Capitalism, Work and Suicide

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-70
Author(s):  
Sarah Waters
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Structural Transformations ◽  
Industrial Capitalism ◽  
Work Related ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Individual Productivity ◽  
Economic Worth ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
The One ◽  
Contemporary Context

Chapter one draws on histories of suicide and historical studies of industrial labour in order to examine whether work suicide constitutes a new phenomenon reflecting the historically specific conditions of neoliberalism. Despite the poor material conditions of labour under industrial capitalism, there are few recorded cases of work-related suicide. In 19th century France, suicide was characterised as a marginal phenomenon that affected the most impoverished social groups: the jobless, the destitute or the infirm. The chapter examines the structural transformations that have precipitated a rise of suicides in the workplace and in particular, the shift to a finance-driven economic order. From a source of productivity and therefore profit under industrial capitalism, labour has become, in the contemporary context, an obstacle to rational and extraneous financial goals that needs to be removed. Suicides are the product of differential neoliberal management regimes. On the one hand, suicides affected workers who were pushed to their very limits by management in a bid to increase their individual productivity, economic worth and therefore maximise profits. On the other, suicides affected workers who were pushed out of the workplace as a form of surplus cost.

Óscar Romero and the Politics of Sainthood

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-291
Author(s):  
Manuel A. Vasquez ◽  
Anna L. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil War ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
The Other ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Holy See ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Face ◽  
Crisis Of Modernity ◽  
The One

In this article, we explore the debates surrounding the proposed canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero, an outspoken defender of human rights and the poor during the civil war in El Salvador, who was assassinated in March 1980 by paramilitary death squads while saying Mass. More specifically, we examine the tension between, on the one hand, local and popular understandings of Romero’s life and legacy and, on the other hand, transnational and institutional interpretations. We argue that the reluctance of the Vatican to advance Romero’s canonization process has to do with the need to domesticate and “privatize” his image. This depoliticization of Romero’s work and teachings is a part of a larger agenda of neo-Romanization, an attempt by the Holy See to redeploy a post-colonial and transnational Catholic regime in the face of the crisis of modernity and the advent of postmodern relativism. This redeployment is based on the control of local religious expressions, particularly those that advocate for a more participatory church, which have proliferated with contemporary globalization

Theodore W. Schultz. The Economics of Being Poor. Oxford: Blackwell. 1993. ix+340 pp.+ Index. Hardbound. £ 40.00.

1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-85
Author(s):  
Mir Annice Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Logical Sequence ◽  
Standards Of Living ◽  
Economic Journals ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
Demand For Children

Improving the material conditions of the poor has been the main focus of economic policy formulation for the past fifty years or so. Thus, in this connection, a vast body of literature has been published which deals with such issues as identifying the poor and suggesting remedies to alleviate their lot. The book by Theodore W. Schultz deals specifically with the economics of the poor. The book is primarily a collection of articles the author wrote over a fortyyear period (1950-1990), and these have been published previously in a number of leading economic journals. The articles have been grouped under three headings: "Most People Are Poor"; "Investing in Skills and Knowledge"; and "Effects of Human Capital". The articles basically deal with the concept of human capital. There is a logical sequence to the articles that make up this book; the poor are identified and steps are then suggested to improve their standing. Issues such as women's economic emancipation and the demand for children are highlighted in the collection of articles dealing with these two subjects. By investing in themselves through education, the poor raise their level of skills, and thus their level of wages/salaries, allowing them to enjoy higher standards of living.

Solidaritas Sebagai Norma Dasar Dalam Etika Paulus

1970 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-100
Author(s):  
Martin Harun
Keyword(s):  
Community Building ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church ◽  
Different Parts

Abstract: Solidarity, a modern word and concept, has old roots in the concept of koinonia (fellowship) as it is understood in the New Testament. David G. Horrell even maintains that what we now call solidarity, functions as a meta norm in Paul’s ethics, since phenomena of solidarity are clearly present in the central elements of Paul’s community building. Reference is made to the two basic rituals, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which build unity in diversity; to the most frequently used form of address, adelphoi/brothers, which asks for familial treatment of one another; also to the special way in which Paul often tries to restore unity in the middle of conflicts; and especially to his metaphor of the Church as the one body of Christ with many different parts that need and support one another. When speaking about the collections as a sign of the Greek community’s solidarity with the poor community in Jerusalem, Paul refers to Christ’s solidarity as the source of solidarity within and among communities. Keywords: Solidarity, fellowship, David Horrell, Paul, Ethics, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, brothers, Body of Christ, Christ’s solidarity. Abstrak: Solidaritas, sebuah kata dan paham modern, memiliki akar yang lama, antara lain dalam paham koinonia (persekutuan), sebagaimana digunakan dalam Alkitab Perjanjian Baru. David G. Horrell mempertahankan bahwa apa yang sekarang kita sebut solidaritas, merupakan norma dasar (meta norm) dalam etika Paulus, sebab fenomen-fenomen solidaritas tampak dalam unsur-unsur sentral pembinaan jemaatnya, antara lain dalam kedua ritual paling dasar, baptisan dan perjamuan Tuhan, yang membina kesatuan dalam perbedaan. Solidaritas juga muncul dalam sebutan paling frekuen, saudara-saudara (adelphoi), yang menuntut suatu etos kekeluargaan. Solidaritas juga tampak dalam banyak seruan Paulus untuk memulihkan kesatuan apabila ia berhadapan dengan perpecahan, dan teristimewa dalam menggambarkan jemaat sebagai satu tubuh Kristus dengan banyak anggota yang berbeda dan saling membutuhkan serta memberi. Dalam konteks kolekte-kolekte sebagai tanda solidaritas antarjemaat, Paulus secara eksplisit menunjuk kepada solidaritas Kristus dengan kita sebagai dasar terdalam dari solidaritas antarumat. Kata-kata kunci: Solidaritas, persekutuan, David Horrell, Paulus, etika, baptisan, Perjamuan Tuhan, saudara-saudara, Tubuh Kristus, solidaritas Kristus.

Towards a computational theory of social groups: A finite set of cognitive primitives for representing any and all social groups in the context of conflict

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-62
Author(s):  
David Pietraszewski
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Group Representation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Study Groups ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Computational Theory ◽  
Mistaken Belief ◽  
Finite Set ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract We don't yet have adequate theories of what the human mind is representing when it represents a social group. Worse still, many people think we do. This mistaken belief is a consequence of the state of play: Until now, researchers have relied on their own intuitions to link up the concept social group on the one hand, and the results of particular studies or models on the other. While necessary, this reliance on intuition has been purchased at considerable cost. When looked at soberly, existing theories of social groups are either (i) literal, but not remotely adequate (such as models built atop economic games), or (ii) simply metaphorical (typically a subsumption or containment metaphor). Intuition is filling in the gaps of an explicit theory. This paper presents a computational theory of what, literally, a group representation is in the context of conflict: it is the assignment of agents to specific roles within a small number of triadic interaction types. This “mental definition” of a group paves the way for a computational theory of social groups—in that it provides a theory of what exactly the information-processing problem of representing and reasoning about a group is. For psychologists, this paper offers a different way to conceptualize and study groups, and suggests that a non-tautological definition of a social group is possible. For cognitive scientists, this paper provides a computational benchmark against which natural and artificial intelligences can be held.

The Body in Theory

1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity J Callard
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Industrial Capitalism ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theoretical Investigations ◽  
The One ◽  
Do So

Geographers are now taking the problematic of corporeality seriously. ‘The body’ is becoming a preoccupation in the geographical literature, and is a central figure around which to base political demands, social analyses, and theoretical investigations. In this paper I describe some of the trajectories through which the body has been installed in academia and claim that this installation has necessitated the uptake of certain theoretical legacies and the disavowal or forgetting of others. In particular, I trace two related developments. First, I point to the sometimes haphazard agglomeration of disparate theoretical interventions that lie under the name of postmodernism and observe how this has led to the foregrounding of bodily tropes of fragmentation, fluidity, and ‘the cyborg‘. Second, I examine the treatment of the body as a conduit which enables political agency to be thought of in terms of transgression and resistance. I stage my argument by looking at how on the one hand Marxist and on the other queer theory have commonly conceived of the body, and propose that the legacies of materialist modes of analysis have much to offer current work focusing on how bodies are shaped by their encapsulation within the sphere of the social. I conclude by examining the presentation of corporeality that appears in the first volume of Marx's Capital. I do so to suggest that geographers working on questions of subjectivity could profit from thinking further about the relation between so-called ‘new’ and ‘fluid’ configurations of bodies, technologies, and subjectivities in the late 20th-century world, and the corporeal configurations of industrial capitalism lying behind and before them.

The “Unspeakable Blessing”: Street Children, Reform Rhetoric, and Misery in Early Industrial Capitalism

1983 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Bellingham
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Street Children ◽  
Industrial Capitalism ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Insurmountable Obstacle ◽  
The City ◽  
The Way

… surely there would be men enough, willing and glad to contribute to the regeneration of the poor outcasts of the city. It is no longer an experiment since the Children's Aid has removed of this class, in thirteen years, eleven thousand two hundred and seventy two! Who would not rejoice to aid in such an enterprise…? Money only is wanting. Shall that be an insurmountable obstacle in the way of accomplishing such an unspeakable blessing? New York Children's Aid Society, 1866 Annual Report

Risk Privatisation and Social Investment – Self-Employment in the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-283
Author(s):  
Kevin Caraher ◽  
Enrico Reuter
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The One

Abstract With increasing numbers of self-employed persons in the United Kingdom (UK) struggling to protect themselves via personal savings or private insurance against work-related social risks (an issue that has gained further importance in light of the Covid-19 pandemic), this article first discusses self-employment as a type of work that implies intrinsically privatised forms of risk management. Secondly, current social policy interventions towards vulnerable self-employed persons in the United Kingdom (UK) are analysed to identify the mix of instruments used for, on the one hand, investment and support and, on the other hand, conditionality, coercion and activation. Finally, we explore how responsibilities for risk management manifest themselves and argue that the expansion of activation and conditionality increases pressures upon self-employed workers with insufficient incomes and thus indicates a far-reaching risk privatisation, while undermining the idea of a meaningful social investment approach.

Towards complexity-sensitive book metrics for scholarly monographs in national databases for research output

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Sīle ◽  
Raf Guns ◽  
Alesia A. Zuccala ◽  
Tim C.E. Engels
Keyword(s):  
Information Science ◽  
Research Evaluation ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Bibliographic Records ◽  
Bibliographic Data ◽  
The One ◽  
National Databases

PurposeThis study investigates an approach to book metrics for research evaluation that takes into account the complexity of scholarly monographs. This approach is based on work sets – unique scholarly works and their within-work related bibliographic entities – for scholarly monographs in national databases for research output.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines bibliographic records on scholarly monographs acquired from four European databases (VABB in Flanders, Belgium; CROSBI in Croatia; CRISTIN in Norway; COBISS in Slovenia). Following a data enrichment process using metadata from OCLC WorldCat and Amazon Goodreads, the authors identify work sets and the corresponding ISBNs. Next, on the basis of the number of ISBNs per work set and the presence in WorldCat, they design a typology of scholarly monographs: Globally visible single-expression works, Globally visible multi-expression works, Miscellaneous and Globally invisible works.FindingsThe findings show that the concept “work set” and the proposed typology can aid the identification of influential scholarly monographs in the social sciences and humanities (i.e. the Globally visible multi-expression works).Practical implicationsIn light of the findings, the authors outline requirements for the bibliographic control of scholarly monographs in national databases for research output that facilitate the use of the approach proposed here.Originality/valueThe authors use insights from library and information science (LIS) to construct complexity-sensitive book metrics. In doing so, the authors, on the one hand, propose a solution to a problem in research evaluation and, on the other hand, bring to attention the need for a dialogue between LIS and neighbouring communities that work with bibliographic data.

Jauna slota tīri slauka jeb muižnieka Bernharda Magnusa fon Vulfa tiesas prāva pret mācītāju Frīdrihu Danielu Vāru

2021 ◽  
pp. 122-136
Author(s):  
Ginta Pērle-Sīle
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Court Case ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Research Show

The subject of this article is a court case between Aumeisteri nobleman Berhard Magnus von Wulf (1732–1784) and the minister of Palsmane and Aumeisteri parishes Friedrich Daniel Wahr (1749–1827) about the suspension of the minister from his duties from 1775 to 1779. The aim of the research is to approach the court case as evidence of the different opinions of several social groups where extreme colonial ideas in Vidzeme meet Enlightenment ideas from Western Europe. At the same time, the court case is a source of contextual information for a better understanding of the development of Wahr’s literary and folkloristic heritage. The research is based on studies of documents found in the Latvian State History Archive that are approached using the culture-historical and comparative methods, thus trying to contextualize certain events in a specific place and time. The results of the research show the Palsmane and Aumeisteri society as typical of the second part of the 18th century. The existence of specific social groups, particularism, and the implementation of colonial attitudes by the local nobility are also evident. The attitude of Wahr towards Latvian peasants shows the influence of Enlightenment, especially his efforts in education. The relationship between the parish and its minister incorporates evidence of a syncretic praxis with pagan and Christian traditions. In the light of political events of that particular time, i. e. peasant rebels in Vidzeme, the court case allows Wulf’s accusations to be treated as an opportunity to decrease the implementation of Enlightenment ideas, thus safeguarding the local nobility’s power. At the same time, the court case is a source of biographic, private, and daily life details. The broad range of the parish territory which was often challenging to navigate, the modest means of the minister, and distancing of the local nobility on the one hand, along with the influence of enlightenment ideas, on the other hand, are the most probable grounding for Wahr’s folkloristic and literary work.

scholarly journals Content and stylistic peculiarities of non-canonical Orthodox Internet Sermon in modern Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-96
Author(s):  
Konstantin S. Sharov
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Goals And Objectives ◽  
Technical Professions

The paper is concerned with a study of the changing content and style of non-canonical Christian religious preaching in the digital age. Special attention is paid to the analysis of modern rhetoric Christian preachers practice in their Internet channels, forums and blogs. It is shown that the content of the Internet sermon is largely determined by the Internet users themselves and the topics of their appeals. The fundamental characteristics of the content of the Internet sermon are: 1) focus on the individual, their private goals and objectives, not just on theological problems; 2) rethinking the phenomenon of the neighbour; 3) a shift from the Hesychast tradition of preaching the importance of inner spiritual concentration to the preaching of religious interactivity. The observed stylistic features of the digital preaching can be summarised as follows: 1) moving away from simple answers to the rhetoric of new questions addressed to the audience; 2) empathy, co-participation with a person in his/her life conflicts and experiences; 3) desire to share religious information, not to impose it; 4) resorting to various rhetorical techniques to reach different audiences; 5) a tendency to use slang, sometimes even irrespective of the audience’s language preferences and expectations. It should be pointed out that the Orthodox Internet sermon in the Russian Internet space has a dual and contradictory nature. On the one hand, this phenomenon can be regarded as positive for the Orthodox preaching in general, since it is a means of spreading Christian ideas in the social groups that do not constitute a core of parishioners of Orthodox churches, for example, schoolchildren, students, representatives of technical professions, etc. On the other hand, the effectiveness of such preaching is still unclear. Lack of reliable statistics as well as the results of the survey related to the Orthodox Internet preaching gives us no opportunity to judge about effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the phenomenon at this stage of its development.

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