The present study analyzes the impact of modernity on the moral sustainability of the two adivasi (Indigenous) communities – the Bondas and the Kandhas (B&K), residing in the Malkangiri district of south-west Odisha, India. Although these communities are traditionally rooted in ecological intimacy and oral knowledge systems, in the recent times they face increasing displacement and cultural erosion due to modernity-driven mobility and marginalization that eventually leads to epistemic injustice. One crucial manifestation of this injustice is hermeneutic opacity, wherein the lived experiences of B&K communities are unintelligible within dominant cultural and policy frameworks. This condition disrupts their ability to articulate and defend their own values, conventional lifeways, and ethical systems in public discourse. Not only does it result in a loss of cultural specificity, but it is also a fundamental threat to moral sustainability. The article pursues two major objectives. First, it examines how modernity, through mobility and progress, generates epistemic exclusion and displaces indigenous moral systems. Second, it analyzes how such exclusion undermines moral sustainability by silencing community agency of B&K and distorting indigenous value structures. The study brings into context more recent developments in epistemic injustice including epistemic smothering, epistemic violence, purposeful hermeneutical ignorance, and forms of linguistic and competence-based injustice, more particularly Fricker’s formulation of epistemic injustice, which together bring forth the complex and layered ways in which marginalization is experienced by the B&K communities. Thus, the study critiques the dominant equation of modernity with universal progress and sustainable development. Through a conceptual and contextual analysis, the study calls for a rethinking of sustainability in plural terms, recognizing relational ontologies, indigenous epistemologies, and the moral weight of culturally rooted worldviews. Finally, it is argued that genuine sustainability must include the ethical and epistemic survival of communities historically pushed to the margins.
This article examines synthetic empathy as a sociotechnical model of understanding in digitally mediated environments. Rather than asking whether artificial intelligence can genuinely feel or possess inner emotional states, the study analyzes how empathy is translated into computational categories, institutionalized within algorithmic infrastructures, and normalized through everyday interaction. Drawing on the sociology of technology, communication theory, and interdisciplinary scholarship on affect, the article develops a theoretical framework that reconceptualizes empathy as a structured and operational construct embedded in data-driven systems. The analysis argues that synthetic empathy represents a shift from relational interpretation toward predictive modeling, in which emotional responsiveness is formalized through classification, probabilistic inference, and calibrated output. This transformation contributes to a broader reconfiguration of care and understanding, aligning them with institutional priorities such as scalability, consistency, and optimization. In this process, complex emotional experiences are frequently translated into simplified computational categories that enable scalable interaction across digital platforms. As algorithmic mediation becomes embedded in social life, the criteria for attributing understanding increasingly reflect performance-oriented benchmarks shaped by platform logics. By situating synthetic empathy within sociotechnical processes rather than ontological debates about machine consciousness, the article offers a conceptual contribution to contemporary discussions on digital mediation, emotional labor, and the social construction of intelligence. It demonstrates that artificial intelligence does not simply simulate empathy but participates in redefining the cultural grammar through which empathy and understanding are recognized in digital societies. Cet article examine l'empathie synth & eacute;tique en tant que mod & egrave;le sociotechnique de compr & eacute;hension dans les environnements m & eacute;diatis & eacute;s par le num & eacute;rique. Plut & ocirc;t que de se demander si l'intelligence artificielle est v & eacute;ritablement capable de ressentir ou de poss & eacute;der des & eacute;tats & eacute;motionnels int & eacute;rieurs, l'& eacute;tude analyse comment l'empathie est traduite en cat & eacute;gories computationnelles, institutionnalis & eacute;e au sein d'infrastructures algorithmiques et normalis & eacute;e & agrave; travers les interactions quotidiennes. S'appuyant sur la sociologie de la technologie, la th & eacute;orie de la communication et les travaux interdisciplinaires sur l'affect, cet article d & eacute;veloppe un cadre th & eacute;orique qui reconceptualise l'empathie comme une construction structur & eacute;e et op & eacute;rationnelle int & eacute;gr & eacute;e dans des syst & egrave;mes bas & eacute;s sur les donn & eacute;es. L'analyse soutient que l'empathie synth & eacute;tique repr & eacute;sente un glissement de l'interpr & eacute;tation relationnelle vers la mod & eacute;lisation pr & eacute;dictive, dans laquelle la r & eacute;activit & eacute; & eacute;motionnelle est formalis & eacute;e par la classification, l'inf & eacute;rence probabiliste et des r & eacute;sultats calibr & eacute;s. Cette transformation contribue & agrave; une reconfiguration plus large de la bienveillance et de la compr & eacute;hension, en les alignant sur des priorit & eacute;s institutionnelles telles que l'& eacute;volutivit & eacute;, la coh & eacute;rence et l'optimisation. Dans ce processus, des exp & eacute;riences & eacute;motionnelles complexes sont fr & eacute;quemment traduites en cat & eacute;gories computationnelles simplifi & eacute;es qui permettent une interaction & eacute;volutive & agrave; travers les plateformes num & eacute;riques. & Agrave; mesure que la m & eacute;diation algorithmique s'int & egrave;gre dans la vie sociale, les crit & egrave;res d'attribution de la compr & eacute;hension refl & egrave;tent de plus en plus des rep & egrave;res ax & eacute;s sur la performance, fa & ccedil;onn & eacute;s par les logiques des plateformes. En situant l'empathie synth & eacute;tique au sein des processus sociotechniques plut & ocirc;t que dans le cadre des d & eacute;bats ontologiques sur la conscience des machines, cet article apporte une contribution conceptuelle aux discussions actuelles sur la m & eacute;diation num & eacute;rique, le travail & eacute;motionnel et la construction sociale de l'intelligence. Il d & eacute;montre que l'IA ne se contente pas de simuler l'empathie, mais participe & agrave; la red & eacute;finition de la grammaire culturelle & agrave; travers laquelle l'empathie et la compr & eacute;hension sont reconnues dans les soci & eacute;t & eacute;s num & eacute;riques.
There is a fundamental divide in academic publishing between those who create papers and those who publish them. Power lies with the publishers, who have persuaded academics that they should contribute a free supply of papers along with editing and refereeing services. Publishers make enormous profits from academic publishing: academics get to keep their jobs. Both like to be seen, and to see themselves, as advancing knowledge for public benefit: in fact, both produce indicators of scholarship rather than scholarship itself, and then for their own private benefit. We explore how this travesty has arisen, specifically the impact of Robert Maxwell in demonstrating how scholarship might be exploited and of Eugene Garfield in showing how it might be replaced by indicators, especially the journal impact factor. Their contributions were instrumental in making academic publishing viciously competitive while still presenting itself as collegial. Citation was presented as a dependable measure of academic quality requiring only the counting of cited papers. It was not—it was ruthlessly gamed, though the very possibility of gaming was dismissed out of hand. So, too, were the thoroughly negative observations that papers were produced to be counted rather than read, even by their authors, who were not expected to have written them either. Academic publishing chose to ignore such scurrilous suspicion, relying on peer review to sort out any problems that might have escaped its notice. The reluctance of academic publishing to recognise reality was challenged by the influx of predatory publishers with their open access model. Predatory publishers were quite open about publishing papers to generate performance indicators in return for the academic’s cash. Established publishers, insulated from reality by their profitability, could not fail to notice that more money could be made if lofty academic values were taken less seriously. The largest also began to see themselves, and to present themselves, as information companies producing not academic papers, but indicators to measure and rank all manner of academic activity. They seemed to forget that these indicators had been gamed for years, even though they themselves had been responsible for much of the manipulation. While the blind eye saw nothing and left academic publishing in ignorance, the reality seen by academic publishing’s good eye was no more than the creation of its own indicators.
This study evaluates whether cross-national variation in inequality of educational opportunity can be attributed to cultural individualization, as posited by a modernization theoretical hypothesis that predicts weaker associations between educational attainment and social-origin characteristics where prevailing culture prioritizes self-expressive autonomy over social conformity. Using individual-level data for late-20th-century birth cohorts from 72 countries, parental education serves as the social-origin indicator, and two established cultural indices (Welzel's emancipative values and Schwartz's autonomy-embeddedness) capture society-level individualization. Ordinary least squares and hierarchical regressions relate these indices to two standard measures of inequality of educational opportunity while adjusting for a composite modernization index and additional contextual controls. Bivariate comparisons show that more individualized societies display smaller origin-based gaps in educational attainment, but the association disappears once modernization covariates are included. Neither cultural index explains residual cross-national inequality of educational opportunity variation under these specifications, whereas the modernization index predicts both stronger alignment with individualized culture and weaker intergenerational dependence in education. Contrary to the evaluated hypothesis, these findings indicate that cultural individualization and reduced inequality of educational opportunity are co-occurring yet causally unrelated outcomes of modernization. The results caution against treating cultural individualization as a driver of educational equality and suggest that cross-national variation is better explained with reference to other modernization processes. Cette & eacute;tude & eacute;value si les variations transnationales en mati & egrave;re d'in & eacute;galit & eacute; des chances en mati & egrave;re d'& eacute;ducation (IEO) peuvent & ecirc;tre attribu & eacute;es & agrave; l'individualisation culturelle, comme le postule une hypoth & egrave;se th & eacute;orique de modernisation qui pr & eacute;dit des associations plus faibles entre le niveau d'& eacute;ducation et les caract & eacute;ristiques d'origine sociale lorsque la culture dominante privil & eacute;gie l'autonomie d'expression personnelle plut & ocirc;t que la conformit & eacute; sociale. & Agrave; partir de donn & eacute;es individuelles sur les cohortes n & eacute;es & agrave; la fin du XXe si & egrave;cle dans 72 pays, le niveau d'& eacute;ducation des parents sert d'indicateur de l'origine sociale, et deux indices culturels & eacute;tablis (les valeurs & eacute;mancipatrices de Welzel et l'autonomie-ancrage de Schwartz) permettent de mesurer l'individualisation au niveau de la soci & eacute;t & eacute;. Des r & eacute;gressions OLS et hi & eacute;rarchiques relient ces indices & agrave; deux mesures standard de l'IEO tout en ajustant un indice composite de modernisation et des contr & ocirc;les contextuels suppl & eacute;mentaires. Les comparaisons bivari & eacute;es montrent que les soci & eacute;t & eacute;s plus individualis & eacute;es pr & eacute;sentent des & eacute;carts moins importants en mati & egrave;re de niveau d'& eacute;ducation en fonction de l'origine, mais cette association dispara & icirc;t d & egrave;s lors que les covariables de modernisation sont incluses. Aucun des deux indices culturels n'explique la variation r & eacute;siduelle de l'IEO entre les pays selon ces sp & eacute;cifications, tandis que l'indice de modernisation pr & eacute;dit & agrave; la fois un alignement plus fort sur la culture individualis & eacute;e et une d & eacute;pendance interg & eacute;n & eacute;rationnelle plus faible en mati & egrave;re d'& eacute;ducation. Contrairement & agrave; l'hypoth & egrave;se & eacute;valu & eacute;e, ces r & eacute;sultats indiquent que l'individualisation culturelle et la r & eacute;duction de l'IEO sont des cons & eacute;quences concomitantes mais sans lien de causalit & eacute; de la modernisation. Les r & eacute;sultats mettent en garde contre le fait de consid & eacute;rer l'individualisation culturelle comme un moteur de l'& eacute;galit & eacute; en mati & egrave;re d'& eacute;ducation et sugg & egrave;rent que les variations entre pays s'expliquent mieux par r & eacute;f & eacute;rence & agrave; d'autres processus de modernisation.
This article conceptualizes key indicators as institutionalized measures that are used collectively, have acquired a conventional symbolic meaning, and are of structural relevance for at least one social field. While such indicators are often assumed to be intentionally designed, we highlight unintentional emergent formation processes as a plausible and underexplored explanation. Emergent indicator formation is a process through which numbers gain practical relevance in decision-making first and are attributed symbolic meaning only afterward in public disputes. Empirically, the article presents the case of the K & ouml;nigstein Key, which is technically an additive index of intuitively intelligible states' features that has become a key indicator in diverse allocation schemes of German federalism. We propose an explanatory model of an emergent, unintended formation process based on three arguments: predisposing features of the indicator itself, proven practical use, and the accrual of normative interpretations in political and public discourse. Its initial adoption in contentious negotiations about horizontal federal burden-sharing later facilitated its pragmatic adoption in various new tasks. In the course of its institutionalization as a standard instrument, interpretations in highly politicized public situations translated it into a rather generalized symbol of territorial justice at the national level. Several test situations during its trajectory reveal constitutive features of this key indicator that could also inform intentional indicator design. Cet article conceptualise les indicateurs cl & eacute;s comme des mesures institutionnalis & eacute;es qui sont utilis & eacute;es collectivement, ont acquis une signification symbolique conventionnelle et ont une pertinence structurelle pour au moins un domaine social. Alors que ces indicateurs sont souvent consid & eacute;r & eacute;s comme ayant & eacute;t & eacute; con & ccedil;us intentionnellement, nous mettons en & eacute;vidence les processus de formation & eacute;mergents non intentionnels comme une explication plausible et peu explor & eacute;e. La formation & eacute;mergente d'indicateurs est un processus par lequel les chiffres acqui & egrave;rent d'abord une pertinence pratique dans la prise de d & eacute;cision et ne se voient attribuer une signification symbolique qu'ensuite, dans le cadre de d & eacute;bats publics. Sur le plan empirique, l'article pr & eacute;sente le cas de la cl & eacute; de K & ouml;nigstein, qui est, techniquement, un indice additif des caract & eacute;ristiques embl & eacute;matiques des & Eacute;tats et qui est devenu un indicateur cl & eacute; dans divers syst & egrave;mes d'allocation du f & eacute;d & eacute;ralisme allemand. Nous proposons un mod & egrave;le explicatif d'un processus de formation & eacute;mergent et non intentionnel bas & eacute; sur trois arguments: les caract & eacute;ristiques pr & eacute;disposantes de l'indicateur lui-m & ecirc;me, son utilisation pratique av & eacute;r & eacute;e et l'accumulation d'interpr & eacute;tations normatives dans le discours politique et public. Son adoption initiale dans le cadre de n & eacute;gociations controvers & eacute;es sur le partage horizontal des charges f & eacute;d & eacute;rales a ensuite facilit & eacute; son adoption pragmatique dans diverses nouvelles t & acirc;ches. Au cours de son institutionnalisation en tant qu'instrument standard, les interpr & eacute;tations dans des situations publiques hautement politis & eacute;es l'ont traduit en un symbole plut & ocirc;t g & eacute;n & eacute;ralis & eacute; de justice territoriale au niveau national. Plusieurs situations test & eacute;es au cours de sa trajectoire r & eacute;v & egrave;lent les caract & eacute;ristiques constitutives de cet indicateur cl & eacute; qui pourraient & eacute;galement & eacute;clairer la conception intentionnelle d'indicateurs.
The concept of social imaginary is central in the social sciences to grasp the cultural dimension of social and political action. The classic works of Cornelius Castoriadis and Charles Taylor have traced - in their difference and complementarity - the theoretical contours within which to frame the concept of social imaginary, also in temporal terms. This article critically reviews the idea of these two authors to underline the importance of considering the social imaginary as a battlefield, where the stake is the definition of a new possible reality. The article highlights the heuristic and analytical potential of the conception of the social imaginary as a battle for hegemony of the meaning to be attributed to reality, generated by a critique of the existing that elaborates, in an original way, the future on the basis of the present and the past, and which has as its objective the orientation of collective action toward a particular form of social order. The imaginaries linked to the climate crisis will be used as an exemplary contemporary arena in which the battle for hegemony of the social imaginary is fought. The analytical proposal developed in the article is that the social imaginary should be viewed as a specific social field of struggle to gain hegemony through the creation of 'plausible' and (potentially) 'realizable' scenarios that render specific actions necessary. Le concept d'imaginaire social occupe une place centrale dans les sciences sociales pour appr & eacute;hender la dimension culturelle de l'action sociale et politique. Les travaux classiques de Cornelius Castoriadis et Charles Taylor ont trac & eacute;, dans leur diff & eacute;rence et leur compl & eacute;mentarit & eacute;, les contours th & eacute;oriques dans lesquels s'inscrit le concept d'imaginaire social, y compris en termes temporels. Cet article examine de mani & egrave;re critique les id & eacute;es de ces deux auteurs afin de souligner l'importance de consid & eacute;rer l'imaginaire social comme un champ de bataille, o & ugrave; l'enjeu est la d & eacute;finition d'une nouvelle r & eacute;alit & eacute; possible. L'article met en & eacute;vidence le potentiel heuristique et analytique de la conception de l'imaginaire social comme une lutte pour l'h & eacute;g & eacute;monie du sens & agrave; attribuer & agrave; la r & eacute;alit & eacute;, g & eacute;n & eacute;r & eacute;e par une critique de l'existant qui & eacute;labore, de mani & egrave;re originale, l'avenir sur la base du pr & eacute;sent et du pass & eacute;, et qui a pour objectif l'orientation de l'action collective vers une forme particuli & egrave;re d'ordre social. Les imaginaires li & eacute;s & agrave; la crise climatique seront utilis & eacute;s comme une ar & egrave;ne contemporaine exemplaire dans laquelle se d & eacute;roule la bataille pour l'h & eacute;g & eacute;monie de l'imaginaire social. La proposition analytique d & eacute;velopp & eacute;e dans l'article est que l'imaginaire social doit & ecirc;tre consid & eacute;r & eacute; comme un champ social sp & eacute;cifique de lutte pour l'h & eacute;g & eacute;monie & agrave; travers la cr & eacute;ation de sc & eacute;narios & laquo; plausibles & raquo; et (potentiellement) & laquo; r & eacute;alisables & raquo; qui rendent n & eacute;cessaires des actions sp & eacute;cifiques.
Social scientists often rely on philosophy as a source of theory. Among others, phenomenology has played an especially significant role in the social sciences. However, despite the now century-long history of phenomenological theory in the social sciences, there has been remarkably little in the way of explicit or systematic reflection on what, exactly, social scientists are doing when they use phenomenology as theory or to theorize. In this article, we identify a largely unarticulated use of phenomenology, which stands between what we might call "grand theory" on the one hand and the "application of theory" on the other. Between these two poles, we find social scientists developing new theory intended to conceptualize a particular class of phenomena or domain of inquiry. We call this use "theorizing with phenomenology." After identifying and unpacking some examples, we systematize its distinctive features and present it as an alternative mode of empirically anchored theorizing. Les sp & eacute;cialistes en sciences sociales s'appuient souvent sur la philosophie comme source de th & eacute;orie. Parmi d'autres courants, la ph & eacute;nom & eacute;nologie a jou & eacute; un r & ocirc;le particuli & egrave;rement important dans les sciences sociales. Cependant, malgr & eacute; l'histoire d & eacute;sormais centenaire de la th & eacute;orie ph & eacute;nom & eacute;nologique dans les sciences sociales, il y a eu remarquablement peu de r & eacute;flexions explicites ou syst & eacute;matiques sur ce que font exactement les sp & eacute;cialistes en sciences sociales lorsqu'ils utilisent la ph & eacute;nom & eacute;nologie comme th & eacute;orie ou pour th & eacute;oriser. Dans cet article, nous identifions une utilisation largement inexprim & eacute;e de la ph & eacute;nom & eacute;nologie, qui se situe entre ce que nous pourrions appeler la & laquo; grande th & eacute;orie & raquo; d'une part et & laquo; l'application de la th & eacute;orie & raquo; d'autre part. Entre ces deux p & ocirc;les, nous constatons que les sp & eacute;cialistes en sciences sociales d & eacute;veloppent une nouvelle th & eacute;orie destin & eacute;e & agrave; conceptualiser une cat & eacute;gorie particuli & egrave;re de ph & eacute;nom & egrave;nes ou un domaine d'& eacute;tude. Nous appelons cette utilisation & laquo; th & eacute;orisation avec la ph & eacute;nom & eacute;nologie & raquo;. Apr & egrave;s avoir identifi & eacute; et analys & eacute; quelques exemples, nous syst & eacute;matisons ses caract & eacute;ristiques distinctives et la pr & eacute;sentons comme un mode alternatif de th & eacute;orisation ancr & eacute; dans l'empirisme.
This article focuses on the biosocial perspective in criminology. Its purpose is to highlight public health approaches on biosocial interactions that can be drawn from to develop more theorization on the social environment and to provide new possibilities in studying how socio-environmental macro-micro characteristics interact with neurobiology in developing antisocial, violent, and criminal behaviors. Extant biosocial research in criminology examines and understands the social environment as characteristics proximal to the individual, more so than those that are distal. Examples of proximal level characteristics are family, education, or individual socioeconomic status and examples of distal level ones are income inequality and institutional racial discrimination. Although the field of criminology traces the history of the biosocial perspective to Cesare Lombroso, the concept of "biosocial" and its onto-epistemological approach is also linked to that of public health. In relinking criminological biosocial research to public health, this article highlights how trends within the latter may have shaped the former; and in relinking, the article also provides "ways of seeing" the role of distal level social factors in biosocial interactions from three public health theoretical frameworks and constructs: Nancy Krieger's embodiment from ecosocial theory; Merrill Singer's syndemics; and Johan Galtung's structural violence. Cet article se concentre sur la perspective biosociale en criminologie. Son objectif est de mettre en & eacute;vidence les approches de sant & eacute; publique sur les interactions biosociologiques qui peuvent & ecirc;tre utilis & eacute;es pour d & eacute;velopper davantage la th & eacute;orisation sur l'environnement social et offrir de nouvelles possibilit & eacute;s dans l'& eacute;tude de l'interaction entre les caract & eacute;ristiques socio-environnementales macro-micro et la neurobiologie dans le d & eacute;veloppement de comportements antisociaux, violents et criminels. Les recherches biosociologiques existantes en criminologie examinent et appr & eacute;hendent l'environnement social comme un ensemble de caract & eacute;ristiques plus proches de l'individu que celles qui lui sont plus & eacute;loign & eacute;es. Parmi les exemples de caract & eacute;ristiques de niveau proximal, on peut citer la famille, l'& eacute;ducation ou le statut socio-& eacute;conomique individuel, tandis que parmi les exemples de caract & eacute;ristiques de niveau distal, on peut citer les in & eacute;galit & eacute;s de revenus et la discrimination raciale. Bien que le domaine de la criminologie fasse remonter l'histoire de la perspective biosociale & agrave; Cesare Lombroso, le concept de & laquo; biosocial & raquo; et son approche onto-& eacute;pist & eacute;mologique sont & eacute;galement li & eacute;s & agrave; celui de la sant & eacute; publique. En reliant la recherche biosociologique en criminologie & agrave; la sant & eacute; publique, cet article met en & eacute;vidence la mani & egrave;re dont les tendances de cette derni & egrave;re ont pu influencer la premi & egrave;re. Ce faisant, il propose & eacute;galement des & laquo; fa & ccedil;ons de voir & raquo; le r & ocirc;le des facteurs sociaux distaux dans les interactions biosociologiques & agrave; partir de trois cadres th & eacute;oriques et concepts de sant & eacute; publique: l'incarnation de Nancy Krieger issue de la th & eacute;orie & eacute;cosociale; la synd & eacute;mique de Merrill Singer; et la violence structurelle de Johan Galtung.
Debates about cultural recognition have been divided into two main views: on the difference-sensitive liberal view, recognition of individuals' collective identities requires group-specific minority rights, whereas on the difference-blind liberal view, recognition requires nothing beyond the basic rights guaranteed by liberal procedural justice. This article seeks to show that, in fact, both camps are wrong about what recognition requires. Instead, I argue that what recognition requires must be decided through a democratic discursive procedure, which allows members of minority groups to freely articulate their claims to recognition, and have those claims in turn, reviewed by the public through an impartial process of mutual argumentation. In fact, I show that even if independent principles of fairness might seem to require extending group-specific minority rights, as Alan Patten argues, the content of those rights must be determined by the affected agents themselves through a democratic discursive procedure. On the basis of this argument, I defend an alternative discursive approach to the problem of recognition. Les d & eacute;bats sur la reconnaissance culturelle se sont divis & eacute;s en deux courants principaux : selon le point de vue lib & eacute;ral sensible & agrave; la diff & eacute;rence, la reconnaissance des identit & eacute;s collectives des individus n & eacute;cessite des droits sp & eacute;cifiques aux minorit & eacute;s, tandis que selon le point de vue lib & eacute;ral aveugle & agrave; la diff & eacute;rence, la reconnaissance ne n & eacute;cessite rien de plus que les droits fondamentaux garantis par la justice proc & eacute;durale lib & eacute;rale. Cet article vise & agrave; montrer qu'en r & eacute;alit & eacute;, les deux camps se trompent sur ce qu'exige la reconnaissance. Je soutiens plut & ocirc;t que ce qu'exige la reconnaissance doit & ecirc;tre d & eacute;cid & eacute; par le biais d'une proc & eacute;dure discursive d & eacute;mocratique, qui permet aux membres des groupes minoritaires d'exprimer librement leurs revendications en mati & egrave;re de reconnaissance, et que ces revendications soient & agrave; leur tour examin & eacute;es par le public dans le cadre d'un processus impartial d'argumentation mutuelle. En fait, je montre que m & ecirc;me si des principes ind & eacute;pendants d'& eacute;quit & eacute; peuvent sembler exiger l'extension des droits sp & eacute;cifiques aux minorit & eacute;s, comme le soutient Alan Patten, le contenu de ces droits doit & ecirc;tre d & eacute;termin & eacute; par les agents concern & eacute;s eux-m & ecirc;mes dans le cadre d'une proc & eacute;dure discursive d & eacute;mocratique. Sur la base de cet argument, je d & eacute;fends une approche discursive alternative au probl & egrave;me de la reconnaissance.
Infrastructures for renewable energy are central to contemporary political responses to the imperative of decarbonization. As green technological promises gain momentum, it becomes crucial to examine not only what is newly emerging but also what is being rendered obsolete and left behind-the promised futures that turned out to have failed while new ones emerge as promising. This article addresses these debates by empirically examining the historical trajectory of a coal-fired power plant in a carbon-intensive region of the Catalan Pyrenees, showcasing it as a fossil infrastructure emblematic of modern society's material foundations and aspirations. Based on qualitative research into the situated processes of construction, deterioration, abandonment, and transformation, this article elucidates how the power plant vividly embodies the modern conception of the future as open, accelerated, and progress-oriented. However, the plant's nonlinear trajectory and enduring materiality over time reveal the tensions, contradictions, and limits of this hegemonic notion of the future. By analyzing industrial remnants as material traces of failed futures, this article highlights their critical role in shaping sustainable pathways, particularly as green technological initiatives emerge in contexts where industrial forces once flourished. Les infrastructures d & eacute;di & eacute;es aux & eacute;nergies renouvelables sont au c oe ur des r & eacute;ponses politiques contemporaines & agrave; l'imp & eacute;ratif de d & eacute;carbonisation. Alors que les promesses des technologies vertes prennent de l'ampleur, il devient crucial d'examiner non seulement ce qui & eacute;merge, mais aussi ce qui devient obsol & egrave;te et est laiss & eacute; pour compte : les futurs promis qui se sont r & eacute;v & eacute;l & eacute;s & ecirc;tre des & eacute;checs, tandis que de nouveaux se profilent comme prometteurs. Cet article aborde ces d & eacute;bats en examinant de mani & egrave;re empirique la trajectoire historique d'une centrale & agrave; charbon dans une r & eacute;gion & agrave; forte intensit & eacute; carbone des Pyr & eacute;n & eacute;es catalanes, la pr & eacute;sentant comme une infrastructure fossile embl & eacute;matique des fondements mat & eacute;riels et des aspirations de la soci & eacute;t & eacute; moderne. Sur la base d'une recherche qualitative sur les processus situ & eacute;s de construction, de d & eacute;t & eacute;rioration, d'abandon et de transformation, cet article explique comment la centrale & eacute;lectrique incarne de mani & egrave;re frappante la conception moderne d'un avenir ouvert, acc & eacute;l & eacute;r & eacute; et ax & eacute; sur le progr & egrave;s. Cependant, la trajectoire non lin & eacute;aire et la mat & eacute;rialit & eacute; durable de la centrale au fil du temps r & eacute;v & egrave;lent les tensions, les contradictions et les limites de cette notion h & eacute;g & eacute;monique de l'avenir. En analysant les vestiges industriels comme des traces mat & eacute;rielles d'avenirs manqu & eacute;s, cet article souligne leur r & ocirc;le essentiel dans l'& eacute;laboration de voies durables, en particulier & agrave; mesure que des initiatives technologiques vertes & eacute;mergent dans des contextes o & ugrave; les forces industrielles prosp & eacute;raient autrefois.
Low-carbon energy production is one of the main pillars of the European Union’s energy transition: especially green hydrogen is often represented as the last frontier of low-carbon energy and a silver bullet to slow down the climate crisis. A number of European countries are particularly active in this area. When looked at more closely, though, this vision might be illusory. Like in the case of other low-carbon energy sources, hydrogen production could perpetuate dynamics of enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment often emphasized in the political ecology and energy justice literature. In this article, I focus on a project implemented in a territory of Overseas France, namely French Guiana, where, in the late 2010s, French companies conceived plans for a large solar-hydrogen power plant. The Electric Plant of Western Guiana promised to save CO 2 emissions while ending recurrent outages for 70,000 Guianese. In response, the Indigenous Kali’na communities living in the territories affected by the plant’s project staged a long-term opposition to it, criticizing the imposed notion of hasty and lucrative development based on gigantic infrastructures, seen as a form of “eco-colonialism,” and bringing together a varied network of allies. However, the protest could not ultimately stop the project. Based on literature and document analysis, and on fieldwork conducted in French Guiana in September-October 2023, I have examined this socioenvironmental conflict through the prism of decolonial energy justice and political ecology. From the analysis, it emerges that the conflict’s outcome was the result of (a) the colonial vision of Guianese land as a mere economic resource, propounded by the project’s advocates; (b) the French State’s lack of recognition of an Indigenous specificity; and (c) internal fractures across Indigenous communities.
This article meditates on comparison beyond being a method, an academic technique, or a discursive strategy, and instead as a phenomenon entangled with the apocalyptic. As its critical point of departure, the article considers the concept of “demonio de las comparaciones” described by the Filipino polymath and patriot José Rizal in his novel Noli me tángere (1887), through its particular interpretation by Benedict Anderson. The latter scholar, having soon realized his own mistranslation of Rizal’s concept by transfiguring the most material to be merely spectral, eventually proposed Rizal’s demon to be more akin to pests instead. While Anderson simply explained his suggestion through describing comparison as similarly “buzz[ing] and buzz[ing], and refus[ing] to go away or to be quiet,” this article further explores the implications of pests in thinking through comparison especially in light of the present challenge of the nonhuman, or the urgent call for reconsideration of human agency among a larger network of other forms of agency. To do so, the article then reads a chapter from the contemporary Filipino novel Ang Banal na Aklat ng mga Kumag ( The Holy Book of Vermin , 2013) by Allan Derain, which narrates how comparisons unfold among rival swarms of flies in light of looming threat. Ultimately, the article intuits comparison as an inevitable phenomenon that especially emerges from, as much as it responds to, an end of the world.
Our contribution to this special issue takes an interdisciplinary approach that combines literary studies with political ecology to discuss the convergence of meteorological emergencies (storms) and political emergencies (mutinies) in two novels: Martin Delany’s Blake (1859–1862) and Lindsey Collen’s Mutiny (2001). In both novels, oceanic storms provide an opportunity for rebellion—a shipboard uprising of enslaved Africans during an Atlantic hurricane in the former, and a mutiny in a women’s prison timed to coincide with an Indian Ocean cyclone in the latter—and these rebellions in turn precipitate the emergence of new forms of political-ecological relation. Both novels reflect the legacies of slavery in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds, while also articulating emergent solidarities and relations: between different groups of oppressed peoples and between these peoples and their ecological surroundings. Our central argument is twofold: first, that these “narratives of offshore dissent” use the aesthetic and rhetorical tools of literary fiction to illuminate the key insights of political ecology in terms of the emergent potential of human-nonhuman collectives; and, second, that literary texts can in turn help us to identify and articulate alternative models for human and nonhuman relation. We aim to show that literary studies and political ecology are fields that intersect in compelling ways in terms of thinking through ecological emergency and how humans relate to each other and to the world around us. Ultimately, in view of the centrality of the ocean in both novels, we read these narratives of offshore dissent from a “thalasscentric” or ocean-centered perspective in contraposition to the terracentric vision that predominates in colonialist and nationalist thinking and that has proved so destructive to human and nonhuman beings alike.
This article analyses three speculative fiction novels from the last decades of the 20th century: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, along with Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998) by Octavia E. Butler, from a sociological perspective. Through a theoretical analysis, we argue that these novels offer key ways to word a world and provide insight into broader cultural transformations, particularly shifts in the semantics of time and space in relation to modern imaginaries of the future. These texts illustrate a fundamental shift away from the Neuzeit paradigm (Koselleck, 2004), in which belief in progress structured social and political projects. As this belief eroded throughout the 20th century, the notion of a clearly envisioned future became unstable. However, rather than endorsing a paralyzing, catastrophic vision of the future, these works, often regarded as “critical dystopias” explore emerging semantics of time and space within the context of socio-environmental crises. By engaging with themes of ecological degradation and survival, social ties, inequalities, violence and reciprocity, these novels interrogate the intersection between speculative fiction and contemporary anxieties surrounding planetary futures.
This article analyzes how the ecological crisis is affecting the way cities organize their models for economic development and social cohesion through the observation of three Spanish cities. Until the 2007 financial crisis, cities were developing strategies for economic growth and social cohesion in the framework of growing competitiveness. Nevertheless, the financial crisis and the rising awareness of the ecological crisis brought these models to discussion, opening up debates on the ecological crisis and the role of cities. The article explores how urban governance in Barcelona, Seville, and Bilbao has responded to the ecological emergency between 2015 and 2025. It examines the integration of sustainability into strategic urban planning, the impact of post-COVID recovery agendas, and the role of environmental citizenship and social movements in shaping ecological transitions. The findings reveal that these post-pandemic recovery and resilience plans have reconfigured typical city strategies, strengthening ecological modernization through green capitalism, while overshadowing discussions on the structural changes necessary to address the ecological crisis, and marginalizing the role of environmental citizenship to local stewardship. In conclusion, despite experiments with democratic urban governance at the local level, postgrowth approaches to economic development policies remain scarce in strategic planning; this gap must be addressed as a key focus for future research in urban governance, environmental sociology, and political innovation. Cet article analyse comment la crise & eacute;cologique affecte la mani & egrave;re dont les villes organisent leurs mod & egrave;les de d & eacute;veloppement & eacute;conomique et de coh & eacute;sion sociale & agrave; travers le cas de trois villes espagnoles. Jusqu'& agrave; la crise financi & egrave;re de 2007, les villes d & eacute;veloppaient des strat & eacute;gies de croissance & eacute;conomique et de coh & eacute;sion sociale dans un contexte de comp & eacute;titivit & eacute; croissante. N & eacute;anmoins, la crise financi & egrave;re et la prise de conscience croissante de la crise & eacute;cologique ont remis ces mod & egrave;les en question, ouvrant le d & eacute;bat sur la crise & eacute;cologique et le r & ocirc;le des villes. L'article explore la mani & egrave;re dont la gouvernance urbaine & agrave; Barcelone, S & eacute;ville et Bilbao a r & eacute;pondu & agrave; l'urgence & eacute;cologique entre 2015 et 2025. Il examine l'int & eacute;gration de la durabilit & eacute; dans la planification urbaine strat & eacute;gique, l'impact des programmes de relance post-COVID et le r & ocirc;le de la citoyennet & eacute; environnementale et des mouvements sociaux dans la mise en place des transitions & eacute;cologiques. Les r & eacute;sultats r & eacute;v & egrave;lent que les plans de relance et de r & eacute;silience post-pand & eacute;miques ont reconfigur & eacute; les strat & eacute;gies urbaines classiques, renfor & ccedil;ant la modernisation & eacute;cologique par le biais du capitalisme vert, tout en & eacute;clipsant les discussions sur les changements structurels n & eacute;cessaires pour faire face & agrave; la crise & eacute;cologique et en marginalisant le r & ocirc;le de la citoyennet & eacute; environnementale dans la gestion locale. En conclusion, malgr & eacute; les exp & eacute;riences de gouvernance urbaine d & eacute;mocratique au niveau local, les approches post-croissance des politiques de d & eacute;veloppement & eacute;conomique restent rares dans la planification strat & eacute;gique; cette lacune doit & ecirc;tre combl & eacute;e et constituer un axe prioritaire pour les futures recherches en mati & egrave;re de gouvernance urbaine, de sociologie environnementale et d'innovation politique.
The emergence of the supply chain as a site of critical inquiry follows the tendency in humanities and social sciences to position key social and environmental conflicts in the logistical infrastructures where raw materials, commodities, and bulk energy supplies circulate at startling magnitudes. This article positions supply chains as important sources of differentiation internal to the logistical field, and considers the standardized moments of supply chains as the site, method, and object of infrastructural study. To do so we offer a review of the recent scholarly literature on the critical, aesthetic, and environmental affordance of tending to scenes of logistical circulation and their significance for what we are terming “supply chain criticism.” In configuring geometries of supply chain capital as primary sites of both economic and ecological causality, we argue that reading the logics of this causality is at minimum necessary for any hermeneutic invested in mitigating, repurposing, or abolishing its flows. Thinking from the specifically aquatic spaces that connect most supply chains to one another, we open by offering a set of methodological terms for humanities scholars to consider in order to read the “seam,” the “interval,” and the “hold” of maritime capital. We then trace these sites in relation to our ongoing experience of logistics fieldwork around the ports of the North Sea. This particular economic and environmental milieu has required us to adopt a situated ethic of theorization, one that draws us into affective proximity the material frictions and flux of otherwise abstract flows. Adopting a rhythmic reading practice that runs counter to clean aesthetics of supply chains, we consider how the calibration of space, time, and volume is central to how supply chains are managed, made, and remade across distinct tempos and terrains, concluding that if logistical power is reproduced through the strategic inflection of friction and difference, then these tensions can be productively harnessed in the creation of different social practices and forms of life.
This article contends that the ocean—so often romanticized as boundless, fluid, and open—is in fact saturated: chemically, logistically, and affectively. Drawing from recent work in environmental humanities, blue humanities, and extinction studies, it reframes saturation not merely as a scientific metric but as a political and ecological condition. The sea emerges here as a site where residues of capital accumulate and circulate: a sensorium of extraction, corrosion, and multiagent pressure. The analysis unfolds in three movements. First, it revisits maps of ocean acidification—specifically aragonite saturation states—to interrogate their visual logics, affective registers, and epistemic assumptions. In dialogue with Helmreich’s chromatic critique and Alaimo’s materialist poetics, it asks what these representations disclose and occlude about marine dissolution. Second, it examines maritime traffic as a surface of capitalist saturation, where logistical networks redraw the ocean as a grid of extraction and relentless circulation. Here, the sea becomes infrastructural: crisscrossed by tankers, flagged by financial abstraction. Third, it traces the spectral presence of ghost nets—plastic apparitions that persist beyond utility—whose entanglements dramatize the slow violence of ecological breakdown as media. Rather than presenting saturation as a static endpoint, the article proposes it as a method of reading: a way to sense capitalism’s corrosive density across ecological, aesthetic, and cartographic forms. In place of redemption or narrative closure, it invites attention to viscosity, opacity, and the uneasy durations of the ecological emergency. The ocean, in this frame, is not emptied but overfull—haunted by accumulation, shaped by refusal, and vital as a critical medium for rethinking ecology in the era of loss and extinction due to capitalist praxes.
Most insights about the ecological emergency come from the earth and climate sciences as well as from the life sciences, and as such they have upset established certainties in the social sciences and humanities. At the very least, they have forced the social sciences and humanities to refocus their attention on the ways in which human societies are dependent on the condition of planet Earth and of other life forms on it. In response, it is often argued that the social sciences and humanities have to overcome their anthropocentrism and/or commitment to human exceptionalism. This article provides a selective review of this ongoing debate, certainly with a personal taint, by distinguishing an epistemological, an ontological, and a world-historical and moral-philosophical question. In the first step, the article asks how the increased knowledge of the planetary condition impacts on the condition and the results of human knowledge-seeking. The second step explores the relation between the human and the non-human, which was opened up to questioning by, in particular, some strands of research in the sociology of the sciences and technology and in anthropology. Third, the implication of the first two steps for the analysis of world history is assessed, asking about the role of human beings in creating social phenomena of large scale and long duration, such as colonialism and capitalism, and their moral responsibility for the impact of these phenomena on the planet and on human and non-human life. In conclusion, it is argued that ontological anthropocentrism can be overcome, but that some degree of human exceptionalism is unavoidable in epistemological terms and necessary in moral-philosophical terms.
Environmental stressors pose significant threats to human well-being, especially in urban areas. While extensive research—particularly in the United States—has documented higher exposures in socially vulnerable neighborhoods, studies that examine and compare residents’ perceptions of multiple environmental risks, while also accounting for actual exposure levels and neighborhood characteristics, remain relatively more limited. Our study addresses this gap by examining perceptions of residential outdoor environmental quality, integrating objective data on built and social environments with multiple measures of pollution, heat stress, and noise, alongside an original spatially referenced survey of Barcelona residents. Consistent with previous research, our results reveal distinct levels of concern among the three environmental risks, with heat stress evoking the highest level of concern. Only the concern about noise aligns significantly with measured exposure at the census tract level. By contrast, air pollution and heat stress risk perceptions are more strongly shaped by political ideology, environmental concern, and place attachment. Respondents living in wealthier neighborhoods report higher concern about heat waves, regardless of their actual levels of exposure to heat stress. The evidence suggests that perceptions of urban environmental risks are socially and spatially patterned, and not always proportional to actual exposure.
