Key Discourses Research Articles

Single, Stay-at-Home, and Gay Fathers’ Perspectives on their 4-12-Year-Old Children’s Outdoor Risky Play Behaviour and ‘Good’ Fathering

ABSTRACTIn this study, we address the question, ‘What are single, stay-at-home, and gay fathers’ perspectives of their 4– 12-year-old children’s outdoor risky play behaviours and how do they relate to discourses of good fathering?’ Through the use of semi-structured interviews, poststructural feminist theory, and critical discourse analysis, we identified five key discourses: Children’s play is safer now than when the participants were children; fathers need to know what each child needs for the child to be safe outdoors; fathers need to protect their children from danger; it’s good to expose children to outdoor risky play; experiencing scrapes and bruises is a part of growing up. The results both reaffirm and resist dominant discourses on good fathering. Further research on this topic is crucial, as fathers play an important role in their children’s experiences of outdoor risky play and injury.

Cultural democracy: an ecological and capabilities approach

ABSTRACTIn recent years, there has been sustained critique of the conceptual and normative foundations of UK cultural policy – the paternalism of ‘excellence and access’ and the neoliberal logic of ‘creative industries’. Whilst these critiques are well established, there is little work offering alternative foundations. This paper makes a contribution to this task. It does so in three ways. Firstly, by identifying ‘cultural democracy’ as a key discourse offering a counter-formulation of what the aims of cultural policy could and should be, and analysing uses of this term, it highlights the need to more effectively conceptualize cultural opportunity. Secondly, drawing on research with one UK-based initiative, Get Creative, the paper identifies a particularly consequential aspect of cultural opportunity: its ecological nature. Thirdly, it shows that the capabilities approach to human development provides ideas with the potential to help build new conceptual and normative foundations for cultural policy. Proposing a distinctive account of cultural democracy characterized by systemic support for cultural capabilities, the paper concludes by indicating the implications this may have for research, policy and practice.

Beyond Pre/Post Measurement: Discourse Analysis as an Alternative Methodology in Reporting on an Intervention Programme

Pre/post comparison has become the most prominent method in reporting on a psychological intervention programme, to the extent that it is almost impossible to report on such programmes without a pre/post evaluation framework. This article introduces discourse analysis methodology as an alternative in reporting on an intervention programme, highlights some of its benefits, and provides an empirical example of its application. Discourse analysis methodology is applied to analyze a diversity workshop, conducted by the author, in a youth refuge in Surabaya (N = 15). Three key discourses were identified, namely, a discourse of (different) abilities, a discourse of peaceful resolution, and a discourse of crime as a natural consequence of inequality; which are discussed in relation to the methodological benefits of the application of discourse analysis, in an intervention programme.

Media performance in the ‘age of austerity’: British newspaper coverage of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, 2008–2010

This article explores how British newspapers framed the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession and austerity that followed. Analyzing a sample of 1586 articles published between 2008 and 2010, it focused on identifying the primary sources, main issues and key discourses. In common with other empirical studies of British media coverage of these events, this article reveals that the political and economic elite were dominant in terms of sourcing and that the main issues and key discourses featured in these articles reflected the elite perspective. Many politicians and corporate executives welcomed the brief Keynesian revival – in the form of the 2008 bailout of the financial system and the 2008 and 2009 economic stimulus – in order to prevent economic calamity. Newspapers reported these events in a factual manner and did not question them. By contrast, in 2010, as the elite attempted to redirect blame for the crisis away from bankers towards the state, much of the newspaper coverage presented public spending cuts as ‘necessary’ and ‘unavoidable’, while revenue-raising alternatives to austerity were ignored or marginalized. Unlike other empirical studies, this article attempted to explain such coverage and it employed the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model of mass media performance to do so.

Gender, Media and Protest

This article traces the ways in which the British suffragette Emily Wilding Davison was represented in national newspapers between 1913—the year she died—and 2013, the centenary of her death. We identify three key discourses through which Davison has been represented in four British newspapers throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first: delegitimisation, recuperation and trivialisation. In doing so, this paper provides original insights into the ways that the fight for women’s rights has been figured in different historical moments. A key argument is that over time, Davison’s militant actions—once cast as those of a hysterical lunatic—have slowly come to be recuperated and legitimised as part of the story of British democracy. However, this discursive shift cannot be straightforwardly celebrated as a progressive move in representations of women’s movements, as Davison is frequently invoked to delegitimise contemporary feminism. Our analysis charts the extent to which Davison has been visible (or not) in newspapers through different historical periods; the specific ways in which Davison’s image was transformed along with broader changes in women’s status; and it considers the political implications of these (in)visibilities and representations for contemporary feminism.

The Spouse as “the Forgotten Other”: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Expatriation Literature

In this paper, we explore how the spouse is discursively constructed and represented in the expatriation literature since the publication of “The influence of the spouse on American expatriate adjustment and intent to stay in Pacific Rim overseas assignments”, the most cited article related to the expatriate spouse, published by Black and Stephens (1989). Using a qualitative content analysis, we review 185 academic articles and identify four key discourses around the expatriate spouse, namely domestication, de-professionalization, objectification, and denunciation. We highlight the essentializing and gendered assumptions concerning the spouse and its role in the expatriation process that the expatriation literature builds on. By doing so, we hope to reinvigorate a critical discussion concerning the current limitations and the gendered nature of the research on spouses in the expatriation literature.

‘One is not born, but rather becomes, a Korean woman’: Gender politics of female bodies in Korean weight-loss reality TV shows

This study examines gender politics from a feminist perspective by analysing significant discourses on body care, which are regenerated through female-targeted Korean weight-loss reality television shows. Three key discourses have implicitly reinforced gender politics within Korean culture. First, weight-loss reality television shows tend to expand the abnormal category of the Korean female body by only focusing on ordinary females, regardless of body size. Second, Korean female body care has been affected by the idea of ‘saving face’, which is regarded as a unique historical national characteristic. Lastly, these diet television shows create a significant discourse called ‘diet pornography’ by emphasizing ‘after’ diet results, such as toned and idealized body shapes, while minimizing the ‘before’ diet, such as the harsh processes and desperate efforts of the ordinary participants. The body-care discourses represented in Korean weight-loss reality television shows play a significant role in defining the gender politics that reinforce the idea that Korean females must modify their bodies as a duty and good habit.

Discourses of professionalism: Metaphors, theory and practice

Professionalism is a contested concept and different discourses have differed by scope and epistemology. The theory of communicative action integrates epistemology (knowledge interests) with that of scope (lifeworld).Aim: To pragmatically inform learning of professionalism.Methods: apply the theory of communicative action to professionalism discourses.Results: Previous professionalism discourses translated into four frames: technical; communicative; improvement, and critical. These can be viewed as four metaphors the scale; conversation; consensus conference, and protest. The theory of communicative action demonstrated that a critical frame was often lacking from discussions of professionalism and emphasized critiquing the assumptions made, the way power was utilized, and the ends to which actions were directed. Using these frameworks connected discourses on professionalism to other key medical discourses particularly quality improvement, patient centeredness, social justice, and the professional well-being.Conclusion: The theory of communicative action adds value by introducing criteria for the evaluation of individual truth claims that expands the discussion beyond accuracy to include sincerity, ethics and coherence; and it emphasizes promoting free speech and the inclusion of diverse views and stakeholders. The theory of communicative action provides a coherent and useful framework for viewing professionalism that integrates with broader discussions about philosophy, truth claims, and post-modern society.

Constructing a theoretical framework for the process of innovation legitimation

The purpose of this research is to provide a framework for studying the key stakeholders who play a role in the process legitimation of an innovation. Specifically, we combine Foucault’s discourse on power, Latour’s Actor Network Theory and Goffman’s frame analysis to present a theoretical framework for the process of innovation legitimation (PIL). To demonstrate its usefulness, we apply the PIL framework to the context of nanotechnology. We ultimately determine that there are four key stakeholders trying to frame nanotechnology: 1) Advancement (i.e., government), 2) Management (i.e., industry), 3) Development (i.e., academia), and 4) Reflection (i.e., NGOs). The trajectory of market formation and legitimation for nanotechnology will depend largely on the cultural discourses that are disseminated by these four actors and the way other peripheral actors interpret the dominant frames. By conceptualizing the current frames for an innovation in the process of legitimizing, the future of each key discourse can be envisioned.

“This course made me feel guilty to be an Australian”

PurposeFrom one Graduate Diploma Secondary student taking a pro-diversity course that both authors had a connection with there was a very angry response, encapsulated by the statement “This course made me feel guilty to be an Australian”. We are aware that negative student evaluations can be part of the territory for tertiary teachers working in diversity courses. The purpose of this paper is to explore the students’ confronting comment which will be construed as a type of offer that is being extended to us – an offer that we are refusing. We draw on Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of “exterior assemblages”, and we shift our gaze to consider “what constitutes the territory” that is our response to the pre-service teacher’s evaluative claim.Design/methodology/approachThe specific methods we deployed involved an eclectic appropriation of various tools. We embarked on this process of exploration by journaling, collective reflection and informal discussions with other colleagues. Our journals responded to the question: What constitutes the place that is the territory that is our refusal of the student’s offer? In order to explore this place we: kept a hand-written journal; used conventional text and arts based practice techniques in our journaling; discussed our journal entries periodically (face to face, via Skype and via e-mail); discussed this project with colleagues – giving them knowledge that we were doing this – and that we might write journal entries about these conversations; and read a variety of relevant texts We engaged in these processes for a three month period. At the end of this period we shared journals, and set about the task of analysing them. We engaged in a number of analyses and detailed our findings over the next month. Further, over a longer period of time we engaged with this incident and our journal entries and presented a series of in progress papers at a variety of conferences and seminars. The analysis of the data generated involved discourse analysis and dialogue.FindingsA series of key discourses were identified and listed in the paper.Research limitations/implicationsThe key identified ideas are briefly linked to a series of implications for practitioners.Practical implicationsOne of the key practical implications is the suggestion that where disagreements surface in education that one response to such moments might be for the parties to consider where they are located.Social implicationsThe paper outlines a way of thinking about disagreements that has useful implications when considering issues relating to pedagogical strategies aiming to work towards social justice.Originality/valueThe paper is an original response to a critical moment that occurred for two lecturers in pre-service teacher education.

Суспільно-політичний дискурс щодо розвитку та майбутнього України.

The article studies the state of changes in the social and political system of the country. It substantiates the methodological approaches to determining the vectors and qualitative characteristics of transformations in the society and politics. Political changes are analyzed in the institutional context. The paper proves the efficiency of applying the methodology of historical actionalism, which concentrates on the analysis of the system of historic actions through which changes and transformations in the social life occur. The philosophy of constructivism is used for perception of the vectors of changes in the context of a singular world establishment.The article provides an overview of two key discourses in the socio-political life regarding the character, vector, ways of implementation and depth of the necessary changes. It outlines the key points of the loyalist-evolutional and critical-revolutionist discourses regarding the future development of Ukraine. The study gives estimations and arguments of both discourses regarding the reforms and deformations of social and political institutions, which the development of social and political life of the country has undergone.The nature of social and political messages determines the course of changes in the forms of certain development models, namely, the ordered-evolutional and radical-revolutional ones. The corresponding dependent vectors of changes – stabilization, modernization, historical breakthrough – have been outlined. The dilemma of stability vs. instability of socio-political life is being analyzed. The controversies between different visions of the future within the framework of key discourses are determined.The models of the future with the consideration of growing global changes of the world, transition to singular world with super-fast changes are studied. The possible perspectives and threats for the development of the country depending on the chosen vector of social changes are described.

АРТХАУСНОЕ КИНО О БУДУЩЕМ ЮЖНОЙ КОРЕИ: КИМ КИ ДОК

Analyzing different segments of modern Korean cinema it may be affirmed that its relevant topics are the following: religious ideologies, ideological choice, value orientations of individual life and biography. Within the frame of the Korean history, it becomes obvious that an authentic cultural and religious self-reflection is a major ideological trend of modern South Korean society. This is also true for the films created by South Korean film directors popular in the West. Among them is Kim Ki Duk, whose works focus on the reflections about South Korean Modernity. This article deals with his film "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring" (2003), devoted to the comprehension of the role of traditional ideology in constructing the life project of a modern man. The author of the article proposes the detailed discourse analysis, revealing the key discourse, key ideologemes and the director's central message. According to the author's conclusion, the nodal discourse is devoted to the consideration of Buddhism as a traditional religious culture and world outlook framework for Korean culture. According to Kim Ki Duke's central message, the modern Korean society ought to search for Weltanschauung in its historical religious tradition, which is presented by Buddhism. One can always return to it, and its resource is able to provide support in a situation of desperation and choice.

Bicycle urbanism as a competitive advantage in the neoliberal age: the case of bicycle promotion in Portland

ABSTRACTIn the light of the emergent ‘bicycle renaissance’ in the US, this paper analyses the rationale basis of bicycle role model, Portland's promotion of bicycling. By conceptualizing bicycle promotion as a ‘travelling idea’, the paper discusses the key rationales and discourses structuring how bicycle policies are translated into the City of Portland. The study finds that strong neoliberal rationales such as competitiveness, cost-effectiveness, and value for money are pivotal in Portland's legitimization of spending on bicycle promotion, with sustainability and equity concerns being comparatively neglected. It is argued that this approach raises serious questions about the bicycle's potential as an egalitarian and sustainable practice, and urges potential ‘bicycle cities’ and advocates to be aware of the incommensurability of the creative class strategy and environmental justice goals.

Privacy Shields for Whom? Key Actors and Privacy Discourses on Twitter and in Newspapers

The sharing of data across borders is core in informational economies. However, the Schrems case against Facebook in 2014 raised important questions about the capacity of existing ‘safe harbour’ policies and practices of multinational corporations in Europe and North America to protect the privacy of individuals’ data. The EU–US ‘Privacy Shield’ framework was subsequently developed to increase data privacy protections. This paper draws upon a sample of English language newspapers and Twitter accounts in Europe and the US from the summer of 2016 to identify the key actors and discourses surrounding the introduction of the Privacy Shield framework. The findings reveal a dominance of trade, market and security language, a focus on individual informational privacy and the dominance of state and legal actors. We argue that privacy is not being redefined in the context of intercontinental data transfers but rather narrowed to a neoliberal free trade framing of information privacy.

Sporting chancers: Three Canadian corporations’ representations of sport-for-youth-development

In this article, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of three Canadian corporations that used sport-for-youth-development (SYD) to fulfill part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR). Although the use of SYD has become an increasingly larger component of corporations’ CSR, there is a dearth of scholarship examining advertising texts produced by corporations, particularly by corporations other than Nike. This article directly addresses this lack, contributing to the growing body of critical examinations of corporate presentations of SYD in the Canadian context. We examined four televised commercials to describe the discursive strategies used by the corporations to authorize a particular notion of SYD. Specifically, we examined how the semiotic choices in the commercials signified key discourses related to SYD and how these elements were used to attempt to educate viewers on specific truths about childhood and youth sport. We were also interested in the underlying assumptions of these constructions and the power relationships underpinning them. Analysis of the three corporations’ texts revealed stark contradictions, difficulties, and tensions in their uses of SYD in televised commercials. We found that although the commercials presented some positive constructions of SYD, we argue that they predominantly produce and rely on several dominant discourses about youth sport, including: sport is a place of universal inclusivity, and sport has inherently “magical” qualities capable of providing all young people with contexts for positive youth development. We further argue that these CSR campaigns mirror the values of Canadian nationalism and construct SYD in a limited individualistic, consumerist manner that closely aligns with the ideologies of neoliberalism. These findings are important for researchers, educators, and SYD program developers, and we encourage other researchers to examine SYD in corporations’ CSR campaigns.

Identity Politics and the East China Sea: China as Japan's ‘Other’

This article contributes to the relational IR literature on identity politics and Sino‐Japanese relations. Theoretically, we develop Rumelili's framework for studying modes of differentiation by incorporating the sectoral characteristics of key discourse signs. Empirically, we apply this framework to the construction of Self and Other in the official Japanese security discourse regarding the Senkaku Islands dispute from 2010–2014, a period of dispute climax that is meaningful for studying the (re)production of Japan's understanding of China. The inclusiveness of the discourse signs that Japan uses to construct China possibly opens up for a positive evolution of Sino‐Japanese relations, as there is space for progress if China's behavior—and Japan's interpretation of it—proves to be more peaceful, transparent, and law‐abiding. The findings also suggest, however, that the strong sense of superiority in Japan (and China) vis‐à‐vis a subordinate Other may not bode well for Sino‐Japanese relations.

HIV/AIDS discourses in Kyrgyzstan’s policy arena

ABSTRACTThis article explores the major discourses on HIV/AIDS in the policy arena in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet country in Central Asia that has experienced a rapid rise in HIV infections since the early 2000s. Based on an analysis of policy documents and 54 semi-structured in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the area of HIV/AIDS policies in Kyrgyzstan, we distinguish a number of key discourses, competing for legitimacy and authority. While some of these discourses have been used in other countries (such as those presenting HIV/AIDS as a biomedical, social or moral issue), others are more specific to Kyrgyzstan (such as a discourse presenting the country as a regional pioneer in HIV/AIDS prevention efforts). Our analysis shows how HIV/AIDS discourses in the policy arena overlap and complement each other and how stakeholders employ a number of tools and strategies to promote and secure their agendas and positions of power. Our findings help to better understand HIV/AIDS discourses in Kyrgyzstan and elsewhere. They highlight the importance of understanding which discourses are prevailing, who drives them and why, how they change over time, and how they can be framed to achieve policy objectives.

The criminal justice system on trial: Shaming, outrage, and gendered tensions in public responses to the Jian Ghomeshi verdict

Drawing on an affective framework, this qualitative content analysis of the immediate public responses on Twitter in the hours following Jian Ghomeshi’s not guilty verdict (n = 3943 tweets) reveals two key discourses of public opinion. Twitter users depicted the criminal justice system (CJS) as having worked and/or failed, and these intensifying divisions were highly gendered. Members of the public pitted notions of the “rational male” against the “emotional female”, and these debates heavily supported or opposed a patriarchal legal rationality. This study sheds light on the ways in which adversarial justice systems reproduce adversarial discourses on crime, and overlook the problems entangled in misleading applications of rationality to sexual consent. The wide circulation of blame to all parties involved in this case leads us to the conclusion that the CJS, in its current punitive form, does not instil a sense of confidence in the public. With a shifted focus on the healing and dignity of everyone involved in sexual assault cases, we recommend Restorative and Transformative approaches to justice as alternative measures to respond to sexual assault.

Unacceptable forms of work: A multidimensional model

AbstractUnacceptable forms of work (UFW) have been identified as an “area of critical importance” for the ILO as it approaches its centenary. Yet there is currently no comprehensive elaboration of the dimensions, causes or manifestations of UFW. This article reports on a research project that has proposed such a framework. The article first investigates and reconceptualizes key discourses on contemporary work to identify their contribution to an analytically rigorous conception of UFW. It then outlines a novel Multidimensional Model that has been designed for use by local policy actors in identifying and targeting UFW in countries across a range of income levels.

“Hearing students into speech”: A critical exploration of nursing students’ experiences of adversity

Introduction: Across the world, a paradigm shift in educational research and reform is calling for the inclusion of the student voice to enhance the utility and relevance of curriculum within higher education, yet within nursing education this practice is not systemic. This project collected self-reported adverse workplace events from seven nursing students across a 3-year undergraduate programme, explored the students’ perspectives on the lessons they learned and invited them to co-create curricula activities to prepare future nurses for workplace adversity. Methods: Critical social theory was the theoretical foundation of the study. Data were collected through a process of individual, guided interviews, using a critical incident questioning framework. Critical discourse analysis was used for analysis. Results: The two critical research processes—self-reflection and narrative reconstruction—used in the interviews elicited four key discourses in the data: conscientisation, liberation, agency and empowerment. Conclusions: Participants’ exposure to critical research methods raised their awareness of the complexities of professional socialisation in hostile workplace cultures. It appears that critically-reflective processes may increase nursing students’ capacity to notice, critique and respond constructively to adversity. A major insight from the data is that a poorly constructed curriculum exacerbated students’ experiences of adversity. The new insights into how critical research design gave voice to students in the co-construction of curricula activities may help undergraduate educators to implement critically-based strategies in “preparation for practice” learning modules.