How Can Three Questions on Modernity Be Answered? The World-System Theory and Japanese Experiences

This article addresses three questions on modernity. Can “the premodern” and “the modern” be differentiated in the historical process? If they can, what is the relationship between “the premodern” and “the modern”? And what will become of these relationships in the future? This article attempts to answer these questions by criticizing the world-system theory and considering some of the experiences of the modernization process in Japan. The world-system theory has tried to relativize social theories from advanced societies in the global perspective. However, the world-system, born during the long 16th century, was defined from the start as modern and capitalist. Therefore, logically this theory cannot adequately grasp the modernization process. To overcome this challenge, this article first accepts the differentiation between “the premodern” and “the modern” and defines modern society as one in which “the modern” is not exclusive but dominant. Second, this article turns to some of the Japanese experiences of “modernization”, particularly in industrial relations. This article asserts that a Japanese-style society tends to keep “the premodern” over a longer term and to replace “modern” relations with “the premodern” ones in management. The author defined this process as informalization. Third, this article stresses that since the late 1990s with globalization, informalization is no longer derived from original “premodern” relations, which are nowadays reproduced by capital. An example of this is the “black company.” This article notes, finally, that capitalism is likely to reproduce premodern forms for its duration.     

Intersectional Individuality: Georg Simmel's Concept of “The Intersection of Social Circles” and the Emancipation of Women

Georg Simmel's “The intersection of social circles,” a chapter in his 1908 Sociology, contains discussions of class, religion, ethnic, and gender relations that are highly relevant to contemporary sociological concerns. Simmel's argument is based on a notion of historical dynamic that interprets increasingly complex intersectionality as a sign of progressing civilization. The article establishes how Simmel describes “the intersection of social circles” and then looks at Simmel's account through the concept of “intersectionality” as developed in contemporary feminist theory. The article suggests that although some aspects of Simmel's account of women in modernity are incompatible with contemporary feminism, the shared use of the same image, “intersection,” in Simmel and in contemporary feminist theory is the symptom of a shared concern with a particular aspect of the complexity of modern society. In Simmel, the increasing density of the intersections of social circles points to the increasingly complex individuality of modern subjects, whereas the use of the same image in contemporary feminist theory is part of a critique of inequality and oppression in the same modern society whose advent Simmel celebrated. Intersectionality is a characteristic of modern society that first became visible more than a century ago and has meanwhile become ever the more a signature of modernity.     

Geneticization of deviant behavior and consequences for stigma: the case of mental illness

One likely consequence of the genetics revolution is an increased tendency to understand human behavior in genetic terms. How might this "geneticization" affect stigma? Attribution theory predicts a reduction in stigma via reduced blame, anger, and punishment and increased sympathy and help. According to "genetic essentialist" thinking, genes are the basis of human identity and strongly deterministic of behavior. If such ideas are commonly accepted, geneticization should exacerbate stigma by increasing perceptions of differentness, persistence, seriousness, and transmissibility, which in turn should increase social distance and reproductive restrictiveness. I test these predictions using the case of mental illness and a vignette experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey. There was little support for attribution theory predictions. Consistent with genetic essentialism, genetic attributions increased the perceived seriousness and persistence of the mental illness and the belief that siblings and children would develop the same problem. Genetic attribution did not affect reproductive restrictiveness or social distance from the ill person but did increase social distance from the person's sibling, particularly regarding intimate forms of contact involving dating, marriage, and having children.     

The public relations paradox of erasure: Damnatio memoriae as public relations strategy and tactic

Public relations scholars study how organizations co-create meaning with engaged stakeholders. Not well understood is how and why such co-creation modifies shared meaning, amplifies change, and even “erases” some piece of memory from the public record with the purpose of redirecting and redefining societal narratives. To help establish erasure as a concept for studying public relations, we draw from Freud’s theory of memory to establish a foundation upon which to critique strategic erasure. We adapt Freud’s theory of memory into the intersecting critique of visual rhetoric as public relations by analyzing, via narrative inquiry, remnants of Imperial Rome that have been modified, amplified, but even erased to present Rome’s modern identity. For centuries, even during Imperial Rome, leaders practiced damnatio memoriae —a modern Latin phrase that means “condemnation of memory.” We use this concept to interrogate the public relations identity process Rome’s leaders have used to modify for emphasis and even obliterate Roman elites’ names and images from the texts of public records by destroying, mutilating and modifying statues and monuments as a means for co-creating new public memory. Such analysis reveals how damnatio memoriae helps elites to redefine the “memory” of the Eternal City.     

Social Class and Attitudes toward Mental Illness: a Study of a Canadian Prairie Community*

A partir d'entrevues obtenues auprés d'une population adulte échantillonnée au hasard, vivant dans une petite ville typiques des prairies canadiennes, l'auteur entreprend l'examen des relations qui existent entre les classes sociales et les attitudes vis-à-vis la santé mentale. Il n'existe aucune relation significative entre ces deux facteurs lorsqu'on utilise une échelle de « negation » de la santé mentale et deux indicateurs traduisant le refus de l'informateur à reconnaître que l'isolement est un problème. Par ailleurs, il existe des relations significatives entre les classes sociales et les échelles d'isolement physique et sociale. On tente, par après, d'éclairer ces résultats par diverses explications possibles. The relationship between social class and attitudes toward mental illness is examined using interviews with a random sample of the adult population of a typical, small, Canadian prairie town. There were no statistically significant relationships between social class and scores on a scale measuring “denial” of mental illness and two indicators of “insulation” of mental illness. There were, however, significant relationships between social class and scores on scales of physical and social “isolation” and responses to one other interview question. Various explanations for the results are explored.     

Introduction

ABSTRACT

Conceptualizations of mental health and mental illness continue to be an important influence in shaping social work practice and education. By critically analyzing the emergence of the current concepts of “brain disease” and “behavioral health,” we are able to better understand the stakeholders in this renaming process. The inherent assumptions and the sociopolitical aspects of these two concepts are analyzed. Recommendations for social work practitioners and educators in preparing for a future in which they will participate more fully in the professional dialog about changes in the vocabulary of mental illness and thus more meaningfully shape the service delivery system in general, and the social work domain, in particular, are offered.     

Development of the Mental Illness and Disorder Understanding Scale

Abstract: Although administrative bodies such as community health centers have implemented various awareness campaigns to promote community understanding of mental health and to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and disorder, there have been few reports that have quantitatively analyzed the effects of these campaigns in Japan. Therefore, this study was conducted for the purpose of developing the evaluative “Mental Illness and Disorder Understanding Scale (MIDUS)” for awareness campaigns and assessing its reliability and validity. A survey was conducted on 1 004 community residents using a self‐administered questionnaire. An assessment of the reliability and validity of the scale was then conducted. The Cronbach a coefficient of the MIDUS was 0.78, thus indicating adequate reliability. Factor analysis of the MIDUS revealed three factors: “Treatability of illness”, “Efficacy of medication” and “Social recognition of illness”. In addition, a significant correlation was observed between the MIDUS and existing scales, and fixed criterion‐based validity was demonstrated. The MIDUS utilizes items worded in the form of affirmative expressions so as to avoid promoting new bias. It was confirmed to be both reliable and valid, thereby suggesting its usefulness as an evaluative scale of awareness campaigns.     

Toward a dialogic theory of public relations

This essay clarifies the concept of dialogue in public relations. As public relations theory and research move toward a two-way relational communication model, many scholars and practitioners are increasingly using the terms “dialogic” and “dialogue” to describe ethical and practical approaches to public relations. The concept of dialogue is deeply rooted in philosophy and relational communication theory. Its inclusion in the public relations vocabulary is an important step toward understanding how organizations can build relationships that serve both organizational and public interests. This essay traces the roots of dialogue, identifies several over-arching tenets, and provides three ways that organizations can incorporate dialogue into their communication with publics.     

An overview of concept mapping in Dutch mental health care

About 25 years ago, concept mapping was introduced in the Netherlands and applied in different fields. A collection of concept mapping projects conducted in the Netherlands was identified, in part in the archive of the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (Trimbos Institute). Some of the 90 identified projects are internationally published. The 90 concept mapping projects reflect the changes in mental health care and can be grouped into 5-year periods and into five typologies. The studies range from conceptualizing the problems of the homeless to the specification of quality indicators for treatment programs for patients with cystic fibrosis. The number of concept mapping projects has varied over time. Growth has been considerable in the last 5 years compared to the previous 5 years. Three case studies are described in detail with 12 characteristics and graphical representations. Concept mapping aligns well with the typical Dutch approach of the “Poldermodel.” A broad introduction of concept mapping in European countries in cooperation with other countries, such as the United States and Canada, would strengthen the empirical basis for applying this approach in health care policy, quality, and clinical work.     

Telling Others How You Live—Refining Goffman's Stigma Theory Through an Analysis of Housing Strugglers in a Homeowner Nation

This article revisits Goffman's stigma theory from the perspective of housing studies. We elaborate on Goffman's approach by exploring how housing tenure can work as a proxy for moral character. We interviewed twenty‐seven people who are excluded from access to homeownership in two cities in Norway, which is a “homeowner nation.” These individuals are unable to enter the dominant “homeowner class” for different reasons, including drug‐dependency, mental illness, refugee background, low socioeconomic status; thus, they must access housing through other tenures; private renting or social housing. To many of them, housing becomes a stigma, in Goffman terms, an “undesired differentness.” Social housing is known to carry stigma in Norway. It was thus a paradox, that those with the softest differentness—private rental—were most likely to practice (Goffman:) “information control” over their housing situation. Goffman's theoretical apparatus, and his distinction between the discreditable and the discredited in particular, helped us make this paradox comprehensible. Through this analysis, refinements to Goffman's theory were discovered. We suggest that “multiple stigmas,” which was not seen clearly by Goffman himself, should be a key notion in stigma studies. We use this notion to distinguish between possible sub‐types to the discredited‐discreditable distinction.     

American Sociology: History and Racially Gendered Classed Knowledge Reproduction

The purpose of this paper is to explore how racially gendered classed power‐relations structure history, knowledge and American Sociology's historical memory and disciplinary knowledge production. In order to do so, this paper will 1) utilize Cabral's (1970) theory of history to center humanity as historically developed into a racially gendered classed capitalist world‐system, 2) employ intersectionality as a heuristic device to see how knowledge is manipulated to normalize dehumanization as well as to perpetuate exploitation and privilege by denying “Othered' ” knowledges, and lastly 3) sociologically imagine this racially gendered classed process in the “institutional‐structure” of American Sociology by exploring the ancestry of the concept of “intersectionality.” In all this paper argues 1) American Sociology under theorizes history, a central aspect of the sociological imagination and production of new sociological knowledge, 2) American Sociology reproduces a dehumanized theory of history per Marx's “historical materialism” and 3) the structure of American Sociology's knowledge is racially gendered classed, as illustrated in the collective memory of the concept of “intersectionality.”     

Making Coolies, (Un)making Workers: “Globalizing” Labour in the Late‐19th and Early‐20th Centuries

This paper explores the social relationships of wage labour formed or stabilized in British merchant shipping in the course of “off‐shoring” employment in the late‐19^th century. It argues that Asian wage‐workers were mobilized for employment on British merchant vessels as “coolies”, i.e. nominally free but mediated labouring subjects who could only be stabilized through legal, penal, social, debt, or other forms of coercion. Once introduced “coolie” relations were not confined to Indian crews. They also affected wage labour relations more generally in British shipping. While occurring against the backdrop of anti‐colonial struggles, the seafaring coolie's transformation into maritime worker was closely mediated by employers and the colonial state and produced hybrid outcomes. The creation of the modern seafaring “coolie” and the nature and context of his transformation into a “worker” thus shed interesting light on wage labour relations in the modern and contemporary global economy.     

Spatial Syntagma and Identity of a Place: Sensing,Relating to,and Knowing a Place

Place is a complex and multi-dimensional system capable of embracing different uses, interpretations, and even various definitions. As a notion, place is composed of a series of narratives, characteristics, relations, and socio-spatial values that altogether can be regarded as the spatial syntagma of a place. The livelihood of a place is much dependent on its interrelated socio-spatiality, whereby people are not only part of a place but are mutually related to it; to shaping its happenings and forming its identities. In this study, the major focus is toward understanding place and people's environmental knowledge of place. Through this theoretical approach, this article aims to explore the concept of spatial syntagma on the basis of three major aspects of “sensing a place,” “relating to place,” and “knowing a place.” Moreover, this study aims to emphasize the notion of a place as a socio-behavioral network (or system) and verify characteristics, qualities, and the spirituality of a place.     

Culture and classification: A history of the Mozbieker community at the cape

This paper reviews the concept of race as applied in southern Africa, and with particular reference to the idea of the “Negro”. After examining earlier work in the field of physical anthropology, more recent theoretical concepts are applied in a critique of modern practice. It is concluded that the revolution in physical anthropological theory has been largely “silent”, with the consequence that new ideas have not been systematically applied in archaeology. It would seem that there is little firm, and still acceptable, evidence for the identity of early farming communities in southern Africa.     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy. Treating individuals with dual diagnoses

Because deinstitutionalization of individuals with mental retardation/developmental disability and mental illness has become the standard of practice, many practitioners are now faced with the challenge of serving the needs of this specialized population. The existence of mental illness in individuals with mental retardation has been well established in the literature, but there are relatively few studies involving therapeutic interventions in this client population. However, there is a theoretical framework that guides practice and measures the effectiveness of interventions with this specialized population. This article presents a case study exploring the application of cognitive-behavioral therapy to a client with mental retardation and mental illness. The theoretical framework, major concepts, and key assumptions of the theory will be reviewed, as well as treatment outcomes.     

Structural equivalence: Meaning and definition,computation and application

This paper presents a generalization of the concept of “structural equivalence”, the key concept in algebraic approaches to the study of social networks. Two points in a graph or set of relations will be called “structurally related” if they are connected in the same ways to structurally related points.It is suggested that this new definition suitably weakens Lorrain and White's categorical approach, and is more appropriate than CONCOR. Structural relatedness is compared to these approaches via several simple examples.     

How Creative Contributions Emerge Over the Lifespan

The starting point for this article is, What are the hegemonic models of man and woman that educational practices are orientated toward in gypsy communities (models that are often in conflict with mainstream schooling institution's models of socialization)? We do not find the collectivism/individualism approach for explaining socialization in minority cultures helpful, for it can lead us to misunderstand the continuous process of change through which communities challenge existing power relations and thereby change society. The alternative proposed here is the analysis of the role of multivoicedness in the process of cultural change, hybridation, and resistance. A set of conversations with members of a Spanish gypsy community give us a “text” where multiple voices contribute, showing a mixed culture where “traditional” voices are in a constant dialogue with “modern” voices. Minority culture cannot be interpreted as a “traditional” culture, for minority culture includes voices of the hegemonic culture in various different forms and provokes hybridation as differentiation, creating a complex framework for children's socialization.     

MARRYING A ‘FOE’: JOINT SCRIPTS AND REWRITTEN HISTORIES OF GREEK-TURKISH COUPLES

Addressing the notion of “mixture” in marriages between individuals with diverse ethnic and religious identity as well as ambiguous historical relations, this article investigates the conjugal life and relations of Greek-Turkish couples living in Athens. It explores the meanings such unions take on in modern Greek society where nationalist discourse underlines issues of cultural and biological “purity” and shows how alternative versions of history intersect with gender and ethnicity in “mixed” family settings. Although crossing ethnic and historical boundaries does not transform dominant ideas, these mixed marriages allow their participants to maintain flexible lines of distinction and construct meaningful commonalities between themselves and their nations. What is more, by rephrasing stereotypical imageries and orienting themselves toward modern, Westernised ideas, Greek-Turkish couples have built up an ideological platform embracing diversity and historical ambivalence in new, enriched ways.