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A retort to David McNally's 2004 "Language, Praxis and Dialectics: Reply to Collins" commentary concerning the author's review (2003) of McNally's text, Bodies of Meaning: Studies on Language, Labor and Liberation (2001). The initial criticisms of McNally's book are affirmed & the arguments in McNally's response are denounced. The response is criticized for its focus on dialectics rather than the author's criticisms of McNally's unconvincing emphasis on postmodernism in Bodies of Meaning. The treatments of language by Voloshinov & Bakhtin are another point of departure. While McNally is praised for his contribution to the critical thought of Marxism, many shortfalls in his analysis remain. 13 References. L. Collins Leigh

This article examines the commonality between V. N. Voloshinov's "philosophy of language" & the sociohistorical approach to human consciousness developed by L. S. Vygotsky to establish a basis for using their work to explore popular protest. Voloshinov's work focuses on the social & historical dimensions of language as a basis for the study of ideology & social consciousness. Vygotsky, a contemporary Soviet psychologist, sought to create an account of the development of human consciousness based on historical-materialist principles. The author also discusses the relationship between Vygotsky's work & that of his collaborator A. N. Leont'ev. At issue is the broad goal of renewing historical materialism. 70 References. J. R. Callahan

AbstractThe term 'Bakhtin Circle' is used to refer to a group of Russian thinkers centred around Mikhail Bakhtin in the years following the 1917 Revolution. The group's prime concern was with the importance of questions of language-use in social life, and with the way in which language-use registered conflicts between social groups and classes. Prominent members, as well as Bakhtin himself, included P.N. Medvedev and V.N. Voloshinov. Between 1929, when a number of members were arrested, and his death in 1975, Bakhtin continued to work on the issues which had occupied the group.

This article reports findings of research into the far-reaching plan to 'modernise' the Scottish economy, which emerged from the mid-late 1950s and was formally adopted by government in the early 1960s. It shows the growing awareness amongst policy-makers from the mid-1960s as to the profoundly deleterious effects the implementation of the plan was having on Glasgow. By 1971 these effects were understood to be substantial with likely severe consequences for the future. Nonetheless, there was no proportionate adjustment to the regional policy which was creating these understood 'unwanted' outcomes, even when such was proposed by the Secretary of State for Scotland. After presenting these findings, the paper offers some consideration as to their relevance to the task of accounting for Glasgow's 'excess mortality'. It is suggested that regional policy can be seen to have contributed to the accumulation of 'vulnerabilities', particularly in Glasgow but also more widely in Scotland, during the 1960s and 1970s, and that the impact of the post-1979 UK government policy agenda on these vulnerabilities is likely to have been salient in the increase in 'excess mortality' evident in subsequent years.

It is known that population health is socially and politically determined. A gap, however, between the evidence and policy (where behavioural approaches dominate) is evident. This study used semi-structured interviews in two deindustrialised areas in Scotland to explore understandings of the causes of (ill)health in local communities. Using Raphael's Discourses of Social Health Determinants (2011), we found that participants typically had highly integrated explanations of health, including vivid articulation of links between politics, policies, deindustrialisation, damage to community fabric and impacts on health. This understanding contrasts with that identified by research elsewhere. We posit explanations for our findings and discuss their implications.