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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Ethical issues & debates > General
Bribery is perhaps the most visible and most frequently studied
form of corruption. Very little research, however, examines the
individual decision to offer or accept a bribe, or how
understanding that decision can help to effectively control
bribery. This book brings together research by scholars from a
variety of disciplines studying the mind and morality, who use
their research to explain how and why decisions regarding
participation in bribery are made. It first examines bribery from
the perspective of brain structure, then approaches the decision to
engage in bribery from a cognitive perspective. It examines the
psychological costs imposed on a person who engages in bribery, and
studies societal and organizational norms and their impact on
bribery. This is an ideal read for scholars and other interested
persons studying business ethics, bribery and corruption,
corruption control, and the applications of neuroscience in a
business environment.
Controversies in Digital Ethics explores ethical frameworks within
digital culture. Through a combination of theoretical examination
and specific case studies, the essays in this volume provide a
vigorous examination of ethics in a highly individualistic and
mediated world. Focusing on specific controversies-privacy,
surveillance, identity politics, participatory culture-the authors
in this volume provide a roadmap for navigating the thorny ethical
issues in new media. Paul Booth and Amber Davisson bring together
multiple writers working from different theoretical traditions to
represent the multiplicity of ethics in the 21st century. Each
essay has been chosen to focus on a particular issue in
contemporary ethical thinking in order to both facilitate classroom
discussion and further scholarship in digital media ethics.
Accessible for students, but with a robust analysis providing
contemporary scholarship in media ethics, this collection unites
theory, case studies, and practice within one volume.
Public Health in the Age of Anxiety enhances both the public and
scholarly understanding of the motivations behind vaccine hesitancy
in Canada. The volume brings into conversation people working
within such fields as philosophy, medicine, epidemiology, history,
nursing, anthropology, public policy, and religious studies. Rather
than an acrimonious debate between advocates and hesitant patients
the contributors critically analyze issues surrounding vaccine
safety, the arguments against vaccines, the scale of
anti-vaccination sentiment, public dissemination of medical
research, and the effect of private beliefs on individual
decision-making and public health. These essays model and encourage
the type of productive engagement that is necessary to clarify the
value of vaccines and reduce the tension between pro and
anti-vaccination groups.
The battles over evolution, climate change, childhood vaccinations,
and the causes of AIDS, alternative medicine, oil shortages,
population growth, and the place of science in our country-all are
reaching a fevered pitch. Many people and institutions have exerted
enormous efforts to misrepresent or flatly deny demonstrable
scientific reality to protect their nonscientific ideology, their
power, or their bottom line. To shed light on this darkness, Donald
R. Prothero explains the scientific process and why society has
come to rely on science not only to provide a better life but also
to reach verifiable truths no other method can obtain. He describes
how major scientific ideas that are accepted by the entire
scientific community (evolution, anthropogenic global warming,
vaccination, the HIV cause of AIDS, and others) have been attacked
with totally unscientific arguments and methods. Prothero argues
that science deniers pose a serious threat to society, as their
attempts to subvert the truth have resulted in widespread
scientific ignorance, increased risk of global catastrophes, and
deaths due to the spread of diseases that could have been
prevented.
Anne M. Blankenship's study of Christianity in the infamous
campswhere Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II
yieldsinsights both far-reaching and timely. While most Japanese
Americansmaintained their traditional identities as Buddhists, a
sizeable minorityidentified as Christian, and a number of church
leaders sought to ministerto them in the camps. Blankenship shows
how church leaders were forced toassess the ethics and pragmatism
of fighting against or acquiescing to whatthey clearly perceived,
even in the midst of a national crisis, as an unjustsocial system.
These religious activists became acutely aware of the impact
ofgovernment, as well as church, policies that targeted ordinary
Americans ofdiverse ethnicities. Going through the doors of the
camp churches and delving deeply intothe religious experiences of
the incarcerated and the faithful who aidedthem, Blankenship argues
that the incarceration period introduced newsocial and legal
approaches for Christians of all stripes to challenge the
constitutionalityof government policies on race and civil rights.
She also showshow the camp experience nourished the roots of an
Asian American liberationtheology that sprouted in the sixties and
seventies.
How young people think about the moral and ethical dilemmas they
encounter when they share and use online content and participate in
online communities. Fresh from a party, a teen posts a photo on
Facebook of a friend drinking a beer. A college student repurposes
an article from Wikipedia for a paper. A group of players in a
multiplayer online game routinely cheat new players by selling them
worthless virtual accessories for high prices. In Disconnected,
Carrie James examines how young people and the adults in their
lives think about these sorts of online dilemmas, describing
ethical blind spots and disconnects. Drawing on extensive
interviews with young people between the ages of 10 and 25, James
describes the nature of their thinking about privacy, property, and
participation online. She identifies three ways that young people
approach online activities. A teen might practice self-focused
thinking, concerned mostly about consequences for herself; moral
thinking, concerned about the consequences for people he knows; or
ethical thinking, concerned about unknown individuals and larger
communities. James finds, among other things, that youth are often
blind to moral or ethical concerns about privacy; that attitudes
toward property range from "what's theirs is theirs" to "free for
all"; that hostile speech can be met with a belief that online
content is "just a joke"; and that adults who are consulted about
such dilemmas often emphasize personal safety issues over online
ethics and citizenship. Considering ways to address the digital
ethics gap, James offers a vision of conscientious connectivity,
which involves ethical thinking skills but, perhaps more important,
is marked by sensitivity to the dilemmas posed by online life, a
motivation to wrestle with them, and a sense of moral agency that
supports socially positive online actions.
The recent explosion of neuroscience techniques has been
game-changing in terms of understanding the healthy brain, and in
the development of neuropsychiatric treatments. One of the key
techniques is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which
allows us to examine the human brain non-invasively, and observe
brain activity in real time. Through fMRI, we are beginning to
build a deeper understanding of our thoughts, motivations, and
behaviours. Already fMRI has been used to detect conscious activity
in some patients who had all indications of being in a vegetative
state, and even enabled us to communicate with some of them. This
is just one of the many striking areas in which fMRI can be used to
'read minds'. As neuroscientists unravel the brain networks of
self-control and morality, we might find abnormalities in criminal
offenders. Could we predict crimes before they are committed? fMRI
has also been used to detect racial bias in some people who
regarded themselves as fair-minded. Meanwhile, the reliability of
fMRI as a lie detector in murder cases or as a tool for marketing
is being debated. Sex, Lies, and Brain Scans takes readers beyond
the media headlines. Barbara Sahakian and Julia Gottwald consider
what the technique of fMRI entails, and what information it can
give us, showing which applications are possible today, and which
ones are science fiction. They also consider the important ethical
questions these techniques raise. Should brain scans be allowed at
airports to screen for terrorists? Should they be used to vet
future judges and teachers? How far will we allow neuroscience to
go? It is time to make up our minds.
In Fungible Life Aihwa Ong explores the dynamic world of
cutting-edge bioscience research, offering critical insights into
the complex ways Asian bioscientific worlds and cosmopolitan
sciences are entangled in a tropical environment brimming with the
threat of emergent diseases. At biomedical centers in Singapore and
China scientists map genetic variants, disease risks, and
biomarkers, mobilizing ethnicized "Asian" bodies and health data
for genomic research. Their differentiation between Chinese,
Indian, and Malay DNA makes fungible Singapore's ethnic-stratified
databases that come to "represent" majority populations in Asia. By
deploying genomic science as a public good, researchers reconfigure
the relationships between objects, peoples, and spaces, thus
rendering "Asia" itself as a shifting entity. In Ong's analysis,
Asia emerges as a richly layered mode of entanglements, where the
population's genetic pasts, anxieties and hopes, shared genetic
weaknesses, and embattled genetic futures intersect. Furthermore,
her illustration of the contrasting methods and goals of the
Biopolis biomedical center in Singapore and BGI Genomics in China
raises questions about the future direction of cosmopolitan science
in Asia and beyond.
In Fungible Life Aihwa Ong explores the dynamic world of
cutting-edge bioscience research, offering critical insights into
the complex ways Asian bioscientific worlds and cosmopolitan
sciences are entangled in a tropical environment brimming with the
threat of emergent diseases. At biomedical centers in Singapore and
China scientists map genetic variants, disease risks, and
biomarkers, mobilizing ethnicized "Asian" bodies and health data
for genomic research. Their differentiation between Chinese,
Indian, and Malay DNA makes fungible Singapore's ethnic-stratified
databases that come to "represent" majority populations in Asia. By
deploying genomic science as a public good, researchers reconfigure
the relationships between objects, peoples, and spaces, thus
rendering "Asia" itself as a shifting entity. In Ong's analysis,
Asia emerges as a richly layered mode of entanglements, where the
population's genetic pasts, anxieties and hopes, shared genetic
weaknesses, and embattled genetic futures intersect. Furthermore,
her illustration of the contrasting methods and goals of the
Biopolis biomedical center in Singapore and BGI Genomics in China
raises questions about the future direction of cosmopolitan science
in Asia and beyond.
These are some of the urgent questions posed by this stimulating
and wide-ranging new colloquy. Bringing together a wealth of wisdom
and experience in medical science and in Buddhist thought and
ethics, the discussants together address issues of vital current
concern. They ask, for example, to what degree science and
religion, as well as other fields of learning, may find common
ground. They examine the pitfalls, as well as the opportunities,
posed by genetic engineering. They examine the need for science to
develop a proper ethical dimension, particularly in relation to
weapons of war, if it is to realize its true potential. Exhibiting
everywhere a sensitive humanity, as well as a deep respect for
their different backgrounds, the participants exemplify in these
civilized exchanges a mutual passion for developing dialogue as a
profound and practical way of cultivating both toleration and
peace.
A must for collectors and librarians. Contains a powerful analysis
of three of English law's most iconic criminal cases with extracts
from the original transcripts and court reports. Readable,
accessible and engaging. Paints vivid pictures of three different
social eras.There are cases in the annals of English criminal law
that forever resonate. In Three Cases that Shook the Law former
district judge Ronald Bartle has selected three for close scrutiny:
cases where the defendants paid the ultimate penalty even though
demonstrably the victims of injustice. They are those of Edith
Thompson who suffered due to her romantic mind-set, a young lover
and the prevailing moral climate; William Joyce (Lord 'Haw Haw')
where the law was stretched to its limits to accommodate treason;
and Timothy Evans who died due to the lies of the principal
prosecution witness Reginald John Halliday Christie who it later
transpired was both a serial killer and likely perpetrator.Weaving
narrative, transcripts and original court records the author
presents the reader with a captivating book in which his long
experience as a lawyer and magistrate is brought fully to bear.A
valuable addition to the history of English law that will be of
particular interest to those concerned about miscarriages of
justice or capital punishment (which remains rife in parts of the
world).
Victor Grayson adores his 8-year-old daughter, India, so why does
he vanish leaving only a neatly folded pile of clothes on a windy
beach? India is devastated and bargains with God: I'll stop eating
chocolate if you send my Daddy back to me. Now 15 and seriously
anorexic, she's convinced that she heard his voice on a crowded
London station, and sets out to track him down. Isolated and
overwhelmed, her mother, Tonya, succumbs to gnawing doubts about
the man she thought she knew. Who exactly was he? What dark secrets
were haunting him? Could he be involved in the disappearance of
three teenage girls? The revelation when it comes is much more
challenging than Tonya ever dreamed of. This book will resonate
with everyone who has ever agonized over their own body image or
identity, and any parent who must learn to relinquish control to
their child.
In 1990 two South African mothers were faced with an impossible choice, one that no mother should ever have to make. Should they surrender the child they had lovingly raised in order to get back the baby they had given birth to?
Megs Clinton-Parker and Sandy Dawkins chose nurture over nature, simply unable to give up their two-year-old sons who were switched at birth at an East Rand hospital. Instead they decided to try to make their strange relationship work, although they lived in different cities, 500km apart. And they decided to sue the South African state, whose negligence had altered the fates of two families forever. Robin Dawkins and Gavin Clinton-Parker grew up living each other’s lives, brothers-but-not-brothers, acutely aware that their mothers’ hearts were torn.
Unable to escape the consequences of the swap, Robin decided at the age of 15 that it was time to claim what was rightfully his, adding a further twist to this bitter saga.
Should news reporters express political opinions on their personal
Twitter accounts? Are advertisements that look like news deceptive
or simply creative? How much public relations "spin" is appropriate
when communicating during an environmental crisis? Media Ethics
Today: Issues, Analysis, Solutions charts a thoughtful path through
increasingly complex ethical issues faced by today's journalism,
advertising, and public relations practitioners. The book lays a
foundation for ethical decision making in mass media by focusing on
fundamental values and examining their application to each field.
It explores current issues involving privacy, deception,
plagiarism, and diversity; analyzes dilemmas arising from the use
of digital imagery; and discusses social media's implications for
public engagement, from citizen journalism to consumer reviews.
Rich in real-world examples of success and failure, the book helps
aspiring media practitioners learn to identify ethical concerns and
employ practical templates for making sound decisions. Designed to
provoke debate and guide problem solving, Media Ethics Today will
add an important dimension to courses in communication ethics,
journalism, and strategic communication.
Breakfast with Evil and Other Risky Ventures is a pre-emptive
attempt to bring together the scattered writings of Ashis Nandy
over his entire span of writing career and scan those scattered
lectures, interviews, and writings including essays and columns for
newspapers and journals for an in-depth analytical study. As the
author himself explains, these are not his musings on static,
time-bound issues, rather they capture how he confronts and
negotiates the living past in the political, social, and cultural
landscape of South Asia-starting from the manmade famine of 1943 to
the Partition and freedom of India and the birth of Pakistan in
1947, the Bangladesh War in 1971, and the protracted civil war in
Sri Lanka (1983-2009). The essays, often written as forewords to
other scholars' works, straddle languages, systems of knowledge,
and forms of voice and silence. Nandy attempts to identify a
critical and intellectual strategy for survival in the Third World.
He establishes that though a traumatic ambience-marred by
aggressive development, instant nationalisms, or the brutalizing
spectacles of modern nation-states-numbs one's imagination, it can
also lead to new worldviews and multiple creative forms of
resistance.
"You don't have to live your life like this," he said. He put a wad
of cash on the bed, handed me the key to the hotel room and walked
out. I never saw the man again. ...He could see something in me
that I couldn't see in myself. He could see someone better than who
I had become... Angel Cortello was lost in a world of emotional
problems, addiction, prostitution and the street life. This is the
true story of how she chose recovery and freedom, even in the midst
of consequences such as HIV.
Intellectual Empathy provides a step-by-step method for
facilitating discussions of socially divisive issues. Maureen
Linker, a philosophy professor at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn, developed Intellectual Empathy after more than a
decade of teaching critical thinking in metropolitan Detroit, one
of the most racially and economically divided urban areas, at the
crossroads of one of the Midwest's largest Muslim communities. The
skills acquired through Intellectual Empathy have proven to be
significant for students who pursue careers in education, social
work, law, business, and medicine. Now, Linker shows educators,
activists, business managers, community leaders - anyone working
toward fruitful dialogues about social differences - how
potentially transformative conversations break down and how they
can be repaired. Starting from Socrates's injunction know thyself,
Linker explains why interrogating our own beliefs is essential. In
contrast to traditional approaches in logic that devalue emotion,
Linker acknowledges the affective aspects of reasoning and how
emotion is embedded in our understanding of self and other. Using
examples fromclassroom dialogues, online comment forums, news
media, and diversity training workshops, readers learn to recognize
logical fallacies and critically, yet empathically, assess their
own social biases, as well as the structural inequalities that
perpetuate social injustice and divide us from each other.
Hearts and Minds Without Fear: Unmasking the Sacred in Teacher
Preparation is the first book of its kind that focuses on the
critical urgency of integrating creativity, mindfulness, and
compassion in which social and ecological justice are forefronted
in teacher preparation. This is especially significant at a time of
cultural turmoil, educational reform, and inequities in public
education. The book serves as a vehicle to unmask fear within
current educational ethical deficiencies and revitalize hope for
community members, teacher educators, pre-service, in-service
teachers, and families in school communities. The recipients of
these strategies are explicitly presented in order to build
understanding of a compassionate paradigm shift in schools that
envisions possibility and social imagination on behalf of our
children in schools and our communities. The authors unabashedly
place the arts and aesthetics at the core of the educational
paradigm solution. The book lives its own message. Within each seed
chapter, the authors practice authentically what they preach,
offering a refreshing perspective to bring our schools back to life
and instil hope in children's and educators' hearts and minds.
Dr Joseph Santamaria, a devout Catholic with a long and
distinguished medical career, is well equipped to offer his wise
insights on bioethical and public health issues such as alcohol and
drug abuse. His latest publication contains selections from his
vast store of published articles and keynote addresses commenting
on a wide range of contentious contemporary questions. He tackles
controversial topics such as the corruption of science by a
combination of ideology and vested interests as in the flawed
approaches to the AIDS epidemic, so-called "reproductive health"
and drug abuse. Secularism's attempt to marginalise religious
values from the public square in addressing these problems, in
Australia and other Western nations, is also forcefully confronted.
Dr Santamaria concludes with a series of reflections on religious
topics that he has found challenging. Joseph N. Santamaria, son of
Italian migrants who arrived in Australia early in the twentieth
century, graduated in 1948 in medicine. He specialised in
haematology and oncology and later became the Director of Community
Medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital. He retired from hospital
practice at the end of 1988.
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