It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, April 25, 2019
THE SATANIC TEMPLE RECOGNIZED AS A CHURCH BY THE IRS
The Satanic Temple says the change will give them access to grants, legal rights and more public spaces. By Devon Hannan -April 24, 2019
[Photo via Unsplash/Timothy Meinberg]
The Satanic Temple has recently been recognized as a church by the IRS. According to Rolling Stone, that means the Satanic Temple has been granted tax-exempt status.
However, according to an Instagram post shared by the Temple earlier today, the tax-exemption doesn’t seem to be their first priority.
In the post, the Satanic Temple say the new acknowledgement will grant them access to grants and legal rights that they never had before. Additionally, the new ruling means the Temple will have access to more public spaces.
You can read the newly-classified church’s statement below. “We are pleased to announce that for the first time in history, a satanic organization has been recognized by the United States federal government as being a church. The Satanic Temple recently received notice from the IRS affirming our status. This acknowledgement will help make sure the Satanic Temple has the same access to public spaces as other religious organizations, affirm our standing in court when battling religious discrimination and enable us to apply for faith-based government grants.”
While the Satanic Temple has previously denounced the idea of tax-exemption for churches, a story with Patheos reveals co-founder Lucien Greaves says exemption is necessary for the Temple to gain even footing with other religious estates.
“In light of theocratic assaults upon the Separation of Church and State in the legislative effort to establish a codified place of privilege for one religious viewpoint, we feel that accepting religious tax exemption — rather than renouncing in protest — can help us to better assert our claims to equal access and exemption while laying to rest any suspicion that we don’t meet the qualifications of a true religious organization,” Greaves says. “Satanism is here to stay.”
However, this is not the first time Greaves hinted at the Temple’s change of heart. In a 2017 newsletter, the co-founder said the Temple would have to “reevaluate” its stance.
“Another byproduct of this turn of events, of course, is that the Satanic Temple must reevaluate its prior principled refusal to accept religious tax-exemption.
“It appears that now is a time in which a more principled stand is to meet our opponent on equal footing, so to as balance, as best we can, what has been a frighteningly asymmetrical battle,” Greaves continues. “As ‘the religious’ are increasingly gaining ground as a privileged class, we must ensure that this privilege is available to all, and that superstition doesn’t gain exclusive rights over non-theistic religions or non-belief.”
A raw diamond from Sierra Leone with sulfur-containing mineral inclusions. Credit: Gemological Institute of America.
The longevity of Earth's continents in the face of destructive tectonic activity is an essential geologic backdrop for the emergence of life on our planet. This stability depends on the underlying mantle attached to the landmasses. New research by a group of geoscientists from Carnegie, the Gemological Institute of America, and the University of Alberta demonstrates that diamonds can be used to reveal how a buoyant section of mantle beneath some of the continents became thick enough to provide long-term stability.
"We've found a way to use traces of sulfur from ancient volcanoes that made its way into the mantle and eventually into diamonds to provide evidence for one particular process of continent building," explained Karen Smit of the Gemological Institute of America, lead author on the group's paper, which appears this week in Science. "Our technique shows that the geologic activity that formed the West African continent was due to plate tectonic movement of ocean crust sinking into the mantle."
MICROSCOPIC DIAMONDS IN METEORITE
Diamonds may be beloved by jewelry collectors, but they are truly a geologist's best friend. Because they originate deep inside the Earth, tiny mineral grains trapped inside of a diamond, often considered undesirable in the gem trade, can reveal details about the conditions under which it formed.
"In this way, diamonds act as mineralogical emissaries from the Earth's depths," explained Carnegie co-author Steve Shirey.
About 150 to 200 kilometers, 93 to 124 miles, beneath the surface, geologic formations called mantle keels act as stabilizers for the continental crust. The material that comprises them must thicken, stabilize, and cool under the continent to form a strong, buoyant, keel that is fundamental for preserving the surface landmass against the relentless destructive forces of Earth's tectonic activity. But how this is accomplished has been a matter of debate in the scientific community.
"Solving this mystery is key to understanding how the continents came to exist in their current incarnations and how they survive on an active planet," Shirey explained. "Since this is the only tectonically active, rocky planet that we know, understanding the geology of how our continents formed is a crucial part of discerning what makes Earth habitable."
A diamond Sierra Leone with sulfur-containing mineral inclusions that can teach scientists about how some of our planet's continents are stabilized. Credit: Gemological Institute of America
Some scientists think mantle keels form by a process called subduction, by which oceanic plates sink from the Earth's surface into its depths when one tectonic plate slides beneath another. Others think keels are created by a vertical process in which plumes of hot magma rise from much deeper in the Earth.
A geochemical tool that can detect whether the source of a mantle keel's makeup originated from surface plates or from upwelling of deeper mantle material was needed to help resolve this debate. Luckily, mantle keels have the ideal conditions for diamond formation. This means scientists can reveal a mantle keel's origin by studying inclusions from diamonds that formed in it.
The research group's analysis of sulfur-rich minerals, called sulfides, in diamonds mined in Sierra Leone indicate that the region experienced two subduction events during its history.
They were able to make this determination because the chemistry of the sulfide mineral grains is only seen in samples from Earth's surface more than 2.5 billion years ago—before oxygen became so abundant in our planet's atmosphere. This means that the sulfur in these mineral inclusions must have once existed on the Earth's surface and was then drawn down into the mantle by subduction.
The team's comparison to diamonds from Botswana showed similar evidence of keel-creation through subduction. But comparison to diamonds mined from northern Canada does not show the same sulfur chemistry, meaning that the mantle keel in this region originated in some way that did not incorporate surface material.
The group's findings suggest that thickening and stabilization of the mantle keel beneath the West African continent happened when this section of mantle was squeezed by collision with the sinking ocean floor material. This method of keel thickening and continent stabilization is not responsible for forming the keel under a portion of northern Canada. The sulfide minerals inside Canadian diamonds do not tell the researchers how this keel formed, only how it didn't.
"Our work shows that sulfide inclusions in diamonds are a powerful tool to investigate continent construction processes," Smit concluded.
33-year study shows increasing ocean winds and wave heights
Global trends in extreme (90th percentile) wind speed over the period 1985-2018. Areas in red indicate increasing values, whereas blue indicates decreases. Credit: Professor Ian Young
Extreme ocean winds and wave heights are increasing around the globe, with the largest rise occurring in the Southern Ocean, University of Melbourne research shows.
Researchers Ian Young and Agustinus Ribal, from the University's Department of Infrastructure Engineering, analysed wind speed and wave height measurements taken from 31 different satellites between 1985-2018, consisting of approximately 4 billion observations.
The measurements were compared with more than 80 ocean buoys deployed worldwide, making it the largest and most detailed dataset of its type ever compiled.
The researchers found that extreme winds in the Southern Ocean have increased by 1.5 metres per second, or 8 per cent, over the past 30 years. Extreme waves have increased by 30 centimetres, or 5 per cent, over the same period.
As the world's oceans become stormier, Professor Young warns this has flow on effects for rising sea levels and infrastructure.
"Although increases of 5 and 8 per cent might not seem like much, if sustained into the future such changes to our climate will have major impacts," Professor Young said.
"Flooding events are caused by storm surge and associated breaking waves. The increased sea level makes these events more serious and more frequent.
Global trends in extreme (90th percentile) wave height over the period 1985-2018. Areas in red indicate increasing values, whereas blue indicates decreases. Credit: Professor Ian Young, University of Melbourne
"Increases in wave height, and changes in other properties such as wave direction, will further increase the probability of coastal flooding."
Professor Young said understanding changes in the Southern Ocean are important, as this is the origin for the swell that dominates the wave climate of the South Pacific, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
"Swells from the Southern Ocean determine the stability of beaches for much of the Southern Hemisphere, Professor Young said.
"These changes have impacts that are felt all over the world. Storm waves can increase coastal erosion, putting costal settlements and infrastructure at risk."
International teams are now working to develop the next generation of global climate models to project changes in winds and waves over the next 100 years.
"We need a better understanding of how much of this change is due to long-term climate change, and how much is due to multi-decadal fluctuations, or cycles," Professor Young said.
The research was published today in Science.
Extracting something from nothing: A bright glow from empty space
Particles travelling through empty space can emit bright flashes of gamma rays by interacting with the quantum vacuum, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Strathclyde. It has long been known that charged particles, such as electrons and protons, produce the electromagnetic equivalent of a sonic boom when their speeds exceed that of photons in the surrounding medium. This effect, known as Cherenkov emission, is responsible for the characteristic blue glow from water in a nuclear reactor, and is used to detect particles at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.
According to Einstein, nothing can travel faster than light in vacuum. Because of this, it is usually assumed that the Cherenkov emission cannot occur in vacuum. But according to quantum theory, the vacuum itself is packed full of "virtual particles", which move momentarily in and out of existence.
These ghostly particles are usually not observable but, in the presence of extremely strong electric and magnetic fields, they can turn the vacuum into an optical medium where the speed of light is slowed down so that high velocity charged particles can emit Cherenkov gamma rays. This is totally unexpected in a vacuum.
A group of physics researchers at Strathclyde have found that in extreme conditions, such as found at the focus of the world's most powerful lasers, and the huge magnetic fields around neutron stars, this 'polarised' vacuum can slow down gamma rays just enough for Cherenkov emission to occur. This means that the highest energy cosmic rays passing through the magnetic fields surrounding pulsars should predominantly emit Cherenkov radiation, vastly in excess of other types such as synchrotron radiation.The research has been published as an Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review Letters. It formed part of the EPSRC funded Lab in a Bubble project led by Professor Dino Jaroszynski, to investigate a suite of fundamental phenomena occurring in laser-plasma interactions, with applications in industry, security and medicine.
Professor Jaroszynski said: "The Lab in a Bubble project is providing a unique opportunity to use high power lasers to advance both fundamental knowledge and advanced technology for the benefit of society."This is a very exciting new prediction because it could provide answers to basic questions such as what is the origin of the gamma ray glow at the centre of galaxies? Also, it provides a new way of testing some of the most fundamental theories of science by pushing them to their limits.
"What is more, it will make a major contribution to the new High Field frontier of physics, made possible by the remarkable advances in laser technology which gained the award of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics."Dr. Adam Noble, who conceived the idea and led the theoretical research effort, said: We take it for granted that nothing can come out of empty space consisting of pure vacuum. But this is not quite true; modern quantum physics says otherwise, and there are some intriguing surprises.
"There is a huge international effort to push forward the limits of laser technology. While this is driven by the many practical applications of high power lasers, its success will depend on understanding all the fundamental processes involved in laser-matter interactions. These results reveal a new aspect of these processes."
Alexander Macleod, who also worked on the project as part of his Ph.D. project, said: "Quantum electrodynamics is one of the best tested theories in physics, with extraordinary agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental data. But this agreement has only been verified in the weak-field regime. Vacuum Cherenkov radiation offers a new way to test whether it survives in the strong-field limit."
Lab in a Bubble is a £4.5million Strathclyde-led, EPSRC-funded project for the production of bubble-sized 'laboratories' which could boost cancer treatment, medical imaging and industrial processes, in addition to enabling the investigation of fundamental physics problems.
Researchers in the international project aim to use high-powered lasers to conduct experiments in plasma bubbles so small that their diameters are equivalent to one tenth of the cross-section of a human hair. Plasma forms 99.999% of visible matter in the universe.
Mystery of the universe's expansion rate widens with new Hubble data
Ground-based telescope's view of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. The inset image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, reveals one of many star clusters scattered throughout the dwarf galaxy. Credit: NASA, ESA, Adam Riess, and Palomar Digitized Sky Survey
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope say they have crossed an important threshold in revealing a discrepancy between the two key techniques for measuring the universe's expansion rate. The recent study strengthens the case that new theories may be needed to explain the forces that have shaped the cosmos.
A brief recap: The universe is getting bigger every second. The space between galaxies is stretching, like dough rising in the oven. But how fast is the universe expanding? As Hubble and other telescopes seek to answer this question, they have run into an intriguing difference between what scientists predict and what they observe.
Hubble measurements suggest a faster expansion rate in the modern universe than expected, based on how the universe appeared more than 13 billion years ago. These measurements of the early universe come from the European Space Agency's Planck satellite. This discrepancy has been identified in scientific papers over the last several years, but it has been unclear whether differences in measurement techniques are to blame, or whether the difference could result from unlucky measurements.
The latest Hubble data lower the possibility that the discrepancy is only a fluke to 1 in 100,000. This is a significant gain from an earlier estimate, less than a year ago, of a chance of 1 in 3,000.
These most precise Hubble measurements to date bolster the idea that new physics may be needed to explain the mismatch.
"The Hubble tension between the early and late universe may be the most exciting development in cosmology in decades," said lead researcher and Nobel laureate Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland. "This mismatch has been growing and has now reached a point that is really impossible to dismiss as a fluke. This disparity could not plausibly occur just by chance."
This illustration shows the three basic steps astronomers use to calculate how fast the universe expands over time, a value called the Hubble constant. All the steps involve building a strong "cosmic distance ladder," by starting with measuring accurate distances to nearby galaxies and then moving to galaxies farther and farther away. This "ladder" is a series of measurements of different kinds of astronomical objects with an intrinsic brightness that researchers can use to calculate distances. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)
Tightening the bolts on the 'cosmic distance ladder'
Scientists use a "cosmic distance ladder" to determine how far away things are in the universe. This method depends on making accurate measurements of distances to nearby galaxies and then moving to galaxies farther and farther away, using their stars as milepost markers. Astronomers use these values, along with other measurements of the galaxies' light that reddens as it passes through a stretching universe, to calculate how fast the cosmos expands with time, a value known as the Hubble constant. Riess and his SH0ES (Supernovae H0 for the Equation of State) team have been on a quest since 2005 to refine those distance measurements with Hubble and fine-tune the Hubble constant.
In this new study, astronomers used Hubble to observe 70 pulsating stars called Cepheid variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The observations helped the astronomers "rebuild" the distance ladder by improving the comparison between those Cepheids and their more distant cousins in the galactic hosts of supernovas. Riess's team reduced the uncertainty in their Hubble constant value to 1.9% from an earlier estimate of 2.2%.
As the team's measurements have become more precise, their calculation of the Hubble constant has remained at odds with the expected value derived from observations of the early universe's expansion. Those measurements were made by Planck, which maps the cosmic microwave background, a relic afterglow from 380,000 years after the big bang.
The measurements have been thoroughly vetted, so astronomers cannot currently dismiss the gap between the two results as due to an error in any single measurement or method. Both values have been tested multiple ways.
"This is not just two experiments disagreeing," Riess explained. "We are measuring something fundamentally different. One is a measurement of how fast the universe is expanding today, as we see it. The other is a prediction based on the physics of the early universe and on measurements of how fast it ought to be expanding. If these values don't agree, there becomes a very strong likelihood that we're missing something in the cosmological model that connects the two eras."
How the new study was done
Astronomers have been using Cepheid variables as cosmic yardsticks to gauge nearby intergalactic distances for more than a century. But trying to harvest a bunch of these stars was so time-consuming as to be nearly unachievable. So, the team employed a clever new method, called DASH (Drift And Shift), using Hubble as a "point-and-shoot" camera to snap quick images of the extremely bright pulsating stars, which eliminates the time-consuming need for precise pointing.
"When Hubble uses precise pointing by locking onto guide stars, it can only observe one Cepheid per each 90-minute Hubble orbit around Earth. So, it would be very costly for the telescope to observe each Cepheid," explained team member Stefano Casertano, also of STScI and Johns Hopkins. "Instead, we searched for groups of Cepheids close enough to each other that we could move between them without recalibrating the telescope pointing. These Cepheids are so bright, we only need to observe them for two seconds. This technique is allowing us to observe a dozen Cepheids for the duration of one orbit. So, we stay on gyroscope control and keep 'DASHing' around very fast."
The Hubble astronomers then combined their result with another set of observations, made by the Araucaria Project, a collaboration between astronomers from institutions in Chile, the U.S., and Europe. This group made distance measurements to the Large Magellanic Cloud by observing the dimming of light as one star passes in front of its partner in eclipsing binary-star systems.
The combined measurements helped the SH0ES Team refine the Cepheids' true brightness. With this more accurate result, the team could then "tighten the bolts" of the rest of the distance ladder that extends deeper into space.
The new estimate of the Hubble constant is 74 kilometers (46 miles) per second per megaparsec. This means that for every 3.3 million light-years farther away a galaxy is from us, it appears to be moving 74 kilometers (46 miles) per second faster, as a result of the expansion of the universe. The number indicates that the universe is expanding at a 9% faster rate than the prediction of 67 kilometers (41.6 miles) per second per megaparsec, which comes from Planck's observations of the early universe, coupled with our present understanding of the universe.
So, what could explain this discrepancy?
One explanation for the mismatch involves an unexpected appearance of dark energy in the young universe, which is thought to now comprise 70% of the universe's contents. Proposed by astronomers at Johns Hopkins, the theory is dubbed "early dark energy," and suggests that the universe evolved like a three-act play.
Astronomers have already hypothesized that dark energy existed during the first seconds after the big bang and pushed matter throughout space, starting the initial expansion. Dark energy may also be the reason for the universe's accelerated expansion today. The new theory suggests that there was a third dark-energy episode not long after the big bang, which expanded the universe faster than astronomers had predicted. The existence of this "early dark energy" could account for the tension between the two Hubble constant values, Riess said.
Another idea is that the universe contains a new subatomic particle that travels close to the speed of light. Such speedy particles are collectively called "dark radiation" and include previously known particles like neutrinos, which are created in nuclear reactions and radioactive decays.
Yet another attractive possibility is that dark matter (an invisible form of matter not made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons) interacts more strongly with normal matter or radiation than previously assumed.
But the true explanation is still a mystery.
Riess doesn't have an answer to this vexing problem, but his team will continue to use Hubble to reduce the uncertainties in the Hubble constant. Their goal is to decrease the uncertainty to 1%, which should help astronomers identify the cause of the discrepancy.
The team's results have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
Maths shows the nature of 'tipping points' for climate and eco crises
Snow-Covered Northeastern United States. Credit: NASA
Humans need to be wary of breaching a 'point of no return' that leads to ecological disaster such as loss of rainforests or irreversible climate change, according to the most detailed study of its kind.
The thin line separating the Earth's current climate from a frozen one – the so-called snowball state—has been explored in new research led by the University of Reading that combines mathematics with climate science
Researchers analysed how random events and human action could combine to reach a tipping point, where one natural state transitions to a very different one.
The findings, published today in the journal Physical Review Letters, can be applied to the Earth's climate, landscape features or ecosystems like a rainforest to aid our understanding of how they can be altered or destroyed after reaching a point of no return.
Valerio Lucarini, Professor of Statistical Mechanics at the University of Reading and lead author of the study, said: "Changes in climate or catastrophic declines in natural features like forests all happen in a fashion similar to a journey in a mountain region. These states are like two valleys divided by a mountain pass, which must be crossed in order to move between them.
"Pinpointing this dividing line has allowed us to better understand when we are likely to see transitions in the natural world. This helps outline a safe operating space, enabling us to tailor our behaviour to remain within this and to realise when a transition could occur. Cutting down trees, damaging ecosystems or altering the climate could all cause us to stray too close to a tipping point, risking dramatic and irreversible change."
The new research builds on a previous (2017) study published in Nonlinearity by the same authors, which used a dynamic method to identify the tipping point between two competing states. That study led to an unprecedented understanding of the global stability properties of the climate and was featured as a highlight of the year by the IOP Science journal that published it.
The new study aids our understanding of the Earth's climate tipping points. The Earth flipped multiple times between a warm and snowball state about 650 million years ago, preceding the beginning of multicellular life.
The team used random fluctuations to simulate an approach to such a tipping point, showing at what point a transition from one state to the other becomes likely.
This can be applied to natural features like the Amazon rainforest. The rainforest experiences fluctuations caused by fires, drought or human-caused deforestation, but is able to regenerate up to a certain point. The research could help us to judge the point at which a forest would become unable to absorb these events and begin an unstoppable decline, allowing us to act accordingly to preserve it.
The team now plan to apply their findings to a real-world climate transition that can be seen today, analysing the processes that lead to the start and end of the monsoon season in parts of the world, or those responsible for different circulation regimes in the Atlantic ocean.
Professor Lucarini said: "Crossing a tipping point relies on a combination of random events that accumulate to produce the transition.
"Human action might be insignificant when the tipping point is far away, but could be the final straw as we approach it. Understanding this context is crucial to judging when we might topple into a new state."
SUBCULTURAL THEORY, DRIFT AND PUBLICITY: HOW A CONTEMPORARY CULTURE OF ADOLESCENCE RELATES TO DELINQUENCY by Adam Monroe Stearn ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Criminology and Criminal Justice in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Northeastern University, January, 2012 Abstract In order to understand adolescents, criminologists have looked to cultural theories of adolescence. These cultural theories emphasize adolescent norms and values and draw on the term subcultural to denote how delinquency can be explained among segments of youths. They tend to focus either on impoverished inner city youths or youths without any class affiliation. Few studies have examined the extent to which adolescent subcultures exist in the middle 7 class and what these subcultures might look like. The subcultural study of adolescence has also shifted from criminology to the realm of sociology resulting in the role of delinquency all but being ignored. Thus, theorists are left to wonder: The extent to which middle class subcultures exist, and what role delinquency plays in them? The current research addressed this question by focusing on both qualitative (content of personal web pages) and quantitative (survey questions) data. The website postings come from a current social networking site and provide the researcher with personal descriptions, written interactions with other youth, and descriptions of delinquency. The survey questions stem from a survey conducted among adolescents in a largely affluent community. Both data sets were drawn upon to relate adolescent subcultural identities. In addition, the analyses examined self 7 reported delinquency and the relationship between identity, delinquency, and experiences within the various life domains, such as the family unit, peer groups, and school. The results of these analyses suggest that the average adolescent residing in a middle class neighborhood identifies with multiple subcultures while at the same time stressing his or her individuality. In addition, the adolescent drifts in and out of these subcultural identities based on the life domain he or she is in. Finally, deviance—most commonly the consumption of alcohol and marijuana—is communicated by the subcultures’ members as was demonstrated by the behavior’s publicity.
IN THE SAME SERIES The Empire Writes Back: Theory and practice in postcolonial literatures Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin Translation Studies Susan Bassnett Rewriting English: Cultural politics of gender and class Janet Batsleer, Tony Davies, Rebecca O’Rourke, and Chris Weedon Critical Practice Catherine Belsey Formalism and Marxism Tony Bennett Dialogue and Difference: English for the nineties ed. Peter Brooker and Peter Humm Telling Stories: A theoretical analysis of narrative fiction Steven Cohan and Linda M. Shires Alternative Shakespeares ed. John Drakakis The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama Keir Elam Reading Television John Fiske and John Hartley Linguistics and the Novel Roger Fowler Return of the Reader: Reader-response criticism Elizabeth Freund Making a Difference: Feminist literary criticism ed. Gayle Greene and Coppélia Kahn Superstructuralism: The philosophy of structuralism and post-structuralism Richard Harland Structuralism and Semiotics Terence Hawkes Dialogism: Bakhtin and his world Michael Holquist Popular Fictions: Essays in literature and history ed. Peter Humm, Paul Stigant, and Peter Widdowson The Politics of Postmodernism Linda Hutcheon Fantasy: The literature of subversion Rosemary Jackson Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist literary theory Toril Moi Deconstruction: Theory and practice Christopher Norris Orality and Literacy: The technologizing of the word Walter J. Ong Narrative Fiction: Contemporary poetics Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan Adult Comics: An introduction Roger Sabin Criticism in Society Imre Salusinszky Metafiction: The theory and practice of self-conscious fiction Patricia Waugh Psychoanalytic Criticism: Theory in practice Elizabeth Wright
IT is easy to see that we are living in a time of rapid and radical social change. It is much less easy to grasp the fact that such change will inevitably affect the nature of those disciplines that both reflect our society and help to shape it. Yet this is nowhere more apparent than in the central field of what may, in general terms, be called literary studies. Here, among large numbers of students at all levels of education, the erosion of the assumptions and presuppositions that support the literary disciplines in their conventional form has proved fundamental. Modes and categories inherited from the past no longer seem to fit the reality experienced by a new generation. New Accents is intended as a positive response to the initiative offered by such a situation. Each volume in the series will seek to encourage rather than resist the process of change, to stretch rather than reinforce the boundaries that currently define literature and its academic study. Some important areas of interest immediately present themselves. In various parts of the world, new methods of analysis have been developed whose conclusions reveal the limitations of the Anglo-American outlook we inherit. New concepts of literary forms and modes have been proposed; new notions of the nature of literature itself, and of how it communicates are current; new views of literature’s role in relation to society flourish. New Accents will aim to expound and comment upon the most notable of these. In the broad field of the study of human communication, more and more emphasis has been placed upon the nature and function of the new electronic media. New Accents will try to identify and discuss the challenge these offer to our traditional modes of critical response. The same interest in communication suggests that the series should also concern itself with those wider anthropological and sociological areas of investigation which have begun to involve scrutiny of the nature of art itself and of its relation to our whole way of life. And this will ultimately require attention to be focused on some of those activities which in our society have hitherto been excluded from the prestigious realms of Culture. Finally, as its title suggests, one aspect of New Accents will be firmly located in contemporary approaches to language, and a continuing concern of the series will be to examine the extent to which relevant branches of linguistic studies can illuminate specific literary areas. The volumes with this particular interest will nevertheless presume no prior technical knowledge on the part of their readers, and will aim to rehearse the linguistics appropriate to the matter in hand, rather than to embark on general theoretical matters. Each volume in the series will attempt an objective exposition of significant developments in its field up to the present as well as an account of its author’s own views of the matter. Each will culminate in an informative bibliography as a guide to further study. And while each will be primarily concerned with matters relevant to its own specific interests, we can hope that a kind of conversation will be heard to develop between them: one whose accents may perhaps suggest the distinctive discourse of the future. TERENCE HAWKES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
MANY people have assisted in different ways in the writing of this book. I should like in particular to thank Jessica Pickard and Stuart Hall for generously giving up valuable time to read and comment upon the manuscript. Thanks also to the staff and students of the University of Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, and to Geoff Hurd of Wolverhampton Polytechnic for keeping me in touch with the relevant debates. I should also like to thank Mrs Erica Pickard for devoting so much time and skill to the preparation of this manuscript. Finally, thanks to Duffy, Mike, Don and Bridie for living underneath the Law and outside the categories for so many years.
INTRODUCTION: SUBCULTURE AND STYLE
I managed to get about twenty photographs, and with bits of chewed bread I pasted them on the back of the cardboard sheet of regulations that hangs on the wall. Some are pinned up with bits of brass wire which the foreman brings me and on which I have to string coloured glass beads. Using the same beads with which the prisoners next door make funeral wreaths, I have made star-shaped frames for the most purely criminal. In the evening, as you open your window to the street, I turn the back of the regulation sheet towards me. Smiles and sneers, alike inexorable, enter me by all the holes I offer. . . . They watch over my little routines. (Genet, 1966a)
IN the opening pages of The Thief’s Journal, Jean Genet describes how a tube of vaseline, found in his possession, is confiscated by the Spanish police during a raid. This ‘dirty, wretched object’, proclaiming his homosexuality to the world, becomes for Genet a kind of guarantee – ‘the sign of a secret grace which was soon to save me from contempt’. The discovery of the vaseline is greeted with laughter in the record-office of the station, and the police ‘smelling of garlic, sweat and oil, but . . . strong in their moral assurance’ subject Genet to a tirade of hostile innuendo. The author joins in the laughter too (‘though painfully’) but later, in his cell, ‘the image of the tube of vaseline never left me’. I was sure that this puny and most humble object would hold its own against them; by its mere presence it would be able to exasperate all the police in the world; it would draw down upon itself contempt, hatred, white and dumb rages. (Genet, 1967) I have chosen to begin with these extracts from Genet because he more than most has explored in both his life and his art the subversive implications of style. I shall be returning again and again to Genet’s major themes: the status and meaning of revolt, the idea of style as a form of Refusal, the elevation of crime into art (even though, in our case, the ‘crimes’ are only broken codes). Like Genet, we are interested in subculture – in the expressive forms and rituals of those subordinate groups – the teddy boys and mods and rockers, the skinheads and the punks – who are alternately dismissed, denounced and canonized; treated at different times as threats to public order and as harmless buffoons. Like Genet also, we are intrigued by the most mundane objects – a safety pin, a pointed shoe, a motor cycle – which, none the less, like the tube of vaseline, take on a symbolic dimension, becoming a form of stigmata, tokens of a self-imposed exile. Finally, like Genet, we must seek to recreate the dialectic between action and reaction which renders these objects meaningful. For, just as the conflict between Genet’s ‘unnatural’ sexuality and the policemen’s ‘legitimate’ outrage can be encapsulated in a single object, so the tensions between dominant and subordinate groups can be found reflected in the surfaces of subculture – in the styles made up of mundane objects which have a double meaning. On the one hand, they warn the ‘straight’ world in advance of a sinister presence – the presence of difference – and draw down upon themselves vague suspicions, uneasy laughter, ‘white and dumb rages’. On the other hand, for those who erect them into icons, who use them as words or as curses, these objects become signs of forbidden identity, sources of value. Recalling his humiliation at the hands of the police, Genet finds consolation in the tube of vaseline. It becomes a symbol of his ‘triumph’ – ‘I would indeeed rather have shed blood than repudiate that silly object’ (Genet, 1967). The meaning of subculture is, then, always in dispute, and style is the area in which the opposing definitions clash with most dramatic force. Much of the available space in this book will therefore be taken up with a description of the process whereby objects are made to mean and mean again as ‘style’ in subculture. As in Genet’s novels, this process begins with a crime against the natural order, though in this case the deviation may seem slight indeed – the cultivation of a quiff, the acquisition of a scooter or a record or a certain type of suit. But it ends in the construction of a style, in a gesture of defiance or contempt, in a smile or a sneer. It signals a Refusal. I would like to think that this Refusal is worth making, that these gestures have a meaning, that the smiles and the sneers have some subversive value, even if, in the final analysis, they are, like Genet’s gangster pin-ups, just the darker side of sets of regulations, just so much graffiti on a prison wall. Even so, graffiti can make fascinating reading. They draw attention to themselves. They are an expression both of impotence and a kind of power – the power to disfigure (Norman Mailer calls graffiti – ‘Your presence on their Presence . . . hanging your alias on their scene’ (Mailer, 1974)). In this book I shall attempt to decipher the graffiti, to tease out the meanings embedded in the various postwar youth styles. But before we can proceed to individual subcultures, we must first define the basic terms. The word ‘subculture’ is loaded down with mystery. It suggests secrecy, masonic oaths, an Underworld. It also invokes the larger and no less difficult concept ‘culture’. So it is with the idea of culture that we should begin.
One of the challenges of basic income in America, he said, is that people find it hard to empathise with those who don’t share their appearance.
At age 28, Michael Tubbs easily qualifies as a political wunderkind. He’s received two degrees from Stanford, interned at the White House, secured a $US10,000 donation from Oprah for his city council campaign, and been endorsed as a mayoral candidate by former president Barack Obama.
He also grew up in Stockton, California, a city he describes as “a place people run from rather than come back to.”
After being elected mayor of Stockton in 2017, Tubbs began floating a radical basic income policy to get the city back on track. The program is now more than two months underway and showing signs of success – but Tubbs thinks there’s a reason why it hasn’t caught on in other parts of the US.
Unlike homogeneous Scandinavian countries, Tubbs said, America has struggled to contend with widespread racial and economic diversity. This lack of empathy, he said, may have slowed our willingness to consider a universal basic income policy.
What sets Stockton apart is a combination of vision and desperation – a city on the brink of collapse and a mayor willing to try something drastic to hold it together. Basic income policies have gained favour in Europe, but less so in the US
In February, Stockton began distributing $US500 monthly stipends to its poorest residents through a basic income policy, which essentially pays someone for being alive. The policy’s critics claim that it reduces the incentive for people to find jobs, while supporters say it helps lift families out of poverty.
The idea has mostly gained favour in Europe, where both Finland and Barcelona havelaunched basic income trials, and Sweden has set aside around $US325,000 for a pilot experiment. In 2017, the city of Ontario, Canada, also adopted a basic income program for around 4,000 participants, though the trial was cancelled about a year later.
But Tubbs said he didn’t give much thought to whether his idea would be controversial. “My team was more nervous than I was,” he said. “I honestly will tell you this, I didn’t really see much risk.”
What made him nervous, he said, was how untenable Stockton’s impoverished neighbourhoods had become. Stockton’s basic income pilot is showing small signs of success
The child of a teenage mother and incarcerated father, Tubbs grew up poor in an underfunded school system. As a college student, he lost a cousin to gun violence. In his lifetime, he’s had more men in his family sent to jail than to college.
In 2012, Stockton became the first city in the US to declare bankruptcy. Today, about a quarter of its population still lives below the federal poverty line. As mayor of a city that had essentially hit rock bottom, Tubbs was excited by the prospect of trying something different to combat inequality.
“I came into doing the pilot without a fully formed perspective – or as fully formed as it is now – but really more out of curiosity,” he said. “If this was a solution that could work, I wanted to test it out.”
But first, he had to get constituents on board. One benefit of governing a small city, he said, is that he could explain his idea to people one-on-one.
“Every time you do something new, it’s scary,” he said. “You have to convince people that, ‘No, it’s going to be ok. We’re going to be safe. And we’ll all be better off for it.'” Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Tubbs’ basic income plan gives monthly stipends to 130 residents living at or below the city’s median income line (around $US46,000 annually). The trial is expected to last for 18 months, and the stipends are distributed through the mail in the form of debit cards.
Because participants are randomly selected, Tubbs is forbidden from knowing who they are, but he said he’s heard anecdotally that people are using their money to pay their gas and electric bills, get their cars fixed, and take their children to the movies.
“I was very excited to see it already working and making a difference in so many people’s lives,” he said. “I’m now much more resolute in this idea that, if it’s not a panacea … it should be considered as one of the many solutions to ensure that people have an economic floor.” America has been slow to test basic income because of its struggle with diversity, Tubbs said
According to Tubbs, there’s a reason why American cities haven’t entertained the solution of basic income before. Many Americans, he said, struggle to recognise that one person’s economic mobility can benefit another – something he believes other nations have figured out.
Tubbs believes that Scandinavian countries have recognised the need for a more robust social safety net – including universal healthcare and extensive parental leave policies – which makes it easier to approve other radical interventions down the line.
One explanation for these progressive policies, Tubbs said, is that Scandinavian countries are fairly homogeneous compared to the US. “In our country, we really have to contend with this idea of ‘the other,'” he said.
In his lifetime, Tubbs has found that people often conflate appearance with commonality. When people look different, he said, they tend to believe they have less in common, making it more difficult to empathise.
In his speech last week at the TED conference in Vancouver, Canada, Tubbs said the destiny of his city is “tied up in everyone – particularly those who are left on the side of the road.” His basic income policy is a product of this thinking: that a city that works for its poorest members can work for all.
Chicago could launch its own basic income pilot
Bret Hartman/TED
Tubbs said he’s thinking more urgently about childcare now that he and his wife are expecting a baby.
With his wife expecting their first child, Tubbs said his mission to improve the lives of people in Stockton feels even more urgent as of late.
“Childcare costs are real,” he said. “We’re now looking at how are we going to save up to have somebody help us watch our child. It definitely has made me that much more passionate and that much more impatient with the status quo.”
Though Tubbs sees basic income as a solution to poverty, a city doesn’t need to be as poor as Stockton to benefit from the program, he said. The mayor also said basic income could work for larger cities struggling to combat inequality.
A task force in Chicago recently recommended that the city launch its own basic income pilot, which would provide 1,000 residents with $US1,000 monthly payments for 18 months. Tubbs said he’s shared details of his experiment with Chicago, which he sees as a natural extension of his work.
“Small to medium sized cities have a role to play in terms of pushing our democracy forward,” he said. By testing out new ideas for larger cities to emulate, he said, they just might provide the tools for building fairer societies.
