Suchergebnisse

An Interview with Russell Berman, Department of German Studies, Stanford University.

A socio-anthropological theoretical framework of the so-called Grid-Group Cultural Theory provides a typological model for understanding and mapping of cultural biases (shared values and beliefs), corresponding social relations and strategic behaviours. The starting argument of this paper is that this model can be used to illuminate and investigate the socio-cultural differences in peacebuilding approaches as the four theoretical ideal-types of individualism, egalitarianism, hierarchy and fatalism, correspond to different peacebuilding approaches used by different international actors and in different post-conflict contexts. This typological understanding of approaches to peacebuilding enables also a theoretical analysis of socio-cultural viability of different approaches in different socio-cultural context. The final argument of this paper is thus that viable approaches to peacebuilding are those that are synchronized with the socio-cultural context, i.e., with the cultural bias, social relations and strategic behaviours used by the major social and political actors in the local society.

This symposium highlighted the relevance of the cultural theory (CT) pioneered by anthropologists Mary Douglas, Steve Rayner, and Michael Thompson and political scientists Aaron Wildavsky and Richard Ellis for explaining political phenomena. In this concluding article, we suggest ways in which CT can be further tested and developed. First, we describe how the theory has been applied thus far and some of the achievements of these applications. Then, we examine some of the challenges revealed by this research. Finally, we discuss ways of applying CT that promise to help meet these challenges. These methods include nesting case studies and combining case study and survey research, simulations, experiments, and approaches from social neuroscience.

The European Territorial Cohesion Policy has been the subject of numerous debates in recent years. Most contributions focus on understanding the term itself and figuring out what is behind it, or arguing for or against a stronger formal competence of the European Union in this field. This article will leave out these aspects and pay attention to (undefined and legally non-binding) conceptual elements of territorial cohesion, focusing on the challenge of linking it within spatial policies and organising the relations. Therefore, the theoretical approach of Cultural Theory and its concept of clumsy solution are applied to overcome the dilemma of typical dichotomies by adding a third and a fourth (but not a fifth) perspective. In doing so, normative contradictions between different rational approaches can be revealed, explained and approached with the concept of 'clumsy solutions'. This contribution aims at discussing how this theoretical approach helps us explain and frame a coalition between the Territorial Cohesion Policy and spatial policies. This approach contributes to finding the best way of linking and organising policies, although the solution might be clumsy according to the different rationalities involved.

Requirements regarding participation by the public in planning and decision making functions of Metropolitan Planning Organizations have become more detailed over the past several decades by adding more groups and individuals to the list of those who should be included in agency planning efforts. This increased emphasis on public participation in MPOs makes the design and selection of particular participation mechanisms by MPO planning staff an important subject for study. The extant literature on public participation takes a view of the planner as one who is able to interpret the existing technical, social, and political requirements of a planning task and match them with the appropriate public participation mechanism. However, this view of the planner overlooks his or her own understanding of the role of the public in agency decision making. This dissertation employs Grid-Group Cultural Theory to explore how a planner's worldview impacts their selection of particular public participation mechanisms. Data were collected using an online survey instrument and analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. Findings indicate that those planners who held a hierarchist worldview were less likely than egalitarians and individualist planners to select mechanisms that are more intensive (in their requirements for communication). In addition, the research finds that factors internal to the MPO including the budget, project schedule, political priorities, the type of projects, safety issues and agency priorities also have an impact on the mechanisms for public participation selected by MPO planning staff. ; Ph. D.

The European Territorial Cohesion Policy has been the subject of numerous debates in recent years. Most contributions focus on understanding the term itself and figuring out what is behind it, or arguing for or against a stronger formal competence of the European Union in this field. This article will leave out these aspects and pay attention to (undefined and legally non-binding) conceptual elements of territorial cohesion, focusing on the challenge of linking it within spatial policies and organising the relations. Therefore, the theoretical approach of Cultural Theory and its concept of clumsy solution are applied to overcome the dilemma of typical dichotomies by adding a third and a fourth (but not a fifth) perspective. In doing so, normative contradictions between different rational approaches can be revealed, explained and approached with the concept of 'clumsy solutions'. This contribution aims at discussing how this theoretical approach helps us explain and frame a coalition between the Territorial Cohesion Policy and spatial policies. This approach contributes to finding the best way of linking and organising policies, although the solution might be clumsy according to the different rationalities involved.

Social network analysis gives a rigid assessment of network structure while cultural theory helps explain management outcomes in more detail. The combination of these methods provides significant and alternative insights about the complexity of water pollution management. Applied in the case study of the Calumpang Watershed in the Philippines, two types of relations were evaluated, namely, resource sharing and cooperative activities. Factors affecting cooperation and the creation of bridges were assessed in social network analysis, while cultural theory was used to reveal the underlying views of key actors on the nature of the river and its management. Evidence showed that cooperation was significantly influenced by resource sharing regardless of institutional affiliation, while bridges were created by becoming the pools of information and resources in the network. Using cultural theory, this study found out that local government officials dominantly have a mixture of hierarchist and egalitarian views characterizing belief in both rule-bound and group-motivated actions to solve the water pollution problem. However, their egalitarian views on management did not manifest in the current network. The study concludes that collaborative partnerships for water pollution management can be facilitated by promoting resource flow, utilizing influential bridges in the network, and understanding the unconventional values of government actors. Combining social network analysis and cultural theory is recommended to generate a more critical assessment of the institutional complexity of pollution and other water issues in watersheds.

Social impact bonds - arrangements that bring together the public, private and voluntary sectors in order to address complex social issues - are often characterised by tensions. Ruth Dixon explains how cultural theory can be used to explain the dynamics between the various partners in order to improve this useful policy tool.

The present article investigates the function of ritual acts as a form of communication vis-à-vis cultural meaning in the life of the Teutonic Knights. As a condensed form of communal expression, rituals exhibit an acute potential to render present collective identity and shape the lives of the communities that practice them. Such potential is manifest in the institutional arrangement of the Teutonic Order in various forms with particular reference to their dual standing in society, insofar as they drew upon the societal models of the oratores and the bellatores. Particularly relevant to the current study, considerations of cultural historian and social analyst Jan Assmann regarding symbolic acts and collective living memory assist in creating the theoretical framework for the study's deliberations. With Assmann's insights in mind, ritual is understood as a communicative vector of cultural meaning – so to speak – of living memory. The analysis then turns to an examination of select representative examples from diverse scenarios in the existence of the Teutonic Knights, thereby taking into account internal, public, and participatory contexts of symbolic moments. The study thus explores how, while rituals can commemorate memorialised events from the past, they are also able to enact the living memory of a collective entity, ultimately claiming that the examined symbolic acts exhibited both communicative and transformative potential. ; The present article investigates the function of ritual acts as a form of communication vis-à-vis cultural meaning in the life of the Teutonic Knights. As a condensed form of communal expression, rituals exhibit an acute potential to render present collective identity and shape the lives of the communities that practice them. Such potential is manifest in the institutional arrangement of the Teutonic Order in various forms with particular reference to their dual standing in society, insofar as they drew upon the societal models of the oratores and the bellatores. Particularly relevant to the current study, considerations of cultural historian and social analyst Jan Assmann regarding symbolic acts and collective living memory assist in creating the theoretical framework for the study's deliberations. With Assmann's insights in mind, ritual is understood as a communicative vector of cultural meaning – so to speak – of living memory. The analysis then turns to an examination of select representative examples from diverse scenarios in the existence of the Teutonic Knights, thereby taking into account internal, public, and participatory contexts of symbolic moments. The study thus explores how, while rituals can commemorate memorialised events from the past, they are also able to enact the living memory of a collective entity, ultimately claiming that the examined symbolic acts exhibited both communicative and transformative potential. ; The present article investigates the function of ritual acts as a form of communication vis-à-vis cultural meaning in the life of the Teutonic Knights. As a condensed form of communal expression, rituals exhibit an acute potential to render present collective identity and shape the lives of the communities that practice them. Such potential is manifest in the institutional arrangement of the Teutonic Order in various forms with particular reference to their dual standing in society, insofar as they drew upon the societal models of the oratores and the bellatores. Particularly relevant to the current study, considerations of cultural historian and social analyst Jan Assmann regarding symbolic acts and collective living memory assist in creating the theoretical framework for the study's deliberations. With Assmann's insights in mind, ritual is understood as a communicative vector of cultural meaning – so to speak – of living memory. The analysis then turns to an examination of select representative examples from diverse scenarios in the existence of the Teutonic Knights, thereby taking into account internal, public, and participatory contexts of symbolic moments. The study thus explores how, while rituals can commemorate memorialised events from the past, they are also able to enact the living memory of a collective entity, ultimately claiming that the examined symbolic acts exhibited both communicative and transformative potential.

The present article investigates the function of ritual acts as a form of communication vis-à-vis cultural meaning in the life of the Teutonic Knights. As a condensed form of communal expression, rituals exhibit an acute potential to render present collective identity and shape the lives of the communities that practice them. Such potential is manifest in the institutional arrangement of the Teutonic Order in various forms with particular reference to their dual standing in society, insofar as they drew upon the societal models of the oratores and the bellatores. Particularly relevant to the current study, considerations of cultural historian and social analyst Jan Assmann regarding symbolic acts and collective living memory assist in creating the theoretical framework for the study's deliberations. With Assmann's insights in mind, ritual is understood as a communicative vector of cultural meaning – so to speak – of living memory. The analysis then turns to an examination of select representative examples from diverse scenarios in the existence of the Teutonic Knights, thereby taking into account internal, public, and participatory contexts of symbolic moments. The study thus explores how, while rituals can commemorate memorialised events from the past, they are also able to enact the living memory of a collective entity, ultimately claiming that the examined symbolic acts exhibited both communicative and transformative potential. ; The present article investigates the function of ritual acts as a form of communication vis-à-vis cultural meaning in the life of the Teutonic Knights. As a condensed form of communal expression, rituals exhibit an acute potential to render present collective identity and shape the lives of the communities that practice them. Such potential is manifest in the institutional arrangement of the Teutonic Order in various forms with particular reference to their dual standing in society, insofar as they drew upon the societal models of the oratores and the bellatores. Particularly relevant to the current study, considerations of cultural historian and social analyst Jan Assmann regarding symbolic acts and collective living memory assist in creating the theoretical framework for the study's deliberations. With Assmann's insights in mind, ritual is understood as a communicative vector of cultural meaning – so to speak – of living memory. The analysis then turns to an examination of select representative examples from diverse scenarios in the existence of the Teutonic Knights, thereby taking into account internal, public, and participatory contexts of symbolic moments. The study thus explores how, while rituals can commemorate memorialised events from the past, they are also able to enact the living memory of a collective entity, ultimately claiming that the examined symbolic acts exhibited both communicative and transformative potential. ; The present article investigates the function of ritual acts as a form of communication vis-à-vis cultural meaning in the life of the Teutonic Knights. As a condensed form of communal expression, rituals exhibit an acute potential to render present collective identity and shape the lives of the communities that practice them. Such potential is manifest in the institutional arrangement of the Teutonic Order in various forms with particular reference to their dual standing in society, insofar as they drew upon the societal models of the oratores and the bellatores. Particularly relevant to the current study, considerations of cultural historian and social analyst Jan Assmann regarding symbolic acts and collective living memory assist in creating the theoretical framework for the study's deliberations. With Assmann's insights in mind, ritual is understood as a communicative vector of cultural meaning – so to speak – of living memory. The analysis then turns to an examination of select representative examples from diverse scenarios in the existence of the Teutonic Knights, thereby taking into account internal, public, and participatory contexts of symbolic moments. The study thus explores how, while rituals can commemorate memorialised events from the past, they are also able to enact the living memory of a collective entity, ultimately claiming that the examined symbolic acts exhibited both communicative and transformative potential.

Poverty has ideally been studied from either the individual perspective or the cultural perspective. While the individual perspective holds genetic factors to be responsible for poverty of urban dwellers, the cultural theory holds the societal, political, cyclical and geographical factors to be responsible for poverty of people. This research paper tests the cultural theory of poverty on the street vendors of PondyBazaar area in a Tier I city, Chennai. The impact of societal factors (gender, religion, dependents, choice of occupation and choice of migration), economic factors (occupation before migration), cyclical factors (willingness to stay in the same occupation) and geographical factors (distance of vendors' native place to Chennai) was studied on income of street vendors through a structural equation model. Questionnaire method was used to collect data from 100 street vendors spread over Sivagnanam Street, Sivaprakasam Street and Sir Thyagaraya Road in PondyBazaar area. The results depict that the structural equation was highest for income of vendors. Also, three of the chosen societal factors (gender, choice of occupation and choice of migration), economic factors and cyclical factors have a major impact on determining the incomes of vendors. However, two societal factors and geographical factors have very less impact on earnings of vendors. Since the test results were run on Tier I city, the theory might or might not hold true in a Tier II city which needs to be tested in further research.

Gegenstand der Arbeit ist eine ideengeschichtliche Rekonstruktion der Position der Organisation Slow Food. Slow Food wird als ein aktuelles Beispiel für eine grundsätzliche Weltsicht der Moderne betrachtet. Für diese sind die Begriffe Vielfalt und Eigenart von zentraler Bedeutung. Das Ziel der Arbeit besteht in einer Aufklärung, sowohl über die weltanschauliche Basis als auch über den theoretischen und politischen Gehalt der Slow-Food-Position. Es wird gezeigt, dass Slow Food die Idee der Vielfalt und Eigenart modernisiert, indem sie an den aktuellen, naturalistischen Zeitgeist angepasst wird. Dadurch tritt jedoch ein Widerspruch auf: Die Betonung der Kultur, die als das Charakteristikum der Slow-Food-Position angesehen wird, und der Naturalismus scheinen nicht miteinander vereinbar. ; The dissertation deals with an historical and theoretical research of the Slow-Food-position. Slow Food is to be considered as a contemporary issue for a basic modern world view. For this world view cultural diversity and regional uniqueness ("Eigenart") are of particular importance. The dissertation reconstructs the ideological, the theoretical and the political content of the Slow-Food-position. The study shows that the idea of cultural diversity and regional uniqueness is modernized respectively naturalized by Slow Food. This naturalization however is inconsistent with the idea of culture which reveals the core of the Slow-Food-position.

This article explores the nature of calls for risk-based policy present in expert discourse from a cultural theory perspective. Semi-structured interviews with professionals engaged in the research and management of livestock disease control provide the data for a reading proposing that the real basis of policy relating to socio-technical hazards is deeply political and cannot be purified through 'escape routes' to objectivity. Scientists and risk managers are shown calling, on the one hand, for risk-based policy approaches while on the other acknowledging a range of policy drivers outside the scope of conventional quantitative risk analysis including group interests, eventualities such as outbreaks, historical antecedents, emergent scientific advances and other contingencies. Calls for risk-based policy are presented, following cultural theory, as ideals connected to a reductionist epistemology and serving particular professional interests over others rather than as realistic proposals for a paradigm shift.

The article deals with the interaction of social and cultural factors of self-organization of historical communities, their interdependence and mutual balance, as well as with the outcomes of their impact on social development and cultural formation. In particular, we focus on the empirically discovered law which postulates that acceleration of social development in a community leads to a marked weakening of local cultural identity, and vice versa, the deceleration of such development enhances the community's cultural uniqueness. Researchers have dubbed this effect "the balance of social and cultural dynamics".This balance can be explained by the alternate predominance of two functional trends of human activity – ongoing social differentiation and professional specialization, on the one hand, and the rise of cultural homogeneity (cultural consolidation), on the other. These trends together determine the course of collective self-organization and check each other's impact. In effect, they almost cancel each other out and, as a rule, historically take turns as leading factors in the self-development of historical communities, thus ensuring that such development remains constructive. We suggested that the alternation of these trends may underpin the rise of the scholarly concepts of cyclical development of cultures and communities.We have analyzed the impact these factors have on the development of social solidarity and the formation of cultural identities, informed as they are by various political influences. A special focus is made on the systemic role played by the trends of social differentiation and cultural consolidation in the dynamics of cultural sustainability and cultural variability as the two major historical processes in cultural development.These social and cultural trends in the historical dynamics of communities can only to a certain extent be viewed as independent. These developmental trends are largely mutually integrated. They are described as independent phenomena only for the purpose of in-depth analysis, thus substantiating the maxim that every social factor is also a cultural one, and everything in the domain of culture is also social. ; В статье рассматривается взаимодействие социального и культурного факторов самоорганизации исторических сообществ, их взаимообусловленность и сбалансированность, а также плоды их влияния на процессы социального развития и культурного становления. В частности, анализируется эмпирически обнаруженная закономерность, в соответствии с которой при ускорении социального развития сообщества заметно понижается его локальная культурная самобытность и, наоборот, при замедлении социального развития повышается уровень его культурного своеобразия. В профильной литературе эта закономерность получила название «теория баланса социальной и культурной динамики».Данная взаимосвязь объясняется поочередным преобладанием тенденций функциональной социальной дифференциации деятельности (повышения профессиональной специализации) в историческом развитии человеческих коллективов и их культурной консолидации (повышения культурного единообразия). Эти две разнонаправленные тенденции эффективно компенсируют друг друга и, как правило, исторически чередуются, чем определяется конструктивный характер исторического саморазвития. Высказывается предположение о том, что чередование этих тенденций, возможно, лежит в основе возникновения научных концепций социокультурной цикличности в развитии сообществ.Автор анализирует влияние этих факторов на развитие процессов социальной солидарности и становления культурной идентичности людей, их детерминацию различными политическими воздействиями. Особо отмечается системообразующая роль тенденций социальной дифференциации и культурной консолидации в динамике культурной устойчивости и культурной изменчивости как основных процессах исторического функционирования культуры.Как самостоятельная проблема рассматривается условность выделения социальной и культурной тенденций как самостоятельных факторов развития в исторической динамике сообществ. Эти тенденции в основном взаимоинтегрированы и выделяются учеными как самостоятельные феномены только с целью их углубленного анализа. Обосновывается сентенция о том, что все социальное культурно, а все культурное социально.

Climate change affects the entire globe. However, its effects are influenced by differing geographic expositions and unevenly spread social adaptation capacities. Empirically, different levels of social vulnerability can be observed which are explained by distinct levels of wealth – so the general explanation goes. Such correlations cannot be neglected and are quite trivial: assuming similar expositions, The Netherlands are better prepared to construct dikes against flooding than Bangladesh. But what is about different vulnerabilities occurring despite of comparable levels of wealth? Why is it that the Mississippi delta was devastated by hurricane Katrina whereas the Rhine-Meuse delta remained almost unaffected up to now? What accounts for the fact that Texas, not really know for caring much for environmental niceties, has set up more windmills than California and is close to outpace Denmark and Germany with respect to the production of wind power? How can it be that Texas nevertheless rejects any environmental political guidelines from Washington? These questions are discussed by amalgamating the Cultural Theory (Douglas/Wildavsky 1982, Schwarz/Thompson 1990) and the Varieties of Capitalism approach (Hall/Soskice 2001). The rationality behind this idea is that societies which are rather coined by collective and egalitarian principles are better prepared to cope with cooperative tasks like building dikes whereas individualistic institutions and convictions result in a situation in which the rich seek shelter whereas the poor are left alone. Contrary, it is easier to realize (environmental-)innovations like windmills within a liberal context. That is because it is easier to raise venture capital and to overcome opposition within the neighbourhood (among other things). Our theoretical argument picks up the vaguely claimed correlation of cultural frames of interpretation and socio-economic institutions (Dryzek 2008, Mamadouh 1999) and explores it in greater depth.