SUNYATA IN THE WEST

I argue that sunyata, or something like it, manifested itself in early Western thought. While Plato and Aristotle resisted emptiness or nothingness, they nevertheless felt themselves obliged to venture close to its edge in order to ground their explanations of changing reality to unchanging principles. These principles (Plato’s receptacle and Aristotle’s prime matter) embody much of the indeterminancy long associated with the Mahayana understanding of sunyata. Although their function was to enable lasting (static) explanations of reality by putting change out of play, they themselves shade off toward a featureless being evocative of non-being. Moving along a somewhat different track, Greek atomists embraced emptiness (or void) so as to permit self-existent, fully self-contained atoms to move about. In their system, non-being, a foundational principle of reality, paradoxically coexists with being. Interestingly, modern science has undone the self-containment of atoms—emptied them of properties once thought to be innate—and thereby removed yet another Western safeguard against change. It seems that change cannot be put out of play, though it does slope off toward sunyata-like emptiness

'Avarice’ and ‘evil doers’: profiteers, politicians, and popular fiction in the 1920s

This article examines the depiction of the profiteer as villain within popular low and middlebrow British novels from the 1920s. It argues that concerns with profiteering persisted in the landscape of popular fiction well after the end of World War I in works by authors such as H.C. McNeile and Warwick Deeping among others. The figure of the profiteering villain embodied anxieties about profiteering, food shortages, and 'big business' during a period of intense economic and political instability, while further allowing the ex-soldier to be simultaneously re-imagined after the war as a heroic breadwinner and soldier

Looking to the past to understand the present: organizational change in varsity sport

Purpose – This paper aims to explore how varsity football athletes and coaches negotiate meanings when faced with the unmet expectations of a new head coach brought into lead a turnaround process. It also aims to pay particular attention to the role of history in this meaning making process. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on semi-structured interviews with players and coaches at two points in time. To preserve the richness of their experiences and illuminate the historical aspects of change, it focuses on the stories of three players and one supporting coach. Findings – Numerous symbols of change emerge that have multiple and contradictory meanings. The meanings around success and failure are renegotiated over time as individuals struggle with the unmet expectations of change. Moreover, individuals are unable to shed the failures of the past and move forward. Practical implications – Change is a complex and messy process of managing multiple meanings. Understanding change entails more than a snapshot picture of an organization. New leaders have no control over the past, yet they need to be aware of how individuals experienced the past in order to increase the likelihood of success in the present. Originality/value – Success and failure are experienced as an ongoing process as athletes and coaches experience, reflect on and interact with others. In illuminating the role of history in how change is experienced in the present, the paper demonstrates that the past can serve as both an immobilizing force, as well as a comparative point enabling individuals to rationalize their emotions

Competitive advantage as a legitimacy-creating process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how small firms in the tattooing industry actively shape institutional expectations of value for consumers in a changing industry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon interviews with key actors in the firms under study to explore their experiences with consumers and other constituents in determining how competitive advantage is constructed in this environment. These data are complemented data with interviews with governmental representatives and material from secondary sources. Findings – The results reveal efforts of firms to construct and increase organizational legitimacy through the prominence of discourses of professionalism based on artistry and medicine/public health. These bases of competitive differentiation are not the clear result of exogenous pressure, rather they arise through the active efforts of the firm to construct value guidelines for consumers and other constituents. Practical implications – Strategic management in small firms is a complex and dynamic process that does not necessarily mirror that of large organizations. Constructing competitive advantage is an interacting process between key actors of small firms and various constituents. Originality/value – The paper extends the application of institutional theory in strategic management by illuminating the active role that firms play in creating industry norms, especially in industries where norms are not well established or no longer entrenched. Moreover, exploring an alternative site of study offers a means through which to see well-studied issues in new ways

Emotion management as struggle in dirty work: the experiences of exotic dancers

We further the research to date on ambiguity, ambivalence and contradiction in organisation studies by integrating the dirty work and emotion management literatures. Our intent is to better understand the complex cognitive processes underpinning everyday experiences of those working in what has been perceived to be a high-breadth high-depth stigmatised occupation, that is, exotic dancing. Dancers’ stories reveal they are acutely aware of social and moral taint associated with the work and in turn their self-identities. They adopt a number of strategies to manage their spoiled identities and we contribute by unpicking the cognitive processes that underpin these strategies. In extending strategies of emotional ambivalence at work and stigma management, we conclude that through a lens of emotion management as struggle, exotic dancers, and more broadly dirty workers, do not ‘resolve’ the ambivalence, contradiction and ambiguity they confront but can be seen to experience at best a type of contingent coherence in their everyday work

Young workers' experiences of abusive leadership

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of abusive leadership as experienced by young workers. Abusive leadership is understood to be subjective and as such this research seeks to explore the experience of abusive leadership through a qualitative approach. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on interviews with 30 young workers who identified themselves as having a “bad” boss, this study employs a constructivist grounded theory approach in order to identify behaviours, moderators and outcomes of abusive leadership. Findings – A definition and model of abusive leadership as experienced by young workers is proposed. The model details 11 behaviours, five moderators and six individual and two organizational outcomes of abusive leadership. Originality/value – The adoption of a constructivist grounded theory approach reveals several unique factors that moderate the relationship between behaviors and outcomes of abusive leadership in young workers. By grounding the model in the actual experiences of young workers, the paper offers possibilities for future research on abusive leadership and young workers and across demographic groups

Effect of Improving the Lattice Gauge Action on QCD Topology

We use lattice topology as a laboratory to compare the Wilson action (WA) with the Symanzik-Weisz (SW) action constructed from a combination of (1x1) and (1x2) Wilson loops, and the estimate of the renormalization trajectory (RT) from a renormalization group transformation (RGT) which also includes higher representations of the (1x1) loop. Topological charges are computed using the geometric (L\"uscher's) and plaquette methods on the uncooled lattice, and also by using cooling to remove ultraviolet artifacts. We show that as the action improves by approaching the RT, the topological charges for individual configurations computed using these three methods become more highly correlated, suggesting that artificial lattice renormalizations to the topological susceptibility can be suppressed by improving the action.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, poster presented at LATTICE96(improvement

Topological Density and Instantons on a Lattice

We present an update on the study of topological structure of QCD. Issues addressed include a comparison between the plaquette and the geometric methods of calculating the topological density. We show that the improved gauge action based on sqrt(3) blocking transformation suppresses the formation of topologically charged dislocations with low action. Using a cooling method we identify the instantons' location, estimate their size and density, and calculate the renormalization constant Z_Q for the plaquette method.Comment: 3 Pages, submitted to Proceedings of XII International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 94, Bielefeld). uuencoded tar file includes figures as TeXDraw (.tex) file

Time Evolution In Macroscopic Systems. II: The Entropy

The concept of entropy in nonequilibrium macroscopic systems is investigated in the light of an extended equation of motion for the density matrix obtained in a previous study. It is found that a time-dependent information entropy can be defined unambiguously, but it is the time derivative or entropy production that governs ongoing processes in these systems. The differences in physical interpretation and thermodynamic role of entropy in equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems is emphasized and the observable aspects of entropy production are noted. A basis for nonequilibrium thermodynamics is also outlinedComment: 28 page