The Fact of Diversity and Reasonable Pluralism

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sterling Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Political Morality ◽  
Reasonable Pluralism ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
Organizing Principles

AbstractContemporary society involves a number of different persons, groups, and ways of life that are deeply divided and very often opposed on fundamental matters of deep concern. Today, many contemporary philosophers regard this 'fact of diversity' as a problem that needs to be addressed when assessing the principles employed to organize society. In this paper, I discuss the fact of diversity, as it is understood by the notion of reasonable pluralism, and explain why it is thought by some to challenge the stability of a society's political morality. I examine the leading attempt to offer an account of the stability of a political morality and I argue that John Rawls's attempt to account for the stability of Justice as Fairness fails for reasons applicable to all political moralities because the very notion of a stable political morality is implausible. Diversity, as reasonable pluralism understands it, is not a problem that can be solved either by identifying a stable political morality or by modifying a political morality in some way that will make it more stable. Instead, the fact of diversity indicates only that disagreements on all aspects of society's organization, including its organizing principles and matters of value, is a permanent feature of social life that cannot be ignored, wished away, or solved.

Community and Human Social Nature Contemporary Society

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk de Vos
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
Status Competition ◽  
Communal Living ◽  
The One ◽  
Human Social Life

AbstractAlthough community is a core sociological concept, its meaning is often left vague. In this article it is pointed out that it is a social form that has deep connections with human social nature. Human social life and human social history can be seen as unflagging struggles between two contradictory behavioral modes: reciprocity and status competition. Relative to hunter-gatherer societies, present society is a social environment that strongly seduces to engage in status competition. But at the same time evidence increases that communal living is strongly associated with well being and health. A large part of human behavior and of societal processes are individual and collective expressions of on the one hand succumbing to the seductions of status competition and one the other hand attempts to build and maintain community. In this article some contemporary examples of community maintaining, enrichment and building are discussed. The article concludes with a specification of structural conditions for community living and a short overview of ways in which the Internet affects these conditions.

Choosing Preferences by Constructing Institutions: A Cultural Theory of Preference Formation

1987 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Wildavsky
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Shared Values ◽  
Preference Formation ◽  
Political Cultures ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ways Of Life

Preferences come from the most ubiquitous human activity: living with other people. Support for and opposition to different ways of life, the shared values legitimating social relations (here called cultures) are the generators of diverse preferences. After discussing why it is not helpful to conceive of interests as preferences or to dismiss preference formation as external to organized social life, I explain how people are able to develop many preferences from few clues by using their social relations to interrogate their environment. The social filter is the source of preferences. I then argue that culture is a more powerful construct than conceptual rivals: heuristics, schemas, ideologies. Two initial applications—to the ideology of the left-right distinctions and to perceptions of danger—test the claim that this theory of how individuals use political cultures to develop their preferences outperforms the alternatives.

Reducing Structural Barriers to Improve the Social Life of Three Adults with Severe Disabilities

1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 138-150
Author(s):  
Kate Werner ◽  
Robert H. Horner ◽  
J. Stephen Newton
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Baseline Design ◽  
Social Barriers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
The Stability

Social life can be diminished by barriers inadvertently associated with “support.” Social barriers were identified for three adults with severe intellectual disabilities. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to examine the effects of removing these barriers on the social life of each participant. The dependent variables in the study were (a) the number of social activities done per week, (b) the number of different people with whom social activities were done each week, and (c) the stability of social relationships across time as indexed by the number of different weeks in which activities occurred with a companion across the 27 weeks of the study. The independent variable was a seven-component “barrier reduction” package. Support staff were taught to use each component of the package, and pre-post measurement of package use was obtained. Results indicate that the staff successfully implemented the barrier reduction package, and that implementation was associated with change in the social life of each participant. The study raises implications for (a) assessing structural barriers, (b) modifying structural barriers, and (c) measurement of “social stability” as an important index of social life for future research.

Globalizations

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Osterhammel
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
World History ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Social ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Characteristic Features

The revival of world history towards the end of the twentieth century was intimately connected with the rise of a new master concept in the social sciences: globalization. Historians and social scientists responded to the same generational experience that the interconnectedness of social life on the planet had arrived at a new level of intensity. The conclusions drawn from this insight in the various academic disciplines diverged considerably. The early theorists of globalization in sociology, political science, and economics disdained a historical perspective. The new concept seemed ideally suited to grasp the characteristic features of contemporary society. It helped to pinpoint the very essence of present-day modernity. Globalization opened up a way towards the social science mainstream, provided elements of a fresh terminology to a field that had suffered for a long time from an excess of descriptive simplicity.

The Israeli Coalition System

1975 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Z. Paltiel
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Political System ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
The Stability ◽  
State Of Israel

ANALYSTS OF THE ISRAELI POLITICAL SYSTEM HAVE COMMONLY attributed the stability of the polity to factors closely associated with the role played by the various Israeli parties in the state's economic and social life, and/or to the existence of a dominant, institutionalized state-building party. The consociational approach ought to help to clarify those factors which have maintained the stability of the coalition system which has governed the state of Israel since its establishment in 1948 and whose roots may be traced back as far as 1933 and even earlier.The consociational model and the theory of elite accommodation have been elaborated in an effort to explain the maintenance of continuing political stability in what at first glance would appear to be societies deeply divided along social, economic, ethnic, religious and ideological lines. Political stability in fragmented societies from this standpoint rests on the overarching commitment of the political elites to the preservation and maintenance of the system and their readiness to cooperate to this end.

scholarly journals Impactos das tecnologias de informação e comunicação e na (in)formação do cidadão-trabalhador Construindo um quadro teórico-analítico multirreferencial a partir de contribuições da literatura do final do século XX

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresinha Fróes Burnham
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Work Relations ◽  
Information And Communication

Este artigo busca analisar, com base na perspectiva epistemológica multirreferencial, transformações relacionadas com o processo de globalização e seus reflexos nas. relações entre mudanças e rearticulações econômicas e políticas, processos e relações de trabalho e (in)formação do trabalhador. Aborda referenciais teóricos que interpretam a sociedade contemporânea a partir de perspectivas cognitivo-reflexivas e estético-hermenêuticas e as relações entre processos (in)formativos e concepções de sociedade. Enfoca a interrelação entre espaços de trabalho e de aprendizagem, chegando ao conceito de espaços multirreferenciais de aprendizagem. Argui que a instituição / reconhecimento destes espaços para a (in)formação do cidadão-trabalhador, tanto no âmbito escolar quanto de outras esferas da vida social, é uma alternativa comprometida com a construção da cidadania, numa perspectiva solidária, visando à superação de profundos fossos de discriminação e exclusão. <br> <br> <B>Palavras-chave</B>: tecnologias da informação e comunicação – (in)formação do cidadão trabalhador – espaços multirreferenciais de aprendizagem. <br> <br> <br> <B>Abstract</B>: This paper seeks to analyze - from an epistemological multireferential perspective - transformations related to the process of globalization and how they are reflected in the. relationships between economic and political change and re- negotiation, work relations and processes, and the (in)formation of the worker. It deals with theoretical referents that interpret contemporary society from the standpoint of cognitive-reflexive and aesthetic-hermeneutic perspectives and the relationships between (in)formative processes and conceptions of society. The paper focuses on the interrelationship between work and learning spaces and develops the concept of multireferential learning spaces. It is argued that the institutionalization / recognition of these spaces for the (in)formation of the citizen-worker – just as much in the school ambit as in other spheres of social life - is an alternative that is committed to the building of citizenship from a perspective of solidarity, with the aim of overcoming deep discriminatory divides and exclusion. <br> <br> <B>Key words</B>: information and communication technologies, the (in)formation of the citizen-worker, multireferential learning spaces.

Rawls's Practical Conception of Justice: Opinion, Tradition and Objectivity in Political Liberalism

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-43
Author(s):  
Alexander Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
The Political ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Liberal Conception ◽  
The Stability

AbstractIn Political Liberalism, Rawls emphasizes the practical character and aims of his conception of justice. Justice as fairness is to provide the basis of a reasoned, informed and willing political agreement by locating grounds for consensus in the fundamental ideas and values of the political culture. Critics urge, however, that such a politically liberal conception of justice will be designed merely to ensure the stability of political institutions by appealing to the currently-held opinions of actual citizens. In order to evaluate this concern, I suggest, it is necessary to focus on the normative character of Rawls's analysis. Rawls argues that justice as fairness is the conception of justice that citizens of modern democratic cultures should choose in reflective equilibrium, after reflecting fully upon their considered judgments regarding justice. Since judgments in reflective equilibrium are grounded in considered judgment, rather than situated opinions, I argue that the criticism fails.

Alternative Modernities: A Cultural Genealogy of Japan's Modernization

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 488-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Japanese Society ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Social Patterns ◽  
Alternative Modernities ◽  
Political Modernization ◽  
Organizing Principles ◽  
Structural Shifts

Traditional and largely rural patterns of relationships seem to persist in Japan despite economic and political modernization. Infused within modern technology, ideology, and apparently modern organizational forms, one discerns the persistent, if not determining, influence of native values and social patterns. Following a genealogical approach, inspired by Nietzsche and Foucault, this paper goes beyond the opposition between universalist and multiculturalist models of modernization, in order to identify certain indigenous principles of social organization manifest in both "traditional" and "modern" social formations of Japan. The persistence of these basic principles, such as the 'frame orientation," and the emphasis on wa (harmony, peace), is traced through the historical process of Japan's modernization in various realms of social life — the economy, political life, and popular culture. e analysis recent structural shifts in Japanese society, while still affirming the principles of Japan's "alternative modernity," also implies that major changes in its basic organizing principles might be under way.

scholarly journals MacIntyre and the Challenges of Higher Education in the 21st Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ((2) 18) ◽  
pp. 13-33
Author(s):  
Miguel Angel Belmonte
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Alasdair Macintyre ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Important Place ◽  
New Model ◽  
The University ◽  
Moral Discourses

Reflection on the nature of the university and its role in contemporary society occupies an important place in the work of the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. His academic career and his view of the incommensurable nature of moral discourses combine to suggest an original and provocative proposal for a new model of higher education. This model is characterized by a unity based on a philosophical and theological formality capable of dispelling the dangers of fragmentation and utilitarian specialization. In MacIntyre’s proposal, the university becomes the most important vehicle for organizing knowledge and, consequently, for ordering social life.

scholarly journals Kognitywne i kulturowe podstawy nominacji ekspresywnej w polszczyźnie - perspektywa historyczna

2008 ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
Artur Rejter ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Age Changes ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
The World ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Common Perception

The presented proposal to approach expressive appellation from a cognitive and cultural perspective in historical terms is an attempt to perceive certain continuity and permanency by common perception and categorization of the world, and specifically - of another man. Apart from obvious, in this case, axiological bases, it is worth remembering about explicit stability of appellative foundations of expressive lexis that are cognitively conditioned and generally based on the fundamentals of common categorization. In this dimension, the stability of expressive lexis is the most visible indeed. In the case of cultural factors, we can talk about larger flexibility and susceptibility to changes, nevertheless, we cannot forget that transformations in this sphere are not too significant as they just concern a few cultural factors (aesthetic standards, a role and place of religion in social life, modern age changes) which have transformed in time.

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