Panel at the CES 2022
05.07.2022
We organized a panel at the 28th International Conference of Europeanists in Lisbon. We presented new findings from our survey on value conflicts, trust in media, conspiracy theories as well as the use of social media platforms across European countries. An overview about the different presentations can be found here.
Digital Spring School on Visual Analysis
02.04.2022
From 28.03. to 01.04.2022 our Spring School on Visual Analysis took place. Originally planned as a face-to-face event, we had to organize the Spring School digitally due to the ongoing pandemic. It was organized by Nadine Hesse (EUF) and Ofra Klein (SNS) as part of the research module 'Lockdown of the Public Sphere?'. The program for the 20 international participants consisted of various lectures by experts in the field of visual analysis and communication studies as well as practice-oriented sessions in which the focus was on exchange, joint learning and networking. Some impressions from the Spring School are documented here.
Project meeting in Florence
15.10.2021
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our first face-to-face meeting could not take place until one year after the start of the project. The whole team from the three universities met at the SNS in Florence to present and discuss further results of our research, to plan the next steps in the project and to organize the start of our research module "Lockdown of the Public Sphere?".
Presentation at the Volkswagen Symposium "Challenges For Europe"
22.07.2021
The Volkswagen Foundation invited all research projects in the "Challenges For Europe" funding line to a symposium in Hanover to present initial results and promote networking between the projects. The teams from Florence and Flensburg participated in the event and presented the ValCon project. More impressions from the symposium can be found here und here.
Panel at the CES 2021
26.06.2021
At the 27th International Conference of Europeanists (online), we organized a panel and presented the first results from our survey on value conflicts and the use of social media in Europe. We have provided an overview of the various presentations here.
Volkswagen-Stiftung funds an additional module on COVID-19
22.01.2021
Our application "Lockdown of the Public Sphere? Value Contestation and Digital Mobilization during the COVID-19 Pandemic" was successful, therefore for 12 months starting from 1.9.2021 we will delve into the visual world of digital mobilization for (counter-)protests againts governmental restrictions on Instagram. Our academic plans contain a method school on visual framing for young scholars from different European countries with possible future collaborations and common publication. Stay tuned!
First publication of the project!
19.10.2020
Monika Eigmüller and Hans-Jörg Trenz present the theoretical framework of the ValCon project how value conflicts can be studied on social media platforms in a differentiated Europe. The chapter is part of the edited volume 'Die neue Europäische Union', edited by Andreas Grimmel. More information here (in German).
Our panel has been accepted to the CES 2021
11.01.2021
Council of European Studies accepted ValCon-Panel "Value Conflicts in a Differentiated Europe and Beyond: Value Polarisation and the Digital Media" for the conference June 21-25, 2021. Our team will present their theoretical background as well as first results of survey data analysis.
Chair: Stefan Wallaschek
Discussant: Celine Teney
Papers:
Monika Eigmüller & Hans-Jörg Trenz "Value pluralism and value conflicts in a differentiated European Union"
Juan Díez Medrano & Aleksandra Sojka "Politics in Social and Digital Media in Europe: Preliminary Findings from the ValCon Survey"
Monika Verbalyte "How Emotions drive Polarization in Europe: The Role of Anger, Fear, and Ressentiment"
Kavyanjali Kaushik "Impact of globalisation and liberalisation on right-wing populism in developing countries: The cases of India and Brazil"
New publication of the project!
09.12.2020
ValCon researchers Stefan Wallaschek & Monika Eigmüller have contributed a chapter on solidarity in the EU to this extremely timely volume "Whither Social Rights in (Post-)Brexit Europe?".
Never Waste a Good Crisis: Solidarity Conflicts in the EU
‘Make Solidarity Great Again’—this was the campaign slogan of the Danish non-governmental organisation Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke as well as the electoral message of the German leftist youth organisation Linksjugend Sachsen in 2017. It could also have been the Leitmotif of the European Union, which stresses solidarity in numerous contexts. Not only are solidarity issues fundamentally inscribed in European treaties and represented in numerous policy areas—energy, foreign affairs,migration and asylum policy—but the need for internal EU solidarity isexplicitly affirmed in the ‘solidarity clause’ (article 222) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which upholds mutual solidarity among member states in the face of natural catastrophe or terrorist attack, and in the dedicated ‘solidarity’ section of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
In fact, it now seems we have a new common narrative on ‘European solidarity’, which has replaced the earlier narrative of a European identity. Understood as a combination of structural characteristics and action on issues involving mutual help and reciprocal relations among actors, solidarity is key to the creation and maintenance of sustainable reliable communities. It creates trust and belonging within a group, and helps the group to deal with uncertainty and perceived threats (Lahusen, 2020). As such, European solidarity encompasses mutual help and reciprocity among Europeans on issues such as social security, labour relations and health. Read further here.
Meeting with IPSOS
03.12.2020
First milestone in the process of survey development - its finalized version is commissioned to the social research institute IPSOS. After long discussions of question formulations and responses, thinking of all we want to cover and understanding that we cannot, struggles of which questions deserve a limited place in the questionnaire and which may wait for better times, we are proud of the ultimate result. It is still a long way to go till the field work could start, but we are happy for now being able to give the biggest share of the work to the professionals in preparing and implementing surveys. The meeting with the Director of public affairs IPSOS Germany Robert Grimm and our accompanying project manager Lea Van Nek was encouraging and we can't wait to let our "baby" into the world!
Kick-off meeting of the ValCon-Team
24.09.2020
Nice as much as productive - this is how meetings should be! Though we could not meet, as planned, live in Copenhagen, we enjoyed our virtual exchange and discussions!
