Search

Among the different images of community, some groups understand themselves in terms of family. This article explores the concept of found family within an ecclesial community. Braithwaite et al.'s four-part typology of voluntary kin provided the grounding for my new interview tool: The Experiences of the Church as Family research tool. This tool can aid in the exploration of church members' experiences and desires for familial ties within their ecclesial communities. In this article, I outline the tool's development, provide an example of its application, and present possibilities for future research in congregational contexts in addition to the tool's potential use in ministry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Komunikaty Mazursko-Warminskie is the property of Komunikaty Mazursko-Warminskie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Die Hauptvoraussetzung für den Fokus des Artikels ist, dass sowohl für den Auftrag der Kirche und die entsprechenden Vorgaben an die Theologie als auch für den Auftrag der Universität und ihre Rahmenbedingungen die gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen bzw. die wichtigsten gesellschaftlichen Prozesse maßgebend sein müssen. In diesem Sinne beabsichtigt der folgende Artikel, sich auf die Kombination zweier herausragender Topoi der zeitgenössischen Gesellschaft zu konzentrieren: die Bedeutung der Digitalisierung von menschlichen Beziehungen und die Gemeinschaftsdynamiken in ihrer politischen und anthropologischen Dimension. Es wird vorgeschlagen, die Artikulation dieser Lektüre im Kontext digital vermittelter Beziehungen zu analysieren, im Sinne einer tiefgreifenden Transformation des öffentlichen Raums. Dazu werden die Anthropologie des Alltäglichen von Michel de Certeau und die Philosophie der Gemeinschaft von Roberto Esposito als inspirierende Modelle übernommen. Schließlich wird eine mögliche theologische Lektüre dieser Artikulation vorgeschlagen, als Leitfaden für die Arbeit der Theologie zwischen kirchlichem und universitärem Raum, zugleich als Beitrag der Theologie aus dem kirchlichen und universitären Kontext zum Verständnis und zur Artikulation zeitgenössischer sozialer Dynamik.

Background: Cooperatives are unique entities that combine both non-profit and business attributes, reflecting the dual nature of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft. Research objectives: This article aims to explore the hybrid nature of cooperatives and the tension between community and business aspects in the context of the provision of collective goods. Specifically, we focused on the free-riding problem, which can harm the viability of cooperatives. Research design and methods: We based the article on critical analysis and discussion of the literature. The research questions were as follows: What is the inherent nature of cooperatives? What is the essence of the free-rider problem in cooperatives? How could the dual nature of cooperatives help deal with the problem of free-riding? Results: We discussed different Gemeinschaft-based approaches to mitigate free riding, such as kinship selection, direct reciprocity, and indirect reciprocity, which, however, create limitations on the size of the group of cooperators. There is tension between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, as increasing membership for economic growth can lead to the erosion of social capital. We discussed three possible solutions, including massification, privatization, and leveraging the possibilities of online communities. Conclusions: Only the last approach, namely leveraging possibilities of online communities offers the solution to the difficult situation caused by the tension between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft as it does not violate the cooperative identity while still allowing for increased scale of the operations.

In this essay we take up two related questions facing us in everyday, contemporary analytic practice: How can we grasp what we don’t know? How can something new come into being through the analytic encounter? We approach both questions from within the perspective offered us by Bion and those colleagues who have further developed his concepts and his insights. In his late writings Bion introduced the concept of O, subsequently viewing atone- ment with O as the goal of analytic work, and transformations from O (Being) to K (Knowing) the fundamental process of analysis and of the patient’s growth. In this theorizing he stressed an analytic stance centered on Negative Capability (the absence of memory, desire and coherence) fostering a coincidence of intuition and O. Despite the elegance of his theorizing Bion did not offer clinical examples of his own to ground the concepts of O and at-one-ment. In this paper we discuss the challenges for the analyst in attempting to practice without memory, desire or coherence, noting that this idealized model is more aspirational than fully realizable. We also discuss the dread shared by analyst and patient alike of intersecting with O due to the threats of de-differentiation, the shared sense of being lost, and the narcissistic deflation (loss of personal integrity) that can accompany it. To ground our discussion, we offer a detailed clinical example of at-one-ment with O, suggesting that at-one-ment with O can be thought of as a form of communion or shared holding and transforming of experience. Understood this way, at-one-ment is a deeply somato/psychic experience arising from the vertex of O and is distinguishable from the vertex of projective identification/container-contained processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cooperatives are unique entities that combine both non-profit and business attributes, reflecting the dual nature of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft. Research objectives: This article aims to explore the hybrid nature of cooperatives and the tension between community and business aspects in the context of the provision of collective goods. Specifically, we focused on the free-riding problem, which can harm the viability of cooperatives. Research design and methods: We based the article on critical analysis and discussion of the literature. The research questions were as follows: What is the inherent nature of cooperatives? What is the essence of the free-rider problem in cooperatives? How could the dual nature of cooperatives help deal with the problem of free-riding? Results: We discussed different Gemeinschaft-based approaches to mitigate free riding, such as kinship selection, direct reciprocity, and indirect reciprocity, which, however, create limitations on the size of the group of cooperators. There is tension between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, as increasing membership for economic growth can lead to the erosion of social capital. We discussed three possible solutions, including massification, privatization, and leveraging the possibilities of online communities. Conclusions: Only the last approach, namely leveraging possibilities of online communities offers the solution to the difficult situation caused by the tension between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft as it does not violate the cooperative identity while still allowing for increased scale of the operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the history of the conceptual pair Gemeinschaft/Gesellschaft (community/society) used by classics of sociology to explain the fundamental difference of modern society from the previous forms of social life. The author emphasizes the popularity of these categories as identifying the temporally successive types of sociality: Gemeinschaft refers to the original form of traditional organic community, and Gesellschaft - to the mass urbanized society of the modern age. The article shows the structural relationship between the early sociological concepts and the philosophy of modern history as an analytical (self)description of modern societies. The article reconstructs the development of Ferdinand Tönnies’ views, who introduced the pair Gemeinschaft/Gesellschaft as an analytical tool for social theory and challenged the opposition of these two types of social integration by emphasizing their presence in every social interaction. The author briefly outlines Max Weber’s perception of this conceptual pair in the form of Vergemeinschaftung/Vergesellschaftung social relations as ideally-typically value-oriented and instrumentally rational. The article explains the drastic politicization of the Gemeinschaft semantics in inter-war Germany - the term became a marker of the social-political polarization. Then the author focuses on the differentiated theory of Gemeinschaft developed in Hans Freyer’s sociology and on the Nazis’ attempt to make this term a basis of their theory of homogeneous society. The article considers the reception of Tönnies’ categories in American sociology, especially by Talcott Parsons, and highlights his contribution to the theory of socialization and integration of large societies with small solidarity groups. The last part of the article emphasizes the significance of the conceptual pair for the theory of late modernity - its structure of social action consists of elements of both community and society.

We propose a conceptual framework for understanding the complex nature of the correlation between the living environment and intravillage activity-travel. Based on participant observations of 146 villages (2317 rural residents) in Guangdong, China, we find that the rural built environment is predominantly organised by the gemeinschaft cultural environment in which people locate their homes near ancestral halls to maintain the bonds with those who are identified as the Us and to separate themselves from the Other. Together with the impact of the social environment which brings about a dispersed distribution of household farmlands, the phenomenon of home-farmland separation is pervasive. Several transport-related issues are engendered from the rural living environment: (a) distorted time-space for other activities that improve rural residents' quality of life; (b) land abandonment due to unwillingness to travel; and (c) extreme social exclusivity in relation to the Other. • Participant observation of 2317 rural residents in 146 villages in Guangdong. • The rural built environment spatially embodies and shapes the gemeinschaft. • Homes are located to maintain the ties with the Us and exclude the Other. • Home-farmland separation leads to long-time travel. • The rural living environment is more socially exclusive than the urban one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The class council is not only understood as an entity of democratic learning, but also as a community-building measure in which students can work on (conflict) issues independently. In practice, voting transforms particular interests into a majority decision that is to be accepted. On the basis of ethnographic observations of three class councils, we analyzed voting processes and reconstructed different modes of how references to the commonality are made there, which at the same time are supposed to be rational in school terms. The performatively produced class community is therefore to be understood as a functional and pragmatic working community. Voting serves as a methodical solution for this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Soziologische Revue is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Women lead differently than men. In order for them to be able to lead sustainably as leaders, it is necessary to reflect on typical female traits. In doing so, the way of typical female leadership, which is biologically anchored, should be taken into account. The aim should be to deal with them appropriately and fairly so that they themselves can lead sustainably. The biological requirements in women are centered on community, relationships, social skills, and communication. These findings are reflected in psychology and linguistics and are also evident when women are described as leaders. Three examples from practice corroborate the findings and show the necessity to understand diversity as an opportunity, to regard female leaders as ‘normal’, to convey appreciation for their typical leadership style just as much as it is appreciated as for male leadership and to deal with female images of leadership and to enthrone female leaders. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article is interdisciplinary in that it combines insights from biology, psychology, linguist and management theory.

Copyright of Hessische Blätter für Volksbildung is the property of wbv Media GmbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)