What is a social pattern? Rethinking a central social science term

The main aim of this article is to start a discussion of social pattern, a term that is commonly used in sociology but not specified or defined. The key question can be phrased as follows: Is it possible to transform the notion of social pattern from its current status in sociology as a proto-concept into a fully worked out concept? And if so, how can this be done? To provide material for the discussion we begin by introducing a few different types of patterns that are currently being used (patterns in nature, cultural patterns, statistical patterns, and computationally generated patterns). This is followed by a suggestion for what a strictly sociological concept of social pattern may look like. A useful and theoretically solid concept of social pattern can in our view be constructed by basing it on Weber’s concept of social action. This means that both the behavior of the actors and the meaning these invest their behavior with must be taken into account. The article ends with a brief discussion of how to use the concept of social patterns in an effective way and what may endanger such a use.

Virgil’s Eclogues as Meditation

This chapter argues that Virgil’s Eclogues give literary form to Rome’s solitary sphere and make solitude their central social and literary problem. A meditation on Virgil’s use of the verb meditari (“to meditate, contemplate, practice”) and on the fourth Eclogue provides background for a formulation of Virgil’s model of “loveful reading” that, in its solitude, nuances readings of the Eclogues as representing dreams of social reciprocity and communal (pastoral) humanism. Drawing on multiple genealogical and comparative sources, and the whole of the Eclogues book, it argues that the first, fifth, and tenth Eclogues privilege the solitary over the private and public. Finally, it shows how Virgil confounds the commonplace assignment of the pastoral of solitude to later literary periods, in ways appreciated by two of Virgil’s closest readers: John Milton and Andrew Marvell.

Castas, raças e a política colonial na Índia

<p>Em <em>Homo hierarchicus</em> (1966), Louis Dumont apresenta o sistema das castas como uma instituição social central da Índia e o opõe ao fenômeno do racismo, que o autor relaciona a sociedades nominalmente igualitárias nas quais perduram desigualdades justificadas com base em argumentos biológicos. Buscando uma alternativa a esta análise estruturalista clássica, o artigo aponta para os contextos históricos em que as castas se tornaram importantes organizações sociopolíticas e sofreram diversas remodelações: busca-se mostrar como as disputas locais, que envolviam colonizadores, elites brâmanes, protonacionalistas e até líderes dalits, contribuíram para a consolidação e disseminação do sistema de castas em todo o subcontinente. Nos diversos discursos, tanto a casta quanto a raça foram usadas como argumento não apenas para incentivar processos de identificação ou distanciamento, mas também para justificar tratamento desigual e exclusão ou reivindicar direitos específicos.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave: </strong>casta | raça | colonialismo | Índia.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><em><strong>Abstract:</strong></em></p><p><em>In </em>Homo hierarchicus<em> (1966), Louis Dumont presents the caste system as a central social institution in India and opposes it to the phenomenon of racism, which the author relates to nominally egalitarian societies in which inequalities justified by biological arguments persist. Seeking an alternative to this classic structuralist analysis, this article points to the historical contexts in which caste became an important sociopolitical organization and underwent several remodelings: it seeks to show how local disputes involving colonizers, the Brahmin elites, proto-nationalists and even Dalit leaders contributed to the consolidation and dissemination of the caste system throughout the subcontinent. In various discourses, both caste and race were used as arguments not only to encourage processes of identification or distancing, but also to justify unequal treatment and exclusion or to claim specific rights.</em></p><p><em><em><strong>Keywords: </strong></em>caste | race | colonialism | India.</em></p>

Főúri házikápolnák a 18–19. századi Magyarországon

A kastélyok, paloták, kúriák, „várkastélyok”, várak – vagyis a főúri lakóhelyek – elsősorban profán építészeti műfajt képviselnek, azonban funkcionális sokszínűségüket és komplexitásukat jól reprezentálja, hogy többségük szakrális rendeltetéselemeket is befogadott. A házikápolna a világi főúri lakóhelyekben az otthoni vallásgyakorlás legfontosabb színhelye, amely a 19. század közepéig jellemzően a főúri vallásosság szimbóluma volt. A házikápolnák térkompozíciója a liturgia egyszerűsített változatára specializálódott. Ugyanakkor a főúri, valamint a köznépi együttes jelenlét funkcionálisan differenciált, tagolt téralakítást eredményezett. A 18. századi példák nagy belmagasságú, karzatokkal kialakított, boltozott csarnokterei késő középkori hagyományon alapulhattak, ugyanakkor korabeli jellemzőjük, hogy közvetlen udvari bejáratuk révén nyilvános liturgiára is alkalmasak voltak. A házikápolnák diszpozíciója a 18–19. században rendkívüli változatosságot mutatott. Az 1850 előtti példáknál az épületen belüli térkapcsolatot a főúri oratórium-karzat biztosította, amely jellemzően a férfi lakosztály felől – annak földszinti vagy emeleti elhelyezésétől függetlenül – volt megközelíthető. Az időszakban volt példa arra, hogy a kápolna a női oldalon helyezkedett el, és volt példa a két lakosztály közötti diszpozícióra is. A nagyvonalú, attraktív kialakítású nyilvános kápolnák mellett kisebb, helyiségsorba illeszkedő, lakosztályokon belülre pozícionált magánkápolnát is gyakran létesítettek a korszakban. A 19. század közepétől a házikápolnák hagyományos funkcionalitása megmaradt, de elhelyezésükre jellemző volt a tulajdonosi lakosztályoktól távolabbi, esetenként a vendéglakrészekhez az épületszárnyak végén kapcsolódó, tehát az elsődleges forgalmi terektől kieső, „perifériás” diszpozíció, de előfordult a központi társasági terek monumentális csoportjához történő hangsúlyos kapcsolódás is.Summary. Castles, palaces, mansions, fortresses – namely the noble households – are elements of the profane architectural genre primarily, but their functional diversity and complexity are well represented by the fact that most of them have sacred functions as well. The home chapel of the secular noble households can be considered as the most important venue for religious practice at home, which was a typical symbol of the noble religiousness until the mid-19th century. The spatial composition of the home chapels was specialized to a simplified version of the liturgy. Nevertheless, the joint presence of the nobility and the common folk resulted in a functionally differentiated, articulated space form. The 18th-century examples of vaulted halls with high ceilings and galleries could have been based on a late-medieval tradition, but they were suitable for public liturgy as well through their direct courtyard entrance. The disposition of the home chapels was very various in the 18th and 19th centuries. As for the pre-1850 examples their spatial connection within the building was provided by the noble oratorial gallery, which was accessible from the male apartments typically, regardless of its layout in ground-floor or upstairs. At the same time there were also some examples of a chapel on the female side, and between the two apartments as well. In addition to the generous, attractive public chapels, also smaller private chapels were often built within the apartments at that time. From the middle of the 19th century the traditional functionality of the home chapels was preserved, but it became typical that the location of the chapels was rather away from the owner apartments, in some cases connected to the guest apartments at the end of the building wings, which meant a “peripheral” disposition to the primary paths of usage. Besides, there are examples to an emphatic connection to the monumental group of central social rooms.

Naturalizing the centennial: History, memory, and the limits of human lifespans

Recent studies of centennials focus on explaining the social and political contexts for such commemorations. This paper develops an alternative, naturalistic theory of these long-range anniversaries. The paper starts by describing the value of a naturalistic account of complex cultural formations, and by reviewing basic demographic and physiological facts underlying centennial observances. Next, the paper provides a novel taxonomy of three central social functions of centennials, highlighting their roles as standards of greatness, mirrors of progress, and spurs to renovation. Each of these functions reflects the existence of certain predictable limits to human lifespans. The paper concludes by considering some transformations in form and function that centennials might undergo in a potential future of extended longevity.

Diaspora Policies, Consular Services and Social Protection for Ecuadorian Citizens Abroad

This chapter provides a general overview of the main characteristics of Ecuadorian emigration and describes the general institutional framework whereby Ecuadorian authorities interact with nationals abroad. It then presents a general review of the main engagement policies with the Ecuadorian diaspora. Lastly, it presents the central social protection-oriented diaspora engagement policies and services currently in force to protect nationals abroad, specifically those who live overseas permanently and those in vulnerable conditions. A particular focus is put on policies in the areas of unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits, and economic hardship. Overall, the chapter shows that Ecuador’s policy towards citizens abroad is connected to a political shift in the country and to the new political discourse that appeared as of 2006.

How Injustices Harm You

Chapter 5 mounts the main argument of the book to show that oppression makes everyone unfree. The main ideas are that oppressions are despotic over their victims, that they can endure only if they try to suppress all actual or potential resistance, that any institutional feature of society that suppresses resistance has established authority, that institutional features with established authority are central social institutions, while suppressing resistance to central social institutions counts as authoritarian tactics used against everyone, that such tactics count as arbitrary power, and that to be subjected to such power is to be subjected to unfreedom of the kind theorized by neo-republicans and Hayekian competitive-order theorists. And since we all have a decent-life interest in freedom from arbitrary power, we are all harmed by such oppression, since it sets back this interest for everyone in society.

The Ubiquity of Joint Commitment

After noting that joint commitments can be made gradually and by more subtle means than those constitutive of agreements and promises, and that they may obtain in large populations spread over great distances, this chapter argues that many central social phenomena other than agreements and promises are constituted by joint commitments with associated demand-rights and directed obligations. These phenomena range from the instantaneous occurrence of “mutual recognition” between two people in close proximity to large, enduring social groups. They include shared intentions or plans, doing things together, and collective attitudes such as collective value judgments. It is argued also that a particular kind of joint commitment offers an intelligible ground for command authority. Thus, should joint commitment be the only source of demand-rights, such rights will still be ubiquitous in human lives.

Playing for social equality

This article claims that the protection of children’s capability for play is a central social-political goal. It provides the following three-premise argument in defense of this claim: (i) we have strong and wide-ranging normative reasons to be concerned with clusters of social deficiency; (ii) particular fertile functionings play a key role for tackling clusters of social deficiency; and finally (iii) the capability for childhood play is a crucial, ontogenetic prerequisite for the development of those particular fertile functionings. Thus, in so far as we consider it a central political goal to tackle social deficiency, we should be concerned with protection of childhood play capability. This conclusion raises new insights on the importance – for global development policy as well as for welfare states’ aim to secure social justice – of protecting children’s capability to engage in playful activities.