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Highlights
• Explanation of mobility design and its practical, aesthetic and emblematic effects on travel behaviour.
• Review of recent studies on mobility design elements and the promotion of non-motorised travel.
• Discussion of research gaps and methodological challenges of data collection and comparability.
Abstract
To promote non-motorised travel, many travel behaviour studies acknowledge the importance of the built environment to modal choice, for example with its density or mix of uses. From a mobility design theory perspective, however, objects and environments affect human perceptions, assessments and behaviour in at least three different ways: by their practical, aesthetic and emblematic functions. This review of existing evidence will argue that travel behaviour research has so far mainly focused on the practical function of the built environment. For that purpose, we systematically identified 56 relevant studies on the impacts of the built environment on non-motorised travel behaviour in the Web of Science database. The focus of research on the practical design function primary involves land use distribution, street network connectivity and the presence of walking and cycling facilities. Only a small number of papers address the aesthetic and emblematic functions. These show that the perceived attractiveness of an environment and evoked feelings of traffic safety increase the likelihood of walking and cycling. However, from a mobility design perspective, the results of the review indicate a gap regarding comprehensive research on the effects of the aesthetic and emblematic functions of the built environment. Further research involving these functions might contribute to a better understanding of how to promote non-motorised travel more effectively. Moreover, limitations related to survey techniques, regional distribution and the comparability of results were identified.
Methoden
(2020)
Rezension zu: Akremi, Leila, Nina Baur, Hubert Knoblauch und Boris Traue (Hrsg.): Handbuch Interpretativ forschen. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz Juventa 2018. 961 Seiten. ISBN: 978-3-7799-3126-3. Preis: C 49,95.
Aktuelle wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzungen mit dem Sinnerleben Beschäftigter thematisieren vor allem die Problematik eines belastungsbedingten Sinnverlustes. Danach leiden immer mehr Beschäftigte darunter, ihre Arbeit nicht mehr als sinnvoll empfinden zu können. Eine solche Perspektive lässt allerdings die subjektiven Gestaltungsleistungen und Aneignungsformen von Arbeit aus dem Blick geraten. Diesen wendet sich der Beitrag zu, indem er danach fragt, inwieweit sich unterschiedliche Formen der Aneignung von Arbeit identifizieren lassen. Auf der Basis von Interviews mit vierzig hochqualifizierten Beschäftigten werden drei unterschiedliche Aneignungsmodi mit ihren inhärenten Ambivalenzen identifiziert. Jeder Modus steht für eine spezifische Sichtweise auf die eigenen Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten und für eine Form der primären Sinnzuschreibung in der Arbeit. Differenziert werden drei Idealtypen – „progressive Sinngestaltung“, „widerständige Sinnbewahrung“ sowie „pragmatische Sinnbewahrung“ –, anhand derer die Heterogenität und die Ambivalenzen der Aneignung professioneller Arbeit deutlich werden. Der Beitrag liefert so Erkenntnisse über die subjektiven Praktiken des Bedeutsam-Machens von Arbeit und trägt zur Erforschung des Zusammenspiels von Arbeit und Subjektivität bei.
Soziologische Theorien weisen von Anfang an, seit Auguste Comte und Max Weber, eine Schlagseite in ihrer Theoriebildung auf und bleiben in ihrer Medienkonzeption beschränkt, wie wir heute wieder in Entwürfen einer Theorie der digitalen Gesellschaft beobachten können. Diese Schlagseite im soziologischen Medienbegriff resultiert nicht nur aus ihrem modernen Blick auf die Gesellschaft, sondern ebenso aus einer medialen Abstraktion; trotz ihrer Empirie sind soziologische Theorien häufig mit einer blinden Stelle in ihrem 'Medienbegriff' behaftet. Zu erinnern sei hier nur an Max Webers Begriff der Rationalität, der höchst abstrakt vom konkreten Lauf der Gesellschaft abgezogen wurde; einer angeblich entzauberten Welt der Moderne, die jedoch in ihrer 'oikonomia' in Wahrheit erst recht vollständig verzaubert auftreten sollte. So blieb und bleibt ihre Modernität, die sie gegenüber der spekulativen, transzendentalen und metaphysischen Philosophie angeblich auszeichnet, ein höchst abstraktes Produkt, das sie freilich in den modernen, ausdifferenzierten Gesellschaften als etwas höchst Konkretes und Objektives präsentieren oder, aktueller und spezifischer formuliert, statistisch, probabilistisch, stochastisch und algorithmisch errechnen wollen. In diesem medialen Reduktionismus sind heute auch neue soziologische Modelle befangen, die nunmehr die digitale Gesellschaft in einem theoretischen Rahmen unterbringen wollen, dabei aber die letzte verbliebene gesellschaftliche Bodenhaftung verlieren und vollends in einen digital-informatischen Rationalismus abdriften, gegen den dann kein Widerstand mehr möglich ist.
This paper contributes to the clarification of the concept of “typicality” discussed in contemporary philosophy of physics by conceiving the nomological status of a typical behaviour such as that expressed in the Second Law of Thermodynamics as a “minutis rectis law”. A brief sketch of the discovery of “typicality” shows that there were ideas of typical behaviour not only in physics but also in sociology. On this basis and in analogy to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, it is shown that the nomological status of sociological laws such as Gresham’s Law can also be conceived as “minutis rectis laws”.
Blockchain verspricht, Intermediäre wie Banken überflüssig zu machen und durch dezentrale Peer-to-Peer-Netzwerke zu ersetzen. Dieser Beitrag stellt die Frage nach der Realisierbarkeit dieser Ankündigung sowie danach, welche gesellschaftlichen Implikationen damit verbunden sind. Eine historisch informierte theoretische Analyse zeigt, dass die Erzeugung von Kreditgeld durch Banken ein für kapitalistische Gesellschaften existenzieller Vorgang ist. Die Fiktion des Geldwerts bedarf ihrerseits glaubwürdiger Intermediäre, die dauerhaft in der Lage sind, die zeitliche und räumliche Stabilität des Geldes zu inszenieren. Explorative Interviews mit Akteuren im Finanzsektor in Kombination mit einer inhaltsanalytischen Auswertung von einschlägigen Blogs, White Papers und Artikeln der Wirtschaftspresse lassen vermuten, dass Blockchain Intermediäre keineswegs ausschaltet, sondern diejenigen mächtiger werden lässt, die in der Lage sind, die Technologie ihren Bedürfnissen entsprechend umzugestalten.
Dieser Beitrag reflektiert und ergänzt die aktuelle Diskussion über die Empfehlungen des Wissenschaftsrats zur Weiterentwicklung der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung. Wir richten dabei den Blick auf die vom Wissenschaftsrat attestierten Schwachstellen im Bereich empirisch-analytischer Methoden und erläutern ihre Auswirkungen auf Interdisziplinarität, Internationalität und Politikberatung der deutschen Friedens- und Konfliktforschung. Wir argumentieren, unter Verweis auf den Bericht des Wissenschaftsrats, dass eine breitere Methodenausbildung und -kenntnis von großer Bedeutung für interdisziplinäre und internationale Zusammenarbeit, aber auch für die Politikberatung ist. Zukünftige Initiativen innerhalb der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung sollten die Methodenvielfalt des Forschungsbereichs angemessen berücksichtigen und einen besonderen Fokus auf die Ausbildung im Bereich empirisch-analytischer Methoden legen, um das Forschungsfeld in diesem Bereich zu stärken. Unser Beitrag entspringt einer Diskussion innerhalb des Arbeitskreises „Empirische Methoden der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung“ der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Friedens- und Konfliktforschung.
Der Akteurscharakter der BRICS-Staaten : eine qualitative Untersuchung mit der Grounded Theory
(2020)
Die Abschlussarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der zentralen Fragestellung: Welchen Akteurscharakter besitzen die BRICS-Staaten? Zur Beantwortung ist mit der Grounded Theory eine rekonstruktionslogische Herangehensweise gewählt worden, um das Phänomen zu untersuchen. Für den Forschungsprozess ist auf die Software MAXQDA zurückgegriffen worden. Als Ergebnis werden die BRICS-Staaten als „Kooperationsmodell der Nichteinmischung“ betitelt.
Diese Masterarbeit fragt nach Anschlussmöglichkeiten der Schriften Bruno Latours an die Postwachstumsdiskussion an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. Im ersten Schritt wird die Jenaer Debatte um Degrowth in der Tradition der kritischen Theorie verortet und inhaltlich anhand der Begriffe der »Wachstumskritik« und der »sozial-ökologischen Transformation« rekonstruiert. Zweitens folgt die Rekonstruktion Latours anhand dreier Werkphasen seit Anfang der 90ger Jahre. Im dritten Schritt geht es darum, Latour mit der Jenaer Debatte ins Gespräch zu bringen. Dabei stößt der Autor auf einen sozial-theoretischen Graben zwischen beiden Denkschulen. Das darf allerdings nicht darüber hinwegtäuschen, dass Latours Werke viele praktische Anknüpfungspunkte bereithalten, wie eine sozial-ökologische Transformation im Sinne der Postwachstumsdebatte gelingen kann.
The relationship between exhaustion and work engagement has received considerable attention during the past decades. Although the theoretical proposition exists that work engagement may increase exhaustion over time, previous research has been mixed. Drawing on the transactional stress model and applying latent growth modeling, we aim to provide a more comprehensive picture of the work engagement–exhaustion relationship over time. In two longitudinal studies, with four measurement points each, we found consistent evidence that a higher initial work engagement related to increased exhaustion over time. Consistent with our hypotheses, a higher initial work engagement also related to less initial exhaustion, and increases in work engagement related to decreases in exhaustion over time. However, contrary to our expectations, a higher initial exhaustion related to elevated work engagement over time. In conclusion, our findings suggest that engaged employees are less exhausted but face a higher risk of exhaustion over time. At the same time, exhausted employees are less engaged, but they have the potential to become more so over time. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings will be discussed in this paper.
The Spanish reproductive bioeconomy has bloomed in the last few decades. There are now over three hundred fertility clinics in Spain, which has become one of the main destinations for what is often called “reproductive tourism” in the European context. The phenomenon of assisted reproduction has been extensively studied within English-speaking countries of the global North, but not so much in the cluster of Spanish-speaking countries, with a few interesting exceptions. Following the invitation to collaborate in this special issue around reproduction in Latin America and Spain, we offer an analysis of how Spanish oocyte provision and domestic work function as part of global care chains (GCC). We will compare the results of two major projects: one focusing on domestic work and the other on egg donation programs, both in Spain. We will introduce different perspectives around care and GCC, discussing how transference of oocytes can be viewed as a type of feminized labor involving affective-care work, clinical work, and biological work. The framework of GCC, a concept used to unpack unjust power relations embedded in transferences of care in current neoliberal and globalized socio-economic arrangements, can help to enable a conversation on how transferences of reproductive capacity might be reinforcing the stratification of reproduction.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der außerhäuslichen Alltagsmobilität älterer Menschen, die eine zentrale Schlüsselfunktion in der Erhaltung von Lebensqualität und Gesundheit besonders im höheren Lebensalter einnimmt. Außerhäusliche Alltagsmobilität vollzieht sich stets in einem räumlichen Umweltausschnitt und kann aus ökogerontologischer Perspektive als Ergebnis eines gelungenen Person-Umwelt-Austauschs verstanden werden. Inwiefern psychologische Ressourcen im Sinne mobilitätsspezifischer Einstellungen zum Verständnis von zielgerichteter und habitualisierter Alltagsmobilität älterer Menschen beitragen können, ist Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit. Altersspezifische, mobilitätsrelevante Einstellungen im außerhäuslichen Kontext werden sowohl in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Mobilitäts- und Alternsforschung als auch in der Praxis, etwa im Rahmen einer altersgerechten Stadtgestaltung, bislang noch zu wenig berücksichtigt. Die vorliegende Arbeit reagiert auf dieses Forschungsdesiderat, indem sie mobilitätsspezifische Einstellungen im höheren Lebensalter konzeptuell beschreibt, in den Kontext ökogerontologischer Theorien einbettet und ihre Bedeutung für den Erhalt eines aktiven und gelingenden Alterns untersucht. Im Rahmen der Dissertation wurde zunächst auf der Basis klassischer und neuer ökogerontologischer Modelle das Konstrukt der mobilitätsbezogenen Handlungsflexibilität und Routinen (MBFR) konzeptuell entwickelt. MBFR umfasst einerseits die individuelle Überzeugung, das eigene Mobilitätsverhalten an Herausforderungen außer Haus anpassen zu können (FLEX) und andererseits die Präferenz für mobilitätsbezogene Alltagsroutinen (ROU). Daraufhin wurde ein standardisiertes Messinstrument zur Erfassung des MBFR-Konzepts entwickelt, optimiert und hinsichtlich seiner psychometrischen Qualität untersucht. Die Formulierung der Testitems erfolgte in Anlehnung an bereits existierende Fragebögen zu verwandten Konstrukten. In der vorwiegend online durchgeführten Pilotstudie (Penger & Oswald, 2017) wurden die Items mittels explorativer Faktorenanalysen hinsichtlich ihrer dimensionalen Struktur untersucht. Die Stichprobe umfasste 265 Personen im Alter von 65 Jahren oder älter. Die Analysen des MBFR-Instruments ergaben nach Ausschluss von Items mit niedrigen und nicht eindeutigen Ladungen drei substanzielle Faktoren. Die Items der ersten Dimension bildeten die Überzeugung ab, flexibel mit personenbezogenen, altersassoziierten Herausforderungen (z. B. Schwierigkeiten im Gehen oder auf eine Gehhilfe angewiesen sein) umgehen zu können, um außerhäuslich mobil zu sein. Die Items der zweiten Dimension erfassten die Überzeugung, flexibel mit herausfordernden außerhäuslichen Umweltbedingungen (z. B. eine verlegte Haltestelle oder ein schlechter Zustand der Gehwege) umgehen zu können. Items, die auf den dritten Faktor luden, bildeten die Neigung zu Routinen im Mobilitätsalltag ab, z. B. bekannte Wege beizubehalten oder bei der Ausübung von außerhäuslichen Aktivitäten vertraute Orte aufzusuchen. Während die ersten beiden Faktoren mobilitätsbezogene Handlungsflexibilität (FLEX) messen, werden im dritten Faktor habitualisierte Verhaltensweisen (ROU) erfasst. Alle drei Faktoren wiesen eine akzeptable Reliabilität auf. Auf Basis von Rückmeldungen der Studienteilnehmer:innen wurde das MBFR-Instrument anschließend sprachlich angepasst und gekürzt. Der modifizierte Fragebogen wurde daraufhin in der empirischen Studie „MOBIL bleiben in Stuttgart“ (MBIS) eingesetzt. Dabei sollte die Frage beantwortet werden, ob das finale MBFR-Instrument die zugrundeliegenden Konstrukte valide und reliabel erfasst und die Testwerte somit ausreichende Gültigkeit hinsichtlich faktorieller, Konstrukt- und Kriteriumsvalidität bei älteren Menschen im urbanen Raum aufweisen (Penger & Conrad, eingereicht). Es wurden insgesamt 211 privatwohnende Stuttgarter:innen ab 65 Jahren in persönlichen Interviews und mithilfe eines 7-tägigen Wegetagebuchs zu verschiedenen Aspekten ihrer Mobilität im Wohnumfeld befragt. Statistische Analysen auf latenter Ebene erfolgten mittels Strukturgleichungsmodellen. Bivariate Zusammenhänge und Subgruppenanalysen wurden mittels Korrelations- und Regressionsanalysen berechnet. Die dreifaktorielle Struktur des MBFR-Fragebogens konnte im konfirmatorischen Modell empirisch bestätigt werden. Zudem fiel die interne Konsistenz aller drei Faktoren gut aus. Zusammenhänge zu konstruktverwandten Merkmalen – wie allgemeine und mobilitätsspezifische Einstellungen – deuten darauf hin, dass das MBFR-Instrument ausreichend konvergente Validität aufweist. Analysen auf latenter Ebene ergaben, dass Befragte durchschnittlich mehr außerhäusliche Wege zurückzulegten, wenn sie in stärkerem Maße überzeugt waren, flexibel auf mobilitätsbezogene Herausforderungen reagieren zu können (FLEX). Weiterhin ließen sich positive Zusammenhänge zwischen FLEX und der erlebten Selbstständigkeit sowie dem subjektiven Wohlbefinden aufzeigen. Die Befunde belegen somit hinreichende Übereinstimmungsvalidität der Testwerte. Differenzierte Analysen machten darüber hinaus deutlich, dass FLEX vor allem bei Befragten mit Mobilitätseinschränkungen bedeutsam zur Vorhersage des außerhäuslichen Mobilitätsverhaltens beitrug. ...
Der Einfluss extremistischer Gewaltereignisse auf das Framing von Extremismen auf SPIEGEL Online
(2020)
In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir die Darstellung von Rechtsextremismus, Linksextremismus und Islamismus im medialen Diskurs am Beispiel von SPIEGEL Online, einem der deutschen Leitmedien. Wir leiten vier zentrale Dimensionen für die Konzeptualisierung von Extremismen ab: Ideologie und Organisation, Herkunft der Akteure, Stellung zur Gesellschaft und Typische Handlungen. Wir beobachten die Entwicklung der Darstellung der drei Extremismen an möglichen Bruchpunkten: Wir untersuchen das assoziative Framing der drei Extremismen vor und nach prominenten extremismusbezogenen Gewaltereignissen, namentlich die Anschläge des 11. September, die Veröffentlichung des NSU-Skandals und linksextremistische Aktivitäten während des G20-Gipfels in Hamburg. Mittels einer Kollokationsanalyse identifizieren wir mit den Extremismen assoziierte Aspekte und ordnen diese den Konzeptualisierungsdimensionen zu. Wir beobachten Veränderungen im Framing, die durch die ausgewählten Ereignisse bedingt sind, und vergleichen das resultierende Framing mit den Kerndefinitionen des Verfassungsschutzes aus dem Bericht des Jahres 2017, um mögliche Unterschiede in der Konzeptualisierung von Extremismen mit möglicherweise unterschiedlichen Handlungslogiken als Resultat divergierender Konzeptualisierungen herauszuarbeiten.
Der Einfluss extremistischer Gewaltereignisse auf das Framing von Extremismen auf SPIEGEL Online
(2020)
In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir die Darstellung von Rechtsextremismus, Linksextremismus und Islamismus im medialen Diskurs am Beispiel von SPIEGEL Online, einem der deutschen Leitmedien. Wir leiten vier zentrale Dimensionen für die Konzeptualisierung von Extremismen ab: Ideologie und Organisation, Herkunft der Akteure, Stellung zur Gesellschaft und Typische Handlungen. Wir beobachten die Entwicklung der Darstellung der drei Extremismen an möglichen Bruchpunkten: Wir untersuchen das assoziative Framing der drei Extremismen vor und nach prominenten extremismusbezogenen Gewaltereignissen, namentlich die Anschläge des 11. September, die Veröffentlichung des NSU-Skandals und linksextremistische Aktivitäten während des G20-Gipfels in Hamburg. Mittels einer Kollokationsanalyse identifizieren wir mit den Extremismen assoziierte Aspekte und ordnen diese den Konzeptualisierungsdimensionen zu. Wir beobachten Veränderungen im Framing, die durch die ausgewählten Ereignisse bedingt sind, und vergleichen das resultierende Framing mit den Kerndefinitionen des Verfassungsschutzes aus dem Bericht des Jahres 2017, um mögliche Unterschiede in der Konzeptualisierung von Extremismen mit möglicherweise unterschiedlichen Handlungslogiken als Resultat divergierender Konzeptualisierungen herauszuarbeiten.
This essay explores the problem of legitimation crises in deliberative systems. For some time now, theorists of deliberative democracy have started to embrace a “systemic approach.” But if deliberative democracy is to be understood in the context of a system of multiple moving parts, then we must confront the possibility that that system’s dynamics may admit of breakdowns, contradictions, and tendencies toward crisis. Yet such crisis potentials remain largely unexplored in deliberative theory. The present article works toward rectifying this lacuna, using the 2016 Brexit and Trump votes as examples of a particular kind of “legitimation crisis” that results in a sequence of failures in the deliberative system. Drawing on recent work of Rainer Forst, I identify this particular kind of legitimation crisis as a “justification crisis.”
Competition over land is at the core of many sustainable development challenges in Myanmar: villagers, companies, governments, ethnic minority groups, civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations from local to the international level claim access to and decision-making power over the use of land. Therefore, this article investigates the actor interactions influencing land-use changes and their impacts on the supply of ecosystem services and human well-being. We utilise a transdisciplinary mixed-methods approach and the analytical lens of the social-ecological systems framework. Results reveal that the links between land-use changes, ecosystem services and human well-being are multifaceted; For example ecosystem services can decline, while human well-being increases. We explain this finding through three different pathways to impact (changes in the resource systems, the governance systems or the broader social, economic and political context). We conclude with implications of these results for future sustainable land governance.
Die angespannte Lage am Wohnungsmarkt hat in vielen Städten eine neue Welle von Verdrängungsprozessen induziert und insbesondere die Situation einkommensschwacher Haushalte häufig prekär werden lassen. Angesichts dieser Entwicklungen haben sich vielerorts mietenpolitische Bewegungen konstituiert, die sich für eine Abkehr von einer neoliberalisierten und zunehmend finanzialisierten Wohnungsversorgung einsetzen. Lisa Vollmer nimmt in ihrer Forschungsarbeit zwei solcher Bewegungen in den Blick und fragt danach, wie sich politische Kollektivität in den alltäglichen Praktiken von Mieter*innen in Berlin bzw. New York formiert.
Psychotherapists in mental health institutions as a professional group are part of the medical system, and from this perspective, as representing an occupation that serves the public health interests, as well as those of the individual seeking help. Despite the different existing therapeutic approaches and diverse forms of therapy deriving from these approaches critical theories, however, consider psychotherapy as a profession with a specific jurisdictional claim and own highly specific interests. In contrast to most of the recent discussion around therapy culture, in this article, I argue that sociology and social theory could benefit from an understanding of psychotherapy as a profession with a separate logic and claim for jurisdiction for mental health. Moreover, I present some general trends showing that, regarding psychotherapy, we face a concurrence of a professionalisation, and simultaneously, an already ongoing deprofessionalisation. To develop my argument, I first discuss the perspectives of sociology of the psychotherapy professions. Second, I present the potential lack of professionalism in four dimensions. Third, I discuss possible tendencies of deprofessionalisation. Finally, I conclude by pointing out the importance of theorising the psychotherapy professions for medical sociology.
Auf den ersten Blick sieht es so aus, als würden die DH eine Nische besetzen. Tatsächlich jedoch dürfen sich die traditionellen Geisteswissenschaften in Bedrängnis fühlen. Nicht nur ist es für digitale Forschungsprojekte offenbar einfacher, an öffentliche Gelder zu kommen, die den tradi-tionellen Geisteswissenschaften dann fehlen. Die DH machen durch ihre wohl noch lange nicht ausgeschöpfte Fülle theoretischer Einsatzmöglichkeiten zudem ein Versprechen auf die Zukunft, das mit Erwartungen verbunden ist, die so vielleicht nicht erfüllt werden können. Untermauert wird dieses Versprechen mit einer rasant wachsenden Anzahl von Veröffentlichungen in diesem Bereich. Und möglicherweise ist es in den DH einfacher, in hoher Frequenz zu publizieren. Daher ist es nicht erstaunlich, dass seit einigen Jahren eine Debatte geführt wird, in der es um Kritik an der jeweils opponierenden Disziplin sowie um Zuschreibungen geht.
In the recent decades, privacy scholarship has made significant progress. Most of it was achieved in monodisciplinary works. However, privacy has a deeply interdisciplinary nature. Most importantly, societies as well as individuals experience privacy as being influenced by legal, technical, and social norms and structures. In this article, we hence attempt to connect insights of different academic disciplines into a joint model, an Interdisciplinary Privacy and Communication Model. The model differentiates four different elements: communication context, protection needs, threat and risk analysis, as well as protection enforcement. On the one hand, with this model, we aim to describe how privacy unfolds. On the other hand, the model also prescribes how privacy can be furnished and regulated. As such, the model contributes to a general understanding of privacy as a theoretical guide and offers a practical basis to address new challenges of the digital age.
Stuttgart 21 – eine Rekonstruktion der Proteste : Soziale Bewegungen in Zeiten der Postdemokratie
(2020)
Die Konflikte um das Großprojekt »Stuttgart 21« verdeutlichen exemplarisch, wie Protestbewegungen das postdemokratische Zusammenspiel von Staat und Wirtschaft herausfordern. Bürgerbeteiligung und Kostentransparenz sind seither nahezu obligatorisch, dabei hat die Bewegung gegen »S21« ihr eigentliches Ziel, das Bahn- und Immobilienprojekt zu stoppen, verfehlt, trotz scheinbar positiver Ausgangslage. Anhand von Schlüsselereignissen im Konflikt um das Großprojekt rekonstruiert Julia von Staden die Dynamiken und Diskurse einer sozialen Bewegung, die in ihrer Art eine Neuheit in der Protest- und Bewegungsforschung darstellt und gleichzeitig ein Lehrstück für andere soziale Bewegungen wurde.
Nature and its constituents are known to affect human well-being in positive and negative ways. Nature can be beneficial for humans by providing, for instance, food, recreation or inspiration. Natural disasters or transmitted diseases are, on the other hand, examples of nature’s detrimental or harmful contributions to human well-being. Such positive as well as negative effects have been termed Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and can be categorized into three different types of contributions: regulating, material and non-material NCP. While regulating and material NCP have been studied extensively, research on the non-material NCP is less common in comparison, especially regarding non-material NCP of biodiversity and wildlife. This dissertation therefore aims at shedding light on the non-material links between biodiversity, wildlife and human well-being. The thesis presents the results of three individual research studies in three separate chapters (CH1, 2 & 3).
In the first chapter (CH1) I conduct a systematic literature review on the non-material contributions of wildlife. Several previous reviews have published overviews on the non-material contributions of wildlife. However, only a few of these reviews examine both the positive and negative effects of wildlife in combination. These reviews usually cover few aspects of human well-being (e.g. recreation, health, psychological well-being) or just focus on a specific group of wildlife species (e.g. carnivores, scavengers). In addition, the pathways determining how wildlife affects human well-being are yet little understood. The aim of this review is therefore to create a holistic overview of the current knowledge on non-material contributions of wildlife (WCP), by summarising research on positive and negative effects and disentangling potential channels of human-wildlife experiences.
My results show that most studies in scientific literature report negative WCP. However, over the last decade the number of publications on positive WCP has increased, mainly in the Global North. This change in research focus, at the turn of the century, may be related to the newly emerging ideas and perspectives on nature during that time (e.g. Ecosystem Services and NCP). The results may also indicate different research interests across global regions and a focus on positive WCP (especially in the Global North). Surprisingly, the review identifies a lack of joint systematic assessments of positive and negative WCP across taxa, human well-being dimensions and ways (channels) of wildlife experiences. Studies show taxon-specific differences, with predominantly positive WCP reported for birds and predominantly negative WCP published for mammals and reptiles. Physical health was the most examined human well-being dimension, while many others, such as subjective well-being, social well-being, learning, identity or sense of place were rarely studied in comparison. The two channels of wildlife experiences that have been mainly studied or reported are Interaction and Knowing. While Interaction describes multisensory experiences in which people physically interact with wildlife. Knowing describes the metaphysical connection between humans and wildlife that arises through thinking or remembering experiences from wildlife encounters (including knowledge about wildlife).
To date, only few published studies examine the relationship between biodiversity and human well-being across larger spatial scales. For instance, little is known about how biodiversity is related to human well-being on the national or continental level. The second and third chapter (CH2 & 3) are thus comprised of two empirical case studies which examine the relationship between biodiversity and human well-being across Germany and Europe, respectively. As indicator for biodiversity, I use different species diversity measures including species richness and abundance. In the second chapter (CH2) I analyse the association between species richness and human health across Germany. The results demonstrate a significant positive relationship between plant and bird species richness and mental health while controlling for a multitude of socio-economic and demographic factors as well as other nature characteristics. In the third chapter (CH3) I conduct the first study on the relationship between species diversity and subjective well-being on the continental level. The results show that bird species richness (unlike mammal, megafauna and tree richness) is positively associated with life-satisfaction, a measure for subjective well-being across Europe. These results are robust while accounting for socio-economic and macro-economic factors. The results of both empirical studies are in correspondence with previous research, conducted on the local and national level.
Overall, my dissertation shows that wildlife and biodiversity greatly affect human well-being and provide substantial non-material NCP.
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This collection of articles is based on presentations and discussions at the 2018 African Potentials Forum, held in Accra, Ghana. This forum was a part of the African Potentials Project, which aims to clarify the latent problem-solving abilities, ways of thinking, and institutions that have been created, accumulated, unified, and deployed in the everyday experiences of Africans. The notion of Africas latent power/potential is not related to romanticisation of the traditional knowledge of African society and its institutions as fixed, essentialised magic wands. This notion also raises objections against political dogmas that seek to smoke out and eliminate thought and values originating in Western modernity. The keyword of the Accra Forum was futurity. Africas future is laden with possibilities, latent power, and potential. It is bright and hopeful but, simultaneously, bleak and thought-provoking. For nascent democracies and economically challenged communities, the value of this potential lies not in its static qualities but in how these qualities can be harnessed and translated into beneficial practical outcomes. As a concept, potential connotes a time to come; a futurity that is full of known and unknown possibilities, challenges, and opportunities.
Covid stories from East Africa and beyond : lived experiences and forward-looking reflections
(2020)
The coronavirus has rattled humanity, tested resolve and determination, and redefined normalcy. This compelling collection of 29 short stories and essays brings together the lived experiences of covid19 through a diversity of voices from across the African continent. The stories highlight challenges, new opportunities, and ultimately the deep resilience of Africans and their communities. Bringing into conversation the perspectives of laypeople, academics, professionals, domestic workers, youth, and children, the volume is a window into the myriad ways in which people have confronted, adapted to, and sought to tackle the coronavirus and its trail of problems. The experiences of the most vulnerable are specifically explored, and systemic changes and preliminary shifts towards a new global order are addressed. Laughter as a coping mechanism is a thread throughout.
At Independence in 1980, Julius Nyerere called Zimbabwe 'the jewel of Africa', and cautioned its new leaders not to tarnish it. Tragically, they paid no heed to Africa's esteemed elder statesmen. Arguably - and only if one ignores the carnage of Gukurahundi - the first decade was a developmental one, with resources being used prudently to benefit the formerly disadvantaged majority population. However, the 1990s witnessed a transition from a developmental to a predatory leadership which saw Zimbabwe cross the millennial line in crisis, where it has remained ever since. While many African countries have moved forward over the last three decades, Zimbabwe has gone relentlessly backwards, save for the four-year interregnum of the tripartite coalition government, 2009-2013. Virtually all development indicators point in the wrong direction and the crisis of poverty, unemployment, and the erosion of health. education and other public goods continues unabated. The imperatives of political survival and power politics supersede those of sound economics and public welfare. Moreover, unless good politics are conjoined with a sound people-first policy, the country will continue sliding downhill. Zimbabwe's Trajectory tells the story of the country's post-independence dynamics and its recent descent into becoming one of the three most unhappy countries in the world.
A Brutal State of Affairs analyses the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe and challenges Rhodesian mythology. The story of the BSAP, where white and black officers were forced into a situation not of their own making, is critically examined. The liberation war in Rhodesia might never have happened but for the ascendency of the Rhodesian Front, prevailing racist attitudes, and the rise of white nationalists who thought their cause just. Blinded by nationalist fervour and the reassuring words of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and army commanders, the Smith government disregarded the advice of its intelligence services to reach a settlement before it was too late. By 1979, the Rhodesians were staring into the abyss, and the war was drawing to a close. Salisbury was virtually encircled, and guerrilla numbers continued to grow. A Brutal State of Affairs examines the Rhodesian legacy, the remarkable parallels of history, and suggests that Smith's Rhodesian template for rule has, in many instances, been assiduously applied by Mugabe and his successors.
Women, visibility and morality in Kenyan popular media explores familiar constructions of femininity to assess ways in which it circulates in discourse, both stereotypically and otherwise. It assesses the meanings of such discourses and their articulations in various public platforms in Kenya. The book draws together theoretical questions on 'pre-convened' scripts that contain or condition how women can circulate in public. The book asks questions about particular interpretations of women's bodies that are considered transgressive or unruly and why these bodies become significant symbolic sites for the generation of knowledge on morality and sexuality. The book also poses questions about genre and representations of femininity. The assertion made is that for knowledges of femininity to circulate effectively, they must be melodramatic, spectacular and scandalous. Ultimately, the book asks how such a theorisation of popular modes of representation enable a better understanding of the connections between gender, sexuality and violence in Kenya.
Recently, the salient idea of personhood in the tradition of African philosophy has been objected to on various grounds. Two such objections stand out - the book deals with a lot more. The first criticism is that the idea of personhood is patriarchal insofar as it elevates the status of men and marginalises women in society. The second criticism observes that the idea of personhood is characterised by speciesism. The essence of these concerns is that personhood fails to embody a robust moral-political view. African Personhood and Applied Ethics offers a philosophical explication of the ethics of personhood to give reasons why we should take it seriously as an African moral perspective that can contribute to global moral-political issues. The book points to the two facets that constitute the ethics of personhood - an account of (1) moral perfection and (2) dignity. It then draws on the under-explored view of dignity qua the capacity for sympathy inherent in the moral idea of personhood to offer a unified account of selected themes in applied ethics, specifically women, animal and development.
Modern-day science is under great pressure. A potent mix of increasing expectations, limited resources, tensions between competition and cooperation, and the need for evidence-based funding is creating major change in how science is conducted and perceived. Amidst this 'perfect storm' is the allure of 'research excellence', a concept that drives decisions made by universities and funders, and defines scientists' research strategies and career trajectories. But what is 'excellent' science? And how to recognise it? After decades of inquiry and debate there is still no satisfactory answer. Are we asking the wrong question? Is reality more complex, and 'excellence in science' more elusive, than many are willing to admit? And how should excellence be defined in different parts of the world, particularly in lower-income countries of the 'Global South' where science is expected to contribute to pressing development issues, despite often scarce resources? Many wonder whether the Global South is importing, with or without consenting, the flawed tools for research evaluation from North America and Europe that are not fit for purpose. This book takes a critical view of these issues, touching on conceptual issues and practical problems that inevitably emerge when 'excellence' is at the center of science systems. Emerging from the capacity-building work of the Science Granting Councils Initiative in sub-Saharan Africa, it speaks to scholars, as well as to managers and funders of research around the world. Confronting sticky problems and uncomfortable truths, the chapters contain insights and recommendations that point towards new solutions - both for the Global South and the Global North.
A woman meets young people from various backgrounds - at a U.S. university. She is African, from Chad. The students, eager to learn about her life, ask probing questions. She tells them about the war, her flight, her refugee status, her experiences in West Africa and Algeria. In turn, she discovers that they are still exposed to racism in their country - an outrage compounded by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. As an activist in residence, she dialogues with the students about their aspirations and encourages them to become artisans of peace and justice. We look forward, in turn, to the thoughts and writings of young people about the encounters shared here and the illustrations by a young Kenyan woman that accompany the essays.
Placing security studies in the context of contemporary discourses about the colonial comeback and posthumanism, this book postulates the notion of staticide which avers that the effacement of African state sovereignty is crucial for the security of the oncoming empire. Understood in the light of posthumanism, antihumanism, animism, postanthropocentrism and transhumanism; African human security has evidently been put on a recession course together with African state security. Much as African states are demonised as so failed, defective, corrupt, weak and rogue to require recolonisation; transhumanism also assumes that human bodies are so corrupt, imperfect, defective, failed, rogue and weak to require not only enhancements or augmentation but also to beckon recolonisation. Also, deemed to be ecologies, human bodies are set to be liberalised and democratised in the interest of nonhuman viruses, nanobots, microchips, bacteria, fungi and other pathogens living within the bodies. The book critically examines the security implications of theorising human bodies as ecologies for nonhuman entities. Reading staticide together with transhumanism, this book foresees transhumanist new eugenics that are accompanying the new empire in a supposedly Anthropocene world that serves to justify the sacrifice and disposability of some surplus humans living in the recesses and nether regions of the empire. Paying attention to the colonial comeback, the book urges African scholars not to mistake imperial transformation for decolonisation. The book is invaluable for scholars and activists in African studies, anthropology, decoloniality, sociology, politics, development studies, security studies, sociology and anthropology of science and technology studies, and environmental studies.
This volume brings together seven empirically grounded contributions by African social scientists of different disciplinary backgrounds. The authors explore the social impact of religious innovation and competition in present day Africa. They represent a selection from an interdisciplinary initiative that made 23 research grants for theologians and social scientists to study Christianity and social change in contemporary Africa. These contributions focus on a variety of dynamics in contemporary African religion (mostly Christianity), including gender, health and healing, social media, entrepreneurship, and inter-religious borrowing and accommodation. The volume seeks to enhance understanding of religion's vital presence and power in contemporary Africa. It reveals problems as well as possibilities, notably some ethical concerns and psychological maladies that arise in some of these new movements, notably neo-Pentecostal and militant fundamentalist groups. Yet the contributions do not fixate on African problems and victimization. Instead, they explore sources of African creativity, resiliency and agency. The book calls on scholars of religion and religiosity in Africa to invest new conceptual and methodological energy in understanding what it means to be actively religious in Africa today.
This provocative book on The Future of Africa addresses fundamental genealogical developmental challenges of vital concern to Africa's transformation is premised on the orientation that the continent's future is up to Africans, cognizant of the fact that Africans cohabit the same diversified and inter-connected planet with others. The issues addressed include: political, economic, social and technological reconstruction of Africa, the richest but the least developed part of the world; the need to fight the pandemic of inequality and social injustice; chronic corruption; the urgent need to usher the rule of law and of putting in place strategies addressing abject poverty; the empowerment of the female gender and youths; the comprehensive development and proper utilisation of indigenous knowledge systems in partnership with modern science and technology to energize infrastructural development and the industrialisation prowess of the continent. The book unveils vast inadequacies that need to be rectified to give the continent a new face uplift. It is a comprehensive, Afro-centric cross-cutting edge publication that structurally examines outstanding issues plaguing Africa as it advances critical priority policy proposals for the future of the continent. Policymakers, students, organisations and institutions will find the book indispensable for the sustainable transformation of the continent. The underlying message is 'development with a human face' and without leaving anyone behind.
Positing the notions of coloniality of ignorance and geopolitics of ignorance as central to coloniality and colonisation, this book examines how colonialists socially produced ignorance among colonised indigenous peoples so as to render them docile and manageable. Dismissing colonial descriptions of indigenous people as savages, illiterate, irrational, prelogical, mystical, primitive, barbaric and backward, the book argues that imperialists/colonialists contrived geopolitics of ignorance wherein indigenous regions were forced to become ignorant, hence containable and manageable in the imperial world. Questioning the provenance of modernist epistemologies, the book asks why Eurocentric scholars only contest the provenance of indigenous knowledges, artefacts and scientific collections. Interrogating why empire sponsors the decolonisation of universities/epistemologies in indigenous territories while resisting the repatriation/restitution of indigenous artefacts, the book also wonders why Westerners who still retain indigenous artefacts, skulls and skeletons in their museums, universities and private collections do not consider such artefacts and skulls to be colonising them as well. The book is valuable to scholars and activists in the fields of anthropology, museums and heritage studies, science and technology studies, decoloniality, policymaking, education, politics, sociology and development studies.
The inability to eradicate poverty among societies demands a synergistic approach. This calls for the development of multi-pronged pathways for transitioning towards sustainable development goals. Many of these have been developed and tested across the world. Some have proved to be effective in illuminating the underlying cause of the world's inability to eradicate poverty. This is being driven by the fact that sustainable development, as a global development concept, represents a multidimensional phenomenon that includes many different indicators of human development. This volume, which derives from the papers presented at the seventh Africa Unity for Renaissance Conference that was held at Freedom Park, Pretoria, South Africa, seeks to supplement existing pathways by highlighting Africa's approach to poverty alleviation, which can possibly be attained through enhanced nutrition, food security, energy and gender equity. Evidence presented reflects strengths, weaknesses and opportunities on how Africa can transition towards sustainable development goals. The information provided is useful to countries interested in assisting Africa to develop pathways for achieving sustainable development goals within the scope of Agenda 2063. The book is a good reference for policy makers, academics, government authorities and students interested in research and developmental studies.
The concept of solidarity has been receiving growing attention from scholars in a wide range of disciplines. While this trend coincides with widespread unsuccessful attempts to achieve solidarity in the real world, the failure of solidarity as such remains a relatively unexplored topic. In the case of the so-called European Union (EU) refugee crisis, the fact that EU member states failed to fulfil their commitment to solidarity is now regarded as established wisdom. But as we try to come to terms with failing solidarity in the EU we are faced with a number of important questions: are all instances of failing solidarity equally morally reprehensible? Are some motivations for resorting to unsolidaristic measures more valid than others? What claims have an effective countervailing force against the commitment to act in solidarity?
Populists in the EU often call for restrictions on EU immigrants’ access to welfare rights. These calls are often demagogic and parochial. This paper aims to show what exactly is both distinct and problematic with these populist calls from a normative point of view while not necessarily reducible to demagogy and parochialism. The overall aim of the paper is not to argue that all populists call for such restrictions nor to claim that all calls for such restrictions are populist. The purpose of the paper is rather humble. It only aims to show that populist calls for restrictions on EU immigrants’ access to welfare rights are characterised by two normatively problematic arguments that target two different subsets of the citizenry: what I dub for the purpose of this paper the moralists and the immoralists. It is the way populists address these two subsets of the citizenry, as well as the fact that they could simultaneously appeal to the concerns of both groups, that makes populist approaches to welfare rights both conceptually distinct to other approaches as well as potentially politically appealing to a more diverse population of voters.
This paper critically engages the legal and political framework for responding to democracy and rule of law backsliding in the EU. I develop a new and original critique of Article 7 TEU based on it being democratically illegitimate and normatively incoherent qua itself in conflict with EU fundamental values. Other more incremental and scaleable responses are desirable, and the paper moves on to assess the legitimacy of economic sanctions such as tying access to EU funds to performance on democratic and rule of law indicators or imposing fines on backsliding states. I hold such sanctions to be a priori legitimate, and argue that in some cases economic sanctions are even normatively required, given that EU material support of backsliding member states can amount to material complicity in their backsliding. However, an economic conditionality mechanism would need to be designed to minimize unjust and counterproductive effects. One way to pursue this could be to complement sanctions against the backsliding government with investment for prodemocratic actors in that state.
Recent developments in Hungary and Poland have made democratic backsliding a major issue of concern within the European Union (EU). This article focuses on the secondary agents that facilitate democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland: the European People’s Party (EPP), which has continually protected the Hungarian Fidesz government from EU sanctions, and the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz, which repeatedly promised to block any EU-level sanctions against Poland in the Council. The article analyses these agents’ behaviour as an instance of transnational complicity and passes a tentative judgment as to which of the two cases is normatively more problematic. The analysis has implications for possible countervailing responses to democratic backsliding within EU member states.
This article argues that populism, cosmopolitanism, and calls for global justice should be understood not as theoretical positions but as appeals to different segments of democratic electorates with the aim of assembling winning political coalitions. This view is called democratic realism: it considers political competition in democracies from a perspective that is realist in the sense that it focuses not first on the content of competing political claims but on the relationships among different components of the coalitions they work to mobilise in the pursuit of power. It is argued that Laclau’s populist theory offers a sort of realist critique of other populists, but that his view neglects the crucial dynamics of political coalition-building. When the relation of populism to global justice is rethought from this democratic realist angle, one can better understand the sorts of challenges each faces, and also where and how they come into conflict.
This article sheds light upon the role of the audience in the construction and amendment of populist representative claims that in themselves strengthen representative-represented relationships and simultaneously strengthen ties between the represented who belong to different constituencies. I argue that changes in populist representative claims can be explained by studying the discursive relationship between a populist representative and the audience as a conversation in which both poles give and receive something. From this perspective, populist representative claims, I also argue, can be understood as acts of bonding with the intended effect of constituting ‘the people,’ and inputs from the audience can be seen as conversational exercitives. Populist appeals therefore may change when the audience enacts new permissibility facts and signals to populist representatives that there is another way to strengthen relationships between several individuals belonging to otherwise-different constituencies.
A link between populism and social media is often suspected. This paper spells out a set of possible mechanisms underpinning this link: that social media changes the communication structure of the public sphere, making it harder for citizens to obtain evidence that refutes populist assumptions. By developing a model of the public sphere, four core functions of the public sphere are identified: exposing citizens to diverse information, promoting equality of deliberative opportunity, creating deliberative transparency, and producing common knowledge. A wellworking public sphere allows citizens to learn that there are genuine disagreements among citizens that are held in good faith. Social media makes it harder to gain this insight, opening the door for populist ideology.
Current work on populism stresses its relationship to nationalism. However, populists increasingly make claims to represent ‘the people’ across beyond national borders. This advent of ‘transnational populism’ has implications for work on cosmopolitan democracy and global justice. In this paper, we advance and substantiate three claims. First, we stress populism’s performative and claimmaking nature. Second, we argue that transnational populism is both theoretically possible and empirically evident in the contemporary global political landscape. Finally, we link these points to debates on democracy beyond the state. We argue that, due to the a) performative nature of populism, b) complex interdependencies of peoples, and c) need for populists to gain and maintain support, individuals in one state will potentially have their preferences, interests, and wants altered by transnational populists’ representative claims. We unpack what is normatively problematic in terms of democratic legitimacy about this and discuss institutional and non-institutional remedies.
As academic literatures and political demands, global justice and populism look like competing ways of diagnosing and addressing neoliberal inequality. But both misunderstand neoliberalism and consequently risk reinforcing rather than undermining it. Neoliberalism does not just break down political and social hierarchies, but also relies on and sustains them. Unless populists recognize this, they will find that assertions of sovereignty do more to reinforce neoliberalism and reproduce its hierarchies than to resist them. Recognizing neoliberalism as not simply corrosive of solidarity but also producing its own affective ties suggests that global justice advocates need to develop a critique of individual attitudes that egalitarian liberals have often seen as private and been hesitant to judge. In short, if either populism or global justice hope to take advantage of neoliberalism’s failures to advance an egalitarian politics, they need to reckon more carefully with their own entanglement with neoliberalism’s hopes and hierarchies.
This article examines whether autonomy as an educational aim should be defended at the global scale. It begins by identifying the normative issues at stake in global autonomy education by distinguishing them from the problems of autonomy education in multicultural nation-states. The article then explains why a planet-wide expansion of the ideal of autonomy is conceivable on the condition that the concept of autonomy is widened in a way that renders its precise meaning flexibly adjustable to a variety of distinct social and cultural contexts. A context-transcendent, core meaning of autonomy remains in place, however, according to which a person is only autonomous if she relates to the values and goals that direct her life in a way so that she sees them as her own and is able to identify and critically assess her principal reasons for action. Finally, the article addresses two challenges to the global expansion of autonomy education: the objection that autonomy is presently not the most important educational aim and the objection that global autonomy education is a form of cultural imperialism. It finds both objections wanting.
Introduction
(2020)
As a result of globalization, the number of people living outside of their countries of origin is on the rise. Among them are children of primary and secondary school age of varying socio-economic backgrounds. This article addresses the education-related challenges that children in such circumstances face. I first identify two principles – an educational adequacy principle and a presumption of responsibility on the part of a host country for meeting children’s educational
needs – which are widely employed to guide national policy decisions on educational content and the distribution of educational resources. I then discuss a number of problems that students living abroad face which, I argue, policies devised on the basis of these principles either systematically overlook or, in some cases, exacerbate. Finally, I offer two alternative principles – a cosmopolitan revision of the first and a replacement for the second with a focus on collective responsibility – designed to promote education policies better suited to a globalized world which might help to alleviate the barriers to success commonly encountered by children learning abroad.
This paper examines and rejects two normative justifications for low-fee private schools (LFPS), whose expansion throughout the Global South in recent years has been significant. The first justification – what I shall call the ideal thesis – contends that LFPS are the best mechanism to expand access to quality education, particularly at the primary level, and that the premise of their success is that they reject educational equality and state intervention in educational affairs, traditionally associated with public schools, embracing instead educational adequacy and unregulated markets for education. Against this thesis, the paper argues that an ideal educational arrangement must not do away with educational equality and some degree of state interference. The other justification for LFPS – the secondbest thesis – contends that although LFPS do not represent the ideal state of affairs, they nonetheless bring us a step closer to the ideal of universal primary education; they are a ‘realistic’ approximation to that goal. Against the second-best thesis, the paper argues that this justification commits the approximation fallacy: by deviating from the ideal educational arrangement LFPS may obstruct rather than facilitate its achievement.
This contribution develops a defence of a universalist conception of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) against three prominent critiques, which are, among others, put forward by postcolonial scholars. The first critique argues that GCE is essentially a project of globally minded elites and therefore expressive both of global educational injustices and of the values and lifestyles of a particular class or milieu. The second critique assumes that GCE is based on genuinely ‘Western values’ (e.g., in the form of a conception of human rights or conceptions of rationality or the self), which are neither universally accepted nor universally valid and therefore unjustly forced on members of non-Western cultures and societies. GCE, according to this critique, is assumed to be another version of the educational justification of a hegemonic and unjust global Western regime. The third critique focuses on the epistemological preconditions of GCE. It assumes that GCE relies on a particular, culturally embedded ‘Western epistemology,’ which perpetuates historically grown global educational and epistemic injustices by dominating and subjugating alternative epistemological approaches. With respect to the first critique I argue that it is to a certain extent sociologically plausible, but wrong when it is applied to the educational and political legitimacy of GCE. The second critique overestimates the consensus within the ‘Western tradition’ and underestimates the transnational dissemination of universalist ideals and values as well as its own reliance on universalist validity claims. I argue that in order to provide a plausible criticism of historically grown global educational and political injustices, it is imperative for GCE to integrate central insights provided by the postcolonial critique, without giving up on universalist ideals and values. The third critique is, according to my argumentation, based on flawed epistemological assumptions, which do not withstand critical scrutiny. Instead of identifying epistemic and scientific claims as the expressions of a particular ‘culture’ or geographical location (the ‘West’), I defend the position that philosophical and scientific research should ideally be conceived as a democratic and universalist project, whose emancipatory potential can only be realized on the basis of a universalist epistemology.
This paper explores how University as social entity has great potential to confront epistemic injustices by expanding epistemic capabilities. To do this, we primarily follow the contributions of scholars such as Miranda Fricker and José Medina. The epistemic capabilities and epistemic injustice nexus will be explored via two empirical cases: the first one is an experience developed in Lagos (Nigeria) using participatory video; the second is a service learning pedagogical strategy for final year undergraduate students conducted at Universidad de Ibagué (in Colombia). The Lagos experience shows how participatory action-research methodologies could promote epistemic capabilities and functioning, making it possible for the participants to generate interpretive materials to speak of their own realities. However, this experience is too limited to address testimonial and hermeneutical injustice. The Colombian experience is a remarkable experience that is building epistemic capabilities among students and other local participants. However, there is a hermeneutical and structural injustice that tends to give more value to disciplinary and codified knowledge at the expense of experiential and tacit knowledge.
Die Studie untersucht die Rezeption des Thukydides und deren geschichtspolitische Funktion in Dror Zahavis Biopic Das Geheimnis der Freiheit (2020), das vom Scheitern der 1974 von Berthold Beitz bei Golo Mann in Auftrag gegebenen Biographie über Alfried Krupp v. Bohlen und Halbach erzählt. In dem Film werden – so die These – bundesrepublikanische Kontroversen über Modi des Umgangs mit dem Nationalsozialismus (re-)inszeniert. Dieses Thema besitzt wegen gesellschaftlicher Wandlungsprozesse auch in der Gegenwart, in der sich die Frage nach der Stellung des Nationalsozialismus im Geschichtsbewusstsein neu stellt, eine hohe gesellschaftsdidaktische Relevanz. Als zentrale Argumentationsfigur der Protagonisten im Film dient ein zum Sprichwort mutierter Satz aus dem Epitaphios des Perikles (Thuk. 2,43,4). Die Untersuchung weist nach, wie der Film bei der Nutzung des Zitats in Bezug auf Beitz’ Biographie eine Deutungstradition fortschreibt, die Berthold Beitz selbst begründet hat und die von seinem Biographen Joachim Käppner und Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck in das kulturelle Gedächtnis der Bundesrepublik eingeführt worden ist. Es zeigt sich, dass Das Geheimnis der Freiheit seine geschichtspolitischen Ziele nur durch eine fundamentale Manipulation am Wortlaut des Thukydides erreicht, damit jedoch seine erkenntnistheoretischen Prämissen und sein Plädoyer für Professionalität im Umgang mit der Geschichte konterkariert. Der Name des Thukydides, dessen Autorität der Film als historiographische Instanz in Anspruch nimmt, wird so zu einem Etikett ohne Substanz. Durch die unsachgemäße Berufung auf sein Werk werden überdies effektivere, in der deutschen Geschichtskultur angelegte Zugänge zur Debatte über die künftige Bedeutung der nationalsozialistischen Vergangenheit blockiert. Perspektiven für eine konstruktive Rezeption des Thukydides im gesellschaftlichen Diskurs über die Geschichte sieht der Aufsatz im Verzicht auf das Konzept einer historia magistra vitae, das auf der Einebnung von Alteritäten zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart fußt, sowie in der Nutzung des Reflexionspotentials, das Thukydides’ Darstellung bietet und das auch in seinem „Methodenkapitel“ (1,20-3) eingefordert wird. Zumindest auf diese Weise besitzt Thukydides eine orientierungsstiftende Aktualität für die Bundesrepublik.
In the upcoming years, the internet of things (IoT)will enrich daily life. The combination of artificial intelligence(AI) and highly interoperable systems will bring context-sensitive multi-domain services to reality. This paper describesa concept for an AI-based smart living platform with open-HAB, a smart home middleware, and Web of Things (WoT) askey components of our approach. The platform concept con-siders different stakeholders, i.e. the housing industry, serviceproviders, and tenants. These activities are part of the Fore-Sight project, an AI-driven, context-sensitive smart living plat-form.
An increasing number of individuals work in jobs with little standardization and repetition, that is, with high levels of job non‐routinization. At the same time, demands for creativity are high, which raises the question of how employees can use job non‐routinization to develop creativity. Acknowledging the importance of social processes for creativity, we propose that transformational leaders raise feelings of organizational identification in followers and that this form of identification then helps individuals to develop creativity in jobs with little routinization. This is because organizational members evaluate and promote those ideas as more creative, which are in line with a shared understanding of creativity within the organization. To investigate these relationships, we calculated a mediated moderation model with 173 leader–follower dyads from China. Results confirm our hypotheses that transformational leadership moderates the relationship between job non‐routinization on employee creativity through organizational identification. We conclude that raising feelings of social identity is a key task for leaders today, especially when working in uncertain and fast developing environments with little repetition and the constant need to develop creative ideas.
La Escuela de Frankfurt ha jugado un papel determinante en la recepción posterior del Empirismo Lógico. Sin embargo, la revisión histórica del Empirismo Lógico ha revelado que esta visión partía de ciertas simplificaciones que no hacían justicia a la diversidad y complejidad de posturas que el movimiento incluía. En El ataque más reciente a la Metafísica Horkheimer sostiene que el positivismo es necesariamente irreflexivo y ahistórico en su explicación de las ciencias, y que su carencia de una teoría social que las contextualice lo vuelve incapaz de criticar el rol de la ciencia y de la razón instrumental en su aceptación del orden establecido, comprometiéndolo con una visión conservadora de la política. Se problematizará la atribución hecha al Empirismo Lógico de sostener una concepción de “razón instrumental” generalizada, y se sostendrá que, desde la visión de Neurath, el carácter auto-reflexivo de la ciencia admite una consideración crítica de los fines y propósitos del conocimiento.
In recent years, reports of elephants causing damage in rural villages by destroying houses and foraging on stored food have been increasing, but little is known about the determinants and magnitude of this damage. In this study, we have examined the extent of property damage by elephants (Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus), in one African and two Asian study areas over a six‐year period. A total of 1,172 damaged constructions were observed on site, involving detailed damage assessment by trained enumerators and standardized interviews with witnesses. Depending on the study area, between 67.1 and 86.4% of damage events were attributed to single, individual elephants or pairs of males. The majority of properties were damaged in search for food (62.5–76.7% respectively). Property damage caused higher mean losses than crop damage on farmland in all study areas. Results suggest that property damage by elephants has been largely underestimated and needs to form a focus in future human–elephant conflict research. We suggest a need to reduce the attractiveness of villages by storing food in locked and safe places, away from sleeping areas and to foster the development of elephant safe stores, appropriate to the particular cultural background of the target area.
This article problematizes the assumption that national policies have a direct impact on youth participation at the local level and analyses the relationships between local forms of youth participation and local and national policies. Relying on data from a EU project funded under the HORIZON 2020 programme, the article focuses on formally institutionalized settings of youth participation and elaborates local constellations of youth participation in six European cities. These constellations may be referred to as regimes of youth participation as they reflect wider structures of power and knowledge that influence the way in which young people’s practices in public spaces and their claims of being part of society are recognized. However, the analysis reveals that rather deducing it from the model of welfare regimes, such a typology needs to be developed starting from the local level and should consider the ways in which different relationships between local youth policies and national welfare states affect youth participation.
Wie es Eltern und ihren Kindern während der Corona-Pandemie geht, wie ihr aktuelles Wohlbefinden ist, was ihren Alltag kennzeichnet, wie die Passung zu den Regelungen der Kitabetreuung, Schulöffnung und auch der Arbeitgeber*innen ist – dies sind die Kernfragen der Onlinebefragung KiCo, welche im Zeitraum vom 24.04.2020 – 03.05.2020 durchgeführt wurde. Dieses Papier präsentiert erste Ergebnisse der Studie, an der über 25.000 Personen teilgenommen haben. Die Studie wurde umgesetzt vom Forschungsverbund "Kindheit – Jugend – Familie in der Corona-Zeit", der sich aus den Universitäten Hildesheim, Frankfurt und Bielefeld zusammensetzt.
Dieses Papier präsentiert erste Ergebnisse der bundesweiten Studie JuCo – Erfahrungen und Perspektiven von jungen Menschen während der Corona-Maßnahmen. Die Befragung wurde vom Forschungsverbund "Kindheit – Jugend – Familie in der Corona-Zeit" umgesetzt, der sich aus den Universitäten Hildesheim, Frankfurt und Bielefeld zusammensetzt. Über 5.000 Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene zwischen 15 und 30 Jahren sind in die Analysen eingeflossen und zeigen auf, wie es den jungen Menschen geht und welche Botschaften sie haben.
Is free speech in danger on university campus? Some preliminary evidence from a most likely case
(2020)
Although universities play a key role in questions of free speech and political viewpoint diversity, they are often associated with the opposite of a free exchange of ideas: a proliferation of restrictive campus speech codes, violent protests against controversial speakers and even the firing of inconvenient professors. For some observers these trends on university campuses are a clear indicator of the dire future for freedom of speech. Others view these incidents as scandalized singular events and regard campus intolerance as a mere myth. We take an empirical look at some of the claims in the debate and present original survey evidence from a most likely case: the leftist social science studentship at Goethe University Frankfurt. Our results show that taking offense is a common experience and that a sizable number of students are in favor of restricting speech on campus. We also find evidence for conformity pressures on campus and that both the desire to restrict speech and the reluctance to speak openly differ significantly across political ideology. Left-leaning students are less likely to tolerate controversial viewpoints and right-leaning students are more likely to self-censor on politically sensitive issues such as gender, immigration, or sexual and ethnic minorities. Although preliminary, these findings may have implications for the social sciences and academia more broadly.
Am 22. November 2019 fand der Workshop „Mit Gender-Wissen in die Praxis“ im Seminarpavillon der Goethe-Universität statt. Die Veranstaltung wurde von Dr. Minna Ruokonen-Engler und Dr. Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck in Kooperation mit dem Cornelia-Goethe-Centrum veranstaltet und aus dem Ruth-Moufang-Fonds vom Zentralen Gleichstellungsbüro und dem Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften finanziert. Der Workshop zielte darauf ab, Studierenden der Gender Studies sowie Interessierten Einblicke in verschiedene Berufsfelder der Gender Studies zu geben und Studierende mit den Praktiker*innen zu vernetzen...
Nichts Neues bei den Masken
(2020)
Nach dem Mord an dem Afroamerikaner George Floyd durch Polizeigewalt kam es in den USA und weltweit zu heftigen und anhaltenden Protesten gegen Rassismus. Doch viele Afroamerikaner sind skeptisch und wagen kaum zu hoffen, dass sich jemals wirklich etwas ändern wird. Prof. Simon Wendt, Amerikanist an der Goethe-Universität, spricht im Interview über die Hintergründe des amerikanischen Rassismus.
Nach knapp vier Monaten Corona-Krise stellen sich auch der Wissenschaft viele Fragen: Sind bestimmte Teile der Gesellschaft stärker von den Folgen betroffen, klafft eine Gerechtigkeitslücke? Öffnen sich vielleicht aber auch Wege für neue medizinische, gesellschaftliche, wirtschaftliche und ökologische Ansätze? Forscherinnen und Forscher der Goethe-Universität aus verschiedenen Disziplinen wagen eine Zwischenbilanz und einen Ausblick.
Eine Studie, die der Politikwissenschaftler Prof. Richard Traunmüller (Universität Mannheim) zusammen mit seinem Kollegen Dr. Matthias Revers (University of Leeds) kürzlich veröffentlicht hat, hat bundesweit für Aufsehen und auch für zahlreiche Gegenstimmen gesorgt. Im Fokus der Studie stehen Soziologie-Studierende der Goethe-Universität, weshalb die Befunde zur Redeund Meinungsfreiheit in Frankfurt besonders die Gemüter bewegt haben. Der UniReport konnte Prof. Traunmüller, der einige Jahre an der Goethe-Universität geforscht und gelehrt hat, und seinen früheren Kollegen, den Soziologen Prof. Thomas Scheffer, zu einem Streitgespräch zusammenbringen.
Das Unbehagen mit den Gender Studies. Ein Gespräch zum Verhältnis von Wissenschaft und Politik
(2020)
Der Beitrag ist ein Gespräch zweiter Sozialwissenschaftlerinnen im Feld der Gender Studies. Es kreist um den Vermittlungszusammenhang zwischen Wissenschaft und (politischer oder aktivistischer) Praxis am Beispiel der Geschlechterforschung. Wie politisch kann, darf Forschung (nicht) sein? Wie, wenn überhaupt, lassen sich Kritik, Normativität, Forschung, politische Praxis und Ethik einerseits trennen, andererseits produktiv aufeinander beziehen? Er plädiert für die Anerkennung der Eigenlogiken von Wissenschaft und Politik und für deren Vermittlung im Sinne reflexiver Übersetzungen sowie gegen einen positionalen Fundamentalismus, der soziale Position(-ierung) mit inhaltlichen Positionen gleichsetzt. Schließlich artikuliert der Beitrag eine reflexive Ethik des Zuhörens, die sich im Forschungsprozess als Anerkennung von systematisch bedingten blinden Flecken sowie in den Mühen um deren Überwindung realisieren sollte.
This article studies whether people want to control what information on their own past pro-social behavior is revealed to others. Participants are assigned a color that depends on their past pro-social behavior. They can spend money to manipulate the probability with which their color is revealed to another participant. The data show that participants are more likely to reveal colors with more favorable informational content. This pattern is not found in a control treatment in which colors are randomly assigned, thus revealing nothing about past pro-social behavior. Regression analysis confrms these fndings, also when controlling for past pro-social behavior. These results complement the existing empirical evidence, confrming that people strategically and, therefore, consciously manipulate their social image.
This reading of Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park suggests that the semantic framework of the novels is provided by the contrast between two meanings of the word consequence, the archaic meaning of social or emotional importance and the common and garden meaning of effect of a cause. It also suggests that the narrative structure of the novels is that of a game of consequences, a game that was played at the time of Jane Austen.
The aim of this paper is to examine how Adorno's aesthetic and musicological thinking was received in Czech and Slovak musicology in the decades between the 60s and the 80s. The focus is on the Czech and Slovak translation of some of Adorno’s musicological treatises and lectures – especially those concerning his views on the Second Vienna School and the musical poetics of its immediate successors – which were published in former Czechoslovakia. The study offers an interesting perspective on Adorno’s relatively unknown lecture Form der neuen Musik (1965) and its related, although not identical, Czech version Formové princípy súčasnej hudby [Formal Principles of Contemporary Music] (1966) as well as on his discussion with some Slovak composers and musicologists published as Dnes je možné iba radikálne kritické myslenie [Today, Only Radical Critical Thinking is Possible] (1967). The study also considers other scientific texts by Adorno in relation to the above-mentioned translations of his works. The analysis, reflection, and interpretation of Adorno’s works in former Czechoslovakia, as well as their contemporary reception, turn out to be sporadic in the examined period. The purpose of this research is to revive awareness of their significance and to give a new impulse to their reassessment within the current musicological and philosophical reflection.
Day-to-day art criticism and art theory are qualitatively distinct. Whereas the best art criticism entails a closeness to its objects which is attuned to particularity, art theory inherently makes generalized claims, whether these claims are extrapolated from the process of art criticism or not. However, this article argues that these dynamics are effectively reversed if we consider the disparity between the criticism of so-called political art and attempts over the last century to elaborate theory which accounts for the political in art qua art. Art theory has located the political force of art precisely in the way that its particularity opposes or resists the status quo. Art criticism, on the other hand, tends to treat artwork as a text to be interpreted whose particularity may as well dissolve when translated into discourse. Drawing from the work of Theodor W. Adorno, this article argues that political art theory calls for art criticism more attuned to experience if it is to elucidate art’s critical valence.
Eleştirel Kuram, 20. yüzyılın başlarında, daha sonra Frankfurt Okulu olarak bilinecek olan “Frankfurt Toplumsal Araştırmalar Enstitüsü” adı altında, bir grup akademisyen tarafından oluşturulmuş bir düşünce akımıdır. Bu düşünsel yaklaşımda, farklı dönemlerde farklı görüşler benimsenmiş olmakla birlikte, özünde pozitivizm ve araçsal akıl başta olmak üzere, modern kapitalist toplumsal düzen eleştirilmektedir. Aydınlanmanın, modernizmin ve modern aklın, kapitalizmin hizmetine girdiğinden yakınılmakta, bireylerin yaşamlarının kontrol edildiği ve onların belirli kalıplar içerisinde davranmaya zorlandığı bir sistemin varlığına karşı çıkılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, diğer kuramsal yaklaşımlardan ve ideolojilerden negatif ve eleştirel bir bakış açısına sahip olması nedeniyle farklılaşan Eleştirel Kuram’, Kamu Yönetimi disiplini ile ilişkilendirerek açıklanmaya çalışılacaktır. Kuramsal tartışmaların, analitik bir biçimde sistematize edilerek kurgulanmasıyla oluşturulacak metodoloji, çalışmanın inşa edilmesinde temel yöntem olarak kullanılacaktır.