Gossip as a Burdened Virtue

Gossip is often serious business, not idle chitchat. Gossip allows those oppressed to privately name their oppressors as a warning to others. Of course, gossip can be in error. The speaker may be lying or merely have lacked sufficient evidence. Bias can also make those who hear the gossip more or less likely to believe the gossip. By examining the social functions of gossip and considering the differences in power dynamics in which gossip can occur, we contend that gossip may be not only permissible but virtuous, both as the only reasonable recourse available and as a means of resistance against oppression

Lies on the Lips: Dying Declarations, Western Legal Bias, and Unreliability as Reported Speech

When one party is killed by another, there are often no witnesses to the murder other than the killer and the victim who is now absent. In some circumstances, the victim has enough life left to utter some final words to an individual who happens to be in the vicinity of the crime. Usually these statements, known in legal terms as dying declarations, relate to the circumstances of the victim\u27s death, including the identity of the perpetrator. If the crime is investigated by law enforcement authorities, the final words of the victim can be reported by the individual who received this last utterance. If the matter goes to trial, this report may be heard in a courtroom by judge and jury who will decide the fate of the accused, which may include loss of liberty or even death

On the adaptive advantage of always being right (even when one is not)

We propose another positive illusion – overconfidence in the generalisability of one’s theory – that fits with McKay & Dennett’s (M&D’s) criteria for adaptive misbeliefs. This illusion is pervasive in adult reasoning but we focus on its prevalence in children’s developing theories. It is a strongly held conviction arising from normal functioning of the doxastic system that confers adaptive advantage on the individual

Southland USA: a comprehensive unit on the South, its traditions, its problems, and its contribution to American culture

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Effectiveness of culturally adapted substance use interventions for Latino adolescents : a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cultural factors have been shown to have a moderating effect on substance use, thus an increasing number of substance use interventions with Latino adolescents seek to incorporate culture in an attempt to positively impact outcomes. Research on the effectiveness of culturally adapted substance use interventions, however, has produced a body of ambiguous evidence. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the characteristics and effects of culturally adapted substance use interventions with Latino adolescents on substance use outcomes. The research question guiding this study is: What are the effects of culturally adapted interventions on substance use outcomes with Latino adolescents? A systematic search of thirteen electronic databases, five research registers, five research affiliated websites, reference lists, and a comprehensive gray literature search were undertaken to locate randomized (RCT) or quasi-experimental (QED) studies conducted between 1990 and December 2014 examining substance use outcomes of culturally adapted interventions with Latino adolescents. The search yielded 35,842 titles and abstracts, and the full texts of 108 articles were screened for inclusion. The final sample included 10 studies (7 RCT and 3 QED). Program participants were comprised of 56.5% males; 74.2% were U.S. born; and their mean age was 13.13 years. Meta-analytic results suggest significant effects of moderate magnitude on substance use outcomes at posttest (g=0.328; 95% CI 0.015 to 0.640, p<0.04), and an overall positive and moderate effect at follow-up (g=0.516; 95% CI 0.149 to 0.883, p<.006). Homogeneity analysis revealed the effect size distribution was highly heterogeneous at posttest and follow-up, indicating significant variance in magnitude of effects across studies. Moderator analysis revealed differences in mean effects on study and intervention characteristics. The risk of bias assessment revealed that most studies were at high risk for performance bias and selection bias. While culturally adapted substance use interventions demonstrated positive impacts on substance use overall, there was significant variability across studies. These findings emphasize the need for rigorously conducted studies to better discern the benefits of utilizing culturally adapted interventions for reducing substance use among Hispanic adolescents.Social Wor

Algorithmic discrimination at work

The potential for algorithms to discriminate is now well-documented, and algorithmic management tools are no exception. Scholars have been quick to point to gaps in the equality law framework, but existing European law is remarkably robust. Where gaps do exist, they largely predate algorithmic decision-making. Careful judicial reasoning can resolve what appear to be novel legal issues; and policymakers should seek to reinforce European equality law, rather than reform it. This article disentangles some of the knottiest questions on the application of the prohibition on direct and indirect discrimination to algorithmic management, from how the law should deal with arguments that algorithms are ‘more accurate’ or ‘less biased’ than human decision-makers, to the attribution of liability in the employment context. By identifying possible routes for judicial resolution, the article demonstrates the adaptable nature of existing legal obligations. The duty to make reasonable accommodations in the disability context is also examined, and options for combining top-level and individualised adjustments are explored. The article concludes by turning to enforceability. Algorithmic discrimination gives rise to a concerning paradox: on the one hand, automating previously human decision-making processes can render discriminatory criteria more traceable and outcomes more quantifiable. On the other hand, algorithmic decision-making processes are rarely transparent, and scholars consistently point to algorithmic opacity as the key barrier to litigation and enforcement action. Judicial and legislative routes to greater transparency are explored

Strategies Anti-Racist Supervisors Use to Disrupt Racism in Social Work Practice

Addressing racism and bias within social work practice is crucial, given the social justice mandate of the profession and the profession’s history of complicity in oppressive policies. In a time of increased social division, overt bigotry, and pervasive structural violence, social workers have an opportunity to lead the helping professions in meaningful social transformation. Social work supervisors play a central role in developing and guiding ethical social work practice. Yet, little empirically driven scholarship exists providing supervisors with strategies for disrupting racism and bias in the practice of their supervisees. This exploratory qualitative study employs a grounded theory approach to unearthing such strategies. Fifteen participants with social work supervisory experience, who identified as anti-racist, offered insights into in vivo approaches to disrupting racism in social work practice. The findings from this study help inform preparatory work needed for supervisors hoping to engage in anti-racist practice, offer approaches to engaging in anti-racist supervision, highlight how to identify bias and prejudice within supervisees, and shed light on strategies for addressing such biases. In addition, the impact of organizational context on this work is contemplated. Implications for social work supervision, practice, and education, as well as future research, are considered

H. Odera Oruka and the Right to a Human Minimum: A Sagacious Quest for Global Justice

This dissertation primarily aims at making contribution to the advancement of philosophy from the practical point of view. It does so by analytically and critically studying H. Odera Oruka (1944-1995), arguably one of the finest 20th century African philosophers. Thus, it identifies, expounds, and critiques Oruka’s philosophical cum ethical commitment by situating him within various philosophical discourses touching such important global issues as justice, human rights, ethical duty, ecology, humanism and politics. It specifically advances Oruka’s argument for the right to a human minimum, establishing how that ethical principle can be applicable in addressing some distressing human conditions such as inequality, poverty, in-humanness and ecological degradation. It also attempts to borrow and apply some ethical value-systems or philosophies from Africa – such as ubuntu (or humanness) - so as to clarify and philosophically defend the possibility of ensuring the practice of justice at the global level

Realism and evidence in the philosophy of mind

This thesis evaluates a variety of important modern approaches to the study of the mind/brain in the light of recent developments in the debate about how evidence should be used to support a theory and its constituent hypotheses. Although all these approaches are ostensibly based upon the principles of scientific realism, this evaluation will demonstrate that all of them fall well short of these requirements. Consequently, the more modern, co-evolutionary theories of the mind/brain do not constitute the significant advance upon more traditional theories that their authors take them to be. There are two fundamental elements within my discussion of the relationship between evidence and the constituent hypotheses of a theory. Firstly, I shall demonstrate that the traditional veil-of-perception issue has a wider relevance than that which has historically been attributed to it, since it is the paradigm case of an attempt to construct a two level theory on the basis of evidence tha~ does not adequately support either hypothesis. This interpretation of the issue can be represented by constructing a semantically inconsistent tetrad. It is shown that similar tetrads can be constructed for each of the theories of the mind/brain discussed in this thesis. Secondly, I shall argue that the theories discussed all employ a variety of the bootstrap strategy. This strategy is a relatively recent development in the philosophy of science, which suggests a way in which the same evidence can be used to generate both a general and a specific hypothesis within a theory without violating the constraints of scientific realism. However, I contend that recent use of this strategy in the investigation of mind is largely unsatisfactory as a result of a neglect of structural as well as more informal influences upon the kinds of evidence employed to support the hypotheses contained in the theories. The thesis is divided into three major sections. The first (Section A) discusses the influence of the motivations of the individual theorists upon their arguments and provides a critical discussion of the issues of the veil-of-perception and bootstrapping. The second section (Section B) comprises a detailed examination of a range of modern theories of the mind/brain and critically analyses their success. The final section (Section C) draws together general conclusions and methodological consequences of the detailed analysis of the nature of realism and evidence in the philosophy of mind

The Meaning of Folklore

The essays of Alan Dundes virtually created the meaning of folklore as an American academic discipline. Yet many of them went quickly out of print after their initial publication in far-flung journals. Brought together for the first time in this volume compiled and edited by Simon Bronner, the selection surveys Dundes\u27s major ideas and emphases, and is introduced by Bronner with a thorough analysis of Dundes\u27s long career, his interpretations, and his inestimable contribution to folklore studies.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1077/thumbnail.jp