scholarly journals In the Name of (Un)Sustainability: A Critical Analysis of How Neoliberal Ideology Operates Through Discourses About Sustainable Progress and Equality

Author(s):  
Diana Jacobsson

This article examines sustainable development discourses while addressing the unsustainable structures within which these discourses take place. The main research question concerns how sustainability is understood in relation to class and capitalism and what ideologies are expressed as neutral in the anodyne context of public information. Critical discourse analysis is applied as a method to examine how sustainable development is shaped through the construction of problems, responsibilities and solutions in a Swedish municipal magazine. The analysis reveals two parallel constructions: hyper-politicised discourses about free enterprise and a trivialisation of discourses about socio-economic challenges. Texts about social care and social responsibility are represented in the form of banal politics, transforming conflict into consensus, while stories about the business sector rely heavily on market rationales stressing the importance of political intervention to increase the attractive power of entrepreneurialism. Taking Critical Theory as its starting point, the analysis discusses the neoliberal paradox, namely that in the neoliberal political regime, despite the rhetoric of individualism and freedom, the role of the state is to support private enterprises. The article argues that the role of communication needs further analytical attention to increase our understanding of how sustainability is shaped and established in mainstream public discourse. It concludes that the specific communication practice examined here promotes neoliberal capitalism by encouraging the continued unsustainable class structuring of our society.

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (14) ◽  
pp. 217-225
Author(s):  
Valeria Gavrilova ◽  
Natalie Aleksandra Gurvitsh-Suits

Nowadays artificial intelligence is gaining popularity and brings changes into everyday lives and business. Latest research outline various options and challenges related to the implementation of artificial intelligence in different fields (Garbuio&Lin, 2019; Kumar et.al, 2019; Tambe et.al 2019). It is obvious that its adoption will have a notable significant impact on certain industries. However, it also requires complete understanding and awareness of main constraints and benefits. The aim of the present research is to find out the possibilities of adoption of the artificial intelligence in accounting industry in case of Estonia and its impact on the role of the accountant in the future. The main research question focuses on whether Estonian accountants are aware of the new opportunities related to the implementation of artificial intelligence and their openness to these challenges. Authors conducted a survey among Estonian accounting professionals and the results revealed limited knowledge, with people being aware of the meaning but having little or no idea about the basic components of artificial intelligence and wide range of a potential application. During the research, it became obvious that only few companies in Estonia are already using artificial intelligence: among the main reasons of non-adoption are lack of experience, lack of qualified professionals and the general complexity. Authors believe that the results of this study provide a starting point for companies involved in providing various modern technical support for accounting industry and may contribute to the raising awareness and further development of active successful adoption of artificial intelligence in Estonia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7683
Author(s):  
Amila Omazic ◽  
Bernd Markus Zunk

Public sector organizations, primarily higher education institutions (HEIs), are facing greater levels of responsibility since adopting and committing to the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (SD) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). HEIs are expected to provide guidance for various stakeholders on this matter, but also to implement this agenda and the SDGs in their institutions. Although the role of these organizations has been recognized, the fields and issues that HEIs should address on their path towards sustainability and SD are still unclear. To provide further clarity, a semi-systematic literature review on sustainability and SD in HEIs was conducted to identify both the key concepts and main research themes that represent sustainability and SD in HEIs and to identify research gaps. This review increases our knowledge of this topic and enhances our understanding of sustainability and SD in the context of HEIs.


Virittäjä ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Ojutkangas

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisissa konstruktioissa suomen seuralaisuutta ilmaisevat mukana ja mukaan esiintyvät. Seuralaisuussuhteelle on tyypillistä, että suhteen osallistujat tai vähintään kiintopiste ovat ihmisiä ja että osallistujien välillä on symmetriaero: seuralainen (engl. companion) osallistuu tilanteeseen epäsuorasti, seurattavan (engl. accompanee) välityksellä. Suomen grammeille ominaiseen tapaan mukana- ja mukaan-sanoja käytetään syntaktisesti monenlaisissa asemissa siten, että kiintopisteen (seurattavan) ilmaisun tyyppi vaihtelee. Tutkimuksessa selvitetäänkin, mikä on kiintopisteen ilmaisutavan rooli siinä, miten seuralaisuussuhteen osallistujien välinen epäsymmetria hahmottuu. Tutkimuksen syntaktisessa luokittelussa pidetään lähtökohtana postpositiokonstruktiota, jossa osallistujien välisen symmetriaeron voi katsoa perustuvan kiintopisteen viitepisteroolin kautta grammin semantiikkaan (tyyppi lapio oli kaivajan mukana). Symmetriaero sen sijaan voimistuu, kun kiintopiste edustuu omistusliitteen välityksellä subjektina (tyyppi hän otti lapion mukaansa) tai kun se ilmaistaan teemapaikalla paikallissijaisena adverbiaalina (tyyppi hänellä oli lapio mukana[an]). Symmetriaero sen sijaan heikkenee, jos (toissijainen) kiintopiste ilmaistaan adverbiaalina muualla kuin teemapaikalla (tyyppi hän oli mukana kaivamassa), ja vetäytyy taustatiedoksi, kun kiintopistettä ei ilmaista lainkaan (tyyppi hän on mukana). Tutkimus perustuu aineistoon, jossa ovat edustettuina 1800-luvun kirjakieli, Lauseopin arkiston murrehaastattelut ja nykykirjakieli. Aineisto osoittaa, että mukana- ja mukaan-grammeilla ilmaistuissa seuralaisuussuhteissa on tapahtunut muutos: 1800-luvun kirjakielen ja pääosin 1960-luvulla tallennetun murreaineiston esiintymissä yleisin kiintopiste on ihminen, kun taas nykykirjakielen aineistossa kiintopisteeksi hahmottuu tyypillisimmin toiminta. Kiintopisteen semanttinen tyyppi ja sen kielellinen ilmaisukeino ovat suorassa suhteessa toisiinsa. Ihmiskiintopiste ilmaistaan yleisimmin subjektin kanssa samaviitteisellä omistusliitteellä tai teemapaikkaisella paikallissijaisella elementillä ja toimintakiintopiste puolestaan ei-teemapaikkaisella paikallissijaisella elementillä. Eri ilmaisukeinot jakautuvat eri verbien ympärille rakentuvien konstruktioiden kesken. Tutkimuksen perusteella voi todeta, että esiintymäkonstruktiolla on merkittävä rooli siinä, millaista seuralaisuutta mukana- tai mukaan-grammilla kuvataan.   Finnish mukana and mukaan ‘with, along’ as comitative markers: Grammatical roles of expressions of the landmarks, constructions, and asymmetry between the participants of the accompaniment relation The topic of this article is the syntax of Finnish comitative markers mukana and mukaan ’with, along’. Comitative markers express accompaniment relations, which are typically conceived as being asymmetrical: the accompanee (landmark) is the pre-dominant participant, while the companion (trajector) is involved in the situation only via the accompanee (see Stolz et al. 2006: 26–27). However, markers such as mukana and mukaan are used in several syntactic constructions where the grammatical roles of expressions of the accompanees/landmarks vary. The main research question of the article is, how does the grammatical role of expression of the accompanee/landmark affect the asymmetry between the participants of the accompaniment relation. Five syntactic construction types were analysed from a corpus data. On the basis of this study, it is shown that syntactic variation has an effect on the conceived asymmetry between the accompanee and the companion, and that syntax makes an important contribution to the semantics of comitative constructions. In strongly asymmetric accompaniment relations, a human accompanee is expressed by a possessive suffix affixed to the comitative marker, or by a clause-initial adverbial. On the other hand, the question of asymmetry contracts to the background when the accompanee is expressed by a non-clause-initial adverbial and when the accompanee is implicit, without any overt marking. The research is based on a corpus data comprising 19th-century written Finnish, dialect interviews, and modern written Finnish. The data shows that accompaniment relations expressed by mukana and mukaan have changed: in the 19th-century and dialect data, the majority of the landmarks are humans, but in the modern data activities dominate as (secondary) landmarks.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-142
Author(s):  
Fokky Fuad Wasitaatmadja ◽  
Susianto Susianto ◽  
Suartini Supendi

Research on the relation of gender in Islamic Jurisprudence field always sparks the interest to study because of several things: the idea of power relations which has been touted as a thought that subordinates the role of women in their dynamic movements. Second, the role of the text of the Holy Qur'an in seeing and explaining gender relations in Islam, specifically when influencing or influenced by local culture. The main research question to be revealed is: how does the concept developed in Islamic Jurisprudence schools interpret the relations of men and women? The theoretical framework developed in this study is based on the thought which built in the Islamic Jurisprudence Schools. Sachiko Murata sees that there is a relationship between cultural understanding and the understanding of God in the relationship of men and women. The research method applied in this research is prescriptive normative legal method with conceptual approach. The conclusion in this study states that in the narrative approach to the Holy Qur'an, there is no significant power relation that degrades, dominates, or subordinates the role of women in Islam. Spatial structure of culture becomes a matter of concern when there is submission in the role of women in their socio-cultural environment. The narrative text of the Holy Qur’an explains the high appreciation of domestic and public roles for women. Feminism itself can be traced in various narrative texts in the Holy Qur'an that place women in a place of honor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Senko Plicanic

<p>The article analyses the importance of an active role of the state in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Its starting point is that despite the fact that today there is a growing recognition in the world that for the implementation of sustainable development an active role of the state and local self-governing communities is indispensable and despite the fact that in Slovenia such a role of the state in implementing sustainable development stems from its Constitution, so far, too little has been done in Slovenia to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The purpose of this article is to analyse theoretical arguments and the Constitution in order to show the need for an active role of the state in implementing sustainable development goals, and also to discuss basic steps to be implemented in order to achieve an active role of the state in Slovenia. In this article comparative and analytical methods were used in studying the literature and regulation. The article, based on theoretical arguments and the constitutional analysis, identifies the need for an active role of the state in implementing sustainable development goals, and proposes arguments for it and also basic steps toward an active role of the state. The discussed topic is new and this article contributes to the field some fundamental arguments for the active role of state and for the more comprehensive policy-making. The article offers theoretical and constitutional arguments to be implemented in order to transform the present role of the state from a passive one into an active role and its findings are meant to be used by policy-makers and law-makers as a significant argument to pursue more active role of the state in implementing sustainable development goals.</p>


Author(s):  
Ivanna Shubina ◽  
Atik Kulakli

This paper’s aim is to investigate the role of creativity and pervasive learning in a modern education paradigm. The research was conducted by relevant literature review along with reflective analysis on sub-context such as creativity, educational development, pedagogical methods, important factors behind of creativity development and technology-learning systems affects. Various issues may become a supportive factor or barrier for creativity development in educational processes. Technology in an education field provides many opportunities for creativity enhancement, among which supports to enhance curiosity to develop some skills to improve student's cognitive processes and engagement as well as to increase intrinsic motivation, self-regulation. Authors attempted to consider all the benefits, challenges and risks related to enhancing creativity with the help of technology in modern educational paradigm. Many studies have been analyzed in order to answer main research question: How technology-pervasive learning environment can enhance stimulation and development of creativity among students?


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdi Kruger ◽  
Ben De Klerk

This article researches two focal points, namely liturgical formation and the influence that social cognition has on liturgical formation. Within a South African context it is evident that Western liturgical traditions encounter African traditions and vice versa. This encounter is challenging because it creates new questions. The process of enculturation is prominent in recent research. The article refers to the process of social cognition as the manner in which people observe each other and try to make sense of other cultures and the people of those cultures. People’s cognition can be wrong, leading to distortions. The main research question for this investigation emanates from this possibility, namely: How does social cognition influence the process of liturgical formation? The authors first of all offer a descriptive– empirical vantage point to investigate this matter. Two local congregations were visited. The authors reflect on their own cognition, but also examine the cognition of the leaders through interviews. Based on the findings of this endeavour, normative perspectives are formulated from Acts 17:16–35 to highlight the role of cognition in liturgical formation. Throughout, the article includes consideration of the hermeneutic interaction between the various elements of this research and provides hermeneutic guidelines.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Simoncini

This article aims to analyse the role of law in the identification of the responsibility domain of ‘regulatory science’ (Jasanoff, 1990) within the risk regulatory process. The main research question is therefore,what kindof relationshipbetween science andpolicy-making lawshould design in risk regulation.In order to address this issue, this contribution focuses on the recent verdict of the Tribunal of L’Aquila. After the earthquake occurred in L’Aquila on the 6th April 2009, six Italian scientists that had participated in the Major Risks Commission's meeting have been condemned for the multiple manslaughter of 29 people who were among the 309 victims of the earthquake, ‘for having assessed the risks related to seismic activity in the L’Aquila territory in an inaccurate, generic and ineffective way’ and for having provided ‘information which was imprecise, incomplete and contradictory as to the nature, the causes and the hazardousness and on the future development of the seismic activity’.As far as risk assessment and risk communication are concerned, firstly the tasks of the Major Risks Commission under the Italian Civil Protection law will be analysed. Against this backdrop, the issues related to this expert body's responsibility will be addressed and the gaps in the current accountability regime will be pointed out.


2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Hornscheidt

In my article I take a constructivist perspective as a starting point. Giving some introductory remarks on the role of language and the constitution of meaning within a constructivist framework, the article discusses the role and relevance of Critical Discourse Analysis and Cognitive Linguistics within this frame for cultural studies. It is argued that a transdisciplinary approach is most valuable for a research taking the importance of linguistic processes for cultural analysis into account. Following especially Fauconnier (1999) and Verschueren (1999), the importance of a pragmatic and cognitive-linguistic approach to language is underlined. To exemplify the consequences that a transdisciplinary approach could have, the article focuses on the way intercultural communication has been conceptualized within linguistics so far. The critical analysis of traditional research on and conceptualization of intercultural communication shows, how a constructivist perspective can widen the scope of linguistic research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-148
Author(s):  
Rohmanur Aziz

This study aims to reveal the role of the media in disseminating information regarding the cancellation of the departure of pilgrims from the critical discourse dimensions. Therefore, this research method uses Critical Discourse Analysis from Norman Fairclough. The results of this study indicate that the role of the media in the cancellation policy of Hajj pilgrims in 2021 consists of three essential things. First, the media sided with the news content about the cancellation of the hajj based on norms by the law and various derivative regulations. Second, the mainstream media group has its concept in understanding how to disseminate the information so that it can become a public discourse and understand the public after being back on the mainstream media stage. Third, the media behaves like a ‘pendulum’ that can go back and forth to contribute to "orchestrating" the public discourse in this context regarding the cancellation of the departure of the pilgrims.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap peranan media dalam menyebarluaskan informasi mengenai pembatalan keberangkatan jamaah haji dilihat dari dimensi-dimensi wacana kritis. Oleh karena itu metode penelitian ini menggunakan Analisis Wacana Kritis dari Norman Fairclough. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa peranan media dalam kebijakan pembatalan jemaah haji tahun 2021 terdiri dari tiga hal penting. Pertama, media berpihak pada konten pemberitaan tentang pembatalan haji berdasarkan pada norma yang sesuai dengan undang-undang dan berbagai peraturan turunannya. Kedua, kelompok media arus utama memiliki konsep tersendiri dalam memahami cara menyebarluaskan informasi sehingga dapat menjadi wacana publik, namun sekaligus dapat memahamkan publik setelah kembali dimainkan di panggung media arus utama. Ketiga, media berperilaku sebagai bandul pendulum yang dapat bolak-balik berkontribusi dalam “mengorkestrakan” wacana publik dalam konteks ini tentang pembatalan pemberangkatan jemaah haji.     


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