Healthcare Activism

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Collective Good ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Public Care ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Care Systems

What is the role of civil society and activists in defining and defending the collective good in healthcare, especially in cases where that good seems to be heavily shaped by market dynamics? Presenting conceptual and empirical studies from a variety of healthcare contexts and theoretical perspectives, this book volume addresses this vital question by drawing together multi-disciplinary scholarship from science and technology studies, sociology, organization studies, marketing, and public health. The volume maps three major changes in healthcare over the past decades: the advent of personalized medicine, the marketization of public care systems, and the digitalization of healthcare services. It illustrates the extent to which these are interlinked to produce a seemingly unstoppable move toward individualization in healthcare, highlights the tensions and challenges arising from these interlinkages, and traces how activists react to these tensions to argue for and defend the common good. The volume thus sketches a multi-faceted picture of healthcare activism in the twenty-first century as civil society responds to these dynamics at the crossroads of markets and morals, economic and social justifications, individual and collective, and digital and non-digital worlds. Importantly, the volume also starts to sketch potential solutions for heightening patient voices and broadening participation in healthcare markets in a post-Covid-19 world.

Media Psychology and Complex Modes of Entertainment Experiences

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Klimmt
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Media Psychology ◽  
Mixed Emotions ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Complex Modes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Media Enjoyment

This comment briefly examines the history of entertainment research in media psychology and welcomes the conceptual innovations in the contribution by Oliver and Bartsch (this issue). Theoretical perspectives for improving and expanding the “appreciation” concept in entertainment psychology are outlined. These refer to more systematic links of appreciation to the psychology of mixed emotions, to positive psychology, and to the psychology of death and dying – in particular, to terror management theory. In addition, methodological challenges are discussed that entertainment research faces when appreciation and the experience of “meaning for life” need to be addressed in empirical studies of media enjoyment.

Dualities, Dialectics, and Paradoxes in Organizational Life

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Organizational Studies ◽  
Organizational Life ◽  
Organizational Processes ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Process Studies ◽  
Convergence And Divergence ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

Organizational contradictions and process studies offer interwoven and complementary insights. Studies of dialectics, paradox, and dualities depict organizational contradictions that are oppositional as well as interrelated such that they persistently morph and shift over time. Studies of process often examine how contradictions fuel emergent, dynamic systems and stimulate novelty, adaptation, and transformation. Drawing from rich conversations at the Eighth International Symposium on Process Organization Studies, the contributors to this volume unpack these relationships in more depth. The chapters explore three main, connected themes through both conceptual and empirical studies, including (1) offering insight into how process theorizing advances understandings of organizational contradictions; (2) shedding light on how dialectics, paradoxes, and dualities fuel organizational processes that affect persistence and transformation; and (3) exploring the convergence and divergence of dialectics, paradox, and dualities lenses. Taken together, this book offers key insights in order to inform persistent, contradictory dynamics in organizations and organizational studies.

A Typology for an Online Socrates Café

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Jody S. Piro ◽  
Gina Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Habits Of Mind ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Civil Discourse ◽  
Democratic Learning

Background/Context Increased polarization of viewpoints in the United States may have detrimental consequences for democratic pedagogy. The goals of civil society require a reliance on democratic values, and active participation is necessary for a strong civil society that demands the common good be deliberated in democratic ways. Discussion as pedagogy has been advanced for furthering democratic learning spaces in higher education with adults and in teacher education programs. Opportunities to participate in democratic discussions may also be created in online courses to prepare students who are literate in multiculturalism and an inclusive society. Engaging students in discussion that facilitates diverse perspectives and that challenges taken-for-granted assumptions is necessary. Purpose This article explores the theoretical frameworks of a pedagogy of process called a Socrates Café, resulting in a typology for an online Socrates Café. This framework may assist instructors to create and sustain purposeful online discussion forums that engage students in deliberative discussion to develop democratic learning spaces and civil discourse. If democratic pedagogies are enhanced when people deliberate in online discussions by sharing their reasoning with each other, listening to competing points of view, considering new evidence, and treating one another as political equals, then the Socrates Café has much to offer as a pedagogical process. Research Design Drawing on scholarship from key pedagogical and dispositional components, this analytical essay offers a typology that finds its theoretical roots in several areas, including: philosophical forum, discussion and dialogue, critical inquiry, habits of mind, intellectual traits, critical reflection, and civil discourse. Findings/Results From both the pedagogical and dispositional components of the Socrates Café, we develop an integrative framework for guiding the creation and ongoing development of an online discussion. Our purpose in creating the framework was to determine those pedagogical and attitudinal dispositions that were foundational elements of the online Socrates Café: clarity of thinking and other habits of mind; attitudes of empathy, confidence, open mindedness and scholarliness; and questioning and dialogue. Conclusions/Recommendations This essay concludes that the online Socrates Café is fraught with unavoidable contradictions resulting in a pedagogy of process that is negotiated and dynamic, but also purposeful and intentional. The integrative framework proposed in this work assists students to examine who they are as scholars, practitioners, and members of a democratic society. The inherent tensions between the competing values that situate the Socrates Café make it a complex pedagogy that invites students to encounter issues that surpass the self and connect them with larger societal problems, enhancing the potential for discussions that are purposeful and result in an expansion of perspectives. Supporting students as they negotiate these and other contradictions and paradoxes in a functional Socrates Café has immense potential for facilitating democratic spaces in pedagogy for civil discourse.

Executives' Assessments of International Joint Ventures in China: A Multi-Theoretical Investigation

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey J. Reuer ◽  
Beverly B. Tyler ◽  
Tony W. Tong ◽  
Cheng-Wei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Joint Ventures ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Information Economics ◽  
International Joint Ventures ◽  
Decision Models ◽  
Real Options Theory ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
International Joint ◽  
The Rich

Despite the rich set of theories that have developed on international joint ventures (IJVs), little is known about what theoretical criteria senior executives actually incorporate in their judgments of IJV opportunities and partners. Empirical studies have often applied individual theories in a particularistic fashion, rather than recognizing the different theoretical perspectives that boundedly-rational executives may incorporate into their decision models. In this article, we combine decision criteria associated with multiple theories rooted in organizational economics to investigate how top executives process information on IJV opportunities in China. Using an established experimental technique known as policy capturing, we examine how executives cognitively weigh criteria from four prominent theories when making initial assessments of IJVs (i.e., the resource-based view, transaction cost economics, information economics, and real options theory). Our arguments and findings on executives' IJV decision models contribute to decision-making research on alliances and IJVs in China.

scholarly journals A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Nurses' Ethical Concerns

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 745-760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbro Wadensten ◽  
Stig Wenneberg ◽  
Marit Silén ◽  
Ping Fen Tang ◽  
Gerd Ahlström
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Work Situation ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Related Stress ◽  
Seriously Ill Patients

The aim of this study was to compare Swedish and Chinese nurses' experiences of ethical dilemmas and workplace distress in order to deepen understanding of the challenges neuroscience nurses encounter in different cultures. Qualitative interviews from two previously performed empirical studies in Sweden and China were the basis of this comparative study. Four common content areas were identified in both studies: ethical dilemmas, workplace distress, quality of nursing and managing distress. The themes formulated within each content area were compared and synthesized into novel constellations by means of aggregated concept analysis. Despite wide differences in the two health care systems, the nurse participants had similar experiences with regard to work stress and a demanding work situation. They were struggling with similar ethical dilemmas, which concerned seriously ill patients and the possibilities of providing good care. This indicates the importance of providing nurses with the tools to influence their own work situation and thereby reducing their work-related stress.

Phases of Transformation

2019 ◽  
pp. 585-590
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Merkel ◽  
Lea Heyne
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Common Good ◽  
System Change ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
System 2 ◽  
The Common ◽  
Consolidated Democracy ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
External Forces

This chapter examines system change: the interval between an autocratic system and a new consolidated democracy. This transformation can be differentiated in to three phases: (1) the end of the autocratic system, (2) the institutionalization of democracy, and (3) the consolidation of democracy. The end of an autocratic system can be caused by internal legitimacy crises as well as external forces like military conflict, and follows different courses. During the institutionalization of democracy, political actors need to manage to establish institutions and norms that maintain a balance between particular interests and the common good in order to prevent a backslide into autocracy. The consolidation of democracy starts with the adaptation of a new constitution, and takes place on four levels: (a) constitutional consolidation, (b) representative consolidation, (c) behavioural consolidation, and (d) the consolidation of civil society. A democracy consolidated on all four levels has considerable reserves of resistance to meet exogenous destabilization shocks.

Doing being middle-class in the global South: comparative perspectives and conceptual challenges

Africa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carola Lentz
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Global South ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conceptual Tool ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Comparative

AbstractLike many key terms in history and the social sciences, ‘middle class’ is at once a category ‘of social and political analysis’ and a category ‘of social and political practice’, in Rogers Brubaker and Frederick Cooper's terms – two aspects that were, and continue to be, entangled in complex ways. Since the end of the eighteenth century, the term ‘middle class’, or the ‘middling sorts’, has been a catchword in political discourse, and it became one long before scholars defined it in any systematic fashion. Once it became a more or less well-established conceptual tool of research, however, it began to take on an academic life of its own, with scholars also using it to describe people who did not invoke this category for their own self-description. But scholarly terms could – and indeed did – also feed back into folk understandings of social stratification. In particular, the recent global popularity of the term ‘middle class’ seems to be at least in part a result of the appropriation of academic categories by policymakers. This article contributes to the discussion on African middle classes by tracing the genealogy of theoretical perspectives on class and by outlining some findings from studies of the history of European and American middle classes as well as recent research on middle classes in the global South. I discuss both the history of scholarly debates on the middle classes and what empirical studies tell us about people's contested self-categorizations, and how their understandings and practices of being middle-class have changed over time. The article argues that future research on the dynamics of African social stratification has much to gain from a regional and historical comparative perspective.

The Participation of npos in the Economic Development of Rural Communities in China: A Review of the Existing Literature

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-258
Author(s):  
Xiaoping Zhao ◽  
Zhaonan Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Internal Governance ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives

This article reviews literature of the last ten years on the participation of nonprofit organizations (npos) in the economic development of Chinese rural communities. The article starts by illustrating the significant role of npos in the economic development of Chinese rural communities, and summarizing three ways of npos’ participation: mobilizing farmers to establish and join mutual aid organizations; providing farmers with market information services; providing farmers with technological services. The existing literature investigates the positive role of npos in the economic development of Chinese rural communities from three theoretical perspectives: “social capital,” “collective action,” and “community-driven development.” However, in reality, unlike in theory, npos do not always play a positive role. They are faced with challenges in such areas as sound internal governance, professional external services, institutional environment, social cognition and financing environment. These issues are mentioned in some literature, but have not attracted enough theoretical attention. The existing literature is mainly based on theorization, and empirical studies are relatively insufficient.

scholarly journals Power theories in political ecology

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanne Svarstad ◽  
Tor A. Benjaminsen ◽  
Ragnhild Overå
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Environmental Conflicts ◽  
Environmental Interventions ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Discursive Power ◽  
Conservation Interventions

Power plays a key role in definitions of political ecology. Likewise, empirical studies within this field tend to provide detailed presentations of various uses of power, involving corporate and conservation interventions influencing access to land and natural resources. The results include struggle and conflict. Yet, there is a lack of theoretical elaboration showing how power may be understood in political ecology. In this article, we start to fill this gap by reviewing the different theoretical perspectives on power that have dominated this field. There are combinations of influences, two of them being actor-oriented and neo-Marxist approaches used from the 1980s. Typically, case studies are presented of environmental interventions by a broad range of actors at various scales from the local to the global. The focus has been on processes involving actors behind these interventions, as well as the outcomes for different social groups. Over the last two decades, in political ecology we have increasingly seen a move in power perspectives towards poststructuralist thinking about "discursive power", inspired by Foucault. Today, the three approaches (actor-oriented, neo-Marxist and Foucauldian) and their combinations form a synergy of power perspectives that provide a set of rich and nuanced insights into how power is manifested in environmental conflicts and governance. We argue that combining power perspectives is one of political ecology's strengths, which should be nurtured through a continuous examination of a broad spectrum of social science theories on power.

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