The collapse of intermediate structures?

How can we explain the rise of President Trump and the attraction of his campaign behavior before and since he took office? We argue here that the collapse of ‘intermediate structures’ has been a key factor; that the associations and groups which are building blocks of pluralistic politics have been eroded to such an extent that Trump’s personality politics have been able to take over the political stage

Transformative sensemaking: Development in Whose Image? Keyan Tomaselli and the semiotics of visual representation

The defining and distinguishing feature of homo sapiens is its ability to make sense of the world, i.e. to use its intellect to understand and change both itself and the world of which it is an integral part. It is against this backdrop that this essay reviews Tomaselli's 1996 text, Appropriating Images: The Semiotics of Visual Representation/ by summarizing his key perspectives, clarifying his major operational concepts and citing particular portions from his work in support of specific perspectives on sense-making. Subsequently, this essay employs his techniques of sense-making to interrogate the notion of "development". This exercise examines and confirms two interrelated hypotheses: first, a semiotic analysis of the privileged notion of "development" demonstrates its metaphysical/ ideological, and thus limiting, nature especially vis-a-vis the marginalized, excluded, and the collective other, the so-called Developing Countries. Second, the interrogative nature of semiotics allows for an alternative reading and application of human potential or skills in the quest of a more humane social and global order, highlighting thereby the transformative implications of a reflexive epistemology.Web of Scienc

Epidemiologic and clinical updates on impulse control disorders: a critical review

The article reviews the current knowledge about the impulse control disorders (ICDs) with specific emphasis on epidemiological and pharmacological advances. In addition to the traditional ICDs present in the DSM-IV—pathological gambling, trichotillomania, kleptomania, pyromania and intermittent explosive disorder—a brief description of the new proposed ICDs—compulsive–impulsive (C–I) Internet usage disorder, C–I sexual behaviors, C–I skin picking and C–I shopping—is provided. Specifically, the article summarizes the phenomenology, epidemiology and comorbidity of the ICDs. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between ICDs and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Finally, current pharmacological options for treating ICDs are presented and discussed

Just around the corner: the paradox of the jobless recovery

Stanley Aronowitz is the most important scholar on the past and present U S. working class from his classic false promises ti this courrageous and timely book

Aronowitz, Stanley, Preface, pp. 1-4 in Henry A. Giroux, ed., Ideology, Culture and the Process of Schooling . Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1981.

Traces the development of critical research in American education, including Giroux\u27s contribution

The Labour Movement and the Left in the United States

During the 1960s and early 1970s, majority sentiment on the American left held that the American trade union movement had become a relatively conservative interest group. It fought within the Democratic Party, and in direct bargaining with corporations and government, for an increasingly narrow vision of its interests. For example, when confronted with the demands of blacks for full equality within the unions as much as within society as a whole, labour leaders responded with a dual position. The unions remained committed in general to civil rights at the legislative level, but were primarily protective of their members' immediate interests in higher pay and job security. When these interests were in conflict with the demand for full equality, some unions abandoned all but a legislative commitment to civil rights