Agency, Rationality and Social Policy

2001 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL HOGGETT
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Subject Positions ◽  
The Real ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
Critical Account

The recent concern to develop a radical but critical account of agency in social policy is to be welcomed. However this article questions whether the work of A. Giddens can provide an adequate foundation for such a project. Giddens's account of the welfare subject contains several weaknesses. It is voluntaristic and yet paradoxically it cannot offer an adequate understanding of radical change. It is also rationalistic and assumes the existences of a unitary and knowledgeable subject. As a consequence there is a danger that social policy develops a lop-sided model of agency which is insufficiently sensitive to the passionate, tragic and contradictory dimensions of human experience. A robust account of the active welfare subject must be prepared to confront the real experiences of powerlessness and psychic injury which result from injustice and oppression and acknowledge human capacities for destructiveness towards self and others. Only by exploring these different subject positions – victim, ‘own worst enemy’ and creative, reflexive agent – can we develop an understanding of the welfare subject which is optimistic without being naive.

scholarly journals "Secondary" myth in the context of doctrinal foundations of non-traditional religions and occult-mystical groups: the evolution of relationships in postmodern culture

2006 ◽  
pp. 13-19
Author(s):  
A.T. Schedrin
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
The Real ◽  
Radical Reform ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Mind

Philosophical and anthropological explorations of the state of modern culture testify to its crisis nature, connected with the acceleration of the processes of radical change of civilizational type of development. The need for a radical reform of the foundations of the future existence of society becomes evident. Lack of understanding of the real means of such reformation leads to the total disregard for the possibilities of the mind. One of its manifestations is the rapid growth of new and unconventional religions and occult-mystical currents; significant revival of the "secondary" myth-making (in particular, naturalistic, socio-technical); the spread of quasi-religious beliefs and infidelities; overall growth of mystical moods. The study of this aspect of the crisis of modern civilization is an urgent philosophical, religious, cultural and cultural problem.

scholarly journals Planejamento, estratégia local e complexidade: uma reinterpretação do legado do Projeto Eixo Tamanduatehy (Santo André)

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Jeroen Klink
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Management ◽  
Neoliberal Globalization ◽  
The Real ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
The City ◽  
Critical Literature

R e s u m o O artigo problematiza a literatura crítica sobre o Projeto Eixo Tamanduatehy (Santo André) no sentido de enraizá-la na trajetória específica da cidade de Santo André e de contribuir com a reflexão sobre o significado das “experiências reais” de planejamento estratégico urbano no cenário atual da globalização neoliberal. Argumentamos que a ausência de uma leitura de três dimensões entrelaçadas dificultou uma compreensão adequadado legado deste projeto, isto é: (I) a construção política e contestada da escala local, além de seu significado para a disputa de hegemonia sobre a gestão urbana; (II) o planejamento estratégico,a neoliberalização e a emergência de uma representação hegemônica do espaço urbano a partirdo Projeto Eixo Tamanduatehy e (III) planos, projetos estratégicos e a emergência de novos espaços de representação.Palavras-chave Empresariamento urbano; planejamento estratégico; Projeto Eixo Tamanduatehy. A b s t r a c t In this paper the critical literature on the Project Eixo Tamanduatehyis highlighted in a problematic perspective, in the sense of embedding it within the specific trajectory of the city of Santo André, and to contribute with a reflection on the significanceof the “real experiences” of strategic urban planning in the present scenario of neoliberal globalization. Our argument is that the absence of an analysis on three interlinked dimensions has made an adequate understanding of the legacy of this project more difficult, that is: (i)the political and contested nature of scale, besides its significance for the hegemonic disputesover urban management; (ii) strategic planning, neoliberalization and the emergence of ahegemonic representation of urban space on the basis of the Project Eixo Tamanduatehy; and (iii) plans, strategic projects and the emergence of new spaces of representation.Keywords Projeto Eixo Tamanduatehy; strategic planning; urban entrepreneurialism;.

Will a Basic Income Do Justice to Women?

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Robeyns
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
The Real ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Gender Division Of Labour

AbstractThis article addresses the question whether a basic income will be a just social policy for women. The implementation of a basic income will have different effects for different groups of women, some of them clearly positive, some of them negative. The real issues that concern feminist critics of a basic income are the gender-related constraints on choices and the current gender division of labour, which are arguably both playing at the disadvantage of women. It is argued that those issues are not adequately addressed by a basic income proposal alone, and therefore basic income has to be part of a larger packet of social policy measures if it wants to maximise real freedom for all.

The Real and the Intermedial in Alexander Sokurov’s Family Trilogy

2020 ◽  
pp. 185-202
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Bugaj
Keyword(s):  
Medical Images ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
The Real ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
Cinematic Experience ◽  
Discrete Part ◽  
Father And Son

This chapter examines how Alexander Sokurov's Mother and Son (Mat i syn, 1997), Father and Son (Otsets i syn, 2003) and Alexandra (2007) situate themselves at the intersection of the immediate and the constructed cinematic experience. The films under discussion emphasise the trace of physical presence on screen through haptic images conveying the multisensory dimension of the human experience, in particular touch and smell. Simultaneously, the Russian family trilogy consciously underscores the awareness of film as a medium carrying the story along with the mediation and remediation of painterly and medical images. Each section of the chapter focuses on a discrete part of the trilogy and investigates the oscillation between the material and artificial that is characteristic of these works.

Social dialogue in candidate countries: what for?

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Lado ◽  
Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
The Real ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Dialogue Process ◽  
Eu Candidate Countries ◽  
The Eu

In their negotiations for accession to the EU, candidate countries have made important social policy commitments. These include the promotion of social dialogue up to EU standards and the application of the principles and values that prevail in this area. Accordingly, governments of candidate countries are trying to promote appropriate conditions for such social dialogue to take place, while social partners are reinforcing their structures to play their full role in the social dialogue process. Nevertheless, there has been little debate about the real objectives of social dialogue in the candidate countries. What is social dialogue for, what has it achieved so far, and why is it so important to develop it further? Who are expected to be the ultimate beneficiaries of social dialogue mechanisms and practices? What implications might current features of social dialogue in candidate countries have in the enlarged European Union? This article provides a first tentative assessment of the coverage of social dialogue - and thus of the effectiveness of social dialogue mechanisms - in the candidate countries.

scholarly journals POPULATIONS AS DETERMINANT OF LATVIA’S SECURITY

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-28
Author(s):  
Jan A. WENDT ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
National Security ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Natural Increase ◽  
Slight Effect ◽  
Population Number ◽  
Additional Problem ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
Main Determinants

The conducted analysis aims to indicate the real threat of the depopulation process to Latvia's national security. The aim of the analysis is to examine the pace of changes, to indicate their main determinants and potential effects. The research hypothesis assumes that in the absence of an immediate, radical change in the demographic and social policy of the state, the population of Latvia will decrease to the level of approx. 1 million in the next 40-45 years. The conducted research shows a constantly decreasing natural increase and a high, negative level of migration. The carried out extrapolation of the population number confirms the hypothesis put forward in the study. The slight effect of the measures taken so far by the Latvian government to counter the depopolation process does not allow us to put an end to the optimistic scenarios of changes in demographic processes. An additional problem of the country's security is the issue of, above all, the Russian ethnic minority and the almost 10% share of non-citizens among the country's inhabitants.

Theology and the Anthropology of Christian Life

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Radical Change ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Gift Giving ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Anthropological Theory ◽  
Anthropology Of Christianity ◽  
The World

Both sociocultural anthropology and theology have made fundamental contributions to our understanding of human experience and the place of humanity in the world. But can these two disciplines, despite the radical differences that separate them, work together to transform their thinking on these topics? This book argues that they can. To make this point, the author draws on key theological discussions of such matters as atonement, eschatology, interruption, passivity, and judgement to rethink important anthropological debates about such topics as ethical life, radical change, the ways people live in time, agency, gift giving, and the nature of humanity. The result is both a reconsideration of important aspects of anthropological theory through theological categories and a series of careful readings of influential theologians such as Moltmann, Pannenberg, Jüngel, and Dalferth from the vantage point of rich ethnographic materials concerning the lives of Christians from around the world. In conclusion, the author draws on contemporary discussions of secularism to interrogate the secular foundations of anthropology and suggests that the differences between anthropology and theology in regard to this topic can provide a foundation rather than obstacle to their dialogue. Written as a work of interdisciplinary anthropological theorizing, this book also provides theologians an introduction to some of the most important ground covered by the burgeoning field of the anthropology of Christianity while guiding anthropologists into some major areas of theological discussion.

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