The Politics of Fragmentation in an Age of Scarcity: A Synthetic View and Critical Analysis of Welfare State Crisis

A general perception of crisis at the end of the postwar period of growth has spawned two types of theoretical response: while a conservative theory of overload focusses on ungovernability caused by postmaterialist value change, radical analysis points to the structural contradictions of the welfare and intervention state. This article suggests that the current crisis is characterized by postmaterialist persistence and structural contradictions under the conditions of economic constraint. It examines polarization and potential mobilization of fragmented postindustrial societies in the context of neo-conservative politics, and it suggests a regime of economic dualism and/or corporatism as the most likely outcome

Structural Contradictions of the Global Neoliberal Regime

A revised version of this paper is published in the Review of Radical Political Economics, September 2000

CAN WE TAKE THE CON OUT OF MEAT DEMAND STUDIES?

Whimsy in specification choices leads to fragility of inference in econometric studies of structural change in meat demand. The literature contains a variety of results, with many contradictions, attributable largely to differences in specifications. This article reviews that literature, uses synthetic data to demonstrate the sensitivity of results to specification choices and to evaluate the power of nonparametric tests, and uses Canadian data to demonstrate a preferred approach to testing the hypothesis of structural change.Demand and Price Analysis,

Contradictions in adult education structures and policies in Austria: their interrelation with the professional development of educators

This article analyses the structural influences on the professional development of adult educators and their relation to education policy using Austria as a fairly average example of the diversity in European adult education. The position of adult education is first analysed in the course of the development of a lifelong learning strategy, showing a set of basic contradictions that are institutionally embedded in educational practices and policies. The consequences of these constellations for professional development in adult education are then examined, and a policy analysis undertaken based on institutional theory and using literature, documents and secondary data. This analysis shows that the contradictions in the institutional structures and policies inhibit both the development of a lifelong learning strategy as well as the professional development of adult educators. The competence development and quality assurance approaches adopted in Europe contribute only very modestly to the development of adult education in Austria. (DIPF/orig.

The structural contradictions and constraints on corporate social responsibility: Challenges for corporate social irresponsibility

Purpose - This chapter engages critically with the ideas of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSI) in order to examine their utility for the purposes of realizing more socially just and environmentally sustainable social and economic practices. Methodology/approach - The chapter develops Marx's understanding of the twin pressures of class struggle and inter-capitalist competition in setting the limits of agency for corporate actors. It is thus theoretical and discursive in nature. Findings - The findings of the chapter suggest that the scope for corporate agency in relation to responsibility/irresponsibility is severely limited by inter-capitalist competition and capitalist social relations. It therefore argues that those interested in social justice and environmental sustainability should focus on these structural pressures rather than theorizing corporate agency. Social implications - The research suggests that the focus of academic and government attention should be on resolving the contradictions and exploitative social relations inherent in capitalism. Without this emphasis activism, corporate agency and government action will not eradicate the types of problem that advocates of CSR/CSI are concerned about. Originality/value of paper - The value of the paper is that it contests and engages critically with the utility of the notion of CSR and the emergent concept of CSI. It asks proponents of these concepts to think seriously about the structural pressures and constraints within which business and policy makers act. Copyrightr © 2012 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Contradictions of structural adjustment policies in southern Europe

Este trabajo analiza los cambios operados en las sociedades mediterráneas en las primeras décadas del siglo XXI. Se estudia cómo las transformaciones políticas originadas a consecuencia de los programas de ajuste estructural han afectado a las condiciones de vida de la mayoría de trabajadores y trabajadoras. Mediante un estudio transdisciplinar en ciencias sociales y el análisis de información estadística recopilada en informes y bases de datos oficiales, se pretende reunir evidencia empírica de las transformaciones operadas en los mercados de trabajo del sur de Europa a consecuencia de la difusión de la ideología neoliberal. Una de las principales conclusiones obtenidas en este estudio radica en que las diferentes políticas llevadas a cabo por los gobiernos nacionales, bajo la batuta de los programas de ajuste estructural decretados por instituciones como el Fondo Monetario Internacional, han conducido a una economía de baja productividad como España a una situación donde la falta de empleos adecuados y las limitaciones políticas estructurales de acceso al empleo limitan gravemente las expectativas vitales para la mayoría de la población trabajadora, obligando a amplios sectores sociales a migrar a otros países. El artículo también aborda las contradicciones entre las políticas neoliberales y las estructuras precapitalistas existentes en las sociedades mediterráneas, con el fin de plantear interrogantes que contribuyan a buscar alternativas políticas en favor de una mayor democratización social y económica.This paper analyses the changes operated in Mediterranean societies on the first decades of 21st century. The work studies how political transformations originated as a consequence of the implementing of structural adjustment programs affected life conditions of the majority of the workers. Through a transdisciplinary study on social sciences and the analysis of statistical information compiled in reports and official databases, this article has the aim of gather empirical evidence of the transformations occurred in southern European labor markets as a result of the spread of neoliberal ideology. One of the main conclusions found in this study lies in that the different policies conducted by national governments, under the aegis of Structural Adjustment Programs decreed by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, drove a low productivity economy like Spain to a situation where the lack of adequate employment and structural political constraints to fair access to employment critically restrict life expectations for most of the population, forcing ample sectors of the population to migrate abroad. The article also tackles the contradictions between neoliberal policies and precapitalist structures existing in Mediterranean societies, with the aim to outline questions that contribute to find political alternatives in favor of greater social and economic democratization

Complex sentence as a structure for representing knowledge

Structural variations involving both morphological and syntactic features of the complex sentence of the type “When S, S” and their relevance for the interpretation of sentence meaning are analyzed. It is hypothesized that the constraints on certain sequences intuitively felt by native speakers are due to semantic contradictions that arise between the indexical content of the verbal tense and aspect and the syntactic structure of the sentence which iconically reflects the cognitive processing of perceptual data. The cognitive value of different syntactically acceptable sequences is assessed from the point of view of the relationship between the morphosyntactic categories of tense and as-pect and sentence iconicity

Contradictions Coming Home to Roost? Income Distribution and the Return of the Aggregate Demand Problem

It is widely believed that the current economic slowdown will be mild and temporary in nature, the result of a momentary wobble in the stock market. This paper argues that the slowdown stands to be more deep- seated, owing to contradictions in the existing process of aggregate demand generation. These contradictions are the result of deterioration in income distribution. They have been held at bay for almost two decades by a range of different demand compensation mechanisms: steadily rising consumer debt, a stock market boom, and rising profit rates. However, these mechanisms are now exhausted, confronting the U.S. economy with a serious aggregate demand generation problem. Fiscal policy adjustments may be the only way out of this impasse, but such adjustments should be accompanied by measures to rectify the structural imbalances at the root of the current impasse. Absent this, the problem of deficient demand will reassert itself, and the next time around public sector finances may not be in such a favorable position to deal with it.

Towards a Theory of Scale-Free Graphs: Definition, Properties, and Implications (Extended Version)

Although the ``scale-free'' literature is large and growing, it gives neither a precise definition of scale-free graphs nor rigorous proofs of many of their claimed properties. In fact, it is easily shown that the existing theory has many inherent contradictions and verifiably false claims. In this paper, we propose a new, mathematically precise, and structural definition of the extent to which a graph is scale-free, and prove a series of results that recover many of the claimed properties while suggesting the potential for a rich and interesting theory. With this definition, scale-free (or its opposite, scale-rich) is closely related to other structural graph properties such as various notions of self-similarity (or respectively, self-dissimilarity). Scale-free graphs are also shown to be the likely outcome of random construction processes, consistent with the heuristic definitions implicit in existing random graph approaches. Our approach clarifies much of the confusion surrounding the sensational qualitative claims in the scale-free literature, and offers rigorous and quantitative alternatives.Comment: 44 pages, 16 figures. The primary version is to appear in Internet Mathematics (2005

"Contradictions Coming Home to Roost? Income Distribution and the Return of the Aggregate Demand Problem"

It is widely believed that the current economic slowdown will be mild and temporary in nature, the result of a momentary wobble in the stock market. This paper argues that the slowdown stands to be more deep-seated, owing to contradictions in the existing process of aggregate demand generation. These contradictions are the result of deterioration in income distribution. They have been held at bay for almost two decades by a range of different demand compensation mechanisms: steadily rising consumer debt, a stock market boom, and rising profit rates. However, these mechanisms are now exhausted, confronting the U.S. economy with a serious aggregate demand generation problem. Fiscal policy adjustments may be the only way out of this impasse, but such adjustments should be accompanied by measures to rectify the structural imbalances at the root of the current impasse. Absent this, the problem of deficient demand will reassert itself, and the next time around public sector finances may not be in such a favorable position to deal with it.