220 research outputs found
Barbarism and modernity in S.N. Eisenstadt’s theory: Towards a cultural sociology of radicalism
No full textThe emergence of 'radical' social and political actors, ideologies and identities seems to be a hallmark of the crisis of liberal democracy that is spreading throughout global society. Despite its growing uneasiness about these facts, social science has not produced much theoretical innovation about them. This article aims to contribute to this task, by bringing to bear a conceptual framework elaborated by Shmuel N. Eisenstadt through his reflections on modern barbarism. I argue that the author's understanding of barbarism has a significant interpretive potential for the sociological analysis of contemporary radical identities, and suggest some ways to reconsider 'populism', thereby redefining the very concept of radicalism. The article starts by introducing the pivotal notions which constitute the conceptual framework of our author. The following section outlines the main argument of Eisenstadt's theory of barbarism, unpacking the way in which those concepts interweave to conjure a cultural theory of exclusionary, violent identities and institutional regimes. The final section highlights the significance of such approach for a cultural sociology of radicalism, by exploring the relations between the author's views and some selected trends in contemporary social theory.L'& eacute;mergence d'acteurs sociaux et politiques > et d'id & eacute;ologies et d'identit & eacute;s > appara & icirc;t comme une caract & eacute;ristique de la crise de la d & eacute;mocratie lib & eacute;rale qui s'& eacute;tend dans le monde. Malgr & eacute; le malaise croissant que suscite cette & eacute;volution, les sciences sociales n'ont pas apport & eacute; beaucoup d'innovations th & eacute;oriques & agrave; ce sujet.Cet article vise & agrave; contribuer & agrave; cette t & acirc;che en mettant & agrave; profit un cadre conceptuel & eacute;labor & eacute; par Shmuel N. Eisenstadt dans ses r & eacute;flexions sur la barbarie moderne. Je montre que sa conception de la barbarie a un potentiel d'interpr & eacute;tation significatif pour l'analyse sociologique des identit & eacute;s radicales contemporaines, et propose quelques moyens de repenser le >, ce qui revient & agrave; red & eacute;finir le concept m & ecirc;me de radicalisme. Dans une premi & egrave;re partie, je pr & eacute;sente les notions cl & eacute;s constitutives du cadre conceptuel de notre auteur. Dans la partie suivante, j'expose l'argument principal de la th & eacute;orie de la barbarie d'Eisenstadt, en d & eacute;taillant la mani & egrave;re dont ces concepts se croisent pour cr & eacute;er une th & eacute;orie culturelle des identit & eacute;s et des r & eacute;gimes institutionnels exclusifs et violents. Dans la derni & egrave;re partie, je souligne l'importance de cette approche pour une sociologie culturelle du radicalisme, & agrave; travers une analyse des relations entre les points de vue de l'auteur et certaines tendances particuli & egrave;res de la th & eacute;orie sociale contemporaine.El surgimiento de actores, ideolog & iacute;as e identidades sociales y pol & iacute;ticas "radicales" parece ser un sello distintivo de la crisis de la democracia liberal que se est & aacute; extendiendo por toda la sociedad global. A pesar de la creciente inquietud ante estos hechos, la ciencia social no ha producido mucha innovaci & oacute;n te & oacute;rica al respecto.Este art & iacute;culo pretende contribuir a esta tarea, utilizando el marco conceptual elaborado por Shmuel N. Eisenstadt a trav & eacute;s de sus reflexiones sobre la barbarie moderna. El art & iacute;culo sostiene que la conceptualizaci & oacute;n de la barbarie por parte de este autor tiene un potencial interpretativo significativo para el an & aacute;lisis sociol & oacute;gico de las identidades radicales contempor & aacute;neas y sugiere algunas formas de reconsiderar el "populismo", redefiniendo as & iacute; el concepto mismo de radicalismo. El art & iacute;culo comienza presentando las nociones fundamentales que constituyen el marco conceptual de este autor. La siguiente secci & oacute;n describe el argumento principal de la teor & iacute;a de la barbarie de Eisenstadt, desentra & ntilde;ando la forma en que esos conceptos se entrelazan para producir una teor & iacute;a cultural de identidades y reg & iacute;menes institucionales excluyentes y violentos. La secci & oacute;n final destaca la importancia de este enfoque para una sociolog & iacute;a cultural del radicalismo, al explorar las relaciones entre los puntos de vista del autor y algunas tendencias seleccionadas en la teor & iacute;a social contempor & aacute;nea
Non è un Paese per l'evidenza... e pur si muove. Peculiarità, limiti e potenzialità delle sperimentazioni controllate nel sistema scolastico italiano
No full textSi illustrano peculiarità e limiti delle sperimentazioni controllate nel sistema educativo italiano
Engagement as a Social Relation: A Leap into Trans-Modernity
No full textIn Modernity ‘engagement’ was understood in individual or collective terms: Weber and Marx offered the best-known exemplifications. Many sociologists still adhere to their basic paradigms. Many have also tried to combine them and have seen engagement as being co-determined by agency and by social structure. Although all acknowledge that engagement entails acting in, with, and usually through social relations, nevertheless, the intrinsically relational character of engagement has remained obscure, largely implicit and unexplored. Engagement has always entailed a social relation(s), but today is it is being re-examined as a relation because it is becoming more complex as it assumes morphogenetic connotations. Proposals for devising a new ‘relational sociology’ of engagement are on the increase. Yet these proposals are very different in their theoretical, methodological and applied approaches. We have to analyse them in more depth in order to clarify what ‘relational’ means.
The Author maintains that a distinction needs to be made between relational theories (based on critical and analytical realism) and relationistic theories (based on constructionist and relativistic assumptions). The latter involve central conflation between subjective and objective factors, as well as between the nature of the individual contribution and the historical configuration of engagement. A new conceptual framework is put forward here in order to understand engagement as a relational reality operating through reflexivity, especially the meta-reflexivity that is distinctive of the after-modern or trans-modern social order
Human Preferences' Optimization in pHRI Collaborative Tasks
No full textHumans and robots working together have mutual benefits. The first is great at adaptation to new situations and has very high intellectual capabilities, while robots are very effective in assisting humans with heavy/repetitive tasks. In physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI), one challenge is to tune the robot's controller to make the interaction with the human as comfortable and natural as possible. Indeed, robots' perception is different from human to human. Moreover, depending on the target task, different robot tuning may be preferred. In this work, an assistive Game-Theoretic based controller is presented, and its parameters are tuned according to different subjects' preferences. Preference Based Optimization (PBO) allows optimization based on human preferences and feelings. The aim of this study is twofold: present a methodology for fast tuning of a pHRI controller according to the subjective preferences in different situations, and study general human preferences according to two different tasks. The two tasks investigated are a precise path-following task and a fast-reaching task. Experimental evaluations are conducted, and subjective and objective performances are evaluated and discussed. Finally, a questionnaire is proposed to the subjects to evaluate the applicability of the proposed method
Dai costi all'outcome del sistema: un modello organizzativo e strategico per la governance del laboratorio
No full textLigth-Emitting Molecular Machines: Molecular Motions Nickel(II) Scorpionate Complexes Signalled by Fluorescent Emission
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