Social Criticism Research Articles

How and why to compare incomparables: The Great Gatsby and La Règle du jeu

Abstract Comparing The Great Gatsby with any of its adaptations invariably promotes the novel over its derivatives and is far less fertile than putting it alongside Jean Renoir’s La Règle du jeu. During the interwar period, these incomparable masterpieces exhibit strikingly similar plots to address the moral decline of the upper class. Renoir directly borrowed this template from Musset’s 1833 Les Caprices de Marianne, a hallmark of Romanticism. The competing forces of romantic desire, aristocratic values, and aesthetic modernism make these works comparably difficult to classify. The article introduces Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, which had already been compared to The Great Gatsby and was also filmed at the outset of WWII. Watching Welles’ film beside Renoir’s confirms André Bazin’s view that cinema became modern at just this moment, by taking on a role comparable to that commanded by post-WWI American novels like Fitzgerald’s. And examining Renoir beside Fitzgerald highlights the styles and strategies of both masterpieces as they pursued a large public and an authentic social critique. The article concludes by enumerating reasons and ways to compare ‘original’ works that bear similarities, whether mythic and universal or historical and particular.

Style and Function of Humor in the Animation Series 'Tekotok' as a Form of Social Criticism

Our lives cannot be separated from the existence of humor. Humor developed into several theories. This research aims to describe and classify Tekotok animated humor based on Aaker and Bagdonas' theory. There are 4 styles of humor in Tekotok animation, namely the standup, sweetheart, the magnet, and the sniper humor styles. The dominant humor style still uses the Stand-Up humor style. The function of humor is to relieve tension, as a ritual, as social control, and as a social bond. This research used descriptive-qualitative methods. The rest is additional data such as documents and others. The theory used is content analysis theory. Data collection was carried out using random purposive sampling. Sampling was carried out in accordance with the requirements, that the research object must contain the phenomenon of social issues.

Magical Realism and Social Critique in Latin American Literature: A Comparative Analysis of García Márquez and Isabel Allende

This comparative analysis explores the themes, narrative techniques, and cultural contexts of Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende, two luminaries of Latin American literature. Both authors employ magical realism to delve into social and political issues, albeit in distinct ways. García Márquez’s intricate narratives critique power structures and societal decay, while Allende’s intimate stories focus on personal relationships and resilience. Despite their differences, both writers share a commitment to using literature as a tool for social critique and cultural exploration.

Frances Burney’s A Busy Day; or, an Arrival from India (1800-1802) and the Family Business

Frances Burney (1752-1840) became one of the most famous eighteenth-century English novelists after the publication of her first work Evelina (1778), which was followed by other successful novels that made her a household name in Britain. Though Burney was always very attracted by the stage and there is a close relationship between her narrative and dramatic production, her comedies and tragedies have been considerably less explored and celebrated by eighteenth-century scholars and feminism. This article examines Burney’s comedy A Busy Day; or, an Arrival from India (1800-1802), which was never performed on stage during her lifetime and was one of the author’s last compositions paving the way for her harsh social criticism in The Wanderer (1814). Like all of Burney’s works, A Busy Day contains a good deal of satire and a provoking view of the domestic ideology, colonialism and the economic interests of the family at the turn of the nineteenth century. Burney introduces an insightful analysis of vulgarity and prejudice against the middle class. By drawing on the work of several Burney scholars, gender and theatre studies, I show how gender and colonialism are interrelated in A Busy Day, which showcases an evolution from Burney’s first heroine in Evelina to a more mature woman that would continue up to The Wanderer and it turns out to be Burney’s fiercest dramatic criticism against bias based on class, race and sex.

LITERATURE STUDENTS’ MANUAL FOR EAP WRITING: A SURVEY OF INTERPRETATIVE PRACTICES AND MOVEMENTS IN LITERARY CRITICISM

The practice of teaching Methodology of scientific research, the obligatory course for PhD literature students of Foreign Philology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, has showed that one of the frequent shortcomings in the process of creating a well-equipped literary scholar represents the lack of adequate knowledge regarding the mere purpose of literary criticism, its interpretative practices, methods and movements. Thus, the most important task of a literary instructor is to offer basic scientific insights into the previously mentioned matter, establish firm initial grounds and prepare students for further acquisition of diverse literary specificities. Accordingly, the aim of this article is to offer a brief survey of methods and movements in literary criticism that may serve as a starting point in the critical analysis of a literary work. Before focusing on the survey itself, diverse definitions of literary criticism are presented in the first part of the article. In the next segment, four most common interpretative practices in literary criticism (close reading, contextual analysis, the application of a critical approach, and social critique) are discussed. The last part of the article depicts and shortly explains some major contemporary schools of critical analysis, most frequently used in literature courses at the university level. The theoretical framework of the study relies on the valuable insights mainly of Rapaport, and then Richards, Brooks, Warren, Selden, Widdowson and Brooker. We finally argue that the obtained theoretical knowledge of literary criticism particularities represents a solid ground for developing an analytic apparatus for EAP writing.

Kritik Sosial Natsume Soseki dalam Novel Bocchan

This research aims to reveal Natsume Soseki's attitudes and views in the form of social criticism regarding the phenomenon of social deviation in Japanese society due to the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912) in his novel, Bocchan. Social problems often arise in modern societies, including what happened in Japan during modernization from 1868-1912, called the Meiji Restoration. These social problems include social and cultural dislocation due to the penetration of dominant Western culture and the marginal position of traditional elements, especially in the second decade of the early Meiji era, when Japan aggressively adopted Western culture on a large scale. This social phenomenon can be seen from the decline in Japanese society's appreciation for traditional social and cultural values while simultaneously placing Western culture in a superior position. The theory used in this research is Alan Swingewood's Literary Sociology theory. Through this theory, we will analyze the influence of Natsume Soseki's social background as the author of the novel Bocchan, as well as his ideological tendencies in responding to the symptoms of social deviation in Japanese society (1868-1912), which became the background for the creation of the novel Bocchan. After that, it will be analyzed to what extent the novel Bocchan can reflect social phenomena. The analysis was done by connecting the social aspects of the novel with the historical, social reality that was the background for its creation, namely Japanese society during the Meiji Era (1868-1912). Next, the author will see what social criticism is depicted in the novel. The results of the research show that the novel Bocchan describes Natsume Soseki's social criticism of the phenomenon of socio-cultural dislocation in Japanese society due to Westernization during the Meiji era, as well as the problems of a group of people who persist with old habits in the condition of the Japanese nation which is changing towards a developed and modern country.

Social criticism of Millennials in the democracy and Islamic Law perspectives

Bima, who criticized the road conditions in Lampung through his Tiktok account, shocked the Indonesian virtual world. His reckless and resentful actions were taken because he thought that the Lampung authorities did not care about the existing conditions. This action sparked a polemic and drew attention to the Senayan palace and politician circles. For those who support it, this is a form of moral message and social criticism through digital platforms, while for those who reject it, they consider this action as slander, open disgrace, and violating legal and religious norms. Not long after, President Jokowi visited the location called Bima. Many people are grateful to Bima, because not long after the incident there were improvements and changes. Apart from that it sparked other announcers who criticized the development of their regions, such as those in Aceh, Jambi, North Sumatra, and Central Java. The main problem in this study is whether Bima’s style of social criticism is in accordance with democratic principles and Islamic legal norms? If they are considered contradictory, then what is the ethics of social criticism on the virtual stage under legal and religious norms? This research is descriptive and qualitative with interviews and documentation as data sources. Research has found that Article 45 Paragraph 3 of the ITE Law and Imam Nawawi’s views on ghibah mubahah are open spaces for millennials to express socio-political aspirations in both conventional and virtual contemporary spaces. Social criticism must prioritize good faith and methods and avoid hate speech and hoaxes so that the content delivered is easily accepted by others. Bima also set an example for those in power not to be surprised, to get used to criticism, to be tolerant, and to be kind-hearted. Lampung received billions in funding for road repairs.
 Keywords: democracy, Islamic Law, millennials, social criticism

Don’t waste the crisis: The COVID-19 Anthropause as an experiment for rethinking human–environment relations

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked radical changes in the way life was lived around the globe. With the rapid reduction in human mobility, short-term environmental improvements were seen across the world. Work and social routines were altered, and political action to reduce case numbers seemed to open a window of opportunity for socio-environmental change in a post-pandemic world. Inspired by conversations around the “COVID-19 Anthropause,” this paper probes the lived experiences and reflections that emerged in the pandemic pause. Three years after the onset of the pandemic, many initial environmental gains have been limited. Nonetheless, the COVID-19 Anthropause has brought human–environment relations into new light, sparking introspection and forms of broader social critique surrounding what kinds of socio-political courage and structural change is necessary to achieve new post-pandemic realities. Our research shows the heterogeneity of experiences of the Anthropause, highlighting the ways that uncritical engagement with the concept can obscure overlapping structural inequalities, and reinforce harmful binaries around the presence and absence of humans in nature. Drawing on longitudinal, qualitative data from Latin America and Europe, we enrich debates over the implications of the pandemic for human–environment relations and underscore the need to attend to radical forms of difference amid any global environmental concept.

Social Criticism and Morality in "Subversif!" Drama by Faiza Mardzoeki as Literature Teaching Materials

The overarching goal of education extends beyond the mere attainment of competencies and academic standards; it encompasses a broader responsibility to cultivate students' awareness of their societal roles, obligations, and rights. This research, undertaken with the specific focus on the drama script "Subversive!" by Faiza Mardzoeki, aims to elucidate the manifestations of social criticism and morality within this literary work. Employing a qualitative research approach, this study hinges on document analysis as its primary methodological framework. Qualitative research, distinguished by its departure from statistical procedures and quantitative calculations, relies on the exploration of assumptions, broad perspectives, theoretical lenses, and a thorough examination of research problems. The research findings primarily unveil instances of social criticism embedded in political contexts and discernible moral dynamics between individuals. Notably, these insights derived from the drama script "Subversive!" serve as valuable material for the pedagogical realm, contributing to the understanding of literary texts in educational settings. This research contends that the implications of its findings extend to the realm of high school literature education, providing a foundation for educators to consider various aspects, types, and impacts of literary works. By delving into the social and moral criticisms encapsulated within these texts, educators can enhance the learning experience, prompting thoughtful reflection on societal constructs and the multifaceted roles literature plays. Additionally, the research underscores the pivotal role of teachers in facilitating this process, thereby emphasizing the broader educational significance of integrating critical perspectives into the study of literature.

Relational Responsibilisation and Diversity Management in the 21st Century: The Case for Reframing Equality Regulation

This article critiques equality regulation within neoliberal policy regimes and suggests an alternative. We argue that, globally, neoliberal regimes exacerbate social divisions by individualising responsibilities for addressing inequalities. Consequentially, a new policy direction for equality regulation is required. Using the UK economy as an exemplar, we make the case for relational responsibilisation, which involves raising awareness of workplace inequalities on an international basis; attributing responsibility for inequalities onto specific socioeconomic causes and institutions; and systematically developing policies and practices that extend accountability for and ameliorate the negative consequences of workplace inequalities. Theoretically, Bourdieusian social critique and realist sociological imagination are used to conceive responsibilisation in relational terms and to imagine a policy agenda that might make societies more responsible for tackling the forms of inequality they produce. Our overall argument is for the creation of a new equality, diversity and inclusion-aware form of social democracy.

‘Bourgeois Enlightenment Revivified’

Abstract This article, inspired by Colin Jones’ ‘Bourgeois Revolution Revivified’, calls on historians to pay renewed attention to the social and economic contexts of the French Enlightenment, and its relationship to the rise of commercial capitalism. It criticizes influential works in the ‘social history of ideas’ for placing too much emphasis on the compatibility of the Enlightenment and Old Regime social structures, and instead suggests that French Enlightenment writing had a symbiotic relationship to the period’s consumer revolution. This relationship becomes clear if we recognize that consumerism centrally involved practices of self-cultivation. French Enlightenment writing not only provided the expanding reading public of the eighteenth century with tools and guides for self-cultivation, but actively encouraged the process through the styles and genres with which it sought to appeal to and interact with this public. The article concludes by noting that in the political context of late eighteenth-century France, social experience and intellectual exploration alike metamorphosed into pointed social critique, which worked especially to the benefit of the upper Third Estate—that is to say, France’s emerging bourgeoisie.

The film comedies of Leonid Gaidai: student works and the formation of a style

ABSTRACT This article studies the early stage of the career of the well-known Soviet and Russian comedy filmmaker Leonid Gaidai, notably the training period at the All-Union Institute of Cinema (VGIK), on the basis of hitherto unknown archival sources. During these student years, many important stylistic lines of Gaidai’s comedy films were established: his interest in the synthesis of satire, sharp social criticism, trick comedy and eccentricity that would become well known to audiences. Firstly, new archival materials include the theoretical parts of the diploma works from the cinematographers’ faculty of Vladimir Boganov and Vadim Yusov at VGIK (hitherto unknown), and the film Darlings-Friends. Secondly, the short film and Gaidai’s coursework Darlings-Friends (1954), discovered by the film historian Sergei Kapterev at VGIK’s film library. Thirdly, the theoretical part of Gaidai’s dissertation (hitherto not known to researchers), who worked as probationer-assistant director and actor on the musical comedy Lyana by Boris Barnet. In this text, Gaidai for the first time formulates a number of principles for the creation of a comedy film and determines some important lines of his style.

Persian comedy whispers out loud: a critical discourse analysis of Persian televised stand-up comedy

This paper probes into the Iranian society through the ‘discourse access’ that Persian stand-up comedy provides. It is posited that Persian humorous discourse can be an effective and relatively safe communication toolkit to speak truth to power and address cultural deficits. Hence, it may be an insightful ‘point of entry’ into the below-the-surface construct of various social wrongs (e.g. social class inequality, cultural illiteracy). In particular, Persian stand-up comedy, as a young and burgeoning genre of Persian comedy, seems to be reliably reflecting such concerns in Iran. Within the general framework of critical discourse analysis (CDA), this article inspected into a corpus of stand-up comedy performances by the Iranian participants of the first and largest televised stand-up comedy contest in Iran. The corpus included 11 stand-up comedians and 14 performances from the three seasons of the contest (2016–2022). The reflexive thematic analysis of the stand-up routines unmasked a wealth of social criticism which is discussed under four major themes of ‘economic stress’, ‘social class inequality’, ‘more equal decision-makers’ and, ‘agents of change’. The paper elaborates on Persian stand-up comedy as a potent driving force within the society to effect individual and social changes. It contends that Persian comedy can greatly contribute to discourses of awareness and transformation within the Iranian society.

Satirical Strategies Employed on NTV’s the Wicked Edition: A Comprehensive Analysis

Comedy has long been appreciated as a powerful form of communication that not only entertains but also offers a platform for addressing serious societal challenges The language used in comedy, particularly in satirical comedy, is essential in implicitly conveying social commentary. The Wicked Edition show, is known for its use of satirical language to address societal issues indirectly. This study looks into the relationship between language, satire, and social criticism, with an emphasis on the satirical approaches used in the show. The study illuminates the purposeful and intended use of satire as a powerful tool for communication, entertainment, and social criticism by conducting a thorough investigation of verbal humor, irony, sarcasm, and hyperbole. The Wicked Edition show skillfully employs humorous strategies to communicate essential messages, engage the audience in thought-provoking conversations, and inspire reflection on societal expectations and behaviors. The show successfully analyzes sensitive topics such as politics, government policies, work ethics, and community responses to the Covid-19 pandemic through the use of irony, sarcasm, and hyperbole. Furthermore, this study delves into the socio-pragmatic aspects of the language style employed in The Wicked Edition show, emphasizing on the incorporation of both monologue and dialogue structures. By employing the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH), this study seeks to analyze the implicit meanings conveyed through the comedian’s linguistic style.

Women Reprimanding Women: The Gothic Parody and its Social Criticism

In the late eighteenth century, the Gothic parody, ridiculing the generic traits of the Gothic novel, often directed their humor at the parody heroine. Specifically, the didactic Gothic parody aimed at educating the heroine into a normative, gender-role conforming young woman who rejects the excesses of the Gothic in favor of an adherence to normative conduct. The use of humor in the Gothic parody serves to “normativize” the heroine of the Gothic parody, which will be exemplified by Mary Charlton’s Rosella (1799) and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1817). Despite the similarities in their plots, the novels differ in their application of parody directed at the protagonist. Austen’s must reject her overindulged imagination and learn to differentiate reality and fiction; Charlton’s needs to endure the overindulged imagination of her guardians, whose penchant for confusing reality and fiction nearly leads to Rosella’s downfall. While both novels thus discuss the dangers of confusing reality and fiction, their targets for ridicule, the degree to which the respective characters are affected by their delusions, and the degree of “real” danger these delusions can cause differ significantly.

DİSTOPİK EVRENDE KÜLTÜREL SEMBOLİZM: THE HANDMAID'S TALE FİLMİNİN GÖSTERGEBİLİMSEL İNCELEMESİ

Dystopia offers a critical perspective on socio-political and economic issues, while cultural symbolism deepens this critique through symbols that express societies' beliefs, values, and norms. Semiotics, on the other hand, analyzes the meanings of these symbols, addressing how social criticism is structured. Roland Barthes' semiotic approach unveils the subtexts of dystopian narratives by deciphering the roles of symbols in ideological and cultural contexts. In this context, the study adopts semiotics as a method and conducts analysis within the framework of Barthes' approach. The aim of the study is to analyze the film The Handmaid's Tale, set in a dystopian world, from a semiotic perspective in terms of cultural symbolism. It is concluded that the concepts of sign, signifier, and signified play a critical role in the interpretation of the ideological structure and representations in the film and in determining the messages intended to be conveyed to the audience.

KRITIK SOSIAL DALAM SERIAL TELEVISI RUSIA ЛУЧШЕ, ЧЕМ ЛЮДИ (LEBIH BAIK DARIPADA MANUSIA) KARYA ANDREY JUNKOVSKY

This study aims to analyze social criticism in the Russian television series Лучше, Чем Люди (Better than Us) by Andrey Junkovsky. With a dystophia theme, this study focusing on criticism of human dependence on robotic technology. The data used in this study is a cut scene which is then analyzed by a descriptive analytical method with a semiotic theory by Roland Barthes. The research was conducted by looking at the meaning of denotations and connotations in the Russian television series Лучше, Чем Люди. This study argues that there are 11 scenes that depict human dependence on robotic technology. This is the social criticism in series Лучше, Чем Люди by Andrey Junkovsky.

Religion and Social Criticism: Tradition, Method, and Values, edited by Bharat Ranganathan and Caroline Anglim

Religion and Social Criticism: Tradition, Method, and Values, edited by Bharat Ranganathan and Caroline Anglim

More than just fairy tales: Allegory and social criticism in the works of C.S. Lewis

More than just fairy tales: Allegory and social criticism in the works of C.S. Lewis

Generations of the Frankfurt School: The Genesis of Critical Theory and Its Modernity

The article presents a retrospective of the formation of the Frankfurt School. Such a view of the school has not yet been formed in Russian-language literature. In it (literature), as a rule, attention is focused on individual figures of the school, without representing their place in the logic of generations. In the 1950s, representatives of the first generation of the Frankfurt School (first of all, M. Horkheimer and T. Adorno) in their criticism of the fascist and totalitarian regimes built the foundation of critical theory, which they used later in the social analysis of Capitalist society. M. Horkheimer identified the key setting of the school as the emancipation of workers from the framework of the economic regime, liberation of the consciousness of the working class from the boundaries set by capitalism. In the 1970s, J. Habermas, within the framework of the theory of communicative action, continued the tradition of social criticism in two semantic directions: in the Leftist one — focusing on social injustices, and in the Kantian one — in the search for grounds for social criticism as such. Later, in the 1990s, A. Honneth focused on the so-called negative intersubjectivity, which is expressed in the struggle of social groups for recognition. In this struggle, he found a truly social dimension of life, which is built on the principles of normativity. In 2018, A. Honneth handed over the post of Director of the Institute of Social Research to S. Lessenich. Despite the fact that today it is difficult to predict what the course of S. Lessenich will be, it remains obvious that through the generations the Frankfurt School has retained the methodological basis for the critical analysis of Capitalist society, starting criticism under totalitarianism and continuing it in the digital age.