Examining prejudice reduction through solidarity and togetherness experiences among Gezi Park activists in Turkey

Prejudice reduction research has focused on reducing negative regard as a means to improve relations between various groups (e.g., religious, ethnic, political). Though positive regard between groups may be created, these forms of contact and common identification do not alter policy orientations of advantaged groups toward disadvantaged ones. Rather than intergroup contact, it is suggested that a collective action model of prejudice reduction (Dixon, J., Levine, M., Reicher, S., & Durrheim, K. (2012). Beyond prejudice: Are negative evaluations the problem and is getting us to like one another more the solution? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35, 411-425) would create ties between disadvantaged groups to work toward beneficial policy change. We seek to show that the Gezi Park protests in Taksim, İstanbul functioned as an intergroup phenomenon, requiring the cooperation of a number of disadvantaged groups (e.g., feminists, Kurds) working together to improve the status of all present. In a series of interviews with 34 activists from the Gezi Park protests, participants were to reflect on their individual and group-based experiences during their time in the Gezi Park protests. Data indicate that although a few groups remained distant or disconnected during the protests, a common ground was achieved such that some participants were able to overcome past prejudices. Data also indicate that through group perceptions and individuals’ descriptions of events, groups who had previously not been able to cooperate were able to work and stick together at Gezi. Results also imply, in line with Dixon et al. (2012), that if disadvantaged groups work together, they might change the position of their groups and improve each group’s disadvantaged position via collective action

Immersion and togetherness: How live visualization of audience engagement can enhance music events

This paper evaluates the influence of an additional visual aesthetic layer on the experience of concert goers during a live event. The additional visual layer incorporates musical features as well as bio-sensing data collected during the concert, which is coordinated by our audience engagement monitoring technology. This technology was used during a real Jazz concert. The collected measurements were used in an experiment with 32 participants, where two different forms of visualization were compared: one factoring in music amplitude, audience engagement collected by the sensors and the dynamic atmosphere of the event, the other one purely relying on the beat of the music. The findings indicate that the visual layer could add value to the experience if used during a live concert, providing a higher level of immersion and feeling of togetherness among the audience

The crowd psychology of the Hajj

This thesis is the first study of the crowd psychology of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) in Saudi Arabia, to employ self-categorization theory (SCT). The thesis aims to document and understand the perspective of pilgrims from a social psychological point of view, since no one has done that before, as well as to understand the perceptions of the Hajj management. Specifically, the thesis focuses on crowd perceptions, feelings of safety and the reasons for these feelings, and relations between subgroups in the crowd and between pilgrims and management. A literature review in Chapter two highlights the history and culture of the Hajj and the issues in managing the Hajj. Academic perspectives on crowd psychology are discussed in chapter three. Chapters four and five present respectively a UK pilot study of pilgrims and a field pilot study of pilgrims and management. Chapter six (the main interview study with pilgrims) indicates that despite the inconveniences, participants felt safe, secure and wellbeing inside the Grand Mosque during Hajj. Chapter seven (the main interview study with Hajj management) explores the participants’ understanding of crowd behaviour, crowd psychology and its relation to safety, danger and their own role. In Chapter eight (the major study of the thesis), a survey of 1194 pilgrims at the Hajj found that identification with the crowd predicted enjoyment of the crowd. Also, for those high in identification with the crowd, crowd density increased perceptions of safety. Perceived support was found to mediate these positive effects of social identity on feeling safe. Chapter nine critically explores the findings of the thesis and discusses them in relation to relevant literature. It also reflects on the implications of the study for the theory of crowd psychology, and considers what lessons there might be for the management of the Hajj. This chapter concludes the thesis and outlines suggestions for further research

Experiencing the flash mob: Meanings and experiences in an unplanned event in Singapore

The flash mob phenomenon while capturing public interests and trending globally on social media, has not been comprehensively investigated conceptually. While this contemporary topic has been examined by authors in a small number of disciplines, its investigation and conceptualization within event studies has been limited. This study explores the phenomenon of flash mobs from an experiential and psychological perspective. Specifically, it investigates the dimensions of personal and social experiences and meanings within the context of flash mobs as unplanned and spontaneous events from an Asian perspective. Data for this study was gathered using the specific example of a flash mob created and performed by a group of 45 students at a mall in Singapore, themed around the Lunar New Year festivities. Qualitative interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, observation and post-activity focus group were employed to collect narratives from participants (flash mobbers) and audience in this exploratory study

From being one to being-in-common: political performativity, proxemics, and the joys of provisional unity

In 2013, Erdum Gunduz’s passive "standing man" performance in Istanbul spontaneously attracted thousands of participants, online followers and copyists in public acts of dissent. But exactly what form of new social relations, or more precisely, what kind of collective emancipatory political engagement did this facilitate? This paper examines the consequentialities of performative modes of "being public" through addressing the shift from "being singular" to "being plural" or, more pertinently, "being-in-common" (Nancy 2000). Reflecting on the historical activities of the Dutch Provo, which briefly enacted mayhem in public in the mid-1960s through a set of performative strategies, it considers a disparate set of situated but transitory "improvisational forms of public assembly" (Butler 2015, 22) from passive acts of togetherness to collective viral performative utterances (e.g., We are Charlie 2015; Oh Jeremy Corbyn! 2017). Informed by Lauren Berlant’s (2016) troubling of the ambiguous and contingent nature of collective encounters of "becoming common," this paper acknowledges there is a preponderance of positivist political fantasizing associated with "being in proximity." That said, it concludes that public participative modes of performance that embrace spatial proxemics facilitate the development of alternative subjectivities through affective bodily encounters between strangers. These collective encounters of incipient "commoning" (Stavrides 2016) resonate with what Jeremy Gilbert refers to as the boundlessness, the "infinite relationality" (Gilbert 2014) of the human condition. While collective acts of political performativity may be fugitive in their convergent emancipatory politics, they engender a provisional unity toward being-in-common, a foundational ontological state to which individuals are already predisposed

Being there live:How liveness is realized through media use at contemporary cultural events

Liveness is a key concern in media studies, yet has been mostly theorized as a phenomenon related to broadcasting and is understudied for the Internet and social media. This study is an appeal for preserving liveness as a concept that continuously evolves as new media technologies emerge. In addition, it argues for and contributes empirical work to media scholarship on liveness. Through extensive fieldwork on the ground and online at three annual Dutch cultural events – Oerol Festival 2017, 3FM Serious Request 2017, and Pride Amsterdam 2018 – using ethnographic, digital and visual methods, it examined actual situated live instances and the media practices of people experiencing them. The matter of live media practices at cultural events is topical against the background of processes of mediatization and festivalization in the 2010s, and the intersection of these processes as the COVID-19 crisis boosted mediated communication and restricted physical gathering.This thesis challenges media theory’s conceptualization of liveness as mediated presence to an unfolding reality that exists in and of itself. It asserts that this is not only an outdated understanding, but one that impedes comprehending what “truly being there live” means. Empirical observations and analysis reveal the constructive role live media practices play in realizing live instances. Live instances, this study suggests, are realized when event-joiners align their physical event environment and the various mediated contexts in which they are continuously involved as users of smartphones, social media, TV, and direct messaging apps. It is through their live media practices that they constitute their sense of “being there live” as “being now here together,” in relation to distant times, places, and others. By arguing that live instances are situated in both physical and mediated contexts, this study contributes to and shows valuable directions for future academic research. It also offers tools that can be used for innovating the design of future media and cultural events.<br/

Social Movements in Tunisia and Egypt: A Tale of Two Revolutions

In this paper, the author addresses the Arab uprisings both in Tunisia and Egypt. He tries to explain to which extent the so called Arab Spring is amongst social movements which joins   in global ones related to capitalist world system and to its local allies authoritarian regimes in Middle East and North Africa. Those new social movements could be explained by people outrages due to social inequalities, injustices, and human rights abuses. The uprisings are triggered by outrages and hopes for better society. They are wireless because they were fuelled and framed by new media (Internet, Face Book, Twitter), leaderless in the sense that they sparked collectively and without any ideology, religion, or leader. The study theoretical framework draws from literature’s review on the issues of World System (Wallerstein 1970s), the concept of power according to: (Max Weber 1978; Michel Foucault 1984; Jürgen Habermas 1991; Craig Calhoun 1992; Seyla Ben Habib 2012; Nancy Fraser 1990s and others). In order to better understand the social movements in Arab World, the author used the concept of System, Actors, Emotions, Strategies, opportunities, and contexts. Finally, the objective of this research is explain to which extent Arab uprisings are in fact social movements linked to the social and political changes in Arab societies in the arena of wider global social movements