Deviant Groups Research Articles

Alexander’s Gate and the Unclean Nations: Translation, Textual Appropriation, and the Construction of Barriers

The Alexander Romance and the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius deserve a place in any discussion of the impact of the translator’s work on the construction of memory in multicultural societies. Both works are remarkable as the products and the objects of translation throughout the middle ages. Successive recensions of the Alexander Romance were translated, either from the original Greek or from Latin translations, into numerous vernacular languages until there were popular versions of the Romance in circulation from Iceland to Indonesia. The Apocalypse was first written in Syriac at the isolated monastery of Singara, but under the impulse of the initial Arab conquests it was translated into Greek and then Latin for a readership that stretched from one end of the Mediterranean to the other; translations into various vernaculars were made throughout the middle ages in places as far apart as England and Russia. The remarkable extent to which translation made both the Romance and the Apocalypse available to ever wider audiences has long been recognized. What has not necessarily been appreciated to the same extent is the cultural impact of these translations, especially in regard to the contact and conflict of cultures. I would like to redress this neglect by drawing attention to the implications of a single episode, one borrowed from the Apocalypse into a later recension of the Romance and perhaps the most famous incident in either work: Alexander walling up the Unclean Nations, the agents of the End Times, beyond the Mountains of the North. Up to the appearance of this incident Alexander had been seen, as he perhaps still is, as a conqueror who extended not only his own realm, but the cultural sphere of the Greeks as well, drawing barbarian peoples into the civilized world of the oikoumene. Under the impact of the Arab conquests, I will argue, Alexander was given the very different, but just as formidable, task of excluding foreign and exotic peoples from a world which was ideally homogeneous, represented by his confining of the Unclean Nations. This act symbolizes the reaction which characterized the next several centuries of Byzantine strategy, of retrenchment, defense of the frontiers, and assimilation of all deviant groups (pagans, heretics, and Jews) within the borders. The memory of Alexander inspired by repeated translations of the Romance and Apocalypse spawned this xenophobic response not only in Byzantium, but throughout Europe, until the Turks were at the gates of Vienna in 1683. Perhaps its legacy can still be discerned today in the inclination toward eschatological hysteria provoked by the perceived aggression of the Muslim world.

Reviewing Imam Al-Shafi‘i’s Tafsir Ayat Al-Ahkam for Developing Principles of Contemporary Tafsir Literature

Al-Imam Al-Shafi'i is one of the greatest architects of Islamic thought in general and the Qur'anic interpretation in particular. He is the founder of one of the largest denominations based on Islamic Jurisprudence. He made a substantial contribution towards formulating an epistemological methodology for the proper understanding of the Qur'an, especially the Qur'anic verses related to rulings (Ayat al-ahkam), and left a permanent imprint on and legacy for the later Muslim scholars dealing with Qur’anic tafsir and/or tafsir of Ayat al-ahkam. The Imam devised and developed this methodology at such a juncture of Muslim intellectual exercise when some alien philosophies and doctrines infiltrated into almost all branches of Islamic knowledge. The tafsir literature was no exception. Besides, the emergence of some deviated intellectual outfits from among the Ummah itself virtually challenged and threatened the very fabric, purity, uniqueness and even existence of a distinct Islamic intellectual identity. For substantiating the principles of their thought, these deviant groups heavily relied on the primary normative sources of Islam (i.e., the Qur'an and the Sunnah) and subsequently deducted policies from thereof for running their intellectual denominations. Some of these policies and principles developed thereof were also related to the interpretation of the Qur'an itself. At this time, Al- Imam Al-Shafi'i along with others came forward, developed epistemological methodologies for governing almost all branches of Islamic knowledge including the Qur'anic interpretation, and thus set the course of Islamic thought on right track. The same scenario is again seen everywhere around the globe where the felid of tafsir is further intruded by some obviously alien and un-Islamic philosophical underpinnings. Scores of denominations have already emerged in the Ummah itself which offer such grotesque interpretations for the Qur'an or some of its verses that fall squarely contradictory even to its basic spirit, the fundamental shari'ah principles, and the vivid Prophetic guidelines. Thus the need of the hour is to reassert the methodologies of Al-Imam Al-Shafi'i for the tafsir of the Qur’an with an avowed objective of evaluating his contribution to this field and investigating into his epistemological principles so that the current deviation in the Qur'anic tafsir may be corrected and a worthwhile methodology for the contemporary interpretation of the Qur'an may be developed.IIUC Studies Vol.10 & 11 December 2014: 09-38

Fundamentalism and religious dissent: the LPPI's mission to eradicate the Ahmadiyya in Indonesia

ABSTRACTThe most active anti-heretical organisation in Indonesia, the Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengkajian Islam (LPPI – Institute for Islamic Study and Research), has benefitted from the process of democratisation after the downfall of the Suharto regime in 1998. It has taken exclusionary stances towards what it considers to be heretical religious groups, particularly the Ahmadiyya. Established in the 1980s, the LPPI was marginalised and suppressed by the Suharto regime, and its leader, Amin Djamaluddin, was arrested several times for placing himself at loggerheads with the regime. LPPI, however, survived this repression and even found its momentum after 1998. Since then, it has been able to propagate its mission to root out and eradicate heretical beliefs and even gain support from the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI – Council of Indonesian Ulama) and the government. This article studies the political and religious roles of the LPPI in promoting a strict and standardised Islam before and after 1998 by answering the following questions: What theological and political positions were adopted by this organisation in relation to the Ahmadiyya? How have the Persatuan Islam (Persis – Muslim Union) and the Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII – Indonesian Council for Islamic Propagation) influenced the LPPI in opposing nonconformist religious groups? Why did they disseminate anti-Ahmadiyya discourse, provoke people to oppose the Ahmadiyya, and lobby the government to ban this religious community? Did strategies to dismantle ‘deviant religious groups’ differ between the Suharto era and the post-Suharto era?

Exploring Deviant Hacker Networks (DHM) on Social Media Platforms

Online Social Networks (OSNs) have grown exponentially over the past decade. The initial use of social media for benign purposes (e.g., to socialize with friends, browse pictures and photographs, and communicate with family members overseas) has now transitioned to include malicious activities (e.g., cybercrime, cyberterrorism, and cyberwarfare). These nefarious uses of OSNs poses a significant threat to society, and thus requires research attention. In this exploratory work, we study activities of one deviant groups: hacker groups on social media, which we term Deviant Hacker Networks (DHN). We investigated the connection between different DHNs on Twitter: how they are connected, identified the powerful nodes, which nodes sourced information, and which nodes act as bridges between different network components. From this, we were able to identify and articulate specific examples of DHNs communicating with each other, with the goal of committing some form of deviant act online. In our work, we also attempted to bridge the gap between the empirical study of OSNs and cyber forensics, as the growth of OSNs is now bringing these two domains together, due to OSNs continuously generating vast amounts of evidentiary data.

Differences in sensitivity to deviance partly explain ideological divides in social policy support.

We propose that political differences in social policy support may be partly driven by the tendency for conservatives to show greater sensitivity to deviance than liberals, even among targets lacking social or functional relevance. In 3 studies, participants were shown geometric figures and were asked to identify the extent to which they were "triangles" (or circles, squares, etc.). More conservative participants reported greater differentiation between perfect and imperfect shapes than more liberal participants, indicating greater sensitivity to deviance. Moreover, shape differentiation partly accounted for the relationship between political ideology and social policy, partially mediating the link between conservatism and harsher punishment of wrongdoers (Studies 1 and 4), less support for public aid for disadvantaged groups (Study 2), and less financial backing for policies that benefit marginalized groups in society (Study 3). This effect was specific to policies that targeted deviant groups (Study 3) and who were not too highly deviant (Study 4). Results suggest that, in addition to commonly cited affective and motivational reactions to deviant actors, political differences in social policy may also be driven by conservatives' greater cognitive propensity to distinguish deviance. (PsycINFO Database Record

Самооценка и саморегуляция подростков-воспитанников интернатных учреждений

We investigate the cognitive and behavioral sub-consciousness of teenagers from the boarding schools. We used the method of Dembo-Rubinstein (the modification of A.M. Prihozhan), the express method Style of self-regulation of behavior in children SSBC1-M icons of V.I. Morosanova. It was discovered that almost all self-esteem indexes in adolescent orphans in regard to “I-Real” as the indicator of the cognitive development of self-consciousness is within the average level. An exception is the scale “Self-Confidence” where indexes in the majority of respondents are recorded as “very high”. In the perception of “I-perfect” indicators of all scales were also at a very high level. The total level of self-esteem of adolescent orphans is characterized as “medium”, while the total self-control is “low”. The comparative analysis of this sample of respondents from the respondents belonging to the deviant group of adolescents from families and young people from families with no deviations.

Predictors of Physical Activity in Positive Deviant Adolescents

The purpose of this analysis was to examine the predictors of PA in positive deviant adolescents in comparison to average or underachieving adolescents on the same criterion. A survey of Canadian adolescents aged 13-20 (N=603), based on a multidimensional wellness model and an ecological model, provided the data for a multiple regression analysis to identify predictors of PA in positive deviant adolescents defined as having higher than average levels of PA. Significant predictors of PA for positive deviant girls were recreational time, an increased sense of wellness, age, and family support (explaining 47.7% of variance for girls). Within the positive deviant group, older girls were less active than younger girls. For positive deviant boys, use of recreational time was the only significant predictor of PA (explaining 5.9% of the variance). Wellness as a significant predictor of PA in positive deviant adolescent girls is a new and unique finding. The measurement of wellness in this study was a composite score of the physical, social, and psychological developmental dimensions of adolescent lives. Pediatric nurses may wish to consider a multidimensional wellness approach, family support, and recreation time as major foci of PA interventions in adolescents.

Arrested Development: Does the Grade Level at Which Juveniles Experience Arrest Matter?

This study examines the effect of arrest on delinquency at a salient transition during adolescence: the move from middle to high school. The effects of arrest on delinquency via deviant attitudes, attenuation of prosocial bonds, and involvement with deviant groups are examined to determine whether labeling processes and consequences vary for youth in 7th, 8th, or 9th grade. Longitudinal data from a school-based survey are used to estimate the direct and indirect effects of arrest on delinquency for youth in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Wald tests are used to determine whether there are significant differences across cohorts. While arrest is associated with increased delinquency for all three grade cohorts, effects are most detrimental for 7th graders. For these youth, arrest exerts a significant, direct effect across all intermediate outcomes and accounts for increased delinquency via neutralizations, weak school commitment, delinquent peers, and negative peer commitment. Although some of these mediators explain increases in delinquency among 8th and 9th graders, effects are smaller in magnitude. In total, arrest is associated with a 132 % increase in delinquency among 7th graders, but only a 55 % increase among 9th graders. The findings indicate that the effects of arrest become less severe as youth age and delinquency becomes “normative.” It is recommended that the unintended consequences of arrest should be carefully considered—particularly for younger youth as they relate to deviant attitudes and commitment to and involvement with delinquent peers—and interventions should be coupled with efforts to improve prosocial attitudes and relations to prevent future delinquency. Although the effects of arrest wane over time, they do not disappear, and youth continue to experience consequences associated with arrest after they transition to high school.

Surveillance, responsibility and control: an analysis of government and industry discourses about “problem” and “responsible” gambling

Background: Discussions of gambling have traditionally focused on ideas of “problem” and “responsible” gambling. However, few studies have examined how Institutions attempt to exert social control over gamblers in order to promote so-called “responsible” behaviour. In this study, we examine the way “problem” and “responsible” gambling are discussed by Australian governments and the gambling industry, using a theoretical framework based on the work of Foucault. Method: We conducted a thematic analysis of discourses surrounding problem and responsible gambling in government and gambling industry websites, television campaigns and responsible gambling materials. Results: Documents distinguished between gambling, which was positive for the community, and problem gambling, which was portrayed as harmful and requiring medical intervention. The need for responsible gambling was emphasised in many of the documents, and reinforced by mechanisms including self-monitoring, self-control and surveillance of gamblers. Conclusions: Government and industry expect gamblers to behave “responsibly”, and are heavily influenced by neoliberal ideas of rational, controlled subjects in their conceptualisation of what constitutes “responsible behaviour”. As a consequence, problem gamblers become constructed as a deviant group. This may have significant consequences for problem gamblers, such as the creation of stigma.

FATWA ALIRAN SESAT DAN POLITIK HUKUM MAJELIS ULAMA INDONESIA (MUI)

MUI (The Indonesian Council of Ulama) is an institution established by the government of Indonesia that one of its functions is to formulate religious fatwas. The existence of the MUI as the representatives of various religious organizations, and therefore claimed to be the big tent of Muslims, became the basis for the existence of these functions. Nevertheless MUI’s fatwas on religious denominations in Indonesia, is considered partly responsible for the occurrence of discriminatory behavior and violence based on religion. This article would like to see the political aspects of the law on the MUI’s fatwas about the deviant groups which is considered as a barrier of religous freedom in Indonesia and at the same time as the trigger acts of violence based on religion. MUI’s fatwas about the deviant groups can be analyzed in at least two approaches. First, in the perspective of the discourse of blasphemy, and second from the perspective of the discourse of legal pluralism, institutionalizing MUI, and theology.

Race and ethnicity in the construction of the nation in Spain: the case of the Maragatos

ABSTRACTNationalism and its counterpart, modernism, are projects that involve the attempt to homogenize and incorporate the masses through the creation of a majority identity that usually leads to the classification of certain deviant groups as ‘others’. In Spain, civic and ethnic nationalisms driven by the state have historically drawn on cultural and biological notions of ethnicity and race to construct a representation of the Maragatos as ‘cursed peoples’, while at the same time homogenizing and incorporating them into the nation in practice. By tracing a genealogy of the origins and evolution of the representations of Maragato otherness created during the Enlightenment era, the Franco dictatorship and the current super-modern period, this paper argues that representations of otherness significantly influence current research agendas and understandings of identity well beyond the disappearance of the actual subjects described as others.

The Historical Origins of Control over Deviant Groups in Malaysia: Official Fatwá and Regulation of Interpretation

In Malaysia, official fatwá issued in each state played a crucial role in the regulation of ajaran sesat, or ‘deviant’ groups, such as Darul Arqam, Ahmadiyah, Taslim, Shi’a and many Sufi orders. The regulation of groups through official fatwá can be traced back to the 1930s. The development of control over them was deeply concerned with the upheavals in the Islamic world in the 1920s and the rise of the Salafi stream. The muftī in the Malay sultanates took the initiative in the regulation of ‘deviant’ groups. Among them was Sayyid Alawi Tahir al-Haddad, a muftī from Johor, who denounced the Salafism, or Kaum Muda, in Southeast Asia and other new streams through his fatwá. Sayyid Alawi was from Hadhramaut in Yemen, the stronghold of the Shafi‘i school. His attempt to strengthen the Shafi‘i school and regulate the new streams of Islamic thought was, in Malaysia, one of the origins of the efforts to gain control over ‘deviant’ groups through official fatwá.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v22i2.1917

Discursive constructions of otherness in populist radical right political blogs

AbstractThis article provides a comparative study of the discursive construction and use of Otherness among anti‐immigration populist radical right politicians in Sweden and Finland. Based on rhetorical and critical discursive psychology, our analyses of discourse within nine political blogs identified three distinct representations of Otherness. These representations of a deviant group of people, of a threatening ideology and of inner enemies are highly familiar from previous research on radical right discourse. However, what seems to characterize populist radical right discourse in the Nordic context is the strong reliance on the rhetorical juxtaposition between the welfare system and immigration. Our study furthermore highlights how populist radical right politicians exploit the digital discursive tools provided by political blogging. These tools, first, create a sense of connectedness and mutual understanding between blogger and reader and, second, allow the blogger to convey messages that are hostile towards immigrants and ethnic minorities without expressing an explicit personal opinion. In combination, the features provided by political blogging and the discursive and rhetorical strategies that deny racism make discourse within a populist radical right political blog especially powerful and convincing. We conclude that research must be sensitive to this ‘digital discourse’, as it reaches a public far beyond the sphere of a political blog through its potential to spread and influence mainstream media.

Emotional reactions to deviance in groups: the relation between number of angry reactions, felt rejection, and conformity.

How many members of a group need to express their anger in order to influence a deviant group member’s behavior? In two studies, we examine whether an increase in number of angry group members affects the extent to which a deviant individual feels rejected, and we investigate downstream effects on conformity. We show that each additional angry reaction linearly increases the extent to which a deviant individual feels rejected, and that this relation is independent of the total number of majority members (Study 1). This felt rejection is then shown to lead to anti-conformity unless two conditions are met: (1) the deviant is motivated to seek reacceptance in the group, and (2) conformity is instrumental in gaining reacceptance because it is observable by the majority (Study 2). These findings show that angry reactions are likely to trigger anti-conformity in a deviant, but they are also consistent with a motivational account of conformity, in which conformity is strategic behavior aimed at gaining reacceptance from the group.

Measles Epidemic Process in Various Vaccinal Periods

The considerable factual data enabled us for the first time to reveal the peculiarities of measles epidemic process manifestations in different stages of the prophylaxis. It was shown that some determinants of measles epidemic process changed during the period of high measles vaccination coverage of children and adult population: measles mortality was eliminated, the seasonal factors do not influence on the dynamics of epidemic process within a year, fluctuations of measles incidences became stochastic over many last years, the measles ceased to be a children infection. Increasing impact on the epidemic process of measles by social factors and less biological factors, which manifests itself in an increase in the proportion of cases among socially deviant groups, individuals decreed professions. Significant role in the epidemic process play internal and external migration.

'Immigrants Are Not Criminals': Respectability, Immigration Reform, and Hyperincarceration

Mainstream pro-immigrant law reformers advocate for better treatment of immigrants by invoking a contrast with people convicted of a crime. This Article details the harms and limitations of a conceptual framework for immigration reform that draws its narrative force from a contrast with people — citizens and noncitizens — who have been convicted of a criminal offense and proposes an alternate approach that better aligns with racial and class critiques of the U.S. criminal justice system. Noncitizens with a criminal record are overwhelmingly low-income people of color. While some have been in the United States for a short period of time, many have resided in the United States for much longer. Many are lawful permanent residents with strong family ties, including U.S. citizen children. Convicted noncitizens who have served significant time in our penal system have experienced the well-documented harms associated with both criminal and civil incarceration. Despite the significant size of this population and its location at the convergence of two heavily criticized law enforcement regimes, these individuals rarely serve as an example for what is wrong with our immigration system. To the contrary, convicted noncitizens are typically regarded as foils for more deserving immigrants. Immigration reformers are not the first to employ a deserving/undeserving narrative as a means of obtaining political gains for some at the expense of others. Across all areas of law reform, policy makers and advocates have sought to generate empathy for groups of people by invoking a contrast with others. In drawing a contrast between a favored group and others who are degenerate, deviant, or less deserving, the “politics of respectability” depends on a contrast with an “out” or deviant group. Racial justice proponents, much more than immigration reformers, have made significant headway in moving beyond respectability politics, especially when critiquing hyperincarceration. This Article describes a different conceptualization of immigrants and crime as well as examples of how certain immigration reform groups have sought to implement aspects of this alternate frame.

Children's evaluations of resource allocation in the context of group norms.

This study investigated children's evaluations of peer group members who deviated from group norms about equal and unequal allocation of resources. Children, ages 3.5 to 4 years and 5 to 6 years (N = 73), were asked to evaluate a peer group member who deviated from 1 of 2 group allocation norms: (a) equal allocation of resources, or (b) unequal allocation of resources. Most children negatively evaluated deviant group members who espoused an unequal allocation, even when it benefitted the group, and explained their evaluation with reference to fairness. However, participants who liked unequal deviants (who advocated for an unequal allocation of resources) reasoned about group functioning and the benefits that an unequal allocation would have for the group. With age, children displayed social acumen by differentiating their own evaluation of the deviant act from their expectations of the group's favorability toward that deviant member. Findings revealed age-related increases for social acumen about group norms, as well as the use of fairness reasoning regarding resource allocation.

Aquarius and Beyond: Thinking through the Counterculture

Aquarius and Beyond: Thinking through the Counterculture

78 NONINVASIVE CELL LINEAGE TRACING IN BOVINE EMBRYOS FROM 2-CELL STAGE UP TO BLASTOCYST STAGE

The first lineage specification occurs during pre-implantation mammalian development. At the blastocyst stage, 2 cell lineages can be distinguished: the inner cell mass (ICM) and the trophectoderm (TE). The exact timing when embryo cells are skewed to these lineages is not clearly determined in mammalian species. In murine embryos, it has been suggested that the first cleavage plane might be related to the embryonic-abembryonic (Em-Ab) axis at blastocyst stage. Thus, the daughter cells of the 2-cell embryo might already be predisposed to a specific cell lineage further on development. The objective of the present study was to observe how the first cleavage in bovine embryos may be related to cell lineage allocation at the blastocyst stage, using a noninvasive tracing approach. Bovine oocytes were harvested, in vitro matured, and fertilised. At the 2-cell stage, embryos were injected in one blastomere with the membrane tracer DiI. At the blastocyst stage, embryos (n = 346) were classified as orthogonal when the Em-Ab axis was orthogonally divided by the borderline between labelled and non-labelled cells; as deviant if the borderline was overlapping the Em-Ab axis; and as random when the labelled and non-labelled cells were randomly distributed. Total cell count (TCC) and the ICM/TE ratio was allowed by DNA staining with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and by immunostaining of the ICM with Sox2 antibody. Analysis of variance was performed by one-way ANOVA employing IBM SPSS v21 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) to determine any difference between the cell lineage allocation patterns, TCC, and the ICM/TE ratio. P-values = 0.05 were considered significant. All values are reported as mean ± standard error of mean. Within 40 repetitions, the blastocyst classification was as follows: orthogonal 14.9% (±2.32, n = 56), deviant 22.2% (±2.58, n = 80), and random 62.9% (±2.64, n = 210). A significant difference was found in the incidence between the random group against the orthogonal and deviant, but not between the latter two. Regarding TCC, a significant difference was observed only between the orthogonal (99.6 ± 11.7 cells, n = 15) and deviant (135 ± 7.3 cells, n = 25) groups, but not with random embryos (116 ± 5.5 cells, n = 42). Finally, no significant difference was found among the groups concerning the ICM/TE ratio (0.43 ± 0.07 for orthogonal, n = 7; 0.54 ± 0.06 for deviant, n = 14; and 0.40 ± 0.03 for random embryos, n = 26). In conclusion, bovine embryos present a marked tendency for a random distribution of the daughter cells derived from the 2-cell blastomeres. However, around 37% of the blastocysts present a patterned cell division, where the daughter cells remain together through pre-implantation development. The effect of these cell lineage allocation patterns on implantation and further embryo development needs to be addressed.The authors acknowledge Laboratoire d'Excellence Revive (Investissement d'Avenir, ANR-10-LABX-73) and CONACyT Mexico for funding.

Chinese Newspapers' Coverage of HIV Transmission over a Decade (2000–2010): Where HIV Stigma Arises

Recent studies have revealed serious HIV stigmatization in Chinese media discourse. The current study extends previous research by exploring how HIV transmission was portrayed in Chinese media discourse, particularly how the media framed HIV transmission for people living with HIV (PLHIV) and affected groups. The study used quantitative content analysis to examine articles published in each of the eight Chinese news outlets one week before and one week after World AIDS Day every other year from 2000 to 2010. The results suggest that Chinese newspaper articles label PLHIV and stereotype certain social groups to reinforce an “us versus them” dichotomy. Chinese media promote two different views of PLHIV that are dependent on the manner in which people contracted HIV. Individuals who contracted HIV through socially acceptable means (e.g., blood transfusion) were worthy of being featured. In contrast, individuals who contracted HIV through socially unacceptable means (e.g., intravenous drug use) were less likely to be identified as individuals and were instead devalued as nondescript members of a deviant and dangerous group. This dichotomy reinforces HIV stigmatization and will mitigate China's anti-stigma efforts. The study provides health care professionals and anti-stigma advocates a specific picture of HIV stigmatization in the Chinese media context.