Gender and workplace learning

Purpose Firms must create optimum conditions in order for organizational learning to occur. To attain this goal it is imperative to address the social constructions of gender that can result in conditions, which can respectively serve to increase or hinder opportunities within different workplace contexts. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Firms must create optimum conditions in order for organizational learning to occur. To attain this goal it is imperative to address the social constructions of gender that can result in conditions, which can respectively serve to increase or hinder opportunities within different workplace contexts. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Who is worthy of help? Constructing the stereotype of the “ideal victim” of child sexual abuse

The stereotype of the “ideal victim” often determines who is considered deserving of victim status, especially in sexual violence cases. In this Chapter, we explore how is the so-called “ideal victim” stereotype constructed and what are the elements necessary for the perception of “ideal victimhood.” We use empirical data from an unmoderated anonymous Estonian online forum that hosts various topic threads from children and young people, including posts about personally experienced sexual violence (N=28) and replies to these posts (N=361). The data was analyzed by combining a discursive psychological approach with qualitative thematic analysis. Results reveal and illustrate how the stereotype is constructed from various elements and characteristics of social scripts, perceived gender roles, and misconceptions about sexuality. We unveil how these social constructions affect responses and attitudes towards sexual abuse victims to provide input for designing prevention efforts that support disclosure and help-seeking.

A Critical Realist Approach on Autism: Ontological and Epistemological Implications for Knowledge Production in Autism Research

The ontological status of autism has been a subject of considerable debate and philosophical approaches of it have been recent and sparse. On the one hand, from its conception, autism has been historically heavily located in the fields of psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience, which often assume access to an “objective,” neutral and infallible reality that is external to the research process and is based on the autistic person’s biology and behavioural characteristics, which can be scientifically observed and studied. On the other, proponents of the neurodiversity movement argue against medicalised and pathologising approaches to autism and toward approaches that consider social constructions of autism and relations of power. The Critical Realist philosophy can help reconcile the two positions. Critical Realism conceptualises objectivity as a statement about an object, rather than a neutral and infallible reality. Consequently, Critical Realism suggests that access to reality can only occur through fallible theories. It also suggests that effective theorising goes beyond appearances and phenomena and may even contradict them, which can help challenge dominant behaviourist approaches on autism. I then explore how the tenets of Critical Realism can help strengthen autistic-led theories of autism, the arguments they make, as well as how they support the importance of community autism knowledge. Finally, I present how Critical Realism’s approach to knowledge itself as well as the process of knowledge creation can strengthen autistic theorising, autistic participation in autism research and autistic emancipation. In the last part of the article, I explore how the concepts of Critical Realism apply to autistic sociability. I start with the debate between structure and agency, how Critical Realism reconciles this debate and the implications for autistic emancipation and autism research. I then present Critical Realism’s process of critique and explanation, how they connect to human emancipation and how they can lead to impactful change in autism research by requiring clear links from research to practice, enhancing practices with strong theoretical underpinnings and thus aiding the aims of emancipatory autism research.

Conflicting discourses — Social constructions of corruption in Finland

The Nordic countries are generally regarded as beacons of anti-corruption. This perception also applies to Finland, where corruption is said to be conspicuous by its absence. The article at hand, however, conveys a more nuanced picture of corruption in Finland. It delves into opinions submitted during the formulation of the Finnish anti-corruption strategy, identifying two conflicting corruption-related discourses. The analysis shows that corruption is a contested concept and that views on corruption prevalence and the need for anti-corruption measures vary greatly within the national context. The article illustrates the struggle between national corruption discourses, arguing that such discourses and their overall context should be analysed thoroughly if corruption efforts are to be grounded in their setting and successful. This is the case regardless of context and thus applicable also to countries perceived as “clean and honest”.

The Depersonalized as Vanishing Hero and Heroine in Yorùbá Moral Placards

The paper critically examines the relationship between the idea of moral placards and the existence of Yorùbá heroes and heroines. It takes as its starting point the philosophical import of the Yoruba proverb. Ọjọ́ a bá kú là ń dère, èèyàn ò sunwọ̀n láàyè (It is on the day one dies that one becomes an idol; no one is appreciated when alive). The paper argues that in the imagination, reality, and social constructions of the Yorùbá, desirable existence would make the dead, and not a living person, a deity, hero or heroine. It further argues that because Yorùbá society permits the co-existence and co[1]extensiveness of individual and public moral placards which is not regarded as an entirely closed system, an otherwise depersonalized person can later become a hero/deity/heroine. Basically, therefore, public moral placard can be revised to accommodate new values, give rise to new class of people, and establish for them an enviable status. These arguments are then deployed to the understanding of the nature of heroes and heroines within the Nigerian post-independence polity.

DISCUSSÕES SOBRE GÊNERO NAS DANÇAS DE SALÃO: VAMOS DIALOGAR?

Resumo: O presente ensaio tem como objetivo discorrer sobre a importância de expandir os horizontes comunicacionais nas danças de salão, também conhecidas em sua origem por danças sociais, propondo uma forma de dançar que seja mais flexível, trazendo mais liberdade para os corpos e suas movimentações, sugerindo o desenvolvimento da escuta corporal mútua que possibilitará a condução compartilhada e o consequente diálogo entre corpos. A condução compartilhada surge especialmente para dar visibilidade à ação das mulheres, para que possam expressar uma postura mais ativa na dança. Esse trabalho adotou como método a pesquisa bibliográfica, com o objetivo de correlacionar as bases históricas das principais configurações das danças a dois, bem como as construções sociais dos papéis de mulheres e homens na sociedade, na época em que surgiram essas danças. O propósito é investigar o paradigma dominante, em que existem papéis distintos a serem desempenhados por damas e cavalheiros e o corpo acaba sendo compreendido apenas como um executor de passos. É também objetivo deste ensaio instigar professoras e professores a questionarem suas práticas de ensino e aprendizagem, para que proponham alterações em suas formas metodológicas de ensinar, a fim de que a prática da dança de salão não aconteça descontextualizada dos acontecimentos sociais de ordem contemporânea.Palavras-chave: Danças de salão. Igualdade de gênero. Diálogo corporal. Ensino da dança.Abstract: This essay aims to discuss the importance of expanding communicational horizons in ballroom dances, also known in its origins as social dances, proposing a way of dancing that is more flexible, bringing more freedom to bodies and their movements, suggesting the development of mutual bodily listening that will enable shared conduct and the consequent dialogue between bodies. Shared driving emerges especially for to give visibility to women's actions, so that they can express a more active posture in dance. This work adopted bibliographical research as a method, with the objective of correlating the historical bases of the main configurations of the two dances, as well as the social constructions of the roles of women and men in society, at the time these dances emerged. The purpose is to investigate the dominant paradigm, in which there are distinct roles to be played by ladies and gentlemen and the body ends up being understood only as a performer of steps. It is also the objective of this essay to instigate teachers and teachers to question their teaching and learning practices, so that they propose changes in their methodological ways of teaching, so that the practice of ballroom dancing does not happen out of context from contemporary social events.Keywords: Salon dances. Gender equality. Body dialogue. Dance teaching.

The Terrorist and the Girl Next Door: Love Jihad in French Femonationalist Nonfiction

This paper explores the theme of Love Jihad in “true sex crime” novels, French mass-market paperbacks where a journalist or author recounts the temoignage of women who suffered sexual violence at the hands of Muslim men. Semiotic analysis of visual and textual representations shows a melodramatic triangle of female victims, Muslim male perpetrators, and heroic readers. These stories reflect, dramatize, and sexualize broader social constructions of the monstrous Muslim; from Far-Right conspiracies of The Great Replacement to femonationalist debates about veils and republican values. In the final section, the paper explores how visual and verbal tropes from these popular discourses reappear in political speech and media from the National Rally.

Identity through foreign policy: Russia and China in the Middle East

<p>Understanding national identity through foreign policy provides a strong means of ascertaining the prevailing social constructions within a great power nation state. There is a growing need to understand the national identities of Russia and China without pre-theorising or depending on asymmetric comparative studies with regional states. China and Russia are frequently compared to their regional neighbours which undermines understanding their unique identities. There are also frequent misunderstandings of contemporary Chinese and Russian national motives, often likening the modern Russian state to the Soviet Union, or attempting to understand China as a challenger to US unipolarity. Both great powers exhibit common characteristics of authoritarianism, both have recently endured massive social and national changes, and both have global interests that manifest in the Middle East such as securing vital geostrategic resources, both states are conscious of their native Muslim populations and to be recognised as a great power identity both must demonstrate influence in the Middle East. Yet, there have been significant differences in agendas and outcomes of their foreign policy decisions. This thesis seeks to use a constructivist framework to discern Russian and Chinese identity through comparison of their respective foreign policy. Contrary to “neo-realist” and “neo-liberal” arguments that accept state interests as rational, determined by the international system, and not determined by identity, this thesis seeks not to pre-theorise but to identify how their respective actions towards three key case studies in the Middle East; the Syrian Civil Conflict, the Iranian Nuclear Framework, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, indicate their prevailing social constructions. This thesis compares Russian and Chinese attitudes and actions towards these cases. Despite their similar disposition and principles towards international relations these two nations had significant points of difference. Drawing upon foreign policy analysis and a comparative model this thesis finds that despite the commonalities between the Russian and Chinese nations, Russian identity as great power, unique Eurasian power, and an alternative to the West, ensures a defiance of its relatively weak economic position to engage in positions of leadership in the Middle East, whilst China’s identity constructions that are common with Russia, its great power, civilisational, and alternative to the West constructions manifest despite an increasingly influential and material position in the world order, has provided little incentive to engage in meaningful ways throughout the Middle East’s recent conflicts.</p>

Identity through foreign policy: Russia and China in the Middle East

<p>Understanding national identity through foreign policy provides a strong means of ascertaining the prevailing social constructions within a great power nation state. There is a growing need to understand the national identities of Russia and China without pre-theorising or depending on asymmetric comparative studies with regional states. China and Russia are frequently compared to their regional neighbours which undermines understanding their unique identities. There are also frequent misunderstandings of contemporary Chinese and Russian national motives, often likening the modern Russian state to the Soviet Union, or attempting to understand China as a challenger to US unipolarity. Both great powers exhibit common characteristics of authoritarianism, both have recently endured massive social and national changes, and both have global interests that manifest in the Middle East such as securing vital geostrategic resources, both states are conscious of their native Muslim populations and to be recognised as a great power identity both must demonstrate influence in the Middle East. Yet, there have been significant differences in agendas and outcomes of their foreign policy decisions. This thesis seeks to use a constructivist framework to discern Russian and Chinese identity through comparison of their respective foreign policy. Contrary to “neo-realist” and “neo-liberal” arguments that accept state interests as rational, determined by the international system, and not determined by identity, this thesis seeks not to pre-theorise but to identify how their respective actions towards three key case studies in the Middle East; the Syrian Civil Conflict, the Iranian Nuclear Framework, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, indicate their prevailing social constructions. This thesis compares Russian and Chinese attitudes and actions towards these cases. Despite their similar disposition and principles towards international relations these two nations had significant points of difference. Drawing upon foreign policy analysis and a comparative model this thesis finds that despite the commonalities between the Russian and Chinese nations, Russian identity as great power, unique Eurasian power, and an alternative to the West, ensures a defiance of its relatively weak economic position to engage in positions of leadership in the Middle East, whilst China’s identity constructions that are common with Russia, its great power, civilisational, and alternative to the West constructions manifest despite an increasingly influential and material position in the world order, has provided little incentive to engage in meaningful ways throughout the Middle East’s recent conflicts.</p>