scholarly journals Reworking the Social Order: Skam as an Instance of Public Moral Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Andreas Kvamme
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
The Public ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Pluralistic Societies ◽  
The Social

AbstractThe Norwegian high-school drama series Skam is produced and published by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, a publicly funded institution distinguished by an explicit obligation to the public interest, not only serving their audience as consumers but even as citizens. Generally, the normativity expressed in Skam may be summarized by treating all with respect, involving not only moral considerations of what is right, but also ethical conceptions of what is good, offered, opened up and obstructed by the living social order established there. In season three, given attention here, the plot revolves around issues concerning same-sex relationships, mental disorder and religion. Here Skam becomes interesting for the field of moral education, elaborating on how to encounter the challenges of pluralistic societies that undergo continuous changes and in which common values have become open questions. In this paper attention is drawn toward Skam’s ethical dimension, considering Skam as an instance of public moral education. Faced with tensions, hindrances and conflicts, the norm of treating all with respect, irrespective of how trivial it may appear outside of context, becomes loaded with meaning, while the actualization of the good life is at risk. Appalling is the way hegemonic religion is transformed in the living social order. Decisive is the active role taken by the youths in the series, recontextualizing the norm. The social order here is not a static, given condition, but a continuous, moving, cultivating project. In that respect, a certain democratic aspect of the public moral education of Skam also becomes visible. Together, the youths portrayed in the series seem to accommodate a variety of expressions of life emerging within their community.

scholarly journals Aristotle and the Ọmọlúwàbí Ethos: Ethical Implications for Public Morality in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Sunday Olaoluwa Dada
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Public Morality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

This essay explores the philosophical affinity between Aristotle’s concept of virtue as character habituation and the Yorùbá ethical and ontological understanding of ọmọlúwàbí as the foundation for re-examining the philosophical foundation of democratic governance in Nigeria. Based on the Aristotelian insistence that the good life is the end of politics, the essay argues for a rethinking of the concept of public morality as character-based political dynamics that enables politicians to think more about the social contract between the government and the governed, rather than an amoral understanding of politics that eschew morality and undermines the well-being of the citizens. The absence of public morality, the essay argues, has resulted in a neopatrimonial framework within which the political elite willfully circumvent constitutional rules and regulation in order to vitiate the public interest. The essay concludes by arguing for a rigorous public enlightenment as well as a reform of the educational curriculum through an injection of virtue ethics.

The Measure of Greatness

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
Natural World ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Nature ◽  
Complex Trajectory ◽  
The Many ◽  
Human Excellence ◽  
Ethical Perspectives

Magnanimity is a virtue that has led many lives. Foregrounded early on by Plato as the philosophical virtue par excellence, it became one of the crown jewels in Aristotle’s account of human excellence and was accorded an equally salient place by other ancient thinkers. One of the most distinctive elements of the ancient tradition to filter into the medieval Islamic and Christian worlds, it sparked important intellectual engagements there and went on to carve deep tracks through several later philosophies that inherited from this tradition. Under changing names, under reworked forms, it continued to breathe in the thought of Descartes and Hume, Kant and Nietzsche, and their successors. Its many lives have been joined by important continuities. Yet they have also been fragmented by discontinuities—discontinuities reflecting larger shifts in ethical perspectives and competing answers to questions about the nature of the good life, the moral nature of human beings, and their relationship to the social and natural world they inhabit. They have also been punctuated by moments of controversy in which the greatness of this vision of human greatness has itself been called into doubt. This volume provides a window to the complex trajectory of a virtue whose glitter has at times been as heady as it has been divisive. By exploring the many lives it has lived, we will be in a better position to decide whether and why this is a virtue we might still want to make central to our own ethical lives.

Virtues and Practices

1984 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Miller
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Moral Pluralism ◽  
Important Distinction ◽  
The Social ◽  
Narrative Unity

AbstractMaclntyre presents an account of the virtues first in terms of practices and then in terms of the narrative unity of a person’s life. He fails, however, to observe an important distinction between self-contained and purposive practices; if the virtues are to be understood by reference to practices, they must be of the latter kind. By the same token, a defence of the virtues must refer to the social purposes which practices serve rather than to the goods internal to practices. An appeal to the idea of narrative unity does not save the position in the absence of any concrete specification of the good life for man. Maclntyre’s attempt to reconstitute the virtues falls foul of the moral pluralism that he has earlier diagnosed so acutely.

Institutions as Fields of Action

2018 ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Albert W. Dzur
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
The Social

Institutions shape how citizens think about the social problems they handle, repelling public awareness and involvement by performing tasks in ways that neutralize the citizen’s role. Democratic professionals seek to change this dynamic by building access points and infusing citizen agency at critical junctures throughout major public institutions. The kind of citizen–professional collaborations democratic professionals aim to foster directly address the kinds of counter-democratic tendencies that reinforce callousness and make social problems difficult to handle. The motivations of democratic professionals can be understood through the theory of participatory democracy, which draws attention to the hazards representative governments create by thinking and acting for citizens. Participatory democrats acknowledge the difficulties of fostering civic agency in modernity and attempt to theorize how citizens can occupy a more active role in contemporary political culture and take up a civic responsibility for the public goods and social harms produced by their institutions.

scholarly journals Die Idee einer Hegelianischen ,Wissenschaft‘ der Gesellschaft

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Neuhouser
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Good Life ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Normative Commitment ◽  
Constitutional State ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Senses ◽  
State Form

AbstractThis paper sets out the kind of intellectual enterprise Hegel’s science of society is by explaining its aim (reconciliation) and the method it employs to achieve that aim. It argues that Hegel’s science of society, similar to Smith’s and Marx’s, offers an account of the good social order that is grounded in both an empirical understanding of existing institutions and a normative commitment to a certain vision of the good life. It spells out the criteria Hegel appeals to in his judgment that the modern social order is fundamentally good and worthy of affirmation, namely, that its three principal institutions−the family, civil society, and the constitutional state−form a coherent and harmonious whole that promotes the basic interests of all its members in a way that also realizes freedom in all three of the senses relevant to social theory: personal, moral, and social freedom.

scholarly journals Youth Experiences with Social Norms Feedback: Qualitative Findings from The Drug Prevention Trial the GOOD Life

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3200
Author(s):  
Christiane Stock ◽  
Satayesh Lavasani Kjær ◽  
Birthe Rasmussen ◽  
Lotte Vallentin-Holbech
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Drug Prevention ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Normative Feedback ◽  
Web Based ◽  
The Social ◽  
Prevention Programmes ◽  
Group Interviews

Background: Normative feedback is an intervention strategy commonly used in drug prevention programmes. This study collected process evaluation data about how programme recipients engage with social norms (SN) feedback in The GOOD Life intervention and how they experience it. Methods: Eight focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 44 adolescents (pupils aged 14–16 years) who have participated in the social-norms-based intervention The GOOD Life. The interviews focused on three topics: (1) interest in and impact of the intervention; (2) perception of the intervention elements; and (3) suggestions for improvement of The GOOD Life. They were transcribed and analysed with content analysis. Results: The analysis revealed that The GOOD Life motivated pupils to re-evaluate their own drug use behaviour and overall met their interest regarding receiving engaging and non-moral forms of drug prevention programmes. While pupils perceived the normative feedback session in the classroom and the posters with SN messages as positive, stimulating and surprising, the web-based application with SN feedback was rarely used and less positively evaluated. Anonymity and confidentiality were regarded as essential to provide honest answers in the poll. The pupils suggested even more variety in ways to engage them and to use more gaming elements. Conclusions: SN feedback was well perceived by adolescents. The intervention met their interest and needs and was able to achieve the intended impact of challenging norm perceptions. Anonymity and confidentiality are key in order to build trust and engage adolescents in the intervention.

Thinking About the Concept of Social Gender With a Film

2020 ◽  
pp. 228-247
Author(s):  
Berceste Gülçin Özdemir
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
The Public ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Social ◽  
Narrative Cinema ◽  
Feminist Film ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Public Sphere

The concept of social gender is an interdisciplinary matter of debate and is still questioned today. Making sense of this concept is understood by the ongoing codes in the social order. However, the fact that men are still positioned as dominating women in the contrast of the public sphere/private sphere prevents the making sense of the concept of gender. This study questions the concept of social gender through the female characters and male characters presented in the film Tersine Dünya (1993) within the framework of Judith Butler's thoughts regarding the notion of the subject. The thoughts of feminist film theorists also bring the strategies of representation of female characters up for discussion. Butler's thoughts and the discourses of feminist film theorists will enable both making sense of social gender and a more concrete understanding of the concept of the subject. The possibility of deconstruction of patriarchal codes by using classical narrative cinema conventions is also brought up for discussion in the examined film.

The role of Seminary in the Tambov Governorate social life (1867-1884s)

Neophilology ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 214-220
Author(s):  
Theodosius (Vasnev)
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Education Practice ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Social ◽  
The 19Th Century

The Seminary influence on the governorate social life development was an integral part of social processes in the period of 1867-1884, which formed the prototype of the modern education practice. Identification of the Seminary role in the Tambov Governorate social life of the 19th century is a research component of this study, which affects the knowledge of the spiritual and moral education of society current state. Manuscript drafting source was the archival data of Tambov eparchy clergy activities of the late 19th century, the periodical press data of the same period. We interpret the obtained sources in the logic of the general civilized approach to the study of Seminary as an institution of social life characterized by regional aspects. Studies of the role of Seminary in social life have shown the sequence of its formation and development, its further socialization in the social life of the governorate. Special importance is attached to the Tambov Seminary in the years of transformations. Spiritual and moral influence of the Seminary on contemporaries, its increasingly active participation in the public life of the city, the change of its moral appearance contributed to the increase in the authority (role) of the Seminary in the social life of the Tambov Governorate.

scholarly journals Moscow students: Changes in value orientations

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-63
Author(s):  
I. M. Ilyinsky ◽  
V. A. Lukov
Keyword(s):  
Transition Period ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Circle ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Empirical Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Qualities ◽  
High Level

The article considers the stable ideas of the significant part of the Moscow students when assessing personal qualities typical for the Russian youth. The study presented in the report of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation in 2011 identified a high level of the youth’s criticism when assessing one’s generation and emphasizing its egoism and irresponsibility. In the surveys conducted in the Moscow University for Humanities in 2011-2019, a part of the same questionnaire was used to assess the qualities of the contemporary Russian youth, and the results were the same. In the ranking of such qualities in 2019, the first 10 positions were taken by laziness, selfishness, sociability, irresponsibility, aggressiveness, independence, indifference, optimism, naivety and cynicism, i.e. together with positive features there are qualities traditionally considered in the Russian society as unacceptable. The last 10 positions were taken by openness, kindness, pushfulness, initiative, greed, rationalism, responsibility, honesty, patriotism and conscientiousness. Thus, the highly appreciated by the society moral qualities are presented in the students’ estimates as not typical for the youth. The additional open questions clarifying the value orientations of students in terms of their estimates of such attitudes of people in the past, present and future showed that in older generations and one’s social circle the student youth appreciate the most the socially valued qualities and want their children in the future to have such. The ranking of such qualities starts with honesty, kindness, responsibility, purposefulness, openness, sociability, sincerity, responsiveness, punctuality and goodwill. The contradictions between the estimates of the youth qualities and the expected qualities of one’s social circle have been repeatedly confirmed at the empirical level. However, this is not a feature of the student youth but rather a result of the social anomie in the sphere of value orientations in the transition period. The authors believe that the transformation trend of students’ value orientations towards individualism is stable but not typical for the youth in general.

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