scholarly journals Resistance: An Arendtian Reading of Solidarity and Friendship in Foucault

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Liesbeth Schoonheim
Keyword(s):  
Social Processes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Comprehensive Account ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Transnational Solidarity ◽  
Lgbt Movement ◽  
Late Modern

Recent scholarship has firmly established the similarities between Arendt and Foucault, in particular with regard to the dangers of late-modern social processes. Yet, few have compared their accounts of resistance. This paper argues that although Foucault offers the more comprehensive account, it omits the encounter with the other as unique and unfathomable, which is central to Arendt’s. This omission is particularly striking given the authors’ shared belief that the danger of ‘the social’ and ‘governmentality’ lies in atomizing individuals and barring the development of a singular style of being, and their allusion to friendship and solidarity as sites of resistance. Drawing on Arendt, I show how Foucault restricts his thematization of solidarity and friendship to a reflexive praxis of the subject on her own limits, and argue instead for the relational dimension of resistance. I start by reconstructing their converging analysis of biological racism. I then continue with a discussion of resistance in Arendt, which she develops in response to the Shoah. More specifically, she provides a concept of solidarity and friendship that I draw on to extend Foucault’s analysis of the transnational solidarity among the governed in fighting for their rights vis-à-vis their governments; and of friendship in the context of his interrogation of the LGBT-movement.

Postmodernism, Geography, and the Social Semiotics of Space

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
A P Lagopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Humanistic Geography ◽  
The Social ◽  
Postmodern Philosophy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

The nucleus of postmodern philosophy and theory is derived primarily from French neostructuralist writings. The ontological foundation of such literature is the idealist rejection of the possibility of knowing reality and, as a consequence, the enclosure of the subject within the signifying universe, which in turn results in the exaltation of the signifying processes as the only social processes. The same emphasis, but through nonverbal means, is demonstrated by postmodern architectural and urban design. In geography, however, postmodernism is interpreted differently. In two recent books (by Soja and by Harvey) the postmodern era in human geography is related to the heightened importance of space for social reality and theory. But the split of geography itself between Marxist geography on the one hand, and behavioural and humanistic geography on the other, shows the pertinence of the signifying dimension for the field of geography. In this paper, it is argued that the roles of space and meaning are equally important for geography, and it is proposed that an analysis of the signifying aspect of space may be achieved through semiotics, currently the most complete and sophisticated theory of meaning and culture. The main problem for geography, which is addressed in the final section of this paper, is the integration of a renewed version of the semiotics of space with an equally renewed Marxist geography, the most powerful explanatory approach to geography we have at our disposal.

scholarly journals Alternative approaches in the conceptualization of social capital

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (174-175) ◽  
pp. 152-167
Author(s):  
Natasa Golubovic ◽  
Srdjan Golubovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Social Capital Theory ◽  
Consistent Theory ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Theoretical Position ◽  
The Social ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

Despite the great interest for the concept and a considerable number of papers that deal with the subject of social capital, yet there is no unique and consistent definition of social capital. Forming a consistent theory of social capital is hindered by the presence of several different approaches in the analysis of this phenomenon. Depending on the author?s theoretical position in the definition of social capital or the analysis of its sources, components and outcomes, the emphasis rests on different social processes and relationships. The aim of this paper is to analyze alternative approaches in the conceptualization of social capital, their advantages and shortfalls, and their implications for the development of the social capital theory.

scholarly journals Misreading and re-reading: interpretation in comparative religion

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
René Gothóni
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
The Other ◽  
Personal Beliefs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Marco Polo ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Holistic Conception ◽  
Sinhalese Buddhism ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Christian Discourse

Religion should no longer only be equated with a doctrine or philosophy which, although important, is but one aspect or dimension of the phenomenon religion. Apart from presenting the intellectual or rational aspects of Buddhism, we should aim at a balanced view by also focusing on the mythical or narrative axioms of the Buddhist doctrines, as well as on the practical and ritual, the experiential and emotional, the ethical and legal, the social and institutional, and the material and artistic dimensions of the religious phenomenon known as Buddhism. This will help us to arrive at a balanced, unbiased and holistic conception of the subject matter. We must be careful not to impose the ethnocentric conceptions of our time, or to fall into the trap of reductionism, or to project our own idiosyncratic or personal beliefs onto the subject of our research. For example, according to Marco Polo, the Sinhalese Buddhists were 'idolaters', in other words worshippers of idols. This interpretation of the Sinhalese custom of placing offerings such as flowers, incense and lights before the Buddha image is quite understandable, because it is one of the most conspicuous feature of Sinhalese Buddhism even today. However, in conceiving of Buddhists as 'idolaters', Polo was uncritically using the concept of the then prevailing ethnocentric Christian discourse, by which the worshippers of other religions used idols, images or representations of God or the divine as objects of worship, a false God, as it were. Christians, on the other hand, worshipped the only true God.

Weavers into Heretics? The Social Organization of Early-Thirteenth-Century Catharism in Comparative Perspective

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-137
Author(s):  
Lutz Kaelber
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Middle Ages

How did a person become a heretic in the Middle Ages? Then, once the person was affiliated with a heretical group, how was the affiliation sustained? What social processes and mechanisms were involved that forged bonds among heretics strong enough, in some cases, for them to choose death rather than return to the bosom of the Church? Two competing accounts of what attracted people to medieval heresies have marked the extremes in historical explanations (Russell 1963): one is a materialist account elucidated by Marxist historians; the other one focuses on ideal factors, as proposed by the eminent historian Herbert Grundmann.

scholarly journals El sacrificio animal en la literatura mexicana: cuatro ejemplos

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-165
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Hernández Quezada
Keyword(s):  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
The Other ◽  
Animal Sacrifice ◽  
Physical Suffering ◽  
The Social ◽  
Juan Jose Arreola ◽  
Clifford Geertz ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Broad Approach

In this article we take a general look at four Mexican authors who have tackled the subject of animal sacrifice: Ramón Rubín, Juan José Arreola, Héctor Aguilar Camín and Alberto Chimal. Our broad approach is that one way or the other harmful and disadvantageous situations are expressed for the non-human entity, considering the social implications of the role which has been assigned to it across time, be it in the symbolic act or in today’s production logic. Departing from such Derridean considerations about the existing relationship between humans and fauna, it is evident that in the works of the authors analyzed, the topic or use of animals presents the material reach of their sacrifice, especially when the matter of the literary representation of pain or physical suffering comes into play. It is relevant at the same time to affirm that in this work we consider the reflections of several authors who, from a philosophic or anthropologic perspective, have delved into the fundamental aspects of the sacrificial act, pointing out the evocative role of the animal, rightly conceived as an important cultural event, wherein are manifested transcendental ceremonies (René Girard) or the rites of passage which strengthen the group’s ties (Clifford Geertz).

Some Recent Interpretations of John Stuart Mill

Philosophy ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 43 (163) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Halliday
Keyword(s):  
Central Place ◽  
John Stuart Mill ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Relevant Question ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Conduct ◽  
Other Regarding

It is usual to interpret Mill's understanding of liberty in terms deriving from his distinction in On Liberty between self-regarding and other-regarding conduct. Granted this distinction and Mill's genuine concern to define and defend it, it remains a relevant question why he attached so much importance to it. This raises a less familiar theme in Mill, namely the inter-connection of self-regarding and other-regarding conduct. An uncommitted reading of the main texts suggests an equivalent value is attached to this. Mill clearly and constantly asserts a close connection between each person's own attempt to improve himself, to cultivate his ‘affections and will’, and the social and political structure in which he acts. Self-regarding virtue and responsible social conduct are interdependent; the quality of each depends upon the quality of the other. A fuller recognition of this and its central place in Mill's revision of Bentham may be of help in examining some of the particular problems raised by recent scholarship on Mill.

On the Meaning of “Sovietology”

1998 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aryeh L. Unger
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Other ◽  
Disciplinary Identity ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Common Area ◽  
Critical Scrutiny ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Western Scholarship

The article attempts to explicate the meaning of “Sovietology.” It traces the origins of the term and discusses the uses to which it has been put in the scholarly literature. Two different meanings have been attached to the term. One reflects the understanding of Sovietology as the study of Soviet politics; the other views it as a “basket” of several, variously specified, disciplines in the social sciences and—less often—the humanities, distinguished by a common area orientation. The resultant ambiguity has blurred Sovietology's disciplinary identity. Now that the record of Western scholarship on the Soviet Union has become the subject of critical scrutiny and debate, it is especially important that the meaning of “Sovietology” be clearly stipulated.

The Reform of Peking Opera in Taiwan

1974 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 140-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irmgard Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Dramatic Form ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Peking Opera ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

Readers of this journal who, like myself, have been interested by Colin Mackerras’ article on “Chinese Opera after the Cultural Revolution (1970–72)” in The China Quarterly, No. 55, may like to have some comments on the fate of traditional Peking opera in Taiwan. There, too, there has been “reform” although not generally in such an obvious or dramatic form as on the mainland. At first sight indeed, one might think that ways in which opera is treated on the mainland and in Taiwan are completely different, with the one concentrating on opera as a weapon in the social and political struggle and the other on the development of opera as an artistic form. Nevertheless, in studying aesthetic and theatrical aspects of the changes taking place in Taiwan, which is my main academic interest in the subject, I have been struck by the fact that these can in no way be disentangled from social and political forces.

scholarly journals From Effect to Affect and Back... (Reflections on the Book: Russian Society in Self-Isolation. Social Effects and Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic [Text] : Monograph / N. Kh. Gafiatulina, V. V. Kasyanov, P. S. Samygin, S. I. Samygin ; ed. by M. A. Vaskov. – Moscow : RUSAYNS, 2020. – 178 p.)

2021 ◽  
pp. 154-161
Author(s):  
Galina Shirokalova
Keyword(s):  
Large Time ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Social Effects ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Given

There was no more pressing topic than the reaction of the Russian community to the events around COVID-19 for scientific research in 2020. The researchers chose the only correct methodological message under the given conditions: under the conditions of the pandemic, the problems that are characteristic of modern Western European / Russian civilization and in conditions of relative stability have worsened, accelerated, and aggravated. This made it possible to attract the potential of both domestic and foreign publications of a sufficiently large time range to explain social processes. The work is based on a systematic approach, as the most adequate to the study of the COVID-19 threat to the social immunity of Russian society. At the time of writing the monograph and studying the problem, no one foresaw the threat of the second or third waves, relying on the experience of China, which managed to localize the pandemic in 76 days. Since then, psychological fatigue from the threat of infection has turned into protests against both lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations. The dynamics of social processes expands the subject of research, confirms the correctness of the question about the choice of guidelines for the future development of mankind. New technologies for controlling large masses of people, which are being developed in the context of a pandemic, allow us to solve the problems of further structuring society. The book was published in the summer of 2020, and the months that have passed since then allow readers to assess the heuristic and predictive potential not only of the authors of the monograph, but also of those whose works they attracted to analyze the situation. In our opinion, the researchers correctly assessed the social risks of strengthening the patterns that were formed even before the pandemic, including those associated with restriction.

scholarly journals Hegel's Guilty Conscience: Three Forms of Schuld in the Phenomenology of Spirit

PhaenEx ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-55
Author(s):  
MATTHEW LYONS CONGDON
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
A Priori ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethical Code ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Phenomenology Of Spirit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral System ◽  
The Subject

In what we might call its particularly Christian manifestation, “guilt” denotes the feeling or fact of having offended, the failure to uphold an ethical code. Under such terms, “guilt” connotes negative consequences: shame, punishment, and estrangement. Yet, penetrating further into its meaning and value, one finds that guilt extends beyond this narrow classification, playing a productive, necessary, and ineluctable role for recognitive sociality. This paper examines guilt as it appears in Hegel’s thinking. I find that Hegel’s understanding of Schuld (guilt) in the Phenomenology, undergoes a crucial development over the course of the chapter titled, “Spirit,” culminating in a robust understanding of guilt that represents not a hopelessly broken bond, but a bond that awaits its fulfillment, its very incompleteness exerting a palpable pull upon the guilty party towards its fulfillment. I examine three key moments in “Spirit”: Hegel’s treatments of Antigone, the French Revolution, and the confession and forgiveness of evil. By comparing these moments, I distinguish between “abstract guilt,” guilt that only brings about shame and punishment, and what we might call “determinate guilt”: guilt that brings about action, reminds one of her/his indebtedness to the other. Understanding the development of guilt from the beginning to end of “Spirit” provides an entryway into a discussion of the social and political relevance of Hegel’s conception of the subject as—in a certain sense—always already guilty. I go on to argue that guilt as indebtedness and responsibility only exists as embedded within an already recognitive social structure. Re-thinking guilt as responsibility is not, therefore, a call to a new objective a priori moral system. Rather, it invites us to think through our recognitive being-together in a way that shakes off its metaphysical fetters. Such an ethics of recognitive intersubjectivity is an infinite task—not in the futile sense of the “unhappy consciousness”—but in the sense that we are responsible for constantly understanding, critiquing, and reforming ethical commitments that can only be (understood as) ours.

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