Rethinking the Foundations of Sustainability Measurement: The Limitations of the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)

The objective of sustainability measurement is to move environmental decision making toward more rigorous, quantitative and empirical foundations. One of the most comprehensive attempts to lay out the foundations for sustainability measurement has been offered by the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI). This paper aims to advance the science of sustainability measurement by assessing the validity and reliability of this composite index in order to provide new insights for future indicator development. The architecture of the ESI is validated against the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model, after which an exploratory factor analysis is conducted to reveal the latent structure of the index. Further, the performance of the ESI is tested in cross-national regression models. The results indicate a lack of consistency with the well established PSR model and a potential bias towards economically developed countries grounded in the architecture and weighting mechanism of the index. A re-weighted index (Equivalised ESI) is constructed, resulting in a new ranking of countries’ sustainability. The Equivalised ESI improves the measurement qualities of the index, and in so doing actually reinforces the rich-country bias of the ESI. Put differently, the Equivalised ESI brings the deficiencies of the original ESI to the fore. This paper illustrates that there are serious conceptual problems and validity concerns with defining the ESI as a sustainability measure. Taken together, the findings reinforce the need to reconsider future foundations of sustainability measurement in order to ensure that it is clear both what is being measured and how well.     

权力人口问题探析——从新加坡谈到苏州

本文结合新加坡和苏州的案例探讨了“权力人口问题”。权力人口是指手握大小权利的人们构成的社会阶层或集团。在社会阶层结构中 ,权力人口具有举足轻重的地位和作用 ,影响着人力资源的开发和现代社会的公平与效率。权力人口的素质和作为是追求卓越的基础。权力人口问题就是关键的少数人影响非关键的多数人的问题。在社会人口学的视野中 ,权力人口问题值得予以高度的关注。     

Barriers to foundation funding of gay organizations: evidence from Massachusetts

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual service organizations in the United States receive a small share of the philanthropic grants awarded by foundations and other institutional donors. A survey of Massachusetts gay organizations provides explanations for this phenomenon and suggests that a variety of barriers impedes foundation giving. The findings are consistent with those of two national surveys of lesbian organizations and a survey of gay service needs in California. The most commonly cited barriers include: a difficulty in finding foundations sympathetic to gay service programs; a lack of paid grant writers; the perceived need for 501 (c)(3) nonprofit status in order to qualify for most grants; foundations' predilection for funding established service organizations, and their reluctance to fund political advocacy, a lack of familiarity with gay service needs; and homophobia. Although the AIDS crisis helped educate foundations about the gay community, consider-able barriers remain.     

Measuring and Monitoring Poverty and Well-Being: A New Approach for the Synthesis of Multidimensionality

The aim of this paper is to introduce a new approach for the synthesis and analysis of multidimensional poverty and well-being indicators. Our general perspective is inspired by the theoretical foundations of the capability approach and sustainable human development paradigm. The new synthesis of indicators aims at monitoring outcomes of units of interest. Its defining features include: full sensitiveness, continuity, flexibility in substitution between dimensions, and the straightforward interpretation of the results. All these properties are obtained through a transparent and accountable process that is fully open to public scrutiny and reason (as suggested by Amartya Sen). The main contribution of this approach is that the degree of substitutability between dimensions can be directly linked to the general level of well-being of a person, which addresses the so-called “inescapable arbitrariness” issue discussed by Anand and Sen (Concepts of human development and poverty: a multidimensional perspective. Human Development Papers. UNDP, New York, 1997). The new synthesis proposed opens up new possibilities for different types of applications, including monitoring and evaluating development programmes.     

Validation of Multilevel Constructs: Validation Methods and Empirical Findings for the EDI

The purposes of this paper are to highlight the foundations of multilevel construct validation, describe two methodological approaches and associated analytic techniques, and then apply these approaches and techniques to the multilevel construct validation of a widely-used school readiness measure called the Early Development Instrument (EDI; Janus and Offord 2007). Validation evidence is presented regarding the multilevel covariance structure of the EDI, the appropriateness of aggregation to classroom and neighbourhood levels, and the effects of teacher and classroom characteristics on these structural patterns. The results are then discussed in the context of the theoretical framework of the EDI, with suggestions for future validation work.     

Why does class matter? Policy attitudes,mechanisms, and the case of the Nordic countries

In most democracies, classes tend to vary with respect to an array of attitudes and behaviours, and differences are large within a number of European polities. What mechanisms lie behind these differences? Do they relate primarily to individuals’ material interests, as assumed by traditional class theories, or instead, to socialization and self-selection factors? This paper seeks to extend theory and research through an analysis of mechanisms behind class differences in policy attitudes. Our focus is on the Nordic countries, where class differences are extensive and well-documented in past scholarship. We take advantage of high-quality European Social Survey data for Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Analyzing three policy arenas and the 9-category European Socio-economic Classification scheme (ESeC), we find evidence that class-related factors help to explain cleavages in attitudes. Comparisons with the more detailed, 103-category International Standard Classification of Occupation scheme (ISCO) suggest that these factors explain less “micro-class” occupational variation. Results shed new light on mechanisms behind class differences, and the empirical foundations of established class theories. These and other implications are discussed in the conclusion.     

Notfall, Nähe und Hilfsbereitschaft

The paper presents data of a survey about helping behaviour in the flood catastrophe in august 2002 in Germany. In this situation helping behaviour can be operationalized as giving donations for victims or helping in the flood area. It can be shown that helping behaviour like this is related to the individual definition of the situation as a case of emergency as it is defined by Darley and Latané. Nevertheless, the regional distance to the flood area is the most important factor on helping decisions.     

性别差异视角下的流动人口迁移距离及其影响因素——基于对上海流动人口的分析

通过对流动人口迁移距离性别差异的考察发现:(1)女性流动人口的平均迁移距离长于男性23.1千米,个体因素、迁移特征、经济社会因素对男性、女性流动人口的迁移距离存在着不同方向和不同程度的影响。少数民族和农村户籍的女性流动人口的迁移距离明显长于男性。(2)随受教育程度的提高,女性迁移距离不断增加,初中、高中、大学和研究生学历的女性流动人口的迁移距离分别增加0.062、0.058、0.098和0.170个单位。(3)女性流动人口的迁移受到距离的阻抗作用强度弱于男性,距离每增加1%,流入的女性流动人口规模降低1.090%,而男性为1.275%。(4)引入经济发展差距(GDP)和收入差距变量后,各变量的影响程度和方向发生变化,女性表现出学历、收入水平越高迁移得越远的特征。     

Is happiness a trait?

One of the ideological foundations of the modern welfare states is the belief that people can be made happier by providing them with better living conditions. This belief is challenged by the theory that happiness is a fixed trait, rather than a variable state. This theory figures both at the individual level and at the societal level. The individual level variant depicts happiness as an aspect of personal character; rooted in inborn temperament or acquired disposition. The societal variant sees happiness as a matter of national character; embedded in shared values and beliefs. Both variants imply that a better society makes no happier people.Happiness can be regarded as a trait if it meets three criteria: (1) temporal stability, (2) cross-situational consistency, and (3) inner causation. This paper checks whether that is, indeed, the case.     

Differential fertility in Ontario. An application of factorial design to a demographic problem

This paper describes the use of a probability sample to survey differential fertility. 475 women were randomly selected from the 1941 Census of Canada to provide tests of the existence of five differentials: income, present age, age by marriage, schooling and distance from a city. The sample was limited to one province and to two contrasting values of each of the five differentials under study. Significant differences are found for the effective distance as well as for age at marriage and schooling. This is taken as signifying that the diffusion of the small-family pattern has a spatial dimension.     

The recalcitrance of distance: exploring the infrastructures of sending in migrants’ lives

This paper puts the spatiality of migration, and more specifically post-migration connections, centre stage. It explores the distances confronted by migrants as they stay connected with their pre-migration lives, recognising that these distances are recalcitrant, asymmetrically governed spaces. Indeed, migrants can be understood as experts in the navigation of international space and ‘the tyranny of distance’. Inspired by recent work on urban and translocal infrastructures and taking the empirical example of migration infrastructures in the lives of Poles and Zimbabweans in the UK, looking particularly at the materiality and logistics of sending things back, this paper builds new discussions about migration which take the spatial, physical and grounded elements of migration and translocalism more seriously.     

An Assessment of Social Welfare in Spain: Territorial Analysis Using a Synthetic Welfare Indicator

The aim of this paper is measure social welfare in Spanish provinces. To achieve this, we use the distance method P₂ to compose a synthetic indicator of welfare for 2007, the last year for which data are available. The index comprises information on different social indicators from various life domains and enables a classification of Spanish provinces, as well as a study of the impact of each individual indicator in order to determine provincial disparities in social welfare levels.     

利用人口普查数据测量社会距离的方法探讨

社会学概念“社会距离”从博格达斯量表开始,其测量的一直是群体（族、阶层）之间的主观心理距离,反映的是群体间文化差异或群体间相互接受程度。为了回应塔尔达和拉梅尔对社会距离概念客观性的要求,本文借鉴重新定义距离这个概念,反映不同社会阶层客观的社会差别,并利用广州市2000年人口普查数据和2005年1％人口抽样调查数据来测量广州市不同阶层（群体）的社会距离,解释广州市社会阶层（群体）关系的变化,说明社会变迁。     

Measuring longevity achievements under welfare interdependencies: a case for joint life expectancy indicators

Whereas period life expectancy constitutes an intuitive indicator of the survival conditions prevailing at a particular period, this paper argues that, given the existence of welfare interdependencies, that widespread indicator is nonetheless an incomplete measure of the longevity achievements relevant for human well-being. The central importance of coexistence for human-beings implies that usual life expectancy measures should be complemented by joint life expectancy indicators, which measure the average coexistence time under particular survival conditions. After a study of the theoretical foundations of ‘single’ and ‘joint’ life expectancy indicators, it is shown that joint life expectancy measures tend to enrich significantly the comparison of longevity achievements across countries and periods. Moreover, the introduction of joint life expectancy indicators—as a complement to conventional life expectancy measures—into multi-variable indexes such as the United Nations’ HDI is also shown to affect international rankings of standards of living to a non negligible extent.

Pairwise Comparisons of Social Development of Selected Countries: 1960–1994: An application of D2-statistics

The paradigm of development has shifted from gross national product to human well-being: from economic growth to social development. It has been broadly accepted that economic growth doesnot automatically translate into a better quality of life. Consequently, the main objective of the most of the countries is to achieve better standard of living for their people. In this context it is of interest to have a look at the pairwise convergence or divergence of countries in social development over a period of time. This study uses D²-statistics to obtain a pairwise distance matrix for the sample countries for each point of time 1960 and 1994. The paper presents a gap matrix portraying the change in the distances between each pair of country over the period. This also finds distance of a country from all other countries. All the analysis has been offered for the entire sample as well as three income groups low, middle and high.     

Development of scales measuring social distance toward male and female homosexuals

The focus of this paper is the development of Guttman scales of social distance toward male and female homosexuals. The development of these scales was in three phases. In each phase, a series of items was distributed, analyzed and refined. These refinements were not solely statistical, but involved considerable conceptual clarification. The final scale is offered as a statistically sound and conceptually clear measurement of social distance towards homosexuals.     

Changing paradigms of development in an evolutionary perspective

The paper gives an assessment of the theoretical foundations of development planning laid in the 1950s and 1960s, and the conceptual shifts since the turbulent 1970s questioning previous patterns of macroeconomic regulation. The call today is for management styles suited to cope with evolutionary processes. Their crucial elements in the face of overall change are sensitive early diagnosis, flexible adjustment, continuous individual and social learning, the building of technological potential, and self-organization. There is an emerging search for an evolutionary ethics accepting responsibility for the further continuation of life on the planet in view of ecological constraints and recognizing basic principles of evolution such as openness, non-equilibrium, and the positive role of fluctuations in reaching higher levels of complexity and order. Value systems have an ever more explicit impact on the direction of social change.     

Development of a Model of Holistic Reflection to facilitate transformative learning in student midwives

Background

Reflective practice is considered an essential aspect of personal and professional development, and critical reflection is considered the cornerstone of being an accountable and autonomous practitioner. Tertiary education should lay the foundations of lifelong learning by ensuring students develop into critically reflective and reflexive practitioners, who demonstrate self-awareness and an ability to reflect on personal values and beliefs and their impact on the wider healthcare system. This level of reflective practice is essential to effect change at both an individual and societal level. Reflection should therefore be embedded into education programs as a learning, teaching and assessment strategy.

Analysis of Cultural Indicators: A Comparison of Their Conceptual Basis and Dimensions

Multiple organizations and institutions have been resorting to indicators on diverse aspects of culture (e.g., creativity, social cohesion, cultural vitality, economic participation), according to their particular purposes and views of what is to be measured. This paper presents results from a research report of a qualitative study that analyzed 35 papers on cultural indicators found via Internet, based on four categories: purpose, assumptions about culture, concept of culture they sustain, and dimensions of indicators considered. Results show that even when the importance of culture is widely recognized in the papers, most of them propose indicators without having solid theoretical foundations, and with an emphasis on the relation between culture and economy. Also, most of the documents do not have a definition of culture or present an instrumental conceptualization of it, where culture is valued not as an end in itself but as a resource than can serve to development.     

A Matter of Utility? Rationalising Cycling,Cycling Rationalities

Abstract

This paper discusses how dominant policy paradigms promote a ‘utility’ model of transport, prioritising the destruction of distance and the minimisation of time spent travelling. It suggests that within low-cycling countries, this framing has reinforced the policy marginalisation of cycling, which is cast as having problematic associations with leisure and pleasure. Hence, while the multiple benefits of cycling might seem to mandate policy support, these benefits (including health and equity impacts) seem tainted by association with cycling’s non-transport connotations. The paper analyses interview data from the ESRC Cycling Cultures project to explore how cyclists and cycling stakeholders negotiate the landscape of ‘utility cycling’. It examines how people appeal to a ‘utility narrative’, while often simultaneously appealing to considerations that apparently contradict it. Conclusions for cycling and broader transport policy are drawn.