The Idea of Justice
... -Explanatory models that distance themselves from the assumptions of rationality Human beings also act out of considerations other than utility maximization and self-interest (Sen 2009). This thesis has already been supported by Adam Smith (2019[1790]), Herbert Simon (1990Simon ( , 1993, Tversky and Kahneman (1991), Richard Thaler (2015) and Daniel Kahneman (2011). ...
Rationality is one of the fundamental assumptions of economics. Under this assumption, there would not be reasons to assume that individuals will moderate the use of a natural resource or an ecosystem when access to them is free, so that the outcome is their depletion or deterioration. However, the economic literature also reports that people make decisions influenced by criteria that deviate from this assumption, although there are few references to the temperance or moderation in the use of nature or the environment. This systematic review describes the individual processes that lead people to moderate their use of nature or the environment when there are no access restrictions. We find thirteen studies on moderation behavior, where participants could use the environment or natural resources without restrictions. The results indicate that people may adopt moderation behavior under considerations other than utility maximization. Individuals may moderate the use of nature, or the environment driven by feelings of responsibility, ecological attitude, frugality, and self-efficacy, but also influenced by reference points such as goals, the actions of others, the state of the resource or ecosystem, and future consequences of their own actions. However, the relationship between this behavior and actual changes in consumption, resource status, or availability has been poorly studied. JEL Classification Q01 Q20 Q57
... Keadilan Sosial: (Sen, 2010) menekankan bahwa praktik bisnis berkelanjutan harus juga memperhatikan keadilan sosial. Perusahaan harus memastikan bahwa praktik mereka mendukung kesejahteraan manusia secara adil, termasuk distribusi kekayaan yang merata dan penciptaan kesempatan yang setara bagi semua pihak terlibat. ...
Buku ini membahas tentang prinsip-prinsip manajemen yang mendasar, proses
pengelolaan yang terstruktur, serta praktik-praktik yang dapat diterapkan dalam berbagai
konteks organisasi. Manajemen sebagai ilmu yang dinamis selalu berkembang seiring
dengan perubahan lingkungan bisnis dan teknologi. Buku ini dirancang untuk memberikan
pemahaman yang komprehensif bagi para pembaca mengenai konsep, strategi, dan
tantangan yang dihadapi dalam dunia manajemen, sekaligus memberikan panduan praktis
dalam pengambilan keputusan dan pengelolaan sumber daya yang efektif.
Aboriginal culture is both a strength and a protective factor for Aboriginal children; yet, we continue to see disparities in education, health and well‐being outcomes. To improve outcomes for Aboriginal children and families, local cultural ways of knowing, being and doing need to be incorporated into policy and practice. The strength‐based capability approach draws on the experiences, needs and values of people in context to understand the opportunities and freedoms to be and do what is culturally valued. Adopting a “capability approach,” First Nations peoples from the rural Riverland region of South Australia were involved in culturally safe yarning circles to explore aspirations for their children's well‐being and safety. In doing so, a better appreciation of the personal, social, structural and environmental factors that impinge on the achievement of well‐being and safety was possible. We highlight how a capability approach provides a valuable tool for engaging with and embracing metic knowledge in policymaking and practice. A more meaningful understanding of safety, well‐being and “the good life” in a community is critical for ensuring that policy and practice efforts can be directed in ways that create outcomes desired by Community.
Legal design is a rapidly growing field that seeks to improve the legal system's accessibility, usability, and effectiveness through human-centered design methods and principles. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to legal design, covering fundamental concepts, definitions, and theories. Chapters explore the role of legal design in promoting dignity, equity, and justice in the legal system. Contributors present a range of community-driven projects and method-focused case studies that demonstrate the potential of legal design to transform how people experience the law. This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in the future of law and the intersection of design and justice.
Using case studies from Namibia and Mozambique, we examine how regulations against hunting impact person–place relationships and affect multidimensional wellbeing in conservation spaces. We combine Amartya Sen's capability approach with theories of place, using Chris de Wet's concept of disemplacement to investigate the ways conservation efforts affect rural quality of life. We find conservation and place-making become incompatible if people are prevented from adapting lifestyles and livelihoods to accommodate changing circumstances. By tracing distinct dimensions of the disemplacement process, we demonstrate the adverse and compounding effects of wildlife regulations associated with nature tourism. Disruptions to economic livelihoods and physical security destabilize person–place bonds that enhance wellbeing. Material losses and economic hardship are accompanied by institutional disruptions that contribute to marginalization and social exclusion. We provide a detailed illustration of how conservation regulations constrain agency and contribute to a growing sense of powerlessness by decreasing local control over wildlife, which consequently weakens place attachment and diminishes wellbeing. Our study demonstrates how people become more multidimensionally impoverished as conservation initiatives change the places they value while simultaneously limiting their capabilities to maintain place attachment.
The following study aims to investigate the impact of injustice on income inequality in Africa between 2000 and 2020. Both male and female injustice levels are evaluated using gender-specific scores to indicate the injustice suffered by both genders. The study utilized the Gini and Palma ratios as proxies for income distribution inequality. After addressing error term-related problems with the Newey-West Standard Corrected Error approach, the findings indicate that injustice is a significant contributor to inequality in Africa, especially for females, with little evidence of male injustice. The results are consistent for both middle and low-income countries that adopted the French civil law and English common law systems to govern their institutions. Additionally, the study found that educational development and basic welfare maintenance contribute to reducing inequality in Africa, which is exacerbated by many barriers to political inclusion. To address the gender bias in income distribution, policymakers in Africa should design policies that provide equal access to justice for both male and female populations. The study also suggests adopting policies that enhance human capital accumulation and political inclusion in-state activities to create a safe, just, and equal environment. K E Y W O R D S
The volume collects contributions from colleagues, friends, and companions who wished to honour the memory of Riccardo Del Punta, continuing the dialogue with his academic thought. The writings address many of the numerous themes Del Punta engaged with – both specific labour law issues and broader reflections on the discipline itself – demonstrating the capacity of his ideas to open new research paths and to inspire reflection and new studies. The collection is enriched with affectionate memories, underscoring the lasting impact Del Punta left not only on the scholarly community but also on the personal lives of his colleagues in labour law.
Objective/Research Question: This study explores the potential for virtual international exchange to serve as a high impact practice that improves academic outcomes, defined credential completion, and GPA among low-income students enrolled at two community colleges in the U.S. Southeast. Specifically, we ask: What is the relationship between participation in virtual international exchange and two key indicators of students’ academic success, last-recorded cumulative GPA and credential completion, among community college students who receive Pell funding compared to those who do not? We adopt a capability approach to frame our work, which focuses attention on what low-income students are able to achieve when provided with opportunity rather than a lack of social status or financial means. Methods: Drawing data from 26,748 students, we use propensity score weighting to account for observed differences in virtual exchange participants and non-participants prior to estimating a series of linear regression models predicting a student’s credential completion and last-recorded GPA. Results: Our findings suggest that virtual exchange participation has a positive relationship with both measures of students’ academic success, credential completion and GPA. Conclusions/Contributions: Our results highlight the success that students are capable of when provided with the opportunity to engage with a high impact practice on their home campuses and have implications for both community college international educators and administrators.
Equality of Opportunity and gender equality, key components of the UNs' Sustainable Development Goals and Inclusive Growth initiatives, require wellbeing measures that reflect the extent to which such targets are being achieved. From a measurement perspective, the Equal Opportunity literature distinguishes between inequalities arising from individual choice and inequalities engendered by circumstances beyond individual control, only the latter should enter the calculus. However, common metrics of socio‐economic inequality make no such distinction confounding different inequality sources and obfuscating potential intervention pathways. Using recent intertemporal data from family farms on four Zimbabwean and Tanzanian irrigation schemes, this study introduces and exemplifies new methods for measuring Equality of Opportunity multidimensionally within an overall wellbeing framework. Results indicate a deterioration in equality of opportunity in access to land, with an improvement in equality of opportunity in revenue generation, with the former outweighing the latter in a joint analysis resulting in a decline in overall wellbeing.
The article identifies and seeks to abridge a gap in the literature consisting of the problem of relations between military expenditure and democracy, especially the consequences of the first for the second. It specifically investigates the consequences that military expenditure produces for democracy among contemporary Western and comparable societies such as OECD countries during 2006–2017. It first surveys the relevant pertinent literature about the relationship of military expenditure and militaristic processes with democracy and political, civil and individual liberties. Then it proposes a theoretical sociological framework for approaching the problem of military expenditure and democracy, focusing on the consequences of the first for the second variable. It develops this framework by formulating testable hypotheses regarding the nature of consequences that military expenditure has for democracy. Next, it specifies data and their sources, the method and variables that the study uses. It reports empirical findings such as descriptive and proximately causal (regression) results. It infers that these findings for the most part support the theory and hypotheses that large and increasing military expenditure has adverse consequence for liberal democracy in general, and in OECD countries in particular.
What role can political institutions play in reconciling the demands of justice with the desire for happiness in diverse societies? The increased measurement and politicization of well-being in recent decades has left many multicultural democracies struggling to support their citizens’ happiness while respecting the value of pluralism. Drawing on John Rawls’s theories of social and developmental psychology, as well as empirical research on the social determinants of well-being, this paper develops a conceptual and normative framework for understanding and addressing this challenge. Conceptually, the paper describes how political institutions function as “infrastructures of feeling” that shape the psychological dispositions and moral sensibilities of those living under them. Normatively, the paper argues that institutions reflecting Rawls’s liberal egalitarian conception of justice are uniquely capable of supporting happiness while affirming pluralism. This “experience-oriented egalitarianism” offers an original account of the connections between institutional design, public policy, moral psychology, and social justice, with direct implications for policymaking in multicultural democracies. The paper therefore concludes by offering several prescriptive recommendations for addressing the infrastructural origins of the “happiness crises” emerging in many diverse societies.
Diphetogo tseo di tlisitsego boipuso mafatsheng a Afrika gase tsa fetola nyenyefatso ya bothopja le bokgoba bjo bo gapeleditsweng ke mafatshe a Bodikela bja mose wa mawatle. Sebakwa ke sona se taodisong ye. Re ema ka la gore magoro kamoka a bophelo a tshwanetse go mothofatswa, botho ebe bjona motheo wa phedisano magereng ga batho kamoka “Afrika-borwa” le lefatsheng ka bophara. Moono wo o tshwanetse go ba karolo ya mananego kamoka a thuto go tloga thutong ya motheo go fihlela thutong tje phagamego. The ethically unjustified violence of Western colonisation continues in the economic and epistemic spheres in Africa, despite the reluctant concession by the Western coloniser to political independence. The constitutional histories of politically independent Africa are mainly the reaffirmation of the imposed domestication of the legal paradigm of the Western colonial conqueror. This is constitutionalism. With particular reference to conqueror South Africa, I take the “Union of South Africa” as the commencement of constitutionalism. General Smuts, later Prime Minister, was among three Afrikaner Generals engaged in the founding and the development of the “Union of South Africa.” He is selected here for his claim that the White colonial conquerors from Western Europe are endowed with superior intelligence. This can be used to continue the subjugation of indigenous conquered peoples into an indefinitely long future. This article challenges this claim because it is ethically untenable and fundamentally at odds with constitution-ness underlying the ubu-ntu legal paradigm. Given the evolution of constitutionalism in conqueror South Africa until the constitution of 1996, was Smuts right in his claim? In addition to the ethical indefensibility of this claim, it is argued further that the “epistemic decolonial turn” overlooks “decolonisation” as argued by Africans, and disregards humanisation—mothofatso—as the fundamental counter to the dehumanisation project of colonialism.
We have learned a great deal about taxation and development over the last half-century but even the best research answers to particular questions have been difficult to apply in practice. The standard approach to tax and development has undergone a number of major model changes over the years but no magical fiscal medicine suitable for all has been found. This brief paper provides a perspective on a half century of research on taxation and development and notes some questions that call for more research. Moreover, since even the best research is only one of many inputs shaping public policy to some extent the task is not so much to improve research as to improve how we market what we learn to those who can, if they wish, put the knowledge to use. Building up adequate institutional capacity in the tax field, both inside and outside government, is critical to being able to adapt policies to changing circumstances and needs, thus ensuring some degree of robustness and resiliency. The role of outsiders like academics and aid agencies in this process is more to be supportive when countries want to reform their systems than to tell them when and how to do it.
Drawing on Sen’s conceptual refinements of agency, in particular the distinction between agency freedom and agency achievement, this article highlights the existence of a feedback loop between agency and the capability to aspire. To explore this loop, the author uses John Dewey’s praxeological approach, bringing institutions into the“Capability Approach” along with situated agency. Against this background, she develops an agentive model of the capability to aspire, where the latter is nurtured by the longitudinal and lateral dimensions of experience. While the longitudinal dimension involves temporal processes driven by creative continuity (between past, present and future), the lateral dimension involves relational processes driven by social interactions (between a person and her environment). Institutions are an important part of that environment. By propagating social norms that define roles and behaviours in society, they provide a matrix for individual and collective aspirations, especially for people with fewer individual resources. But as Sen has pointed out,the moral ideals pursued by institutions do not necessarily translate into concrete achievements. This is why Dewey invites us to subject them to an ongoing critical inquiry that confronts their goals to their effective role in people’s lived experience, with the aim to transform them if necessary.The article concludes by discussing the implications of such a transformative inquiry and its potentially empowering effect in voicing aspirations and articulating new ones.
In the pursuit of global sustainability, firms play an increasingly pivotal role. In this scenario, Benefit Corporations aim to seamlessly integrate profit-making endeavors with sustainable practices. This corporate model has spread around the world and in Italy; it was adopted through Law No. 208/2015 introducing Italian Benefit Corporations (BCs). Italian BCs must produce a Benefit Impact Report (BIR) alongside their financial statements, as a strategic communication tool for demonstrating the company's commitment to advancing common societal benefits to stakeholders. Leveraging stakeholder theory, this study adopts a mixed methodological approach that incorporates manual content analysis of BIRs from 132 Italian BCs, combined with a regression model exploring the impact of firm characteristics on the quality of BIRs. Findings highlight a positive relationship between firm size, financial leverage, and profitability on the quality of BIRs. This study is the first to explore the quality of BIRs and their determinants, providing academic and practical implications.
A pdf copy of the article can be accessed at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YD72BXM7WWFHT75G4J9Y/full?target=10.1080/10402659.2024.2416041
In a telegram to prominent Americans on May 23rd, 1946, Albert Einstein made the following statement:
The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive (cited in Ionno Butcher 2005, 12; Times 1946).
Here Einstein was pointing to the emerging existential threat unleashed by the development of atomic weapons, a threat that was greatly magnified with the development of thermo-nuclear weapons, and importantly articulating the need for a transformation in our mode of thinking. This issue remains with us and has been heightened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its justification. Regarding this manner of thinking, The Russell-Einstein Manifesto published on July 9, 1955, stated the following:
We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt. … we want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings and consider yourselves only as members of a biological species which has had a remarkable history, and whose disappearance none of us can desire … We appeal, as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest … (Russell and Einstein 1955).
In a letter to Einstein exploring the possibility of drafting the manifesto Russell wrote:
In any attempt to avoid atomic war the strictest neutrality is to be observed… Everything must be said from the point of view of mankind, not of this or that group… (cited in Ionno Butcher 2005, 13).
The purpose of this paper is to interpret and further articulate the nature of the above proposed manner of thinking as a mode of moral thought in response to the existential risk of nuclear conflict, a risk that has been exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine justified by its underlying thinking in the form of the Putin Doctrine, and to suggest the need for and the method of educating global citizens as a way to minimize that risk.
A pdf copy of the article can be accessed at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YD72BXM7WWFHT75G4J9Y/full?target=10.1080/10402659.2024.2416041
The literature engaging political theory in STS often puts forward a deficit model view of STS, in which homegrown STS ideas about politics, such as co-production, are either treated as having an insufficient account of the political or not read as political theory at all. This article challenges the deficit discourse by reading co-production as a full-blown political theory in its own right, in particular by showing how it investigates normative questions of ‘the good’ that are central to any theorization of politics. Where political theory often concerns itself with the construction and application of universal political ideals—such as of the good citizen, legitimate procedures or smart outcomes—co-production looks at empirical sites where citizens, procedures, and outcomes articulate understandings of the good held by political actors in situ. By looking at the making of citizens, procedures, and outcomes in practice, we can better understand co-production as political theory. In particular, co-production elaborates on how the making of citizens, procedures, and outcomes constitute (and are constituted by) ideal normative positions, including: authoritative views about what citizens may claim to know, culturally-situated understandings of procedural legitimacy, and political values and ideologies embedded in seemingly ‘objective’ measurements of outcomes.
All over the world, political philosophers are increasingly told to deliver more ‘engagement’, ‘relevance’, or ‘impact’, without it being remotely clear what this should involve. Less analysis and more activism? Fewer principles and more policies? Less critique and more cooperation? Or something else altogether: a particular way of working with others that sits alongside, rather than replaces, what we already do as professional scholars. In support of this last possibility, my argument here has two stages. First, a flexible theory of ‘public political philosophy’ that others can adopt or amend as they see fit. Second, a development of that theory by way of a particular ‘case-study’: ‘inter-minority dialogue’ in Poland, and especially dialogue between, and about, Jewish and Muslim communities residing there. Note though, in advance, that this is not ‘development’ in the sense of either ‘testing’ an empirical theory or ‘applying’ a normative one. Instead I aim simply to sketch out a particular kind of conversation, between and amongst these groups, as well as local scholars, by setting out three ‘methods’ they can experiment with, each of which is intended to support, rather than supplant, whatever dialogues are already locally occurring. These three I call ‘phacts’, ‘phictions’, and ‘philennials’, and if they are far from a solution to any of the problems these communities face, they are at least a new contribution that philosophers are particularly well placed to facilitate.
Background
Societal structures and systems compel occupational therapists, at times, to behave in ways that perpetuate injustices. Justice theorists have described how Global North social structures have created the conditions for oppression of some groups while enabling additional groups to have unearned privileges. Mobilizing critical occupational therapy praxis is an essential response.
Purpose
This lecture addresses three questions: why should occupational therapists integrate structural justice, equity, and rights into their everyday practices?; what gives occupational therapy the potential to be a structural justice-, equity-, and rights-oriented profession?; and, how can occupational therapy mobilize critical praxis that will promote structural justice, equity, and rights?
Key issues
Occupational therapy's embeddedness in structures of injustice and therapists’ obligations to integrate justice, equity, and rights into their everyday practices are increasingly evident. A focus on occupational participation, growing critical consciousness, socially transformative practices, and capacity for collective action position occupational therapy to be a structural justice-oriented profession. Critical reflexivity and reflection; justice-, equity-, and rights-based lenses; and acts of resistance and disobedience to oppressive systems can help mobilize critical praxis.
Implications
Occupational therapists have individual and collective opportunities for exercising the moral imagination and moral courage to mobilize critical occupational therapy praxis.
The popularisation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies has sparked discussion about their ethical implications. This development has forced governmental organisations, NGOs, and private companies to react and draft ethics guidelines for future development of ethical AI systems. Whereas many ethics guidelines address values familiar to ethicists, they seem to lack in ethical justifications. Furthermore, most tend to neglect the impact of AI on democracy, governance, and public deliberation. Existing research suggest, however, that AI can threaten key elements of western democracies that are ethically relevant. In this paper, Rawls’s theory of justice is applied to draft a set of guidelines for organisations and policy-makers to guide AI development towards a more ethical direction. The goal is to contribute to the broadening of the discussion on AI ethics by exploring the possibility of constructing AI ethics guidelines that are philosophically justified and take a broader perspective of societal justice. The paper discusses how Rawls’s theory of justice as fairness and its key concepts relate to the ongoing developments in AI ethics and gives a proposition of how principles that offer a foundation for operationalising AI ethics in practice could look like if aligned with Rawls’s theory of justice as fairness.
“The Capability Approach” (CA) is a normative and critical framework for assessing the well-being of people and societies. It is a pluralistic methodology open to deliberation, with applications in various branches of the Social Sciences. The suitability of CA for social, economic, and political improvements in a wide variety of contexts is highlighted, assuming ethical principles of defence of freedom and justice. The growing interest in relation to CA is reflected in a large increase in scientific production, which makes it difficult to outline its main lines of research precisely. Our study has two goals: on the one hand, it will become a fruitful instrument to learn about the main areas of research that already exist on CA; on the other hand, it will serve to enrich them and incorporate new lines of research into the field. Having a panoramic view of the trends in CA will facilitate their work for future researchers. To this end, taking the Web of Science database from 1994 to 2022 as a reference, a bibliometric analysis based on citations is conducted using the CiteSpace program. Our findings show that 11 clearly differentiated clusters have been detected, which correspond to the essential lines of research on CA. Our bibliometric analysis contributes to revealing the evolution of the academic field of CA, with special emphasis on emerging areas.
Research on sustainable work remains split between social and ecological approaches. That also applies to related policy concepts, such as ‘decent work’, ‘job quality’ or ‘green jobs’. The article argues that to overcome the gap between the social and ecological agendas, we need to reconceptualise work within a normative framework different from the preference-based one that drives capitalist economies. To this end, we explore the potential and implications of the ‘capability’ framework, derived from the capability approach developed by Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen. With its focus on justice and deliberative democracy, it makes the political participation of all stakeholders, starting with workers, key to integrating social and ecological sustainability. It requires us to rethink work not only in terms of its means but also its ends, and to revise our understanding of workers and their role in society. On this basis, the article develops a definition of sustainable work and outlines some first elements for its practical operationalisation in an index.
Abstract
Motivation: This study examines the intricate relationship between
governance, institutions, and human development in the context of
Ghana's flagship projects and initiatives; One Village, One Dam (1V1D)
and Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ). The aim is to provide a better
understanding of how government interventions based on development state theory can achieve sustainable economic growth and the
well-being of the people of Ghana.
Purpose: The study seeks to understand the feasibility, challenges,
and effectiveness of these projects in promoting food security, job
creation, and skills development.
Approach and Methods: A qualitative approach using a multiple case
study design was used for the research. In-depth interviews and focus
group discussions with 64 purposively selected participants provided
the data, which was subsequently subjected to content analysis.
Findings: The study finds that while certain aspects of the projects,
such as well-defined objectives and scope, worked well, problems
relating to risk management and stakeholder engagement proved a
hindrance. Additionally, although the projects were facilitated by a
network of well-organized governance structures and institutions,
ineffective co-ordination often led to delays and miscommunication.
Nevertheless, the PFJ project was successful in promoting food security, job creation, and skills development for farmers.
Policy Implications: The study underscores the need for Ghana's
policy-makers to improve risk management and stakeholder engagement within such initiatives. The One Village, One Dam initiative
needs to be reinvigorated through the adoption by policy-makers of a
culture of open dialogue, inclusivity, and adaptive governance.
In the reality of planning practice, where there is usually no a priori ‘right’ substantive conception of justice to guide and evaluate decision making, conceptions are negotiated between stakeholders. Moreover, these conceptions vary in space and time. The existing academic discussion on justice in planning provides limited insight in and guidance for how to navigate the plurality of conceivable and valid substantive conceptions of justice that may be articulated and applied. To address this gap, we introduce a dynamic justice framework, which looks at how the different elements of justice (‘materials of justice’) are being articulated, connected, and changed in discourses and institutions. We believe this dynamic justice framework helps to make explicit the conceptions of justice in planning practice and the processes that shape them.
Why do famines persist in the 21st century, despite significant advances in agricultural productivity? Throughout human history, famines have been – and continue to be – among the harshest manifestations of destitution. They result from the exacerbation of human vulnerabilities caused by the synergistic interaction of multiple anthropogenic and natural determinants. Famines are humanitarian emergencies that sharply increase mortality and/or morbidity among destitute families. This article reviews the academic debate on the causes of famines. The literature is organized into six main “families” of theories: (i) classical economic explanations (Smith's and Malthus’ theses); (ii) food availability decline approach; (iii) entitlement approach; (iv) political perspectives (political regime and political accountability approaches); (v) new variant famine hypothesis; and (vi) systemic explanations. The article identifies the main gaps and limitations in this literature and highlights relevant development policy implications for reducing extreme food insecurity. The conclusion drawn is that the persistence of famines is attributable to ongoing mismanagement of significant triggers of extreme human vulnerability, both at the national and international levels. Extreme poverty, violent conflicts, economic shocks, climate change, governmental negligence, famine crimes, and pandemics contribute to the complexity of famine and require a comprehensive development strategy.
Human societies are not just amorphous. They have structures that can be approached at the macro, meso, and micro levels. The relatively harmonious relationship within these levels determines how functional or dysfunctional a society could be. An attempt to view the Nigerian state at these structural levels paints a picture of a polity beclouded, on the one hand, with conflict of ideology. On the other hand, however, it possesses the potential for resilience and growth. The meaning associated with the concept of ‘Structural Sins’ helps to identify what constitutes structural weaknesses in the Nigerian system and which contributes to keeping it underproductive. The reflection juxtaposes proof of structural dysfunctions within the polity with evidence of their effects in disrupting human capacity building (capability approach) for authentic freedom and development. The persistent decades of struggle to stabilise the energy sector of Nigeria and the records of induced leadership and institutional failures provide the fieldwork and the empirical specimen in proving the presence of such structural cancer.
A longitudinal study of enrichment across post-16 colleges in England and Wales illustrates the possibilities and limitations of colleges’ societal and cultural impact. Over a four-year study, these activities outside subject curricula, widely intended to compensate for the mobilisation of cultural capital by students in privileged settings, increased in salience whilst responding to post-pandemic crises; but differed across settings in their aims and organisation, including the agency afforded to staff and students. This paper explores these differences, in the context of a longstanding theorisation of colleges as sites of social reproduction interruptible only outside the technical sphere, whilst drawing on contemporary understandings of structure, agency and stratification. Whilst analysis of survey and case study data suggests broad association of general education spaces with agentic enrichment practices, alongside vocational enrichment overlapping technical curricula or generic ‘support’, we suggest that contestation over the aims and content of enrichment takes place in the context of a hierarchical terrain of post-16 institutions and broader societal and policy developments unfolding over time. We argue that authentic and socially just enrichment requires its extension to the interests and agency of students across educational pathways, in contradistinction to the currently deepening stratification of post-16 education in England
Gender eliminativism, also known as gender abolitionism, is the view that we should get rid of gender. I defend gender eliminativism by suggesting that many arguments that ostensibly call for rejecting it are in fact just arguments for delaying it. Although it may be true that presently gender eliminativism should not occur because of the role gender plays in people's identities, because of the need for gender to remedy oppression, because elimination is not pragmatic, because elimination is utopian, and because we should have more rather than fewer genders, these are all reasons to delay, rather than deny, gender eliminativism.
Amartya Sen has argued that poverty means much more than lacking income: it means that a person falls short of securing a basic level of capabilities. His main justification for this claim is that we need to look at what is important in a person's life (what a person's actual functionings are, and what alternative outcomes could be achieved), rather than just at what a person has. In this article, I argue that, although Sen's conceptualisation expands our understanding of poverty, it can limit us when evaluating what is wrong with poverty. Conceptualising poverty in a diverse and unequal society rather requires a broader perspective, one capable of including an explicitly relational approach, group-based analysis, and a socio-structural lens. Otherwise, we miss the fundamental role played by systematic oppression in the context of poverty. In developing these ideas, my aim is to update the picture of poverty as capability deprivation.
The article studies the relationship between ethics and economics in the context of current system’s functioning of the most important social institutions. The purpose of the study is to theoretically analyze the relation between the economic and ethical structure of society and to develop recommendations for the practical application of the results ща designing a strategy for the country's socio-economic development. The research is based on the principles of the systems approach, space-time analysis and the methodology of systemic socio-economic theory. The structure of economic paradigms is compared to the structure of ethical paradigms. The conclusion is made about their mutual conditionality and influence on the type of social structure. The dual nature of the relationship between economics and ethics is substantiated. This duality is manifested in the separation of the subject of economics and ethics in systemic terms: if the economic subjects are the processes aimed at mastering the forces of nature, then the subjects of ethics are the processes aimed at improving the system of intra-societal relations. Economics in society is comprehensive, while ethics has the property of widespread penetration into the consciousness of economic subjects. The economic and ethical spheres all together determine the structure and functions of socio-economic space-time. Strengthening the institution of reputation contributes to the dissemination and consolidation of traditional values and raising the ethical level of society. It is necessary to represent it in the strategy of the country's socio-economic development along with target guidelines for economic dynamics, as well as the desired state of the spiritual sphere of the population and generally accepted principles of ethical behavior. The possibilities of applying ethical principles in solving the problems of location and development of productive forces in the country are explored.
Stronger theory on the nature of human well-being is needed, especially as well-being indicators are increasingly utilized in policy contexts. Building on Erik Allardt, who argued that a theory of well-being is, in essence, a theory of human nature, I propose four modes of existence each capturing one dimension central to human well-being: Having recognizes humans as biological creatures requiring certain material resources for survival. Loving captures human social nature and our dependence on others for well-being. Doing highlights the active and agentic nature of human existence. Being acknowledges humans as experiencing their existence. Each mode of existence gives rise to a few more specific needs, and a full assessment of human well-being requires both subjective and objective indicators tapping into these needs. The proposed theory integrates psychological well-being research with sociological and philosophical traditions and contributes to debates about how the progress of nations and sustainability should be measured.
Public Abstract
Well-being is something we all value individually, and it is also a key political goal. Accordingly, how we define and measure well-being influences what physicians, managers, policy-makers, politicians, and international organizations aim to improve through their work. Better theories of well-being make better measurement of well-being possible, which makes possible more effective and evidence-based advancement of human well-being. In this spirit, the present article argues that there are four fundamental dimensions to human well-being: Having highlights that as biological creatures, we have physical needs, loving highlights human social needs, doing highlights that we are active and agentic beings with goals and strivings, and being highlights that we feel and evaluate our lives. To assess well-being, we need measures tapping into all four of these dimensions. And to assess the sustainability of well-being, we need to examine how to provide well-being for all humanity while remaining within planetary boundaries.
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