Mitchell's Musings Daniel J.B. Mitchell April-June 2017 for Employment
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Sociology As Self-Transformation
SOCIOLOGY AS BOURDIEU'SSELF-TRANSFORMATION CLASS THEORY The Appeal &The Limitations Academic of as the Revolutionary Work of Pierre Bourdieu DYLAN RILEY ierre Bourdieu was a universal intellectual whose work ranges from P highly abstract, quasi-philosophical explorations to survey research, and whose enormous contemporary influence is only comparable to that previously enjoyed by Sartre or Foucault. Born in 1930 in a small provincial town in southwestern France where his father was the local postman, he made his way to the pinnacle of the French academic establishment, the École Normale Supérieur ( ENS), receiving the agrégation in philosophy in 1955. Unlike many other normaliens of his generation, Bourdieu did not join the Communist Party, although his close collaborator Jean-Claude Passeron did form part of a heterodox communist cell organized by Michel Foucault, and Bourdieu was clearly influenced by Althusserian Marxism in this period.1 Following his agrégation, Bourdieu’s original plan was to produce a thesis under the direction of the eminent philosopher of science and historical epistemologist Georges Canguilhem. But his philosophical career was interrupted by the draf. The young scholar was sent to Algeria, evidently as 1 David Swartz, Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), 20. Catalyst SUMMER 2017 punishment for his anticolonial politics,2 where he performed military service for a year and subsequently decided to stay on as a lecturer in the Faculty of Letters at Algiers.3 Bourdieu’s Algerian experience was decisive for his later intellectual formation; here he turned away from epistemology and toward fieldwork, producing two masterful ethnographic studies: Sociologie de l’Algérie and Esquisse d’une théorie de la pratique. -
Robert Wise's the Day the Earth Stood Still Part I
Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still Part I: A Religious Film? By Anton Karl Kozlovic Fall 2013 Issue of KINEMA ROBERT WISE’S THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL Part I: A RELIGIOUS FILM? Abstract Science fiction (SF) films have frequently been the home for subtextual biblical characters, particularly Christ-figures. Crafting these sacred subtexts can make the difference between an ordinary filmandan exceptional one. This investigation intends to explore the religious and other dimensions of the 1951 SF cult classic The Day the Earth Stood Still directed by Robert Wise. In Part 1 of this analytical triptych, the film’s reception as a UFO film with political, artificial intelligence (AI), police and philosophical dimensions was canvassed. It was argued that Wise’s film contains all of the above genre dimensions; however, it can bemore fully appreciated as a profoundly religious film wrapped in contemporary scientific garb. The forthcoming parts will explore the factual elements of this proposition in far greater analytical detail. Introduction: SF and Sacred Storytelling Historically speaking, science fiction (SF) films(1) have harboured numerous hidden biblical characters in typically covert forms. For example, Barry McMillan described many an SF alien as ”a ’transcendent’ being - a benign entity who brings wisdom and knowledge, the imparting of which brings resolution, insight and the beginnings of personal or political harmony” (360). Whilst Bonnie Brain argued that: ”The ascendancy of the aliens derives strongly from their aura of religious authority. Teachers, mystics, priests, or prophets, capable of ”miracles” and, in some cases, ”resurrection,” these aliens flirt with divinity” (226). -
Sample Chapter
PART I Dream “His adventure began with a dream . Robert Goddard had a waking dream about flying farther than anyone ever had, to other worlds in the sky.” David A. Clary Rocket Man R1 3 LLTS01.inddTS01.indd 3 66/30/2006/30/2006 33:59:18:59:18 PPMM R1 LLTS01.inddTS01.indd 4 66/30/2006/30/2006 33:59:19:59:19 PPMM 1 Imagine It If you could not fail, what would you attempt? Forget about your fears, the facts, looking silly or stupid—and test your ability to dream. Albert Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Why would he say something so contrary to his pursuit of scientifi c truth? To free his imagination. To suspend his fear of being wrong—for a while—and to dream how the universe might be. What would you dream? Rocket scientists have their answer. Rocket scientists love science fi ction novels and movies: stories about traveling to Mars, Jupiter, Alpha Centauri, the Andromeda Galaxy; about contact with alien beings, many-tentacled monsters, conscious robots, and giant ants (or spiders or locusts or gorillas). Their favorite books are not literature. Their favorite fi lms are the exemplars of B-grade movies. So what does this demonstrate about rocket scientists? They aren’t afraid of looking silly. How can a rocket scientist who has remotely piloted a deep space probe to the outer fringes of the solar system enjoy the 1950 fi lm Destination Moon, which tenders a juvenile plot, serves up wooden dialogue, and features cheesy special effects? Let’s take a closer look at a group of such rocket scientists who worked for a prestigious government laboratory. -
Download the Full What Happened Collection [PDF]
American Compass December 2020 WHAT HAPPENED THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY IN REVIEW AMERICAN COMPASS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, launched in May 2020 with a mission to restore an economic consensus that emphasizes the importance of family, community, and industry to the nation’s liberty and prosperity— REORIENTING POLITICAL FOCUS from growth for its own sake to widely shared economic development that sustains vital social institutions; SETTING A COURSE for a country in which families can achieve self-sufficiency, contribute productively to their communities, and prepare the next generation for the same; and HELPING POLICYMAKERS NAVIGATE the limitations that markets and government each face in promoting the general welfare and the nation’s security. www.americancompass.org [email protected] What Happened: The Trump Presidency in Review Table of Contents FOREWORD: THE WORK REMAINS President Trump told many important truths, but one also has to act by Daniel McCarthy 1 INTRODUCTION 4 TOO FEW OF THE PRESIDENT’S MEN An iconoclast’s administration will struggle to find personnel both experienced and aligned by Rachel Bovard 5 A POPULISM DEFERRED Trump’s transitional presidency lacked the vision and agenda necessary to let go of GOP orthodoxy by Julius Krein 11 THE POTPOURRI PRESIDENCY A decentralized and conflicted administration was uniquely inconsistent in its policy actions by Wells King 17 SOME LIKE IT HOT Unsustainable economic stimulus at an expansion’s peak, not tax cuts or tariffs, fueled the Trump boom by Oren Cass 23 Copyright © 2020 by American Compass, Inc. Electronic versions of these articles with hyperlinked references are available at www.americancompass.org. -
The Day the Earth Stood Stupid | Huffpost
The Day the Earth Stood Stupid | HuffPost US EDITION THE BLOG 05/13/2013 12:54 pm ET | Updated Jul 13, 2013 The Day the Earth Stood Stupid By Marty Kaplan Say goodnight, Earthlings. That message — plus the slimmest of shots at an eleventh-hour reprieve — was announced to the people of the world last week. When this happens in science fiction — 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still is the classic — the planet pays attention. The flying saucer lands; an alien, in this case played by Michael Rennie, emerges; a final warning is issued: Stop it. If you don’t, you’re doomed. Back then, the “it” was violence — the Cold War, and the threat of nuclear midnight. Last week, it was climate change — greenhouse gases, and the promise of ecological extinction. “Heat-Trapping Gas Passes Milestone, Raising Fears,” ran the headline on the front page lead story in Saturday’s New York Times, with this sub-head: “CO2 at Level Not Seen in Millions of Years, Portending Major Climate Changes.” A headline like that — millions of years? really? — normally turns up in comic books and superhero movies, not in the paper of record. In fiction, what usually comes next is a montage. At breakfast tables and on street corners, in souks and igloos, in the Oval Office and at the U.N., the shocking news galvanizes humanity into action. In the real world, it was pretty much a one-day story. What does it take to grab us by the eyeballs? Chris Christie’s waistline is guaranteed wall-to-wall coverage. -
The Wizards of Ozymandias.Pdf
The Wizards of Ozymandias The Wizards of Ozymandias Refl ections on the Decline and Fall B UTLER SHAFFER MISES INSTITUTE AUBURN, ALABAMA Copyright © 2012 Butler Shaff er. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given. Published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute 518 West Magnolia Avenue Auburn, Alabama 36832 mises.org ISBN: 978-1-610160-252-4 Dedication To the memory and spirit of Sophie and Hans Scholl and the White Rose, who reminded us what it means to be civilized. Table of Contents Preface. ix Ozymandias . xiii Introduction. .xv 1. On the Decline and Fall. 1 2. Th e Life and Death of Civilizations . .11 3. Consuming Our Capital . .23 4. A World Too Complex to be Managed . .33 5. Th e Common Good = Collectivism . .37 6. Th e Dysfunctional Society . .43 7. Th e Silence of Institutions. .49 8. Law as “Reason” or as “Violence”? . .53 9. Lest We Forget . .59 10. We’re Going Away!. .63 11. Fighting for Freedom. .69 12. Orwell Lives!. .73 13. Th e Siege of San Francisco . .75 14. Suicide and the Insanity of War . .79 15. Vonnegut on War . .83 16. How We Lost Our Souls . .85 17. Th e Wee Ones Revisited . .89 18. Resisting the Deadly Virus . .91 19. Structuring the Instruments of Expansion. .97 vii viii · Th e Wizards of Ozymandias 20. Why TSA, Wars, State Defi ned Diets, Seat-Belt Laws, the War on Drugs, Police Brutality, and Eff orts to Control the Internet, are Essential to the State . -
The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 (U.S.)
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL 1951 (U.S.) Director Robert Wise Producer Julian Blaustein Screenplay Edmund H. North, based on a story by Harry Bates Photography Leo Tover Music Bernhard Herrmann Cast Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe, Hugh Marlowe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier, Lock Martin, Holly Bane, Marshall Bradford, John Brown, John Burton Science fiction’s power to generate and inject iconic images of great lasting power has never been more convincingly demonstrated than by Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still. Not only have the words “Klaatu barada nikto” entered the vast murky pool of 20th-century pop trivia (whatever they may actually mean), but the combined images of the silvery flying saucer having landed in the heart of Washington D.C., with the stolidly erect shape of the robot Gort rising up from its sensuous swell, have remained immediately recognizable, long past the film’s moment of historical urgency. For those familiar only with these pieces of trivia, the film itself might come as a surprise, least of all for its barely concealed Christian allegory: Klaatu (Michael Rennie), the alien emissary who is promptly shot after emerging from his ship, decides to forego his celebrity status and adopts the name It is ironic that “Carpenter” to walk unrecognized among humanity in order to the poster art is so violent, given learn more about us. A young woman Helen Benson (Neal) and that the film’s most her boy (Gray) learn to have faith in him. But even though, in an enduring message awesome show of force, he performs the miracle of cutting off is one of peace. -
UC Davis UC Davis Previously Published Works
UC Davis UC Davis Previously Published Works Title What Hillbilly Elegy Reveals About Race in 21st Century America Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5jv268m2 Author Pruitt, Lisa R Publication Date 2018-05-06 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Forthcoming 2019 in Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy (Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll, eds) West Virginia University Press. What Hillbilly Elegy Reveals about Race in 21st Century America Lisa R. Pruitt My initial response to the publication of Hillbilly Elegy and the media hubbub that ensued was something akin to pride.1 I was pleased that so many readers were engaged by a tale of my people, a community so alien to the milieu in which I now live and work. Like Vance, I’m from hillbilly stock, albeit the Ozarks rather than Appalachia. Reading the early chapters, I laughed out loud — and sometimes cried — at the antics of Vance’s grandparents, not least because they reminded me of my childhood and extended, working-class family back in Arkansas. Vance’s recollections elicited vivid and poignant memories for me, just as Joe Bageant’s Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War (2007) and Rick Bragg’s All Over but the Shoutin’ (1997) had in prior decades. I appreciated Vance’s attention not only to place and culture, but to class and some of the cognitive and emotional complications of class migration. I’m a first generation college graduate, too, and elite academic settings and posh law firms have taken some getting used to. -
Class, Community, and Crisis in Post-Industrial Britain
THEME SECTION Class, community, and crisis in post-industrial Britain Edited by Jeanette Edwards, Gillian Evans, and Katherine Smith Introduction: The middle class-ification of Britain Jeanette Edwards, Gillian Evans, and Katherine Smith Abstract: The articles collected in this special section of Focaal capture, ethno- graphically, a particular moment at the end of the New Labour project when the political consequences of a failure to address the growing sense of crisis among working-class people in post-industrial Britain are being felt. These new ethno- graphies of social class in Britain reveal not only disenchantment and disenfran- chisement, but also incisive and critical commentary on the shifting and often surprising forms and experiences of contemporary class relations. Here we trace the emergence of controversies surrounding the category “white working class” and what it has come to stand for, which includes the vilification of people whose political, economic and social standing has been systematically eroded by the eco- nomic policies and political strategies of both Conservative and New Labour gov- ernments. The specificities of class discourse in Britain are also located relative to broader changes that have occurred across Europe with the rise of “cultural fun- damentalisms” and a populist politics espousing neo-nationalist rhetorics of eth- nic solidarity. This selection of recent ethnographies holds up a mirror to a rapidly changing political landscape in Britain. It reveals how post-Thatcherite discourses of “the individual”, “the market”, “social mobility” and “choice” have failed a signif- icant proportion of the working-class population. Moreover, it shows how well an- thropology can capture the subtle and complex forms of collectivity through which people find meaning in times of change. -
Bringing Class Back In: Cultural Bubbles and American Political Polarization 1
1 Bringing Class Back In: Cultural Bubbles and American Political Polarization Kathleen R. McNamara, Georgetown University Seminar on the State and Capitalism since 1800, Center for European Studies, Harvard University, 10 March 2017. 1. INTRODUCTION The election of Donald Trump has given rise to an important debate about the fundamental sources of his electoral strength and the roots of populist trends in the West more generally. Both the scholarly and popular debates have been unhelpfully divided, however, between those that argue for the role of economics, on the one hand, or for cultural factors, such as racism or xenophobia, on the other. To fully explain the populist trend, political scientists need to develop a better understanding of the interaction between material circumstances and cultural identity, rather than seeing them as separate. As one way forward, I propose a focus on the cultural construction of class, specifically, the study of how the geography of inequality in a changing 21st century economy has created unprecedented political polarization in the US, making more likely Trump’s rise. Drawing on the practice turn in political science, I offer a preliminary argument about how we might better account for the role of economic change in promoting political change, rather than relying solely on traditional political economy scholarship. Making class a social category grounded in practice, I posit the growing spatial separation of economic opportunity across the US a critical factor explaining today’s politics. As such, this paper represents a series of propositions meant to spark debate and move us towards understanding how economics and identity interact in today’s world. -
9782729852849 Extrait.Pdf
1. SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL “There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.” (Margaret Thatcher) civilisation (UK) / civilization (US) la civilisation western civilisation / -ization la civilisation occidentale civilised / -ized civilisé / raffiné to civilize / civilise (UK) civiliser a citizen / citizenship un citoyen / la citoyenneté to build [built] / to create a society construire / créer une société to shape a society former une société to permeate / to pervade society envahir la société socialization la socialisation sociality la sociabilité the community la communauté / le public communal life la vie collective a social / family background un milieu social / familial social mobility la mobilité sociale social studies les sciences sociales a social outcast un paria a social misfit un inadapté to fit into society s’insérer dans la société social work l’assistance sociale social services les services sociaux social welfare la sécurité sociale a social worker un travailleur social / un(e) assistant(e) social(e) a classless society une société sans classes the working class / classes la classe ouvrière / le prolétariat working-class (a) qui appartient à la classe ouvrière the middle class la bourgeoisie, la classe moyenne middle-class (a) bourgeois the upper-class / upper-class (a) l’aristocratie / aristocratique the chattering classes les intellos to belong to a social class appartenir à une classe sociale class warfare la lutte des classes modern society : la société moderne • a society -
It Was the City Killed the Beast” 1
“It Was the City Killed the Beast” 1 “It Was the City Killed the Beast:” Nature, Technophobia, and the Cinema of the Urban Future James A. Clapp You have nowhere to go. The last line spoken in George Lucas’s THX 1138 N the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, a single alien visitor and his powerful robot land their saucer-shaped space- ship in a park in Washington, D.C. To demonstrate technological Isuperiority, they turn off all electrical and mechanical power on Earth, illustrated in a montage of cities brought to a halt by stalled modes of communications and transportation. The message of the film is that unless humans find a way to live peacefully with one another—the film was made during the days of the Cold War when atomic weapons proliferated in the United States and the USSR—even more techno- logically advanced aliens might have to step in like parents among squabbling children and slap some sense into them. Klaatu, the alien, played by Michael Rennie in an aluminum foil suit, is a rather messianic figure backed up by an eight-foot Cyclopean robot that can incinerate anything with its ray-gun eye. He has been sent by a federation of Earth’s galactic neighbors to tell us to get our act together and to show us what might happen if we do not. Although Klaatu is on a peace mission, he does not hesitate to have his robot, Gort, take out a few tanks and soldiers when they get too militaristic and wound Klaatu.