Oprah.com: Lifestyle expertise and the politics of recognition

The contemporary mediascape has been marked by a proliferation of popular TV genres in which the public appear as central protagonists. These genres are part of a broader shift in the relationship between media and audiences which challenges traditional conceptions of public service broadcasting and appear to represent a shift from media as public knowledge to media as constituting a space for diffuse popular engagement. A central feature of this shift has been the growing role of popular forms of expertise on television. This paper maps the main critical debates around participatory television and the role of the expert, from earlier work on talk shows to more recent discussions of reality and makeover TV. It notes a transition within the critical media and cultural studies literature from a focus on public sphere theory and questions of democratization to a growing concern with the role played by popular media culture in supporting new modes of governance based on the expert mediation of normative self-control. In this paper we analyze the role of experts on Oprah Winfrey's popular website Oprah.com, noting both the utility and limitations of a governmental perspective. Extending upon Foucault's notion of the productive nature of liberal subjecthood, the paper suggests the more positive role played by popular expertise in contributing to a media-civic culture articulated to a politics of recognition.     

倦怠社会劳动美的精神政治学审视

韩炳哲将过度化生产、超负荷劳作和数字信息大爆炸所造成的个体疲乏与困倦的当代社会称为“倦怠社会”。倦怠社会是一个功绩社会、积极社会而非懒惰社会、消极社会,工作积极主义成为个人的精神政治学,自我加速和自我施暴成为倦怠社会成功的关键。在倦怠社会,自我精神暴力疾病日益突出,积极消费、娱乐主义成为化解倦怠的至上之选。然而,倦怠社会的劳动美学却表现出三种困境：作为整体存在论的劳动美学与作为个体生存论的劳动倦怠之困,作为技术决定论的劳动美学与作为自我生成论的劳动观念之困,神圣时间下的倦怠社会的时间辩证法之困。只有通过树立马克思主义的生活观和劳动观,弱化自我加速和功绩主体的定位,防止数字劳动的畸形,主动建构抵消数字资本、技术平台牵制的生活模式,回归美好生活的实质,才能构建劳动美和生活美。     

‘My private kingdom and sometimes my private jail’ The meaning of home in the lives of Bedouin women: changes in the home and social spaces and their implications for Bedouin women

Home has always been significant in the lives of Bedouin women. At times it has been considered a ‘private kingdom’ – an intimate space, a jurisdiction, a sphere of influence and a space of creativity and well-being. In other periods it has been perceived as a ‘private jail’ – suffocating and limiting. The Bedouin communities in southern Israel, which are part of the country’s Arab-Palestinian population, are undergoing major changes – cultural and social, as well as in the form of settlement – imposed largely by the state. The external form of the Bedouin home has changed too, from a tent to a cement-block house, from an open structure to a closed one, from being part of the open space of the desert to being a limited space in a neighbourhood. To understand the changing meaning of home for Bedouin women during this transition, I conducted a narrative study with 30 women who live today in permanent settlements, but who represent three generations that correspond to three periods of settlement and three housing types. I found that each generation ascribes different meanings to the home.     

首都学习型城市建设的发展历程及对策建议

首都学习型城市建设的发展是在学习型组织广泛推开的过程中,渐进铺开和全面发展的,还面临着许多尚待解决的政策与制度的协调问题。应尽快加强终身教育与终身学习的立法建设,制定教育标准和资质认证体系以及教育与培训的质量保障体系,建立全方位的教学质量评估机制和各种教育与培训制度之间的沟通机制。建立多渠道的、社会化与市场化的教育经费的筹措机制和便于公众教育信息交流共享的网络信息平台。完善首都终身教育体制和学习化社会的领导管理体制。     

关于农民工生活和工作状况的调查报告

围绕农民工的基本状况、工作状况、权利保障情况、社会地位的自我感知和家庭生活状况设计了相关问题,期望获得一些有关农民工的更接近真实的信息,为城乡二元体制的改革提出思考.     

浅谈学生社团对高校学生公民精神的培养

学生社团是培养高校学生公民精神的一个主要路径,不应只成为象牙塔深处的一个亮点,应充当校园内外交流的平台,积极开展各种活动,给广大学生一个锻炼、展示的舞台和机会,并通过社团与社团间的沟通,实现校与校的联系,学生与学生的沟通,在相互接触中,取长补短,共同发展。同时,学生管理部门、学生会等组织要加强自身的服务意识,为社团的发展创造良好的环境和条件。     

工会在构建和谐社会中的作用

工会要在构建社会主义和谐社会中发挥作用,必须正确处理和调整劳动关系,维护职工的合法权益,协调好与其他组织机构的合作关系。同时,工会要发挥其它的社会作用,工会要加强自身建设,提高工会干部和职工队伍的综合素质。     

Talent alone does not suffice: erotic capital,media visibility and global popularity among professional male and female tennis players

Following Catherine Hakim’s notion of the increasing significance of ‘erotic capital’ in contemporary society, this paper addresses the effects of erotic capital in the realm of professional sports. Erotic capital may be closely related to popularity and thus represents a key marketing asset, in particular for female athletes facing a predominantly male audience. These ideas are examined here through analysing the media visibility of top tennis players in the German print media, as well as their global popularity (measured by search engine queries). The results provide further evidence of gender discrimination in sport since they show that the popularity of female athletes depends on their physical attractiveness whereas such a relationship does not exist for male athletes. Given gender-discriminatory consumer and print media preferences, female athletes face strong incentives to adapt to a sexualized sports culture that reinforces hegemonic masculinity.     

Is masculinity ‘deteriorating’ in China? Changes of masculinity representation in Chinese film posters from 1951 to 2016

Abstract

This study attempts to briefly map the general changes of Chinese masculinities in media over time, and explain why these changes happened. Through visual content analysis, 471 film posters collected from 1951 to 2016 are examined and findings summarised as follows: 1) men are decreasingly depicted as manual workers or soldiers, and increasingly white-collar and urbane; 2) men are decreasingly delineated as aggressive or puissant, and increasingly gentle and civil; 3) men increasingly show their demand for sexuality; and finally, 4) the portrayals of men are more diverse. These changes demonstrate men to be ‘softer’, shifting masculinity from patriarchal control to consumerism power, from physical strength to economic superiority, and from hegemonic to a more inclusive version. However, men do not exclusively embody the economic power in modern China because women also express it. Thus, without the traditional masculine traits and new symbols of masculine power, the contemporary portrayals of men are regarded as ‘emasculated’ by some older generations.     

充分发挥工会在构建社会主义和谐社会中的作用

工会作为党领导下的工人阶级群众组织,党联系职工群众的桥梁和纽带,职工合法权益的代表者和维护者,要在积极构建社会主义和谐社会中充分发挥作用,应从三个方面下功夫。即围绕中心促进发展,要在不断为和谐社会创造雄厚的物质基础上下功夫;围绕发展和谐劳动关系,要在不断夯实和谐社会基础上下功夫;围绕加强学习提高素质,要在不断提高工会干部队伍能力和水平上下功夫。     

充分发挥工会在构建和谐社会中的作用

建设和谐社会,是社会发展客观规律的必然需要,也是工会组织发挥作用的广阔舞台。工会要在当前的新形势下发挥自身优势,以发展促和谐,以稳定保和谐,以帮扶建和谐,以民主构和谐,以教育创和谐。     

改革实践的发展与人的发展

改革体现了人与社会的辩证统一。社会的人本身就是一个多面体,人的发展也表现为多方面的发展。我国的体制改革,作为解放和发展生产力的一种社会实践,就是要使社会经济运行机制的支撑点———主体的人的能动作用,得到最有效的发挥。人是构成社会有机体的能动主体。社会的改革,作为主体客体化的过程,是人的实践的产物。我国体制改革的实践,不仅推进了社会的发展,也促进了人的发展,使人的主体意识与综合素质不断提高和强化。     

论社区建设与构建社会主义和谐社会

在我国构建和谐社会的过程中,还面临着许多不和谐的社会问题。其原因是社会转型,市场经济中的激活机制与平衡机制的不协调造成的,反映了我国体制改革的深层次矛盾。要解决这些矛盾,社区建设是一个重要而可行的途径。为此,必须做好发展社区经济、扩大社区就业、加强社区保障、推广社区卫生服务、营造文明健康的社区文化环境等工作。     

论工会在和谐社会建设中的特殊作用

构建和谐社会是我们党在新的历史时期提出的重大政治命题,它涉及到人与人、人与社会、人与自然等多重关系,涵盖了政治、经济、文化等各方面的内容。构建和谐社会的首要任务,就是要建立和谐的劳动关系,因为社会的运行和发展都要靠劳动来维系,劳动关系的和谐是社会和谐的基础。工会是劳资关系矛盾的产物,对于构建和谐的劳动关系具有特殊的作用。     

关于构建和谐社会与社会活动家的思考

工会领导干部在构建社会主义和谐社会中,要把握机遇,迎接挑战,适应新形势下对工会组织和工会干部的必然要求,努力成为社会活动家。