| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Lindberg, Mats, 1947-
(author)
-
The VDP-triad in ideational analysis. Toward a general theory of ideological thought-content in social and political communicationj, debate, thought and language - beyond the concepts 'ideology', 'culture', 'belief-system', 'discourse' and 'policy' : Part I
- 2018
-
In: Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift. - Lund : Fahlbeckska stiftelsen, Lunds universitet. - 0039-0747. ; 120:2, s. 277-359
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- I will propose a unified analytical frame, or a general theory, of the inner structure of social and political thought or ideas, as well as idea-systems. I will reconstruct and modernize the (not totally original, yet partwise forgotten) hypothesis that all social and political thought consists of three generic thought dimensions, underlying the symbolic surface of the language-use: first, values or value-judgements (V); secondly, descriptions and judgements of reality (D); thirdly, prescriptions, recommendations or practical proposals for action (P). These three, I hold, are always directly or indirectly combined in argument-sequences of practical reasoning. I term these argument-sequences VDP–triads. Such triads – this is the kernel of my proposed general theory – form the argumentative (dialogical or dialectical), action-guiding and action-directing backbone of the common ideal-type political ideologies (such as liberalism, conservatism, feminism etc.). They are also present as the inner argumentative backbone of deliberative political debate, public policy, and opinion-forming political propaganda; and of the cultural beliefs and action-guiding or action-accompanying thoughts in everyday, social and political communication and language. My proposed general theory is thus content-oriented and morphological, regarding the thought-content and inner structure of ideas and idea-systems; not functional or causal, regarding the societal role or spread of ideas, or the psychological or historical origins of them.The theory-developing method is synthesizing and reconstructive, based on a concept-historical, concept-critical and theory-critical investigation of the prevailing knowledge situation. I use already existing theoretical building-bricks from the three main theoretical traditions regarding ideas: the political science knowledge tradition regarding ‘political ideologies’, as well as a bunch of approach-specific concepts like ’policy’ or ‘doctrine’; general social theory regarding ‘culture’ respectively ‘ideology’; and the Marxist and post-Marxist notions of ‘dominant Ideology’ and ‘dominant Discourse’. All these three theoretical traditions have conceptual shortcomings in some respects, as I see it, or have tenable theorems in other respects. Thus, I find some theoretical building-bricks useful, while others are disregarded or dismissed. My proposed general theory consists of three parts: 1) a theoretical anchoring in general social theory; 2) a theoretical model (the VDP-triad); and 3) a two-level analytical scheme, involving the fundamental and the operative levels of action-guiding or action-accompanying thought. As a scientific hypothesis, brought forth through critical analysis of the prevailing knowledge situation, and a subsequent, reconstructive and synthesizing effort, I consider my proposed general theory (hypothetically) as the argued ‘strong alternative’ compared to the other theoretical alternatives.My elaborations start from a meta-theoretical perspective of political understanding and from the notion of the rationalizing mission for the social sciences, especially political science, vis-à-vis the actual problems of the contemporary situation, the proposed public policies and the positions of various actors in the political debate. The theory is intended for use in descriptive, content-oriented and classificatory analyses of social and political ideas (idea-analysis); and in systematic, empirically, logically and normatively rationalizing criticism of the same ideas (idea-criticism).
|
|
| 3. |
- Lindberg, Mats, 1947-
(author)
-
The VDP-triad in Ideational Analysis. Toward a general theory of ideological thought-content in social and political communication, debate, thought and language – beyond the concepts ‘ideology’, ‘culture’, ‘belief-system’, ‘discourse’ and ‘policy’ : Part II
- 2018
-
In: Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift. - Lund : Fahlbeckska stiftelsen, Lunds universitet. - 0039-0747. ; 120:3-4, s. 435-554
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article is the second part (Part II) of a longer essay with the aim to propose a unified analytical framework, or a general theory, of ideological thought content. As we saw in Part I (in Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift 2018/2) I suggest that all social and political communication and language consists of three basic kinds of thought: values (V), descriptions (D) and prescriptions (P). These are connected in quasi-logical sequences of practical reasoning. On these grounds I propose the theoretical model of the VDP-triad. I also present an attached analytical scheme for content-oriented idea-analysis and idea-criticism. The scheme involves two basic levels of ideological thought – present in all social and political thought and language – the fundamental level (of philosophical principles, worldviews or human nature) and the operative level (of practical analyses of the situation and practical suggestions for action). My general method in theory development is presented as reconstructive theoretical synthesis, drawing on earlier, prevailing theories and empirical research of the ideational phenomenon in society. Part One consisted of Chapter One, ‘Bringing ideas back in’ (Sections 1–7), and Chapter Two, ‘Encircling the proposed general theory’ (Sections 8–14). Part Two, here (published in Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift 2018/3-4) moves from hypotheses and preliminaries to actual, constructive theoretical work. Chapter Three is titled ‘The three main concepts of ideology in the prevailing knowledge situation; and the three main concepts of discourse’. This chapter contains a critical investigation of the three main theoretical traditions in contemporary social science regarding the ideational phenomenon in society, each with a concept of ‘ideology’ of its own. In Section 16 we find the sociological knowledge tradition and the concept of ‘culture’ where ‘ideology’ is seen as a sub-variant of ‘culture’. In section 17 we find the political science knowledge tradition and the concept of (plural) ‘political ideologies’ in parties and organizations on the input side of the political system. In section 18 we find the Marxist tradition with the notion of ‘the (dominating) ideology in society’, including the Foucauldian concept of a ‘(dominating) discourse’; I thus include Foucault and the Foucauldians in the Marxist family tree. In Section 19 I turn to the concept of ‘discourse’ as it is used in the discipline of linguistics, in studies of social and political language. My main concern is how the concept of ‘ideology’ in the prominent research program Critical Discourse Analysis is related to the linguistic concept of ‘discourse’. Later, in Chapter Four, Section 20, we will brush against some more conceptualizations in other, approach-bound terminologies regarding social and political ideas. Chapter four, ‘Working towards the general theory’ (Sections 20–22) is a kind of bridge between the critical explorations of the theoretical traditions in the prevailing knowledge situation (in Chapter Three) and the actual reconstruction-construction of the proposed general theory. In Chapter four we will meet a flowerbed of analytical concepts used in various empirical approaches, like ‘belief-system’, ‘frame’ or ‘policy’ (Section 20). I show a possible way how these concepts might be integrated in my general theory of ideological thought-content, the VDP-triad. Or to put it the other way around, how the concept ‘ideological thought-content’ of the VDP-triad would be possible to use in any of these different approaches. After that we meet (Section 21) the underlying assumption of communicative actions and interactions as the social theoretical anchorage for my theorizing (see also Part I, Section 8; and Section 16 here below). We also meet the underlying assumption of language in my theorizing (Section 22), where the (ordinary) social and political language in communicative actions is proposed to be generically dialogical, dialectical or argumentative (see also Part I, Section 14; and Section 29 here below). Chapter five, at last, is titled ‘Proposing the general theory’ and is doing exactly that. In the Sections 23–28 all building-bricks and connective fittings that have been brought forward so far in the foregoing chapters are assembled, ending up in the VDP-triad as the backbone of my proposed general theory. Section 29 is a comment on the intricacies of the methodological use of the VDP-triad, the procedure of interpretation in the process of discerning and describing the three basic kinds of thought involved in all social and political thought, communication and language. Then follows Chapter six, the conclusion (Section 30), where I summarize the perceived merits of my proposed general theory, suggesting it as ‘The strong alternative’ among other, available theoretical suggestions.
|
|
| 4. |
- Lindberg, Mats, 1947-
(author)
-
Qualitative analysis of ideas and ideological content
- 2017
-
In: Analyzing text and discourse. - London : Sage Publications. - 9781473913745 - 9781473913752 ; , s. 86-121
-
Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this chapter, the basics of “Qualitative Analysis of Ideas and Ideological Content”, as a methodological approach, is presented from a quite original perspective. A unified analytical model is put forward as the starting point, termed ‘The VDP–triad’. The model is developed from the basic notion that all social and political communication and language consists of three generic, fundamental thought-dimensions: values (V), descriptions (D) and prescriptions (P). These three are connected in quasi-logical, argumentative sequences of practical reasoning – VDP-triads – which give social and political communication or discourse (text or talk) an action-guiding force, and hence an ideological or political meaning. Since all society and politics is made up of structured actions and interactions, all society is dependent on ‘meaningful’, action-guiding communication and language. Ideas or ideological content, thus, is related to the preservation or change of the social order, that is, the preservation or change of the institutions of society; as when traditional patriarchal soiciety, for example, is giving way for modern, liberal institutions. In this way, the analysis of ideas is connected to all political analysis; whether of the thought of movements and parties, media messages, governmental debates or public policies. Methodologically, five types of investigation and analysis of ideas is presented in a six-fold table: on the one axis the distinction is made between content-oriented respectively explanation-oriented modes of idea-analysis, on the other axis three epistemological attitudes are discerned, the descriptive, the critical and the normative. Together these make up the five types: 1) descriptive, interpretative idea-analysis, 2) assessing and scrutinizing idea-criticism, 3) normative proposals from the side of the researcher, 4) historical and empirical explanative analysis, and 5) ideology-critique, explaining and dismantling the social function of ideas. The first of these, descriptive and interpretative idea-analysis, is regarded as basic to all the others, containing the basic method of qualitative idea-analysis. The VDP-triad is complemented with and analytical scheme, with two basic levels, the fundamental level (of worldview, basic values and human nature) and the operative level (of practical thought in practical situations). Finally, two illustrating analyses are performed, to show the practicality of the VDP-triad and the analytical scheme. The first regards the party platform the British Women’s Equality Party (WEP), founded in 2015. The second regards the speech of His Holiness Pope Francis, delivered in the UN General Assembly, also in 2015.
|
|
| 5. |
- Andersson, Gunnar, et al.
(author)
-
Minnesord: Thomas Brante 1947–2016
- 2016
-
In: Sociologisk forskning. - : Sveriges Sociologförbund. - 0038-0342 .- 2002-066X. ; 53:4, s. 437-442
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)
|
|
| 6. |
- Hedström, Ragnar, 1952-, et al.
(author)
-
Innovationsupphandling och implementering av komplexa signalsystem : arbetsprocesser och verktyg
- 2016
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Projektets syfte är att identifiera problem och behov som möjliggör att en beställarorganisation uppnår målen för funktionalitet, tid och budget för innovationsupphandling av signalsystem. En litteraturgenomgång och att antal workshops med efterföljande strukturerad analys har genomförts. Spårburen trafik har någon form av styrsystem och säkerhetskoncept där signalsystemet utgör en väsentlig del av säkerheten. Ur ett systemperspektiv är signalsystem en komplex och tekniskt avancerad infrastruktur som behöver behandlas tvärvetenskapligt. Varje delsystem och varje objekt i trafikstyrningssystemet är vanligtvis inte komplicerat i sig självt. Kombinationen av många delsystem och integrationen med övrig infrastruktur skapar en komplex struktur och blir en abstrakt, icke visuell skapelse. För att hantera komplexiteten och närma sig ett hanterbart sätt att identifiera vilka behov som finns för en effektiv och innovativ utveckling av signalsystem gjordes en analys av signalsystem ur ett processperspektiv. Behoven analyserades sedan ur två teoretiska perspektiv – Integrerad Produktutveckling (IPU) och Systems Engineering (SE) som båda innehåller beskrivningar av hur olika aktörer vid produktutveckling bör involveras med avseende på roller och ansvar. Analyserna och resultatet från workshopen identifierade ett antal problemområden som behöver hanteras för att utveckling av signalsystem ska kunna genomföras på ett bättre sätt i framtiden. Flera problemområden finns identifierade i teoretiska beskrivningar för i IPU och SE men de behöver anpassas till beställarorganisationer.
|
|
| 7. |
- Bal, Zelal, 1978-
(author)
-
Pro-kurdiska politiska motståndsstrategier i Turkiet : en diskursiv analys
- 2014
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis focuses on pro-kurdish activism in Turkey during 2005–2009. It is based on a large number of interviews conducted with activists within the Diyarbakır area. The form of activism that this study seeks to describe is civil and political activism conducted within the legal framework ofTurkey’s judicial system and international law.The purpose of this thesis is to examine what kind of resistance strategies are used by pro-Kurdish political activists in Turkey, focusing on how these strategies are reflected in the language used by the respondents. The main question posed in the thesis is: What resistance strategies are used within the pro-Kurdish movement in Turkey? Two additional questions were also posed in order to make it possible to answer the main question. The first of these is: What external conditions influence pro-Kurdish mobilization in Turkey during the study’s time frame? In order to answer this question a theoretical framework is used that includes theories about ethnopolitical mobilization and political opportunity structures. The second question is: What resistance strategies are reflected in the language used by the pro-Kurdish activists?An important resistance strategy used by the pro-Kurdish activists is to adapt the language used in public communication to the legal and political environment in which they find themselves. They make linguistic choices in order to convey political messages while minimizing the legal consequences of doing so. The resistance strategies reflected in the interviews with the activists also include efforts to build organizations and cooperations at different levels, ranging from the international to the local level. Resistance strategies also include choices regarding what medium and language to use in promoting pro-Kurdish politics.
|
|
| 8. |
- Hall, Colin J., et al.
(author)
-
A solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance study of post-plasma reactions in organosilicone microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) coatings
- 2014
-
In: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1944-8244 .- 1944-8252. ; 6:11, s. 8353-8362
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Plasma-polymerized organosilicone coatings can be used to impart abrasion resistance and barrier properties to plastic substrates such as polycarbonate. Coating rates suitable for industrial-scale deposition, up to 100 nm/s, can be achieved through the use of microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), with optimal process vapors such as tetramethyldisiloxane (TMDSO) and oxygen. However, it has been found that under certain deposition conditions, such coatings are subject to post-plasma changes; crazing or cracking can occur anytime from days to months after deposition. To understand the cause of the crazing and its dependence on processing plasma parameters, the effects of post-plasma reactions on the chemical bonding structure of coatings deposited with varying TMDSO-to-O2 ratios was studied with 29Si and 13C solid-state magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) using both single-pulse and cross-polarization techniques. The coatings showed complex chemical compositions significantly altered from the parent monomer. 29Si MAS NMR spectra revealed four main groups of resonance lines, which correspond to four siloxane moieties (i.e., mono (M), di (D), tri (T), and quaternary (Q)) and how they are bound to oxygen. Quantitative measurements showed that the ratio of TMDSO to oxygen could shift the chemical structure of the coating from 39% to 55% in Q-type bonds and from 28% to 16% for D-type bonds. Post-plasma reactions were found to produce changes in relative intensities of 29Si resonance lines. The NMR data were complemented by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Together, these techniques have shown that the bonding environment of Si is drastically altered by varying the TMDSO-to-O2 ratio during PECVD, and that post-plasma reactions increase the cross-link density of the silicon-oxygen network. It appears that Si-H and Si-OH chemical groups are the most susceptible to post-plasma reactions. Coatings produced at a low TMDSO-to-oxygen ratio had little to no singly substituted moieties, displayed a highly cross-linked structure, and showed less post-plasma reactions. However, these chemically more stable coatings are less compatible mechanically with plastic substrates, because of their high stiffness.
|
|
| 9. |
- Eriksson [Engvall], Gunilla, 1976-
(author)
-
The intelligence discourse : the Swedish military intelligence (MUST) as a producer of knowledge
- 2013
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Directorate (MUST) is a producer of knowledge, a knowledge that is fundamental for decisionmaking in foreign and security policy. The intelligence knowledge production is often held as objective, value neutral, and with the intention of ‘speaking truth onto power’. However, this study holds that such a perspective on intelligence knowledge production calls for a revision. Hence, the overall purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of knowledge in intelligence analysis and also to investigate how that knowledge is affected by the social context of its production, the military intelligence service. The source material is of three kinds; first texts and documents, second interviews with intelligence analysts and managers, and third observations of seminars and meetings during the production process of estimates.The results are that there is a strong presence of an implicit interpretive framework that continuously influences and guides the knowledge production and thereby makes the knowledge dependent on one specific perspective contrary to the intentional objectivity within the intelligence service. Further, the study reveals that the social and discursive practices for intelligence knowledge production include a ‘logic of appropriateness’ suggesting the presence of a structured Denkkollektiv with a structured Denkstil. The actions and choices of the individuals are transformed to create conformity to the norms within the social discursive practices. Thus, the inherited frame of interpretation, as well as the socialised norm of staying within the existing accepted frames ofthinking and acting ends up to the stability and duration of the not always accurate and fruitful Denkstil.At the core of political science resides the question of how policy is shaped. Even though this study has focused merely on one organisation in a specific policy field in one country it brings insights to the knowledge and policy nexus.
|
|
| 10. |
- Jämte, Jan, 1979-
(author)
-
Antirasismens många ansikten
- 2013
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis contributes to the knowledge and understanding of the anti-racist movement in Sweden by describing its development from the early 1930s to the mid-2000s. It pays special attention to mapping and analyzing the ideas that have motivated anti-racist activities and their importance for mobilizing support and movement activity. Using the theoretical toolbox of the framing perspective, the strengths, weaknesses, possibilities and limitations of different anti-racist frames are discussed, as are the consequences of different types of intra-movement frame disputes and frame contests with external actors.By tracing and describing the historical development of the movement and different types of anti-racist frames, I create a typology of different anti-racist actors - what I call pragmatic, radical and moderate anti-racists. The activities of these types of actors are described throughout the long and winding history of the movement. In the thesis, the movement’s history is divided into four waves of protest. The movement’s roots stretch back to the 1930s and the struggle against Fascism and Nazism. It continues during the 1960s and onwards with the anti-apartheid movement, the 1980s mass mobilizations against domestic racist groups and the intensified struggles of the last decades against racist extremism, right-wing populism and various aspects of structural racism. Based on the typology, three cases are selected for further scrutiny. Pragmatic anti-racism is studied through the activities of Stoppa rasismen (Stop racism) in the 1980s, radical anti-racism through Antifascistisk aktion (Antifascist action, also known as AFA) during the 1990s and moderate anti-racism through Samling mot rasism och diskriminering (Gathering against racism and discrimination) at the turn of the millennium. By gaining access to extensive empirical material I have been able to follow each case from its first steps to its downfall. The material has been gathered from a variety of sources using different qualitative techniques. I have conducted semi-structured interviews with activists and analyzed protocols, pamphlets, journals, internal bulletins, mails, posters, speeches, web pages that have been disbanded, pictures, films and books.The analysis shows that the different types of actors face different challenges, and have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to mobilizing consensus and fostering participation. However, the three actors have also faced common challenges when trying to mobilize against racism given the national context, the self-image of Sweden as a tolerant, open and egalitarian country and the dominant views of racism, which taken together has turned racism into a serious but fairly marginal problem. The analysis also shows the effects of frame disputes and frame contests with regard to diagnostic, prognostic and motivational aspects of framing. At times the dividing lines have led to a broadening of the movement and its work, creating a wide mobilization potential and a strong multitudinous movement. During other periods the differences have contributed to long and profound conflicts that have drained the organizations and activists of time, resources and energy. Instead of focusing on combating their opponents, the anti-racist groups have been engulfed in internal strife, which has severely fragmented, divided and weakened the movement and hindered mobilization – contributing to turning the movement into a dispersed “milieu” by the mid-2000s. The thesis concludes with a chapter discussing how the empirical applicability of the framing perspective can be improved.
|
|
