Political Functions Research Articles

Rebranding China through facsimiles: A study of mubanshuiyin reproductions in PRC’s art diplomacy and soft power building, 1952–79

In September 2022, China Central Television released a five-episode documentary about Rongbaozhai, one of the oldest stationery companies and art galleries in China, to celebrate its 350th anniversary. This was part of the global propaganda aiming to reintroduce traditional Chinese cultural brands and their products under Xi’s art and culture policy of ‘telling China’s stories well’. One of the episodes is dedicated to the woodblock facsimiles of traditional Chinese paintings (mubanshuiyin) that Rongbaozhai produced in the 1950s and 1960s following Mao’s literature and art policy. However, the perspective of the storytelling is almost entirely focused on technical details. Little has been mentioned about these exquisitely crafted prints’ political function as specimens to demonstrate PRC’s cultural orthodoxy to traditional Chinese arts and crafts and its resolution of restoring Chinese cultural heritage. Drawing on archival materials, memoirs of former employees and a case study of the first mubanshuiyin reproduction – zanhua shinü tu (Court Ladies Wearing Flowered Headdresses) – this article traces the development of this unique art form during its golden age when it was marketed as both diplomatic gifts and souvenirs and a paradigm of collective craftsmanship by proletariat artisans. As a frequently used gift-giving practice for culture promotion, this article also unveils the contribution of mubanshuiyin reproductions to China’s soft power building and early art diplomacy from the 1950s to 1970s.

Identifying the dimensions of gender justice in the Iranian Ministry of Sport and Youth

In modern times, sports have attracted the attention of different societies. Social, economic and political functions are one of the reasons. In Iran, the role of the Ministry of Sports and Youth is very important in managing sports in the country. Justice has been supposedly one of the pillars of ethical management in organizations, along with performance improvement. One example of justice in organizations is gender justice. The aim of this study was to provide valuable information to sports activists in the country by identifying the dimensions of gender justice in the Ministry of Sports and Youth and identify ways to expand gender justice according to employees' perceptions. The current research is practical in terms of purpose and qualitative in terms of method, employing a thematic analysis strategy. The sample consisted of 7 management experts and sociologists who had studied, researched, or gained experience in the field of the present study (gender justice in organizations). The researchers used a semi-structured interview, which is suitable for qualitative research in terms of flexibility and depth. The "Inter Coder Reliability (ICR)" method was used to measure the reliability of the interviews conducted. The data were coded using MAXQDA2018 software. The results showed that perceptions of gender justice include 3 main themes (distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice) and 19 sub-themes. The expansion of gender justice in the Ministry of Sports and Youth, as the country's sports policy organization, can seemingly be effective in improving performance. It also has positive social and cultural effects on all sports areas of the country.

Invisible social Europe? Linking citizens' awareness of European cohesion funds, individual power resources, and support for the EU.

In the twentieth century national social policies stabilized the European state systems, favouring domestic concordance and citizens' support to the nation-building process. Welfare institutions have historically served this key political function also in federal systems, where social citizenship has been used as a tool to foster unity. In contrast, even though the EU devotes a consistent part of its (however limited) budget to social cohesion and inclusion programmes, it takes little credit for such efforts. Building on original survey data on public opinion collected in 2019 across ten EU countries, this article shows that, indeed, only a limited number of citizens are aware of the social role played by the EU in their local community. On the other hand, it demonstrates that citizens' awareness of EU programmes strengthens the individual perception of power resources stemming from euro-social initiatives, the feeling of 'being heard' by the EU and, ultimately, the support for the European integration project as a whole. By implication, increasing the relevance and visibility of euro-social programmes could possibly reinforce the very foundations of the EU.

Wild Horse Roundups and Removals

Epistemological contestation about what – and whose – knowledge counts is central to the struggle about the future of wild horses on US public lands. In the politics of wild horse management, the construction of knowledge claims about wild horses as well as the formation of beliefs about their credibility is shaped by interspecies affective relations; relations that, we contend, are strikingly gendered. We seek to understand how these affective relations – the intermingling of facts and values – shape knowledge claims concerning wild horse roundups and removals carried out on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Using data collected from 28 roundups and removals conducted between 2020 and 2022, in 7 states, we show that BLM’s disavowal of emotion in wild horse management places both wild horses and wild horse advocates in the same subaltern category of being destructive, disruptive, and out of place – in short, “feral.” The wild horse advocacy practices of witnessing roundups and removals of free-roaming horses from a position of “entangled empathy” discussed in this article reject this double-feralization of wild horses and the humans who care for them by establishing that wild horses are grievable, have ecological value, and are capable of participating in relations of interspecies kinship. We elaborate on these claims in terms of four major themes found in our data: protecting ecological integrity, regulating horses’ numbers, listening to nonhuman others, and debating advocacy strategies. Improved understanding of the political function of emotion helps identify a path toward managing wild horses more compassionately.

Sonic Domination and the Politics of Race in Southern Antebellum Hymnody

AbstractReligious music served a political function in the southern United States during the antebellum period. This article examines catechisms and hymnbooks used by white evangelical missionaries and slaveowners in the antebellum South, arguing that the planter elite deployed hymns as a medium to assert white supremacy. The term sonic domination identifies processes whereby sound functioned as a social tool to maintain discipline and order among the enslaved population. Black and white people sang hymns in church, at interracial revivals, and during civic services; they were also heard on bells and cited in poetry. English texts and tunes included in slave catechisms and white portrayals of Black singing highlight the role of evangelical hymns in maintaining plantation order in the Old South. At the same time, enslaved Black Christians found creative ways to circumvent the oppressive power of the white elite through song. African Americans employed English hymns in their own religious rituals and used them to convey hidden meanings on the plantation. Both genres, which interacted and ultimately influenced each other, contributed to an eventual codification of American evangelical hymnody.

“SHI JING” AND TRADITIONAL COLOR FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF VISUAL PERCEPTION OF COLOR IMAGE

This article is based on the study of a literary work before the Qin era “Shi Jing” (“Book of Songs”). The article will analyze the combination of perceived color with the literary language before the Qin, realistic reproduction, and symbolic color combination of the color language of “Shi Jing” with a political and educational function through the transformation of visual perception of color. The literary language of color, the “native” traditional colors and the aesthetic characteristics of the Chinese nation will be studied, which is the key to the early formation of the perception of Chinese color culture. At the same time, the color vocabulary of “Shi Jing” and “Songs of Chu” will be compared, aesthetic similarities and differences, as well as symbolic meanings of color in classical works of the south and north of the country will be interpreted. The study of pre-Qin literature and Chinese color culture in three-dimensional space-time, rather than in isolation, deeply explores the aesthetics of traditional colors and the social utility of politics and religion. This need is due to the fact that visual-sensory color research in literary and artistic works is an investigation of the cultural and id “native” color culture demonstrates enormous political and pedagogical utility.

Historicizing Political Dichotomy Among the Double Unilineal but Prevalently Matrilineal Cross River Igbo

The patrilineally-biased socio-political system was prevalent among the Igbo; and was the preserve of adult males above the ages of eighteen. It legislated on the decisions of the paramount Eze and the Council of Elders. The womenfolk were hardly politically visible enough in decision-making as it affected them. Yet, among the double unilineal Cross River Igbo, such as the Abam, Abiriba, Amaseri, Ihechiowa, Ohafia and Ututu, the womenfolk were politically as active as the men. Their decisions which were usually backed by women-specific deities, such as Odamini Ufuforo, Imohuma, Ohuhu and Ibara; and institutionalized social control mechanisms, such as Abiamkpu, Ibuo Okpu and Use, were often incontrovertible. A gendered political dichotomy entailed specific domains of contestations, well-defined political functions for the men and womenfolk; and cultural exhibits that portrayed the audacity of firmness, authority and visibility. Except in the choice of the paramount chief from among the apical patrilineages, the socio-economic and political systems of the Cross River Igbo were suffused by matriliny through which descent and inheritance were acquired and traced. Authority laid more on those who owned more lands and were more numerous. The matrilateral (horizontal) distributive justice system and the ability principles were preferred over the patrilateral (vertical) distributive justice system. Moreover, members of the patrilineages equally belonged to their mothers’ matrilineages where they stood to access more lands, acceptability and relevance in a double unilateral distributive justice system. The paper concluded that it was impossible for the females under the aegis of the matrilineages to be politically invisible since they had certain socio-economic advantages, therefore, political. Oral interviews predominated in the research while written sources served complementary and subsidiary purposes.

Analysing the lobbying behaviour of experts during the due process of the International Integrated Reporting Framework

PurposeDrawing on Suchman’s conception of cognitive legitimacy and Boswell’s account of the political functions of expert knowledge, this paper aims to study the due process followed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) prior to the publication of the first version of the International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRF). Specifically, the author analyses the lobbying strategies used in the comment letters sent by a subset of lobbyists, “the experts”, represented by accounting bodies and firms, regulators and academics.Design/methodology/approachFrom both a form- and meaning-oriented analysis, this paper focuses on how the experts resorted to the functions of knowledge when they took part in the IIRF’s public consultation. The author first carries out a quantitative content analysis of the responses to the 2013 Consultation Draft submitted by those constituents considered as accounting expert lobbyists. Then, the author analyse how these actors framed their comments under expert knowledge to legitimise the IIRC, the IIRF and the accounting profession itself.FindingsThe findings suggest that the expert groups welcomed the opportunity, not simply to legitimise the IIRC through their democratic support, but to provide a technocratic settlement that ensures the due process is based on the mobilisation of expert knowledge as a legitimate source. By drawing on the cognitive legitimacy of expert lobbyists, the IIRC drew on the political functions of expert knowledge to reduce uncertainty and gain stability.Practical implicationsAnalysis of the lobbying strategies used by the accounting experts whose position could make a difference and receive more attention from the IIRC makes this contribution of particular interest, especially since the first version of the IIRF sought to guide disclosure and sustainable business practices around the world.Social implicationsExperts as political actors play a legitimising role since they are capable of producing relevant knowledge that, due to its nature and scope, certainly affects policymaking and sustainable development.Originality/valueThis research provides a sociopolitical perspective to comprehend how some lobbying strategies, in this case, of expert actors, contribute to legitimising a standard-setter body and its endeavours in the context of voluntary standards.

Student's Expressive Speak With Teacher in Vocational High School

This study analyzes the expressive speech politeness of students and teachers at An-Nur Bululawang Vocational School, Malang Regency. This study aims to determine the form of expressive speech politeness and the function of students' expressive speech politeness toward teacher speech at school. This research was conducted using a qualitative approach. This type of research is a type of pragmatic research. The data in this study are in the form of speech between students and teachers in expressive politeness at school. The data source for this research was in the form of recordings of students' and teachers' speeches, which were then transcribed in written form. Data collection techniques in this study used observation and recording techniques. Data analysis in this study used the Miles and Huberman interactive model in general, covering three stages, namely (1) data collection, (2) data reduction, and (3) data presentation. The results of this study indicate that (1) the forms of expressive speech between students and the teacher, namely declarative speech forms, imperative speech forms, and interrogative speech forms, and (2) the function of expressive speech politeness between students and teachers, namely the politeness function of expressive speech pleasure, thank you, apologize, complain, greet, praise, tease, and tease. The use of expressive politeness between students and teachers at school is used relevantly according to the context, and this expressive speech can help students convey emotional feelings to the teacher so that in the learning process, they easily achieve learning goals and can motivate students' development while at school.

A Different Hunger

In echoing the title of A. Sivanadan’s seminal examination of Black cultural-political strategies of resistance to the representational violence governing the construction of colonial identities and power relations, this article argues that the racialized regime of representation continues to support the social production of global hunger and sustain its operation. In this context, hunger must be seen as an act of exteriorized violence directed against specific populations in order to maintain the necropolitical neo-colonial settlement. Within the aesthetic logic of humanitarianism supporting this regime, the emaciated figure of the suffering, silent other is continually forced to re-enact the traumatic scene of their own disappearance into the space of the image in order to fulfil a spectatorial desire to see and to be subjectivated through seeing. The article contends that the social construction of an intrinsically theatricalized humanitarian gaze is inimical to the political functioning of colonial-capitalist ways of seeing, thereby demonstrating that critical art practices are not exempt from operating within the parameters of this aesthetic regime. The article investigates the claims of Dutch artist Renzo Martens’ performative documentary, Episode III: Enjoy poverty (2008), to expose the hypocrisy of Western food aid practices through the lens of performative intervention. Through close analysis of the film, it cautions against positioning hunger as an object ‘outside’ reflexive critical consideration of it. It demonstrates that there is no external material reality that pre-exists our imagination and desire to know; no objective correlate for our hunger for social and political change. In order to understand this ‘different hunger’, we must recognise our differential implication in, and relation to, the world in which hunger is manifest and not construct an idealised optic that would allow us to simply imagine ourselves acting upon it.

Critical terrorism studies and numbers: engagements, openings, and future research

ABSTRACT Recent years have witnessed a growing multi-disciplinary engagement with the importance of quantification across social, political, and economic life. In this article, I seek to build on this work by offering the first sustained exposition of the significance of numbers for critical scholarship on (counter-)terrorism. Three arguments are made. First, there is evidence of greater appetite for engaging with numbers in critical terrorism studies scholarship than might be intuited, given this work’s widespread association with linguistic and discursive approaches. Second, notwithstanding the above, existing scholarship in this area tends to be limited, fragmentary, and characterised by illustrative or exemplary engagement. And third, there is significant opportunity to move towards a more substantive critical engagement with (counter-)terrorism numbers through inspiration from cognate debates within sociology, rhetorical studies, and critical security studies. To address this, the article therefore provides a new research agenda for critical terrorism studies scholarship and quantification, organised around five themes: (i) the production of (counter-)terrorism numbers; (ii) the form taken by (counter-)terrorism numbers; (iii) the mobility of numbers across sites of (counter-)terrorism knowledge; (iv) the political and other functions of (counter-)terrorism numbers; and (v) the reception of (counter-)terrorism numbers by relevant audiences.

The affordances of technology and strategic roadmapping: An exploration of its instrumental, symbolic, and political functions

Scholars agree that the roadmapping process and product both have multiple benefits for organizations in terms of strategic planning and coordination of strategic activities. However, the social and organizational aspects surrounding strategic and technological roadmapping are still poorly understood. By mobilizing the literature on strategic tools-in-use, and the theory of affordances, this paper explores the practical affordances of roadmapping. Our results, based on a longitudinal study of the development and dissemination of a roadmap within Hydro-Québec, show that the roadmapping process and product fulfill three main types of function: instrumental, symbolic, and political. We also find that the coordination and alignment benefits are highly dependent on the political affordances of the tools that individuals anticipate in the conduct and dissemination of roadmapping.

The Significance of Ideological and Political Education in College Physical Education

Physical education is an indispensable part of the ideological and political education in Colleges and universities, and it is a course to promote the all-round development of students' morality, intelligence, physique, and beauty. By Integrating Ideological and political education into various sports activities, college students can develop excellent ideological and moral character. But at present, there are still some colleges and universities of physical education is still in the exam oriented teaching state, or there are some deficiencies, can not help college students to shape the correct outlook on the person and values, this paper also puts forward some suggestions; the following is the ideological and political education function of College physical education. Document, picture, and audio are static teaching content display in micro course, which can let students receive knowledge directly. For example, in the construction of document resources, designers need to highlight the content theme, and use color to distinguish the key points in the document, which can not only help students quickly obtain important content, but also change the boring long text. The picture resources are relatively simple, only need to be modified and processed by PS and other image processing software. Finally, audio resources mainly use text or pictures to prompt the content. This kind of audio resources can be directly produced through mobile phones. At present, there are many ways to make audio resources by using mobile phones.

The black swans of nuclear repositories – an overview of external events with a potentially serious impact on the long-term operation and safety

Abstract. For Germany, the time until completion and final closure of a repository is estimated to be up to 150 years. So far, it has been implicitly assumed that external political, economic, and infrastructural functions that are necessary for the construction, operation, and closure of such facilities will be fully in place throughout the entire operating period. These include, for example, power supply, presence of well-trained staff, and effective oversight. Event sequences initiated by natural disasters or human-made crises may lead to unintentional long-lasting disruptions of these external safety functions. They are currently only partly considered in safety assessments. To make repository concepts robust against such scenarios, a forward-looking risk analysis is required that creates the basis for a holistic comparative risk assessment of different repository concepts. It provides a starting point for the development of additional resilient structures, management processes, and safety functions. A risk analysis includes an assessment of event-specific vulnerabilities as well as potential consequences of unintended external hazards for various disposal concepts. The first step of this process would be a hazard analysis – a summary and evaluation of external event sequences that have the potential to compromise essential safety elements of a repository within the predicted operation period. These can be divided into political–economic crises and event sequences following transnational natural disasters. A look at the political development of the past 150 years shows that even if only the present territory of Germany is considered, there have been profound disruptions, such as three wars, several major economic depressions, revolutionary government changes, and attempted military coups. This summary shows that political and economic stability as well as a continuous orderly operation cannot be taken for granted. Historic as well as present experiences from the country where the repository is planned as well as the neighbouring regions should be considered when assessing the potential consequences of such events. Local natural disasters are already taken into account in site selection, e.g. risk of flooding, volcanism, or earthquakes. Less attention is typically given to the indirect effects of transnational disastrous events. These include climatic extremes (e.g. droughts), cosmic and geological disasters (e.g. geomagnetic storms) and their climatic consequences (e.g. volcanic winter), and pandemics. Such natural disasters may cause economic depressions and subsequently contribute to political turmoil (e.g. the drought of 1788 as one of the causes of the French Revolution in 1789). At the stage of concept design, additional safety elements, measures, and processes should be included that help to manage situations of external stress and to avoid irreversible processes that challenge the safety architecture of the repository.

The Quaint

This essay concerns the aesthetic category of “quaintness.” The quaint is argued here as useable as an aesthetic-political tool with which to construct cultural authenticity or the sense of a preserved past and the maintenance of social order within a hyper-globalised world. The essay makes its argument through consideration of Irish identity aesthetics of the 1960s and 1970s; specifically, the postcards of the John Hinde Studio and the urban design schemes of the Tidy Towns programme. These quaint phenomena contributed to Irish post-war liberal modernisation and its fostering of international tourism, presenting a particular commercialised image of the “pre-modern” and the “traditional.” Confrontation between the tourist economy and Irish Traveller populations is used to highlight the political functions of quaintness.

The Cultural Value of the Chinese Yangqin

This research article is part of a dissertation on "The Chinese Yangqin: Performance Practices and Aesthetic Characteristics", which found that the cultural values of the Chinese yangqin were mainly influenced by Chinese politics, social culture, and the aesthetics of the people, reflecting the changes in society and culture and the aesthetic preferences of the people.
 As an introduced instrument, the chinese yangqin came with its own cultural values of cultural invasion and fusion. Pre-1949 yangqin music was rich in cultural values and was used in folk cultural events with a sense of ritual, serving to promote friendship and maintain social harmony. Secondly, it served a political function as a means of diplomacy, and an entertainment function in the folklore or at court. The cultural value of music after 1949 is relatively homogeneous, mainly for entertainment and cultural integration.

‘An Industrial Revelation’ – The Political Apocalyptic in Gaskell’s North and South

Abstract This essay examines the religious contents of Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1854–1855 novel, North and South, within the context of Apocalyptic literary traditions from Antiquity, and in the literary and historical contexts accessible to Victorians. Inviting this comparison is the character Bessy Higgins, a terminally ill factory seamstress who quotes the Book of Revelation and reports prophetic dreams of some actual merit. By placing this anachronistically apocalyptic voice amid the working poor of her industrial urban setting, Gaskell effects a return to the original political function of the Apocalyptic genre: the vindication of a disenfranchised underclass. Drawing upon examples from Christian and pre-Christian Antiquity, this essay establishes the generic features of Apocalyptic literature as they pertain to its political function, and identifies key points at which Gaskell’s text aligns with them. Though Gaskell does not replicate the genre’s form in full, North and South being a novel rather than a dream-vision, she nonetheless uses the character Bessy to incorporate apocalyptic concepts, images, arguments, and rhetoric into her otherwise realistic narrative of nineteenth-century class struggle. The result, coded in layers of Biblical reference, is an indictment of the capitalist class, comparing them to the sinners who temporarily inherit the Earth in the Apocalypse of John, after the righteous have been purged from it. The final part of this essay further contextualizes Bessy Higgins within the Methodist traditions contemporary to North and South, and within Gaskell’s intersecting religious and political views.

Political Functions of Art in the Period of Socialist Albania

1945-1992 yıllarını kapsayan Sosyalist Arnavutluk dönemi üzerinde bir çok araştırma yapılmıştır. Bu dönemde sanatla ilgili yapılan çalışmalara bakıldığında genelde sanatın kurumsallaşması ve devlet tarafından nasıl algılandığı üzerinde durulmuştur. Sanatsal bir alan olan şarkıların rejimi meşrulaştırma işlevine ilişkin araştırmalar ise bulunmamaktadır. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmada öncelikle sanat ve siyaset ilişkisine sosyolojik bir değerlendirme yapılarak başlanmıştır. Sonra o dönemde yapılan on bir tane şarkı üzerinde nitel araştırma yöntemi kapsamında içerik analizi uygulanmış olup bu işlevin niteliği ve boyutları tespit edilmiştir. Bulgulara göre siyasal iktidarın meşrulaştırılması, siyasal liderin karizmasının meşrulaştırılması ve dış politikada alınan kararların meşrulaştırılması olarak ortaya çıkan üç işlevin incelenen şarkılarda yoğun olarak bulunduğu ortaya konulmuştur. Ayrıca bulgular ışığında bakıldığında resmi ideolojinin savunduğu “sanat toplum için” anlayışı çok spekülatif olması nedeniyle reddedilmiş ve bunun yerinde “sanat parti için” anlayışın daha gerçekçi olduğu öne sürülmüştür. Sonuç kısmında ise çalışmanın özgün özellikleri ileri sürülerek buna benzer konularda yapılabilecek diğer araştırmalara katkısı tartışılmıştır. En son bölümde ise ingilizce dilinde geniş özet bölümü verilmiştir.

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF KLAUS SCHWAB’S CONCEPT OF THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The purpose of this study is to critically analyze the concept of the fourth industrial revolution by K. Schwab and its role in the development of modern societies. It has been established that this concept has a pronounced conservative ideological character and is aimed at preserving and legitimizing the current status quo of privileged social groups, as well as the status quo based on a new system of dispositions. It performs projective-mobilizing, political, evaluative and practical functions aimed at forming a “common understanding” and building an “inclusive and just” society. The sociological content of the theory of industrial revolutions is revealed as an attempt to revise the established theoretical constructs that have lost their empirical adequacy in the changed conditions. It is shown that the concept of the fourth industrial revolution is based on evaluative descriptions, has no clear criteria and indicators for its diagnosis. It is argued that in K. Schwab’s interpretation the fourth industrial revolution is indistinguishable from the third one. It is hypothesized that the concept of the fourth industrial revolution is not new in content and is a product of “intellectual marketing”. Using the methodology of A. Goudner, the critical analysis is carried out and the non-articulated components that make up the infrastructure of the concept of the fourth industrial revolution are revealed by considering the “role” and “personal” reality of K. Schwab.

Lacustrine islands in the cultural and natural landscape of Western Slavs in the early Middle Ages

Recent research on central West Slavic sites in the Polish Lowlands (Poland) dated to the Early Middle Ages conducted within the framework of the Man in the Borderland project (NP DH) has shown that settlements located on small lake islands (Pomerania, Lubusz land) were of particular importance, alongside settlements performing complex social and political functions. Their physiognomy relates in many cases to British crannogs, as they have an anthropogenic (artificial) structure and their characteristic feature is the presence of wooden relics of structures in the form of embankments, piers and bridges. The occurrence of artifacts characteristic of social elites (militaria, merchant's accessories, jewellery) further indicates the importance of many of these sites. As a rule, they were located on the borders of former tribal territories and on the periphery of the early Piast state (8th/9th–11th century).