Discussion Of Public Affairs Research Articles

Linguistic justice in English-medium instruction contexts: a theoretical argument

Abstract This article looks at English-medium instruction (EMI) contexts in higher education from a linguistic justice perspective and offers a theoretical argument to discuss the potential for EMI to be defended as a positive and valuable phenomenon, beyond economic and competitive arguments. In the final keynote panel at the 2022 ICLHE conference, Philippe Van Parijs pondered how EMI teachers might be seen: either as killers, traitors, sellers, saviours, upgraders, or liberators. After providing characterisations for each of these labels, Van Parijs suggested that EMI teachers should be better conceived of as civilisers, not in a missionary sense of civilising the barbarian, but in the Aristotelian meaning of civic virtue, of citizens being part of public life, actively involved in discussion of public affairs. This seems to imply a specific view of English, one that almost naturally equates the language to democratic progress and consensus. In the article, I challenge this assumption and suggest that for English to be a democratising agent and EMI truly a gate-opener to higher education, emphasis needs to be placed on listening subject positions and regimes of uptake as key aspects of democratic deliberation and key elements to overcome prejudiced views of accents and voices.

The Dilemma of Women Participating in the Discussion of Public Issues on Weibo: A Case Study of Sichuan Changing the Rule for Birth Registration

Weibo, as a new channel for online political participation and a becoming important platform for the feminist movement, has become the most important Internet public sphere in China, and more and more women are participating in the discussion of public issues on Weibo. This research focuses on the dilemma of women participating in the discussion of public issues on Weibo through a case study of Sichuan changing the rule for birth registration. Based on the three characteristics of Weibo: freedom, immediacy, and interactivity, this study selects the discussion period of the night of the announcement that is worth studying, which was intense and the sample size was large. A total of 282 valid data from Weibo users and the observations on the discussion of the rule demonstrate that traditional moral values have a profound influence on women. Women still need to improve their subjective awareness and improve their participation and influence in the discussion of public affairs, while men need to increase their attention to the dilemma of women. Weibo platform must simultaneously reduce its restrictions on free speech. The government should spread education about gender equality and protect victims.

Normalizing Community Structure's Restraint on Critical Tweets About a Polluting Industry

There is an ongoing debate as to whether the Internet broadly, and social media specifically, has radicalized or normalized existing patterns of participation in discussions of public affairs. Previous studies of traditional media's coverage of polluting industries have found media in less structurally pluralistic, more economically dependent communities are less likely to be critical in their coverage of industrial pollution. This study examines whether or not the influence of local community structure was normalized in Gulf Coast Twitter users' tweets about the 2010 BP oil spill. While it has been suggested that the Internet “overrides” the influences of local geography, like journalists, the producers of online content still live and work in local geographic communities. Thus, this study examines whether Twitter users in less pluralistic, more economically dependent communities are less critical of BP and its response to the crisis.

On the Origins of the Western Political Science Association and PRQ

As the WPSA celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, there ar few of its members who have a clear sense of the history of the organization or its journal, Political Research Quarterly (formerly Western Political Quarterly). As the chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah for the past seven years, I was aware of the spe cial relationship between the University of Utah and the WPSA. Recently, I found some of the original documents related to the founding of the association and the journal, and this brief essay presents them to the membership. The WPSA was born at a meeting held on November 29, 1947, in the Little Theater in the old Union Building at the University of Utah. Actually, the idea was discussed at the Statler Hotel in Chicago the previous December during the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Vigor ous discussions between University of Utah professor G. Homer Durham and University of Wyoming professor Vincent Ostrom were held at the APSA meeting about establishing such an organization. Also engaged in those discussions were Frank H. Jonas, Utah State Agricultural College and later the University of Utah, and Stanford University's Charles Fairman. Later, the University of Washington's Thomas I. Cook and Whitman College's Chester C. Maxey joined in the efforts. On January 6,1947, Professor Durham wrote to Professor Cook about how to establish such a group and copied the American Political Science Association. Letters were sent to other faculty in the west with an interest in such an organization. By the end of January 1947, the president of the American Political Science Association had written back wishing the venture well. On April 5,1947, the president of the University of Utah, A. Ray Olpin, authorized the use of university facilities to hold a meeting to establish a political science associa tion in the west. The meeting was held in November at the University of Utah, a draft constitution was adopted, and officers were elected. Among the institutions repre sented at this first business meeting were the University of Utah, Stanford University, San Francisco State University, Fresno State University, University of New Mexico, University of Colorado, University of Puget Sound, University of Denver, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, Carbon College, University of Wyoming, University of Hawaii, Idaho State University, Brigham Young University, and Utah State Agricultural College. On December 29, the American Political Science Association formally accepted the Western Political Science Association as a regional group. The Western was the second such regional association rec ognized by the APSA, even though it was preceded in terms of organization by the Southern Association, the oldest of the regional political science associations; the Midwest Conference; and the Southwestern Social Science Association. The first officers of the WPSA were G. Homer Durham (Utah), president; Vincent Ostrom (Wyoming), vice president; and Frank L. Jonas (Utah), secretary-treasurer. The first program of the WPSA meeting in 1947 fea tured a symposium on the Objectives of U.S. Foreign Policy that included a paper on U.S. Objectives in the Middle East. Following a luncheon address by Charles Fairman (Stanford University and APSA vice president), an afternoon session was held on Current Develop ments in Local Government. A roundtable on Politics and Public Policy closed the meeting. Along with approving a draft constitution submitted by Professor Durham, the meeting also approved the statement of purpose of the WPSA: to promote the study and teach ing of government, to foster research, to facilitate the discussion of public affairs, and, as a section thereof, to conform to the objectives of the American Political Science Association. On January 13, 1948, the University of Utah's President Olpin provided funds and authorized the Institute of Government in the Department of

The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse (review)

Reviewed by: The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse John D. Baird (bio) Brian Cowan. The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse Yale University Press. ix, 364. US $40.00 High on the top ten list of most successful ideas of the last half-century must be Habermas's concept of the public sphere, the notional space where [End Page 422] citizens meet to exchange views on matters of common interest, and public opinion comes into existence as a factor in the government of nation states. For historians interested in the actual spaces where such exchanges took place, the coffeehouse has been a prime exhibit. Here is a kind of social space that came into existence in the middle of the seventeenth century, just at the right time and in the right places to bring the urban professionals and merchants together to discuss public affairs. To Brian Cowan, however, it presents a problem. Why should coffee, a bitter drink made from a plant only grown in places remote from Europe, and associated culturally with the Ottoman Empire, the greatest power in the Western world, still an active threat to Christian Europe, have become so popular? His answer is the substance of this fascinating book. It was the virtuosi, those members of the aristocracy and gentry who wanted to know more about the material world, who are the heroes of Cowan's story. They wanted to try coffee (and tea, and chocolate, but those are other stories). The East India Company would have continued its profitable shipping of coffee from Mocha in Yemen to Surat in India and never sent a single bean back home had there not been gentlemen in England, persons of rank and influence, who wanted to find out what this commodity tasted like. The coffeehouse, too, owed its existence to the virtuosi, gentlemen who cultivated their intellectual interests through association with other like-minded persons. On one level, visiting the coffeehouse was like visiting another gentleman's home, except that the company was more various and the exchange of ideas therefore probably more lively. It was no accident that the first English coffeehouse opened in Oxford in 1650, for at Oxford at that time harboured numerous virtuosi, including several who became founding members of the Royal Society. The first London coffeehouse followed two years later, and, despite some resistance to the novelty, their number soon increased. Following the Restoration of Charles ii in 1660, coffeehouses, especially those in London, broadened their scope. As a fairly large space with readily reorganized furniture, the coffeeroom was often converted into an auction room, attracting virtuosi in their capacity as collectors, as well as a broader public. As a neutral space, the coffeehouse lent itself to business activities, sometimes becoming associated with a particular kind of business, like Lloyd's with marine insurance. Soon city folk joined the gentry in the coffeeroom, and governments of every political stripe fretted at the rapid and unofficial dissemination of news and the discussion of public affairs by people of the meaner sort. But occasional efforts at suppression met with effective resistance, and by the early eighteenth century the coffeehouse was an accepted part of English culture. The coffeehouse was an innovation, but not an alien intrusion into English life. Cowan shows how the licensing system already in effect for alehouses was rapidly extended to include coffeehouses, and how quickly [End Page 423] coffeehouses, and their proprietors, became incorporated into the existing social and legal structures of urban life. Originally a gentry-dominated institution, the coffeehouse opened its doors to the citizen and merchant without losing its respectability, as new codes of behaviour shaped a new understanding of civility that allowed the mixing of ranks. Gender, however, remained a barrier; women served in, might even own, coffeehouses, but except for special events like auctions, ladies did not go into them. They stayed home, at their tea-tables. No summary can do justice to the richness of Cowan's study. Based on extensive archival research, illuminated by critical engagement with the current historiography of the period, and written with a stylishness that is as self-effacing as it...

God and Australian Federation — A Mismatch?

The paradigms for theological discussion of public affairs were set by Eusebius of Caesarea, who believed they could accurately be located within God's providence, and by Augustine who was sceptical. While most theologians would follow Augustine in restricting themselves to an ethical rather than a theological account, a rich theology of the multiform body of Christ suggests a distinctively Christian perspective for reflecting on events like the Centenary of Australian Federation (1901–2001).

Political socialization in the classroom revisited: The Kids Voting program

Can a civic education program have a short-term impact on political awareness of students and also lead to higher turnout by their parents? This political socialization study evaluates a program, used by 2.3 million students in 1994, that was designed to achieve both goals. Responses to a random survey of 24,976 participants in the Kids Voting program indicate that most students followed the election campaign closely and found the KV program to be enjoyable and useful. Analysis of non-equivalent control groups shows a slight gain in turnout in areas where schools used the program, compared to areas where it was not used. The study also suggests Kids Voting may have several secondary benefits, such as increased student use of the news media and increased discussions of public affairs with family and friends—activities which are linked to long-term political socialization. It remains unclear whether any changes in student attitudes associated with the program are simply short-term in nature.

Docs on the Box or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tube

The business of moralizing isn't what it used to be. Ethics has gone public, both in substance and in style. As the eye of the populace has turned toward medical affairs, the television cameras have turned toward medical ethicists, who have taken to their new role as media pundits with enthusiasm, if not outright glee. Liberated from the ivory tower, bioethical talking heads now field questions from news anchors as confidently as they once fielded questions from student The lure of the camera is undeniable of course. Given the prospect of celebrity (however fleeting), an article in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research can't really measure up. More importantly, though, there exists a genuine need for bioethicists to play a role in public debate: a liberal democracy requires an educated public, and popular discussion of ethical issues is aimed, at least in theory, toward that end. Not so obvious, perhaps, is the need for some restraint. If the way ethical issues are discussed in the popular media becomes misleading or starts to hinder public education, then the enthusiasm with which we are starting to seek the spotlight might well be contrary to our ostensible goals. They're Brainy, They're Humane; They're Docs with a Conscience: "The Bioethicists". . . Up Next Let us be honest. American television is not renowned for its intellectual sophistication. Apart from a few high-minded public television programs discussion of ethical matters on American TV generally comes across as shallow and simplistic, even downright misleading. The ethos of tabloid journalism has spread from print to screen; the lines are blurring between information, entertainment, and advertising; the already notoriously short attention span of the American public is being shortened still further by a rapid-fire discharge of sound bites, video clips, trailers, slogans, and jingles. Carl Bernstein argues that the American media are creating an "idiot culture" - a culture of the weird and the stupid and the coarse," distorted by celebrity worship, titillation, and sensationalism. America, says Bernstein, is becoming a "talk-show nation," where reasoned public discourse is wasting away and in its place is growing a more vigorous substitute: "ranting and raving and posturing."(1) Even if one does not agree with Bernstein that "the great information conglomerates of this country are now in the trash business," it is hard to feel comfortable with the way any discussion of public affairs takes place in the television studio. Bioethics doesn't fit very comfortably into this arena. Television uses bioethicists not so much for explanation or reflection upon the gray areas of an issue as for taking contrary, novel, or activist positions. Typically, a person identified simply as an "ethics expert" is asked by a television host or news anchor to comment on the latest bioethical event. The ethics expert offers a few sentences, either critical or supportive, but often little more than unargued conclusions. Unlike a scientist, say, or a scholar specializing in Middle East affairs, either of which might be asked to explain a new development or give some context to an issue, the bioethics pundit is expected to take a stance, however briefly. Put simply: ethical explanation is boring, while advancing a position, however unreflective, entertains. Philosophy through the Looking Glass But if the problem were simply quality, the solution would be relatively simple. The more disturbing possibility is that the form in which television coverage of public affairs takes place is incompatible with - or at least hostile to - the methods and assumptions of rational ethical discussion. The biases built into television as a medium dramatically influence the way ethical discussion is perceived by its audience. First, and most crucially, television trades in images, not in sentences. …

Anticipated Communication and Mass Media Information-Seeking

T 18HIS INVESTIGATION focuses on the concept of communicatory utility, defined as the anticipated usefulness of information for future informal interaction with family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances. present report describes findings from an experiment and two secondary analyses relating news media use to interpersonal discussion of news events. While researchers have not specifically tested the link between mass media exposure and expected conversational experiences, many have cited the role of social relationships in understanding why people attend to mass communications.1 specific interpersonal motive of social prestige from displaying current events knowledge was suggested as an explanation of news seeking behavior by Merton,2 Berelson,3 Wright,4 and Waples, Berelson and Bradshaw.5 1 E.g., Eliot Friedson, Research and the Concept of the Mass, American Sociological Review, Vol. 18, 1953, pp. 313-317; Matilda Riley and Samuel Flowerman, Group Relations as a Variable in Communications American Sociological Review, Vol. i6, 1951, pp. 174-180. 2 Merton concluded: The analysis of the functions of mass communications require prior analysis of the social roles which determine the uses to which these communications can and will be put. Had the social contexts of interpersonal influence not been explored, we could not have anticipated the selection of Time by one type of influential and its rejection by another. Robert Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, New York, Free Press, 1949, pp. 406-409. 3 Berelson observed: Another group of readers seem to use the newspaper because it enables them to appear informed in social gatherings. Thus the newspaper has conversational value. Readers not only can learn what has happened and then report it to their associates, but can also find opinions and interpretations for use in discussions of public affairs. It is obvious how this use of the newspaper serves to increase the reader's prestige among his fellows. Bernard Berelson, 'Missing the Newspaper' Means, in Paul Lazarsfeld and Frank Stanton, eds., Communications Research, 1948-1949, New York, Harper, 1949, p. 119. 4 Charles Wright, Functional Analysis and Mass Communication, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 24, 1960, pp. 605-62o. 6 Douglas Waples, Bernard Berelson, and Franklyn Bradshaw, What Reading Does to People, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1940.