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The first section of the landmark Equality Act 2010 has been lying dormant for 14 years. The ‘public sector duty regarding socio-economic inequalities’ – passed by the Labour government in 2010 – was never brought into force in England by the Conservative-led coalition that replaced them. The new Labour government has committed to its resurrection. Drawing on evidence from Scotland and Wales, where the ‘socio-economic duty’ has been in force since April 2018 and March 2021 respectively, this article offers three reflections for policy makers and those who will be tasked with its implementation in England: the promise of its ‘holistic’ incorporation into the Equality Act 2010 of impact assessment processes; the ongoing necessity for support with evidence collection and data sharing; and the duty’s potential as a catalyst for broader organisational change far beyond a strict interpretation of its legal remit. Although (very) far from a panacea, if coupled with well-executed guidance, training and oversight, its commencement could help to encourage greater consideration and transparency of evidence on socio-economic inequalities in key areas of public sector decision making.
To explore the complexity of household living conditions and their relation to electricity consumption, the socio-technical constellations they create for themselves and the perceived ease of saving electricity, we conducted a clustering analysis to categorise Norwegian participants in an electricity-saving programme based on environmental concerns, personal norms and socio-economic parameters. We also explored if the household clusters differed in perceived risk of energy poverty. A sample of 1,135 Norwegians participated in the study in 2023. A two-step cluster analysis resulted in five distinct clusters which we named: (1) older couples with moderate environmental concern; (2) eco-ease in midlife; (3) middle-aged females in medium-sized households; (4) growing families with moderate concerns; and (5) moderate advocates with adolescents. Analysis of variance indicated significant variations in mean scores of environmental concerns, access to energy appliances and perceived behavioural control implement energy-saving tips across clusters (p<0.01), but no difference in perceived risk of energy poverty. The results show that changes in the living situation, especially children moving out, seems to have strong effects on per capita electricity consumption, if the housing infrastructure is not adapted to the new family size. Lower environmental concern particularly impacts electricity consumption negatively in the time after children leave the household, and the same can be concluded for gender roles with females being more motivated to save electricity. Based on these results we recommend to more actively support these transitions of living situations, but also support existing sustainable energy use practices or connect electricity saving to other motivations (like supply security) for clusters where environmental concern is low.
This article uses Erich Fromm’s list of five fundamental human needs discussed in The Sane Society (1955) to critically explore the role of psychological needs and desires in the concerning resurgence of fascist and far-right movements globally and especially in the United States. First, the article addresses the hesitancy expressed by some activists and theorists about engaging psychology in relation to fascism. I critique the view that such psychological inquiry undermines structural critique of society. I demonstrate that unproductive and harmful attempts to meet human needs outlined by Fromm are contributing to fascist resurgence and also to the rise of the ‘fascistic’ mass shooter, who must be understood as both influenced by structural/political dynamics and by the personal attempt to resolve the ‘existential’ problems of human life described by Fromm.