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Theses against occultism
(1974)
On tradition
(1992)
The present essay is the revised version of a talk given at the meeting of the German Sociological Association (DGS) on 'Social Theory and Social Practice', which was held on 16-18 February 1989 in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Bielefeld. The original German version of that talk was published in Jenseits der Utopie : Theoriekritik der Gegenwart / ed. by Stefan Müller-Doohm. - Frankfurt : Suhrkamp, 1991, S. 15-47: "Soziologie und Zeitdiagnose: oder: Die Moderne im Selbstbezug" s.a. http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2007/3906/
ProtoSociology is an interdisciplinary journal which crosses the borders of philosophy, social sciences, and their corresponding disciplines. Each issue concentrates on a specific topic taken from the current discussion to which scientists from different fields contribute the results of their research. ProtoSociology is further a project that examines the nature of mind, language and social systems. In this context theoretical work has been done by investigating such theoretical concepts like interpretation and (social) action, globalization, the global world-system, social evolution, and the sociology of membership. Our purpose is to initiate and enforce basic research on relevant topics from different perspectives and traditions.
This essay examines the foreign policy discourse in contemporary Germany. In reviewing a growing body of publications by German academics and foreign policy analysts, it identifies five schools of thought based on different worldviews, assumptions about international politics, and policy recommendations. These schools of thought are then related to, first, actual preferences held by German policymakers and the public more generally and, second, to a small set of grand strategies that Germany could pursue in the future. It argues that the spectrum of likely choices is narrow, with the two most probable-the strategies of "Wider West" and "Carolingian Europe"---continuing the multilateral and integrationist orientation of the old Federal Republic. These findings are contrasted with diverging assessments in the non-German professional literature.Finally, the essay sketches avenues for future research by suggesting ways for broadening the study of country-specific grand strategies, developing and testing inclusive typologies of more abstract foreign policy strategies, and refining the analytical tools in examining foreign policy discourses in general.
Beyond Weltpolitik, self-containment and civilian power : United Germany´s normalizing ambitions
(1999)
Rezension des Werkes: Dina Wardi, Memorial Candles: Children of the Holocaust. London, Taylor & Francis Books Ltd, 1992. 288 pp. (Deutsche Ausgabe: Siegel der Erinnerung. Das Trauma des Holocaust – Psychotherapie mit den Kindern der Überlebenden )
Depth hermeneutics—as developed by LORENZER within the framework of the Frankfort School's program of critical social research—represents a methodological and systematic approach to psychoanalytic research. The new ways and means by which a neo-Nazi utilises his visit to the Auschwitz Memorial to arouse further anti-Semitism are to be investigated by means of a scene-by-scene interpretation of his filmed appearances—first as a good-mooded tourist, then as a volatile right-wing extremist, as competent expert, and as rebellious adolescent. The aim is to demonstrate how the meaning of these role plays develops within the tension between a manifest and a latent significance. The results of this process of interpretations form the basis for clarifying the question: what patterns of socialisation are used by this "yuppie-neo-Nazi" to fascinate particularly adolescents?? In conclusion, the way in which through his post-modern film-production the producer turns Auschwitz into a test-ground where the neo-Nazi can do "a merry dance on the volcano", is analysed.
The flying geese model, a theory of industrial development in latecomer economies, was developed in the 1930s by the Japanese economist Akamatsu Kaname (1896–1974). While rarely known in western countries, it is highly prominent in Japan and seen as the main economic theory underlying Japan’s economic assistance to developing countries. Akamatsu’s original interpretation of the flying geese model differs fundamentally from theories of western origin, such as the neoclassical model and Raymond Vernon’s product cycle theory. These differences include the roles of factors and linkages in economic development, the effects of demand and supply, as well as the dynamic and dialectical character of Akamatsu’s thinking. Later reformulations of the flying geese model, pioneered by Kojima Kiyoshi, attempt to combine aspects of Akamatsu’s theory with neoclassical thinking. This can be described as the “westernization” of the flying geese model. It is this reformulated interpretation that has become popular in Japan’s political discourse, a process that might be explained by the change in Japan’s perspective from that of a developing to that of an advanced economy. The position taken by Japan in its recent controversy with the World Bank, however, shows that many basic elements of Akamatsu’s thinking are still highly influential within both Japan’s academia and its government and are therefore relevant for understanding current debates on development theory.
Die Autorin behandelt am Beispiel Brasilien das universelle Thema der Gewalt gegen Frauen in einem international vergleichenden und interkulturell kommunikativen Zusammenhang. Wichtiges Anliegen ihrer Fallstudie zur Gewalt gegen Frauen ist deutlich zu machen, dass die kontextbedingt aktive Bewegung der Frauen wider Gewalt in Brasilien sich nicht nur von Aktionen und Diskursen aus dem internationalen Bereich inspiriert hat, sondern einen beachtenswerten eigenen Beitrag leistet, von dem auch andere Frauenbewegungen lernen könnten. Voraussetzung hierzu ist allerdings, dass in allen diesen Gesellschaften, denen innerhalb der stratifizierten globalen Zusammenhänge unterschiedlicher Status zugewiesen wird, ein interkulturell kommunikativer Lernprozess stattfindet. In der Einleitung zu dieser Studie wird auf die spezifische Problematik des Themas hingewiesen, die Untersuchungsmethode und die eigene Argumentationsweise vorgestellt, die eng mit der Motivation zur Behandlung des Themas verwoben ist. Im ersten Kapitel wird die Gewalt gegen Frauen als zugleich universales wie auch partikulares Problem diskutiert, und dementsprechend die divergierenden Definitionen der Gewalt gegen Frauen, die vielfältigen Ansätze zum Verständnis von Frauen aus verschiedenen Gesellschaften und schließlich die Vielfalt der Erfahrungen von Frauen gegenüber Gewalt im Licht der interkulturellen Kommunikation vorgestellt und kritisch analysiert. Im zweiten Kapitel werden die diskursiv analytischen Interpretationen der Gewalt gegen Frauen im Licht der interkulturellen Kommunikation behandelt. Die Autorin knüpft an das diskursive Modell der Bedürfnisinterpretation von Nancy Fraser an und wendet es als methodischer Ansatz zur Interpretation der Gewalt gegen Frauen an. Sie weist auf die gesellschaftspolitischen und kulturellen Grenzen dieses Modells (auf die nördliche Hemisphäre beschränkt) hin und versucht es im Lichte des Ansatzes von Patrick Dias zu interkulturellem Lernen im Kontext der international ungleichen Machtstrukturen kritisch weiterzuentwickeln. Das dritte Kapitel analysiert die relevanten gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen mit ihren diskursiven Konstruktionen zum Verständnis von Frauen und deren Stellung im spezifischen Kontext Brasiliens. Das vierte Kapitel stellt die brasilianische Frauenbewegung wider Gewalt gegen Frauen in ihren historischen Zusammenhängen dar: von ihren Anfängen über deren Strategien in den Achtzigern bis im ausgehenden zwanzigsten Jahrhundert hinein; und es schließt mit den Diskussionen im 21. Jahrhundert ab, die verstärkt unter der Metapher der Cidadania (Aufbau der Zivilgesellschaft) steht. Kapitel fünf fasst die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung zusammen und führt den in der Studie angewandten diskursiv analytischen Ansatz im Rahmen der interkulturell immer noch bestehenden herrschaftlichen Kommunikationsstruktur mit einem Plädoyer für ein interkulturelles Lernen, das die globalen Ungleichheiten nicht verkennt, weiter.
Quest and query: interpreting a biographical interview with a turkish woman laborer in Germany
(2003)
Hülya, a young woman who came to Germany from Turkey at the age of 17 in pursuit of a better life looks back at the age of 31. In her biographical query she relates her experiences to a social commentary on the hard and inhuman conditions of contract labor. At the same time she is critical of the common sense notions that suffering and social problems are the main consequences of labor migration. In our analytical query of "doing biographical analysis" we discuss how we interpreted Hülya's narrative and commentary in socio-historical context and also in relation to the discourse on migration from Turkey. We looked for terms to analyze agency and suffering within biographical accounts without giving priority to either of them. Referring to the analysis of another case and to the concept of "twofold perspectivity" we describe how both suffering and also pursuing one's potential are negotiated in biographical quests and queries.
Max Weber's two sociologies
(2003)
Review Essay of: Max Weber, Gesamtausgabe. Abteilung I: Schriften und Reden, Band 22-1: Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Die Wirtschaft und die gesellschaftlichen Ordnungen und Mächte. Nachlass, Teilband 1: Gemeinschaften. Edited by Wolfgang J. Mommsen in collaboration with Michael Meyer, Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck) 2001, 402 pp.
The starting point of Demirovic's text is Adorno's idea that concepts as forms of thinking are constellations of power. Differently from many interpretations of Adorno as resigned, Demirovic shows that this assumption enables Adorno to give his own theory the character of interventions in the ideological consensus of everyday life with regard to emancipation.
Anomalous monism and mental causality : on the debate of Donald Davidson’s philosophy of the mental
(2004)
The English version of the first chapter of Erwin Rogler and Gerhard Preyer: Materialismus, anomaler Monismus und mentale Kausalität. Zur gegenwärtigen Philosophie des Mentalen bei Donald Davidson und David Lewis (2001) "Anomaler Monismus und Mentale Kausalität. Ein Beitrag zur Debatte über Donald Davidsons Philosophie des Mentalen" is a contribution to the current debates on the philosophy of the mental and mental causality initiated from Donald Davidson's philosophy with his article "Mental Events" (1970). It is the intent of the English version to give a response to the controversy among American, British and Australian philosophers in the context of a global exchange of ideas on problems understanding the mental. Contents 1. Preliminary Remarks 2. The Critique of Property-Epiphenomenalism and Counterarguments (a) The Enlargement of Nomological Reasoning (b) The Counterfactual Analysis (c) Supervenient Causality 3. Are Mental Properties real or unreal (fictive)? Abstract Things and events are fundamental entities in Davidson's ontology. Less distinct is the ontological status of properties, especially of mental types. Despite of some eliminative allusions there are weighty reasons to understand Davidson's philosophy of mind as including intentional realism. With it, the question of mental causality arises. There are two striking solutions to this problem: the epiphenomenalism of mental properties and the downward causation of mental events. Davidson cannot accept either. He claims to justify the mental as supervenient causality in order to thus integrate it into physicalism (his version of monism). But his argument at best proves the explanatory, not the causal relevance of mental properties. For this and for other reasons, Davidson fails the aspired synthesis of a sufficiently strong physicalism and the autonomy of the mental; a project whose realization is anyhow hard to achieve.
I propose that the rising number of dualearner couples in the United States impacts the trend toward declining residential mobility and rising commute times. I describe these mobility trends in the United States, first relocation trends and then daily commuting trends. My research views the commute as the bridge in time and space between home and work that a) reflects couples' negotiation of preferences, relative job importance, barriers, and opportunities; b) has consequences for family functioning, c) reflects gender differences in the ways time and place are organized, and d) varies across the life course, by race, class, and region. I describe differences in family type and family functioning based on the commuting pattern and suggest a course of future comparative research that may improve awareness of how families and couples handle labor market demands, what structures shape the picture of couples mobility, and how nation-specific circumstances orient couples toward certain kinds of mobility and away from others.
Elderly people still play a minor role in research on information needs and usage patterns of Internet users. Online research and advocacy groups look optimistically at the (economic and social) potential of the active and technology–skilled elderly; other approaches dealing with the social appropriation of technology see obstacles and stress the dangers of an increasing digital divide between generations. Our objective is to refer to taken for granted normative assumptions of the digital divide discourse, highlighting different requirements for the appropriation of the Internet. Using the concept of technological generations we look at formal and informal learning of young and elderly people in the German context. We use survey material and field impressions we gained in various technology related studies. The results show that the "two worlds apart" assumption (young vs. elderly people) is too simplistic. Factors like gender, education and socio–economic status still play an important role for acceptance and diffusion of a technology. The diffusion rate among the elderly is increasing, but will continue to lag behind the figures of the young users. Cultural preparations and easy access modes are essential for the elderly, who could make use of latecomer advantages. Informal learning and peer group support will be crucial for the diffusion of the Internet among the elderly. In our conclusions we look at the specific social status of the elderly cohort, which makes a comparison with other social groups very difficult.
When one considers the results of social scientific surveys, secularisation in Germany seems to be a more or less linear process of erosion of what is traditionally named religiosity. The percentage of citizens who affirm that they are “religious”, believe in God or otherworldly beings, hope for life after death or participate regularly in the praxis of a religious community has been – by and large – steadily declining for decades. This decline has occurred over the succeeding generations: The younger the generation, the fewer “religious” people in it. But the process of secularisation is apparent not only in this persistent quantitative shrinkage from generation to generation. Above all it also manifests itself – this is the thesis of the article – in the transformation of the habitus formations and contents of faith of the generations. The essence of ongoing secularisation naturally is reflected most clearly in its contemporary state of development which is represented in the youngest adult generation. Therefore the analysis of this generation is particularly interesting for the sociology of religion. But the article does not confine to analyze this generation. After indicating some basic premises of the sociology of generations and the notion of secularisation presupposed in this paper, the succession of generations in Germany is outlined hypothetically, from the so-called generation of ´68 to the youngest adult generation, concluding with some remarks about the progress of secularisation.
Aims: This paper is a review of the literature on problem-related drinking of alcohol among medical doctors, and it deals with the epidemiology and results. Methods: A search of computer literature databases - PubMed and ETOH - was performed to locate articles reporting problem-related drinking among doctors, using population-based samples of doctors within the last two decades. Results: In the light of different definitions of problem-related drinking, there was found a breadth of prevalence of problem-related drinking - from heavy drinking and hazardous drinking (12%-16%) to misuse and dependence (6%-8%) - within the population-based samples of doctors. An increased risk was positively related to male doctors and doctors of the age of 40-45 years and older, and to some factors of work, lifestyle and health. Conclusion: For the future, it seems necessary to sensitise the research for problem-related drinking of doctors in Germany, e.g. initiating a representative survey, analysing the drinking of alcohol in the context of health, life-style and work-related factors.
The future of NATO has been a hotly debated topic at the center of IR debates ever since the end of the Cold War. It has also been a very complicated one given the discipline´s conceptual and theoretical difficulties in studying change. Most analysts now agree that NATO (and the transatlantic order more broadly) are going through some major changes. Yet while there is consensus that the depth as well as the pace of these changes is more far-reaching than in past decades it is unclear exactly how deep and how far these changes reach. In order to come to grips with these changes most of the chapters in this book are exploring the character as well as the sources of these changes. This chapter approaches the topic by examining how the discipline has dealt with the question of the evolution of the transatlantic order in the past. It argues that IR has not been very well equipped conceptually to deal with the phenomenon in question, ie. large-scale processes of change. In applying a typological framework developed by Paul Pierson the chapter discusses what types of causal accounts have dominated in the IR literature – and what this may tell us about particular strengths, biases and potential blind spots in coming to grips with the evolution of this order. In essence it argues that the structure of the most prominent explanations is often quite similar irrespective of paradigmatic descent. Inspite of major differences – inspite, even, of mutually exclusive predictions – as to the expected path of the order´s evolution realist, liberal and constructivist accounts heavily rely in equal fashion on causal arguments which emphasize large-scale causal processes which are almost always framed in rather statist structural terms even though they essentially entail slow moving causal processes. This temporal dimension of the causal processes presumably shaping the future of the transatlantic order is seldom spelled out in detail, however. Thus, if one examines the debate as a whole one sees a picture of IR scholarship which essentially oscillates between two extremes: the position that NATO (as the core institution of the transatlantic order) was (and is) certain to survive and the position that it was (and is) certain to collapse. What is more, these extremes on a spectrum of possible positions on the transatlantic order´s evolution between breakdown on the one hand and successful adaptation on the other are not hypothetical but mostly real. Thus, the debate does not gravitate towards the center (ie. a position which, for instance, envisages a loser but still cooperative relationship) after the usual give and take of exchanging scholarly arguments. Rather it mostly sticks with either of the two extreme positions. The chapter illustrates the problems associated with this point in some details and discusses potential remedies.
Im Dezember 2005, gewannen Evo Morales und seine Partei, die Bewegung zum Sozialismus (MAS), mit über 50 Prozent der Stimmen die Wahlen in Bolivien. Dieses war das stärkste Wahlergebnis einer Partei seit Einführung der Demokratie 1982. Morales wurde im Januar 2006 als der zweite indigene Präsident Lateinamerikas eingeweiht. Die Einweihungszeremonie war gleichzeitig ein Triumph der anti-neoliberalen Bewegung Boliviens, welche im Wasserkrieg im Jahr 2000 und im Steuer- und Gaskrieg im Jahr 2003 ihren Höhepunkt erreichte. Morales und MAS unterstützten die sogenannten Neoliberalen Kriege. Der Sieg der MAS und von Morales in den Wahlen regt Spekulationen an, dass der Neoliberale Konsens in der Elite, der Bolivien zwei Jahrzehnte lang regierte, gebrochen ist. Die Frage nach einem Konsenswechsel ergibt sich nicht nur von Morales’ und MAS Partizipation in den Neoliberalen Kriegen, sondern auch weil die MAS viele Forderungen der Proteste 2000 und 2003 in ihr Parteiprogramm aufgenommen haben. Während sich Morales’ anti-neoliberale Denkweisen offensichtlich in der bolivianischen Bevölkerung großer Beliebtheit erfreuen, ist es nicht erwiesen, dass sich diese Popularität auf die Elite des Landes erstreckt. Der potentielle Konsensbruch bezüglich des Neoliberalismus in der Elite entstand jedoch nicht von ungefähr. Im Gegenteil: er baute sich über die gesamte Geschichte Boliviens hinweg auf und wurde von den Rahmenbedingungen im Land begünstigt. Mit Hilfe der kritischen Theorie von Antonio Gramsci und Robert W. Cox, welche in Kapitel 2 vorgestellt wird, erforscht diese Magisterarbeit ob der Neoliberale Konsens in der Bolivianischen Elite gebrochen ist. Mit Unterstützung des Konzeptes, dass Geschichte und Produktionsbeziehungen Gesellschaften und die Gegebenheiten in ihnen den hegemonialen Diskurs formen, stellt diese Arbeit in den Kapiteln 3 Boliviens Geschichte bis dato dar und bespricht in Kapitel 4 wichtige Themen der aktuellen Bolivianischen Politik und Wirtschaft. Die Umsetzung der neoliberalen Ideologie und Richtlinien in Bolivien wurde von den USA, den hegemonialen Institutionen (der Internationalen Währungsfond und der Weltbank) sowie der sich in der Regierung abwechselnden Elite propagiert und implementiert. Die neoliberalen Programme der 1980er und 1990er wurden trotz bitteren Protesten seitens der Bevölkerung beibehalten, die sich gegen die negativen Konsequenzen der Programme wehrten. Da die kritischen Theorie Konflikte als Mechanismen sieht, die Machtverhältnisse verändern und einen Hegemon/ein hegemoniales System stürzen können, werden auch die Neoliberalen Kriege Boliviens besprochen. Insbesondere im Steuer und Gaskrieg 2003 baute sich ein anti-hegemonialer Diskurs auf. Dieser Konflikt, in dem die MAS mitagierte, wird besonders begutachtet weil er den Präsidenten Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (der neoliberale Kopf Boliviens) stürzte. Auf diesen Erkenntnissen basierend, wird in Kapitel 5 die Zeitungsanalyse vorgestellt. Diese wurde in zwei Zeiträumen vorgenommen: 2. bis 19. Oktober 2003 und 22. Januar bis 19. Februar 2006 (erster Monat der MAS-Regierung). Es wurden drei Zeitungen analysiert, welche je eine politische Strömung in der Bolivianischen Elite repräsentieren (La Prensa, konservative Tageszeitung; La Epoca, moderate Wochenzeitung, El Juguete Rabioso, ein alle zwei Wochen erscheinende linke Zeitung). Die Befunde der Zeitungsanalyse zeigten, dass die Bolivianische Elite sich sowohl gegen die anti-neoliberale Politik der MAS wendet, aber auch den Neoliberalismus und die Internationalen Finanzinstitutionen den Rücken gekehrt hat. Sie bewies auch, dass die Elite im Jahr 2003 erneut die Massen zu ihrem eigenen Vorteil missbrauchten, in dem sie ihre Wut, die gegen die Privatisierung der Gas Reserven gerichtet war, auf den regierenden Präsidenten (Sanchez de Lozada) umlenkten. Insofern zeigte die Zeitungsanalyse auch, dass ohne die Zustimmung der Elite in Bolivien ein friedlicher Systemwechsel unwahrscheinlich ist. Wie im Endfazit (Kapitel 6) beschrieben wird, hofft die bolivianische Elite, dass sich die MAS und Morales in inner- bzw. zwischen-parteilichen Scharmützeln verfängt, damit sich in der Zwischenzeit eine Alternative zwischen anti-hegemonialen und hegemonialem Diskurs findet, welche den Reichtum und die Macht der Elite erhält. Dies dürfte sich als schwierig erweisen, weil die politische Mitte Boliviens leer steht.
When Angela Merkel arrives at the United Nations for the opening of the 62nd session of the General Assembly on Tuesday [25 September] to deliver her first address as German chancellor she will be very well received. Just after two years in power she has already become something like a foreign policy legend...
Rezension zu: David SHERMAN. Sartre and Adorno - The Dialectics of Subjectivity. Albany: SUNY Press, 2007, xii + 328 pp., €64.59, ISBN 978-0-7914-7115-9.