Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-148
Author(s):  
Edwin F. Ackerman

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.

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 614-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Daskalopoulou

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different types of social capital contribute to the satisfaction with democracy (SWD) in Greece. Understanding the relationship between different variants of social capital and SWD allows one to situate the Greek democracy in the continuum of democracy types, from primary to modern. Design/methodology/approach The study uses microdata extracted from the European Values Surveys of 2002-2010 and multivariate regression analysis. Findings The results are compatible with a conception of the Greek political organization as a civil virtue democracy. A change in the nature of the relationship is observed after the recent economic crisis in the country. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to the empirical knowledge regarding the relationship between different variants of social capital and SWD. Originality/value Using a typology approach, the micro-relationship between democracy and social capital is analyzed as embedded in a continuum of different democracy types. In addition, this is the first study that uses microdata to analyze the effect of social capital upon SWD in Greece. The results of the study provide valuable understanding of the social and institutional arrangements that might sustain Greece’s efforts to meet its overall developmental challenges.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-293
Author(s):  
Rowan Lubbock

Abstract This review critically engages with Radhika Desai’s concept of geopolitical economy as a framework for understanding the evolution of the capitalist state system. While presenting a useful challenge to many of the most deeply-held beliefs in International Relations theory, Desai’s over-reliance on a geopolitical lens produces a relatively one-sided account of the ways in which capitalism forges distinct international regimes and ideological formations under a given set of historical conditions of possibility. Thus, Desai’s somewhat opaque reading of the international relations of capitalism clouds our understanding of what the current conjuncture might entail for any possible future beyond the social discipline of capital.


1970 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Chaitanya Mishra

Developing a distinctive disciplinary vantage point is crucial to becoming a professional. Thesis writing at the Master's level allows the professional opportunity of thinking and writing independently. For students of Sociology in particular, it is fundamental to recognize that the social is everywhere. There is nothing that is not socially constituted. Further on, a Sociology student should develop the sociological vantage point in order to see how the social is constituted. This the student can do by engaging and ‘dialoguing' with well-known sociological theorists. The student will then be able to think about how and why societies are historically constituted, how and why societies are diverse, internally differentiated and hierarchized and how and why societies transform themselves. They will learn to unravel the relationship between different levels of a society. In addition, they will also learn the significance of the structure even as they visualize historical human agents change the structure. Keywords: Social; Sociological; Sociological Imagination; Thesis Writing; Social Relationship; Institutions DOI: 10.3126/dsaj.v3i0.2779 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol.3 2009 1-18


Author(s):  
Jeehyun Lim

The epilogue reflects on the future of bilingual brokering in the twenty-first century through David Henry Hwang’s bilingual play, Chinglish. While Chinglish seemingly overturns the social construction of bilingual personhood along the terms of possessive individualism by championing interlingual lapses, irregularities, and mistakes, this attempt to free the linguistic subject from the constraints of language as capital is delivered through a careful rendition of English-Mandarin bilingualism, enabled through such institutional actors’ interest in the play as the Chinese state. These conditions of possibility for Hwang’s bilingual play serve as a reminder that while bilingual personhood may recede from cultural significance as a site of examining the relationship between racial subjectivity and capital, bilingualism in cultural politics is still enmeshed in the flows of capital.


1982 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 157-176
Author(s):  
Richard Kilminster

The identification of theory and practice is a critical act, through which practice is demonstrated rational and necessary, and theory realistic and rational (Antonio Gramsci).In contemporary sociological and political theory the opposition of theory and practice refers to a number of aspects of the relationship between theories of various kinds and social life. It can refer, for example, to the relationships between the various sciences (particularly the social sciences) and their ‘objects’, between scientific knowledge and its necessary practical applications and broadly between social science and politics. Many Marxist writings since Lenin attempt to unite those three levels in a theory of the total society with a practical intent. This theory is intended to inform practical political activity in order radically to change the complex of social institutions which make the theory itself possible, in this way abolishing the theory in practice. That theory and practice in this sense can inseparably inform each other in this way within the politics of the labour movement, is one meaning in Soviet Marxism of the phrase ‘the unity of theory and practice’.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 714-726
Author(s):  
Rafael Khachaturian

This article examines the interdisciplinary movement to “bring the state back in,” advanced during the 1980s by the Committee on States and Social Structures. Drawing on the Committee’s archives at the Social Science Research Council, I show that its influential neo-Weberian conception of the state was developed in dialogue with earlier neo-Marxist debates about the capitalist state. However, its interpretation of neo-Marxism as a class reductive and functionalist variant of “grand theory” also created a narrative that marginalized the latter’s contributions to the literature on the state. This displacement had lasting consequences, for while neo-Marxist approaches had provided a critical perspective on the relationship between the social sciences and the state, the Committee’s narrative had a depoliticizing effect on this subject matter. Reconstructing this moment both recovers the forgotten influence of the New Left and neo-Marxist scholarship on postwar political science and sociology, and elaborates on the contested history of the state as a political concept.


Author(s):  
Federico M. Rossi ◽  
Donatella della Porta

This chapter explores the relationship between social movements, trade unions, and transnational advocacy networks of resistance to non-democratic regimes in the global wave of democratization. It considers views from social movement studies within the democratization literature as well as views of democratization within the social movement literature. It also examines the diverse roles played by movements, depending on the type of democratization process and the stage in which mobilizations emerge (resistance, liberalization, transition to procedural democracy, consolidation, expansion). The chapter identifies a host of factors that produce the most favourable setting for democratization, including a non-syndical strike wave and/or a pro-democracy cycle of protest; increased political organization in urban areas, and a relatively dense resistance network; and the existence of pro-democratic elites able to integrate the demands for democracy coming from below (at least until transition is well initiated).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Wang ◽  
Shengfeng Wang ◽  
Yueheng Lan ◽  
Xiaofeng Tao ◽  
Jinghua Xiao

Abstract The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) has threatened the social and economic structure all around the world. Generally, COVID-19 has three possible transmission routes, including pre-symptomatic, symptomatic, and asymptomatic transmission, among which the last one has brought a severe challenge for the containment of the disease. One core scientific question is to understand the influence of asymptomatic individuals and of the strength of control measures on the evolution of the disease, particularly on a second outbreak of the disease. To explore these issues, we proposed a novel compartmental model that takes the infection of asymptomatic individuals into account. We get the relationship between asymptomatic individuals and critical strength of control measures theoretically. Furthermore, we verify the reliability of our model and the accuracy of the theoretical analysis by using the real confirmed cases of COVID-19 contamination. Our results, showing the importance of the asymptomatic population on the control measures, would provide useful theoretical reference to the policymakers and fuel future studies of COVID-19.


1977 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
P D Lowe

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.


2018 ◽  
pp. 182-194
Author(s):  
Federico M. Rossi ◽  
Donatella della Porta

This chapter explores the relationship between social movements, trade unions, and transnational advocacy networks of resistance to non-democratic regimes in the global wave of democratization. It considers views from social movement studies within the democratization literature as well as views of democratization within the social movement literature. It also examines the diverse roles played by movements, depending on the type of democratization process and the stage in which mobilizations emerge (resistance, liberalization, transition to procedural democracy, consolidation, expansion). The chapter identifies a host of factors that produce the most favourable setting for democratization, including a non-syndical strike wave and/or a pro-democracy cycle of protest; increased political organization in urban areas, and a relatively dense resistance network; and the existence of pro-democratic elites able to integrate the demands for democracy coming from below (at least until transition is well initiated).


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