An essential aspect of forming representations of social groups is to recognize socially relevant attributes licensed by the group membership. Because knowledge of cultural practices tends to be transmitted through social contact within social groups, it is one of the fundamental attributes shared among members of a social group. Two experiments explored whether 5‐ and 6‐year‐olds selectively attribute shared cultural knowledge on the basis of group membership of agents. Using novel social groups, children were introduced to one target agent and (...) two other agents, one of which belonged to the same group as the target and one belonged to a different group. Children were then asked who would know or like same things as the target agent. The results showed that children expect group members to know the same songs, whereas they do not necessarily expect them to like the same songs or know the same generic facts. These findings suggest that children are remarkably selective in the attributions they make based on social group membership and from early on, they expect social group membership and cultural knowledge to be closely linked. (shrink)

This article examines fashion models as gender myths and cultural iconsthrough a cultural history of modelling. It reveals the construction of models’ personas by the successive addition of meaningful signs:physique, manner, attitude, nationality, class, race, salary, chameleonism, slenderness and so on. On the basis of empirical material on models’ experiences gathered from interviews, secondary oral sources and autobiographical material, the author approaches models’ bodies, identities and public personas as artefacts performed through the reiteration of collectively defined gender standards and practices. (...) This approach overcomes the contrast cast in fashion discourse between visibility/invisibility, private/public, real/unreal while disclosing the hegemonic beauty standards as fiction. (shrink)

Involvement is an important element of good research and a route to impact. In line with early organizational analysis, we advocate involvement with research stakeholders and investing in the necessary communication and rhetorical skills.

[1] The rise of modern paganism.--v. 2. The science of freedom.

This paper attempts to account for the peculiarly ‘otherworldly’ character of much contemporary management critique. It does so rather circuitously by focusing upon elements of the work of a moral philosopher, Alasdair MacIntyre. MacIntyre's comments about the ‘character’ of the ‘manager’ have commanded considerable support within critical organizational and management studies and have been regularly cited by critical intellectuals, keen to unmask an ethical and emotional vacuum at the heart of contemporary management practice. In what follows, I attempt to show (...) that the prestige and status accorded to MacIntyre's critique of the manager within organizational and management studies is directly proportional to its abstraction from the institutional realities of managing. In particular, I focus upon the ways in which MacIntyre attempts to hold the character of the manager accountable to a particular ideal of the person, one that derives many of its characteristics from Christian theology. (shrink)

Anonymized reflection was employed as an innovative way of teaching ethics in order to enhance students' ability in ethical decision making during a `Care of the Dying Patient and Family' module. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the first two student cohorts who experienced anonymized reflection ( n = 24). The themes identified were the richness and relevance of scenarios, small-group work and a team approach to teaching. Students indicated that they preferred this style of teaching. This finding (...) was verified by a postal questionnaire conducted four months later. The conclusions drawn from this study suggest that using anonymized reflection is an effective method for teaching ethics to nurses and indicates that learning about ethical issues in this way reduces uncertainties. (shrink)

The Buddhist view of the mind - how it works, how it goes wrong, how to put it right - is increasingly being recognised as profound and highly practical by scientists, counsellors and other professionals. In The Psychology of Awakening, this powerful vision of human nature, and its implications for personal and social life, are for the first time brought to a wider audience by some of those most influential in exploring its potential for the way we live today. These (...) include: David Brazier Jon Kabat Zinn Francisco Varela Joy Manne Geshe Thubten Jinpa Mark Epstein Gay Watson Maura Sills Guy Claxton Stephen Batchelor Deeply relevant, accessible and authoritative, The Psychology of Awakening will be of interest to all those who wish to understand the workings of their minds a little better and who are also seeking new ways of mastering the challenges - personal, professional and cultural with which modern life confronts us all. (shrink)

We often view emptiness as a negative condition, a symptom of depression, despair, or grief—an assessment furthered by authors like Franz Kafka or the existentialists, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Offering an alternative view, _A Philosophy of Emptiness_ reclaims these hollow feelings as a positive and even empowering state, an antidote to the modern obsession with substance and foundation. Digging through early and non-Western philosophy, Gay Watson uncovers a rich history of emptiness. She travels from Buddhism, Taoism, and religious mysticism (...) to the contemporary world of philosophy, science, and art practice. Though most Western philosophies are concerned with substance and foundation, she finds that the twentieth century has seen a resurgence of emptiness and offers reasons why such an apparently unappealing concept has attracted modern musicians, artists, and scientists, as well as preeminent thinkers throughout the ages. Probing the idea of how a life without foundation might be lived—and why a person might choose this path—_A Philosophy of Emptiness_ links these concepts to contemporary ideas of meditation and the mind, presenting a rich and intriguing take on the concept of emptiness and the history of thought. (shrink)

_ Source: _Page Count 22 This essay explores the influence of Benjamin’s fragmentary historiography on Arendt’s understanding of narrative. I argue that Arendt and Benjamin shared a common understanding of the problems of modernity. For both thinkers contemporary conditions of existence were defined on the one hand, by a similar conception of history, and on the other hand, a break with the tradition of philosophy. I demonstrate that Benjamin’s fragmented history, adopted by Arendt in response to this contemporary politico-philosophical crisis, (...) allowed her to redeem the past as a basis of a future-oriented philosophy by creating a space for arresting the continuum of history and asserting the importance of human agency. (shrink)

This article examines the construction and implementation of the Sullivan Principles, a two-decade effort to use corporate codes of conduct to improve the behavior of multinational corporations in South Africa under apartheid. Without organized social movement pressure, corporations would not have agreed to adopt the code, and corporate compliance required sustained pressure from the anti-apartheid movement. The system's independent monitoring process was problematic, and managers' definitions of “good corporate citizenship” were more guided by monitors'emphases than by substantive concerns. Based on (...) the historic case, the article raises questions about the voluntaristic, stateless character of transnational corporate codes of conduct and questions whether such codes offer a viable strategy for improving working conditions. (shrink)

This article examines whether the concept of ‘professionalism’ as applied to the legal profession serves any useful guide as to how lawyers should act. Professionalism is defined in terms of civility for the purposes of this article and considered against the backdrop of a perceived ‘decline’ in professionalism in the legal profession. Arguably, professionalism is all too often subsumed under the heading of ethics in both common parlance and in course content in law schools where Ethics, Professional Responsibility are part (...) of the curriculum with little weight given to professionalism per se. This article reflects, in part, on the student perception as to the state of the profession garnered from their responses to an assessment task at an Australian university. The issue is ripe for further discussion given that in Australia, the Law Admissions Consultative Committee has queried whether the teaching of Ethics should be withdrawn from the core curriculum. The article queries if there is in fact a ‘decline’ in standards and civility and, if so, considers the potential to arrest this ‘decline’ by the profession, universities and students working together to revive ‘professionalism’. (shrink)

[1] The rise of modern paganism.--v. 2. The science of freedom.

The tendency for abstract theorists of democratization to overlook gender dynamics is perhaps exacerbated in the South African case, where racial inequality is obviously key. Yet, attention to the processes through which South African activists inserted gender issues into discussions about how to construct new institutions provides an unusual prism through which to explore the gendered character of citizenship. After providing an explanation for the unusual prominence of gender concerns in South Africa's democratization, the article argues that during the drawn-out (...) democratic transition, South African activists, often influenced by international feminist discussions, developed a collective definition of gender interests and began to build those interests into the structure of democratic institutions, in ways that will affect politics and the definition of “women's interests” in the future. (shrink)

When I think about America, I think about a great diversity of types of people, from different backgrounds, national origins, races, religions, classes and points of view. The US is made up of descendants of African slaves and recent African immigrants; mid-western farmers and Asian Americans whose families come from nearly every Asian nation; Jewish families from Eastern Europe and Native Americans who have owned our land for centuries before any others. These are only a few of the stories that (...) make up the rich diversity of American society. Diversity is our greatest asset. (shrink)

Lorsqu’on m’a demandé de commenter mon article « Making news by doing work », je ne l’avais pas relu depuis plusieurs dizaines d’années. Cependant, j’avais l’intuition que mon analyse sur ce qu’on appelle aujourd’hui les « legacy media », les médias traditionnels, s’appliquerait de façon pertinente aux pratiques en pleine évolution des personnes travaillant dans les médias digitaux. Il y a plus de quarante ans, je postulai que les employés des médias traditionnels avaient élaboré des manières...

Notant d’un côté que la variabilité de la matière première empêche la routinisation et de l’autre, que les organisations imposent des protocoles de routine afin de contrôler le flux du travail, cet article explore deux questions liées : comment une organisation peut-elle traiter de manière routinière des événements inattendus? Comment les journalistes d’actualité font-ils décroître la variabilité des événements qui forment la matière première de l’information? L’article examine cinq classifications utilisées par les journalistes pour faire le tri parmi les événements (...) qui font l’actualité. En premier lieu, l’article analyse ces classifications en tant que « catégories » qui définissent ces événements. Cette approche se soldant par un échec, pour des raisons qui seront précisées, l’article examine ces mêmes classifications en tant que typifications. Cette dernière analyse montre à quel point la typification de la matière première est constituée par les exigences de la structure organisationnelle du travail d’information. Une attention particulière est prêtée aux problèmes pratiques liés au contrôle du travail. Les conséquences, pour les organisations produisant de l’information, de la manière dont un événement se produit sont également analysées. Certaines conséquences de l’analyse sont débattues. (shrink)

This article evaluates the role of art – particularly mechanically reproduced forms of art – in the writings of Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno. The central claim is that both thinkers share the same conviction as to the emancipatory potentials of the work of art. Yet, they evaluate the effects of technological innovation differently. The underpinnings of this later resolved discord, however, are philosophical. In contrast to Benjamin’s belief in the possibility of mass mobilization, for Adorno the relevant category (...) remains unequivocally the individual subject. (shrink)

In 1913, the British suffragette Emily Wilding Davison was killed when she ran onto the race course at Epsom Downs during the running of the Derby. Davison's goals are unclear, but she was immediately hailed as a martyr to the women's cause by her comrades in the Women's Social and Political Union. Others denounced her as a suicidal fanatic. This article evaluates Davison's death by examining the WSPU's emphasis on self-sacrifice, the actions of other women who risked their lives for (...) the right to vote, and Davison's political writings and activities. Combined, these features of the militant suffrage movement support the WSPU's identification of Davison as a martyr. They also raise questions about the ideological integrity of the concept of secular martyrdom. (shrink)

This essay, written in memory of Erik Olin Wright, explores Wright’s shift from a decades-long effort to map class structures in industrial societies to a search for paths to a more egalitarian future, pointing to the key role of feminist theory in that shift.

This essay introduces a special issue of Politics & Society in memory of Erik Olin Wright.

Le constat selon lequel les théoriciens de la démocratie ignorent les dynamiques de genre peut paraître excessif dans le cas de l’Afrique du Sud où l’inégalite raciale était bien évidemment l’essentiel. Toutefois, les processus par lesquels les militantes Sud Africaines ont posé les questions de genre dans les discussions sur la construction des nouvelles institutions, peuvent expliquer la construction de la citoyenneté. Cette inclusion des intérêts des femmes dans les institutions aura une influence sur la vie politique dans le présent (...) et l’avenir. (shrink)

University of Minnesota Pamphlets on American Writers ; No. 88.