Virtual Environments as Enablers of Civic Awareness and Engagement

The wide availability of accurate sensors currently hosted by smartphones are enabling new participative urban management opportunities. Mobile crowdsensing (MCS) allows people to actively participate in any aspect of urban planning, by collecting and sharing data, reporting issues to public administrations, proposing solutions to urban planners, and delivering information of potential social interest to their community. Although collected data can be very helpful to enhance the quality of life of citizens, mobile users are still reluctant to use their devices to take advantages of the opportunities offered by the digitized society, mainly due to privacy issues. From August to December 2018, the city of Florianópolis, capital of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil, was used as a living lab environment for an MCS application called ParticipACT Brazil, a socio/technical-aware crowdsensing platform. While the current literature focuses on MCS from a purely technical point of view, this research demonstrated that a multidisciplinary approach that includes both human sciences and ICT is needed in order to better identify critical issues, highlights the untapped potential of MCS paradigm, and suggests research methodologies that could provide benefits for all the actors involved (researchers, public administrators, and citizens).

Development of a Comprehensive Chinese Successful Aging Scale: Incorporating the Viewpoints of Older Adults

Inspiring by Martinson and Berridge’s (2015) systematic review, the current definition of successful aging (SA) fails to acknowledge the laypeople’s conceptualization of SA. Adopting a mixed-method approach, two studies were conducted with the aim of soliciting older adults’ perceptions of SA and to develop a multidimensional instrument for assessing SA. Study 1 was a qualitative study and 27 community-dwelling older adults (Mage=68.07 years, SD=7.10, range=60–83; 56.3% females) were interviewed. Interview transcripts were analyzed, and seven themes were emerged. An initial item pool for the Successful Aging Scale (SAS) was then established based on these themes as well as those in the SA literature, such as acceptance and independence. Study 2 was a survey study which was conducted among 414 community-dwelling older adults (Mage=64.50 years, SD=4.01, range=60–82; 55.3% females) to identify optimal items for constitution of the SAS. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 12-factor solution, accounting for 62% of the variance. The 12 factors are adequate health, perceived constraints, flexible attitudes toward life, acceptance of age-related change, life embracement, active engagement, harmonious family, supportive friendship, civic awareness, social contribution, living independently, and adaptive coping strategies. The 12 factors exhibit similar strength of associations with most of the well-being measures, but certain factors show stronger correlation with depressive symptoms and social relationship, suggesting the uniqueness of each factor. Overall, the SAS demonstrates promising psychometric properties. These findings disclose that the older adults’ perceptions of SA could cover broader dimensions than those in Rowe and Kahn’s model (1997).

China – EU’s “Significant Other”?

Following the idea of the “other” in the work of Ernesto Laclau and the perspective of post-foundational discourse analysis, the study focusses on Chinese strategical internal and external pre- and post-Covid-19 political specifics and policies and how they interact (or contradict) with the “European” vision of the world and most importantly itself. As Laclau says, “the notion of “constitutive outside” emphasizes the always present possibility that differential relationship between an entity and its “constitutive outside” turns into antagonism.” For more than three decades, the EC/EU has been steadily building up its foreign relations architecture and has proven its desire to project its ideals and values worldwide. However, during the same period, after “the century of humiliation,” China has also reached a point in its history where it wants to see the world according to its national interests and views. This work attempts to analyze some key features inherent to both the EU and China, such as strategies, relation with other countries, typical governmental architecture, and some aspects of identity, which could help in better understanding the possible contradictions and areas of cooperation in their way of conceptualizing themselves as key players on the world stage. This will reflect the need for greater European civic awareness in the upcoming decades, as suggested by the author.

Causes and Prevention of Crimes of Resisting Epidemic Prevention and Control Measures—from the Perspective of Social Conflict Theory

By studying the social conflict theories of Lewis Coser, Ralf G. Dahrendorf and Randall Collins, this paper analyzes the data distribution and specific cases of violent crimes of resisting epidemic prevention and control measures from three aspects of conflict intensity, realistic conflict and unrealistic conflict, and inter role conflict, and explores the causes of such crimes. In order to reduce and prevent the occurrence of this kind of crime, some countermeasures such as the effective sanctions, the feasible communication channels and the strengthening of civic awareness are put forward.

Public libraries as places for self-directed lifelong learning: narratives of empowerment

Introduction. The purpose of this study is to explore how library-based study groups in Japanese public libraries serve as arenas for citizens’ self-directed learning, and the role played in the lives of the group members. Method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four participants, focussing on the backgrounds and interests of the study group members. Analysis. Categorical content analysis was implemented to clarify the three research questions 1) Recognition of public libraries as a place for self-directed learning and citizens’ empowerment, 2) Relationships with other group members and 3) Affiliations with public libraries. Results. The groups provided arenas in which members could pursue self-directed learning; develop meaningful adult relationships; and through which they could affect positive change in their communities. Conclusions. The study groups were perceived as tools for self-realisation and libraries as places where study group members could satisfy their intellectual needs. Participation in the study groups also fostered group members’ civic awareness and gave them outlets for civic engagement related to the promotion of literacy and, more broadly, education.

Tourism, Citizenship, and Education

Tourism is not necessarily an activity that contributes to the promotion of peace. Well-known testimonies and criticisms point out their adverse effects and consequent rejection, namely in terms of intensive occupation of territories and tampering with local cultures and identities. These harmful impacts undermine the sustainability of tourism, in its complexity (which imply a harmonious but fragile system of interdependent variables, considering the existence of open and universal hospitality) and multidimensionality (because its variables are of a different, but coherent, nature). In this context, sustainability, as necessary and vulnerable, can be easily threatened by immediate economic interests and by significant gaps in civic awareness and the exercise of citizenship by all or part of the tourism protagonists and responsible. Thus, the importance of an education that takes into account the perspective of universal solidarity, which privileges, among others, the contributions of John Dewey's “cultural criticism” and of interactive constructivism.

The Formation and Transformation of Poles’ Mentality after 1989: An Analysis from the Perspective of Social Philosophy

The subject of article is transformation as a multilevel social phenomenon, experience of transformation and modernization of Polish society (in the period from 1989 to the present day, including the turning point of the reforms in 1999 and the context of Poland's membership in NATO and the EU) and changes in its mental characteristics. Mental qualities play one of the most important roles in the processes of social transformation: they have their share in shaping the perception and implementation of attitudes, correspond to values, established norms of behavior. At the same time, they can significantly complicate the rapid mastery of innovation (both consciously and subconsciously), because one of the main functions of mentality is to counteract violent revolutionary-reformist transformations and to promote paths of evolutionary cultural, social and other changes. The study of mental features should clarify which of them were helpful, and which rather the opposite – hindered at the stage of reforms and social changes and the creation of civil society. These considerations are based on the assumption that destructive mental traits are mainly associated with many years of subjecting Poland to the power of other countries, especially the Soviet Union, which led to negative state experiences, which in turn translates into a lack of liberal traditions and a low level of civic awareness of society. A very important task that Polish society faces is abandoning outdated Soviet behavior, increasing the level of responsibility and activity, mutual trust and cooperation, developing social activity, strengthening civil society, which is the engine of change and the controller of local and state self-government.