Social Reproduction Theory and the Form of Labor Power

Social Reproduction Theory (SRT) centers the production and reproduction of labor power under capitalism. This power to labor is determined individually, socially, and in relation to the totality of capital. These powers are produced and reproduced in and through social relations that, while capitalist, have tremendously diverse local conditions and histories. SRT provides a framework to think through the oppressive logics shaping the production, reproduction, and potencies of labor powers understood as diversely constituted. It argues that SRT is committed to the diversity of these labor powers over and against conditions that constrain both these powers and their actualizations in forms amenable to capital. It shows how SRT can offer resources to value the powers to work to satisfy human needs beyond exploitative and other oppressive social dynamics. Specifically, the paper highlights how a normative commitment to labor power can help SRT respond to charges of productivism, ableism, and narrow versions of workerism that are often leveled against left commitments to labor power. Building upon what I understand to be SRT’s normative critique of the form of labor power as constituted through capitalist social relations, the paper concludes by pointing to how SRT can promote struggles for social relations in which labor power could produce, actualize, and reproduce itself in freer ways

Modernity’s Regimes of Wonderment

Review of Curious Visions of Modernity: Enchantment, Magic, and the Sacred by David L. Martin. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011. xviii + 255 pages. $32.95 cloth

Nothing Risked, Nothing Gained: Richard Powers' Gain and the Horizon of Risk

Cet article interprète Gain, sixième roman de Richard Powers, à la lumière du concept de « seconde modernité » proposé par le sociologue allemand Ulrich Beck. Ce concept souligne la dissémination du risque et la manière dont celle-ci invalide les marchés conclus par la « première modernité » entre l’avenir et le présent, entre l’intérieur du corps et l’extérieur. Cet article entend montrer que Beck fournit un cadre interprétatif utile à la compréhension de ces rapports, hors des impasses catégorielles que suscite l’opposition entre les deux régimes narratifs à l’œuvre dans le texte : le récit biographique, local et individuel, de la maladie de Laura Rowen Bodey, et l’histoire collective de l’entreprise Clare devenue conglomérat.This essay interprets Richard Powers' sixth novel Gain with reference to the German sociologist Ulrich Beck's concept of “second modernity.” The concept underscores the dispersal of risk and how it shreds promissory notes understood in “first modernity” between the future and present and the insides and outsides of the body. It argues that Beck supplies an apt interpretive framework for understanding these relationships and overcoming the categorical impasses between the two narrative words at work in Power's novel, the biographical situatedness of Laura Rowen Bodey's illness and the corporate history of the Clare conglomerate

Internal Pressure Modelling for Low-Rise Buildings in Tornadic Winds

Internal pressures play a large role in the failure of wood-frame houses as the loss of the entire roof section becomes much more likely once the envelope of the building has been breached. Many studies have used internal pressure modelling to simulate internal pressures in structures from atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds, however, relatively little work has been done on this subject using tornadic winds. The objective of this study is to explore internal pressure modelling issues for tornadoes. The first part of the study uses a computational internal pressure model to simulate tornadic internal pressures of a low-rise structure; the second part uses the same model to estimate failure wind speeds of a flexible garage door, one of the critical failure modes of these structures. The internal pressure model is able to reasonably simulate measured internal pressures in tornadic winds, although not quite as well as in ABL winds. The modelled internal pressure coefficients are mostly within 0.1 of measured internal pressure coefficients, which is similar to uncertainty bounds. When comparing ABL and tornadic building pressures, some differences are found in the mean pressures at oblique directions and the pressure distributions for normal wind directions. An analysis of the spectra of the theoretical model equation terms reveals that a lack of internal volume scaling in the tornadic tests also contributes to the differences from ABL tests. The same theoretical model also shows that net loads on garage doors are typically reduced to 34-46% of the external pressure applied from the wind due to the internal pressure developed in the garage from the fluctuating opening size during loading. When these results are combined with experimental net pressures of garage door failures, the resulting range of expected failure wind speeds are 130-265 km/h

NDM-525: EFFECTS OF TORNADO WIND SPEEDS ON CONCRETE ROAD BARRIERS

Wind speeds can be difficult to measure during tornadoes due to their destructive nature. They pose a significant threat to lives and infrastructure in many parts of Canada and the U.S. The Enhanced-Fujita scale focuses on estimating these wind speeds by observing damage to different types of buildings, but significantly less research has been performed on the damage of other structures. Learning more about the effects of high wind speeds on these structures will help improve the ease and accuracy of future tornado classification. A wind tunnel study was performed at the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory of Western University. The study focusses on estimating the wind speeds that cause overturning in a standard 32” concrete “Jersey” barrier. On April 27, 2014, an EF4 Tornado struck Mayflower, Arkansas, and among the damage, several of these concrete barriers were blown over during the storm. The goal of this study was to find the overturning wind velocity and compare it to other damage in this event. This study was performed by placing a 1:8 scale-model of these barriers in a wind tunnel at a variety of orientations and wind speeds. Through analysis, it was determined that an instantaneous wind velocity of 4.55 to 4.85 m/s would cause overturning. These values correspond to an instantaneous wind speed of 340-360 km/h at full scale. It was estimated that the 3-second gust (used for EF rating) was 300-320 km/h, which sits at the top of the 267-322 km/h classification range for an EF4 tornado