Welfare service privatization and opinions about service quality: The role of political ideology among local politicians and the public

In this article, we join the discussion about the potential consequences of welfare service privatization by examining the relationship between the privatization of welfare service delivery and public opinion about service quality in Sweden. Due to the politically polarized debate about welfare service privatization in Sweden, we also examine the extent to which individualsapos; ideological orientations influence this relationship in both local politicians and ordinary citizens. For local politicians, the results show that a higher municipal degree of privatization is generally associated with slightly lower levels of satisfaction overall with welfare services, although no such relationship exists for the public. Most importantly, however, the results indicate that political ideology constitutes an important moderator in the relationship between privatization and opinions about service quality. Local politicians and, to some extent, ordinary citizens who place themselves to the left on the ideological left–right scale tend to be less satisfied with services as the municipal degree of welfare service privatization increases. For local politicians who position themselves far to the right on the scale, the relationship between welfare service privatization and satisfaction is positive. These findings suggest that there is no clear-cut relationship between privatization and individualsapos; opinions about services; rather, this relationship depends on the ideological predispositions of local politicians and ordinary citizens.     

Diasporic kinship hegemonies and transnational continuities in the Hmong diaspora

ABSTRACT

Although hegemony has been understood as the property of nation-states and the ruling classes, this paper explores cultural hegemonies among diasporic peoples by examining the pervasive compliance of Hmong living in Laos and the United States with the principles of their kinship system. Since these kinship rules are inculcated through parental education from an early age and are seen as essential for maintaining the cohesion of their dispersed diasporic community in the absence of a territorial ancestral homeland, they have become culturally engrained and taken-for-granted by Hmong through their voluntary consent and no longer have to be enforced by overt power and coercive means. However, like all hegemonies, the Hmong kinship system may also confront increasing challenges and contestation as it is enacted in the different nation-states where Hmong reside, and may eventually become an ideology that needs to be actively enforced and imposed by the direct use of power.     

For better,for worse? Public support for the capitalist model of the economy

A capitalist market economy is based on several institutional elements, such as private ownership and competition. Does public support for this economic model rise if the economy prospers, and fall during a downturn? Or is public support largely independent of the ups and downs of economic cycles? We hypothesize that positive economic performance increases support and that persons profiting personally are more supportive of the economic system's constitutive institutional elements. Using multilevel regression we study the determinants of individual-level support for the economic system. We also test for differences in the perception of economic performance due to political attitudes and personal properties. The findings partly support the hypotheses, indicating that macro-economic factors matter for individual-level attitudes towards the economy. Attitudes towards different institutional elements of the economic system also differ in the degree to which they are political or economic, and influenced by economic performance. Individual features – education and personal economic stakes – affect attitudes towards the economy, but a substantial share of the individual-level variation in economic attitudes remains unexplained.     

The Normativity of the Concept of Heteronormativity

The aim of the article is to analyze and to critically examine use of the concept of heteronormativity. We find it important to adjust the concept to some extent in order to analyze, for example, changes occurring in homosexual families, contemporary gender-equal families, or the progressive youth culture. We find two approaches when using the concept. One minimizes the importance of how sexual practices are embedded in social institutions. The first approach becomes too idealistic, whereas the second approach often is based on a structural view of society. This approach makes it hard to imagine a transformation of the family that could lead to more equal and democratic relations in contemporary families. We suggest a third approach, and the possibility of finding creative ways of analyzing actual change and contestations of heteronormativity. An approach containing a space of reflexivity and aiming at political change both involving subjects as well as structures.     

论“国际社会”的意识形态性——兼论我国国际话语权的提升

作为国际政治领域的重要概念，“国际社会”具有两面性。从表面上看，“国际社会”是国际行为体之间开展合作的场域，应建构和维护国际秩序的公平正义，因而在国际交往中不应以意识形态为标准和以意识形态划线；从本质上看，“国际社会”是国际行为体开展国家利益和意识形态博弈的重要场域，具有强烈的意识形态性。“国际社会”意识形态性的关键是国际话语权，其实质是国家(或国际社会成员)的国际利益。从意识形态的角度考察“国际社会”，有利于看清“国际社会”的本质，这对于深入理解国际热点问题和国际舆论的实质，特别是对于我国国际话语权的建设与提升，具有重要意义。     

Violence in the name of god? A framing processes approach to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

Since summer 2014, the insurgent group ‘Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’ (ISIS) has become a major concern for international politics and global security due to its rapid territorial gains, violent operations and the propagation of Salafi-jihadist ideology. This study aims to enhance the academic understanding of ISIS by demystifying the ideological reasoning behind its use of violence. It therefore investigates the link between structural factors that served ISIS’s evolution, its ideological outlook and the significance of this ideology to legitimize violent action. As its theoretical basis, the study employs framing processes within the study of social movements. Methodologically, discursive frame analysis serves to explore the relation of ISIS’s ideology to structural events and experiences to better understand how the group justifies violence. Therefore, the study draws on audio speeches and issues of the magazines Dabiq and Dar al-Islam published by ISIS, which are examined on the rhetoric of othering, collective identity and justifying violence. It is argued that ISIS constructs a collective action frame which creates a social reality that bestows the group with a rationale for action. ISIS’s ideology, based on Islamic symbolism, presents an interpretative lens which assigns meaning to the structural environment of ISIS’s emergence. In this context, violence is justified as a necessity to defend Islam and as an obligation for the true Muslim believer. The discussion concludes that ISIS’s ideology legitimizes the very existence of the group and conceals its mundane struggle for power, territory and wealth through reference to divine authority.     

中国共产党党内集中教育经验研究

纵观百年发展历程,在革命、建设与改革开放的关键时期,中国共产党始终高度重视以党内集中教育方式加强党的思想建设,推进管党治党,提高党的建设科学化水平,积累了宝贵的经验。有效开展党内集中教育,必须始终坚持以理论武装为首要目标和任务,始终围绕正确的政治路线和政治方向,聚焦党内突出问题,坚持以人民为中心的价值导向,坚持“关键少数”教育与“绝大多数”教育相结合,构建党内集中教育长效机制,不断巩固党内集中教育实践成效。     

新时代社会主义意识形态的功能提升研究

意识形态功能是意识形态基础研究的核心问题,从意识形态功能提升视角切入是推进我国社会主义意识形态建设的新视阈。在意识形态功能的研究中,抛开时代背景和具体实践谈功能,极易出现意识形态功能研究的“虚化”,形成对意识形态功能的空洞认识。在新时代的历史方位下,结合习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想论证社会主义意识形态在政治、经济、文化、社会和外交领域的相关功能,以期在市场化、“微时代”、全球化的大环境下通过引领社会主义市场经济改革方向、净化网络空间以及争夺国际话语权等途径,真正实现社会主义意识形态功能的全面提升。     

网络生态场域中高校意识形态工作的引领路径

在移动互联发展与“网生一代”成长同构背景下,如何契合网络生态场域下认同机理、传播方式,正是新时代高校意识形态的新挑战。要契合网络生态场域的知识性要素、价值要素、实践要素和操作要素,需要话语体系的重构、传播阵地的整合、人才队伍立体化和管理体制的效能提升,这样才能发挥对大学生意识形态的引领和聚合作用。