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1	Arnon Grunberg : die retoriek van oorlog en die etiek van getuienis Bartlett, Rentia 12 1900 (has links) Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die oorlogsretoriek van die Nederlandse skrywer en openbare intellektueel, Arnon Grunberg, word in hierdie tesis bestudeer en verbind met etiese vraagstukke wat deur sy werk opgeroep word. Daar word ondersoek op welke wyse reportage uit Kamermeisjes en soldaten; die roman Onze oom; en enkele essays geskryf deur Grunberg asook deur sy heteroniem Marek van der Jagt die leser prikkel om etiese vrae te stel, na aanleiding van die wyse waarop hierdie tekste van retoriese middele gebruik maak, of daarop kommentaar lewer. Die reportages wat Grunberg as klandestiene joernalis in onder andere Afghanistan, Irak en Guantánamo Bay geskryf het, word ondersoek om te bepaal hoe hy “die ander” uitbeeld wat hy in hierdie oorlogsterreine ontmoet. Daar word geargumenteer dat Grunberg se reportage nie as instrumentalisties beskou kan word nie omdat hy probeer om sy subjekte as ongelyksoortig uit te beeld. Grunberg dui die werking van retoriek in hierdie literêre joernalistiek aan deur die gaping tussen die sg. offisiële diskoers en die werklikheid aan te stip. Hierdie reportages word beskou as tekste wat die werking van retoriek ten toon stel en kommentaar lewer op die impak van retoriese meganismes. Die ondersoek na die oorlogsretoriek van Grunberg behels ook die bestudering van die roman Onze oom, ’n verhaal gebaseer op werklike oorlogservarings en gesprekke met soldate. Grunberg maak met hierdie roman ’n studie van die potensiële mag van woorde om “immorele dade” te regverdig, deur die kortsluiting te wys tussen die “werklikheid” en die karakters se opvattings. Daar word stilgestaan by die weerstand wat hierdie roman teen appropriasie bied in die manier waarop die teks geen eenvoudige morele boodskap verkondig nie, en nie as ’n vervoermiddel van ’n sekere boodskap – vir of teen oorlog of rewolusie – beskou kan word nie. Dit is eerder ’n roman wat die illusionêre gedagtegoed van sy karakters aanspreek en daardeur die gevaar van retoriek as ’n vorm van vleitaal ten toon stel. In plaas daarvan om Onze oom as ’n etiese roman te beskou wat sy subjek op ’n etiese wyse verteenwoordig, kan dit gesien word as ’n roman wat ’n etiese eksperiment aangaan en weerstand bied teen ’n finale interpretasie. Die term “oorlogsretoriek” verwys in hierdie tesis ten slotte na die potensiaal van ’n diskoers om verandering te bewerkstellig. Die oortuigende retoriese effek van Grunberg se gebruik van aforismes of maxims word ondersoek en daar word bevind dat Grunberg die maatskaplike relevansie van fiksie probeer bevestig. Aan die ander kant maak hy gebruik van ironie en dubbelsinnigheid wat hierdie absolute uitsprake kompliseer. Dié spel tussen betrokkenheid en afsydige ironie lei daartoe dat sy werk nié as manifes vir of propaganda teen ’n sekere saak beskou kan word nie. Die sosiale en sosiologiese betrokkenheid van Grunberg is nie onproblematies of duidelik definieerbaar nie. Die konflik wat hierdie tekste genereer, stimuleer by die leser ’n kritiese besef van eties-komplekse vraagstukke oor die verhouding tussen “die self” en “die ander”, en kan daarom gesien word as ’n vorm van “etiese getuienis”. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis makes a study of the war rhetoric of the Dutch writer and public intellectual, Arnon Grunberg, and connects it to the ethical demands provoked by his work. The ethical questions being triggered by his literary journalism from Kamermeisjes en soldaten [Chambermaids and soldiers]; his novel Onze oom [Our uncle]; and singular essays (partly written under Grunberg’s heteronym Marek van der Jagt) are examined to determine how these texts make use of or comment on rhetorical devices. Grunberg’s literary journalism, written as an undercover journalist in, amongst other places, Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, is studied in order to define how he portrays “the other” that he comes across in these war zones. It is argued that Grunberg’s journalism cannot be classified as instrumentalist. He rather tries to portray his subjects as heterogeneous. Grunberg points to the working of rhetoric in these reportage by demonstrating the gap between the so-called official discourse and reality. These reportages are seen as texts that depict the workings of rhetoric and comment on the power thereof to have a certain effect. A study of Arnon Grunberg’s war rhetoric also includes the examination of the novel Onze oom, a narrative based on real war experiences and conversations with soldiers. With this novel Grunberg makes a study of the potential power of words to justify “immoral deeds” by exposing the short-circuit between the “reality” and the characters’ interpretation thereof. The way in which this novel offers resistance against appropriation is inspected. It is argued that it does not proclaim a simple moral message and is not a conveyor of a specific agenda – for or against war or revolution. Rather, it is a novel that addresses the illusionary sentiments and reflections of its characters and therewith depicts the danger of rhetoric as a form of flattery. Instead of considering Onze oom as an ethical novel that represents its subject in an ethical manner, it is a novel that makes an ethical experiment and provides resistance against a final or firm interpretation. The term “war rhetoric” in this thesis finally refers to the potential of discourse to bring about change. The convincing rhetorical effect of Grunberg’s use of aphorisms or maxims are examined as a case in point of his aim to affirm the relevance of fiction to have a social effect. On the other hand his use of irony and ambiguity complicates these absolute utterances. This play between engagement and detached irony prohibits the reader to see his work as a form of propaganda for or against a certain cause. It is concluded that Grunberg’s social and societal engagement is not unproblematic or clearly definable. The conflict that these texts generate, stimulates with the reader the critical understanding of ethical-complex questions about the relation between “the self” and “the other” and is therefore considered as a form of “ethical witnessing”. War in literature Rhetoric in literature UCTD
2	The Social Construction of Economic Man: The Genesis, Spread, Impact and Institutionalisation of Economic Ideas Mackinnon, Lauchlan A. K. Unknown Date (has links) The present thesis is concerned with the genesis, diffusion, impact and institutionalisation of economic ideas. Despite Keynes's oft-cited comments to the effect that 'the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood'(Keynes 1936: 383), and the highly visible impact of economic ideas (for example Keynesian economics, Monetarism, or economic ideas regarding deregulation and antitrust issues) on the economic system, economists have done little to systematically explore the spread and impact of economic ideas. In fact, with only a few notable exceptions, the majority of scholarly work concerning the spread and impact of economic ideas has been developed outside of the economics literature, for example in the political institutionalist literature in the social sciences. The present thesis addresses the current lack of attention to the spread and impact of economic ideas by economists by drawing on the political institutionalist, sociological, and psychology of creativity literatures to develop a framework in which the genesis, spread, impact and institutionalisation of economic ideas may be understood. To articulate the dissemination and impact of economic ideas within economics, I consider as a case study the evolution of economists' conception of the economic agent - "homo oeconomicus." I argue that the intellectual milieu or paradigm of economics is 'socially constructed' in a specific sense, namely: (i) economic ideas are created or modified by particular individuals; (ii) economic ideas are disseminated (iii) certain economic ideas are accepted by economists and (iv) economic ideas become institutionalised into the paradigm or milieu of economics. Economic ideas are, of course, disseminated not only within economics to fellow economists, but are also disseminated externally to economic policy makers and business leaders who can - and often do - take economic ideas into account when formulating policy and building economic institutions. Important economic institutions are thereby socially constructed, in the general sense proposed by Berger and Luckmann (1966). But how exactly do economic ideas enter into this process of social construction of economic institutions? Drawing from and building on structure/agency theory (e.g. Berger and Luckmann 1966; Bourdieu 1977; Bhaskar 1979/1998, 1989; Bourdieu 1990; Lawson 1997, 2003) in the wider social sciences, I provide a framework for understanding how economic ideas enter into the process of social construction of economic institutions. Finally, I take up a methodological question: if economic ideas are disseminated, and if economic ideas have a real and constitutive impact on the economic system being modelled, does 'economic science' then accurately and objectively model an independently existing economic reality, unchanged by economic theory, or does economic theory have an interdependent and 'reflexive' relationship with economic reality, as economic reality co-exists with, is shaped by, and also shapes economic theory? I argue the latter, and consider the implications for evaluating in what sense economic science is, in fact, a science in the classical sense. The thesis makes original contributions to understanding the genesis of economic ideas in the psychological creative work processes of economists; understanding the ontological location of economic ideas in the economic system; articulating the social construction of economic ideas; and highlighting the importance of the spread of economic ideas to economic practice and economic methodology. 410401 Design Theory 349901 Political Economy 370000 Studies in Human Society 340302 History of Economic Thought 349900 Other Economics 410402 Design Innovation 360201 Public Policy 360000 Policy and Political Science 380100 Psychology 360100 Political Science 360200 Policy and Administration 370101 Social Theory 370102 Social Policy and Planning 340100 Economic Theory genesis spread diffusion impact institutionalisation economic ideas idea ideation psychology of creativity Wallas Wertheimer stage model productive thinking creative creativity process economic economics sociology social methodology methodological self-altering self-fulfilling self-denying prophecy belief reflexive reflexivity institution institutionalise institutionalised social construction Berger Luckmann Bhaskar critical realism Lawson Bordieu habitus field spread impact ideation ideational structure social structure action creativity creative economists sociology philosophy of science homo economicus homo oeconomicus economic man economic agent rational economic man man lucas critique Goodhart's law Keynes Marx Mill Hayek Hicks Samuelson Walras Jevons Arrow Debreu Samuelson Merton sociology of economics sociology of scientific knowledge SSK Holton prediction control reflexive prediction reflexivity Whitley Mackie canonization Henshel Grunberg Modigliani Morgenstern Lucas Muth Simon Blyth Hall Sikkink Hira Hood institutionalize institutionalized socialise socialisation internalise internalisation internalization socialization behaviour behavior Thomas theorem expectations stage model productive thinking evolution

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Arnon Grunberg : die retoriek van oorlog en die etiek van getuienis

The Social Construction of Economic Man: The Genesis, Spread, Impact and Institutionalisation of Economic Ideas