scholarly journals (Too) long nineteenth century: The critique of linear time and evolution

Sociologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 478-499
Author(s):  
Vjeran Katunaric

Linear time is a standard term in many sciences and is important in the study of evolution. In this paper, several critical arguments are presented in terms of the notion of linear time from quantum mechanics over cosmological anthropic principle to the sociology of time with special reference to contemporary societies (Gurvitch). In considering the causes of contemporary crises that jeopardize liberal capitalism and democracy, and threaten the survival of humanity, the concept of ?long nineteenth century? whose features are recycled in a system of inequality and conflict on the social class-nation-empire line was proposed as an explanatory framework. As an alternative concept of time, a triple spiral has been proposed whose traces can be recognized in Simmel, and in an explicit way in works of art. Further discussion of the applicability of nonlinear time in the theory of society would probably be difficult, as it implies a paradigmatic shift from new geocentrism and the anthropic principle to the cosmic relations of human society, which can be discerned more in hermeneutic than analytical and critical approaches to society.

2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
GRETA JONES

Whereas there has been considerable debate about the social context of Darwin's theory of natural selection, much less focus has been placed upon Alfred Russel Wallace. This article looks at Wallace's socialism and, in particular, the influence upon his thought of the early nineteenth-century socialist Robert Owen. It argues that a case can be made for seeing Wallace's thought about nature and natural selection in the years up to 1858 in the context of Owenism. Three aspects of his thought are singled out for examination. These are, first, Wallace's views on the role of instinct in animal and human behaviour; second, the idea of colonization in human society and in nature; and third, a re-examination of the role of Malthus in Wallace's thought, emphasizing the influence upon him of the early nineteenth-century socialist critique of Malthusianism.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 103-115
Author(s):  
Andrzej Pieczewski

The social class which was the spiritus movens of rapid economic transformation in the lands of the Kingdom of Poland in the nineteenth century was the bourgeoisie. In the public sphere, there is still a strong conviction among contemporary Poles about the moral defects of capitalists, for whom, according to the prevailing stereotypes, only profit was important. The author of this article, to contradict this claim, gives an example of the life and actions of Jan Gottlieb Bloch (1836–1902). The aim of the article is to present the broad economic, social and scientific activity of Bloch as a member of the bourgeoisie of the Kingdom of Poland. The author also points to the need for further research on the work of Jan Bloch, especially in the field of his economic and irenological writing.


2016 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 614-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Roth

That the extraordinary narrative experiment known as theSatyriconhas regularly stimulated scholarly investigation into the relationship between status and freedom is not surprising for a work, the longest surviving section of which features an excessive dinner party at the house of alibertus. Much of the discussion has concentrated on the depiction of the dinner's host and his freedmen friends. Following the lead of F. Zeitlin and others in seeing the depiction of a ‘freedmen's milieu’ in theCena, J. Bodel argued in a seminal paper published twenty years ago that theCenaopens a window onto the ‘freedman's mentality’. The last ten years or so have seen a revival of the theme, with much emphasis on the display of an open society in theCena, even a Saturnalian world-view, based on a suspension or reversal of the traditional social hierarchies, all framed by a general air of excessive liberality: whatever satirical lens theSatyricon’s author is seen to have projected onto Trimalchio and his freedmen friends,theyare understood as celebrating ‘freedom's defining difference’. In the light of such a unifying conceptualization of theCena’s motley crew, it is not surprising that scholars have come to understand the libertine assemblage as a reflection of ‘the social class of the “freedmen” in first-centurya.d.Italy’. After all, ‘class’ can be defined as ‘a number of individuals (persons or things) possessing common attributes’, and, with specific regard to human society, as ‘a division of society according to status’.


2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
PATRICIA OWENS

AbstractAs the concept of human security has become part of the mainstream discourse of international politics it should be no surprise that both realist and critical approaches to international theory have found the agenda wanting. This article seeks to go beyond both the realist and biopolitical critiques by situating all three – political realism, biopolitics and human security – within the history and theory of the modernrise of the socialrealm from late eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe. Human security is the further expansion ofsocialforms of governance under capitalism, more specifically a form ofsocialpolitikthanrealpolitikor biopolitics. Drawing on the work of historical sociologist Robert Castel and political theorist Hannah Arendt, the article develops an alternative framework with which to question the extent to which ‘life’ has become the subject of global intervention through the human security agenda.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-105
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hill

The city Liedertafels of Melbourne in the late colonial era were extraordinarily active, essentially amateur societies, with burgeoning memberships through to the early 1890s and a busy and varied calendar of men-only and mixed concerts and social events. This article examines aspects of the Melbourne (previously Melbourner Deutsche) Liedertafel (est. 1879) and the Metropolitan (later Royal Metropolitan) Liedertafel (est. 1870) as they functioned within late nineteenth-century Melbourne society, particularly the 1880s to Federation (1901). Opening with preliminary discussion of the social class of the participants and the role of women in the societies, it focuses on the balance in these choirs between the amateur and professional and the social and musical. The article begins with a consideration of the participants’ status as amateur or professional. It looks at any tensions between the two and charts the ways in which the balance between amateur and professional elements changed over the period and gives reasons for those changes. A second section outlines some of the varied and often picturesque types of semi-social, social and ceremonial functions in which the societies involved themselves, but places these briefly in the context of their avowed priorities and aims.


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary L. Nelson ◽  
Kelly L. Huffman ◽  
Stephanie L. Budge ◽  
Rosalilla Mendoza

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-32
Author(s):  
Le Hoang Anh Thu

This paper explores the charitable work of Buddhist women who work as petty traders in Hồ Chí Minh City. By focusing on the social interaction between givers and recipients, it examines the traders’ class identity, their perception of social stratification, and their relationship with the state. Charitable work reveals the petty traders’ negotiations with the state and with other social groups to define their moral and social status in Vietnam’s society. These negotiations contribute to their self-identification as a moral social class and to their perception of trade as ethical labor.


2014 ◽  
Vol 55 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 131-144
Author(s):  
Suzanne Marie Francis

By the time of his death in 1827, the image of Beethoven as we recognise him today was firmly fixed in the minds of his contemporaries, and the career of Liszt was beginning to flower into that of the virtuosic performer he would be recognised as by the end of the 1830s. By analysing the seminal artwork Liszt at the Piano of 1840 by Josef Danhauser, we can see how a seemingly unremarkable head-and-shoulders bust of Beethoven in fact holds the key to unlocking the layers of commentary on both Liszt and Beethoven beneath the surface of the image. Taking the analysis by Alessandra Comini as a starting point, this paper will look deeper into the subtle connections discernible between the protagonists of the picture. These reveal how the collective identities of the artist and his painted assembly contribute directly to Beethoven’s already iconic status within music history around 1840 and reflect the reception of Liszt at this time. Set against the background of Romanticism predominant in the social and cultural contexts of the mid 1800s, it becomes apparent that it is no longer enough to look at a picture of a composer or performer in isolation to understand its impact on the construction of an overall identity. Each image must be viewed in relation to those that preceded and came after it to gain the maximum benefit from what it can tell us.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sina Saeedy ◽  
Mojtaba Amiri ◽  
Mohammad Mahdi Zolfagharzadeh ◽  
Mohammad Rahim Eyvazi

Quality of life and satisfaction with life as tightly interconnected concepts have become of much importance in the urbanism era. No doubt, it is one of the most important goals of every human society to enhance a citizen’s quality of life and to increase their satisfaction with life. However, there are many signs which demonstrate the low level of life satisfaction of Iranian citizens especially among the youth. Thus, considering the temporal concept of life satisfaction, this research aims to make a futures study in this field. Therefore, using a mixed model and employing research methods from futures studies, life satisfaction among the students of the University of Tehran were measured and their views on this subject investigated. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analysed together in order to test the hypotheses and to address the research questions on the youth discontentment with quality of life. Findings showed that the level of life satisfaction among students is relatively low and their image of the future is not positive and not optimistic. These views were elicited and discussed in the social, economic, political, environmental and technological perspectives. Keywords:  futures studies, quality of life, satisfaction with life, youth


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