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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1993

Ernest Raiklin

Attempts to discover an internal logic in the high‐speed eventstaking place in the former Soviet Union. In addressing the problems ofthe country′s disintegration, examines the…

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Abstract

Attempts to discover an internal logic in the high‐speed events taking place in the former Soviet Union. In addressing the problems of the country′s disintegration, examines the issue in its socioeconomic, political and territorial‐administrative aspects. Analyses, for this purpose, the nature of Soviet society prior to Gorbachev′s reforms, its present transitional stage and its probable direction in the near future.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 20 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

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Abstract

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The Perspective of Historical Sociology
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-363-2

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2010

Simone Di Zio

This paper proposes the use of martial arts as a means to combat aggressiveness and, at the same time, to provide a concrete and preventive answer to the problem of violence

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper proposes the use of martial arts as a means to combat aggressiveness and, at the same time, to provide a concrete and preventive answer to the problem of violence against women.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper suggests the teaching of martial arts in school for both sexes, with a double positive effect: the reduction of the tendency to violence for boys and an increase in the defensive potential for girls. In both cases, looking to the long term, these synergistic effects could contribute to a reduction in violence against women.

Findings

The paper describes the Italian experience in teaching karate and judo at school. The Italian federation of judo, karate, fight and martial arts (FIJLKAM) was one of the first sports federations to have obtained the approval of a project for teaching its disciplines in schools. Thus, a lot of clubs of martial arts have been entering primary and secondary schools and they are teaching martial arts to children between 5 and 14 years old. During the school year 2008/2009 there were: 400 sports clubs implementing the project; 500 schools involved; 60.000 students participating.

Research limitations/implications

In the paper two important points are proposed in order to achieve the goal: the obligatory inclusion of martial arts in school education programs by the government; and a scientific monitoring of the effects of these programs on the improvement of pupils' school performances and on the reduction of violence among boys.

Practical implications

In many cases some parents and school administrators still think that including martial arts in school programs may lead to incidents and instigating violence. But, the Italian experience shows that after the implementation of right projects in the schools, both parents and school administrators radically change their opinions on martial arts. Most cases have shown that after the first year just the parents who were initially dubious about the project ask the school for the reactivation of similar projects for the following years.

Originality/value

The paper identified a long‐term strategy to combat the problem of violence against women.

Details

Foresight, vol. 12 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6689

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Abstract

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The Rise of Hungarian Populism: State Autocracy and the Orbán Regime
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-751-0

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1988

Ernest Raiklin

The fate of a country like the Soviet Union concerns not only its leaders and its population. Whatever happens to the Soviet system, the directions which that nation follows will…

Abstract

The fate of a country like the Soviet Union concerns not only its leaders and its population. Whatever happens to the Soviet system, the directions which that nation follows will affect the whole world. Therefore, an understanding of the Soviet regime, its limitations and potentials, and the options available to that country, would give the rest of the world the intellectual weapon necessary to meet challenges presented by Soviet development. The stakes may be very high; if the full productive capacity of the Soviet Union were developed, the Japanese economic miracle and the serious problems it has created for the United States might fade into relative insignificance.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 15 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Article
Publication date: 6 April 2017

Lujza Kotryová

The purpose of this paper is to determine how to educate people about complicated social topics or politics?; how to lead them to critical thinking?; and how to convey emotions or…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine how to educate people about complicated social topics or politics?; how to lead them to critical thinking?; and how to convey emotions or life experience they never lived through?

Design/methodology/approach

Project System is a three-day experience for adult participants concerning totalitarian regime, freedom and inequality. The Project System does not give fast and easy answers but leads participants to find them on their own. For 30 hours, participants find themselves within a larp, which is a very intense type of role-playing game based on human interactions. The author has chosen a larp as a medium as one of the most immersive and influential method of game-based learning which can facilitate topics that are normally hard to explain through conventional methods of learning. Participants learn firsthand through their roles, emotions, story and experience.

Findings

Project System was a really strong and important experience for many players that may have partially changed their lives. After more than 500 players walked through it, the author can say that this method is beneficial.

Originality/value

Larp as an educational tool is used all over the world; however, there are still only few professional organizations. Most of them are focused on using larp (or similar role-playing methods) as a tool at elementary or secondary schools. Using larp in andragogy is currently pioneering.

Details

World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, vol. 14 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-5945

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Book part
Publication date: 2 September 2009

Bai Gao

The structural perspective on China's prospect of democratization has three variants. The first emphasizes the structural requisites for the survival of the authoritarian state…

Abstract

The structural perspective on China's prospect of democratization has three variants. The first emphasizes the structural requisites for the survival of the authoritarian state. It argues that the conditions, such as the governing capacity of the state and support from the Chinese people that used to sustain the authoritarian state, have deteriorated significantly and the authoritarian state cannot escape a collapse in the near future (Chang, 2001). The second focuses on the structural requisites for democratization. It holds that the rise of the middle class and the emerging spread of education in China will create favorable conditions for the country to head toward democratization (Gilley, 2004). The third stresses the resilience of China's authoritarian regime. It argues that the rise of democratic polity in Europe resulted from the special social structures of the continent in the feudal period. Since China's social structure in its premodern period was quite different, democracy did not become a solution even after the middle class emerged in China. For the same reason, China's political change will be most likely to move toward rule by law rather than democratization in the future (Pan, 2006).

Details

Work and Organizationsin China Afterthirty Years of Transition
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-730-7

Article
Publication date: 14 November 2018

Annemarie Augschöll

The research is rooted in the interest in educational biographies of ethnic and linguistic minorities in Europe during the twentieth century. The purpose of this paper is to give…

Abstract

Purpose

The research is rooted in the interest in educational biographies of ethnic and linguistic minorities in Europe during the twentieth century. The purpose of this paper is to give an answer to the question of how the nationalistic educational norms during the period of totalitarian regimes manifested themselves in the educational biographies of minorities, and how much individuals and collectives transferred their scholastic denationalisation experiences (e.g. prohibition of alphabetisation in their mother tongue) to the following generations. In other words, if and how traces of the previously named experiences, for example the attitude towards education, can be found in insecurities and attitudes of the first or even the second follow-up generation.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical foundation used for this research is the conception of school as “institutional actor” theorised by Helmut Fend (2006). Fend used a widened concept based upon Weber’s (1922/1988) action-theoretical, Luhmann’s (2002) system-theoretical and Scharpf’s (2000) and Schaefers’ (2002) institution-centred approaches. This scientific background designs a theoretical concept of school fitted for the social and pedagogical research field. Specifically, in Fend’s analysis of design- and action-oriented potentials, Fend (2006) “turns his special attention to the processes in the educational field, which are implemented by actors, who themselves act in the context of institutional framework conditions” (p. 17).

Findings

The experience of school in totalitarian contexts manifests itself in individual and collective memories, later found in the following generations with particular emphasis on the approaches towards education.

Originality/value

This paper analyses the transgenerational impact of the experiences ethnical minorities had with schools.

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2003

Christian Maravelias

This article develops a framework for understanding autonomy and control in post‐bureaucratic organizations. It reviews two dominant discourses on post‐bureaucracy – the…

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Abstract

This article develops a framework for understanding autonomy and control in post‐bureaucratic organizations. It reviews two dominant discourses on post‐bureaucracy – the managerial discourse and the critical management discourse. Whereas the one pictures post‐bureaucracy as an emancipating regime based on the personalities and social networks of individuals, the other pictures it as a totalitarian regime, which subordinates individuals’ thoughts, emotions and identities to its instrumental schemes. Both discourses are criticized for being grounded in a view of post‐bureaucracy as a “total” organization. An alternative conceptualization is developed, which shows that post‐bureaucracy neither emancipates individuals from control, nor captures them in totalitarian control. A distinguishing characteristic of post‐bureaucracy is that it displaces the responsibility for setting limits between professional and non‐professional concerns from the organization to the individual. Via a case study it is shown how this implies a specific form of control that does not restrict individual freedom, but uses it as its prime vehicle.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 16 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

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Article
Publication date: 21 May 2018

Cornelia Klinger

In order to explore the impact of the recent wave of a technological revolution on global culture and society, the purpose of this paper is to re-read the two most outstanding…

Abstract

Purpose

In order to explore the impact of the recent wave of a technological revolution on global culture and society, the purpose of this paper is to re-read the two most outstanding dystopian novels of the mid-twentieth century. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley observe and anticipate technological development in relation to questions of human nature and culture, individual identity and close relationships, matters of care, privacy and private life. The totalitarian regimes both authors experienced in their time have disappeared, yet today the two fields of high technology that fueled their fantasy are reaching levels of development to surpass Orwell’s and Huxley’s daunting visions.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper approaches the recent innovations in the information and communication technology as well as the upsurge of life sciences and bio-technology from a philosophical perspective, considering their impact on the social structure (division of labor, distribution of wealth) as well as on the symbolic order of advanced industrial societies (the sign and the body, life and death).

Findings

Taking up Michel Foucault’s distinction between ancient sovereign rule and modern biopolitics, the author suggests discerning a third stage of domination: bio economics plus culture industries. In contrast to the two previous forms of domination, this new regime does not endeavor to suppress but to foster and unleash life. Therefore, it instigates less resistance and opposition but meets with more approval and compliance. Domination in this neoliberal-libertarian guise may prove not less dangerous than the former totalitarian variant. It forces the author to re-think ways of resistance and critique.

Originality/value

This paper makes a theoretical contribution to the analysis of care, society and democracy.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 37 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

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