Session 1 of the CEPEL young researchers' research update seminar – September 11, 2023

As part of the CEPEL seminar series "Current Research in Social Sciences," we are pleased to invite you to the first seminar of the 2023-2024 academic year:

September 11, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. September 11, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Linz Room of Building 3 of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Montpellier, where we will welcome:

Liana Winett,Associate Professorat the School of Public Health, OHSU-PSU, Portland, Oregon, USA (https://ohsu-psu-sph.org) for a seminar entitled:

The Importance of Words: Why Social and Political Scientists Should Integrate Everyday Language as a Critical Research Focus

The session will be led byMarc Smyrl, Associate Professor, University of Montpellier, and is intended to be interactive.

Summary:

The way we talk about the problems facing societies—including the words and symbols we choose and how they circulate in everyday sources—is extremely important for public policy. These representations of problems help determine whether and how the public views the solutions proposed to them. Cognitive and communication sciences show that the way we "frame" public issues shapes our understanding of those issues and the circumstances surrounding the people most affected. It can also facilitate—or hinder—our ability to imagine what can be done to address them. That is why public policy specialists must be very attentive to how their issues are presented in order to engage the public. They must also be aware of how they themselves present these issues in their work. In this seminar, we will examine why and how studying the framing of public problems and policy solutions in various sources of public discourse can enrich research and practice portfolios, including key questions that researchers can ask, drawing on recent examples from my work on public health and social policy in the United States and the European Union.