scholarly journals The Rubberbandits’ Guide to Satire: Absurdism and Social Commentary in a Cross-Media Environment

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Faye Mercier ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Engagement ◽  
Irish Society ◽  
Social Commentary ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Cross Media ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Forum ◽  
Critical Social

This paper argues that through an engagement with cross-media hybridity, Irish comedy duo The Rubberbandits have established a dynamic cross-media forum that aims to restore the Irish public’s capacity for critical social and political engagement. Central to this process is The Rubberbandits’ ability to use their absurdist satire as a foundational tool that can serve as the basis of this cultural forum, while also facilitating the negotiation of social and political issues across a variety of media. Given that this cultural forum exists across different media, platforms, and formats, this paper sets out to analyse the various ways in which the duo have adapted their satirical style to suit the demands of these different media forms, and what implications this process of adaption has had on their work. Beginning with an analysis of the social and critical functions of satirical comedy more broadly, this paper will then focus on the specific brand of satirical social commentary employed by The Rubberbandits, paying particular attention to the role of absurdity in their critical engagement with prominent issues facing Irish society. As this paper will demonstrate, by embracing the hybridity of the cross-media environment, all the while maintaining their absurdist satirical style, The Rubberbandits have established a dynamic and carnivalesque cross-media forum that aims to restore the Irish public’s capacity for critical social and political engagement.

Stretching Situated Knowledge

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Milja Kurki
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Situated Knowledge ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Standpoint Epistemology ◽  
Critical Social

This chapter, first of three to develop relational cosmology in conversation with critical social theory and IR theory, argues that at the heart of relational cosmology lies a commitment to situated knowledge. This perspective on knowledge production is similar in some regards to standpoint epistemology but also diverges from it in key respects. The chapter argues that IR scholarship can benefit from close engagement with relational cosmology suggestions as to how our knowledge is limited and how we might need to ‘deal with it’, especially in the social sciences, where there is a tendency to glorify the role of the human in knowing the human.

11. Identities and US foreign policy

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Rowley ◽  
Jutta Weldes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
State Identity ◽  
Social Construction Of Reality ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Constructivist Approach ◽  
Critical Social

This chapter examines the role of identity in constructing U.S. foreign policy. Using a critical social constructivist approach, it argues that particular conceptions of U.S. identity constitute U.S. interests, thus providing the foundations for foreign policy. After providing an overview of the influence of interests on foreign policy, the chapter considers the basic assumptions of critical social constructivism, taking into account the social construction of reality and the concepts of discourse and articulation. It then analyses discourses as sites of power, identity, and representation, along with the importance of identity in U.S. foreign policy. It also looks at U.S. presidents’ articulations of state identity and foreign policy over the last six decades.

scholarly journals Online Discourse in the Context of COVID-19, the First Health Crisis in China after the Advent of Mobile Social Media: A Content Analysis of China’s Weibo and Baidu

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Christian Carvajal-Miranda ◽  
Luis Mañas-Viniegra ◽  
Li Liang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Online Discourse ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Investigation Period ◽  
Universal Health

The COVID-19 epidemic was the first universal health crisis since China entered the era of mobile social media. When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) broke out in 2003, it was not until almost six years later that Weibo was born, marking China’s entry into the era of mobile social media (Weixin 2020). In this context, this research analysed the role of the social media platform Weibo and the Internet search browser Baidu, in a government controlled online media environment, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to undertake this study, we applied the use of content and sentiment analysis to the discourse identified through the topics published during the investigation period, which encompassed 15 December 2019 until 15 March 2020. From the findings of this study, we concluded that, during the pre- and post-COVID-19 period, there was an important presence of social and lifestyle topic categories dominating the online discourse, which dramatically changed in correlation to the increasing spread of the disease. Additionally, there was a marked absence of topics in relation to economic and political information, and there was a notable absence of an official Government “voice” generating topics.

Les disciplines herméneutiques et la théorie critique sont-elles des formes de la rationalité scientifique?

Dialogue ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-326
Author(s):  
Stéphane Courtois
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Theory Of Communicative Action ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
First Time ◽  
Critical Social

AbstractThe general aim of this paper is to question the idea that hermeneutic and critical social sciences have to be conceived as specific embodiments of the scientific enterprise. This idea is rather implicit in Habermas's work, but has its grounds in his thesis about the argumentative unity of all sciences, upheld for the first time in 1973. Such a point of view turns out to be untenable for two reasons. First, the indiscriminating inclusion of the hermeneutic and critical social sciences in scientific enterprise raises problems of consistency with regard to the systematic guidelines of The Theory of Communicative Action. Moreover, the thesis of argumentative unity of the sciences itself is incompatible with Habermas's methodological conception of the role of Verstehen in the social sciences developed in section 1.4 of the book. Finally, the author argues that this conception calls for another understanding of the status and role of the hermeneutic and critical disciplines, which is outlined in some detail.

‘Divine right’ or democracy? The Royal Society ‘revolt’ of 1935

2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Upheaval ◽  
Public Role ◽  
Scientific Institutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Economic

In October 1934, several Fellows of the Royal Society submitted a petition critical of the oligarchic nature of the Society's Council and the power wielded by a small elite in the Society's activities. The ‘Royal Society Reform Group’ also voiced concern over the Society's neglect of the increasingly pressing public issue of the ‘social responsibility of science’, and fundamentally questioned the role of the Royal Society as a representative body for science. Against a background of national economic crisis and political upheaval, the reformers sought to ensure that the Royal Society should act as an authoritative public voice for scientists rather than for establishment science. In so doing they raised profound political issues concerning the relationships between the Society, working scientists, other scientific institutions and the wider polity. The Reform Group's campaign culminated in the first contested Council election in living memory in November 1935, when more than half of the Fellowship attended in person to vote. In this paper I explore the activities and changing public role of the Royal Society in the inter-war years, the reformers' campaign, the Royal Society's response and the outcomes of this ‘Revolt in the Royal Society’.

Algorithm as Demiurge

2017 ◽  
pp. 146-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Kreft
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

Plato's Demiurge is the quintessence of perfection and power. “Whatever comes from me is indestructible unless I, myself, wish it to be destroyed” - says the creator of the gods, speaking to them in Timaeus. The gods and Demiurge are believed to collaborate on the creation of people in accordance with the standard of excellent ideas; soon the world, as we know, will be created. Plato's Demiurge is also the good, and the platonic gods are righteous. Without Demiurge the world is a chaos, an environment of irrational chances. Nowadays, the myth of Demiurge can be related to the perfection of creativity. Demiurge becomes equal to the anticipated, all-powerful driving force. Omnipotent, yet tamed and friendly. Demiurge is also the leader in the tradition of social research, the “divine” constructor of the economy, the originator of development. In the new media environment, Demiurge is a convenient metaphor for the presentation of the algorithm: mysterious, error-free, resistant to influence, free from human weaknesses. A transcendent being. The aim of this publication is to present new concept, the core myth of new media organizations - the myth of Demiurge associated with the operation of algorithms and critical analysis of myths created around it, which accompany the social, political and business role of algorithms. Considering the aspect connected with the interpretation of digital media operation and their social and business role, algorithms have not been so far analysed in the context of the presence of myths in organisational functioning. The author believes, however, that the common factor in the perception of algorithms in new media is their mythical aureole and mythical thinking associated with them.

Latviešu Sieviešu apvienības (LSA) Liepājas sieviešu labklājības veicināšanas komisijas (LSA LSL VK) biedreņu sociālais portrets un sociāla darbība (1927–1937)

2021 ◽  
pp. 81-89
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Social Activities ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
Women's Welfare

Latvian Women’s Association (LWA) was established in Riga in 1924 by its one and the only le-ader Emilija Jurevica and it was one of the biggest monoethnical active nationalistic („for latvians only”) socpolitical women’s organisations in Latvia, which tried to solve both social and political issues topical for the society of that time. It’s branch – Liepāja Commission for the Promotion of Women's Welfare (LWA LCPWW), established in 1927, was not the biggest LWA’s branch, but the most active one. The aim of this article is to analyse the role of LWA LPWW in the social an cultural life of Liepaja through the social portrait and social activities of its members.

scholarly journals Critical realism, mimetic theory and social work

2021 ◽  
pp. 146801732110088
Author(s):  
Stan Houston ◽  
Calvin Swords
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Mimetic Theory ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
The Social ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Realist Ontology

Summary Scapegoating is a ubiquitous, yet pernicious, phenomenon in today’s world. It manifests in innumerable ways. Social work, in line with its emancipatory value-base, seeks to engage with various scapegoated groups to challenge the experience. In this article, the authors draw on critical realism and mimetic theory to elucidate the causative mechanisms fuelling scapegoating. This is done in order to heighten social workers’ insight into the process and empower targeted groups. Findings Mimetic theory highlights that scapegoating is a product of desire, rivalry and deflection. These are deep-seated mechanisms that are compatible with critical realist ontology and its search for causative properties in the social world. It is argued that critical realism augments mimetic theory by setting it within a much wider and deeper context of understanding. As such, it emphasizes intersecting causes and contingencies such as the role of temporal and spatial factors shaping the scapegoating experience. Applications Social workers can transform these theoretical insights into sensitizing constructs when they facilitate self-directed groupwork with scapegoated groups. Being theoretically informed, they can pose critical questions to group members to assist them to make the link between personal problems and political issues. The aim is to empower these groups so that they can embrace the sociological imagination and act for change.

scholarly journals When Mental Walls Lead to Physical Walls: The US-Mexico Border Wall, Art, and Public Conversations about the Social Responsibility of Engineering

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Madison May Macias ◽  
Peter Pohorily ◽  
Jorge Morales Guerrero ◽  
Darshan M.A. Karwat
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Interactive Art ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Art Installation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Us Mexico Border

The fact that engineering is involved in highly political issues—from climate change caused by fossil fuel extraction to how we understand truth itself because of deepfakes—makes it imperative that we find new ways to highlight the crucial role that engineers and engineering play in shaping society, and new ways to hold engineers and engineering accountable.  We have designed, built, and installed an interactive art installation called When Mental Walls Lead to Physical Walls to generate public conversation about the social responsibility of engineers and engineering, using the US-Mexico border wall as a case study.  We find that the politically charged nature of the topic might make it difficult for attendees to speak directly to ideas of social responsibility.  At the same time, the installation provides opportunities for attendees to question, critique, and reflect on the effectiveness and impacts of the design of the border wall and the motivations engineers might have in working on this project.  With proper planning and execution, the installation can be used as a research tool to understand how diverse audiences—from engineering students to those who may not have any experience in engineering—understand the role of engineering in society. 

scholarly journals Carnival Anthropocene: Myth and Cultural Memory in Monique Roffey's Archipelago // Antropoceno Carnaval: El mito y memoria cultural en Archipelago de Monique Roffey

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-55
Author(s):  
C. Parker Krieg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Natural World ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

      This essay examines the role of myth in and as cultural memory through a reading of the novel, Archipelago (2013), by the Trinidadian-British author Monique Roffey. Against conceptions of the Anthropocene as a break from the past—a break that repeats the myth of modernity—I argue that Roffey’s use of cultural memory offers a carnivalesque relation to the world in response to the narrative’s account of climate change trauma. Drawing on Bakhtin’s classic study of the carnival as an occasion for contestation and renewal, as well as Cheryl Lousely’s call for a “carnivalesque ecocriticism,” this essay expands on the recent ecocritical turn to the field of Memory Studies (Buell; Goodbody; Kennedy) to illustrate the way literature mediates between mythic and historical relations to the natural world. As literary expressions, the carnivalesque and the grotesque evoke myth and play in order to expose and transform the social myths which govern relations and administrate difference. Since literature acts as both a producer and reflector of cultural memory, this essay seeks to highlight the literary potential of myth for connecting past traumas to affirmational modes of political engagement. Resumen     Este ensayo examina el papel del mito en y como memoria cultural analizando la novela Archipelago (2013), escrita por la autora trinitense-británica Monique Roffey. Frente a la idea del Antropoceno como una ruptura con el pasado—una ruptura que repite el mito de la modernidad—este trabajo argumenta que el uso de la memoria cultural de Roffey ofrece una relación carnavalesca con el mundo en respuesta al trauma del cambio climático detallado en la novela. Basando mi argumento en la teoría clásica de Bakhtin sobre el carnaval como una ocasión para la contestación y la renovación, así como la llamada de Cheryl Lousely por una “ecocrítica carnavalesca,” este ensayo amplía el reciente giro de la ecocrítica hacia el campo de los estudios de memoria (Buell; Goodbody; Kennedy) para ilustrar cómo la literatura media entre las relaciones míticas e históricas con el mundo natural. Como expresiones literarias, lo carnavalesco y lo grotesco evocan el mito y el juego para revelar y transformar los mitos sociales que gobiernan las relaciones y gestionan la diferencia. Ya que la literatura actúa tanto como productora y como espejo de la memoria cultural, este ensayo busca destacar el potencial literario del mito para conectar traumas del pasado con modos de compromiso político más afirmativos.

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