Time's square: deriving cultural theory from rubbish theory.
Starting with the hypothesis that duration (the standard idea of time that we associate with the steady tick-tock of a clock) can only exist if it is framed by something that is not duration--eternity or oblivion--it is possible to make sense of the fusing of time and space that is going on, both in...
| Publicado en: | Innovation: The European Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 319 - 331 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Dec2003
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=12252529&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 12252529 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 13511610 IVT jtl: Innovation: The European Journal of Social Sciences issn: 13511610 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Dec2003 vid: 16 iid: 4 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 12252529 10.1080/1351161032000163557 ppf: 319 ppct: 12 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 761KB tig: atl: Time's square: deriving cultural theory from rubbish theory. aug: au: Thompson, Michael affil: Director, Musgrave Institute, London Senior Researcher, Rokkan Centre, The University of Bergen, Norway su: Civil society Culture Metaphysics Social sciences Spacetime sug: subj: Civil society Culture Metaphysics Social sciences Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities Spacetime ab: Starting with the hypothesis that duration (the standard idea of time that we associate with the steady tick-tock of a clock) can only exist if it is framed by something that is not duration--eternity or oblivion--it is possible to make sense of the fusing of time and space that is going on, both in acephalous societies in West Africa and in the more familiar dynamic categorizations of modern Western societies: secondhand, rubbish and antique, for instance. The same hypothesis also sheds some helpful light on problems over space and time in comtemporary physics. Forgetting, we now see, is a prerequisite for remembering, and worthlessness a prerequisite for value: insights that suggest we take a closer look at what is involved in the deceptively simple three-category dynamical system in which objects, once produced, have only two possible destinations--the museum or the rubbish dump. Such a dynamical system, it turns out, can give rise to shifts within the social totality across two fundamental dimensions--status and power--thereby generating many of the 'grand types' that have been discerned by social scientists: class and caste, for instance. But, if it is to do this, there must be at least four contending ways of organizing and justifying within that totality. Cultural Theory (the four ways of organizing and justifying) is thus revealed to be inherent in the seemingly much simpler rubbish theory the three-category dynamical system): a surprising outcome that has some intriguing implications. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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