POPREBEL Czech ethnography
Aims:
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To analyse the recent transformations within work, household and care as deeply interconnected and key areas most affected by the socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The objective is to explore how the lived experiences of these transformations impact people’s political choices, beliefs and practices (across social strata).
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To test the hypothesis that the current crisis is going to reinforce the pre-existing illiberal and authoritarian discourses present in the society.
-Through the process of further alienation and sense of fatigue (digitalization, teleworking, masking), intensified by a profound sense of economic insecurity (Kubik 2018). -
To identify what new forms of populism emerge out of the covid-19 crisis, in the context of Czech.
-Political parties and other cultural entrepreneursconspiracy theories groups, anti-lockdown/mask/vaccine movements, ‘agents of change’ etc.
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A comparative study on the rise of populist sentiments in Czechia, Germany (Djan) and Poland (Mania).
FIELDWORK
1. Classic ethnography
- Semi-structured interviews conducted online.
-Long-term plan: to gradually move some of these interactions and engagements on the Edgeryders platform.
o Access through key informants and snowballing method.
o Participants: primarily non-university educated and non-city dwelling demographics, supposedly hit hardest by the pandemic.
-I am to situate the household as the primary unit of analysis as it best amplifies the shifting relations regarding household and work. I hope to explore and complicate the assumed connection between marginality/isolation and susceptibility to narratives of populism.
Research themes:
- How has the crisis affected the everyday functioning of the household?
-Re-distribution of reproductive labour (home schooling, teleworking, elderly care).
-Interpersonal, intergenerational and kin relations.
-State response to compensate for gaps in family incomes, job insecurity, childcare etc. sufficient/insufficient?
-Where do you seek help? New emerging forms of solidarity/mutual aid groups extending beyond the family unit.
o The newly imposed COVID challenges to labour and how they are being responded to by these populist forces.
-working from home versus working throughout the pandemic.
-experiences with and perceptions of receiving state welfare support (narratives of deservedness).
-Hierarchy of professions – who is needed and who is dispensable for the everyday functioning of the society.
-How are populist entities utilising these societal shifts in their political discourses?
Research questions clusters:
o First-hand experiences of the pandemic.
o Retrotopia.
o Community and family.
o Media-scape.
o Economic and political turning points.
o Political representation, voting, trust in political elites.
For more elaborated list see: COMPARATIVE FIELDWORK
2. Digital ethnography
- Map out the newly emerging populist actors and groups and their influence in the digital sphere.
-Who are they, what are their political agendas and discourses, what do they campaign against, alliances/enemies, political aspirations etc.
-What media channels they utilise to attract new supporters and maintain the old ones.
-Social media as a space for explicitly political mobilisation.
o Good source to study the supply form of populism
-The aesthetics of the newly emerging populist forces that bring forwards strong features of nativism and neo-traditionalism.
-Analysis of the visual content.
-Anti-liberal, anti-cosmopolitan counter revolution.
o Part 1: social media content and discourse analysis
- discussion forums, YouTube channels, twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram etc.
-Good starting point to map out the virtual landscape. Developing an ethnographic understanding of common forms and patterns of expressions.
o Part 2: active participation
-choosing two or three groups to get embedded in.
-entering into discussions with participants.
-Long-term plan: chatnography, semi-structured interviews, discussions at ER
Research plan
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Continue carrying out semi-structured interviews through snowballing.
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Create a map of the newly emerging populist actors in the digital sphere.
-See how to get embedded and participate actively. -
Create a plan of how to start engaging participants, utilising creative digital methods.
-On ER. -
Continue developing the comparative lens with the Polish and German research projects.