Imhof Ettinger
Fakultäten » Philosophische Fakultät » Soziologisches Institut » Prof. Dr. Kurt Imhof » Imhof Ettinger
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Ethnicity in political communication and problematisation of religious differences | ||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||
| Original title / Originaltitel | Ethnisierung des Politischen und Problematisierung religiöser Differenz | ||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | A new, bipolar worldview appears to be taking root in the public political discourse of the larger nations of the West. According to this worldview, the Islamic world has now taken the place of the communist Eastern Bloc and the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism that of the communist world conspiracy. The “clash of civilizations” hypothesis has since become a cogent formula for this new international perception of conflict. This is impacting on public debate in Switzerland, too. Muslim societies and Muslims generally are increasingly being perceived as a problem. The various facets of this perception are illustrated by the equation of Islam with Islamism, by the protests triggered by a recent request for planning permission for a minaret and by the various position papers on Islam issued by parties belonging to the ruling coalition.This project entails comparative research which will seek to ascertain first the changes that have taken place since 1979 in the public perception of persons identified as Muslims or Jews. Secondly, it will define the semantics of difference used to describe Jews and Muslims, reconstruct the history of this terminology and seek to find out who uses it. Thirdly, the study will analyse the conflicts triggered by the use of certain semantics of difference in public debate as well as the way in which other semantics of difference have become a matter of course and hence are no longer questioned. Semantics of difference which have become a matter of course or are no longer questioned in public debate can make the integration of the affected minorities more difficult, as well as having a detrimental effect on Switzerland’s political culture. It is hoped that this analysis of media reporting and parliamentary debates on the basis of the norms implied by our modern definition of the public will yield a more in-depth understanding of the ethnicization of public policy. |
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| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Other links to external web pages | http://www.nfp58.ch/d_projekte_religion.cfm?projekt=81 | ||||
| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
SNF (Programm NFP) |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Nov 2007 to Mar 2010 |