Public Debate Research Articles

Taking sides: Corporate social responsibility and political ideology

AbstractIn the United States and other countries, large private firms are increasingly more likely to take public political stances on controversial issues. Firms behave as ideological actors when they take sides in large public debates on social and economic issues. These stances may involve public speech, changes in the terms of service, or in internal reorganization and intrafirm actions. Despite the increase in firms' political actions, firms' ideological orientations remain unexamined. To answer this question, we collect corporate social responsibility statements from Fortune 1000 firms. Using semisupervised topic models, we identify topics that reflect stances on environmental and social issues. We then examine if firms are more likely to take stances on political issues due to pragmatic or ideological factors. We find that while pragmatic considerations play a role, firms' political stances are more driven by the ideological orientation of employees and managers. This research contributes a novel measure of firm ideology and sheds new light on the determinants of corporate political activity.

Public services provided after Earthquake 2023 in the Context of Central Government-Local Administration Relations: Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Case

Central government-local administration relations are one of the most problematic mechanisms of our administrative history in structural and functional terms. This study will examine the dynamics of central government and local administration relations from a public policy standpoint, emphasizing the importance of collaborative policymaking and cooperation between the two levels of government. AFAD (disaster and emergency management presidency) faced criticism during the February 2023 earthquake in Türkiye sparking a public debate on the relationship between central and local administrations. The study will focus on Mersin, one of the provinces most affected by the recent earthquakes, and the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality. The Metropolitan Municipality's response to the earthquake in Mersin and the public services provided during the aftermath will be analyzed. The role assumed by Mersin Metropolitan Municipality in the context of disaster management is studied to firstly reveal the potential of local administration in terms of disaster management and secondly to show its relations with the central government. In the study, the analysis of the aid provided to earthquake victims will be based on the data of AFAD and Mersin Metropolitan Municipality. The qualitative analysis of the obtained data will reveal the potential of the central government-local administration relationship with structural and functional mechanisms.

“It’s a Balancing Act”: Contradictory Ambitions of Journalistic Media in Addressing Harassment in Sport

Over the last five years, the Finnish sports media has played a key role in disseminating information and stimulating debate on gender equity, sexual harassment, and the structures and culture that perpetuate the latter in sport. Triggered by the Me Too movement, the handling of harassment cases has shifted from the private domain to the public debate in the media, making it political. In this article, I study the perception of the politicisation of harassment within sports media. The article utilises interviews with 16 Finnish sports journalists who have been reporting on harassment cases in national and regional media houses. In the thematic analysis, the facilitators and constraints of harassment reporting are examined in relation to the prevailing power structures, culture, and attitudes in the professional sports environment. While the interviews highlight the changing face of sports journalism and, within it, an ambition to move from entertainment and performance reporting to socio-politically critical journalism, the article also highlights the problematic contradictions embedded in the ambition within sports media to address harassment in sport. The findings of this research suggest that when studying the outcomes of news reporting, it is important to pay attention to news production processes and the gendered aspects that influence them.

The Role of the Public Sphere of Science in Fostering Public Trust in Science in Ukraine

Introduction. The war in Ukraine has created a challenging environment for scholarly research, as many researchers and institutions have found themselves in constrained conditions and resources. Furthermore, there has been a decline in public trust in institutions in Ukraine, including the scholarly community.Problem Statement. In Ukraine, public trust in science has been consistently low in recent years. This may have negative consequences for the development of science and technology in the country, as well as for public policy decisions that rely on scientifi c evidence. Therefore, there is a need to foster public trust in the science of Ukraine.Purpose. The purpose of this research is to identify the key tools and technologies of the public sphere of science, which can contribute to building trust in science among the Ukrainian public.Material and Methods. There have been used the methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, structural, functional, system analysis, and integration.Results. The importance of the role of the public sphere of science in shaping public trust in scholarly research in Ukraine has been established. The main tools and technologies in the public sphere of science that can be used to engage the public and to enhance trust in science in Ukraine have been analyzed. The role of social media platforms, scientifi c webinars, scientifi c platforms, and scientifi c festivals in this process and their potential for engaging the public in scientifi c knowledge and research have been discussed.Conclusions. The importance of involving the public in scientifi c decision-making processes and engagement through organizing public discussions and debates has been concluded. Another crucial step is ensuring open access to scientifi c information and promoting greater transparency. Collaboration among research organizations, the public, the government, and other stakeholders is also vital to the development of eff ective scientifi c policies. The use of innovation technologies and digital tools facilitates interaction between science and the public. Ensuring access to scientifi c knowledge and scientifi c education contributes to increasing trust in science.

Recounting Mussolini: the narrative of Fascism between memory and popular culture

ABSTRACT Since the 1980s, softened and positive portrayals of Fascism have become established in public debate in Italy. A key feature in this process of defascistization has been the reduction of Fascism to the cult of the Duce. This article examines how this narrative has emerged, focusing not on the politics of memory but instead on the role of the culture industry, public debate and the media. It examines three distinct but related phenomena: the ‘Mussolinization’ of Fascism in public narrative as promoted by television and other mass media; the transformation of the electoral system and political language, marked specifically by the shift from the centrality of the collective to that of authoritative and charismatic individuals; the prominent place of the figure of the hero in the popular culture.

Cosmopolitan underworld: opiate refinement in inter-war Istanbul

Abstract The Turkish government’s suppression of private heroin factories and its monopolization of opium exports brought the state into conflict with a large numbers of Istanbul residents who sought to profit from the lucrative trade in opiates. Sites of clandestine drug production spread across the urban and suburban landscape, inspiring public alarm and new policing measures. The article examines the human networks behind these production sites, investigating how they utilized the diversity of their members and contacts in the search for profit and the evasion of the state, and how this diversity was interpreted in press and public debate.

Journalists and scientists together: the public problem of science disinformation in Brazil

Journalists and scientists together: the public problem of science disinformation in Brazil

A medical language for climate discourse

A medical language for climate discourse

To Retire or Not to Retire? A Comprehensive Examination of Retirement Decision Dynamics in Italy

The concept of active aging has become central to the public debate in many Western countries, given the increasing aging of the population and the future challenges associated with it. This phenomenon is tightly intertwined with choices regarding the retirement period, which can be postponed for different reasons by individuals in a society. The purpose of this paper is to understand the personal and family characteristics that influence future choices about retirement date in Italy. Utilizing data provided by the Bank of Italy in the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW), a logistic regression is performed to observe the impact of different covariates on the hypothesized retirement date of individuals close to retirement, i.e., over the age of 50 who are still in working status. The results show that the decision to delay retirement has increased in recent years, and is influenced by personal (e.g., matrimonial status), work, and economic factors. In addition, these factors have different impacts between males and females.

Interpreting Different Narratives about Land Services and Land Use Economics of Common Agricultural Policy

Since 2023, a new format of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been implemented in Europe. Market forces alone cannot guarantee land services, which can be described as flows of goods and services from ecosystems to human systems as functions of nature. Market forces also cannot ensure food security everywhere and at all times, so deliberate measures should incentivize farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices and maintain necessary skills and resources. This study identifies, quantifies, and interprets four narratives that are typical in the approach to food security and the public debate about the land services in the CAP Strategic Plans: (A) provision of land services within the Pillar 1 economics; (B) small vs. large farms; (C) direct payments in comparison with rural development; and (D) choices by the old and new member states. Participatory processes, descriptive statistics, and partial component analysis were used in terms of the methodology. The key finding is that the importance attached to eco-schemes varies among member states, although a majority dedicate approximately 25% of the Pillar 1 budget to them. We showed that small-scale farming countries move resources from Pillar 2 to strengthen direct payments. In contrast, affluent countries with robust agricultural structures can afford to reinforce Pillar 2 rural development through transfers from direct payments. To support small-scale and medium farms, appropriate support requires a combination of several measures, including the sizable hectare payment in Pillar 1 and farmer-oriented agri-environmental measures.

Do wolves control their own numbers? Understanding and updating the long debate

The population dynamics of animals involve a complex interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic regulation, characterized as population self‐regulation, encompasses mechanisms that moderate growth rates before reaching maximum food‐dependent densities. Conversely, extrinsically regulated populations are constrained by environmental variables such as food availability, predation, and disease. What regulates wolf populations has been debated for decades, with most publications concluding that wolves are extrinsically regulated, despite evidence of intrinsic mechanisms. This paper summarizes one perspective from a debate at the 'Wolves Across Borders' conference in Stockholm, Sweden in May 2023. Since this paper is a summary of a public debate, the paper is neither a review nor research paper, rather a research history and a recommendation on how the long‐term disagreement might be resolved. Wolf population regulation is likely an interplay between both intrinsic and extrinsic factors which is best studied longitudinally by monitoring one population through time.

British Columbia’s Autism Funding Policies

British Columbia’s Autism Funding Policies

The impact of Nutri-Score on consumers’ preferences for Geographical Indications. Evidence from a non-hypothetical experiment

The EU Farm to Fork strategy (F2F) promotes the compulsory adoption of a nutritional front of pack label to improve the diets of the citizens, supporting healthier food choices. In the public debate, Nutri-Score (NS) is the most favored candidate. Although being widely supported, oppositions on the political and producer levels are raised against the NS, due to the economic impact it could have on specific food sector, and specifically on Geographical Indications (GIs). Recent literature has stressed the need to explore it in more detail. The current study contributes to fill this gap by analyzing consumers' monetary preferences for GI products labeled with different NS levels. An incentivized non-hypothetical experiment was conducted on 188 Italian consumers. Different products representing different levels of NS were used. Specifically, a conventional pasta and the Pasta di Gragnano PGI (NS =A), a conventional flatbread (piadina) and the Piadina Romagnola PGI (NS =C), and a conventional hard cheese and the Parmigiano Reggiano PDO (NS =D) were considered in the survey. Results reveal that the NS elicits favorable responses and unfavorable reactions in consumers' preferences, aligning with expectations for A and D scores, respectively. The perceived healthiness of the product significantly affects consumers’ WTP, increasing it. Results stress the need to have effective communication strategies within the EU to reach the F2F goals. NS diminishes the premium in prices associated with GIs independently from its level, when considering those consumers who value more the GIs. However, the most well-known GIs does not suffer from this negative effect of the NS, as the positive value associated to the GI offset the negative effect of the NS .

People's beliefs about pronouns reflect both the language they speak and their ideologies.

Pronouns often convey information about a person's social identity (e.g., gender). Consequently, pronouns have become a focal point in academic and public debates about whether pronouns should be changed to be more inclusive, such as for people whose identities do not fit current pronoun conventions (e.g., gender nonbinary individuals). Here, we make an empirical contribution to these debates by investigating which social identities lay speakers think that pronouns should encode (if any) and why. Across four studies, participants were asked to evaluate different types of real and hypothetical pronouns, including binary gender pronouns, race pronouns, and identity-neutral pronouns. We sampled speakers of two languages with different pronoun systems: English (N = 1,120) and Turkish (N = 260). English pronouns commonly denote binary gender (e.g., "he" for men), whereas Turkish pronouns are identity-neutral (e.g., "o" for anyone). Participants' reasoning about pronouns reflected both a familiarity preference (i.e., participants preferred the pronoun type used in their language) and-critically-participants' social ideologies. In both language contexts, participants' ideological beliefs that social groups are inherently distinct (essentialism) and should be hierarchal (social dominance orientation) predicted relatively greater endorsement of binary gender pronouns and race pronouns. A preregistered experimental study with an English-speaking sample showed that the relationship between ideology and pronoun endorsement is causal: Ideologies shape attitudes toward pronouns. Together, the present research contributes to linguistic and psychological theories concerning how people reason about language and informs policy-relevant questions about whether and how to implement language changes for social purposes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Analysis of the relationship between religion, abortion, and assisted reproductive technology: Insights into cross-national public opinion

With advancement in reproductive technologies, public opinion regarding these procedures varies considerably across the world. While prominent public debates have focused on abortion, we know less about the factors shaping feelings regarding Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). Both procedures challenge the idea that human life starts with conception – with the fertilization of an embryo. Using European Values Survey data and multilevel modeling, we compare how religion and other personal and country-level factors shape disapproval toward abortion and ART. Conservative Protestants and people who are more engaged with their religion and live in a more religious country are more likely to disapprove of abortion and ART. More supportive polices and attitudes regarding ART, but not abortion, are correlated. Additionally, economic development moderates the relationship between personal religiosity and abortion, but not ART. This finding provides important insight into why abortion has remained such a controversial issue, even in richer nations.

Government and Commercial Interests in Genomics: Improving Data Security and Regulation

The relationship between new technologies and security is well established in the fields of defence, law enforcement, communications and public health. This has been highlighted by recent public debate about the security implications of data held by companies operating in social media and information technology (such as TikTok and Huawei). While genomic technology had been less high profile in the context of security, this changed following the COVID-19 pandemic, which focused attention on the significant implications of this form of data. This article discusses commercial genomic technology, related government interests and the growing implications for data security and regulation, such as through the example of the Beijing Genomics Institute, a large company providing genomic testing services to consumers worldwide. We suggest that commercial genomic data has growing implications for countries such as the United States and Australia and argue for greater attention to be directed to this form of technology and associated data security and regulation, including security assessment to address the risks associated with international transfer via corporate entities.

Legitimizing video-sharing practices on local and global platforms: A multimodal analysis of menu design, folk genres and taxonomy

There have been extensive public and academic debates on the role platform algorithms play in shaping social media (sub)cultures. Little attention, however, has been paid to how platform (sub)cultures are discursively constructed by the design of the platform interface. This study examines Bilibili, a leading Chinese video platform, and investigates how it discursively frames video-sharing culture through platform menu design. We developed a three-level analytical framework that includes: 1) a multimodal social semiotic analysis of Bilibili’s menu design; 2) a contrastive analysis of YouTube’s video menu, and 3) a focused analysis of guichu or kichiku videos (as a linguistic phenomenon, a transcultural practice and a multimodal semiotic artefact). Our findings reveal that Bilibili discursively frames and legitimizes video-sharing practices by establishing a folk taxonomy of video genres and integrating subculture into its menu design. Furthermore, Bilibili controls access to cultural knowledge through explicit (gatekeeping) and implicit (semiotic) measures, in contrast to YouTube’s visual and superficial taxonomy. This study unveils different discursive strategies platforms use to shape unique online video cultures.

Witnessing a War of Others, 1958-2022: Memory Practices of Colombian Veterans and Descendants of the Korean War (1950-1954)

Objective/Context: Based on the categories of practices and social frameworks of memory, this article analyses the testimonies of ex-combatants and descendants of the Batallón Colombia, a contingent of the Colombian Army that participated in the Korean War (1950-1954). It reconstructs the contexts in which these narratives of the past were produced, the public they addressed and their transformations over time. The analysis covers the period between 1958, when the first veterans’ association was founded, and the collection of testimonies in 2021 and 2022. Methodology: To account for the above, we used qualitative techniques, such as memory workshops and interviews with ex-combatants and relatives identified through the associations of veterans and family members or descendants. Originality: The research is based on aspects that are not usually contemplated by historiography, such as testimonial analysis, which shows how ex-combatants and descendants describe their participation in the Korean War, the enunciation places of their stories, the changing historical contexts in which they move and the uses of these ways of naming the past. Conclusions: The analysis allows us to account for the historicity and transformation of how direct and indirect witnesses of this war—whose memories do not play an important role in the public debate—narrate the past and show the role of identity and social demand played by the testimonies in forming social organizations.

Analysis of the Ethical Lapses in Journalism When Using Chat Records for Reporting

In the current era, news stories that utilize private chat records from social media as source material have attracted a substantial audience. However, there has been public debate regarding whether this practice breaches individual privacy management primarily and crosses the boundaries of journalistic ethics. This paper investigates the phenomenon of using private chat records from social media as news material, and its impact on personal privacy management and the boundaries of journalistic ethics. Specifically, the study focuses on how this practice disrupts the privacy management of chat record subjects, particularly in terms of boundary linkage, boundary permeability, and boundary ownership, thereby leading to issues of journalistic ethical lapses. The aim of the research is to propose methods for regulating journalistic practices and promoting the establishment of a "right to be forgotten" for social media users, in order to standardize journalistic boundaries, achieve boundary coordination, and reshape journalistic ethics. The main methodology of this paper is case analysis, complemented by literature review. The article employs Communication Privacy Management Theory as its theoretical framework and analyzes relevant journalistic cases. This paper finds that by standardizing the way journalists use news materials and promoting the establishment of the "Right to be Forgotten" for social media users, it is possible to regulate their news boundaries, achieve boundary coordination, and reshape their journalistic ethics.

Mnemonic security and post-Soviet aphasia: Soviet monuments in Estonian media after Russian invasion of Ukraine

ABSTRACT The present paper analyses the public debates in Estonia related to the Soviet-era monuments in the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine from the perspective of the ‘mnemonic security’. The latter concept implies a policy that makes certain historical memories ‘secure by delegitimizing or outright criminalizing others’ (Mälksoo 2015:221). In this context, the analytical focus is on such research questions as how a common past is remembered in a democratic society, and which groups adopt contrarian collective memories, including one that potentially endangers the identity of the titular nation. What makes it possible is a strategy that Mälksoo attributes to the Ukrainian society that is seeking self-emancipation. If applied to Estonia, this self-emancipation refers primarily to the domestic issues, aiming to erase the references to the Soviet (Russia-style) meanings in the collective identity of Russian-speakers in Estonia and to re-invent the new ones, grounded in pre-Soviet times.