“Subverting the Corporate Form” by Dr. Jim Stanford

Subverting the Corporate Form by Jim Stanford for 2018 Alternative Futures Symposium UON Alternative Futures and Regional Prospects Symposium Working across Differences, beyond Carbon, Capital and Commodity Thursday 22nd & Friday 23rd of November 2018 https://youtu.be/hVcrl1dGeVg Source: “Subverting the Corporate Form” by Dr. Jim Stanford

Theorizing Social Ideations: Beyond the Divide between Humanities and Social Sciences

This article briefly reviews the historical changes in the social theories of collective cognition/knowledge, and reveals a classical divide between two major, supposedly rival, paradigms that still influence mainstream studies, i.e., (1) the realist determinist; and (2) the subjectivist constructionist. This division has prevailed in both humanities and social-behavioral sciences until recent challenges by critical […]

Transversality in Diversity: Experiencing Networks of Confusion and Convergence in the World Social Forum

Hosseini, S. A. H. (2015). “Transversality in Diversity: Experiencing Networks of Confusion and Convergence in the World Social Forum.” International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences, 4(1), 54-87. Abstract Drawing on the World Social Forum as an exemplary case study, this article shows how an emerging mode of cosmopolitanist vision (‘transversalism’) can be explained in […]

Alternative Globalizations – cited in Globalization 230 Most Asked Questions on Globalization

Capital and Its Alternatives: Why capital in 21st century needs a better definition

PDF copy: Capital and Its Alternatives David Harvey in his short criticism of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in 21 Century, rightfully questions Piketty’s definition of ‘capital’ as one of his central difficulties: “Capital is a process not a thing. It is a process of circulation in which money is used to make more money often, but […]

Major issues confronting academics

My Statement (Nomination for the University Council 2014-2016) I believe that the purposes of academia cannot be realized without the freedom of inquiry, workplace democracy, and fairness in the distribution of opportunities. Unfortunately, our universities have become increasingly under assault by the forces of ‘austerity’, ‘commercialization’, and ‘corporatization’. Sustainable improvement is possible only in an […]

Joseph Stiglitz: The price of inequality

Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize winning economist, warns that the trend towards inequality is rising worldwide. So what’s causing it? Why is it on the increase and what are the consequences? * Duration 54:27, Play Position: 49:52 * Published 4/11/14 8:05:00 PM * Episode Download Link: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2014/11/bia_20141104.mp3 * Show Notes: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/joseph-stiglitz/5833266 * Podcast Feed: Big […]

In higher education, unions are part of the problem as much as part of the solution! a grassroots movement is very much needed to reclaim both the university and the unions

We academics of rank and file all know very well (we have actually experienced this with pain) how universities have turned into corporations and that the transparency is not there, that the staff are SHAMELESSLY, FORMALLY seen as COSTS and Buildings as INVESTMENT, and that over every bargaining season, we have to spend many hours […]

HOW would a wellbeing economy movement addresses the current problems of ownership, power and wealth distribution?

Considering that we are already living in a world where capital has unparalleled supremacy, in association with the corporate welfare state, plutocratic political systems, and corporate commercial media ascendency, HOW would a wellbeing economy movement addresses the current problems of ownership, power and wealth distribution?; beyond dreaming and policy recommendations and limited collaborations with sympathetic […]

What is a good university?

From the conservatives and top managerial class point of view, a good university is a dead university: No physically existing classrooms/lecture rooms, fancy buildings ready to be rented out to companies, no ongoing positions (except for the senior managerial oligarch), hot-desked staff that are now mostly casuals, no student-staff unions and activism, students reduced to […]

From the Global Justice Movement to Occupy Wall Street Movement and Beyond

Hosseini discusses the historical shifts in the so-called global justice movement from the mid-90s to today and the its future. Dr Hosseini’s university lecture Course: People Power: Social Movements and Community Activism 1 May 2012 Lecturer at the University of Newcastle

The Future of Occupy Wall Street Movement: From Zapatistas to Zuccotti and Beyond

This is Dr Hamed Hosseini’s presentation in 7 May 2012 on the roots, ideological features and the destiny of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Location: UTS, Sydney.

Capitalism and Globalization

S A Hamed Hosseini                                                                                      25-March-2010 The globalist theories of globalization have not only been criticized for their ambiguous definitions of globalization (as an unrealistic concept that fails to grasp the multidimensionality and plurality of reality) but also for their underlying ideological assumptions. Globalization has not only been used by these theories to describe […]

Why when your ethnically-mainstream coworker thinks he lives in a lucky country and invites you to relax, he is actually exercising racial discrimination against you

Racial inequality at work manifests itself in many ways; sometimes mixed with the organizational hierarchies (e.g. when it comes to distributing the opportunities) and sometimes even among the co-workers of the same ranking! One subtle example of the latter is in the way in which the division of labor is managed within groups of co-workers […]

The Rise, Fall and Rise of racist Australia: why we are no longer a multicultural society?

Here is my reflection on the recent debate around multiculturalism. I don’t think much of our multiculturalism, we could build up over decades of struggle from below, is left these days thanks to Howard’s anti-egalitarian legacy , which was later adopted, adapted and applied by the new labor in a more moderate but still substantially […]

Amnesty International Head Irene Khan on

Amnesty International Head Irene Khan on “The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights” Shared via AddThis

Dynamics of Social Marginalization 1

Dynamics of Marginalization (DoM) is a series of short discussion papers I am presenting through this web log. Researching DoM is about exploring how a group of people are socially marginalized and what are the main social mechanisms of such process. In this section, I attempt to develop a preliminary definition of ‘social marginalization’ as […]

Life on the Margins

Life on the Margins is a Web-log allocated to the exploration, discussion and criticism of many social mechanisms through which groups of people and individuals are marginalized in our society. It also aims to: raise people’s awareness of the root causes of social exclusion. fill in the gap between the academic studies of social inequality […]

De facto Gnosticism!

Both atheism and theism assume the final answer to the question of supreme reality/truth without a second of critical inquiry. Agnosticism removes the question completely by saying that we do not know and thus deprives itself of any attempt to search. All these three close to the door to inquiry and curiosity. Gnosticism (in its […]

Is science empty of faith?

“I would like 2016 to be the year when people remembered that science is a method of investigation, and NOT a belief system”. John Cleese (English actor) Science without some degree of belief is meaningless. A degree of belief in your hypothetical understanding of reality is always needed to help you persist your inquiry and […]

When We Play the Card of ‘Diversity’

Sometimes, I  feel that we, the so-called intellectual Muslims, are very strange creatures. We tend to love diversity when we are supposed to have harmony and we tend to love unity when we are supposed to be diverse and respectful (like in our political views, etc). There must be a reason for this; or in […]

The tyranny of translation

I’m struggling to translate a short summary of my book to Farsi today. I was just assuming it must be very easy, but it’s really getting torturous. Not because I have become so professionally and deeply absorbed in the world of English  language that I have lost my ability to write in my mother tongue; […]

Towards an Accommodative Theory of Justice?

“A short review of major theoretical controversies over the definition of social justice can provide us with a basic framework for mapping the definitions of justice among the movement actors. Theoretical controversies can be roughly discussed in terms of: (1) the units of justice; (2) content of justice; and (3) the institutional bases of justice. […]

Sociology of Dissident Knowledge

Seminar Sociology of Dissident Knowledge In spite of the recent growing emphasis on the ideational dimension of collective action, many theoretical attempts and the studies influenced by them evidence significant problems in explaining the historical emergence and development of movements’ cognitions. These problems stem from: (1) a failure at the metatheoretical level, that is, their […]

Hello world!

Hello World! I am just borne. Will become a space for discussing the underlying logic of both the discourses of power and resistance.  A new method of analysis which I would like to call Critical Ideational Analysis (CIA) as an alternative/complement to Critical Discourse Analysis.

Ibrahim’s prayers – I

Following is my first attempt to translate few interesting verses we may use in our daily prayers by getting as close as I could to the core meanings of key terms and surely needs to be improved further. These verses report what Ibrahim prays to God. Our _Rabb_ (nurturer, guider, and awakener)! You certainly know […]

The meaning of ‘fitr’ in Qur’anic context

Eid ul Fitr Homily (13-May-21) First homily Peace be upon you! Thank you for attending our Eid ul Fitr prayer. خطبه اول. سلام علیکم. انَّ الْحَمْدَ للهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَهْدِيهِ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَن يَهْدِ اللَّهُ فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَدِي ۖ وَمَن يُضْلِلْ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ ،  وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا […]

Qur’anic humanism is niether theocentric nor anthropocentric!

A number of verses in Quran are used by contemporary Islamic intellectuals (like Dr Ali Shariati) to support their humanistic visions. In Chapter 51, Verses 56-59 try to explain ‘why’ humans (divided between two groups of Jinn and Inns) are created: And remind (O’ Muhammad); the Reminder benefits the believers (56) I have not created […]

Essentionalism in religious studies is doomed to fail due the complex reality of faiths

Three levels of reality can be attributed to any faith when studying religions: The Practical Reality of Faith that refers to a variety of the ways through which a faith is practiced by its self-claimed followers; surely this is a very plural and multifaceted reality; The Discursive-Cognitive Reality of Faith refers to a variety of […]

Capital needs a better definition

Capital needs a better definition David Harvey in his short criticism of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in 21 Century, rightfully questions Piketty’s definition of ‘capital’ as one of his central difficulties: “Capital is a process not a thing. It is a process of circulation in which money is used to make more money often, but not […]

A new platform for cross-ideological dialogues