How Do German Manufacturers React to the Increasing Societal Pressure for Decarbonisation?

From the perspective of manufacturing companies, the political, media and economic discourse on decarbonisation in the recent years manifests itself as an increasing social expectation of action. In Germany, in particular, this discourse is also being driven forward by powerful companies, respectively sectors, most notably the automotive industry. Against this background, the present paper examines how German manufacturing companies react to rising societal pressure and emerging policies. It examines which measures the companies have taken or plan to take to reduce their carbon footprint, which aspirations are associated with this and the structural characteristics (company size, energy intensity, and sector) by which these are influenced. A mix methods approach is applied, utilising data gathered from approx. 900 companies in context of the Energy Efficiency Index of German Industry (EEI), along with media research focusing on the announced decarbonisation plans and initiatives. We demonstrate that one-size-serves-all approaches are not suitable to decarbonise industry, as the situation and ambitions differ considerably depending on size, energy intensity and sector. Even though the levels of ambition and urgency are high, micro and energy intensive companies, in particular, are challenged. The present research uncovers a series of questions that call for attention to materialise the ambitions and address the challenges outlined.

Metaphor Variation in Economic Discourse

This integrated cognitive-discourse study looks at the role of context in the variation of conceptual metaphor in economic discourse, which abounds in metaphors. The study is motivated by a general current interest in situational aspects of metaphorical conceptualisation in different professional discourses. The first research question is to test the relevance of metaphor variation for economic discourse and to investigate conceptual evolution of biological, mechanical and path/journey metaphors in this discourse type. Another research question is to determine particular types of context and contextual factors inducing metaphor variation in economic texts. The theoretical framework of the study is formed by the seminal theories of conceptual metaphor, conceptual evolution, knowledge framing and recent abundant research sharing an integrated cognitive-discourse approach to studying metaphor. The investigation revealed the salience of metaphor variation for economic discourse in a broad social context of its production: scientific, technological, career development, and discrimination at work contexts. The study adds to the understanding of the role contextual factors play in metaphorical meaning making and processing discourse. It can also have implications for further metaphor investigation in different professional discourses. Awareness of metaphor variation mechanisms in meaning making can also be instrumental in English for Specific Purposes pedagogy.

The Social Mediation of Economic Discourse

In the course of the nineteenth century, political economy shifted from a discourse printed in books and journals and directed primarily at ‘men of affairs’ to a stratified public discourse. Where argument had once appealed to ‘reason’, argument by authority now became more significant in the teaching and publications of academic economists. This chapter shows the media through which this transition was effected—clubs, societies, and associations, adult extension teaching, popular literature, the creation of examinations and professional qualifications, and, in some limited cases, certification for employment, plus the creation of specialised academic journals.

CONCEPTUAL FUNDAMENTALS OF FORMATION OF THE CONCEPT OF ECONOMIC MAN: EVOLUTION OF DEVELOPMENT

The article considers the evolution of the formation of approaches to defining the essence of man in the economy. The theo­retical foundations of the concept of «economic man» are described and its correspondence to modern processes is shown. The perception of the «economic man» model in economic discourse is analyzed. A comparative analysis of the views of different economic schools on the place and role of man in the economy makes it possible to argue that the analysis of models of economic man has not yet stood out in an independent area of research in world economics. In the framework of rather infrequent attempts in the literature to comprehensively analyze the theoretical and methodological problems associated with the economic person, there is not yet a clear definite definition. Some identify the economic person as «a rational individual who has stable advantages and seeks to maximize their own benefits in terms of complete information, freedom of choice and quality evaluation of alternatives». Others believe that «economic man is a metaphorical or figurative concept that means a prerequisite for a hypothetical­deductive system of economic theory». There is also the opinion that the economic person is characterized by goals based on self­interest and rational choice of means, but the rationality of the economic person does not extend to the choice of goals themselves. It is purely in-strumental in nature and is associated exclusively with the choice of optimal means of self­interest, which is equivalent to maximizing the individual objective function. The models of the economic person formulated above have developed in the course of more than two centuries of evolution of economic science. During this time, some features of the economic man, previously considered basic, have disappeared as optional. These signs include the inevitable selfishness, completeness of information, instant reaction. Entre-preneurial abilities have been added to the main features, where an economic person can work to satisfy his own needs constantly, or become the driving force of this process and then simply control this process, thus satisfying all his needs.Keywords: man, economic man, model of «economic man», sociological man. У статті розглянуто еволюцію формування підходів до визначення сутності людини в економіці. Охарактеризовано теоретичні засади концепції «економічної людини» та показано її відповідність сучасним процесам. Проаналізовано сприйняття моделі «економічної людини» в економічному дискурсі. Порівняльне аналізування поглядів різних економічних шкіл на місце і роль людини в економіці дає можливість стверджувати те, що економічна людина розглядалася не як фактичний суб’єкт, який володіє волею, приймає конкретні господарські рішення, а як пасивний носій тієї чи іншої соціальної ролі. Лише в останні роки з’явилася низка праць економістів, соціологів, філософів, у яких людина економічна розглядається як сукупність економічних потреб, цілей індивіда та розкривається у суперечливій єдності людини, працівника як основ­ного елемента системи продуктивних сил та суб’єкта економічних відносин.Ключові слова: людина, економічна людина, модель «економічної людини», соціологічної людини.

Thematic Progression in Economic Discourse: A Case Study of the English-Chinese Reports from The Economist

The patterns of thematic progression, greatly influenced by culture-peculiar thinking patterns and language-particular features, reflect the integration of form and meaning in the flow of information in discourse. The economic discourse has its distinct linguistic characteristics and important communicative purposes. Thus, related research on the thematic progression of economic discourse is important for us to understand the language use in the context of economic and financial activities and also has important implications for language learning and teaching, translation, automated language information processing etc. This study first employs CiteSpace, a document visualization tool, to review the existing related studies on the economic discourse in China, and then analyzes the major patterns of thematic progression in the economic discourse based on the English and Chinese reports from The Economist. Through our discussion, we aim to explore universals and peculiarities of thematic progression in English-Chinese economic discourse and discuss the reasons attributing to major distinctions between the two languages in terms of thematic progression.

How do German Manufacturers React to the Increasing Societal Pressure for Decarbonisation?

From the perspective of manufacturing companies, the political, media and economic discourse on decarbonisation of the recent years manifests itself as an increasing social expectation of action. In Germany in particular, this discourse is also being driven forward by powerful companies, respectively sectors, most notably the automotive industry. Against this background, it was examined how German manufacturing companies react to rising societal pressure and emerging policies. It is examined which measures the companies have taken or plan to take to reduce their footprint, which aspirations are associated with this and by which structural characteristics (company size, energy intensity, sector) these are influenced. A mix methods approach was applied, utilising data gathered from approx. 900 companies in context of the Energy Efficiency Index of German Industry (EEI), along with media research focusing on decarbonisation plans and initiatives announced. We demonstrate that one-size-serves-all approaches are not suitable to decarbonise industry as the situation and ambitions differ considerably depending on size, energy intensity and sector. Even though the level of ambition and urgency is high, particularly micro and energy intensive companies are challenged. The research uncovers a series of questions that call for attention to materialise the ambitions and address the challenges outlined.

Application of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies in teaching of economic discourse in the target english language

The article surveys cognition and metacognition as a strain of language learning strategies and illustrates the significance of comprising them in the teaching of economic discourse. The research's relevance is that metacognitive and cognitive strategies have not been thoroughly researched and analyzed in the economic discourse teaching process. The paper aims to identify techniques that apply metacognitive and cognitive strategies to make the economic discourse learning process more accessible and enthralling. The work identifies the percentage of favorable results of involvement language learning strategies into the economic discourse learning process. We recognize the importance and necessity of using metacognition and cognition in knowledge obtaining procedure using traditional and nontraditional teaching methods. Evaluating the economic faculty students' English studies in the character of the target language, we denote the significant factors that the use of the learning strategies helps them find the most objective formula for comprehension of any phenomenon individually. The survey analysis shows that the classes retraining metacognitive and cognitive language learning strategies are more captivating for the students and evoke an eloquent comprehension of any issue. The use of metacognitive and cognitive teaching techniques makes a complete cognition of the phenomenon that can even be unclear in the native language.

Japan election keeps Kishida firmly in charge

Significance This will enable it to continue in power for the foreseeable future. The LDP alone won 261 seats and the Komeito 32, a total of 293 in an assembly of 465. Impacts Despite the LDP's losses, the conservative coalition's long streak in government faces no foreseeable threat. Kishida's adoption of left-of-centre economic discourse will make it hard for the centre-left main opposition to differentiate itself. The Japan Innovation Party is now a significant force in parliament, pulling towards the right.

Hi-Tech-Oriented National Service: The Free Choice of Religious Women Recruits and the De-Monopolization of the Israeli Military

In recent years, Israel has witnessed two significant processes that challenge the dominant republican discourse that prioritizes military over national-civic service (known as The Israeli national-civilian service—NCS)in terms of contributing the constitution of citizenship and of the material and symbolic convertibility offered to service candidates. The first is related to the expanding range of roles offered in the NCS. The second, related process, which is our current focus, occurs among young religious women from the urban upper-middle class who respond to this expansion by seeking to serve in technological roles, given their high qualifications. Combined, these processes transform the status of the NCS and accelerate the de-monopolization of military service. To examine the contribution of religious young women to the change in the status of service in Israel, we conducted a narrative analysis of interviews with service candidates. Our analysis revealed their strategic use of four different discourses: the neo-liberal economic discourse, the liberal rights and self-realization discourse, the ethnonational discourse, and the religious gender discourse. The way the participants negotiated the four discourses to justify their selection of either military or national-civic service structured their agency as actors transforming the power equation between the two types of service.