Discussion Of Social Issues Research Articles

“For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church”

“For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church” Carrie Frederick Frost and Nadieszda Kizenko INTRODUCTIONS Several years ago, I was honored by the invitation to join the Special Commission of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to draft the document “For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church” (FLOW), which was published in 2020. The title sums up the aspirations of the document: it is “for the life of the world,” a phrase that suggests both scripture and liturgy, anchoring FLOW in the life of Jesus Christ and the celebration of our communion with him in the Eucharist. The title of Father Alexander Schmemann’s much beloved work of sacramental theology, For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy, will also come to mind, and FLOW follows in the lineage of Schme-mann in his deep love of Orthodoxy and his hopeful conviction that the church is “for the life of the world.” The preposition “toward” in the title is deliberate. FLOW is meant to provide a means for the Orthodox Church to consider both social issues that endure and social issues unique to our era, but not an end, not a final word. “Toward” also acknowledges there is more work to be done and includes the hope that FLOW may inspire important conversations. Finally, the word “ethos” tells us this document seeks to convey the spirit of the Orthodox Church, which is quite different from issuing doctrine. To be clear, the document does not dither in its discussions of social issues, but it does promote discernment instead of offering dictates. I greatly enjoyed my role in drafting FLOW, and now it is equally engaging to witness its reception inside and outside the Orthodox Church. I am especially interested in critical engagements with the document; it is—as described—not meant to [End Page 119] be complete, and it is imperfect. I understand the ethos of FLOW itself as an invitation to engage with it, whether that be to object to aspects, to develop and run with its lines of thinking, to expose possible contradictions, or to want more from it. In this spirit, I invited Nadieszda Kizenko to coedit a symposium on FLOW for the Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies. With appreciation for Nadia and all the contributors, her introduction and the symposium essays follow. Carrie Frederick Frost Book Reviews Editor, Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies ________ Our goal in assembling this symposium was to have a variety of perspectives from a variety of disciplines. We are glad to have just that. Theology, religious studies, ecumenical relations, history, and peace studies are all represented, as are diverse geographic backgrounds and traditions (Georgia, Germany, North America, United Kingdom, Romania, Russia, Ukraine). As a result of the contributions that follow, we now see FLOW with clearer and more nuanced eyes. Most of the contributors note the sunny, outward-facing title. “For the Life of the World” is what nineteenth-century Russian writers might call “an offering to contemporary theology.” This means contemporary theology writ large. Reflecting the engagement of the Orthodox Churches in ecumenical relations for many decades and the experience of writers who live in global, pluralistic societies, it is the kind of document that Orthodox have not previously tended to produce: a position paper saying, “This is what we believe,” aimed both within and outside the bounds of the Orthodox community. Grdzelidze appreciatively cites the document’s human-rights emphasis. Bordeianu and Cohen wish the ecumenical outreach was greater, whether in the areas of intercommunion for mixed Catholic-Orthodox marriages or in a more conscious “exchange of gifts,” as Cohen writes, with the Oriental Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. (One wonders, though, whether FLOW really is “comparable [or superior] to any of the texts produced at the Second Vatican Council” [my emphasis]: for all its merits, I am not sure that we are in the league of Gaudium et spes.) Elsner and Lozova, by contrast, favorably compare FLOW to its predecessor, the “Basis of the Social Concept” (BOSC), produced by the Russian Orthodox Church (and, as Lozova notes, essentially reproduced by the Kyivan Patriarchate...

Love in the Time of Corona: Heterosexual Romance, Space, and Society in Japanese Fiction on COVID-19

I will examine representations of heterosexual romance in Japanese pandemic fiction published during COVID-19, so as to scrutinize the employment of pandemic in the discussion of social issues and dynamics between the public and private interests. Ueda Takahiro uses the protagonist’s love dilemma to question the postmodern condition, where the digital attempts to replace everything, disturb the master narratives, and transform our society. Tsukui Itsuki’s story has a rather optimistic view of technological responses to the pandemic. In his work, the protagonist’s romantic pursuit realizes individual development as well as civil society building. Kanehara Hitomi incorporates the element of pandemic in the representations of anti-sociability and precarity of youths in post-bubble Japan. Furthermore, the element of pandemic enriches the depictions of anxieties and issues of contemporary Japanese society from before the emergence of COVID-19: techno-induced postmodern crisis, ideological disputes, and socio-economic stagnation. Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, heterosexuality, reproduction, space, science fiction, Kanehara Hitomi

Elevated Inter-Brain Coherence Between Subjects With Concordant Stances During Discussion of Social Issues.

Social media platforms offer convenient, instantaneous social sharing on a mass scale with tremendous impact on public perceptions, opinions, and behavior. There is a need to understand why information spreads including the human motivations, cognitive processes, and neural dynamics of large-scale sharing. This study introduces a novel approach for investigating the effect social media messaging and in-person discussion has on the inter-brain dynamics within small groups of participants. The psychophysiological impact of information campaigns and narrative messaging within a closed social media environment was assessed using 24-channel wireless EEG. Data were acquired from three- or four-person groups while subjects debated contemporary social issues framed by four scenarios of varying controversy: (a) investing in ethical vs. unethical corporations, (b) selecting travel destination based on social awareness, (c) determining verdict in a murder trial and the punishment of life in prison or death penalty, and (d) decision to vaccinate. Pre-/post-scenario questionnaires assess the effects of the social media information. Inter-brain coherence between subject pairs on each social issue discussed by subjects was analyzed by concordance, agreement vs. disagreement, and by group unanimity, unanimous vs. not unanimous. Subject pairs that agreed on the social issues raised in the scenarios had significantly greater inter-brain coherence in gamma frequency range than disagreeing pairs over cortical regions known to be involved in social interactions. These effects were magnified when comparing groups where subject pairs were unanimous in their stance on the social issues for some but not all scenarios. While there was considerable overlap between scenarios in what EEG channels were significant, there was enough variability to indicate the possibility of scenario-specific effects on inter-brain coherence.

Faithfully Animating the Truth: Some experiences of a women’s collective

For over four decades I have been part of a women’s film collective, Leeds Animation Workshop, set up to make films about social issues. As a founder member, I have had some level of involvement with all the Workshop’s 40 or so films. During this period we have employed a variety of techniques, including fully-painted cel, 3D, mixed media, and cut-outs; but the focus of our collective work remains, as it always has been, on using animation to raise awareness, and to provoke questions and discussion of social issues. This paper consists of a practitioner’s reflections, on the use of animation for documentary and on our collective working practice.

Ruang Publik “Fishing Space”: Sarana Pertukaran Informasi Bisnis pada Masyarakat Perdesaan Kampung Pasir Kalong

Public space in the meaning of Habermas (2015) is a space created, in which there are discussions of business issues that gradually until the discussion of social issues more broadly. Through the public space, the freedom to gather, speak, argue, and arguments can be created. BD informant revealed that fishing activities in Pasir Kalong village became a space for exchanging business information, socializing media with other residents, and exchanging information regarding the problems of the village.

사회문제 해결을 논할 수 있는 온라인 공론장의 구조적 조건

사회문제 해결을 논할 수 있는 온라인 공론장의 구조적 조건

The Role of National Conversation Forums ( NCFs ) in Developing Critical Speaking Skills of EFL University Students

T his quasi-experimental study of one group design attempted to explore how far National Conversation Forums (NCFs ) – as a proposed teaching strategy – can develop EFL university students’ critical speaking skills. It investigated how the discussion of social issues in well-organized forums with specific ethos and ethics in university campus can tackle divergent perspectives, conflicting views and diverse positions in reasoned discourse. Nine Saudi EFL students at KKU, Saudi Arabia constituted the participants of the study. Data was collected from one source: a public speaking test for assessing critical speaking skills. The findings revealed a positive significant impact of NCFs on developing critical speaking skills in social issues-based language contexts. The study includes insights into how to cultivate critical speakers , including the procedures and steps that could be incorporated in EFL university education program.

Entertainment-education for the media-saturated: Audience perspectives on social issues in entertainment programming

The representation of social issues in entertainment television challenges the assumed and nominal function of such programming to simply entertain its audience. Drawing on focus groups with television viewers in the UK, this article explores the ways in which audiences engage with and use entertainment television in discussions of social issues that conventionally have been framed narrowly across news and entertainment media: crimes against children, immigration and disability. Entertainment television that includes alternative perspectives on these issues offers the possibility of broadening resources and encouraging deliberation, although assumptions about the role of entertainment television are reflected in audience scepticism about the appropriateness of using such programming as a basis for considering the social world.

Florence Nightingale in Absentia: Nursing and the 1893 Columbian Exposition

In 1893, Chicago hosted the Columbian Exposition. This event showcased America's social, cultural, and scientific advances and its growing cultural parity with Western Europe. This was the first major exposition in which women played a prominent role. Integral to the fair was a series of Congresses that provided an international platform for discussion of social issues. The Congress on Hospitals, Dispensaries, and Nursing, a section of the International Congress of Charities, Correction, and Philanthropy, particularly focused on health care issues. Nursing leaders from Europe and North America participated. Although Florence Nightingale provided a major paper that was read at the Congress, she was unable to attend the event. The intent of this article is to examine the issues and themes debated at the 1893 Congress and identify how the influence of Nightingale effected these discussions and the development of Western nursing for the next half-century.

African Americans on the Great Plains: An Anthology (review)

Reviewed by: African Americans on the Great Plains: An Anthology Diane Quantic, Professor African Americans on the Great Plains: An Anthology. Edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Charles A. Braithwaite. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009. 395 pages, $35.00. African Americans on the Great Plains offers the reader an opportunity to examine the lives of African Americans in a region that is not often acknowledged in the history of civil rights in the United States. Gathered from the journal Great Plains Quarterly, these essays, ranging from accounts of the military experiences of black soldiers and the region’s role in the civil rights struggle to the contributions of artists and musicians from the region, present a vibrant African American history on the Great Plains. Kansas is central to a number of essays, perhaps because of its historical significance in the abolitionist unrest before the Civil War or because of the persistence of discrimination in the state or simply because the scholars’ interests led them to investigate this state. Analyses range from studies of the frontier fort-town conflicts in Fort Hays and of “Pap” Singleton’s failed Exoduster colony in eastern Kansas to accounts of the civil rights activism in Topeka before 1954 and of the Sit-In Movement in Wichita and Oklahoma that predated similar resistance in the South. Two other Kansas essays focus on the Afro-American Council’s attempts to realize civil rights for African Americans in the segregated state and the relationship between race and homicides in four eastern Kansas counties. Essays that concentrate on Nebraska, Texas, and Oklahoma round out the discussions of social issues. One essay compares the relatively benign treatment that African American troops enjoyed at Fort Niobrara in Nebraska with the violent response to the troops’ arrival in Texas and another examines the efforts of Canada to prevent the migration of African Americans from Oklahoma. Yet another study highlights the broad inclusion of economic classes in Nebraska’s African American Masonry as opposed to the more restrictive national African American Masonry. African American cultural contributions to the Great Plains are of importance as well. Era Bell Thompson’s American Daughter, her autobiography of her years in rural North Dakota, is examined through the oppositions in her life. An account of Aaron Douglas, an artist of the Harlem Renaissance who grew up in Great Plains towns, focuses on his work in New York and other venues beyond the Great Plains. Finally, music gets its due in two essays: one on Alphonso Trent’s jazz orchestra that enjoyed success in places as disparate as Kansas City [End Page 405] and Deadwood, South Dakota, and another one on the development of gospel music in Omaha. Arranged chronologically, these critical works underscore the importance of the Great Plains as a region that anticipated many of the issues and experiences of African Americans in twentieth-century America. Those familiar, perhaps, with one of these subjects will find their understanding of the Great Plains experience shifting as they take into account other factors that make this region even richer and more interesting. An index makes it easy for readers to follow their own threads through the anthology. Diane Quantic, Professor Wichita State University, Kansas Copyright © 2010 The Western Literature Association

From focus groups to peer discourse sessions: The evolution of a method to capture language, meaning, and negotiation

In this article, the authors describe a unique approach to conducting and analyzing focus groups, described as peer discourse analysis. The primary objective of this analysis is to examine the shape and form of the discourses and negotiations that develop organically among peers in discussions of social issues. Peer discourse analysis has both descriptive and prescriptive utility, as it is also used to experiment with frames that might improve people's understanding of complex social problems.

American and Dutch Students’ Opinions About the Discussion of Social Issues

American and Dutch Students’ Opinions About the Discussion of Social Issues

Perceptions of social challenges of adults with autism spectrum disorder

This study examines perceptions of social challenges by adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The investigators analyzed three separate, regularly scheduled social group meetings attended by a total of 18 adults with ASD where the activity was a discussion of social issues. Participants generated social questions and challenges they had encountered as a result of having autism. The questions were presented to the group for a discussion of potential solutions. Written and audio data were collected and a member check was completed. The data were plumbed for key words and emergent themes to identify major social challenges as viewed by adults with ASD. The emergent themes included relationships at work, developing and maintaining personal relationships, appropriate behaviors around members of the opposite sex, and personal perspectives on having ASD.

The Discussion of Social Issues in the Science Classroom

(1990). The Discussion of Social Issues in the Science Classroom. Studies in Science Education: Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 105-126.

The Electronic Commonwealth: The Impact of New Media Technologies on Democratic Politics by Jeffrey B. Abramson, et al

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 195 The Electronic Commonwealth: The Impact of New Media Technologies on Democratic Politics. By Jeffrey B. Abramson, F. Christopher Arterton , and Gary R. Orren. New York: Basic Books, 1988. Pp. xiv + 331; notes, index. $21.95. It took Jeffrey B. Abramson, F. Christopher Arterton, and Gary R. Orren, along with a supporting group of fourteen scholars, three years for the research and another three to produce The Electronic Commonwealth, a study of the effect of new media technologies on democratic politics in the United States. The outcome was not worthy of the expense of time and the financial support provided by the Markle Foundation. Evaluating this book as a communications researcher with great interest in the influence of new communications technologies on society and as a person who is less knowledgeable about political theory, I found that only two or three chapters had new things to say about new media and the political process. The rest was warmed-over descriptions and predictions of how those technologies might be used, with lengthy summaries of the work of one of the original members of the study group, Ithiel de Sola Pool. And as anyone who works in this area knows, descriptions of today’s technological capability quickly become outmoded. The problems in conducting research for a book that aims to deal with a topic alien to the primary expertise of the authors could be alleviated through an interdisciplinary approach. Apparently the study group was insufficient in this regard, and the authors needed long-term advice from someone well versed in the field. Chapters reviewing the history of FCC policy, describing the various forms of electronic delivery of information, and comparing the broadcast philosophies of several European countries with that of the United States have been written before, have been treated with greater depth, and have more accurately assessed the situation. For example, the authors fail to note that the advent of cable, direct broadcast satellite, and VCRs in Europe, along with the trend to privatization of broadcast channels, are leading European media to look more like the U.S. model than the reverse. Financing European public broadcasting has become an increasing problem, with Britain taking the lead in asking the BBC to pay for itself. The exclusion of critical scholars in the study group eliminated the possibility for any radical evaluation of technology’s role in a capital­ istic society. That is not to say that the authors write a glowing account that assigns quick-fix technological solutions to the problems of lower voter turnout, lack of participation in discussions of social issues, and general public apathy to politics. In fact, the most interesting sections of this book are the realistic assessments of what can be expected of 196 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE communication technologies. Although the authors would like to see the public become more involved in the political process through home voting, electronic town meetings, and such, they do a good job of evaluating the failures of Qube, the Reading, Pennsylvania, elec­ tronic town meeting experiments, and the Hawaii televote case. And they are generally pessimistic about the idea that multiple channels offered through cable systems and increasingly sophisticated polling techniques will cause the electorate to be more informed or the politicians to pay more attention to the desires and opinions of their constituents. The authors instead call for changes in broadcast policy that would allow a public broadcast system financed by commercial stations and dedicated to representing a wide range of social groups in the United States, instead of the elite groups PBS now serves. And they worry that the speed and reach of new media will lead to greater control over the plebiscite rather than increasingly involving the citizens in debates, discussions, and dialogues with political representatives. So in the end, the authors note that it is those in control of the technology who will decide how it is to be used. That use will most likely support the maintenance of the present system rather than bring any funda­ mental expansion of democracy. So what else is new? Christine Ogan Dr. Ogan is an associate professor in the School of Journalism, Indiana...

A time for silence: Booker T. Washington in Atlanta

Each act of participation in the discussion of social issues has rhetorical potential. Consequently, representatives of oppressed minority groups must decide whether and how to participate in such discussion without inadvertantly supporting their oppressors. Silence is sometimes preferable to participation—when it avoids confirming the efforts of those who seek social control. Such was the circumstance in 1895: a time for silence.

A Model for Collaborative Discussion of Social Issues

A Model for Collaborative Discussion of Social Issues

Antiintellectualism and other plagues on managing the future

As our society has become complex and integrated, both the opportunities and the needs to manage the physical and social technologies of society have become more urgent. At the same time tools are developing which permit a more reliable anticipation and assessment of alternative futures. This paper focuses on a number of structural situations in our society which impede the effective management of the future. Among these are the intellectual orientation of the intelligentsia; a general ignorance of both science and technology; a failure to appreciate the strengths, functioning, and relationships of our political system; a lack of awareness of the intrinsic time constants of social change; the substitution of piety for hard study; a pervasive pessimism often grounded in ignorance; a special pleading on the part of many interest groups; a lack of historical perspective; a widespread aversion to social experimentation as well as a fear of new knowledge. A new fallacy common in discussion of social issues is proposed, “the fallacy of the argument from incompetence.”