Browsing by Author "O'Shaughnessy, Nicholas J."
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Item Open Access The Dark Side of Political Marketing: Islamist Propaganda, Reversal Theory and British Muslims(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z) Baines, Paul R.; O'Shaughnessy, Nicholas J.; Moloney, Kevin; Richards, Barry; Butler, Sara; Gill, MarkPurpose This article discusses exploratory research into the perceptions of British Muslims towards Islamist ideological messaging to contribute to the general debate on ‘radicalisation'. The article discusses the findings of discussion groups in the light of research previously undertaken in the propaganda/psychology fields, from the perspective of Reversal Theory. Methodology/approach Four focus groups were undertaken with a mixture of Bangladeshi and Pakistani British Muslims who were shown a selection of Islamist propaganda media clips, garnered from the internet. The research is intended to provide exploratory indications of how British Muslims receive Islamist communication messages in order to provoke further research in this critical field. Findings We propose that Islamist communications focus on eliciting change in emotional states, specifically inducing the paratelic-excitement mode, by focusing around a meta-narrative of Muslims as a unitary grouping self- defined as victim to Western aggression. Early indicators are that some genres of Islamist propaganda may be more effective than others in generating these emotional change states (e.g. cartoons) and some groupings appear to be more susceptible than others. We conclude that our British Muslim respondents were unsympathetic to the Islamist ideological messaging contained in our sample of propaganda clips. Research limitations/implications The research highlights the difficulties in undertaking research in such a sensitive field. We propose a series of four testable propositions to guide future research looking specifically at whether those subjects who are more likely to be excited by Islamist communication include those with weakly held identities, younger males, those feeling contempt for Western culture, and the use of specific media genre formats. Originality/value of paper The article provides an insight into how British Muslims might respond to Islamist communications, indicating that whilst most are not susceptible to inducement of paratelic-excitement, others are likely to be, dependent on which genre of clip is used, the messages contained therein, and who that clip is targeted aItem Open Access Muslim voices: The British Muslim response to Islamic video-polemic - An exploratory study(2006-12-01T00:00:00Z) Baines, Paul R.; O'Shaughnessy, Nicholas J.; Moloney, Kevin; Richards, Barry; Butler, Sara; Gill, MarkThis paper represents an attempt to deconstruct how Muslims living in Britain might respond to militant Islamist propaganda, as typified by elected ‘Jihadist’ video-clips obtained from the Internet, using a discussion group format. The article discusses the methodological difficulties of conducting research in the propaganda field using a conventional advertising-evaluation type approach, and provides a series of testable propositions to guide further research in the field. The central thesis is that ‘Jihadist’ communications focus around a meta- narrative of Muslims as a unitary grouping selfdefined as victim to Western aggression. While early indicators are that some genres of propaganda may be more effective than others (e.g. cartoons) in introducing this notion and some groupings more susceptible than others, we conclude that in general most Muslim respondents were unsympathetic to the messages contained in the propaganda clips. This paper will be of particular interest to managers of government social and market research programmes and media/PR practiItem Open Access Selling terror: The symbolization and positioning of Jihad(SAGE Publications, 2009-06) O'Shaughnessy, Nicholas J.; Baines, Paul R.Public speculation has turned to how terrorists are made. One increasingly attributed source is propaganda (see Powell, 1967), the `propaganda of the deed' — physical violence — but also the audio-visual. Terrorism is a language of symbolic action: in the choice of the victims, in the choice of terrorist act, the drama created and the various official responses sought. We are in a new era, when the terrorist act does not simply speak for itself via its symbolism, but is amplified through a vast constellation of modern media. We explore the symbolism inherent in the construction of selected Islamist audio-visual propaganda made available on the internet today and seek to access the `meaning' of terrorist visualities through semiotic analysis, particularly using the Positioning Triad (Baines et al., 2008) and the deconstruction technique (Derrida, 1967) to encourage a new thread of political marketing/propaganda research. We conclude that a common theme projected in our sample is that of the West as permanent aggressor, with Muslims depicted as piously aggrieved for the wrongs done unto them.