University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Economics

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Economics

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

Regions are the manifestation of ideology and power in the landscape. This study maintains that changes in the allocation and exercise of state power are reflected in Western Canada's regional geography at different time periods and that the ideology(ies) supporting this power is (are) actively advanced by the creation, maintenance, and continued existence of those regions. Traditional approaches to historical geography neglect this socio-political aspect of region. To that end, alternate, contemporary approaches are applied. Aspects of critical social theory will illuminate the roles of both ideology and power and their crucial place in forming the human-built environment. Different places in different time periods will be analysed. These include: the territories of the Canadian North-West 'circa' 1885; Alberta and Saskatchewan to provincehood, 1905; and the Inuvialuit Settlement Area, 1990.

Our study illustrates health communication in order to find out how widespread the knowledge is about osteoporosis and how to reach out with health information to the public.   Our essay was conducted through quantitative surveys, which included 402 respondents. This in order to highlight the prevailing uncertainty about the public disorder osteoporosis, which is common in Sweden. We wish to examine trough which channels our respondents choose to collect their health information. The thesis framework includes theories such as McGuire’s ProcessingTheory, Agenda setting, Two-step hypothesis and Diffusion of innovation. Through these theories, we analyzed our empirical data that emerged.   The results showed that our respondents had very low knowledge of osteoporosis, although theyshowed interest for health information. The results also showed that respondents were consistent intheir actions regarding which channels they came to turn to. They prefered their health informationfrom news papers and family, friends and work colleagues. When asked where they got their information from, the respondents answered mostly from family, friends and work colleagues, followed closely by newspapers. This shows that respondents are more receptive to informationfrom the channels of their own choice. The results also showed that the propensity to change behavior increases with the age of the respondents.

<p>I argue that ethical convictions are crucial to the maintenance and transformation of social institutions. Moreover, since ethical convictions are sometimes corrigible and open to persuasive transformation, ethical persuasion can be a powerful source of social change. However, I observe that the dominant analytic techniques of the social sciences are ill equipped to understand the nature and import of ethical convictions, and even less well equipped to inform ethical persuasion. I argue this, in part, explains why social science research has often proved of little value in trying to address prominent social concerns.</p><p>This diagnosis raises a puzzle and a challenge. The puzzle is why some social scientists would wholly commit themselves to methods that cannot adequately deal with important dimensions of social structure. I show this is due to a misguided conception of science, one which seeks an "absolute perspective" that requires reducing or explaining away ethical convictions.</p><p>The challenge, once this vision of science is rejected in favor of a more pragmatic one, is 1) to understand the systematic limits of different methodological approaches and 2) to see how an account of ethics, rightly understood, can complement social scientific knowledge in service of better social outcomes. </p><p>I evaluate three dominant methodological approaches in the social sciences, namely, statistical modeling, formal modeling, and biological-behavioral research. Although all are useful within certain domains, I show that each has systematic limits relating to the dynamism of ethical convictions. I demonstrate how these methods can fail on their own terms and can blind researchers to important resources for social change, such as possibilities for persuasion.</p><p></p><p>Finally, I develop an account of the relationship between ethics, rationality, and persuasion drawing on the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Charles Taylor. This account rejects prominent "scientific" attempts to explain ethical allegiances as biologically hardwired or structurally determined, and it further challenges accounts of ethical naturalism and pluralistic neutrality. </p><p>I conclude by illustrating the constructive role that ethical persuasion has played in a number of development projects, which help demonstrate my thesis that debates about visions of "the good" matter profoundly for human flourishing.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (D. Min.)--Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-188).

As response to climate change, the UN and the EU have adopted a market-based approach aiming to reduce Greenhouse gases via flexible market-based mechanisms, constituted by carbon trading and carbon offsetting. The approach rests on the notion that sustainable development and environmental protection are compatible with a liberal market and economic growth. However, this rather complex issue is debated among stakeholders and the perspectives of the matter vary. As an important societal institution, Swedish newspapers play a central democratic role by interpreting, conveying and discussing responses to climate change. By having this informative role, Swedish newspapers influence the public agenda. This study aims to analyze and describe how carbon trading and carbon offsetting are presented in Swedish newspapers by revealing patterns within their content. The research was conducted via a content analysis of 204 articles in the two leading newspapers in Sweden, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter covering the years 2007 and 2014. The results could be summarized as: (i) the issue is described through a variety of contexts with strong influence of ideological messages, (ii) the elites in society in general and domestic political parties/allianes in particular are the most dominant stakeholder groups in the debate, (iii) the approach seems to be linked to the messages of Swedish liberal/conservative parties, (iv) the political orientation of the newspapers do not influence the choice of political parties given a voice in the articles, (v) the level of connection between cabon trading/carbon offsetting and sustainable development varies among the articles.

Colombia's protracted civil war between Marxist insurgencies and the state has brought grave consequences for the civilian population and the prospects for constructing a viable political community in the country. With up to 5 million internally displaced people, rampant impunity for perpetrators of crimes against humanity and human rights and International Humanitarian Law violations, dozens of politicians and countless members of the armed forces linked to paramilitary organizations, along with increasing social injustices and inequalities, Colombia presents a troubling social-political panorama that has led to what is often referred to as a profound social and institutional 'moral crisis'. Much discussion has centred on the question of achieving some degree of minimal moral and political consensus and 'collective conscience' to humanize and slowly transform the conflict at local, regional and national levels. However, the philosophical and political parameters of this discussion have been and continue to be set firmly within variants of the liberal tradition which, it is argued, does not provide the necessary resources for adequately conceptualizing the problem and conceiving the task of addressing conflict, constructing moral consensus, and seeking social and political coexistence. The thesis argues that the philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre can provide such resources. MacIntyre provides a convincing account of the philosophical problems that underlie ongoing intractable disagreement and the conflicts it breeds, offering a philosophy that can inform and underpin efforts at social transformation, resistance, and coexistence as well as aiding the necessary task of social scientific research and analysis of the conflict. The thesis analyses the moral dimensions of the conflict in light of MacIntyre's philosophy but also critically explores the adequacy of his politics of local community for the Colombian context. MacIntyre argues that a rational political community can only be constructed through the praxis of local communities engaging in shared moral-political deliberation. Through an empirical case study of a Constituent Assembly process in a rural community that has suffered the impacts of armed conflict for decades, the thesis explores an attempt at constructing peaceful social and political coexistence in light of MacIntyre's moral-sociological framework.