scholarly journals Emotional Imperatives of Late Modern Society and their Possible Social Consequences

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-45
Author(s):  
Olga Simonova
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sociology Of Emotions ◽  
Emotional Culture ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Emotional Norms ◽  
Late Modern

The purpose of this article is to examine the main “imperatives” of contemporary emotional culture, which may provide special research optics for a deeper understanding of late modern society. The author begins with a definition of emotional culture — based on the body of works in sociology of emotions — and identifies dominant emotional norms and their corresponding perceptions, which bear the nature of imperatives in people’s everyday experience and serve as an extension of social values. These emotional imperatives include rational control over emotions, a compulsive desire to be and look happy, avoiding negative feelings, individual guilt from any sort of failure in social life, grievance that takes the form of righteous indignation, and others. These “imperatives” are in some respect contradictory, reflecting different aspects of life, but generally subject to the logic of late modern society, and can have important implicit social consequences such as broken social ties, “chronic” feelings of depression and frustration, fatigue, bad moods, increased anxiety and fears and many other implicit consequences, such as the emergence of new forms of solidarity. As a result of global events and the resulting social crises, these imperatives may change, thereby allowing us to trace how people’s lived experiences are changing. The list of emotional imperatives is not by any means full, and the same goes for their description, but through the outlined emotional imperatives the author attempts to describe theoretically contemporary cultural configurations of lived experience through leading emotional norms.

Responding to #yogabody on Instagram

Screen Bodies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-125
Author(s):  
Bilge Gölge
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
New Era ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Late Modern

This article focuses on representations of the yoga body on social media, explaining what the female body in an asana pose stands for in consideration of the dichotomy between Foucault’s docile body controlled by the technology of power and Anita Seppä’s “aestheticization of the subject” as a means of resistance. While socio-technological changes have introduced a new context in the modern era, the dominance of seeing and visual culture has remained central in late-modern society. Through social media, we have entered a new era of constructing self-identity in relation to gender and the body. Looking into the relationship between asana practice and self-identity in postural yoga, I investigate the imaged bodies of yoginis that function under the control of power and as a technique for self-actualization. Drawing from a visual analysis of Instagram posts and interpreting the bodily practices of yoginis, I will search for what happened to modernity’s docile body in the context of this new media.

scholarly journals Society, Space and the Public Realm: Beyond Gated Individualism

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary P. Corcoran
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
Third Places ◽  
The Public ◽  
Know How ◽  
The City ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Late Modern

A feature of late modern society is the economisation and privatisation of social life resulting in a decline in the public realm. Judt has observed that we are drifting toward a society of ‘gated individuals who do not know how to share public space to common advantage’ (2010: 216). Similarly Oldenburg (1989) has expressed concerns about the sustainability of third places – places that occupy the space between the marketplace, workplace and home place – in the modern era. He argues that ‘third places’ are being replaced by ‘non-places’ – places where individuals relate to each other purely in utilitarian terms. Non-places promote civil disaffiliation rather than civil integration. This article argues for an exploration of the ‘spaces of potential’ within the public realm of the city that can help to promote relationships of trust, respect and mutuality. Acknowledging and promoting such ‘spaces of potential’ amounts to a challenge to the privatisation and economisation of social life. Moreover, it creates the possibility of a reinvigorated public sphere and an enhancement of civil integration.

Media Platforms and Algorithms: content and social implications

Communicology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-124
Author(s):  
M.M. Nazarov
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Communicative Behavior ◽  
Joint Decisions ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The Media ◽  
Filter Bubbles

The paper considers the new features of the digital media environment associated with the widespread introduction of platforms and algorithms in media practices and reveals the technological, business and social background of these innovations. The application of platforms and algorithms is a powerful tool for implementing the commercial imperative in the media. In general, this is a characteristic feature of the development of modern society – a trend towards comprehensive metrization. Along with the advantages, the use of predictive algorithms, personalization of content based on tracking of past communicative behavior has a number of negative social consequences. E.g., ‘filter bubbles’ contribute to the formation of closed information segments. The model of social behaviorism underlying the recommendation services contributes to the modification of people’s informational behavior. Algorithmization of media landscape strengthens the trends of content delivery to individual consumers, and not to citizens inclined to make joint decisions regarding the common interests of social life.

Homosexuality and Adolescence

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Social Consequences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Environmental Models ◽  
Sexual Beliefs ◽  
Homosexual Orientation ◽  
Alternate Choice ◽  
Definition Of

In 1974, the American Psychiatric Association ended its classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, labeling it rather as an alternate choice of sexual expression. This decision was based on the beliefs of the majority that there were insufficient data to label such individuals as being ill and that the deleterious social consequences of the pathologic designation were so grievous as to demand the declassification.1 Although theories regarding the etiology of homosexuality have been based on genetic, hormonal, psychological, and environmental models, there is little reason to believe that any one of the arguments alone explains all homosexual orientation or behavior.2 Homosexuality has existed in most societies for as long as recorded descriptions of sexual beliefs and practices have been available. Although little agreement exists concerning the etiology of homosexuality, and any definition of terms will be arbitrary, some operational definitions are necessary (Table).3 Four assertions can be made regarding homosexuality during the teenage years: 1. Some homosexual experimental behavior is experienced by many adolescents. This may include fondling of the body or genitalia or mutual masturbation. In the vast majority of cases these homosexual encounters do not predispose to later obligatory homosexuality, but appear to be a common exploratory behavior en route to conventional heterosexual development. 2. Homosexual4 characteristics appear to be established before adolescence. Although many individuals do not participate in overt homosexual play during childhood, the self-conscious psychological state probably often exists before adolescence. 3. Some previously heterosexually oriented adolescents will become involved in homosexual activities if circumstances reinforce this behavior or if heterosexual alternatives are not available.

scholarly journals Beyond the Debate on Promises and Risks in Digital Health: Analysing the Psychological Function of Wearable Devices

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria del Rio Carral ◽  
Pauline Roux ◽  
Christine Bruchez ◽  
Marie Santiago-Delefosse
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Wearable Devices ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Psychological Function ◽  
Biometric Data ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Definition Of

<p>In the past years, the recording and collection of physical and physiological data from the body through wearable devices has become an increasingly common health-related practice in contemporary Western societies. The rapid development of digital self-tracking technologies has given rise to the production of different scientific discourses. The analysis of 200 published articles has led to the definition of a continuum between “technophile-promises” and “technocritical-risks” representations. However, these representations include different views of corporeality and sociality. Beyond this debate, we propose an alternative theoretical framework that links corporeality and sociality. It interrogates the psychological function that wearable devices may take (or not) for subjects to which these “tools” are addressed. We argue that such psychological function must be embraced by taking into consideration of activity done by the users of these technologies, which engages meaning: It is not the device, but the user him/herself who is confronted to the interpretation of biometric data linked to his/her own body functions on the basis of concrete lived experience. Moreover, we discuss that the activity of users can only be analysed in the sociocultural context to which the associated practices relate (health, sports, play, medicalisation). The conclusion highlights the need to further study the appropriation process of new personal experimentation instruments as to better understand the potential collaborations, risks or resistances that users may develop.</p>

The Changing Law and Law Reform in Ghana

1971 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. A. Ollennu
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Social Conduct ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Concept Of Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Social Imperative

Many books and learned articles have been written on African Law within the last two or three decades. Almost every one of them has attempted a definition of law, custom and customary law, as a basis for its particular object. Among these definitions is Elias's adaptation of Goodhart's definition of law; this definition appeals to us as it serves many purposes. That adaptive definition is: “ ‘The law of a given community is the body of rules which are recognised as obligatory…’ This recognition must be in accordance with the principles of their social imperative, because operating in every community is a dynamic of social conduct, an accepted norm of behaviour which the vast majority of its members regard as absolutely necessary for the common weal. This determinant of the ethos of the community is its social imperative.” We would not of course include within the concept of law forms of social conduct which are concerned with the less important aspects of social life, which though well-established, yet pertain only to the sphere of social formalities and when violated, merely excite the displeasure or contempt of society; we are concerned with those norms the violation of which calls for the employment of “sanctions directly affecting the liberty, property, or status of the offender (such as imprisonment, fines or loss of civil rights)”. But we would include also those “concerned with serious business of society, the work that must be accomplished in order to secure and guarantee satisfactory conditions for collective life,” which Edgar Bodenheimer classifies as “customary law”.

scholarly journals A qualitative review of cannabis stigmas at the twilight of prohibition

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Reid
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Qualitative Review ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Literature Base ◽  
American Society

Abstract Background As laws change and cannabis use increases, it is worthwhile to take a rich account of cannabis stigmas in society, and this review identifies a disjunction between quantitative investigations on cannabis users and qualitative investigations on the same population. This is also the first attempt to explicate cannabis stigmas as they manifest on multiple analytical levels. Following brief explanations of the normalization hypothesis and the concept of stigma, this review is organized between structural (macro) stigmas, social (meso) stigmas, and personal (micro) stigmas. Furthermore, since cannabis stigmas are similar to the stigmas faced by sexual minorities in that each is physically concealable, the two groups are compared here because the literature base is more extensive with the latter. Methods This qualitative review synthesizes the body of empirical studies on both medical and nonmedical cannabis use with attention to stigma, stereotypes, and other social consequences. Studies considered for the review mostly come from the social sciences, particularly sociology. The information presented here is primarily drawn from peer-reviewed articles on cannabis users in the USA, though research from similar national contexts is cited as well. Results This review suggests claims of normalization may be premature. While stigmas surrounding cannabis appear to have diminished, there is little evidence that such stigmas have entirely disappeared. It is possible that sweeping claims of cannabis normalization may be symptomatic of unchecked social privileges or social distance from cannabis users. Such claims may also be the product of valuing quantitative data over the nuanced accounts uncovered through qualitative investigations. Conclusion This substantial coverage of the literature indicates the lived experience of a post-prohibition society is not the same as a one where cannabis is normalized. Individuals working with those who use cannabis should not assume stigmas have disappeared, especially since cannabis stigmas often intersect with other sources of social inequality. While a comprehensive discussion of ways to combat lingering social stigmas is beyond the scope of this review, it concludes by highlighting some of the strategies identified through research which help users resist or mitigate these oppressive forces. Future research would be wise to prioritize the experiences of people of color, women, and adult populations if the hope is to identify ways to further normalize the plant in American society.

Mother Nature and the nature of motherhood: Gestational surrogacy and ecospirituality as two postmodern forms of sacralization

2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212096489
Author(s):  
Antonio Camorrino
Keyword(s):  
Modern Society ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Third ◽  
Concept Of Health ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Gestational Surrogacy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Late Modern

In this article the author aims to highlight some similarities and differences between the contemporary imagery of motherhood and that of ecospirituality. Apart from apparent differences, both these imageries are based on a peculiar alliance with nature. Demonstrating why these phenomena have to be considered postmodern forms of sacralization is the goal of this article. For this purpose, the author first briefly reconstructs some socio-historical stages of the imagery of the body and how this has changed from Christian to contemporary societies. The second section analyses the concept of health, focusing on the changes that affect the idea of death. The third section identifies the main features of gestational surrogacy as a characteristic phenomenon of late modern society. In the fourth section, the author shows the postmodern nature of gestational surrogacy. The fifth section compares the imagery of gestational surrogacy to that of ecospirituality, detecting some differences and similarities. In the conclusion, through an approach close to the sociology of religion, the author suggests that both these phenomena respond to the same demand for meaning and they are the product of a radical change in the relationship between human being, nature and the sacred.

A (Macro) Sociology of Fear?

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Tudor
Keyword(s):  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Sociology Of Emotions ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Theoretical Significance ◽  
Culture Of Fear ◽  
Late Modern

A proper sociological approach to fear is of both empirical and theoretical significance in understanding late modern society. Normally fear has been explored psychologically, as one of the emotions, but recently a sociology of emotions has begun to emerge. Furthermore, there have also been attempts to examine fear macro-scopically, arguing for the existence of a distinctive ‘culture of fear’ in contemporary societies. Furedi's argument to this effect is explored here, suggesting the need for a more systematic theorising of fear in its social contexts. Via an analysis of the elementary characteristics of fear, a model is constructed of the ‘parameters of fear’. This model serves as a guide to the classes of phenomena within which fear is constituted and negotiated. It is also used to further examine the virtues and failings of ‘culture of fear’ approaches to fearfulness in modern societies.

scholarly journals O sexo e o corpo como veículos das práticas mágicas no esoterismo do século XX: reflexões sobre magia sexual em Thelema

2021 ◽  
pp. 191-214
Author(s):  
Beatriz Parisi
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sexual Practices ◽  
Religious System ◽  
The World ◽  
Aleister Crowley ◽  
The Subject

This article aims to demonstrate the importance of sex magic in the construction of a specific form of corporeality within the esoteric practices of the 20th century, using Thelema, a magical-religious system developed by Aleister Crowley, as a case study. The body, through the re-signification of sexual practices and their space in social life, gains centrality as a locus of lived experience and as a potential for active transformation of itself and the world. This new way of building the body, positifying it as the space of subjectivity and plasticity, is totally inserted in the socio-political demands of the fin-desiècle. This way of building the body will be investigated using a mythical-ritual pparatus that reinforces, through the repetition of the rite, this new corpus of values linked to already existing categories, with an emphasis on sex, showing another face of foundational discursive duality of modernity: the body as a double of the subject (LE BRETON, 2002 [1990])

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