My life is a mess: self-deprecating relatability and collective identities in the memification of student issues

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we investigate memes about student issues. We consider the memes as expressions of a new networked student public that contain discourses that may fall outside the mainstream discourse on higher education. The paper is based on content analysis of 179 posts in the public Facebook Group ‘Student Problem Memes’, combined with a nine-month media watch and a discussion workshop with 15 students. Through self-deprecating humour, students create an inverse attention economy of competitive one-downmanship, where the goal is to display humorous failure instead of perfect appearance. Our analysis shows that students use humour to express, share, and commiserate over daily struggles, but also that the problems related to work/study balance and mental health, are experienced as a persistent feature of student living. We also analyse limitations of meme-based publics, emphasizing processes of inclusion and exclusion through specific vernaculars of visual and discursive humour where issues related to gender, race, orientation, class, and ability are sidelined in favour of relatable humour.     

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.     

Contestation on Reddit,Gamergate, and movement barriers

This article investigates how the social media site Reddit hindered the collective action efforts stemming from the Gamergate controversy. Using forum posts from two time-points, one early in the movement and another six months later, this work describes how the Reddit platform impeded movement efforts over time. More specifically, we examine how the nature of Reddit discussions created barriers to each of three key movement processes: narrative construction of collective identity, framing, and boundary work. We argue that unlike social media platforms such as Facebook, some sites–Reddit in this case–may negatively impact movement success depending on its structure. We also discuss the importance of differing ICT structures and implications for online interactions more generally.     

Gezi Park and EuroMaidan: social movements at the borders

Both Turkey and Ukraine are located at the external borders of the European Union (EU), and are seen as important partners of the EU, especially in terms of economic relations and strategic partnership. Both countries experienced en masse protest events in 2013: the Gezi Park protests and EuroMaidan, starting, respectively, in May 2013 and November 2013. Although these protests started initially for different reasons – the brutal eviction of a sit-in organized for protecting the trees in Taksim Gezi Park and the Ukrainian government's abandonment of EU trade agreement talks – and seem spatially, temporally and ideologically separate, they both include claims related to a “more just and transparent system”. Such claims are not purely political and are closely linked to a social dimension, especially in terms of local and European space-making. This article aims to understand the importance of Gezi Park and EuroMaidan within the framework of new social movements in terms of space-making and the perception of human rights, democracy, justice, identitarian politics and consensual social relations as Euro-concepts or European ideals.     

Social Skills in Children Adopted From Socially-Emotionally Depriving Institutions

This study assessed social skills in post-institutionalized (PI) children with respect to age at adoption, age at assessment, and gender. Parent ratings of social skills (Social Skills Rating System) and behavior problems (Child Behavior Checklist) were obtained for 214 children and 127 adolescents who were adopted from socially-emotionally depriving Russian institutions. Results showed that children adopted before 18 months of age have better social skills than those adopted after this age; those assessed in childhood demonstrate better social skills than those assessed in adolescence. PI females, especially later-adopted adolescents, have particularly poor social skills. Children with poor social skills tend to have higher rates of behavior problems.     

Self-efficacy enhanced in a cross-cultural context through an initiative in under-resourced schools in KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

This paper discusses the Khanyisa Programme, an initiative in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where learners from under-resourced schools are supported by teachers and high achievers in Grade 11 and 12 from a previously advantaged state school under apartheid. A qualitative, evaluative study was undertaken to identify key elements in the ongoing success of the programme and collect participant suggestions for improvement. The findings, discussed within the framework of self-efficacy theory, identified enormous gains by Khanyisa learners, leading to vastly improved career prospects.     

邯郸市突发群体性事件的预防与处置探索

目前,邯郸市已确立把邯郸建设成为晋冀鲁豫四省交界区域经济中心的战略目标。实现这一宏伟战略目标,必须保持邯郸社会的稳定。稳定是发展的前提。社会的动荡不安,必会使邯郸陷入停滞倒退的境地,使这一战略目标难以实现。突发群体性事件是突然发生的由多人参与的、冲突激烈的社会安全事件,对社会的稳定构成了严峻挑战,必须积极探索应对方略,以便有效防止其发生,一旦发生又能及时妥善处置。本文对邯郸市突发群体性事件的预防和处置作了初步探索。     

农村集体公益性建设用地的价值诉求与认知分析

农村集体公益性建设用地对农村公共设施的完善及农民生活水平的提高具有无可代替的作用,然现行规范对其规定甚少,集体公益性建设用地本身构造不明、价值不清造成适用模糊的困境。应明确农村集体公益性建设用地以维护集体成员利益为核心,以土地资源优化利用为重点,在具体设定上暗含公私力量的平衡。农村集体公益性建设用地使用权的主体实际上是以农民集体为核心的多元混合主体,因自身的公益属性,致使部分权能受限,应以合目的性与合规划性对其流转进行限制。     

社会转型期农村居民集体观和个人观的社会学分析——对6省市2012人调查结果的阐释

通过对6省(市)农村居民进行的问卷调查结果的分析,认为在当前社会转型期,我国农村居民的集体观念比较强,体现了传统的价值观念和行为方式在农村居民身上的延续;同时,农村居民的个人观念有明显的增强的趋势,反映了现代社会因素对传统观念的冲击。因此,重新解读集体和个人的关系显得格外重要。     

科研团队信任对团队创新绩效的影响研究

构建以知识共享和团队创新氛围为中介变量的科研团队信任对团队创新绩效影响的概念模型,以89个科研团队中的545名科研人员为研究样本,利用多层线性回归方法对相关假设进行检验。研究发现：科研团队信任能够显著影响团队整体的创新绩效,且知识共享和团队创新氛围在科研团队信任与团队创新绩效间起中介作用。这表明科研团队管理者应当积极关注团队内部科研人员之间的人际互动因素,重视营造和谐、信任的团队创新氛围,实现团队的知识共享,进而促进整个科研团队的创新绩效不断提升。