Modalities of Assimilation: Subcultural Currents in Felix Mendelssohn's Lieder Ohne Worte

In this article I examine the impact on Felix Mendelssohn's music, as reflected in his Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), of his affiliation with a German-Jewish subculture. To better understand the interrelationship between musical formations and sociocultural realities, I associate the real and imaginary tensions between the German, the Jewish, and the German-Jewish with stylistic ambiguities in Mendelssohn's piano songs, which often destabilize the lyrical simplicity projected by the lieder framework through formal complexities that exceed the narrow scope of the piano miniature. I establish the connections between Mendelssohn's music and sociocultural disposition by identifying a correlation between his so-called stylistic ‘conservatism’ and the anachronistic devotion of German Jewry to the universal ideals of the Enlightenment during the rise of German nationalism. Against this background, I primarily reveal the generic heterogeneity of the Lieder ohne Worte, which feature ‘progressive’ stylistic frameworks associated with the lied traditions yet concurrently point toward the formal ideals of eighteenth-century classicism. And following this, I position the stylistic duality of Mendelssohn's piano songs within a broader context through Heinrich Heine's essay The Romantic School, which sheds crucial light on the negotiation of Jewishness within German culture as it is reflected in aesthetic movements, historical changes, and political climates.

‘Having It All’? : Pre-Teen Girls Negotiate Successful Femininity

<p>Depictions of girls and young women as powerful, unconstrained and outshining boys and men characterise the modern postfeminist cultural climate and imbue femininity with wide reaching success. However, research into postfeminist discourse reveals a far more complicated picture than this straightforward ode to success. Previously the focus has been on successful femininity within education or employment, or on the future aspirations of girls and young women. Yet considering the grandiose postfeminist claims of successful femininity it is important to examine specifically what success means to those who are expected to hold it. The current research has done so from the perspective of ethnically diverse pre-adolescent girls, addressing the lack of research with this age group and with girls from minority ethnic backgrounds. Incorporating the latter enabled the thesis to examine how ethnic identities may intersect with understandings of successful femininity. Focus groups and photo-narrative books were used to explore the ways 32 girls between 11- and 13-years old made sense of successful girl/womanhood, including media representations of successful femininity. Participants were recruited from two urban schools within New Zealand. The study used a feminist poststructuralist framework and employed thematic and Foucauldian discourse analysis to analyse the data. Two overarching themes were identified: ‘Success as Individual Qualities’ and ‘Spheres of Success.’ Across these themes the girls’ drew heavily on postfeminist and neoliberal discourses and constructed success through the competing and contradictory discourses of girl power and traditional femininity. Successful femininity was constructed as a highly individualised endeavour, predicated on the individual qualities of hard work, constant striving towards goals and overcoming adversity. These qualities were required to accomplishing success within three mandatory spheres of success; education, employment and motherhood. The successful female subject was expected to move linearly through these three spheres, engaging in higher education to earn a successful career in order to financially sustain motherhood. Discussions of employment success oscillated between constructions of unbounded possibility for young women in the workforce and recognition of the barriers facing young women and especially Māori women who work. Motherhood, described as the apex of successful femininity, was also shot through with complexity. The girls constructed a narrow scope for success through motherhood: those who had children without planning, had many children or who gave birth while young or single were positioned outside of this successfulness. The ultimate form of successful femininity required a delicate balancing of the three spheres of success in order for women to achieve the contradictory and unobtainable task of ‘having it all.’ Findings demonstrate girls’ lack of access to a language with which to articulate oppression and inequality and emphasise the problematic entanglement of ‘new’ discourses of equality, empowerment and success with the enduring presence of powerful and regulatory traditional discourses of femininity.</p>

‘Having It All’? : Pre-Teen Girls Negotiate Successful Femininity

<p>Depictions of girls and young women as powerful, unconstrained and outshining boys and men characterise the modern postfeminist cultural climate and imbue femininity with wide reaching success. However, research into postfeminist discourse reveals a far more complicated picture than this straightforward ode to success. Previously the focus has been on successful femininity within education or employment, or on the future aspirations of girls and young women. Yet considering the grandiose postfeminist claims of successful femininity it is important to examine specifically what success means to those who are expected to hold it. The current research has done so from the perspective of ethnically diverse pre-adolescent girls, addressing the lack of research with this age group and with girls from minority ethnic backgrounds. Incorporating the latter enabled the thesis to examine how ethnic identities may intersect with understandings of successful femininity. Focus groups and photo-narrative books were used to explore the ways 32 girls between 11- and 13-years old made sense of successful girl/womanhood, including media representations of successful femininity. Participants were recruited from two urban schools within New Zealand. The study used a feminist poststructuralist framework and employed thematic and Foucauldian discourse analysis to analyse the data. Two overarching themes were identified: ‘Success as Individual Qualities’ and ‘Spheres of Success.’ Across these themes the girls’ drew heavily on postfeminist and neoliberal discourses and constructed success through the competing and contradictory discourses of girl power and traditional femininity. Successful femininity was constructed as a highly individualised endeavour, predicated on the individual qualities of hard work, constant striving towards goals and overcoming adversity. These qualities were required to accomplishing success within three mandatory spheres of success; education, employment and motherhood. The successful female subject was expected to move linearly through these three spheres, engaging in higher education to earn a successful career in order to financially sustain motherhood. Discussions of employment success oscillated between constructions of unbounded possibility for young women in the workforce and recognition of the barriers facing young women and especially Māori women who work. Motherhood, described as the apex of successful femininity, was also shot through with complexity. The girls constructed a narrow scope for success through motherhood: those who had children without planning, had many children or who gave birth while young or single were positioned outside of this successfulness. The ultimate form of successful femininity required a delicate balancing of the three spheres of success in order for women to achieve the contradictory and unobtainable task of ‘having it all.’ Findings demonstrate girls’ lack of access to a language with which to articulate oppression and inequality and emphasise the problematic entanglement of ‘new’ discourses of equality, empowerment and success with the enduring presence of powerful and regulatory traditional discourses of femininity.</p>

Drivers of integration of green into supplier selections: a systematic literature review

PurposeThis paper aims to provide a systematic review of extant literature on supplier selection by identifying drivers of integration of Environmental Sustainability (ES) into supplier selection, with the aim of classifying them under broad categories for the development of a framework showing the interrelationships among them.Design/methodology/approachA search was ran for selected keyword themes using three powerful and rigorous search engines: Scopus, Google Scholar and Science Direct, to identify relevant articles from 12 peer-reviewed journals. These were desk reviewed through manual filtering to select drivers of integration of ES into supplier selection.FindingsThirty-one drivers identified from 41 relevant articles as propelling integration of ES into supplier selection were then classified into five categories: strong policy direction, high level of commitment, desire for high reputation, robust technology and availability of green products. This yielded a framework showing the interconnectedness among the drivers.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to the body of knowledge by developing a classification of drivers of integration of ES into supplier selection. The interconnectedness brought to the fore a more subtle appreciation of the drivers of green integration, which could help expand current knowledge outside the narrow scope of isolated drivers. This study provides detailed analyses of drivers of green integration into supplier selection.Originality/valueThis paper provides a comprehensive review of drivers of integrating green into supplier selection, which is lacking in the body of knowledge on ES.

Requirements of Structural Rationality

This chapter turns to the nature and form of requirements of structural rationality. It presents a recipe for generating requirements of structural rationality from verdicts about which states are incoherent (by the account defended in the previous chapter). On the resulting view, requirements of structural rationality are prohibitions on (incoherent) combinations of states. The chapter compares this with the closely related view that the requirements of rationality are “wide-scope” before reframing the debate over the scope of rational requirements and arguing for a view that is wide-scope, rather than narrow-scope, in spirit. It also argues that requirements of structural rationality are synchronic rather than diachronic. Finally, it defends the view that the demands of structural rationality are best thought of as requirements at all against a recent challenge.

Changes in Production Efficiency During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The limitations and new safety restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 had a strong impact on the functioning of numerous manufacturing companies. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted among employees of manufacturing companies. A preliminary comparison of the production efficiency (and volume) in terms of the size of enterprises was made – results obtained for micro, small and medium entrprise, as well as for large production enterprise. On the basis of the presented results, it was unequivocally stated that it was much easier for micro and small enterprises to adapt to the introduced changes. They easily expanded the range of products and thus recorded a slight increase in production. Large enterprises, due to the narrow scope of their operations, unfortunately recorded a significant decrease in production – which may also be caused by the discontinuity of the supply chain.

Labor unions and institutional corruption: The case of Kazakhstan

In this study, we used the institutional corruption framework to analyze the evolution of labor unions in Kazakhstan. As a research method, we conducted a case study by combining document analysis with survey data covering (n)1,200 respondents across all 14 regions of the country. Our findings suggest that external and internal influences weakened labor unions and diverted from fulfilling their primary purpose of promoting interests of their members. External influences, represented by restrictive regulatory framework and state intervention, create conditions of limited independence of labor unions leaving them extremely narrow scope to operate in. Internal influences are represented by disagreements and conflicts between national-level labor unions. This article stipulates that dysfunctional and institutionally corrupt labor unions in Kazakhstan serve as an indicator of state fragility. The findings confirmed that institutional corruption of labor unions has an adverse impact on public trust, while a frequent occurrence of labor conflicts might impact political risk factors, contributing to increased state fragility.

The Logical Conscience

This paper suggests a way of avoiding two very implausible claims. These are the claim that all our beliefs about how we ought to act are true and the claim that there are two senses of ‘ought’, one subjective and the other objective. We avoid these claims by appeal to a distinction between wide and narrow scope which has application not merely to moral theory but also to the theory of rationality. For the same question arises: is it rational to do what one (perhaps falsely) believes it rational for one to do? The trick is to recognize a structural ambiguity.

Varieties of Opposition to Bureaucratic Leninism in Eastern Europe, 1968–1985

Brezhnev’s Bureaucratic Leninism was broadly emulated (or imposed) in East European communist regimes. But it was controversial and led to many rejections. The Prague Spring of 1968 was an effort to democratize the communist party from within. It was crushed by Warsaw Pact troops. Poland experienced a repeated wave of worker rebellions, as well as a cross-class alliance that resulted in Solidarity almost coming to power, until it was crushed in 1981 by Polish special-service troops. Hungary experimented with narrow-scope marketization of its economy, insufficient to create prosperity, but enough to avoid the extent of economic stagnation plaguing the Soviet Union. All these set the stage for Gorbachev’s reforms.

Therapeutic Neurostimulation in Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders: A Systematic Review

Invasive and noninvasive neurostimulation therapies for obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRD) were systematically reviewed with the aim of assessing clinical characteristics, methodologies, neuroanatomical substrates, and varied stimulation parameters. Previous reviews have focused on a narrow scope, statistical rather than clinical significance, grouped together heterogenous protocols, and proposed inconclusive outcomes and directions. Herein, a comprehensive and transdiagnostic evaluation of all clinically relevant determinants is presented with translational clinical recommendations and novel response rates. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) studies were limited in number and quality but demonstrated greater efficacy than previously identified. Targeting the pre-SMA/SMA is recommended for transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS yielded superior outcomes, although polarity findings were conflicting, and refinement of frontal/cognitive control protocols may optimize outcomes. For both techniques, standardization of polarity, more treatment sessions (>20), and targeting multiple structures are encouraged. A deep brain stimulation (DBS) ‘sweet spot’ of the striatum for OCD was proposed, and CBT is strongly encouraged. Tourette’s patients showed less variance and reliance on treatment optimization. Several DBS targets achieved consistent, rapid, and sustained clinical response. Analysis of fiber connectivity, as opposed to precise neural regions, should be implemented for target selection. Standardization of protocols is necessary to achieve translational outcomes.