Separating the Men from the Boys

The chapter connects theoretical perspectives on the role of masculinity in maintaining gender hegemony to aesthetic and discursive concerns of particular relevance to a study of gender and pop music. Identifying the late 2010s as a period of supposed upheaval in gender politics, it outlines reinvigorated aspiration for “new” masculinities following the emergence of the #MeToo movement and tackles some of the tensions that arise from celebrating pop artists as harbingers of positive social change. The focus then shifts to issues concerning genre, style, and the co-negotiation of masculine and musical authenticity, which provide a platform for homing in on the cultural mechanisms that have subordinated male pop singers in relation to dominant ideals. The chapter ends with further reflections on the social politics of ascribing meaning to pop representations, which direct additional attention to the complicated relationships between artists and audiences.

Compassionate Reasoning, the Mind, and Moral Choice

The ethical schools of thought are essential to decision-making for peacebuilding and positive social change. The directives emerging from ethical schools often contradict each other, but Compassionate Reasoning can help resolve these contradictions and guide people in a more coherent direction of thinking and acting. The cultivation of compassion is shown to be a glue that bonds schools of ethics into one enterprise of moral reasoning as seen through several lenses. People who reason together are more adept at problem solving than when reasoning alone, but only if they have cultivated caring and compassionate relationships as a group. Moral reasoning in fierce competition with others, by contrast, retards the discovery of solutions to thorny problems. Compassionate Reasoning encourages collective reasoning rather than isolated and selfish reasoning. Excessive obedience to authority is also one of the most dangerous aspects of the human lower brain. A critical antidote is extensive training in taking the perspectives of others through Compassionate Reasoning.

Making Way for Impact

Current and late-twentieth-century trends in 'social impact art' or 'art for change' have foregrounded the idea that art can catalyze or produce positive social change. Art also has cultural impact more broadly, as well as intrinsic impacts on artists and the individuals who experience their creative work. This essay looks at these practices, what defines them, and how we measure them.

Reimagining the cartographic nation: In praise of risk taking

I read Rossetto and Lo Presti's article, ‘Reimagining the National Map’, as an invitation to develop what I call, following Eve Sedgwick, a reparative study of national cartographies. In this commentary, I enthusiastically support their call but also argue for the need to move from an appreciation of maps’ fundamental instability to a more daring engagement with the normative dimension of national mapping. Like many scholars working from a post-representational perspective, Rossetto and Lo Presti associate the fundamental dynamism and contingency of maps with (potential) positive social change and, more specifically, the development of multicultural national imaginaries. I suggest that these associations deserve further scrutiny and argue that change and ‘everydayness’ may offer a starting point, but not a basis for progressive national mappings. Finally, drawing on the thought-provoking examples presented by Rossetto and Lo Presti, I reflect on what principles and practices could guide a progressive national cartography of Italy in 2021.

Enacting Positive Social Change: A Civic Wealth Creation Stakeholder Engagement Framework

Entrepreneurship is an innovative solution for many businesses, communities, governments, nonprofits, and social innovators to address societal issues, such as poverty and social injustice. Civic wealth creation (CWC) is one type of entrepreneurial change process that engages diverse stakeholders to enact positive social change (PSC). However, resistance to change and low stakeholder engagement often impede efforts to achieve desired outcomes. Because stakeholder theory holds that stakeholders with joint interests create new value when they interact, we propose a stakeholder engagement framework that uses the awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement (ADKAR) change methodology to enhance CWC stakeholders’ propensity to participate in the entrepreneurial change processes that create PSC.

Lower Case in the Flatlands

The orthographic reform program known as kleinschreibung, or writing small, was an integral part of the New Typography of the 1920s and 30s. Commonly associated with institutions like the Bauhaus, or groups like the ring 'neue werbegestalter', New Typography was also taken up in the work of numerous printers and compositors across Germany and beyond. In Denmark, where common nouns were capitalized then as they still are in German, one proponent of New Typography amongst printers was Typografernes fagtekniske Samvirke (The Compositors' trade-technical Cooperative). In 1988 the London design group 8vo published an issue of their journal Octavo on the topic, positioning kleinschreibung as "a microcosm of a larger debate, one which raises pertinent questions about the potential of design to be part of a force for positive social change. The following takes a similar stance. The Danish printing calendar Typografisk arbog 1935 is used as a point of departure for a discussion of how Danish printers engaged with the issue of lower case.

Climate-Induced Relocation and Social Change in Keta, Ghana

In this article, I analyze the resettlement of three communities in the Keta municipality of Ghana as a result of rising sea levels that threatened life and property. Although a few studies have documented the effects of relocation because of slow-onset climate-induced environmental change, little is known about how such resettlements have contributed to positive social change in the affected communities. I used critical theory to determine whether Keta’s relocation process contributed to positive social change. Transcriptions of interviews with a purposeful sample of 35 household members were coded and categorized into themes for essence description. Improved educational infrastructure for personal development, improved housing facilities, saved lives and protected culture, and improved healthcare facilities and general well-being were among the positive outcomes. Hence, through this study, I provide evidence to consider the need to prioritize the positive social change such resettlements will make in the lives of the affected populations in climate-induced resettlement and adaptation in Ghana and other parts of the world. <em>Keywords</em>: Climate change, relocation, resettlement, social change, sea level rise, improved livelihoods

Wikipedia Engagement Can Enhance eLearning

With so much formal learning now taking place online, eLearning educators have the opportunity to incorporate Wikipedia as a multifaceted pedagogical resource. I argue that doing so facilitates the cultivation of 21st century skills and empowers learners to participate in creating positive social change. The article concludes with various ways educators may incorporate Wikipedia into teaching practice, appropriate Wikipedia assignments for students.

News Gone Mobile

Accessing news from the ubiquitous mobile phone accelerated following the debut of the iPhone in 2007. As news has become more readily available than ever, the mobile phone serves as a popular gateway to access and consume it. Asian countries are at the forefront of adopting the mobile phone, where consumption of mobile news is on the rise. This chapter outlines diffusion trends in mobile telephony and increased consumption of mobile news, thus situating the cross-societal comparative analysis of mobile news consumption in Asia in a digital and global context. The focus of study is defined, and the promise of emerging mobile media to bring about positive social change is proposed.