Cultural Studies in Black and White

Political intervention is deeply etched in the history and theory of Cultural Studies. The vehicle of intervention is typically understood as textual and the measure of success as ‘has it changed the world?’ This graphic and textual essay argues for and enacts thinking of and practising intervention more innovatively and more modestly: as equally extra-textual, and as a site for experimentation in the folds among theory, practice, and the quotidian. The author’s original black and white charcoal and pastel images are paired with text to explore the potential for an articulation of the visual and the textual to engage, convey, actualize, and produce concepts and insights of Cultural Studies. In evocative images and accessible language it enacts a new mode of engaging the theory and practice of Cultural Studies, specifically engaging concepts of articulation and assemblage, movement and things, questions of identity, the importance of affect, the power of transformation, youth cultures and resistance, The Black Lives Matter movement and matters of race, the struggles of women, the challenge of overcoming culturally engendered hatred of difference, and the difficulties of negotiating change in the precarious circumstances of contemporary culture.     

Cultural studies of extraction

The special double issue at hand offers Cultural Studies engagements with extractivism and the myriad of conflicts, struggles and other processes and phenomena that have risen together with the on-going intensification and expansion of extractivist industries and exploitation. In this article, we examine the political and epistemological stakes of these engagements, and introduce the different perspectives from which the notions of extractivism and extraction are approached within this issue. We argue that as a conceptual framework loaded with political meaning and potential, and able to address the on-going moment of dwindling resources, environmental degradation and heightened social and economic inequality, extractivism and studies of extraction are crucial for the discipline’s efforts to engage contemporary culture politically, and to examine on-going processes of exploitation and subjectification through specific context and cases. Many of the articles included in this issue expand understandings of extraction, and present a broad range of methods and analytical frameworks through which different forms of ‘extractivism’ and its consequences might be examined, deciphered and discussed within Cultural Studies. And yet, what emerges out of these efforts eventually, is the ultimate centrality of the war between climate and capital for contemporary politics of globalization.     

上海城乡统筹发展的路径和突破口研究

上海城乡二元结构的深层次问题突出表现为:城乡居民收入差距仍然明显,促进农民增收的难度加大;郊区人口持续导入,对公共服务和社会管理的要求提高;农村土地和产权制度改革滞后,深化改革的条件尚不成熟;郊区城市化进程加速,管理体制和管理模式亟待转变;新城和小城镇等城乡统筹载体建设有待加强。上海城乡统筹发展要牢牢把握公共服务均等化、发展成果共享化、发展权利平等化内涵,坚持以城带乡、城乡一体、互动发展,以推进新型城市化战略为主攻方向,以加强城乡规划一体化为前提,以加快新城开发建设为突破口,以土地管理、集体产权、社会管理制度改革为支撑,以基本公共服务均等化为着力点,大力推进工业向园区集中、居住向社区集中、农业向规模经营集中,努力实现优化农村土地资源配置方式、优化城乡资源要素流动方式、优化城乡统筹发展方式,推进城乡一体化发展。     

规训与抵制:大学生视觉形象重构

传统影像建构出大学生的消费者、服务者、普通人形象,却在悠远的宏大叙事向日常生活实践的转向、新媒介、城市空间等面向中被当代大学生解构和重构。这三个面向统合在青年亚文化中。并为大学生进行自身形象的视觉建构提供了技术和思想准备。政治话语与娱乐诉求的分离、日常生活审美化的趋势与商品利益的幕后操纵所形成的合力,询唤着当代大学生的时尚表现者和身体抵抗者形象的视觉建构:时尚的区分与整合功能使大学生实现自我认同和社会归属,同时内生抵抗主流意识形态的力量而建构身体抵抗者形象。抵抗的实质其实是大学生与媒介和商品合谋,当代大学生的视觉建构与大众媒介的商业利益相互邀约、彼此验证,携手建构出媒介暗自得意、大学生自觉另类、社会秩序和谐稳定的"整体的生活方式"。     

中国青年文化景观的形成轨迹与引导理路

中华人民共和国成立以来,特别是改革开放以来,青年文化发展出现服从与反思、解放与迷茫、理性与矛盾勾勒的变迁图景,也反映出新时代青年文化的发展趋向。新时代的青年文化景观既具有青年文化的预见性与超越性、进取性和建构性、理想性和生活性等共性特征,又突出表现为雅俗共赏、进退有度、家国兼顾的时代特性。新时代,应注重从个人追求与社会理想的统一、独立思想与过硬本领的统一、青春热情与社会担当的统一几方面入手,突出政治引领、思想引领、责任引领在青年文化引导上的关键作用,推动青年文化持续向前发展。     

关于上海科技服务业发展环境的调研

近年来,上海科技创新体系总体呈现良好发展态势。但现阶段仍然存在着科技成果转化率低、科技成果转化供需双方两头冷的现象。究其原因,地区科技服务业发展相对滞后是一个重要原因。总体来看,上海虽已初步形成了科技创新服务体系,但科技服务能力的疲软仍是阻碍创新型城市和创新型国家的建设的短板。上海应逐步调整科技服务业的发展路径,将科技服务业列入现代服务业的主要产业来培育,进一步优化科技服务业市场化运作环境,有效激发其活力,从而提升上海城市综合服务功能和自主创新能力。     

Assemblages and affect: migrant mothers and the varieties of absent children

Drawing from stories told by migrant women in Hong Kong, this article builds on previous studies of ‘left‐behind children’ and calls for greater attention to the spectrum of sorts of absent children and to the formation of queer or less normative forms of migratory families. Taking a two‐pronged approach, I present an on‐the‐ground ethnographic and affective approach through several vignettes, and consider key elements of a more mid‐range and distanced ‘global assemblage’ approach to the institutions and expert knowledge that shape the experiences and practices of migrant mothers, migratory families, and the spectrum of absent children. This article posits that one's biological children, perhaps the most familial of kin, can become familiar or even unfamiliar strangers through contemporary processes, technologies and practices of migration and separation, and that the process of migration makes and unmakes conventional and unconventional sorts of families. While affective and assemblage approaches are independently valuable, combined they offer richer understandings of the complex interplay of factors – at various levels – that shape normative and queer families and different types of children's absences.     

Teaching and Learning Theory For Family Therapy Practice: On The Art and Craft of Balancing

As with all practice knowledges, family therapy theory sits in a complicated relationship to practice. This paper offers a set of reflections exploring challenges of teaching and learning theory for, and about, practice in family therapy. The importance of teaching particular frameworks of practice sits in tension and balance with the importance of the common factors of therapeutic change, and the inseparability of the use of self and the use of particular practice knowledge. Passion and commitment to particular ways of working is held in balance with the need for flexibility and the freedom to think independently. Discipline and focus is balanced with creativity and the room for integration. A number of balancing practices are identified in the art and craft of teaching, and the contextual issue of power and vulnerability in the teaching and learning relationship is acknowledged. Finally, the three ‘Rs’ in teaching and learning family therapy practice theory are drawn out – reflection, the recursiveness of theory and practice, and the reflexivity of self in relation to context and knowledge.     

The Sociologies of Knowledge,Science, and Intellectuals: Distinctive Traditions and Overlapping Perspectives

This article reviews sociological approaches to the production, evaluation, and diffusion of knowledge in the arena of scholarly production – the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. At first glance, sociological approaches to scholarly knowledge production seem to congeal around the hard sciences, on the one hand, and philosophy, on the other. I eschew this polarization and construct an analytic frame of reference for analyzing the sociological dimensions of scholarly production more generally. This article maps successive phases of sociological approaches to scholarly production, by overlaying and distinguishing among theories in the sociology of knowledge, sociology of science, and sociology of intellectuals. I analyze classical theorists’ emphases on class analysis and the social function of intellectuals; mid-century adaptations of functionalism, social structure theory, and institutional theory to analyze intellectual and academic life; critical and reflexive theories, including feminist critiques of science and knowledge; recent emphases on how social movement politics and social networks influence intellectual change; theories of the university as a professional arena and a field of culture production; and studies of knowledge-making practices in group research situations. In addition to arguing for more theoretical and methodological precision in analyses of scholarly and scientific knowledge-making, I conclude with cautionary tales and future prospects for sociological studies of modern academic life.     

Fighting in the Dark: Ideology and State Formation in Post‐Colonial Burma

Extant major approaches to states and revolutions privilege the role of state practices and the character of war‐making in shaping modern state‐making in the Third World. Bringing the role of ideology into this analytical landscape of state‐making, this paper advances an alternative claim that ideological practices shape modern state structures and practices as well as the dynamics of political contention between the state and the revolutions. First, I argue that that intra‐movement ideological dynamics within the nationalist movement can have a profound impact on the structure and practices of the state. Using the writings of the party leaders, memoirs and official publications of the Burmese communist party, I maintain that subtle and specific ideological differences amongst the Burmese leftist movements generated organizational splits and internecine conflicts in the nationalist struggle, which exerted profound influences on the structures and practices of the Burmese state Secondly, relative ideological positions of the state and the revolutionary movements play an important role in shaping the dynamics of contention between the state and revolution. For example, an intimate web of ideological affinity between the nascent Burmese state and the Burmese leftist movements shaped the context and content of political contention between the state and these movements in the post‐colonial Burma. To address these issues empirically, the first part of the paper examines the formation and cementation of organizational linkages amongst Burmese leftist nationalists during the anti‐colonial struggle. The second part of the paper addresses specific and subtle ways in which ideological character and practices of the Burmese state and the Burmese Communist party shaped state practices and state structures in modern Burma as well as the dynamics of political contention between the state and the revolutionary movements.     

Editorial

This editorial presents an overview of the articles contained in this issue of Gender and Development, addressing the key themes of globalization and diversity. The collection of articles recalls why the project of promoting gender-equitable development continues to be critical in the 21st century, identifies some key challenges confronting those working on gender development, and takes a brief look at some examples of innovative work. This collection begins with a group of articles examining economic, political, and social changes associated with globalization, and analyzing their positive and negative impacts on different men and women. The ways in which specific aspects of globalization affect gender relations and shape the choices and chances of men and women are traced. In particular, writers highlight the failure of governments and development agencies to challenge fully the false assumptions about the nature of the role of men and women in society upon which global activity is based. Drawing on insights from academic research and feedback from practitioners, the second group of articles presents the basic concepts and terminology used in gender and development work. Lastly, the third group of articles offers innovative case studies of current gender-sensitive development work. Emphasis is placed on topical issues, including acknowledgment of sexuality as a development issue, critique on the assumption of entrepreneurship as gender neutral, and the assertion of the need for mainstream institutions, including government and development funders to work with women's organizations.     

Absent in theory,invisible in practice: Queering HBSE for a more inclusive social work profession

A sound theoretical foundation is a necessary element of social work education that prepares students to confront the challenges of practice with critical knowledge of the human experience. Queer theory is a strength-based framework for understanding sexual and gender identities that fall outside of the current social norms, and offers a highly relevant and useful pathway for the education of social work practitioners. Despite its utility for enhancing understanding and acceptance of gender and sexual minority (SGM) people, it is underutilized in social work compared with other disciplines. Additionally, this study reports on the gender and sexual identities of social work students and their endorsement of help-seeking behaviors related to issues of gender and sexual nonconformity. These empirical-based perspectives undergird the tenets of queer theory and support its application in research endeavors aimed at better understanding the human experience. A theoretical and empirical-based argument is made for the queering of HBSE to strengthen both explicit and implicit curricula in social work education. This study expands on the limited usage of queer theory within social work and directly challenges the normative and binary nature of sexual and gender identity evident within the professional literature and implications for education and research are offered.     

Interdependencies, values and the reshaping of difference: gender and generation at the birth of twentieth-century modernity

The paper explores the mutuality of values, claims and social relations in the process of social change. Values are not separable from social relations but are embedded in the shaping and reshaping of social difference and interdependence. The paper focuses on developments around the turn of the twentieth century, and analyses changes in the relative social positioning of children and adults, and women and men, shifting patterns of interdependence, and linked values and ideas about difference. The reconfiguring of generational and gender relations was integral to the first fertility decline, to transformation in family life and societal divisions of labour, and to the embedding of particular values and claims regarding gendered difference, identities and gender appropriate roles. Analysis of these developments reveals the mutuality of 'cultural' and 'material' processes and holds lessons for interpreting social change today.     

Understanding social factors and inequalities in health: 20th century progress and 21st century prospects

The development of social epidemiology and medical sociology over the last half of the 20th century, in which Leo Reeder played a central role, transformed scientific and popular understanding of the nature and causes of physical health and illness. Viewed in the early 1950s as shaped almost entirely by biological processes and medical care, physical health and illness are now understood to be as much or more a function of social, psychological, and behavioral factors. Utilizing a stress and adaptation conceptual framework, social epidemiology has identified a broad range of psychosocial risk factors for health, most notably: (1) social relationships and support; (2) acute or event-based stress; (3) chronic stress in work and life; and (4) psychological dispositions such as anger/hostility, lack of self-efficacy/control, and negative affect/hopelessness/pessimism, with new risk factors continuing to be identified. However, proliferation of risk factors must be balanced by conceptual integration and causal understanding of the relationships among them, their causes, and consequences. One source of such integration and understanding has been the rediscovery of large and persistent socioeconomic and racial-ethnic disparities in health. Socioeconomic position and race/ethnicity shape individuals' exposure to and experience of virtually all known psychosocial, and well as many environmental and biomedical, risk factors, and these risk factors help to explain the size and persistence of social disparities in health. Improving the socioeconomic position of a broad range of disadvantaged socioeconomic and racial-ethnic strata constitutes a major avenue for reducing exposure to and experience of deleterious risk factors for health, and hence for improving the health of these groups and the overall population. This in turn requires better understanding of the macrosocial forces that influence the socioeconomic position of individuals.     

Individual consequences of volunteer and paid work in old age: health and mortality

The impacts of the productive social activities of volunteer and paid work on health have rarely been investigated among the oldest Americans despite a recent claim for their beneficial effect (Rowe and Kahn 1998). This paper used data from Waves 3 and 4 of the Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) Study to (1) investigate the impact of these activities on health measured as self-reported health and activities of daily living (ADL) functioning limitations and to (2) explore possible causal mechanisms. Using multinomial logistic regression analysis, amounts of volunteer and paid work over a minimum of 100 annual hours self-reported at Wave 3 were related to poor health and death as competing risks measured at Wave 4, controlling for health measured at Wave 2 and for other predictors of poor health and death. Findings suggest that performing more than 100 annual hours of volunteer work and of paid work have independent and significant protective effects against subsequent poor health and death. Additional analyses suggest that the quantity of volunteer and paid work beyond 100 annual hours is not related to health outcomes and that physical exercise and mental health measured as cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms explain not entirely overlapping parts of the relationship between productive activities and health.     

Outlines of a Critical Sociology of Consumption: Beyond Moralism and Celebration

The 'new' sociology of consumption that emerged in the 1980s acknowledged that consumption is a significant cultural and social practice and not just a mere signifier of the pathological elements of contemporary societies. Arguably, this rehabilitation of consumption has overshot its mark and has led to an overly positive, complacent and celebratory rendering of consumption and to an overriding concern with the symbolic and communicative dimension of goods. Driven by the debates on globalization, political consumerism and the relation between consumption and citizenship, current work shows increased interest in the politics of consumption. The article explores in what directions the classic concern with the symbolic and communicative dimension of goods might be taken if it is more thoroughly grounded in an analysis of the politics of consumption and of the current reconfigurations of consumers and citizens. The overall aim is to outline a basis for a critical sociology of consumption.     

后现代思潮对我国青少年的影响与对策

出于反思"现代性"而出现的后现代主义,目前已经发展成"带有西方色彩"的全球性社会思潮。它反对理性主义、整体主义、中心主义,主张多元价值取向,注重人文关怀,具有否定的全面性与不彻底性、价值取向的无中心性、传播形式的灵活性与多样性、行为表现的随意性等特点。后现代主义在一定程度上有助于培养我国青少年的批判性思维,有助于青少年的天性成长,但也往往易于模糊青少年的是非判断标准,侵蚀青少年积极有为的责任担当,诱使青少年养成享乐主义的生活习惯。为此,需要从强化社会主义核心价值观的引领作用、加强对西方后现代思潮的理论研究、加强人文精神和心理健康方面的教育、引领网络与大众传播方向等方面做文章。     

Shoplifters of the World Unite! Law and Culture in Financialized Times

The last two decades have seen significant growth and change in the character of the interactions between working-class households and financial markets. Individuals and households are bearing more and more of the risks that were once managed by governments and employers, and financial markets have developed a vast range of products to facilitate that risk transfer. This has put households at the centre of financial innovation, requiring the extension of regulation and consumer protection into a whole new suite of financial products and a project of financial literacy and advice. Along with this financial development and its associated regulatory demands has come a new cultural project of capital seeking to normalize the expanded integration of individuals and households into capital's frontiers of accumulation. The project invites and invokes new forms of subjectivity (and subjugation) on the part of households. The developmental project required of state regulatory regimes is increasingly articulating not just a discourse of financial literacy but subordination to the individualism and discipline implicit in financial calculation. Contrary to its conception as spontaneous and individualist, this is an intentional and universalizing project of producing and managing labour's financial risks. In the collective self-management of these risks, the household is now not just a site of risk absorption; it is a major source of investment products (and, therefore, at the frontier of accumulation). Increasingly also, in the name of financial stability, households – not just those reliant on state support – are becoming subjects of surveillance and administration in their internal financial functioning. It is these dual aspects of households as both consumers and producers of financial claims that give materiality to conceptual and historical claims about the financialization of everyday life.     

Changing Behaviours,Improving Outcomes? Governing Healthy Lifestyles Through Social Marketing

Recent public health policy and practice in the UK and beyond has promoted behavioural and lifestyle change as key methods for health improvement and the reduction of inequalities. These methods contrast with more upstream and structural interventions intended to address environmental and material determinants of health. A current exemplar of this approach is the use of social marketing. These changes represent a shift from the social to the individual as the target of public health interventions and raise a number of critical questions for health social scientists concerned not only with health improvement but also equity and social justice. Further, they can be identified as part of broader social and economic shifts that posit the individual as responsible for the management of their own bodies and selves in late modern societies characterised by ‘government at a distance’ and the repeal of welfare. This paper offers a review of shifting paradigms of public health and considers the implications of newer modes of health governance such as social marketing and their role as a modern form of health governance.     

GLOBALIZATION: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE WITHIN THE SPACE ECONOMY OF LATE CAPITALISM

This article analyses the process of globalization from the perspective of a 'political economy of space' where the interactions of the processes of capitalist accumulation within contexts of geographic and social space has profound shaping effects upon the nature of politics, economics and society more generally. The argument will show that contemporary globalization has two dimensions: outward into geographic space, and inward into culture and society. The focus then moves to culture and information technology within the space economy of late capitalism and argues that a crisis of finite geographic space has led to the deepening of the commodificationary processes of capitalist accumulation into the 'identity-spaces' of culture and society. For hugely popular 'cyber-gurus' such as Howard Rheingold and Myron W . Krueger, the development of information technologies such as the Internet-derived 'virtual communities' are spaces where new forms of democracy and 'being' can emerge. This article argues that 'cyberspace' and 'virtual communities' are deeply dystopic and alienated spaces, and cyber-Utopian dreams of other, possible worlds made virtual through information technology are at best naive, when it is realised that the information revolution that evolved from the processes of a particular type of globalization, has conceived and developed technologies with primarily profit, productivity, surveillance labour-saving and escapism in mind.