Showing papers on "Dilemma published in 2001"

Social capital, civil society and development

Abstract: Social capital is an instantiated informal norm that promotes co-operation between individuals. In the economic sphere it reduces transaction costs and in the political sphere it promotes the kind of associational life which is necessary for the success of limited government and modern democracy. While it 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, while awareness of social capital is often critical for understanding development, it is difficult to generate through public policy.

Teaching Mathematics in Multilingual Classrooms

Abstract: Foreword D. Pimm. Acknowledgements. A Note on Terminology. 1. The Elusive Dynamics of Teaching Mathematics in Multilingual Classrooms. 2. Complexity and Diversity: The Language and Mathematics Education Terrain in South Africa. 3. Accessing Teachers' Tacit and Articulated Knowledge. 4. Dilemmas in Teaching: A Prelude and Frame. 5. Teachers Talking about Teaching: The Emergence of Dilemmas. 6. Language(s) as Resource and the Dilemma of Code-Switching. 7. Dilemmas of Mediation in a 8. The Dilemma of Transparency: Language Visibility in the Multilingual Classroom. 9. Central Dilemmas as Curriculum and Research Agenda. Endnotes. References. Subject Index. Index of Names. Appendices.

The Sequential Prisoner's Dilemma: Evidence on Reciprocation

Abstract: We investigate how fairness concerns influence individual behaviour in social dilemmas. Using a Sequential Prisoner's Dilemma experiment we analyse the extent to which co-operation is conditional on first-mover co-operation, repetition, economic incentives, subject pool (United Kingdom vs. United States) and gender. We find the most important variable influencing co-operation is the first-mover's choice, supporting the argument that co-operative behaviour in social dilemmas reflects reciprocation rather than unconditional altruism. However, we also find that co-operation decreases with repetition, and reciprocation falls as its material cost rises.

Groups with minds of their own

Abstract: them into subjects in their own right, giving them a way of being minded that is starkly discontinuous with the mentality of their members. This claim in social ontology is strong enough to ground talk of such collectivities as entities that are psychologically autonomous and that constitute institutional persons. Yet unlike some traditional doctrines (Runciman 1997), it does not spring from a rejection of common sense. This chapter shows that the claim is supported by the implications of a distinctive social paradox—the discursive dilemma—and is consistent with a denial that our minds are subsumed in a higher form of Geist or in any variety of collective consciousness. Although the chapter generates a rich, metaphysical brew, the ingredients it deploys all come from austere and sober analysis. The chapter is in six sections. In the first I introduce the doctrinal paradox, a predicament recently identified in jurisprudence, and in the second I explain how it generalizes to constitute the discursive dilemma. In the third section I show that that dilemma is going to arise for any group or grouping—henceforth I shall just say, group—that espouses or avows purposes, and that such purposive collectivities are bound to resolve it by imposing the discipline of reason at the collective rather than the individual level. In the fourth and fifth sections I argue that groups of this kind— social integrates, as I call them—will constitute intentional and personal subjects. And then in the sixth section I look briefly at how we should think of the relationship between institutional persons of this kind and the natural persons who sustain them.

Empathy-induced altruism in a prisoner's dilemma II: what if the target of empathy has defected?

Abstract: What if participants in a one-trial prisoner's dilemma know before making their decision that the other person has already defected? From the perspective of classic game theory, a dilemma no longer exists. It is clearly in their best interest to defect too. The empathy-altruism hypothesis predicts, however, that if they feel empathy for the other, then a dilemma remains: self-interest counsels defection; empathy-induced altruism counsels not. This motivational conflict should lead at least some empathically aroused individuals not to defect. To test this prediction, we placed 60 undergraduate women in a one-trial prisoner's dilemma in which they knew the other had already defected. Among those not induced to feel empathy, very few (0.05) did not defect in return. Among those induced to feel empathy for the other, almost half (0.45) did not defect. These results underscore the power of empathy-induced altruism to affect responses in a prisoner's dilemma. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Health promotion research : dilemmas and challenges

Abstract: OBJECTIVE—To analyse dilemmas and challenges in health promotion research, and to generate ideas for future development. METHOD—The analysis is based on authors' experiences in working in the field of research and action in health promotion and on experiences of others as found in literature. RESULTS—The assumptions underlying scientific research as based in the biomedical design are difficult to meet in community-based health promotion research. Dilemmas are identified in relation to the possibility of defining the independent and dependent variables beforehand and the intermingling of these variables (the intervention and outcome dilemma), the difficulty in quantifying the desired outcomes (the number dilemma), and the problem of diffusion of the programme to the control group (the control group dilemma). CONCLUSION—Research in health promotion has specific reasons to reconsider the approach towards research, the selection of outcome variables, and research techniques. Strategies and methods to make activities and their outcomes clear are discussed and criteria to judge confidence and applicability of research findings are presented. Keywords: health promotion research; research dilemmas; research challenges

Trust Building, Trust Breaking: The Dilemma of NATO Enlargement

Abstract: Barbara Koremenos, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal conjecture that the conditions of membership in international institutions will grow more restrictive as a response to uncertainty about state preferences. Membership criteria will act as a signaling device—states more committed to cooperation will be willing to meet the criteria, whereas those less committed to cooperation will not. The recent enlargement of NATO to include the former Warsaw Pact members Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic illustrates this logic. The potential candidates for admission had to meet standards with respect to democratization, civilian control over the military, and the resolution of border and ethnic disputes with neighbors. These criteria served to identify the more cooperative potential members and to encourage cooperative behavior among those who aspired to membership. However, NATO enlargement came at a price. Although trust was built and cooperation fostered between the East European states that gained membership, trust was broken and cooperation harmed between NATO and Russia. This unfortunate outcome represents a dilemma that arises in the expansion of a security community: While expanding the security community enlarges the zone of peace and mutual trust, it may generate fear among those still on the outside, who view it as a potentially hostile alliance. I present a game-theoretic analysis of this dilemma and analyze the conditions under which it arises.

Shareholder versus Stakeholder – is there a Governance Dilemma?

Abstract: All directors are faced with real, or imagined, conflicts of interest or competing demands for time and resources, between shareholders and stakeholders. This has always been the case, but the contemporary emphasis on stakeholders has brought this to a head. Although astute organisations and directors maintain a suitable balance between the various demands placed upon them, and there are systematic ways to do this, there are a few voices opposed to stakeholding in any shape or form. In order to suggest that stakeholding is the viable and sustainable way for companies to proceed, the article considers and criticises one anti-stakeholder, together with other antagonists, before bringing in endorsements from different quarters, and introducing three categories of stakeholding of which the normative holds most promise. Practical approaches to discriminating among the claims of various stakeholders are indicated.

Choice of partners in multiple two-person prisoner's dilemma games: An experimental study

Abstract: The effect of unilateral and mutual partner selection in the context of prisoner's dilemmas is examined. Participants played simultaneously several finitely repeated, two-person prisoner's dilemma games. Results show that unilateral choice leads to lower defection and fewer exits than mutual choice. In the unilateral-choice setup, intending defectors are more likely to exit than intending cooperators. Implications of these findings in the political context are discussed.

Aiding Recovery: The Crisis of Aid in Chronic Political Emergencies

Abstract: * 1. Introduction and overview * 2. Aid, war and the state: 1945-1989 * 3. Aid beyond the state: the emergence of a 'new' aid orthodoxy? * 4. The context of recovery: an overview of war and its impact in Cambodia, Ethiopia and Uganda * 5. Aid in a vacuum: the legitimacy dilemma * 6. The Sustainability Dilemma * 7. Conclusion

Japan's Economic Dilemma: The Institutional Origins of Prosperity and Stagnation

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Three theoretical issues 3. The rise of the coordination and stability principles 4. Coordination, excessive competition, and the high growth 5. Stability, total employment, and the welfare society 6. The roads toward the bubble 7. The crisis of the welfare society 8. Epilogue.

The digital dilemma

Abstract: making up the information infrastructure—information in digital form, computer networks, and the Web—is accompanied by contradictory powers and promises. For intellectual property in particular, it promises more—quantity, quality, access, and markets—while simultaneously imperiling the rewards of those who create and publish it. It is at once a remarkably powerful medium for publishing and distributing information and the world’s largest reproduction facility, running unchecked in practice, if not in statute. It is a set of technologies that can improve access to information enormously, yet can inhibit access in ways never before practical. This set of technologies has arrived in a world in which our existing laws, policies, and practices governing intellectual property depend on subtle, surprisingly complex, and at times conflicting elements of law, public policy, economics, and technology. These elements are in relative balance today but may well be thrown out of balance by the transformations resulting from the information infrastructure. One core of the problem is illustrated simply. A printed book can be read by one or perhaps two people at once, as long as they’re located in the same place as the book. But make the same text available in electronic form, and there is almost no technological limit to the number of people who can access it simultaneously from almost anywhere on earth. At first glance, this is wonderful news for the information consumer and for society; the electronic holdings of libraries (and friends) around the world can be available 24 hours a day, year-round, and would never be checked out. These same advances in technology create new opportunities and new markets for publishers. There is also a more troublesome side. Publishers and authors wonder how many copies of the work will be sold (or licensed) if networks make possible planetwide access? Their nightmare is that the number is one. How many books (or movies, photographs, or musical pieces) will be created and published online if the entire market might be extinguished by the sale of the first electronic copy? The consumer nightmare, on the other hand, is that the authors’ and publishers’ attempt to preserve the traditional marketplace leads to technical and legal protections that sharply reduce access to our common intellectual and cultural heritage—resources long viewed as crucial to democracy and to science. The information infrastructure thus has the potential to demolish the careful balancing of public good and private interest that has emerged from the evolution of U.S. intellectual property law over the past 200 years. The public good is the betterment of society resulting from the constitutional mandate to promote the “progress of science and the useful arts”; the private interest is served by the time-limited monopoly (a copyright or patent) given to one who has made

Accounting For Change: A Discourse Analysis of Graduate Trainees’ Talk of Adjustment

Abstract: In this paper I explore how graduate trainees account for change since joining a company. The participants were on a graduate-training scheme with a large, well known, high street chain. They were interviewed over a period of six months and asked to talk about their work. This paper is part of a larger study of graduates’ work experience. The extracts in this paper are taken from transcripts of the interviews, and are analysed using a discursive approach. These stories of work events have provided an arena for identity projects to be undertaken, where identity is regarded as a flexible resource. The participants acknowledge and refute change during their time with the company. In addition, they construct and contrast their self-descriptions with a company ‘ideal’. Furthermore, their accounts of being similar to other employees, yet at the same time unique, appear to illustrate a dilemma through contradiction. These dilemmas are negotiated in the talk through the construction and deployment of situated identities. I conclude that by attending to the detail of talk about work, understanding may be gained regarding ideological dilemmas that face new entrants to a work place. They draw on and refute commonly understood work place practices, while situating their identity in broader cultural projects. The participants attend to ‘norms’ and ‘culture’ while denying their relevance to their own particular patterns of behaviour. Accounts of learning to behave ‘appropriately’ and to avoid being ‘bloodied’ feature in their talk of adjustment since joining the company. This has relevance for the future training of graduates and understanding work place identities.

The Outsourcing Dilemma: The Search for Competitiveness

Abstract: Outsourcing of some business functions pre-dates the technological revolution of the latter part of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, 99% of outsourcing would not be logical or necessary if it was not for the constantly changing and improving technology. Despite the circumstances, most organisations are left with no alternative but to keep trying to improve their systems. They then have two basic alternatives. They can either do it in-house by buying the necessary equipment, software and external help, or they can externalise the function completely by taking one of the outsourcing routes. Research undertaken into project failure rates at the beginning of 2000 has provided the author with a unique insight into the real level of success obtained from choosing either internal or external solutions to the competitive problem. The Outsourcing Dilemma presents the arguments for and against outsourcing and suggests ways in which the enormous problems of maintaining competitiveness might be approached. The book examines: * the changing times that have brought about the need to be competitive in all functions * the various internal solutions to the problem of maintaining competitiveness * the advantages and disadvantages of the external solution of outsourcing * the extent to which outsourcing is being practised and the functions being outsourced * the growing range of alternatives to full outsourcing * a range of factors that potential clients should know about outsourcing providers * factors to consider when choosing an outsourcing service provider * alternative options towards achieving lasting competitiveness. The Outsourcing Dilemma includes controversial case studies highlighting the advantages and potential pitfalls of outsourcing, and a revolutionary long-term competitiveness option - 'Business Satellites' - that does not require short-term dramatic change, expense and disruption. Competitive advantage is a choice. Who are you going to entrust it to?

The Rule of Rules: Morality, Rules, and the Dilemmas of Law

Abstract: Rules perform a moral function by restating moral principles in concrete terms, so as to reduce the uncertainty, error, and controversy that result when individuals follow their own unconstrained moral judgment. Although reason dictates that we must follow rules to avoid destructive error and controversy, rules—and hence laws—are imperfect, and reason also dictates that we ought not follow them when we believe they produce the wrong result in a particular case. In The Rule of Rules Larry Alexander and Emily Sherwin examine this dilemma. Once the importance of this moral and practical conflict is acknowledged, the authors argue, authoritative rules become the central problems of jurisprudence. The inevitable gap between rules and background morality cannot be bridged, they claim, although many contemporary jurisprudential schools of thought are misguided attempts to do so. Alexander and Sherwin work through this dilemma, which lies at the heart of such ongoing jurisprudential controversies as how judges should reason in deciding cases, what effect should be given to legal precedent, and what status, if any, should be accorded to “legal principles.” In the end, their rigorous discussion sheds light on such topics as the nature of interpretation, the ancient dispute among legal theorists over natural law versus positivism, the obligation to obey law, constitutionalism, and the relation between law and coercion. Those interested in jurisprudence, legal theory, and political philosophy will benefit from the edifying discussion in The Rule of Rules.

Subject-Specific Instructional Methods and Activities

Abstract: Researchers in education and geography embed analysis of instructional methods and learning activities such as lecture, discussion, and simulation into the context of purposes and goals of specific subject matter. They respond to the dilemma that teacher education textbooks and much research on teac

Blowing the Whistle on Police Violence. Gender, Ethnography and Ethics

Abstract: This article highlights a number of issues related to the witnessing of ‘illegal’ police violence by researchers. Empirical evidence is drawn from fieldwork conducted for a larger study of police culture, which is the first examination of gender relations in the British police. This extensive ethnographic study is used to highlight the way fieldwork can lead to a number of ethically ambiguous situations. Whether to ‘blow the whistle’, to express disapproval, report to senior officers or some other authority on viewing violence or ‘ excessive force’ is analysed. A number of scenarios are described which are used to reflect upon the personal ethical stance that often has to be used to resolve such issues. It might be asked whether there is any point in spending long hours conducting a police ethnography for any reason other than to blow the whistle on their indiscretions. As this type of research may involve encounters with violence, however, it raises certain ethical, practical and theoretical problems. In this article the dilemmas faced by field workers when they witness deviance in the form of violent acts are discussed. Indeed, although being present when something ‘illegal’ occurs is a fairly universal problem for participant observation studies, at the beginning of a project ethnographers rarely have an instruction manual which goes further than the general methodological issues such as those raised by Ferrell and Hamm (1998), King and Wincup (2000) or Wolcott (1999). In texts such as these, numerous aspects of observational research are described, the ethical ambiguities of fieldwork are raised, but few practical resolutions are suggested. In this article two categories of dilemma facing ethnographers who may encounter violent acts will be examined. First, the difficulty of actually identifying the phenomenon, so that during observations in the field, violence can be differentiated from legitimate force. In ‘real life’ research situations this is more problematic than it might seem, as Gilligan argues (2000: 91), ‘there is a consensus that we lack a theory of violence adequate to enable us to explain, predict and prevent violent behaviour.’ A second difficulty discussed in this article is what the fieldworker might do when violence is identified as having happened. In effect, how difficult decisions can be made despite the ‘physical and bodily, as well as intellectual and methodological’ immersion in the research site (Coffey 1999: 70). These two points will be discussed here within a framework which acknowledges the effects of police occupational culture, the nature of group solidarity it fosters and the ‘hazards faced by whistleblowers’ such as the ‘cold shoulder treatment’ (Chan 1996: 121).

Expectations in Austrian Business Cycle Theory: An Application of the Prisoner's Dilemma

Abstract: The standard account of Austrian Business Cycle theory posits that central bank manipulations of interest rates fool bankers and investors into believing that there has been an increase in the real supply of loanable funds available for capital investment. However, reliance on "foolishness" ignores the entrepreneurial emphasis within the Austrian tradition and fails to produce the strongest possible case for Austrian Business Cycle theory. We use the prisoner's dilemma framework to model the profit maximizing behavior of bankers and the investors under uncertainty when the market rate of interest is below the underlying rate of time preference.

Crafting policies about controversial values: How wording disputes manage a group dilemma

Abstract: Over a six-month time period a school board and its community discussed their district's strategic plan goals about diversity. This article analyzes that discussion within the practical theory frame articulated by Craig. Meeting talk and documents were analyzed to determine how the group's policy deliberation became an argument over what words to have (or avoid) in the strategic plan document. Proposals about document language were framed as technical editing, as inadvertent changing of a policy, and as wordsmithing. In addition to each frame being used, each was also challenged as to its being used to advance some group members' interests at the expense of others. Moving back and forth between using and resisting wording proposal frames, we suggest, is a reasonable way for groups to manage a dilemma they face in crafting policies about controversial, abstract issues. The paper concludes by identifying implications for dilemma theorizing and future study of groups.

Genetically Modified Food Understanding the Societal Dilemma

Abstract: This article introduces the issues posed by genetically modified foods in two ways. A collection of The New York Times headlines provides a succinct “year in review.” Insights drawn from the articles in this issue trace the social dilemma from scientific laboratories through farmers' incentives and concerns to social action and public confusion.

Actions of Similar Others as Inducements to Cooperate in Social Dilemmas

Abstract: Two studies were conducted to determine whether information about the actions of others in a multitrial social dilemma can influence choice behavior. Participants read about three (fictitious) people who supposedly had already participated in the study and who were either similar or dissimilar to a typical college student. Participants then played several trials of a social dilemma game. Study 1, which used a prisoner’s dilemma, showed that participant rates of cooperation conformed to those reported for similar, but not dissimilar, others. Study 2 added outcome information to the person descriptions and changed the game to a public goods dilemma. Cooperation rates were directly influenced by similar others when others’ choices were described as having produced large outcomes; when choices were said to have produced small outcomes, rate of cooperation was inversely related to others’ behavior. As with Study 1, information about dissimilar others had no effect on choice behavior.

Reconciling Concept and Context: The Dilemma of Implementation in School-Based Health Promotion

Abstract: The researchers used grounded theory methodology to study the implementation of a school-based alcohol and drug prevention project in secondary schools in British Columbia, Canada. Prevention workers (PWs) were responsible for working with school and community personnel in a collaborative process to develop, implement, and evaluate prevention strategies in the school using an adaptation of the Precede-Proceed Model for health promotion planning. Before they could begin to do this, PWs had to establish their credibility in the school. Once accepted, the focus of the PWs' work was to reconcile the goals, values, and philosophy of the project with those of the school. In doing so, PWs encountered many practical dilemmas. The challenges in resolving these dilemmas are presented, and the implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Processes and Consequences in Business Ethical Dilemmas: The OilIndustry and Climate Changes

Abstract: This paper proposes a framework to examine business ethical dilemmas and business attitudes towards such dilemmas. Business ethical dilemmas can be understood as reflecting a contradiction between a socially detrimental process and a self-interested profitable consequence. This representation allows us to distinguish two forms of behavior differing by whether priority is put on consequences or on processes. We argue that these forms imply very different business attitudes towards society: controversial or competitive for the former and aligned or cooperative for the latter. These attitudes are then analyzed at the discursive level in order to address the question of good faith in business argumentation, i.e. to which extent are these attitudes consistent with actual business behaviors. We argue that consequential attitudes mostly involve communication and lobbying actions aiming at eluding the dilemma. Therefore, the question of good faith for consequential attitudes lies in the consistency between beliefs and discourse. On the other hand, procedural attitudes acknowledge the dilemma and claim a change of the process of behavior. They thus raise the question of the consistency between discourses and actual behavior. We apply this processes/consequences framework to the case of the oil industry's climate change ethical dilemma which comes forth as a dilemma between 'emitting greenhouse gases' and 'making more profits'. And we examine the different attitudes of two oil corporations - BP Amoco and ExxonMobil - towards the dilemma.

The Political Psychology of Contemporary Anti-Politics: A Discursive Approach to the End-of-Ideology Era

Abstract: This article advocates a discursive approach for examining political rhetoric. Such an approach is particularly useful for studying contemporary political ideology. The current political climate, especially in Britain, has been described as exemplifying a "Third Way," which is said to have replaced the old ideological division between "left" and "right" by a consensual, non-ideological politics. The discursive approach allows the analyst to look at the continuing dilemmas of an ideology that denies its ideological character. In discursive analyses of interviews with 20 elected local officials in the Midlands of England, the respondents (regardless of party affiliation) tended to give accounts that celebrated the development of consensual, less ideologically divisive politics. These accounts, however, were dilemmatic: As the speakers told of social change, they also stressed their own personal stability, as if they themselves existed outside the previous political climate. They also explicitly distanced themselves from the language of "left" and "right," but in this distancing a further ideological dilemma was detectable. All the local politicians were officially affiliated to a political party. In discursively subtle ways, the speakers used the left/right continuum as they distinguished between the parties, thereby showing the sort of variability that discursive theorists have noted in other contexts. The implications of such findings and of the discursive approach to studying ideology are discussed in relation to the possibilities for developing a critical political psychology.

Hardin Revisited: A Critical Look at Perception and the Logic of the Commons

Abstract: With perhaps controversial implications for theory and practice, this paper suggests that the validity of Hardinian theories of the commons are dependent on the implicit rational choice assumption that resource users are aware of resource degradation. Without an awareness of the collective costs of resource use, there can be no dilemma between pursuing individual benefits and avoiding collective ruin. In such situations, the dilemma of the commons cannot be validly said to be the cause of resource depletion, and many traditional policy options to address common resource depletion may not be effective. Two reasons for the lack of awareness about resource degradation are (1) fatalistic beliefs that humans cannot harm a resource base, and (2) the growing complexity and abstraction of modern environmental problems that have obscured the collective costs of resource use from our individual and societal awareness.