Reconsidering the Self in Social Thought: Existential-Phenomenological and Dialogical Perspectives

Author(s): Charalambos Tsekeris / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The present article attempts to draw a general analytical framework within which to reconsider the notion of the self in the wide interdisciplinary field of social thought.This reconsideration pertains to the self as a fluid social process and as an interrelational meaningful outcome constituent of lived experience, which is neither intrapsychically located, nor able to be defined in isolation, as something “in and of itself ”. These lf is therefore seen as paradoxically both autonomous and interdependent, that is reflexively open, socially embedded and interactively constituted. Our critical historicising interrogation also highlights the inherently dialogical nature, character, and dynamics of the self in contemporary society, thus opening up the conceptual space to better grasp, theorise, and evaluate the irreducible complexity of self-formation.

Zmiany w życiu człowieka

Author(s): Jakub Niedbalski,Izabela Ślęzak-Niedbalska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2015

The subject of the volume Changes in a human life is the process of the broadly understood transformation taking place in the lives of both individuals and whole communities. It is a process that may have various faces and characters and that may refer to numerous fields of research and various contexts. Therefore, the group of notions that the authors of this volume focus on is comprised of those related to the problems of disability, fatherhood, prostitution, intelligence, corporate work or migration. The included articles are of an overview, exploratory and empirical nature. However, all of them bring the reader closer to the processuality, changeability and dynamism of the lives lived by individuals and communities.

Normatywność jako podstawa ładu społeczno-politycznego

Author(s): Kazimierz Brożek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 16/2015

The author intends to attract readers’ attention to the key questions regarding normativity as the foundation which shapes social and political relations. The paper may also trigger the discussion on the essence of the role of normativity in shaping such relations. The topic was discussed in a concise and clear manner to better outline the normativity impact in the following areas: legal order and its validation, normativity and public policy, normativity and the policy of law, normativity and the relation between legal and moral norms, normativity and norm binding force, threats to norms (destruction of normativity), normativity and law prestige and authority. Moreover, the paper discusses theoretical developments as today’s alternative solutions, already applied in the area of law.

Konflikty symboliczne na Górze św. Anny. Sanktuarium, muzeum i pomniki

Author(s): Piotr Wróblewski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2015

The main topic of my article is symbolic conflict. I intend to present symbolic conflicts which have appeared in the area of Góra Świętej Anny (the highest peak of Silesian Highland, Poland) and its neighbourhood in the last quarter-century. Administratively it belongs to the Opole Voivodeship, Strzelce County, and Gmina Leśnica and is inhabited by Poles, Germans and people who identify themselves as Silesian nationality. Conflicts between them generally involve such venues as sanctuary (Calvary), museums devoted to local history and historic monuments. I implemented Lewis Coser’s theory of conflict and elements of Claus Offe’s field of ethnic conflict.

Émile Durkheim and Sarajevo Marlboro

Author(s): Jayden Mahon / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

Nationalism and Sarajevo’s Organic Solidarity

Author(s): Reid Donato / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

NACIONALIZAM I ORGANSKA SOLIDARNOST SARAJEVA

Author(s): Reid Donato / Language(s): Bosnian,Croatian,Serbian Issue: 2/2015

Biopolitics - definitions and lines of development of theoretical reflection.

Author(s): Franco Manti / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

Perspektywa transnarodowa w kontekście wybranych teorii migracji.

Author(s): Agnieszka Ostafińska-Konik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2009

Zorunlu Göçü Anlamak: Teorik Bir Sentez Geliştirmenin Önemi

Author(s): Şeyma Ayyıldız / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2023

Migration is a social phenomenon with historical continuity, although its structure and meaning change and transform with time. Today, migration has changed connotations, is connected with globalization, and affects local mobility. Because of this, classic migration theories' strengths and limitations can be rethought. This article argues a single migration theory is no longer relevant and that synthesis is key. Forced migration is the focus since it has both the characteristics of voluntary migration and is the target of global economic structural reforms. While current discussions focus on the causes and effects of migration, a "Practice Theory" is needed to acknowledge that migration is a neverending activity. A larger interpretation of structuration theory puts migrant agency at the center, while embracing local and global migration processes. This article is different and significant because it employs "Practice Theory" to explain forced migration. However, it is not an integrated migration theory and does not replace the theories. It is a synthesis of the social dynamics of forced migration. At the last stage, it will be focused on how this theory can be applied with empirical studies. First of all, O'Reilly's (2012) discussion of British immigrants in Spain will be discussed, and then the study will end with a case study on the intelligibility of migration from Syria to Turkey.

Inżynierska koncepcja podstaw chrześcijańskich nauk społecznych

Author(s): Kazimierz Turkiewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2023

It is commonly believed that religions are mainly concerned with spiritual life. Therefore little attention is paid to the vast rational knowledge contained in their Holy Scriptures regarding the daily life of a human being and society. The paper demonstrates that this attitude is incorrect in relation to the Christian religion. The analysis of the Christian Scriptures based on engineering methodology has shown that they contain a comprehensive and rational system of a humanistic social idea. Its basic element, which is presented by the story of Adam and Eve, is the stable functioning of society, because every disorganization destabilizes the lives of a specific number of people. The wider and stronger destabilization becomes, the more dangerous and tragic its consequences are. The stable functioning of society is achieved by keeping the constantly existing contradictions within an optimal range to facilitate people’s near-conflict-free lives and to enable the development of society. The life of Jesus Christ and his parables present the idea of an effective way to create the optimal level of contradiction and thus the stable functioning of society. The idea is to self-limit growth as well as use large social forces of whatever kind to resolve contradictions so that conflicts do not arise. This self-limitation should be implemented through the appropriate creation of social mechanisms. An example of such a solution is a parliamentary democracy, which limits the growth of political power so that dictatorships are not formed.

Przemiany postaw względem feminatywów w polskim dyskursie publicznym

Author(s): Konstancja Obidzińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2023

This paper addresses the subject of feminatives in the Polish public discourse. It describes the changing attitudestoward the use of female occupational and titular names over the years. The author reviews scholarly works,popular science articles and media speeches (TEDx) on the use of feminatives and showing social attitudestowards them. The analysis is complemented by a case study of a specific area of discourse on feminatives –that of the Polish political sphere in 2023.

Technorealizm wobec społecznych konsekwencji techniki

Author(s): Halina Rarot / Language(s): Polish Issue: 37/2024

In the article, I review and analyze the axiological reflection on the role of technology insocial life, represented by philosophers whom I classify as techno-realists. Techno-realism is theintermediate position in the axiology of technology, between techno-pessimism and techno-optimism. I briefly present the history of this way of philosophizing. I cover the history of thethinking of techno-realists belonging to philosophy of culture and philosophy of technology,including Lewis Mumford, Martin Heidegger, Leszek Kołakowski, Langdon Winner, ShoshanaZuboff and Juval noi Hararri. Next, I discuss new ideas of techno-realists from the group ofphilosophers of engineering (including Carl Mitcham), as well as the views of practitioners/en-gineers. Techno-realism formulates balanced assessments of technological artifacts and thuscan provide people with arguments in their problematic encounters with the latest technologi-cal products, as well as encourage specific actions in social life in the era of the third modernity,especially in the education of children and youth.

Psychometric Properties of the Saudi Version of the Mathematics Confidence Scale Using the Modern Test Theory

Author(s): Izzeldeen Abdullah Alnaimi,Abdullah Khretan Alenezi,Yousef Abdelqader Abu Shindi,Habis Saad Al-Zboon,Abd El. MureedAbd Abd El Gaberkassem / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

The aim of the study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Math Confidence Rating Scale (MCS), using Item Response Theory (IRT) and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The participants were (315) from Imam Mouhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University; They are distributed into (92) female and (223) male, selected through a convenience sampling. The EFA models indicated that the one-dimensional structure better represents the data, and the pairs of items were considered locally independent, IRT findings indicate that all items had a very high discrimination parameter and all items had acceptable threshold parameters, And that MCS is more informative for mid-level ability of Math confidence. The MCS in Arabic has adequate psychometric properties to be used as a short measure of Math confidence.

Projective Psychological Tests from the Point of View of Neural Network Theory of Society

Author(s): Ibragim Suleimenov,Mariya Kostsova,Yelizaveta Vitulyova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2024

It is shown that the issues raised by the international expert community in the discussion regarding the legality of using projective techniques (in particular, tests such as the Luscher test, the Szondi test and the Dellinger test) can be resolved on the basis of an adequate interpretation of the concept of “archetype” and an analogy with neural networks. At the same time, the interpretation of the concept “archetype” is based on the neural network theory of society, which allows us to remove the difficulties that arise with the traditional interpretation of this concept. It is shown that there is an equivalent scheme for the testing procedure, in which the testing itself can be reduced to the functioning of the external (output) layer of the general neural network, which also includes a neural network formed by the human brain. This approach makes it possible to remove many of the criticisms put forward against the use of projective techniques (even declaring them pseudoscientific), but it implies a significant change in existing approaches to the interpretation of results obtained when using tests of the type in question. Namely, within the framework of the proposed approach, not every possible combination of images on which the test is built makes sense. Such a meaning can be given only to some of them, specifically to those that are most often encountered in experiments. Such combinations, which can be interpreted as basic, are interpreted on the basis of an analogy with images recognized by a neural network. The remaining combinations are treated as images containing errors; they are reduced to the basic ones based on an analogy with the methods used in constructing error-resistant codes.

THE PROBLEM OF METHOD IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Author(s): Ali ALLIOUA / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

We aim through this analytical paper to get closer to the method in the social sciences and to try to discuss the most important methodological details that the researcher encounters in this field, compared to the experimental sciences and the material sciences in which the methods have witnessed great development thanks to the nature of the studied material and the continuous studies to develop methods in these sciences. Considering that the social sciences are sciences that have recently separated from philosophy, and even still combine them with theoretical overlaps. Therefore, we tried to explain the method in the social sciences and drop the existing methods in the experimental sciences, and we focused on the main point that separated the sciences from philosophy, which is the “law” and the determinism of social phenomena, since whenever we provide the same reasons, the same results inevitably give us, and this is only available with the presence of Laws appear in the social sciences differently from their counterparts in other sciences, in the form of theoretical approaches and models of analysis. We also talked about the rules of the method in the social sciences, by which a particular phenomenon can be described as a "sociological" phenomenon.

ON THE EPISTEMOLOGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF ALBANOLOGY NOWADAYS

Author(s): Shaban Sinani / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2023

A new occurrence has been notable in Albanian sciences in the three last decades: anarchy and chaos regarding the épistémologie significance of its constituent disciplines. It has primarily affected the social and Albanological sciences. The changes in the freedom of research, the liberation of knowledge from ideological overlayers and not less even the ignorance of those of the order, the persons who were and continue to be engaged with scientific research in the framework of institutions or independently have shaken the inherited epistemology of social sciences. In this context, almost all social sciences have been suffering from the same disease: the old terms were terminologically speaking insufficient, narrower than the épistémologie status of knowledge; meanwhile, new names were defined in haste and largely in admistrative ways; freedom of self-expression made people proclaim themselves as masters in the fields and subfields in which they considered themseles successful.

THE ANATOMY OF SOCIAL MURDER: LESSONS FROM GREECE

Author(s): Filippos KOURAKIS / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

This essay examines the tragic death of Antonis Karyotis at Piraeus Port in Greece on September 5, 2023, delving into its significance as a reflection of broader social and political issues. It posits that Karyotis’s untimely demise, epitomizes Friedrich Engels’ concept of ‘social murder’. Additionally, the essay employs Michel Foucault’s biopolitical framework to scrutinize how power operates through the management and regulation of populations, further elucidating the complexities surrounding Karyotis’s death. By contextualizing this incident within the broader societal landscape of Greece, the essay highlights the escalating racist violence and mistreatment of migrants that have intensified post-2008 economic crisis. This crisis not only exacerbated economic hardships but also fueled social tensions, leading to heightened hostility towards marginalized groups. Furthermore, the essay draws attention to the deteriorating conditions of the working class within the labor market, exacerbated by stringent economic policies implemented in response to the crisis. In conclusion, the essay underscores how Antonis Karyotis’s death serves as a poignant reminder of the systemic economic and social inequalities plaguing Greek society, with the state implicated in perpetuating and exacerbating these disparities. It calls for a critical examination of power dynamics and a collective endeavor towards social justice and structural reform to address these entrenched issues.

SATISFACTION WITH SHARED PUBLIC TRANSPORT. CASE STUDY: TIMISOARA

Author(s): Ovidiu-Florin SENDRONI,Marius Vasiluță-Ștefănescu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

Public transport in a city is a vital aspect, having multiple benefits for the environment, society and economy. But in order to effectively provide this service, it is essential that people using public transport are satisfied with its functionality, comfort, accessibility and safety. The purpose of this research is to analyze the level of satisfaction with public transport in Timișoara. The research question aims at whether the people of Timisoara are rather satisfied or dissatisfied with public transport. We adopted a quantitative method, collecting data through a questionnaire administered by field operators. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, t tests, and ANOVAs. The results showed that the perception of travelers towards public transport in Timișoara tends towards satisfaction, and that age can weakly influence satisfaction towards public transport. This study also provides recommendations on increasing the general satisfaction level with public transport in Timișoara.

RAMY WOJNY. O NIEKTÓRYCH PROBLEMATYCZNYCH OBSZARACH POJĘCIA WOJNY

Author(s): Marcin Poletyło / Language(s): Polish Issue: 91/2024

The Russian invasion of Ukraine drew the attention of social scientists to the issueof war – an area neglected in sociology in the second half of the 20th century, but which has receivedgrowing interest since the 1990s. War is a special subject of social research that poses many specificproblems. The author presents selected issues illustrating the difficulties in defining the physical andsocial boundaries of war, related, among others, to the emergence in the 1990s of a new terminologyconceptualising armed conflicts in terms of crisis. The historical nature of the phenomenon of warcauses its understanding to change, reflecting the changing realities of organised armed struggle asthe variability of moral norms and standards of public discourse. There is a belief among research-ers that defining war as opposed to peace is inadequate to the reality of contemporary armed con-flicts. In many respects, the traditional Clausewitzian understanding of war is no longer helpful inunderstanding contemporary conflicts. The concept of new wars, created in the last decade of the20th century, was an attempt to look at this issue in a new way. Focusing on their social and non-mil-itary dimensions it indicates new, although non-obvious areas of research for the sociology of war.