Дуализмът между структура и действие. Скица на една веберианска изследователска програма

Author(s): Wolfgang Schluchter / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2015

In my book Foundations in Sociology, I depicted Max Weber’s approach as an alternative to Marx and Durkheim on the one hand, Parsons, Mead, Habermas and Luhmann on the other. I tried to demonstrate that Weber has provided us with a viable research program which merits further elaboration. In this essay, I want to spell out the outline of such a Weberian research program. It can be regarded as a third sociology, overcoming the opposition between methodological individualism and holism. It is based on methodological relationism and on a two-sided and multi-level explanatory model, employing the notion of the duality of structure and action. Its analytical power is illustrated with reference to Weber’s study on ascetic Protestantism and on the economic ethic of the world religions.

Центрирането около пуританството в Стопанската етика на световните религии на Макс Вебер върху примера на Китай

Author(s): Rongfen Wang / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2015

Laut Webers Bemerkung zu Die Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen wurden die “Einleitung” und “Konfuzianismus und Taoismus” 1913 niedergeschrieben. Bis zu dieser Zeit waren in China wichtige Reformen und Revolution in Richtung Kapitalismus vor sich gegangen, darunter die Bewegung zur Okzidentalisierung zwischen den 60er und den 90er Jahren des 19. Jahrhunderts, die 100 Tage Reform vom Juni–September 1898 und die Bürgerrevolution im Oktober 1911. Der Grund der fehlenden Behandlung dieser zeitgenössischen Ereignisse könnte im angesetzten Ziel der Chinastudie liegen. Es geht Weber mehr um Religionsvergleich als um Entstehung des Kapitalismus. Nach Weber fehlt dem Konfuzianismus im Vergleich zum Puritanismus das Jenseits: „jede transzendente Verankerung der Ethik, jede Spannung zwischen Geboten eines überweltlichen Gottes und einer kreatürlichen Welt, jede Ausgerichtetheit auf ein jenseitiges Ziel und jede Konzeption eines radikal Bösen“ (Weber 1986: 514). Die drei zeitgenössischen Ereignisse bezeugen gerade das Gegenteil: die führende Kraft der Okzidentalisierung waren Literaten, die der 100 Reform waren Konfuzianer, die fünf Grundethiken des Konfuzianismus sind bis heute die grundlegende Lebensführung der bereits 102 Jahre bestehenden Republik China. Eine Behandlung dieser Ereignisse hätte die Struktur der ganzen Chinastudie umstürzten können. So bleibt “Konfuzianismus und Taoismus” wie ein idealistisches Meisterwerk, wie die armlose Venus.

Провал на мултикултурализма? Добре, а оттук нататък?

Author(s): Plamen Makariev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2015

This article refers to minority policies in liberal-democratic societies. A number of failures in this field are explained as a result of the one-sidedness of these policies. I differentiate between two types of them: universalist (of an “orthodox” liberal type) and particularist (nationalist or multiculturalist) ones. I claim that neither “pure’ universalism, nor extreme particularism can serve as adequate approaches to the complex issues of, first and foremost, ethnic and religious minority communities. I comment, further, in a positive vein, two up to date theories which aim at a synthesis of these publicly-political approaches – John Rawls’s political liberalism and Jürgen Habermas’s theory of “two track” deliberative politics.

ФАЛШИВИТЕ НОВИНИ – МАНИПУЛАЦИИ И МИСТИФИКАЦИИ В КОНТЕКСТА НА ПРЕЗИДЕНТСКИТЕ ИЗБОРИ В САЩ (НОЕМВРИ 2016 Г.)

Author(s): Svetlana Stankova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 5/2017

The article is focused on the mystifications and manipulations spread by fake news in the social networks during the 2016 presidential election campaign in the USA. The main hypothesis concerns the influence these might have had on the outcome of the vote in favor of Donald Trump. The author also considers the background history of the distortion of truth for purposes of political benefits in the context of the technological development of media. The methods used in the argumentation of the article include discourse analysis, and rhetorical and interpretative analysis. The data used in the article are from a study conducted in 2017 by Stanford University and the independent digital media company BuzzFeed News.

Вяра Попова – „Параейдолия“ на Богдан Александров през оптиката на Дельоз

Author(s): Vyara Popova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

The article discusses Plato’s concept of eidos in its aspect of image, as the self-identical repetition of the same, and the casting away of the simulacrum as a non-identical semblance in gradation to difference. By drawing a parallel between Plato’s eidos-image and the total image in Bogdan Alexandrov’s works, and establishing an analogy between simulacrum and pareidolia, the author attempts to “read” the “Pareidolia” exposition through Deleuze’s view of the identical (eidos) and difference (simulacrum).

Czynniki determinujące wydatki gospodarstw domowych emerytów na rekreację i kulturę

Author(s): Iwona Bąk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 01/2013

The aim of article is to select a set of variables that affect decisions about the size of the expenditure incurred on recreation and culture in households of pensioners in Poland. The basis of the information of researches were unidentifiable microdata on income and expenditure of individual households from the household budget survey conducted in 2009 by the GUS (Central Statistical Office) which were associated with the results of a survey “Tourism and recreation in households” conducted by the GUS in the same year. The integrated data set consisted of 1,308 households of pensioners. The study takes into account, first of all, the categorization variables and therefore to a “best"”set of factors characterizing household spending on recreation and culture used log-linear analysis. Using log-linear model has enabled more precise description of the relationships between categorization variables compared with indicators used to assess the quality characteristics of interdependence. In addition, log-linear analysis allowed to assess the impact of interactions between variables.

Mastering second language humour

Author(s): Laurence Vincent-Durroux,Kerry Mullan,Caroline David,Christine Béal,Cécile Poussard / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

This small-scale study on verbal humour takes place within a larger project entitled “From perception to oral production”, which aims to identify the links between comprehension and production processes and the sources of difficulty for French learners of English. The data consist of three comparable corpora of filmed semi-structured interviews with first (L1) and second (L2) language students: French-French L1; English-English L1; and English L1 with L2. The interviews revolve around the same extract of an American romantic comedy, which the students were asked to describe and comment upon. Instances of spontaneous humour were found to occur in all corpora and were analysed using the cross-cultural comparative model previously used for French-English comparative studies of verbal humour (Béal & Mullan 2013; 2017a; Mullan & Béal 2018a). The humour used by the native speakers of French (N=7) and English (N=7) served as the initial basis for comparison with the L2 English speakers (N=34). It was found that the humour and laughter in the L1 interviews were employed by both parties to achieve certain pragmatic functions related to this particular institutional setting: the participants used humour primarily to create a connection with the interviewer (often through implicit references, and especially where both participants were female). The French students speaking English as L2 tended to use self-oriented humour as a face-saving device to deflect from their production or comprehension difficulties.The use of humour by all L1 and L2 participants nevertheless reflected specific cultural tendencies outlined in Béal & Mullan (2013; 2017a) and Mullan & Béal (2018a), such as the prevalence of third-party oriented humour in French interactions and of self-deprecating humour in English. In sum, and perhaps unsurprisingly, we show that the French learners of English have mastered some aspects of humour in their L2, but still exhibit most of the characteristics of verbal humour from their native French.

Book review

Author(s): Anastasiya Fiadotava / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

Fake It Till You Make It! Прилагането на наследството като сценична стратегия в музея Kulturen в Лунд, Швеция

Author(s): Lizette Gradén / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2020

This article uses ethnographic methods to analyze how cultural and economic factors impact the way heritage is understood, preserved and developed at Kulturen and Fredriksdal, two of the oldest museums of cultural history museums in Sweden. Some questions offered for discussion will include: How does leadership understand and conceptualize cultural heritage? Whose cultural heritage count the most when related to financial circumstances and forms of ownership? Which priorities are made in the day to day work with collections, exhibitions and programming? Whose heritage is given priority in core exhibitions and whose heritage is prepared for a temporary show?

Bulletin of Electoral Statistics and Public Opinion Research Data. Patterns of Nation Building and Political Integration in a Bifurcated Postcommunist State: Ethnic Aspects of Parliamentary Elections in Latvia

Author(s): Pål Kolstø,Boris Tsilevich / Language(s): English Issue: 02/1997

With one exception, all former Soviet republics have been proclaimed "national states" or nation-states. They are not, however, homogeneous in the cultural or ethnic sense; all of them have numerous ethnic minorities. In some cases, such as in Latvia, the dominant ethnic group numbers barely half of the total population. In such a situation, any attempt at nation building based on the language, culture, and traditions of the dominant group alone will inevitably clash with the aspirations of the minority groups, the vast majority of whom want to retain their distinct identities and at the same time to possess an equal say in political and social life. [...]

The Contribution of Disability Studies to the New Humanities

Author(s): Anne-Marie Callus / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Disability studies is deeply connected with the disability rights movement, and some of the pioneers of the movement were disabled academics. It is an area of study that draws from different disciplines, especially the social sciences and the humanities, while having its own unique character. The insights gained from disability studies are embedded in the direct experiences of disabled people and their family members and are based on an understanding of disability as arising from the interaction between people with impairments and socially created material and cultural barriers. This understanding enables the study of disability through the different disciplines within the humanities, such as philosophy, history and literary studies. Disability studies unveils the complex nature of disability and the multifarious factors that create it and that impinge on the lived experience of disabled people. It also testifies to the many ways in which disabled people negotiate their lives and identities as disabled people. For this reason, disability studies has much to reveal about the human condition and can contribute to current and future developments in the humanities.

To Brand or Not to Brand: The Perception of Brand Image in the Digital Games Industry

Author(s): Dinko Jukić / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The paper presents, discusses and analyses the role of building brand image in digital games. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss in-game marketing in cultural spheres from the aspect of brand image. The aim is to explore, identify and present the relationship between brand image, consumer self-image and digital games as a brand. The contribution of this study is manifested in an interdisciplinary approach to work through marketing, psychology, sociology, and media theory. Consumers project their desires through digital games, and the brand’s entry into the digital game itself enhances the gaming experience and reality of the digital game. It was concluded that consumers want a realistic experience while playing digital games and they want to see famous brands within the game as this enhances their experience and projects the reality of the digital world. The core of brand image is consumers’ perception. In recent years, the digital game industry dominates this segment of the global entertainment economy. The paper analyses in-game marketing from the aspect of branding and sociology of culture. It is based on J. N. Kapferer’s theory of brand building and Huzinga’s theory of game. The article explores the meaning of the phenomenon of brand image and identity in virtual reality. The emphasis in this paper is put on the influence of brand image and digital game as a model of popular culture. This article adopts an integrated knowledge inquiry approach through thematic analysis to explain the concept of brand image. From the consumer’s point of view, the brand represents a symbol built on impressions, associations, metaphors and archetypes in the digital gaming industry. Brand loyalty is a key factor in building brand equity. The problem of brand loyalty appears as a reflection of brand symbol and its image. However, the oxymoron of in-game marketing starts from the hypothesis that consumers want to see brands in virtual reality.

Power of Media in the Networked Society

Author(s): Zoran B. Jevtović / Language(s): English,Serbian Issue: 4/2020

Lands In-between: The Politics of Cultural Identity in Contemporary Eastern Europe

Author(s): Melvin Croan / Language(s): English Issue: 02/1989

Today's Eastern Europe came into existence as a distinct geopolitical entity only after World War II. Many observers-critical East European commentators foremost among them-chalk it all up to Yalta. However one may feel about code words, the 1945 Yalta agreements surely did foster the establishment of a novel "supranational space," comprising a conglomeration of peoples and cultures knowing little and caring less about one other. The ensuing disarray, in turn, greatly facilitated the region's Sovietization which the West, for its part, effectively failed to counter. [...]

The Rock Scene in Yugoslavia

Author(s): Pedro Ramet / Language(s): English Issue: 02/1988

Rock music, ignored at first by social scientists, has lately become the object of increasingly frequent scholarly analysis. There are a number of general studies of a sociological nature, complemented recently by a small literature on rock music under communism. As Orman has noted, rock is a political phenomenon both because rock artists sometimes take positions on controversial issues in their songs and because political elites may use legislative or coercive force to suppress, inhibit, or regulate rock performers, regardless of the political intent or content of their songs. [...]

Akademska čestitost studenata – preduvjet gospodarskog razvoja

Author(s): Rudolf Kiralj / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 14/2020

Students’ honesty is a key element in the context of academic honesty, when taking into consideration that the share of academically educated persons is in permanent increase. Students are the future moving power of the society; they are the part of the population that will significantly influence the society on the whole and its socio-economic development, including the younger generations. The paper analyses eight groups of data on the constant growth of students’ dishonesty in the world, and particularly in the USA, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Over the last two decades, a significant increase has been recorded. The situation in Croatia has been compared with these trends on the basis of the data gained by studying various sources from literature and the internet, as well as several estimates. As a result, the following students’ dishonesty indices have been defined: average (IC0) and maximal (IC1) cheating at exams, and average (IP0) and maximal (IP1) plagiarism. The indices mainly follow global trends, whilst over the last two decades, the average percentage of students engaging in dishonest activities has been alarmingly high: 64 % (IC0); 76 % (IC1); 33 % (IP0) and 77 % (IP1). Data according to five socio-economic indices have been collected and estimated: GDP (gross domestic product per capita), HDI (human development index), GII (global innovation index), CPI (corruption perception index), and EI (education index). By the means of weighing correlation and regression, it has been determined that IC0, IC1, IP0 and IP1 are different indices; that IP0 and IP1 do not correlate well with time and the socio-economic variables due to an insufficient quantity of data on students’ plagiarism; that IC0 and IC1 correlate well with time, GDP, HDI and EI. Furthermore, IC0 and IC1 have modestly decreased over the last several years; and IP0 and IP1 have demonstrated no decrease at all. The dependence of IC0 and IC1 on GDP, HDI and EI has been presented by two sigmoid curves, with a minor increase around 1980, and a major around 2010. Since students’ dishonesty and its growth have been socially determined, the culture itself ought to be changed – from the culture of profit, competition and success to the culture of knowledge and responsibility, with pronounced social and moral components of the socio-economic development.

WWII MONUMENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA IN THE PRINTED MEDIA: BOOKS, TOURIST GUIDES AND A STICKER ALBUM – POPULARIZATION AND PROPAGANDA

Author(s): Nenad Lajbenšperger / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2020

Publications about monuments to fighters and victims of the Second World War in Yugoslavia began to appear in the late 1950s. They were dedicated to one or more monuments or memorial complexes. Over time, in tourist guides, among other sites, monuments and memorials began to be presented as a significant place worth a visit. During the second half of the 1970s, printing of special tourist guides dedicated only to monuments and memorial complexes started. Because of the popularity of monuments, a sticker album was also printed. The intention behind printing such publications was to inform citizens about monuments, but there was also an ideological side to it. Through books about monuments, the state and the Communist party wanted to emphasize again Yugoslav war efforts and the sacrifice that was made during the war. They used it as a propaganda tool in youth education, foreign diplomacy and overall state propaganda about the role of Yugoslav partisans, under the leadership of the Communist party, in the victory against fascism.

CULTURAL HERITAGE-BASED URBAN FESTIVAL AS A TOOL TO PROMOTE LOCAL IDENTITY AND CITY MARKETING: THE CASE OF THE RADVAŇ FAIR IN BANSKÁ BYSTRICA, SLOVAKIA

Author(s): Alexandra Bitušíková / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

This paper deals with the processes of transformation of an urban festival – the Radvaň Fair in the city of Banská Bystrica, Slovakia – in a comprehensive way and from a chronological point of view. The main focus is on the development of the festival in the post-1989 (post-communist) period. The fair has been organised continuously since 1655 and went through a number of transformations. Its function has changed from a primarily commercial event of three centuries to a significant cultural and social hallmark festival in the 21st century. The key research questions concern the role of cultural heritage-based festival in identity building and city marketing, and the relationship between the festival and place (location). The paper also addresses the question of potential use/misuse of cultural heritage in current political discourse and practice.

Lucija Šimičić i Klara Bilić Meštrić: Arbanaški na raskrižju. Vitalitet i održivost jednog manjinskog jezika

Author(s): Jurica Polančec / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 90/2020

Review of: Jurica Polančec - Arbanaški na raskrižju. Vitalitet i održivost jednog manjinskog jezika, Lucija Šimičić i Klara Bilić Meštrić. Srednja Europa, Zagreb, 2018.

Migrant and Autochthonous Traditions within Udmurt Folksong (on the Example of the Siberian Udmurt)

Author(s): Nikolai Anisimov,Irina Vyacheslavovna Pchelovodova,Ekaterina Sofronova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

This article investigates, for the first time, the local musical tradition of the Udmurt of Chainsk district (Tomsk oblast). The overwhelming majority of migrants in this region arrived from the Sharkan district of the Udmurt Republic, in Siberia, at the beginning of the 20th century. For a long time they kept their original culture in an ethnically alien environment. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, their singing tradition started to fade under the influence of different factors (such as the disappearance of Udmurt rituals and festivals, as well as mixed marriages). The aim of this article is to compare the ‘Chainsk migrational’ singing tradition to the ‘Sharkan original’ musical tradition. The main collection of audio recordings covering the Chainsk district Udmurt musical tradition is conserved in the archives of the Udmurt Research Institute at the Russian Academy of sciences. It is comprised of fieldwork material gathered by researchers from the Institute in 1974 and 2006. We discovered new sources of audio and video recordings of the singing tradition in this territory, which allowed us to integrate more song samples. The analysis of both traditions reveals the basic genres of ritual singing, each of which has been examined from the point of view of the topic of the poetic text, the mood structures, and the metro-rhythmic and melodic peculiarities of their development.