Contemporary society

About: Contemporary society is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3991 publications have been published within this topic receiving 91755 citations.

Politicizing the expertise of the accounting industry in the realm of corporate social responsibility

Abstract: The accounting industry plays an important role in the production and implementation of accountability mechanisms surrounding corporate social responsibility practices. Operating as both politicians and implementers of knowledge ( Gendron, Cooper, & Townley, 2007 ), the expert activities of accountants are never purely technical. This paper focuses on the mediating role of accounting firms and professional bodies in aligning the socially responsible practices of organizations with the rational morality of the market. I show that the construction of the market as a moral marker of socially responsible action is the result of a major effort of rationalization aimed at justifying the emergence of a social and moral conscience in business, not in the name of subjective feelings or human values, but in the name of an economic and depoliticized logic of profitability. Drawing on the political analysis of Latour (2004) [ Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy ] and his metaphor of the ‘modern constitution’, I view the economicization of corporate social responsibility as symptomatic of the power imbalance between the world of humans and the world of objects governing the political structure of contemporary society and weakening democratic activity.

‘Personal data literacies’: A critical literacies approach to enhancing understandings of personal digital data:

Abstract: The capacity to understand and control one’s personal data is now a crucial part of living in contemporary society. In this sense, traditional concerns over supporting the development of ‘digital l...

Gender, home and family in cultural capital theory.

Abstract: The paper argues that Bourdieu's stress on early familiarization for the highest value of cultural capital is closely linked to his idea, strongly emphasized in Distinction, about the role of family and domestic life for individual development and social positions. The role of women, as mothers and homemakers, is crucial in this process. Yet, Bourdieu defines social origin as deriving from the father. The centrality to Bourdieu's thinking of a resilient traditional pattern of masculine domination and feminine submission constitutive of the Western gender habitus explains both his stress on 'normalcy' for the production of legitimate dispositions, and his resistance to incorporating into his thinking the implications of recent transformations in home family living, which have destabilized the gender order. It is thus important to consider contemporary feminist analyses of the family and home life and their significance for a renewed theory of cultural capital. The paper considers two sets of literature. Firstly, it addresses the manners in which home and family are conceptualized in Bourdieu's key texts where these issues were prominent in the development of his thinking on cultural capital. The second set of literature includes texts by feminist academics in the fields of family, gender and the body, which analyse the destabilizing of the gender order and everyday family living in contemporary society. Two questions are addressed on the basis of these reflections: (1) Is cultural capital an individual or a household resource? (2) How does cultural capital relate to personal interdependencies at the level of family and households?

Spirituality and education

Abstract: Spirituality and Education introduces the basic contours of current debate in a form accessible to both classroom teachers across the curriculum range, and to school managers. It covers all key areas, including:* problems of defining spirituality* government legislation and supporting documentation * relevant empirical research* the social dimension of spirituality* secular and religious manifestations of spirituality in contemporary society* theories of childhood spiritual development* contemporary approaches to spiritual education, including collective worship and cross-curricular teaching. A variety of different perspectives and approaches will be offered, and readers are encouraged to be reflective through a number of tasks which relate all issues raised directly back to their own specific circumstances. The author includes questions, quotes and lists of further reading.

The kin in the gene : The medicalization of family and kinship in American Society. Commentaries. Author's reply

Abstract: In the past several decades there has been an explosion of research in genetics and on genetic inheritance. This new genetics is part of contemporary biomedicine and forecasts great advances in alleviating disease and prolonging human life. It also encompasses notions about biological family and kinship relations. I propose that with the advent of the new genetics, family and kinship are being medicalized. I explore the ways in which explanations of the inheritance of genetic disease influence people's understandings of family and kin and both reflect and conflict with broader current sociocultural processes. The discussion includes a brief overview of the anthropological study of kinship, the meaning of family and kinship in contemporary society, and the concept of medicalization and its implications for people's lives as seen through narratives and concludes with an analysis of the significance of the medicalization of family and kinship in present-day society.