scholarly journals A sociology of Covid-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Matthewman ◽  
Kate Huppatz
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Collective Good ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Experiment ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Arundhati Roy ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
The World ◽  
Socially Isolated

The Covid-19 pandemic presents the profoundest public health and economic crisis of our times. The seemingly impossible has happened: borders have closed, nations have locked down, and individuals have socially isolated for the collective good. We find ourselves involved in an unprecedented social experiment. This living laboratory is ripe for sociological analysis. In this introductory article, we provide a broad sociology of Covid-19, paying attention to the production of pandemics and the creation of vulnerabilities. We acknowledge the dystopian elements of the pandemic: it will provide opportunities for ‘disaster capitalists’ to profit, it will enhance certain forms of surveillance, and it will impact some constituencies far more negatively than others (here we pay particular attention to the pandemic’s gendered consequences). Yet there are also resources for hope. We are witnessing altruistic acts the world over, as mutual aid groups form to render assistance where needed. Notions of welfare reform, progressive taxation, nationalisation and universal basic income now seem more politically palatable. Some even predict the imminent demise of neoliberalism. While this may be too hopeful, reactions to the pandemic thus far do at least demonstrate that other ways of living are within our grasp. As Arundhati Roy has said: the virus is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.

Modernité et néo-clercs

1982 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josianne Bodart
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Medical Field ◽  
Reference Models ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
And Training

While mutual aid is secular, social work as a profession is not yet a hundred years old, and training in this field only began at the turn of the century. Neither priest nor doctor, but equally devoted and competent, the social worker is half-way between the two. His relay function is mediatized by a salary received not from his client, but from an institution which acknowledges he has a cer tain effectiveness. Social work thus reminds us at one and the same time of the priest's priesthood and the doctor's specializa tion. This neo-cleric treats the soul as well as the body and he has ambiguous relations with spelialized institutions which are in pur suit of the sacred or in pursuit of health. The social worker tries to find reference models both in the religious world and in the medi cal world. Furthermore, an analysis of his discourse reveals that he mobilizes items of counter-legitimacy with respect to both the religious and the medical field. This intentionally marginal belonging to two worlds leads him to constantly have doubts about the objectives to be pursued and the decisions to be taken. It is probably in this perspective that the feeling of uneasiness which persuades the world of social work and which prevents these professionals from getting away from vagueness and uncertainty, should be understood.

scholarly journals Education as Cultural Frame

2021 ◽  
pp. 267-284
Author(s):  
John W. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Modern Society ◽  
Collective Good ◽  
Educational Expansion ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Cultural Model ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Regional Variations ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The World

AbstractEducation, both mass and elite, has spread everywhere over recent centuries, generally taking globally standardized forms. The studies in this book address its distinctively compulsory form. It is originally organized for the collective good of religious and later political society, and more recently formulated as a citizen—and later human—right. Educational expansion is global, and greatly affected by worldwide organizations. But regional variations matter too, as education spreads out from the Western core. A key to understanding the diffusion of education is to see it as reflecting cultural and political forces, not principally economic ones that obviously vary greatly around the world. Education reflects a cultural model of a secularized modern society, much more than economic interests and structures, and its commonalities are visible everywhere.

scholarly journals Intermingling of History and Politics in The God of Small Things

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Md. Abdul Momen Sarker ◽  
Md. Mominur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Indian Culture ◽  
Arundhati Roy ◽  
Political Condition ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Democratic Election ◽  
Small Things ◽  
First Time

Suzanna Arundhati Roy is a post-modern sub-continental writer famous for her first novel The God of Small Things. This novel tells us the story of Ammu who is the mother of Rahel and Estha. Through the story of Ammu, the novel depicts the socio-political condition of Kerala from the late 1960s and early 1990s. The novel is about Indian culture and Hinduism is the main religion of India. One of the protagonists of this novel, Velutha, is from a low-caste community representing the dalit caste. Apart from those, between the late 1960s and early 1990s, a lot of movements took place in the history of Kerala. The Naxalites Movement is imperative amid them. Kerala is the place where communism was established for the first time in the history of the world through democratic election. Some vital issues of feminism have been brought into focus through the portrayal of the character, Ammu. In a word, this paper tends to show how Arundhati Roy has successfully manifested the multifarious as well as simultaneous influences of politics in the context of history and how those affected the lives of the marginalized. Overall, it would minutely show how historical incidents and political ups and downs go hand in hand during the political upheavals of a state.

scholarly journals Citizen’s basic income and Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 566-583
Author(s):  
Eduardo Matarazzo Suplicy ◽  
Mônica Dallari
Keyword(s):  
Basic Income ◽  
Rural Villages ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
The World ◽  
Guaranteed Minimum Income

ABSTRACT Brazil is the first national in the world to approve a law to institute, step by step, a Citizen’s Basic Income. In 1991, I presented a Guaranteed Minimum Income proposal. More and more in the world, there is growing interest and experiences. Among them, in Kenia. The results of paying a Universal Basic Income to all adults with 18 years or more in rural villages are very positive. Maricá (RJ) has started to pay 33 dollars per month to one third of the population last August. By 2021, the Universal Basic Income (UBI) will be paid to all inhabitants.

scholarly journals THE COST OF NEGATIVE INCOME TAX AS A FISCAL MEASURE TO TACKLE POVERTY IN NORTH MACEDONIA

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Velkovska
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
Household Consumption ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Negative Income ◽  
The World ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Negative Income Tax

This paper makes an effort to evaluate the cost of negative income tax as a fiscal measure aiming to tackle the persistent high poverty rate in Macedonia. Poverty, income inequality and unemployment are expected to rise all around the world due to the pandemic corona virus outbreak and the subsequent economic crisis. Governments around the world have already implemented measures similar to universal basic income with the purpose of increasing household consumption and stimulating aggregate demand but also to mitigate the devastating effects that the recent unfavorable economic developments have on the citizens living in poverty or are at the risk of poverty. However, shrinking fiscal spaces of small economies could be an obstacle to implement such policies. Compared to universal basic income, negative income tax is a less costly policy option that targets the population living in poverty instead of providing payments to everyone regardless of their income. The analysis based on the available data is indicating that implementing such policy would cost as much as 9.7 billion MKD per year, which is 4% of the planned state budget revenues for Y2020, 8% of the planned social transfers for Y2020 and 29% of the funds that the state has made available for tackling the COVID 19 crisis so far. In addition, the negative income tax could trigger various positive effects on the economy. Since poor people spend almost all of their income, it could be expected that implementing negative income tax would rise household consumption. According to the empirical analysis in this paper, household consumption is in highest correlation to GDP growth in Macedonia compared to the other explanatory variables (government consumption, investments, import and export).

Blackness, Race, and Politics in Argentina

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith M. Anderson ◽  
Patricia Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Large Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Black Activism ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation

Africans and Afro-descendants in Argentina have a long tradition of organizing to resist all forms of oppression. This can be traced back to the 17th century with various forms of organizations including cofradias (religious brotherhoods or fraternal organizations), naciones (Afro-descendant social and cultural organizations), mutual aid societies, and military-based organizations in Río de la Plata, the region that would become Argentina and Uruguay. From the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries, as a part of the construction of the Argentine nation as European, white, and “civilized,” the myth of black disappearance was reified through discursive elimination and the cessation of collecting data on race or color in official records. The rise of Peronism in the 1940s would cause the return of race to public discourse, as large internal migrations of nonwhites from the interior of the country descended on major cities like Buenos Aires. The opponents of Perón, and his policies that embraced these poor migrants, mocked these individuals as cabecitas negras (derogatory term meaning “little black heads”), but they would open the possibility for a new reworking of a more inclusive Argentina. The new migrants represented a merging of categories of race and class, as these negros included Afro-Argentines who formed part of Perón’s constituency. The late 20th century would bring more direct challenges to black invisibility, with multiple new organizations and events centered on the experiences of the African diaspora in Argentina. One of the first organizations created after the return to democracy in Argentina was the Comité Argentino Latinoamericano contra el Apartheid (The Argentine Committee against Apartheid) in 1984. The example set by this organization, alongside inspiration from black liberation movements in the United States, Brazil, and on the African continent, would be a catalyst for the creation of numerous new black organizations for decades to come. Black organizing in Argentina found support in activist networks across the globe as well as across international organizations, which was reflected by the multicultural turn in Latin America during the 1990s. The era sparked the creation of significant legislation and activities due to pressure from local activists and the international community through organizations like the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. One of the earliest conferences organized by Argentine black activists was the first Jornada de Cultura Negra (Black Culture Conference) in 1991. The National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI) was created in 1995 by the Argentine state to address the needs of marginalized populations in Argentine society. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw increased immigration of highly visible Africans and Afro-descendants from Latin America and Caribbean countries, which led to the creation of novel organizations to serve their specific needs. New conferences and events that provided opportunities for these diasporas to organize and interact, like the Semana de África (Africa Week), were also created. Along with the existing black communities in Argentina, these organizations contributed to new legislation officially recognizing Afro-descendant populations and condemning racism. Many of these legislative acts were passed under the Fernández de Kirchner administration (2007–2015), like the 2015 Law No. 5.261 Against Discrimination, which provided a more comprehensive antidiscrimination policy, and the historic 2010 Argentine census which restored the possibility of identifying as Afro-descendant. The reappearance of the category in the 2010 census after over a 120-year absence had been prompted by the World Bank’s landmark census 5 years prior. Though these gains were primarily symbolic, they helped fortify black activism. Grassroots organizing and political mobilization has remained steadfast in spite of shifts in national politics, continuous economic instability, and increased antiblack racism at both the systemic and individual levels. As black activism increased incrementally over the decades, it inspired an upsurge of academic studies that in turn provided knowledge which helped propel activist efforts. The 21st century has been a particularly fruitful time in the Argentine academy as anthropological studies on Africans and Afro-descendants have proliferated. This time period has also marked a much-needed expansion of black organizing into more rural areas of the country, especially the northwest, which has historically had a large population of African descent. By holding more activities in the provinces and outside of the City of Buenos Aires, the decentralization of black activism has helped increase consciousness across the nation.

Advancing Universalism in Neoliberal Times? Basic Income, Workfare and the Politics of Conditionality

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 589-603
Author(s):  
Ben Spies-Butcher
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Unemployment Benefits ◽  
Neoliberal Reform ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Welfare Institutions ◽  
Family Benefits

Workfare is an exemplar of neoliberal welfare reform generating precarity. In response, critics have sought to advance a politics of universalism, through either a return to social democracy or the embrace of a universal basic income. Yet, these responses invoke different understandings of universalism. This paper explores the politics of universalism in the context of neoliberal reform to benefit systems. Using Australia as a case study, it applies a variegated understanding of neoliberalism to identify two distinct reform trajectories for family payments and unemployment benefits. While appearing to follow a common template of liberalization, in practice each trajectory fostered distinct social outcomes and political dynamics. I argue the more inclusive restructuring of family benefits reflected the influence of social movement pressure intersecting with an increasingly pro-competition and technocratic state, producing new, hybrid, patterns of universal social provision similar to forms of basic income. However, in reflecting on these political dynamics I highlight how the mobilization of universalism is contingent on existing welfare institutions, suggesting dangers in applying these lessons more broadly.

scholarly journals Introduction to the Issue

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Louise Berg ◽  
Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
The World ◽  
Modes Of Thought

This introductory article to the inaugural issue of Migration and Society reflects on the complex and often contradictory nature of migration encounters by focusing on diverse dynamics of hospitality and hostility towards migrants around the world and in different historical contexts. Discourses, practices, and policies of hospitality and hostility towards migrants and refugees raise urgent moral, ethical, political, and social questions. Hospitality and hostility are interlinked, yet seemingly contradictory concepts and processes, as also acknowledged by earlier writers, including Derrida, who coined the term hostipitality. Drawing on Fiddian-Qasmiyeh’s work and on feminist scholars of care, we argue for the need to trace alternative modes of thought and action that transcend and resist the fatalistic invocations of hostipitality. This requires an unpacking of the categories of host and guest, taking us from universalizing claims and the taxonomy of host-guest relations to the messiness of everyday life and its potential for care, generosity, and recognition in encounters.

Mutual aid for the arts in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Milan: The ‘Pio Istituto Teatrale’

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 602-624
Author(s):  
Mariarita Pierotti ◽  
Alessandro Capocchi ◽  
Paola Orlandini
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Theatre Arts ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

In the nineteenth century, when the theatre arts were at their peak, Milan was considered the intellectual and artistic capital of Italy. This article explores the objectives and the functioning of an important mutual aid company based in Milan – the Pio Istituto Teatrale – through its accounting system. These accounting documents clearly convey the dual nature of this organization, which was dedicated to protecting both social welfare and the arts. This study confirms the social role of accounting and its implications. In recent years, the attention paid to accounting in artistic institutions has been increasing. However, while many studies have explored Italian mutual aid societies in general, few have considered those in the artistic field specifically. This article attempts to rectify this oversight by examining a mutual aid society functioning in the world of theatre via its accounting records.

scholarly journals Leveraging the World Cup: Mega Sporting Events, Human Rights Risk, and Worker Welfare Reform in Qatar

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarath K. Ganji
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Foreign Workers ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
The World ◽  
Policy Proposals

Qatar will realize its decades-long drive to host a mega sporting event when, in 2022, the opening ceremony of the Fέdέration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup commences. By that time, the Qatari government will have invested at least $200 billion in real estate and development projects, employing anywhere between 500,000 and 1.5 million foreign workers to do so. The scale of these preparations is staggering — and not necessarily positive. Between 2010 and 2013, more than 1,200 labor migrants working in Qatar's construction sector died, with another 4,000 deaths projected by the start of the event. Foreign workers are subject to conditions of forced labor, human trafficking, and indefinite detention. Advocacy groups cite deplorable living and working conditions, coupled with lax legal protections for workers, as the main culprits. Absent significant improvements in worker welfare, Qatar's World Cup will be remembered as a human rights tragedy. This article examines whether it is possible for Qatar's World Cup to forge a different legacy, as an agent of change on behalf of worker welfare reform. In examining the issue, the article takes a two-fold approach. First, it locates the policy problem of worker welfare abuses in the context of the migration life cycle. The migration life cycle represents the range of activities that mediate the relationship between an individual migrant and the labor migration system — from the time the migrant first considers working overseas to his employment abroad to his eventual return to the home country. An understanding of worker welfare abuses in Qatar does not begin or end with reports of migrant deaths. A much broader pattern of abuse exists that, if ignored, will undermine effective policy responses. Second, the article frames worker welfare as a matter that lies at the intersection of business and human rights. Mega events are large-scale, internationally recognized activities that aim to promote regional development and to advance universal values and principles. They also represent an important collaboration between stakeholders across sectors. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, therefore, offer a framework for understanding how worker welfare reform might be in the interests of governmental and corporate actors alike. Ultimately, this paper outlines four policy proposals that may be undertaken by countries of origin, nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, and Qatari employers: (1) the development of a list of labor-supply agencies committed to ethical recruitment practices; (2) the devising of low-interest, preferential loans for migrants considering employment in Qatar; (3) the establishment of a resource center to serve as a one-stop shop for migrant information and services; and (4) the creation of training programs to aid migrants upon their return home. These options are not meant to diminish the role of the Qatari government in reform efforts, and indeed, the state can — and should — take steps to improve worker welfare, including strengthening worker welfare standards, closing labor law loopholes, and bolstering law enforcement capacity. But these measures are not enough. Therefore, the above four policy proposals put forward a process-specific, rather than actor-specific, approach to reform aimed at capitalizing on the spotlight of the World Cup to bring about lasting, positive change in Qatar's migrant labor practices.

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