Showing papers in "Science & Society in 2013"
TL;DR: A Sociology of Wealth and Racial Inequality: A Story of Two Nations: Race and Wealth as discussed by the authors is a sociological study of race, wealth, and inequality in America.
Abstract: 1. Race, Wealth, and Equality 2. A Sociology of Wealth and Racial Inequality 3. Studying Wealth 4. Wealth and Inequality in America 5. A Story of Two Nations: Race and Wealth 6. The Structuring of Racial Inequality in American Life 7. Getting Along: Renewing America's Commitment to Racial Justice.
447 citations
TL;DR: In the case of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) of Turkey, this article found that the majority of its votes from the poorest sections of society were obtained by the big bourgeoisie.
Abstract: Ten years in power, the Justice and Development Party (JDP) of Turkey has displayed its commitment to a neoliberal agenda. Despite this commitment, public opinion polls reveal that the party received the majority of its votes from the poorest sections of society. Analysis of this anomaly calls for use of a theoretical concept “neoliberal populism,” whereby political leadership secures the hegemony of the power bloc dominated by the big bourgeoisie over the subordinate classes. The neoliberal dimension of neoliberal populism became manifest in the JDP's economic policies that rewarded the bourgeoisie: legalizing flexible labor, weakening welfare, and subcontracting the state's welfare provision duties to the private sector. The party displayed its populism in the form of skyrocketing means-tested social assistance programs. The JDP also made use of the symbolic/ideological sphere to constitute its hegemony by identifying the party with “common sense” in Turkey. Through embracing conservatism, Isla...
86 citations
TL;DR: A close reading of the genesis of these policies in light of current unrest in Nigeria suggests that Nigerian content is also a project to direct increased benefit to the domestic elite from the country's petroleum resources as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Five decades of oil production in Nigeria have failed to produce meaningful economic or social development. Instead, the country has become a laboratory for economists proposing policy solutions to the “resource curse.” To increase the benefit accruing to the nation from its resource wealth, Nigeria has adopted “local content” policies, seeking to domicile in Nigeria oil-related economic activity previously located abroad. The stated aim of the Nigerian Content Act (2010) is to promote the utilization of Nigerian human and material resources and services. With passage of the NCA, Nigeria has reached a crucial juncture. “Nigerian content” policies have the potential to succeed where previous policies have failed to translate resource wealth into economic and social development. However, a close reading of the genesis of these policies in light of current unrest in Nigeria suggests that Nigerian content is also a project to direct increased benefit to the domestic elite from the country's petroleum...
28 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors found that women's family autonomy and individual freedom yielded to renewed collective efforts channeled through the discursive space of gender obligation equality, which led to a dual gender configuration.
Abstract: Data from in-depth interviews of 80 elderly women and men, conducted during the 2000–2003 period in urban China, shed light on married individuals' lived experiences with women's liberation and gender equality under Chinese state socialism during the 1950s. When individuals' experiences are placed in a broad historical context, urban Chinese women's liberation appears as an integral part of nationalist and class campaigns and attendant freedom from family patriarchy. Subsequently, women's family autonomy and individual freedom yielded to renewed collective efforts channeled through the discursive space of gender obligation equality. This led to a dual gender configuration. At the state level, both genders were molded into state persons, whereas in the home, traditional gendered roles remained rather intact. The experiences of urban Chinese women and men marked different state–society relations and alternative trajectories of women's liberation and gender equality from those followed in the industrial West.
24 citations
TL;DR: The tension between these two definitions of class is central to two models that have been historically mobilized to productively resolve that tension: the model of class consciousness and that of class composition as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Class is perhaps the most central concept in the Marxist tradition. But it is also one of the most ambiguous. Part of the difficulty stems from Marx's own creative use of the concept to refer to both economic categories as well as political subjects. The tension between these two definitions of class is central to two models that have been historically mobilized to productively resolve that tension: the model of class consciousness, on the one hand, and that of class composition, on the other. The latter model is ultimately the more fruitful of the two, although some recent uses of the model of class composition have come very close to implicitly reassessing some of the virtues of the rival model of class consciousness.
20 citations
TL;DR: The remarkable resilience of the international dollar standard is rooted in its ability to support the present system of globalized production, characterized by a specific division of labor between the financialized U. S.centered core and an export-oriented periphery as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Marx's theory of money can provide insights into the entrenchment of the U. S. dollar as a modern-day equivalent of world money. The domestic underpinnings of global monetary standards determined the inflationary bias of the Bretton Woods system and the systemic deflationary tendencies of the subsequent non-system. There is a strong connection between the tendency toward systemic illiquidity, characteristic of financialized capitalism, which has to be periodically cured by an expansion of government debt, and the institutionalization of the international dollar standard, under which the monetary liabilities of the U. S. state serve as the preeminent form of “world money.” The remarkable resilience of the international dollar standard is rooted in its ability to support the present system of globalized production, characterized by a specific division of labor between the financialized U. S.–centered core and an export-oriented periphery.
17 citations
TL;DR: Fuchs and Rey as mentioned in this paper argued that any increase in exploitation, due to wage-earners' private use of social media, occurs only indirectly as a second-order effect and that social media's organizationenhancing potential can help labor shift the balance of class forces back in its favor.
Abstract: Scholars who argue that social media users are exploited in the classical Marxian sense are making a fundamental category error A case in point is work by Christian Fuchs and Paul Rey, two leading proponents who press Marxian categories into service to depict social media as inherently exploitative Hastily applying “exploitation” to social media usage, their catachrestical mistake has negative implications for value theory and for emancipatory politics Following a neglected lead in Dallas Smythe's writings, Marxist analysis should instead begin with social media's capacity to influence the value of labor-power When assessed from this starting point it is evident that any increase in exploitation, due to wage-earners' private use of social media, occurs only indirectly as a second-order effect Moreover, social media's organizationenhancing potential can help labor shift the balance of class forces back in its favor, thereby limiting rises in the rate of exploitation
17 citations
TL;DR: In the light of the great capitalist failures over the past two decades, it is necessary to reevaluate both the historical performance of, and historical justification for, socialism as discussed by the authors, and there is evidence that the socialist economies met the population's basic needs better than the capitalist economies, especially with countries in the periphery and semi-periphery included in the comparison.
Abstract: In the light of the great capitalist failures over the past two decades, it is necessary to reevaluate both the historical performance of, and historical justification for, socialism. Even if one follows the logic of mainstream economic theory, there is no clear theoretical case why socialism is necessarily inferior to capitalism. There is no clear evidence that the socialist economies performed worse than the capitalist economies in term of economic growth. But there is evidence that the socialist economies met the population's basic needs better than the capitalist economies, especially with countries in the periphery and semi-periphery included in the comparison. In the 21st century, the historical task of socialism is no longer about how to successfully compete against capitalism in the capitalist world system. Instead, as capitalism ceases to be a viable historical system, socialism may prove to be the only viable solution to the fundamental crisis confronting humanity.
15 citations
TL;DR: The modern system of exploitation presupposes integration of four historico-logical "layers" of the exploitation of labor by capital: 1) the "classical" system of hired labor and appropriation by capital of surplus value; 2) appropriation of monopoly (super) profits and financial profits; 3) partial social redistribution of a part of the surplus value, and 4) relations of exploitation that pertain to creative activity and appropriation of intellectual rent, which are specific to the current stage.
Abstract: The modern system of exploitation presupposes integration of four historico-logical “layers” of the exploitation of labor by capital: 1) the “classical” system of hired labor and appropriation by capital of surplus value; 2) appropriation of monopoly (super) profits and financial profits; 3) partial social redistribution of a part of surplus value, and “diffusion” of capital; and 4) relations of exploitation that pertain to creative activity and appropriation of intellectual rent, which are specific to the current stage. The exploitation of creative activity is the most important resource for future development of the capitalist economy. Capitalist exploitation of intellectual activity (of creative workers) is quite different from “classical” exploitation. This difference involves 1) the appropriation of intellectual rent instead of surplus value; 2) exploitation of the human being (not only of his or her labor power), under conditions where 3) there is no precise border between labor time and fr...
12 citations
TL;DR: The immateriality of both commodities and labor, which is increasingly characteristic of contemporary capitalism at its hi-tech centers, has complicated drawing a hard distinction between productive and unproductive forms of labor as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The immateriality of both commodities and labor, which is increasingly characteristic of contemporary capitalism at its hi-tech centers, has complicated drawing a hard distinction between productive and unproductive forms of labor. Drawing an overly technical distinction between these two categories of labor potentially overlooks some important aspects of the processes of capitalist reproduction, particularly the increasingly social character of labor, and as such, a broader definition must be considered. The labor engaged in the production of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is illustrative of this need for further examination of the productive–unproductive distinction, for the fact that though FOSS, in some respects, appears tendentially anti-capitalist, in fact, it, and the immaterial labor driving it, has essentially been fully subsumed in the apparatus of capital accumulation.
9 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, an extensive and up-to-date overview of key elements of substitution treatment in Belgium is provided. But the authors point at various gaps in the knowledge on substitution treatment and on the characteristics of clients receiving substitution therapy and on challenges and obstacles in the provision of this type of treatment.
Abstract: Since the Belgian Federal Drug policy note in 2001, a legal framework has been developed for the prescription and administration of opioid substitution treatment (OST). However, until today policymakers and fieldworkers point at various gaps in the knowledge on substitution treatment in Belgium, in particular regarding substitution treatment in settings outside specialized centres, on the characteristics of clients receiving substitution therapy and on challenges and obstacles in the provision of this type of treatment. This research tries to answer these questions by providing an extensive and up-to-date overview of key elements of substitution treatment in Belgium. How is the provision of OST organized in Belgium (availability, types of providers, spread, referral and psychosocial support)? How do the clients receiving OST experience substitution treatment? Which obstacles can be identified and which recommendations can be made to overcome these obstacles? The answers to these questions can be found in this book.
TL;DR: The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) emerged from the World Federation of Trade Union (WFTU), after Western trade union affiliates in the latter organization expressed major policy differences over the Marshall Plan.
Abstract: The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) emerged from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in 1949 after Western trade union affiliates in the latter organization expressed major policy differences over the Marshall Plan. For its first 20 years, the ICFTU refused all forms of collaboration with the WFTU, contending that the Federation advocated a politically monolithic Communism with its primary function being the promotion of Soviet policy. The ICFTU's position was disingenuous, given the WFTU's polycentric nature encompassing variants of Communist theory and practice dating back at least to October 1965. Moreover, even when the WFTU Secretariat condemned the August 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the ICFTU still refused cooperation. While a minor thaw between the ICFTU and the WFTU occurred during the early through the late 1970s, it was, at best, tentative, minimal and inconsequential.
TL;DR: According to Marx and Engels, the proletariat constitutes a universal class whose particular interests are identical to the general interests of society, so that in defending and pursuing its interests this class also defends and pursues the interests of the rest of society as a whole.
Abstract: According to Marx, the proletariat constitutes a “universal class,” namely a class whose particular interests are identical to the general interests of society, so that in defending and pursuing its interests this class also defends and pursues the interests of society as a whole. While Marxism's detractors often dismiss the very idea of a universal class, this concept is in fact both plausible and defensible, as is Marx and Engels' correlative claim that the emancipation of this universal class will produce a “universal emancipation” from oppression, domination and exploitation. The latter claim is supported by two distinct arguments found in the works of Marx and Engels. The first argument concerns the benefits that would redound to all members of society from the elimination of capitalism, while the second emphasizes the ways in which class differentiation and stratification make possible the exercise of other, non-class forms of domination, oppression and exploitation.
TL;DR: The main reason for Trotsky's political isolation in the period 1907-1914 and, arguably, up to 1917 is the fact that all Social Democrats agreed that the material premises for socialism were not present in Russia: 100 million small-propertied peasants would have no interest in collectively organizing production as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: It is good that Richard Day and Daniel Gaido brought together a collection of articles, written by leading European Social Democrats between 1902 and 1907, on the nature of the coming revolution in Russia (Day and Gaido, 2011). It is even better that Lars Lih has decisively intervened to set the record straight, by forcefully reaffirming what has generally and traditionally understood to be the uniqueness of Trotsky’s permanent revolution theory, that is, his appraisal of the driving forces, and the final political result, of that forthcoming revolution (Lih, 2012). Gaido and Day, however, deny Trotsky’s originality in this matter, claiming that Kautsky, Ryazanov, Luxemburg, Parvus and Mehring “anticipated” Trotsky’s scenario of permanent revolution — an incorrect conclusion, as Lih shows. My aim in this brief comment is to add to Lih’s intervention what I believe to be the chief explanation for Trotsky’s political isolation in the period 1907–1914 and, arguably, up to 1917. Trotsky’s permanent revolution theory clearly set him apart from all Social Democrats, as Lih rightly reaffirms. However, Trotsky’s singular theory need not have led to his political isolation in practice, as Lih appears to imply. The reason Trotsky stood alone politically is one that few on the left, and even fewer in the Trotskyist tradition, are willing to entertain: Trotsky privileged theory over practice, at least in this instance. The kissing cousin to doctrinarism in theory is sectarianism in politics: Trotsky deliberately walked into the political wilderness after 1907 — and deliberately walked out of it only in 1917, under the impulse of mighty events. This assessment does not accord with Gaido and Day’s reverential defense of the “visionary” Trotsky, but it does, I believe, accord with the facts, to which I now turn. Lih shows how all Social Democrats, including Trotsky, agreed that the material premises for socialism were not present in Russia: 100 million small-propertied peasants would have no interest in collectively organizing production. Notwithstanding the disinterest of the overwhelming majority of the population in socialized production, Lih restates the commonly held and correct view that only Trotsky thought the dynamics of the bourgeois– democratic revolution would inevitably lead the proletariat to seize power and make a socialist revolution, shattering the bourgeois limitations of the democratic revolution. The peasants would support such a revolution, not Science & Society, Vol. 77, No. 3, july 2013, 412–415
TL;DR: Under the rubric Witnesses to Permanent Revolution, the authors brought together and helpfully introduced the reader of English to a range of interventions in which Russian and some European Marxists sought to come to grips with the novelty of the revolutionary movements of the Russian 1905 Revolution, and to discern perhaps unanticipated possibilities opened up by these movements.
Abstract: Under the rubric, Witnesses to Permanent Revolution, Richard Day and Daniel Gaido have brought together and helpfully introduced the reader of English to a range of interventions in which Russian and some European Marxists sought to come to grips with the novelty of the revolutionary movements of the Russian 1905 Revolution, and to discern perhaps unanticipated possibilities opened up by these movements. Lars Lih’s rereading (Lih, 2012) of the Science & Society, Vol. 77, No. 3, july 2013, 404–411
TL;DR: The panic that started in the U.S. mortgage and securities markets in the summer of 2007 and the near depression that followed triggered widespread expectations for a return of the state, which ultimately failed to materialize as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The panic that started in the U. S. mortgage and securities markets in the summer of 2007 and the near depression that followed triggered widespread expectations for a “return of the state” which ultimately failed to materialize. Instead of rediscovering regulated capitalism that would re-embed finance for the purpose of the common good, public policies took a decisive turn to austerity. Those who put their faith in the ability of the state to save capitalism from itself (again) failed to see that the Great Recession was not merely an economic downturn but a crisis of accumulation whose multiple dimensions involve the totality of capitalist social relations. That is, the economic crisis signified simultaneously a crisis of the policies and the institutions of the state.
TL;DR: The American Road to Capitalism: Studies in Class-Structure, Economic Development and Political Conflict, 1620-1877 as mentioned in this paper was a collection of essays that was published in the early 1970s.
Abstract: Charles Post's recent collection of essays, The American Road to Capitalism: Studies in Class-Structure, Economic Development and Political Conflict, 1620–1877, was greeted with enthusiasm in Marxist circles. Post's essays are an attempt to apply the so-called “Brenner thesis” (according to which the transition from feudalism to capitalism was the result of the self-transformation of the English landowners) to American historical development. Since in the United States there was no class of feudal landlords to act as prime movers of an “agrarian” capitalist development, Post makes the merchant-turned-land speculator the demiurge of American capitalism, asserting, against all historical evidence, that this class was able to “impose a social monopoly on land” shortly after the American Revolution. The rest of Post's theses are just elaborations of this fundamentally mistaken interpretation. However, The American Road to Capitalism does provide a welcome opportunity to discuss the classical Marxist ...
TL;DR: A "Marxist perspective on periodic crises" as discussed by the authors is based on the idea that periodic crises are not to be considered as a pathology of the market system, but as a natural outcome of the way it works.
Abstract: Ever since the latest financial crisis broke out, we have been witnessing an unexpected revival of Marxist theories as part of the effort to better understand the phenomena behind the current crisis. Marxist analysis can achieve an appropriate hegemonic role in the public debate on the basis that distinctive Marxist approaches provide a superior explanation for the current crisis. A “Marxist perspective on periodic crises” can be based on the idea that periodic crises are not to be considered as a pathology of the market system, but as a natural outcome of the way it works. This understanding of crises as a structural element in capitalist growth has the power to increase our knowledge of reality. Moreover, the core Marxist insight — crisis as a necessary restorative aspect of capitalist accumulation rather than as an arbitrary disruption — is necessary to the project of synthesizing the various elements in the crisis literature: real vs. financial, general vs. contingent, periodic/cyclical vs. l...
TL;DR: In their response, Day and Gaido state that I have unpardonably distorted their actual argument about the relation between Trotsky's scenario of permanent revolution and the other writers collected in Witnesses as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In their response, Day and Gaido state that I have unpardonably distorted their actual argument about the relation between Trotsky’s scenario of permanent revolution and the other writers collected in Witnesses. In my review, I identified their “central thesis” as the assertion that “Ryazanov, Parvus, Luxemburg, Mehring and particularly Kautsky ‘anticipated’ Trotsky’s scenario of ‘permanent revolution’.” I then mentioned the difficulty of pinning down the exact meaning of this thesis:
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The paper tries to provide a relatively complete overview on the vogue of the so-called " stem cell therapy " since the early stage of the 21st century up to now, and to provides a preliminary explanation of this social phenomenon with Chinese characteristics.
Abstract: The paper tries to provide a relatively complete overview on the vogue of the so-called " stem cell therapy " since the early stage of the 21st century up to now , and to provide a preliminary explanation of this social phenomenon with Chinese characteristicsAlso the paper discusses clinicoethical and research ethical issues as well as regulatory issues in clinical translation of stem cell re searchFinally this paper concludes several lessons that we should draw
TL;DR: In the U.S. economy, the reserve army has increased from about 5-6 million in the early 1950s to around 25-30 million by the late 2000s as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The reserve army of labor is a structural necessity of capitalism. By constantly keeping a part of the labor force unemployed or under-employed but potentially available for capital to draw on if needed, the reserve army of labor maintains the viability of capital accumulation by inflicting enormous costs on the working class. In the postwar U. S. economy, the reserve army has increased from about 5–6 million in the early 1950s to around 25–30 million in the late 2000s. Average size of the reserve army, as a share of the labor force, was substantially higher in the neoliberal period (1980–2011) compared to its size in the regulated period (1948–1980). Patterns in the data suggest that the relocation of production to the low-cost global periphery might be joining labor saving technical change as another important mechanism for recruiting the reserve army and disciplining labor under neoliberal capitalism.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the issues of the construction of social networks in the process of university technology transfer, and tried to answer why they chose such a model to realize technology transfer at that time, how did the new organization form, and how to maintain the stability of these social networks.
Abstract: Most of the literatures studying the issues of spin-offs of university technology transfer focus on the disciplines of economics and management,only a small part are from the perspectives of social networks evolution and new organizations formation.This study takes Nuctech Company Limited,originating from Tsinghua University,as a case to examine the issues of the construction of social networks in the process of university technology transfer.The establishment of Nuctech is for the purpose of realizing the industrialization of the Large Container Inspection System,and the model of transplantation with soil represents a new mode of social network of technology transfer.This paper tries to answer why they chose such a model to realize technology transfer at that time,how did the new organization form come to be created,and how to maintain the stability of these social networks.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the constructive factors and translation process of rural informatization project, revealing that the current government-led construction of the formal network contains an informal network, the existence of which dispels the formal networks effect.
Abstract: Actor-network theory provides new ideas for studying the formation of rural informatization. From the perspective of Actor-network theory, the paper analyzes the constructive factors and translation process of rural informatization project, revealing that the current government-led construction of the formal network of rural informatization project contains an informal network, the existence of which dispels the formal network effect. The dislocation of top-down rural informatization project and bottom-up famers’ demand weakens the original policy intention.
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TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper proposed an approach and strategic choice to coordinate domestic and international situations by promoting the revolution of energy production and consumption, as well as achieving green low-carbon development.
Abstract: China is facing the tough situation under the current economy and social development in domestic resources shortage, environmental pollution, global climate change and CO2 emissions mitigation. It is the fundamental approach and strategic choice to coordinate domestic and international situations by promoting the revolution of energy production and consumption, as well as achieving green low-carbon development. Therefore, China shall actively promote the fairness and equity of international system establishment addressing global climate change, positively response to the competitive structural changes of politics, economics, trades and technologies under the circumstances of global low-carbon development. China also shall formulate and implement domestic strategies, strengthen capacity building to tackle the climate change, develop and execute the target of total fossil fuel consumptions and the peak of CO2 emissions, so as to achieve the economic power by transforming the economic and energy system development pattern.
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TL;DR: In this article, a survey of the literature of mathematical anthropology in America and Europe is presented in order to gain some inspiration for mathematical anthropologists in China by seeking and collecting the literature.
Abstract: Byseeking and collecting the literature of mathematical anthropology in America and Europe,the paper exploresseveraltypical cases and issues.It analyzesthe research groups,objects,contents and methods,presents the current state and trend of mathematical anthropology in America and Europe,in order to gain some inspiration for mathematical anthropology in China.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that there was not just one transition from ancient society to feudalism, but two: the early Roman Empire and the early Frankish feudalism.
Abstract: After a long hiatus, Marxist historians are once again debating the "other transition": from ancient society to feudalism. Considerable improvements in empirical knowledge have not, however, been matched by bold advances in historical materialist theory. Prominent contributors now question whether any meaningful transition occurred at all, emphasizing the persistence of feudalism (Wickham) or the maturation of an incipient capitalism (Banaji). In this, they reproduce a central methodological shortcoming of Perry Anderson's pioneering work, which is a reluctance to think beyond the "mode of production" concept itself. The alternative concept of mode of exploitation focuses on the multiple "political" mechanisms by which surplus was extracted from direct producers. In Merovingian and Carolingian Gaul, the manorial exploitation of free and unfree tenants, as well as state ("public") exploitation of the landowning, arms-bearing peasantry, generated a social logic distinct from both the late Roman Empire and early Frankish feudalism. There was not just one "transition," but two.