Finite sensibility and utility functions

According to the concept of finite sensibility an individual utility function has to fulfill Ng's (1975) Convention 1. In this paper we show that relatively weak assumptions already guarantee the existence of a utility function with the desired property and we present a procedure for constructing such a utility function.     

Statistical games against a prophet-proof of a minimax conjecture

“Prophet theory” quantifies the price a statistician has to pay for his lack of information in stochastic sequences. In a recent paper, Schmitz (1991) gave a game-theoretical interpretation of this situation and he formulated in particular a minimax conjecture for the difference case. In this note we prove that conjecture and, moreover, present minimax ran domized stopping times (minimax procedures for the statistician).     

‘We feel the responsibility that you shirk’: movement institutionalization,the politics of responsibility and the case of the Swedish environmental movement

This article provides directions for advancing the conceptualization of the relationship between social movements and institutionalization, based on a case study of the Swedish environmental movement strategies. We argue that the concepts of (de)responsibilization and (de)politicization provide tools for an improved analysis of the dynamics of how social movements interact both with established political institutions and corporations in a new context. The introduction of new regulatory frameworks in environmental politics has shaped interaction between social movements and the state in new ways, involving neoliberal responsibilization, meaning active involvement by civil society and business in political responsibilities previously associated with state agencies – a development involving an increasing emphasis on market mechanisms. We argue that this has involved a de-politicization of environmental issues in the sense that it engages political actors in a moral discourse and a technocratic practice that suppresses the (potential) articulation of social conflict through consensus building. However, we also show how movement actors resist the discourse that encourages them to take on certain responsibilities, thus engaging in a politics of responsibility. Empirically, we demonstrate how the changing strategies of the Swedish environmental movement in the 2000s need to be understood in relation to the following processes, indicating that the Swedish case has a general relevance for an understanding of the contemporary environmental movement globally: (1) the transformation of the Swedish model of welfare capitalism under the influence of neoliberal discourse; (2) international environmental policy developments, most importantly the emergence of climate change as a dominant issue globally.     

Unterrichtsqualität an einer besonderen Schule: Videobasierte Evaluation eines Oberstufen-Internats für leistungsstarke und hoch motivierte Schülerinnen und Schüler

Based on theoretical constructs and empirical work on quality of instruction, this contribution reports on the evaluation of a upper secondary boarding school for highly motivated and high-achieving students. The evaluation of instructional processes is based on high-inference video ratings of aspects of instructional quality. Additionally, aspects of cognitively activating teaching that are supposed to tap the full capabilities of the students are assessed as a higher standard for upper secondary teaching. Interviews with the teaching staff show a high level of acceptance of this approach to instruction as a means to cater to the needs of the high-achieving. As expected, comparing the teaching assessments with a reference sample of TIMSS and TIMSS-R videos shows a good quality of teaching in the areas of classroom management and individual learning support. For the different aspects of cognitive activation there are some lessons at a high level, while for some aspects the variation within the school is rather large.     

Coaching und/oder Supervision

The author discusses the decision of the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Supervision” (DGSv), that clinical supervision and coaching are the same. On the one hand, the problems in the market for the clinical supervision are comprehensible, but on the other hand, the formats have very different histories, different target groups and different images. Therefore the wording “supervision and coaching”—used like twins—is a confusing one, particularly with regard to a forward-looking professional development.