Virtual globalization : virtual spaces / Tourist Spaces / edited by David Holmes -- The criminal spectre in law, literature, and aesthetics / Peter Hutchings -- Immigrants and national identity in Europe / Anna Triandafyllidou -- Constructing risk and safety in technological practice / edited by Jane Summerton and Boel Berner -- Europeanisation, national identities and migration : changes in boundary constructions between western and eastern Europe / Willfried Spohn and Anna Triandafyllidou -- Language, identity, and conflict : a comparative study of language in ethnic conflict in Europe and Eurasia / Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost -- Immigrant life in the U.S. : multi-disciplinary perspectives / edited by Donna R. Gabaccia and Colin Wayne Leach -- Rave culture and religion / edited by Graham St. John -- Creation and returns of social capital : a new research program / edited by Henk Flap and Beate Völker -- Self-care : embodiment, personal autonomy, and the shaping of health consciousness / Christopher Ziguras -- Mechanisms of cooperation / Werner Raub and Jeroen Weesie -- After the bell : educational success, public policy, and family background / edited by Dalton Conley and Karen Albright -- Youth crime and youth culture in the inner city / Bill Sanders -- Emotions and social movements / edited by Helena Flam and Debra King -- Globalization, uncertainty, and youth in society / edited by Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Erik Klijzing, Melinda Mills and Karin Kurz -- Love, heterosexuality and society / Paul Johnson -- Agricultural governance : globalization and the new politics of regulation / edited by Vaughan Higgins and Geoffrey Lawrence -- Challenging hegemonic masculinity / Richard Howson -- Social isolation in modern society / Roelof Hortulanus, Anja Machielse, and Ludwien Meeuwesen -- Weber and the persistence of religion : social theory, capitalism, and the sublime / Joseph W. H. Lough -- Globalization, uncertainty, and late careers in society / edited by Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Sandra Buchholz, and Dirk Hofäcker -- Bourdieu's politics : problems and possibilities / Jeremy F. Lane -- Media bias in reporting social research? : the case of reviewing ethnic inequalities in education / Martyn Hammersley -- A general theory of emotions and social life / Warren D. TenHouten -- Sociology, religion, and grace / Arpad Szakolczai -- Youth cultures : scenes, subcultures, and tribes / edited by Paul Hodkinson and Wolfgang Deicke -- The obituary as collective memory / Bridget Fowler -- Tocqueville's virus : utopia and dystopia in western social and political thought / Mark Featherstone -- Jewish eating and identity through the ages / David Kraemer -- The institutionalization of social welfare : a study of medicalizing management / Mikael Holmqvist -- The role of religion in modern societies / edited by Detlef Pollack and Daniel V. A. Olson -- Sex research and sex therapy : a sociological analysis of masters and Johnson /- Ross Morrow -- A crisis of waste? : understanding the rubbish society / Martin O'Brien -- Globalization and transformations of local socioeconomic practices / edited by Ulrike Schuerkens -- The culture of welfare markets : the international recasting of pension and care systems / Ingo Bode -- Cohabitation, family, and society / Tiziana Nazio -- Latin America and contemporary modernity : a sociological interpretation / José Maurízio Domingues -- Exploring the networked worlds of popular music milieu cultures / Peter Webb -- The cultural significance of the child star / Jane O'Connor -- European integration as an elite process : the failure of a dream? / Max Haller -- Queer political performance and protest / Benjamin Shepard -- Cosmopolitan spaces : Europe, globalization, theory / Chris Rumford -- Contexts of social capital : social networks in communities, markets, and organizations / edited by Ray-May Hsung, Nan Lin, and Ronald Breiger -- Feminism, domesticity, and popular culture / edited by Stacy Gillis and Joanne Hollows -- Changing relationships / edited by Malcolm Brynin and John Ermisch -- Formal and informal work : the hidden work regime in Europe / edited by Birgit Pfau-Effinger, Lluis Flaquer, & Per H. Jensen -- Interpreting human rights : social science perspectives / edited by Rhiannon Morgan and Bryan S. Turner -- Club cultures : boundaries, identities, and otherness / Silvia Rief -- Eastern European immigrant families / Mihaela Robila -- People and societies : Rom Harré and designing the social sciences / Luk van Langenhove -- Social theory in contemporary Asia / Ann Brooks
Presented are the proceedings of a 1991 conference on continuing republican assertiveness & ethnic nationalism in the USSR, which was hosted by the Program on Nationality & Siberian Studies of the W. Averell Harriman Instit for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union at Columbia U (New York, NY), edited by Henry R. Huttenbach & Alexander J. Motyl. In Assessing the Soviet Nationalities Movements: A Critical Review, John A. Armstrong reviews the history of ethnic & republican conflicts in the USSR, & introduces the papers given at the conference, starting with those in Part I: Salvaging the Union, introduced by Allen Lynch (Columbia U, New York, NY). In The Vagaries of Political Change, John Hazard (Columbia U, New York, NY) discusses how the USSR can reform itself politically, & examines various reform measures, including Mikhail Gorbachev's successful revisions of the Constitution, 1988-1990. In The CPSU as an Integrative Force, Thomas Oleszczuk (US Merchant Marine Academy, King's Point, NY) examines the role of the USSR Communist party in the generation of political solidarity, & sees the concept of the party as an integrating force as a misleading theoretical construct. In Managing a Federation of Multiethnic Republics, Henry R. Huttenbach (City Coll New York, NY) examines the processes that led to interrepublican ethnic conflict, focusing on such conflict-ridden regions as Nagorno-Karabakh & Lithuania. In Getting to "Yes" on Self-Determination, Peter Juviler (Bernard Coll, New York, NY) argues that the only alternatives to a chaotic demise of the USSR are an authoritative new Union treaty & a democratic constitution based on it. Richard Ericson (Columbia U, New York, NY), in Economic Reform and Republican Integration, evaluates the extent to which the economy of the USSR will be of any help in salvaging the Union, & addresses the relationship between economic reform & republican integration from the perspectives of the center & of economics. Allen Lynch discusses each contribution to the conference, & examines the impact of Boris Yeltsin on Russian politics in general. A running text of open-ended debate on themes & topics mentioned in the previous papers is provided. In Part II: Asserting National Sovereignty, Allen Kagedan (Carleton U, Ottawa, Ontario), in Nationalism, Language, and Culture, examines language legislation passed in the republics since the 1970s. In Are Republics Becoming Ethnically Homogeneous? Robert Lewis (Columbia U, New York, NY) argues that significant numbers of nonindigenous groups within the national homelands undermine the USSR's exclusive claim to the homeland, dilute the national homogeneity of the homeland, & increase interethnic interaction within the homeland. Walter Clemens (Boston U, Mass), in The Republics as International Actors, examines examples of transnational coalition building, eg, that between the Cable News Network & the Baltic republics, & looks at ways of establishing real relations across international borders in defiance of Moscow. In The Emergence of Civil Society, Natalia Sadomskaya (Columbia U, New York, NY) discusses the appearance of three political organizations in Central Asia that are independent of the state. In The Struggle for Political Sovereignty, Michael Rywkin (City Coll New York, NY) discusses three future scenarios for the USSR: an empire by force, a confederation, or continued disintegration & ultimate dystopia. Michael Paul Sacks, acting as discussant, comments on various themes in the collection of papers & warns against the tendency to regard recent events in the USSR as evidence of the emergence of civil society. In Appendix 1: "Draft Treaty on the Union of Sovereign States -- 27 June 1991," Charles F. Furtado (Columbia U, New York, NY) presents an annotated version of the treaty. 3 Appendixes, 45 References. W. Howard
International audience Iain M. Banks is a science-fiction author, original and bold. Aware of the dangers linked with the concept of Utopia, he manages to play with its limits and set up a brand new utopian society. Called the Culture, this revolutionary society breaks with the utopian and science-fiction traditions, overflows the frames commonly accepted and radicalizes both political and literary utopias. Iain M. Banks plays with Space, Time, Politics, Norm and Revolution. The boldness of his imagination allows him to create a paradoxical society which could well be the solution to the dangerous ambiguities that we blame Utopia for. The Culture is subversion : in itself it is questioning, transgressive creation, infinite and conflictual openness. How can Utopia be singularly invested again ? Why Utopia must constantly break with what tends to fixate/freeze ? Is there a future for Utopia ? How can Utopia be dissensual ? How does science-fiction express a radical disagreement worthy of a philosophical interest ? One of the solutions the Culture embodies to end the anti-utopian discourse is a brand new proximity with the Other. ; Iain M. Banks est un auteur de science-fiction original et audacieux, qui, conscient des dangers inhérents à l'utopie, a su jouer avec ses limites pour proposer une société utopique totalement inédite, qui rompt avec la tradition utopique et science-fictionnelle, déborde les cadres communément acceptés, et radicalise ce que l'on peut entendre par utopie politique et littéraire : cette société révolutionnaire s'appelle la Culture. Iain M. Banks joue avec l'espace, le temps, la politique, la norme, la révolution. L'audace de son imagination lui permet de créer une société paradoxale qui pourrait bien être la solution aux ambiguïtés dangereuses que l'on impute à l'utopie. La Culture est subversion : tout en elle est remise en cause, création transgressive, ouverture infinie et conflictuelle. Comment réinvestir singulièrement l'utopie ? En quoi l'utopie se doit-elle de rompre sans cesse avec ...
As researchers who had the opportunity to spend a year together in critical education scholarship at a public university in Mexico, we share our perspectives on how to engage oppressive governments in post-truth times. The researchers are Mexican and Gringa who recognize the contradictions, points of hope, and shared concerns toward dystopia through lenses of decolonizing work among young people in Mexico and the U.S. The authors draw into focus through critical reflexivity three moments of their shared time during the 2017-2018 academic year—two panel presentations and a moment of crisis, when the city where they lived had a municipal dump that was on fire for several days. They look toward the election of a left-wing president in Mexico who represents a very different breed of populism as a point of tension and hope, while recognizing circumstances may not improve. Finally, they regard the project of education as critical to their hope and continued work. ; Como investigadoras que tuvieron la oportunidad de pasar un año de educación crítica en una universidad pública en México, gracias a una beca, compartimos nuestras perspectivas sobre cómo involucrar a los gobiernos opresores en tiempos de posverdad. Las investigadoras, una es mexicana y la otra es gringa, reconocen las contradicciones, los puntos de esperanza y las preocupaciones compartidas hacia la distopía, a través del lente decolonizador entre los jóvenes de México y Estados Unidos. Las autoras enfocan este texto, a través de la reflexividad crítica en tres momentos de su tiempo compartido durante el año académico 2017- 2018 : dos paneles de presentación y un momento de crisis, cuando en la ciudad donde vivían un basurero municipal permaneció en llamas durante varios días. Miran hacia la elección de un presidente de izquierda en México que representa una clase muy diferente de populismo, como un punto de tensión y esperanza, mientras reconocen que las circunstancias pueden no mejorar. Finalmente, consideran que el proyecto de educación es fundamental para sostener la esperanza y el trabajo continuo. ; En tant que chercheuses ayant eu l'opportunité de passer une année d'éducation critique dans une université publique au Mexique, grâce à une bourse, nous partageons nos perspectives sur la façon d'impliquer des gouvernements oppressifs à l'époque de la post-vérité. L'une des deux chercheuses est Mexicaine et l'autre est gringa ; elles reconnaissent les contradictions, les points d'espoir et les inquiétudes partagées face à la dystopie, à travers l'angle de la décolonisation parmi les jeunes du Mexique et des États-Unis. Dans le texte qui suit, les deux auteures mettent l'accent sur trois moments qu'elles ont partagé pendant l'année académique 2017-2018, à partir de la réflexivité critique. Deux panneaux de présentation et un moment de crise quand dans la ville où elles habitaient, la décharge municipale a été en feu pendant plusieurs jours. Bien qu'à leurs yeux, l'élection d'un président de gauche au Mexique représente un populisme (point de tension et d'espoir) très différent, celui-ci, au vu des circonstances pourrait ne pas apporter d'améliorations. Enfin, elles considèrent que le projet d'éducation est crucial pour soutenir l'espoir et un travail continu. ; Como pesquisadores que tiveram a oportunidade de passar um ano em educação crítica em uma universidade pública no México, graças a uma bolsa de estudos, compartilhamos nossas perspectivas sobre como envolver aos governos opressores em tempos pós-verdade. Os pesquisadores, uma mexicana e outra gringa reconhecem as contradições, os pontos de esperança e compartilharam as preocupações sobre distopia através das lentes de descolonização entre os jovens do México e Estados Unidos. Os autores abordam este texto por meio da reflexividade crítica em três momentos de seu tempo compartilhados durante o curso acadêmico 2017-2018 : dois painéis de apresentação e um momento de crise, quando na cidade onde moravam havia um aterro municipal que ficou em chamas por vários dias. Eles assistem à eleição de um presidente de esquerda no México, que representa um populismo muito diferente, como ponto de tensão e esperança, embora reconheçam que as circunstâncias podem não melhorar. Finalmente, eles consideram que o projeto educativo é fundamental para segurar a esperança e o trabalho contínuo.
Inhaltsangabe: Abstract: Utopia, the ideally perfect state in social and moral aspects, the imaginary island represented by Thomas More in 1516 enjoying the greatest degree of perfection in politics and laws, the perfect society, have we already reached it? Several artists and authors who dealt with the subject of geographical design and functional planning of new municipal constructions have elaborated drafts and ideas about future types of society and urbanity as a Utopia of a technological and highly regulated society. This genre of literature culminated in masterpieces such as Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927), Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" (1931) and George Orwell's "Nineteen Eigthy-Four" (1949). In their visions the modern city provides a lifestyle full of comfort and convenience: push button factories, flyways that put an end to traffic jams, electronically operated high-speed trains and many other inventions that are a vital part of a goal-oriented urban management to ensure maximal efficiency. However, Fritz Lang as well as Huxley and Orwell show that all the convenience and comfort is a thigh costs. The urban habitat is depressing and in its design not aimed at recreation and personal development but at control of each individual. This culminates in the erosion of any kind of individualism. The life on the assembly line de-individualizes the inhabitants, equalizes and transforms them into machines that mechanically perform their work. Moreover, the people are no longer distinguishable, they wear the same clothes, and finally they are as the machines as which they work for... In this light, as a consequence of industrialization and the quest for maximal efficiency, the trepidation emerges whether we are running into a state of deprivation, oppression, and terror. Are we developing towards a Dystopia, a state in which the condition of life is extremely depressing? This is the starting point for a theory of optimal employment of resources, of banishing waste, a quest in pursuit of excellence, without disregarding the focal point, the individual. In fact, among successful managers there are no two identical strategies, management models or packages of techniques. To desperately cling to systems and self proclaimed panacea definitely is the wrong way as it is to call for an ideal rather than an effective manager. As Fredmund Malik (2000) argues that the key to the achievements of effective managers is not their personality but their way of action, the structural necessity to formalize the fundamental characteristics of the mode of doing effective business becomes obvious. This defiance can be tackled with an approach that emerged within the last two decades, representing a holistic philosophy with the potential of integrating all these particulate concepts and instruments: Lean Management. The Lean Concept itself, however, was unable to answer the question of optimal personnel structure and the problem of loss of human capital within reorganization efforts. Demonstrating that the concept of Lean indeed is a flexible model, it is therefore possible to apply incentive theory to analyze this problem incorporating Lean Principles as well. The iteration model set up in this thesis therefore included, inter alia, the principle of holism since it covers the en- tire corporation within the endeavor of business process reorganization and it furthermore recognizes process orientation and thus considers the entire value chain. Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents: List of FiguresVI The Blind Men and the ElephantVII PraefatioIX The Quest for the Holy GrailX I.The Concept of Lean Management1 1.The Lean History2 2.From Lean Production to Lean Management4 3.The Principles of Lean Management7 3.1Process-Related Principles8 3.1.1Method Principles8 3.1.2Attitudes9 3.2Content-Related Principles16 3.2.1Change in perspective16 3.2.2Design of the whole value chain17 3.2.3Design of the supra-network as a learning system18 3.2.4Integrated view of product and production process20 4.Tasks for a Lean Management22 4.1Planning Organizing22 4.2Decision-Making24 4.3Leadership25 4.4Controlling27 5Critical Review of the Lean Concept29 5.1A Philosophy for Everyone?29 5.2The Human Focus30 5.2.1Quantitative Findings30 5.2.2Further Problems32 II.Principal Agent Theory34 6.Fundamentals35 7.Information Asymmetry36 7.1Hidden Characteristics37 7.1.1Signaling38 7.1.2Screening38 7.1.3Self-selection38 7.2Hidden Information39 7.3Hidden Action39 7.4Hidden Intention40 8.The Two Agency Literatures40 8.1Normative Models of Principal Agent Theory42 8.1.1Contracting under Hidden Information42 8.1.2Contracting under Hidden Action48 8.2Positive Theory of Agency51 9.Extensions of the Principal Agent Theory52 10.Critical Remarks53 III.The Model55 11.New Ways for Lean56 11.1Value Orientation57 11.2Restructuring of the Value Chain58 11.3Human Capital58 12.The Model61 12.1First Best Solution61 12.2Second Best Solution62 12.3Outside Option65 13.Discussion66 14.Conclusion68 Bibliography71
The article studies linguistic representation of the concept TOTALITARIANISM in George Orwell's novel "1984". This concept is the key one in the novel since the description of the totalitarian regime specificity and operation can be considered the message the author intends to convey in the dystopia. The author shows how totalitarianism works, which mechanisms put it into action and help to maintain the control over citizens who have to exist in the country where tyranny reigns. The conceptual analysis of the novel's key concept reveals the language means used by the writer to reflect the totalitarian regime to the fullest. Due to the fact that the totalitarian government never openly admits that they want total control, Orwell also represents the concept TOTALITARIANISM through other concepts and their verbalization, viz. the concepts POWER, FEAR, PROPAGANDA, and SURVEILLANCE. They are associated with the features typical of the society ruled by totalitarianism, i.e. all-pervading power (the concept POWER), citizens' constant fear of being punished by the Party (the concept FEAR), unlimited day-and-night control and ideology testing (the concept SURVEILLANCE), imposition of the only "correct" idea and denial of any other views (the concept PROPAGANDA). All these subconcepts are represented through their direct nomination as well as their derivational paradigm and collocations with words which activate the corresponding concept. Therefore, the comprehensive study of the novel and clear understanding of its messages made possible through the conceptual analysis can be viewed as a chance to see a warning for both contemporary and future generations. ; Статья посвящена исследованию лингвальной репрезентации концепта ТОТАЛИТАРИЗМ в романе Дж. Оруэлла «1984». Этот концепт – ключевой в романе, т.к. передача специфики и функционирования тоталитарного режима можно считать основной идеей исследуемой антиутопии. Автор стремился показать, каким образом работает тоталитаризм, какие механизмы запускают его в действие и поддерживают контроль над разумом граждан, которые вынуждены существовать в стране, где царствует тирания. Концептуальный анализ ключевого концепта романа выявляет, за счет каких языковых средств писатель смог наиболее точно представить тоталитарный режим. Из-за того, что тоталитарная власть никогда открыто не признает, что они хотят полного контроля, Оруэлл также репрезентирует концепт ТОТАЛИТАРИЗМ через другие концепты и их вербализацию. Другими словами, власть, страх, пропаганда и постоянное наблюдение за людьми являются теми инструментами, которые держат людей под контролем. В связи с этим считаем, что актуализация указанных концептов помогает автору воссоздать мир тоталитаризма без непосредственного наименования ключевого концепта романа. Кроме самих имен концептов они вербализируются также синонимами к имени концепта и другими единицами, которые ассоциируются с концептом, включая и достаточно непривычные коллокации, анализ которых, в свою очередь, помогает найти скрытые значения анализируемых концептов. При исследовании способов вербализации также уделялось внимание атрибутивным единицам, которые при использовании вместе с активизаторами концептов выявляют отношение автора к определенному понятию. Кроме этого, следует подчеркнуть доминантное количество абстрактных существительных, которые придают дополнительную стилистическую окраску и усиливают ощущение неуверенности в будущем, что собственно является одной из характеристик политики тоталитаризма. ; Стаття присвячена дослідженню лінгвальної репрезентації концепту ТОТАЛІТАРИЗМ в романі Дж. Орвелла «1984». Цей концепт є ключовим у романі, адже репрезентацію специфіки та функціонування тоталітарного режиму можна вважати основною ідеєю роману. Автор намагався показати, яким чином працює тоталітаризм, які механізми запускають його в дію і як підтримуються контроль над розумом громадян, які вимушені існувати у країні, де панує тиранія. Лінгвоконцептуальний аналіз ключового концепту роману, що пропонується у статті, показує за рахунок яких мовних засобів автор досягає найточнішої репрезентації світу тоталітаризму. Зважаючи на те, що тоталітарна влада ніколи відкрито не визнає того, що вони намагаються повністю контролювати дії і, навіть, думки громадян, Орвелл репрезентує концепт ТОТАЛІТАРИЗМ через інші концепти та їх вербалізацію. Так, влада, страх, пропаганда та спостереження є тим інструментарієм, що тримає людей під контролем. Саме тому вважаємо, що актуалізація однойменних концептів допомагає автору твору відтворити світ тоталітаризму без безпосереднього найменування ключового концепту роману. Окрім самого імені концепту, вищеокреслені концепти вербалізуються також синонімами до імені концепту та іншими одиницями, що асоціюються із концептом, включаючи і доволі незвичні колокації, аналіз яких, однак, дозволяє віднайти приховані значення аналізованих концептів. При дослідженні засобів вербалізації також приділялася увага атрибутивним одиницям, які, використовуючись у поєднанні із активізаторами концептів, виявляли авторське ставлення до певного поняття. Окрім того, слід підкреслити домінантну кількість абстрактних іменників, що несуть додаткове стилістичне забарвлення та посилюють відчуття невпевненості у майбутньому, що є характерною рисою політики тоталітаризму. В цілому, аналіз мовних одиниць-активізаторів показав, що переважна більшість концептів роману об'єктивується лексичним шляхом, хоча окрему увагу привернуло частотне застосування пасивного стану, що також підкреслює непрямим шляхом залежність громадян від рішень керівників країни, де панує тоталітаризм.
The paper gives a comparative analysis of Philip K. Dick's novel The Man in the High Castle (1962) and Philip Roth's novel The Plot Against America (2004) focusing on the role of the US national cultural mythology, primarily the American Dream, in the time of trials. Both works belong to the genre of alternative history with elements of dystopia and autobiography. The genre, plot and narrative peculiarities of these novels and the TV series The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019) are compared, namely: the alternative historical background of events, the subjective and objective factors of possibility of the World War II alternative retrospective suggested by the authors, the plot and narration in the novels. The alternative background (the success of a totalitarian Nazi project in the USA) is detailed in both novels, but Dick's reality (the US occupation by the Axis countries and loss of national dignity) is more tragic than Roth's reality, which shows a temporary deviation from the right course of his country that does not lead to the loss of independence. The structure of these works differs: multicultural polyphony with three worlds, six storylines and seven focalizers in Dick's novel and linearity with a single focalizer and a focus on "The Jewish question" in Roth's book, but both authors succeed in showing a convincing picture of a possible decline of humanistic and democratic projects. On the basis of such analysis, the problems of novels, in particular, the pitfalls of the American Dream are considered: mass consciousness, lack of critical thinking, consumerism, populism, pursuit of success, anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, over-enthusiasm for the "melting pot" concept, etc. The main method of restoring the American Dream for both authors is the proof by contradiction: by displaying global history through the local, they are gradually debunking totalitarian projects, which at first may seem very attractive, because they are based on the best myths and expectations of the mass society. ; В статье предлагается сравнительный анализ романов Филипа К. Дика «Человек в высоком замке» (1962) и Филипа Рота «Заговор против Америки» (2004) с точки зрения роли национальной культурной мифологии США, прежде всего «американской мечты», во времена испытаний. Оба произведения принадлежат к жанру альтернативной истории с элементами антиутопии и автобиографии. Сравниваются жанровые, сюжетные и нарративные особенности этих романов и телесериала «Человек в высоком замке» (2015–2019): альтернативный исторический фон событий, субъективные и объективные факторы возможности предложенного авторами ретропрогноза Второй мировой войны, организация сюжета и нарративного пространства в романах. Альтернативный фон событий (успех тоталитарного нацистского проекта в США) подробно описан обоими авторами, однако реальность Дика (оккупация США странами «оси» и потеря национального достоинства) более трагична, чем у Рота, который показывает временное отклонение от правильного курса своей страной, не приводящее к потере независимости. Структура этих произведений различна: мультикультурная полифония с тремя мирами, шестью сюжетными линиями и семью фокализаторами у Дика и линейность с единственным фокализатором и сосредоточением на «еврейском вопросе» у Рота, – но обоим авторам удается создать убедительную картину возможного упадка гуманистического и демократического проектов. Рассмотрена и проблематика романов, в том числе подводные камни «американской мечты»: массовое сознание, отсутствие критического мышления, потребительство, популизм, погоня за успехом, антисемитизм, расизм, ксенофобия, чрезмерное увлечение концепцией «плавильного тигля» и т.д. Основной метод спасения «американской мечты» для авторов – доказательство от противного: показывая глобальную историю через локальную, они постепенно развенчивают тоталитарные проекты, которые сначала могут выглядеть весьма привлекательно, поскольку опираются на лучшие мифы и ожидания массового общества. ; У статті пропонується порівняльний аналіз романів Філіпа К. Діка «Людина у високому замку» (1962) та Філіпа Рота «Змова проти Америки» (2004) з точки зору ролі національної культурної міфології США, передусім «американської мрії», у часи випробувань. Обидва твори належать до жанру альтернативної історії з елементами антиутопії та автобіографії. Порівнюються жанрові, сюжетні й наративні особливості цих романів і телесеріалу «Людина у високому замку» (2015–2019): альтернативне історичне тло подій, суб'єктивні та об'єктивні чинники можливості запропонованого авторами ретропрогнозу Другої світової війни, організація сюжету та наративного простору в романах. Альтернативне тло подій (успіх тоталітарного нацистського проекту в США) детально змальовано в обох письменників, проте реальність Діка (окупація США країнами «осі» та втрата національної гідності) більш трагічна, ніж у Рота, який показує тимчасове відхилення від правильного курсу своєю країною, що не призводить до втрати незалежності. Структура творів відрізняється: мультикультурна поліфонія із трьома світами, шістьма сюжетними лініями та сімома фокалізаторами у Діка та лінійність із єдиним фокалізатором і зосередженням на «єврейському питанні» у Рота, – проте обом авторам вдається створити переконливу картину можливого занепаду гуманістичного та демократичного проектів. Розглянуто проблематику романів, зокрема вказано на підводне каміння «американської мрії»: масову свідомість, відсутність критичного мислення, споживацтво, популізм, гонитву за успіхом, антисемітизм, расизм, ксенофобію, надмірне захоплення концепцією «плавильного тигля» тощо. Основний метод порятунку «американської мрії» для авторів – доведення від супротивного: показуючи глобальну історію через локальну, вони поступово розвінчують тоталітарні проекти, які спочатку можуть виглядати вельми привабливо, адже спираються на кращі міфи та очікування масового суспільства.
Foreword by Professor Stathis Kalyvas, Oxford -- SECTION A: Technologies of Violence in Africa -- 1. Systemic and Epistemic Violence in Africa; Patricia Pinky Ndlovu: Chair of Sociology and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor and Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South with Emphasis on Africa and Vice-Dean of Research in the "Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence" -- 2. Theoretical underpinnings of violence in Africa; Clive Tendai Zimunya: Lecturer of Philosophy and Obert Bernard Mlambo, Associate Professor of Classical Studies and History -- 3. Technologies of Violence in Africa; Obert Bernard Mlambo, Associate Professor of Classical Studies and History and Wesley Mwatwara, Historian -- 4. Of Exile as Violence in Lewis Nkosi's Thought; Tendayi Sithole, Department of Political Sciences -- 5. Africa and violence: the metamorphosis and the participation of Child soldiers in conflict zones; Toyin Cotties Adetiba, Department of Political and International Studies -- 6. Structural violence and resource curse in Angola -- 7. Violence against nature in Africa: a historical assessment; Marlino Eugénio Mubai, History, Environmental and Political Ecology -- SECTION B: The State and Violence in Africa -- 8. Understanding Electoral Violence in Africa; Matlosa Khabele, African Union Commission Director for Political Affairs -- 9. Understanding violence from an interpersonal perspective: The case of Zimbabwe and state sponsored violence; Chenai G. Matshaka, Centre for Mediation in Africa and Ruth Murambadoro, the Centre for Feminist Research -- 10. 'Dirge to Slit Bodies': EndSARS, Police Brutality and Nigerian Dystopia in Jumoke Verissimo and James Yéku's Soro Soke: When Poetry Speaks Up; Ayokunmi O. Ojebode, the Institute for Name-Studies (INS) -- 11. The Silent Violence in Africa- Manifestations of Political Violence; Annie Barbara Chikwanha, Politics and International Relations -- 12. Beyond ethnicity: Reflections on the history and politics of violence in Uganda; Evarist Ngabirano, the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) -- 13. Ungoverned Space and National Security in Nigeria; Arinze Ngwube, Department of Political Science -- 14. Bound to violence? Interrogating violence in Francophone African literatures; G. Ncube, Stellenbosch University -- SECTION C: Children, Youth and Violence -- 15. Child Soldiers, Conflict and Cultures of Violence in Contemporary Africa, c.1980-2000s; Stacey Hynd, African History and Co-Director of the Centre for Imperial & Global History -- 16. Youth, Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons and Conflicts in 21st Century Africa; Babayo Sule, Department of Political Science and Ibrahim Kawuley, Department of Political Science -- 17. Youth, Violence and Political Accumulation: Urban militias in Harare; Simbarashe Gukurume, Sociology and Social Anthropology and Godfrey Maringira, Sol Plaatje University -- 18. "Even the Holy Book Recommends it"? Corporal Punishment, the Bible and Sacred Violence in Southern Africa; Ezra Chitando, Phenomenology and History of Religion -- 19. "Even the Holy Book Recommends it"? Corporal Punishment, the Bible and Sacred Violence in Southern Africa; Ezra Chitando, Phenomenology and History of Religion -- SECTION D: Violence, Memory and the Law in Africa -- 20. Discourses on Political Violence and State Legitimation in Official Commissions of Inquiry in Africa; Claire-Anne Lester, Stellenbosch University (Legal Sociology, Political Transitions, Transitional Justice); 21. Remembrance as a confrontation of violence? A religio-ethical consideration of the role of memory in a Zimbabwe established and ruled by violence; Collium Banda, Theology; 22. Geographies of Violence and Informalization: The Case of Mathare Slums in Nairobi, Kenya; Maurice Omollo, Maasai Mara Universit and Solomon Waliaula, Maasai Mara University -- 23. Piracy and Violence off the Coast of Nigeria: A Theoretical Analysis; Kalu Kingsley, the Cultural Heritage Preservation Research Institute -- 24. Incest as Dismissal: Anthropology and Clinics of Silence; Parfait D. Akana, Sociologist & Anthropologist -- 25. Violence and post-coloniality in contemporary Zimbabwean literature: the works of Chenjerai Hove; Oliver Nyambi, University of the Free State -- SECTION E: Religion and Cultural Violence in Africa -- 26. In God's Name: Drivers of Violent Extremism in the Northeast Nigeria; Jacinta Chiamaka Nwaka, Peace and Conflict History -- 27. The Epistemic Scaffolding of Religious Violence; Kizito Kiyimba, SJ -- 28. Life transforming Intercultural Pastoral Care and Counseling with transgender and intersex communities in Botswana; Tshenolo Madigele: Theology Lecturer and Oabona Sepora: Institute of Development Management -IDM -- 29. Enchanted Worldviews and Violence Against Persons with Albinism in Sub-Saharan Africa; Francis Benyah, The Study of Religions -- 30. Violence against persons with albinism in Malawi; Jones Hamburu Mawerenga, Systematic Theology, Christian Ethics, and African Theology -- SECTION F: Gender and Violence in Africa; 31. Sexual Violence Against Girls and Women in African Conflict; Veronica Fynn Bruey, Legal Studies -- 32. Persisting inequalities: An intersectional view of climate change, gender and violence; Mary Nyasimi, Inclusive Climate Change Adaptation for a Sustainable Africa and Veronica Nonhlanhla Jakarasi -- 33. Violence against Women in Egypt: A Closer Look at Female Genital Mutilation and Intimate Partner Violence; Yasmin Khodary -- 34. Gender based violence in Ghana:experiences of persons with disabilities in two selected areas; Mantey Efua Esaaba, Social Work -- 35. African Diaspora Women Perpetuating Violence Against Men in the United Kingdom; Nomatter Sande -- 36. Adolescent Boys, Young Men and Mental Health in Southern Africa; Mutsawashe Chitando: Public Health, Health Economics Unit and Division -- SECTION G: Preventing Violent Conflict in Africa -- 37. Developing a Framework for Ending Violence in Africa; David Kaulemu, Philosophy -- 38. Confronting dysfunctional military violence in Africa's electoral spaces: A call for specialised civilian oversight institutions; James Tsabora, Law in the Faculty of Law -- 39. Managing electoral violence through constructive use of social media: Transforming and empowering vulnerable urban youth in Kenya; Joyce W. Gikandi: Christine W. Njuguna, Joan Kabaria- Muriithi, Lucy Kathuri-Ogola -- 40. Managing Conflict in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for the African Union;Victor H Mlambo: University of Johannesburg School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, Ernest Toochi Aniche, Department of Political Science, and Mandla Mfundo Masuku, School of Built Environment and Development Studies -- 41. Through the Afrocentricity Lens: Terror and Insurgency and Implications for Regional Integration in Southern Africa: Reference from Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique; Daniel N. Mlambo, Tshwane University of Technology -- 42. Insurgency in Mozambique: Incorporating NATO's Article 5 to the Region's Quest for Collective Defence;Victor H Mlambo: University of Johannesburg School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, and Mfundo Mandla Masuku: School of Built Environment and Development Studies, and Daniel N. Mlambo: Department of Public Management.
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Here we go again. Another "obituary" for libertarianism. While Salon Magazine declares that we all live in a "libertarian dystopia," and a new brand of big‐government conservatives promise to free the Republican party and American government from their libertarian captivity, Barton Swaim declares in the Wall Street Journal that a new book "works as an obituary" for libertarianism. That's not a characterization that I think the authors—Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi—would accept of their book, The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism. Swaim notes that the book surveys many different kinds of self‐styled libertarians over the past two centuries, and that the authors lay out six "markers" that libertarians share: property rights, individualism, free markets, skepticism of authority, negative liberties, and a belief that people are best left to order themselves spontaneously. Not a bad list, significantly overlapping with the list of seven key libertarian ideas that I laid out in the first chapter of my own book, The Libertarian Mind. He goes on to argue, following the authors, "In the 21st century, the movement in the U.S. has consisted in an assortment of competing, often disputatious intellectual cadres: anarchists, anarcho‐capitalists, paleo‐libertarians (right‐wing), 'liberaltarians' (left‐wing) and many others." Somehow he leaves out actual libertarians, such as those who populate the Cato Institute, Reason magazine, the Objectivist world, and much of the Libertarian Party. Indeed, a few lines later he cites the "diversity" of "the priestess of capitalism Ayn Rand, the politician Rand Paul and the billionaire philanthropist Charles Koch"—none of whom would fall into any of the esoteric categories that he suggests make up modern libertarianism and in fact belong to actual libertarianism or its penumbras. The whole review is ahistorical. Swaim never mentions classical liberalism, the revolutionary movement that challenged monarchs, autocrats, mercantilism, caste society, and established churches beginning in the 18th century. Liberalism soon swept the United States and Western Europe and ushered in what economic historian Deirdre McCloskey calls the "Great Enrichment," the unprecedented rise in living standards that has made us moderns some 3,000 percent richer than our ancestors of 1800. The ideas of the classical liberals, including John Locke, Adam Smith, and the American Founders, are those that animate modern libertarianism: equal rights, constitutional government, free markets, tolerance, the rule of law. Zwolinski and Tomasi say that "what sets libertarians apart is the absolutism and systematicity" with which we advocate those ideas. Well, yes, after 200 years of historical observation and philosophical and economic debate, many of us do believe that a firmer adherence to liberal/libertarian ideas would serve society well. We observe that the closer a society comes to consistent tolerance, free markets, and the rule of law, the more it will achieve widespread peace, prosperity, and freedom. Swaim insists that libertarians do not engage "with ultimate questions—questions about the good life, morality, religious meaning, human purpose and so on." He's wrong about that. Adam Smith wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments. F. A. Hayek stressed the importance of morals and tradition. Ayn Rand set out a fairly strict code of personal ethics. Thomas Szasz's work challenged the reductionists and behaviorists with a commitment to the old ideas of good and bad, right and wrong, and responsibility for one's choices. Charles Murray emphasizes the value and indeed the necessity of community and responsibility. Libertarian philosophers of virtue ethics find the case for limited government to be based on the search for the good life. Swaim would be on more solid ground to say that libertarianism does not presume to tell individuals what to believe and how to live. Separation of church and state and all that. As I wrote in a letter to the Journal (not yet published), Swaim refers to the "studiously amoral philosophy of libertarianism." A popular summary of libertarianism, "don't hit other people, don't take their stuff, and keep your promises," is just the basic morality that allows human beings to live together in peace. As for his claim that libertarianism is dead, that this book is an obituary, I refer Swaim again to all the people who complain that we're living in some sort of libertarian world. Libertarians often feel depressed; they believe the world is on "the road to serfdom." But in fact the world is far freer in this century than ever before in history. Free markets and free trade, an end to slavery and caste societies, representative government, and the rule of law now govern the Western world and much of the rest. Most of the Cato Institute's website comprises complaints about the malfeasance of the U.S. government. But in the bigger picture, libertarians have had much success. In the roughly 50 years since I started thinking about politics, one could point to such successes as: the end of conscription in the United States social, economic, and political equality for women dramatically lower marginal tax rates freer trade deregulation of major industries such as airlines, trucking, communication, and finance the almost total demise of communism and the consequent discrediting of socialism and central planning the reorientation of antitrust policy to a consumer welfare standard expanded First Amendment protections expanded Second Amendment protections the progress of gay rights and gay marriage growing opportunities for school choice a slow erosion of the war on drugs I could go on. None of these are total victories. No ideology achieves all of its sweeping vision, at least not without a military conquest of the government and the ability to rule by decree—and those experiments are nothing to emulate. In various parts of the world bad ideas are back—socialism, protectionism, ethnic nationalism, anti‐Semitism, even industrial policy. The libertarian challenge is to join with other liberals—Reaganite conservatives, free‐speech liberals, people who are "fiscally conservative and socially liberal"—to push back against these bad resurgent ideas. But this record of accomplishment is no obituary.
Anarchists have been central in helping communities ravaged by disasters, stepping in when governments wash their hands of the victims. Looking at Hurricane Sandy, Covid-19, and the social movements that mobilised relief in their wake, Disaster Anarchy is an inspiring and alarming book about collective solidarity in an increasingly dangerous world.
As climate change and neoliberalism converge, mutual aid networks, grassroots direct action, occupations and brigades have sprung up in response to this crisis with considerable success. Occupy Sandy was widely acknowledged to have organised relief more effectively than federal agencies or NGOs, and following Covid-19 the term 'mutual aid' entered common parlance.
However, anarchist-inspired relief has not gone unnoticed by government agencies. Their responses include surveillance, co-option, extending at times to violent repression involving police brutality. Arguing that disaster anarchy is one of the most important political phenomena to emerge in the twenty-first century, Rhiannon Firth shows through her research on and within these movements that anarchist theory and practice is needed to protect ourselves from the disasters of our unequal and destructive economic system.
The article analyzes the content of legal and political views of I. Ilyin, the concept of legal awareness, the es-sence and meaning of law and the state, the problems of powers, human freedom and dignity. It is shown that the essence of the philosophical and legal concept of I. O. Il-yin is to distinguish "normal" or "healthy legal conscious-ness", that is, legal consciousness in the true sense of the word. It is through legal awareness that I. Ilyin defines law, the state, and its essence. I. Ilyin paid close attention to the problems of powers. He formulated six axioms, the violation of which, in his opinion, could lead to distortion, weakening or abuse of power. I. Ilyin in his works provides justification for hu-man freedom, human spirituality, and justice. It is with the concept of private property that I.O. Ilyin connects the justification of freedom. According to the philoso-pher, this is a vital necessity, the need for private prop-erty is an integral part of the creative spiritual being. In this connection, I. Ilyin claims that the Communist state can turn a person into a dependent and defenseless slave by expropriation. The state in this case becomes a machine for coercion, which reduces all private life to a minimum. Property independence, especially ownership of the means of pro-duction, is perceived negatively and rejected. This un-derstanding of man and the state creates a dystopia-the Communist regime. I. Ilyin offers a detailed analysis of the falsity of this path. The author of the article devotes special attention to the analysis of human dignity in the works of I. Ilyin, by which the philosopher understood the necessary and present manifestation of spiritual life. The scientist emphasized the important role that human digni-ty plays not only in her life, but also in the life of the state. He believed that if a person does not respect himself, he does not respect the citizen in himself. Not under-standing his spiritual dignity, he does not see spiritual dignity either in other citizens or in the state. Based on this, I. Ilyin comes to the conclusion that the people who do not know how to respect their spiritual dignity create a disease of power, nurture a sick state of health and a sick ideology. The author of the article substantiates the rel-evance of I. Ilyin's work in the modern conditions of the globalized world. Claims that the doctrine of I. Ilyin ac-quires special weight and significance in our days, when legal nihilism flourishes in the state, and legal awareness is at an extremely low level. ; У статті аналізується зміст правових і політич-них поглядів І.О. Ільїна на поняття правосвідомості, сутності і значення права і держави, проблем влади, людської свободи та гідності. Показано, що суть філо-софсько-правової концепції І.О. Ільїна полягає у ви-діленні «нормальної» або «здорової правосвідомості», тобто правосвідомості в істинному розумінні слова. Саме через правосвідомість І.О. Ільїн визначав право, державу, її сутність. Пильну увагу І.О. Ільїн приділяв проблемам вла-ди. Ним було сформульовано шість аксіом, порушення яких, на його думку, могло б призвести до спотворен-ня, ослаблення або зловживання владою. І.О. Ільїн у своїх роботах наводив обґрунтування людської сво-боди, духовності людини, справедливості. З поняттям приватної власності І.О. Ільїн пов'язував обґрунту-вання свободи. На думку філософа, це життєва необ-хідність, потреба в приватній власності є невід'ємною частиною творчої духовної істоти. У зв'язку з цим І.О. Ільїн стверджував, що комуністична держава може шляхом експропріації перетворити людину в залежно-го і беззахисного раба. Держава в такому випадку стає машиною для примусу, яка зводить все приватне жит-тя до мінімуму. Майнова незалежність, особливо влас-ність на засоби виробництва, сприймається негативно і скасовується. Таке розуміння людини і держави по-роджує антиутопію – комуністичний режим. І.О. Ільїн запропонував детальний аналіз хибності цього шляху.Особливу увагу автор статті присвячує аналізу в творчості І.О. Ільїна людської гідності, під якою фі-лософ розумів необхідний і справжній вияв духовного життя. Вчений підкреслював ту важливу роль, яку ві-діграє гідність людини не тільки в її житті, але й у жит-ті держави. Він вважав, що, не поважаючи себе, люди-на не поважає і громадянина в собі. Не розуміючи своєї духовної гідності, вона не бачить духовної гідності в ін-ших громадянах, у державі. На підставі цього І.О. Іль-їн дійшов висновку, що народ, який не вміє поважати свою духовну гідність, створює недолугу владу, вино-шує хворе самопочуття і хвору ідеологію. Автор статті обґрунтовує актуальність творчості І.О. Ільїна в сучасних умовах глобалізованого світу. Стверджує, що вчення І.О. Ільїна набуває особливої ваги і значення в наші дні, коли в державі процві-тає правовий нігілізм, а правосвідомість знаходиться на надзвичайно низькому рівні. ; У статті аналізується зміст правових і політич-них поглядів І.О. Ільїна на поняття правосвідомості, сутності і значення права і держави, проблем влади, людської свободи та гідності. Показано, що суть філо-софсько-правової концепції І.О. Ільїна полягає у ви-діленні «нормальної» або «здорової правосвідомості», тобто правосвідомості в істинному розумінні слова. Саме через правосвідомість І.О. Ільїн визначав право, державу, її сутність. Пильну увагу І.О. Ільїн приділяв проблемам вла-ди. Ним було сформульовано шість аксіом, порушення яких, на його думку, могло б призвести до спотворен-ня, ослаблення або зловживання владою. І.О. Ільїн у своїх роботах наводив обґрунтування людської сво-боди, духовності людини, справедливості. З поняттям приватної власності І.О. Ільїн пов'язував обґрунту-вання свободи. На думку філософа, це життєва необ-хідність, потреба в приватній власності є невід'ємною частиною творчої духовної істоти. У зв'язку з цим І.О. Ільїн стверджував, що комуністична держава може шляхом експропріації перетворити людину в залежно-го і беззахисного раба. Держава в такому випадку стає машиною для примусу, яка зводить все приватне жит-тя до мінімуму. Майнова незалежність, особливо влас-ність на засоби виробництва, сприймається негативно і скасовується. Таке розуміння людини і держави по-роджує антиутопію – комуністичний режим. І.О. Ільїн запропонував детальний аналіз хибності цього шляху.Особливу увагу автор статті присвячує аналізу в творчості І.О. Ільїна людської гідності, під якою фі-лософ розумів необхідний і справжній вияв духовного життя. Вчений підкреслював ту важливу роль, яку ві-діграє гідність людини не тільки в її житті, але й у жит-ті держави. Він вважав, що, не поважаючи себе, люди-на не поважає і громадянина в собі. Не розуміючи своєї духовної гідності, вона не бачить духовної гідності в ін-ших громадянах, у державі. На підставі цього І.О. Іль-їн дійшов висновку, що народ, який не вміє поважати свою духовну гідність, створює недолугу владу, вино-шує хворе самопочуття і хвору ідеологію. Автор статті обґрунтовує актуальність творчості І.О. Ільїна в сучасних умовах глобалізованого світу. Стверджує, що вчення І.О. Ільїна набуває особливої ваги і значення в наші дні, коли в державі процві-тає правовий нігілізм, а правосвідомість знаходиться на надзвичайно низькому рівні.
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Something has changed in watching post-apocalyptic films in recent years. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when, and what exactly the cause might be, but at some point in the last few years the post-apocalypse has gone from an escapist fantasy to a figure of dread. The increasing rate of global warming leading to fires, droughts, and hurricanes; the ongoing Covid pandemic; and the rise of right wing nationalism has transformed the apocalypse from a subgenre of science fiction to a barometer of fears and anxieties. As Robert Tally argues the sense of the future has changed dramatically over the last decade: utopia has been replaced by dystopia in contemporary fiction and film and post-apocalypse has replaced predictions of a miraculous world of tomorrow. This is another way of addressing Fredric Jameson's old adage that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. To which we could add that this imagination is no longer an idle speculation about the future, but immediately lived, as apocalypse seems to inch closer, moving from the distant horizon to the lived present. Perhaps no film illustrates this more than Leave the World Behind a film less about the apocalypse as a distant event than the increasing permutation of apocalyptic fears and anxieties in daily life. Leave the World Behind is a film directed by Sam Esmail that was released on Netflix in December of 2023. It is based on the novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam published in 2020. The film begins when Amanda Sanford (Julia Roberts) makes an impromptu decision to rent a house on Long Island and escape the New York City with her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and two children, Archie and Rose. Her decision is predicated as much on a general misanthropy, as Amanda states, "I fucking hate people," as it is on the specifics of their current work and financial situation. Their vacation is an attempt to get away from not just the city, but people altogether. The home they rent is miles from any neighbor or any contact with the world. Over the course of the film isolation goes from being the dream to the nightmare. As the family settles in their rental home they immediately lose WIFI, cable, and cellular phone service, cutting them off from the outside world more than they wanted. Later, when they travel to the beach, an oil tanker runs aground, smashing into the beach. These events do not immediately disrupt their vacation, they endure the first with frustration and watch the second with curiousity, snapping photographs. This changes when late in the night there is a knock at the door, Clay and Amanda open the door to find G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha'la). G.H. introduces himself the owner of the house that they are renting. He explains that they were attending a symphony in New York City when the power went out. They decided to escape to go to their vacation house on Long Island rather than return to their apartment in the city. The very same house that the Sandfords are renting. This leads to an awkward encounter, as owner confronts renter each claiming a right to the house. Because they have only interacted via email, and the entire arrangement of renting the house is through a third party platform, neither group knows or recognizes the other. As G.H., or George, as he prefers to be called, puts it, had they spoken on the phone they would have at least recognized the sound of his voice. Because their relation is mediated through apps and interfaces (Airbnb is implied but never mentioned) they do not know or trust each other even though one party has already exchanged thousands of dollars and the other has let them into their house. The mediation of their relations through technology, house renting apps and email, means that they do not have the base level of trust that could be established through commerce, a fact that is all the more ironic given the intimacy of their mediated relationship, they are sharing the same house. Amanda is initially incredibly distrustful of the Scotts, fearing that they might be trying to run some sort of scam, or worse yet, could be potential child molesters. That George and Ruth are black and Amanda and Clay are white only exasperates the issue. Amanda is for the most part polite enough to mention the issue, but it is implied in her suspicion of George even after he produces a key to the house's liquor cabinet. The distrust in some sense is mutual, later we hear Ruth chastise her father for so readily trusting "white people." The fact that this film is in part produced by Barack and Michelle Obama have led some online to see it as a film fomenting racial division and distrust. This is in part predicated on the longstanding belief on the right that it is mentioning race as a factor of social life that produces racism. However, in the film race is only itself one variant of the general breakdown of social relations. The racial divisions are only a sharper version of what keeps everyone seeking to escape the city and get away from everyone. As the two families bunker down together the events outside of the home get even more strange. All of the events gesture towards a different aspect of a potential apocalypse: the entire communication technology from television to satellite phones seems to collapse; planes drop from the sky and slam into the beach; a drone flies overheard distributing pamphlets that seem to say "Death to America" in Arabic; deer congregate in large numbers in the yard and flamingos arrive in the pool, suggesting that the natural world too is out of balance; a loud sound tears through house, smashing windows; self-driving Teslas smash into each other and pile up on the freeway; and the son, Archie becomes allegedly from a tick bite. Even his sickness takes on strange symptoms, most dramatically a loss of all of his teeth. The logic of the film is more akin to reading the daily paper or following a newsfeed in which there is less an apocalypse than the uneven development of multiple apocalyptic potentials. It is hard to see how these different events constitute one consistent narrative of an apocalypse; instead they seem to gesture towards the multiple possibilities for the world ending, political, technological, and ecological. With each of these events the gathered families discuss theories and speculate about the possible nature of the threat they are facing. It is less a film about a specific vision of social collapse than it is about the inchoate fears of such a collapse. Since the film focuses on the individuals in the house, individuals who are cut off from other social contact, not to mention any source of new or information, we only ever get a limited and partial image of what might be happening in the world beyond the house. What we are left with is just speculation based on very limited and partial information. Without spending too much time on the question of the book versus the movie, it is worth noting that the film never departs from the immediate present of the few days at the rental house. With the exception of the images of the Earth seen from space we never see anything that they do not see. The book which the film is based upon occasionally departs for a sentence or two, cutting forward to tell us that the neighbors die months later in a refugee camp outside of Los Angeles. The book then eventually confirms the reader's suspicions that we are seeing the beginning of a full on pandemic and social collapse. These passages appear in the final sections of the book, the reader eventually learns that they are reading about the beginning of a full on apocalypse in which regular life will never return. This is how the novel recounts Rose, Amanda and Clay's daughter's, visit to a neighbor's house: "She couldn't know, would never know, that the Thornes, the family who lived there, were at the airport in San Diego, unable to make arrangements since there were no flights operating domestically because of a nationwide emergency without precedent, as though precedent were required. The Thornes would never see this house again in their lives, though Nadine, the matriarch, would sometimes dream of it before she succumbed to cancer in one of the tent camps the army managed to erect outside the airport. They'd burn her body, before they stopped bothering with that, as the bodies outnumbered the people left to do the burning."The jump forward and to another context confirms what we have come to expect, that the world as we know it has come to an end. In the film the viewer never knows anything more than the characters, we do not know what will become of them or the world, even as the film gives us more spectacular images of crisis, such as an airplane crashing into the beach. A second major difference is that in the book, the Scott's appearance at the door of the house in the middle of the night happens before any real crisis has taken place. In the novel at this point the only thing that has gone wrong is that the internet does not work, which is hardly a major crisis. In the film the oil tanker runs aground on the first day of Amanda and Clay's family vacation. This not only increases the dread, it confirm the Scott's story that something is very amiss and they are right in seeking shelter. This makes Amanda's suspicion seem all the more anti-social or even racist. The film also proliferates the images of social collapse, adding the drone, and the pile up of self-driving and self-colliding cars on the freeway. There are other differences: Ruth in the book is George's wife not his daughter, and the film introduces Rose's obsession with the television show Friends, a point that will be returned to later. The major difference is how the book and the film utilize the strengths and limitations of their medium to depict the particular situation of dread and uncertainty. The book gives moments of a omniscient third person narrator in a viewpoint that lets us see the enormity of the crisis, letting the reader know what the characters do not, while the film presents more of a spectacle of the crisis, boats, planes, and cars crash and burn, while restricting our viewpoint to the limited knowledge of the central characters. In adapting the story form text to film we see more, we see carnage and explosions, and ultimately know less. The families are not initially in any immediate danger. They have food, water, shelter, even power despite the news of a blackout. The question of what to do is initially an abstract one. It is impossible to know if they should stay in the house or return home. It is hard to know what to do without knowing what is going on. Our daily lives and activities presuppose as their backdrop a world that is as predictable as it is taken for granted. We assume that the internet will work, that stores will be open, and that a house rented through a website will be ours and ours alone. The rationality or irrationality of our actions make sense against the background of a world, or the institutions and structures that shape and define our decisions. When that world becomes uncertain than one does not know how to act. Should one return home to the city, end the vacation, or stay in a place that is safe, stocked with food and has power. It is only Archie's sickness that drives them from the home in search of help. George suggests that they go see Danny, his handyman for help. Earlier Amanda saw Danny at the grocery store stocking up on water and canned goods. He is presented as someone who both knows how to do things, and maybe even knows what is going on. When George and Clay arrive at Danny's house he is less than happy to see them. He advises them to do as he has done, bunker down and protect his family. He admonishes George to do the same, and when George invokes the idea of a neighbor helping a neighbor, of Danny possibly providing medicine to help Archie, they have the following exchange: George, "C'mon now. It's me. We're Friends." Danny, "That's the old way, George. You're not thinking clearly." George, "Danny, What are you saying? You're telling this man not to take care of his son." Danny, "Nothing makes a whole lot of sense right now. When the world does not make any sense I can still do what is rational, which is protect my own." Danny presents himself as the person who has taken stock of the situation and adjusted to the reality of the new world. Although what he offers in terms of theories and explanations, including a reference to Havana Symptom and a Chinese or Russian attack on infrastructure, is not much better than the other speculations that George and Clay offer. His theories maybe more apocalyptic, more extreme in their consequences, but he is still speculating based on limited information. The one thing he does offer, however, is a decisive course of action, one he considers to be rational: protecting his own, protecting property. Friendship, neighbors, social obligations are dismissed as the "old way." The question remains, however, as to what extent this is a new ethos, a new way of living. While the shotgun might be new, "protect my own" has been the dominant mentality, and dominant idea of rationality of everyone in the film so far. From Amanda's vacation plan which begins with the realization "I fucking hate people" to George and Ruth's attempt to go back to their home, everyone is striving to protect their own. Danny's survivalist rhetoric is nothing other than a continuation of the logic of contemporary capitalist society by other means. George and Clay's confrontation with George is intercut with another confrontation; while searching for Rose Ruth and Amanda are confronted by a large, and surprisingly aggressive herd of deer. The deer are intimidating, even menacing, until Rose and Amanda drop their hostility towards each other to aggressively yell back. These two different scenes, one of the theme of man versus man the other as woman versus nature, also define two different ideas of what it means to be rational, everyone for themselves or join together in some act of solidarity. All of which raises the question of the film's title, Leave the World Behind. The phrase is first mentioned as part of the advertising copy for the rental home. It promises an escape from the world. As the film progresses, however, this phrase becomes the central question of the post-apocalyptic culture. At what point should one recognize that normal is not coming back, leave the old world behind, and begin to adapt to a new one. This is one way to make sense of the film's enigmatic, and for some viewers, frustrating ending. Throughout the film, the girl Rose is obsessed with the show Friends. She is watching the show on an ipad as they drive to the rental house. When the internet breaks down she is frustrated in her attempt to watch the final episode, to find closure. It is remarked upon that Rose is obsessed with a show that took place and was filmed before she was born. As Ruth comments on Rose's interest in Friends, "But it's almost... Nostalgic for a time that never existed, you know?" in the final scene of the film Rose ventures to the neighbor's empty house. There she finds their empty survival bunker, a bunker that is stocked with food, water, a greenhouse, and most importantly for Rose, a shelf of DVDs. She finds a boxed set of Friends episodes and finally gets to watch the final episode. Rose gets closure for her particular quest and her closure ends the film. The last image is her face as the familiar theme song begins. It is a fundamentally ambiguous ending. We could interpret this viewing of a final episode as an act of closure of leaving the world of screens and pop culture pleasures behind, preparing for a new world from a new survival bunker. Or we could interpret it in the opposite manner, seeing it as a retreat into precisely the kind of escapist entertainment that have made us all unaware of the mounting dangers, ecological, economic, and political that threaten our world of family vacations and unlimited screen time. It cannot be overlooked that this particular act of closure has to do with not only watching television, but watching a television show that is nostalgia for a world before Airbnb rentals and even before the dissemination of screens, before an acceleration of the isolation of capitalist society. The show's popularity with the generations that have grown up since it aired have as much to do with this nostalgia as they do with its ubiquity on streaming platforms. The object of this nostalgia is perhaps friendship itself. As Ruth says earlier in the film, "But as awful as people might be... nothing's gonna change the fact that we are all we've got." Leaving the world behind is perhaps less a matter of defending one's own than it is recognizing that it is precisely such a logic that destroyed it in the first place. Leaving the world behind is not a matter of giving up all connections to defend one's own, but of finding new forms of solidarity, new connections.
