Suchergebnisse

Our analysis indicates that it is correct to interpret non-participation and a vote for the Extreme Right as at least partly due to a legitimation crisis which seems to be the expression of a new alignment of values. This alignment describes a deep cultural cleavage that divides the higher from the less educated. People who hold pronounced positions on this alignment are more likely than others to turn away from the established, "traditional" parties. People with the values and attitudes typical of the "progressive" or "new left'' side of the cleavage, vote disproportionately for the Greens. People with the values and attitudes typical of the "conservative" or "new right" side of the cleavage, opt disproportionately for non-participation and for the Extreme Right. In the recent political debate in Flanders, both non-participation and the Extreme Right have been regarded as symptoms of a legitimation crisis, and ofpolitical protest. The difference between the two expressions of cultural opposition or political protest can be understood as a choice for either an "exit" or a "voice" option. People select the "exit" option when they feel especially politically powerless. The "voice"-option is chosen by people for which the value conflict over the position of"migrants" is the most salient issue.The long term causes of the symptoms of a legitimation crisis seem to be the growing economic and cultural gap between the higher and less educated, and the ensuing growth of a conflict in which cultural and social-economic differences are strongly linked.

Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit einem Exploratory Workshop on Improving the Quality of Qualitative Research, der – gefördert von der European Scientific Foundation (ESF) – im Juni 2007 in Kristiansand, Norwegen, stattgefunden hat. Hierzu versammelten sich europäische Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftlerinnen unterschiedlicher disziplinärer Herkunft und methodologischer Verortung, um den State of the Art und die Qualität qualitativer Forschung in ihren jeweiligen Bezugsfeldern zu diskutieren. Der Fokus galt insbesondere der mangelnden Glaubwürdigkeit bzw. fortdauernden Kritik qualitative Forschungsmethodik insbesondere durch quantitativ-orientierte Kolleginnen und Kollegen. Dies aufgreifend wurden unterschiedliche Methodologien, Verfahren und Forschungsdesigns diskutiert mit Blick auf Möglichkeiten der Verbesserung qualitativer Methodik und auf einen Ausgang aus der Legitimationskrise qualitativer Forschung. Vorschläge hierzu betrafen u.a. Verbesserungen der Anleitungen zur Durchführung qualitativer Studien (MAEDER) oder von Forschungsdesigns (GOBO, SILVERMAN) bzw. Vorschläge zu einer konsequenteren Triangulation von Daten und Verfahren (KONECKI). Von anderen wurden Vorschläge in Richtung eines systematischeren Einsatzes z.B. von Reflexivität (BUSCATTO) oder lebensgeschichtlichem Material (BERTAUX) gemacht; wieder andere favorisierten innovative Methoden wie applied theatre (HUNDT) oder einen breiteren Einsatz von Audio-Techniken (HEATH). PRIOR unterstrich die Bedeutung von Repositorien für qualitative Forschung, DREW eine deutlichere Orientierung in Richtung von Konversationsanalysen. Wieder andere Beiträgen befassten sich mit der Unterschiedlichkeit von Informant(inn)en in verschiedene Typen von Untersuchungen: RYEN berichtete aus seiner Arbeit mit sog. "Schlüsselpersonen", während WEIL Chancen und Schwierigkeiten kollaborativer Forschung diskutierte. KVALE schließlich fokussierte auf qualitative Forschung als "Handwerk". Hinzu kamen einige praktische Hinweise u.a. von jüngeren Workshopbesucher(inne)n sowohl zur Fortführung der Diskussion als auch zur Verbesserung der Qualität qualitativer Forschung.

This article argues that the theory of legitimation crisis developed by Offe and Habermas offers an instructive theoretical framework for explaining the current surge of populism across the West. The article argues that this populist resurgence is indicative of a profound legitimation crisis of the Western welfare state, which ultimately derives from its inability to control a globalized economic system. The article argues that two prominent rival accounts of the populist resurgence both suffer from their inattention to the specific ideational content of populism, as a reaction to a form of elite political rule experienced as illegitimate. By contrast, the advantage of the theory of legitimation crisis is that it is able to directly account for the structural conditions of the present legitimation crisis. Finally, the article offers an integrative account of why populism tends to focus on immigration in Northern Europe and on economic issues in Southern Europe.

This book proposes a theory of the legitimation crisis of neoliberalism. Through analyses of the legitimation crisis of regulated capitalism and the characteristics and theories of neoliberalism, the author contends that neoliberalism is affected by crises of system and social integration. The crisis of system integration refers to the inability of market mechanisms to address problems of capital accumulation and social stability. The crisis of social integration refers to the unmet promises of economic growth and social well-being. While attempts to address these crises are carried out through state intervention, crisis resolutions are inadequate due to the limits of the free market system and current state forms. Alessandro Bonanno contends that, as ideological and material forms of legitimation are inadequate, and processes of capital accumulation are sluggish and resistance weak, change is necessary. He outlines how this change will be controlled by corporate actors, minimally address the demands of subordinate groups, and marginally alter existing conditions.

Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Introduction -- The Literature on the Crisis of Neoliberalism -- Possible Alternatives -- The Limits of the Left and Suggestions to Overcome Them -- Neo-Fordist Proposals and the Return to the Nation-State -- The Continuous Domination of Neoliberalism -- The Organization of the Book -- Notes -- References -- From Fordism to Neoliberalism -- 1 The State in Classical Laissez-Faire, Its Crisis, and the Establishment of Fordism -- Introduction -- Classical Theories of the State -- Classical Liberal Theorizations of the Role of the State -- The State in Marx's Theory of Capitalism -- The Historical Limits of the Classical Laissez-Faire System -- Toward a State-Centered Capitalism: Polanyi and the Theory and Contradictions of Laissez-Faire -- Keynes, Gramsci, and Ford: The Justification of State Intervention -- Fordism and the Role of the State -- The Establishment of Fordism -- The Theoretical Debate -- The Contribution of Habermas -- Conclusions -- References -- 2 The Legitimation Crisis of Fordism: Ideological and Cultural Contradictions -- Introduction -- The Ideological and Cultural Dimensions of Fordist Regulated Capitalism -- Gramsci and the Creation of New Forms of Social Control and the "New Individual" -- Parsons and the Primacy of the American Model -- The Cultural Contradictions of Fordism and the Problem of Legitimation -- Gramsci and Daniel Bell on the Contradictions of the Puritan Behavior of the Fordist Working Class -- The Structuralist Critique of the Fordist Cultural Arrangements -- Habermas and the Theory of System Crisis -- The Ideological Contradictions of Free-Market Capitalism -- Contradictions of the Regulated Capitalism Will-Formation -- Conclusions -- References -- 3 Legitimation and Resistance: The Structural Contradictions of Regulated Capitalism -- Introduction

In this article, we analyze the role of conspiracy theories, especially the spread of QAnon during the COVID-19 pandemics, in the legitimation crisis and epistemic crisis in contemporary democracies. We discuss Habermas' theory of legitimation crisis and the potential for reactionary movements in times of such crisis, as well as Hofstadter's description of the paranoid style in political culture. We explain the notion of 'epistemic crisis' as theorized by Larry Laudan and discussed recently in relation to social media. We discuss anti-intellectualism in Hofstadter's terms, and explain its connection with populism. Finally, we explain how all of this comes to bear on the contemporary proliferation of conspiracy theory, using QAnon and the COVID crisis as our point of reference, and examples from the United States and Brazil to illustrate our points. QAnon fueled COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and COVID-19 conspiracy theories rocketed QAnon to a place of major influence.

Behind the current search for a method of teacher education that will yield consistent, predictable outputs, lies the deeper issue of who has legitimate substantive and procedural control over teacher education in advanced capitalist democracies. An examination of current trends in new processes of teacher education suggests that the legitimacy of university control over teacher education is in serious question and that the power relationship between the university and the political economic sector is being redefined.