Particularistic Perspective Research Articles

The Picture Theory of Disability.

The leading models of disability struggle to fully encompass all aspects of "disability." This difficulty arises, the author argues, because the models fundamentally misunderstand the nature of disability. Current theoretical approaches to disability can be understood as "nounal," in that they understand disability as a thing that is caused or embodied. In contrast, this paper presents an adverbial perspective on disability, which shows that disability is experienced as a personally irremediable impediment to daily-living tasks or goals-like-ours. The picture theory of disability technically constitutes a species of relational approach because its analysis references the interplay between an individual and their environment; it differs from other relational accounts, however, by interpreting disability as a certain kind of negative experience-rather than a function of that relationship. This purely descriptive theory makes no normative claims about disability and operates as both a mechanism for the evaluation of the experience of disability and a heuristic device for the proper interpretation of disability. When disability is reframed in this way, the theory offers a particularist perspective which shows if, when, where, and how disability is experienced.

Reflections on the Religious Other from Modern Jewish Philosophy

This essay reviews research gathered by Alon Goshen-Gottstein on Judaism and World Religions. The essay examines the notion of the Other as both feared and loved in Judaism. It assesses the work of Goshen-Gottstein positively and adds portraits of the Other from modern Jewish philosophers, Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas, that attempt to show how others from different religions and cultures can help to open new perspectives on life and even open a way to God. The paper ends with an argument for both universalistic perspectives from theologies of creation and particularistic perspective from theologies of revelation in interfaith dialogue.

Approximating relatedness from a business model perspective: towards a taxonomic approach

Despite sustained scholarly efforts for almost half a century, the definition and measurement of “relatedness” as a key concept in diversification research are impeded by a whole bunch of conceptual and methodical limitations. This article attempts to rectify three major concerns voiced by diversification scholars. First, the distinction between industries, devised in the industrial era, is blurring in today’s business environment, making their use for the study of diversification problematic. Second, most conceptualizations of relatedness employ a particularistic perspective and are thus bound to miss central aspects that are outside the scope of their theoretical vantage point. Third, the increasingly pervasive consensus that relatedness should be viewed as a multifaceted construct has not been adequately captured so far. To overcome these limitations, this study draws on the burgeoning concept of the business model as a new and more meaningful way to capture relatedness. The viability of the resulting construct, business model relatedness, is explored both conceptually and by a first empirical test. This study contributes to two theoretical strands of literature: In the field of diversification, it proposes an innovative way to conceptualize relatedness that is based on a taxonomic—as opposed to a typological—approach and that promises to better reflect firms’ actual diversification logics; in business model research, it introduces a novel approach to investigating the performance implications of managing multiple business models.

Severing a historical bond: the implications of divorcing human rights from Holocaust education

ABSTRACT The Israeli discourse has always reflected a tendency to ground Holocaust memory in a particularistic perspective. This perspective involves a disproportionate focus on the suffering of the Jewish people and exclusion of any consideration of the suffering of other peoples, especially the Palestinians. The present article emphasizes that this approach leads to an artificial severance of the Holocaust from an issue that is integral to its historic development: the violation of human rights. The Holocaust could not have occurred without the license and justification for violating human rights; indeed, the Holocaust is, ultimately, an extreme manifestation of the violation of human rights. The present article highlights that in the last decade the Israeli tendency to detach the Holocaust from education about human rights has been justified in the academic literature produced elsewhere in the world. But whereas in Israel the divorce of the concept of human rights from Holocaust education has led to apathy about the violation of the Palestinians’ rights and consequently to the perpetuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, now, paradoxically, the conflict and the infringement of the Palestinians’ rights have made it more difficult for those outside Israel to write about the Holocaust in the context of human rights. The article assumes that the suppression of the historical link between the Holocaust and the violations of human rights that preceded the mass murder of the Jews deprives students of the ability to understand the repressive and destructive potential of modern political systems and of the human beings who live and operate within them. At the same time, this educational tendency also leaves them ignorant of the crystallization of the most significant emancipatory achievement of modern times: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The article concludes that it is necessary to pursue qualitative research into how Holocaust education in Israel affects Israelis’ perception of the Other, and especially the Palestinian. It also recommends a study of the extent to which the overtones of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the literature influences the severance of Holocaust from education about human rights outside Israel as well.

Medium-Range Narratives as a Complementary Tool to Principle-Based Prioritization in Sweden: Test Case \u201cADHD\u201d

In this paper, for the benefit of reflection processes in clinical and in local, regional, and national priority-setting, we aim to develop an ethical theoretical framework that includes both ethical principles and medium-range narratives. We present our suggestion in the particular case of having to choose between treatment interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and treatment interventions for other conditions or diseases, under circumstances of scarcity. In order to arrive at our model, we compare two distinct ethical approaches: a generalist (principles) approach and a particularist (narratives) approach. Our focus is on Sweden, because in Sweden prioritization in healthcare is uniquely governmentally regulated by the “ethics platform.” We will present a (fictional) scenario to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the generalist principled perspective of the ethics platform and the particularist perspective of narrative ethics. We will suggest an alternative (moderately particularist) approach to prioritization, which we dub a “principles plus medium-range narratives” approach. Notwithstanding the undeniably central role of principles in distributive justice, we claim that medium-range narratives concerning individuals or groups who stand to benefit or lose from ADHD prioritization practices should also be read or listened to and taken into account at all levels of priority-setting. These narratives are expected to ethically optimize clinical priority-setting, as well as that undertaken at local, regional, and national levels.

Drivers of citations: An analysis of publications in “top” accounting journals

Abstract Citation counts are increasingly used to assess the impact and quality of articles, journals, researchers, and research institutions. At the same time, there is an ongoing debate about their usefulness as a performance measure. To understand the actual drivers of this measure in the accounting literature, we empirically investigated which factors affect the citation rates of publications in five “top“ journals of the field using a three-step regression to accommodate different theoretical perspectives on citations. Our results show that citation behavior is influenced by both article and author characteristics, suggesting that not only the universalistic but also the particularistic perspective on science is associated with citation behavior in the accounting field. Contrary to previous studies, we identify several particularistic variables as significant, relating to the visibility and position of researchers in the scientific system and to how they promote their research. In addition, the strong effects of the universalistic variables of subject area and research method point to the possibility that the use of citation counts for evaluating performance might create a bias in favor of certain types of research. Overall, our results should urge caution against the uncritical use of citation counts as an indicator of quality and a performance measure.

Conditional Spending and the (General) Conditional Offer Puzzle

There are two basic ways to think about the constitutionality of conditional funding offers from the national government to the states: as a localized problem subject to a localized solution, or as instantiating a broader problem subject to a more general analysis. The first perspective views conditional spending grants as, essentially, an issue of federalism. The second views it under the rubric of what is sometimes called “the unconstitutional conditions problem” or (preferably) “the conditional offer puzzle.” In last year’s health care decision, the Court adopted the first approach — the “particularist perspective.” That is, all Justices analyzed the constitutionality of the Medicaid expansion by reference to concepts, tests, and principles that, as far as the several opinions revealed, the authors thought particular to conditional funding grants offered from the federal government to the states. No Justices drew upon, or sought to further develop, principles or analytical frameworks that purported to be general in the sense of applying to other sorts of conditional offers of benefits — for example, conditional proposals made to individuals rather than to states, or made from state governments rather than from the national government, or made of an offer to provide some benefit other than cash or cash equivalent. This essay, prepared for an edited volume of essays concerning the health care decision, argues that the unsatisfactoriness of the Court’s analysis of the Medicaid expansion can be traced to its adoption of the particularist approach to the conditional spending problem, and it explores the “generalist” alternative of analyzing the conditional spending problem as a subtype of the more general conditional offer puzzle. The generalist alternative I offer rests upon a distinction between coercion and compulsion, along with an account of what it means to “penalize” the exercise of a right. I conclude both that those who support the Affordable Care Act should treat the states’ challenge with greater seriousness than, by and large, they have given it, and that those who already harbored doubts about the constitutionality of the Medicaid expansion have reason to be more sympathetic to a general solution to the conditional offer puzzle than was the Supreme Court.

Diverging or converging trends: an investigation of education policies concerning the incorporation of ethnic minority children in England, France and Germany

This article focuses specifically on the incorporation of ethnic minority children within the education systems of England, France and Germany. The trends in policy development after World War II in these countries are examined through the prism of three ideal-typical incorporation strategies – integration, assimilation and separation. This is done to test the theories of universalism, parallel development and particularism, which anticipate different trajectories with regard to these strategies. The paper finds evidence for convergence towards integration with regard to provisions for extra support in the host country’s language. This supports the theory of universalism. However, no evidence of convergence towards integration is found in four other policy areas. For instance, country-specific trends emerge on minority religious education and enrolment into mainstream schools, which is consistent with the particularist perspective. As there is little evidence of the three countries drawing closer in terms of all three adopting a strategy of incorporation promoted by transnational agencies, the expectation that national states can borrow in a straightforward fashion from internationally advocated models of ethnic minority incorporation appears unfounded. The paper further finds that local practices are sometimes significantly at odds with national educational policy, suggesting that future research should be directed more at the local level to determine the policies affecting ethnic minority children.

Erratum to: Social Cohesion as a Real-Life Phenomenon: Assessing the Explanatory Power of the Universalist and Particularist Perspectives

Unlike most studies on social cohesion, this study explores the concept as a real-life macro-level phenomenon. It assesses to what extent the conceptions of social cohesion suggested by several macro-level approaches represent coherent empirically observable forms of social cohesion. Additionally it discusses two perspectives on social cohesion—the universalist and the particularist perspective. The former would expect social cohesion to be related to stages of socio-economic development. The latter hypothesizes enduring, regionally unique regimes of social cohesion resisting the homogenizing pressures of modernization. The paper finds evidence for both perspectives. On the one hand, a syndrome of social cohesion was identified consisting of trust, equality, order (i.e. lack of crime) and consensus on basic values which correlates closely with indicators of socio-economic development. This finding supports the universalist perspective. On the other hand, and consistent with the particularist perspective, the study found regionally unique patterns for Latin America, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

Social Cohesion as a Real-life Phenomenon: Assessing the Explanatory Power of the Universalist and Particularist Perspectives

Unlike most studies on social cohesion, this study explores the concept as a real-life macro-level phenomenon. It assesses to what extent the conceptions of social cohesion suggested by several macro-level approaches represent coherent empirically observable forms of social cohesion. Additionally it discusses two perspectives on social cohesion—the universalist and the particularist perspective. The former would expect social cohesion to be related to stages of socio-economic development. The latter hypothesizes enduring, regionally unique regimes of social cohesion resisting the homogenizing pressures of modernization. The paper finds evidence for both perspectives. On the one hand, a syndrome of social cohesion was identified consisting of trust, equality, order (i.e. lack of crime) and consensus on basic values which correlates closely with indicators of socio-economic development. This finding supports the universalist perspective. On the other hand, and consistent with the particularist perspective, the study found regionally unique patterns for Latin America, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

The Internet in China: A Meta-Review of Research

To understand the ultimate status of Internet studies, it is necessary to observe from both a holistic and a particularistic perspective. This article examines one small area of research, the Internet in China, to use that case study as a lens with which to discern the development of Internet studies. By comparing this micro view of the parameters, agendas, and research foci of Chinese Internet research to the larger body of Internet research, it draws insights into the present and future of Internet studies more generally.

Race and Job Dismissal

This study combines data from 8 years (1991 to 1997 and 1999) of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to assess predictions from the compositional and particularistic perspectives concerning the determinants of job dismissal among African American and White males during 3 years of the early work career. The findings from logistic regression analyses provide most support for the particularistic perspective. Specifically, dismissal for African Americans, relative to Whites, is widespread. Compared to Whites, African Americans are susceptible to dismissal across categories of traditional stratification-based causal factors—namely, human capital credentials (e.g., education, job absences), background socioeconomic status, and job/labor market characteristics (e.g., union status, economic sector, industry). In addition, analyses indicate that particularism as a determinant of dismissal is more pronounced in working-class than middle-class occupations.

Ethnogenesis and Cultural Geography

By working largely unaware of the huge literature in anthropology and certain other social sciences on ethnogenesis, Western cultural/historical and ethnic geographers remain aside from the mainstream in this inquiry and in fact do not address the topic as often as one might expect. Anthropologists have dominated ethnogenetic research for decades in North America. We further marginalize our work on ethnogenesis by ignoring completely the work of the Russian Leo Gumilev, a fellow geographer who devoted his career to the study of this subject. I le remains virtually unknown in the West in spite of English translations of a number of his works. This neglect of the works of anthropologists and Gumilev leads Western geographers to deal with ethnogenesis infrequently and somewhat naively. Hie authors suggest that by becoming familiar with these valuable sources and by applying existing, well-developed cultural geographical themes and concepts, such as homeland, diffusion, landscape, preadaptation, and incremental change, Western cultural geographers can more abundantly and significantly join the debate on ethnogenesis, building upon Gumilev's foundation and offering a humanistic, particularistic, and holistic alternative perspective largely absent in anthropological and other nongeographical studies.

A breed apart? Northern Ireland's MPs at Westminster

This article examines the marginal role played by Northern Ireland (NI)'s MPs in Parliament. Sectarian conflict, party fragmentation, and regional administrative reorganisation over the last 25 years have heightened the local visibility of NI MPs, with the result that most place a low priority on active participation at Westminster. While Northern Ireland's future constitutional status dominates the political agenda, differences among the province's major parties on this issue have had little effect on how MPs approach constituent matters, intercede with government agencies, or define their representational role. Northern Ireland's MPs tend to have a particularistic perspective, a clientelist orientation, and little practical experience in consensus‐building across communal divisions.

Die wonderbaarlike vermeerdering van brood (Matt 14:13–21 en par): Historiese kritiek in perspektief

The miraculous multiplication of loaves (Mt 14:13–21 and par): Historical criticism in perspective Certain aspects of the historical critical method are applied to the doublet of the narration of the miraculous multiplication of loaves in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. An offset is that a single tradition apparently lies beyond the doublet. Furthermore, that the first narrative has been moulded from out of a particularistic perspective within a Palestinian situation in early Christianity and the second from out of an universalistic perspective within 'n Hellenistic situation. Thirdly, that Mark in his redactional interpretation of the narration used these perspectives for the purpose of eucharistic catechesis. Matthew, on the other hand, reinterpreted Mark's usage, fashioned the doublet into a messianic meal and emphazised more explicitly the intermediary role of the disciples in the feeding of the crowd. The article's intention is to put the historical critical method in perspective against the accusation that this method is a threat to the church and reformational theology.