Conception Of Relationship Research Articles

Thinking Absence: A Discussion of “The Analyst’s Necessary Nonsovereignty and the Generative Power of the Negative”

I begin by discussing the nature of the negative in McGleughlin’s paper (this issue), offering some examples of my own from the films of Kubrick and Malick. I go on to address how the negative can be a relational conception, as I read McGleughlin to suggest, and the role of destabilization as a clinical process in work with the negative, as well as in work with states of mind that allow representation. I end with a discussion of the application of a controversy over Lacan’s conception of the Real to the idea of the negative, and I suggest that analysts need to cultivate, for different kinds of psychic phenomena, both nonsovereignty and creative, expanded sovereignty.

Review of Jens Kjaerulff. “Situating time: New technologies at work, a perspective from Alfred Gell’s oeuvre”

Review of Jens Kjaerulff. “Situating time: New technologies at work, a perspective from Alfred Gell’s oeuvre”

In Search of Shifting and Emergent Librarian Identities

This paper argues that while the classical, essentialist conception of identity is appealing due to its simplicity, it does not adequately capture the complexity of professional or individual identity. The appeal to essentialism in librarianship contributes to some serious problems for the profession, such as exclusion and homogeneity in the workplace, high attrition rates of minority librarians, exploitation and alienation of an underrepresented workforce, as well as stereotyping. This paper examines the theoretical landscape with regard to the identity question and proposes a more fitting alternative to essentialism, namely the relational conception of identity, and engages in a philosophical argument for the adoption of the relational account as a theoretical grounding for an understanding of the complex, fluid, and emergent nature of librarian identity within our dynamic profession.

The Fight Against Heaven-Sent Insects: Dealing with Locust Plagues in the Emirate of Bukhara

Abstract The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a time of crisis and change for Central Asian societies. Land reclamation, an agricultural shift to cash crops, trophy hunting and war led to the deterioration of a fragile ecosystem and encouraged outbreaks of agricultural pests. Among the most conspicuous were locust outbreaks which troubled the Emirate of Bukhara during this period. Large swarms destroyed most of the crops, making the population dependent on grain imports. Locusts were a well-known pest although traditional land use practices seem to have constrained long-term outbreaks. Dealings with the insects once they appeared were modest, though. The establishment of Russian colonial rule in the region deeply interfered with existing conceptions of human-environment relations and increased the pressure on resources. Combating locusts was a controversial subject between colonial and Bukharan officials as well as their subjects: like other kinds of natural disasters that were beyond human control, locusts were perceived as a heaven-sent visitation in Bukhara, turning combat into an activity against divinity. The fight against locusts reached a political dimension around 1900 when the Russian colonial administration tried to pressurise the Bukharans into using modern insecticides and blamed their superstition for the resistance they met. This article examines the reciprocal effects of changes in land management and pest outbreaks, and the controversies between traditional responses, colonial demands and religious conceptualisations in relation to combating locusts.

Liberal Relativism’s Challenge to Conscience Rights

Abstract I argue that within contemporary liberal theory and case law is a relativistic conception of conscience, a conception which has the effect of obscuring the significance of conscience and downplaying the importance of conscience rights. The article focuses in particular on the right to conscientious objection. After outlining a representative cohort of cases from within contemporary liberalism concerning conscientious objection I analyse Cardinal Ratzinger’s (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) ‘dictatorship of relativism’ critique for its cogency as a response to these cases. I contend that although the ‘dictatorship of relativism’ critique is almost always understood in a univocal manner it is in fact comprised of two logically distinct arguments. One of these is found fundamentally flawed while the other is deemed promising yet in need of supplementation and defence. This I attempt via an analysis of the understanding of conscience present within contemporary liberal case law and theory. I go on to claim that contemporary liberalism, in part due to its problematic understanding of conscience, is often insufficiently respectful of an important principle of conscience rights protection when it dismisses claims of conscientious objection. The final part of the article is an attempt at explaining the paradox of a liberalism which readily justifies significant restrictions on conscience rights. I end by concluding that one version of the ‘dictatorship of relativism’ critique, suitably clarified and supplemented, is basically sound and poses a very serious challenge to contemporary liberalism.

Морфогенетическая социальная теория: больше вопросов, чем ответов

Introduction and the aim of the study. The paper analyzes the place and role of morphogenetic theory within a framework of contemporary socialtheoretical discourse. M. Archer’s morphogenetic theory and P. Donati’s relational conception are considered as two examples of this discourse. Methods. The authors use analytical methods (analysis, synthesis, etc.), applied in contemporary philosophy of social sciences. Scientific novelty. The key idea of the paper is analyzing morphogenetic social theory in terms of analytical scholasticism as a deviant way of contemporary social theory development. Results. Morphogenetic theory is rather a sociological theory than interdisciplinary social theory; the sophisticated language of “morphogenists” mat seem difficult for other scholars to understand; morphogenetic theory demonstrates indefinite perspectives concerning interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary discourse in the context of contemporary stage of social-humanitarian knowledge development. Conclusions. The status of “morphogenetic theory” among other directions of social theory is by far “peripheral”.

Civil sphere and democracy in Latin America

The purpose of the article is to demonstrate that the civil spheres of Latin America remain in force, even when under threat, and to expand the method of theorizing democracy, understanding it not only as a state form, but also as a way of life. Moreover, the task of the authors goes beyond the purely application of the theory of the civil sphere in order to emphasize the relevance not only in practice, but also in the theory of democratic culture and institutions of Latin America. This task requires decolonizing the arrogant attitude of North theorists towards democratic processes outside the United States and Europe. The peculiarities of civil spheres in Latin America are emphasized. It is argued that over the course of the nineteenth century the non-civil institutions and value spheres that surrounded civil spheres deeply compromised them. The problems of development that pockmarked Latin America — lagging economies, racial and ethnic and class stratification, religious strife — were invariably filtered through the cultural aspirations and institutional patterns of civil spheres. The appeal of the theory of the civil sphere to the experience of Latin America reveals the ambitious nature of civil society and democracy on new and stronger foundations. Civil spheres had extended significantly as citizens confronted uncomfortable facts, collectively searched for solutions, and envisioned new courses of collective action. However when populism and authoritarianism advance, civil understandings of legitimacy come under pressure from alternative, anti-democratic conceptions of motives, social relations, and political institutions. In these times, a fine-grained understanding of the competitive dynamics between civil, non-civil, and anti-civil becomes particularly critical. Such a vision is constructively applied not only to the realities of Latin America, but also in a wider global context. The authors argue that in order to understand the realities and the limits of populism and polarization, civil sphere scholars need to dive straight into the everyday life of civil communities, setting the civil sphere theory (CST) in a more ethnographic, “anthropological” mode.

Católicos e relações de classe: as visões de Liga Operária Católica, Juventude Operária Católica e Associação Cristã de Empresários e Gestores

This paper focuses on a theme that has been underestimated: that of reciprocal relations and representations between Catholics separated by different class belongings, in this case, between employers and workers. These representations focus on the relationship between labor and capital, as well as on the production and distribution / redistribution of wealth, and involve the notion of social justice. I chose to study, three Catholic associations - one of businesspersons (Associação Cristã de Empresários e Gestores / ACEGE – Association of Christian Entrepreneurs and Managers), one of workers (Liga Operária Católica / LOC – Catholic Worker's League), another of young people, mainly students, but of working-class tradition (Juventude Operária Católica / JOC – Young Catholic Workers) - based on their own documents and interviews. ACEGE members see religion as integrative and never insubordinate in the company; LOC members reveal a disenchanted conception of economic relations that forces permanent mobilization and an eventually disruptive role for religion; JOC lacks systematic opinion and reveals the generational limits it faces.

Oka Apesvchi: Indigenous Feminism, Performance, and Protest

Using Chahta words—hvpia, we all are; oka ohoyo, water woman; apesvchi, to guard and care for—this essay builds an Indigenous-centered analysis of protest performances about water. A song, a dance, and a play created by three different Indigenous women and performed within a few months of one another focus the essay's analysis on the Indigenous feminist concept of radical relationality. By highlighting the relationship between water and humans, the obligations that that relationship demands, and the active care required to fulfill those obligations, it shows how Indigenous protest performances are not against something, but for something—for the water, for the future.

Versorgung der Haupstadt der Bewegung: Infrastrukturen und Statgesellschaft im Nationalsozialistischen München [Supplying the capital of the movement: Infrastructures and urban society in national socialist Munich] by Mathias Irlinger

Reviewed by: Versorgung der Haupstadt der Bewegung: Infrastrukturen und Statgesellschaft im Nationalsozialistischen München [Supplying the capital of the movement: Infrastructures and urban society in national socialist Munich] by Mathias Irlinger Jens Ivo Engels (bio) Versorgung der Haupstadt der Bewegung: Infrastrukturen und Statgesellschaft im Nationalsozialistischen München [Supplying the capital of the movement: Infrastructures and urban society in national socialist Munich] By Mathias Irlinger. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2018. Pp. 432. This book is the published version of a doctoral thesis defended at the University of Munich. It is a contribution to both the history of the Nazi regime and the history of technical infrastructures. Mathias Irlinger highlights the main argument from the very beginning: "Infrastructures . . . contributed to the population's assent to the Nazi regime" (p. 9). In other words, the author interprets urban infrastructures as instruments of power, stabilizing the regime until the very last weeks of the Third Reich. Infrastructure is not completely new to Third Reich studies—historians have [End Page 1243] already shown the symbolic role of highways and the importance of rail for the logistics that enabled the genocide of the Holocaust, for example. Yet, there is still much work to do in this area. The book is a case study of the city of Munich. As the Nazi Party started here and Adolf Hitler kept a private apartment in the city, the local government considered this "capital of the [Nazi] movement" as one of the leading European metropolises of the time. Urban and infrastructure development plans were therefore particularly ambitious. Irlinger focuses on communal infrastructures such as traffic (including road building and tramway systems), energy, and leisure (municipal swimming pool). Irlinger's book is divided into four sections. Irlinger uses the terminology known from scholarship on "large technological systems." In the first chapter he explains the "system management" of infrastructures in Munich under the Nazis, underlining that "system building" had been completed before. It stresses the ties between Nazi ideology and the ambitions of local politicians to improve public infrastructure. In the second chapter he outlines the development of some major projects, including debates of the time on the technical risks of gas provision and a subway scheme for Munich. In perhaps the most interesting part of the book, the author then analyzes multiple interactions between the users and the management of the infrastructure systems, including advertising campaigns, users' complaints or de-mands, and infrastructure as a space for "racial" exclusion of Jews and other minorities (chapter 3). The last chapter is devoted to the links between warfare and local infrastructure, including efforts to improve the logistics of the defense industry; to mobilize women and forced workers for operation purposes during the war; and above all else to mitigate damages or functional limitations due to the war in order to minimize impacts on the individual users. Although the author cites some of the relevant research on infrastructure and power and elucidates the phenomenon of "Eigensinn" (obstinacy, Alf Lüdtke), his conception of power relations is slightly simplistic. In his presentation, the regime was stabilized by the sheer existence of infrastructures in the city. The problem with that idea is another argument put forward in the same book: Irlinger emphasizes that Munich's newly established Nazi city government did a poor job in infrastructure management compared to their predecessors in the Weimar Republic. He asserts that they failed to implement highflying ambitions in infrastructure development. Why then should it have stabilized the regime? The author stresses important propaganda efforts aimed at concealing these failures. He explains that the majority of the population benefited from the increasing exclusion of specific groups, like Jewish inhabitants, from access to the infrastructure. In the war, the exploitation of forced labor contributed to the maintenance of services at a moderate price. During the last years and months of the regime, when important parts of Munich lay in [End Page 1244] ruins, the city government kept on privileging private consumer interests in energy provision and managed to repair public transport to a certain extent. All these efforts would have strengthened the ties between "governors" and governed. This interpretation is in line with seminal interpretations of the Nazis' welfare and consumer...

Folk theories of algorithmic recommendations on Spotify: Enacting data assemblages in the global South

This paper examines folk theories of algorithmic recommendations on Spotify in order to make visible the cultural specificities of data assemblages in the global South. The study was conducted in Costa Rica and draws on triangulated data from 30 interviews, 4 focus groups with 22 users, and the study of “rich pictures” made by individuals to graphically represent their understanding of algorithmic recommendations. We found two main folk theories: one that personifies Spotify (and conceives of it as a social being that provides recommendations thanks to surveillance) and another one that envisions it as a system full of resources (and a computational machine that offers an individualized musical experience through the appropriate kind of “training”). Whereas the first theory emphasizes local conceptions of social relations to make sense of algorithms, the second one stresses the role of algorithms in providing a global experience of music and technology. We analyze why people espouse either one of these theories (or both) and how these theories provide users with resources to enact different modalities of power and resistance in relation to recommendation algorithms. We argue that folk theories thus offer a productive way to broaden understanding of what agency means in relation to algorithms.

Conceptual Schemes and Relativism

The idea of conceptual schemes is one of the most influential and widely used notions in contemporary philosophy. Within the analytic tradition the idea occupies a fundamental position in positivist views as well as in replacing them post-positivist conceptions. Outside the analytic tradition a similar idea is of key importance in structuralist and post-structuralist theories. Despite the broad applicability of the notion of a conceptual scheme, its precise sense is far from being evident in the context of various philosophical trends. Moreover, the well-known American philosopher Donald Davidson's position is that any clear, non-metaphorical meaning cannot be as - cribed to that notion at all – the statement which he tried to substantiate in his famous paper On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme published in 1974.The present paper is aimed, firstly, at outlining the historico-philosophical evolution of the idea of conceptual scheme, concentrating on its development in logical positivism and post-positivist theories of such philosophers as Quine, Sellars, Kuhn, et al., and, secondly, at examining Davidson's criticism of both the idea and the position of conceptual relativism which was raised on its ground, revealing the assumptions which that criticism relies on and which concern relations between language and thought, truth and translation, as well as the role of the scheme-content dualism for empiricism and the place of extensionalism in semantics, etc. Our purpose, on the one hand, is to evaluate the historico-philosophical significance of Davidson's criticism; on the other hand, it is to show that his critical arguments remain to be actual since they shed a new light on the idea of conceptual schemes and allow us to determine their place in tackling the fundamental philosophical question of a relation between reality, thought and language.

Some Equations for the External Space and Their Implications on the Inverse Cone Concept and the Geometry of the Physical Universe

In previous works, they were proposed a photonic model of the Big Bang [1] and several parameters derived from the Hubble-Lemaitre equation [2]. Since these parameters result higher than the classical ones and, otherwise, the General Theory of Relativity does not apply far away the Physical Universe, in this paper, it will be revised the adequacy of such parameters in the external Space and their influence on the relativistic concept of the cone of time. As well, it will be intended to define the Physical Universe geometry accordingly to a thermo-dynamical analysis of the Big Bang.

Indonesia’s political culture in the new digital age: A preliminary discussion

The development of increasingly accessible digital media has resulted in reasonably intense dynamics of political behaviour and articulation. However, the influence of the internet and social media use on Indonesian political culture has not been much discussed. This article explains changes in contemporary Indonesia’s political culture that align with the proliferation of new digital media by considering socio-political conditions and modernization. In its analysis, this article employs a historical-comparative method with an interpretive approach. The results of this study demonstrate that the traditional conception of power relation has historically influenced Indonesian political culture. In the post-Suharto era, the direct electoral system and primacy of television media promoted popular voter preferences that degraded traditional charismatic figures. The rise of the Internet and social media then had democratizing implications by increasing online public discussion. However, subsequent development of new digital media also illustrated counterproductive trajectory to democratic values as online frictions triggered ethnic and religious-based regrouping. Finally, this article considers that although widespread usage of the Internet and social media inspire democratic implications to Indonesian political culture, longstanding and deep-rooted traits, such as primordialism, persist within this more digitalized society.

Relationality as a response to challenges of participatory action research in indigenous contexts: reflections from the field

ABSTRACTThree researchers share their reflections on the challenges and goodness of fit of using participatory action research (PAR) in studies with indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada. Three central challenges of participatory methodologies are identified: (1) defining what constitutes participation; (2) the extended time required for a PAR study; and (3) researcher positionality. The authors discuss tensions inherent in the western academy when shifting final decision-making authority over research processes away from the academic institution to the indigenous community. A model situating the principles of PAR alongside perspectives and values congruent with the indigenous concept of relationality is presented as a means of mitigating these challenges. This approach aligns PAR principles within culturally-congruent definitions of relationship and encourages researchers to re-imagine participation as a form of relationship, allowing them to engage more deeply and genuinely with indigenous participants.

Adam Smith and Catholic Social Teaching

The connections between Adam Smith and Catholic Social Teaching (CST) raise several questions. The principle of subsidiarity adopted in CST, according to which higher associations should not replace subordinate organizations on what the latter can do, seems to be in line with the idea that governmental intervention in the market sphere should be restricted to the minimum required, in line with what is typically seen as Smith’s view. But the principle of the common good would also recommend intervention from political authorities in order to ensure that the common good is achieved. Here I shall argue that this question must be addressed taking into account another principle of CST, the principle of solidarity, and also the basic principle of CST, regarding human dignity. To do so, it is necessary to understand how the various principles of CST spring from the notion of imago Dei in CST, which is behind the notion of human dignity. This leads to a relational conception of human beings which can be fruitfully articulated with Smith’s moral philosophy and political economy.

Evolutionary Foundations for a Theory of Moral Progress?

Abstract Buchanan and Powell develop a concept of moral progress, and build a middle-range theory of how moral progress comes about. They argue on the basis of their view of the evolutionary origins of normative thought that further moral progress towards more inclusive moral and political systems is possible. In doing so they rebut a conservative reading of the evolution of normative thought: a reading that regards the hope for inclusive moral systems as utopian. Buchanan and Powell argue that this ‘evoconservative’ argument overlooks overwhelming evidence of the adaptive plasticity of normative thought. I agree with their rejection of that evoconservative position, but give an alternative account of the evolutionary foundations of normative cognition and its plasticity. But I also argue that there is a gap in their defence of their view of moral progress: it begs the question against exclusive, relational conceptions of the naturalistic foundations of normative obligations and rights. Their account is less fully naturalistic than they seem to suppose, for it lacks a developed account of the natural facts which make normative claims true, and it is not clear that there is an account to be given that would vindicate their inclusive liberal intuitions about the norms we should have.

Capitalist Convergence? European (dis?)Integration and the Post-crash Restructuring of French and European Capitalisms

ABSTRACT This article critiques and builds upon first-wave (Höpner and Schäfer 2010. A new phase of European integration: organised capitalisms in post-Ricardian Europe. West European Politics, 33 (2), 344–368) and second-wave (Johnston and Regan 2018. Introduction: is the European Union capable of integrating diverse models of capitalism? New Political Economy, 23 (2), 145–159) European Integration and comparative capitalisms literatures which posit convergence towards a single model of capitalism or growth. It utilises the case study of France to explore the impact of European integration and disintegration on national models of capitalism in the post-crisis era. The article focuses on the impact of integrative and disintegrative dynamics on France’s ‘state-industry-finance nexus’, putting forward three core claims. First, French capitalism is not accurately captured by the above frameworks and remains better characterised by the concept of post-dirigisme. Indeed, comparative capitalisms debates must move beyond a simple bifurcation of capitalist types. Second, European integrative pressures must be viewed as fragmented, differentiating, mediated by domestic state actors and producing capitalist variegation and hybridisation. Countering functionalist tendencies within this literature, it shows how different conceptions of state-market relations crucially mediate the relationship between national capitalisms and European integration. Finally, in the context of Brexit, the dynamics of European disintegration – an issue not discussed so far in these debates – is contributing to a variegated and multi-directional process of capitalist restructuring in post-crisis France.

Publicity, reciprocity, and incentives

AbstractThis paper mounts a partial defense of the basic structure objection to the egalitarian criticism of productive incentives. The defense is based on the claim that some duties of justice are subject to a reciprocity condition. The paper develops this position via an examination of the debate between Andrew Williams and G. A. Cohen on publicity and incentives. Reciprocity is an intrinsic feature of a relational conception of social justice, not simply a requirement of stability. Not all duties are conditional on reciprocity because some duties are owed to third parties, as well as to their primary targets. Some forms of exploitation may be unconditionally wrong, but not the specific kind of exploitation at stake when talented individuals accept market wages.

Re-conceptualising gender and power relations for sexual and reproductive health: contrasting narratives of tradition, unity, and rights

Sexual and reproductive health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa will be most effective if grounded in emic (insider) perspectives of gender and power in intimate relationships. We conducted eight focus group discussions with 62 young adults in Malawi to explore conceptions of gender and power relations and areas of tension between different perspectives. We framed our enquiry according to the three social structures of the Theory of Gender and Power: the sexual division of labour, the sexual division of power, and social norms and affective attachments around femininity and masculinity. Young adults drew on interrelated and competing narratives to describe the state of gender relations, which we named tradition, unity, and rights. Participants used tradition narratives most frequently to describe patriarchal gender roles, norms and ideals. Some participants challenged this predominant discourse using unity and rights narratives. Unity narratives illustrated how love and couple reciprocity were essential sources of ‘power with’ as opposed to ‘power over’. Rights narratives were more contested than other narratives, with some participants acknowledging that women’s rights were important to the family’s survival and others viewing women’s rights as problematic for gender relations. Gender-responsive interventions should consider the tensions and intersections between multiple narratives on gender and power, including unity as a gender-equitable form of power.