How national identification matters: the development of European identification among established ethnic minority groups

Based upon the data from qualitative studies of eight national minorities between the Baltic and the Danube, this article investigates the formation of European identification among members of the minority groups representing ‘split nations’ along the new eastern borders of the enlarged EU. The analysis reveals mechanisms of the formation of supranational identification by focusing on the relationships between subnational, national and European identifications to ascertain the degree of interconnectedness of these identification levels. These relationships are examined in the context of the potential impact of perceived ethnic conflict and utilitarian expectations of socio-economic and cultural gains from the process of European integration.     

Civic,ethnic, hybrid and atomised identities in Central and Eastern Europe

While the topic of identity of ethnic minorities abounds in theoretical insights, most discussion is still clustered around the civic–ethnic divide while assuming conclusions with limited empirical evidence. By contrast, this article uses a four-category typology of identity that considers both in-group and out-group attachments to address hypotheses about competing identities and about factors influencing minorities to adopt one identity type over others. Based on unique data evidence of 12 ethnic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe, this study concludes that the ‘hybrid’ identity, rather than the literature-assumed ‘ethnic’ identity, tops the identification preference of minorities, although there are differences in levels and patterns when controlling for various covariates. The choice of identity depends on the socialisation process, the economic status, the perceived discrimination and intergroup tensions, reflecting variations in the system of values common to a region with complex ethnic dynamics.     

The retreat of multiculturalism in the liberal state: theory and policy

This article discusses a recent retreat of multiculturalism in the liberal state. This retreat has occurred both at the level of theory and policy. With the help of some recent liberal critiques of multiculturalism, the first part maps out some shortcomings of the notion of minority integration through cultural recognition, particularly with respect to immigrants. The second part discusses a retreat from multiculturalism policies in three states that had been prominently committed to them: Australia, the Netherlands, and Britain. This practical retreat of multiculturalism is due to a variety of factors, their importance differing across cases: the chronic lack of public support for multiculturalism policies; inherent deficits and failures of multiculturalism policies, especially in socio-economic respect; and a new assertiveness of the liberal state to impose liberal principles.     

Chinese Language Media in the United States: Immigration and Assimilation in American Life

Qualitative Sociology - The upsurge of Chinese language media—publications, radio, television, and the Internet—mirrors the linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity of the...     

Constructing border ethnic identities along the frontier of Central and Eastern Europe

The analysis is based on an empirical sociological study (interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: nations between states along the new eastern borders of the European Union Project) aimed at exploring the various aspects of people’s diaspora affiliations and their ethnic and national identity on the Eastern borderland of Europe. We surveyed ethnic minority groups in eight countries along the frontier of Central Eastern Europe. With the ethnic minorities having a similar ethnic status along the border, we demonstrated how ethnic minorities ‘deal’ with their minority status in their ‘host’ country. The analysis reconstructs the image of the ethnic minority at the societal level. We model personal and collective ethnic identities as a stock of knowledge based on cognitive and affective components, and test them along the different ethnic dyads. The paper shows how successive generations are able to transfer the pattern of ethnic identity within the family, and also how language use practices and personal networks play a role in preserving personal ethnic identity.     

Muslim Marriages: Intergenerational Differences in the Notions of Marriage among the Bulgarian Pomaks

Abstract

Based on ethnographic data, this study investigates the changes in the notions of marriage within three generations in a Muslim Pomak community in Bulgaria. The main goal of the study is to revisit the concepts of the detraditionalization and retraditionalization of marriage, taking into account the communist past and the repressions against Muslims in Bulgaria known as the “Rebirth process” or the “Revival process”. After 1989 the notions of marriage have been reconsidered by the youngest cohort under the influence of globalizing processes and the interactions with the Christian Bulgarians in bigger cities. The analyses pay particular attention to the intergenerational conflict over the role of the woman in the marriage, the emerging individualism among the women from the youngest generation, and their fears from re-traditionalization of their future marriages.     

Formation of European identity: ethnic minority groups in Central and Eastern Europe in generational perspective

Research into European identity has mostly focused on majority populations in Western European countries, neglecting new member states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as well as ethnic minority groups. This paper contributes to filling this gap by exploring and investigating processes of European identity formation of five ethnic minority groups in four CEE countries. A generational perspective was applied by conducting qualitative in-depth interviews with three generations of ethnic minority group members. The results support the instrumental approach of identity construction. In all minority groups researched, the young generation, due to more positive personal experiences and perceived benefits from the European Union, have developed more positive images and perceptions of Europe and a greater sense of European identity than older generations. Furthermore, ethnic group-specific processes of identity formation were found.     

Smoking cessation with ethnic minorities: Themes and approaches

Research investigating ethnic group differences in smoking prevalences, and smoking attitudes and behavior, is reviewed. Factors relating to the development of culturally sensitive smoking cessation interventions are discussed and several examples are provided of recent efforts to target smoking cessation initiatives toward minority communities. The problem of recruitment and retention of minority participants in health behavior research remains a vexing issue, which may best be addressed by incorporating smoking cessation interventions within regular health care, workplace, or school settings.     

Understanding ethnic visibility through language use: the case of Taiwan Hakka

This study investigates how the ethnic visibility of Taiwan Hakka is improved through language use. The usage of a unique Hakka symbolic code <nganggiang stiff neck> is focused on. Based on data from the four Taiwan major newspapers, an analysis with text techniques shows that the code emerges along with social-political developments in Taiwan, with its meaning turning from negative to positive connotation. Its frequency is highly correlated with major political events in Taiwan, with peaks during the two or three years before presidential elections. It illustrates semiotic innovation, extending from Hakka to Hakka non-human, to non-Hakka, and to non-Hakka non-human frames. The salient image it creates increases Hakka ethnic visibility and enhances their ethnic identity. A significant implication is that minority ethnic groups can employ a unique symbolic code, empowering it with positive connotation. Through extensive language use, its representation can raise their ethnic visibility and enhance their ethnic identity.     

The dog that hasn't barked: assimilation and resistance in Inner Mongolia,China

As one of China's five autonomous regions, Inner Mongolia has not been highlighted in the international news, and the Mongols have not demonstrated significant political will for greater autonomy in the way the Tibetans and the Uighurs have in recent decades. Why haven't the Mongols mobilized? This paper argues that the Mongols' lack of aspiration for greater autonomy is in part due to the relationship between Inner Mongolia and Mongolia as an independent kin state. The different trajectories of national identity construction in these two places and the perception of better living conditions in Inner Mongolia have made the Inner Mongols less anxious about their current incorporation within the Chinese state.     

Media,migrants and human rights in the cultural history. Dialogue with Lynn Hunt

Lynn Hunt is an American historian and writer; she is Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California in Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.), and before coming to U.C.L.A., she taught at the University of Pennsylvania (1987–1998) and at the University of California, Berkeley (1974–1987). She is known for her studies in European Cultural History, and in 2007 she published the book Inventing Human Rights, where she examines the rise of the human rights in the eighteenth century.

We are specifically interested in her work because it gives us the chance to create a dialogue and disclose the moment we are living in comparing it with the cultural history and the role the media can have during a humanitarian crisis.

Therefore, we ask Lynn Hunt to explain how the exodus of migrants can be interpreted in light of the meta-narrative model, and to make clear what is and what will be the role of the cultural historians in offering us an interpretation of this historical moment. According to what the writer says in Writing History in the Global Era (2014), Hunt also deals with the importance of the relationship between means of communication, development of empathy and the emergence of human rights. For this reason, we asked the researcher, What is the role of the media today in mapping a humanitarian crisis?     

Social policy and social work in the voluntary sector: the case of Ukraine

Over a decade has passed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This major political change has had profound effects on how social welfare is delivered in countries in transition from communism. Using material derived from the author's involvement in social work education projects in Ukraine, this article examines the changing relationship between statutory social welfare provider agencies and the burgeoning voluntary sector. A confusing and rapidly changing picture has emerged. Some prominent themes likely to shape future directions are identified, particularly the imperative to ensure that social work education continues to be sensitive to local political and cultural contexts, rather than relying on importing Western solutions.     

Between Two Worlds: Slovak Language and American Identity in Out of This Furnace

Abstract

Thomas Bell’s 1941 novel Out of This Furnace, a fictionalized account of his family’s immigration from eastern Slovakia to industrial Pittsburgh, is a significant example of the use of ‘mixed languages’ in ethnic American literature. It was translated from English into Slovak in 1949 as Dva svety (Two Worlds). The novel has bridged the gap between Slovak and American culture in the three ways explored here: Bell’s use of Slovak dialect, the Slovak translation, and two dramatic adaptations from the 1970s (an American play and a Slovak televised film). This case illuminates the complex relationship between ethnic American writers and their lands of origin, particularly in the case of less commonly spoken languages.     

The curious case of case study: a viewpoint

Abstract

This paper focuses on microethical issues concerning interactions in which the process of informed consent occurs. It draws on research analysing the biographies and future hopes of 15- to 17-year-old girls and boys participating in targeted youth/educational programmes in the Helsinki area. The ethical challenge explored here is how to negotiate with the young interviewees on expanding the research setting towards a longitudinal and cross-generational approach, which also means expanding the data produced on their already well-reported lives. The paper highlights the power relations between adult researcher and young research participant, the contextual nature of gaining informed consent, and the conflict involved in trying to avoid hounding an over-surveilled group while still tracking their whereabouts and revisiting them for a follow-up interview.     

Watching Dutch Change: A Real Time Study of Variation and Change in Standard Dutch Pronunciation

The study investigates phonological variation and change in two varieties of standard Dutch: southern standard Dutch (spoken in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium) and northern standard Dutch (spoken in the Netherlands). A new source for studying language change in progress is introduced: archived recordings of radio broadcasts. The study covers the period from 1935 to 1993. Changes in progress are studied by a combination of insight and techniques from historical linguistics and sociolinguistics. The outcomes of analyzing separate linguistic variables are presented, but the focus of the analysis is on the presence of more general patterns of covariation within the set of linguistic variables and on the possibility of distinguishing (prototypical) temporal and community-based varieties of standard Dutch. The results reveal a pattern of divergence between the two varieties of standard Dutch. The southern variety remained more or less stable between 1935 and 1993. Northern standard Dutch, however, changed substantially.     

Media use and postmaterialist values in China and the US: a comparative study

This study uses data from the 2005 wave of World Values Survey (WVS 2005), to explore and compare the relations between media use and postmaterialist value orientations in China and the US. The data analysis showed that the younger generations in China have stronger postmaterialist value orientations than the older generations. American society has stronger postmaterialist value orientations than Chinese society as a whole, but fewer obvious generational differences. The study also found that media use has a greater effect on values in China than in the US.     

Media preferences of digital natives’ internal communication: A pilot study

Contemporary generations of employees are living in a completely different environment than previous generations, shaped by easier information gathering and access to knowledge. For employers, it raises an important question: what media preferences do digital natives have regarding internal communication channels? This study revealed that employees still favor traditional internal channels, in spite of a strong preference for social media in their private lives.     

Communities in criminal networks: A case study

Criminal organizations tend to be clustered to reduce risks of detection and information leaks. Yet, the literature exploring the relevance of subgroups for their internal structure is so far very limited. The paper applies methods of community analysis to explore the structure of a criminal network representing the individuals’ co-participation in meetings. It draws from a case study on a large law enforcement operation (“Operazione Infinito”) tackling the ‘Ndrangheta, a mafia organization from Calabria, a southern Italian region. The results show that the network is indeed clustered and that communities are associated, in a non-trivial way, with the internal organization of the ‘Ndrangheta into different “locali” (similar to mafia families). Furthermore, the results of community analysis can improve the prediction of the “locale” membership of the criminals (up to two thirds of any random sample of nodes) and the leadership roles (above 90% precision in classifying nodes as either bosses or non-bosses). The implications of these findings on the interpretation of the structure and functioning of the criminal network are discussed.     

Agriculture,communities, and new social movements: East European ruralities in the process of restructuring

This paper examines the usefulness of the new social movements (NSMs) paradigm in the changing context of East European post-communist societies and their agricultural systems and rural communities. Starting with statements formulated in Western sociology in the context of Western democratic societies about NSMs as a protest against modernity, the paper analyses the role of such movements in the still modernizing Eastern European reality. The first part of the paper briefly examines some basic elements of the NSMs paradigm in European and American social science. The goal of this section is not only to identify the basic characteristics of NSMs, but also to identify the typical frames used by them. The second part of the paper focuses on the presence of NSMs in the communist era. Drawing on the idea of NSMs as indicators of a ‘post-materialist shift’ as well as of ‘anti-establishment’ and ‘pro-participatory democracy’, the paper examines the frames of democratic opposition in Eastern Europe before 1989. The final part of the paper considers several selected examples from Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to explore the role of NSMs in the process of shaping new ruralities during the post-communist transformation.     

A contested terrain: immigrants and their descendants in Viennese culture

Culture in Vienna has become more diverse with successive waves of immigration since the 1960s, but Austrian cultural policies have been slow in picking up this trend. While the federal state has been focusing on maintaining traditional cultural institutions in Vienna such as the Staatsoper, the Burgtheater and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the city of Vienna has pushed integration and later diversity in cultural policies since the 1990s, albeit more in discourse than in actual funding. Artists of immigrant origin harshly criticise this dire situation: they claim the place which they have not yet been granted, not only in cultural policies, but also in society.