A Jamesonian theory of theological practice: a critical response to the work of Roland Boer

In a conjuncture marked by the “resurgence of religion,” the problem of historical materialism’s relation to religious ideologies has acquired a new urgency. The work of Roland Boer, recently awarded the Deutscher Prize for his magnum opus on Marxism and Theology poses this question from a surprising perspective. While his main claim is that religious influences in Marxist theory represent a sort of theological unconscious in historical materialism, at the same time Boer also advances an original Marxist interpretation of the Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity. This line of research, which extends from his dissertation on Jameson and Jeroboam through to his most recent work on The Sacred Economy, proposes that theology is a reflective representation of the social totality. In this article, I criticise Boer’s valorisation of theology as a practical discourse that is post-ideological but non-theoretical, and conclude by indicating an alternative.

Effects of emergence time and early social rearing environment on behaviour of Atlantic salmon: consequences for juvenile fitness and smolt migration

Consistent individual differences in behaviour have been well documented in a variety of animal taxa, but surprisingly little is known about the fitness and life-history consequences of such individual variation. In wild salmonids, the timing of fry emergence from gravel spawning nests has been suggested to be coupled with individual behavioural traits. Here, we further investigate the link between timing of spawning nest emergence and behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits in fish with different emergence times, and assess whether behavioural traits measured in the laboratory predict growth, survival, and migration status in the wild. Atlantic salmon fry were sorted with respect to emergence time from artificial spawning nest into three groups: early, intermediate, and late. These emergence groups were hatchery-reared separately or in co-culture for four months to test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits. Twenty fish from each of the six treatment groups were then subjected to three individual-based behavioural tests: basal locomotor activity, boldness, and escape response. Following behavioural characterization, the fish were released into a near-natural experimental stream. Results showed differences in escape behaviour between emergence groups in a net restraining test, but the social rearing environment did not affect individual behavioural expression. Emergence time and social environment had no significant effects on survival, growth, and migration status in the stream, although migration propensity was 1.4 to 1.9 times higher for early emerging individuals that were reared separately. In addition, despite individuals showing considerable variation in behaviour across treatment groups, this was not translated into differences in growth, survival, and migration status. Hence, our study adds to the view that fitness (i.e., growth and survival) and life-history predictions from laboratory measures of behaviour should be made with caution and ideally tested in nature.

A demandeur-centric theory of regime design in transnational commercial law

Recent scholarship on international agreement design has almost exclusively focused on the public international law area. The literature on regime design in the area of international private law lacks a solid theoretical foundation. Academic writing on public international law's state-centric approach is only amenable to crude transplantation and poses several puzzles in the international private law context. Resolving these puzzles is important because of the proliferation of transnational commercial agreements in areas that were traditionally the province of domestic law. This paper attempts to provide a starting point to address the theoretical vacuum. Part I argues that functionalist, liberal, and realist theories cannot fully explain transnational commercial law agreement design. Part II puts forth a demandeur-centric approach with the aid of examples that span the spectrum from hard law to soft law. Part III concludes that agreement design in transnational commercial law is premised on demandeur preferences and relative power.

Towards a theory of landscape iconoclasm

The destruction of Indigenous rock art sites in the Pilbara district in Western Australia has become a natural sight within the mining landscape of the area. Whilst much of the destruction is explained as acts of vandalism and as a result of the industrial activities that are propelling the Australian economy, I claim that a new theory of iconoclasm is needed to explain fully this disastrous example of heritage conservation. Henceforth, in order to explain the destruction of the Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula petroglyphs, the largest archaeological site in the world, this paper develops the theory of landscape iconoclasm. This theory states that the destruction of Indigenous landscapes can be compared to the destruction of religious images, by analysing the inherent symbolic functions of iconoclasm, together with those of heritage, the better to elucidate the state of affairs in the Murujuga/Burrup Peninsula. Furthermore, by drawing from Aboriginal mythology and art-historical and anthropological theories, the theory of landscape iconoclasm is able to explain the destruction of archaeological sites within a framework that falls outside prevalent discourses of heritage.

Individual differences in intention to fake job interviews: Personality, self-monitoring, and the theory of planned behaviour

When job applicants lie in job interviews, they can deprive a more honest candidate of a job and deprive an organisation of the best employees. To better understand job interview faking, the present study examined the effect of general dispositions and domain-specific beliefs on the intention to fake job interviews. A community sample of 313 participants completed measures of personality (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness) and self-monitoring, and a domain-specific measure of beliefs about faking job interviews based on the theory of planned behaviour, which measured attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Results indicated that the measure of attitudes was the strongest predictor of intention to fake. In line with the compatibility principle, the domain-specific measures based on the theory of planned behaviour correlated much more strongly with intentions to fake job interviews than did the general measures of personality or self-monitoring. Of the dispositional measures, lower conscientiousness, higher neuroticism, and higher self-monitoring was associated with greater intention to fake job interviews. The findings support a model whereby the effect of personality on intentions is partially mediated by domain-specific beliefs.