Does the term matter? The labeling effect on the perception of ethnic minorities: The case of The Romani in Serbia

Empirical research on the impact of linguistic labels on social perceptions is scarce, especially in the context of ethnic groups. Across three studies (N = 1185), we investigated the impact of labels on perceptions of the Romani ethnic group by non-Romani participants in Serbia. In Study 1 (N = 244), we found some evidence that the Romani elicit more positive perceptions (more sociable and competent) when labeled with the neutral (vs. derogatory) term. In two follow-up studies, we focused on investigating potential mechanisms. In Study 2, we tested whether positive perceptions emerged via perceived higher status, while in Study 3 we focused on the motivation to respond without prejudice and sensitivity to hate speech. Study 2 (N = 467) replicated the labeling effect showing that Romani were perceived more positively (more sociable and moral) when labeled with the neutral term. However, we found no support for perceived group status as a mechanism. Study 3 (N = 474) did not corroborate the labeling effect but found the higher external motivation to respond without prejudice (potential mechanism). Meta-analytic effects showed that Romani were perceived as more moral, sociable, and competent when the neutral term was used. These effects were to some extent moderated by ideology as they existed only for right-wing individuals. We conclude that the effect is much smaller than the effects in previous comparable studies.     

‘A Million Little Bonds’: Infidelity,Divorce and the Emotional Worlds of Marriage in British Women’s Magazines of the 1930s

This article examines infidelity discourse within women's magazines of the 1930s. Marking a departure from existing studies that have explored representations of ideal marriage, it uses discussions of marital breakdown as a lens through which to consider conceptualisations of love within marriage. It demonstrates how, in the interwar period, notions of mutual emotional investment were used to reinforce marriages that were deemed to be in breakdown. Muddying the perceived binary between individuals and the institution of marriage, this research highlights how the latter could be bolstered, rather than challenged, by recourse to the emotional worlds of spouses.     

Fear as political dynamics: Chinese peasant workers’ struggle over social security

This article attempts to understand the subject formation of Chinese peasant workers by exploring the emotional dynamics of their struggle for social security, in particular, the new political possibilities created by emotional forces, and the complex ways they experience and articulate the distinctive kind of emotional politics that binds peasant workers with the state in their co-production of emotionally charged power relations, identities, and subjectivities. It formulates an analytical framework that explores the emotional politics of fear that plays out in the context of economic restructuring. In contemporary China, the conflict triggered by social insurance contributions has become a component of the ensuing social crisis, where many protest events are triggered by widespread outrage at the violation of legal rights to social insurance and other welfare security. This research focuses on the struggle of a group of peasant workers at a UNIQLO supplier in Shenzhen, exploring how their fears for the future are constituted, and how their emotional feelings of insecurity motivate collective action and reconfigure their emotional identity and subjectivity in the face of extreme risk. Informed by a relational understanding of emotions, this paper investigates the complex ways in which the proliferation of fear, as a result of an anticipated pain in the future, articulates the process of subject-making in the face of increasing instability and precarity. The study attempts to demonstrate the centrality of fear for China’s sociopolitical order and the radical action of labor resistance.