Amenity and Equity: A Review of Local Environmental Pressure Groups in Britain

1977 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
P D Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Group Activity ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Environmental Groups ◽  
Environmental Pressure ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Organized Interest

The paper discusses the effect, on the distribution of environmental quality and access to facilities, of the growth in Britain of political activity and influence of locality-based, area-oriented groups—the amenity, civic and preservation societies, residents' and tenants' associations, and community action groups—referred to as local environmental pressure groups. After reviewing the growth of organized interest in local environmental issues, one prominent type of local group, amenity societies, is considered in detail, including typical styles of action, resources, ethos, and social composition. It is suggested that the evident effectiveness of many amenity societies may preclude other environmental groups with different social compositions from influencing official planning policies. With growing emphasis on public participation in statutory planning, serious problems of the equity of distribution of amenity and accessibility arise because certain areas and sections of society are not organized to protect their interests in the environment; certain sections of the community lack the available resources to sustain effective pressure group activity; and some local political cultures are unreceptive to group activity. The problems of political equity, the representativeness of local environmental groups, variations in potential political efficacy between existing groups, and the failure of certain interests to achieve political expression are each considered in detail. It is concluded that the medium of political organization will magnify the differences and inequalities of the social structure, and that the activities of local environmental pressure groups will tend to accentuate existing disparities between the favoured environments of the powerful and wealthy and the degraded environments of the deprived.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-148
Author(s):  
Edwin F. Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Economic Structure ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Social Fragmentation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Capitalist State ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Conceptual Relationships ◽  
The Relationship

The chapter summarizes the main argument of the book and draws out its broader theoretical implications. An account of the relationship between party, capitalism, and the state should begin by establishing the historical conditions of possibility for articulation. By understanding when articulation is possible and when it is not, we gain insights into how social fragmentation might enable political organization. The social fragmentation produced by economic and political primitive accumulations is—perhaps paradoxically—conducive to party organization. The discussion in the chapter is organized around three sorts of conceptual relationships that can be approached from the vantage point of the theory and evidence presented so far: the relationship between party and the modern capitalist state, the relationship between socio-economic structure and modalities of political activity, and, finally, the contemporary relationship between the party-form and neoliberalism.

The Social Specificity of Societal Nature Relations in a Flexible Capitalist Society

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Eversberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Capitalist Society ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Mutual Dependency ◽  
The Social ◽  
People’S Perceptions

Based on analyses of a 2016 German survey, this article contributes to debates on ‘societal nature relations’ by investigating the systematic differences between socially specific types of social relations with nature in a flexible capitalist society. It presents a typology of ten different ‘syndromes’ of attitudes toward social and environmental issues, which are then grouped to distinguish between four ideal types of social relationships with nature: dominance, conscious mutual dependency, alienation and contradiction. These are located in Pierre Bourdieu’s (1984) social space to illustrate how social relationships with nature correspond to people’s positions within the totality of social relations. Understanding how people’s perceptions of and actions pertaining to nature are shaped by their positions in these intersecting relations of domination – both within social space and between society and nature – is an important precondition for developing transformative strategies that will be capable of gaining majority support in flexible capitalist societies.

The Anthropological Lens

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Morton
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Social Accountability ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Local People ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Encounters ◽  
Anthropological Literature ◽  
Insight Into

Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard (1902-1973) is widely considered the most influential British anthropologist of the twentieth century, known to generations of students for his seminal works on South Sudanese ethnography Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande (OUP 1937) and The Nuer (OUP 1940). In these works, now classics in the anthropological literature, Evans-Pritchard broke new ground on questions of rationality, social accountability, kinship, social and political organization, and religion, as well as influentially moving the discipline in Britain away from the natural sciences and towards history. Yet despite much discussion about his theoretical contributions to anthropology, no study has yet explored his fieldwork in detail in order to get a better understanding of its historical contexts, local circumstances or the social encounters out of which it emerged. This book then is just such an exploration, of Evans-Pritchard the fieldworker through the lens of his fieldwork photography. Through an engagement with his photographic archive, and by thinking with it alongside his written ethnographies and other unpublished evidence, the book offers a new insight into the way in which Evans-Pritchard’s theoretical contributions to the discipline were shaped by his fieldwork and the numerous local people in Africa with whom he collaborated. By writing history through field photographs we move back towards the fieldwork experiences, exploring the vivid traces, lived realities and local presences at the heart of the social encounter that formed the basis of Evans-Pritchard’s anthropology.

scholarly journals Dialogues between social and natural sciences: contribution to the debate on socio-environmental conflicts

2015 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 2335-2348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Milanez
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Environmental Conflicts ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mining Projects ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Strong Candidate ◽  
Social Environmental

ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that attempting to solve real problems is a possible approach to bring social and natural sciences together, and suggest that - as Environmental Impact Assessment necessarily brings together social and environmental issues - this debate is a strong candidate for such a task. The argument is based on a general discussion about the possibilities and limitations of Environmental Impact Assessments, the social-environmental impacts of mining activities and three case studies. The analysis of the cases indicates possibilities and limitations of the dialogue between scientists from various areas - and of the collaboration with social movements and affected communities - in avoiding negative impacts of mining projects and, eventually, increasing their sustainability.

scholarly journals Poetry as a Social Document: The Social Position of the Arab Woman as Reflected in the Poetry of Nizâr Qabbânî

1975 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-494
Author(s):  
Arieh Loya
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Harsh Environment ◽  
Arab Woman ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Nomadic Life ◽  
Social Document

No other people in the world, perhaps, have given more information in their poetry on their cultural and social life than have the Arabs over the centuries. Many years before the advent of Islam and long before they had any national political organization, the Arabs had developed a highly articulate poetic art, strict in its syntax and metrical schemes and fantastically rich in its vocabulary and observation of detail. The merciless desert, the harsh environment in which the Arabs lived, their ever shifting nomadic life, left almost no traces of their social structure and the cultural aspects of their life. It is only in their poetry – these monuments built of words – that we find such evidence, and it speaks more eloquently than cuneiform on marble statues ever could.

The Old and New Face of Civic Education: Expert, Teacher, and Student Views

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinrich Mintrop
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Community Organizing ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
International Association ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Expert Teacher ◽  
The Social ◽  
Teachers And Students

Using the representative database of the Second International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study, this article takes a look at civic education through the lens of expert scholars, teachers, and students. The data reveals that, as some of the experts reported, political interest is not pervasive among students and classrooms are not places where a culture of debate, controversy, and critical thinking flourishes for students. But things have changed if civic education was primarily an imparting of facts about national history and the workings of the political system. As for teachers, now the discourse of rights and the social movements associated with it top the list of curricular concerns. Large majorities of teachers share with national scholars a conceptualization of civic education as critical thinking and value education, repudiating knowledge transformation as ideal, and they recognize the wide gulf that exists between these ideals and reality. As for many students, political disinterest notwithstanding, forms of participation born out of social movements and community organizing are the preferred channels of political activity. And yet, it seems the experts have a point: the field is not where it should be.

scholarly journals The Catch 22 syndrome of social scientists in the semiperiphery: Exploratory sociological observations

Sociologija ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Blagojevic ◽  
Gad Yair
Keyword(s):  
Political Organization ◽  
Academic Excellence ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Scholarly Publications ◽  
The Social ◽  
Catch 22 ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Problem Setting

This paper describes the parochial predicament of the social sciences by looking at world sociology in its Janus-like face: on the one hand we focus on the intellectual, political, and sometimes even ethical compromises that social scientists in European semiperipheral countries forgo in order to gain acceptance and recognition in world sociology. On the other hand we show how these compromises paradoxically impoverish intellectual potentialities in the major centers of academic excellence too. In the analyses we focus on different interrelated facets of scholarly work where these paradoxes take shape: problem setting and conceptualization, the hierarchy of scholarly publications, the definition of excellence through citation patterns, scientific conferences, and lastly, funding schemes for research. We argue that the social and the political organization of the World System of Science jeopardizes free access to multiple and plural perspectives of the social. A potential source of ideas, theories, and paradigms is hampered by the hierarchical division of labor between scientists in the centers of science and their peers in semiperipheral countries, whose knowledge remains unutilized and sidelined.

scholarly journals PARTICIPATION OF PEASANTS OF THE SIMBIRSK VOLGA REGION IN REVOLUTIONARY AND TERRORIST ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (1905–1907)

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-74
Author(s):  
Andrei V. Mankov
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
The Social ◽  
Revolutionary Party ◽  
Significant Phenomenon ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Xix Century

In the second half of the XIX century, revolutionary terrorism emerged in the territory of the Russian Empire. This particular kind of socio-political violence was promoted in those years by some populist groups that worked primarily in Moscow and St. Petersburg, for example, the Ishutin circle, which consisted mainly of students. One of its participants, a former student D. Karakozov, shot at the Russian Emperor Alexander II 155 years ago in April 1866 in St. Petersburg. The most famous “revolutionary terrorists” of Russia were members of the largest Russian opposition political organization of the XIX century, “Narodnaya Volya”, most of whom were, as one used to say then, raznochinets. Revolutionary terrorism in the empire reached its peak in the first years of the XX century (1902–1907), when it became part of the strategy and tactics of a number of opposition political parties and organizations of neo-populist orientation. They acted both in the national regions of the country (Little Russia, Transcaucasia) and in Russian capitals and regions. First of all, this has to do with the All-Russian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs). At the same time, in the territory of the Russian provinces in the era of brutal revolutionary terrorism in the country, not only the Socialist revolutionaries had their revolutionary-terrorist (combat) formations. So, during this period, terrorist units were created by the SR Maximalists who left the party during the First Russian Revolution and contributed to the ideological and organizational split of the Social Revolutionaries. In the same years, various anarchist structures had combat organizations. Having become a significant phenomenon of the socio-political life of a huge country, terrorism drew representatives of different social groups of the population into its practice. What was the role of the peasantry in the Socialist-Revolutionary terror? The author gives examples where the peasants of the Simbirsk Volga region took part in carrying out terrorist attacks. The researcher concludes that Russian peasants were among the active participants in combat units, which is clearly seen in the examples of combat structures of Simbirsk provincial organization of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, in the ranks of which, for example, in rural areas, there were combat squads consisting mainly of peasants.

scholarly journals Thiruvalluvar’s Concept of Cultural Ecology

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-210
Author(s):  
Rajeswari G
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Global Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Areas ◽  
Man And Nature ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

Thirukkural, global literature does not only talk about human behaviours which are to be glorified. It also proposes bright cut ideas about the relationship between humans and nature. The attention of the modern world is on environmental issues. The fast developments due to science and technology resulted in destroying nature. Due to industrial-based products and for the sake of the sophisticated life of the modern man, we left the nature for destruction. And now humanity faces the consequences. It is a general truth that the literature reflects the social issues of that time of its outcome. One can notice that the recent creative literature of Tamil talks about environmental aspects of the globe and the local areas. Thirukkural also deals with the issues of nature and it proposes the ideal relationship between man and nature, which is the concern of this paper. Thiruvalluvar says that the whole world depends on water. All the activities in the world cannot be possible if the rain fails. All the activities of living creatures, including humans, depend on water. Start with food production and leading to every activity are depends on rain. So Tiruvalluvar concludes that the relationship between humans and nature depends on water i.e. is rain. The paper concludes that the concept of Thiukkural towards nature is the dependency of humanity.

scholarly journals Políticas Ambientais: uma possibilidade de currículo

ILUMINURAS ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (41) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Luis Abalos Junior
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
Ecological Citizenship ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Important Approach ◽  
In Transit ◽  
Belo Monte

Este relato é fruto de reflexões que tive na graduação em Ciências Sociais e no Mestrado Acadêmico em Antropologia Social (PPGAS/UFRGS) nos quais me deparei inúmeras vezes com a reflexão da questão das políticas que envolvem a temática ambiental. Entendendo estas experiências como significativas para o desenvolvimento dos estudos ambientais dentro de perspectivas antropológicas, faço uma síntese sobre os principais conceitos a serem tratados em propostas como a de um currículo de estudo. Entre estes conceitos se inserem o de responsabilidade social e ambiental entrando no debate da conferência da ONU sobre “o futuro que queremos”. Riscos ambientais e contaminação também são categorias de importante discursão num programa desse tipo. O debate sobre políticas e democracia traz a tona a análise de políticas ambientais como a de Belo Monte. A contextualização de novos tipos de cidadania, como a ecológica, desperta atenção para novos conceitos como o de sustentabilidade e desenvolvimento sustentável. Esse modelo de trânsitos na política instiga novos debates como o de Conflitos e Justiça Ambientais. Assim como a política em transito adentra a discursão sobre o que são populações tradicionais. A Educação Ambiental aparece nesse sentido como uma dimensão político-pedagógica importante para o desenvolvimento de novos sujeitos capazes de pensar a “política do eu” e as “políticas da natureza”. Por fim, faço uma breve reflexão sobre a produção de uma antropologia vitalista em Tim Ingold relacionando com o rompimento de uma disciplinaridade, empreitada importante ao dialogarmos sobre políticas ambientais.Palavras-Chaves: Ambientalismo. Natureza. Currículo.Environmental Policies : A chance of curriculumAbstract This report is the result of reflections from the period of my undergraduated studies on Social Sciences to masters on Social Anthropology (PPGAS/UFRGS) during which I deal many times with the issue about policies that involve environmental issues. Understanding these experiences as significant for the development of environmental studies within anthropological perspectives, I make a synthesis of the main concepts would be treated in proposals such as a study curriculum. These concepts include the social and environmental responsibility add in the UN conference debate about "the future we want". Environmental risks and contamination are also important categories to discussion in this kind of program. Debate on policies and democracy brings out the analysis of environmental policies such as Belo Monte. Contextualization of new types of citizenship, such as ecological citizenship, arouses attention to new concepts such as sustainability and sustainable development. This model of transits in politics instigates new debates as Conflicts and Environmental Justice. Likewise, the policies in transit enter the discussion about what are traditional populations. In this sense, environmental education appears as an important political and pedagogical dimension to the development of new subjects able to think the “policy of self” and the "policy of nature”. Finally, I make a brief reflection on the production of a vitalist anthropology at Tim Ingold connected to a break of a disciplinary, important approach to dialogue on environmental policies.Keywords: Environmentalism. Nature. Curriculum. 

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