Meanings of Citizenship: Czech Citizen in a Comparative Perspective

This was an interdisciplinary cross-cultural project which subjected Czech citizens to theoretical analysis and empirical examination. In the first, theoretical, part of the work a typology of post-totalitarian citizenship was proposed containing five types of citizens: responsible democratic, social materialistic, passive asocial, hedonistic consuming, and predatory antisocial. While democratic citizenship stems from preserved civic virtues, the deficient types of citizenship are partially caused by the post-totalitarian syndrome. In the concrete empirical studies of the international context the most significant aspects of citizenship were examined. Czech citizens (students) displayed an encouraging level of political civic culture when they loaded more often than six other national samples on the factor of democratic citizenship (based on a questionnaire and Q-sort by Feierabend, Q-factor analysis), but their level of loyalty and low critical rebelliousness can also be seen as reason for concern. The Czech population provided contrasting results in measures of civility; although chronically complaining about interpersonal relations, they passed relatively well in a series of situational field experiments even in the international comparison (Levine's helping measures. Czech nationalism is primarily "cultural nationalism", which is less favourable for democratic citizenship than the "civic nationalism" of Americans.

Education for an ethical imagination

In response to the question, 'Education for what?', this article argues the case for an ethical imagination. It begins by illustrating different approaches to ethics - Greek antiquity, Kant s categorical imperative, Levinas's interhuman ethic of care, and Foucauldian genealogy. On the basis ofthis, it suggests that ethics may be understood as a disposition of continual questioning and adjusting of thought and action in relation to notions of human good and how to be and act in relation to others. It then briefly considers education as an ethical activity, and sets out three interrelated axes for an ethics of engagement in education: intellectual rigour, civility and care. Using examples ofcitizenship and statelessness in Australia, it argues that building an ethical imagination is a valuable goal for education.

Towards an ethics of engagement in education in global times

Starting from the observation that patterns of educational inequality are widely known but largely invisible in public debates on education, this article argues for the importance of an ethics of education which challenges simple acceptance of 'things as they are'. It suggests possibilities for working with discourses of ethics, rights and citizenship in contingent and strategic ways, and argues for the importance of engaging ethically across difference in current global times. It proposes three interrelated dimensions for an ethics of engagement in education: an ethics of commitment to intellectual rigour; an ethics of civility; and an inter-human ethics of care.

Outcomes of service encounter quality in a business-to-business context

Service encounter quality is an area of growing interest to researchers and managers alike, yet little is known about the effects of face-to-face service encounter quality within a business-to-business setting. In this paper, a psychometrically sound measure of such service encounter quality is proposed, and consequences of this construct are empirically assessed. Both a literature review and a dyadic in-depth interview approach were used to develop a conceptual framework and a pool of items to capture service encounter quality. A mail survey of customers was undertaken, and a response rate of 36% was obtained. Data analysis was conducted via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings reveal a four-factor structure of service encounter quality, encompassing professionalism, civility, friendliness and competence dimensions. Service encounter quality was found to be directly related to customer satisfaction and service quality perceptions, and indirectly to loyalty. The importance of these findings for practitioners and for future research on service encounter quality is discussed.

Why organizational and community diversity matter:the emergence of incivility and organizational outcomes

Integrating sociological and psychological perspectives, this research considers the value of organizational ethnic diversity as a function of community diversity. Employee and patient surveys, census data, and performance indexes relevant to 142 hospitals in the United Kingdom suggest that intraorganizational ethnic diversity is associated with reduced civility toward patients. However, the degree to which organizational demography was representative of community demography was positively related to civility experienced by patients and ultimately enhanced organizational performance. These findings underscore the understudied effects of community context and imply that intergroup biases manifested in incivility toward out-group members hinder organizational performance.

Within-role, extra-role and anti-role behaviours in retail banking

Purpose: This paper aims to explore front line employee performance in retail banking and presents distinct components of employee performance, including extra-role and sabotage behaviours. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected from Irish bank employees. Usable responses were received from 404 respondents and subjected to exploratory factor analysis. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to undertake a confirmatory factor analysis of the emergent five-factor model. Findings: Results indicate front line employee performance is multi-faceted and comprised of civility, assurance and reliability, customer orientation, as well as extra-role behaviour and anti-role behaviour, or sabotage. Research limitations/implications: This exploratory study focuses on the Irish banking sector. To explore the generalisabilty of results, replication studies among other samples of branch banking employees in other countries are in order. Moreover, our survey is limited to the views of branch employees. We advocate research among bank managers and customers to triangulate potentially divergent views about performance. Practical implications: Findings have implications for recruitment, training and rewards. To ensure new hires are service minded, managers must consider their potential for extra-role or sabotage behaviour. Employees who demonstrate extra-role behaviours must be rewarded to encourage the adoption of such behaviours. Managers must also seek to minimise job stress in order to curtail anti-role behaviours. Originality/value: This paper offers insights into employees' views about their own performance at the front line. It extends the conceptualisation of service quality, by considering extra-role behaviour and sabotage as components of employee performance. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

RELIGIÃO, COLONIALISMO E ALTERIDADE EM ROGER WILLIAMS

Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta os resultados da pesquisa sobre Roger Williams – pastor puritano, de origem inglesa, que migrou para a América a fim de participar da constituição da colônia de Massachusetts, no ano de 1631. Pergunta-se, nesta pesquisa, sobre os motivos que levaram Roger Williams a questionar o pensamento dominante, relativo à natureza do ameríndio e à legitimidade da ocupação de suas terras. Parte-se da tese de que a partir das experiências de Roger Williams, primeiro, com o sofrimento dos pobres e com perseguição religiosa na Inglaterra, segundo, suas próprias experiências na América, ele pôde contemplar os ameríndios como vítimas do sistema colonial inglês-puritano. Seu posicionamento seria, portanto, uma abertura à alteridade desses povos. Com isso, o objetivo determinado foi o de analisar a crítica de Roger Williams ao colonialismo inglês e sua defesa aos ameríndios, buscando compreendê-lo frente à alteridade dos ameríndios. Trata-se de uma bibliográfica das obras do autor e também de outros autores que tratam do tema. Como referência teórica, remetemo-nos ao pensamento de Enrique Dussel, principalmente, por meio de algumas categorias da Filosofia da Libertação, como Totalidade, Exterioridade, Alteridade, Alienação, Dominação e Libertação, que possibilitaram pensar o sistema colonial em sua incapacidade de contemplar a exterioridade ameríndia. Também, de Dussel, aplicou-se a reflexão sobre a crítica ética desde a negatividade das vítimas, para poder-se analisar o comportamento do personagem diante da violência colonial. E para a discussão sobre a sujeiticidade de Roger Williams, buscou-se o aporte de Franz J. Hinkelammert quanto à teoria do sujeito. Como resultado, os três capítulos da dissertação apresentam, respectivamente, uma síntese biográfica e contextual do personagem, seguida por uma exposição do debate sobre a humanidade e a civilidade dos ameríndios e sobre a questão da terra e, no terceiro capítulo, uma discussão sobre Roger Williams e a alteridade. Detectou-se, na trajetória do personagem, uma sensibilidade ética que o conduziu à defesa de grupos marginalizados socialmente, primeiro na Inglaterra e depois nas colônias. E diante disso, concluiu-se que a defesa dos ameríndios seguiu esse mesmo critério, possibilitando a Williams distanciar-se das pressuposições europeias quanto à sua superioridade para buscar novos paradigmas que orientassem as relações entre colonos e nativos. Espera-se que este trabalho possa contribuir para as reflexões críticas sobre a gênese do colonialismo e sobre os primeiros sinais de um pensamento crítico no interior do sistema colonial.

El género epistolar en la prensa como visión ciudadana de la esfera pública en Colombia

A partir de un análisis temático inductivo, este artículo explora la visión ciudadana sobre la esfera pública expresada en las cartas de los lectores de los diarios El Tiempo y El Heraldo de Colombia. Los resultados muestran cómo la identidad colectiva de los lectores apareció en forma transversal en las cartas, para dar cuenta de una comunidad de adultos que se autodefine como “colombianos de bien”. El análisis reveló dos unidades de significado: posturas sobre la administración de lo público y antagonismos en la esfera pública, centrada en el conflicto político con las guerrillas. A través de estas se pudieron hacer visibles los llamamientos vívidos de los lectores al gobierno, funcionarios públicos, actores al margen de la ley y a sus compatriotas, para movilizarse para exigir cambios sociales largamente esperados.

Renaissance Humanism and Ethnicity before Race:The Irish and the English in the Seventeenth Century

Inspired both by debates about the origins of the modern ideology of race and also by controversy over the place of Ireland and the Irish in theories of empire in the early modern Atlantic world, Renaissance Humanism and Ethnicity before Race argues that ethnic discourse among the elite in early modern Ireland was grounded firmly in the Renaissance Humanism and Aristotelianism which dominated all the European universities before the Enlightenment. Irish and English, Catholic and Protestant, all employed theories of human society based on Aristotle’s Politics and the natural law of the medieval universities to construct or dismantle the categories of civility and barbarism. The elites operating in Ireland also shared common resources, taught in the universities, for arguing about the human body and its ability to transmit hereditary characteristics. Both in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe, these theories of human society and the human body underwent violent changes in the late seventeenth century under the impact of the early Enlightenment. These changes were vital to the development of race as we know it.

Le pilocentrisme de la France d’Ancien Régime : évolution des représentations de la pilosité de François 1er à Louis XVI

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle avec la direction de Jean-Jacques Courtine à l'Université de Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle sous la discipline anthropologie et avec la direction de Dominique Deslandres à l'Université de Montréal sous la discipline histoire

Le pilocentrisme de la France d’Ancien Régime : évolution des représentations de la pilosité de François 1er à Louis XVI

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle avec la direction de Jean-Jacques Courtine à l'Université de Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle sous la discipline anthropologie et avec la direction de Dominique Deslandres à l'Université de Montréal sous la discipline histoire

Centro Colseguros. Mimesis con la ciudad

55 p.