Social Forums,Social Movements and Social Change: A Response to Peter Marcuse on the Subject of the World Social Forum

This response to Peter Marcuse situates his reading of the World Social Forum in the larger ‘space versus movement’ debate that has been raging among the WSF’s organizers. The author argues that this debate signals: (1) a power struggle over its future; (2) profound disagreement over the character of its power, which is itself based in conflicting understandings and visions of power and change in the contemporary period more generally; (3) at the heart of this last conflict is a yet more basic one about the status of multiplicity and diversity — in understanding power(s), in building resistance(s), in creating alternatives, in crafting solidarities, in imagining other possible worlds as les raisons d’être of the Social Forum. Drawing on the historical experience of feminism, the author proposes an alternative reading of the meaning of the Social Forum grounded in more multivalent understandings of power, movements and change, and argues that, in the evolving practice of the World Social Forum, a new democratic imaginary — post‐liberal and post‐Marxist — is taking shape and, with it, other possible futures are coming into view. Cette réponse à Peter Marcuse replace son explication du Forum social mondial dans le débat plus vaste ‘espace et mouvement’ qui a enflammé les organisateurs du FSM. En effet, ce débat met en évidence plusieurs aspects: une lutte de pouvoir pour son avenir; un désaccord profond quant à la nature de son pouvoir, s’appuyant lui‐même sur des appréhensions et visions contradictoires du pouvoir et du changement dans la période contemporaine, de manière générale; au c?ur de cette opposition, en existe une autre encore plus fondamentale sur la situation de multiplicité et de diversité, pour comprendre le ou les pouvoirs, élaborer une ou plusieurs résistances, créer des alternatives, tisser des solidarités, imaginer d’autres possibilités de monde comme les raisons d’être du Forum social. S’inspirant de l’expérience historique du féminisme, l’article propose une autre lecture du Forum social, fondée sur des compréhensions plus polyvalentes du pouvoir, des mouvements et du changement; de plus, il affirme que, dans le cadre de l’exercice évolutif du Forum social mondial, prend forme un nouvel imaginaire démocratique — post‐libéral et post‐marxiste — et, qu’avec lui, se dessinent d’autres possibilités d’avenir.     

Why Local Social Forums Emerge Where They do: Beyond Diffusion,Geographical Appropriation

Social forums are, quintessentially, a transnationally mobile institutional enterprise. Since the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2001, thousands of local initiatives have emerged all over the world. Yet we know very little about the diffusion processes involved. This article examines nine local social forums (LSFs) in two societies (France and Québec) in order to understand how social forums (SFs) spread throughout or within each territory. Aside from the usual factors, such as the presence or absence of an initiator, favorable political opportunity structure and access to resources, I consider the geography of appropriation, with an emphasis on the dimensions of place (where the forums are organized), and scales of action built by activists. First, I show that, as proposed in the social movement literature, SFs spread from the global South to the global North as a direct result of activists willing to reproduce within their localities that which they have seen and experienced on a larger scale. Political opportunity structures and access to resources appear relevant to understanding the longevity of LSFs and their capacity to be more or less encompassing experiences. But beyond these ‘usual suspects’, the geographical appropriation of social forums is an important consideration that helps us understand the specific diffusion of LSFs in each national territory. In Québec, the region is perceived as a ‘given’ by activists and becomes the relevant scale of collective action, while in France, scale building is at stake and LSFs are used as a tool to escape the centralization of the main national organization in the field of global protest.     

浅议作为公共空间的图书馆在城市发展中的社会价值

本文试从政治、经济、文化和社会的角度探讨了作为公共空间的图书馆可能给城市发展带来的社会价值,旨在推动图书馆成为提高公民素质和综合国力的助推剂、促进社会主义民主建设的润滑剂、推动地区经济可持续发展的智力催化剂、带动地区文化产业繁荣发展的发酵剂,使人们认识到未来图书馆将给我们生活的城市带来巨大的生机。     

侵入与接替:内城区更新改造地块的社会空间演变——基于南京6907个外迁安置家庭属性数据

内城区的城市更新不仅包含着物质空间的改变,更意味社会空间的变迁。以南京为例,采用2001—2011年间155个更新地块和6907个外迁家庭属性等历时态的数据,指出内城区更新改造经历了明显的阶段性特征。并进一步揭示更新改造地块拆迁前后社会空间的演变。     

“边缘化”与“游牧性”:扬州拖砖人社区的社会空间研究

基于社会空间统一辩证的视角,选取了扬州城北拖砖人为实证对象进行特定流动人口社区的社会空间研究。通过问卷、访谈、参与式观察等方法,从群体和个体两个层面对其工作生活的物质空间、社会空间进行了深描,展现了当前城市制度下,以拖砖人为代表的非正规性零散就业人口的生活状态和对未来生活的真实期许。研究发现,拖砖人空间在城市拆迁的挤压下如同游牧人一样"逐水草而居",实体空间的变动影响了他们社会空间在地化的表达。其社会空间分布总体上呈现出"边缘化"和"游牧性"的特点:居住空间多囿于城乡结合地带;在城市中的生活空间多局限于一些最基本的设施;社会网络呈现出一种有增长无发展的内卷化。这三个层次相互离散,被动地依附于城市主流社会空间,游牧在城市的边缘。     

Individualism and Institutionalism Revisited: A Response to Professor Bush

A bstract . In the book which provoked individualist/institutionalist controversy in several journals, including this one, the author emphasized aspects of "muddled" thinking in the work of Clarence E. Ayres which he believes has brought forth neo-institutionalist contributions that are a "hodge-podge." Neo-institutionalism, he is convinced, is a form of historicism in Karl R. Popper's terms. Lord Robbins is quoted to prove that individualists do not necessarily espouse laissez-faire capitalism and extreme income inequality. F. A. Hayek is a conservative but some individualists are socialists. The distinction on which individualists base interpersonal comparisons of utility is not between normative and positive but between science and philosophy; Thorstein Veblen never attempted to build a bridge between science and value. The real issue between individualists and neo-institutionalists is individualism vs. collectivism.     

Social Science and Social Policy: A Comment

A bstract . The notion that a social science can be value-free ignores the fact that the concepts upon which the social sciences remain dependent cannot possibly be. The emphasis upon methodology, mainly responsible for that position continues, but in recent years it has been paired with emphasis upon policy, applied social science. Value free social policy is within possibility— but it would be irrelevant.     

Lethal Police Response as a Crime Deterrent:

A bstract . Since Gary Becker's article on the economics of crime and punishment , economists have explored extensively the possible deterrence effect of standard enforcement variables , not only for their public policy implications but to test the hypothesis that illegitimate behavior is sensitive to measures of risk and reward (loss) as well as social, psychological and cultural forces. Research has been needed on the probability of death to the offender caused by official police action—"lethal response." To measure the criminal reaction to intercity variations in the rate of civilian killings of police in the line of duty, a cross-sectional study of 57 cities was undertaken. Variations in non-homicide violent crime rate were found to be inversely related to variations in the intercity lethal response rate. this suggests the presence of a deterrence effect, a one Sixth of one percent decrease in the rate of non-homicide violent crime being associated with a one percent increase in the lethal response rate.     

基于环境感知测度的大学校园功能空间应对研究 ——以宿迁学院为例

以宿迁学院为研究对象,对师生员工校园功能空间环境感知进行定量分析,总结校园功能空间环境存在的问题,并提出应对建议。     

The Border as a Resource in the Global Urban Space: A Contribution to the Cross‐Border Metropolis Hypothesis

In a globalized urban world, cross‐border metropolises represent a spatial configuration emblematic of the interplay between the space of flows and the space of places. The multiplicity of contexts and processes at work can complicate the identification of what constitutes the singularity of the concept. In order to contribute to these reflections the present article hypothesizes that the specificity of cross‐border metropolises does not fundamentally stem from the form they take or the nature of the cross‐border integration at work, but rather from the particular role played by national borders in their formation. Opening up borders offers new opportunities for border cities and urban border regions to reinforce their positions at the heart of global economic networks, and to affirm their autonomy as cross‐border regional entities. Without minimizing the possible obstructive effects of borders, it is helpful to recognize that they might also represent a resource in the composition of cross‐border metropolitan regions.     

Cultural Values and Social Planning: A Control Theory Approach to Satisfying a Social Welfare Criterion

A bstract . A method of social planning is presented which can be used to fulfill a social welfare criterion with normative values. The purpose is to show how a social welfare model which includes cultural norms can be optimized using classical control theory. Current literature stresses the importance of incorporating social indicators in welfare economics. Given a social welfare function which actively includes a hierarchy of cultural values , control theory can be used to set social policy to reach social goals. The approach is to define a set of desired cultural norms at some future time and then determine the social policy necessary to reach this state. Control theory is used to find the social plan consistent with attaining the set of desired values.