Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences最新文献

A well-functioned society depends on its ability to nurture, attract, and deploy talents in critical sectors. However, the implementation of some meritocratic principles to allocate positions often leads to unjust social hierarchies. Is there, then, a solution to meritocracy’s dysfunctional hierarchical effects? This paper attempts to answer this by drawing on the real-world cases of Singapore and the USA to investigate the relationship of toxic social hierarchies with meritocracy. It proposes three solutions to curb the unjustifiable social stratifications and the erosion of social cooperation often associated with social meritocracy. These reflections could help to shed light on the grounds for the ongoing debates on social hierarchies and provide valuable insights into how to weigh up existing socio-political structures.

Urban green areas are essential elements of cities and contribute to the quality of life in numerous ways by maintaining and regulating the environment. However, increased urbanization and development have placed urban green areas under extreme pressure, while unplanned urban growth has resulted in the loss of urban landscape and ecosystem. This study’s objective was the public perception on the role of urban green infrastructure and land use management. The 385 sample households were selected by using random sampling method. Descriptive and econometric analyses were used for analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data by using SPSS version 25. Among the major factors influencing the urban green infrastructure by respondents perception were education, income, family size, sex of respondent, marital status, type of employment, ownership of house, participation on public involvement, and frequency of visit to nearer planning which are significant variables in the model. Individuals visited the given green structure at least twice a week, and those not done it were 47.9% and 52.1%. The amount of individuals who visited it twice a week in positive perceivers was 64%, and the amount of those who have not done it was 36%. The Chi-square value of 10.9 was very big and telling us that the frequency of visit was determinant factor of perception. It is vital to keep in mind that while the built-up area and the agricultural areas are rising due to urbanization, the core-ecosystem land is being “eaten” as a result of the past and present land uses inside the administrative limits, as well as the services they provide. In the last 6 years, the rate at which the most precious ecosystems are disappearing has tripled. The population, which reflects the demand for these services and benefits, is still growing, putting more strain on the environment. The recommendations include: Public involvement in urban green space planning and development was determinant and core variable of the study. The government of the town administration should prepare the meeting. The result showed a high correlation between urban green planning and land use changes.

In their important book, Bell and Wang argue that hierarchies are here to stay, and the question moral philosophy should face is which hierarchies are morally condemnable and which are morally justifiable. They convincingly explain that hierarchies that contribute to social functioning and increase human well-being (often even benefitting those on the lower ranking of hierarchies) or hierarchies with a kind of fluid character and consist of mechanisms or rules that enable switching roles can be justified. In my paper, I wish to examine whether, according to their principles, informal and semi-formal hierarchies which are created by the market or by a firm, using an algorithm, can be justified. These hierarchies differ from the ones discussed by Bell and Wang in that they are not part of traditional or legal institutions or relationships. They are actually informal or semi-formal and are often created spontaneously by, or as a result of an aggregation of many individuals' economic exchanges. Sometimes they are publicized formally (e.g., a list of best sellers' authors, or when prizes are awarded) and sometimes they are simply a matter of the wisdom of the crowd. On the one hand hierarchies in markets are meant to (a) inform consumers and producers and (b) create a healthy competition, so, prima facie they help us and increase our well-being. In addition, they are meant to shift over time, as they depend on the quality of the producer and the product and their ability to compete with other, new, e.g., more technologically advanced, products. Therefore, on the face of it, these hierarchies could be justified according to Bell and Wang's theory. Nevertheless, I argue that there are other characteristics of these hierarchies which make them condemnable according to the theory and that the cons outweigh the pros. These are: (1) Market hierarchies are based on category mistakes; (2) Market hierarchies are likely to be deceptive—they might inform consumers but with deceptive and often irrelevant information; (3) Market hierarchies are not genuinely flexible and therefore work against the principle of shifting roles which Bell and Wang put forward.