Can Interreligious Dialogue Provide a New Space for Deliberative Democracy in the Public Sphere?

10.1558/35412 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
Paul Hedges
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Space ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Way

This paper uses Singapore and the UK as two case studies to explore the concept of deliberative democracy with specific reference to the way that interreligious dialogue is and may be used in the public sphere. The two countries are chosen as representing differently located but broadly secular nations where, nevertheless, religious and interreligious activities have prominence. The differences and similarities of the notion of secular as well as the way that religion and interreligious activity relate to the state are noted. While both countries have promoted interreligious dialogue primarily as a tool for social cohesion it is noted that this activity does not tie easily or neatly into conceptions of deliberative democracy. Employing ideas from Jürgen Habermas and other theorists of deliberation, some central aspects of what deliberation may be in the context of deliberative democracy are explored. It is suggested that interreligious dialogue is far from a simple solution to promote harmonious relations within such a context, but nevertheless it is noted that what is often termed the “dialogue of action” has the potential to improve social cohesion. It is noted that much interreligious dialogue may actually go against some of the principles often sought within deliberative democracy but this is not seen as invalidating the practice within the public sphere.

Editorial: Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Klaff
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Research Note ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Exciting Development

I am pleased to publish an open-access online preprint of two articles and a research note that will appear in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism 3, no. 2 (Fall 2020). This preprint is a new and exciting development for the Journal. It has been made possible by the generous donations from sponsors, including BICOM's co-chairman, David Cohen, whose support for the work of the Journal allows for timely scholarly analysis to be put into the public sphere.

scholarly journals Cultures of rejection at work: Investigating the acceptability of authoritarian populism

Ethnicities ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146879682110124
Author(s):  
Alexander Harder ◽  
Benjamin Opratko
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Authoritarian Populism ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Public Sphere

This article introduces the concept of cultures of rejection as a framing device to investigate conditions of acceptability of authoritarian populism among workers in Germany and Austria. After situating the concept in the current scholarly debate on right-wing populism and discussing its main theoretical points of reference, we offer an analysis focusing on experiences of crisis and transformation. Two elements of cultures of rejection are discussed in depth: the rejection of racialised and/or culturalised ‘unproductive’ others; and the rejection of the public sphere, linked to the emergence of a ‘shielded subjectivity’. These articulations of rejection are then discussed as related to two dimensions of a crisis of authority: the crisis of state or political authority in the field of labour and the economy; and the crisis of a moral order, experienced as decline in social cohesion. In conclusion, we identify possible avenues for further research, demonstrating the productivity of the conceptual framework of cultures of rejection.

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 Formation of Subcultural Entity under the Influence of Public Sphere

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuliya Kuzovenkova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
The Public ◽  
Youth Subcultures ◽  
Long Time ◽  
New Space ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Short Time ◽  
The City

The last two decades have been a time of serious transformation of youth subcultures. Researchers speak about the formation of the postmodernism paradigm of subculture and the virtualisation of sociocultural phenomena. The subcultural subject and the power that formed it continue to exist in the new realities, but are undergoing a transformation. Changes having occured to the public sphere were especially significant for a subcultural entity since it is the public sphere where a subcultural entity can present itself to authorities, thereby maintaining its social subsistence. Our research was aimed at studying how the transformation of the public sphere has affected the entity’s subculture. For the study, the authors employed the method of a qualitative half-structurated interview and draw on the disciplinary authority concept suggested by M. Foucault. The analysis was based on materials of interviewing some representatives of the graffiti subculture in the city of Samara (twenty-two people) from 2016 to 2018. The author has established that the subcultural subject is processual and dependent on the practices in use; a change in practices leads to a change in the subject. Changes of practices in the graffiti subculture were a result of the virtualisation of culture. The author has identified the changes that have taken place in the subcultural subject under the influence of the transformation of the public sphere (the ‘short time’ of instantaneous fame prevails over the ‘long time’ of the symbolic capital of the nickname, new space-time coordinates within which the entity exists, the ‘digital body’ of the subcultural entity becomes ever more informative rather than that which was created via sketches placed in urban space). Unlike the public sphere, the private sphere under the influence of a subculture ideology remains unchanged.

scholarly journals Naturvidenskabernes kanonisering. Forskere, erkendelser eller kulturarv

1970 ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Centres ◽  
Scientific Expertise ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Way

This paper concerns recent official attempts to place science in Denmark within the context of a cultural canon. Based on differentiation between Mode 1 and 2 knowledge production, the paper points out that such attempts are highly contextualised and contingent on their different modes of application. Consequently, they entangle scientific expertise with other social skills and qualifications. Like science museums and science centres, they are a means of dealing with science in the public agora, i.e. the public sphere in which negotiations, mediations, consultations and contestations regarding science increasingly take place. Analysing the ambiguities and uncertainties associated with the recent official placing of science within an overall cultural canon for Denmark, this paper concludes that even though the agora embodies antagonistic forms of interaction, it might also lead the way to producing socially robust knowledge about science.

The Geographies of Prevent: The Transformation of the Muslim Home into a Pre-Crime Space

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shereen Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Frontline Staff ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe Prevent Duty is part of the UK’s counter-extremism strategy, which aims to prevent individuals from becoming involved in ‘extremism’ and ‘radicalisation’. As a pre-crime measure, the duty is now enforced in public institutions in the UK, from schools to healthcare provisions, and relies on frontline staff to monitor and report on ‘signs’ of extremism and radicalisation. The discussion around Prevent has focused on its implementation and impacts in the public sphere, notably in schools. However, this article aims to disrupt the imagined boundaries of the Prevent Duty and demonstrate how, as a result of this policy, the home—primarily the Muslim home—is treated as a pre-crime space, thus broadening the reach of counter-extremism measures into the private sphere.

The Jews in Rome during the Flavian Period

Antichthon ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 156-172
Author(s):  
James S. McLaren
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Abrupt Change ◽  
The Public ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
The Way

AbstractDuring the late republic and early principate the Jews who called Rome their home occasionally found themselves in the public gaze. Some of their customs and aspects of their ways of life also attracted occasional comment, often for their apparently strange and foreign manner. At no stage, however, during this period did they feature prominently in the public sphere of life in Rome. The aftermath of the war of 66-70 CE brought about an abrupt change in circumstances for the Jews living in Rome. Apart from the immediate visual celebration of the triumph, there followed a number of substantial monumental and numismatic commemorations of the Roman victory. In this article the purpose and function of those commemorations and the possible consequences for the Jews who lived in Rome are examined. In particular, the impact of the public profiling of the war on Jewish identity and of how the writings of Josephus are to be read in this setting is explored. Rather than regard Josephus as a supporter of the Flavian rulers, writing an account of the war that encouraged fellow Jews to collaborate with Rome, it is argued that he was offering Jews in Rome a counter-narrative to the way the war was being publicly commemorated.

(Un)Liberated and Contested Narratives

2019 ◽  
pp. 334-347
Author(s):  
Bongani C Ndhlovu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
The State ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Many ◽  
Contested Narratives

This chapter analyses the influence of the state in shaping museum narratives, especially in a liberated society such as South Africa. It argues that while the notion of social cohesion and nation building is an ideal that many South African museums should strive for, the technocratisation of museum processes has to a degree led to a disregard of the public sphere as a space of open engagement. Secondly, the chapter also looks at the net-effect of museums professionals and boards in the development of their narrative. It argues that due to the nature of their expertise and interests, and the focus on their areas of specialisation, museums may hardly claim to be representative of the many voices they ought to represent. As such, the chapter explores contestations in museum spaces. It partly does so by exploring the notion “free-spokenness” and its limits in museum spaces. To amplify its argument, the chapter uses some exhibitions that generated critical engagements from Iziko Museums of South Africa.

The Internet as the Public Sphere

2012 ◽  
pp. 467-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarice Hanson ◽  
Alina Hogea
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Temple University ◽  
The Public Sphere

The Internet has often been heralded as a tool for e-governance and public action because of its ubiquity, accessibility, and the ability for users to participate in online expressions of opinion. In this chapter we discuss the potential for the Internet to function as a public space for facilitating civic engagement. While we draw from the seminal work of Jurgen Habermas to identify the preconditions for the functioning of a “public sphere,” we address four distinctly different approaches to the discussion of the Internet’s role as an effective tool for deliberative democracy by highlighting the contributions of scholars and practitioners who engaged in a dialog on the topic at a symposium held at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 2010.

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