The romance of leadership is over. So is the romance of followership. Indeed, followers are notpassive as they used to be considered. The majority of the scholars underline their active rolein the creation of the relationship with the leader. This is why when it comes to toxic leadership;the leader is not the only one to blame. Actually, followers are equally responsible for themaintenance and even the creation of toxicity in an organization context. Padilla et al. (2007)argue that toxic leadership comes from the interaction of a toxic leader, susceptible followersand a conducive environment.This research paper focuses on the interaction of two of these components: susceptiblefollowers and the conducive environment. The aim is to understand the role of the influence ofthe environment on decision making in a first time. Then, how individuals, under pressure whenit comes to decision making are more likely to maintain or foster toxicity.After a deep digging into the psychological and sociological mechanisms which are at the basisof the following process, this paper ends by a reflection on human being’s relation withfreedom.

I ett samhälle där datorspelare anses vistas i en högst amoralisk miljö, vill vi med den här studien granska hur etik och moral ter sig i den virtuella världen via ett symboliskt interaktionistiskt perspektiv. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer har elva spelare av onlinespel fått redogöra för sin egen upplevelse av den interaktion de genomgår dagligen. Med hjälp av utförliga teorier kring etik och moral, symbolisk interaktionism och spelkultur har studien ett brett teoretiskt underlag som appliceras i en hermeneutisk analys. Resultatet visar att etik och moral existerar i onlinespel, samtidigt som amoraliteten. Det verkar röra sig om två olika kulturer. Studien lägger sin fokus på den förstnämnda och beskriver både vad fenomenet består i, och hur det ter sig. Essensen handlar om den sociala aspekten, det vi kan kalla för socialitet. Vi fann essensen utifrån fem teman, som alla rör grupp, socialitet och samspel. Slutsatsen visar att det finns en moralisk spelkultur och en amoralisk, baserat på graden av socialitet och inlevelse. Den moraliska spelkulturen skapas och återskapas utifrån spelarnas meningsskapande, sociala behov och den virtuella världens flexibilitet.   Nyckelbegrepp: Etik, Moral, Onlinespel, Spelkultur, Symbolisk interaktionism. / In a society in which gamers are considered to engage in an amoral environment, we intended with this study to examine how ethics and morality appears in the virtual world through a symbolic interactionist perspective. Through qualitative interviews eleven gamers have been able to give their own views about their experiences of the interaction they undergo daily. With help from detailed theories about ethics and morality, symbolic interactionism and gaming culture, this study has a wide theoretical foundation which applies in a hermeneutical analysis. The results show that ethics and morality exists within online games, as well as an amoral gaming culture. It appears to be two cultures, in which this study puts its focus on the first and describes both what the phenomenon is made of, and how it appears. The essence is about the social aspect, what we call sociality. This essence was found through five themes, all regarding group, sociality and interaction. The conclusion shows that there is a moral gaming culture as well as an amoral one, based on the degree of sociality and immersion. The moral gaming culture is created and recreated from the creation of meaning and social needs through the gamers as well as the flexibility of the virtual world.   Keywords: Ethics, Morality, Online game, Game culture, Symbolic interactionism.

Morality of abortion is a topic that tends to prompt heated politic debates. Setting politics aside, it is useful for one to contemplate certain questions if they wish to understand the complex moral dilemmas which abortion poses. One can philosophize and grapple with some of the following questions: Does the human embryo have moral status? Is the human embryo a person? Is it owed the same rights to life protection that a human baby or human adult have? Do we have a strong reason not to harm it? These questions often do not have definitive yes or no answers which apply universally to all cases yet; exploring them will allow one to gain a better understanding of one’s position on the issue of morality of abortion. If one’s intuition tells them that it is morally wrong or morally permissible to kill an early human embryo therefore, ending its potential to experience a future life similar to ours, grappling with these philosophical questions pertaining to the ethics of killing will provide insight that will either validate or contradict these intuitions. This thesis examines morality of abortion by analyzing theories proposed by Don Marquis and Elizabeth Harman in effort to get a sense of what characteristics are necessary for an entity to experience significant levels of harm, be granted moral status and have a strong reason not to be killed. These characteristics help one determine whether or not it is morally permissible to end the life of a developing human organism such as a human embryo.

This thesis starts from the proposition that moral and ideological issues now drive the continuing intense interest in World War II. There has been an increasing challenge to the probity of the response of both opponents and bystanders to the threat raised by Nazism. The thesis views these issues from the viewpoint of the Spanish Catholic Church, an institution involved in yet detached from the war, having morality as its core concern yet itself struggling to reconcile moral principles with political imperatives. Such tensions might illuminate, in particular, the similar struggles of the Western Allies. This study has been set against a background of historiographical development. It has considered the evolution of Catholic teaching on the morality of war and threats posed to the Church in the early twentieth Century political world of conflicting ideologies. In Spain, the Church, quintessentially Spanish yet inspiring extremes of devotion and hatred in Spain's total, ideological Civil War, had been devastated by that struggle. In defending its urgent spiritual priorities during a new European war, it faced many challenges that necessitated reactions involving complex interplay of morality and politics. Not only was its relationship with the victorious Franco regime uncertain but it feared the infiltration into Spain of any of the European war's contending ideologies-Fascism and Nazism, Communism and liberal democracy. The thesis describes the Church's response. This work also takes the view that the intensity of the ideological struggle made World War II a war of unprecedented totality. This study examines the attitudes of the Spanish Church to aspects of total war. It concludes that, although the responses of the Spanish Church reveal interplay of the moral and the political, these reactions shed some light upon questions of war and morality still asked today. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2009

One of the most exciting recent developments in the social sciences has been the rapid formulation and acceptance of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology (EP) theory informs us that the human mind has certainly evolved and innate mechanisms have been shaped by our ancient social history. Consequently, specifically-evolved mental mechanisms exist that assist the human mind in dealing with complex social phenomena, such as cooperation. Evolutionary psychology theorists posit that for human beings to maximise the benefits of cooperation there need to be efficient ways for individuals to determine whether other members of the social group are operating equitably. Central to successful human cooperation, therefore, we find, amongst others, crucial concepts such as fairness, trust, autonomy, reciprocity, democracy and social recognition.Because the associated mental mechanisms have evolved over millennia they are largely hardwired into the human brain, are relatively slow to evolve, and have not been able to keep pace with the vast and rapid social change brought about through modernity and industrialism. We are left struggling, therefore, with psychological stressors that exist because of the resultant mismatches.This research study considers moral ethics within the workplace as an important component of quality of worklife (QWL), and suggests a new view be taken through the lenses provided by evolutionary psychology theory. This is done specifically with respect to the ethics of a social environment (the business community) that is often quite alienating to our socially evolved minds. This study was conducted with reference to business ethics specifically and it highlights the incongruent landscape lying between that and personal moral ethics. Through the application of social critical theory, it challenges the orthodoxy concerning the relationships between personal liberty, justice and the neo-liberal market economy. It also illuminates the reasons why it is important for business ethics and personal ethics to be brought closer together, and it suggests redefining QWL as a way of bringing about this paradigmatic shift.

This study examined people’s attitudes towards killing bugs and their bug-killing behaviour in the context of nature vs. nurture explanations of bug killing. Previous research shows that exposure to genetic (i.e., nature) explanations could have undesirable effects on people’s attitudes and behaviour, compared to the exposure to experiential(i.e., nurture) explanations. Genetic explanations for killing may affect attitudes towards killing and killing behaviour, because they suggest that killing behaviour is predetermined or programmed by nature. Such explanations may also be used by individuals to overcome guilt and dissonance from prior killing or killing in which they are about to participate. This study tested the idea that exposure to genetic explanations for bug killing would lead people to view killing bugs as more morally acceptable, as well as lead them to kill more bugs. A sample of university students was randomly assigned into three conditions, in which they read either genetic or experiential explanations for why people kill bugs or read a neutral passage. The study utilised a procedure in which participants were led to believe that they were killing bugs (although in actuality no bugs were killed), to observe their killing behaviour in a self-paced killing task. Half of the participants were also asked to kill a bug prior to the self-paced killing task. Results showed that participants who read genetic explanations viewed bug killing as more morally acceptable, compared to participants who read experiential explanations, and this occurred particularly among those who engaged in the prior killing task. However, no similar effects emerged for the number of bugs killed, though there was a positive correlation between the moral acceptance of bug killing and the number of bugs killed. Implications of genetic explanations with respect to aggression and killing are discussed.

Submitted by Vasti Diniz (vastijpa@hotmail.com) on 2017-12-28T12:13:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1258907 bytes, checksum: 3d7e170e475b8cb13176736c288f1803 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-28T12:13:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1258907 bytes, checksum: 3d7e170e475b8cb13176736c288f1803 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-18 / This study aimed to understand how evaluative references related to the concept of individual merit take body and produce normative beliefs through practical experiences, especially the competitive experience of studying for public job selection in Brazil. Through qualitative research based on three types of sources (interviews, approval manuals and online forum), we seek to explore the universe of experience of concurseiros, showing the system of behavioral dispositions and map of perceptions and moral references that is developped in the preparation process for the test. Technical-motivational discurses and narratives of "personal achievement" of concurseiros were analysed, trying to understand how the main elements articulate an ideal of individual self-realization that sustains in itself legitimating criteria of a social hierarchy. / Este trabalho procurou compreender como referências valorativas relacionadas ao mérito individual tomam corpo e produzem convicções normativas através de experiências práticas, especialmente da experiência competitiva de se estudar para concursos públicos no Brasil. Através de pesquisa qualitativa baseada em três tipos de fontes (entrevistas, manuais de aprovação e fórum virtual), buscou-se explorar o universo de experiência dos concurseiros, evidenciando o sistema de disposições comportamentais e mapa de percepções e referências morais que se desenvolvem no decorrer do processo de preparação para a prova. Discursos técnicos-motivacionais e narrativas de “conquista pessoal” dos concurseiros foram analisadas, objetivando compreender como seus principais elementos articulam um ideal de auto-realização individual que sustenta em si critérios legitimadores de uma hierarquia social.

Le sacrement de confession, dont l’obligation annuelle est décidée par le concile de Latran IV (1215), est une pratique religieuse qui marque profondément la civilisation du Moyen Âge finissant. Le motif remporte un succès franc dans le théâtre profane des XIIIe XVIe siècles. Les farces montrent des scènes de confessions burlesques, toujours déviantes, dans lesquelles les travers des pénitents et des confesseurs apparaissent et dont la mécanique formelle est utilisée à des fins dégradées. La moralité favorise l’exploitation des métaphores de ce sacrement ou son allégorisation divisée en de multiples personnages qui gravitent autour de ses trois grands moments : contrition, confession et satisfaction ou pénitence. La figuration imagée est mise au service du sens théologique du sacrement, la confession étant un moyen de salut, une étape capitale par rapport au devenir éternel de l’âme. Enfin, les mystères de la Passion font adopter aux saints antiques le langage du sacrement, manifestant l’identité, dans la civilisation médiévale, entre conversion et confession. Malgré des élaborations esthétiques différenciées selon le genre théâtral, les fortes convergences entre les pièces du corpus montrent des dramaturges attentifs aux mêmes aspects du sacrement : les difficultés qu’il y a à accepter cette démarche d’auto-accusation, l’effort pastoral déployé par les contemporains pour en persuader le bien-fondé et en expliquer le déroulement et enfin, quand ils se font jour au XVIe siècle, les affrontements doctrinaux avec les protestants. Le théâtre est en cela le témoin de la théologie moyenne des hommes de son temps. / Confessing sins is a yearly duty for all Christians since the council of Lateran IV (1215). The broad impact of this religious practice on late medieval civilization is patent through the French theatre of the xiiith – xvith centuries. Comic short plays (farces) show realistic scenes of confession: but, due to the confessor’s or the sinner’s attitude, none is right. The comical and critical distance allows the use of the ritual form, disconnected from the preoccupation of heaven and hell and applied to terrestrial purposes. On the contrary, the use of allegory in morality plays (moralités) aims at showing the signification of the sacrament: images emphasize the meaning of this sacrament which provides ways of salvation to the soul of the sinner. The moments of the rite, contrition, confession, and penance, are, like every other notion in connection with them, impersonated by allegorical characters who explain and perform the sacrament. Eventually, in the Passion plays (mystères), saint characters tell their conversion to the ritual forms of the sacrament, showing the equivalency, in that civilization, between conversion and confession. Despite esthetic differences depending on the theater genres, all plays show a similar interest on some aspects of the sacrament: the reluctance every man must overcome to formulate his self-accusation, the pastoral care with which the institution keeps explaining and convincing people of its use and finally, as it rises in the xvie Century, the protestant contestation of the sacrament. Theatre thus appears to be a testimony of the average late medieval theology.

The present work aims to analyse the dynamics between the concepts atstake within the transition from morality to ethical life in Hegel’s “Philosophy of Objective Spirit”. Our hermeneutical and conceptual resource consists in the complementary readings of the dialectical movements of “morality” in Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and in his Phenomenology of Spirit. First of all, we will examine the concepts of abstract good and conscience (das Gewissen) that appear in the Philosophy of Right. Secondly, we will examine the meaning of such concepts (the moral worldview and conscience or acting moral consciousness) in the Phenomenology of Spirit as complementary concepts. Finally, we offer a formulation and analysis of the meaning of the overall transition from morality to ethical life, starting from the dialectic articulation of both concepts, and the emergence of ethical freedom as an overcoming of moral freedom. / El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo hacer un análisis de la dinámicaentre los conceptos en juego en el tránsito de la moralidad a la eticidad en la filosofía del espíritu objetivo de Hegel. El recurso hermenéutico y conceptual al que apelamos es la complementación entre las lecturas de los movimientos dialécticos de la “Moralidad” en la Filosofía del derecho y de la “Moralidad” en el capítulo sobre el espíritu en la Fenomenología del espíritu. En primer lugar, desarrollaremos los conceptos de conciencia moral del deber (el bien abstracto) y la buena conciencia (das Gewissen) en la Filosofía del derecho. En segundo lugar, abordaremos, como complemento conceptual, el sentido de tales conceptos (la visión moral del mundo y la buena conciencia o conciencia moral actuante) en la Fenomenología del espíritu. Finalmente, ofreceremos, a partir de la articulación dialéctica de tales conceptos, la formulación y el análisis de lo que significa el tránsito de la moralidad a la eticidad y el surgimiento de la libertad ética como superación de la libertad moral.

Magister Artium - MA / This thesis is the result of an ethnographic study of the multilingual literacy practices of a group of families in their particular spaces within the urban context of the community of Manenberg, with the specific view of investigating the links between spatial and urban capital and the literacy practices to be encountered amongst these families. The following questions form the core of the study: 1. What are the parental ethnotheories about literacy and schooling? 2. Are there family literacy practices that may enhance preschool children’s ability to make meaning within the school system? The results of the thesis show a range of beliefs resulting in parents adopting a range of strategies in terms of language choice and literacy socialisation of their children. The thesis also shows that the vast majority of parents view acquisition of English as important, that there is a definite concern about access to libraries and about safe places for children to engage in extramural activity. Parental ethnotheories have a direct bearing on how the preschool child is oriented towards literacy. This includes implications for what languages the preschool child is exposed to, what medium of instruction parents prefer for their children (which is often not the language of highest competence of the child), whether or not various supposedly accessible resources for the promotion of children’s literacy are tapped into, and whether or not parents become actively involved in the literacy acquisition of their children. However, these findings need to be seen in the larger context of the research participants’ perceptions and discourses about space, multilingualism, and literacy. Some unexpected findings are shown as a result of listening to people’s voices on the ground. The respondents’ ethnotheories of multilingualism, space, and literacy produce narratives of local patriotism, pride in Cape Afrikaans, and of emplacement rather than displacement. Urban planning structures, whether envisaged under apartheid or by successive regimes in the post apartheid era, are shown to have become less rigid, fluid, and porous. The local moral economy works to legitimise poverty, so that living in a shack is not stigmatised, and gang members are seen to be full members of the local community, ignoring normative structures that would treat such agents in a punitive manner beyond the borders of Manenberg. Residents, though mostly impoverished and lacking in high levels of education, are shown to remain marginalised through a lack of material resources, with many in need of a strategic orientation to resources, including those which would enable them to orient their children to literacy in such a way as to enable them to make a successful transition to the school system. / South Africa