Neoliberalism and Civil Society: Swedish Exceptionalism in a Comparative Perspective – On the Conceptual and Real History of Civil Society

Author(s): Sven Eliaeson / Language(s): English Issue: 13/2017

Social science is a battlefield for the formation of concepts. The Swedish case is particular. “Civil society” re-entered the scene as a neoliberal and social-conservative reaction against the social-democratic ideology of the “strong state,” in which the state and society were conceived to be almost synonymous. The Swedish revival of an old concept is in obvious contrast with the concept’s reception east of the Elbe in recent decades, where “civil society” has often been used as a label for grass roots social movements, which are independent of the state and the nomenklatura, in malfunctioning regimes with low legitimacy and poor output. This idea is lacking in the Swedish case, where we find a characteristic merger between the “top-down” and “bottom-up” perspectives. “Real, existing” civil society in Sweden has a long history. Self-organised initiatives sought support from the state and often received it – in some cases creating institutions that grew into stateagencies. Forestry, electrification, and early social insurance provide examples of the interplay between the state, the market, and society. Swedish civil society has deep roots in history, going back at least to late medieval days. Civil society was a formative element in the design of the relatively successful “Swedish model” through social engineering and piecemeal reforms during the period from the 1930s to the late 1960s.

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL IN SOCIAL MOBILITY

Author(s): Traian Rotariu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

The role of the school in the process of status attainment for individuals with different social origins should be analysed both from the perspective of social mobility flows (absolute rates of mobility) and inequality of social chances (relative rates and odds ratios). Inspired by Raymond Boudon’s earlier studies in the 1970s, the author scrutinises the complex relationships between expanding access to higher levels of education, social mobility trajectories, and inequality of chances of status achievement in the context of persistent inequalities in contemporary capitalist societies. He concludes that at the societal level, an increase of the dependency of achieved social status on educational qualification will lead to greater immobility if the inequality of educational chances remains constant. At the level of individuals, the same process will lead to greater probability of upward mobility in the case of people with higher levels of educational qualification, and greater probability of downward mobility for those with lower educational qualification.

A valuable contribution to the research of the history of sociological methodology

Author(s): Jasmina S. Petrović / Language(s): English,Serbian Issue: 4/2021

Petre Georgievski (2021). Contributions to the History of Sociological Methodology. Skoplje: Matica makedonska, 417 pp.

The condensed monography: an introduction note to Anton Golopentia’s paradigmatic contribution to the Bucharest School of Sociology

Author(s): Radu Baltasiu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

This paper is envisaging some of the components of the condensed monography paradigm established by Anton Golopenția. The condensed monography („monografia sumară”) represents a consistent contribution to the Bucharest School of Sociology. Its representative expression is 60 Romanian Villages. A Sociological Inquiry supervised by Anton Golopenția and Dr. D.C. Georgescu, a methodological and theoretical breakthrough series in five volumes.

Nașterea universitarului public: Dimitrie Gusti

Author(s): Ovidiu Buruiană / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 11/2020

The topic of this study is Dimitrie Gusti, a major personality of the Romanian public and academic sphere from the first half of the twentieth century. As far as his agenda, approach and results are concerned, Gusti is on a par with Titu Maiorescu, Constantin Stere, Nicolae Iorga, Eugen Lovinescu etc. The school of sociology he founded in Bucharest, his endeavours towards the monographic research of the Romanian village using teams of students, editing the Encyclo- paedia of Romania etc. reveal a socially involved academic, an inspiring personality and a cultural organizer eager to transform the Romanian commu- nity, a true “mentor of the nation.”

The “meeting” with I. Ungureanu's Book. Paradigms For The knowledge Of society

Author(s): Augustin Poenaru / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

In the series of meetings in which we discussed the book of Ion Ungureanu, Paradigms for the knowledge of society, the 15th meeting brought into question the law of the cybernetic hierarchy of American sociologist Talcott Parsons. In Parsons’ conception, every society is structured into four subsystems: economic, political, community and socializing. According to the cybernetic hierarchy law, “the richest parts in energy have the lowest volume of information and are factors of action conditioning, while the richest parts in information are poor in energy but have the role of action control factors”. This hierarchy between the subsystems of society is cybernetic in the sense that the relationship from the economic subsystem to the political, community and socializing (cultural) subsystems is permanently accompanied by an inverse control relationship, whereby social integration, achievement of goals and adaptation, their exchange instruments (money, power, influence) and the community, political and economic systems themselves ar e determined by the socializing subsystem.

Tõlgendusmudelitest ja Masingust ehk kuidas lugeda „Üldist usundilugu“?

Author(s): Indrek Peedu / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 2 (80)/2021

On models of interpretation and Uku Masing or how to understand „Üldine usundilugu“? This article deals with the issue of using conceptual and historical models for the purposes of interpreting Uku Masing. Primary focus is on his major work, „Üldine usundilugu“ and how it has been understood over the years and why these interpretations are misleading. Instead, an alternative reading of this book is presented. This is used to exemplify the more complex methodological problem of relying on historical and conceptual models in research. It is argued that this has become too prevalent in research on Masing. Instead, more attention should be paid to the actual intellectual context of Masing’s development, the fields of research and the schools of thought he himself is in clear dialogue with.

Perspektywy socjologii historycznej w Polsce

Author(s): Agnieszka Kolasa-Nowak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 21/2021

There has been a significant increase in historical studies in Polish sociology. This interest in the past is quite a recent phenomenon given the presentistic nature of sociological research. The text contains a presentation of the results of a study conducted in 2020 among Polish sociologists who deal with the past and have experience in historical analyses. Twenty-four individual in-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted. Opinions on the role of the past, the respondents' own experiences, justifications for referring to history, ways of carrying out such research and the problems encountered in it were discussed. Relations with historians, opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation and strategies for building a scientific career are also important issues. The analysis shows the identity and main fields of interest of the emerging community of historical sociologists in Poland.

Historyczne okoliczności a rzetelność badań

Author(s): Zbigniew Sawiński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 21/2021

The article is intended as a contribution to the discussion on research integrity. It deals with the problem of the influence of historical context on the occurrence of unfair practices in international research projects. The historical perspective provides examples that political or economic interests of countries can lead to unfair research practices that cannot be addressed through improvement of research procedures or better collaboration between researchers from different countries. The article formulates a postulate that the attention of methodologists should not be limited to identifying the sources of unfair research practices. Not all such practices can be eliminated, therefore the article postulates that more attention should be paid to minimising their impact on research conclusions.

Anas Karzai, Nietzsche and Sociology: Prophet of Affirmation.

Author(s): Vasfi Onur Özen / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

Review of: Vasfi Onur Özen - Anas Karzai, Nietzsche and Sociology: Prophet of Affirmation. London: Lexington Books, 2019. pp. 221. ISBN: 9780739150511 (cloth: alk. paper)

„Човешкият капитал“, училищните реформи и възпроизводство на неравенствата

Author(s): Liliana Deyanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

The goal of the article is to understand a series of reforms in the so-called European Education Area and the respective national policies harmonized with them, chiefly those that concern changes in high schools (considered in the Preschool and School Education Act as of 2016, truly radical ones). On the basis of an archive created within the framework of the collective study “Educational inequalities and social chances – strategic goals of reform in Bulgarian high school education”, the article describes the chances in the field of education, the loss of its relative autonomy, its subjection to diverse institutionalized forms of competition that turn the school into a constellation of indicators and cause sustainable social inequalities. The symbolic violence is also problematized of the funding policies of ‘improving the human capital’ that reduce human potential to the production of value controlled by indicators of achievement. Different notions are discussed of ‘human capital’ and return of investment in quality education – a condition for the production of human capital. The central role in explaining the problematics of human capital belongs to the analysis of ‘the American school of the theory of human capital’ by Michel Foucault in “The Birth of Biopolitics” that traces the link between this theory and the essence of neoliberal change.

Class analysis and revitalization of favourite sociological tools

Author(s): Zoran D. Krstić / Language(s): English,Serbian Issue: 4/2022

Социологический дискурс в творчестве М.М. Хвос­това

Author(s): M. V. Novikov,T.B. Perfilova / Language(s): Russian Issue: 6/2022

This article analyzes the underlying aspects of the artistic heritage of M.M. Khvostov, an eminent professor at Imperial Kazan University. The focus is on the justification of the need for creating sociological history as a new type of explanatory history. The scholar’s coherent and consistent concept of sociological history was never introduced to the public, but its basics were laid and described in his publications and lecture courses. In this concept, history was qualified as an individualizing and idiographic study and sociology as a generalizing and nomothetic one. As a result of having stemmed from the belief in the unity of scientific methodology, M.M. Khvostov placed a greater emphasis on the overlapping of the subject fields and cognitive positions of these sociological branches rather than on their opposition. In order to overcome the opposition between the typological and concrete individual ways of comprehending historical reality, he proposed their theoretical and methodological synthesis on the principle of complementarity of tasks, research approaches, and methods. Therefore, the process of cognition was thought to involve studying unique facts, using the comparative historical method, as well as identifying common, similar, and typical features. The results obtained here are important for developing the theoretical and methodological foundations of historical science: M.M. Khvostov insisted that sociological history was destined to fill the existing abstract sociological schemes with reliable historical information, to contribute to the conceptualization of critically cited facts related to the multifaceted process of historical transformations of society

THE INFLUENCE AND ROLE OF THE FAMILY IN THE WELL-BEING OF STUDENTS WITH PARENTS WORKING ABROAD

Author(s): Mihaiela But / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 21/2020

This article presents the role and the influence of the family on well-being „the phenomenon of children left at home”as a result of the parents migration looking for a better job. Labor migration fully changes the life of many families and society. The effects of migration are lived not only by those who leave, but also by the family members who remain at home, especially by children. Labor migration has positive and negative effects on children. The positive effects are related to the material well-being of the children, and the negative effects can be observed through negative behaviors: anxiety, depression, fear, aggression, poor school results, even school failure. Therefore, it is necessary to support children in the educational process, in finding positive and prosocial solutions for the development of the problems they face.

FAITH, ANCHOR FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE ALCOHOLIC INDIVIDUALS’ ABSTINENCE?

Author(s): Iános-Mátyás-Tamás Mihók-Géczi / Language(s): English Issue: 21/2020

The excessive alcohol consumption has undesired consequences on the individuals, both physically and mentally, and mostly socially, leading to addiction. This study, based on the alcoholic addicts, abstinent persons (with and without relapse) and former abstinent individuals who have given up on their abstinence, has as a main purpose the identification of the faith’s importance in the abstinent life, in the success rate of these individuals’ abstinence. I have assumed the fact that faith (not religion) has a positive role during the rehabilitation. The analysis on the faith’s role has been done taking into consideration the number of relapses and the duration of the active abstinence. The batch was formed of 273 individuals, men aged between 26 and 80 (with an average of 47.88), from which 133 were abstinent alcoholics without any relapse history, 93 were abstinent alcoholics with at least one relapse, and 47 former alcoholics who have given up to their abstinence and who are now active consumers. The study is based on items of interest, presented in a sociological questionnaire designed for alcoholic persons. The results have indicated high marks of the averages, statistically significant, both on the item representing the help gained from faith in obtaining and keeping the abstinence, and on the „satisfied by my own spirituality” item, in the case of abstinent individuals, in comparison with the other two categories. In these two items, the abstinent ones with at least one relapse have also gained higher scores than those who have given up on their abstinence. Individuals with a continuous abstinence longer than five years have proved a deeper faith in comparison with those who had relapsed in the past, but the „satisfaction with their own spirituality” was apparently the same.

A SELF-ETHNOGRAPHY OF HOPE

Author(s): Adela Fofiu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 23/2020

The following pages are a more intimate review of Professor Mihai I. Spariosu’s alchemical work in comparative literature, utopian thinking and intercultural contact. I discuss, to the best of my abilities, how utopia can be a lived experience in a culture dominated by the will to power. Power is the strongest and the most intense cultural dynamic of our age, and any attempt to interact with it in innovative ways is a consistent source of knowledge. The fascinating intertwining of technology, science and spirituality that characterizes Professor Spariosu’s work has the potential to facilitate a new way of seeing for next generations of students. I gained this understanding, studying under the Professor’s guidance for several years, as I deeply believe that one way to reach the field beyond the will to power is the perseverance to practice congruence between our three main actions: thought, word and deed. Professor’s Spariosu’s work has the power to transmute information and knowledge in a visionary wisdom very much needed in our day and age. Few are the works and thinking models that combine with such elegance a deep understanding of science and of spirituality, with critical appreciation of the role of technologies in human development. The result is a complex eutopian foresight that pledges for a paradigmatic shift in our cultures and civilizations.

Mire (lehetne) jó a kritikai pszichológia? Avagy néhány gondolat a magyarországi pszichoterápiáról

Author(s): Melinda Kovai / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 31/2022

CHANGES IN INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION AS A CONSEQUENCE OF DIGITIZATION

Author(s): RUXANDRA PETROVICI / Language(s): French Issue: 24/2021

Technologies seemed to facilitate communication by shortening time and distances, especially for the business world, but the reality has turned out to be harsher, because they reduce real human contact. We propose to analyze these changes which have become more visible, even worrying lately.

INTEGRATIVE THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Author(s): Teodor-Sorin Cumpănășoiu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 25/2021

Regarding the recovery of the autistic child, there are various opinions, starting with therapies by drug administration, antiallergic treatments, game therapy, occupational therapy, kineto-therapy, behavioral therapy, sensory integration and others. The goal of any recovery intervention, expressed globally, is to equip the autistic child with those skills that will help him develop, reach the highest level of independence according to his skills, and thus acquire a better quality of life. In the didactic activity of the “small steps”, the teaching / recovery / learning is done through distinct exercises that must be mastered by the child and the level of learning is his answer to the proposed and completed program. Of course, the duration for acquiring information differs from one autistic child to another depending on many factors that shape his or her learning competence profile. This strategy has the advantage of forcing the autistic child to actively participate in the learning / recovery process; it is known that they do not have the capacity to passively store information and they almost completely lack the capacity for logical analysis and chaining of the data they hold. That is why sequential algorithmic learning is more productive in their case.

MANAGEMENTUL TIMPULUI DIN PERSPECTIVA PROVOCĂRILOR SOCIETALE CONTEMPORANE

Author(s): Ana Tarnovschi / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 26/2021

The study involves a topical issue, which is needed to create a vision in the teaching activity and in time management, both representing topics of great interest. For an active teaching process, time is a strategic resource that must be used with more care, in order to be successful in pursuit of personal and professional goals.