scholarly journals Defamiliarizing Technology, Habituation, and the Need for a Structuralist Approach

Author(s):  
Mark Coeckelbergh

AbstractIn response to my article “Earth, Technology, Language”, Christopher Müller asks whether use-oriented theory and Wittgensteinian language can capture the structural relations of power that shape habituation and argues that digital media do not provide opportunities for empowerment and democracy because there is no co-ownership. In my reply I argue that I have shown that this can be done with the broader conception of use I propose, that the grammar of technology should also be understood in terms of implicit knowledge, and that technology, like language, also has a public dimension: I claim that there is no such thing as a private technology or private power, and that some degree of co-ownership or resistance is possible. In the second part of the paper I reply to Bas de Boer’s questioning of my criticism of postsphenomenology. I insist that postphenomenology does not have the full instrumentarium to carry out an adequate and comprehensive analysis of the social dimension of technology use, and that it is important to attend to the structural dimension of technology, with or without use of the term ‘transcendental’. I clarify my use of the term as referring to conditions of possibility.

Author(s):  
Evgenii Aleksandrovich Popov

This article describes the capabilities of methodology of studying art in the three interrelated scientific fields – sociology, culturology, and art history. Emphasis is placed on determination of the key criteria of comprehensive approach towards the analysis of art: each of the three scientific fields may have its own unique criteria for such analysis, but there also universal criteria that allow most fully assessing the essence and purpose of art, considering the general trends of its development in modern reality. The subject of this research is the methodology of comprehensive analysis of art using the instruments of sociology, culturology, and art history. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) disclosure of the content of the methodology of studying art; 2) determination of various criteria for comprehensive analysis of art within the framework of sociology, culturology, and art history; 3) demonstration of capabilities of using certain criteria in analyzing the essence of art and artworks; 4) focus on the social dimension of art, touching upon the heuristic value of the methods of applied sociological research; 5) characteristics of the capabilities of studying the symbolic nature of art in the context of culturology; 6) assessment of the development trends of the methodology of modern art history.


Author(s):  
Mark Coeckelbergh

AbstractThe empirical turn, understood as a turn to the artifact in the work of Ihde, has been a fruitful one, which has rightly abandoned what Serres and Latour call “the empire of signs” of the postmoderns. However, this has unfortunately implied too little attention for language and its relation to technology. The same can be said about the social dimension of technology use, which is largely neglected in postphenomenology. This talk critically responds to Ihde (mainly) and Stiegler, and sketches a Wittgensteinian inroad to a more holistic and transcendental revision of postphenomenology which does not turn away from the artifact but places it in a wider social context and asks the question regarding the relation between language and technology. Finally, since the earth may be the ultimate condition of possibility, it is asked what this language-sensitive and transcendental approach may imply for rethinking our human position and agency in the Anthropocene. The paper ends with pointing to the role of language as transcendental condition that shapes the very project of thinking the “Anthropocene.”


Author(s):  
Calvin Taylor

Drawing on ethnographic research conducted with adolescents at a rural Australian high school, this chapter constructs a theoretical model for “mobile literacy.” Mobile technologies, and their increasing technological capabilities, present emerging challenges for definitions and understandings of what precisely constitutes “literate practice,” challenges which have not been wholly resolved though more disparate discussions of “electronically mediated communication.” Such an understanding is important in order to develop approaches that effectively integrate mobile technologies into formal educational contexts. The model constructed in this chapter draws on different theoretical traditions where literacy is concerned, combining these with a sociological model developed by Pierre Bourdieu, to draw out the importance of the social dimension in mobile technology use. The ethnographic methodology results in findings that reveal the structuring impact of economic, social, cultural, and symbolic resources associated with these devices. Far from revealing that mobiles free us from a consideration of “place,” this research demonstrates that to be “mobile literate” is to be even more finely attuned to the contextual factors for any mobile technology use.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 961-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Antonio Carrasco ◽  
Bernie Hogan ◽  
Barry Wellman ◽  
Eric J Miller

This paper presents a data collection effort designed to incorporate the social dimension in social activity-travel behavior by explicitly studying the link between individuals' social activities and their social networks. The main hypothesis of the data collection effort is that individuals' travel behavior is conditional upon their social networks; that is, a key cause of travel behavior is the social dimension represented by social networks. With this hypothesis in mind, and using survey and interview instruments, the respondents' social networks are collected using an egocentric approach that is constituted by the interplay between their individual social structures and their social activity behavior. More explicitly, individuals' networks are a context within which to elicit social activity-travel generation, spatial distribution, and information communication and technology use. The resultant dataset links aspects, in novel ways, that have been rarely studied together, and provides a sound base of theory and method to study and potentially give new insights about social activity-travel behavior.


2020 ◽  
pp. 145-163
Author(s):  
Marta Casals Balaguer

This article aims to analyse the strategies that jazz musicians in Barcelona adopt to develop their artistic careers. It focuses on studying three main areas that influ-ence the construction of their artistic-professional strategies: a) the administrative dimension, characterized mainly by management and promotion tasks; b) the artistic-creative dimension, which includes the construction of artistic identity and the creation of works of art; and c) the social dimension within the collective, which groups together strategies related to the dynamics of cooperation and col-laboration between the circle of musicians. The applied methodology came from a qualitative perspective, and the main research methods were semi-structured inter-views conducted with active professional musicians in Barcelona and from partic-ipant observation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Valeriy HEYETS ◽  

Self-realization of the individual in the conditions of using the policy of “social quality” as a modern tool of public administration in a transitional society is largely related to overcoming the existing limitations of the individual in acting in such a society and economy transitioning to a market character. Given that, in particular, in Ukraine the market is hybrid (and this is especially important), the existing limitations in self-realization of the individual must be overcome, including, and perhaps primarily, through transformations in the processes of socialization, which differ from European practices and institutions that ensure its implementation. Thus, it is a matter of overcoming not only and not so much the natural selfish interests of the individual, but the existing gap in skills, which are an invisible asset to ensure the endogenous nature of economic growth. It is shown that there is an inverse relationship between the formation of socialization and the policy of “social quality”, which is characterized by the dialectic of interaction between the individual and the group and which is a process of increasing the degree of socialization. The latter, due to interdependence, will serve to increase the effectiveness of interaction between the individual and the group, which expands the possibilities of self-realization of the individual in terms of European policy of “social quality” as a tool of public administration, whose successful application causes new challenges and content of the so-called secondary sociology. The logic of Ukraine's current development shows that new approaches are needed to achieve the social development goals set out in the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union and to minimize the potential risks and threats that accompany current reforms in Ukrainian society. They should introduce new forms of public administration to create policy interrelationships of all dimensions, as proposed, in particular, by the social quality approach to socialization, the nature of which has been revealed in the author's previous publications. As a result, the socio-cultural (social) dimension will fundamentally change, the structure of which must include the transformational processes of socialization of a person, thanks to which they will learn the basics of life in the new social reality and intensify their social and economic interaction on the basis of self-realization, thereby contributing to the success of state policy of social quality and achieving stable socio-economic development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Syufaat Syufaat

Waqf has two dimensional meaning; the spiritual dimension that is taqarrub to Allah and the social dimension as the source of Islamic financial for the welfare of the people. Waqf disputes can be caused by several reasons; waqf land is not accompanied with a pledge; waqf is done on the basis of mutual trust so it has no legal proof and ownership. Currently, the choice to use the court is less effective in resolving disputes. Hence, the public ultimately chooses non-litigation efforts as a way to resolve the disputes. Mediation process is preferred by many as it is viewed to be the fairest way where none of the two parties wins or loses (win-win solution). It is also fast and cheap. This study is intended to examine how to solve waqf dispute with mediation model according to the waqf law, and how the application of mediation in the Religious Courts system


2020 ◽  
Vol 338 ◽  
pp. 265-275
Author(s):  
Daniel Zimmermann

In July 2019 the new president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented her guidelines for the period of presidency 2019-2024. While most proposals perpetuate the current reform agenda, the focus on the social dimension of the single market is remarkable. Von der Leyen has not only announced the full implementation of the European Pillar on Social Rights, but also highlighted new investment in digital competences seen as a key to competitiveness and innovation of the European economy. This paper will discuss whether the dynamics of the digital single market could lead to a new impetus on EU social policy and on European funding of training programmes. Therefore, an overview of significant funding programmes promoting digital skills is given.


Author(s):  
Thorsten Fögen

The chapter explores reflections on the practice of letter-writing, with equal attention to instructional handbooks (esp. Demetrius’ Περὶ ἑρμηνείας‎, Iulius Victor’s Rhetorica, Pseudo-Demetrius’ Τύποι ἐπιστολικοί‎, Pseudo-Libanius’ Ἐπιστολιμαῖοι χαρακτῆρες‎, and Erasmus of Rotterdam’s De conscribendis epistolis) and the meta-generic statements that letter-writers routinely embed in their correspondence (with a special focus on Cicero, Ovid, Seneca, and Pliny the Younger). In both types of sources, what one might call the social dimension of style registers as a primary concern: in order for the letter to fulfil its purpose, namely to generate a special bond between sender and recipient, the chosen idiolect has to be ‘appropriate’ (πρέπον‎/aptum) to the interpersonal relationship and its specific circumstances and exigencies. Shared stylistic values and the willingness of the letter-writer to adjust his character to that of the recipient generate a sense of community between the correspondents.


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