Overcoming Social Division

Overcoming Social Division PDF Author: Anatol Valerian Itten
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351255983
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
Locked in our worldview communities and polarised through increasingly radical campaigning, we are anxious of today's great uncertainty and our politicians have little incentive to reach across party lines. The problem of social division is real. The Brexit vote led to the highest spike in hate crimes in Britain ever recorded and heated situations like the far-right rally in Charlottesville, USA are increasingly boiling over. Overcoming Social Division is not another book about dying democracies, because horror scenarios don't make you act. Instead, it is an optimistic response on what can be done, and about how we can coexist in fragmented and polarised societies. Anatol Valerian Itten explains how public conflict resolution, civic fusion and mediative decision making help us re-learn the ability to find common ground on controversial issues with our fellow citizens, whom we tend to assume believe more extreme things than they really do. This book takes the reader through empirical key factors, obstacles and blind spots and provides helpful guidelines for everyone interested in mitigating social division and resolving conflicts. The author's insights are based on his experience in conflict management, a study of dozens of public conflict resolution cases and surprising stories of over twenty interviewed mediators. Overcoming social division can be a strenuous task. But talking to our enemies is necessary if we don't want to end up in dysfunctional democracies, and it can be a more rewarding experience than we might think. This is a fascinating read for students and academics interested in conflict resolution and public participation from psychology, social sciences, law, and related disciplines. It is also a unique resource for professionals including officials, mediators, lawyers and other practitioners dealing with conflict and public participation.

Overcoming Social Division

Overcoming Social Division PDF Author: Anatol Valerian Itten
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351255983
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 165

Get Book Here

Book Description
Locked in our worldview communities and polarised through increasingly radical campaigning, we are anxious of today's great uncertainty and our politicians have little incentive to reach across party lines. The problem of social division is real. The Brexit vote led to the highest spike in hate crimes in Britain ever recorded and heated situations like the far-right rally in Charlottesville, USA are increasingly boiling over. Overcoming Social Division is not another book about dying democracies, because horror scenarios don't make you act. Instead, it is an optimistic response on what can be done, and about how we can coexist in fragmented and polarised societies. Anatol Valerian Itten explains how public conflict resolution, civic fusion and mediative decision making help us re-learn the ability to find common ground on controversial issues with our fellow citizens, whom we tend to assume believe more extreme things than they really do. This book takes the reader through empirical key factors, obstacles and blind spots and provides helpful guidelines for everyone interested in mitigating social division and resolving conflicts. The author's insights are based on his experience in conflict management, a study of dozens of public conflict resolution cases and surprising stories of over twenty interviewed mediators. Overcoming social division can be a strenuous task. But talking to our enemies is necessary if we don't want to end up in dysfunctional democracies, and it can be a more rewarding experience than we might think. This is a fascinating read for students and academics interested in conflict resolution and public participation from psychology, social sciences, law, and related disciplines. It is also a unique resource for professionals including officials, mediators, lawyers and other practitioners dealing with conflict and public participation.

Cultural and Social Division in Contemporary Japan

Cultural and Social Division in Contemporary Japan PDF Author: Yoshikazu Shiobara
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351387871
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
The recent manifestation of exclusionism in Japan has emerged at a time of intensified neoliberal economic policies, increased cross-border migration brought on by globalization, the elevated threat of global terrorism, heightened tensions between East Asian states over historical and territorial conflicts, and a backlash by Japanese conservatives over perceived historical apologism. The social and political environment for minorities in Japan has shifted drastically since the 1990s, yet many studies of Japan still tend to view Japan through the dominant discourses of “ethnic homogeneity (tanitsu minzoku shakai)” and “middle-class society (so ̄churyu ̄-shakai)” which positions the exclusion of minorities as an exceptional phenomenon. While exclusionism has been recognized as a serious threat to minority groups, it has not often been considered a representative issue for the whole of Japanese society. This tendency will persist until the discourses of tanitsu minzoku shakai and so ̄churyu ̄-shakai are systematically debunked and Japan is widely recognized as both multiethnic and socio-economically stratified. Today, as with most advanced capitalist countries, serious social divides occasioned by the impacts of globalization and neoliberalism have destabilized Japanese society. This book explores not only how Japanese society is diversified and unequal, but also how diversity and inequality have caused people to divide into separate realities from which conflict and violence have emerged. It empirically examines the current situation while considering the historical development of exclusionism from the interdisciplinary viewpoints of history, policy studies, cultural studies, sociology and cultural anthropology. In addition to analyzing the realities of division and exclusionism, the authors propose theoretical alternatives to overcome such cultural and social divides.

Technology and Social Inclusion

Technology and Social Inclusion PDF Author: Mark Warschauer
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262303698
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Much of the discussion about new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a "digital divide." Technology and Social Inclusion moves beyond the limited view of haves and have-nots to analyze the different forms of access to information and communication technologies. Drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, psychology, communications, education, and linguistics, the book examines the ways in which differing access to technology contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. The book takes a global perspective, presenting case studies from developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and the United States. A central premise is that, in today's society, the ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge using information and communication technologies is critical to social inclusion. This focus on social inclusion shifts the discussion of the "digital divide" from gaps to be overcome by providing equipment to social development challenges to be addressed through the effective integration of technology into communities, institutions, and societies. What is most important is not so much the physical availability of computers and the Internet but rather people's ability to make use of those technologies to engage in meaningful social practices.

Social Division

Social Division PDF Author: Alan Carling
Publisher: Verso
ISBN: 9780860915065
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
Social divisions are systematic social inequalities which are frequently regarded as unjust, and are fateful in the lives of individuals.

Biblical Wisdom, Then and Now

Biblical Wisdom, Then and Now PDF Author: Frances Flannery
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000415015
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
This volume examines biblical wisdom literature both in its historical context and as it relates to a host of contemporary themes, including overcoming social divisions, reading from a place of inclusion, healing from trauma, and challenging religious attitudes toward climate change and animals. This volume delivers fresh insights on biblical wisdom texts, exploring ways in which wisdom literature speaks perennially to the human condition despite the differences in societies then and now. Employing both biblical studies and theological approaches, the diverse group of authors in this collection examine biblical wisdom literature from a variety of perspectives and methodologies to illuminate the relevance of wisdom for ancient audiences such as exiles, scribes, and leaders, as well as for contemporary audiences concerned with challenges such as climate change, social division, and healing from trauma. Its eleven chapters utilize an accessible style that brings erudite scholarship on biblical wisdom to a broader audience. Biblical Wisdom, Then and Now will be an invaluable resource for undergraduates, graduates, and specialists in biblical studies, as well as the more general reader with an interest in biblical literature and its reception.

The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy

The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy PDF Author: Kevin S. Decker
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119146011
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Reunites the editors of Star Trek and Philosophy with Starfleet’s finest experts for 31 new, highly logical essays Features a complete examination of the Star Trek universe, from the original series to the most recent films directed by J.J. Abrams, Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Introduces important concepts in philosophy through the vast array of provocative issues raised by the series, such as the ethics of the Prime Directive, Star Trek’s philosophy of peace, Data and Voyager’s Doctor as persons, moral relativism and the Federation’s quest for liberation, the effect of alternate universes on reality and identity, the Borg as transhumanists, Federation Trekonomics, Star Trek’s secular society, and much, much more…! An enterprising and enlightening voyage into deep space that will appeal to hardcore fans and science fiction enthusiasts alike Publishing in time to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the original TV series

Overcome by Modernity

Overcome by Modernity PDF Author: Harry D. Harootunian
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400823862
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 475

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Book Description
In the decades between the two World Wars, Japan made a dramatic entry into the modern age, expanding its capital industries and urbanizing so quickly as to rival many long-standing Western industrial societies. How the Japanese made sense of the sudden transformation and the subsequent rise of mass culture is the focus of Harry Harootunian's fascinating inquiry into the problems of modernity. Here he examines the work of a generation of Japanese intellectuals who, like their European counterparts, saw modernity as a spectacle of ceaseless change that uprooted the dominant historical culture from its fixed values and substituted a culture based on fantasy and desire. Harootunian not only explains why the Japanese valued philosophical understandings of these events, often over sociological or empirical explanations, but also locates Japan's experience of modernity within a larger global process marked by both modernism and fascism. What caught the attention of Japanese thinkers was how the production of desire actually threatened historical culture. These intellectuals sought to "overcome" the materialism and consumerism associated with the West, particularly the United States. They proposed versions of a modernity rooted in cultural authenticity and aimed at infusing meaning into everyday life, whether through art, memory, or community. Harootunian traces these ideas in the works of Yanagita Kunio, Tosaka Jun, Gonda Yasunosuke, and Kon Wajiro, among others, and relates their arguments to those of such European writers as George Simmel, Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, and Georges Bataille. Harootunian shows that Japanese and European intellectuals shared many of the same concerns, and also stresses that neither Japan's involvement with fascism nor its late entry into the capitalist, industrial scene should cause historians to view its experience of modernity as an oddity. The author argues that strains of fascism ran throughout most every country in Europe and in many ways resulted from modernizing trends in general. This book, written by a leading scholar of modern Japan, amounts to a major reinterpretation of the nature of Japan's modernity.

Politics of the Lesser Evil

Politics of the Lesser Evil PDF Author: Anton Pelinka
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351290509
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
In his pathbreaking book, Leadership, James MacGregor Burns defines a kind of leadership with an indistinguishable personal impact on society. He calls this "transformal" leadership, and sees it as more than routine and calculable responses to demands. In fact, he argues, the more stable a liberal democracy, the less freedom of action for transformal leadership. Anton Pelinka uses a wellspring of historical fact to argue that politics always means having to choose between the lesser of two evils and that democracy reduces any possibility of personal leadership.According to Pelinka, Jaruzelski's politics of democratization in Poland in the 1980s (which led to the first free and competitive elections in a communist system) illustrate personal leadership hampered by democracy. Jaruzelski initiated the roundtable process that transformed Poland into a democracy; yet, this process ultimately ended with his abdication. Pelinka further emphasizes contradictions between transformal leadership and democracy by comparing the leadership styles of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. He de-.scribes collaboration, resistance, and tensions between domestic and international leadership, using the American examples of Presidents Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon and the European examples of Petain and Churchill. Pelinka then turns to the tragic fate of the Judenrate under the Nazi regime to illustrate the "lesser-evil" approach. He closes with a discussion of "moral leadership" and how abstaining from office, just as Gandhi and King did, may be particularly suited to stable democracies.Pelinka's unique use of rich empirical evidence from twentieth-century history is this volume's hallmark. He is critical of mainstream political theory and its neglect of deviant examples of democracies - such as Switzerland, Italy, and Japan, where there is traditionally much less emphasis placed on leadership. Pelinka's noteworthy study will be essential reading for political scientists and theorists, political philosophers and political sociologists with special interest in political ethics, and contemporary historians.

Sociological Theory and the Environment

Sociological Theory and the Environment PDF Author: Riley E. Dunlap
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742501867
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
Nearly all of the major perspectives, focal points and debates in environmental sociology are reflected in this collection of essays. The volume exceeds the bounds of conventional theory by surveying societies and their natural biophysical environments.

How to Make Opportunity Equal

How to Make Opportunity Equal PDF Author: Paul Gomberg
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 047069162X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
This critical examination of racial equality takes a new approach to breaking down racial barriers by proposing a system of equal opportunity through shared labor and contributive justice. Focuses on how race and class inevitably structure vastly unequal life prospects Shows how human society can be organized in a way that does not socialize children for lives of routine labour Looks towards contribution, not distribution, as a way to promote racial equality Argues that by sharing routine and complex labor, social relationships would be transformed, eliminating competition for limited opportunities to develop and contribute abilities A discussion board for ideas and comments relating to the book can be found at: http://howtomakeopportunityequal.blogspot.com/