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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Sustainability 'Wars' In A New England Town, Elizabeth L. Krause, Anurag Sharma
Sustainability 'Wars' In A New England Town, Elizabeth L. Krause, Anurag Sharma
Elizabeth L. Krause
A research project into large group decision-making in a New England Town Meeting surprised us with the degree to which sustainability came to be the axis around which political debate revolved. We identified two very different yet overlapping conceptions of sustainability: one emphasized fiscal responsibility; the other asserted the merits of environmental stewardship. Each of the two conceptions had proponents, with strong views about what constituted good versus bad governing practices, each with a strong sense of what was good for the town. In this paper, we sort out those meanings. We seek to understand and expose the contours of …
"They Just Happened": The Curious Case Of The Unplanned Baby, Italian Low Fertility, And The ‘End’ Of Rationality, Elizabeth L. Krause
"They Just Happened": The Curious Case Of The Unplanned Baby, Italian Low Fertility, And The ‘End’ Of Rationality, Elizabeth L. Krause
Elizabeth L. Krause
Winner of the Polgar Prize for Best Article, Society of Medical Anthropology ~ Even in a country with super-low fertility rates, at least one-quarter of all babies are unplanned. The finding puzzles policymakers. This article uses Italy’s “curious case” as a jumping-off point to expose assumptions about rationality. It offers a model to dismantle the “conceit” of rationality, drawing on Max Weber’s classic critique and Emily Martin’s contemporary appraisal. It asks: (1) How do assumptions about rationality related to sexuality and reproduction manifest? (2) How do qualitative data challenge rationalist assumptions? and (3) How are cultural logics expressed and what …