Ideological Factors Research Articles

The Inconspicuous Epidemic: Spanish Flu Discourse in National Newspapers of Soviet Russia (1918–1919)

This research investigates the discourse of the so-called ‘Spanish flu’ in the national Soviet newspapers Pravda (Truth) and Izvestia (News) during the epidemic period of 1918–1919. Our analysis revealed that discourse developed in three stages, each with specific characteristics. The nature of discourse was, above all, impacted by ideological factors, while reporters and Bolshevik authorities promoting this type of discourse were primarily guided by political expediency. Lack of adequate and comprehensive information on the disease, its etiology, and its spread not only around the world but also in Soviet Russia, administrative and bureaucratic problems, and simultaneous epidemics of other infectious diseases (cholera and typhus) were also significant factors.

Discrimination against suspected Islamic terrorists: Nationality, right-wing authoritarianism, and perceived threat as predictors of support for torture.

This research investigates discrimination against suspected Islamic terrorists based on tolerance for the use of torture. This research is justified by the need to identify how intergroup and ideological factors combine to express discrimination. Two experimental studies were conducted with a between-subjects design. Study 1 (N = 282) analysed the terrorist threat against the ingroup and the nationality of torturers with respect to support for torture against suspected Islamic terrorists. Study 2 (N = 165) analysed the interaction among terrorist threat against the ingroup and perceived threat (realistic and symbolic) as moderators in the relationship between RWA and discrimination. Study 1 indicated that support for torture was greater when the victims of terrorist acts and the torturers belonged to the ingroup. Study 2 indicated that the perceived threat encourages support for the use of torture, regardless of the levels of RWA. Taken together, these results elucidate the psychosocial processes that are present in the hostility towards social minorities from predominantly Muslim countries and in the strengthening of xenophobic political positions.

Crisis of loyalty and the defense of Empire in the estimates of the british Military class: colonial army during the inter-war period

In the interwar period, three powerful ideological factors – nationalism, pan-Islamism, and communism - simultaneously undermined the power of the metropolis in the dependent territories. Behind this façade, as was reasonably assumed in Delhi, Simla, Jerusalem, Cairo, and London, the interests of rival states were concealed. Overseas territories were seen both as a source of strength (economy, international prestige) and weakness (diversion of resources because of the leadership’s belief in the existence of an external threat).The historiography of the British Empire pays attention to how the colonial administrations and the metropolis responded to the challenges posed by the prospects of combining crises of loyalty and worsening international competition into a single problem of ensuring colonial order after the First World War. The question remains open about how the representatives of the military class themselves looked at such a cross-border threat. The article shows that, in this light, one of the key topics for the army corporation in the framework of the professional discussion was the institutionalization of the colonial army. To what extent did the esprit de corps of the British Army have an imperil character in terms of institutional peculiarities and public self-presentation? Was colonial service has been perceived as a priority over participation in conventional conflict in the training of the officer corps? How was it supposed to solve the problem of the growing obligations of the army to suppress anti-colonial protests (including guerrilla warfare in full-scale) against the background of worsening international relations, financial shortages and personnel restrictions? To what extend did the logics of the military thought development and corporate interests had mirrored the evolution of the colonial rule’ models after the Great War? As the results of the presented study demonstrates, these issues did not only constellate internal and interdepartmental discussions on the declared topic. Their participants had a hand in the further development of a wider discursive field – about the prospects for the future of the British Empire as such.

Taking sides: Corporate social responsibility and political ideology

AbstractIn the United States and other countries, large private firms are increasingly more likely to take public political stances on controversial issues. Firms behave as ideological actors when they take sides in large public debates on social and economic issues. These stances may involve public speech, changes in the terms of service, or in internal reorganization and intrafirm actions. Despite the increase in firms' political actions, firms' ideological orientations remain unexamined. To answer this question, we collect corporate social responsibility statements from Fortune 1000 firms. Using semisupervised topic models, we identify topics that reflect stances on environmental and social issues. We then examine if firms are more likely to take stances on political issues due to pragmatic or ideological factors. We find that while pragmatic considerations play a role, firms' political stances are more driven by the ideological orientation of employees and managers. This research contributes a novel measure of firm ideology and sheds new light on the determinants of corporate political activity.

Shifting between Pragmatism and Ideology: Communist Czechoslovakia and Haile Selassie's Ethiopia during the Cold War, 1955–1974

Abstract Czechoslovakia was one of the most active members of the Soviet bloc in sub-Saharan Africa, with a policy oscillating between euphoric activism and pragmatism. Officials in Prague sought to establish good relations with many African countries, generally on a pragmatic economic basis, as in the case of Ethiopia. The Czechoslovak Communists gave high priority to Ethiopia because of the country's strategic position and its long-standing cooperation with Czechoslovakia. Although ideological factors played some role, economic pragmatism was the dominant feature of Czechoslovak policy in Africa in the 1950s and early 1960s. Not until the mid-1960s did the Soviet Union become the primary architect of the Soviet bloc's “Africa policy.” After the 1974 coup in Ethiopia, which saw the overthrow of the Haile Selassie regime, Czechoslovakia's relations with Ethiopia markedly improved for both ideological and pragmatic reasons.

What are the limits of political violence? Ebihara Toshio’s murder and the Umemoto-Kuroda controversy in 1970s Japan

Abstract On 3 August 1970, a student activist belonging to the Kakumaru-ha (Revolutionary Marxist Faction) was beaten to death by members of the rival Chūkaku-ha (Central Core Faction) at Hosei University, Tokyo. This incident sparked an intense war between Japanese New Left factions that stretched into the 1980s and resulted in dozens of deaths, making Japan a unique case among industrialized nations for its extremely high level of left-wing interfactional violence. Of particular importance in understanding the ideological factors surrounding such an escalation of violence was the debate triggered between Umemoto Katsumi, one of the intellectual founders of the Japanese New Left, and members of the Kakumaru-ha led by Kuroda Kan’ichi around the limits of political violence. This article explores the theoretical confrontation between these two opposing sides that was of such critical importance to the logic of war between Japanese New Left factions in the 1970s and 1980s.

DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL CULTURE AND IDEOLOGY IS AN IMPORTANT BASIS OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE OF SOCIETY

This article explores the importance of developing political culture in society, strengthening its foundations, considering ideological factors, and recognizing the societal demand for political culture in socio-political life. The analysis emphasizes the social, moral, and political significance of enhancing the level of political knowledge and political culture among members of society. Additionally, the article analyzes that the ideology of society and the national ideological foundations are among the most crucial factors in socio-political life.

Welfare Reform and Social Integration: Analysis of the Impact of Policy Adjustments on the Integration of Vulnerable Groups into Society and the Promotion of Social Cohesion

The elderly, children, the disabled, the poor, etc. make up a significant portion of the population, and they are the most vulnerable groups in society. Without the help of relevant policies, their life and employment could be very difficult. Recently, social stratification has become so severe that government around the world cant longer afford to ignore this large part of population. In order to help them integrate into society, the international community has introduced a number of policies to help them. This paper takes China as an example, divide the part focus on different group, discusses how these China's policies can help the vulnerable groups, and uses case studies to demonstrate the impact of these policies on the integration of the vulnerable groups into the society. Most of these policies have worked, this is because the government takes into account the personality and ideological factors of different people, we find these specific policies and will show in the cases

War as A Socio-Cultural Phenomenon: A Criminological Perspective and Conceptualization with Empirical Study in Ukraine

This research delves into the sociocultural phenomenon of war, focusing on Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. It examines war through a criminological lens, aiming to understand its short and long-term effects on society. Through empirical analysis of Ukraine's management of the crisis, the study evaluates how the socio-cultural perspective influences war handling. Destructive consequences such as increased stress levels and migration, alongside constructive factors, are identified. The research highlights the criminogenic potential of war trauma and post-war syndrome. Despite various methods and hypotheses, socio-cultural effects persist, posing a complex challenge for Ukraine. War is portrayed as a multifaceted phenomenon influenced by demographic, economic, and ideological factors, as well as historical legacies. Ultimately, the conclusion underscores the irreparable impact of war on the environment, populations, and international relations. This suggests a pressing need for comprehensive efforts to mitigate the long-term consequences of war and foster stable post-conflict societies.

Усна історія Голодомору:специфіка наративу усноісторичних джерел

The goal of the research is to reveal peciliarities of Holodomor oral history sources through the prism of oral history theory and trauma studies. Methodology of the research is built on the principles of historicism, systematic and structural approaches in combination with the elements of such methods, as source heuristics, comparative, historical-chronological analysis; extrapolation, textological and terminological analysis. Scientific novelty is revealing of the peculiaritites of Holodomor oral history as a historical source basing on the analysis of oral history sources. Conclusions. The article suggests a set of signs of Holodomor oral history, established with the help of approahes, used in oral history theory in three angles. The first sign is tied with coexistence of two spheres «official history/personal narrative». The author concludes that taking into account pressure of the state, caused by the ideological factors, information pressure of the state became visible in 2000s, when a reasonable part of oral history testimonies had been already written; and politics of the state on ban of presence in public sphere of information about the famine had resulted into reverse reaction – rootenization of famine in individual memory. In the frames of block “time/memory” the article separates age and gender specificity. The author points that the earlier a testimony is separated, the more details and social life of a village can be received; about mostly children memories with their specificity (fragmentary, with fixation on smell-taste-colors). The article points at distinctions of female (emotional and family oriented) memories from male (try to define experience of survival of a community, with attempts to provide background of events). The majority of peculiarities is revelaed in the spheres of «trauma/recalling» – five: specific terminology («graze», «to die out», «kurkul», about food); emotionality that blocked the road as a historical source to academic studies and information field; frequent articulation or observation of high traumatism of seen and lived through during the famine; victims as almost exceptional authors of the narrative; unification of narrative that allows separation of factographic core and reflexive component of oral history source.

„Nie daję łajbie żadnych szans”. Depresja: choroba czy rozczarowanie?

The subject of depression, often driven by personal experience, has lately become very prominent in the public sphere. Olga Hund's Psy ras drobnych [Dogs of Smaller Breeds] (2018) is a novel about depression, though unlike many European films and novels, it does not blame the condition on the individual – the main character of the story. Her book is memoir of sorts, a series of dramatic scenes from a mental ward of the Kobierzyn Psychiatric Hospital in Cracow. The whole is written, we may assume, to provoke out-rage: it is an accusation of the health care system, yet the blame for the mental condition rather than the wrong therapy, is put squarely on the structures and socio-economic mechanisms of the neoliberal society. The book makes two points. First, the psychiatric hospital by its very nature is a total institution that’s totally indispensable; and second – as seen from the interface of the ‘normal’ people and the mental patients – the social, economic and ideological factors have a significant role in generating suffering and the mental illness itself.

Criminological Aspects of the Motivation of Individuals Belonging to Organized Criminal Groups of an Extremist Nature

The article is devoted to the study of criminological aspects of the motivation of persons joining organized criminal groups of an extremist nature. The author of the study analyzes various factors that may contribute to involvement in criminal groups and their illegal activities in such groups, the motives for their participation in extremist activities. The article examines the psychological, social and ideological factors that influence the formation and support of the motivation of participants in organized criminal groups with an extremist nature. Examples of interactions between various individual and social factors that contribute to the formation of radical beliefs and readiness to commit extremist acts are given. In addition, the features of the motivation of individuals belonging to organized extremist groups are analyzed with the aim of their classification. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that understanding the motivation of individuals who join extremist organized criminal groups is important for developing appropriate tactics and methods for preventing and suppressing extremist activities. Overall, the article represents a comprehensive study of the criminological aspects of the motivation of individuals belonging to organized criminal groups with an extremist nature, and is an important contribution to the field of criminology and criminal activity.

The role of fairy tale publications in children's reading circle

In the article, using the example of editions of Ch. Perrault examines the peculiarities of publishing fairy tales for children as an indicator of the refraction of the traditional concept of children's books in tsarist Russia and changes in publishing policy in connection with the formation of new pedagogical and literary and artistic trends. The study is based on scientific methods, such as observation, bibliographic heuristics, historiographic, comparative-historical analysis. Editions of fairy tales by Sh. Perrault, as an object of research, is considered in the historical development of Soviet book publishing, which acted under the influence of ideological factors and social conditions that determined the subject matter, types of publications, their translations and design. The features of the stages of development of children's book publishing are characterized from the point of view of pedagogical and publishing priorities, the competencies of translators and artists, indirectly influencing printing resources. The subject area of the study includes modern editions of fairy tales by Sh. Perrault in the form of separate and special issues addressed to children with different reading abilities and aesthetic perception. The history of the publication of Charles Perrault's fairy tales is analyzed as a new type of publication that correspond to general political attitudes that make them legitimate for the perception of a children's reader. The article highlights the publications characteristic of each stage, which have developed under the influence of discussions about the combination of traditional and innovative views on the functions of a children's book: from edifying and moralizing to soviet propaganda and modern cultural and educational.

Striking History

Cybèle LockeComrade: Bill Andersen—A Communist, Working-Class LifeWellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2022, 412pp
 It was with a mix of excitement and trepidation that I started reading Cybèle Locke’s Comrade soon after its publicationin late 2022. Excitement because Locke’s reputation as a rigorous historical researcher precedes her and this had been a long, heartfelt project on her part; trepidation because Bill Andersen had been a difficult character to deal with through much of my earlier political life. From my earliest activist days in the Progressive Youth Movement and Resistance Bookshop, through to the Springbok Tour, and then the fraught divisions within the unemployed workers’ movement of the 1980s, Andersen had been on the opposite side ofmany of the debates and struggles in which I was involved. As well as ideological factors, his position as a dominant and dominating male union leader was alienating in the extreme to those of us on the feminist and socialist Left looking for new ways to organise, ones which didn’t tug the forelock at all times to older white men.

Political and financial factors motivating privatisation, its reverse and corporatisation of municipal waste collection

ABSTRACT This paper analyses different modes of provision for household waste collection and changes in that by Dutch municipalities in the period between 1998 and 2018. Based on a transition matrix, the shifts in the mode of waste collection are made transparent. In more than half of the municipalities, shifts took place, 56% towards outside production and 44% towards inside production and in later periods, inside production has become important. Furthermore, in the most recent time, reverse privatisation is preferred. We find that ideological factors have an influence on choices of provision modes and that municipalities with a more political fragmented board are less likely to corporatize or privatise waste collection. Finally, there is evidence that municipalities with a relatively negative financial position are more likely to go outside and that in pre-election years there is some hesitation to corporatize.

Theoretical perspectives and factors influencing machine translation use in L2 writing: A scoping review

Despite the increasing popularity of machine translation in second language (L2) writing, the theoretical perspectives and complex factors shaping its use remain under synthesized. This article reviews research on machine translation use in L2 writing to identify major models and factors that shape teachers’ and students’ employment of machine translation. Theoretical perspectives underpinning machine translation research are first synthesized to categorize machine translation into three models: a linguistic processor, a mediational artifact, and a translanguaging process. What then reviewed are empirical studies, revealing a predominant focus on linguistic factors in terms of how machine translation shapes L2 writing. More recent research has also examined person-related factors and taken the effectiveness of machine translation as conditioning upon individual differences of teachers and students. Contextual factors in interpersonal, instructional, and institutional settings and ideological factors are also identified. A conceptual framework is then developed to illuminate the interrelatedness of the identified factors during the process of using machine translation. The study argues for a need to avoid taking machine translation as a politically neutral participant in L2 writing. Implications for enhancing the effectiveness of machine translation use in L2 writing and suggestions for further research are also provided.

When views about alternative medicine, nature and god come in the way of people's vaccination intentions

AbstractIn spite of the safety and efficiency of the COVID‐19 vaccines and the many promotion efforts of political and expert authorities, a fair portion of the population remained hesitant if not opposed to vaccination. Public debate and the available literature point to the possible role of people's attitudes towards medical institutions as well as their preference for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) on their motivations and intentions to be vaccinated. Other potential ideological factors are beliefs about environmental laissez‐faire and divine providence insofar as they encourage people to let the pandemic unfold without human interference. In three cross‐sectional samples (total N = 8214), collected at successive moments during the Belgian vaccination campaign, the present research examines the distal role of these psychological and ideological factors on vaccination intentions via motivational processes. Study 1 gauges the relation between trust in medical institutions and preference for CAM on intentions to get vaccinated via motivations. Study 2 examined the role of beliefs in the desirability of letting nature take its course (‘environmental laissez‐faire beliefs’) on vaccination intention via motivations. Study 3 tests whether people's adherence to environmental laissez‐faire and beliefs about divine providence are linked to their motivations for vaccination via trust in the medical institutions and CAM. Results show that adherence to CAM has a deleterious effect on vaccination intentions, whereas trust in medical institutions has a positive effect. Both ideological factors pertaining to external control are only moderately related, with environmental laissez‐faire beliefs having stronger effects on CAM, medical trust and vaccination motivations. We discuss the importance of this set of results in light of the growing interest in CAM and the increasing presence of messages appealing to the environment.

Digital selves: A cross-cultural examination of athlete social media self-presentation during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

This study investigates the social media self-presentation of Chinese, South Korean, and US athletes during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with the aim of elucidating the influence of gender and nationalism on their online portrayals across countries. A total of 1800 photographs posted by 278 Olympians were analyzed, revealing that (a) South Korean athletes, particularly males, display a higher prevalence of business-related images in their self-presentation compared to athletes from other countries; (b) Chinese athletes exhibit a greater degree of nationalism in their posted photographs than their South Korean and US counterparts; and (c) female athletes, although gaining agency over their online presence, still demonstrate behaviors reinforcing conventional gender norms. This research underscores the multifaceted interplay of gender, nationalistic, cultural, political, and ideological factors in shaping athletes’ self-representations on social media, offering valuable insights into the complex dynamics that inform their digital self-expression.

Beyond evidence-based policymaking? Exploring knowledge formation and source effects in US migration policymaking

Several scholars have observed persistent gaps between policy responses to complex, ambiguous and politicized problems (such as migration, climate change and the recent Covid-19 pandemic) and evidence or ‘facts’. While most existing explanations for this ‘evidence-policy gap’ in the migration policy field focus on knowledge availability and knowledge use by policymakers, this article shifts the focus to processes of knowledge formation, exploring the questions of what counts as ‘evidence’ for migration policymakers and what are the sources of information that shape their understandings of migration policy issues. It does so, by developing a network-centred approach and focusing on elite US policy-makers in the field of irregular and asylum-seeking migration. This ‘heuristic case’ is used to challenge existing explanations of the ‘evidence-policy gap’ and to generate new explanations to be tested in future research. Our findings—based on qualitative and quantitative data collected in 2015–2018 through 57 elite interviews analysed applying social network analysis and qualitative content analysis—challenge scholarly claims about policymakers’ lack of access to evidence about migration. We also challenge claims that migration-related decision-making processes are irrational or merely driven by political interests, showing that policymakers rationally collect information, select sources and attribute different relevance to ‘evidence’ acquired. We instead highlight that knowledge acquisition processes by elite policymakers are decisively shaped by dynamics of trust and perceptions of political and organizational like-mindedness among actors, and that political and ideological factors determine what qualifies as 'evidence' in the first place.

Typology of reasons why a person kills in a war context: The case of rebel/nationalist army combatants in the Spanish Civil War.

European historiography on wars has embarked on a study of a matter of crucial significance: the involvement of ordinary individuals as perpetrators of mass casualties. This article aims to provide insights and hypotheses concerning the underlying motives behind such actions, focusing on the unique context of the Spanish Civil War. The data utilized for this study are drawn from a sample of 112 oral interviews conducted with former combatants of the Spanish Civil War, all born between 1905 and 1920. During these interviews, 112 men participated a semi structured discussion. Individual perceptions and variables of interest relevant to acts of violence were subjected to qualitative analysis. Our analysis suggests that instances of aggression often arise because of emotional triggers, alignment with fascist ideological convictions, societal pressures and a sense of duty-driven obedience. Our results refute the notion that ideological factors alone suffice as explanations.