scholarly journals A pragmatic critique of the conception of everyday praxis within Jeffrey Alexander’s cultural sociology

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 423-443
Author(s):  
Srdjan Prodanovic

This paper tries to critically analyse Jeffrey Alexander?s cultural sociology. In the first part of the paper I will examine Alexander?s conception of hermeneutical structuralism which argues that conventional systemic sociology and richness of experience found in everyday praxis can be reconciled. In the next section I will provide a critique of this kind of approach to social theory and maintain that Alexander?s sociology is, in principle, reductionist regarding everyday life. In addition, I will also point out some of the comparative advantages that pragmatically oriented theory has in the attempt of integrating theoretical and practical knowledge. In the final section of the paper, I will try to illustrate some of the major shortcomings of Alexander?s sociology on the concrete example of advances in computer technology.

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Ettlinger

Departing from tendencies to bound precarity in particular time periods and world regions, this article develops an expansive view of precarity over time and across space. Beyond effects of specific global events and macroscale structures, precarity inhabits the microspaces of everyday life. However, people attempt to disengage the stress of precarious life by constructing the illusion of certainty. Reflexive denial of precarious life entails essentialist strategies that implicitly or explicitly classify and homogenize people and phenomena, legitimize the constructed boundaries, and in the process aim at eliminating difference and possibilities for negotiation; the tension between these goals and material realities helps explain misrepresentations that can be catastrophic at multiple scales, re-creating precarity. Reactions to 9/11 by the Bush administration represent a case in point of reflexive denial of precarity through strategies that created illusions of certainty with deleterious results. Normatively, the paradox of precarious life and reflexive denials prompts questions as to how urges for certainty in the context of precarity might be constructively channeled. the author approaches this challenge in the final section by drawing from a nexus of concerns about post-Habermasian radical democracy, individual thought and feeling, and network dynamics. Whereas Hardt and Negri reverse the direction of the Foucauldian concept of biopower from top-down to bottom-up, the author draws from Foucault's concept of governmentality in relation to resistance to imagine a cooperative politics operating within as well as across scales.


Author(s):  
Diauddin Ismail

In everyday life, it is not uncommon when we hear the sound of chanting the holy verses of the Al Al Qur’an  which are read in mosques before prayer time or in other conditions we seem interested in knowing what Surah and which verse is being recited. This is due to the love of Muslims themselves for the Al Qur’an  but not all Muslims memorize the entire contents of the Al Qur’an . Based on the limitations and the magnitude of curiosity about Surah and Verse information, the writer is interested in developing a computer system that can recognize and provide information on the recited Surah and Verse. Advances in computer technology not only make it easier for humans to carry out activities. One of the human intelligences that are planted into computer technology is to recognize the verses of the Al Al Qur’an  Surah Al-Falaq through voice. Ada-Boost method is one method to identify or recognize voice classification, and by using this method the success rate in recognizing verse numbers reaches 72%. This system can only recognize the number of verses of the Al Al Qur’an  Surah Al-Falaq, recorded sound files with the .wav file extension and built using the Delphi programming language.


Author(s):  
Gary Lee Ackerman

Despite efforts by school leaders, teachers, technologists, and researchers; much teaching is unchanged since the arrival of information and computer technology (ICT). The same devices that are deeply embedded in everyday life are still marginalized in many classrooms. Technology acceptance is a framework that has contributed to the development of ICT and ICT-based practices in many fields other than education. Three strategies for supporting ICT in schools that focus on increasing technology acceptance are described from the participants' perspective. The experiences are discussed from several perspectives to both understand technology acceptance as a framework for planning in education and to identify some unanswered questions about technology acceptance that are relevant to education populations.


Author(s):  
Graciela Lara López

Currently, virtual reality (VR) is a computer technology that is growing in terms of developments and discoveries. Virtual reality has been introduced in different areas due to the growing interest it has caused in people. The development of applications with virtual reality is increasingly varied, covering activities, tasks, or processes of everyday life in the fields of industry, education, medicine, tourism, art, entertainment, design, and modeling of objects, among others. This chapter will focus on describing the latest advances and developments in virtual reality within the scope of representing reality in the process of locating objects. With the support of virtual environments and intelligent virtual agents, the author has managed to develop a computational model that generates indications in natural language, for the location of objects considering spatial and cognitive aspects of the users.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1135-1151
Author(s):  
Nick Couldry

This article starts out from the need for critical work on processes of datafication and their consequences for the constitution of social knowledge and the social world. Current social science work on datafication has been greatly shaped by the theoretical approach of Bruno Latour, as reflected in the work of Actor Network Theory and Science and Technology Studies (ANT/STS). The article asks whether this approach, given its philosophical underpinnings, provides sufficient resources for the critical work that is required in relation to datafication. Drawing on Latour’s own reflections about the flatness of the social, it concludes that it does not, since key questions, in particular about the nature of social order cannot be asked or answered within ANT. In the article’s final section, three approaches from earlier social theory are considered as possible supplements to ANT/STS for a social science serious about addressing the challenges that datafication poses for society.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 922-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Blue

The practice turn in social theory has renewed interest in conceptualising the temporal organisation of social life as a way of explaining contemporary patterns of living and consuming. As a result, the interest to develop analyses of time in both practice theories and practice theory-based empirical research is increasing. Practice theorists draw on theories of time and ideas about temporal rhythms to explain how practices are organised in everyday life. To date, they have studied how temporal experiences matter for the coordination of daily life, how temporal landscapes matter for issues of societal synchronisation, and how timespace/s matter for the organisation of human activity. While several studies refer to, draw on, and position themselves in relation to ideas about temporal rhythms, those working with theories of practice have yet to fully utilise the potential of Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis for explaining the constitution of, and more specifically, changes within, social life. I argue that rhythmanalysis can be effectively combined with practice theory to better articulate the ways in which practices become connected through what I describe as processes of institutionalisation. I argue that this combination requires repositioning the role of time in theories of practice as neither experience, nor as landscape, but, building on Schatzki’s work on The Timespace of Human Activity, as practice itself. Drawing on Lefebvre’s concepts of arrhythmia and eurhythmia, and developing Parkes and Thrift’s notion of entrainment, I illustrate how institutional rhythms, as self-organising, open, spatiotemporal practices emerge, endure, and evolve in ways that matter for both socio-temporal landscapes and temporal experiences.


1986 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Darvall

Kids love computers. Computers are not seen as work but rather, games.I believe this to be true for most children. The exception would be the young computer buffs who become hooked on computer technology, and even for these computer buffs, it is probably still a game.Computer technology has become a fact of everyday life. We‘re all affected by computer technology. With this in mind, I believe it is essential that all children become familiar with computers, with regular ‘hands on’ experience. With the right selection of software, schools can incorporate computer-assisted learning across the curriculum. The experiences children have now with computers can lead to a variety of job opportunities in future years.


2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-58
Author(s):  
JUAN LUIS OSSA SANTA CRUZ

AbstractThis article analyses the organisation of the Army of the Andes, created in Mendoza between 1814 and 1817 with the aim of reconquering Chile from the royalists. The first section studies the role of José de San Martín as an informal arbiter in Bernardo O'Higgins’ dispute with José Miguel Carrera. The aim is to explain why San Martín decided to support O'Higgins, and the immediate consequences of this alliance. The second section addresses the main characteristics of the Army of the Andes and the process of militarisation experienced by the local inhabitants. Everyday life in Mendoza became inseparable from the needs of the revolutionary army. The paper then considers the so-called guerra de zapa and the participation of irregular agents. The involvement of spies and guerrilla officers in the revolution increased as warfare intensified. The final section analyses the crossing of the cordillera by the insurgents and the revolutionary triumph of 12 February 1817 at Chacabuco.


2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
PATRICIA HARRIS

The broad contours of the move from the old to the new welfare are well established but the changes in social theory which bear on this have been relatively neglected. Also neglected are the links between these theoretical positions and contemporaneous shifts in economic thought. Drawing on the works of Titmuss, Marshall, Putnam and Etzioni, this paper traces how understandings of social cohesion, social provision, responsibility and obligation have shifted over time. It then indicates the relationship between these constructions and parallel developments in economic theory. Here attention is drawn to a fundamental ideological tension between communitarian and neo-classical accounts. It is argued that governments attempt to resolve this tension by projecting notions of moral disintegration onto welfare claimants. Alternatives to the new welfare are canvassed in the final section of the paper.


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