Social Theoreticians Research Articles

At the confluence of ethics, laws and society: global working theory merging bio-ethics

The pressing global challenges facing humanity highlight the urgency of reconciling medicine, society and ecology. By shedding light on the role of theories of translation and justification, the intention here is to show the potential usefulness of an in situ bioethics that reconciles practices in medicine and ecology. Science and policy should be reassembled in hybrid working theories developed, adopted and reframed by/for Society. Yet, a major challenge emerges from translating ethics, sciences, and economics claims, both within expert and lay milieus. This paper proposes foundational pillars for operationalizing the Potterian view of global bioethics. Van Rensselaer Potter challenged the perspective that compartmentalizes values, knowledge and laws, proposing ways to bridge them by linking appreciative, descriptive, and normative knowledge. The missing link, however, is a coherent governance process that coordinates the thinking, ordering, and enacting in the world. Based on an extensive revision of the Potterian legacy and action-research case studies, this article applies the Global theoretical view in the complex in situ practice of bioethics. Little known outside the world of academic bioethics, Potter’s primarily scientific curriculum helps translate and operationalize the socio-political reflections of notable contemporary philosophers of science and critical social theoreticians such as Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, John Rawls, Bruno Latour and Jürgen Habermas. In this era of mass communication, government education programs, and large-scale research funding, I propose a conceptual framework for operating a Community-based Global Bio-Ethics, echoing the 60th anniversary of Habermas’ call for The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962).

Marx and Michael Gefter's Theory of the Event

This article is an attempt to reconstruct the theory of the event of the Soviet philosopher, social theoretician and historian Michael Gefter. Based on his unpublished texts written in the 70s, authors return his version of historical materialism to the context of the debates on the status of the event and historical determinism, which took place in European Marxism at that time. The basic unfolding of historical materialism of Gefter — diachronic synchrony, — is one of the most interesting theoretical solutions, which combines structuralism and a new reading of Karl Marx's political economic works. According to Gefter, a historical event is possible as a fulfillment of the potential of diachronic axis “future-past” in the “historical present” by means of signifying of diachrony by synchrony, in contrast to the “eternal diachronic event, which exists in the “mythological time” and signifies synchrony. The reconstruction we propose demonstrates the potential of Gefter's version of historical materialism and his theory for the methodology of historical knowledge, modern social theory and speculative philosophy.

Serres and Foundations

While Michel Serres’ work has become relatively well-known among social theoreticians in recent years, his explicit thematization of the foundations of human collectives has gained surprisingly little attention. This article claims that Serres’ approach to the theme of foundations can be clarified by scrutinizing the way in which he poses and answers the following three questions: How are we together? What and whom do we exclude from our togetherness and how? Who are we today? Instead of starting with a ready-made order, be it in the form of individuals or society, Serres pushes social research to take up the challenge of examining the point at which order is about to emerge out of noise and chaos, but where the outcome of the process remains uncertain. Especially relevant to the discussion are Serres’ books Rome, Statues and Geometry, all three of which bear the subtitle Book of Foundations.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONSUMER CULTURE THROUGH CAR COMMERCIALS

Bu calismanin amaci reklamlarin tuketim olgusu uzerindeki kulturel incelenmesidir. Bu amacla, cesitli televizyon kanallarinda gosterilen on iki otomobil reklami ornegi uzerinden nitel bir icerik analizi yurutulmustur. secilmesinin nedeni, teknolojinin vazgecilmez bir parcasi olan bu sektorun son derece hizli bir sekilde degisim gostererek tuketim aliskanliklarini farkli sekillerde bicimlendirmesidir. Bu baglamda, soz konusu reklamlarin toplumsal manipulasyonlari acisindan bir reklam okumasi yapilmistir. Soz konusu reklamlarin analizi Baudrillard, Veblen, teorisyenlerin tuketime yonelik gorusleri baglaminda ele alinmistir. Reklamdaki tuketim unsurunun guclendirilip asil tuketim nesnesi olan arabalarin davranisinin kilmistir. Bu calismanin sonucunda ozellikle populer kulturun olusmasinda ve dagitiminda onemli bir faktor olan kitle iletisim araclarinin davranisinin analizi yapilmis olacaktir

Formations of European Modernity. Cosmopolitanism, Eurocentrism and the Uses of History

InFormations of European Modernity, Gerard Delanty, one of the foremost social theoreticians of Europe, offers a historical-sociological assessment of the idea of Europe as the development of modernity from a cosmopolitan perspective. With this book, based upon a broad and impressive discussion of sociological and historical literature, Delanty somewhat comes back from his earlier constructivist approach in favour of a theory that emphasizes the originality of Europe and assesses European history as the development of modernity, interpreted in a classical neo-Weberian sense. This approach sits uneasily with his ambition to present a cosmopolitan view on Europe, which emphasizes the interactions of Europe with the rest of the world, all the more so as he largely ignores the postcolonial critiques of Eurocentric narratives as well as modernization theories. While Delanty is still quite successful in his assessment of historical diversities in Europe, Formations of European Modernity >nevertheless disappoints. While the focus on global interactions is highly commendable, the lack of critical assessment and contextualization leads to a neglect of the fact that Europe often despised the (contribution of the) other. Hence his presentation of cosmopolitan Europe is flawed, and remains if not Eurocentric at least overly Europhile.

Formations of European Modernity

In Formations of European Modernity, Gerard Delanty, one of the foremost social theoreticians of Europe, offers a historical-sociological assessment of the idea of Europe as the development of modernity from a cosmopolitan perspective. With this book, based upon a broad and impressive discussion of sociological and historical literature, Delanty somewhat comes back from his earlier constructivist approach in favour of a theory that emphasizes the originality of Europe and assesses European history as the development of modernity, interpreted in a classical neo- Weberian sense. This approach sits uneasily with his ambition to present a cosmopolitan view on Europe, which emphasizes the interactions of Europe with the rest of the world, all the more so as he largely ignores the postcolonial critiques of Eurocentric narratives as well as modernization theories. While Delanty is still quite successful in his assessment of historical diversities in Europe, Formations of European Modernity nevertheless disappoints. While the focus on global interactions is highly commendable, the lack of critical assessment and contextualization leads to a neglect of the fact that Europe often despised the (contribution of the) other. Hence his presentation of cosmopolitan Europe is flawed, and remains if not Eurocentric at least overly Europhile.

Srbski literarni postmodernizem – želja ali zgodovinsko dejstvo?

The article deals with Serbian literary postmodernism as a literary current and as a literary period in the 1980s and early 1990s. With its transformed poetics, postmodern literature, particularly prose, represented a challenge to Serbian literary science, while even becoming a problem for the existing sociocultural circles due to its apolitical nature in the context of the political conditions of the time. The present paper highlights several reasons for this, taking into consideration especially Serbian, but also Slovenian literary criticism. At the same time, it attempts to dissolve the dilemma as to whether literary postmodernism, with all of its specifics, has actually occurred in Serbia – which, in the last decades of the 20th century, experienced great political-historical upheavals, and thus remained distanced from the state that social theoreticians call postmodern – or whether it was just a case of the desire of the Serbian literary minority for literature to free itself from the pressures of the political and historical reality.

Ramón de la Sagra. Un protosocialista hispano ante el desarrollo educativo. Lecturas y precisiones

The present contribution analyses the figure of the ideologist, social theoretician, economist and international comparative education scholar, Ramon de la Sagra (1798-1871). Originally from Galicia and having begun his university studies in Santiago, he soon moved to Madrid, where he would become one of the founders of the Ateneo. University professor and naturalist in Havana. Observer of social reforms in the U.S.A. (1835). Later, he travelled through Europe comparing various attempts at social reform. Writer. Scholar and propagator, as well as a keen attender at intellectual salons, alongside Arhens, Cousin, Hippolyte Colins, Engels, or Proudhon (with whom he was involved in a variety of social undertakings in Paris between 1848 to 1849), as well as other well-known characters in the field of political economy and of social theory. Liberal Spanish member of parliament. Promoter of the first infant schools in Madrid (1839-1842). An idealistic reformer: an attractive and complex figure. One of the most outstanding Spanish intellectuals of the 19th Century but until now largely unknown.

Vytautas Kavolis – metodologinio anarchizmo atstovas?

The paper deals with the civilization study methodology of V. Kavolis, a prominent Lithuanian social theoretician. A question is raised whether he is a representative of methodological anarchism. The author of the paper argues that V. Kavolis is not a proponent of methodological anarchism. V. Kavolis, civilization study methodology, despite its interdisciplinary and multimethodological nature, is quite consistent. First of all, its consistency relies on the Method of Civilization Analysis. Besides, it is coordinated by the study object – civilization. V. Kavolis uses so many disciplines, methods and theoretical approaches when analyzing any civilization element, level or process. From the standpoint of V. Kavolis, various disciplines, methods and theoretical approaches do not confront but supplement one another. Â

The Paradox of Poverty: Socio-Economic Aspects of Population Growth.— By T. Scarlett Epstein and Darrell Jackson. The Macmillan of India Limited Delhi, 1975. pp.127.

To many social theoreticians, the population explosion, particularly in the developing nations presents a crippling threat to their developmental pro¬cesses. Their argument's validity rests mainly on the assumption that expected economic progress is swallowed up by unbalanced rise of numbers in the population. The book being reviewed deals mainly with this subject matter and is divided into two parts, each containing three articles contributed by various researchers. Part one, 'The Social context of Fertility Decision' is focused on analyzing the role of factors affecting fertility at the micro-level decision making process. The first article 'Fertility decision in rural India' by Vinod Jainath, examines the applicability to rural India of various models of the process of fertility decision making and finds most of these wanting with respect to the Indian social situation. While analyzing the fertility patterns of Rural India, he points out the positive need for larger families among the poor small farmers mainly due to labour supply considerations. The author argues that unemployment and under¬employment actually motivate the poor to have more children as it better ensures their economic security in their old age. As the chances of gaining employ¬ment for their offspring diminish, they are induced to increase the total number of children in order that atleast one will be able to support them. Thus a vicious circle of poverty arises in large families because of each of the parents wanting to increase their children's chances of employment by ultimately reducing the overall employment opportunities even further and exacerbating their poverty.

The American Soldier-An Expository Review

PUBLICATION of The American Soldier constitutes an event of first importance in the world of social research. Although the studies on which the book is based were made in response to military needs, they contain a mine of information and insights for all persons concerned with human behavior. Many of the findings are of direct relevance to the industrial psychologist, the educator, and the public relations specialist, as well as to the social theoretician, the opinion researcher, and the military policy maker. At the request of the QUARTERLY, Professor Lazarsfeld has provided a brief guide to the first two of these four encyclopedic volumes, and has highlighted the significance of many of the findings reported therein. Contributions to such key concepts of sociology and psychology as the primary group, frame of reference, and the influence of role and position are discussed, and a bird's-eye view of the major experiments and findings is given, together with some of their major implications. The author is Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, and President of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.