The Social Views of Michael Attaleiates

Author(s):  
Dimitris Krallis

The historian Michael Attaleiates was a judge and well-connected political agent active in eleventh-century Byzantium. The opinions he expressed in his historical work, but also in the synopsis of Roman law he dedicated to Michael VII and the monastic charter he produced to organize a privately owned pious foundation, become here entry points for the study of his take on the social and political reality around him. This chapter offers a short biographical sketch of our protagonist, who emerges as a patriotic Roman, who casts a sympathetic eye on popular political action. It then studies Attaleiates as a social and economic agent, looking at his active participation Byzantium’s economy only to reveal a confident investor and builder of a personal fortune. Here is also examined the ways in which Attaleiates’ take on foreign mercenaries outlines a readiness to accommodate others in a Roman polity. Finally, a study of his social circles considers how intellectual affinities and friendships developed, while serving the state and the emperor allowed for the development of a fluid and ever-adjustable politics of accommodation. All in all, we have here an updated portrait of an important figure in eleventh-century intellectual circles.

2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482090244
Author(s):  
Christopher Till

The nature of reality has been a central concern of philosophy and the social sciences, but since the proliferation of social media, psychological operations have taken on greater visibility and significance in political action. ‘Fake news’ and micro-targeted and deceptive advertising in elections and votes has brought the tenuous character of political reality to the fore. The affordances of the Internet, World Wide Web and social media have enabled users to be mobilised to varying degrees of awareness for propaganda and disinformation campaigns both as producers and spreaders of content and as generators of data for profiling and targeting. This article will argue that social media platforms and the broader political economy of the Internet create the possibilities for online interactions and targeting which enable form of political intervention focused on the destabilisation of perceptions of reality and recruit users in the construction of new politically useful realities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (Special Issue) ◽  
pp. 87-103
Author(s):  
Noémi Bíró

"Feminist Interpretations of Action and the Public in Hannah Arendt’s Theory. Arendt’s typology of human activity and her arguments on the precondition of politics allow for a variety in interpretations for contemporary political thought. The feminist reception of Arendt’s work ranges from critical to conciliatory readings that attempt to find the points in which Arendt’s theory might inspire a feminist political project. In this paper I explore the ways in which feminist thought has responded to Arendt’s definition of action, freedom and politics, and whether her theoretical framework can be useful in a feminist rethinking of politics, power and the public realm. Keywords: Hannah Arendt, political action, the Public, the Social, feminism "


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-98
Author(s):  
Pia Rowe ◽  
David Marsh

While Wood and Flinders’ work to broaden the scope of what counts as “politics” in political science is a needed adjustment to conventional theory, it skirts an important relationship between society, the protopolitical sphere, and arena politics. We contend, in particular, that the language of everyday people articulates tensions in society, that such tensions are particularly observable online, and that this language can constitute the beginning of political action. Language can be protopolitical and should, therefore, be included in the authors’ revised theory of what counts as political participation.


Relay Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
Tetsushi Ohara

Approaches to understanding learner autonomy in language learning often contain dichotomous views: those that emphasize individual attributes and those that emphasize social influence. In order to articulate our understanding of learner autonomy, it is necessary to find approaches, which view a dialectic unity between the individualistic views and the social views. Sociocultural theory based on the concept of mediation is an approach, which has potential to offer a unique way to analyze learner autonomy. While using sociocultural theory as the main theoretical framework, this article attempts to understand how students take charge of their learning in the language classroom. Qualitative data indicate that interpersonal relationships between students work as mediational means for students to engage in their learning in the classroom. From this finding, it is argued that by understanding mediational means that students employ and are appropriate in the classroom, we are better able to track the students’ ability to take charge of their own learning.


2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 999-1014
Author(s):  
Amín Pérez

This article proposes a new understanding of the constraints and opportunities that lead intellectuals engaged in different political and social fields to create alternative modes of resistance to domination. The study of the Algerian sociologist Abdelmalek Sayad offers insights into the social conditions of this mode of committed scholarship. On the one hand, this article applies Sayad’s theory of immigration to his transnational intellectual engagements. It establishes how immigrants’ intellectual work are conditioned by their trajectories, both before and after leaving their country, and by the stages of emigration (from playing a role in the society of origin to becoming caught up in the reality of the host society). On the other hand, the article illuminates the constraints and the spaces of possible action intellectuals face while moving across national universes and disparate political and academic fields. Sayad’s marginal position within the academy constrained him to work for the French and Algerian governments and international organizations while he was simultaneously engaged with political dissidents, unionists, writers, and social movements. In tracking Sayad’s roles as an academic, expert and public sociologist, the article uncovers the conditions that grounded improbable alliances between those fields and produced new forms of critique and political action. The article concludes by drawing out some reflections that ‘collective intellectual’ engagements elicit to the sociology of intellectuals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Mohammad Dzulkifli

<p><strong>This article aims to describe the Arab Spring phenomenon through critical discourse analysis of the Qatar Debate. This research is a qualitative descriptive study with the note-taking method. The results of the study show that the structure of the discourse contained in the Qatar debate consists of several structures. First, the macrostructure that contains thematic elements or general themes, namely about ‘Arab Spring has failed’. Second, is the superstructure which contains schematic elements referring to the system and the rules of the game in the turn of speech. Third, the microstructure contains elements of semantics, syntax, stylistics, rhetoric, and metaphors. The semantic element of the Qatar debate shows the uses of language that aims to rever to connotative meanings. Syntactically, the Qatari debaters are dominant using active sentence patterns and noun sentences (jumlah ismiyah). From the stylistic aspect, both teams have their own style of language, as the pro team uses a lot of declarative styles while the counter team tends to use an interrogative style. The rhetorical and metaphorical elements are used a few times but not in large portions. This study also shows the different views of the two teams from two countries that represent the social views of the people in their respective countries towards the Arab Spring phenomenon.</strong></p><p><strong><em>Keywords</em></strong> – <em>Arab Spring, Critical Discourse Analyst, Qatar Debate</em></p>


Author(s):  
José Luis Coraggio

In this chapter the Social and Solidarity Economy is presented both as an alternative theory and a counterhegemonic program of political action that challenges the tenets of the market economy of neoliberal doctrine. The proposal is framed within a substantive economy approach based on the works of Marx and Polanyi. The categories of a substantive economic analysis regarding ethical and specifically economic principles and institutions are outlined. Recent advances in the line of a Social and Solidarity Economy are sketched for some of the Latin American national-popular political processes (Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, with some references to Brazil), including an especial reference to the new constitutions and public policies and the tensions between different objectives revealed within them.


2020 ◽  
pp. 115-129
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Maciejewska-Mieszkowska

Television as a political actor in the social assessment by Poles Television, treated as one of political actors, is subject to social evaluation in terms of its credibility and trust. In the case of Polish audiovisual media, many years of surveys in the field show that in the last few years there have been fundamental changes in the perception of television broadcasts by Poles. This tendency should be associated with the dynamic transformations of the Polish political scene and the shaping of political preferences of the public. This publication aims to show changes in the assessment of television, taking into account the attitude of Poles towards political reality and their preferences in the use of specific sources of information.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Manuel Kingman

ResumenEl presente artículo referencia teorías sobre la cultura popular ubicadas en las décadas del 80 y el 90 del siglo pasado, un período de reflexión pertinente y profunda en torno al término. Se visibiliza la complejidad de la noción de cultura popular, así como las distintas significaciones y sentidos que ha tenido el concepto. También se estudian ciertas entradas teóricas que son útiles para analizar la cultura popular. Se piensa en estos insumos teóricos como herramientas para reflexionar sobre las representaciones, diálogos y tensiones entre el arte contemporáneo y las manifestaciones estéticas populares.Palabras clavesCultura popular; arte contemporáneo; teoría cultural; antropologíaWork, Dialogue, Occupation and Cooperativism at Casa TomadaVictoria Rodríguez do CampoAbstractThe interdisciplinary art project Casa Tomada operates as a trigger for addressing issues of the social and artistic contemporary juncture. The fiction created by the National House of the Bicentennial, cultural space of the City of Buenos Aires, opens the way to consider alternative forms of creation in which the status of the artist's work is put in check and renewed interstices are glimpsed through the action of the multiple actors that surround the project. With illegal political action as a starting point – the forced occupation of a public space, Casa Tomada is committed to showing a multiplicity of conflicts, tensions, questions as well as possible answers, which are always contingent and applicable both to the social and the artistic spheres.KeywordsContemporary art; occupation, politics; collective work; interdisciplinarity La noción de lectura popular  interés debatekunape entre 80 y 90 siglo XX iuiarengapa contemporaniedadmandaManuel kiingman Maillallachiska:Kai articulok referenciame teoriakuna cultura kaska decadape posagchunga y  iskun chunga ialiska siglomanda, sug suma iuiarei entorno  terminomanda. Kauarenme complejidad nocionpe cultura popularpe chasallata sug rigcha significación y sentido iukarka chi concepto. Chasallata analizare sug entradakuna  teóricas valenkuna analizangapa cultura popular. Iuairenme  kai insumo teóricos herramientasina iuiarengapa representacionkunamanda, rimai tensiones arte contemporaneanope y manifestación estéticas populares. Rimangapa Ministidukuna:Cultura popular; arte contemporáneo; teoría cultural; antropologíaLa notion de culture populaire : intérêts des débats entre les années 80 et 90 du XXe siècle pour réfléchir sur la contemporanéitéManuel KingmanRésuméCet article se réfère à des théories sur la culture populaire dans les années 80 et 90 du siècle dernier, une période de réflexion pertinente et profonde sur le terme. Il présente la complexité de la notion de culture populaire, ainsi que les différentes significations et usage du concept. Il étudie également certains éléments théoriques utiles à l'analyse de la culture populaire. Nous pensons à ces apports théoriques comme outils pour réfléchir sur les représentations, les dialogues et les tensions entre l'art contemporain et les manifestations esthétiques populaires.Mots clésCulture populaire; art contemporain; théorie culturelle; anthropologie


2017 ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Nicolás Fleet

ResumenEste artículo desarrolla, en tres pasos, una perspectiva original de la teoría de la dominación de Max Weber. El primer paso establece un vínculo necesario entre las formas típicas de dominación política y los intereses sociales, de modo que toda acción política debe legitimarse ante el interés general. El segundo paso explica las crisis de legitimación como una respuesta a cambios de identidad en la base social de la dominación política, de tal forma que se introduce un concepto dinámico de legitimidad. El tercer paso establece que los valores que habitan en las formas legitimas de dominación política son usados como orientaciones simbólicas por parte de intereses sociales y acciones políticas particulares, de manera que toda forma de legitimación de la autoridad encierra, en sus propias premisas, los argumentos que justifican luchas políticas hacia la modificación de los esquemas de dominación.Palabras clave: legitimidad, dominación, acción política, democratización.Abstract This article develops, in three steps, an orignal perspective of Weber’s legitimacy theory. The first one, establishes a necessary link that exists between the typical forms of legitimate domination and the social interests, in such a way that every political action that purse the realization of its interests has to legitimate itself before the general will. The second explains the legitimation crises as a response to indentity changes at the social base of the political domination and, in so doing, it introduces a dinamic concept of legitimacy. The third step states that the values that dwell in legitimate forms of political domination are used as symbolic orientations by particular social intersts and political actions, in a way that each form of authority legitimation encapsulate, in its own premises, the arguments that justify political struggles aiming toward the modification of the domination schemes.Key words: legitimacy, domination, political action, democratization.


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