scholarly journals “A Moment of Science, Please”: Activism, Community, and Humor at the March for Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 46-57
Author(s):  
Hauke Riesch ◽  
Photini Vrikki ◽  
Neil Stephens ◽  
Jamie Lewis ◽  
Olwenn Martin
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
Alternative Facts

In April 2017, scientists and science sympathizers held marches in the United Kingdom as part of a coordinated international March for Science movement that was held in over 600 cities worldwide. This article reports from participant-observation studies of the marches that took place in London and Cardiff. Supplemented with data from 37 interviews from marchers at the London event, the article reports on an analysis of the placards, focusing on marchers’ concerns and the language and images through which they expressed those concerns. How did the protesters articulate their concerns and objectives, and how were these articulations used to build a community? The placards did not represent a clear, focused, and unifying message; they instead illustrated disparate concerns ranging from human-induced climate change, Trump and “alternative facts,” and local UK specific political issues concerning the country’s exit from the European Union. Our analysis shows that placards gave a playful and whimsical character to the march, with slogans displaying significant amounts (and moments) of humor, often formulated through insider jokes, scientific puns, or self-deprecating appropriation of negative stereotypes about scientists. We analyze the march through the social movement literature and as a collective identity-building exercise for an (emergent) community of scientists and sympathizers with long-term aims of establishing a louder voice for scientists, and experts, in public discourse.

What Kind of Ireland?

2021 ◽  
pp. xviii-20
Author(s):  
Niamh Hardiman ◽  
David M. Farrell ◽  
Eoin Carolan ◽  
John Coakley ◽  
Aidan Regan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
Electoral Mobilization ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

Modern Ireland is a relatively wealthy and politically stable democracy, but it bears the deep marks of its route to this point. This introductory chapter draws together some key themes that run through this volume and profiles the core contributions of each of its chapters. The overall story is one of contradictory influences. The political institutions of the state, notwithstanding much innovation over time, retain a bias toward a remarkably strong executive. The long-standing weaknesses of social democratic electoral mobilization both reflect and reinforce a conservative and market-oriented tilt in policy priorities. The ideas that animate public discourse show a creative but sometimes problematic tension between republican and communitarian ideals on the one hand, and liberal ideas and values on the other. Ireland has assumed a confident role on the world stage and especially within the European Union (EU), but relations with its nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom, can often be problematic, not least because of the complexity of the politics of Northern Ireland. And while on many measures Ireland is among the wealthiest of the EU member states, this is not the lived reality for a great many of its citizens, and the nuances of why this is so need to be carefully assessed. Overall, this introductory chapter offers an overview of the whole Handbook while also making an original contribution in its own right.

scholarly journals Ethiopian and Eritrean Immigrants in Britain

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Campbell ◽  
Solomon Afework
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
Immigrant Settlement ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Refugee Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Aspects

This paper explores key aspects of the immigrant experience of 50,000-plus Ethiopians and Eritreans who live in the United Kingdom. We seek to understand the extent to which immigrant life in the UK has acted ‘as a kind of pivot’ between integrating in their country of settlement and enduring forms of connection with their country of origin. This question is explored by an examination of immigrant organising in the UK – in Refugee Community Organisations – and through interviews about their life in the UK and evolving ideas about self-identity. We argue for an open-ended approach to understand immigrants which sidesteps assumptions about forms of collective identity and which asks how the social and policy context has affected immigrant settlement and integration in the UK.

The Importance of Convention Status: A Case Study of the UK

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Bloch
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Social And Economic Rights

Convention status accords refugees social and economic rights and security of residence in European countries of asylum. However, the trend in Europe has been to prevent asylum seekers reaching its borders, to reduce the rights of asylum seekers in countries of asylum and to use temporary protection as a means of circumventing the responsibility of long-term resettlement. This paper will provide a case study of the United Kingdom. It will examine the social and economic rights afforded to different statuses in the areas of social security, housing, employment and family reunion. It will explore the interaction of social and economic rights and security of residence on the experiences of those seeking protection. Drawing on responses to the crisis in Kosovo and on data from a survey of 180 refugees and asylum seekers in London it will show the importance of Convention status and the rights and security the status brings.

Discourse and Democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 233-261
Author(s):  
Chris Heffer
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Common Theme ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Voter Fraud

This chapter summarizes the main analytical moves in the TRUST heuristic for analyzing untruthfulness. It then applies the heuristic to three short texts that have been widely called out as lies: Trump’s tweet about large-scale voter fraud just before the 2016 presidential elections; the “Brexit Battle Bus” claim that the United Kingdom sent £350 million per week to the European Union; and Tony Blair’s 2002 statement to Parliament about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction. The cases share a common theme: the capacity of untruthful public discourse to undermine democratic legitimacy by, respectively, questioning the integrity of electoral procedures, harming the capacity of voters to make a rational choice, and undermining faith in the rational and responsible deliberation of one’s leaders. The chapter troubles the simple attribution of lying in these cases and shows how a TRUST analysis can lead to a deeper understanding of the types and ethical value of untruthfulness.

11. The United Kingdom: Towards a Parting of the Ways

2020 ◽  
pp. 257-279
Author(s):  
Anand Menon ◽  
Luigi Scazzieri
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
The Uk

This chapter examines the history of the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European integration process. The chapter dissects the long-term trends in public opinion and the more contingent, short-term factors that led to the referendum vote to leave the European Union. The UK was a late joiner and therefore unable to shape the early institutional development of the EEC. British political parties and public opinion were always ambiguous about membership and increasingly Eurosceptic from the early 1990s. Yet the UK had a significant impact on the EU’s development, in the development of the single market programme and eastward enlargement. If Brexit goes through, Britain will nevertheless maintain relations with the EU in all policy areas from agriculture to energy and foreign policy. Europeanization will remain a useful theoretical tool to analyse EU–UK relations even if the UK leaves the Union.

SOCIAL RIGHTS OF THE POLES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AFTER BREXIT

2020 ◽  
Vol 556 (7) ◽  
pp. 12-17
Author(s):  
Paweł Kaleta
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social

Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union (Brexit) has definitely been bringing various consequences in the field of social security. It is therefore worthwhile to analyse it from the point of view of the social rights of Poles residing in the United Kingdom (as well as, in a comparative and auxiliary manner, of the British residing in Poland), following the formal conclusion of the withdrawal. The article therefore synthetically presents this current, post-Brexit situation, taking into account the ongoing transition period as well as the perspective of negotiations on the possible agreement(s) on future EU-UK relations. Notably, the rights in question have been preserved in the transition period, but their status afterwards remains open.

Women, Migration and Social Work

Affilia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
International Labor ◽  
The Social ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
International Labor Mobility ◽  
The Eu

Recent events in the United Kingdom have implications for the migration of women. Migrant women feature significantly in the staffing of the National Health Service and the social care sector, both currently under economic and political pressure. International labor mobility is also evident in the social work profession, though transnational social workers constitute only a very small proportion of the workforce. The recent vote to leave the European Union (EU) raises questions about the trend from recruitment of social workers from English-speaking countries to those from the EU. The role of social workers in relation to migrants is considered.

scholarly journals Terms of Engagement: Re-Defining Identity and Infertility On-line

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elzbieta Korolczuk
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Specific Element ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sick People ◽  
Digital Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
On Line ◽  
Identity Based

This article focuses on the identity work that takes place on the biggest Polish Internet forum for infertile people (www.nasz-bocian.pl). It is an example of a wider trend of “digital groupings created by and for those who struggle with the physical and emotional burden of a disease or disability, and through blogs, chats and forums contact others who have similar experiences, while staying anonymous. Participating in on-line discussions often leads to various forms of social engagement, both on-line and off-line. The sick, their family members, partners and friends cooperate in order to change the public discourse, as well as the regulation and financing of research and the treatment of certain diseases. Emergence and proliferation of such digital groupings raise questions such as: what ails these communities? How the collective identity is constructed on-line? This article examines “boundary work, which is a specific element of collective identity construction processes. The analysis concerns how the borders are established between the different sub-groups within the digital community, and how this process involves producing novel forms of identity based on a fragmented “socially legitimized childlessness. It focuses on a sub-forum” Conscious Childlessness and is based on qualitative analysis of the posts placed there. This sub-forum was established by users who do not necessarily share the dominant collective identity around which the social mobilization on infertility in Poland coalesces. They refuse to see themselves as sick people, or as patients, attempting to construct a new collective identity based on the idea of choice and the pursuit of happiness.

scholarly journals Ketika Agama dan Masyarakat Digital Menjadi Senjata Baru Propagada Politik

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 347
Author(s):  
Safutra Rantona ◽  
Asmaul Husna
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Major Axis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Virtual Spaces ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Religious Social Movements ◽  
The Relationship

Nineteen months have passed, but the action of the political religious social movements which born post religious sacrilege case on Elections Jakarta turned out to be far from over. The movement originally was a step of consolidation in order to evoke the political consciousness of Muslims, now began to be infiltrated by other groups with particular interests. These interest groups considered to sharpen the conflict and cause the political noise never ended across this country. This article try to expose how the social-political issues played massif and structured in virtual spaces by interest groups in order to form the force and gained the power of politics. And how the relationship between religion, state, and people are pitted in order that the collective identity look sharper. So no wonder that the people of Indonesia now seems to have split in two major axis, Religious versus Nationalist.Sembilan belas bulan telah berlalu, namun aksi dari gerakan sosial politik religius yang lahir pasca kasus penistaan agama pada Pilkada DKI Jakarta ternyata belumlah usai. Gerakan yang semula merupakan sebuah langkah konsolidasi guna membangkitkan kesadaran politik umat islam, kini mulai ditunggangi oleh kelompok lain dengan kepentingan tertentu. Kelompok kepentingan inilah yang ditengarai memperkeruh konflik dan menyebabkan kegaduhan politik tak kunjung usai di seantero negeri. Artikel ini mencoba memaparkan bagaimana isu-isu sosial politik kemudian dimainkan secara massif dan terstruktur dalam ruang-ruang virtual oleh kelompok kepentingan guna membentuk kekuatan politik dan demi meraih kekuasaan. Serta bagaimana relasi antara agama, rakyat, dan negara dibenturkan agar identitas kolektif terlihat lebih tajam. Maka tak heran jika kini rakyat Indonesia seolah telah terpropaganda dan terbelah dalam dua poros besar, Agamis dan Nasionalis.

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