scholarly journals New working class as a political subject

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. V. Gavrilyuk ◽  
V. V. Malenkov

The authors consider the new working class as consisting of both industrial workers and employed in the service sector. The article aims at identifying changes in the social-political status of the new working class and at describing the civil-political component of its political subjectivity. The authors attempt to theoretically reconstruct the idea of the working class as a political subject. The first part of the article presents conceptual approaches to the analysis of the working class as a political subject. The authors identify three periods: 1) classical works that laid the foundation for the study of the working class as a political subject and its special historical role; 2) studies of the marginal political status of the working class in Western countries, when leading theorists described the transformation of workers into an object of manipulation in the era of mass communications and the widespread consumerism ideology; 3) works of contemporary authors (including the new working class studies) opposing the policy of the traditional industrial working class and the new working class exclusion from the social-political space, which is pursued by the ruling class of the neoliberal international. The empirical part of the article describes the political subjectivity of the working class in Russia and its position in the political space at the institutional and individual levels. Despite the underrepresentation of workers in politics, since 2010, we have witnessed a return of the working class to the public space. The representative survey conducted in three regions of the Ural Federal District and narrative interviews prove a weak interest of the new working class youth in politics, their tendency of non-participation in it, and a high level of national patriotic identity.

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Urabayen ◽  
Jorge León

ABSTRACTWith the arrival of Modernity, philosophical reflection about politics had progressively penetrated into the relevance of public space as a place of appearance and, therefore, of action. These are the axes of Arendt’s work that seek to delimit the political space and the role of the citizenry at the moment of constituting and maintaining that space by way of action that requires presence. On the other hand, in Arendt’s thought one does not find an exploration of these new possibilities of action, or the absent political space, which are opened-up to us via the technologies of communication. In the following section the postures of Derrida and Virilio, authors that undertake a critique of the politics of presence, each investigating a different aspect, will be developed. Continuing along the line of Virilio’s critique, one arrives at the defense of the rhyzomatic multitudes that pursue “Open Source”, and which are defended by Negri as being a new political subject. This presupposes entering into the irremediable losses that the use of the CTI involve for a politics of presence.RESUMENCon la Modernidad, la reflexión filosófica sobre la política ha incidido progresivamente en la relevancia del espacio público como lugar de aparición y, por tanto, de acción. Estos son los ejes de la obra arendtiana que intenta delimi-tar el espacio político y el papel de la ciudadanía a la hora de constituir y mantener este espacio por medio de una acción que requiere la presencia. En cambio, en el pensamiento de Arendt no se abordan las nuevas posibilidades de acción y espacio político ausente que abren las tecnologías de la comunicación. En el segundo apartado se analizarán las posturas de Derrida y Virilio, autores que emprenden una crítica a la política de la presencia, incidiendo en dos aspectos diferentes. Continuando la crítica de Virilio se llegará a la apología de las multitudes rizomáticas “Open Source” defendidas por Negri como nuevo sujeto político, lo que supone incidir en las pérdidas irremediables que el empleo de las TIC implican para una política de la presencia.


Urban History ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 568-588
Author(s):  
Frederik Buylaert ◽  
Jelten Baguet ◽  
Janna Everaert

AbstractThis article provides a comparative analysis of four large towns in the Southern Low Countries between c. 1350 and c. 1550. Combining the data on Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp – each of which is discussed in greater detail in the articles in this special section – with recent research on Bruges, the authors argue against the historiographical trend in which the political history of late medieval towns is supposedly dominated by a trend towards oligarchy. Rather than a closure of the ruling class, the four towns show a high turnover in the social composition of the political elite, and a consistent trend towards aristocracy, in which an increasingly large number of aldermen enjoyed noble status. The intensity of these trends differed from town to town, and was tied to different institutional configurations as well as different economic and political developments in each of the four towns.


2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-438
Author(s):  
Eszter Bartha

Abstract The article seeks to place the workers’ road from socialism to capitalism in East Germany and Hungary in a historical context. It offers an overview of the most important elements of the party’s policy towards labour in the two countries under the Honecker and the Kádár regime respectively. It examines the highly paternalistic role of the factory as a life-long employer and provider of workers’ needs for the large industrial working class which the regime considered to be its main social basis. Given that the thesis of the working class as the ruling class was central to the legitimating ideology of the state socialist regimes, dissident intellectuals challenging this thesis were effectively marginalized or forced into exile. After the change of regimes, the “working class” again became an ideological term associated with the discredited and fallen regime. The article analyses the changes within the life-world of East German and Hungarian workers in the light of life-history interviews. It argues that in Hungary, the social and material decline of the workers – alongside the loss of the symbolic capital of the working class – reinforced ethno-centric, nationalistic narratives, which juxtaposed “globalization” and “national capitalism”, the latter supposedly protecting citizens from the exploitation by global capital. In the light of the sad reports of falling standards of living and impoverishment, the Kádár regime received an ambiguous, often nostalgic evaluation. While the East Germans were also critical of the new, capitalist society (unemployment, intensified competition for jobs, the disintegration of the old, work-based communities), they gave more credit to the post-socialist democratic institutions. They were more willing to reconcile the old socialist values which they had appreciated in the GDR with a modern left-wing critique than their Hungarian counterparts, for whom nationalism seemed to offer the only means to express social criticism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Toni

The paper discusses the film by Garin Nugroho based on a discourse analysis developed by Fairclough. The film titled “Javanese Opera” directed by Garin became one of the films that raised the theme of Javanese women in domestic and political space. How Garin in the discourse of Javanese women became interesting because his works were widely recognized as coloring the development of national films and his works were recognized internationally. The research method used a qualitative approach, while the analysis used was Fairclough’s discourse analysis. The gender leadership discourse in Indonesia is represented by Garin Nugroho as a dynamic discourse relating to the sociopolitical context and power based on the national philosophy, culture and values of pluralism adopted by the Indonesian people. The socio-political context in this film is how women’s perspectives are represented as social agents and political agents in looking at the leadership leadership in Indonesia. In the social dimension, Javanese women are represented as the center of male spiritual power which has a strategic role in shaping male leadership character. In the political dimension, Javanese women are represented as agents of public space in the political contestation of power which is realized by various strategic steps in conducting global political competition.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 102-118
Author(s):  
Chioma Onwubiko

There have been few stand-alone linguistic studies on the Covid-19 virus and the 2020 EndSARS protests in Nigeria. The present study intersects these two critical events with particular focus on the political claims made by the ruling class and the corresponding social responses in line with the contextual affordances shared by the participants. Searle’s speech act theoretic approach is adopted to analyse the pragmatic intentions of the illocutionary acts which political claims perform while Juvenalian satire is used to discuss the satirical elements embedded in the social responses in a bid to ridicule leadership follies and abuses. Three popular Nigerian online Newspapers and few comments from Facebook are selected for this study. Their selection is based on their coverage of these events, coverage of these political claims and popular readership evidenced in the social responses. In all, a total of 6 political claims and 25 social responses relevant to this study are analysed. The study revealed that the pragmatic relevance of these claims is embedded in its political functions of wielding undue influence over the populace, making promises driven by rhetoric and short of initiative and calculated reticence in response to social issues. Consequently, the social responses highlight and criticise leadership vices and the weak efforts of the government in dispensing its leadership interventions. It also fulfils communicative purposes of the contextual space, promote solidarity among the people while prompting change in the political class and the society at large.


Author(s):  
Guillaume Heuguet

This exploratory text starts from a doctoral-unemployed experience and was triggered by the discussions within a collective of doctoral students on this particularly ambiguous status since it is situated between student, unemployed, worker, self-entrepreneur, citizen-subject of social rights or user-commuter in offices and forms. These discussions motivated the reading and commentary of a heterogeneous set of texts on unemployment, precariousness and the functioning of the institutions of the social state. This article thus focuses on the relationship between knowledge and unemployment, as embodied in the public space, in the relationship with Pôle Emploi, and in the academic literature. It articulates a threefold problematic : what is known and said publicly about unemployment? What can we learn from the very experience of the relationship with an institution like Pôle Emploi? How can these observations contribute to an understanding of social science inquiry and the political role of knowledge fromm precariousness?


1972 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 19-21
Author(s):  
Victoria de Grazia

The Feltrinelli Institute was founded in 1949 by the Milanese publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli – its aim “to promote the knowledge and study – carried out in accordance with strictly scientific criteria and complete ideological autonomy – of the history, the political and economic thought and the social ideas of the modern and contemporary eras; particular importance is to be given to Italy and to the economic phenomena, political doctrines and more historically important social movements of the country.” Feltrinelli's initiative, which began with the library and a rich collection of materials on French socialism, was an important first step toward filling the vacuum in documentation and research on the Italian working class and socialist movements left by two decades of Fascist government. In the following years, the library and research activities of the Institute played a leading role in the reconstruction of intellectual life and political debate in Italy. Its publications, especially Movimento Operaio (1947–1955) and the Annali (1958-) contained some of the most important contributions to the study of the Italian working class and peasantry, and socialist movements made in the postwar period.


1976 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel James

The ‘Peronist Left’ has become one of the chief actors in the often violent drama of Argentine politics today. It is the object of this article to place the events of the more recent past, at least since the return of Peronism to power in 1973, within the framework of the development of the ‘Peronist Left’ since the fall of Perón in 1955. Obviously the article makes no claim to be a comprehensive treatment of the subject. Such a treatment could only be part of a much more extensive study of the Argentine working class and the Peronist movement. In particular, the article concentrates on an analysis of the political ideology of the different currents that have made up the ‘Peronist Left’ since 1955, whilst recognizing that this ideology must ultimately be seen in the far wider context of the social and economic development of Argentine society. The first part will highlight the main features of this Left in the 1955–73 period and analyze the main currents within it. In the second part of the paper the events of the last two to three years will be looked at within this context.


Urban History ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID CHURCHILL

ABSTRACT:While historical interest in the seaside has grown appreciably in recent times, much of the literature remains preoccupied with issues specific to resort towns. This article examines the social dynamics of the seaside town more broadly, through a study of Southend residents in the 1870s and 1880s. It analyses their discussions of working-class tourists and the industries which catered for them, before examining attempts to regulate the use of public space in the town. This is a study of rapid urbanization in a small town, and how social perceptions and relations were reconfigured in this context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 684-694
Author(s):  
Luana M Alagna

Claude Lefort, French philosopher and activist, exponent of the anti-totalitarian moment in France, has developed an original theoretical proposal on democracy and totalitarianism. When he distanced himself from the creed of the proletarian revolution as an instrument of understanding of human action, he focused on the understanding of the political as a space in which the social emerges, in which it takes shape. The idea that society acquired a unity through the revolutionary project was overturned by the knowledge that the social cannot be contained; it cannot be the object of appropriation and unification through action or knowledge without threatening freedom and the existence of society itself. Democratic political society can only be heterogeneous, in which the conflict cannot be resolved precisely because the various interests in society are irreducible and asymmetrical. Machiavelli, in the Lefortian thinking, had identified the sense of the political at the beginning of his institution, in which the division and disagreement between classes are the foundation of social relations. This view is opposed to the classical conception of dissent as a moment of collision between passions and reason, where the disorder compromises the political structure. Social conflict indeed is an irreducible resource for the existence of human relations, public space and political society. In the clash between two realisms, Lefort shelved the Marxist one to deepen the turmoil of the ‘divine Machiavelli’, replacing in his theoretical vision the Machiavellian idea of the political as a social dimension to the Marxist dominance of the production forces; the political is the way in which society represents its legitimacy and presupposes conflict as inescapable, a way to guarantee political freedom. Plurality and irrepressible diversity will be instruments for guaranteeing democracy.


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