The Ethics of Indifference

Tonkiss, Fran

doi:10.1177/13678779030063004

Cited by 120 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…On the other hand, spaces people are familiar with, create a sense of belonging that can substitute for the sense of community often lacking in modern cities. However, as isolating and degrading of social ties and as inimical to the community they may be considered, as F. Tonkiss emphasizes, "urban contexts have also been primary sites for imagining and re-imagining forms of community" [28].…”

Section: On the Beaten Track: From The Challenging Present Toward A Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Walkability and Resilience: A Qualitative Approach to Design for Risk Reduction

et al. 2019

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Quality of life and well-being are hardly ever an issue when life itself is at stake. The advantages of high-quality walkable streets and public spaces are underestimated when larger problems need to be addressed first and seemingly more serious solutions need to be applied. Hence, a quantitative approach to evacuation route planning and design prevails over a qualitative one or at least a hybrid one. The scope of the ongoing study partially presented in this paper is to find methods for addressing the complicated present and the disastrous future at the same time. The one applied in the case study reported here—Susaki City in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, which is preparing for the next Nankai earthquake and tsunami, expected sometime soon—was a cycle of active research and international workshops organized in cooperation with the local community and administration. The aim was to understand the challenges that concern the design of dual spaces that are suitable for both everyday life and emergency situations and are connected by walkable spaces. As a result, the paper offers insight into the limits of punctual treatments as well as the relativity of objective and subjective dimensions of urban walkability in the context of risk. Despite the complexity of the issue, a walkable built environment was revealed to be a countermeasure rather than a fad.

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Section: On the Beaten Track: From The Challenging Present Toward A Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Walkability and Resilience: A Qualitative Approach to Design for Risk Reduction

et al. 2019

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“…Heteronormativity reinforces a construction of singleness that is seemingly conjoined to moral questions over social dysfunction, loneliness and anomie (Tonkiss 2003;Tiryakian 1981). Those whose intimate lives do not conform to the heteronormative framework are subjected to economic, political and social sanctions, as exemplified by the fate of Eleanor Rigby, the spinster who died alone, childless and in poverty.…”

Section: The Abjection Of Singles: Paternal Law and Compulsory Heteromentioning

confidence: 99%

The abject single: exploring the gendered experience of singleness in Britain

Lai

Lim

Higgins

2015

Journal of Marketing Management

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This paper explores the gendered experience of singleness in Britain through a theoretical and empirical understanding of the 'abject'. Drawing on the writings of Judith Butler, we argue that 'singleness' is culturally pathologised as an 'abject other', a liminal state which renders the legitimation of the 'single subject' unintelligible. Through 14 active interviews withBritish singles, we demonstrate how our participants negotiate their marginal status vis-à-vis the marketplace and the broader society that continue to uphold heterosexual partnership as a normative form of intimacy. Our data uncovers persistent and powerful stereotypes of how singles ought to organize their lives and conform both to social, as well as market-driven, pressures. We therefore highlight research gaps in the experience of singleness and critique the heteronormative framework that remains dominant, yet concealed, in gender research. Summary Statement of ContributionThis paper advances a theoretical and empirical understanding of the neglected experience of singleness and how singles understand and negotiate their gendered subjectivities in a coupleoriented marketplace. Theoretically, we have enhanced understanding of how the concept of 'abjection' can be developed to expose the 'naturalisation' of heterosexual relationships as a legitimate practice. We argue that the marketplace remains politically vested in the institution of heteronormativity. Our empirical study contributes to the understanding of how the circulation of the heterosexual imaginary in the marketplace shapes the experience of singleness. Most notably, our findings reveal that the experience of singleness is structured along gendered lines: a statein which single women are 'visibly' subjected to the disciplinary power that produces their 'abject' status. While single men have seemingly averted the disciplinary gaze, on the other hand, we also show that their singleness remains tenuously tethered to the heteronormative framework.

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“…19 That is, unless sharp oppositions occur as a consequence of processes of ethnic identity formation. For a fascinating sociological study of this typical urban indifference, see Tonkiss, 2003. 20 Georg Simmel correctly points to the indispensable blasé attitude of the city dweller, but unfortunately extends this attitude to a pathological type of devaluation of the world according to which nothing has any value any longer.…”

Section: Van Leeuwen • the Affective Ambivalence Of Cultural Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

On the affective ambivalence of living with cultural diversity

Leeuwen

2008

Ethnicities

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Living with cultural diversity is characterized by a fundamental affective ambivalence. On the one hand, there is existential unease in the face of cultural strangeness, which is linked to our human dependence on 'common sense' -the shared background of understanding from which we derive ontological security about the world and our place in it. Through cultural contact, common sense loses something of its self-evident character, and certainties about what is normal are put to the test. On the other hand, contact with unfamiliar practices and forms of expression can equally give rise to positive feelings of wonder and fascination, as in the urban context. This affective ambivalence stems from an existential paradox: the experience of both meaning and lack of meaning are dependent on contact with transcendent realities -in other words, realities that cannot be fully encompassed within our cognitive and manipulative horizons. This leads us to the question as to what the conditions are in which cultural diversity is experienced as a positive social given. The hypothesis is that cultural strangeness cannot in any event fascinate those who perceive the presence of this strangeness, rightly or wrongly, as an acute threat to their own psychological integrity, their vital integrity and/or to the national integrity.

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The Ethics of Indifference

Cited by 120 publications

References 7 publications

Walkability and Resilience: A Qualitative Approach to Design for Risk Reduction

Walkability and Resilience: A Qualitative Approach to Design for Risk Reduction

The abject single: exploring the gendered experience of singleness in Britain

On the affective ambivalence of living with cultural diversity

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