Norms Of Inclusion Research Articles

Socio-psychological reactions in the EU to immigration: from regaining ontological security to desecuritisation

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the EU and EU member states’ reactions to the 2015 refugee crisis from an ontological security perspective while arguing that these reactions are the product of three socio-psychological lenses, which have led to various responses to the perceived threat. The first reaction, ascribed especially to the Visegrad Four, is the “securitise-the-self” reaction to feelings of anxiety and ontological insecurity and involves reaffirmation of national biographical narratives and national immigration policies at the expense of supranational European policies. The second reaction is illustrated by the European Commission's response to the refugee crisis and involves “managing securitisation.” Accordingly, the Commission's reaction to ontological insecurity when faced with the challenge of unmanaged migration was to reaffirm the EU's semi-sovereign identity (collective border control competencies) while preserving a global discourse on human rights and refugee-related inclusive norms. The third reaction stemmed from viewing the crisis with the lenses of “empathy” and “desecuritisation” and is best illustrated by Germany's temporary “open door” policy on refugees that was driven by a psychological lack of perceived threat from the “immigrant-other” and a “civilian power” collective identity. The paper argues that recognising these three lenses can help us to understand socio-psychological reactions to immigration in the EU.

Equal but different: Effects of equality/inclusion and cultural pluralism on intergroup outcomes in multiethnic classrooms.

Integrating research on intergroup contact and intercultural relations, we investigated effects of 2 types of cultural diversity norms (equality/inclusion and cultural pluralism) on outgroup orientation and perceived discrimination among students of immigrant and nonimmigrant background. Our sample comprised 1,975 6th graders (Mage = 11.53, SDage = 0.69, 47% female) in Germany, of whom 1,213 (61%) were of immigrant background, defined as having at least 1 parent born in a different country. A total of 83 countries of origin were represented. We applied a multilevel framework to assess the impact of individual-level and class-level predictors on intergroup outcomes, controlling for the classroom ethnic composition, school track, and individual-level covariates. Immigrant background was treated as a moderator. The 2 types of cultural diversity norms were generally associated with more positive intergroup outcomes. Some of the associations differed in strength between students of immigrant and nonimmigrant background. There were stronger associations of equality/inclusion with higher outgroup orientation among students of nonimmigrant background and with lower perceived discrimination among students of immigrant background. Ethnic composition, as well as the classroom-aggregated diversity norms (diversity climate) showed weaker relations with the outcome variables. Equality/inclusion norms and cultural pluralism norms can make complementary contributions to positive relations between students of immigrant and nonimmigrant background. Equality/inclusion norms foster positive contact and equal treatment, while cultural pluralism norms emphasize that it is also important to value diversity.¹ (PsycINFO Database Record

Do I Really Feel Your Pain? Comparing the Effects of Observed and Personal Ostracism.

It has been argued that "we feel the pain of others' ostracism as our own". However, it is unknown whether observed ostracism is as distressing as self-experienced ostracism. We conducted two studies to address this lacuna. In Study 1, participants played or observed an online ball-tossing game, in which they or a stranger were ostracized or included by others. In Study 2, participants imagined themselves or someone else being ostracized or included. Across both studies, self-experienced and observed ostracism had the same negative effect on mood. Also, both self-experienced and observed ostracism evoked need threat, but this effect was slightly lower after observed ostracism. In sum, the findings suggest that we do feel the pain of others' ostracism as our own, consistent with the notion that humans are equipped with a system that detects violations of social inclusion norms in the environment.

Deliberative Bureaucracy: Reconciling Democracy’s Trade-off Between Inclusion and Economy

Deliberative democrats have long considered the trade-off between norms of inclusion and efficiency. The latest attempt at reconciliation is the deliberative systems model, which situates and links individual sites of deliberation in their macro context. Yet, critics argue that this move to scale up leaves inclusive practices of citizen deliberation vulnerable. Here, we seek to mitigate these concerns via an unlikely source: bureaucracy. Drawing on the notion of policy feedback, with its attendant focus on how policies (re)make democratic politics, we envision a deliberative bureaucracy where implementation and service delivery are imbued with norms of justification, publicity and, most radically, inclusion. Looking at promising contemporary governance practices, we argue that a deliberative bureaucracy, with the rich public encounters it might foster, can reconcile the desire to scale up deliberative democracy to whole systems with the desire to hold on to the benefits of scaled-down citizen deliberation.

Soundscape and sonic memory: dynamics of Jewish and Muslim day-to-day social interactions in Udlajan, Tehran

Being home to a majority of Jews before the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979, Udlajan is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Tehran. Through interviews with a select group of its past Jewish and Muslim residents, this research considers Udlajan’s past soundscape and its former residents’ sonic recollections in order to examine the role of sounds and silences in the social construction of space. By narrating sound memories together with other ones, Udlajan former residents express their understanding of space, communications with others, sense of identity, self and otherness, and norms of inclusion and exclusion. This paper illustrates how the Jewish residents, despite aspects of their everyday lives being circumscribed, are not mute victims but exercise agency in appropriating, negotiating and using public space.

The dilemmas of ontological insecurity in a postcolonising Northern Ireland

ABSTRACTSince the signing of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement of 1998, Northern Ireland has made significant progress towards a postcolonising transformation of its political culture and its major political and social institutions, as it has shifted away from violence and the dominance of political ideologies structured by the friend–enemy distinction. These ideological formations and the practices of social and political antagonism that they prescribed have been challenged by adversary–neighbour ideological formations that construct identities and relations through more inclusive norms of recognition and that support a more complex emotional constellation. However, as this cultural transformation has been neither thoroughgoing nor universal, Northern Ireland finds itself in the somewhat counter-intuitive situation in which the shift away from the violence of the past has increased, rather than reduced, the ontological insecurity of its citizens. Moreover, as ontological security may be supported by either friend–enemy or adversary–neighbour ideological formations, two distinct ways in which ontological security may collapse or re-configure have emerged in Northern Ireland.

Citizens un-interrupted: Practices of inclusion by mental health service users

ABSTRACTInclusion, participation, and the recognition as being an equal is important for the well-being and resilience of all citizens. The notion of homo occupacio describes the persona of the citizen as the self-directed, self-initiated occupational human who takes possession of his or her world through a repertoire of occupations located within the rules and norms of society. For those in society who have been labelled with a psychiatric diagnosis, the ability to participate and exercise the rights and responsibilities as citizens can be conditional, often interrupted and, at times, denied. Once labelled, service users report that they are regarded as the marginalised and excluded immanent Other; their status is then relegated to subject rather than citizen and political actor. Thus positioned on the margins of the democratic processes of the state, service users enter the state of exception as homo sacer, regarded as the outcast, the banned and dangerous Other, whereby the personal power of the citizen no longer seems to hold. This paper presents service users’ stories of distressing exclusion that interrupted their rights to occupational justice, and marginalised them from occupation. The paper also presents the practices of inclusion that service users engaged in that restored their rights and responsibilities as occupied and active citizens. The successful stories of inclusion are framed within one of Isin’s four domains of his citizenship theory: the extent of citizenship, and the rules and norms of inclusion and exclusion.

“The world would just fall apart if there’s no respect at all”: children’s understandings of respect for diversity in a post-conflict society

The term ‘respect for diversity’ has gained prominence in many policy and curricular developments aimed at promoting reconciliation and pluralism. To explore the understandings of ‘respect for diversity’ held by children in a society that has both emerged from conflict and is increasingly multicultural, 15 group interviews were conducted with 7–11-year-old children in Northern Ireland. The behavioural aspects of respect for diversity articulated by the children were identified as: attention; offering time; equality of treatment; and acts of solidarity. Affective motivations for these actions were empathy and the pursuit of friendship; cognitive motivations were: a moral norm of inclusion; curiosity; internalised human rights principles; and egalitarianism (a belief that all persons are equal in fundamental worth or value). Findings are discussed in relation to theories of children’s prejudice development and moral development, and implications for the teaching and promotion of respect for diversity as part of peace education programmes are considered.

Normative Pluralism

This article suggests that an epistemological and ontological pluralist perspective may enable human beings to cooperate each other and live with less injustice. Intercultural cooperation may help for a reformulation of the Human rights in order to consider aspects of different ways of life like the variations of moral, political and judicial norms. I expound that Liberal pluralism does not respond adequately to present day multiculturalism. Additionally, I explain that Human rights are not inclusive norms for all ways of life.I definitely sustain that some communities do not have to agree to live in the same moral world as others, but, that it is indeed necessary to know each other’s differences so as to be able to respect them.

The ConNECT Framework: a model for advancing behavioral medicine science and practice to foster health equity.

Health disparities persist despite ongoing efforts. Given the United States' rapidly changing demography and socio-cultural diversity, a paradigm shift in behavioral medicine is needed to advance research and interventions focused on health equity. This paper introduces the ConNECT Framework as a model to link the sciences of behavioral medicine and health equity with the goal of achieving equitable health and outcomes in the twenty-first century. We first evaluate the state of health equity efforts in behavioral medicine science and identify key opportunities to advance the field. We then discuss and present actionable recommendations related to ConNECT's five broad and synergistic principles: (1) Integrating Context; (2) Fostering a Norm of Inclusion; (3) Ensuring Equitable Diffusion of Innovations; (4) Harnessing Communication Technology; and (5) Prioritizing Specialized Training. The framework holds significant promise for furthering health equity and ushering in a new and refreshing era of behavioral medicine science and practice.

Turning Contention into Collaboration: Engaging Power, Trust, and Learning in Collaborative Networks

ABSTRACTGiven the complexity and multiplicity of goals in natural resource governance, it is not surprising that policy debates are often characterized by contention and competition. Yet at times adversaries join together to collaborate to find creative solutions not easily achieved in polarizing forums. We employed qualitative interviews and a quantitative network analysis to investigate a collaborative network that formed to develop a resolution to a challenging natural resource management problem, the conservation of vernal pools. We found that power had become distributed among members, trust had formed across core interests, and social learning had resulted in shared understanding and joint solutions. Furthermore, institutions such as who and when new members joined, norms of inclusion and openness, and the use of small working groups helped create the observed patterns of power, trust, and learning.

The Japan-Australia contribution to a liberal and inclusive regional order: beyond the ‘China gap’

ABSTRACTThis article discusses how Japan and Australia could contribute to a liberal and inclusive order in the Asia-Pacific region. Critics argue that closer ties between Japan and Australia could undermine the stability of regional security, dividing Asia into ‘mutually hostile armed blocs’ consisting of US allies and China. Contrary to such a view, this article argues that deepening and enhancing Japan–Australia security cooperation could, if carefully managed, help to maintain an inclusive regional order based on institutions, norms and values, as well as a stable balance of power relations. In particular, the article contends that Japan and Australia can contribute to regional order by strengthening their ‘middle-power cooperation’ through regional capacity-building, institution-building, rule-making or norm-setting, and coalition-building, while supporting the US military presence in the region. It then concludes that, despite differing attitudes towards Beijing, Tokyo and Canberra can further contribute to the longevity of the current regional order by inclusive institutional architecture and liberal norms and values.

LGBT Inclusive Athletic Departments as Agents of Social Change

Despite advances, prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals continues to plague many areas of sport, including intercollegiate athletics. There are, however, some athletic departments that are inclusive of LGBT athletes, coaches, and administrators, and that have inclusive organizational cultures and practices. In this paper, the author draws from an institutional theory perspective to suggest these athletic departments act as agents of social change, working to deinstitutionalize norms of exclusivity and heterosexism, articulating a viable alternative, and then working to reinstitutionalize new structures, processes, and norms of LGBT diversity and inclusion.

Variables and Challenges in Assessing EU Experts’ Performance

Expert advice in political processes is supposed to improve decisions. If expertise fails in this function, a legitimacy problem occurs: granting political power to experts may be defensible, but only on the grounds that it contributes to enlightening political processes and facilitate problem-solving. The paper provides a theoretical exploration of four variables that are key when assessing the epistemic quality of expert deliberations: the degree to which these deliberations are 1) informed by technical expertise, 2) regulated by epistemically optimal respect and inclusion norms, 3) focused on politically relevant and applicable knowledge, and 4) approaching questions involving moral judgment and standard setting competently. Previous research on the European Commission’s use of expert advice has more or less overlooked the question of experts’ epistemic performance, and this paper discusses the possible reasons for this in light of well-known methodological challenges in studies of elite behaviour; access and bias problems. A discussion of the merits and limitations of different available data on the Commission experts shows that the biggest obstacle in the study of experts’ epistemic performance is rather the problem of epistemic asymmetry, i.e. of how researchers as non-experts can assess the epistemic quality of experts’ contributions and behaviour. The paper offers, finally, a set of strategies to get research going despite this problem.

Психолого-педагогические исследования инклюзивного образования в практике подготовки магистрантов

The author examines the cultural and historical psychology as a methodological basis of research in the inclusive process of education. The article presents the current trends in research of inclusive education such as the design of organizational and psychological and pedagogical conditions for reinforcing the cultural norms of inclusion in the school: individual development in inclusive education; designing an inclusive educational environment. The article describes the logic of the research master students training. The author suggests for discussion some variants of design and research tasks in order to form the necessary research and development competencies of master students. The author is convinced that the quality of an inclusive process in basic education linked to the development of inclusive practice based on scientific research. Cultural-historical framework and its main idea becomes the methodological basis of psychological research as it claims a leading role of social environment in the development and educating of children.

Standing out and moving up: performance appraisal of cultural minority physicians.

Despite a growing diversity within society and health care, there seems to be a discrepancy between the number of cultural minority physicians graduating and those in training for specialization (residents) or working as a specialist in Dutch academic hospitals. The purpose of this article is to explore how performance appraisal in daily medical practice is experienced and might affect the influx of cultural minority physicians into specialty training. A critical diversity study was completed in one academic hospital using interviews (N=27) and focus groups (15 participants) with cultural minority physicians and residents, instructing specialists and executives of medical wards. Data were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic and integral content analysis was performed. In addition to explicit norms on high motivation and excellent performance, implicit norms on professionalism are considered crucial in qualifying for specialty training. Stereotyped imaging on the culture and identity of cultural minority physicians and categorical thinking on diversity seem to underlie daily processes of evaluation and performance appraisal. These are experienced as inhibiting the possibilities to successfully profile for selection into residency and specialist positions. Implicit criteria appear to affect selection processes on medical wards and possibly hinder the influx of cultural minority physicians into residency and making academic hospitals more diverse. Minority and majority physicians, together with the hospital management and medical education should target inclusive norms and practices within clinical practice.

Gender and cultural citizenship among non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel

About 330,000 of partial Jews and gentiles have moved to Israel after 1990 under the Law of Return. The article is based on interviews with middle-aged gentile spouses of Jewish immigrants, aiming to capture their perspective on integration and citizenship in the new homeland where they are ethnic minority. Slavic wives of Jewish men manifested greater malleability and adopted new lifestyles more readily than did Slavic husbands of Jewish women, particularly in relation to Israeli holidays and domestic customs. Most women considered formal conversion as a way to symbolically join the Jewish people, while no men pondered over this path to full Israeli citizenship. Women's perceptions of the IDF and military service of their children were idealistic and patriotic, while men's perceptions were more critical and pragmatic. We conclude that women have a higher stake at joining the mainstream due to their family commitments and matrilineal transmission of Jewishness to children. Men's hegemony in the family and in the social hierarchy of citizenship attenuates their drive for cultural adaptation and enables rather critical stance toward Israeli society. Cultural politics of belonging, therefore, reflect the gendered norms of inclusion in the nation-state.

How Peer Norms of Inclusion and Exclusion Predict Children's Interest in Cross‐Ethnic Friendships

The present research examines how perceived inclusive and exclusive peer norms for cross‐ethnic relations contribute to predicting interest in cross‐ethnic friendship among ethnic minority and majority children. Across two survey studies, European American and African American children (Study 1) and European American and Latino American children (Study 2) reported on the extent to which they perceived inclusive and exclusive peer norms for cross‐ethnic relations, as well as their own interest in developing cross‐ethnic friendships. Results from both studies showed that perceiving inclusive norms for cross‐ethnic relations from in‐group peers uniquely predicted children's interest in cross‐group friendships, beyond what can be accounted for by perceiving exclusive norms from in‐group peers and preexisting cross‐group friendships. Similar effects were observed for ethnic minority and majority children, and even after controlling for children's prior cross‐group friendships. Implications of these findings for future research and efforts to promote inclusion among ethnic minority and majority children are discussed.

Insiders or outsiders? Mental health service users' journeys towards full citizenship

The present study explores the journeys towards full citizenship for those using mental health services as they lobbied to be included as full citizens with the same rights and responsibilities as others in society. Qualitative data were collected through semistructured interviews with 17 service users, five government representatives, and seven registered mental health nurses. A conceptual framework of citizenship containing four domains - the extent, content, depth and acts of citizenship - was used to analyse the data. This paper reports the findings from the service users' data in the first domain, the extent of citizenship, defined as the rules and norms of inclusion and exclusion. The degree to which the service user participants were accepted as full citizens with the same civil, political, and social rights as others was contingent on their ability to adopt their society's rules and norms and appear as 'normal' citizens. Participants often experienced being 'othered' and excluded from the many rights and responsibilities of citizenship due to society's perception that service users lack certain attributes of normal, productive citizens. Participants reported that being labelled with a mental illness led to them being marginalized and ostracized, thus placing conditions and barriers on their citizenship status. Findings show that in response to experiencing conditional citizenship, participants shaped their behaviour to assimilate with other citizens. As well, they engaged in practices of inclusion to challenge and broaden the social rules and norms in order to be accepted without disavowing their differences.

Equality, Democracy, and the Broadening and Deepening of Gender Quotas

The diffusion of gender quotas reflects the legitimation of the normative principle of women's equality in public life. Legislative gender quotas, whether adopted through top-down elite decision making or through bottom-up feminist activism, are frequently justified via appeals to norms of inclusion and fairness. These democratic ideals of women's full representation and participation have indeed gained traction: Over the past two decades, quotas have extended beyond legislatures to public institutions, such as cabinets and executive agencies, and to state advisory councils, subnational governments, labor union directorates, and corporate boards. Such diffusion signals a profound gendering of public space and leadership, a transformation initiated by states assuming active roles as the guarantors—rather than mere promoters—of equality.