scholarly journals Some recent responses to neoliberalism and its views on education

Author(s):  
Johannes L. Van der Walt

This article is about developments that are on the rise in response to the global hegemony of the neoliberal approach to life in general and education in particular. After an outline of what neoliberalism entails and how it has impacted education, the discussion moves on to an outline of several of these new developments that are seemingly unrelated but at the deepest level seem to be critical of neoliberalism and its views about education. This is followed by a critical appraisal of these new developments. The appraisal, executed along the guidelines of the social space and ethical function theory, shows that these new developments, although they suggest a number of important corrections regarding neoliberalism and its views on education, are in themselves one-sided and narrow. It is nevertheless important for educators and educationists to take account of such new developments that are in the process of changing our view of the world.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4-2) ◽  
pp. 351-371
Author(s):  
Vladimir Ignatyev ◽  

The article considers the phenomenon of augmented reality as a special hybrid reality and a part of social space. The author compares the differences in approaches to the interpretation of reality in philosophy, social theory and natural science. The provisions of phenomenological sociology are used as a methodological basis for the study. The author substantiates the necessity of conjugation of ontological and epistemological perspectives of interpretation of the “multilayer” social reality. The lack of concentration of attention in most studies on distinguishing these angles leaves the category of social reality on the periphery of the construction of social ontologies. And this is not a paradox, but a desire to avoid difficulties in choosing a research position when solving a problem of a certain class each time that arises: either to build ontological models of each layer of the social, or to re-enter into polemics about the permissible limits of avoiding solipsism. The article shows one of the possible ways out of the vicious circle of polemics about the demarcation of ontology and epistemology by presenting the concepts of ‘social reality’ and ‘social actuality’ as a means of separating research angles. Their application makes it possible to establish that the environment formed by augmented reality is much more complex than it seems to the individual in his direct perception. It includes four spaces: 1) the objective world; 2) the mental world; 3) a hybrid world as a symbiosis of real and imaginary worlds; 4) symbiosis of fragments of the real world - torn apart in space and time and combined with the help of technologies in devices, which make it possible for an individual to be present while observing their combined existence and to operate with them. The author comes to the conclusion that this feature of the organization of space with the help of augmented reality implies the specificity of the changed social space in which individuals have to interact. There is a transformation of the basic ‘cell’ of society - the system of social interaction. It has been established that augmented reality technologies provide additional, qualitatively new opportunities for influencing individual pictures of the world. Augmented reality also complicates virtual reality, introducing, in addition to fictional characteristics, the content of practical actions. Augmented reality not only ‘comprehends’ the world, but is in direct practical contact with it, turning into a special side of constant reality. It was found that the interaction of augmented reality with social reality is reversible. Thanks to this process, social reality from ‘augmented’ reality is transformed into a ‘complex’ one, the qualitative determination of which can be designated as ‘hybrid social reality’. Its mode of existence is more complex than that of the human community, and is inaccessible to them as long as they retain the biological substrate of their corporeity. But no less significant consequence for social and anthropogenic transformation is the emergence in society of its new structural unit - a techno-subject, as an actor of a new species and a new agent that forms a hybrid society. It has been established that the user of augmented reality transforms the provided visual effects in his imagination into really (beyond imagination) existing things and phenomena (ontologization). A reverse movement also takes place - from illusions fixed in the imagination as objects (created by augmented reality), back to pure illusions (reverse hypostatization). The distinction between the observed and the hidden through the introduction of the concepts of social reality and social actuality makes it possible to discover a more complex structure of the social - its multi-layered nature, supplementing the ontology of social reality and, in particular, P. Donati’s relational theory of society, with ideas about such layers as actual and potential, virtual and valid. The article considers the possibility of extending the idea of the heterarchical principle of the structure of society (developed in the works of I.V. Krasavin on the basis of the model of W. McCulloch) to the further development of the augmented reality ontology. The formation of space connections using AR technology is a continuation of the embodiment of the heterarchy principle, which brings the social structure beyond the structures of a constant society.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-64
Author(s):  
Rosália Dutra

Abstract This paper explores the ways in which speakers exchange information about themselves, and the world around them, in order to create an optimal social space in which interaction and engagement may be successfully accomplished. Success, in turn, the paper argues, depends on speakers making communicative gestures that involve the expression of certain aspects of their inner world: their preferences, attitudes, interests, beliefs, characterizations, points of view, values, assessments, likes, dislikes, and related notions that are rooted in how they feel about the world. Drawing from multi-party conversational data, the paper argues that resonance is one of the most productive outlets for the construction of ordinary evaluative/emotive stances. In fact, it is through the social practice of resonance itself that the amorphous and subtle nature of affect and emotions takes shape. The utterances that are selected for resonance, the subsequent resonant patterns, and the frequency in which the pattern is reproduced in order to secure the intended meaning are also briefly addressed in the paper.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
William I Robinson

By the turn of the 21st century the concept of globalization had earned its place in the social sciences and debate turned more squarely to the theoretical significance of globalization. Yet not all scholars were happy with the notion of globalization. Some claim that is merely a new name for earlier theories and concepts. Among those who reject new paradigmatic thinking on the current age is Immanuel Wallerstein, the world-renowned sociologist and ‘father’ of the world-system paradigm. This article is intended as an appraisal of Wallerstein’s œuvre in the context of the debate on global transformations in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and from the vantage point of the present author’s own critical globalization perspective. The first three parts summarize and assess Wallerstein’s theoretical system and his many contributions to macro, historical and comparative sociology, to development studies and international political economy. The fourth discusses Wallerstein’s assessment of the evolution of the world capitalist system in recent decades, including his views on the concept of globalization, and the fifth focuses on earlier and more recent critical appraisals of his work, including the present author’s own, in light of the recent transformations in world capitalism identified with globalization.


2020 ◽  
pp. 133-156
Author(s):  
Mohamed-Ali Adraoui

Imaginary socialization refers to the gap between the perception of an identity that makes no concessions and the leeway for interpretation permitted by authorized clerics. It relates more generally to the part of reciprocal construction between the subject and the object. The manner in which the former constructs, and is constructed by, the latter is the source of a vision of the world and the different positions that derive from it. Imaginary socialization echoes the polysemy of religious concepts but also the different ways of apprehending the social space, with a single one perduring in this socialization in order to render coherent the acts and positions taken by practicants.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 174-182
Author(s):  
Łukasz Blechar ◽  
Patrycja Zalewska

AbstractIntroduction. Currently we observe a change in the labor market. It is caused by the new developments in the field of artificial Intelligence.Aim. We would like to present current trends affecting the work of nurses and midwives around the world in order to raise the social awareness of these changes among Polish healthcare workers. Moreover, we want to emphasize the fact that it is necessary to involve them as the stakeholders in the ongoing discussions and research projects in order to better understand their needs and expectations.Discussion. The article revolves around the current state of technology. We begin by outlining the framework of the perceived changes in the nurses’ structures and tasks around the world. Then we provide the examples of a variety of robots already executing those tasks. We start with the robots whose purpose is the elimination of simple, routine activities such as TUG or HOMER. After doing so, we move on to possible solutions how to eliminate the need for personal involvement in invasive (such as BloodBot) and non-invasive procedures (CLARA). We finish by introducing the machines used to replicate animal therapy, which can be used to treat patients who have difficulties with communicating their needs.Conclusions. We would like to present the future of nursing closely related to machines. We want to emphasize the element of complementarity of this relation and the fact that performing some tasks by robots is not connected with replacing people, but rather with enabling them to shift their focus from the performance of arduous duties to spending more time on empathic work with the patient.


2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (11) ◽  
pp. 103-112
Author(s):  
E. Sadovaya ◽  
V. Sautkina

Cleavages between economic growth and social development have deepened in recent decades. This is expressed in the growth of multidimensional inequality and is perceived as a global violation of the social justice principles, which leads to the growth of socio-economic conflicts. These are obviously long-term trends allowing to talk about the complete reconfiguration of the existing social space. This process is largely out of control and has a serious destructive potential. The authors emphasize that the modern high-tech economy is unmanned; high quality and secure jobs with permanent contracts are becoming less affordable. As a result, we are witnessing a shift from principles of the previously established social protection institutions, where access to basic social goods is reduced for a large number of citizens. Reforming the system of state support for citizens becomes a worldwide trend, which leads to an increase in the cost of social services and brings into question the very existence of the welfare state. Thus, in the context of social landscape global transformations in the modern world, the social impact of the unemployment problem has become a key issue for researchers and policy-makers. At present, it is difficult to foresee whether the world will continue to develop within a global perspective and whether the international community will be able to produce common regulatory principles, or we are heading for a period of fragmentation and disunity. The problem is largely politically determined, and its solution depends on whether humanity will be able to overcome the difficult period of controversy and confrontation in the name of development, and if so, on what principles consensus can be reached. Acknowledgements. The research of Elena Sergeevna Sadovaya was conducted with financial support of a grant provided by the Russian Science Foundation, № 15-18-00021 – “Regulating interethnic relations and managing ethnic and social conflicts in the contemporary world: the resource potential of civic identity (a comparative political analysis)”. The research was carried out at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO).


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Wacquant

This article spotlights four transversal principles that animate Pierre Bourdieu’s research practice and can fruitfully guide inquiry on any empirical front: the Bachelardian imperative of epistemological rupture and vigilance; the Weberian command to effect the triple historicization of the agent (habitus), the world (social space, of which field is but a subtype), and the categories of the analyst (epistemic reflexivity); the Leibnizian–Durkheimian invitation to deploy the topological mode of reasoning to track the mutual correspondences between symbolic space, social space, and physical space; and the Cassirer moment urging us to recognize the constitutive efficacy of symbolic structures. I also flag three traps that Bourdieusian explorers of the social world should exercise special care to avoid: the fetishization of concepts, the seductions of “speaking Bourdieuse” while failing to carry out the research operations Bourdieu’s notions stipulate, and the forced imposition of his theoretical framework en bloc when it is more productively used in kit through transposition. These principles guiding the construction of the object are not theoretical slogans but practical blueprints for anthropological inquiry. This implies that mimesis and not exegesis should guide those social scientists who wish to build on, revise, or challenge the scientific machinery and legacy of Pierre Bourdieu.


Author(s):  
Yra van Dijk

In this chapter, the author approaches the paratexts of digital literature from a post-structuralist point of view, according to which a paratext cannot be seen as simply outside a work but rather collaborates with it and helps shape its place in the world. The paratext is in need of analysis and interpretation as much as the text itself, and even more so in the context of the World Wide Web, in which the paratext has become more hybrid and more widespread. It performs the double action of, on the one hand, disappearing and merging with the text itself and, on the other hand, expanding into an infinite online context. Current critical practice involves focusing only on paratexts that communicate authorial intention directly. Here, that approach will be expanded to take in the “texts” that cluster around a digital text and become part of it, even if there is no authorial consent. The social space in which print literature is printed, sold, bought and taught is partly replaced by these paratexts in digital literature, which is analyzed with concepts borrowed from the sociology of art. The author begins by evaluating the possibilities offered by the theoretical expansion of paratexts within the digital realm. That evaluation leads to the conclusion that, in general, and contrary to standard assumptions, digital-literary artists seem to use traditional rather than disruptive avant-garde strategies. It also gives insights into the ways in which a new and dynamic genre of art is produced, consumed and evaluated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
E. I. Naumova ◽  
A. V. Makarin

this article is about the conflict between such phenomenons as the fascist morality and thinking. The fascist morality is the distinctive feature of the totalitarian regimes, it based on the capitalist rationality. The origins of the capitalist rationality are connected with two processes: the extinction of the antique division into public and private sphere and the expropriation of the property. In antique time the property was the private space of the person, the place of his birth and death. The expropriation happened with the Reformation that, firstly, lead to the destruction of the dichotomy public/private and, secondly, laid foundation for the capitalism. The social space destroyed the public/private sphere and the social possession of the things emerged instead of the private property. The man alienated of the world and earth and it means the transition from the modus «taking care of ourselves» to the regime of production. The «mass» person, atomized and lonely, appeared with the classless society, imperialistic tendencies and totalitarian movements in the Modern Time. Imperialism is the phenomenon of the global tendencies of the expansion of the capital in connection with the totalitarian movements. The imposition of totalitarianism and its intellectual consequences find the description in the private Eichmann case which demonstrates that the person lose the main thing — the ability of thinking — in the frame of totalitarian system. Cognition with its pragmatic aspect become the basis of the New European/capitalist rationality in contrary to the thinking. The capitalist rationality is «thinking» by to the rules. The conception of the banality of evil opened through this phenomenon: people support the criminal regime because of the habit to live by the rules. If the rules change, the person submit to this rules by inertia. Totalitarian system break of the habit to live one’s mind, in particular, make own judgment about the world. The basis of the fascist morality is that the person ready to kill another, carrying out the criminal order, and reject to bear the personal responsibility for his actions. The maxim of the fascist morality is such: of two evils choose the lesser.


2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENS BARTELSON

AbstractThe concept of society and its cognates have long been widely invoked in order to understand International Relations. Theories of international society distinguish between a society of states and a mere system of states, and theories of world society assume that the world constitutes a single social space. In order to come to terms with the social character of International Relations, constructivists of different stripes have invoked a societal context within which the construction of identities and norms takes place. As I shall argue in this article, these usages draw on conceptions of society that emerged during the early phases of modern sociology, and have then been projected onto alien historical and cultural contexts. In order to avoid the anachronism and Eurocentrism that invariably have resulted from these uncritical usages, I argue that academic International Relations should seek to accommodate those forms of human association that cannot be subsumed under a recognisably modern concept of society by incorporating insights from postcolonial sociology into its theoretical core.


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