“Better is the Little That the Righteous Has than the Abundance of Many Wicked” (Ps 37:16): Social and Moral Stratification in Late Persian-Period Judah as Reflected by Psalm 37

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil J. Botha

This paper offers a social-scientific analysis of Psalm 37, aiming to define its ideological purpose and textual strategy. The psalm is also read as part of the sequence of Pss 35–37 as it was arranged by the editors of Book I of the Psalms. Financial deprivation and public humiliation of a moral upright minority by an immoral upper class seem to have caused growing discontent and feelings of aggression among the psalmist’s in-group. The author of Psalm 37 assumes the role of a wisdom teacher in order to reprimand, exhort and encourage members of the in-group to stay true to their faith under trying circumstances.

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo-Marí Schäder

This article addresses the question of what can be gleaned from the book of Jonah regarding the self-perception of its author(ship) and intended audience through a social-scientific analysis. What does the analysis of Jonah’s representation reflect of the self-perception of the Yehudite literati during or after the period during which the book was written? Firstly, an overview is given of what is known about the authorship of the book of Jonah and how the author(s) is related to the main character. This is followed by an overview of the values of honour and shame, and an application of how Jonah is represented in this regard. This analysis is then related to the self-perception of the author(ship) and audience for whom the book was written, due to their association with the main character.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-71
Author(s):  
Lodewyk Sutton

One of the key concepts and metaphors in Psalm 110:1 is the concept of “the enemy made a footstool”. The war language is especially illustrated by the imagery of the footstool, where the warfare function or purpose can be expressed through the concepts of honour and shame. To gain a better perspective on the meaning and use of this imagery it is first indicated why the imagery of the footstool can be considered as part of war language and imagery (part of warfare). Secondly, the role of honour and shame as an expression of the function and purpose of the war language and imagery is made through a social-scientific analysis of the footstool. Thirdly, iconography of different ancient Near Eastern (and Mediterranean) contexts is used as an extratextual source to elucidate the concept of the footstool in its use of war language and imagery as further expressed through the concepts of honour and shame. Lastly, the use of footstool in Psalm 110:1 is examined and applied. This identifies the footstool in Psalm 110:1 as “a footstool of war, honour and shame”.


Author(s):  
Rodrigo Borba

Sex work has long been of interest to a variety of fields, among them anthropology, sociology, public health, and feminist theory, to name but a few. However, with very few exceptions, sociolinguistics seems to have ignored the fact that commercial sex, as an intersubjective business transaction, is primarily negotiated in embodied linguistic interaction. By reviewing publications in distinct social scientific areas that directly or indirectly discuss the role of language in the sex industry, this chapter critically assesses the analytical affordances and methodological challenges for a sociolinguistics of sex work. It does so by discussing the “tricks” played by sex work, as a power-infused context of language use in which issues of agency (or lack thereof) are paramount, on sociolinguistic theory and methods. The chapter concludes that the study of language in commercial sex venues is sociolinguistically promising and epistemologically timely.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 1853-1874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Gartzke ◽  
Matthew Kroenig

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 262-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Murcott

This article sketches a sociology in the making that arises out of the case of GM food in Britain in 1999. It is presented with a view to moving, collaboratively, towards its further study. A ‘considered sociology’ is not original. It requires treating as an integral and enduring part of the field of investigation the historical and social characterisation of that same field. An evaluation of the sociology of food indicates that field's limitations for the examination of GM food, with one key exception. The article moves on to propose the need for (a) an as yet underinvestigated field of the industrialisation of food together with the role of science and technology within it, and (b) an examination of the industrialised (social) scientific production of ‘the consumer’. These may then serve as a basis for examining the manner in which public coverage of GM food could be characterised not as a matter of science but of a PR and is now publicly construed as a debate, ‘pro’ and ‘anti’.


Author(s):  
John Gastil ◽  
Laura Black

The discipline of communication encompasses a broad spectrum of humanistic, interpretive, and social scientific approaches to studying public deliberation. Early work engaged Habermasian theories of the public sphere, and rhetorical scholarship has foregrounded the deliberative threads running back to the discipline’s earliest history in ancient Greece. The bulk of contemporary work, however, has examined the dynamics of deliberation, particularly in the context of face-to-face discussions and dialogues in small groups. These studies have revealed the importance of narrative and dialogic exchanges during deliberation, as well as the critical role of facilitation and the maintenance of deliberative norms. Research has also assessed the practical consequences of participating in deliberation. The discipline’s practical orientation has led some scholars to seek ways to optimize deliberative designs to maximize simultaneously the quality of their decision outputs and their civic impacts on participants.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-226
Author(s):  
Neerja Upadhyaya ◽  
Ruchi Jain ◽  
R. Upadhyaya

Over millions of years, physiology and anatomy of the living organisms has been changed due to internal climate forcing mechanism. This has influenced the world wide distribution of species. External climate forcing mechanism has caused rapid rise in earth’s temperature and it is expected to rise by 2-4 °C by the end of the century. It has now been recognised as the most complex problem of present scenario and being concerned in almost every field of science. Climate change is the most sensitive issue which is a challenge not only for the government and society but also for each individual. In the present communication impact of external climate forcing mechanism on biodiversity and its extinction is being analysed and role of sustainomics for the same is overviewed. Studies reveal that the rate of speciation of flora and fauna is not in the accordance with the rate of externally enforced climate change. Thus, the increased rate of climate change has caused catastrophic mass extinction threat for plants, animals and insects in the anthrapocene era. The pattern of extinction and threatened species are not yet known. Various solutions for the problem have been suggested by the multidisciplinary researches, rooted by the sustainomics. These suggestions include to diverge from fossil fuel, to use renewables, to make and apply rules for 3Rs etc. Only cooperative involvement of social, scientific and industrial bodies may resolve the problem.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Magdalena Jarczok-Guzy

<em>The aim of the study is to analyze the functioning of the BNI Poland Group as an organization operating on the principle of networking and to show the role of recommendation in contemporary competitive conditions. The method of analyzing the academic literature, secondary sources, internal documents of the studied group as well as primary data in the form of a questionnaire have been used in the article. The article shows that a membership in a business support group based on the recommendation principle in the era of increased competition helps to remain on the market and raise the number of clients. This work can be used as a source of knowledge for every entrepreneur who is open to business contacts kept according to a strictly defined structure and procedures. The issue of the business support group on the basis of recommendation is quite a recent matter in Poland. The BNI Poland Group was established in 2010, while in the USA it has been functioning since 1985. Due to these dates, you can direct more attention to this form of marketing. This paper is not a commercial but scientific analysis of an organization which could be an instrument of competiveness at market.</em>


2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hodgkinson

This article is a response to a speech addressed to the Economic and Social Research Council which was made, in February this year, by the UK Secretary of State for Education and Employment, David Blunkett. The speech was entitled ‘Influence or Irrelevance: can social science improve government?’ . Blunkett's programme for engaging social science in the policy process is far from unique and many of the arguments have been heard before. However, the curiosity of the speech lies in the fact that the conception of social science which Blunkett advocates mirrors the approach New Labour itself has to politics and government. This raises some rather interesting difficulties for social scientists. How do we engage in a debate about the role of social scientific research in the policy process when our own conception of the discipline may be radically at odds with that of the government? Furthermore, New Labour's particular conception of the relationship between social and policy-making means that we not only have to contest their notion of what it is we do, but also challenge their conception of the policy process. We cannot ignore this engagement, even if we wanted to. The challenge is to address it and to do so, moreover, in terms which Blunkett might understand. This article is an attempt to start this process.


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