Dialogue across Differences: Continuing the Conversation

1991 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 393-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Burbules ◽  
Suzanne Rice
Keyword(s):  
Social Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Postmodern Thought

In this article, Nicholas Burbules and Suzanne Rice engage several of the central claims made by postmodern authors about the possibilities and limits of education. Specifically,they focus on postmodern conceptions of difference, and on the question of whether dialogue across differences, particularly differences in social power, is possible and worthwhile. In order to answer this question, Burbules and Rice distinguish two trends within postmodern thought: one extends and redefines modernist principles such as democracy, reason, and equality; the other deconstructs and rejects these principles. They argue that it is the redefinition of modernist principles, not their wholesale rejection, that offers educators the most hopeful and useful conception of dialogue across differences.

scholarly journals On the concept of habitus: Feminist critic of Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-192
Author(s):  
Dejan Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
The Other ◽  
Symbolic Violence ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Asymmetric Distribution ◽  
Theoretical System

Key contemporary sociological theorists, such as Foucault or Habermas rarely explicitly discussed gender in their studies. This fact has not caused a lack of interest in the critical examination of the theoretical systems of these authors within a feminist perspective. During the 1990?s feminists? attention was drawn to Pierre Bourdieu?s social theory. French sociologist?s study Masculine Domination deals with issues of gender dynamics and its reproduction. In this study the persistence of the asymmetric distribution of social power between women and men is explained by concepts of habitus and symbolic violence. As this article will show, social change cannot be explained by Bourdieu?s concept of habitus, as a key link between social structure and action, due to its reduction of actors to socialized bodies, which are practically deprived of any true action potential. On the other hand, with regard to social activism as a permanent feature of feminist theory, this paper seeks to examine whether critical examination of Bourdieu?s conceptual apparatus achieves to provide the means to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings of the theoretical system of French sociologist. In other words, this article seeks to answer the question whether such a modification of habitus is possible, which will allow for actors whose action is truly structured and structuring, and lead to possible change of existing power relations.

Specters of Heidegger

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Chaouat
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Critical Distance ◽  
The Other ◽  
National Literature ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Postmodern Thought ◽  
The U.S

My first chapter is dedicated to post-Heideggerian thought, and to the unbearable legacy of Heidegger in France and beyond. The decentering of the subject, the recoding of Heideggerian ontology as an ethics of the other, the idealization of the Jews as diasporic beings and ontological strangers (grounded in an operation of Judaization of Dasein), the metaphysical reading of the Holocaust as an event outside of history, the celebration of nomadism and deterritorialization—all that have made it difficult if not downright impossible to think of Jewish national sovereignty and Jewish normalcy. Likewise, French postmodern thought has not been able or willing to engage with the resurgence of antisemitism—an antisemitism that does not fit its theoretical, ideological and metaphysical framework. Derrida's disciples continue to speak the language of existential ontology, albeit with a critical distance, or with serious distortions—a language that is no longer in use except in national literature and cultural studies departments in the U.S. and is now employed to nurture the new antisemitism.

Manipulation by deliberate failure of communication

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 502-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sol Azuelos-Atias
Keyword(s):  
Social Power ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vicious Circle ◽  
Context Model ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
Context Models

This work studies manipulative use of language that can be called “deliberate failure of communication”; I characterize this kind of manipulation and show that it can be found in the discourse of marketing experts and legal professionals. Relying on relevance theory, I show that manipulation of this kind takes advantage of what van Dijk calls the “context model” of the addressees. I exemplify two ways in which the context models of some of the discourse’s participants might be misused in order to manipulate them. One way is exemplified by a text from an advertisement, the other by a text from a criminal court file. I propose, finally, that the analysis supports van Dijk’s view that social, discursive, and epistemic inequalities reproduce one another in a kind of vicious circle. It suggests, in van Dijk’s terms, that manipulation by deliberate failure of communication is a discriminatory use of language employed by elite groups in order to reproduce their social power.

scholarly journals Marginalized centre: Wana people and the geography of power

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Giorgio Scalici
Keyword(s):  
Social Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
World Religions ◽  
The West ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Relationship Of

The Wana of Morowali (Indonesia) are nowadays a small endangered community marginalized by the Indonesian government, world religions and the other communities in the area but, according to their own mythology, they are not the periphery of the world, but the real centre of it. Their cosmogonic myth tells how the Wana land (Tana Taa) was the first land placed on the primordial waters and it was full of mythical power, a power that, when the land was spread around the world to create the continents, abandoned the Wana to donate wealth and power to the edge of the world: the West. This myth has a pivotal role in the Wana worldview, their categorization of the world and the power relationships in it. The Wana reverse the traditional relationship between centre and periphery, placing themselves in a powerless centre (the village or the Tana Taa) that gave all its power to a periphery (the jungle or the West) that must be explored to obtain power and knowledge. This relationship not only expresses a clear agency in shaping the relationship of power with forces way stronger than the Wana (Government and world religions) but also creates internal hierarchies based on the access to this knowledge; granted to men and partially precluded to women due to the cultural characterizations of these genders. Indeed, the majority of shamans, called tau walia (human-spirit), are men, and they are the only one that can travel between the human and the spiritual world, obtaining a spiritual and social power. In this article, we will see how Wana categorise the world and use religion, rituality and gender to express their agency to cope with the marginalization by the government, the world religions and the other community in the area.

scholarly journals When the first language feels like a second language: Challenges for learners of Norwegian Nynorsk

2019 ◽  
pp. 141-164
Author(s):  
Jens Haugan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Written Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Power Motivation

Norway has two official written language varieties: Bokmål (DanoNorwegian) and Nynorsk (New Norwegian). Normally, all Norwegian pupils must learn both varieties of the written Norwegian language in school, and at the end of secondary school, they obtain two separate grades in written Norwegian. However, one of the varieties is considered to be and is taught as the main written language, whereas the other variety is the second or alternative written language. Approximately 85 percent of the pupils in school have the DanoNorwegian variety as their main written language and many of these pupils develop antipathies toward the other variety with the result that they do not master it very well at the end of secondary school. In fact, many pupils achieve better results in English than in the alternative variety of their own so-called mother tongue. In this paper, I will discuss some of the challenges that are related to learning Nynorsk in the Norwegian educational system and society. With reference to Norton (2013) and others, I will argue that these challenges may actually be best understood from the perspectives of identity, social power, motivation, investment and second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Rir do outro: o fascismo das piadas racistas no cotidiano

Horizontes ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Helena De Morais Batista ◽  
Maria Teresa de Arruda Campos
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Relationship Of

ResumoEste trabalho pretende trazer para discussão as muitas provocações que as piadas carregam, formas divertidas de distração e de convívio entre amigos que ferem aqueles que são os motivos das piadas presentes nas salas de aula. Esse artigo visa analisar as piadas e apelidos presentes no cotidiano escolar em uma turma de 6º ano de uma escola pública de Campinas/SP. O estudo ocorreu por meio de observações das aulas de Educação Física, registradas em um Diário de Campo, e de encontros entre pesquisadora e alunos em Grupo Focal. Como expressões do bullying, as piadas machucam uns e alegram outros, numa relação perversa de poder social. Por meio do estudo, foi possível constatar não apenas o cotidiano de piadas que desqualificam e fazem sofrem, mas também a necessidade de tempos e espaços de diálogo na escola, em que os alunos possam falar e ouvir sobre questões relacionadas ao meio sociocultural que vivem. As piadas racistas se presentificam como formas de racismo contra pessoas que, pelas suas diferenças e pela estranheza que provocam, são desqualificadas. Palavras-chave: Microfascismo; Racismo; Humor; Bullying, Violência. Laughingof the other: fascism racist jokes in daily life AbstractThis paper aims to bring into discussion the provocations made by jokes, fun ways of distraction and conviviality among friends that hurt those who are the motives of these jokes in classrooms. This article aims to analyze the jokes and nicknames in school everyday life in a class of 6th grade of a public school in Campinas / SP. The study was conducted through observations of Physical Education classes, recorded in a field diary, and meetings between researcher and students in Focus Groups. As bullying expressions, jokes hurt some and rejoice others in a perverse relationship of social power. Through the study, it was possible to see not only the everyday jokes that disqualify and make sufferings, but also the need for time and space for dialogue at school, where students can speak and hear about issues related to socio-cultural environment in which they live. Racist jokes present themselves as forms of racism against persons who, through their differences and the strangeness that cause, are disqualified.Keywords: Microfascism; Racism; Humor; Bullying; Violence.

The Teatro Colonna (1682–1686)

2020 ◽  
pp. 234-277
Author(s):  
Valeria De Lucca
Keyword(s):  
Social Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Italian Peninsula ◽  
New Theater ◽  
New Look

This chapter considers the years following Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna’s return to Rome in 1681 together with his son Filippo II and his new bride, the young Spanish noblewoman Lorenza de la Cerda. As part of his strategy to affirm his newly acquired political and social power as a former Viceroy over the other aristocratic Roman families, Lorenzo Onofrio commissioned the building of a new theater in his palace. This chapter takes a new look at the ways in which the networks of relationships Lorenzo Onofrio had built over the years made his theater one of the most important stages in the Italian peninsula for the circulation of repertory between Vienna, Venice, Rome, and Naples, as well as of singers. Behind some of the most spectacular productions of the Teatro Colonna was a team of extraordinary architects and men of theaters under the leadership of Filippo Acciaioli and Carlo Fontana.

The Form of the Firm

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham A. Singer
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Free Market ◽  
The Other ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Corporate Managers ◽  
Do So

Contemporary discussions of the corporation tend to fall into one of two camps. The side that dominates much of public discourse is those who conceive of the corporation as purely economic. According to this view, corporations are “nexuses of contracts” that have no greater duties than to maximize profits for their shareholders and that should be given legal and political deference to do so. On the other side are those who conceive of the corporation in almost entirely political terms. In this view, corporations are created by government and exercise powers and privileges that are conceded to it by the state; governments have a responsibility to organize and constrain corporations such that they act for the benefit of society as a whole. This book offers a third way that sees the corporation as being both economic and political. It begins historically, by exploring and explaining the development and strength of the economic theory of the corporation. Despite their strength, such approaches miss the mark: while corporations exist largely to increase economic efficiency, they achieve this in ways that distinguish them from standard economic processes in markets. Corporations are not natural outgrowths of the free market, but institutions that use “norm-governed productivity”—social power, norms, and state-sanctioned authority—to effect economic cooperation that markets cannot. Corporations serve economic ends, but with political and social means. These facts suggest a radical rethinking of how corporations should be legally ordered, who should control them, and what sorts of obligations corporate managers have.

Personal Values and Value Priorities of Undergraduate Business Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-175
Author(s):  
George Lan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Power ◽  
Business Students ◽  
The Other ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
First Year ◽  
Business Majors ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Value Priorities ◽  
Self Transcendence ◽  
Undergraduate Business Students

The Schwartz Values Survey (SVS), developed by Shalom Schwartz, was used to explore the values and value priorities of undergraduate business students in a mid-sized Canadian university. These business students considered family security as their top individual value and ranked successful, healthy, and enjoying life among their top ten individual values. On the other hand, detachment, accepting my portion in life and social power were least valued. They regarded Benevolence and Achievement as their top two value types (cluster of related values), and ranked the higher order meta-value Self-Transcendence first followed by Openness to Change. The accounting and finance majors considered Hedonism as their top priority while the other business majors valued Benevolence most highly; however, overall, there were more similarities than differences between these two groups. When compared with the males, females valued the meta-value Self-Transcendence significantly more and exhibited values and value systems that have more of a social focus and less of a personal focus. First-year and fourth-year business students ranked the meta-values in the same order; however, Self-Transcendence was rated as significantly more important to the students in their first year compared to those in their fourth year.

Defining Rape

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 89-101
Author(s):  
Lisa H. Schwartzman ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Title Ix ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sexual Agency ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Catharine Mackinnon ◽  
Active Communication ◽  
Affirmative Consent

Legal definitions of rape traditionally required proof of both force and nonconsent. Acknowledging the difficulty of demonstrating the conjunction of force and nonconsent, many feminists argue that rape should be defined based on one element or the other. Instead of debating which of these two best defines the crime of rape, I argue that this framework is problematic, and that both force and nonconsent must be situated in a critique of social power structures. Catharine MacKinnon provides such a critique, and she reframes rape as a matter of gender inequality. However, rather than rejecting the force/nonconsent dichotomy, MacKinnon focuses exclusively on force, which she thinks can be reconceived to include inequalities. Considering the #MeToo movement and feminist efforts to use Title IX to address campus rape, I argue that the concept of consent is more flexible than MacKinnon suggests and that “affirmative consent” can challenge this liberal model. In requiring active communication, affirmative consent shifts responsibility for rape, opens space for women’s sexual agency, and allows for the transformation of rape culture. Thus, I argue that rape should be defined by the use of force, the lack of affirmative consent, or the presence of both elements.

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