The UK and Canada: democratic legitimacy could matter more than geographic representation in the upper chamber

Upper chambers have the potential to represent different geographic groups within a multinational state, and so accommodate minority identities. However, research by Mike Medeiros, Damien Bol and Richard Nadeau indicates that, though there is support for democratic reform of the House of Lords and Senate in Scotland and Quebec respectively, there is, in fact, greater support for central democratic reform than for subnational representation

The importance of language : the impact of linguistic vitality on intergroup tensions

Cette thèse vise à mieux comprendre les tensions ethniques. Ceci est fait en explorant, dans une étude en quatre parties, l'une de ses caractéristiques les plus importantes mais sévèrement négligées: la langue. S’inspirant des traditions de recherche de la sociolinguistique, de la psychologie sociale et de la science politique, cette thèse fournit une analyse en profondeur de l'influence de la langue sur les relations intergroupes. Elle le fait, spécifiquement, en se concentrant sur l'influence que la vitalité linguistique, la santé sociale d'une langue, a sur les tensions sociales. Cette thèse propose un cadre théorique dans lequel le niveau de vitalité linguistique contribue à générer des griefs culturels qui ont une incidence par la suite sur les relations intergroupes. Le premier article explore la relation macro entre la vitalité linguistique et l'intensité des conflits intergroupes. Les résultats, dérivés de données de l'Atlas UNESCO des langues en danger dans le monde et du projet Minorities at Risk (MAR), démontrent une relation curvilinéaire où les niveaux bas et élevé de vitalité linguistique génèrent une intensité inférieure au niveau modéré de vitalité. Ces résultats confirment que la vitalité linguistique est un déterminant important des tensions ethniques fondées sur la langue d'une manière générale, mais encore davantage pour les pays ayant plusieurs minorités linguistiques. Le deuxième article explore l'influence de la vitalité linguistique sur la confiance politique. Il utilise des données de l'Atlas UNESCO des langues en danger dans le monde ainsi que des données du European Social Survey (ESS). Les résultats soutiennent un modèle de médiation dans lequel la vitalité linguistique influence positivement la confiance politique d'une manière directe ainsi qu’indirectement par le biais de la discrimination perçue. Le troisième article cherche à isoler la séquence socio-psychologique qui relie la vitalité linguistique aux tensions intergroupes. Des données de sondage originales ont été recueillies auprès de francophones du Québec, de l'Ontario, du Nouveau-Brunswick et du Manitoba. Les résultats d’analyses de régression multiple soutiennent une séquence socio-psychologique dans laquelle la menace endogroupe influence les attitudes envers l’exogroupe par le biais de la menace perçue comme étant causée par l’exogroupe. Ainsi, ces constats soulignent l'importance des perceptions de la vitalité linguistique pour les attitudes intergroupes. Le quatrième article, produit en collaboration avec Patrick Fournier et Veronica Benet-Martinez, utilise un protocole expérimental pour déterminer le rôle causal de la vitalité linguistique sur les attitudes intergroupes. Les résultats démontrent que le type d'information, positif ou négatif, au sujet de la vitalité linguistique influence les perceptions de menace envers une langue. Cependant, les résultats quant à l'impact de l’information à propos de la vitalité linguistique sur les attitudes envers l’exogroupe, l’appui à la souveraineté et l'identité subjective sont moins évidents. Cette thèse permet de mieux comprendre les tensions intergroupes en démontrant le rôle important que joue la vitalité linguistique sur des phénomènes macros ainsi que sur les attitudes des individus.This dissertation seeks to add to the understanding of ethnic tensions. It does so by exploring in a four-part study one of its most important but severely overlooked features: language. Combining research traditions from sociolinguistics, social psychology and political science, this dissertation provides an in depth analysis of language’s influence on intergroup relations. It does so, specifically, by concentrating on the influence that linguistic vitality, the social health of a language, has on social tensions. This dissertation puts forward a theoretical framework in which linguistic vitality is presented as fueling cultural grievances, which subsequently impact intergroup relations. The first article explores the general macro-social relationship between linguistic vitality and intergroup conflict intensity. Using data from UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger and from the Minorities at Risk (MAR) project, the results show a curvilinear relationship in which low and high levels of linguistic vitality generate lower conflict intensity than moderate vitality levels. The findings support linguistic vitality as being an important determinant of language-based ethnic tensions in a general manner, but even more so for countries with multiple linguistic minorities. The second article explores the influence of linguistic vitality on political trust. The results of the analyses, using survey data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and linguistic vitality data from UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, show that linguistic vitality positively influences trust in national institutions and that perceptions of linguistic discrimination decrease political trust. The findings further indicate that the status of a language, how ‘official’ it is, also positively affects trust in national institutions. Therefore, language is clearly underscored as being an important dimension of political trust. The third article seeks to isolate the socio-psychological sequence which connects linguistic vitality and intergroup tensions. Original survey data was gathered from Francophones in Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba. The findings, using stepwise regression analyses, support a socio-psychological sequence in which in-group threat influences attitudes towards the out-group through the mediation of perceived threat caused by the out-group. Thus, these findings emphasize the importance of linguistic vitality perceptions on intergroup attitudes The fourth, and final, article, in collaboration with Patrick Fournier and Verònica Benet-Martínez, uses an experimental design to ascertain the causal role of linguistic vitality on intergroup attitudes. The results demonstrate that the type of information, positive or negative, on linguistic vitality influences perceptions of threat towards a language. However, results about linguistic vitality information’s impact on out-group attitudes, support for sovereignty and subjective identity were less one-sided. This dissertation permits to shine new light on group tensions by highlighting the important role that linguistic vitality plays on macro-social phenomena and micro-individual attitudes

Dangerous identities : the impact of fundamental ethnic identities on conflict intensity

Bien que plusieurs chercheurs aient analysé l'influence de divers facteurs sur l'intensité des conflits ethniques, il a été constaté que l'identité ethnique elle-même n'a jamais été correctement examinée. Ce phénomène est essentiellement dû à ce que nous croyons être une classification inexacte des groupes ethniques. Nous proposons une nouvelle méthode de catégorisation pour les identités ethniques présentant que la religion, la langue et la race forment les distinctions les plus précises et nous les classifions alors comme les identités ethniques fondamentales. Subséquemment, une étude comparative de ces identités ethniques a été entreprise avec l'utilisation de deux bases de données différentes: l’ensemble de données Battle Deaths qui est associé avec la base de données sur les conflits armés de l’UCDP/PRIO et la base de données Minorities at Risk. Les résultats, dans leur ensemble, ont indiqué que les identités ethniques avec des attachements émotifs plus intenses mènent à une plus grande intensité de conflit. Les conflits ethniques fondamentaux ont démontré une tendance à mener à des conflits plus intenses que les conflits ethniques non-fondamentaux. De plus, la similitude parmi les groupes ethniques tend à affaiblir l'intensité des conflits. En outre, l'étude a également conclu que plus le nombre d'identités ethnique fondamentales impliquées dans un conflit est grand, plus le conflit sera intense. Cependant, les résultats ne pouvaient pas déterminer une différence conséquente parmi l’influence relative des trois identités ethniques fondamentales.Though many have analyzed numerous factors’ influence on ethnic conflict intensity, it was found that ethnic identity itself has not been properly examined. This phenomenon is basically due to what we believe is improper ethnic group classification. We propose a new categorization method for ethnic identities putting forth religion, language and race as the clearest distinction of ethnic identity and labelling them as fundamental ethnic identities. Subsequently, a comparative examination of these ethnic identities was undertaken with the use of two different sources of data: the Battle Deaths dataset associated with the UCDP/PRIO data on armed conflicts and the Minorities at Risk dataset. The results, overall, indicated that ethnic identities with more intense emotional attachments lead to greater conflict intensity. Fundamental ethnic conflicts were shown to lead to greater intensity than non-fundamental ethnic conflicts. Also, similarity amongst ethnic groups was demonstrated to weaken conflict intensity. Furthermore, the study also concluded that the greater the number of fundamental ethnic identity differences involved in a conflict the more intense that conflict will be. However, the findings were unable to find any meaningful difference among the relative influence of the three fundamental ethnic identities

Recognizing the Needs of Others: Municipal Candidates’ Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations to Support Immigrants and Religious Minorities

This research examines the influence of political candidates’ personality dispositions and constituency characteristics on their assessments of the needs of immigrants and religious minorities. Previous research, drawing on data from citizens, links personality differences to attitudes toward diversity and support for minority communities. Extending this research to candidates during an ongoing election campaign, this study examines the interaction between constituency diversity and politicians’ intrinsic motivations to recognize the interests of immigrants and religious minorities. Using data from a unique candidate survey during the 2018 municipal elections in two large Canadian provinces (N = 1,073), results show that personality traits provide an intrinsic motivation, independent of candidates’ descriptive characteristics or the level of diversity in their constituency, to recognize a higher level of support needed by members of these diverse communities. More agreeable candidates are consistently more likely to acknowledge that more should be done for immigrants and religious minorities whereas the negative influence of conscientiousness on minority recognition is suppressed in highly diverse constituencies. The results extend previous research on personality and intergroup dynamics and situate candidates’ recognition of the needs of others as an important antecedent to political representation

A multimodalidade e os gêneros digitais: propostas de atividades em um livro didático de lingua inglesa

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPESAs mudanças recorrentes na comunicação e o advento de novas tecnologias têm impactos em diferentes campos da sociedade, inclusive no ensino de línguas, que precisa atender a essas novas demandas. Este trabalho reflete sobre as abordagens dessa nova configuração de linguagens a partir de atividades que contemplem o letramento digital em aulas de língua inglesa. Para isso, realizamos a análise de atividades da coleção IT FITS. da SM Editora, com ênfase na funcionalidade das propostas com vistas ao desenvolvimento do letramento digital. O trabalho justifica-se e baseia-se teoricamente nas ideias da pedagogia dos multiletramentos (NEW LONDON GROUP, 1994), que ressaltam a importância da escola enquanto responsável pelo desenvolvimento de diferentes letramentos a partir do estudo da linguagem, e autores que dialogam com a teoria dos multiletramentos, como Rojo (2012) e Cope e Kalantzis (2009), dentre outros. A abordagem metodológica utilizada foi a qualitativa, de natureza descritiva e interpretativista, na medida em que utilizamos o referencial teórico para refletir sobre o corpus analisado. Os resultados apontam que o livro analisado tem relevância quando se trata de desenvolver letramento digital, pois leva em conta a inserção dessas práticas multimídias presentes no cotidiano dos alunos.São Cristóvão, S

Spontaneous In Vivo Chondrogenesis of Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells by Blocking Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Signaling

Chondrogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) can be induced by presenting morphogenetic factors or soluble signals but typically suffers from limited efficiency, reproducibility across primary batches, and maintenance of phenotypic stability. Considering the avascular and hypoxic milieu of articular cartilage, we hypothesized that sole inhibition of angiogenesis can provide physiological cues to direct in vivo differentiation of uncommitted MSCs to stable cartilage formation. Human MSCs were retrovirally transduced to express a decoy soluble vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor-2 (sFlk1), which efficiently sequesters endogenous VEGF in vivo, seeded on collagen sponges and immediately implanted ectopically in nude mice. Although naïve cells formed vascularized fibrous tissue, sFlk1-MSCs abolished vascular ingrowth into engineered constructs, which efficiently and reproducibly developed into hyaline cartilage. The generated cartilage was phenotypically stable and showed no sign of hypertrophic evolution up to 12 weeks. In vitro analyses indicated that spontaneous chondrogenic differentiation by blockade of angiogenesis was related to the generation of a hypoxic environment, in turn activating the transforming growth factor-β pathway. These findings suggest that VEGF blockade is a robust strategy to enhance cartilage repair by endogenous or grafted mesenchymal progenitors. This article outlines the general paradigm of controlling the fate of implanted stem/progenitor cells by engineering their ability to establish specific microenvironmental conditions rather than directly providing individual morphogenic cues.; Chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) is typically targeted by morphogen delivery, which is often associated with limited efficiency, stability, and robustness. This article proposes a strategy to engineer MSCs with the capacity to establish specific microenvironmental conditions, supporting their own targeted differentiation program. Sole blockade of angiogenesis mediated by transduction for sFlk-1, without delivery of additional morphogens, is sufficient for inducing MSC chondrogenic differentiation. The findings represent a relevant step forward in the field because the method allowed reducing interdonor variability in MSC differentiation efficiency and, importantly, onset of a stable, nonhypertrophic chondrocyte phenotype