Intersubjective Meanings Research Articles

Infectious Innovations? The Diffusion of Tactical Innovation in Social Movement Networks, the Case of Suffragette Militancy

This paper explores the diffusion of a tactical innovation – militancy – within the British Suffrage Movement, 1905–1914. It concentrates upon the influences that arise from personal social networks and which affect ego's decision about whether to adopt the new tactic. UCINET is used to map and visualise the activist networks of two suffragettes who made different adoption decisions. This reveals that ‘weak ties’ to ‘innovation champions’ (i.e. suffragette ‘travelling organisers’) connected both women to opportunities to learn about, observe and adopt militancy. In order to explain why one suffragette adopted the tactic and the other did not, however, there is a need to link structural and cultural analyses of social networks together. Here, I do this by following up empirically what Fuhse [Fuhse, J. (2009). The meaning structure of social networks. Sociological Theory, 27, 51–73] has called the ‘meaning structure of the network’ consisting of interpersonal expectations and network culture. I propose that the ‘meaning structure’ of the network is linked to the structural patterning of social ties – and the subjective meanings of ego – through the communicative interaction in which they both are rooted [Mische, A. (2003). Cross-talk in movements: Rethinking the culture-network link. In M. Diani & D. McAdam (Eds.), Social movements and networks: Relational approaches to collective action (pp. 258–280). Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press]. Focusing on communicative interaction and intersubjective meanings indicates that there is value in approaching personal networks as socio-cultural ‘lifeworlds’ [Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action, volume 2: System and lifeworld. Boston, MA: Beacon Press; Passy, F., & Giugni, M. (2000). Life-spheres, networks, and sustained participation in social movements: A phenomenological approach to political commitment. Sociological Forum, 15, 117–144.). This approach is particularly valuable in highlighting the construction of a ‘moral point of view’ within networks, which fundamentally shapes the symbolic legitimacy of culturally controversial tactics.

Intersubjective Meaning and Collective Action in Developing Societies: Theory, Evidence and Policy Implications

The capacity to act collectively is not just a matter of groups sharing interests, incentives and values (or being sufficiently small), as standard economic theory predicts, but a prior and shared understanding of the constituent elements of problem(s) and possible solutions. From this standpoint, the failure to act collectively can stem at least in part from relevant groups failing to ascribe a common intersubjective meaning to situations, processes and events. We develop a conceptual account of intersubjective meanings, explain its relevance to development practice and research, and examine its implications for development work related to building the rule of law and managing common pool resources.

Peasant in the Analyst's Chair: Reflections, Personal and Otherwise, on Class and the Forming of an Analytic Identity

The author explores the issue of social class from an experience-near perspective, as it relates to her transition from a working class background to the forming of her analytic identity. Discussion of the relevance or impact of the analyst's social class on the endeavor of psychoanalysis has, for the most part, been non-existent: psychoanalysis unconsciously has tended to assume a kind of class neutrality or homogeneity among its own. Disavowal and dissociation from anxieties related to class, particularly those related to class shame and the desire to belong and want, can mean a premature foreclosing of the exploration of the deeper psychic and intersubjective meanings of social class as they affect the analytic candidate's forming of an analytic identity. The author challenges psychoanalysis to confront this omission.

Love as a Fictitious Commodity: Gift-for-Sex Barters as Contractual Carriers of Intimacy

Gift-for-sex (GFS) barters are a niche practice potentially representing the commodification of everyday dating practices. We inquire how GFS exchanges are practiced and understood in contemporary Russia. Second, we situate these in relation to contemporary economic culture. Our project provides answers in two steps based on online content. First, we identify GFS exchange practices within a major dating website. Next, we take the signals exchanged in those dating profiles and display their intersubjective meanings in Russia based on blogs and discussion fora. Our analysis focuses on gender roles and inter-gender conflicts, the use of economic jargon, the link between luxury consumption and sexuality, and understandings of gift-giving and generosity, in order to show how GFS barters, despite being contractual, carry emotional and romantic content. As such, love is under a constant conversion process, through the medium of the contractual gift, into the fictitious commodity form.

Subjectivity, intersubjectivity and the negotiation of common ground in spoken discourse: Final particles in English

During the past few decades, a considerable number of lexemes (e.g. then, though, even) has gravitated towards the end of an utterance in present-day spoken English, where they developed functions that clearly differ from those of the non-final source lexemes. The present article focuses on the pragmatic functions of these particles, the most important of which is the indication of the type of link created between a preceding and the current utterance after the latter has been fully produced and is thus manifest to both participants. They serve as instructions for the hearer as to the role of the utterance they accompany in terms of the common ground shared by the participants, and indicate subjective and intersubjective meaning components, such as degree of certainty or self- and other-correction.

Intersubjectivity in newspaper editorials

In this article, I take a discoursal perspective on intersubjectivity, exploring ways in which intersubjective meanings may be realized across texts, and the kinds of effects that arise from the combination of different forms. In particular, I focus on how writers may exploit intersubjective choices to enact interaction with their intended audience. I carry out an illustrative analysis on a small corpus of editorials from two British newspapers, one quality and one popular; and I demonstrate that there is clear connections between the readership of the two newspapers as described on their audience demographic webpages and the ways in which the editorial writers deploy the resources of interactant reference, mood and modality to construe different kinds of audience.

Intersubjectivity and intersubjectification

In this paper we present our views on intersubjectivity and intersubjectification with reference to case studies on adjectives, hedges, tags, honorifics, etc. Building on Diessel’s notion of “joint attention” and Traugott’s approach to intersubjectivity, we propose a distinction between three types of intersubjectivity: attitudinal, responsive, and textual. We evaluate and propose formal recognition criteria to operationalize this essentially semantic typology, such as left versus right periphery and prosodic features. In addition, we address the issue of directionality between subjectification and intersubjectification. Rather than seeing subjectivity as a prerequisite for intersubjectivity, we argue that in our typology intersubjective meanings of constructions may diachronically precede subjective ones.

Applying constructivism to understanding EU–Russian relations

The improved relations between Russia and the European Union (EU) in the 1990s were followed by a rise in tension since 1999. This article argues that constructivism can provide important insights into the basis of continuing difficulties. Drawing on the nature of the two actors, the author argues that the foreign policy identities of both actors are in a formative process, and thus the construction of inter-subjective meanings has the potential to be a particularly transformative element in the relationship. Both the Russian Federation and the EU are relatively new as regional and global actors, and both are in the process of forming their foreign policy identities, although in quite different contexts. Neither the EU nor Russia has developed a strategic conception for the relationship, and political discourse often obstructs communication rather than furthering the generation of inter-subjective meanings. The article argues that a constructivist analysis can help to expose the deep interconnections between normative disagreements, conflicting constructions of interests and differing concepts of governance.

Collaboration amidst disagreement and moral judgment: The dynamics of Jewish and Arab students’ collaborative inquiry of their joint past

We present an instructional model involving a computer-supported collaborative learning environment, in which students from two conflicting groups collaboratively investigate an event relevant to their past using historical texts. We traced one enactment of the model by a group comprised of two Israeli Jewish and two Israeli Arab students. Our data sources included the texts participants wrote—pre-, post- and during the activity, jointly and individually—the transcripts of the e-discussion and reflections written after the activity. The setting enabled us to further our understanding of what collaboration means when students’ voices do not converge. We examined whether the activity was productive in terms of learning, and the dynamics of collaboration within the milieu, especially the intersubjective meaning making. The e-discussion that was co-constructed by participants was a chain of disagreements. However, participants’ reflections reveal that the group structure and the e-communication method were perceived as affording sensitive collaboration. Furthermore, a comparison between the individual texts, pre- and post- the group discussion, revealed that the activity was productive, since students moved from a one-sided presentation of the event to a more multi-sided representation. Based on the analysis of the e-discussion, we conclude that the setting provided students with opportunities to examine their voices in light of alternatives. We propose the term fission to articulate certain moments of intersubjectivity, where a crack is formed in one’s voice as the Other’s voice impacts it, and one’s voice become more polyphonic.

Semantics of Distinguishing Criteria: from Subjective to Intersubjective

In this article we are aiming to build cognitive semantics over a first person perspective. Our goal is to specify meanings connected to cognitive agents, rooted in their experience and separable from language, covering a wide spectrum of cognitions ranging from living organisms (animals, pre-verbal children and adult humans) to artificial agents and that the cognitive semantics covers a broad, continuous, spectrum of meanings. As regards the used method, the first person perspective enables a kind of grounding of meanings in cognitions. An ability of cognitive agents to distinguish is a starting point of our approach, distinguishing criteria and schemata are the basic semantic constructs. The resulting construction is based on a projection of the environment into a cluster of current percepts and function on percepts. Situation schemata, more sophisticated similarity functions, event schemata and distinguishing criteria are built over that basis. Inference rules and action rules are components of our semantics. An interesting property of the proposed semantics is that it makes possible coexistence of subjective and intersubjective meanings. Subjective (first person perspective) meanings are primary, and we have shown the way from them to collectively accepted (third person perspective) meanings via observable behaviour and feedback about success/failure of actions. An abductive reasoning is an important tool on that way. A construct of an instrument, which represents a measure for using intersubjective meanings, is introduced. The instrument serves as a tool for an inclusion of sophisticated meanings, e.g. of scientific constructs, into our framework.

Displaying knowledge in journalistic texts: A contrastive analysis of an evidential particle in Estonian and Finnish

his paper examines the semantics of the Estonian and Finnish epistemic-evidential particles teatavasti and tiettävästi (‘as is generally known’ and ‘as far as is known’). Based on newspaper data and focusing on textual and intersubjective meanings, this analysis adopts the Cognitive Grammar description of relational predicates. The comparison is based on the properties of the fact that is within the scope of the particle (knowledge that is specific or generic, conventionalised or non-conventionalised, and more or less irrefutable). Whereas the Finnish particle conveys a strong implication of reported knowledge, which often causes a message of slight hedging, the Estonian particle is used to mark the issue at hand as being certain. In addition, the information in Estonian is displayed as being accessible and shared to interlocutors. On a textual level, the characteristic feature of this Estonian particle is to mark a fact as the background information for a more topical element of the text. In contrast, the Finnish particle is often used for organising the different reported voices in a text. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5128/LV22.02

Criteria for the Design and Evaluation of Cognitive Architectures

Cognitive architectures are unified theories of cognition that take the form of computational formalisms. They support computational models that collectively account for large numbers of empirical regularities using small numbers of computational mechanisms. Empirical coverage and parsimony are the most prominent criteria by which architectures are designed and evaluated, but they are not the only ones. This paper considers three additional criteria that have been comparatively undertheorized. (a) Successful architectures possess subjective and intersubjective meaning, making cognition comprehensible to individual cognitive scientists and organizing groups of like-minded cognitive scientists into genuine communities. (b) Successful architectures provide idioms that structure the design and interpretation of computational models. (c) Successful architectures are strange: They make provocative, often disturbing, and ultimately compelling claims about human information processing that demand evaluation.

Dangerous “Spin”: the Probability Myth of Evidence-Based Prescribing – a Merleau-Pontyian Approach

The aim of this study was to examine logical positivist statistical probability statements used to support and justify "evidence-based" prescribing rules in psychiatry when viewed from the major philosophical theories of probability, and to propose "phenomenological probability" based on Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of "phenomenological positivism" as a better clinical and ethical basis for psychiatric prescribing. The logical positivist statistical probability statements which are currently used to support "evidence-based" prescribing rules in psychiatry have little clinical or ethical justification when subjected to critical analysis from any of the major theories of probability and represent dangerous "spin" because they necessarily exclude the individual , intersubjective and ambiguous meaning of mental illness. A concept of "phenomenological probability" founded on Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of "phenomenological positivism" overcomes the clinically destructive "objectivist" and "subjectivist" consequences of logical positivist statistical probability and allows psychopharmacological treatments to be appropriately integrated into psychiatric treatment.

Moe fenomen. The Phenomenon of Fashion

Since the last quarter of the 20th century, particularly after the “cultural turn”, the interest in fashion has been increasing in a variety of different disciplines. Fashion has begun to be investigated in many different contexts, using new theoretical approaches. Fashion can be regarded as a social phenomenon, a sign system, as art, myth, or the product of the fashion industry. The purpose of this article is not to provide a definition of fashion, but rather to raise the question of how to approach the experience of fashion analytically. The methodological issues discussed here emerged in the course of preparing for empirical research on fashion. The observations and comparisons that constitute the core of this article are the result of efforts to juxtapose different methods. The traditional history of fashion used a historical-epistemological strategy but, depending on how one defines culture, the meaning of fashion can also be analysed using methods based on different epistemological strategies. The phenomenological method elaborated by Edmund Husserl, which I have chosen for my analysis of the experience of fashion, defines culture through the experiential acts of individuals. Simply stated, phenomenology considers the world as it is given to us in our consciousness. What is most important for empirical research is that the phenomenological method makes it possible to study the structure of a concrete experience and to focus on the mechanisms of the subjective creation of meaning. Thus this article has two main foci: a theoretical analysis of how the experience of fashion can be analytically revealed using the phenomenological method, and a comparison of the phenomenological approach with methods based on other strategies. The analysis of descriptions in the first person makes it possible to highlight how experience has been constructed. People “see” fashion based on structures of meaning; when they describe their own experience, they describe the object as it appears to them. The experiential act acquires content as mediated through meaning, even though the structures of consciousness that lead to the experience are not expressed explicitly through specific experiential content. Referring to Husserl and distinguishing between the mode of appearance of an object and the apparent object, it is possible to draw attention to the way a fashion image appears to an individual, and to describe how changes take place in the content of the experiential act. No other epistemology allows for the analysis of a change in perception in relation to the same object. As the content of experience changes, so does the look, which in turn alters and influences the next experience. All intentional objects toward which our consciousness is directed are shaped throughout the process of experiencing them. We experience objects , see the form of these objects and their connections to design, their use of language, and a variety of other contexts characteristic of the era. Awareness of fashion develops in the course of experience, which in turn influences the content of subsequent experience. The experience of fashion is not something static, but a continuous process. Phenomenology does not purport to explain and analyse the reasons behind subjective and intersubjective meanings, but is rather oriented toward calling attention to the transcendental level of experience. With the help of narratives generated in the course of cultural coding, the objects we see on the (fashion) field have formed their specific horizons of meaning creation. As a code in cultural and social space which opens the meanings of cultural phenomena, fashion influences the perception of the “self“ and the object of concrete experience, as well as exerting a broader influence on the content of experience by means of a horizon of meaning. It is possible to develop Husserl's idea of the mode of the act and the content of experience in order to explain the creation of fashionability as a horizon for the subject’s look, and how, as a horizon of meaning, fashion influences the subject’s perspective on objects of all kinds. This, in turn, allows for the explanation of how the meaning of the content of the fashion experience influences the perception of a particular era.

Reconciliation and Justice after Genocide: A Theoretical Exploration

Thi s article argues that the post-confl ict reconciliation process is undermined by the importance given to the retributive form of justice dominating peacebuild- ing and transitional justice measures. Retributive justice reinforces the division between perpetrator and victim, thus undermining the reconciliation process between antagonistic parties. The s o-called objective categories of perpetrator and victim, so crucial for the administration and management of most peacebuilding measures, underestimate the individual and collective psychological dimension and intersub- jective effe cts that these categories have upon the healing and reconciliation pro- cesses. The si gnifica nce of the psychological dimension of reconciliation suggests a restorative justice approach that emphasizes the subjective and intersubjective meanings of justice and reconciliation. The cas e of post-genocide Rwanda will be used to show how the retributive justice approach can undermine the reconcilia- tion process.

“Maybe the Algae was from the Filter”: Maybe and Similar Modifiers as Mediational Tools and Indicators of Uncertainty and Possibility in Children’s Science Talk

Uncertainty is an essential component of scientific inquiry and it also permeates our daily lives. Understanding how to identify, evaluate, resolve and live in the presence of uncertainty is important for decision-making strategies and engaging in transformative actions. In contrast, confidence and certainty are prized in elementary school classrooms. In this study we ask when and how children express their uncertainty during science activities and about what they are uncertain. This descriptive study focuses on the use of a linguistic element often associated with a process of hedging and distancing - the term ‘maybe’ (and related modifiers ‘might’, ‘perhaps’, ‘probably’, ‘possibly’ and ‘could’). These words could be interpreted negatively as hedging or they could be interpreted positively as uncertainty marking possibilities to be explored. We report that these words were typically employed by speakers to modify statements, claims or assertions in order to indicate uncertainty that marks possibility in the form of three types, which we term: potentiality, discernment and challenge. We reflect on the possible intersubjective meanings that could be made when these modifiers are used in conversations with and between elementary school students (7-8 years old). We test our interpretation on transcripts from a variety of databases and show that these categories are viable regardless of age or context. We draw implications for ‘maybe’ as an indicator of children’s recognition of uncertainty and possibility during their science learning. We discuss how teachers who are attuned to and encourage the use of this family of modifiers might able to promote interactions that consistently foster more dialogic interactions.

Affect, unconscious and sensemaking. A psychodynamic, semiotic and dialogic model

The work presents a psychodynamic, semiotic and dialogical model of affect and of the role it plays in sensemaking. The model is based on the following three general assumptions. A) Affective semiosis works in accordance to the dynamic unconscious which Freud conceptualized in terms of primary process. According to this interpretation, the unconscious is the mind’s homogenising way of functioning, which transforms every categorical relation into a relation of identity. B) Affect is the generalized, homogenising and absolutizing embodied basic intersubjective meanings according to which experience is interpreted. C) Affective semiosis performs both the grounding and regulative functions in sensemaking, orienting the way people interpret experience.

Cultural Holes: Beyond Relationality in Social Networks and Culture

A burgeoning literature spanning sociologies of culture and social network methods has for the past several decades sought to explicate the relationships between culture and connectivity. A number of promising recent moves toward integration are worthy of review, comparison, critique, and synthesis. Network thinking provides powerful techniques for specifying cultural concepts ranging from narrative networks to classification systems, tastes, and cultural repertoires. At the same time, we see theoretical advances by sociologists of culture as providing a corrective to network analysis as it is often portrayed, as a mere collection of methods. Cultural thinking complements and sets a new agenda for moving beyond predominant forms of structural analysis that ignore action, agency, and intersubjective meaning. The notion of “cultural holes” that we use to organize our review points both to the cultural contingency of network structure and to the increasingly permeable boundary between studies of culture and research on social networks.

Better Identity Politics

Suchet's paper is an inspiring demonstration of the power of openness and vulnerability. It offers a clinically daring and theoretically far-reaching account of the transformation that can sometimes occur in the psychoanalytic relationship. My commentary focuses on two of the paper's major threads: the interplay of subjective experience, intersubjective space, and collective forces, and the ethical dimension of the psychoanalytic project. From the outset, the meeting between Ara and Suchet is not only a meeting of bodies and minds, but also a meeting of collective histories and politics. Suchet finds, and in her account powerfully demonstrates, that addressing her patient's trouble requires an exploration of how collective traumas and political narratives infuse the possibilities of intersubjective exchange and subjective meaning. In my commentary I trace and elaborate on the trajectory of this analytic process, contemplating the ways in which identities and identifications involve both familial and social attachments. I attempt to highlight Suchet's contribution to our understanding of how what happens, and is made meaningful, in the register of collective identification and experience, forms the very substance of subjective and intersubjective life, and should be therefore formulated as an intrinsic aspect of the analytic endeavour. Turning to Suchet's engagement with the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, I consider her drive to reach beyond the traditional boundaries of psychoanalytic discourse. Following the same drive, I add some ideas developed by Theodor Adorno, as means of illustrating the trouble and the potential for reconciliation inherent in the experience and politics of identity.

Shifting horizons

This article addresses the challenges of developing methodologies which build on the insights of early feminist research and methods, but which also incorporate some of the new innovations in sociological, qualitative research. Feminist research has emphasized the need to capture the everyday lives of women (and others) but this is not so easy once it is realized how ‘messy’ everyday life may be and that we may also not have tools adequate to the art of listening and the task of ‘story telling’. In particular there is a need to incorporate a wide range of sensibilities into the creation of feminist/sociological accounts of everyday lives. These include accounting for emotions, memories, intersubjective meanings, and other intangibles. Finally, the article argues that debates over methodologies should not stop with questions of collecting and analysing data, but must also address the problems of how to write the lives of people differently.