an article by John Bartle (University of Essex, UK) and Sebastian Dellepiane Avellaneda and Anthony McGann (University of Strathclyde, UK) published in Journal of Public Policy Volume 39 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
Does public policy in the United Kingdom respond to changes in public preferences? If so, is this the result of the government changing its policy to reflect preferences (“policy accommodation”) or the result of governments that pursue unpopular policies being replaced at elections by governments more in line with the public (“electoral turnover”)?
We explore these questions by estimating annual aggregate public preferences (“the policy mood”) using responses to 287 questions administered 2,087 times and annual policy using budgetary data (“nonmilitary government expenditure”) for the whole of the postwar period.
We find that mood moves in the opposite direction to policy and variations in mood are associated with variations in annual vote intentions. Policy is responsive to party control but not directly responsive to mood. Shifts in mood eventually lead to a change in government and thus policy, but this process may be very slow if the public has doubts about the competence of the opposition.
Full text (PDF 32pp)
Showing posts with label representation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label representation. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Tuesday, 10 September 2019
Populism, inequality and representation: Negotiating ‘the 99%’ with Occupy London
an article by Jamie Matthews (Goldsmiths University of London, UK) published in
The Sociological Review Volume 67 Issue 5 (September 2019)
Abstract
When Occupy London emerged with a global wave of protest movements in October 2011, it embodied and advanced discursive forms that have characterised the unsettling of political consensus following the financial crisis.
The central claim that ‘We are the 99%’ staged a fundamental tension, between a populist appeal to the figure of ‘the people’, and a contrary orientation seeking to critique inequality while rejecting forms of representation and identity.
This article – which draws on three years of ethnographic fieldwork with Occupy London (October 2011-October 2014) and a critical theorisation of the figure of ‘the people’ in radical movements – follows movement participants’ negotiation of the tension at the heart of the discourse of ‘the 99%’. It offers an account of the conflicting meanings and practices that emerged, arguing that the result was a creative contradiction that sustained the movement for a time, while setting the terms of its ultimate breakdown.
Identifying the concept of ‘representation’ as the site of particular controversy, this is unpicked through a number of key figures (Pitkin, Marx, Spivak, Puchner, Deleuze and Guattari) as the basis for an empirical account of Occupy’s practice of assembly, which offered partial, imperfect ‘solutions’ to these tensions.
The article concludes with some implications for the limits and possibilities of both a grassroots populism and a politics against representation, in the context of political developments since.
Hazel’s comment:
This is an example of the frustration I feel at not being able to see the whole of this article from the comfort of my home! I need to note it for reading on my next visit to the British Library – or maybe the one after that depending on when the journal arrives and is shelved for viewing.
The Sociological Review Volume 67 Issue 5 (September 2019)
Abstract
When Occupy London emerged with a global wave of protest movements in October 2011, it embodied and advanced discursive forms that have characterised the unsettling of political consensus following the financial crisis.
The central claim that ‘We are the 99%’ staged a fundamental tension, between a populist appeal to the figure of ‘the people’, and a contrary orientation seeking to critique inequality while rejecting forms of representation and identity.
This article – which draws on three years of ethnographic fieldwork with Occupy London (October 2011-October 2014) and a critical theorisation of the figure of ‘the people’ in radical movements – follows movement participants’ negotiation of the tension at the heart of the discourse of ‘the 99%’. It offers an account of the conflicting meanings and practices that emerged, arguing that the result was a creative contradiction that sustained the movement for a time, while setting the terms of its ultimate breakdown.
Identifying the concept of ‘representation’ as the site of particular controversy, this is unpicked through a number of key figures (Pitkin, Marx, Spivak, Puchner, Deleuze and Guattari) as the basis for an empirical account of Occupy’s practice of assembly, which offered partial, imperfect ‘solutions’ to these tensions.
The article concludes with some implications for the limits and possibilities of both a grassroots populism and a politics against representation, in the context of political developments since.
Hazel’s comment:
This is an example of the frustration I feel at not being able to see the whole of this article from the comfort of my home! I need to note it for reading on my next visit to the British Library – or maybe the one after that depending on when the journal arrives and is shelved for viewing.
Wednesday, 5 June 2019
Policy accommodation versus electoral turnover: policy representation in Britain, 1945–2015
an article by John Bartle (Department of Government, University of Essex, UK) and Sebastian Dellepiane Avellaneda and Anthony McGann (School of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, UK) published in Journal of Public Policy Volume 39 Issue 2 (June 2019)
Abstract
Does public policy in the United Kingdom respond to changes in public preferences? If so, is this the result of the government changing its policy to reflect preferences (“policy accommodation”) or the result of governments that pursue unpopular policies being replaced at elections by governments more in line with the public (“electoral turnover”)?
We explore these questions by estimating annual aggregate public preferences (“the policy mood”) using responses to 287 questions administered 2,087 times and annual policy using budgetary data (“nonmilitary government expenditure”) for the whole of the postwar period.
We find that mood moves in the opposite direction to policy and variations in mood are associated with variations in annual vote intentions.
Policy is responsive to party control but not directly responsive to mood. Shifts in mood eventually lead to a change in government and thus policy, but this process may be very slow if the public has doubts about the competence of the opposition.
Full text (PDF 32pp)
Abstract
Does public policy in the United Kingdom respond to changes in public preferences? If so, is this the result of the government changing its policy to reflect preferences (“policy accommodation”) or the result of governments that pursue unpopular policies being replaced at elections by governments more in line with the public (“electoral turnover”)?
We explore these questions by estimating annual aggregate public preferences (“the policy mood”) using responses to 287 questions administered 2,087 times and annual policy using budgetary data (“nonmilitary government expenditure”) for the whole of the postwar period.
We find that mood moves in the opposite direction to policy and variations in mood are associated with variations in annual vote intentions.
Policy is responsive to party control but not directly responsive to mood. Shifts in mood eventually lead to a change in government and thus policy, but this process may be very slow if the public has doubts about the competence of the opposition.
Full text (PDF 32pp)
Wednesday, 29 May 2019
The mental health peer worker as informant: performing authenticity and the paradoxes of passing
an article by Jijian Voronka (University of Windsor, ON, Canada) published in Disability & Society Volume 34 Issue 4 (2019)
Abstract
The inclusion imperative in community care means that disabled people are now increasingly being employed as peer workers in the service systems that manage them.
This article offers a timely inquiry into the role of the peer worker in mental health and homeless service sectors.
Drawing on a four-year ethnography and in-depth qualitative interviews with fellow peer workers, I explore the paradoxical nature of new expectations for peer ‘authenticity,’ and the ways in which peer workers learn to manage the requirement to perform identity in our work roles.
This analysis thus denaturalizes peer identity, and works to develop possibilities for doing disability identity-based work differently.
Abstract
The inclusion imperative in community care means that disabled people are now increasingly being employed as peer workers in the service systems that manage them.
This article offers a timely inquiry into the role of the peer worker in mental health and homeless service sectors.
Drawing on a four-year ethnography and in-depth qualitative interviews with fellow peer workers, I explore the paradoxical nature of new expectations for peer ‘authenticity,’ and the ways in which peer workers learn to manage the requirement to perform identity in our work roles.
This analysis thus denaturalizes peer identity, and works to develop possibilities for doing disability identity-based work differently.
Monday, 17 December 2018
Does economic inequality breed political inequality?
an article by Christian Houle (Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA) published in Democratization Volume 25 Issue 8 (2018)
Abstract
Does economic inequality generate political inequality?
While there is a large literature on the effect of inequality on regime change and support for democracy, there is little research on its effect on political equality across socioeconomic positions. Yet democracy and political equality, although related, are distinct concepts.
While political power tends to be more evenly distributed in democracies than in autocracies, there is substantial variation in both regime types.
This study argues that economic inequality should decrease political equality through multiple mechanisms:
Using three measures of inequality and data on more than 140 countries between 1961 and 2008, it was found that economic inequality tends to increase political inequality, even when one controls for the level of democracy. Results hold when the sample is restricted by regime type.
Finally, evidence in favour of the mechanisms is provided.
Abstract
Does economic inequality generate political inequality?
While there is a large literature on the effect of inequality on regime change and support for democracy, there is little research on its effect on political equality across socioeconomic positions. Yet democracy and political equality, although related, are distinct concepts.
While political power tends to be more evenly distributed in democracies than in autocracies, there is substantial variation in both regime types.
This study argues that economic inequality should decrease political equality through multiple mechanisms:
- it increases the resources of the rich relative to the poor;
- it widens the gap in policy preferences across income groups;
- it reduces participation; and
- it depresses support for democracy.
Using three measures of inequality and data on more than 140 countries between 1961 and 2008, it was found that economic inequality tends to increase political inequality, even when one controls for the level of democracy. Results hold when the sample is restricted by regime type.
Finally, evidence in favour of the mechanisms is provided.
Tuesday, 1 May 2018
How Members of Parliament understand and respond to climate change
an article by Rebecca Willis (Lancaster University, UK) published in The Sociological Review Volume 66 Issue 3 (May 2018)
Abstract
Action on climate change, to meet the targets set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, requires strong political support at the national level. Whilst the political and governance challenges of climate change have been discussed at length, there is little understanding of how politicians, as influential individuals within the political system, understand or respond to climate change.
This article presents findings from 14 qualitative interviews with Members of the UK Parliament, to discuss how politicians conceptualise climate change, and their deliberations on whether or how to act on the issue.
First, it reviews an interdisciplinary literature from sociology, political theory and science and technology studies, to investigate how politicians navigate their work and life.
Second, it presents ‘composite narratives’ to provide four different MPs’ stories.
Last, it draws conclusions and implications for practice.
It highlights three crucial factors:
Abstract
Action on climate change, to meet the targets set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, requires strong political support at the national level. Whilst the political and governance challenges of climate change have been discussed at length, there is little understanding of how politicians, as influential individuals within the political system, understand or respond to climate change.
This article presents findings from 14 qualitative interviews with Members of the UK Parliament, to discuss how politicians conceptualise climate change, and their deliberations on whether or how to act on the issue.
First, it reviews an interdisciplinary literature from sociology, political theory and science and technology studies, to investigate how politicians navigate their work and life.
Second, it presents ‘composite narratives’ to provide four different MPs’ stories.
Last, it draws conclusions and implications for practice.
It highlights three crucial factors:
- identity, or how politicians consider the climate issue in the context of their professional identity and the cultural norms of their workplace;
- representation, how politicians assess their role as a representative, and whether proposed political action on climate is seen as compatible with this representative function; and
- working practices, how day-to-day work rituals and pressures influence the aims, ambitions and engagement of politicians with climate change.
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Managing manipulation: tools and challenges in creative collaborations with intellectually-disabled people
an article by Michael Noonan (Department, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia) published in Disability & Society Volume 27 Issue 7 (December 2012)
Abstract
There has long been an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality when it comes to the production of disability narratives on screen, driven by an assumption that non-disabled people cannot accurately interpret the disabled experience.
Given the appalling history of representations by non-disabled filmmakers, it is easy to understand why many academics and members of the disability community favour the complete control of disability content by disabled people. But this approach has failed the many compelling ‘disabled voices’ that go unheard because they do not reach audiences.
The most practical solution is to forge new models of creative collaboration between disabled and non-disabled people, something I attempted to do with my PhD film, a comedy feature entitled Down Under Mystery Tour. I discovered that the most important tool in such collaborations is the utilisation and management of manipulation, one that prioritises skill and experience and best expresses the unique perspective of intellectually-disabled collaborators.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Youth representatives’ opinions on recruiting and representing young workers: A twofold unsatisfied demand?
an article by Kurt Vandaele (European Trade Union Institute, Brussels) published in European Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 18 Number 3 (September 2012)
Abstract
Unionisation levels are far lower among young workers than for the workforce in general. How can trade unions become more responsive to their particular interests and needs?
Union confederations, even in countries with decentralised union structures, have the potential to take effective initiatives to facilitate and support new organising strategies targeted at young workers, for example by spreading knowledge, practical skills and vision of relevance for improving the representation and recruitment of young workers.
Yet the survey findings reported here show that youth representatives across Europe find their confederations’ responsiveness and commitment to organising to be inadequate. Their dissatisfaction confirms previous research findings concerning young workers and their unfulfilled desire for unionisation.
Abstract
Unionisation levels are far lower among young workers than for the workforce in general. How can trade unions become more responsive to their particular interests and needs?
Union confederations, even in countries with decentralised union structures, have the potential to take effective initiatives to facilitate and support new organising strategies targeted at young workers, for example by spreading knowledge, practical skills and vision of relevance for improving the representation and recruitment of young workers.
Yet the survey findings reported here show that youth representatives across Europe find their confederations’ responsiveness and commitment to organising to be inadequate. Their dissatisfaction confirms previous research findings concerning young workers and their unfulfilled desire for unionisation.
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