Structuralist Arguments Research Articles

Imagining the human: applying the philosophy of religious studies to Jonathan Z. Smith

ABSTRACT Distinguishing between philosophy of religious studies as intra-scientific methodological reflection and philosophy of religion as extra-scientific commitment to values, this article demonstrates the benefits of integrating both, applying critical reflection to the latter as well. As a case study, it focuses on Jonathan Z. Smith’s concepts of humanity and history. Smith’s strategic blend of history and morphology aligns with his extra-scientific vision of humanity, which derived not merely from methodological choices but from philosophical reflection. By comparing Smith’s structuralist arguments with Lévi-Straussian structuralism – interpreted as antihumanism – the article reveals that Smith’s humanistic orientation was embedded in North-American social and academic contexts. It thus advocates for a nuanced examination of religious studies’ philosophical underpinnings, suggesting that, without such analysis, the work of even empirical scholars like Smith might be misconstrued.

Is European monetary integration structurally neoliberal? The origins of the EMS and the 1977–1978 locomotive conflict

The idea that European monetary integration is inherently neoliberal in its very structure gained prominence after the Eurozone crisis and has had considerable impact. The implication is that the only alternative to disciplinary neoliberalism in Europe is an exodus from EU institutions. This article contributes to the testing of such arguments through an empirical analysis of the origins of the Eurozone in the formation of the EMS during the 1977–1978 Locomotive Conflict. It finds that the variety of construal in EMS design and contingencies in the politics of selection between such designs do not accord with structuralist arguments.

Subjecting Sentences: Syntax and Power in Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Ocean Vuong’s semi-autobiographical novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous opens as a letter to the narrator, Little Dog’s, mother—it is a letter she’ll never be able to read, as she is illiterate in both her Vietnamese mother tongue and the limited English she has learned following her immigration to America. Little Dog, having learned both languages, resists the rigidity of their respective, repressive syntaxes; if syntax functions as ideology—as an imagined set of rules and processes which govern a structure of sentences within a language and, in turn, the subjected bodies which are interpellated by the literal and subsequently constructed Subject of such sentences—then Little Dog opposes such ideology by subverting the hierarchical Subject/subject relationships created within the subject/object sentence structure. Rather than align with Ferdinand de Saussure’s structuralist argument towards language as based in such hierarchical binary oppositions, Little Dog searches for a new language—one that can truly act as a bridge, rather than a border—often intentionally breaking prosaic form and grammar rules in an effort to unearth it.

The La Marca model revisited: Structuralist goodwin cycles with evolutionary supply side and balance of payments constraints

AbstractThis research is aimed at investigating the causes of volatility that affect middle‐income countries by studying the La Marca model. Drawing from the open‐economy Goodwin tradition, this model demonstrates that economic activity, income distribution and accumulation of foreign assets dynamically interact, resulting in a pattern of dampened cycles. The study consists in analyzing the characteristics of the model by initially imposing: (I) a constant real exchange rate; (II) a constant net external asset to capital ratio, which is in line with the balance of payments dominance theory and (III) a fixed income distribution. We then (IV) expand the original model by adding an evolutionary supply‐side in which productivity is at the center of the economic dynamic through international technology transfer and the Kaldor‐Verdoorn effect. The results show that (1) the model always converges. (2) The restrictions (I) and (II) remove the cyclical component of the model, which highlights a central difference between La Marca and the original Goodwin model. (3) Fixed income distribution leads to a monotonic trajectory that reduces oscillations. (4) The inclusion of productivity dynamics generates new sources of volatility in the relationship between productivity, capacity utilization and net external assets and is in line with the structuralist argument of structural fragility.

Empire in the Heimat: Colonialism and Public Culture in the Third Reich by Willeke Sandler

Reviewed by: Empire in the Heimat: Colonialism and Public Culture in the Third Reich by Willeke Sandler Matthew G. Stanard Empire in the Heimat: Colonialism and Public Culture in the Third Reich. By Willeke Sandler. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xiv + 343. Cloth $74.00. ISBN 978-0190697907. The study of European colonial culture, including that of the "lesser empires" like Germany's overseas possessions, is thriving. Willeke Sandler's Empire in the Heimat is a rich and exceptionally well-written history of post-1919 German procolonial, irredentist organizations and the propaganda they produced. Wolfe W. Schmokel tackled this subject more than fifty years ago in Dream of Empire: German Colonialism, 1919–1945 (1964). Whereas Schmokel focused more on diplomacy and continuities from Weimar to Nazi Germany, Sandler centers her analysis on propaganda and popular culture. And while others have argued that the Nazi Party dominated colonialist groups, Sandler contends that they maintained some autonomy, even though their messages sometimes contradicted Nazi aims. Sandler's story begins with how German colonialists dealt with the loss of the country's colonies after 1919. Colonial devotees, such as the leaders of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft, later viewed the 1933 Nazi takeover as an opportunity, and they engaged in Selbstgleichschaltung or self-coordinating (7–8) to align themselves with the NSDAP. Colonialists produced an abundance of propaganda and had some success, but this success was tempered by growing competition to reach the masses. Moreover, colonial advocates struggled to harmonize their messages with Nazi ideology, even if they managed to support Nazi antisemitism while reframing National Socialism as compatible with their concept of "benevolent colonialism." Forced Gleichschaltung in 1936 led to the creation of the officially sanctioned Reichskolonialbund, an umbrella organization. Paradoxically, the greater the colonialists' reach and the larger the Reichskolonialbund's membership, the more nonspecialists became involved, which threatened to transform procolonial messages into colonial kitsch. Although it sometimes contradicted Nazi war aims, Reichskolonialbund propaganda continued even after 1939, until Martin Bormann shut down colonialist groups after the 1943 defeat at Stalingrad. Although the book's subtitle includes the term "public culture," there is certainly more it could have said about procolonial propaganda's effects on German culture. Sandler details how leaders of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft, Reichskolonialbund, and other groups viewed and debated their propaganda efforts, but says much less about their efficacy. They did have some impact: for instance, when Martin Bormann echoed colonialist views, or when the Sidol Company used colonialist imagery in its advertising, suggesting colonialism's persistent popular appeal. But such evidence is rare. Sandler also describes how procolonial organizations worked, changed, came into existence, and disappeared. Three individuals stand out: Erich Duems, General Secretary of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft and of the Koloniale Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft; [End Page 390] former German East Africa Governor Heinrich Schnee, Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft head from 1930–1936; and Franz Ritter von Epp, a former colonial soldier, Reich Governor of Bavaria, and Reichskolonialbund head from 1936 on. A brief discussion of the Women's League of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft and the lack of female leaders illustrate the degree to which German public life between the wars was male-dominated. The propaganda by Duems, Schnee, Epp, and others did not persuade the Nazi leadership. By contending that "colonialists publicly produced a narrative of Germany's past and future that at times stood at odds with high-ranking Nazi officials' desire for public conformity and a unified focus on European expansion" (10), Sandler wishes to restore to colonialists their agency, which other scholars have downplayed. Yet the Third Reich's propaganda overwhelmed that of the colonialists and their goal of reclaiming the overseas colonies, and the Nazi Party steamrolled traditional colonialists whenever necessary. Thus, Empire in the Heimat buttresses the "intentionalist" argument about the nature of Nazism. Hitler stuck to his ideas of Blut und Boden, regardless of the colonialists' years-long clamoring otherwise, and Sandler points to numerous instances of individuals trying to second-guess Hitler's aims, or "working toward the Führer." That said, Empire in the Heimat also evokes the structuralist argument, inasmuch as the numerous colonialist organizations comprised just some of the multitudinous overlapping groups and bureaucracies jostling for influence in Nazi...

He's Just Not That Vulnerable: Exploring the Implementation of the Appropriate Adult Safeguard in Police Custody

AbstractThis article examines the treatment of vulnerable suspects in police custody, with particular emphasis upon how the police define vulnerability in relation to adult suspects. Drawing upon qualitative data produced through observation of and interviews with custody officers (COs) at a custody suite in England, the article will explore why the appropriate adult (AA) safeguard is often left unimplemented. It builds upon previous research on the identification of vulnerability, but goes further by also addressing how vulnerability is defined. In discussion, the article draws upon legalist, culturalist, and structuralist arguments to offer explanations for non‐implementation of the AA safeguard.

An Essay on Horizontalism, Structuralism and Historical Time

Beyond agreement on the basic principles of money’s endogeneity, the development of Post-Keynesian monetary theory has been characterized by considerable dissent and debate. One important aspect of this debate concerns the shape of the credit supply curve in quantity of credit/interest rate space. The argument in this chapter is that that there can be, and to an extent already is, agreement that the horizontal credit supply curve is not a special case, and that the existence of an indeterminate dynamic credit supply schedule provides a general framework capable of accommodating both horizontalist and structuralist arguments. These arguments rest on the distinction between logical and historical time and, in particular, the claim that any construct (including, for example, a credit supply schedule) that is akin to a determinate long run equilibrium relationship is anathema to the methodological foundations of Post-Keynesian economics.

A structuralist argument for the European origin of ‘Alā’ ad‐Dīn wa‐l‐Qindil al‐Mashūr from Alf Layla wa‐Layla

A structuralist argument for the European origin of ‘Alā’ ad‐Dīn wa‐l‐Qindil al‐Mashūr from Alf Layla wa‐Layla

Structural Change in U.S. Labor Markets

Two debates over labor market structure have occurred in the U.S. since World War II: the structuralist/aggregate demand school debate in the early 1960s and the deindustrialization debate of the 1980s. In both controversies one side offers a structural explanation in which difficulties in the labor market derive from an overall transformation of the economy. The opposing view is that labor market trends cannot be explained by a structural transformation, since no such transformation has taken place. Despite heated policy debates and impressive data collection the essential point of disagreement in both debates remains unresolved: the existence of structural change in the labor market. This paper argues that two fundamental problems have hindered a satisfactory outcome to these recurring debates over structural change in the labor market. First, each side in the debate has a different concept of structure. If a consensus cannot be reached on what structural change in U.S. labor markets means, any debate over the existence and implications of this change is bound to be fruitless. With an imprecise or inconsistent definition of structure the question cannot be settled empirically. The second and more serious difficulty is that both sides use concepts of structure that have more to do with product markets than labor markets. The focus on product markets results from the fundamental assumption that labor demand is a derived demand. This assumption is axiomatic in neoclassical theory and exerts a powerful influence even on structuralist labor economists who reject much of the orthodox approach to labor. The first part of this paper looks at the consequences of this approach to structure. Despite the fact that the debates were sparked by high unemployment and other disturbing trends in the labor market, the debates address labor market structure only indirectly. The theoretical arguments underlying the assorted views reflect a paradigmatic dispute over the nature of economic growth. The second part of the paper discusses the concept of labor market structure and suggests an alternative approach. The paper then returns briefly to the debates over structure to demonstrate how this alternative approach would clarify this controversy. The Two Labor Market Debates The initial impetus to both debates was a secular rise in average unemployment rates. The structuralist/aggregate demand school controversy resulted from an increase in the average unemployment rate to 5.8% between 1958 and 1964 (Frumkin, 1987).(1) Killingsworth (1965) argued that the trend toward higher unemployment rates was due to a structural transformation of the labor market. The disproportionate incidence of high rates of unemployment in specific segments of the labor market led to the Killingsworth twist, a forerunner of the declining middle of the 1980s. Killingsworth's conclusions were based on the observation of lower unemployment rates among more highly skilled and educated workers. However, despite the use of statistics on labor supply to support his argument, Killingsworth was arguing that it was the structure of labor demand that was undergoing transformation. Killingsworth's structuralist arguments were countered by the Council of Economic Advisors (Bowen, 1965). The Council's contention was that although specific sub-groups of the labor force were affected differently over the business cycle, there had been no secular increase in the level of structural unemployment nor had there been significant increases in the unemployment rates of groups considered to be dominated by unskilled workers. The higher unemployment rates after 1957 were attributed to a deficiency of aggregate demand. During the 1980s unemployment reached its highest level since the Depression. Many manufacturing industries were particularly hard hit by the recessions of the early 1980s leading to widespread layoffs and plant closings. Economists such as Robert Reich (1983), Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison (1982) argued that high unemployment rates and the loss of manufacturing jobs reflected long-term structural changes in U. …

The Mexican State and the Political Implications of Economic Restructuring

In recent years, both mainstream and neo-Marxist scholarship has emphasized the importance of the state in leading political and economic change (Almond, 1988: 900-901). Much of the literature on the Latin American state has been inspired by the neo-Marxist structuralist perspective: Although the limitations imposed on public policy by capitalist structures, both domestic and foreign, are recognized, the state is also seen as playing a central role in the political and economic restructuring necessary for the continuation of economic growth (for surveys of the literature, see Fortin, 1985; Fitzgerald, Floto, and Lehmen, 1976). Whereas the structuralist argument concerning the constraints imposed on policy by the capitalist context, particularly by international economic pressures, is convincing, any presumption about the purpose and long-term implications of state action remains problematic. State policy may well aggravate social and political tensions and therefore be counterproductive to continued capitalist growth. Indeed, as a consequence of the constraints imposed by the operation of the world economy, state managers may be compelled to pursue policies not of their own choosing, and such policies may have unforeseen and undesired results over which they have little or no control. This scenario characterized the economic restructuring program initiated and implemented by the administration of President Miguel de la Madrid between 1983 and 1988. Although, as suggested by structuralist theory, international capitalist pressure forced increased economic liberalization, the state's attempt to exercise relative autonomy in controlling the consequent political fallout produced results neither intended nor foreseen and ultimately spawned increased state repression. The argument presented here is that the

Explaining the Incidence of Worker Participation in Management: Evidence from the Australian Metal Industry

The paper begins with a brief summary of arguments regarding the development of employee participation in decision-making. The incidence of various types of employee participation schemes in the Australian metal industry are described using a survey of management respondents. Probit analysis is then employed to estimate the most significant factors influencing the incidence of these schemes. Variables associated with management choice theory rather than organisational or structuralist arguments are found to have most explanatory power. The paper argues for more research on the connection between management style and employee participation.

Latin American Inflation: Theoretical Interpretations and Empirical Results

Preface Inflation in Latin America: A Monetarist View An Alternative View: The Structuralist Argument Revisited Inflation in a Small Country: A Case Study of Bolivia A Summing Up Appendix: Statistical Aspects of Inflation Rates Bibliography Index

Inflation and Economic Growth: Some International Evidence on Structuralist and Distortionist Positions: Note

An important debate has centered on the effects of inflation on economic growth. This paper employs Granger causality tests in a diverse array of countries in an attempt to discriminate between several competing hypotheses. A central question in this debate has been whether inflation contributes to or detracts from economic growth. Felix (1961), Seers (1962), Baer (1967), Georgescu-Roegen (1970), and Taylor (1979, 1983) have advanced a structuralist argument that inflation contributes favorably to real growth. Alternatively, Campos (1961), Harberger (1963), and Vogel (1974) have argued that the inefficiencies produced by inflation reduce real growth. The structuralist view that inflation has a positive effect on growth is based on the contention that inflation is a mechanism which induces forced savings (GeorgescuRoegen 1970; Taylor 1979). First, the government of a developing country, faced with an inadequate fiscal system, may resort to borrowing from the central bank as a way to finance expenditures. Thus inflationary finance may increase capital formation if the government uses its inflation-tax revenues to increase real investment. As long as private sector investment does not fall one-for-one, inflationary finance may contribute to real growth. Second, nominal wages may lag behind prices because of slowly adjusting expectations, sluggish wage bargains, or systematic governmental wage repression. If this is so, then inflation may increase growth in neoclassical fashion by shifting the income distribution in favor of higher saving capitalists and hence increasing savings and growth. From a more Keynesian perspective, inflation may increase growth by raising the rate of profit, thus increasing private investment. An alternative view is that inflation has a negative effect on growth (Mundell 1971; Taylor 1979). This position might be labeled the distortionary inflation view. Inflation may (with the help of government policies) create a variety of outputreducing inefficiencies (Baer 1967). First, inflation in a country with a fixed exchange rate will lead to a deteriorating trade balance and to speculative capital

Governability in interwar Europe: A formal model of authority and performance

European polities in the interwar period faced fundamental challenges to their political institutions. Some nations, such as Germany and Italy, succumbed to pressures and their regimes underwent fundamental and rapid change. Other nations, such as Britain and Sweden, overcame such pressures by adapting their regimes to changing circumstances. All nations faced a crisis of governability that threatened their political regimes and tested their political leaderships. The crises that European states confronted during the interwar years shaped the theoretical interests of a generation of social scientists. Accounting for the persistence and change of the governing institutions of nations in interwar Europe has been of paramount historical and theoretical interest to comparativists. Many explanations of regime change in the interwar period have been offered. However, two distinct perspectives are the ones most frequently advanced. The first, a structuralist argument, holds that regimes changed because they were not constructed properly. If the parts of a governmentits structures and processes--did not "fit" or "align" properly, then the government did not last. The regime changed to another form that, potentially at least, was properly constructed. The second explanation, a funct ionalis t argument, holds that regimes changed because they did not perform properly. If a government was politically unstable, then that government did not last. The regime changed to another form that, potentially at least, would work properly. Social scientists have made compelling arguments for both explanations. This paper examines this controversy over the causes of regime change in interwar Europe. We integrate both sets of explanations into a structural equation model of the "crisis of governability" that these polities faced. In spite of the great interest social scientists have in this historical era, ours is the first formal model and large-scale empirical investigation of these issues.

Structural causes and regime consequences: regimes as intervening variables

International regimes are defined as principles, norms, rules, and decisionmaking procedures around which actor expectations converge in a given issue-area. As a starting point, regimes have been conceptualized as intervening variables, standing between basic causal factors and related outcomes and behavior. There are three views about the importance of regimes: conventional structural orientations dismiss regimes as being at best ineffectual; Grotian orientations view regimes as an intimate component of the international system; and modified structural perspectives see regimes as significant only under certain constrained conditions. For Grotian and modified structuralist arguments, which endorse the view that regimes can influence outcomes and behavior, regime development is seen as a function of five basic causal variables: egoistic self-interest, political power, diffuse norms and principles, custom and usage, and knowledge.

Regime Change

This article examines two plausible rival explanations of regime change. The first explanation, a structuralist argument, holds that regimes change because they are not constructed properly. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that the coherence in authority relations (that is, consistently democratic or consistently autocratic features) of a polity is a necessary condition for the lengthy persistence of that polity. The second explanation, a functionalist argument, holds that regimes change because they do not perform properly. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that the cumulation of performance crises (that is, any combination of high mass illegitimacy, high mass strife, and low decisional efficacy) of a polity is a sufficient condition for its quick demise. These two rival explanations of regime change are not mutually exclusive. Hence, we attempt a synthesis of the structuralist and functionalist arguments by suggesting two further hypotheses: that the coherence in authority relations and noncumulation of performance crises in a polity are necessary and sufficient conditions for the lengthy persistence of that polity; and, that the incoherence in authority relations and cumulation of performance crises in a polity are necessary and sufficient conditions for the quick demise of that polity. Evidence gathered from 25 polities provides striking confirmation of all four hypotheses.