Symbolizing Destruction

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-271
Author(s):  
Alison E. Adams ◽  
Thomas E. Shriver ◽  
Landen Longest
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Local Church ◽  
Coal Industry ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Documentary Video ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Environmental Campaigns ◽  
Coal Reserves ◽  
Depth Interviews

Emotions can play an important role in the perception of grievances, yet we know little about how environmentalists strategically utilize emotions to bolster activism and garner support. Drawing on social movement and environmental sociological research, we analyze how moral shocks can be used to mobilize activists against environmentally destructive activities. We study the case of Libkovice, Czech Republic, where environmentalists battled against the coal industry to save a city from being razed to access coal reserves. The data come from in-depth interviews, organizational and documentary video, and archival documents. Findings indicate that environmentalists drew upon symbols of destruction, such as threats to the local church, to fuel anger and mobilize the campaign. Results show how symbolic environmental campaigns can serve as beacons for future protest.

Challenging Extractive Industries

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 892-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison E. Adams ◽  
Thomas E. Shriver
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Coal Industry ◽  
Extractive Industries ◽  
State Control ◽  
Corporate Ownership ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Western Democracies

Drawing from literature on social movements, we investigate how movements in uncertain political contexts can challenge extractive and natural resource–intensive industries such as coal companies. Scholars have analyzed how citizens in Western democracies can confront powerful industries, yet comparatively little research has focused on challenges to coal elites in politically unstable settings. We focus on the community of Libkovice, Czech Republic, to examine how anticoal activists strategically protested against a coal industry in the midst of a transition from state control to corporate ownership. The data for this research were collected between 2000 and 2014, including in-depth interviews, documentary and raw organizational film footage, and archival materials. Findings reveal that ambiguous targets and uncertain political contexts can significantly influence how activists develop tactical repertoires. We conclude by discussing the implications of this research for future work on social movements generally and citizen efforts to challenge powerful extractive industries.

scholarly journals PERAN JARINGAN SOSIAL PADA KAMPANYE LINGKUNGAN DI MEDIA SOSIAL: KASUS KAMPANYE MELAWAN ASAP

INFORMASI ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Ika Hariyani
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Social Relation ◽  
Executive Board ◽  
The Social ◽  
Environmental Campaigns ◽  
The University ◽  
Depth Interviews

Campaigns nowadays are oftenly carried through social medias, including campaigns concerning the environment. Based on previous studies, effectivity of campaigns through social medias were affected by many factors, such as the activity of the online administrator, additional socialization that were carried off- line, and also the involvement of the active followers in social medias. However, this paper views environmental campaign in social medias could be effective if viewed from another side,that is social network. This study sees how social network can improve the effectivity of environmental campaigns in social medias,therefore it’s safe to say that this study brings an addition to previous studies related tofactors that influenced the effectivity of environmental campaigns that utilized social medias as a channel of communication. The method used for this paper is qualitative method, with case study on Melawan Asap (Fight the Haze) campaign initiated by BEM UI (Executive Board of Students of University of Indonesia) in 2015 to form an alliance consisting several organizations from inside and outside of the university. Collection of data for this study was done with in-depth interviews with certain informants, based on a criteria established previously by the author, beside an observation upon social media accounts that were used for Fight the Haze campaign. The result shows that the involvement of networks in social media affects the effectivity of Fight the Haze campaign. Also, the social relation between organizations that are united under the alliance of Fight the Haze campaign are based on sentimental network.Kampanye kian marak dilakukan dengan menggunakan media sosial, tidak terkecuali kampanye lingkungan. Berdasarkan kajian-kajian sebelumnya, keefektifan kampanye dengan menggunakan media sosial dipengaruhi oleh berbagai faktor seperti adanya administrator online yang aktif, adanya sosialisasi tambahan yang dilakukan secara offline, dan juga terlibatnya pengikut/followers di media sosial secara aktif. Namun, tulisanini melihat kampanye lingkungan di media sosial dapat efektif dari sisi lain yaitu dari jaringan sosial. Kajian ini melihat bagaimana jaringan sosial berperan dalam membuat efektif kampanye lingkungan di media sosial, sehingga dapat dikatakan bahwa kajian ini menambahkan penemuan dari kajian-kajian sebelumnya yang berbicara mengenai faktor yang membuat efektif kampanye lingkungan dengan menggunakan media sosial sebagai media komunikasinya. Metode yang digunakan dalam tulisan ini adalah metode kualitatif dengan studi kasus pada kampanye melawan asap yang diinisiatori oleh BEM UI 2015 untuk membentuk sebuah aliansi dengan menggandeng beberapa organisasi di UI dan juga dari luar UI. Pengambilan data dalam studi ini dilakukan melalui wawancara mendalam dengan informan- informan tertentu berdasarkan kriteria yang penulis tetapkan dan melakukan observasi terhadap akun media sosial yang digunakan untuk menyebarluaskan kampanye melawan asap. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahwa keterlibatan peran jaringan di media sosial mempengaruhi efektifitas kampanye melawan asap, serta hubungan sosial antar organisasi yang tergabung dalam aliansi gerakan melawan asap terbentuk berdasarkan jaringan perasaan/sentiment.

Structural Topic Modeling For Social Scientists: A Brief Case Study with Social Movement Studies Literature, 2005–2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan C. Lindstedt
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Structural Topic Modeling

Sociologists frequently make use of language as data in their research using methodologies including open-ended surveys, in-depth interviews, and content analyses. Unfortunately, the ability of researchers to analyze the growing amount of these data declines as the costs and time associated with the research process increases. Topic modeling is a computer-assisted technique that can help social scientists to address these data challenges. Despite the central role of language in sociological research, to date, the field has largely overlooked the promise of automated text analysis in favor of more familiar and more traditional methods. This article provides an overview of a topic modeling framework especially suited for social scientific research. By way of a case study using abstracts from social movement studies literature, a short tutorial from data preparation through data analysis is given for the method of structural topic modeling. This example demonstrates how text analytics can be applied to research in sociology and encourages academics to consider such methods not merely as novel tools, but as useful supplements that can work beside and enhance existing methodologies.

The availability of coal

1987 ◽  
Vol 92 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
K. Moses
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
New Ventures ◽  
Coal Industry ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Coal Reserves ◽  
The Cost

SynopsisSince the assessment of coal reserves for the Royal Commission on the coal industry of Great Britain made nearly a century ago, up to assessments made by geologists of the National Coal Board, it has been evident that the coalfields of Scotland contain considerable quantities of coal. Throughout the past two decades the presence of hydrocarbons in the rocks beneath the North Sea, the general abundance of oil in various parts of the world, and the development of nuclear power, has meant that coal is only one of several sources of energy readily available to us. The coalfields of Scotland contain seams of varying quality and energy content and so can be compared with other fuels. Consequently it is the cost of the energy to the consumer that is often the controlling factor in the choice of which fuel to use. The very nature of coal as a bulky and not-too-easily-handled fuel has meant that only the generation of electricity offers the scope for substantial consumption of coal.The paper examines these factors and also the location of the coal reserves in Scotland, particularly in the light of the geological factors that affect the cost of the energy. The National Coal Board's deep mining exploration programme in Great Britain has sought opportunities for new ventures and developments, some of which have been in Scotland. The market for the coal and the competition for that market clearly indicates that the productivity of coal mining operations is paramount in determining the future size of the coal industry in Scotland. About half of the coal can be provided from low-cost opencast operations, with the other half obtained from the mines with the highest productivities—productivities that result in energy costs similar to those obtained from oil and nuclear power.

scholarly journals Drivers and Frequency of Forest Visits: Results of a National Survey in the Czech Republic

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslava Šodková ◽  
Ratna Chrismiari Purwestri ◽  
Marcel Riedl ◽  
Vilém Jarský ◽  
Miroslav Hájek
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Participatory Forest Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Forest Ecosystem Services ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Large Scope ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Game Hunting

The general objective of the study was to assess the main drivers for visiting the forest and the frequency of the visits in the Czech Republic. A nationwide collection of data of the sociological research as part of The Market & Media & Lifestyle Research Project was carried out every year in the Czech Republic under the licensed cooperation with Kantar Media. The project is unique by the large scope of the questions in the questionnaires and by the high number of respondents. A total of 8794 Czech inhabitants aged 12 years and above from all the regions were involved in the survey in 2018. Information about the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of all the respondents were obtained. In the closed questions, the respondents reported the frequency of the forest visits and its drivers. The main driver for visiting the forest was just to go for a walk or just to enjoy the outdoors, especially during their holidays or weekends, amounting to 79% of the inhabitants. Meditation and relaxation as well as sport in the forest, were also considered as important motives for forest recreation. On the contrary, 95% of the visitors did not practice game hunting, although game has a long tradition in the Czech Republic. Improvement on managing the forest for recreation should focus on participatory forest management to find a consensus between the public and forest stakeholders. Common decisions may help set up forest recreational goals with positive impacts on forest ecosystem services.

What's Gay about Being Single? A Qualitative Study of the Lived Experiences of Older Single Gay Men

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiu Tung Suen
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Positive Aspect ◽  
Negative Experience ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Gay Community ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Sexual Exploration ◽  
Depth Interviews

This paper contributes to the theorization of ‘choice’ within sociological understanding of singlehood. Previous sociological research on singlehood has largely focused on the lives of heterosexual singles. A choice narrative permeates such literature, depicting singlehood as a celebratory story that brings about the potential to disrupt the couplehood culture in society. Based on in-depth interviews with 25 self-identified single gay men over the age of 50 in England, this article finds that although gay singles share similarities with straight singles, there are gay-specific features of singlehood that can be identified, in terms of the limit of ‘choice’. Although some older single gay men drew on the cultural discourse in the gay community, which decentres the conjugal couple, and claimed freedom of sexual exploration as a positive aspect of being single, there was also a strong sense that many older gay men's status of being single was shaped by a larger history, and hence, they were afforded no choice in choosing whether to be single or not. Taking these findings together, this paper suggests that there are ideological, historical and cultural factors that distinguish the lived experiences of single gay men as being different from those of heterosexual singles. This paper argues that although the discourse of ‘choice’ helps sociologists to understand that singlehood need not be understood as necessarily a negative experience, older gay men's experiences of singlehood caution that the choice narrative shall not mislead the analysis to focus singlehood merely on the individual level. Instead, singlehood needs to be understood as deeply socially and historically embedded.

Competitive Sport and Aging: The Need for Qualitative Sociological Research

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rylee Dionigi
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Competitive Sport ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Interpretive Analysis ◽  
Older Athletes ◽  
Masters Athletes ◽  
Developed World ◽  
Depth Interviews

The number of older athletes is growing with the aging of populations across the developed world. This article reviews studies from a variety of disciplines that focus specifically on the motives and experiences of older adults competing in physically demanding sports at events such as masters and veterans competitions in Australia or the Senior Olympics in North America. It is shown that the majority of research into this phenomenon has taken a quantitative approach or failed to consider older athletes’ experiences in the context of broader sociocultural discourses. Therefore, using the author’s research into the experiences of older Australian masters athletes as a catalyst, the need for and strength of sociological qualitative research in this area is discussed. The use of qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews and observations, and interpretive analysis provided alternative ways of making sense of older adults and their relationship with competitive sport to what is typically found in the sport and aging literature.

scholarly journals PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN CZECH REPUBLIC: OPPOSITION’S TRIUMPH

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 68-76
Author(s):  
Mikhail Vedernikov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Population Group ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Czech Society

The article examines the results of the parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, which took place on October 8-9, 2021. During them, the ruling ANO movement, headed by Prime Minister A. Babis, suffered an unexpected defeat. The winner of the vote was Together coalition, a three-party coalition with the goal of removing the Prime Minister due to his controversial reputation and alleged violation of democratic governance. The paper substantiates the decline in the popularity of ANO movement, outlines the opposition’s tools in the fight against the main competitor. Author characterized the reasons that led to the reduction of the representation of the Czech Pirate Party in the new composition of parliament, one of the favorites of pre-election sociological research. The factors of support growth for the movement «Mayors and Independents» are identified. Author paid attention to the historical failure of the Czech left. The author notes that according to the vote results, the Czech society remains polarized and disunited due to the presence of a large population group that does not agree with the ideology of the victorious forces

scholarly journals When Evidence is not Taken for Granted: The Use and Perception of “Evidence” in the Czech Republic Ministries

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnošt Veselý ◽  
František Ochrana ◽  
Martin Nekola
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Large N ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract The role of evidence in policy-making is one of the most researched topics in public policy and public administration. However, surprisingly little research has been done on how public officials actually use evidence in everyday life practice. Moreover, these studies have been limited to countries that have been influenced by the evidence-based policy movement (EBP). Little is known about how the evidence is conceptualized and utilized in other countries which have not been so strongly influenced by EBP movement. This paper addresses this gap. Using a large-N survey on the Czech ministerial officials and in-depth interviews with them, we explore what is understood under the term of “evidence”, what kind of evidence is used and preferred by public officials and why. In doing so, we use four theoretical perspectives on the use of evidence. We show that despite the long-established tradition of using research in policy-making the importance of research evidence in the Czech Republic is far from being taken for granted. On the contrary, the immediate and personal experience is often preferred over the research findings. The exception to that are census-like statistical data and comparative data published by international organizations. We find some support for the two-communities metaphor, though these communities are not defined by their socio-demographic characteristics, but rather by their internal discourse and understanding of evidence.

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