Social logics of the Vote Leave discourse

2021 ◽  
pp. 78-101
Author(s):  
Benjamin Hawkins
Keyword(s):  
Social Logics

FIELDS OF DREAMS, FIELDS OF SCHEMES: PONZI FINANCE AND MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING IN SOUTH AFRICA

Africa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detlev Krige
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
New Members ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Liberal Capitalism ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Pyramid Schemes ◽  
Social Logics

ABSTRACTThe structural conditions associated with increased inequality amidst rapid change brought about by growing financialization and efforts to get the ‘unbanked’ sections of society into the formal financial system have created the conditions under which illegal pyramid and ponzi schemes, fake investment schemes, and legal multi-level marketing companies have been able to flourish. In contemporary Johannesburg and Soweto the originators of money multiplication schemes and the agents who ‘work’ to recruit new members position themselves in this context as financial entrepreneurs and brokers who embody a range of seemingly contradictory discourses, drawing on discourses of ‘empowerment’, ‘self-help’, ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘religiously sanctioned wealth and prosperity’ in the course of their risk taking in the field of finance. Based on a series of case studies of female agents of ‘push-push’ schemes, the article shows how many of these discourses reflect some of the conditions of contemporary capitalism: citizens are expected to be active investors, active entrepreneurs and hard workers who are able to work from home and without a boss. Moreover, the schemes use sophisticated technologies, marketing strategies and other practices which simulate formality, legality and sincerity – echoing religious practices and discourses. At the same time a set of cultural values and social logics that are not necessarily produced by neo-liberal capitalism and financialization, but are certainly activated by them, makes it hard for citizens to recognize or admit the forms of deception involved, unless deception is seen to be central to the operation of the modern state or the present ‘get-rich-quick’ culture. Risk taking, and pursuit of social mobility, originate in dual economy legacies, with their unfulfilled expectations, wealth disparities and frustrated class aspiration. Participants in pyramid schemes have ideologies combining ‘progress’ with ‘imminent doom’, entrepreneurship with greed: contradictory attitudes reflective of financialization in the broader world.

The Fabrication of Networked Socialities

2009 ◽  
pp. 207-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Landri
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Theoretical Frame ◽  
Virtual Communities Of Practice ◽  
Social Logics

This chapter is dedicated to analyse the fabrication of networked socialities, that is to address the complex interweaving of technologies of information and communication and the manifold instantiations of sociality. Networked socialities are digital formations being produced out of the intertwining of social logics outside and inside digital spaces and society. Such contribution is organized as follows: first, it will present the theoretical frame necessary to grasp the fabrication of sociologies in our information age, drawing on some concepts elaborated by the social studies of science and technology, together with the studies of the global digital worlds. Then, it will highlight the analytical fruitfulness of this perspective by describing some digital formations, such as social network sites, virtual communities of practice, and electronic markets. Finally, it will discuss the effects and the implications of such fabrication as a re-configuration of social, the emerging post-social relationships as well as the increasing fragility of knowledge societies.

scholarly journals The possibilities and limits of political contestation in times of ‘urban austerity’

Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (9) ◽  
pp. 2087-2106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Crispian Fuller ◽  
Karen West
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
City Government ◽  
Discourse Theory ◽  
Policy Area ◽  
Planning Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Social Logics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This paper seeks to provide a conceptual framework in which to examine the social practices of contemporary austerity programmes in urban areas, including how these relate to different conceptions of crisis. Of current theoretical interest is the apparent ease with which these austerity measures have been accepted by urban governing agents. In order to advance these understandings we follow the recent post-structuralist discourse theory ‘logics’ approach of Glynos and Howarth (2007), focusing on the relationship between hegemony, political and social logics, and the subject whose identificatory practices are key to understanding the form, nature and stability of discursive settlements. In such thinking it is not only the formation of discourses and the mobilisation of rhetoric that are of interest, but also the manner in which the subjects of austerity identify with these. Through such an approach we examine the case of the regeneration/economic development and planning policy area in the city government of Birmingham (UK). In conclusion, we argue that the logics approach is a useful framework through which to examine how austerity has been uncontested in a city government, and the dynamics of acquiescence in relation to broader hegemonic discursive formations.

Measuring social performance: reconciling the tension between commercial and social logics

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.K. Siti-Nabiha ◽  
Zubir Azhar ◽  
Salmi Mohd Isa ◽  
A.Z. Siti-Nazariah
Keyword(s):  
Performance Appraisal ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Institutional Logics ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Social Logics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation of microfinance programs in three Malaysian development finance institutions (DFIs). Its main concerns revolve around how these DFIs measure and manage their social performance and how they reconcile their competing social and commercial objectives which are driven by particular logics. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyzes the ways in which the DFIs selected for this study measure and manage their social performance. The data were acquired from two sessions of focus group interviews, a series of semi-structured interviews, and extensive reviews of documentaries. The institutional logics perspective is used to explore the interplay between social and commercial logics in shaping the view and use of social performance measures in the three studied DFIs. Findings Although these DFIs have consistently offered formal microfinance programs to designated target groups, their ultimate focus has been on measuring financial as opposed to social performance. Hence, performance appraisal is mainly aligned with the breadth of outreach, rather than its depth. Nevertheless, there appear to be conflicts between the need to accommodate both breadth and depth, due to the competing demands of the two objectives. The rivalry between these two competing demands, which represents the interplay between social and commercial logics, is resolved through reconciliation, that is, by making one objective compatible with the other. Originality/value This paper examines the ways in which the DFIs in the study measure and manage their social performance, a topic that is, currently, not widely explored. This study contributes to advancing the knowledge on the link between institutional logics and organizational practices, particularly in understanding the extent to which the Malaysian DFIs assign importance to social performance when designing and offering microfinance programs.

Biometric Aesthetics

Public ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (60) ◽  
pp. 108-125
Author(s):  
Robert Heynen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Face Recognition ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Francis Galton ◽  
Machine Readable ◽  
Social Logics

This article examines contemporary biometric science against the backdrop of its development in nineteenth century eugenic and biostatistical practices, most notably the composite photography of Francis Galton. Focusing on automated face recognition, the article argues that contemorary biometric science is inextricable from its aesthetic investments, which in turn shape the ways in which faces and bodies are differentiated in identification systems. Based on a close reading of biometric engineering texts and projects, this aesthetico-scientific approach offers new ways of conceptualizing how biometrics constitutes rather than merely reflects bodies, and encodes racist, misogynist, and other social logics into the conception and design of technologies themselves. These are not biases that can be corrected, as ostensibly progressive biometric projects like IBM’s Diversity in Faces initiative suggest, but rather are inextricable from the biometric desire to render faces and bodies as transparent and machine-readable.

scholarly journals THE ‘INTERIOR WORLD’ OF THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY MALOTI-DRAKENSBERG MOUNTAINS

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHEL KING ◽  
SAM CHALLIS
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Theatre ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Colonial Authority ◽  
Cattle Raiding ◽  
Social Logics ◽  
Over Time

AbstractOver the last four decades researchers have cast the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains as a marginal refuge for ‘Bushmen’ amidst constricting nineteenth-century frontiers. Rock art scholarship has expanded on this characterisation of mountains as refugia, focusing on heterogeneous raiding bands forging new cultural identities. Here, we propose another view of the Maloti-Drakensberg: a dynamic political theatre in which polities that engaged in illicit or ‘heterodox’ activities like cattle raiding and hunter-gatherer lifeways set the terms of colonial encounters. We employ the concept of the ‘interior world’ to refigure the region as one fostering subsistence and political behaviours that did not conform to the expectations of colonial authority. Paradoxically, such heterodoxies over time constituted widespread social logics within the Maloti-Drakensberg, and thus became commonplace and meaningful. We synthesise historical and archaeological evidence (new and existing) to illustrate the significance of the nineteenth-century Maloti-Drakensberg, offering a revised southeast-African colonial landscape and directions for future research.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing Zakat Institutions within the Framework of Hybrid Organizations

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-106
Author(s):  
Vita Arumsari ◽  
Muhamad Rizky Rizaldy ◽  
Putri Syifa Amalia
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Organizational Goals ◽  
Civic Society ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
Communication Method ◽  
Social Value Creation ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Social Logics

Historically, zakah institution was only run by the state, which was indeed managed under the state or public logic. On the other hand, we are now in the era of ‘civic society’, where the ‘bureaucratic decline’ emphasized the incapability of the state to be an efficient actor of development (Bawole, Ibrahim, Hossain, & Mensah, 2017; Hirschmann, 1999). The role of non-state actors is increasingly important to be the better development engines. The fact as mentioned earlier has put these non-state actors of development, including zakah institutions, in a dilemma between two institutional logics: market or commercial logic and public or social logics (Schröer & Jäger, 2015). These institutions must face distinct problems which do not occur in a conventional single-logic organization. They regularly need to deal with the conflict between two logics, financial or social logics. This study aims to conceptualize a further argument that zakah institutions are hybrid institutions, and therefore, a list of lessons could be explored. Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is being applied for obtaining facts and related cases to this study. Few recommendations to sustain the zakah institutional growth are found. Regarding its organizational legacy (Furusten & Junker, 2019), a good communication method to the society will result in the sustainable institutional “business” as a form of “promotion”. According to Battilana (2018), setting organizational goals, structuring organizational activities, selecting organizational members, and socializing organizational members might be able to keep the institution in the hybridity track. Further, instead of creating “entrepreneurship for social value creation”, the better concept is “social value for entrepreneurship” (Arogyaswamy, 2017). 

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