The role of corrosive internalisation and denial of responsibility in stabilising inequality in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how capabilities inequality is stabilised through its consequences on those at both ends of the distribution. It outlines the development of the balance model, which is argued to help highlight these consequences. Specifically, how adverse environments associated with lack of access to resources and poor treatment can lead to internal consequences which further corrode capabilities. At the same time, denial of this corrosion or its importance is critical for those who benefit from the inequality. To avoid moral constraints being triggered it is important, necessary even, for them to see those who suffer as outside of their moral universe, or their suffering to be in no way associated with their advantage. Corrosion and denial work to stabilise the system. For those in the middle of the distribution, they may work to do so in combination. Appreciating these internalised consequences is key to addressing inequality in South Africa.     

‘Never take pity’: an average French boxer’s ethnobiography

Based on a long-term ethnographic study of a group of French boxers, this article retraces the biography of one of its members. Éric was an average boxer who never truly mastered the art of dodging his opponents. He never left the ranks of amateur boxing either, although in fact he never truly hoped he would step into the limelight reserved for the very few champions who make it. His anonymous and relentless commitment to boxing was in fact filled with a different meaning that his ethnobiography brings to light. His commitment to boxing can be better understood in light of the trials he faced in “the poor life”, a life he described as flavorless, mired in unemployment and survival delinquency. Despite his repeated defeats in the ring, for him boxing was the only part of his identity that elevated his status and set him apart from those who only had the streets to hang out on. By revealing the meaning he gave to his pugilism, Éric’s ethnobiography offers a new perspective on the links between boxing, violence, and poverty. It also paves the way for exploring the dark side of a leisure activity and its struggles that extend far beyond the ring itself.     

探析横管式煤气初冷器阻力大的原因及应对措施

在焦化行业内,炼焦过程必将产生大量焦炉荒煤气,采用煤气鼓风对焦炉荒煤气进行处理就成为工作重点,不仅能够促进环境的改善,还可以回收荒煤气中大量的化工原材料,并带来较大的经济效益。但在焦化厂实际生产中,横管式煤气初冷器常常因阻力过高发生故障,对煤气鼓风机的正常运作形成干扰,造成装置沉积物阻塞与环境污染等问题。论文以湖北中平鄂钢联合焦化有限责任公司的横管式煤气初冷器为实例,简要分析阻力增大的原因及应对措施。     

农网改造升级工程接地施工若干质量问题的防控探讨

当前我国已经将决战脱贫攻坚、决胜全面建成小康社会作为主要的战略目标,为了实现这一目标,实现脱贫攻坚,电力保障是一个非常重要的因素。近年来我国全面推进农网改造升级工程。农网改造工程的接地施工质量的重要性毋庸置疑,但是农网改造工程的特殊性又使得接地质量的判断变得不好把握,本文从农网改造工程接地质量现状、防控措施等方面进行探讨。     

Vacationers and the economic “double dip” in Europe

The subject of this study concerns individual vacationers' reactions to the global economic crisis. This crisis is lasting longer than expected, resulting in Europe in a “double dip”. Vacationers can use different strategies to cope with this crisis: from pruning (giving up the vacation) via cheese-slicing (economizing on vacation attributes) to non-economizing. Based on a theoretical framework, it was predicted that over time the pruning segment would become larger than the cheese-slicing segment. A longitudinal study in The Netherlands, covering 4 years, shows economic developments having a relatively minor effect on vacationers' holiday plans and intentions, with no increase in the size of the pruning segment. Six vacationer segments were found, three of which can be considered to be crisis-resistant. Each segment pursues different economizing strategies, with each requiring a customized marketing strategy. Five explanations are proposed for the relatively limited influence of the economic “double dip” on Dutch vacationers. Future research can be directed to comparing vacations with other consumer products, in order to explain the crisis-resistance of vacation planning during this economic crisis.     

Fashionable subjects and complicity resistance: power,subjectification, and bounded resistance in the context of plus-size consumers

ABSTRACT

The relationship between consumer governability and consumer resistance has received increasing attention in consumer research, especially with regard to consumers’ physical bodies. However, a deeper understanding of how consumers juxtapose different forms and strategies of governability with respect to which discourses they embody or resist is necessary. Through an analysis of various sources of data, including interviews, fashion blogs, an online retailer’s website, and a fashion magazine, we explore the nuances between processes of subjectification and resistance in the fashion field by considering the multiple powers that act on overweight female consumers’ bodies. We demonstrate the complicated process by which these vulnerable consumers attempt to establish themselves as fashionable subjects as they move between adherence to expectations (biopower and subjectification) and resistance when faced with the impossibility of subjectification in a creative-agentic manner. Finally, we propose the idea of complicit resistance. This resistance only partially confronts the strategies of biopower in the process of subjectification because it is limited by a threshold imposed by biopower.     

Barriers toward purchasing from online travel agencies

Online travel agencies (OTAs) are expanding their services to many segments of the travel and tourism industry. While they are beneficial to travelers, OTAs also face a great deal of consumer resistance. However, prior literature has largely focused on travelers’ adoption intentions toward OTAs, scarcely exploring the causes of such resistance. Addressing the gap, this study extends the innovation resistance theory (IRT) to examine the barriers to positive purchase intentions toward OTAs. A mixed method research design with open-ended essays and cross-sectional survey is used to test the proposed model. Findings suggest that benefits barrier is the chief inhibitor of purchase intentions. In comparison, privacy and security concerns and the vulnerability barrier show positive association with intentions. As a moderator, visibility influences the strength of the association between benefits barrier and purchase intentions. Further, the strength of this association differs among young, middle-aged, and old users.     

变革前消极非正式信息对员工的影响机制研究

组织变革前会有相关的非正式信息，这些信息影响员工对变革的认识。文章探索变革前消极非正式信息量对员工变革抵制意愿的影响，以及员工变革抵制意愿随时间推移的变化，信息频率与尽责性对员工变革抵制意愿变化的调节作用。基于159位员工调查数据的多层次线性增长模型分析表明：消极非正式信息量显著增加员工的变革抵制意愿，但这种抵制意愿随时间推移而显著衰减；消极非正式信息频率与尽责性对员工变革抵制意愿随时间衰减有三维调节作用：在低信息频率下，低尽责性员工的变革抵制意愿随时间衰减更快。研究结果对组织变革有一定理论和实践意义。     

Making out and making do: how employees resist and make organisational change work through consent in a UK bank

This article draws on fieldwork conducted in the back‐office of a major retail UK bank and explores how, when introducing change, management drew on contradictory normative and rational discourses. Its primary concern is to explore how, in this context, employees engaged in contradictory acts that combined elements of both resistance (‘making out’) and consent (‘making do’) that are difficult to disentangle. It is argued that although both are moves within the game, they can be distinguished from each other because the former works against the grain of corporate intentions, whereas the latter works with them.     

Innovation and antibiotic use within antibiotic classes: Market incentives and economic instruments

We analyze a monopolist's incentive to innovate a new antibiotic which is connected to the same pool of antibiotic treatment efficacy as is another drug produced by a generic industry. We outline the differences of antibiotic use under market conditions and in the social optimum. A time- and state-dependent tax-subsidy mechanism is proposed to induce the monopolist and generic industry to exploit antibiotic efficacy optimally.