Herbert Marcuse on Radical Subjectivity and the “New Activism”

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-388
Author(s):  
Michael J. Sukhov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
Herbert Marcuse ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Life On Earth

What forms of collective political action conceivably might offer the best prospects for radical, transformative change in the context of a planet currently in crisis, and characterized by intersecting struggles for environmental, economic, social, and racial justice? The concept of radical subjectivity that Herbert Marcuse developed throughout his life and work can provide social movement theorists, organizations and activists with valuable theoretical and practical resources to identify, encourage, and further develop new and emerging forms of political agency and activism, and thereby contribute to the mobilization of contemporary social movements seeking to address these crises and their underlying causes. This concept, when critically reevaluated and appropriated in light of more recent insights about the nature of subjectivity and political agency as well as in the context of these contemporary struggles, can assist in the development of a theory and practice that might be adequate to address the multiple global crises currently confronting humanity and other forms of life on Earth.

scholarly journals Sustainability Assessment of Modern High-Rise Timber Buildings

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8719
Author(s):  
Laura Tupenaite ◽  
Viktorija Zilenaite ◽  
Loreta Kanapeckiene ◽  
Tomas Gecys ◽  
Ineta Geipele
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
High Rise

As woodworking and construction technologies improve, the construction of multi-storey timber buildings is gaining popularity worldwide. There is a need to look at the design of existing buildings and assess their sustainability. The aim of the present study is to assess the sustainability of modern high-rise timber buildings using multi-criteria assessment methods. The paper presents a hierarchical system of sustainability indicators and an assessment framework, developed by the authors. Based on this framework, the tallest timber buildings in different countries, i.e., Mjøstårnet in Norway, Brock Commons in Canada, Treet in Norway, Forte in Australia, Strandparken in Sweden and Stadthaus in UK, were compared across the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic/technological, and social). Research has revealed that none of the buildings is leading in all dimensions of sustainability. However, each building is unique and has its own strengths. Overall multi-criteria assessment of the buildings revealed that the Brock Commons building in Canada has received the highest rank in all dimensions of sustainability. The paper contributes to the theory and practice of sustainability assessment and extends the knowledge about high-rise timber buildings. The proposed sustainability assessment framework can be used by both academics and practitioners for assessment of high-rise timber buildings.

scholarly journals (In)coherent subjects? The politics of conceptualising resistance in the UK asylum system

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442110338
Author(s):  
Sarah M Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Subject Formation ◽  
Grounding Resistance ◽  
Migration Control ◽  
The Uk

Many accounts of resistance within systems of migration control pivot upon a coherent migrant subject, one that is imbued with political agency and posited as oppositional to particular forms of sovereign power. Drawing upon ethnographic research into the role of creativity within the UK asylum system, I argue that grounding resistance with a stable, coherent and agentic subject, aligns with oppositional narratives (of power vs resistance), and thereby risks negating the entangled politics of the (in)coherence of subject formation, and how this can contain the potential to disrupt, disturb or interrupt the practices and premise of the UK asylum system. I suggest that charity groups and subjects should not be written out of narratives of resistance apriori because they engage with ‘the state’: firstly, because to argue that there is a particular form that resistance should take is to place limits around what counts as the political; and secondly, because to ‘remain oppositional’ is at odds with an (in)coherent subject. I show how accounts which highlight a messy and ambiguous subjectivity, could be bought into understandings of resistance. This is important because as academics, we too participate in the delineation of the political and what counts as resistance. In predetermining what subjects, and forms of political action count as resistance we risk denying recognition to those within this system.

Formalization as a tool for environmental peacebuilding? Artisanal and small-scale mining in Liberia and Sierra Leone

2021 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-55
Author(s):  
Christina Ankenbrand ◽  
Abrina Welter ◽  
Nina Engwicht
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Benefits ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Ethical Sourcing ◽  
The Ideal

Abstract Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has long been a vital source of livelihoods for rural populations in the global South. Yet, it has also been linked to a host of social, political and environmental adversities, including violent conflict. As environmental peacebuilding increasingly stresses the importance of livelihood improvement as a means of fostering peace in conflict-affected extractive societies, ASM formalization has been identified as a solution to mitigate the sector's challenges, thereby addressing underlying causes of conflict. This article critically investigates the contribution of ASM formalization to sustainable peace by focusing on its impact on the livelihood dimension of peacebuilding. It analyses the livelihood impact of three formalization interventions in the diamond sectors of two countries: cooperatives in Liberia, and, in Sierra Leone, ethical sourcing schemes and a community-based natural resource management initiative. In line with calls for a paradigm shift from a narrow legalization-centred understanding of formalization to a broader approach that accounts for livelihood quality, the analysis presented here focuses on interventions that were informed by the ideal of improving the well-being of ASM workers and communities. We propose three pathways through which ASM formalization could potentially contribute to livelihood enhancement: income security, working conditions and community benefits. Based on fieldwork, this article highlights the challenges of generating livelihood improvements through formalization. Even when specifically designed to address the needs of ASM communities, during implementation, they risk prioritizing a narrow conceptualization of formalization and thus failing to become a conductor of transformative change.

Distortion

Dismantlings ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 93-111
Author(s):  
Matt Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
The Future ◽  
Fiction Writer ◽  
As If

This chapter talks about distortion as a form of dismantling. It describes distortion as the historical and theoretical technique by which readers learn to approach political documents as if they were science fiction. When considered as a vehicle of distortion, literature is measured for its potential to alter exploitative conditions, like those of war, patriarchy, and racism. The science fiction writer Samuel R. Delany insists that transformative change takes shape neither in utopian nor in dystopian visions of the future, but rather in efforts toward significant distortion of the present. This attitude, which is also a theory and practice of literature, is one way to describe the inheritance of cyberculture in the works of writers and activists who employed speculative language to repurpose the thought of Alice Mary Hilton and the Ad Hoc Committee. These writers and activists focused not on the machines that would unveil the myth of scarcity, but instead isolate the forms of human life and relation that would follow the act of unveiling.

Security after emancipation? Critical Theory, violence and resistance

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 1113-1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
COLUMBA PEOPLES
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Herbert Marcuse ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Current Configuration ◽  
Critical Security Studies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Normative Foundations

AbstractWithin the current configuration of Critical Security Studies (CSS) the concept of ‘emancipation’ is upheld as the keystone of a commitment to transformative change in world politics, but comparatively little is said on the status of violence and resistance within that commitment. As a means of highlighting this relative silence, this article examines the nature of the connection between CSS and the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. In particular it disinters the reflections of Herbert Marcuse on the connections between emancipatory change, violence and resistance as a means of interrogating and challenging the definition of ‘security as emancipation’. Doing so, it is argued, points towards some of the potential limitations of equating security and emancipation, and provides a provocation of contemporary CSS from within its own cited intellectual and normative foundations.

Race, Organizations, and Movements

Sociology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa E. Wooten
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Organizational Development ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Racial Hierarchy ◽  
Pull Out ◽  
Distribution Of Resources

Although they developed distinct of one another, there is a growing trend to combine insights from the race, organizations, and movement literatures. In particular, scholars have called for a greater emphasis on incorporating race as a category of analysis within the organizations and movement literatures. Among those studying organizations, one of the earliest calls for this shift came from within the managerial literature. Those heeding this call have primarily investigated race as an individual level characteristic that structures people’s access to and opportunities within organizations. Still, others have sought to analyze how race as a social structural characteristic shapes organizational development and the distribution of resources available to organizations. Similar to organization studies, initially, scholarship on social movements lacked a clear emphasis on race. Although, the irony here is that many scholars derived theoretical innovations within the social movement literature by analyzing movements centering racial justice. Recent scholarship holds that in the absence of clear racial theory, whiteness shapes the discipline to its detriment. Despite the broader concerns about the literature’s state, work within this area consistently emphasizes how people use social movement tactics to advance racial projects from civil rights to white supremacy. Few studies tackle all three themes at once. More often scholars situate their analysis at the intersection of race and organizations or race and movements. At times, scholars situate their investigation squarely within one literature, leaving it to the reader to pull out the themes from the others. The bibliography reflects this reality and tension. There is no singular text or handbook that brings together research on race, organizations, and movements. Yet, the research included within this bibliography deepens our understanding of the role that organizations and movements play in reinforcing and creating racial hierarchy and how racial hierarchy, in turn, shapes these entities.

scholarly journals Winning on our Issues with Power

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-198
Author(s):  
Amanda Tattersall
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Track Record

Social movement organisations need to have a pragmatic understanding of our current weaknesses and challenge ourselves to be much more adventurous for how to build social power and transformative change. This article considers three core weaknesses of our activist organisations, including how our issue agenda is often reactive, our disconnection from place and our poor track record on collaboration. It then suggests that the hope for stronger social change lies with a proactive issue agenda, strong reciprocal coalitions and the ability to move campaigns at multiple scales (locally, regionally, nationally, globally). The article includes a variety of examples that suggest how this stronger kind of organising is possible.

Which Identity Frames Boost Support for and Mobilization in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement? An Experimental Test

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 947-962
Author(s):  
TABITHA BONILLA ◽  
ALVIN B. TILLERY
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Experimental Test ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Communications ◽  
American Cities ◽  
The U.S

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has organized hundreds of disruptive protests in American cities since 2013 (Garza 2014; Harris 2015; Taylor 2016). The movement has garnered considerable attention from the U.S. media and is well recognized by the U.S. public (Horowitz and Livingston 2016; Neal 2017). Social movement scholars suggest that such robust mobilizations are typically predicated on clear social movement frames (Benford and Snow 2000; Snow et al. 1986). Tillery (2019b) has identified several distinct message frames within the social media communications of BLM activists. In this paper, we use a survey experiment to test the effect of three of these frames—Black Nationalist, Feminist, and LGBTQ+ Rights—on the mobilization of African Americans. We find that exposure to these frames generates differential effects on respondents’ willingness to support, trust, canvass, and write representatives about the Black Lives Matter movement. These findings raise new questions about the deployment of intersectional messaging strategies within movements for racial justice.

scholarly journals Changing Logics in Healthcare and Their Effects on the Identity Motives and Identity Work of Doctors

2020 ◽  
pp. 017084061989587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Martin ◽  
Stacey Bushfield ◽  
Sabina Siebert ◽  
Brian Howieson
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Reform ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Medical Professional ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Professional Leadership ◽  
Identity Motives ◽  
Large Category

Recent literature on hybridity has provided useful insights into how professionals have responded to changing institutional logics. Our focus is on how shifting logics have shaped senior medical professionals’ identity motives and identity work in a qualitative study of hospital consultants in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. We found a binary divide between a large category of traditionalist doctors who reject shifting logics, and a much smaller category of incorporated consultants who broadly accept shifting logics and advocate change, with little evidence of significant ambivalence or temporary identity ‘fixes’ associated with liminality. By developing a new inductively generated framework, we show how the identity motives and identity work of these two categories of doctors differ significantly. We explore the underlying causes of these differences, and the implications they hold for theory and practice in medical professionalism, medical professional leadership and healthcare reform.

My Friends in Low Places: Building Identity for Place and Community

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Crow
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Potential Change ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
Political Sophistication ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Urban Analysis ◽  
Urban Issues

Urban sholarship linking geography, planning, and design has usually identified characteristics of specific places. In addition, urban analysis has attempted to link concepts of political ‘agency’, institutional arrangements, and notions of community to the economic and political history of places. In recent years, scholars in the humanities have been carefully examining the philosophical and political underpinnings of concepts of ‘the subject’, self, and agency. I contend that if geography is to have a place in the analysis of identity, political agency, and political action, the places to look are not necessarily at the pinnacle of theoretical, architectural, or political sophistication or at places with the highest demographic or economic magnitudes. Important places to look are ‘low places’. In this paper I propose six places to look for identity and political action that are normally overlooked, ignored, or excluded from serious consideration for revealing urban issues and potential change.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document