scholarly journals POLITICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE RUSSIAN CHARACTER

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-103
Author(s):  
R. B. Absattarov ◽  
◽  
I.A. Rau ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Enormous Amount

The article deals with political and sociological aspects of Russian character, which are not yet sufficiently studied in social and political science. The article discusses in detail the general features and peculiarities of Russian character. The fairy tales and proverbs provide an enormous amount of material for understanding Russian folk character and lifestyle. The article notes that Russia is not only one world but a whole continent, a large archipelago, which cannot be reduced to one state or even social structure. In Russia, it is impossible to unify all regions and leveling them.

Agency, Structure and Causality in Political Science: A Comment on Sibeon

Politics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Recent Contribution ◽  
Ontological Commitments ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ontological Turn

Researchers in political science are devoting increasing attention to the ontological commitments of their theories – that is, to what those theories presuppose about the nature of the political world. This article focuses on a recent contribution to this ‘ontological turn’ in political science ( Sibeon, 1999 ). Tensions are identified in Sibeon's account of the causal interplay between agency and social structure. It is argued that these tensions can be resolved by reflecting explicitly on ontological issues, in particular the causal efficacy of social structure, using a particular approach to the philosophy of the social sciences known as critical realism. The value of such reflection for the explanatory power of political analysis is highlighted.

16. Still a Discipline After All These Debates?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Wæver
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Social System ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Intellectual Structure ◽  
Social Patterns ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relations Of Power

This chapter considers how the arguments associated with the thirteen different theories of International Relations discussed in the book sum up. More specifically, it asks whether IR is (still?) a discipline, and whether it is likely to remain one. The chapter examines the intellectual and social patterns of IR and the discipline as a social system, along with its relations of power, privilege, and careers. It also reflects on where, what, and how IR is today by drawing on theories from the sociology of science, whether IR can be regarded as a subdiscipline within political science, and the social structure of IR. It argues that the discipline of international relations is likely to continue whether or not ‘international relations’ remains a distinct or delineable object. It also contends that the core of the intellectual structure in the discipline of IR has been recurring ‘great debates’.

Keefe Smiling!

1979 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 338-339
Author(s):  
Ross Baker
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
The Third ◽  
Enormous Amount ◽  
Used Car ◽  
The Subject

Among the legendary thin volumes such asEthics for Used-Car DealersorLove Sonnets for Bureaucrats, one would invariably find a copy ofThe Wit and Humor of Political Science. There is an irony here and it is this: the very subject matter which is studied by political scientists—government and politics—has produced an enormous amount of humor, but those who study it rarely allow themselves the luxury of approaching the topic with levity or a sense of the absurd. How can it be that what is humorous in practice is so serious in theory? There are jokes about sports, jokes about ethnic groups, jokes about sex, and even jokes about religion but can anyone recall the last time he was elbowed in the ribs and had someone snicker to him, “Say, did you hear the latest joke about content analysis?” What would a joke about political scientists sound like? Would it go something like this? Question: How many political scientists does it take to experience love-making? The answer is three—two to ask each other how it felt and the third to determine the degree of inter-coder reliability. Pretty slim pickings on the whole until the book that is the subject of this piece of arrant puffery.

scholarly journals Prospects for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Current Agenda of Political and Social Risks of Global Transformations

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-22
Author(s):  
V. Bagdasaryan ◽  
P. Baldin
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
National Security ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Political Risks ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern System

The purpose of this research was to identify political and social risks for humanity and Russia in connection with the development of artificial intelligence technologies. Methodologically, the research correlates with the direction of political scientific futurology. When identifying political risks of the development of artificial intelligence, the method of scenario forecasting is used. Based on the study of scientific literature and public discourse, the main positions in understanding the threats to the development of artificial intelligence for humanity are identified. In the course of the study, eleven possible groups of political and social risks were identified based on the analysis of various futurological models. The conclusion is made about the production of risks by the modern system of the world social structure, its contradictions and conflicts. It is emphasized that the need for developments in the field of artificial intelligence is due to the threats of falling behind potential opponents and competitors, which may mean the loss of Russia's sovereign status. The results of the research can be used as a basis for practical developments on the modernization of the national security system of Russia in connection with the actualization of the risks of the development of artificial intelligence technologies. In theoretical and methodological meaning the presented research can be used for further understanding of new technological realities and prospects through the prism of political science analysis.

On Interpretation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. W. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Hard Data ◽  
Interpretive Approach

An interpretive approach to political science provides accounts of actions and practices that are interpretations of interpretations. It is distinctive because of the extent to which it privileges meanings as ways to grasp actions. This chapter develops this argument using the idea of ‘situated agency’. It focuses on eight criticisms of this approach: an interpretive approach is mere common sense; it focuses on beliefs or discourses, not actions or practices; it ignores concepts of social structure; it seeks to understand actions and practices, not explain them; it is concerned exclusively with qualitative techniques of data generation; it must accept actors’ own accounts of their beliefs; is insensitive to the ways in which power constitutes beliefs; and is incapable of producing policy relevant knowledge. It shows that the criticisms rest on misconceptions about an interpretive approach and misplaced beliefs in the false idols of hard data and rigorous methods.

Utter Pandemonium: Devil-Narratives in the First Edition of the Grimms' Fairy Tales

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Moral Virtue ◽  
Religious Authority ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Church Authority ◽  
Social Advancement ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Existential Uncertainty

This paper examines how depictions of the devil in the first edition of the Grimm Brothers’ Folk and Fairy Tales function to mitigate the spiritual anxieties which arose from the decentralization of religious authority in post-Reformation Germany. It centres upon three tales: “The Devil and his Grandmother”, “the Devil with the Three Golden Hairs”, and “The Blacksmith and the Devil”. Beginning with a brief overview of the religious climate of post-Reformation Germany and the function of devil’s-pact narratives during the Medieval period, it proceeds to examine how the Grimm tales subvert the moralizing function of their Medieval precursors. It illustrates how the tales use absurd humour to humanize the devil, making him an object of mockery rather than terror. From there, it demonstrates that, in all three tales, the protagonists’ dealing with the devil does not place their souls in jeopardy, disrupting the orthodox potential of the devil-narrative by allowing the protagonists to attain earthly rewards without the supposedly requisite spiritual punishment. Moreover, it observes that almost every instance of reward without punishment is situated within a broader narrative of the protagonists’ securing social advancement despite an oppressive social structure. Having illustrated these features, it posits that the tales’ valourization of wit and resourcefulness over moral virtue serves to both reflect and manage the existential uncertainty of a society which had rejected church authority but not religion itself. It concludes by suggesting that these tales’ depictions of the human-devil relationship offer a fascinating addition to the Miltonic and Faustian traditions.

Corporatism: A Growth Industry Reaches the Monopoly Stage

1988 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 813-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Panitch
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Structural Differentiation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Academic Capital ◽  
Growth Industry

At the end of the 1970s, the corporatism growth industry in political science passed from its competitive stage (articles in journals) to its organized stage (articles collected in books). In the founding text of the new stage, Trends Towards Corporatist Intermediation, Philippe Schmitter explained that corporatism was not itself a theory capable of generating explanations and predictions. Rather, it was a phenomenon that had to be theorized within one of the major competing paradigms of social structure and social change, which he identified as those associated with Durkheimian and Parsonian “structural differentiation,” the historical materialism of Weberian and Marxist-revisionist “organized capitalism,” and the Marxist political economy tradition wherein he located the theories of the state popular at the time. Yet, it was perhaps inevitable, given the accumulation of academic capital associated with growth industries in the social sciences, that Schmitter's (and others') sound advice would be ignored and that grandiose claims would be made for corporatism as a theory in its own right.

Political Theory Today: Who's Teaching What to Whom? Some Reflections

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (02) ◽  
pp. 279-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Ackelsberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Enormous Amount

Matthew Moore's survey and analysis reflect an enormous amount of work, for which all of us who study or teach political theory should be grateful. They offer us a fascinating snapshot of who is teaching political theory today, of how they understand and think about what they are doing, and ofhow they think othersthink about theory. Much that is included in his analysis (and especially in the longer paper from which the report here is selected) is well worth further study and debate, as it opens a door to the ways political science in general (and not theory alone) is being taught around the country: what political scientists think they are doing when they/we teach their material, what training they/we have, and even what modal teaching loads are.

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