From Critical Theory to Critical Pragmatism: Capability and the Assessment of Freedom

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 937-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bénédicte Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Vocational Training ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Critical Power ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Critical Pragmatism ◽  
Empirical Inquiry ◽  
Policy Level ◽  
Continuing Vocational Training ◽  
The Individual

This article discusses the implications of the double dimension of the capability concept, which is simultaneously normative and descriptive, in sustaining a critical approach toward freedom. Capability may provide a key concept for critical theory. It may also fuel critical pragmatism as anchored in committed empirical inquiry. Building on John Dewey’s pragmatist account, the article advocates a critical approach that is as much a matter of conceptual yardstick as of empirical inquiry. Taking reforms in the area of French continuing vocational training as a case in point, it demonstrates the analytical and critical power, when it comes to the idea of freedom, of a capability approach confronting three levels of inquiry that are usually investigated separately: the institutional (public policy) level, the organizational (in this case company) level, and the individual (biographical) level.

scholarly journals Career Profile, Continuing Professional Training and Motivation in BICICI Employees

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tombezoogo Sylvestre Innocent ◽  
Loba Saga Bernard ◽  
Yao René Yao ◽  
Kassi Jean –Fréjus
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Vocational Training ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Work Motivation ◽  
Probabilistic Method ◽  
Statistical Test ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Banking Structure ◽  
Continuing Vocational Training

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of career and continuing professional training on work motivation among BICICI employees. To achieve this, a sociological survey was carried out among 221 workers in this banking structure. These workers were selected using the probabilistic method. The method of data collection in the field was carried out by means of a questionnaire comprising essentially four axes. The chi-square statistical test was used to process the collected data. This treatment resulted in two levels of outcomes. One reveals that the career profile determines the motivation to work in the study subjects. The other shows that the motivation at work of the respondents depends on continuing vocational training. Herzberg’s bifactorial theory and Becker’s human capital assisted in interpreting these results.

Digitalization and rural entrepreneurial attitude in Indonesia: a capability approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fikri Zul Fahmi ◽  
Medina Savira
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rural Entrepreneurship ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Capability Approach

Purpose This paper aims to identify how digitalization affects entrepreneurial attitudes in rural areas in Indonesia, a country in the Global South. The development of digital technology can help entrepreneurs, in that faster and easier information acquisition helps rural communities to identify new opportunities and innovate. Yet, digital development generates higher disparity, and thus, not all people can benefit from digitalization. Although digital technology can facilitate the development of entrepreneurship, its benefits depend on individual preferences. In this regard, the capability approach is used so as to reflect how different valuations of digital technology in rural entrepreneurs influence their attitude with regard to recognizing business opportunities and taking risks. Design/methodology/approach A double case study approach is used in which this study examines two cases of rural entrepreneurs in Indonesia that represent different uses of digital technologies and socio-economic rural contexts: coffee entrepreneurs in Kintamani and craft producers in Kamasan village. In so doing, semi-structured interviews were conducted with local entrepreneurs and communities according to purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The qualitative data were then analysed using a constant comparative technique which allows us to develop a conceptual argument by observing patterns within and between the cases. Findings The findings show that digitalization shapes the attitude of rural entrepreneurs differently, although the same opportunity from using digital technology is present in the village. Social and environmental factors facilitate the rural entrepreneurs to consider using digital technology to develop their businesses. However, as each individual entrepreneur has a different valuation of digital technology, the benefits it offers – such as broader market opportunities and new business ideas – vary. Entrepreneurs who consider digital technology to be a valuable resource for developing their businesses are more curious to explore its benefits. Originality/value The capability approach provides a new perspective in understanding rural entrepreneurship. First, the authors demonstrate that the success of rural entrepreneurship is influenced not only by concrete things (e.g. resources) but also the individual perspective on these resources which may vary across entrepreneurs. Second, the authors show not only the potential differences in socio-cultural contexts in which the capability approach is applied but also how socio-cultural values and collectivism influence the individual valuation of resources that could benefit entrepreneurs.

3. Critical theory and modernism

2017 ◽  
pp. 30-38
Author(s):  
Stephen Eric Bronner
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Cultural Resistance ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Experimental Art ◽  
Mass Society ◽  
The Individual

The end of the nineteenth century witnessed the birth of an international avant-garde that focused upon alienation, standardization, and the liberation of the individual from constrictive social norms. Impressionists, Cubists, Expressionists, Futurists, Dadaists, Surrealists, and representatives from many other styles provided a blizzard of philosophical–aesthetic manifestos that blended political with cultural resistance to mass society. The Frankfurt School’s inner circle was sympathetic from the start; modernism provided a response to the ontology of false conditions and, indeed, an avant-garde opposition to mass culture provided inspiration and cohesion. ‘Critical theory and modernism’ explains how the unflinching support of modernism and experimental art by the Frankfurt School confirmed both its cultural radicalism and contempt for totalitarianism.

scholarly journals Hacking History: Redressing Gender Inequities on Wikipedia Through an Editathon

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hood ◽  
Allison Littlejohn
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
New Type ◽  
Gender Inequities ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Information Consumers ◽  
The University

Editathons are a relatively new type of learning event, which enable participants to create or edit Wikipedia content on a particular topic. This paper explores the experiences of nine participants of an editathon at the University of Edinburgh on the topic of the Edinburgh Seven, who were the first women to attend medical school in 19th century United Kingdom. This study draws on the critical approach to learning technology to position and explore an editathon as a learning opportunity to increase participants’ critical awareness of how the Internet, open resources, and Wikipedia are shaping how we engage with information and construct knowledge. Within this, there is a particular focus on recognising persisting gender inequities and biases online. The qualitative interviews captured rich narrative learning stories, which traced the journey participants took during the editathon. Participants transformed from being online information consumers to active contributors (editors), prompting new critical understandings and an evolving sense of agency. The participants’ learning was focused in three primary areas: (1) a rewriting of history that redresses gender inequities and the championing of the female voice on Wikipedia (both as editors and subject matter); (2) the role of Wikipedia in shaping society’s access to and engagement with information, particularly information on traditionally marginalised subjects, and the interplay of the individual and the collective in developing and owning that knowledge; and (3) the positioning of traditional media in the digital age.

Training subsidies and the wage returns to continuing vocational training

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Brunello ◽  
Simona Lorena Comi ◽  
Daniela Sonedda
Keyword(s):  
Vocational Training ◽  
Wage Returns ◽  
Continuing Vocational Training

Knowledge Capital – Influenced By Rationality Or Animal Spirits?

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 347-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camelia Oprean
Keyword(s):  
Efficient Market Hypothesis ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Informational Efficiency ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
Current State ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Efficiency Theory ◽  
The Individual

AbstractIt is already a well-accepted concept in expansion, the economy, organization and management based on knowledge. It is said that the owners of knowledge, respectively the individual, organization and the society, will hold the power in the future. Thus, the knowledge become the economic and personal basic resource and all the activities from the economic sphere are prevailingly concentrated on the treatment of information and producing of knowledge goods. However, it is still difficult to explain on a strict scientific basis why people behave non-rational when facing with money decisions. Classic finance foundation lays on strict rationality and optimization of financial decisions. We affirm that monetary and financial decisions are significantly influenced by psychological factors. Behavioural Finance adds to the equation the psychological and emotional facets of the human decision. This emerging discipline has challenged the Efficient Market Hypothesis, arguing that markets are not rational, but are driven by fear and greed instead. The paper proposes a critical analysis, based on consistency criteria, regarding the controversy current state of the informational efficiency theory of the capital market. In this sense, the critical approach is one that shows the weaknesses, the vulnerable aspects that characterize the classical form of EMH theory. Also, the paper highlights the most significant criticisms levelled against EMH by psychologists and behavioural economists.

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