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Today, the Industrial Revolution is the Technology Revolution. In the midst of the continuing advancement of society, new terms have become more frequently used in our day-to-day language: micro, bio, nano, technology metals, critical elements and critical materials. What are critical elements and what are critical materials? Why are they critical? Are these elements and materials in abundant supply and where are they sourced? The issues behind criticality have the involvement of not only companies but the involvement of politicians and governments which seek to ensure the non-disruption of supply of critical elements and materials in today's and tomorrow's markets. The stakeholders and the end users are identified and the critical roles examined.

Critical design is proliferating. According to Raby, this kind of design creates artefacts in order to "challenge narrow assumptions, preconceptions, and givens about the role products play in everyday life" (Raby, 2008, 94). Conceived basically as "useless", the value of critical design "ultimately lies in its ability to valuate: articulate, refuse, critique, spark, turn, transgress, formulate, transform etc" (Rosenbak, 5.15). However, circulating mainly in "art galleries, conference halls and academic publications" (Blythe, Yauner & Rodgers, 2015), useless critical design artefacts has been criticized for never entering everyday life (Bardzell & Bardzell, 2013). It has been argued that most critical design instead "reflect the fears, anxieties, desires, imaginaries, and ultimately, politics of an intellectual, liberal progressive white middle class" (Ansari & Hunt, 2015, 4). Removed from practical use, critical design may then become another echo chamber for designers, where they can safely repeat the slogans of design modernism without changing the world. The aim of this presentation will be to return to critical design in the light of the concept of use, and thus to critically examine what the use of critical design can be.

Education being a lifetime process is dynamic and vulnerable to social, political and cultural positioning of its system. This nature in not a very distinctive manner, is also found in human beings, and is rather an imperative feature of human evolution. The propensity of education in its real sense goes far beyond acquisition of certain facts or a degree and has effects to the formation and changes brought about in human nature and personality. Critical thinking in the this paper is presented as an approach which is important for both the pedagogue, to be equipped with while transacting the curriculum and also for learners to engage in a broader perspective of things and be discriminative of their environment, both in negative and positive ways, even neutral when needed. The paper concludes with a proposal for reformation in the very aims, nature and process of examination system in the country in order to mark an eventual cessation to the practices like regurgitating and unreasoned articulation.

This manuscript argues that there is an intimate connection between a "critical" ethnographer's personal history and the data collected. The author traces elements in his personal life, such as school, religion, immigration and forms of discrimination, and connects dominant values within the above to the various studies he has conducted over the last decade. The author reflects back on how he may have unconsciously been seeing the everyday experiences of subjects he was studying as a reflection of his own personal experiences at various times in his life - all which relate to forms of institutional and cultural political resistance. The author argues that the educational Left can only be caught in a theoretical and cynical "catch 22" logic if the interpretation of "critical data" remain at the structural level. Moments of joy and emancipatory possibility , the author maintains, becomes a possibility particularly when the critical ethnographer's personal voice is entered into the whole ethnographic picture. That in mind, the author argues that school change on any level of liberation can only occur when the researcher and researched can attain a level of intersubjective compromise, where both their personal voices and relationships to structure are better understood.

This paper analyses the extent to which aging has been overlooked by 'critical criminology'. The notion of 'aging' is introduced and the paper argues that there are strong conceptual insights from another discipline that Critical Criminology should learn epistemic and ontological lessons: Critical Gerontology, One can portend that there are three key theoretical approaches within the paradigm of 'Critical Gerontology': 'political economy of old age'; 'feminist gerontology'; and 'postmodern gerontology'. The invisibility of criminological perspectives is explicitly missing when one considers older people and crime. We can begin, however, by questioning what 'critical criminology' can be defined as and map out some of its leading theoretical approaches: left idealism; left realism; and culture of crime control. Ultimately, the paper highlights how insights from critical gerontology to critical gerontology opens up dialogue with older people and aging issues – a silent issue for too long.

Politicized culture war struggles in the third decade of the 21st century increasingly result in Republican-controlled state legislatures passing education policies which inhibit democratic citizenship education in social studies classrooms (e.g., Texas HB 3979). The forward to this special issue argues that university-based teacher education remains one of the few institutional sites where disrupting anti-democratic policies and curriculum is possible. Underscoring neoliberal hegemony, the transformative potential of critical, social justice-oriented social studies teacher preparation is discussed along with acknowledgments of myriad complexities and barriers influencing emancipatory possibilities. The qualitative studies featured in this special issue, and summarized in the foreword, speak to said complexities and barriers which extend teacher education research concerned with disrupting anti-democratic citizenship education in social studies classrooms. ; Education

European integration is a fundamentally open-ended and contested process. Within the 'mosaic of European integration theories', critical political economy perspectives highlight the imbalances and structural power asymmetries of the European project, and how they have become manifest in the multiple crises in Europe. How to account for both the origins and consequences of this crisis has become a key question for scholars and students of European integration. We argue that critical political economy (CPE) has an important and unique contribution to make here. Unlike other approaches, CPE seeks to uncover the deep connections between the (internal) dynamics of the European integration process and the dynamics of global capitalism, arguing that European integration, or disintegration for that matter, takes place in a global, structural context that shapes and conditions both form and content of the integration process. In this paper, we provide an overview of the key concepts, methodology and arguments of a critical political economy perspective on European integration. Following a discussion of the core conceptual framework, the paper then proceeds with an integrated analysis of EMU as a political project, with a particular focus on continuity and changes within the political economy of neoliberalism. The Euro crisis here serves as a contemporary reference point to illustrate the strengths and contributions of critical political economy perspectives to the overall mosaic of European integration theories.

Recent publications demonstrate that librarians are actively developing a critical practice, a critical information literacy (CIL). The early threads of CIL scholarship are found in the work of Pawley (1998, 2003), Luke and Kapitzke (1999), Kapitzke (2003), Swanson (2004), Doherty (2005, 2007), Simmons (2005), Anderson (2006), Doherty and Ketchner (2005), Elmborg (2006), Whitworth (2006), Jacobs (2008), and others who point out the "social, political, and ideological construction of knowledge" (Luke & Kapitzke, 1999, p. 481) and the power of praxis in developing a transformative practice. Texts such as Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods (Accardi, Drabinski, & Kumbier, 2010) and Critical Theory for Library and Information Science: Exploring the Social from Across the Disciplines (Leckie, Given, & Buschman, 2010) mark a growing interest among librarians in bringing critical theory into practice. Subsequent texts, such as Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction (Accardi, 2013), Information Literacy and Social Justice: Radical Professional Praxis (Gregory & Higgins, 2013) and Informed Agitation: Library and Information Skills in Social Justice Movements and Beyond (Morrone, 2013), all limn the social justice orientations of critical librarianship. CIL scholarship has been further developed by Reale (2012), Beilin and Leonard (2013), Hicks (2013), Smith (2013), Beatty (2014), Drabinski (2014), Nicholson (2014), Schlesselmann-Tarango (2014), Schroeder (2014), and #critlib conversations.1 We are seeing a quickening of scholarship on CIL and Eamon Tewell, in "A Decade of Critical Information Literacy: A Review of the Literature," (2015) remarks that "the literature of critical information literacy and librarianship gives no indication of slowing its pace" (p. 36).

Between 1940 and 1944, sociologist Talcott Parsons and political scientist Eric Voegelin engaged in a vigorous correspondence, discussing the origins of totalitarianism and modern anti-Semitism, the legacy of Max Weber, patterns of secularization set in motion by the Protestant Reformation, the methodology and goals of social science, and more. This article introduces and explicates the surprisingly amicable and intellectually rich exchange between these two seemingly different thinkers. Although the letters hold obvious historical interest, their variegated topics are also closely thematically related, revealing an inner logic that we interpret as a theoretical search for "critical naîveté". This logic, we argue, is relevant to contemporary discussions about the social, political, and scientific legacies of world-transcendent spiritual traditions.

It is clear that there are there are many facets of contemporary society that need to take some responsibility for the changes necessary to mitigate the accumulative and on-going damage suffered by the environment. From individual consumers, through to government and global organisations, there are actions that can be taken to promote positive alternatives to our current model of a throwaway society. This presentation describes a critical product design for a common domestic appliance that embodies design strategies to promote product lifetime extension as a way to reduce the environmental impact of mainstream consumerism. With a focus on maintenance, repair and upgradability, these products sit outside of the constraints of commercial viability and instead aim to offer genuine solutions that can contribute to the future design of more sustainable products. Drawing on a body of work and a range of research methods that include consumer interviews, surveys that aim to understand public attitudes to maintenance/repair and interviews with manufactures this project demonstrates ways in which designers and manufacturers can develop products which encourage longer term ownership. Extending the lifespan of products implies that the very physical presence of the object will need to endure over a longer period, transgressing fashion and trends. This work examines consumers motivations to keep products for longer employing materials and manufacturing processes with inherent qualities known to build greater attachment between the user and objects. These critical design proposals demonstrate that common consumer products can be designed to last a lifetime and beyond, promoting new modes of ownership and more sustainable consumption.

As a teacher educator and a sociologist of education, I have been struggling for some years now to bring the insights developed by the latter field to bear on my work within universities and on that of my students, teachers-to-be. This has not been an easy task for a number of inter-related reasons. In the first place, the brand of sociology and educational theory which inspires much of my work, namely critical theory, is notorious for the level of abstraction at which it works, and the often convoluted and obscure language in which it is expressed. Student-teachers trying to make connections between theory and practice find many of the readings available on the subject hard to understand, let alone to apply to the challenging situations they encounter in the classrooms. In the second place, critical theory and education often address a metaphysical level in their insistence on the emancipatory potential of engaging with the world as it is, in order to imagine and bring about a world as it could and should be. The normative dimension to the task of teaching is of course crucial if one is to challenge the increasingly technocratic view that is being promoted for schooling world-wide. It does, however, raise important questions such as 'Are schools the best places to promote emancipatory rationality?' and, even more centrally in terms of the concerns of this book, 'Can teachers be expected to participate in this emancipatory venture, given their social class location and the constraints of the cultural terrain in which they must carry out their work?' In other words, how can a teacher-educator ask student-teachers to consider schools as sites for liberation, when changes in the social and bureaucratic status quo may ultimately work against the interests of this particular group of professionals? In the third place, much that has emerged from the critical theory tradition has appealed to the individual level of consciousness-raising, and hence depends on the notion of 'conversion' to points of views which, while leading to a disposition to act truly and rightly (phronesis), nevertheless are short on a consideration of strategies for the mobilization of resources and people so that the desired state of affairs does in fact come about. Quite a number of students following my courses on critical education are seduced by the invitation to become reflective practitioners with a commitment to promoting justice and equality, but even the most dedicated among them are culturally, if not ideologically, incorporated in the centralized, exam-oriented bureaucratic school system that is to be found in Malta as in many other countries. The heightened consciousness that critical teachers have of their role in the perpetration of symbolic violence in schools can in fact lead to an even deeper sense of frustration and despair, rather than to the transformation of people, situations and structures. This paper will give a brief overview of the curricular, theoretical and political ways in which I have attempted to tackle the three challenges posed by critical theory to teacher educators as outlined above. In other words, the question this article will address -:- though, of course, not fully answer - is the following: How can critical education be taught in such a way that it is understandable, theoretically and practically appealing, and politically effective? ; peer-reviewed

Title varies: Vol. 4 called "Miscellanies." ; Vol. 4, reprinted from the Times and Nineteenth century. ; Vols. 1-3 enlarged from a series of articles in the Fortnightly review. ; I. Robespierre. Carlyle. Byron. Macaulay. Emerson. 1888.--II. Vauvenargues. Turgot. Condorcet. Joseph de Maistre. 1886.--III. On popular culture. The death of Mr. Mill. Mr. Mill's Autobiography. The life of George Eliot. On Pattison's Memoirs. Harriet Martineau. W.R. Greg; a sketch. France in the eighteenth century. The expansion of England. Auguste Comte. 1888.--IV. Machiavelli. Guicciardini. A new calendar of great men. John Stuart Mill; an anniversary. Lecky on democracy. A historical romance. Democracy and reaction. Appendix. 1908. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Vols. 1-3 enlarged from a series of articles in the Fortnightly review. ; Vol. 4 reprinted from the Times and Nineteenth century and has imprint: New York, The Macmillan company. 1908. ; I. Robespierre. Carlyle. Byron. Macaulay. Emerson. 1908.--II. Vauvenenargues. Turgot. Condorcet. Joseph de Maistre. 1909.--III. On popular culture. The death of Mr. Mill. Mr. Mill's Autobiography. The life of George Eliot. On Pattison's Memoirs. Harriet Martineau. W. R. Greg: a sketch. France in the eighteenth century. The expansion of England. Auguste Comte. 1909.--IV. Machiavelli. Guiccirdini. A new calendar of great men. John Stuart Mill: an anniversary. Lecky on democracy. A historical romance. Democracy and reaction. Appendix. 1908. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Against the current of disposable technology and estranged digital devices, critical making brings together individuals working at the intersection of critical thinking and hands-on practice. What follows are a series of interviews with leading theorists and practitioners of critical making. Discussions range from the political implications of critical making to creative reflections on the place of technology in culture and society. ; Faculty ; Unreviewed

There is increasing urgency to enact critical perspectives in the profession of nursing, with a resurgence of the political, a deliberative focus on social change, and a growing uneasiness with remaining neutral in the face of such pressing need. This analysis starts with a brief overview of critical perspectives, underscoring nursing's complex positioning at the interface of witnessing peoples' suffering, and the structural change necessary to address its root causes. Although witnessing may imply watching, or even bystanding, here it refers to historical and cultural meanings of witnessing as standing alongside in solidarity and action throughout the struggle for justice—bearing witness as a moral and a political obligation. Moral bystanding is described as a foundational barrier to achieving the moral imperative of critical perspectives. We conclude with pathways for cultivating and enacting a critical gaze, and a call for moral courage to systematically integrate critical perspectives in nursing. Throughout the discussion, we draw upon the work of nurse ethicists to provide important links about enacting critical perspectives as part of the moral foundation of nursing. Our intention is not to provide an analysis of the moral contexts of nursing, but rather to situate critical perspectives within the moral territory of social change, synthesizing key ideas that have direct salience for critical social justice in nursing. Keywords: critical perspectives in nursing, critical social justice in nursing, moral bystanding, social change