scholarly journals Financial Threats and Self-Undermining Rhetoric

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Seth Levine
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
Involuntary Job Loss ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Higher Education Costs ◽  
Care Costs ◽  
Politically Active

This chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book examines the political consequences of threats to Americans' financial well-being and in particular why they might not motivate people to become politically active even though we have good reason to expect that they would. Such threats are collectively referred to as American insecurity—or, in some cases, simply economic insecurity. The book focuses primarily on four threats: involuntary job loss, health care costs, retirement, and higher education costs. These four by no means capture the full range of financial threats that Americans face, but they turn out to be particularly illuminating cases. Relative to many other issues that are often grouped under the label of “economic insecurity,” explaining political inaction on these four issues turns out to require a new theoretical approach.

American Insecurity

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Seth Levine
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
College Tuition ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Care Costs ◽  
Politically Active

Americans today face no shortage of threats to their financial well-being, such as job and retirement insecurity, health care costs, and spiraling college tuition. While one might expect that these concerns would motivate people to become more politically engaged on the issues, this often doesn't happen, and the resulting inaction carries consequences for political debates and public policy. Moving beyond previously studied barriers to political organization, this book sheds light on the public's inaction over economic insecurities by showing that the rhetoric surrounding these issues is actually self-undermining. By their nature, the very arguments intended to mobilize individuals—asking them to devote money or time to politics—remind citizens of their economic fears and personal constraints, leading to undermobilization and nonparticipation. The book explains why the set of people who become politically active on financial insecurity issues is therefore quite narrow. When money is needed, only those who care about the issues but are not personally affected become involved. When time is needed, participation is limited to those not personally affected or those who are personally affected but outside of the labor force with time to spare. The latter explains why it is relatively easy to mobilize retirees on topics that reflect personal financial concerns, such as Social Security and Medicare. In general, however, when political representation requires a large group to make their case, economic insecurity threats are uniquely disadvantaged. Scrutinizing the foundations of political behavior, the book offers a new perspective on collective participation.

scholarly journals From Function to Competence: Engaging with the New Politics of Family

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 109-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Val Gillies
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
New Politics ◽  
New Public ◽  
And Function ◽  
Public Politics

This paper argues for a critical reclaiming of family and highlights the risks associated with decentring such a powerful and pervasive concept. Influential critiques of family as an organising category are considered in the context of a contemporary trend towards reorienting it within broader studies foregrounding personal and intimate realms of human connectedness. It is suggested that while concepts of personal lives and intimacy have much to offer they can not capture the full range and nature of relations raised through the lens of family. In particular the political consequences of subsuming family within wider approaches are set out through reference to a new public politics of family in which emphasis is placed less on structure and function, and more on knowledge and competence. Through an exploration of the key changes characterising this shift a case is made for retaining family (alongside intimacy and personal life) as a flexible, enduring and necessary sociological framework.

scholarly journals Political informing through social media across Europe - factors and effects

Sociologija ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 565-584
Author(s):  
Dalibor Petrovic ◽  
Milos Besic
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Politically Active

Social media play a significant role in political informing across Europe and the rest of the world. That is why the political consequences of social media use have become one of the prominent issues in contemporary social research. In line with that, this paper investigates how the use of social media for political informing is associated with the state of democracy in European countries and how individual satisfaction with the level of democracy and the political activism of citizens are affected by social media use. We have used data from the latest European Value Survey, conducted in 2017-2018. Our data sample included 30 countries with the referent number of more than 56000 respondents involved in the survey. The main finding of our research is that a deficit of democracy leads people to use social media as a part of their political informing repertoires. This finding applies to both, those who live in undemocratic circumstances and those who live in developed democracies but have a negative personal perception of democratic procedures in their country. It seems that once citizens are ?forced? to use social media for political informing, they, in turn, become influenced by media content displayed there and by other peoples? ideas. In other words, the very use of social media makes them even more critical of democracy and consequently more politically active, which brings them back to social media.

You Are What You Eat, But Should You Eat What You Are? Modern Philosophical Dietetics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Garrett ◽  
John Grey
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Political ◽  
Michel De Montaigne ◽  
Moral Relevance ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Age Of Reason ◽  
Spiritual Well Being

This chapter presents three different aspects of the moral relevance of diet. It begins with eating for virtue and considers some discussions in the sixteenth and seventeenth century of how diet impacts philosophy—either via its impact upon physical health or more directly via its impact upon spiritual well-being. Specifically, it considers two foundational figures of early modern philosophy, Michel de Montaigne and René Descartes, and then turns to Anne Conway, who unifies elements of their views along with elements of traditional theology to present an account of the spiritual significance of diet. The chapter then turns to eating virtuously, both via the moral consideration of animals in the eighteenth century and the political consequences of luxury and diet. It concludes by considering how Malthus posed a pressing problem to those who thought that an age of reason might be at hand if one just heeded the cry of nature.

Persons Together

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.

Elites and Color Revolutions: The Logic of Russia’s Response

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 426-453
Author(s):  
Kirill Petrov
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Regime ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
External Threats ◽  
Color Revolutions ◽  
Political Warfare ◽  
Russian Politics

Abstract The phenomenon of color revolutions has occupied a prominent place in Russian politics for a good reason. The major threat of color revolutions as modern political warfare designed by Western countries deeply affected the political process in Russia since 2005. It may have appeared that the imperative of resisting them was the result of a non-democratic regime reacting to neighboring countries’ uprisings. Some portrayed it as authoritarian learning. This paper suggests that the counteractions stemmed from the interests of disunited Russian elite groups who were seeking opportunities to reinforce their dominance and capitalize on the idea of significant external threats. The phenomenon reshaped the balance within elite groups and led to the consolidation of law enforcement networks on the eve of Putin’s third term. Further, the prevailing perception of color revolutions discouraged any elite splits that could lead to proto-democratic rules.

Monetäre Bewertung von Ökosystemleistungen: eine kritische Sicht auf einige Kritiken (Essay)

2017 ◽  
Vol 168 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Elsasser
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Monetary Valuation ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
Valuation Of Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Valuations

Monetary valuation of ecosystem services: a critical view of some critiques (essay) Diverse objections against the monetary valuation of ecosystem services are being raised in transdisciplinary discussions as well as in the scientific literature. The monetary valuation is said to overlook nature's intrinsic values, to infringe ethical norms, to narrow down perspectives to economic welfare alone, or even to nothing but material well-being, to stimulate the commercialisation of nature – conversely, others criticize that it fails exactly in this respect –, to favour social inequality, and to rely upon undependable methods. This essay questions the cogency of these criticisms and highlights some prejudices and misconceptions, often rooted in an erroneous understanding of the function of environmental valuations in the political decision process.

Language Movement and Civil War in West Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ericka A. Albaugh
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Language Spread ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter examines how civil war can influence the spread of language. Specifically, it takes Sierra Leone as a case study to demonstrate how Krio grew from being primarily a language of urban areas in the 1960s to one spoken by most of the population in the 2000s. While some of this was due to “normal” factors such as population movement and growing urbanization, the civil war from 1991 to 2002 certainly catalyzed the process of language spread in the 1990s. Using census documents and surveys, the chapter tests the hypothesis at the national, regional, and individual levels. The spread of a language has political consequences, as it allows for citizen participation in the political process. It is an example of political scientists’ approach to uncovering the mechanisms for and evidence of language movement in Africa.

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