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Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci

TL;DR: The first selection published from Gramsci's Prison Notebooks to be made available in Britain, and was originally published in the early 1970s as discussed by the authors, was the first publication of the Notebooks in the UK.
Abstract: Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, written between 1929 and 1935, are the work of one of the most original thinkers in twentieth century Europe. Gramsci has had a profound influence on debates about the relationship between politics and culture. His complex and fruitful approach to questions of ideology, power and change remains crucial for critical theory. This volume was the first selection published from the Notebooks to be made available in Britain, and was originally published in the early 1970s. It contains the most important of Gramsci's notebooks, including the texts of The Modern Prince, and Americanism and Fordism, and extensive notes on the state and civil society, Italian history and the role of intellectuals. 'Far the best informative apparatus available to any foreign language readership of Gramsci.' Perry Anderson, New Left Review 'A model of scholarship' New Statesman
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Thomas Pynchon as discussed by the authors presents the Deep Web as a virtual unconscious, a "dark archive" beneath the surface Web, and escorts the reader into an abyss previously explored by Nietzsche, Freud, and Derrida.
Abstract: An ironic engagement with history sets Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge apart from other 9/11 fictions Engaging in a shadow polemic on the historiographical responsibilities of the literary artist, Pynchon critiques a burgeoning technology (the Internet) and the economic order it serves He presents the Deep Web as a virtual unconscious, a “dark archive” beneath the surface Web In his probing of this digital arkhē , Pynchon escorts the reader into an abyss previously explored by Nietzsche, Freud, and Derrida Like them, he finds repression, death wish, “archive fever,” and the oblivion from which life emerges and to which it returns

47 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the contrast between the civil nuclear policies of Germany and the UK and investigate the particular divergent conditions most strongly implicated in the contrasting developments in these two countries.
Abstract: This paper focuses on arguably the single most striking contrast in contemporary major energy politics in Europe (and even the developed world as a whole): the starkly differing civil nuclear policies of Germany and the UK. Germany is seeking entirely to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Yet the UK advocates a ‘nuclear renaissance’, promoting the most ambitious new nuclear construction programme in Western Europe.Here,this paper poses a simple yet quite fundamental question: what are the particular divergent conditions most strongly implicated in the contrasting developments in these two countries. With nuclear playing such an iconic role in historical discussions over technological continuity and transformation, answering this may assist in wider understandings of sociotechnical incumbency and discontinuity in the burgeoning field of‘sustainability transitions’. To this end, an ‘abductive’ approach is taken: deploying nine potentially relevant criteria for understanding the different directions pursued in Germany and the UK. Together constituted by 30 parameters spanning literatures related to socio-technical regimes in general as well as nuclear technology in particular, the criteria are divided into those that are ‘internal’ and ‘external’ to the ‘focal regime configuration’ of nuclear power and associated ‘challenger technologies’ like renewables. It is ‘internal’ criteria that are emphasised in conventional sociotechnical regime theory, with ‘external’ criteria relatively less well explored. Asking under each criterion whether attempted discontinuation of nuclear power would be more likely in Germany or the UK, a clear picture emerges. ‘Internal’ criteria suggest attempted nuclear discontinuation should be more likely in the UK than in Germany– the reverse of what is occurring. ‘External’ criteria are more aligned with observed dynamics –especially those relating to military nuclear commitments and broader ‘qualities of democracy’. Despite many differences of framing concerning exactly what constitutes ‘democracy’, a rich political science literature on this point is unanimous in characterising Germany more positively than the UK. Although based only on a single case,a potentially important question is nonetheless raised as to whether sociotechnical regime theory might usefully give greater attention to the general importance of various aspects of democracy in constituting conditions for significant technological discontinuities and transformations. If so, the policy implications are significant. A number of important areas are identified for future research, including the roles of diverse understandings and specific aspects of democracy and the particular relevance of military nuclear commitments– whose under-discussion in civil nuclear policy literatures raises its own questions of democratic accountability.

47 citations


Cites background from "Selections from the prison notebook..."

  • ...11 challenging power (Stirling, 2014) Drawing on a wide literature (Bourdieu, 1998; Gramsci, 1971; Luhmann, 1995; Lukes, 2005; Sen, 2000; Simon, 1991; VeneKlasen & Miller, 2002), this addresses 'power’ in all its diverse and multidimensional forms as ‘asymmetrically structuring agency’ (Stirling, 2014b)....

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Dissertation
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this article, an ethnographic exploration of the ways that music and marketing work in the pursuit and production of spiritual experience within a "Christian" lifestyle for members of Hillsong Church London, the European Hub of the Australian transnational Church, whose music is inseparable from its message.
Abstract: This thesis is an ethnographic exploration of the ways that music and marketing work in the pursuit and production of spiritual experience within a ‘Christian’ lifestyle for members of Hillsong Church London, the European Hub of the Australian transnational Hillsong Church, whose music is inseparable from its message. Specifically, it focuses on branding as a coand re-productive method of organising, patterning and communicating information in a media-saturated consumer culture. While branding is often seen as a top-down, externally focused method of advertising, I argue that, for members of Hillsong London, the church’s branding is integral to their experience of self. As a basis for this argument, this thesis posits the brand as an ‘educational’ resource that relies on participation and agency to ‘teach’. Participants seek the sacred experience found in a ‘Christian’ lifestyle, and the brand provides the material for this and a cultural frame in which to do it. Music is an ‘associative enhancer’ for the brand, tying its musicians, media and message to its values. Embodied values are central to the production and maintenance of lifestyle. Therefore, this thesis questions ‘the value of values’. The Hillsong brand is the discursive framework within which cultural action unfolds and is experienced, but one that is not ‘value neutral’. The church provides the branded material and cultural context in which the participant’s sacred experience of self unfolds. However, this requires the participant to want to ‘do the work’ to properly understand, and ultimately embody, the values associated with the brand. Therefore, the brand exerts a kind of Gramscian hegemony that channels the participants’ agency toward the reproduction of the Hillsong brand’s value system. Modern branding is perceived as valuable to all participants, yet the methods with which it directs individual agency raise important questions related to the modern production of social order.

46 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review examines three texts that cut across archaeological and socio-cultural anthropology to analyze contemporary research on states and propose new directions in the study of states, and proposes new directions to explore the origins of states.
Abstract: Much has been published theorizing the origins of states, but ethnography has lagged behind in developing the conceptual tools to theorize the state, generally preferring to study the margins of states or “stateless” societies, even though they were enmeshed in or colonized by states. In recent decades states seem to have been bypassed by an interest in global and transnational phenomena that presumes states as political organizations to be increasingly irrelevant. This review examines three texts that cut across archaeological and socio-cultural anthropology to analyze contemporary research on states and propose new directions in the study of states.

46 citations