The Public Sphere and Comparative Historical Research

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-290
Author(s):  
Andreas Koller
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Historical Social Science

In state-of-the-field surveys of historical sociology and of historical social science at large, the study of the public sphere is missing. The rise of historical social science has not led to an established tradition of comparative historical research on the public sphere. This article gives an introduction to this topic and to this special issue, seeking to clarify the definition of the object of study and its stakes and providing an overview of analytic and historical dimensions relevant to the comparative historical study of the public sphere. The article argues that this search for an integrative framework is a necessary condition for well-defined comparative historical research, for incorporating the fragmented research from numerous disciplines, and thus for improving our understanding of the historical formation and the transformations of this central sphere of social life.

Iranian Women from Private Sphere to Public Sphere, With Focus on Parliament

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-414
Author(s):  
Elaheh Koolaee
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Iranian Women ◽  
The Public ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractWomen in Iran have gained unprecedented experiences in the course of their fight for democracy and human rights. In the Pahlavi era, the modernisation model was based on Western patterns. With the Islamic Revolution, a new generation of Iranian women emerged in social arenas. Ayatollah Khomeini always emphasised women's prominent and important role in social life. His views shed light on potentials for women's rights, but the obstacle of old cultural and historical attitudes have made these ideas difficult to actualise. The weakness of civil organisations, including women's political and non-political organisations, has seriously affected the outcomes. Although a reformist government and the reinforcement of governmental institutions concerned with women's affairs can play a part in improving the situation of women, women's civil society organisations can assume responsibilities at social levels in order to complement the role of the representatives. The author discusses the process of women's entrance in the public sphere and efforts by the 6th parliament to protect their rights.

One Europe or several Europes? The cultural logic of narratives of Europe — views from France and Britain

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Rovisco
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural Sociology ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
Cultural Logic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Active Debate ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Key Events ◽  
Analytical Tools

Bringing together humanities and social science perspectives, this article applies narrative genres and symbolic classifications as analytical tools to examine competing cultural understandings of Europe, in France and Britain, through 2003 and 2005. Drawing on data from newspaper coverage of a set of key events of European debate, the author discusses how narratives and symbolic configurations of Europe are constructed differently in France and Britain in the context of the symbolic struggle to define who are core Europeans. Through the lens of a cultural sociology approach, the author argues that, in order to make their claims about Europe valid and plausible, political and cultural elites have to be able to translate the cultural idea of Europe into public narratives that resonate with the expectations and beliefs of the wider national public. This is particularly the case in moments of crisis or uncertainty over the meaning of Europe when novel demands and events, deriving from social or political pressures, generate a more active debate in the public sphere about Europe and EU affairs.

scholarly journals Islamic Moral Comedy? The Representation of Islam in Malaysian Comedy Films Syurga Cinta (Paradise of Love, 2009) and Ustaz, Mu Tunggu Aku Datang! (Ustaz, I’m Coming! 2013)

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-138
Author(s):  
Suria Hani A.Rahman ◽  
Rosidayu Sabran ◽  
Rosninawati Hussin
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
True Love ◽  
Islamic Principle ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
The Public Sphere

This article examines how Islam is being represented in Malaysian comedy films: Syurga Cinta/Paradise of Love (Ahmad Idham, 2009) and Ustaz, Mu Tunggu Aku Datang!/Ustaz, I’m Coming! (Pierre Andre, 2013). As one of a popular genre in film, comedy and its comical narratives has the ability to critique social, cultural and political conditions within the specific context of Malaysia. Using film narrative analysis, this study identifies that both films revolve around a similar plot of a male quest for haram (forbidden) obsessions, such as fortune or women, and a return to morality (i.e. humility and true love). As these comedies attempt to illuminate the intersection between religion and comical narrative, the way they feature the main characters are not simply as sinful or immoral. Rather, they are portrayed as misguided, but equally amusing in dealing with misfortune and wrongfulness. This article found that the central element of both films lies in its incongruity between the traditional Islamic principle and trajectories which against morality. Besides the call for morality, this article also argues that Malaysian comedy is also shaped in response to the Islamisation of the public sphere, thus, underlines the ‘re-imagine social life’ within the Malay (sian)-Muslim context.

The Watchdog Still Barks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Knobel
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Action ◽  
News Media ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Free Press ◽  
The Public ◽  
Internet Age ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere

This chapter discusses the erosion of the newspaper business and presents arguments as to why the free press is important, even in the Internet age. It also details the research behind this volume, and argues that no other function of a free press is as important as its ability to monitor the work of the government. The presence of a vibrant press to monitor government is not just important on the micro level but is essential to the proper functioning of our democracy. In fact, the work of the news media is valued because it helps empower the “public sphere,” meaning a realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed. Here, the public sphere is not just a virtual or imagined place to discuss public affairs, but it is also a mechanism to enable citizens to influence social action.

Performance, performativity and melodrama as dramatic substance in Hindi film song sequences

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-147
Author(s):  
Anna Morcom
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
New Method ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Key Nodes ◽  
Hindi Film

Abstract In this article, I explore the dramatic substance of Hindi film songs through an approach based in performance studies, which presents performance as the very stuff of social life, social identities and social power. Given this, the enactment of song sequences in the Hindi film narrative cannot be dramatically benign, or just excess, or just pleasure (however intense). I describe how song sequences perform and thereby manifest and reify love and romance in the film narrative. Using work on public spectacle and power by Foucault and the public sphere by Vasudevan, I further analyse how they connect the public, emotions of love, and social or familial struggle in various ways, embodying key nodes of melodrama. I then reflect, in these terms, on the recent curtailment of performed songs in Hindi films. I thereby present a new method for analysing the dramatic agency of screened or background songs in films.

As the Pirates Become CEOs: The Closing of the Open Internet

Daedalus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 145 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeynep Tufekci
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Computational Social Science ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Public ◽  
Computational Inference ◽  
Online Experience ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Networked Public Sphere

The early Internet witnessed the flourishing of a digitally networked public sphere in which many people, including dissidents who had little to no access to mass media, found a voice as well as a place to connect with one another. As the Internet matures, its initial decentralized form has been increasingly replaced by a small number of ad-financed platforms, such as Facebook and Google, which structure the online experience of billions of people. These platforms often design, control, influence, and “optimize” the user experience according to their own internal values and priorities, sometimes using emergent methods such as algorithmic filtering and computational inference of private traits from computational social science. The shift to a small number of controlling platforms stems from a variety of dynamics, including network effects and the attractions of easier-to-use, closed platforms. This article considers these developments and their consequences for the vitality of the public sphere.

scholarly journals On Education & the Common Good

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
John Covaleskie
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Human Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Do So

This response to Coulson's recent EPAA piece, "Human Life, Human Organizations, and Education," argues that Coulson is wrong about "human nature," social life, and the effects of unregulated capitalist markets. On these grounds, it is argued that his call to remove education from the public sphere should be rejected. The point is that education is certainly beneficial to individuals who receive it, but to think of education as purely a private and personal good properly distributed through the market is seriously to misconstrue the meaning of education. We should not care to be the sort of people who do so.

scholarly journals HAK DAN AKTIVITAS POLITIK WANITA PERSPEKTIF ABŪ AL-A‘LĀ AL-MAUDŪDĪ

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-211
Author(s):  
Putri Adelia
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Women's Role ◽  
Muslim Scholars ◽  
At Home

There is an assumption that develops in society that according to religion women have no place in social life and women's role is limited only in the domestic sphere. The implication is that women are not allowed to take roles in the public sphere, such as being educated as equals to men, working outside the home, even taking part in political territory. One of the modern-day Muslim scholars who interpreted the verse as a limitation on women leaving the house was Abū al-A‘lā al-Maudūdī. The author is interested in further examining his interpretation because it is classified into modern commentators but some interpretations related to women seem to be gender biased. This paper will discuss al-Maudūdī's interpretation of the QS. Al-Aḥzāb: 33 this verse is said to be the initial foothold regarding perceptions of restrictions on the movement of women in the public sphere resulting from an understanding of the results of the interpretation of orders for women to always remain at home. Then examine how this interpretation affects women's political activities.

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