Ivan Bernik
Double Disenchantment of Politics: a Systems Theory Approach to Post-Socialist Transformation
Abstract
Many social scientists argue that the precarious future of post-socialist societies is determined by cultural constraints to which the actors of transformation are exposed. In contrast to this approach, the paper focuses on those developmental obstacles which are inherent to the structure of post-socialist societies. The analysis draws primarily on social systems theory, especially on the theory of functional differentiation. In the first part, the changing role of political actors is dealt with. The competitive nature of the democratic political process have forced the new and old political actors to adopt a pragmatic and professional attitude towards their activity. Not all of them, however, have been able to adapt to the new rules of the political game. Adaptation problems are mostly faced by those political actors who played a decisive role in the initial stages of democratization on the basis of their informal political influence. The second part of the paper focuses on the changes related to the societal functions of the democratic political system. Irrespective of the ambitions of political actors, democratic politics is inherently 'unsuitable' for the extensive regulation of society. A democratic political system presupposes a relatively high ability of other societal subsystems to rely on self-regulation. The absence of these ability is an important source of systemic tensions in post-socialist societies. These two sets of changes can be characterized as the double disenchantment of politics. Both on the systemic level and on the level of actors politics have lost many attributes of a 'privileged' societal activity. But the process of disenchantment can give rise to demands for a revival of the politics of 'great deeds'.
John Rex
Reconsidering Socilogical Theory and Method After 1989
Abstract
1989 was a cataclysmic year in the political history of the world and the problems facing sociology, especially political sociology, have radically changed. Unfortunately the dominant paradigms of sociology in Western Europe were not developed to deal with these problems, but rather with Western European problems during the Cold War. It has, therefore, become necessary to look at these paradigms and to ask whether, in terms of their conception of sociology, its substantive problems and methods, they are at all capable of dealing with the post-communist world. I suggest that it is now necessary to go back to some of the concerns of classical comparative and historical sociology, particularly as they are reflected in the work of Max Weber, in order to map and to understand the political structures of the contemporary world.
Martin Albrow, John Eade, Neil Washbourne and Jorg Durrschmidt
The Impact of Globalization on Sociological Concepts: Community, Culture and Mileu
Abstract
Out of Giddens' (1990) emphasis on modernity and Robertson's (1992) on globality emerges the need to conceptualize globalization in relation to the social per se. An exemplificatory conceptual case study points to global processes straining older concepts formed for nation state sociologies: deterritorialization of the community concept results in the imagined community; global culture signals the fragmentation of the culture concept; 'milieu' has to be extended and generalized for global relevance. Globalization makes the structuration of new forms and types of groups and social relationships a key conceptual problem for sociology. But its impact also highlights the generative processes for new sociological concepts.
Elizabeth Garnsey
Enacted Social Systems: a Critique of Determinism
Abstract
A systems approach and interpretive insight can be drawn upon in ways which are mutually enriching to develop the concept of enactment in social systems. Various aspects of the problem of determinist reasoning are addressed to demonstrate these possibilities. We defend the systems approach against charges that the underlying assumptions are those of realism and functionalism, entailing an incapacity to deal with outlook and conflict. We explore two areas of determinist reasoning: technological determinism and discourse approaches which appear to leave out agency. The analysis calls into question the notion that interpretive and systems perspectives represent incommensurable paradigms.
Yngvar Løchen
Commitment and imagination in the Social Sceinces: a Concern for the Future State of Sociology
Abstract
This paper deals with the actual as well as possible roles of sociologists in modern societies. It is based on the experiences of a typical pragmatical Scandinavian welfare state, namely Norway, where sociology undoubtedly has reached a certain level of success, especially as a repair-oriented applied science. Sociology thus provides an avenue for entering important political and administrative processes in society. But this development - desirable as it may be - also includes certain risks. Sociology may thus abstain from becoming a kind of critical and intellectual pursuit it could be by paying due attention to alternative ways of organizing social life. A discussion is needed about how to avoid this trap and how new roles may be created.
Sue Wright
Minority Ethnic Groups and Higher Education in Britain: Questions of Access and Equity
Abstract
The role of higher education in Britain is in transition as the system expands to educate an ever-growing proportion of the nation's eighteen year olds. In the past it could have been argued that one of its main functions was to reproduce the class which would direct the country in the political, judicial, industrial, commercial and educational spheres. Now, succesful completion of a first degree will be unlikely in itself to guarantee access to the ruling elites. This paper considers questions of access and equity within British higher education, and focuses, in particular, on how young people from the minority groups constituted by recent immigration to Britain fare within the system.
Joseph M. Bradley
'Ethnicity': the Irish in Scotland-Football, Politics and Identity
Abstract
One of the central arguments of this paper is that football in Scotland has acquired characteristics which make it a nationalistic, political and cultural repository. An examination of football allows us to examine characteristics of identity in Scotland otherwise unclear. These identities have their origins in the post-Reformation period in Scotland, Irish immigration into Scotland and Scotland/Britain's historically contentious relationship with Ireland. This paper examines some of the main features of these identities.
Lauri Karvonen
Political Language: Do Women Make a Difference?
Abstract
This paper examines the linguistic usage of women and men MPs in Norway in the 1950s and the 1980s. The aim is to uncover any systematic differences between women and men as to sectoral emphases and linguistic categories, as well as change over time in these respects. The rapid increase in the share of women among Norwegian MPs does not seem to have altered the basic patterns apparent already in the 1950s. The clear sectoral differences between women and men are still there in the 1980s. Moreover, as to linguistic usage, measured in terms of group orientation, types of arguments, propaganda techniques and metaphors, men and women seem to have become increasingly similar over time.
