Fairness

[PL poniżej] A large body of research supports the procedural justice hypothesis that quality of treatment matters more than outcomes for institutional legitimacy. How fairness matters across legal institutions and geographic settings remains an open question, however. This article uses a survey of criminal defendants to test the factors associated with perceived legitimacy of courts in Poland, a country whose judiciary is currently subject to intense political contestation. The findings confirm the primacy of procedural justice, while also illustrating the influence of instrumental performance factors such as time and court organization. This suggests that in contexts of political transition with disputed legal institutions, citizens’ contact with procedurally fair, operationally efficient institutions can support the legitimacy of authorities and strengthen the rule of law.

[PL] Wiele badań potwierdza hipotezę sprawiedliwości proceduralnej, że dla legitymizacji instytucji sposób traktowania jest ważniejszy niż rezultaty jej działania. Jednak kwestia, jak ważna jest sprawiedliwość proceduralna w różnych porządkach prawnych i warunkach geograficznych, pozostaje kwestią otwartą. W artykule wykorzystano badanie oskarżonych w sprawach karnych w celu przetestowania czynników związanych z postrzeganą legitymacją sądów w Polsce, kraju, którego sądownictwo jest obecnie przedmiotem intensywnych sporów politycznych. Ustalenia potwierdzają pierwszeństwo sprawiedliwości proceduralnej, jednocześnie ilustrując wpływ instrumentalnych czynników wydajności, takich jak czas i organizacja sądu. Sugeruje to, że w kontekście transformacji politycznej kontakt obywateli z proceduralnie uczciwymi, sprawnymi operacyjnie instytucjami może wspierać legitymizację władz i wzmacniać rządy prawa.

The Nokia Bridge Program was established in summer 2011 in order to "make the best of the restructuring: create meaningful opportunities for individuals and local economies impacted by workforce reductions" and to "assist individuals in re-employment". This document reports whether and how the program helped individuals avoid the known negative effects of job loss and find meaningful re-employment. The document also reports how affected employees formed perceptions about Nokia´s fairness and responsibility.

It was found that the Bridge Program served as a source of social support for many individuals. The program induced positive mental resources, diminished feelings of uncertainty and insecurity and thus helped participants to cope better with the transition. In addition, the program facilitated re-employment e.g. by supporting job-search-related learning and employees´ self-esteem as job-applicants. It was also found that the Bridge provided resources that enabled participants to make positive career changes. These positive effects were shown in three distinct psychological and behavioral phases identified in the experiences of individuals who actively utilized the program: (1) recovery, (2) opening oneself up to new stimuli and directing one's thoughts to previously unexplored career possibilities, and (3) taking concrete steps toward new, meaningful opportunities. It was also investigated why some employees did not actively utilize the program.

More than two thirds of all survey respondents agreed with the statement: "The Bridge Program positions Nokia as fair and responsible employer". The factors underlying these appraisals were investigated and as a result, three distinct social positions were identified. (1) "Targets" often emphasized that Nokia was making its decisions to reduce the workforce without legitimate reasons. Nokia was responsible for mitigating any harmful consequences on its employees. (2) "Compliant partners" viewed that Nokia had a legitimate right to reorganize even though it would lead to workforce reductions. Compliant partners were sensitive both to the company´s needs and to their own needs and emphasized the importance of implementing difficult decisions in as considerate a manner as possible. (3) "Independents" emphasized that the company´s legitimate goal was to maximize its capacity to succeed in future endeavors. They as employees had no rights to Nokia´s resources beyond an effectual work contract. Thus, Nokia´s business-oriented motivations were seen as acceptable whereas employee-oriented motivations for providing Bridge assistance were criticized. All in all, the study suggests that companies and affected employees benefit from transparency concerning both business- and employee-oriented reasons for decision making and the sources of funds for the offered support.

Based on the study, the researchers recommend the use of similar type of employee assistance programs as part of future workforce reductions.

******************

Bridge-ohjelma perustettiin kesällä 2011 tukemaan Nokian henkilöstövähennysten kohteeksi joutuneita henkilöitä ja paikkakuntia merkityksellisten, uusien mahdollisuuksien löytämisessä sekä uudelleentyöllistymisessä. Tässä tutkimusdokumentissa raportoidaan ohjelmaan osallistuneiden näkemyksiä sen vaikutuksista.


Tutkimuksen tulosten mukaan Bridge-ohjelmalla oli myönteisiä vaikutuksia sitä hyödyntäneiden henkilöiden hyvinvoinnille ja uudelleentyöllistymisen edellytyksille. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että ohjelma toimi sosiaalisen tuen lähteenä: se lisäsi myönteisiä voimavaroja, vähensi epävarmuuden ja turvattomuuden tunteita ja näin auttoi osallistujia selviytymään muutoksesta paremmin. Bridge-ohjelma edesauttoi uudelleentyöllistymistä mm. tukemalla työnhakuun liittyvää oppimista sekä työntekijän itsetuntoa työnhakijana. Sen koettiin lisäksi tarjoavan resursseja, jotka auttoivat osallistujia tekemään myönteisiä uramuutoksia. Nämä positiiviset vaikutukset tulivat esiin kolmessa psykologisessa ja toiminnallisessa vaiheessa jotka havaittiin Bridge-ohjelmaa aktiivisesti käyttävien yksilöiden kokemuksissa: (1) toipuminen, (2) avautuminen uusille virikkeille ja ajatusten suuntaaminen aiemmin tuntemattomiin mahdollisuuksiin sekä (3) konkreettisten askeleiden ottaminen uuteen, merkitykselliseen suuntaan. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin myös, miksi kaikki eivät hyödyntäneet ohjelmaa aktiivisesti.


Kyselyyn vastanneista 67% piti Nokiaa Bridge-ohjelman ansiosta oikeudenmukaisena ja vastuullisena työnantajana. Tähän näkemykseen vaikutti kolme erilaista käsitystä työsuhteen osapuolen oikeuksista ja velvollisuuksista. (1) Nokian vastuun "kohteet" katsoivat, että Nokialla ei ollut legitiimiä perustetta henkilöstövähennyksille. Nokia oli siten vastuussa työntekijöille koituneista negatiivisista seurauksista. Bridge ohjelman toteutus nähtiin perusteltuna. (2) "Kumppaneiksi" itsensä mieltävät ilmaisivat, että Nokialla oli legitiimi oikeus käyttää resurssejaan haluamallaan tavalla. Heidän mielestään oli kuitenkin ymmärrettävää, että Nokia käytti resurssejaan työntekijöiden tarpeiden huomioimiseen taloudellisten mahdollisuuksiensa puitteissa. (3) "Itsenäiset" eivät katsoneet olevansa oikeutettuja Nokian resursseihin, ellei niitä oltu erikseen määritelty työsopimuksessa. Itsenäiset suhtautuivat kriittisesti työntekijöiden tarpeiden huomioimiseen vaikeassa taloudellisessa tilanteessa. Tutkimus osoittaa, että yritykset ja henkilöstövähennysten kohteiksi joutuvat työntekijät hyötyvät sekä liiketoimintaan että työntekijöiden hyvinvointiin liittyvien perusteluiden avoimesta kommunikoimisesta sekä läpinäkyvyydestä suhteessa tarjotun avun rahoittamiseen.

Raportissa esitettyjen tulosten perusteella voidaan suositella vastaavanlaisten tukiohjelmien hyödyntämistä myös osana tulevaisuuden henkilöstövähennyksiä.

Résumé
Le principe de prix juste constitue l’un des piliers du commerce équitable (CE) depuis ses origines. Dans la littérature, cette question est généralement abordée sous l’angle des producteurs, avec le regard de l’analyste ou du chercheur : sont-ils rémunérés correctement pour leur travail ? La présente recherche, qui s’appuie sur des entretiens menés auprès de consommateurs français, se propose d’explorer la justice liée au prix en se plaçant de leur point de vue : le prix qu’ils paient pour les produits du CE leur semble-t-il juste ? En nous appuyant sur la théorie du Fairness, nous avons observé que les individus, dans leur perception de la justice liée au prix, ne mobilisent pas de mécanisme comparatif. Ils adoptent souvent des discours qui relèvent des principes de la justice distributive au sens de Aristote en s’intéressant notamment à la répartition des prix et des marges dans les filières de CE. Dans ce contexte, la perception de la justice liée au prix est conditionnée par la confiance accordée aux organisations intervenant dans ces filières.
Mots-clés : confiance, perception des consommateurs, prix juste, produits équitables, théorie du Fairness.
Do consumers perceive the price of fair trade products as fair ?
Abstract
The principle of fair price constitutes an important fundament of fair trade (FT) since its origins. In the literature, this question is generally evoked from the perspective of producers, with the researcher’s point of view: are they correctly paid for their work ? The present research, which used interviews with French consumers, proposes to explore the price fairness from their point of view : does the price paid for FT products is considered fair for them ?
Based on the theory of Fairness, we observed that the individuals, in their perception of fairness related to the price, don’t mobilize comparative mechanism. They often use speeches which are based on the principles of the distributive justice according to Aristote with an emphasis on the price and margin distribution in the FT product chains. In this context, the perception of the fairness related to the price is conditioned by the confidence level given to the organizations operating in these chains.
Keywords : confidence, consumers’ perception, fair price, fair products, theory of fairness.

Citizen Science refers to the consultation, participation, engagement or involvement of the general public in research. Rationales for this interaction include increased public access and involvement of citizens in research, immersion of community values relevant to research, outreach, and educational potential with the public, and ultimately, the democratization of science. This paper focuses on the specific subset of citizen science that seeks to engage “patient partners” in health research to gain the valuable experiential knowledge of those living with a disease. Greater patient engagement in research (PER) can provide researchers with insights about citizen values and needs relevant to determining research priorities, methodology, applications, and ethical parameters; this would ideally lead to more effective real-world applications. Over the last decade, projects involving patients partners in research (PPRs) have varied from mere tokenism and undervaluation to full involvement and empowerment of patient participants – the former, a subject of criticism, and the latter, promoted as an ideal. In this article, we will argue that the value of that experiential knowledge from PPRs should not only be acknowledged through its ongoing use, but also through recognition of participants who contribute to the creation and application of new knowledge. We will explore types of recognition that might be attributed to PPRs, including scientific recognition; financial recognition or reward; personal and altruistic recognition; and the beneficial outcomes of research applications. We also will consider whether such types of recognition could be applied to the broader field of citizen science.

(NOTE: uncorrected proof version)

This chapter presents the basic question of this textbook: what might be meant by asking about the “ethics” of capitalism? And what makes this question so important that it gets its own book? The chapter then proceeds by first clarifying the intellectual discipline of political economy, emphasizing its philosophical and moralized content. This helps draw attention to the problem of economic justice. The chapter then distinguishes capitalism from alternative institutional systems before articulating the key questions about capitalism and justice that will be discussed in the larger body of the book, as well as the methods used to consider various answers to such questions.

When Assessing Writing (ASW) was founded 25 years ago, conversations about fairness were very much in the air and illustrated sharp divides between teachers and educational measurement researchers. For teachers, fairness was typically associated with consistency and access. For educational measurement researchers, fairness was a technical issue: an assessment that did not identify
the presence of β (the bias factor) was fair. Since its founding, ASW has continued to be a space where evolving discussions about fairness play out. In this article, we examine a selection of 73 ASW research studies published from 1994 to 2018 that use fairness as a category of evidence. In tracing the use of fairness and related terms across these research articles, our goal is to understand
how the conversation about fairness has changed in the last quarter century. Following a literature review that situates fairness within generational, standards-based, and evidential scholarship, we analyze five trends in the journal: fairness as the elimination of bias; fairness as the pursuit of validity; fairness as acknowledgement of social context; fairness as legal responsibility; and fairness as ethical obligation. A tidy narrative that theoretical conceptualization of fairness has deepened over the ASW lifespan is not born out by our findings. Instead, evidence suggests that the disparate
stances and methodological challenges that informed early research on fairness remain. As well, the textual record suggests that we have not developed or shared taxonomies for systematically investigating questions of fairness. In our desire to make the research we present actionable, we
close by calling attention to the need for theorization of fairness, the advantages nuanced of research
methods, and the benefits of non-Western perspectives.

Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice:
Commentary and Translation

Christopher Buck
Independent Scholar, Pittsburgh

Adib Masumian
Austin

Baha’i Studies Review, Vol. 20 (2014, published 2018): 97–134.

ABSTRACT
Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice (Riḍvānu’l-‘Adl, or Riḍwān al-‘Adl; also known as Lawḥ-i Riḍvānu’l-‘Adl and Lawḥ-i ‘Adl) may be regarded as Baha’u’llah’s paradigm (‘Paradise’ or ideal) of ‘justice’. Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice transforms received notions of ‘justice’. Although typically considered a ‘secular’ concern within rather specific institutional confines, Baha’u’llah allegorizes, personifies, symbolizes and otherwise expatiates on ‘Justice’ in such a way as to vivify the concept. Justice is made sacred, deriving from the ‘Name’ of God as ‘The Just’ (al-‘ādil). Justice – encompassing, as it does, both faith and action – is the essence of the Baha’i concept of salvation, both individual and societal. As a framework of analysis, this paper is organized as follows: Introduction; Historical Context; Structure (vis-à-vis Apostrophes); Highlights of Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice; Theological Dimension of ‘Justice’; Revelatory Dimension of ‘Justice’; Authoritarian Dimension of ‘Justice’; Contemporaneous Dimension of ‘Justice’; Social Dimension of ‘Justice’; Individual Dimension of ‘Justice’; Conclusion; Appendix: Riḍwān al-‘Adl: Paradise of Justice (translated by Adib Masumian). This study demonstrates how Baha’u’llah’s Paradise of Justice presents a significantly expanded paradigm of justice, both in precept and practice.

Note: This document (prepared by Christopher Buck, on 4 March 2018) is not the published version itself, and is made available pursuant to Intellect’s “Publishing Agreement,” which provides, in pertinent part:

B. AUTHOR’S OWNERSHIP OF COPYRIGHT
The Copyright in the Accepted Contribution shall remain the Author’s property throughout the term of this Agreement. The Author may distribute or re-publish the Accepted Contribution, but may not use the format and designs of the Accepted Contribution as it appears in the Publication.