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2011

Series

Singapore Management University

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Articles 1 - 30 of 65

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Special Issue: Revisiting And Reconstructing The Nghê Tinh Soviets, 1930-2011, Tobias Frederik Rettig Dec 2011

Special Issue: Revisiting And Reconstructing The Nghê Tinh Soviets, 1930-2011, Tobias Frederik Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The seven papers presented here constitute the first collective effort in a Western language to revisit the Nghe Tinh Soviets of 1930–31. The Nghe Tinh movement, its name a compound of two neighbouring provinces in the north-central part of the French protectorate of Annam, not only occupies a special place in the history of the early Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) but also became a site for animated debate on the causes of agrarian unrest that produced two of the most influential books in South East Asian Studies: James Scott’s Moral Economy of the Peasant (1976); and Samuel Popkin’s The Rational …

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Including The Excluded: Communitarian Paths To Cosmopolitanism, Eduard Jordaan Dec 2011

Including The Excluded: Communitarian Paths To Cosmopolitanism, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Cosmopolitanism is frequently criticised for overlooking the situatedness of morality and the importance of solidarity in their aspiration to global justice. A number of thinkers take these criticisms seriously and pursue ‘a communitarian path to cosmopolitanism’. Four such approaches are considered. All four view morality and justice as grounded in a specific social setting and hold that justice is more likely to result if there is some ‘we-feeling’ among people, but are simultaneously committed to expanding the realm of justice and moral concern to beyond national boundaries. To enable the theorisation of an expanded realm of situated justice and moral …

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Globalization And Commitment In Corporate Social Responsibility: Cross-National Analyses Of Institutional And Political-Economy Effect, Alwyn Lim, Kiyoteru Tsutsui Dec 2011

Globalization And Commitment In Corporate Social Responsibility: Cross-National Analyses Of Institutional And Political-Economy Effect, Alwyn Lim, Kiyoteru Tsutsui

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article examines why global corporate social responsibility (CSR) frameworks havegained popularity in the past decade, despite their uncertain costs and benefits, and how theyaffect adherents’ behavior. We focus on the two largest global frameworks—the United NationsGlobal Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative—to examine patterns of CSR adoption bygovernments and corporations. Drawing on institutional and political-economy theories, wedevelop a new analytic framework that focuses on four key environmental factors—globalinstitutional pressure, local receptivity, foreign economic penetration, and national economicsystem. We propose two arguments about the relationship between stated commitment andsubsequent action: decoupling due to lack of capacity and organized hypocrisy due …

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Going Beyond The Multicultural Experience-Creativity Link: The Mediating Role Of Emotions, Chi-Ying Cheng, Angela K. Y. Leung, Tsung-Yu Wu Dec 2011

Going Beyond The Multicultural Experience-Creativity Link: The Mediating Role Of Emotions, Chi-Ying Cheng, Angela K. Y. Leung, Tsung-Yu Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This research examines the mediating role of emotions implicated in the multicultural experience—creativity link. We propose that when individuals are dealing with apparent cultural contradictions upon encountering two cultures simultaneously, mentally juxtaposing dissonant cultural stimuli could lower positive affect or increase negative affect, which could in turn induce a deeper level of cognitive processing of cultural discrepancies and inspire creativity. Two studies compared dual cultural exposure versus single cultural exposure among bicultural Singaporeans (Study 1) and compared self-relevant (jointly presenting local and foreign cultures) versus self-irrelevant (jointly presenting foreign cultures only) dual cultural exposure among monocultural Taiwanese (Study 2). As …

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Cracks In The Empire: Reflections Of French Journalists And Authors On The Crisis In 1930s Indochina, Henri Copin, Tobias Rettig Dec 2011

Cracks In The Empire: Reflections Of French Journalists And Authors On The Crisis In 1930s Indochina, Henri Copin, Tobias Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The events of the early 1930s in Vietnam left an important legacy to France's literature of enquiry and protest. Writers, essayists and journalists enquired on behalf of their audiences, and in the process developed France's littérature coloniale. By showing an interest in the colonial 'other' and identifying discrepancies between imperial ideology and colonial reality, they formed a new body of thought. This new colonial humanism arguably changed metropolitan sensibilities towards the French civilizing mission. Nevertheless, while they are critical of colonial abuses and in favour of reforms, the authors discussed in this paper do not really question the French colonial …

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The Effects Of Culture And Friendship On Rewarding Honesty And Punishing Deception, Cynthia S. Wang, Angela K.-Y. Leung, Michelle Ya Hui See, Xiang Yu Gao Nov 2011

The Effects Of Culture And Friendship On Rewarding Honesty And Punishing Deception, Cynthia S. Wang, Angela K.-Y. Leung, Michelle Ya Hui See, Xiang Yu Gao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The present research explores whether the type of relationship one holds with deceptive or honest actors influences cross-cultural differences in reward and punishment. Research suggests that Americans reward honest actors more than they punish deceptive perpetrators, whereas East Asians reward and punish equally (Wang & Leung, 2010). Our research suggests that the type of relationship with the actor matters for East Asians, but not for Americans. East Asians exhibit favoritism toward their friends by rewarding more than punishing them, but reward and punish equally when the actors are strangers (Experiment 1 and 2); Americans reward more than they punish regardless …

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Cultural Differences In The Subjective Experience Of Emotion: When And Why They Occur, Christie N. Scollon, Sharon Koh, Evelyn Wing Mun Au Nov 2011

Cultural Differences In The Subjective Experience Of Emotion: When And Why They Occur, Christie N. Scollon, Sharon Koh, Evelyn Wing Mun Au

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Cross-cultural comparisons of subjective emotional experience are common, and virtually any comparison of nations or different ethnic groups is bound to yield some differences and some similarities. While nobody doubts the considerable intercultural variability in subjective or self-reports of emotion, more attention needs to be given to when and why and these differences occur. In this article, we explore factors that accentuate or attenuate cultural differences in the subjective experience of emotion. We propose that cultural norms shape emotional experiences to different degrees depending on the time frame of the emotional experience, the valence of the emotion, and even the …

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Fairness: Processes Are As Important As Outcomes, David Chan Nov 2011

Fairness: Processes Are As Important As Outcomes, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

People are sensitive to the fairness of decisions made or the treatment they receive. Research in work contexts has shown that it is important for processes like personnel selection, performance appraisal and compensation to be perceived as fair, because fairness perceptions influence how people react to situations and their leaders. This also applies to public policy implementation and public engagement efforts.

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Relating Trait Self-Control And Forgiveness Within Prosocials And Proselfs: Compensatory Versus Synergistic Models, Daniel Balliet, Norman P. Li, Jeff Joireman Nov 2011

Relating Trait Self-Control And Forgiveness Within Prosocials And Proselfs: Compensatory Versus Synergistic Models, Daniel Balliet, Norman P. Li, Jeff Joireman

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The present research tested 2 competing models specifying how 2 traits (concern with the well-being of others and self-control) interact to predict forgiveness. According to the compensatory model, forgiveness requires being high on either trait; according to the synergistic model, forgiveness requires being high on both traits. Two preliminary studies demonstrated the main effect of trait (Study 1a) and primed (Study 1b) self-control on forgiveness. Three primary studies consistently supported the compensatory model in predicting willingness to forgive a partner who behaves noncooperatively in a 2-alternative prisoner’s dilemma (Study 2), a continuous give-some dilemma (Study 3), and a 2-alternative maximizing …

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Sex Differences In Cooperation: A Meta-Analytic Review Of Social Dilemmas, Daniel Balliet, Norman P. Li, Shane J. Macfarlan, Mark Van Vugt Nov 2011

Sex Differences In Cooperation: A Meta-Analytic Review Of Social Dilemmas, Daniel Balliet, Norman P. Li, Shane J. Macfarlan, Mark Van Vugt

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although it is commonly believed that women are kinder and more cooperative than men, there is conflicting evidence for this assertion. Current theories of sex differences in social behavior suggest that it may be useful to examine in what situations men and women are likely to differ in cooperation. Here, we derive predictions from both sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives on context-specific sex differences in cooperation, and we conduct a unique meta-analytic study of 272 effect sizes—sampled across 50 years of research—on social dilemmas to examine several potential moderators. The overall average effect size is not statistically different from zero (d …

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Evaluating Energy Security Performance From 1990 To 2010 For Eighteen Countries, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Ishani Mukherjee, Ira Martina Drupady, Anthony L. D' Agostino Oct 2011

Evaluating Energy Security Performance From 1990 To 2010 For Eighteen Countries, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Ishani Mukherjee, Ira Martina Drupady, Anthony L. D' Agostino

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study provides an index for evaluating national energy security policies and performance among the United States, European Union, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the ten countries comprising the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Drawn from research interviews, a survey instrument, and a focused workshop, the article first argues that energy security ought to be comprised of five dimensions related to availability, affordability, technology development, sustain-ability, and regulation. The article then breaks these dimensions down into 20 components and correlates them with 20 metrics that constitute a comprehensive energy security index. We find that the …

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Perceptions Of Fairness, David Chan Oct 2011

Perceptions Of Fairness, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

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Economic Inequality Is Linked To Biased Self-Perception, Steve Loughnan, Peter Kuppens, Juri Allik, Katalin Balazs, Soledad De Lemus, Kitty Dumont, Rafael Gargurevich, Istvan Hidegkuti, Bernhard Leidner, Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong Oct 2011

Economic Inequality Is Linked To Biased Self-Perception, Steve Loughnan, Peter Kuppens, Juri Allik, Katalin Balazs, Soledad De Lemus, Kitty Dumont, Rafael Gargurevich, Istvan Hidegkuti, Bernhard Leidner, Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

People’s self-perception biases often lead them to see themselves as better than the average person (a phenomenon known as self-enhancement). This bias varies across cultures, and variations are typically explained using cultural variables, such as individualism versus collectivism. We propose that socioeconomic differences among societies—specifically, relative levels of economic inequality—play an important but unrecognized role in how people evaluate themselves. Evidence for self-enhancement was found in 15 diverse nations, but the magnitude of the bias varied. Greater self-enhancement was found in societies with more income inequality, and income inequality predicted cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement better than did individualism/ collectivism. These …

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How To Test Cultural Theory: Suggestions For Future Research, Marco Verweij, Shenghua Luan, Mark Nowacki Oct 2011

How To Test Cultural Theory: Suggestions For Future Research, Marco Verweij, Shenghua Luan, Mark Nowacki

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This symposium highlighted the relevance of the cultural theory (CT) pioneered by anthropologists Mary Douglas, Steve Rayner, and Michael Thompson and political scientists Aaron Wildavsky and Richard Ellis for explaining political phenomena. In this concluding article, we suggest ways in which CT can be further tested and developed. First, we describe how the theory has been applied thus far and some of the achievements of these applications. Then, we examine some of the challenges revealed by this research. Finally, we discuss ways of applying CT that promise to help meet these challenges. These methods include nesting case studies and combining …

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Mate-Selection And The Dark Triad: Facilitating A Short-Term Mating Strategy And Creating A Volatile Environment, Peter K. Jonason, Katherine A. Valentine, Norman P. Li, Carmelita L. Harbeson Oct 2011

Mate-Selection And The Dark Triad: Facilitating A Short-Term Mating Strategy And Creating A Volatile Environment, Peter K. Jonason, Katherine A. Valentine, Norman P. Li, Carmelita L. Harbeson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The current study (N = 242) seeks to establish the relationship between traits known collectively as the Dark Triad – narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism – and mating standards and preferences. Using a budget-allocation task, we correlated scores on the Dark Triad traits with mate preferences for a long-term and short-term mate. Men scoring high on the Dark Triad may be more indiscriminate than most when selecting for short-term mates in order to widen their prospects. Furthermore, those high on the Dark Triad – psychopathy in particular – tend to select for mates based on self-interest, assortative mating, or a predilection for …

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Analyses Of Nocturnal Temperature Cooling-Rate Response To Historical Local-Scale Urban Land-Use/Land Cover Change, Winston T. L. Chow, Bohumil M. Svoma Sep 2011

Analyses Of Nocturnal Temperature Cooling-Rate Response To Historical Local-Scale Urban Land-Use/Land Cover Change, Winston T. L. Chow, Bohumil M. Svoma

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Urbanization affects near-surface climates by increasing city temperatures relative to rural temperatures [i.e., the urban heat island (UHI) effect]. This effect is usually measured as the relative temperature difference between urban areas and a rural location. Use of this measure is potentially problematic, however, mainly because of unclear ‘‘rural’’ definitions across different cities. An alternative metric is proposed—surface temperature cooling/warming rates—that directly measures how variations in land-use and land cover (LULC) affect temperatures for a specific urban area. In this study, the impact of local-scale (,1 km2 ), historical LULC change was examined on near-surface nocturnal meteorological station temperatures sited …

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Embodied Cultural Cognition: Situating The Study Of Embodied Cognition In Socio-Cultural Contexts, Angela K. Y. Leung, Lin Qiu, Lay See Ong, Kim-Pong Tam Sep 2011

Embodied Cultural Cognition: Situating The Study Of Embodied Cognition In Socio-Cultural Contexts, Angela K. Y. Leung, Lin Qiu, Lay See Ong, Kim-Pong Tam

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Embodiment research has demonstrated that cognition is grounded in bodily interactions with the environment and that abstract concepts are tied to the body’s sensory and motor systems. Building upon this embodiment perspective and advancing our understanding, we discuss the extension of embodied cultural cognition. We propose that some associations between bodily experiences and abstract concepts are not randomly formed; rather, the development of such associations is situated in a socio-cultural context, informed by cultural imperatives, values, and habits. We draw evidence supporting this view of embodied cultural cognition in body–mind linkages manifested in construal of emotions, time perception, person perception, …

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Positioning The Booty-Call Relationship On The Spectrum Of Relationships: Sexual But More Emotional Than One-Night Stands, Peter K. Jonason, Norman P. Li, Jessica Richardson Sep 2011

Positioning The Booty-Call Relationship On The Spectrum Of Relationships: Sexual But More Emotional Than One-Night Stands, Peter K. Jonason, Norman P. Li, Jessica Richardson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Most research on human sexuality has focused on long-term pairbonds and one-night stands. However, growing evidence suggests there are relationships that do not fit cleanly into either of those categories. One of these relationships is a ‘‘booty-call relationship.’’ The purpose of this study was to describe the sexual and emotional nature of booty-call relationships by (a) examining the types of emotional and sexual acts involved in booty-call relationships and (b) comparing the frequency of those acts in booty-call relationships to one-night stands and serious long-term relationships. In addition, the manner in which sociosexuality is associated with the commission of these …

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Introduction To The Special Issue: Governing Energy In A Fragmented World, Ann Florini, Navroz K. Dubash Sep 2011

Introduction To The Special Issue: Governing Energy In A Fragmented World, Ann Florini, Navroz K. Dubash

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This special issue brings together leading experts from Asia, Europe and North America to examine the international institutions, national governance mechanisms and financing systems that together will determine the future of the energy sector. The enormous environmental externalities imposed by fossil fuel extraction and consumption, the devastating corruption and human rights abuses that have accompanied this energy system, and the geopolitical vulnerabilities that have arisen because of the uneven natural distribution of these resources, have occasioned enormous handwringing - but not, yet, a shift to a more rational system of providing energy services. Although national governments play the dominant role …

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Visiting 'Home': Contacts With The Homeland, Self-Reflexivity And Emergent Migrant Bilingual Identities, Alan Williams, Charlotte Setijadi Sep 2011

Visiting 'Home': Contacts With The Homeland, Self-Reflexivity And Emergent Migrant Bilingual Identities, Alan Williams, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

There has been increasing interest recently in the way that additional language learners' identities are affected and changed by their experiences in developing proficiency in another language. In the case of migrants, this is also affected by familiarity with their new country and language, and their transition into life in a new social and cultural environment. National and linguistic elements of identity are only part of people's multifaceted identities. However, these are of particular significance for language teachers and central to identity shifts involved in language acquisition and settlement in a new country. We present data from two adult EAL …

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The International Energy Agency In Global Energy Governance, Ann Florini Sep 2011

The International Energy Agency In Global Energy Governance, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is the organization that, despite its constrained membership, is as close as the world currently comes to a global focal point on the key energy governance arenas. Although when the IEA was established in the 1970s it had the specific and limited purpose of enabling the world's leading oil consumers to undertake collective action in response to oil supply shocks, it now finds itself at the center of many of the key developments in global energy governance. Its evolution and current challenges reflect the key themes of this special issue: the competition between state and …

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Commentary: Crisis Is Danger Plus Opportunity, Ann Florini Sep 2011

Commentary: Crisis Is Danger Plus Opportunity, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

John Clark has given us a great deal to be depressed about, in the story he tells about theroles of civil society in addressing the compelling threats of climate change and ecosystemcollapse. Fortunately, that account is incomplete. There is another half to the story, onethat provides a more hopeful picture. Indeed, a closer look at what is happening in thecivil society/environmental arena tells us much about humanity’s prospects for dealingwith climate change. It tells us even more about the rapidly evolving nature of civilsociety and humanity’s capacity for creative collective action. And from both perspectives,the glass, rather than being empty—or …

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Mapping Global Energy Governance, Navroz K. Dubash, Ann Florini Sep 2011

Mapping Global Energy Governance, Navroz K. Dubash, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The challenges inherent in energy policy form an increasingly large proportion of the great issues of global governance. These energy challenges reflect numerous transnational market or governance failures, and their solutions are likely to require a number of global components that can support or constrain national energy policy. Governing energy globally requires approaches that can simultaneously cope with three realities: the highly fragmented and conflictual nature of the current inter-state system's efforts to govern energy; the diversity of institutions and actors relevant to energy; and the dominance of national processes of energy decision making that are not effectively integrated into …

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Application Of An Agent-Based System As A Virtual Environment For The Formulation Of Policies, Araz Taeihagh, René Bañares-Alcántara, Moshe Givoni Sep 2011

Application Of An Agent-Based System As A Virtual Environment For The Formulation Of Policies, Araz Taeihagh, René Bañares-Alcántara, Moshe Givoni

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The growth in the interdependence and complexity of socio-economic systems requires the development of tools and techniques to aid us in the formulation of better policies. Our efforts focus towards developing methodologies and support tools for better policy design and formulation. In this paper, we focus on the development of an agent-based approach to create a virtual environment for the exploration and analysis of different configurations of policy measures in order to build policy packages and test the effects of changes and uncertainties while formulating policies. By developing systematic approaches for the formulation andanalysis of policies it is possible to …

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Information Disclosure In Global Energy Governance, Ann Florini, Saleena Saleem Sep 2011

Information Disclosure In Global Energy Governance, Ann Florini, Saleena Saleem

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The lack of global consensus on how to deal with complex energy governance challenges has led to the emergence of information disclosure initiatives as governance tools in and of themselves. This article assesses the effectiveness of disclosure mechanisms as tools of energy governance by looking at the motivations and desired outcomes behind a series of disclosure-based initiatives in the energy sector, namely: making energy markets work more efficiently; inducing corporations to internalize their climate change externalities; and improving democratic processes that lead to better energy governance outcomes. The disclosure initiatives assessed in this article adopt different strategies to achieve their …

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Better Ways To Run The World, Ann Florini Sep 2011

Better Ways To Run The World, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Wherever government ministers and international bureaucrats gather to debate and shape the global economy, hordes of protesters converge. And now some of the groups involved in the coordinated protests plan to diversify their targets to include multinational corporations. The protests themselves are merely the visible tip of a vast iceberg of transnational networks tying together people from all parts of the world who share grievances about the current rules governing global economic integration. Transnational civil society networks should not and will not end up making the rules themselves: the final decisions must rest with governments. But the protest movement has …

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Globalization, Modernity, And Migration: The Changing Visage Of Social Imagination, Darlene Machell Espena Sep 2011

Globalization, Modernity, And Migration: The Changing Visage Of Social Imagination, Darlene Machell Espena

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this article, I assert that the recent phenomenon of migration is one apparent and fundamental process that shapes human communities, transforming cultural variation, and distorts the constructs of distance and space. The boundaries of nation-states and identities are constantly being challenged, restructured and interrogated and the trends of modernity and globalization, new ways of projecting feelings and diffusing cultures among displaced communities are produced. The article looks for the new stories that are produced with this vibrant intersection of globalization, modernity and migration. In particular, I focus on the distinct Sikh migrant community in the Philippines: how they have …

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A Road To Smarter Infrastructure In Asia, Curtis S. Chin, John A. Donaldson Aug 2011

A Road To Smarter Infrastructure In Asia, Curtis S. Chin, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

China's infrastructure building program used to be the envy of the world, and in some respects it still is. Yet economists, investors and now China's own citizens are worried about diminishing returns, while incidents such as last month's Wenzhou high-speed rail crash raise questions about the durability of China's investments.

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Conceptualizing And Measuring Energy Security: A Synthesized Approach, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Ishani Mukherjee Aug 2011

Conceptualizing And Measuring Energy Security: A Synthesized Approach, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Ishani Mukherjee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article provides a synthesized, workable framework for analyzing national energy security policies and performance. Drawn from research interviews, survey results, a focused workshop, and an extensive literature review, this article proposes that energy security ought to be comprised of five dimensions related to availability, affordability, technology development, sustainability, and regulation. We then break these five dimensions down into 20 components related to security of supply and production, dependency, and diversification for availability; price stability, access and equity, decentralization, and low prices for affordability; innovation and research, safety and reliability, resilience, energy efficiency, and investment for technology development; land use, …

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The Transformation Of China’S Agriculture System And Its Impact On Southeast Asia, Phoebe Mingxuan Luo, John A. Donaldson, Qian Forrest Zhang Aug 2011

The Transformation Of China’S Agriculture System And Its Impact On Southeast Asia, Phoebe Mingxuan Luo, John A. Donaldson, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The increased role for agribusiness and larger scale production in China’s agricultural system is limited by China’s severe lack of arable land. The Household Responsibility System provides farmers a measure of power, hampering agribusiness from acquiring land needed for expansion. Some Chinese companies have sought cheaper and often more accessible land in nearby regions, including Southeast Asia. While such investments have the potential to deliver benefits, including increased productivity, structural constraints such as weak land ownership and environmental laws, highly unequal distribution of land and underdevelopment of peasant organizations prevent many poorer farmers from benefiting from these investments.

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