Group Consciousness Research Articles

Predicting group consciousness among Asian Americans: Considering commonalities, shared interests, panethnic group identification, and linked fate

AbstractIdentifying factors linked to the development of group consciousness is important toward bettering our understanding of group formation processes among marginalized ethnoracial groups. This study examines predictors of group consciousness among Asians and Asian Americans in the United States, focusing on numerous dimensions of this concept, including linked fate, panethnic group identification, and four specific sources of perceived group commonality and interests: (1) cultural, (2) economic, (3) political, and (4) racial. We use data from a national survey to examine socio‐structural, political, discrimination, and immigration correlates associated with separate dimensions of Asian group consciousness. We found that perceiving interpersonal discrimination increased the importance of being Asian; heightened the odds of feeling linked fate with other Asian people; and enhanced the odds of identification as “Asian American.” Republicans and Independents were less likely to perceive different elements of Asian group consciousness compared to Democrats. Educational attainment, income, gender, employment status, ethnicity, and English‐speaking comfortability had varying effects across certain measures of Asian group consciousness. For Asians and Asian Americans, interpersonal discrimination and certain socio‐structural, political, and immigration factors may be especially meaningful toward the development of linked fate, shared group interests and commonalities, and panethnic identification, all of which are key toward activating group consciousness.

Exploring the Ways of Constructing Organizational Cultural Atmosphere in Colleges and Universities

Exploring the ways of constructing organizational cultural atmosphere in colleges and universities is the main focus of this study. A university is a social organization whose mission is to inherit and innovate human civilization. Everything that happens in this organizational system is influenced by its culture, and ideological and political education is no exception. Management theory argues that the success or failure of organizational behavior is often attributed to organizational culture. Organizational culture is a general term for group consciousness such as values, ways of thinking, work styles, and codes of conduct that are commonly accepted by members of the organization. By cultivating and shaping this culture, the organization influences the working attitude of members and guides the achievement of the organization's goals. Hence, this paper gives the novel ideas of nehancing the organizational cultural atmosphere in colleges and universities. The proposed ideas will be tested in the future study.

Clarifying the “People Like Me”: Racial Efficacy and Political Behavior

Political efficacy, or a sense of confidence that “people like me” can understand politics and receive responsiveness from government, is central to the study of political behavior. However, the reference group that respondents view as “people like me” is not always immediately clear. This limits our ability to infer how efficacy informs political participation. We propose a specific concept and operationalization of racial group efficacy, and we distinguish this concept from racial identity, group consciousness, and conventional efficacy measures. Analyses of data from the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey reveal that for white, Black, Asian, and Latina/o Americans, racial efficacy is a more consistent and robust predictor of political participation than standard internal and external efficacy measures. Further, we show that racial efficacy exhibits associations with conventional and unconventional forms of participation that distinguish whites from people of color. We conclude by discussing how people’s racial efficacy informs their engagement in politics, from voting to protests.

Review: Nowhere to Run: Race, Gender, and Immigration in American Elections, by Christian Dyogi Phillips

Review: <i>Nowhere to Run: Race, Gender, and Immigration in American Elections</i>, by Christian Dyogi Phillips

Freigeister und Pragmatiker. Die preußischen Feldprediger 1750–1806

Strauß’s declared aim in this book, based on her 2019 PhD thesis in modern history at the University of Tübingen, is to challenge the narrative—still dominant in scholarship—that Prussian military chaplains played an essential part in creating ‘a “religious bond” between soldiers and the authorities’, epitomized by the infamous slogan ‘For God, King and Fatherland’ (p. 11). While Strauß does not neglect that military chaplains were indeed concerned with matters of war, she argues that in the second half of the eighteenth century military chaplains’ work also comprised engagement in general theological debates, soldiers’ and commoners’ education, and entailed ‘a claim for having a political effect’ (p. 12). Based on these assumptions she concludes that military chaplains were a ‘special group among early modern clergymen’ (p. 17). The book addresses three questions. Firstly, how ‘did military chaplains understand their role in the military and society’, and did experiences of war bind the clergymen closer to the Prussian monarchy or rather strengthen a process of ‘self- and group consciousness’ formation (p. 17)? What function did religion fulfil in the military, especially with regards to ‘social and mental binding forces’ (p. 18)? And finally, in what way did clergymen’s consciousness and behaviour alter in the period of the late Enlightenment (Spätaufklärung), and did this result in a change in the concept of religion in the military (p. 18)? Combining previous research on military chaplains within Prussian studies with approaches such as ‘the social history of the Enlightenment’, ‘modern military history’ and ‘the history of religion’, Strauß seeks to contribute to a ‘social history of religion’ (Gesellschaftsgeschichte der Religion) which combines ‘the history of ideas and discourse, the history of eighteenth-century religion and reflections on change in the early modern period’ (p. 29). In methodological terms, the book combines the approach of collective biography, by analysing the biographies of 800 Lutheran clergymen between the years 1750 and 1806, with conceptual history (Begriffsgeschichte) in the tradition of Rolf Reinhardt, Pasi Ihalainen and Kari Palonen (pp. 31–2).

Ideological Acceleration of Schoolchildren as an Effect of New Media: Formulating the Question

The early ideological socialization of schoolchildren is manifested in their increasing involvement in political (including protest) activities. In Russia, school students’ involvement in political processes hasn’t been properly studied, despite similar studies being conducted abroad since the middle of the last century. Meanwhile, in the information age, the students’ political participation should be considered in close connection with the younger generation’s digital socialization carried out in online communities and social networks. In this regard, the purpose of this article is to raise the question of the methodology for studying what until recently seemed insignificant in the minds of schoolchildren: fully formed ideological attitudes influenced by the ideological language of new media. To solve this methodological problem, we need to clarify the concepts of political and ideological socialization projected on the school; formulate the problem of ideological acceleration of schoolchildren; methodologically substantiate the concept of ideological socialization and describe the environment of new media as the main “accelerator” of the schoolchildren’s ideological socialization. The authors note the need for a political study of the issue, using the achievements of interdisciplinary research in the fields of linguistics, cognitive science and ideologies. They propose an approach based on the theory of metaphorical framing (J. Lakoff) and the authors’ concept of cognitive ideological matrices. The authors emphasize that new media act as an intermediary in the formation of cognitiveideological matrices in the individual and group consciousness of schoolchildren, as well as a catalyst for earlier ideological socialization.

Legal foundations of the life world of the Russian village: Theoretical, methodological and essential aspect

The life world of the village (rural life) is a kind of background (independent environment, substance), which structurally consists of public (group) consciousness in the form of the meanings of public (public) and personal (private) life, aimed at mutual understanding. Here, law is expressed through fundamental ideas and manifests itself as the spirit of law. The system of the village’s life world is a set of institutional socio-political structures (subsystems), including the legal subsystem. The legal subsystem is essentially the legal basis of the life world of the village (rural life), which reflects the system of positive (positive) law in force in the state, where legal norms are developed. The structural elements of the legal foundations of the life world of the Russian village (rural life) and their essential characteristics are determined on the basis of the formal-legal (dogmatic) and, in combination with it, institutional-legal and other research methods.

Лингвокреативный потенциал эргономинаций в аспекте их порождения и восприятия: экспериментальное исследование

The article analyzes the repertoire of ergonymic nominations in the light of their linguocreative specificity. The associative content of ergonyms in the everyday consciousness of various groups of the urban population has been experimentally verified. The nature of interpretation of a verbal sign is considered as a speech-thinking “reflexive act” reflecting the value paradigm of a specific linguistic personality. As a material for conducting free and directed associative experiments, the names of public catering establishments and entertainment centers of Yekaterinburg are used. Linguocreative processes of creation and perception of ergonymic nominations are considered in the light of the ratio of the nominator’s intention and depth “reading” (interpretation) of the name by the addressee. Ergonyms based on the language game bear a special burden in this regard. A complex model of the analysis of ergonyms in the aspect of their impact on the addressee’s consciousness is presented (taking into account the nominative technique of creating an ergonym, as well as criteria for its rational and emotional evaluation by the addressee). The parameters of the creativity of the name that are relevant for the bearers of urban culture are highlighted: 1) originality, unusual, game component); 2) correspondence of the name to the purpose of the object; 3) modernity of the name; compliance with the tastes of the addressee (his/her language priorities); 4) graphic design of the name that supports its decoding.

FAKES AND PROPAGANDA IN THE INFORMATION STRUGGLE OF THE SOVIET AUTHORITIES WITH THE OUN (B)

The purpose of the article is to analyze the content and methods of presenting fakes in the information struggle of the Soviet government against the nationalist movement. Dialectical, systemic, and structural-functional methods were used for the complex study of the research goal. The article analyzes the destructive use of the press as a tool of information warfare. The following components of Soviet propaganda were established: 1) the object of informational influence was the individual and group consciousness of the population of the USSR; 2) the goal was to neutralize the influence of the OUN and the planting of communist ideology; 3) fixed assets – propaganda, misinformation, manipulation, fakes. The content of the main propaganda narratives of the Soviet press is described. The press has become one of the means of manipulating and internally controlling the public opinion of the population of the USSR. In the information confrontation, the Soviet authorities formed a branching infrastructure. The means used by Soviet propaganda ranged from half-truths to outright lies. One of the principal fakes was identifying the Ukrainian nationalist movement with German Nazism, which aimed to create stereotypes in the minds of the Ukrainian population, an attempt to form an image of the internal enemy, which is under external control. This basic narrative was divided into narrower plot lines, including the «kulak» origin of the members of the OUN (b) and, accordingly, the hostile attitude of nationalists to the majority of the population of the USSR. One of the tasks of the Soviet press was to disorganize the OUN (b), which was achieved through the publication in newspapers of numerous appeals and letters from former OUN members, data on the successful activities of Soviet security forces with the nationalist movement. The specificity of Soviet propaganda was the consideration of the religious factor in creating fake information, which was to improve the perception of the population of Western Ukraine of the simplified and distorted information broadcast by the Soviet authorities.

THE INTERACTION OF LINGUISTIC AND CONCEPTUAL PICTURES OF THE WORLD

The article analyzes the notions of linguistic and conceptual pictures of the world and reveals the peculiarities of their interaction. It was found that in linguistics, the picture of the world is generally understood as an ordered set of knowledge about reality, which is formed in the social, group and individual consciousness. As a result of the analysis of modern linguistic sources it is established that the picture of the world is a complex system of images that reflect reality in the collective and individual consciousness. The picture of the world consists of conceptual and linguistic pictures that are interdependent. The conceptual picture of the world is a field of thought, which is a set of ideas, concepts and knowledge about the world around us and the principles of its organization, and language is a product of verbal realization of these concepts, ideas and knowledge. Linguistic reading of the picture of the world is nationally specific. The national linguistic picture of the world is seen as an ethnically determined understanding and evaluation of the surrounding world in relation to a particular ethnic group, reflected in linguistic forms.

Representation of Delinquent Juveniles (Yankee) in Japan in Two Japanese Movies

Yankee, which is a group of delinquent juveniles in Japan makes the society tend to focus only on the bad things they do. However, one of the interesting things about Yankee is that they stick to the concept of shuudan ishiki – the concept of group awareness that has been upheld by Japanese society for a long time. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the representation of Yankee in “Gokusen: The Movie” and “Drop”, from the appearance, behavioral, and group consciousness aspects. The method used in this study was an in-depth observation of the data corpus, then the analysis was carried out with the descriptive analysis method. To analyze the data, the theory of Sociology of Literature by Wellek &amp; Warren and the theory of Representation by Stuart Hall were used. The shuudan ishiki concept was also used to analyze the behavior of the characters. The results showed that the appearance and behavior of students who become Yankees deviate from the customs, regulations, and norms that are applied in society. Other than that, the Yankee group in each movie has a high group awareness, which is portrayed by the loyalty and solidarity among the group members.

Doing More than Thanking Black Women: The Influence of Intersectional Solidarity on Public Support for Policies

ABSTRACT There have been numerous calls to “thank” Black women for their consistent support of the Democratic Party. Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted that we need to do more than “congratulate” Black women. Harris stated, “Let’s address issues that disproportionately affect Black women.” With this in mind, understanding the formation of public opinion about issues that affect Black women is important. In service of this goal, I offer a theory and measure of a form of group consciousness called intersectional solidarity. I define intersectional solidarity as a set of political beliefs that is characterized by awareness of and distress over marginalized subgroups’ oppression. In this article I explore the influence of intersectional solidarity on policy support with a focus on policies that disproportionately affect Black women. Specifically, I examine the circumstances under which people support the Maternal CARE Act, a policy that addresses the racial disparity in maternal healthcare, as well as Equal Pay Certification which is a policy that addresses the race/gender pay gap. This article informs our expectations regarding both the barriers to but also the possibilities for support for policies that benefit marginalized subgroups like Black women. In doing so, this project provides insight into the possibilities for intersectional politics.

Polarization in Black and White

AbstractWhile the alignment of partisan and ideological identities—sorting—serves as a primary explanation for the rise in affective polarization, we theorize that this connection does not hold for all Americans, especially racial subgroups with unique political experiences. Using both cross-sectional and panel data, we find that even though Whites have sorted, and differences between the South and elsewhere have diminished over time, Black Americans have not sorted since 1972. However, affective polarization is just as high among Blacks as it is Whites. Thus, sorting does not appear to explain Black affective polarization. Multivariate models provide additional evidence that sorting does not adequately explain affective polarization among Blacks. Instead, we find that group norms and group consciousness (e.g., linked fate) better account for affective polarization among Black Americans. These findings provide important nuance to the sorting thesis and shed light on the relationship between sorting and affective polarization.

The Apache Diaspora: Four Centuries of Displacement and Survival

The Apache Diaspora: Four Centuries of Displacement and Survival

An Emerging Reactive Ethnicity Among Latinxs in Tennessee

The burgeoning Latinx communities in the U.S. South provide rich case studies for examining the identity formation and group consciousness of children of Latin American immigrants. This paper explores the identities and sense of belonging of 1.5- and second-generation Latinxs who have come of age in Tennessee, a Southern state that has experienced a surge in immigration from Latin America in recent decades. In-depth interviews with Latinxs who have grown up in Tennessee reveal how these individuals contemplate their identities in relation to questions of belonging to (and within) U.S. society. A shift toward developing a reactive ethnicity is evident as Latinxs convey how perceived interpersonal discrimination coupled with recent national and local anti-immigrant policies drive ethnic group solidarity. These factors influence individual life choices and encourage participation in social and political activism. Such reactions will have long-term ramifications for local Southern societies.

Political Consciousness Formation in the Modern Global World

The article examines an actual problem of international integration, associated with the peculiarities of political consciousness in modern global society. The research methodology is determined by the synthesis of analytical and comparative historical approaches. The authors consider such conditions of global society existence in which the objective social polarity of a society and the heterogeneity of political structures give rise to a wide range of needs and interests of groups and individuals. This feature forms the difference in the elements of their political consciousness. As a result, several forms of political consciousness can exist simultaneously in every society. Conceptual description motivational structure in sociopolitical systems requires the complex application of various bases for their classification. In conclusion, it is emphasized that real social systems are characterized by a complex synthesis of elements of various political consciousness types. The unity of diverse forms of political consciousness organization in a global society is based on an axiological meaningful consensus of socio-cultural relationships between people, between society and man, between state and man, conceptual represented in the symbols that motivate individual and group consciousness on trust in the authorities.

Motivation Factors for Political Consciousness Formation in the Modern World

The article deals with the problem of political consciousness formation in the global conditions of heterogeneous political structures, which generate a wide range of needs and interests of groups and individuals. The purpose of our study is to identify the motivational structure of the subject's consciousness formation in political structures of different types. Conceptual description of the motivational structure in socio-political systems requires complex application of various research methods. The authors utilize such methods as structural and functional analysis of the informational and social environment, the phenomenological analysis of the role of communicative practices in the public sphere driving the attitudes of mass consciousness in the process of political power legitimation. Empirical methods include public opinion polls. Following the typology of forms of political consciousness, it is possible to single out and to systematize objective system factors of the living environment and subject-oriented factors of consciousness manipulation in public policy. Remarkably, real social systems are characterized by the complex synthesis of elements from different types of political consciousness. The process of recognizing the legitimacy of power by an individual is defined by opposite motivational vectors of freedom and necessity and runs on the base of rational and emotional perception of the political situation. The unity of the diverse forms of political consciousness organization in the global society is based on the axiological consensus between cultures, between society and human, between state and person. These relations conceptually manifest in symbols that motivate individual and group consciousness to trust in power.

From Micro to Macro: The Combination of Consciousness.

Crick and Koch’s 1990 “neurobiological theory of consciousness” sparked the race for the physical correlates of subjective experience. 30 years later, cognitive sciences trend toward consideration of the brain’s electromagnetic field as the primary seat of consciousness, the “to be” of the individual. Recent advancements in laboratory tools have preceded an influx of studies reporting a synchronization between the neuronally generated EM fields of interacting individuals. An embodied and enactive neuroscientific approach has gained traction in the wake of these findings wherein consciousness and cognition are theorized to be regulated and distributed beyond the individual. We approach this frontier to extend the implications of person-to-person synchrony to propose a process of combination whereby coupled individual agents merge into a hierarchical cognitive system to which they are subsidiary. Such is to say, the complex mammalian consciousness humans possess may not be the tip of the iceberg, but another step in a succeeding staircase. To this end, the axioms and conjectures of General Resonance Theory are utilized to describe this phenomenon of interpersonal resonant combination. Our proposal describes a coupled system of spatially distributed EM fields that are synchronized through recurrent, entraining behavioral interactions. The system, having achieved sufficient synchronization, enjoys an optimization of information flow that alters the conscious states of its merging agents and enhances group performance capabilities. In the race for the neurobiological correlates of subjective experience, we attempt the first steps in the journey toward defining the physical basis of “group consciousness.” The establishment of a concrete account of the combination of consciousness at a scale superseding individual human consciousness remains speculation, but our suggested approach provides a framework for empirical testing of these possibilities.

Humanities teachers in Russian universities: the crisis of the professional group or adaptation to the "new normality"?

The article examines the characteristics of the professional identity of humanitarian teachers working in Russian universities, the peculiarities of their behavior in the context of global and national changes in higher education. The strengthening of the unstable position of the professional group "university teacher of social and humanitarian profile" led the authors to the need for a new large-scale study, which was based on the theory of professional identity, social adaptation, as well as on the author's empirical research carried out ten years ago. The traditional appointment of university teachers associated with the roles of a teacher, scientist, educator, mentor in modern conditions has come into conflict with the functions of providing and promoting educational services dictated by the inclusion of higher education in market relations. The purpose of our work is aimed at identifying the resulting indicators of values and behavior of university humanities teachers, establishing the nature of their professional identity. Functional-role, axiological and communicative approaches were used in the study, which made it possible to link new social, cultural, and political processes with the implementation of the functions and roles of teachers of the humanities. Based on the author's definition of the professional identity of university teachers, including the awareness and living of the subjects of their involvement in the group, readiness to implement the qualities and behaviors demanded by the university-employer, the authors analyzed the empirical data of an interregional sociological survey and came to scientific conclusions within the framework of the goal. The resulting indicators of values and behavior of humanities teachers working in Russian universities indicate that in their group consciousness there was a reassessment of the functions performed, which led to professional re-identification: a gradual departure from the role of "university intelligentsia" and the development of the role of "intellectuals", for whom the main quality is the development of professionalism and its advantageous offer. The traditional and previously sought-after qualities of teachers of the humanities cycle - intelligence, citizenship, social activity, mentoring, justice - are being pushed to the periphery of the consciousness of teachers of the socio-humanitarian cycle of the Russian higher school.

The life world of the Russian village in legal attitude: sociological aspect

Based on various scientific concepts in the understanding of the lifeworld, the presented study characterizes the sociological aspects of the lifeworld of the Russian rural areas and builds its theoretical construct (model), which will make it possible to explore the legal foundations of rural life and ways to improve them in the future. The author concludes that the lifeworld of Russian rural areas can be represented as a dual construct that links scientific theories (paradigm) of the lifeworld with the system; structurally, it consists of social (group) consciousness based on the communicative action (behavior) of individuals and groups of Russian society aimed at mutual understanding. The lifeworld of Russian rural areas that develops this way through the functioning of the system is manifested in the meanings of public (public) and personal (private) life in the form of goal principles that guide a person (consciously or spontaneously) in everyday life to preserve values and develop society. The system of the rural lifeworld consists of several institutional subsystems (sociopolitical structures), including the legal subsystem, and it serves as a factor in the development (driving force) of its system.