an article by María Luengo (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain) and Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk (University of Oslo, Norway) published in European Journal of Communication Volume 34 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
On 7 January 2015, Said and Chérif Kouachi assaulted the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, leaving 12 people dead.
The terrorist attack soon became a highly symbolic event, reflecting the core struggle between free speech and religious values that escalated after the ‘cartoon crisis’ in 2005. In this article, we wish to explore media discourses in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack in three European countries – Spain, Norway and the United Kingdom. In particular, we investigate if and how journalism performed their role as ‘vital centre’ in the ‘civil sphere’.
We find that the patterns of in-group and out-group were carefully constructed to avoid polarization between ‘ordinary’ Muslims and the West in most newspapers. By doing so, most of the newspapers managed to work for the construction of an idealized civil sphere that exists beyond race, nationality or religion.
Friday, 28 June 2019
Don’t Waste Your Limited Time and Energy Regretting Your Past
a post by Adsam Bergen for the Tiny Buddha blog
“It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.” ~Jackie Joyner-Kersee
We as humans have an incredible ability to help each other in times of need. When things get rough and life gets hard, we tend to come together, step up to the challenge, and provide assistance. Our selflessness shows, and it’s amazing to see everyone work in harmony.
Need proof? Just look at any natural or man-made disaster in this world, and you’ll see it. We are a species that shows calculated compassion, unlike any other living creature on Earth.
But as much as we come to help one another, we rarely extend that same compassion toward ourselves. This is especially true when crisis hits us internally; we find it nearly impossible to show ourselves compassion.
Why is that? Why do we have such a hard time with it? It’s a hard question to answer, but I believe it stems from one simple thing: We have really high expectations for ourselves, and it’s almost impossible to live up to them.
When someone looks at us from the outside, they can only judge us on our actions. But from our own internal perspective, we judge ourselves based on our thoughts.
Continue reading
“It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.” ~Jackie Joyner-Kersee
We as humans have an incredible ability to help each other in times of need. When things get rough and life gets hard, we tend to come together, step up to the challenge, and provide assistance. Our selflessness shows, and it’s amazing to see everyone work in harmony.
Need proof? Just look at any natural or man-made disaster in this world, and you’ll see it. We are a species that shows calculated compassion, unlike any other living creature on Earth.
But as much as we come to help one another, we rarely extend that same compassion toward ourselves. This is especially true when crisis hits us internally; we find it nearly impossible to show ourselves compassion.
Why is that? Why do we have such a hard time with it? It’s a hard question to answer, but I believe it stems from one simple thing: We have really high expectations for ourselves, and it’s almost impossible to live up to them.
When someone looks at us from the outside, they can only judge us on our actions. But from our own internal perspective, we judge ourselves based on our thoughts.
Continue reading
Planning for healthy ageing: how the use of third places contributes to the social health of older populations
an artgicle by Sara Alidoust (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia) and Caryl Bosman and Gordon Holden (Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia) published in Ageing & Society Volume 39 Issue 7 (July 2019)
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on creating age-friendly cities to accommodate the changing needs of older people and to promote their overall health and wellbeing.
This paper focuses on some of the urban planning implications related to maintaining the social health, as a main component of overall health and wellbeing, of older people. Specifically, we look at the role and accessibility of third places (popular public places where many people go to socialise) in relation to older people living in different neighbourhood built-form patterns, and how these factors impact on the formation of absent, weak and strong social ties.
The data draw upon interviews with 54 older people living in different neighbourhood built-form patterns on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Our findings demonstrate the significant role third places have in affording older people opportunities to engage in the social lives of their local communities, thus contributing to their social health and overall wellbeing.
This research supports previous studies relating to the accessibility of amenities by re-emphasising the importance of planning for the provision of third places that are conveniently located and easily accessible by older people.
The paper concludes by arguing for the planning of transport and third-place interventions in Australia's sprawling suburban landscapes to allow older people more opportunities to be socially connected.
Hazel’s comment:
I can relate to this. I can no longer get a bus that takes me to the public library so I rarely, if ever, visit it.
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on creating age-friendly cities to accommodate the changing needs of older people and to promote their overall health and wellbeing.
This paper focuses on some of the urban planning implications related to maintaining the social health, as a main component of overall health and wellbeing, of older people. Specifically, we look at the role and accessibility of third places (popular public places where many people go to socialise) in relation to older people living in different neighbourhood built-form patterns, and how these factors impact on the formation of absent, weak and strong social ties.
The data draw upon interviews with 54 older people living in different neighbourhood built-form patterns on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Our findings demonstrate the significant role third places have in affording older people opportunities to engage in the social lives of their local communities, thus contributing to their social health and overall wellbeing.
This research supports previous studies relating to the accessibility of amenities by re-emphasising the importance of planning for the provision of third places that are conveniently located and easily accessible by older people.
The paper concludes by arguing for the planning of transport and third-place interventions in Australia's sprawling suburban landscapes to allow older people more opportunities to be socially connected.
Hazel’s comment:
I can relate to this. I can no longer get a bus that takes me to the public library so I rarely, if ever, visit it.
Measuring regional social inclusion performances in the EU: Looking for unity in diversity
an article by Nicky Rogge and Ryan Self (KU Leuven, Belgium) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 29 Issue 3 (July 2019)
Abstract
This study measures and benchmarks regional social inclusion performances in Europe using a composite index constructed on the basis of the commonly agreed sub-indicators of the Europe 2020 headline indicators. The multidimensional nature of these issues and the disparate social policy priorities of nations/regions in addressing them call for a reconciliatory performance evaluation framework, for which this article advocates the use of benefit-of-the-doubt (BoD) weighting.
Based on the composite scores, leading and lagging regions in social inclusion are identified and the impact of regional contextual characteristics is examined.
Overall results show that regions of Denmark and Sweden are consistently strong performers, while the Continental regions of Italy and Spain typically perform poorly.
As to the poverty and social exclusion determinants, results show that low educational attainment and a high percentage of single-parent households relate negatively to regional social inclusion.
Abstract
This study measures and benchmarks regional social inclusion performances in Europe using a composite index constructed on the basis of the commonly agreed sub-indicators of the Europe 2020 headline indicators. The multidimensional nature of these issues and the disparate social policy priorities of nations/regions in addressing them call for a reconciliatory performance evaluation framework, for which this article advocates the use of benefit-of-the-doubt (BoD) weighting.
Based on the composite scores, leading and lagging regions in social inclusion are identified and the impact of regional contextual characteristics is examined.
Overall results show that regions of Denmark and Sweden are consistently strong performers, while the Continental regions of Italy and Spain typically perform poorly.
As to the poverty and social exclusion determinants, results show that low educational attainment and a high percentage of single-parent households relate negatively to regional social inclusion.
Benefit sanctions, social citizenship and the economy
an article by David Webster (University of Glasgow, UK) published in Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit Volume 34 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
Throughout the history of National Insurance in the UK, there has been relatively little emphasis on benefit conditions or sanctions (previously called disqualifications). The relevant academic literature has been correspondingly thin.
But over the past three decades there has been a dramatic shift to increased conditionality in social security, accompanied by increased harshness in the penalties. This has started to spawn a substantial new literature.
This review article considers three significant recent publications. Although written from different perspectives, they all conclude that the current UK sanctions system cannot be justified. The review article argues that more attention needs to be paid to the flaws in the economic case for conditionality.
It concludes that effective reform of the system depends on a reassertion of the concepts of social citizenship which underlay the development of National Insurance in the 20th century.
Abstract
Throughout the history of National Insurance in the UK, there has been relatively little emphasis on benefit conditions or sanctions (previously called disqualifications). The relevant academic literature has been correspondingly thin.
But over the past three decades there has been a dramatic shift to increased conditionality in social security, accompanied by increased harshness in the penalties. This has started to spawn a substantial new literature.
This review article considers three significant recent publications. Although written from different perspectives, they all conclude that the current UK sanctions system cannot be justified. The review article argues that more attention needs to be paid to the flaws in the economic case for conditionality.
It concludes that effective reform of the system depends on a reassertion of the concepts of social citizenship which underlay the development of National Insurance in the 20th century.
Thursday, 27 June 2019
Like it or not? Online platforms and productivity
a column by Alberto Bailin Rivares, Peter Gal, Valentine Millot and Stéphane Sorbe for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
While the innovative features of online platforms offer the potential to improve the performance of service sectors, they raise many new challenges for policymakers.
Using Google search data on service industries in ten OECD countries, this column shows that platforms generally stimulate the productivity of incumbent service firms, but the impact crucially depends on the type of platform considered. Productivity gains tend to be lower when a platform is persistently dominant on its market, suggesting that the contestability of platform markets should be promoted in order to maximise their economic benefits.
Continue reading
While the innovative features of online platforms offer the potential to improve the performance of service sectors, they raise many new challenges for policymakers.
Using Google search data on service industries in ten OECD countries, this column shows that platforms generally stimulate the productivity of incumbent service firms, but the impact crucially depends on the type of platform considered. Productivity gains tend to be lower when a platform is persistently dominant on its market, suggesting that the contestability of platform markets should be promoted in order to maximise their economic benefits.
Continue reading
Multiple Needs, ‘Troubled Families’ and Social Work
an article by Carol Hayden and Sadie Parr (Sheffield Hallam University, UK) published in People, Place and Policy Volume 13 Issue 1 (June 2019)
Abstract
Concerns about a minority of families have resurfaced in social policy at key moments throughout recent history. Whether these families are viewed as having ‘needs’ or ‘problems’; and whether they are seen as primarily ‘troubled’ or ‘troublesome’ shifts and changes along with the solutions put forward.
This article considers the ‘Troubled Families Programme’ (TFP) in England as a contemporary response. It draws on research commissioned by a city local authority concerned with profiling key aspects of the needs of 103 families worked with in the early part of the first phase of the TFP. While research and policy have frequently underlined the multiple needs and high level of service involvement characteristic of these families, remarkably little is known about the lived experience of multiply disadvantaged families and the wider context of their lives.
In this paper, we place the 103 families’ circumstances within a temporal context by presenting unique historical data on their service involvement. We focus in particular on families’ contact histories with Children’s Social Care.
The research presented in the article reveals an extraordinarily high level of involvement with social services across generations among the families referred to the TFP. The article argues that there is a need to better understand families’ pathways through the life course and outwith immediate referral criteria.
It also raises important questions about the respective roles for the TFP and social workers.
Full text (PDF 13pp)
Abstract
Concerns about a minority of families have resurfaced in social policy at key moments throughout recent history. Whether these families are viewed as having ‘needs’ or ‘problems’; and whether they are seen as primarily ‘troubled’ or ‘troublesome’ shifts and changes along with the solutions put forward.
This article considers the ‘Troubled Families Programme’ (TFP) in England as a contemporary response. It draws on research commissioned by a city local authority concerned with profiling key aspects of the needs of 103 families worked with in the early part of the first phase of the TFP. While research and policy have frequently underlined the multiple needs and high level of service involvement characteristic of these families, remarkably little is known about the lived experience of multiply disadvantaged families and the wider context of their lives.
In this paper, we place the 103 families’ circumstances within a temporal context by presenting unique historical data on their service involvement. We focus in particular on families’ contact histories with Children’s Social Care.
The research presented in the article reveals an extraordinarily high level of involvement with social services across generations among the families referred to the TFP. The article argues that there is a need to better understand families’ pathways through the life course and outwith immediate referral criteria.
It also raises important questions about the respective roles for the TFP and social workers.
Full text (PDF 13pp)
A Global Picture of Public Wealth
a post by Jason Harris, Abdelhak Senhadji and Alexander F. Tieman (International Monetary Fund) for the Public Financial Management blog “Making Public Money Count”
Our new data on government assets released today [18 June 2019] shows that when governments know what they own, they can make better use of the assets for the well-being of all their citizens. We make these data free and publicly available for all to use because we believe transparency can help create better public policy.
The chart shows that advanced economies have larger balance sheets compared to emerging markets and low-income developing countries. This reflects the size of their public sectors, which generally provide more infrastructure and services. But advanced economies also have larger liabilities and, on average, lower net worth.
Continue reading
Our new data on government assets released today [18 June 2019] shows that when governments know what they own, they can make better use of the assets for the well-being of all their citizens. We make these data free and publicly available for all to use because we believe transparency can help create better public policy.
The chart shows that advanced economies have larger balance sheets compared to emerging markets and low-income developing countries. This reflects the size of their public sectors, which generally provide more infrastructure and services. But advanced economies also have larger liabilities and, on average, lower net worth.
Continue reading
Analyzing change in network polarization
an article by Michael Wayne Kearney (University of Missouri, USA) published in New Media & Society Volume 21 Issue 6 (June 2019)
Abstract
The growing influence of social media in an era of media fragmentation has amplified concerns of political polarization. Yet relatively few studies have analyzed polarization in user networks over time.
This study therefore examines change in network polarization on Twitter during a highly contested general election.
Using Twitter’s REST API, user networks of 3000 randomly selected followers of well-known partisan and entertainment-oriented accounts were recorded 17 times in the 7 months leading up to the 2016 general election.
Results suggest that partisan users form highly partisan networks on Twitter, while moderate, or less engaged, users continue to mostly avoid politics.
Abstract
The growing influence of social media in an era of media fragmentation has amplified concerns of political polarization. Yet relatively few studies have analyzed polarization in user networks over time.
This study therefore examines change in network polarization on Twitter during a highly contested general election.
Using Twitter’s REST API, user networks of 3000 randomly selected followers of well-known partisan and entertainment-oriented accounts were recorded 17 times in the 7 months leading up to the 2016 general election.
Results suggest that partisan users form highly partisan networks on Twitter, while moderate, or less engaged, users continue to mostly avoid politics.
Feminising politics, politicising feminism? Women in post-conflict Northern Irish politics
an article by Jennifer Thomson (University of Bath, UK) published in British Politics Volume 14 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement and the establishment of devolved governance in Northern Ireland. Yet, whilst devolution has largely been held to have positive effects in Scotland and Wales with regards to both women’s descriptive and substantive representation, this impact has been less discernible in Northern Ireland.
Of the four regions of the United Kingdom, politics in Northern Ireland is arguably the most unfeminised — women have routinely seen lower descriptive representation in the Northern Irish Assembly and policy-making in areas such as reproductive rights lies far behind the rest of the UK.
The article explores why politics is so unfeminised in the post-conflict context in Northern Ireland, by looking at efforts to feminise formal politics (especially the various peace/inter-party agreements and attempts to include women in formal politics) and efforts to politicise feminist activism (the work of the women’s sector to influence policy-making in the province). It then explores some of the academic explanations as to why the feminisation of politics remains so difficult in Northern Ireland.
Abstract
2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement and the establishment of devolved governance in Northern Ireland. Yet, whilst devolution has largely been held to have positive effects in Scotland and Wales with regards to both women’s descriptive and substantive representation, this impact has been less discernible in Northern Ireland.
Of the four regions of the United Kingdom, politics in Northern Ireland is arguably the most unfeminised — women have routinely seen lower descriptive representation in the Northern Irish Assembly and policy-making in areas such as reproductive rights lies far behind the rest of the UK.
The article explores why politics is so unfeminised in the post-conflict context in Northern Ireland, by looking at efforts to feminise formal politics (especially the various peace/inter-party agreements and attempts to include women in formal politics) and efforts to politicise feminist activism (the work of the women’s sector to influence policy-making in the province). It then explores some of the academic explanations as to why the feminisation of politics remains so difficult in Northern Ireland.
Wednesday, 26 June 2019
From severe to routine labour exploitation: The case of migrant workers in the UK food industry
an article by Jon Davies (The University of Manchester, UK) pubvlished in Criminology & Criminal Justice Volume 19 Issue 3 (July 2019)
Abstract
The issue of exploitative labour practices against migrant workers has been well established in previous work. Yet most research and policy focus on severe forms of exploitation, including types of ‘modern slavery’ such as human trafficking and forced labour. Research has paid less attention to ‘routine’ labour abuses that are less extreme than severe exploitation, but which are still exploitative or harmful.
This article argues that a stronger emphasis is needed on routine labour exploitation, which risks being overlooked when contrasted with severe exploitation. Drawing on a qualitative study of migrant labour in the UK food industry, the article demonstrates that workers experience a range of mistreatment in the workplace, which is unlikely to fall within the scope of severe exploitation and remit of ‘criminal justice’ interventions.
In order to achieve full ‘labour justice’, more consistent attention is needed on these routine and banal practices, not just the most brutal.
Abstract
The issue of exploitative labour practices against migrant workers has been well established in previous work. Yet most research and policy focus on severe forms of exploitation, including types of ‘modern slavery’ such as human trafficking and forced labour. Research has paid less attention to ‘routine’ labour abuses that are less extreme than severe exploitation, but which are still exploitative or harmful.
This article argues that a stronger emphasis is needed on routine labour exploitation, which risks being overlooked when contrasted with severe exploitation. Drawing on a qualitative study of migrant labour in the UK food industry, the article demonstrates that workers experience a range of mistreatment in the workplace, which is unlikely to fall within the scope of severe exploitation and remit of ‘criminal justice’ interventions.
In order to achieve full ‘labour justice’, more consistent attention is needed on these routine and banal practices, not just the most brutal.
Uncertain Futures: Organisational Influences on the Transition from Work to Retirement
an article by Chris Phillipson (University of Manchester, UK), Sue Shepherd and Sarah Vickerstaff University of Kent, UK) and Mark Robinson (Leeds Beckett University, UK) published in Social Policy and Society Volume 18 Issue 3 (July 2019)
Abstract
The promotion of extended working life has created a period of uncertainty between the ending of work and the beginning of retirement. This period of the life course is now ‘open-ended’ in respect of whether older workers decide to remain in employment or leave working.
However, the choices available are framed within public policy and organisational contexts as well as personal circumstances.
The study reviews the organisation of ‘work-ending’, the construction of age within organisations, and the influences on provision of support in late working life.
The article concludes with a discussion on the range of pressures that might limit control over pathways through middle and late working careers.
Full text (PDF 16pp)
Abstract
The promotion of extended working life has created a period of uncertainty between the ending of work and the beginning of retirement. This period of the life course is now ‘open-ended’ in respect of whether older workers decide to remain in employment or leave working.
However, the choices available are framed within public policy and organisational contexts as well as personal circumstances.
The study reviews the organisation of ‘work-ending’, the construction of age within organisations, and the influences on provision of support in late working life.
The article concludes with a discussion on the range of pressures that might limit control over pathways through middle and late working careers.
Full text (PDF 16pp)
Estimating the Impacts of Area Regeneration Programmes in Scotland on Health and Unemployment: a quasi-experimental approach
Daryll Archibald (La Trobe University, Mebourne, Australia), Zhiqiang Feng (University of Edinburgh, UK) and Elspeth Graham (University of St Andrews, UK) published in People, Palce and Policy Volume 13 Issue 1 (2019)
Abstract
The last three decades have seen significant investment in area-based initiatives in the UK to regenerate areas experiencing multiple disadvantage. However, there is a dearth of robust evidence on the impacts that area regeneration has on residents’ lives. This is particularly so in the case of the Scottish Area Regeneration Partnership (SARP) Programmes initiated in the mid-1990s, the original evaluation of which was beset by a lack of baseline data and poor data collection through the life of the programmes.
This study investigated if residents who lived in SARP areas had improved health and employment outcomes compared to individuals living in similarly disadvantaged areas that had not been subject to regeneration over a ten-year period (1991-2001). A quasi experiment was undertaken using data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study.
Propensity score matching was used to identify comparator areas and a Difference in Differences analysis was conducted to investigate the impacts of the SARP programmes for three outcomes: limiting long-term illness, hospital admissions and unemployment. No positive (or negative) programme impact was found on any of the outcomes assessed. Thus, residents in SARP areas over the study period did not see their health and employment prospects improve compared with residents in similarly disadvantaged non-regeneration comparator areas.
Full text (PDF 28pp)
Abstract
The last three decades have seen significant investment in area-based initiatives in the UK to regenerate areas experiencing multiple disadvantage. However, there is a dearth of robust evidence on the impacts that area regeneration has on residents’ lives. This is particularly so in the case of the Scottish Area Regeneration Partnership (SARP) Programmes initiated in the mid-1990s, the original evaluation of which was beset by a lack of baseline data and poor data collection through the life of the programmes.
This study investigated if residents who lived in SARP areas had improved health and employment outcomes compared to individuals living in similarly disadvantaged areas that had not been subject to regeneration over a ten-year period (1991-2001). A quasi experiment was undertaken using data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study.
Propensity score matching was used to identify comparator areas and a Difference in Differences analysis was conducted to investigate the impacts of the SARP programmes for three outcomes: limiting long-term illness, hospital admissions and unemployment. No positive (or negative) programme impact was found on any of the outcomes assessed. Thus, residents in SARP areas over the study period did not see their health and employment prospects improve compared with residents in similarly disadvantaged non-regeneration comparator areas.
Full text (PDF 28pp)
Teleological explanation and positive emotion serially mediate the effect of religion on well‐being
Jonathan E. Ramsay (James Cook University, Singapore), Eddie M. W. Tong and Avijit Chowdhury (National University of Singapore) and Moon‐Ho R. Ho (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) published in Journal of Personality Volume 87 Issue 3 (June 2019)
Abstract
Objective
Previous research has demonstrated a robust relationship between religion and well‐being, and it has been proposed that positive emotions are important mediators of this effect. Yet the mechanism via which religion promotes positive emotions has not been widely studied. We sought to examine whether teleological explanations of daily events and resulting positive emotions serially mediated the effects of religion on well‐being.
Method
These hypotheses were tested over three studies involving full‐time and part‐time university students in Singapore. In Study 1, participants completed measures of religiousness and well‐being, and explained and described three recent personally significant events and their resulting emotions. Studies 2 and 3 adopted an ecological momentary assessment approach to measure teleological explanations, resulting emotions, and well‐being in almost real time.
Results
In Study 1, teleological explanations and positive emotions serially mediated the effects of religiousness on well‐being. In Study 2, momentary teleological explanations of daily events mediated the positive relationship between religiousness and momentary positive emotions. In Study 3, serial mediation of the relationship between religiousness and momentary well‐being by momentary teleological explanations and positive emotions was observed.
Conclusions
These results provide evidence of the importance of teleological explanations of daily events in religious enhancement of well‐being.
Abstract
Objective
Previous research has demonstrated a robust relationship between religion and well‐being, and it has been proposed that positive emotions are important mediators of this effect. Yet the mechanism via which religion promotes positive emotions has not been widely studied. We sought to examine whether teleological explanations of daily events and resulting positive emotions serially mediated the effects of religion on well‐being.
Method
These hypotheses were tested over three studies involving full‐time and part‐time university students in Singapore. In Study 1, participants completed measures of religiousness and well‐being, and explained and described three recent personally significant events and their resulting emotions. Studies 2 and 3 adopted an ecological momentary assessment approach to measure teleological explanations, resulting emotions, and well‐being in almost real time.
Results
In Study 1, teleological explanations and positive emotions serially mediated the effects of religiousness on well‐being. In Study 2, momentary teleological explanations of daily events mediated the positive relationship between religiousness and momentary positive emotions. In Study 3, serial mediation of the relationship between religiousness and momentary well‐being by momentary teleological explanations and positive emotions was observed.
Conclusions
These results provide evidence of the importance of teleological explanations of daily events in religious enhancement of well‐being.
Why Speaking My Truth Is the Cornerstone of My Recovery
a post by Hailey Magee for the Tiny Buddha blog
“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits—anything that kept me small. My judgment called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” ~Kim McMillen
I like to think of my inner self as a curly-haired stick figure who lives inside my chest cavity. Like most inner selves, mine has a simple, childlike quality. She smiles when she’s happy and cries when she’s sad. She has an intuitive sense of what is right and wrong. She speaks her needs simply, the way a young girl might.
My inner self and I are on good terms nowadays, but it hasn’t always been this way. When I was addicted to booze, food, and relationships, I treated my inner self like a prisoner.
For years, I dazed her with whiskey and wine and snuck away to make rash decisions under the light of the moon. Through a groggy haze she would slur warnings: “Don’t drive! Don’t sleep with him! It’s dangerous!” But I had abandoned her, lost in the sweet abyss of another blackout, and left her alone to handle the consequences that met the body I’d left behind.
As I got older, I sought love in the way the women of my family had for generations: by getting thin. I fed my inner self rations and scraps, barely enough to get by. Her hungry cries were met with six almonds, a tall glass of water, one slice of bread.
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment:
I did not go down the eating disorder route but I sure as hell did the booze and inappropriate men – usually both together.
“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits—anything that kept me small. My judgment called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” ~Kim McMillen
I like to think of my inner self as a curly-haired stick figure who lives inside my chest cavity. Like most inner selves, mine has a simple, childlike quality. She smiles when she’s happy and cries when she’s sad. She has an intuitive sense of what is right and wrong. She speaks her needs simply, the way a young girl might.
My inner self and I are on good terms nowadays, but it hasn’t always been this way. When I was addicted to booze, food, and relationships, I treated my inner self like a prisoner.
For years, I dazed her with whiskey and wine and snuck away to make rash decisions under the light of the moon. Through a groggy haze she would slur warnings: “Don’t drive! Don’t sleep with him! It’s dangerous!” But I had abandoned her, lost in the sweet abyss of another blackout, and left her alone to handle the consequences that met the body I’d left behind.
As I got older, I sought love in the way the women of my family had for generations: by getting thin. I fed my inner self rations and scraps, barely enough to get by. Her hungry cries were met with six almonds, a tall glass of water, one slice of bread.
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment:
I did not go down the eating disorder route but I sure as hell did the booze and inappropriate men – usually both together.
EU competition policy should not be sacrificed but trade policy should be strengthened
a column by Sébastien Jean, Anne Perrot and Thomas Philippon for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Some policymakers believe that EU competition policy prevents the emergence of industrial champions.
The column argues that Europe’s competition policy has successfully contained the rise in concentration and excess profits, and the EU should not follow the US in weakening its approach. Instead, the EU needs to strengthen its trade policy to be more assertive on reciprocity in market access and control of industrial subsidies.
Continue reading
Some policymakers believe that EU competition policy prevents the emergence of industrial champions.
The column argues that Europe’s competition policy has successfully contained the rise in concentration and excess profits, and the EU should not follow the US in weakening its approach. Instead, the EU needs to strengthen its trade policy to be more assertive on reciprocity in market access and control of industrial subsidies.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 25 June 2019
What biodiversity loss means for our health
a post by Aaron Bernstein for the OUP blog
“The sun sets over Nature Valley in South Africa.” by redcharlie. Public domain via Unsplash.
Among the great lies I learned in medical school was that a human being was the product of a sperm and an egg. Yes, these gametes are necessary, but they are hardly sufficient to create and sustain a human life. Each one of us stays alive only with the help of trillions of other organisms – the human microbiome – that live on and in every surface of our body exposed to the outside world. Of all the cells that comprise a human body, only two-thirds derive from a sperm and an egg. We can see inklings of what a massive disruption to our relationship with the microorganisms that live within us means to health with the overuse of antibiotics. Antibiotic disruption can foster antimicrobial resistance, weight gain, autoimmune disease, and even perhaps mental health disorders.
Continue reading
“The sun sets over Nature Valley in South Africa.” by redcharlie. Public domain via Unsplash.
Among the great lies I learned in medical school was that a human being was the product of a sperm and an egg. Yes, these gametes are necessary, but they are hardly sufficient to create and sustain a human life. Each one of us stays alive only with the help of trillions of other organisms – the human microbiome – that live on and in every surface of our body exposed to the outside world. Of all the cells that comprise a human body, only two-thirds derive from a sperm and an egg. We can see inklings of what a massive disruption to our relationship with the microorganisms that live within us means to health with the overuse of antibiotics. Antibiotic disruption can foster antimicrobial resistance, weight gain, autoimmune disease, and even perhaps mental health disorders.
Continue reading
Structural Separation: antitrust's tried-and-true weapon for monopolists who bottleneck markets
a post by Cory Doctorow for the Boing Boing blog
Back in 2017, a law student named Lena Khan made waves in policy circles with the publication of her massive, brilliant, game-changing 24,000-word article in the Yale Law Journal, Amazon's Antitrust Paradox, which revisited the entirety of post-Ronald-Reagan antitrust orthodoxy to show how it had allowed Amazon to become a brutal, harmful monopoly without any consequences from the regulators charged with ensuring competition in our markets.
Now, Khan (who is now a Columbia Law fellow) is back with The Separation of Platforms and Commerce – clocking in at 61,000 words with footnotes! – that describes the one-two punch of contemporary monopolism, in which Reagan-era deregulation enthusiasts took the brakes off of corporate conduct but said it would be OK because antitrust law would keep things from getting out of control, while Reagan-era antitrust “reformers” (led by Robert Bork and the Chicago School) dismantled antitrust).
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Back in 2017, a law student named Lena Khan made waves in policy circles with the publication of her massive, brilliant, game-changing 24,000-word article in the Yale Law Journal, Amazon's Antitrust Paradox, which revisited the entirety of post-Ronald-Reagan antitrust orthodoxy to show how it had allowed Amazon to become a brutal, harmful monopoly without any consequences from the regulators charged with ensuring competition in our markets.
Now, Khan (who is now a Columbia Law fellow) is back with The Separation of Platforms and Commerce – clocking in at 61,000 words with footnotes! – that describes the one-two punch of contemporary monopolism, in which Reagan-era deregulation enthusiasts took the brakes off of corporate conduct but said it would be OK because antitrust law would keep things from getting out of control, while Reagan-era antitrust “reformers” (led by Robert Bork and the Chicago School) dismantled antitrust).
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It’s the EU immigrants stupid! UKIP’s core-issue and populist rhetoric on the road to Brexit
an article by Ceri Hughes (University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA) published in European Journal of Communication Volume 34 Issue 3 (June 2019)
Abstract
The 2016 vote to leave the European Union was one of the biggest developments in recent United Kingdom political history. Only one political party was wholly united for Brexit – the United Kingdom Independence Party.
This research finds that in the years leading up to Brexit, the United Kingdom Independence Party presented itself as a rigid core-issue complete-populist party. Content analysis shows how pervasive the European Union was in much of the party output and in the contemporaneous newspaper coverage of the party.
The party also utilizes complete-populist rhetoric, with ‘othering’ populism as the most prevalent form. The consistent concentration on the European Union collocated with populist messaging, in both news releases and select newspaper coverage, may have helped afford the United Kingdom Independence Party issue-eliteness in the referendum campaign.
But this same work may have also ultimately contributed to make them irrelevant by 2017, and possibly moribund by 2018.
Hazel’s comment:
So irrelevant that Farage set up yet another minot political party!
Abstract
The 2016 vote to leave the European Union was one of the biggest developments in recent United Kingdom political history. Only one political party was wholly united for Brexit – the United Kingdom Independence Party.
This research finds that in the years leading up to Brexit, the United Kingdom Independence Party presented itself as a rigid core-issue complete-populist party. Content analysis shows how pervasive the European Union was in much of the party output and in the contemporaneous newspaper coverage of the party.
The party also utilizes complete-populist rhetoric, with ‘othering’ populism as the most prevalent form. The consistent concentration on the European Union collocated with populist messaging, in both news releases and select newspaper coverage, may have helped afford the United Kingdom Independence Party issue-eliteness in the referendum campaign.
But this same work may have also ultimately contributed to make them irrelevant by 2017, and possibly moribund by 2018.
Hazel’s comment:
So irrelevant that Farage set up yet another minot political party!
Revealing the relationship between rational fatalism and the online privacy paradox.
an article by Wenjing Xie (Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA) and Amy Fowler-Dawson and Anita Tvauri (Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL, USA) published in Behaviour & Information Technology Volume 38 Issue 7 (2019)
Abstract
Previous research has revealed the privacy paradox, which suggests that despite concern about their online privacy, people still reveal a large amount of personal information and don’t take measures to protect personal privacy online.
Using data from a national-wide survey, this study takes a psychological approach and uses the rational fatalism theory to explain the privacy paradox on the Internet and the social networking sites (SNSs). The rational fatalism theory argues that risks will become rational if the person believes he or she has no control over the outcome.
Our results support the rational fatalism view. We found that people with higher levels of fatalistic belief about technologies and business are less likely to protect their privacy on the Internet in general, and the SNS in particular.
Moreover, such relationship is stronger among young Internet users compared with older users.
Abstract
Previous research has revealed the privacy paradox, which suggests that despite concern about their online privacy, people still reveal a large amount of personal information and don’t take measures to protect personal privacy online.
Using data from a national-wide survey, this study takes a psychological approach and uses the rational fatalism theory to explain the privacy paradox on the Internet and the social networking sites (SNSs). The rational fatalism theory argues that risks will become rational if the person believes he or she has no control over the outcome.
Our results support the rational fatalism view. We found that people with higher levels of fatalistic belief about technologies and business are less likely to protect their privacy on the Internet in general, and the SNS in particular.
Moreover, such relationship is stronger among young Internet users compared with older users.
What did the coalition government do for women? An analysis of gender equality policy agendas in the UK 2010–2015
an article by Anna Sanders and Francesca Gains (University of Manchester, UK) and Claire Annesley (University of Sussex, Brighton, UK) published in British Politics Volume 14 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
The UK Coalition era 2010–2015 was characterised as being detrimental to women. However, to date, research has not comprehensively examined the impact on gender equality of the Coalition’s policies in different policy domains.
This paper examines policies that were introduced to address gender inequality and policies that had a detrimental impact on gender equality during the five years of Coalition Government.
We draw on a typology of gender equality policies which categorises policies as either addressing the class or status basis of gender inequalities and scholarships that demonstrates that the determinants of policy change will vary depending upon which type of policy is brought forward. We find that numerous status-based gender equality policies reached the government agenda as well as some class-based policies.
However, this agenda setting activity around gender equality needs to be set against the Coalition’s austerity policies, which removed significant provision for gender equality and set limits on the effectiveness of some new initiatives.
Abstract
The UK Coalition era 2010–2015 was characterised as being detrimental to women. However, to date, research has not comprehensively examined the impact on gender equality of the Coalition’s policies in different policy domains.
This paper examines policies that were introduced to address gender inequality and policies that had a detrimental impact on gender equality during the five years of Coalition Government.
We draw on a typology of gender equality policies which categorises policies as either addressing the class or status basis of gender inequalities and scholarships that demonstrates that the determinants of policy change will vary depending upon which type of policy is brought forward. We find that numerous status-based gender equality policies reached the government agenda as well as some class-based policies.
However, this agenda setting activity around gender equality needs to be set against the Coalition’s austerity policies, which removed significant provision for gender equality and set limits on the effectiveness of some new initiatives.
Monday, 24 June 2019
Juridification, new constitutionalism and market reforms to the English NHS
an article by David Ian Benbow (Keele University, UK) published in Capital & Class Volume 43 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
M
arket reforms to the English National Health Service within the neo-liberal era have diverted money away from patient needs to market bureaucracies and the coffers of private companies and undermine cross subsidy and risk pooling within the National Health Service. Consequently, governments within the neo-liberal era have sought to remove the deleterious effects of their market reforms from political contestation through strategies of depoliticisation.
I assess the success of the strategies of juridification (the increase of formal law) and new constitutionalism (transnational legal rules which restrict national policymaking to the model of liberal democratic capitalism) in depoliticising market reforms to the English National Health Service.
As the National Health Service was increasingly marketised, European Union public procurement and competition laws became increasingly applicable, although scope exists for exceptions. The discretion afforded to commissioners by the regulations passed pursuant to S.75 of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) regarding tendering is disputed. Many commissioners have acted as though their discretion was curtailed in practice. However, there are countervailing forces to competition, such as resource constraints and recent moves towards integration (although this may also afford private sector companies with new opportunities).
I contend that the privatisation that marketisation has facilitated appears highly politicised, as is evidenced by increased campaigning activity in opposition to it.
Recent responses to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and prospective post-Brexit trade deals indicate a heightened awareness of the ability of external constitutional constraints to restrict National Health Service policymaking. This suggests that neither the strategies of juridification nor new constitutionalism have been successful in depoliticising market reforms to the English National Health Service.
Abstract
M
arket reforms to the English National Health Service within the neo-liberal era have diverted money away from patient needs to market bureaucracies and the coffers of private companies and undermine cross subsidy and risk pooling within the National Health Service. Consequently, governments within the neo-liberal era have sought to remove the deleterious effects of their market reforms from political contestation through strategies of depoliticisation.
I assess the success of the strategies of juridification (the increase of formal law) and new constitutionalism (transnational legal rules which restrict national policymaking to the model of liberal democratic capitalism) in depoliticising market reforms to the English National Health Service.
As the National Health Service was increasingly marketised, European Union public procurement and competition laws became increasingly applicable, although scope exists for exceptions. The discretion afforded to commissioners by the regulations passed pursuant to S.75 of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) regarding tendering is disputed. Many commissioners have acted as though their discretion was curtailed in practice. However, there are countervailing forces to competition, such as resource constraints and recent moves towards integration (although this may also afford private sector companies with new opportunities).
I contend that the privatisation that marketisation has facilitated appears highly politicised, as is evidenced by increased campaigning activity in opposition to it.
Recent responses to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and prospective post-Brexit trade deals indicate a heightened awareness of the ability of external constitutional constraints to restrict National Health Service policymaking. This suggests that neither the strategies of juridification nor new constitutionalism have been successful in depoliticising market reforms to the English National Health Service.
The case for market-based stress tests
a column by John Vickers for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The stability of the financial system depends on the capital of banks and other financial institutions. But the measurement of bank capital depends on regulatory accounting methods, which, as events a decade ago showed dramatically, do not always reflect economic realities in a timely fashion. This column argues that market-based measures should play a greater role in regulatory assessment than is current practice, in particular in stress tests.
The column opens as follows: I found this fascinating!
“I underwent a stress test of a personal kind at 8 o’clock one morning three years ago when I was about to be interviewed on BBC Radio’s Today programme by the formidable John Humphrys. The subject was bank capital requirements, on which I thought the Bank of England had adopted a softer than prudent policy stance.1 A few minutes before the interview, as the news was being read, John Humphrys came into the room where I was waiting and said something like this: “It’s a complicated topic. We need to make it intelligible to the listeners. So is it alright to talk about bank capital as like a pot of money that they keep on one side for a rainy day?”
“Given the terms in which bankers, commentators and, alas, regulators including central bankers often speak about banks “holding” capital and so on, it is entirely natural that John Humphrys would think that the pot-of-money metaphor was apt. But he wasn’t sure and he took the trouble to check. No, it’s not like that at all, I explained (off air, thank goodness). A pot of money is an asset, but equity capital is on the liability side of the balance sheet – part of banks’ funding structure. It is the difference between two big numbers – the estimated value of their assets and their liabilities (i.e. obligations to depositors, bond-holders, etc.). He got the point instantly and somehow managed to make the interview both intelligible and free of the pot-of-money fallacy.”
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The stability of the financial system depends on the capital of banks and other financial institutions. But the measurement of bank capital depends on regulatory accounting methods, which, as events a decade ago showed dramatically, do not always reflect economic realities in a timely fashion. This column argues that market-based measures should play a greater role in regulatory assessment than is current practice, in particular in stress tests.
The column opens as follows: I found this fascinating!
“I underwent a stress test of a personal kind at 8 o’clock one morning three years ago when I was about to be interviewed on BBC Radio’s Today programme by the formidable John Humphrys. The subject was bank capital requirements, on which I thought the Bank of England had adopted a softer than prudent policy stance.1 A few minutes before the interview, as the news was being read, John Humphrys came into the room where I was waiting and said something like this: “It’s a complicated topic. We need to make it intelligible to the listeners. So is it alright to talk about bank capital as like a pot of money that they keep on one side for a rainy day?”
“Given the terms in which bankers, commentators and, alas, regulators including central bankers often speak about banks “holding” capital and so on, it is entirely natural that John Humphrys would think that the pot-of-money metaphor was apt. But he wasn’t sure and he took the trouble to check. No, it’s not like that at all, I explained (off air, thank goodness). A pot of money is an asset, but equity capital is on the liability side of the balance sheet – part of banks’ funding structure. It is the difference between two big numbers – the estimated value of their assets and their liabilities (i.e. obligations to depositors, bond-holders, etc.). He got the point instantly and somehow managed to make the interview both intelligible and free of the pot-of-money fallacy.”
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Positive local externalities of immigration on entrepreneurship: Evidence from the UK East Midlands region
an article by Frederick Wedzerai Nyakudya (Coventry University, UK) published in Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit Volume 34 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
This article examines the effects of immigration on entrepreneurship, making a distinction between the individual level and the neighbourhood characteristics.
The study combined individual level drawn from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data with neighbourhood level data for the English Index of Multiple Deprivation East Midlands region in the UK and applied a maximum likelihood logit model to test the hypotheses. The empirical evidence suggests that there is no direct link between the internal immigrants and start-ups on the one side; yet, there is direct link between the external immigrants and start-ups on the other side.
However, the findings point to the importance of indirect effect of neighbourhood characteristics, as external immigrants have a significant effect on an individual’s perception of new entrepreneurial opportunities which predicts start-up activity. Their presence in the neighbourhood has a positive monotonic effect on individual entrepreneurship.
Therefore, the critical factor is not that external immigrants come with unique knowledge and skills they utilise in the creation of their own businesses, instead they produce positive local externalities enabling others to start-up businesses.
Abstract
This article examines the effects of immigration on entrepreneurship, making a distinction between the individual level and the neighbourhood characteristics.
The study combined individual level drawn from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data with neighbourhood level data for the English Index of Multiple Deprivation East Midlands region in the UK and applied a maximum likelihood logit model to test the hypotheses. The empirical evidence suggests that there is no direct link between the internal immigrants and start-ups on the one side; yet, there is direct link between the external immigrants and start-ups on the other side.
However, the findings point to the importance of indirect effect of neighbourhood characteristics, as external immigrants have a significant effect on an individual’s perception of new entrepreneurial opportunities which predicts start-up activity. Their presence in the neighbourhood has a positive monotonic effect on individual entrepreneurship.
Therefore, the critical factor is not that external immigrants come with unique knowledge and skills they utilise in the creation of their own businesses, instead they produce positive local externalities enabling others to start-up businesses.
How Unhealed Childhood Wounds Wreak Havoc in Our Adult Lives
a post by Marlena Tillhon-Haslam for the Tiny Buddha blog
“The emotional wounds and negative patterns of childhood often manifest as mental conflicts, emotional drama, and unexplained pains in adulthood.” ~Unknown
I am a firm believer in making the unconscious conscious. We cannot influence what we don’t know about. We cannot fix when we don’t know what’s wrong.
I made many choices in my life that I wouldn’t have made had I recognized the unconscious motivation behind them, based on my childhood conditioning.
In the past, I beat myself up over my decisions countless times. Now I feel that I needed to make these choices and have these experiences so that the consequences would help me become aware of what I wasn’t aware of. Maybe, after all, that was the exact way it had to be.
In any case, I am now hugely aware of how we, unbeknownst to us, negatively impact our own lives.
Continue reading
“The emotional wounds and negative patterns of childhood often manifest as mental conflicts, emotional drama, and unexplained pains in adulthood.” ~Unknown
I am a firm believer in making the unconscious conscious. We cannot influence what we don’t know about. We cannot fix when we don’t know what’s wrong.
I made many choices in my life that I wouldn’t have made had I recognized the unconscious motivation behind them, based on my childhood conditioning.
In the past, I beat myself up over my decisions countless times. Now I feel that I needed to make these choices and have these experiences so that the consequences would help me become aware of what I wasn’t aware of. Maybe, after all, that was the exact way it had to be.
In any case, I am now hugely aware of how we, unbeknownst to us, negatively impact our own lives.
Continue reading
How to Listen to Your Body and Give It What It Needs
a post by Wendy Leeds for the Tiny Buddha blog
“And I said to my body softly, ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.’” ~ Nayyirah Waheed
For more than half my life, I took care of my body “by the numbers.” Every day, I walked a certain number of steps, no matter how sore, sick, or tired I was. I worked a certain number of hours, often going without sleep in order to finish my work and check off all the numbered items on my to-do list, no matter how my body begged for rest.
For weeks I’d follow a strict diet, counting points or calories or carbs, ignoring hunger pains and my growling stomach. But when the diet was over, I’d stuff myself on sweets and junk food until I felt sick and ashamed. At the same time, I struggled to see a certain number on the scale and to fit into a certain dress size.
Not only was I miserable physically, but when I didn’t meet these “number goals,” I felt like a failure, and told myself there was something wrong with me.
Maybe some of this sounds familiar to you. Maybe you’re exercising though pain, working beyond exhaustion, and eating in ways that leave you feeling tired, bloated, or sick.
Maybe, like me, you’re blaming your body for not being strong enough, thin enough, tough enough, or just plain not good enough.
But here’s the truth: None of this is your body’s fault.
Whether you know it or not, your body is speaking to you all day long. It’s telling you on an ongoing basis what it needs to keep you healthy, comfortable, and happy.
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“And I said to my body softly, ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.’” ~ Nayyirah Waheed
For more than half my life, I took care of my body “by the numbers.” Every day, I walked a certain number of steps, no matter how sore, sick, or tired I was. I worked a certain number of hours, often going without sleep in order to finish my work and check off all the numbered items on my to-do list, no matter how my body begged for rest.
For weeks I’d follow a strict diet, counting points or calories or carbs, ignoring hunger pains and my growling stomach. But when the diet was over, I’d stuff myself on sweets and junk food until I felt sick and ashamed. At the same time, I struggled to see a certain number on the scale and to fit into a certain dress size.
Not only was I miserable physically, but when I didn’t meet these “number goals,” I felt like a failure, and told myself there was something wrong with me.
Maybe some of this sounds familiar to you. Maybe you’re exercising though pain, working beyond exhaustion, and eating in ways that leave you feeling tired, bloated, or sick.
Maybe, like me, you’re blaming your body for not being strong enough, thin enough, tough enough, or just plain not good enough.
But here’s the truth: None of this is your body’s fault.
Whether you know it or not, your body is speaking to you all day long. It’s telling you on an ongoing basis what it needs to keep you healthy, comfortable, and happy.
Continue reading
“A group that’s just women for women”: Feminist affordances of private Facebook groups for professionals
an article by Urszula Pruchniewska (Temple University, USA) published in New Media & Society Volume 21 Issue 6 (June 2019)
Abstract
Women across a range of industries are creating women-only private Facebook groups for professional support, networking opportunities, and career development.
Through interviews with 26 women, this research shows how private Facebook groups provide affordances for creating spaces reminiscent of second-wave consciousness-raising groups. Within these groups, separate from cisgender men, women discuss their work experiences and share advice, leading to changes for women beyond the groups’ borders. Thus, private Facebook groups for professional women support feminist practices despite not being labeled as explicitly feminist.
However, these activities are limited in their usefulness for the wider feminist project by the exclusion of some women across lines of difference such as race, class, and age. This study illustrates empirically how social media is used for everyday politics, contributing to understandings of the digital fourth wave of the women’s movement.
Abstract
Women across a range of industries are creating women-only private Facebook groups for professional support, networking opportunities, and career development.
Through interviews with 26 women, this research shows how private Facebook groups provide affordances for creating spaces reminiscent of second-wave consciousness-raising groups. Within these groups, separate from cisgender men, women discuss their work experiences and share advice, leading to changes for women beyond the groups’ borders. Thus, private Facebook groups for professional women support feminist practices despite not being labeled as explicitly feminist.
However, these activities are limited in their usefulness for the wider feminist project by the exclusion of some women across lines of difference such as race, class, and age. This study illustrates empirically how social media is used for everyday politics, contributing to understandings of the digital fourth wave of the women’s movement.
What Aladdin — And Napoleon — Teach Us About Copyright
an article by Darian Woods for npr [via Library LInk for the Day]
A whole new Aladdin is in movie theaters. We went to see it last week. It has some amazing Bollywood-style dance scenes, a resplendent palace and the best magic carpet rides over Agrabah that money (and Industrial Light & Magic) can provide. At about 56% approval, Rotten Tomatoes didn't love it, but we enjoyed it, maybe because we were watching it with one eye on the dancing and one eye on economics, intellectual property rights and history.
In all, it cost $183 million to make. And, partly thanks to Disney's lobbying efforts, the Disney corporation will control the rights to this film for 95 years. That's because Disney has long been a major political force in the fight to lengthen copyright. In past decades, Congress has approved copyright extensions just when the copyright to Mickey Mouse was about to expire. The 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act is pejoratively nicknamed the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
As Disney will argue, you don't want intellectual property law to be too permissive or there will be little incentive to create new music or movies. But, when copyright is too broad and strong, the consumer loses out. Great stories and characters can't enter the public domain, which makes it harder to riff on old ideas. Like many of Disney's products, Aladdin itself is a remix of an old story, one well out of reach of modern copyright laws.
These are the kinds of arguments that cropped up last year when Congress considered the Music Modernization Act. Also, when the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was negotiated, persuading other countries to adopt American copyright law of life of the creator plus 70 years was a sticking point in negotiations.
Continue reading
A whole new Aladdin is in movie theaters. We went to see it last week. It has some amazing Bollywood-style dance scenes, a resplendent palace and the best magic carpet rides over Agrabah that money (and Industrial Light & Magic) can provide. At about 56% approval, Rotten Tomatoes didn't love it, but we enjoyed it, maybe because we were watching it with one eye on the dancing and one eye on economics, intellectual property rights and history.
In all, it cost $183 million to make. And, partly thanks to Disney's lobbying efforts, the Disney corporation will control the rights to this film for 95 years. That's because Disney has long been a major political force in the fight to lengthen copyright. In past decades, Congress has approved copyright extensions just when the copyright to Mickey Mouse was about to expire. The 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act is pejoratively nicknamed the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
As Disney will argue, you don't want intellectual property law to be too permissive or there will be little incentive to create new music or movies. But, when copyright is too broad and strong, the consumer loses out. Great stories and characters can't enter the public domain, which makes it harder to riff on old ideas. Like many of Disney's products, Aladdin itself is a remix of an old story, one well out of reach of modern copyright laws.
These are the kinds of arguments that cropped up last year when Congress considered the Music Modernization Act. Also, when the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was negotiated, persuading other countries to adopt American copyright law of life of the creator plus 70 years was a sticking point in negotiations.
Continue reading
Sunday, 23 June 2019
10 for today starts with poetry for a change! The usual miscellany of items I found interesting follows,
A Short Introduction to the Haiku
via Interesting Literature
An overview of haiku as a poetic form
Many of the things we think we know about the Japanese poetic form of the haiku are inaccurate, if not downright incorrect. The common perception, or understanding, of haiku might be summarised as follows: ‘The haiku is a short Japanese poem containing 17 syllables, following a tradition, and a name, that remains unchanged after centuries.’ There are, however, several problems with such a definition of the haiku, which this short introduction aims to address and make clear.
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Rare Irving Berlin WWII Play Photographs Online
via ResearchBuzz Firehose: History For All the People, A State Archives of North Carolina blog
Photograph of songwriter Irving Berlin, wearing his U.S. Army uniform, standing against a wall next to a poster advertising the only civilian performance of Berlin’s traveling U.S. military play This Is The Army at the Teatro Reale dell’Opera in Rome, Italy, in June 1944. The play was in Rome performing for U.S. military personnel during an international tour in World War II (June 1944) [Photograph by: Zinn Arthur].
The State Archives of North Carolina’s Military Collection is excited to announce the availability online of 416 original photographs documenting the international tour of American songwriter Irving Berlin’s traveling U.S. Army play This Is The Army was performed from October 1943 through October 1945 during World War II. Developed from the 1942 Broadway musical play and the 1943 Hollywood film of the same name, This Is The Army (abbreviated by the cast and crew as “TITA”) was initially designed to raise money for the war effort in the United States, and featured one of the most famous wartime songs of the 1940s “This Is The Army, Mister Jones.” TITA became the biggest and best-known morale-boosting show of World War II in the U.S.
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Late bloomers: 10 classic books with terrible initial reviews
via Boing Boing by Alyssa Favreau
Just because books are lauded today, doesn't mean they weren't, in their own time, received with anger, fear, and disdain. Some of the most valuable works of literature we have got their start amidst disgrace and outrage, though in the long run at least, they didn't seem to suffer too much for it.
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Theodoric I King of the Visigoths (418-451)
via About History by Alcibiades
Theodoric I, was King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric I was the son or, more likely, the son-in-law, of Alaric I. He was elected king at a general meeting of his people. The very fact of the long reign of Theodoric I indicates that he was able to maneuver between both factions of his people. On the one hand, he was sufficiently hostile to Rome. On the other hand, he managed to pacify the Visigothic nobility and strengthen its position as an agricultural aristocracy and ruling class. What we know about his activities shows that he treated Rome with selective and cautious hostility. In the years of his reign, the Visigoths were still considerably inferior to the Romans in military power, and Theodoric never made an attack on Roman territory without first ascertaining that the Romans were busy elsewhere.
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The Consolation of Genre: On Reading Romance Novels
via Arts & Letters Daily: Cailey Hall in the Los Angeles REview of Books
All romance readers will, at some point, be forced to defend their favorite genre. It’s inevitable, as anything too fun or too pleasurable always requires an explanation. I’ll start with mine: I was in the fifth year of my English PhD, and I had just turned in my dissertation prospectus to my committee. I wanted a break from work, but graduate student guilt required something that still felt vaguely productive. Since my field is British Romanticism, I decided to “investigate” whether Regency-set romance novels accurately represent the Regency period, and, on the recommendation of friends, I began reading Loretta Chase’s now-classic Lord of Scoundrels (1995). Although I started reading romances because they were, in some sense, a part of my academic work, I couldn’t fool myself for long. Immediately, I was hooked, and my reading went way beyond my initial academic interests. In the few years since that first taste, I have consumed at least 200 romance novels — a tally that still leaves me a relative novice compared to many veteran romance readers. I start here because it feels almost inevitable that what follows will be at least part apologia, but this is the last of my defenses. Instead, I want to spend some time thinking about what counts as a romance novel, and why the genre — in all its permutations — matters.
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Oh boy! Mills and Boon from my teenage years and Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances survive to this day on my bookshelf. Yes, all of them.
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Belief is back: why the world is putting its faith in religion
via the Guardian by Neil MacGregor
‘There is no God,’ says Yuri Gagarin in this 1975 Soviet propaganda poster … The Road is Wider Without God/God Doesn’t Exist by Vladimir Menshikov Photograph: The State Museum of the History of Religion, St Petersburg, Russia
It must surely be one of the most beguiling and evocative posters of the 1970s. High above the Earth, floating serenely among the stars and loosely tethered to a speeding spaceship, Yuri Gagarin smiles out at us and salutes. The first man in space is dressed in brilliant communist red, and emblazoned on his helmet are the letters CCCP (the Russian initials for the USSR). Above the skies, he looks around and tells us what he can see, or rather what he can not see: Boga Nyet!: There is no God! Below him are the toppling towers and domes of churches and mosques, left behind and condemned to imminent collapse by the soaring achievements of Soviet science. The old religions are withering away. Reason and research have raised humanity to a new idea of heaven – we can now all join Gagarin in an achievable paradise, empty of divine beings, and full instead of starry promise.
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Could gravitational waves reveal how fast our universe is expanding?
via the Big Think blog by Jennifer Chu (MIT News Office)
Signals from rare black hole-neutron star pairs could pinpoint rate at which universe is growing, researchers say.
Since it first exploded into existence 13.8 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding, dragging along with it hundreds of billions of galaxies and stars, much like raisins in a rapidly rising dough.
Astronomers have pointed telescopes to certain stars and other cosmic sources to measure their distance from Earth and how fast they are moving away from us — two parameters that are essential to estimating the Hubble constant, a unit of measurement that describes the rate at which the universe is expanding.
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Watch this short film on the art of making neon signs
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
This short documentary visits Lite Brite Neon in New York to see how neon lights come to life, with a piece being made from start to finish.
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The Dark Side of Fantasy: David Gemmell’s Wolf in Shadow
via Interesting Literature
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle salutes the master of heroic fantasy and one of his most curious novels
Like many people, I came to David Gemmell through Legend, his 1984 debut which would go on to become a classic of modern fantasy literature, and one of the most definitive novels in the subgenre of heroic fantasy. Unlike most, though, as I read my way through David Gemmell’s entire back catalogue, I found myself rating other novels far higher than Gemmell’s debut. Legend has heart, and it signalled the arrival of a distinctive new voice in fantasy, but, as Gemmell himself admitted, the writing wasn’t always perfect. He learned a lot in the years that followed, and, to my mind, the prequel he wrote nearly a decade later, The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend, is his most perfectly crafted piece of storytelling.
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History of The Kingdom of Sicily (1130 -1861)
via About History by Alcibiades
The Kingdom of Sicily existed in the of modern Italy from 1130 to 1861. It included the actual island of Sicily, and also, at different times, southern Italy with Naples and, until 1530, Malta. After 1302, it was sometimes called the Kingdom of Trinacria. In certain periods of history, it belonged to the Spanish kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1816, it was united with the kingdom of Naples, called the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. In 1861, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies became part of united Italy.
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via Interesting Literature
An overview of haiku as a poetic form
Many of the things we think we know about the Japanese poetic form of the haiku are inaccurate, if not downright incorrect. The common perception, or understanding, of haiku might be summarised as follows: ‘The haiku is a short Japanese poem containing 17 syllables, following a tradition, and a name, that remains unchanged after centuries.’ There are, however, several problems with such a definition of the haiku, which this short introduction aims to address and make clear.
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via ResearchBuzz Firehose: History For All the People, A State Archives of North Carolina blog
Photograph of songwriter Irving Berlin, wearing his U.S. Army uniform, standing against a wall next to a poster advertising the only civilian performance of Berlin’s traveling U.S. military play This Is The Army at the Teatro Reale dell’Opera in Rome, Italy, in June 1944. The play was in Rome performing for U.S. military personnel during an international tour in World War II (June 1944) [Photograph by: Zinn Arthur].
The State Archives of North Carolina’s Military Collection is excited to announce the availability online of 416 original photographs documenting the international tour of American songwriter Irving Berlin’s traveling U.S. Army play This Is The Army was performed from October 1943 through October 1945 during World War II. Developed from the 1942 Broadway musical play and the 1943 Hollywood film of the same name, This Is The Army (abbreviated by the cast and crew as “TITA”) was initially designed to raise money for the war effort in the United States, and featured one of the most famous wartime songs of the 1940s “This Is The Army, Mister Jones.” TITA became the biggest and best-known morale-boosting show of World War II in the U.S.
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via Boing Boing by Alyssa Favreau
Just because books are lauded today, doesn't mean they weren't, in their own time, received with anger, fear, and disdain. Some of the most valuable works of literature we have got their start amidst disgrace and outrage, though in the long run at least, they didn't seem to suffer too much for it.
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via About History by Alcibiades
Theodoric I, was King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric I was the son or, more likely, the son-in-law, of Alaric I. He was elected king at a general meeting of his people. The very fact of the long reign of Theodoric I indicates that he was able to maneuver between both factions of his people. On the one hand, he was sufficiently hostile to Rome. On the other hand, he managed to pacify the Visigothic nobility and strengthen its position as an agricultural aristocracy and ruling class. What we know about his activities shows that he treated Rome with selective and cautious hostility. In the years of his reign, the Visigoths were still considerably inferior to the Romans in military power, and Theodoric never made an attack on Roman territory without first ascertaining that the Romans were busy elsewhere.
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via Arts & Letters Daily: Cailey Hall in the Los Angeles REview of Books
All romance readers will, at some point, be forced to defend their favorite genre. It’s inevitable, as anything too fun or too pleasurable always requires an explanation. I’ll start with mine: I was in the fifth year of my English PhD, and I had just turned in my dissertation prospectus to my committee. I wanted a break from work, but graduate student guilt required something that still felt vaguely productive. Since my field is British Romanticism, I decided to “investigate” whether Regency-set romance novels accurately represent the Regency period, and, on the recommendation of friends, I began reading Loretta Chase’s now-classic Lord of Scoundrels (1995). Although I started reading romances because they were, in some sense, a part of my academic work, I couldn’t fool myself for long. Immediately, I was hooked, and my reading went way beyond my initial academic interests. In the few years since that first taste, I have consumed at least 200 romance novels — a tally that still leaves me a relative novice compared to many veteran romance readers. I start here because it feels almost inevitable that what follows will be at least part apologia, but this is the last of my defenses. Instead, I want to spend some time thinking about what counts as a romance novel, and why the genre — in all its permutations — matters.
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Oh boy! Mills and Boon from my teenage years and Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances survive to this day on my bookshelf. Yes, all of them.
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via the Guardian by Neil MacGregor
‘There is no God,’ says Yuri Gagarin in this 1975 Soviet propaganda poster … The Road is Wider Without God/God Doesn’t Exist by Vladimir Menshikov Photograph: The State Museum of the History of Religion, St Petersburg, Russia
It must surely be one of the most beguiling and evocative posters of the 1970s. High above the Earth, floating serenely among the stars and loosely tethered to a speeding spaceship, Yuri Gagarin smiles out at us and salutes. The first man in space is dressed in brilliant communist red, and emblazoned on his helmet are the letters CCCP (the Russian initials for the USSR). Above the skies, he looks around and tells us what he can see, or rather what he can not see: Boga Nyet!: There is no God! Below him are the toppling towers and domes of churches and mosques, left behind and condemned to imminent collapse by the soaring achievements of Soviet science. The old religions are withering away. Reason and research have raised humanity to a new idea of heaven – we can now all join Gagarin in an achievable paradise, empty of divine beings, and full instead of starry promise.
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via the Big Think blog by Jennifer Chu (MIT News Office)
Signals from rare black hole-neutron star pairs could pinpoint rate at which universe is growing, researchers say.
Since it first exploded into existence 13.8 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding, dragging along with it hundreds of billions of galaxies and stars, much like raisins in a rapidly rising dough.
Astronomers have pointed telescopes to certain stars and other cosmic sources to measure their distance from Earth and how fast they are moving away from us — two parameters that are essential to estimating the Hubble constant, a unit of measurement that describes the rate at which the universe is expanding.
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via Boing Boing by Andrea James
This short documentary visits Lite Brite Neon in New York to see how neon lights come to life, with a piece being made from start to finish.
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via Interesting Literature
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle salutes the master of heroic fantasy and one of his most curious novels
Like many people, I came to David Gemmell through Legend, his 1984 debut which would go on to become a classic of modern fantasy literature, and one of the most definitive novels in the subgenre of heroic fantasy. Unlike most, though, as I read my way through David Gemmell’s entire back catalogue, I found myself rating other novels far higher than Gemmell’s debut. Legend has heart, and it signalled the arrival of a distinctive new voice in fantasy, but, as Gemmell himself admitted, the writing wasn’t always perfect. He learned a lot in the years that followed, and, to my mind, the prequel he wrote nearly a decade later, The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend, is his most perfectly crafted piece of storytelling.
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via About History by Alcibiades
The Kingdom of Sicily existed in the of modern Italy from 1130 to 1861. It included the actual island of Sicily, and also, at different times, southern Italy with Naples and, until 1530, Malta. After 1302, it was sometimes called the Kingdom of Trinacria. In certain periods of history, it belonged to the Spanish kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1816, it was united with the kingdom of Naples, called the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. In 1861, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies became part of united Italy.
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Saturday, 22 June 2019
10 for today starts with the making of a Swiss Army knife, history and poetry are in the mix before ending up with poems about football (not my favourite subject)
Look behind the scenes of how a Swiss Army Knife is made
via Boing Boing by Seamua Bellamy
Yes, a PR video and yes, the music is kind of terrible. But man, I learned so much watching this video churned out by the folks at Victorinox. Given the ubiquitous nature of the Swiss Army knife, I'm surprised by how much of the tool's production is still done with human intervention. Being as the video was only produced two years ago, I have to assume that they're still making their knives in the same manner. If anyone knows different, I'd love to hear about it.
If you've ever owned a Swiss Army Knife or want to understand more about how an iconic piece of hardware is created, taking in this 13-minute film is time well-spent.
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The History of The Spanish Armada
via About History by Alcibiades
The invincible Armada, or the Great and Glorious Armada, was a large navy of about 130 ships collected by Spain in 1586-1588 to invade England during the Anglo-Spanish War 1585 -1604. The Armada’s expedition took place in May-September 1588, under the command of Alonso Perez de Guzman, Duke of Medina Sidonia.
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John Coltrane and the End of Jazz
via Arts & Letters Daily: Dominic Green in the weekly Standard
Cover of ‘Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album’
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Spectacular ice age wolf pup and caribou dug up in Canada
via the Guardian by Anthea Lacchia
The wolf pup remains uncovered near Dawson, Yukon. The specimen is complete, with head, tail, fur and skin all intact. Photograph: Government of Yukon
The Klondike region of Canada is famous for its gold, but now other remarkable ancient treasures have been unearthed from the melting permafrost.
Two mummified ice age mammals – a wolf pup and a caribou calf – were discovered by gold miners in the area in 2016 and unveiled on Thursday at a ceremony in Dawson in Yukon.
It is extremely rare for fur, skin and muscle tissues to be preserved in the fossil record, but all three are present on these specimens, which have been radiocarbon-dated to more than 50,000 years old.
Continue reading
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A Short Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s ‘For each ecstatic instant’
via Interesting Literature
‘For each ecstatic instant’ is a short lyric by Emily Dickinson about the relationship between pleasure and pain, joy and suffering. The Earl of Rochester, in the seventeenth century, had asked, ‘All this to love and rapture’s due; / Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?’ In ‘For each ecstatic instant’, Emily Dickinson answers with a resounding, if regretful, Yes.
Continue reading
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Giant insects once covered Earth. Where did they go?
via the Big Think blog by Matt Davis
Believe it or not, insects today are really tiny. How did pre-historic insects get so colossal, and why have they now shrunk in size?
Over the course of its 4.5 billion years, Earth has gone through some pretty significant changes. Insectophobes can celebrate the fact that humanity's time on this planet mercifully came a full 360 million years after the period when Earth was covered in Meganeura, predatory dragonflies with two-foot-long wingspans. At the same time, the “lung scorpion," a scorpion the size of a skateboard, scurried around beneath these giant dragonflies, accompanied by the eight-foot-long Arthropleura millipede. This terrible time on planet Earth is known as the Carboniferous period.
Continue reading
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First Anglo-Afghan War (1839 – 1842) – Part The Great Game
via About History by Alcibiades
The first Anglo-Afghan war was between Britain and Afghanistan in 1838-1842. During the 19th century, the progression of Russia to the Caucasus and Middle Asia forced England to defend Afghanistan. The embassy, sent to Kabul in 1808, for the first time establishing friendly relations with Shah-Shuja, gave the British a better understanding of Afghanistan, which until then was completely unknown to them.
Continue reading
==============================
History of Mac startup chimes
via Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza
Enjoy this history of the Mac startup sound, which Apple got rid of in the 2016 MacBooks after three decades of bongggggg.
Here's a video featuring just the startup sounds, complete with crash chimes.
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What can we learn from Utopians of the past?
via The New Yorker by Adam Gopnik
Four nineteenth-century authors offered blueprints for a better world—but their progressive visions had a dark side.
Illustration by Aart-Jan Venema
Michael Robertson’s “The Last Utopians: Four Late Nineteenth-Century Visionaries and Their Legacy” (Princeton) is instructive and touching, if sometimes inadvertently funny. The instructive parts rise from Robertson’s evocation and analysis of a series of authors who aren’t likely to be well known to American readers, even those of a radical turn of mind. All four wrote books and imagined ideal societies with far more of an effect on their time than we now remember. The touching parts flow from the quixotic and earnest imaginations of his heroes and heroine: the pundit Edward Bellamy, the designer William Morris, the pioneering gay writer Edward Carpenter, and the feminist social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. His utopians showed enormous courage in imagining and, to one degree or another, trying to create new worlds against the grain of the one they had inherited. They made blueprints of a better place, detailed right down to the wallpaper, and a pleasing aura of pious intent rises from these pages.
Continue reading
==============================
Five of the Best Poems about Football
via Interesting Literature
Are these the greatest football poems?
Literature and football may not seen like natural bedfellows, although it’s worth remembering that Albert Camus, the philosopher and author, was a goalkeeper, and that the American football team the Baltimore Ravens are named in honour of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem ‘The Raven’. Robert Frost once said, ‘Poetry is play. I’d even rather have you think of it as a sport. For instance, like football.’ And poets down the ages have put into words the magic and wonder of football. Here are five classic poems about football by Victorian, twentieth-century, and contemporary poets.
Continue reading
via Boing Boing by Seamua Bellamy
Yes, a PR video and yes, the music is kind of terrible. But man, I learned so much watching this video churned out by the folks at Victorinox. Given the ubiquitous nature of the Swiss Army knife, I'm surprised by how much of the tool's production is still done with human intervention. Being as the video was only produced two years ago, I have to assume that they're still making their knives in the same manner. If anyone knows different, I'd love to hear about it.
If you've ever owned a Swiss Army Knife or want to understand more about how an iconic piece of hardware is created, taking in this 13-minute film is time well-spent.
==============================
via About History by Alcibiades
The invincible Armada, or the Great and Glorious Armada, was a large navy of about 130 ships collected by Spain in 1586-1588 to invade England during the Anglo-Spanish War 1585 -1604. The Armada’s expedition took place in May-September 1588, under the command of Alonso Perez de Guzman, Duke of Medina Sidonia.
Continue reading
==============================
via Arts & Letters Daily: Dominic Green in the weekly Standard
Impulse! Records
The Renaissance, taking man as the measure of all things, produced music for soloists. The Age of Revolutions, gestating democracy and the nation at arms, expressed its collectivism in orchestral music. The 20th century saw the triumph of capitalism, eventually, and the musical format of the market economy was the quartet. A quartet is the cheapest way to mimic an orchestra’s range. Ringo plays the rhythm, Paul holds down the bass, John adds the chords, and George does the decorations. The logical consequence, economically if not musically, was for all four members to sing a bit and write their own tunes. Hence the Beatles, self-contained and self-commodified, with a little help from their friend Brian Epstein.Continue reading
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via the Guardian by Anthea Lacchia
The wolf pup remains uncovered near Dawson, Yukon. The specimen is complete, with head, tail, fur and skin all intact. Photograph: Government of Yukon
The Klondike region of Canada is famous for its gold, but now other remarkable ancient treasures have been unearthed from the melting permafrost.
Two mummified ice age mammals – a wolf pup and a caribou calf – were discovered by gold miners in the area in 2016 and unveiled on Thursday at a ceremony in Dawson in Yukon.
It is extremely rare for fur, skin and muscle tissues to be preserved in the fossil record, but all three are present on these specimens, which have been radiocarbon-dated to more than 50,000 years old.
Continue reading
==============================
via Interesting Literature
‘For each ecstatic instant’ is a short lyric by Emily Dickinson about the relationship between pleasure and pain, joy and suffering. The Earl of Rochester, in the seventeenth century, had asked, ‘All this to love and rapture’s due; / Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?’ In ‘For each ecstatic instant’, Emily Dickinson answers with a resounding, if regretful, Yes.
Continue reading
==============================
via the Big Think blog by Matt Davis
Believe it or not, insects today are really tiny. How did pre-historic insects get so colossal, and why have they now shrunk in size?
Over the course of its 4.5 billion years, Earth has gone through some pretty significant changes. Insectophobes can celebrate the fact that humanity's time on this planet mercifully came a full 360 million years after the period when Earth was covered in Meganeura, predatory dragonflies with two-foot-long wingspans. At the same time, the “lung scorpion," a scorpion the size of a skateboard, scurried around beneath these giant dragonflies, accompanied by the eight-foot-long Arthropleura millipede. This terrible time on planet Earth is known as the Carboniferous period.
Continue reading
==============================
via About History by Alcibiades
The first Anglo-Afghan war was between Britain and Afghanistan in 1838-1842. During the 19th century, the progression of Russia to the Caucasus and Middle Asia forced England to defend Afghanistan. The embassy, sent to Kabul in 1808, for the first time establishing friendly relations with Shah-Shuja, gave the British a better understanding of Afghanistan, which until then was completely unknown to them.
Continue reading
==============================
via Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza
Enjoy this history of the Mac startup sound, which Apple got rid of in the 2016 MacBooks after three decades of bongggggg.
Here's a video featuring just the startup sounds, complete with crash chimes.
==============================
via The New Yorker by Adam Gopnik
Four nineteenth-century authors offered blueprints for a better world—but their progressive visions had a dark side.
Nineteenth-century utopians offered a radiantly progressive vision, if you put aside the eugenics, anti-Semitism, and racism.
Michael Robertson’s “The Last Utopians: Four Late Nineteenth-Century Visionaries and Their Legacy” (Princeton) is instructive and touching, if sometimes inadvertently funny. The instructive parts rise from Robertson’s evocation and analysis of a series of authors who aren’t likely to be well known to American readers, even those of a radical turn of mind. All four wrote books and imagined ideal societies with far more of an effect on their time than we now remember. The touching parts flow from the quixotic and earnest imaginations of his heroes and heroine: the pundit Edward Bellamy, the designer William Morris, the pioneering gay writer Edward Carpenter, and the feminist social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. His utopians showed enormous courage in imagining and, to one degree or another, trying to create new worlds against the grain of the one they had inherited. They made blueprints of a better place, detailed right down to the wallpaper, and a pleasing aura of pious intent rises from these pages.
Continue reading
==============================
via Interesting Literature
Are these the greatest football poems?
Literature and football may not seen like natural bedfellows, although it’s worth remembering that Albert Camus, the philosopher and author, was a goalkeeper, and that the American football team the Baltimore Ravens are named in honour of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem ‘The Raven’. Robert Frost once said, ‘Poetry is play. I’d even rather have you think of it as a sport. For instance, like football.’ And poets down the ages have put into words the magic and wonder of football. Here are five classic poems about football by Victorian, twentieth-century, and contemporary poets.
Continue reading
Friday, 21 June 2019
When Life Gets Busy, Focus on a Few Key Habits
an article by Jackie Coleman and John Coleman published in the Harvard Business Review [brought to us by World of Psychology’s “Psychology Around the Net”]
NOTE: Back in the days when I maintained a blog of business information for a small local company I would actually read the Harvard Business Review whenever I was in the British Library. I would never have thought of looking in it for information about mental health! I am, therefore, very grateful to World of Psychology for the heads up on this piece.
NICHOLAS RIGG/GETTY IMAGES
Executive Summary
Extreme life events can be stressful — and lead to confusion as to where to focus your priorities.
Whether it’s changing jobs, taking care of a sick parent, relocating, or facing a diagnosis, disruptions in life can make it difficult to maintain moment-by-moment focus and well-being, much less think months or years in the future.
Daily or weekly habits aligned with your long-term goals can keep you on track even when it’s hard to think ahead, and they can add stability in an otherwise unsteady time. These habits, important at any time, are essential in our busiest and most chaotic periods.
So what do these habits look like? The first step in maintaining regular habits is to articulate and track them. When setting habits, we’ve found the most critical are clustered in four key areas: personal reflection, professional reflection, building and maintaining relationships, and physical and mental health.
Full text (HTML)
NOTE: Back in the days when I maintained a blog of business information for a small local company I would actually read the Harvard Business Review whenever I was in the British Library. I would never have thought of looking in it for information about mental health! I am, therefore, very grateful to World of Psychology for the heads up on this piece.
NICHOLAS RIGG/GETTY IMAGES
Executive Summary
Extreme life events can be stressful — and lead to confusion as to where to focus your priorities.
Whether it’s changing jobs, taking care of a sick parent, relocating, or facing a diagnosis, disruptions in life can make it difficult to maintain moment-by-moment focus and well-being, much less think months or years in the future.
Daily or weekly habits aligned with your long-term goals can keep you on track even when it’s hard to think ahead, and they can add stability in an otherwise unsteady time. These habits, important at any time, are essential in our busiest and most chaotic periods.
So what do these habits look like? The first step in maintaining regular habits is to articulate and track them. When setting habits, we’ve found the most critical are clustered in four key areas: personal reflection, professional reflection, building and maintaining relationships, and physical and mental health.
Full text (HTML)
Equalities ‘devolved’: experiences in mainstreaming across the UK devolved powers post-Equality Act 2010
Olena Hankivsky (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada), Diego de Merich (Queen Mary University of London, UK) and Ashlee Christoffersen (University of Edinburgh, UK) pubvsliuhed in British Politics Volume 14 Isse 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
In an increasing number of jurisdictions, gender mainstreaming approaches have been supplemented with attention to other equality areas, including race and disability.
The UK is among the most advanced countries in mainstreaming ‘equality’, with nine equality areas protected in law and a joined-up equality infrastructure. Among the nations of the UK there are, however, important distinctions in implementation of the law.
In this article, we present findings of cross sectoral qualitative research (with academic, public and third sectors) aimed at understanding the progress of equality mainstreaming in the UK some years on from the implementation of the Equality Act 2010, with a specific focus on the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
We identify areas of progress as well as barriers to change and proposed solutions for the future.
Abstract
In an increasing number of jurisdictions, gender mainstreaming approaches have been supplemented with attention to other equality areas, including race and disability.
The UK is among the most advanced countries in mainstreaming ‘equality’, with nine equality areas protected in law and a joined-up equality infrastructure. Among the nations of the UK there are, however, important distinctions in implementation of the law.
In this article, we present findings of cross sectoral qualitative research (with academic, public and third sectors) aimed at understanding the progress of equality mainstreaming in the UK some years on from the implementation of the Equality Act 2010, with a specific focus on the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
We identify areas of progress as well as barriers to change and proposed solutions for the future.
Between the crises: Migration politics and the three periods of neoliberalism
an article by Gareth Mulvey and Neil Davidson (University of Glasgow, UK) pubvlished in Capital & Class Volume 43 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
Between the two UK referendums on European Community/European Union membership, the issue of migration came to dominate the entire debate.
The period between 1975 and 2016 corresponds almost exactly to the neoliberal era in capitalism, in its British manifestation, and this is not coincidental.
This article traces the shifting periods of neoliberalism (‘vanguard’, ‘social’ and ‘crisis’) across these 40 years, focusing in each case on how the policies associated with them specifically impacted migration into the United Kingdom. In particular, it will argue that the current migration crisis is at least partly an aspect of the wider crisis of neoliberalism as a form of capitalist organisation.
It concludes that current levels of anti-migrant sentiment are a displaced expression of hostility to the social effects of neoliberalism, and which may nevertheless cause difficulties for British capital through the imposition of anti-free movement policies to which it is opposed.
Abstract
Between the two UK referendums on European Community/European Union membership, the issue of migration came to dominate the entire debate.
The period between 1975 and 2016 corresponds almost exactly to the neoliberal era in capitalism, in its British manifestation, and this is not coincidental.
This article traces the shifting periods of neoliberalism (‘vanguard’, ‘social’ and ‘crisis’) across these 40 years, focusing in each case on how the policies associated with them specifically impacted migration into the United Kingdom. In particular, it will argue that the current migration crisis is at least partly an aspect of the wider crisis of neoliberalism as a form of capitalist organisation.
It concludes that current levels of anti-migrant sentiment are a displaced expression of hostility to the social effects of neoliberalism, and which may nevertheless cause difficulties for British capital through the imposition of anti-free movement policies to which it is opposed.
The green state and industrial decarbonisation
an article by Roger Hildingsson and Jamil Khan (Lund University, Sweden) and Annica Kronsell (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) published in Environmental Politics Volume 28 Issue 5 (2019)
Abstract
The large share of carbon emitted by energy-intensive industries in the extraction and processing of basic materials must be limited to decarbonise society and the economy. Ways in which the state can govern industrial decarbonisation and contributes to green state theory are explored by addressing a largely ignored issue: the green state’s industrial relations and its role in industrial governance.
With insights from a Swedish case study, the tension between the state’s economic imperative and ecological concerns in greening industry are shown to persist. However, as the energy-intensive industry’s previously privileged position in the economy is weakening, industry is opened to decarbonisation strategies.
While the case exposes a number of governance challenges, it also suggests potential areas where the state can pursue decarbonisation in energy-intensive industry and points the way to an active role of the green state in governing industrial decarbonisation and greening industry.
Full text (PDF 21pp)
Abstract
The large share of carbon emitted by energy-intensive industries in the extraction and processing of basic materials must be limited to decarbonise society and the economy. Ways in which the state can govern industrial decarbonisation and contributes to green state theory are explored by addressing a largely ignored issue: the green state’s industrial relations and its role in industrial governance.
With insights from a Swedish case study, the tension between the state’s economic imperative and ecological concerns in greening industry are shown to persist. However, as the energy-intensive industry’s previously privileged position in the economy is weakening, industry is opened to decarbonisation strategies.
While the case exposes a number of governance challenges, it also suggests potential areas where the state can pursue decarbonisation in energy-intensive industry and points the way to an active role of the green state in governing industrial decarbonisation and greening industry.
Full text (PDF 21pp)
The return of the policy that shall not be named: Principles of industrial policy
a column by Reda Cherif and Fuad Hasanov for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The 'Asian miracles' and their industrial policies are often considered as statistical accidents that cannot be replicated.
The column argues that we can learn more about sustained growth from these miracles than from the large pool of failures, and that industrial policy is instrumental in achieving sustained growth. Successful policy uses state intervention for early entry into sophisticated sectors, strong export orientation, and fierce competition with strict accountability.
Continue reading
The 'Asian miracles' and their industrial policies are often considered as statistical accidents that cannot be replicated.
The column argues that we can learn more about sustained growth from these miracles than from the large pool of failures, and that industrial policy is instrumental in achieving sustained growth. Successful policy uses state intervention for early entry into sophisticated sectors, strong export orientation, and fierce competition with strict accountability.
Continue reading
Thursday, 20 June 2019
Inequalities in the social use of the Internet of things: A capital and skills perspective
an article by Alex van dIssue 6 (June 2019)er Zeeuw, Alexander JAM van Deursen and Giedo Jansen (University of Twente, The Netherlands) published in New Media & Society Volume 21 (June 2019)
Abstract
In this article, we set out to explain different types of social uses of the Internet of Things (IoT) using forms of capital and Internet skills.
We argue that the IoT platform entices different manners of social communication that are easily overlooked when focusing on the novelty of smart “things.”
How people use the IoT socially is crucial in trying to understand how people create, maintain, or absolve social relations in a networked society. We find inversed effects for social capital, income and education on private use, and on sharing IoT data with a partner. Sharing with acquaintances and strangers is predicted by cultural activities.
Sharing IoT data with acquaintances can especially be attributed to social relations that escape the immediate household. We conclude that varying figurations of capital and Internet skills predict how the IoT is used socially.
Abstract
In this article, we set out to explain different types of social uses of the Internet of Things (IoT) using forms of capital and Internet skills.
We argue that the IoT platform entices different manners of social communication that are easily overlooked when focusing on the novelty of smart “things.”
How people use the IoT socially is crucial in trying to understand how people create, maintain, or absolve social relations in a networked society. We find inversed effects for social capital, income and education on private use, and on sharing IoT data with a partner. Sharing with acquaintances and strangers is predicted by cultural activities.
Sharing IoT data with acquaintances can especially be attributed to social relations that escape the immediate household. We conclude that varying figurations of capital and Internet skills predict how the IoT is used socially.
Governing imperial citizenship: a historical account of citizenship revocation
an article by Deirdre Troy (Queen Mary University of London, UK) published in Citizenship Studies Volume 23 Issue 4 (2019)
Abstract
In recent years, citizenship revocation has become synonymous with terrorism, regarded as a practice reserved for the most dangerous of citizens. Yet in the UK revocation has a much longer history, spanning over 100 years, with a narrative that extends beyond the nation-state and into Empire.
This paper asks what may be learned from a historical account of citizenship revocation?
Exploring its emergence as part of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, this account suggests that revocation should not be analyzed in isolation but as a practice embedded in polices of immigration, naturalization, and emigration.
This paper illustrates the ways in which these policies code subjects based on race, class and gender in order to govern their mobility. From this study, it argues that citizenship revocation cannot be explained solely through security claims and suggests that the 2018 cases should be considered in the context of revocation’s history.
Abstract
In recent years, citizenship revocation has become synonymous with terrorism, regarded as a practice reserved for the most dangerous of citizens. Yet in the UK revocation has a much longer history, spanning over 100 years, with a narrative that extends beyond the nation-state and into Empire.
This paper asks what may be learned from a historical account of citizenship revocation?
Exploring its emergence as part of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, this account suggests that revocation should not be analyzed in isolation but as a practice embedded in polices of immigration, naturalization, and emigration.
This paper illustrates the ways in which these policies code subjects based on race, class and gender in order to govern their mobility. From this study, it argues that citizenship revocation cannot be explained solely through security claims and suggests that the 2018 cases should be considered in the context of revocation’s history.
Human development in the age of globalisation
a column by Leandro de la Escosura for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The concept of human development views wellbeing as being affected by a wide range of factors including health and education.
This column examines worldwide long-term wellbeing from 1870-2015 with an augmented historical human development index (AHHDI) that combines new measures of achievements in health, education, material living standards, and political freedom. It shows that world human development has steadily improved over time, although advances have been unevenly distributed across world regions.
Continue reading
And if, like me, you enjoy reading social history you will really like this piece.
The concept of human development views wellbeing as being affected by a wide range of factors including health and education.
This column examines worldwide long-term wellbeing from 1870-2015 with an augmented historical human development index (AHHDI) that combines new measures of achievements in health, education, material living standards, and political freedom. It shows that world human development has steadily improved over time, although advances have been unevenly distributed across world regions.
Continue reading
And if, like me, you enjoy reading social history you will really like this piece.
How Ketamine Opens a New Era for Depression Treatment
an article by Donald Moore published in the Washington Post [brought to us by World of Psychology’s “Psychology Around the Net”]
Researchers have discovered that ketamine, a drug of choice for club-goers for decades, can be used to fight severe cases of the blues. For more than three decades, patients seeking treatment for depression in the U.S. have been steered primarily to one family of pharmaceuticals.
Doctors have been looking for more treatments, particularly for patients who haven’t had success with drugs or who have had suicidal thoughts. (The U.S. suicide rate increased 30% from 1999 to 2016.) Could a party drug be the key to solving the nation’s suicide crisis?
Continue reading
There’s not a lot of information in this piece and it applies to the USA but it can serve eas a reminder that research continues into relieving this nasty illness called depression.
Researchers have discovered that ketamine, a drug of choice for club-goers for decades, can be used to fight severe cases of the blues. For more than three decades, patients seeking treatment for depression in the U.S. have been steered primarily to one family of pharmaceuticals.
Doctors have been looking for more treatments, particularly for patients who haven’t had success with drugs or who have had suicidal thoughts. (The U.S. suicide rate increased 30% from 1999 to 2016.) Could a party drug be the key to solving the nation’s suicide crisis?
Continue reading
There’s not a lot of information in this piece and it applies to the USA but it can serve eas a reminder that research continues into relieving this nasty illness called depression.
The availability of local services and its impact on community cohesion in rural areas: Evidence from the English countryside
an article by Ignazio Cabras (Northumbria University, UK) and Chi KM Lau (University of Huddersfield, UK) published in Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit Volume 34 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
This paper investigates how the availability of services and amenities influences levels of community cohesion in rural England. Specifically, we measure levels of community cohesion in selected rural parishes between two points of time (2000 and 2010) using an index of indicators based on the presence or absence of retailers and amenities.
Results of this analysis provide empirical evidence that the presence of facilities and services has a considerable impact on residents in rural areas, suggesting a significant relationship between the presence of small retailers and social engagement in the English countryside.
We discuss these findings with regard to policies and initiatives that could enhance the positive impact that services and amenities operating within villages and rural hamlets have on local communities.
Abstract
This paper investigates how the availability of services and amenities influences levels of community cohesion in rural England. Specifically, we measure levels of community cohesion in selected rural parishes between two points of time (2000 and 2010) using an index of indicators based on the presence or absence of retailers and amenities.
Results of this analysis provide empirical evidence that the presence of facilities and services has a considerable impact on residents in rural areas, suggesting a significant relationship between the presence of small retailers and social engagement in the English countryside.
We discuss these findings with regard to policies and initiatives that could enhance the positive impact that services and amenities operating within villages and rural hamlets have on local communities.
Wednesday, 19 June 2019
10 Tips About Mental Health Vulnerability Online
a post by Will Van Der Hart for the Mind and Soul Foundation blog
One question I get asked really regularly is about sharing my emotional/mental health struggles online. Having just written a book with the subtitle, “Discovering the confidence to lead with vulnerability”, I guess its not surprising! The thing about vulnerability though is that it’s not about being a ‘bleeding heart in the public square.’ Oversharing isn’t healthy vulnerability, it’s a damaging way of us manipulating other people’s emotions towards us. This is the difference between ‘being vulnerable’ and ‘using vulnerability’.
The first thing I always ask myself when I am posting something personal online is, “What am I trying to do here?” If I am using vulnerability, the answer could be more direct: I want sympathy, I want attention, I want acclaim. In my experience oversharing nearly always results from an ‘I want’.
If I am being healthily vulnerable the answer to that question isn’t nearly so stark. It may be as simple as ‘I’m just being me’ or ‘I am trying to model something’ or ‘I am trying to help people who may be in a similar situation.’ I would say pretty much without exception that nothing good has ever come out of me oversharing online, inversely I know the my ‘being vulnerable’ has been helpful to myself and others. Even when your intentions are good, posting about your own mental health online carries its own pressures and risks. Over the last 14 years I have made quite a few mistakes and learnt a few hard lessons. Here are a few of my top tips (not forgetting all of the usual guidelines about staying safe online.)
Continue reading
One question I get asked really regularly is about sharing my emotional/mental health struggles online. Having just written a book with the subtitle, “Discovering the confidence to lead with vulnerability”, I guess its not surprising! The thing about vulnerability though is that it’s not about being a ‘bleeding heart in the public square.’ Oversharing isn’t healthy vulnerability, it’s a damaging way of us manipulating other people’s emotions towards us. This is the difference between ‘being vulnerable’ and ‘using vulnerability’.
The first thing I always ask myself when I am posting something personal online is, “What am I trying to do here?” If I am using vulnerability, the answer could be more direct: I want sympathy, I want attention, I want acclaim. In my experience oversharing nearly always results from an ‘I want’.
If I am being healthily vulnerable the answer to that question isn’t nearly so stark. It may be as simple as ‘I’m just being me’ or ‘I am trying to model something’ or ‘I am trying to help people who may be in a similar situation.’ I would say pretty much without exception that nothing good has ever come out of me oversharing online, inversely I know the my ‘being vulnerable’ has been helpful to myself and others. Even when your intentions are good, posting about your own mental health online carries its own pressures and risks. Over the last 14 years I have made quite a few mistakes and learnt a few hard lessons. Here are a few of my top tips (not forgetting all of the usual guidelines about staying safe online.)
Continue reading
What option prices tell us about the ECB's unconventional monetary policies
a column by Stan Olijslagers, Annelie Petersen, Nander de Vette,and Sweder Van Wijnbergen for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The decade since the Global Crisis has seen central banks employ a range of monetary policy tools.
This column draws two lessons from the unconventional monetary policy measures employed during the European sovereign debt crisis.
First, central banks should communicate clearly – and with sufficient detail – in times of heightened market stress to lower tail risk perceptions in financial markets.
Second, policies aimed at changing the relative supply within different asset classes have an impact on perceived crash risk, while measures aimed at easing financing costs of commercial banks do not.
Continue reading
The decade since the Global Crisis has seen central banks employ a range of monetary policy tools.
This column draws two lessons from the unconventional monetary policy measures employed during the European sovereign debt crisis.
First, central banks should communicate clearly – and with sufficient detail – in times of heightened market stress to lower tail risk perceptions in financial markets.
Second, policies aimed at changing the relative supply within different asset classes have an impact on perceived crash risk, while measures aimed at easing financing costs of commercial banks do not.
Continue reading
Research Watch: can adversity make you stronger?
an articvle by Sue Holttu, (Salomons Centre for Applied Psychology, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK) published in Mental Health and Social Inclusion Volume 23 Issue 2 (2019)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine what helps people come through difficult events and circumstances.
Design/methodology/approach
A search was carried out for recent papers on adversity and thriving.
Findings
One paper reviewed 27 studies of coping and wellbeing after adversities. Maybe some kinds of adversity can help us get stronger, but people’s social contexts were not considered and the studies measured different things that may not be as easily compared as first appears. A second paper examined wellbeing at work, and reported that a certain type of supervisor is important for preventing burnout. The final paper reported on 55 people who survived depression. Many (though not all) participants felt their life was better than before. Surviving was assisted by practical and social support rather than pills.
Originality/value
The review of research on adversity highlights that patterns of data may look similar but may not tell us as much as we hoped. The study of workplace thriving highlighted how supervisors might support people to do their best work while preventing burnout. The study on surviving depression suggested that social resources were key to a good outcome and a better life. Social inclusion is likely to be important.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine what helps people come through difficult events and circumstances.
Design/methodology/approach
A search was carried out for recent papers on adversity and thriving.
Findings
One paper reviewed 27 studies of coping and wellbeing after adversities. Maybe some kinds of adversity can help us get stronger, but people’s social contexts were not considered and the studies measured different things that may not be as easily compared as first appears. A second paper examined wellbeing at work, and reported that a certain type of supervisor is important for preventing burnout. The final paper reported on 55 people who survived depression. Many (though not all) participants felt their life was better than before. Surviving was assisted by practical and social support rather than pills.
Originality/value
The review of research on adversity highlights that patterns of data may look similar but may not tell us as much as we hoped. The study of workplace thriving highlighted how supervisors might support people to do their best work while preventing burnout. The study on surviving depression suggested that social resources were key to a good outcome and a better life. Social inclusion is likely to be important.
By myself and liking it? Predictors of distinct types of solitude experiences in daily life
an article by Jennifer C. Lay, Theresa Pauly, Peter Graf, Jeremy C. Biesanz and Christiane A. Hoppmann (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) published in Journal of Personality Volume 87 Issue 3 (June 2019)
Abstract
Objective
Solitude is a ubiquitous experience, often confused with loneliness, yet sometimes sought out in daily life. This study aimed to identify distinct types of solitude experiences from everyday affect/thought patterns and to examine how and for whom solitude is experienced positively versus negatively.
Method
One hundred community‐dwelling adults aged 50–85 years (64% female; 56% East Asian, 36% European, 8% other/mixed heritage) and 50 students aged 18–28 years (92% female; 42% East Asian, 22% European, 36% other/mixed) each completed approximately 30 daily life assessments over 10 days on their current and desired social situation, thoughts, and affect.
Results
Multilevel latent profile analysis identified two types of everyday solitude: one characterized by negative affect and effortful thought (negative solitude experiences) and one characterized by calm and the near absence of negative affect/effortful thought (positive solitude experiences). Individual differences in social self‐efficacy and desire for solitude were associated with everyday positive solitude propensity; trait self‐rumination and self‐reflection were associated with everyday negative solitude propensity.
Conclusions
This study provides a new framework for conceptualizing everyday solitude. It identifies specific affect/thought patterns that characterize distinct solitude experience clusters, and it links these clusters with well‐established individual differences. We discuss key traits associated with thriving in solitude.
Abstract
Objective
Solitude is a ubiquitous experience, often confused with loneliness, yet sometimes sought out in daily life. This study aimed to identify distinct types of solitude experiences from everyday affect/thought patterns and to examine how and for whom solitude is experienced positively versus negatively.
Method
One hundred community‐dwelling adults aged 50–85 years (64% female; 56% East Asian, 36% European, 8% other/mixed heritage) and 50 students aged 18–28 years (92% female; 42% East Asian, 22% European, 36% other/mixed) each completed approximately 30 daily life assessments over 10 days on their current and desired social situation, thoughts, and affect.
Results
Multilevel latent profile analysis identified two types of everyday solitude: one characterized by negative affect and effortful thought (negative solitude experiences) and one characterized by calm and the near absence of negative affect/effortful thought (positive solitude experiences). Individual differences in social self‐efficacy and desire for solitude were associated with everyday positive solitude propensity; trait self‐rumination and self‐reflection were associated with everyday negative solitude propensity.
Conclusions
This study provides a new framework for conceptualizing everyday solitude. It identifies specific affect/thought patterns that characterize distinct solitude experience clusters, and it links these clusters with well‐established individual differences. We discuss key traits associated with thriving in solitude.
Tuesday, 18 June 2019
The role of social information, market framing, and diffusion of responsibility as determinants of socially responsible behavior
an article by Bernd Irlenbusch and David J.Saxler (University of Cologne, Germany) publsihed in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics Volume 80 (June 2019)
Highlights
A recent debate raises questions on what shapes socially responsible behavior.
In an experiment, we disentangle major determinants, social information, buyer/seller framing and diffusion of responsibility, and provide evidence on how they influence decisions when decision-makers can gain money by harming uninvolved parties.
Our results show that buyer/seller framing tends to encourage subjects to make purely self-interested decisions. In contrast, social information about others who behaved socially responsible increases social responsibility.
When comparing individual decisions with joint decisions, we observe no effect of diffusion of responsibility on socially responsible behavior.
JEL classification: C92, D47
Highlights
- Buyer/seller framing tends to encourage subjects to make purely self-interested decisions.
- Social information about others who behaved socially responsible increases social responsibility.
- When comparing individual decisions with joint decisions, like the ones in buyer/seller interactions, we observe no effect of diffusion of responsibility on social responsibility.
A recent debate raises questions on what shapes socially responsible behavior.
In an experiment, we disentangle major determinants, social information, buyer/seller framing and diffusion of responsibility, and provide evidence on how they influence decisions when decision-makers can gain money by harming uninvolved parties.
Our results show that buyer/seller framing tends to encourage subjects to make purely self-interested decisions. In contrast, social information about others who behaved socially responsible increases social responsibility.
When comparing individual decisions with joint decisions, we observe no effect of diffusion of responsibility on socially responsible behavior.
JEL classification: C92, D47
“Superdiversity”: a new paradigm for inclusion in a transnational world
an article by Banu Ozkazanc-Pan (University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA; Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA) published in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal Volume 38 Issue 4 (2019)
Abstract
Purpose
Transnational migration has become a defining feature of many societies across the globe. This paper focuses on contributions to diversity theorizing and research available from “superdiversity”, an analytic framework derived from transnational migration studies. “Superdiversity” speaks to the novel social transformations taking place globally and provides new opportunities, albeit with critique, for conceptualizing and studying people, difference and inclusion. The purpose of this paper is to provide innovative ways to rethink hallmark concepts of diversity scholarship by offering new insights about the role of nation-states, the concept of difference and inclusion in the midst of mobility.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies upon transnational migration studies as an emergent field of inquiry about societal level changes brought upon by the ongoing movement of people. The social, cultural and political transformations growing out of transnational migration are used to theorize new directions for diversity research in the context of management and organization studies. By relying on “superdiversity” and its mobility-based ontology, epistemology and methodology, the paper proposes new ways to think about and carry out research on difference and inclusion.
Findings
Deploying the analytic framework of “superdiversity,” the paper offers “belonging” as the new conversation on inclusion and proposes mobile methods as a means to study mobile subjects/objects. In addition, it discusses how the ongoing transformative societal changes by way of transnational migration impact the ways in which the author theorizes and carry out diversity research. Questions and concerns around ethics, (in)equality and representation are considered vital to future research in/around diversity.
Originality/value
Extensive changes in societies emerging out of ongoing encounters between/among different kinds of people have taken shape by way of transnational migration. As a result, emergent and novel notions of difference have been forged in a transnational manner across social fields. By examining these transformations, the paper provides new directions and challenges for diversity scholarship in the context of rising societal tensions and rhetoric around difference and “belonging” in nation-states. It also provides alternative considerations for understanding and theorizing inclusion in diversity research.
Abstract
Purpose
Transnational migration has become a defining feature of many societies across the globe. This paper focuses on contributions to diversity theorizing and research available from “superdiversity”, an analytic framework derived from transnational migration studies. “Superdiversity” speaks to the novel social transformations taking place globally and provides new opportunities, albeit with critique, for conceptualizing and studying people, difference and inclusion. The purpose of this paper is to provide innovative ways to rethink hallmark concepts of diversity scholarship by offering new insights about the role of nation-states, the concept of difference and inclusion in the midst of mobility.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies upon transnational migration studies as an emergent field of inquiry about societal level changes brought upon by the ongoing movement of people. The social, cultural and political transformations growing out of transnational migration are used to theorize new directions for diversity research in the context of management and organization studies. By relying on “superdiversity” and its mobility-based ontology, epistemology and methodology, the paper proposes new ways to think about and carry out research on difference and inclusion.
Findings
Deploying the analytic framework of “superdiversity,” the paper offers “belonging” as the new conversation on inclusion and proposes mobile methods as a means to study mobile subjects/objects. In addition, it discusses how the ongoing transformative societal changes by way of transnational migration impact the ways in which the author theorizes and carry out diversity research. Questions and concerns around ethics, (in)equality and representation are considered vital to future research in/around diversity.
Originality/value
Extensive changes in societies emerging out of ongoing encounters between/among different kinds of people have taken shape by way of transnational migration. As a result, emergent and novel notions of difference have been forged in a transnational manner across social fields. By examining these transformations, the paper provides new directions and challenges for diversity scholarship in the context of rising societal tensions and rhetoric around difference and “belonging” in nation-states. It also provides alternative considerations for understanding and theorizing inclusion in diversity research.
Corporate killing law reform: A spatio-temporal fix to a crisis of capitalism?
an article by Steven Bittle and Lori Stinson (University of Ottawa, Canada) published in Capital & Class Volume 43 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
The first decade of the new millennium saw the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom enact criminal legislation intended to hold corporations accountable for negligently killing workers and/or members of the public.
Drawing empirically from document analyses and semistructured interviews, as well as theoretical insights concerning the crisis-prone tendencies of capital, this article demonstrates how both laws were conceived in ways that spatio-temporally delimited the ‘problem’ of corporate killing and re-secured the (neoliberal) capitalist status quo.
In so doing, we argue that the inability of the state to hold powerful corporations and corporate actors to account for their serious offending presents strategic opportunities for demanding improved accountability measures and changes to a system responsible for so much bloodshed and killing.
Abstract
The first decade of the new millennium saw the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom enact criminal legislation intended to hold corporations accountable for negligently killing workers and/or members of the public.
Drawing empirically from document analyses and semistructured interviews, as well as theoretical insights concerning the crisis-prone tendencies of capital, this article demonstrates how both laws were conceived in ways that spatio-temporally delimited the ‘problem’ of corporate killing and re-secured the (neoliberal) capitalist status quo.
In so doing, we argue that the inability of the state to hold powerful corporations and corporate actors to account for their serious offending presents strategic opportunities for demanding improved accountability measures and changes to a system responsible for so much bloodshed and killing.
Gender pay gap reporting regulations: advancing gender equality policy in tough economic times
an article by Susan Milner (Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, UK) published in British Politics Volume 14 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
This article sets out to explain why mandatory gender pay gap reporting regulations were introduced in 2016, whereas the two main parties had previously opposed state regulation. Observing the rise in the number of female MPs, it argues that the rise in descriptive representation has enabled substantive representation, but that this does not necessarily explain outcomes.
Critical mass is a problematic concept due to difficulties of definition.
Rather, the empirical evidence supports the idea that critical actors able to build alliances within the state machinery and beyond it, particularly by working with business influencers, are decisive in exploiting opportunities for change and securing support for it. Feminization of parliament and government also facilitate institutionalization of gender equality actors, although this process remains incomplete and contingent.
Abstract
This article sets out to explain why mandatory gender pay gap reporting regulations were introduced in 2016, whereas the two main parties had previously opposed state regulation. Observing the rise in the number of female MPs, it argues that the rise in descriptive representation has enabled substantive representation, but that this does not necessarily explain outcomes.
Critical mass is a problematic concept due to difficulties of definition.
Rather, the empirical evidence supports the idea that critical actors able to build alliances within the state machinery and beyond it, particularly by working with business influencers, are decisive in exploiting opportunities for change and securing support for it. Feminization of parliament and government also facilitate institutionalization of gender equality actors, although this process remains incomplete and contingent.
When You've Lost Your Passion for That Thing You Once Loved
a post by Jamie Haas Powell for the Tiny Buddha blog
“Do it with passion or not at all.” ~Rosa Couchette Carey
If you’ve ever had a passion for something, you are probably well aware of the peaks and valleys that are natural side effects of pursuing the thing you love most.
Whether it’s music, writing, sports, fitness, or anything else, sometimes you lose sleep because the thing you love keeps you up all night, and some days you just feel tired and uninspired. There are ebbs and flows in following your passion, which is completely natural and healthy.
But what happens when the “valleys” stay valleys? Maybe you have a few days when you don’t feel excited. When the thing you once loved feels more like a job than something you look forward to doing. Then, maybe those few days turn into a couple of weeks. Maybe even a couple of months.
As time passes, you start feeling sad and frustrated. The activity (hobby, career) that once was a burning fire in your heart, no longer is. You may even begin to feel guilty for not feeling love for that thing anymore. After all, you did love that thing before. Nothing about it has changed.
You may become frustrated with yourself, wondering what’s wrong with you for not feeling excited about something that brought you so much joy in past.
What began as a strong, bright, and hopeful fire is now a much smaller flame. You try to fan the flame, attempting to make it bigger and trying harder to bring it back to its former glory. But you end up become more and more tired as it becomes clearer that the fire is dying.
Continue reading
“Do it with passion or not at all.” ~Rosa Couchette Carey
If you’ve ever had a passion for something, you are probably well aware of the peaks and valleys that are natural side effects of pursuing the thing you love most.
Whether it’s music, writing, sports, fitness, or anything else, sometimes you lose sleep because the thing you love keeps you up all night, and some days you just feel tired and uninspired. There are ebbs and flows in following your passion, which is completely natural and healthy.
But what happens when the “valleys” stay valleys? Maybe you have a few days when you don’t feel excited. When the thing you once loved feels more like a job than something you look forward to doing. Then, maybe those few days turn into a couple of weeks. Maybe even a couple of months.
As time passes, you start feeling sad and frustrated. The activity (hobby, career) that once was a burning fire in your heart, no longer is. You may even begin to feel guilty for not feeling love for that thing anymore. After all, you did love that thing before. Nothing about it has changed.
You may become frustrated with yourself, wondering what’s wrong with you for not feeling excited about something that brought you so much joy in past.
What began as a strong, bright, and hopeful fire is now a much smaller flame. You try to fan the flame, attempting to make it bigger and trying harder to bring it back to its former glory. But you end up become more and more tired as it becomes clearer that the fire is dying.
Continue reading
Avoiding cultural trauma: climate change and social inertia
an article by Robert J. Brulle (Brown University, Providence, RI, USA) and Kari Marie Norgaard (University of Oregon, Eugene, USA) published in Environmental Politics Volume 28 Issue 5 (2019)
Abstract
The failure of societies to respond in a concerted, meaningful way to climate change is a core concern of the social science climate literature. Existing explanations of social inertia display little coherence.
Here, a theoretical approach is suggested that integrates disparate perspectives on social inertia regarding climate change.
Climate change constitutes a potential cultural trauma. The threat of cultural trauma is met with resistance and attempts to restore and maintain the status quo. Thus, efforts to avoid large-scale social changes associated with climate change constitute an effort to avoid cultural trauma, and result in social inertia regarding climate change at individual, institutional, and societal levels. Existing approaches to social inertia are reviewed.
An intellectual framework utilizing the work of Pierre Bourdieu is proposed to integrate these different levels of social interaction. Social processes that maintain social order and thus avoid cultural trauma create social inertia regarding climate change.
Full text (PDF 24pp)
Abstract
The failure of societies to respond in a concerted, meaningful way to climate change is a core concern of the social science climate literature. Existing explanations of social inertia display little coherence.
Here, a theoretical approach is suggested that integrates disparate perspectives on social inertia regarding climate change.
Climate change constitutes a potential cultural trauma. The threat of cultural trauma is met with resistance and attempts to restore and maintain the status quo. Thus, efforts to avoid large-scale social changes associated with climate change constitute an effort to avoid cultural trauma, and result in social inertia regarding climate change at individual, institutional, and societal levels. Existing approaches to social inertia are reviewed.
An intellectual framework utilizing the work of Pierre Bourdieu is proposed to integrate these different levels of social interaction. Social processes that maintain social order and thus avoid cultural trauma create social inertia regarding climate change.
Full text (PDF 24pp)
Overcoming naiveté about self-control
a column by Yves Le Yaouanq and Peter Schwardmann for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Naiveté about one’s lack of self-control can result in costly mistakes. In order to shed his or her naiveté, an individual needs to learn from his or her past lapses in self-control.
This column examines whether people are able to draw the correct inferences from their past behaviour. It reports on experimental evidence that people learn well from their past effort on a task and are able to transport what they learn to new environments. However, they appear to underappreciate how much self-knowledge experience with a task will provide.
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment:
I really, really needed to read this last week – and take appropriate action.
Naiveté about one’s lack of self-control can result in costly mistakes. In order to shed his or her naiveté, an individual needs to learn from his or her past lapses in self-control.
This column examines whether people are able to draw the correct inferences from their past behaviour. It reports on experimental evidence that people learn well from their past effort on a task and are able to transport what they learn to new environments. However, they appear to underappreciate how much self-knowledge experience with a task will provide.
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment:
I really, really needed to read this last week – and take appropriate action.
Finding Emotional Freedom After a Toxic Relationship
a post by Sharon Martin for the Happily Imperfect blog [via World of Psychology]
A toxic or codependent relationship can make you feel trapped, small, and deficient. It can feel like an anchor weighing you down, suffocating you.
People who grew up in dysfunctional families, with parents who lacked boundaries, abused drugs or alcohol, or suffered from mental illness, develop a set of coping skills that helped them deal with the chaos and dysfunction in their families. And although these coping skills helped us get through a lot of difficult childhood experiences, they can make it hard for us to manage our emotions and prioritize our needs.
In adulthood, we continue to suppress our feelings, get into relationships with needy or dysfunctional people, and spend so much time and energy focused on other people and their needs that we neglect ourselves. Our lives continue to be consumed with anxiety, efforts to please people who are never satisfied, and feelings of shame and self-blame.
In an effort to survive, many people “lose” themselves.
Continue reading
A toxic or codependent relationship can make you feel trapped, small, and deficient. It can feel like an anchor weighing you down, suffocating you.
People who grew up in dysfunctional families, with parents who lacked boundaries, abused drugs or alcohol, or suffered from mental illness, develop a set of coping skills that helped them deal with the chaos and dysfunction in their families. And although these coping skills helped us get through a lot of difficult childhood experiences, they can make it hard for us to manage our emotions and prioritize our needs.
In adulthood, we continue to suppress our feelings, get into relationships with needy or dysfunctional people, and spend so much time and energy focused on other people and their needs that we neglect ourselves. Our lives continue to be consumed with anxiety, efforts to please people who are never satisfied, and feelings of shame and self-blame.
In an effort to survive, many people “lose” themselves.
Continue reading
Monday, 17 June 2019
Alt-right pipeline: Individual journeys to extremism online
an article by Luke Munn (Western Sydney University, Australia) published in First Monday Volume 24 Number 6 (June 2019)
Abstract
The rise of the alt-right as a potent and sometimes violent political force has been well documented. Yet the journey of an individual towards upholding these ideologies is less well understood. Alt-righters are not instantly converted, but rather incrementally nudged along a particular medial pathway.
Drawing on video testimonies, chat logs, and other studies, this paper explores the interaction between this alt-right “pipeline” and the psyche of a user.
It suggests three overlapping cognitive phases that occur within this journey:
Finally, the article examines the individual who has reached the end of this journey, an extremist who nevertheless remains largely unregistered within traditional terrorist classifications.
Full text (HTML)
Abstract
The rise of the alt-right as a potent and sometimes violent political force has been well documented. Yet the journey of an individual towards upholding these ideologies is less well understood. Alt-righters are not instantly converted, but rather incrementally nudged along a particular medial pathway.
Drawing on video testimonies, chat logs, and other studies, this paper explores the interaction between this alt-right “pipeline” and the psyche of a user.
It suggests three overlapping cognitive phases that occur within this journey:
- normalization,
- acclimation, and
- dehumanization.
Finally, the article examines the individual who has reached the end of this journey, an extremist who nevertheless remains largely unregistered within traditional terrorist classifications.
Full text (HTML)
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