Social Debate Research Articles

Inclusive Education for Health: Analysis of the Mandatory Nature of Vaccination and Its Regulation by Administrations, and Implications and Considerations for Vaccination against COVID

In the process of vaccination against COVID-19, the problem of parents who do not want to vaccinate their school-age children has been evident. A conflict arises between two fundamental rights: the right to ideological freedom, privacy, and physical integrity of parents and minors who do not opt for vaccination; and the right to health of the rest of the children who attend the same school, provoking a social debate on the need to introduce regulatory changes that favor the mandatory imposition of vaccination in certain cases. This research offers an observational study through a cross-sectional design of a quantitative nature, in which one thousand people belonging to the education, health, and economy sectors from seventy-six countries of five continents have participated. The instrument used was a previously validated questionnaire: VACUNASEDUCA. It was considered essential to know the awareness of vaccination processes of professionals from essential social sectors. Therefore, the objectives were: to reflect on the measures of mandatory vaccination, to know the importance of teachers being able to demand a regulated vaccination card from students, to study the need for regulation by administrations of compliance with vaccines, and to analyze the importance of health education. It has been shown that women and those under thirty years of age are the least in favor of compulsory vaccination, with the health sector being the most defending of their demand, and with Europe with the lowest means. It is concluded that mandatory vaccination could be an acceptable tactical option to prevent high-risk situations.

On Mask-Ocracy

The title of the article is On Mask-Ocracy and follows-on from two shorter pieces (http://thirdtext.org/OKane-carnival & http://www.thirdtext.org/okane-maskocracy) that I recently published in Third Text Online. This new, longer article draws on a wide range of references, from carnival and the carnivalesque to recent protests in Hong Kong, from Australian wildfires to the worldwide pandemic, all on the way to speculating that the growing prevalence of masks in contemporary society brings new (and renewed) attention to and implications for, our current, modern understanding of identity, political representation, and democracy. ‘Mask-Ocracy’ is a neologism introduced as an intellectual gambit that this writing seeks to justify and render useful to current and emerging political and social debates.

Cultural Franchises or Franchising Cultures?

Museums franchises have been part of our lives for several decades, gathering momentum and taking the cultural world by storm. These museums ‘brands’ are a product of the changes museums have experienced in the past decades that shaped their role as a social agents, and the influence of globalisation, which altered the paradigm of the essence of what museums constitute, and ultimately their new role as diplomatic agents. This article aims to analyse the development, the characteristics and the controversies that have surrounded the Hermitage Barcelona project, which embodies the challenges and opportunities new globalised museums are facing on a museological, political, economic and social level. This project raises social debates around topics such as cultural policy, branding strategy, tourism and identity, issues that it has in common with other satellite museums all over the world, such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi or the Guggenheim Museums. This strong social component underlines the importance of approaching the analysis of new museum models from an interdisciplinary, participatory and culturally sensitive perspective.

Emoção e Percepção de Estudantes de Ensino Médio na Caminhada do Privilégio

ABSTRACT The social debate at school is essential for an integral, critical and emancipatory education. However, motivating students is essential to address social issues in a dialogic way, reducing resistance to debate. Based on Grada Kilomba’s reflection, from a psychological point of view on such resistances, this paper adopted the Privilege Walk (PW) as a strategy to approach the debate on social inequality at school. The following were investigated: self-perception of students’ social position, PW’s emotional dimensions, sincerity in PW and PW’s impacts on students’ perception about social inequality. Final position in PW correlated with social self-perception. The magnitude of the differences and the related factors empathically triggered important social perceptions and considerations.

Water governance in two urban African contexts: agency and action through participatory video

This paper describes and critically examines the process and outcomes of a community-based participatory video (PV) research project on issues related to water governance with residents of underserved and informal settlements in Khayelitsha, South Africa and Accra, Ghana. Co-produced videos were used to facilitate communication and to open a dialogue between the participating communities and their respective local governments, with the aims of improving awareness of the issues, enhancing agency and enabling participation in the political and social debates about water governance. Analysing the approach, our research draws on two key principles of participatory governance – recognition and response – to evaluate the application of PV as a potential engagement tool for participatory water governance. We critically discuss the reality and tensions of PV in shifting deep-rooted inequities of power in decision making through two case studies, both of which involved residents and representatives from local governments in the research process.

Norvég tájékoztatási modell: A globális közösségi hálózatok integrálása a közszolgálati média rendszerébe

The Norwegian public service media model has served as a model in Europe for decades. However, the information revolution and the changes in social communication brought about by social networks have challenged the Norwegian government and the media authority, forcing them to create a new legal environment to adapt to the changed circumstances. This has been preceded and grounded by a professional and social debate, as a result of which Norway has successfully integrated global, profit-oriented social networks into the public service media system.

The Computer Metaphor. Anchoring the Fear of Human Obsolescence(s) since the 20th Century

This article shows how fundamental debates on both human obsolescence in the form of vanishing human exceptionalism and of technological unem- ployment were anchored to the emerging technology of artificial intelligence (AI). Through this anchoring, these debates became tangible and they were discussed beyond scientific circles by the wider public too. Thus the technol­ ogy on the one hand and the scientific and social debates on human obsoles­ cence on the other hand entered into a phase of co­evolution. We will first discuss the computer metaphor since it not only prepared the idea of AI but also was the culture medium for the connection between the technology and the obsolescence debates. In the second half of the article, we then discuss this connection in the context of human exceptionalism, followed by the context of technological unemployment. Next to prominent examples from Anglo-American AI research as well as cybernetics and psychology we look at German-language examples. That the spread of the anchoring of debate to technology goes beyond scientific circles is made clear by looking at science fiction and broadsheet newspapers and magazines.

Moral conviction: A challenge in the age of science politicization.

Social science research can help science practitioners understand why the public responds to scientific findings differentially-sometimes believing, sometimes not. Four decades of research finds that people interpret science in ways that make it easier to dismiss scientific findings or consensuses that go against specific attitudes, or positions in social and policy debates, that they wish to maintain. This may be the case especially when a person's position is a moral conviction-that is, it is not only their preferred position, but what they feel is the morally correct position. This chapter explores why moral conviction matters for understanding public response to scientific information in the age of politicization, where moral conviction comes from, and the ways in which it poses a challenge to the foundations of science.

Gender Parity in International Legal Bodies: Are We there yet?

This paper discusses the different types of rules inducing a gender-balanced composition of international legal bodies, the recent evolution in the composition of those bodies from a gender perspective, and the relationship between the aforementioned rules and the state of the art since the 2021 Human Rights Council Report on current levels of representation of women in human rights organs and mechanisms. The study differentiates between the hard and soft rules on gender equality and the rules governing the nomination and election procedures for those legal bodies. The final aim is to draw conclusions on the nature and effectiveness of the different set of rules, proposing a twofold strategy to advance the gender balance question. Undoubtedly, there is no way back, according to the already long-lasting social and legal debate in the academy and the growing domestic and international practice. Although fruits have been reaped, it is necessary to develop new legal tools to strengthen the results achieved and fill the gaps.

From Social to Epidemic Criticality and Back

In this paper, we study the spreading of epidemic in a network of individuals who may either contract a disease through contact with infected nearest neighbors or be vaccinated under the influence of neighbors who are already vaccinated. We show that both interaction between susceptible S and infected individuals I and the imitation of vaccination, a form of sociological interaction between susceptible S and vaccinated V individuals, may lead to a phase transition. If the spreading of epidemic is in the supercritical condition, corresponding to an unlimited growth of infection, the interaction between S and V must reach the supercritical condition to generate control of the spreading of infection, and bring the system to criticality. By adopting a theoretical perspective like that of multilayer complex networks, we study the case where the epidemiological network is under the influence of a sociological debate on whether to be vaccinated. We show that at criticality this debate generates clusters of individuals in favor of vaccination and clusters of individuals opposing it. 3 , 4 We study the influence of this debate on the spread of infection. We show that because of this debate in the epidemic network, a pattern emerges mirroring the structures of the sociological network. Finally, we introduce feedback of the epidemic network on the sociological network, and we prove that because of this feedback the sociological system undergoes a process of self-organization maintaining it at criticality. This system exhibits temporal complexity and critical slowing down. 1 We hope that these results may have an important effect of giving interesting suggestions to behavioral psychologists and information scientists actively involved in the analysis of the social debate on the moral issues connected to sexual activities.

Who Makes the Fall Happen? A Study of Two National Taiwanese Universities’ Experiences of Removing Statues of Chiang Kai-shek

Addressing contentious historical figures’ statues and heritages is an issue that perplexes many countries and generates polarised social debates. Taiwanese society has also had a long debate on how to appropriately handle statues of the country’s former leader, Chiang Kai-shek. What has become known as “fallism” has been quite prevalent worldwide in recent years. Several studies have attempted to delineate this trend in South Africa, Belgium, the UK, and Taiwan under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rule after 2016. However, no study thus far has focused on who truly makes the fall happen. In this study, the authors examine two Taiwanese cases—National Chengchi University and National Sun Yat-sen University, located in the north and south of Taiwan respectively—and explore these two universities’ experiences of decision-making with regard to the removal of Chiang’s statues. To do so, we examine both quantitative and qualitative data collected through participatory observation and voting results. This study aims to answer the fundamental question of who actually makes the statues fall. The findings of this study enrich the discussion of fallism in the current literature.

Денацифікація Німеччини в німецькому історіографічному та суспільному дискурсі (1945-2021 рр.)

Based on the analysis of published works of German scholars (historians, political scientists, philosophers) and public opinion leaders, the author aims to identify the main stages, trends and assessments in the study and coverage of the process of denazifi cation of Germany over the past 60 years. Denazifi cation had its specifi city in the British and French zones of occupation before the creation of Bisone, and later Trizonia, because there was no generalizing practice of Western democracies regarding the denazifi cation of West Germany. Denazifi cation first became a topic of family and, consequently, social debate in the 1960s, thus removing the public taboo on scholars’ research. Th e problem of denazifi cation remains one of the relevant topics of German historical discourse today, but the Ukrainian scientifi c community has not yet presented a separate analysis of German historiography, which determines the novelty of the proposed article. Based on the methods of historiographical analysis, problem-chronological and retrospective approaches, it was found that among the German academic community there were different approaches to the perception and evaluation of denazification, which infl uenced on the formation of three waves in social and historiographical discourse. It has been established that the fi rst wave was formed during the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the internal demand of public opinion leaders and the younger generation, without the involvement of professional scholars, when denazifi cation remained a very sensitive topic for society. In the second stage, which lasted until the mid–1990s, denazifi cation became the subject of special historical research, which revealed the specifi cs of responsibility for Nazi crimes, the issue of political stability and overcoming the past. Since the early 2000s, a third wave of historiographical discourse has emerged, representing modern approaches and assessments of denazifi cation: in–depth study of its aspects and analysis in the context of related political and legal processes, including clarifying the role of justice in the occupation period, guilt and personal responsibility for both recent and current political processes in the context of intensifying radical movements in Germany. The change of generations, the growing role of the media, unifi cation with the GDR, the collapse of the USSR – is not an exhaustive list of factors that infl uenced not only the revision of approaches to assessing the implementation of denazifi cation, but also the possible application of German experience abroad. The practice of public dialogue in the format of public discussions and research on sensitive historical topics determines the level of individual and collective responsibility for the political situation in Germany. Representatives of German historiography agree that denazifi cation was a component of interethnic reconciliation, but diff er in views on the methods of its implementation.

What can Analysis of the Organizations’ Web Sites tell us about AI? Comparative Study of the Online Resources operated at Google, Yandex, and Baidu

The current social and cultural debates on AI and how it is being embedded into the reality of social life have reignited scientific debates on how to study AI, what counts as data, and the conditions under which information and data pertaining AI turn into knowledge. In this paper the authors’ focus was exploring new sources of data on AI and methods of AI phenomena examination. The paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of Google, Yandex, and Baidu’s websites. Contrary to these companies commonly being perceived as online search engines, Google, Baidu, and Yandex have multiple offerings across mobile products and services, knowledge products, translation services, open platforms for startups, PC client software and AI technologies. In the first part of the paper the authors compare information presented on these companies’ websites about their goals, their technologies, how they define AI, the proclaimed social problems associated with using AI, and the forms of interaction between these companies and their audiences. The second part of the paper analyzes 20 projects that won the Google AI Impact Challenge contest. Analyzing these projects allowed for identifying areas of application of AI technologies inside and outside organizations, for characterizing AI’s potential roles as a mediator in relations between people, and finally for highlighting utopian and dystopian scenarios associated with implementing AI in social relations. In the conclusion the authors formulate a set of broader questions for social analytics concerning artificial intelligence grounded in the results of their analysis.

The End-Purpose of Teaching Social Sciences and the Curricular Inclusion of Social Problems

The most recent scientific literature on the treatment of social problems or controversial social questions in the social sciences classroom and their inclusion into curricula emphasizes the need to introduce students into large-scale social debates where different points of view exist, different interests are at stake, and where it is desirable that they construct their own opinions in that respect from a critical and reasoned perspective [...]

Model of Social Entrepreneurship Career Readiness among Malaysian Public University Students

Social Entrepreneurship offers a unique opportunity to challenge, question and conceive concepts and assumptions in business management and research topics, as well as research methods and disciplines. The social entrepreneurship debate is a process of social change and/or addressing important social needs in a way that does not jeopardize the overall economic interests of the company. Social entrepreneurship differs from other forms of entrepreneurship in that it relatively prioritizes the promotion and development of social values over the acquisition of economic value. However, there is currently limited information on the level of international and social tuition fees for students in Malaysia. Nowadays, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship are considered viable work options and the career readiness elements do not only help improve the abilities and skills of prospective graduates but also increase the confidence of these graduates when entering the working world. The development of social cognition at the highest levels will have a profound impact on society and the combination of students or academics with university and society makes social entrepreneurship an important university curriculum, which is in the real life of learning and practice. Therefore, this concept paper aims to discuss and propose a conceptual framework of social entrepreneurship career readiness among public university students. Finally, social entrepreneurship is hoped to contribute to the ideas of prospective graduates as future careers can also contribute to positive and effective job creation with the ability to change perspectives and focus on social business to motivate them.

Victims or agents for change?

This paper analyzes the social media debate on sustainable fashion on the basis of a multilingual dataset of Instagram posts and tweets. We focus on how women are discursively represented in terms of agentivity and how this is associated to different argumentative strategies. Our findings reveal a clear link between an argumentation denouncing the “ill” of the fashion system and women represented as victims; and between arguments proposing a “cure” to the problem and women represented either as recipients of a positive action or as agents bringing about change. Positive representation of women as agents is often made through arguments based on concrete examples, which show that change is already happening.

Greenland and the geopolitics of critical minerals

Greenland and the geopolitics of critical minerals

Why Decriminalise Prostitution? Because Law and Justice Aren’t Always the Same

Leigh Goodmark’s work on domestic violence argues for alternatives to criminal justice to ‘solve’ issues of gendered violence. The criminalisation of sex work and prostitution is rarely discussed in this context—a rather odd omission given the increasing trend towards ‘criminalising demand’ and counter-calls for decriminalisation in this domain. In this article, we bring the two debates into conversation, using Goodmark’s work to bring analytical clarity to the prostitution debate and connect sex work to wider social justice debates in feminist anti-violence circles. We aim to move the conversation beyond retribution and the view that law is justice to outline a vision of justice for sex workers grounded in the principles of rights, recognition and representation. By contextualising the decriminalisation of prostitution within the framework of a wider anti-carceral justice movement, we seek to build alliances for social justice that transcend the current divide.

After a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology: A Ten-Year Retrospective

After a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology: A Ten-Year Retrospective

Modelling argumentation in short text: A case of social media debate

The technological leaps of artificial intelligence (AI) and the rise of machine learning have triggered significant progress in a plethora of natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding tasks. One of these tasks is argumentation mining which has received significant interest in recent years and is regarded as a key domain for future decision-making systems, behaviour modelling, and natural language understanding problems. Until recently, natural language modelling tasks, such as computational argumentation schemes, were often tested in controlled environments, such as persuasive essays, reducing unexpected behaviours that could occur in real-life settings, like a public debate on social media. Additionally, the growing demand for enhancing the trust and the explainability of the AI services has dictated the design and adoption of modelling schemes to increase the confidence in the outcomes of the AI solutions. This paper attempts to explore modelling argumentation in short text and proposes a novel framework for argumentation detection under the name Abstract Framework for Argumentation Detection (AFAD). Moreover, different proof-of-concept implementations are provided to examine the applicability of the proposed framework to very short text developing a rule-based mechanism and compare the results with data-driven solutions. Eventually, a combination of the deployed methods is applied increasing the correct predictions in the minority class on an imbalanced dataset. The findings suggest that the modelling process provides solid grounds for technical research while the hybrid solutions have the potential to be applied to a wide range of NLP-related tasks offering a deeper understanding of human language and reasoning.