The current research explores refugee integration through
the analysis of active constructions of... more The current research explores refugee integration through the analysis of active constructions of everyday life in Greek cities. It draws from critical social and political psychology literature that explores spatial aspects of intergroup relations and developments in citizenship and migration studies. For the purposes of the study, 25 walking interviews with refugees from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, and Syria were conducted in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki. Interviews were analyzed with tools and concepts of critical discursive social psychology. Analysis indicated three main repertoires related to corresponding space nuclei: “city squares and surrounding areas as minorities' spatial nuclei,” “political spaces as urban enclaves of belonging,” and “neighborhoods as un/familiar places.” Each of these broader compounds represented different people–place dynamics and presupposed different citizenship constructions and claims. These constructions entailed different ways of positioning oneself and others and constituted the ground for redefining integration based on local experiences and multilevel connections with urban networks. Drawing on these findings, the article proposes to reconsider integration through the concept of urban citizenship to explore everyday politics of intergroup relations in contexts of migration.
This paper examines the Catalan independentist movement, understood as a paradigmatic case of sec... more This paper examines the Catalan independentist movement, understood as a paradigmatic case of secessionist politics in a European context. Drawing on recent rhetorical-psychological studies on citizenship and nationhood, we explore how constructions of citizenship and national identity interweave to shape, warrant and contest opposing arguments about Catalan independence and Spanish sovereignty. We conducted a discursive-rhetorical analysis of thirty open-ended interviews and one focus group with Catalan residents that held different positions towards independence. The analysis shows that arguments for independence construct secession demands as a citizenship right that, in turn, assumes different versions of the Catalan national community. Arguments against independence reify the Spanish national identity by constructing it as a political community where all citizens have the same rights. Both argumentative poles position “the nation” as a core element in political citizenship discourses. Specifically, we argue that a diversity of citizenship formulations stressing democratic rights, practices, and political traditions, rhetorically works both to support and to challenge otherwise explicitly ethnic, cultural and civic understandings of nationhood. The article advances a historically situated approach of citizenship and national categories attending to their specific rhetorical mobilisations in current independentist conflicts.
This paper explores the ways in which political leaders appeal to consensus and unity in parliame... more This paper explores the ways in which political leaders appeal to consensus and unity in parliamentary discourse on the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. The paper focuses a) on the different meanings that consensus takes in different argumentative contexts, b) on the mobilization of (different constructions of) consensus as a discursive resource oriented to different rhetorical ends. Moreover, it considers the potential implications of appeals to consensus on partisan politics, anchoring the whole discussion both in approaches to political discourse as rhetoric (Billig, 1987) and political communication (Tileaga, Demasi & Burke, 2020), as well as, in research regarding political leadership during COVID-19.
The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology, 2019
In this chapter we develop a critical social psychological perspective for the study of politics ... more In this chapter we develop a critical social psychological perspective for the study of politics with a focus on the particular topic of citizenship and immigration. The chapter is divided in two main parts. We start by making a distinction between politics as an object of study for social psychology and politics as part of academic social psychological work (i.e. the politics of social psychology as a discipline). We argue that critical social psychology is concerned with both types of politics, that is, both with exploring the political aspects of social psychological issues and with interrogating the political roots and consequences of social psychological knowledge. We also argue that the establishment of social psychology as a discipline is closely linked to an interest in deeply political topics. Social psychologists have often explicitly connected their topics of investigation with political realities, or even with specific political projects. However, the image of a politically interested social psychology has been in tension with the vision of objective science which motivated many of the discipline's founding scholars. The connection of social psychological knowledge with politics had been a contentious topic throughout the history of the discipline, and it became particularly important in discussions of the so-called 'crisis of social psychology'. Politics, therefore, constitutes a key interest for critical social psychology. The chapter suggests that a key contribution of critical social psychology to the study of politics is exploring what lay social actors construct as political and ideological in an era in which the end of politics is proclaimed, and understanding the ways in which such 'everyday politics' connect with broader socio-political contexts. These ideas are exemplified in the second part of the chapter through a discussion of critical social psychological work on citizenship, which serves as an example within the larger field of social psychology and politics. We draw together work from critical social and political psychology to examine the ways in which broader ideological themes become implicated into lay political discourses. The chapter discusses empirical studies from the emerging critical social psychology of citizenship to show that citizenship and immigration are treated as issues that can be dealt with through technocratic practices, which are constructed as consensual and above politics. However, as we show, contemporary discourses about the 'ideal citizen' are not value-free, but they are underpinned by ideologies such as neoliberalism. The chapter concludes by considering the implications of a critical social psychology of politics for social change.
Citizenship can be understood as a form of civic participation and a means of developing social r... more Citizenship can be understood as a form of civic participation and a means of developing social relations with members of the broader community and, therefore, can act as an important means to help reintegrate ex-combatants back into mainstream society. This paper discusses an exploratory research project conducted with a sample of 23 Colombian ex-combatants from non-state armed groups who are current participants of the national programme of reintegration in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. By collecting their views and opinions about what it is like to become reintegrated, we explored the range of social factors that facilitate as well as obstruct practices of citizenship in everyday life and, subsequently, the ways in which this affects their overall experience of reintegration into Colombian society. Drawing on social psychological literature on citizenship and on the theory of social representations, we explored how citizenship is understood and enacted by this group as part of th...
In this article we bring a critical social-psychological approach to the study of sexual citizens... more In this article we bring a critical social-psychological approach to the study of sexual citizenship. This approach seeks to understand how citizenship is constructed through ideological resources and negotiated in local contexts. We do so by studying newspaper representations of the Civil Union (CU) law in the Cypriot context. This law represented a major legal development for a largely heteronormative, patriarchic social context and sparked debate around sexual rights in general. We analysed 82 opinion articles that appeared in four newspapers of different political orientations between 2011 and 2015, through thematic and critical discourse analysis. The analysis revealed that CU was debated in terms of two oppositional themes. The first theme debated whether CU protects universal rights or introduces special rights, which are either not deserved or create inequality. The second theme approached the CU law as a sign of a much-needed societal progress or as a sign of decline and na...
The article presents an analysis of everyday cosmopolitanism in constructions of Europe among you... more The article presents an analysis of everyday cosmopolitanism in constructions of Europe among young Romanian nationals living in Britain. Adopting a social representations approach, cosmopolitanism is understood as a cultural symbolic resource that is part of everyday knowledge. Through a discursively oriented analysis of focus group data, we explore the ways in which notions of cosmopolitanism intersect with images of Europeanness in the accounts of participants. We show that, for our participants, representations of Europe are anchored in an Orientalist schema of West-vs.-East, whereby the West is seen as epitomising European values of modernity and progress, while the East is seen as backward and traditional. Our findings further show that representations of cosmopolitanism reinforce this East/West dichotomy, within a discourse of ‘Occidental cosmopolitanism’. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the diverse and complex ideological foundations of these construction...
The current research explores refugee integration through
the analysis of active constructions of... more The current research explores refugee integration through the analysis of active constructions of everyday life in Greek cities. It draws from critical social and political psychology literature that explores spatial aspects of intergroup relations and developments in citizenship and migration studies. For the purposes of the study, 25 walking interviews with refugees from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, and Syria were conducted in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki. Interviews were analyzed with tools and concepts of critical discursive social psychology. Analysis indicated three main repertoires related to corresponding space nuclei: “city squares and surrounding areas as minorities' spatial nuclei,” “political spaces as urban enclaves of belonging,” and “neighborhoods as un/familiar places.” Each of these broader compounds represented different people–place dynamics and presupposed different citizenship constructions and claims. These constructions entailed different ways of positioning oneself and others and constituted the ground for redefining integration based on local experiences and multilevel connections with urban networks. Drawing on these findings, the article proposes to reconsider integration through the concept of urban citizenship to explore everyday politics of intergroup relations in contexts of migration.
This paper examines the Catalan independentist movement, understood as a paradigmatic case of sec... more This paper examines the Catalan independentist movement, understood as a paradigmatic case of secessionist politics in a European context. Drawing on recent rhetorical-psychological studies on citizenship and nationhood, we explore how constructions of citizenship and national identity interweave to shape, warrant and contest opposing arguments about Catalan independence and Spanish sovereignty. We conducted a discursive-rhetorical analysis of thirty open-ended interviews and one focus group with Catalan residents that held different positions towards independence. The analysis shows that arguments for independence construct secession demands as a citizenship right that, in turn, assumes different versions of the Catalan national community. Arguments against independence reify the Spanish national identity by constructing it as a political community where all citizens have the same rights. Both argumentative poles position “the nation” as a core element in political citizenship discourses. Specifically, we argue that a diversity of citizenship formulations stressing democratic rights, practices, and political traditions, rhetorically works both to support and to challenge otherwise explicitly ethnic, cultural and civic understandings of nationhood. The article advances a historically situated approach of citizenship and national categories attending to their specific rhetorical mobilisations in current independentist conflicts.
This paper explores the ways in which political leaders appeal to consensus and unity in parliame... more This paper explores the ways in which political leaders appeal to consensus and unity in parliamentary discourse on the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. The paper focuses a) on the different meanings that consensus takes in different argumentative contexts, b) on the mobilization of (different constructions of) consensus as a discursive resource oriented to different rhetorical ends. Moreover, it considers the potential implications of appeals to consensus on partisan politics, anchoring the whole discussion both in approaches to political discourse as rhetoric (Billig, 1987) and political communication (Tileaga, Demasi & Burke, 2020), as well as, in research regarding political leadership during COVID-19.
The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology, 2019
In this chapter we develop a critical social psychological perspective for the study of politics ... more In this chapter we develop a critical social psychological perspective for the study of politics with a focus on the particular topic of citizenship and immigration. The chapter is divided in two main parts. We start by making a distinction between politics as an object of study for social psychology and politics as part of academic social psychological work (i.e. the politics of social psychology as a discipline). We argue that critical social psychology is concerned with both types of politics, that is, both with exploring the political aspects of social psychological issues and with interrogating the political roots and consequences of social psychological knowledge. We also argue that the establishment of social psychology as a discipline is closely linked to an interest in deeply political topics. Social psychologists have often explicitly connected their topics of investigation with political realities, or even with specific political projects. However, the image of a politically interested social psychology has been in tension with the vision of objective science which motivated many of the discipline's founding scholars. The connection of social psychological knowledge with politics had been a contentious topic throughout the history of the discipline, and it became particularly important in discussions of the so-called 'crisis of social psychology'. Politics, therefore, constitutes a key interest for critical social psychology. The chapter suggests that a key contribution of critical social psychology to the study of politics is exploring what lay social actors construct as political and ideological in an era in which the end of politics is proclaimed, and understanding the ways in which such 'everyday politics' connect with broader socio-political contexts. These ideas are exemplified in the second part of the chapter through a discussion of critical social psychological work on citizenship, which serves as an example within the larger field of social psychology and politics. We draw together work from critical social and political psychology to examine the ways in which broader ideological themes become implicated into lay political discourses. The chapter discusses empirical studies from the emerging critical social psychology of citizenship to show that citizenship and immigration are treated as issues that can be dealt with through technocratic practices, which are constructed as consensual and above politics. However, as we show, contemporary discourses about the 'ideal citizen' are not value-free, but they are underpinned by ideologies such as neoliberalism. The chapter concludes by considering the implications of a critical social psychology of politics for social change.
Citizenship can be understood as a form of civic participation and a means of developing social r... more Citizenship can be understood as a form of civic participation and a means of developing social relations with members of the broader community and, therefore, can act as an important means to help reintegrate ex-combatants back into mainstream society. This paper discusses an exploratory research project conducted with a sample of 23 Colombian ex-combatants from non-state armed groups who are current participants of the national programme of reintegration in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. By collecting their views and opinions about what it is like to become reintegrated, we explored the range of social factors that facilitate as well as obstruct practices of citizenship in everyday life and, subsequently, the ways in which this affects their overall experience of reintegration into Colombian society. Drawing on social psychological literature on citizenship and on the theory of social representations, we explored how citizenship is understood and enacted by this group as part of th...
In this article we bring a critical social-psychological approach to the study of sexual citizens... more In this article we bring a critical social-psychological approach to the study of sexual citizenship. This approach seeks to understand how citizenship is constructed through ideological resources and negotiated in local contexts. We do so by studying newspaper representations of the Civil Union (CU) law in the Cypriot context. This law represented a major legal development for a largely heteronormative, patriarchic social context and sparked debate around sexual rights in general. We analysed 82 opinion articles that appeared in four newspapers of different political orientations between 2011 and 2015, through thematic and critical discourse analysis. The analysis revealed that CU was debated in terms of two oppositional themes. The first theme debated whether CU protects universal rights or introduces special rights, which are either not deserved or create inequality. The second theme approached the CU law as a sign of a much-needed societal progress or as a sign of decline and na...
The article presents an analysis of everyday cosmopolitanism in constructions of Europe among you... more The article presents an analysis of everyday cosmopolitanism in constructions of Europe among young Romanian nationals living in Britain. Adopting a social representations approach, cosmopolitanism is understood as a cultural symbolic resource that is part of everyday knowledge. Through a discursively oriented analysis of focus group data, we explore the ways in which notions of cosmopolitanism intersect with images of Europeanness in the accounts of participants. We show that, for our participants, representations of Europe are anchored in an Orientalist schema of West-vs.-East, whereby the West is seen as epitomising European values of modernity and progress, while the East is seen as backward and traditional. Our findings further show that representations of cosmopolitanism reinforce this East/West dichotomy, within a discourse of ‘Occidental cosmopolitanism’. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the diverse and complex ideological foundations of these construction...
The Social Psychology of Everyday Politics examines the ways in which politics permeates everyday... more The Social Psychology of Everyday Politics examines the ways in which politics permeates everyday life, from the ordinary interactions we have with others to the sense of belonging and identity developed within social groups and communities. Discrimination, prejudice, inclusion and social change, politics is an on-going process that is not solely the domain of the elected and the powerful.
A social representations approach offers an empirical utility for addressing myriad social concer... more A social representations approach offers an empirical utility for addressing myriad social concerns such as social order, ecological sustainability, national identity, racism, religious communities, the public understanding of science, health and social marketing. The core aspects of social representations theory have been debated over many years and some still remain widely misunderstood. This handbook provides an overview of these core aspects and brings together theoretical strands and developments in the theory, some of which have become pillars in the social sciences in their own right. Academics and students in the social sciences working with concepts and methods such as social identity, discursive psychology, positioning theory, semiotics, attitudes, risk perception and social values will find this an invaluable resource.
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Papers by Eleni Andreouli
the analysis of active constructions of everyday life in
Greek cities. It draws from critical social and political
psychology literature that explores spatial aspects of intergroup
relations and developments in citizenship and migration
studies. For the purposes of the study, 25 walking
interviews with refugees from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran,
Iraq, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, and Syria
were conducted in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki.
Interviews were analyzed with tools and concepts of critical
discursive social psychology. Analysis indicated three
main repertoires related to corresponding space nuclei:
“city squares and surrounding areas as minorities' spatial
nuclei,” “political spaces as urban enclaves of belonging,”
and “neighborhoods as un/familiar places.” Each of these
broader compounds represented different people–place
dynamics and presupposed different citizenship constructions
and claims. These constructions entailed different
ways of positioning oneself and others and constituted the
ground for redefining integration based on local experiences
and multilevel connections with urban networks.
Drawing on these findings, the article proposes to reconsider
integration through the concept of urban citizenship
to explore everyday politics of intergroup relations in contexts
of migration.
the analysis of active constructions of everyday life in
Greek cities. It draws from critical social and political
psychology literature that explores spatial aspects of intergroup
relations and developments in citizenship and migration
studies. For the purposes of the study, 25 walking
interviews with refugees from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran,
Iraq, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, and Syria
were conducted in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki.
Interviews were analyzed with tools and concepts of critical
discursive social psychology. Analysis indicated three
main repertoires related to corresponding space nuclei:
“city squares and surrounding areas as minorities' spatial
nuclei,” “political spaces as urban enclaves of belonging,”
and “neighborhoods as un/familiar places.” Each of these
broader compounds represented different people–place
dynamics and presupposed different citizenship constructions
and claims. These constructions entailed different
ways of positioning oneself and others and constituted the
ground for redefining integration based on local experiences
and multilevel connections with urban networks.
Drawing on these findings, the article proposes to reconsider
integration through the concept of urban citizenship
to explore everyday politics of intergroup relations in contexts
of migration.