an article by Mohamed Ismail Sabry (Hochschule Bremen, Germany) published in International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy Volume 38 Issue 9/10 (2019)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore which socioeconomic and institutional factors are responsible for different societies’ ideological choices, with reference to Marxist socialism. Which factors led to the rise of the popularity of socialism? And which factors made a socialist variant relatively more successful in one society but not the other, with social democracy and communism being the focus of the study?
Design/methodology/approach
Conducting a global theoretical and empirical study on the period between the late 1890s and 1945. The theoretical part discusses various perspectives presented in the literature, accounting for the works of major sociologists (e.g.: M. Mann, Lipset) and political theorists (e.g.: Marx, Engels, Lenin). The empirical part uses a number of OLS multivariate panel regressions using voting to various socialist movements as dependent variables, and socioeconomic and institutional factors as independent variables.
Findings
Some of the findings of the conducted empirical study are that: democracy, industrialization, high population growth rates, low linguistic or religious homogeneity, more years of schooling and less years since independence or creation increase the social democrat (SD) vote. The communist vote was affected positively by more urbanization; higher population growth; less years of schooling; more years since independence; recent experience of war; and the presence of insignificant religious minorities.
Inequality seemed also to have been a strong significant factor for raising the popularity of various socialist parties, especially when countries were long-established or created. Countries which had a fresh experience with war devastation or which were highly urbanized while having higher levels of inequality witnessed an increasing vote share for the communists. More votes went to SD; however, when inequality existed in highly industrialized countries. High GDP growth, matched with higher inequalities, did not seem to have encouraged voting for various socialist parties, and even affected the communist vote negatively.
Research limitations/implications
There were data limitations on the available proxies.
Practical implications
This study suggests welfarism, public spending on education, social inclusion and democratization as remedies for radicalism, regardless of the ideological origins of such radicalism.
Originality/value
Its novelty is attributed to the deep analytical dimension for the issue done here, combining theory, an empirical study made possible by the newly available rich historical data.
Showing posts with label political_sociology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political_sociology. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 October 2019
Thursday, 2 May 2019
Digital Propaganda: The Tyranny of Ignorance
an article by Cassian Sparkes-Vian (University of the West of England, UK) published in Critical Sociology Volume 45 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
The existence of propaganda is inexorably bound to the nature of communication and communications technology.
Mass communication by citizens in the digital age has been heralded as a means to counter elite propaganda; however, it also provides a forum for misinformation, aggression and hostility.
The extremist group Britain First has used Facebook as a way to propagate hostility towards Muslims, immigrants and social security claimants in the form of memes, leading to a backlash from sites antithetical to their message.
This article provides a memetic analysis, which addresses persuasion, organisation, political echo chambers and self-correcting online narratives; arguing that propaganda can be best understood as an evolving set of techniques and mechanisms which facilitate the propagation of ideas and actions. This allows the concept to be adapted to fit a changing political and technological landscape and to encompass both propaganda and counter-propaganda in the context of horizontal communications networks.
Abstract
The existence of propaganda is inexorably bound to the nature of communication and communications technology.
Mass communication by citizens in the digital age has been heralded as a means to counter elite propaganda; however, it also provides a forum for misinformation, aggression and hostility.
The extremist group Britain First has used Facebook as a way to propagate hostility towards Muslims, immigrants and social security claimants in the form of memes, leading to a backlash from sites antithetical to their message.
This article provides a memetic analysis, which addresses persuasion, organisation, political echo chambers and self-correcting online narratives; arguing that propaganda can be best understood as an evolving set of techniques and mechanisms which facilitate the propagation of ideas and actions. This allows the concept to be adapted to fit a changing political and technological landscape and to encompass both propaganda and counter-propaganda in the context of horizontal communications networks.
Friday, 4 January 2019
Why does armed conflict begin again? A new analytic approach
an article by Eric W Schoon (The Ohio State University, USA) published in International Journal of Comparative Sociology Volume 59 Issue 5-6 (October-December 2018)
Abstract
An increasing majority of armed conflicts worldwide are episodes of recurrence (i.e. armed conflicts that occur after another armed conflict ends in the same country).
This trend motivates a growing collection of scholarship on the causes of recurrence, but empirical research on this topic supports contradictory conclusions. Engaging these contradictions, this article introduces a novel approach to retroductive comparative analysis, which adapts the logic of semi-structured interviews for use in historical research, to examine the features and causes of 58 cases of armed conflict recurrence that took place between 1946 and 2005.
Through this analysis, I identify five varieties of recurrence that are substantively and causally distinct. My analysis identifies scope conditions for existing theories of recurrence and, more broadly, demonstrates how distinct configurations of power inequalities, political opportunities, and the pursuit of legitimacy shape the proximate causes of each variety of recurrence.
Abstract
An increasing majority of armed conflicts worldwide are episodes of recurrence (i.e. armed conflicts that occur after another armed conflict ends in the same country).
This trend motivates a growing collection of scholarship on the causes of recurrence, but empirical research on this topic supports contradictory conclusions. Engaging these contradictions, this article introduces a novel approach to retroductive comparative analysis, which adapts the logic of semi-structured interviews for use in historical research, to examine the features and causes of 58 cases of armed conflict recurrence that took place between 1946 and 2005.
Through this analysis, I identify five varieties of recurrence that are substantively and causally distinct. My analysis identifies scope conditions for existing theories of recurrence and, more broadly, demonstrates how distinct configurations of power inequalities, political opportunities, and the pursuit of legitimacy shape the proximate causes of each variety of recurrence.
Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Between social democracy and communism: an institutional and socioeconomic perspective
an article by Mohamed Ismail Sabry (Hochschule Bremen, Germany) published in International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy Volume 38 Issue 9/10 (2018)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore which socioeconomic and institutional factors are responsible for different societies’ ideological choices, with reference to Marxist socialism. Which factors led to the rise of the popularity of socialism? And which factors made a socialist variant relatively more successful in one society but not the other, with social democracy and communism being the focus of the study?
Design/methodology/approach
Conducting a global theoretical and empirical study on the period between the late 1890s and 1945. The theoretical part discusses various perspectives presented in the literature, accounting for the works of major sociologists (e.g.: M. Mann, Lipset) and political theorists (e.g.: Marx, Engels, Lenin). The empirical part uses a number of OLS multivariate panel regressions using voting to various socialist movements as dependent variables, and socioeconomic and institutional factors as independent variables.
Findings
Some of the findings of the conducted empirical study are that: democracy, industrialization, high population growth rates, low linguistic or religious homogeneity, more years of schooling and less years since independence or creation increase the social democrat (SD) vote. The communist vote was affected positively by more urbanization; higher population growth; less years of schooling; more years since independence; recent experience of war; and the presence of insignificant religious minorities. Inequality seemed also to have been a strong significant factor for raising the popularity of various socialist parties, especially when countries were long-established or created. Countries which had a fresh experience with war devastation or which were highly urbanized while having higher levels of inequality witnessed an increasing vote share for the communists. More votes went to SD; however, when inequality existed in highly industrialized countries. High GDP growth, matched with higher inequalities, did not seem to have encouraged voting for various socialist parties, and even affected the communist vote negatively.
Research limitations/implications
There were data limitations on the available proxies.
Practical implications
This study suggests welfarism, public spending on education, social inclusion and democratization as remedies for radicalism, regardless of the ideological origins of such radicalism.
Originality/value
Its novelty is attributed to the deep analytical dimension for the issue done here, combining theory, an empirical study made possible by the newly available rich historical data.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore which socioeconomic and institutional factors are responsible for different societies’ ideological choices, with reference to Marxist socialism. Which factors led to the rise of the popularity of socialism? And which factors made a socialist variant relatively more successful in one society but not the other, with social democracy and communism being the focus of the study?
Design/methodology/approach
Conducting a global theoretical and empirical study on the period between the late 1890s and 1945. The theoretical part discusses various perspectives presented in the literature, accounting for the works of major sociologists (e.g.: M. Mann, Lipset) and political theorists (e.g.: Marx, Engels, Lenin). The empirical part uses a number of OLS multivariate panel regressions using voting to various socialist movements as dependent variables, and socioeconomic and institutional factors as independent variables.
Findings
Some of the findings of the conducted empirical study are that: democracy, industrialization, high population growth rates, low linguistic or religious homogeneity, more years of schooling and less years since independence or creation increase the social democrat (SD) vote. The communist vote was affected positively by more urbanization; higher population growth; less years of schooling; more years since independence; recent experience of war; and the presence of insignificant religious minorities. Inequality seemed also to have been a strong significant factor for raising the popularity of various socialist parties, especially when countries were long-established or created. Countries which had a fresh experience with war devastation or which were highly urbanized while having higher levels of inequality witnessed an increasing vote share for the communists. More votes went to SD; however, when inequality existed in highly industrialized countries. High GDP growth, matched with higher inequalities, did not seem to have encouraged voting for various socialist parties, and even affected the communist vote negatively.
Research limitations/implications
There were data limitations on the available proxies.
Practical implications
This study suggests welfarism, public spending on education, social inclusion and democratization as remedies for radicalism, regardless of the ideological origins of such radicalism.
Originality/value
Its novelty is attributed to the deep analytical dimension for the issue done here, combining theory, an empirical study made possible by the newly available rich historical data.
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