1.. HARD CASES 5. Legal Rights A. Legislation . . . We might therefore do well to consider how a philosophical judge might develop, in appropriate cases, theories of what legislative purpose and legal principles require. We shall find that he would construct these theories in the same manner as a philosophical referee would construct the character of a game. I have invented, for this purpose, a lawyer of superhuman skill, learning, patience and acumen, whom I shall call Hercules. I suppose that Hercules is a judge in some representative American jurisdiction. I assume that he accepts the main uncontroversial constitutive and regulative rules of the law in his jurisdiction. He accepts, that is, that statutes have the general power to create and extinguish legal rights, and that judges have the general duty to follow earlier decisions of their court or higher courts whose rationale, as l

Taking Rights Seriously

Scholars of culture, humanities and social sciences have increasingly come to an appreciation of the importance of the legal domain in social life, while critically engaged socio-legal scholars around the world have taken up the task of understanding "Law's Empire" in all of its cultural, political, and economic dimensions. The questions arising from these intersections, and addressing imperialisms past and present forms the subject matter of a special symposium issue of Social Identities under the editorship of Griffith University's Rob McQueen, and UBC's Wes Pue and with contributions from McQueen, Ian Duncanson, Renisa Mawani, David Williams, Emma Cunliffe, Chidi Oguamanam, W. Wesley Pue, Fatou Camara, and Dianne Kirkby. This paper introduces the volume, forthcoming in late 2007. The central problematique of this issue has previously been explored through the 2005 Law's Empire conference, an informal but vibrant postcolonial legal studies network.

Law's Empire

Taking Rights Seriously.

It is widely recognized that teacher communities figure among the most vital factors for promoting educational change within schools. While there is widespread consensus on the idea of collegiality as an instrument for promoting and sustaining change, scholars are much less clear on the characteristics that teachers' professional communities within schools must possess in order to promote and sustain such change. This paper discusses the role of friendship and conflict in teacher communities and argues for a rethinking of the way the intermingling of professional and interpersonal ties in schools contributes to school change.

Forgetting about Friendship: Using Conflict in Teacher Communities as a Catalyst for School Change

The Yugoslav break up and conflict have given rise to a considerable literature offering dramatically different interpretations of what happened. But just how do the various interpretations relate to each other? This ambitious new book by Sabrina Ramet, an eminent commentator on recent Balkan politics and history, reviews and analyses more than 130 books about the troubled region and compares their accounts, theories, and interpretations of events. Ramet surveys the major debates which divide the field, alternative accounts of the causes of Yugoslavia's violent collapse, and the scholarly debates concerning humanitarian intervention. Rival accounts are presented side by side for easy comparison. Thinking about Yugoslavia examines books on Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo which were published in English, German, Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian, and Italian, thus offering the English-speaking reader a unique insight into the controversies.

Thinking about Yugoslavia: Scholarly Debates about the Yugoslav Breakup and the Wars in Bosnia and Kosovo

Chapter 1 Acknomledgements Chapter 2 1 Sociology After Bosnia Chapter 3 2 On the Pathetic Hegemony of Face-Work Chapter 4 3 On the Last Function of Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia Chapter 5 4 The Croat-Muslim War: An Inconvenient Fact Chapter 6 5 The Ritual of Shame and the Western Response to Bosnia Chapter 7 6 On the Dialectic of the Scapegoat in Kosovo Chapter 8 7 Feminism and Rape as a Transgression of Species-Being Chapter 9 8 The Iron Cage of Rationality in Bosnia: Max Weber and the UN Chapter 10 9 Charismatic Authority: Mladic in Bosnia Chapter 11 10 Journalism and Modern Ethics: Tim Judah and Roy Gutman Chapter 12 11 Chomsky's Problem: Fairness First Chapter 13 12 On the Injustice of Postmodernism: Peter Handke in Serbia Chapter 14 13 Against the Positivistic-Utilitarian Understanding of Bosnia Chapter 15 14 Justice and Peace Before Utilitarianism Chapter 16 Afterword Chapter 17 Film and Video Resources for Understanding Events in Bosnia Chapter 18 Glossary of Sociological Terms Chapter 19 Glossary of Names Chapter 20 Bibliography

Sociology After Bosnia and Kosovo: Recovering Justice

This article develops a sociology of schizophrenia by focusing on how schizophrenia is socially defined from the viewpoint of the afflicted person. Drawing upon George Herbert Mead's concepts of selfhood, reflexiveness, self-consciousness, role-taking, and communication, the meaningfulness of the schizophrenic's behavior is examined with respect to self. First person accounts from Is There No Place On Earth For Me?, Welcome Silence, and Autobiography of a Schizophrenic Girl are used for purposes of explication.

Mead's theory of self and schizophrenia

In this paper I use the concept of scapegoating to explain the ritualized character of "ethnic cleansing" after the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. I provide an overview of the political background behind these events, introduce the role and influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and analyze the collective violence known as ethnic cleansing through the concept of scapegoating. The Serbian Orthodox Church's use of a scapegoat paradigm to incite violence created a pseudo-sense of solidarity among the Serbian people. Although this solidarity resembles Emile Durkheim's concept of mechanical solidarity, I question the stability of this solidarity insofar as it is based on the negativity of war crimes and genocide. Implications for understanding collective violence in other areas such as the Middle East and Iraq are drawn by way of conclusion.

Scapegoating and the Simulation of Mechanical Solidarity in Former Yugoslavia: “Ethnic Cleansing” and the Serbian Orthodox Church:

Schizophrenia, at one time considered by many clinicians to be a psychological response to an oppressive upbringing, is now generally accepted as a physical illness. While Keith Doubt does not quarrel with this current view, he does challenge the positivist assumptions that tend to accompany it. Throughout this fascinating survey of the literature on schizophrenia, Doubt presents a critique of society's neglect of the mentally ill and promotes a humanistic understanding of the affected person as a social being. Doubt draws on several disciplines and uses the works of such diverse writers as Vygotsky, Piaget, Deleuze, Laing, and Torrey. While he rebukes medical practitioners for ignoring the social dimensions of schizophrenia, he is equally critical of post-modernism's tendency to valorize the mentally ill. Nor does he sympathize with particular sociological approaches which, he believes, emphasize society's reactions to the illness - often at the expense of the afflicted person. Thus, a major part of Doubt's project is to place the individual at the centre of sociological theorizing about schizophrenia. This thought-provoking study offers an alternative perspective on schizophrenia to scholars and professionals, as well as to those who live with the disease. Doubt offers practical recommendations, which he hopes will bring some relief to sufferers, and helpful insights to those engaged in treating or assisting people with schizophrenia.

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Towards a sociology of schizophrenia : humanistic reflections

Drawing upon Kenneth Burke's distinction between semantic and poetic meaning in all language used by human actors, this study develops a hermeneutics for understanding the language of people afflicted with schizophrenia in social interaction. Documentary evidence from first person accounts, TV and video portrayals, and clinical reports is used for purposes of explication. A review of previous literature on schizophrenic language is provided to identify the particular contribution of this study for the development of more inclusive interactions with people afflicted with schizophrenia.

Keith Doubt

Papers

Sociology After Bosnia and Kosovo: Recovering Justice

Mead's theory of self and schizophrenia

Scapegoating and the Simulation of Mechanical Solidarity in Former Yugoslavia: “Ethnic Cleansing” and the Serbian Orthodox Church:

Towards a sociology of schizophrenia : humanistic reflections

A Burkean Hermeneutics for Understanding the Social Character of Schizophrenic Language