Anthropologist and Tourist: Mobility of the Udehe Image in Ethnographic Space

The article tries to trace the formation, transformation, and deconstruction of the image of the author’s studied object. At the same time, it is proposed to consider the movement of the subject in the ethnographic space, that is, a temporal and geographically unified space that includes field research, presentations, conversations with colleagues, writing the text of an article, etc. The concept of imaginaries, which is central to the representation of the object, is considered in comparison with tourism practices, where the image is a central element, which gives a better understanding of the practices of both. It is argued that when deconstructing an image, the researcher’s position on the object and the ethnographic space change. The method of self-ethnography and mobility as a concept metaphor serve as tools for deconstructing the image. The main result of such a deconstruction is the ethical conclusions of the relationship of the subject to the object, as well as the performative effect of auto–ethnography. The author at the same time tries to find a solution to establish a reciprocity in relation to the object, as a kind of mandatory ethical action. One of the possible solutions seems to be the use of anthropological knowledge in the commodification of the object’s culture in its economic interests.

Event as Object: Towards a Flat-Event Theory

In the article, the author offers an original version of the solution to the problem of the atomicity of social events. The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that it is indivisibility that makes it possible to distinguish an event from other social phenomena/processes. From the author’s point of view, the event must have a certain duration, which is atomic. As the first step, the author, relying on a wide range of sources that include the views of various theorists, considers the problem of the indivisibility of social events in the current theory of events. The author notes that logical-semantic interpretations of the indivisibility of events have become more widespread than the statement of ontological atomicity. Furthermore, the author dwells, in detail, on the interpretation of atomicity by observation. Analyzing the views of D. Davidson, A. F. Filippov, and others, the author proves that in the case of atomicity, by observation: (1) the criteria for this atomicity are rather blurred; (2) the event is a consequence not only of the observer’s figure, but also of his system of distinction and motives; (3) the complexity may be related to the spatial factor; and 4) the event itself is confused with the fact. The author also believes that limiting social events only to what is available to the human eye is not in line with modern trends. Additionally, the author shows the productivity of understanding the event as an object. In contrast to the participants in discussions aimed at distinguishing an event and an object, the author uses object conceptualization offered by object-oriented ontology. Events, which as objects are capable of change while retaining their indivisibility and stability, can be associated not only with the material but also with the ideal sphere, and have a system of distinctions. The proposed scheme allows us to assert the impossibility of negative events, gives a reason not only to talk about the atomicity of the event but to also emphasize the ontological foundations of this atomicity, and also offers the possibility of thinking about the social beyond the observed.

Secret Life versus Double Life: Modes of Clandestinity of Italian Terrorist Groups

This article presents two distinct modes of operating in a state of clandestinity adopted by Italian leftist terrorist groups, such as the Red Brigades and First Line, in the second half of the 20th century. The two modes of clandestine life are specified with the terms “invisibility” and “camouflage”. The invisibility mode of clandestinity imposes a regime of “secret life” on the group members, while the camouflage mode of clandestinity imposes a “double life” regime on them. The research aims to construct two simplified models, or, to use the Weberian terminology, two “ideal types”. Our primary sources are autobiographies published by former terrorists, official propaganda documents and pamphlets compiled by terrorist groups, and court rulings. Our secondary sources are journalist reports and research published by experts in political violence. From the theoretical point of view, the conclusion is, that for law enforcement, it is much more difficult to combat terrorist formations imposing the double life regime on their members rather than a secret life regime. Still, the double life regime is more stressful from a psychological point of view, as it requires an artificial split of personality. In the conclusions, the article expands the discussion to non-Italian terrorist organizations, with a different political or religious agenda.

Ordinary, Adequate, and Crazy: Reconsidering the “Pyramid” Metaphor for Mass-participation Sports

The article critically examines the “pyramid” metaphor for mass-participation sports. It focuses on the heterogeneity of intra-group structure and motives among adult amateurs participating in open races in running, triathlon, etc. The study is based on comparative participant observation at Russian and European mass-sports events and semi-formalized interviews. We describe the lifestyle and motives of non-elite athletes. Mostly they participate “for fit, for fun, for challenge, for socialization”, defined as key motives. Participation in races is essential for healthy lifestyle. However, the motive “for health” is peripheral. We noted a latent motive of “to win, to be ahead of others”. It reflects the very nature of sports, but creates a “loser's problem” subverting participation. We show how skill-level and a balance between key and latent motives constitute three strata among non-elite athletes. We define these strata as “Ordinary”, “Adequate” and “Crazy” and demonstrate how the motivation difference produces hidden controversies among them. Our theoretical interpretation is based on Norbert Elias’s concept of civilizing process and Konrad Lorenz’s comparative anthropology. We outline two normative sports models. For the Expressive model, the key motives “fit, fun, challenge, socialization” are socially approved, but for the Traditional-competitive or Top-achievements model, only the latent motive of “to win” looks legitimate. We believe that mass-participation sports emerged due to modern recognition of the Expressive model as a new social norm, while the Competitive model hinders its development. Rejecting the “pyramid” metaphor in sports, we propose an “iceberg” metaphor wherein these models coexist through different social roles.

Farewell to Illusions: An Analysis of Late Modern Society by Andreas Reckwitz

Book Review: Andreas Reckwitz. Das Ende der Illusionen: Politik, Ökonomie und Kultur in der Spätmoderne (Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2019).

The Pulse of Non-Democracy?

The article continues the discussion of Grigory Yudin’s book Public Opinion. The review considers Yudin’s arguments on the “plebiscitarian bias” in opinion-poll technology, on the linkages between opinion-polls, Rousseauist tradition and the “plebiscitarian model”, and on Gallup’s, Schumpeter’s, and Weber’s contributions to plebiscitarism. In the context of the proposed conceptual model, controversial issues in the interpretation of Weber’s and Schumpeter’s ideas, as well as an estimation of the Russian political regime in the 2010s are debated. Models of plebescitarism (including their principles and criteria) as proposed by Yudin, and by Urbinati in Democracy Disfigured are compared. The article highlights the differences between Gallup and Schumpeter, as well as between Schumpeter and Weber, in their insights into democracy and public opinion. The reviewer pays attention to the relationship between the classical doctrine of representative democracy by Schumpeter and the bourgeois public sphere by Habermas, and between public debates and the quantification of public opinion. We examine the argument about the continuity between public-opinion polls and the big projects of Modernity, such as representative democracy, public sphere, and biopolitics. Continuity argument is proposed as an alternative to Yudin’s hypothesis about the radical reinvention of ‘democracy’ and ‘public opinion’ during the inter-war period of the 20th century. Yudin’s insights on the social and political onthology of opinion-polls are preliminary, and are reconstructed for further discussion.

Practical Reason

Paul Ricœur’s essay “Practical Reason” was initially published in 1979, and later became part of the book Du texte à l’action: essais d’herméneutique II (1986), marking Ricœur’s transition from the general problems of the justification of hermeneutics as a legitimate philosophical discipline to the problems of practical philosophy in a broad sense. Relying on the analytical theory of action, the interpretative sociology of M. Weber, and the Hegelian critique of Kantian ethics, Ricœur seeks to restore the Aristotelian concept of phronesis or “practical wisdom” in the context of modern philosophizing. This turns out to be unexpectedly relevant where neither Kant’s deontology nor the Hegelian Sittlichkeit can adequately express the entirety of human practical experience in a world where ideology and alienation have become inevitable components of social life.

Aging Assemblies in Various Environments: The Use of Material Optics

The article considers a new approach to the research of aging — material gerontology and the application of this approach to the empirical study of the everyday life of elderly people who are in boarding schools and living separately. The article answers the question of how aging is collected within the framework of the interactions of older people with material and social resources present in two different environments in which older people are located. The article uses the concept of tunability of material and social resources, on the basis of which conclusions are drawn about how the assemblies of aging as a complex inhomogeneous category occur in various environments. Different environments are a nursing home in the city of Petrozavodsk and villages in Karelia, where elderly people live separately. A total of 20 biographical interviews with elderly people (n = 20) and 16 semi-structured interviews (n = 16) with nurses and volunteers working in a boarding house were collected. The article aims to fill the gap in the study of aging, which consists, firstly, in the absence of social research on aging through the prism of considering the material and social resources (actors) present in various environments and collecting aging, and secondly, in the absence of discussion about the possibilities of applying material gerontology in social research and the features of the application of this direction. To fill these gaps, I empirically illustrate the features and roles of material and social resources in the lives of older people and show how aging processes occur and how material and social resources can affect the agency of older people. The study shows that, depending on the environment in which the assemblies of aging take place, its meanings and the understanding of the tunability and features of the tunability of material and social resources by older people also differ.