scholarly journals Nationalism, “Philosemitism,” and Symbolic Boundary-Making in Contemporary Poland

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geneviève Zubrzycki

AbstractThis article analyzes the growing interest in Jews and all things Jewish in contemporary Poland—from the spectacular popularity of festivals of Jewish culture to the opening of Judaica bookstores and Jewish cuisine restaurants; from the development of Jewish studies programs at various universities and the creation of several museums to artists’ and public intellectuals’ engagements with Poland's Jewish past and Polish-Jewish relations more broadly. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, over sixty formal interviews with Jewish and non-Jewish activists, and informal conversations with participants in various Jewish-centered initiatives, I argue that this cultural phenomenon is related to the attempt by specific political and social groups to build a pluralistic society in an ethnically and denominationally homogenous nation-state. I build on the literature on nationalism and symbolic boundaries by showing that bringing back Jewish culture and “resurrecting the Jew” is a way to soften, stretch, and reshape the symbolic boundaries of the nation that the Right wants to harden and shrink using Catholicism as its main tool.

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 22-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwen Van Eijk

This article examines ‘neighbouring’ as the setting in which cross-category relations develop and symbolic boundaries are constructed. The study is based on thirty in-depth interviews with residents living in a multi-ethnic and a mono-ethnic neighbourhood in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The findings challenge the hoped-for outcomes of social mixing in neighbourhoods, as well as the view that boundary making is something inherent to multi-ethnic neighbourhoods only. Neighbour relations are often setting-specific (relations are interchangeable, scripted and bounded, and passively maintained), which is relevant for understanding the spatiality of neighbouring and the limited exchange of personal information between neighbours. Because neighbouring involves the balancing of personal privacy and close spatial proximity, the exchange of personal information is limited, while spatial proximity ensures easy access to observable (through seeing, hearing and smelling) categorical markers that signify class, ethnicity, lifestyle, etc. In this way, neighbour interaction reconstructs symbolic boundaries rather than breaking them down.


TEME ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1163
Author(s):  
Milica Resanovic

This paper is devoted to the analysis of the relationship between social stratification and musical taste in present-day Serbia. Following a discussion about Bourdieu’s conceptualization of taste and contemporary theoretical approaches that rehabilitate Bourdieusian heritage, the presence of homology between social positions and musical tastes is tested in Serbian society. On the basis of collected qualitative material via interview, the author examines whether music serves as a symbolic mean that is used by the interviewees to place themselves in certain social groups by drawing symbolic boundaries between them and other social groups that are associated with other musical tastes. The analysis showed that there are differences in musical tastes among respondents based on their position on the stratification scale, manifested in choices and ways of listening to music, as well as that mechanisms of classification are hidden in speech about musical tastes.


Intersections ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergely Romsics

The paper analyzes the mnemonic and political context of the occupation of the Roma Holocaust memorial in Berlin in May 2016, carried out by groups demanding the right to remain in the country for non-citizen Roma. Observing the actor strategies apparent in this event, as well as the governmental logics organizing memorialization, it argues that the pervasive contemporary phenomenon of ‘politics of recognition’ needs to be interpreted as a providing merely a frame for struggles for political agency. Normative symbolic clashes taking place in this frame require a more fine-grained analysis to establish whether certain mnemonic practices inhibit or empower the social groups they reference. The concepts the paper advances as better explaining the outcome of memory struggles are referentiality and productivity. These signify attempts to (re)organize the semantic spaces of memory, and, if successful, allow for political agency to operate in the reconstituted mnemonic landscape. Governmentalities, however, will frequently attempt to deny such reconstitutions of ‘settled’ memory, in which case any politics of recognition remains a hollow shell without the potential to re-orient societal and political practices in the present. In the case of the occupation, the memory conflict highlighted how the past may be use to challenge accepted boundaries and the practice of boundary-making in society, while also highlighting the importance of social and political coalitions to advance change.


2020 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 656-676
Author(s):  
Igor V. Omeliyanchuk

The article examines the main forms and methods of agitation and propagandistic activities of monarchic parties in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century. Among them the author singles out such ones as periodical press, publication of books, brochures and flyers, organization of manifestations, religious processions, public prayers and funeral services, sending deputations to the monarch, organization of public lectures and readings for the people, as well as various philanthropic events. Using various forms of propagandistic activities the monarchists aspired to embrace all social groups and classes of the population in order to organize all-class and all-estate political movement in support of the autocracy. While they gained certain success in promoting their ideology, the Rights, nevertheless, lost to their adversaries from the radical opposition camp, as the monarchists constrained by their conservative ideology, could not promise immediate social and political changes to the population, and that fact was excessively used by their opponents. Moreover, the ideological paradigm of the Right camp expressed in the “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality” formula no longer agreed with the social and economic realities of Russia due to modernization processes that were underway in the country from the middle of the 19th century.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan John Cooper

AbstractDespite a constitutional right to water, challenges remain for access to sufficient water in South Africa. This article considers the degree to which current legal provisions perpetuate approaches that are antithetical to genuinely eco-socio-sustainable water access. Water in South Africa has largely been re-cast as a commodity, exposed to market rules, proving problematic for many and giving rise to various responses, including litigation. In the seminal case of Mazibuko, the Constitutional Court failed to provide robust protection to the right to water, providing impetus for the formation of “commons” strategies for water allocation. Indeed, “commoning” is beginning to represent not only an emerging conceptual strand in urban resource allocation, but also a dynamic, contemporary, eco-sensitive, socio-cultural phenomenon, driving innovative, interactive and inclusive forms of planning and social engagement. Against the backdrop of unequal water access, commoning offers glimpses of an empowering and enfranchising subaltern paradigm.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (S3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey D. Andreev ◽  
Emma V. Bitsieva ◽  
Olga V. Lepeshkina ◽  
Dmitry M. Polonsky ◽  
Marina S. Savchenko

This paper presents the results of a study devoted to the legal phenomenon of political pluralism as a factor in the development of modern society and the state by the example of classical democratic countries. At the same time, attention is focused on such components of political pluralism as formalization of freedom of speech and assembly; a multi-party system, as well as a mechanism for coordinating the interests of various social groups at the parliamentary level. It was found that the most acceptable is the model operating in the FRG, since it allows people to find a balance between guarantees of political diversity, such as freedom of speech and the right to public events. The interaction between civil society institutions and parliamentarians is especially advisable when making decisions in the domestic and foreign policy of the state.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (S1) ◽  
pp. 274-283
Author(s):  
Eko Hendro Saputra ◽  
M. Bahri Ghazali ◽  
Hasan Mukmin ◽  
Bambang Budi Wiranto ◽  
Fitri Yanti

This paper presents understanding da’wah and khatib. Da'wah contains the meaning of an activity to invite people in a wise way to the right path for good, whether in oral, written, or deed, which is done consciously and planned in an effort to achieve welfare and happiness in this world and in the hereafter. In line with that, da'wah according to the term (semantics), contains the meaning of activities that are coaching as an effort to maintain and improve something that has existed before; and can also be defined as development as an activity that leads to renewal or holding something that does not already exist. Khatib in certain situations are sometimes the same as ulama, who as the informal opinion leader are not only considered as Islamic leaders, but are often treated as leaders of social groups or communities whose influence extends beyond the boundaries of religious areas, penetrates into political, social, political aspects, culture, and government.


Author(s):  
Shanita Williams ◽  
Janice Phillips ◽  
Kirk Koyama

Policy advocacy and committed resources are essential to address social factors that shape population health. In this article, we discuss nurse advocacy to advance public health and health equity through targeted social determinants, particularly on behalf of poor and disadvantaged persons. We discuss components of the right social policies and consider evidence-based policies that have linked improvements in social and economic conditions with increased physical, emotional, and mental health outcomes among poor and disadvantaged social groups. With a partnership perspective, select social determinants of health (SDOH) and mitigating policies focus nurses' social policy advocacy to improve the health of disadvantaged populations and reduce health inequities. We suggest nurses engage in multisectoral partnerships and adopt a Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach to address social and health needs of concern. The conclusion offers resources and strategies to promote nurse engagement in health policy.


Author(s):  
Teimuraz Kareli

The article deals with the features of formation of the party systems in the post-Soviet space. To understand the specific processes, the attention is focused on the inverse logic of the post-Soviet states, the basic features of which can be expressed by the concept of neopatrimonialism. In this context the functioning features of political parties, their principal tasks and the logic of creating the "power party" are described. The article examines the key criteria for the concept of the dominant party, such as its ability to consistently and steadily win the elections, the significant duration of its stay in power, as well as its personnel Control over the government. In the sociopolitical discourse the "power party" enjoys a privileged ideological position and has more opportunities compared to its competitors to appeal to voters. Along with that the party dominance reveals itself not only in its external manifestation (the stay in power), but also in the substantial one – the ability to exercise an effective political choice. The article analyzes the factors of sustainability of the "power party" systems: the historical merits of the "power party"; the ruling party’s ability to effectively take advantage of the electoral system; its strong relationships with the most affluent social groups and major corporations, as well as with the predominant ethnic or linguistic social groups; a privileged access of the ruling party to media resources. These factors are also effective in the polycentric political systems without any dominant party. However, under the dominant party systems they manifest themselves in a complex way, providing the ruling camp with a multi-layered protection due to a synergy effect. Particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of clientelism, widely used by the ruling party as a strategy of political mobilization. However, if discrimination arose by clientelism reaches the level that denies clients the right to choose, this is certainly not consistent with the rules of democracy.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147775092110401
Author(s):  
Michal Pruski

In his ‘When conscientious objection runs amok: A physician refusing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) preventative to a bisexual patient’, Brummett has argued that Catholic physicians (or indeed any other healthcare practitioner) should not be able to raise conscientious objections to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis for bisexual patients, as this constitutes discrimination. Brummett argues that such a conscientious objection represents an instance of conscience creep, which he argues is undesirable. Here I re-analyse the case presented by Brummett using a teleological framework and making reference to Catholic teaching on cooperation with evil. While I agree with Brummett that in this case the physician should not have had the right to conscientiously object, I argue that the teleological framework offers advantages over the argument Brummett has presented. I also comment on why only considering empirically measurable harm as a publicly defensible reason for one to hold a conscientious objection is problematic, as well as on the difficulties associated with cases of discrimination in a pluralistic society.


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