Social transformation

A deep study of the magical aspects of ritual, both anthropological, social as wel a psychological. Various models about how rituals works, how the mind deals with magic, how rituals help to overcome time and space limitations, can help in transformation. The importance of rituals as social, transformational, but also as magical acts. New theories about ritual efficacy, the nature of time, and how the mind deals with rituals. Endorsed by prof. Stan Krippner and Prof. Cees Hamelink. 820 pages, totally original vision on ritual.

Was unterm Strich bleibt, wenn sich all die Milliarden in Luft aufgelöst haben, ist ein gebrochenes Versprechen. Nachdem mit den Autos, Fernsehern und Kühlschränken der letzten industriellen Revolution kein Geld mehr zu verdienen ist, soll nun die digitale Revolution den nächsten Wachstumszyklus auslösen. Doch der erhoffte Produktivitätsschub bleibt bislang aus. Allen Protesten der Sparer zum Trotz muss das anämische Wachstum der alten Industrieländer also weiter mit billigem Geld angekurbelt werden. Die neue Chefin der Europäischen Zentralbank Christine Lagarde hat dementsprechend die Nullzinspolitik ihres Vorgängers erneut verlängert. Die Nullzinswelt wird also auf absehbare Zeit unsere Realität bestimmen.
Und genau hier liegt der Ausweg aus dem Zombiekapitalismus. Billiges Geld ermöglicht Investitionen in die Zukunft. Alleine die Instandsetzung der seit Jahrzehnten vor sich hin rottenden Infrastruktur erfordert einen gigantischen finanziellen Kraftakt. In seltener Eintracht fordern daher das gewerkschaftsnahe Institut für Makroökonomie und Konjunkturforschung (IMK) und das arbeitgebernahe Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) für das kommende Jahrzehnt öffentliche Investitionen von 457 Milliarden Euro. Der klimaneutrale Umbau der Produktions-, Mobilitäts-, Energie- und Wohnungssektoren verlangt nach Investitionen in Billionenhöhe. Um die digitale Revolution menschengerecht zu gestalten, brauchen wir die größten Investitionen in die Köpfe seit den preußischen Reformen. Und um den verunsicherten Bürgern und Bürgerinnen in den strukturschwachen Gebieten das Gefühl zu nehmen, der Staat lasse sie im Stich, muss die Daseinsvorsorge in die Fläche zurückkehren.
Die gute Nachricht: Billiger als heute sind diese Investitionen nie wieder zu haben.
Angesichts der vielen Krisen ist es höchste Zeit, unser Wirtschaftssystem auf ein gesundes Fundament zu stellen. Billiges Geld in den Händen von Spekulanten verursacht hohe wirtschaftliche, soziale und politische Kosten. Progressive Politik muss daher dafür kämpfen, den geldschöpfenden Finanzsektor wieder demokratisch zu kontrollieren. Versagt die Herzkammer des Finanzkapitalismus dabei, die Realwirtschaft mit Kapital zu versorgen, dann muss der Staat einen Bypass legen. Nutzt der Staat das billige Geld für Investitionen in die Zukunft, wird aus der Not eine Tugend. Denn für die Finanzierung der drängenden Modernisierungsaufgaben ist das billige Geld ein echter Glücksfall. Ein handlungsfähiger Staat, der die Finanzmärkte demokratisch kontrolliert und klug in die Zukunft investiert, ist der beste Ausweg aus dem Zombiekapitalismus.

The more our societies diversify into a loose network of lifeworlds, the more important it becomes to find a platform to hold them together. This common platform cannot be made out of a potpourri of policies, but needs to be built around a credible narrative about a better future for all. Shaping the Society of Tomorrow means bringing together transformative alliances on a common platform for change.

Climate change has been at the centre of the environmental debate for three decades. Despite international agreements, humanity has not been able to stop the global increase in temperature. The coronavirus crisis has relegated the climate emergency debate to the background, although the connections between climate change and the pandemic prove that we have many reasons to act to mitigate climate change. Public policies have favoured regulations, market instruments, and modernisation strategies that consolidate a sort of green capitalism that aggravates and depoliticises the problem. However, the fight against climate change needs an innovative approach based on citizen politics and social transformation.

Srilatha Batliwala captures the rich and complex discussion of the AWID Forum on the Power of Movements. She divides her impressions in five areas looking at the currents, undercurrents, seen and heard, absences and silences and big leaps forward.

We often think about justice and social change in terms of refinement and better implementation of legal or economic theories and categories. Justice and change are often understood as more accountability and participation, as resistance to free movement/ autonomy considerations and an emphasis on social ones, as resistance to the ‘the market’, as a general protection of the weaker party, or a better theory or alignment of the entire legal system with general constitutional values and principles. Change is expected to follow from an overtly political discourse that should free us from the shackles of legal language and enable the concerns of the people to be voiced.
However, "Justice" cannot be understood in terms of any theory or concept. The word justice only makes sense because of the current unjust reality. Justice should be understood dynamically, as constant social transformation. Legal thinking misses the hierarchical structure of society and when considering justice too often assumes an abstract category or theory that can bring about “justice”.
For example, it is generally assumed in legal consciousness that the identity of the weaker party can be generalised and predetermined. Beside its reliance on constitutionalism and on conceptual understanding of the legal structure, the conceptualism of contemporary legal thought, this was one of the main weaknesses of the European Social Justice Manifestos. A legal system favoring an abstract “weaker party” is bound to struggle with concerns of justice. 
We cannot rely on any theory or worldview when thinking about justice. Such thinking about "justice" often contributes to the reproduction of existing hierarchies - to the reproduction of the status quo, particularly when (hierarchical) reality is interpreted according to existing ideology. Justice means a dynamic change of the currently unjust hierarchical reality that needs to be constantly constructed and reconstructed. The aim of social transformation cannot be a final solution, a perfect social order, or ubiquitous affirmations of ‘social’ considerations, nor a stable state of justice, but rather a constant pursuit of “justice”.

Cet article évalue la part croissante du secteur privé chinois en Afrique. Actuellement l’attention se porte sur les entreprises publiques chinoises qui investissent dans le secteur minier et peu d’intérêt est accordé aux entreprises du secteur privé. Cette étude comble ce manque en évaluant les caractéristiques et les motivations des entreprises privées chinoises et leurs impacts sur le développement. Les

The introductory chapter provides a theoretical context for the empirical chapters of the volume. On the macro level, the theoretical framing of the research project has shifted from the concepts of transition and transformation, frequently used in studies of post-communist change, to theorising within the framework of more general global processes characteristic to the late 20th -early 21st centuries: globalisation, the development of the late modern risk society, the information society, the consumption society etc. findings of the survey "me. the world. the media" 2002-2014 abstracts 3

This introductory essay situates the subsequent special issue within a comparative framework that helps to unpack the new global politics of development. It argues that there is a set of countries beyond Brazil, Russia, India and China -often described as 'the BRICs' -that are emerging to a position of increased international prominence and which merit greater attention than they have hitherto received. Recent economic risers such as South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico are responding to their economic growth and seeking to secure greater influence within regional and global affairs. The analytical framework developed here distinguishes between four distinct strategies of international engagement: issue leading, opportunity seeking, region organising and region mobilising. The framework further suggests the need to focus on new global opportunities and pressures, as well as the specific interests and capacities of states when accounting for the adoption of a particular strategy of engagement.

This paper is designed to explain the role of education in changing the society in Iran from Pahlavi up to Khomeini's period with special reference to women. Education as an instrument for social transformation and social development is widely recognised. In Iran education played an important role in promoting social and occupational mobility. It provides the means for empowering the disadvantaged and marginalised groups and promoting their inclusion in society. Education was used to awaken the people and influence society. The education system is more formidable apparatus that manipulates society indistinctively. Both the regimes make use of Education to initiate social development by bringing about a change in the outlook and attitude of a man. Education is considered a top priority in the development plans of the country. It is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and in equality in the society. It promotes social justice and is a force for change.

Internationale Zusammenarbeit ist im Kulturbetrieb und in der Kulturpolitik selbstverständlich. Kultureller Austausch muss auf Augenhöhe geschehen, um wirklich fruchtbar zu sein. Doch geschieht das? Sind es „faire“ Kooperationen?
Dr. Annika Hampel hat mit ihrer preisgekrönten Dissertation ein Themenfeld eröffnet, dass auch im deutschen Kulturbetrieb noch viel zu selten diskutiert wird. Hier gibt sie einen kurzen Einblick in ein sehr komplexes Thema.

This edition of Window on theWorld presents a survey of the key websites dealing withWater, from research institutions to water fora and networks. Organizations promoting campaigns against water privatization are highlighted as well as alliances for the defense of women's rights for water. Networks and trans-boundary coalitions are also key in solving and tackling conflicts around water scarcity.

¿Cómo transformar? Es la pregunta que se plantea este libro, no para proponer alguna receta, sino, al contrario, para ir abriendo toda una gama de preguntas e invitar a un debate alrededor de las búsquedas estratégicas de los movimientos sociales y las organizaciones políticas de izquierda.

The early ethnological works of Alfred Métraux are analysed bearing in mind his first fieldwork trip to the Chiriguano, in 1929. The paper discusses personal, academic and professional features of Métraux’s ethnological experience, the nature of the 1929 trip and his concrete relationships with the Chiriguano groups and individuals. Next, we analyse his ideas on material culture as a privileged means of understanding the synthesis of Andean, Chaco and Amazonian cultural influences. Finally, the dilemmas and limitations of his analytical approach regarding Créole cultural influence and social and cultural change are discussed. [Key words: Alfred Métraux, Chané, Chiriguano, material culture, change.]
Se analiza la etnología temprana de Alfred Métraux a la luz de su primer viaje de campo a los chiriguanos, en 1929. Se discute el perfil personal, académico y profesional de Métraux, las peculiaridades de su trabajo de campo en 1929 y sus relaciones concretas con los indígenas chiriguanos en el terreno. Se examinan luego sus ideas sobre la cultura material como campo experimental privilegiado para rastrear procesos de síntesis de influencias culturales andinas, chaqueñas y amazónicas, así también sus dilemas y límites a la hora de interpretar el factor de la influencia criolla y el proceso de cambio social y cultural en un sentido amplio. [Palabras clave: Alfred Métraux, Chané, Chiriguano, cultura material, cambio.]

The South African education system is still letting down a vast number of South Africans. And it is questionable whether a satisfying solution is to be realised by the government in the foreseeable future. Therefore, the finding of alternatives, which might prove viable in bridging the given disparities and shortcomings of the system, is crucial. Thus, the overall aim of this analysis is to elaborate in how far literature, as a supplementary form of education, can contribute to such a personal process of empowerment in the course of coming of age, and, at a larger scale, to the desired transformation into a truly equal democracy. As a solid foundation generally forms the core of every growth, supporting learners from an early age on, is of utter significance. Hence, the focus of this study will be contemporary young adult fiction.
In order to fully understand the necessity for this analysis, a snapshot of present- day South Africa will be taken and analysed as an initial step. The paper will shine light on the most important socio-political problems; the country is confronted with today. Attention will be drawn on poverty, its sources and consequences as well as formal and informal education. In the process, the intertwined nature of the two will surface. As there seems to be a tremendous discrepancy between theory, as proposed by the government, and the reality many South Africans find themselves in, the country’s education system will be examined closely.
The results will ultimately point to the importance of other sources of education and empowerment. Hence, the paper will then focus on suitable young adult literature, as a means of compensating the existing circumstances. At first, the genre’s history and core characteristics will be elaborated in a broader sense. Thereafter the genre will be explored in a specific South African context. The transformative power, literature generally holds, will be emphasized. As the aspects of memory, voice and agency form core components to this process, they will be assessed closely.
Subsequently, the previous results will be applied to four examples of contemporary South African young adult fiction, namely Thirteen Cents: A Novel by K. Sello Duiker, Untitled – A Novel by Kgebetli Moele, The Right Thing To Do by Dorothy Dyer and From Boys to Men by Londi Gamedze and Dorothy Dyer. In a close reading of the narratives, each protagonist’s circumstances and development will be investigated. The analysis will focus on how the process is influenced by poverty, education, or the lack thereof, as well as other external impacts. Under the horizon of the paper’s higher aim, attention will also be drawn to the character’s attitude towards art, where applicable. Eventually, it will crystallize that the engagement with fiction can hold a beneficial and cathartic notion and, accordingly, can contribute to a person’s process of empowerment. As a closing note, the question in how far the reading of the previously studied literature can prove valuable for young South Africans in general, will be addressed.

Статья представляет собой краткий экскурс в историю масштабных эпидемий, известных человечеству. Сравнение различных пандемий в контексте социальной философии призвано выделить основные сходства и различия социальных трансформаций, происходящих в разные исторические эпохи. Результаты сравнительного анализа дают возможность утверждать, что развитие пандемии возможно исключительно в высокоглобализированном мире, имеющем плотные военные и торговые связи на обширной территории, что характерно и для современности. Вторым общим фактором является уменьшение количества производящей силы и определенное оскудение или омоложение человеческого капитала. В прошлом эти факторы негативно сказывались на экономике, параллельно с этим повышая ценность отдельных работников и способствуя изменению традиций. Однако при проецировании данной закономерности на современную ситуацию заметно существенное отличие. Если в результате предыдущих эпидемий процент смертей от общей численности населения был чрезвычайно высок, то этого пока нельзя сказать о пандемии COVID-19. Кроме того, фактор «падения» производящих сил в значительной степени сглаживается высокой степенью механизации труда. Как результат, можно прогнозировать обратное предыдущим эпидемиям воздействие - ценность отдельного работника будет снижаться прямо пропорционально спаду в экономике. Третьим общим фактором воздействия пандемий является изменение социальных институтов. Оказавшись в экстренных условиях, наиболее «жизнеспособными» становятся самые эффективные решения, вытесняя при этом традиционные структуры. Так, античная форма ведения хозяйства стала невозможной в связи с высокой смертностью рабов и трудностями в быстром восполнении потерь, что трансформировало экономическую систему Византии и Западной Европы во время Юстиниановой чумы. Исходя из вышесказанного строится предположение, что в ближайшем будущем состоится закрепление на достигнутых позициях различных форм дистанционной работы или социального контроля, параллельно с ростом безработицы и отчуждением ряда традиционных ценностей.

In this paper, we report some reflections on science and education, in relation to teaching and research in the field of complex and controversial socio-environmental issues. Starting from an examination of the literature on the epistemological aspects of the science of controversial issues, and introducing the perspective of complexity, the article argues for a complexity of content, context, and method in understanding current problems. Focusing on a model of learning which includes dialogical and reflective approaches, the final part of the article reports on aspect of the authors' experimental practice with role-play for dealing with complex issues. The review of the literature and our experience of action -research introduce a view of education which promotes young people's awareness of multiple points of view, an ability to establish relationships between processes, scales, and contexts which may be nonlinearly related, and practice with creative and nonviolent forms of interrelations with others. Such an approach in science education is coherent with a scenario of planet sustainability based on ecological webs and equity principles.

Hit by dramatic membership decline in recent years, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is initiating multiple processes of religious renewal to revitalize its worshipping and outreach culture. This paper examines the transformation the ELCA envisions in its religious culture as revealed in semi-structured interviews and (non-)participant observation recently conducted in the Upper Midwest. Clergy and lay leaders are attempting to develop a spiritually vibrant and participatory church culture in what has generally been a rational, hierarchical, and passive-receptive denominational environment. By helping parishioners cultivate personal spirituality, contextual faith practices, and evangelism skills, they aim at a spiritually vital religious socialization untypical for mainline Protestantism, which is usually characterized by intellectualism and a social outreach focus. At the same time, the ELCA retains its traditional liturgy as a unique identity marker and corporate ritual that offers communal access to the transcendent. While liturgy is perceived as outdated and hierarchical by many, ELCA clergy hope to infuse it with the spiritual vitality of individual parishioners, thereby maximizing the liturgy's mystical effects. In this sense, personal spirituality and corporate liturgy are brought together in an attempt to revitalize and transform the ELCA's congregational culture in ways that stay true to its core tradition.

This paper explores the politics of agency expressed through child participation in development. Empirically it focuses on Bangladesh, highlighting in particular the experience of one children's organisation. It asks how dynamics have changed over time, and what participation has meant for the children and their families. It raises three major challenges for current practice of child participation: the need to re-emphasise the priority of survival rights; the danger of 'projectisation', and the need to pay critical attention to the resources through which children's agency is built, and the very different models of development they reflect.

Since the mid-1990s, Marxist educational theory, research, and policy analysis has experienced an upturn. By exploring Marxist theory in the age of neoliberalism, this edited collection examines the dialectic between race and power in education. The essays embody an underlying set of principles and practices that seek to maximize inclusiveness and dialogue between critical theoretical traditions such as postmodernism, Critical Realism, Feminism, and "anti-racism" in order to critique current educational institutions, policies, and practices. Finally, the book explores phenomena such as globalization, commodification, and capitalization in relation to key aspects of the contemporary educational landscape. The essays extend from the local to the global and encompass historical and contemporary developments in the political economy of education.

This chapter analyses inter-generational differences and their dynamics in Estonia in 2002-2014, focussing on generational identity, social and cultural space, media use, civic and political activity and social positioning. The chapter is based on the Mannheimian sociology of generations, viewing social generations as being constituted according to their relation to historical and cultural time, and to the respective lifestyles underlying status-based social stratification. The analysis is based on the “Me. The World. The Media” survey data from 2002, 2011 and 2014.
The chapter demonstrates that age and/or generation has become one of the most significant markers of social inequality and lifestyle-based differentiation. Besides positioning within lifespan, adaptability to the changing social environment plays a role in inter-generational differentiation. As an example, the cohorts born in the late 1960s and in the 1970s experienced very rapid changes and different social conditions during their formative years, which may have fostered their openness to all kinds of innovation.
In general, younger generations have been able to adapt to rapid social changes, particularly to digitisation and social acceleration, more flexibly, swiftly and to a greater extent, while older generations have mostly remained faithful to habits and preferences they became used to during their childhood or youth. In some aspects (e.g. institutional political participation, cultural activity and the level of being informed), the greater inertia of older age groups has contributed to the maintenance of their capitals; in many other areas (e.g. extending social space as a personal resource, digital skills, participation in online political and economic fields, and consumption capabilities), younger age groups have had a remarkable head start that has led to a significantly higher self-evaluated social status in younger generations. The chapter concludes that generations structure the transforming society on the vertical as well as the horizontal dimensions and tend to de-synchronise the progression of age groups in social time-space. However, some counter-tendencies (inter-generational similarities and intra-generational variety) exist.

Indian Psychology (the applied aspects of Indian Philosophy) has withstood the test of time. In one sense, it is more 'scientific' than actual science because the theories of science have been proved and then disproved, in light of new inventions and discoveries, but those of Indian psychology as postulated in yoga psychology texts have not been negated and continue to thrive. Another reason for these Truths to be still relevant is the fact that many of them can be validated by the experiential knowledge and individual personalized experiences of the people who adopt them. Ānanda or happiness/bliss is one such concept. In this paper an attempt is made to discuss the personal narrations of the experience of happiness. The results of this study indicated that this ānanda or rather traces of this everlasting 'imperishable' happiness, is experienced while on the path and it results in transformation of the individual. This study on ānanda experiences can lend support and throw new light on happiness and positive psychology. Ānanda or bliss is an intense positive emotion. 'Ānanda is a Sanskrit word connoting one of the rare but extremely satisfying experiences that man can achieve in this life' (Shivaram, 1954). Charles Tart (1972) explains that it is an 'ecstatic sort of state in which one loses all sense of self and experiences an oceanic, joyful feeling'. A sense of equanimity is achieved while in this state and the person can be oblivious of the surroundings. Happiness or Bliss according to the Upanishads (eg., Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Taittireya Upanishad, Kundika Upanishad) is the characteristic of Brahman, the Supreme Godhead.

Awino Okech describes the work of GROOTS Kenya. She argues there is need for deeper problematizing of what a feminist organization is. In looking critically at whether GROOTS is a grassroots feminist organization and how it links with other women's groups and the dominant development discourse she examines what fosters or hinders the growth of women's movements.

Today, not only communication, shopping, work, travel has got a new form by digital technology but also privacy, security, art and as many things like these got a new from and changed. All of these are depend on digital technology. So, it is unavoidable that we escape from this domination. By considering all of these that I mentioned in the previous paragraph two issues are looking very important for me about this change. Art and security, I want to emphasize these important changes. Because of, both are affected people life very strongly.

Providing detailed information on South Africa's transitional justice process, this article calls for a look not only at the agenda and impact of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission but also at the role played by state and other structures after 1994. It suggests that accountability and reconciliation have been limited, although the responsibility for this may lie more with choices made after the TRC was established than with the commission’s work itself.

The political ecology of water shapes environments and human responses. Water also plays a prominent role in Science Fiction, either by its abundance or its absence. Floods destroy cultures and necessitate them to adapt, such as in Stephen Baxter's "Flood" or Kim Stanley Robinson's "New York 2140". The absence of water is a powerful backdrop for how people survive in a harsh environment in Frank Herbert's "Dune" novels. Patterns of power are contoured by water not only today, but also in futures and worlds far away.

Maria Tatar states that the fairy-tale Beauty and the Beast depicts, “The transformative power of empathy, that encodes messages about […] romance, marriage, and ‘The Other’” (9). Because of these coded messages, the story and its many retellings have provided fertile ground for discussions on empathy and gender. The tale, from its very inception, has managed to resonate with how different eras view empathy and its interactions with gender relations, which can be seen through the multiple adaptations and variations of the tale. Through four chapters, my dissertation explores four iterations of Beauty and the Beast, along with other culturally mainstream “beastly” media, through the lens of gender and empathy. The first chapter explores Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s 1756 fairy-tale, and how it reflects conflicting ideas of sympathy and arranged marriage. The second chapter discusses how Jean Cocteau’s 1946 avant-garde film subverts the 1940s culture of gender conformism along with its forcing of female domesticity, and does so by reflecting Simone de Beauvoir’s ideas of gendered reciprocity. The third chapter considers the manifestation of the New Sincerity in Disney’s 1991 animated film, and how it prioritises male transformation over female self-definition. The fourth chapter, which covers the Disney 2017 remake, looks at how feminist critique targets the fairy-tale, and how it is counteracted by the trend of nostalgia within media. I conclude that the multiple iterations of Beauty and the Beast show that despite being a “Tale as old as time,” the story is still being told in accordance with western society’s view of gender relations and empathy, and it is very likely that the tale will continue to be told.