Youth, race and the inner-city estate: narratives of everyday life in Manchester's Hulme, 1970–1994

Since the 1970s, policy-makers and the press have rendered young people, particularly those of black and minority ethnic backgrounds, synonymous with ‘inner-city crisis’. Focusing upon the high-density, multi-storey Hulme estate in Manchester, this article seeks to transcend stereotypical representations of these residents and illuminate their perspectives of the inner city. Conceptualizing the inner city as both a discursive and lived space, the article traces the intersections between its representation and residents’ testimonies to assess how far residents used prevalent understandings of Hulme as a space of crime and social breakdown respectively to shape their narratives of everyday life.

The Relevance of Thomas Berry for 21st Century Catholicity

The ecological crisis continues to be identified as the most significant social breakdown in the world. One of the important foundational influences on the development of an adequate religious response is the thought of cultural historian Thomas Berry. He affirmed the critical role that the world’s religions have in developing a spirituality that supports the sacrifices, visions, and dreams needed to live in an integral way with the Earth’s community of life. Such a spirituality provides the psychic energies we need to adequately respond to the crisis. The author of this article argues that Berry’s thoughts continue to be relevant, especially in the context of the emergence of a renewed sense of Catholicity. This article presents an overview of the breadth and depth of the study that led to Berry’s articulation of a new human orientation needed to reverse the path of devastation. It offers Berry’s insights into the reasons why it is difficult for Christianity to effectively respond to the present crisis and calls for a new Catholicity that functions out of the comprehensive context of an evolutionary and emergent universe.

Coronavirus, the great toilet paper panic and civilisation

Panic buying of toilet rolls in Australia began in early March 2020. This was related to the realisation that the novel coronavirus was spreading across the country. To the general population the impact of the virus was unknown. Gradually the federal government started closing the country’s borders. The panic buying of toilet rolls was not unique to Australia. It happened across all societies that used toilet paper rather than water to clean after defecation and urination. However, research suggests that the panic buying was most extreme in Australia. This article argues that the panic buying was closely linked to everyday notions of Western civilisation. Pedestal toilets and toilet paper are key aspects of civilisation and the fear of the loss of toilet paper is connected to anxiety about social breakdown, the loss of civilisation. This is the fear manifested in the perceived threat posed by the virus.

Komparasi Terhadap Konsep Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam Dan Ukhuwah Insanniyah: Implementasinya Dalam Menjaga Kerukunan Pasca Konflik Antar Umat Beragama Di Kota Mataram

Cross religious studies is important to do in a multicultural society, such as Indonesia. This is because of the potential breakdown that can occur. The social breakdown appeared in various conflicts, one of which occurred between Hindu-Balinese and Muslim-Sasak in Mataram city. This conflict, which often result in problems of tolerance, not only creates chaos but also leaves sensitivity to both of groups that can potentially lead to new conflict. It is necessary to do internalization of awareness about the importance of unity based on the teachings of each religions. The author in this study attempted to conduct cross religious studies in the field of religious philosophy. The author tried to explore and compare the concept of the brotherhood of humanity in Islam, namely ukhuwah insanniyah concept, and the concept of vasudhaiva kutumbakam from Hinduism, as well as explore its relevance in maintaining harmony post-conflict in Mataram. As a research in the field of philosophy, this research uses the philosophical hermeneutic method, with the source of library data. The conclusions of this study: (1) the concept of vasudhaiva kutumbakam is the concept of the whole world family, this concept comes from the Veda, especially the Maha Upanisad. Meanwhile, the concept of ukhuwah insanniyah is the concept of universal brotherhood between mankind which refers to the Qur'an and hadith. (2) Both of concept based on universal relationship, but in the meaning of diversity, the concept of vasudhaiva kutumbakam emphasizes that every being is the same(tat tvam asi) in one family, while the concept of ukhuwah insanniyah emphasizes diversity as a necessity through which every human being can know each other. (3) Both concepts can encourage the emergence of awareness of unity and tolerance among religious communities in Mataram.

Post-Utopia: The Long View

The present article is divided into three parts. The first discusses the nature of utopias and their hypothetical anti-type, dystopias, and also disaster scenarios that are sometimes assimilated to dystopias, with reference also to the idea of post-utopia. An argument is made for the continuity of the utopian impulse, even in an age when brutal wars and forms of oppression have caused many to lose faith in any form of collectivity. Representations of social breakdown and its apparent opposite, totalitarian rigidity, tend to privilege the very individualism that the utopian vision aspires to overcome. The second part looks at examples of each of these types drawn from classical Greek and Roman literature, with a view to seeing how utopias were conceived at a time before the emergence of the modern ideology of the pre-social self. Finally, the third part examines several stories from the collection A People’s Future of the United States which imagine life in the near future. While most illustrate the failure of confidence in the social that has encouraged the intuition that a utopian future is passé, one, it is suggested, reconceives the relation between the individual and the social in a way that points to the renewed possibility of the utopian.

Multipath Forecasting: the Aftermath of the 2020 American Crisis

Recent years have seen major political crises throughout the world. Most recently, the US was swept by a wave of protests, urban riots, and violent confrontations between left- and right-wing extremists. Understanding how future crises will unfold and assessing the resilience of different countries to various shocks is of foremost importance in averting the human costs of state breakdown and civil war. In a recent publication (Turchin et al. 2018) we proposed a novel transdisciplinary approach to modeling social breakdown, recovery, and resilience. This approach builds on recent breakthroughs in macrosocial dynamics (and specifically structural-demographic theory), statistical analysis of large-scale historical data, and dynamic modelling. Our main goal is to construct a series of probabilistic scenarios of social breakdown and recovery. We called this approach—similar to ensemble forecasting in weather prediction—multipath forecasting (MPF). In this article I develop a “prototype” of the MPF engine with the goal of illustrating the utility a fully developed version may have. I first apply the computational model to the period of American history from the beginning of the nineteenth to the end of the twentieth century, with the goal of parameterizing the model and testing it against data. Then I use the parameterized model to forecast the dynamics of instability in the USA beyond 2020 and illustrate how the MPF engine can be used to explore the effects of different policy interventions.