Suchergebnisse

It is crucial to gain better insights into how psychosocial processes can limit the power of the political/legislative sphere for promoting social change through new laws. One form of accomplishing this is by illuminating the arguments and the content and value of social representations at play in cases in which the public sphere succeeds in contesting new laws. In this article, we explore a case of successful resistance to new ecological laws in a Portuguese Natura site. The laws, restricting recreational fishing, were made less stringent after meeting with local opposition. Content analysis of 122 articles published from 2006 to 2014 in regional and national newspapers reveals that protestors (fishermen, local authorities) received higher visibility and support and had more direct voice than the political sphere in both presses. Dialogical analysis of direct quotations of protestors shows how they seek legitimacy by establishing common ground with valued representations, vividly invoking people‐place bonds and tradition, and also how they attempt to undermine the law's legitimacy by linking local and national concerns, avoiding (potentially devalued) "Nimby" ("not in my backyard") arguments. The discussion highlights what can be learned from using the press to investigate policy struggles that successfully organized their argumentation to contest new laws.

AbstractBackgroundIn 2009, Portugal ratified the UN CRPD and a turn to a rights‐based approach in disability law and policy has intensified since. It thus becomes important to understand whether these legal changes are furthering the social inclusion of adults with intellectual and complex disabilities.MethodQuestionnaires were applied to a stratified sample of 127 adults with intellectual and complex disabilities attending social care and vocational training programmes across the country.ResultsParticipants reported low rates of social participation, and many (49%) were found to live below the poverty line. High rates of discrimination and violence and feelings of loneliness and sadness were also reported, which can be strong indicators of the oppression that many of them daily endure.ConclusionAdults with intellectual and complex disabilities in Portugal face exclusion, discrimination, and violence. The poverty and isolation in which many of them live compounds their (de)citizenship status in Portuguese society.