THE J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S MYTH IN THE COUNTERCULTURE OUTLOOKS IN THE WEST SOCIETY OF 1960-1970S YEARS

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-133
Author(s):  
PAVEL DOMBROVSKIY ◽  
◽  
OLEG KHAZANO
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Main Role ◽  
The West ◽  
Youth Movements ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The One ◽  
Modern Mass ◽  
Protest Activity

The article is devoted to the researching of the J.R.R. Tolkien’s (British writer and linguist) influence on the outlook of counterculture movements in 1960-1970s years. The west countries’ history of that period describes a developing of the youth protest activity and the promoting of the trilogy «The Lords of the Rings», which became the most important embodiment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythology. As the result, the creativity of British writer became as the fantastic allusion to the modern and recent historical problems of society, such as the USA campaign in Vietnam, world wars, consumption cult, the harm to the environment, the fight for civil rights, etc. The purpose of that article is to identify the role of J.R.R. Tolkien’s myth in the ideological forming of youth movements of the mentioned time period in the USA and West Europe of 1960-1970s years. Through the prism of that interaction authors reconstruct a layer of counterculture mythology with the merging of Tolkinism’s (the writer’s creativity and outlook) and protest ideas inside the original awareness. The result of this process is in the appearance of the new youth movements’ ideological aspects, reflected in slogans, sings and street art of the pointed time period. The embodiment of the young generation’s protest activity with fictional heroes and events in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth has the main role in such aspects. However, today there is lack of the researching of that problem. Authors of the article suggest to look at the counterculture’s history in west countries through the prism of the pointed synthesis as the one of basically elements in the formation of modern mass culture and subculture layer.

“Sovereign Democracy” Discourse in the Russian Foreign Policy

2018 ◽  
pp. 178-200
Author(s):  
Neziha Musaoğlu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Russian Foreign Policy ◽  
The West ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The One

Many important changes occurred in the Russian Federation's foreign policy since 2000s with Putin's coming to power. Although the foreign policy is defined as pragmatic during this period, it is in fact ideologically constructed on the basis of the concept of “sovereign democracy.” The concept constitutes in the same time the source of loyalty of the Russian reelpolitik towards the West, especially the USA and of the Russian anti-globalist policies. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the intellectual, normative, and conceptual dimensions of the “sovereign democracy” concept that could serve to conceive the foreign policy practice of the Russian Federation, on the one hand, and on the other hand its dialectical relationships with the West in the era of globalization.

THE OCCULTISM IN THE MODERN WORLD: A TRIBUTE TO FASHION OR A HISTORICAL REGULARITY?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-140
Author(s):  
S. V. Storozhuk ◽  
◽  
I. M. Hoian ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Culture ◽  
Culture Industry ◽  
Mass Society ◽  
World Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The One ◽  
Modern Mass ◽  
The Universe

The article shows that the modern mass interest in the occult is conditioned, on the one hand, by the world crisis, the lack of stable and reliable foundations for self-determination and human orientation in the world, and on the other – by the formation of impersonal man and the establishment of mass society. The lack of a stable worldview, universal values, ideals and social standards, and, at the same time, unwillingness to pose and solve complex socio-cultural problems, is the main reason why modern (postmodern) people choose occult ideals and norms that do not require deep reflection, however, they provide them with a sense of belonging to the universe. Most of them are offered by the modern mass culture industry. Although its products are of great concern to traditional Christian values and virtues, we have no reason to give them an unequivocally negative assessment at the moment, at least given that they offer models of The article shows that the modern mass interest in the occult is conditioned, on the one hand, by the world crisis, the lack of stable and reliable foundations for self-determination and human orientation in the world, and on the other – by the formation of impersonal man and the establishment of mass society. The lack of a stable worldview, universal values, ideals and social standards, and, at the same time, unwillingness to pose and solve complex socio-cultural problems, is the main reason why modern (postmodern) people choose occult ideals and norms that do not require deep reflection, however, they provide them with a sense of belonging to the universe. Most of them are offered by the modern mass culture industry. Although its products are of great concern to traditional Christian values and virtues, we have no reason to give them an unequivocally negative assessment at the moment, at least given that they offer models of The article shows that the modern mass interest in the occult is conditioned, on the one hand, by the world crisis, the lack of stable and reliable foundations for self-determination and human orientation in the world, and on the other – by the formation of impersonal man and the establishment of mass society. The lack of a stable worldview, universal values, ideals and social standards, and, at the same time, unwillingness to pose and solve complex socio-cultural problems, is the main reason why modern (postmodern) people choose occult ideals and norms that do not require deep reflection, however, they provide them with a sense of belonging to the universe. Most of them are offered by the modern mass culture industry. Although its products are of great concern to traditional Christian values and virtues, we have no reason to give them an unequivocally negative assessment at the moment, at least given that they offer models of social relations that due to testing by various occult organizations, may receive a public request, or be rejected.

scholarly journals Religion and International Relations: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Haynes
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The West ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Islamist Terrorism ◽  
Clash Of Civilisations ◽  
First Time ◽  
Second Period

The article surveys the recent scholarly study of religion and international relations/International Relations (ir/IR). The focus of the article is on two discrete periods: pre-9 September 2001 (‘9/11’) and post-9/11. During the first time period, Iran’s Islamic revolution (1979), the civil war in former Yugoslavia and Huntington’s ‘clash of civilisations’ (1993) were major foci of attention. The second period saw a large number of scholarly accounts following the 9/11 attacks on the USA, with a sustained focus on the international securitisation of Islam. The article also briefly surveys the position of religion in IR theory. The article concludes that following the recent diminution of the threat to the West of Islamist terrorism—subsequent to the apparent demise of Islamic State and the fragmentation and dissipation of al Qaeda—the study of religion in IR theory needs to take better account of changing circumstances to arrive at a better understanding of how religion impacts on international relations/International Relations.

Team psychological safety and team learning: a cultural perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 458-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Cauwelier ◽  
Vincent M. Ribière ◽  
Alex Bennet
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Team Learning ◽  
Psychological Safety ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
The West ◽  
National Cultures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The One

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to evaluate if the concept of team psychological safety, a key driver of team learning and originally studied in the West, can be applied in teams from different national cultures. The model originally validated for teams in the West is applied to teams in Thailand to evaluate its validity, and the views team members have on the antecedents of team psychological safety are analyzed. Design/methodology/approach The core of the sequential explanatory mixed method research was an experiment with nine teams from a single engineering organization (three teams from each the USA, France and Thailand). Team learning behaviors were analyzed from the conversations between team members. Team psychological safety was analyzed through a quantitative instrument and one-on-one structured interviews with each team member. Findings The results showed that the original model is confirmed for the teams from the USA and France but not confirmed for teams from Thailand. The thematic analysis of the one-on-one interviews highlights important differences between teams from the USA and France on the one hand and teams from Thailand on the other hand when it comes to the role of the team manager and the views that team members have on the diversity between them. Originality/value This research confirms that the concept of team psychological safety, and its impact on the way teams learn, needs to be adjusted if it is to be applied to teams in countries with national cultures different from those prevalent in the West. The implications are that researchers who develop theories in the social sciences field should evaluate how cultural differences impact their models, and that managers who implement learning and solutions should take national cultural differences into consideration.

scholarly journals Canada and the Beginning of the Cold War: Modern Interpretations

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-56
Author(s):  
Maryna Bessonova
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Historical Writings ◽  
The One ◽  
The Cold War

The most widespread plots interpreted as the beginning of the Cold War are the events that took place in 1946: February 9 – J. Stalin’s speech to the electorate in Moscow; February 22 – the American charge d’Affaires in the Soviet Union G. Kennan’s “long telegram”; March 5 – W. Churchill’s speech in Fulton (the USA); September 27 – the Soviet Ambassador in the United States N. Novikov’s “long telegram”. But there was an earlier event, so called “Gouzenko affair”, which is almost unknown for the Ukrainian historiography. On September 5, 1945, Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk of the Soviet embassy to Canada, defected to the Canadian side with more than a hundred secret documents that proved the USSR’s espionage activities in the countries of North America. Information about the network of Soviet agents caused a real panic in the West and was perceived as a real start of the Cold War. In the article, there is made an attempt to review the main events related to the Gouzenko affair and to identify the dominant interpretations of this case in contemporary historical writings. One can find different interpretations of the reasons and the consequences of Gouzenko’s defection which dramatically affected the history of the world. One of the main vivid results was an anti-communist hysteria in the West which was caused by the investigation that Canadian, American and British public officials and eminent scientists were recruited by the Soviet Union as agents for the atomic espionage. For Canada, the Gouzenko affair had an unprecedented affect because on the one hand it led to the closer relations with the United States in the sphere of security and defense, and on the other hand Canada was involved into the international scandal and used this case as a moment to start more activities on the international arena. It has been also found that the Canadian and American studies about Gouzenko affair are focused on the fact that the Allies on the anti-Hitler coalition need to take a fresh look at security and further cooperation with the USSR, while the overwhelming majority of Russian publications is focused on the very fact of betrayal of Igor Gouzenko.

scholarly journals Walter Benjamin as the “Last European”: The Transfer of Walter Benjamin’s Ideas to American Cultural Studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 137-151
Author(s):  
Mariya Chernovskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Current Article ◽  
The One ◽  
First Time

Walter Benjamin’s posthumous reception was significantly broader than the one during his lifetime, par-ticularly in the one country he had never succeeded to visit (although he had intended to), the United States of America. In the current article, we suggest, that while beginning to widen in American intellectual circles, the acknowledgment of the philosopher’s legacy happened later in a narrower academic context, rehabilitating the philosopher who had never had the chance to work in a university due to a failed 1925 habilitation. The majority of Benjamin’s works were disseminated in various non-academic journals and magazines, making the process of translation and publication of his texts more difficult than it usually is for scientists. We suggest that, firstly, Benjamin’s reception in the USA established his image as a provoc-ative essayist stepping far beyond Marxist frameworks (as opposed to how his first publisher and friend Theodor Adorno presented him through a thoroughly-selected collection of writings that had been trans-lated into English for the first time), exploring such topics as Messianism, mass culture, and everyday practices. Our second suggestion is that Benjamin’s legacy appeared to be fruitful for American cultural studies whose representatives rejected ideas of the teleology of culture embedded in the original British program, and turned to “practice theories” which presented everyday practices significant in themselves, not as privileged sites of ideology.

scholarly journals Crime Teenpic as a Subgenre of American Cinema

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 104-113
Author(s):  
Vera Vasilyevna Zharikova
Keyword(s):  
Mass Culture ◽  
American Cinema ◽  
Youth Subculture ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Gangster Film ◽  
Auteur Cinema ◽  
The One ◽  
Film Genres

The article reviews film genres and the factors determining genre formation as exemplified by the subgenre of youth criminal drama. Like most genres, it appeared in the USA as an offshoot of the gangster film of the 1930s, on the one hand, and as a result of the emergence of youth subculture. The image of an adolescent criminal is still popular in both mass culture and auteur cinema.

THE ROAD MOVIE GENRE IN THE WEST MOVIES AND THE MUSLIM EAST CINEMATOGRAPHY

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-142
Author(s):  
Natalia V. Kazurova ◽  
◽  
Ekaterina Y. Trushkina ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
The West ◽  
The Road ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Road Movies ◽  
The One

The article analyzes specific features of the Road Movie genre in a historical perspective on the example of the Western countries film production and Iran national cinematography. To that end the authors focus on genre and semantic variety of classical movies, a «proto-road-movie» and the Road Movies of nowadays. A comparative approach to the study of the genre formula provides for revealing the nuances in the stylistic techniques of directors and defining the national features of the semantic core of the Road Movie genre in both the Western movies (created in Europe and the USA) and in the films of the East (Iranian New Wave). While maintaining a number of aesthetic features that are similar in Western and Eastern Road Movies, one can nevertheless observe a significant difference in the way of representing the concept of the Path (the Road) by directors from the West and from Muslim countries. The article gives a detailed analysis of the Road concept in the context of Islamic cinema. Studying the symbolic of the Path and the Travel in Muslim tradition the authors refer to the norms of Sharia, Sufism and to the mode of the life traditions of the Middle Ages and our days. Special attention is paid to the movies of a well-known Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. Working before and after the Islamic Revolution (1978–1979) he was the one of the founders of the New Iranian cinema.

scholarly journals Cosplay Phenomenon: Archaic Forms and Updated Meanings

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana V. Pushkareva ◽  
◽  
Darya V. Agaltsova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Creative Development ◽  
Principal Development ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Cultural Forms ◽  
Modern Mass ◽  
And Behavior

Cosplay is considered as a modern mass practice of copying and public demonstration of the costume, image and behavior of famous heroes in the mass culture: heroes of movies, cartoons, comics, video games within the framework of festivals, processions, activities of clubs of the corresponding subject. The empirical material for the study was observations, publications in specialized mass media, recordings of Russian and foreign electronic broadcasts of cosplay events, interviews with Russian cosplayers. The article provides a cultural and historical analysis of cosplay, on the basis of which it is concluded that the archaic cultural forms of totemic primitive holidays, medieval carnival, and the first forms of theater are reproduced in cosplay. Traditional cultural forms in cosplay are endowed with new cultural meanings, among which are the game principal development in culture, the implementation of special mechanisms of young people socialization through individual and collective forms of identification and imitation of famous characters, creative development of screen culture characters. In cosplay, there is a partial revitalization of archaic cultural forms, such as zoo-mystery, carnival, the first forms of theater. The conclusion is made about the role of cosplay in the development of the visual language of modernity, «de-virtualization» of the mass culture images and the development of the «instinct of theatricality» in a modern person. Cosplay in Russia demonstrates a wider thematic repertoire than cosplay in the USA and Japan: it includes not only images of American films, video games, comics, Japanese manga and anime, but also images of Soviet animation, which paradoxically are capable of direct competition with modern products of mass culture and art.

scholarly journals Theology of Supernatural

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Pavel Nosachev
Keyword(s):  
Mass Culture ◽  
World Order ◽  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Semiotic Model ◽  
Urban Legends ◽  
The One ◽  
Modern Mass

The main research issues of the article are the determination of the genesis of theology created in Supernatural and the understanding of ways in which this show transforms a traditional Christian theological narrative. The methodological framework of the article, on the one hand, is the theory of the occulture (C. Partridge), and on the other, the narrative theory proposed in U. Eco’s semiotic model. C. Partridge successfully described modern religious popular culture as a coexistence of abstract Eastern good (the idea of the transcendent Absolute, self-spirituality) and Western personified evil. The ideal confirmation of this thesis is Supernatural, since it was the bricolage game with images of Christian evil that became the cornerstone of its popularity. In the 15 seasons of its existence, Supernatural, conceived as a story of two evil-hunting brothers wrapped in a collection of urban legends, has turned into a global panorama of world demonology while touching on the nature of evil, the world order, theodicy, the image of God, etc. In fact, this show creates a new demonology, angelology, and eschatology. The article states that the narrative topics of Supernatural are based on two themes, i.e., the theology of the spiritual war of the third wave of charismatic Protestantism and the occult outlooks derived from Emmanuel Swedenborg’s system. The main topic of this article is the role of monotheistic mythology in Supernatural. The author concludes that the case of Supernatural shows how the classical monotheistic narrative, in its orthodox and heterodox formats, is hugely attractive for the modern audience. A wide distribution of the occulture that has become a basis of modern mass culture and easily combines, by virtue of historical specifics of its genesis, with monotheism makes the classical monotheistic mythology more flexible and capable of meeting the audience’s different demands.

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