Formations of Secularity in Ancient Japan?

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 9-45
Author(s):  
Christoph Kleine
Keyword(s):  
Social Structures ◽  
Modest Contribution ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Path Dependencies ◽  
Normative Concepts ◽  
Regulatory Principle ◽  
Global Modernity ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Multiple Secularities ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Starting from the premise that the diversity of forms for distinguishing between ‘the religious’ and ‘the secular’ (i.e., multiple secularities) in global modernity is the result of different cultural preconditions in the appropriation of Western normative concepts of secularism, I would like to offer a modest contribution to the understanding of the corresponding cultural preconditions in Japan. I will try to show that the specific—and at first glance, relatively unproblematic—appropriation of secularity as a regulatory principle in modern Japan is to some extent path dependent on relatively stable and durable epistemic and social structures that have emerged in the course of ‘critical junctures’ in history. In this context, I would like to put up for discussion my hypothesis that some decisions taken in the period between the sixth and eighth centuries CE regarding the organisation of the relationship between ‘the religious’ and ‘the secular’ generated path dependencies that were effective well into the nineteenth century.

Path Dependence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Hegmon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
General Level ◽  
Historical Contingency ◽  
Difficult Decision ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Historical Sequences ◽  
Lock In

Path dependence concepts, thus far, have seen little application in archaeology, but they have great potential. At a general level, these concepts provide tools for theorizing historical sequences, such as patterns of settlement on a landscape and divergent historical traditions. Potential applications include issues of historical contingency in the late Rio Grande, settlement in the Mesa Verde region, and divergent trajectories in the post-Chaco period. Specific concepts from path dependence theory, including lock-in and critical junctures, are illustrated by an analysis of the growth of Hohokam irrigation, which exhibited a path-dependent trajectory. As archaeological study of path dependence builds awareness of the importance of decision-making on the future, it contributes to difficult decision-making in today’s world.

Islam et structures sociales chez les immigrés Soninké en France

1979 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constant Hames
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Country ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Social Category ◽  
French Society ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
The One ◽  
Muslim Immigration ◽  
The Relationship

In spite of the fact that Islam represents the second largest religious community in France, as a result of the African Muslim immigration, we do not know anything about its dif ferent national components, nor about the reactions or the transformations it undergoes in a foreign country. This article presents a few elements of a survey devoted to the case of the Mauritanian Soninké. The author emphasizes the relationship which exists between religion and a certain social category, the moodi, i.e. those who are depositaries of religious knowledge. Religious action is seen under two aspects : Muslim teaching as it is provided by the moodi, on the one hand, and certain magic practices which claim to be attached more or less to Islam, on the other. While the latter practices enjoy the possibility of being spread through im migration, the teaching nevertheless continues to be given in the context of the homes that are provided for the immigrants. As a result, Islam seems to be advancing amidst the soninké immigration, except for the practices of ramadân. This is due not only to the permanent character of the soninké social structures which are reproduced during immigration — the moodi continue to play their role, but also to a shift in Muslim values, which tend to identify themselves with the sociological essence of the community which confronts a French society perceived as a danger for the soninké identity.

Centre/ing decolonial feminist psychology in Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shose Kessi ◽  
Floretta Boonzaier
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Feminist Psychology ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Psychology as a discipline has historically served the interests of dominant groups in society. By contrast, contemporary trends in psychological work have emerged as a direct result of the impact of violent histories of slavery, genocide and colonisation. Hence, we propose that psychology, particularly in its social forms, as a discipline centred on the relationship between mind and society, is well placed to produce the critical knowledge and tools for imagining and promoting just and equitable social relationships and social structures. Starting with an overview of the historical assumptions of the discipline that served to legitimate systems of slavery, colonisation and apartheid, this article then introduces a framework for centring decolonial, feminist ways of doing psychological work with a focus on the particularities of the African context. We argue that a decolonial feminist approach to psychology curricula and psychological research is necessary for the discipline to remain relevant in contemporary African contexts.

The Ethics of Engagement: Listening for Peace

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-168
Author(s):  
Herman Wasserman
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Normative Concepts ◽  
Important Argument ◽  
The Media ◽  
African Media ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter sets out the central and most important argument of the book as it proposes a normative framework for African media in contexts of democratization conflict that is based on the ethical principal of “listening.” The chapter asks the question: how should the media act ethically during times of conflict? In setting out to answer this question, the chapter departs from the basic assumption that the media have responsibilities to democratic societies that extend beyond their mere functioning as commercial industries, digital platforms, or public institutions. The assumption in this chapter is that ethical frameworks are best developed through a dynamic dialectic between normative concepts and reflective practice: an ongoing process that combines ethical concepts and theories with an analysis of their appropriation, adaptation, and application in actual, specific contexts. Listening as an ethical position requires a fundamental revision of the relationship between journalists and their publics, one in which power relations are radically revised or overturned.

Ties that Bind

British Gods ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 23-50
Author(s):  
Steve Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Language Barriers ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Mining Communities ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Apparent Resistance

This chapter examines the relationship between local social structures and the popularity of religion through structured comparisons of three Scottish islands (Lewis, Orkney, and Shetland) and four Welsh villages. It also considers whether the apparent resistance of fishing and mining communities to secularization is best explained by the unpredictably dangerous nature of fishing and mining or by the relative isolation of those communities. It argues that, contra the view of some US sociologists, competition between churches, sects, and denominations weakens rather than strengthens religion. The enduringly religious parts of Britain remained so because they shared a common religion, and that consensus was possible because such communities were unusually socially homogenous and were relatively isolated (by geography and by language barriers) from the cultural mainstream.

scholarly journals Why do training regimes for early childhood professionals differ? Sweden and Switzerland compared

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 544-563
Author(s):  
Michael Geiss ◽  
Johannes Westberg
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Incremental Change ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Path Dependencies ◽  
Early Childhood Professionals ◽  
Educational Structures ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Private Associations

In Europe, there are many different ways in which early childhood education and care professionals are trained. This article investigates how these different forms came into being. Comparing two small, prosperous European countries, Sweden and Switzerland, we analyse the developments in training regimes for early childhood professionals since the 19th century using a historical institutionalism approach. We focus on corporate actors and the institutionalization of educational structures and identify critical junctures and path dependencies. Although both countries developed a comparable diversity of training opportunities in the 19th century and early 20th century, developments since the 1950s have diverged widely. While Sweden is developing a uniform, fully academicized training structure, the Swiss case exhibits no such uniformity but is characterized by continuity and incremental change. The article traces the role played by central governments, private associations and educational reform in the development of the training of preschool personnel.

Marketing System Failure: Revisioning Layton’s Marketing System Model

2020 ◽  
pp. 027614672096145
Author(s):  
Janine Williams ◽  
Janet Davey ◽  
Micael-Lee Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
System Failure ◽  
Marketing System ◽  
System Failures ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Marketing Systems ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Path Dependent

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to examine the mechanisms of long term marketing system failure from a path dependent, marketing systems perspective in order to identify ways of avoiding such situations in future. Using the model of Layton and Duffy (2018) we critically analyze the current plastic packaging crisis and its evolution over time. Through examining the mechanisms of failure from a systems perspective, we extend the path dependent, marketing system evolution model and advance understanding of marketing system failures. As a result of this analysis, the paper provides five propositions regarding where failure occurs within the system and identifies critical junctures where intervention (self-organized stakeholder initiatives and/or public policy intervention) can facilitate desirable outcomes in the future.

scholarly journals Classical Solutions of Path-Dependent PDEs and Functional Forward-Backward Stochastic Systems

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaolin Ji ◽  
Shuzhen Yang
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic System ◽  
Stochastic Systems ◽  
Classical Solutions ◽  
Itô Calculus ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
The Relationship

In this paper we study the relationship between functional forward-backward stochastic systems and path-dependent PDEs. In the framework of functional Itô calculus, we introduce a path-dependent PDE and prove that its solution is uniquely determined by a functional forward-backward stochastic system.

scholarly journals Topography of social touching depends on emotional bonds between humans

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (45) ◽  
pp. 13811-13816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juulia T. Suvilehto ◽  
Enrico Glerean ◽  
Robin I. M. Dunbar ◽  
Riitta Hari ◽  
Lauri Nummenmaa
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Social Touch ◽  
Emotional Bonds ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Relationship

Nonhuman primates use social touch for maintenance and reinforcement of social structures, yet the role of social touch in human bonding in different reproductive, affiliative, and kinship-based relationships remains unresolved. Here we reveal quantified, relationship-specific maps of bodily regions where social touch is allowed in a large cross-cultural dataset (N = 1,368 from Finland, France, Italy, Russia, and the United Kingdom). Participants were shown front and back silhouettes of human bodies with a word denoting one member of their social network. They were asked to color, on separate trials, the bodily regions where each individual in their social network would be allowed to touch them. Across all tested cultures, the total bodily area where touching was allowed was linearly dependent (mean r2 = 0.54) on the emotional bond with the toucher, but independent of when that person was last encountered. Close acquaintances and family members were touched for more reasons than less familiar individuals. The bodily area others are allowed to touch thus represented, in a parametric fashion, the strength of the relationship-specific emotional bond. We propose that the spatial patterns of human social touch reflect an important mechanism supporting the maintenance of social bonds.

scholarly journals Mired in Reservations: The Path-Dependent History of Electoral Quotas in India

2014 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca R. Jensenius
Keyword(s):  
Quota System ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scheduled Castes ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Electoral Quotas ◽  
Dependent Processes

Since independence, India has had electoral quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs, Dalits, “untouchables”). These quotas have been praised for empowering members of a deprived community, but have also been criticized for bringing to power SC politicians who are mere tools in the hands of the upper castes. Tracing the history of these quotas through four critical junctures, I show how a British attempt to strengthen their own control of India eventually resulted in one of the world's most extensive quota systems for minorities. The quota system was in the end a compromise between several political goals, and was not strongly supported by anyone. Also, while the quotas were designed to integrate SC politicians into mainstream politics, there was a subtle and gradual shift in the debate about them, to being about development for the SC community as such. This created a disjuncture between the design of the quota system and the expectation of what it would achieve. The case of quotas in India illustrates how policy choices often result from long path-dependent processes, how policy makers struggle with trade-offs when trying to design institutions, and also the power of expectations in shaping the perceptions of the outcomes of those institutions.

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