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Cross-level analysis is a problem for mainstream approaches to organizational behavior, but not for psychoanalytic theory. The reason is that psychoanalytic theory is not so much about behavior as about the meaning of behavior, which is relatively invariant across levels. The Jayson Blair scandal at the New York Times is analyzed at the individual, the group, the intrapsychic, the interpersonal, and the organizational levels. Blair’s behavior and the behavior of the Times toward him are explained in terms of a clash between two ways in which meaning is made: the Oedipal and the anti-oedipal.

Labour emerged as a political party with an egalitarian mission, pledged to tackle the stark inequalities that disfigured British society. But since the advent of New Labour this mission has been radically redefined, signalled by a shift from egalitarianism to meritocracy. This chapter is divided into three sections, each exploring themes on the party’s orientation to inequality, dealing, respectively, with the New Labour government (1997–2010), the period of the Miliband leadership (2010–2015) and, finally Labour under the Corbyn leadership (2015 to the present). It investigates, during the first two phases, the conceptual and ideological shifts in attitudes to equality, what has prompted them and how they have been articulated in policy forms. In the third period – Labour under Corbyn – where progress on policy development has been slow, it changes focus to concentrate on one of the most formidable barriers to the egalitarian project, mounting popular resistance, and the party’s response to this.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

The purpose of this chapter is to suggest a genealogy of the concept of information beyond the 20th century. The chapter discusses how the concept of information culture might provide a way of formulating such a genealogic strategy. The chapter approaches this purpose by providing a general narrative of premodern information cultures, examining works on early-modern scholars and 18th century savants and discussion of what seems to be a Foucauldian rupture in the conceptualization of information in 19th century England. The findings of the chapter are situated in the thinking that a genealogy of information would reveal that information had specific purposes in specific settings.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of whether the differences between meaning in philosophy and meaning in information retrieval (IR) have implications for the use of philosophy in supporting research in IR.

The approach takes the form of a conceptual analysis and literature review.

There are some differences in the role of meaning in terms of purpose, content and use which should be clarified in order to assist a productive relationship between the philosophy of language and IR.

This provides some new theoretical insights into the philosophical context of IR. It suggests that further productive work on the central concepts within IR could be achieved through the use of a methodology which analyses how exactly these concepts are discussed in other disciplines and the implications of any differences in the way in which they may operate in IR.

The paper suggests a new perspective on the relationship between philosophy and IR by exploring the role of meaning in these respective disciplines and highlighting differences, as well as similarities, with particular reference to the role of information as well as meaning in IR. This contributes to an understanding of two of the central concepts in IR, meaning and information, and the ways in which they are related. There is a history of work in IR and information science (IS) examining dilemmas and the paper builds on this work by relating it to some similar dilemmas in philosophy. Thus it develops the theory and conceptual understanding of IR by suggesting that philosophy could be used as a way of exploring intractable dilemmas in IR.

Since 1934, the federal government has provided a process for municipalities to declare bankruptcy, and approximately 500 governments have done so. In recent years, an average of less than one city government declares bankruptcy each year. In this article, the authors identify five factors that contribute to financial distress for cities which, if left unattended, can lead to municipal bankruptcy. This discussion is followed by an examination of the events that led to the bankruptcy of the City of Prichard, Alabama, once a prosperous suburb of Mobile. The authors conclude that this municipal bankruptcy occurred, in large part, because Prichard failed to face the factors of financial distress identified by the authors in the years prior to filing for bankruptcy.

With the call for educational policies focusing on more accountability and high stakes testing, educational legislations are putting the overall development of the preschool child at risk. Children spend much of their day preparing for standardized tests and skills such as self-regulation are not supported in early elementary grades. Research demonstrates that students who enter kindergarten without self-regulatory skills are at greater risk for difficulties such as peer rejection and low levels of academic achievement.

This chapter explores the association between self-regulation specifically, cognitive, impulse control, ethnicity, and academic achievement in preschool Dual Language Learners (DLL). Results revealed that cognitive control and academics vastly differs in Hispanic/Latino and African American preschool students. Implications for practice and policy are further discussed.

This paper explores the contribution of marketing to Western politics. Moving away from traditional views of marketing located in means‐end relationships, it examines contemporary views of marketing that focus on consumption as a process of signification and representation. This more radical perspective offers contemporary insight into the many manifestations of political consumption, and the meanings the electorate ascribe to them, both individually and socially. This contemporary approach challenges critics’ claims that marketing encourages politics to be shallow. It offers far more in‐depth insight into the electorate and their appreciation, understanding and relationship with politics.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of the Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with intellectual disabilities (CIPOLD) in relation to the Mental Capacity Act (England and Wales) (MCA) 2005.

CIPOLD reviewed the deaths of all known people with intellectual disabilities (ID) aged four years and over who had lived in the study area and died between 2010 and 2012.

The deaths of 234 people with ID aged 16 years and over were reviewed. There were two key issues regarding how the MCA was related to premature deaths of people with ID. The first was of the lack of adherence to aspects of the Act, particularly regarding assessments of capacity and best interests decision-making processes. The second was a lack of understanding of specific aspects of the Act itself, particularly the definition of “serious medical treatment” and in relation to Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation guidelines.

CIPOLD did not set out to specifically evaluate adherence to the MCA. It may be that there were other aspects relating to the MCA that were of note, but were not directly related to the deaths of individuals.

Addressing the findings of the Confidential Inquiry in relation to the understanding of, and adherence to, the MCA requires action at national, local and individual levels. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, and in challenging decision-making processes that are not aligned with the MCA, the authors are just as effectively protecting people with ID as are when the authors report wilful neglect or abuse.

CIPOLD undertook a retrospective, detailed investigation into the sequence of events leading to the deaths of people with ID. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that such research has associated a lack of adherence to the MCA to premature deaths within a safeguarding framework.