The identity of memory and the memory of identity in the age of commodification and democratization

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between secularization and commodification of culture on one hand, and national identity always represented as Christian mystery on the other. Focusing on three case studies, Poland, Quebec and Zaire, the author analyses the place of an ordinary object (commodity) as a vehicle of representation of people's affirmation of belonging to a ‘nation’. He stresses the disposable nature of such an affirmation of belonging which allows everyone to alter or cast off the symbols of belonging while changing their social or political contexts.     

Personal identity versus national identity among Hong Kong youths – personal and social education reform after reunification

This paper examines the use of Chinese traditions for the formation of a felt Hong Kong identity and a national identity among students in the personal and social education curriculum before and after reunification with China in 1997. This paper argues that the addition of China elements to the curriculum after reunification contributes to the continuous ambiguous identity of students, which is consistent with the results of various poll surveys about the civic identity of Hong Kong people in a larger context. This is because the personal and social education reform after reunification assumed a simple correlation between the patriotic feelings of students and their knowledge of China. It does not question how the promotion of an intensely unifying ‘cultural identity’ as political commitment is differentiated from the day-to-day ‘cultural experiences’ of students.     

Communicating intersectionality through creative claims making: the queer undocumented immigrant project

ABSTRACT

Social movements confronting overlapping inequalities face the unique challenge of elucidating the heretofore invisible experiences of those whose identities lie at the intersection of existing movements. Social media platforms provide a direct outlet for intersectional social movements to make political claims visually by illuminating these complexities creatively with discursive resources such as symbols, text, and narratives. Using content analysis of images posted to the organization’s Facebook, we examine how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) immigration activists – as embodied by the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project (QUIP) – attempt to communicate intersectionality online. Images posted by QUIP demonstrate how the existing ideas and values of separate established immigrant and LGBTQ movements can be reformulated and repackaged. However, the available discursive resources may compartmentalize identities, which then requires movements to generate new symbols, text, and narratives. By leveraging extant discursive resources and innovating new expressions, activists aim to communicate intersectional experiences and unite multiple struggles.     

Resurgent ethno-nationalism and the renewed demand for Biafra in south-east Nigeria

The renewed demand for Biafra by Igbo people is a rejection of their post-war socio-political and economic condition in Nigeria. Through the processing of primary data, the paper examines this reinvention of Igbo nationalism. It looks at its linkage with the 1999 democratic transition in Nigeria, its implications and management by the government. The paper concludes that the renewed demand for Biafra is caused by perception of inequities and injustice in the distribution of power and resources among the Igbo. Hence a deliberate effort to correct these social problems can assuage ethnic tensions and presumption of political violence in Nigeria.     

Risk,Media, and Stigma at Rocky Flats

Public responses to nuclear technologies are often strongly negative. Events, such as accidents or evidence of unsafe conditions at nuclear facilities, receive extensive and dramatic coverage by the news media. These news stories affect public perceptions of nuclear risks and the geographic areas near nuclear facilities. One result of these perceptions, avoidance behavior, is a form of technological stigma that leads to losses in property values near nuclear facilities. The social amplification of risk is a conceptual framework that attempts to explain how stigma is created through media transmission of information about hazardous places and public perceptions and decisions. This paper examines stigma associated with the U.S. Department of Energy's Rocky Flats facility, a major production plant in the nation's nuclear weapons complex, located near Denver, Colorado. This study, based upon newspaper analyses and a survey of Denver area residents, finds that the social amplification theory provides a reasonable framework for understanding the events and public responses that took place in regard to Rocky Flats during a 6-year period, beginning with an FBI raid of the facility in 1989.     

关注社会公平,构建和谐社会

社会公平是围绕尊重和实现每个人的生存和发展权利而形成的一个多维的社会范畴,主要包括权利公平、机会公平、规则公平、过程公平和分配公平等内容。目前,我国社会存在的社会不公现象是引起社会不和谐的重要原因之一。实现社会公平是构建社会主义和谐社会的一项既重要又紧迫的现实任务。必须继续完善分配制度改革,逐步缩小贫富差距;继续深化教育改革,实现教育公平;完善司法制度,维护司法公正;完善社会保障制度,保障群众的基本生活。     

论社会政策与社会和谐

社会政策以克服贫困和消除社会排斥为基本目标,在维护社会公正、促进社会民主、调整社会结构、增进社会团结等方面发挥着独特的功能。社会政策在中国的发展,源于解决社会变迁中出现的现实问题的强烈需求。为此,需要从科学执政的高度重视社会政策,确立"关注民生"的社会政策目标,积极扩大社会政策覆盖面,并逐步实行社会政策的城乡整合,促进社会整体和谐。     

社会分工视阈下中国古代设计艺术的历史演变

从中国古代手工业发展历史来看,一方面,科技与艺术相结合的设计艺术的发展推动了工业技术的快速发展,技术发展必然带动新的社会需求,新的需求必然细化社会分工;另一方面,细化的社会分工产生新的适应社会需求的新的职业和工种,必然拓宽了设计领域,推动设计艺术的发展。     

社会心理学应着力于社会行为心理的整合研究

当代社会心理学是研究社会行为的内在体验和外在表现发展变化过程及其规律的整合科学。社会心理的外在行为律与社会行为的内在心理律是整合的关节点;社会行为的热点问题是整合的切入点;而聚群心理的外在行为律与聚群行为的内在心理律是优化整合的着力点;交互点是个人、群体、社会几个层面的交叉整合。