The article analyzes the varied meanings historically associated with concepts of voluntarism in relation to social relief as they were articulated by changing moral elites in Denmark from the late nineteenth century until the present. Concepts of voluntarism have historically constituted "normative counterconcepts" that link voluntary practices to desired futures in opposition to alternative modes of organizing. The "proximity" of voluntarism vis-à-vis the "distance" of the state has always been a core meaning, but the concept has drifted across the political spectrum from its first articulation by nineteenth-century conservative Christians to its rediscovery by leftist social researchers in the late twentieth century. Paradoxically, the welfare state helped "proximity" become a core meaning, in contrast to its original social-conservative meaning emphasizing proximity and distance.
Through a case study of the emergence of rights-infringing "illiberal" policies and practices in the field of Danish alcohol treatment from 1900 to 1943, this article shows how new scientific ideas on "degeneration" as the cause of alcoholism and the use of force in treatment were adapted and promoted by Protestant revivalist groups and Social Democrats alike. The article analyzes how new scientific ideas resonated with the cultural ideals of Danish Social Democracy and the evangelical temperance organization the Blue Cross. The article challenges the established view in the literature that eugenic and similar illiberal practices were the result of a "high modernist" state ethos and "communitarian-organic" thinking on the left. Building on secondary literature and archival sources, it is shown that illiberal policies and practices as well as theories of heredity in the case of Danish alcohol treatment were adopted as the result of common liberal-conservative ideals regarding the value of family shared by Social Democrats and Protestant activists across the civil society and state spheres.
This paper argues that myth in Kallipolis is used to communicate philosophical truths, rather than distribute politically motivated falsehoods. It first considers the function of myth in the ideal artistic culture of Kallipolis (I), and the philosoph-ical theology that informs it (II). On this basis, it is argued that the discussion of medicinal falsehoods at 382a-d is more focused on the truth-content of myth than usually assumed (III). The final section (IV) explores the connection between myth in books 2-3 and Plato's philo-sophical use of myth.
This paper argues that myth in Kallipolis is used to communicate philosophical truths, rather than distribute politically motivated falsehoods. It first considers the function of myth in the ideal artistic culture of Kallipolis (I), and the philosophical theology that informs it (II). On this basis, it is argued that the discussion of medicinal falsehoods at 382a-d is more focused on the truth-content of myth than usually assumed (III). The latter part of the paper (IV and V) explores the connection between this new understanding of myth in books 2-3 and the philosophical myths in the central books of the dialogue.
1. Introduction: movements and morality -- 2. Paradigm lost? Three dimensions of morality and social movements -- 3. Bringing morality back in -- 4. Solidarity mobilizations in the "refugee crisis": Between particularism and universalism -- 5. Values, activism, and changing attitudes: The process of individual-level moral development through movement participation -- 6. For a better living-together: Ongoing meaningful conversations at play -- 7. Justification, values or concerns? Pragmatist theories of morality and civic engagements in local urban greenspaces -- 8. Social movements prefiguring political theory -- 9. The ethics of radical student activism: Social justice, democracy, and engagement across difference -- 10. Moral elites in the Danish temperance movement (1910–1919): Elite struggles over disease and values -- 11. The dark side of laughter. Humor as a tool for constructing a moral order in the memes of Czech far right organization "Angry Mothers" -- 12. Emotions, morality, and political participation behaviors in online activism -- 13. The moral dimension of counter movements: the case of antifeminism -- 14. Paradigm revived? The prospect of a multidisciplinary research agenda. .
This Open Access book explores the role of morality in social movements. Morality has always been central to social movements whether it be in the form of the moral foundations of movement claims, politics and ideologies, the values motivating participation, the new moral principles envisioned and practiced among movement participants, or the overall struggle over society's moral values that movements engage in. This is evident in movements emerging from recent interlinked crises: the crisis of human rights, the climate crisis, and the developing crisis of democracy. In analyzing these current events through a variety of theoretical, methodological, and empirical lenses, this book brings morality to the forefront of the discussion, allowing for a rethinking of its role. The book is divided into five parts. The first part introduces and explores the central concept of the book, outlining the dominant existing approaches to morality and ethics in the extant movement and civil society literature. The following three parts investigate morality in relation to topics and movements that are either prominent to contemporary politics or salient to the question of morality. In these empirically informed parts, the authors apply a diverse selection of methods spanning fieldwork, historiography, traditional and novel statistical analytical methods, and big data analysis to a diverse selection of data. Topics discussed include refugee solidarity movements, male privilege and anti-feminism movement, environmental and climate justice movements, and religious activism. The fifth and closing part of the book focuses on the more abstract theoretical question of the relationship between morality and ethics and activist practices and points to future research agendas. This book will be of general interest to students, scholars and academics within the disciplines of political sociology, -science and -anthropology and of particular interest to academics in the subfields of social movement and civil society studies.
AbstractThe article takes the first steps towards a general theory of civil society elites, a concept not fully developed in either elite or civil society research. This conceptual gap hampers academic and public understanding of the dynamics at the top of civil society. To address this, the authors rely on the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu to build a theory of civil society elites as managers of civic capital. This role is illustrated through examples from the differently institutionalised UK and Nordic civil societies. The first part of the article introduces the notion of civic capital and its emergence during the 19th century. The second part focuses on elite positions in civil society fields, demonstrating how civil society elites, as managers of civic capital, navigate between their constituents and other elite groups. These elites wield the power to consecrate social relations while misrecognising their own symbolic and economic gains. Recent scandals in the climate movement and UK and Nordic civil societies shed light on the symbolic aspects of the positions of civil society elites. This comprehensive analysis contributes to elite and civil society research and enriches public discussions about the role of civil society leaders in society.
How may elites experience a symbolic fall from grace? Elite scholarship has typically described how symbolic structures contribute to consecrate and reinforce existing power relations. Processes of deconsecration are, however, less well described. Deconsecration as a social process is distinct from déclassement, as well as from cultural or juridical processes of exclusion. It is the loss of the very status as "elite." We address the question of deconsecration through a historical case study of the exclusion of elite groups from the Danish Who's Who and professional bodies in the wake of the liberation after the German occupation of Denmark 1940–1945.
Denne artikel argumenter for, at Callon og MacKenzies teorier om økonomisk performativitet bidrager til at forstå dels centrale sociale dynamikker på markeder, som i stigende grad får en teknisk-videnskabelig karakter, og dels hvordan økonomer bidrager til at konstruere sådanne. Artiklen introducerer centrale begreber og påstande fra de to forfattere og tester disse i en analyse af, hvordan et globalt marked for mikrofinans er blevet skabt. Analysen viser, at selvom økonomer og økonomisk teori spillede en vigtig rolle i konstruktionen af dette marked, så forblev den performative funktion for den generelt accepterede teori om mikrofinans legitimerende og lingvistisk. Markedet var først og fremmest en politisk konstruktion, drevet af Verdensbanken i et forsøg på at skabe kommercielle mikrofinansinstitutioner. Alligevel fik dele af den neoklassiske teori om "det effektive marked" dog en effektiv funktion i etableringen af markedet, dvs. greb ind i de selvsamme økonomiske processer, som teorien henviser til. Sidst i artiklen fremhæves og diskuteres en række svagheder ved Callon og MacKenzies performativitetsteorier.
ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Lasse Folke and Anders Sevelsted: "Give Me an Economist and I'll Raise a Market?" On Professional Economists' Performativity and The Construction of a Global Market for Micro-Finance
This paper argues that Callon and MacKenzie's theories on the performativity of economics contribute to understanding important social dynamics of markets that are increasingly technical; it also contributes to understanding how economists are crucial in constructing them. The theories introduce the authors' core concepts and claims. They then test these in an analysis of a global market for micro-fi nance. This analysis reveals that, despite the central role of economists in constructing the market, the performative function of the generally accepted theory of micro-fi nance remained merely legitimizing and linguistic. The market was mainly a political construction driven by the World Bank in order to promote commercial micro-fi nance institutions. In this process, however, the "effi cient market hypothesis" from neoclassical economics was valuable. The article fi nally discusses a number of weaknesses in using the theory of performativity.
Key words: Performativity, fi nancial sociology, Callon, Mackenzie, micro-finance.
