scholarly journals A Plebeian Lexicon of Capitalism (and Socialism)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Wigger
Keyword(s):  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Defensive Reactions ◽  
Civil Discourse

It is by no means exaggeration to suggest that society finds itself increasingly ill equipped in the art of civil discourse.  In particular, the realm of political debate has polarized at partisan extremes, arguably fueled by gross economic inequality.  And as is typical when advocates’ hearts are aflame, logic can give way to passion, whether for lack of empathy or failures in communication.  With skirmish lines firmly drawn seeming eons ago, the opposing forces calcify in their trenches, rarely daring set foot on the field of battle, choosing instead to lob poorly calculated mortars at their “enemy,” not in honest attempt to “win” the war, but merely hoping to quiet the shells raining down, even if but temporarily.  Before we can broker peace, it is crucial we mend the broken lines of communication, starting with the most basic building blocks of language.  Of late, our (un)civil discourse has been rife with talking at each other and past each other, without pause to consider the foundational definitions of the words we lob.  We have weaponized our very means of intellectual connection, to the point that what remains is a toxic stew of defensive reactions.  Into this fray author beckons reader, with lofty goals of both deconstructing and then intentionally framing a lay person’s lexicon with useful definitions for capitalism, capitalist, and capital, each considered as relative to socialism.

The Building Blocks of Defensive and Accusatory Language in Canadian Question Period

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Blyth
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
English Studies ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Linguistic Strategies ◽  
Argumentative Strategies ◽  
Political Integrity ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Strategies ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
General Scale

The idea that there are grammatical structures which form accusations and defenses in language has been explored in the context of isolated instances of political debate (Rasiah 2009). This paper goes beyond that, looking at the specific linguistic strategies that compose such a structure, and evaluating those strategies over time. A discourse analysis is used to isolate, contrast and compare argumentative strategies in two different sections from the Canadian Hansard corpus. The first section consists of transcriptions of question period recorded in 2005 while the second is from 2014, allowing for a comparison that explores these trends through time. The strategies found in each section consist of specific linguistic elements which are relevant in the context of grammar structure analysis. Beyond this the individual strategies can also be sorted into larger groups, such as temporal distancing and diverting agentivity, which map the grammar of evasion on a more general scale. These groups expose language trends in political debate, and allow for an analysis of general evasion tactics used in Canadian government. By exploring the implications of said trends, this paper raises the question of political integrity in our Country’s leadership. A presentation of this thesis would explore the specific strategies, however would focus on the general groups, the trends that they expose and their implications.  This information could be found relevant in many academic contexts including sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, politics, and English studies.

Unions as the Solution

2021 ◽  
pp. 35-60
Author(s):  
David Madland
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The United States ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Ordinary Citizens

This chapter steps back from policy reform to provide the building blocks to support the book's claim that unions can help address the economic and political challenges facing the United States. It highlights America's troubles — stagnant wages, extreme inequality, low trust, racism, and a weakened democracy — and the reasons why unions might be expected to help solve them. It then presents theory and evidence showing what unions do to raise wages, reduce economic inequality, increase political participation, and make politicians more responsive to ordinary citizens, as well as how they help reduce racial and gender discrimination and rebuild societal trust. It also discusses how unions achieve these goals with little to no harm to the overall economy.

scholarly journals Inequality - what can be done?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony B. Aktinson
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Repeated Calls ◽  
New Policies ◽  
Distribution Of Income

Economic inequality has become centre stage in the political debate, but what the political leaders have not said is what they would do about it. There are repeated calls for equitable growth but little clue as to how this is to be achieved. In this Working Paper, I seek to show what could be done to reduce the extent of inequality if we are serious about that objective. I draw on the lessons of history, and take a fresh look - through distributional eyes - at the underlying economics. I identify ambitious new policies in five areas - technology , employment, social security, the sharing of capital, and taxation - that could bring about a genuine shift in the distribution of income towards less inequality.

The divided country

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Fratzscher
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Security System ◽  
Rich Country ◽  
Political Debate

For Germans and other Europeans, one of the most important issues, if not the most important, is the high and rising degree of social and economic inequality. The Brexit decision by UK citizens was formally about European Union membership, yet those voting against membership indicated that their vote was driven as much by dissatisfaction with factors related to inequality. The general perception is that Germany is not only a very rich country but also a country with a strong social security system, one where wealth and income are distributed fairly and equitably. Yet this notion is false: Germany is actually one of the most unequal countries in the industrialized world. This chapter first highlights the facts relating to inequality of wealth, income, and social mobility. It then discusses why this inequality explains much of the current political debate in Germany and why it hurts economic dynamism, productivity, and welfare.

Photochemical Evolution of Interstellar/Precometary Organic Material

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 23-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis J. Allamandola ◽  
Max P. Bernstein ◽  
Scott A. Sandford
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Complex Species ◽  
Infrared Observations ◽  
Interstellar Ice ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
Ultraviolet Photolysis ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Simple Molecules ◽  
Complex Organic

AbstractInfrared observations, combined with realistic laboratory simulations, have revolutionized our understanding of interstellar ice and dust, the building blocks of comets. Since comets are thought to be a major source of the volatiles on the primative earth, their organic inventory is of central importance to questions concerning the origin of life. Ices in molecular clouds contain the very simple molecules H2O, CH3OH, CO, CO2, CH4, H2, and probably some NH3and H2CO, as well as more complex species including nitriles, ketones, and esters. The evidence for these, as well as carbonrich materials such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), microdiamonds, and amorphous carbon is briefly reviewed. This is followed by a detailed summary of interstellar/precometary ice photochemical evolution based on laboratory studies of realistic polar ice analogs. Ultraviolet photolysis of these ices produces H2, H2CO, CO2, CO, CH4, HCO, and the moderately complex organic molecules: CH3CH2OH (ethanol), HC(= O)NH2(formamide), CH3C(= O)NH2(acetamide), R-CN (nitriles), and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT, C6H12N4), as well as more complex species including polyoxymethylene and related species (POMs), amides, and ketones. The ready formation of these organic species from simple starting mixtures, the ice chemistry that ensues when these ices are mildly warmed, plus the observation that the more complex refractory photoproducts show lipid-like behavior and readily self organize into droplets upon exposure to liquid water suggest that comets may have played an important role in the origin of life.

Laboratory and in-situ analysis of comet dust

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 8-9
Author(s):  
D.E. Brownlee ◽  
A.L. Albee
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Laboratory Study ◽  
Isotopic Analysis ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Sem Analysis ◽  
Early Solar System ◽  
Cometary Material ◽  
Comet Dust

Comets are primitive, kilometer-sized bodies that formed in the outer regions of the solar system. Composed of ice and dust, comets are generally believed to be relic building blocks of the outer solar system that have been preserved at cryogenic temperatures since the formation of the Sun and planets. The analysis of cometary material is particularly important because the properties of cometary material provide direct information on the processes and environments that formed and influenced solid matter both in the early solar system and in the interstellar environments that preceded it.The first direct analyses of proven comet dust were made during the Soviet and European spacecraft encounters with Comet Halley in 1986. These missions carried time-of-flight mass spectrometers that measured mass spectra of individual micron and smaller particles. The Halley measurements were semi-quantitative but they showed that comet dust is a complex fine-grained mixture of silicates and organic material. A full understanding of comet dust will require detailed morphological, mineralogical, elemental and isotopic analysis at the finest possible scale. Electron microscopy and related microbeam techniques will play key roles in the analysis. The present and future of electron microscopy of comet samples involves laboratory study of micrometeorites collected in the stratosphere, in-situ SEM analysis of particles collected at a comet and laboratory study of samples collected from a comet and returned to the Earth for detailed study.

Cryo-TEM of amphiphilic polymer and amphiphile/polymer solutions

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 876-877
Author(s):  
Yeshayahu Talmon
Keyword(s):  
Microstructural Characterization ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
Temperature And Humidity ◽  
Microstructured Fluids ◽  
Air Streams

To achieve complete microstructural characterization of self-aggregating systems, one needs direct images in addition to quantitative information from non-imaging, e.g., scattering or Theological measurements, techniques. Cryo-TEM enables us to image fluid microstructures at better than one nanometer resolution, with minimal specimen preparation artifacts. Direct images are used to determine the “building blocks” of the fluid microstructure; these are used to build reliable physical models with which quantitative information from techniques such as small-angle x-ray or neutron scattering can be analyzed.To prepare vitrified specimens of microstructured fluids, we have developed the Controlled Environment Vitrification System (CEVS), that enables us to prepare samples under controlled temperature and humidity conditions, thus minimizing microstructural rearrangement due to volatile evaporation or temperature changes. The CEVS may be used to trigger on-the-grid processes to induce formation of new phases, or to study intermediate, transient structures during change of phase (“time-resolved cryo-TEM”). Recently we have developed a new CEVS, where temperature and humidity are controlled by continuous flow of a mixture of humidified and dry air streams.

Emotional Variability Predicts Tiredness in Daily Life

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aire Mill ◽  
Anu Realo ◽  
Jüri Allik
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Method ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Experience Sampling Method ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Intraindividual Variability ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Over Time

Abstract. Intraindividual variability, along with the more frequently studied between-person variability, has been argued to be one of the basic building blocks of emotional experience. The aim of the current study is to examine whether intraindividual variability in affect predicts tiredness in daily life. Intraindividual variability in affect was studied with the experience sampling method in a group of 110 participants (aged between 19 and 84 years) during 14 consecutive days on seven randomly determined occasions per day. The results suggest that affect variability is a stable construct over time and situations. Our findings also demonstrate that intraindividual variability in affect has a unique role in predicting increased levels of tiredness at the momentary level as well at the level of individuals.

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