Abstract:In recent political debates in Germany, volunteers and citizens who support the cause of refugees are often accused of being "too emotional". Based mainly on empirical evidence from 10 group discussions and 35 individual interviews with volunteers, conducted in 2016, this article undertakes a sociological analysis of the role of emotions for volunteers.
“…In contrast to the authorities who seemed bewildered, civil society quickly reacted and organized for assisting the refugees by enacting a varied repertoire of activities ranging from humanitarian actions, such as collecting and donating items and money, political protests, such as petitions and demonstrations, to acts of civil disobedience, such as transporting refugees across the border to Sweden or Norway (Table III and Table AV in the appendix provide an overview of the repertoire, see also Gundelach and Toubøl forthcoming). This phenomenon was not restricted to Denmark, and similar civic action was observed all over Europe (Agustin and Jørgensen ; Della Porta ; Fleischmann and Steinhilper ; Hamann and Karakayali ; Karakayali ; Zechner and Hansen ).…”
Section: Case: the September Mobilization Of The Refugee Solidary Movsupporting
Adding to the literature on non-institutional political action and trust, this article argues that the loss of institutional trust is not only a cause but also an outcome of political activism. Studying the Danish refugee solidarity movement in a mixedmethods research design including survey and qualitative interview data, the article shows that three kinds of activism -political activism, humanitarian activity, and civil disobedience -relate differently to the loss of trust in the institutions of the Parliament, the legal system, and the police. Political activism primarily affects a loss of trust in the Parliament due to low external efficacy and a closed political opportunity structure. Civil disobedience affects a loss of trust in the legal system and the police due to a perceived lack of procedural justice. Humanitarian activity does not affect a loss of institutional trust because it does not imply interaction with the institutions to the same extent as the other kinds of activism. The consequence of losing trust in the political institutions is not an abandonment of democratic values, nor political apathy, but rather a change in civic engagement from a mode of democratically legitimizing participation in the institutions to a mode of contending and questioning the legitimacy of the political institutions. This finding indicates that in turn loss of institutional trust may cause an increase in extra-institutional political action which is consistent with the commonly assumed causality in the literature. This leads to a final integrating argument for conceptualizing activism and loss of institutional trust as reinforcing factors in a process where, in line with the main finding of this study, activism may cause a loss of institutional trust which, in turn, may cause additional activism, as argued in the existing literature.
“…In contrast to the authorities who seemed bewildered, civil society quickly reacted and organized for assisting the refugees by enacting a varied repertoire of activities ranging from humanitarian actions, such as collecting and donating items and money, political protests, such as petitions and demonstrations, to acts of civil disobedience, such as transporting refugees across the border to Sweden or Norway (Table III and Table AV in the appendix provide an overview of the repertoire, see also Gundelach and Toubøl forthcoming). This phenomenon was not restricted to Denmark, and similar civic action was observed all over Europe (Agustin and Jørgensen ; Della Porta ; Fleischmann and Steinhilper ; Hamann and Karakayali ; Karakayali ; Zechner and Hansen ).…”
Section: Case: the September Mobilization Of The Refugee Solidary Movsupporting
Adding to the literature on non-institutional political action and trust, this article argues that the loss of institutional trust is not only a cause but also an outcome of political activism. Studying the Danish refugee solidarity movement in a mixedmethods research design including survey and qualitative interview data, the article shows that three kinds of activism -political activism, humanitarian activity, and civil disobedience -relate differently to the loss of trust in the institutions of the Parliament, the legal system, and the police. Political activism primarily affects a loss of trust in the Parliament due to low external efficacy and a closed political opportunity structure. Civil disobedience affects a loss of trust in the legal system and the police due to a perceived lack of procedural justice. Humanitarian activity does not affect a loss of institutional trust because it does not imply interaction with the institutions to the same extent as the other kinds of activism. The consequence of losing trust in the political institutions is not an abandonment of democratic values, nor political apathy, but rather a change in civic engagement from a mode of democratically legitimizing participation in the institutions to a mode of contending and questioning the legitimacy of the political institutions. This finding indicates that in turn loss of institutional trust may cause an increase in extra-institutional political action which is consistent with the commonly assumed causality in the literature. This leads to a final integrating argument for conceptualizing activism and loss of institutional trust as reinforcing factors in a process where, in line with the main finding of this study, activism may cause a loss of institutional trust which, in turn, may cause additional activism, as argued in the existing literature.
“…The German experience of the "summer of welcome" also showed a strong mobilization by private citizens, often without any associative label, or political or religious affiliation (Fleischmann 2017). Karakayali (2017) highlighted the role of "emotions" in mobilizing a relevant proportion of German citizens in favour of refugees: according to his estimates, based on several surveys, between 10 to 20 percent of the German adult population (ibid: 8).…”
Section: On the Other Side Of The "Battleground": Civil Society And Amentioning
The urban governance of asylum as a "battleground": policies of exclusion and efforts of inclusion in Italian towns Maurizio Ambrosini, university of Milan The governance of immigration has been increasingly discussed, especially in Europe, as a multilevel and multi-actor process in which diverse institutional and non-institutional subjects play a role (Scholten et al., 2018). In particular the efforts by national governments to achieve more control over migration flows involve local governments more directly than in the past (Guiraudon and Lahav 2000; Oomen and Lenders 2020). This trend encompasses a contradiction in which local policies in Europe have often been considered, at least in the last two decades, more open than national policies, more oriented towards a pragmatic reception of immigrants and to the admission to local services also of immigrants with legally dubious or irregular status. In the US, "sanctuary cities", such as New York or San Francisco, have resisted federal policies against unauthorized immigration. They have avoided raids and granted some social services also to immigrants without legal status (Oomen, Davis and Grigolo, 2016). In the UK, the "City of Sanctuary" movement was established in Sheffield in 2005, and in 2016 it had groups operating in more than 80 towns, cities and villages (Bauder, 2017). While sanctuary movements are also crucial sites for defending immigrants against the U.S. Federal government's policies and practices, studies in the U.S. (and in Canada as well) have identified local powers committed to combatting irregular immigration with greater determination than federal powers (Chand and Schreckhise, 2014; Varsanyi 2008; Gilbert 2009). In the EU, local policies of exclusion have not received much attention in the academic debate, whereas positive aspects of local policies have been more often studied (CLIP Network, 2010; Hillmann 2019; Penninx et al., 2004). An exception is the literature on border towns, camps and detention centres in which local authorities are often involved
“…and are based on a shared humanity" (Yitmen and Verkuyten, 2018, p. 233). These concerns may lead to the defense of proinclusion policies, more solidarity toward immigrants, and more positive behavioral intentions (e.g., volunteering, pro-immigrant activism, money donation) (e.g., Karakayali, 2017;Kleres, 2018;Milan, 2018), thus promoting stronger pro inclusive behavior and societal well-being.…”
The Western hemisphere has witnessed recent increased immigration flows generating social and political debate across Europe. In one view, migration flows represent an opportunity to construct a diverse social cohesion. In another view, migration flows are perceived as a threat to existent national cultures. This view is held by political nationalisms and right-wing populist forces installed in the majority of EU countries' parliaments, accentuating discrimination against immigrants and residents in Europe. We theorize that European identity predicts positive attitudes toward immigrants (prosocial behavior and support for inclusive policies), whereas national identity's predictions of attitudes toward immigrants' inclusion depends on participants' political tendency. Moreover, we test the mediation effect of positive (humanitarian concerns and economic benefit) and negative (jobs scarcity, cultural deterioration, and invasion) arguments used in political discourses regarding immigrants' inclusion on the relation between national and European identities and attitudes toward immigrants' inclusion. Results (Portuguese sample, N = 176) show that national identity predicts negative attitudes toward immigrants' inclusion, but only among right-wing individuals. Among left-wing individuals, national identity predicts less contestation to immigrant's inclusion sustained by humanitarian concerns. Interestingly, European identification weakened right-wing individuals' adherence to discriminatory arguments and increased perceived economic contribution that immigrants bring to society, increasing agreement with prosocial behavior and immigrants' inclusion. We discuss that European identity, sustained in humanitarian values and economic benefit, may stimulate a stronger multicultural social cohesion, intergroup trust, and social wellbeing based on democratic values, social justice, and equality, and on the respect for human dignity.
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