Academic Orientation as a Function of Moral Fit: The Role of Individualizing Morality

Researchers have studied academic orientation—students’ valuing of and commitment to education—as in part a function of a cultural fit between students’ cultural capital, competencies, identity, and the institutional culture of the education system. Recent research on students’ aspirations and commitment highlights the moral undertones of such cultural fit. Scholars have identified the perceived moral connotations of becoming “an educated person” and illustrated how students’ academic orientation may be intertwined with the unique moral culture of the education system. Neoinstitutional scholars have examined modern education systems’ emphasis on an individualizing type of moral culture, that is, an institutional moral culture emphasizing individual autonomy, rights, and achievement over traditional mores, knowledge, and social hierarchies. Scholars have yet to bridge these streams of research by examining the link between students’ personal moral culture and the institutional moral culture of education systems. In this study, we consider whether students whose moral orientation matches the individualizing moral culture of education systems are more academically oriented. We conceptualize this link as moral fit, and we use moral foundations theory to identify students’ personal moral culture. Analysis of a unique sample of students drawn from all secondary schools in Iceland (N = 10,525) shows (1) individualizing moral intuitions (those that emphasize the individual as the basic moral unit) are associated with a greater academic orientation, net of parental involvement, cultural capital, and other important controls, and (2) this association is only lightly moderated by differences in the school structure.

The Capabilities Approach and the Concepts of Self-Determination, Legal Competence and Human Dignity in Social Services for Older People

In this chapter, the tension between self-determination and human dignity in the Swedish legal system of social care for older people is analysed with help of the capabilities approach. The core focus of this approach is the individual person’s capability to make decisions. Also important is a supportive societal system that enables the realisation of self-determination, specifically for individuals who are not fully capable of making arrangements for themselves. The capabilities approach emphasises the responsibility of the State and can be used to analyse the impact of legal and political obligations for nation-states, and to balance the increased focus on self-determination and the quest for increased capabilities among older people. In the context of a dismantled welfare state, a one-sided focus on individual autonomy might turn out to be a double-edged sword, leaving the individual with self-determination but no (or insufficient) available care to decide about. In this chapter, the underlying principles of practical decisions are theoretically explored and reflected upon. Of specific relevance is human dignity (in addition to enhancing individual freedom), normativity (a set of fundamental capabilities is identified) and the central role of the nation-state (as the responsible political subject for the achievement of minimum thresholds for all capabilities).

The Chilling Effects of Digital Dataveillance: A Theoretical Model and an Empirical Research Agenda

People's sense of being subject to digital dataveillance can cause them to restrict their digital communication behavior. Such a chilling effect is essentially a form of self-censorship in everyday digital media use with the attendant risks of undermining individual autonomy and well-being. This article combines the existing theoretical and limited empirical work on surveillance and chilling effects across fields with an analysis of novel data toward a research agenda. The institutional practice of dataveillance—the automated, continuous, and unspecific collection, retention, and analysis of digital traces—affects individual behavior. A mechanism-based causal model based on the theory of planned behavior is proposed for the micro level: An individual's increased sense of dataveillance causes their subjective probability assigned to negative outcomes of digital communication behavior to increase and attitudes toward this communication to become less favorable, ultimately decreasing the intention to engage in it. In aggregate and triggered through successive salience shocks such as data scandals, dataveillance is accordingly hypothesized to lower the baseline of free digital communication in a society through the chilling effects mechanism. From the developed theoretical model, a set of methodological consequences and questions for future studies are derived.

An FPGA-Embedded Brain-Computer Interface System to Support Individual Autonomy in Locked-In Individuals

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) can detect specific EEG patterns and translate them into control signals for external devices by providing people suffering from severe motor disabilities with an alternative/additional channel to communicate and interact with the outer world. Many EEG-based BCIs rely on the P300 event-related potentials, mainly because they require training times for the user relatively short and provide higher selection speed. This paper proposes a P300-based portable embedded BCI system realized through an embedded hardware platform based on FPGA (field-programmable gate array), ensuring flexibility, reliability, and high-performance features. The system acquires EEG data during user visual stimulation and processes them in a real-time way to correctly detect and recognize the EEG features. The BCI system is designed to allow to user to perform communication and domotic controls.

Kryzys idei neutralności moralnej prawa

The idea of the moral neutrality of law is a characteristic element of liberal political and legal doctrines. This concept is also an element of constitutional principles regulating the limits of permissible legislative interference in the sphere of freedom. In such context, the bond linking it with the clearly defined axiology from which it derives is severed. The aim of this study is to consider to what extent the principle of the moral neutrality of law, being a principle affecting the activity of the legislator, retains its potential in identifying and limiting totalizing practices aimed at systematically limiting choices in the field of the concept of a good life and favouring a specific vision of the legal and political order in both spheres of human activity, individual and collective. The numerous variants of the moral neutrality of law formulated in political philosophy, and the distinctions between individual variants, in conjunction with the criticism of this concept, make it necessary to pay attention to whether this way of limiting totalizing practices is a good tool, resistant to the changing conditions. A review of critical arguments directed against the idea of neutrality leads to the conclusion that the weakening of the concept of the moral neutrality of law translates not only into its value in identifying and preventing totalizing practices, but also into weakening the protection of fundamental values, such as individual autonomy.

Rethinking individual autonomy in medical decision-making for young adults reliant on caregiver support: A case report and analysis

There is a gap in the clinical bioethics literature concerning the approach to assessment of medical decision-making capacity of adolescents or young adults who demonstrate diminished maturity due to longstanding reliance on caregiver support, despite having reached the age of majority. This paper attempts to address this question via the examination of a particular case involving assessment of the decision-making capacity of a young adult pregnant patient who also had a physically disabling neurological condition. Drawing on concepts from adolescent bioethics and feminist critiques of bioethical theory, we argue that limited life experience, secondary to a disabling neurological condition, can result in a lack of adult-like capacity even in a patient who is legally an adult. In such cases, it may be that autonomy, to the extent that it is to be relevant and meaningful, must be viewed through a relational lens. Furthermore, clinicians may avoid unjustifiably paternalistic practices by working with the patient help her gain a better appreciation of the consequences of her decision, thereby calling forward her capacity rather than resorting to being directive in counseling. We conclude that lessons from this case can be used to approach ethically complex instances of medical decision-making in adult patients with normal cognition but diminished experiential maturity.

Experiences of Autonomy in Marriage and Divorce Within the Chinese Traditional System

The Chinese traditional system features a hierarchical familial culture. When confronted with individualization and autonomy in choices of marriage and divorce, the system remains resilient and intervenes in the lives of young families. To analyze the discourses of divorced urban young adults, 46 participants (23 women and 23 men) aged 24–39 years were recruited from various regions in China. Through an analysis of the stressors involved in marriage and divorce, the concrete values and the conceptions shared in a unitary system of traditions were elicited. The promise of stability in a marriage was the appeal of this system while the focus on offspring was the general interest with evolutionary elements that justify this system. The concept of the individual autonomy of divorce grew from marital experiences and would be confined to the traditional system if its appeal remains unchallenged.

Discordance Between Satisfaction and Health Literacy Among Spanish-Speaking Patients with Limited English-Proficiency Seeking Emergency Department Care

Introduction: The emergency department (ED) is one clinical setting where issues pertaining to health communication uniquely manifest themselves on a daily basis. This pilot study sought to understand satisfaction with care, perceptions of medical staff concern, awareness, and comprehension of medical care among Spanish-speaking patients with limited English-language proficiency (LEP). Methods: A two-phase, mixed-methods approach was employed among Spanish-speaking patients with LEP that presented to an ED in West Central Florida. The prospective phase consisted of semistructured interviews ( n = 25). The retrospective phase analyzed existing patient satisfaction data collected at the study site ( n = 4,940). Results: Content analysis revealed several linguistic barriers among this patient population including limited individual autonomy, self-blame for being unable to effectively articulate concerns, and lack of clarity in understanding follow-up care plans. Retrospective analysis suggested differences between responses from Spanish-speaking patients when compared with their English-speaking counterparts. Conclusions: Our findings suggest discordance between satisfaction and health literacy in this unique patient population. Although high satisfaction was reported, this appeared to be secondary to comprehension of follow-up care instructions.

Compulsory vaccination: Public benefit or individual’s right limitation

Mass vaccination and its controversial assessments have become key issues under the covid-19 pandemic. Outbreaks of diseases and popularity of anti-vaccination movements require a study of legal foundations for medical interventions and freedom restrictions which are considered as the result of serious risks to health and sanitary-epidemiological well-being of the population. The question is what should be prioritized - paternalistic powers of the state or individual rights and freedoms to decide what risks to take. In terms of responsibility distribution, people often consider vaccines as more dangerous than infectious diseases [17], which makes compulsory vaccination a legal phenomenon of particular importance. In the contemporary legislation, there are various national approaches to the individual autonomy and freedoms. In some countries, vaccination is directly linked to the possibility to study (USA), in others it is associated with public health (Australia), financial sanctions (Poland) or freedoms limitations (Pakistan). In terms of public health ethics, vaccination is similar to the use of seat-belts in cars, and compulsory vaccination policy is ethically justified by the same reasons as mandatory seat-belt laws [8]: at first, they were met with great opposition; later the use of seat belts acquired the significance of not only a legal but also a social norm precisely because it was made mandatory [1]. The similar approach is applicable to vaccination: the policy of compulsory vaccination can make it a social norm. However, in the legal perspective, compulsory vaccination is a compulsory medical intervention which raises the question about whether it is possible to limit individual rights and freedoms in the name of public health safety. The article considers contradictory issues in the state policy of compulsory vaccination and its legal support. The author presents a definition of compulsory vaccination, identifies its types, describes the specifics of its national legal regulation and sanctions for the refusal to be vaccinated, and explains its social necessity and expediency as a public good.

Stress and Bio-Ethical Issues Perceived by Romanian Healthcare Practitioners in the COVID-19 Era

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on different areas of life, especially in the medical system. Because of the pandemic outbreak, the medical system was remodeled to treat COVID-19 patients in secure conditions. Those changes and restrictive measures have put pressure on individual adaptability. The present study investigated the stress of Romanian healthcare practitioners (HCP) and the capacity to deal with new bio-ethical issues that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Methods: We analyzed results from a survey on 97 Romanian HCP in several areas: personal experience with COVID-19, perceived emotional distress, and appraisal of bio-ethical principles respected or infringed during the pandemic in 2020. Results: Unlike previous studies, our respondents reported low to moderate stress levels. In addition, few bio-ethical principles were infringed on a personal level. Tendencies to sacrifice individual autonomy and make decisions affecting patients and co-workers were more prevalent among HCP with over 30 years of experience. Conclusions: Retrospectively, Romanian HCP in our sample appeared to share an embellished view of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Potentially related factors and coping mechanisms with stress are discussed.