I Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale. Una proposta solida nella societŕ liquida

2009 ◽  
pp. 95-122
Author(s):  
Letizia Carrera
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Illusion Of Control ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Political Impact

- In the currently liquid and uncertain world, purchasing represents a dimension where individuals live the illusion of control over their own lives. Solidarity Purchasing Groups (or GAS, an Italian acronym for Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale) aree an attempt to reverse this model, and to build relationships not despite but through the market and purchasing. They choose products and producers on the basis of respect for the environment and solidarity between the members of the groups, traders, and producers. GAS aree rooted in a critical approach to today's global economic model and lifestyle of consumerism; individuals that feel the unfairness in this model and who aree searching for a practical alternative can find reciprocal aid and advice by joining solidarity purchasing groups. They aree a catalyst of political and social change. Empirical research, which completes these reflections, points out two very different ways to live this experience: "health cares" ("salutisti") and "critical protester" ("contestatori critici"). Only the second one is characterized by a strong, albeit scarcely perceptible, political impact.Keywords: Solidarity Purchasing Groups, Purchase, Market, Civicness, Political Participation.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. Whyman
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
History Of The Book ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Literate Society

The introduction shows the convergence and intertwining of the Industrial Revolution and the provincial Enlightenment. At the centre of this industrial universe lay Birmingham; and at its centre was Hutton. England’s second city is described in the mid-eighteenth century, and Hutton is used as a lens to explore the book’s themes: the importance of a literate society shared by non-elites; the social category of ‘rough diamonds’; how individuals responded to economic change; political participation in industrial towns; shifts in the modes of authorship; and an analysis of social change. The strategy of using microhistory, biography, and the history of the book is discussed, and exciting new sources are introduced. The discovery that self-education allowed unschooled people to participate in literate society renders visible people who were assumed to be illiterate. This suggests that eighteenth-century literacy was greater than statistics based on formal schooling indicate.

scholarly journals The Association between Social Capital and Voting Participation in Three Developing Democracies in Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Jack Chola Bwalya ◽  
Prasanth Sukumar
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Developing Democracies ◽  
Voting Participation ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Western Democracies

Numerous empirical research studies posit that social capital has a positive influence on peoples’ political participation. Studies conducted in developed western democracies have revealed that social capital strengthens democratic institutions by impacting both the quantity and quality of citizens’ political participation. However, in the developing democracies of Africa, the effects of social capital on political participation remain under-researched. This paper aims to empirically examine whether the interrelation between social capital and political participation holds true in the developing democracies of Africa. By operationalising the concept of social capital as membership in civic associations, this paper examines the influence of social capital on peoples’ voting participation in three Southern African countries, viz. Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. Using data from the sixth round of the Afrobarometer Survey, this study found that social capital was strongly linked to voting participation in these countries.

scholarly journals A Critique of the Concepts of “Youth” and “Generation” as Applied in Empirical Research in Contemporary Tunisia

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 881-908
Author(s):  
Jonas Roellin
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Social Mobilization ◽  
Reference Category ◽  
Age Cohort

Abstract In this paper, I argue that both concepts of “youth” (arabic “šabāb”) and “generation” (arabic “ğīl”) are in different ways misleading and problematic when applied in empirical research on Tunisians of lower age. While they are not affirmatively used and partly even rejected by the latter, they also appear inadequate when employed as analytical categories. Instead, as I will suggest, (historical) “age cohort” is an adequate reference category that can be qualitatively described according to the shared perceptions and actions of its respective members. Thereby, the focus on self-concepts and self-narratives appears to be particularly helpful in understanding the contemporary condition of Tunisians of lower age and their social mobilization practices. It reveals, among other findings, that their movements are not primarily directed at political and social change, though conventionally assumed, but rather express a search for greater possibilities of mobility and autonomy beyond both state and societal boundaries.

Home on Sunday, Home on Tuesday? Secular Political Participation in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 334-363
Author(s):  
Mark Brockway
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sharp Rise ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Religious Landscape

AbstractThe American religious landscape is transforming due to a sharp rise in the percentage of the population that is nonreligious. Political and demographic causes have been proffered but little attention has been paid to the current and potential political impact of these “nones,” especially given the established link between religion, participation, and party politics. I argue that the political impact of nonreligious Americans lies in an unexplored subset of the nonreligious population called committed seculars. Committed seculars de-identify with religion, they adopt secular beliefs, and join organizations structured on secular beliefs. Using a unique survey of a secular organization, the American Humanist Association, I demonstrate that committed seculars are extremely partisan and participatory, and are driven to participate by their ideological extremity in relation to the Democratic Party. These results point to a long-term mobilizing dimension for Democrats and indicate the potential polarizing influence of seculars in party politics.

scholarly journals Negative Capability: Documentary and Political Withdrawal

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Simon Gennard
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
The State ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Western State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Martha Rosler ◽  
Negative Capability ◽  
Documentary Video ◽  
Truth Claims

<p>This thesis thinks with, alongside, and against several theories of political withdrawal that have emerged during the past three decades as they have been taken up by artists working with documentary video. Political withdrawal here refers to a set of tactics that position themselves in opposition to existing models of belonging, civic engagement, and contestation.  The context in which this study takes place is one in which qualifying for citizenship in the liberal western state increasingly requires one remain transparent, docile, and willing to acquiesce to whatever demands for information the state may make. In response to these conditions, the theories and artworks examined in this thesis all propose arguments in favour of anonymity, opacity, and indeterminacy.   Situating itself, sometimes uncomfortably, within the archives of feminist, queer, and anarchist thought, this thesis engages with selected video works by Martha Rosler, Bernadette Corporation, Hito Steyerl, and Zach Blas in order to understand the ways in which withdrawal may constitute a generative framework for enabling meaningful social change.  These video works are here described as documentary, but not in the conventional sense that they are objective or transparent attempts to capture or record actual fact. Rather the term is understood as a historically pedagogical genre — notably deployed in the service of both oppressive regimes and oppositional movements — that provides a means through which to engage with, and creatively reimagine, political languages. The artists in this study take a critical approach to troubling times. Suspending the truth claims historically associated with documentary, they offer a range of ways to think through how complaint might be articulated and commitment sustained.</p>

scholarly journals What’s Hegemonic about Hegemonic Masculinity? Legitimation and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 318-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchen Yang
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Relational Understanding ◽  
Feminist Sociology ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Progressive Potential

Raewyn Connell’s theoretical concept of hegemonic masculinity has been profoundly influential in feminist sociology. Despite the rich literature inspired by her theory, conceptual ambiguities have compromised its full potential. In this article, I critique a pessimistic tendency in the interpretation and application of hegemonic masculinity, which focuses on its regressive role in reproducing/legitimating heteronormative patriarchy while overlooking its progressive potential. I propose that revisiting Antonio Gramsci’s theorization of hegemony can help us understand hegemonic masculinity by its mechanism of domination—force accompanied by consent—rather than via certain pregiven masculine qualities. This reformulation of hegemonic masculinity not only pushes us to maintain a relational understanding of masculinities in empirical research, but also brings attention to Connell’s vision for social change.

From reel life to real social change: the role of contemporary social-issue documentary in U.S. public policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1107-1124
Author(s):  
Caty Borum Chattoo ◽  
Will Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Social Issue ◽  
Social Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Situated Knowledge ◽  
Group Leaders ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Policy Engagement

This article examines three digital-era social-issue documentaries – Sin by Silence, Playground, and Semper Fi – to reveal elements of cultural and narrative influence that contributed to legislative change in the United States. Expanding the coalition model of documentary’s political impact through case studies and in-depth interviews with policy subnetworks shaped for each film – policymakers and legislative staffers, advocacy group leaders, and documentary directors – this study finds that social-issue documentaries are influential for U.S. policy engagement when they are perceived as emotional, factual, and nonpartisan. Documentary is thus positioned as ‘situated knowledge’ in a policymaking context – narrative that presents human implications and lived experiences. Ultimately, the policy impact of these documentaries is attributed to the dual defining characteristics of documentary: creative expression and reflection of truth. The present work contributes to expanding literature about documentary and social change.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document