Rethinking mediated political engagement: social media ambivalence and disconnective practices of politically active youths in Hong Kong

Social media have been widely credited for facilitating young people’s political engagement, most notably by providing a conducive platform for political expression. There has been comparatively little attention, however, to the possible pitfalls for young people when they engage in politics on social media. In this study, we seek to redress the overemphasis on the strengths and connectivity of social media by attending to how young people negotiate their drawbacks and disconnectivity. Through in-depth interviews with young participants of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement, we examine the choices and motives regarding mediated (non-)participation among a group of politically active youths. Our findings revealed that these young people’s social media ambivalence emerged from the major participatory experience. Despite their active and open informational sharing and political expression on social media alongside their in-person participation during the eventful protest, many young participants became wary of such expressive use owing to their perceptions of de-energization, disconnectedness, and disembodiment. Instead of completely withdrawing from political activities on social media, these politically inclined and technologically savvy youths embraced “disconnective practices” – passive engagement (lurking), selective expression (moderation and exposure-limitation), and offline participation (embodied collective action) – to avoid the overwhelming, fractious, and inauthentic conditions of mediated participation.     

Expanding our sociolinguistic horizons? Geographical thinking and the articulatory potential of commodity chain analysis

Conceptual linearity and analytic parochialism (aka focus) can make it more difficult for sociolinguists or discourse analysts to apprehend the far‐reaching, exploitative ways inequality is nowadays produced. A suitably material‐cum‐materialist class critique certainly entails empirical and phenomenological worlds flagged by, for example, multi‐sited ethnographies but otherwise side‐lined as merely “extra‐situational” in much talk/text‐directed scholarship. I propose we think more geographically by properly engaging spatiality à la Harvey (1990) and especially the radical politics of simultaneity (Massey, 2005)—the literal, “right‐now” connectedness of places and people. To this end, and allied with deepening interest in political economy, I combine the principles of articulation theory with the procedures of commodity chain analysis for picking apart an epitomic, contemporary manifestation of extreme privilege: the business‐class meal. The proposed discourse‐centred commodity chain analysis offers an ecumenical but systematic framework for tracking how commodity fetishism is actually and discursively accomplished (or not) across dispersed voices, stories, and social meanings.     

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.     

水西慕俄勾彝族地方政权超稳定性初探

贵州水西慕俄勾彝族地方政权从蜀汉建兴三年到清康熙年间,世袭统治水西地区1474年,时间跨越了中央王朝十多个朝代的更替,是世界政治史上的奇迹,其政治统治的超稳定性值得研究。本文从制度依托、时空环境、政治前提等几个方面探讨水西慕俄勾彝族政权得以长期存在的原因,对我们今天探讨水西文化,建立和谐的政治生态不无启迪。     

Political constructions of a cross-community identity in a divided society: how politicians articulate Northern Irishness

ABSTRACT

A shared identity has been shown to reduce prejudice between conflicting social groups. One such common national category is the ‘Northern Irish’ identity which can be inclusive of both Catholics and Protestants. This study analyses the plenary sessions of the Northern Ireland Assembly to show how the national category ‘Northern Irish’ is framed by politicians. Content analysis shows that it is used more often by centrist parties who tend to frame it positively and as part of their political viewpoint. There is also evidence of the instrumental use of this identity by unionists in line with the ingroup projection model.     

多维互动:族际政治整合机制研究

多维互动是族际政治整合的一种重要机制,政府、社会组织、族员三者互动的结构、特点、方式、内容构成了这种机制的基本框架。其具有认知、理解、信任、包容等功能,这些功能促进了各族员由民族认同到国家认同的转向。因此,建构族际政治整合多维互动机制是实现各族员和谐共处、共同发展的政治保障。     

论清代卡伦的文化内涵

卡伦在清代边防中占有重要地位,见证了中国边界的变迁和中国屈辱百年的历史进程。在维护统一多民族国家各项事业的发展、增进各民族的交往、沟通边地与内地的联系等方面,卡伦起到了推动作用。     

论高校思想政治理论课权威的建设

高校思想政治理论课是当前我国宣传思想工作的重要载体,思想政治理论课需要获得社会的尊重并树立自身的权威。随着我国社会政治文化的发展,过去建构在权力基础上的高校思想政治理论课强制性权威受到了挑战与质疑,出现了功能弱化趋势,如理论权威的弱化、课程权威的弱化、学科权威的弱化与组织权威的弱化等。新时期,高校思想政治理论课应注重自觉性权威的建设,如道德表率权威、知识蕴涵权威、价值判断权威与表达方式权威等等,同时坚持强制性权威与自觉性权威的辩证统一,才能发挥其价值引领的重要阵地作用。     

中部地区人才引进政策设计研究

以中国加入WTO为背景,将中部6省作为研究对象,通过构造均匀实验设计方案,运用DPS系统全面探查了地域、单位性质、住房补贴、安家费、年薪、职务或职称待遇、科研(或项目)启动费、配偶安排、子女安排和合同期限10个因素对人才的吸引力,并在比较不同样本结果的基础上确定了中部地区人才引进政策的优化组合方式.     

The Association of Knowledge with Concern About Global Warming: Trusted Information Sources Shape Public Thinking

During the last decade, a great deal of news media attention has focused on informing the American public about scientific findings on global warming (GW). Has learning this sort of information led the American public to become more concerned about GW? Using data from two surveys of nationally representative samples of American adults, this article shows that the relation between self‐reported knowledge and concern about GW is more complex than what previous research has suggested. Among people who trust scientists to provide reliable information about the environment and among Democrats and Independents, increased knowledge has been associated with increased concern. But among people who are skeptical about scientists and among Republicans more knowledge was generally not associated with greater concern. The association of knowledge with concern among Democrats and Independents who trust scientists was mediated by perceptions of consensus among scientists about GW's existence and by perceptions that humans are a principal cause of GW. Moreover, additional analyses of panel survey data produced findings consistent with the notion that more knowledge yields more concern among Democrats and Independents, but not among Republicans. Thus, when studying the relation of knowledge and concern, it is important to take into account the content of the information that different types of people acquire and choose to rely upon.