Obscured Inequality and Feasible Equity: An Exploratory Study of Life History, Consciousness and Practices of Social Class in Contemporary Sweden

For Marxist’s, when people are conscious of class relations, as existent and experienced as part of everyday life, the condition is created for the possibility for active engagement in class struggle. Consciousness and practices of class constitutes the problematic of this research. The research was carried out in Sweden, which is at present experiencing a crisis of social democratic dominant hegemony with accelerated neoliberalisation and populist Right-wing nationalism. This moment of transition frames Sweden as a critical case and a significant research context in relation to exploring the Marxist problematic. The study provides descriptive analysis of fifteen students accounts of their own life histories and perspectives of the empirical reality of class in Sweden drawing upon critical realism to develop explanatory critique of their accounts in the spirit of the Marxist problematic. This gave rise to identifying the dominant mechanisms in modern Swedish society that could be attributed to generating the dominant conditions for socio-cultural tendencies. Such tendencies are important in shaping consciousness and practices in everyday life. Focussing on exploring empirical reality and experiences, this study brings together analysis of i) the Marxist problematic concerned with class consciousness for social transformation ii) with the Swedish social democratic crisis. This exploratory study primarily contributes insights into lived class struggle in contemporary Swedish society, which finds that particular socio-cultural forms obscure inequality in Sweden. This obscuring is explained as a suppressive mechanism critically important for the practical function of the perception of feasible equity. Importantly for the Marxist research problematic, the study also finds that complete consent to the status quo is never fully secured and ambiguities prevail. The critical nuances to the dominant common sense of social democratic egalitarianism offers opportunities for theory building about the possibility of class consciousness for struggle in contemporary Sweden, and beyond

Neoliberal Development and Struggle Against It: The Importance of Social Class, Mystification and Feasibility

In this article I introduce and develop neoliberalism through a discussion of Marxism and the way that classed mystification and feasibility are crucial concepts for understanding the maintenance of neoliberalism, and revolutionary possibilities. The starting point for this article is an essential explication of the Marxism, which is argued as the most efficacious theoretical framework for understanding the current historical conjuncture. Then, I provide an understanding of the development of capitalism into its current neoliberal form and its core features. Doing this work is important because while scholars regularly refer to capitalism/neoliberalism, they rarely explicate its fundamentals. Having this specification will provide a referent for the analysis for the discussion in the article. This incorporates the question: what mechanisms generate the tendency for most people to acquiesce (or even assent) to neoliberalism, despite the inequality and inequality it creates? To address this, I suggest the critical importance of mystification. While exposing neoliberalism is important I argue that analysis and critique alone is not sufficient. I draw the article to a close by presenting a discussion about the importance of the feasibility of an alternative to neoliberalism to be promoted by critical educators and Marxists. The possibility of resistance and revolution emerges through constructing, what Gramsci called, a new conception of the world

Testing times and the thirst for data: for what?

The emphasis on tests has made teachers and pupils depressed, harm themselves, and even turn suicidal. High-stakes testing and an oppressive data-drive accountability system de-humanise what should be an experience of enrichment, creativity and fun. Schooling is being reconfigured from being a public service to a business, and business demands data through testing

Class Struggle in Cultural Formation in Contemporary Times: A Focus on the Theoretical Importance of Antonio Gramsci and the Organic Intellectualism of Russell Brand

The importance of education for social transformation is not exclusively something that is done in schools and universities. Taking education in its broadest formulation – something that happens all of the time, in this article I posit the argument that educative strategies for class struggle need to be sensitive to cultural formation. I highlight the importance of Italian revolutionary Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s attention to culture and organic intellectualism as aspects of mounting and then sustaining class struggle and subsequent social change. I animate these ideas using example of Russell Brand whose work can be exemplified as contemporary organic intellectualism for class struggle. I conclude by suggesting that for critique of the neoliberal status quo to be effective for social transformation, it needs to be accompanied by visions of an alternative world as feasible

Numerical solution of pollutant transport model with source term by RDTM

The focus of this paper is the study of mathematical model for the analysis of diffusion and transport processes of chemicals in river systems. In the present study, we have introduced a one-dimensional model that is described by time-dependent convection-diffusion differential equations. The focus of our study is the potential pollution of the river, both with and without a specific pollution source. The current investigation aims to analyze the impact of two different input source functions, namely constant and linear forms.   In order to validate the model, we conducted a study on the diffusion and transport of chemicals, specifically focusing on NO$_3$ and PO$_4$ of the Tapi river.  Reduced differential transform method (RDTM) is used to obtain solutions. For the accuracy of the solution, the convergence of solution function is examined in each case obtained from RDTM. The pollutant concentration at various distances and time levels has been shown numerically and graphically in each case. The pollution levels with and without sources are compared in 2D and 3D graphs. The methodology proposed in this study for river pollution prediction using a 1D pollution model can be applied to other rivers

The (Im)possibility of the Intellectual Worker Inside the Neoliberal University

The provocation and point of this paper is that universities of the North during the era of neoliberalism of have been sucked of their human life-giving capacities. What remains are closed doors and bare walls. Lest we give the impression of a hopelessly romantic view of the university (and embark upon a lament for some paradise lost), let us be clear from the outset: there is no such place – and there never has been. As will be outlined below, a consideration of the history of the university reveals it was born and has persistently drawn its life breath from oxygen formed in the tension ridden mix of an impulse to human freedom and accommodation to powers of church, state and capital. But, we contend, history is now the witness to the almost complete dissolution of that tension: to the exhaustion of emancipatory impulses in the service of indoctrination, regulation and accumulation. In the church-state-capital triad, it is the latter that has emerged hegemonic. Importantly, we argue, its dominance has emerged with the rise of what Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy describe as monopoly capital: the move from competitive (small entrepreneurial business) forms to monopolistic (large corporate business) regimes of accumulation (Baran & Sweezy 1966). A central feature of monopoly capitalism is its need for significant financial support of national states and the harnessing of public resources such as universities to feed accumulation. It is no surprise that neoliberalism, despite its neoclassical economic pronouncements, is a ‘big state’ advocate (Harvey 2005). Our argument is that neoliberalism, as the political workhorse of monopoly capitalism, has overseen a makeover of universities so they might behave like a monopoly capitalist corporation. Our time is the time of the near global domination of capital. The university has succumbed. In its colonisation – its capitalisation – the university has not only reinvented itself as a willing ally of capital but has also set about remaking itself in its image

ANALYSE THE EFFECT OF MASS FLOW RATE ON THE EFFICIENCY OF PICO TURBINE & VALIDATE WITH EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Pico hydro is a green energy that consumes small streams to generate electricity without depends on any sources of non-renewable energy. This green scheme offers a cheap, efficient, reliable and cost effective of alternative energy and hence, there is no need to worries about the fuel source, capital cost, pollution and life expectancy. Even though the power generated is less than 5kW, but the benefit gain from this energy is the ability to raise the standard living of residents in remote areas. In this paper, model of a propeller turbine is made based on data of thesis “Design of a Low Head Pico Hydro Turbine for Rural Electrification in Cameroon ” (Patrick Ho-Yan, 2012) and experimental work for pico turbine done by (Patrick Ho-Yan, 2012), is taken for the reference for simulation work. This CFD result will be compared with experimental results for validation. After doing simulation work an experimental results and CFD results are seems to be same. Their nature of curve from the results are approximately matching. This variation is about 31.21 % with respect to experimental results. Keywords: Pico turbine, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Flow analysi

Mathematical modelling and application of reduced differential transform method for river pollution

This paper presents the mathematical model of pollutant transport in a river. To effectively find the analytical solution of the advectiondiffusion equation under various forms of suitable initial conditions, the reduced differential transform method (RDTM) is used. Three different initial concentration function cases, including rational, exponential, and power, are analyzed for the present model. A 2D and 3D visual comparison of the solutions obtained for each case is also shown. This article discusses the sufficient condition for convergence of the reduced differential transform approach to solving non-linear differential equations.The convergence results for the concentration functions in each case are briefly described. The present method is highly effective and more efficient in solving real-world problems. For all cases, the amount of phosphate pollutant concentration at various distances and time levels has been examined using numerical and graphical representations. While analyzing actual world problems, the current study demonstrates its effectiveness