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The interplay of stakeholders in the sustainable finance ecosystem:a European perspective
No full textThis chapter explores the intricate dynamics of stakeholder interactions within Europe's sustainable finance ecosystem, employing Stakeholder Salience Model (SSM) as a framework to assess the roles, power, legitimacy, and urgency of key actors. By critically examining institutional reports from prominent organisations, including the European Commission, European Investment Bank (EIB), and IOSCO, the chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of how these stakeholders influence the adoption and implementation of sustainable finance policies. Further, it identifies the underlying tensions, opportunities, and challenges that impact the realisation of sustainable finance objectives, including regulatory fragmentation, the prevalence of greenwashing, and the varying approaches of financial institutions towards Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) integration.The findings highlight that, despite significant efforts to align financial markets with sustainability goals, divergent stakeholder priorities and power imbalances create obstacles to achieving long-term, systemic change. Also, the findings reveal significant challenges, including regulatory fragmentation, greenwashing, and the diverging approaches of financial institutions. Thus, in alignment with the book’s theme (sustainable finance for society), this chapter underscores the necessity of cohesive regulatory frameworks and cross-stakeholder collaboration to overcome these barriers. It emphasises that sustainable finance serves as a catalyst for addressing pressing societal issues, including climate change, social equity, and ethical governance, through a more inclusive and transparent financial ecosystem. The chapter concludes by recommending further exploration of emerging trends, such as digital transformation in sustainable finance, grassroots movements’ influence, and the integration of non-financial indicators into investment decisions, which are vital for embedding societal benefits into financial practices
Perceived social norms and vaccine hesitancy
No full textVaccines are an important tool for preventing serious illness and avoiding deaths. Vaccine hesitancy, the delay or refusal of vaccines when available or offered, is one of the top 10 threats to global public health. The acceptance and uptake, delay, or refusal of vaccines has direct health implications for individuals, their close contacts, and indirectly for others in their environment and wider social networks. Vaccination uptake/hesitancy is the product of human decision-making and is influenced by various psychological and social factors, including perceived social norms. Individuals will often consider others’ vaccine-related attitudes and/or behaviors to guide their own decision-making. One potential way of reducing vaccine hesitancy is by changing people’s (mis)perceptions of these vaccine-related social norms through feedback interventions that highlight the actual vaccination norms (e.g., that most others would take a vaccine if offered). This article takes a social norms perspective toward understanding vaccine hesitancy, discusses how and why perceived social norms may be influential in hesitancy, and outlines ways psychological science can better understand the perceived social norms implicated in vaccine hesitancy
An investigation into the rise in domestic abuse reporting as result of English professional football fixtures.
No full textAs a nation of football lovers, we love to enjoy and celebrate football fixtures more than any other sports or any other country. As much as the football plays a vital role in sports entertainment for the whole nation, it poses some very serious challenges for the police in tackling domestic violence incidents, resulting directly from increased level of drunk and disorders. This article focuses on the hidden and under-researched area of the massive impact of football fixtures on domestic abuse cases. The article examines and discusses the contributing factors arising from football fixtures impacting to the increased number of reporting of domestic violence cases, such as, the whether, the scoreline, kick off time, the day of the match and alcohol intoxication levels. A mixed method approach has been applied to conduct in-depth literature review and secondary data analysis, to explore the facts and figures which reflect domestic abuse reporting to the police, before, during and after a game. Moreover, the article provides a deeper understanding as to why football has such a significant effect on domestic abuse in England. The overall analysis reflects on the FIFA World Cup, The UEFA European Championship and the English Premier League
Digital screens as teachers during the pandemic
No full textEarly in the pandemic, quantitative studies in the UK identified that the Government-enforced lockdowns may risk increasing inequalities based on gender, wealth, and social background. It was argued that the absence of formal education could have significant negative impacts on educational attainment for marginalised groups, in turn affecting social mobility among the young. Education during this period became increasingly digitalised as work was expected to be completed via the use of screens. This chapter explores the extent to which families used screens for teaching and learning during the pandemic. Interviews showed that for some, they welcomed the use of digital screens and used them as the schools intended, whereas others exercised more creativity and independence over the use and application of screens as a resource. Some families resisted the use of screen-based learning and chose non-digital approaches to support children’s education instead. Much of the existing literature is framed around the negative portrayal of the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic on young people’s education, including the learning loss and widening inequalities narratives; in contrast, this chapter offers alternative viewpoints and discusses a range of beneficial learning approaches experienced during lockdown
A thematic content analysis of male perspectives on the factors that shape societal expectations of the male form
No full textHow an individual thinks and feels about their body has a direct impact on health and wellbeing. Body-image pressures and body dissatisfaction is a growing issue among younger populations. However, more recently a need to focus on male populations has become self-evident, particularly in relation to perceptions of societal expectations. The present study used a thematic content analysis to examine male perceptions of body image, and how external factors, such as social media and social comparisons impact on behaviours and drive rhetoric. A total of 41 male participants responded to 16 open-ended questions via an online survey. Analysis revealed three overarching themes: The Unrealistic and Unachievable Norm, Perceptions of Others as the Disconnect Between the Self and Body-Image, and A Need to Redefine the Norm. Sub-themes provided insights into issues such as, unachievable physical standards, social pressures, toxic diet cultures and a need for more positive male role models regarding health and fitness among males. Implications regarding mental and physical health among males are discussed, highlighting the pitfalls of social media, and a need to redefine cultural norms surrounding male body image
'The best letters I've ever read!':Rediscovering / Re-editing T E Brown
No full textIn 1896, the poet T. E. Brown (1830-1897) described to his friend S. T. Irwin how he had had to endure a very rough ten-hour crossing from Liverpool to the Isle of Man. What sustained him through the journey was reading the Letters of Edward Fitzgerald (the ‘Omar Khayyam’ poet, whose letters were published in 1894). ‘I had a hard time of it, much alleviated, though, by Fitz, whom I read as long as daylight lasted . . . Blessings on Fitzgerald! How delightful he was! How he comforted me!’ Brown’s references to ‘delight’ and ‘comfort’ indicate an attitude to literary letters which is more aesthetic than biographical in orientation. That this was a prevailing taste, at least among Brown’s circle, is suggested by what happened when Brown himself died the following year. His influential friends who had greatly admired his letters immediately started making arrangements to have them published; and Irwin, as the appointed editor, seems to have taken the 1894 edition of Fitzgerald’s letters as a model. In his two-volume Letters of Thomas Edward Brown (1900) Irwin drastically cut many of the letters so that memorable passages of description or literary criticism were presented in isolation, with minimal notes or information about context. The intention was clearly to showcase Brown’s character, wisdom and erudition, rather than provide material for future biographers or editors. In this paper I will introduce T. E. Brown, and outline some of the problems that Irwin’s 1900 edition, which has never been superseded, presents for 21st century approaches to his writings. I will then go on to focus on the large collection of over 100 unpublished letters from Brown to the highly successful popular novelist Hall Caine (1853-1931), which are completely absent from Irwin because Caine refused access, but which can now be seen to be particularly interesting for the insights they give into Brown’s complex relationship with the younger writer and his efforts to influence him through his letters
