Constance Flanagan, M. Loreto Martínez, and Patricio Cumsille
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195383430
- eISBN:
- 9780199827176
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383430.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter focuses on the mediating institutions of civil society in the social incorporation of younger citizens. Lay theories about the polity and the tenets of the social contract that bind ...
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This chapter focuses on the mediating institutions of civil society in the social incorporation of younger citizens. Lay theories about the polity and the tenets of the social contract that bind states and citizens take shape via participation in the routine cultural practices of those institutions. Children's lay theories are refracted through groupways (the social class, caste, racial/ethnic, religious, and gender groups to which they belong). The practices of mediating institutions tend to reinforce dominant narratives and thus stabilize the political system. But civil society also provides free spaces in institutions where citizens can challenge the state and thus contribute to social change.Less
This chapter focuses on the mediating institutions of civil society in the social incorporation of younger citizens. Lay theories about the polity and the tenets of the social contract that bind states and citizens take shape via participation in the routine cultural practices of those institutions. Children's lay theories are refracted through groupways (the social class, caste, racial/ethnic, religious, and gender groups to which they belong). The practices of mediating institutions tend to reinforce dominant narratives and thus stabilize the political system. But civil society also provides free spaces in institutions where citizens can challenge the state and thus contribute to social change.
Gernot Grabher and David Stark
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198290209
- eISBN:
- 9780191684791
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198290209.003.0013
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, Political Economy
This chapter first shows that under state socialism, local government was subordinate to central government, and state enterprises had relatively few functions. Also access to the benefits of local ...
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This chapter first shows that under state socialism, local government was subordinate to central government, and state enterprises had relatively few functions. Also access to the benefits of local government activities was controlled by a party-based elite network. Secondly it argues that after state socialism, local government becomes in many respects a more active mediating institution and control over its functions becomes a highly contested issue in local politics. The central questions ask how far it gains autonomy from former economic and political centres of power, and how far it is subordinate to new sources of economic and political power. Lastly, it argues that the degree to which the network capital built up under a state socialism is still a valuable resource.Less
This chapter first shows that under state socialism, local government was subordinate to central government, and state enterprises had relatively few functions. Also access to the benefits of local government activities was controlled by a party-based elite network. Secondly it argues that after state socialism, local government becomes in many respects a more active mediating institution and control over its functions becomes a highly contested issue in local politics. The central questions ask how far it gains autonomy from former economic and political centres of power, and how far it is subordinate to new sources of economic and political power. Lastly, it argues that the degree to which the network capital built up under a state socialism is still a valuable resource.
Ronald J. Colombo
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199335671
- eISBN:
- 9780199361915
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199335671.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Company and Commercial Law
Alexis de Tocqueville is credited with making the critical connection between associations and freedom. Individual liberty and limited government are best secured and protected in a society marked by ...
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Alexis de Tocqueville is credited with making the critical connection between associations and freedom. Individual liberty and limited government are best secured and protected in a society marked by thriving associational activity. Associational activity, in turn, is ensured by affording associations freedoms and protections. Modern scholars have confirmed Tocqueville's views and have categorized associations as “mediating institutions” that occupy an important space between citizen and state. In assessing the freedoms that ought to be afforded to corporations, a critical factor should be whether or not corporations can be characterized as associations. Although he did not discuss corporations, Tocqueville did explicitly include commercial and industrial ventures in his list of associations, thereby giving rise to this possibility. Indeed, if one reviews the characteristics of an association (as can be culled from Tocqueville's writings), it becomes clear that business corporations are in no way categorically excluded from being deemed associations.Less
Alexis de Tocqueville is credited with making the critical connection between associations and freedom. Individual liberty and limited government are best secured and protected in a society marked by thriving associational activity. Associational activity, in turn, is ensured by affording associations freedoms and protections. Modern scholars have confirmed Tocqueville's views and have categorized associations as “mediating institutions” that occupy an important space between citizen and state. In assessing the freedoms that ought to be afforded to corporations, a critical factor should be whether or not corporations can be characterized as associations. Although he did not discuss corporations, Tocqueville did explicitly include commercial and industrial ventures in his list of associations, thereby giving rise to this possibility. Indeed, if one reviews the characteristics of an association (as can be culled from Tocqueville's writings), it becomes clear that business corporations are in no way categorically excluded from being deemed associations.
Rex Ahdar and Ian Leigh
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199606474
- eISBN:
- 9780191744259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199606474.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Comparative Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter discusses liberal political thought and its understanding and treatment of religion. Section II begins by briefly outlining the nature and character of liberalism. The premise is that ...
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This chapter discusses liberal political thought and its understanding and treatment of religion. Section II begins by briefly outlining the nature and character of liberalism. The premise is that liberalism is the principal philosophical foundation for law in modern liberal democracy. Our contemporary notions of ‘religious freedom’ are ones that have been indubitably shaped by liberal attitudes to religion, faith communities, and the call of conscience. The chapter then turns to the liberal claim of neutrality between competing conceptions of the good life. Is liberalism as impartial as it purports to be? What does state neutrality towards religion in practice actually require? This chapter also examines the privatization of religious (and other) beliefs in a liberal polity, and considers a leading liberal litmus test for public policy — John Rawls' concept of ‘public reason’. Section III analyses the principal secular liberal justifications for religious freedom. It argues that unless we know why religious liberty is worth protecting, our ability to deal with new and increasingly insistent faith-based claims for legal recognition and protection will be hampered.Less
This chapter discusses liberal political thought and its understanding and treatment of religion. Section II begins by briefly outlining the nature and character of liberalism. The premise is that liberalism is the principal philosophical foundation for law in modern liberal democracy. Our contemporary notions of ‘religious freedom’ are ones that have been indubitably shaped by liberal attitudes to religion, faith communities, and the call of conscience. The chapter then turns to the liberal claim of neutrality between competing conceptions of the good life. Is liberalism as impartial as it purports to be? What does state neutrality towards religion in practice actually require? This chapter also examines the privatization of religious (and other) beliefs in a liberal polity, and considers a leading liberal litmus test for public policy — John Rawls' concept of ‘public reason’. Section III analyses the principal secular liberal justifications for religious freedom. It argues that unless we know why religious liberty is worth protecting, our ability to deal with new and increasingly insistent faith-based claims for legal recognition and protection will be hampered.
