Citizen Desires, Policy Outcomes, and Community Control

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68810/2/10.1177_107808747200800107.pd

Tracking the reflexivity of the (dis)engaged citizen: some methodological reflections

The relationship between governments and citizens in many contemporary democracies is haunted by uncertainty and sociologists face the task of listening effectively to citizens’ own reflections on this uncertain relationship. This article reflects on the qualitative methodology of a recently completed UK project which used a combination of diary and multiple interviews/ focus groups to track over a fieldwork period of up to a year citizens’ reflections on their relationship to a public world and the contribution to this of their media consumption. In particular, the article considers how the project’s multiple methods enabled multiple angles on the inevitable artificiality and performative dimension of the diary process, resulting in rich data on people’s complex reflections on the uncertain position of the contemporary citizen

Framing immigration and integration: Relationships between press and parliament in the Netherlands

This article examines how the salience and framing of political issues in the press and in parliament influence each other and how this salience and framing is influenced by key events outside the media and parliamentary realms. The case focused on is the debate on immigration and integration in the Netherlands between 1995 and 2004. The empirical analyses are based on a computer-assisted content analysis of both parliamentary documents and newspaper articles. Results show bidirectional causal relationships between media and parliament. In the case of salience only long-term influence relationships are found, while framing influences follow an interesting pattern: an increase in the use of a frame in one arena leads to an increase in the other arena only if this frame has already been used regularly in the latter arena. External events have more considerable and consistent impact on issue salience and framing in both arenas. Copyright © 2007 Sage Publications

Costs and Benefits of Stem Cell Research and Treatment: Media Presentation and Audience Understanding in Hungary

This study examined the press coverage and audience understanding of the costs and benefits of stem cell research/treatment in Hungary. A content analysis of five newspapers and a focus group study was conducted. The way participants talked about the costs and benefits in many aspects echoed the dominant framing of the issue in the press (medical benefits = main benefit, high expense of treatment = dominant negative aspect). Even though participants applied analogical reasoning to formulate some risks that were missing from the reporting on stem cells, many gaps of the media coverage were echoed in gaps in lay discussions

Elite Conflict Orientations in Polish and US Cities

This paper analyzes the values of local leaders in Poland and the United States. A matched subset of cities is used. Interview data were collected in the 1983-84 period. The focus is on elite views about political conflict. Striking differences were found in the types of problems seen as serious in their communities. Yet, similar proportions perceived and tolerated conflicts today as in 1966. Individual level data on leadership position, party affiliation or status, length of tenure and age revealed differences. And in both countries community differences were considerable.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66987/2/10.1177_019251218901000402.pd

Shop stewards’ leadership, left-wing activism and collective workplace union organisation

Providing an account of the dynamic interrelationship between shop steward leadership and membership interaction, Ralph Darlington focuses particular attention on the much-neglected crucial role that left-wing political activists can play in shaping the nature of collective workplace relations