Introduction

Author(s):  
Anne Rademacher ◽  
K. Sivaramakrishnan

This chapter outlines the “ecologies of urbanism” analytic employed by contributors to this volume. Unlike a singular ecology that might suggest a unified experience of urban nature, this approach compels us to identify the multiple forms of nature—in biophysical, cultural, and political terms—that have discernable impact on power relations and human social action in Asian cities. In a manner that distinguishes ecologies of urbanism from other approaches to urban environmental change, this analytical approach presupposes a multi-scalar perspective that varies its analytical parameters according to the social and/or biophysical processes under consideration. It also allows the reader to distinguish between “ecology” and “nature” in meaningful and consequential ways.

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Smith

Contemporary ideas and strategies of both ‘risk’ and ‘power’ are significant and dynamic influences in social theory and social action, and they can therefore be expected to have a substantial impact on the ways in which social work is constituted, practiced and evaluated. In this article, I shall articulate distinct conceptualisations and debates about each of these, before considering their inter-relationships and the implications of these for our thinking about what social work is, and what it should be. Firstly, I will consider social work's contested and problematic place within the broader welfare domain. It is recognised as being a form of activity which inhabits an ambiguous and uncertain position at the interface between the individual and the social, and between the marginalised and the mainstream. Building on this, ‘power’ will be shown to infuse social work ideas and practices in a number of distinct dimensions, linking and bridging ‘personal’, ‘positional’ and ‘relational’ domains. This discussion will be juxtaposed with a discussion of ‘risk’ and the part it has come to play in shaping and infusing social work practices, especially but not exclusively with children. The deconstruction of contemporary understandings and uses of risk as a central and ‘authoritative’ feature of assessment and decision-making will inform the argument that it can be viewed as a vehicle for the maintenance and legitimation of power relations which disenfranchise and oppress those who are most vulnerable. In conclusion, I will summarise the ways in which conventional understandings and inter-related material realities of power and risk are often hierarchical, uni-directional and oppressive; and on this basis, how they can be laid open to challenge. The reconceptualisation and remaking of power relations will be shown to have direct consequences for the ways in which risk is defined and addressed as a social work ‘problem’.


Twenty-first century urbanization signals unprecedented challenge as well as unprecedented transformative potential. Anchoring its case studies to Asia, this volume uses an “ecologies of urbanism” analytical approach to explore the environmental dimensions of urban life in selected cities and towns. It draws together ethnographic case studies and historical research, bridging the work of anthropologists, architects, planners, religion scholars, and art historians. Read together, the cases provide a nuanced understanding of the place, form, and stakes of urban nature, as well as its attendant human social dynamics, in contemporary Asian cities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Ahmad Fauzi ◽  
Chusnul Muali

Pesantren and social value system is the result of constructing kiai's thoughts and social actions as an inseparable entity. This study aims to interpret the role and social action of kiai Moh Hasan, both as a fighter (al-haiah al-jihaadi li'izzi al-Islaami wal muslimin) in the community as well as guidance and guidance for the community (al-haiah al ta 'awuny wa al takafuly wal al ittijaahi) and teaching in educational institutions (al-haiah al ta'lim wa al-tarbiyah), significantly contributes greatly to the social realities of society in Indonesia. Portrait of central figure kiai Moh Hasan can not be separated from the depth of his field of Islamic science, simplicity, kezuhudan, struggle, sincerity and generosity. This view, not only recognized among the people around the boarding school, students and colleagues, but also spread in some areas in Indonesia. The fame of kiai Moh Hasan among scholars, habaib and society has many karamah and some other privileges, not even a few from the social recognition of kiai Moh Hasan Genggong, because the kiai are believed to have closeness with God, thus perceived as auliya'Allah. Thus the role and social actions of the kiai above, gave birth to the value system, so as to influence and move the social action of other individuals. The internalization of the aforementioned values becomes social capital in building a spiritual-based transformative leadership, as a strong leadership model and conducts various changes in the social field, by transforming the value of the ethical values.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Myrna Asnawati Safitri

<p>Degradation of peatland ecosystems occurs as a result of excessive exploitation leading to peat drainage and fires. This was influenced by a masculinity perspective in resource tenure and utilization. Ecofeminism presents a different perspective on narratives and inter-relationships of human with nature, including the place of women in them. Injustice that befalls women occur due to unequal power relations in the control and utilization of resources in the peatland ecosystem. This paper discusses the Government of Indonesia’s efforts to reduce gender injustice through Peatland Restoration’s policy. Two policies are discussed here, namely the Social Safety Safeguard and Peat Cares Village Program. It is concluded that women's participation must be able to resolve the imbalance of power relations among women as well as between gender. This requires sufficient time and everlasting education.</p><p> </p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Christensson

AbstractFocusing on Swedish student teachers’ oral presentations in a rhetoric class, this article studies interactional role shift as a multimodal practice. The role shifts under scrutiny concern shifting from student teacher to teacher, thus anticipating the students’ future profession. A central feature of the article is a discussion of how role shift may be conceptualised as a communicative project, thus highlighting the different modes of communication used by the students, and consequently to examine its potential as a facilitator of students’ professional and academic development. The data was collected using an ethnographical approach, resulting in a collection of 21 video-recorded oral presentations, together with other relevant semiotic resources. The data is analysed by the employment of concepts from nexus analysis and the notion of communicative projects. Through a discourse analytical approach to social action in interaction, the analysis shows how role shifts are constructed of patterns of smaller actions that add up to three primary actions: setting the scene, changing perspective, and performing the new role. These primary actions are multimodally chained together, and the results demonstrate how social actors use instructional texts in combination with multimodal recourses in order to perform their role shifts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Asma Abdullah Alzakari

The present research aims to identify the mechanisms required for investing the social capital of retired Saudi woman and the relevant obstacles. To achieve the research objectives, the author adopted the descriptive analytical approach. A questionnaire was used to identify the major mechanisms and obstacles of investing the social capital of retired Saudi woman. The results showed that the mechanism of (the inclusion of retired holders of master or doctorate degrees in the membership of evaluation committees instead of the external evaluators) was ranked the most required one, whereas the mechanism of (providing good allowances and benefits for the retired women to encourage them to return to work and rearranging their life requirements according to the relevant studies and papers) was ranked the least required.  Furthermore, it indicated the substantial obstacles that prevent investing the social capital of retired Saudi woman. The paper recommends collaboration among civil society institutions to reinforce and disseminate volunteering culture, especially among the retired women because they constitute the foundations of the community that adopts the fundamentals ​​of social capital, which achieve human development by setting the regulations that organize and protect voluntary work.   Received: 4 October 2020 / Accepted: 30 November 2020 / Published: 17 January 2021


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-71
Author(s):  
Zh.K. Madalieva ◽  

The article discusses in detail the essence and meaning of ritual as a social action. The study of the nature of this phenomenon involves, first of all, the study of various approaches to the definition of the concept of "ritual" and related phenomena. Analyzing the existing definitions, the author comes to the conclusion that "ritual" is a certain set of actions that have symbolic meaning. The symbolism of the ritual is manifested in its connecting role with the world of the sacred, sacred. The article emphasizes that in the consciousness of a person in a traditional society, the sacred world is present in the real world through ritual. As an archaic form of culture, ritual was also a way of regulating and maintaining collective life. The ritual served as a means of integrating and maintaining the integrity of the human community, giving it stability. Therefore, the article focuses on the social functions of the ritual in both public and individual life.


2021 ◽  
pp. 194277862110548
Author(s):  
Fernando González

Since its origins, geography has prioritized the study of nature. However, more recently the discipline has made advancements in studying power as a fundamental element in the social production of space and territory. What can Marxism offer to such investigations? In this brief article, I highlight some of the contributions of Marxist thought that I have found useful for geographic analysis and that stand out from the discipline’s other forms of analysis. Firstly, I recover elements from the thinker Antonio Gramsci that I consider important for debates regarding the social production of space and territory as an expression of power relations. Secondly, I retrace some aspects of Marx's concept of nature to examine certain notions that prevail in today's environmental debates. In this way, I look to denaturalize the hegemonic thought with which institutions and dominant classes exercise power in this area.


Author(s):  
Elena A. Kranzeeva ◽  
◽  
Evgeny V. Golovatsky ◽  
Anna V. Orlova ◽  
◽  
...  

The relevance of the study is associated with the speed of modern sociopolitical processes in the territories, the emergence of new participants and tools for achieving their own and collective interests. The aim of the article is to describe the real urban processes of sociopolitical interaction in the conditions of reactive relations, taking into account the interests and positions of the participants, the content and dynamics of interaction. The methodological basis of the study is the concept of social action and power relations by M. Weber, the concept of resources by A. Giddens, research works by L.L. Shpak, who considers interaction in the aggregate of regional everyday sociopolitical practices. The article proposes a framework for the study of rapid reactive actions and relationships that can significantly accelerate the flow of social and political interactions. The analysis of reactive relations, the dynamics of the nature of social and political interaction on the scale of the urban space, as well as confirmation of signs of reactivity of relations, is based on the analysis of two cases of Kemerovo related to the improvement of the urban space, demonstrating at the same time the practice of social and political communications. For the Statue of Saint Barbara case, the method of content analysis is used to study the Internet audience; the method allows analyzing the density and coherence of information communications taking into account the inclusion and/or belonging of users in relation to the analyzed data. The use of the method of analyzing event data in the media (event analysis) for the Lazurny case illustrates the dynamics of social and political interaction. As a result, it has been revealed that, in the context of new reactive relations, the communicative potential of ordinary users (citizens) grows in the social and political interaction of a city or a certain territory. The practices of social interaction considered in the article are replenished from the implementation of innovative projects within the framework of urban communities. An important role is played by the constantly changing conditions for the transmission and accumulation of information significant in the urban space, as well as by the activity resource – active drivers of modern communication. The prospect of further research is the search for new tools and indicators of a new quality of social and political interaction in the context of reactive relations


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