scholarly journals CREATIVITY AS NEOLIBERAL SELF-GOVERNANCE

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 593-603
Author(s):  
Jakub Barszczewski

The purpose of this article is to analyze the problem of non-professional creativity in contemporary self-help literature. Creativity, an element of work organization in the post-Fordist era, has been the subject of many critical analyses. I focus on creativity as it appears in everyday life, with the support of an examination of self-help handbooks that refer to far-east traditions, at the same time being critical of the Western lifestyle. Self-help literature is viewed here as a tool aiding the neoliberal governmentality of society. I am most of all interested in how contemporary discourse on non-professional creativity promotes technologies of autonomy aimed at the production of responsible and self-sufficient individuals. I argue that creativity is today a key mechanism of governance. It is not limited to the professional sphere but is playing an increasing role in our private lives. It is used to produce more elusive and flexible forms of self-governance than more openly repressive forms of power (based on top-down order and control).

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-225
Author(s):  
Zifeng Chen ◽  
Clyde Yicheng Wang

One important question about ideological works in China concerns the tension between mobilisation (encouraging public expression) and control (limiting public expression). Recently Xi Jinping’s administration has doubled down on both strategies. To study the rationale of this seemingly self-contradictory move, the authors examine the recently prominent ideological discourse of “positive energy.” Through a combination of online ethnography and discourse analysis using Foucauldian methods, we find that the discourse borrows and evolves from previous ideological works, but most importantly and distinguishably features a more dispersive, rather than centralised power structure. It penetrates popular culture and private lives, and by doing so disciplines people’s subjectivities, rather than only aiming at top-down persuasion or control. The logic of “positive energy” produces self-disciplined docile subjects, and quietly resolves the tension between mobilisation and control by having subjects internalise the interests of the state as their own good.


2004 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred W. Mast ◽  
Charles M. Oman

The role of top-down processing on the horizontal-vertical line length illusion was examined by means of an ambiguous room with dual visual verticals. In one of the test conditions, the subjects were cued to one of the two verticals and were instructed to cognitively reassign the apparent vertical to the cued orientation. When they have mentally adjusted their perception, two lines in a plus sign configuration appeared and the subjects had to evaluate which line was longer. The results showed that the line length appeared longer when it was aligned with the direction of the vertical currently perceived by the subject. This study provides a demonstration that top-down processing influences lower level visual processing mechanisms. In another test condition, the subjects had all perceptual cues available and the influence was even stronger.


Author(s):  
Meryanti Napitupulu And Anni Holila Pulungan

This study was conducted as an attempt to discover the effect of applying Demonstration Method on students’ achievement in speaking skill. It was an experimental research. The subject was students of Grade XII, Vocational High School (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan: SMK), which consisted of 79 students. The research was divided into two groups: experimental and control groups. The instrument used to collect the data was speaking test. To obtain the reliability of the test, the writer applied Kuder Richardson 21 formula. The result of the reliability was 0.7, and it was found that the test was reliable. The data were analyzed by using t-test formula. The analysis showed that the scores of the students in the experimental group were significantly higher than the scores of the students in the control group at the level of significant m = 0.05 with the degree of freedom (df) 77, t-observed value 8.9 > t-table value 1.99. The findings indicate that using Demonstration Method significantly affected the students’ achievement in speaking skill. So, English teachers are suggested to use Demonstration Method in order to improve students’ achievement in speaking skill.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Tsalits Fahman Mughni

Teaching materials by integrating local culture makes easier for students to understand the subject matter in the learning process. The aims of the study is to measure the effectiveness of teaching materials based on local wisdom of agriculture in Binjai in improving the students problem solving abilities. The research method was a quasi experimental which use non equivalent control group in the pretest posttest design. The sample of study were students of Senior High School grade X in Binjai that consisted of experiment group which used teaching materials based on local wisdom of agriculture in Binjai and control group that used student handbooks. Teaching materials are tested by material experts and technology experts to ensure the quality of teaching materials. Data collection was conducted through test. The results showed that the teaching materials based on local wisdom of agriculture in Binjai effective in improving students problem solving abilities in the experimental group students based on the results of N gain value was 0.67 which has medium criteria. It means teaching materials based on agricultural local wisdom of agriculture in Binjai can be used as one of the teaching materials in learning activities.


Author(s):  
Ayokunle Olumuyiwa Omobowale

Most of the discourse on development aid in Africa has been limited to assistance from Western countries and those provided by competing capitalist and socialist blocs during the Cold war era. Japan, a nation with great economic and military capabilities; its development assistance for Africa is encapsulated in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) initiative. The TICAD started in 1993 and Japan has so far held 5 TICAD meetings between 1993 and 2013 during which Africa’s development challenges and Japan’s development assistance to the continent were discussed. The emphasis on “ownership”, “self-help” and “partnership” are major peculiar characteristics of Japan’s development aid that puts the design, implementation and control of development projects under the control of recipient countries. This is a major departure from the usual practice in international development assistance where recipient countries are bound by clauses that somewhat puts the control of development aid in the hands of the granting countries. Such binding clauses have often been described as inimical to the successful administration of the aids and development in recipient countries. Though Japan’s development aid to Africa started only in 1993, by the 2000s, Japan was the topmost donor to Africa. This paper examines the context of Japan’s development aid to Africa by analyzing secondary data sourced from literature and secondary statistics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulien Adamse ◽  
Emilie Dagand ◽  
Karen Bohmert-Tatarev ◽  
Daniela Wahler ◽  
Manoela Miranda ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Various databases on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) exist, all with their specific focus to facilitate access to information needed for, e. g., the assistance in risk assessment, the development of detection and identification strategies or inspection and control activities. Each database has its unique approach towards the subject. Often these databases use different terminology to describe the GMOs. For adequate GMO addressing and identification and exchange of GMO-related information it is necessary to use commonly agreed upon concepts and terminology. Result A hierarchically structured controlled vocabulary describing the genetic elements inserted into conventional GMOs, and GMOs developed by the use of gen(om)e-editing is presented: the GMO genetic element thesaurus (GMO-GET). GMO-GET can be used for GMO-related documentation, including GMO-related databases. It has initially been developed on the basis of two GMO databases, i.e. the Biosafety Clearing-House and the EUginius database. Conclusion The use of GMO-GET will enable consistent and compatible information (harmonisation), also allowing an accurate exchange of information between the different data systems and thereby facilitating their interoperability. GMO-GET can also be used to describe genetic elements that are altered in organisms obtained through current targeted genome-editing techniques.


2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Ettlinger

Departing from tendencies to bound precarity in particular time periods and world regions, this article develops an expansive view of precarity over time and across space. Beyond effects of specific global events and macroscale structures, precarity inhabits the microspaces of everyday life. However, people attempt to disengage the stress of precarious life by constructing the illusion of certainty. Reflexive denial of precarious life entails essentialist strategies that implicitly or explicitly classify and homogenize people and phenomena, legitimize the constructed boundaries, and in the process aim at eliminating difference and possibilities for negotiation; the tension between these goals and material realities helps explain misrepresentations that can be catastrophic at multiple scales, re-creating precarity. Reactions to 9/11 by the Bush administration represent a case in point of reflexive denial of precarity through strategies that created illusions of certainty with deleterious results. Normatively, the paradox of precarious life and reflexive denials prompts questions as to how urges for certainty in the context of precarity might be constructively channeled. the author approaches this challenge in the final section by drawing from a nexus of concerns about post-Habermasian radical democracy, individual thought and feeling, and network dynamics. Whereas Hardt and Negri reverse the direction of the Foucauldian concept of biopower from top-down to bottom-up, the author draws from Foucault's concept of governmentality in relation to resistance to imagine a cooperative politics operating within as well as across scales.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-203
Author(s):  
Carrie P. Mastley

AbstractThis pilot study presents a collection-centered quantitative analysis of Black history resources available at the Billups-Garth Archive in Columbus, Mississippi. The Archive’s inventory lists for its record series and control files for its manuscript collections were assessed in order to determine the percentage of extant Black history resources in relation to the collection’s total holdings. Relevant collections were then evaluated to determine their mediums, subjects, and provenance. The results showed a dearth of collections related to Black history and indicated that very few were created by the Black community. Results also showed that most relevant resources were made up of textual documents as well as documents relating to everyday life and education. Overall, this study demonstrates how collection analyses may be undertaken to identify collection biases and collection deficiencies, especially deficiencies in representing the histories of marginalized communities.


Author(s):  
Nicolay T. Labyntsev ◽  
Lyubov F. SHILOVA ◽  
Ocsana V. Chukhrova

This article revises the mission and the name of the accounting profession in the context of strengthening the economic security of enterprises under the conditions of digitalization of the economy. The authors note that in the contemporary conditions of economic management, enterprises should form and ensure the functioning of the economic security of the enterprise at the proper level. The necessity of in-depth research of economic security at microlevel was considered, the factors influencing the stability of the enterprise were highlighted. High level of economic security of the subject of management consists in guaranteeing him maximum effective and stable functioning now and in future. Subjects of economic security were individual enterprises, and objects — their economic interests. The main goals of ensuring economic security of the enterprise in the part of accounting were singled out, the tasks of accounting policy, aimed at ensuring economic security, were determined. The prospects of the accounting profession in the process of ensuring economic security and reliable safe presentation of the results of doing business in reporting are substantiated. The study contains proposals on the revision of requirements for the qualifications of accountants in order to emphasize their activities aimed at strengthening the economic security of the enterprise.


Author(s):  
Steven M. Ortiz

Male professional athletes captivate fans and profoundly influence today’s society as part of the $1.3 trillion global sport industry. Although these athletes’ lives and careers are widely reported, scholarly knowledge about the women who support them—their wives—is extremely limited. Because these women’s voices have historically been stifled, their marriages are shockingly misunderstood. Based on findings from the first and only longitudinal study on the sport marriage, this book corrects the abundance of misinformation reported by all forms of media, dispels undeserved stereotypes, and addresses inaccurate assumptions about the heteronormative sport marriage. It demonstrates how, despite major changes in society and sport since the end of the last century, the fundamental nature of the heteronormative sport marriage has not changed. Sport wives remain isolated and subordinate, even while they make significant contributions to their husbands’ careers. Identifying the sport marriage as a career-dominated marriage, the book allows us into these women’s public and private lives, including their need to conform to unwritten rules and codes, adapt to abundant power and control issues, cope with groupies from all walks of life, and find ways to deal with their oft-justified fears about their husbands’ infidelity. The book shares intimate stories about, and provides rare and unflinching insight into, what it is like to be married to these highly visible men, what it means to be a woman in the male-dominated world of professional sports, and why women remain in a sport marriage at great cost to themselves.


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