National Identities and Nation-building

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
Nils Holtug
Keyword(s):  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Multicultural Community ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This chapter demonstrates just how preoccupied contemporary liberal democracies are with the impact of immigration on social cohesion, and how they have responded to such concerns with nation-building policies and an emphasis on shared values. More specifically, four country cases are considered, namely Canada, Denmark, France, and the UK. Similarities and differences in how they have responded to concerns about diversity and social cohesion are explained. These responses invoke nation-building, relying to various degrees on nationalist, liberal, republican, and multicultural community conceptions, that is, conceptions of the social basis for intergroup relations and cooperation.

The Politics of Social Cohesion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Holtug
Keyword(s):  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Unity ◽  
The Impact

In contemporary liberal democracies, it is difficult to find a policy issue as divisive as immigration. A common worry is that immigration poses a threat to social cohesion, and so to the social unity that underpins cooperation, stable democratic institutions, and a robust welfare state. At the heart of this worry is the suggestion that social cohesion requires a shared identity at the societal level. The Politics of Social Cohesion considers in greater detail the impact of immigration on social cohesion and egalitarian redistribution. First, it critically scrutinizes an influential argument, according to which immigration leads to ethnic diversity, which again tends to undermine trust and solidarity and so the social basis for redistribution. According to this argument, immigration should be severely restricted. Second, it considers the suggestion that, in response to worries about immigration, states should promote a shared identity to foster social cohesion in the citizenry. It is argued that the effects of immigration on social cohesion do not need to compromise social justice and that core principles of liberty and equality not only form the normative basis for just policies of immigration and integration, as a matter of empirical fact, they are also the values that, if shared, are most likely to produce the social cohesion among community members providing the social basis for implementing justice. This argument draws heavily on both normative political philosophy and empirical social science. The normative framework defended is cosmopolitan, liberal egalitarian, and to some extent multicultural.

scholarly journals Migration infrastructures and the production of migrants’ irregularity in Japan and the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nando Sigona ◽  
Jotaro Kato ◽  
Irina Kuznetsova
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Legal Violence ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
Access And Quality ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe article examines the migration infrastructures and pathways through which migrants move into, through and out of irregular status in Japan and the UK and how these infrastructures uniquely shape their migrant experiences of irregularity at key stages of their migration projects.Our analysis brings together two bodies of migration scholarship, namely critical work on the social and legal production of illegality and the impact of legal violence on the lives of immigrants with precarious legal status, and on the role of migration infrastructures in shaping mobility pathways.Drawing upon in-depth qualitative interviews with irregular and precarious migrants in Japan and the UK collected over a ten-year period, this article develops a three-pronged analysis of the infrastructures of irregularity, focusing on infrastructures of entry, settlement and exit, casting a comparative light on the mechanisms that produce precarious and expendable migrant lives in relation to access to labour and labour conditions, access and quality of housing and law enforcement, and how migrants adapt, cope, resist or eventually are overpowered by them.

scholarly journals The Social Practices of Food Bank Volunteer Work

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Richard Philip Lee ◽  
Caroline Coulson ◽  
Kate Hackett
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Food Aid ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Food Bank ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Public Health Crisis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

The on-going rise in demand experienced by voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) providing emergency food aid has been described as a sign of a social and public health crisis in the UK (Loopstra, 2018; Lambie-Mumford, 2019), compounded since 2020 by the impact of (and responses to) Covid 19 (Power et al., 2020). In this article we adopted a social practice approach to understanding the work of food bank volunteering. We identify how ‘helping others’, ‘deploying coping strategies’ and ‘creating atmospheres’ are key specific (and connected) forms of shared social practice. Further, these practices are sometimes suffused by faith-based practice. The analysis offers insights into how such spaces of care and encounter (Williams et al., 2016; Cloke et al., 2017) function, considers the implications for these distinctive organisational forms (the growth of which has been subject to justified critique) and suggests avenues for future research.

Socio-Technical Systems and Knowledge Representation

2009 ◽  
pp. 558-574
Author(s):  
Ivan Launders
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Technical System ◽  
System Architectures ◽  
High Dependency ◽  
The Social ◽  
Technical Systems ◽  
Uk National Health Service ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
System Knowledge

The UK National Health Service (NHS) provides the opportunity to undertake local socio-technical system design to help staff maximize the opportunities of using mobile technology whilst minimizing the impact of change to existing patient systems. A real-world example from a local NHS socio-technical system is considered, that contains a collection of mobile clinicians and technology which provides home care to patients. The success of the Mobile NHS service has a high dependency upon the social aspects of the solution and draws upon a combination of people, resources, technology and economic events. This chapter considers multiagent system architectures, to model social complexity, and capture system knowledge, and then outlines a prototyping technique as a means of implementing and testing the design model. It concludes that the practice of implementing a prototype ontology provides a valuable step in clarifying meaning and understanding of concepts at the outset.

Social distancing in a social therapy environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 113-127
Author(s):  
Geraldine Ann Akerman ◽  
Emily Jones ◽  
Harry Talbot ◽  
Gemma Grahame-Wright
Keyword(s):  
Social Isolation ◽  
Current Practice ◽  
Social Therapy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Emotional Environment ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a prison-based therapeutic community (TC). Design/methodology/approach The paper takes the form of a case study where the authors reflect on their current practice, using the findings of research on social isolation and the overarching TC principles to explore the effect of the pandemic on the TC at HMP Grendon. The authors consider how the residents and staff adjusted to the change as the parameters changed when the social distancing rules were imposed and how they adapted to the prolonged break to therapy. Sections in the paper were written by a resident and an operational member of staff. The authors conclude with their thoughts on how to manage the consequences the lockdown has brought and start to think about what returning to “normality” might mean. Findings The paper describes the adjustments made by the residents and staff as the UK Government imposed the lockdown. The authors, including a resident and an operational member of staff comment on the psychological and practical impact these adjustments had. The thought is given to the idea of “recovery”, returning to “normality” and how this study can be best managed once restrictions are lifted. Research limitations/implications At the time of writing, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at HMP Grendon. The measures and commitment from all staff and residents in the prison to keep the prison environment safe may in part account for this. This paper explores the effects of lockdown on the emotional environment in a TC and highlights the consequences that social isolation can have on any individual. To the authors’ knowledge, there is currently no research undertaken on the impact of lockdown/social isolation on a TC. This research would be useful, as the authors postulate from reflections on current practice that the effects of the lockdown will be greater in a social therapy environment. Originality/value HMP Grendon started in 1962, as this time there have been no significant events that have meant the suspension of therapy for such a sustained period. It is, therefore, important that the impact of such is considered and reflected upon.

Sustainable Communities: Affordable Housing and Socio-economic Relations

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vida Maliene ◽  
Joseph Howe ◽  
Naglis Malys
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Sustainable Communities ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Sustainable Housing ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Existing Housing

Recent UK government objectives are focused on creating sustainable communities to improve quality of life. Housing is a key issue to consider in delivering healthy and attractive communities. In certain areas of housing, lack of supply and consequent problems of affordability have created persistent social and economic pressure. For sustainable communities, housing should be easily available, high-quality, economic, ecological, aesthetically designed and comfortable, thus better suiting the needs of a person. Moreover, the housing must be affordable according to the local and national situation. This article addresses the issue of sustainable communities from the perspectives of housing markets and socio-economics. The study focuses on key factors that are believed to contribute to the currently existing housing situation, assessing the impact of regulated socio-economics upon the sustainable housing and communities. The study also reviews past and current government initiatives and policies relevant to housing and regeneration in the UK. The article finishes with the interview-based study carried out in the Northwest with a reflection on the notion of the sustainable communities plan and its eight key components, the housing market and its dependence on the economic, the social and political environment and it offers recommendations for the further sustainable communities' development within the UK.

The Political Ecology of Colonial Somaliland

Africa ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jama Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Ecological Change ◽  
Ecological Degradation ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
Real Price ◽  
The Social ◽  
Imperial Politics ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe social basis of ecological change in Somaliland during the colonial period was politics, especially imperial politics: the division of the Somali country into various colonial spheres, the loss of territory under the 1897 Anglo‐Ethiopian Treaty, and the pacification wars. These events, as it were, reduced the land available for use by the pastoralists, which led to overgrazing, soil erosion and ecological degradation. Moreover, the income of the population declined throughout the colonial period. Even though during the late colonial period the ‘nominal’ price of pastoral goods increased, the ‘real’ price of pastoral commodities did not increase to cover the loss of income caused by inflation and the high cost of imported goods. These two processes—on the one hand ecological degradation and on the other the decline of income—could be understood if they were read contrapuntally. Such reading is possible only if we give full attention to political ecology: why ecology had changed, the politics of that change, and the impact it had on the income and everyday life of the population.

scholarly journals The effectiveness of social bubbles as part of a Covid-19 lockdown exit strategy, a modelling study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trystan Leng ◽  
Connor White ◽  
Joe Hilton ◽  
Adam Kucharski ◽  
Lorenzo Pellis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproduction Number ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Exit Strategy ◽  
Epidemic Threshold ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Base Case Scenario ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Epidemic Risk

AbstractBackgroundDuring the Covid-19 lockdown, contact clustering in social bubbles may allow extending contacts beyond the household at minimal additional risk and hence has been considered as part of modified lockdown policy or a gradual lockdown exit strategy. We estimated the impact of such strategies on epidemic and mortality risk using the UK as a case study.MethodsWe used an individual based model for a synthetic population similar to the UK, that is stratified into transmission risks from the community, within the household and from other households in the same social bubble. The base case considers a situation where non-essential shops and schools are closed, the secondary household attack rate is 20% and the initial reproduction number is 0.8. We simulate a number of strategies including variations of social bubbles, i.e. the forming of exclusive pairs of households, for particular subsets of households (households including children and single occupancy households), as well as for all households. We test the sensitivity of the results to a range of alternative model assumptions and parameters.ResultsClustering contacts outside the household into exclusive social bubbles is an effective strategy of increasing contacts while limiting some of the associated increase in epidemic risk. In the base case scenario social bubbles reduced cases and fatalities by 17% compared to an unclustered increase of contacts. We find that if all households were to form social bubbles the reproduction number would likely increase to 1.1 and therefore beyond the epidemic threshold of one. However, strategies that allow households with young children or single occupancy households to form social bubbles only increased the reproduction number by less than 10%. The corresponding increase in morbidity and mortality is proportional to the increase in the epidemic risk but is largely focussed in older adults independently of whether these are included in the social bubbles.ConclusionsSocial bubbles can be an effective way of extending contacts beyond the household limiting the increase in epidemic risk, if managed appropriately.

scholarly journals Diversity in the Maps of a Lisbon Neighbourhood: Community and ‘Official’ Discourses about the Renewed Mouraria

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonor Bettencourt ◽  
Paula Castro
Keyword(s):  
Rehabilitation Program ◽  
Place Identity ◽  
City Council ◽  
Community Identity ◽  
Construction Identitaire ◽  
Multicultural Community ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Urban Rehabilitation

The neighbourhood of Mouraria in the center of Lisbon is today home to three main groups of residents: traditional residents, new gentrifiers, and immigrants. This diversity is simultaneously a strength of and a threat to its social cohesion and its current urban rehabilitation process, undertaken by the City Council of Lisbon (CCL). This study has three main goals: 1) to analyze how the ‘community identity’ maps of the neighbourhood are constructed by residents’ discourse; 2) to analyze how the ‘official’ cultural map of the neighbourhood is constructed in the discourses of the press and the CCL; and 3) to compare the ‘official’ and the ‘community’ maps. In drafting the ‘community’ maps, 22 interviews were conducted with traditional residents (14), new gentrifiers (6), and immigrants (2). The ‘official’ cultural map was re-constructed through a press analysis (four articles from two reference newspapers: Público, 2014; Expresso, 2013) and an in-depth interview with the coordinator of the CCL office in Mouraria. Findings show that the rehabilitation program is represented in the ‘official’ discourse in a more positive way than in residents’ discourses. The main divergence concerns the targets of the intervention. However, in both discourses there is agreement regarding the social problems of Mouraria. The stories of the past told by traditional residents, although mentioning the loss of the traditional character of Mouraria, show the importance of public spaces for place attachment and place identity. The discourses of new residents highlight the role of places in building connections between past and present, and in helping maintain a sense of continuity. We discuss the importance of community identity mapping in understanding the ‘battle of ideas’ around urban rehabilitation and the impact that different perspectives can have. The study can be a source of information for decision-makers, helping strengthen the communication bridge between them and the community.Keywords: community identity maps, official cultural map, place relations, multicultural community, rehabilitated neighbourhood Résumé: Le quartier de Mouraria au coeur de Lisbonne est aujourd’hui habité par des habitants provenant de trois catégories sociales, soit : la population traditionnelle du quartier, les populations gentrifiées et les migrants. Cette diversité est à la fois une opportunité et un défi au processus de régénération urbaine développé par le Conseil de la ville de Lisbonne (CVL). Cette étude a trois objectifs: 1) comprendre l’identité communautaire et en faire une cartographie à partir des discours des différents résidents; 2) analyser comment la cartographie culturelle opérée par la presse et le CVL; 3) comparer les deux cartographies, soit la cartographie officielle et celle des résidents. Pour les fins de cette recherche, la cartographie des résidents a été produite à partir de 22 entrevues, dont 14 entrevues réalisées auprès de residents dits traditionnels, six entrevues auprès des populations gentrifiées et deux entrevues ont été conduites auprès de migrants habitant le quartier. Pour sa part, la carte officielle a été réalisée par le biais d’une analyse presse (soit quatre articles provenant de Público, 2014; Expresso, 2013) et à partir d’une entrevue en profondeur réalisée auprès du coordonnateur du projet de revitalisation de Mouraria du CVL. Les résultats de cette enquête illustrent que la representation officielle du projet est de loin plus positive que celle exprimée par les résidents. Les principals différences de perception se situent au niveau des objectifs du programme de revitalisation, bien que les deux discours reconnaissent les problèmes sociaux du quartier. Les discours des résidents traditionnels mettent en évidence un attachement mémoriel pour le passé, mais il illustre également l’importance de l’espace public dans les processus de construction identitaire. Pour sa part, le discours des nouveaux résidents met en relief l’importance du passé et du présent ainsi que la nécessité de préserver une certaine continuité dans cette ligne du temps du quartier. Cet article met en débat l’importance du conflit des représentations en contexte de régénération urbaine et les conclusions ouvrent sur des constats d’une grande utilité pour les praticiens du domaine.Mots clé: carte d’identité de la collectivité, carte culturelle officielle, relations entre des endroits, communauté multiculturelle, voisinage restauré

scholarly journals The UK out, Social Europe in? Rethinking EU social integration in the wake of Brexit

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-310
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Alexandris Polomarkakis
Keyword(s):  
Social Integration ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Social Europe

This article considers the impact of Brexit on the future of Social Europe. Through recourse to key moments in the history of European social integration, where Britain more often than not vehemently opposed any coming together, its role as an important veto player in EU social policy-making is established. With the UK set to leave the Union, the option for further social integration is no longer inconceivable. It is featured as one of the possible scenarios in the Reflection Paper on the Social Dimension of Europe, and recent developments, such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, together with its accompanying initiatives, appear to lay the groundwork towards that. The article concludes that, although the realisation of Social Europe is more likely post-Brexit, there are other Member States willing to take over the UK’s role and act as veto players on their own terms.

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