scholarly journals Political ideas of the network society: why digitalization research needs critical conceptual analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent August
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Network Society ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
Digital Society ◽  
Political Actors

AbstractIn this article, I argue for an interpretive approach to digitalization research that analyzes the concepts, narratives, and belief systems in digitalization debates. I illustrate this methodological proposal by assessing the spread of network ideas. Many political actors and digitalization researchers follow network ideas, e.g. by claiming that the rise of a network society must lead to network governance. In contrast to this narrative, I argue that there are multiple visions of the digital society, each of which follows a specific pattern of epistemology, social imaginary, and political proposals. These competing self-interpretations must be investigated by digitalization research in order to map and evaluate different pathways into a digital society. For doing so, critical conceptual analysis draws on political theory, critical conceptual history, and the sociology of knowledge. It offers two major benefits for digitalization research. Firstly, it provides a systematic overview of competing governance rationalities in the digital society, enabling a critical evaluation of their potentials and proposals. Secondly, it enhances the methodological rigor of digitalization research by reviewing the narratives researchers themselves tell. I substantiate these claims by analyzing and historicizing the above network narrative. Tracing it back to cybernetics, I show that it has been used multiple times in efforts to reshape the way we think about society and politics, including our concepts of subjectivity, power, and governance.

A conceptual analysis of the term ‘populism’

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Pía Lara
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Conceptual History ◽  
Political Actors

In this paper I want to leave behind the failed attempts to think about populism as ideology, strategy, style, or even discourse. I will focus on the ‘conceptual battles of politics’ and their potential to influence actors to pursue and effect specific ends. Reinhart Koselleck and his ideas about conceptual history will figure prominently in my discussion, as will his concept of asymmetrical combat-concept as a means of unleashing a theoretical and political war. The goal is to demonstrate that concepts have taken the place of weapons of war among political actors.

scholarly journals Meanings and Interpretations of Spirituality in Nursing and Health

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasreen Lalani
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Spiritual Growth ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Personal Construct ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Conceptual Clarity

Numerous spirituality models and tools have been developed in health education and research, but a gap still exists around the conceptual clarity and articulation of spirituality among nurses and healthcare providers. Nurses and healthcare providers still find it difficult to interpret and apply the concepts of spirituality in their practice settings. This paper provides a concept analysis of spirituality using the Walker and Avant method of conceptual analysis. Several databases including conceptual and empirical literature from various disciplines have been used. The defining attributes of spirituality included spirituality and religion as a separable or mutual construct, spirituality as a personal construct, wholeness and integration, meaning making and purpose, sense of connectedness and relationship, transcendence, inner source of power, energy, and strength. Major antecedents of spirituality found were faith, personal values, and belief systems, and life adversities. Consequences of spirituality included personal/spiritual growth and wellbeing, resilience, and religiousness. Spirituality is a unique and personal human experience, an individualised journey characterised by multiple experiential accounts such as meaning making, purpose, connectedness, wholeness and integration, energy, and transcendence. Spiritual experiences are often difficult to examine and measure using scientific tools and empirical language. Healthcare providers need to fully understand and apply spirituality and spiritual care aspects to provide holistic person-centred care.

scholarly journals «THE ORDER OF THE SOCIAL» AS A CATEGORY: OPERATIONALIZATION OPPORTUNITIES

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
The Social ◽  
Knowledge Perspective ◽  
Micro Level

The article reveals the heuristic potential of the category «social order», proposed by the author to study the complexity of social systems. Based on historical and sociological material and conceptual analysis, the author demonstrates the potential of this category from the sociology of knowledge perspective. The problem of operationalization of the category «social order» is analyzed. It is emphasized that the key heuristic in this problem is the isolation and construction of the concept "cardinality of the order», which, by analogy with set theory, is understood as a generalization of the number of elements of order, that is the number of existing or possible connections. The definition, systemic connections and methods of operationalization and indication of the categories «social», «order of social», «cardinality of order» are given and analyzed. A separate accent is placed on the analysis of how the category «cardinality of order» allows us to synthesize micro- and macro-issues of research on the social order. The connection of the social order with freedom as a social construct at the macro level, as well as the structures of order with the event processes at the micro level are the most important plots. In addition, an important plot is the ratio of production and consumption of the social order in terms of growth (differentiation) or decline (dedifferentiation) of order power. The figures of «normal actor» (involved in his daily occurrence), producer and consumer of order of social as factors of dynamics of this order are important in this plot. The possibilities of the sociology of knowledge in the study of the social order are investigated. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of imagination as a way of producing social and social order. The conclusion is formulated on the possibilities and limitations of operationalization and indication of the social order through micro- and macro-parameters.

scholarly journals Trust and authority in the age of mediatised politics

2022 ◽  
pp. 026732312110726
Author(s):  
Anu Koivunen ◽  
Johanna Vuorelma
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
Investigative Journalism ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Validity Claims ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Networked Publics

This article examines the role of trust in the age of mediatised politics. Authority, we suggest, can be successfully enacted despite the disrupted nature of the public sphere if both rational and moral trust are utilised to formulate validity claims. Drawing from Maarten A. Hajer's theorisation of authority in contemporary politics, we develop a model of how political actors and institutions as well as the media employ both rational and moral trust performances to generate authority. Analysing a Finnish case of controversial investigative journalism on defence intelligence, we show how the media in network governance need to critically evaluate the authority performances of political actors while at the same time enacting their own authority performances to retain their position within the governing network and to manufacture trust among networked publics. This volatile position can lead to situations where the media compete for authority with traditional political institutions.

scholarly journals Disinformation, social media, bots, and astroturfing: the fourth wave of digital democracy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berta García-Orosa
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Technological Determinism ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Fourth Wave

This article reflects on the conceptualization and the salient features of the ecology of e-democracy. The authors identify four distinct waves marked by technological innovations and studied under the control–participation dichotomy. In the first wave, during the 1990s, political actors begin to establish their online presence but without any other notable changes in communication. The second wave takes place from 2004 to 2008 and features the consolidation of social networks and the increasing commodification of audience engagement. The third wave begins to take shape during Obama’s 2008 election campaign, which featured micro-segmentation and the use of big data. The fourth wave, starting in 2016 with the Brexit campaign and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, has been defined by the front and center use of Artificial Intelligence. Some recent phenomena that challenge or buttress the make-up of critical public opinion are the following: a) digital platforms as political actors; b) the marked use of Artificial Intelligence and big data; c) the use of falsehoods as a political strategy, as well as other fake news and deep fake phenomena; d) the combination of hyperlocal and supranational issues; e) technological determinism; f) the search for audience engagement and co-production processes; and g) trends that threaten democracy, to wit, the polarization of opinions, astroturfing, echo chambers and bubble filters. Finally, the authors identify several challenges in research, pedagogy and politics that could strengthen democratic values, and conclude that democracy needs to be reimagined both under new research and political action frameworks, as well as through the creation of a social imaginary on democracy.

On the Politics ofImidž: European Integration and the Trials of Recognition in Postconflict Macedonia

Slavic Review ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 835-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Graan
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Neoliberal Reform ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
International Image ◽  
European Union Expansion

This article examines how a discourse on international image animated Macedonian politics following the country's 2001 conflict and how it reflected a broader cultural politics of European Union expansion. Contrasting with the continual deferral of recognition that characterized European integration in Macedonia, the Macedonian discourse on image(imidž)anchored a social imaginary where a national project of marketing could facilitate Macedonia's accession into the European Union and concretize its belonging to "Europe." The analysis developed here centers on the ambivalences in this discourse and the practices it authorized. By incorporating both orientalist distinctions and key concepts from the European Union's own process of integration, the discourse of imidž supported the neoliberal reform associated with Macedonia's postconflict restructuring and European integration. But the discourse on imidž also provided Macedonian political actors with an idiom in which to imagine, respond to, and capitalize on the larger political forces engendered by discursive constructs of Europe and the international community.

scholarly journals Heuristics of “social activity” concept in Yelena Yakuba’s interpretation: view from sociology of knowledge and view from 2019

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Sociological Knowledge ◽  
Social Maturity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Knowledge Perspective ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Sociological Concept

The article reveals the heuristic potential of the sociological concept of social activity developed by the founder of the Kharkov Sociological School E. A. Yakuba in the 1960- 1980s. Based on historical and sociological material and conceptual analysis, the author demonstrates the potential of this concept from the sociology of knowledge perspective. He analyzes a number of related categories and problems that are introduced by E. A. Yakuba to discuss the problems of social activity. It is emphasized that the elected by E. A. Yakuba position allows to study and measure social activity in detail (that is, answer the question “how?”), However, it is the sociology of knowledge that gives a chance to study the sociogenesis and ontogenesis of social activity (that is, answer the question “why?”). The definition, systemic connections and methods of operationalization and indication of social activity proposed by E. A. Yakuba are given and analyzed. A separate emphasis is placed on the analysis of how the category of “social activity” is associated with the category of “subjectivity”. The most important plot is the connection of the social essence of activity, that is, its inclusion in the sociality of the individual as a connection with the social whole. The evolution of the views of E. A. Yakuba on these categories, as well as their relationship with social maturity, activity, personality, is investigated. The possibilities of the sociology of knowledge in synthesizing various aspects of E. A. Yakuba approach are explored. Particular emphasis is placed on the consistency of E. A. Yakuba’s theory, and also the limitations and specifics of the (often implicit) influence of Marxism on its development have been studied. The conclusion about the possibilities and limitations of updating the concept of “social activity” in a sociological-knowledge reassembling of E. A. Yakuba’s theory is formulated.

scholarly journals Construcción de sentidos: las representaciones sociales de la lectura en la formación de estudiantes universitarios / Construction of Means: the Social Representation of Reading in the Formation of College Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41
Author(s):  
Patricia Guerrero De la Llata ◽  
Sofía Amavizca Montaño
Keyword(s):  
Social Representations ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
State University ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Survey Instruments

ABSTRACTMany of the actions we take in everyday life respond to social and imaginary representations that socially established, widespread and played by institutions such as family and school, reading is not an exception, and influences such how the main actors, students and teachers which translates into small and large actions within the institution which conducted the study which referred to in this document. In turn the institution is a sample of the fabric of the social imaginary that is shared in the country and the proof is not only the indicators but the belief systems. The objective of this research was aimed to finding the social representations that UES students have about reading and how these meanings in individuals permeate their actions and beliefs. It was also concluded that systems of beliefs and actions are not autonomous but are immersed and are part of the social and institutional dynamics and shared with other actors such as teachers. For the analysis we used some concepts in the theoretical approaches of Castoriadis, Moscovici and Bourdieu. The research methodology was mixed and two survey instruments and focus group interview students by two academic units of the State University of Sonora in Mexico were used. We detected by this study both in society and in the institution under study its members read more than what themselves think, but the belief that they must be certain texts and supports "important", do not record the readings on electronic media or those made of non-academic texts.RESUMENGran parte de las acciones que realizamos en la vida cotidiana responden a representaciones sociales e imagina-rios que socialmente se han establecido, generalizado y reproducido  por las instituciones como la familia y la escuela, el caso de la lectura no es una excepción,  e influye de tal forma en los principales actores, estudiantes y profesores que se traduce en las pequeñas y grandes acciones al interior de la institución  en la cual realizamos el estudio del cual hacemos referencia en este documento. A su vez la institución constituye una muestra del entramado del imaginario social que se comparte en el país y prueba de ello es el sistema de creencias y no sólo los indicadores. El objetivo de esta investigación se orientó a encontrar las representaciones sociales que tienen los estudiantes de la UES con respecto a la lectura y cómo estos significados en los individuos permean sus acciones y creencias. Se concluyó que los sistemas de creencias y sus acciones no son autónomas sino que están inmersas y forman parte de las dinámicas sociales e institucionales y se comparten con los otros actores como son los profesores. Para el análisis utilizamos algunos conceptos vertidos en los planteamientos teóricos de  Castoriadis, Moscovici y Bourdieu. La metodología de investigación fue mixta y se utilizaron dos instrumentos la encues-ta y la entrevista en grupo focal a estudiantes de dos unidades académicas de la Universidad Estatal de Sonora en México. Detectamos mediante este estudio que tanto en la sociedad como en la institución objeto de estudio sus integrantes leen más de lo que ellos mismos piensan, pero la creencia de que deben ser determinados textos y soportes los “importantes”, no registran las lecturas en medios electrónicos ni las que se hacen de textos no académicos. Contacto principal: [email protected]

Public Reason and Political Action: Justifying Citizen Behavior in Actually Existing Democracies

2012 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Stears ◽  
Mathew Humphrey
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Public Reason ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Actual Behavior ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Actions

AbstractPolitical theorists seeking to respond to public concerns about citizen behavior in democratic politics might turn to the literature on public reason. Within that literature, idealized citizens are expected to abide by what we call the “public-reason-giving requirement” when engaging in political acts. Here we examine what the doctrine of public reason has to say to political actors in nonideal democratic circumstances. We find that the recommendations for actual behavior in this literature rely heavily upon a forward- and backward-looking “Janus-faced” justification, focused on the way in which non-reason-giving political actions have or could serve the long-term interests of public reason itself. Through a critical evaluation of this idea we suggest that public reason has nothing meaningful to say to contemporary political actors. This, we maintain, is a serious flaw in a putative standard for political behavior and thus the liberal commitment to “public reason” under nonideal circumstances is misplaced.

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