The Nature of the Political Reconsidered

I present an immanent, and explanatory, critique of reflections on the nature of politics and of power within political science. I argue that these reflections are problematic, to the extent that they presuppose an actualist conception of the political, and that this is generated by an empiricist way of thinking on the one hand and a constructivist way of thinking on the other. I show how re‐defining politics, power, and the political on the basis of a dialectical critical realist ontology resolves these problems and, thereby, allows us to understand the conditions for social change and the relationship between the political and the economic. My argument has two, important implications: first, that the proposal that those who study politics professionally should celebrate philosophical diversity is dangerous–at least if it makes it difficult to sustain a distinct, emancipatory form of political inquiry; and, second, that the nature of social reality justifies the need both for specialized forms of inquiry, such as politics and economics, and integrative forms of inquiry, such as political economy.     

Durkheim and realism

This article examines Durkheim's relationship to realism. I argue that there is enough prima facie evidence of realist commitments in his work that our task should be to consider what kind of realist Durkheim was. I discuss, first of all, Durkheim's epistemics and follow that analysis with a discussion of metaphysical realism in his texts. The first part of the paper covers a wide range of his work; the second part focuses primarily on The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. In a final concluding section, I go on to consider how his epistemic arguments and his philosophical realism might work together to support important parts of his general sociology. Realism is not often brought to bear on Durkheim's work. When it has been, Durkheim has been identified as a naïve realist. These interpretations of Durkheim do not recognize the sophistication of contemporary realism, which does not reduce to naïve representationalism. This paper will sort out Durkheim's realist commitments in his texts, and in light of the variety of realisms consistent with “sophisticated” (that is, non-naïve) realism.     

Experience,Subjectivity, Selfhood: Beyond a Meadian Sociology of the Self

Sociologists tend to see G. H. Mead's conceptualization of self as fundamentally correct. In this paper, we develop a critique of Mead's notion of the self as constituted through social interactions. Our focus will be on Mead's categorial distinction between the socially constructed self and subjective experience, as well as on the tendency of post-Meadian sociologists to push Mead's position in ever more radical directions. Drawing inspiration from a multifaceted understanding of selfhood that can be found in Husserlian phenomenology, we then propose that the most basic level of selfhood is anchored in irreducible subjective experience.     

Social Objects, Causality and Contingent Realism

This paper is a realist argument for the existence of "social objects". Social objects, I argue, are the outcome states of a contingent causal process and in turn posses causal properties. This argument has consequences for what we can mean by realism and consequences for the development of a realist methodology. Realism should abandon the notion of natural necessity in favour of a view that the "real" nature of the social world is contingent and necessity is only revealed in outcome states. This, I argue, has both theoretical and methodological implications and I develop my argument through two case studies, of homelessness and ethnicity.     

In Defense of Shame: Shame in the Context of Guilt and Embarrassment

We are interested in the relations among shame, guilt, and embarrassment and especially in how each relates to judgments of character. We start by analyzing the distinction between being and feeling guilty, and unearth the role of shame as a guilt feeling. We proceed to examine shame and guilt in relation to moral responsibility and to flaws of character. We address a recent psychological finding (Tangney, Wagner, Hill-Barlow, and Marshall, 1996; Tangney, Hill-Barlow, Wagner and Marshall, 1996) that shame is both destructive and in so far as it has a social function could be replaced by guilt. We reinterpret the guilt culture/shame culture distinction in terms of our way of distinguishing these emotions. Finally we examine embarrassment as distinct from shame and find the difference to lie not so much in the phenomenology of the participant as it is in context, and in which elements of the context the speaker describing the emotion wishes to stress. We conclude by defending shame despite its psychological troubles.     

Social Network Analysis and Critical Realism

Social network analysis (SNA) is an increasingly popular approach that provides researchers with highly developed tools to map and analyze complexes of social relations. Although a number of network scholars have explicated the assumptions that underpin SNA, the approach has yet to be discussed in relation to established philosophies of science. This article argues that there is a tension between applied and methods‐oriented SNA studies, on the one hand, and those addressing the social‐theoretical nature and implications of networks, on the other. The former, in many cases, exhibits positivist tendencies, whereas the latter incorporate a number of assumptions that are directly compatible with core critical realist views on the nature of social reality and knowledge. This article suggests that SNA may be detached from positivist social science and come to constitute a valuable instrument in the critical realist toolbox.     

“人天价值观”的历史进路和现实应用

＂人天价值观念＂是现当代人们通过社会实践方式在推动社会发展的历史进程中形成的主流性价值观念。这一价值观念的形成不是一蹴而就的,其间经过了肯定、否定和否定之否定的三个历史过程。而当代被人们看好的＂天人合一＂式的人天价值观念,就是历史上形成的人天价值观念发展的最新形态。在科学发展观成为主导性话语的现阶段,在以人为本价值诉求成为主导性诉求的当下,弘扬陕西省人民＂DNA管理文化＂中所蕴涵的＂性命天道价值观念＂,对于目前的全面小康社会发展目标的实现和和谐社会、和谐人格的建构不无裨益。     

自然与文化:悲观哲学经验

人存在于自然之中,但人不是一般意义上的自然之物,因为人拒绝接受肉体腐烂后思想的荒芜,于是,人开始对自身存在的价值进行深度思考,其结果是,人拒绝承认自己和动植物具有相同的属性,因为人既是自然之子,也是文化的产物。只有当人的精神发展从意识自己是种群的组成部分返回到意识自己作为个体存在的价值和意义之时,文化的作用才有可能发生。人类的发展伴随着野蛮的状态,也伴随着对命运一词的不断认识。人的伟大之处在于能够意识到死亡的不可避免,但同时在文化的帮助下去克服死亡的恐惧,最后让死亡成为有意义的文化事件。     

Happiness Vs Contentment? A Case for a Sociology of the Good Life

Despite the enormous growth in happiness research in recent decades, there remains a lack of consistency in the use of the terms happiness, satisfaction, contentment and well‐being. In this article I argue for a sociologically grounded distinction between happiness and contentment that defines the former as positive affect and the latter as positive reflection. Contentment is therefore understood as a fulfilling relationship with the self and society (to borrow from G.H. Mead's terminology) and happiness involves pleasurable experiences. There is a history of similar distinctions in philosophy and psychoanalysis, but much of the contemporary discourse fails to distinguish between individual and collective definitions of happiness. This article will argue that happiness and contentment ought not to be treated as competing approaches to the good life, but as complimentary forms of emotional experience. Further, I argue that the current interest in happiness can be linked to larger culture shifts involving neoliberalism and individualism.     

A Realist Theory of Hegemony

A new approach to understanding hegemony is developed based on the method of critical realism. Breaking from the traditional interpretations that emphasise inter-subjective, superstructural and cultural aspects of hegemony, this article looks at hegemony's structural context and the conditions for its possibility. A realist conception of hegemony relates hegemonic projects to structural reproduction and transformation via Bhaskar's transformational model of social activity. In doing so this model is itself modified to incorporate hegemony as the political moment of social reproduction. A distinction is made between hegemony in its structural aspect, and specific hegemonic projects as emergent possibilities.     

父母与自然：“知母不知父”的西方谱系（下）

本文紧接《母权神话》,是对母权社会的文化根源的分析。文章认为,在现代思想家中,霍布斯已经谈到过母权论者的主要观点,巴霍芬的《母权论》是对霍布斯的继承,其中给出的诠释,即母亲代表自然,父亲代表文化,是母权论人类学家的基本假定,而这种假定又来自亚里士多德关于父亲提供形式、母亲提供质料的古典观念。现代女性主义者试图以种种方式化解亚里士多德以来的性别问题,却使自己陷入了新的困境。     

How are policies implemented in children's services? Developing an initial programme theory to evaluate the implementation of the new Child Sexual Exploitation guidance in Wales

Although children's social care is an area rich in guidance, there is very little research looking at the implementation of new policies in the United Kingdom. In this article, we report on the first stage of a realist evaluation of the implementation of the new Safeguarding Children from Child Sexual Exploitation guidance in Wales. We discuss the development of an initial programme theory, for which we conducted semi-structured interviews with practitioners and managers in three local authorities. We developed programme theories across three areas: policy nature and development, implementation plans and organizational context. Findings suggest that, for policies to produce a significant impact on practice, they need to be sufficiently different to social workers' current perceptions of practice. Second, we found that the coordination between national and local policies is critical for successful implementation as contradictions between them might lead to confusion in what local teams should prioritize. Finally, our findings highlight the importance of effective communication of policy changes, as well as a supportive organizational culture to strengthen implementation in local contexts. These findings illustrate the complexity of policy implementation and the need for policymakers to consider the meaningful involvement of local practitioners in national policy development.     

自然与人的神话——浅析中国西部片

中国西部沉淀了中华民族传统文化的精华 ,是中国电影西部片的诞生与发展圣地。致力于中国西部片开拓与发展的电影人前赴后继 ,经过了大半个世纪的努力 ,已经创造了中国西部片自然与人的神话     

Materialism, Agnosticism and God

The longstanding philosophical debate between idealism and materialism has recently entered the ontological terrain of critical realism (CR) and dialectical critical realism (DCR). This has been initiated by Roy Bhaskar’s most recent book, From East to West, which attempts an ambitious synthesis of philosophy, social theory and theology. On the one hand, Bhaskar’s attempt to root his philosophy and social theory in a ‘realist theory of God’ has found an echo within the CR and DCR research camp, some of whose members would urge us to take seriously the possibility of a ‘religious sociology’. On the other hand, Bhaskar’s abrupt ‘idealist turn’ has left many critical realists flabbergasted and horrified, particularly those working at the interface between realist philosophy and Marxist social science, especially since Bhaskar’s new philosophical trajec‐tory is radically at odds with the ‘synchronic emergent powers materialism’ outlined in his The Possibility of Naturalism. In response to this ‘split’ within the CR and DCR camp, the spectre of ‘realist agnosticism’ has been raised and defended by Mervyn Hartwig in this journal. Since neither science nor philosophy can settle the issue of what kind of stuff constitutes ‘rock bottom reality’, it is rational to be agnostic on the ‘ultimate question’, to deny positively affirming the claims of either one side or the other. Now this is the move that is resisted in this paper. My argument is that ontolog‐ical idealism is disputable on a number of grounds‐philosophical, scientific, ethical and political. In particular, I argue that objective idealism is unsupported by rational knowledge, is riddled with conceptual and logical defects, is contrary to the logic of scientific discovery, and is an obstacle to eudaimonia (human emancipation). Further, since realist agnosticism rests its case on the myth of infallible knowledge, and obviously stands or falls with the defensibility or other‐wise of objective idealism, this gives us ‘good enough’ reasons for accepting a thoroughgoing materialism as the ontological foundation of social theory.     

哲学的文化性与文化的哲学性

文化哲学可以有两种样式,一种是文化观点的文化哲学,另一种是哲学观点的文化哲学,前者显示哲学的文化性,后者显示文化的哲学性.就其与哲学的关系而言,文化观点的文化哲学可能扬弃哲学,却不会规范地解决哲学问题.扬弃哲学具有超出哲学的现实意义.哲学观点的文化哲学,或者成为哲学的一个普通下属学科,是哲学原则的自我印证,或者尽可直面现实而野性地埋葬哲学,从而文化哲学亦不必还是文化"哲学".     

Definitional and Responsive Environmental Meanings: A Meadian Look at Landscapes and Drought

Current conceptual frameworks differ deeply on the meanings of human-natural environment relations. One is a monist social constructionist frame: meaning is only in human definitions, and natural events are meaningless. The other offers dualist perspectives that locate meaning both in definitions and in realist indications of environmental events such as global environmental change. After discussing 'landscape' as a bridging concept, I suggest an ordering of the two perspectives through a metatheoretical distinction between definitional and responsive meanings with primacy in the response. Finally, I apply a metatheoretical schema based on the work of George H. Mead to meanings of natural environment implicated in a discussion of an official pronouncement, 'The drought is over'.     

一种基于人性假设的教育思考

人性假设是从价值上对教育的一种限定,使教育建立起对人性的依赖。人性假设的最大意义是使教育有一个人性的边界和稳定的基础。人性假设意味着教育确立了自己特殊价值立场,有了这个立场教育不会轻易受世俗压力及其它因素的影响和干预。教育的人性假设必须以人的美善本质为前提。对人性的信任,这是教育人性假设的基本条件。没有对人性的关善假设,没有对人性的真诚和期待,教育就不可能把人性作为依靠的力量,从而也将最终失去自己内在的人性依据。     

Technical complexity,regionalism, and decision-making: Case processing outcomes in EPA's toxic substances program

In this article, I explore the effect of the technical complexity of decisions on the nature of the relationship between agents and their political leaders and contextual pressures. I examine this within the regional context of The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) toxic substances enforcement. The results suggest that case characteristics are important in both routine and complex cases. Moreover, responsiveness toward national and regional preferences occurs to some extent in all models. With more technically complex decisions, however, this responsiveness is more pronounced and diversified. This lends support for hypotheses derived from a bounded rationality theory of agency actions.     

On the Nature of Practice

Summary In this paper an attempt is made to draw a distinction betweenthe notion of the practical and the technical. Reference ismade to Aristotle's concept of Phronesis and the related thoughtof the German philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer. The purpose ofthis is to retrieve a sense of social work practice which recognizesit as a form of practical, moral engagement, and not primarilyas a matter of technique.     

The Nature of Social Responsibility: Exploring Emancipatory Ends

Social responsibility (SR) initiatives within a corporate environment (CSR) continue to be met with deep scepticism. My concern is with exploring this scepticism, which I argue is due to there being more to the underlying objectives of SR than has previously been investigated. I begin by outlining and substantiating my project as a social ontological enquiry, one in which I unpack key concepts to reveal the nature of SR. These ontological findings then underpin my argument that SR is problematically grounded in liberalist thinking, and CSR is in fact just one manifestation of SR. I advance the thesis that SR has emancipatory ends, of meeting human needs and flourishing, and that it is best explicated using feminist care ethics. The argument is then focussed on both shoring up and advancing the emancipatory project of SR. The scepticism of interest is revealed to be the incongruity between care and business; that businesses are deemed as being incompatible with SR, at least in their present capacity. Any claims to the contrary by the business community are branded inauthentic and the aforementioned scepticism ensues. The paper concludes with a brief discussion concerning implications for CSR initiatives and future changes and developments are considered.