Expression Of Society Research Articles

مبادئ حقوق الإنسان والتصادم الثقافي

The international human rights cultural system focuses mainly on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1966, which recognized cultural diversity, rights and multiculturalism, based on the following principles: Equality between cultures: The rejection of discrimination between nations and peoples, the non-recognition of the idea of cultural superiority or domination, and the racist concepts on which it is based. It can be said that cultural diversity is a multiplicity of visions, forms and patterns of expression in societies. By itself, this enriches the knowledge and diversity of its streams in the framework of unity, because each one has cultural patterns, and cultural heritage. It is also impossible to imagine a cultural diversity on the meaning of collision and conflict, considering that cultural diversity is the development of cultures, enhancement of their capabilities, and acquirement of human dimensions. Therefore, cultural identity should not be confined within a narrow privacy that prevents its emergence into cosmic space in order to harmonize with the human rights system in its cosmic dimension, such as the recognition of the other, the development of the spirit of tolerance, the dissemination of a culture of peace and cooperation among human beings and the rejection of the ideas of collision, conflict and ha The imposition of the right to cultural diversity is a necessary condition, as it is an inalienable right of individuals, peoples and civilizations to express their existence freely, as in the issue of cultural diversity and intellectual difference. It is essentially the forms of freedoms and the forms of peoples' right to self-cultural determination, where the culture of a certain people is a source of wealth for other cultures in the framework of cooperation and understanding. The researcher reached to a number of conclusions, the most important of which are: 1. The right to culture is one of the rights recognized by human rights covenants whether within the framework of the United Nations or at the level of regional conventions. However, the researcher found no convention on culture, cultural diversity and respect for multiculturalism. 2. The theory of civilizations collision and the end of history which considers cultural diversity as its starting point and on which it based its arguments, are non-innocent theories aimed at mobilizing public opinion against the other for marketing the idea of the victory of neo-liberal capitalism. 3. Cultural diversity broadens the choices made for individuals and societies to attain satisfactory intellectual, moral and spiritual life, and defending cultural diversity is inseparable from respect for human dignity. It imposes an obligation to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. No one is permitted to depend on cultural diversity to Violate or limit human rights guaranteed by international instruments. The researcher reaches to a number of recommendations, the most important of which were: 1. The United Nations should adopt an international convention of culture and cultural diversity that goes in line with its approach of transforming from generalization to specialization in most human rights to give greater protection and respect for multiculturalism. 2. The educational institutions should pay great attention to instilling the concepts of openness to diverse cultures and accepting the other on the basis of coexistence through the curricula in order to build a human personality that believes in multiculturalism and protects it from the danger of extremist ideas in order to preserve civil peace and ensure international peace and security.

Football fan cultures after the Euro 2004 in Portugal

ABSTRACT International football tournaments show the new potential of the late modern sport in addressing and resizing of identities and superiorities that inserted on the agenda the revalidation of symbolism in the expression of societies in the global context, in the wider context of the large-scale commercialization of a cultural mega-spectacle associated with the image of a nation-state. Having as reference the study on the UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal, and subsequent events, this article focuses on the most significant impacts produced by the tournament in Portuguese football supporters’ culture. There was a growing interest in football, in particular among women, while enhancing at the same time the ability of games in galvanizing the sense of national identity, well expressed in the democratization of the national flag by fans. In the domain of prevention, safety and security, our analysis focuses on the proximity policing.

A sírástól az első szótagig

A közelmúlt során megalakult Tipikus és Atipikus Gyermeknyelvfejlődési Kutatócsoport célja a gyermekek kora életévétől a kisiskoláskor végéig tartó nyelvi fejlődésének és zavarainak nyomon követése, dokumentálása, valamint az atipikus fejlődés terápiás hatásainak felkutatása. A tudományos csoport vizsgálni kívánja továbbá a nyelvi és kognitív képességek összefüggéseit, a többnyelvűség kérdéseit és ezek megjelenési formáit a társadalomban. Közismert tény, hogy a nyelvi képesség elsajátítása egy olyan eseményekben gazdag út, amely az anyaméh világában kezdődik és még a serdülőkoron túl is folytatódik. Mivel a nyelvi fejlődés folyamata viszonylag hosszú és számos kihívással jár, ezért a jelen tanulmány, a kutatócsoport megalakulása kapcsán csupán egy rövid, de maghatározó periódust kíván ebből kiemelni. Pontosan azt a szakaszt érinti, amelyben a kezdetben ügyetlennek tűnő hangadási próbálkozásoktól az akaratlagos mozzanatokig tartó alapozó időszakba jut a gyermek, ahol az artikulációs rendszere az életkori beszédhibák mellett éretté válik az első érthető szavak kiejtésére.

The process of individualisation of punishment in insolvency crimes

In the context of considerations concerning justice in the punishment of criminal offenders it is necessary to focus on the issue of individualisation of the sentence. Through this process the court determines the offender’s particular kind of punishment and sentence. The punishment should subsequently be an expression of society’s idea of the state’s fair reaction to the offence committed. The authors have focused on the process of individualisation of punishment in the case of sentencing offenders in insolvency crime. The theory of rational choice and ideals of restorative justice are of crucial importance in the authors’ thinking. In reflection of the object of the criminal activity and the element of reciprocity (presuming rationality of the perpetrator) we come down to the suitability of the more common imposition of pecuniary penalty on these perpetrators. The text analyses both the advantages and disadvantages of pecuniary penalty, not just in relation to insolvency offenders.

The Hijab and Work: Female Entrepreneurship in Response to Islamophobia

This article focuses on the emerging phenomenon of Muslim women’s entrepreneurial networks in France. It seeks to illustrate a causal relationship between a sociopolitical context where state secularism (laicite) has been abusively interpreted as a blank check to enforce religious neutrality in France, which has therefore inadvertently encouraged these entrepreneurial networks. As such, this article positions these networks as form of empowerment to overcome the sense of humiliation, isolation, and exclusion produced by the current context of state secularism in France, rather than solely an illustration of an independent entrepreneurial spirit. The labor market appears as a field in which social and political practices regulating religious visibility have been enacted within a context of religious tensions in French society rising since the late 1980s (Bauberot 2000). This occurs between the pre-eminence of individual freedoms in secularism and the anticlerical tendencies that can be inferred from recent decisions made by French courts. Based on observations of participants in two women’s entrepreneurship networks made as part of my doctoral research on the impact of la nouvelle laicite on the lives of Muslim women in France, this article also draws on qualitative interviews with over 30 Muslim women entrepreneurs and dozens of participants involved in professional network initiatives. Because these networks are rapidly evolving and relatively new, my fieldwork data addresses a significant gap in the literature concerning this particular aspect of the debate concerning laicite. This study makes it possible to observe how in a key part of the private sector—that of entrepreneurial self-employment—the question of the place of religion and its expression in society is a consequence of a particularly French shift away from a common-sense duty of religious neutrality, the result of mounting layers of political debate over the hijab at schools, universities, and hospitals. The Baby Loup case legally confirms the gradual prohibition of public displays of religion outside of the public-sector work environment.

INDONESIAN THEATER 1985-1995: A PERSPECTIVE OF DESCRIPTION PROCESSES SOCIAL CHANGE AND VALUE

AbstractThis research seeks to depict the history of Indonesian theater development from 1985 to 1995. This period is deliberately chosen because at that time it is seen that New Order power reached the top of its consolidation. Is there correlation between theater as a part of the reflection of society's expression and the repressive-authoritarian situation of the New Order government? With the approach of sociology of art, during that period, theater in Indonesia reflectedthe changes in society socially and in terms of values. One of these changes was the collapse of the conception of human wholeness (in terms of flesh and blood) in theater in Indonesia, because humans weremerely the object of the state power that tended to be authoritarian.Keywords: Indonesian theater 1985-1995, social changes and values, silent theater, theater ideas.

Canadian copyright law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms : Statutory property rights trump constitutionally guaranteed expression

Copyright law has always been surrounded by controversy. It is arguable that the reason why copyright can be a sensitive issue is not simply because it is difficult to create laws for intangible pieces of property, but perhaps because copyright is so widespread it has the ability to affect a substantial number of individuals, whether users or rightholders. The constant state of flux that surrounds copyright law also adds a level of complexity. With technology constantly changing, new issues arise as a result. Freedom of expression adds another realm of complexity. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms1 acknowledges the importance of free expression in society. Section 2(b) of the Charter provides a constitutionally guaranteed freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication. Section 2(b) has already been referred to as the Charter right that has had the biggest influence in Canadian society.2 In Edmonton Journal v Alberta (Attorney General), Cory J stated that it ‘is difficult to imagine a guaranteed right more important to a democratic society’.3

Spatial Concepts of Bali Indigenous Architecture

According to Bali's historical development, it is known that the Balinese people began to settle in Bali around the 8thcentury.Duringthis period, the local culture and architecture rapidly emerged and became the milestone of Balinese architecture. The specific architecture and culture that represented this 8thcenturyperiodis referred as Bali Aga. The Bali Aga is actually a term used by authors to distinguish the early settlement in Bali from the period of 9–12 century AD with the latter periods. The research performed in Sidatapa village at Buleleng Regency, Bali, shows that ancient village in Bali represents a specific spatial concept that is distinct from villages in southern Bali.The Bali Aga, till today, act in accordance with rules based on their social belief system and the kinship system. In a variety of ways their settlement's design is adaptable to the geographical condition. The spatial structure of Bali Aga applies a vertical spatial concept called luan–teben (upper–lower). This concept practically worked as cosmological axes, such as the cardinal axis of kaja–kelod (north–south), top–down, inside–outside, kangin–kauh (east–west) and right–left. These axes were used as ordering devices that organized the layout of functions in Bali Aga settlement. The application of axes system creates architecture order that makes hierarchy of space, sets the orientation of the building and structures the layout of the buildings on the sites. The spatial concept of the Bali Aga architecture, which is based on the concept of luan-teben, is an expression of society's ability to adapt with their natural environmental conditions. These spatial concepts remain relevant with a few improvements. By studying the spatial concepts of Bali Aga architecture one can comprehend their understanding about types and characteristic of vernacular architecture in Bali. Therefore, this study is essential for further understanding of sustainable architecture.

Psychiatric and Disabled people: Legal and Human Right aspects

Legislation forms an important component in the implementation of mental healthcare. Legislation is an expression of society with regard to the way it views and cares for mentally ill individuals. It has long been known that there is a dynamic relationship between the concept of mental illness, the treatment of the mentally ill and the existing Law. Mentally ill persons are vulnerable and required protections and access to treatment programmes, significant degree of choice and respect for autonomy. Though there are several laws but these laws are not able to protect the right of the mentally ill person and person with the disabilities. This paper is emphasized on the human rights and legal provisions for mentally and physically challenged people and reviews the existing rights and their importance for the welfare of these groups and also emphasized on their drawback in an Indian Perspective.

Participación y política. Discutiendo algunos sentidos y prácticas participativas en América Latina

In recent decades notions such as civil society, social movements or social mobilization and collective action are leading discourses that challenge power. In the various expressions of society’s intervention in public affairs that have been occurring in recent decades in Latin America, “participation” is the keyword used by those who are positioned in the left as well as by the ones who are positioned in the right side of the political spectrum. Therefore, it is evident that there is a semantic dispute around this polysemic concept and that is why we intend to contribute to this debate. The article explores whether the use of the term participation makes reference to the same phenomenon or refers usually to very different processes. Are these differences of degree or are they substantive? We start our paper introducing some theoretical digressions on the notion of participation, such as citizen participation (articulation between citizens and the State), social participation (from society), participation within political parties, and participation in collective actions. Finally, we include some empirical references about participatory practices promoted by the State in Latin America in the past two decades. Key words: social participation, social movements, Latin America.

Vakarų Europos socialinės katalikybės idėjos ir jų atgarsiai tarpukario Lietuvoje

The social catholicism movement in states of Western Europe between two World Wars was a specific reaction to the position and attitude of Catholic Church in the presence of growing of totalitarian states. The Vatican signed concordats with them in order to protect local church against the self-will of the authorities. The church, in its turn, encouraged priests to remove themselves from an active political life, which upon circumstances was hardly possible. In the opinion of a part of Catholic intellectuals the position of the Vatican seemed to be doubtful and unacceptable. It was thought that Catholic should not remain aside from a settlement of the most actual problems of political and social life, otherwise it is upon the society, which becomes more and more secular would decrease much more. The representatives of social catholicism movement ( E. Mounier, J. Maritain, M. D. Chenu and others) assessed more the practice of actions of Church of that period, reproved it for manifestations of formalism, confessional isolation, poor effort related to involving of persons doubting about religion or quit irreligious ones, protected a necessity of new forms of pastoral work. Their efforts to modernize Catholicism and to make Church more close, understandable and accessible to a human conformed to the general trend of changes of the religiousness in the society of that time and requirements for modernization of Church institutions and make them correspond to the needs of believers and laymen reflected the growing role of laymen and their aspiration to take more active part in the life of Church as well as in passing of important decisions of Catholic movement. They considered catholicism a specific “ litmus sheet”, which enables to “measure” and assess the acceptability of functioning of a social political system to a spiritual self–improvement, self– expression, economic welfare of a human from a menace of a spiritual and dependence caused by the totalitarian regimes. An aspiration to an exclusive importance of a personality in the society with its right for self-dependent search for an authentic religion became the most important objects of their thoughts and the guide of the activities. Two circumstances affected the spread of social catholicism ideas in Lithuania. First of all, Catholic intellectuals of Lithuania within their studies at universities of Western Europe had an opportunity to get a better acquaintance with the ideas of social catholicism, liked them and after return tried to inform the society of Lithuania on these ideas as wide as possible through press. Secondly, the restrained attitude of the authorities of Catholic Church of Lithuania in respect of the ‘tautininkai’ and whimsical policy in order to restrict unreasonably the activities of Church.This encouraged the young generation catholic intellectuals ( such as A. Maceina, P. Jakas, S. Yla and others), to pay special attention to problems, which were known to the Church, but they were not ready to discuss them publicly. The young generation catholic intelectuals took the view that if the church developed a need of a conscious authentic religion in humans, it would be a pre-condition for realisation of social justice, formation of conditions for ensuring the spiritual and material welfare of a human. A realisation of such humanness depends on spiritual and social maturity of a person, which is inseparable from religiousness, deepness of believing which is attested in the best way by following the requirements of the Gospel in everyday life. So, only religious renaissance of the society, which may be encouraged by self-renovated and open challenges of time Church, can make possible the creation of such a system which serves a human and his spiritual and society expression. Article in Lithuanian

A Close Reading of Georg Simmel's Essay “How Is Society Possible?” The Thought of the Outside and Its Various Incarnations

Georg Simmel's essay “How Is Society Possible?” is built on the idea that an individual can develop himself or herself fully only by entering into society but nevertheless remains marked with an “in-addition” or “individuality-nucleus” that is never entirely socialized. In this manner, Simmel describes how a fundamental gap cannot but separate the essence of an individual from his or her expression in society, how he or she occupies the singular place where the “outside” and “inside” of a society have become indistinguishable, and therefore how the very dynamic that makes society possible does not in fact fully belong to it. More than fifty years after Simmel's essay the concept of an “irreducible outside” reemerged in the works of the French poststructuralists as a way to analyze the primacy of strategies of resistance over manifestations of power. Exploring how processes of “micropolitics” occur in coexistence and confrontation with state apparatuses and not in independence from them, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari built their philosophy on intuitions closely related to those of Simmel, thus illustrating the relevance of his views on society for the world of today.

Constituent Factors of HRD in Health Care

Health care has emerged as one of the clearest and most visible expressions of society's attitude to the value of life. The WHO.'s target of ‘Health for All’ has raised expectations of easier access to and affordability of efficient medical treatment, together with com-passionate care. HRD has come to be regarded as a vital variable in the field of health care given the fact that it has 90 per cent of human interface and only 10 per cent of equipment-supported interface. The rationale of the study stemmed from the feeling that professional health care both in developed and developing countries is not totally on a harmonious wavelength with important aspects of HRD. The objective of the study was to identify the factors of HRD in health care and compare them across India and the USA. In order to make health care systems more cohesive and integrated, weaker factors, whether primary or secondary, deserve attention for better synthesis with the stronger ones. The knowledge generated has important implications for enhancing efficiency, effectiveness, quality, learning orientation, and feedback and benefits of improved health care both in developed as well as developing countries.

The ‘Disallowed’ Political Participation of Manila's Urban Poor

In the Philippines, re-democratization has seen the emergence of new modes of political participation for extra-parliamentary oppositions that are variously aligned with the poor. These involve collective representation within the state and multilateral organizations, or societal incorporation. Among extra-parliamentary oppositions, the urban poor, as a political movement of squatters, has experienced societal incorporation through new laws and programmes that enable access to formal land tenure through market inclusion. In this way, their political participation is limited to proximate representation by non-governmental organisations in the implementation of programmes and projects. But the urban poor are also known for their ‘disallowed’ participation as voters in electoral contests. The disappointing outcomes from societal incorporation have forced the urban poor to persist with this civil society expression of their activism. This article explains the class logic to the urban poor's ‘disallowed’ political participation under prevailing neo-liberal conditions.

The Canon of Ethnomusicology: Is There One?

At first glance, the study of ethnomusicology would seem to be anti-canonical in its essence. As a field of study (if not as a discipline), it has certainly challenged the notion that only selected repertories--most usually the historic classical musics of Europe, but also classical musics in general--merit systematic and categorical inclusion in research and teaching programs. As programs in ethnomusicology have developed and the related matters of publication and curriculum become institutionalized, however, at least in North America, patterns have emerged that might be viewed as canonical. As patterns indicative of intellectual history, if not canonical obstinacy, these would seem to merit recognition and possibly critique. In the following pages, I will attempt to discuss what the current of ethnomusicology might be, how it has changed, what challenges the and what appears to be the (essential, if you will) bedrock of ethnomusicology. To get at these issues, it is useful to separate our awareness of the myriad musical cultures of the world from the discipline of ethnomusicology. In the increasingly interdisciplinary world of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, we see historians adopting typically ethnomusicological methodologies as ethnomusicologists add the techniques of historical research to their projects in such a way as to extract the methods from their subjects in very creative ways. (1) To the extent that ethnomusicology as a discipline has a canon, that is its engagement with social theory (perhaps most notably in the scholarly practices of North America). It proceeds from an anthropologically based theory of culture that is itself problematized but that takes as an important point of departure a definition written in 1871 by anthropologist Edward B. Tylor: ... that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capacities or habits acquired by man as a member of society. (2) Using various theoretical models, ethnomusicology probes the meaning of musical expression in societies and the relationship of sound structures to other social interactions thereby producing societies as it is experienced and observed. Ethnomusicology tends to be sensitive to power relations in a society and to the varying and multiple views of insiders and outsiders to a community. The table of contents for Ruth Stone's forthcoming book, Theory in Ethnomusicology, provides a good view of the disciplinary canon of ethnomusicology (see fig. 1). (3) Following an introductory chapter, Stone takes up the characteristics of more than twenty interpretive approaches that have gained currency in ethnomusicological research at one point or another. (She presents them roughly in the order of their emergence beginning in the late nineteenth century, which is commonly viewed as the beginning of the Western discipline of ethnomusicology as it is taught in Europe and North America.) At an entry level, Kay Kaufman Shelemay's recent textbook Soundscapes manifests canonical theory. (4) Using examples from all over the world, Shelemay invites beginners to look at ways in which musical sound constitutes social experience in familiar and unfamiliar settings from Boston to Bangkok. She draws attention to major themes in ethnomusicology that relate music to society: music and ritual, music and politics, music and social identity (see fig. 2). In an elegant address to the particular issues of the twenty-first-century global world, the book prompts students to observe and analyze the musical diversities and complexities of their own communities. Seen over the approximate 150 years of its existence as a field of inquiry, ethnomusicological work appears as part of what might be called the political economy of scholarship in Europe and North America, home to the dominant world powers during this period. In her compilation of reprinted articles, Ethnomusicological Theory and Method, Kay Shelemay provides a substantial sampling of ethnomusicological writing between 1910 and 1987 that exemplify this point. …

Psychopathic Characters on the Stage of Stephen Sondheim

Many of the characters in Stephen Sondheim's musical theater are burdened with a character pathology which results in their inability to establish intimate relationships. Drawing on Freud's "Psychopathic characters on the stage" and psychoanalytic theory, this article suggests that developmental, biological, and environmental factors from Sondheim's childhood contribute to his characters' social and interpersonal alienation. Sondheim's art is a partially successful attempt to re-assert connections and repair narcissistic injuries, introjecting the absent mother as part of the superego. The resistance to dramatizing character pathology through biography is both an expression of society's postmodern fragmentation and resistance to Oedipal drama.

Ballet in Western Culture: A History of its Origins and Evolution, by Carol Lee. 2002. New York and London: Routledge. 368 pp., notes, chronology, glossary, bibliography, index. $26.95 softcover.

Dance literature is enriched with the publication of this comprehensive presentation of the evolution and development of classical dance. With 'Ballet in Western culture', Carol Lee has distilled and integrated an enormous and diverse amount of historical, biographical, and artistic information with precision and clarity. The fascinating story of ballet is told anew with the insight of one who has spent a lifetime dancing herself. The author illuminates the many periods of dance, each in its historical setting, eloquently linking the ages from antiquity to present. Her colorful treatment of medieval and Renaissance dancing as expressions of society and politics is both informative and factual. -- P. ix. Comprend une bibliographie. Comprend un index. Comprend un glossaire et une chronologie.

Twinship and Juvenile Power: The Ordinariness of the Extraordinary

Much anthropological literature for sub-Saharan Africa has explored twinship as culturally exceptional and paradoxical. This essay suggests that although twins represent a surfeit of fertility and present contradictions for the social structure, their power poses similar problems to that of other juveniles in a gerontocratic system. The Cameroon Grassfields is a region noted for highly stratified societies and the prevalence of double birth and who are metaphorically like twins. Any child who exhibits the capricious and extraordinary capacity to transform mystically has marked consequences for the social, economic, and political order. To understand juvenile power requires contextualizing at the local, compound, and family levels, as well as in relation to the highly stratified political order. (Twins, symbols, power, children, Cameroon) Twins in the Anglophone highlands or Grassfields region of the Republic of Cameroon embody a postmodern moment. They shift attention away from an essentialized conception of twins on multiple levels. First, they are a protean concept left undefined by biology alone. The term in Pidgin English in fact refers to a double category of both multiple births (including triplets and so on), who are children of God, as well as single twins; that is, born with special signs pointing to extraordinary powers.(2) Second, the significance of twins as a social and symbolic category changed under the influence of missionization, European medical practice, and the decreasing importance of indigenous ritual and political power in the British mandate/trust era. However, more recently the power that twins are said to exercise appears to have intensified. In particular, twins have grown as a category, often identified ex post facto via divination to explain misfortune (Diduk 1993a). At the same time that twinship in the Grassfields assumes patterns that clash with what is expected from anthropologists' theories and generalizations, local knowledge about twins rests on a decidedly modernist foundation. Twinship is a God-given capacity that gives universal content to the category. As a natural endowment, it cannot be learned or acquired socially, although it is given expression in society. Even in those cases where people are designated as twins long after birth, it is the diviner (or healer, through consultations with gods) who discovers the identity. Being labeled a twin rests ultimately on criteria that are assumed to be external to the social order; i.e., being born with God-given faculties. Twinship in the Grassfields reflects a broader pattern in sub-Saharan Africa; namely, that twins may include all multiple births, as well as certain kinds of births (Beattie 1962; Wilson 1957:152). It is true that birthrates for identical (rather than fraternal) twins are quite high for the subcontinent and certainly in the Grassfields. Thus, as Schwartz (1996) suggests, whenever high rates of twinship occur, society accounts culturally for this phenomenon. However, Grassfields and other African societies also invent twins where they do not exist biologically. Of added significance is that families of multiple-birth twins spend considerable sums on twin rituals today. The paralyzing economic crisis facing Cameroon since the 1980s has neither curtailed these rituals nor reduced their cost. While the expenditures are made once in the life cycle of a domestic group, they are exorbitant relative to per-capita income.(3) The cost exceeds that of all other rituals with the exception of bridewealth payments, but the latter are paid over an extended period of time. The sheer number of twins, the fact that twins are increasing, their cultural invention, and their expense in a time of economic crisis all suggest that twins are more than an arcane cultural category. What is especially important about twins is that they share with other the power to transform mystically (fentah). …

Japanese Science Fiction: A View of a Changing Society , and: Rationalizing Genius: Ideological Strategies in the Classic American Science Fiction Short Story (review)

Reviewed by: Japanese Science Fiction: A View of a Changing Society, and: Rationalizing Genius: Ideological Strategies in the Classic American Science Fiction Short Story Donald M. Hassler Robert Matthew . Japanese Science Fiction: A View of a Changing Society. New York: Routledge, 1989. 266 pp. $57.95. John Huntington . Rationalizing Genius: Ideological Strategies in the Classic American Science Fiction Short Story. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1989. 216 pp. $37.00 cloth; pb. $15.00. There is an uncanny similarity between these two studies of science fiction, and between them they represent interesting errors of methodology at opposite ends of a spectrum. One would wish literary work somewhere in the middle. But the relatively new field of science fiction studies has yet to discover its best way, and both Robert Matthew and John Huntington have much to teach us even in their errors. The common ground they share derives, apparently, from the popular roots of science fiction itself—both in Japan at the end of the last century and in America just before and during the Great Depression. (A wonderful discovery in the Matthew book is that pulp magazines flourished in Japan at about the same time that Amazing Stories and Astounding were evolving here.) Both studies, then, are dedicated to finding a way to analyze this popular literature as an expression of society and, most particularly in Huntington's work, as a political force. Because little has yet been written about Japanese science fiction, Matthew has found a true science-fictional subject matter. Almost like an imaginary voyage itself, the origins and the themes associated with what Matthew calls "the only technology-conscious, forward-looking, and future-oriented literature that stands outside the western framework" mirror many of their counterparts in our culture. For example, adventure story telling for the Japanese was traditionally considered [End Page 313] "base and humble" according to Matthew's research, what we would call Grub Street work. His goal, then, is to go to these base roots for significant messages about Japanese society. He does this by summarizing over 170 fictions arranged by theme. The reader can identify and follow important writers by using the index and by reading carefully; but the vast amount of summary material on individual stories might have been arranged more efficiently as a reference book, much like E. F. Bleiler's summaries of supernatural and fantasy fictions. In addition to this summary material of fictions that few in the West have read, Matthew's other contribution of labeling and discussing the sociological knowledge we can glean from the literature is most valuable. I am not sure the two objectives meld well, but the sociological conclusions are fascinating if brief, given the amount of space devoted to summary. Also writing with the jargon of the social scientist and even the futurologist (his earlier fine book on H. G. Wells foreshadows his "politics of prediction" here), Huntington expends even more effort to suggest a methodology of proper sampling and hence "scientific" validity. Although his rationale becomes too tortured to describe briefly, he ends up with the twenty-six stories in Volume I of Robert Silverberg's Science Fiction Hall of Fame (1971) as his sample; and then, rather than summarize as Matthew does with his much larger sample, Huntington executes a New Critical close reading of the short stories in order to generalize about the hidden agendas of the literature represented by this anthology that ranges from the early thirties to Silverberg's final statement in the collection itself. So Huntington's method is at the other extreme from Matthew's summaries. Further, Huntington much more than Matthew seems to want not only to draw sociological conclusions from the literature about what he labels our "technocracy" but also to insist on the need for an overt discussion in the literature of what he calls "politics." Oddly, then, although the strength of Huntington is his close readings, the bias towards "politics" in his work seems to hobble the attention to the literature itself. Again, the bias seems to grow out of the starting assumption that this is a popular literature and so must speak efficiently to the people about their concerns or politics. The...

Audiences, Critics and the Depurification of Music: Reflections on a 1920s Controversy

The tendency to accept that music has a social context while resisting its definition as a social commodity is not particular to the conservative wing of British musicology (albeit influenced by Carl Dahlhaus). The aesthetics of European musical idealism have consistently, and since well before Hanslick, opposed any suggestion that ‘serious’ music should be seen or heard to engage with the market-place, let alone that it might, willy-nilly, be in one. The cherishers of musical purity, however, are to be found not only amongst reactionary critics, with their specific culturally inherited involvement with the Classical style. Pre-1914 modernists and decadents saw the market-place as the creation and province of a philistine bourgeoisie and expressed an often uncompromising, anti-popular idealism of their own. Debussy in 1901 stated:The enthusiasm of society spoils an artist for me, such is my fear that, as a result, he will become merely an expression of society- a fear that would have been comprehended by the Viennese Schoenberg, who later formulated the belief thatno musician whose thinking occurs in the highest sphere would degenerate into vulgarity in order to comply with a slogan such as ‘Art for all'… . If it is art it is not for all, and if it is for all it is not art … .