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This paper explores the ways in which national governments address the social inclusion of disadvantaged and disenfranchised groups in official strategy documents of the state. Data for this study come from a corpus of four key government strategy papers concerning Roma inclusion published by the Romanian Government between 2001 and 2015. This paper specifically looks at the ways in which strategy documents frame the problem of "crime" in the context of Roma inclusion. Texts were analysed using a critical frame analysis approach complemented by insights from discursive research. The findings highlight that although generally government policy on the Roma adopts and promotes a progressive/liberal agenda that aligns with EU strategic goals, pronounced ambivalence towards Roma people and subtle forms of racism are still present and persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper aims to provide a short guide on how community psychologists can contribute to the improvement of rural young people's prospects. After briefly introducing the demographic trends of these young people in continental Europe for the past decade, we list the current challenges faced by rural European young generations, as well as the opportunities emerging for them from the twin transition that can inspire the community psychology field. We then contextualize community psychologists' interventions in this domain according to an ecological‐systemic standpoint and by embracing a Participatory Action Research (PAR) perspective on research and practice. We further detail the reasons for adopting a PAR approach in research and practice to address rural young people's challenges and opportunities. Finally, we highlight four potential intermediation missions to uphold community psychologists' rural youth development input, based on the adopted theoretical and methodological standpoint. We conclude that our short guide can facilitate community psychology professionals' complete understanding of rural young generations' prospects, in line with the expected increase in the need for rural young people's participation. Our proposal may also have long‐term benefits for rural communities by contributing to the redesigning of intergenerational relationships and securing critical mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse discourses about Europe in Greek debates about immigration and citizenship and highlight the complexities of 'Europeanness' as a symbolic resource for argumentation in these debates. Our data consist of lay discourses from 2 rounds of online public deliberation (2009-2010 and 2015) about a controversial new citizenship law in Greece. Our analysis shows that Europe is an ambivalent category. On the one hand, Europe symbolises progress, but, on the other hand, it is also constructed in terms of decline and 'contamination' by multiculturalism. Further, our analysis shows that the category of Europe can be mobilised in contradictory ways, in order to support arguments for and against citizenship rights for migrants. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which constructions of Europe are implicated in processes of othering and inclusion in the context of current immigration debates. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on elements of critical discursive psychology in order to explore some of the issues and concerns raised by parents' responses to the policy and practice of school choice. Drawing on data from a group of mothers of diverse social class and racial backgrounds, this paper examines the dilemmas some mothers engage with in their role as chooser-reconciling competing rationalities for choosing or trying to manage contradictions. A central argument of this paper is that the policy and political context shaping the emergence of school choice in Britain has provisionally secured the development of certain trends in education-consumerism, individualism and competition. Alongside and coupled with this has been the veneration of a narrow utilitarian conception of parents as consumers of education services, defined as people who share the capacity and willingness to maximize the utility of their decisions in a rationally self-interested way. This paper questions the value of this approach as a framing for understanding the aspirations, motivations and fantasies informing parents' school choice and highlights instead the ways in which some mothers articulate the importance of community in their decision-making practices. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Research on ideological attitudes has identified two main dimensions that refer to two fundamental features of group organization: social solidarity and social control. In response to prior research that has studied their relationship mainly from a correlational perspective, this paper introduces a social reality model based on psychological functionality of ideological attitudes. Social position variables (education, income and material vulnerability) and insecurity variables (fear of crime and distrust) are used to predict the interplay between ideological attitudes towards social solidarity and social control. Using K-means cluster analysis, a typology with four patterns of support for solidarity and control ('socials', 'repressives', 'minimalists' and 'social-repressives') was created, on the basis of representative survey data for the UK, France and Germany ( N = 7034). Results from logistic regression analyses show that the proposed social reality model explains membership in typology categories, with similar results across the three countries. Overall, the model underscores the social origins of ideological attitudes as functional responses to perceived social reality. The paper illustrates how the social psychological study of ideological attitudes may be enriched by a typological approach that examines patterns of attitudes rather than single dimensions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News media play a central role in processes of symbolic power through which social issues are defined and solutions legitimized. This paper explores the role of newspaper coverage in the public construction of the New Zealand Government's Working for Families package designed to address child poverty. This package was criticized publicly by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) for targeting financial support to working families and neglecting families who derive their income from state benefits. We document the resulting news controversy through analyses of press releases from Government and CPAG, the accounts of journalists and representatives of CPAG, news reports and four focus group discussions with beneficiary parents. We propose that psychologists engage more fully with processes of symbolic power currently shaping public constructions of poverty and policy responses. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the true reasons for happiness that exist in different social groups is important, especially in the case of those groups where poverty strongly dominates people's well‐being and happiness. To understand the factors that determine happiness among poor communities, this study collected data in the form of 1,793 responses from low‐income communities, who constitute 40% of Malaysia's workforce. To ascertain the feelings and emotional responses of the target group, primary source data were collected based on a questionnaire survey utilising the Lokman Emotion Importance Quadrant (LEIQ™) model. The data were analysed using text mining techniques based on R‐Language software. According to the findings, happiness in Malaysian low‐income communities is primarily shaped by concerns about family matters such as success, care issues, education and so on. Interestingly, government financial support, money, income and work matters are only fifth in importance, and lastly, the least emphasis was put on the public transportation issue. To ensure the true happiness and wellbeing of people who are struggling financially, policymakers must provide not only financial assistance but also ensure a better future for their families: better healthcare, better incomes, keeping a roof over their heads, etc. This study will be useful to the government, development agencies, NGOs, international organisations and other stakeholders wanting to realise the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Malaysia and similarly affected countries. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discusses various reports within the issue on topics including social psychological work on impacts of refugee crisis in the European Union (EU), economic and international aid to refugee crisis and displacement services for refugees.

This study explores the ways in which constructions of immigrants' illegality and accounts on the meaning of naturalization and citizenship serve as argumentative resources against a particular immigration law in Greece. Data consisted of transcripts of parliamentary speeches by political party leaders who opposed the law. Analysis used the tools and concepts of discursive and rhetorical social psychology and identified three main lines of arguing. The first set clear boundaries between 'legal' and 'illegal' immigration and constructed immigrants' (il)legal entry as a category defining criterion. The second represented legal status as subject to change and constructed immigrants as 'legalized', in order to argue against their entitlement to citizenship. Finally, in another sort of accounting, regularization and naturalization procedures were trivialized, as the speakers negotiated the necessary, and also the ideal conditions of co-existence and participation in a nation-state. The findings are discussed in relation to their potential contribution (i) to the existing literature on the constituted and constitutive nature of the category of illegal immigration and (ii) to a social psychological approach to citizenship. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a (critical) discursive psychological approach, the present study explores the identity management of the Finnish and Swedish Prime Ministers (PM) in relation to the "refugee crisis" and their countries' asylum policies. By taking a longitudinal approach and analysing the PMs' accounts of the "refugee crisis" from 1‐year period, we focused on the ways rhetorical devices related to ethos, logos, and pathos were used to manage the issues of stake and accountability, as well as on the ways in which categories were worked up to serve particular functions. Our comparative analysis demonstrated significant similarities in the Finnish and Swedish PMs' talk, especially with regard to the transfer from a discourse of pathos and ethos, describing refugees in terms of individualism and humaneness, to a discourse of logos, emphasizing rationality, justifying sharpened immigration policies, and homogenizing refugees. However, the different historical paths of the two countries' immigration policies and the specific political situation had implications for the PMs' discourse. The Swedish PM could feasibly scapegoat the Sweden Democrats and the political right in opposition, whereas the Finnish PM, with the populist radical right as a government partner, engaged more heavily in distinctions between "real, needing" and "false, undeserving" refugees. We argue for the longitudinal approach in the analysis of political discourse, as such an approach allows to identify the changes and continuities in the discourse, as well as to grasp the dialogical interplay between the discourse and its context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discursive social psychological research shows the centrality of treating arrival nations as unitary entities that are incompatible for nonnation others (immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees) in legitimately warranting their exclusion. We extend these findings for the current Special Issue and for broader literature in examining inclusion issues in the European Union (EU) in the ongoing context of the 'refugee crisis.' We offer a discursive analysis of transcribed talk in the Dáil Éireaan (Irish Parliament) for the year 2015 when issues of migration and refugees were prominent. Analysis shows that Deputies treat the adequacy of ongoing inclusion efforts as a concern. This was worked up through foregrounding possibilities for Ireland to take up inclusive efforts and managed through avowals of commitment to inclusion juxtaposed to treating the issue and responses to it as EU concerns. Findings show that unique aspects and sovereignty of nations can be downplayed in negotiating warrants for inclusion. Alongside this, in specific contexts and settings transnational collectives, such as the EU, can be treated as stand-ins for nations and used to negotiate inclusion of nonnation others. These are discussed in relation to implications for inclusion advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Population ageing is one of the major contemporary issues facing societies across the world. Originally framed as a major social and economic challenge, demographic ageing is now beginning to be seen as offering huge potential to individuals as well as to their communities. It is this positive potential that we explore in this issue by utilising two key disciplinary approaches-social gerontology and social/community psychology. In this introduction, we argue that focus on only one or the other of these perspectives is limiting. Instead, a more critical approach is needed that incorporates the strengths of both disciplines in order to build a more complete and stronger understanding of ageing and community. Thus, a focus on social gerontology highlights ageing issues and explores the diversity of older people and their interactions with community. By incorporating a social/community psychology approach, there is potential to complement this body of work through a deeper level of analysis around community, as well as individual and relational dimensions. The result is a special issue that brings together these two perspectives to address some of the shortcomings of approaching ageing through solely one disciplinary lens. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]