scholarly journals Nancy Fraser: Revolutionary Empiricism?

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
Jorgen Sandemose

<p>This article presents a criticism of Nancy Fraser’s influential essay “Behind Marx’s Hidden Abode. For an Expanded Conception of Capitalism”. After a short introduction determining Fraser’s theoretical stance amidst the critical waves around Karl Marx’s positions, her concept of “abodes”, thought to be hidden from Marx’s view of the capitalist order, is analyzed. Thereupon, certain limitations of her interpretation of the “economic” dimension in Marx’s work is pointed out, and also how they lead to misconceptions of the theory of the social formation as a whole. Furthermore, it is shown how Fraser is tempted to introduce ill-considered and alien elements into Marx’s view of the international economy (the world market), thereby rendering meaningless a Marxian concept of the political. Towards the end, the distinctively empiricist aura in which Fraser’s theory is presented is being criticized: It represents a rupture with any possible revolutionary theory.</p>

Author(s):  
Hallie M. Franks

In the Greek Classical period, the symposium—the social gathering at which male citizens gathered to drink wine and engage in conversation—was held in a room called the andron. From couches set up around the perimeter of the andron, symposiasts looked inward to the room’s center, which often was decorated with a pebble mosaic floor. These mosaics provided visual treats for the guests, presenting them with images of mythological scenes, exotic flora, dangerous beasts, hunting parties, or the specter of Dionysos, the god of wine, riding in his chariot or on the back of a panther. This book takes as its subject these mosaics and the context of their viewing. Relying on discourses in the sociology and anthropology of space, it argues that the andron’s mosaic imagery actively contributed to a complex, metaphorical experience of the symposium. In combination with the ritualized circling of the wine cup from couch to couch around the room and the physiological reaction to wine, the images of mosaic floors called to mind other images, spaces, or experiences, and, in doing so, prompted drinkers to reimagine the symposium as another kind of event—a nautical voyage, a journey to a foreign land, the circling heavens or a choral dance, or the luxury of an abundant past. Such spatial metaphors helped to forge the intimate bonds of friendship that are the ideal result of the symposium and that make up the political and social fabric of the Greek polis.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo T Perez-Rivera ◽  
Christopher Torres Lugo ◽  
Alexis R Santos-Lozada

Between July 13-24, 2019 the people of Puerto Rico took the streets after a series of corruption scandals shocked the political establishment. The social uprising resulted in the ousting of the Governor of Puerto Rico (Dr. Ricardo Rosselló, Ricky), the resignation of the majority of his staff something unprecedented in the history of Puerto Rico; this period has been called El Verano del 19 (Summer of 19). Social media played a crucial role in both the organization and dissemination of the protests, marches, and other activities that occurred within this period. Puerto Ricans in the island and around the world engaged in this social movement through the digital revolution mainly under the hashtag #RickyRenuncia (Ricky Resign), with a small counter movement under the hashtag #RickySeQueda (Ricky will stay). The purpose of this study is to illustrate the magnitude and grass roots nature of the political movement’s social media presence, as well as their characteristics of the population of both movements and their structures. We found that #RickyRenuncia was used approximately one million times in the period of analysis while #RickySeQueda barely reached 6,000 tweets. Particularly, the pervasiveness of cliques in the #RickySeQueda show concentrations of authority dedicated to its propagation, whilst the #RickyRenuncia propagation was much more distributed and decentralized with little to no interaction between significant nodes of authority. Noteworthy was the role of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the United States of America and around the world, contributing close to 40% of all geo-located tweets. Finally, we found that the Twitter followers of the former governor had indicators of being composed of two distinct populations: 1) those active in social media and 2) those who follow the account but who are not active participants of the social network. We discuss the implications of these findings on the interpretation of emergence, structure and dissemination of social activism and countermovement to these activities in the context of Puerto Rico.


Author(s):  
Bob Jessop

For both Marx and Gramsci, the separation between the economic and political spheres was a key feature of bourgeois societies. Marx saw the conflict between bourgeois and citoyen as requiring resistance to this separation as crucial to democratic emancipation and wrote that the Paris Commune realized this. He also saw social emancipation in terms of the expansion of free time rather than work time. Gramsci argued that civil society became more important in the 1870s as the masses gained the vote in political rights. They both argued that democracy could not be restricted to the political sphere but should also involve economic democracy. This is undermined by the expansion of the world market and survival of national states.


Author(s):  
Christian Welzel ◽  
Ronald Inglehart

This chapter examines the role that the concept of political culture plays in comparative politics. In particular, it considers how the political culture field increases our understanding of the social roots of democracy and how these roots are transforming through cultural change. In analysing the inspirational forces of democracy, key propositions of the political culture approach are compared with those of the political economy approach. The chapter first provides and overview of cultural differences around the world before tracing the historical roots of the political culture concept. It then tackles the question of citizens' democratic maturity and describes the allegiance model of the democratic citizen. It also explores party–voter dealignment, the assertive model of the democratic citizen, and political culture in non-democracies. It concludes with an assessment of how trust, confidence, and social capital increase a society's capacity for collective action.


1984 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
A D King

In this paper, the relation of theory to empirical research in the broad area indicated by the title is examined. The relevance, and, in cases, the adequacy, is discussed of existing theory for ‘making sense’ of specific empirical data on one item, or segment, of the built environment, namely, the specialised dwelling form of the bungalow, which, in both name and single-storey form, as vacation house or suburban dwelling, has been introduced to many market economies around the world. After a brief consideration of the historical and cross-cultural approaches to the study of the built environment and its neglect in the new urban studies, a series of questions generated by the data and contextualised within specific theoretical spheres are addressed. These include: the relation of building form to economy, society, and culture; culture and the political economy of building form; the social production of specialised dwelling forms; the relationship between per capita income, tenure, and dwelling form, and between dwelling and settlement forms; urban and building form and the world system; counterurbanisation and the world economy; and the political economy of global urbanisation. It is concluded that, for the adequate conceptualisation of the built environment, the use of theory must be eclectic and prepared to draw on different disciplines.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Achmad Zulfikar ◽  
Baharuddin Nur

Pemilihan Kepala Daerah (Pilkada) adalah antitesa dari pengangkatan kepala daerah yang telah berlangsung cukup lama, setidaknya hampir seusia dengan orde lama ditambah orde baru atau sekitar 50 tahun dari 70 tahun usia pemerintahan kita. Diangkat dan dipilih adalah dua hal yang berbeda. Dipilih tentu saja lebih demokratis daripada diangkat. Dipilih merupakan hasil dari sejumlah alternatif, sementara diangkat lebih terkesan suatu pilihan yang datang dari atas (top down). Pilkada merupakan sistem yang dibangun oleh pemerintah untuk memastikan Kepala Daerah berasal dari pilihan rakyat, bukan penunjukan dari pejabat atau kekuasaan diatasnya. Lazimnya, Pilkada berlangsung sesuai dengan penanggalan kegiatan politik setiap daerah, dimana batas masa tugas lima tahun dijadikan sebagai patokan untuk dilaksanakannya Pilkada lagi. Namun pada 9 Desember 2015 ini penanggalan itu mengalami perubahan atas dasar pertimbangan efisiensi dan efektivitas pelaksanaan Pilkada ke depan. Oleh karenanya, Pilkada yang akan berlangsungi di Indonesia ini merupakan pesta demokrasi terbesar yang pernah dilakukan di negeri ini, bahkan di dunia. Dalam makalah ini, penulis tertantang untuk menelaah bagaimana kemungkinan yang akan timbul sebagai implikasi Pilkada serentak ini terhadap aspek sosial, politik dan ekonomi masyarakat di Indonesia.---Local election / regional head election is antithesis of appointment of region head which have lasted long enough, at least almost as old with Old Order Era plus with New Order Era or about 50 year from 70 year old of Indonesian was established. Appointment and election are two different things. Elected is certainly more democratic than appointed. Elected is the result of a number of alternatives, while being lifted is more impressed with a choice that comes from the top. Local election is a system built by the government to ensure the Regional Head comes from the people's choice, not the appointment of officials or powers above it. Typically, elections take place in accordance with the political activities of each region, where the five-year term is used as a benchmark for the implementation of re-elections. However, on December 9, 2015 this calendar has changed based on the consideration of efficiency and effectiveness of Local election implementation in the future. Therefore, the elections that will take place in Indonesia is the biggest democracy party ever conducted in this country, even in the world. In this paper, the authors challenged to examine how the possibilities would arise as the implications of this Local concurrent election on the social, political and economic aspects of society in Indonesia.


Author(s):  
Joachim Schaper

In addressing the problem of the “economics of worship” in ancient societies it is advisable first to ascertain on what area of “worship” we should focus our investigation. And while one could indeed attempt to explore the economics of, say, the practices of family religion in ancient Israel and Judah, this does not seem to contribute much to deepening our understanding of the economics of worship generally—not because family religion was not representative of the overall practice of religion in that part of the world, but because, due to its very nature, it did not produce hubs of economic activity and therefore gives us no decisive insights into the correlation between economic and religious practices. By contrast, temples are indeed such hubs; this is true today and was no less true of ancient Israel and Judah. In fact, it was probably more obvious then than it is now that temples hosted economic transactions of various kinds and that some of them were veritable economic hubs of huge significance for the whole of the social formation that had brought them forth. Biblical and other ancient Near Eastern texts do not obfuscate the central significance of the economic basis and the economic consequences of cultic activity; on the contrary, they address them without any qualms.


Author(s):  
Hnai Al Badri ◽  
Hanan Al-Sheikh

There is no doubt that media plays a key role in modern societies, as it has become the main source for the formation of collective awareness among citizens around the world. In light of the real vile war the Arab world has been witnessing against terrorism, media has become a major player in the confrontation. Today, the Arab world is facing terrorist and fanatic attacks that take religion as a cover for its atrocities and hideous actions, disturbing the peace and amity in communities, and causing a lot of harm to innocent people, destruction of infrastructure, and devastating impact on economy and the social structure. Unfortunately, Jordan's media—as is the case with other Arab media—seems to have issues with their adopted strategies to deal with terrorism, its causes, and influencing factors. The chapter provides the details and findings of a study that attempts to characterize the approach adopted by Jordan's media coverage of terrorism and to investigate and appraise the strategic value of such approach, leading to the recommendation for a more effective strategy that is based on proper understanding of the political, social, and economic environment and other key factors.


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