Questões de Concurso

Culture is ordinary. Every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning. The making of a society is the finding of common meanings and directions, and its growth is an active debate and amendment under the pressures of experience, contact, and discovery, writing themselves into the land. The growing society is there, yet it is also made and remade in every individual mind.

The making of a mind is, first, the slow learning of shapes, purposes, and meanings, so that work, observation and communication are possible. Then, second, but equal in importance, is the testing of these in experience, the making of new observations, comparisons, and meanings.

A culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to; the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested. These are the ordinary processes of human societies and human minds, and we see through them the nature of a culture: that it is always both traditional and creative; that it is both the most ordinary common meanings and the finest individual meanings.

We use the word culture in these two senses: to mean a whole way of life ⸺ the common meanings; to mean the arts and learning ⸺ the special processes of discovery and creative effort. Some writers reserve the word for one or other of these senses; I insist on both, and on the significance of their conjunction. The questions I ask about our culture are questions about our general and common purposes, yet also questions about deep personal meanings.

Culture is ordinary, in every society and in every mind.

Raymond Williams. Culture is Ordinary. In: R. Williams.

Resources of Hope: Culture, Democracy, Socialism.

London: Verso,1989. p.3-14 (adapted).

Culture is ordinary. Every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning. The making of a society is the finding of common meanings and directions, and its growth is an active debate and amendment under the pressures of experience, contact, and discovery, writing themselves into the land. The growing society is there, yet it is also made and remade in every individual mind.

The making of a mind is, first, the slow learning of shapes, purposes, and meanings, so that work, observation and communication are possible. Then, second, but equal in importance, is the testing of these in experience, the making of new observations, comparisons, and meanings.

A culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to; the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested. These are the ordinary processes of human societies and human minds, and we see through them the nature of a culture: that it is always both traditional and creative; that it is both the most ordinary common meanings and the finest individual meanings.

We use the word culture in these two senses: to mean a whole way of life ⸺ the common meanings; to mean the arts and learning ⸺ the special processes of discovery and creative effort. Some writers reserve the word for one or other of these senses; I insist on both, and on the significance of their conjunction. The questions I ask about our culture are questions about our general and common purposes, yet also questions about deep personal meanings.

Culture is ordinary, in every society and in every mind.

Raymond Williams. Culture is Ordinary. In: R. Williams.

Resources of Hope: Culture, Democracy, Socialism.

London: Verso,1989. p.3-14 (adapted).

Culture is ordinary. Every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning. The making of a society is the finding of common meanings and directions, and its growth is an active debate and amendment under the pressures of experience, contact, and discovery, writing themselves into the land. The growing society is there, yet it is also made and remade in every individual mind.

The making of a mind is, first, the slow learning of shapes, purposes, and meanings, so that work, observation and communication are possible. Then, second, but equal in importance, is the testing of these in experience, the making of new observations, comparisons, and meanings.

A culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to; the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested. These are the ordinary processes of human societies and human minds, and we see through them the nature of a culture: that it is always both traditional and creative; that it is both the most ordinary common meanings and the finest individual meanings.

We use the word culture in these two senses: to mean a whole way of life ⸺ the common meanings; to mean the arts and learning ⸺ the special processes of discovery and creative effort. Some writers reserve the word for one or other of these senses; I insist on both, and on the significance of their conjunction. The questions I ask about our culture are questions about our general and common purposes, yet also questions about deep personal meanings.

Culture is ordinary, in every society and in every mind.

Raymond Williams. Culture is Ordinary. In: R. Williams.

Resources of Hope: Culture, Democracy, Socialism.

London: Verso,1989. p.3-14 (adapted).

In recent years, awareness has grown of the scope and scale of violence and discrimination directed at lesbian, gay, bi, trans (LGBT) and intersex people around the world ⸺ including killings, torture, arbitrary detention and widespread discrimination in access to health care, education, employment and housing.

United Nations, regional and national human rights bodies have identified critical gaps in the implementation of international standards to address these and related violations, and have issued a plethora of recommendations, including, among them, the repeal of discriminatory legislation and measures to protect LGBT and intersex people from discrimination, violence, torture and ill treatment, and safeguard rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

Increasingly, governments are taking action ⸺ whether in the form of legislation and policy measures or through targeted social and education programmes. At the United Nations Human Rights Council, more than one hundred countries from all regions around the world have voluntarily committed to take measures to end violence and discrimination linked to sexual orientation and gender identity, based on recommendations generated during the first two cycles of the Universal Periodic Review.

However, serious challenges remain. While many countries have taken encouraging steps, in most cases, these efforts have fallen short of the concerted strategy required to tackle violence and discrimination against LGBT and intersex people. Even in countries that have arguably recorded the most progress in respect of the rights of gay men and lesbians, there has been far less attention given to protecting the rights of trans people and only incipient attention to the rights of intersex people.

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Living Free and Equal: What States are doing to tackle violence and

discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. (2016).

Internet: <www.ohchr.org> (adapted).

In recent years, awareness has grown of the scope and scale of violence and discrimination directed at lesbian, gay, bi, trans (LGBT) and intersex people around the world ⸺ including killings, torture, arbitrary detention and widespread discrimination in access to health care, education, employment and housing.

United Nations, regional and national human rights bodies have identified critical gaps in the implementation of international standards to address these and related violations, and have issued a plethora of recommendations, including, among them, the repeal of discriminatory legislation and measures to protect LGBT and intersex people from discrimination, violence, torture and ill treatment, and safeguard rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

Increasingly, governments are taking action ⸺ whether in the form of legislation and policy measures or through targeted social and education programmes. At the United Nations Human Rights Council, more than one hundred countries from all regions around the world have voluntarily committed to take measures to end violence and discrimination linked to sexual orientation and gender identity, based on recommendations generated during the first two cycles of the Universal Periodic Review.

However, serious challenges remain. While many countries have taken encouraging steps, in most cases, these efforts have fallen short of the concerted strategy required to tackle violence and discrimination against LGBT and intersex people. Even in countries that have arguably recorded the most progress in respect of the rights of gay men and lesbians, there has been far less attention given to protecting the rights of trans people and only incipient attention to the rights of intersex people.

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Living Free and Equal: What States are doing to tackle violence and

discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. (2016).

Internet: <www.ohchr.org> (adapted).