Jon Anderson

An experimental survey was undertakento explore the links between thecharacteristics of a moral issue, the degree ofmoral intensity/moral imperative associatedwith the issue, and people'sstated willingness to pay for policy toaddress the issue. Two farm animal welfareissues were chosen for comparison and thecontingent valuation method was used to elicitpeople's wtp. The findings of the surveysuggest that increases in moral characteristicsdo appear to result in an increase in moralintensity and the degree of moral imperativeassociated with an issue. Moreover, there was apositive link between moral intensity/moralimperative associated with an issue andpeople's stated wtp for policy to address theissue. The paper discusses the relevance of thefindings of the survey in the context of thedebate concerning the relationship betweenmoral and economic values and the use of thecontingent valuation method to estimatepeople's wtp of policy options with moraldimensions

For over two decades, the ‘information revolution’ in the MiddleEast has been framed overwhelmingly in terms of media, more of it,and in comparisons to mass media – from the advent of any-to-anycommunication to ad hoc conceptualizations such as ‘crowd-sourcing’ or‘citizen journalism’ – that register the multiplication of voices, channelsand eroding boundaries in spheres of communication. The record hasexpanded more than conceptualizations of its sociologies in media andcommunications studies. It’s time for other questions that elicit additionaland more basic features of Internet practices from choices that shapeindividual repertoires and participation to continuities between usersand producers to how actual practices scale up, which actually link microand macro processes. To elicit these broader sociologies, and movebeyond the limited social physics of ‘impact’ of the Internet on culture andlifestyles, I draw on the related sociologies of reference group and networktheory, on Science-Technology-Society studies and sociolinguistics tobring disruption of existing institutions, on the one hand, and cooptationby them, on the other, into more unified theory of the play of informationrevolution in culture and lifestyles on the Internet.

This paper explores what happens to the identity of self when entering a place of protest, and what happens to it on leaving. In short, it explores the relations between identities of self and place. Acknowledging the presence of a multiplicity of identities in relation to both notions, it examines the ways in which aspects of the self influence place, and conversely, how aspects of place influence the self. By using empirical examples from Environmental Direct Action, the paper follows Casey in arguing for the co-constitution of self- and place-identities. It offers two notions: the spatial division of self-identity, and the rhizomatic self, to further understanding of how the where effects whom we are

Modern information technologies, beginning with the fax and audiocassettes but now exemplified in satellite television and the Internet, have opened the public discourse of Islam to new voices and, more subtlely, to new practices. While media-savvy militants draw the attention of outside observers, a quieter drama is unfolding. Pious middle classes are extending conventional patterns of seeking out religious guidance into new channels, particularly the Internet; the continuous search for role models and reference groups is meeting increasingly modern ways of providing those - namely, media and increasingly media that target specific needs of growing middle classes. These range from religious instructional material for children to be used by parents to religious advice columnists, both conventional and contemporary to sermons to selections of news. Once 'private' discourses are on public display, and this public world of Islam is decidedly intimate. Where scholars of print note an officialization of discourse that moves into that medium, and programmatic 'islamizers' of knowledge, politics, etc. generally pursue entextualization strategies, electronic communication is moving Islam into the marketplace and aligning its practices, both metaphorically in the sense that the range of public choice and alternatives expands and literally in the rise of businesses to service these demands