Political Self-identification Research Articles

«Δεν υπάρχει εναλλακτική λύση»: Η σημασία της μηντιακής πλαισίωσης και των κοινωνικοψυχολογικών διαδικασιών στην πρόβλεψη συλλογικής δράσης την εποχή της κρίσης

The study examines the variables that predict collective action in the context of the deep socioeconomic crisis that hit Europe and especially Greece during the last years. It focuses on the influence of the framing of the economic situation by the mass media on people’s perceptions and intention to resume political action. Social psychological theories ofcollective action and the theory of framing are employed as the theoretical context of the study. Three different frames used in public discourse and in the media to describe and explain the economic situation are presented to the participants and the degree to which these frames interact with social psychological processes topredict political behavior is investigated. The predictors of collective action that are examined are: psychological reactance (as a composite of negative thoughts and emotions) towards media frames, politicized identity, national identity, perceived injustice, collective efficacy, and political self-identification. Results confirm the importance of social psychological processes as well as of media framing on people’s perceptions and intention to resume collective action.

“Global warming” versus “climate change”: A replication on the association between political self-identification, question wording, and environmental beliefs

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to humanity and requires immediate action. Schuldt, Konrath, and Schwarz (2011) suggested that beliefs in environmental phenomena can be influenced by the terminology used to describe it: changing question wording from global warming to climate change resulted in a 6.3 percentage point increase in belief in environmental phenomena. This association was moderated by political self-identification, with Republicans being 16.2 percentage points more likely to believe in climate change than in global warming, with Democrats showing no difference. The potential for connotative meanings to shift over time and the sociopolitical changes since the original study, potential policy and environmental campaign implications, and an expansion of these findings to other countries, motivated an attempt to replicate this important finding. This pre-registered study repeated the original procedures in the United States of America and two other countries (United Kingdom and Australia; total N = 5,717). Although question wording no longer had a significant effect on beliefs in climate change/global warming, the association of political self-identification with beliefs in environmental phenomena replicated in all three countries, with Conservatives consistently believing less in climate change/global warming than Liberals. The potential impacts of temporal and methodological differences on the discrepancies between this study's and the original's findings are discussed.

Peoples and nations: cultural and political collective self-identification

ABSTRACT This article presents and defends a distinction between cultural and political sources of social identities. The term peoples will be used to refer to cultural collective entities; nations will be understood as groups whose primary source of self-identification is derived from their common democratic political aim. The distinction allows us to recognise cultural pluralism in modern democratic states without losing sight of the need for common democratic political self-awareness – a common national identity. It is able to avoid the problem of ‘nation-building’ through cultural assimilation of smaller groups, as well as to foster common political belonging without the pressure of cultural uniformity. In practical terms, moreover, separating between cultural and political social identities can provide a solid platform which will enable a democratic state to survive its own socio-cultural diversity and the perpetual movement of peoples throughout geographical space.

“Ethnic Revival” in Globalizing World: The Example of Indigenous Political Movements in Latin America

The article offers an inquiry into the problem of “ethnic revival” in politics against the background of the accelerated globalization processes through the example of the indigenous movements in Latin America. In particular, it explains how such global trends as the democratization and liberalization of social and political spheres, intensified activities of international institutions on the empowerment of disadvantaged social groups, the inclusion of ecological problems in national and international agendas, growing interest of international society to the social and political problems of developing countries have contributed to the intensification of political activities of the indigenous peoples in Latin America in the last 25 years.The indigenous political activism has taken radically different institutional forms and has led to diverse outcomes. For instance, in Mexico the indigenous peoples did not manage to create a viable sociopolitical force capable of advocating for their rights. In some other Latin America states, there are indigenous organizations that successfully promote the interests of native peoples. Moreover, in various countries the indigenous representatives are elected to national and local governments. In Colombia, Ecuador and Nicaragua the indigenous political parties were found, which, as long as other political forces, are participating in electoral processes and are delegating their representatives to public institutions. Whereas in case of Bolivia, the indigenous movement in alliance with left and progressive social organizations, has become the leading political force.The author gives an explanation why the political activism of the indigenous peoples in different Latin American countries has taken such forms and has contributed to such results. On the basis of the analysis of these political activities the conclusion is made about common features of political culture, self-identification and perception of social and political processes by the indigenous peoples of Latin America.

Проблемы гуманитарного образования в информационном обществе риска

The article deals with the problems of modern liberal education in the developing information society. Attention is focused on issues of political self-identification of students, the formation of legal consciousness and the causation of risky situations due to the dominance of technological processes in social self-determination.

Social identity and the use of ideological categorization in political evaluation

In this research, we address a longstanding question concerning how individuals evaluate social and political issues. We focus on the role that political self-identification plays when individuals evaluate policy statements. In a laboratory setting, participants completed a task facilitation procedure, in which they made paired sets of judgments about a series of policy statements. Relative to a control task, ideological categorization of policy statements as liberal or conservative influenced the ease of evaluation. On experimental trials that began with ideological categorization, policy evaluations that were consistent with the participant’s own ideology were made more quickly than responses that were ideologically inconsistent and more quickly than responses following a control judgment. In three experiments, we show that this effect is stronger for individuals with more accessible ideological identification (Experiment 1) and more extreme ideological identification (Experiment 2), and that it holds when examining partisan instead of ideological identification (Experiment 3). The findings suggest that the use of ideological category information can facilitate and interfere with evaluative judgments of political issues, and that the use of such categories varies as a function of individual differences in the strength of political identification.

The problem of the politicization of ethnic communities in the Flemish region of Belgium

This article seeks to trace the reasons for the emergence of separatist sentiments in the European Union states, particularly in Belgium. The article gives its brief assessment of the current state of the issue mentioned and undertakes an analysis of the situation pertaining the Flemish region. Significant attention is being given to the consideration of the economic reasons for the existing disparities and positions of the major nationalistic parties of the region of Flanders. Ethnic and cultural factors continue to play a significant role in the political life of modern European states and often become a major point of contention. The author notes that ethno-political conflicts are quite common, but almost insoluble problems. The origins of such conflicts are usually grounded firmly in the history of resettlement and development of a particular nation or an ethnic group. Besides, they reflect the processes of the restructuring of the global political space and are typically accompanied by political and national self-identification crises. It is equally important to understand the importance of certain historic periods to a nation, inhabiting the specific territory of a state.In the case of Belgium, the period of its formation, and the developments, contributing to the country’s independence in the 19th century, are directly related to the Flemish people’s national memory — a key factor needed to determine the specifics of the existing differences between the two regions. Over the centuries, one ethnic group has been suppressed by the neighboring one. It couldn’t not fully fulfil its cultural and economic potential.The change of the status of the Flemings in Belgium in the 20th century, the equalization of both nations in their rights have failed to resolve all the contradictions existing for centuries. The traditional Flemish desire to promote and protect the region’s interests has generated separatist sentiments, which still make up a significant part of the country’s domestic political agenda. However, owing to the fragmentation of the nationalist groups and the lack of coherent policy among them, it is currently impossible to make a statement on the region’s secession.

МОТИВ ПОИСКА В РОМАНЕ ОРХАНА ПАМУКА «ЧЕРНАЯ КНИГА»

The article reveals the problem of East - West interrelation, which is an element of an important trend in literary criticism - studying national, cultural, political self-identification of a personality and the whole nation. The research is based on the novel “The Black Book” by Orhan Pamuk. The contemporary literary work is compared with family chronicles and detective novels. Special attention is paid to analyzing the basic story lines, post-modernistic artistic devices in the context of the integrity of the Turkish writer’s creative work.

If they can’t change, why support change? Implicit theories about groups, social dominance orientation and political identity

In three studies across three cultures (U.S., Sweden, and Israel), we examine whether implicit theories about groups are associated with political identity and whether this relationship is mediated by Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Study 1 found that raising the salience of entity beliefs leads to increased right-wing political self-identification on social issues, although no such effect was found regarding general or economic political identity. In Study 2, we found that the more participants endorsed entity beliefs about groups (vs. incremental beliefs about groups), the more they identified as political rightists (vs. leftists) in the U.S., Sweden, and Israel. SDO mediated this relationship in the U.S. and Swedish samples, but not in the Israeli sample – a political setting in which political identity is largely determined by attitudes regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Study 3 showed that SDO mediated the relationship between implicit theories about groups and Israelis’ political identity regarding social/economic issues, but did not have such a mediating role with respect to political identity regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Політичний акціонізм: поняття, форми, досвід використання у політичному процесі.

In the article political actionism is defined as a system of artistically pronounced forms of political protest, public debate and discussed, which demonstrate theatricality, game components, staginess, dynamics etc. It is underlined that political actionism is a combination of spectacular forms of political participation of protest and provocative nature (sometimes also antisocial) intended to challenge the existing political system.The author emphasizes that political activism combines a number of non-violent protest technologies at the intersection of political activism and artistry, aimed mostly and media attention and receiving further public resonance. Political activism is presented as artistic, spectacular and game form of delivering a political message. The author proposed a system of political activism features: non-institutional character; general impartiality in delivering some political message, but attention is paid to the fact that political activism may represent a certain ideology, political force; the idea of action is promoted in order to draw attention to the problem, but the primary interaction is carried out with the spectators rather than with the authorities. The spectators may take part in the action while it is being carried out or respond to it later (through messages in social networks, sharing pictures or videos etc.).The article argues that the system of political actionism consists of political performance, happening, art installations, street art, flash mobs, body art etc. The following functions of political actionism have been defined: information and communication (communicating a certain political idea, generation of new political meanings, rapid spread of new information); political socialization (the political outlook of people and their understanding of politics is shaped under the influence of different actions; actionists play the role of political socialization agents); political mobilization (uniting people in order to promote a political idea, enhancing participation in potential actions).Political performance is viewed as a type of actionist practices, which is a visual and procedural composition (game, performance) on political issues with symbolic attributes that is presented to random or invited audience. Political happening is defined as an actionist, improvisational form of political activity involving casual participant with conventional and dynamically changing scenario of the action. Political installation is viewed as a spatial art composition, the combined elements of which are endowed with symbolism, transmitting and manifesting some political ideas. The article considers political flash mob as spectacular and playful kind of the political actionism technology that consists of single or wavy performance of short theatrical mass actions according to a pre-agreed scenario; it is a spectacular network interaction, which is carried out on the basis of horizontal social communication. Political street art is viewed as politically oriented street art, which visualizes the socio-political process, usually within urbanized space. The article presents scientific approaches to interpretation of political body art as a type of actionism, which uses the body language through drawing pictures on it in order to visualize the political self-identification. Political body art is defined as a method of non-verbal communication, person drawing attention to himself or herself (emphasizing the individuality), and a way of increasing the political “recognizability” of a person.

Ideological Inconsistencies on the Left and Right as a Product of Coherence of Preferences for Values. The Case of Poland

Abstract The terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ cannot describe two extremes of a single ideological dimension. Instead, a bi-dimensional model including socio-cultural and socio-economic facets of leftism/rightism is postulated. Several studies conducted in the USA and Western Europe show a relative coherence of left-wing and right-wing orientation regarding both dimensions, whereas very diverse patterns can be found in the countries of Eastern Europe. In Poland cultural and economic leftism-rightism seem to be clearly negatively related. The general hypothesis in this paper claims that such ideological inconsistency is a product of coherence at the level of preferences for values, i.e. covariance within individualistic (Openness to change and Self-enhancement) as well as within collectivist values (Conservation and Self-transcendence). Based on a survey study (N = 750) conducted on a representative sample of Poles, it was shown that preferences for values made up two distinct dimensions: Openness to change vs Conservation, and Self-enhancement vs Self-transcendence. They are positively related but have fundamentally different relationships with political self-identification and ideology.

How are Chinese Students Ideologically Divided? A Survey of Chinese College Students' Political Self-Identification

Students have always played an important role in defining the politics of China, and their ideological orientation shapes the nature of student politics. Through a survey of students from six elite universities, this study explores the outlook of Chinese youth's political identities and analyzes the factors conditioning their identity formation. The results reveal three trends. First, the majority of these college students either claim themselves to be apolitical or to be liberals. Second, among various channels of political (re)socialization, family plays a weak role, while mass media has a strong influence on students' political orientation. Peking University, the base for nurturing liberals in the 1990s, has now yielded this role to universities specializing in economics and finance, thus suggesting the impact of economic liberalism since the 1990s. Third, gender, education level, academic major, family income and Communist Party membership are all good indicators of students' political identities. These results are interpreted in the context of student movements and intellectual transition in China over the past four decades.

Человеческое Тело и Национальная Мифология: Некоторые Мотивы Украинского Национального Возрождения XIX Века

SUMMARY: The semiotics of the body in the Ukrainian National Revival is the main focus of the article by Serhy Yekelchyk. If there was a space for the cultural and political self-identification of the Ukrainian patriot in the Russian empire during the last third of the nineteenth century, it was his or her body. During this time even the politically harmless, strictly cultural activity of organizations by the Ukrainian intelligentsia, the so-called hromady , could only be carried on illegally. Thus the space of national and opposition manifestations was restricted to the patriot’s own house, his or her clothing, foodstuffs, drinks, hairstyle, moustache and body in general. The author argues that traditions invented by Ukrainophiles of the period between 1860 and 1900 represent the symbolic cohesion of two paradigms in Ukrainian national myth – the Cossack (incorporating the argument of historical legitimacy) and the peasant (which was closer to modern democratic populism). These traditions used only selective motives from original folk customs, historical events, etc. The article analyzes these motives as the body language of Ukraniphiles, i.e., the connotative (as suppose to denotative) meanings of the anti-colonial body placed in a “colonial” culture.

Politicians in Television

ABSTRACT Television viewers, journalists and social influence analysts often use the term “television character” or “media-savvy person” when referring to people (also to politicians) who draw the viewers' attention and interest (Reeves, Naas, 2000). The purpose of the research presented herein is to answer two questions: (1) what are the differences in social perception of five main personality dimensions (“the Big Five”: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience [intellect]) of media-savvy politicians and those considered to belong to the non-media-savvy type; and (2) how traits attributed to media-savvy and media-un-savvy politicians remain connected with the viewers' political self-identification. A hundred journalism students, using an adjective list for “the Big Five” diagnosis (five dimensions of personality), were to identify their political beliefs as right wing, mixed, or left wing and to describe a politician they considered to be the most media-savvy and the least media-savvy person. Results indicate that media-avvy politicians are perceived to be more extrovert (dynamic), more open to experience, and more conscientious than their media-un-savvy counterparts; participants' (viewers') political beliefs reflect the importance of openness and conciliation in perception of media-savvy and non-media-savvy politicians.

Neither Foreigners Nor Aliens: The Interwoven Stories of Sinti and Roma and Black Germans

The article undertakes a comparative investigation of the diverging histories of two communities of people of color that have been located in Germany for many generations: the Sinti and Roma and the Black Germans. My argument is made against a background of a racialist concept of nation that still exists today and that arose during the German colonial period that continues to be repressed even today—a concept that construes the categories of Germanness and whiteness to be identical. The focuses of my investigation are on both a historical locating of the rejection ( Ausgrenzung ) and persecution narratives of both communities as well as a history of resistance that is connected to these narratives and that involves the political and cultural self-identification that in recent decades has led to a significant change of perspective.

Multiculturalism in American Public Opinion

Multiculturalism has emerged to challenge liberalism as an ideological solution in coping with ethnic diversity in the United States. This article develops a definition of political multiculturalism which refers to conceptions of identity, community and public policy. It then analyses the 1994 General Social Survey and a 1994 survey of Los Angeles County to assess the contours of mass support and opposition to multiculturalism, testing hypotheses concerning the role of social background, liberalism–conservatism and racial hostility. The main conclusions are that ‘hard’ versions of multiculturalism are rejected in all ethnic groups, that a liberal political self-identification boosts support for multiculturalism, and that racial hostility is a consistent source of antagonism to the new ethnic agenda of multiculturalism. There is strong similarity in the results in both the national and Los Angeles samples.

O slovenské „menšině" v Československém státě (1918-1938)

The paper deals with the question of relations between Czechs and Slovaks in the first, inter-war, Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938). It is based on contemporary press, published in Bohemia and Slovakia. The basic question was a gradual political self-identification of Slovaks. It is presented by means of the attitudes of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party in 1923 (regional elections), the struggle for the rules of Slovak grammar (1933-rejection of their adaptation to the rules of Czech grammar), the Zvolen pact between the catholic Slovak People's Party anct the protestant Slovak National Party, the celebrations of the first Christian church in Slovakia (1933) and the declaration of Slovakia's autonomy (1938). To conclude: in 1918-1938, during the existence of the first Czechoslovak Republic, there was no Slovak minority. The first Czechoslovakia was de facto a multiethnic country, though officially it was designed as a country of Czechs and Slovaks, who had the will to create a single, Czechoslovak nation. The notion "minority" in the name of the paper is meant ironically and is to point to the approach often applied by Czechs for Slovaks.

The Alliance of Poland with Western Europe

This article presents the results of an empirical study pertaining to popular support for European integration by the Polish population. On the basis of a survey conducted in 1995 on a national sample of men and women, two extreme groups were distinguished: Euro-enthusiasts and Euro-skeptics. Both groups were reinterviewed in 1997. Analysis of the panel data focuses on how many people change their opinions and beliefs pertaining to European integration, whatfactors influence such a change, and how this change is related to other opinions and beliefs. The results show that the transition from the category of Euro-skeptics to the category of Euro-enthusiasts is more frequent than that in the opposite direction. The temporal stability of Euro-enthusiasm is statistically determined by exposure to the West, a belief that present Poland is a better country in which to live than Poland in the past, and right-wing political self-identification. This transition is significantly correlated with political orientations supportive of political strategies for the integration of Poland with the European Union.

American Jewish Liberalism: Unraveling the Strands

Researchers have advanced several explanations for the liberalism of American Jews. Two of them - universalized compassion and argumentative individualism - posit the impact of values attributed to the Jewish tradition. Other theories focus on historical circumstance, minority group interests and religious modernism. To examine these five theories, the authors analyze 20 National Opinion Research Center General Social Surveys from 1972 to 1994 (N = 32,380) amalgamated so as to obtain a sufficient number of Jewish respondents (N = 784). They find that Jews are indeed substantially more liberal than non-Jews in almost all issue areas. However, after sociodemographic and other controls are introduced, substantial gaps between Jews and others remain in just four areas : political self-identification (as Democrats and liberals), church-State separation (school prayer), social codes (largely issues relating to sex), and domestic spending. In contrast, Jews are not particularly liberal with respect to civil liberties, government intervention for the poor and ill, sympathy with African-Americans, or opposition to capital punishment. In addition, contrary to the expectations of the argumentative individualism explanation, Jews with intermediate levels of attendance at religious services are not particularly liberal. None of the results supports the two explanations based on traditional Judaic values. The three other explanations help explain Jewish liberalism in those discrete issue areas where Jews are indeed particularly liberal

Lustration and Truth Claims: Unfinished Revolutions in Central Europe

This article focuses on discourses conducted in Central/East European countries, and Poland in particular, with respect to the issue of participation of former secret agents in the new power structures. It exposes the reader to the range, style, content, and variety of lustration discourses. It explores their relevance for the ongoing power struggle, paying special attention to their focus on and contribution to the processes of construction and control of truths about the past. Given that the procedural and legal-institutional issues occupy a marginal place in the debate, it is inferred that the main sources of discord are more ideological and political than legal. The two main strains within the global lustration discourse are identified as: (1) dystopian discourses that paint a frightful picture of a lustrated society and imply that the upheaval of lustration would ruin the chance for democratic evolution, and (2) affirmative discourses that assert the need for lustration and portray the refusal to implement it as a barrier to successful transition to democracy. The article elaborates on assumptions and beliefs, which tend to link the dystopian opposition to lustration with the left-wing political affiliation or self-identification and the affirmative discourse with the right-wing orientation.