Political Norms Research Articles

Giving people the words to say no leads them to feel freer to say yes

We examine how to structure requests to help people feel they can say no (or yes) more voluntarily. Specifically, we examine the effect of having the requester provide the request-target with an explicit phrase they can use to decline requests. Part of the difficulty of saying no is finding the words to do so when put on the spot. Providing individuals with an explicit script they can use to decline a request may help override implicit scripts and norms of politeness that generally dictate compliance. This should make individuals feel more comfortable refusing requests and make agreement feel more voluntary. Hence, we hypothesized that telling people how to say no (by providing them with an explicit script) would make compliance decisions feel more voluntary above and beyond merely telling them they can say no. Across two experimental lab studies (N = 535), we find support for this prediction.

Why Would Some Feminist Activists Want to Ban Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Why Shouldn’t They?

This article critically engages with the feminist discourse surrounding George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, with a specific focus on the calls for its prohibition arising from perceived gender biases. The central inquiry at the heart of this exploration revolves around whether the perceived gender discrimination in Nineteen Eighty-Four warrants its prohibition. Detractors posit that Orwell's delineation of women, especially through characters like Julia, reinforces entrenched gender norms. Conversely, proponents assert that the novel's core message transcends gender-specific concerns, functioning as an enduring cautionary tale against the deleterious effects of totalitarian regimes. The article succinctly encapsulates the prevailing feminist critique of Nineteen Eighty-Four, undertaking an examination of the representation of women and gender relationships within the dystopian framework. Scholars argue that Julia's character epitomizes a passive and objectified perspective of women, conforming to male desires and perpetuating patriarchal viewpoints. This scrutiny extends to the thematic suppression of sexuality and gender within dystopian literature, underscoring the novel's limitations in addressing gender-related intricacies. Drawing upon feminist literary criticism and amalgamating various theoretical approaches such as historical context analysis, textual scrutiny, and thematic exploration, the article advocates for the legitimacy and significance of the critique. Despite the manifestation of patriarchal ideologies in the portrayal of women in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the article delves deeper into the pervasive theme of patriarchal control in the narrative. It examines how the Party regulates reproduction and sustains gender norms, contending that the novel persists in its relevance by fostering discussions on oppressive governance and authoritarian control. The paper accentuates the novel's nuanced exploration of gender dynamics, implicitly challenging traditional constructions. Emphasizing the value of dystopian fiction in feminist discourse, the article highlights the role of Nineteen Eighty-Four in catalyzing conversations about gender equality and institutional reform. In conclusion, the article addresses the perils associated with the misuse of censorship mechanisms for literary works and advocates for the preservation of a diverse literary discourse. The proposition to ban Nineteen Eighty-Four based on its gender portrayal is posited as counterproductive, with the potential to stifle critical engagement and impede meaningful dialogue. The ongoing controversy surrounding the novel underscores the imperative of sustained discussions, encouraging readers to scrutinize and challenge prevailing gender and political norms. Ultimately, Nineteen Eighty-Four is positioned as a valuable work contributing to broader narratives of social justice and equality.

The 2008 Law “On Gender Equality in Society” and Some of its Effects on Equal Representation.

Since the fall of their socialist centralized systems, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have experienced considerable changes to their socioeconomic policies. The Republic of Albania has encountered several noteworthy challenges since 1992, and initially, eradicating gender inequality was not given much emphasis. Gender equality is an essential element that needs to be incorporated into the legal frameworks of all candidate countries aspiring to join the EU, in addition to being a fundamental right and a shared vision of EU institutions. In developing nations, social exclusion can be either active or passive. Because females are excluded from many facets of society, such as the workforce, education, access to the legal system, the realization of their property rights, and so forth, women’s demands and interests are frequently disregarded. Following the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Republic of Albania has developed a number of laws, policies, and action plans pertaining to gender equality, in addition to measures addressing issues such as human trafficking, domestic abuse, closing the representational gap in politics and the economy, and other matters. This essay looks at Albania’s methodology for evaluating European standards and, where necessary, adapts them to regional political and cultural norms. Ensuring that the body of legislation is in accord with the culture in which it functions is a better strategy to enforce laws than merely making models, rules, and regulations. This is a comprehensive effort to assess and contrast specific in pursuing full EU integration. This is an overall attempt to evaluate and compare some of the strategies and actions Albanian representatives and society have taken to address the gender factor in the democratization process and institution-building while pursuing full EU integration.

Framing UN Human Rights Discourses on Climate Change: The Concept of Vulnerability and its Relation to the Concepts of Inequality and Discrimination

The concept of vulnerability is widely used in human rights policy documents, reports, and case law focusing on the impacts of climate change on human rights. In academic discussions, the concept, however, has also sparked a discussion on its benefits and challenges for the advancement of human rights, especially concerning the principles of equality and non-discrimination. This article aims at contributing to this debate from a frame-analytical perspective. In social sciences, frame-analysis is a form of discourse analysis which focuses on the consequences of different concepts for legal, political, and social discussions and norms. With the example of selected UN documents on different human rights issues in the context of climate change, the article, firstly, analyzes whether and how the concept of vulnerability is defined in the documents and why it is used in the documents. Secondly, it is elaborated to which individuals and groups the concept is applied. Thirdly, it is discussed how vulnerability is conceptualized in relation to or in distinction to the concepts of inequality and discrimination. In a further section it is analyzed what narratives are mobilized by the frame of vulnerability. The article concludes that from a discourse-analytical perspective the frame of vulnerability mobilizes problematic narratives which has gendered and racialized implications for those labeled vulnerable.

Impact of New Zealand teenagers' fertility intentions on childbearing.

To assess the impact of age 15 fertility intentions on childbearing outcomes three decades later. Evidence is mixed about the implications of teenage fertility intentions on later childbearing. Taking a prospective life course approach to assessing intentions and outcomes may help clarify these mixed findings. A general population birth cohort (born 1972/73) was asked about their fertility intentions at age 15 and 775 of this sample (384 women, 391 men) provided data on their childbearing between ages 15 and 45. At age 15, almost all of the sample indicated they would like to have children in the future (93%). Most (79%) reported having had a biological child by they time they were 45; but those who professed to not wanting children as teenagers were significantly less likely to have had a child three decades later. Fertility intentions during adolescence are probably influenced by social, political and economic norms and may influence later childbearing decisions. This may be particularly true for those whose intentions counter established norms around childbearing. A life course framework is useful for examining the relationship between hypothetical fertility intentions and outcomes.

“It makes me sound like I’m a NIMBY; I’m not:” Local Political Norms and Liberal Support for Housing

“It makes me sound like I’m a NIMBY; I’m not:” Local Political Norms and Liberal Support for Housing

Tripathi's Sita: A Symbol of Feminist Revisionist Nationhood

Amish Tripathi's novel Sita: Warrior of Mithila (2017) is the second installment in the Rama Chandra Series, offering a reimagined portrayal of Lord Rama and other key figures from the Ramayana in a modernized context. Through its exploration of human nature, politics, and morality, the series captivates readers both in India and internationally. Tripathi's adept fusion of Indian mythology and history has garnered widespread acclaim, with his books consistently ranking as bestsellers. The title, Sita: Warrior of Mithila, aptly reflects the central character's portrayal as a formidable female warrior. While the narrative begins with Sita's demonstration of courage during her abduction, it evolves to delve deeper into her transformation into a warrior princess. Sita embodies a form of feminist nationalism, championing altruistic warrior ideals. Guided by her mother's wisdom, she emerges as a symbol of this novel feminist nationalism, challenging traditional gender roles within the political sphere. Through Sita's journey, the narrative dismantles gender-based political norms, offering a fresh perspective on nation-building and the role of women within it. In contrast to conventional mythology, the revisionist approach taken by Tripathi actively engages with the development of women's political identities, highlighting their significance in the broader context of nationhood. The research question for the current study is: How does Amish Tripathi's novel Sita: Warrior of Mithila depict the development of Sita's feminist ideology, challenge traditional portrayals of Sita in the Ramayana, and explore the connection between Sita's transformation and the concept of feminist nation-building?

Family, Women and Religion in the Teaching of Ideological Sociology: A Content Analysis of Necmettin Sadak’s Book “Toplumbilim”

Education, as a social phenomenon, interacts with political, social, cultural and economic factors that shape society. Education plays an important role in integrating new generations into society by contributing to the cultural and political norms of the society. At this point, the political socialization function of education comes to the fore. Political socialization refers to the process of directing individuals to participation in political processes and adoption of the political culture of a society. This process involves the individual learning and internalizing the political values, beliefs, norms and behaviours of the society through his/her family, school, media and other social environments, starting from childhood. In the current study, within the context of the political socialization function of education, the book “Toplumbilim” written by Necmettin Sadak and used as one of the high school sociology textbooks of the Republican Era, was analyzed by focusing on the issues of family, women and religion. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the book was used as a tool of ideological indoctrination.

Grunt to historia? Vicente Luis Mora i jego "Centroeuropa" (2020) jako metapowieść intrahistoryczna

The purpose of the essay is to introduce the figure of a contemporary Spanish author, Vicente Luis Mora, and his novel Centroeuropa to the Polish literary researchers, as well as to analyze the special character of this novel in terms of reading agreement and the most adequate terminology concerning the literary genre, to which it belongs, based on the form oftypological characteristics of a novel that includes ten essential points: paratext, plot, narration, time structure, poetics, the question of mimesis, the loyalty of history towards History, metatextuality, ideological character and the strategies used by the author. On the basis of these reflections it can be concluded that Centroeuropa by Vicente Luis Mora is a metanovel about a man who is looking for his way in a breakthrough moment in the history of Europe, between the 18th and 19th century, in the declining feudal‑absolutist Prussia and the emerging liberal‑capitalist Prussia, in the embryonic society, where economic and political norms haven’t been fully constructed yet and women are not full‑fledged members of society. Centroeuropa is a multi‑dimensional novel inspired by the past of Central Europe, but – above all – a metanovel about writing and its servitude.

Securitization of Politics in Ethiopia: Scrutinizing Crisis in Western Oromia in Post-2018

The article is aimed to scrutinize security crisis in Western part of Oromia, within the broader context of unearthed securization of politics in Ethiopia. The post-2018 political situation in Ethiopia is characterized by severe security crises in almost all parts of the country, and these security crises have regional and international dimensions. Politicians build security sectors to secure their political life when the normative political process has stalled. There are also ongoing security crises in the western part of Oromia Regional State, ranging from the displacement of Oromo from Benishangul Gumuz Regional State and border areas in Oromia to the ongoing massive massacres of Oromo in East and Horro Guduruu Wallagga by mercenaries from Amhara Regional State, to ongoing human rights violations such as arrests, extrajudicial killings, etc. Accordingly, this article intended to discuss the imperatives of securitized political issues in perpetuated security crisis in Western Oromia since 2018. The research was approached as qualitative research with a case study design to exhaustively discuss the security crisis in West Oromia as a particular case. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data was collected through interviews, personal observations, and semi-structured conversations with peers, while secondary data was obtained through a content analysis of the literature. The research found that the failure of the 2018 political transition perpetuated a security crisis across the country. Western Oromia is marked as a sensitive political ecology, and political issues are highly securitized. Geographically speaking, West Oromia is viewed as an outlying area, yet it holds a central position within the national political landscape. Hence, within the examined region, political inquiries are approached through security measures, resulting in a complex security crisis with severe consequences for the local population. Therefore, desecuritizing the political agenda and giving a chance to normative politics or finding a “political solution to the political problem” is recommended as the only way forward in the country.

Things, order, and the resurgence of contingency: Xiong Bolong 熊伯龍 (1617–1670) and his Wuhe ji 無何集

ABSTRACT In the traditional Chinese conception, ‘things’ (wu 物) serve as the fundamental ‘components’ of order. Moreover, it is through things and their changes that humans can grasp moral and political norms based on the notion of resonance (ganying 感應). This implies that human society and the world of things are necessarily interconnected. In opposition to this view of order Xiong Bolong 熊伯龍 (1617–1670) in his work Wuhe ji 無何集 (Collected Passages on Being without Causes) critiqued the notion of resonance and arrived at a more ‘disenchanted’ approach to ‘things’ by incorporating the idea of contingency from Wang Chong’s 王充 (27–c. 97) philosophical thought. However, Xiong’s view of order full of contingency does not entirely diverge from the traditional mainstream Chinese view, because in his world of thought, a belief in the underlying necessity of a perfect order within the holistic arrangement of myriad things including humans remained.

School leadership in context: the influence of Islamic values and beliefs on Kuwaiti school principal practices

ABSTRACT This article reports the findings of a study investigating the influence of Islamic values and beliefs upon the practices of school principals in Kuwait. The findings are part of a large-scale project to develop an Islamic-Oriented Educational Leadership (IOEL) model for Muslim school leaders. This article undertakes an exploratory investigation employing a qualitative research approach. The research data were derived from 36 semi-structured interviews conducted with principals of public schools in Kuwait. Through a rigorous analysis of the collected data, three prominent themes emerged: (i) Integration of Islamic Values in Leadership Traits and Attributes; (ii) Mission and Vision Alignment with Islamic Principles; and (iii) Incorporating Islamic Values into School Principal Roles. The findings underscore the significance of Islamic values and beliefs in shaping the leadership approaches of Kuwaiti school principals; their decisions, roles and actions consistently reflect alignment with these deeply-held principles. Nonetheless, it is important to note that these practices remain intricately interwoven with the cultural and political norms of Kuwait. This article’s findings have practical implications for both future research and practice. Furthermore, the article’s findings can enhance current interpretations of educational leadership by highlighting its spiritual aspects, and the influence of personal contextual factors on leader perspectives.

Politeness and impoliteness in social network service communication in Korea

With the technological benefits and challenges computer-mediated communication provides, interactants in social network service (SNS) communication are driven to use language creatively, overcoming the disadvantages and exploiting advantages. This creative language use leads to innovative language change that often extends beyond SNS environments. In this regard, the medium is not merely a restrictive but also a facilitative factor. Communicative acts are fundamentally bound by the interactants’ desire to express politeness, especially in face-threatening acts, well articulated in Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model. In recent research, however, the issues of the norms of politeness and impoliteness as well as those of appropriateness have been highlighted (Locher Watts 2005, Locher Bousfield 2008). Interactants employ not only mitigating strategies to alleviate face-threatening but also use impoliteness strategies, which are often disguised politeness. Drawing upon the data from a 26-million-word corpus of synchronous SNS communication, involving two or more participants, in 3,836 instances, developed by the National Institute of the Korean Language, this paper addresses how SNS interactants make use of diverse elements of language to show their polite and impolite stances in interpersonal negotiation. For instance, interactants use fragments, interjections, letter-based ideophones and emoticons, exaggerated punctuations for emotiveness, omission of regular punctuation marks, intentional violation of orthographic rules, prolific slang expressions, deviated spelling to create cuteness or intimacy, among numerous others. All these creative strategies lead to language change at lexical, grammatical and discourse levels.

Эволюция российской Конституции и государство-цивилизация как концептуальная парадигма нового Основного Закона России

Introduction. The relevance of the study. One of the key worldviews of the resurgent state ideology of modern Russia is the idea of a state-civilization, which acted as the doctrinal basis of the recently adopted Concept of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation. In this regard, there is a need to describe the legal characteristics of the state-civilization and their adequate reflection in the constitutional legislation, which puts on the agenda the issue of developing and adopting a new Constitution of the Russian Federation that meets its civilizational characteristics and development goals. The purpose is to analyze the contradictions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation reformed in 2020, substantiate the idea of a state-civilization as the conceptual basis of the new Basic Law of the country, and argue for the need to start work on it in the near future. The methodological framework for the research is the civilizational approach in combination with the general scientific and special methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, technical, comparative law, and historical-legal. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, based on a civilizational approach, it outlines the tasks facing domestic legal science in connection with the official recognition of Russia as a civilizational state and identifies some conceptual ideas that, in the author’s opinion, could form the basis of the new Russian Constitution. Results and conclusions. The official recognition of Russia as a civilizational state is in fact an announcement of a course towards building an empire. Therefore, the main direction of constitutional reform at this historical stage is the legalization of the Russian government in this capacity. The main principles of the new Constitution of Russia, which allows for the consolidation of Russian society in its confrontation with the collective West, are the ideas of social justice and state sovereignty. It is in them that the request of Russian society to the state is revealed as fully as possible. All other political and legal principles and norms can be important, accepted by the public consciousness, and enshrined in the Constitution only if they correspond to these fundamental values.

Girl power? Ethics of joy and becoming Chilean feminist high school students in relation to ideal citizenship normativities

This article traces the narratives and experiences of feminist high school students during the Chilean feminist movement of 2018 and explores their relations with normative political and gender subjectivization processes happening at their schools. The data for this article was produced through a critical ethnographic study in a Chilean all-female public high school, which included participant observation, testimonial interviews, arts-based collective testimonial workshops, and analyzed through affect theory. This article shows how this school reproduced binary norms under traditionally feminine parameters and at the same time neoliberal ones that demanded that students be successful and resilient women who individually managed to become productive members of society in the future. The student participants in this study were critical of how their school and their teachers tried to produce them as these types of gendered citizens. They managed to become feminist students in relation to these norms and at the same time create discourses, actions, and materialities that produced more just spaces for them in the present. This article suggests that reading the relations between the feminist students’ becomings and new gendered citizenship normativity deployed at school through a relational and affirmative ethics lens identifies relevant and often unseen aspects in research about structural oppression and resistance.

Towards a historical comparison framework

The recently proposed Global Comparison Framework (Lomas, 2023) lays out a rich array of dimensions of flourishing and their determinants on which the nations of the world might be compared. Despite its capaciousness and comprehensiveness, however, the GCF’s reliance on a contemporary snapshot of global diversity still presents scholars engaged in cross-cultural studies of flourishing with a relatively narrow field of inquiry. The GCF’s focus on contemporary indicators is understandable, but the roots of many of the differences among nations today – whether considered in terms of psychological profile, economic development, political and cultural norms, or, ultimately, overall flourishing – frequently lie in the distant and long buried past. This paper provides notes toward a historical supplement for the GCF – a historical comparison framework (HCF) – by sketching a set of indicators which, while no longer operative or at least salient for most of the world today, were at various points highly significant determinants of cultural, technological, or economic change, with effects which are still evident today in cross-cultural differences in flourishing or its determinants. We group these indicators under three broad headings: geography, migration and conquest, and religion.

Legal collisions in the field regulation of labour of persons, convict to imprisonment with setting of additional punishment in the type of privation of right to hold certain positions or carry on certain activity

The article is sanctified to some questions, that arise up in the process of the legal adjusting of labour of persons, convict to imprisonment with setting of additional punishment in the type of privation of right to hold certain positions or carry on certain activity. Convolute attention on a tendency to reduction of application of this repressive measure in practice of courts. On the basis of the conducted analysis legal collisions were educed, in particular between the binding overs of criminally-executive legislation, positions of the International pact about civil and political rights and norms of penal law, in part of adjusting of labour of convict to imprisonment, and also actual contradiction between voluntarily realization of right to work and duty to work for persons, that leave punishment for the type of imprisonment that is descendant the short stories of criminally-executive legislation. It is accented on an actual association in legal maintenance «publicly useful work of convict to imprisonment» of three various on the nature types of labour, that stipulated the process of evaluation of such labour in the generalized kind without a selection and taking into account of specific of type of such activity.
 Author is offer adjustment of normative positions of Criminal Code, Criminally-Executive Code and department documents, criminally-executive relations sent to adjusting, namely: exception from the criminally-executive legislation of norm about obligatoryness of labour of this category of convict with simultaneous adjustment of mechanism of conditionally-early liberation by means of replacement of abstract formulation of «attitude toward labour» in p. 2 art. 81 Criminal Code by a concrete condition: by «realization of publicly-useful labour and absence of debts on executive documents».
 In addition, by an author convolute attention on the necessity of realization of next adjustment legislation: introduction of legal interpretation of concept «publicly-useful labour» to the binding overs of criminally- executive legislation with leaning of public interest in his rich in content loading; alignment jurisdictions of organ of probation and administration of criminally-executive establishments in part of implementation by them punishments in the type of privation of right to hold certain positions or carry on certain activity, appointed to convict to imprisonment in quality of additional punishment, by making alteration to art. 31 Criminally-Executive Code; expansion of maintenance of Rules of internal order of establishments of implementation of punishments by the gone into detail procedure of conclusion of labour treaty or agreement with convict to privation.

How much, what and how: three-dimensional discourse analysis of Saudi women and men's self-disclosure

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the behavior of self-disclosure among Saudi women and men in an attempt to understand gender differences in language. The study also gives insights about the cultural norms and how they affect language production.Design/methodology/approach The author utilized Levi-Belz and Kreiner's (2019) three-dimensional tool of self-disclosure; namely, the HOW MUCH dimension, the WHAT dimension and the HOW dimension. The HOW MUCH dimension is measured through word count of self-disclosure and the duration of self-disclosure in spoken discourse. The WHAT dimension is measured through analyzing the topics, emotions and social actors that are discussed during self-disclosure episodes. The HOW dimension is measured through examining the acoustic features of self-disclosure such as intonation, loudness and fluency.Findings Saudi women tend to engage in more self-disclosure than Saudi men, and their self-disclosure tends to be longer and more detailed. Women also tend to use more intonation variability and softer loudness, reflecting the cultural norms of politeness and reservation. Both genders tend to use similar frequencies of positive and negative emotion words in their self-disclosure, with positive emotion words correlating more with personal self-disclosure and negative emotion words with self-disclosures about loss, failure, conflict, rejection and uncertainty. The data also show that the use of reflective verbs leads to more authentic and empathetic communication and that pronoun use correlates with the type of emotional experience being discussed.Research limitations/implications This study has limitations due to a small sample size. Future research should use larger and diverse samples to explore self-disclosure in Saudi televised interviews comprehensively. The study focused solely on televised interviews; future research can examine self-disclosure across various media platforms. Findings have practical implications for Saudi media and policymakers. Understanding self-disclosure in interviews can guide content creation, fostering open communication. Presenters consciously act as role models, influencing Saudi youth, emphasizing the role of positive self-presentation.Originality/value This study utilized Levi-Belz and Kreiner's (2019) three-dimensional tool of self-disclosure in a way that could be used for other languages and cultures. The study examines the Saudi cultural norms in self-disclosure, which has never been tackled before.

Häpeä organisaatioilmiönä – satunnainen tunnekokemus vai systemaattinen vallan ja sosiaalisen kontrollin mekanismi?

Shame in organisations: an occasional emotional experience or a systemic mechanism of power and social control? The emotion of shame in the context of organisations is still scarcely studied, and the current research on the topic is incoherent. This study employs qualitative metasynthesis (Walsh & Downe 2005) as a literature review method to construct more consistent information about the role of shame in publicly funded organisations. The results show that shame in organisation studies can be treated as a random emotional experience or interpersonal issue. However, shame can also be treated as a systemic mechanism of power and control coercing compliance with organisational, institutional and political standards and norms. The study makes use of three levels of analysis to understand how employees’ shame is constructed and utilised: micro, meso and macro. It also suggests separating the emotion of humiliation from shame when studying the use of power in organisations.

Genres of Rape and Putting Rape Into Genre: Sexual Violence and TV After #MeToo

This introduction to the “Rape, Genre, and TV after #MeToo” special issue articulates the importance of genre for understanding shifting affective and political norms related to sexual violence. Recent TV from the U.S. and the U.K. has worked to expand the public’s understanding of what counts in the genre of rape, bringing into view less discussed harms like nonconsensual condom removal. At the same time, public discussions of rape have put pressure on the conventions of genres, including the genres explored in this special issue: the procedural, stand-up comedy, the Western, and the situation comedy.