Media

This work reflects on how the representation of the Arab world has evolved in three fictional works that have emerged in the second decade of the 21st century: Homeland (Showtime Networks, 2011-2020), Tyrant (FX Network-Fox, 2014-2016), and Jack Ryan (Amazon Prime Video, 2018-). The goal is to determine whether the main socio-political milestones that occurred during this period (the Arab Spring, Syrian Civil War, appearance of ISIS, etc.) have transformed the already classic theories of authors such as Edward Said, Jack Shaheen, or Evelyn Alsultany, among others. A viewing and analysis of the first season of each show demonstrates that the panorama has not improved in terms of discourse, topics, and stereotypes. It is clear, therefore, that the lens of 9/11 is still very present in the Hollywood mindset regarding Arabs, Muslims, and Islam.

Given the on-going nature of this crisis, it’s too early for the full implications to be realized. However, it’s clear that the news industry which emerges on the other side will look very different from the one that went into it.

Nonetheless, what this report shows is that we can start to identify the key characteristics inherent in those outlets who look best placed to navigate this situation.

Tl;DR think “audience first.”

“Businesses that focus on the audience first and advertising second will be better equipped to handle the consequences of the pandemic,” argues Curtis Huber, Senior Director of Circulation and Audience Revenue at the Seattle Times.

What does that mean in practice? Here’s a topline six-point playbook.

Last year, at this conference, I discussed how distinctions between nature and culture, and humans and animals, can arise from the technical processes of food production (see "Food as an object of cultural technical study "). Drawing on the work of cultural techniques (e.g. Siegert 2015; Vismann 2013) and Levi-Strauss' The Raw and the Cooked (1970), I argued that the relationship between humans and food is primary to how the human understands itself and forms part of the ground of human ontological systems. I'd like to take this argument further today, to a system-level perspective of food production and beyond, to a posthuman future where food no longer resembles what we know it as today, and because of this, where the human as such arguably ceases to exist, as the ground upon which it has defined self and species is transcended. I'm responding both to fictional future food visions and aspirations towards technical solutions to our current food-related crises.

This chapter explores the use of music and digital media in the Chanjo campaign against corruption in Tanzania, focusing on mediations of agency. Building on Latour (2005), I use the concept mediated agency to refer to a process in which different cultural forms (mediators) bring about social transformation (agency). In so doing I recognize the ‘agency of art,’ especially its embeddedness in networks of social relations and its ‘practical mediatory role’ in processes of social change (Gell 1998). Similarly, I appreciate media and other mediators in the broader sense of ‘social mediation,’ with an emphasis on social interaction and exchange (Boyer 2012). Thus, while understanding agency in the sense of transformative action or practice, I build on anthropological theories of mediation, focusing on social processes of intervention and interaction that include but go beyond different forms of media. In this chapter, I will argue that the Chanjo campaign creates a platform that mediates the agency of participants, empowering them to speak up against corruption. The music itself is of course an important form of mediation, but so is the method of delivery, not least the interaction with the audience, as well as the mobility of the campaign. These layers of mediation intersect in different ways, which enforces the process of social and cultural transformation. Through digital mediations and remediations (Bolter and Grusin 1999), especially through social and mobile media, the campaign expands in time and space, thus extending agency beyond the tour itself.

İletişim olgusu, toplumsal bir varlık olan insan için her dönem önemli bir konuma sahip olmuştur. Tarihin ilk dönemlerinden itibaren doğa ile iç içe yaşayan insan beslenme, barınma ve korunma gibi temel ihtiyaçlarını giderirken iletişim kurmaya çabalamıştır. İletişim her dönem insanların hayatlarını biçimlendirmiş, yaşayışlarına yön vermiştir. Toplumsal dönüşümü hızlandıran ve sosyalleşmeyi biçimlendiren iletişim olgusu, medyanın etkisiyle birlikte daha zengin bir yapıya kavuşmuştur. Geleneksel medyadan yeni medyaya dönüşüm sürecinde iletişim teknolojileri etkisini derinden hissettirmiş ve içinde yaşadığımız dönem “medya çağı” olarak ifade edilmeye başlamıştır. İletişim bugün gerek sokakta, gerek evde izlediğimiz televizyonlarda, gerek sanal ortamda ve gerekse de reel hayatımızda vazgeçemediğimiz olgular arasında yer almaktadır. 23 farklı çalışmadan oluşan bu kitap, altı farklı kategoride bulunan bilimsel çalışmaları kapsamaktadır. Bu kategoriler sırasıyla; “Halkla İlişkiler ve Medya”, “Bilişim ve Medya”, “Sinema ve Medya”, “Sanat ve Medya”, “Kültür ve Medya”, “Siyasal İletişim ve Medya”dır.

Studies of electoral authoritarianism in Southeast Asia highlight the significance of a compliant media in acting as an obstacle to democratization. Analyses of Malaysian politics are no different. Although the media in Malaysia is largely private, most observers point to the various legislative mechanisms and ownership structures through which compliance is ensured. Although most political scientists have concluded that such mechanisms ensure there is a progovernment bias, there have been few attempts to measure this bias and analyze its impact. With this study, the author aims to begin to fill that gap by studying the degree to which newspapers in Malaysia display partisanship in their coverage of Malaysian politics. To do so, two Malay-language newspapers were selected for coding, using two separate two-week periods as samples. The first period coincided with the March 2008 Malaysian general election, and the second, serving as a control, was from October 2006. Having demonstrated a clear degree of progovernment bias in both newspapers, the author then explores the factors postulated to explain this.

Twitter makes visible some of the most fundamental divides in professional journalism today. It reveals tensions about what constitutes news, the norms guiding journalists providing it, professional identity, and public service. This article argues that these tensions result from a clash between the institutional logic of professional control (Lewis, 2012) and an ethic of transparency. Drawing from extensive research on a political press corps, involving observation, interviews, and analysis of tweets, this study witnesses the adoption of Twitter in the everyday working practices of reporters. It thereby also provides reasons why Twitter has been so successful in journalism. Tensions between professional control and transparency in journalism may, furthermore, be emblematic for divides in other professions today.

O presente estudo sobre criminologia mediática e direitos humanos pretende analisar a evolução da relação entre estes objetos, com o objetivo de compreender como os discursos mediáticos foram capazes de influenciar tantas pessoas, particularmente em dois momentos da história, durante o caso Dreyfus, na França; e o nazismo, na Alemanha. Para tanto, será utilizado a metodologia indutiva, com emprego da técnica de análise documental e bibliográfica. Através de revisão bibliográfica, busca-se compreender os discursos da criminologia mediática, notadamente aqueles introduzidos nos fait divers e nas propagandas.

This PDF includes Chapters 1 and 2 of the innovative text anthology, designed for use in Media Studies courses, especially large lecture courses like "Media and Society."
-- The book combines movies and texts to introduce students to critical media studies. Accessible and readable, the book is well-liked by students. Topics include the Spectacle, Hyperreality, the Global Village, Social/Mobile Media, Capitalism and Counterculture, Surveillance and Privacy, Ecology and the Anthropocene, Media and Science, Media Futures, the Meme (original version from Dawkins), and many others.
-- Upon adoption, I will provide handouts, syllabus, PPTs.
-- Published by Cognella.  https://titles.cognella.com/media-environments-9781516521104

Abstract

This book is theoretical, in which the relevant parts of sociological and anthropological specialist literature on football and social processes were synthetically summarized. I focused only on the theories that were relevant to me, excluding popular literature dealing with the strategic-tactical connections of soccer as a physical game, the bibliography presenting the practice of the physical training and nutrition of the body, as well as the rich storehouse of related psychological and pedagogical writings and that of the literature referring to the economic and financial, marketing and promotion component of the issue. The biographical books of famous football players are not discussed, either. In the introductory part the sociological literature of football is delineated, making reference to the themes and questions raised, explanatory models, paradigmatic viewpoints, which characterize the „sociology of football”, as a specialized branch with a scientific status, recognized as such by the academic field. In fact, the possible taxonomy, the possible spectrum of the questions raised is examined. By a small detour the social role of sports, and the connections between the mass media and sports, particularly football are discussed, and references are provided on how soccer can indeed be a social issue. Football is seen as a rite, a postmodern deep play as a legitimacy and political-manipulative instrument, about the phenomena of violence, hooliganism and the ultras, about the relationship between soccer and criminality, inequality, racism, anti-Semitism, or masculinity, identity and modernization. We primarily relied on English language, mostly British and American specialized literature, as the largest part of the specialist literature was produced there. (This reflects well the English origins of modern age football, “they invented it” and spread it across the globe. Then they were the ones to write the most about it).

So, the Sociology of Football is an encompassing synthesis of the sociology of football; it also contains illustrations and talkative examples from Romanian football and changing social reality.

On this first level, I have presented the literature on the following issues: violence in football as the most prominent topic in the sociology of football; the role of football as a producer of identity, collective consciousness, and as laic ritual of postmodern society; the relationship between soccer and masculinity. In this last respect, I argue that highly mediated star players can define patterns of normative masculinity as sex symbols and as integral parts of a culture of celebrity. Thus, the way media presents football in general and players in particular, characterizing them and describing their expectations, is in fact the method they build normative patterns of masculinity strongly and closely related to national character. It relates to the way an imagined community looks on itself: it represents outer (aesthetics, the way it looks like) and inner (moral, the way it behaves) characteristics, the here and now of valid characters of masculinity, traits blend with qualities of national ones. I have also looked at the symbiotic relation between football and political power, since power structures football (playing style, economic, political, and logistic conditions, legitimate goals football may express and institute). However, soccer feeds back on politics, shapes to a certain extent the behaviour of political elites (for example legitimizes certain decisions, raises questions, or represents a context in which certain problems can be formulated). The relation between football and media is another important subject treated here: football is highly mediated and has become a TV show on its own, the practice of football, and the logic of media institutions are closely related. Media “produce” football because it needs football and thus football can be perceived as a commoditized popular culture product. In the current era of global media, entertainment industry produces this good.

Disrupting the Gaze is written in three parts. The first chapter Art Intervention and the Tate Gallery investigates contemporary art intervention at the Tate Gallery. It includes artists, art groups and activists: Graham Harwood, Platform, Liberate Tate, IOCOSE, Tamiko Thiel, Mel Evans, Mark McGowan, Mark Wallinger, Damien Hirst and Britart. The second chapter The Power and the Gaze studies the history of the Tate Gallery, its connection with the Millbank Penetentiary and the “Panopticon", Jeremy Bentham’s design and concept for the prison. The third chapter explores different concepts of “the gaze” and includes feminist, societal and media art contexts. Together they form part of a larger study that looks at dissent in the context of contemporary art, technology and social change.
Each artist(s) featured in this chapter delivers his or her own particular unofficial and official mode of art intervention at the Tate Gallery. Whether these interventions concern economic, social or political conditions, they all connect in different ways. Less in their style or genre than as contemporary artistic practitioners exploring their own states of agency in a world where our public interfaces are as much a necessary place of creative engagement, as is the already accepted physical ‘inner’ sanctum of the gallery space. These artists’ and their artworks have become as equally significant (perhaps even more) than, the mainstream art establishment’s franchised celebrities.
In his vindication of those artists hidden away in places where the art establishment’s light rarely shines, Gregory Sholette observes that “when, the excluded are made visible, when they demand visibility, it is always ultimately a matter of politics and rethinking history.”  (Sholette 2011) This draws upon a contemporary art culture and its audiences beyond the mainstream. These artistic discoveries and discourse arise from an independent art culture that is rarely reflected back to us. Instead, we receive more of the same, marketed franchises. The central, mainstream version of contemporary art has found its allies within a global and corporate culture, where business dictates art value. Meanwhile, a spirit of artistic emancipation thrives. It is self styled, self governed and liberated from the restrictive norms that dominate our mediated gaze.

The role of leadership in an organizational system has remained of central concern in organization studies. Over the time, the emergence of various theories has unfolded the unique influential roles of leadership embedded in organizational management. Among various leadership styles and theories, a relatively new concept of Authentic Leadership (AL) is worthy of attention with respect to the changing demands of the media industry. The origin of the concept of authenticity is found in ancient Greek philosophy and it is defined in history as “being true to oneself”. Trust is the basic constituent based on which people can count on one another and work together in a conducive environment. AL is an idea to leadership that focuses on developing leader’s legitimacy via “honest relationships with followers”. In this study, AL is measured through four dimensions that include Self-awareness, Balanced Processing, Moral Perspective and Relational Transparency. Media is expected to be a watchdo...

The media are home to an eclectic bunch of people. This book is about who they are, what they do, and what their work means to them. Based on interviews with media professionals in the United States, New Zealand, South Africa, and The Netherlands, and drawing from both scholarly and professional literatures in a wide variety of disciplines, it offers an account of what it is like to work in the media today.
Media professionals face tough choices. Boundaries are drawn and erased: between commerce and creativity, between individualism and teamwork, between security and independence. Digital media supercharge these dilemmas, as industries merge and media converge, as audiences become co-creators of content online.
The media industries are the pioneers of the digital age. This book is a critical primer on how media workers manage to survive, and is essential reading for anyone considering a career in the media, or who wishes to understand how the media are made.

The article discusses the production of live television formats, as they have developed in Europe during the past decade. The analytical examples are taken from entertainment as well as factual television, and from public service as well as commercial contexts. In the article, it is argued that there has been an approximation between the textual features and generic and narrative structures of entertainment and factual live television, and a model is presented that is supposed to account for these narrative patterns.

Research and critical studies into men and masculinity has originated as one of the most emerging areas of sociological investigation. More books and articles have been published on this study area alone as well as the introduction of two specialized journals and the creation of several websites all providing different explanations of their understanding of men and masculinity at the millennium age. Masculinity is an area of sociology that has, since the mid-1950s, drawn on many theories, including structural functionalism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, critical structuralism, and more recently, post-structuralism and theories of the post-modern (Whitehead & Barrett, 2001). Within popular culture, the media have also come across the perceived 'crisis of masculinity' in Western cultures – newspapers, documentaries and talk shows have increasingly pondered the changing meaning of manhood in our modern age (Alsop et al, 2002). The purpose of this writing is to understand men and masculinity in the modern world putting into consideration the sociology of masculinity, the social construction of masculinity, the crisis within masculinity as well as a fair contrast with masculinity and feminism.

This dissertation analyzes the postfeminist tendencies and biopolitics in contemporary media practices by considering the pop culture exemplar, the Kardashian-Jenner family.

This dissertation received First Class Honors from Trinity College Dublin.
Vanessa graduated with Distinction in B.A. English Literature and Media Studies.

Before the former Yugoslavia was divided by wars, its inhabitants successfully lived side by side in peace. This collection seeks to explain how former neighbors became enemies, with the hope that understanding what drove these peoples apart will help us discover ways for them to coexist in peace again.Contributors analyze political cartoons, psychiatry, the arts, visual media, and law to present a diversity of views on the conflicts in Yugoslavia. While the chapters in this book deal with regional developments, they are not so much focused on politics as they are concerned with how values and attitudes are altered and new identities formed. Thus, this volume goes beyond recent journalistic accounts and should remain relevant for years to come.This book began as a special issue of the journal Anthropology of East Europe Review. Most of the contributors to that issue have revised their chapters for this collection, and new chapters have been added, including one on the recent war in Kosovo. Essays range across all of former Yugoslavia, emphasizing the variability and diversity of ethnic relations throughout its history: Joel M. Halpern & David A. Kideckel (eds.)

In 1998, in a paper in which he explained the mechanisms used in Hollywood to divide the revenue generated by feature films among different stakeholders, Mark Weinstein (1998) argued that only ten to twenty percent of these projects actually were showing a positive figure under the heading “net profits”. Ten years later, the United Nations (2998) also acknowledged that; as it was widely recognized, yet without mentioning any empirical study that might corroborate the use of such a precise figure, only 20 percent of movies were making a profit. Moreover, as this report informed, the surplus generated by these extremely successful projects was so large that it offset the cumulated losses generated by the remaining 80 percent of feature films. The implications of the existence of uncontested and long lasting belief about the high risks that companies in the filmmaking business have to face and overcome, should not to be neglected: when policy makers accept that the outcome of a movie is highly unpredictable and the gap in terms of income between a success and a failure can be substantial, they are also more inclined to accept concentration in this sector as a way to reduce risk and increase investments. Epstein‟s book “The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind the Movies” does not reveal what percentage of feature film is likely to pass the break-even point, nor it denies that filmmaking can be a risky business in financial terms. The main contribution to knowledge from this book comes from his explanation of the financial practices of the producers-distributors that are now part of the largest info-entertainment conglomerates and are the descendent of the major Hollywood studios (i.e. the „Majors‟). After reading this book, the reader will understand that making movies for these companies and for the conglomerates they are part of, is a rather stable, low-risk and very profitable activity.

In the age of disruption and in today’s platform society (Van Dijck et al., 2019), communication between nation states is influenced by the development of technology. The nation state is responding to the new communication environment through “techplomacy” and through the use of Artificial Intelligence as a strategic asset in the global tech race. Artificial Intelligence (AI), including the strategies to come up with viable AI, has a big potential for nation branding, being also a competitive advantage for countries worldwide. In this context, the aim of our research is to investigate technology as a soft power (Nye, 2004) instrument for Romania and to analyze how the nation brand is constructed in relation to technology. In doing so, our research revolves around the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy for Romania, presented at the IT&C Summit on May 8, 2019, and 50 news articles, published in the quality press (Adevărul, Gândul, România Liberă) employing mixed methods such as fra...

Türkiye, uzun yıllardan beridir çeşitli ideolojilerde ve yapılarda terör örgütleriyle çeşitli yoğunluklarda mücadele etmiş ve etmeye devam eden bir ülkedir. Kürdistan İşçi Partisinin de (PKK- Partîya Karkerên Kurdistanê) bu terör örgütlerinin başında geldiği bilinmektedir. Ayrıca ülkeye maddi ve manevi anlamda verdiği zararlar çok büyük boyutlara ulaşmıştır. Bir terör örgütü olarak PKK, eylemlerinde silahlı yöntemlerin yanı sıra bu eylemleri ge-niş kitlelere ulaştırma, meşruiyet iddiasını sağlamlaştırma ve ele-man temini amacıyla yoğun biçimde propaganda faaliyetleri de yürütmektedir. Özellikle XXI. yüzyıl bağlamında terör örgütleri-nin propagandayı bir mücadele yöntemi olarak benimseme eğili-minin gün geçtikçe artış göstermesiyle PKK da propaganda uygu-lamalarını sürekli genişletmiş ve çeşitlendirmiştir.
Çalışmanın sonucunda hem Türkiye‟nin
hem de PKK‟nın propaganda dili, söylemi ve uygulamalarının
2000‟li yıllarda değişim gösterdiği, propagandanın giderek iki taraf
için de önem kazandığı savlanmaktadır. Son olarak da çalışmada,
Türkiye‟nin terörle mücadelede benimsediği propaganda yöntemleri
ve uygulamalarıyla PKK‟nın propaganda uygulamaları karşılaştırılmakta,
tespit ve önerilere yer verilmektedir.

Vladimiro Giacché, La fabbrica del falso. Strategie della menzogna nella politica contemporanea, 3a ed., Reggio Emilia, Imprimatur, 2016, rist. 2018.

I diritti di pubblicazione appartengono esclusivamente all’autore.
È consentita la riproduzione del testo o di sue parti solo a fini non commerciali.

Indice:
7    Premessa

11  Parte prima. Guerra alla verità:
15  1. Fenomenologia della menzogna
71  2. Menzogna, ideologia, informazione: iluoghi comuni della «guerra al terrore»
101 3. La Democrazia in ostaggio
131 4. La Sicurezza al primo posto
153 5. Mercato: i mille volti di un prestanome
175 6. Totalitarismo: triste storia di un non-concetto
199 7. Dialettica del Terrorismo

229  Parte seconda. La verità del falso:
233 8. Uomini e merci. Cronache dal mondo alla rovescia
261 9. Potere e regressione
291 10. La fabbrica del falso

315  Parte terza. Strategie di resistenza:
321 11. Spiragli
343 12. Dire la verità
365 13. Smascheramenti
385 14. La verità ricordata
405 15. Parliamo di noi

The massacre of almost 50 Maidan protesters on February 20, 2014 was a turning point in Ukrainian politics and a tipping point in the conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine. This mass killing of the protesters and the mass shooting of the police that preceded it led to the overthrow of the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych and gave a start to a civil war in Donbas in Eastern Ukraine, Russian military intervention in Crimea and Donbas, and an international conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine. A conclusion promoted by the post-Yanukovych governments and the media in Ukraine that the massacre was perpetrated by government snipers and special police units on a Yanukovych order has been nearly universally accepted by the Western governments, the media, and many scholars. The Ukrainian government investigation identified members of the special company of Berkut as responsible for killings of the absolute majority of the protesters, but did not release any evidence in support, with the exception of videos of the massacre.
              The question is which side organized the “snipers’ massacre.” This paper is the first academic study of this crucial case of the mass killing. It uses a theory of rational choice and a Weberian theory of instrumental rationality to examine actions of major actors both from the Yanukovych government, specifically various police and security forces, and the Maidan opposition, specifically its far right and oligarchic elements, during the massacre.
          The paper analyzes a large amount of evidence from different publicly available sources concerning this massacre and killings of specifics protesters. Qualitative content analysis includes the following data: about 1,500 videos and recordings of live internet and TV broadcasts from mass media and social media in different countries(some 150 gigabytes), news reports and social media posts by more than 100 journalists covering the massacre from Kyiv, some 5,000 photos, and nearly 30 gigabytes of publicly available radio intercepts of snipers and commanders from the special Alfa unit of the Security Service of Ukraine and Internal Troops, and Maidan massacre trial recordings. This study also employs field research on site of the massacre, eyewitness reports by both Maidan protesters and government special units commanders, statements by both former and current government officials, estimates of approximate ballistic trajectories, bullets and weapons used, and types of wounds among both protesters and the police. This study establishes a precise timeline for various events of the massacre, the locations of both the shooters and the government snipers, and the specific timeline and locations of nearly 50 protesters’ deaths. It also briefly analyzes other major cases of violence during and after the “Euromaidan.” This study includes two video appendixes.
            This academic investigation concludes that the massacre was a false flag operation, which was rationally planned and carried out with a goal of the overthrow of the government and seizure of power. It found various evidence of the involvement of an alliance of the far right organizations, specifically the Right Sector and Svoboda, and oligarchic parties, such as Fatherland. Concealed shooters and spotters were located in at least 20 Maidan-controlled buildings or areas. The various evidence that the protesters were killed from these locations include some 70 testimonies, primarily by Maidan protesters, several videos of “snipers” targeting protesters from these buildings, comparisons of positions of the specific protesters at the time of their killing and their entry wounds, and bullet impact signs. The study uncovered various videos and photos of armed Maidan “snipers” and spotters in many of these buildings. The paper presents implications of these findings for understanding the nature of the change of the government in Ukraine, the civil war in Donbas, Russian military intervention in Crimea and Donbas, and an international conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine.

This book focuses on how media and communications policy is made and what influences its design. It explores the structures and processes in which policymaking takes place worldwide, the factors that determine its forms, influence its elements, and affect its outcomes. It explores how to analyze policy proposals, evaluate policy, and use policy studies approaches to examine policy and policymaking. International in scope, it lays out the variety of political, social, economic, and institutional influences on policy, the roles of industries and policy advocates in the processes, and issues and factors that complicate effective policymaking and skew policy outcomes.

С развитием технологий меняется, в том числе, и сфера искусства: появляются театры роботов, искусственный интеллект (ИИ) сам создает мультипликацию и пишет сценарии, 3D-принтеры сменяют ручную работу скульпторов и т.д., по сути, количество участников творческого процесса может быть сокращено в рамках создания одного произведения. В то же время, любой может стать творцом, овладев необходимыми цифровыми навыками.

Die Geschichtswissenschaft sieht sich einem doppelten Vorwurf ausgesetzt: Einerseits mische sie sich zu wenig in aktuelle gesellschaftliche Debatten ein, und andererseits sei sie zu politisch –und zwar vor allem zu links. Wie ist es zu dieser Konfrontation gekommen, und was ist dran an den Vorwürfen? Sind Historikerinnen und Historiker zur engagierten Parteinahme verpflichtet oder gibt es einen neutralen Standpunkt ausserhalb? Darüber diskutieren Caspar Hirschi, Professor für Allgemeine Geschichte an der Universität St. Gallen, Gesine Krüger, Professorin für Neuere Geschichte an der Universität Zürich, und Jakob Tanner, emeritierter Professor für Allgemeine und Schweizer Geschichte an der Universität Zürich

College seniors exist in a challenging period where lives previously based on linear course-planning transition into the uncertainty of the young-professional world (Daniels, Stewart, Stupnisky, Perry, & LoVerso, 2011). Academically and personally, upperclassmen must evolve from “check the boxes to complete the exam” to “define the problem and then solve it.” Capstone courses at their best move students from the railroad tracks of a major-sequence flowchart to the roller skates of the post-graduation world, promoting evolution from college to professional life. As teachers, one of the most important skills we can build is the ability to effectively operate in ambiguous circumstances and advance from limited-solution questions to a problem-based model with a range of interpretations of the question itself and potential answers.

Se bem a Sociologia nasce como uma "narrativa sobre a modernidade" (RITA FELSKI), o mundo contemporâneo vive transformações sociais, culturais e políticas que demandam novas análises e novos olhares. O presente trabalho aborda enfoques atuais e discursos sobre a pós-modernidade na Sociologia e na teoria social contemporâneas, identificando alguns debates centrais. Entre outras coisas, percebe-se, em muitos discursos, metáforas de "degeneração" ou deterioração social associadas a noções da "contaminação do público pelo privado", ou, de forma contrária, do "privado pelo público". Existe grande preocupação em relação a uma suposta perda de laços sociais que acompanharia a desconstrução de formas padronizadas de relacionamento (BAUMAN) ou a uma perda de possibilidades dialógicas, fruto da pulverização das identidades sociais e culturais (HABERMAS) Perante essas perspectivas e também a visão mais "otimista" de Giddens (através de sua noçã...