Living Together: Ethics and Social Justice

Abstract: The author reflects on ethical dilemmas he experienced in his research that explores the subjective experiences and attitudes of some young people and the staff working with them in the school in the northwest of England. He analyses some of the ethical issues he faced during the conduct of the research from the ways he obtains informed consent, provides the participants with anonymity and respects their confidentiality, protects them from possible harm and distress and the possible benefits for their participation in the research (Alderson & Morrow, 2011).

Abstract: Inadequate housing is subdivided in nature, which firstly emerged in 1841 when Hong Kong was a British colony. These housings are characterised as small, overcrowding and having poor living environments which threaten the health and well-being of residents. Over 200,000 low-income residents are currently living in these housing. Nearly half of the residents are applicants for public rental housing (PRH) but many of them are stuck on the waiting list. Another half are either non-applicants or ineligible for PRH. The affordable housing choice in the private rental sector is very minimal. These housings are almost their only alternative choice. The issue has drawn wide attention from the media, local NGOs, scholars and also the United Nations. Although different approaches have been taken for alleviating the plight of living in these housing, the effectiveness of the scheme is low. To better understand the situation of residents living in these housings and to find potential solutions to this housing issue, the research will adopt social harm perspective which emphasises investigating the full range of harm experiences, understanding the structural process and seeking policies which can address the root cause of the problem and all-encompassing nature.

Abstract: We are living in an era of rapid change that innovations speed up in the form of robots, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicles. Such technological innovations can improve the lives and safety of citizens based on the direction of the government. However, new science and technology policies aimed at fostering innovations may sometimes deepen injustice between privileged and underprivileged groups without any extensive investigation in advance. The estrangement or the enmity arising from such technologies as autonomous vehicles could end up producing social disorder and conflict due to deteriorated unemployment and shrinkage of industry development. In order to minimize this social unrest, it is essential to explore social justice and social acceptance before introducing a new science and technology policy in response to an innovation in the same manner as a company should examine consumer consciousness before commencing a new product development. Since most of the previous studies on autonomous vehicles have mainly focused on a consumer standpoint about technology acceptance model, few are on a social psychological approach. Therefore, this research is going to investigate the key variables such as social justice, utilitarian and social acceptance, intention to use and collective action by integrating a social viewpoint.