91 research outputs found
Grenzen der Meinungsfreiheit, Gefährdung der Wissenschaftsfreiheit? : Ein Streitgespräch zur Studie »Ist die Rede- und Meinungsfreiheit an der Universität in Gefahr?« mit Richard Traunmüller und Thomas Scheffer
No full textEine Studie, die der Politikwissenschaftler Prof. Richard Traunmüller (Universität Mannheim) zusammen mit seinem Kollegen Dr. Matthias Revers (University of Leeds) kürzlich veröffentlicht hat, hat bundesweit für Aufsehen und auch für zahlreiche Gegenstimmen gesorgt. Im Fokus der Studie stehen Soziologie-Studierende der Goethe-Universität, weshalb die Befunde zur Redeund Meinungsfreiheit in Frankfurt besonders die Gemüter bewegt haben. Der UniReport konnte Prof. Traunmüller, der einige Jahre an der Goethe-Universität geforscht und gelehrt hat, und seinen früheren Kollegen, den Soziologen Prof. Thomas Scheffer, zu einem Streitgespräch zusammenbringen
From Counter-Power to Counter-Pepe: The Vagaries of Participatory Epistemology in a Digital Age
No full textThis article reconstructs the evolution of societal and journalistic meta-discourse about the participation of ordinary citizens in the news production process. We do so through a genealogy of what we call “participatory epistemology,” defined here as a form of journalistic knowledge in which professional expertise is modified through 19 public interaction. It is our argument that the notion of “citizen participation in news process” has not simply functioned as a normative concept but has rather carried with it a particular understanding of what journalists could reasonably know, and how their knowledge could be enhanced by engaging with the public in order to produce journalistic work. By examining four key moments in the evolution of participatory epistemology, as well as the discursive webs that have surrounded these moments, we aim to demonstrate some of the factors which led a cherished and utopian concept to become a dark and dystopian one. In this, we supplement the work of Quandt (2018, this issue) and add some historical flesh to the conceptual arguments of his article on “dark participation.
The Media Syndrome
No full textBook review of The Media Syndrome, by David L. Altheide. New York: Routledge, 2016. 234 pp. $39.95 cloth. ISBN: 9781629581477
Digital Media and the Diversification of Professionalism: A US-German Comparison of Journalism Cultures
No full textPerformative Polarization: The Interactional and Cultural Drivers of Political Antagonism
No full textPolitical backlash against liberal democracy and ubiquitous clashes between different versions of identity politics in recent years evoked a heightened awareness of political polarization. Rather than examining the mechanics of this process, social science predominantly conceives political polarization in a rather static manner and measures its prevalence and causes within and between societies. This article views political polarization as taking shape in the experience of political conflict. It proposes a cultural performance framework suitable to examine the social drama of political conflict and its connections to interpersonal political dispute. Performative polarization is premised upon antagonizing one public in order to win over and energize another public. It views political antagonism as constituted by (1) powerful performers and performances that provide the preparatory symbolic work and scripts and (2) divided publics who arbitrate their dramatic acts in ensuing performances and who collectively generate political divisions. The anti-Critical Race Theory campaign in the USA serves as a case study to work through the elements of this theoretical framework
Adversarial Collaboration: Freedom of Speech on Campus
No full textWe invite you to participate in a collaborative research effort among scholars with conflicting viewpoints to jointly devise and conduct a quantitative survey on free speech on campus.
A recent study (Revers & Traunmüller 2020) claims to have found evidence for widespread support for restricting free speech on campus, experiences of conformity pressures, and self-censorship. The study attracted broad public interest along with critical reactions from other scholars. The criticism concerned issues of study design and item wording as well as the normative framing of the results. Some of the disagreement regarding the empirical findings seems to reflect differences in the researchers’ epistemic, methodological, and ideological backgrounds. This call and the proposed project are motivated by the desire to leverage this diversity of perspectives in a constructive way.
Specifically, we are looking for scholars to join the group of skeptics who do not agree with the original study’s conclusions. In the form of a pre-registered adversarial collaboration, the group of skeptics along with the group of proponents work to consent on a questionnaire and analysis plan for a new quantitative survey that is to be conducted in the German university context (and potentially beyond)
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