scholarly journals Utility cascades

Analysis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-442
Author(s):  
Max Khan Hayward

Abstract Utility cascades occur when a utilitarian’s reduction of support for an intervention reduces the effectiveness of that intervention, leading the utilitarian to further reduce support, thereby further undermining effectiveness, and so on, in a negative spiral. This paper illustrates the mechanisms by which utility cascades occur, and then draws out the theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, utility cascades provide an argument that the utilitarian agent should sometimes either ignore evidence about effectiveness or fail to apportion support to effectiveness. Practically, utility cascades call upon utilitarians to rethink their relationship with the social movement known as Effective Altruism, which insists on the importance of seeking and being guided by evidence concerning effectiveness. This has particular implications for the ‘Institutional Critique’ of Effective Altruism, which holds that Effective Altruists undervalue political and systemic reforms. The problem of utility cascades undermines the Effective Altruist response to the Institutional Critique.

Utilitas ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Berkey

In a recent article in this journal, Alexander Dietz argues that what I have called the ‘institutional critique of effective altruism’ is best understood as grounded in the claim that ‘EA relies on an overly individualistic approach to ethics, neglecting the importance of our collective obligations’. In this reply, I argue that Dietz's view does not represent a plausible interpretation of the institutional critiques offered by others, primarily because, unlike Dietz, they appear to believe that their critiques provide reasons to reject the EA view about the content of our individual obligations. I also argue that EA's identity as a social movement provides grounds for denying Dietz's claim that it is objectionably incomplete.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-415
Author(s):  
Roger Crisp ◽  
Theron Pummer

Effective Altruism is a social movement which encourages people to do as much good as they can when helping others, given limited money, time, effort, and other resources. This paper first identifies a minimal philosophical view that underpins this movement, and then argues that there is an analogous minimal philosophical view which might underpin Effective Justice, a possible social movement that would encourage promoting justice most effectively, given limited resources. The latter minimal view reflects an insight about justice, and our non-diminishing moral reason to promote more of it, that surprisingly has gone largely unnoticed and undiscussed. The Effective Altruism movement has led many to reconsider how best to help others, but relatively little attention has been paid to the differences in degrees of cost-effectiveness of activities designed to decrease injustice. This paper therefore not only furthers philosophical understanding of justice, but has potentially major practical implications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurwan Nurwan ◽  
Ali Hadara ◽  
La Batia

ABSTRAK: Inti pokok masalah dalam penelitian ini meliputi latar belakang gerakan sosial masyarakat Kampung Labaluba Desa Kontumere Kecamatan Kabawo Kabupaten Muna, Faktor-faktor yang mendorong gerakan sosial masyarakat Kampung Labaluba Desa Kontumere Kecamatan Kabawo Kabupaten Muna, proses gerakan sosial masyarakat Kampung Labaluba Desa Kontumere Kecamatan Kabawo Kabupaten Muna dan akibat gerakan sosial masyarakat Labaluba Desa Kontumere Kecamatan Kabawo Kabupaten Muna? Latar belakang gerakan sosial masyarakat Kampung Labaluba yaitu keadaan kampungnya yang hanya terdiri dari beberapa kepala keluarga tiap kampung dan jarak yang jauh masing-masing kampung membuat keadaan masyarakatnya sulit untuk berkomnikasi dan tiap kampung hanya terdiri dari lima sampai dengan tujuh kepala keluarga saja. Kampung ini letaknya paling timur pulau Muna terbentang dari ujung kota Raha sekarang sampai kampung Wakuru yang saat ini. Kondisi ini juga yang menjadi salah satu faktor penyebab kampung ini kurang berkembang baik dibidang ekonomi, sosial politik, pendidikan maupun di bidang kebudayaan. Keadaan ini diperparah lagi dengan sifat dan karakter penduduknya yang masih sangat primitif. Faktor yang mendorong adanya gerakan sosial masyarakat Kampung Labaluba Desa Kontumere Kecamatan Kabawo Kabupaten Muna adalah adanya ketidaksesuaian antara keinginan pemerintah setempat dan masyarakat yang mendiami Kampung Labaluba pada waktu itu. Sedangkan proses gerakan sosial masyarakat Kampung Labaluba Desa Kontumere Kecamatan Kabawo Kabupaten Muna bermula ketika pemerintah seolah memaksakan kehendaknya kepada rakyat yang menyebabkan rakyat tidak setuju dengan kebijakan tersebut. Akibat yang ditimbulkan dari adanya gerakan sosial masyarakat Kampung Labaluba Desa Kontumere Kecamatan Kabawo Kabupaten Muna terbagi dua yaitu akibat positif dan akibat negatif.Kata Kunci: Gerakan Sosial, Factor dan Dampaknya ABSTRACT: The main issues in this study include the background of the social movement of Labaluba Village, Kontumere Village, Kabawo Sub-District, Muna District, Factors that encourage social movements of Labaluba Kampung Sub-village, Kontumere Village, Kabawo Sub-District, Muna District, the social movement process of Labaluba Village, Kontumere Village, Kabawo Sub-District Muna Regency and due to Labaluba community social movements Kontumere Village Kabawo District Muna Regency? The background of the Labaluba Kampung community social movement is that the condition of the village consists of only a few heads of households per village and the distance of each village makes it difficult for the community to communicate and each village only consists of five to seven households. This village is located east of the island of Muna stretching from the edge of the city of Raha now to the current village of Wakuru. This condition is also one of the factors causing the village to be less developed in the economic, social political, educational and cultural fields. This situation is made worse by the very primitive nature and character of the population. The factor that motivated the existence of the social movement of Labaluba Village in Kontumere Village, Kabawo Subdistrict, Muna Regency was the mismatch between the wishes of the local government and the people who inhabited Labaluba Village at that time. While the process of social movements in Labaluba Village, Kontumere Village, Kabawo District, Muna Regency began when the government seemed to impose its will on the people, causing the people to disagree with the policy. The consequences arising from the existence of social movements in Labaluba Village, Kontumere Village, Kabawo District, Muna Regency are divided into two, namely positive and negative effects. Keywords: Social Movements, Factors and their Impacts


Author(s):  
Abigail J. Stewart ◽  
Kay Deaux

This chapter provides a framework designed to address how individual persons respond to changes and continuities in social systems and historical circumstances at different life stages and in different generations. We include a focus on systematic differences among the people who experience these changes in the social environment—differences both in the particular situations they find themselves in and in their personalities. Using examples from research on divorce, immigration, social movement participation, and experiences of catastrophic events, we make a case for an integrated personality and social psychology that extends the analysis across time and works within socially and historically important contexts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (S29) ◽  
pp. 113-137
Author(s):  
Matthew Lacouture

AbstractThis article interrogates the social impact of one aspect of structural adjustment in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: privatization. In the mid-2000s, King Abdullah II privatized Jordan's minerals industry as part of the regime's accelerated neoliberal project. While many of these privatizations elicited responses ranging from general approval to ambivalence, the opaque and seemingly corrupt sale of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) in 2006 was understood differently, as an illegitimate appropriation of Jordan's national resources and, by extension, an abrogation of the state's (re-) distributive obligations. Based on interviews with activists, I argue that a diverse cross-section of social movement constituencies – spanning labour and non-labour movements (and factions within and across those movements) – perceived such illegitimate privatizations as a moral violation, which, in turn, informed transgressive activist practices and discourses targeting the neoliberal state. This moral violation shaped the rise and interaction of labour and non-labour social movements in Jordan's “Arab uprisings”, peaking in 2011–2013. While Jordan's uprisings were largely demobilized after 2013, protests in 2018 and 2019 demonstrate the continued relevance of this discourse. In this way, the 2011–2013 wave of protests – and their current reverberations – differ qualitatively from Jordan's earlier wave of “food riots” in 1989 (and throughout the 1990s), which I characterize as primarily restorative in nature.


Author(s):  
Paul Ranson ◽  
Daniel Guttentag

Purpose This study aimed to investigate whether increasing the social presence within an Airbnb lodging environment could nudge guests toward altruistic cleaning behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The study was based around a theoretical framework combining the social-market versus money-market relationship model, nudge theory and social presence theory. A series of three field experiments were conducted, in which social presence was manipulated to test its impact on guest cleaning behaviors prior to departure. Findings The experimental results confirmed the underlying hypothesis that an Airbnb listing’s enhanced social presence can subtly induce guests to help clean their rental units prior to departure. Originality/value This study is the first to examine behavioral nudging in an Airbnb context. It is also one of the first field experiments involving Airbnb. The study findings offer clear theoretical and practical implications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-223
Author(s):  
Nadir N. Budhwani ◽  
Gary N. McLean

The Problem There is a growing need to explore the role of the centuries-old tradition of Sufism and its teachings which, through social movements, have contributed to, and continue to influence, human resource development (HRD) at various levels—individual, group, organization, community, nation, and international. The Solution To address this need, we present cases of social movements inspired by Sufi teachings in selected parts of the world. We discuss, using literature and personal experiences, links among Sufi teachings, social movements, and HRD, and provide a framework for understanding Sufi teachings within the context of the social movement phenomenon. We end with recommendations for practice and research. The Stakeholders We target broadening the horizons of HRD researchers, practitioners, civil society members, and social movement activists, encouraging them to address long-term changes and collective learning through the quest for unconditional love and liberation, which represent the core of Sufi teachings.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamini Manikam ◽  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett

Purpose – Despite the importance of theory as a driving framework, many social marketers either fail to explicitly use theory as the basis of designing social marketing interventions or default to familiar theories which may not accurately reflect the nature of the behavioural issue. The purpose of this paper is therefore to propose and demonstrate the social marketing theory (SMT)-based approach for designing social marketing interventions, campaigns or tools. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper proposes a four-step process and illustrates this process by applying the SMT-based approach to the digital component of a social marketing intervention for preventing domestic violence. Findings – For effective social marketing interventions, the underpinning theory must reflect consumer insights and key behavioural drivers and be used explicitly in the design process. Practical implications – Social marketing practitioners do not always understand how to use theory in the design of interventions, campaigns or tools, and scholars do not always understand how to translate theories into practice. This paper outlines a process and illustrates how theory can be selected and applied. Originality/value – This paper proposes a process for theory selection and use in a social marketing context.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document