Moral Lessons

2018 ◽  
pp. 205-212
Author(s):  
Erika Lorraine Milam

This chapter discusses the tensions between advocates of Christianity and those of Man: A Course of Study (MACOS). Throughout the 1970s, alternative Christian radio and television shows gained in popularity, as did Christian movies, sex manuals, textbooks, and universities. As a young ambitious lawyer, John Conlan sought to channel this energy, transforming his constituents' collective outrage into political action. When he entered the fray against MACOS in the early spring of 1975, trouble had already been brewing for the curriculum. The shifting political landscape of the early 1970s caught Man: A Course of Study (MACOS) designers by surprise. They had taken the progressive nature of humanity's deep history for granted, but this was precisely how critics of Man: A Course of Study (MACOS) attacked the curriculum's sincere embrace of anthropological cultural relativism and its secular undertones.

Author(s):  
Christina Hedman ◽  
Jenny Rosén

The legitimacy of the mother tongue subject in a changing political landscape: An analysis of Swedish parliamentary debate in the twenty-tens. This paper highlights and discusses the arguments in favor of, or against Mother Tongue Instruction (MTI) in Swedish parliamentary debate between 2010 and 2020. New to this decade is the entrance of yet another nationalist and populist party with the abolishment of MTI on its political agenda. Building on a critical discourse analytical frame and argumentation analysis, we discuss this party’s rhetoric on MTI – based in an Othering discourse and the construction of MTI as a path to alienation – and the parliamentary counter-voices. The latter mainly concern the role of MTI for development of Swedish and learning in other school subjects, implying that MTI in its own right is subordinated. We argue that this counter-discourse represents a shift in how MTI is legitimized – and in fact plays into assimilationists’ hands – compared to the pluralistic ideology that initially made way for MTI. The importance of scrutinizing political rhetoric is stressed to anticipate political action.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-311
Author(s):  
Gustavo Santos Elpes

The current political landscape provides collective actors with new strategies to articulate individual interests, hardships, identities, critiques, and solutions, engage with social mobilisation’s conflictual demands, and move towards sustainable practices of collective actions. This article will focus on theoretical challenges surrounding the political action and organization of feminist and trans* identities in order to provide situated knowledge about the dynamics of the transfeminist activism in the Madrilenian geopolitical context. Throughout LGBT*Q+ activists’ integrated forms of doing politics along different axes of oppression (e.g., class, migration, racialisation, disability, ethnicity, gender diversity), new visibility regimes are trying to expand the repertoires of action by nurturing emerging coalitions and agencies among a variety of hybrid political subjects. This article thus argues that trans* politics, through nonbinary activism and a new intersectional feminist praxis, may expand the political subject of feminism and our understanding of identity politics and embodied action.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 969-989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvert W. Jones ◽  
Celia Paris

Given that the fictional narratives found in novels, movies, and television shows enjoy wide public consumption, memorably convey information, minimize counter-arguing, and often emphasize politically-relevant themes, we argue that greater scholarly attention must be paid to theorizing and measuring how fiction affects political attitudes. We argue for a genre-based approach for studying fiction effects, and apply it to the popular dystopian genre. Results across three experiments are striking: we find consistent evidence that dystopian narratives enhance the willingness to justify radical—especially violent—forms of political action. Yet we find no evidence for the conventional wisdom that they reduce political trust and efficacy, illustrating that fiction’s effects may not be what they seem and underscoring the need for political scientists to take fiction seriously.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Michael Greiner ◽  
Jaegul Lee

Purpose This paper aims to help executives understand how to interact with government in today’s chaotic political environment. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based upon voluminous research analyzing a unique data set downloaded from a number of sources, including the financial reports of public companies and the contribution reports filed by political action committees and candidates for Congress. Findings This study found that political decision-making is constrained by a set of institutions the authors call the political landscape. This framework includes three factors that businesses looking to influence government and the elected officials themselves must consider: the politicians’ ideology, the political trends of their constituency and their existing relationships. While these factors constrain the ability of politicians and business advocates to successfully pursue certain policy positions, businesses may be able to influence these factors through effective political activism, and in so doing, they may be able to push key government decision-makers to alter their positions. Practical implications This research will help executives understand how government operates in this new era of uncertainty. Being able to read the political landscape will enable business leaders to anticipate and perhaps even mitigate governmental threats to their business. Originality/value This research updates the market theory of politics which has received limited empirical support. It is especially valuable in the wake of Supreme Court’s decisions that have increased the potential for business to impact politics.


Author(s):  
Laramie D. Taylor

Research has shown that thoughts about death influence sexual cognitions and some media choices. The present study tested the hypothesis that thoughts about death may affect individuals’ tendency to select or avoid entertainment media programming containing sexual material. In two experiments, thoughts about death (mortality salience [MS]) were manipulated before college undergraduates expressed interest in viewing television shows and movies with varying amounts of sexual content. In both studies, MS was associated with greater overall interest in sexual media content. Although terror management theory would indicate that sexual worldview should moderate this effect, this was not observed to be the case. In addition, MS was not found to affect interest in other types of highly engaging media content including violent and dramatic content. Limitations regarding generalizability are discussed. Results suggest that MS increases a preference for sexual media content, and that this occurs for individuals with diverse sexual values systems. This is discussed in terms of implications for terror management theory and cognitive models of media influence.


2013 ◽  
Vol 221 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Sherry

Millions in taxpayer and foundation euros and dollars have been spent building and testing educational video games, games for health, and serious games. What have been the fruits of this frenzy of activity? What educational video game has had the reach and impact of Sesame Street or Blues Clues television shows? By comparison, the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) managed to get Sesame Street off the ground within a couple of years, writing the basic scientific literature on educational media design in the process. Not only is Sesame Street well known and proven, it laid the basis for every effective educational show to follow. This article explores the differences between the CTW scientific approach to educational media production and the mostly nonscientific approach consuming so many resources in the educational games, games for health, and serious games movements. Fundamental scientific questions that remain unanswered are outlined.


1960 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 204-204
Author(s):  
DAVID P. AUSUBEL

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