Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: This presentation is structured around the normative ideal that the function of news media is to support democratization, ensure that different opinions and voices are heard, and guarantee the freedom of speech. As contemporary practices reveal, media has many goals to aim at; however, very often, media’s actual informational contribution does not meet the normative demands.
The article takes a small country perspective and examines how media pluralism and diversity debate is challenged by such an approach. It looks into media structures of the three Baltic countries and assesses the relationship between the size of news market and proclaimed policies as well as media performance there.
As will be demonstrated, very liberal regulation, ongoing structural changes (concentration of ownership, technological convergence, management of audience relations) in news market and weak tradition of professional journalism result in proliferation of market-oriented logic. In contemporary media, the process of journalism homogenization (or journalistic genre mixing, i.e. blurring boundaries between news, promotional writing and advertising), shifting quality of news, arrival of more sensational and more entertainment oriented reporting becomes a common practice.
As appears, this – so-called ‘media marketization’ – process is nothing new. A common understanding in contemporary media studies is that convergence of media systems and homogenisation of journalism is becoming a worldwide trend. In small markets, however, the process of media marketization creates a dual impression. On the one hand, market-led model promoted in media regulation and existing policies in the three Baltic countries, also the emerging new possibilities and forms for funding of media products, result in media structural as well as content diversity. On the other hand, in such context, new skills are needed by the audience to be able to critically assess available information, make informed choices and become interpreters of what is credible and valuable – in general terms, to be media literate.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the era of consumer capitalism, is there any such thing as music that is produced outside of the culture industry? The distinction between mass culture and local or independently made culture is central to musician’s evaluations of their craft and to sociologist’s analyses of music making. This paper questions the salience of this distinction. It is an ethnographic project on the music scene of a small college town that has lofty aims as the self-proclaimed “center of the musical universe.” Its thriving local scene is generated in large part by the financial and social capital of a group of local rock musicians and entrepreneurs who have gained national fame in the music industry. These men have invested their capital back into the local economy, tying their businesses to the city’s experiments in new urbanism. At the same time, other music businesses and organizations form to resist the monopoly these men have on the scene. I argue that the tension between local monopoly and local resistance generates important resources for rock musicians and young college alumni entering into culture industry professions. Yet at the same time, those who play other genres such as metal, hip-hop and Latin music are sidelined within the local economy. As cultural resources are becoming synonymous with economic resources, access to making local culture is a new indicator of existing social inequalities in urban spaces.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The experiences of Denmark and the Netherlands suggest that the Swedish route is not the only way to achieve the outcomes associated with the Swedish pension regime. Both countries, like Sweden, provide a universal basic pension, but supplementary pensions are organized in the private sector. Despite the location of supplementary pensions in the private sector, these two public-private pension regimes deliver outcomes not usually associated with such a public-private mix. Old age poverty levels are similar in all three countries, as is income inequality among pensioners. The Dutch and Danish pension regimes also perform well in terms of financial sustainability, the promotion of savings, and minimizing labor market distortions.
Comparison of the Swedish, Dutch and Danish pension regimes systems suggests that there are multiple institutional pathways toward similar outcomes. The paper provides institutional account of how these three countries independently developed pension systems that provide adequate risk coverage, financial sustainability, and minimal labor market distortion. My working hypothesis emphasizes the importance of the political mobilization of the left and its coalitions with other societal groups in accounting for different paths toward similar outcomes. In Sweden, the dominance of the Social Democratic Party in alliance with the trade unions resulted in the emergence of a statist pension system. In the Netherlands and Denmark, the weakness of the political left necessitated cooperation with confessional and liberal groups respectively, and these left their mark primarily in the organization of supplementary pensions. Thus in both countries, a politically weak left settled for collectively regulated but privately organized supplementary pensions that, despite their location within the market rather than the state sphere, produce outcomes similar to those of Sweden. To borrow from Castles, Denmark and the Netherlands have pursued solidarity and redistribution "by other means." (Castles 1985; cf. Schwartz 1998).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The political impact of government laboratories on small towns has not been fully explored in the field of political science. This paper seeks to fill that void by exploring the political impact of the government laboratories.