This article addresses two central—yet insufficiently explored—characteristics of some social movements: i.) abrupt and rapid social mobilizations leading to ii.) the construction of novel political processes and structures. The article takes a novel approach to these issues by combining social movement literature and the notion of free social spaces with transition studies, which focuses on large-scale socio-technical transitions. This theoretical integration highlights the co-evolution between free spaces and societal transitions, and it is based upon complexity-thinking, which is (...) essential to deal with non-linear dynamics. A key insight is that to enable bottom-up societal transitions, radical social movements need to proactively develop solid alternatives to existing societal structures, to be ready once a window of opportunity opens. This theoretical approach is empirically illustrated using the APPO-movement in Mexico in 2006. (shrink)

L’objectif de cet article est de redéfinir l’idée de modernité en la situant dans le contexte actuel, à une époque où les sociétés industrielles sont soumises à des contraintes environnementales qui les contraignent à opérer des réformes radicales, difficiles à concevoir et à réaliser parce qu’elles les conduisent en dehors de leur modernisation historique. La modernité désigne aujourd’hui ce moment critique où un type de société atteint son terme, la limite à partir de laquelle s’engage sa déconstruction. Cette expérience de (...) la modernité réactive la notion de postmoderne apparue dans les pays industriels dans les années 1960-70 et lui donne une urgence nouvelle. Que se passe-t-il à ce moment critique? Quels sont les discours, les idéologies, les évènements, les groupes sociaux qui confèrent à une société la capacité d’identifier ce seuil et de le franchir. La modernité désigne cette époque où une société entre en transition. Analyser le cas du Japon permet de montrer comment s’ouvre la possibilité de penser et d’engager un autre processus de modernisation. (shrink)

Dans les théories traditionnelles de la sociologie du développement, les recherches se concentrent sur deux axes. D’un côté, les théories de la modernisation, qui étudient l’évolution des pays développés, de l’autre, celles du développement, qui s’intéressent aux modèles latino-américains, africains et est-asiatiques. Ces deux axes traditionnels limitent fortement le champ de vision de la sociologie du développement. Nous montrerons que les processus de transition dans les pays socialistes tels que la Chine, l’ex-URSS ou l’Europe de l’Est soulèvent toute une série (...) de débats inédits. Comment analyser la voie de développement propre à des régions et des pays différents ? Comment examiner les relations entre l’État et la société au sein du processus de développement et de transition ? Comment aborder le problème des inégalités sociales au sein de ce processus ? Autant de nouvelles questions – et ce ne sont pas les seules – qui élargissent non seulement le champ de vision de la sociologie du développement, mais qui permettent aussi d’envisager une nouvelle théorie pour cette discipline. Il s’agit d’observer le processus pratique de transition sociale dans les pays de l’ancien bloc communiste. L’objectif ? Restructurer la sociologie du développement autour de trois piliers : les théories de la modernisation, du développement et de la transition.Among the traditional theories in the sociology of development, research generally focuses on two lines. On the one hand, the theories of modernization, which mainly study the evolution of developed countries, on the other hand, the theories of development, which are interested in the patterns spread out by Latin America, Africa and East Asia. Those two directions set serious restrictions on the sociology of development’s scope. We’ll show that the transition processes of socialist countries such as China, ex-USSR or Eastern Europe actually raise a whole series of new debates. How should we analyze the specific way of development of countries or areas that are different ? How examine the relations between State and society during the development and transition process ? How should we deal with the issue of social inequalities during this process ? These new interrogations – and many others – do broaden the sociology of development’s horizons, but also help us build up a new theory for the discipline. We must scrutinize the practical process of social transition in the countries which were part of the former communist bloc, and, in so doing, rebuild the sociology of development on three pillars : the theories of modernization, of development and of transition. (shrink)

The collapse of society is inevitable, even if it is in the distant future. When it collapses, it is likely to do so within the lifetimes of some people. These people will have matured in pre-collapse society, experience collapse, and then live the remainder of their lives in the post-collapse world. I argue that this group of people—the transitional generation—will be the worst off from societal collapse, far worse than subsequent generations. As the transitional generation, they will suffer disparately. (...) This intergenerational disparity in suffering is inequitable. Given that other disparities in suffering are worthy of remediation, this intergenerational disparity in suffering is worthy of remediation. However, the only way to do so is to target the mental states of the members of the transitional generation. (shrink)

Colleen Murphy’s impressive book presents a unified theory of transitional justice as a single, novel, distinct kind of justice, intended to guide normative evaluation of the choices transitional societies make in dealing with the past. I raise three central challenges to Murphy’s theory. First, how do we know that transitional justice is fundamentally a single special kind of justice that permits a grand unified theory? Second, is it plausible to hold, as Murphy claims, that societal transformation is the overarching (...) aim or objective of transitional justice? Third, is transitional justice convincingly explained as pursuing societal transformation ‘through’ or ‘by’ dealing with past wrongdoing? I argue that Murphy’s ambitious and finely detailed account does not fully reckon with dissensus about transitional justice in the field and does not adequately defend the central claim that transitional justice aims at societal transformation to be pursued by responding to past wrongs. (shrink)

Many countries have attempted to transition to democracy following conflict or repression, but the basic meaning of transitional justice remains hotly contested. In this book, Colleen Murphy analyses transitional justice - showing how it is distinguished from retributive, corrective, and distributive justice - and outlines the ethical standards which societies attempting to democratize should follow. She argues that transitional justice involves the just pursuit of societal transformation. Such transformation requires political reconciliation, which in turn has a complex set of (...) institutional and interpersonal requirements including the rule of law. She shows how societal transformation is also influenced by the moral claims of victims and the demands of perpetrators, and how justice processes can fail to be just by failing to foster this transformation or by not treating victims and perpetrators fairly. Her book will be accessible and enlightening for philosophers, political and social scientists, policy analysts, and legal and human rights scholars and activists. (shrink)

Transition education is a major challenge to be taken up. It is not simply a question of teaching a person a specific area of ​​knowledge – in this case ecological and societal questions – but rather recognizing that individuals are built by their reflections, with their feelings and according to their experiences. None of these dimensions should be left aside if we want to promote the full development of each individual. In this sense it seems important to us to (...) explain the values ​​that underlie our educational offer and the goals pursued by transition education, as well as its founding roots. This chapter thus starts by presenting the pillars for head-heart-body learning, namely a pedagogy that is relational and transformational, integrative and holistic, inter- and transdisciplinary, rooted and open. Secondly, we structure the pedagogy of the transition around six major areas of questioning, corresponding to the six gates of the FORTES approach. Eventually, drawing on the competency-based approach we present the six main transversal skills to be acquired. (shrink)

Cet article propose d’élargir le débat sur la transition énergétique au-delà du contexte occidental. Partant d’études de cas situées dans deux métropoles des Suds, la réflexion invite à nuancer les scénarios normatifs et supposés universels de transformation des systèmes énergétiques pour confronter les transitions aux singularités des sociétés et des territoires dans lesquels elles prennent forme. Ainsi s’aperçoit-on que les discours sur le changement climatique global ont bien moins d’effets d’entraînement sur les trajectoires énergétiques d’Istanbul et du Cap que (...) l’impact de crises écologiques plus locales ou que l’évolution de compromis socio-politiques, toujours fragiles et dépendants d’héritages historiques nationaux. (shrink)

Whether to a `liberal' or a `people's' democracy, the evolution of modern political systems has been consistently theorized as a `transition'. Elaborated within Marxism as the `transition to communism' and later recycled by modernization theory and comparative politics, this concept has been tightly connected to the development of macro-societal analysis. This paper argues that any attempt at writing its history should be sensitive to the deep-seated ambivalence of this concept, which has alternatively lent itself to either teleological or non-teleological (...) interpretations. But far from matching the ready-made division between Marxist and non-Marxist political sociology, this ambivalence has always been internal to these different social scientific traditions. As a result, the same conceptual issues and tensions can be identified within the Marxist and, later, Soviet doctrine on the one hand, and Western social sciences on the other hand, from the sociology of development of the 1950s to comparative democratization in the 1980s. (shrink)

Over the last decades, the proliferation of ICTs and capitalist markets has created a new social-historical reality for communication, production and societal organisation, while social inequality has deepened. In this context, alternative forms of organisation based on the commons have emerged, challenging the core values of capitalism. Within this new form of egalitarian and transnational collaborative networks, a new concept of social coexistence has been proposed: cosmolocalism. This article presents the genealogy of cosmolocalism and compares it to previous conceptual (...) universalist reconfigurations, namely cosmopolitanism and internationalism. While the current discourse on cosmolocalism focuses on production and distribution, its political dynamics and limitations remain unexplored. Our ultimate goal is to open a path of inquiry for further reflection and deliberation. (shrink)

Broad comparisons of international relations across time—of the prospects for peace and of the possibilities for a new ethics for a connected world—typically focus on two dimensions: economic globalization and integration on the one hand, and the character of major interstate relations on the other. One of the most striking features of the pre-1914 world was precisely the coincidence of intensified globalization with a dramatic deterioration in major power relations, the downfall of concert-style approaches to international order, and the descent (...) into total war and ideological confrontation—what T. S. Eliot termed “the panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history.” Today's optimists stress the degree to which globalization appears much more firmly institutionalized than it was a hundred years ago, the rather striking success of global economic governance in responding to the financial crisis of 2007–2008, and the longer-term trend within international society to move away from major-power war. Pessimists are less sure. They worry that we have had to re-learn just how unstable global capitalism can be, both in terms of the wrenching societal changes produced by economic success and of the political strains produced by slowdown and recession. And they point to the abiding or resurgent power of nationalism in all of the core countries in the system, the return of balance-of-power thinking, and the renewed salience of major power politics. (shrink)

ABSTRACTColleen Murphy has argued that in circumstances of societal transition only one special type of justice is applicable: ‘transitional justice’, a type of justice not reducible to any other type or types. I take issue with Murphy’s conclusion, showing that retributive, distributive and corrective justice all feature as isolable component parts in her own positive account of transitional justice. I also argue that restorative justice is applicable and important in transitional societies when the state itself has perpetrated serious wrongs. (...) Murphy claims that each distinct type of justice is a response to a unique ‘basic problem of justice’, triggered by a background set of ‘circumstances’. However, I argue that identifying such a basic problem neither necessarily means the circumstances in question call for a unique type of justice, nor is sufficient to determine which type of justice is most salient in the circumstances. What is more, I show that Murphy applies her own methodology inconsistently in her treatment of transitional societies and stable democracies. I argue that what Murphy calls ‘transitional justice’ is composed of familiar types of justice as well as other moral values, but also regrettable – though often unavoidable – injustice. (shrink)

L’idéologie démocratique fait désormais loi sur presque toute la planète. Ce n’est seulement que les régimes totalitaires « classiques » ne soient plus représentés que par Cuba, la Birmanie et la Chine, des régimes en manifeste transition à des échelles de population, bien sûr, incommensurables. L’idéologie totalitaire elle-même est largement démonétisée. Le devoir de mémoire...

With each step in history it becomes increasingly clear that the transition to socialism is the main content of the changes occurring in the world, and that it is precisely that process which represents the main channel in which contemporary social progress is occurring. "The Great October Socialist Revolution opened ‘a new era in world history’ , the era of the downfall of capitalism, and turned the prospects of mankind in the direction of socialism. The evolution of mankind during the (...) past half-century has proceeded under the sign of the triumph of the ideas of the October Revolution, and of revolutionary achievements of the very highest order that have fundamentally changed the socio-political picture of the world". (shrink)

Depuis quatre décennies, les organisations non gouvernementales alertent l'opinion publique face au modèle de croissance destructrice des ressources écologiques de la planète. Quelles leçons tirer de l'histoire récente? Comment accélérer l'innovation sociale afin de construire un autre monde? Autant de questions auxquelles répondent avec conviction douze auteur·e·s dans un ouvrage mosaïque. Sans doute que tout est dans le sous-titre : la société civile, moteur de la transition écologique. A côté des États et des collectivités supra-nationales, ONU, Europe entre autres, les (...) acteurs de la société civile ont joué un rôle prophétique de lanceurs d'alertes et de créateurs d'alternatives durables. Non écoutés ou à tout le moins peu pris en compte, ils prennent le relais d'acteurs politiques classiques, défaillants et timides, voire contribuant significativement à l'aggravation du constat. Crise de la gouvernance politique? Certainement. Démarquage, différences et divergences face au capitalisme mondial et existentiel? Oui encore. (shrink)

Devant des enjeux économiques et écologiques majeurs, les sociétés comme le Québec font face aujourd’hui à une exigence forte de transition écolo­gique de leurs structures économiques et énergétiques. Parmi l’ensemble des ques­tions d’ordre pratique soulevées par cette transition, celle qui a trait à son financement est l’une des plus épineuses. Dans le contexte actuel, où les finances publiques sont exsangues et où les fonctions économiques de l’État sont en redé­finition, des innovations permettant de mobiliser l’épargne capitalisée dans les fonds privés (...) seront vraisemblablement appelées à contribuer à la transition qui s’amorce. Ces innovations, qui peuvent tirer profit des apports de la finance res­ponsable, sont basées sur un élargissement de l’horizon d’investissement, tant sur la durée que sur le processus d’analyse des choix de placement. Cet élargissement des perspectives permet aux épargnants et aux gestionnaires de fonds de reconsi­dérer les externalités importantes d’un modèle de croissance à haute intensité carbonique et de soutenir la transition écologique. (shrink)

This article offers a conceptual framework for discussing the role of envy within processes of transitional justice. Transitional justice importantly includes the transformation of intergroup dynamics of interaction in the aftermath of societal conflicts and upheavals. Such transformation aims to realise “interactive” justice in transitional justice by reshaping belief and value systems, and by moulding emotional responses between the involved parties. A nuanced understanding of the emotions at play in intergroup antagonistic dynamics of interaction is thus essential to transitional (...) justice. Among the many emotions that we could address in such scenarios, we target envy. Envy, in its various forms, features prominently in many societal conflicts and upheavals, and has, therefore, the potential to undermine or, conversely, support just intergroup interactions. However, the ambivalent role of this emotion has been scantly analysed in the philosophical literature on transitional justice. We make a start on filling this lacuna by developing a conceptual framework which is necessary to appreciate how envy and its varieties are epistemically and practically relevant to realising interactive justice in transitional justice processes. (shrink)

Societal and technological development during the last century has enabled Western economies to achieve a high standard of living. Yet this profusion of wealth has led to several outcomes that are undesirable and/or unsustainable. There is thus an imperative need for a fundamental and rapid transition towards more sustainable practices. While broad conceptual frameworks for managing sustainability transitions have been suggested in prior literature, these need to be further developed to suit contexts in which the overall vision is (...) arguably clear, such as in the case of consuming animal-originated foodstuffs. In this article we introduce a novel transition management framework that is based upon the dimensions of sustainability. The suggested transition management process includes the identification of objectives and obstacles, the listing of options and their opportunities and threats as well as the evaluation of the outcomes (the Five O’s). We argue that sustainability transition management should be a process in which the identification of the relevant dimensions of sustainability and related objectives forms the foundation for strategic, tactical and operational governance activities. We illustrate the practical applicability of the framework in the case of transition towards plant-based diets. (shrink)

This article conceptualizes power in the context of long-term process of structural change. First, it discusses the field of transition studies, which deals with processes of structural change in societal systems on the basis of certain presumptions about power relations, but still lacks an explicit conceptualization of power. Then the article discusses some prevailing points of contestation in debates on power. It is argued that for the context of transition studies, it is necessary to develop an interdisciplinary framework in (...) which power is explicitly conceptualized in relation to change. Subsequently, such a framework is presented, with reference to existing literature on power. Starting with a philosophical and operational definition of power, a typology is developed of the different ways in which power can be exercised, explicitly including innovative power and transformative power. Finally, the presented power framework is applied to transition studies, redefining pivotal transition concepts in terms of power and formulating hypotheses on the role of power in transitions. By doing so, the article not only offers an interdisciplinary framework to study power in the context of transition studies, but also contributes to power debates more generally by including innovation and transformation as acts of power, and thereby proposes a re-conceptualization of the relation between power and structural change. (shrink)

The emerging epistemic community of ecosemioticians and the multidisciplinary field of inquiry known as ecosemiotics offer a radical and relevant approach to so-called global environmental crisis. There are no environmental fixes within the dominant code, since that code overdetermines the future, thereby perpetuating ecologically untenable cultural forms. The possibility of a sustainability transition (the attempt to overcome destitution and avoid ecocatastrophe) becomes real when mediated by and through ecosemiotics. In short, reflexive awareness of humankind's linguisticality is a necessary condition for (...) transforming ecologically maladaptive cultural forms. As a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary research program integrating the human and natural sciences, ecosemiotic inquiry closes the gap between biophysical ecology and human ecology. A provisional outline of a pragmatic theory of ecoserniotics attempts to describe the processes by which adaptive cultural changes might be facilitated and points toward substantive content areas that constitute sites for further research. Ecosemiotic inquiry frames cultural codes as these shape and reproduce the ongoing stream of individual and societal choices that shape distinctively human existence in a larger context of biophysical realities that drive natural selection. However, while ecosemiotics is a necessary condition for the sustainability transition, it is not a sufficient condition. (shrink)

The majority of studies of post-communism – habitually grouped under the heading of 'transitology' – understand the transition ultimately as a political and cultural convergence of the ex-communist societies with Western Europe. Even those critical approaches that regard the post-communist transition as a relatively unique phenomenon (as in the approaches of path dependency and neo-classical sociology) tend to conflate normative prescriptions with empirical descriptions and to move within an overall framework of what Michael Kennedy has aptly called 'transition culture'. This (...) article argues instead that the transition's nature can only be fully grasped if a case-specific and historical-contextual approach is taken. In theoretical terms, a three-step movement to grasp diversity in Central and Eastern Europe is proposed: (1) the acknowledgement of the plurality of modernizing agency and its creativity; (2) the acknowledgement of multi-interpretability and difference as primary elements of modernity; and (3) a sensitivity to the resulting institutional variety in societal constellations. In substantive terms, it is argued that diversity is a distinctive mark of Europe that is bound to persist in an enlarged Europe, despite the spirit of assimilation in the accession process. (shrink)

This is an Open Access book. In 2015, Industry 4.0 was announced with the rise of industrialization by the European Parliament, supporting policy, research, and infrastructure funding. In 2020, Industry 5.0 was launched as an evolution of Industry 4.0, towards societal and ecological values in a sustainable, human-centric, and resilient transition. In 2023, the IN4ACT research project team completed 4 years of research on the impact on these initiatives. Presentations reviewing the progress of management practices and economics led to (...) conversations about what’s next. The unanticipated rise in late 2022 of Generative AI technologies (e.g. ChatGPT, DALL-E) sparked dialogues with an extended circle of researchers on impacts not considered in 2015 or in 2020. This collection of chapters reflects multiple perspectives on research findings to 2023, prospects for 2024, and considerations on ways the techno-economic industrial revolutions may be reshaped into desirable futures respecting social and ecological concerns. (shrink)

ABSTRACTTransitional justice encompasses a global body of scholarship and practice that concentrates on responses to large-scale wrongdoing in the context of an attempted shift from conflict and/or repression. In my book, The Conceptual Foundations of Transitional Justice I argue that transitional justice is a distinctive type of justice. Transitional justice requires the just pursuit of societal transformation. I define transformation relationally, as the terms defining interaction among citizens and between citizens and officials. Transformation is necessary because of the presence (...) of pervasive structural inequality and wrongdoing. Transformation is a practical possibility because of the uncertainty characteristic of transitions. Processes of transitional justice pursue transformation by dealing with past wrongs. The just pursuit of societal transformation requires heeding the moral claims of victims and moral demands on perpetrators. In this paper, I address four issues raised by Sirkku Hellsten, George Hull, Thaddeus Metz, and Margaret Urban Walker. I first discuss the methodological questions pressed. I then consider challenges to the substantive view of transitional justice I propose. I next turn to queries about the distinctiveness of transitional justice. Finally, I respond to skepticism about the necessity and value of a substantive normative theory of transitional justice. (shrink)

This article analyzes the current political transition in México from the vantage point of civil society. It departs from a definition of the Mexican authoritarian regime, now the oldest in the world, as a model of fusion between the state, the market and society. The crisis of the developmental model and the regime’s increasing inability to incorporate the new social actors created by industrialization and urbanization opened up a long period of political crisis whose main content was a process of (...) societal differentiation. The failure of President Salinas’ project of neo‐liberal reconstruction of the authoritarian regime deepened the crisis and led to the formation and consolidation of strong national political parties, the beginning of a still unequal, but effective electoral competition and especially to the emergence of several civic groups that are struggling for a democratization that goes beyond electoral politics. The collective identity as civil society of these civic groups has been instrumental for the critique of the regime’s gradualist strategy of “permenent electoral reform”. (shrink)

The emerging epistemic community of ecosemioticians and the multidisciplinary field of inquiry known as ecosemiotics offer a radical and relevant approach to so-called global environmental crisis. There are no environmental fixes within the dominant code, since that code overdetermines the future, thereby perpetuating ecologically untenable cultural forms. The possibility of a sustainability transition (the attempt to overcome destitution and avoid ecocatastrophe) becomes real when mediated by and through ecosemiotics. In short, reflexive awareness of humankind's linguisticality is a necessary condition for (...) transforming ecologically maladaptive cultural forms. As a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary research program integrating the human and natural sciences, ecosemiotic inquiry closes the gap between biophysical ecology and human ecology. A provisional outline of a pragmatic theory of ecoserniotics attempts to describe the processes by which adaptive cultural changes might be facilitated and points toward substantive content areas that constitute sites for further research. Ecosemiotic inquiry frames cultural codes as these shape and reproduce the ongoing stream of individual and societal choices that shape distinctively human existence in a larger context of biophysical realities that drive natural selection. However, while ecosemiotics is a necessary condition for the sustainability transition, it is not a sufficient condition. (shrink)

La 4ème de couverture indique : "Notre époque fait le grand écart entre des connaissances ouvrant sur une utopie galopante et d'autres annonciatrices d'un abîme lié au modèle de développement qui domine le monde. La contradiction est béante. Un terme, celui de "transition écologique", est mobilisé, qui fait office de mot d'ordre pour la résoudre. Puisant dans l'histoire des deux siècles hérités de ladite "Révolution industrielle", Marcel Jollivet esquisse le chemin de la prise de conscience des risques que l'humanité encourt (...) en raison de ses agissements. Il en ressort l'importance du rôle que la société civile et la recherche ont joué dans cette prise de conscience. La radicalité des mutations sociétales à accomplir fait que la transition qui s'impose ne sera "écologique", au sens strict du terme, que si elle est appropriée par les citoyens. Il faut pour cela qu'advienne une véritable "démocratie technique et écologique participative". Cet avènement ne se produira que s'il est imposé par une mobilisation des forces vives de la société civile qui en portent le projet. En tant que participant de ces forces vives, les chercheurs ont tout particulièrement à s'interroger sur leur façon d'y contribuer. L'approfondissement du dialogue entre eux et la "société civile organisée" est la cheville ouvrière de la mobilisation nécessaire.". (shrink)

Psychologists have traditionally been reluctant to investigate not just the historical nature of their subject matter — humans as acting, thinking and feeling beings — but even more so the historical nature of their discipline, its theories and practices. In this article, I will try to take seriously the historical transformation in the West from industrial society to consumer society. After having introduced these socio-economic designations, I shall try to illustrate how the transformation relates to changes in significant societal (...) practices with a particular attention to education and work. Since its inception, psychology has been deeply involved in the management of human beings in and through these practices, and considerable changes have taken place in the dominant psychologies with the change from industrial to consumer society. I interpret psychoanalysis and behaviourism as psychologies of industrial society, and humanistic psychology and the more recent wave of social constructionism as psychologies of consumer society. With shifting psychologies also come shifting life problems and pathologies, which I briefly address. (shrink)

Natural selection is the main mechanism that drives the evolution of species, including human societies. Under natural selection, human species responds through genetic and cultural adaptations to internal and external selection pressures for survival and reproductive success. However, this theory is ineffective in explaining human societal evolution in the Holocene and a cultural selection argument has been made to remedy the theory. The present article provides a critique of the cultural selection argument and proposes an alternative conception that treats (...) human self-selection as an emergent mechanism of human societal evolution characterized by a new type of selection pressure and a separate fitness criterion. Specifically, the evolution of human societies is divided into two major periods, each driven by a different mode of selection: natural selection acting on genes and cultures for survival and reproductive success prior to the Neolithic Revolution, and human self-selection acting on cultures – and potentially genes as well – for thrival and prosperous living after the Neolithic Revolution. The conditions for the transition from the first mode of selection to the second and the implications of this transition for social research are also discussed. (shrink)

The exponential rise in transgender self-identification invites consideration of what constitutes an ethical response to transgender individuals’ claims about how best to promote their well-being. In this paper, we argue that ‘accepting’ a claim to medical transitioning in order to promote well-being would be in the person’s best interests iff at the point of request the individual is correct in their self-diagnosis as transgender (i.e., the distress felt to reside in the body does not result from another psychological and/or (...) class='Hi'>societal problem) such that the medical interventions they are seeking will help them to realise their preferences. If we cannot assume this—and we suggest that we have reasonable grounds to question an unqualified acceptance in some cases—then ‘acceptance’ potentially works against best interests. We propose a distinction between ‘acceptance’ and respectful, in-depth exploration of an individual’s claims about what promotes their well-being. We discuss the ethical relevance of the unconscious mind to considerations of autonomy and consent in working with transgender individuals. An inquisitive stance, we suggest, supports autonomous choice about how to realise an embodied form that sustains well-being by allowing the individual to consider both conscious and unconscious factors shaping wishes and values, hence choices. (shrink)

Les sociétés démocratiques sont confrontées à l'émergence d'enjeux environnementaux décisifs qui concernent tant les modes de production, d'échange et de consommation que l'habitat, les transports, l'agriculture, l'industrie et même nos modes de vie. La prise en charge de ces enjeux ne saurait s'opérer simplement par des mesures ponctuelles ou locales. Elle doit aujourd'hui être repensée la temporalité de l'action politique, confrontée à une urgence qui ne cessera de s'accroître dans les prochaines années.

The Societal Marketing Concept represents a shift in the focus of business activities from fulfilling the desires of “individual” consumers in the “short-term” (marketing concept) to protecting the “collective” interests of the society in the “longterm.” In this research we develop a conceptual framework that identifies three processes through which the transition from marketing to societal marketing concept takes place. These three processes are Socially Responsible Marketing, Environmentally-Friendly Marketing, and Morally Just Marketing. Each of these three components is (...) developed by reviewing the relevant literature in the related fields, examples are given, and marketing implications are discussed. We evaluate the acceptance of the Societal Marketing concept, identify reasons for its limited success, and discuss how the acceptance and practice of Societal Marketing Concept by businesses, consumers, and public policy makers can possibly be increased. The final section of the paper identifies Global Societal Marketing Concept as the next possible paradigm. (shrink)

In a time imbued with civilisation crisis, José Manuel Naredo's work is of particular relevance. Naredo, one of the most prestigious economists in Spain and a pioneer of ecological economics, first published his most popular book ( La economía en evolución. Historia y perspectivas de las categorías básicas del pensamiento económico) in 1987. This article reviews its most recent and updated version released in 2015. Beyond a brilliant criticism of neoclassical economics, he discusses the underlying ideology and implications of the (...) notion of economic system uncritically endorsed by most schools of economic thought. Transcending the usual dichotomy between ‘orthodox’ and ‘heterodox’ economics, Naredo calls for an economic transition built on the integration of different kinds of scientific knowledge as well as other intuitive, metaphysical and ethical fields in favour of a truly inclusive economics. This is, he warns us, a sine qua non for a socioecological transformation to flourish. (shrink)

Arguments for a just transition are integral to debates about climate change and the drive to create a carbon-neutral economy. There are currently two broad approaches rooted in ethics and justice for framing just energy transitions. The first can be described as internal to the transition and emphasizes the anticipation, assessment, and redressing of harms created by the transition itself and the inclusion in transition governance of groups or communities potentially harmed by its disruptions. In this article, we propose (...) a second approach to ethics and justice in an energy transition, which we describe as systemic or societal in scope. This approach complements attention to the proximate dynamics and impacts of the transition process with a focus on the distant societal and economic outcomes the transition brings into being and how they compare to conditions prior to the transition. It poses the question: do the transformative social, economic, and technological changes wrought by energy systems create more just societies and economies, or do they instead reinforce or recreate long-standing injustices and inequalities? We illustrate this approach with an assessment of one of the most significant existing forms of energy injustice: the energy-poverty nexus. We argue that the energy-poverty nexus reflects configurations of socio-energy systems that create complex, extractive feedbacks between energy insecurity and economic insecurity and, over time, reinforce or exacerbate poverty. We further argue that just energy transitions should work to disentangle these configurations and re-design them so as to create generative rather than extractive feedbacks, thus ending the energy-poverty nexus and creating long-term outcomes that are more just, equitable, and fair. (shrink)

While Russian political parties appear to be institutionalizing to some degree at the national level, they are surprisingly absent at the regional level. This is a result of the dynamics of Russia's dual economic and political transition. Regional elites prefer a “partial reform equilibrium” in political institutional development so that they can avoid widening the sphere of accountability for their decisions in order to protect the gains they have made in the early stage of the economic transition. Strong political institutions—like (...) competitive political parties that penetrate the periphery—would render transitional winners more broadly accountable to wider societal interests as well as to national political actors. The argument suggests that the territorial penetration and further institutionalization of Russia's party system are not necessarily inevitable. Under the conditions of dual, simultaneous economic and political transitions, elites may prefer an equilibrium of political underinstitutionalization to preserve their early winnings from the economic transition. (shrink)

Recent social developments, such as demographic change, skill shortages and new medical technologies, have necessitated a transition in the traditional roles of health-care professions. New forms of division of labour and inter-professional health-care education are emerging while at the same time ethical challenges, such as corruption and conflicts of interest, have to be mastered. This book addresses historical, conceptual and empirical aspects of professionalism and inter-professionalism in health care from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. The work is divided into five (...) sections: historical and societal aspects of health care professions; learning and teaching medical professionalism; transformation of health care professions; professional leadership and team decision-making in health care; and ethical challenges to health care professionalism. The final chapter integrates the main ideas and perspectives on health-care professionalism which have been developed throughout the book and highlights how the work in the diverse disciplines is interrelated. The book will be a valuable reference for the many researchers and students with an interest in medical ethics, professionalism and comparative systems of healthcare. (shrink)

Comprendre les mécanismes sous-jacents de la «nouvelle économie» permet d'augmenter ses chances de gagner au jeu. Un rapide survol des conditions de naissance et de développement de la nouvelle économie montre que le passage de l'économie industrielle à l'économie du savoir a été accompagné par des malentendus similaires à ceux qu'a soulevés l'avènement de l'industrie dans les sociétés agraires. Dans cet article, nous montrons qu'il faut bien distinguer la nouvelle économie, l'économie des services et l'économie du don. Nous évaluons la (...) pertinence des grandes théories économiques pour rendre compte de la nouvelle économie. En examinant les sources des revenus qu'elle peut fournir, nous montrons les dangers qu'une gestion imprudente et non orthodoxe risque d'engendrer. Le temps romantique des pionniers est révolu; la crise de croissance est dépassée. Il reste que la nouvelle économie offre à l'homme du nouveau millénaire l'occasion de se réinventer.Understand the underlying mechanisms of the "new economy" to increase his chances of winning the game A quick overview of the conditions of birth and development of the new economy shows the transition from the industrial economy to the knowledge economy has been accompanied by misunderstandings similar to those that were raised the advent of industry in agrarian societies. In this paper, we show that it is necessary to distinguish the new economy, the service economy and the gift economy. We evaluate the relevance of major economic theories to account for the new economy. In examining the sources of income it can provide, we show that the dangers reckless and unorthodox management may cause. Romantic time of the pioneers are gone, the growth crisis is exceeded. It remains that the new economy offers to man the new millennium opportunity to reinvent itself. (shrink)

Après trente ans de suppression, le rétablissement de la sociologie en Chine au début des années 1980 et son développement jusqu’à aujourd’hui offrent un cas critique d’analyse des conditions politiques, sociales et intellectuelles d’existence de la discipline. Comment cette science supprimée, violemment critiquée puis réhabilitée par le régime communiste se reconstruit-elle ? L’article présente le processus de reconstitution de la discipline, en mettant en lumière les formes d’engagement des différentes générations de chercheurs, les ressources qu’ils mobilisent ainsi que les débats (...) qu’ils soulèvent. Il analyse ensuite les productions sociologiques et leurs évolutions à partir de deux perspectives,les transformations de la société chinoise et la question de la modernisation.After being banned for thirty years, sociology has been allowed again in China in the early 80s, and its development to date provides a critical case for the study of the political, social and intellectual conditions essential for the existence of the discipline. How did this science, which was discarded, violently criticized and then rehabilitated by the communist regime manage to reconstruct ? The article first describes the discipline’s reconstitution process, focusing on the commitment patterns of different generations of sociologists, on the resources they mobilize, as well as on the debates they raise. The sociological productions and their evolutions are eventually analysed through two perspectives, the transformations of the Chinese society and the issue of modernization. (shrink)

The post-communist revolutions of 1989 triggered parallel transformation in the ideological landscape on both sides of the former Iron Curtain. The geo-political opening after the end of the Cold War made global integration a highly salient factor in political mobilization, opting out to replace the capital-versus-labor dynamics of conflict that had shaped the ideological families of Europe during the 20th century. This has resulted in splitting the traditional constituencies of the Left and the Right and reorganizing them along new fault-lines: (...) those shaped by attitudes to globalization and EU enlargement (in the West) and by attitudes to EU accession and global economic competition (in the East). Thus, an ideational convergence between East and West is taking place in Europe, radically altering the structure of political competition in the early 21st century. As the new political cleavage cuts across, rather than runs along, the left—right ideological continuum, it is eroding the societal alliances that had supported the post-war European Social Model. The emerging structure of political competition enables substantive changes in the European Social Model in the direction of deepening labor commodification, thus defeating the emancipatory potential that earlier labor-market policies had contained. (shrink)

In this work, peer-reviewed by a diverse and international team of practicing and licensed attorneys, I deal with the community reentry of young people of African-American origin who have experienced incarceration and are navigating sociophysiological challenges. In particular, I address some of the challenges that these youth have faced —by investigating an array of issues relating to their transitioning from youth correctional facilities back to general society. As a first step, I provide background information. As a second step, I accentuate (...) transitional barriers, while offering systems-level solutions. As a third and final step, I argue in favor of select legal reforms. In writing this peer-reviewed book, I drew on information gathered through evidence-based research, case studies, and anecdotes stemming from my lived experiences working at an advocacy organization and mentoring African-American youth. (shrink)

Often considered China's greatest poet, Du Fu (712-770) came of age at the height of the Tang dynasty, in an era marked by confidence that the accumulated wisdom of the precedent cultural tradition would guarantee civilization's continued stability and prosperity. When his society collapsed into civil war in 755, however, he began to question contemporary assumptions about the role that tradition should play in making sense of experience and defining human flourishing. In this book, Lucas Bender argues that Du Fu's (...) reconsideration of the nature and importance of tradition has played a pivotal role in the transformation of Chinese poetic understanding over the last millennium. In reimagining his relationship to tradition, Du Fu anticipated important philosophical transitions from the late-medieval into the early-modern period and laid the template for a new and perduring paradigm of poetry's relationship to ethics. He also looked forward to the transformations his own poetry would undergo as it was elevated to the pinnacle of the Chinese poetic pantheon. (shrink)

In the aftermath of prolonged civil conflict, social repair is essential. Countries like Uganda, various parts of which have been at war since 1962, are in need of healing and renewal. This paper explores the use of customary mechanisms, instead of trials and truth commissions, to bring about societal acknowledgement of what has happened, and it offers ideas as to how these traditional practices might augment the rebuilding process in Uganda.

Le livre de Evdoxios Doxiadis, aujourd’hui professeur assistant au Département des études helléniques à l’Université Simon Fraser, étudie les transformations survenues dans les rapports des femmes à la propriété au cours de la période qui s’étend des sociétés gréco-ottomanes traditionnelles prérévolutionnaires, gérées suivant les coutumes, à la société grecque régie par la législation de l’État moderne, après une décennie de Guerre d’indépendance. Il démontre que la « modernité » – identifiée...

Tristan Murail est, avec Gérard Grisey, un des deux grands représentants de ce qu'il est convenu d'appeler la "musique spectrale". L'expression indique une référence constante à la structure microscopique des spectres sonores : c'est la vie intérieure des sons, avec leur harmonicité ou inharmonicité, leurs transitoires d'attaque ou d'extinction, qui constitue chez Murail le modèle par excellence pour construire des formes musicales. Cet ouvrage - le premier entièrement consacré à l'œuvre de Murail - évoque sa situation esthétique face à d'autres (...) courants de la musique d'après 1945. Un long entretien donne la parole au compositeur, pour retracer un parcours qui l'a mené de Messiaen à Scelsi et au-delà, ainsi qu'au pédagogue (Murail enseigne depuis plusieurs années aux Etats-Unis). Une analyse approfondie de l'une de ses pièces marquantes, L'Esprit des dunes, permet d'entrer dans son atelier, de suivre le processus de création qui conduit de l'analyse des sons à l'invention des formes. Enfin, Tristan Murail lui-même revient en détail sur chacune de ses œuvres, nous livrant son regard rétrospectif en un document précieux. (shrink)