Neoliberalism and Communication

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter K. Bsumek
Keyword(s):  
Private Property ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Free Markets ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Political Project ◽  
The One ◽  
Explanatory Concept

Neoliberalism has become a central topic in critical cultural studies and communication. Broadly speaking, neoliberalism refers to economic theories, political discourses, and cultural practices that support free markets and private property. It is a political project dedicated to rolling back “the welfare state” and instituting a society based on market principles, as well as the ideologies and forms of governance that justify and enable such reforms. Neoliberalism is seen by many in the critical cultural tradition as a threat to enduring values such as justice, equality, and the ideals of “the public good” and the “common interest.” Others are critical of it as an explanatory concept, arguing that it lacks coherence and is used promiscuously as an all-purpose category of denunciation. In general, communication scholars have approached neoliberalism in two main ways. On the one hand, they have attempted to analyze communication about neoliberalism by focusing on the ways that communication is utilized to represent, enable, and justify neoliberal ideas, policies, and practices. This scholarship is largely concerned with the persuasive effects of communication and rhetoric. On the other hand, they have focused on the forms of communication that produce the cultural and material realities of neoliberalism. These scholars are generally concerned with the circulation of communication and rhetoric. It should come as no surprise that the distinction between the two approaches is not always neat and tidy. This is so, at least in part, because the critical traditions that inform this scholarship do not necessarily agree upon what exactly neoliberalism is. Communication scholars have engaged neoliberalism by aligning with, building upon, and mobilizing a variety of critical cultural scholarly approaches. Three of the most common approaches are discussed: neoliberalism as hegemonic project and ideology, neoliberalism as governmentality and biopolitics, and neoliberalism as political project and process. Each of these traditions assumes that neoliberalism constitutes, to a significant degree, the world we now inhabit.

Albert Schweitzer and the Jews

2014 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-398
Author(s):  
James Carleton Paget
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Community ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
The Other ◽  
Personal Contact ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Long Life ◽  
The One

Albert Schweitzer's engagement with Judaism, and with the Jewish community more generally, has never been the subject of substantive discussion. On the one hand this is not surprising—Schweitzer wrote little about Judaism or the Jews during his long life, or at least very little that was devoted principally to those subjects. On the other hand, the lack of a study might be thought odd—Schweitzer's work as a New Testament scholar in particular is taken up to a significant degree with presenting a picture of Jesus, of the earliest Christian communities, and of Paul, and his scholarship emphasizes the need to see these topics against the background of a specific set of Jewish assumptions. It is also noteworthy because Schweitzer married a baptized Jew, whose father's academic career had been disadvantaged because he was a Jew. Moreover, Schweitzer lived at a catastrophic time in the history of the Jews, a time that directly affected his wife's family and others known to him. The extent to which this personal contact with Jews and with Judaism influenced Schweitzer either in his writings on Judaism or in his life will in part be the subject of this article.

scholarly journals ¿Es el cine japonés un cine nacional?

STUDIUM ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 245-272
Author(s):  
Marcos Centeno Martín
Keyword(s):  
Film Theory ◽  
Film History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
National Cinema ◽  
The West ◽  
Japanese Cinema ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The One ◽  
Film Language

Resumen La construcción del cine japonés como cine nacional ha partido a menudo de una visión esencialista que ha ignorado la dimensión transnacional de esta filmografía. Por un lado, el descubrimiento occidental de ciertos autores japoneses en los años cincuenta condujo a la articulación del paradigma del cine nacional japonés a partir de películas dirigidas a asombrar al público europeo con imágenes exóticas de Japón. Los grandes maestros, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi y Ozu fueron escogidos como representantes de una supuesta japonesidad cinematográfica ignorando el peso de Occidente en sus obras. Por otro lado, el estudio de este corpus tradicionalmente ha evolucionado con herramientas teóricas desarrolladas en Occidente y necesita renovarse con conceptos de la tradición cultural, estética y filosófica propia. Pero además, es necesario evaluar cómo se implementaron los elementos del lenguaje fílmico en Japón para entender su relativismo respecto a la historia general del cine. Sus usos y formas no siempre han coincidido con los desarrollos occidentales, de forma que conceptos fílmicos occidentales no han tenido exactamente el mismo significado en el contexto japonés. Palabras clave: cine japonés, cine nacional, transnacionalidad teoría fílmica, cine de postguerra   Abstract The construction of Japanese cinema as a national cinema has often drawn on a essentialist vision neglecting the transnational nature of this filmography. On the one hand, the Western discovery of certain Japanese authors in the fifties triggered the articulation of the paradigm of the Japanese “national cinema” from films aiming to astonish European audiences with exotic images of Japan. The great masters, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and Ozu, were chosen as main representatives of the apparent cinematographic japaneseness neglecting the weight of the West on their works. On the other hand, the study of this corpus has been traditionally evolved with theoretical tools developed in the West and need a renewal with concepts taken from Japanese philosophical, aesthetic and cultural tradition. Moreover, it is necessary to assess how the film language elements were implemented in Japan in order to understand its relativism regarding the general film history. Their usages and forms were not always equivalent to those in the West and as a consequence, Western concepts ended up having different meanings in the Japanese context. Key words: Japanese cinema, national cinema, transnationality, film theory, postwar cinema

scholarly journals Política de la supervivencia / Politics of Survival

2017 ◽  
pp. 249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Giorgi
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Heterogeneous Materials ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Politics Of The Body ◽  
Act Up ◽  
The One

Resumen: Distintas intervenciones desde prácticas activistas y culturales en torno al VIH escenifican poéticas y políticas del resto corporal en las que se juegan, por un lado, una reorganización de los modos en que se dramatiza en umbral entre lo vivo y lo muerto en lo público –redefiniendo así el tejido mismo de lo que llamamos “comunidad”—; y por otro, indican los modos en que estos activismos impulsan una disputa sobre los “marcos de temporalización” desde los cuales lo viviente se vuelve reconocible políticamente y donde la noción de supervivencia adquiere una centralidad decisiva. Combinando materiales heterogéneos el artículo busca iluminar los modos en que los activismos y las culturas en torno al VIH configuran un terreno decisivo para pensar políticas de la supervivencia del presente. Palabras clave: VIH, ACT-UP, Supervivencia, Temporalidades, Biopolítica. Abstract: Different interventions from activist and cultural practices around HIV staged poetics and politics of the body remmant. They implie, on the one hand, a reorganitzation of the dramatization of the threshold between the living and the dead in the public space; and on the other, they indicate the ways in which these activisms mobilize a dispute over the “frames of temporalization” from which the living becomes politically recognizable and where the notion of survival acquires a decisive centrality. Combining heterogeneous materials, the article seeks to illuminate the ways in which activism and cultures on HIV constitute a decisive ground for thinking about the present policies of survival. Keywords: IHV, ACT-UP, Survival, Biopolitics.

scholarly journals An Investigation of Sites, Uses and Practices For  Literacy in the Lives of Pasifika Students

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John G Dickie
Keyword(s):  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
School Students ◽  
Lower Test ◽  
Pasifika Students ◽  
The One ◽  
Out Of School

<p>An investigation of sites, uses and practices for literacy in the lives of Pasifika students Lower test scores on school measures of literacy for Pasifika students than for the majority of students in New Zealand are a cause for concern. As part of a wider attempt to address this problem the Ministry of Education has argued that teachers need to be better informed of out-of-school literacy practices. This thesis considers what can be learned when this guidance is followed and it investigates students' social and cultural uses of literacy in family and community settings. It explores the argument that knowledge of these out-of-school literacies will inform teachers and through incorporation (McNaughton, 2002) teachers may be able to make effective connections for students to school literacy. A sociocultural perspective is used to investigate the social and cultural practices of the students while the study also uses Cremin's (1976) concept of configurations of sites to consider how learning is mediated for students in different settings. Rogoff's (1995) three planes of analysis provide a tool to examine students' practices at the community, interpersonal, and personal levels. The investigation sought the students' own perspective of how they appropriate knowledge about literacy as they collected information with cameras and journals on their own practices. The participants were 14 Pasifika students aged 11 and 12 years (mostly Samoan) as well as three adult Samoan church representatives and teachers from the students' school. Students' photos were used to elicit rich description in semi-structured interviews and interview schedules were also used with students and adult participants. The findings illustrate how the students were socialised into particular practices that are contextualised in the sites of family, church and neighbourhood. They reveal that for the students there was both overlapping of values and conflict between their sites of literacy practice. The complementarities occurred most strongly between family and church and a valued feature of the students' practice was the use of Samoan language. The most common conflicts were those related to popular culture and they occurred between the sites of family, church and school on the one hand and neighbourhood sites on the other as well as within family sites. The thesis argues that awareness of the complementary and conflicting features is essential for teachers in understanding the complexity the students face in choosing their paths among two cultures. This knowledge enables teachers to incorporate aspects of out-of-school literacy into school practice and to draw on those in the students' backgrounds who may facilitate students' literacy acquisition.</p>

scholarly journals Synergies in coordination: a comprehensive overview of neural, computational, and behavioral approaches

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 2761-2774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Bruton ◽  
Nicholas O’Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Hierarchical Control ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Control Scheme ◽  
The One ◽  
Explanatory Concept ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
And Task

At face value, the term “synergy” provides a unifying concept within a fractured field that encompasses complementary neural, computational, and behavioral approaches. However, the term is not used synonymously by different researchers but has substantially different meanings depending on the research approach. With so many operational definitions for the one term, it becomes difficult to use as either a descriptive or explanatory concept, yet it remains pervasive and apparently indispensable. Here we provide a summary of different approaches that invoke synergies in a descriptive or explanatory context, summarizing progress, not within the one approach, but across the theoretical landscape. Bernstein’s framework of flexible hierarchical control may provide a unifying framework here, since it can incorporate divergent ideas about synergies. In the current motor control literature, synergy may refer to conceptually different processes that could potentially operate in parallel, across different levels within the same hierarchical control scheme. There is evidence for the concurrent existence of synergies with different features, both “hard-wired” and “soft-wired,” and task independent and task dependent. By providing a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted ideas about synergies, our goal is to move away from the compartmentalization and narrow the focus on one level and promote a broader perspective on the control and coordination of movement.

Party System Transformation in Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
F. Basov
Keyword(s):  
Regional Differences ◽  
Party System ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Main Trend ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
The One

This article is devoted to the changes of the party system of Germany. In recent years, the transformation of the party system has caused several political crises. Party spectrum is pluralized and polarized in Germany. Regional differences also increase. In this situation, the German parties are in search of new dynamics. The consequence of this is that all the main parties are now factional. The system that existed in Germany for more than half a century, with the dominance of two political forces (CDU/CSU and SPD), gradually evolved into the “one and a half” party system (only CDU/CSU dominates). The question is whether evolution will continue towards simple multi-party system, or the “one and a half” party system will remain. With a significant degree of certainty, one can say that a return to a “two and a half” party system is impossible. Changes in the party-political system lead to an increase in the diversity of the composition of the coalitions ruling in Germany. German political parties should learn how to create coalitions of three political forces, also at the federal level. The main trend of the coming years for CDU, CSU and SPD will be an attempt to return to their traditional platforms. However, a full return is impossible. More frequent red-red-green coalitions can be expected, including the federal level. But, nevertheless, serious changes in the German party system did not lead to its chronic incapacity – the system adapted to them.

Elaborations

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Suk-Young Chwe
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
The One ◽  
Influence Behavior ◽  
The Way

This chapter begins by describing two competing kinds of explanations to the one offered in the preceding chapter. The first is the way in which rituals are thought to influence behavior through direct psychological stimulation. The second is based on how being physically together in a group of people affects individual emotions. It addresses the question of whether common knowledge is an impossible ideal. It then discusses how publicity—or more precisely, common knowledge generation—and content are never really separable, in contrast to the book's argument that both must be considered in understanding cultural practices such as rituals. The chapter goes on to explain how historical precedent can generate common knowledge and generating community through common knowledge.

Wirtschaftswandel als Kulturwandel? Die Gemeinwohl-Ökonomie als möglicher Wegbereiter für eine Kultur wechselseitiger Verbundenheit

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-191
Author(s):  
Cornelia Kühn
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Ecological Responsibility ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One ◽  
Mode Of Production

The article analyzes the development of new post-capitalist practices with their possible effects on the transformation of self-images and self-conceptions using the example of the economy for the common good. To this end, the connection between the current subject order, the present social crises and the complex entanglement of the prevailing mode of production and life is explained. A socio-ecological transformation would therefore also have to be linked to the emergence of an alternative subject culture which is oriented towards cooperation and community. The Association of Common Good Economy (Verein der Gemeinwohl-Oekonomie) and common good-oriented companies are used in this research as a space to observe social-cultural practices and new forms and conventions of cooperation in their acceptance and dissemination. On the one hand, it shows that these companies, with their values based on cooperation, social and global justice and ecological responsibility, and with their participatory organizational structures, offer opportunities for countercultural practices and make utopias tangible, so that social change and self-change are being made possible on a small scale. On the other hand, by means of detailed examples the inconsistencies of social-cultural practices and the hybrid mixture of subject forms become clear and comprehensible in their specific context.

A Politics of Nearness: Uses of Montage and Haptics in Documenting Cultural Experiences of Communities of India

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aparna Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Northeast Region ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Cultural Experiences ◽  
Local Cultures

The essay focuses on the applications, epistemological and political implications of montage and haptics in documentary practice. The author argues that documenting local cultures and cultural practices constitutes a critical departure from dominant ideological and political discourses surrounding the northeast region of India resulting in it being viewed as the distant other of the nation. The author concludes that a ‘move towards haptics leads to a documentary practice that is less motivated towards normative techniques of interpretation and exposition, and by contrast places viewers in partial and sensory encounters with the life-worlds of the subjects they encounter.’

From the Bamboula to the Baby Dolls

Walking Raddy ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 89-108
Author(s):  
Jennifer Atkins
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
West African ◽  
African American Community ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
African Dance ◽  
Twentieth Century Music ◽  
West African Dance ◽  
Baby Doll

Baby Dolls embodied the rambunctious, ambulatory dance practices of New Orleans' African-American community, playing with ragtime dancing, a style in conversation with early twentieth century music. Baby Doll dancing referenced their contemporary situation, empowering them through ribald street jaunts full of dynamism, while also relating to other cultural practices like jazz funerals and connecting them to a historical legacy that traced back to Congo Square (and earlier). Essential to Congo Square, where the Bamboula dance featured prominently, was that West African dance aesthetics persevered but also blended with sociocultural ideas influenced by its New Orleans context. Improvisation was key. Dancing, whether in Congo Square or ragtime style, highlighted spontaneity and a spirited—even competitive—style that cultivated agency while acknowledging a communal presence. These moments (and movement) were vibrant, illuminating Baby Dolls as innovators within a rich, cultural tradition that left troubles behind as liveliness surged through their dancing processions.

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