The discussion of ethics in the social sciences focuses on 'doing no harm' and 'giving back' to research participants, but does not explore the challenges of empathy and fear in research with participants in political violence and war. Drawing on 180 in-depth interviews on the Georgian–Abkhaz war of 1992–93 collected over eight months between 2010 and 2013 primarily in Abkhazia, but also Georgia and Russia, I argue that researchers can come to empathize with some but fear other participants in past and present violence. These emotional responses can influence researchers' ability to probe and interpret interviews and respondents' ability to surpass strong positions to explore dilemmas of participation in violence. By empathizing with not only 'victims' and 'non-fighters' as I had expected based on my pre-existing moral-conceptual categories, but also participants in the war, I found that individuals adopted multiple overlapping roles and shifted between these roles in the changing conditions of violence. In contrast, failing to empathize with and fearing those who continued to participate in violence after the war of 1992–93 limited my ability to fully appreciate the complexity of their participation, but shed light on the context of violence in contemporary Abkhazia. This analysis shows that reflection on the role of empathy and fear in shaping our interactions with research participants can help advance our understanding of participation in violence and this difficult research context.
The discussion of ethics in the social sciences focuses on 'doing no harm' and 'giving back' to research participants, but does not explore the challenges of empathy and fear in research with participants in political violence and war. Drawing on 180 in-depth interviews on the Georgian–Abkhaz war of 1992–93 collected over eight months between 2010 and 2013 primarily in Abkhazia, but also Georgia and Russia, I argue that researchers can come to empathize with some but fear other participants in past and present violence. These emotional responses can influence researchers' ability to probe and interpret interviews and respondents' ability to surpass strong positions to explore dilemmas of participation in violence. By empathizing with not only 'victims' and 'non-fighters' as I had expected based on my pre-existing moral-conceptual categories, but also participants in the war, I found that individuals adopted multiple overlapping roles and shifted between these roles in the changing conditions of violence. In contrast, failing to empathize with and fearing those who continued to participate in violence after the war of 1992–93 limited my ability to fully appreciate the complexity of their participation, but shed light on the context of violence in contemporary Abkhazia. This analysis shows that reflection on the role of empathy and fear in shaping our interactions with research participants can help advance our understanding of participation in violence and this difficult research context.
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Information Management, specialization in Geographic Information Systems ; This work addresses the development of digital technologies from the perspective of corporeal and embodied encounters. It offers a critical view of the openness and smartness of cities, at the same time that propose a novel approach to create cities of attentiveness, delight, intensity and meaning. It consists of a study of what becomes called Geographies of Empathy, as means of affective translations (Pedwell, 2014). Empathy is addressed as a conjugation of multiple ontologies that can be defined as a 'becoming together'. Empathy that takes place as forms of aesthetic experiences, collective conditions and structures of feelings (B. Anderson, 2014). By presenting three interactive experiments and three explorations, it addresses the empathic relations that reify everyday practices. A focus on how mundane objects and urban places are experienced in encounters, provide an analysis of the mediation of affects, feelings and emotions. The multidisciplinary approach in the process of research is performed by the application of concepts from Science and Technology Studies, Cultural Geography, Media Studies, Urban Studies and Human-Computer Interaction. This work takes the form of a dialectical inquiry between the empirical/propositional and the theoretical/critique. By one side, it discusses the role of interaction design and the ethics and aesthetics of socio-technical assemblages in cities. By the other, it addresses the political effects and consequences of empathic relations in the advent of urban development and the practices of designing urban interactions. Este trabajo aborda el desarrollo de las tecnologías digitales desde la perspectiva de los encuentros entre cuerpos. Asimismo, ofrece una visión crítica sobre las ciudades abiertas e inteligentes, al mismo tiempo que propone un enfoque novedoso para crear ciudades bajo los principios de atención, intensidad, deleite y sentido. Consiste en un estudio de lo que llamamos Geografías de la Empatía, como forma de versiones afectivas (Pedwell, 2014). La noción de empatía es abordada como una unión de múltiples ontologías que pueden ser definidas como una 'existencia conjunta'. Empatía, tiene lugar en diversas formas formas de experiencia, estéticas, condiciones colectivas y estructuras de sentimientos (B. Anderson, 2014). Con la presentación de tres experimentos interactivos y tres exploraciones, se aborda las relaciones empáticas que reifican las prácticas cotidianas. El foco sobre cómo los objetos mundanos y los lugares urbanos se experimentan en los encuentros, proporciona un análisis sobre la mediación de los affects, los sentimientos y las emociones. El enfoque multidisciplinario en el proceso de investigación se realiza mediante la aplicación de conceptos de los campos como los Estudios de la Ciencia y Tecnología, Geografía Cultural, el Estudios Culturales, Estudios Urbanos e Interacción Humano-Computadora (HCI). Este trabajo toma la forma de una indagación dialéctica entre lo empírico/proposicional y lo teórico/crítico. Por un lado, se analiza el papel del diseño de interacción, junto con la ética y la estética de los ensamblajes socio-técnicos en las ciudades. Por el otro, aborda los efectos y las consecuencias políticas de las relaciones empáticas en el advenimiento del desarrollo urbano y las prácticas de diseño de interacciones urbanas.
Objectives: There is general belief that empathy is crucial for the physician-patient relationship and thus an important issue in medical education. This comparative study was designed to establish the changing attitude in empathy and sympathy among the first year, second year and final year medical students. Methodology: A comparative study among 100 first year, 100 second year and 75 final year medical students was conducted in Government Kilpauk medical college Chennai from January 2012 to June 2012. The study subjects were selected using simple random sampling technique from the list of the students. Study participation was voluntary. Results: Out of the total 275 students, according to our analysis, we found 82.67% of final year students and 80.21% of second year students and 40% showing average or above average levels of empathy. Sympathy scores of final year, second year and first year students were 32%, 40%, and 80% respectively. Conclusion: The results of our study show that students in the first year have higher sympathy levels, students in their second year and final year had higher empathy levels compared to first year students and final year students had highest empathy levels.
The discussion of ethics in the social sciences focuses on 'doing no harm' and 'giving back' to research participants, but does not explore the challenges of empathy and fear in research with participants in political violence and war. Drawing on 180 in-depth interviews on the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-1993 collected over eight months between 2010 and 2013 primarily in Abkhazia, but also Georgia and Russia, I argue that researchers can come to empathize with some but fear other participants in past and present violence. These emotional responses can influence researchers' ability to probe and interpret interviews and respondents' ability to surpass strong positions to explore dilemmas of participation in violence. By empathizing with not only 'victims' and 'non-fighters' as I had expected based on my pre-existing moral-conceptual categories, but also participants in the war, I found that individuals adopted multiple overlapping roles and shifted between these roles in the changing conditions of violence. In contrast, failing to empathize with and fearing those who continued to participate in violence at the time of my interviews limited my ability to fully appreciate the complexity of their participation, but shed light on the context of violence in contemporary Abkhazia. This analysis shows that reflection on the role of empathy and fear in shaping our interactions with research participants can help advance our understanding of participation in violence and this difficult research context.
Leading with empathy is a hallmark of many leadership strategies. As members of the 2021–2022 cohort of the Senior Leadership Academy (SLA) run by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI), we set out to understand what leading with empathy should look like. Simultaneously, as part of our introversion and leadership group project, we conducted both secondary research and primary research interviews with introverted leaders on our group members' campuses. Our examination happened during a time in which colleges and universities were just beginning to sort out what postpandemic higher education would look like. Events such as the murder of George Floyd were also putting a spotlight in higher education on diversity, equity, and inclusion. This context only served to highlight for us the need to center empathy in leadership conversations and reinforced lessons we were learning from our personal experiences, from our institutions, from our SLA colleagues, and from each other. Here we present some of the lessons we have learned about understanding ourselves as leaders and how that understanding can inform the way we respond to those we lead with empathy.
Much recent discussion about social justice in archival studies has assumed a legalistic, rights-based framework to delineate the role of records, archives, and archivists in both the violation of human rights and in holding individuals and governments accountable for basic human rights, such as the right to life, privacy, and freedom of expression. Yet decades of feminist scholarship have called into question the universality of a rights-based framework, arguing instead that an ethics of care is a more inclusive and apt model for envisioning and enacting a more just society. This article proposes a shift in the theoretical model used by archivists and archival studies scholars to address social justice concerns – from that based on individual rights to a model based on feminist ethics. In a feminist ethics approach, archivists are seen as caregivers, bound to records creators, subjects, users, and communities through a web of mutual affective responsibility. This article proposes four interrelated shifts in these archival relationships, based on radical empathy.
Tämä väitöstutkimus sisältää kahdenlaisia tavoitteita – metodologisia ja empiirisiä. Ensimmäisenä, metodologisena tavoitteena on esitellä ja kehittää edelleen kvalitatiivista aineistonkeruumenetelmää, jota kutsutaan eläytymismenetelmäksi. Eläytymismenetelmässä tutkimuksen osallistujat kirjoittavat lyhyehköjä tarinoita tutkijan suunnittelemien orientaatioiden, niin kutsuttujen kehyskertomusten, perusteella. Ydinajatuksena menetelmässä on, että kehyskertomuksista on olemassa aina vähintään kaksi versiota, jotka poikkeavat toisistaan yhden tekijän suhteen. Tämän varioinnin avulla tutkija pystyy tarkastelemaan sitä, kuinka osallistujien tarinat muuttuvat, kun yhtä seikkaa muutetaan. Tämän artikkeliväitöskirjan ensimmäinen osajulkaisu havainnollistaa kirjallisuuskatsauksen avulla, kuinka eläytymismenetelmää on käytetty Suomessa erityisesti kasvatustieteissä, ja tarkastelee menetelmän vahvuuksia, rajoja sekä tulevaisuuden näkymiä. Kirjallisuuskatsaus osoittaa, että vaikka eläytymismenetelmää on käytetty Suomessa jo vuosikymmenten ajan, kansainvälisesti menetelmää on käytetty verrattain vähän. Menetelmän lanseeraaminen kansainvälisesti onkin väitöskirjan toisen osajulkaisun tavoitteena. Tässä metodologisessa artikkelissa esitellään menetelmään historiaa ja teoreettisia lähtökohtia, havainnollistetaan menetelmän käyttötapoja sekä pohditaan menetelmän yhteyttä narratiivisiin tutkimuksiin sekä sen metodologisia mahdollisuuksia ja rajoja. Väitöskirjan toisena, empiirisenä tavoitteena on tutkia digitalisaation ja ammatillisen kehittymisen välistä suhdetta 81 suomalaisen valtion työntekijän eläytymismenetelmätarinan (N = 101) avulla. Näiden tarinoiden avulla tarkastellaan valtion työntekijöiden näkemyksiä siitä, kuinka digitalisaatio voi tukea tai haitata työntekijöiden ammatillista kehittymistä muuttamalla työpaikkojen oppimismahdollisuuksia (osajulkaisu III), ja vaikuttamalla työn ja ammatillisen identiteetin väliseen tasapainoon (osajulkaisu IV). Väitöskirjan empiiriset tulokset auttavat laajentamaan ymmärrystä niistä mahdollisista tavoista, joilla digitalisaatio voi vaikuttaa työntekijöiden ammatilliseen kehittymiseen. Tulokset osoittavat, miten digitalisaatio voi sekä tukea että haitata ammatillista kehittymistä vaikuttamalla työpaikan oppimismahdollisuuksiin, kuten työn vaatimuksiin, työn hallintaan, työtehtävien monimuotoisuuteen sekä sosiaaliseen tukeen muuttamalla työtehtäviä, työkäytäntöjä ja osaamisen kehittämistä sekä tiedon hallintaa. Sen lisäksi, että tulokset esittävät, kuinka digitalisaatio voi muuttaa työpaikkoja oppimisympäristöinä, tulokset osoittavat, että digitalisaation rooli ammatillisessa kehittymisessä liitetään myös työntekijöiden ammatilliseen identiteettiin ja siihen, miten työntekijät harjoittavat ammatillista toimijuuttaan. Tulokset havainnollistavat neljän tyypin kautta sitä, kuinka työn digitalisaation nähdään eri tavoin haastavan tai tukevan työn ja ammatillisen identiteetin välistä tasapainoa, johtaen työntekijää osallistumaan identiteettityöhön, sekä oman työn ja uran tuunaamiseen. Kaiken kaikkiaan tulokset osoittavat, kuinka ymmärrys digitalisaation roolista työntekijän ammatillisessa kehittymisessä edellyttää moniulotteista tarkastelua, jossa huomioidaan työpaikan oppimismahdollisuuksien sekä työntekijän ammatillisen identiteetin ja toimijuuden välinen vuorovaikutteinen suhde. Väitöskirja edistää ammatillista kehitystä ja digitalisaatiota koskevaa tutkimusta soveltamalla uutta tiedonkeruumenetelmää, joka osoittaa mielikuvituksen ja tarinankerronnan voiman tutkittaessa, miten yksilöt ymmärtävät ja näkevät jonkin ilmiön. Esittelemällä eläytymismenetelmää ja sen käyttöä niin teoreettisesti kuin empiirisestikin, väitöskirja pyrkii herättämään metodologista keskustelua ja innostamaan tutkijoita löytämään uusia tapoja käyttää eläytymismenetelmää erilaisissa yhteyksissä. ; Overall, this article-based dissertation has twofold aims – methodological and empirical. First, the methodological aim is to introduce and further develop a qualitative data collection method called the method of empathy-based stories (MEBS). In the MEBS, the participants write short texts or stories based on frame stories (i.e., introductory scripts) designed by the researcher. The core idea in the MEBS is that at least two versions of a frame story exist, which differ in one element. This variation enables the researcher to examine how the stories change when one element is varied. In this dissertation, a literature review (Publication I) shows how the MEBS has been used in Finland, and discusses its strengths, limitations, and future prospects. The literature review demonstrates that although the MEBS has been used in Finland for decades, it is still a nascent method in international contexts. Thus, a methodological article (Publication II) introduces the method internationally for the first time. This second article illustrates some possible ways to design and conduct MEBS research, discusses its relation to narrative methods as well as explores its methodological possibilities and limitations. The second aim of this dissertation is to empirically illustrate the possible relation between digitalization of work and professional development. Drawing on 101 empathy-based stories from 81 Finnish government workers, this dissertation provides different scenarios and illustrations on how digitalization might either support or hinder workers' professional development. More specifically, the dissertation provides insights on how digitalization might alter the learning opportunities of the workplace (Publication III) and how digitalization can lead to different experiences of and responses to work–identity (mis)alignments (Publication IV). Overall, this dissertation's empirical findings lay the foundation for a more comprehensive understanding of the ways in which digitalization may influence workers' professional development by illustrating possible scenarios and typifications. The findings show how digitalization, by changing work tasks, work practices, and knowledge development and management, potentially alters a variety of aspects related to workplace learning opportunities, such as job demands, the level of job control, task variety and complexity, and social support, and thus can either support or hinder professional development. In addition to illustrating how digitalization may change workplaces as learning environments, the findings show that whether digitalization supports or hinders professional development also relates to workers' professional identities and how they practice their professional agency at work. Four types of workers (thriving developer, loyal transformer, stagnant self- doubter, and career crafter) are identified from the participants' stories. By introducing these four typifications, the findings describe how digitalization influences professional development by requiring the workers to assess how their work aligns with their professional identities, consequently resulting in experiences of work–identity (mis)alignments, and agentic actions in the form of identity work and job crafting. Altogether, the findings emphasize the need to broaden our view on what accounts for professional development. The results also suggests that a full understanding of how digitalization can either support or hinder workers' professional development requires a theoretically complex view that acknowledges the interrelations among digitalization, the workplace learning opportunities, professional identity, and professional agency. This dissertation contributes to existing research on professional development and digitalization by applying a novel data collection method, that demonstrates the power of imagination and storytelling in exploring individuals' perceptions, understandings, and sense-making. Moreover, by introducing the MEBS and showcasing its use empirically, this dissertation aims to generate methodological discussions and inspire researchers to find new ways of using the MEBS in diverse contexts.
Contemplative practices are becoming more common in educational environments for attending to whole-student learning, fostering empathy, and promoting social justice and socially just pedagogues. This conversation explores how holistic approaches facilitate and expand the parameters of sociological pedagogy to integrate humanist pedagogies and initiate emancipatory citizenship. By building a pedagogical bridge between sociology and contemplative practices educators can help inspire empathy and hopefulness among students as they navigate the challenging topics of injustice and collective trauma. We trace the rise of contemplative practices in the United States with a focus on the emergence of "contemplative sociology" from a variety of perspectives, including Buddhist sociology and sociological mindfulness. We then explore the utility of contemplative practices in the sociological classroom combining contemplation, embodied agency, and antioppression education for student learning. We offer two exercises to consider for developing the sociological imagination and increasing students' capacity for critical thinking, stress management, and self-reflection.
Six former U.S. State Department officials, all of whom were involved in U.S. foreign policy during the Carter administration, respond to the article by James Blight and janet Lang. Their reactions vary, but one common point of concern is whether Blight and Lang are correct in arguing that "empathy" as an organizing concept or analytical tool will be useful "not just in conferences in which the past is revisited, but also in the present and future, when it really matters." Even though most of the commentators accept at least some of the points about the U.S.-Soviet détente in the late 1970s, they have questions about the conceptual underpinnings of the article. The forum ends with a response from Blight and Lang.
Six former U.S. State Department officials, all of whom were involved in U.S. foreign policy during the Carter administration, respond to the article by James Blight and janet Lang. Their reactions vary, but one common point of concern is whether Blight and Lang are correct in arguing that "empathy" as an organizing concept or analytical tool will be useful "not just in conferences in which the past is revisited, but also in the present and future, when it really matters." Even though most of the commentators accept at least some of the points about the U.S.-Soviet détente in the late 1970s, they have questions about the conceptual underpinnings of the article. The forum ends with a response from Blight and Lang.
Efficiency is an important value for all publicly funded healthcare systems. Limited resources need to be used prudently and wisely in order to ensure best possible outcomes and waste avoidance. Since 2010, the drive for efficiency, in the UK, has acquired a new impetus, as the country embarked on an 'age of austerity' purportedly to balance its books and reduce national deficit. Although the NHS did not suffer any direct budget cuts, the austerity policies imposed on the welfare system, including social and mental healthcare, have had a direct and detrimental impact on the healthcare service. This paper draws from a qualitative study conducted in three A&E Departments in England to explore the effects of austerity policies on the everyday experiences of doctors and nurses working in Emergency Departments. It discusses the operationalisation of efficiency in A&E, in a climate of austerity, and its effects on the experiences and practices of healthcare professionals. It uses the empirical data as a springboard to highlight the role of structures and regulations, in this case targets and protocols, in how core healthcare ethical values, such as empathy, are exercised in practice. It provides an analysis of the normative role structures and regulations can play on the perception and practice of professional duties and obligations in healthcare.
