Moral economies of exclusion: politics of fear through antagonistic anonymity

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Søren Mosgaard Andreasen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Extreme Right ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Moral Economies ◽  
Politics Of Fear

This article examines the discourse-technical means through which illiberal political logics are legitimised in constructions of xenophobic populism by a ‘prominent’ Norwegian extreme-right organisation, Human Rights Service (HRS). I argue that recent HRS publications featuring six secretly shot photos of Muslims in the Norwegian public sphere engender a moral economy of exclusion in which Muslims consistently are produced as an anonymous yet ubiquitously present threat to liberal democratic and human rights values. Within this framework, micro-humiliating performances against the ‘Muslim other’ are constituted and encouraged as a necessary, morally justified defence of democratic virtues to ensure the existence of a vulnerable majority self. I claim that the HRS circulation of constructions of faceless, yet easily recognisable, categories of designated ‘enemy others’ as a threat to the liberal democratic ethos can ultimately be understood as a hegemonic intervention to push anti-Muslim illiberalism from the fringes towards the dominant cultural outlook. <disp-quote>He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee. <attrib>(<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="CIT0034">Nietzsche, 1989[1886]</xref>: 157)</attrib></disp-quote>

Environmentalists, Nuclear Waste, and the Politics of Passive Exclusion in Germany

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 43-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Hunold
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
The State ◽  
Radioactive Wastes ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Ecological Democracy ◽  
Over Time

In this essay I examine the dispute between the German GreenParty and some of the country’s environmental nongovernmentalorganizations (NGOs) over the March 2001 renewal of rail shipmentsof highly radioactive wastes to Gorleben. My purpose indoing so is to test John Dryzek’s 1996 claim that environmentalistsought to beware of what they wish for concerning inclusion in theliberal democratic state. Inclusion on the wrong terms, arguesDryzek, may prove detrimental to the goals of greening and democratizingpublic policy because such inclusion may compromise thesurvival of a green public sphere that is vital to both. Prospects forecological democracy, understood in terms of strong ecologicalmodernization here, depend on historically conditioned relationshipsbetween the state and the environmental movement that fosterthe emergence and persistence over time of such a public sphere.

Moral economy of flexible production: Fabricating precarity between the conveyor belt and the household

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitra Kofti
Keyword(s):  
Employment Status ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Conveyor Belt ◽  
Flexible Production ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Production Site ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
Moral Economies ◽  
Moral Frameworks

In this article I discuss some of the theoretical implications of adopting moral economy as an approach to analysing new forms of flexible production and work. Despite a growing interest in the anthropology of precarity and work, the linkages between political and moral economies have been relatively neglected. By discussing E.P. Thompson’s approach to moral economy as well as ways moral economy has been discussed in anthropology, the article argues it is a timely and encompassing approach for the study of flexible work and precarity, as well as compliance and resistance to inequality. A nexus of diverse moral frameworks of value converge at the production site and back home, contributing to the reproduction of precarity and capital under flexible forms of accumulation. The article suggests that moral economy may offer an encompassing approach to studying individual ideas and practices and their relation with collective moral frameworks and confinements and to exploring change and change potential. It draws from an ethnography based on long-term fieldwork in a privatized factory in Bulgaria, in the context of radical economic transformations and privatization projects. It scrutinizes solidarities, tensions and inequalities developed around the conveyor belt, with a particular focus on gender and employment status inequalities and their intertwinement with managerial and household practices.

scholarly journals Religion and Education in Romania: Social Mobilization and the “Shadow” of the European Court of Human Rights

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (S1) ◽  
pp. S79-S102
Author(s):  
Mihai Popa ◽  
Liviu Andreescu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
Social Mobilization ◽  
European Court

AbstractIn this article, we discuss the relation between the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and its jurisprudence and social mobilizations around the place of religion in the society. We focus on the struggles to define the intersection of religion and public education in Romania after the fall of communism. We show that secularist and counter-secularist civil society activists contending for the place of religion in public education in this country have made strategic use of the ECtHR and its case law, both in legal battles and in debates within the national public sphere. We argue that, since references to the ECtHR and its jurisprudence can be used in discursive battles as a form of symbolic “capital”, the strategies of mobilizing actors are at times more important than the strict doctrinal content of the ECtHR's judgments for understanding if and how the ECtHR's “shadow” is cast over religion-related mobilizations.

Transnational moral economies: The value of monetary and social remittances in transnational families

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 760-777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cinzia D Solari
Keyword(s):  
Moral Economy ◽  
State Building ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Migrant Children ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Social Remittances ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Moral Economies ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Building Project

Although migration scholars have called for studying both ends of migration, few studies have empirically done so. In this article the author analyzes ethnographic data conducted with migrant careworkers in Italy, many undocumented, and their non-migrant children in Ukraine to uncover the meanings they assign to monetary and also social remittances defined as the transfer of ideas, behaviors, and values between sending and receiving countries. The author argues that migrants and non-migrant children within transnational families produce a transnational moral economy or a set of social norms based on a shared migration discourse – in this case, either poverty or European aspirations – which governs economic and social practices in both sending and receiving sites. The author found that these contrasting transnational moral economies resulted in the production of ‘Soviet’ versus ‘capitalist’ subjectivities with consequences for migrant practices of integration in Italy, consumption practices for migrants and their non-migrant children, and for Ukraine’s nation-state building project.

scholarly journals The Moral Economy of Thrift: The Production of the Indebted Self in the Reality Series Getting out of Debt and Life or Debt

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 485-500
Author(s):  
Silke Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Cultural Productions ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Moral Economies ◽  
Tv Shows ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Tv Show

In this article, the intersection of the economic and social dimensions of thrift is analysed under the special condition of debt. The debt context serves as a focal glass exposing agents, their social practices and strategies of accumulation capitals with regard to appropriate spending. In order to capture the many layers of thrift, the concept of moral economies is applied. This concept tries to reconcile two seemingly divergent dimensions of human behaviour which can be described as individualistic, calculating and serving a self-interest (economy) on the one hand and community-oriented and benefitting a common good (morality) on the other hand. Starting out with an overview over studies on moral economies in historical and social science since the early 1970s, I will explain the heuristic use of the concept for the case of debts research and apply it to representations of thrift as visualised and popularised in the reality TV shows Raus aus den Schulden (Getting Out of Debt) and Life or Debt. Here, the images of homes are clues for the cultural productions of appropriateness on TV: What are suitable ways of living when in debt? What are adequate scenes of dwelling and narratives of dealing with debts and which normative structures regulate those stories, the perception of the self and potential social exclusion? By examining the TV show as a strong voice in the debt discourse, thrift turns out to be a cornerstone in the internal and external regimes of governing debt in the micropolitics of TV.

scholarly journals Polemik Ahmadiyah Di Media Online: Studi pada Weblog Interaktif Kompasiana

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-198
Author(s):  
Gun Gun Heryanto
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
New Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Communication Channel ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
New Public

Internet as a new media is a communication channel that can be a new public sphere. Especially after the migration of web 1.0 to web 2.0, internet users are connected to many social networking sites and interactive weblog to share informations, ideas and thought. It also allows the debate surrounding the Ahmadiyya get space between netizens. Polemic about Ahmadiyya no longer solely a matter of aqidah as a matter of prophecy, al Mahdi and al Masih, revelation, caliphate and jihad but also a matter of Human Rights (HAM) and the law. We need to map out the themes of the talk surrounding the Ahmadiyya among internet users as well as the need to know the context and dynamics of the evolving discourse on new media. This study traced 100 posts written by Internet users in Kompasiana during 2008-2012 as well as the data from the focus group discussion (FGD) with Kompasianer.

scholarly journals SIGNIFIKANSI DAKWAH INKLUSIF NURCHOLISH MADJID BAGI MASYARAKAT INDONESIA

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-66
Author(s):  
Zaprulkhan Zaprulkhan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
The Public ◽  
Religious Truth ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Religious Disagreement ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Islamic Values

Articulation of religion in the public sphere of Indonesia is still much to be exclusive and puritan, unilateral in monopolizing the truth claims of religious truth, and intolerance towards various religious disagreement. Whereas in the context of a pluralistic Indonesian nation, whether of race, ethnicity, culture, class, and religion, religious messages should be delivered by inclusive proselytizing. Anyone who would articulate religious discourses in the public sphere of Indonesia, should ideally be through inclusive proselytizing. In the context of inclusive proselytizing, Islamic values such as justice (al-'adl), human rights, freedom (Hurriyah), democracy (Shura), universal benevolence (Khoir), egalitarian (Musawah), tolerance (tasamuh), balance ( tawazun), social ethics (morals), universal humanity (an-nas), as well as peace and safety contained in the doctrine of principle Islam but those are inclusive. Inclusive priciples could embrace all people regardless of race, culture, race, class, and even religion. This article is going to discuss the significance of Nurcholish Madjid‟s inclusive proselytizing for pluralistic Indonesian society.

Liberalism, Terrorism and the Politics of Fear

Politics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Sparks
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Politics Of Fear ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
Political Health ◽  
The Impact

This article considers the impact of terror and fear on the political health of liberal democratic societies. It examines the strategic use of terror to produce a politics of fear through an exploration of current Western reactions to terrorism. The argument is developed through a presentation of a three-part map of the politics of fear constituted by the instigation of fear, the (attempted) eradication of fear and the management of fear. Central to this presentation is an analysis of the destabilising effects the introduction of terror has on civil society and government, and of the effective ways of responding to it. Running through the presentation is an analysis of the constitution of terror and fear, their relationship to each other and to the general insecurities which beset liberal democracies.

The Persecuted Body

Facing Fear ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melani Mcalister
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
First Century ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Evangelical Christians ◽  
The World ◽  
Politics Of Fear ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
International Religious Freedom Act ◽  
The U.S

This chapter examines the politics of fear underlying the antipersecution discourse that revolved around evangelical Christians at the turn of the twenty-first century. A video made by the U.S.-based Christian evangelical group Voice of the Martyrs showed that Christians are being persecuted all around the world. By the turn of the twenty-first century, a passionate concern with the persecution of Christians united conservatives as well as liberal and moderate evangelicals. The chapter shows how antipersecution discourse resulted in the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. It also considers the significance of spectacles of the violated body to the discourse of persecution and how intense attention to Christian persecution created a tension for evangelicals between the universalizing language of human rights and a specific commitment to the “persecuted body” of Christ. Finally, it explores how evangelicals' attention to Christian persecution intersects with Islamic concerns.

“In YouTube We Trust”

2014 ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Aziz Douai
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Political Dissent ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Exchange Site ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Arab Societies ◽  
Shed Light

YouTube has enabled new forms of political dissent in Arab societies. This chapter examines the development and rise of YouTube in the Arab world. In particular, it looks at how this video exchange site is invigorating the online public sphere’s vigorous demand for political reform and respect for human rights. Specifically, this investigation explores how social networking capabilities have made YouTube an effective asset in dissidents’ arsenal among Arab activists. To examine the vibrancy of this fledgling online public sphere, the chapter scrutinizes how activists incorporated YouTube videos to shed light on human rights abuses, specifically police abuse, corruption, and brutality in two Arab countries, Egypt and Morocco. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the new campaigning modes that the Internet and YouTube have facilitated.

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