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AbstractSince several decades there is a critical debate, if social sciences are Euro-centric resp. Western. For sure, modern social sciences have emerged since the Renaissance foremost in Europe. The U.S.A. have become since a century also within the social sciences a hegemon. Nevertheless, social sciences as such are not an invention of the West. All cultures had and have some kind of social theory, which was resp. is often embedded within a religious context and framed via legal regulations. Culture is about values, and all science is part of a given culture. Probably the biggest influence on modern social sciences came from the Greek philosophy, transmitted by the Romans and the Arabs. Actually Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) can be regarded as the first social scientist, long before Machiavelli, Erasmus from Rotterdam or Hobbes, Thomas Morus et al. Humanism was the outcome.In regard to our topic Zygmunt Bauman makes a pertinent differentiation between global vs. universal. Modern globalisation is a process, which certainly dates back to early modern times, which was coined by a fundamental value change. That leads us to the question: Where do values, ethics come from? From religion, ideology, metaphysics, Enlightenment, common sense, mythology, tradition or/and science? Are there competing values? Postmodernists declare that there are no common values anymore: Everything goes! (Wittgenstein, Feyerabend, Derrida, Foucault …) But then, what about the responsibility of scientists for their writings and actions? When we discuss therefore the issue of Western versus universal structures these are always related to value systems. And we have to concede that 'universal' is an ideal, which will never be reached. Today's increasingly globalized world is dominated by the capitalist mode of production since more than 200 years, and it dominates all sciences as well. Globalisation is driven by capitalism and imperialism. Technology (namely military) allowed Western Europe to dominate nearly the whole world since, although other parts of the world were already more developed in many domains. But this is not a unilinear process, as dialectics set counterforces free.

AbstractsEuropean and North East Asian histories are intermingled since more than 200 years - full of conflicts, but also of cooperation. An issue over the past couple of decades is about European, Asian or universal values. The article confronts these different approaches and comes to the conclusion that diversity and complexity ask for a multidisciplinary approach.Die europäische und nordostasiatische Geschichte vermengen sich seit mehr als zweitausend Jahren. - voller Konflikte, aber auch Zusammenarbeit. Ein besonderes Problem ist die Frage nach europäischen, asiatischen oder universellen Werten. Der Beitrag stellt diese verschiedenen Ansätze gegenüber und kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass Vielfalt und Komplexität einen multi-disiziplinären Ansatz erfordern.

"The North-East of Japan was hit by the most terrible earthquake since human memory with a size of 9.1 on the international scale, followed by a huge Tsunami, which destroyed one of the biggest nuclear sites in the world, Fukushima Daiichi. Although the immediate consequences are in the first place the devastation by the earthquake and the tsunami, the long-term effects of the nuclear disaster are not yet to be assessed. The article puts the catastrophes into the larger political, economic, social and cultural context. The history of the peaceful use of nuclear energy as a response to the atomic bomb after Hiroshima and Nagasaki are evoked, and the future of alternatives is discussed." (author's abstract)

"The Copenhagen Summit on a Post-Kyoto regulation of Climate Change in December 2009 demonstrated the urgency of action to be taken to save our planet from many more man-made disasters (UN 2009). At the centre of the environmental problems, which were created by modern capitalism and industrialisation, is the production process, i.e. labour. The responsibility lies in the decisionmaking process about who, decides what, when, how, where and for whom products and services are made (Szell 1994 a, b). Henceforth, for a sustainable future all stakeholders have to be involved. Environmental problems are global ones, however, manifest themselves on the local and regional level. Therefore the need for coordinated action of science, civil society, business and politics on these levels to stop further degradation and develop sustainable alternatives. For this purpose innovation - not only technological but foremost social innovation - is necessary. To promote innovations education and research are at the forefront. Better education for the biggest possible number and research, which is truly interdisciplinary, are preconditions. Education and research are first of all public goods. Their privatisation and commercialisation have led to ignorance about environmental problems, focussing largely on growth and profitmaking. Instead the public sector has to be strengthened - preventing at the same time widespread corruption - to allow sustainable education and research. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is another important issue. CSR means social and environmental responsibility. In this context trade unions and works councils have a special duty, not only in formulating sustainable business strategies, but especially in implementing them. China has recently become the third biggest national economy in the world, and will certainly - with its ongoing high growth rates - soon overtake Japan and the USA as well to become number one. However, its boom over the last three decades has been highly paid with large environmental destruction. Some of its cities and regions are amongst the most polluted ones in the world. A central rote for sustainability - like in many other Third World countries - plays the informal sector, which by its definition is unregulated - not only socially, but also environmentally. A specific challenge in this regard is migration. China has even officially some 225 million migrant workers, who are suffering from and at the same time producing environmental hazards (ITUC 2010; Szell 2010). China's future will decide about the future of our sustainability and by it of the future of humankind. Therefore to hold this important congress in Peking - at one of its most prestigious universities and its very enlightened school of labour and human resources - is a privilege and at the same time a unique opportunity." (author's abstract).

"The Copenhagen Summit on a Post-Kyoto regulation of Climate Change in December 2009 demonstrated the urgency of action to be taken to save our planet from many more man-made disasters (UN 2009). At the centre of the environmental problems, which were created by modern capitalism and industrialisation, is the production process, i.e. labour. The responsibility lies in the decisionmaking process about who, decides what, when, how, where and for whom products and services are made (Szell 1994 a, b). Henceforth, for a sustainable future all stakeholders have to be involved. Environmental problems are global ones, however, manifest themselves on the local and regional level. Therefore the need for coordinated action of science, civil society, business and politics on these levels to stop further degradation and develop sustainable alternatives. For this purpose innovation - not only technological but foremost social innovation - is necessary. To promote innovations education and research are at the forefront. Better education for the biggest possible number and research, which is truly interdisciplinary, are preconditions. Education and research are first of all public goods. Their privatisation and commercialisation have led to ignorance about environmental problems, focussing largely on growth and profitmaking. Instead the public sector has to be strengthened - preventing at the same time widespread corruption - to allow sustainable education and research. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is another important issue. CSR means social and environmental responsibility. In this context trade unions and works councils have a special duty, not only in formulating sustainable business strategies, but especially in implementing them. China has recently become the third biggest national economy in the world, and will certainly - with its ongoing high growth rates - soon overtake Japan and the USA as well to become number one. However, its boom over the last three decades has been highly paid with large environmental destruction. Some of its cities and regions are amongst the most polluted ones in the world. A central rote for sustainability - like in many other Third World countries - plays the informal sector, which by its definition is unregulated - not only socially, but also environmentally. A specific challenge in this regard is migration. China has even officially some 225 million migrant workers, who are suffering from and at the same time producing environmental hazards (ITUC 2010; Szell 2010). China's future will decide about the future of our sustainability and by it of the future of humankind. Therefore to hold this important congress in Peking - at one of its most prestigious universities and its very enlightened school of labour and human resources - is a privilege and at the same time a unique opportunity." (author's abstract)

"Social innovation and development have to be placed in the perspective of sustainability. Overcoming poverty and pauperization is not only an issue for the Third World; however, the so-called developed nations, i.e. mainly the OECD countries, are facing increasing social inequality and pauperization after their short dream of ever-lasting prosperity (Lutz 1984). Mini-credits have been regarded as a means of overcoming pauperization first in Third World countries, later in developed countries as well, and the idea has been compensated by the Nobel Prize for peace in 2006. But not only since the recent conflict about its initiator, Muhammad Yunus, there has been rising critique, especially in India. Strategies for sustainability include Corporate Social Responsibility, the development of a strong civil society, the quality of democratic participation, and by it strengthening the trade unions as the largest democratic institutions in our societies. Civil society is not only in the core of democratization but also for social innovation. Since the Age of Enlightenment science and its institutions are the center for innovation and social innovation. The reference here is not only in regard to Schumpeter but for Karl Polanyi too. Since the 1970s there is a debate about zero growth and alternative measurements for the quality of life and working life, beyond GDP (Széll, G., & Széll, U. (Eds.) (2009). Quality of Life & Working Life in Comparison. Frankfurt/ M: Peter Lang)." (author's abstract)