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Issues of pension viability are at the forefront of gerontological debate. The uncertainty of long-term effects of the societal aging process on public pensions and the constant public policy struggle to maintain income levels among pensioners are critical points of discussion. As existing pension policies are examined and amended, policymakers increasingly rely on experts of pension research and income inequality for policy frameworks. Gosta Esping-Andersen's (1990) Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism has provided the seminal typology for nearly two decades. His typology consists of three regimes: liberal, conservative, and social-democratic. The purpose of this research was to examine and compare the outcomes of historical pension policy in a social-democratic nation (Finland) with pension-receiving cohorts in a comparison nation of each regime: liberal (the United States), conservative (Germany), and social-democratic (Sweden). Specific aims were: to investigate the continuing viability of Esping-Andersen's typology at a national (macro) level; to explore a new analytical approach by disaggregating the population and conducting micro analyses; and to examine the value of using more sensitive inequality indices (Atkinson and Theil) in lieu of the commonly used Gini Index. Finland provides a case study focus of the comparative analysis. Analysis of Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data confirms that Esping-Andersen's typology remains viable at the macro level for the liberal United States. However, conservative Germany and social-democratic Sweden and Finland may be shifting their respective classifications with possible convergence of the conservative and social-democratic regimes info a European regime.

二十一世紀初發生了許多重大的金融弊案，除了美國政府修訂沙賓法案來設立防範制度與監督商業行為之外，產業、政府、學者也都開始探討現今普遍的商業思維是否需要改變。其中，影響商業思維甚深的資本主義也被從多個角度重新檢視。此研究採用文獻分析與個案分析，透過自覺資本主義的框架來檢視個案企業的組織特性與經營精神。自覺資本主義是一種具備研究基礎的綜合性商業思維，企業除了創造經濟、社會、環境價值之外，還必須致力於替多方創造人文精神價值。目前尚未有為自覺企業量身打造的評量機構，但是可以透過參考許多不同的評量機構，以不同的評量指標衡量企業的結果，來產生一個綜合評比，藉此發現有哪些企業符合自覺企業的條件並加以研究。因此本研究透過綜合財星（營業額評量）、最佳職場研究所（工作環境評量）、蓋洛普（員工工作涉入程度評量）、Glassdoor（內部員工自我評量）、Ethisphere（道德評量）等指標來篩選出三間符合自覺經營理念的企業，分別為：Google（谷歌）、Amazon（亞馬遜）以及Starbucks（星巴克）。 由於自覺企業涉及企業經營的所有面向，因此必須由組織的最高領導人所帶動。要啟動企業的正向循環是一個不斷進行的流程，企業必須先鞏固自己的核心能力，透過不斷與投資人、顧客、供應商、政府等多方利害關係人溝通，建立與教育自覺意識，成為一個產業的領導者，不斷地透過公司的活動擴大企業的影響力，並為多發利害關係人帶來利益。由於員工花費大量的時間與精力在企業內，所以企業領導人能透過企業宗旨、制度及文化，來影響員工的想法、動機和行為。擁有高涉入程度的員工，是啟動正向循環的第一步，企業應把所有利害關係人納入系統性的考量與價值創造中。但是，如果要產生正向循環，則企業必須執行與企業理念相符，以及與顧客理念相符的活動來連結多方利害關係人。自覺企業不著重於單一利害關係人，而是思考如何能讓所有利害關係人長期獲利。若是無法同時滿足短期績效以及長期價值時，應以長期價值為最終考量。

This thesis is concerned with the nature and application of educational theory. In particular, it will examine the contribution social theories can make in guiding educational practices which are intended to achieve specific educational aims. Recent social theories relevant to education have focused, primarily, on the relationship between school and society under capitalism. Such theories have been developed in order to illuminate two central questions, "to what extent are schools independent of the class structures and ideologies of capitalist society?" and relatedly, "to what degree, under capitalism, can schools develop the critical social awareness necessary for personal autonomy?". In this thesis it is argued that a number of recent theories fail to help in providing answers to these questions because they do not offer convincing explanations of the school-society relationship. The reason for this is that they are guided by inadequate, epistemological methodological and metaphysical assumptions. In particular, they have been guided either by a naturalist view of social theory predicated on a Logical Positivist view of natural science or by an anti-naturalist view. This latter view typically asserts that explanations for social action must necessarily make reference to concepts such as rules, meanings, goals and purposes. And it is noted that these concepts can have no place within a Logical Positivist account of science. However, I argue that neither the guiding assumptions of naturalists or anti-naturalists, who have accepted a Logical Positivist view of natural science, can enable the construction of theories which capture significant dimensions of schooling under capitalism. In this thesis a number of Liberal and Radical theories of the school-society relationship, which have been influenced either by the guiding assumptions of Logical Positivism or by its anti-naturalist contrasts are critically examined. It is argued that while Radical theories such as those of Young, Freire and Bowles and Gintis have made a contribution to an understanding of the school-society relationship, their explanations of this relationship are inadequate. Consequently, they fail to guide educational practice by not showing how a pedagogy aimed at developing the critical social awareness necessary for personal autonomy is possible. On the basis of the criticisms of these Radical theories an alternative theory of the school-society relationship is advanced, one which is guided by the tenets of a Realist theory of natural science suitably qualified to apply to social theory. Through the development of this Realist social theory it is possible to explain how relevant aspects of educational practice can be guided, by the alternative social theory developed, in order to fulfil the aim of personal autonomy.

This Thesis is an exploration into social change strategies in Appalachia that are alternative to conventional economic development practices and discourses. Drawing from original interviews with social justice activists in central and eastern Kentucky, I document a diversity of subversive discourses circulating in Appalachia, and I delineate models alternative to development that are driving action in several different communities. Through what one of my interviewees described as Appalachian ingenuity,1 individuals are enacting extremely hopeful and imaginative projects, and they are conjuring unique formulations that contribute to academic theories on alternative economies, capitalocentrism, neoliberalism, postmodern economics, anti-development, post-development, and spatial strategies of resistance and liberation.

This dissertation is a study of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) from its inception in 1919 to the Brussels Conference in 1925. The study argues, based upon evidence from ICC conference proceedings and reports that the ICC, as well as the League of Nations, was part of the pre-war Allied (the United States, Great Britain, and France) imperial project that sought to maintain Allied global hegemony following the Great War. The businessmen of the ICC, who had numerous Allied political ties, were descendants of the social Darwinist milieu, which guided their thought processes and perceptions of the world. Their belief that they operated in a globalized world was, therefore, a misconception. Business leaders were mistakenly convinced that free trade would create and maintain world peace. Business and government operated through a symbiotic relationship throughout the 1920s. Fledgling industries, including automotive and air transport, relied upon government assistance. Thus, Allied and corporate international manipulation of markets was cloaked in the rhetoric of “free trade.” Furthermore, ICC business leaders, operating during the Progressive Era’s focus upon scientific efficiency, were convinced that mass production was the key to rebuilding the global economy in the aftermath of the Great War. Evidence shows that the political economic system erected by the bankers, businessmen and politicians of the 1920s helped lay the foundations for the Great Depression. The system, controlled by the Allied powers, included the gold standard system of international fiduciary exchange, trade regimes operated under the auspices of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence, Allied multinational corporate (MNC) control of Latin America and the Middle East, via electrical MNCs and oil MNCs, and the control and manipulation of labor and migration. This study contributes to the literature concerning the causes of the Great Depression as well as studies regarding global capitalism. Moreover, the evidence contained within this work suggests that many parts of the neoliberalist argument are actually rooted in the 1920s rather than the late 1970s.

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This thesis examines the 1Malaysia campaign, an initiative by the Malaysian state that seeks to address ethnic and religious divisions and economic inequality in the country to for continued political stability and economic growth. This campaign seeks to promote unity among the nation’s diverse population. The thesis uses the concept of political technologies to analyze the 1Malaysia campaign and show how it draws on, but also differs from other similar strategies in the nation’s history. I will analyze the ways that the state in colonial and post-colonial Malaysia created political tools to manage diverse ethnic and religious groups. This thesis addresses a shift in state policy that may offer insights into the strategies pursued by other postcolonial governments that have diverse ethnic and religious groups. I argue that the political technologies prior to the 1Malaysia campaign had created and maintained ethnic and religious divisions in Malaysia, particularly leading to the implementation of affirmative action policies that benefitted only specific ethnic and religious groups. I contend that the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) party views ethnic and religious divisions as a problem and hindrance to economic growth and modernization. It is also trying to define what it is to be Malaysian by creating and fostering its definition of unity and tolerance to be practiced by its citizens. Lastly this work will also examine opposing views of unity and multiculturalism from emerging film movements and public demonstration in Malaysia. This will highlight that the ruling government is facing opposing views to creating solidarity and further highlighting that this nation is going through a period of transition in defining multiculturalism. / Graduate

Seizing upon G.W.F. Hegel’s unresolved problem of poverty, and more generally, of politics, in his Philosophy of Right, I theorize the emergence of Hegel’s “irrational” rabble in ostensibly incomprehensible violent riots. Specifically, I argue that such violence functions redemptively by latently symbolizing a Hegelian demand for recognition and, via Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek, as a catalyst in a lineation of riots that gestures towards transformative possibilities. Violence compels self-reflective thought to interrogate the hegemony of immaterial labour that excludes the rabble under late capitalism, a speculative game with winners and losers: financial capitalists and society’s underclass. I conclude by explicating an implicit connection between Hegel’s political theory and Walter Benjamin’s philosophy and argue that this connection responds to Hegel’s own political impasse. In the context of contemporary politics, I contend that the rabble’s emergence in a Benjaminian light illuminates new means for critique against the system of late capitalism. / Graduate / 0593 / 0422 / 0615 / elliokd@gmail.com

[“If we zigzag in the middle, it’s OK”] The purpose of the following study is to examine the relationship between tourism and religion in a Balinese context. We look specifically at changes in religious practice, culture and mentality, as well as how religious philosophy is used as a tool for limiting the negative impact of tourism. The methods used are semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Central themes in the following essay are globalization in the form of tourism, westernization, subsystem theory and capitalism, which also make up the theoretical framework. By using this framework we have been able to conclude that tourism does indeed impact religious practice, culture and mentality on Bali. This impact is mainly focused around issues regarding a change in sacrificial practices, environmental changes and a sense of weakening of the communal mentality. We have also been able to identify a shift from a traditionally practice-oriented religion towards a more cognitively based religious understanding.