Robert W. Cox and the Idea of History: Political Economy as Philosophy

Abstract

Within the discipline of international political economy (IPE), the work of Robert Cox is usually associated with the tradition of historical materialism, especially its Gramscian-inspired version. In this paper, however, I explore some of the less visible elements of Cox's thought. In particular, I highlight a variant of historicism which, although not without a connection to Gramsci's conception of the philosophy of praxis and absolute historicism, is more fully aligned with the work of Collingwood, Vico, Braudel, and Carr. I identify this as a variant of historical idealism, and I suggest that it is this element of his thought which provides a deep intellectual coherence to his work across the different stages of his career. Furthermore, I argue that this use of the idea of history distinguishes Cox's approach from more radical and constructivist accounts of world order, and allows him to connect his framework of historical structures to his method of diachronic change, which centres ultimately on his conception of intersubjectivity. I close by suggesting that Cox's interest in civilizations is deeply connected to these formative historicist influences, which in turn helps to account for why his later work resonates less well with much contemporary historical materialist IPE analysis.     

Dialectic of information? A response to Taylor

This paper is a response to Paul Taylor's review article of the book Critique of Information. The book's main thesis is that critique in the information age must be immanent critique. Taylor reproaches this for neglecting the necessity of a transcendental for critique. The response accepts this criticism. However, it rejects Taylor's aporetic notion of critique. Instead, a dialectical notion of critique is proposed. Like all dialectics this informational dialectic is one of materiality and idea. The major difference in the information age, however, is that there is a tendency for the material and the ideal to fuse in information itself. Thus the critique of information, it is argued, is a sort of immanent dialectic. This notion of critique is illustrated with reference to media art and metadata. Throughout there is an engagement with Taylor of the political implications of such critique.     

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

SUMMARY

This article is a consideration of the implications for the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology in social work practice as a tool for improved visualization of social and economic inequalities. Along with a brief, general introduction to GIS, overviews are included of the historical uses of geographic mapping, as well as current applications of GIS technology in social work practice, education, and research. Specific illustrative examples of GIS-gener-ated maps are presented.     

Towards a Socio‐Economics of the Brain Drain and Distributed Human Capital

This paper derives from our joint interest in understanding how scientific mobility affects developing countries. Many authors have addressed the topic previously, both from an economic and from a sociological perspective. However, recent literature evinces dissatisfaction with both analytical frameworks and the framing of public policies addressing the brain drain problematic. This paper is a contribution to understanding the historical and theoretical foundations of the “brain drain” debate. We aim to improve conceptual clarity regarding the itinerancy of human beings and the mobilization of human capital. We develop a critical review of the economics of the brain drain, highlighting the work of some key early thinkers and pointing out the way in which subsequent work has taken up selected aspects of their approaches leaving other challenges aside. We then consider the diaspora networks literature, which is characterized as taking a “connectionist” approach to the brain drain. We identify two fundamental problems: the sidelining of complementarity and context dependency as basic properties of human capital; and a failure to adequately disentangle the concepts of human resources for science and technology (HRST) and human capital in academic and policy discourse about the brain drain.     

Retelling the Past Using New Technologies: A Case Study into the Digitization of Social Work Heritage Material and the Creation of a Virtual Exhibition

This article explains the rationale for the digitization of social work heritage material and the virtualization of an archived nondigital museum exhibit constructed by a Scottish Museum of Social Work. The project involved the “virtualization” of an existing social work museum exhibition on the migration of “Home Children” from Scotland to Canada in the late 19th and early 20th century and the digital preservation of historical assets (both text and images) held by the contemporary social care organization involved in the migration of the children. This article discusses best practice in the preservation of historical assets, the methodology and technology used in the creation of the multimedia version of the exhibition, and the complexities of negotiating intellectual property rights in the transition from historical artifacts to new digital works.     

Organizing the past: A history and its (de)construction

This paper explores some aspects of the textuality of historical narrative as a mode of organizing the past, drawing its inspiration from the work of Hayden White. The paper is unusual in that it takes as its central text for analysis a piece of historical narrative constructed ‘naively’ by the author prior to the writing of the current paper. This text, which attempts to account for the varying development of the discipline of Business History in Britain and the United States, is explored for its narrative implications and implicit story-lines. The reactions of a number of readers of the original text are also examined, and an attempt is made to account for these in terms of the types of story each reader understands the text to be telling.     

The individual in Japanese history: Parallels to and divergences from the European experience

This paper shows that Japan underwent a sequence of historical periods during which the level of technical development and the place of the individual in society paralleled that of similar periods in Europe. Particular attention is paid to 16th-century Japan, a period remarkably similar to the European Renaissance in its individualism and socioeconomic and cultural vitality. In both Japan and Western Europe, this renaissance followed the breakdown of an imperium and its replacement by a feudal system. The historical parallel continues with those parts of Europe in which absolutist governments were successfully imposed, since Japan underwent a similar phenomenon, accompanied by a similar decline in individualism and in technological development. Although no definitive conclusions can be reached, the paper explores the implications of these parallels for our understanding of both Japan and the general historical and psychological processes involved in the growth of individualism and technology.     

Fieldwork in forbidden terrain: The U.S. state and the case of Cuba

This paper introduces the concept of forbidden research terrains and examines one such terrain in detail: post-revolutionary Cuba. After exploring the characteristics of this forbidden research terrain, the paper examines how it was initially created. Through an historical analysis of U.S.-Cuban relations between 1959 and mid-1960, Cuba’s forbidden designation is shown to be the result of U.S. actions prompted by the very broad conception of U.S. interests held by state decision makers. Next, the consequences of Cuba’s forbidden status are investigated and found to include heightened state power in the foreign policy arena. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of other possible forbidden research terrains which are also politically inspired. Some of her past work on the politics of workers’ control in post-revolutionary Cuba has been published inLatin American Perspectives andWorld Development. Currently she is comparing unions in Cuba with those in the GDR.     

Global generations: social change in the twentieth century

The concept of generation within sociology has until recently been a marginal area of interest. However, various demographic, cultural and intellectual developments have re-awakened an interest in generations that started with the classic essay by Karl Mannheim. To date, the sociological literature has generally conceptualized generations as nationally bounded entities. In this paper we suggest that the sociology of generations should develop the concept of global generations. This conceptual enhancement is important because the growth of global communications technology has enabled traumatic events, in an unparalleled way, to be experienced globally. The late nineteenth and early twentieth century was the era of international generations, united through print media, and the mid-twentieth century saw the emergence of transnational generations, facilitated by new broadcast communications. However, the latter part of the twentieth century is the period of global generations, defined by electronic communications technology, which is characterized, uniquely, by increasing interactivity. The 1960s generation was the first global generation, the emergence of which had world-wide consequences; today with major developments in new electronic communications, there is even more potential for the emergence of global generations that can communicate across national boundaries and through time. If in the past historical traumas combined with available opportunities to create national generations, now globally experienced traumas, facilitated by new media technologies, have the potential for creating global generational consciousness. The media have become increasingly implicated in the formation of generational movements. Because we are talking about generations in the making rather than an historical generation, this article is necessarily speculative; it aims to provoke discussion and establish a new research agenda for work on generations.     

Bridges to the past: a Lemko family history explored through letters. An ethnographic case study

The paper is a case study of one Lemko (Ukrainian) family whose members experienced emigration to Canada, ethnic discrimination, war, ethnic cleansing, dispersals, and assimilation. It is based on the analysis of almost 80 letters that were sent to Canada from Poland and the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1975. The author presents the impact of great historical events on the lives of the members of one family. She explains the content of the letters with reference to the wider cultural and historical context, and the narrative told by the owner of the letters, the son of the addressees, a Lemko of Ukrainian identity born in Canada. The analysis reveals the problematic role of family letters in the evolution of family relationships in circumstances where the correspondents live in mutually “untranslatable” realities. This is territory for the cultural anthropologist, whose work it is to translate cultures. In this case, the anthropologist tries to translate distant cultural and historical contexts for the use of the letters’ owner.     

Grief and loss theory in social work practice: All changes involve loss,just as all losses require change

Working with and recognising grief and loss issues have long been identified as one of the core skills of social work practice. Despite its centrality, the exploration and application of grief and loss theory from a perspective other than death and dying has received sporadic attention in social work literature. This paper begins with a personal reflection from practice, which provided the catalyst writing in the first place. The concepts of grief and loss are then discussed in relation to losses other than death and dying. An analysis of historical and contemporary theories of grief and loss will then be explored, with the author advancing a theoretically expansive approach to grief and loss. This theoretical approach is one that is consistent with social work practice and is committed to diversity of experience and clients' strengths, as it adopts a framework for practice, which is constantly mindful of the context and meaning systems of social work clients.     

ACCESSING TRANSGENERATIONAL THEMES THROUGH DREAMWORK

This paper proposes the use of "dreamwork" to evoke historical patterns or transgenerational themes. A new variant of dreamwork is described. This work is systemic as well as symbolic, combining aspects of both Gestalt and Family System therapies. Two examples present this experiential exploration of recursive historical themes. The integration of these approaches is demonstrated. Implications of this therapeutic dramatization for couple therapy are suggested.     

Book review

Social workers around the world are increasingly working with culturally diverse populations. Since the 1960s, United States schools of social work have included in their curricula content on ethnic minorities. This paper provides a historical overview of how US schools of social work have introduced content on cultural diversity. The paper then reviews models for teaching this content and models for understanding cultural diversity. Finally, the processes by which the United States experience can be transferred to other countries are considered.     

On Parallel Process in Social Work Supervision

The recognition and study of parallel process in social work supervision offers both the social work supervisor and supervisee a rich learning opportunity at the moment when an impasse seems unworkable. The parallel process is an unconscious replication in the supervisory session of therapeutic difficulties which a supervisee has with a client. This replication may originate with the supervisor unwittingly modeling behavior that is then taken by the social worker into the therapeutic interaction with the client. This paper reviews the need for social workers to grasp the dynamics of the parallel process, discusses the literature for the historical development of the phenomenon, addresses supervisory methods that will uncover the process, and illustrates the supervisor's stages of exploration and modeling in addressing the parallel process.     

New bottles for new wine: Julian Huxley,biology and sociology in Britain

Although sociologists in Britain have debated the nature of their field's relationship with biology since the late nineteenth century, interest in the full range of responses has only grown in recent years. This paper contributes to the spirit of historical revisionism by turning to the work of the biologist and first director of UNESCO, Julian Huxley (1887–1975). Paying particular attention to the doctrine he called ‘scientific humanism’ and his ideas about a biosocial agenda separate from the priorities of biology itself, the paper uses historical tools to address a concern that has frequently cast a shadow over debates about biosocial science: does it interfere with the progressive agenda sociologists have traditionally seen themselves as contributing to? The paper argues that Huxley's work is evidence that biosocial science is compatible with progressive goals and that recent developments in biology mean it may be the ideal time to reconsider long-standing attitudes.     

The cloud factory: Making things and making a living with desktop 3D printing

This paper presents a case study of an open-source 3D printer called ‘Rep-rap’. 3D printing derives from computer numerical control machinery, a technology first introduced against a background of industrial conflict. This historical fact reactualises labour process theory as a theoretical resource. However, the hobbyists in the Rep-rap project are located ‘outside’ the typical setting studied in labour process theory, that is, the workplace. The case study is, therefore, suitable for examining the limits of labour process theory. Its key tenet regarding structured antagonism between labour and capital is put to the test when the ‘point of production’ is located in a community and ‘labour’ consists in non-remunerated contributions by hobbyists (i.e. non-employees). Drawing on theories of the social factory and free labour in the cultural sector, the article argues that this is changing as hobbyists, fans, makers, etc., are put to work by start-up firms and venture capital in the so-called “sharing economy.”     

"Lazy men", time-use,and rural development in Zambia

This paper examines how work and the labor in agriculture in rural sub-Saharan Africa is measured. Section 1 presents a historical example of colonial discourses of the "lazy" African (the Lamba in Zambia). Section 2 analyzes a study carried out in rural Zambia to illustrate the relationship between stereotypes held by many Europeans, particular aspects of the colonial project, and the social relations brought about by colonialism. Section 3 examines the ways in which present work and labor approaches in sub-Saharan Africa embody value judgements which leads to distorted documentation of the division of labor between opposite genders. Sections 4 through 7 look at a time-use study conducted in Zambia and argue that studies of such nature create value judgement on what comprises work, and about how researchers and planners classify this. Overall, this article has demonstrated that time-use surveys may provide inadequate understanding of women and men's work in the absence of an understanding of the local context in which the work is undertaken, and of labor markets.     

Interdisciplinary and Interorganizational Concerns in the Development of Technology for Physically Disabled Persons

This paper focuses on interdisciplinary and interorganizational concerns which are involved in the development of technology which will be of use to physically disabled persons. The paper is divided into five parts: (1) The concepts, 'interdisciplinary' and 'interorganizational' are described and defined. (2) Then, a number of concerns and problems involved in interdisciplinary and interorganizational work are identified. (3) From parts 1 and 2, an interdisciplinary/interorganizational framework is developed. (4) This framework is then used to analyze some problems and to examine possible solutions, focusing on the development of technology for physically disabled persons. (5) The paper ends with conclusions and recommendations.     

Synesthetizing Sound Studies and the Sociology of Technology

This paper examines current issues at the intersection of the Sociology of Technology and the interdisciplinary field of Sound Studies. It begins with an overview of major social constructionist, interpretive semiotic, and actor–network theoretical sociological approaches to technology as developed within the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Considering the predominance of narrative visual metaphors in these approaches' treatment of socio‐technical perception, it is argued that the “turn to sound” in social studies of technology, rather than simply furnishing established analytic approaches with a fresh set of empirical cases (i.e. “sound technologies”), presents an opportunity to better sensitize STS approaches to the contingent socio‐technical shaping and distribution of embodied perceptual modalities in general. A critical review of recent social and historical studies of sound and technology, attending especially to debates surrounding the theoretical shift from acoustemological or soundscape‐based to signal‐oriented “transductive” approaches, suggests the importance for future STS and Sound Studies work of addressing how shared modes of sensory perception are produced within particular socio‐technical frames.     

Key misconceptions when assessing digital technology for municipal youth social work

ABSTRACT

Municipal youth protection work has become infused with digital technology, and yet there is still limited research on how to assess the impact of digital technology on municipal youth social work. This article reviews a range of misconceptions regarding the assessment of digital technology for youth social work in municipal contexts. This review was generated in connection with the development of an app system for communication between young clients and their municipal social workers in Denmark. The misconceptions relate to: variations in technologies and contexts; the impact of digital technologies on the relationship; social justice; differentiating between the user and the digital technology; digitalization and standardization; stakeholder and functional models of municipal social work. The paper concludes that the relationship between municipal social work and digital technology is complex and that thus complex comprehensions of municipal social work practice are needed if the relationship between technologies and practice is to be grasped adequately. The paper argues that given the complexity of the field and the speed of technological and legal changes, external support with regard to assessing how to use, develop and incorporate digital technology needs to be made available to municipalities and social workers.