scholarly journals There’s no such thing as a good Arab: Cultural essentialism and its functions concerning the integration of Arabs in Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 560-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke J Buhagiar ◽  
Gordon Sammut ◽  
Alessia Rochira ◽  
Sergio Salvatore
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Argumentative Strategies ◽  
The Public Sphere

Concerns about immigration are salient in the European Union and in Malta in particular. Previous research has demonstrated deep antipathy towards the Arab community in Malta, and social representations of Arabs are mired in a conflation of ethnic and religious categories with negative connotations. This paper presents evidence of the potency, within the public sphere, of negative arguments from cultural essentialism, concerning the integration of Arabs in Europe. The data were obtained abductively from a data corpus containing positive, mixed and negative arguments about Arabs and their integration. Results pointed towards the almost total exclusivity of arguments from cultural essentialism. These posited Arabic culture as an underlying essence that makes integration difficult or impossible. Different forms of culturally essentialist views varied in their emphasis of different aspects of cultural essentialism. Reductionist, determinist, delineatory and temporal aspects of cultural essentialism were all emphasised by respondents. The essentialist exceptions to negative arguments from cultural essentialism were rare and were posed tentatively by participants. Their paucity and manner of delivery substantiate the claim that it is strictly an Arabic cultural essence that is deemed to make integration impossible. Findings are discussed in light of the communicative functions that these dominant argumentative strategies fulfil.

scholarly journals European Populism: A Communicative Aspect

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Gennadiy Chernov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
European History ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Communicative Acts ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Eu

This paper deals with the growing populism movement in Europe. This movement is critical of the European Union and its certain economic and immigration policies. The studies dominant in the field look at different communicative aspects of these phenomena. They point at styles and rhetoric related to populism and failures of the pro-EU forces to communicate effectively why these policies are right and populist citizens are wrong.This paper argues that the problem is not in successes or failures of communication per se, but in shutting out many European citizens from the debate in the public sphere. Not finding reflections of the concerns in the media and policies, and having fewer options to relay their messages to elites perceived to be in power in the EU, these citizens become ‘populist citizens’, and they start voting for populist parties in growing numbers.The article concludes that studies of a communicative aspect of populism need not only discuss mediation, but the policies related to this mediation. Policies may be successful only when people accept them after a free debate. That is what was in the heart of the communicative acts in European history.

scholarly journals Początki kształtowania się reprezentacji społecznej zapożyczeń w sferze publicznej

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 29-41
Author(s):  
Piotr Zbróg
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
Methodological Basis ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Way

The beginnings of the shaping of social representations of borrowings in the public sphereThe article presents an initial phase of the process of shaping of social representations of borrowings. The aim was to obtain a view of the way in which participants of the public sphere talked about these elements of language, how they perceived them as well as what common sense image was created on this basis in the communication sphere and how it was modified. The first judgements and opinions on the matter of foreign words appeared around the 16th century and evolved from that moment. The theory of social representations developed by Serge Moscovici was applied as a theoretical and methodological basis of the description. Its research tools allow us to see the way in which societies construct meanings of matters important to them. On the basis of the analysis of the material it was established that from the beginning there were rather antagonistic elements of social representations of borrowings. The functionality of borrowings was noticed. Yet it was postulated that they should be eliminated from texts on account of the necessity to develop the native language, the incomprehensibility of statements as well as the excessive trend of foreignness.

scholarly journals A Review of the Halal Poultry Slaughtering from Welfare and Legal Perspectives: Analysis of Research Results

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 11-27
Author(s):  
Karrar Imad Abdulsahib Al-Shammari
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Animal Cruelty ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current Review ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Controversial Aspect

The subject of halal slaughtering is one of the most widely discussed issues of animal cruelty and animal welfare in the public sphere. The discrepancy in understanding the contemporary and religious laws pertaining to animal slaughtering does not fully publicize to Islamic and Muslim majority countries especially with respect to interpreting the use of stunning in animals. The electrical stunning is the cheapest, easiest, safest, and most suitable method for slaughtering that is widespread and developed. However, stunning on head of poultry before being slaughtered is a controversial aspect among the Islamic sects due to regulations of the European Union and some other countries. The current review highlights the instructions of halal slaughtering, legal legislation, and the effect of this global practice on poultry welfare and the quality of produced meat.

Battles of Ideas Between the Legal and the Legitimate

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Paula Castro ◽  
Sonia Brondi ◽  
Alberta Contarello
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Many

This chapter discusses how social psychology can offer theoretical contributions for a better understanding of the relations between the institutional and public spheres and how this may impact change in ecological matters. First, it introduces the difference between natural and agreed—or chosen—limits to human action and draws on Sophocles’s Antigone to illustrate this and discuss how legitimacy has roots in the many heterogeneous values of the public sphere/consensual universe, while legality arises from the institutional/reified sphere. Recalling some empirical research in the area of social studies of sustainability, it then shows how a social representations perspective can help us understand the dynamic and interdependent relations between the institutional or reified sphere and the consensual or common sense universe—and their implications for social change and continuity.

scholarly journals El papel de los medios online en epidemias sanitarias: una comparación de las esferas públicas de México y España / The Analysis of the Online Newspapers in Health Epidemics: A Comparison Between the Public Sphere of Mexico and Spain

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahia Idoiaga Mondragón
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Infected People ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Medios De Comunicacion

ABSTRACTThe 2009 swine flu was a pandemic influenza involving H1N1 virus. This paper studies how the mass media have treated this issue by analyzing the largest circulation newspapers in Mexico and Spain. According to the Collective Symbolic Coping, when an object enters the public sphere grabbing the attention of the media, the public adopts it and share a common understanding. 167 news of the two newspapers from April 2009 to August 2010 were analyzed. First, a positive correlation between the coverage of the outbreak and influenza-infected people was found. Second, a positive correlation between the coverage of the flu in Spain and the representation of health as a problem for the Spanish was also found. Third, an ALCESTE showed five main classes. Implications for research on social representations and media coverage as well as on strategies resulting from media discourse to cope with threatening health crisis are discussed.RESUMENLa gripe porcina de 2009 fue una pandemia de influenza del virus H1N1. Este trabajo estudia cómo los medios de comunicación han tratado esta cuestión mediante el análisis de los diarios de mayor circulación en México y España. Ba-sándonos en la teoría del Collective Symbolic  Coping,  cuando un fenómeno entra en la esfera pública el acaparandola atención de los medios de comunicación, la sociedad lo asume y comparte una definición común del mismo. Se analizaron 167 noticias de los dos periódicos El Universal y El País entre abril de 2009 y agosto de 2010. En primer lugar, se encontró una correlación positiva entre la cobertura del brote y los infectados de gripe. En segundo lugar, también se encontró una correlación positiva entre la cobertura de la gripe en España y la representación de la salud como un problema para el español. En tercer lugar, el software ALCESTE mostró cinco clases principales. Se discuten las implicaciones para la inves-tigación sobre las representaciones sociales y los medios de comunicación, así como las estrategias resultantes del discurso de los medios para hacer frente a la crisis que amenaza la salud.

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