scholarly journals Sociological theorizing as meaning making: the case of ecological modernization theory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Philippe Sapinski
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
The Body ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Business Elite ◽  
The Social

In this paper, I propose a novel way to consider sociological theorizing. I argue that the structural analysis method first developed by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss provides a powerful tool to deconstruct and critique sociological theories. I propose that this method can be used to redefine certain theories not as sets of proposals from which testable hypotheses are to be derived, but rather as different versions of foundational narratives of Western society. Viewed in this way, sociological theorizing contributes to construct the Western cosmology – the body of tales and narratives that explain the creation of the social world, its relationship with nature, and its future direction.As a case in point, I argue that the narrative of ecological modernization can thus be analyzed and deconstructed using the same tools Lévi-Strauss uses to make sense of native American cosmologies. Doing so, I find that the narrative of ecological modernization developed as a mirror image of older tales of modernization, closely associated with the myth of progress – according to which Western society emerged from a state of nature in which no rational division of labour and no private property existed. This inversion transforms the myth of creation at the heart of the modern Western cosmology into a utopian narrative that finds considerable political traction with a certain part of the business elite and associated organic intellectuals, interested in maintaining existing relations of production and power.

Transgressing between consumption and production: Materialistic outlook on the digital labour of prosumers

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bartosz Mika
Keyword(s):  
Private Property ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Division ◽  
Exchange Value ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject

This article explores the subject of unpaid digital labour on the Internet. Often presented as co-creation or prod-using the work of that kind is the matter of much controversy. The article tries to critically refer to the most popular concepts, reaches out to the authors using the Marxian dictionary, detail their arguments, and finally propose their own typology. The text treats the hypothesis about the vanishing boundaries between production and consumption as unprofitable. The distinction between personal and private property and the use and exchange value are highlighted to precisely define the place of quasiwork in the social division of labour.

La medicalizzazione della riproduzione umana: il corpo e il genere

2009 ◽  
pp. 185-201
Author(s):  
Lia Lombardi
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Reproductive Technology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Reproduction ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Biomedical Technologies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Sociology Of Health

- This article is focussed on the medicalization of human reproduction and its effects on the body and on the gender. Particularly, the analysis is carried under two perspectives. The first one is the social construction and the social control on the body in Western society. Specifically, the question is how medicine surveilles bodies and behaviors of women and men. Moreover, the first part of this article analyses sexualities, reproduction/procreation and gender relationships. The second subject regards how stereotypes on gender and parenthood are connected to the social construction of infertility and of articial reproduction. All the topics are analysed through the lences of the sociology of health and of the body, in connection with the most recent advances in biomedical technologies. The gender perspective and a critical approach are the theoretical mainframes which have driven this research.Keywords: body, Gender, medicalization, human reproduction; reproductive technology, sociology of health.Parole chiave: genere, medicalizzazione, riproduzione umana, tecnologie riproduttive, sociologia della salute.

The Medicalization of Human Reproduction: Body and Gender

2009 ◽  
pp. 172-188
Author(s):  
Lia Lombardi
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Reproductive Technology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Reproduction ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Biomedical Technologies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Sociology Of Health

- This article is focussed on the medicalization of human reproduction and its effects on the body and on the gender. Particularly, the analysis is carried under two perspectives. The first one is the social construction and the social control on the body in Western society. Specifically, the question is how medicine surveilles bodies and behaviors of women and men. Moreover, the first part of this article analyses sexualities, reproduction/procreation and gender relationships. The second subject regards how stereotypes on gender and parenthood are connected to the social construction of infertility and of articial reproduction. All the topics are analysed through the lences of the sociology of health and of the body, in connection with the most recent advances in biomedical technologies. The gender perspective and a critical approach are the theoretical mainframes which have driven this research.Keywords: body, Gender, medicalization, human reproduction; reproductive technology, sociology of health.Parole chiave: genere, medicalizzazione, riproduzione umana, tecnologie riproduttive, sociologia della salute.

An Invitation to the Table

Table Lands ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
Kara K. Keeling ◽  
Scott T. Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Food Studies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Children’S Agency ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Tradition ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Mind

Children’s literature is filled with foods to eat, reflecting the pleasure humans take in taste, which occurs as much in the mind as in the body. Food studies as a field has grown since the 1990s, crossing boundaries from the social sciences into the sciences. Within literary studies, work has shifted from seeing food as a literary trope to using material culture as an approach to what food signifies in a socio-historical context. Table Lands is a broad survey of food’s function in children’s texts, showing how comprehending the socio-cultural contexts of food reveals fundamental understandings of the child and children’s agency and enriches the interpretation of such texts. In roughly chronological order, it examines a variety of texts from historical to contemporary, non-canonical to classics—many from the Anglo American tradition but enriched by several books from multicultural traditions (Native American, Jewish American, African American, and immigrant Vietnamese)—and including a variety of genres, formats, and age-group audiences. These include realism (both historical and contemporary), fantasy, cookbooks, picture books, chapter books, young adult novels, and film.

scholarly journals Cartography of a Pedagogical Experience: Architecture as a (In) Discipline in Process

2020 ◽  
pp. 52-53
Author(s):  
Maria Júlia Barbieri
Keyword(s):  
Work Teams ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
The Body ◽  
Environmental Perceptions ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Drift Theory ◽  
Mind Theory ◽  
Teaching Learning

This article focuses on the experience of teaching and teaching-learning relationswith a focus on the creative processes in the Architecture and Urbanism Course, more specifically in a curricular unit of Architecture Design. The reflection proposed here takes into account the body-environment relationship as a methodological matrix for teaching and investigates the way in which students understand, interpret and act from their own body’s experiences in space. The theoretical subsidies that support this approach are related to the studies of cognition, mainly from the perspective of the embodied mind theory developed by VARELA, THOMPSON, & ROSCH (1992) in addition to JOHNSON (2007) and his theory of meaning-making, and studies developed by KASTRUP (1999) in his theory of inventiveness. We seek in these theorists the possibility of weaving a discussion that understands the process of creation as an unceasing movement of exchanges between the body and the environment. In this sense, we developed and applied a methodology that aims to explore different experiences of the body in space as mediators of the creative process in architecture. Removing students from the closed space of the classroom, getting them out of chairs and desks and returning the movement to the bodies and the rediscovery of environmental perceptions is the starting point for this methodology developed in the light of CARERI’s drift theory (2013). The drift gains a very valuable sense here, since by launching the body into space in search of unexpected encounters, we are exploring the powers of this encounter so that students can make this event a fertile field for the creation process, returning them to the fecund environment of discovery as opposed to the sterile space of the classroom. The (in) disciplinary character of this methodology, in the most radicalsense of transdisciplinarity, makes the body and space have their blurred limits, and can thus co-evolve in motion, giving rise to creative processes, in which students they invent themselves at the same time as they invent the world in which they learn. All cartographies developed in the student creation processes in this course are presented on the social network Instagram, where the work teams share their processes, appropriating the tools and languages specific to this media.

The meaning of open-water swimming for adults in Ireland: a qualitative study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edel Murray ◽  
Jackie Fox
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Open Water ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Body ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Open Water Swimming ◽  
Meaningful Connections ◽  
Bodies Of Water

Purpose There has been an increase in swimming in natural bodies of water as reported in personal qualitative accounts. However, limited academic research has explored the meaning of this occupation. Engaging with nature, exercising and being part of a community contribute to better mental and physical health. The purpose of this research was to explore the meaning that adults attribute to open-water swimming in natural bodies of water. Design/methodology/approach This study used phenomenological interviews to explore the meaning that five adults attribute to open-water swimming. Findings Open-water swimming contributes to meaning-making in many ways. Participants reported swimming as necessary for maintaining mental and emotional well-being and forming meaningful connections with the social environment, nature and their true selves. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the understanding of the meaning of open-water swimming for adults in Ireland. Understanding the meaning of this occupation may add to the body of evidence exploring blue-space to promote health. Originality/value Open-water swimming is an occupation growing in popularity. This is the first paper to explore open-water swimming from an occupational perspective. This may provide an alternative perspective for viewing blue-space engagement and understanding the relationship between health, blue-space occupations and our oceans.

The Impact of Endorsing the Belief in a Just World on Social Judgments

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoît Testé ◽  
Samantha Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Social Desirability ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Social Judgments ◽  
Just World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
The Impact

The present research examines the social value attributed to endorsing the belief in a just world for self (BJW-S) and for others (BJW-O) in a Western society. We conducted four studies in which we asked participants to assess a target who endorsed BJW-S vs. BJW-O either strongly or weakly. Results showed that endorsement of BJW-S was socially valued and had a greater effect on social utility judgments than it did on social desirability judgments. In contrast, the main effect of endorsement of BJW-O was to reduce the target’s social desirability. The results also showed that the effect of BJW-S on social utility is mediated by the target’s perceived individualism, whereas the effect of BJW-S and BJW-O on social desirability is mediated by the target’s perceived collectivism.

Fictions of the Human Right to Health: Writing Against the Postcolonial Exotic in Western Medicine

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary J. Jolly
Keyword(s):  
Health Research ◽  
Western Medicine ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
The Body ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
The Social

The last decade has witnessed far greater attention to the social determinants of health in health research, but literary studies have yet to address, in a sustained way, how narratives addressing issues of health across postcolonial cultural divides depict the meeting – or non-meeting – of radically differing conceptualisations of wellness and disease. This chapter explores representations of illness in which Western narrators and notions of the body are juxtaposed with conceptualisations of health and wellness entirely foreign to them, embedded as the former are in assumptions about Cartesian duality and the superiority of scientific method – itself often conceived of as floating (mysteriously) free from its own processes of enculturation and their attendant limits. In this respect my work joins Volker Scheid’s, in this volume, in using the capacity of critical medical humanities to reassert the cultural specificity of what we have come to know as contemporary biomedicine, often assumed to be

A body without a head

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Chavoshian ◽  
Sophia Park
Keyword(s):  
Liberation Theology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Women's Spirituality ◽  
Passive Condition ◽  
Sexual Identities ◽  
Logical Square ◽  
The Social ◽  
Feminine Sexuality ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Body Theory

Along with the recent development of various theories of the body, Lacan’s body theory aligns with postmodern thinkers such as Michael Foucault and Maurice Merlot-Ponti, who consider body social not biological. Lacan emphasizes the body of the Real, the passive condition of the body in terms of formation, identity, and understanding. Then, this condition of body shapes further in the condition of bodies of women and laborers under patriarchy and capitalism, respectively. Lacan’s ‘not all’ position, which comes from the logical square, allows women to question patriarchy’s system and alternatives of sexual identities. Lacan’s approach to feminine sexuality can be applied to women’s spirituality, emphasizing multiple narratives of body and sexual identities, including gender roles. In the social discernment and analysis in the liberation theology, we can employ the capitalist discourse, which provides a tool to understand how people are manipulated by late capitalist society, not knowing it. Lacan’s theory of ‘a body without a head’ reflects the current condition of the human body, which manifests lack, yet including some possibilities for transforming society.

Myriad Aspects of Secular Thinking on Malayali Cuisine

GIS Business ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-206
Author(s):  
SAJITHA M
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Healthy Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Civilized Society

Food is one of the main requirements of human being. It is flattering for the preservation of wellbeing and nourishment of the body.  The food of a society exposes its custom, prosperity, status, habits as well as it help to develop a culture. Food is one of the most important social indicators of a society. History of food carries a dynamic character in the socio- economic, political, and cultural realm of a society. The food is one of the obligatory components in our daily life. It occupied an obvious atmosphere for the augmentation of healthy life and anticipation against the diseases.  The food also shows a significant character in establishing cultural distinctiveness, and it reflects who we are. Food also reflected as the symbol of individuality, generosity, social status and religious believes etc in a civilized society. Food is not a discriminating aspect. It is the part of a culture, habits, addiction, and identity of a civilization.Food plays a symbolic role in the social activities the world over. It’s a universal sign of hospitality.[1]

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