MCL 6224 Issues in the Development of Liberal Studies Lecture 2 Development of the Curriculum Content of Liberal Studies in HKSAR Wing-kwong Tsang Ho Tim

MCL 6224Issues in the Development of Liberal Studies

Lecture 2Development of the Curriculum Content

of Liberal Studies in HKSAR

Wing-kwong TsangHo Tim Bldg. Rm 416

Ext. [email protected]

WWW.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/~wktsang

Recapitulation: Liberal Studies as endeavors to liberate the human mind

Plato’s conception: Liberal education as "an endeavor that liberates the mind from chains of its showy cave of ignorance." (Kimball, 1986, p.14)

Liberating efforts of the humanists of the Renaissance and the scientists of the Scientific Revolution: To reinstate the value and dignity of human existence and the capacity of inquiring mind of human beings.

Kant’s concept of Enlightenment: Liberal education as “man's release from his self-incurred tutelage.” Its outcome is that men have the courage to use their reason and use it publicly.

Liberation of Human Mind From What? In Search of the Subject Matter of Liberal Studies

By using human reason collectively and publicly, modern men attempt to release themselves from containments and “tutelages” imposed upon their existences from the environments. These attempts have invoked what is now known as the project of modernity


Project of modernity: According to Habermas’ conception, the project of modernity is the collective efforts of modern men to use their reason to inquire into The natural environment: These human efforts have constitut

ed the scientific-inquiry discourse and the cognitive-instrumental rationality in modern society. They have also formed the discourse of knowledge and truth of modern society.

The social environment: These human efforts have constituted the theories moral and jurisprudence and the moral-practical rationality in modern society. They have also formed the discourse of justice and moral-rightness of modern society.


Project of modernity: According to Habermas’ conception, the project of modernity is the collective efforts of modern men to use their reason to inquire into The understanding, expression and actualization of human sel

f: These human efforts have constituted production and criticism of art forms and the aesthetic-expressive rationality. They have formed the discourse of authenticity and beauty of modern society.


The reflectivity of late modernity and the challenge from post-modernism: Beck, Giddens and Lash have coined the concept “reflexive m

odernization” to depict the “self-destructive” effects of modern-industrial society in the last quarter of the twentieth century.


The reflectivity of late modernity and the challenge from post-modernism: Beck writes that “‘reflexive modernization’ means the

possibility of a creative (self-)destruction for an entire epoch: that of industrial society. …Reflexive modernization…is supposed to mean that a change of industrial society which occurs surreptitiously and unplanned in the wake of normal, autonomized modernization and with an unchanged, intact political and economic order. …The new society is not always born in pain. Not just growing poverty, but growing wealth as well, and the loss of an Eastern rival, produce an axial change in the types of problems, the scope of relevance and the quality of the political. Not only indicators of collapse, but also strong economic growth, rapid technification and high employment security can unleash the strom that will sail or float industrial society into a new epoch.” (Beck, 1994, 2-3)


The reflectivity of late modernity and the challenge from post-modernism: By post-modernism, it refers to a theoretical stance, w

hich casts fundamental doubts of the project of modernity. As Jean-Fransois Lyotard’ writes in his book entitled The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, “I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives. This incredulity is undoubtedly a product of progress of the sciences: but that progress in turn presupposes it.” (1984/1979: xxiii-xxiv)


Issues on scientific-instrumentalism versus environmentalism: One of the fundamental issues concerning liberal education in the 21st century is the contradictory discourses between scientific-instrumentalism and environmentalism. The form may be characterized as conviction about the omniscience and omnipotence of the scientific-technological mechanism that modern men have built since the Scientific Movement and the Enlightenment. The latter indicates the concerns about the fragility of the ecological system of the earth and the belief in the priority of the ecological ethics and ecocentrism over the anthropocentricism.


Issues on informational-global paradigm versus indigenous-local paradigm: Another fundamental issue relating to liberal education in the 21st century is the contradictory discourses between the informational-global and indigenous-local paradigms. The former refers to the institutional principles and imperatives emphasizing global comparison and competition invoked by the compression of time and space that have been caused by the informational-technological development in the past three decade. The latter indicate the institutional principles and imperatives prioritizing local communal concerns and indigenous and personal connections of social organizations.


Issues on individualizing identity versus socio-culturally embedded identity: As modern men and women began to enlighten or even emancipate themselves from culturally and socially ascribed identities embedded in traditional societies, such as believers of the Church, subjects of a monarch king, the wife of a husband, the daughter of a father, etc.; they have “individualized” themselves into modern identities such as atheistic evolutionist, citizens of a republic, liberated women (both wives and daughters) from patriarchic family system, etc. As this process of individualization met with the global-informational age of the 21st century, the socio-cultural bases in which personal and social identities were once embedded have rapidly evaporated into virtuality. As a result, the identity crisis confronting modern men and women of the 21st century is the experience of ontological insecurity and existential anxiety spawned from virtual identity in network society.

Liberation of Human Mind With What? In Search of the Subject Content of Liberal Studies

Area of Study I: Self and Personal Development Module 1: Personal Development and Interpersonal

Relationship

Area of Study II: Society and Culture Module 2: Hong Kong Today Module 3: Modern China Module 4: Globalization

Area of Study III: Science, Technology and the Environment Module 5: Public Health Module 6: Energy technology and the Environment

Areas of Study I: Self-Identity & Interpersonal Relationship

Personal Development in Sociological Perspective: To Become Human

Personal Development in Perspectives: In philosophical perspective, personal-development inquiry is

basically defined as intellectual effort in search of the essence of a person qua person. It basically examines the general or even transcendental meaning of personal existence.

In psychological perspective, personal-development study is to reveal the structure of the personality and self and the stages of development of different aspects of the self, such as psychosexual, cognitive and moral development. It basically analyzes the unique self identity of particular human beings.


Personal Development in Perspectives: A recapitulation In sociological perspective, personal development is view as the

process of socialization, through which individuals will internalize the roles, norms and values of a particular culture and community in which they reside. It basically investigates the social identity of members of human communities.


Self-identity in sociological perspective The “looking-glass” self: Charles Cooley coined the concept in 1902

to indicate the developmental process of the self as an interpersonal process. It is a reflexive and glass-looking process consisting of “the image of out appearance to the other person; “the imagination of his judgment of that appearance; and “some sort of self-feeling, such as pride or mortification.” (Cooley, 1902,

p. 184; quoted in Broom, 1981, p. 98)

Accordingly, to Cooley the self is not some inborn attributes but social products generated from interactions with other fellow humans. Furthermore, the self is not a passive receiver of others’ judgments on oneself. It will actively interpret and react to these judgments.


Self-identity in sociological perspective The “looking-glass” self:

Finally, Cooley specifies that the others or the looking glasses, from which one takes reference are not assigned with equal importance by the self. As a result, some others are characterized as “significant others” (i.e. parents) while others are simply “referent others” (i.e. ordinary friends)


Self-identity in sociological perspective Symbolic interactionist’s conception of the self

Built on Charles Cooley’s concept of the “looking-glass” self, George H. Mead and Herbet Blumer, two founding father of the symbolic interactionsim (a prominent theoretical perspective in sociology) specify that the self is not a static structure but a dynamic process through which attributes, meanings, judgments that others passed onto oneself will be interpret and reinterpret. That is they “saw the self as process not a structure.” (Blumer, 1969, p.62)

“The process of a self provides the human being with a mechanism of self-interaction. …Such self-interaction takes the form of making indications to himself and meeting these indications by making further indications. The human being can designate things to himself – his wants, his pains, his goals, object around him, the presence of others, their actions, their expected actions, or whatnot.” (Blumer, p. 62)


Self-identity in sociological perspective Symbolic interactionist’s conception of the self

“With the mechanism of self-interaction the human being ceases to be a responding organism whose behavior is a product of what plays upon him from the outside, the inside, or both. Instead, he acts toward his world, interpreting what confronts him and organizing his action on the basis of the interpretation.” (Blumer, p.63)

The negotiated self: In the perspective of symbolic interactionsim, individuals are perceived as “an active agent in the construction of his or her own self-concept. The self that emerges is a negotiated self. …An important goal in this (negotiating) process is the enhancement of self-esteem.” (Brinkerhoff et al. 1991, p. 144)


Self-identity in sociological perspective The situated self: Another group of interactionists has adopted a mo

re structural approach (structural school) to the conception of the self. These sociologists, such as McCall and Simons (1978) and Stryker (1968,

1980), emphasize the importance of the institutional structure in which individuals are situated. It is suggested that the self emerged from this situation will be conditioned by social expectations or even obligations prescribed to the positions, in which the individual is assigned into.


Self-identity in sociological perspective The situated self:

The concepts of role and role-identity: • The concept of role refers to the performances expected of the occupant of a

given position or social status, such as the roles of a daughter, a wife, a teacher or a HKSAR citizens.

• The concept of role identity signifies that a role occupant has internalized the role expectations and performances prescribed by external social institution to become part of her own self. It is exactly through this process of internalization of the externalities of the social institution that an individual self is amalgamated with a social role and as a result constituted a social identity.



The concept of role set and role conflict: • The concept of role set refers to the network of multiple roles that an individual

has to engage with at the same time or once at a time. For example, a teacher may simultaneously be a daughter, a wife and a mother.

• The expectations and performance of these multiple roles are most likely to be in conflict. As a result, an individual may experience the inter-role conflict. For example, in performing the role of a school teachers may in conflict with the role of a mother and a wife. Furthermore, a role occupant may also experience intra-role conflict as there may be discrepancies among role expectations from different role partners of a role. For example, a teacher may face conflicting expectations from her students, fellow teachers and school head.



Identity hierarchy: Confronted with inter-role conflict, an individual's identities have to set priority with these competing role identities. Hence, the concept of identity hierarchy refers to the resolution that an individual has to sort out in situation of inter-role conflict.


Self-identity in sociological perspective A synthesis: The conceptions of the negotiate self and situated self

may seems to have different emphasis, but they "should not be viewed as opposites but as complements." (Brinkerhoff et al. 1991, p. 146) The two concepts of negotiated and situated self may be view in reciprocal relation. On the one hand, an individual is viewed as active agent in defining and negotiating the performance specification of a given role. On the other, a role with its performance expectation may also assert significant effects on the development of the self concept and self esteem.


Self-identity in sociological perspective Social identity and theory of categorization

Apart from interactionalist perspective of analyzing how an individuals internalizes role expectations and performances into their selves and constitutes her role-based identity, Henri Tajfel and his followers most notably John C. Turner look at formation of group identity formation as a social process of categorization.

This tradition of identity study begins with the concept of categorization. It refers to “the cognitive process that allow human to streamline perception by separately grouping like and unlike stimuli. Tajfel demonstrated that people categorize social as well as nonsocial stimuli and that people use social categories to identify themselves and others.” (Thoits and Virshup, 1997; p. 114) Tajfel illustrate the concept with research focusing on race, ethnicity, class, and nationality and empirical examples of back and white, Jews, Pakistanis, and French- and English speaking Canadian.



Accordingly, Tajfel defines social identity as “that part of an individual’s self which derives from his knowledge of his members of a group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership.” (Tajfel, 1981, quoted in Thoits and Virshup, 1997; p. 116)

Turner also defines “social identity as “self-categories that define the individual in terms of his or her shared similarities with members of certain social categories in contrast to other social categories.” (Turner et al, 1987, quoted in Thoits and Virshup, 1997; p. 117)

For Turner, social identities are in-group versus out-group categorizations. It spawns out of the distinction between the we-group and the they-group.



This perspective has elevated the identity study from the individual level of role identity to the collective level of identity based on ethnicity, nationality, social class, and other social groupings. As a result, identity theory can apply to analyze macroscopic phenomena such as racial prejudice and discrimination, conflict between ethnic and national groupings, ethnocentrism, etc.


Levels and approaches to identity study:

From the precedent discussions of various sociological perspectives in identity study, we may summarize distinct levels and approaches to identity study as follows.


Levels and approaches to identity study: Two approaches to identity

Essentialism: Essentialism in identity studies refers to approaches which takes social identity, such as gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, class, as objectively exiting reality. Their formations are based on some essentially fixed traits such as biological sex, skin color, place of birth, formal-legal status, level of income, etc.

Constructionism: Constructionism in identity studies refers to perspective which conceives identity as socially constructed reality. They are on one hand collectively constituted in social processes or even political movements, and on the other hand individually articulated in deliberate articulations.


Levels and approaches to identity study: Three levels of identity

The self-identity level: It sees identity as a product of socialization and “glass-looking” process, through which an individual constructs her self-image, self-concept and self-esteem passed on by others.

The role-identity level: It construes identity as the outcome of internalization of specific role expectations and performances of particular social positions in which an individual is “situated”.

The social-identity level: It views identity as the outcome of the process of in-group versus out-group categorization. In particular socio-economic and historical contexts, social identities are forged by various social groupings by means of exchanging or even violently imposing we- and they-group categorizations (or labeling and stereotyping) on each others.


Levels and approaches to identity study: Though these two levels of identity can analytically be differentiated,

in reality they are closely interconnected. Furthermore, an individual must find a way to integrate the two levels into a consistent and coherent unity. Different sociologists have in fact formulated different theories to characterize this integrating process of multiple identities of the modern man. For example, Anthony Giddens in his book Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (1990) has coined the concept self-identity to characterized the relationship between self and society in the late modern age.


Anthony Giddens’ conception of self-identity in late modern age Giddens defines “self as reflexively understood by the person in ter

ms of her or his biography.” (Giddens’ 1991, p. 53) Identity, according to Giddens, indicates a person’s sense of “contin

uity across time and space.” (ibid)

Social Space 1 (Role 1)



…Social Space n (…Role n)

Social Time 1

Social Time 2

Social Time 3

…Social Time n


Anthony Giddens’ conception of self-identity in late modern age Self-identity, therefore, can be defined as a sense of “continuity as in

terpreted reflexively by the agent.” (ibid) More specifically, a person with a reasonably stable sense of self-identity is, therefore, the one with “the capacity to keep a particular narrative going. The individual’s biography, if she is to maintain regular interaction with others in the day-to-day world, cannot be wholly fictive. It must continually integrate events which occur in the external world, and sort them out into ongoing ‘story’ about the self.” (Giddens, 1991, p. 54) In short, self-identity can be discerned as coherent and continuous narrative one imputed to oneself.


Anthony Giddens’ conception of self-identity in late modern age Constituents of self-identity: A stable self-identity, i.e. coherent and

continuous self narrative, would compose the following attributes Ontological security: “A stable sense of self-identity presupposes the …

elements of ontological security - an acceptance of the things and of others.” (ibid) The sense of ontological security implies that a person has to extend beyond self-reflexion and connects to her or his environments, both physical and social. In turn, it will generate both sense of trust and bondage with the physical and social environments.

Interpersonal Relationship in Modern Society:

Institutional context of interpersonal relationship: We are now living in well developed societies; hence most our relationships with other humans take place in conventionally established or even institutionalized social contexts, such as school, family, peer groups, market, government, etc.


Definition of situation: Even in situations where we encounter strangers in a shopping mall, inside the elevators, in a bus or a carriage of the subway, or even in a back alley. There are conventional patterns of interaction to be observed. Hence, definition of situation is the initiating concept in the sociological analysis of interpersonal relationship. That is, once the situation of the human encounter has been defined in conventional terms, such as a lesson, a family gathering, a party with peers, a date, a international convention, or a back-ally encounter with stranger; the relationship at point and its entailed interactions can then be sorted out in common-sense terms.


Typification, status and role: The concept typification refers to the deliberate act of assigning typi

cal way of behaving or acting to our counterpart in a human interaction. This assignment of types and categories to partners in a social interaction has to be reciprocal acts, that is, it is a two-way typification initiated simultaneously from both side of a relationship. Furthermore, there must be acceptable commonality between the two typifications, otherwise the social interaction will be in disarray or can never get started.


Typification, status and role: The concept of status and role:

The concept of status refers to a socially defined position that a person hold. such as teacher, students, father, son, Chinese citizens, shareholder, etc.

The concept of role refers to performance expected of occupant of a particular status.

Accordingly, both status and role can be understood as the outcomes of typification in a social interaction. Once we have assigned a typical status and role expectation to our partner in a social encounter, the subsequent interactions can the be carried out in in socially well-defined manners.


Types of interpersonal relationships

In sociology, social relationships are commonly differentiated into two types Primary relationship: It refers to the interpersonal relationship

generated in what Charles Cooley called groups, such as family, peer group, collegial group, etc. It bears features as follows It has face to face interaction. It involves unspecialized relationship, i.e. responding the whole person

rather than some categories or stereotype. It is relatively permanent. It involves intimate and affective ties and invokes strong sense of

belonging.


Types of interpersonal relationships Secondary relationship: It refers to social relationship established in

formal organization or what Max Weber call bureaucracy, such as university, corporation, governmental department, etc. It has attributes as follows It has formal interaction. It involve segmented and impersonal relationship. It is relatively transient and short-lived. It involve instrumental ties and invoke formal membership defined in

terms contractual rights and obligations.


Types of interpersonal relationships Pure relationship: Recently, Anthony Giddens coins the concept “pu

re relationship” to signify the kind of human relationship permeating in the late modern age By pure relationship, according to Giddens, it is social relationship buil

d “purely” on the relationships itself. It differs from traditional relationships which are based on institutional bondages, such as parent-child relationships, or based on institutional restraints, such as marriage and business contracts. Instead, pure relationship “is not anchored in external conditions of social or economic life - it is …free-floating. ….The pure relationship is sought only for what the relationship can bring to the partners involved. …(It) is reflexively organized, in open fashion, and on a continuous basis” (Giddens, 1991, p. 89-91)


Types of interpersonal relationships Pure relationship:

Pure relationships are by definition “double edged”. • They provide reflexive or even emancipatory chances for reconstituting traditi

onal social relationship. They offer opportunity for the development of trust based on voluntary commitments and an intensified intimacy.” (p. 186)

• Yet pure relationship …create enormous burdens for the integrity of the self. In so far as a relationship lacks external referents, it is morally mobilized only thorough ‘authenticity. …Shorn of external moral criteria, the pure relationship is vulnerable as a source of security at fateful moments and at other major life transitions.” (p. 186-7)

Living the context of pure relationship, the story of the self-identity can no longer be told in a continuous and coherent manner. In other words, the self-identity experiences sense of discontinuity and fragementation, i.e. ontological insecurity and extistential anxiety in Giddens’ terms.

Substantive Studies of social Identity and

Social Relationship

Within the discipline of sociology, there is a field of study called social institution study or a perspective known as institutionalism. It studies specific role-identities and relationships generated and institutionalized in particular social institutions. For example, Family membership and role-identity of husband and wife, father and

son, brother and sister, etc. Nationality and national identity Political membership of the state and citizenship Professional membership and identity of professionalism Contractual relationship and identity of seller and buyer Political membership and partisanship, etc.

Social Identity in the Process of Individualization

The conception of Individualization of modern society “'Individualization’ consists of transforming human ‘identity’ f

rom a ‘given’ into a task and changing the actors with the responsibility for performing that task and for the consequences (also the side-effects) of their performance. ….Human being are no more ‘born into’ their identities. … Needing to become what one is the feature of modern living - and of this living alone. …Modernity replaces the heteronomic determination of social standing with compulsive and obligatory self-determination.” (Bauman, 2000, p. 31-2)


The conception of Individualization of modern society “'individualization’ means, first, the disembedding and, secon

d, the ‘re-embedding of industrial society ways of life by new ones, in which the individuals must produce, stage and cobble together their biographies themselves. Thus the name ‘individualization’, disembedding and re-embedding …do not occur by chance, nor individually, nor voluntarily, nor through diverse types of historical conditions, but rather all at once and under the general conditions of the welfare in developed industrial labour society, as they have developed since the 1960s in many Western industrial countries.” (Beck, 1994, p.13)


The conception of Individualization of modern society Institutionalized ‘beds’ - identity bases - for the re-embedment

of modern individuals ‘Beds’ in capital market, e.g. occupations, professions, social-cl

ass positions, etc. ‘Beds’ in institution of marriage and family, husband, wife, fathe

r, mother, etc. ‘Beds’ in modern political arenas, e.g. citizens, members of new

social movements, such as environmentalists, feminist, anti-gloabizationists, etc.

Social Identity Crisis under Pure Relation

Social identity crisis in the process of Individualization “What distinguished the ‘individualization’ of yore from the fo

rm it has taken in ‘risk society’ …. No ‘beds’ are furnished for ‘re-embedding’, and such beds as might be postulated and pursued prove fragile and often vanish before the work of ‘em-rebeddment’ is complete. There are rather ‘musical chairs’ of various size and style as well as of changing numbers and positions, which prompt men and women to be constantly on the move and promise no ‘fulfilment’, no rest and no satisfaction of ‘arriving’, of researching the final destination, where one can disarm, relax and stop worrying.” (Bauman, 2000, p. 33-34)

Social identity crisis can therefore be conceived as a discontinuity between the stages of dis-embedment and re-embedment in the individualization process


Social identity crisis in the process of Individualization Fragmentation of institutional-beds and the flexiblization of m

odern identity

Under the network logic and the global-information paradigm National-local identity replaced by global-mobile identity Affect-familial identity replaced by flexible-familial identity Permanent vocationalism and unionism replaced by flexible, sel

f-programmed workers


The permeation of pure relation growth: By pure relationship, according to Giddens, it is social relatio

nship build “purely” on the relationships itself. It differs from traditional relationships which are based on institutional bondages, such as parent-child relationships, or based on institutional restraints, such as marriage and business contracts. Instead, pure relationship “is not anchored in external conditions of social or economic life - it is …free-floating. ….The pure relationship is sought only for what the relationship can bring to the partners involved. …(It) is reflexively organized, in open fashion, and on a continuous basis” (Giddens, 1991, p. 89-91)


The permeation of pure relation growth: Pure relationships are by definition “double edged”.

They provide reflexive or even emancipatory chances for reconstituting traditional social relationship. They offer opportunity for the development of trust based on voluntary commitments and an intensified intimacy.” (p. 186)

Yet pure relationship …create enormous burdens for the integrity of the self. In so far as a relationship lacks external referents, it is morally mobilized only thorough ‘authenticity. …Shorn of external moral criteria, the pure relationship is vulnerable as a source of security at fateful moments and at other major life transitions.” (p. 186-7)

As a result, the story of the self can no longer be told in a continuous and coherent manner. In other words, the self-identity experiences sense of discontinuity and fragementation, i.e. ontological insecurity and existential anxiety in Giddens’ terms.

Areas of Study II: Society, Culture, and Globalization

Concepts of Society, Culture, and Social Institution

Understanding the concept of society The concept of society refers to an aggregate of human

beings living together in persistent and orderly manner in a definite geographical location for a long period of time.

Categorizing societies: The concept of society can be used to categorize human aggregates in a variety of fashions. For example, Hong Kong society, Chinese society, American society; agrarian society, industrial society, knowledge society; Christian society, Muslim society; capitalist society, socialist society; democratic society, authoritarian society, totalitarian society, patriarchic society; etc.


Understanding the concept of society Why is society possible?

Individuals are born into social categories in the first place and subsequently subscribe to social positions as they grow up. As a result, they are prescribed into pre-defined role expectations and assignments, i.e. they are situated selves.

Through the mechanism of social control and integration, Individuals are obliged to enact the role performances expected of them.

As a result, regular patterns of interpersonal relationships can be maintained in regular bases. Sociologists have named these regular and continuous interpersonal relationship social institutions.


Understanding the concept of culture The concept of culture refers to a system of meanings shared

by members of a specific group of human beings. It provides the legitimation basis for the way of life of that specific group over an enduring period of time.

By legitimation, it refers to the motives and reasons for members of the group to voluntarily obey and spontaneously observe the prevailing way of life is that they genuinely believe in the meaningfulness and values of their conformity.


Understanding the concept of culture This legitimation basis can further be differentiated into:

Cognitive validity: It refers to knowledge systems accumulated in a culture, which provide valid explanations to why we have to comply with the prevailing way of life. One of the most prominent cognitive validity in modern culture is the scientific knowledge.

Normative dignity: It refers to the norms and values accumulated in a culture, which offer normative justification why we have to conform to a particular way of life. One of the significant normative bases in human culture is religious believes.


Understanding the concept of culture Carriers of culture: Meanings and meaningfulness in a culture

must be expressed and consolidated in durable forms so they can be accumulated, transmitted, and defused. Therefore, empirical studies of culture must be initiated from carriers of culture. Language: Culture as a system of shared meanings must find its

way to circulate among its members. Spoken and written language is therefore vital to the maintenance of a culture.

Values and beliefs: As a system of meanings, culture will develop elaborated classifications or hierarchies of meanings. For example some meanings are valuable and desirable, while others are undesirable or even repugnant. Some desirable meanings will organize and develop into belief systems such as liberalism, individualism, Marxism or even establish as religions.


Understanding the concept of culture Carriers of culture:

Norms: As a system of meanings, culture also serves as motivation and reinforcement of human behaviors and actions. The concept of norm refers to schema of actions, which are endorsed are deterred by a given culture. Norms can also be differentiated into folkways and customs, mores and morality, taboos, and laws.

Symbolic objects: Totems, statues, monuments, national flags, national days, national heroes, etc. are artifacts to symbolize aspects of shared meanings in a culture.


Understanding the concept of culture How can culture be maintained, transmitted and defused?

The concept of socialization: Socialization can simply be “defined as the comprehensive and consistent induction of an individual into the objective world of a society or a sector of it.

• Primary socialization is the first socialization an individual undergoes in childhood, through which he becomes a member of a society.

• Secondary socialization is any subsequent process that inducts an already socialized individual into new sector.” (Berger and Luckmann, 1966, p. 150)


Understanding the concept of culture How can culture be maintained, transmitted and defused?

Socialization is learning and teaching processes, through which new members of a society internalize, on the one hand, all the structural and operational components of a society, such as social statuses, role expectations and performances, social relationship and social order, etc.; on the other hand, all the cultural and “meaningful” components of a society, such as language, social values and norms, history and heritage, etc. The outcome of the process is that these socialized member will “take over” these components and make them their own, and as a result, these components will be part of their “common-sense knowledge” or “taken-for-granted knowledge.”


Understanding the concept of social institution “A social institution can be defined as a complex of positions,

roles, norms, and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organizing relatively stable patterns of activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, in reproducing individuals, and in sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment. (Turner, 1997, p.6)


Understanding the concept of social institution “An institution is a relatively enduring collection of rules and

organized practices, embedded in structures of meaning and resources that are relatively invariant in the face of turnover of individuals and relatively resilient to the idiosyncratic preferences and expectations of individuals and changing external circumstances.” According, in institutions “There are constitutive rules and practices prescribing

appropriate behavior for specific actors in specific situations.There are structures of meaning, embedded in identities and

belongings: common purposes and accounts that give direction and meaning to behavior, and explain, justify and legitimate behavioral codes.

There are structures of resources that create capabilities for action.” (March and Olsen, 2006, p.3; my numbering)


Understanding the concept of social institution “Basic social institutions: Throughout history, human

societies have work out amusingly similar social institutions. These institutions include kinship and familial institution, economic institutions, political institutions, education institution, and social stratification institution.


Understanding the concept of social institution The concept of economic institution

Economic institution can be understood as “the rules of the game in a society or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction” (North, 1990, p. 3) in order to resolve the problem of scarcity of resources, or more specifically to organize the production, distribution and possession of economic resources.

Economy or economic institution can be defined “as those structures (of positions, norms, roles, networks, and organizations units) and those cultural symbols (norms, values, beliefs, and ideology) that are implicated in entrepreneurial activities organizing technology, physical and human capital, and systems of property for the gathering of resources and for the production and distribution of goods and services.” (Turner, 1997, p. 21)


Understanding the concept of social institution The concept of economic institution

According to Jonathan Turner’s conception, the basic elements of economic institutions are (1) technology, (2) physical capital, (3) human capital, (4) property, and (5) entrepreneurship.

Typology of economic institution: Economic institutions may be typified in terms of many different criteria and be differentiated into various types, such as feudalism, capitalism, socialism, communism; industrial economy, knowledge economy, semiotic/consumerist economy; market economy, planned economy; etc.


Understanding the concept of social institution Understanding the concept of political institution:

Political institution can be understood as “the rules of the game in a society or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction” (North, 1990, p. 3) in order to resolve the problem of coordination and control of actions and projects of members of a society, or more specifically to resolve problems of rule making, rule implementing, and settling rule-broking and rule-dispute.

Polity or political institution can be defined as “a societywide system for consolidating and centralizing power in order to make and implement binding decisions with respect to coordinating activities among individual and collective actors in a population, allocating and distributing resources among actors, and managing deviance by and conflicts among, actors.” (Turner, 1997, p. 145)



Typology of political institution: Political institutions may also be typified in terms of many different criteria and be differentiated into various types, such as democracy, aristocracy, autocracy; liberal-democracy, social-democracy, people’s democratic dictatorship, proletarian dictatorship, monarchic dictatorship; bureaucratic authoritarianism, patriarchic authoritarian, active non-interventionism, laissez-faire; etc.



Typology of political institution: Political institutions may also be typified in terms of many different criteria and be differentiated into various types, such as democracy, aristocracy, autocracy; liberal-democracy, social-democracy, people’s democratic dictatorship, proletarian dictatorship, monarchic dictatorship; bureaucratic authoritarianism, patriarchic authoritarian, active non-interventionism, laissez-faire; etc.

Understanding Globalization and its Human Consequences

Debate on the origins of globalization

A.G. Frank & Grill (1993) World History Perspective: Globalization originated 5000 year ago, i.e. in 3000, in Mesopotamia when supralocal exchange systems began to take shape.

Braudel (1979) & Wallerstein (1974) World-system Approach: Originated from the 16th century, mercantile capitalism first emerged in coastal cities in the Mediterranean sea.

J. W. Meyer (1979) World Polity Perspective: Originated from the late 18th & early 19th century and the constitution of inter-state competition world polity

M. Castell (1996) & M. Carnoy (2000) Global IT Economy Perspective: Originated from 1970s as technological breakthrough in microelectronics, telecommunication, and micro-computer.

Meaning of globalization in the Informational-Global paradigm

Compression of time and space: In connection to the penetrating, reconfiguring and converging capacities of IT, the globalization at the end of the twentieth century has outgrown its ancestors in bridging if not annulling the temporal and spatial distances between human societies and cultures Anthony Giddens (1994) in The Consequences of Modernity indicate

s that “globalization is really about the transformation of space and time. I would define it as action at distance, and relate its growth over recent years to the development of means of instantaneous global communication and mass transportation.” (1994, p. 22)

Zygmunt Bauman (1998): Globalization as “annulment of temporal/spatial distances” (1998, p.18).


Compression of time and space: David Harvey (1989) in The Condition of Postmodernity has simply d

efines globalization as “time-space compression”. It signifies “processes that so revolutionize the objective qualities of space and time that we are force to alter … how we represent the world to ourselves.” (p. 240)


Replacement of space of place by space of flow: Manuel Castells (1996) in The Network Society defines globalization as the process of separating simultaneous social practices from physical contiguity, that is time-sharing social practices are no long embedded in space of physical place. As a result, the traditional notion of space of places has been transformed into space of flows. For examples. Social practices in the Internet are social practices without physical contiguity and Internet as a space is exactly a space with no geographical place but space of flow.


Replacement of local-real time by "timeless time": By making use of the global -informational network, the tradition conception of time, which is relative to a particular social-geographic context, has practically escaped its context of existence. In network society, firms or even individual workers are expected to work around the clock on planetary scale so as to be able to "appropriate selectively any value each context could offer to the ever-present." (Castells, 1996, p. 433)

Economic consequences of globalization

The advent of informational-global economy “A new economy has emerged in the last two decades on a worldwid

e scale. I call it information and global to identify its fundamental distinctive features and to emphasize their intertwining. It is informational because the productivity and competitiveness of units

or agents in this economy (its firms, regions, or nations) fundamentally depend upon their capacity to generate, process, and apply efficiently knowledge-based information.

It is global because the core activities of production, consumption, and circulation, as well as their components (capital, labor, raw materials management, information, technology, market) are organized on a global scale. Either directly or through a network of linkages between economic agents.” (Castell, 1996, p. 66)


The growing influences of international organizations, such as WTO (World Trade Organization), IMF (International Monetary Fund), World Bank, etc; and multinational corporations in global economic affairs.


The retreat of the economic nationalism: Economic nationalism, a common label for economic policies implemented by national governments since the WWII, is shrinking rapidly. Economic policies such as tariff protectionism, subsidizing national industrial and agricultural sectors, exchange-rate of national currency, etc. have lost its leveraging power in face of global competitions and the interventions from international control over international organizations and multi-national corporations.


The constitution of flexibility and compatibility in economic processes: Confronted by global competitions and intervention, economic units and agents (nations, regions, firms and even individual workers) must transform themselves in two fundamental ways.


The constitution of flexibility … By flexibility, it refers to the state of affairs in which “not only proces

ses are reversible, but organizations and institutions can be modified, and even fundamentally altered, by rearranging their components. What is distinctive to the configuration of the new technological paradigm is its ability to reconfigure, a decisive feature in a society characterized by constant change and organizational fluidity. Turning the rules upside down without destroying the organization has become a possibility, because the material basis of the organization can be reprogrammed and uprooted.” (Castells, 1996, p. 62) In production, traditional rigid gigantic assembly lines have given way to “easy-to program production units that can be sensitive to variations in the market (product flexibility) and in the changes of technological output (process flexibility). (p. 155)


The constitution of flexibility … Compatibility: It refers to another feature in informational-global

economy that agents can no longer operating in “self-contained and self-sufficient” units. They must find ways to integrate into the global-informational systems. To do that, the unit itself must re-engineer to become more compatible and convertible, more specifically turn itself to be a global hub to fit all shape and size.

Social consequences of globalization:

Concept of virtual community: Dissolve of the temporal-spatial foundations of social community:

“The so-called 'closely knit communities' of yore were … brought into being and kept alive by the gap between the nearly instantaneous communication inside the small-scale community and the enormity of time and expense needed to pass information between locality. On the other hand, the present-day and short life-span of communities appears primarily to be the result of the gap shrinking or altogether disappearing: inner-community communication has no advantage over inter-communal exchange, if both are instantaneous.” (Bauman, 1998, p.5)


Concept of virtual community: The advent of the virtual community: The new form of community

emerges in the cyberspace of the Internet. Howard Rheingold has called it the virtual community.

“Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationship in cyberspace.” (Rheingold, 1989, p.3)


Concept of flexible work and flexible family The concept of flexible work: “With increased competition in the glo

balized economy and the rapidly rising capacity to use ‘world time’ to enhance productivity, the very best workers are now those who never sleep, never consume, never have children, and never spend time socializing outside of work.” (Carnoy, 2000, p.143) They are required to be Flexible in work schedule as well as work duration Flexible in work locations as well as positions Flexible in work conditions, flexibility has replaced fixed-term contract an

d long-term commitment between employers and employees


Concept of flexible work and flexible family The concept of flexible family: The post-WWII stable family structure,

which based on stable employment of the male head, has fundamentally changed in response to the advent of flexible work condition in informational-global economy. The very structure of one of the fundamental primary group in human society has to go flexible. That is working couple working in flexible schedules, in flexible locations, and on flexible work conditions. As a result, the very social functions of family institution, i.e. provision of emotional and knowledge-formation supports, are under serious threats.

Cultural consequences of globalization

Legitimation crisis of cultural maintenance: One of the most profound impacts of globalization on culture is that it brings cultures, which are supposed to be self-legitimized, self-explained, and self-justified systems of meanings, in close contact. Each culture can no longer constitute and maintain its legitimation in isolation by cognitively explaining and normative justifying itself within its particular local contexts. They are forced to rebuild its legitimation basis in global-informational context.


The concept of post-traditional society: The concept of tradition can be defined as collective memories and r

ituals passed on through passage of time within a culture. (Giddens, 1994a, p. 63-64)

“A post-tradition social order…is not one in which tradition disappears - far from it. It is one in which tradition changes its status. Traditions have to explain themselves, to become open to interrogation or discourse. … In a globalizing, culturally cosmopolitan society, traditions become forced into open view: reasons or justifications have to be offered for them.” (Giddens, 1994b, p.23)


The rise of fundamentalism in global-informational age:

"The rise of fundamentalism has to be seen against the backdrop of the emergence of the post-traditional society. … What is fundamentalism? It is, so I shall argue, nothing other than tradition defended in the tradition way - but where that mode of defence has become widely called into question. … In a globally cosmopolitan order … such a defence become dangerous, because essentially it is a refusal of dialogue." (Giddens, 1994, p.23)


The advent of global consumer culture: The proliferation of mass consumption, mass communication and m

ass media in global scale has spawned the global culture of consumerism. As a result, the global convergence of cultures based globalized commodity items, international brand names, world-wide life styles, etc.

As a result, a global-common way of life for globally mobile psyche begins to emerge Hoilday-Inn-ization Starbucks-ization MacDonold-ization Nike-ization Hollywood-ization Disneyland-ization


Effects of Globalization on cultural and social identity Impact on cultural-temporal identity: Modern cultural identity, which

refers to the sense of belonging accumulated through life-time of individual members of a culture and through historical-time of a national and societal culture, has given way to a new form of identity in global culture of consumerism. Individual’s self-image, self-representation, self-esteem as well as sense of belonging are no longer derived from one’s nationality, ethnicity, cultural heritage, but are based on commodity items one possess, the life style one lead, the “look” one present.


Effects of Globalization on cultural and social identity Impact on social-spatial identity: Modern social identity, which refers

to the sense of belonging nurtured by frequent and intensive contacts with socio-spatial groupings, has rapid lost its footing in informational-global context. As space of place turn into space of flow, individuals are free to select their social affiliations in global scale through the internet or even physically migrate to any locality of their choice if their can afford it.


Effects of Globalization on cultural and social identity The concept of network individualism: Manuel Castells indicates in h

is work The Internet Galaxy that identity is the information age can be characterized as network individualism. “Networked individualism is a social pattern, not a collection of isolated individuals. Rather, individuals build their networks, on-line and off-line, on the basis of their interests, values, affinities, and projects.” (Castells, 2001, p. 131) It is basically a virtual identity in the virtual community of the Internet in self discretion.

Understanding Globalization and its Human Consequences

Hong Kong TodayModern China

Society

Culture

Social Institutions

Social Institutions

Globalization

Hong Kong Today

Modern China

Areas of Study III: Science, Technology and Environment

Reflexive Understanding of the Scientific-Technological Rationality of Modernity

The conception of scientism From scientific thinking to scientism

Scientific thinking can be construed as one of the ways of human inquiry, which has been exemplified by natural scientists’ inquiry of the nature. The inquiry is basically made up of the following methodological features.

First, it is empirically based. That is the inquiry is built upon data, which are carefully collected from observations of natural reality.

Second, it is positivistically organized. That is the inquiry is designed and carried out in hypothetical-deductive or nomological-inductive methods, the results of which are to verify or falsify the law-like statements of the reality under study.


The conception of scientism From scientific thinking to scientism

Third, both the inquiry methods and their results are objectively replicable by other researchers to assess the validity and reliability of the inquiry in question.

Fourth, the results of the inquiry are universally applicable. That is the verified statements of reality can be applied to “all” situations across time and space.

Fifth, it believes that collective and concerted efforts of scientists and their verified results can bring truth to human’s understanding of the nature.

Scientism can be conceived as convictions of the validity, reliability and universality of scientific inquiry. As a result has spawned numbers of convictions or even myths in human’s inquiry of reality.


The conception of scientism Empiricism: It refers to the convictions underlying that only empirical

ly observable data are valid evidences in human’s inquiry and the foundations of true knowledge.

Positivism: It refers to the convictions emphasizing that all human’s inquiries must follow the rules of the hypothetical-deductive or nomological-deductive methods. Knowledge obtained by other methods of inquiry are perceived as unscientific and untrue.

Objectivism: It refers to convictions holding that objectivity in scientific inquiry can only be achieved by conforming to the rules that both the inquiry procedures and results are replicable and duplicable.


The conception of scientism Universalism: It refers to the convictions underlining that knowledge

obtained from scientific inquiry must be universally applicable, i.e. to be true across time and places.

Progressivism: It refers to the convictions believing that scientific inquiries can obtain universally valid knowledge of nature and as a whole can progressively reveal the truth underlying natural realities


The conception of Technologism From technological development to technologism

According to Ron Westrum’s conception• Technology can be defined as any human artifacts and thing

s, which are made to facilitate human activities.

• From epistemological perspective, technology can be conceived as something more than human artifacts but also as the techniques and crafts that make use of those artifacts.

• Furthermore, technology in its advanced stages can be conceived the systems of knowledge underlying those artifacts and techniques in use.


The conception of Technologism From technological development to technologism

Thomas P. Hughes’s conception• Technology at its most concrete level is conceived by Hughes as machi

ne. The definition is basically in congruent with that of Westrum.• From practical point of view, technology can be conceived not just as th

e operation of a single machine but as a configuration of machines work concertedly as a system.

• Furthermore, as technological systems develop they will constitute continuous and regular human practices at organizational level. These enduring practices and routines can be called social institutions.

• Finally, as technology has been accepted by members of society as useful, meaningful and even ways of life, technology then become part of the culture of a given society.

Artifact

Technique

Knowledge

Machine System Institution Culture

From technological development to technologism


The conception of Technologism Technologism emerges as members of a society have

got so used to the modern technological way of life that they hold strong conviction or even cult to the creditability of technology. As a result they will conduct other part of their human activities in engine-like manners.


The conception of Technologism Predictability: Another belief in technologism is the human’s

conviction that technology and its outcome as well as effects are predictable. Hence, we can plan, design or even engineer our lives and our future in technological ways.

Calculability: The third component of technologism is the human’s conviction that technology with its procedures and outcomes are all calculable, i.e. recordable, quantifiable and computable. Hence, we can organize our lives and future in quantifiable and calculable terms.

Manageability: Building on its predictability, calculability, human beings come to believe that we can manipulate technology as well as our lives and future according to our desires.


The conception of Technologism Controllability: Finally, with the help of all these capacities of

technology, modern men/women have come to believe that technology as well as the human lives and future under its command are all under control.


The postmodernist challenge: Jean-Fransois Lyotard in The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Kn

owledge (1979) indicates that “I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives. This incredulity is undoubtedly a product of progress of the sciences: but that progress in turn presupposes it. To the obsolescence of the metanarrative apparatus of legitimation corresponds, most notably, the crisis of metaphysical philosophy and of the university institution which in the past relied on it. The narrative function is losing its functions, its great hero, its great dangers, its great voyages, its great goal. It is being dispersed in clouds of narrative language elements -- narrative, but also denotative, prescriptive, descriptive, and so on." (1984/1979: xxiii-xxiv)


The postmodernist challenge: Among the metanarratives under the criticism of postmodernist is the

credulity of scientific-technological rationality. Along with it is the incredulity project towards the reliability, predictability, calculability, manageability and controllability of the scientific-technological enterprise. .

The Risk Society and Reflexive Modernization

From industrial society to risk society The passing of the problem of scarcity in modern industrial society:

As human society move from feudal and agrarian society to modern industrial society in the nineteenth century, one of the core social problems of human society, namely problem of scarcity, has gradually been contained if not resolved.

The emergence of the dominance of the scientific-technological rationality: The containment or even resolution to the problem of scarcity is mainly caused by the constitution of scientific rationality and the techno-economic development of the modern industrial society.


From industrial society to risk society “Risk may be defined as a systematic way of dealing with hazards

and insecurities induced and introduced by modernization itself.” (Beck, 1992, p. 21) According to the conventional wisdom of scientific-technological rationality, these risks are supposed to be predictable, calculable and manageable. However, as atomic accidents and environmental catastrophes frequent in ever growing scales in recent decades, the enterprise of calculation of risk, which bases on the scientific-technological rationality and modern legal institutions, has practically collapsed. (Beck, 1992, p. 22)


The five theses of risk society (Beck, 1992, p.22-24) To understand the nature of risk society, Ulrich Beck has

formulated it around five theses, which signify the salient features of risk and risk society in contrast to industrial or wealth society.


The five theses of risk society (Beck, 1992, p.22-24) 1. Risks differ essentially from wealth in the following aspects

Risks are irreversible harms to natural and/or social environments and human bodies and/or minds. As for wealth, it is transferable and entails socially desirable consequences.

Risks “generally remain invisible, are based on causal interpretations and thus initially only exist in terms of the (scientific or anti-scientific) knowledge about them.” (p. 23)

Risks “are particularly open to social definition and construction.” (p. 23)


The five theses of risk society 2. Distribution of wealth constitutes class positions and class society. I

t spawns the culture of perceptible or even visible inequality. Distribution of risk constitute risk positions (some social positions or localities are more exposable and thus vulnerable environmental harms). Hence, risk society espouses culture of inperceptible and indefinitive inequality of risk distribution.

Nevertheless, risks “contain a boomerang effect, which breaks up pattern of class and national society.” It is because “ecological disasters and atomic fallout ignore the borders of nations. Even the rich and powerful are not safe from them.” Hence, “risk society in this sense is a world risk society.” (p. 23)


The five theses of risk society

3. Risk society has one feature in common with wealth society, that is both are conform to “the logic of capitalism.” Both wealth accumulation and risk proliferation are “insatiable demands”. It is because human greed, which is the driving force of wealth accumulation, and convenience and comfort of modernized lives, which is the motor of risk proliferation, are “a bottomless barrel of demands, unsatisfiable, infinite, self producible.” (p. 23)


The five theses of risk society

4. “One can possess wealth, but one can only be afflicted by risks.” Furthermore risks are generally invisible and can only be causally interpreted. Therefore, risks are ascribed by our knowledge and more specifically level of environmental awareness and consciousness. As Beck bluntly but aptly put it “in class and stratification positions being determines consciousness, while in risk position consciousness determines being.” (p.23)


The five theses of risk society 5. In risk society, “socially recognized risks … contain a particular political

explosive: what was until now considered unpolitical becomes political ─the elimination of the causes in the industrialization process itself.” (p.24) One of the local example is the once unpolitical or even socially unrecognized factor, that is collective memories or common spaces have suddenly risen to prominence in policy of land use, such as the reclamation project of Wan Chai or more specifically the demolishment of the Queen’s Pier. Furthermore, the once most dominant theme in public policy discourse of HK, i.e. “economic development”, has been challenged by some seeming “illegitimate” discursive theme. “What thus emerges in risk society is the political potential of catastrophes. Averting and managing these can include a reorganization of power and authority. Risk society is a catastrophic society.” (p. 24)

Ecological Ethics and Ecocentrism

Anthropocentric ethics: It refers to the value system, which places human values as the predominant consideration. Accordingly, “anthropocentricism refers to the unjustified privileging human beings, as such, at the expense of other forms of life.” (Curry, 2006, p. 43) Ecocentrists argue that “all value is human, and that ethnics should therefore have human being as its principal or even sole focus: ‘Man never left centre stage, nature never has been, and never will be, recognized as autonomous.’ (Jordanova, 1987)” (Curry, 2006, 0. 42-43). It represents an orientation towards environment, which takes environment and nature as resources and utilities under the disposal of human progress.


Light green ethics and sustainable anthropocentrism:

It refers to the orientation towards utilization of environment which takes into consideration of sustainability. As an ethic system, it consists of “a very strong precautionary principle – that is, acting

cautiously. On the assumption that our knowledge of the effects of our action is always exceed by our ignorance;

a definition of ‘sustainability’ that rules out all practices except those that are indefinitely sustainable; and similarly,

a conviction that as much rather as little as possible of nature should be preserved intact.” (Curry, 2006, p. 48)


Mid-green ethnic and biocentrism: It refers to the value system, which take “life itself as value.” (Curry, 2006, p. 44) It represents “’an attitude of respect for nature’, To have this attitude …’is to regard the wild plants and animals of the Earth’s natural ecosystems as possessing inherent worth. That such creatures have inherent worth may be considered the fundamental value presupposition of the attitude of respect.” (Taylor, 1986, p. 71)” (Curry, 2006, 60-61)


Mid-green ethnic and biocentrism: Biocentrism can be characterized with the following believes. “Human are members of the community of life in the same sen

se, and on the same terms as, other living things. That community, of which humans are a part, consists of a sys

tem of interdependence comprising not only physical conditions, but also relations with other members.

Every such organism is a teleological centre of life, i.e., an individual pursuing its own kind of good (Greek telos=goal or end).

Human are not inherently superior to other organism.” (Taylor, 1986, quoted in Curry, 2006, p. 61)


Dark green ethics and ecocentrism: It refers to the value system which takes the holistic entities of the ecological system, both animate and nonliving element, as the principal concern. As an ecocentric ethics, it “must be able to satisfy at least these criteria:

It must be able to recognize the value and therefore support the ethical defense, of the integrity of species and of ecosystemic places, as well as human and non-human organism. So it is holistic, although not in the sense of necessarily excluding considerations of individual values.

Within nature-as-value, it must (a) allow for conflicts between the interests of human and non-human nature; (b) allow human interest, on occasion, to lose ( It is hardly a level playing-field otherwise). (Curry, 2006, p. 63)

Lecture 2

END

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MCL 6224 Issues in the Development of Liberal Studies Lecture 2 Development of the Curriculum Content of Liberal Studies in HKSAR Wing-kwong Tsang Ho Tim