Category: Questions

Categories
Questions

What is Social Responsibility?

What is social responsibility? It seems that oftentimes there are words thrown up, buzz words, lending attention to schemes or behaviours that are seen as just in the general public, shining favourable light on organisations, particularly businesses. Corporate social responsibility, as defined by Oxford Reference, is “Awareness, acceptance, and management of the implications and effects of all corporate decision‐making, taking particular account of community investment, human rights, and employee relations, environmental practices, and ethical conduct”. But as with many buzz words it feels as though the word is used to white wash, green wash, favourably wash the organisation using it, bending it at its whim invoking a subconscious led understanding and interpretation from the reader, that burst of oxytocin or dopamine triggered by an unbeknownst thought. It seems in fact that the definition above is a tool box of which the organisation picks the most applicable tool, but not realising that in fact to do the job the properly they need the whole box.

It could be argued that recent or continued events such as climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic are upending how society approaches consumerism and capitalism alike in that social responsibility is taking on a new meaning entirely. Yes it is an “Awareness, acceptance, and management of the implications and effects of all corporate decision making…” but also an acceptance of part, an ownership of repercussion or consequence, an acknowledgement of the past and a promise for future reparations. It is also more than what is in many cases a metaphorical pledge of “…community investment, human rights, and employee relations…” with many organisations continuing their rampant profit led destructiveness in one place, whilst “investing” in the local community of their home place; continuing malpractice in workplaces globally in the want of profit; allowing the pay gap amongst their own employees to continue its canyon-like growth. And to top it off, an apparent promise of environmental protections and ethical conduct being loosely adhered to, to meet the target of outdated regulation to satisfy the law, doing very little in the way of attempting to revolutionise and lead by example, advocating instead for the change in regulation themselves.

Social responsibility is Acknowledgement, ownership of and action in response to the implications and effects of all organisational decision making, investment in global and local community, respecting human rights, and the betterment of economic well-being and relations of all employees, innovation in environmental and socially responsible practices, measuring all action against a high standard of ethical conduct.

by Maurizio J Liberante

Categories
Questions

Can We Escape the Male Gaze?

The term ‘the male gaze’ was coined when describing how people interact with media. The concept is that media is usually catered towards what a heterosexual man would find appealing: showing men in a powerful way and women in a sexual way. Women become sexual objects, and their most appealing qualities are those that benefit the male protagonist. This concept has seeped out of the media, and into day-to-day life. Women walking down the street are cat called and their intelligence is devalued in the workplace. This concept is exemplified by the wage gap: women get paid less for doing the same amount of work because their value is seen in their looks, not their intellectual or physical capabilities. Women begin to see themselves as valuable if they are sexually appealing, or can please the straight man. Eating disorders and body image issues permeate women’s lives. Additionally, the male gaze frequently fetishizes other cultures or hypersexualizes marginalized women. However, the feminist perspective emphasizes reclaiming female sexuality.

Sexual liberation is a pinnacle of the feminist movement. For example, as feminism progressed more forms of contraception became available to women and access to abortion is generally widening. Women having sex outside of wedlock is seen less as a sin and dirty and more liberating. Although there is still a stigma against women for having sex that is much less applicable to men, it is progressively dissolving. Where it used to be seen as ‘disgusting’ for women to dress provocatively, many progressive women see that as sexually liberating. There is however a discrepancy in the male and female vision of this. 

To many women, dressing provocatively, and feeling good about the way that she looks is a form of liberation and is not done to please the male gaze. However, when seeing a woman dressed in a provocative way many men assume that she is ‘asking for something’ or dressing to please him. This begs the question, when are a woman’s appearances the consequences of internalized misogyny and when are they reclaiming their appearances? When are women’s positive feelings about how they look related to their own reclamation, and when are they positive because they are pleasing the male gaze? Giving women the freedom to dress as they please and have sex with who they want without shame will allow women to escape the sexual stigma placed on them that is evaded by men. How can we accomplish this without catering to the male gaze? How can we allow for these freedoms without valuing a woman’s worth based on her sexual activity?

Instead of asking women to change the way that they act, a big part of this needs to be educating men and changing pillars of society. For example, if examples are set by this generation that it is unacceptable to view a woman dressed provocatively as a subliminal message that she is seeking to please men, this may erode the stigma for the next generation. Also, if there is more media representation of women in power as well as more representation of women in powerful corporate and political positions, there will be more respect for a woman’s intelligence beyond her physical appearance. Women should continue to dress the way that they please and have sex with whomever they please, however the male gaze itself will not change until these societal changes are implemented. Therefore, despite women’s attempts at reclamation, men will continue to see women as sexual objects until gender roles have a complete overhaul.

by Cora Fagan

Categories
Questions

What is Terrorism?

Terrorism is without a doubt one of the most elusive and contentious terms in the political lexicon, and the question “what is terrorism?” is situated at the centre of most discourse on terrorism. The existence of multiple definitions of terrorism highlights the indefinite answer to this question and reveals the profound influence of power dynamics in the application of such labels. In many ways, the meaning and significance of terrorism is constructed and determined by the subjective viewpoint of whoever defines it at any given time, which fluctuates depending on the socio-political conditions in which they live, as well as their frame of reference.

Why does this matter?

Terrorism’s lack of comprehensive meaning has not only hindered the possibility for a more analytical and dispassionate approach, but its apparent malleability as a concept has created a vacuity for actors (state and non-state alike) to define what terrorism is according to their unique political and tactical involvements in both the international and internal arena. 

In this way, government bodies and associated terrorism academics are selective about what constitutes terrorism, producing terrorist activity and publicity in a way that functions to serve Western state interests. As Saul (2006) duly states, “the more confused a concept, the more it lends itself to opportunistic appropriation”.

The Global Terrorism Database (GTD), for example, defines terrorism as “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by non-state actors to attain a political, economic, religious or social goal through fear, coercion or intimidation”. The GTD, which is maintained by the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, notably excludes the significant violence and terrorism that is committed by governments and state militaries, reflecting the selective processes, social biases and power-relations associated with specific interpretations of terrorism.

State-terrorism and the Contra War

Taking a more analytical approach highlights the bias and subjectivity rooted in mainstream perceptions of terrorism supported by Western states and exposes the harmful implications of such a narrow, restrictive conceptualisation of terrorism.

To use a historical example, the Contra War in Nicaragua under the Reagan administration (1981 -1989) is a prime example of U.S. control over the labelling of state-terrorism, which was alternatively defined as “internal defence” and “counter-insurgency” for the purpose of containing the spread of communism. The Contras were a U.S.-sponsored paramilitary group who were armed, trained, and financed by the U.S. to combat the revolutionary left-wing Frente Sandinista Liberación Nationale (FSLN) guerrillas, using tactics such as murder, rape, mutilation, kidnapping, and destruction. 

This supposed U.S. counterinsurgency was described euphemistically by the government as “coercive diplomacy”, yet if terrorism is indeed defined as “the threat or actual use of illegal force and violence”, then why are these acts not labelled as such when committed by the state? Accordingly, Richards states, “one danger is that if terrorism is not so clearly defined, the powers of the state may extend very far indeed”.

During this time, the Reagan administration was involved in a propaganda campaign in an attempt to portray the Contras in a positive light, while covertly funding and encouraging them to use terrorist tactics. This labelling (or non-labelling) of terrorism by the state functioned to align with state-endorsed definitions of terrorism, and these state-sponsored acts of terrorism are described by Chomsky as “a form of low-intensity conflict that states undertake when they find it convenient to engage in war without being held accountable for their actions”. This served to legitimise the actions of U.S. state-sponsored groups and undermine the civilian population and victims of terrorism in Latin America, as well as grant the U.S. acquiescence and detach the state from explicate acts of terrorism. 

What implications does this have for wider society?

Despite the West being the main source of terrorism in recent years, it has managed to deflect the terrorist indictment onto its victims, through construction of semantics that serve its ends, which is largely supported by opinion forming circles (namely the mass media). The Western model of terrorism views the West as an innocent target and victim of terrorism and maintains the view that it only responds to others’ use of violence.

It is clear that power dynamics and subjectivity are heavily entrenched in the usage of the term terrorism. It is frequently used as a pejorative epithet, and its subjective usage has become a notable impediment to achieving a universal definition of the term. The termsterrorism and terrorist hold intrinsically negative connotations and are laden with condemnation that is usually applied to one’s adversaries, seeking to delegitimise their political motives. Hence, the decision to label an organisation or individual as terrorist is an inherently partisan undertaking — definitions of terrorism are entirely dependent on who defines them, who controls these definitions, and why such definitions are used.

The realisation that self-interests and strategic objectives of the state are entangled in mainstream conceptions of terrorism is of paramount importance, and there are countless modern-day parallels to the above example of the Contra War. Most interpretations of what terrorism is are produced by and for the dominant, rendering both victims of state-terrorism and oppressed communities powerless in the construction of alternative discourses. 

The powerful (namely the state) are arguably the most responsible for actions of political violence, but if they maintain purchase on foreign policies and intellectual resources that shape and establish dominant discourses on terrorism, they will do so in their own favour, which affects wider society in both explicit and covert ways. 



References

  • Chomsky, N. (2003) Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
  • Global Terrorism Database (2018) Available at: https://www.start.umd.edu/research-projects/global-terrorism-database-gtd
  • Greene, A. (2017) “Defining Terrorism: One Size Fits All?” in International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 66 (2). pp. 411-440.
  • Richards, A. (2013) Conceptualising Terrorism. London: UEL Research Repository.

By Molly Wallace