from insurmontable.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DURING COVID-19: A CASE STUDY OF LAHORE

2024-01-23T08:11:58+00:00

Domestic violence and spousal abuse is increased in Pakistan due to COVID-19 lockdowns, people lost their jobs, meltdown in economy and men worked from home. This research report focused on “Domestic Violence during COVID-19: A Case Study of Lahore”. This study highlighted that the coronavirus pandemic has deepened social inequalities in Pakistan, impacted women and children and increased the gap between men and women. This study points out that women working in informal sectors and those sitting in their houses both are affected by pandemic, many women lost their jobs and were confined to stay at home, where they can’t protect themselves from domestic abuse. Qualitative and cross-sectional research method has been used to carry out this research. It was noted that stress and anxiety increased as a result of being confined to one’s place of residency away from friends, family and workplace. Also, literacy rate, unemployment and decrease in reporting these issues to police contributed a lot increasing domestic violence. It was noted that threat from the abusers of being killed, social stigma and honor prevented women to report the cases of domestic violence which tortured women mentally, physically and emotionally. It made it clear that pandemics like COVID-19 can exacerbate the dimensions of gender equality, increasing the gap between men and women in formal and informal sectors. Hence, the prevention of domestic abuse is not only crucial from human rights perspective but can be fruitful to bring changes in the mental health and economic development of our society. Effective working of our state departments, strict laws and regulations against violence, education and awareness can bring prevention policies against domestic violence.

The Psycho-Semantico Moxie of Metaphorical Drives in Advert Texting

2023-10-24T16:48:59+00:00

This paper investigates metaphorical usages in advertising from a psycho-semantic perspective. It argues that metaphor is employed in advertising texts deliberately to conceptualize one concept in terms of another which has well-defined and structured experience-able effect. Semantically, one semantic domain is expanded to another in a process of simulation to the targeted concept. Usually, source domain is concrete so it can be extended semantically to paste some well-selected plausible associative meanings on the target domain. All is meant for manipulating attitudes: affective, cognitive, and behavioral on the benefit of the advertising campaign. Intentionally, metaphorical expressions are to map unpredictable yet meaningful imagistic textuality of adverts. In most cases relational and sentential innovations are supportive and additives in the process of texting meant for persuasive functions in specific and for interactive quest in general. However, conceptual metaphor is highly loaded with mentalistic drives of conceptualization and reformulation of perceptive iconic images. Thus, by manipulating and emulating attitudinal modes, advert texting can be modulated to submit a crux of mentalistic moot, conscious and unconscious, of the portrayed textuality of the adverts. Per se, adverts' texting is dependent on the observability, of the linguisticity of texts and on the persuasiveness motifs of the discoursal matching.

Political Memes and Affective Polarization: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Pakistani Political Memes

2023-10-06T15:44:13+00:00

Abstract

Political memes play an integral role in shaping online political discourses by communicating political identities, affiliations and views with the opportunity for the audiences to engage in such discourses. However, some of the discourses in the memes are intendant to demonize, criticize, differentiate, attack, and or negatively evaluate certain political parties and politicians. Therefore, this article adopts a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis to study the discourses of some of the Pakistani political memes on Twitter in relation to affective polarization. That is, the aim of this study is to examine the presence of affective polarization in the discourses of political memes to know whether and how does political memes catalyze affective polarization. This analysis reveals that, the political memes catalyze affective polarization through its discourses dominated by (de)legitimization, labelling, us versus them differentiation, dehumanization, and trivialization.

Perspective of female students regarding gender preference in family

2023-11-08T20:23:10+00:00

Abstract
The primary goal of the study was to learn how female students perceived gender preferences in the home. Quantitative approach with 200 responders in the sample employed for statistical analysis and conclusions demonstrated that, 62.5% (125) of the girls lived in nuclear families, and 78% (156) were from metropolitan areas. An empirical investigation revealed a substantial mean difference (p<.01) in the perception of educational attainment between girls residing in both settings. Second, it is shown that the perceptions of both areas about supportive parental conduct differ significantly (p<.01) in terms of mean. Furthermore, compared to girls living in urban areas (M=-1.38, SD=.580), girls living in rural areas are more likely (M=.107, SD=1.30) to believe that parents prefer sons over daughters when it comes to health care. Finally, the perceptions of girls residing in rural and urban regions regarding their preferred jobs show a negligible mean difference (p<.05). But when it comes to the desire for educational attainment, it turns out that there is a substantial mean difference (p<.01). Nonetheless, there is a noteworthy average distinction (p<.05) between nuclear and mixed families with respect to the supportive conduct of parents toward their son. Additionally, the preference of nuclear and joint families to invest more in their sons, however, is not significantly different (p<.05). Ultimately, parental preference for a son's job over a daughter's is significantly different (p<.05) in nuclear versus joint homes. Parents should therefore encourage their kids to succeed academically. But females ought to have to go to school and be given the same respect as boys do.

Investigate the influence of multiple elements on the criminal behavior of young people in Pakistan

2024-01-31T08:22:37+00:00

One of Pakistan's biggest issue is criminality. Increasing crime rates nationwide are starting to raise serious concerns. It's widely recognized that the underprivileged section of society experiences poor social, psychological, physical, and economic situations, which are linked to criminal behavior. The main causes of young offenders in Pakistan are hunger, joblessness, and bribery. The primary goal of the current study was to look into the elements influencing young people's criminal behavior in Pakistan particularly in two metropolitan cities, Rawalpindi and Lahore. The current study concluded that highest 27% of the individuals claimed unemployment and 24% considered poverty was the primary reason of crime. 19.2% of the participants said that social media, 15.4% peer pressure, 8.0% education deficiency, and 6.4% political insecurity contributes to crime. The elements unemployment (27%) and poverty (24%) highly related to crime. Alongside this, the bivariate analysis indicated that unemployment had a significant effect on the criminal behavior of the young people with the chi-square value of (143.031) and p-value (0.017), and poverty with the chi-square value of (125.021) and p-value (0.005). In addition, the multiple linear regression showed the strong correlation between crime and unemployment, poverty, peer pressure, and social media among young people with p≤0.05 and R²= 0.735. Therefore, the study recommended that the government and non-governmental organizations, and other groups serving the general public should start adult empowerment initiatives that lead to the reduction of crimes among young people.