Search results

1 – 10 of over 12000
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 October 2021

Rodrigo Mena and Dorothea Hilhorst

Debates on the ethics of disaster and humanitarian studies concern unequal relations in research (among research institutes/researchers/stakeholders); the physical and…

6041

Abstract

Purpose

Debates on the ethics of disaster and humanitarian studies concern unequal relations in research (among research institutes/researchers/stakeholders); the physical and psychological well-being of research participants and researchers; and the imposition of western methods, frameworks and epistemologies to the study of disasters. This paper focuses on everyday ethics: how they need to be translated throughout the everyday practices of research and how researchers can deal with the ethical dilemmas that inevitably occur.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyses the process of addressing ethics-related dilemmas from the first author's experiences researching disaster governance in high-intensity conflict settings, in particular drawing from 4 to 6 months of fieldwork in South Sudan and Afghanistan. In addition, ethical issues around remote research are discussed, drawing on the example of research conducted in Yemen. It is based on the personal notes taken by the first author and on the experience of both authors translating guidelines for research in remote and hazardous areas into research practices.

Findings

The paper concerns translating ethics into the everyday practices of research planning, implementation and communication. It argues for the importance of adaptive research processes with space for continuous reflection in order to advance disaster studies based on (1) equitable collaboration; (2) participatory methodologies wherever possible; (3) safety and security for all involved; (4) ethical approaches of remote research and (5) responsible and inclusive research communication and research-uptake. Openness about gaps and limitations of ethical standards, discussions with peers about dilemmas and reporting on these in research outcomes should be embedded in everyday ethics.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to discussions on everyday ethics, where ethics are integral to the epistemologies and everyday practices of research.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 June 2022

Lisa Russell

This chapter outlines the history of ethical regulation and considers how the position of ethics has shifted. The intent of this book is to explore novice and accomplished…

Abstract

This chapter outlines the history of ethical regulation and considers how the position of ethics has shifted. The intent of this book is to explore novice and accomplished ethnographers ‘everyday, real-life’ ethical challenges and considerations against a backdrop of theoretical and ethical guideline scrutiny.

Details

Ethics, Ethnography and Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-247-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1992

David McNamee

Ethical problems are a particular class of management problem.Resolving the dilemmas faced by internal audit management involves anunderstanding of the origins of ethical thought…

1498

Abstract

Ethical problems are a particular class of management problem. Resolving the dilemmas faced by internal audit management involves an understanding of the origins of ethical thought and the uses and limitations of Codes of Ethics. Reviews the available literature as well as practical case studies from the author′s experience. The case studies illustrate common problems. Makes recommendations for managing ethical problems for individuals, organizations and the auditing profession.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 7 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2008

Riikka Vuokko

The purpose of this paper is to explore how surveillance facilitates new power relationships.

1579

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how surveillance facilitates new power relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

This longitudinal qualitative study is predicated on observations of the home care workers interacting with their managers and clients. The emerging picture was complemented with interviews of the participants. The home care workers were chosen as being crucial in the construction of new everyday relationships, and their interpretations were given most value in presenting how surveillance and monitoring relationships are constructed as embedded mundane practices and as emerging from practical needs.

Findings

The paper discusses an implementation and use case of surveillance capable technology in a social home care setting. The findings suggest discrepancy of how surveillance is being interpreted by different participants depending on their positioning in the context of use.

Originality/value

The study presents a case study where surveillance issues emerge not only at the workplace but also in the domestic sphere. The paper explores the workers' role in defining surveillance at the workplace, and questions the limits of legitimate surveillance in the social care context concerning vulnerable citizens as clients.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 May 2019

Claire Seungeun Lee

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore how China uses a social credit system as part of its “data-driven authoritarianism” policy; and second, to investigate how…

5386

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore how China uses a social credit system as part of its “data-driven authoritarianism” policy; and second, to investigate how datafication, which is a method to legitimize data collection, and dataveillance, which is continuous surveillance through the use of data, offer the Chinese state a legitimate method of monitoring, surveilling and controlling citizens, businesses and society. Taken together, China’s social credit system is analyzed as an integrated tool for datafication, dataveillance and data-driven authoritarianism.

Design/methodology/approach

This study combines the personal narratives of 22 Chinese citizens with policy analyses, online discussions and media reports. The stories were collected using a scenario-based story completion method to understand the participants’ perceptions of the recently introduced social credit system in China.

Findings

China’s new social credit system, which turns both online and offline behaviors into a credit score through smartphone apps, creates a “new normal” way of life for Chinese citizens. This data-driven authoritarianism uses data and technology to enhance citizen surveillance. Interactions between individuals, technologies and information emerge from understanding the system as one that provides social goods, using technologies, and raising concerns of privacy, security and collectivity. An integrated critical perspective that incorporates the concepts of datafication and dataveillance enhances a general understanding of how data-driven authoritarianism develops through the social credit system.

Originality/value

This study builds upon an ongoing debate and an emerging body of literature on datafication, dataveillance and digital sociology while filling empirical gaps in the study of the global South. The Chinese social credit system has growing recognition and importance as both a governing tool and a part of everyday datafication and dataveillance processes. Thus, these phenomena necessitate discussion of its consequences for, and applications by, the Chinese state and businesses, as well as affected individuals’ efforts to adapt to the system.

Article
Publication date: 29 July 2021

Jillian Carmody, Samir Shringarpure and Gerhard Van de Venter

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate privacy concerns arising from the rapidly increasing advancements and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the challenges…

2582

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate privacy concerns arising from the rapidly increasing advancements and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the challenges of existing privacy regimes to ensure the on-going protection of an individual’s sensitive private information. The authors illustrate this through a case study of energy smart meters and suggest a novel combination of four solutions to strengthen privacy protection.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors illustrate how, through smart meter obtained energy data, home energy providers can use AI to reveal private consumer information such as households’ electrical appliances, their time and frequency of usage, including number and model of appliance. The authors show how this data can further be combined with other data to infer sensitive personal information such as lifestyle and household income due to advances in AI technologies.

Findings

The authors highlight data protection and privacy concerns which are not immediately obvious to consumers due to the capabilities of advanced AI technology and its ability to extract sensitive personal information when applied to large overlapping granular data sets.

Social implications

The authors question the adequacy of existing privacy legislation to protect sensitive inferred consumer data from AI-driven technology. To address this, the authors suggest alternative solutions.

Originality/value

The original value of this paper is that it illustrates new privacy issues brought about by advances in AI, failings in current privacy legislation and implementation and opens the dialog between stakeholders to protect vulnerable consumers.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 19 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 13 December 2010

Simon Robinson

Much of the work in business studies and responsibility has focused on the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). For a time, this was very much about the relationship…

Abstract

Much of the work in business studies and responsibility has focused on the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). For a time, this was very much about the relationship of business to the community. This has developed further into the so-called triple bottom-line approach stressing the importance of giving an account of the firm's relation to the social and physical environment as well as the financial state of the firm. Alongside this has been a stress on both the complexity of the external environment and the need to include the internal environment in any view of responsibility, not least in terms of health, safety, and well-being of the staff (Robinson, 2010). The concept of responsibility, however, goes beyond even these concerns.

Details

Reframing Corporate Social Responsibility: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-455-0

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1998

Michael W. Hill

There are two categories of ethical behaviour which affect the MIP. The first and most often discussed, includes those principles which encourage working for the welfare and…

Abstract

There are two categories of ethical behaviour which affect the MIP. The first and most often discussed, includes those principles which encourage working for the welfare and prosperity of society: “Ethics for High Days”. The second consists of those principles which regulate one's everyday working practices: “Everyday Ethics”. It is with the latter that this paper is primarily concerned. Especially is it concerned with the fact that in everyday work one finds that sound ethical principles conflict with each other. Because of this, doubt arises whether it is worth establishing a formalised code of professional behaviour. After reviewing the pros and cons the author concludes that there are sufficient benefits to justify formulating a code though it will be useful mainly for public relations and for defending one's right to act in a professional manner. A number of ethical conflicts the MIP may encounter are reviewed, especially those in which modern information and communication technologies may play a part. [Since both men and women are MIPs, the words “he” and “she” will be used indiscriminately in the text] “And being exceedingly credulous would stuff his many letters sent to A.W. with fooleries and misinformations, which sometimes would guide him into the paths of error.” Richard Barber (ed.), Brief Lives by John Aubrey. London: The Folio Society, 1975, p.11. In his introduction to this recent edition of Brief Lives, a 17th century classic of English literature, Barber was quoting a description of Aubrey's work as an information searcher for one Anthony a Wood (A.W.), an Oxford antiquary. If Aubrey is a typical example of our predecessors, it is just as well that nowadays there are professional societies of information scientists and documentalists dedicated, inter alia, to maintaining proper professional standards. Indeed, as those who have read it will know, Brief Lives itself, Aubrey's masterpiece, is little but a very scrappy, not wholly reliable, set of short biographies of many eminent men of that century, Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh among them. No modern information worker (or biographer) would be allowed to get away with a piece of work like it. Nor, I fear, would his more worthy product achieve such lasting fame. The problems of how thorough to be and when and whether to submit partial results are ones that affect information workers today just as much as in the 17th century, perhaps more so since professional time is very costly. So do a great many other problems which have an ethical component within them. In this paper I want to look at some of the everyday issues which members of the profession may face and to see whether the new communication technologies have made them easier or more difficult to resolve or even raise new problems.

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 50 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Book part
Publication date: 11 December 2007

Marilys Guillemin and Lynn Gillam

There has been growing interest in narrative ethics over the last three decades. However, narratology, or the study of narratives, has a much longer history dating back to Plato…

Abstract

There has been growing interest in narrative ethics over the last three decades. However, narratology, or the study of narratives, has a much longer history dating back to Plato and Aristotle.3 Structural linguistics, and its formal study of grammar and structure of language, was a major contributor to the development of the classification and interpretation of narratives.4 This structuralist period was followed by an increased interest in the relationships between narratives and social and historical dynamics and ideologies. Key social theorists, such as Derrida, Bakhtin and Ricoeur, have urged us to consider the relationship of the text to the way we understand ourselves and the worlds we inhabit. In summary, the study of narratives long preceded its association with ethics, and it was only recently that the interest in narratives has been adopted by the health-care disciplines, notably medicine and nursing.

Details

Bioethical Issues, Sociological Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1438-6

Book part
Publication date: 10 October 2006

Rosamond Rhodes and Lawrence G. Smith

This chapter argues for appreciating the distinctiveness of medical ethics. If the ethics of medicine is different from the ethics of everyday life, it follows that the character…

Abstract

This chapter argues for appreciating the distinctiveness of medical ethics. If the ethics of medicine is different from the ethics of everyday life, it follows that the character of physicians is and should be different from the character of others. Molding the character of future physicians therefore becomes an important matter for the attention of medical educators. In that light, this chapter explains the appropriate goals for such an educational program and discusses the means for teaching and inculcating the principles, attitudes, and behaviors that physicians need to embrace in order to fulfill their special social role and professional obligations.

Details

Lost Virtue
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-339-6

1 – 10 of over 12000