The totalitarian corporation?

Throughout its history as an institution, the corporation has been associated withtyranny of one sort or another, from the early period with the imperialist expeditions of the East India Company - virtual ruler of the Indian subcontinent - to the vestige of monarchical privilege embodied in corporate charters in the early USA. However, despite these characterisations throughout the centuries, there has been a very limited attempt to provide a rigorous and scholarly account of the totalitarian characteristics of the corporation. Although many would not agree with John McMurtry's assessment that the corporate sphere is a form of totalitarianism, in that we constantly encounter and experience powerful corporate representations of the world (e.g. advertising, marketing, branding) that reinforce and naturalise the corporation's very existence and our subservient place in relation to it (e.g. consumers, insecure employees, emasculated citizens), it is a question worth considering

Neoliberalising bioethics: Bias, enhancement and economistic ethics

In bioethics there is an ongoing debate about the ethical case for human enhancement through new biomedical technologies. In this debate there are both supporters and opponents of human enhancement technologies such as genetic improvements of cognitive abilities (eg, intelligence). The supporters argue that human enhancement will lead to healthier and therefore better lives, meaning that any delays to the introduction of such technologies is problematic. In contrast, the opponents argue that new technologies will not solve problems such as inequality and social justice. In order to overcome opposition to human enhancement, Bostrom and Ord have outlined a test to evaluate ethical arguments for 'status quo bias' or what they call 'intuitive judgements' in the assessment of human enhancement. This article is a response to their paper in which I raise a number of problems with their position, particularly with their 'status quo bias' test and the incorporation of economistic thinking into their ethical arguments

The neoliberal underpinnings of the bioeconomy: The ideological discourses and practices of economic competitiveness

When we talk about ideology and new genetics we tend to think of concepts like geneticisation and genetic essentialism, which present genetics and biology in deterministic terms. However, the aim of this article is to consider how a particular economic ideology - neoliberalism - has affected the bioeconomy rather than assuming that it is the inherent qualities of biotechnology that determine market value. In order to do this, the paper focuses on the discourses and practices of economic competitiveness that pervade biotechnology policy-making in the UK, Europe and the USA. Finally it will consider how the manufacture of scarcity - in order to produce the bioeconomy - has led to a problematic focus on a specific innovation paradigm that may prove detrimental to the development and distribution of new biotechnologies

Introduction : biofutures/biopresents

Two very different reports produced for the UK government in the last three years have connected the state of our physical health with that of our material wealth. The first of these was produced in 2003 by the Bioscience Innovation and Growth Team (BIGT) titled Improving National Health, Improving National Wealth, whilst the second, called Health Inequalities-Status Report on the Programme for Action, was produced in 2005 by the Department of Health (DH).1 The former produced a series of recommendations designed to 'secure' the economic position of the UK bioscience industry and through this the health of the UK population, whilst the latter repeated the finding that socio-economic status and physical health are strongly related, revealing significant spatial and social health inequalities across the UK (see Batty, 2005; Shaw et al., 2005). These different understandings of the health-wealth link provide a useful foil to explore the central focus of this special issue, namely the construction and definition of particular problems and their solutions encompassing the technoscience of new genetics. Here the popular term technoscience is used to denote a technological context that promotes and maintains forms of scientific enquiry and understanding particular to that set of artefacts: in its simplest formulation, it posits that technology is both shaped by and shapes society. In this special issue we seek to explore the specific technoscientific context in which the biosciences-molecular biology, genetics, genomics, proteomics-are situated and subsequently promulgated: their biopresents and their biofutures. Using the government reports above to illustrate the context of the biosciences reveals two very different approaches to understanding national healthcare. The BIGT report implies that our health is dependent upon ensuring future industrial performance through building 'a mutually advantageous collaboration between the NHS and industry for patient benefit' (2003, p. 5). In contrast, the DH report implies that our health is dependent upon existing resource distribution with the government response, according to Shaw et al. (2005), consisting of an 'individualistic rhetoric of behavioural prevention [of illness]' as opposed to building 'mutually advantageous' alliances between different institutions. This is exemplified in the DH proposal for 'health trainers' for deprived areas which Caroline Flint MP, Minister for Public Health, says would assist people in adopting 'a healthier way of life' (quoted in Batty, 2005). Other wide-ranging changes to the UK health service have also been oriented towards promoting such an agenda based on personal choice, healthier lifestyles and medical innovations derived from modern biotechnology (i.e. targeted at individuals). Furthermore, this agenda has been supported by the extension of privatized provision of services across the NHS [see Pollock (2004) for a critical review]

The virtual bioeconomy: the 'failure' of performativity and the implications for bioeconomics

This article considers how the bioeconomy - conceived as a market constituted by and constituting technologies derived from the biosciences - can be usefully considered as a virtual economy in that the representations and practices of economic activity differ significantly from one another. It does so through an analysis of the economic theories on spatial innovation processes (e.g. clusters) that have proved a popular approach in economic geography. The article contrasts the theory of performativity with that of virtualism in order to illustrate how the failure of economic performativity helps to explain economic practices rather than assuming that economic theories necessarily 'work' as implied by the theory of performativity. This has important implications for how we understand the bioeconomy because it means that we have to reconsider the production of biovalue

RATES OF RETURN TO TERTIARY EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

South African research has found tertiary education to have the highest rate of return amongst levels of education. Measures of effectiveness of the large allocation by government are a crucial area of study relatively untapped. Income levels relative to level of education were found to have significant correlation with probability of entering into an income bracket of above R8 000 being 2.3 times higher with a tertiary degree. A sample of Rhodes University NSFAS funded students, analysed within the framework of a cost benefit equation, indicated the positive effect of government funding on rates of return.Public Economics,

Public Sector Spending and Regional Economic Development: Crowding Out or Adding Value?

No abstract available

Urban Field Geology for K-8 Teachers

Geologists have long recognized the value of field trips, and the National Science Education Standards recommend them for K-8 science curricula. However, many teachers avoid running field trips. This article presents the results of a series of summer institutes for urban geoscience teachers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in which field and laboratory activities were developed in the context of local geology and field trip practices of "Teaming Up", reducing novelty space, and pre- and post-trip activities were encouraged. Teachers were also introduced to the use of the Action Planning model to assist in implementing curricular changes within their schools to encourage the use of field trips. The researchers determined that the teachers in these workshops increased their personal belief in their ability to teach earth science more effectivly. They also felt more comfortable with content material and found that action plans were an effective way to enact change regarding the role of field trips in their schools and in their earth science curricula. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Combined antifungal resistance and biofilm tolerance: the global threat of Candida auris

The enigmatic yeast Candida auris has emerged over the last decade and rapidly penetrated our consciousness. The global threat from this multidrug-resistant yeast has generated a call to arms from within the medical mycology community. Over the past decade, our understanding of how this yeast has spread globally, its clinical importance, and how it tolerates and resists antifungal agents has expanded. This review highlights the clinical importance of antifungal resistance in C. auris and explores our current understanding of the mechanisms associated with azole, polyene, and echinocandin resistance. We also discuss the impact of phenotypic tolerance, with particular emphasis on biofilm-mediated resistance, and present new pipelines of antifungal drugs that promise new hope in the management of C. auris infection

Assurance Problem in Gift Exchange Game: An Experimental Study

The workers’ reciprocity in a simple Gift Exchange Game has been demonstrated in prior research to be enforcement problem. We showed that potential future interactions could not motivate the workers significantly because of assurance problem. Lack of information about employers’ reciprocal type made workers reluctant to cooperate. We conducted three experimental treatments to investigate the effort patterns. We found that workers’ efforts were not significantly different between with and without repetition effect. Workers did not cooperate much even when there was enforcement. The assurance problem was overcome when workers could judge the reciprocal type of the employer by comparing current wage with market wage. We found that workers responded more to market wage than current wage and were significantly more cooperative.Reciprocity; Assurance Problem;Wage Rent; Focal Point