DOCSLIB.ORG

A Social Constructionist Lens

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Social Constructionist Lens Identity, Old(er) Age and Migrancy A Social Constructionist Lens Laura Machat-From Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 716 Faculty of Arts and Sciences Norrköping 2017 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science • No. 716 At the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping University, research and doctoral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organized in interdisciplinary research environments and doctoral studies, mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in Arts and Science. This thesis comes from the Division Ageing and Social Change (formerly National Institute for the Study of Ageing and Later Life) at the Department of Social and Welfare Studies. Distributed by: Department of Social and Welfare Studies Linköping University SE-601 74 Norrköping Laura Machat-From Identity, Old(er) Age and Migrancy: A Social Constructionist Lens Edition 1:1 ISBN: 978-91-7685-515-7 ISSN 0282-9800 © Laura Machat-From, 2017 Printed in Sweden by: LiU-Tryck, Linköping ii ABSTRACT Identity research in relation to ethnicity and migration has tended to focus on younger people whilst identity research in relation to ageing and old(er) age has not focused on migrants. This inadvertent mutual neglect has led to a lack of identity research that examines the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy together, a lacuna that this dissertation aims to redress. This dissertation departs from a social constructionist understanding of identity as situationally accomplished in the interplay between how one defines oneself (internally) and how others define one (externally). The questions raised by this perspective and addressed in this dissertation are: When (in what situations) and in relation to whom do old(er) age and migrancy (respectively) seem to become meaningful for identification? How do the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy seem to be negotiated? The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with 24 older migrants (13 men, 11 women) aged between 55 and 79 who have been living in Sweden for 18 to 61 years. Interviewees come from 12 different countries that vary in perceived cultural distance from Sweden. The findings suggest that identifications with old(er) age and migrancy seem to be dynamic and flexible rather than necessarily permanently meaningful, thus gaining meaning in specific situations and in relation to particular Others. External definitions furthermore do not always seem to match with internal ones. Regardless of how old(er) age and migrancy are constructed, they seem to be negotiable. This dissertation thus contributes to identity research by studying old(er) age and migrancy together and furthermore sheds light onto how the social constructionist lens allows us to see variability where stability otherwise would be presumed. Keywords: identity, migrancy, old age, older migrants, social constructionism, ethnicity, ageing, identity categories, social positions, identity negotiation iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All those years working on this dissertation have been so much more than just writing the text you are about to read. They have been filled with doctoral courses, seminars, conference visits and other scholarly activities, to name but a few. All of these have shaped me and helped me grow as a scholar and there are many people who have been a part of this process. First of all I would like to thank all of the interviewees who took their time to meet with me and put up with all my questions. The one or two hours the interviews were supposed to take sometimes turned into three (or even more) and I am so glad and grateful that I got to hear all that you had to say. This dissertation could not have been written without your contributions. Thank you! I am not quite sure how to even start thanking my main advisor, Sandra Torres, who has enthusiastically supported my work from the very start. I could always turn to you with any question I had about all aspects of academia. All those times that our conversations about this dissertation left me even more puzzled than before were the ones that turned out to be the most rewarding. You always challenged me to think bigger and often times seemingly made things more complicated (you know exactly what I mean!), but it is with the challenges that we grow. Thank you for everything! Lars Andersson, my secondary advisor, thank you for reading my manuscript drafts and offering insightful comments and good advice whenever I sought it. My thanks also go to Emilia Forssell who was my secondary advisor during the early days. Ever since I started on this project, there have been many people at the National Institute for the Study of Ageing and Later Life (which recently changed its name to Division Ageing and Social Change) who in one way or another have influenced my academic work and learning experience. I would like to thank all of my present and former colleagues, both those who have moved on to other places and those who have joined us along the way (and of course the few of you who have been around all along). A very special thank you to my fellow PhD candidates, especially those of you who started at the same time. It was invaluable to have others beside me to share in the process of narrowing down the topics of our dissertations, taking numerous classes and navigating the academic world together. You made the experience so much more fun! I also want to thank the technical and administrative staff for all the help over the years. An invaluable experience and undeniably fun part of the past years has been my work as editorial assistant and book review editor of the International Journal of Ageing and Later Life (IJAL). I want to thank founding editor Lars Andersson for trusting me to take on these roles (already way before you became my secondary advisor), giving me insight into all aspects of the peer-review process and teaching me about how editors think. Thanks also to Peter Öberg for keeping me on, even though I unfortunately had to relinquish my duties in favour v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of (finally!) completing this dissertation. Thank you Joy Torgé for taking over and also for stepping in during my maternity leaves! Another invaluable part of this line of work over the years has been the opportunity of participating in international conferences. I would like to thank the funders who made my conference visits possible: FORTE, Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Jubileumsfond, the Nordic Gerontological Federation and Socialvårdsförbundets Samfonder. I would also like to thank those who took their time to read drafts of this dissertation along the way. At my 60% seminar, I received valuable comments from Gunhild Hammarström and Catrin Lundström that helped me clarify some of my arguments and also influenced the direction this work ultimately ended up taking. I especially want to thank both Jonas Stier and Suruchi Thapar-Björkert for their careful reading of my manuscript for the 90% seminar. I am very grateful for your constructive criticisms and especially for the enthusiasm with which both of you commented upon my work as it made it so much easier to keep marching on towards the finish line. I also want to thank Andreas Motel- Klingebiel for his reading both for the 90% seminar and once more just before this goes to print. There are some people who encouraged my academic work and had a very positive influence already before I started working towards my PhD. I would like to thank Mary Hilson and Annika Lindskog at University College London and Flip Lindo at the University of Amsterdam. Flip, the kind words you said about my academic work at my graduation are still with me until this day. It is also at this point I would like to thank my father. Your first reaction when I told you that I was going to do a PhD was that I should become a professor (no pressure!). Thank you for always encouraging and supporting my academic pursuits! Speaking of family, thank you Ulla and Christer, the best parents-in-law and grandparents one could wish for, for always taking such good care of us. Last but most certainly not least, I would like to thank my husband and my children. Johan, thank you for always being there for me and for being my pillar, my best friend and a true partner. Cornelius and Penny, thank you for always making sure that I do not lose sight of what’s really important in life. I love you more than you’ll ever know. Linköping, May 2017 Laura vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................... 1 AIMS AND QUESTIONS ............................................................................................... 4 OUTLINE OF THE DISSERTATION ............................................................................. 4 CHAPTER 2: SETTING THE STAGE ..................................................7 HOW IS OLD(ER) AGE UNDERSTOOD IN THIS STUDY? ........................................... 7 Constructions of old(er) age and old(er) age identities ..................................... 8 HOW IS MIGRANCY UNDERSTOOD IN THIS STUDY? .............................................15 The construction of migrancy vis-à-vis Swedishness ..................................... 17 OLDER MIGRANTS IN SWEDEN ..............................................................................25 Demographic background .................................................................................... 26 The construction of the category of “elderly immigrants” in Sweden ......
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Taking Social Constructionism Seriously
    Taking Social Constructionism Seriously Gergen, K. J. (1999). An Invitation to Social Construction. London: Sage (248 p.) Gergen, K.J. (2001). Social Construction in Context. London: Sage (223 p.) Reviewed by: Svend Brinkmann, cand. psych. email-adresse: [email protected] I Social constructionism (SC) has emerged as a significant paradigm in psychology and other social sciences during the last twenty years or so. Kenneth Gergen can be considered a found- ing father and currently one of the leading exponents of SC as theory and practice. Gergen wrote about the social construction of self-knowledge as early as 1977 (Gergen, 1977), and in 1985 SC was already a “movement” as witnessed in Gergen’s often cited “The social construc- tionist movement in modern psychology” (1985) published in American Psychologist. SC has developed from a heretic partisan theory to a widely recognised paradigm, and it must be con- sidered one of the most interesting frameworks in contemporary psychology. For example, the renowned journal Theory and Psychology devotes two whole issues to SC in 2001 and 2002, “Social Constructionism and Its Critics” (June 2001) and the forthcoming “Varieties of Social Constructionism” (October 2002). Kenneth Gergen is a prolific writer, who has published in many different areas within psychol- ogy and related fields. His major works are The Saturated Self (1991) and Realities and Rela- tionships (1994). His two new books An Invitation to Social Construction (ISC) and Social Construction in Context (SCC) continue the line of thought that was developed in earlier works, and while these new books contain few new perspectives, they seek to clarify the basic tenets of SC, while at the same time providing more concrete and practical illustrations of SC’s theoretical points.
    [Show full text]
  • Bourdieu's Habitus, Critical Theory, and Social Philosophy Civitas - Revista De Ciências Sociais, Vol
    Civitas - Revista de Ciências Sociais ISSN: 1519-6089 [email protected] Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul Brasil de Oliveira, Nythamar The normative claims of Brazil's democratic ethos: Bourdieu's habitus, critical theory, and social philosophy Civitas - Revista de Ciências Sociais, vol. 12, núm. 1, 2012, pp. 70-87 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre, Brasil Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=74223603005 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative The normative claims of Brazil’s democratic ethos: Bourdieu’s habitus, critical theory, and social philosophy As exigências normativas do ethos democrático brasileiro: O habitus em Bourdieu, teoria crítica e filosofia social Nythamar de Oliveira* Abstract: This paper argues for an interdisciplinary interlocution between social theory and social philosophy in order to recast the problem of normativity in social practices, especially within Brazil’s democratic ethos. By resorting to insights from critical theory and social epistemology, the essay proposes to reexamine Bourdieu’s conception of habitus so as to contribute to a moderate social constructionism that cannot be reduced to a postmodernist discourse or to a variant of relativism. Keywords: critical theory; democratic ethos; habitus; normativity; social philosophy Resumo: O artigo defende uma interlocução interdisciplinar entre teoria social e filosofia social, com o fito de reformular o problema da normatividade nas práticas sociais, especialmente no contexto de um ethos democrático brasileiro.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Islamic Da'wah Narratives in the UK: the Case of Iera
    Online Islamic Da'wah Narratives in the UK: The Case of iERA by MIRA A. BAZ A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Religion and Theology College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis is an in-depth study into two of the UK charity iERA's da'wah narratives: the Qura'nic embryology 'miracle' and the Kalam Cosmological Argument. While the embryo verses have received scholarly attention, there is little to no research in the da'wah context for both narratives. Berger and Luckmann's social constructionism was applied to both, which were problematic. It was found that iERA constructed its exegesis of the embryo verses by expanding on classical meanings to show harmony with modern science. Additionally, it developed the Cosmological Argument by adapting it to Salafi Islamic beliefs. The construction processes were found to be influenced by an online dialectic between iERA and its Muslim and atheist detractors, causing it to abandon the scientific miracles and modify the Cosmological Argument.
    [Show full text]
  • Sociology 4111 (Uggen): Deviant Behavior Midterm Review, Spring 2004
    Sociology 4111 (Uggen): Deviant Behavior Midterm Review, Spring 2004 PART I: BASIC CONCEPTS -- DEVIANCE, CONTROL, AND CAREERS I. Social Facts and Social Constructions II. Defining Deviance a. Clinard’s Definitions of Deviance (Statistical, Absolutist, Reactivist, Normative) b. Adlers’ definition’s i. Deviance as violation of social norms (Attitudes, Behaviors, Conditions, Prescriptive norms, Proscriptive norms) ii. Role iii. Subcultures iv. Power v. Moral entrepreneurs c. Kai Erikson (1966) III. Differences between Criminology and Deviance a. Piece in The Criminologist: b. Heckert: positive deviance i. Altruism (hero) ii. Charisma (dictator) iii. Innovation (artist) iv. Supra-Conformity (4.0) v. Innate/Ascribed (beauty) vi. Ex-Deviant (saved) c. Middle Class norms - Typology of Deviance IV. Social Controls and the Hobbesian Problem of Order a. Thomas Hobbes i. “Hobbesian problem of order” ii. How can we create a society in which self-interested people don’t use force and fraud to satisfy their (criminal, sexual, substance-abusing …) wants? iii. 3 “solutions” to Hobbesian dilemma 1. Normative 2. Exchange 3. Conflict iv. Informal social controls v. Formal social controls b. social controls and constructions i. Clinard: Deviant Events in Context ii. Joel Best: Social Constructionism c. Race and formal control i. Anderson on police as social control ii. Local perspective/Why focus on police? V. Introduction to Deviant Careers (of people, firms, nations…) a. Becoming Deviant b. Phases of the Deviant Career 1 VI. Subcultures, Power, and “Unconventional Sentimentality” (5 min. video: The Wall) a. Chambliss: Saints and Roughnecks b. Sanchez Jankowski: Joining a Gang c. Fox: Real Punks and Pretenders PART II: THEORIES OF DEVIANCE AND SOCIETAL REACTION VII.
    [Show full text]
  • Metaphor and Monophony in the Twentieth-Century Psychology of Emotions
    Swarthmore College Works Psychology Faculty Works Psychology 1996 Metaphor And Monophony In The Twentieth-Century Psychology Of Emotions Kenneth J. Gergen Swarthmore College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-psychology Part of the Psychology Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy Recommended Citation Kenneth J. Gergen. (1996). "Metaphor And Monophony In The Twentieth-Century Psychology Of Emotions". Historical Dimensions Of Psychological Discourse. 60-82. DOI: 10.1017/ CBO9780511571329.004 https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-psychology/843 This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Psychology Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Metaphor and monophony in the twentieth-century psychology of emotions Kenneth J. Gergen Attempts to define the emotions and elucidate their character have orna- mented the intellectual landscape for over two thousand years. Two charac- teristics of this continuing colloquy are particularly noteworthy: first, the presumption of palpability and, second, the interminability of debate. In the former case, until the present century there has been little doubting the obdurate existence of the emotions. In the second book of the Rhetoric, Aristotle distinguished among 15 emotional states; Aquinas's Summa Theo- logiae enumerated 6 "affective" and 5 "spirited" emotions; Descartes distin- guished among 6 primary passions of the soul; the eighteenth-century moral- ist, David Hartley, located 10 "general passions of human nature"; and the major contributions by recent theorists, Tomkins (1962) and Izard (1977), describe some 10 distinctive emotional states.
    [Show full text]
  • Race in Early Modern Philosophy
    Introduction I.1. Nature In 1782, in the journal of an obscure Dutch scientific society, we find a relation of the voyage of a European seafarer to the Gold Coast of Africa some decades earlier. In the town of Axim in present- day Ghana, we learn, at some point in the late 1750s, David Henri Gallandat met a man he describes as a “hermit” and a “soothsayer.” “His father and a sister were still alive,” Gallandat relates, “and lived a four- days’ journey inland. He had a brother who was a slave in the colony of Suriname.”1 So far, there is nothing exceptional in this relation: countless families were broken up by the slave trade in just this way. But we also learn that the hermit’s soothsaying practice was deeply informed by “philosophy.” Gal- landat is not using this term in a loose sense, either. The man he meets, we are told, “spoke various languages— Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, High and Low German; he was very knowledgeable in astrology and as- tronomy, and a great philosopher.”2 In fact, this man, we learn, “had been sent to study at Halle and in Wittenberg, where in 1727 he was promoted to Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Liberal Arts.”3 On a certain understanding, there have been countless philosophers in Africa, whose status as such required no recognition by European institu- tions, no conferral of rank.4 On a narrower understanding, however, Anton Wilhelm Amo may rightly be held up as the first African philosopher in modern history. Gallandat tells us that after the death of Amo’s “master,” Duke August Wilhelm of Braunschweig- Wolfenbüttel, the philosopher- slave grew “melancholy,” and “decided to return to his home country.” 1 Verhandelingen uitgegeven door het Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen te Vlissingen, Negende Deel, Middelburg: Pieter Gillissen, 1782, 19– 20.
    [Show full text]
  • Stakeholder Expectations of Islamic Education
    Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 6-8-2018 Stakeholder Expectations of Islamic Education Julia Marie Ahmed Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Educational Leadership Commons, and the Islamic Studies Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Ahmed, Julia Marie, "Stakeholder Expectations of Islamic Education" (2018). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4395. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.6279 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Stakeholder Expectations of Islamic Education by Julia Marie Ahmed A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership: Curriculum and Instruction Dissertation Committee: Susan Lenski, Chair Swapna Mukhopadhyay Dannelle Stevens Sharon Carstens Portland State University 2018 © 2018 Julia Marie Ahmed STAKEHOLDER EXPECTATIONS OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION i Abstract Teachers and parents make considerable sacrifices to affiliate themselves with Islamic schools. As they commit to Islamic education, they acquire certain expectations that they want their school to fulfill. The purpose of this study was to explore the academic, social, and cultural expectations
    [Show full text]
  • Page Numbers Followed by N Refer to Notes, with Note Number
    Index Note: page numbers followed by n refer to notes, with note number. Aarhus University. See Religion, Cognition astonishing hypothesis, Crick on 178 and Culture Group Atta, Mohamed 1 Abrahamic mystic traditions, recognition of Augustine of Hippo 27 language’s contingency in 145, Averroës 29–30, 31 147–48, 150 Avicenna 29 Academy of Athens 26, 28 Ayer, A.J. 80 Advaita Vedanta 133 agency, as concept Bagger, Matthew 136 computational leverage provided by 184 Bartkowski, John 69–70 evolutionary emergence of 184–85 Baudrillard, Jean 169, 170 See also free will; mind, theory of behaviorism, vs. social science approach Albert the Great 31 157–58, 159 Alston, William P. 228 beliefs Althusser, Louis 63 importance of taking seriously 139–42 analysis. See explanation normative framework of, as essential for Anaxagoras 25 human action 193 Anaximines 25 scholars’ reasons for discounting 139, 141 Antiochus of Ascalon 26 Bell, Catherine 2–3, 4, 9 apophatic tradition, revival of 107 Bellah, Robert 117n21 a posteriori methodological naturalism. Bentley, Richard 37n24 See provisional (a posteriori) Berger, Peter L. methodological naturalism on functionalist approaches to religion Appleby, Peter 142 237–39 a priori methodological naturalism. on global methodological agnosticism See intrinsic (a priori) methodological 244–47 naturalism influence of personal beliefs on work of Aquinas. See Thomas Aquinas 248 Arbib, Michael 185 and methodological agnosticism Aristotelian naturalism 24 239–40, 242–43 and medieval synthesis of Aquinas on mixed forms of supernatural
    [Show full text]
  • Operationalizing Cultural Warrant in Knowledge Organization Wan
    Operationalizing Cultural Warrant in Knowledge Organization Wan-Chen Lee A dissertation Submitted in partial fulfilment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2021 Reading Committee: Joseph T. Tennis, Chair Carole L Palmer Nicholas M Weber Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Information Science ©Copyright 2021 Wan-Chen Lee University of Washington Abstract Operationalizing Cultural Warrant in Knowledge Organization Wan-Chen Lee Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Joseph T. Tennis Information School Data representation of diverse cultures, perspectives, and identities has stepped to the fore in society, especially with the academy’s increasing attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The failure to provide descriptions that are inclusive to diverse cultures and perspectives can hinder information access and raise ethical concerns. Information scientists and information professionals have identified problematic data representations and have advocated for changes to include diverse cultures, perspectives, and identities. Scholars have recognized various ways culture can manifest in knowledge organization (KO), such as through classifications, categories, and subjects. Previous studies use the concept of warrant, the justifications for classificatory decisions, to discuss the rationales for developing and applying KO standards. Cultural warrant is one of these warrants, and it is an approach to consciously account for culture in classification. In this dissertation, I expand the application of warrants from classificatory decisions to knowledge organization decisions writ large, including cataloging and data description. While culture is recognized as one of the forces that shape data work and KO, little work has thoroughly examined the observable manifestations of the concept of culture in KO. As a result, information scientists and information professionals are constantly reacting to issues caused by the lack of culturally inclusive data organization and description.
    [Show full text]
  • Depictions of Spartan Masculinity in Thucydides and Xenophon
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2013-12-13 Depictions of Spartan Masculinity in Thucydides and Xenophon Heydon, Kendell Heydon, K. (2013). Depictions of Spartan Masculinity in Thucydides and Xenophon (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25553 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1197 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Depictions of Spartan Masculinity in Thucydides and Xenophon by Kendell Heydon A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA DECEMBER, 2013 © Kendell Heydon 2013 Abstract Because we have no Classical Spartan writing we are reliant on the views of outsiders to try to reconstruct their social mores. Using traditional philology combined with social constructionist theory I examine how Thucydides and Xenophon depict Spartan masculinity. I have found that these authors differ in their descriptions of the Spartan masculine subject, reflecting primarily the purposes for which they wrote. Despite this, both authors describe inter-Spartan relations and relations between Spartiates and “others”, both within the Spartan system and those external to it, so as to suggest that the employment of officially propagated images of Spartan masculinity played a significant role in Spartan dealings.
    [Show full text]
  • Feminist Theory and Freedom of Speech, Free Speech Theory
    Indiana Law Journal Volume 84 Issue 3 Article 11 Summer 2009 Feminist Theory and Freedom of Speech, Free Speech Theory Susan H. Williams Indiana University Maurer School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, International Law Commons, and the Law and Gender Commons Recommended Citation Williams, Susan H. (2009) "Feminist Theory and Freedom of Speech, Free Speech Theory," Indiana Law Journal: Vol. 84 : Iss. 3 , Article 11. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol84/iss3/11 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Indiana Law Journal by an authorized editor of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Feminist Theory and Freedom of Speech SusAN H. WILLIAMS* The First Amendment to the United States Constitution says, among other things, that "Congress shall make no law.., abridging the freedom of speech."' This short and apparently simple phrase has generated an astonishingly complex collection of legal doctrines and a rich tradition of constitutional theory. In this Article, I would like to offer you a feminist perspective on the theoretical landscape of freedom of speech. While there has been much feminist writing about particular free speech issues, such as pornography, there has been relatively little scholarly attention given to the implications of a feminist perspective for the fundamental issues in First Amendment theory. I believe that the feminist critique provides important insights into free speech theory and offers hope of resolving some of the more intractable problems-both theoretical and doctrinal-concerning freedom of speech.2 I.
    [Show full text]
  • Theories of Emotion: Integrating Philosophy and the Social Sciences
    Theories of Emotion: Integrating philosophy and the social sciences By Michael Stolzle Submitted to the graduate degree program in Philosophy and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. ________________________________ Chairperson, Dr. Ann Cudd ________________________________ Dr. Ben Eggleston ________________________________ Dr. Amy Coplan Date Defended: February 23 rd , 2011 The Thesis Committee for Michael Stolzle certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: Theories of Emotion: Integrating philosophy and the social sciences ________________________________ Chairperson, Dr. Ann Cudd Date Approved: February 23 rd , 2011 ii - Abstract - Theories of Emotion: Integrating philosophy and the social sciences By: Michael Stolzle The study of emotion is being taken on by many different fields of research. In particular, the social sciences are providing many new areas of development within the field. Philosophy is specially equipped to add to the research on human affective experience by synthesizing the many different fields’ work on emotion and providing a critical assessment of the current research. Two primary approaches to understanding emotion are (1) viewing emotion as a product of evolution and (2) viewing emotion as a product of social and cultural interaction. I argue, however, that while each of these approaches accurately explains a particular aspect of affective experience, they should work towards a more compatibilistic
    [Show full text]