Disability, Welfare and Work. The proposed project will offer significant insights into the experiences of people with a disability in the context of welfare-to-work policies. The project will be able to gauge the extent to which the significant amount of public funds invested in the new welfare-to-work measures is effective. In 2002/03 the Australian Government invested over 300 million dollars in Open Employment assistance. The applied research into conceptual questions such as the correct mod ....Disability, Welfare and Work. The proposed project will offer significant insights into the experiences of people with a disability in the context of welfare-to-work policies. The project will be able to gauge the extent to which the significant amount of public funds invested in the new welfare-to-work measures is effective. In 2002/03 the Australian Government invested over 300 million dollars in Open Employment assistance. The applied research into conceptual questions such as the correct model of disability, the relation of obligation to our understanding of citizenship and associated ethical issues will assist in maintaining Australia at the cutting edge of applied philosophical and sociological research.Read moreRead less
Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of t ....Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of the postmodern self and their political effects. With a particular interest in emotional life, this study will provide critical information on how individuals and communities can manage creatively the uncertain conditions of postmodernity.Read moreRead less
Work and self-development: a philosophical reappraisal. Many Australians are worried about work, perhaps in more complex ways than ever before. Young people entering work lack the orientation once provided by established career paths, mid-life workers are often subject to disorienting shifts in role and difficulties finding the right 'work-life' balance, and many people leaving work find their lives suddenly bereft of meaning. This project will shed light on these anxieties by framing work withi ....Work and self-development: a philosophical reappraisal. Many Australians are worried about work, perhaps in more complex ways than ever before. Young people entering work lack the orientation once provided by established career paths, mid-life workers are often subject to disorienting shifts in role and difficulties finding the right 'work-life' balance, and many people leaving work find their lives suddenly bereft of meaning. This project will shed light on these anxieties by framing work within an image of the human that does justice to the depth and complexity of contemporary work experience. It promises a deeper understanding of work that would help promote good health and strengthen Australia's social and economic fabric.Read moreRead less
Applying the Ethics of Recognition: Work and the Social Bond. Work matters to most Australians. It is not just of instrumental value, worth it just for the money: a good, fulfilling job is integral to a fulfilled life. Our sense of well-being is inseparably bound up with how things are going at work. But how is this well-being sustained? What moral expectations do we bring to work and what happens when they are not met? This project will develop new answers to these questions by focusing on clai ....Applying the Ethics of Recognition: Work and the Social Bond. Work matters to most Australians. It is not just of instrumental value, worth it just for the money: a good, fulfilling job is integral to a fulfilled life. Our sense of well-being is inseparably bound up with how things are going at work. But how is this well-being sustained? What moral expectations do we bring to work and what happens when they are not met? This project will develop new answers to these questions by focusing on claims for recognition arising out of work. Experiences of misrecognition at work, we propose, seriously damage one's capacity to lead a fulfilling life. By identifying ways in which recognition can be given or denied at work, the project will be of great community benefit.Read moreRead less
Mapping Justice Globalism: Reassessing the Ideological Landscape of the Twenty-First Century. "Mapping Justice Globalism" offers the first comprehensive analysis of the ideological claims of the global justice movement. The project assesses problem-solving approaches and policy platforms of civil society groups within the global justice movement and implications for Australian policy development and practice. The project offers alternative strategies to anticipate and address problems of globali ....Mapping Justice Globalism: Reassessing the Ideological Landscape of the Twenty-First Century. "Mapping Justice Globalism" offers the first comprehensive analysis of the ideological claims of the global justice movement. The project assesses problem-solving approaches and policy platforms of civil society groups within the global justice movement and implications for Australian policy development and practice. The project offers alternative strategies to anticipate and address problems of globalization, such as climate change, financial volatility, migratory pressures and cultural conflict. Key findings will be made available to Australia's policy-making sector in targeted and accessible formats. The project will enhance Australia's capacity to interpret and engage with the forces of globalization shaping our region and the world.Read moreRead less
The changing nature of national identity and its relationship to other forms of identity. By providing a cultural understanding of the relationship between nationalism and other forms of identity, this project sets the background for understanding the nature of Australian identity as we embark upon the difficult passage from a post-imperial peripheral jurisdiction to a potentially more open, generous and constructive polity. The project contributes to the recently added National Research Priorit ....The changing nature of national identity and its relationship to other forms of identity. By providing a cultural understanding of the relationship between nationalism and other forms of identity, this project sets the background for understanding the nature of Australian identity as we embark upon the difficult passage from a post-imperial peripheral jurisdiction to a potentially more open, generous and constructive polity. The project contributes to the recently added National Research Priorities category, 'Safeguarding Australia: Understanding our Region and the World' - not in the sense of identifying 'the threat' to Australia, but rather in the much more important long-term sense of understanding ourselves in a global, historical and comparative context.Read moreRead less
Reassessing Egalitarianism. Ever since the French revolution the issues of equality and egalitarianism have had enormous significance for modern democracies. These topics are also particularly important in Australian life. Indeed, Australia is often described as an 'egalitarian society'. Clarifying contemporary accounts of egalitarianism and developing our own original account will be of major national significance. In addition, this project will focus on the important areas of health and unempl ....Reassessing Egalitarianism. Ever since the French revolution the issues of equality and egalitarianism have had enormous significance for modern democracies. These topics are also particularly important in Australian life. Indeed, Australia is often described as an 'egalitarian society'. Clarifying contemporary accounts of egalitarianism and developing our own original account will be of major national significance. In addition, this project will focus on the important areas of health and unemployment, with specific consideration given to the role of individual responsibility in determining eligibility for unemployment and health benefits. The project will also help maintain Australia's place as a leader in the areas of political and social philosophy.Read moreRead less
Biotechnology Across the Borders of Life: Stem Cell Technology and Global Medical Exchange. This project interrogates the debates and policy surrounding embryonic stem cell technology and two intimately connected medical technologies - reproductive technologies, in which it is founded, and organ transplantation, which it seeks to overcome. Each of these technologies repeatedly confronts and tests social, cultural, ethical and legal precedents, fuelling world-wide political and media debate. The ....Biotechnology Across the Borders of Life: Stem Cell Technology and Global Medical Exchange. This project interrogates the debates and policy surrounding embryonic stem cell technology and two intimately connected medical technologies - reproductive technologies, in which it is founded, and organ transplantation, which it seeks to overcome. Each of these technologies repeatedly confronts and tests social, cultural, ethical and legal precedents, fuelling world-wide political and media debate. The project addresses the social effects - locally and globally - of these technologies. Analyses of altruism, giving and commodification underpin the study, and are used to elucidate the social ramifications of the practices and expert discourses of these biotechnologies in four nation-states: Australia, Singapore, UK and USA.Read moreRead less
Climate Justice. The project will offer significant insights into the effects of climate change and adaptation policy on the key area of rural well being and energy use. The project will be able to gauge whether current and proposed carbon trading schemes are just and how in particular, Australia's climate policy interacts with the Pacific region. In addition, the project will also consider the important political issue of whether democratic participation in the formation of climate policy is re ....Climate Justice. The project will offer significant insights into the effects of climate change and adaptation policy on the key area of rural well being and energy use. The project will be able to gauge whether current and proposed carbon trading schemes are just and how in particular, Australia's climate policy interacts with the Pacific region. In addition, the project will also consider the important political issue of whether democratic participation in the formation of climate policy is required and in what ways.Read moreRead less
Discretionary Time: A New Method of Cross-National Welfare Comparison Focusing on Freedom. Cross-national comparisons of welfare regimes and their gender divisions explore issues of income and employment. Those bring liberation of a sort, but they do not exhaust people's freedom and autonomy. This Project will explore how paid and unpaid labour responsibilities interact, impinging on people's discretionary time and thus autonomy. A new measure of 'discretionary time' will be developed and its ....Discretionary Time: A New Method of Cross-National Welfare Comparison Focusing on Freedom. Cross-national comparisons of welfare regimes and their gender divisions explore issues of income and employment. Those bring liberation of a sort, but they do not exhaust people's freedom and autonomy. This Project will explore how paid and unpaid labour responsibilities interact, impinging on people's discretionary time and thus autonomy. A new measure of 'discretionary time' will be developed and its usefulness for cross-national comparisons illustrated through analysis of time use data from Australia, Finland, Canada and Sweden. Different ways of targeting social assistance to the most time-pressured groups in society will be examined for policy lessons from abroad.
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