scholarly journals How Policies Become Contested: A Spiral of Imagination and Evidence in a Large Infrastructure Project.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Wolf ◽  
Wouter Van Dooren
Keyword(s):  
Public Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Tolerance For Ambiguity ◽  
Infrastructure Project ◽  
Framing Processes ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Newspaper Articles

This article investigates how framing processes lead to polarization in the public debate on a large infrastructure project. Drawing on an analysis of newspaper articles about the Oosterweelconnection in Antwerp (Belgium), it concludes that framing through imaginative appeals and framing through evidence mutually reinforce each other in a spiralling pattern. When evidence backs up appeals to the imagination, such as when facts back up metaphors, these appeals are endowed with authority and hence legitimacy. While this strengthens appeals that have been ”proven” to be true, it also makes actors backing these appeals increasingly frustrated with other parties that still refuse to accept them. Because of their frustration, the former are spurred to launch new imaginative appeals conveying their anger and to seek new evidence to substantiate these new appeals. Over time, as parties in a conflict grapple with evidence and imagination, their tolerance for ambiguity decreases and the debate polarizes.

scholarly journals La couverture médiatique des accommodements raisonnables dans la presse écrite québécoise : Vérification de l’hypothèse du tsunami médiatique

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Giasson ◽  
Colette Brin ◽  
Marie-Michèle Sauvageau
Keyword(s):  
Social Issue ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Reasonable Accommodation ◽  
Press Coverage ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Agenda ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Hype ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACT  From March 2006 to May 2008, the province of Québec engaged in a contentious public debate on diversity and reasonable accommodation practices. This study examines the evolution of press coverage in eleven Québec dailies dedicated to the issue of reasonable accommodation over the intensive twelve-month period during which the concept entered the public agenda. We examine the “media tsunami” hypothesis, an expanded version of the media hype theory developed by Vasterman (2005). The hypothesis posits that the media, in dealing with an emergent social issue in a relatively short period of time, amplify the importance of the issue through successive waves of press coverage that gain in intensity and magnitude over time. In doing so, they can manufacture social “crises.”RÉSUMÉ  De mars 2006 à mai 2008, le Québec a été secoué par un débat sociétal sur la question de la gestion de la diversité culturelle et du principe d’accommodement raisonnable. Cette étude s’intéresse à l’évolution de la couverture du concept d’accommodement raisonnable dans la presse écrite québécoise au cours de la période intensive du traitement médiatique où le terme est entré dans le discours public. L’article examine l’hypothèse du « tsunami médiatique », une version plus étoffée de la théorie du media hype mise de l’avant par Vasterman (2005). L’hypothèse de la déferlante médiatique pose que l’enjeu en question est une création médiatique dont la couverture en amplifie l’importance sociétale et peut générer une inquiétude au sein de la société. Les données tirées d’une analyse exhaustive du contenu de onze journaux québécois révèlent que la couverture produite par la presse écrite de la question des accommodements raisonnables représente un cas typique de « tsunami médiatique. »

scholarly journals Public Ideas: Their Varieties and Careers

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Hallett ◽  
Orla Stapleton ◽  
Michael Sauder
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cultural Approach ◽  
The Past ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Ebb And Flow ◽  
Newspaper Articles

In light of ongoing concerns about the relevance of scholarly activities, we ask, what are public ideas and how do they come to be? More specifically, how do journalists and other mediators between the academy and the public use social science ideas? How do the various uses of these ideas develop over time and shape the public careers of these ideas? How do these processes help us understand public ideas and identify their various types? In addressing these questions, we make the case for a sociology of public social science. Using data from newspaper articles that engage with seven of the most publicly prominent social science ideas over the past 30 years, we make three contributions. First, we advance a pragmatic, cultural approach to understanding public ideas, one that emphasizes fit-making processes and applicative flexibility. Second, we define public ideas: social science ideas become public ideas when they are used as objects of interest (being the news), are used as interpretants (making sense of the news), and ebb and flow between these uses as part of an unfolding career. Third, we construct a typology of public ideas that provides an architecture for future research on public social science.

Rhetorical Objectives and Program Efficiency in Swedish Policy about Immigrants

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARL DAHLSTRÖM
Keyword(s):  
Moral Values ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Program Efficiency ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Immigrant Policy ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTThis paper explains differences in the policy objectives and policy programs of Swedish immigrant policy as a consequence of the fact that policy objectives tend to be evaluated in public political debates whereas policy programs are evaluated through administrative reviews within government. Given contrasting contexts, different questions are important for policy legitimacy. The public debate focuses on questions of moral values, while the audit within government deals with issues of efficiency. Policy objectives and policy programs therefore respond differently to criticisms that separate rhetoric and practice. As a result, Swedish immigrant policy rhetoric and practice were from the outset only loosely joined and have failed to converge over time.

scholarly journals Putting the Self in Self-Correction: Findings From the Loss-of-Confidence Project

2021 ◽  
pp. 174569162096410
Author(s):  
Julia M. Rohrer ◽  
Warren Tierney ◽  
Eric L. Uhlmann ◽  
Lisa M. DeBruine ◽  
Tom Heyman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
The Self ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Record ◽  
Scientific Claims ◽  
The Individual ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Ideal

Science is often perceived to be a self-correcting enterprise. In principle, the assessment of scientific claims is supposed to proceed in a cumulative fashion, with the reigning theories of the day progressively approximating truth more accurately over time. In practice, however, cumulative self-correction tends to proceed less efficiently than one might naively suppose. Far from evaluating new evidence dispassionately and infallibly, individual scientists often cling stubbornly to prior findings. Here we explore the dynamics of scientific self-correction at an individual rather than collective level. In 13 written statements, researchers from diverse branches of psychology share why and how they have lost confidence in one of their own published findings. We qualitatively characterize these disclosures and explore their implications. A cross-disciplinary survey suggests that such loss-of-confidence sentiments are surprisingly common among members of the broader scientific population yet rarely become part of the public record. We argue that removing barriers to self-correction at the individual level is imperative if the scientific community as a whole is to achieve the ideal of efficient self-correction.

Njegoš and memory disputes in Montenegro

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-58
Author(s):  
Agata Domachowska
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Short Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
Newspaper Articles

Petar II Petrović Njegoš is probably the most famous figure in Montenegro’s history and a particular symbol of this place. Despite his short life, he achieved fame not only as a politician but also as an artist. The article aims to analyze how the memory of Petar II Petrović Njegoš – a symbolic figure in the history and culture of Montenegro – has been constructed. The analysis will focus on the public debate on this figure in relation to the motion to establish a new national holiday – Njegoš’s day, i.e., the day of Montenegrin culture. The study uses both the discourse method and content analysis, including legislative projects, newspaper articles, television broadcasts, public speeches, and other messages from individual politicians and intellectuals. The public debate on Njegoš revealed how the inconsistency of memory, primarily the Montenegrin, Serbian and Bosniak memory, generates conflicts and at the same time deepens the prevailing social divisions.

scholarly journals Putting the Self in Self-Correction: Findings from the Loss-of-Confidence Project

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Marie Rohrer ◽  
Warren Tierney ◽  
Eric Luis Uhlmann ◽  
Lisa Marie DeBruine ◽  
Tom Heyman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
The Self ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Record ◽  
Scientific Claims ◽  
The Individual ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Ideal

Science is often perceived to be a self-correcting enterprise. In principle, the assessment of scientific claims is supposed to proceed in a cumulative fashion, with the reigning theories of the day progressively approximating truth more accurately over time. In practice, however, cumulative self-correction tends to proceed less efficiently than one might naively suppose. Far from evaluating new evidence dispassionately and infallibly, individual scientists often cling stubbornly to prior findings. Here we explore the dynamics of scientific self-correction at an individual rather than collective level. In thirteen written statements, researchers from diverse branches of psychology share why and how they have lost confidence in a published finding. We qualitatively characterize these disclosures and explore their implications. A cross-disciplinary survey suggests that such loss-of-confidence sentiments are surprisingly common among members of the broader scientific population, yet rarely become part of the public record. We argue that removing barriers to self-correction at the individual level is imperative if the scientific community as a whole is to achieve the ideal of efficient self-correction.

scholarly journals MONUMENTOS URBANOS E ARTE PÚBLICA: OS OBELISCOS EM ROTAÇÃO / Urban monuments and public art: the obelisks in rotation

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (41) ◽  
pp. 251-278
Author(s):  
Edilson Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Public Art ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
The World ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
Over Time

Este ensaio aborda uma forma monumental antiga e muito disseminada no mundo – o obelisco e suas variações – para refletir sobre a importância desse artefato estético e sociocultural até o último século, quando passa a interagir com questões oriundas dos debates propostos pela “arte pública”. Considerando os usos históricos e contemporâneos dos monumentos verticais não figurativos, abordo algumas intervenções e instalações artísticas, focalizando monumentos públicos, para mapear as estratégias de subversão das formas e sentidos a eles atribuídos. Demonstro que certos monumentos são objeto de várias intervenções ao longo do tempo, enquanto algumas instalações artísticas se apresentam como contramonumentos em sintonia com os princípios de participação e debate público que animam os valores democráticos.Palavras-chave: Obelisco; Monumento público; Arte pública; Paisagem urbana; Contramonumento. AbstractThis essay discusses an ancient monumental form and very widespread in the world – the obelisk and its variations – to reflect on the importance of this aesthetic and sociocultural artifact until the last century, when it started to interact with issues arising from the debates proposed by the “public art”. Considering the historical and contemporary uses of vertical non-figurative monuments, I address some interventions and artistic installations focusing on public monuments to map the subversion of the forms and meanings canonically attributed to such artifacts. There are cases in which a monument is the object of several interventions over time, and others, complementary, in which the proposal is to constitute a counter-monument in line with the principles of participation and public debate that animate democratic societies. Keywords: Obelisk; Public monument; Public art; Urban landscape; Counter-monument.

The Internet Trap

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Hindman
Keyword(s):  
The Internet ◽  
Net Neutrality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Attention Economy ◽  
Digital News ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Over Time

The Internet was supposed to fragment audiences and make media monopolies impossible. Instead, behemoths like Google and Facebook now dominate the time we spend online—and grab all the profits from the attention economy. This book explains how this happened. It sheds light on the stunning rise of the digital giants and the online struggles of nearly everyone else—and reveals what small players can do to survive in a game that is rigged against them. The book shows how seemingly tiny advantages in attracting users can snowball over time. The Internet has not reduced the cost of reaching audiences—it has merely shifted who pays and how. Challenging some of the most enduring myths of digital life, the book explains why the Internet is not the postindustrial technology that has been sold to the public, how it has become mathematically impossible for grad students in a garage to beat Google, and why net neutrality alone is no guarantee of an open Internet. It also explains why the challenges for local digital news outlets and other small players are worse than they appear and demonstrates what it really takes to grow a digital audience and stay alive in today's online economy. The book shows why, even on the Internet, there is still no such thing as a free audience.

The New Economic Populism and the Future of Inequality in the United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Franko ◽  
Christopher Witko
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Income Disparities ◽  
The Face ◽  
Over Time

The authors conclude the book by recapping their arguments and empirical results, and discussing the possibilities for the “new economic populism” to promote egalitarian economic outcomes in the face of continuing gridlock and the dominance of Washington, DC’s policymaking institutions by business and the wealthy, and a conservative Republican Party. Many states are actually addressing inequality now, and these policies are working. Admittedly, many states also continue to embrace the policies that have contributed to growing inequality, such as tax cuts for the wealthy or attempting to weaken labor unions. But as the public grows more concerned about inequality, the authors argue, policies that help to address these income disparities will become more popular, and policies that exacerbate inequality will become less so. Over time, if history is a guide, more egalitarian policies will spread across the states, and ultimately to the federal government.

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