Silvia Federici's Caliban and the Witch is a landmark text in Marxist feminism, rethinking capitalism's development from and with the standpoint of women. In this paper, I trace Federici's theory and use of the Marxist concept of primitive accumulation through both Marx and Foucault, the two central interlocutors employed to analyze the perpetuity of violence following the explicit violence of capital's originary privatization. After understanding Federici's reading of the dialectical double helix of violence and compulsion via Marx, and the (...) relation of capital (as Reason and Order) to the body via Foucault, I position Adorno as a backdrop against which to view Federici’s thesis on primitive accumulation. Despite the innumerable theoretical similarities between Adorno and Federici, a close pairing shows what Caliban and the Witch misses in its final pages: a theory of mimesis—mimetic accumulation—that accounts for the dialectic of primitive accumulation's perpetuity. (shrink)

A systematic introduction into the mimetic theory of the French-American literary theorist and philosophical anthropologist René Girard, this essential text explains its three main pillars with the help of examples from literature and philosophy. This book also offers an overview of René Girard’s life and work, showing how much mimetic theory results from existential and spiritual insights into one’s own mimetic entanglements. Furthermore it examines the broader implications of Girard’s theories, from the mimetic aspect of sovereignty (...) and wars to the relationship between the scapegoat mechanism and the question of capital punishment. Mimetic theory is placed within the context of current cultural and political debates like the relationship between religion and modernity, terrorism, the death penalty, and gender issues. Drawing textual examples from European literature and philosophy, Palaver uses mimetic theory to explore the themes they present. A highly accessible book, this text is complemented by bibliographical references to Girard’s widespread work and secondary literature on mimetic theory and its applications, comprising a valuable bibliographical archive that provides the reader with an overview of the development and discussion of mimetic theory until the present day. (shrink)

We show unintended consequences of quota regulations to get women on boards. Board members may have different characteristics, and even among women, there are variations. We assume that the characteristics of the board members have an influence on their contributions to boards, to businesses as well as to society. In this paper, we argue that different types of societal pressure to get women on boards have an influence on the social capital characteristics of the women getting multiple board memberships. (...) The paper is drawing on institutional theory and social capital theory, and we distinguish between mimetic, normative, and coercive types of pressure. Through a cluster analysis of 58 Italian “golden skirts”, we show that different types of societal pressure may lead to differences in social capital characteristics. The study has implications for the ongoing international debate about women and diversity on boards, and we propose developing a pressure theory for getting women on boards. (shrink)

This paper explores the endeavours of José Celestino Mutis before and during his directorship of the Royal Botanical Expedition to the New Kingdom of Granada (1783-1816). Firstly, it will consider various aspects of Mutis’ activities as a naturalist and entrepreneur, in particular his efforts to promote the identification and commercial exploitation of three natural products associated with the Viceroyalty of New Granada: quina, cinnamon, and tea. Secondly, the paper will focus on the complex dynamics of the expedition’s artistic workshop, whose (...) outcome was the monumental compilation of botanical illustrations known as the Flora de Bogotá. The overall aim is to offer a reflection on the challenges posed by the practices of accumulation and management in the context of a scientific expedition inspired by the new policies of the reformist movement in Spain and designed to make profit out of the nature of the New World and its knowledge. (shrink)

This paper capitalizes on an institutional perspective to analyze corporate social responsibility (CSR) orientations in the Lebanese context. Specifically, the paper compiles a new theoretical framework drawing on a multi-level model of institutional flows by Scott (Institutions and organizations: ideas and interests, 2008 ) and the explicit/implicit CSR model by Matten and Moon (Acad Manag Rev 33(2):404–424, 2008 ). This new theoretical framework is then used to explore the CSR convergence versus divergence question in a developing country context. The findings (...) highlight the usefulness of the compiled multi-layered institutional framework and the varied nuances and profound insights it offers in analyzing CSR in context. They also suggest that a cosmetic level of global convergence in explicit CSR may materialize in light of mimetic isomorphic pressures, but that the path dependence hypothesis is indeed salient in light of national history trajectories and socio-politico configurations. The findings correspond most closely to patterns of CSR crossvergence, combining elements of both convergence and divergence, and reflecting in complex hybridized CSR expressions. The findings and their implications are presented and assessed. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:TWILIGHT OF THE VAMPIRES: HISTORY AND THE MYTH OF THE UNDEAD Matthew Kratter University ofCalifornia Berkeley "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster." (Nietzsche, Beyond Good andEvil, IV, 146) One ofthe most satisfying parts ofan extended engagement with the mimetic theory is the bird's-eye view of history that it affords one—that magnificently coherent panorama which stretches from proto-hominids (...) through the Passion to post-culture and the Apocalypse. The sheer scope of Girard's historical vision is also, admittedly, one ofthe more controversial aspects of his theory. As early as Violence and the Sacred (French, 1972; English trans., 1977), in a conscious revolt against the anti-Hegelian and anti-systematic temper of the times, Girard implied a historical telos for human culture that consists ofthe gradual replacement of sacrificial by non-sacrificial paradigms and praxes. With the publication of Things Hidden Since the Foundation ofthe World (1978; 1987) and The Scapegoat (1982; 1986), however, Girard appeared to step beyond the pale of polite (read, secularist) academic discourse by explicitly identifying the Christian Paraclete as the divine dynamo behind the historical process: "The Spirit is working in history to reveal what Jesus has already revealed, the mechanism ofthe scapegoat, the genesis of all mythology, the nonexistence of all gods of violence" (Scapegoat 207). More recently, in an essay on Satan (literally, "the accuser"), the contrasting role of the Paraclete (literally, "the lawyer for the defense") as a defender ofvictims is again emphasized: Matthew Kratter31 It is possible to read the history, first of the Christianized West, then ofthe Westernized planet, our modern history, as... a process of vindication and rehabilitation of more and more persecuted victims. New hidden victims of society are continuously being brought to light; the consensus against them always dissolves after a while. First it was slaves, then the lower classes, then people ofdifferent ethnic and religious backgrounds. Today the victimization of ethnic groups, of women, ofhandicapped people, ofthe very young and the very old, is coming to light. (GirardReader 208) Mostrecently, Girard's view ofhistory has become, ifanything, more unified, as (following Raymund Schwager) he has begun to emphasize the continuity between the sacrificial and the non-sacrificial (without, of course, trying to elide their differences). At a recent AAR/SBL conference in San Francisco (22 November 1997), Girard discussed the Eucharist as a recapitulation ofthe religious history of mankind, in which all previous forms of sacrifice are present (from cannibalism and "other-sacrifice" to the other end of the spectrum and "self-sacrifice"). Or phrased somewhat differently, the redemptive effects ofthe Passion radiate backwards and forwards in time— what Giuseppe Fornari implies when he refers to Christianity's "capacity to redeem the whole history ofman, summing up and surpassing all its sacrificial forms" (187). It may well prove that "Sacrifice" (with a capital "S") is the single most important and comprehensive word that we possess to describe our history. The central contention ofthis essay is that the phenomenon ofthe vampire offers itself as a privileged site for exploring this work of the Paraclete in history. The very processes of "bringing to light" and "exhuming victims," described by Girard above, are certainly metaphors appropriate to the twilit world ofthe vampire, in which the undead are always being dug up or exposed to die light. IfI maintain that, this late in the twentieth century, we are living in the "twilight ofthe vampires," the allusion to Wagner's Götterdämmerung and Nietzsche's Götzen-dämmerung is not accidental. The ambiguity ofthe German verb dämmern (which can mean "to grow dark" or "to grow light") captures all the paradoxes that surround the mythologizing, demythologizing, and remythologizing of the traditional figure ofthe vampire. I will explore these paradoxes in five successive moments (in the most archaic and traditional form taken by the vampire, then in a medieval persecution text, a late-Victorian novel, a German Expressionist film, and finally a series of 32Twilight ofthe Vampires contemporary popular novels) in order to demonstrate the various metamorphoses undergone by the vampire throughout a history which may be viewed as overseen by the Paraclete—and by a... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:A National Shrine to Scapegoating? The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Washington, D.C. Jon Pahl Valparaiso University In a recent survey I conducted of visitors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C, 92 percent agreed that "the memorial is a sacred place, and should be treated as such."1 Clearly, this place, by some reports the most visited site in the U.S. capital, draws devotion. But how does a pilgrimage (...) to this memorial function?2 Does pilgrimage to "the wall" serve to "heal a nation," as its builders intended, or does pilgrimage to the memorial ironically legitimize structures of violence like those which led the United States into the Vietnamese conflict in the first place?3 My argument builds upon the work of René Girard to suggest that pilgrimage to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial can legitimize the violence of American culture by 'The survey was of 185 pilgrims attending ceremonies during Veterans Day, November 11, 1993 and 1994. Several recent works explore the interface between civil religion and violence, notably John E. Bodnar, Karal Ann Marling, and Edward T. Linenthal. On sacred places, the pioneering work of Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, remains important but must be supplemented by Jonathan Z. Smith's Imagining Religion. 1 Victor and Edith Turner argue cogently that "if a tourist is half pilgrim, a pilgrim is half tourist" (20). Many visitors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial understand themselves only as tourists, but their behavior appears to me to warrant treatment under the category of "pilgrimage." 3 I assume a "maximalist" definition of violence, which understands the word to refer not only to physical harm to individuals, but also to systemic, social structures of exclusion (such as racism), and ideological (or symbolic) justifications of violence (see Robert McAfee Brown; for a minimalist approach, see Gerald Runkle). 166Jon Pahi reinforcing scapegoating.4 At the same time, however, the established religious pluralism and voluntarism of American culture—evident in this pilgrimage process—diffuses violence. Furthermore, the democratic character of this pilgrimage empowers pilgrims to critique idolatrous worship of the nation, and to witness to authentic reverence for life. Mimesis on the mall A brief impressionistic portrait ofthe way visitors experience the Vietnam Veterans Memorial will demonstrate how the memorial draws pilgrims into a mimetic process—a key feature of Girard's theory. Many pilgrims stop at the memorial as part of a National Park Service 'Tourmobile' circuit of museums and memorials, or as part of another bus tour (school and senior citizens groups are especially common ). These busses disembark pilgrims at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, directly in front of the reflecting pool on the national mall, in sight of the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Pilgrims may, or may not, first climb the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (a powerful shrine with implications for understanding violence in its own right). Moving north, they eventually proceed along a sidewalk lined with Fig. 1 "Three Men Statue".,. several tents where veterans organizations sell T-shirts, medals, bumper-stickers, books, and other memorabilia. The first stop for many pilgrims is the "Three Men Statue" (Fig. 1) located in a grove just past the tents. 4 I summarize Girard's theory as follows: Beginning with mimetic desire, rivalry for an object escalates and threatens the social order. Religion—and notably sacrifice of the scapegoat—creates sufficient unanimity to restore a sense of social order, but does so through violence itself, masking through myth and ritual a vicious cycle of aggression we know as the history of human culture. A National Shrine to Scapegoating?167 This bronze statue (and the American flag which flies nearby) was not part ofthe original design for the memorial, and was dedicated in 1985, three years after the wall of names. It was the result of a compromise between founders of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund led by veteran Jan Scruggs and a group led by 1992 Presidential candidate H. Ross Perot which was dissatisfied with the wall and felt the need for a more 'heroic' representation of the survivors ofthe war.5 Most pilgrims understand little of the history behind the statue, or its intent to create a more heroic... (shrink)

A teoria mimetica de René Girard ajuda a explicar a origem de algumas das instituições políticas mais essenciais. Os exemplos da monarquia sagrada, da pena de morte e da distinção arcaica amigo-inimigo permitem-nos compreender de que forma evoluíram o poder político, a lei e a guerra. Segundo Girard, todos estas instituições políticas estão enraizadas no mecanismo do bode expiatório, uma forma colectiva de violência contra uma vítima singular e que está na origem da religião e da cultura. A desconstrução girardiana (...) destas instituições revela a sua relatividade. Não se trata de formas eternas e imutáveis pertencentes à natureza política dos seres humanos enquanto tais, mas de derivaões da violência humana a partir das relações mais íntimas. Embora instituições como a pena de morte ou a guerra ajudem a confer a violência humana, elas podem ser abolidas na medida em que os seres humanos se voltem para a nāo-violência e o amor dos inimigos segundo a recomendação do Sermão na Montanha. /// René Girard's mimetic theory helps to explain the origin of some of the most essential political institutions. TJie examples of sacred kingship, capital punishment and archaic friend-enemy-distinctions enable us to understand how political power, law and war evolved. According to Girard, all these political institutions are rooted in the scapegoat mechanism, an archaic form of collective violence against a single victim that created religion and culture. Girard's deconstruction of these institutions reveals their relativity. They are not eternal and unchangeable forms belonging to the political nature of human beings as such but offsprings of human violence beginning in the most intimate relationships. Although institutions like capital punishment or war help to contain human violence they can be abolished if human beings turn towards nonviolence and love of enemies as recommended in the Sermon on the Mount. (shrink)

How does a company achieve long-term survival? This study starts with the question of why, among companies on the verge of bankruptcy, some survive and some break up. This study argues that the long-term survival of a company is determined by not only its economic performance but also its social performance. It clarifies that sustainable corporate social responsibility practices facilitate long-term survival. Thus, this study analyzed 259 CSR actions performed by eight representative long-lived companies in Korea and how the various (...) CSR actions helped these companies overcome crises and survive. The common CSR actions practiced by all the long-lived companies had a positive influence on forming social capital with primary stakeholders and securing legitimacy from secondary stakeholders, which in turn had a significant influence on maintaining survival. This study provides significant implications for the value of CSR practices that have been controversial, by presenting a model of how CSR actions facilitate corporate longevity. (shrink)

Judging by the immense global academic interaction with his work, Jurgen Habermas's social theory, with particular reference to structural transformation of the public sphere and democracy, is one of the most constructive models for understanding the role and function of citizens in forming healthy societies. This article investigates the recent 2014 Tshwane State of the City Address in light of Habermas's theory. Is Habermas's theory relevant to the South African urban context? Do African cities like Tshwane subscribe to the Habermasean (...) social formula or does it understand the public sphere in ways that require an amended interpretation of what Habermas conveys? This article provides a theological-ethical perspective on this Habermasean investigation of the 2014 Tshwane 'State of the Capital City Address'. (shrink)

Immanuel Wallerstein and István Mészáros are prolific scholars whose analyses of global capitalism in crisis offer distinctive insight for research across the social sciences. This book engages readers with their main theses, encouraging the application of these in our analysis of social reality and as its mass educational institutions. Griffiths and Imre undertake this task in their presentation of work under the capitalist world-economy, and the official function of mass education to prepare workers for the global economy. They develop a (...) timely and provocative critique of mass education for this century, challenging readers to contribute to the construction of radical alternatives. (shrink)

Résumé : Le thème lancinant de la crise occidentale de l’éducation est souvent vu à travers une focale centrée sur l’individualisme, vu comme un des fléaux majeurs de l’hypermodernité démocratique. Cet article revient de façon critique sur cette idée en utilisant les outils forgés par Michel Foucault pour penser l'herméneutique du sujet, la gouvernementalité néolibérale et le souci de soi. En appliquant ces analyses à l'étude des conditions actuelles de l'éducation, il est possible de mettre en lumière l'emprise du modèle (...) de l'enfant consommateur et entrepreneur de soi, autrement dit d'assister à la fabrication de l'enfant du Capital. En contrepoint, l’article esquisse les traits d’une éducation scolaire repensée à la lumière des thématiques du Commun. La centralité de la problématique de la relation entraîne alors le métier d’éducateur vers celui de médiateur. Mots-clés : Foucault, herméneutique, néolibéralisme, éducation, Commun Para acabar com a criança do Capital Resumo: O lancinante tema da crise da educação ocidental é visto, frequentemente, sob o prisma do individualismo, tomado como uma das maiores pragas da hipermodernidade democrática. Este artigo debruça-se de modo crítico sobre este tema, usando as ferramentas forjadas por Michel Foucault para pensar a hermenêutica do sujeito, a governamentalidade neoliberal e o cuidado de si. Ao aplicar tais análises aos estudos atuais sobre educação, é possível destacar o modelo da criança consumidora e empreendedora de si ou, para dizer de outro modo, é possível assistir à fabricação da criança do Capital. Em contraponto, o artigo esboça os traços de uma educação escolar repensada sob o foco das temáticas do Comum. A centralidade da problemática da relação transforma, então, a profissão do educador na profissão de mediador. Palavras-chave: Foucault, hermenêutica, neoliberalismo, educação, Comum To finish with the child of Capital Abstract: The haunting theme of the Western education crisis is often seen through a focus centered on individualism, seen as one of the major scourges of democratic hypermodernity. This paper critically revisits this idea by using the tools forged by Michel Foucault to think about the hermeneutics of the subject, neoliberal governmentality, and care of the self. By applying these analyzes to the study of the current conditions of education, it is possible to shed light on the influence of the model of the child consumer and self-entrepreneur, in other words to witness the making of the child of Capital. In counterpoint, the article sketches the features of a school education rethought in the light of the themes of the Common. The centrality of the problem of the relationship then leads the profession of educator to that of mediator. Key words: Foucault, hermeneutics, neoliberalism, education, Common Data de registro: 22/07/2022 Data de aceite: 13/12/2022. (shrink)

Brandon Absher demonstrates that the neoliberalization of higher education has led to a paradigm shift in contemporary philosophy in the United States. Neoliberal philosophy aims to produce human capital and profitable knowledge.

The motive for late eighteenth-century proto-technics of photography and cinema was never quite mimetic representation: it was generating autonomous impressions of natural phenomena within the tradition ofNaturphilosophie. The article analyses a series of connections between ‘natural hieroglyphs’ (von Lichtenberg), Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles’s ‘megascope’, Wedgwood’s pre-photography, Lavater’s silhouettes and antecedents of Marey’s ‘graphic method’. The goal is to document precursor ideas, devices, setups and frameworks of photoimaging medias to show that the genealogy of photography and cinema intersected through many polymath transverses (...) within the ambit of natural philosophy (and the context of slavery). (shrink)

The facts are known: The death of the queen seems imminent, while the decision on her successor has not yet been made. And while Queen Elizabeth's end, and with it the transition of power, is anticipated, political complications arise: the most apt successor of the childless heir is the Scottish prince James, whose great-grandmother was a daughter of Charles VII of England. But his mother's lover, the Earl of Bothwell, has killed James's father, Lord Darnley. And Maria Stewart has married (...) her husband's assassin three months later. It is a story that is known to all and that puts considerable…. (shrink)

In order to improve our understanding of whether and how spiritual leadership promotes positive work-family outcomes from a resource perspective, this study proposed and tested for the first time a conceptual model incorporating job resources and psychological capital as the mediating factors between spiritual leadership and facilitation. We tested a theoretical model with date obtained from 529 Chinese workers who completed questionnaires in a four-wave survey. The results showed that the relationship between spiritual leadership and work-to-family facilitation was mediated (...) by job resources alone, as well as job resources and psychological capital in sequence. Thus, this research may also pave the way for future spiritual leadership research on follower outcomes in other domains by shifting the present spiritual leadership research focus from work outcomes to personal life. Implications for theory, managerial practices, limitation, and future research were discussed. (shrink)

Theoretical researchers of manager psychology have excellent potential to extend its research framework to more enterprise application areas, such as innovation, performance, and safety in production. Research in these areas has also been increasing in the past 10 years. Psychological capital is composed of four aspects: self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and tenacity. It plays an essential role in stimulating organizational growth and improving organizational performance. In safety management work, managers, as the core members of the organization, have a relationship between (...) their psychological capital and employees’ safety performance. Nevertheless, the closeness of the relationship between psychological capital and employee safety performance has not been fully demonstrated by academic circles. Based on positive psychology theory, this paper conducts a questionnaire survey of 157 managers and 314 employees related to safety work in manufacturing enterprises. From the new perspective of organizational emotional capability, this paper investigates the complex and extensive social-psychological role in organizations and combs, analyzes, and integrates relevant psychological research to construct the influence mechanism of managers’ psychological capital and employee safety performance. Finally, the three important issues found based on data analysis were: Managers’ psychological capital has a significant positive impact both on employee safety performance and organizational emotional capability; Organizational emotional capability has a significant positive impact on employee safety performance; organizational emotional capability plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between managers’ psychological capital and employee safety performance. (shrink)

On August 29, 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that an injured ERISA plan beneficiary need not be “made whole” by any injury-related recovery from a third party in order for her ERISA plan to assert subrogation or reimbursement rights if the plan's terms either 1) “unambiguously establish a plan priority” to any funds a beneficiary recovers from a third party, or 2) are reasonably interpreted to establish such a priority by an (...) ERISA plan fiduciary clearly authorized to do so.In 1991, appellants William and Judith Moore purchased an ERISA health insurance policy from Blue Cross Blue Shield of the National Capital Area and its wholly-owned subsidiary CapitalCare. On September 10, 1992, the Moores’ daughter Alistaire, a plan beneficiary, was seriously injured in an automobile accident. (shrink)

Many participatory projects in rural Africa aim indirectly to enhance development by promoting different dimensions of social capital: cooperation in networks, trust, and norms of behavior that encourage mutually beneficial action. However, it is unclear whether these development initiatives can actually influence social capital, especially in the short term. To address this question, we used semi-experimental data to investigate the effects of agricultural research and development on various indicators of social capital in the border region of Rwanda, (...) Uganda, and the DRC. Specifically, we focused on the effects of the “Integrated Agricultural Research for Development Approach” and compared it to conventional ARD efforts. We show that IAR4D has influenced the level of social capital, although not in all dimensions and not consistently for all countries. In the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, for example, IAR4D strengthened the networks that link villages to the outside world, but not in other countries. We also find indications that IAR4D resulted in higher levels of intra-village networks in Rwanda and improved trust and norms of cooperation in the DRC. Finally, we showed that traditional agricultural extension has been less successful than IAR4D in increasing the level of social capital. (shrink)

This research investigates gender differences in employer-sponsored medical insurance coverage among full-time male and female workers in the United States and assesses the relevance of human capital theory and its compensating differentials corollary in predicting coverage. Data are analyzed from a subsample of the Quality of Employment Survey, a national probability sample of workers in the United States. Results indicate that men were more likely to have medical insurance coverage from their employers than were women; however, gender differences were (...) minimized in a multivariate context when human capital and structural variables were controlled. Furthermore, human capital variables are, overall, weak predictors of whether both women and men received coverage. More generally, the data suggest that structural conditions of the occupation, rather than individual human capital, may be most relevant for future research. (shrink)

Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 pandemic and consequent confinement measures, young people are vulnerable to mental health problems. The current study compared a group of 440 young adolescents and a group of 330 emerging adults to investigate the extent to which perceived social support and psychological capital were differentially associated with mental health problems. Participants were asked to report their current psychosocial adaptation status during the COVID-19 pandemic, and data were collected via online questionnaires during a (...) relatively severe period of COVID-19 in China. Results of the multi-group path analysis indicated that the effect of perceived social support on mental health problems was mediated by PsyCap for young adolescents, but not for emerging adults. These results were discussed with respect to the mechanism of how social support and PsyCap serve as protective mental health factors for youth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

Climate change has caused serious threats to global economic development and human well-being, and green finance is a new way to achieve ecological, economic, and social sustainable development, and it also has important theoretical significance and policy value. This study firstly aims to study the impact of green finance on regional carbon intensity. Then, it aims to determine the moderating effect of capital stock per capita on the relationship between green finance and carbon intensity based on moderating effect model (...) as well as to investigate the threshold effect of capital stock per capita on the relationship between green finance and carbon intensity based on threshold effect model. The main conclusions are as follows: Every 1% increase in green finance will lead to a 2% decrease in carbon intensity, and the inhibition of green finance on carbon intensity is most obvious in northeast and east China. The capital stock per capita has a significant moderating effect, which could enhance the restraining effect of green financial development on carbon intensity, and this moderating effect is most obvious in northeast China. The capital stock per capita has a threshold effect in the process of green finance development to suppress carbon intensity. The higher the capital stock per capita, the stronger the inhibition effect of green finance development on carbon intensity. Therefore, in the process of capital accumulation, attention should be paid to improve the relevant legal system and policy guarantee, optimization of financial structure, and stimulation of the capital allocation effect of green finance. Simultaneously, in order to strengthen the inhibitory effect of green finance on carbon intensity, differentiated green finance development policies should be formulated based on factor endowment structure and comparative advantages of different regions. (shrink)

At present, high-tech enterprises are mainly organizations engaged in the production, research, and development and service of high-tech products. The current development of high-tech industries in various countries in the world is of great significance to improving social productivity and overall national strength. This article mainly introduces the modeling and analysis of the complex system of human capital accumulation in high-tech enterprises based on big data. This paper proposes a theoretical analysis of corporate human capital data and proposes (...) regression analysis and analytic hierarchy process to calculate and analyze the process of corporate human capital accumulation and collect and analyze the data using questionnaire surveys and other methods. In addition, complex systems were modeled based on big data, and a cloud computing-based human capital big data analysis platform was established. The experimental results show that complex system modeling based on big data has a positive impact on the human capital accumulation of high-tech enterprises. For high-tech companies at different stages of development, the relationship between various types of human capital and corporate performance is inconsistent with the market economy. In contrast, the current salary system of some high-tech companies still has many drawbacks. The cost of using human resources controlled by the wage system accounts for more than 24%. (shrink)

This paper argues that values if they are sheering through collective discussion and communicative-pragmatic justification have been proved to be a capital of society which forms the foundation and horizon for its sustainable development. The concept of personal axiological competence as an ability to produce and interiorize share values on the basis of their critical reflection, critical selection and integration has been developed by taking into account the specifics of the world of values in the context of globalization. A (...) role of higher education and dialogic education in its formation has been characterized. (shrink)

This paper consists of a conversation between a philosopher specialising in ethics and religion and an educational researcher with an interest in cultural studies and contemporary social theory. Dialogic in form, this paper employs an interdisciplinary response to an interdisciplinary project and offers the following components: a dialogic theorizing of the implications for education of a research project on spiritual capital; a continuation of the project of analyzing moral thinking in various cultural and societal settings; a continuation of the (...) project of analyzing political rhetoric (towards an understanding of the polemics of political rhetoric); a reaffirmation of the value of recognizing difference and ambiguity in the global moment. (shrink)

This chapter sets out the traditional natural law defense of the claim that the death penalty can in principle be a just punishment for certain offenses. It begins by explaining the relevant principles of traditional natural law theory and how they are grounded in a broadly Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics. It then shows how the goodness of retribution follows from these principles, and thus is intelligible given that metaphysical picture. This is followed by an application of these results to the justification of (...) capital punishment specifically, as an instance of retributive justice. Finally, Feser responds to some objections. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major changes in the psychological capital structure of individuals and groups, especially among members of the upper echelons of Chinese mixed-ownership reform enterprises, who are more sensitive to the environment. Based on prospect theory. In order to further study the changes in the psychological capital structure of upper echelons of the mixed ownership reform of state-owned enterprises under the influence of the COVID-19, and what impact it has on the decision-making behavior of the (...) upper echelons and the development performance of the mixed ownership reform enterprises, this paper introduces the system dynamics research method into the research field of the upper echelons for the first time, and studies the psychological capital structure of the upper echelons through simulation. This paper puts forward new research ideas for the research on the psychological capital structure of upper echelons. Using the system dynamics method, this study investigates the changes induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, on the psychological capital structure of the upper echelons of Chinese mixed-ownership reform enterprises; and assesses the concept model of behavioral psychological capital adjustment. The impact of COVID-19 on communication strategies among upper echelons, directly affects the evolution results of the decision-making system. The psychological capital structure in the upper echelons has evolutionary stability strategies in three cases. In some cases, the system evolution presents periodic characteristics. The higher the probability of group communication, the more stable the psychological capital structure, and the greater the fluctuation of behavioral integration. There is a significant correlation between the level of efficacy and resilience of upper echelons psychological capital structure and upper echelons decision-making behavior. Under the condition of improving the communication probability among upper echelon members, there is a positive correlation between the level of hope and optimism of upper echelon and the power structure of upper echelon and the development performance of mixed reform enterprises. Develop the psychological capital structure of upper echelon of mixed reform enterprises, improve the level of financing development decision-making ability and improve decision-making performance. (shrink)

The paper notes that whereas the issue of capital punishment is very old and not alien to any human society, and whereas there is an abundance of literature on Western philosophy of punishment, very little philosophical work on punishment from the African perspective can be cited. By way of filling a part of the lacuna in the literature, the paper examines the Yorùbá culture for its perspectives on the death penalty.The paper finds in the Ifá Literary Corpus, though implicit, (...) a strong philosophical argument against capital punishment. The argument, explicated and analyzed, turns out to be an introduction of a skeptical epistemological consideration into the debate over capital punishment in a unique way that raises some other jurisprudential issues relating to judicial administration.The paper concludes that although there may, as would be expected, be other positions on the issue of death penalty in Yorùbá culture, the particular argument examined validly makes its point for the abolition of capital punishment, especially when situated in the context of Yorùbá social ethic, which is essentially communal and humanistic. The enabling cultural context of the Ifá argument against capital punishment was extended beyond its immediate Yorùbá sociocultural context to the pan-African humanistic social ethic conceptualized in Bantu languages of Southern Africa as ‘Ubuntu’, thereby giving the argument a contemporary universal relevance and applicability. (shrink)

It is time for a paradigm shift in our study of world capitalism and the global ruling class. The statecentrism informing much theorization and analysis of world politics, political economy, and class structure is less and less congruent with 21st century world developments. Global capitalism represents a new stage in the ongoing and open-ended evolution of world capitalism, characterized by the rise of transnational capital and a globally integrated production and financial system commanded by a transnational capitalist class, or (...) TCC, that attempts to exercise its class power through transnational state apparatuses. The TCC, as the new global ruling class, has been attempting, albeit with limited success, to construct a global hegemonic bloc in which one group, the TCC, exercises leadership and imposes its project through the consent of those drawn into the bloc, while those from the majority who are not drawn into this hegemonic project, either through material rewards or ideological mechanisms, are contained or repressed. Global capitalism is in crisis. A popular revolt is spreading worldwide, thus posing many challenges. Transformative struggles must be informed by an accurate analysis of global capitalism and its ruling class. (shrink)

ResumoEsse artigo propõe um contraponto entre a teoria mimética de René Girard, as considerações freudianas sobre sujeito e a obra de Oswald de Andrade. O sujeito mimético coincide com o sujeito antropofágico oswaldiano, pois idêntica divisa poderia defini-los, transformando o alheio em próprio, e transformá-lo a tal ponto que as fronteiras entre o eu e o outro se confundem. Cada um a seu modo, Oswald de Andrade e René Girard assimilaram criativamente a lição freudiana, especialmente a leitura de Totem e (...) Tabu (1913). O pensador e poeta brasileiro inverteu os termos da equação, descobrindo “a transformação permanente do Tabu em totem”.Palavras-chave: Teoria Mimética Girardiana. Sujeito Mimético. Antropofagia em Oswald de Andrade. Totem e Tabu. AbstractThis article proposes a comparison among René Girard’s mimetic theory, Freudian assumptions on the self and Oswald de Andrade’s work. The mimetic self coincides with the Oswaldian anthropophagic subject, since the identical division could define them, transforming the other in the self, and transform it in such a way that the limits between the self and the other can be confused. Each one in his own way, Oswald de Andrade and René Girard assimilated creatively Freud’s lesson, especially the reading of Totem and Taboo (1913). The thinker and Brazilian poet inverted the terms in the formula, descovering ‘the permanent transformation of the Taboo in totem.’Keywords: Girardian Mimetic Theory. Mimetic Self. Anthropophagy in Oswald de Andrade. Totem and Taboo. (shrink)

Serious mental illness (SMI) has long posed a dilemma to society. The use of community treatment orders (CTOs), a legal means by which to deliver mandated psychiatric treatment to individuals while they live in the community, is a contemporary technique for managing SMI. CTOs (or a similar legal mechanism) are used in every province in Canada and in many jurisdictions around the world in the care and management of clients with severe and persistent mental illness (most frequently schizophrenia) who have (...) a history of treatment non‐compliance and subsequent relapse. Although there is ongoing controversy around CTOs, their use continues to be on the rise. René Girard's mimetic theory, in which he posits the social utility of the scapegoat mechanism, may shed some light on how established cultural patterns contribute to contemporary responses to SMI: how culture depends on the reproduction of certain narratives, and how these act to shape the identity of those involved. The CTO specifically can be seen to act as a scapegoating mechanism, wherein, by singling out and controlling individuals who appear to threaten social order, social order is restored. This paper reviews Girard's theory, looks at how it has been applied to SMI, and then considers how it may illuminate the social role of the CTO. This examination may provide mental health nurses with insight into the constructed identities of their patients, as well as the role of mental health care within broader cultural narratives. (shrink)

This paper offers an interpretation of René Girard’s mimetic theory in light of Hannah Arendt’s account of St Augustine’s philosophy of love. Girard’s mimetic theory crosses many disciplines and has been the main inspiration in his oeuvre over decades. However, its later application and how it purports to demystify culture and point to the truth of the Christian revelation, sits uneasily with his early confessional position. This paper is an attempt to make sense of Girard the Christian thinker, (...) who seeks to explain Christianity without a continuous searching quest for God and ethical orientation in the world. I examine his early theory of desire and how it claims to lead to the conversion of the hero and author of the novel, and how Girard compares the hero’s journey in literary space to the Saint’s journey in spiritual space. In explicating Hannah Arendt’s work entitled Love and Saint Augustine I set out some of the key concepts of Augustine’s philosophy of “love as desire” and highlight a number of contexts in Augustine’s thinking that refocus his philosophy in the direction of memory in response to the commandment to love God, neighbour and self. I go on to examine whether Arendt’s analysis of Augustine might also apply to Girard’s journey with mimetic theory. Finally, I attempt to articulate a context for reading Girard in light of Augustine’s own searching quest for God, one that tries to bring his personal and confessional stance back into his account of mimesis and human origins. (shrink)

In recent years, the concept of social capital – broadly defined as co-operative networks based on regular, personal contact and trust – has been widely applied within cross-disciplinary human science research, primarily by economists, political scientists and sociologists. In this article, I argue why and how fieldwork anthropologists should fill a gap in the social capital literature by highlighting how social capital is being built in situ. I suggest that the recent inventions of “bridging” and “bonding” social (...) capital, e.g., inclusive and exclusive types of social capital, are fruitful concepts to apply in an anthropological fieldwork setting. Thus, my case study on the relationship between local people and newcomers in the rural Danish marginal municipality of Ravnsborg seeks to reveal processes of bridging/bonding social capital building. Such a case study at the micro level has general policy implications for a cultural clash between two different groups by demonstrating the complexity of a social capital mix where bonding social capital strongly prevails. This ultimately leads to a “social trap” (Rothstein 2005), implying widespread distrust and serious social and economic costs for a whole population. (shrink)

A questão que se coloca nesse texto é refletir sobre as contribuições que Marx formula para pensar a respeito da educação, a escola e a luta trabalhadora. Nosso intuito é, pois, a partir do “beber da fonte” da filosofia de práxis, pensar em que medida, o projeto de emancipação social, tal como propôs Marx, se realiza numa escola em crise, aonde muita coisa, aliás, muda na aparência para manter a essência íntegra. Nossas reflexões se voltam para compreender também, como por (...) meio do trabalho, as experiências de autoformação política da classe trabalhadora passam por uma radicalização vertiginosa do direito ao acesso, comprometedora, no entanto, do saber produzido socialmente. (shrink)

I dedicate this essay to the memory of the late Wolfgang Mommsen—the subject would have been congenial to him. It is one of a series of offshoots from a central project: a scholarly edition of Max Weber's Protestant Ethic with commentary. When I first told Prof. Mommsen of my plan in 1994 he looked me full in the face and gave a characteristic growl: “All that work!” Here was a man who knew what he was about. My thanks to Ross (...) McKibbin and Keith Tribe for reading this paper in draft. The article begins by examining Max Weber's relations with Lujo Brentano, much the most important “precursor” to Weber in the field of economics. In particular, Brentano conducted a form of parallel inquiry into the rise of ‘the spirit of capital’ in England 35 years before Weber looked for the origins of “spirit” of capitalism there, and the contrast between these two ideas casts much light both on Brentano and on Weber's Protestant Ethic. This personal history leads into a broader history of the transition in German economic thought between the 1860s – the formative decade for Brentano but also the era of Marx's Capital – and that of Weber's generation coming to maturity c.1890. Marx and Weber remain the two great canonical thinkers and original minds; but any authentic historical comparison between Marx and Weber must take in Brentano. The essence of the contrast between the generations is that between Weber's novel conception of an ethical ‘capitalism’, and the materialism and naturalism underpinning Brentano's and Marx's ‘capital’, although Weber and Brentano are alike as liberals, democrats and bourgeois. ☆ Some abbreviations for Weber: AfSS for Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik; GARS for Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie (Tübingen, 1920) vol. i; WL for Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre (Tübingen, 1968); Grundriss for Grundriss zu den Vorlesungen über Allgemeine (“theoretische”) Nationalökonomie [1898], repr. Tübingen, 1990; MWG for Max Weber Gesamtausgabe ed. Horst Baier et al. (Tübingen, 1984); Briefe for letters by Weber in this edition; ‘Nachlaß Max Weber’ for unpublished letters from the Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Berlin-Dahlem, VI. HA Nachlaß Max Weber. Lebensbild for Marianne Weber, Max Weber: Ein Lebensbild (Tübingen, 1926); Zohn for idem, Max Weber. A Biography (New Brunswick, 1988) tr. Harry Zohn. For Brentano: Der wirtschaftende Mensch for Der wirtschaftende Mensch in der Geschichte (Leipzig, 1923); Konkrete Grundbedingungen for Konkrete Grundbedingungen der Volkswirtschaft (Leipzig, 1924); Der tätige Mensch for Der tätige Mensch und die Wissenschaft von der Wirtschaft (Marburg, 2006) ed. R. Bräu, H.G. Nutzinger. ‘Die Entwickelung der Wertlehre’ for ‘Die Entwickelung der Wertlehre’, Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-philologische und historische Klassen. Jahrgang 1908, 3. Abhandlung (15 Feb. 1908), 1–84; ‘Theorie der Bedürfnisse’ for ‘Versuch einer Theorie der Bedürfmisse’, ibid., 10. Abhandlung (5 Dec. 1908), 1–79; ‘Die Malthussche Lehre’ for ‘Die Malthussche Lehre und die Bevölkerungsbewegung der letzten Decennien’ [1909], Abhandlungen der historischen Klasse der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften XXIV (1906–1909), 565–625, 1*–39*. (shrink)

Contemporary American social and political discourses have integrated concerns about family values into the realm of debates about the associational life of social capital. In these discussions, theoretical and historical confusions about the relations between family and civil society run rampant. In this article, I first bring theoretical clarity to these social structures and the type of relations upon which they are predicated and, second, briefly historicize the relationships between an American idea of family and civil society. By tracing (...) changes in popular understandings of family and civil society, I demonstrate that the modern family values movement spurns its Victorian roots by maintaining the nostalgic language for a life and family of old built around a Christian home, while embracing means and institutions, and even more importantly, a form of family, which belies the nostalgia. The family has now become an institution or association which can be sustained through instrumental interventions; it is no longer to do with the organic relations of sentiment remaining from some long-faded Gemeinschaft. The family and the Christian home ideal, which were at the center of American critiques of modernization, have ceased to be. (shrink)