The Fragility of Dignity

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-71
Author(s):  
Suzy Killmister
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Personal Standards ◽  
Recognition Respect ◽  
Personal Dignity ◽  
Community Standards ◽  
In Virtue Of

This chapter utilizes the theoretical framework developed in Chapter 1 to explain how dignity can be violated, frustrated, or destroyed. For personal dignity, violations involve forcing a person to transgress her own dignitarian standards, making her less respect-worthy in her own eyes, while frustrations involve preventing a person from upholding her own dignitarian standards, blocking an avenue for increased self-regard. Social dignity takes the same form, but with community standards taking the place of personal standards. Status dignity, by contrast, is violated when an agent is treated in ways that contravene the recognition respect she is owed in virtue of her membership in a social class, and is frustrated when she is denied access to sites where recognition respect is offered.

A Theory of Dignity

2020 ◽  
pp. 16-38
Author(s):  
Suzy Killmister
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Other ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Recognition Respect ◽  
Personal Dignity ◽  
The One

This chapter opens by critiquing the dominant philosophical approach to dignity, which has its origins in Kant, on the grounds that it excludes vulnerable individuals, and cannot account for the phenomenon of lost or damaged dignity. It then lays out the central theoretical framework that informs the remainder of the book. This framework involves three distinct strands of dignity: personal dignity; social dignity; and status dignity. The strands emerge from distinguishing between self-respect and the respect of others, on the one hand, and recognition respect and appraisal respect, on the other.

scholarly journals Family multilingualism from a southern perspective: Language ideologies and practices of Brazilian parents in Norway

Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Lomeu Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Global South ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Epistemic Justice ◽  
Intercultural Encounters ◽  
Race Ethnicity

AbstractThis article derives from a three-year ethnographic project carried out in Norway focusing on language practices of Brazilian families raising their children multilingually. Analyses of interview data with two Brazilian parents demonstrate the relevance of examining intersectionally the participants’ orientation to categorisations such as social class, gender, and race/ethnicity. Additionally, I explore how parents make sense of their transnational, multilingual experiences, and the extent to which these experiences inform the language-related decisions they make in the home. Advancing family multilingualism research in a novel direction, I employ a southern perspective as an analytical position that: (i) assumes the situatedness of knowledge production; (ii) aims at increasing social and epistemic justice; (iii) opposes the dominance of Western-centric epistemologies; and (iv) sees the global South as a political location, not necessarily geographic, but with many overlaps. Finally, I draw on the notions of intercultural translation and equivocation to discuss the intercultural encounters parents reported. The overarching argument of this article is that forging a southern perspective from which to analyse parental language practices and beliefs offers a theoretical framework that can better address the issues engendered by parents engaged in South–North transnational, multilingual practices.

Neoliberalism, Neocorporatism, and Worker Representation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Preminger
Keyword(s):  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Theoretical Terms ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Chapter 1 lays out the book’s theoretical framework. Accepting the claim that Israel is a neoliberalizing society, it asserts labor’s agency and its potential to thwart neoliberalism as part of a struggle taking place on the ideological or symbolic level too. It then proposes neocorporatism as a useful conceptual approach, and links this to union revitalization and concepts of power. These theoretical terms and concepts are used to anchor the three “spheres” of union activity which structure the book: union democracy, or workers’ relationship to their representative organization; the balance of power between labor and capital, and the way the potential clash of interests between them is viewed and played out; and the relationship of labor to the political establishment and wider political community. Finally, a short coda explains the research process and approach that led to the book.

Poetry and Matter in the English Renaissance

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-52
Author(s):  
Wendy Beth Hyman
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
English Renaissance ◽  
Poetic Form ◽  
Physical Practice ◽  
Erotic Poetry ◽  
The Face ◽  
Carpe Diem

Chapter 1, “Poetry and Matter in the English Renaissance” traces the crucial relationship between poetics and philosophical materialism in the early modern period, explaining why erotic verse so readily lent itself to confronting questions about the nature of being and of knowledge. This chapter shows that for Renaissance poets—informed by Lucretius’ great analogy between atoms and alphabetic letters—there is poetic form in elemental matter. The writing of poetry was therefore often understood as a physical practice, while poetry itself was understood as ontologically complex and efficacious. As terms such as “figuration” reveal, poetic making has both metaphorical and literal elements, which come especially to the fore in the ubiquitous blazons depicting the face of the beloved. Within the syntax of materialist poetics, foretelling the decay of the love object is therefore tantamount to a kind of deconstruction or unmaking—making poetry actually “do” the work of time. Multiple traditions, from Aristotelian hylomorphism to idealizing Petrarchism, had prepared the way for the female body to function as a proxy for embodied matter which poets could “figure,” “make,” or “undo.” This chapter presents the object of erotic poetry becoming just that: a fictional construct subjected to the recombinatory shaping of the godlike poet. As later chapters will develop, the paradoxical loneliness of the carpe diem invitation emerges from this troubling strategy, for it is an invitational form addressed to an entity it has forever exiled as metaphysically other. This chapter thus provides both a theoretical framework and historical background for the project’s larger claims.

scholarly journals Neoliberal Development and Struggle Against It: The Importance of Social Class, Mystification and Feasibility

Aula Abierta ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 433
Author(s):  
Alpesh Maisuria
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Neoliberal Development ◽  
Core Features ◽  
The Way

ABSTRACTIn this article I introduce and develop neoliberalism through a discussion of Marxism and the way that classed mystification and feasibility are crucial concepts for understanding the maintenance of neoliberalism, and revolutionary possibilities. The starting point for this article is an essential explication of the Marxism, which is argued as the most efficacious theoretical framework for understanding the current historical conjuncture. Then, I provide an understanding of the development of capitalism into its current neoliberal form and its core features. Doing this work is important because while scholars regularly refer to capitalism/neoliberalism, they rarely explicate its  fundamentals. Having this specification will provide a referent for the analysis for the discussion in the article. This incorporates the question: what mechanisms generate the tendency for most people to acquiesce (or even assent) to neoliberalism, despite the inequality and inequality it creates? To address this, I suggest the critical importance of mystification. While exposing neoliberalism is important I argue that analysis and critique alone is not sufficient. I draw the article to a close by presenting a discussion about the importance of the feasibility of an alternative to neoliberalism to be promoted by critical educators and Marxists. The possibility of resistance and revolution emerges through constructing, what Gramsci called, a new conception of the world.Keywords: Neoliberalism, Marxism, Marx, Social Class, Revolution.RESUMENEn este artículo, presento y desarrollo el neoliberalismo a través de una discusión sobre el marxismo y la forma en que la mistificación y la factibilidad clasificadas son conceptos cruciales para comprender el mantenimiento del neoliberalismo y también las posibilidades revolucionarias. El punto de partida de este artículo es una explicación esencial del marxismo, que se argumenta como el marco teórico más eficaz para comprender la coyuntura histórica actual. A continuación, proporciono una comprensión del desarrollo del capitalismo en su forma neoliberal actual y sus características principales. Hacer este trabajo es importante porque a menudo, cuando los académicos se refieren al capitalismo / neoliberalismo, rara vez explican sus fundamentos. Tener esta especificación proporcionará una referencia para el análisis de la discusión en el artículo. Esto incorpora la pregunta: ¿qué mecanismos generan la tendencia de la mayoría de las personas a aceptar el neoliberalismo a pesar de la desigualdad que crea? Para abordar esto, sugiero dotar de mayor importancia la crítica de la mistificación. A este respecto considero que si bien la exposición al neoliberalismo es importante, sostengo que el análisis y la crítica por sí solos no son suficientes. Concluyo el artículo presentando una discusión sobre la importancia de la viabilidad de una alternativa al neoliberalismo para ser promovida por educadores críticos y marxistas. La posibilidad de resistencia y revolución emerge a través de la construcción, lo que Gramsci llamó, una nueva concepción del mundo.Palabras Clave: Neoliberalismo, Marxismo, Marx, Clase Social, Revolución.

Contours of Dignity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzy Killmister
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Significance ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Recognition Respect ◽  
Personal Dignity ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

Contours of Dignity develops a theory geared towards explaining the complex and varied role dignity plays in our moral lives. This includes the relationship between dignity and respect; the ways in which shame and humiliation can constitute dignity violations; and the relationship between dignity and human rights. Dignity, according to this theory, comes in three strands: personal dignity, social dignity, and status dignity. Each strand involves a specific form of respect. On the one hand, personal dignity involves self-respect while social and status dignity involve the respect of others. On the other hand, personal and social dignity both involve appraisal respect, while status dignity involves recognition respect. With these distinctions in hand, Contours of Dignity then explores the moral significance of dignity, offering a novel explanation of the source and scope of individuals’ claims to have their dignity respected. The book concludes with a discussion of the relationship between dignity and human rights, arguing that we should understand human dignity as a social construct, but one that nonetheless vindicates the human rights project.

The Quest for Research on Social Class in Contemporary Vietnam

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-79
Author(s):  
Ly Chu
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Approaches To Studying ◽  
Academic Challenges ◽  
Critical Overview

In this article, I present a critical overview of current approaches to studying social stratification and class in the post-reform Vietnamese context. I expound on the ideologically driven and politically mediated nature of discourse on social class in Vietnam, and examine the ideological, political, and academic challenges that arise from the development of such a discourse. I then make a case for the importance of sociological research on social class in contemporary Vietnam in light of existing empirical evidence. Finally, I introduce Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework as a potentially relevant approach to studying class in Vietnam.

Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Faxneld
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Class Level ◽  
Christian Myth

Chapter12 summarizes the findings of the study and answers the main questions posed in chapter 1, namely: In the material that can, in some sense, be classified as Satanic feminism, what motifs are recurrent? What sort of individuals usually expressed these ideas—what was their social class, level of education, temperament, and political orientation? What was the typical readership of the texts and how were they received? What hermeneutical strategies were employed when counter-reading the Bible or subverting misogynist motifs in Christian myth? How far is the inversion of Christian myth taken? What seems to be problematic when using Satan as a paragon of feminism, and how do the figures in question deal with this? Finally, some additional ruminations are presented.

With Our Backs Against the Wall

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Jeffrey K. Hass
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
Police Reports ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
Symbolic Distance

Chapter 1 sets up general themes: individual versus collective identities and survival; power and tragic, compelled agency; and change versus reproduction of practices and relations. After a brief discussion of historiography, the chapter developed its theoretical framework, building on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and fields. First, perception and sensation are the foundation of social fields, which are structured signals of practice and authority. Second, fields have topographies of social and symbolic distance that shape perceptions and practices. Empathy is particularly important. Third, a crucial facet of fields is anchors, entities of symbolic and emotional valence that link individuals to fields through personal and symbolic meanings. Finally, groups of fields and actors crystalize into “economies” of contexts and rules of worth. The chapter closes with a discussion of power and compelled, tragic agency, and with a discussion of data: Blockade diaries, state and Party records (NKVD and police reports, Party documents, etc.), and interviews (during the Blockade, in the late 1970s, after 1991).

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