Im Auftrag des Staates. Die geheime Gesellschaft der Folterer

Torture is an extreme act of collective violence that is secretly executed in the name of a state. In order to explain the reasons why people torture others, individualist approaches concentrate on individuals?? motives or interests. Contrary to that, the article argues that torture should be understood as a social relation. Thus, it takes the social relations of the group of torturers as a starting point. Firstly, following Georg Simmel??s analysis of the secret society the paper argues that the group of torturers can adequately be conceptualized as a secret society; secondly, against this background the article reconstructs the conditions which structure torturers?? agency; finally, this article offers an outline of the processes and dynamics that allows for explaining the phenomenon of torture. The thesis of the article argues that a relational sociology helps better explain and understand the social phenomenon of torture.     

日本“无缘死”研究中的共同体主义意识形态辨析

"无缘死"现象经日本NHK电视台传播以后迅速成为日本社会学界关注的热点,其相关研究在近五年来也层出不穷。日本学界将"无缘死"这一现象产生的原因归结于共同体解体,即包括家庭功能的衰退导致的家庭的解体、雇佣制度变革带来的大规模失业等,日本正迈向个体化时代。从这些研究结论不难看出,日本社会学界并未摆脱共同体主义意识形态预设,依然将共同体看作是稳固、静态、有凝聚力的集团,认为"无缘死"是日本家庭、村落、企业等共同体凝聚功能失效的后果。然而,这一意识形态预设不仅在理论上存在矛盾,也与日本社会的经验不相符。     

Relationale Soziologie – Theoretische und methodologische Positionierungen zwischen Strukturalismus und Pragmatismus

Nowadays, relational sociology is represented by sociological approaches from the US and from France. These approaches share the aim of recombining the two “mega-paradigms” in the social sciences, structuralism and pragmatism. Relational sociology is thereby conceived as a project integrating the analysis of different forms of social practices and structures. The article aims to identify the specific properties of relational sociology beyond this common basis. Starting with the “New York school of relational sociology”, it is shown that this school can on the one side be regarded as a contemporary approach of relational sociology, having introduced innovative contributions, but also shows deficient developments on the other side. Thereupon “actor-network theory” and “economics of convention” in particular are presented as examples of the “new pragmatic sociologies” in France, which can also be regarded as modern versions of relational sociology. After characterizing and comparing these three versions of relational sociology, their metatheoretical and particularly methodological commonalities are presented. Finally, the article tries to define positively what constitutes relational sociology.     

Gesellschaft und Religion

In Habermas’ well-known speech Faith and knowledge (given on the occasion of accepting the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, 2001) the term “post-secular society” is of key importance. The present article examines the term from the perspective of the sociology of religion, outlining the gradual changes in Habermas’ conception of the importance of religion and its place in society. The value of the term “post-secular” proves to be of very limited value in characterising the present time. Nor is there any improvement to be found in Höhn’s suggested linking the terms of “post-secular” and “post-religious”. Still, using the term “post-secular society” helps to go beyond some of the intensely narrow views of being secular as favoured by modern societies.     

Los poderes fácticos mediáticos y el surgimiento del Estado híbrido en México

The process of institutional overlapping that developed in Mexico between formal traditional constitutional powers and mass electronic technologies, which gradually attained factual positions in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, changed the nature and basic governing functions of the national State. Thus, mass media power gave rise to a novel mixing phenomenon that generated a new type of “hybrid State”. The corresponding new historical Republic with a highly political and media oriented nature modified the structure and scenario of the conventional contemporary nation state. The evolution of this historical reality has not yet come to an end, but instead continues to develop with an enormous amount of dynamism and force towards new stages of transformation of the State, public space, and society as a whole, without knowing its final outcome due to the strengthening of factual media power while the major branches of government are gradually weakening. Consequently, society needs to critically engage in an objective analysis of this strategic phenomenon, its phases of transformation and the viable alternatives for recovering the national development path.     

对雅加达华人中生代的考察与分析--兼论各次文化群体在"印尼华人文化"建构中的作用与使命

本文运用文化学、社会学的理论和方法,坚持从印尼华人的实际出发,通过实地考察、访谈调查和资料重释的途径,具体剖析了雅加达华人中生代这一印尼华人重要的次群体,展示了印尼华人在印尼独立后的自我调适情况,分析了印尼华人今后的发展趋势及其在印尼社会重构和印尼民族重组中的地位和作用.     

Der Verein – ein blinder Fleck der Organisationssoziologie

As a local voluntary association the club (Verein) is the most common type of organizations in modern civil societies, but still a neglected subject in organizational sociology. The following article starts with an elaboration of a sociological concept of the club taking into regard its diverging legal definition and its changing semantics over time. This is followed by a rough historical account of its eminent role in the process of the emancipation of the bourgeois class as well as in the first associational attempts of the working class and the women’s movements. As a terminological exercise Richard Scott’s five structural elements of organizations – social structure, members, technology, goals, environment – are applied for the type of club, before three key examples of local associations – sport club, art association, environmental group – are outlined with empirical data. The following section delineates the historical deviations between club and federation (Verband). Ultimately a contemporary agenda for organizational-sociological research on clubs is outlined.     

Civil society in South Korea: From grand democracy movements to petty interest

“Civil society” has been at the center of recent discussions on South Korean democratization. This article examines the current configuration and the historical evolution of civil society in South Korea. Beginning with a synoptic overview of South Korean civil society today, the article selects and analyzes three “cuts” in the past—1960–1961, 1973–1979, and 1985–1987. What emerges from this historical analysis is an image of a highly resistant civil society, gradually expanding and ultimately culminating in the grand democracy movement in 1987. For South Korean democracy to consolidate, civil society should be moving from an amorphous assemblage of antigovernment forces to a tightly organized and well-defined interest group society.     

Understanding the survival of post-Communist corruption in contemporary Russia: the influence of historical legacies

Corruption is widespread throughout the former Communist states, and it is particularly severe and entrenched in Russia. Despite the fact that Russia's contemporary corruption has recently become a subject of analysis, there is, however, no study that has addressed the role of the Communist legacy in the development of various aspects of corruption. This paper contributes to the debates through, first, disentangling the complex phenomenon that is corruption, and focusing on its three aspects: supply, demand, and the attitude of the population. Second, the paper also contributes to the literature on modern corruption by explicitly focusing on the role of the historical legacy in these different aspects of corruption. The study is based on several rich data-sets on corruption and on an original data-set compiled to measure the percentage share of Communists in various regions of Russia in the last decades of the USSR (1970s–1980s). The analysis presented in the paper uncovers different roles of the Communist legacies across the development of various aspects of corruption. By doing so, the paper contributes to the literature on historical legacies in general, on Communist legacies in particular, as well as to the broader literature on the causes of corruption in transitional societies.     

全球视野中的菲律宾伊斯兰化历史进程

菲律宾南部的穆斯林问题一直是现代菲律宾社会的热点,历史上的菲律宾也经受过伊斯兰教的重大影响。伊斯兰教传入菲律宾是它在东南亚迅猛的传播、扩张运动的一个组成部分,其传入菲律宾的过程可分为四个历史阶段。在全球视角中,菲律宾的伊斯兰化始于伊斯兰在全世界范围内东扩到达东南亚,一面是伊斯兰教东进,一面是西班牙西进、葡萄牙东进,在东南亚东端的菲律宾相遇碰撞。所以菲律宾的伊斯兰化是整个伊斯兰世界的扩张及其与基督教世界的争夺中的一个组成部分,是基督教世界绕过半个地球来到远东与伊斯兰世界再次发生文明冲突的碰撞的标志。     

Auf dem Weg in eine europäische Gesellschaft?

After half a century of European integration it is legitimate to ask if, how and in how far a ?European society“ has emerged. But how is this difficult notion to be conceptualized? What is European, what denotes society? Following the distinction of unity and difference, this article sets out to discuss the analytical options of the perspective of unity (the model of the nation state, the United States of Europe, a reality sui generis) and of difference (the ?other“ of Europe by comparing Europe to the regions of the world). According to the main thesis, European society denotes a reality sui generis, i.e., is an emergent phenomenon which can neither be conceptualized by the old model of the nation state nor the new notion of world society. European society should be characterized according to its leitmotif of structured diversity, its cultural and historical legacies, its logic of institutional separation and differentiation and its common basic institutional infrastructure. European society, therefore, rests upon a shared historical community of fate and exhibits a multiple unity of economy, work, education, solidarity, law, religion and culture. The engine of Europeanization is the European Union which together with nation states and regions fosters a veritable pressure of convergence upon the European space. Given its taken-for-granted character, the European society is half latent, half manifest, half empirically traceable and analytically conceivable, half normatively desirable or controversial.     

Hybridity and Change: Gamonales,Montoneros and Young Politicos in South‐Central Peru

The article provides an analysis of three historical forms of political subjectivity in South‐Central Peru: the montoneros, the gamonales and the post‐conflict politicos. Based upon a historical sociology of puna–valley relations, the article suggests that subjectivities should be read not as emanating from either side of the racialised misti–Indio divide, but instead as fractals of this.     

Ist Durkheims Religionsverständnis mit dem Glauben vereinbar?

Does Emile Durkheim’s sociology of religion pose a challenge to the faithful? Durkheim said no in debate with contemporary non-believers and believers, portraying religion not as mere illusion but as consisting in moral forces that command, comfort and strengthen the faithful, forces generated and regenerated within them by the collective effervescence of rituals. Thus empowered, the faithful imagine in symbolic form “the society of which they are members and the obscure yet intimate relations they have with it”. Durkheim’s answer is shown to have three components: a critique of naturist and animist “error theories” of religion; a method of “deep interpretation”, uncovering the reality beneath the symbolism; and an explanation of why the meaning of religion thus interpreted should have been for so long unacknowledged by the faithful. It is argued that, in principle, they can, on certain assumptions, accommodate his sociology of religion. But this, in turn, makes key assumptions and claims that have been seriously questioned: notably, that “religion” names a unified phenomenon and that Durkheim’s definition captures it. Recent revised “Durkheimian” accounts of religious thought and practice are considered, accounts that abandon these assumptions and also his “social realism”, while seeking to preserve his insights. It is argued that these too need not directly challenge religious belief in the way that the cognitive science of religion does.     

They Were Prepared: The Palestinian Arab Scout Movement 1920–1948

This article explores different historical aspects of the Palestinian scouting movement, mainly during the British Mandate (1920–1948). I begin with the general contours of the movement's development and its deteriorating relationship with the Mandate government. I then proceed to reconstruct and analyze scouting culture, showing how it exposed Palestinian boys and young men to a vast array of socializing practices which solidified identification with local communities, parent organizations, and the Palestinian Arab nation. The article also shows that scouting was a visible and powerful component of the Palestinian public sphere. This article explores a historical phenomenon significant to the broader history of Palestinian society and the development of the national movement.     

论日本近代民族主义的思想起源——读会泽安《新论》

近代民族主义的形成有其历史的原因.在吸收相关理论的基础上,从亚洲的历史事实出发去研究亚洲近代民族主义的起源与形成,是一个重要的课题.会泽安在《新论》中对世界形势的分析主要来自他对西洋列强的军事威胁的认识.对海防问题的思考与以"祭政一致"为主要特点的"国体"论构成了《新论》的核心内容.《新论》作为一份思想文本,对明治维新以及近代日本国家的走向产生了影响,为日本近代民族主义的形成提供了理论基础.重读《新论》有助于我们历史地考察日本近代民族主义的思想起源.     

中日前近代商人思想及伦理价值取向的差异——兼论中日近代化进程出现落差的思想原因

中日在由前近代社会向近代社会转型时之所以出现巨大落差,从表征看是由于两国在转型期间所采取的方针和做法不同导致的,但更深层的原因,则在于各自前近代的社会基础及其普遍性价值取向,以及与资本主义精神生成有关的商人伦理思想等存在诸多不同。文章通过对中日前近代商人的商贾思想、商业伦理、营利观和"义利关系观"等进行考察和分析,不仅阐明了中日前近代商人思想及其价值取向的不同性质和特征,而且从一个侧面揭示了中日近代化进程之所以出现落差的思想原因。     

McCarran's legacy: The association for Asian studies

Abstract

Historians have played an important role in modern America. While the chorus in Sigmund Romberg's musical The Student Prince bellows, “History's a mystery,” off the wooden stage and in the world of concrete and asphalt where we live our lives, historical knowledge is something other than mystery. It has been and is a major force in shaping our self-images and expectations. It can be a potent weapon for manipulating society or for resisting manipulation, and its power has been recognized by the American establishment.     

Die sittliche Einbettung der Wirtschaft. Von der Effizienz- und Differenzierungstheorie zu einer Theorie wirtschaftlicher Felder

The economy of modern societies does not simply operate according to its own inherent laws, but is anchored in a moral and institutional order, interests, and in social power. Upon what theoretical basis can the morality of the economy be described? By critically reflecting on mainstream neoclassical economics, the paper argues that it is the normative character of neoclassical theory which stands in the way of improving our understanding of the normative foundations of the economy. It would be wrong, however, to think that sociology necessarily offers a more adequate alternative. Neither functionalist theories of social differentiation nor certain strands of the new economic sociology are up to the challenge. Using the toolkit provided by the theory of social fields seems to be a more promising way to investigate economic structures.     

The Glass of Life: Medieval and Modern Stories on the Struggle to Gain and Maintain Honour

The drive to gain and maintain good reputation (honour, good name) in society functions as a primary core value in Middle Eastern and Asian societies. This phenomenon is best reflected in real-life stories. This article relates stories from the Persian world, selected from medieval Persian texts, as well as from twentieth- and twenty-first-century Iranian and Afghan short stories. While the modern story is written in a different context than the medieval epic poem or romance, the theme of gaining and maintaining the good name persists throughout. Medieval texts portray this all-encompassingstruggle in the life of the legendary heroic warrior, who models the struggle for protagonists in modern stories. For the protagonist, to have reputation means that society speaks well of them. A good name is to have a public name. But much more, the good name must include the larger family and one's tribe. It is the family name. Thirdly, the protagonist who seeks to gain and maintain a good name lives beyond themselves. Indeed, they gain a greater name. The stories are frequently laced with tragedy, as protagonists engage in what are considered to be dishonourable deeds in order to maintain their honour and good name.