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1 – 10 of over 2000The introduction in Italy in July 2021 of the “COVID-19 Green Certification”, known as the “Green Pass”, was a particularly important moment in the political and social history of…
Abstract
Purpose
The introduction in Italy in July 2021 of the “COVID-19 Green Certification”, known as the “Green Pass”, was a particularly important moment in the political and social history of the country. While its use for health reasons is debatable both logically and scientifically, its effects should be measured at the general sociological level. The “Green Pass” allowed Italian social life to be shaped according to a social and political profile that can be traced back to a “society of control”. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper, of a theoretical nature, intends to verify such an interpretation through a critical survey of Gilles Deleuze's well-known Post-scriptum sur les sociétés de contrôle (1990) and relating the theories to it from cybernetic science, sociology of social systems and the continental philosophy, specifically Michel Foucault. After a short introduction on the history of the instrument's introduction, the paper, divided into parts reflecting the set-up of Deleuze's text, examines the systemic social effects of the “Green Pass” with regard to its logic, and concludes with a reflection on the program of the instrument's future developments.
Findings
The “Green Pass” put into practice a model of a society of control as anticipated by Deleuze, verified with particular reference to some instances of Luhmann's theory of social systems, and in the perspective of a Foucault's “normalizing society” in the process of definition and affirmation.
Social implications
The “Green Pass” has been a controversial tool that has caused forms of social discrimination and exclusion and has seriously questioned the architecture of the rule of law. The conceptual paper tries to reflect on the premises and implications of this instrument.
Originality/value
The approach to the problem both in a critical key and according to concepts and theories of the sociology of social systems, cybernetics and continental philosophy.
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This study aims to assess the spread of environmental literacy graduation requirements at public universities in the USA, and to highlight factors that mediate the adoption of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the spread of environmental literacy graduation requirements at public universities in the USA, and to highlight factors that mediate the adoption of this curriculum innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The author analyzed the undergraduate general education curriculum requirements at all 549 public BA-granting higher education institutions in the USA between 2020 and 2022.
Findings
The study found that only 27 US public universities out of 540 have an environmental literacy graduation requirement, which represents 5% of universities and is substantially lower than previous estimates.
Originality/value
First, this study provides a more complete, more reliable and more current assessment of the graduation requirement’s presence at US tertiary institutions, and shows the number of universities that have implemented this innovation is lower than was estimated a decade ago. Second, it draws from the scholarship on the infusion of sustainability into the university curriculum to provide a comprehensive discussion of factors that mediate the pursuit and implementation of the graduation requirement. As well, it identifies factors that played a key role in one pertinent case.
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Jan Czarzasty and Adam Mrozowicki
In the context of debates on the role of social partners in shaping anti-crisis policies, the article explores the developments of social dialogue in Poland following the outbreak…
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of debates on the role of social partners in shaping anti-crisis policies, the article explores the developments of social dialogue in Poland following the outbreak of the pandemic. The central research question is whether the crisis has helped to revitalise social dialogue or has it further revealed its weaknesses that were apparent before it.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on the combination of literature review and the analysis of primary data derived from 22 expert interviews with the representatives of trade unions, employers and ministries collected in 2020–2021 in four essential industries (education, health care, social care and logistics).
Findings
The analysis suggests that the pandemic led to reinforcement of “illusory corporatism” in Poland, deepened mistrust among social partners and triggered a shift to informal channels of influencing policymaking. The weakness of the social partners and the strong position of the right-wing populist government meant that fears of recession and a health crisis were insufficient to develop “crisis” corporatism. While business interests were represented better than labour in policymaking, limited labour-friendly outcomes have been achieved as a result of workers’ mobilisation and unilateral decisions of the government rather than tripartite social dialogue.
Originality/value
Based on original empirical research, the article contributes to the discussion on the impact of the crisis on social dialogue under patchwork capitalism. It points to the role of strong governments and informality in circumventing tripartite structures and the importance of essential workers’ mobilisation in response to the lack of social dialogue.
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The purpose of this paper is to characterize library and information science (LIS) as fragmenting discipline both historically and by applying Whitley’s (1984) theory about the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to characterize library and information science (LIS) as fragmenting discipline both historically and by applying Whitley’s (1984) theory about the organization of sciences and Fuchs’ (1993) theory about scientific change.
Design/methodology/approach
The study combines historical source analysis with conceptual and theoretical analysis for characterizing LIS. An attempt is made to empirically validate the distinction between LIS context, L&I services and information seeking as fragmented adhocracies and information retrieval and scientific communication (scientometrics) as technologically integrated bureaucracies.
Findings
The origin of fragmentation in LIS due the contributions of other disciplines can be traced in the 1960s and 1970s for solving the problems produced by the growth of scientific literature. Computer science and business established academic programs and started research relevant to LIS community focusing on information retrieval and bibliometrics. This has led to differing research interests between LIS and other disciplines concerning research topics and methods. LIS has been characterized as fragmented adhocracy as a whole, but we make a distinction between research topics LIS context, L&I services and information seeking as fragmented adhocracies and information retrieval and scientific communication (scientometrics) as technologically integrated bureaucracies.
Originality/value
The paper provides an elaborated historical perspective on the fragmentation of LIS in the pressure of other disciplines. It also characterizes LIS as discipline in a fresh way by applying Whitley’s (1984) theory.
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Bernardo Bignetti, Ana Clara Aparecida Alves de Souza and Maira Petrini
This study demonstrates a practical use of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), showing methodological, predictive and unforeseen issues that emerged during the data collection and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study demonstrates a practical use of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), showing methodological, predictive and unforeseen issues that emerged during the data collection and analysis phases and how they were addressed during the development of this research.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the research of reapplication of a “tecnologia social” (TS) of entrepreneurial education, this article explores the author’s reflections on the adoption of ANT as a theoretical-methodological approach, highlighting the practical implications of a social material theory during fieldwork.
Findings
The adoption of ANT places the researcher in front of methodological issues not always foreseen in the research design. Four moments to a practical path through the engagement of ANT agency are highlighted: the network of actors, monitoring of actors, interpretation of data collected and writing results. These moments correspond to methodological issues that the authors faced during the practical journey of the research. At each moment, the challenge aroused is discussed and the methodological choice chosen to address the issue is presented.
Originality/value
The engagement with ANT has enormous potential in the study of management and organizations phenomenon, but its methodological implications in practice are still challenging. The authors seek to share this investigation and engagement in ANT so that other researchers have a reference and a starting point to employ and engage in this theoretical-methodological lens. Thus, it may be possible to anticipate certain difficulties in future research designs and to glimpse at potential developments and paths that the research may lead.
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Noel Scott and Ana Claudia Campos
Authenticity has been studied from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, leading to a rich but confused literature. This study, a review, aims to compare the psychology and…
Abstract
Purpose
Authenticity has been studied from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, leading to a rich but confused literature. This study, a review, aims to compare the psychology and sociology/tourism definitions of authenticity to clarify the concept. From a psychological perspective, authenticity is a mental appraisal of an object or experience as valued leading to feelings and summative judgements (such as satisfaction or perceived value). In objective authenticity, a person values the object due to belief in an expert’s opinion, constructive authenticity relies on socially constructed values, while existential authenticity is based on one’s self-identity. The resultant achievement of a valued goal, such as seeing a valued object, leads to feelings of pleasure. Sociological definitions are similar but based on different theoretical antecedent causes of constructed and existential authenticity. The paper further discusses the use of theory in tourism and the project to develop tourism as a discipline. This project is considered unlikely to be successful and in turn, as argued, it is more useful to apply theory from other disciplines in a multidisciplinary manner. The results emphasise that it is necessary for tourism researchers to understand the origins and development of the concepts they use and their various definitions.
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In this article, the author discusses works from the French Documentation Movement in the 1940s and 1950s with regard to how it formulates bibliographic classification systems as…
Abstract
Purpose
In this article, the author discusses works from the French Documentation Movement in the 1940s and 1950s with regard to how it formulates bibliographic classification systems as documents. Significant writings by Suzanne Briet, Éric de Grolier and Robert Pagès are analyzed in the light of current document-theoretical concepts and discussions.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual analysis.
Findings
The French Documentation Movement provided a rich intellectual environment in the late 1940s and early 1950s, resulting in original works on documents and the ways these may be represented bibliographically. These works display a variety of approaches from object-oriented description to notational concept-synthesis, and definitions of classification systems as isomorph documents at the center of politically informed critique of modern society.
Originality/value
The article brings together historical and conceptual elements in the analysis which have not previously been combined in Library and Information Science literature. In the analysis, the article discusses significant contributions to classification and document theory that hitherto have eluded attention from the wider international Library and Information Science research community. Through this, the article contributes to the currently ongoing conceptual discussion on documents and documentality.
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Alexander Yulievich Chepurenko, Nadezhda Nikolaevna Butryumova, Marina Vyacheslavovna Chernysheva and Anastasia Yevgenyevna Sutormina
This paper deals with types and actors of entrepreneurship in and around academia in Russia, as well as with institutional settings of the entrepreneurial activity of academic…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper deals with types and actors of entrepreneurship in and around academia in Russia, as well as with institutional settings of the entrepreneurial activity of academic faculty.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a series of semi-structured interviews using the purposive snowball method (2022–2023). The respondents are either engaged in different kinds of entrepreneurship in and outside universities in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod or experts in entrepreneurship in and around academia.
Findings
A double mixed embeddedness driven approach to the typology of diverse forms of entrepreneurship in and around academia are shown in the context of the temporality as well as of the micro-, meso- and macro-level institutions, such as the low demand in innovations in the economy; uncertainty of property rights; limited interest of university administration in academic entrepreneurs or its focus solely on students' entrepreneurship; and necessity entrepreneurship motives on the micro-level. The research limitations of the study are the small number of observations and the localisation of the panel in only one country.
Research limitations/implications
The research limitations of the study are the small number of observations and the localisation of the panel in only one country.
Practical implications
The “Special Military Operation” and its consequences would hinder bottom-up academic entrepreneurship in the country, while pushing universities to launch R&D with the big industry, and forcing many faculties to non-academic entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
For the first time, the broad variety of entrepreneurial activities of academic staff including the specifics of non-classical forms of entrepreneurship in and around academia and their embeddedness into different contexts are discussed.
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Neni Hermita, Erlisnawati, Jesi Alexander Alim, Zetra Hainul Putra, Ira Mahartika and Urip Sulistiyo
This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of hybrid learning, blended learning and face-to-face learning in remediating misconceptions among primary school teacher…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of hybrid learning, blended learning and face-to-face learning in remediating misconceptions among primary school teacher education students.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a quasi-experimental design, using a quantitative approach. Data were collected from 99 students using a pretest and posttest four-tier test.
Findings
Hybrid learning proved to be the most effective, achieving a remarkable 90.32% success rate in remediating students’ misconceptions, surpassing blended learning and face-to-face learning methods.
Research limitations/implications
The data come from a single Indonesian university and focuses only on a science concept; therefore, the scope of findings may be limited.
Practical implications
The research suggests that applying the conceptual change (CC) model in all learning types, particularly hybrid learning, effectively remediates misconceptions. Educators can use this insight to design impactful teaching strategies that combine online and traditional components, accommodating diverse learning styles and needs.
Social implications
This research suggests that applying CC model in all learning types is actually able to remediate misconceptions, though hybrid learning is found to be the most effective one.
Originality/value
This study addresses a research gap by investigating the effectiveness of different learning modes in rectifying misconceptions. Although prior studies have explored learning modes, few have directly compared hybrid, blended and face-to-face learning in correcting misconceptions. The findings offer insights for effective teaching strategies to address STEM-related misconceptions, benefiting educators in optimizing their approaches. Furthermore, the study’s implications extend to the broader academic community, contributing to evidence-based teaching practices in science education and the development of effective strategies for addressing misconceptions in STEM courses.
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The purpose of this study is to briefly reflect on the continuing relevance of the arguments of “The Audit Society” thesis after 25 years and to consider whether they need to be…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to briefly reflect on the continuing relevance of the arguments of “The Audit Society” thesis after 25 years and to consider whether they need to be adapted in the face of advances in digitization.
Design/Methodology/approach
This essay develops a series of critical reflections on the main arguments in “The Audit Society” (Oxford University Press, 1997).
Findings
There is a need for critical accounting and management research to explore how audit society themes require adjustment in the face of “surveillance capitalism” and how the boundaries between accounting, security and surveillance are becoming blurred.
Originality/value
This essay is a personal and self-critical account of the genesis of The Audit Society thesis which looks forward to how this thesis can develop. It also offers a defence of the value of books in enabling the travelling of ideas across fields.
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