On the permissibility of shaping children’s values

Abstract

According to Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift, parents have a limited and conditional moral right to deliberately shape their children’s values and interests in light of their own particular comprehensive convictions. Their view contrasts with Matthew Clayton’s account of legitimate childrearing, according to which it is always impermissible for parents to seek to pass on their particular convictions to their children or, more generally, to ‘enroll’ them into their conception of the good, since this violates a requirement of respect for children’s independence. This paper offers a novel defense of Brighouse and Swift’s position that at least some forms of comprehensive enrollment are permissible. First, I argue that the claim that there is a duty to respect the independence of very young children is problematic. Then, drawing on Brighouse and Swift’s account of familial relationship goods, I argue that seeking to pass on comprehensive values or beliefs to one’s children is actually compatible with proper respect for their independence, as Clayton understands it.     

Equality and family values: conflict or harmony?

Abstract

This paper provides a critical commentary on the claim advanced by Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift in their book Family Values: The Ethics of Parent–Child Relationships that there is an ineliminable conflict between relationship goods and fair equality of opportunity. I argue there need be no conflict between family values and equality of opportunity in a suitably non-hierarchical society. I also argue that the idea that equality of opportunity might be served by abolishing the family is mistaken. Egalitarian justice does not provide an obstacle to the realization of family values.     

Is cross-border cooperation underpinned by an ethical code of values? A theoretical analysis

Is there an ‘ethical code’ of values that underpins cross-border cooperation activities? By focusing on people as ‘agents’, the article argues that citizens and individuals in their integral development have been neglected so far when the development of cross-border spaces is scrutinized. This study aims to provide an alternative theoretical framework through which cross-border activities can be analysed and operationalized. This is done by synergically reading Benedict XVI’s ‘Caritas in Veritate’ and Sen’s ‘Development as Freedom’. It is suggested that the ethical dimension of cross-border cooperation activities needs to be scrutinized on the ground that cross-border spaces are neither ethically neutral, nor inherently inhuman and opposed to society. They are instead part and parcel of human activities and must be structured and governed in an ethical manner. It follows that ethical values are the means of cohesion in cross-border zones. Without including them in the analysis, real cohesion cannot be achieved.     

Attracting future civil servants with public values? An experimental study on employer branding

Abstract

A frequently cited recommendation of public service motivation (PSM) research is to use PSM in the context of HR marketing. However, empirical evidence demonstrating the usefulness of addressing PSM in the recruitment process is limited. Moreover, we know little about the relative importance of PSM for public employers’ attractiveness. We address this gap using an experimental research design to investigate whether public service motivated individuals differ from extrinsically motivated individuals in terms of their attraction to organizations that emphasize either “traditional” public or private values in their employer branding. Our findings indicate that public service motivated individuals are attracted neither to public nor to private values in employer branding. Furthermore, individuals with very high levels of extrinsic motivation are more attracted to private values employer branding than to public values employer branding and to the control group.     

United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

The European Union (EU) is considered to be a unique economic and political union that integrates most European countries. This article focuses on the cultural aspect of European integration, which has been increasingly debated over the course of deepening and widening integration and in the context of the legitimation crisis of the EU. Among the main goals of the EU is to promote certain values, which raises the question of whether it has been efficient in (or enabled) reducing cultural value gaps among the participating countries. World polity and institutional isomorphism theories suggest that cultural values may trickle down in a vertical manner from the institutions of the EU to its member states and candidates. Furthermore, hybridisation theory postulates that values diffuse horizontally through intensified interactions enabled by the EU. These two perspectives imply the possibility of cultural convergence among countries associated with the EU. By contrast, the culture clash thesis assumes that differences in cultural identity prevent value convergence across countries; growing awareness of such differences may even increase the pre-existing cultural value distances. To test these different scenarios, distances in emancipative and secular values are compared across pairs of countries using combined repeated cross-sectional data from the European Values Study and the World Values Survey gathered between 1992 and 2011. This study finds that the longer a country has been part of the EU, the more closely its values approximate those of the EU founding countries, which in turn are the most homogenous. Initial cultural distance to the founders’ average values appears irrelevant to acquiring membership or candidacy status. However, new member states experienced substantial cultural convergence with old member states after 1992, as did current candidates between 2001 and 2008. Since 1992, nations not participating in the integration process have diverged substantially from EU members, essentially leading to cultural polarisation in Europe. The findings are independent of (changes in) economic disparities and suggest the importance of cultural diffusion as one of the fundamental mechanisms of cultural change. This empirical study contributes to the literature on European integration, political and sociological theories of globalisation, and cross-cultural theories of societal value change.     

But what do they really think? Identifying consumers' values relevant to adopting biotechnologically produced foods

• Much has been written about the media's importance in the formation of attitudes toward new technologies such as biotechnology. However, little has been published regarding consumer‐held values that play such an important role in forming these attitudes and which ultimately play a role in whether a product is adopted. Understanding how the product will complement, or clash, with, the publics' values is crucial in developing strategic communication plans. Developing Means‐End Chains via Laddering Theory to document users' values has been a useful research method in understanding the attributes and consequences associated with a product that may lead to acceptance by the general public. The purpose of this exploratory research was to identify the values consumers held toward foods created through biotechnological methods and the supporting attributes and consequences that supported those values. The findings indicate that, in this study, consumers felt no differently toward products developed using traditional agricultural methods versus biotechnological methods because the participants overwhelmingly relied on government agencies to ensure that their food was safe. The values identified in this study may provide a common ground for communicating about biotechnologically produced foods.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mature suburbs,property values,and decline in the midwest? The case of Cuyahoga county

Abstract

For most U.S. homeowners, a home represents the biggest investment they will ever make, and until recently, most expected the value of their property to rise. If the mature suburbs in which many of these homeowners live have problems or are in decline, property values could decrease and investment value will be lost.

We define mature suburbs for Cuyahoga County, OH (the Cleveland area), and analyze the property values of single‐family homes there. We examine how property values have behaved in mature suburbs compared with the central city and developing suburbs and analyze specific factors that have influenced the property value of single‐family homes in these three submarkets from 1985 to 2000. Our analyses show that there is no overall decline in nominal property values. Housing space, nearness to workplaces and transportation networks, and tax rates are important variables in the model, affecting mature suburbs and developing suburbs differently.     

Oppositional symbolic values of language display,or the case of “English” drinking in France

This article examines the linguistic manifestations of the tension between notions of a healthy national drinking culture and the increasing homogenisation of problematic drinking practices in an era of globalised marketing and media influence. Taking the proliferation of English in France when it comes not only to alcohol advertising, but also public health discourses and mass media commentary as its object, this paper discerns patterns of and motivations for English language borrowings in French when discussing alcohol and immoderate drinking practices. Findings point to a double indexicality in these borrowings. On the one hand, the widespread use of English in alcohol advertising draws on and creates positive associations between English and Anglo-American culture and, on the other, the public health community's use of English terms like binge drinking designates problematic drinking behaviours as foreign and anathema to traditional modes of French alcohol consumption, and by extension to French cultural identity.     

The external costs of foreclosure: The impact of single‐family mortgage foreclosures on property values

Abstract

To measure the impact of foreclosures on nearby property values, we use a database that combines data on 1997 and 1998 foreclosures with data on neighborhood characteristics and more than 9,600 single‐family property transactions in Chicago in 1999. After controlling for some 40 characteristics of properties and their respective neighborhoods, we find that foreclosures of conventional single‐family (one‐ to four‐unit) loans have a significant impact on nearby property values. Our most conservative estimates indicate that each conventional foreclosure within an eighth of a mile of a single‐family home results in a decline of 0.9 percent in value.

Cumulatively, this means that, for the entire city of Chicago, the 3,750 foreclosures that occurred in 1997 and 1998 are estimated to have reduced nearby property values by more than $598 million, for an average of $159,000 per foreclosure. This does not include effects on the value of condominiums, multifamily rental properties, and commercial buildings.     

Property values in inner‐city neighborhoods: The effects of homeownership,housing investment,and economic development

Abstract

This article examines the determinants of property values in Cleveland with a focus on three approaches to improving or maintaining neighborhood quality: investing in new housing, attracting and retaining homeowners, and encouraging economic development. Data comprise home sales in 1996 and 1997, investments in new housing from 1991 to 1995, homeowner migration between 1991 and 1995, and changes in the number of business establishments from 1991 to 1995.

The results suggest that (1) investments in new houses have a positive impact on housing values, especially for houses close to the new investment; (2) homeowner out‐migration has a negative effect; and (3) growth in the number of business establishments, except for social service establishments, also has a negative effect. These results further suggest that while programs to encourage housing investment and homeowner‐ship can increase neighborhood property values, care should be taken to avoid an inappropriate mixing of land uses.     

Higher education and confidence in institutions: A secondary analysis of the ‘European values survey’, 1981–83

A secondary analysis of the ‘European Values Survey’ tests some of the theoretical conclusions regarding the rationality of trust and distrust in established institutions. A reanalysis of the data set's question relating to confidence in ten particular institutions shows that the expected impact of higher education on confidence in institutions to punish governments for breach of trust applies only to those countries with a long, uninterrupted tradition of upholding civil liberties. In these countries multivariate analyses reveal a latent pattern of ‘civil society’ which is the most important dimension of how institutions are perceived by respondents.