scholarly journals Ladies, Gentlemen and Guys: The Gender Politics of Politeness

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Sonam Pelden ◽  
Elizabeth Reid Boyd ◽  
Madalena Grobbelaar ◽  
Kwadwo Adusei-Asante ◽  
Lucy Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
Gender Politics ◽  
Western World ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Polite Society ◽  
Conservative Post ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
Race And Culture

Are there ladies and gentlemen in the 21st century? Do we need them? In the 20th century, lady became particularly unpopular with second wave feminists, who preferred ‘woman’. Gentleman was seen as similarly politically incorrect: class, race and culture bound. Following previous research on the word lady, we explore here some current evocations and debates around these words. We consider how the more casual, etymologically gendered term ‘guy’ has been utilized for men and women, and how it functions to reflect and obscure gender. While the return of the lady might be considered a consumer fad, a neo-conservative post-feminist backlash, or nostalgia for an elite ‘polite society’, it also offers an opportunity for a deeper discussion about civility as part of a broader conversation that is gaining impetus in the Western world. Politeness is personal and political. Whilst evidence for a comeback of the gentleman is limited, we critically consider the re-emergence of the lady as reflecting a deeper desire for applied sexual and social ethics. Such gender ethics have global, social and cultural ramifications that we ought not to underestimate. The desire for a culture of civility is gaining momentum as we are increasingly confronted with the violent consequences of a culture without it.

What is “Toxic Masculinity” and Why Does it Matter?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1097184X2094325
Author(s):  
Dr. Carol Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Gender Politics ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Gender Hierarchies ◽  
The Early 21St Century ◽  
Men's Movements

Coined in late 20th-century men’s movements, “toxic masculinity” spread to therapeutic and social policy settings in the early 21st century. Since 2013, feminists began attributing misogyny, homophobia, and men’s violence to toxic masculinity. Around the same time, feminism enjoyed renewed popularization. While some feminist scholars use the concept, it is often left under-defined. I argue that talk of toxic masculinity provides an intriguing window into gender politics in any given context. However, feminists should not adopt toxic masculinity as an analytical concept. I consider the term’s origins, history, and usage, arguing that it appears in individualizing discourses that have historically targeted marginalized men. Thus, accusations of toxic masculinity often work to maintain gender hierarchies and individualize responsibility for gender inequalities to certain bad men.

scholarly journals Rethinking the message of the church in the 21st century: An amalgamation between science and religion

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk G. Van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Theological Training

Throughout its history, Christianity has stood in a dichotomous relation to the various philosophical movements or eras (pre-modernism, modernism, postmodernism and post-postmodernism) that took on different faces throughout history. In each period, it was the sciences that influenced, to a great extent, the interpretation and understanding of the Bible. Christianity, however, was not immune to influences, specifically those of the Western world. This essay reflects briefly on this dichotomy and the influence of Bultmann’s demythologising of the kerygma during the 20th century. Also, the remythologising (Vanhoozer) of the church’s message as proposed for the 21st century no more satisfies the critical Christian thinkers. The relationship between science and religion is revisited, albeit from a different perspective as established over the past two decades as to how the sciences have been pointed out more and more to complement theology. This article endeavours to evoke the church to consider the fundamental contributions of the sciences and how it is going to incorporate the sciences into its theological training and message to the world.

Philosophy Educating Humanity

1998 ◽  
pp. 6-12
Author(s):  
Carl Becker
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
World View ◽  
Western World ◽  
Common Values ◽  
Asian Philosophy ◽  
The World ◽  
Western Ideals

The 20th century may be considered the ultimate expression of Western ideals and philosophy: "civilized" humanity's attempt to dominate "uncivilized" peoples and nature. The 21st century soberingly proclaims the shortsightedness and ultimate unsustainability of this philosophy. This paper shows the limitations of a modern Western world-view, and the practical applicability of ideas to be found in Asian philosophies. In outline, the contrast may be portrayed by the following overgeneralizations: (1) From a linear to a cyclical world view; (2) from divine salvation to karmic necessity; (3) from human dominion over nature to human place within nature; (4) from the perfectibility of humanity and the world through science; (5) from atomistic mechanistic individualism to organic interdependence; (6) from competition to cooperation; (7) from glorification of wealth to respect for humanhood; (8) from absolute cultural values to necessary common values. Each of these attitudes is examined in light of what we now know about the world in the 21st century, as Asian philosophy is found applicable to address future problems.

scholarly journals Polskie miasta i wsie XXI wieku. Zacieranie się granic, języków i kultur

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Halina Kurek
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Western World ◽  
Big Cities ◽  
Polish Culture ◽  
The Village ◽  
The City ◽  
Second World

Polish Cities and Villages in the 21st Century: Blurring of the Borders, Languages and CulturesUp to the middle of the 20th century, big cities, as economic units and communities that were characterized by the very varied professional and social structure of their inhabitants, marked not only administrative borders but also clear linguistic and cultural borders for the traditional monolithic village. After the Second World War, due to various socio-economic processes which resulted in big cities absorbing the surrounding villages, the administrative borders also started to change. Migrations from villages to cities and improved education began the process of blurring cultural and linguistic borders in the 20th century. At the beginning of the 21st century, the phenomenon of linguistic-cultural unification was facilitated by the trend of inhabitants of big cities starting to move to suburban villages. However, the rapid intensification of this phenomenon was mainly influenced by the common availability of the internet. The English language and the American style of culture became the factors that unified the linguistic and cultural differences between Polish cities and villages. The first quarter of the 21st century marked the beginning of the process of blurring not only the cultural differences between the city and the village, but also the virtual borders between Polish culture and the foreign culture of the Western world. Polskie miasta i wsie XXI wieku. Zacieranie się granic, języków i kulturDo połowy XX wieku wielkie miasta jako organizmy gospodarcze i zbiorowości charakteryzujące się bardzo zróżnicowaną strukturą zawodową i społeczną ludności, oddzielały od monolitycznej, tradycyjnej wsi nie tylko granice administracyjne, lecz także wyraźne granice językowe i kulturowe. Po II wojnie światowej na skutek różnorodnych procesów społeczno-ekonomicznych, powodujących między innymi wchłanianie przez wielkie miasta okolicznych wsi, zmianom zaczęły też ulegać granice administracyjne. Migracje ze wsi do miast i wzrost poziomu wykształcenia ludności napływowej rozpoczęły w drugiej połowie XX wieku proces zacierania się również granic kulturowych i językowych. Na początku XXI wieku zjawisko unifikacji językowo-kulturowej znacznie przyspieszyła moda na osiedlanie się w podmiejskich wsiach mieszkańców dużych miast. Gwałtowne nasilenie się omawianego procesu nastąpiło jednak przede wszystkim na skutek powszechnej dostępności Internetu. Język angielski i kultura w stylu amerykańskim stały się czynnikami unifikującymi zróżnicowania językowe i kulturowe polskich miast i wsi. W pierwszej ćwierci XXI wieku rozpoczął się więc proces zacierania się granic językowo-kulturowych pomiędzy miastem a wsią, a także wirtualnych granic pomiędzy rodzimą kulturą polską a obcą kulturą świata zachodniego.

Catholicism and the Frankfurt School

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf J. Siebert ◽  
◽  
Michael R. Ott ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Culture Wars ◽  
Western World ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Alternative Future

The paper traces the development from the medieval, traditional union, through the modern disunion, toward a possible post-modern reunion of the sacred and the profane. It concentrates on the modern disunion and conflict between the religious and the secular, revelation and enlightenment, faith and autonomous reason in the Western world and beyond. It deals specifically with Christianity and the modern age, particularly liberalism, socialism and fascism of the 2Oth and the 21st centuries. The problematic inclination of Western Catholicism toward fascism, motivated by the fear of and hate against socialism and communism in the 20th century, and toward exclusive, authoritarian, and totalitarian populism and identitarianism in the 21st. century, is analyzed, compared and critiqued. Solutions to the problem are suggested on the basis of the Critical Theory of Religion and Society, derived from the Critical Theory of Society of the Frankfurt School. The critical theory and praxis should help to reconcile the culture wars which are continually produced by the modern antagonism between the religious and the secular, and to prepare the way toward post-modern, alternative Future III - the freedom of All on the basis of the collective appropriation of collective surplus value. Distribution and recognition problems are equally taken seriously.

“Band Wagon and Gravy Train”: uses and abuses along the Silk Road

Afghanistan ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-194
Author(s):  
Warwick Ball
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Ancient Trade ◽  
International Image ◽  
Academic Discussion ◽  
The Silk Road

The Silk Road as an image is a relatively new one for Afghanistan. It appeals to both the pre-Islamic and the perceived Islamic past, thus offering an Islamic balance to previous identities linked to Bamiyan or to the Kushans. It also appeals to a broader and more international image, one that has been taken up by many other countries. This paper traces the rise of the image of the Silk Road and its use as a metaphor for ancient trade to encompass all contacts throughout Eurasia, prehistoric, ancient and modern, but also how the image has been adopted and expanded into many other areas: politics, tourism and academia. It is argued here that the origin and popularity of the term lies in late 20th century (and increasingly 21st century) politics rather than any reality of ancient trade. Its consequent validity as a metaphor in academic discussion is questioned

Who’s holding up the sky? On Rymba, a novel by A. Bushkovsky

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-158
Author(s):  
A. V. Zhuchkova
Keyword(s):  
Gender Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Flood Zone ◽  
The Social ◽  
Russian North ◽  
And Gender

The article deals with A. Bushkovsky’s novel Rymba that goes beyond the topics typical of Russian North prose. Rather than limiting himself to admiring nature and Russian character, the author portrays the northern Russian village of Rymba in the larger context of the country’s mentality, history, mythology, and gender politics. In the novel, myth clashes with reality, history with the present day, and an individual with the state. The critic draws a comparison between the novel and the traditions of village prose and Russian North prose. In particular, Bushkovsky’s Rymba is discussed alongside V. Rasputin’s Farewell to Matyora [ Proshchanie s Matyoroy ] and R. Senchin’s The Flood Zone [ Zona zatopleniya ]. The novel’s central question is: what keeps the Russian world afloat? Depicting the Christian faith as such a bulwark, Bushkovsky links atheism with the social and spiritual roles played by contemporary men and women. The critic argues, however, that the reliance on Christianity in the novel verges on an affectation. The book’s main symbol is a drowning hawk: it perishes despite people’s efforts to save it.

The role of science in the study of and response to space threats

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (8) ◽  
pp. 777-799
Author(s):  
B. M. Shustov
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Space Debris ◽  
The Sun ◽  
National Program ◽  
Biological Hazard ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Space Activities

During the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, space hazards multiplied, the most urgent of which is space debris. Professionals working in space are exposed to this hazard daily and are aware of it as a problem. Furthermore, increasing attention is being paid to the unpredictable behavior of the Sun, which produces the so-called space weather. The asteroid-comet hazard is considered as potentially having the most catastrophic consequences. No manifestations of biological hazard have yet been observed, although as space activities develop, it is becoming increasingly important. The appropriate time scale for astrophysical hazards is many millions of years, so from a practical perspective, they have no importance. This article briefly describes the main types of space hazards. The author analyzes the results of research and practical work in the field, both worldwide and specifically in Russia. Comparative analysis leads to the clear conclusion that a national program must be developed for the study of space hazards and to respond to space threats. This article is based on a report made by the author at the meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) on January 15, 2019.

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