...and his sociological research on bureaucracy during the Pre-World War I era, public administration has played a major role in the ever shifting relationship between the individual and the community. This altered our essential concepts of the public and private monarchy within social life during the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, the contemporary liberal democratic impulse towards both an unfettered individualism and a strong restricted civic community or culture has developed major challenges to Weber’s ‘modern’ approach to public administration. From former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s declaration that “the era of big government is over” in 1995, to recent proclamations within international theories of a new world order cemented by a ‘global’ civil society, ‘bureaucracy’, as the foundation of the contemporary nation-state, has been challenged on a theoretical and practical level. It is from this exemplar that democratic administration theory has largely emerged. Responding to the new challenges of traditional bureaucracy and their subsequent ‘hollowing out of the State’ as an effective institution, democratic administration theory has attempted to construct a new basis of administrative rule in which both the ‘expert’ and ‘client’ becomes leveled in their discourse through democratic and even radical reform of the administrative process itself. This newfound principle of political rule is in stark contrast to Max Weber’s belief in the eventual “leveling...
Words: 634 - Pages: 3
...The Journal of Applied Business Research – May/June 2015 Volume 31, Number 3 Collaborative Consumption And Sustainability: A Discursive Analysis Of Consumer Representations And Collaborative Website Narratives Anne-Sophie Binninger, NEOMA Business School, France Nacima Ourahmoune, NEOMA Business School, France Isabelle Robert, University Lille Nord de France-SKEMA Business School, France ABSTRACT In this article, the authors analyze the collaborative consumption model and its contribution to sustainable consumption. Indeed, collaborative consumption is considered as an alternative, ecological consumption mode (Bostman & Rogers, 2011), but previous research has no yet deeply explored to what extent it contributes the sustainable scheme and values. The study therefore investigates both the producer side (collaborative websites) and consumer side (blog participants) to decipher how sustainable ideals are shaped in this context and how consumers attend to them. Six segments of consumers have been identified which can help marketing and sustainable levers better frame their offer. Keywords: Collaborative Consumption; Sustainable Consumption; Access-Based Consumption; Sharing INTRODUCTION O ver the last decade, markets have changed significantly in terms of our relationship to goods, leading to other forms of acquisition and consumption than via possession (Rifkin, 2000, Lovelock and Gummeson 2004, Mont, 2002, Giesler 2006, Chen, 2009, Belk, 2010, Gansky 2010; Bostman & Rogers...
Words: 10093 - Pages: 41
...social responsibility (CSR). I make use of Jacques Derrida’s theorizing on contested meaning to argue that CSR’s ambiguity is actually necessary in light of its functional role as a ‘‘supplement’’ to corporate profit-seeking. As a discourse that refuses to conclusively resolve the tension between profit-seeking and prosociality, CSR expresses an important critical perspective which demands that firms act responsibly, while retaining the overall corporate frame of shareholder supremacy. CSR does this by ambivalently affirming both profit-seeking and prosociality, a necessary contradiction. Attempts to reduce CSR’s ambiguity can thus only succeed by undermining its viability as a normative discourse that captures how certain elements of society understand how firms should act. The analysis suggests that greater scholarly attention is needed with regard to the material discursive environments within which discourses such as CSR are deployed. A discursive approach to research could thus benefit future practitioners, who have to act according to fluid standards of responsibility that cannot be authoritatively defined, but which can be better understood than they are at present. ´ Keywords Corporate social responsibility Á Differance Á Discourse Á Jacques Derrida Á Supplementarity Á Undecidability C. Sabadoz (&) Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 100 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5R3G3, Canada e-mail:...
Words: 13268 - Pages: 54
...effects of segregation in the United States, which continued after laws were passed, but unfortunately ignored by people who wanted to continue to have power, social control, and inequality over an indigenous group of human being living within their community. Rosewood is a true, however historically-stifled chain of events that took place in small blooming town in Rosewood, Florida. Rosewood industry was cedar wood and mills, and a railroad station that transported products, communal relations between the towns of Rosewood and Sumner were one of tolerance. The African American community were aware of the inequality that was afforded to them, but also made every effort to build a culture of stability, and building a new cultural identity of freedom within an almost self-sufficient predominately African American community in spite of the power structure of its white neighbors and systematic racism (Dye, 1997). With the accusation of violence against a white women the mob viewed this act a direct threat to their social structure and the legacy. Social hierarchy played a major role in the mobs attitude, the violence was almost immediate, and within six days the accusation caused ominous consequences that affected the whole community of Rosewood and those that played a part in its destruction (Singleton, 1982). Historical Archaeologist Dr. Edward González-Tennant (2016), visited and recorded family members of those who are claim to have witness accounts of the morning of allege...
Words: 1827 - Pages: 8
...points us to a fundamental distinction between what people need and what they want. In the not very distant past, this dichotomy was not only well-understood, but the basis of data collection and social policy. Need was a social concept with real force. All that's left now is an economy of desire. This is reflected in polling data. Just over 40 percent of adults earning $50,000 to $100,000 a year, and 27 percent of those earning more than $100,000, agree that "I cannot afford to buy everything I really need." One third and 19 percent, respectively, agree that "I spend nearly all of my money on the basic necessities of life." I believe that our politics would profit from reviving a discourse of need, in which we talk about the material requirements for every person and household to participate fully in society. Of course, there are many ways in which such a right might be enforced: government income transfers or vouchers, direct provision of basic needs, employment guarantees, and the like. For reasons of space, I leave that discussion aside; the main point is to revive the distinction between needs and desires. Quality of life rather than quantity of stuff. Twenty-five years ago quality-of-life indicators began moving in an opposite direction from our measures of income, or Gross Domestic Product, a striking divergence...
Words: 1336 - Pages: 6
...Social Construction of Whiteness The concept of whiteness, or white privilege, for centuries has been ignored as a potential area of study because it has been widely accepted as the societal norm. Many whites have benefited socially, economically and politically without understanding that most of the privileges they have historically received are solely due to their race and/or gender. The purpose of this review is to analyze the social construction of whiteness from a theoretical perspective, whites understanding themselves and their social status, in addition to the evolution of whiteness. Many studies have been undertaken on the social construction of whiteness. These studies shed a lot of light on the different perceptions on whiteness, gaps in research, areas of highest research interest, strengths and weaknesses of the various methodologies, and direction for future studies. In the study done by Hartmann, Gerteis, and Croll, the focus was on the theoretical aspects of whiteness studies. The findings led the researchers to estimate that in the United States, 15% of the population exhibit what may be called ‘categorical whiteness’ (404). The study by Hartmann, et.al, was carried out using data obtained during a recent national survey, which helped provide an empirical assessment of the theoretical underpinnings of whiteness studies (Hartmann, et.al 404). Three propositions regarding the awareness and conception of whites about their own racial status were analyzed. The...
Words: 3906 - Pages: 16
...alone and omnivores must also avoid harmful foods. * The principle of incorporation dictates that food and cuisine are a central component of the sense of collective belonging. * Disgust is a socially constructed biological safeguard. The psychology of eating behavior reveals that children have the tendency to accept only a limited range of food they are familiar with. This gives us insight into our natural instinct as humans to put new exotic foods through thorough examination before we consume it. * Because of how complex identifying a food can be based on its cultural origins, the culinary system provides a pre-fabricated matrix where one can identify a food by understanding its place in the world. * In today’s society as food is becoming more processed and integrated through globalization our cultural and physiological identity through food is becoming threatened. Week 2 Reading summaries Paul Rozin, “Food is Fundamental, Fun , Frightening and Far Reaching” (1999) * Food is a foundational system that has evolved to deal with problems of food selection and is the source of many general behaviors and mental adaptations. * Food is one of the most critical components of our lives due to our consistent need of it. * We...
Words: 1688 - Pages: 7
...Rhetorical Analysis Many agree that exploiting impoverished people as a source for cheap labor and consequentially cheap products is a morally unacceptable practice. However, the problem of sweatshops remains prominent in our globalized world. Tara J. Radin and Martin Calkins explore this problem in “The Struggle Against Sweatshops: Moving Toward Responsible Global Business” by breaking down their essay into two primary sections. The first describes the difficulties of both external and internal forces in permanently discarding sweatshops while the second division highlights the complexity behind any plausible solution. While the content of this article is of elevated interest, more important for our purpose is the success behind their rhetoric. They utilize the emotions of an audience on an already sensitive topic while simultaneously providing evidence from a variety of environments and sources to point out that their conclusive recommendations are of great value when the urge to change the manner in which we get products finally sets in. In their essay “The Struggle Against Sweatshops: Moving Toward Responsible Global Business”, Radin and Calkins both inform and persuade their audience at an effective level through their credibility, emotion, and logic—ethos, pathos, and logos, respectively—to conclusively come about at more fully understanding the need for reform in global labor markets. I will first define ethos followed by an analysis and illustration of the rhetoric...
Words: 1694 - Pages: 7
...Braithwaite’ Department of Nursing, University of Texas, Tyler, USA, 2Stenberg College, Vancouver, Canada, 3University of Ulster, Jordanstown, UK, 4Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto; and 5 Arthur Rotter Somnerburg Chair in Suicide Studies, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ABSTRACT: It is self-evident that ethical issues are important topics for consideration for those involved in the care of the person who is suicidal. Nevertheless, despite the obvious relationship between Mental Health nurses and care of the person who is suicidal, such nurses have hitherto been mostly silent on these matters. As a result, this two-part paper focuses on a number of contemporary issues which might help inform the ethical discourse and resultant Mental Health nursing care of the person who is suicidal. Part one of this paper focuses on the issues: Whose life is it anyway? Harming of our bodies and the inconsistency in ethical responses and, Is suicide ever a reasonable thing to do? The authors find that this contemporary view within the suicidology academe and the corresponding legal position in most western (developed) countries is that the individual owns his/her own body. Yet given that contemporary mental healthcare policy and associated practice positions do not reflect view, this can easily lead to the scenario where a Mental Health nurse is faced with a major ethical dilemma, and the corresponding probability of moral distress. The authors also find that it is...
Words: 7425 - Pages: 30
...An Approach to Corpus-based Discourse Analysis: The Move Analysis as Example THOMAS A . UPTON AND MARY ANN COHEN Abstract This article presents a seven-step corpus-based approach to discourse analysis that starts with a detailed analysis of each individual text in a corpus that can then be generalized across all texts of a corpus, providing a description of typical patterns of discourse organization that hold for the entire corpus. This approach is applied specifically to a methodology that is used to analyze texts in terms of the functional/communicative structures that typically make up texts in a genre: move analysis. The resulting corpus-based approach for conducting a move analysis significantly enhances the value of this often used (and misused) methodology, while at the same time providing badly needed guidelines for a methodology that lacks them. A corpus of ‘birthmother letters’ is used to illustrate the approach. Biber et al. (2007) explore how discourse structure and organization can be investigated using corpus analysis; they offer a structured, seven-step corpusbased approach to discourse analysis that results in generalizable descriptions of discourse structure. This article draws on the themes in this book, but focuses in particular on analyses that use theories on communicative or functional purposes of text as the starting point for understanding why texts in a corpus are structured the way they are, before moving to a closer examination and description of...
Words: 8985 - Pages: 36
...beneficiaries of the Dutch Bangla Bank Limited. Surveys have been conducted using structured questionnaires to critically examine the subjective perceptions of the meaning, reasons and various aspects of CSR tasks of DBBL in Bangladesh. It has been found out that common people either do not have clear understanding about CSR activities or are not really concerned about the social responsibilities of the corporate organizations. The expected outcome of CSR activities, as has been stated in the memorandum and commitments of the corporate houses, has yet to be achieved. This study suggests that a more comprehensive and humane involvement of the common people in the CSR activities is required, which would not only fulfill the intended goals and objectives of the corporate organizations but also ensure a successful and sustainable development of the society. Key words: Corporate social responsibility, Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited, Bangladesh. 176 www.macrothink.org/jpag Journal of Public Administration and Governance ISSN 2161-7104 2012, Vol. 2, No. 1 1. Introduction Corporate...
Words: 4406 - Pages: 18
...HIGHER EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS RUI YANG Abstract – This article sets out to analyse critically the nature of globalisation and how it is affecting higher education. The author first reviews the nature of globalisation, and then examines its international impact on higher education development. He contends that globalisation is predominantly economic, and points out that global exchanges in the economic, cultural and educational domains continue to be unequal. At the same time, education is increasingly treated as a business. By exposing the negative side of globalisation and its effects on universities, the author aims to counter the uncritical acceptance of globalisation as a positive force for higher education and society as a whole. Zusammenfassung – Ziel dieses Artikels ist eine kritische Analyse der Natur der Globalisierung und ihrer Auswirkungen auf die höhere Bildung. Der Autor beginnt mit einem Rückblick auf die Eigenheiten der Globalisierung und untersucht dann ihren internationalen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der höheren Bildung. Er behauptet, dass Globalisierung vorherrschend wirtschaftlicher Art sei und weist darauf hin, dass ein globaler Austausch in wirtschaftlicher, kultureller und erzieherischer Hinsicht ungleich bleibt. Gleichzeitig wird Bildung immer mehr als eine Art Geschäft behandelt. Indem der Autor die negative Seite der Globalisierung herausstellt sowie ihre Auswirkung auf die Universitäten, will er der unkritischen Akzeptanz der Globalisierung...
Words: 9997 - Pages: 40
...CHAPTER ONE THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: CONCEPTS AND PROBLEMATICS OF THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY CHAPTER ONE THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: CONCEPTS AND PROBLEMATICS OF THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY Introduction This chapter presents a general theoretical framework for the knowledge society, based on four major axes linked by the concerns and issues invoked by the project to create a “knowledge society” as an integral part of a comprehensive programme of Arab renaissance. The first of these axes presents the premises and principles guiding the knowledge society. The second deals with the conceptual structure of the discourses that have attempted to shed light on the changes in modern societies since the information revolution. Here we have constructed an operational definition of the knowledge society in the Arab world, based on the ideas put forward in the Report’s various chapters. The third axis constructs the systems of reference that have guided, and continue to guide, knowledge discourse in the contemporary world and allows us to become acquainted with the dimensions and options underlying earlier reports on the same topic. The fourth axis examines some of the problematic issues posed today by information and knowledge development in contemporary society, believing that reflection on these issues will influence efforts to close knowledge gaps in the Arab world and achieve comprehensive human development. While subsequent chapters of the Report examine the quantitative and qualitative...
Words: 20875 - Pages: 84
...person to lead many secret lives, broadcast their opinions, beliefs, and most intimate thoughts, not to mention their physical features, to an unbelievably wide audience. For the first time in human history, a technology exists that gives us the ability to do so; society knows this technology as the Internet (Siegel, 2009). Many individuals may argue that the Internet providing such convenience and mediums for connectivity to society is a blessing. A different perspective is seen in the book, “Against the Machine: How the Web Is Reshaping Culture and Commerce and Why It Matters.” Author Lee Siegel argues that the Internet is “obscurely a curse” (Siegel, 2009) in that “more and more people are able to live in a more comfortable and complete self-enclosure than ever before (Siegel, 2009).” This paper argues that the Internet is both a blessing and a curse with regards to Siegel’s aforementioned statement. The argument will be supported through the notions that: the Internet creating a global network society versus the digital divide, through the customization of information and through a shared sense of community, and elimination of diversity. Global Network Society vs. Digital Divide The Internet has given society the ability to connect with people over substantial geographical boundaries. However, the areas that are deprived of Internet accessibility are, and will continue to fall behind with respect to...
Words: 3674 - Pages: 15
... 6100: Human resource planning 2400: Public relations Geographic Names: United Kingdom UK Abstract: The relative absence of debate about ethical issues within the area of human resource management is addressed. IT is argued that ethics is not about taking statements of morality at face value; it is a critical and challenging tool. The discussion starts with what should be familiar terrain: ethical arguments that uphold a managerialist position, such as ethical individualism, utilitarianism, and "Rawlsian" justice. Other theories are then introduced that broaden the field of ethical concern in an endeavor to be more socially inclusive: stakeholding and discourse theory. Copyright Eclipse Group Ltd. 2000 Full Text: Until very recently the field of business ethics was not preoccupied with issues relating to the ethical management of employees. Apart from the development of ethical awareness among managers (Snell, 1993; Maclagan, 1998) and the ethical dimension of change management processes (Mayon White, 1994; McKendall, 1993), there has been little debate around the ethical basis of much HR policy and practice. The main debates in business...
Words: 9380 - Pages: 38
