The Puzzle of Precarity

Author(s):  
Steven P. Vallas

Social scientific efforts to understand the political and economic forces generating precarious employment have been mired in uncertainty. In this context, the Doellgast–Lillie–Pulignano (D–L–P) model represents an important step forward in both theoretical and empirical terms. This concluding chapter scrutinizes the authors’ theoretical model and assesses the present volume’s empirical applications of it. Building on the strengths of the D–L–P model, the chapter identifies several lines of analysis that can fruitfully extend our understanding of the dynamics of precarization, whether at the micro-, meso-, or macro-social levels of analysis. Especially needed are studies that explore the dynamics of organizational fields as these shape employer strategy and state policy towards employment. Such analysis will hopefully shed light on the perils and possibilities that workers’ organizations face as they struggle to cope with the demands of neoliberal capitalism.

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-63
Author(s):  
Ruth Roded

Beginning in the early 1970s, Jewish and Muslim feminists, tackled “oral law”—Mishna and Talmud, in Judaism, and the parallel Hadith and Fiqh in Islam, and several analogous methodologies were devised. A parallel case study of maintenance and rebellion of wives —mezonoteha, moredet al ba?ala; nafaqa al-mar?a and nush?z—in classical Jewish and Islamic oral law demonstrates similarities in content and discourse. Differences between the two, however, were found in the application of oral law to daily life, as reflected in “responsa”—piskei halacha and fatwas. In modern times, as the state became more involved in regulating maintenance and disobedience, and Jewish law was backed for the first time in history by a state, state policy and implementation were influenced by the political system and socioeconomic circumstances of the country. Despite their similar origin in oral law, maintenance and rebellion have divergent relevance to modern Jews and Muslims.


Author(s):  
A.M. Abidulin ◽  
I.A. Shirkina

Аннотация Статья посвящена анализу идеологических концепций в Османской империи во второй половине XIX - начале XX века. Изучение генезиса терминов османизм и панисламизм позволяет нам отметить их западное происхождение и трактовать их в качестве идеологии сохранения империи и исламского единства, а также как стремление к культурному объединению всех мусульман, признающих духовную власть османского султана. В рамках изучаемого периода панисламизм рассматривается в тесной связи с предшествующей ему идеологической концепцией османизма. Показаны векторы, в которых панисламизм использовался как инструмент государственной политики в период правления султанаАбдул-Хамида II.Нами также исследуется процесс трансформации идеологических концепций позднего периода Османской империи. Показано, что концепции османизма и панисламизма соответствовали требованиям своего времени, учитывая политические и демографические обстоятельства, при этом не взаимозаменяя, а сосуществуя в тесной связи друг с другом.Abstract The article is devoted to the analysis of ideological concepts in the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the XIX early XX centuries. Studying the genesis of the terms Ottomanism and Pan-Islamism allows us to note their Western origin and treat them as an ideology of preserving the empire and Islamic unity, as well as a desire for the cultural unification of all Muslims who recognize the spiritual power of the Ottoman Sultan. Within the framework of the period under study, pan-Islamism is considered in close connection with the ideological concept of Ottomanism preceding it. The vectors in which pan-Islamism was used as an instrument of state policy during the reign of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II are shown. We also study the process of transformation of ideological concepts of the late period of the Ottoman Empire. It is shown that the concepts of Ottomanism and Pan-Islamism met the requirements of their time, given the political and demographic circumstances, while not interchangeably, but coexisting in close connection with each other.


Author(s):  
William M. Lewis

This book brings together in compact form a broad scientific and sociopolitical view of US wetlands. This primer lays out the science and policy considerations to help in navigating this branch of science that is so central to conservation policy, ecosystem science and wetland regulation. It gives explanations of the attributes, functions and values of our wetlands and shows how and why public attitudes toward wetlands have changed, and the political, legal, and social conflicts that have developed from legislation intended to stem the rapid losses of wetlands. The book describes the role of wetland science in facilitating the evolution of a rational and defensible system for regulating wetlands and will shed light on many of the problems and possibilities facing those who quest to protect and conserve our wetlands.


Author(s):  
Anthony P. D’Costa ◽  
Achin Chakraborty

Since the mid-2000s, proliferating “land wars” have exposed a contradiction between the land requirements of neoliberal capitalism and the political weight of farmers in India’s democracy. Whether, how, and for whom this contradiction is resolved constitutes India’s “new” land question. But this chapter argues that Marx’s “primitive accumulation” or Harvey’s “accumulation by dispossession” are inadequate to understand this conjuncture; and it advances the concept of “regimes of dispossession” as an alternative. It argues that from the early 1990s, India shifted from a regime that dispossessed land for state-led projects of material expansion to one that dispossesses land for private and decreasingly productive investments. This new regime, in which states have become mere land brokers for private capital, is arguably less “developmental” than its Nehruvian predecessor. The upshot is that India’s “land wars” are unlikely to dissipate any time soon; and the “land question” may be the largest contradiction for Indian capitalism for the foreseeable future.


Electricity is critical to enabling India’s economic growth and providing a better future for its citizens. In spite of several decades of reform, the Indian electricity sector is unable to provide high-quality and affordable electricity for all, and grapples with the challenge of poor financial and operational performance. To understand why, Mapping Power provides the most comprehensive analysis of the political economy of electricity in India’s states. With chapters on fifteen states by scholars of state politics and electricity, this volume maps the political and economic forces that constrain and shape decisions in electricity distribute on. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it concludes that attempts to depoliticize the sector are misplaced and could worsen outcomes. Instead, it suggests that a historically grounded political economy analysis helps understand the past and devise reforms to simultaneously improve sectoral outcomes and generate political rewards. These arguments have implications for the challenges facing India’s electricity future, including providing electricity to all, implementing government reform schemes, and successfully managing the rise of renewable energy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Rinaldi ◽  
M P M Bekker

Abstract Background The political system is an important influencing factor for population health but is often neglected in the public health literature. This scoping review uses insights from political science to explore the possible public health consequences of the rise of populist radical right (PRR) parties in Europe, with welfare state policy as a proxy. The aim is to generate hypotheses about the relationship between the PRR, political systems and public health. Methods A literature search on PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar resulted in 110 original research articles addressing 1) the relationship between the political system and welfare state policy/population health outcomes or 2) the relationship between PRR parties and welfare state policy/population health outcomes in Europe. Results The influence of political parties on population health seems to be mediated by welfare state policies. Early symptoms point towards possible negative effects of the PRR on public health, by taking a welfare chauvinist position. Despite limited literature, there are preliminary indications that the effect of PRR parties on health and welfare policy depends on vote-seeking or office-seeking strategies and may be mediated by the political system in which they act. Compromises with coalition partners, electoral institutions and the type of healthcare system can either restrain or exacerbate the effects of the PRR policy agenda. EU laws and regulations can to some extent restrict the nativist policy agenda of PRR parties. Conclusions The relationship between the PRR and welfare state policy seems to be mediated by the political system, meaning that the public health consequences will differ by country. Considering the increased popularity of populist parties in Europe and the possibly harmful consequences for public health, there is a need for further research on the link between the PRR and public health.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004711782110214
Author(s):  
King-Ho Leung

This article offers a reading of Plato in light of the recent debates concerning the unique ‘ontology’ of International Relations (IR) as an academic discipline. In particular, this article suggests that Plato’s metaphysical account of the integral connection between human individual, the domestic state and world order can offer IR an alternative outlook to the ‘political scientific’ schema of ‘levels of analysis’. This article argues that Plato’s metaphysical conception of world order can not only provide IR theory with a way to re-imagine the relation between the human, the state and world order. Moreover, Plato’s outlook can highlight or even call into question the post-metaphysical presuppositions of contemporary IR theory in its ‘borrowed ontology’ from modern social science, which can in turn facilitate IR’s re-interpretation of its own ‘ontology’ as well as its distinct contributions to the understanding of the various aspects of the social world and human life.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 171-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wung Seok Cha

TheSŭngjŏngwŏn ilgi (Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat)is one of the major chronicles of the events of the Chosŏn Dynasty (1392–1910). Although the records prior to the year 1622 are no longer extant, the remaining records from the years 1623 to 1910 meticulously recount the daily activities of the reigning Chosŏn kings, including copious information on their physical and mental status. Because the king’s health was considered as important as other official affairs in many respects, detailed records were kept of royal ailments and how court doctors treated them. This article surveys the state of Korean-language scholarship on the medical content of theDaily Recordsand presents selected translations to demonstrate how this valuable historical source can shed light on both the social history of Chosŏn medicine and the political importance of kingly health at the Chosŏn court.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 509-526
Author(s):  
Rana B. Khoury

Survey research can generate knowledge that is central to the study of collective action, public opinion, and political participation. Unfortunately, many populations—from undocumented migrants to right-wing activists and oligarchs—are hidden, lack sampling frames, or are otherwise hard to survey. An approach to hard-to-survey populations commonly taken by researchers in other disciplines is largely missing from the toolbox of political science methods: respondent-driven sampling (RDS). By leveraging relations of trust, RDS accesses hard-to-survey populations; it also promotes representativeness, systematizes data collection, and, notably, supports population inference. In approximating probability sampling, RDS makes strong assumptions. Yet if strengthened by an integrative multimethod research design, it can shed light on otherwise concealed—and critical—political preferences and behaviors among many populations of interest. Through describing one of the first applications of RDS in political science, this article provides empirically grounded guidance via a study of activist refugees from Syria. Refugees are prototypical hard-to-survey populations, and mobilized ones are even more so; yet the study demonstrates that RDS can provide a systematic and representative account of a vulnerable population engaged in major political phenomena.


Pragmatics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chie Fukuda

So-called traditional theories in second langauge acquisition (SLA) have been criticized for their neglect to examine interactional, social, and political aspects in language practices. The present study will illustrate exoticization, one of the political phenomena observed in interactions between native-speaker and non-native speaker (NS/NNS). Exoticization is known as a covert power exercise where ‘self’ creates inferior ‘other’ in order to establish and maintain its superiority (Said 1978), which involves identity construction and categorization. Adopting a conversation analysis (CA) approach and utilizing NS-NNS conversations in Japanese, this study will first demonstrate how exoticization is discursively constructed through the development of interactions. Then the study will explore how the NNS participant tries to resist such practices. By so doing, this study will shed light on interactional and ideological aspects of language practices and society as a learning environment. The study will also suggest the necessity for exploring what NNSs face in real L2 societies in order to develop emic perspectives in SLA studies.


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