Majority Of Society Research Articles

Conjuration and Conspiracy. The Controversy over the German Covid Policy as a Mediumistic Trial, or: The Medium is the Mess

Based on anthropological fieldwork among protesters against the Covid policy in Germany, this paper elaborates the symmetry of accusations made against each other by proponents and opponents of the state-imposed protection measures against the backdrop of an asymmetrical distribution of power. The social dynamics that emerged during the pandemic are often understood as the result of a knowledge controversy that most participants thus categorize as a media problem. A key finding of my research on protests against the German Covid policy is that, as in my research on the controversy over mediumism, the controversy is about the agency of human and nonhuman actors and carried out to a great extent based on the same values on both sides, which at the same time accuse each other of not conforming to these values. The protesters are part of a heterogeneous minority that in large parts embodies the values of the majority and, in a way, exceeds them, i.e., a minority that is hypercritical and has extreme expectations about the values of the majority society – in this case: of solidarity, science, transparency, rationality, and coherence. From its marginal position, the minority develops a canny eye for the unfulfilled promises of the majority: its contradictions and conscious or unconscious double standards are perceived as bigotry against the backdrop of the aspiration to absence of contradiction. Therefore, this minority suspects that the motivations and goals behind the measures taken are other than just the protection of health, while the majority in turn see the minority’s commitment to society and democracy as (self-)deception and also suspect hidden motives and actors behind it. This mutual suspicion leads to a hysterical state of doubt and distrust, which is rooted in the nature of mediality.

What about a sister wife? Reasons for considering polygyny among Salafis in Switzerland

The article describes why some male and female Swiss Salafi converts support polygynous marriages. Against this background, it provides insights into how specific cultural models of partnerships that differ drastically from the majority society’s expectations can be managed. Swiss Salafis live in a society and legislative system that restrict polygynous civil marriage, especially religiously grounded polygyny. Drawing on Shore’s concept of cultural models, I will show how Salafi converts navigate partially contradictory relationship models by reconstructing their thoughts and feelings during the selection process of possible second wives or of already married men. Three case studies are presented, stemming from participant observations in 2019 in Switzerland.

Parenting in the second generation. The changing family figurations of descendants of Pakistani, Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil immigrants in Norway

ABSTRACT This study explores how second-generation parents in Norway manoeuvre generational and institutional relationships and what consequences this may have for participation in ethnicity-based networks and majority society. The context is an advanced welfare state in which ideals of dual-earner, gender-equal and child-centred families are facilitated through provisions of care for the youngest children. We argue that second-generation families are moving towards a nuclear family model in which the dyadic bond between parents and children takes centre stage, strengthening dependency on institutions and networks in majority society and redefining dependencies on extended family and ethnicity-based networks. The transformed family and generational figuration become a means through which parents negotiate a position as established in Norwegian majority communities. The study contributes by highlighting parenting as a lens through which generational transformations and minority/majority relationships can be analytically bridged and by showing the relevance of Elias’ figurational sociology for understanding social integration processes.

Practises and Processes of Symbolic Reproduction of Racial, Ethnic and National Boundaries in Low-Waged Workplaces

The introduction present key research questions addressed by the Special Issue: What is the character of the symbolic reproduction of racial, ethnic and/ or national boundaries and how are they interwoven into international migrants’ practices, experiences, and strategies within Europe’s low-waged workplaces? The four IS papers address this question from different perspectives; three of them by drawing on materials from the food production industries in the Scandinavian countries and the UK, the last discussing how Polish labour migrant in Norwegian society are objects of ‘gray racialization’ setting them apart from the majority population. A main contribution of the SI lies in the bridging of disparate literature in the fields of labour markets, migration, and social and symbolic boundary processes: The in-depth qualitative analysis demonstrates how migrants working in low wage, low skill labour markets are the object of ongoing processes of othering along racial, ethnic and national lines. Various agents representing the majority society – the state, employers, trade unions and local communities – each in their own ways contribute to these processes and thereby to the reproduction of social inequalities. Combined, the SI papers also demonstrate the role the migrants themselves play in the production and reproduction of these dynamics.

CSR AND BRANDING BASED ON ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE: HABERMAS' CRITICAL THEORY

The purpose of this research is to explore the concept of CSR branding from the perspective of Islam and through the communication theory of Habermas. CSR is understood as a form of corporate responsibility that involves social concern for the environment in order to strengthen its positive image in society. However, some companies distort the concept of CSR towards branding, which is considered by the majority of society as a manipulative act. In Habermas' communication theory, CSR is one form of communicating the social and environmental effects of a company's economic actions on certain groups in society as a whole. And from an Islamic perspective, CSR branding can be communicated effectively and is permissible as long as it does not violate Sharia principles such as honesty, transparency, and avoiding things that contradict Islamic values

Nurturing Curiosity Beyond Identity Labels to Find the Radical: Notes on What Encouraged Radical Youth to Participate in Transnational Qualitative Research

Researchers interested in expanding our understanding about individuals, who are silenced by majority societies or those who willingly position themselves close to condemned standpoints, need to also think about ways of approaching and encouraging potential research participants. The current paper frames that need as an act of curiosity and an ethical responsibility. With that framing in hand, the paper explains the process of overcoming difficulties related to recruiting radicalized subpopulations of youngsters (154 self-identified Muslim youth with migration backgrounds and 153 native youth who support movements labeled as far right) in a transnational qualitative research conducted in four different countries (Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands) in 2020–2022. Because both groups are subject to the labels imposed on them by the majority societies (e.g., Muslim, Salafi, conservative, fascist, right wing, etc.), the researchers felt the need to be flexible in the ways they address and approach each participant. In the field, the purposeful efforts of recruitment wording for each individual appeared very useful in encouraging this by nature skeptical group of people. The current paper documents the development of this flexible strategy, which I hope will be useful to many qualitative researchers to facilitate their data collection efforts to identify and reach youth that is on the path of radicalization. We would like to encourage academics to stay curious about these two subpopulations of youth and other marginalized, singled out, and stigmatized groups, and consider interviewing as many individuals as possible in order to discover the radicals.

Language ideologies and stancetaking in refugee identity negotiations: exploring multilingual refugees’ narratives of language use in Turkey

ABSTRACT This study investigates the identity negotiations and language ideologies among/around Syrian refugees residing in Turkey by concentrating on the case of two multilingual, Syrian graduate students who have been forcedly displaced from Syria and resettled in Turkey. The study particularly explores participants’ metalinguistic narratives of their language choices, multilingual repertoires and identity positionings. We argue that everyday talk about migration and migrants either within the migrant communities or in the majority society needs to be conceptualised with reference to a language ideological framework combined with a stancetaking approach. Our analysis reveals that the participants’ linguistic practices and identity positions are heavily invoked by/through their engagements with the Turkish language and community and influenced by the highly nationalist anti-refugee discourse prevailing in Turkey. The participants negotiate their self-identity with respect to and in sharp contrast with widely- circulating negative discourses of refugee representations. Language choice and code-switching appear as major discursive and interactional strategies indexing stancetaking in the construction of narratives within the interview context.

Isu Gender dan Feminisme di Asia Selatan

This article aims to describe Gender and Feminism Issues in the Southern Asia region, the method used is the library research approach, namely a research approach that aims to collect data and information with the help of various materials found in the library room. The sources used are secondary sources, namely sources obtained from books, magazines, documents, journals, notes and historical stories and so on. The results of this discussion are that basically feminism refers to social movements carried out by both women and men to increase equality between women and men. Discrimination against women in India still occurs in terms of education, health, employment, social issues, etc. The gender structure in Pakistan is also lagging behind, and the role of women is still undergoing upheaval, society's thinking has led to a situation where the majority of society is still illiterate. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, most women feel that the Taliban is trying to make women invisible by prohibiting women from getting an education and working. Then Nepal with the issue of trafficking women abroad, and the last one is Sri Lanka, where in fact the rules of the family and each community tend to be discriminatory, also regarding the rules of marriage, divorce, property and financial transactions. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, most women feel that the Taliban is trying to make women invisible by prohibiting women from getting an education and working. Then Nepal with the issue of trafficking women abroad, and the last one is Sri Lanka, where in fact the rules of the family and each community tend to be discriminatory, also regarding the rules of marriage, divorce, property and financial transactions. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, most women feel that the Taliban is trying to make women invisible by prohibiting women from getting an education and working. Then Nepal with the issue of trafficking women abroad, and the last one is Sri Lanka, where in fact the rules of the family and each community tend to be discriminatory, also regarding the rules of marriage, divorce, property and financial transactions.

Intergroup relations affect depressive symptoms of Indigenous people: Longitudinal evidence

AbstractOne thousand eight hundred thirty‐five individuals who self‐identified as Indigenous (with Mapuche being the largest group) participated in a two‐wave longitudinal survey conducted in Chile with an 18 months lag. This was an approximately nationally representative sample of residents from culturally diverse communities. The aim of the study was to identify protective and adverse factors that are related to the development of depressive symptoms in Indigenous people. It was hypothesized that perceived social support would be negatively related to the development of depressive symptoms and that perceived discrimination would be positively associated with depressive symptoms, so that being on the receiving end of discrimination would make the manifestation of depressive symptoms more likely. Social support and perceived discrimination were themselves predicted to be affected by acculturation preferences and skin pigmentation. It was hypothesized that a positive acculturation orientation towards both the Indigenous group and members of non‐Indigenous majority society would be associated with more perceived social support. Hence, preference for culture maintenance and preference for cross‐group contact were expected to be positively related to social support. Further, it was hypothesized that darker skin pigmentation would be associated with more experiences of discrimination. Taken together, two processes were expected to affect depressive symptomatology: a protective effect of acculturation preferences mediated by social support and a deleterious effect of pigmentation mediated by experiences of discrimination. Results confirmed the predictions cross‐sectionally but longitudinal effects were only found for the deleterious effect of pigmentation; the protective effect of acculturation preferences was notably weaker over time. These findings have both theoretical and applied implications.

Introduction: Assimilation, integration or transnationalism? An overview of theories of migrant incorporation

Introduction: Assimilation, integration or transnationalism? An overview of theories of migrant incorporation

Racism and radicalisation in Denmark: outline for a social pedagogical prevention model

This article focuses on social pedagogical work with young people from minority ethnic communities who are at risk of becoming radicalised. The aim is to contribute to the further qualification of general social pedagogical work, so that radicalisation and extremism can be more effectively prevented. In Denmark there has been an increased focus on radicalisation and extremism in recent decades. Radicalisation is often characterised as a process where extremist attitudes develop before an act of violence takes place. It is a politically charged subject with a series of discourses that link radicalisation with parallel societies and a lack of integration. The prevailing discourse often portrays ethnic minorities as living in ethnic enclaves that are isolated from the majority of society, where they reproduce their religious and cultural values which can lead to a form of radicalisation and a threat to the national social cohesion. One profession that engages with this topic is social pedagogy, which aims to intervene in such situations. However, we are far from seeing social pedagogy succeeding in this intention. In practice, many social pedagogical initiatives take an individualising and disciplinary approach and are therefore ineffective solutions to young people’s challenges. In this article, we first analyse the dominant political discourse on ethnic minorities and connect it to the Danish government’s various action plans against radicalisation and extremism. We then discuss the implications of European and Danish prevention work against radicalisation and raise a criticism of this work for its individualising, disciplinary and uncritical nature. We highlight the need for a community-oriented approach to prevention work, where the cornerstones are involvement, network building and critical insight.

On the mission of the Church and the risk of terrorism in Europe

Terrorism is basically characterized as particular anti-social behaviour of people, individuals as well as groups or states, publicly also called terror. Terrorism is neither social, nor political or criminological phenomenon of the 21st century. Terror as a result of terrorism in a certain historical period surely is a logical product of particular social development. Therefore, the fight of the state and the majority of society against its acts has become natural. Fight against the terror. Considering the historical significance of the activities of various Christian churches in the area of current European Union, nowadays it might show as purposeful to increase the intensity of the engagement of not only Christian churches in the processes aiming to eliminate potential terrorist attacks. The paper tackles some of the possible ways of the pursuit of this initiative.

PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF INNOVATIVE MULTICOMPONENT DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS

Background. In recent years, dietary supplements have become the subject of interest among con sumers, food producers and the pharmaceutical industry. Dietary supplements are not medicinal products and are not considered as such. However, the majority of society in many countries treats dietary supple ments as equal to medicinal products. The article draws attention to innovative dietary supplements con taining many ingredients from exotic plants, which have not been used in supplements to such an extent so far. The aim of this study was to determine the physicochemical properties of multi-ingredient Purella Super Mix dietary supplements. These supplements are produced by Purella Food, and the series includes five products with various advertised effects on the human body. Purella Super Mix products were charac terized in terms of their composition and the resulting importance for human health. A number of physico chemical analyzes of Purella Super Mix were carried out, which have not been published to this extent before. Water content, water activity, bulk density and the angle of repose and cone angle were measured, as well as the Hausner ratio and the Carr index were determined. These properties deliver important in formation both for the technological process and for subsequent stages of the product life cycle. Results and conclusions. The results of the research on the physicochemical properties of innovative multi-ingredient dietary supplements can be used to predict the durability of these products and to design the packaging that takes into account the behavior of supplements during storage. The results obtained may also constitute the basis for further research on improving the composition and properties of multiingredient dietary supplements.

Ake Palace: A Reflection of Culture and Architecture in South-West, Nigeria

Yorùbá indigenous architecture is not haphazard. It results from an organized cultural and religious system. Family, community, and belief were given top priority while designing every part of the building, including the material choice, architectural style, and construction method. Culture needs a useful location where it can express and manifest its actions in order to fulfill its purpose. Therefore, the area in which this activity and lifestyle can be practiced must be provided through architectural design. Although it is true that both architecture and culture are dynamic and will change for the better, culture must not be readily changed yield to the demands of architecture and its allure. Authors have noted that socio-political, cultural, and religious ideas are expressed in art forms and emanate from them within the majority of societies and throughout time. This suggests that the building embodies and portrays the culture in terms of homage, food, hospitality, education, and sociopolitical ideas. Generally speaking, architecture offers, suggests, or demonstrates the direction of cultural values; it identifies or shows cultural identities. Ake palace in this study denote a series of techniques that establish the city’s identity plans and concepts of the town image as a whole into an integrative city which is based on communal relationships of an urban fabrics. The gap in this study is the disregard for the natural and architectural environments, prior cultural expressions that weakened cultural identity. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between culture and architecture using Ake palace in south-west Nigeria as a reflection of it. A qualitative approach was used, and focus groups made up of custodian leaders from Ake Palace was used to conduct in-depth interviews. Nvivo word trees and place theory was used to analyze the data. Description of Ake palace design concept was gathered from the custodian leaders. This study demonstrated how the architecture of squares reveals important information about the built environment of the current urban fabric, past historical accounts, cultural practices, and the traditional identity of the Ake people.

A Study of Popular Culture and its Impact on Youth’s Cultural Identity

With the advent of technology and globalization, the level of interaction is very high, and people are close to each other, due to this the social communication and exchange of values, opinions, and cultures are at their peak. This certainly plays a very important role in the society to understand new culturism and allows people to interact and mix with people from other parts of the world, accept other cultures, and express them in a variety of ways in order to promote economic development and accelerate social and indigenous progress. Media globalization and social change accelerate the flow of information and mutual intrusions of all kinds of cultures, which results in the assimilation of culture and its values and beliefs. The majority of people in society accept mass culture under the banner of pop culture. Cultural identity is a concept that exists in today’s globalized world but may have drastic change in recent decades. Considering all these facts, youth and cultural identity are inextricably linked. In the present era, the youth represent the main idea of cultural identity as they are frequently accepting new values and cultural patterns. Modern culture is a component of social development, and the impact of globalization and the development of the information society have given social capital a new direction. The effect of changing faces of people, especially the youth, is well marked in their expression as a popular culture. Popular culture is a kind of popularized culture among the masses, which is an outcome of media and social interactions. The representation of high culture and mass culture gives a new style to the traditional concept and is represented as a popular culture in the present scenario. The youth are very prone to change and symbolize popular culture. This is largely accepted by the majority of society’s members. The current study looked at the impact of traditional and modern factors on the emergence of cultural identity in the younger generation. The current study examines the growth and development of a new culture in society based on experience and perception that strengthens the youth group’s identity. The methodology used in the study was primary.

Features of Modern Mass Media Influence on the Formation and Development of Mass Speech Culture

The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the development of mass broadcasting culture in the context of the specifics of modern mass media (the case study of television and print media). Research methodology. The methods of analysis and synthesis, the method of structuring, and the system method have been used to understand the peculiarities of mass media influence on the process of developing mass speech culture. The typological method enabled revealing the peculiarities of conventional and modern media in the context of the transformation of mass broadcasting culture. The abstract-logical method has contributed to the generalisation of the development trends of broadcasting culture and the role of mass media in their formation. Scientific novelty. The impact of modern mass media on the process of formation and development of mass broadcasting culture has been studied. The concepts of "speech culture" and "mass speech culture" have been clarified and supplemented. Typical for the beginning of the XXI century positive and negative trends in the influence of mass media on speech culture have been revealed. Peculiarities of the influence of the latest foreign language borrowings in the context of the specifics of the development of modern mass media have been considered. Conclusions. At the current stage, in relation to Ukrainian-language communication and verbal code, we can talk about the phenomena of mass culture at the level of psychological, political, etc. culture. Mass speech culture is formed as a certain popular way of communication used by the majority in society regardless of status and social roles in public and everyday communication. Mass media – traditional and new media – play an important role in this, as they are the ones who broadcast and reproduce the patterns of speech behaviour characteristic of modern society (for example, words, expressions, and speech phrases relevant to this socio-cultural space, quotes from characters, and speech memes). The study revealed that the influence of traditional mass media (television and print publications) on the formation of mass media culture at the present stage has increased due to the development of information and communication technologies, which has created the prerequisites for access unlimited by time and space parameters. Despite the presence of negative factors of the influence of traditional media on mass speech culture, due to changes in their system and functions as a result of globalisation processes, which is manifested in the appearance of a huge number of lexical borrowings, language simplifications on the one hand and the spread of specific regional practices (slang, dialect, sociolect), on the other hand, there is definitely a positive experience of creating a media text characterised by a high level of speech behaviour. Important in the context of raising the level of mass broadcasting culture, in our opinion, is the maintenance of a high level of the language of mass media. Key words: mass broadcasting culture, mass media, traditional media, television.

Different Minority Groups Elicit Different Safety, Economic, Power, and Symbolic Threats

Abstract Populistic political discourse often portrays ethnic minorities as threats to the majority society. However, the deeper characteristics of perceived threats have not been sufficiently empirically investigated. The goal of this study is to identify the similarities and differences in intergroup threats perceived by Slovak majority from Roma, Muslims, and ethnic Hungarian minorities. The participants included 1244 adults who were instructed to write the first five associations that came to mind when thinking about one of the minorities. Our findings indicate that power threat was dominant from the Hungarian minority and safety threat from the Roma and Muslim minorities. Moreover, the safety threat from the Roma minority related mainly to theft and violence, while from Muslims it was terrorism. Mapping and addressing specific threats associated with different minorities can help explain misperceptions and reduce prejudice against them.

Interdisciplinary Take on Augmented Reality

This publication attempts to show the interdisciplinary nature of augmented reality. With the development of technology and the widespread use of smartphones, there has been a great development of AR technology. This technology, due to its universal nature, is used in various spheres of everyday life. Discussing the interdisciplinary nature of this technology within the scope of this publication, the author focused on the possibilities of its use in education, medicine and marketing. By pointing out practical examples of the use of AR, the author will show how this technology is entering everyday life. The choice of the areas indicated is intended to show that AR technology will be used by the majority of society in the future. This is due to the fact that this technology has great prospects for development with particular emphasis on the areas mentioned.

Acculturation in Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker

This article explores acculturation strategies and their expressions in the novel Native Speaker (1995) by Chang-rae Lee, a Korean-American author. This novel concerns the clash of immigrant identities with the notion of a genuinely American identity as well as the adaptation into the majority society by first- and second-generation immigrants. While this is not Lee’s first novel concerned with intricate identity issues, Native Speaker is considered his most important work, as it introduced Korean-American fiction to the U.S. mainstream public. Although the novel is well known to critics, it has not been analysed using the particular view of acculturation strategies featured here which deal with psychological and intercultural relations of individuals in their private and public lives. The notion of acculturation used here is based on the well-known model proposed by psychologist John W. Berry, a paradigm consisting of four strategies: assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization. This view argues that, despite coming from similar ethnic backgrounds, the plethora of characters each engage with the U.S. mainstream differently (in their public and private lives), thus their acculturation categories may also change through time. This is exemplified through changes in the protagonist Henry Park.

SAMI’NA WA ATHO’NA PHILOSOPHY IN THE PROCESS OF ACCOUNTING EDUCATION BASED ON ISLAMIC BOARDING SCHOOLS

This study aims to examine the philosophy of compliance with sami’na wa atho’na in the accountingeducation process. The object of this research is a Vocational High School as known as SMK MHI Jember, avocational school that is established and operates in Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia. This type ofresearch is a qualitative research with Husserl Phenomenology method. The resource persons in this studyamounted to 4 people, namely the chairman of the pesantren foundation, the treasurer of the foundation, thechairman of the MHI Vocational School, and the accounting teacher of the MHI Vocational School. This studyshows that the phenomenon of strict sami’na wa atho’na is not just student compliance with the teacher, but aspart of ethical development in the accounting education process at SMK MHI. Theoretically, the results of thisstudy can contribute to the accounting learning process which in the process emphasizes the usefulness of theaccounting discipline through the formation of the ethical character of students, as David Hume's theory ofUtilitarian Ethics, that an activity and policy is said to be good if it can provide benefits to the majority ofsociety. In addition, accounting educators and educational institutions that have study programs or accountingexpertise competencies can take the results of this study into consideration for manifesting the philosophy ofsami'na wa ato'na in the development of the accounting education curriculum in the era of the independentcurriculum and the 4.0 industrial revolution, where the moral crisis is be of serious concern.