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AbstractIt is possible to broadly characterize social theory in terms of routine moves which are shaped by aprioricontexts, and deep structure moves which seek to delineate those shaping contexts and, sometimes, to call for new ones. Thus, for example, in the environmental literature we see the routine moves of so-called "shallow ecologists," who tend to privilege natural systems only to the extent that they serve human ends, and the deep structure moves of "deep ecologists," who value non-human life forms and systems for their intrinsic value. The author discusses those moves and demonstrates two deep structure theories in the progression of the spiritual view of nature from animism to its current form of instrumental rationality, together with the implications of liberal political ideology for environmentalism. He then advocates an alternative approach to social theory, grounded in the notion that institutional innovation, properly understood and "managed" along a trajectory free of the dead hand of deep structure theory, may hold the promise of transformative possibilities that are neither trivial nor unrealizably utopian. The implications for environmental reform are considered, together with an example taken from the practices of industrial production.

This book examines the impact of changing state-society relations that shape contemporary conflicts over Chinese social service provision and looks at how the ongoing negotiation of political space between the state and society impacted the quality and nature of social service provison in transitioning states

This book examines the impact of changing state-society relations that shape contemporary conflicts over Chinese social service provision and looks at how the ongoing negotiation of political space between the state and society impacted the quality and nature of social service provison in transitioning states.

This investigation arises from a comprehensive concept of the relationship between society and school aimed at sustaining and supporting the democratization of school and the reinforcement of social ties. To this end, Argentinean education laws, regulations, circulars and rules from 1980 until the present day were analyzed. The historical review throughout the different Argentinean education laws has shown that the relation between school and society has gone through different conceptualizations. ; Fil: Vicente, María Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; Argentina

This article examines the cultural, political, ethnic and economic forces that have shaped the evolution of media legislation in Fiji and the evident impacts on journalism and society. The article argues that despite Fiji's British colonial heritage and its smooth transition to democracy after Independence in 1970, the spectre of stricter legislation has been a constant threat. This threat finally materialised in the post-2006 coup period, when media-related laws underwent a major overhaul, including the promulgation of the punitive Media Industry Development Decree 2010, which was later 'preserved' under the 2013 Constitution despite being labelled 'undemocratic'. The 2006 coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama, who was decisively voted back into power as Prime Minister in the 2014 General Election, justified the media reforms in the name of social stability and progress. This research uses document review to examine the genesis, nature and efficacy of Fiji's media-related laws, from the colonial to postcolonial periods, and beyond.

This article identifies, among Georg Simmel's various writings, his conception of one of modern social theory's founding concepts: the tension between individual and society. Simmel insists that the question 'How is society possible?' requires a philosophical, as much as a purely sociological, answer. In this article we argue that Simmel's objective in founding a science of society cannot be separated from his interpretation of modernity. We shall try to bring out what we see as the clear & specific connection between his two projects.

Proceeding from the inseparable relation between ethics and aesthetics in traditional (and often also modern) Chinese thought, this article aims to illuminate two important approaches to the aesthetic foundations of Chinese modernity. The relation between the individual and society, which is a core question of modern ethics, is reflected in most of the ethical theories of 20th century China. In this context, the article first presents Li Zehou's theory of aesthetics and his definition of aesthetic experience. In this way, it aims to illuminate Li's interpretation of modern art and society, and to posit it into a contrastive position to Xu Fuguan's ethico-aesthetic theories, especially the ones regarding modernity and Western culture. The basic approaches applied by these two important modern Chinese scholars reveal great differences in attitude towards the spiritual and material development of humanity in the 20th century, which is especially interesting since they are both rooted in the abovementioned belief that ethics cannot be separated from aesthetics. Besides, Li Zehou sincerely admired Xu Fuguan's work on traditional Chinese aesthetics and referred to his comprehension of general concepts of traditional Chinese aesthetics in many of his own works dealing with aesthetics.

This article is an ethnographic perspective on organ donation in the western Indian state of Gujarat. It suggests that debates around organ donation—from the perspective of religion as well as state—become critical to an understanding of not just how a global discourse translates into a local cultural context, but also how it configures specific cultural subjectivities around religion, death and violence. Through a discussion on how organ donation is framed by law and society as a desirable social good in general and as dan in particular, the article concludes that the emergent public discourse on organ transplant finds an 'elective affinity' with Hindu and Jain debates on death, rendering itself as a discourse that excludes Gujarat's Muslims. Given the violence that configures recent Gujarati Muslim experiences of death, the article asks what the social consequences of organ donation discourses are for those who cannot share in the discursive construction of organ donation as a celebratory exercise in gift giving.

Dialect, Culture and Society in Eastern Arabia is a three-volume study of the Arabic dialects spoken in Bahrain by its older generation in the mid 1970s, and the socio-cultural factors that produced them. The present Volume III: Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Style , is based on an extensive archive of recorded material, gathered for its ethnographic as well as its purely linguistic interest. Volume I: Glossary , published in 2001, lists all the dialectal vocabulary, with extensive contextual exemplification, and cross-referenced to other lexica, which occurred in the complete set of texts recorded during fieldwork. Volume II: Ethnographic Texts , published in 2005, presents a selection of these texts, transcribed, annotated and translated, and with detailed background essays, covering major aspects of the pre-oil culture of the Gulf and the initial stages of the transition to the modern era: pearl diving, agriculture, communal relations, marriage, childhood, domestic life, work. Excerpts from local dialect poems concerned with these subjects are also included.

To what extent can Islam be localized in an increasingly interconnected world? The contributions to this volume investigate different facets of Muslim lives in the context of increasingly dense transregional connections, highlighting how the circulation of ideas about 'Muslimness' contributed to the shaping of specific ideas about what constitutes Islam and its role in society and politics. Infrastructural changes have prompted the intensification of scholarly and trade networks, prompted the circulation of new literary genres or shaped stereotypical images of Muslims. This, in turn, had consequences in widely differing fields such as self-representation and governance of Muslims. The contributions in this volume explore this issue in geographical contexts ranging from South Asia to Europe and the US. Coming from the disciplines of history, anthropology, religious studies, literary studies and political science, the authors collectively demonstrate the need to combine a translocal perspective with very specific local and historical constellations. The book complicates conventional academic divisions and invites to think in historically specific translocal contexts.

In proposing the use of an alternative method for generating knowledge in the field of sociolinguistics, this book presents a fresh point of view. To introduce his argument, the author gives a well-considered critique of some of the guiding principles of traditional sociolinguists. Then, conducting a small-scale study involving seven participants, he shows how a qualitative narrative approach can renew the theorisation of the relationship between language and society

Any agenda for family research in the 1990s must take seriously a contextual approach to the study of family relationships. The editors and contributors to this volume believe that the richness in family studies over the next decade will come from considering the diversity of family forms -- different ethnic groups and cultures, different stages of family life, as well as different historical cohorts. Their goal is to make more explicit how we think about families in order to study them and understand them. To illustrate the need for diversity in family studies, examples are presented from new