Pluralism and Universality of Environmental Discourse: The Dilemma Between Damage Caused by the Japanese Macaque and its Protection

Abstract:  The subject of this paper is to describe the complexity of relations between man and wild monkeys, which causes difficulties in forming a social consensus related to their conservation and management. To present how the relations are in everyday life, and how they are simplified in universal discursive spaces, interviews and a questionnaire survey have been conducted. As a result, it is clarified that there are three kinds of discursive spaces, that of politics, natural science, and residents. People who share the land with wild monkeys have various terms and stories about their relations with monkeys. The monkeys have various values in the discourse of residents, including many troubles. The existence of monkeys is vivid and close, and can be described as "accessible" nature. However, in discussion of politics or natural sciences, there is less diversity in monkeys' values. In these discursive spaces, monkeys are described simply in the framework of "distant" nature, and wild monkey issues are constructed as a "pest animal issue". The simplified protocol between accessible and distant nature makes the wild monkey issues simple. And the attitudes of residents are shown as controversial through the contradiction between simple-complex issues. In conclusion, this contradiction cannot be solved only by filling the gap between accessible and distant nature with social consensus, but also by connecting the two and enhancing the dynamism of society as a whole.     

A Social Psychology of National and International Group Relations

This concluding article provides a framework for a social psychological analysis of intergroup conflict and conflict resolution. The framework highlights the individual and intergroup factors that shape the nature of perceptions of intergroup relations and group representations, and describes how these perceptions lead to cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses toward groups. Included in the framework are the metatheoretical, theoretical, and practical contributions of the articles in this issue toward understanding intergroup relations. The potential and responsibility of social psychologists to move beyond the laboratory to applied national and international issues is also discussed.     

ANALYZING INDUSTRY‐LEVEL VULNERABILITY BY PREDICTING FINANCIAL BANKRUPTCY

This study introduces a novel framework for building company bankruptcy models and a methodology for assessing the vulnerability of industrial economic activities. We consider the identification of bankruptcy as a classification problem and assume that bankruptcy criteria differ across industries. We build highly accurate industry bankruptcy models by constructing separate models for each industry. We also propose a method of analyzing the vulnerability of industrial economic activities in various countries and industries using new indicators we call “expected potential loss,” which we obtain using the predicted likelihood of bankruptcy and company information. (JEL G0, C0)     

Variety expansion and fertility rates

To investigate how fertility rates interrelate with the modern economy, we construct a simple model in which variety expansion of consumption goods reduces fertility rates. In our model, variety expansion reduces the relative price of a composite of differentiated goods compared to child-rearing costs. Thus, parents raise the expenditure share for differentiated goods and lower the number of children. We show that this model can be applied to a growth model in which economic growth progresses with variety expansion of consumption goods and fertility rates decrease with economic growth. Thus, we show a new mechanism for fertility decline, and this mechanism can be applied to a growth model.     

Extension of Sartre's Philosophy for Today's World Situation

Sartre's philosophy was futurogenic. He was also a political activist. This article discusses how his philosophy applies to today's and tomorrow's political situations in the world. This article also extends his theory in the light of recent findings in social sciences and neuroscience. lf he were living today: (1) he would condemn collectivistic theories such as symbolic interactionism in sociology, and constructionism in psychology, which foster ingroup homogenization and self-stereotyping, and rationalize group-against-group hostility, violence and terrorism; (2) he would promote the understanding of HTICT (heterogeneity and trans-groupness of individual cognitive/cogitative/action types); and (3) he would reform inbreeding in organizational practice and replace it with outbreeding and polyocular vision.     

Inequities in Higher Education: Issues and Promising Practices in a World Ambivalent about Affirmative Action

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the legality of race-based affirmative action at universities in 2003. Although the decisions affirmed the legality of considering race in college admissions decisions, their long-term effects are not entirely clear. They neither resolved conflicts nor solved problems affirmative action was intended to address, namely, disparities in educational outcomes between Whites and ethnic/racial minorities. Although disparities have diminished since 1965, policies and practices to sustain and further increase diversity in higher education without affirmative action are needed. This article provides historical and conceptual grounding for this JSI issue, which examines approaches for attaining campus diversity. Collectively, the issue provides approaches for increasing diversity as well as strategies for managing and benefiting from diversity in postsecondary environments.