A non-facilitating environment? The role of contemporary society and culture

2018 ◽  
pp. 137-165
Author(s):  
Barbara Dowds
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Society

scholarly journals Indestructible Pasts and Paranoid Presents: John Franzen against Active Forgetting in Purity

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Cristina Garrigós
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Event ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Personal Archives ◽  
Conscious Process ◽  
Unconscious Desire ◽  
Selection Of

Forgetting and remembering are as inevitably linked as lifeand death. Sometimes, forgetting is motivated by a biological disorder, brain damage, or it is the product of an unconscious desire derived from a traumatic event (psychological repression). But in some cases, we can motivate forgetting consciously (thought suppression). It is through the conscious repression of memories that we can find self-preservation and move forward, although this means that we create a fable of our lives, as Nietzsche says in his essay “On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life” (1997). In Jonathan Franzen’s novel, Purity (2015), forgetting is an active and conscious process by which the characters choose to forget certain episodes of their lives to be able to construct new identities. The erased memories include murder, economical privileges derived from illegal or unethical commercial processes, or dark sexual episodes. The obsession with forgetting the past links the lives of the main characters, and structures the narrative of the novel. The motivated erasure of memories becomes, thus, a way that the characters have to survive and face the present according to a (fake) narrative that they have constructed. But is motivated forgetting possible? Can one completely suppress facts in an active way? This paper analyses the role of forgetting in Franzen’s novel in relation to the need in our contemporary society to deny, hide, or erase uncomfortable data from our historical or personal archives; the need to make disappear stories which we do not want to accept, recognize, and much less make known to the public. This is related to how we manage information in the age of technology, the “selection” of what is to be the official story, and how we rewrite our own history

scholarly journals “Body orientation” of the contemporary culture and it’s influence on the children’s, adolescents’ and youth’s health

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
O.V. Shalygina ◽  
A.B. Kholmogorova
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Social Standards ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Mental And Physical Health

This article continues the theme of social standards assimilation and values relating to the visual appeal, starting from a very early age. The authors use the multifactor psycho-social model of affective spectrum disorders. They consider the risk factors for the formation of girls’ dissatisfaction by their bodies. In contemporary society this kind of dissatisfaction is an important factor of affective disorders and of the narcissistic attitudes formation. The role of fashion dolls in the internalization of extreme physical ideals is researched. The resources that support the fashion dolls (entertainment magazines for girls, ad sites, special channels’ reviews on the dolls’ younger schoolgirls posted in You Tube) are analyzed. These resources’ contribution to the promotion of dangerous to young generation’s mental and physical health is also analyzed in the article.

scholarly journals O multiculturalismo na literatura para a juventude: tensões, negociações e resistências / The Multiculturalism in Literature for Youth: Tensions, Negotiations and Resistances

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Auxiliadora Fontana Baseio ◽  
Maria Zilda da Cunha
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Literary Art ◽  
Cultural Communities ◽  
Symbolic Production ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
Different Cultures

ABSTRACTIn fact, the cultural relationships between different groups are not something specific to contemporary society, but the globalized world is the place where cultural communities relate in a more intense and complex way. The dynamics of globalization approach groups of different cultures causing tensions and resistances. In the Arts, this phenomenon is represented in different ways. In Literature - in this case addressed to youth - understood as a cultural and symbolic production, there are various practices of meaning, which are responsible to build ways of seeing, being and living. These practices point out the perception of plural identities. Artists, with the construction of their aesthetic and political projects, can refuse hegemonic discourses, fighting against prejudice, disrespect, exclusion, denying the ideology based on dominant values. The main purpose of this study is to analyze, in the new perspectives of Comparative Studies, the role of literary art and their intercultural dialogues.RESUMOApesar de os entrecruzamentos culturais não serem algo específico da sociedade contemporânea, é neste mundo globalizado que as comunidades culturais se relacionam de maneira mais intensa e complexa. A dinâmica da globalização cada vez mais aproxima grupos de culturas diferentes, provocando tensões, negociações e resistências. No campo das artes, esse fenômeno cultural é representado de diferentes formas. Na literatura - neste caso a que se destina à juventude - compreendida como produção cultural e simbólica transformadora, agenciam-se práticas de significação, ou seja, formas de construir modos de ver, de ser e de estar no mundo que favorecem a percepção das identidades múltiplas. Pela elaboração de seus projetos - estético e político -, os artistas põem em revista os discursos hegemônicos, marcados muitas vezes pelo preconceito, pelo desrespeito, pela exclusão, desnudando relações de poder, classificações e rotulações instituídas a partir de uma ideologia forjada a partir de valores dominantes. O objetivo deste estudo é analisar, dentro das novas perspectivas dos Estudos Comparados, o papel da arte literária em seus diálogos interculturais.

Trends in Confidence in Institutions, 1973–2006

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom W. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Analysis ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
The State ◽  
Demographic Model ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Government Programs ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Event Driven ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines trends in institutional confidence measured by the General Social Survey between 1973 and 2006. It begins by considering the construct of institutional confidence and describing the items and scales used to measure it. After presenting overall levels of confidence in 13 institutions during this period, it examines trends in general confidence scales and in individual institutions. Cohort analysis helps to illuminate these trends. The chapter next investigates correlates of institutional confidence, including experiences with specific institutions, party-in-power effects, education, misanthropy, opinionation, and a general demographic model. It briefly considers the relationship between institutional confidence and support for government programs and political matters. It closes by assessing the state and role of institutional confidence in contemporary society, and both general and event-driven models of trends in confidence.

Sustainable Consumption and Green Marketing in Developing Countries

2019 ◽  
pp. 1523-1544
Author(s):  
Abiodun Elijah Obayelu
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Green Marketing ◽  
Purchase Behavior ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Structured Literature Review

This chapter provides an insight into why Green Marketing (GM) and Sustainable Consumption (SC) of green products are subject of research and discussion in contemporary society. It analyzed the extent of GM in developing countries using cases of Nigeria and Kenya, factors influencing GM, the benefits of GM on the environment and firms, and the challenges. The study is both exploratory with the use of structured literature review of publications in peer reviewed academic journals on GM and SC, and empirical in nature. The findings on respondents rating of factors influencing green purchase behavior showed that concern for health and environment was considered as the most important in Nigeria, while in Kenya it was social awareness and value. For an effective GM and SC, government at all levels has a role of creating awareness to boost green knowledge through educative campaign programs and enforcing green agenda. Government can make regulations relating to GM and ensure SC by lowering the cost when compared to the conventional marketing

Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 284-295
Author(s):  
Orlando Pereira ◽  
Daniel Gonçalves Novo Gomes ◽  
Ana Martins ◽  
Isabel Martins
Keyword(s):  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
School Practices ◽  
Social Balance ◽  
The Individual

This chapter discusses the role of education in “humanizing the economy” and emphasizes its contribution to the development of a new socio-economic model that helps to overcome the irregularities present in contemporary society. It proposes the implementation of school practices aimed at the completeness of the individual and in favor of social balance. It also emphasizes the importance of the humanizing process in the attainment of values such as, justice, freedom, solidarity and cooperation, which are structuring values of social cohesion. The primary data focused on the Secondary Education in the Districts of Braga and Viana do Castelo, in the northwest of Portugal. Interviews were conducted with school principals as main actors in the research. In spite of the limitations of the work, the results show that, in Portugal, education is still focused on individualism. It is also noted that assimilation of social aspects and humanization is weak, which inhibits placing the individual at the center of economic concerns and produces negative externalities on economic and social performance including wellbeing.

Historic-Phenomenological Evaluation of the Christian Experience in the Threshold of Human Development in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
pp. 132-152
Author(s):  
Victor Bassey Edet
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Spiritual Transformation ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
The People ◽  
Role Of Religion

Evolving discourses within the sphere of Christian experience and social development reveals that social transformation in the society cannot be separated from spiritual transformation. Religion as a social phenomenon has therefore become an acknowledged and strategic dimension in the development thinking and practice in contemporary society. But despite apparent contributions of religion to the development of many societies such as Nigeria, the role of religion, especially Christianity, has not been given due recognition in the history and development of a number of societies such as Ibesikpo Asutan of Akwa Ibom State. This study therefore examines the religious experience of the people towards development between 1912 when Christianity arrived and 2019. The method adopted for this work is the phenomenological and descriptive designs. Findings reveal that besides the consciousness of the transcendent and the question of God's existence, Christian missions in Ibesikpo Asutan have contributed immensely toward the development of the area.

Political Calling in an Age of Technology

2019 ◽  
pp. 41-70
Author(s):  
George Pattison
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Personal Relationship ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
The Impact

The modern world has been marked by a recurring sense of the degradation of language. According to Hannah Arendt, for whom the possibility of politics is interdependent with the possibility of authentic speech, this generates a political crisis, connected to the role of science in contemporary society. The impact of science on the language of public discourse is further explored through Habermas and Uwe Poerksen. Their analyses receive added force through the development of new communications technologies that are proving fateful both for individuals and their personal relationship as well as for political life. Though acknowledging the optimism still associated with these technologies in some quarters, the chapter asks how we can protect against their negative effects. The thought of Byung-Chul Han is used to identify the need for attentive listening and a sense of the uniqueness of the human countenance and name to counter the digital shitstorm.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document