Collective‐unconscious apologetics of plutocracy and oligarchy: Chicago economics' ideological preferences revealed by the sociology of knowledge

The article places and analyzes the Chicago school of economics within the framework of Mannheim's sociology of knowledge or ideas that posits and documents social determinants of ideas and ideologies. This framework reveals the Chicago school as the explicit or implicit ideology and utopia of plutocracy, oligarchy and aristocracy in the sense of apologetics of these social classes and/or systems, thus being the class form of ‘apologetic economics’. Specifically, first, Chicago economics reveals itself as the collective‐unconscious apologetics of plutocracy, oligarchy and aristocracy. Second, it appears as the ‘collective‐conscious’ apologetics in this respect. In addition, it come close to the mostly covert collective‐unconscious or conscious apologetics of theocracy and fascism. The article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the social, in particular class, factors of Chicago and related schools of economics and generally of economic ideas, theories and policies by applying Mannheim's sociology of knowledge, especially its emphasis on the collective unconscious as the source of ideology.     

Children and Literature

Correspondence to Kate Wilson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York YO1 5DD Summary The paper draws on a range of fictional and autobiographicalaccounts of childhood to illustrate different aspects of children'sperceptions and responses and to show how they can enhance theadult's ability to understand what a child is experiencing.Three themes, concerning children's perceptions and suggestibility,their sense of helplessness and difficulty in communicatingwith adults, and their responses to loss and change are illustratedthrough the work of nineteenth- and twentieth-century creativewriters. It is argued that literary accounts can work at a consciousand unconscious level in heightening our understanding, andmay also give us a perspective on how childhood experiencesinfluence the adult personality.     

作为文化的物象和作为物象的文化——浅议物象在中国西部电影中的表意功能

西部电影之所以具有较强的历史感、文化感和较为深刻的人生意旨与生活哲理,其影片中物象的表意功不可没。生理象征类物象使西部电影在人的意识与无意识、理性与非理性、生存本能和性本能之间进行了一定程度上的探询,也因此影片在人性深度和潜意识领域中总有着一种前瞻性的眼光和前导性的思考。     

Environmental Information Disclosure Programs: They Work,but Why?

Objective. Despite the rich discussions about the role of information disclosure programs in environmental policy, our theoretical understanding of how and why information disclosure programs work lacks a clear framework. This article begins to fill that void by laying out some fundamental theories and concepts that underlie the empirical work on the subject. Methods. Basic theories arising from our knowledge of economics, psychology, and politics are compared. Previous research is analyzed with these theories in mind. Results. Research results confirm the plausibility of each of these theories, though the most compelling evidence so far suggests that shock and shame are key motivating factors for improved environmental performance by industry. Conclusions. The argument is made that our theoretical foundations must be understood better if we are to make sense of the empirical work on the subject. Policy implications are addressed.     

'More real than reality': a study of voice hearing

Hearing voices can be considered as elusive or illusory hallucinations in the sense that they are perceptions that have no external reason or even that they are divorced from reality. The aim of this article is to describe how participants in different focus groups account for and understand their voice-hearing experiences. The study shows that voice hearing can be such an overwhelming experience that it can even be experienced as 'more real than reality'. Voices are strong and powerful experiences that sometimes convey memories from the past or difficulties that the voice hearer would prefer to forget but in fact has had to confront. The voices also influence how the voice hearer sees his or her future. This study contributes to our knowledge of the world and language of voice hearers from the perspective of social work.     

The Knowledge Spectrum: A Framework for Teaching Knowledge and its Use in Social Work Practice

For students, educators play a pivotal role in identifying andexplaining the knowledge that can guide social work practice.Yet there is an absence of educational tools that can assistthe educator with this objective. The knowledge spectrum frameworkis an innovative tool that was developed to explain the possibilitiesof what can inform social work practice. As a tool, it can beutilized to show that knowledge use in practice is a dynamicprocess, illustrating that knowledge can be created, modifiedand discarded by practitioners. The framework can also be utilizedto capture the complexity of knowledge used by recognizing boththe tacit (unconscious) and explicit (conscious) domains, therebyidentifying different knowledge use possibilities. Strengtheningstudents’ and/or practitioners’ ability to recognizeand identify the basis of their professional behaviour is criticalfor clear, knowledge-guided practice.     

Varieties of Social Cognition

Recent work within psychology demonstrates that unconscious cognition plays a central role in the judgments and actions of individuals. We distinguish between two basic types unconscious social cognition: unconsciousness of the influences on judgments and actions, and unconscious of the mental states (i.e., attitudes and feelings) that give rise to judgments and actions. Influence unconsciousness is corroborated by strong empirical evidence, but unconscious states are difficult to verify. We discuss procedures aimed at providing conclusive evidence of state unconsciousness, and apply them to recent empirical findings.     

The Change in the Daily Knowledge of Madness in Turkey

The transformation and change of social knowledge in Modern Turkish Republic has begun with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Whilst the transformation of knowledge took place in daily knowledge, the change that took place in the political structures had a broad influence in the language, religion and tradition. The appearance of a new form of daily knowledge created a new common sense and this has opened the road towards the possibility of investigating social representations of various phenomena. Among these the social representations of madness in daily knowledge have already existed in common sense knowledge for a long time. With this in mind, the main goal of this paper is to explore contemporary urban Turkish social representations of madness. This study has shown that both scientific and common sense knowledge exist at present in citizens' daily knowledge and practices.     

Fully Unconscious and Prone to Habit: The Characteristics of Agency in the Structure and Agency Dialectic

While the human agent must have the capacity for reflexivity, intentionality and consciousness, the same agent must also be affected by the social world in which she lives: herein lies the essence of the structure and agency dialectic. This paper argues that while some realists are in principle committed to a dialectical relationship between structure and agency, there is some dissonance between this commitment and the concepts of agency that they develop. I highlight the exclusion of the unconscious and habit from realist notions of agency and argue that this oversight serves to unbalance the dialectic between structure and agency thereby leading to the over‐empowerment of agency. The concepts of agency developed by Margaret Archer, Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu are discussed in this paper. Archer's concept of agency is argued to focus exclusively on reflexivity whilst neglecting to include the unconscious and habit. Giddens is shown to develop a much improved concept of agency, which includes the unconscious, however, his rejection of the independent causal powers of structure and agency problematises his commitment to the dialectic. A much improved approach to theorising agency, developed within a critical realist framework, is offered drawing on Bourdieu's concept of habitus. The paper concludes with a discussion of gender, and considers how the unconscious and habit can help to better understand the myriad ways in which gender functions in society.     

Managing behaviour in child residential group care: unique tensions

Residential group care workers are frequently required to support children with extremely challenging and aggressive behaviour. Our knowledge about the tensions that may exist for workers that manage difficult behaviour is theoretically and empirically underdeveloped. The aim of this exploratory study was to contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of behaviour management in the residential environment by identifying the worker‐reported tensions involved in the management of challenging and disruptive behaviour. Seventeen South Australian residential group care workers participated in semi‐structured interviews in which they were asked to describe their management of behaviour. These interviews were subjected to thematic analysis. The analysis revealed several dynamics that influence workers' management of challenging behaviour: the sense of parenting at a distance, the pressure for consistency, the desire for balance between control and connection, the desire for normality and the inconsistent nature of relationships. These findings contribute to our knowledge about the interpersonal context in which behaviour is addressed in the residential group home and enhance our understanding of the unique tensions that workers' experience in managing behaviour in the residential environment. The findings have implications for the development of staff training and the support of residential care workers managing challenging behaviour.     

过程理性是否可能的初步讨论

过程哲学为过程理性提供了知识基础。过程哲学的“存在即过程和过程即创新”的思想,构成了过程理性的核心内容。提出过程理性的依据还在于过程思想的现实化、行动理性的结构化、生活本质的过程性以及理论实践的过程性特质。过程理性形成的要素在于过程意识的无意识化、过程行动的细节化以及过程管理的操作化。     

Startling affect in therapeutic relationships: Relational formulation of experience∗

Open internal boundaries allow therapists to receive patients’ unconscious communications and to hold disavowed affects and self states, thus making possible new relational and affective development. Such deep engagement with patients inevitably stirs intense feelings that may be difficult for therapists to bear. Unwanted affect and unconscious points of identification with patients may stimulate therapists’ shame and guilt leading to states of disequilibrium. A therapeutic stance which is fluid and open to intrapsychic and interpersonal influence, allows for the experience and elaboration of complex unconscious affects, points of identification and self‐other configurations. Clarity concerning intrapsychic and interpersonal boundaries in the therapeutic relationship is most helpful. Relational formulations of case material focusing on startling affects are offered.     

George Reavey's "Treatment" of Soviet Poetry

Two large anthologies of Russian Soviet poetry have appeared in New York in rapid succession. The texts are given parallel in the Russian and English languages. Recently this has become an established procedure in the West in editions intended for readers who love poetry and understand that verse has to be read in the original. The number of people in the world who have some knowledge of Russian is constantly increasing, and enthusiasm for Soviet poetry is growing along with an interest in our country and in the language "spoken by Lenin." The advantages of "bilingualism" to the reader are readily understandable. It enables him to evaluate or at least to deepen his sense of the authenticity and artistic success of the translation, which gives the Russian poem life in another language.     

On the captivity of the will: Sympathy, caring, and a moral sense of the human

We are concerned in this paper with the question of what more there is to human nature than cognition, with what it is to be a person (or animal) in the sense of something that would justify our sympathy. We examine pain, emotion, and the abrogation of values as sources of our sympathy for one another. We further argue that our sympathy over each of these unfortunate events is connected with our sense that they are beyond a person' s (or an animal' s) will. Computers, we suggest, ought not to engage our sympathy not because of their limited cognitive capacity, and not because they lack intent, but because their wills are too free.     

生成图式与反思理性——解析布迪厄的知识社会学理论

知识社会学思想是布迪厄社会学理论的有机组成部分,也是理解他的整个社会学研究工作的重要线索。布迪厄借用现象学概念,对知识与社会的关系等问题进行重新诠释,并为当代知识社会学的解释模式注入了新的活力。本文认为,布迪厄对知识社会学理论的贡献主要体现在以下两个方面：第一,借鉴现象学认识论,将人类的思维原则述作“生成图式”或“信念”,用二重性表述替代了认知范畴与社会范畴的二元对立;第二,通过对“实践知识”与“科学（含社会学）知识”遵循的相异逻辑进行说明,探讨了客观真知的生成所倚赖的具体社会条件。     

Sensing Bodies and Digitally Mediated Distress

ABSTRACT

In The Five Senses (2008) Michel Serres shows how the body is not an abstracted, dislocated surface that allows for the objectification of the senses and instead illustrates how it is a process: one of continually infolding sensitivities that translate our bodily feelings into a fluid sense of the world. In this article we explore what it means to be a body in the mediated environments of everyday lives of those who visit social media sites that are designed to help people deal with mental distress. We will discuss the way that “bodies” must tack between oft-competing pressures and draws, which emanate from the performance of sense that is contained within these sites. Attempts to “make” sense of the body in such terrains often require an increasingly sophisticated set of skills and expertise and can, despite our best efforts, result in the body being transported to unexpected places. In order to capture a sense of movement, people must try to transform their offline experiences into a set of actions that can be rendered meaningful in terms of an online domain, which we argue is against the way that people sense. We develop a theory of sensory bodies as subject to continual “movement,” drawing on the work of Serres, Simondon, and Manning, before discussing three examples of social media use in mental health, and the potential implications for people having to learn to sense in and through such online spaces.     

The child's entry into the symbolic order: a developmental-societal interpretation of Jacques Lacan

Lacan's psychoanalytic insights, as found primarily in his 1964 seminar “The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis” are interpreted within a social-developmental framework. Using Piaget's theory of a structural transition from action logic to object logic I recast (1) Lacan's signifying function as a new competence emerging around age two and (2) the “Other” as the general content/context of this newness, namely the child's grasp of a societal-symbolic order. The child's entry into that order is described as inherently linked to sexuality, desire and the unconscious and as accompanied by feelings of alienation and separation. Insofar as the desire of the unconscious is toward the “Other” Lacan seems to support my claim of an endogenous origin of the societal order.     

Actions,habits and forms of life

After a survey on the work of prominent philosophers within the Western tradition, it can be noticed a tendency to view habits as automatic, unfree and unconscious behaviour. In this context, this article attempts to show that habits are actually much closer to the characteristics that are otherwise attributed to actions. That is, following the dialectical approach of Sartre, I develop arguments to support that habits are conscious actions carried out with a sense of identification towards the form of life that actions, in turn, project as a whole; in this way, each form of life requires a set of habits that the agent performs freely and rationally, understanding the latter as the dialectical procedure by which the act itself brings about a totalizing identity. This vision implies that habits are interrelated and codependent within a network of social behavior, so they cannot be discarded without discarding the form of life to which they belong. That is, a change of habit requires a change in the totality of which it is a part. But that change can only occur if social agents become aware that their habits are a product of their free acceptance and not of necessity. In the article, this latter is paradigmatically exemplified by neoliberal capitalism as a form of life.     

Nostalgia

This article describes the phenomenon of nostalgia, which in some cases may lead to severe psychosomatic symptoms, agitated depression, psychotic and dissociative episodes. The author suggests that these symptoms are associated with loss of Home, being understood as a transitional space between people the environment. Nostalgia, even at the risk of losing one's sanity, recreates the flow with the past; prevents unknown environment from intruding and jeopardizing a sense of self; and precludes unwanted and intolerable knowledge about oneself from occurring in the absence of cultural points of references.     

The ADHD treasure hunt: a group intervention using a social model approach to disability

ABSTRACT

This article describes the ADHD Treasure Hunt - a groupwork model that integrates the spirit of a social model of disability into therapeutic practice with parents and children. Following a discussion on the discourse and controversy over the nature and treatment of ADHD in Western society, we evaluate our intervention in terms of its usefulness in addressing a family’s sense of helplessness and frustration in the face of social interactions. The model also focuses on helping the families recognize the value of their own experiential knowledge. We examine the contributions of the model to current practice as well as offer future directions for its development.