Not to mention Tweeter as well. Video and camera's on cell phones with internet access are a wonderful medium for freedom. Frankly, I'm amazed totalitarian regimes allow their citizens to own them.
To illustrate how my mind works, I thought this thread was going to be about beer. Ah well. dj On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 2:32 PM, frantheman<[email protected]> wrote: > > Jürgen Habermas is 80 today. He is one of the most influential > contemporary thinkers in the areas of philosophy, sociology and > cultural science: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habermas,_Jürgen > > One of his most interesting works is "The Theory of Communicative > Action." I find his analysis of the development of contemporary > society interesting, particularly his analysis of the way modern > society can be seen as an unequal dialectic between private, > subjective "lifeworlds" and an ever more powerful "system." His > thinking in this area is useful because it offers an explanation for > some trends we observe in contemporary society, for example, our > suspicions that we are being ever more disenfranchised, although, > formally, we live in societies in which participation, representation > and equality are established. Habermas sees the "system" as taking > overweening power and thus becoming a source of alienation in the > areas of the welfare state, corporate capitalism and the culture of > mass consumption. The mass media plays a major role in this process. > Political parties are also part of this "system." > > The following passage is lifted from Wikipedia (the quotations are > from TCA): > > "In the end, systemic mechanisms suppress forms of social integration > even in those areas where a consensus dependent co-ordination of > action cannot be replaced, that is, where the symbolic reproduction of > the lifeworld is at stake. In these areas, the mediatization of the > lifeworld assumes the form of colonisation". > Habermas argues that Horkheimer and Adorno, like Weber before them, > confused system rationality with action rationality. This prevented > them dissecting the effects of the intrusion of steering media into a > differentiated lifeworld and the rationalisation of action > orientations that follows. They could then only identify spontaneous > communicative actions within areas of apparently 'non-rational' > action, art and love on the one hand or the charisma of the leader on > the other, as having any value. > According to Habermas, lifeworlds become colonised by steering media > when four things happen: > 1. Traditional forms of life are dismantled. > 2. Social roles are sufficiently differentiated. > 3. There are adequate rewards of leisure and money for the alienated > labour. > 4. Hopes and dreams become individuated by state canalization of > welfare and culture. > These processses are institutionalised by developing global systems of > jurisprudence. He here indicates the limits of an entirely juridified > concept of legitimation and practically calls for more anarchistic > 'will formation' by autonomous networks and groups. > "Counterinstitutions are intended to dedifferentiate some parts of the > formally organised domains of action, remove them from the clutches of > the steering media, and return these 'liberated areas' to the action > co-ordinating medium of reaching understanding". > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Communicative_Action > > I wonder how much the Internet (I'm thinking here of the burgeoning > social networks like Facebook, as well as - in a very modest way - our > group here and others like them, but also Wikipedia, search engines, > etc.) are such "counterinstitutions." Certainly the nervous actions of > the regimes in China and Iran in recent times would seem to reinforce > such views. > > Francis > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
