The nature of markets: on the affinity between masculinity and (neo)liberalism

ABSTRACT

The relationship between masculinity, neoliberalism, and capitalist economy is difficult to analyse. This is apparent when we consider recent studies of neoliberal capitalism, which are almost entirely books about men, and yet this feature consistently escapes critical attention. In contrast, this article brings this relation into focus, and suggests that the critique of hegemonic masculinities is an important feature of the critique of neoliberalism. The article first reviews existing literature on the intersection of masculinity and capitalism, which is increasingly being drawn towards the analysis of neoliberalism. It then briefly takes up Michel Foucault’s study of neoliberalism, especially his contention that classical liberalism’s concern with the nature of markets maintains an ambiguous persistence within the neoliberal project, in order to consider what it may have to offer to an analysis of masculinity and neoliberalism. Finally, I turn to one of the key thinkers in the intellectual development of neoliberalism – Ludwig von Mises – and provide a critical rereading of his 1944 book Bureaucracy. I argue that, beneath its veneer of economic rationality, the text mobilizes masculinity as a technology that is crucial to managing both the affective and economic insecurities generated by neoliberal conceptions of freedom in market-based societies.     

儒学正统的重建--王船山思想的特质与定位

本文认为 ,王船山不仅是儒学思想家 ,也应当被视为宋代以来道学运动中人 ,只是他的思想形态属于道学中张载的一派 ,并与朱子有着复杂的继承关系。同时 ,船山又代表了不同于明代理学而代表了清代儒学新的学术思想的观点。在总体上 ,船山的思想方向和反思活动 ,是以“文化的反省”与“正统的重建”为主要特征。     

Museums in the U.K.: Some Evidence on Scale and Activities

This paper reviews the availability and quality of statistical evidence on the structure, visitor patterns and funding of the museum sector in the U.K. The policy context is discussed and the implications for cultural economics are reviewed.     

也谈"古代文论现代转换"的"心态"

传统的中国文学理论 ,2 0世纪“经过了六七十年的冷遇后 ,在 80年代改革开放后就逐渐引起人们的重视。 90年代 ,传统文化似乎迎来又一届‘青春’。”① 自 1 996年西安的中国古代文论现代转换研讨会开过之后 ,赞同与反对的声音都出现不少 ,就我耳闻目见所及 ,怀疑或反对的声音里 ,提出不少古代文论向现代转换的难题 ,确是值得深入思考 ;但有一个声音 ,使我很惊讶 :在我看来 ,“现代转换”也好 ,“失语”也好 ,都是一种漠视传统的“无根心态”的表述 ,是一种崇拜西学的“殖民心态”的显露。②若依此反推 ,让“中国古代文学思想”继续被“冷遇…     

"乐"的超越与"仁"爱之美--孔子美学的"类"觉醒本质探源

孔子美学通过人生的“乐之”境界 ,明确提出了其对美的形成根源的根本看法 ,指出了美在整个社会生活中的地位和作用 ,从而奠定了儒家美学的“类”本体论基础。“里仁为美”体现了他的入世致用和境界物化的美学内容 ,是“乐之”境界的“仁”学实践。而“大同”理想则体现了他对人的“类”本质和社会发展“类”归宿的天才觉悟及对异化的断然拒绝 ,表明了人与人、人与自然感应相通、呼吸与共、和谐相处的可能性 ,即在与天“同一”的“乐”的和谐态中所达到的超生物和超社会的审美存在 ,这是人性在获得物质和社会的非异化满足后的美学归宿。     

'I Caught the Sudden Look of Some Dead Master': Eliot's Tradition and Modern Materialism

This essay explores the relations between T. S. Eliot's concept of tradition and the ‘modern materialism’ of Walter Benjamin, Jacques Lacan and Louis Althusser, and considers the implications of this resonance for both Eliot's critical legacy and the Marxist tradition. Initially surveying the critical controversy surrounding the canonical figure of Eliot and recent attempts to reconcile his avant-garde poetics with his reactionary social thought, the essay traces the roots of Eliot's tradition in a Nietzschean critique of historicism and its development into a theory of culture. Eliot's persistent drive towards impersonality echoes (and problematises) the efforts of Benjamin, Lacan and Althusser to construct a model of the social process that incorporates the unconscious. Rather than ultimately determining a set of political positions, the ‘missed encounter’ between Eliot's tradition and ‘modern materialism’ draws to light the Hegelian historicisms that haunt materialist theories of culture.     

The Performance of German Motion Pictures,Profits and Subsidies: Some Empirical Evidence

This paper pursues three objectives. First, it seeks to identify the determinants of performance of German motion pictures in terms of cinema admissions and producers’ rates of return. Second, against the background of heavy subsidization of the German film industry, it discusses two types of subsidy allocation: committee principle allocation and reference principle allocation. Third, the profitability of the industry is considered as the presumed economic non-viability of the industry constantly recurs in the public debate as an argument for subsidies.     

Two-Part Share Contracts, Risk, and the Life Cycle of Stars: Some Empirical Results from Motion Picture Contracts

What determines the market value of a star? This paper examines the size of fixed payments to leading actors in the U.S. motion picture industry from a sample of contracts between 1959 and 1989. Competing explanations for the size of compensation, including rent capture, risk sharing, signalling, and portfolio optimization by studio executives are explored. The size of fixed payment across all contract types moves with an actor's history of participating in top-20 grossing films over the past five, ten, fifteen, and twenty films. Further, the impact of past top-20 successes is enhanced by the length of the actor's career. When contracts are divided into those with both fixed payments and share payments and those with only fixed payments, the fixed payment in two-part share contracts is influenced to some extent by risk concerns, in addition to the actor's star power. Fixed-payment-only contracts are most strongly influenced by measures of signalling and star power. Data on both types of contract provide strong support for the rent-capture theory: actors are paid rents upfront for the star value they add to the production.     

A Mössbauer study of some coloured marbles (cipollino mandolato, rosso antico and fior di pesco): implications on the nature of their colour

⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy permits an explanation of the formation of the iron-bearing species present in three types of coloured marbles, known as cipollino mandolato, rosso antico and fior di pesco. Structural Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ located in silicates, together with the remains of weakly ferromagnetic hematite, arise from primary sediments. Fe²⁺ located in carbonates and anti-ferromagnetic hematite are formed by redox processes during marble formation. The relative contents of the iron species in the three types of marbles depend on the composition of the primary sediments and on local conditions during metamorphism. Knowledge of the type and amount of the iron species in marbles may help in the reconstruction of the redox processes, which took place during marble formation. The deviations of the Morin transition of the hematites play the role of genetic indicator because purity, crystallinity and the red hues of hematites in marbles can be related to the environment of formation.     

Damage on hydraulic mortars: the Venice Arsenal

Very few scientific studies have been performed so far on ancient and modern hydraulic mortars. The effects of atmospheric multi-pollutants on hydraulic mortars used in monuments and historic buildings in urban areas, especially those linked to dry and wet carbon and sulphur deposition, remain in need of thorough investigation. In the literature, studies on damage typology identification, composition and origin and relative quantitative data are both scarce and rather poor in quality. While the sulphate source from marine spray deposition and water capillary rising are known, atmospheric sulphur effects on mortars still require elucidation. Ancient and modern hydraulic mortars have been collected from the Arsenal of Venice. The original material characterisation and the evaluation of the surface damage due to atmospheric pollution are presented along with a comparison of the data obtained for the cement and cocciopesto mortars.     

Balancing the score: the financial impact of resource dependence on symphony orchestras

Expenses in the performing arts have historically increased at a rate faster than earned revenues due to the labour reliance of the sector. Flanagan (The perilous life of symphony orchestras: artistic triumphs and economic challenges. Yale University Press, New York, 2012) found that US symphony orchestras were able to avoid the negative consequences of this earning gap by fostering strong private support. In the present study, we find that, in contexts where private funding is not as readily accessible, like in Canada, arts organizations have more incentive to keep expenses under control. This can be understood in terms of resource dependence where government funding bodies, due to a homogeneous set of demands, put pressure on organizations to control their expenses and reach greater audiences. Using panel data covering a period of 8 years and forty-eight orchestras, the results show that Canadian orchestras, when compared to US ones, achieve a lower rate of expense increases over time and are more reactive to economic downturns.     

温州瓯窑国宝级文物——“海上丝绸之路”重要物证

正近日,笔者从温州博物馆获悉,在第一次全国可移动文物普查中,温州共登录一级文物183件(套),其中东晋瓯窑青釉褐彩瓷鸡首壶、北宋瓯窑青釉观音菩萨瓷坐像、北宋瓯窑青釉褐彩蕨草纹瓷执壶等3件瓯窑极为罕见,为瓯窑艺术的代表作。