The matter of placing Russia in a cultural and historical context has ever since Peter the Great´s reforms in the 17th century permeated the country´s philosophical and historiographical evolution. Nowhere has this been as clear cut and caustic as the question of Norse influence in Viking-age Russia. In tandem with every major historiographical and political transition in Russia, archaeologists, philosophers and politicians alike have been forced to reassess the role of the Norse seafarers, Varangians, in the wider cultural and political development of the Russian state. Previous research has in this regard predominantly focused on the archaeology of the Varangians without considering the consequences of Russia´s political upheavals and its direct impact on the archaeological research itself. Thus, rooted in the ambition to examine the reciprocity between archaeology and politics, this essay explores how Russia´s political history has influenced the archaeological research regarding the Varangians. What his essay has tried to demonstrate, by investigating Russia's political development from the late 17th century to the modern-day in conjunction with the politically entrenched archaeology, is thus the occurrence of an ever-shifting archaeological attitude towards the Varangians.

[pt] Essa dissertação pretende debater o encontro entre feminismo e marxismo, a partir da análise central da Campanha Internacional Salários pelo Trabalho Doméstico, que tomou forma na década de 1970. A atual relevância da produção teórica e atividade política dessas feministas se dá na medida em que contribui para uma crítica da situação das mulheres no contexto de sua inserção no sistema capitalista, ou seja, das relações que se estabelecem entre elas e o capital. Segundo as autoras cujos trabalhos serão fundamentais para esta dissertação, no capitalismo, a posição social da mulher está atrelada, em boa medida, a sua exploração invisibilizada na esfera da reprodução social – aquela que engloba tudo que é necessário à reprodução da classe trabalhadora em sua condição de dependência e subordinação – da qual o modo de produção capitalista é dependente. Essas análises se desenvolveram à luz dos debates sobre a exploração do trabalho doméstico e sexual das mulheres no interior da família e perderam sua força desde a chamada virada neoliberal. A partir da década de 80, a agenda feminista se concentraria cada vez mais em pautas liberais, refletindo uma política individualista e abandonando, em boa medida, os debates em torno dos efeitos que a reorganização mundial da reprodução social, nesse período, impunha sobre os corpos e as subjetividades femininas. Acreditamos que, sem atentar para essas questões, arrisca-se a manter um feminismo que cuide sempre de sintomas, entendendo-os como a raiz dos problemas. / [en] This dissertation intend to discuss the encounter among feminism and Marxism, based on the main analysis of the International Campaign Wages for Housework, which took shape in the 1970s. The current relevance of the theoretical production and political activity of these feminists is given as it contributes for a critique of the women situation in the context of their incorporation in the capitalist system, that is, of the relations established between them and capital. According to the authors whose work will be fundamental to this dissertation, in capitalism, women s social position is, to a large extent, tied to their invisible exploitation in the sphere of social reproduction – that which encompasses all that is necessary for the reproduction of the working class in conditions of dependence and subordination – on which the capitalist mode of production is dependent. These analyzes have developed in the light of the debates about the exploitation of women s domestic and sexual work within the family and have lost their strength since neoliberal politics has taken place. From the 1980s, the feminist agenda would increasingly focus on liberal patterns, reflecting an individualistic political view, and largely abandoning debates about the effects of the worldwide reorganization of social reproduction on the female bodies and subjectivities. We believe that, without looking at these issues, we risk maintaining a feminism that always takes care of symptoms, understanding them as the root of problems.

This dissertation investigates the impact of organic farming for achieving the environmental and social objectives of sustainability in Europe over the past 20 years. Organic farming is considered the poster child of rural development in Europe, often seen as a model of the integration of small-scale production with environmental considerations. Since this model runs counter to the logic of developing capitalist structures in agriculture, I revisit the Marxian predictions regarding the "agrarian question". Furthermore, I trace the discursive changes in support of small-scale production in the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and assess whether small farms have improved their situation under the revised CAP. Subsequently, I use statistical analysis in order to assess the socio-economic and the environmental consequences of the rise in organic farming. Contrary to what is often assumed, organic farms in Europe display larger average sizes and lower rates of labor intensity than their conventional counterparts, casting doubts on the efficacy of organic farms to allow family farmers to remain in the countryside as high-value producers. I argue that this this development should be viewed as further evidence of the "conventionalization" of organic farming. In order to explain the process which led to such an outcome, I proceed to explain the different ways through which organic farms could overcome traditional problems which impeded the capitalist development of agriculture. Regarding the environmental implications, I evaluate the rise of organic farming by assessing its impact for different countries' overall pesticide and fertilizer intensity. My results are mixed, with higher organic shares being correlated with decreased application of fertilizer, but less significant results for pesticide intensity.

This essay will analyze a selection of characters from Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times. Characterizations will be analyzed by using a Marxist theoretical framework, e.g., characters’ relations to Marxist concepts such as class struggle, alienation, and stratification will be studied. The purpose of this essay is to use Marxist concepts in order to understand Dickens’ satire and critique of capitalism. This is done by applying a theory criticizing capitalism, namely Marxist theory, to some of the novel’s characters and analyzing these characters according to their relations to the main features of Marxist theory. A few characters are selected for analysis, to distinguish characteristics or traits that satirize society. Moreover, the essay will investigate whether the author alludes to Marxist concepts when satirizing contemporary society. The characters portrayed in the novel are all exposed to a society characterized by hardship, inequality, and class struggle. These concepts are all features of a society that Marxism critiques. Accordingly, the thesis is that Marxist concepts are implicit in the text and do play a role in Dickens’ satirizing of his contemporary, capitalist, industrialized society, despitenot being mentioned explicitly.

New Perspectives on Paul and Marx: William Blakes œThe Chimney Sweeper in Songs of Innocence and ExperienceLianna Jean Rose ManibogDepartment of English, BYUMaster of Arts This article explores the function of religion in socio-political spheres. Karl Marx is famously against religion in all its various capacities, arguing that it is a tool used by power structures to control the masses. William Blake, the British poet, is also seen as critical of religion, and because of this his works are often read through a Marxist lens. And yet depictions of Blake as a staunchly anti-religious man dont seem to fit with what we know of him and his works. This article reexamines key texts that deal with the question of how faith and society intersect, particularly reading the works of the Apostle Paul through a Jewish understanding. In doing so, we gain a new understanding of religion as a balancing weight that combats the dangers of the oppressive governments that Marx staunchly opposed.

IIn the essay Symbol prohibition? - Ideology, symbols and hate crimes the function of symbols in the process of manufacturing hate crimes are studied from a post- structuralist ideology-critical point of view.The paper aims to highlight how such a theoretical standpoint can explain the motives of hate crime based on a post-structural theory in terms of social economy, power, and social dominance. In a post-structural hypothesis, we assume that economic power gives rise to symbols used to create ideologies. In turn, ideologies are used to create institutions such as racist ideas and ethnic groups, by creating a sense of unity, among ethnical groups and a sense of superiority towards other competing groups. Through this relative position of power, the dominant group creates a sense of inferiority in those who are dominated by hate crimes. In this text, we analyze two documents written by the Government and its Investigation to define hate crimes by investigating whether racism and other symbols should be criminalized.This paper problematizes both of these documents’ positions, which aim to create new laws, by pointing out that the structural understanding of the symbols is lacking. And that such an ideology-critical understanding would have resulted in a more nuanced and partially different conclusion than the Government’s investigation reached. Here, the author wants to show the explanatory value of ideology criticism in criminology specially deals with hate crimes .

Nous proposons d’examiner le concept adornien de la rationalité esthétique en vue de sa distinction entre une raison bourgeoise universalisante et une raison dialectique qui maintien la prédominance de l’objet par une opération d’autocritique intellectuelle selon qui les catégories sont évalués en vue des objets qu’elles décrivent pour identifier leurs insuffisances conceptuelles. Nous explorons la distinction qu’établit Adorno entre deux rationalités en traçant la genèse historique de la raison bourgeoise dans la philosophie occidentale. Nous démontrons comment les critiques lancées par Adorno contre Hegel et Lukács influencent sa lecture de la tradition marxiste de la critique de l’idéologie et de l’économie politique. Nous illustrons la différence entre la critique de la rationalité bourgeois et l’irrationalisme propre en démontrant qu’Adorno offre une critique rationnelle de la raison qui ne se positionne pas en dehors de la raison. Ayant construit cette fondation conceptuelle, nous tournons vers l’esthétique d’Adorno. Nous démontrons que la raison esthétique se déroule en parallèle avec la raison bourgeoise, et que la raison esthétique participe à la domination de la nature exercée par la raison par la médiation de la forme des œuvres d’art. Nous soulignons deux aspects de la raison esthétique, l’aspect constructif et l’aspect critique, et nous démontrons comment la raison esthétique utilisent ces deux aspects pour remplacer le concept de l’art déjà établie afin d’ouvrir des nouvelles possibilités pour l’art. En explorant les catégories de la beauté naturelle, la beauté de l’art, et du laid, nous démontrons comment la raison esthétique se constitue avant de se mettre en question soi-même par le moyen de la dissonance de l’art moderne. Finalement, nous démontros la manière dont l’art moderne risque de devenir neutralisé par la raison homogénéisante qu’il proteste, et nous conclurons en considérant la pertinence à la question de la normativité esthétique de la lecture adornienne de Samuel Beckett, dont le théâtre pose une challenge critique à la société de l’après-guerre en même temps qu’il met en question le concept de l’art existant. / I propose to examine Theodor Adorno’s concept of a developing aesthetic rationality in light of his distinction between a universalizing bourgeois rationality and a dialectical rationality that strives to maintain the preponderance of the object by challenging its categories with the experience of their object. I will first explore Adorno’s distinction between two rationalities, tracing the historical genesis and growth of bourgeois reason in Western philosophy. I will account for how Adorno’s criticisms of Hegel and Lukács influence his reading of the Marxist traditions of ideology critique and political economy. I will show how Adorno’s criticism of bourgeois rationality differs from irrationality in its attempt to offer an immanent critique of Enlightenment rather than in attempting to position itself outside of Enlightenment. I will then turn to Adorno’s aesthetics, showing how aesthetic rationality progresses in lockstep with Enlightened rationality and how artworks dominate experiential materials through the determining mediation of form. I will highlight two aspects of aesthetic rationality, a constructive aspect and a critical aspect, and I will show how aesthetic rationality uses both to overturn the existing concept of art in order to redefine what counts as art. By exploring the categories of natural beauty, art beauty, and ugliness, I will show how aesthetic rationality establishes itself only to put itself in question through the dissonance of modern art. I will then show how modern art itself falls victim to the very homogenizing rationality it protests, before concluding with a discussion of how Samuel Beckett’s theatre embodies Adorno’s call for an art that critically positions itself against society as well as the pre-existing concept of art.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the conditions for civil society and activists in Japan regarding their access to a truly free capability for their expression, action, and thoughts. The theoretical starting point is based on Iris Young's normative theory of the function of civil society in deliberative democracy, which sheds light on intermediate factors that make Young's ideal too naive to be realized. Gramsci's concept of hegemony is then used to highlight indirect and hidden power structures that certain groups in society are afflicted by. Holloway's resistance theory and anti-capitalist view of civil society are applied from a Marxist perspective that characterizes this study. In combination with a post-structuralist view of power and a Marxist perspective, it became possible to identify three hegemonies that appear to be democratically problematic from previous research, as well as an in-depth analysis of the Japanese activists' mindset and the hegemonic ideas implied in their expressions. The question is thus, how and to what extent those hegemonic ideas permeate activists' expressions and opinions in today's civil society in Japan. The result of the analytical ideological criticism shows empirical support for signs of all the hegemonic ideas in the chosen materials and offers some implications of those hegemonies for civil society and democracy. The latter conclusion also implies some consequences of capitalism and neoliberalism for society in general.

Two long-standing and erroneous claims have plagued Marxism for the past century. First, Marx held no static view of human-nature. Second, Marx's theory of alienation was the naive view of a young Marx, which was jettisoned in his wiser adult years. Both views are demonstrable false. Moreover, the validity of his theory of human nature, and alienation, are contingent upon the acceptance of each other. One cannot fully comprehend his view of alienation without understanding his view of human nature, and vice versa. Upon demonstrating Marx's theory of human nature, and defending it as a crucial bedrock for the theory of alienation, mainstream rejections of each will be considered, and critiqued. The constant misunderstanding of Marx's theory of human nature comes in his unique theory of essence. He is an essentialist, with a fluid conception of man's essence. One's historical essence is an ensemble of socio-historical reflections, dialectically interplaying off a historically transcending essentialism.

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