John Calvin on the Christian's Social Responsibility: Cultural Activist or “Modest Social Reformer”?

Recently there have been heated discussions between Reformed theologians who embrace the two‐kingdoms doctrine and proponents of the Neo‐Calvinist tradition on whether Calvin held social transformationist views. This article examines the debate and argues that Calvin did not interpret the kingdom as a progressive social‐transforming reality that gradually establishes God's future eschatological reign on earth. Instead, he regarded Christ's present reign as a “backward”‐reaching reality that restores God's original created order. At the same time Calvin did not make a sharp categorical distinction between the spiritual and civil realms but depicted the civil and spiritual order as two regiments of God's one reign that mutually aid and assist each other.     

Workplace mobbing: How the victim’s coping behavior influences bystander responses

Victims of workplace mobbing show diverse coping behavior. We investigated the impact of this behavior on bystander cognitions, emotions, and helping toward the victim, integrating coping literature with attribution theory. Adult part-time university students (N = 161) working at various organizations participated in a study with a 3(Coping: approach/avoidance/neutral) × 2(Gender Victim: male/female) × 2(Gender Bystander: male/female) design. Victims showing approach (vs. avoidance) coping were considered to be more self-reliant and less responsible for the continuation of the mobbing, and they elicited less anger. Continuation responsibility and self-reliance mediated the relationship between the victim’s coping behavior and bystanders’ helping intentions. Female (vs. male) participants reported more sympathy for the victim and greater willingness to help, and female (vs. male) victims elicited less anger. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Explaining the Inexplicable: Differences in Attributions for the Holocaust in Germany,Israel, and Poland

Seventy years have passed since the Holocaust, but this cataclysmic event continues to reverberate in the present. In this research, we examine attributions about the causes of the Holocaust and the influence of such attributions on intergroup relations. Three representative surveys were conducted among Germans, Poles, and Israeli Jews to examine inter‐ and intragroup variations in attributions for the Holocaust and how these attributions influence intergroup attitudes. Results indicated that Germans made more external than internal attributions and were especially low in attributing an evil essence to their ancestors. Israelis and Poles mainly endorsed the obedient essence attribution and were lowest on attribution to coercion. These attributions, however, were related to attitudes towards contemporary Germany primarily among Israeli Jews. The more they endorsed situationist explanations, and the less they endorsed the evil essence explanation, the more positive their attitude to Germany. Among Germans, attributions were related to a higher motivation for historical closure, except for the obedience attribution that was related to low desire for closure. Israelis exhibited a low desire for historical closure especially when attribution for evil essence was high. These findings suggest that lay perceptions of history are essential to understanding contemporary intergroup processes.     

Climate justice after Paris: a normative framework

This paper puts forward a normative framework to differentiate between the climate-related responsibilities of different countries in the aftermath of the Paris Agreement. It offers reasons for applying the chief moral principles of ‘historical responsibility’ and ‘capacity’ to climate finance instead of climate change mitigation targets. This will (i) provide a normative basis to realize the goal of climate change mitigation while allowing for developing and newly industrialized countries to develop economically and (ii) offer an account of the distributive principles that can regulate climate finance. This is a real-world interpretation of the 1992 UNFCCC principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ that takes into account the progress accomplished at the COP21 in Paris and offers a solution to the still unsolved problem of differentiated responsibilities. This paper offers an application of this proposal to the Green Climate Fund.     

Decisions about a crime: downward and upward counterfactuals

Deciding about people’s responsibility, intentions and need for punishment is particularly hard and it may be often associated with counterfactual thinking, which refers to the creation of mental alternatives to actual events. Ninety-three participants were asked to generate downward or upward counterfactuals regarding a given criminal event and, then, to give judgments about defendant’s predictability, responsibility, intentionality and punishment. Results showed that downward counterfactuals had led people to judge the event less intentional, the defendant less responsible and, therefore, to give him a less severe punishment (vice versa for upward). The relationship between counterfactuals and intentionality judgments was partially mediated by the perceived defendant’s predictability of the negative outcomes. Finally, downward counterfactuals were linked to a greater focus on the context (external factors), whereas upward counterfactuals on the defendant/victim’s behaviours (internal factors). Findings were discussed considering both theoretical decision-making models and applications on the judicial field.     

New Directions in Catholic Historical Research: Saints in Social Work

For over half a century now, the profession of social work has ignored calls to develop critical infrastructures for strengthening and expanding historical research in schools of social work. Since World War II, for example, doctoral dissertations involving significant historical research in schools of social work have become virtually extinct. The vanishing of these dissertations represents a simultaneous vanishing of social work's capacity to detect historical figures who are indigenous to and yet have remained undetected in social work history. As a result, and unintentionally, social work scholars have been seemingly unable to detect Louise de Marillac as the patron saint of social workers or Ellen Gates Starr as a popular folk saint among social workers in Catholic religious orders. The study includes the rare, post-mortem photograph of Ellen Gates Starr, dressed in the full habit of a Catholic Benedictine nun.     

In defense of non-reactive attitudes

Abolitionism is the view that if no one is responsible, then we ought to abandon the reactive attitudes (e.g. resentment, contempt, and guilt). Proponents suggest that reactive attitudes can be replaced in our emotional repertoire by non-reactive analogues (e.g. sadness and disappointment). In this paper, I dispute and reject a common challenge to abolitionism according to which the reactive attitudes are necessary for protesting unfairness and maintaining social harmony. While other abolitionists dispute the empirical basis of this objection, I focus on its implications. I argue that even if non-reactive analogues cannot perform the interpersonal and social functions of reactive attitudes, it does not follow that the losses of abandoning them outweigh the gains of retaining them. The force of the challenge rests on a mistake, identified by John Stuart Mill among others, that is common when evaluating entrenched social practices.     

Self-compassion promotes positive adjustment for people who attribute responsibility of a romantic breakup to themselves

Attributing responsibility for a romantic breakup to the self can have dual effects on psychological adjustment, exacerbating disruptive thoughts and feelings, yet also increasing the likelihood of positive changes. Three studies (N = 441) examined whether these dual effects associated with attributing responsibility for a romantic breakup to the self are moderated by self-compassion. Supporting this assertion, trait self-compassion predicted better romantic outlook (Studies 1 & 2), and induced self-compassion predicted greater intended future romantic partner appreciation (Study 3), among people who attributed greater responsibility of a breakup to themselves. In addition, higher trait (Study 2) and induced self-compassion (Study 3) boosted self-improvement motivation with regard to future relationships among participants who attributed responsibility of a romantic breakup to themselves. These adjustment-promoting tendencies associated with self-compassion held controlling for a range of variables known to impact romantic breakup adjustment (e.g., self-esteem, attachment styles, and prior relationship characteristics). We discuss possible mechanisms for these effects and broader implications for future self-compassion research.     

A baldrige process for ethics?

In this paper we describe and explore a management tool called the Caux Round Table Self-Assessment and Improvement Process (SAIP). Based upon the Caux Round Table Principles for Business — a stakeholder-based, transcultural statement of business values — the SAIP assists executives with the task of shaping their firm’s conscience through an organizational self-appraisal process. This process is modeled after the self-assessment methodology pioneered by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. After briefly describing the SAIP, we address three topics. First, we examine similarities and differences between the Baldrige approach to corporate self-assessment and the self-assessment process utilized within the SAIP. Second, we report initial findings from two beta tests of the tool. These illustrate both the SAIP’s ability to help organizations strengthen their commitment to ethically responsible conduct, and some of the tool’s limitations. Third, we briefly analyze various dimensions of the business scandals of 2001–2002 (Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, etc.) in light of the ethical requirements articulated with the SAIP. This analysis suggests that the SAIP can help link the current concerns of stakeholders — for example, investors and the general public — to organizational practice, by providing companies with a practical way to incorporate critical lessons from these unfortunate events. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology” meeting, New Orleans, 2003.     

Evil intent and design responsibility

Mass casualty attacks in recent years have demonstrated the need to include “evil intent” as a design consideration. Three recent actual or potential weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attacks did not involve nuclear bombs or other devices designed as weapons, but rather benign objects used with evil intent. Just as unplanned events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and user misuse have been codified into design requirements based on the likelihood and potential impact of the event, “evil intent” has to become part of the design process for buildings, vehicles, equipment, and other items. The endstate should be reasonable additions to existing codes and standards such that it is clear what is and is not designed for. In the absence of specific design guidance, professionals with appropriate expertise can assess potential for “evil intent” and provide recommendations to design out or warn against this potential harm to public safety, particularly when codified requirements are not present. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology” meeting, New Orleans, 2003. Author Note: Bart Kemper, PE, is the principal engineer for Kemper Imageering, Inc. A significant portion of his work has been involved in industrial equipment design, product design, and the design and analysis of different security devices as well as performing simulations, computer modelling, reliability studies, blast analyses, and FMEA analyses on commercial equipment, including marine, offshore, and industrial facilities. He is also a US Army Reserve captain in the Corps of Engineers and was mobilized and deployed overseas in February 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a member of the 412^th Engineer Command, headquartered in Vicksburg, Mississippi. A significant portion of his duties involved reviewing intelligence, analyzing potential courses of action, and evaluating risks with regard to Iraqi and Coalition activities in the northern Iraqi oilfields as well as base camp design and infrastructure engineering. This paper is unclassified and has been cleared for publication.