Showing papers on "Face (sociological concept) published in 1974"

The Future of Political Science

Abstract: Harold D. Lasswell is arguably the quintessential face of political science to the larger public of the past century. However, there is a side to Lasswell less well known, but of special importance in this day and age: the place of the profession of politics as an academic activity. This book, written at the start of the culture wars thirty years ago, outlines the basic core position of political science practitioners. It helps to explain why the fi eld kept its collective cool, when other social science professionals veered to more extreme activist positions.

Theory and Model for the Structural Analysis of Fiction

Abstract: HE PREMISES for this study are derived from the theories of communication, from neo-rhetoric, from axiological studies and content analysis, from the theory of cybernetics, from the transformational structuralism of Chomsky, and the genetic structuralism of Piaget. The theories of communication and neo-rhetoric allow us to disregard some empirical categories-such as "literature," "art," "spectacle," and so on-that are not particularly relevant to the point of view adopted here; axiological studies and content analysis, though with different means and for different purposes, face the problem of the semantic genesis of communication and supply us with useful principles and instruments for this investigation; the theory of cybernetics and structuralism are the sources of sets of rules which are fundamental elements in the present model. The theory of communication allows us to consider all kinds of messages as belonging to a single, undivided sphere; 1 the neo-rhetorical research distinguishes two types of communication in such a sphere: one aimed at persuading and moving to action (i.e., emotional communication of social rules), and the other at convincing and enriching knowledge (i.e., rational communication of scientific laws) .2 Thus

Comment on Professor R. L. Gregory’s Paper

Abstract: A theory is presented in the face of a problem or set of problems. I think there is one prime problem in the face of which Professor Gregory presents his theory:

A Psychosocial Approach to the Peking Opera

Abstract: Studies of the popular theatre of Japan show that an understanding of it can provide insights into some of the prevailing life themes and of the conflicts of the people with the mechanisms they use to cope with them. A better knowledge of the inhabitants of the People's Republic of China is very much needed by the outside world. The authors, therefore, have analyzed examples of the classical Peking Opera, which were presented in China until about 1965, when, as a result of the Cultural Revolution, the emphasis and some of the techniques of the traditional drama were altered and some new subject matter was added. They point out, however, that in the modern revolutionary Peking Opera the essential form was changed remarkably little. The conclusions reached are the following ones. The Chinese seek to temporize conflicts and to search for nonviolent solutions. They seem to make an all-out effort to obtain reconciliation that does not cause either party to lose face. Life and death decisions are made slowly and only after time and trouble has been taken to look at many sides of an issue and then the decisions are person-centered rather than situation-centered. The possible implications of these conclusions on the relations of nations with the People's Republic of China are pointed out. In an earlier article [1] we pointed out how an understanding of the popular theatre of Japan could provide insights into some of the prevailing life themes and of the conflicts of the Japanese people with the persistent mechanisms used by them to cope with them. More than thirty years ago, David Snedden of Teacher's College, Columbia University, recommended that American secondary schools teach Russian and Japanese, because they were key languages of the future [2]. He was right as far as he went but he overlooked Chinese. If we were to predict the course of events for the remainder of this century, we would say that the Chinese language also be given the same priority. The People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) is a nation with an uninterrupted civilization going back several thousand years. It now embraces twenty to twenty-five per cent of the population of the Earth. Since its revolution in 1949, its development of nuclear power and rocket missiles and its admission to the United Nations has made it a pivot in the balance of power among nations. The antiquity of the Chinese is comparable to that of the Jews. Their history affords them a kind of security in attacking the future. The Chinese until the revolution of 1949, like Jews, placed their * President, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Theatre Arts, 310 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. (Received 27 July 1973.) ** Formerly Dean of Training, Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, New York, N.Y., U.S.A. Died 22 January 1973. main emphasis upon the past. Ancestor worship and strong family tradition convinced them that nothing new ever happened in the present or would happen in the future. But in post-revolution China, as in Israel, a greater sense of the future follows on a greater sense of the past. Parallels are often misleading. Yet they can sometimes illuminate. China in the Far East might be considered to have played the role of ancient Greece in the West. Throughout their long history the Chinese generally believed that their civilization would prevail without resort to invasion, war or imperialisitic colonizing. The traditional self-view of the Chinese that they are the chosen people leads an outsider who does not really understand this attitude to feel that they are indifferent to others [3]. The view that the Chinese are the chosen people is not unlike that of the Jews. The Chinese took their country to be the center of the world and those who were not Chinese were considered barbarians. The history of China since the 1800's is filled with examples of culture shock on the part of the Chinese, with astonishment by the fact that peoples other than Chinese had the ability to invent, to achieve. An Occidental myth is that the Oriental is insensitive. The Chinese are in fact not easy to understand. It is difficult to get Chinese to talk about themselves and about their country. It seems unlikely that the Chinese can be expected to teach Occidentals about China and its people. Therefore, insight must be sought from other sources. It is

Toward a Renewal of Culture.

Abstract: This writer suggests that the school has a moral impera tive to face up to society's problems and to exercise its unique capability for being the custodian of values. He discusses the three false gods of success, scientism, and efficiency.