"Care Drain". Explaining Bias in Theorizing Women's Migration

Author(s): Speranta Dumitru / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

Migrant women are often stereotyped. Some scholars associate the feminization of migration with domestic work and criticize the “care drain” as a new form of imperialism that the First World imposes on the Third World. However, migrant women employed as domestic workers in Northern America and Europe represent only 2% of migrant women worldwide and cannot be seen as characterizing the “feminization of migration”. Why are migrant domestic workers overestimated? This paper explores two possible sources of bias. The first is sampling: conclusions about “care drain” are often generalized from small samples of domestic workers. The second stems from the affect heuristic: imagining children left behind by migrant mothers provokes strong feelings of injustice which trump other considerations. The paper argues that neither source of bias is unavoidable and finds evidence of gender stereotypes in the “care drain” construal.

"GERMAN WORLD" OR THE ORIGINAL CULTURE: SWISS-GERMAN CULTURAL RELATIONS IN 1930-1940

Author(s): Dmytro Vedenieiev,Victoriya Pechyborshch / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2016

The objectives are to analyze the development of the relations in the sphere of the culture between Switzerland and Germany in the 1930-40’s and to determine the reasons for termination of the cultural dialogue between the countries after the arrival of national socialists in German and conditions of its recovery after the Second World War. The historical-genetic and comparative methods were chosen for the study. With the use of the historical-genetic method, the evolution of the German-Swiss cultural relations in the first half of the XX c. was explored. Appeal to the comparative method has enabled to draw the conclusions about the features of the bilateral cultural relations between Switzerland and Germany in the period between the two world wars, during the war of 1939 – 1945 and post-war years. Scientific novelty of the proposed article is that for the first time in Ukrainian historiography an attempt to explore the development of the cultural relations between Switzerland and Germany in 1930 – 40's was made. Conclusions. The main reasons of the Swiss efforts to withdraw from the involvement in the German cultural world in the late 1930's – 40's were memories of the First World War, when the conflict between the French and German communities had put in jeopardy the peace within the Swiss society, and a desire not to create the pretext for the global public accusations against Switzerland of its involvement in the crimes of the national socialists, which could raise doubts about the issue of Swiss neutrality. The background for the restoration of the cultural dialogue between the countries was the desire of Swiss to support the formation of a new democratic regime in the neighboring country, which was realized through the activities of both individual private artistic associations and institutions, and the work of the Swiss diplomacy, which through the analysis of the cultural situation of the particular German states was searching for the potential areas and ways of cooperation.

(DE)LEGITIMIZATION AS THE DISCURSIVE STRATEGY OF IDEOLOGY

Author(s): Dušan Ristic / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2015

In this paper the processes of (de)legitimization are analyzed as discursive practices and forms of knowledge and discursive strategies which enable articulation and functional constituting of ideology. The processes at issue here are those emerging as a consequence of imbalance in the power relations, that is, as consequences of articulation of different interests and struggles of social actors. In the paper we start from the assumption that ideological discourses as forms of knowledge and discourses of (de)legitimization provide the members of social groups with the resources for social classification, their understanding of social relations, social events as well as other social groups. (De)legitimization discourses likewise represent requests for certain behavior and actions, that is, the discourses that justify and/or discredit particular social practices and groups. They are also ways of monitoring social relations. In the paper four major categories of legitimization are emphasized, namely, authorization, moral evaluation, rationalization and mythopoesis as well as the most important areas of (de)legitimization, namely affiliation, action, goals, norms, values, social positions and accesses to social resources. In the conclusion the processes of (de)legitimization are qualified as important strategies of ideologies contributing to changes, classification and reproduction of social practices.

(Dis)Appearance of the Political?

Author(s): Bogdana Koljevic / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2009

In this article the author argues that contemporary political practice supersedes political theory and political philosophy that are still not able to comprehend and articulate its movement. The author argues that what is lacking is not only „the name“ for political subjectivity but understanding of its meaning and possibility of appearance. Contrasting biopolitics – as antipolitics proper – to the political, in the second part the author discusses current theoretical trends of biopolitics (neoliberalism and postmodernity) and traces the conditions necessary to answer it.

(UN)FASHIONABLE DISCIPLINES: GENDER STUDIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN ROMANIA. INTEGRATION OR AUTONOMY?

Author(s): Theodora-Eliza Vacarescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2012

Research on the mechanisms, politics, and practices at work in the process institutionalization of women’s and gender studies in higher education in Central and Eastern Europe show a definite, albeit often uneven and sometimes precarious, dynamic of inclusion of this field of teaching and research, inside and outside officially recognized academic structures during the last two decades or so. In this article I investigate some of the institutional mechanisms, transnational higher education structures and interests, and personal investments and strategies that shape the current configuration of gender studies generally in higher education in Romania and particularly at the University of Bucharest. I argue that the inclusion of gender studies in higher education in Romania should be integrated within the larger, multiple and overlapping binds of national and transnational social, economic and political transformations started in the early 1990 s and accelerated at the end of the decade and especially at the beginning of the millennium. Within this framework, not only specific to the Romanian context, but, as shown in several studies, also to other Central and Eastern European countries, the annexation of gender-related concerns, equal opportunities legislation and gender studies as a valid field of teaching and research by various governmental and institutional agents in Romania could be read as part of the larger endorsement of the “democratization agenda.” However, it is necessary to understand these dynamics of institutional change and international financial and political interests as undoubtedly influencing local options and opportunities, but not always uniformly and unidirectionally informing the form and content of the teaching and research practices undertaken locally.

1977: rok, który nigdy nie jest pamiętany

Author(s): Claire Fontaine / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 03/2015

The article analyses dramatic divergences in events and the field socioaesthetics through a new perspective on the legacy of the Italian student revolts in 1977, when it was necessary to deal with theoretical demands for innovation and truth by means of specific practices. The Bologna Uprising was an extremely important historical precedent in the fight for autonomy, both in Europe and beyond. The ways of being that were disseminated in the contested space of capital accumulation in the 1970s in Italy remind us that we should not commemorate 1977 as an extraordinary event, because its reverberation has not yet become history. The intensivity of the forms of life from Bologna remain with us, clearly demonstrating the validity and value of autonomy.

A ‘Happy’ Coincidence: Cognitive Capitalism and Well-Being Enhancement in Schools

Author(s): James Reveley / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

‘Almost certainly we are witnessing a shift to...a market individualism of neoliberalism where the self is shaped as a utility maximiser, a free and contractual individual, who is self-constituted through the market choices and investment decisions that he/she makes....In the face of increasingly technical and functional forms of literacy and of schooling, we might inquire whether school in an age of consumerism promotes a relation to the self based on truth-telling or whether this relation has been replaced by another primary ethos: happiness, security, survival, success, ‘self-improvement,’ wealth.’ (Besley and Peters, 2007: 18)

A centrista liberalizmus győzelme és az Európa-központúság geokultúrája

Author(s): Ferenc Miszlivetz / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 1/2013

Review of: Immanuel Wallerstein "A centrista liberalizmus győzelme,1789–1914"; by: Miszlivetz Ferenc

A Chinese Theory of Community Policing

Author(s): Kam C. Wong / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2010

This paper introduces the readers to a radically different theory of community policing: “Police power as social resource theory” (SRT), drawing upon Chinese political philosophy (“mass line”) and policing practice (“renmin jingcha”). The SRT addresses three main questions: What is the role and function of the police? What is the relationship of the police with the people? Why do people call the police? SRT (re)conceptualizes crime and police from the perspective of the people, not that of the state. From the people’s perspective crimes are personal problems, while problems are unmet expectations resulting from resource deficiencies and police are social resources make available to the people in solving their own problems. In terms of foundation SRT is a theory of the people, a theory of democratic governance, a theory of empowerment, and a theory of self-help.

A CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF THE DIGITAL KNOWLEDGE COMMONS FROM A MARXIST PERSPECTIVE

Author(s): FAITH AGOSTINONE-WILSON / Language(s): English / Issue: 6/2016

Going beyond a traditional understanding of commons as land and resources, a knowledge commons involves collective, cumulative informal experience, scientific research, the arts, and procedural, practical information, often with economic implications. However, much confusion exists around the terminology of today’s knowledge commons. This article clarifies the differences between open source and free software movements and provides an examination of copyleft and what it means for academics and activists. The author connects these movements to a Marxian vision of a knowledge commons for all.

A demokrácia arisztokráciája?

Paul Elmer More a „természetes arisztokrácia” szükségességéről

Author(s): Gergely Egedy / Language(s): Hungarian / Publication Year: 0

A gonosz arcai a szcientológiában

Author(s): Izabella Demeter / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 07/2012

„A Szcientológia egy vallás, amelyet L. Ron Hubbard fejlesztett ki, és amely az ember való- di szellemi természetének és önmagához, családjához, csoportokhoz, az Emberiséghez, minden életformához, a fizikai univerzumhoz, a szellemi univerzumhoz és a Legfelsõbb Lényhez való viszonyának teljes és biztos megértéséhez kínál pontos útvonalat”1 – válaszolja a Mi a szcientológia? kérdésre a nemzetközi hivatalos honlap tájékoztató része. Napjaink egyik leggyorsabb ütemben terjeszkedõ egyházáról lévén szó, jelen írásban nem vállalkozom a kérdésre adott feleletek átfogó összegzésére – maga az egyház több ezer kötetet jelentetett meg, az ellene felszólalók is majdnem ugyanennyit –, ehelyett a vallás kialakulása és meghirdetett alapelvei kerülnek e gondolatmenet fókuszába, Alain Badiou Etikájának2 lencséjén át szemlélve.

A hit eredendő hibája és ennek társadalmi kihatásai

Author(s): Mátyás Brendel / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 05/2014

A marxi kritikai társadalomelmélet

Kialakulása, fejlődése, teljesítményei és érvényessége a globális kapitalizmus korában

Author(s): Péter Szigeti / Language(s): Hungarian / Publication Year: 0

A modern political education. Nonviolent perspectives

Author(s): Claudia SECCI / Language(s): English / Issue: 3(13)/2016

The article deals with a nonviolent perspective of political education and with some theories that may conjugate these two domains: Nonviolent Culture and Political Education. Methodologically an approach rooted in the theoretical and bibliographical research has been privileged. The discourse investigates the causes of the actual political disaffection, and follows the purpose to highlight the irrevocable role of a structured nonviolent perspective (like Gandhi’s one), in the rehabilitation of politics. Nonviolence does not remove Marxist elements of legitimation in their entirety – as Gramsci’s theory will highlight – provided that they correspond the “conquest of violence” that needs to succeed first and foremost in the “intimate” individual’s awareness. Moreover, the importance of contemporary ecological theories, which embed the nonviolent perspective in a general epistemological view, will be also discussed to reaffirm the crucial significance of the latter. Through this path, different authors, hailing from diverse backgrounds, such as philosophical, pedagogical and anthropological studies, show meaningful affinities and matching points, presenting, in some case, political education in terms of education and training of the “political emotions”. The reflection highlights the relevance of an expanded political participation and experimentation through praxis, as ways of an actual political education, in the belief that emphasizing the pedagogic dimension of political activity, means nothing less than searching for its deepest fundament.

A multikulturalizmusról és az ún. „kultúrák közötti párbeszédről”

Author(s): Attila Demeter M. / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 09/2015

Using some concrete examples, in my study I try to analyze the political challenges which derive from the presence of immigrant (mostly Muslim)communities in European countries. My aim is not primarily to understand the specific religious identity of those communities, but to analyze our own political identity, in other words, the political identity of European societies. I seek an answer to the following question: which are the unquestionable political values or principles we have to insist upon during our dialogues with immigrant communities, and which are the ones which we could bargain about. The second and final part of my study is critical, and examines the causes of the failure of European multiculturalism. My point of view is that the success of the dialogue between European societies and immigrant communities is threatened, among other factors, by our unconditioned attachment to some values and principles which are seen to be inseparable elements of our democratic political culture(for example, the doctrine of human rights), but which deprive the dialogue between cultures not only of legitimacy,but also of any reason and meaning.

A Mythic-Symbolic Perspective on Politics

Author(s): Sandu Frunza / Language(s): English / Issue: 40/2015

In an era of generalized communication, democratic societies cannot escape the radical changes that the development of different types of communication claims. Political communication determines new types of political practice and adhesion. As in the case of postmodern communication in general, in political communication, expressions of symbolic communication characteristic for traditional societies are still being used, even if those expressions are presented as contemporary symbolic constructs, as for example the construct of “postmodern tribes”. This text focuses on how these elements are highlighted in the socio-analysis of Vasile Sebastian Dâncu, one of the most renowned experts in the Romanian political culture. The public space, shaped in the past by the intellectual elite, bearer of values and symbolic conscience, is being seized by television stars, by the online communication specialists. This leads to new fragmentations in and coagulation of political space, and to a prevalence of sentimentalities, mythical stories, and mystical experiences at the expense of rationality, civic involvement and ideologies. The new configuration of political groups of interest and the new ways of adhesion typical for “political followers” belonging to the Facebook generation are regarded from a mythic– symbolic mentality which links them to a behavior and a kind of solidarity characterizing tribal groups which are acting on a postmodern political scene.

A nap árnyékában

Author(s): Zádor Tordai / Language(s): Hungarian / Publication Year: 2000

After the communist system has collapsed, the socio-political and economical situation has changed in Central and Eastern Europe. In his essays Zádor Tordai is focusing on the analyses of the socio-political results of the system change in Central and Eastern Europe and its interpretation – from the view of a philosopher.

A Need for Dialogue to Develop Tolerance

Author(s): Corina Yoris-Villasana / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

The authoress claims that civic education must be grounded in a deep sense of belonging, which, in turn, involves values such as freedom, equality, civility, justice, pluralism and, above all, ensures the development of dialogue and tolerance in the individual, dialogue and tolerance which are essential attributes of a democratic attitude. Tolerance and dialogue are the pivots of citizenship in a society which is to function peacefully. She concludes that by developing these values individuals can better participate in the pursuit of social ideals.

A Podemos és a baloldali populizmus

Author(s): Omar Hassan / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 22/2017

This article examines the rise of Podemos in 2014 and its trajectory since then. Podemos was born right after the rise and fall of the Indignados movement, which was responding to the global economic crisis and subsequent austerity policies. Hassan argues that Podemos successfully avoided Indignados’ weaknesses, the traps of anti-political and anarchistic sentiments. The essay argues that Podemos’ political activity is more than an instinctive populism, as the party consciously and directly uses Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s post-Marxist theory of populism. However, Hassan formulates a fundamental criticism of both Laclau and Mouffe’s theory and of the politics of Podemos. As he follows the political trajectory of Podemos from 2014 to 2016, Hassan reveals that the party’s politics based on the theory of populism gave up its anti-capitalist stance, weakened its own internal democracy and consequently detached the party structure from the mass movement.