Revisiting Iris Marion Young on Normalisation, Inclusion and Democracy

Vieten's edited collection brings together papers that were given at the I M Young Memorial Symposium 'Inclusion and Democracy Revisited', held in Amsterdam in 2012. The different chapters presented explore in-depth, Young's models of a 'politics of cultural difference', and a 'politics of positional difference' read in combination with her critique of normalisation. Young regards the latter as decisive to any change for the better when reaching out politically to a fairer and more just democratic society.
With the current political, economic and socio-cultural crisis in mind, the contemporary world of global speed and transformed societies in and beyond Europe needs a refinement of what we understand 'normalisation' and 'difference' to be. How can we connect to each other, and in what ways can Young's 'structural inequality model' be applied to develop alternative outlooks on how to enhance inclusion and democracy in different nation states?

Workplace accommodation for older teachers in Japan and Germany: The role of the institutional context in supporting late career options for teachers with ill-health

Due to population ageing, Japan and Germany have to extend individuals´ working lives. However, disability increases with old-age. Workplace accommodation is a means to enable disabled individuals to remain productively employed. Drawing on qualitative interview data, this paper explores how School Authorities in these countries use workplace accommodation to support ill teachers, a white-collar profession strongly affected by (mental) ill-health. It furthermore explores how such measures influence older teachers´ career expectations and outcomes. It finds that even though the institutional contexts are similar, career options and expectations vary, though with similar (negative) outcomes for national strategies to extend working lives.

Review of João M. Cabrita, Mozambique. The Tortuous Road to Democracy.

Book review in Lusotopie, 2002, no.1 of João M. CABRITA, Mozambique. The Tortuous Road to Democracy, Basingstoke (G.-B.) et New York (E.U.A.), Palgrave (St. Martin’s Press), 2000, 311p., ISBN 0-333-92001-5.

Home and Workplace Built Environment Supports for Physical Activity

BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity has been associated with obesity and related chronic diseases. Understanding built environment (BE) influences on specific domains of physical activity (PA) around homes and workplaces is important for public health interventions to increase population PA.

PURPOSE: To examine the association of home and workplace BE features with PA occurring across specific life domains (work, leisure, and travel).

METHODS: Between 2012 and 2013, telephone interviews were conducted with participants in four Missouri metropolitan areas. Questions included sociodemographic characteristics, home and workplace supports for PA, and dietary behaviors. Data analysis was conducted in 2013; logistic regression was used to examine associations between BE features and domain-specific PA.

RESULTS: In home neighborhoods, seven of 12 BE features (availability of fruits and vegetables, presence of shops and stores, bike facilities, recreation facilities, crime rate, seeing others active, and interesting things) were associated with leisure PA. The global average score of home neighborhood BE features was associated with greater odds of travel PA (AOR=1.99, 95% CI=1.46, 2.72); leisure PA (AOR=1.84, 95% CI=1.44, 2.34); and total PA (AOR=1.41, 95% CI=1.04, 1.92). Associations between workplace neighborhoods' BE features and workplace PA were small but in the expected direction.

CONCLUSIONS: This study offers empirical evidence on BE supports for domain-specific PA. Findings suggest that diverse, attractive, and walkable neighborhoods around workplaces support walking, bicycling, and use of public transit. Public health practitioners, researchers, and worksite leaders could benefit by utilizing worksite domains and measures from this study for future BE assessments.

Can Future Managers and Business Executives be Influenced to Behave more Ethically in the Workplace? The Impact of Approaches to Learning on Business Students’ Cheating Behavior

This study considers the potential for influencing business students to become ethical managers by directing their undergraduate learning environment. In particular, the relationship between business students’ academic cheating, as a predictor of workplace ethical behavior, and their approaches to learning is explored. The three approaches to learning identified from the students’ approaches to learning literature are deep approach, represented by an intrinsic interest in and a desire to understand the subject, surface approach, characterized by rote learning and memorization without understanding, and strategic approach, associated with competitive students whose motivation is the achievement of good grades by adopting either a surface or deep approach. Consistent with the hypothesized theoretical model, structural equation modeling revealed that the surface approach is associated with higher levels of cheating, while the deep approach is related to lower levels. The strategic approach was also associated with less cheating and had a statistically stronger influence than the deep approach. Further, a significantly positive relationship reported between deep and strategic approaches suggests that cheating is reduced when deep and strategic approaches are paired. These findings suggest that future managers and business executives can be influenced to behave more ethically in the workplace by directing their learning approaches. It is hoped that the evidence presented may encourage those involved in the design of business programs to implement educational strategies which optimize students’ approaches to learning towards deep and strategic characteristics, thereby equipping tomorrow’s managers and business executives with skills to recognize and respond appropriately to workplace ethical dilemmas.

Civil defence pedagogies and narratives of democracy: disaster education in Germany

‘Disaster education’ is a fledgling area of study in lifelong education. Many countries educate their populations for disasters, to mitigate potential damage and loss of life, as well as contribute to national security. In this paper, which draws on interview data from the German Federal Office for Civil Defence and Disaster Assistance and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, archival research, analysis of websites and promotional materials as well as relevant academic literature, I examine disaster education and preparedness for national emergencies in Germany. I argue that it is not generally extended to the general public, rather confined to trained experts, decentralised, localised and exclusive. Theorising disaster education as a ‘civil defence pedagogy’ (Preston, 2008), a type of public pedagogy, which contributes to shaping narratives of national identity, I argue that it is unlikely that Germany will develop a more inclusive, universal, formalised, nor high-profile campaign in disaster education in the foreseeable future. This, I suggest, is due to narratives of the German democratic nation state as secure, federal, peaceful and unified, which originated at the founding of West Germany in 1949, and continue to shape contemporary political narratives.

Portuguese Citizens’ Support for Democracy: 40 Years after the Carnation Revolution

Forty years after the Carnation Revolution, the relatively young Portuguese democracy is experiencing dramatically low levels of public specific support for democracy. This article tests the leverage of demand-side and supply-side accounts to explain differentials in public satisfaction with democracy. Through ordinary least squares regression analyses that draw on the unique data of the ‘Barometer 40 Years of Democracy in Portugal (2014)’, this articles shows that age cohort, identification with extreme parties, evaluation of the country’s political past, and economic performance are strong correlates of citizens’ specific support for democracy

Democracy, cosmopolitanism and national identity in a ‘globalising’ world

Broadly globalising processes have been in train for centuries, but contemporary discourse about globalisation is here located within a specific historical context, particularly characterised by new forms of communications and the pressures on states produced by the decline of Keynesianism and the end of the Cold War. Coincident changes also led to a growing interest in national identities, marked not least by the founding of this journal in 1999. Globalisation, a series of processes rather than a single force, has a range of effects on states, nations and national identities, including accommodation and adaptation as well as resistance. Indeed, globalising forces, such as democratisation, are shown to require nation-building. Attempts to impose order on international society through cosmopolitan devices are arguably more inimical to national identities. As with nations, cosmopolitanism involves an imagined community. Because this necessarily exists outside time, the building of a sense of trust and commonality across people and territory is however more challenging. Without popular ownership, it is argued, cosmopolitanism is often more likely to appear a threat than a boon. Building a global civil society, or indeed local democracies, is also unlikely when so many societies still lack local versions anchored in some form of national identity.

Democracy: A Reader. 2nd Edition

Key Readings in the History of Democratic Thought, with a general introduction and section introductions.