scholarly journals The Meaning of the Matrix: Towards a Cybernetic Critical Theory of Capitalism

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Shay Hershkovitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
System A ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Entity ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Operational Logic

Marxist criticism is most discernible; despite the oft-repeated claim that it is now irrelevant, belonging to an age now past. This essay assumes that criticism originating in the Marxist school of thought continue to be relevant also in this present time; though it may need to be further developed and improved by integrating newer critical approaches into the classic Marxist discourse. This essay therefore integrates basic Marxist ideas with key concepts from ‘social systems theory’; especially the theory of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann's. In this light, capitalism is conceptualized here as a ‘super (social) system’: a meaning-creating social entity, in which social actors, behaviors and structures are realized. This theoretical concept and terminology emphasizes the social construction of control and stability, when discussing the operational logic of capitalism.

scholarly journals Economic crisis and youth unemployment: Comparing Greece and Ireland

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orestis Papadopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Social Unrest ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Significant Divergence ◽  
Harsh Conditions

Both Greece and Ireland have long suffered high youth unemployment rates and have been pressured to restructure their employment and social systems under the European Employment Strategy. Problems were aggravated by the harsh conditions imposed by the Troika following bail-outs. Yet there was significant divergence in youth employment outcomes between Greece and Ireland despite a convergence of policies. In Ireland, tighter conditionality of benefits and stronger ‘activation’ were already on the agenda of the social actors, so their implementation was not forcefully contested. In Greece, the lack of effective social protection made it difficult for successive governments to build support for flexibilization, and the escalating insecurity of young Greeks and their families gave rise to social unrest and political instability. This contrast leads to a reappraisal of the convergence–divergence debate.

Crisis, Crisophilia, and Crisophilic

2014 ◽  
pp. 39-48
Author(s):  
Murat Beyazyüz ◽  
Şefika Şule Erçetin ◽  
Yakup Albayrak
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
System A ◽  
Living Space ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
The Social ◽  
Protection Mechanisms ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Living Area ◽  
Crisis Situations

Today it is not possible to talk about the concept of a crisis as comfortably as we speak of the word crisis because the word carries with it a serious semiologic problem. Alongside this, almost all situations described as a crisis carry a number of common features and the results arising from these features, though trivial, are still possible to discuss. In this chapter, after a brief review of the term crisis' academic language status, common psychological characteristics carried by the social systems in crisis situations arising from situations of weakness are addressed. In crisis situations, the available individuals', communities' or societies' self-defense and protection mechanisms indicate inability of the available methods to solve problems. Furthermore, Crisophilia can be found in all cases related to social systems and in all stages of crisis in your living area. In order to create living space, crisophilia applies actions aimed at creating the crisis itself. Crisophyilic individuals or groups wait patiently for the system to fall into a state of crisis and the intervention made during the crisis in the system is viewed as saving the system, due to this a crisophyilic individual or group can also sometimes be seen as a hero. Because of the desperation in the system a crisophyilic individual or group is adopted in the system. Here in this case, the system itself opens its doors to crisophyilia.

Goal Ambiguity and Conflicting Standards: An Approach to the Study of Organization

1958 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Frank
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Organization ◽  
Social System ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
System A ◽  
Goal Ambiguity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Standards Of Conduct ◽  
Traditional Approaches

The approach to the study of organization which is advanced in this paper is based on the explicit assumption of ambiguity among the goals, and conflict among the standards of conduct for members, of the social system studied.1 As such, the present analysis differs from traditional approaches to the study of organization which, explicitly or implicitly, incorporate assumption of single or non-ambiguous system goals and non-conflicting member standards into their analysis. The plan of the paper is as follows: The process of decisionmaking and managerial conduct in Soviet industry is described first. Then, regarding Soviet industry as a separate social system, a formal analysis of aspects of that system's organization follows. Finally, that analysis is used to suggest hypotheses about organization which, it is hoped, will be fruitful in the study of other social systems. Not the examination of Soviet industrial organization, but the development of what might be called "conflicting standards analysis" for the study of organization elsewhere is the primary purpose of this paper.

On the Concept of a Socialist Health System: A Question of Marxist Epistemology

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Segall
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Care Services ◽  
System A ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Entity ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient ◽  
Health Theory

This paper concerns the best approach to the concept of a socialist health system. It first criticizes a narrow empiricism, which reduces the subject to a phenomenalistic study of existing health systems in socialist countries, paying insufficient attention to historical contexts and developments and to the worldwide evolution of socialist ideas. Such a rightist empiricism, separating practice from theory, is then contrasted with a leftist idealism, which separates theory from practice. The latter approach entails abstract models of an ideal socialist health system with many characteristics, without specifying which are the necessary and sufficient ones for applying the global designation “socialist.” This leads to epistemological confusion and a deterministic view of the relation of the social formation to the health system, which is in fact complex. A socialist health system is best seen as an aspect of socialist theory rather than as an actual social entity. Viewed this way, it can act as a continuing guide to social practice and be enriched by that practice. Taking an appropriate class standpoint, socialist health theory should relate to social factors in the causation of disease and in the capacity of peoples to undertake health-related activities and to the social control of health care services and related industries.

New research frameworks in the study of chimpanzee and gorilla sociality and communication

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam G. B. Roberts ◽  
Anna Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Research Frameworks ◽  
New Research ◽  
Large Groups

Group size in primates is strongly correlated with brain size, but exactly what makes larger groups more ‘socially complex’ than smaller groups is still poorly understood. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are among our closest living relatives and are excellent model species to investigate patterns of sociality and social complexity in primates, and to inform models of human social evolution. The aim of this paper is to propose new research frameworks, particularly the use of social network analysis, to examine how social structure differs in small, medium and large groups of chimpanzees and gorillas, to explore what makes larger groups more socially complex than smaller groups. Given a fission-fusion system is likely to have characterised hominins, a comparison of the social complexity involved in fission-fusion and more stable social systems is likely to provide important new insights into human social evolution

Entanglements between Agency and Vulnerability in the Phenomenon of Birth. Reflections on Children’s Expressions about ‘Being Born’

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2-2020) ◽  
pp. 135-146
Author(s):  
Catrin Heite ◽  
Veronika Magyar-Haas
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Cultural Embeddedness

Analogously to the works in the field of new social studies of childhood, this contribution deals with the concept of childhood as a social construction, in which children are considered as social actors in their own living environment, engaged in interpretive reproduction of the social. In this perspective the concept of agency is strongly stressed, and the vulnerability of children is not sufficiently taken into account. But in combining vulnerability and agency lies the possibility to consider the perspective of the subjects in the context of their social, political and cultural embeddedness. In this paper we show that what children say, what is important to them in general and for their well-being, is shaped by the care experiences within the family and by their social contexts. The argumentation for the intertwining of vulnerability and agency is exemplified by the expressions of an interviewed girl about her birth and by reference to philosophical concepts about birth and natality.

DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION AS A PREREQUISITE FOR THE INDIVIDUALS’ DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL OF THE SUBJECTS OF ITS ACTION

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Ryabchenko
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Human Capital Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Conceptual Problems ◽  
Capital Development

There are following prerequisites outlined in this article: worldwide democratization trend; complexity of structures of social systems; growing needs in human capital development; autonomy of national higher education institutions; civilizational problem of Ukraine in national elite. Conceptual problems on a road to real democracy in higher education institutions were actualized and analyzed. Determined and characterized three models of higher education institutions activities based on the level of democratization needs of their social environment as: negative, neutral and favorable.

A Group Awaiting Death: The Social Systems Perspective on a Naturally Occurring Group Situation

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Starker ◽  
Joan E. Starker
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
The Social ◽  
Group Situation ◽  
Imminent Death

The decline and imminent death of an individual in a hospital's intensive care unit led to the creation of a transient group composed of family and friends. The dynamics of this tragic group are explored using the concepts provided by Social Systems theory. Ambiguity of the task structure and its inherent frustrations, fluidity of leadership and power, and failure of a utopian defense are all discussed as contributors to subsequent dissension and splitting. The social systems perspective provides a useful tool for understanding this naturally occurring group situation.

Personality and Social Contexts as Sources of Change and Continuity Across the Life Span

2018 ◽  
pp. 750-776
Author(s):  
Abigail J. Stewart ◽  
Kay Deaux
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Movement Participation

This chapter provides a framework designed to address how individual persons respond to changes and continuities in social systems and historical circumstances at different life stages and in different generations. We include a focus on systematic differences among the people who experience these changes in the social environment—differences both in the particular situations they find themselves in and in their personalities. Using examples from research on divorce, immigration, social movement participation, and experiences of catastrophic events, we make a case for an integrated personality and social psychology that extends the analysis across time and works within socially and historically important contexts.

scholarly journals The Connections of Elderly Characters and Taiwanese Society in Edward Yang’s Movie “Yi Yi” (A One and a Two)

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 101-102
Author(s):  
Sheng-Chin Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Aged People ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Narrative Functions ◽  
Low Birthrate

Abstract As an aging society, Taiwanese is facing the low birthrate and low death rate, and many policies and social systems are facing difficulties. According to the social atmosphere, young and senior groups have many conflicts in between. Finding an alternative approach to reveal the social value of aged people becomes an important mission. The Taiwanese’ movie “Yi-Yi”(A one and a two, 2000) is the final masterpiece of Director Edward Yang, and he won the best director in Festival de Cannes. The story is taken place in a traditional Taiwanese wedding party, and there is a grandma who was invited to this party before her pass out. The grandma did not weak up until the end of this story. The director Yang filmed this sick character in the story and he showed the family members were gathering around their grandma. This study adopts the narrative analysis on elders in “Yi Yi”. There are three findings. First, the elder character is speechless but her sickness drives family members coming home. Second, the long term care is a heavy duty for family, but it reflects the preparations of individual physically and emotionally. Third, the meaning of image of elders is not image itself but family solidarity and social connection. The narrative theory and gerontology build a perspective to understand the social values and narrative functions of elderly people in “Yi-Yi”. It shows the conflict between different age groups and enlarges the spectrum of understanding elders in both Taiwanese’ movie and Taiwanese society.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document