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Erin Steuter

Bio: Erin Steuter is an academic researcher from Mount Allison University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Framing (social sciences) & Dehumanization. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 9 publications receiving 253 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper identified the consistent pattern of dehumanizing metaphor that dominates Western media coverage of the so-called "war on terror" and focused on newspaper headlines as influentially compressed narratives replicating and recycling key metaphors that systematically figure the enemy as animal, vermin, or metastatic disease.
Abstract: Much of the scholarly attention surrounding the media’s treatment of the so-called ‘war on terror’ has focused on its uncritical replication of the Bush administration’s rhetorical framing of the conflict, in which the September 11 attacks were seen as acts of war initiating a retaliatory war on terror. While this dominant, martial framing is now being challenged, an equally significant framing remains largely unexamined, one as significant to media rhetoric and public perception as the war trope itself. This article identifies the consistent pattern of dehumanizing metaphor that dominates Western media’s coverage. It focuses on newspaper headlines as influentially compressed narratives replicating and recycling key metaphors that systematically figure the enemy as animal, vermin, or metastatic disease. These dehumanizing media representations, which have historically prefigured abuse, oppression, and even genocide, are being circulated as uncritically through newspaper media headlines as Bush’s war frami...

87 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: This article examined the Canadian news media's coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and found that the repeated use of animal metaphors by monopoly media institutions constitute motivated representations that have ideological importance, setting the stage for racist backlash, prisoner abuse and even genocide.
Abstract: This paper examines the Canadian news media’s coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In particular, Canadian newspaper headlines are examined for the way in which an image of the “enemy” is constructed and framed in dominant media discourse. An analysis of the data reveals a pattern of dehumanizing language applied to enemy leaders as well as Arab and Muslim citizens at large in the media’s uncritical reproduction of metaphors that linguistically frame the enemy in particular ways. Particularly, the paper argues that the Canadian media have participated in mediating constructions of Islam and Muslims, mobilizing familiar metaphors in representations that fabricate an enemy-Other who is dehumanized, de-individualized, and ultimately expendable. This dehumanizing language takes the form of animal imagery that equates and reduces human actions with sub-human behaviours. This paper argues that the repeated use of animal metaphors by monopoly media institutions constitute motivated representations that have ideological importance. The consequences of these representations are more than rhetorical, setting the stage for racist backlash, prisoner abuse and even genocide.

82 citations

Book
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: This book discusses metaphor matters, propaganda and the making of the Orientalist "Other", and new metaphors for change in the age of Trump.
Abstract: Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Part I: Metaphor Matters Chapter 3 Chapter 1. Weaponizing Words: Metaphor and War Chapter 4 Chapter 2. Making Enemies: Propaganda and the Making of the Orientalist "Other" Chapter 5 Chapter 3. Rallying Racism: Dehumanization and Genocide Part 6 Part II: Enlisting Discourse Chapter 7 Chapter 4. Rats in the Trap: Animal Metaphors in the News Chapter 8 Chapter 5. Infestation and Eradication: Exterminationist Rhetoric in Political Cartoons Chapter 9 Chapter 6. HateSpeak: Discourses of Dehumanization in Talk Radio Part 10 Part III: Dangerous Discourses Chapter 11 Chapter 7. Media March to War: Understanding News Filters Chapter 12 Chapter 8. Boiling the Blood and Narrowing the Mind: Fomenting Backlash Chapter 13 Chapter 9. Talking Our War to Peace: New Metaphors for Change

62 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the media coverage of a strike at the Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, between 1994 and 1996, and argued that the coverage reinforced an ideology of defeatism and aided in the increased legitimation of a "roll back" orientation in our society.
Abstract: This article focuses on the media coverage of a strike at the Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, between 1994 and 1996. A variety of central issues are examined, including: monopoly ownership of the New Brunswick media by the Irving Group of Companies, the ideological presentation of strikes in general, and the representation of changing labour relations in a postindustrial, globally oriented society. The four New Brunswick English-language daily papers as well as selected English-language papers elsewhere in Canada were analyzed for their representation of the strike. The paper argues that the media coverage reinforced an ideology of defeatism and aided in the increased legitimation of a "roll back" orientation in our society. Resume: Cet article porte sur la couverture mediatique d'une greve ayant lieu a la raffinerie de petrole Irving a Saint John au Nouveau-Brunswick entre 1994 et 1996. L'article examine une diversite de questions centrales, y compris: le monopole des medias du Nouveau-Brunswick que detient le Groupe de compagnies Irving, la presentation ideologique de greves en general, et la representation de rapports de travail changeants dans une societe post-industrielle sujette a la mondialisation. L'article analyse la representation de la greve faite par les quatre quotidiens anglophones du Nouveau-Brunswick ainsi que par des quotidiens anglophones selectionnes ailleurs au Canada. Cet article soutient que la couverture mediatique renforca une ideologie de defaitisme et aida a accroitre la legitimite d'une orientation vers les coupures dans notre societe.

11 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: The first year course in Sociology at Mount Allison University introduced students to social issues via dynamic class interactions and assignments that are designed to build conceptual and applied skills as discussed by the authors, which made the class an enjoyable teaching experience.
Abstract: The first year course in Sociology at Mount Allison University introduced students to social issues via dynamic class interactions and assignments that are designed to build conceptual and applied skills. Developments to the course organization have maximized the opportunities for discovery learning and have made the class an enjoyable teaching experience. This article will outline the core innovations that have been developed: 1.) A workbook, similar in style to a hands-on science lab manual, has been developed to engage students in active in-class discovery learning projects. 2.) Client-based interactive class activities are used to help students engage in the solving of contemporary social problems in a manner that reveals the contemporary relevance and application of knowledge regarding social problems. 3.) Research assignments are provided through an internship at the simulated ESPRIT (Evaluating Social Policy Research Investigation Team) think tank which provides students with the opportunity to develop research and analysis skills that are relevant to careers in the field of social analysis. 4.) The course includes the analysis of a contemporary best-selling book that addresses a relevant social problem so that students have the opportunity to participate in current debates about issues of social importance.

7 citations


Cited by
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Journal Article
TL;DR: In this book, Johnson primarily addresses a research audience, and his model seems designed to stimulate thought rather than to improve clinical technique, which suggests that lithium should have no therapeutic value in patients, such as those with endogenous depression, who already "under-process" cognitive information.
Abstract: basic research and clinical data in an attempt to derive a cohesive model which explains the behavioral effects of the drug. Johnson is an experimental psychologist, and his work underlies many of the chapters which suggest that lithium decreases the behavioral response to novel external stimuli. He then utilizes this foundation to propose a cognitive model for lithium's anti-manic action, its inhibition of violent impulsivity, and its prophylactic effects in recurrent depression. Previous formulations which were clinically based, such as that of Mabel Blake Cohen and her associates, stressed the primacy of depression and noted the \"manic defense\" as an attempt to ward off intolerable depression. In direct contrast, Johnson views mania as the primary disturbance in bipolar disorder. He considers depression in bipolar disease as an over-zealous homeostatic inhibitory responsf to a maniaassociated cognitive overload. Consistent with this, he believes, lit lum exerts its anti-manic effect by decreasing cognitive processing in a manner analogous to his animal studies. Johnson also suggests that lithium exerts its prophylactic effect in recurrent depressions by treating subclinical mania. These concepts are supported by the work of Johnson's associate, Kukopulos, to whom the book is dedicated. The bulk of the research which describes the cognitive disturbance in mania is complex, however, and uncomfortably open to multiple interpretations. Recognized as a preliminary effort, Johnson's formulation may help to guide further research. Although Johnson clearly traces lithium actions through a broad range of subjects, his discussion of the neurophysiological aspects of this drug is notably spotty. In particular, Johnson ignores the work of Svensson, DeMontigny, Aghajanian, and others who suggest that serotonergic systems may play an important role in the antidepressant actions of lithium. As a result, he fails to discuss one of the most important current uses of lithium: as an agent used in conjunction with antidepressant medications to increase treatment response in medication-resistant forms of depression. Lithium augmentation of antidepressant medication also challenges the formulation presented by Johnson. This formulation suggests that lithium should have no therapeutic value in patients, such as those with endogenous depression, who already \"under-process\" cognitive information. The omission of lithium augmentation in depression is clearly unfortunate in this text. Overall, this volume demonstrates the benefits of a single-authored text. It it clearly organized and readable. The bibliography is also broad and useful. In this book, Johnson primarily addresses a research audience, and his model seems designed to stimulate thought rather than to improve clinical technique. In this capacity, his book will be of most interest to behavioral psychologists. Other books, focusing purely on clinical data, may be more useful to clinicians. Nevertheless, the clear organization, the large bibliography, and the thoughtful presentation may make this text a useful addition to a clinical library as well.

1,865 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Roy Bhaskar1

504 citations

01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: Chickering is a Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at Memphis State University and a Visiting Professor at George Mason University as mentioned in this paper, and Gamson is a sociologist who holds appointments at the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at University of Michigan.
Abstract: Arthur Chickering is Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at Memphis State University. On leave from the Directorship of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Memphis State, he is Visiting Professor at George Mason University. Zelda Gamson is a sociologist who holds appointments at the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan.

488 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Reese et al. as mentioned in this paper present a collection of perspectives on framing in the context of the framing of public life, focusing on the role of the media in social change in the process of social change.
Abstract: Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World. Stephen D. Reese, Oscar H. Gandy Jr., and August E. Grant, eds. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. 399 pp. $99.95 hbk. When I conduct content analyses of transcripts, media content, and government documents with students and other faculty, I often advocate combining the study of agenda setting with the study of framing. Especially when I will not be the one doing the work. Conceptually, the pairing of issue salience with issue portrayal is a natural: just as the agenda-setting process can be studied as diffusion or social change involving institutional actors and nascent groups, through media attention, and on to the actions and nonactions of bureaucrats and elected officials, so too can framing provide a compelling and malleable lens through which to understand political jockeying and media access, issue portrayal in media, and the meanings assigned to media content by members of the public. But operationalization is another matter. Whereas the means of studying agenda setting are rather delimited (parsimony certainly accounted for part of its initial attractiveness to media scholars), approaches to framing analysis suggest a bit of a free-for-all. Especially when quantification of frames is attempted, I find the effort less than optimum in terms of what we usually learn. Even when we are trying not to, we tend to mistakenly weed out and discard the substance of frames (meanings, associations, metaphors, interests)in our pursuit of inter-coder reliability. I have found the study of framing to be more difficult and oftentimes more insightful than the study of agenda setting, and, when paired, a perfect example of the advantages of multi-method research designs. Framing Public Life is a very useful book for providing guidance about conceptual and operational alternatives and procedures concerning framing. Faced with a loose and complex paradigm of research, the editors have spent far more than the average amount of time pulling together themes across contributed chapters, carefully constructing prologues and epilogues, allowing time for contributors to react to the editors' own claims and positions about framing and the study of media, and commissioning chapters that were not originally presented at the 1997 University of South Carolina conference that served as the basis for this volume. The collection is just that: not a unified approach to framing, but rather a well-integrated and diverse set of perspectives on framing. Mapping out a citation analysis based on the references cited in these collected chapters would be interesting; I expect that while cliques of researchers focusing, for example, on social movements would be discernible, an overall network among framing scholars could be demonstrated. …

411 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This research introduces and validate a blatant measure of dehumanization based on the popular depiction of evolutionary progress in the "Ascent of Man" and provides an intuitive, validated empirical tool to reliably measure blatant dehumanization.
Abstract: Dehumanization is a central concept in the study of intergroup relations. Yet although theoretical and methodological advances in subtle, "everyday" dehumanization have progressed rapidly, blatant dehumanization remains understudied. The present research attempts to refocus theoretical and empirical attention on blatant dehumanization, examining when and why it provides explanatory power beyond subtle dehumanization. To accomplish this, we introduce and validate a blatant measure of dehumanization based on the popular depiction of evolutionary progress in the "Ascent of Man." We compare blatant dehumanization to established conceptualizations of subtle and implicit dehumanization, including infrahumanization, perceptions of human nature and human uniqueness, and implicit associations between ingroup-outgroup and human-animal concepts. Across 7 studies conducted in 3 countries, we demonstrate that blatant dehumanization is (a) more strongly associated with individual differences in support for hierarchy than subtle or implicit dehumanization, (b) uniquely predictive of numerous consequential attitudes and behaviors toward multiple outgroup targets, (c) predictive above prejudice, and (d) reliable over time. Finally, we show that blatant-but not subtle-dehumanization spikes immediately after incidents of real intergroup violence and strongly predicts support for aggressive actions like torture and retaliatory violence (after the Boston Marathon bombings and Woolwich attacks in England). This research extends theory on the role of dehumanization in intergroup relations and intergroup conflict and provides an intuitive, validated empirical tool to reliably measure blatant dehumanization.

363 citations