Newsletter on the Results of Scholarly Work in Sociology, Criminology, Philosophy and Political Science

Phenomena of the Mind Related to Human Perception and Representations

Dr. Oleg Maltsev — 2023-09-17

Current scientific intelligence represents a compilation of research findings and the outcomes of practical experiments conducted by Academician Maltsev between 2022 and 2023. The primary objective is to delve into the underlying causes and essence of phenomena of the mind that play a pivotal role in determining the effectiveness of one's efforts towards achieving meaningful outcomes and professional development.

Within the research framework, the sport discipline under scrutiny is skeet shooting, selected for its capacity to serve as a high-quality arena for practical experimental models. This article is dedicated to exploring various facets of the human mind, particularly in relation to perception and its interpretation of phenomena, objects, subjects, events, and incidents. These processes directly influence the sequencing of result attainment and the overall quality of an individual's social realization. In the subsequent discussion, we will delve into the paramount role and significance of these mind phenomena in decision-making, training, and the practical application of existing skills and knowledge.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/UARA9139

Media Culture, Politics, and Society

Dr. Douglas Kellner — 2023-09-17

From the 1960s to the present, media culture in the United States has been a battleground between competing social groups with some artifacts advancing liberal or radical positions and others conservative ones. Likewise, some artifacts of media culture promote progressive positions and representations of gender, sexual preference, race or ethnicity, while others articulate reactionary forms of racism, sexism, homophobia, and rightwing values and beliefs, thus many films articulate a contradictory matrix of liberal, radical, and reactionary representations, discourses, and narratives.

In this article, I argue that media culture can provide important insights into the psychological, socio-political, and ideological make-up of U.S. society at a given point in history. Reading culture diagnostically allows one to gain insights into social problems and conflicts, and to appraise the dominant ideologies and emergent oppositional forces. This approach thus involves a dialectic of text and context, using texts to read social realities and context to help situate and interpret key artifacts of media culture in the 21 st century.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/WMER3493

Mass Shooting Events

Dwight Wilson — 2023-09-17

In 1999 the United States experienced its first mass shooting at a public school and later at a church in Texas. It sparked renewed interest in gun control. Our response and the response of law enforcement has changed to protect the citizens. A new vocabulary including mass shooting and the active shooter. These new events are increasing at an alarming rate in our nation. The response has been slow and the solutions even slower. In this article we look at the problem, the response, and some possible solutions. However, the questions of motivation, and prevention remain.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/JUKD1403

Formation and Development of Digital Society 5.0

Dr. Valentyna Voronkova — 2023-09-17

The relevance of this research lies in the fact that in the context of the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, deep and systemic transformations are taking place, which act as the driving forces for changing paradigms (concepts, models, theories), which give rise to new megatrends of the digitized society, called digital. The fourth industrial revolution influenced the rapid development of the digital society, caused by deep transformation, fundamental technological changes and their social impact on culture, economy, politics, man, his consciousness and worldview. The formation and development of digital technologies, as a factor in the implementation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, today include a set of theoretical knowledge and practical skills of sustainable digital development, which requires the development of strategies and the selection of priorities that embrace large-scale digital technologies as the basis of a breakthrough in the technological industry. The object of research is the paradigm of digital society 5.0 as a complex social, cultural and economic phenomenon. The subject of research is the evolution of the digital paradigm of the economy, society and man in the direction of society 5.0

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/RHIO2084

An Absentological Analysis of the Trace: Pre-Cambrian Arche-Writing, and Jacques Derrida’s Realism

Dr. Mark Horvath — 2023-09-17

The first trace-fossil in the history of terrestrial life dates to the pre-Cambrian era. Left by an unknown species around 542 million years ago, Treptichnus are fossilized mud burrows, remaining as a geological testament to the early stages of complex life on Earth. Because of the impossibility of any empirical knowledge relating to these unfossilizable creatures, which presumably lacked a skeletal structure, any philosophical treatment of this paleobiological matter of fact must necessarily engage in speculation. Absentology as a speculative epistemontological register allows us to conceptualize these strange burrows as a key event. Following Jacques Derrida’s concept of"arche-writing", our essay presents an absentological reading of the forever unknowable unfossilized animal species. Arche-writing for Derrida is an abstract mode of writing that precedes speech and actual written language, hence this constitutes a concept that can be used for prelinguistic modes of expression. The trace fossils left by these unknown creatures constitute a type of prewriting, as well as the dawn of work, representing a crucial step in the evolution of complex life on this planet. A fossil that is not the animal itself, but rather a trace referring to an unknown organic singularity, this is the absent scene of arche-writing. A more realist Derrida emerges from this encounter, for whom extra-textual elements are even more relevant than explicit language.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/FBIV1658

Theory of Social Change in Post-Soviet Ukrainian Society

Dr. Vladimir Skvorets — 2023-09-17

The significance of the issue lies in the observation that the experience of implementing neoliberal market reforms during the 1990s in Ukraine reveals that disregarding the contributions of Ukrainian scholars led to detrimental consequences for socio-economic transformations. This study focuses on the theories of social change developed by Ukrainian scholars. The aim of this article is to consolidate and structure the concepts put forth by Ukrainian scholars that contribute to the theory of social change within post-Soviet Ukrainian society.

The methodology employed to examine the theory of social change in the context of post-Soviet Ukrainian society encompasses systematic, logical, historical, dialectical, and civilizational approaches and techniques. The findings of the research indicate that the theory of social change necessitates an interdisciplinary methodology. The primary criterion for evaluating the nature of social change is its orientation toward upholding societal cohesion. The emergence of crisis phenomena that present challenges to society serves as an indicator of social change. An essential element in understanding social change is an awareness of the socio-cultural distinctiveness of a given society. Effective management of social processes relies on the integration of theoretical principles with practical applications.

Several domains have emerged in the evolution of the theory of social change within post-Soviet Ukrainian society, including economic, demographic, civilizational, political, and security-oriented aspects. An analysis of indigenous concepts of social change within post-Soviet Ukrainian society highlights certain characteristics. Ukrainian social researchers consistently grapple with the task of constructing a comprehensive perspective on Ukrainian society. Amidst the multitude of social changes, a central issue pertaining to various concepts of social change has gradually arisen—the examination of the trajectory that society follows. Notably, a significant portion of scholars, predominantly economists, have regarded the economy as the primary determinant shaping the nature of social change.

The practical significance of these findings resides in the synthesis and organization of the concepts formulated by Ukrainian scholars, which contribute to the framework of the theory of social change in the context of post-Soviet Ukrainian society.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/KQRJ4959

The Identity of the Modern Human as a Problem Of Social and Humanitarian Knowledge

Dr. Vadym Palahuta — 2023-09-17

The article examines the problem of subjectivity and identity formation, the specifics of individual and collective identity research. It is noted that the study of subjectivity, "I" (self), which is the source of the formation of individual identity, actualizes the study of this problem in many social and humanitarian sciences. It has been established that in a broad interdisciplinary context, it is a search for an effective methodological toolkit for determining the dynamic matrix of subjectivity, which is constantly changing in the modern globalized society. In the context of the study of the phenomenon of subjectivity and identity, the socio-psychological theory - the theory of traits, the theory of roles and the humanistic theory - is briefly considered. It was found that all these theories cannot adequately investigate the subject's identity, the possibility of using E. Erikson's identity theory and the direction of social constructionism, where human subjectivity is constructed here and now in relations with other people using speech practices of discourse, was analyzed . It was determined that the discourse in the understanding of social constructionists is a kind of material basis of the practices of social construction of reality, thanks to which the "I"-construction of subjectivity is constructed.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/SHND1344

Hombre, claro…: A Reflection on Narcissism in Spanish Culture

Dr. Frédéric Conrod — 2023-09-17

Cultural Narcissism is a phenomenon that has been prevalent in Spain for centuries, and it has been reflected in the country's literature and film. This narcissism is often characterized by an excessive focus on one's culture, traditions, and a way of life based on elevating the motherland above all. As it would for an individual, this cultural psychological condition leads to a lack of clarity, a tendency to lie and exaggerate in social communication, a sense of superiority in the value system, and the idealization of certain cultural figures. One of these most prominent figures in Spain is the “sacrificial mother” largely inspired by the Holy Virgin, who is often idolized and placed on a pedestal in literature and film. In the works of famous Spanish authors such as Miguel de Cervantes and Federico García Lorca, the mother figure is often portrayed as a symbol of life, safety, and comfort, but also the very source of all narcissistic behaviors. They are the embodiment of Spanish culture, and their roles as mothers are celebrated and revered. Spanish film has also reflected this idealization of the mother figure often assimilated with the motherland. In films such as All About My Mother by Pedro Almodóvar, the mother is the central figure, and her role as the nurturer and protector is highlighted.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/MHTV4611

Thomas Pangle’s Neo-Epicurean Reading of Aristotle’s Biology

Dr. Marco Andreacchio — 2023-09-17

In his 2020 reading of Aristotle’s biology, “A Synoptic Introduction to the Ontological Background of Aristotle’s Political Theory,” Thomas L. Pangle (2020) speaks de facto on behalf of contemporary Neo-Epicureanism. For Pangle reads Aristotle by way of advancing the cause of an Epicurean use of Plato. Proposing to liberate Aristotle from a 2,400 year-old Platonic tradition having allegedly unduly minimized the importance of biology in understanding both ontology and politics, Pangle argues for fundamental compatibility between the Stagirite and Darwinian evolutionism. The present article offers strong reasons to reject Pangle's central contentions.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/DNGA7340

Reclaiming the Right to Play in the Googleburg Galaxy

Dr. Steve Gennaro — 2023-09-17

This essay explores the concept of reclaiming democracy in the Googleburg Galaxy by emphasizing the need to separate from our current relationship with mediated technologies. It argues that digital spaces should be activated as public spheres, third spaces, counterpublics, and sites of contestation. The essay emphasizes the importance of participatory democracy, which requires freedom of assembly, thought, speech, and play and choices for individuals to be active agents in their own lives. It discusses the intertwined nature of democracy and capitalism and highlights the role of critical media literacy in navigating mediated spaces. The essay also examines young people's occupation of digital spaces and social media, focusing on the impact of language and the importance of diverse stories and representation. It discusses the need for a free press in guaranteeing the protection of democratic rights and critiques Habermas' notion of the public sphere. The essay calls for reconfiguring the Googleburg Galaxy through third spaces and counterpublics, and emphasizes the role of play, storytelling, and critical media literacy in reclaiming democracy. It explores the impact of COVID-19 on digital spaces and the need for alternative spaces, politics, and pedagogies. The essay concludes by highlighting the role of play as a subversive tool for reclaiming democracy and the importance of children's rights in digital spaces.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61439/ABYH4872

Why People Obey or Do Not Obey the Law

Dr. James Finckenauer — 2023-09-17

Underlying the myriad discussions and debates about the rule-of-law, and about law-abidingness, violating the law, law enforcement, law and order, unjust laws, legal obligations, etc., are certain assumptions about what is “the law” and whence it is derived. Addressing these issues at the outset seems not only appropriate, but important, in trying to understand why people obey the law or not. For purposes of this discussion, we will deal mainly with criminal law as the focus.