Between emancipation and domination: Habermasian reflections on the empowerment and disempowerment of the human subject

Habermas’s ‘linguistic turn’ can be regarded as a systematic attempt to locate the normative foundations of critical theory in the rational foundations of language. This endeavour is motivated by the insight that any theoretical framework that is committed to the emancipation of the human condition needs to identify the normative grounds on which both its critique of social domination and its pursuit of social liberation can be justified. Just as Habermas’s firm belief in the possibility of human emancipation manifests itself in the concept of the ‘ideal speech situation’, his radical critique of human domination cannot be separated from the concept of ‘systematically distorted communication’. Although the significance of these two concepts for Habermas’s communication-theoretic approach to the social has been widely recognised and extensively debated in the literature, their overall importance for a critical theory of human empowerment and disempowerment has hardly been explored in a satisfying manner. Drawing upon Habermas’s communication-theoretic conception of human coexistence, this paper makes a case for the view that a comprehensive critical theory of society needs to account for both the emancipatory and the repressive potentials of language if it seeks to do justice to both the empowering and the disempowering potentials of the subject

Dialectics after Santayana

Despite apparently holding diametrically opposed attitudes toward dialectical logic, both George Santayana and the early Frankfurt School critical theorists posit a close link between the concepts of reason and domination. It is argued that a broadly-speaking Hegelian philosophical project can survive Santayana’s critiques, albeit by benefitting from the latter’s, as well as from the Frankfurt School’s, re-centering of nature in the history of domination. In the alternative, Santayanaists who would reject Hegel must reckon with the proximity and affinity, notwithstanding Santayana’s suggestions to the contrary, of their perspectives on the ultimately tragic structure of history.Despite apparently holding diametrically opposed attitudes toward dialectical logic, both Santayana and the early Frankfurt School critical theorists posit a close link between the concepts of reason and domination. It is argued that a broadly-speaking Hegelian philosophical project can survive Santayana’s critiques, albeit by benefitting from the latter’s, as well as from the Frankfurt School’s, re-centering of nature in the history of domination. In the alternative, Santayanaists who would reject Hegel must reckon with the proximity and affinity, notwithstanding Santayana’s suggestions to the contrary, of their perspectives on the ultimately tragic structure of history

Critical Discourse Analysis On “Spiderman”

Talking about CDA or “Critical Discourse Analysis” means talking about power domination, ideologies and concepts employ in certain community. The reflection of power, ideologies, concepts or event traditional values can be found easily nowadays in the entertainment section with products like movies, songs, advertising, and many more. Since the values are packed with attractive features, some people are allured with the features and forget the power that drives some people to create the products which enable them to portray their beliefs and values. This research is trying to reveal the critical aspect of the movie “Spiderman” (2002) which contain Christian beliefs, bias concepts in American’s humanity and heroism. The method employs in the research is descriptive analysis based on the data taken from the scenes of the movie, tagline, dialogues. The result shows that through this movie, American unveils the ideology of liberalism covered with the values of humanity and heroism to drive people into the hegemony: American is the only power domination and the source of great heroes

Critical concepts in domination, independence and irredundance of graphs

The lower and upper independent, domination and irredundant numbers of the graph G = (V, E) are denoted by i ( G) , f3 ( G), 'Y ( G), r ( G), ir ( G) and IR ( G) respectively. These six numbers are called the domination parameters. For each of these parameters n:, we define six types of criticality. The graph G is n:-critical (n:+ -critical) if the removal of any vertex of G causes n: (G) to decrease (increase), G is n:-edge-critical (n:+-edge-critical) if the addition of any missing edge causes n: (G) to decrease (increase), and G is Ir-ER-critical (n:- -ER-critical) if the removal of any edge causes n: (G) to increase (decrease). For all the above-mentioned parameters n: there exist graphs which are n:-critical, n:-edge-critical and n:-ER-critical. However, there do not exist any n:+-critical graphs for n: E {ir,"f,i,/3,IR}, no n:+-edge-critical graphs for n: E {ir,"f,i,/3} and non:--ER-critical graphs for: E {'Y,/3,r,IR}. Graphs which are "I-critical, i-critical, "I-edge-critical and i-edge-critical are well studied in the literature. In this thesis we explore the remaining types of criticality. We commence with the determination of the domination parameters of some wellknown classes of graphs. Each class of graphs we consider will turn out to contain a subclass consisting of graphs that are critical according to one or more of the definitions above. We present characterisations of "I-critical, i-critical, "I-edge-critical and i-edge-critical graphs, as well as ofn:-ER-critical graphs for n: E {/3,r,IR}. These characterisations are useful in deciding which graphs in a specific class are critical. Our main results concern n:-critical and n:-edge-critical graphs for n: E {/3, r, IR}. We show that the only /3-critical graphs are the edgeless graphs and that a graph is IRcritical if and only if it is r-critical, and proceed to investigate the r-critical graphs which are not /3-critical. We characterise /3-edge-critical and r-edge-critical graphs and show that the classes of IR-edge-critical and r-edge-critical graphs coincide. We also exhibit classes of r+ -critical, r+ -edge-critical and i- -ER-critical graphs.Mathematical SciencesD. Phil. (Mathematics

Accounting for accounting's role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England:A Bourdieusian perspective

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Abstract This paper seeks to account for how accounting is implicated in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England. It adopts a processual view which instead of conceptualizing neoliberalism as static and ‘end-state’, views it as a dynamic process of neoliberalization. We draw upon Bourdieu’s notions of field, capital and habitus to frame our study. We focus on reform of the regulation of social housing in England during the period 2006–2016. We show that the process of neoliberalization of social housing in England was instigated by the state’s intervention to change the structure of the field in terms of norms, power relations and positions of players on the field. These changes brought about simultaneous changes in the habitus of the field as well as the structure and habitus of Housing Associations as sub-fields. We demonstrate how these changes create and reproduce a new system of domination where the tenant is the dominated player. We highlight the role accounting played in these changes in terms of being used as a tool by the regulator to achieve social control and drive change within Housing Associations and by the Housing Associations to evidence conformity with the new norms and adaptation

The calculative reproduction of social structures : The field of gem mining in Sri Lanka

Peer reviewedPostprin

Bourdieu, feminism and female physical culture: Gender reflexivity and the habitus-field complex

Feminist theorizing in the sociology of sport and physical culture has progressed through ongoing and intense dialogue with an array of critical positions and voices in the social sciences (e.g., Judith Butler, R.W. Connell, Michel Foucault). Yet, somewhat surprisingly, the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu—arguably one of modern sociology’s “most important voices of social critique and theoretical innovation” (Krais, 2006, p. 120)—has gone largely unheard among critical sports scholars interested in gender (notable exceptions include Atencio, Beal & Wilson, 2009; Brown, 2006; Kay & Laberge, 2004; Laberge, 1995). In this paper I introduce recent feminist engagements with Bourdieu’s original work to a critical sports sociology readership via a case study of snowboarding culture and female snowboarders. I begin by briefly examining the efficacy of three of Bourdieu’s key concepts—capital, field and habitus—for explaining gender and embodiment in snowboarding culture. I then consider how the habitus-field complex can illustrate the “synchronous nature of constraint and freedom” (McNay, 2000, p. 61) for women in contemporary physical culture

Introducing eco-masculinities: How a masculine discursive subject approach to the individual differences theory of gender and IT impacts an environmental informatics project

In this paper I introduce the concept of eco-masculinities as a philosophical and critical project to understand the links between gendered and pro-environmental behaviour. The background of the feminist project, the sociology of masculinity, and the post-gendered world to which they both aspire, alongside a brief history of the project of ecofeminism, occupy the bulk of the paper. In the last section I briefly consider how these philosophical approaches might impact upon analysis of an EU Project entitled Digital Environment Home Energy Management System