Gender as a historical kind: a tale of two genders?

Is there anything that members of each binary category of gender have in common? Even many non-essentialists find the lack of unity within a gender worrying as it undermines the basis for a common political agenda for women. One promising proposal for achieving unity is by means of a shared historical lineage of cultural reproduction with past binary models of gender (e.g. Bach in Ethics 122:231–272, 2012). I demonstrate how such an account is likely to take on board different binary and also non-binary systems of gender. This implies that all individuals construed as members of the category, “women” are in fact not members of the same historical kind after all! I then consider different possible means of modifying the account but conclude negatively: the problem runs deeper than has been appreciated thus far.     

Kind-Making, objectivity, and political neutrality; the case of Solastalgia

Politics and science, it is customarily and broadly assumed, should not mix. I investigate a purported "new mental illness" arising from psychological stress associated with environmental damage. Previous assessments have concluded that the diagnosis of "solastalgia", which is clearly intended to advance a political agenda, may thereby lack scientific validity. Building on work by Ian Hacking and Nelson Goodman, and drawing comparisons with the history of "political medicine"--in particular, the scientific study of Child Abuse and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome--I argue that the political consequences of such a diagnosis may plausibly help to justify it as a distinct objective scientific kind, by demarcating it from alternative classifications. That science should be objective, then, does not require that it be politically neutral.     

真菌地衣系统学开放研究实验室 学术委员会第三次会议纪要

真菌地衣系统学开放研究实验室第一届学术委员会第三次会议于1988年10月13-15日在北京举行.出席这次会议的有国内学术委员和国外学术委员、美国康乃尔大学柯夫教授;生物局、政策局、科学报的有关同志;以及本室各课题组组长。本室在京全体研究人员、技术人员列席听取了大会的学术报告和工作报告。会议由学术委员会魏江春主任和郑儒永副主任主持。微生物所宋大康所长致欢迎词.在会议期间,本届学术委员会委员、著名真菌学家、美国康乃尔大学柯夫教授作了题为《今日盘菌系统学:概述子囊菌亚门中单囊壁类群的一些未解决的问题》的学术报告并对今后工作提出了许多宝贵建议。在与会同志的共同努力下,完成了会议预定的三项议程。     

Corporate Philanthropy,Political Influence,and Health Policy

Background

The Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) provides a basis for nation states to limit the political effects of tobacco industry philanthropy, yet progress in this area is limited. This paper aims to integrate the findings of previous studies on tobacco industry philanthropy with a new analysis of British American Tobacco''s (BAT) record of charitable giving to develop a general model of corporate political philanthropy that can be used to facilitate implementation of the FCTC.

Method

Analysis of previously confidential industry documents, BAT social and stakeholder dialogue reports, and existing tobacco industry document studies on philanthropy.

Results

The analysis identified six broad ways in which tobacco companies have used philanthropy politically: developing constituencies to build support for policy positions and generate third party advocacy; weakening opposing political constituencies; facilitating access and building relationships with policymakers; creating direct leverage with policymakers by providing financial subsidies to specific projects; enhancing the donor''s status as a source of credible information; and shaping the tobacco control agenda by shifting thinking on the importance of regulating the market environment for tobacco and the relative risks of smoking for population health. Contemporary BAT social and stakeholder reports contain numerous examples of charitable donations that are likely to be designed to shape the tobacco control agenda, secure access and build constituencies.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Tobacco companies'' political use of charitable donations underlines the need for tobacco industry philanthropy to be restricted via full implementation of Articles 5.3 and 13 of the FCTC. The model of tobacco industry philanthropy developed in this study can be used by public health advocates to press for implementation of the FCTC and provides a basis for analysing the political effects of charitable giving in other industry sectors which have an impact on public health such as alcohol and food.     

Craft Experiences

Music education exists within a web of policies. Those most often identified by music teachers and professional associations are the policies imposed on the profession by governmental and regulatory bodies. Advocacy efforts to change policy are mostly directed toward these bodies. However, the practice of music education is perhaps more influenced by subtle policies that affect teachers' values, expectations, and practices. In this article, Nye's concepts of "hard" and "soft" power are adapted and used as a paradigm for categorization and analysis of policy to illustrate this situation. Using this model reveals that while some hard policies specific to music education advocate a progressive music education, other hard policies may interfere with this agenda and soft policies seem to maintain the status quo. Recommendations are made for building the capacity of teachers to understand, study, and influence policy.     

Textile Decorating as a Handicraft

The rhetoric of the creative economy agenda has influenced the revised Ontario curriculum in the arts for grades 9–12. Yet, increasing rhetorical and substantive support for a creative economy agenda in Ontario at large is not sufficiently reflected in the revised Ontario arts curriculum. The expanded agenda is not matched by expanded substantive attention to the arts in the curriculum. Two new elective arts courses have been introduced in the revised curriculum; however, students are still only required to pass one art course to graduate from high school. This article argues that one compulsory art course is not sufficient to respond to the demands of the creative economy and thus recommends that further consideration of the curriculum be undertaken.     

Report spotlight on organic food

Mediawatch: An official report in Britain claiming no health benefits to organic food sparked questions about the report's remit and a wider agenda. Bernard Dixon reports.     

“Efforts to Reprioritise the Agenda” in China: British American Tobacco's Efforts to Influence Public Policy on Secondhand Smoke in China

Background

Each year, 540 million Chinese are exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS), resulting in more than 100,000 deaths. Smoke-free policies have been demonstrated to decrease overall cigarette consumption, encourage smokers to quit, and protect the health of nonsmokers. However, restrictions on smoking in China remain limited and ineffective. Internal tobacco industry documents show that transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) have pursued a multifaceted strategy for undermining the adoption of restrictions on smoking in many countries.

Methods and Findings

To understand company activities in China related to SHS, we analyzed British American Tobacco''s (BAT''s) internal corporate documents produced in response to litigation against the major cigarette manufacturers to understand company activities in China related to SHS. BAT has carried out an extensive strategy to undermine the health policy agenda on SHS in China by attempting to divert public attention from SHS issues towards liver disease prevention, pushing the so-called “resocialisation of smoking” accommodation principles, and providing “training” for industry, public officials, and the media based on BAT''s corporate agenda that SHS is an insignificant contributor to the larger issue of air pollution.

Conclusions

The public health community in China should be aware of the tactics previously used by TTCs, including efforts by the tobacco industry to co-opt prominent Chinese benevolent organizations, when seeking to enact stronger restrictions on smoking in public places.     

Trends in the perception of ecological problems in the United Nations general debates

To what extent have recent warnings of deepening ecological problems become topics of discussion among international political elites? To address this question a content analysis was undertaken of the speeches comprising the general debates of the 1968, 1972, and 1976 sessions of the UN General Assembly to identify all instances in which ecological issues were mentioned. Despite other indications of an increase in environmental consciousness in the international community, it was found that ecological problems have not been discussed very extensively in the general debates and are far less salient than several other agenda items for which data were also collected. Moreover, the environment peaked as an issue in the 1972 session and declined in prominence in 1976. It was also found that the more developed a country is, the greater the tendency for its delegates to mention environmental problems in their speeches. The lack of prominence of ecological issues is interpreted on the basis of two alternative assumptions: first, that the degree of international awareness of environmental problems is not adequately represented in the general debates and, second, that the findings accurately reflect what is generally a low level of environmental concern in international circles.     

How to understand species’ niches and range dynamics: a demographic research agenda for biogeography

Range dynamics causes mismatches between a species’ geographical distribution and the set of suitable environments in which population growth is positive (the Hutchinsonian niche). This is because source–sink population dynamics cause species to occupy unsuitable environments, and because environmental change creates non‐equilibrium situations in which species may be absent from suitable environments (due to migration limitation) or present in unsuitable environments that were previously suitable (due to time‐delayed extinction). Because correlative species distribution models do not account for these processes, they are likely to produce biased niche estimates and biased forecasts of future range dynamics. Recently developed dynamic range models (DRMs) overcome this problem: they statistically estimate both range dynamics and the underlying environmental response of demographic rates from species distribution data. This process‐based statistical approach qualitatively advances biogeographical analyses. Yet, the application of DRMs to a broad range of species and study systems requires substantial research efforts in statistical modelling, empirical data collection and ecological theory. Here we review current and potential contributions of these fields to a demographic understanding of niches and range dynamics. Our review serves to formulate a demographic research agenda that entails: (1) advances in incorporating process‐based models of demographic responses and range dynamics into a statistical framework, (2) systematic collection of data on temporal changes in distribution and abundance and on the response of demographic rates to environmental variation, and (3) improved theoretical understanding of the scaling of demographic rates and the dynamics of spatially coupled populations. This demographic research agenda is challenging but necessary for improved comprehension and quantification of niches and range dynamics. It also forms the basis for understanding how niches and range dynamics are shaped by evolutionary dynamics and biotic interactions. Ultimately, the demographic research agenda should lead to deeper integration of biogeography with empirical and theoretical ecology.