Consumption that matters

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the understanding of a rising mode of ethical consumption by exploring the brand concept (RED) and its intertwinement of commerce and charity. Based on an analysis of central online media texts, we focus on: 1) the campaign’s “cool” visual and verbal structures of appeal, and 2) the discursive struggle concerning the ethical potential of consumption motivated by the campaign. The analysis is followed by a discussion of the potential and problems of (RED) as a way of handling global responsibility for distant suffering others. We argue that from a perspective focusing on the representation of the distant sufferer, (RED) can be criticised for transforming suffering into aesthetic spectacles in order to legitimise hedonistic consumption. The potential of the campaign is that it acknowledges that effective ethical ways of relating to distant others will have to be integrated into the narratives of self and community circulating in a given context

Teorier om det tragiske: med særligt henblik på det moderne tragiske og med udblik til Blichers »Hosekræmmeren«

Theories of the Tragic – with Special Reference to the Modern Tragic and with a View to »The Hosier and His Daughter« (»Hosekræmmeren«) by St. St. Blicher:The term ‘tragic’ is often used in descriptions and analyses of modern (here: post-classical) literature. Yet, only rarely is this use sound and critically based. The purpose of the present article is to introduce the reader to the theory of the tragic – with a particular focus on possible definitions of the modern tragic.In the article, three phases of theoretical history are identified: 1) a genre-based, normative-poetological phase (classic and classicism), 2) a philosophical phase (German idealism and post-idealism), and 3) a current, more pluralistic phase (crosscutting literary criticism, aesthetics, and the history of ideas). The article’s general approach to the theories is, however, systematic rather than historical. A Nietzschean and a Hegelian line are being sketched out and contrasted, the former as a metaphysically (vertical) and the latter as a historically (horizontal) oriented theory of tragedy. The third line in the theoretical history is that of psychoanalysis.At the end of the article – using the short story »The Hosier and His Daughter« (»Hosekræmmeren«) by St. St. Blicher as an example – it is shown how the different approaches are able to throw light on a modern prose text. It is suggested that, having become a problematic genre with the breakdown of classicism, tragedy lives on as a modus within other genres, such as the short story and the novel

The multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management

The evolution of the internet, including developments such as Web 2.0, has led to new relationship realities between organizations and their stakeholders. One manifestation of these complex new realities has been the emergence of an internet-based democratization of brand management. Research about this phenomenon has so far mainly focused on investigating just one or more individual themes and thereby disregarded the inherent multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management as a holistic, socio-technological phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to address this limitation through an investigation of the various socio-technological democratization developments of the phenomenon. To achieve this aim, a balanced and stakeholder-oriented perspective on brand management has been adopted to conduct an integrative literature review. The review reveals three key developments, which together form the essential parts of the phenomenon: (I) the democratization of internet technology, (II) the democratization of information, and (III) the democratization of social capital. The insights gained help to clarify the basic structures of the multi-layered phenomenon. The findings contribute also to the substantiation of a call for a new brand management paradigm: one that takes not only company-initiated but also stakeholder-initiated brand management activities into accoun

The impact of diabetes on the pathogenesis of sepsis

Diabetes is associated with an increased susceptibility to infection and sepsis. Conflicting data exist on whether the mortality of patients with sepsis is influenced by the presence of diabetes, fuelling the ongoing debate on the benefit of tight glucose regulation in patients with sepsis. The main reason for which diabetes predisposes to infection appears to be abnormalities of the host response, particularly in neutrophil chemotaxis, adhesion and intracellular killing, defects that have been attributed to the effect of hyperglycaemia. There is also evidence for defects in humoral immunity, and this may play a larger role than previously recognised. We review the literature on the immune response in diabetes and its potential contribution to the pathogenesis of sepsis. In addition, the effect of diabetes treatment on the immune response is discussed, with specific reference to insulin, metformin, sulphonylureas and thiazolidinediones

Anmeldelse: DET TRAGISKE KOMMER

Anmeldelse af:CHRISTIAN DAHLTragedie og bystatOm fællesskab og konflikt i Athens dramatiske kulturKøbenhavn, 2010 (Museum TusculanumsForlag, ph.d.-afhandling). 343 sider.ANNE BIRGITTE RICHARDDen urimelige kunstOm tragediens former og de tragiske følelserKøbenhavn, 2010 (Roskilde Universitetsforlag).200 sider

Climate-conscious citizenship in a digital urban setting

Climate change has challenged urban life, and as an omnipresent force, Nature sets the agenda for urban living. Using stakeholder theory to conceptualise urban life, we approach Nature as both an omnipresent stakeholder and an issue to be continuously addressed and related to. Adapting the stakeholder focus to relations, stakes and values, we conceptually analyse the digital installation entitled CO2mmitment/CO2nfessions, which was a prominent part of the Aarhus CO2030 exhibition launching the vision of the Danish city of Aarhus to become carbon neutral by the year 2030. In the analysis, we explore how the citizen is framed and invited to enact his/her responsibilities to the natural environment in an urban setting and how the digital mediation facilitates various forms of relations and climate conscious positions, incorporating both narcissistic desires, universal anxiety, moral obligations, ethical virtue and image performance. Statements from the actual confessors/committers exemplify this. Thus, the paper provides insight into understanding the complexity of climate-conscious citizenship as a complex configuration of paradoxical, co-existing ethics and arguments