Cogitatio Press (E-Journals)
Not a member yet
2055 research outputs found
Sort by
Social Inclusion or Gender Equality? Political Discourses on Parental Leave in Finland and Sweden
Full text linkDuring the 2010s, both Finland and Sweden made advancements in their parental leave systems by widening the right to paid parental leave to a greater diversity of family constellations and investing in gender-equal leave distribution through longer leave periods reserved for the father. However, in the latter respect, Sweden has remained more successful than Finland. This article analyses government and political party discourses in Finland and Sweden during the 2010s in pursuit of an explanation to this difference and for understanding how ideas on social inclusion and gender equality have been used to drive, or block, policy reforms in the field of parental leave. The results show that the parental leave discourses have become influenced by ideas on social inclusion and gender equality in both countries, but in somewhat different ways. While gender equality has retained a stronger position in the Swedish discourse and its policy, social inclusion, and notably the rights of same-sex parents, have become more visible in the Finnish. However, the results also show that both ideas have remained contested on a party level, especially by confessional and nationalist-populist parties
Mapping Flood Risk Uncertainty Zones in Support of Urban Resilience Planning
Full text linkRiver flooding and urbanization are processes of different character that take place worldwide. As the latter tends to make the consequences of the former worse, together with the uncertainties related to future climate change and flood-risk modeling, there is a need to both use existing tools and develop new ones that help the management and planning of urban environments. In this article a prototype tool, based on estimated maximum land cover roughness variation, the slope of the ground, and the quality of the used digital elevation models, and that can produce flood ‘uncertainty zones’ of varying width around modeled flood boundaries, is presented. The concept of uncertainty, which urban planners often fail to consider in the spatial planning process, changes from something very difficult into an advantage in this way. Not only may these uncertainties be easier to understand by the urban planners, but the uncertainties may also function as a communication tool between the planners and other stakeholders. Because flood risk is something that urban planners always need to consider, these uncertainty zones can function both as buffer areas against floods, and as blue-green designs of significant importance for a variety of ecosystem services. As the Earth is warming and the world is urbanizing at rates and scales unprecedented in history, we believe that new tools for urban resilience planning are not only urgently needed, but also will have a positive impact on urban planning
Assessing African Energy Transitions: Renewable Energy Policies, Energy Justice, and SDG 7
Full text linkRenewable energy has made significant inroads in addressing growing energy demands on the African continent. However, progress towards SDG 7 is still limited and difficult to trace. Furthermore, the results-oriented rationale of the SDGs means that both policy change and the dimension of environmental justice are not covered properly. We argue that the energy justice concept may provide a powerful tool to offset looming trade-offs and enhance the co-benefits of SDG 7 within broader transition endeavours. In doing so, we assess African energy transition processes based on a comparative mapping of African renewable energy policies in 34 countries. We investigate the scope of policy frameworks in order to analyse their contribution to greater energy justice along different justice dimensions. We then identify four transition scenarios, which reflect the challenges of integrating the justice dimension into renewable energy policies. In comparing these scenarios, we argue that SDG 7 tracking needs to consider the justice dimension to arrive at a more holistic implementation that is in line with socio-ecological justice and takes account of people’s energy needs
Communities of Darkness? Users and Uses of Anti-System Alternative Media between Audience and Community
Full text linkThe hopes regarding the positive impact of the Internet and digital participation in civic society have faded in recent years. The digital realm is now increasingly discussed regarding its role in putting democracy in jeopardy and polarizing public debate by propagating extremist views and falsehoods. Likewise, the perception of so-called alternative media as beneficial carriers of counter-public spheres and as important complements to mainstream positions in social debate has flipped. Alternative media are now often associated with the “Wicked web” of disinformation, political populism, or even radicalization. Following Quandt’s (2018) notion of ‘dark participation’ and Phillips and Milner’s (2017) description of the Internet as ambivalent, this article asks, whether the same holds true for the users of alternative media: a segment of the audience traditionally discussed in terms of community, engagement, participation, and strong ideological identification with progressive political causes. Do users of ‘dark’ alternative media bond with their media in similar ways to constitute communities of darkness? Based on interviews with 35 users of alternative media from a left-leaning, right-wing, Russian-tied and/or conspiracy spectrum users, uses of alternative media are pictured as grey rather than black or white. The findings illuminate the ambivalences within alternative media users as audiences and communities. Ambivalences are found regarding the use of alternative sources as audience or community members, regarding a shared attitude of criticality and anti-systemness, which connects trans-medially and trans-ideologically, as well as the experienced comfort of community, which can become a main motivation for use
Linguistic Diversity as a Challenge for Street-Level Bureaucrats in a Monolingually-Oriented Organisation
Full text linkMigration-induced diversity has led to the global emergence of multilingual life worlds in which language regimes are particularly intertwined with labour markets. Thus, state institutions such as national unemployment services must fulfil a special role in society. In a qualitative research project (2019–2021), we interviewed employees at the Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS) at multiple organisational levels. The results demonstrate diverging and (apparently) contradicting approaches and strategies throughout the organisation concerning the appropriateness of using German exclusively during interactions with clients. This is illustrated along a continuum, ranging from a reflective, critical approach towards linguistic diversity that is at least partly based on ideas promoting the value of multilingualism to frequently encountered notions of the need for monolingualism. Such a framework must be understood by considering the coexistence of diverging ideas and ideologies surrounding multilingualism, as well as a neoliberal working context characterised by new public management and activation policy
Translation as a Communication Strategy in Representing National Culture
Full text linkThe linguistic trinity policy, which has been implemented in Kazakhstan since its independence in the 1990s, is aimed at integrating translation into global processes. Kazakh-Russian bilingualism, caused by the historical and geopolitical proximity of the two countries, is now turning into trilingualism, joining up with English as the dominant language for international communication. Literary translation as a part of cross-cultural communication is also involved in social inclusion processes, contributing to the exchange of cultural values and a better understanding of modern multilingual Kazakhstani society. This article focuses on the issue of presenting Kazakh literature in translation through a mediating language and the research involves an analysis of culture-related lexemes as representations of a nomadic lifestyle in the mirror of intercultural communication. The authors highlight cultural and linguistic aspects of Kazakh transmitted from the mediatory Russian into the target English. Based on a review of previous findings on indirect literary translation, this article discusses whether a mediating language affects the inclusion of Kazakh culture in the globalization process
Multilingualism and Social Inclusion in Scotland: Language Options and Ligatures of the “1+2 Language Approach”
Full text linkRecent global trends in migration, trade and overall mobility have continued to transform our objective realities and subjective experiences around linguistic diversity. More broadly, in many countries, the politics of multilingualism seem to have changed the old links between language and nation-state. In this context, Scotland is studied in this article as a case study as it acts to dispel the myth of a ‘monolingual country.’ Its recent language policy, the “1+2 Language Approach” (Scottish Government, 2012b), including regional languages, modern foreign languages and heritage languages of migrants have created opportunities as well as imbalances and issues of equity in the Scottish language habitus. Drawing on Kraus’s work (2018), this article demonstrates how the policy creates language as ‘options’ and as ‘ligatures.’ However, these ‘options’ and ‘ligatures’ are not salient and straightforward. The policy is explored on three different levels: (1) on its potential for allowing the development of multilingual communication strategies such as intercomprehension, code-switching and mixing, (2) on its commitment to linguistic justice avoiding language hierarchies and (3) on its links with dominating, neoliberal approaches to education and the economy. The article finally concludes that options and ligatures visible in language policy impose some semantic order on the confusion of layered co-occurrences of various hegemonies, or the general strain between macro and micro distinction
City Planning and Green Infrastructure: Embedding Ecology into Urban Decision-Making
Full text linkGreen infrastructure (GI) includes an array of products, technologies, and practices that use natural systems—or designed systems that mimic natural processes—to enhance environmental sustainability and human quality of life. GI is the ultimate source of the ecosystem services which the biotic environment provides to humanity. The maintenance and enhancement of GI to optimise the supply of ecosystem services thus requires conscious planning. The objective of this thematic issue is to publish a cross-section of quality research which addresses how urban planning can contribute to the conservation, management, enhancement, and creation of GI in the city. The terms of reference include the technical, economic, social, and political dimensions of the planning/GI nexus. Here we offer a brief overview of the articles published in this collection, and consider where policy, planning, and design relating to urban GI may be heading in the future
Cross-Media Alliances to Stop Disinformation: A Real Solution?
Full text linkSocial networks have surpassed their intermediary role and become gatekeepers of online content and traffic. This transformation has favored the spread of information disorders. The situation is especially alarming in Spain, where 57% of Spaniards have at some moment believed false news. Since 2016, First Draft has promoted several collaborative verification projects that brought together newsrooms to fact-check false, misleading and confusing claims circulating online during presidential elections in several countries. The main objective of this article is to study the collaboration forged between newsrooms in Spain in order to debunk disinformation contents in 2019 under the name of Comprobado (Verified) and the impact of this initiative. Applying a methodological approach based on non-participant observation, interviews, content analysis of reports, scientific articles, books and media archives, we examine the internal uses of this platform, how journalists verified public discourse, the strategies and internal agreements implemented, and the degree of participation of the 16 media involved. Results show that only half of the initiatives begun were transformed into published reports, and the media impact achieved was limited. Finally, we note that the principal reasons for the frustration of the project were its improvised implementation, due to the date of the election being brought forward, and the scant culture of collaboration in the sector. In Spain at least, cross-media alliances are still an exception
Inspired to Adopt: The Role of Social Norms in Media Inspiration
Full text linkWe consider the potential for inspirational media content (inspiring videos about dogs) and injunctive norms (social media comments on the videos) to motivate dog adoption behaviors and intentions. In an online experiment, participants were exposed to pretested inspiring (or non-inspiring) videos and social norms cues and were given an opportunity to browse among a series of dogs on a mock adoption website. Participants also indicated their intention to adopt a dog and completed a series of socio-demographic measures. Results indicated that, although both the inspiring videos and the norm cues successfully induced inspiration and perceived injunctive norms, only injunctive norms significantly affected intention to adopt. The effect of norms remained significant when controlling for barriers to adoption such as financial, time, and space considerations. Discussion focuses on implications for inspiring entertainment and social norms theories, and implications for adoptions and other prosocial behaviors