Search

The first female bishop in the Anglican Church of the UK and Ireland was consecrated on November 30, 2013. For many within the Anglican Communion, the appointment of Reverend Pat Storey as Bishop of Meath and Kildare represented the opening of a longawaited new chapter in the history of Anglicanism. It is also potentially an occasion of considerable interest for both Irish historians and discourse analysts. For, although questions of gender and language have been widely considered in recent years, relatively few studies address the intersections of gender, language and religion – and fewer still examine the nexus of gender, language, religion, and power in contemporary Ireland. In this paper, therefore, I analyze news representations of Bishop Storey’s consecration – drawing critically on both the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) to critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA), as well as relevant religious studies literature – with a view to identifying both old and new discursive construals of one of contemporary Ireland’s powerful public female figures. In sum, I observe that news reporting of Bishop Storey is broadly positive, but displays residual gender bias, with repeated references to her marital and parental status, age, education, emotions and other personal behaviours depicting her chiefly as a woman, rather than as the right person for the position. This case study also illustrates my methodological argument that DHA and PDA can be complementary analytical frameworks for investigating underlying ideologies around religious, gender and other social identifications.

As Nordic countries have an ambition to be sustainability leaders, enabling sustainable consumption and lifestyles with efficient policies is an important part of reaching this goal. Research demonstrates that evidence from behavioural and social science is not routinely incorporated into policy design. Consequently, some persistent misconceptions – myths –about consumer behaviour have perpetuated in the mainstream discourse, especially in policy circles. The goal of this study is to dispel myths that thwart sustainability by bringing forward existing evidence on consumer behaviour to aid the development of efficient policies in Nordic countries. A meta-analysis of the existing international research on consumer behaviour from psychology, sociology, behavioural economics, policy and anthropology was conducted. The results demonstrate that it is unrealistic to expect a sustainable society to materialise from current political strate gies. The changes needed are significant, and this study shows that policy makers need to create the “politics of possibility” towards sustainability by using the plethora of existing and innovative strategies and tools synergistically.

Trots 20 års politikutveckling för hållbar konsumtion (UNCED 1992), fortsätter den materiella konsumtionen och miljöpåverkan att öka i Norden och Europa. Det är orealistiskt att förvänta sig att ett hållbart samhälle ska komma till stånd utifrån nuvarande politiska strategier. De förändringar som ska till är betydande och forskningen som använts för denna studie visar att beslutsfattarna har en uppsjö av möjligheter att skapa positiva förändringar. Målet med denna studie är att skingra myter som motarbetar hållbarhet genom att lägga fram kunskap om konsumentbeteende för att främja effektiv policy i Norden. Denna studie använder sig av kunskapsförmedlings-konceptet som utgångspunkt. Forskningsresultaten har strukurererats kring konsumentbeteende och hållbar konsumtion med målet att undanröja myter och göra bevisen mer åtkomliga för vår publik. Varje avsnitt belyser och kommunicerar forskningens politiska betydelse med utgångspunkt från flera olika ämnesområden. I stället för att sprida resultaten som ett fullbordat faktum i slutet av projektet, används studien som en språngbräda för dialog med beslutsfattare och andra intressenter genom intervjuer, fokusgrupper och webbseminarier.

As Nordic countries have an ambition to be sustainability leaders, enabling sustainable consumption and lifestyles with efficient policies is an important part of reaching this goal. Research demonstrates that evidence from behavioural and social science is not routinely incorporated into policy design. Consequently, some persistent misconceptions – myths –about consumer behaviour have perpetuated in the mainstream discourse, especially in policy circles. The goal of this study is to dispel myths that thwart sustainability by bringing forward existing evidence on consumer behaviour to aid the development of efficient policies in Nordic countries. A meta-analysis of the existing international research on consumer behaviour from psychology, sociology, behavioural economics, policy and anthropology was conducted. The results demonstrate that it is unrealistic to expect a sustainable society to materialise from current political strate gies. The changes needed are significant, and this study shows that policy makers need to create the “politics of possibility” towards sustainability by using the plethora of existing and innovative strategies and tools synergistically.

Þrátt fyrir að stjórnmálamenn hafi beitt sér fyrir sjálfbærari lífsháttum um 20 ára skeið eykst efnisleg neysla stöðugt á Norðurlöndum. Vilji er hjá þjóðunum til að vera í fararbroddi um sjálfbæra samfélagsþróun en ljóst er að núverandi neyslustefna gæti verið árangursríkari. Fyrir því geta verið ýmsar ástæður og eru nokkrar þeirra reifaðar í riti þessu, þar á meðal sjálfsákvörðunarréttur neytenda, skortur á stjórntækjum og eins að stjórnmálamenn skortir áræðni til hrófla við málefnum neytenda. Einkum meðal stjórnmálamanna gætir þráláts misskilnings – goðsagna – um neytendahegðun og sjálfbæra neyslu. Hér er greint frá 10 goðsögnum um breytingar í átt til sjálfbærra lífshátta sem hafa orðið þess valdandi að ráðamenn hafa einblínt á tækninýjungar og aukna framleiðni. Goðsagnirnar tíu hafa hamlað félagslegri nýsköpun og komið í veg fyrir nýstárlega verðmætasköpun og sjálfbæra auðlindanýtingu.

Trots 20 års politikutveckling för hållbar konsumtion (UNCED 1992), fortsätter den materiella konsumtionen och miljöpåverkan att öka i Norden och Europa. Det är orealistiskt att förvänta sig att ett hållbart samhälle ska komma till stånd utifrån nuvarande politiska strategier. De förändringar som ska till är betydande och forskningen som använts för denna studie visar att beslutsfattarna har en uppsjö av möjligheter att skapa positiva förändringar. Målet med denna studie är att skingra myter som motarbetar hållbarhet genom att lägga fram kunskap om konsumentbeteende för att främja effektiv policy i Norden. Denna studie använder sig av kunskapsförmedlings-konceptet som utgångspunkt. Forskningsresultaten har strukurererats kring konsumentbeteende och hållbar konsumtion med målet att undanröja myter och göra bevisen mer åtkomliga för vår publik. Varje avsnitt belyser och kommunicerar forskningens politiska betydelse med utgångspunkt från flera olika ämnesområden. I stället för att sprida resultaten som ett fullbordat faktum i slutet av projektet, används studien som en språngbräda för dialog med beslutsfattare och andra intressenter genom intervjuer, fokusgrupper och webbseminarier.

På trods af 20 års politisk indsats for en bæredygtigt livsstil fortsætter det materielle forbrug med at stige i Norden, hvor det er en ambition at være førende i bæredygtig samfundsudvikling. Det står klart, at den nuværende forbrugerpolitik ikke er så effektiv, som den kan være. Dette policy papir giver en række grunde til dette, lige fra forbrugernes selvbestemmelsesret, manglen på politiske instrumenter og til manglen på politisk mod til at involvere sig i forbrugerspørgsmål. Der eksisterer især i de politiske cirkeler nogle vedvarende misforståelser – myter – om forbrugeradfærd og bæredygtigt forbrug. Dette policy brief beskriver 10 myter om omstilling til en bæredygtig livsstil, der indtil nu har fastholdt beslutningstagerne i et fokus på teknologisk innovation og produkteffektivitet. 10 myter der indtil nu har forhindret at social innovation, nye alternative modeller for værdiskabelse, og at normer for et rimeligt forbrug har fået den nødvendige opmærksomhed.

The paper aims to explore critically andthrough the use of two different case studies the public discourse concerningthe role of State in structural adjustment programmes and in the implementationof austerity policies. Whenausterity policies are about to be adopted, one of the themes of the mainstreampublic discourse is that the State is a wasteful and inefficient manager ofresources. As a consequence, the problems of the capitalist economy and marketfailures are attributed to State intervention or involvement with the market.The economic "abnormalities" and problems are supposed to be fixedonly if the state retreats from regulating the economy or from producing itselfgoods and services for the citizens and only if it leaves individuals andcompanies to pursue their own interests without legal or institutionalconstraints. Ourresearch focuses on both the discourse concerning the role of aState/government in austerity context and on what the practice of austeritypolicies imply for the role of the State in the economy. We use two countries,Argentina and Greece, as case studies in order to investigate, first in whichways the discourse about the role of the State supported austerity policies andcreated a conceptual framework for further promotion of neoliberal reforms; and second, whether and to whatextent the ?less State? argument was a cover for changing or even expanding the role of thecentral government to directly benefit capitalist agents and redistributesocial wealth in favour of the few. Byputting the debate on the role of the State at the center of our analysis, wefollowed the structure of the austerity discourses in order to contrast themwith the reality of neoliberal regimes. Thus, we found out that the State has a central role in austeritypolicies and without its firm, even violent, intervention, those policies wouldnot be possible to be implemented. In contrast to the discourse, the State isnot ?reduced? but enhanced or expanded to a different direction. Weused historical and contemporary information in order to examine how the ?less State? argument hasbeen used in both Argentina and Greece the last decades. Our analysis takesinto account the different historical and social contexts of the two countries,for example, the blood-thirsty anti-communist ?preventive counterrevolution? in Argentina,or Greece?s participation in the Eurozone. However, differences are intertwinedwith several major commonalities in neoliberal policies in both countries, likethe destruction of hundreds of thousands of job positions, the impoverishmentof the majority of the population, the breakdown of public services andpreviously established social rights, the privatisation of the commons andseveral public goods and services and the acute repression of emergingresistances.The paper aspires to contribute to the critical analysis of neoliberal discoursewhile providing details on historically specific cases of imposition ofneoliberal policies in Latin America and Southern Europe. Fil: Giniger, Nuria Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Laborales; Argentina Fil: Sotiropoulou, Irene. Coventry University; Reino Unido