PSYCHOLOGY AND CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 627-636
Author(s):  
MIKE SAVAGE
Keyword(s):  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Ian Hacking ◽  
Defence Mechanisms ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Zygmunt Bauman ◽  
The Social ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
Mental Problems

It has long been argued by social theorists that psychology has played a pivotal role in the culture and politics of modern life. This argument was influentially developed in Michel Foucault's Madness and Civilisation, now nearly fifty years old, which showed how our modern embrace of rationality and normality depends on the psychological “enclosure” of the mad as outside the social pale. The philosopher Ian Hacking has looked at the role of psychology in “making up people”, through defining a series of mental problems (such as schizophrenia, neurosis and suchlike) which are then taken up by people so that they become powerful social labels. More recently, influential sociologists ranging from Anthony Giddens to Zygmunt Bauman and Richard Sennett have developed a rich account of the insecurities of the modern self as the need to live in a complex and uncertain world leads to people developing psychological defence mechanisms.

scholarly journals Introduction: Moving Targets Risk, Security, and the Social in Twentieth-Century Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Moses ◽  
Eve Rosenhaft
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
Agent Of Change

According to the sociologists Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens, modern societies have become increasingly preoccupied with the future and safety and have mobilized themselves in order to manage systematically what they have perceived as “risks” (Beck 1992; Giddens 1991). This special section investigates how conceptions of risk evolved in Europe over the course of the twentieth century by focusing on the creation and evolution of social policy. The language of risk has, in the past twenty years, become a matter of course in conversations about social policy (Kemshall 2002). We seek to trace how “risk” has served as aheuristic toolfor understanding and treating “social problems.” A key aim of this collection is to explore the character of social policy (in the broadest sense) as an instrument (or technology) that both constructs its own objects as the consequences of “risks” and generates new “risks” in the process (Lupton 2004: 33). In this way, social policy typifies the paradox of security: by attempting literally to making one “carefree,” orsē(without)curitās(care), acts of (social) security spur new insecurities about what remains unprotected (Hamilton 2013: 3–5, 25–26). Against this semantic and philological context, we suggest that social policy poses an inherent dilemma: in aiming to stabilize or improve the existing social order, it also acts as an agent of change. This characteristic of social policy is what makes particularly valuable studies that allow for comparisons across time, place, and types of political regime. By examining a range of cases from across Europe over the course of the twentieth century, this collection seeks to pose new questions about the role of the state; ideas about risk and security; and conceptions of the “social” in its various forms.

scholarly journals Droit et Semiotique: La Cohérence Narrative

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 331
Author(s):  
Sylvie André
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Narrative Theory ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Human Race ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
New Perspective

In this article, Professor André considers the nature of legal rules, their methods of creation and their interpretation and application. The role of modern narrative theory in answering these perennial questions is explored and two conclusions are reached: first, the classic explanations of legitimacy that underpin reasoning in the social sciences are increasingly losing ground; and, secondly, contemporary literary accounts based on the reasons for this loss of ground provide a strong challenge to narratives of coherence that are closely linked to Western culture. The existing model of knowledge does not correspond to the reality of contemporary society; the rules and principles that even today are still regarded as universal are seen by a large fraction of the human race as relative and cultural. Insights from narrative theory show that the perennial law questions must now be revisited with a new perspective.

scholarly journals Public Internet discussions on faith: The problem of persuasion effectiveness

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-162
Author(s):  
Angelina I. Matyashevskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Internet Communication ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Internet Users

Considering effective communication, linguists traditionally focus on the type of the addressee and the conditions of their interaction with the addresser. The paper analyzes some transformations of oral genres on the Internet, including public discussions on the role of Orthodox faith in modern life, the functions of the religion in the spiritual and moral education of the contemporary society and its relation to the scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century. The analysis of video materials shows that their main addressee is the youth audience. Thus, it determines the methods of argumentation chosen in public Internet communication. The YouTube program “I Don’t Believe in God: Talking to an Atheist” has guests of all ages and professions: clergy, scientists and popularizers of science, politicians, journalists, interpreters, doctors, artists, movie critics and bloggers. The speakers are obviously oriented toward the predicted audience, complicates philosophical issues are discussed using real-life examples and involving both logical and emotional arguments. The article also focuses on the relaxed and friendly atmosphere of the conversation. Notably, a lively exchange of opinion boosts the Internet users’ attention and encourages the multidimensional interpretation of the views. A variety of perspectives sparks the youth interest in the discussed issues, facilitates critical thinking, inspires viewers to search for the truth themselves and to form sound judgments on religious faith and atheism. The results of the research may be used to improve students’ public speaking skills.

Priesthood and Politics in the Nineteenth Century: The Turbulent Career of Thomas Mcdonnell

1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith F. Champ
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Pyramidal Structure ◽  
The Social

THE CONSEQUENCE of the Cisapline attempt to ‘grapple with the social and intellectual transformation of the modern world” and to bring about a ‘revision of the pyramidal structure of the Tridentine Church” was the greater assimilation of English Catholics into contemporary society. Encouraged by a new sense of freedom, clergy and laity participated more actively in English public life’ and dismantled much of the closed élite community of the recusant period. This led to a brief phase in which both clergy and laity exercised their new-found freedoms, but which was dogged by disputes. Arguments raged between liberalism and authority, and between sectarian ideals and non-denominational activities. They were eventually resolved in a restoration, by 1850, of the pyramidal structure of the Tridentine Church, in which the role of the laity was subject to the authority and guidance of the clergy.

On Dialogic Speech

PMLA ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lev Petrovich Yakubinsky ◽  
Michael Eskin
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Russian Linguistics ◽  
Russian Formalism ◽  
Collective Activity ◽  
The Social

Although the pivotal role of the Russian linguist L. P. Yakubinsky (1892-1945) in the development of modern linguistics and literary theory has been repeatedly stated by prominent scholars, he has remained virtually unknown outside Russia. Yakubinsky was educated at Petersburg University in 1909–15 during a period of academic renewal and challenge in Russian linguistics, a field that hitherto had been dominated by the neogrammarian study of language. The neogrammarians' positivist and historicist concerns were contested by a range of scholars interested in the functional diversity of language and concomitantly in the processuality of language as an individual and a collective activity. In this heated atmosphere of reevaluation and change Yakubinsky, with some of his fellow students and colleagues, such as Osip Brik and Viktor B. Shklovsky, initiated the movement that later came to be called Russian formalism. In fact, the functional distinction between “poetic” and “practical” language that Yakubinsky introduced in his groundbreaking study “On the Sounds in Poetic Language” (“O ”; Jakubinskij 163-76) became the cornerstone of formalist criticism and “served as the activating principle for the Formalists' treatment of the fundamental problems of poetics” (Èjchenbaum 8). Yakubinsky thus laid the foundation for structuralism. However, he soon moved away from the formalists' preoccupation with poetic and literary texts and devoted himself to the social dimension of the functions and forms of language.

scholarly journals Ageing process and policosanol effects

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-283
Author(s):  
José Illnait-Ferrer ◽  
Julio César Fernández-Travieso ◽  
Yenney Reyes-Nuñez ◽  
Alicia de la Caridad Duquesne-Chávez
Keyword(s):  
Aging Process ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Normal Development ◽  
Experimental Models ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Ampk Activation ◽  
Biochemical Processes ◽  
The Social

The fundamental concepts of the aging process are exposed: Its dimension as a health problem, aspects related to its repercussion from the social point of view, and Its influence on aspects that can affect the normal development of contemporary society. The roles of genetics, cellular and biochemical processes that concur in the development of aging is analyzed, making special reference to the role of Adenosine Mono Phosphate Kinase [AMPK]. activation in the regulation of the aging process and the participation of mechanisms for its activation. It is concluded that Policosanol is a medicament of natural origin that could be proposed as candidate to be used for a healthy aging, based on the results of various investigations in experimental models and data obtained from different clinical trials.

scholarly journals Socio-Pedagogical Context of Upbringing and Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-15
Author(s):  
Svetlana Vladislavovna Kolesova
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Positive Thinking ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Social Pedagogy ◽  
The Social ◽  
General Pedagogy ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Pedagogical Science

The article is devoted to discussing social and pedagogical context for the processes of upbringing and education. The purpose of the study is to disclose the specifics of upbringing and education contributing to positive socialization of the individual in the circumstances when the social component of modern life has gained greater significance. The research methods include the study and analysis of academic and pedagogical publications on the discussed issue. The article examines integration and differentiation as trends in the progress of modern pedagogical science. The author highlights the issue of interconnection and independence between general pedagogy, social pedagogy and other human sciences. The idea of social context for traditional pedagogical processes of education and instruction is argued in the article. The author focuses on transformation that these processes undergo in the present-day context for an individual’s social development, as well as on risks and barriers in solving educational problems arising in that context. The article reveals the role performed by child’s upbringing and education as factors of positive socialization. The author presents her standing in viewing the concept of “positive socialization”, and in defining the role of positive thinking in this process. The article also suggests there is a need for socio-pedagogical support for an individual’s positive socialization. The concept and content of socio-pedagogical support of a student in the process of upbringing and education is briefly revealed. The author concludes by stating a demand to modify methodology of researching processes of education and instruction in the domain of an individual’s socialization.

Postmodernism and the Crisis of the Intellectual: Reflections on Reflexivity, Universities, and the Scientific Field

1996 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 507-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Bassett
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Field ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Universal Class ◽  
Social Responsibilities ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Reflexive Sociology ◽  
Grand Vision

In this paper the author takes up the issue of the social responsibilities of academics, raised in recent articles in this journal, through a discussion of the crises facing contemporary intellectuals. The paper begins with a plea for a reflexive sociology of intellectuals, and after a brief review of early debates on the role of intellectuals, the author concentrates on Gouldner's grand vision of intellectuals as a ‘flawed universal class’. In the next section the forces that have undermined such grand visions in the past few decades, precipitating the current crises, are discussed. The author then categorises a range of positions that have been recently developed to justify some continuing role for intellectuals as a social category in contemporary society. This discussion leads on to a focus on the work of Bourdieu, which seems to the author to offer the most productive framework for thinking about these issues. But in the last section he raises a number of problems that might be tackled through the incorporation of some feminist approaches.

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