Entre désécularisation et resacralisation: Bouddhistes laïcs, temples et organisations philanthropiques en Chine

2009 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Laliberté

The author looks into the revival of Buddhist philanthropy in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the last decade. It seeks to tackle the wider question of the social utility of religion in the eyes of the political authorities and to assess the extent to which recent debates on secularization theory may be relevant to the Chinese situation. The emergence of Buddhist philanthropy is coinciding with considerable changes in political, economic and social conditions, characterized by state disengagement from the provision of social services. The author describes various organizations offering assistance to the poor, as well as certain services related to healthcare and education. Yet this rise in Buddhist philanthropy should not be seen as evidence of a “resacralization” process in China because the communist Party-State continues its policy of manifest secularization.

1996 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve A. Smith

SummaryThe article investigates relations between workers and intellectuals in the pre-revolutionary Bolshevik Party in St Petersburg and the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai. It commences with a background examination of the social position and traditions of the intelligentsia in each country and the emergence of a stratum of so-called “conscious” workers. The position of workers in each party is then analysed, especially with respect to leadership, and the nature of tensions between workers and intellectuals explored. The investigation demonstrates that workers acquiesced in their subordination to a greater degree in Shanghai than in St Petersburg, and this and other differences are traced back to historical and cultural context. In conclusion, the implications of contextual differences are explored in order to suggest why the intelligentsia in the People's Republic of China (PRC) attracted greater odium from the party-state than its counterpart in the Soviet Union.


2005 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 45-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Deans

Nationalism and national self-assertion have been core values of the Chinese Communist Party throughout its history and also represent a key narrative of Chinese history in the 20th century, although the social bases from which the nationalism derives and the manner in which this nationalism is expressed have changed over time. From the 1990s onwards, the party-state's prefferred discourse on nationalism has been couched in terms of patriotism, while a popular nationalism has emerged, which at times goes beyond and challenges that of the party-state. The implications of this are addressed in the present paper wiht regard to the PRC's relations with Taiwan and Japan and with regard to the debate on ideology and Asian Values. It is argued that rising popular nationalism increasingly challenges state autonomy in the first two areas, but tends to be supportive of the state with regard to the third.


Author(s):  
Oskar Gruszczyński

Dancing in chains: Chinese film censorship, 1949–1966 After the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and the subsequent nationalization of the domestic film industry three years later, the Chinese Communist Party gained unlimited control over the entire Chinese film world, while film itself became an instrument of state propaganda. In order to fulfill their role ‘in the service of workers, peasants, and soldiers’, filmmakers had to abide strictly by the requirements which the CPC had imposed upon them, and subject themselves to a rigorous film censorship system. Artistic independence and freedom were subject to the political needs of a one-party state and its ideology. The establishment of a full-fledged and extremely complex institutional censorship system in 1953 resulted in the emergence of two distinct phenomena: self-censorship and social censorship. Both of these made it possible for the CPC to gain full control not only over the film industry, but also, in certain aspects, over the minds of filmmakers as well as the audiences. This article aims at revealing the mechanisms of the Chinese censorship system in the period stretching from 1949 to 1966, and to elucidate the disastrous effects which these exceedingly rigorous control mechanisms brought upon the Chinese film industry in general in this turbulent era


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (87) ◽  
pp. 551-567
Author(s):  
Andréa Alcione de Souza ◽  
Rafaela Cyrino Peralva Dias

Abstract Based on research conducted in Belo Horizonte, with 25 black managers, this article analyzes how the career mobility discourse is based on the idea of personal merit. Considering this central problem and authors such as Pierre Bourdieu, Jessé Souza and Carlos Hasenbalg, the research analyzed the assumptions, functionalities and productive character that the idea of personal merit assumes in the interviewees' discourse. The results obtained point to a perception of the process of moving up in the organization career path that has strong meritocratic components; a perception that ignores or minimizes the social, emotional, moral and economic preconditions that interfere in the differential performance obtained by individuals. Moreover, this perception implies a disqualification of any argument that reinforces the racial barriers in their upward career mobility processes, which contributes to conceal the political, economic and social dimension of racism in the country.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timofey Rakov

This article analyses practices related to the cult of Lenin in the confines of the Leningrad party organisation of the RCP(b) and its influence on innerparty discussions and political disagreements. The author aims to examine how appeal to the cult and Leninism helped shape the position of the Leningrad Bolsheviks led by G. E. Zinoviev. To achieve this goal, the author refers to a variety of sources, i. e. the works of the leaders of the Leningrad party organisation, such pamphlets by G. I. Safarov and G. E. Evdokimov, minutes of district party conferences, etc. The sources listed above suggest that the terms “testament,” “heritage,” and “task” used in party discourse symbolise a set of actions and principles, following and being faithful to which allowed party members to comply with the correct political line. For representatives of the Leningrad opposition, this meant relying on the poor and middle strata of the village. The category of practice mentioned in the title of this article means that attention was paid not so much to the function of quotations or clichéd phrases but rather to what party groups implied when quoting Lenin’s statements. The term “cult”, which historiography usually employs to describe the veneration of V. I. Lenin as the leader of the party, does not reflect the entirety of this process or take into account its productive component, namely, the fact that, because of its heterogeneity, Leninism allowed members of the Communist Party to pay attention to diverse aspects of Lenin’s heritage. In the course of the polemic surrounding issues facing the party (politics in the countryside, the possibility of building socialism in a single country, etc.), the Leningrad Bolsheviks turned to Leninism as a range of ideas legitimising their political position and as a tool for identifying the Bolsheviks who, in contrast to the Leningraders, “deviated” from the correct political line.


Harmoni ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-240
Author(s):  
M. Alie Humaedi

The relationship between Islam and Christianity in various regions is often confronted with situations caused by external factors. They no longer debate the theological aspect, but are based on the political economy and social culture aspects. In the Dieng village, the economic resources are mostly dominated by Christians as early Christianized product as the process of Kiai Sadrach's chronicle. Economic mastery was not originally as the main trigger of the conflict. However, as the political map post 1965, in which many Muslims affiliated to the Indonesian Communist Party convert to Christianity, the relationship between Islam and Christianity is heating up. The question of the dominance of political economic resources of Christians is questionable. This research to explore the socio cultural and religious impact of the conversion of PKI to Christian in rural Dieng and Slamet Pekalongan and Banjarnegara. This qualitative research data was extracted by in-depth interviews, observations and supported by data from Dutch archives, National Archives and Christian Synod of Salatiga. Research has found the conversion of the PKI to Christianity has sparked hostility and deepened the social relations of Muslims and Christians in Kasimpar, Petungkriono and Karangkobar. The culprit widened by involving the network of Wonopringgo Islamic Boarding. It is often seen that existing conflicts are no longer latent, but lead to a form of manifest conflict that decomposes in the practice of social life.


Author(s):  
Robert Mickey

This chapter examines how the southern authoritarian enclaves experienced different modes of democratization in light of the deathblows of federal legislation, domestic insurgencies, and National Democratic Party reform in the 1960s and early 1970s. As enclave rulers came to believe that change was inevitable, most sought to harness the revolution, striking a fine balance between resisting federal intervention without appearing too defiant, and accepting some change without appearing too quiescent. Pursuing a “harnessed revolution” meant influencing the pace of seemingly inevitable change; it served the overarching goals of protecting the political careers of enclave rulers and the interests of many of their political-economic clients. The chapter considers how prior responses to democratization pressures, factional conflict, and party–state institutions shaped modes of democratization. It shows that the growth of Republicans in the Deep South was to varying degrees both consequence and cause of rulers' responses to democratization pressures.


Author(s):  
Torben Iversen ◽  
David Soskice

This chapter considers the “second-order” effects of the transition to the knowledge economy. This means the set of preferences, beliefs, and party allegiances that are crystallizing as a consequence of the political-economic realities brought about by the knowledge economy. Chapter 3 considered “first-order” effects—immediate policy responses reflecting existing political coalitions—and showed that these responses were relatively limited and in most countries, failed to offer much compensation for those who lost out in the collapse of the Fordist economy. This chapter argues that this failure has created the political conditions for the rise of populism. Populism refers to a set of preferences and beliefs that rejects established parties and elites, that sees established politicians as gaming the system to their own advantage, and that at the same time sees the poor as undeserving of government support.


Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136346072096129
Author(s):  
John Andrew G Evangelista

Homonationalism refers to how the West folded LGBTQ rights into the nation through neoliberal economies, intervention, and surveillance of racialized communities. This shift relied on the exceptionalist narrative that reveres Western sexual liberation—liberal, bureaucratic, visible, and consumerist—while silencing queer narratives from Southern, racialized, and migrant communities. The literature found that some LGBTQ (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and queers) organizations deployed this imperial narrative, yet accounts on the social conditions facilitating such deployments remain scant. To expand the current discussions, my paper situates the Philippine LGBTQ movement’s affinity with homonationalism within the political, material, and ideological exigencies that confronted activists.


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