Neoliberal Capitalism, Social Reproduction Crisis, Gender Implications and Forms of Resistance: The case of Greece

Neoliberal capitalism and its accompanied austerity measures has had a profound effect on social reproduction throughout Europe. Social reproduction, ie, the process that makes it possible for individuals, families, and society to reproduce itself – is in crisis. The concept of social reproduction utilized in this presentation is framed within the feminist and Marxist tradition. Historically, social reproduction was met through both waged and unwaged work with women playing a predominant role either as waged, predominantly public sector, workers (social workers, teachers, carers, nurses, etc) or as unpaid workers (unpaid carers: mothers, wives, etc.) but now both forms of work are destabilized and undermined. Thus, the crisis in social reproduction. Within this crisis women’s unequal position is further undermined but at the same time progressive women and men are organizing to present alternatives forms of social reproduction. This presentation by utilizing the case of Greece will first outline the neoliberal processes that have caused the crisis in social reproduction. Second, it will present the consequences of social reproduction by highlighting the gender implications. Third, it will discuss the reorganization of social reproduction which is taking place outside the logic of capitalist society and is manifested through the creation of solidarity health clinics and pharmacies, communal kitchens, creation of various forms of bartering etc. This presentation will argue that these forms present glimpses of another society , a society based on principles of solidarity and cooperation. A society worth fighting for. And finally the presentation will conclude by discussing at which level can this crisis be resolved and the role of the social work profession.

Neoliberal and Neoconservative Immiseration Capitalism in England: Policies and Impacts on Society and on Education

In this article we firstly set out the facts about the current stage of capitalism, the Immiseration stage of neoliberal capitalism in England. We note its relationship with conservatism and neo-conservatism. We identify increased societal inequalities, the assault by the capitalist state on its opponents, and proceed to describe and analyse what neoliberalism and neo-conservatism have done and are doing to education in England- in the schools, further education, and university sectors. We present two testimonies about the impacts of neoliberalism/ neo-conservatism, one from the school sector, one from the further / vocational education sector, as a means of describing, analysing, and then theorising the parameters of the neoliberal/ neoconservative restructuring education and its impacts. We conclude by further theorising this. With the election of a Conservative majority in the 7 May 2015 general election in the UK, the policies and processes of neoliberalisation and neoconservatisation are being intensified.

THE INTERPLAY PERFORMANCE PRACTICE: PLAY AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN LATE CAPITALISM

Practitioners of the performance form “InterPlay” utilize dance, storytelling and song to build community and generate social change. I elucidate how this community of practitioners conceptualizes “social change.” I argue that the InterPlay social movement organizes around the application of play to performances of self in everyday life. I explore how the InterPlay non-profit corporation, Body Wisdom Inc., employs this technique to address racial justice in its organizational practices. I also examine how practitioners understand their use of this performance play in places of work, concluding that—even in these endeavors—they see social change as a process immanent to both individual people and the systems they create, not as the intervention of an autonomous external power. Ultimately, I argue that, within late capitalism, play should no longer be conceptualized as an activity separate from everyday sociality but as an immanent process of change constitutive of a socioaesthetic domain.

From Mill Gates to Magic City: U.S. Steel and Welfare Capitalism in Gary, Indiana, 1906-1930

Gary, Indiana is a city with indelible ties to industrial paternalism. Founded in 1906 by United States Steel Corporation to house workers of the trust’s showpiece mill, the emergence of this model company town was both the culmination of lessons learned from its predecessors’ mistakes and innovative corporate planning. U.S. Steel’s Progressive Era adaptation of welfare capitalism characterized the young city through a combination of direct community involvement and laissez-faire social control. This thesis examines the reactionary implementation of paternalist policies in Gary between 1906 and 1930 through the purviews of three elements under corporate influence: housing, education, and social welfare. Each category demonstrates how both the corporation and citizenry affected and adapted Gary’s physical and cultural landscape, public perceptions, and community identity. Parallel to the popular narrative throughout is that of Gary’s African-American community, and the controversial circumstances of this population’s segregated development.

Privatisation and accountability in a “crony capitalist” Nigerian state

Nigeria is richly endowed with oil and gas resources, but the country’s continued reliance on loans from international financial institutions raises questions about the transparency and accountability of its utilisation of the huge revenues resulting from these two resources. In order to attract international capital to bolster its revenues from sales of oil and gas, a huge proportion of which continues to be used corruptly, the World Bank has encouraged the Nigerian government to subscribe to neoliberal economic policies by enlisting accounting firms and privatising state-owned enterprises. Key justifications for this have included enhancing accountability, reducing public-sector corruption, promoting market efficiency and attracting international capital. However, this paper presents evidence of the role of accounting in the undervaluation of assets, concealment of possible malpractice, and subversion of the accountability that it should have delivered in the privatisation process. The assumption that accounting will enhance accountability, reduce public-sector corruption and promote market efficiency in privatisation, and ultimately attract investment into a crony capitalist Nigerian state, appears to be an illusion created partly through the apparent legitimacy of accounting.

Trabalho, tempo livre e emancipação humana : os determinantes ontologicos das politicas sociais de lazer

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Basquetebol masculino paulista : apropriação das caracteristicas do esporte profissional na estrutura organizacional das categorias de base

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Universal exhibitions and the cinema: history and culture

The objective of this article is to examine the presence of cinema in World Fairs between the 1893 World`s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and 1939 (the New York World`s Fair). As an integral part of a visual culture constructed by these spaces to celebrate capitalism, the trajectory of cinema is identified with these world fairs due to its ability to entertain and, at the same time, to educate. Cinema was established as a means of mass communication during the First World War and afterwards would participate more actively in the symbolic disputes of a world about to enter the second global conflict. It would reach a broader public, becoming the main `showcase` in which nations projected virtues to be celebrated. The new striking visual spectacle assumed, within this context, greater emphasis through films idealized as true cinematographic monuments.

Agri-food restructuring: A synthesis of recent Australian research

Globalizing tendencies within capitalism are leading to important alterations in the structure of agricultural production and the ways food companies are involving themselves in processing and marketing. Increasingly, finance capital and transnational agribusiness have sought ways to influence, and in some cases redirect, farming activities in Australia. The penetration of farming structures by corporate capital has been hastened by state deregulation. Rather than providing detailed empirical evidence, this paper presents a broad synthesis of recent Australian research with the aim of informing readers otherwise unaware of events in the Antipodes of the forms and impacts of agri-food change in Australia.

The over-production of US sports and the new International Division of Cultural Labor

This article focuses on how US professional sports utilize the New International Division of Cultural Labor to supplement an overly costly local labor pool and over-supplied local market. We argue that while the classic problem of over-production is slowly eroding the sealed-off nature of US culture, the forces of its hyper-protectionist capitalism continue to characterize sports, precluding equal exchange.

Translating policy: Power and action in Australia's country towns

Controversies In its present condition, rural Australia is characterised by a discourse of decline that sees country towns and regions as places of demoralisation and despair. From a Foucauldian governmentality perspective, those who live in these spaces are not so much 'powerless' to the demands of urban-based governments and global capital, as rendered governable according to the socio-political ambitions of late capitalism. While important insights have been derived from such analyses, it is argued in this paper that excessive attention is often paid to the power of the state with little concern for the various ways in which local people engage with, and transform the strategies and effects of state power. Rather than utilising the concept of resistance to make sense of these interactions, a sociology of translation is adopted from the Actor Network Theory literature. Applied to two case examples, it shows how governmental policies and programmes are frequently the outcome of the interactions and negotiations that take place between all those enrolled in the actor-network.

Prospectiva estrat??gica: instrumento para a constru????o do futuro e para a elabora????o de pol??ticas p??blicas

A prospectiva estrat??gica aparece como ferramenta que, apoiada nos instrumentos de an??lise econ??mica e social existentes e em t??cnicas espec??ficas, como o Delphi, a constru????o de cen??rios, a matriz de impactos cruzados e outras, possibilita ???vis??es de futuro???, que permitir??o a elabora????o de pol??ticas p??blicas que visem ?? constru????o de futuro desej??vel. Este trabalho pressup??e um Estado formulador de pol??ticas p??blicas e detentor de instrumentos de planejamento, o que nos remete a um vi??s ideol??gico: de que, no capitalismo contempor??neo, Estado e mercado coordenem os sistemas econ??micos, conforme explicitado no Plano Diretor da Reforma do Aparelho de Estado (Governo Federal, Brasil, 1995). S?? a aceita????o dessa hip??tese pode supor a exist??ncia e a necessidade de pol??ticas p??blicas, remetendo-nos o campo da ideologia e contrapondo-nos ao liberalismo.

As novas formas de explora????o do trabalho no capitalismo contempor??neo e as pol??ticas p??blicas de combate ?? desigualdade

O mercado de trabalho sofreu profundas transforma????es desde o come??o do capitalismo at?? o momento atual, sendo poss??vel compar??-lo a uma loteria, na qual os trabalhadores passaram a competir entre si por ascens??o profissional. Os bilhetes dessa loteria s??o os investimentos em capital humano. Nela haver??, necessariamente, vencedores e perdedores, com os primeiros apropriando-se do trabalho dos ??ltimos. Dessa realidade, surge uma nova forma de explora????o do trabalho, cujo instrumento de legitima????o ?? o capital humano, que refor??a a tend??ncia inerente do capitalismo ?? gera????o de desigualdade e coloca limita????es ?? vis??o tradicional de combate ?? desigualdade baseada na democratiza????o do capital humano. O crescimento tamb??m tem limita????es na redu????o da desigualdade, tendo em vista que a motiva????o microecon??mica que gera o crescimento macroecon??mico ?? justamente a busca pela desigualdade.