Introduction

Author(s):  
Alexander O'Hara

This chapter introduces this book’s main issues and questions. How were hagiographic texts used in the discourse of creating or recreating monastic identities? Was there a change in the social function of monasteries, and how did this come about? What was innovative about Jonas’s Vita Columbani, and how did he seek to establish new concepts of sanctity based on the community rather than on the individual holy man? It broaches these questions while framing the principal characters and subjects of the book—the life and works of Jonas of Bobbio, Columbanus, and the Columbanian monastic network—within the wider context of the religious and cultural developments of Late Antiquity. It also provides a historiographical introduction to previous scholarship on Jonas and an overview of Jonas’s three saints’ Lives.

This volume provides the first comprehensive overview of the extant Greek and Latin letter collections of late antiquity (ca. 300-600 C.E.). Bringing together an international team of historians, classicists, and scholars of religion, it illustrates how letter collections advertised an image of the letter writer and introduces the social and textual histories of each collection. Nearly every chapter focuses on the letter collection of a different late ancient author—from the famous (or even infamous) to the obscure—and investigates its particular issues of content, arrangement, and publication context. On the whole, the volume reveals how late antique letter collections operated as a discrete literary genre with its own conventions, transmission processes, and self-presentational agendas while offering new approaches to interpret both larger letter collections and the individual letters contained within them. Each chapter contributes to a broad argument that scholars should read letter collections as they do representatives of other late antique literary genres, as single texts made up of individual components, with larger thematic and literary characteristics that are as important as those of their component parts.


1982 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. E. Nettleship

Contemporaries and historians alike have regarded the 1880s as a watershed in Victorian thought. They have argued that before the 1880s the well-to-do held firmly to a belief in Political Economy and attributed economic success to the high moral character and hard work of the individual. By the 1880s these beliefs had begun to waver, and many who had themselves prospered from the new economic system began to question its assumptions and develop a sense of responsibility toward those beneath them in the social order. One institution which seems to represent this change is Toynbee Hall, the first English settlement house, founded in 1884. Headed by a middle-class clergyman, Samuel Barnett, staffed by well-educated and well-to-do volunteers and dedicated to bringing education and culture to the poor, it seems to be an example, par excellence, of the newly heightened middle-class social conscience typical of the 1880s.2 But close examination reveals that the origins of Toynbee Hall date back to the 1870s, to the broad church orientation and parish practices of Samuel Barnett. Rooted in his modest day-to-day pastoral work rather than in new concepts of social justice, Toynbee Hall raises the question of whether in fact the 1880s constitute a great divide in Victorian thought or a period of continuation, expansion and institutionalisation of earlier ideas and practices.


Author(s):  
Inga Tomić-Koludrović

The article deals with those sociological approaches which view the relationship between man and woman as dependent on socio- structural, economic and cultural developments and which simultaneously analyse it through the tension between individual action and the social structure. In contradistinction to feminist macro-sociology which investigate the man/woman relationship exclusively according to dependence on economic structures and institutions, as well as feminist micro-sociology which investigates everyday conditions and the situation between the sexes, the approaches analysed in the text deal with the structural and individual conditions of gender socialization, die guilt to be borne by women in forming their gentler roles and analyse the emotional norms of contemporary societies. Since the relationship between the individual and society is to be found in die very center of these analyses, one can conclude that these are positions which attempt to transcend the micro-macro dualism in contempoorary social theories.


1971 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 80-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Brown

To study the position of the holy man in Late Roman society is to risk telling in one's own words a story that has often been excellently told before. In vivid essays, Norman Baynes has brought the lives of the saints to the attention of the social and religious historian of Late Antiquity. The patient work of the Bollandists has increased and clarified a substantial dossier of authentic narratives. These lives have provided the social historian with most of what he knows of the life of the average man in the Eastern Empire. They illuminate the variety and interaction of the local cultures of the Near East. The holy men themselves have been carefully studied, both as figures in the great Christological controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries, and as the arbiters of the distinctive traditions of Byzantine piety and ascetic theology.The intention of this paper is to follow well known paths of scholarship on all these topics, while asking two basic questions: why did the holy man come to play such an important rôle in the society, of the fifth and sixth centuries ? What light do his activities throw on the values and functioning of a society that was prepared to concede him such importance? It is as well to ask such elementary questions. For there is a danger that the holy man may be taken for granted as part of the Byzantine scene. Most explanations of his position are deceptively easy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-171
Author(s):  
Fellipe Coelho-Lima ◽  
Victor Varela ◽  
Pedro F Bendassolli

This article discusses a theoretical-methodological approach aimed at overcoming some limitations of Marxism and cultural-historical psychology. The concepts of “ideology” proposed by Lukács and the “meaning-sense” by Vygotsky have been crisscrossed. The concept of ideology refers to ideas that have a social function of intervening in social conflicts by determining the praxes of individuals in their daily lives. Hence, ideology adopts language as a tool for its operationalization in the discourse. For Vygotsky, the smallest subdivision of a language is the word and, more specifically, its meaning. It transforms human thoughts into speech for communication and guidance of praxis. The appropriate meanings, present in the discourses, generate a process of re-elaboration in the sense by individuals through their experience ( perezhivanie). It is possible to approach both theoretical concepts by considering that meanings are elements that transmit ideologies from the social sphere to the individuals’ consciousness and influence their praxis. This understanding has methodological consequences and allows the use of meaning-senses as empirical elements for the analysis of ideology both in consciousness and daily life of individuals. This contributes to a discourse analysis that recognizes the dialectical feature of the individual–ideology relation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Allegretti ◽  
Enrico Zampetti

Focado no contexto italiano, o artigo trata de um elemento essencial ao Direito da Cidade, garantido pela Constituição de 1948: o princípio da função social da propriedade. Para isso, analisa quais instrumentos urbanísticos tornaram-se centrais na sua efetivação, e quais direção e uso estão tomando, na doutrina e nas experimentações de planejamento urbano. Metodologicamente, explora a doutrina e a jurisprudência, a partir de uma perspectiva histórico-sociológica que pretende ler a complexa e contraditória trajetória desta matéria dentro de um âmbito de transformações políticas marcadas por tentativas, mais ou menos bem-sucedidas, de combinar a dimensão privada da propriedade com sua projeção pública. A análise evidencia que não se conseguiu alcançar, na legislação, um equilíbrio entre estas duas dimensões, cuja tensão manteve-se nas ambiguidades que marcam os dois instrumentos (equalização urbana e desapropriação simplificada) hoje mais usados num quadro que pretende ultrapassar as contradições de um planejamento urbano baseado no zoneamento e no uso da desapropriação para fins de utilidade pública. Apostar na hibridização destes instrumentos com outras inovações faz parte do “caminho dialético” de transformação cultural de um país onde a efetivação da função social da propriedade passa, sobretudo, pelo poder judiciário e as autoridades locais, alternando momentos de preocupações com o aumento dos problemas socioeconômicos, e outros (prevalentes) marcados por uma renovada atenção às liberdades individuais dos cidadãos.-----------------Summary:Focused on the Italian context, the article deals with an essential element of the Right to the City, guaranteed by the 1948 Constitution: the principle of the social function of property. Thus, it analyses which planning instruments have become central in its implementation, and which direction they are following, in the doctrine as in the experiments of urban planning. Methodologically, it explores doctrine and jurisprudence, from a historical-sociological perspective which intends to read the complex and contradictory trajectory of the topic within the scope of political transformations marked by more or less successful attempts to combine the private dimension of property with its public one. The analysis shows that a balance between these two dimensions was not achieved in the legislation. Thus, their tension permeates the ambiguities of the two main tools (equalization and simplified expropriation) which are most used today in a framework that wants to overcome the contradictions of a zoning-based planning approach and the use of expropriation for purposes of public utility. Betting on the hybridization of these instruments with other innovations is part of the “dialectic path” of cultural transformation in a country where the realization of the social function of property passes, above all, through the judiciary and local authorities, alternating moments of concern with the increase in socioeconomic problems, and others (which look prevalent) marked by renewed attention to the individual liberties.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-130
Author(s):  
H. Mahler ◽  

Health development is essentially a political and social process that should start off with the acceptance of the social function of health and should ensure that health technology is developed and applied in harmony with this social function. It is not synonymous with the development of increasingly sophisticated services in medical institutions. In many countries the value of these expensive institutions can be seriously questioned if measured in terms of their impact on improving the health status of the populations. No country can afford to provide every citizen with every possible form of medical technology, nor would this necessarily be good for the health of the individual and of society. On the contrary, quite apart from possible adverse side effects and iatrogenic diseases, it would tend to make people overdependent on a medical "aristotechnocracy." Paradoxically, though medical care is often justified on the grounds that it reduces work-absenteeism, quite the contrary seems to be happening in many situations. In many countries, the so-called "health" industry is already consuming a high proportion of the national manpower pool and is approaching the upper limit, beyond which it could be seriously questioned whether medical care, as currently practised, is not becoming detrimental to further economic development. Other social sectors are in the same position, making it imperative to join forces in common planning and coordination of all the social services. Such planning requires clear definition of social policy, of which health policy forms an integral part.


1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Flament

This paper is concerned by a possible articulation between the diversity of individual opinions and the existence of consensus in social representations. It postulates the existence of consensual normative boundaries framing the individual opinions. A study by questionnaire about the social representations of the development of intelligence gives support to this notion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-137
Author(s):  
Roxanne Christensen ◽  
LaSonia Barlow ◽  
Demetrius E. Ford

Three personal reflections provided by doctoral students of the Michigan School of Professional Psychology (Farmington Hills, Michigan) address identification of individual perspectives on the tragic events surrounding Trayvon Martin’s death. The historical ramifications of a culture-in-context and the way civil rights, racism, and community traumatization play a role in the social construction of criminals are explored. A justice orientation is applied to both the community and the individual via internal reflection about the unique individual and collective roles social justice plays in the outcome of these events. Finally, the personal and professional responses of a practitioner who is also a mother of minority young men brings to light the need to educate against stereotypes, assist a community to heal, and simultaneously manage the direct effects of such events on youth in society. In all three essays, common themes of community and growth are addressed from varying viewpoints. As worlds collided, a historical division has given rise to a present unity geared toward breaking the cycle of violence and trauma. The authors plead that if there is no other service in the name of this tragedy, let it at least contribute to the actualization of a society toward growth and healing.


1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-226
Author(s):  
Олена Горова

Професійне   становлення   особистості   супроводжує   всі   етапи  соціально-вікового   розвитку  особистості.  Трудова  діяльність  є  основним  видом  суспільної  активності,  який  дозволяє  працівнику  задовольняти  основні  потреби,  особливо  у  процесі  постійних  соціальних,  освітніх  реформ.  Важливим  завданням психологічного супроводу працівника у процесі виконання професійної діяльності є забезпечення  сприятливих  умов  формування  професійно  важливих  якостей.  Соціальна  успішність  є  результатом  ефективного  розв’язання  виробничих  завдань, які  мають  суспільно корисну  важливість  та  пов’язані  з  потребами інших людей. Якісний прогресивний розвиток працівника можливий лише за умови збереження  стійкого  позитивного  ставлення  до  професії.  Позитивна  професійна  самоідентифікація  пов’язана  з  ототожненням  та  персоналізацією  працівником  особистісних  рис  працівників,  які  досягли  успіху  у  професії,  мають  суспільно  визнані  результати  діяльності.  Таким  чином,  професійна  успішність  як  суб’єктне  новоутворення  у  якості  відчуття  гордості  за  власні  результати  діяльності  забезпечує  реалізацію традиції наставництва і  передачі позитивного професійного досвіду.    Професійно  успішний  працівник  усвідомлює  необхідність  та  важливість  результатів  своєї  діяльності  для  інших,  що  вимагає,  відповідно,  від  соціального  середовища  усвідомлення  необхідності  визнання  результатів  діяльності  фахівців.  Знехтуваний  суспільством  працівник,  або  той,  результати  діяльності  якого  позиціонуються  як  меншовартісні,  дистанціюється  від  професії  та  має  негативний  потенціал розвитку. Professional formation of the person accompanies all phases of social and age of the individual. Gainful  employment is the main form of social activity that allows the employee to realize the basic needs. An important task  of psychological support worker in the course of professional activity is to provide favorable conditions for the  formation  of  professionally  important  qualities.  Professional  success  is  the  result  of  an  effective  solution  of  industrial jobs that are socially useful and important related to the needs of others. High-quality progressive  development of an employee is only possible while maintaining a stable positive attitude towards the profession.  Positive  professional  identity  associated  with  the  identification  and  personalization  of  employee  personality traits of employees who have been successful in the profession, who have publicly acknowledged  performance. Thus professional success as the subjective feeling of a lump in the pride of their own results of  operations  ensures  the  implementation  of  the  tradition  of  mentoring  and  of  positive  transfer  of  professional  experience.  Professionally successful employees aware of the need and the importance of the results of its operations  for the other, which requires, respectively, from the social environment - awareness of the need to recognize the  performance of specialists. Unclaimed society worker, or the results of operations, which are positioned as less  important, is moving away from the profession and has a negative potential. 


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