scholarly journals Post-Christian or Post-Atheistic Society? Some Characteristics of the Russian Regime of Secularity

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-266
Author(s):  
Vladimir Malakhov ◽  
◽  
Denis Letnyakov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Religious Motivation ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The Public Sphere

The authors argue that the specificity of the Russian case of secularity is generally underestimated. This leads to two negative consequences. First, it leads researchers to considering the regimes of secularity in Eastern Europe as variations of the “Soviet model,” which is false. Second, it entails inaccuracies in the analysis of the regime of secularity that has developed in post‑Soviet Russia that the authors propose to describe as “post‑atheistic.” The special Russian case implied the destruction of the very mechanism of religious and cultural transmission during the period of communist rule. This is where other features of the post‑atheistic society stem from: a relatively low relevance of religious symbols and narratives for the social fabric; the involvement of religious agency in the projects of nation‑building and, there‑ fore, a predominantly ideological, rather than religious, motivation of the subjects of such agency; a top‑down, rather than bottom‑up, dynamic of the post‑Soviet return of religion to the public sphere; the lack of a broad public support of the state activities in this field; wide‑ spread polarization of views on the role of public religion in modern society — either linking religion to cultural backwardness, or the total rejection of modernity and secular culture.

Spectacle and martyrdom: bloody suffering, performed suffering and recited suffering in French tragedy (late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries)1

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Biet
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Virtual Scene ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
The Social

Biet’s chapter about French 17th- and 18th- century spectacle and text introduces the important theme of performance by reaffirming the key role of performing in terms of a public repetition of traumatic experiences already stirring the social fabric. At the start of the early modern period, when tragedy re-emerges in a sort of re-birth, tragic theatre becomes an alternative scenery for social action, a virtual scene for experimental lives, but also another scaffold and another judicial court for the audience, taking place inside theatres. Performing bodies, as Biet’s account reveals, are never at the start of a process of public spectacularization of violence. It thereby constitutes an essential meditation on where ‘art’ took up and discontinued the real to an early modern society that still knew spectacular punishment. Performers, as Biet sees them, engaged in anxieties opened by real trials and judiciary rulings, yet their repetitions permitted audiences to gain a more solid foothold in the ‘open wounds’ of an ongoing punitive judiciary.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 151-154
Author(s):  
Olivier Roy
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Public Sphere

This concluding chapter discusses how values are returning today in the guise of dominant norms, both in the secular world and in religion. Today's crisis is not simply a crisis of values, but of referring to values at all. For what should values be founded on? On one hand, religions, which are no longer in sync with Europe's dominant cultures, are returning to the public sphere on behalf of a normative demand. On the other hand, the secular culture that professes freedom and rights is coming to a head in a burst of normative production. This is a normativity toward all forms of religion and religiosity, of course, but also normativity with respect to its own foundation, the social contract, and human nature, that of the desiring subject. Ultimately, the chapter argues that it is time to re-examine the question of values, to restore the particular cultural and social aspects of norms and to reinject them into society. In the face of globalization, the issue is at once to be more in touch with society and to act as a counterweight to other influences in the world: only Europe can meet these two objectives.

From Betrayal to Violence: Dante's Inferno and the Social Construction of Crime

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (04) ◽  
pp. 787-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul G. Chevigny
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
The Law ◽  
Sociopolitical Forces

This essay reflects on contemporary justifications for the grading of crimes, especially the conception that the gravity of crimes is rooted in “desert,” understood to depend particularly on the offender's state of mind and to a lesser extent on the harm done or threatened to society. Drawing on Dante's Inferno, the essay shows how the gravity of crimes is socially constructed. For reasons rooted in the sociopolitical forces, as well as the philosophy and law of his day, Dante found the crimes most deserving of punishment to be those of betrayal of trust. He conceived such crimes to be the most deliberate and to do the most damage to the social fabric. Contemporary law has found that crimes of betrayal are generally less deserving of punishment than crimes of violence; the essay shows how social and historical forces, including even the traditions upon which Dante drew, have shaped this choice. In the course of grading crimes in this way, the law has altered its conceptions of “intent” as well as of harm to society so radically that the notion of “desert” has lost much of its coherence. The importance of trust in modern society, moreover, has been misunderstood in the contemporary grading of crimes.

scholarly journals New migration trends of the population in a modern society

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragana Vilić
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Spatial Movement ◽  
Economic Migration ◽  
Social Entities ◽  
Sustainable Economic Growth

Spatial movement of the population is not a new phenomenon - it hasbeen happening throughout the history in its various shapes, scopeand intensity. Nevertheless, with the processes of globalisation it hasbeen more and more noticeable taking a new shape and social characteristics(especially, economic migration). However, many of thethreats and problems manifested at a global level still stay the maincauses of legal and/or illegal, voluntary and involuntary migrations(poverty, unemployment, civil wars, persecutions, climate change,etc.). Long-term economic and demographic problems in developedcountries have negative consequences - reducing the working-agepopulation, undermining the sustainability of the social protectionsystem and sustainable economic growth and the development of societyin general. Therefore, the importance of migration has been notedto remedy these negative consequences. In order to face the problemsthat cause migration, the challenges and consequences of migration,the issues migrants face, and to control and manage migration flowsat the national and international levels, it is necessary to establish theglobal cooperation of various social entities.

Daenerys Targaryen Will Save Spain:Game of Thrones, Politics, and the Public Sphere

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 423-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Concepción Cascajosa Virino ◽  
Vicente Rodríguez Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Participatory Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Bottom To Top ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This article deals with the use of the American television series Game of Thrones (HBO: 2011–) as part of the political discourse of the emerging political party Podemos in Spain. First, we focus on Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, who, in 2014, edited a book devoted to analyzing this series from a political science viewpoint. We then move on to study ideologically charged symbolic gestures and the detailed analysis of the parallelisms between Daenerys Targaryen’s revolutionary enterprise and Podemos’s bottom-to-top quest to seize power. We then scrutinize how emergent political forces that threaten the enduring hegemony of traditional parties use popular cultural artifacts to intervene in the social fabric and how they attempt to tune in with the Internet-dedicated, socially networked younger classes. This article, thus, analyzes how the relationship between politics and serialized TV fiction has morphed within the Spanish mediascape, paying special attention to the impact of participatory culture.

scholarly journals Modeling of Social Risks in the Labor Sphere

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 488
Author(s):  
Olha Shulha ◽  
Tatiana Kostyshyna ◽  
Maryna Semykina ◽  
Liudmyla Katan ◽  
Hanna Smirnova
Keyword(s):  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Structural Variables ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
The Unemployed

Modern society has developed in such a way that social reality is characterized by the significant dynamics of all processes and their uncertainty. Under such conditions, risk accompanies any purposeful activity of the social subject, and, in turn, the latter is aimed at reducing the uncertainty of its results. The purpose of this paper is to form the basis of a comprehensive study of social risks in the labor sphere and to develop practical recommendations for minimizing their negative consequences. In order to determine the main factors influencing the probability for the unemployed not to work in the specialty in which they have trained, we used the data of a micro-level survey on economic activity of the population to build linear regression models based on structural variables. As a result of applying the method of economic-mathematical modeling, in particular the basics of probability theory, the models of social risks of unemployment in terms of occupational groups and employment of unemployed persons outside of the specialty they have trained in were developed. The models developed made it possible to formalize and identify patterns of supply and demand dynamics of labor in terms of professions, as well as to identify the main factors influencing the change in the probabilistic characteristics of employment of unemployed persons outside of the specialty they have trained in.

Do name changes to “acaste” names by the Sinhalese indicate a diminishing significance of caste?

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-325
Author(s):  
M.W. Amarasiri de Silva
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Rural Villages ◽  
The People ◽  
Family Names ◽  
The Social ◽  
Youth Population ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Name Changes

In modern Sri Lankan society, caste has become less significant as a marker of social identity and exclusion than was the case in the past. While acknowledging this trend across South Asian societies, the literature does not adequately explain why this is happening. Increasing urbanization, the growing number of inter-caste marriages, the expanding middle class, and the bulging youth population have all been suggested as contributory factors. In rural Sri Lanka, family names are used as identifiers of family and kinship groups within each caste. The people belonging to the “low castes” identified with derogatory village and family names are socially marginalized and stigmatized. Social segregation, marked with family names and traditional caste occupations, makes it difficult for the low-caste people to move up in the class ladder, and socialize in the public sphere. Political and economic development programs helped to improve the living conditions and facilities in low-caste villages, but the lowness of such castes continued to linger in the social fabric. Socially oppressed low-caste youth in rural villages moved to cities and the urban outskirts, found non-caste employment, and changed their names to acaste names. By analyzing newspaper notifications and selected ethnographic material, this article shows how name changes among the Sinhalese have facilitated individualization and socialization by people who change their names to acaste names and seek freedom to choose their own employment, residence, marriage partners, and involvement in activities of wider society—a form of assimilation, in the context of growing urbanization and modernization.

The Big Picture: Imagining the Constitution

2021 ◽  
pp. 0067205X2199315
Author(s):  
Desmond Manderson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Exceptional Case ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural Functions

In Australia, a technocratic minimalist approach to constitutional interpretation leaves little space for what has recently been described as a ‘democratic’ or ‘social’ ‘constitutional imaginary’. The ‘big picture’ of what a constitution is, and why it matters, is systematically reduced to a ‘strict and complete legalism’ that shows little interest in the social and cultural functions of a constitution in the modern world. The ‘dual citizenship’ cases (2017–18), concerning s 44 of the Australian Constitution, provide an exceptional case study. The High Court of Australia’s narrow positivism shielded it from criticism, but at a high cost to Australia’s democratic and social fabric. This article argues that, at a time when the rule of law and the public sphere is under threat as never before, we can and should expect more of our peak legal institutions. A constitutional court without a broader commitment to constitutionalism imperils the legitimacy of the whole constitutional order and of the public sphere.

scholarly journals Re-directing socialist persuasion through affective reiteration: a discourse analysis of ‘Socialist Memes’ on the Chinese internet

AI & Society ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruichen Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Affective Engagement ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Message

AbstractPrevious research has noted the ambiguous persuasive potentials of reiteration: repeating a statement, slogan or image can work both positively and negatively, can both help and hinder the effectiveness of a political message. Considering that repeated propaganda in China is broadly ineffective in generating wholehearted public support, this article is interested in how and when repetition does achieve meaningful persuasion. Drawing on affect theory to address these multiple potentials, it critically reconsiders the nature of persuasion itself, arguing that affective engagement is crucial in sustaining and consolidating temporary tendencies that lead to alteration in the social fabric. Looking at humorous ‘socialist memes’ popularised on the Chinese internet in recent years, the article conducts a discourse analysis on the patterns they reveal to break down this reiterative practice as an unfolding event, revealing how its humour disrupts official language and engages the public affectively. It argues that practice of repeating these memes produces interpretive ambiguities around the official language, and in doing so re-directs socialist persuasion towards a liberalised end.

scholarly journals Challenging Stereotypes with Media and Information Literacy in Mexico

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 68-82
Author(s):  
Julieta Flores Michel ◽  
Margarita Emilia González Treviño ◽  
Alma Elena Gutiérrez Leyton
Keyword(s):  
Media Literacy ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Digital Natives ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Private Domain ◽  
The City

Information overload that affects digital natives and other generations in the 21st century makes it difficult for recipients to analyze the information’s truthfulness and quality. In this context, items of fake news pass as facts that could be interpreted as true, which may result in serious issues for the social fabric, especially if immersed in unstable or troublesome political and economic contexts. Still, the problem with disinformation is not limited to fake news because, even when content comes from trustworthy sources and verifiable facts, there are filters that present a subjective, biased and deformed reality. Within this context, we are submitting an example of a positive practice in media literacy targeting Research Methodology students at the Faculty of Communication. During this project, students analyzed the way women and men are shown on the cover of a local printed newspaper El Porvenir in the city of Monterrey, Mexico. In broad strokes, the results found a preference for stories showcasing men and stereotypes that place men in the public sphere and women in a private domain.

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