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This article discusses the essence of sustainable management of social structures. An attempt has been made to clarify the "point of contact" between the two modern management concept - social enterprices and sustainable management.
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The emotional inteligence consists of skills that are essential to perform efficient social interactions, as it has been proven empirically. The construct that may be tightly related to the emotional intelligence is the moral sensitivity, as the skills involved in emotional intelligence are necessary for the development of the morality. A research using the INTE Emotional Intelligence and the Ethical Sensitivity Scale Questionnaires on 117 persons was performed. The results indicate a relationship between the emotional intelligence and the moral sensitivity. This may suggest that engaging in emotional intelligence development programmes may be justified.
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Economic poverty is one of the more common and complex problems in the modern world, as well as in Poland. This is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon, and therefore there is no single universally valid definition of poverty. This article presents a statistical analysis of economic poverty in Poland based on real data from the Central Statistical Office of Poland. An in-depth statistical analysis of the social situation of Poles will be presented, as well as an attempt to examine interdependencies in the occurrence of various forms of poverty and social exclusion in Poland. In the article, several multivariate statistical methods are presented together with the graphical presentation of results. We present a correspondence analysis with a perception map, as well as the advanced modern visualizing tool for categorical data. All the calculations were conducted using R software.
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Over 800 pedestrians are killed in road accidents in Poland every year. Inadequate visibility, especially at night, is a main cause of these accidents. Retro-reflective accessories, which reflect the light of car headlights towards their source are effective in improving road workers’ and pedestrians’ visibility. This article discusses the legal requirements for marketing retro-reflective accessories, for their construction, limitations in use and technical requirements set out in a European standard.
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In recent years, European countries are facing new waves of immigrants and refugees, who follow the classic immigration routes from east to west and from south to north. This social and demographic phenomenon, whose current dynamics could not be predicted, leads to multiple and various problems at the political and social level, as well as to challenges at both cultural and structural, macro-social level. The diverse contrasts between the native culture of immigrants and the culture of the host societies can generate dissensions and even social conflicts. That is why various discussions, both theoretically and practically, have emerged, dealing with possible solutions to such problems. Furthermore, the debates are not limited only to the field of culture and social interactions, but they also focus on the initiation of some actions at the social level of policies and concrete measures to facilitate the integration of migrants. The present paper is a sociological contribution to these discussions. The primary objectives are, on one hand, to conceptualize the terms of diversity and integration, and on the other hand to delimit the links between the cultural level of the practices, values, and symbolic representations and the structural level of integration policies. In this regard, the concept of “integration” is analytically and operationally approached, and the desiderata of integration politics are addressed.
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From an institutional perspective the family is perceived via its functions. Their role acquires a special signifcance in case of an illness or disability in one of the family members, especially if it is a woman. The purpose of the article is to present – which has been based on the author’s own explorations – the diffculties in performing the protective function – which traditionally is the province of women – in families where it is the woman who suffers from a disability. The article also presents the factors influencing the scope and form of the function in question. The research has been based on 152 questionnaires carried out among women with certifed disabilities that are consequences of breast cancer. It has been proved that the family facing a wife’s or mother’s disability undergoes a transformation, and its effectiveness decreases at the beginning to stabilise in the end. The scope and form of the protective function largely depends on the family’s condition, on its material, emotional and social resources, on its knowledge, abilities and ties that are the basis for the functioning of the family’s system.
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Uncertainty together with the necessity of making choices inevitably results in risky decisions. For many years now, scientists have been studying notions connected with risk such as risk management, risk perception or risk propensity. While many sophisticated methods regarding measurement of risk propensity have been developed so far, it seems that little attention has been paid to checking whether they are not inherently flawed. The main goal of this article is to check with a simple preliminary study whether questionnaire based methods of risk propensity assessment are not susceptible to question order effects. The research is focused on respondents’ answers to simple lottery choices as measures of their risk propensity. However, what would happen if the respondents were fi rst asked how they perceive their own risk propensity? In order to answer this query a few questions designed to measure risk propensity and self-perception of risk propensity have been interspersed in a questionnaire of another research project. Furthermore, as an additional output of the study, the correlation has been checked between self-perception of risk propensity and the actual assessment of risk propensity based on the questions used. The results of the study show that question order effects are partially present in the setting described. Some conclusions and recommendations for further research are made based on the results. Finally, it can be concluded from the research that simple self-perception of risk propensity was significantly correlated with measures of actual risk propensity used.
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Over the past couple of decades, both the news media and mainstream literaturehave been awash with stories of some sort of renascent nationalism and populism. Somecitizens have begun to express lack of confidence in core representative institutions,accusing politicians and entrepreneurs of having lost touch with the concerns of ordinarypeople. They demand protection from transnational economic forces undercuttingtheir access to jobs, wages, and benefits, and in addition, from the threats of terrorismassociated with Islamic extremism. In this piece, their questioning of liberal civil rightswas reviewed. Efforts at liberal homogenization were examined, and the charge thatconservative views trivialize the ethics of universal human care, love and collaboration,which are at the heart of creating enduring peace in the world, was considered.
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In the history of political thought a major problem has been to determine if philosophersshould get involved in political affairs. From Aristotle to Antonio Gramsci, a widevariety of positions have been presented on this topic. Today academics often choose toisolate themselves in the ivory tower of the university. Although there are many exceptionsto this general rule there is no consensus about how philosophers should relate topolitics. We hope that this article which explores the relation of Aristotle to Machiavellican shed some light on this very relevant issue.
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The essay characterizes an anthropological impasse of political philosophy dividingthose in a more liberal tradition from those in a more Hegelian tradition, and then itproceeds to sketch a political philosophy without any human or anthropological content.I rely on Foucault’s notion of parrhesia to activate such a political philosophy, andI rely on the philosophical life of the Cynic to make parrhesia possible. Finally by invokingexercises of ascent and of descent, I suggest that this kind of political philosophycan not only solve the anthropological impasse of political philosophy, but also in practice,it can cool hateful passions and warm cold hearts.
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I have chosen to approach the Marxian alienation theory from a historical angle andrecount its evolution in Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and theGrundrisse (Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy), wherein it develops intoa theory regulating the co-creation of conditions for “freedom” in the choice of processes that lead to de-alienation. I will attempt to present the alienation theory as an aspectof a broader anti-metaphysical critique of all substantialism, According to Marx, thesubstantialist approach to history could at most only pretend to be dynamic and ignoredthe structural complexity of being, whereas the true idea was to notice and keep track ofthe structural and qualitative changes brought to being by the genetic, structural, social,economic, class and institutional conditionings of human history.My main focus is on the historical evolution and structure of the dialectical elementin the processes that change human life according to Marx, who denied matter any rationallyjustified existence outside the human sphere. Marx, who stood under the influenceof Kant, Hegel and British political economy, criticised primitive metaphysicalmaterialism.The onset of capitalism also brought the gradual demise of man’s fascination withnature, because capitalism gradually turned it entirely into a practical and theoreticaltool, something of utility to humans.
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The issue of safety, especially in the contemporary globalised world, requires an interdisciplinaryapproach, which takes into account insights offered by such disciplinesas philosophy, sociology, economics, or political sciences, with a special considerationof international relationships. The aim of this paper is to introduce safety as a moraldilemma with regard to the safety-freedom dichotomy. In the first part, the humanisticaspect of safety will be depicted, especially in its axiological dimension. The analysis ofsafety will be carried out in the context of the intersubjective existence. The intersubjectiveexistence of safety is formulated on two levels: the real and unreal intersubjectiveexistence. In the second part of the paper, the institutional aspect of safety will be presented.Here, the discussion will proceed in the context of non-independence of theexistence of structural safety. Among others, the following phenomena posing a threatto safety in a global world will undergo analyses in the context of the objectivity ofexistence (real and unreal objective existence) and non-independence of existence:terrorism, cyberterrorism, mass migration, various conflicts, development disparitiesbetween countries, and the protection of the natural environment.
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Hobbes postulates a social contract to formalize our collective transition from thestate of nature to civil society. The prisoner’s dilemma challenges both the mechanicsand the outcome of that thought experiment. The incentives for reneging are supposedlystrong enough to keep rational persons from cooperating. This paper argues that theprisoner’s dilemma undermines a position Hobbes does not hold. The context and parametersof the social contract steer it safely between the horns of the dilemma. Specifically,in a setting as hostile as the state of nature, Hobbes’s emphasis on self-interestplaces a premium on survival, and thereby on adaptability, which then promotes progressiveconcessions toward peaceful coexistence. This transforms the relevant modelof rationality from utility maximization to utility satisficing, thus favoring the pursuit ofa mutually satisfactory outcome over that of the best personal outcome. The differencenot only obviates the prisoner’s dilemma but also better approximates the state of naturewhile leaving a viable way out.
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Phenomenological research is one of the most prominent qualitative research strategies. It is quite different research approach in terms of scientific rigorousness. Being part of qualitative research, phenomenological research holds same attributes of rigorousness as all scientific research – objectivity, validity generalizability. Just those attributes manifest differently in a different types of research. One attribute – reflexivity of a researcher is a prominent feature of phenomenological research, that speaks for scientific rigorousness with a same strength as the rest attributes. The author of this paper argues that reflexivity of a researcher is one of major and strongest scientific attributes of a scientific rigor. Arguments come from reflective lifeworld research philosophy and methodology as well as original research illustrations from Lithuania and the Netherlands.
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The aim of this paper is to discuss political circumstances related to joining the eurozone. The author claims that political conditions related to the euro area, associated primarily with the significant loss of sovereignty by EU member states, have not only symbolic and axiological dimensions, but also negatively affect the possibility to pursue an independent socio-economic policy, and therefore effective implementation of the constitutional commitments of the government towards its citizens.
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The article presents selected concepts related to integration of government debt of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) member states by issuing common bonds. In order to evaluate the possible implementation and value of eurozone bonds, the author applies two methods. The first one is cost and benefits analysis (CBA), the second is simulations based on historical data on government debt sourced from Eurostat. Next, the author discusses solutions already implemented and prospects for changes.
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This article discusses experience of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries which have adopted the euro. The emphasis is placed on three phenomena: an increase in inflation, a decline in competitiveness and a greater volatility of the economic growth. As the analysis shows, there was no effect of price increase due to currency conversion in all CEE countries, as well as neither loss of competitiveness nor decrease in foreign trade balance has been proved. However, CEE countries that adopted the euro experienced greater fluctuations of economic growth – both the minimum and maximum GDP growth rate was relatively high in comparison to CEE countries which kept their currencies.
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The aim of the paper is to present a forecast of the competitiveness of the Polish economy depending on whether or not Poland will adopt the euro. An assessment focuses on a comparative analysis of price and cost competitiveness and structural competitiveness of Poland and two groups of Central and East Europe countries: those which joined the eurozone and those which kept the national currencies. The author concludes that in both scenarios competitiveness of Polish economy will remain at the same level against the eurozone as it was in the period after 2010.
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