Teaching & Learning Guide for ‘The Conflictual Model of Analysis in Studies on the Media Representation of Islam and Muslims: A Critical Review’

‘The Conflictual Model of Analysis in Studies on the Media Representation of Islam and Muslims: A Critical Review’ was published in Sociology Compass 9/5 (2015) pp. 321–335, DOI: 10.1111/soc4.12264 . This Teaching and Learning Guide is designed to accompany this article. In brief, the article examined the extent to which various studies on the media representation of Islam and Muslims use the conflictual model analysis that underpins theoretical frameworks, such as Orientalism, Clash of Civilisations, Cultural Racism and Islamophobia. It argued that in the context of a complex multicultural society, conflictual model of analysis is inadequate because it simply employs a binary way of thinking as clearly indicated in ‘the West versus Islam’ paradigm. In response to the inadequacy of this model of analysis, the article proposed an adoption of an alternative dialogical model of analysis in the light of the political theory of recognition. This guide provides useful information regarding the use of this article for teaching and learning purposes. It includes recommendation of readings, online resources, sample syllabus, focus questions and project idea.     

The Conflictual Model of Analysis in Studies on the Media Representation of Islam and Muslims: A Critical Review

This article examines ‘the West versus Islam’ paradigm in the studies on the representation of Islam and Muslims in the Western media. It argues that while offering insights which uncover the hidden oppressive power that drives the representation of cultural differences, the use of the conflictual model of analysis in exploring media representations of Islam and Muslims provides no space for understanding the creative, dialogic formation in the encounter of individuals and people from different religious and cultural backgrounds. This conflictual model of analysis normally employs a simplistic, binary system of thinking, and is therefore inadequate as a response to the complex challenges faced by a multicultural society. To develop this argument, the article reviews various studies on media representations of Islam and Muslims that have relied on this model. In the light of the inadequacy of the conflictual model of analysis, the article suggests a shift to a dialogic model of analysis as developed in the politics of recognition as an alternative framework that accommodates the possibility of transformation in the encounter of individuals, people and cultures in a multicultural society.     

Twenty Years and Counting: Thoughts about Measuring the Upper Tail

This article first describes the main developments in measuring the upper tail of the income and wealth distributions over the last twenty years. Second, it points out some of the key methodological challenges and how better data could address them. Third, it discusses the academic and policy impacts of upper tail measurement.

     

DO PRICES TRANSMIT RATIONALLY EXPECTED INFORMATION?

A simple model with asymmetric information, in which inventory holders or traders submit demand curves to an auctioneer, has a unique partially revealing equilibrium. We wonder whether the agents can plausibly coordinate on this equilibrium through “eductive” reasoning relying on common knowledge. The analysis stresses the role of two effects, sensitivity and amplification, whose product should be small enough. The property is obtained whenever the equilibrium excess demand is steep enough, i.e., when the search for information does not distort demand too much. Neither the influence of the number of informed agents nor that of noise trading are monotonic. Real‐time learning has strikingly different features. (JEL: D82, D84)