Socio-political Perspective Research Articles

Do We Collaborate With What We Design?

The use of terms like "collaboration" and "co-workers" to describe interactions between human beings and certain artificial intelligence (AI) systems has gained significant traction in recent years. Yet, it remains an open question whether such anthropomorphic metaphors provide either a fertile or even a purely innocuous lens through which to conceptualize designed commercial products. Rather, a respect for human dignity and the principle of transparency may require us to draw a sharp distinction between real and faux peers. At the heart of the concept of collaboration lies the assumption that the collaborating parties are (or behave as if they are) of similar status: two agents capable of comparable forms of intentional action, moral agency, or moral responsibility. In application to current AI systems, this not only seems to fail ontologically but also from a socio-political perspective. AI in the workplace is primarily an extension of capital, not of labor, and the AI "co-workers" of most individuals will likely be owned and operated by their employer. In this paper, we critically assess both the accuracy and desirability of using the term "collaboration" to describe interactions between humans and AI systems. We begin by proposing an alternative ontology of human-machine interaction, one which features not two equivalently autonomous agents, but rather one machine that exists in a relationship of heteronomy to one or more human agents. In this sense, while the machine may have a significant degree of independence concerning the means by which it achieves its ends, the ends themselves are always chosen by at least one human agent, whose interests may differ from those of the individuals interacting with the machine. We finally consider the motivations and risks inherent to the continued use of the term "collaboration," exploring its strained relation to the concept of transparency, and consequences for the future of work.

(Re)Tracing the Radical Poetics and Vision of Guru Nanak: A Socio-Political Perspective

Todo el panorama de las prácticas religiosas del norte de la India experimentó un cambio radical en los siglos XV y XVI con poetas santos de Nirgun como Kabir y Guru Nanak. Nanak invariablemente se convirtió en una de las principales voces de su época cuya visión modernista se puede visualizar a través de su poética. Su cosmovisión igualitaria lo ha hecho popular entre todos los sectores de la sociedad. Eligiendo un idioma lingüístico de masas, refutó el valor consagrado otorgado a las escrituras, invalidó muchas nociones predominantes de Karma Kand (rituales védicos) y su enfoque hegemónico y mostró un camino revolucionario hacia la devoción. Su Japji sahib es un modelo cultural de pluralidad coexistente resistente al autoritarismo rígido e implica un misticismo democratizado. Es una filosofía única que desmantela a los defensores regresivos de ideologías represivas. Sus Shabads y Gurbani en el Guru Granth Sahib son poéticas de la pluralidad que ofrecen un modelo alternativo de apertura y multidimensionalidad. Con reminiscencias del estilo de los románticos ingleses, en Nanak, lo mundano y común se eleva a un significado más amplio en su poesía. La racionalidad, la igualdad y la ideología liberal predicadas y plasmadas en su poética se oponen rotundamente a la irracionalidad, la desigualdad y la ortodoxia predominantes. El fundamento importante de la filosofía de Nanak es la libertad psicológica que otorga a los despreciados y desposeídos por su casta, clase y género. Va más allá de los límites de la comunidad, la religión, el idioma, la cultura y la nación. La filosofía consecuente de liberación holística se vuelve más relevante en un ethos indio multilingüe, multicultural y multirreligioso actual. Por lo tanto, este artículo explorará el potencial radical y emancipador de la poética de Guru Nanak, su relevancia contemporánea en una época de polarizaciones religiosas, intolerancia y división; Además, explora cómo los paradigmas pluralistas de la visión y la poética de Guru Nanak se convierten en una panacea para las invasiones en curso de las creencias democráticas seculares.

Constructing Subaltern Worldview in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger

The central concern for many Indian writers, settled abroad, either remains diasporic experiences or their concerns about the othering of the poor by the affluent in modern India against the backdrop of the realities of the two opposing conceptions of India: the envisioned Independent India of the post-freedom struggle and the modern India of the rich. Caste and class structures are an imperial barrier to democratic socialism and economic equality, which causes the poor to be victimized. Because they lack resources and are therefore helpless, the underprivileged continue to be used as tools of the elite capitalist class. With the background established, Adiga’s The White Tiger holds a central position to establish the voice of the marginalized to challenge the country's booming prosperity.
 This paper attempts to critically analyze The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga through a socio-Political perspective to depict India’s socio-cultural and political context and how the larger politics impact the micro level realities of common people. Similarly, it attempts to establish a marginalized by showcasing the life of a low-born person involved in the local politics and policy.

Communicating science in the COVID-19 news in the UK during Omicron waves: exploring representations of nature of science with epistemic network analysis

News media plays a vital role in communicating scientific evidence to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such communication is important for convincing the public to follow social distancing guidelines and to respond to health campaigns such as vaccination programmes. However, newspapers were criticised that they focus on the socio-political perspective of science, without explaining the nature of scientific works behind the government’s decisions. This paper examines the connections of the nature of science categories in the COVID-19 era by four local newspapers in the United Kingdom between November 2021 to February 2022. Nature of science refers to different aspects of how science works such as aims, values, methods and social institutions of science. Considering the news media may mediate public information and perception of scientific stories, it is relevant to ask how the various British newspapers covered aspects of science during the pandemic. In the period explored, Omicron variant was initially a variant of concern, and an increasing number of scientific evidence showed that the less severity of this variant might move the country from pandemic to endemic. We explored how news articles communicate public health information by addressing how science works during the period when Omicron variants surge. A novel discourse analysis approach, epistemic network analysis is used to characterise the frequency of connections of categories of the nature of science. The connection between political factors and the professional activities of scientists, as well as that with scientific practices are more apparent in left-populated and centralist outlets than in right-populated news outlets. Among four news outlets across the political spectrum, a left-populated newspaper, the Guardian, is not consistent in representing relations of different aspects of the nature of scientific works across different stages of the public health crisis. Inconsistency of addressing aspects of scientific works and a downplay of the cognitive-epistemic nature of scientific works likely lead to failure in trust and consumption of scientific knowledge by the public in the healthcare crisis.

OUR DATA BODIES. RE-FRAMING OUR CONCEPTUAL AND NORMATIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH PERSONAL DATA

The rapid development of data-driven technologies has led to manifold concerns on how to protect citizens from the effects of massive data exploitation, especially when “personal data” are at stake, since they are the object of a fundamental right. Personal data are legally defined as any information “relating to” an identified or identifiable natural person, the right holder. However, it is unclear in which particular sense personal data relate to a person: which is the specific type of direct connection between them. In our view, this is a crucial question both from a conceptual and a normative point of view that the academic literature has not yet addressed in enough depth. In light of this, our paper aims at advancing knowledge towards a more accurate conception of our relationship with personal data. To do so, we firstly discuss the main recent conceptions on the issue: data as property, data as raw material and data as labour. Secondly, we argue why none of them seems to be accurate from a conceptual point of view or desirable from a socio-political perspective. Finally, we propose to understand personal data as _part of oneself_ and our relationship with them as the one we have with our bodies or their parts, with _our data bodies_. We end up discussing the implications of the proposed conception, both from a conceptual and from a normative perspective.

The Power of Music: But What Kind?

One of the enchanting powers of music is its ability to transcend language and culture and capture complex human experiences. But music, rather than a mere reflection of social reality, also constitutes within discursive practices and contributes to the social construction of gender and sexuality. By looking at two different examples of music works, I call attention to the social-political role music plays in our life. I argue that attending to the sociopolitical perspective of music is to understand how music traverses across lives (and materials) and creates different relationships with and among us. This is an attempt to better comprehend human experiences, through which, we may repair and recreate new relationships. I end this column with a few curriculum ideas.

Theology of Land: Reflections and Dialogue from a South African Socio-Political Perspective

This paper examines the current situation of land possession in the South African socio-political space. Land possession in South Africa is an emotive issue that receives different political responses based on historical constitutional land laws and declarations, such as the Freedom Charter of 1954. African views on land are elaborated, together with South African current political debates regarding land. Negative politics of the land leave the dispossessed humiliated, experiencing feelings of indignity and insentience. Being robbed of the land is humiliating, but the dialogue about regaining it should occur in the spirit of eschatological hope with one goal in mind: inheriting the land. The paper further elaborates a theology of the land and extensively explains its historical and biblical evolvement from the Abrahamic era to the period of exile. In the midst of tensions between colonial views of land and cultural clashes, eschatological hope is the route to take. Citizens are to be granted the rights and promises that lead to eschatological peace, which creates coexistence where life is fully experienced. Eschatological hope should not be read as opium with a calming effect or a soothing balm for people to endure injustice. It should be a message of hope for the restoration of quality of untrammelled joy on the fruitfulness of the land. All this is achievable through dialogue by and with all stakeholders regarding land issues. The contribution made by this article is the acknowledgement of the imbalances regarding the land issue, and it attempts to bring forth a theological understanding of land and how to apply it in the current South Africa.

Critical pedagogy and language teachers` language proficiency: Towards critical language proficiency

Studies on language proficiency of foreign language teachers have evoked considerable interest in recent decades. However, only mainstream core skills have been propounded in line with the framework of conventional approaches that have ignored critical perspectives. Although critical theory emanating from the ideas of Marx has produced critical pedagogy that aims to enable individuals to approach any subject or issue from a socio-political perspective, its applications have been insufficiently observed in the realm of language teacher education. This study aims to help language teachers improve critical language proficiency by providing them with an example of practice with a tentative syllabus. The benefit of using such an example might enable them to perceive language as an aim in itself rather than merely a tool that is devoid of criticality. Therefore, adding the dimension of criticality to mainstream language proficiency composed of core skills may produce critical language teachers as intellectuals attempting to transform their immediate social circles and create meaningful changes with an emphasis on the adoption of intrinsic motivation. The incorporation of critical literacy and critical consciousness into the content of language proficiency can empower language teachers in that they can address authentic socio-political issues that provide authentic, meaningful and comprehensible input which can turn into output. In this sense, criticality and reflection can be two indispensable elements of language proficiency for language teachers.

Translation and dealing with “the other” in scholarly research and publishing:

Although languages other than English, along with various forms of translation, are intrinsic to multilingual researchers’ scholarly activities, they generally remain less visible in English-medium publications. In this discussion paper, I explore this topic from a broader sociopolitical perspective by looking at the use and function of translation in various stages of research and writing for publication. Drawing on recent studies on multilingualism in academia and my own experience as a teacher of research communication, I argue that in the academic context, translation cannot be seen as a mere linguistic act or a communication tool as it is inextricably tied to complex and multilayered contexts, identities, and ideologies. Thus, translation decisions should not be based solely on practical considerations but also on a critical evaluation of the intricate social, cultural, ethical, and ideological dimensions of scholarly communication and interaction. Developing a greater awareness of the multiple functions and far-reaching effects of translation is beneficial for all actors directly or indirectly involved in scholarly research and publishing. I believe that a deeper reflection on these issues not only contributes to more diversity and equity in academia but enables novice multilingual writers to embrace their agency and make decisions that are better aligned with their personal values, interests, and goals.

Education and Technology Management Policies and Practices in Madarasah

In order to promote education in madrasahs, this study seeks to assess policies from a sociopolitical perspective. This research, it continues, was carried out using a descriptive qualitative method to the kind of library research, with book data serving as the data source. Content analysis, whose scope includes the depth of information content, was used to carry out the data analysis technique. The findings demonstrated that madrasah-based management involves the principal and is participatory management of the madrasah. The community, stakeholders, instructors, and students must work together to attain the goals for educational quality. Since1960–1990, there has been a global push toward decentralization in the area of education reform. The New Order's fall in 1998 ushered in a period of transition that included the constitutional reformation of education in Indonesia. since the Regional Government Law No. 22 of1999, which was later revised by Law No. 32 of the same year, established regional autonomy. In2004, the local government received control of the educational matters.

Education and Technology Management Policies and Practices in Madarasah

In order to promote education in madrasahs, this study seeks to assess policies from a sociopolitical perspective. This research, it continues, was carried out using a descriptive qualitative method to the kind of library research, with book data serving as the data source. Content analysis, whose scope includes the depth of information content, was used to carry out the data analysis technique. The findings demonstrated that madrasah-based management involves the principal and is participatory management of the madrasah. The community, stakeholders, instructors, and students must work together to attain the goals for educational quality. Since1960–1990, there has been a global push toward decentralization in the area of education reform. The New Order's fall in 1998 ushered in a period of transition that included the constitutional reformation of education in Indonesia. since the Regional Government Law No. 22 of1999, which was later revised by Law No. 32 of the same year, established regional autonomy. In2004, the local government received control of the educational matters.

Attitudes to migration in a crisis situation. Analysis from a socio-political perspective

The aim of the article is to present the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the situation of selected categories of migrants, in particular Polish citizens residing abroad, economic migrants, and persons seeking international protection from the socio-political and media perspective. The article discusses the actions taken toward migrants by Poland and, based on the results of empirical research and media coverage, analyses the consequences of the pandemic, especially in the areas of health, labour market, and social integration.

‘Trapped in the trap’: Exploring Music Therapists’ clinical engagement with the current discourse around UK Drill

This article investigates Music Therapists’ experience and understanding of UK Drill. As a recently emerged sub-genre of Rap, its graphic lyrics have been linked to increases in gang activity and violent crime in the United Kingdom, while simultaneously voicing the experiences of marginalised black, working-class people. This has fuelled wider debate around censorship and diversity, tensions within which are explored in this article in a review of the literature on Rap and music therapy. The review suggests that while the therapeutic use of UK Drill may be contraindicated, to exclude the genre from music therapy is problematic from a socio-political perspective. This debate is then explored through semi-structured interviews with two white Music Therapists with experience of working with young people who want to use UK Drill in their music therapy sessions. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three themes are discussed: research participants’ descriptions of their perception of the therapeutic components of UK Drill, their perspectives on the psychosocial context of UK Drill and their negotiating questions of identity when working with UK Drill. Findings suggested a complex role for UK Drill in music therapy. While the ethical and clinical necessity of not excluding UK Drill from sessions was established, so were a number of challenges posed for Music Therapists looking to integrate it into their practice. Research participants were also found to be emotionally desensitised to UK Drill’s graphic lyrics. This is argued to represent an underlying anxiety towards UK Drill’s intense emotional expression, which was further suggested by the absence of open consideration towards clients’ racial identities. The findings are considered in the context of wider diversity issues within the profession. They also signal the need for a more socially cognisant music therapy practice, with greater open consideration paid towards the client’s racial identity by white Music Therapists.

Board of Directors versus the CEO: Social Networks and CEO Dismissal

This study draws on social capital theory and social network analysis literature to examine the research question of when CEOs are dismissed. It views CEO dismissal as a contest between the board and the CEO powered by their position within the upper echelons social network. We test hypotheses on firms listed in Standard and Poor’s ExecuComp for the period 2000-2016 using a Cox (1972) semiparametric proportional hazard model. Findings show that the higher the network centrality of directors in the upper echelons social network, the more likely they are to dismiss the CEO. In addition, this relationship is negatively moderated by the centrality of the CEO’s position within the social network, and the overlap of the CEO’s and the directors’ social networks. The study extends the literature on the socio-political perspective as it finds that the directors’ social networks affect CEO dismissal. Findings have implications for the criteria used to select board directors.

Do Executives Use Their Corporate Jets to Go Provide Private Information to Investors?

In this study, we use data on the flight paths of corporate jets to assess the likelihood that executives are engaging in private meetings to provide market-sensitive information to large investors ahead of key events, such as announcements of a share buy-back or earnings surprises. We find that shortly before making such market announcements, executives are indeed more likely to fly to places where their investors are located. Moreover, we find that investors seem to act on information provided to them: following the meetings, they tend to increase their shareholdings, in comparison to investors that have not been visited. Through these findings, we advance the literature that takes a socio-political perspective on corporate governance, including the relations between senior executives and company investors. We also contribute to the literature on corporate misconduct.

Food is Freedom: The Evolution and Raison d’être of Cooperatives in Kuwait

Kuwait’s cooperative societies (“co-ops”) are vital institutions that are a hub for social, economic, and political activities. In this article we focus on the purpose of co-ops from a socio-political perspective. We argue that co-ops function both as bottom-up organizations and as a means of upholding citizen autonomy versus the state. Historically they emerged as grassroots initiatives in the pre-oil era and have played a significant role in the country’s socio-political arena. Due to their role in securing citizens’ autonomy and thereby upholding the social contract between the ruler and the citizen, the co-ops contribute to legitimizing the regime. Co-ops have not been studied closely and a new research agenda studying these organizations in Kuwait and the region is necessary.

A Critical Lens on Cognitively Guided Instruction: Perspectives from Mathematics Teacher Educators of Color

Elementary mathematics teacher education often draws on research-based frameworks that center children as mathematical thinkers, grounding teaching in children’s mathematical strategies and ideas and as a means to attend to equity in mathematics teaching and learning. In this conceptual article, a group of critical mathematics teacher educators of color reflect on the boundaries of Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) as a research-based mathematical instructional framework advancing equity through a sociopolitical perspective of mathematics instruction connected to race, power, and identity. We specifically discuss CGI along the dominant and critical approaches to equity outlined by Gutiérrez’s (2007, 2009) framework. We present strategies used to extend our work with CGI and call for the field to continue critical conversations of examining mathematical instructional frameworks as we center equity and criticality.

The correspondence between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud in “Why War” and the socio-political perspective of Alfred Adler

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the correspondence between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, published in the Standard Edition of Freud's writings under the title of “Why War”. Freud's answers to some of Einstein's questions are compared to Alfred Adler's ideas on the role of “striving for power” versus “community feeling” and the role of these two forces in the development of war. Adler had begun to develop an object relations line of thinking in his early papers on the aggressive drive and the need for affection (Adler 1908a and 1908b). It is suggested that if Freud and Adler had been able to continue working together, they might have been able to bring their differing perspectives on the issue of war together to address both the role of power and loss of power, as well as the role of narcissistic defences in the development of war. As it is, this was left to later psychoanalytic thinkers, in particular the Kleinian analysts, who underlined the role of reverting to paranoid-schizoid thinking in the face of humiliation, rather than facing depression and the work of mourning. The work of mourning is illustrated using excerpts from Benjamin Britten's “War Requiem”.

Unpacking the Emotional Experiences of English Majors Preparing for Postgraduate Entrance Exam in China

As a neoliberally-driven test, China’s postgraduate entrance exam is gaining an increasing attention nationwide due to the intense competition in the local market and the dramatic size of Chinese students taking the exam. Under the neoliberal mechanism, Chinese candidates are ideologically self-regulated and emotionally-driven to mobilize their resources and maximize their opportunities to pass the exam. Seeing emotion as sociopolitically loaded and ideologically driven, this study unpacks the emotional experiences of Chinese students preparing for postgraduate entrance exam. Findings indicate that, despite their successful performance, Chinese postgraduate students have experienced a series of negative emotions imposed by various socioeconomic factors. Findings also show that their emotional experiences are intertwined with their different identity construction and negotiated between social relations and power. Overall, this article highlights the importance of addressing the need of studying the emotions and language learners from the sociopolitical perspective. The study is closed by the implications for language education and language policy.

The Ecosystem Services and Green Infrastructure: A Systematic Review and the Gap of Economic Valuation

This study was conducted to determine the trends at the intersection of studies made on green infrastructure and ecosystem services, which have frequently become preferred in establishing urban−green space relationships in global research. Green-related concepts have frequently been used from past to present in order to neutralise the increasing pressures on urban dynamics resulting from rapid urbanisation. Green corridor, green belt, green structure, and green finger/hand concepts have been used to provide recreational opportunities, protect nature, and keep urban sprawl under control. For the last decade, however, in addition to the traditional green concepts, green infrastructure (GI) and ecosystem services (ES) have been preferred in contemporary urban planning, as they enable the integration of the ecological concerns of the landscape and the socio-political perspective. The aim of this study is to detect the trends of the green infrastructure and ecosystem services association, and to reveal these trends in the common area with the bibliometric mapping method. The economic concept and its analysing use at the intersection of green infrastructure and ecosystem services were explored with VOSviewer using the Scopus® database. Furthermore, the number of documents, which initially began with around 39,719 studies, was reduced by filtering through systematic reviews, to only three documents that met the economic valuation criteria. In this way, a lack of economic analyses, creating a serious research gap within the framework of green infrastructure and ecosystem services, was quantitatively determined.