scholarly journals Perspective Commentary: The Implementation of Welfare Policies Are Not Held to the Same Ethical Standards as Research: Raising Intergenerational Health Inequality Concerns

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Wickham ◽  
Daisy Fancourt
Keyword(s):  
Budget Deficit ◽  
Ethical Principle ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Intergenerational Effect

Over the last 12 years the United Kingdom (UK) has seen the introduction of an austerity programme—a fiscal policy—with the primary goal to reduce the government's budget deficit and the role of the welfare system. Between 2010 and 2015 there was an estimated reduction of £14.5 billion in spending, attributable to decreasing the value of benefits and restricting entitlement to benefit claimants. By 2020, there had been an estimated unprecedented £27 billion less spent on welfare compared with spending in 2010. Whilst fiscally-successful at reducing spending, some implemented welfare policies have had direct consequences for people's health, increasing inequalities which have been heavily criticized. Moreover, there is growing concern that this has an intergenerational effect. In this paper, we describe the ethical principles in human research, how these have been considered in public health policy, and the existing evidence of the direct and intergenerational health and welfare consequences of some recent, nationally-implemented welfare policies. We argue that ethical principles, specifically the ethical principle of safety that is applied in all research, should be applied to all public welfare policies to stop the rising inequalities in health we are seeing across generations. We highlight that initial changes implemented to welfare policies as a response to COVID-19 demonstrate that there can be a political and societal perceived value in going further to support individuals and their families during times of adversity, and consider the ethical implications of this.

A Problem Shared? The Role of the Public in the Legitimation of Policy: A Case Study of Gendered Welfare Change in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Richards-Gray
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Disadvantaged Women ◽  
Welfare Change

Abstract This article argues that shared problematizations—shared political and public ways of thinking—legitimize policies and their outcomes. To support this argument, it examines the legitimation of gendered welfare reform in the recent U.K. context. Drawing on focus groups with the public, it provides evidence that the public’s problematization of welfare, specifically that reform was necessary to “make work pay” and “restore fairness”, aligned with that of politicians. It argues that the assumptions and silences underpinning this shared problematization, especially silences relating to the value and necessity of care, have allowed for welfare policies that have disadvantaged women.

scholarly journals The Theological Significance of the Secular

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-469
Author(s):  
Christoph Hübenthal
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Ethical Principle ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
John Duns Scotus ◽  
The Public ◽  
Relevant Concept ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Duns Scotus ◽  
The Public Sphere

In this article, the notion of the secular is defended as a meaningful and relevant concept in order to determine the role of theological reasoning in the public sphere. For this purpose, in the first section, it is shown that John Duns Scotus already developed a provisional account of the secular and, moreover, provided it with a theological justification. The second section starts off with a brief sketch of the secular’s main characteristics as they can be deduced from Scotus’s account. Building on Thomas Pröpper, it is demonstrated how a transcendental analysis of freedom as the basic rationale of the secular brings to the fore a fundamental ethical principle as well as an idea of the secular’s ultimate destination. Theological reasoning in the public sphere or public theology, so it will be argued, aims primarily at making visible the ethical implications and the ultimate destination of the secular.

scholarly journals Ethical Principles of Virtual Leadership Construction in Artificial Intelligence Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 251 ◽  
pp. 02023
Author(s):  
Dong Pang ◽  
Yushi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
Virtual Leadership ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Academic Discussion

In recent years, the discussion of artificial intelligence has become a trend. With artificial intelligence gradually replacing more human work, artificial intelligence plays the role of “semi rational man” in the era of big data. One of the key issues in the academic discussion is the ethical issues of artificial intelligence intervention in the work of rational social people, such as: Does the leadership of artificial intelligence intervention violate the ethical standards of most people? This paper takes the artificial intelligence intervention in the construction of virtual leadership as the thinking object, and puts forward some thoughts on the ethical principles of artificial intelligence.

The role of demographic variables as the moderator between organizational variables and job stress among teachers in Sabah

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Najihah Hanisah Marmaya ◽  
Syed Azizi Wafa
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Job Stress ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Occupational Groups ◽  
Organizational Variables ◽  
Population Norms ◽  
The United Kingdom

A nationwide investigation into stress among teachers in the United Kingdom, found teachers to be reporting stress-related problems which were far higher than those of the population norms and other comparable occupational groups. Job stress can be influenced by personal factors (Matteson & Ivancevich, 1999). The present study examined the role of demographic variables as the moderator between organizational variables and job stress. A sample size of 177 teachers participated in this study revealed that teachers in Tawau and Lahad Datu experienced low stress levels. This study found that demographic variables do not serve as the moderator between organizational variables and job stress.

Charles de Gaulle and European Community

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-3) ◽  
pp. 70-81
Author(s):  
David Ramiro Troitino ◽  
Tanel Kerikmae ◽  
Olga Shumilo
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
European Community ◽  
World War ◽  
Charles De Gaulle ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Post War ◽  
De Gaulle

This article highlights the role of Charles de Gaulle in the history of united post-war Europe, his approaches to the internal and foreign French policies, also vetoing the membership of the United Kingdom in the European Community. The authors describe the emergence of De Gaulle as a politician, his uneasy relationship with Roosevelt and Churchill during World War II, also the roots of developing a “nationalistic” approach to regional policy after the end of the war. The article also considers the emergence of the Common Agricultural Policy (hereinafter - CAP), one of Charles de Gaulle’s biggest achievements in foreign policy, and the reasons for the Fouchet Plan defeat.

Role of Hypothecation in Financing Transit: Lessons from the United Kingdom

2004 ◽  
Vol 1864 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Enoch ◽  
Stephen Potter ◽  
Stephen Ison ◽  
Ian Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
The United Kingdom

The Land Question in India

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Moral Economy ◽  
The State ◽  
Land Acquisition ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Tribal Communities ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Acquisition Processes ◽  
Land Question

This book takes a fresh look at the land question in India. It goes beyond re-engagement in the rich transition debate by critically examining both theoretically and empirically the role of land in contemporary India. Springing from the political economy discourse surrounding the classic capitalist transition issue in agriculture in India, the book gravitates toward the development discourse that inevitably veers toward land and the role of the state in pushing a process of dispossession of peasants through direct expropriation for developmental purposes. Contemporary dispossession may look similar to the historical process of primitive accumulation that makes room for capitalist agriculture and expanded accumulation. But this volume shows that land in India is sought increasingly for non-agricultural purposes as well. These include risk mitigation by farmers, real estate development, infrastructure development by states often on behalf of business, and special economic zones. Tribal communities (advasis), who depend on land for their livelihoods and a moral economy that is independent of any price-driven markets, hold on to land for collective security. Thus land acquisition continues to be a turbulent arena in which classes, castes, and communities are in conflict with the state and capital, each jockeying to determine the terms and conditions of land transactions or their prevention, through both market and non-market mechanisms. The volume collectively addresses the role of the state involved in the process of dispossession of peasants and tribal communities. It provides new analytical insights into the land acquisition processes, their legal-institutional and ethical implications, and captures empirically the multifaceted regional diversity of the contestations surrounding the acquisition experiences in India.

Do we still believe in science?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianfranco Pacchioni
Keyword(s):  
Essential Role ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Public Discussion

The chapter starts by analysing how the case of an incorrect paper about the effects of vaccines has generated important consequences in the society. It then discusses the role of fakes news in science, followed by a discussion on why we need a solid science and the importance of validated results and authoritative statements for public discussion and democracy. The chapter explores the essential role of common ethical principles in science, starting with the classic principles of Robert Merton. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how science today is too fast, and how we need to slow down if we want to give value to what we do.

scholarly journals Fit for Purpose? Exploring the Role of Freedom of Information Laws and Their Application for Watchdog Journalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110067
Author(s):  
Mária Žuffová
Keyword(s):  
Differential Treatment ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Press ◽  
Fit For Purpose ◽  
The Law ◽  
Ground Delays ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
State Relations

Despite great volume of research into press–state relations, we know little about how journalists use information that has been generated through independent bureaucratic processes. The present study addresses this gap by investigating the role of freedom of information (FOI) laws in journalism practice. By surveying journalists ( n = 164), interviewing activists and civil servants ( n = 7) and submitting FOI requests to twenty-one ministerial departments in the United Kingdom, this study explores press-state interactions and the limits of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) application to advance the media’s monitorial function. The results show that journalists perceive FOIA as an essential tool for their work. However, they often described their experience as negative. They reported refusals lacking legal ground, delays, not responding at all or differential treatment. In response to gating access, journalists might also adopt tactics that use loopholes in the law. The press-state interactions, already marked by suspicion, thus, continue to perpetuate distrust. These findings might have implications for journalism practices, FOIAs’ potential for government oversight and democracy. In particular, the differential treatment of requests undermines equality under the law, one of the fundamental democratic principles. The study concludes with several policy recommendations for FOIA reform to meet journalists’ needs better.

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