When Outcomes Prompt Criticism of Procedures: An Analysis of the Rodney King Case

A content analysis of newspaper editorials about the trial of the four officers accused of beating Rodney King investigated when people would become concerned with procedural propriety in the case. Consistent with research demonstrating that people's moral convictions are important determinants of their perceptions of fairness and reactions to outcomes, results revealed that people were more critical of the procedures used in the case after learning the "unjust" verdict than before. Specifically, editorials only mentioned aspects of procedures after the verdict was announced, despite potential reasons for preverdict procedural concern. Editorials also contained more mentions of racism post- than preverdict suggesting that the "unjust" verdict also prompted concerns with institutionalized procedural problems.     

Care of Empowerment? A Disability Rights Perspective

This paper challenges the notion of "care", arguing that people who need support in their daily lives have been constructed as "dependent people". Instead, the author argues, if we want to empower people we must learn from the Independent Living Movement, from the people who struggled against segregation and insisted that access to personal assistance over which they have control is a civil rights issue. The paper takes issue with Clare Ungerson's perspective on the new direct payments legislation. This legislation is an important stage in the achievements of a civil rights movement and social researchers have a moral responsibility to collaborate with this movement in any work which they develop on issues which are not of mere academic interest but which concern people's rights to choice and control in their lives.     

社会管理创新与公民道德发展

社会不公平、人与人之间互不信任和一些政府官员道德败坏是影响我国公民道德发展最为突出的三方面社会环境问题,而社会管理创新能够为公民道德的生成和发展提供和谐的社会环境。有效地增进和公平地分配公共利益是政府公共行政决策的伦理标准,内蕴着关怀全体公民福祉的道德价值,理应成为社会管理理念创新的首要伦理目标。切实保障和改善民生、不断提升公民的生活质量既是社会管理创新的伦理要求,也是公民道德发展的根本基础。社会管理创新要求政府不断提升诚信水平,为公民道德的发展塑造诚信友善的社会环境;政府官员的道德形象对公民道德发展具有重要的示范意义,官员应成为普通公民的道德表率;民间社会组织是社会管理创新的广阔领域,应充分发挥民间社会组织在推进公民道德发展中的自治功能。     

Moral dialogs

Moral dialogs are social processes through which people form new shared moral understandings. They differ from reasoned deliberations because they are focused on values and not on facts, logic or reason. They differ from irrational passions because value statements require moral justifications. Such dialogs take place not just in families and communities, but often on national levels and sometimes even on transnational ones. They played a core role in major societal changes brought about by social movements, such as those that advanced civil rights, women's rights, and the protection of the environment. Most importantly, when successfully concluded, moral dialogs affect not just attitudes and values, but also voluntary behavior as well as laws. Although dialogs may differ greatly in their normative content, they have the same basic sociological format and follow the same basic ‘natural history.’ The article introduces the author's conception of what constitutes moral dialogs by drawing on available evidence, and provides a framework for additional research on the subject at hand.     

Children Who Choose Not to Eat Meat: A Study of Early Moral Decision‐making

Can young children frame their own choices in terms of moral considerations, particularly when those choices do not match the practices of immediate authority figures? To answer this question, we studied 6‐ to 10‐year‐old independent vegetarians—children who have elected to become vegetarians, despite being raised in non‐vegetarian families. In Study 1, these children were asked about their reasons for not eating meat; their replies were compared with those made by vegetarian children from vegetarian families (family vegetarians) and non‐vegetarian children from non‐vegetarian families (non‐vegetarians). Unlike the other two groups, independent vegetarians universally focused on the suffering that meat eating implies for animals but, surprisingly, they did not condemn others for meat eating. Study 2 attempted to explain this tolerance by examining if children focus on whether an individual has made a commitment to not eating meat. All three groups of children condemned meat eating by morally committed vegetarians, but not by those who have made no such commitment. The two studies show that independent vegetarians are committed to not eating meat on moral grounds and judge that it would be wrong to break that commitment. Nevertheless, like non‐vegetarian children, they remain tolerant toward people who have made no such commitment.     

Witnesses＇ Appearance in Court and Guarantees for the Defendant＇s Right to Confrontation

刑事证人出庭作证的主要意义在于保障被告人的对质权。因此,刑事证人出庭问题基本上可替换为以被告人对质权为核心的必要证人出庭问题。由于中国的刑事诉讼法及其司法解释并未赋予被告人对质权,实践中必要证人出庭率仅为25％左右。这种无对质权语境下的刑事审判,通常表现为积极的实体真实主义、定罪量刑的非精细化操作和裁判正当性来源的单一化。为改变这一局面,有必要确立对质权制度及相应的保障机制。     

俄罗斯新民事诉讼法评析

俄罗斯新民事诉讼法典中有关辩论主义和处分主义的修改完善、预审庭的设置,检察长在民事诉讼中职能的转换、简易程序等内容,成为俄罗斯新民事诉讼法典的亮点。尤其是对程序正义和实体正义的平衡追求、注重诉讼效率、保障当事人的诉讼权利,成为新民事诉讼法典的基本价值理念。     

"议彩礼":论农村彩礼形成机制中的道德嵌入性基于甘肃L县的案例分析

彩礼既为“财”又为“礼”,以往彩礼研究主要集中在“婚姻市场理论”和“礼物秩序”两个基本的框架下,较少将其作为生动的社会行动过程予以研究。本文聚焦于“议彩礼”的互动过程,表明彩礼议价的核心不在于结亲家庭对彼此家庭的认可是具有默契还是存在分歧,而在于具有道德基准意识的彩礼大行。结亲家庭的道德感受力是依据大行而展开的不得不“议”的行动过程。情理随行动过程而生发的特点使“议彩礼”成为道德意义网络之中衔接个人道德感受力与集体习惯的节点,这也正是彩礼道德嵌入性的根本要义。     

选择神祗:明代公祀体系的包容与排斥——以地方公祭神祠为中心

明代地方公祭内容当中,各类神祗祭祀的变化最为频繁,大致经历了洪武朝定制期,成化、弘治迅速发展期,以及嘉靖以后的持续增长期三个阶段,祭祀内容不断增加,以致繁复.地方公祭对象的选择标准主要考虑其是否有功于国家、惠爱在民、具有保佑功能,或学识德行昭著.这样的选择标准是基于对公共利益的考量,即通过对这些神祗的公祭,发挥崇德报功、示范表率,及舆论导向的功用.因此,明代公祀体系具有明显的“为公”属性.整体来看,明代地方公祀体系是开放的,并处于不断变动中,其包容和排斥性构成理解明代地方祭祀信仰层级结构的一个视角.这种层级结构显示出明朝政府对国家所倡导的儒家信仰、制度性的宗教信仰,以及各类民间信仰的基本态度.     

Integration and Inclusion: Illusion or Progress in Services for Disabled People?

This paper analyses the meanings of "integration" and "inclusion" in the context of disability services to determine the extent to which the latter signals a change in perspective rather than simply a change in terminology. It is argued that integration implies that disabled people need to be integrated into "mainstream" society and that it is they rather than society which is required to change. The policy response which results from this approach may thus be a technical one which focuses on physical integration alone. In contrast, inclusion takes as its starting-point the fact that a just state of affairs is one in which disabled people are included in society and hence the required policy response is a broad one which includes comprehensive civil rights legislation, an analysis of the effects of present and future policy on disabled people and the participation of disabled people in the democratic decision-making process. However, as disabled people are currently excluded from many aspects of society, the potential for an inclusive approach to be dismissed as being too idealistic is noted, and a number of possible barriers to its realization are discussed. It is concluded that whilst such barriers exist they should not, in themselves, provide a reason for inaction as an understanding of the implications of inclusion for policy and practice can provide a useful starting-point from which to bring about change.     

提升公务员道德修养的途径探索——国家公务员考试增设《道德修养》科目的必要性和现实性

公务员道德是公务员素质之魂,国家公务员道德修养的高低对社会风尚的形成和政府工作的成败产生着直接的根本的影响,因此,在公开选拔公务员中注重道德修养就显得尤为重要。然而目前设置的公务员公共考试科目却只重视了公务员能力的测试,忽略了道德修养的测试。本文从历史和现实的角度分析、阐述了加试"公务员道德修养"的必要性和迫切性,并对考试的方法提出了自己的见解。     

Absent, Full and Partial Responsibility of the Psychopaths

The research into the typical behavioral pattern, motivational structure, and the value system of psychopaths can shed light on at least three aspects related to the analysis of the moral agency. First, it can help elucidating the emotive and cognitive conditions necessary for moral performance. Secondly, it can provide empirical evidence supporting the externalist theories of moral motivation. Finally, it can bring into greater focus our intuitive notion of the limits of moral responsibility. In this paper I shall concentrate on the last one—the question of responsibility of the amoralists, but the discussion will have an indirect bearing on the other two themes as well. My main reason for holding psychopaths morally responsible breaks down into two claims: the assumption that most ordinary people are morally responsible for their intentional actions (i.e., the rejection of hard determinism) and the denial that the psychopaths are qualitatively different from the non‐psychopaths. This thesis is further defended against two objections. First, I am arguing that the genetically based emotive deficiency of the psychopaths cannot be seen the factor condemning them to amoral existence, and thus cannot be cited as an exempting condition. Secondly, my position is defended against the claim that psychopaths are partly responsible for their actions. It is argued that the notion of partial responsibility is either incoherent or else rests on a false empirical premise. My conclusion is in agreement with, and provides a theoretical justification for, the position of most classifications of the persons with antisocial personality disorder in the DSM IV.     

Empowering Battered Women by Validating Their Decision-Making Skills

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of moral reasoning among a sample of battered women and compare them with a national normative sample.

Method: The study involved collecting Defining Issues Test (DIT) data from 50 women (age, M = 33, SD = 10) beginning their stay at a shelter for battered women. Unlike the original method of assessing moral reasoning involving a lengthy interview, the DIT is a multiple-choice test. Consequently, it is easy to administer and score and, over the last 20 years, it has become the most widely used instrument for assessing moral reasoning.

Results: Analysis indicated that the battered women comprising the sample were employing levels of moral reasoning comparable with the national normative sample.

Conclusion: Implications of the findings for countering arguments that battered women are morally immature in the way in which they approach the stay/leave decision were explored and discussed.     

Moral Disengagement in the Corporate World

We analyze mechanisms of moral disengagement used to eliminate moral consequences by industries whose products or production practices are harmful to human health. Moral disengagement removes the restraint of self-censure from harmful practices. Moral self-sanctions can be selectively disengaged from harmful activities by investing them with socially worthy purposes, sanitizing and exonerating them, displacing and diffusing responsibility, minimizing or disputing harmful consequences, making advantageous comparisons, and disparaging and blaming critics and victims. Internal industry documents and public statements related to the research activities of these industries were coded for modes of moral disengagement by the tobacco, lead, vinyl chloride (VC), and silicosis-producing industries. All but one of the modes of moral disengagement were used by each of these industries. We present possible safeguards designed to protect the integrity of research.     

教育家的执著和理学家的愤世——明遗民朱用纯的心路历程和散文创作

身为教育家和理学家 ,明遗民朱用纯一生始终在以自己认定的志节和理学 ,试图挽回颓败世风于万一 ,并创作了许多重在修身律己和道德劝勉的儒者之文。所作虽以理学为宗旨、以教化为指归 ,却不同于产生于乾隆”盛世”的高举礼教之旗的桐城文派 ;而是以针砭时弊、抗衡萎靡为出发点 ,遗民情结与理学情结互为表里 ,体现着特立独行的志士情怀和审视现实的批判精神     

Doing Justice Intelligently in Civil Society

Empirically, justice might be immanently holistic—with procedural, distributive, restorative, and social justice positively correlated. Restorative justice may be about creating spaces where the various imperfectly correlated facets of holistic justice might cohere. State institutions of justice (such as criminal courts) with deeply embedded traditions of narrowing the meaning of justice (to proportional punishment, for example) are less fertile soil for holistic justice than civil society. Beyond a move to holism and to civil society, the contributions to this special issue imply a move to what Sherman calls "emotionally intelligent justice." This means nurturing the expression of vulnerable emotions and trying to avert the provocation of aggressive or stigmatizing emotions.     

Moral distress among social workers: The role of insufficient resources

The present study examined moral distress among Finnish social workers and the role of perceived resource insufficiencies in explaining it. The aim was to shed light on this understudied phenomenon in the field of social welfare. The study focused on work‐related moral distress, defined as impaired wellbeing that is connected to the continual inability to implement actions that one considers morally appropriate. The survey data were collected with an electronic questionnaire between the years 2011 and 2012. The respondents (n = 817) were social workers in the public social welfare services and the overall response rate was 46.5 per cent. Nearly 11 per cent of the respondents reported experiencing moral distress and perceived resource insufficiencies strongly explained this experience. Moreover, social workers with moral distress reported that they were less willing to continue in their post, were more frequently on sick leave and had positive work‐related experiences less often than their colleagues who did not experience moral distress. Key Practitioner Message: ● The concept of moral distress is useful in describing the experiences of social welfare workers when they are unable to practise their profession according to their moral code and the emotional burden related to this inability; ● Perceived resource insufficiencies are strongly associated with experiences of moral distress among frontline social workers; ● Social workers experiencing moral distress are less willing to continue in their work, take sick leave more often and less frequently have positive experiences related to their work.     

Emotional Stress and Multiple Sclerosis

ABSTRACT

P.P.S. is a syndrome consisting of the sudden onset of painful swelling and bruising. Symptomatology may become so severe and threatening that in some cases in the past, surgical interference has led to significant scarring and even mutilation. Two cases are presented that illustrate the range of psycho-pathology and the differing psychologic approaches that may be required. Above all, they illustrate the need to exhibit considerable fortitude and conviction, to protect the patient from precedent setting and potentially destructive surgical intervention, that may perpetuate a focus on somatic processes.     

Linguistic competence/language access services (LAS) in end-of-life and palliative care: a social work leadership imperative

Despite the mandated and moral imperative to advance linguistic competence in all health care contexts, leadership that addresses this area of practice and study in end-of-life and palliative care is not readily obvious. Because social work is ideally suited to lead efforts to advance linguistically-accessible end-of-life and palliative care, social workers are encouraged to assume the challenge. This article focuses on topics that are elementary yet central to discussions on language diversity and leadership initiatives to advance language access in end-of-life and palliative care contexts: importance and function of language, extent of language diversity, inequity related to language diversity, mandates and standards related to language access, and approaches and competencies that contribute positively to language access.     

Religion in School

It has become a banal statement (one that does not elicit objections) that we are living in "troubled" times. This is not the place to talk about the causes of such a situation; what we have to deal with here are the consequences. The breakdown of dogmas in the social consciousness in a period of instability is primarily a threat to young people. We are faced with the danger of producing a generation of "children of perestroika," who have lost their faith in everything and everyone, who are filled with negativism, total denial, and quiet desperation, who carry in themselves, at best, moral deafness and fierce egotism. The crisis of worldview in society may produce a generation of "lukewarm" people who are not capable of any personal or social creativity and service. At the same time, however, the crisis opens possibilities for a genuine rebirth of culture, for reactivation of the quest for "self" on the part of every person and of society as a whole. This active striving on the part of the healthy portion of young people must be met by today's intellectual elite with full knowledge and understanding of the situation, with a readiness and ability to satisfy the needs for a worldview of their fellow citizens, drawing upon all the values of our native and world culture. These needs must be truly satisfied, not by pumping out the latest current "lies" or by manufacturing the "most progressive doctrines of modern times" atthe request of this or that social body, because our society cannot stand to be deceived one more time.