Towards participatory political theology: democratic consolidation in Southeastern Europe and the role of Eastern Christianity in the process

This thesis defends the position that the Eastern Orthodoxy has the potential to develop, on the basis of its core concepts and doctrines, a new political theology that is participatory, personalist and universalist. This participatory political theology, as I name it, endorses modern democracy and the values of civic engagement. It enhances the process of democracy-building and consolidation in the SEE countries through cultivating the ethos of participation and concern with the common good among and the recognition of the dignity and freedom of the person. This political-theological model is developed while analyzing critically the traditional models of church-state relations (the symphonia model corresponding to the medieval empire and the Christian nation model corresponding to the nation-state) as being instrumentalized to serve the political goals of non-democratic regimes. The participatory political-theological model is seen as corresponding to the conditions of the constitutional democratic state. The research is justified by the fact the Eastern Orthodoxy has been a dominant religiouscultural force in the European South East for centuries, thus playing a significant role in the process of creation of the medieval and modern statehood of the SEE countries. The analysis employs comparative constitutional perspectives on democratic transition and consolidation in the SEE region with the theoretical approaches of political theology and Eastern Orthodox theology. The conceptual basis for the political-theological synthesis is found in the concept and doctrines of the Eastern Orthodoxy (theosis and synergy, ecclesia and Eucharist, conciliarity and catholicity, economy and eschatology) which emphasize the participatory, personalist and communal dimensions of the Orthodox faith and practice. The paradigms of revealing the political-theological potential of these concepts are the Eucharistic ecclesiology and the concept of divine-human communion as defining the body of Orthodox theology. The thesis argues that with its ethos of openness and engagement the participatory political theology presupposes political systems that are democratic, inclusive, and participatory, respecting the rights and the dignity of the person. The political theology developed here calls for a transformation and change of democratic systems towards better realization of their personalist and participatory commitments. In the context of the SEE countries the participatory political theology addresses the challenges posed by alternative authoritarian political theologies practiced in neighboring regions.

Motivations to interact with brands on Facebook – Towards a typology of consumer–brand interactions

In recent years, Facebook and other social media have become key players in branding activities. However, empirical research on consumer–brand interactions on Facebook is still in its infancy. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide additional insights to brand managers on how to adapt their approaches to increase consumers’ interactions with brands on Facebook. In this study, we apply the uses and gratification theory proposed by Katz to develop a new typology of consumers based on consumer motivations to interact with brands on Facebook, and explore the type and intensity of these interactions. We identify five main motivations that might influence consumers’ interactions with a brand on Facebook: (i) social influence, (ii) search for information, (iii) entertainment, (iv) trust and (v) reward. Building on these five motivations, a classification using clustering techniques reveals four different groups of consumers: (i) ‘brand detached’, (ii) ‘brand profiteers’, (iii) ‘brand companions’ and (iv) ‘brand reliants’. Our results provide valuable and applicable insights for social media marketing activities, which will assist brand managers to develop strategies for effectively reaching and influencing the most desirable groups of consumers.

Generalists versus specialists: toward a typology of batterers in prison

In this study we apply the versatile/specialist offender debate to the research of intimate partner violence. We propose the existence of two types of imprisoned male batterers: the generalist and the specialist batterer. The individual, family, and community characteristics of these types of batterers are further explored in 110 imprisoned males in the Penitentiary of Villabona (Spain). As for the individual characteristics, results indicate that the generalist batterer present higher levels of psychopathology (specially antisocial and borderline personality), sexist attitudes, and substance dependence. Specialist batterers presented higher levels of conflict in their family of origin. Finally, generalist batterers reported coming from more socially disordered communities and showed lower levels of participation and integration in these communities than the specialist batterer. These results suggest that the classical distinctions among batterers based on psychopathology and context of violence (whether general or family only) might be of little utility when applied to imprisoned male batterers.

On Roland Boer’s Marxism and theology

This piece aims to provide a synoptic introduction to Boer’s claims in the five volumes of Marxism and Theology. Obviously, such an account must miss many important nuances across the host of critical readings Boer assembles, guided by his broadly Jamesonian manner of reading the texts with a view to their biblical and theological claims. Nevertheless, by aiming at a synoptic view of a truly compendious contribution to scholarship, it is hoped that the piece will provide assistance to readers, and encourage them to test their own intuitions and thoughts against the original texts. The final part of the article stands back from this ‘‘standing back’’: and asks questions concerning Boer’s treatments of biblical criticism, with and/or against theology; and concerning the role of what might be called (even despite Boer’s own protests) a kind of ‘‘secularised’’ Calvinism in Boer’s work and its interest in a post-Marxian politics of grace.

Alcohol consumption among university students: a typology of consumption to aid the tailoring of effective public health policy

Objective: Elevated levels of alcohol consumption among university students are well documented. Policymakers have attempted to combat this issue at a university, national and international level. Tailoring public health policy to effectively tackle alcohol use is crucial. Using Q-methodology, the current study aims to develop a typology of alcohol consumption in the Irish university student population. Setting: A large Irish university. Participants Hundreds of possible statements on types of consumption were generated from a systematic review and a set of one-on-one interviews. These were reduced to 36 statements, 6 statements which define each of the 6 previously defined consumption types. Participants were advised to scan through the 36 statements and fill the statements into a ‘forced choice, standardised distribution’. Following this, a 45–90 min interview was conducted with students to illuminate subjectivity surrounding alcohol consumption. Analysis was conducted using PQ Method and NVivo software. Principal component analysis, followed by varimax rotation, was conducted to uncover the final factor information. Results: In total, 43 students completed the Q-study: 19 men and 24 women. A typology describing 4 distinct groupings of alcohol consumer was uncovered: the guarded drinker, the calculated hedonist, the peer-influenced drinker and the inevitable binger. Factor loadings of each of the consumer groupings were noted for type description. Conclusions: This is the first study to propose ideal types of alcohol consumption among a university student population. Further research is required to investigate the degree to which each of these ideal types is subscribed. However, this typology, in addition to informing public policy and strategies, will be a valuable analytic tool in future research.

Law, theology, and the schools: the use of scripture in Ricardus Anglicus’s distinctiones decretorum

The Anglo-Norman canonist Ricardus Anglicus (de Mores or de Morins), as Giulio Silano’s 1982 PhD thesis and provisional edition argues, was as interested in biblical theology as he was in canon law. This wide interest was a product of his time in the Parisian schools. How then did his influential commentary on Gratian’s Decretum, the Distinctiones decretorum, use Scriptural sources to explicate ostensibly canonistic concepts? This paper attempts to explore these issues in the context of the interaction of law and theology in the mid-to-late twelfth-century schools, courts, and ecclesial familiae of Bologna and England.

Urban Agriculture Oriented towards Self-Supply, Social and Commercial Purpose: A Typology

Urban agriculture, a dynamic multifunctional phenomenon, affects the spatial diversification of urban land use, its valorization and its governance. Literature acknowledges its contribution to the development of sustainable cities. The dimension and extent of this contribution depends significantly on the particular form and function of urban agriculture. However, the complexity of interests and dimensions is insufficiently covered by theory. This paper proposes a typology for urban agriculture, supporting both theory building and practical decision processes. We reviewed and mapped the diversity of the types of agriculture found along three beneficial dimensions (self-supply, socio-cultural, commercial) for product distribution scale and actors. We distinguish between ideal types, subtypes and mixed types. Our intention is to include a dynamic perspective in the typology of urban agricultural land use because transition processes between types are observable due to the existence of complex motivations and influences. In a pilot study of 52 urban agriculture initiatives in Germany, we tested the validity of the typology and discussed it with stakeholders, proving novelty and relevance for profiling discussions.

Term Morphologies as Meaningful Typology Characteristics for Indexing Languages

Every indexing language is made up of terms. Those terms have morphological characteristics. These include terms made up of single words, two words, or more. We can also take into account the total number of terms.We can assemble these measures, normalize them, and then cluster indexing languages based on this common set of measures [1].Cluster analysis reviews discrete groups based on term morphology that comport with traditional design assumptions that separate ontologies, from thesauri, and folksonomies.

Facets of Access: a Typology of Information Dissemination Systems

In this poster, we describe a new way of conceptualizing relationships between systems for information dissemination throughout history, based on a set of basic attributes or facets. This poster illustrates one way in which these attribute-based relationships might be visualized, as a step toward illuminating novel perspectives on and comparisons between these phenomena.

Re-imagining the theology of human sexuality in the Methodist Church: the use of narrative in theological methodology

This thesis proposes the development of a narrative methodology in the British Methodist Church. Such a methodology embraces and communicates both felt experience and critical theological thinking, thus producing and presenting a theology that might have a constructive transformative impact on wider society. In chapter one I explore the ways in which the Church speaks in public, identify some of the challenges it faces, and consider four models of engagement. If the Church is to engage in public discourses then I argue that its words need to be relevant and connect with people’s experiences. To ground the thinking I focus on the context of the British Methodist Church and explore how the Church engages in theological reflection through the lens of its thinking on issues of human sexuality. Chapter two reviews how theological reflection is undertaken in the British Methodist Church. I describe how the Methodist Quadrilateral of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience remains a foundational framework for theological reflection within the Methodist Church and consider the impact of institutional processes and the ways in which the Methodist people actually engage with theological thinking. The third and fourth chapters focus on how the British Methodist Church has produced its theology of human sexuality, giving particular attention to the use of personal and sexual stories in this process. I find that whilst there has been a desire to listen to the stories of the Methodist people, there has not been a corresponding interrogation or analysis of their stories so as to enable robust and constructive theological reflection on these experiences. Using resources from Foucauldian approaches to discourse analysis, I critique key statements and the processes involved in their production, offering an analysis of this body of theological thinking and indicating where possibilities for alternative ways of thinking and acting arise. The proposed methodology draws upon resources from social science methodologies, and in chapter five I look at the use of personal experience and relevant strategies of inquiry that prompt reflection on the hermeneutical process and employ narrative approaches in undertaking, analysing and presenting research. The exploration shows that qualitative research methodologies offer resources and methods of inquiry that could help the Church to engage with personal stories in its theological thinking in a robust, interrogative and imaginative way. In chapter six an examination of story and narrative is undertaken, to show how they have been understood as ways of knowing and how they relate to theological inquiry. Whilst acknowledging some of the limitations of narrative, I indicate how it offers constructive possibilities for theological reflection and could be a means for the British Methodist Church to engage in public discourse. This is explored further in chapter seven, which looks in more detail at how the British Methodist Church has used narrative in its theological thinking, and outlines areas requiring further attention in order for a narrative theological methodology to be developed, namely: attention to the question ‘whose experience?’; investigation of issues of power and the dynamics involved in the process of the production of theological thought; how personal stories and experiences are interrogated and how narrative is constructed; and how narrative might be employed within the Methodist Quadrilateral. The final chapter considers the advantages and limitations of such an approach, whether the development of such a method is possible in the Methodist Church today and its potential for helping the Church to engage in public discourse more effectively. I argue that this methodology can provoke new theological insights and enable new ways of being in the world

La retroalimentación facial y su efecto en la evaluación de publicidad de humor

La hipótesis de retroalimentación facial planteada por Tomkins en 1962 sustenta que la activación de algunos músculos faciales envía información sensorial al cerebro y se induce entonces una experiencia emocional en el sujeto. Partiendo de dicha teoría y de investigaciones que la sustentan, el presente estudio se propuso confirmar el efecto de la emoción inducida a través de la retroalimentación facial sobre la evaluación de cinco tipos de humor en publicidad. Para ello se realizó un experimento con 60 hombres y 60 mujeres, que fueron asignados aleatoriamente a una de dos condiciones: estimulación de sonrisa –músculos hacia arriba- o inhibición de sonrisa –músculos hacía abajo-, mientras evaluaban 16 imágenes de publicidad de humor. A partir del análisis de los resultados se encontraron diferencias significativas entre las condiciones; en línea con la hipótesis formulada, los participantes expuestos a la condición estimulación de sonrisa –músculos hacía arriba- evaluaron más positivamente los comerciales. También se encontraron diferencias significativas en función del sexo y los tipos de humor evaluados. El estudio ofrece evidencia empírica de la teoría propuesta hace más de medio siglo y su efecto en el ámbito de la publicidad actual.

Motivations to interact with brands on Facebook – Towards a typology of consumer–brand interactions

In recent years, Facebook and other social media have become key players in branding activities. However, empirical research on consumer–brand interactions on Facebook is still in its infancy. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide additional insights to brand managers on how to adapt their approaches to increase consumers’ interactions with brands on Facebook. In this study, we apply the uses and gratification theory proposed by Katz (1959) to develop a new typology of consumers based on consumer motivations to interact with brands on Facebook, and explore the type and intensity of these interactions. We identify five main motivations that might influence consumers’ interactions with a brand on Facebook: (1) social influence, (2) search for information, (3) entertainment, (4) trust and (5) reward. Building on these five motivations, a classification using clustering techniques reveals four different groups of consumers: (1) “brand detached”, (2) “brand profiteers”, (3) “brand companions” and (4) “brand reliants”. Our results provide valuable and applicable insights for social media marketing activities, which will assist brand managers to develop strategies for effectively reaching and influencing the most desirable groups of consumers.

Exploring the effectiveness of virtual product placement on recall and recognition of new brands

This paper investigates the effectiveness of virtual product placement as a marketing tool by examining the relationship between brand recall and recognition and virtual product placement. It also aims to address a gap in the existing academic literature by focusing on the impact of product placement on recall and recognition of new brands. The growing importance of product placement is discussed and a review of previous research on product placement and virtual product placement is provided. The research methodology used to study the recall and recognition effects of virtual product placement are described and key findings presented. Finally, implications are discussed and recommendations for future research provided.

The implications of creative industries for regional outcomes

As the 21st century progresses, the most successful economies and societies will be creative ones. Worldwide, governments are producing strategies to encourage the development of creative industries and to strengthen the role of knowledge cities nationally and internationally. There is a significant policy discussion regarding the role of creative clusters in strengthening local economies and significant energy has been expended discussing the many positive outcomes of such developments. This article takes these issues as a starting point and considers the role of creative industries within broader concerns regarding uneven metropolitan development. By developing a typology of jobs across Australia’s metropolitan regions, the article will consider the broad social and economic impacts of uneven development of creative industry jobs between metropolitan regions and also the implications for individual metropolitan regions and policy outcomes.