Egalitarian Research Articles

Is Transitology Relevant for Effective Gender Sensitive Conflict Transformation Practice in Africa?

The continuously evolvement of complex conflicts like terrorism and cyber warfare necessitate the quest for theories that are relevant and applicable across the global geographical divide. This triangulation of theories aids to a better understanding of how past and present human relations, historical dynamics and material conditions intersect to shape conditions for conflict and peace. Few researchers have inquired how the triangulation of old and new theories can enhance an understanding of modern democratic transitions. To address this research gap, I reflect on transitology and feminist epistemology, to explore their relevance, rationality and value addition to the study of conflict transformation in modern Africa. Transitology, one of the oldest theoretical frameworks that enhanced the study of conflict transformation in the West before the end of the Cold War, is majorly criticised as outdated and irrelevant to the study of modern governance and democracy processes (Mohamedou & Sisk, 2017; Saxonberg and Linde, 2016). Likewise feminist epistemology is criticised for narrowly focusing on women and girls’ rights, thus detaching itself from realities of conflict and peace studies (True, 2014; Anderson, 2020). Against this background, I strive to establish the link between transitology - a framework of theories of change towards democracy and feminist epistemology - a framework of theories of change towards inclusive conceptualisations of knowledge, to prove the relevance and rationality of both frameworks, and their capability to catalyse democratic practice towards egalitarian relations and societies. This study contributes to new modalities of knowledge production in the field of women, peace and security. Using secondary data from seventy-five articles, I juxtapose transitology against feminist epistemology, drawing examples from various African countries, to build evidence that demonstrates the relevance of both theoretical frameworks in the study of conflict transformation.

Bristol School of Multiculturalism as Normative Sociology

The Bristol School of Multiculturalism is a political theory/sociology interdisciplinary approach to its subject matter, which has been described as a form of normative sociology. It is normative in the way that a lot of critical social theory (e.g., Foucauldian) is not and is not merely “deconstructive” but also a constructive engagement with the concerns of co-citizens. It, however, eschews the abstract, top-down universalism of Rawlsian liberal egalitarianism in favour of a context of national citizenship and pays particular attention to bottom-up political struggle. However, unlike some other activist-oriented perspectives or standpoints, it is neither antistate nor antinational but is guided by a sense of inclusive unity or the common good. Essential to this unity is “recognition” and institutional, not merely symbolic, accommodation of minorities and a perspective on the “multi” which goes beyond the black-white binary and a secularist exclusion of political claims-making by religious and ethnoreligious groups such as Muslims in western Europe. Critically, the Bristol School of Multiculturalism is not just normative in that it does normative sociology, but most importantly, it engages in political theory to justify its normative perspective against objections and rival normative positions. So, the Bristol School of Multiculturalism is perhaps not just a normative sociology but also a form of normative sociological theory.

Humanization in Educational Environments; Aspects Necessary for Living in School Today

While it is true, quality has always been measured through statistics and percentages, often forgetting the training of the whole person. Now, when we talk about issues such as humanism and education supported by technology, we can fall into extremes: it is common to label technology as the provider of all the evils of today's civilization; or the opposite assumption; to argue that incorporating technologies into education would be the panacea for all the problems it faces and finally, to assume that the subject of the humanities is more typical of actions and attitudes of the past than as a current need, giving vitality to any educational process. However, and fortunately for the educational community, today there are global efforts to make the educational task a human action that minimizes inequities and the abysmal differences that exist in countries like ours. Fernando Reimers says: “Equal educational opportunities must be the priority objective of educational policies, the aim of education must be to contribute to creating just societies. This requires improving the learning environments of the poor, but not only along the paths that have been started over the last decade. This aspect pointed out by Reimers is precisely the central aspect that all educational action must contemplate, the educational policies that are implemented in our country must guarantee, above all, the construction of a just and egalitarian society, strengthening the cultural wealth that we have, with respect to to the diversity of people, their past, their present and especially their future.

Combining emotions: hope, anger, joy, and love in Israeli peace movements

ABSTRACT Focusing on the role of hope and emotions more broadly in the two newest peace movements in Israel – Women Wage Peace and Standing Together – this paper investigates how both movements ‘work’ on their activists’ emotions and combine emotions. A comparative and gendered approach sheds light on differences between the movements. While both were established in 2014–2015 and strive for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, each has distinct characteristics. Women Wage Peace is a women’s movement focused on reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians, while Standing Together is a mixed movement with a holistic mandate of reaching peace and transforming Israel into a more egalitarian society. The paper draws on qualitative methodologies – in-depth interviews with Jewish and Arab-Palestinian activists, ethnographic work, and analysis of documents produced by the movements. It suggests that both movements consciously work on their activists’ emotions, but that Standing Together combines the positive emotion of hope with the negative emotion of anger (‘moral battery’), while Women Wage Peace combines the positive emotion of hope with the positive emotions of love and joy. The paper also argues that Women Wage Peace’s combination of positive-only emotions is part of an absolute politics of positivity that contrasts with Standing Together’s more limited politics of positivity. Possible implications include the value for peace movements to actively work on their activists’ emotions and trigger hope, which can be combined with negative or positive emotions, as movements consciously place themselves along the ‘politics of positivity’ spectrum.

Humanization in educational environments; aspects necessary for living in school today

While it is true, quality has always been measured through statistics and percentages, often forgetting the training of the whole person. Now, when we talk about issues such as humanism and education supported by technology, we can fall into extremes: it is common to label technology as the provider of all the evils of today's civilization; or the opposite assumption; to argue that incorporating technologies into education would be the panacea for all the problems it faces and finally, to assume that the subject of the humanities is more typical of actions and attitudes of the past than as a current need, giving vitality to any educational process. However, and fortunately for the educational community, today there are global efforts to make the educational task a human action that minimizes inequities and the abysmal differences that exist in countries like ours. Fernando Reimers says: “Equal educational opportunities must be the priority objective of educational policies, the aim of education must be to contribute to creating just societies. This requires improving the learning environments of the poor, but not only along the paths that have been started over the last decade. This aspect pointed out by Reimers is precisely the central aspect that all educational action must contemplate, the educational policies that are implemented in our country must guarantee, above all, the construction of a just and egalitarian society, strengthening the cultural wealth that we have, with respect to to the diversity of people, their past, their present and especially their future.

Gender, gender-based violence and training on the Micaela Law

Introduction: Gender-based violence is a pervasive and underestimated issue worldwide, affecting all societal aspects, including universities. While Argentina has made progress in gender rights, universities still struggle with gender-based violence due to enduring patriarchal structures.Development: Gender violence persists in universities, perpetuating androcentric biases in teaching, leadership, and decision-making. The Micaela Law, passed in 2018, mandates gender training for government officials, including universities, aiming to combat this issue. The National University of Avellaneda and others have initiated gender training programs in response to this law. The Inter-University Network for Gender Equality and Against Violence (RUGE), integrated into the National Inter-University Council (CIN), promotes gender equality within universities through policies, strategies, and protocols.Conclusions: Implementing the Micaela Law and integrating the gender perspective in universities are essential steps towards fostering inclusive academic environments. This aligns with international obligations and contributes to creating a more egalitarian society.

Gender wage gap, quality of earnings and gender digital divide in the European context

One of the leading national and international objectives is to achieve more egalitarian societies. Avoiding gender or digital gaps are priorities generally assumed as concerns of governments and international organizations. This paper evaluates the digital gender divide in its three stages: access, use and results, relating it to gender and salary gaps in the context of the European Union. Cluster analysis was conducted to classify the countries according to their gender digital divide. The influence of age and studies level of males and females was revised. Based on the OECD and EUROSTAT data, an empirical analysis was conducted. By comparison of means, the significant variables influencing the gender digital divide were identified, probing that the educational level significantly influences it, especially in what refers to the third stage. Finally, through a regression analysis, it was proved that the influence of the insecurity and the gender wage gap goes beyond the women and affects society.

Role of digitalization in environment, social and governance, and sustainability: Review-based study for implications.

Digitalization gives people access to a vast network of untapped data, which has the potential to help society and the environment. Smart systems connected to the internet can systematically provide a unique opportunity to solve difficulties related to long-term sustainability. The goals are to create an egalitarian, ecologically sustainable, and healthy society. Technological resources are envisioned as game-changing instruments. Three key concerns integration benefits are highlighted here: (i) sustainable development goals, (ii) socio-economic development, and (iii) the role of digital technology in environmental sustainability. This viewpoint describes the potential that digitization can create a future sustainable society. The technological network would unite the urban and rural worlds under a shared banner of sustainable development, keeping all social elements in the loop. Nations that take a comprehensive strategy will be able to provide equitable growth and an efficient, sustainable, and digital existence for their citizens. As a result, digitization provides better living conditions, active public involvement, clean governance, and transparency in public welfare programs and processes. People who are well-informed, self-aware, and digitally equipped will be better learners, thinkers, reformers, participators, and change and growth agents, marching forward on sustainable progress. The advantages of digitization in hastening the transition to sustainable industrial processes and improving people's health and happiness are explored. Finally, the perspective encapsulates the advantages of digitization by offering a holistic vision of how technology could aid in addressing major challenges such as endangered world biodiversity and climate change.

Efficient Markets and Alienation

Efficient markets are alienating if they inhibit us from caring about one another in our productive activities. I argue that efficient market behaviour is both exclusionary and fetishistic. As exclusionary, the efficient marketeer cannot manifest care alongside their market behaviour. As fetishistic, the efficient marketeer cannot manifest care in their market behaviour. The conjunction entails that efficient market behavior inhibits care. It doesn’t follow that efficient market behavior is vicious: individuals might justifiably commit to efficiency because doing so serves the common good. But efficient market systems nevertheless have significant opportunity costs. This serves as a corrective to the prevailing assumption amongst welfare state capitalists, liberal egalitarians and market socialists that resolving distributive objections to markets will resolve this relational objection.

Communism, Poetry: Communicating Vessels (Some Insubordinate Essays, 1999–2018)

Communism, Poetry: Communicating Vessels (Some Insubordinate Essays, 1999–2018)

Review Essay: Developing Empathy Towards Other-than-human Animals through Cultural and Literary Representations

This review essay focuses on the animal question and the role that cultural and literary representations of other-than-human animals may have in raising awareness of the severity of the situation and eventually developing a more egalitarian and empathetic society. This paper reviews two different approaches to the issue: an innovative empirical study of the impact that narratives may have on our attitudes towards other species conducted in Poland by Wojciech Malecki, Piotr Sorokowski, Boguslaw Pawlowski, and Marcin Cienski and presented in Human Minds and Animal Stories: How Narratives Make Us Care About Other Species; and a qualitative interdisciplinary research on the animal question in Spain in Spanish Thinking About Animals edited by Margarita Carretero-González.

Curriculum Proposal for Social Justice Education: A Case Study within High School and College in Japan

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the socially vulnerable were placed in an even more difficult position. High school and college liberal arts education on social justice is needed to address the possible emerging and re-emerging infectious disease pandemics. A desirable educational curriculum to actualize this should include (1) Basic Theory of Ethics and Social Justice—justice and goodness, justice in Ancient Greece, deontology, utilitarianism, and the principle of inequality—, (2) Social Justice Theories—liberal egalitarianism, communitarianism, and social structural approach, (3) Psychology and Behavioral Economics—social intuitionist model, implicit association test, and nudge—, and (4) Advocacy—racism and xenophobia, elderly, disabilities, women, gender and justice—. The curriculum on social justice aims to help students understand the value of social justice, recognize inequality and disparity in society, and acquire the ability to address the widening social gap and inequality. The concept of justice is internationally diverse. Thus, extracting “social justice” in the context of each country’s culture and adding it to the social justice education curriculum is important.

Patrolling the Border: Theft and Violence on the Creek-Georgia Frontier, 1770–1796 by Joshua S. Haynes

Reviewed by: Patrolling the Border: Theft and Violence on the Creek-Georgia Frontier, 1770–1796 by Joshua S. Haynes Taylor McGaughy Patrolling the Border: Theft and Violence on the Creek-Georgia Frontier, 1770–1796. By Joshua S. Haynes. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2018. 310 pp. $29.95. ISBN 9–780–8203–6174–1. Historians of the colonial South have spent decades poring over treaty texts, ethnographic observations, and archeological inventories attempting to explain the structure and nature of the region’s indigenous polities. Sixty years ago, the historiographic consensus read much like eighteenth-century European sources in that it asserted that seminal chiefs largely guided affairs of state but recognized that these polities were at core loosely connected confederacies. Over the past thirty years, historians upended these notions by emphasizing varied loci of political power. Some have demonstrated how the hierarchical, stratified polities of the Mississippian era segued into decentralized, egalitarian societies after contact that veered again towards consolidation in the face of an expansive early American republic, and others respectively centered clans, towns, and regional blocs as the keys to understanding Native American politics. Still others recast confederacies as budding nations, with identities crystalizing and collective action materializing in response to external pressures. Patrolling the Border represents a novel, critical contribution to this long-running discourse on indigenous state-hood. Haynes presents late-eighteenth-century Creek raiding as a mechanism of policy enforcement which arose at the town level as a reaction to Georgians’ disregard for established boundaries. Though local in origin, these border patrols gradually evolved into a standard polity-wide practice, a common foreign policy to counter encroachment which facilitated coalescence across Creek society. Haynes’s groundbreaking research thus casts these border patrols as an utterly convincing, much-needed bridge between the decentralized network of autonomous towns and villages of the mid-eighteenth century and an early-nineteenth-century National Council which issued laws and directives binding on all Creeks. Thorough analysis underpins Haynes’s conclusions about the border patrols; he applies quantitative and geographic methodology [End Page 332] to nearly one thousand raids that occurred over a thirty-year span to deduce some central truths. Mapping the incidents reveals that the majority of them (seventy-six percent) occurred in a long, narrow tract known as the Oconee Strip. Events which followed the land cessions of the late British colonial period are better explained by the geographic concentration of the raiding; the 1773 New Purchase commenced Georgia’s push into this territory, and a series of treaties outlined the terms and limits of occupancy, which a barrage of squatters and backcountry settlers always violated. The White-Sherrill murders, an episode depicted by previous historians as an isolated, violent incident orchestrated by renegades dissatisfied with the cession, is repositioned by Haynes as both the manifestation of widely held sentiments that the Georgians had transgressed the agreed-upon boundary and the commencement of decades worth of raiding aimed at protecting invaluable hunting lands along the Oconee. Though thepatrols combed the entire Creek periphery, targeting encroachment in the Tensaw District near Mobile, the Franklin settlements of present-day northeastern Tennessee, and the vicinity of the St. Mary’s River along the present-day border of Georgia and Florida, the sheer volume of raids in the Oconee district reinforce Haynes’s primary contention: that Georgia represented the clearest danger to Creek territorial sovereignty and that Oconee raiding embodied a deliberate policy embraced by a coalescing indigenous nation to counter that threat. Quantitative consideration of the raids demonstrates their temporal concentration. Haynes discovers that the patrols spiked in the direct aftermath of controversial treaties consented to by rump Creek headmen. These treaties ceded lands on the east bank of the Oconee to Georgia (and frequently included concessions allowing Creeks hunting privileges on the Georgia side), but were approved by groups of chiefs that fell short of representing collective Creek will. Dissatisfaction with these agreements and the demographic surge engulfing the lands in question prompted raids emanating from many towns aimed at protecting Creek territorial integrity. Haynes’s juxtaposition of the raiding spikes alongside the treaties clarifies the [End Page 333] differences of opinion which existed across time throughout Creek nation; some...

Humanistic luxury: The illusionary vehicle for change-making

The financial crisis of 2008 had pushed for the internalization of luxury and promoted a new wave of brands pioneering intrinsic values over opulent goods and services. Sitting in the peculiar intersection of humanism and luxury, humanistic luxury is a novel subcategory of ethical consumerism, one that combines social development and materially derived prestige. With a promise to preserve dying arts and crafts and uplift impoverished but deserving artisans, a new form of inconspicuous prestige consumption was born. This novel badge of honour, however, also introduced unprecedented considerations to the global social fabric. Humanistic luxury, an oxymoron that is too often overlooked, may help eliminate artisan vulnerability, but it also cements social hierarchies confirming who is ‘worthy’ and who is not, ultimately hindering social mobility on both local and global levels. Based on fourteen deep interviews conducted with humanistic luxury consumers across eleven countries, this article is tracing the origins of this new segment, exploring the social dynamics that set it in motion, outlining its social impacts and guiding academics to further research and industry professionals to a critical understanding of development and commerce. Humanistic luxury, as the findings of the research demonstrate, is a synthesis that arises from two oppositional ideas and serves as a reconciliation between haves and have-nots, ultimately providing a compromise between social sensitivity and vanity-driven status-seeking, affixing the same social hierarchy and related beliefs they already possess. While this symbolic segment yields consumers with the agency to improve the life of vulnerable populations, it ultimately fails to deliver on its promise of creating an egalitarian society, as it exclusively works with the ‘distant other’, maintaining local and global social order and the access to resources, as we know it.

The role of goal interdependence in couples’ relationship satisfaction: A meta-analysis

In the context of an increasingly egalitarian society, in which all genders are encouraged to be vocal about their goals and take equal growth opportunities, goal interdependence in couples has been repeatedly associated with relationship satisfaction. The aim of this meta-analysis was to provide evidence for the association between goal interdependence and relationship satisfaction in couples. We performed a random-effects analysis for the 32 reports and 49 independent samples that investigated three types of goal interdependence (goal support, goal congruence, and goal conflict) in association with relationship satisfaction. We found significant medium effect sizes between goal interdependence in general (r = .23) and relationship satisfaction, as well as between each type of goal interdependence and relationship satisfaction. The strongest effect size emerged for the association between goal congruence and relationship satisfaction (r = .43), followed by the association between goal support and relationship satisfaction (r = .28) and by the negative association between goal conflict and relationship satisfaction (r = −.29). From a theoretical standpoint, these results provide support for a key claim from the Transactive Goal Dynamics Theory that goal coordination between partners impacts relationship functioning. From a practical standpoint, they emphasize the need to consider goal interdependence in couples’ therapy, particularly in the current sociocultural context.

Charles Mills’ ‘Black Radical Kantianism’ as a Plot Twist for Kant Studies and Contemporary Kantian-Liberal Political Philosophy

AbstractThis article shows that themethodologyof Mills’ ‘Black Radical Kantianism’ (BRK) represents a major plot twist for Kant studies as well as contemporary political philosophy utilizing Kantian ideas. BRK is no mere upgrade of Kant’s or Kantian ideal theory for racial justice. Mills’ methodology requires us to positboththat the real Kant and establishment Kantianism have been racist, sexist and Eurocentric;andthat only by first admitting and reckoning with the compatibility of white supremacy and liberal egalitarianism can we hope to radicalize Kant or Kantianism.

"Women’s Roles, Place Attachment and the Socialist Nation in Cutezătorii Magazine. Representations in Comics Featuring Romanian Communist Pioneers "

Socialism created materially and discursively an ideological context (and then tradition) to control social space and implicitly people’s experiences in society and space. The aim of my research is to identify representations of the women’s roles in communist Romania, as these were constructed by propaganda in comics for communist pioneers and published in Cutezătorii [The Daring Ones] magazine (1967-1989). My research material is made of comics where Romanian communist pioneers appear as characters. I discuss gender representations using discourse analysis and critical visual analysis. I interpret these gender representations in relation with the socialist nation and place meanings, as constructed by the official discourse. My research explores the meanings of place and the attachments created, which rest on the respective meanings. I consider the role of this official discourse about place meanings in constructing students’ place attachments (i.e., readers of the respective magazine). I concluded that the egalitarian ideology of the communist regime did not affect the patriarchal and the engendered inequalities in the Romanian society because the paternalist communist state supported the patriarchal regime. Comics show a patriarchal society despite the communist propaganda about an egalitarian society. In addition, I showed how, in the analysed comics, which were part of the popular culture, nature- and culture-induced place attachment was influenced by a gendered socialisation with space.

Philosophical Principles in Bharathi's Works

In the last century, Mahakavi Bharathiyar set Tamil literature on a new path in terms of content and form. He is the one who brought simplicity, innovation, clarity, concentration, truth, and solidity into his writings and guided this philosophy to be useful. Philosophical thoughts such as patriotism, women's liberation, egalitarian society, social development, and Tamil sensibilities are notable. In his works, he has presented the principles of philosophical thought such as "I am Brahmam," self-realization, experience of Shiva, yoga, pure knowledge, establishment in oneness, surrender, clarity of will, and love for Shiva. This article explores Bharathiyar's creative intent, the importance he gives to them, and their uses.

Sex differences and occupational choice Theorizing for policy informed by behavioral science✰

Occupations are segregated with respect to sex, even in modern, egalitarian societies. There are strong pressures to eliminate segregation and therefore strong reasons to correctly theorize why segregation persists. The dominant view underpinning most public policies is essentially that environmental factors nudge women and men into different occupational paths. Nudging, however, ignores research suggesting that psychological traits that influence occupational choice differs between women and men, on average.Some of the most well-documented and persistent average sex differences between men and women suggest that the taken-for-granted assumption that an egalitarian society would exhibit a more or less equal distribution of men and women across the occupational landscape may be mistaken. Rather, models of occupational choice informed by individual differences in preferences, broadly understood, would help us better explain how men and women behave in the labor market. Differences in occupational preferences will affect choices. Therefore, differences in proportions of women and men across professions may be in line with an egalitarian society and the well-being and best interest of both men and women in society.

VISION VS REALITY: ARE WE LIVING IN DR. AMBEDKAR'S INDIA?

Dr Ambedkar was a stalwart in the scholarly world. An eminent jurist, economist, philosopher and social reformer, his role as the Father of the Indian Constitution is well-known. However, less emphasised are his various visions that helped in nation-building and continue to have a notable impact in the contemporary Indian socio-economic-political arena. While drafting the constitution, he meticulously laid down a framework to create a fair society enshrined in the ideals of 'liberty, equality, and fraternity.' He propagated concepts like equal pay for work, maternity benets, and Universal Adult Franchise. The path of India towards an egalitarian and casteless society was moulded by his perspectives. Our Constitution is a testament to that. According to him, The Constitution could play the role of a universal moral compass for India, a country society is divided on the basis of caste, religion, language, and other factors. This Constitutional morality would therefore lead to coordination between antithetical interests of different people along with administrative cooperation. Ambedkar's ideas and legacy echo through the welfare programmes of the Government today. The Mudra Scheme for availing loans, Stand-up India for aiding entrepreneurship in the SC and ST community, and the Ayushman Bharat scheme, display the government's unwavering commitment to fullling the dreams of Ambedkar. But these schemes and policies are mere drops of Amrit mixed with Vish in the cosmic ocean of the country we call India. Ambedkar is not just a scholar limited to the pages of a political science textbook anymore, he transcends beyond his contribution to the Constitution. Through this essay, using theoretical and practical considerations, we will explore where Ambedkar's vision has failed, and how India is not the country the father of its constitution had once envisioned.