Showing papers on "Dilemma published in 2000"

Social Capital and Civil Society

Abstract: Social capital is an instantiated informal norm that promotes cooperation between individuals. In the economic sphere it reduces transaction costs, and in the political sphere it promotes the kind of associational life that is necessary for the success of limited government and modern democracy. Although social capital often arises from iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma games, it also is a byproduct of religion, tradition, shared historical experience, and other types of cultural norms. Thus whereas awareness of social capital is often critical for understanding development, it is difficult to generate through public policy.

Building cross-cultural competence : how to create wealth from conflicting values

Abstract: Introduction. Universalism-Particularism: The Dilemma. Reconciling Universalism and Particularism: Stories and Cases. Individualism-Communitarianism: The Dilemma. Reconciling Individualism and Communitarianism: Stories and Cases. Specificity-Diffuseness: The Dilemma. Reconciling Specificity and Diffuseness: Stories and Cases. Achieved-Ascribed Status: The Dilemma. Reconciling Achieved with Ascribed Status: Stories and Cases. Inner Direction versus Outer Direction: The Dilemma. Reconciling Inner and Outer Direction: Stories and Cases. Sequential and Synchronous Time: The Dilemma. Reconciling Sequential and Synchronous Time: Stories and Cases. Appendix 1 - Dilemma Theory and Its Origins. Appendix 2 - Exercises in Reconciliation. Appendix 3 - Measuring Transcultural Competence: Old and New. Questionnaries. Appendix 4 - The Space Between Dimensions. Bibliography. Filmography. Index.

Thinking like a game theorist: factors affecting the frequency of equilibrium play

Abstract: Previous research has reported conflicting results on whether and the extent to which individuals play equilibria of experimental games. Two experiments reported in this paper ask whether the act of eliciting beliefs about the actions of others influences a subjects’ likelihood of playing an equilibrium in a social dilemma or public goods game. The first experiment compares two versions of a linear public goods game, one with and one without an elicitation of beliefs. Contributions in the two treatments were significantly different, with the actions of subjects in the elicitation treatment closer to the equilibrium prediction of full free riding. A second experiment investigates the same question using a prisoner’s dilemma game with similar results; subjects in the elicitation treatment play the dominant strategy significantly more than subjects in a control treatment.

Making a Difference: Using Peers To Assess Individual Students' Contributions to a Group Project.

Abstract: Overcoming the potential dilemma of awarding the same grade to a group of students for group work assignments, regardless of the contribution made by each group member, is a problem facing teachers who ask their students to work collaboratively together on assessed group tasks. In this paper, we report on the procedures to factor in the contributions of individual group members engaged in an integrated group project using peer assessment procedures. Our findings demonstrate that the method we used resulted in a substantially wider spread of marks being given to individual students. Almost every student was awarded a numerical score which was higher or lower than a simple group project mark would have been. When these numerical scores were converted into the final letter grades, approximately one-third of the students received a grade for the group project that was different from the grade that they would have received if the same grade had been awarded to all group members. Based on these preliminary find...

Social Capital and Civil Society

Abstract: Social capital is an instantiated informal norm that promotes cooperation between individuals. In the economic sphere it reduces transaction costs, and in the political sphere it promotes the kind of associational life that is necessary for the success of limited government and modern democracy. Although social capital often arises from iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma games, it also is a byproduct of religion, tradition, shared historical experience, and other types of cultural norms. Thus whereas awareness of social capital is often critical for understanding development, it is difficult to generate through public policy.

From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public

Abstract: IntroductionPart I. Silent No More Chapter 1. Ending the Silence Chapter 2. The Daisy Dilemma Chapter 3. From Virtue to the Voice of Agency Chapter 4. Presenting Yourself as a Nurse Chapter 5. Tell the World What You Do Chapter 6. Creating Anecdotes and ArgumentsPart II. Communicating with the Media and the Public Chapter 7. How the News Media Work Chapter 8. Reaching Out to the Media Chapter 9. In Your Own Voice: Blogs, Comments, Letters to the Editor, Op-Eds Chapter 10. Getting It Right Chapter 11. Appearing on Television, Radio, and Videos Chapter 12. Opportunities and Challenges AheadAppendix: How We Came to Write This BookNotes Index

Prelude to Political Economy: A Study of the Social and Political Foundations of Economics

Abstract: Mainstream economics was founded on many strong assumptions. Institutions and politics were treated as irrelevant, government as exogenous, social norms as epiphenomena. As an initial gambit this was fine. But as the horizons of economic inquiry have broadened, these assumptions have become hindrances rather than aids. If we want to understand why some economies succeed and some fail, why some governments are effective and others not, why some communities prosper while others stagnate, it is essential to view economics as embedded in politics and society. Prelude to Political Economy is a study of this embeddedness; it argues for an 'inclusive' approach to institutions and the state. Modern economics recognizes that individuals' pursuit of their own selfish ends can result in socially suboptimal outcomes - the Prisoner's Dilemma being the stark example. It has been suggested that what we need in such an eventuality is 'third-party' intervention, which can take the form of imposing punishment on players. Kaushik Basu objects to this method of wishing third parties out of thin air. He argues that if a third party that could impose its will on others were available, then it should have been modeled as a player to start with. The adoption of such an inclusive approach has implications for our conception of the state and the law. It means that the law cannot be construed as a factor that changes the game that citizens play. It is instead simply a set of beliefs of citizens; and, as such, it is similar to social norms. What the law does for an economy, so can social norms. The book discusses how the nature of policy advice and our conception of state power are affected by this altered view of the state and the law. As corollaries, the book addresses a variety of important social and philosophical questions, such as whether the state should guarantee freedom of speech, whether determinism is compatible with free will, and whether the free market can lead to coercion. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/0198296711/toc.html

Managing learning in informal innovation networks: overcoming the Daphne‐dilemma

Abstract: In this article we discuss the nature and productivity of informal innovation networks, i.e. informal collaborative arrangements between organizations engaged in product or process innovation. Such networks can be used in any phase of the innovation process, but their informal nature makes them especially suited for its fuzzy front end. We explore their potential in technology exchange and learning on the basis of a combination of organization network theory and knowledge management theory. We discuss issues in network governance and network operational management and discuss the basic dilemma – which we named the Daphne-dilemma – facing attempts to improve the productivity of informal innovation networks: too little management effort may lead to under-exploitation of their potential and poor productivity, but too much management effort may destroy their informal nature and hence their creative and explorative potential.

War as a tourist attraction: the case of Vietnam

Abstract: This paper considers the challenges involved in the presentation of war as a tourist attraction, using the example of recent conflicts in Vietnam and a particular site there to illustrate the issues which arise. It begins with a general discussion about war and tourism, and then moves on to examine the development of tourism in Vietnam and the place of wartime heritage. Various aproaches to interpretation are identified and the problems facing those responsible are highlighted. The dilemma is one of achieving a satisfactory balance between education and entertainment while providing an appropriate experience for visitors who come with different needs and expectations. Political circumstances represent an added complication. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Psychiatric nurses' thoughts and feelings about restraint use: a decision dilemma.

Abstract: Patients continue to be physically restrained in psychiatric in-patient units. Studies concerned with staff-related variables have suggested that the emotional reactions of professionals to violent or potentially violent patients may influence their use of restrictive measures. However, no research existed that described psychiatric nurses' thoughts and feelings while they were involved in restraint situations nor what effects their thoughts and feelings had on their decision to restrain. Therefore, an ethnographic qualitative study was conducted in order to describe systematically nurses' thoughts and feelings toward restraint use in the in-patient psychiatric setting. The conceptual approach guiding the study was Etzioni's (1992) theoretical work on the role of normative-affective factors in decision making. Following ethical approval of the study, ethnographic interviews were conducted with six nurses from an in-patient psychiatric unit who had participated in a situation involving the physical restraint of a patient. The analysis of the nurses' thoughts and feelings revealed that the restraint situation represented a decision dilemma for them. This overall finding was supported by four themes: (1) the framing of the situation: the potential for imminent harm; (2) the unsuccessful search for alternatives to physical restraints; (3) the conflicted nurse; and (4) the contextual conditions of restraint. The results indicated that restraint use is more complex than is currently conveyed in the literature in that normative-affective factors influenced nurses' restraint decisions. The findings advance our understanding of why restraints continue to be used in psychiatric units. Further research is necessary to examine the findings in other settings and with a larger and more diverse population in order to draw definitive conclusions about the continued use of physical restraints in the care of patients on psychiatric units in hospitals.

From Welfare Housing to Home Ownership: The Dilemma of China's Housing Reform

Abstract: While the Chinese housing reform programme has been rigorously implemented along the direction of marketization and commodification,this paper argues that the reform process has generally neglected its impact on issues such as inequality and distributive justice. Other than its apparent effects on housing production and the improvementof the living condition within some big cities, this paper questions both the underlying values of some of those newly created housing reform institutions such as the Housing Provident Fund and the housing monetarisation policy. It is argued that China is now facing a similar dilemma as with many other Western countries on the question: how much the state should collectively provide housing and how much individuals should be responsible for themselves. It is further suggested that since the reform process is implemented from top-down directives, it often generates a far-reaching impact on the distributional front and, without the right values and corrective measures, social ...

Decision-induced focusing in social dilemmas: give-some, keep-some, take-some, and leave-some dilemmas.

Abstract: Previous research on asymmetric social dilemmas has suggested that public good dilemmas evoke different choice behaviors than do resource dilemmas. The authors propose that these differences reflect a differential focus that is dependent on the way decisions are generally presented in the dilemma types. In agreement with this, the results of 2 experimental studies suggest that, in public good dilemmas, group members are less focused on the consequences of their actions for the final outcome distribution when deciding how many endowments they give to the public good than when deciding how many endowments they keep for themselves. In resource dilemmas, group members are less focused on the final outcome distribution when deciding how many endowments they leave in the collective resource than when deciding how many endowments they take.

An American Health Dilemma: A Medical History of African Americans and the Problem of Race: Beginnings to 1900

Abstract: At times mirroring and at times shockingly disparate to the rise of traditional White American medicine, the history of African American health care is a story of traditional healers; root doctors; granny midwives; underappreciated and overworked African American physicians; scrupulous and unscrupulous White doctors and scientists; governmental support and neglect; epidemics; and poverty. Virtually every part of this story revolves around race. More than 50 years after the publication of An American Dilemma,Gunnar Myrdal's 1944 classic about race relations in the USA,An American Health Dilemma presents a comprehensive and groundbreaking history and social analysis of race, race relations and the African American medical and public health experience. Beginning with the origins of Western medicine and science in Egypt, Greece and Rome the authors explore the relationship between race, medicine, and health care from the precursors of American science and medicine through the days of the slavetrade with the harrowing Middle Passage and equally deadly Breaking-In period through the Civil War and the gains of Reconstruction and the reversals caused by Jim Crow laws. It offers an extensive examination of the history of intellectual and scientific racism that evolved to give sanction to the mistreatment, medical abuse, and neglect of African Americans and other non-White people. Also included are biographical portraits of Black medical pioneers like James McCune Smith, the first African American to earn a degree from a European university, and anecdotal vignettes,like the tragic story of "the Hottentot Venus", which illustrate larger themes. An American Health Dilemma promises to become an irreplaceable and essential look at African American and medical history and will provide an invaluable baseline for future exploration of race and racism in the American health system.

Alternative Media: Conceptual Difficulties, Critical Possibilities

Abstract: This article summarizes and analyzes the dilemma of alternative media as it has been theorized in selected statements in the literatures of mass communication. It locates the source of this dilemma in the theoretical assumptions about alternative media and their resulting inability to escape the seeming tradeoff between political effectiveness and organizational/cultural massification. It concludes by suggesting an alternative way of conceptualizing alternative media that instead of leading to efforts to build mirror images of mainstream media organizations with all their limitations, makes possible greater and more meaningful participation in public debates about the nature and direction of American society.

Learning science through contexts: helping pupils make sense of everyday situations

Abstract: The study explores ways in which Swazi junior secondary school pupils who have been taught a contextualized science course deal with everyday science-based situations. In particular, this paper documents pupils' written explanations of everyday actions in terms of an awareness of the social and economic implications of science; their skills in designing an experiment to solve an everyday dilemma; and their abilities to draw on relevant science concepts to solve everyday problems. For all responses, pupils are asked to indicate the source of the knowledge they draw on. The findings show that considerably less than half of the sample display any of these abilities. A large majority of those displaying experimental design skills claim to have gained these from school science but only a minority of those showing social and economic awareness and problem solving skills relate these to school science education. Suggestions are made to increase the effectiveness of contextualized teaching in dealing with everyda...

A general theory of sympathy, mind-reading, and social interaction, with an application to the Prisoners' Dilemma:

Abstract: A theory of sympathy is advanced, based on the insights of theorists such as Hume, Smith, Cooley, Mead, and Heider, and drawing on modern findings in sociology and social psychology. The process of identifying with another person is determined by the perception of distance from the other, may involve non-conscious imitation, and leads to an enlarged self-interest. The core of the theory is a model balancing physical distance, psychological similarity and familiarity, affection, and evaluation. Great emphasis is placed on the incarnation of social actors, the importance of their bodies and sentiments, and the effects of the interaction order. This theoretical structure is applied to the Prisoners' Dilemma in order to derive a large set of predictions that are tested successfully against the wealth of experimental results.

Balancing Old and New: An Experienced Middle School Teacher's Learning in the Context of Mathematics Instructional Reform

Abstract: In this study I examined a dilemma an experienced teacher struggled with during the first year of her involvement in a mathematics education reform project. The dilemma-ensuring student success-resulted from the tension between the teacher's past practice of structuring learning opportunities so that students could experience success and her new belief that students needed to engage in complex problem solving that often required initial feelings of being unsuccessful. Data for this study included videotapes and summaries of classroom observations and professional development sessions; audiotapes and transcripts of interviews conducted with the teacher; surveys on the teacher's background, beliefs, and practices; and the teacher's reflections on her practice. Drawing on these data, I traced the evolution of the dilemma across the year, with particular attention to experiences that served as catalysts for the dilemma, factors that supported the resolution of the dilemma, and evidence that the dilemma stimul...

Children as research subjects: a dilemma.

Abstract: A complex problem exists about how to promote the best interests of children as a group through research while protecting the rights and welfare of individual research subjects. The Nuremberg Code forbids studies without consent, eliminating most children as subjects, and the Declaration of Helsinki disallows non-therapeutic research on non-consenting subjects. Both codes are unreasonably restrictive. Another approach is represented by the Council for the International Organizations of Medical Science, the U.S. Federal Research Guidelines, and many other national policies. They allow research ethics committees or institutional review boards to authorize studies with acceptable balances of likely benefits and harms, but neither clarify how to balance them nor explain the meaning of pivotal concepts, like "minimal risk." Paths to the improvement of balancing or consequentialist approaches include (1) improving standardizing of risk assessment, (2) rejecting crude utilitarianism, (3) identifying and justifying normative or moral judgments, and (4) acknowledging extra-regulatory thresholds and deontological or non-negotiable duties to children.

The ground floor of the world: On the socio-economic consequences of linguistic globalization

Abstract: As English emerges as the first world-wide lingua franca, countries whose native language is not English increasingly face the following dilemma: either they will have to lose their soul (by switching off the protection of their national language and culture) or they will have to lose their heart (by scaling down the redistributive component of their welfare state). This conclusion rests on the following premises, which the article presents and vindicates: (1) If weaker languages are to survive, the countries in which they are spoken will have to insist on the linguistic territoriality principle. (2) Plurilingual portfolios do now and increasingly will tend to include English. (3) If some area’s native language emerges as a world lingua franca and if the territoriality principle is in place elsewhere, the migration of the high-skilled will display a growing bias towards the lingua-franca countries, here called for this reason the ground floor of the world. (4) If there is a significant asymmetric skill drain, then the other countries’ governments will have no real option but to reduce net taxation on high-skilled labour income. The article closes with a brief discussion of various conceivable strategies for avoiding, or at least softening the dilemma.

Strategic Transitions: Game Theory and Democratization

Abstract: A transition agreement is a rational game, with political actors choosing moves that will avoid widespread violence and civil war. As Josep M. Colomer argues, game theory is particularly appropriate to offer a theoretical framework for the study of democratic transitions, since it assumes that collective outcomes result from strategies chosen by self-interested actors. In particular, the cooperative, efficient equilibria of two "mugging" games and the famous "prisoner's dilemma" game point out that opportunities for mutual benefit exist within different models of transition. Strategic Transitions applies game theory to an analysis of Central Europe after the fall of Communism and, in particular, to the transitions in the former Soviet Union and in Poland. The strategic approach adopted by Colomer helps to explain the development of political reforms and democratization, even in the absence of the "structural preconditions" often postulated in other studies. With its application of game theory to democratic transitions, Strategic Transitions provides fresh insight into how political actors make the choices that move nations from authoritarian to more democratic regimes. "Colomer has succeeded in writing a supremely readable volume, which should attract the interest of everyone interested in democratic transitions."--Mads Qvortrup, Political Studies "At the theoretical level, Strategic Transitions shows deductively that transitions can be the outcome of a rational interaction between key actors under the authoritarian regime. The book provides a very convincing interpretation of the events leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union and democratization in Eastern Europe."--Leonard Wantchekon, Yale University "Josep M. Colomer has exemplary knowledge of the political dynamics of democratization in the contemporary world and an equally subtle sense of how best to specify those processes in game theoretic models. His Strategic Transitions reveals the impressive promise of empirically grounded game theory"--David D. Laitin, Stanford University

The use of large-group role-play techniques in social work education

Abstract: The social work student's dilemma of how to link theory to practice is explored and developed by the use of a 'large-group role play' as part of a university-based DipSW programme. This project, although challenging to deliver, has met with an enthusiastic response from DipSW students.

A Tragedy of the Public Knowledge 'Common' ? Global Science, Tellectual Property and The Digital Technology Boomerang

Abstract: The paper sets out the economic case for the effectiveness of open, collaborative research, and the forces behind the recent, countervailing rush to strengthen and expand the scope of intellectual property rights protection. Focusing upon innovations in copyright law and the sui generis protection of hitherto unprotected content, it documents the genesis and analyzes the economic implications of the EC's Database Directive, and related legislative proposals (H.R. 3125, H.R. 354 and H.R. 1858) in the US. The discussion concludes by advancing a number of modest remedial proposals that are intended to promoted greater efforts to arrive at satisfactory policy solutions for this aspect of "the digital dilemma".

Digital Dilemma: Issues of Access, Cost, and Quality in Media-Enhanced and Distance Education

Abstract: Introduction -- Issues of access and equity -- Issues of cost and affordability -- Issues of quality and effectiveness -- Conclusions and recommendations

Truth‐telling versus hope: A dilemma in practice

Abstract: This paper presents a brief outline of the attributes and therapeutic nature of hope in the context of truth-telling. It is suggested that, in some circumstances, withholding the truth to protect hope can be considered a morally acceptable option when truth-telling has the potential to destroy hope's therapeutic effects. A clinical vignette that highlights how the practitioner can be confronted with a clash of principles is presented. The possible consequences of both truth-telling and the withholding of truth are discussed and the moral positions of the health-care professionals involved are examined. This article is intended to provide a framework for discussion/group work, particularly at undergraduate level.

The Construction of Moral Dilemmas in Everyday Life

Abstract: This study investigated the extent to which people interpret real-life moral dilemmas in terms of an internal moral orientation, as Gilligan (1982, 1988) has suggested, or in terms of the content of the dilemma, as Wark and Krebs (1996, 1997) have reported. Thirty women and 30 men listed the issues they saw in descriptions of real-life prosocial, antisocial and social pressure types of moral dilemma. Results revealed that Gilligan's model underestimates the influence of dilemma content. Moral dilemmas differed in the extent to which they were viewed in terms of the same issues by different participants. There was relatively little within-person consistency in moral orientation. There were four gender differences. Compared to men, women rated social pressure dilemmas as involving more care-orientated issues, and prosocial dilemmas as more significant. Compared to women, men viewed all dilemmas as involving more justice-based issues, and reported experiencing more antisocial dilemmas.