University of Craiova

Department of Communication, Journalism and Education Science

Center for Scientific Research in

Communication Sciences, Media and Public Opinion
(CCSCMOP)

Social Sciences and Education Research Review

Volume 6, Issue 1, 2019

ISSN: 2392-9683 / ISSN-L: 2392-9683

Director
Professor PhD Habil. Ștefan Vlăduțescu, University of Craiova,
Romania
Chief Editor
Associate Professor PhD Habil. Claudiu Marian Bunăiașu, University
of Craiova, Romania
Deputy Chief Editor
Assistant Professor PhD Xenia Negrea, University of Craiova,
Romania

Editorial Board
Associate Professor PhD Alina Țenescu, University of Craiova, Romania
Assistant Professor PhD Alexandru Constantin Strungă, University of Craiova,
Romania
Assistant Professor PhD Răzvan Alexandru Călin, University of Craiova,
Romania
Assistant Professor PhD Daniela Osiac, University of Craiova, Romania
Assistant Professor PhD Elena Rodica Bratu, University of Craiova, Romania
Assistant Professor PhD Dan Valeriu Voinea, University of Craiova, Romania

1
International Editorial Board Advisory
Academician Professor PhD Gheorghe Vlăduţescu, Romanian Academy,
Romania
Professor PhD Gabriel Albu, Petroleum and Gas University of Ploiesti,
Romania
Professor PhD Dumitru Batâr, University Lucian Blaga, Sibiu, Romania
Professor PhD Stefan Bratosin, Paul Valéry University of Montpellier 3,
France
Professor PhD Ioan Constantin Dima, ”Valachia” University of Târgovişte,
Romania
Professor PhD Liliana Ezechil, University of Pitesti, Romania
Professor PhD Janusz K. Grabara, Czestochowa University of Technology,
Poland
Professor PhD Romiţă B. Iucu, University of Bucharest, Romania
Professor PhD Michal Kolcun, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia
Professor PhD Sebastian Kot, Czestochowa University of Technology, Poland
Professor PhD Mariana Man, University of Petroșani, Romania
Professor PhD Marin Manolescu,University of Bucharest, Romania
Professor PhD Vladimir Modrak, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia
Professor PhD Tudor Nistorescu, University of Craiova, Romania
Professor PhD Nicu Panea, University of Craiova, Romania
Professor PhD Svetislav Paunovic, Belgrade Banking Academy, Serbia
Professor PhD Dan Potolea, University of Bucharest, Romania
Professor PhD Sorin Mihai Radu, University of Petroșani, Romania
Professor PhD Antonio Sandu, Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava,
RomaniaProfessor PhD Florentin Smarandache, University of New
Mexico, United States of America
Professor PhD Cristiana Nicola Teodorescu, University of Craiova,
RomaniaProfessor PhD Marta-Christina Suciu, Bucharest University of
Economic Studies, Romania
Associate Professor PhD Marcel Căpraru, University of Craiova, Romania

2
Professor PhD Florica Orțan, University of Oradea, Romania
Associate Professor PhD Ioana Narcisa Creţu, University Lucian Blaga, Sibiu,
Romania
Associate Professor Lucian Grozea, University Lucian Blaga, Sibiu
Associate Professor PhD Florica Iuhaș, University of Bucharest, Romania
Associate Professor PhD Claudiu Langa, University of Pitesti, Romania
Associate Professor PhD Aurel Pera, University of Craiova, Romania
Associate Professor Jim O’Brien, Faculty of Creative Arts, Southampton Solent
University, United Kingdom
Associate Professor PhD Ion Stavre, SNSPA Bucharest, Romania
Associate Professor PhD Mihaela Alexandra Tudor, Paul Valéry University of
Montpellier 3, France
Associate Professor PhD Tihomir Ziljak, Public Open University Zagreb,
Croatia
Associate Professor PhD Otilia Clipa, University of Suceava, Romania
Associate Professor PhD Ömer Beyhan, Konya Necmettin Erbakan
Üniversitesi, Turkey
Assistant Professor PhD Mihaela Colhon, University of Craiova, Romania
Assistant Professor PhD Marin Drămnescu, „Lumina“ University Bucharest,
Romania
Assistant Professor PhD Vladimir Aurelian Enăchescu, ASE Bucharest,
Romania
Assistant Professor PhD José Noronha Rodrigues, Azores University, Portugal
Assistant Professor PhD Daniela Gîfu, „Alexandru Ioan Cuza“ University of
Iași, Romania
Assistant Professor PhD Mădălina Giorgiana Mangra, University of Craiova,
Romania

Editura SITECH

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOPE AND

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN A GROUP OF ADULTS IN
TERMS OF DIFFERENT VARIABLES ........................................................ 6
Bülent DILMAÇ1, ........................................................................................... 6
Eda Nur KOCAMAN2 .................................................................................... 6
A REVIEW OF STUDIES ON MATHEMATICAL THINKING IN
TURKEY ......................................................................................................... 30
Ebru KÜKEY1, .............................................................................................. 30
Tayfun TUTAK2,........................................................................................... 30
Recep ASLANER3 ........................................................................................ 30
FAILURES OF ETHNIC POLITICS IN ETHIOPIA: A
MACHIAVELLIAN WAY OUT ................................................................... 48
Abebe BIRU .................................................................................................. 48
ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF INDUSTRIAL PARKS (IPS) IN
ETHIOPIA: THE CASE OF BOLE LEMI 1, EASTERN INDUSTRY
ZONE AND HAWASSA INDUSTRIAL PARKS ........................................ 72
Fesseha Mulu GEBREMARIAM1* ............................................................... 72
Bizuayehu Daba FEYISA2 ............................................................................ 72
Towards a hegemonic femininity? Coverage of the first female romanian
prime minister in the national and local media .......................................... 112
Simona RODAT .......................................................................................... 112
A PRACTICAL SECOND-ORDER DISCOURSE ................................... 146
Ștefan VLĂDUȚESCU ............................................................................... 146
BRAND POSITIONING IN THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT .. 156
Alexandra IORGULESCU1 , ....................................................................... 156
Mihaela MARCU2 ....................................................................................... 156
Adrian NICOLESCU .................................................................................. 163
MESSAGES AND SIGNALS ....................................................................... 171
Ștefan VLĂDUȚESCU ............................................................................... 171
THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DRAWN UP BY
THE ENTITIES FROM TOURISM ........................................................... 178
Dorel Dumitru CHIRIȚESCU1, .................................................................. 178

4
 Aurelia DUMITRU2, ................................................................................... 178
ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS - PERCEPTIONS ABOUT ROLES,
CONSTRAINTS AND AUTONOMY ......................................................... 197
Antonia MATEI .......................................................................................... 197
THE INFLUENCE OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE ON PEOPLE’S
TENDENCY TOWARDS WORKAHOLISM ........................................... 214
Marius NEGRILĂ, ...................................................................................... 214
NEWSWORHINESS AND THE EXPECTATIONS OF SOURCES IN
HEALTH JOURNALISM ............................................................................ 223
Dan Valeriu VOINEA ................................................................................. 223
Social Journalism in Online World. Conceptual Delimitations ................ 228
Xenia NEGREA .......................................................................................... 228

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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 6-29 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

HOPE AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN
A GROUP OF ADULTS IN TERMS OF DIFFERENT
VARIABLES

Bülent DILMAÇ1,
Eda Nur KOCAMAN2
1
Department of Educational Sciences, Ahmet Keleşoğlu Education Faculty,
Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey, bulentdilmac@gmail.com
2
British International School, Istanbul, Turkey, e.kocaman@bisistanbul.org

Abstract
The aim of this study is to examine the corelation between hope and the
psychological well-being in a group of adults in terms gender, working – non-
working, age and marital status.The study group consisted of 448 individuals
aged between 20 and 50 years who were employed in the Sarıyer district of
Istanbul working or non-working, married and unmarried.In the study, it was
aimed to examine the corelation between hope and psychological well-being
variables and analyzed. In order to collect the necessary data in the study, a
Personal Information Form developed by the researcher was used to collect data
about age, gender, study and marital status of individuals. In order to determine
the level of hope of individuals, the Integrative Hope Scale (IHS), which was
developed by Schrank, Woppmann, Sibitz and Lauber (2011), adapted into
Turkish by Hakan Sarıçam and Ahmet Akın, was used.The Psychological Well-
being Scale (PWBS), which was developed by Diener (2009-2010) and carried

6
out by the Turkish adaptation study Telef (2011; 2013), was used to measure the
Psychological Well-Being Levels of individuals. The data were analyzed with
SPSS software.According to the findings obtained from the study, a positive and
significant corelation was found between the subscales of the Integrative Hope
Scale and the sub-dimensions of the Psychological Well-being scale. The results
of the study were discussed in accordance with the findings of the study and
recommendations for the researches were developed.

Keywords: Hope, Psychological Well - Being, Self-sufficiency, Self

Respect, Motivation

1 Introduction
The individual is looking for happiness and peace. This search has made the
concepts of happiness and peace a topic of research. The concepts of happiness
and peace have begun to be investigated scientifically with the emergence of the
science of philosophical and religiously researched psychology. Scientists
working in this field until recently examined the science of psychology, giving
problems and adversities to the individual, focused on the treatment of diseases
rather than recognizing and ensuring the well-being of the individual. For this
reason, they are considered successful as they overcome the diseases (Carrudhers
and Hood, 2004: 229).
In recent years, every branch of science is developing day by day. Especially
the branches of science that examine human nature such as psychology and
sociology, the researchers who are interested in these disciplines, the
professionals working in these fields develop new approaches and make a lot of
effort in line with their aims. In this context, the science of psychology leaves the
positive aspects of the individual to contemporary approaches and research that
investigate the positive emotions. Research in this field, the good people, positive
aspects of the person because of the positive feeling of the person to feel positive,

7
positively affect the positive person as a result of positive psychology has
increased interest and has been the focus of many researchers (Seligman and
Csikszentmihalyi, 2000: 8).
Every moment from the moment when the person starts living in the
womb until the end of his / her life; may include positive or negative situations.
Age, marital status, gender, working or non- working status affect the positive or
negative well-being of the person and the perspective of life. Concerns,
beginnings, relations, business life, having positive or negative situations in
having children and raising them, but also the difficulties in dealing with them,
to look at the future with hope and to maintain the well-being are worthy of
psychological health.
The concepts of positive individual development in the theories of
personality and developmental psychologists are considered as the basis of
theories of well-being. Developed developmental and personality theories in the
development of the individual's social life, for example; he points out the
development in special areas such as moral development, personality
development and social development. Maslow's hierarchy of needs and images
of self-realization are self-aware and are expected to use their potential at the
highest level and show a positive development (Kula and Cakar, 2011: 198).
If we look at Erikson's psychosocial development model, he identifies the
compatible and incompatible development of the person one by one (Arslan,
2008). Carl Rogers' concept of a fully functional individual; positive attitude
towards experiential experience, creativity, such as positive and coherent
features indicate (Gürcan, 2015: 17). The focus of each theoretician is to target
the positive aspects of psychological health and to express specific ways.
The concept of psychological well-being, which is the subject of
numerous researches and attracts the attention of many theorists, Ryff (1989a);
rather than conceptualizing it as a formula that includes positive emotion,
negative emotion and life satisfaction, it is a structure that contains many

8
structures including life attitudes and skills. Ryff (1995) defined the model in six
dimensions. These are; the past and the positive definition of the individual (self-
acceptance), the individual's growth and development (personal development), a
person's sense of life and purpose of life (the purpose of life), trust in
environmental relations (positive relationships with people), the person's
environment The ability to orientate and orientate the environment around its
desires and needs with positive relationships (environmental dominance) defines
individual and autonomous decision-making (autonomy, autonomy) (Akın,
2019; Ryff, 1995: 1075; Gülaçtı, 2009).
One of the variables of the study is the accepted concept of hope; The
cognitive process (Snyder, 1994, 1995: 357) is defined as a different definition
to determine the goals of the person, to have the sense of motivation to achieve
its goals and to create a route to the target. Hope means the future concept of us
and expresses our positive outlook and expectations for the future. It is stated that
people who can look forward in their life with strong vision and feeling, a person
with a strong vision should be able to cope with negative emotions. Any
difficulty faced by the person is considered to be the internal motive to overcome
negative thoughts such as negative emotions. When the research is examined; an
individual trait (Snyder and others, 1991), a beginning for a person's life (Kylma,
2005: 89), is considered to be a fact that cares about the well-being and affect
positively (Holdcraft and Williamson, 1991: 131).
In positive psychology investigations, it is seen that there are concepts
related to hope and psychological well-being, relational and positive
interrelationships, and researchers who study this relationship (Kashdan et al.,
2002: 450; Michael and Snyder, 2005: 447; Shoyer, Synder, Yang and Lewin,
2003: 647; Synder 1996: 11; Valle, Huebner and Suldo, 2006: 398) found
semantic relationships in their studies.

9
 Studies have shown positive relationships between hope and
psychological well-being. At the same time, the concept of hope can be improved
and can be developed (Davis, 2005: 261).
The fact that psychological well-being is not explained by the absence of
psychological symptoms and negativity has made it important to investigate the
personal characteristics of the individual's good states such as hope and
happiness (Küsgülü, 2014). Thus, the main aim is to investigate the effect of the
hope that humanity has had since its existence on psychological well-being.

2 Method
Research Model
When two or more variables are present, the relational scanning model
used to determine the change or location of the variables, whether the variables
change together, if there are changes in the variables, focuses on finding the cause
of this change (Karasar, 2010). In this study, the correlation type between the
individuals' hopes and psychological well-being levels was investigated by the
relational scanning model.

Work Model
The population and the sample of the study consisted of 448 individuals
aged 20-50 years living in Sarıyer District of European Side in Istanbul in 2019.
In this context, the scale was applied to men and women who do not work
between 20 and 50 years of age - working, married, unmarried or widowed.

Demographic Information n %

Gender Female 290 64,7

Male 158 35,3
Total 448 100,0
Age Group 20-30 Ages 189 42,2

10
 31-50 Ages 259 57,8
Total 448 100,0
Working Status Working 293 65,4
Non - Working 155 34,6
Total 448 100,0
Marital Status Married 270 60,3

Unmarried 178 39,7

Total 448 100,0

290 (64.7%) of the sample group were female; 158 (35.3%) were male. 189
(42.2%) of the sample group were in the 20-30 age group; 259 (57.8%) were in
the 31-50 age group. 293 (65.4%) of the participants participated in the study;
155 (34.6%) stated that they were not working. 270 (60.3%) of the sample group
were married; 178 (39.7%) were single.

3 Measurement Tools
Personal Information Form

The Personal Information Form was developed by the researcher and

includes questions about participants' gender, marital status, working status and
age group.

The Integrative Hope Scale

The Integrative Hope Scale was developed by Schrank, Woppmann,

Sibitz and Lauber (2011) and adapted to Turkish and the validity and reliability
analyzes of the scale were conducted by Hakan Sarıçam and Ahmet Akın.
Psychometric properties of the scale were tested by test-retest, internal
consistency, confirmatory factor analysis and criterion-related validity methods
and techniques. Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) was evaluated for the validity

11
of the scale. In the confirmatory factor analysis applied to the construct validity
of the scale, 23 items consisted of four items (trust / faith, perspective
deprivation, positive future orientation and social relations / individual value
consistent with the original form). (x² = 610.67, sd = 222, RMSEA = .062, CFI
= .94, IFI = .94, NFI = .90 and SRMR = .063). Factor loads of the scale. With
25. 67. In the validity study, a negative (r = -.53) relationship was found between
the hopeful hope and hopelessness. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency
reliability coefficients were .76 for the whole scale and .80, .71, .68 and .65 for
the four subscales respectively. In addition, the test-retest correlation coefficient
was calculated as .89 for the whole scale and the corrected item-total correlations
were determined between .24 and .57. In this respect, it can be stated that the
scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool.

Psychological Well- Being Scale

The Psychological Well-being Scale was developed to measure and
investigate the well-being and psychological well-being, complementing well-
being measurements established by Diener (2009-2010). The scale was
introduced by Telef (2011, 2013) and the total variance of the scale was
calculated as 42% by the factor analysis of all details of the well-being scale. The
effective loads of the scale items were calculated between .54 and .76. In the
confirmatory factor analysis, the conformity index values were calculated as
RMSEA = 0.08, SRMR = 0.04, GFI = 0.96, NFI = 0.94, RFI = 0.92, CFI = 0.95
and IFI = 0.95. The Psychological Well-being Scale was found to be correlated
of Psychological Well-being Scale sub-dimensions of autonomy was .30, with
environmental dominance .53, with individual development .29, positive
relationship with others .41, for life puposes .38, by self-acceptance .56, with
total psychological well-being .56 In addition, with the sub-dimensions of the
Needs Satisfaction Scale of autonomy was .30, with qualify .69, with being
associated .57 and with total satisfaction .73 was determined. The Cronbach

12
alpha internal consistency coefficient obtained in the validity and reliability study
of the scale was determined as .80. According to the test-retest results, it was
found that the scale had a high, positive and significant relationship between the
first and the second application (r = 0.86, p <.001). The item-total correlations of
the Psychological Well-Being Scale ranged from .41 to .63 and t-values were
significant (p <.001). I strongly disagree with the items of the Psychological
Well-being Scale (1) and strongly agree (7) in the form of 1 mad7. All substances
are expressed as positive. The scores range from 8 (when all items are absolutely
disagreeed) to 56 (when all items are definitely answered). The excess score
indicates that the individual has many psychological resources and power.
Although the scale does not provide separate measurements on the aspects of
goodness, it provides an overview of the positive functions in the different
sections we believe to be important (Diener, 2010: 308).

Data Analysis
Before moving onto statistical analysis, demographic variables were
grouped and then the scales applied to the individuals that formed the sample
group (Integrative Hope Scale, Psychological Scale) were scored. The statistical
analysis of the obtained data was carried out. The frequency and percentage
distributions that determine the demographic characteristics of the sample group
were determined.
Non-parametric techniques were used for the groups that did not show
normal distribution (n <30) and parametric analysis techniques were used for the
distributions in the normal distribution characteristics.
In this context;
1. According to the results of the Kolmogorov Smirnov-Z Test in which
the scores of the subscale of the sample were analyzed, whether the scores of the
psychological well-being scale were normal or not, it was seen that the

13
distribution of complementary hope scale and psychological well-being scale
data were different from normal.
2. The scores obtained from the Integrative Hope Scale and the subscale
scores of the Integrative Hope Scale and the Psychological Well-being Scale;
Mann Whitney U Test to determine whether gender, age group, marital status,
working status differ according to variables.
3. The Spearman Row Differences Correlation Coefficients analysis was
used to determine whether there was a significant relationship between the scale
of the participants in the sample, the Integrative Hope Scale, and the subscale
scores of the Integrative Hope Scale and the scores obtained from the
Psychological Well-being Scale. The data obtained were analyzed on the
computer with SPSS for Windows 16.0 ve, the significance was tested at the
minimum p <.05 level, other significance levels were also specified and the
findings were stated in tables according to the objectives of the study.

Findings
In this part of the study where the effect of hope on psychological well-
being is examined according to some variables, the findings of the study are
presented in three stages. In the first step, the results of the analysis is to
understand whether the dependent variables of the study change the demographic
characteristics of the Integrative Hope Scale total and sub-dimension scores have
been mentioned. In the second step, the analysis values of the Psychological
Well-being Scale were used to determine whether the demographic
characteristics were changed. In the third step, the link between the Integrative
Hope Scale and the Psychological Well-being Scale scores was examined.

14
 Table 4.1. Mann Whitney-U Test Results for Determining whether the
Total and Sub-Size Scores of the Integrative Hope Scale differ according to
the Age Group Variables

Point Groups
The 20-30 Age 189 210,21 39730,00
-
Integrative 31-50 Age 259 234,93 60846,00 21775,00 ,046*
1,821
Hope Total 448
20-30 Age 189 198,44 37504,50
Trust - Faith 31-50 Age 259 243,52 63071,50 19549,50 -,121 ,000*
Total 448
Perspective 20-30 Age 189 231,09 43676,50
-
Deprivation 31-50 Age 259 219,69 56899,50 23229,50 ,357
2,624
Toplam 448
Positive Future 20-30 Age 189 222,95 42138,00
-
Orientation 31-50 Age 259 225,63 58438,00 24183,00 ,827
1,594
Total 448
Social 20-30 Age 189 220,75 41721,00
Relations 31-50 Age 259 227,24 58855,00
-
Individual Total 23766,00 ,599
1,984
Values 448

In Table 4.1, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney-U Test was used to find

out whether the integrative hope scale total scores and sub-dimension scores had
a significant difference according to the age group. The difference between the
groups was not statistically significant (U = 23229,50; U = 24183,00; U =
23766,00; p> .05). On the other hand, the difference between the total subscale
of the scale and the subscales of trust / belief subscale scores were statistically
significant. This significance was found to be in favor of those who were in the
31-50 age group in the total scores of the integrative hope scale and in the trust /
belief sub-dimension scores (U = 21775.00; U = 19549,50; p <.05). According
to this study, it can be said that in the sample group participating in the study 31-

15
 50 age group, the total integrative and total scores of subscales and confidence /
belief subscale scores were higher than those in the 20-30 age group.

Table 4.2. Results of Mann Whitney-U Test to determine whether the Total
and Sub-Size Scores of the Integrative Hope Scale differ according to the
Marital Status Variable

Point Groups
Married 270 244,82 66102,50
The Integrative
Unmarried 178 193,67 34473,50 18542,50 -4,094 ,000*
Hope
Total 448
Married 270 247,69 66876,00
Trust - Faith Unmarried 178 189,33 33700,00 17769,00 -4,676 ,000*
Total 448
Perspective Married 270 220,00 59399,00
Deprivation Unmarried 178 231,33 41177,00 22814,00 -,908 ,364
Total 448
Married 270 234,45 63300,50
Unmarried 178 209,41 37275,50
Positive Future Total 21344,50 -2,027 ,043*
Orientation 448

Social Married 270 244,10 65906,00

Relations Unmarried 178 194,78 34670,00
Individual Total 18739,00 -3,959 ,000*
Values 448

In Table 4.2, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney-U test was used to explain

whether the integrative hope scale total scores and sub-dimension scores showed
significant variability according to the marital status. = 22814,00; p> .05); the
difference between the groups was found to be statistically significant (U =
18542,50; U = 17769.00; U = 21344). , 50; U = 18739.00; p <.05). This
meaningfulness was found to be in favor of those who were married in the
positive total scores, positive faith orientation sub-dimension scores and social

16
 relations / individual value sub-dimension scores in the trust belief sub-
dimension scores. According to this study, it can be said that in the sample group,
it was observed that the total scores of the integrative hope, trust / belief scores,
positive future orientation scores, and social relationships / individual value
scores of married individuals were higher than those of single individuals.

Table 4.3. The Mann Whitney-U Test Results of the Integrative Hope Scale
to Determine whether the Total and Sub-Size Scores differ according to
the Variables of the Working Status of Adults

Point Groups
Working 293 235,01 68858,50
The Integrative Nonworkin 204,63 31717,50 -
155 19627,50 ,018*
Hope g 2,364
Total 448
Working 293 241,81 70851,00
Nonworkin 191,77 29725,00 -
Trust - Faith 155 17635,00 ,000*
g 3,897
Total 448
Working 293 217,04 63593,00
Perspective
Nonworkin 238,60 36983,00 -
Deprivation 155 20522,00 ,093
g 1,679
Total 448
Working 293 234,96 68844,50
Nonworkin 204,72 31731,50
155 -
Positive Future g 19641,50 ,017*
2,381
Orientation Total
448
Social Working 293 237,85 69690,00
Relations Nonworkin 199,26 30886,00
155 -
Individual g 18796,00 ,003*
3,011
Values Total
448

In Table 4.3, there are links indicating whether the group has an average
difference in the study areas of total scores and sub-dimension scores of the

17
 integrative hope scale. These include your non-parametric Mann Whitney-U test,
perspective deprivation scores and scores = 20522,00; p & gt; 0.05); Integrative
hope total scores, trust / belief sub-dimension scores, positive future orientation
sub-dimension scores and social relations / value-value subscale scores were
significantly different in groups (U = 19627,50; U = 17635,00; U = 19641). 50;
U = 18796.00; p <.05).
In this study, in the total scores of the integrative hope, in the positive
future orientation sub-dimension scores in the trust belief sub-dimension scores,
and in the social relations, in this study, the total score of the integrative hopes,
trust / belief scores, positive future orientation scores and social relations / value
points of the employees is said to be higher than the non-working.
Table 4.4. Mann Whitney-U Test Results for Determining whether
Psychological Well-being Scale Scores differ according to Marital Status
Variables

Point Groups

Married 270 239,43 64646,00

Psychological
Unmarried 178 201,85 35930,00 19999,00 -3,009 ,003*
Well Being
Total 448

In Table 4.4, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney-U test was used to

determine whether the total scores of the psychological well-being scale of the
sample group showed a significant change according to the marital status. p
<.05). According to this finding, it can be said that the levels of psychological
well-being of married individuals in the sample group were higher than those of
single respondents.

18
Table 4.5. Psychological Well-being Scale Scores and Integrative Hope
Scale Total Scales and Integrative Hope Scale Confidence / Belief,
Perspective Deprivation, Positive Future Orientation, Social Relations /
Individual Values

Positive
Perspectiv Future Social
The
Well Trust e Orientatio Relations
Integrativ
Being Faith Deprivatio n Individu
e Hope
n al Values

Psychologic ,713* -,268** ,553**

al Well 1,000 ,498** * ,481**
Being
The ,733* ,346** ,610**
Integrative ,498* 1,000 * ,619**
Hope *
1,000 -,224** ,644**
Trust -
,713* ,733** 1,000
Faith
*
Perspective - - 1,000 -,168**
Deprivation ,268* ,346** ,224* -,189**
* *
Positive ,644* -,168** 1,000
Future ,553* *
,610** ,507**
Orientation *

Social ,575* -,189** ,507

Relations *
,481*
Individual ,619** 1,000
*
Values

**p<.01
As can be seen from Table 4.5, with the scores obtained from the
Psychological Well-being Scale, the total score obtained from the Integrative

19
Hope Scale and the sub-dimensions of the scale to determine the relationship
between trust / belief, lack of perspective, positive future orientation, social
relations / individual value. Spearman Sequence Differences As a result of the
Correlation analysis, the Psychological Well-being Scale scores and the
Integrative Hope Scale total scores included between the Psychological Well-
being Scale scores and the Integrative Hope Scale Confidence / Belief sub-
dimension total scores.
Among the total scores of the Future Orientation sub-dimension, there
was a statistically significant positive correlation between the scores of the
Psychological Well-being Scale and the total scores of the Integrative Hope Scale
Social Relations / Individual Value sub-dimension. Round (r =, 498; r =, 713; r
=, 553; r = 481, p <.01). In other words, as the psychological well-being scores
of the individuals increase, it can be said that complementary hope scores, trust
/ belief scores, positive future orientation scores, social relations / individual
value points are also increasing. On the other hand, a statistically significant
negative correlation was found between the scores of the Psychological Well-
being Scale and the total scores of the Integrative Hope Scale Perspective
Deprivation sub-dimension (r = -, 268; p <.01). In other words, as the scores of
psychological well-being increase, it can be said that the scores of perspective
deprivation decreased.

3 Discussion, Results and Recommondations

The correlation between hope and psychological well-being
Considering the relationship between the hopes of individuals and
psychological well-being, it can be stated that there is a positive relationship.
It is thought that the individuals who have a high level of psychological
well-being will make an effort for self-acceptance, a positive relationship in the
relations with the social environment, self-confidence, a targeted experience and

20
goals. Another variable, hope, is expected to have an elevated level of hope, a
positive outlook on life, a positive perspective on the main and future life, the
ability to plan different paths to the goals, and an internal drive (Sarı & Cakır,
2016: 227).
When the relationship between psychological well-being and hope was
examined, it was determined that psychological well-being and hope concept
were positively and significantly related to the analysis of the applied scales.
When the literature is examined, the concepts of hope and psychological well-
being can be positively associated with each other. In the field of hope, consistent
relationships between the concepts of hope and psychological well-being were
determined. When the researches about the concepts of hope and well-being are
examined, it is concluded that the sense of hope is an effect that can be improved
and the state of well-being is physically and psychologically related.
Researchers stated that if the individual has a high level of hope, they tend
to make sense of power events (Gall and others, 2005: 91). In a different study,
the result is; the relationship between hope, optimism and general well-being was
found to be positive and significant (Magalette and Oliver, 1999: 541).
Researchers who study the relationship between hope and psychological
well-being (Kashdan and others, 2002: 451) stated that hope is a predictor of
psychological well-being. Psychological well-being, hope and forgiveness in the
study of the relationship between the concepts of psychological well-being in a
meaningful way predicted the level of hope (Usta, 2013: 67). In this study, it can
be stated that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between hope and
psychological well-being, and it supports the findings that have been concluded
in previous studies.
When we evaluate the sample group according to their marital status, it
can be said that married individuals have higher total scores, confidence / belief
scores, positive future orientation scores and social relations / individual value

21
scores than married individuals. In other words, it is possible to express that a
person's marital status positively affects the variable of hope.
Different results have been reached in the studies. In a study conducted
on cancer patients, it was determined that the scores of hope did not change
according to the marital status in the analysis between the hope scores and the
marital status of the person (Aslan and others, 2007: 21).
In another study, it was determined that the effect of marital status on the
level of hope was not significant when the level of hope of elderly people was
examined (Erci, Yılmaz & Budak, 2017: 73).
According to a study conducted in inpatients, it is determined that there
is a relationship between marital status and hope status, and it is determined that
marital status is low in single or widowed individuals compared to married
people (Arslantas, 2010: 91).

Discussion Of Whether There Are Significant Differences In The

Level Of Hope In Terms Of Age
In the sample group participating in the study, it can be said that those
who are in the 31-50 age group have higher total scores of total companion and
confidence / belief subscale scores than those in the 20-30 age group. In other
words, it can be stated that there is an increase in the level of hope with the
advancement of the age status of the individuals.

In a study, when the relationship between hope and individuals with age
is examined; A statistically significant difference was found between the hope
and age variable (Erci and others, 2017: 74).

Discussion Of Whether There Are Significant Differences In The

Working Status Of Hope Levels

22
 In the sample group participating in the study, it can be stated that the
scores of the individuals who have work life, their trust / belief scores, positive
future orientation scores, and social relations / individual value scores are higher
than those who do not work.
In the light of the results of a study, people with high levels of hope have
the ability to be motivated along with their wish to reach their goals and internal
control, they can think about the obstacles that they may encounter and consider
the different ways to reach the goal. It is determined and stated that working
individuals are hopeful (Akçay, 2011: 128).
In another study, parallel results have been reached and hope and job
satisfaction in research has been investigated. It can be stated that employees who
have high levels of hope in their working life get successful results compared to
individuals with low levels of hope (Erkuş and Fındıklı, 2013: 307).

Discussion About Whether There Are Significant Differences In The

Level Of Psychological Well-Being In Terms Of Marital Status
With the evaluation of the relationship between psychological well-being
and marital status, the difference between the groups was evaluated in favor of
those who were statistically married. In other words, the psychological well-
being of people who are married is better than single ones.
A total of 205 married teachers (125 male and 80 female) working in the
province of Istanbul found that the psychological well-being of married
individuals was better than non-married individuals (Ekşi and others,2018: 221).
According to the results of Yeşiltepe (2011), it can be stated that the
psychological well-being of teachers is related to marriage satisfaction.
The effect of quality on the relationship between marriage and
psychological well-being of individuals can be expressed as high. According to
the researches, being married and getting married in marriage affect the
psychological well-being of the person.

23
 When examined in the literature, Proulx, Hlems and Buehler (2007)
stated that there is a strong and strong relationship between marital and
psychological well-being. There are also studies in which different findings are
obtained from the results obtained from the studies, that the marriage positively
predicts psychological well-being. Timur (2008) 's in the stage of separation and
marriage of people who study psychological well-being in their study of
psychological well-being, marriage is not a significant predictor of marriage.

Results
When the psychological well-being and hope levels of the individuals in
the study group were examined, it was concluded that there was a positive linear
relationship.
When the demographic characteristics of the participants are examined,
it gives us information about the hope and psychological well-being of the
variables such as marital status, age and having children.
When we examine the phenomenon of hope according to age levels, it
can be stated that there are more women and men between the ages of 31 and 50
compared to men and women whose age range is 20-30. In other words, we can
say that as the age of the person increases, the phenomenon of hope will increase.
When we evaluate the marital status of the demographic characteristics,
married individuals have higher hope and psychological well-being than single
individuals.
When the working status of another variable was evaluated, it was
analyzed that the working participants had more hope and psychological well-
being than the non-working participants.

Recommendations
It is thought that the research conducted with male and female
participants between the ages of 20 and 50 in Sarıyer District of Istanbul will

24
contribute to comparative research by applying them in different socio-cultural
districts. In addition, it has been observed that researches on hope and
psychological well-being in our country have become widespread but it is
observed that there are limited numbers of studies with individuals with different
characteristics. In order to generalize the results of the research, diversification
of variables, repeating the work in different social circles will contribute to the
development of the scope and reliability of the evaluation.
This study evaluated the relationship between hope and psychological
well-being in terms of different values. The effect of hope on the well-being of
individuals was predicted in terms of age, marital status and gender and it was
thought to be useful to determine the direction and intensity of the training and
guidance activities. In similar studies, it was observed that hope and
psychological well-being were positively related, and that community studies on
the effect of living with psychological well-being and the improvement of sense
of hope would contribute to our future. Considering the effect of hope on
psychological well-being or well-being in the hope, and when the results of the
study are evaluated, it will be useful to organize various seminars on how
individuals will keep their psychological well-being positive.
Note: The current study was delivered from Eda Nur Kocaman’s master’s
thesis titled ‘Investigation of Relationship Between Hope and Psychological
Well-Being in a Group of Adults in Terms of Different Variables’ which was
carried out under supervision of Associate Prof. Bulent Dilmac.

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29
 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 30-47 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

A REVIEW OF STUDIES ON MATHEMATICAL

THINKING IN TURKEY

Ebru KÜKEY1,
Tayfun TUTAK2,
Recep ASLANER3
1
Res. Asst. Dr., Fırat University, Faculty of Education, Mathematics Education,
ekukey@firat.edu.tr
2
Asst. Prof. Dr. Fırat University, Faculty of Education, Mathematics Education,
tayfuntutak@hotmail.com
3
Prof. Dr. İnönü University, Faculty of Education, Mathematics Education,
recep.aslaner@inönü.edu.tr

Abstract
This study aims at reviewing the tendencies of the studies on mathematics
education in Turkey with particular regard to mathematical thinking. In this
respect, the theses in the National Center for Theses and Dissertations and the
journals published online at the DergiPark (The most comprehensive collection
of academic journals in Turkey) portal were searched and 48 studies on
mathematical thinking were found. In this qualitative study, the studies reviewed
were analyzed descriptively. In the light of the findings obtained, it is found that
there are 23 articles, 12 master’s theses and 13 doctoral theses. It is also found
that while these studies were limited in number until 2010, the number has
increased after 2010. When the studies are examined regarding their
methodology, it is seen that qualitative researches are in majority; however, there

30
are also quantitative and mixed studies. In addition to this finding, it is also
observed that generally open-ended questions, interviews, observations and
video recordings are used in qualitative studies, and content analysis is preferred.
In the quantitative studies, on the other hand, it is seen that scales are generally
preferred as data collection tools. In addition, it is observed that the researchers
generally selected middle school students and elementary pre-service
mathematics teachers as their sample. The sample size is mostly between 11 and
30 and generally, 201 to 300 samples are determined. According to the results
obtained, it is seen that mathematical thinking has become a popular subject
recently. Therefore, it is thought that conducting more studies on mathematical
thinking and preferring different sample groups would be beneficial for
improving mathematics education.

Keywords: Mathematics Education, Mathematical Thinking, Content

Analysis.

INTRODUCTION
The changing world requires individuals, who are well aware of
themselves and their environment and who know how and in what way to think.
The path of raising such individuals passes through new conceptions of education
that aims at upskilling individuals with analyzing certain structures, seeing the
relations inside the structures and forming cause and effect relations between
events, i.e. reasoning (Umay, 2003). Concordantly, when it is considered that
thinking is the most prominent feature that distinguishes humans from other
living things, it is true that expurgated, simple and genuine thought, sound and
timely produced, would set an individual active in their environment. Because,
following this, the individuals accommodate themselves to the society they live
in, and take an active role in its development (Alkan & Bukova Güzel, 2005).

31
When the properties of mathematics are considered, it is seen that mathematics
is one of the tools required for upskilling children and youngsters with
knowledge and skills required by daily life, teaching them to solve problems,
enabling them with thought patterns within the problem solving approach and
preparing them for the future (Yıldırım, 2006).
Mathematics is one of the most significant tools that is known to improve
thinking. As it is known, the basic feature that separates humans from other living
things is thinking, i.e. the ability of making sense of the events and reorganizing
the circumstances suited for themselves. Thus, mathematics education comprises
one of the important, probably the most important, building blocks of basic
education (Umay, 2003). It is a commonly held view that learning mathematical
thinking provides mastery in most areas of an individual’s life. The most
significant feature of becoming skillful in mathematical thinking is that it enables
the individual both to improve the mathematical innovative thinking and
productive problem solving skills, and to gain an astounding self-confidence
(Özer, 2005).
Mathematical thinking can be considered as the direct or indirect use of
mathematical knowledge, concepts and processes in solving problems
(Henderson, Baldwin, Dasigi, Dupras, Fritz, Ginat, Goelman, Hamer, Hitchner,
Lloyd, Marion, Riedsel, Walker, 2001). Put it differently, mathematical thinking
is the explicit or inexplicit use of mathematical methods and techniques in
solving problems (Henderson, 2002). Individuals, in every stage of their lives,
use mathematical thinking, consciously or unconsciously, to solve the issues they
encounter. So mathematical thinking is a pattern of thought used not by the
mathematicians only but all the people during their whole lives (Bilitzer, 2003).
Mathematical thinking skill and the use of mathematical thinking in
problem solving, has become an important objective for the schools. In this
respect, mathematical thinking has come to the fore in supporting the
enhancement of science, technology, economic life and economic development

32
(Stacey, 2006). Similarly, NCTM (2000) lays emphasis on the fact that the need
for understanding and using mathematics in myriad areas of life, and thus
mathematical thinking and problem solving skills should be improved. In this
context, some research has been carried out for mathematical thinking
(Kocaman, 2017; Liu, 2014; Nabb, 2013; Olgun, 2016; Soto; 2014; Yıldırım,
2015). For this purpose, several studies were conducted to review the research
aiming at increasing and improving the mathematics levels of the students. At
the same time, various studies have been done to evaluate the studies to increase
and improve the mathematics levels of the students (Baki, Güven, Karataş,
Akkan & Çakıroğlu 2011; Çiltaş, Güler & Özbilir, 2012; Ulutaş & Ubuz, 2008).
Reviewing studies in the mathematics education field provides the
researchers with information about the topics studied. In addition, the review of
variables such as the methods used in these studies, the type of the sample mass,
the sample size, data collection tools and data analysis methods are of great
significance for the studies to be conducted in the future. This study aimed at
reviewing the studies in mathematics education field with regard to various
variables within the perspective of “mathematical thinking”. In this respect,
answers for the following questions were sought: Considering the studies on
mathematical thinking conducted in Turkey;
1. What is their distribution with regard to publication type (article,
master’s thesis, doctoral thesis)?
2. What is their distribution with regard to years?
3. What is their distribution with regard to methods used?
4. What is their distribution with regard to sample types?
5. What is their distribution with regard to sample size?
6. What is their distribution with regard to data collection tools
used?
7. What is their distribution with regard to the number of data
collection tools used?

33
 8. What is their distribution with regard to data analysis methods
used?

METHOD
The Model used in the Study
A qualitative study was conducted in accordance with the aim of this
research. Qualitative research is defined as a research in which qualitative data
collection tools such as observation, interview and document analysis are used,
and in which a qualitative process is followed for revealing the perceptions and
events realistically and holistically in their natural environment (Demirbaş,
2014).
Data Collection
The studies about “mathematical thinking” were searched among the
studies in mathematics education field conducted in Turkey. In this respect, the
journals indexed by DergiPark (The most comprehensive collection of academic
journals in Turkey) and the master’s and doctoral theses in the National Center
for Theses and Dissertations affiliated with the Council of Higher Education
were searched. At the end of the research, 48 studies related to “mathematical
thinking” were accessed. These studies were analyzed in line with the sub-
problems of this study.
Data Analysis
Descriptive analysis is used in analyzing the studies obtained at the end
of the search. The purpose of descriptive analysis is to present the findings to the
reader in an ordered and interpreted manner. With this purpose, the data obtained
are first described in an explicit and systematic way. Later, these descriptions are
elaborated and interpreted, the cause and effect relation is addressed, and certain
results are obtained (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2011). By which categories the studies
accessed would be reviewed was determined in line with expert views. In this
respect, the studies reviewed were analyzed in terms of publication type,

34
publication year, the research method used, sample type, sample size, data
collection tools, number of data collection tools and data analysis methods used.
The studies accessed were categorized as article, master’s thesis and
doctoral thesis with regard to publication type. In the publication year category
their distribution with regard to publication dates was given. The methods used
in the studies were grouped as qualitative, quantitative and mixed. The sample
types used in the studies were grouped under common themes and their sizes
were grouped within certain ranges. The data collection tools, their number and
the data analysis methods were obtained by the classification of the data
collection tools used in the studies. The analysis of the studies was conducted by
the researchers independently and the level of concordance between the themes
provided by the researchers was found 95%. The data obtained were digitized
and the results were descriptively presented as frequency and percentage tables.

FINDINGS
The data of the study were analyzed considering the research questions.
At the end of the analyses, the following findings were obtained.

Distribution of Studies with Regard to Publication Type

When the publication type of the studies was examined, their frequency
and percentage distributions were found as presented below.

Table 1. Distribution of studies by publication type

Publication Type Frequency (f) Percent (%)
Article 23 48
Master Thesis 12 25
Doctoral Thesis 13 27
Total 48 100

35
 When the Table is examined, it is seen that articles are the most frequently
seen publications with a total number of 23 among the accessed studies. It is also
found that there are 12 master’s theses and 13 doctoral theses. These data indicate
that almost half of the studies are articles (48%) and then number of master’s
theses (25%) and doctoral theses (27%) are similar.
Distribution of Studies with Regard to Publication Year
When the publication years of the accessed studies are examined, the
following statistics are obtained.

Table 2. Distribution of studies by years

1992
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

2014
2015

2016
2017
2018
Years

Frequ
ency 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 4 2 7 3 6 4 4 7
(f)
Percen 2, 2, 4, 4, 2, 4, 2, 2, 8, 4, 14 6, 12 8, 8, 14
t (%) 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 3 2 ,5 3 ,5 3 3 ,5

When the studies on mathematical thinking are examined with regard to

their publication years, it is found that the first study was published in 1992. It is
also seen that the following studies were made after 2004. However, the studies
conducted after 2004 and until 2010 were limited in number. It is found that the
number of the studies on this topic had increased after 2010 such that the
frequency of the studies increased in 2013 and it is found that seven studies were
conducted in 2013. However, it is found that there was a decrease in the number
studies in 2014 and the studies conducted were reduced to three in 2014. Another
increase is observed in 2015. It is found that in 2018 the numbers of the studies
conducted are equal to the number of the studies in 2013.

36
 Research Methods Used in the Studies
At the end of the analysis of the research methods used in the reviewed
studies, the findings presented in the following table are found.

Table 3. Distribution of studies according to research methods

Method Frequency (f) Percent (%)
Quantitative 18 37,5
Qualitative 21 43,75
Mixed 9 18,75
Total 48 100

When the research methods frequently used in studies on mathematical

thinking are examined, it is seen that qualitative research methods are preferred
in 21 studies. It is found that this number equals to almost half of the studies with
43.75%. In addition, it is observed that quantitative research methods are used in
18 studies (37.5%) and mixed research methods are used in nine studies
(18.75%).

Sample Type Used in the Studies

At the end of the analyses of sample types used in the reviewed studies,
the findings presented in the following table are found.

Table 4. Distribution of studies by sample type

Sample Type Frequency (f) Percent (%)
Middle School Students 14 23,7
Elementary Pre-service
12 20,3
Mathematic Teachers

37
 Secondary Pre-service
9 15,3
Mathematic Teachers
High School Students 8 13,5
Pre-serice Class Teacher 5 8,5
Mathematics Teachers 5 8,5
Business Students 2 3,4
Primary School Students 1 1,7
Academician 1 1,7
Pre-service Science Teachers 1 1,7
Preschool Students 1 1,7
Total 59 100

When the Table is examined, it is seen that the researchers generally used
middle school students (23.7%) and elementary pre-service mathematics
teachers (20.3%) as samples in the studies they conducted on mathematical
thinking. In other words, it is found that the researchers conducted research on
secondary education. It is also found that there is a considerable number of
studies, which determined secondary pre-service school mathematics teachers
(15.3%) and high school students (13.5%) as samples. On the other hand, it is
found that there are very few studies conducted with the participation of
elementary school students, academicians, pre-service science teachers, and
preschoolers.

Sample Size Used in the Studies

At the end of the analyses of sample sizes used in the reviewed studies,
the findings presented in the following table are found.

38
 Table 5. Distribution of studies according to sample size
Sample Size Frequency (f) Percent (%)
1-10 inter 7 14,6
11-30 inter 9 18,7
31-50 inter 7 14,6
51-100 inter 6 12,5
101-200 inter 5 10,3
201-300 inter 8 16,7
301-500 inter 2 4,2
501-1000 inter 2 4,2
1001 and over 2 4,2
Total 48 100

When the sample sizes in the studies are examined, it is seen that
generally sample sizes comprising 11 to 30 individuals (18.7%) and 201 to 300
individuals (16.7%) are preferred. In the studies reviewed, it is found that the rate
of preferring sample sizes of 1-10 and 31-50 is 14.6%, of 51-100 is 12.5%, and
of 101-200 is 16.7%. It is seen that the researchers determined their sample sizes
generally as 11-30 and 201-300 ranges, and the rate of determining sample sizes
larger than 300 is very low.

Data Collections Tools Used in the Studies

At the end of the analyses of data collection tools used in the reviewed
studies, the findings presented in the following table are found.

Table 6. Distribution of studies according to data collection tools

Data Collection Tools Frequency (f) Percent (%)
Open-ended Question 22 26,5

39
 Scale 19 22,9
Interview Form 10 12
Observation 9 10,8
Worksheet 7 8,5
Achievement test 7 8,5
Video Recordings 5 6
Rubrics 3 3,6
Written Document 1 1,2
Total 83 100

When the table is examined, it is seen that the researchers use the open-
ended questions the most. Next, they used scales (22.9%) as data collection tools.
In addition to these, it is found interview forms (12%) and observations (9%) are
used frequently. It is observed that data collection tools such as worksheets (7%),
achievement tests (7%) and video recordings (5%) are also used. It is understood
that data collection tools such as rubrics (3.6%) and written documents (1.2%)
are not used quite frequently. With regard to this data, it is found that the
researchers use the qualitative data collection tools frequently in their studies on
mathematical thinking.

Number of Data Collection Tools Used in the Studies

At the end of the analyses of the number data collection tools used in the
reviewed studies, the findings presented in the following table are found.

Table 7. Distribution of studies by number of data collection tools

Number of Data
1 2 3 5 6 Total
Collection Tools
Frequency (f) 21 20 4 2 1 48

40
 Percent (%) 43,7 41,7 8,3 4,2 2,1 100

When the number of data collection tools used in the studies on

mathematical thinking, it is seen that the great majority of the studies use one
data collection tool (43.7%). It is also observed that the rate of the studies, in
which two data collection tools are used, is 41.7%. These data indicate that
generally one or two data collection tools are used in the studies on mathematical
thinking. In addition, it is observed that there are studies, in which three, five and
six data collection tools are used, despite being infrequent.

Data Analysis Methods Used in the Studies

At the end of the analyses of the analysis methods used in the reviewed
studies, the findings presented in the following table are found.

Table 8. Distribution of studies according to data analysis methods

Data Analysis Methods Frequency (f) Percent (%)
Content Analysis 19 20,2
t-test 14 14,8
Frequency 11 11,7
Percent 11 11,7
Descriptive Analysis 10 10,6
Correlation 6 6,3
Arithmetic Mean 5 5,3
Standard Deviation 4 4,3
Factor Analysis 4 4,3
ANOVA 3 3,2
Regression 2 2,1
Kolmogrov Smirnov 1 1,1

41
 MANCOVA 1 1,1
Thematic 1 1,1
Fenomonolojik 1 1,1
Man Whitney U 1 1,1
Total 94 100

When the data analysis methods used in the studies are examined, it is
seen that content analysis is used in 20.2% of the studies, t-test in 14.8%,
frequency and percentage in 11.7% of the studies. In addition, the rate of
descriptive analysis use is 10.6% and the rate for correlation is 6.3%. These data
indicate that the researchers mostly preferred qualitative data analysis methods
and the frequency of quantitative data analysis methods is low.

DISCUSSION
In this study, the research on mathematical thinking in Turkey was
reviewed, and the findings obtained in line with the sub-questions of the study
were interpreted. When the studies accessed at the end of the surveys are
reviewed with regard to years, it is found that very few studies had been
conducted until 2010, and the number of the studies has increased after 2010.
This shows that mathematical thinking has becoming a prominent subject
recently. The importance of students’ mathematical thinking in their daily lives
is expressed in several studies (Blitzer, 2003, Lim & Hwa, 2006; Schoenfeld,
1992; Tall, 1995). Therefore, it is considered that increasing the number of
studies on mathematical thinking would be beneficial both in mathematics
education and in daily lives of individuals.
When the research methods frequently used in studies on mathematical
thinking are examined, it is seen that qualitative research methods are used in
43.75% of the studies. In addition, it is observed that quantitative research
methods are used in 37.5% of the studies and mixed research methods in 18.75%

42
of them. Çiltaş, Güler and Sözbilir (2012) also found that generally quantitative
methods are preferred in studies in the mathematics education field. In this
respect, while quantitative methods are preferred in mathematics education
studies, it is found that mainly qualitative methods are used in studies on
mathematical thinking. Qualitative studies are conducted in the natural
environment of the study in an interpretative and holistic manner and the results
of the studies are addressed more thoroughly and in multiple aspects (Creswell,
2003). Therefore, it is thought that allowing for more qualitative studies in
mathematics education and supporting these with quantitative studies would be
rather beneficial in understanding the thought patterns of the individuals, in order
for the studies be conducted more in depths and in multiple aspects. However,
the results obtained show that fewer mixed studies are conducted on
mathematical thinking. Focusing attention on mixed studies becomes more
significant to interpret the data in multiple aspects. Therefore, since qualitative
and mixed research methods enable more in depth investigation of the reasons
underlying the problems, it can be argued that frequent use of these research
methods would bring depth to the studies.
When the sample sizes in the studies are examined, it is seen that
generally sample sizes comprising 11 to 30 individuals (18.7%) and 201 to 300
individuals (16.7%) are preferred. It is seen that the rate of determining sample
sizes larger than 300 is very low. Çiltaş, Güler and Sözbilir (2012) found that
researchers generally preferred sample sizes of 31-100 range in the studies in
mathematics education field. It is found that generally middle school students
(23.7%) and elementary pre-service mathematics teachers (20.3%) are
determined as samples. Put it differently, the researchers mostly determined their
samples with regard to secondary education. While the rate for selecting
secondary pre-service mathematics teachers as sample is 15.3%, the rate of the
studies, which selected high school students, is 13.5%. In addition, it is found
that the researchers do not generally prefer mathematics teachers (8.5%) as

43
samples. These results indicate that researchers generally determined pre-service
teachers and secondary or elementary school students as samples. It is observed
that they preferred teachers as samples with a very low frequency. Therefore, it
is thought that it would be quite important, regarding the diversity and versatility
of the studies, for the researchers to determine mathematics teachers as their
samples more frequently.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

It is found that the researchers mostly use open-ended questions (26.5%)
as data collection tools in their studies. Next, they use scales (22.9%) as data
collection tools. Interview forms and observations are among the frequently used
data collection tools. On the other hand, it is found that they do not use the
achievement tests, rubrics and written documents that frequently. This indicates
that the researchers generally prefer qualitative data collection tools in their
studies on mathematical thinking. Çiltaş, Güler and Sözbilir (2012) stated that in
studies in mathematics education field, generally the surveys and achievement
tests are used. In addition, they argued that the researchers use generally one
(48%) and two (40%) data collection tools. It is recommended that the
researchers use more than one data collection tool to increase the reliability of
their findings and to obtain results that are more valid. In this way, the data set
of their studies would be richer and more consistent. Thus, it would enable
conducting studies with high validity and reliability.
When the data analysis methods used in the studies are examined, it is
seen that content analysis is used in 20.2% of the studies, t-test in 14.8% and
frequency and percentage in 11.7%. In addition, it is found that in 10.6% of the
studies the descriptive analysis is used. These data indicate that the researchers
use mostly the qualitative data analysis methods in their studies and the rate of
using quantitative analysis methods is low.

44
 It is thought that having knowledge about the methods, sample types, data
analysis methods of the studies in mathematics education field, in addition to the
topics of the studies, would provide the researchers with guidance in their
prospective studies. Thus, it can be asserted that investigating the research
tendencies of mathematics education researchers and predicting future
tendencies is rather important to review holistically the status of the mathematics
education studies in Turkey. It is also thought that the results obtained in this
study would be beneficial for taking appropriate decisions in future research.

REFERENCES
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düşünmenin gelişimi. Gazi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 25 (3), 221-236.
Baki, A., Güven, B., Karataş, İ., Akkan, Y. & Çakıroğlu, Ü. (2011). Trends in
Turkish mathematics education research: from 1998 to 2007. Hacettepe Üniversitesi
Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 40, 57-68.
Blitzer, R. (2003). Thinking mathematically. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed
Methods Approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Çiltaş, A., Güler, G. & Sözbilir, M. (2012). Türkiye’de matematik eğitimi
araştırmaları: bir içerik analizi çalışması. Kuram ve Uygulamada Eğitim Bilimleri, 12
(1), 565-580.
Demirbaş, M. (2014). Bilimsel Araştırma ve Özellikleri. M. Metin, (Editörler),
Eğitimde Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri, Ankara: Pegem Akademi Yayıncılık.
Henderson, P. (2002). Materials development in support of mathematical
thinking. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=783001 (date of access: 16.11.2015)
Henderson, P. B., Baldwin, D., Dasigi, V., Dupras, M., Fritz, J., Ginat, D.,
Goelman, D., Hamer, J., Hitchner, L., Lloyd, W., Marion, B., Riedsel, C., Walker, H.
(2001). Striving for Mathematical Thinking. ITiCSE 2000 Working Group Report,
SIGCSE Bulletin - Inroads, 33(4), 114-124.

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 Kocaman, M. (2017). Lise 11. sınıf öğrencilerinin matematiksel düşünme ve akıl
yürütme becerilerinin incelenmesi, Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Balıkesir
Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Balıkesir.
Lim, C. S. & Hwa, T. Y. (2006). Promoting mathematical thinking in the
malaysian classroom: Issues and challenges. APEC-Tsukuba International Conference,
Tokyo and Sapporo, Japan.
Liu, Y. (2014). Teachers’ in-the-moment noticing of students’ mathematical
thinking: a case study of two teacher, Unpublished doctor’s thesis, The University of
North Carolina.
Nabb, K. A. (2013). An empirical grounded theory approach to characterizing
advanced mathematical thinking in college calculus, Unpublished doctor’s thesis,
Graduate College o f the Illinois Institute o f Technology, Chicago.
National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics (2000). Principles and
Standards for School Mathematics. Reston, VA.
Olgun, B. (2016). Matematik öğretmeni adaylarının sözel problemleri çözümü:
Görsel-uzamsal yetenekler, temsil kullanımı ve matematiksel düşünme yapıları,
Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü,
İstanbul.
Özer, M. N. (2005). Matematik ve matematiksel düşünce
http://mehmetnaciozer.com/pdf/matematikseldusunce.pdf (date of access: 21.10.2014)
Schoenfeld, A. H. (1992). Learning to think mathematically: Problem solving,
metacognition, and sense-making in mathematics. (Ed. D.A. Grouws). Handbook of
Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning: A Project of The National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics. (pp.334-370). Newyork: Macmillan.
Soto, M. M. (2014). Documenting students’ mathematical thinking through
explanations and screencasts, Unpublished doctor’s thesis, The University of California,
California.
Stacey, K. (2006). What is mathematical thinking and why is it ımportant?
APECTsukuba International Conference, Tokyo and Sapporo, Japan.
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12.04.2015)

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 Tall, D. (1995). Cognitive growth in elemantary and advanced mathematical
thinking, plenarylecture. Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of
Learning Mathematics, Recife, 1, 161.
Ulutaş, F. & Ubuz, B. (2008). Matematik eğitiminde araştırmalar ve eğilimler:
2000 ile 2006 yılları arası. İlköğretim Online, 7 (3), 614-626.
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Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 24, 234-243.
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(8. basım). Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık.
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matematiksel düşünme süreçlerinin incelenmesi, Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi,
Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Eskişehir.
Yıldırım, K. (2006). Çoklu zekâ kuramı destekli kubaşık öğrenme yönteminin
ilköğretim 5. sınıf öğrencilerinin matematik dersindeki akademik başarı, benlik algısı ve
kalıcılığa etkisi. Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Çukurova Üniversitesi Sosyal
Bilimler Enstitüsü, Adana.

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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 48-71 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

FAILURES OF ETHNIC POLITICS IN ETHIOPIA: A

MACHIAVELLIAN WAY OUT

Abebe BIRU
Department of Civics and Ethics Studies, Jimma University, Ethiopia
E-mail: abebebiru452@gmail.com
P.O. Box: 378 (C/o of Jimma University), Jimma, Ethiopia

Abstract
This paper attempts to assess Ethiopian political situations particularly
2018 onwards. First, there is a short introductory part concerned with
appointment and disappointment of newly Prime Minister which is outstanding
of public interest and exhibits recent political conditions in Ethiopia. Within this
short treatise the author addresses ethnicity in relation to politics and its effect.
And, there is an attempt to identify what are possible signs of ethnic based
politics which distinguishes from ideology centered politics. There is an effort to
convey failures of politics that based on ethnicity, language, religion, and others
personality. In some extent actors of democratization particularly activists,
media, and competent party’s significance are treated by stating their influences
in Ethiopia politics regarding ethnic politics. And, implication of morality on
politics is important or not, is assessed in this paper and for which society groups
are morality appreciated in relation to politics? Afterward, this thesis try to asses
why the majority of peoples also distrustful about the current political situations
of the country. Finally, the author conclude by stating the distinction between

48
ideology based politics and identity centered politics and there are
recommendations to settle such ethnic disputes, and I have message for my aged
(youth) groups.
Keywords: Ethnicity, politics, morality, ideology, love/fear.

1. Introduction
Obviously, Ethiopia was under severing political crisis over the past
three/four years due political problems. Especially, the youth had sacrificed
themselves to brought change in the country. “It was a surprise for many external
observers when Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia announced
his plan to resign his power,” (Gessesse, 2018). Subsequently, from the ruling
party the Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn was desired to resign his power,
because the revolt of the youth is exceeding to influence the politics. When
government officials are appointed new Prime Minister in its place of the
disappointed Prime Minister to handle the ongoing political difficulties and this
sudden performance makes all citizens of the country are too astonished. Dr.
Abiy Ahmed was appointed as Prime Minister and took the responsibility to
correct the ongoing socio-economic and political crises. And all we warmly
welcomed our newly Prime Minister after when he speaks out in the house of
people representative, ours hope upon him was too enormous. Since the Prime
Minister account was too influential among the youth and competent political
parties and world Medias are covered widely which is unusual in Ethiopia.
“The election of Dr. Abiy Ahmed as the prime minister of Ethiopia has
introduced unprecedented reforms, including the unfettered opening of
democratic space”, (Teressa, 2018). There are so reforms after the newly
appointed Prime Minister that nobody can deny; especially we are so glad when
the government had solved Ethio-Eritrean conflict which lasted for no less than
two decades due this Eritrea delegations lead by President Isaias Afwerki when
they are visited Ethiopia appreciated newly government of Ethiopia. And, by

49
traveling to neighborhood countries till now the Prime Minister is doing for the
security of the continent. That’s why the continent is exposed for political threats,
because of leaders as Abiy announced for world nations at Davos world
economic conference in, 2019.
Among the crucial factor which urged the youth to revolt against the
ruling party is due unfair imprisonments of such guys, because of political
involvements. “The newly government has released thousands of political
prisoners, met with the political opposition and civil society to discuss reform,
invited previously exiled political parties to return to their country,”
(Awol,2018). Because of Abiy, political prisoner and journalists are freed of
jailed like Andargachew Tsige, an Ethiopian born British Citizen, journalist
Eskinder Nega, and competent political parties such as Patriotic Ginbot 7 and
Oromia Liberation Front (OLF) are get in their country due the Prime Minister
invitation. Off course all we can presume the effects of ethnic centered politics
and its consequence. Onward 2018 strong effort was made in Ethiopia to
overthrow the leading party which is TPLF, because of ethnic politics and lack
of justices in the country. Therefore, in Ethiopia ethnic centered politics has great
bad consequences among citizens of the country. Now, this treatise shortly aimed
at assessing whether ethnic based politics is ceased, or not in relation to the newly
appointed Prime Minister.

2. Ethnicity and Politics

No one is out of ethnicity since as human being each individual is
belonging to certain ethnic groups that express his/her identities. “Ethnicity is
usually defined as that part of a person’s identity which is drawn from one or
more ‘markers’ like race, religion, shared history, religion, social symbols or
language,” (Gilley,2004). It is no one choice to born whether an Ethiopian, or
American and others, but naturally we are suited with one ethnic groups. If you
born as Asian you are human being, Europeans also you are mankind and if you

50
born in African also you are not unique, also you are human being, then no matter
when you born and lives. Ethnicity has becomes a great challenge mainly in
Africa which obscures progresses and is obstacle to enhance a good political
situations.
“Ethnic conflict’ (alternately ‘ethnic war’ or ‘ethnic violence’)—loosely
defined as political or social conflict involving one or more groups which are
identified by some marker of ethnic identity, (Ibid,2004)”. Ethnicity has an
ending crisis especially when there are multi-ethnic groups and a leader is not
too energetic to settle identity based conflicts may leads to miserableness.
“African countries lack the ethnic homogeneity associated with productivity and
capital per worker increases,’’ (Easterly & Levine, 1997).
Politics is a means to distribute power, resource, and an art to correct such
difficulties within nations. According to Aristotle, politics are compromise and
consensus of power and the distribution of resources. Amending, drafting and
enforcing laws to run a nation is possible through politics. There is one fact that
nobody can deny which is politicians are belonging to certain ethnic groups. They
are not angels, or gods rather they are belonging to certain societal groups with
ethnic identities. In Africa majority of leader and public servants are very evil-
minded, means that to serve of their society they linked and calculate that
whether their works is valuable, or not to their ethnic groups. “Ethnic politics
continue to pose a security threat to many African countries and has had adverse
effects on prospects of promoting good governance or democracy,” (Butale,
2015). The problem is not solely lack of material gains and daily consumptions
besides this most Africans are exposing for psychological terrors. Selfish
competent parties and extreme racists for the sake of power they wage war among
ethnic groups, this caused for a tension for others. “African countries continue to
use ethnicity as a resource for political manipulation and entrepreneurship,
resulting in dominant ethnic groups excluding minority groups within national
policies that reflect the interests and activities of the national majority,” (Ibid).

51
 And, in Ethiopia such ethnic related problems are raised among those different
ethnic groups, because of uncivilized political leadership which is centered on
identity and ethnicity.
3. More reluctance, too problems
Directly, or indirectly there are challenges within states. All states are not
omnipotent to solve whatever problems within short run, but letdown those
problems it might be caused for another challenges. Refusal to correct whatever
difficulties speedily may instigate further more complications. Weak or failed
states often serve as an impetus for ethnic conflict, Reuter, (2019). Now, the
majorities are hesitating of the reform and lack trust upon the newly regime in
Ethiopia. Whatever discourses of a ruler is good for good citizens but leader’s
discourses are dangerous for a nation when there are a dictator groups and
competent parties. “Governments are viewed as legitimate when their legal
systems treat all people equally and protect their property, and allow them to
pursue their happiness freely”, (Admin, 2010).
As far as so the country, Ethiopia, historically gifted with multi-cultural
ethnic groups due this unqualified racist activists are aggravating any issues by
assimilation as it is one ethnic group affairs. In connection to this once the
chairman of Patriotic Ginbot 7 Birhanu, was said that it is so simple to magnify
any public affairs by relating to certain ethnic groups. And the majority of society
are unconscious of insight political issues due this when parties or individuals
wants support they assimilates whichever of concerns as ethnic matters to
intensify more and more, (taken from Amharic public discussion delivered by
this guy in ESAT TV).
“It is much safer to be feared than to be loved,” (Machiavelli, 1532). Due
alluring discourse of the government the subjects are too triumphing even if
whatever discourses are solely theoretical. The authors want to argue that
discourses accompanied by moral aspects are desecration of the government, or
ruler not to be feared. If a prince is not feared among his subject leads to

52
 discrepancy of a ruler than fearing of a ruler, typically it occurs when the
government himself makes his subject to love their leaders by discoursing
morality. Giving priority love over fear creates a good occasion for racist activists
and politician to disseminate fake news that undermines any reforms. As much
as possible a ruler should have moderate his power to maintain a state for the
sake of his nation.
In Machiavelli’s terms, love does not always work because
the behavior of those in love relationships is usually but not
always predictable. Fear, by contrast, never fails: ‘If you have
them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.’ Therefore
it is an axiom in politics that it is better for a prince to be feared
than to be loved only, (McClelland, 1996).
Failures of a ruler to be feared instigated of illegitimate engagements are which
resulted in unlawful deeds among deviated groups which undermines a state
progress. A ruler is feared when a ruler laid down sanction upon guilty individuals
or groups. Love never binds subjects to be governed, but fear fix subjects to be
obeisance for a ruler. According to Machiavelli, well ordered political system is
possible via dual application of law and force since coercion creates legality.
Falling in love with a politician (s) uncritically and
complacently is terribly inappropriate and unproductive. It
could end up with foolishly declaring oneself a victor
whereas the reality on the ground self-evidently tells the
resurfacing of suffering from serious setback if not terrible
failure, (Goshu, 2019).
In Ethiopia the régime shocks citizens of the country because there are
armed groups are which they are frightening others based on ethnicity, but the
governments of Ethiopia was silent of the ongoing terrifying problems. Also
Article 87 of the country constitution apparently proclaims the principles for
national defense, Article 87 (3) declared that the armed forces shall protect the

53
sovereignty of the country and carry out any responsibilities as may be assigned
to them under any state of emergency declared in accordance with the
constitution. The fact that the government has organized armed groups to secure
its citizens from such turmoil, but those armed forces are refrained from talking
measurement upon guilty groups, it is indications of ruler reluctance to make
decisions on the way to correct such troublesome. It seems that guilty groups will
learn from their faults via listening what the government of Ethiopia is discoursed
than ordering the militants to oblige their duties. Plus, it ensures that the
government is disinclined of realizing rule and it is possible sign of that the
country is under hardship.
More silence of the government creates a good occasion for those guys
who oppose the government strategies to disseminate what they want to do.
Ethiopia has nine regional states and two Chartered Cities particularly Addis
Ababa City and Dire Dawa city administration. Based on this, nine regional states
are listed under Article 47(1) of the FDRE Constitution. Namely: the states of
Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somalia, Benishangul/Gumuz, Southern
Nations, Nationalities and Peoples, the state of the Gambela peoples, and the
state of the Harari people. Within all these nine regional state the one who run a
region must be voted from that region based on ethnicity and language, the
implication is that the criteria to possess whatever is given priority for local
residents. According to Ethiopian people‘s revolutionary democratic front
(EPRDF) constitution Article 24 declared about right to honors and reputations.
Article, 24 (1 and 3) it acknowledges everyone has the right to respect for his
human dignity, reputation, and honors and everyone has the right to recognition
everywhere as a person. But some of regional presidents are discriminatory since
they treated those guys who lived out of their regions unfairly and more
privileges are given for locals, why because the government attentions to give
reaction for such illegitimate activities were seemed to be reluctance.

54
 What the majority are wants that the possibilities to run and have
authority are not ethnicity, or others, rather there could be qualities that a ruler
enables him to lead a regions effectively without maladministration than relying
on ethnicity centered perspectives. In his Republic Plato said that philosophers
being king, hence philosophers are elites and they have knowledge and skills to
lead. Likewise, to enhance democracy essentially in developing countries utmost
rulers should have familiarized themselves with distribution of powers without
any consideration to language, culture, religion, ethnicity, and others, moreover
wisdom, skill, performance, are to be the criteria for assigning someone for
certain positions. My fear is that if regional states in Ethiopia are dividend based
on language, religion, culture, ethnicity and government reluctance are
persisting as they are; it is the possible signs of failure to foster good governance
whereas if they are lucky of good governance also they should have freed
themselves from any centric/narrow-minded thinking. Failure to dedicate a
judgment on any faulty groups that annoyances country stability conveys ruler
reluctance, or a government powerless to correct persisting difficulties.

4. The possible signs of failure of ethnic centered politics

Clearly, ethnic based politics have a variety of shortcomings that
undermines a state stability. This part of dealing is concerned with assessing the
major exemplifications of a biased politics due ethnic centered perspectives. It
includes human and democratic right violations, shrinking of economic problem,
cultural contemptuous, increasing of deviating groups from the ruling parties
particularly opposing parties and activists, and media.
4.1. Influences of competent parties, media, and activists
The nature of Ethiopia’s competing political parties is troubling for the
democratization process. This proliferation of political parties is a result of
Ethiopia’s political culture, which centers on not just political ideologies but

55
personalities as well as ethno national or regional identities, (Teressa, 2018).
Ethiopians political structure is dependent of undeserved principles which are
identities and Manners regarded. Not only have the opposing parties also the
leading party admitting of such centric based politics. Majority of the competent
parties which are found in Ethiopia are structured under identities based
perspectives. “The emergence of ethno national parties in the last three to five
decades is a direct result of the history of ethnic marginalization and
besiegement” (Ibid, 2018). This implies that in Ethiopia competent parties are
not striving of promoting democracy, but they seemed to be obstacles for
democratization processes.
What’s wrong in the country is merging any concerns just as one or some
ethnic problems, because activists and competent parties are not leading ideology
based politics, but its identity grounded principles. But, the government of
Ethiopia is under doubt among his nation due such ethnic inconsistency and
failures to take measurement on guilty activists and parties. It’s not an attempt to
deny the role of such authentic activists and individuals, but in Ethiopia the racist
activists and competent parties are multitudes of the authentic one. If the
government was structured to secure the nation, why a government is slumbered
from talking appropriate measures on those indecency groups? We know that
what happened for Uganda due racism.
As Livingstone and Lunt have had cited that mass media play a crucial
role in the modern political process, for even in elite forms of democracy, the
polity requires some mediated communication with the populace to gain consent.
Freedom of expression has long been seen as essential to protecting the rights of
the individual from political tyranny: a government legitimated through consent
depends on a free press. In Ethiopia there are activists who own media, but via
their own media they disseminate extreme racism and fake news to magnify
whatnot difficulties resulted in ethnicity based chaos, more than this very

56
shocking thing is that the government withheld from warning of evil-minded
agents.
“The power of the mass-media, however, can be possibly used to help
resolve rather than provoke unrest and conflicts”, (Upadhyay, 2018). In some
developing countries Medias are causation of such political crises in senses there
parties and activists which they own private mass media and they disseminate
turmoil messages. Due this almost all regional governments are saying that
Ethiopian government is standing for one or two ethnicity group and it’s not
inclusive to treat others equally. “Liberalization in the political environment and
tolerance for free speech brought longstanding grievances between different
ethnic groups into public political discourse”, (Badwaza. (2018). Leaders have
to balance giving freedom for subjects when there are multiethnic groups unless
there may be conflicts between them. Media is one of an actor in democratization
processes. “Extent to which listener, readers, and viewers of the media are
influenced in attitude formation and reinforcement is crucial”, (Ibid, 2018). In
Ethiopia there must be restriction of permitting media for extreme racist
politicians and activists, and to do this the government has to refine broadcast
rules for simplifying problems linked with Medias.
4.2.Human and democratic right violations
Politics which is structured under ethnicity leads to violation of human
and democratic rights. Even though after the appointments of new Prime Minister
Citizens of the country was exposed to displacement. Ethiopia has seen the
highest number of people forced to flee their homes within their country in the
first half of 2018, according to the IDMC report on global displacement out
today. Failure of government officials to handle political instability is extended
to violation of human and democratic rights. Those people who are lives out of
their ethnic groups are exposed of displacement and they are intended to live at
street with harsh economic difficulties. In history of political philosophy
different philosophers have had developed unique views of human nature.

57
Among them Thomas Hobbes believed that in the state of nature human being is
bad and each individual is against to each individual, no one is secure. Now, in
Ethiopia due more ethnic based politics the situations are tracing as to state of
nature since there is no unified political organizations that compromises the
ongoing difficulties, because of this there are violating of human and democratic
rights. Ethnic based politics caused for persisting violations of human and
democratic rights. “Ethnic conflicts are often accompanied by gross human rights
violations, such as genocide and crimes against humanity, and by economic
decline, state failure, environmental problems, and refugee flows. Violent ethnic
conflict leads to tremendous human suffering, Reuter”, (2019). Ethiopians are
facing violation of human and democratic rights because of their identity and this
is possible marks of failure in ethnic based politics.
4.3.Ethnic centered politics deduct of economic developments
In the absence of stabled political surrounding almost engagements are
accompanied by loss than gain. Ethnic centered politics has strongly caused for
economic crises for long run which aggravates sort of conflicts more and more.
“Economic problems such as slowdowns, stagnation, deterioration, and complete
collapse are sources of state destabilization and can lead to increased tensions
and competition among ethnic groups", (Reuter, 2019). Most of African
countries are under developing category in comparison with other continents due
this an Africans are not able to feed themselves. “Ethnic bias and favoritism have
aggravated the fragmentation of Africa's diverse ethnic groups and have been
linked to the continent's poor economic performance”, (Easterly & Levine,
1997).
Among world nations there are countries in which they have deficiencies
of natural resources, but they are too riche whereas in Africa there is resource
nonetheless almost the continent is poor because of conflicts usually a raised due
to ethnic centered principles and corrupted leaders. ‘’The hegemonic elites in
power in many countries continue to rule rather than govern, looking mainly after

58
the interests of their own ethnic group on whom their power mostly depends”,
(Ilorah, 2009). Largely in Africa leaders ethnic groups are advantageous over
others, because subjects are treated interims of identity centered perspectives,
this creates inequality and injustices which leads to ethnic conflict. Obviously,
elite groups of Africa especially those who have the highest positions are
corrupted men’s in which they undercut the possibilities of fostering a good
political surroundings by favoring of identity politics.
In Ethiopia distributions of natural resources are no fairly distributed,
because of ethnic centered politics. And the more privileges groups have control
of the entire politics and via their power they give priority for their ethnic groups
which marginalize others. Through processes the disadvantageous groups are
coming together against racist leading party. It seemed that what Karl Marx was
said that the working (proletarian) groups are unities together over bourgeoisie.
Ethiopia economy is under hardship raised from biased politics which is not
inclusive political system. As a leader government/ruler has to be consciousness
of state economy whether it is shrinking down, or up raise.
A prince also should demonstrate that he is a lover of talent
by giving recognition to men of ability and by honoring those
who excel in particular field. Furthermore, he should encourage
his subjects to be free to pursue their trades in tranquility,
whether in commerce, agriculture, or in any other trade a man
may have. And he should act in such way that a man is not afraid
to increase his goods for fear that they will be taken away from
him, (McClelland, 1996).
According to Machiavelli, traders who take part in commerce have to be
free from any disorders that affect their business and government is expected to
give recognition and enabling them to produce more. In Ethiopia merchants who
traded in another region are exposed and exposing of identity centered attacks.
For instances, the youth groups usually seen from looting and burning others

59
property regarding ethnic motivated prejudices. In Oromia region some of the
youth groups named qerroo are attacking of others ethnic groups by robbing and
fiery. Most of the entrepreneurs are refrained from creating and increasing their
products in Oromia region because of fear. Similarly, in Amhara region few
youths called Fano are also closing of roads against auto truck which travelled to
Tigray region. Likely unsettled ethnic issues are making of the country economy
to fluctuate. Precisely the current Ethiopian constitution has declared freedom of
trade and lives at anywhere without frustrations, but interims of implementation
it’s not functional.
Article 40 (1-8) asses that citizens of the country have the right to produce
and own their private property and Article 41 concerned with economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, specifically sub article (1) stated that every Ethiopian has
the right to engage freely in economic activity and to pursue a livelihood of his
choice anywhere within the national territory. But, because of ethnic centered
politics many merchants are looted and their properties are burnt that’s why
governments are not so doing to protect human and democratic rights in
accordance with the constitution. There rights are violated to live and produce
anywhere within the national territory and resulted in many of displacements.
According to Machiavelli, a prince must encourage talented individual who
might take part in commerce, agriculture, and other charitable aspect of
engagements. The persisting ethnic based politics leads events are bringing
Ethiopia closer to the limit beyond which ethnic politics enters into a zone
perilous to the alliance of the ruling parties and, by extension, to the unity of the
country, (Kebede, 2019). Merchants are backbone of a country economy since
they paid of tax for a state not only tax also they generated work opportunities
for unemployment’s. In Ethiopia the Gurage people are talented of businesses
and they are placed in different regions of the country, hence that they love work
than others, but now they are demoralized when they are looted and displaced
because of their ethnicity. Usually developing countries are begging foreign

60
countries and huge international institutions to maintain state and strengthen their
economy. Ethiopia is belonging to developing country in which majority of the
citizens are under poor economy and poverty is there. Instantly the government
will be forced to resign his powers and there will be economic crisis in
connection to ethnic politics.
4.4.Language and cultural failures
Ethnic based politics impacts are numerous. From the commencement
politics which depends on manners and personality desires are leads to
difficulties that could not be resolved simply. Higher educational institutions
(university and colleges) are the place where different ethnic groups are coming
together, and they share their traditions, cultures, dances, clothing, and others
from one ethnic group to others. “The overriding ethno-linguistic identification
empowered by ethnic federalism freezes other forms of identification and
association, such as citizenship, occupation, religion, class, and gender”,
(Abbink, 2011). In Ethiopia there are universities are which operated by the
government and their overall activities are regulated under minister of education.
Within 2018 onward the country universities have had such turmoil’s in
connection to ethnicity and racism. Within those university some narrow-minded
guys are endeavoring of fighting between different ethnic groups among learners,
to see such evil deeds among scholars within university side because of
personality is very terrifying and conveys the impotent of institutions how to
adjust likely disputes.
According to Minister of Education in Ethiopia, students after they
completed their preparatory education those who scored good grades are
assigned to different universities which are instituted in the entire regions of the
country. Some of those institutions are failed to harmonize different culture,
religion, clothing, dancing, linguistic and others equally. Because, of personal
identity undergraduate and learners are exposed of attacks (physical, or
psychological) terrors, and this resulted in student to dropout their leanings.

61
Parents fill badly about those students who joined university since they doubt
whether they are injured or not, in their language and cultures, means that pupils
out of their regions are not too secured. Its great shame when students are harmed
on their colors, identities, languages and from these what we presume is that if
scholars are failed to agree each other, then how the majority of society are which
they are not learned could consent on certain things?
University is higher educational level in which intellectual, cultural,
moral and thoughtful deeds among learner and scholars are sharing each other
for the sake of promoting what else more which are good thing. “Colleges and
universities should encourage students to engage intelligently with ethnic
identity so they can best contribute to our shared world”, (Ortiz and Santos,
2019). Universities are advanced institutions to compromises and settle national
consensus without anyone marginalization and have a possibilities of generating
good platforms in order to correct such ethnic centered conflicts and others.
Therefore, urgently all we have the duty of standing for others estrangement and
marginalization due their cultures and languages.
5. Power must exceed morality
In fact the forms of governments are not identical in the entire nation.
World countries have shared and unique features mostly regulated by their
leader/governments. Developed countries are striving of respecting and securing
of what their citizens they deserve as people and mainly a leader is working hard
to achieve those good things and more or less they liberate themselves from
ethnic politics in comparison to others. African states lack the ethnic consistency
and have certain challenges in relation to ethnic conflicts, (Easterly & Levine,
1997). If there are likely challenges leaders have crucial role to maintain state
and correcting of conflicts are which raised between different ethnic groups. For
this reason maybe it is a Prime Minister, or Presidents as leaders ought to be
powerful.

62
 “Power is anything that establishes and maintains man’s control over
other men, from physical violence to psychological ties”, (Morgenthau 1946).
Ethiopia current political situations is too disordered , necessarily the Prime
Minister has to be powerful to take measurements on those guilty activists,
parties, and medias for the sake of adjusting such shortcomings primarily linked
with ethnic centered involvements. It is unnecessary to tolerate any of groups
when they are cause of chaos and believing that via process themselves(guilty
groups) will correct their evil mindedness is foolishness , rather it appeared that
than correcting their faults, they are so doing ethnic based engagements which
shocked the massive populous of the country. Because, the government is failed
to sanction any of guilty groups besides to this official reluctances are intensified
of guilty of group’s deeds toward continuing moreover. There must be a powerful
ruler for alteration of any ongoing difficulties within a state. To correct enduring
problems, who concern those problems must have to utilize whatever power
without any hesitation for the sake of shorting what an Ethiopians are faced.
There must be a powerful government chiefly when disorders and
instabilities are a raised because of ethnic politics and for this reason government
could exert power to handle bad conditions. Former UAS president Barack
Obama when he was visited Kenya said that politics that’s based solely on a
tribe and ethnicity is politics that’s doomed to tear a country apart, it’s a failure,
a failure of imagination (Butale, 2015). In world no nations are privileged from
ethnic centered political structures to enhance good things, but politics that rest
on certain circumstances disdain whichever of good deeds. Authentic politicians
are those who debate in base of rationality which empowers them to be more
powerful in respect of and safeguarding of country sovereignty and due this they
have ideology concerned principles.
In Africa, like Ethiopia politicians are not adopting of ideology centered
politics, but they rely on race/ethnicity centered ideology which is not long run
after somewhere it rouses conflict among variety of ethnic groups. According to

63
Obama, if you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you’re not going to
be able to govern them. You won’t be able to unite them later. In connection to
this Ethiopian politician and activists have to free themselves from narrow-
minded (ethnic centered view), for the sake of leading the nation and to shorten
the ongoing difficulties.
Citizens of the country are expectant of the governments to penalize those
who dishonored human and democratic rights, but the government is powerless.
Discourses are entitled with moral preaching among leaders are deprived of
strong powers and it is ridiculous of their state. To foster a good political stability
the government of Ethiopia must undertake principle based policy that minimizes
political tensions in the country.
Morgenthau argues in Politics among Nations that man
is composed of a political and religious man and that
political actions should be determined from the
considerations by the political man. This is why a moral
criterion should not be part of the political life. Any political
act is according to Morgenthau, good if it promotes the goal
of power balance (Soendergaard, 2008).
Because no politics, but morality dominated the government discourses.
“The major concern of Machiavelli is how states should be run and not how
morals are to be followed”, (Mukherjee, 2009). As stated above current Ethiopian
Prime Minister interims of morality has discoursed interesting moral thought, but
as statesman no so good regarding his commitment since his discourses are
accompanied by moral thoughts visibly those moral accounts caused for
numerous crises whereas if he is pragmatics of utilizing rules and regulation has
the possibilities of reducing crises in which the country is exposed of.
There must be a limitation of applying moral assumption at all to political
cases, because endeavoring of doing politics by means of morality somehow
leads to failure of a ruler and disorders within state. Most of a time moral

64
discourses have a tendency of preaching love over power. Rather, a prince shall
adopt alternative approaches to handle whatever difficulties to run a state. As
Goshu, (2019) has sated falling in love is not good for a politician, because love
somewhere becomes obstacle to maintain a state. The régime of Ethiopia must
follow Morgenthau, view of politics which is realistic approach and if they wish
to shorten the miserable suffrage of their society they have to be realistic. If it
persists as it is not only ceasing of transformation, also it might leads to
disobedience and intensifying of ethnical conflicts among north-south and west-
east of the entire region.
6. A government should have the principles of the end justify the means
Note, that if there are hindrances which undermines any reform and
disdains humanity, then the one who concern primarily a state must secure and
confirm peace and security. “To the rulers of the state then, it belongs of right to
use falsehood, to deceive either enemies or their own citizens, for the good of the
state: and no one else may meddle with this privilege”, (Plato.1997). Morality
usually warns to be authentic when we have certain engagements as much as
possible for all. For the current Ethiopia political instability of attempting to
adjust any difficulties via morality seemed to be foolishness, why, because there
are protestors and parties who are aberrance of morality and the constitution. The
authors believed that in this time the majority could not reject the government if
they adopts any Machiavellian virtuous (not moral virtuous), but others that
enables leader to settle any difficulties.
According to Machiavelli, a ruler has virtue of himself not moral virtue,
but virtues that allows a ruler to handle and adjust whichever problems within a
state. Noticeably, there is no need of morality on politics if there are challenges
and trying to treat those encounters interims of morality or religion may cause
for more failures. Rulers should have pre-cautioned of what will take place within
a sate entirely through their intelligences which empower leaders to have
effective ruling powers. According to Machiavelli prince will never be hated for

65
lack of morals, but he will be hated only if he fails to maintain the state (Borgia,
2019). Hence, prince must secure a state by displaying whatever qualities that
enables him to sustain a state and as much as possible no matter what a ruler has
revealed whether it’s in accordance with morality, or not. But, as ruler prince
has to concern about maintenance of a state is safe or, not in connection to his
virtues. ”The Prince must be a beast if necessary. The Prince be a mixture of the
lion and the fox. The quality that a prince must have is virtue,” (Mukherjee, 2009.
What the citizens of the country expect is to behave the government on
behalf of the popular chooses. In Ethiopia in this time what the subjects are
requesting is that the government to dedicate a judgment on ongoing conditions
which are troubling, no matter for the citizens whether the government is moral
or not moral, moreover what they concern is possibly continuing problems are
settled or not.
Machiavelli observes that people form their judgment of the
men to be appointed to public offices, being guided in their choice
either by what is said of a man by the republic voice and fame,
even if by his open acts he appears different, or by the
preconceptions or opinions which they may have formed of him
themselves, (Janet, 2000).
Indeed, there are no nations, or countries are which they are against to
significant reform, it might be that there are anti-groups are opposing of ongoing
improvements, because they are selfish to take power due this they will to
destabilize and contempt any good attempts taken by a state. The researcher
would like to suggest that citizens of a country decision, choices and judgment
are the vital factors to determine a government is behaving on behalf of a
subject’s conciseness or not. A crucial thing for the success of a leader is to pay
attention of populous decision and run nation without any threat. But the one who
run a nation is vacillating in his/her ideology it might resulted in disagreement
between subjects and rulers.

66
 “For anybody which changes his principle depending on whom dealing
that is not a man who can lead a nation”, (Mandela, 2013). Foremost, rulers have
to displays the quality of being adopting what a mass of people wants to be, but
one who runs a nation is failed to possess a qualified approach as ruler is
difficulty of his citizens to maintain more important things desirable for a state.
There is one fact that nobody deny, which is any rulers have their own ideology
to lead a state and to realize what a country want to be. It is superior that a ruler
ideology in consensus with public choices which generate trust between subjects
and ruler.
According to realist, morality it doesn’t work for politicians and is not
too good for a statesman. There is no need of conventional morality that a ruler
will adopt to run a state rather rulers should follow any approach that the situation
dose requires. According to Machiavelli princes are advised to treat whatever
things virtuously and taking appropriate measures on bad occasions in relation to
what the natures of those problems are seemed to be. Philosophically speaking
politics is not metaphysics or ontological issue to taken as nonconcrete or
abstract. Political engagements are tied with socio-economic activities that we
exercise daily which are visible so as to. Like realist, politicians must be
pragmatic of their decisions and principles as ruler, unless it’s not religious
thinking to waiten the consequence whether in heaven, or hell, rather in
connection to their decision and principles those who lead a country being a
pragmatic of what they want to be. Generally, it doesn’t matter for a ruler is being
moral, religious, or others, but leader have to pay attention for state maintenance
and security of citizens by following any virtues that prompts good things.
7. Conclusion
Finally, we are in the era of 21stcentury on which most world nations are
looking for good life by promoting science and technology especially those
developed countries role are too immense. I believe that developing nations are
going ahead as developed countries they could fun-tune this world incredibly. It

67
is not to discredit and generalize others talented and gifted individual’s effort per
zero credit from developing countries, but majority of a society is slumbered
from looking forward. We youth are wasted by busying ourselves in hesitating
politics than doing what our society wants to be. In his Republic Plato said that
justice is doing one’s own work, there are three parts of a society king, soldier,
and worker groups and based on their specialization if these groups of society
are working for what they are assigned, then a state is healthy sate. All is not
politician, but a few are candidate of it. What we observe in Ethiopia is that all
is wasted due politics. Such unsettled crises make us to think of daily about
politics which has an alienating of oneself from his works. That’s not anyone
curiosity to busy him/herself by politics, but we are forced to give priority for
enduring instability.
No more than this to leftover the majority on politics, then the
government has the duty to pave an attitudes of the multitudes which relies on
politics, to do this a ruler must be powerful and virtuous by identifying such ways
as statesman. No matter whether is legal or illegal that a ruler approach that he
will adopt for handling persisting difficulties, like Machiavelli a ruler is advisable
to possess the end justify the means principle which is consequentialist approach.
Rule is not legalized to privileged and disadvantaged based on ethnicity, but
absolutely rule must be realized without any pre-consideration to personal or
communal identities of certain ethnic groups.
Till now, in Ethiopia ethnical presumption on politics has continuing than
before due too extreme activists and political parties, this can be solved by a
powerful leader when are they sanctioned awfully to refrain from their politically
(illegal), morally (immoral/bad), and religiously (sinful), thoughts and narrow
minded thinking. Back to past to learn from previous events, but not wasted by
backing past to pick out solely evils deed which aggravates ethnic crises. You fill
nothing good from past just go ahead to do goods for coming generation as hero.
Therefore, in politics who revenged others due past history is not a ruler to run

68
state, it has a possible sign of narrow-minded thinking whereas a state being
governed by wise.
Therefore, it’s so enough to lead ethnic centered politics in case of
Ethiopia. The solely thing obviously advanced from identity centered regime is
loosing of diversity and caused for bloodshed, massacre, and genocide among
multi-ethnic groups. To solve this troublesome, in the arena of politics leaders
have to being adherents of ideology based principle is which is freed of identity
centered philosophies and it must be inclusive without marginalizing whichever
of ethnic groups. The prior thing to consider everybody equally and rationally
ought to be interims of humanity. According to Obang Metho, Humanity before
ethnicity is the criteria to treat rationally all mankind in similar ways.

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URL: http://addisstandard.com/analysis-democratic-transition-in-abiys-ethiopia-
managing-the-bad-the-good-and-the-troubling/ on 05/04/2019 @ 2: 08 PM.
Upadhyay, P. (2018). Media and Democracy: Mass Media Role in
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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 72-111 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF INDUSTRIAL

PARKS (IPS) IN ETHIOPIA: THE CASE OF BOLE
LEMI 1, EASTERN INDUSTRY ZONE AND HAWASSA
INDUSTRIAL PARKS

Fesseha Mulu GEBREMARIAM1*

Bizuayehu Daba FEYISA2
1*,2
Department of Civics and Ethics Studies, Jimma University, Ethiopia
E-mail: fmulat647@gmail.com or bizuayehud539@gmail.com
P.O.Box: 378 (C/o of Jimma University), Ethiopia

ABSTRACT
This exploratory study was conducted to assess the performance of
Industrial parks in Ethiopia taking Eastern Industry Zone, Bole Lemi 1and
Hawassa Industrial Parks as a case. To this end, an interview with eight key
informants, and non-participant field observations were held. Various reports,
policy documents and researches related to the study were also consulted. The
study reveals that, in their first phase, the parks are fully occupied by 1 local &
114 foreign companies, and created 53,612 jobs directly. And, the surrounding
communities are benefiting from the parks by opening up businesses around the
parks and renting houses to the people working in the parks. Besides, the parks
are performing good in bringing hard currency to the country in which they are
earning about 114 Million USD per annum. However, the parks are suffering a
lot from lack of supply of well-trained and skilled manpower, absence of supply
of local raw/semi-finished materials to the parks, shortage of supply of houses

72
for rent for workers around the parks, inefficient trade, finance and banking
system, inefficient port operation and expensive shipping services, lack of
capable, experienced Institutional, regulatory and administrative capacity to
administer and manage the parks. Thus, the study recommends that the
government should strongly work on the development of skilled and well- trained
manpower with TVETs and higher education Institutions, work in collaboration
with other stakeholders to empower local firms to create business/supply link
with the companies in the IPs, and shall build & supply affordable rental
residential houses to the people who come to work in the IPs in collaboration
with the private sector. It is also advisable that the government should upgrade
its trade, finance & banking system, and reform its Institutional and Regulatory
system. Above all, the government should encourage domestic investors to invest
jointly with foreign companies in the parks in which technology transfer to local
firms will be successful.
Keywords: Job opportunity, Industrial Park, FDIs, Trained and skilled
Manpower, and Technology transfer.
JEL Classification: O1, O2, P4, Y8.

INTRODUCTION
1.1.Background and Rationale of the Study
Policy makers and scholars, mostly from the West, have argued a lot the
reason for the under development of developing countries and suggest a number
of way outs from under development, absolute poverty, illiteracy, and political
& economic instability etc. For instance, in the 1950’s industrialization was
thought as the only means for economic development so that modernization of
the agricultural sector was strongly suggested (Todaro & Smith, 2012). Besides,
other growth theories like the linear model propagated by Rostow in the 1950’s
calls for coping and paste of the development path of the developed world in

73
which developing countries shall follow and go through the footsteps of what the
developed countries have gone through (Ibid). Latter, other development theories
emerge like Lewis two sector Development Model, the International-
Dependence Revolution, neoclassical counter revolution and so on which falsify
earlier economic theories. But, none of these theories has helped developing
countries to reduce poverty and transform their economies. Still, the LDCs
economy highly depends on agriculture, and most people in LDCs are living in
rural areas in absolute poverty1.
Over the last 80 years, where Ethiopia has witnessed three regimes where
all the governments has had their own ideologically influenced industrial policies
and strategies (Gebreeyesus, 2013). The imperial regime (1950s to 1974),
ideologically, it is mostly private-led while the Dergue regime (1974-1991)
favoured a state-led/socialist one while EPRDF’s era (which is in power since
1991 up-to-date) is characterized as series of economic policies shift from
private-led from the late 1991 to the early 2000’s to a more or less mixed one
where both the private sector and the government has their own respective roles
to play in the market to reduce “market failure” in a defiant to neo-liberalism
(Ibid: Pp3-4).
During the three five year plans (1957-1973) of the Imperial era, the
government aims to accelerate agricultural development by promoting
commercial agricultural ventures, invest in the development of various social
infrastructures like transportation, construction, and communications,
introducing and developing commercial agriculture despite it fail to meet most
of the stated goals due to lack of skilled manpower and organized institutional
structures to execute the plan (Mihretu & Llobet, 2017).

1 “Absolute poverty [is a] situation of being unable to meet the minimum levels of
income, food, clothing, healthcare, shelter, and other essentials” (Todaro and Smith,
2012).

74
 The Derge regime (1974-1991) adopted socialism as a leading economic
and political ideology introduced a consecutive five and ten year development
plans. The first plan was largely all about determining and justifying the role of
the state in the economy. Accordingly, the military Junta nationalized all stated
owned enterprises and land was redistributed among Ethiopian citizens. On the
other hand, the Ten years Perspective plan like the prior economic policies of the
country underlines the importance of agriculture to the country’s economy while
the industrial sector was the other priority of the government next to agriculture.
This plan anticipates to bring annual growth rate of 6.5% in real GDP, 4.3%
growth of agricultural GDP, 10.8% of industrial GDP growth and 6.9% for
services but due to various challenges like civil war failed to realize its goals
(Rashid, Assefa, and Ayele, 2007).
Following the collapse of the military Junta, in the Transitional Period
(1991-1995), the transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) adopted an
agricultural based economic policy called “Agricultural Development Led
Industrialization (ADLI) that anticipates the development of agricultural sector
would led to industrialization (Ibid). Other subsequent polices and strategies like:
The Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP) and
Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP)
(2005/06-2009/10) focus on agricultural development. But, all these neo-
liberally oriented policies and strategies unable to deliver meaningful economic
growth in the state. In the early 2000s, this forced the EPRDF-led government
under the leadership of the late Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, to look for an
alternative political economy from the East which is “Developmental State”, and
adopted incorporating democratic elements from the west so that it was known
as “Democratic Developmental State” (Mulu & Daba, 2017). And, the
government introduced two consecutive five year development plans, GTP I
(2009/10-2014/15) and GTP II (2014/15-2019/20) to materialize this new
ideology.

75
 Ethiopia’s Industrial policy in the GTPs (2009/10-2019/20) clearly stated
the need for transforming the economy from agricultural-led to manufacturing
and service-led (Mbate, 2016). Despite a number of attempts to industrialization
have been made so far by the state through various development plans by the
three regimes, comparing to the earlier policies and strategies, Ethiopia able to
witness a meaningful industrialization in the GTPs (Ibid).
Ethiopia established Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC)
in 2014 through the Industrial Parks Development Corporation Establishment
Council of Ministers Regulation No 326/2014 to make the development and
management of IPs easy, effective and efficient.
To the knowledge of the researchers, only two studies have been
conducted so far regarding IPs in Ethiopia. One is on Hawassa Industry Park
studied by Mihretu and Llobet in 2017 selecting one manufacturer known as
“PVH”, the second largest apparel company in the world, and investigates why
this business group chose Ethiopia as its investment target. The other study
entitled: “Industrial Park Development in Ethiopia: Case Study Report”
conducted by Zhang, & et al (2018) with the aim of “eliciting comments and
stimulating debate” regarding Ethiopia’s Industrial Park development policy.
However, none of these studies have assessed the performance of IPs in Ethiopia
vis-à-vis attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), creating job
opportunities, and the prospects of the parks in particular & IP development in
Ethiopia in general. Thus, this study tried to fill this research gap.
1.2.Objectives of the study
The study aimed to meet the following specific objectives:
A. To assess the role of Eastern Industry Zone, Bole Lemi 1 and Hawassa
Industrial parks in bringing Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs);
B. To explore the role of these Industrial Parks in creating employment
opportunities since they begin operation;
C. To identify the challenges that they are facing; and

76
 D. To assess the prospects of these industrial parks.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
1.3.Description of the study area
1.3.1. Bole Lemi I Industrial Park (BLIIP)
Bole Lemi I Industrial Park is the first state owned and constructed
Industrial Park in Ethiopia developed by the Industrial Parks Development
Corporation (IPDC). The park is found in the south eastern part of the capital city
of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, lays on 156 hectares of land. According to Ethiopian
Investment Commission (n.d), the industrial Park has 20 sheds (10 sheds of 5500
m2 and the remaining 10 sheds with a size of 11,000 m2 each), and the park hosts
companies that engage in export business in the areas of garments, Apparel &
Textiles, and Leather & leather products (shoes) only (accessed on 11/10/2018
from URL: http://www.investethiopia.gov.et/investment-opportunities/strategic-
sectors/industry-zone-development,). The park has the capacity of creating jobs
for about 35,000 people when it begin operating at its fullest capacity (African
Business Partners, 2017).
Image 1: Bole Lemi I Industrial Park (BLIIP)

Image source: Addis fortune, (May 19, 2018). Accessed on 23/10/2018 from URL:
https://addisfortune.net/articles/labour-strike-rocks-bole-lemi-industrial-park/

77
 1.3.2. Eastern Industry Zone (EIZ)
Eastern Industry Zone is the first and private developed Industrial Park in
Ethiopia that was built, developed and owned by the Chinese Huajian Group
(also called the Huajian International Light Industry City), and fully occupied by
Chinese companies lays on 500 hectares of land. It is found in Dukem, Oromia
Regional State, some 35 Kms away south of Addis Ababa. According to Xinhua
News agency (2018), there are about 83 companies in the park out of which 56
have already started production. The park served as spring board for the
government of Ethiopia to build several parks throughout the country. It is a
multipurpose parks that engages in Textiles and clothing (garment), Metal works
(steelmakers), shoe, processors and car assemblers, construction materials,
Machinery, electrical equipment, engineering material equipment
manufacturing, food processing factories, miscellaneous manufacturing, packing
and service. The park has the capacity of creating 100,000 jobs while it begin
operating at its fullest capacity.

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Image 2: Eastern Industry Zone (EIZ)

Image source: Precise Ethiopia, (June 14, 2018). (Accessed on 25/10/2018

from URL: http://preciseethiopia.com/ethiopias-eastern-industry-zone-to-start-
phase-2-construction-soon-as-demands-increase/).

1.3.3. Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP)

Hawassa industrial park is found in the outskirt of the capital city of the Southern
Nation, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State, Hawassa, about 275 Kms
South of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The Park, in its first phase, is built
at about 130 hectares of land with the potential of further development to 400
hectares of land. It is an Eco- Industrial Park with zero liquid discharge (ZLD)
facility, a model industrial park in Ethiopia, which is built for garment, apparel
and textile companies that fully engage on export only. In total, it (the park) has
37 sheds (22 sheds of 11,000 m2, 12 sheds of 5500 m2 and the other 3 specialized
sheds). In its 1st phase, it has created a job for about 20,000 people, and it has the
capacity of creating job opportunity for 60,000 people when it operates fully

79
according to Ethiopian Investment Commission (URL:
http://www.investethiopia.gov.et/investment-opportunities/strategic-
sectors/industry-zone-development .

Image 3: Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP)

Image source: Addis fortune (June 25, 2017). Accessed on 25/10/2018 from
URL: https://addisfortune.net/articles/hawassa-industrial-park-moves-to-safe-
seats/

1.4.Research Design and Approach

The researchers employed an exploratory research design to assess the
performance of Bole Lemi 1, Eastern Industry Zone and Hawassa IPs. As
Manerikar & Manerikar (2014: 1), noted that an exploratory research is useful
and advisable “when a researcher [believe there is] …a limited amount of
experience [or no/little research is conducted] or knowledge about a research
issue [or study gap]...”
Accordingly, to the researchers’ knowledge, the researchers believe that
there are little researches conducted regarding IPs in Ethiopia due the fact that

80
the issue is new. That’s why the researchers opted this design to meet their
objectives. Besides, for the fact that it hard to exactly know the number of people
those who are not working being hired in these industrial parks but benefiting
through opening a business around these IPs, and it is hard to manage
questionnaire in such condition along with the fact that workers may not have
sufficient time to fill questionnaires, it is advisable to collect qualitative data as
Kothari (1990) noted. Thus, this study employed qualitative research approach.

1.5.Population, Sampling Size, Sampling Technique, Tools of data

Collection and sources of data
The study opts to employ a purposive sampling technique in which the
target population of the study is the people working in the parks including the
administrative staffs of the parks, and the surrounding communities. The detail
of data collection tools are stated below.
1.5.1. Key Informants Interview
The researchers conducted interviews with 8 key informants: (Deputy) CEO of
Operational Management of various Industries in the IPs, Representative/ CEO
of Investors Union in the IPs, Head of Ethiopia Investment Commission in the
IPs, and Directors of Community Radio of the IPs on different occasions.
1.5.2. (Non-participant) Field Observation
The researchers conducted an observation on the three IPs, and observe
the type of products produced in the IPs, the working environment, the supply-
chain in the IPs with the surrounding community taking the objectives of the
study at the of the researchers mind. Plus, the researchers accidentally ask 8
workers in the industrial parks about the working environment, their rights as a
worker in the parks, what they benefit, and the challenges they are facing among
others. And, the researchers have also accidentally asked some residents living
around the parks regarding what they benefit from the parks.

81
 1.6.Document Analysis (Secondary Source of Data)
Data were collected from various literatures, reports, IPs and other
institutions which have relevance to the subject matter at hand are considered.

FINDINGS, INTERPRETATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This section of the study deals with the findings of the study. It interprets
and analyses the data collected through the tools indicated in the previous
chapter, chapter three.
3.1. The Role of Industrial Parks (IPs) in bringing Foreign Direct
Investments (FDIs) in Ethiopia
Following the development of IPs in Ethiopia, various well-known
International companies are making Ethiopia their investment destination in
which Ethiopia is now the second in Sub-Sahara African in terms of attracting
FDIs next to South Africa (Mulu & Daba, 2017), and Ethiopia is the biggest
economy in the East Africa region overtaking Kenya in 2018, according to IMF
with Real GDP of $78 billion some $29 million gap with Kenya (Africa News,
29/05/2017. URL: http://www.africanews.com/2017/05/29/ethiopia-overtakes-
kenya-as-economic-giant-of-east-africa// retrieved on 30/10/2018).
The development of IPs in Ethiopia is booming. Generally, while the state
investing in the development of IPs, it is doing this with the following three basic
aims, according to the data collected from our key informant who is CEO of
Operation Management of BLIIP:
“One is, to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in
which the companies engage in export business through which the
state generates hard currency. The other is, creating job
opportunities to the people, and the third is, since the companies
come with new technology and knowledge, the local people working
in the parks will get an exposure to new knowledge and technology

82
 that latter will help them to establish their own firms and become
entrepreneurs”, he said (Researchers’ translation).
As figures from the three IPs i.e. Hawassa IP, Bole Lemi I IP and Eastern
Industry Zone, show, there is no unoccupied shed(s) in the parks. All the sheds
built in the parks are fully occupied. In this regard, the government succeed in
attracting 114 foreign companies and 1 domestic firm in only three parks: 11
foreign companies in BLIIP (see table 1), 83 (see table 2) companies in EIZ,
and 21 companies in HIP (see table 3) exist in which some are already fully
operational while some are partially operating. There are a number of reasons
why foreign companies target IPs in Ethiopia, according to the interview
conducted with the Head of Ethiopian Investment Commission HIP Branch (also
known as the Manager of the Park’s one-stop-shop-Service). He noted that:
“Ethiopia is found in the Horn of Africa where there is
continuous instability which is in most cases exceptional to Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is the most stable country in the region, comparably. Plus,
the country is a home to more than 102 million population where
most are young. This gives another advantage to the country, and an
opportunity to investors with cheap labour. On the other hand, the
government has also give especial focus to the manufacturing sector
in which a number of incentive packages like tax holyday, quota free
import etc. Not only this, but also the IPs are made ready with the
availability of all forms of services like power, water, residence,
clinic, security, one stop service and assigning officers who can
closely help investors in the parks. All these make IPs the first targets
of foreign investors,” (Researchers’ translation).

83
Table 1. List of Companies operating in Bole Lemi I Industrial Park (BLIIP)

Company Name Country of Investment activity/ producing

Origin
Nitton Apparels China Garments
Manufacturing Plc
Shints ETP Garment Plc South Korea garments

Ashton Apparel India garments for export

Manufacturing Plc
Arvind Lifestyle Apparel India Garments
Africa Plc (ANF GULF)
Lyu Shoutao Factory Plc China Leather products (including gloves)

Jay Jay Textiles Plc India wearing apparel (including

sportswear)
KEI Industrial Engineering US/South Garments
Consultancy Plc Korea

New Wide Garment Taiwan Wearing apparel (including

(Ethiopian Branch) sportswear)
George Shoe Ethiopia Plc Taiwan Leather Shoe

C & H Garments Plc (M & China wearing apparel (including

M Garments Plc) sportswear)

Vestis Garment Production India Garments

Plc
Source: Flyer given to the researchers by the Deputy Manager of BLIIP, 2019.

84
Table 2: List of Major Chinese companies operating in the Eastern
Industrial Park

Category Company Type of Business Establishing

Year

Textiles and Chang Cheng Production of 2010 (operation)

clothing (10) Packaging Co Ltd woven bags and
packaging material

Huajian Shoe Co Leather shoes 2011 (operation)

Ltd

Dongfang Textiles and 2013 (operation)

Spinning, Printing garments
and Dyeing

Linde Clothing Manufacturing of 2014 (operation)

garments

KEPA Textile Plc Weaving, finishing 2014 (operation)

and printing of
textiles

Yuechen Textiles Manufacturing of 2015 (operation)

woven fabrics

Haibo Manufacturing of 2016 (operation)

Manufacturing Plc children's clothes
and adult suits

Kaipu Production of school 2016

Manufacturing Plc bags, travelling bags (implementation)

Shuaije Textile Plc Textile products 2016 (pre-

implementation)

85
 Wuzhen Miao Textile products 2016 (pre-
Textile implementation)

Metal works Eastern Steel Co Manufacturing of 2006 (operation;

(3) basic iron and steel expansion 2014
and 2016)

LQY Pipe Steel pipe 2010 (operation)

Manufacturing Co. production
Ltd

Zhen Zhen Iron & Manufacturing of 2015 (operation)

Steel basic iron and steel
Manufacturing Plc

Construction East Cement Cement production 2006 (operation)

Material (7) L&J Engineering Production of 2010 (operation)
Co. Ltd bricks, pipes and
cement products

Yulong Technology Production of 2010 (operation)

Building Materials gypsum boards and
Co. Ltd related products

Zhong Shun Cement production 2008 (operation)

Cement
Manufacturing Co.
Ltd

Hansom Kinfengda Manufacturing of 2015 (operation)

Manufacturing Plc electrical wires or
cables

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 TY Wood Manufacturing of 2016
Manufacturing Plc plywood boards, (implementation)
timer doors, floors
and furniture

Di Yuan Ceramics Ceramic products 2016 (pre-

implementation)

Machinery (8) Yangfan/Lifan Motor vehicle 2013 (operation)

motors manufacturing and
assembling

Shadeka Spare Manufacturing of 2013 (operation)

Parts spare parts and
Manufacturing Plc accessories for
motor vehicles

Changfa Tractors, harvesters 2011 (operation)

Agricultural and other
Equipment agricultural
Manufacturing equipment

Yuechen Industry Manufacturing of 2014

Plc special purpose (implementation)
agriculture
machinery

Yema Auto Pick-up assembling 2011 (operation)

E-truck Motors Heavy vehicles 2016 (pre-

Manufacturing Plc implementation)

Higer Pickup Pick-up production 2011 (operation)

87
 Ejia Metal Products Manufacturing of 2014 (operation)
Manufacturing PLC screws, nuts and
other metal products

Miscellaneous Aisai Recycled Manufacturing of 2013 (operation)

manufacturing Plastic plastics and/or
(4) Manufacturing synthetic rubber

Hul Huang Manufacturing of 2013 (operation)

Industrial Plc plastic products
excluding plastic
shopping bags

Jili Electric Plc Home appliance 2016 (pre-

manufacturing implementation)

Sansheng (Ethio) Pharmaceutical 2016

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (construction)
PLC

Packing (2) Great Wall Packing Packing materials 2011

Material production

Pure Wood Pulp Production of pulp, 2017 (pre-

Paper and Packing paper and packaging implementation)
Plc materials

Services (3) East Cement Construction 2008 (operation)

Leasing Company equipment rental
service

East Cement Share Administrative 2006 (operation)

Company services, personnel

88
 management, sales,
billing, etc.

Eastern Hotel Hotel services 2008 (operation)

Source: Zhang & et al (2018).

Table 3. List of Companies operating in Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP)

No Country of Investment Activity Company Name

origin

1 China & Hong TEXTILE MILL, Indochine Apparel Ltd

Kong GARMENT CHINA;
TAL Apparel;
EPIC Group;
Quadrant Apparel Group Plc
(MUST Garment );
Giangsu Golden Island
Group ;
KGG Garment plc ;
WUXI

2 Indonesia GARMENT Busana Apparel (PTU)

3 Taiwan TEXTILE & GARMENT Everest Textile

4 UK Garment FCI

5 France & South ACCESSORIES Chargeurs Fashion

Africa Technologies;
TIL (International Trimming
Laboratory)

89
6 China GARMENT, Hela Indochine Clothing
ACCESSORIES Group

7 Belgium PERSONAL Ontex Group NV

PRODUCTS
HYGIENE

8 India GARMENT: Arvind;

KNITWEAR Raymond, Silver Spark
DENIM Apparel Ethiopia Ltd;
, Best International
Corporations

9 Sri Lanka GARMENT: Hinderamani Garment Plc;

KNITWEAR Isabella and Sarasavi Export
(Pvt) Ltd

10 USA GARMENT AND PVH

BUYER

11 Ethiopia Garment JAS Garment

Source: Ethiopian Investment Commission Hawassa Industrial Park Branch,
2018.
As it is mentioned above, 99.13% of the developed and availed sheds in
HIP, BLIIP and EIZ parks are fully occupied by 114 foreign companies. This
indicates there is high demand for IPs in Ethiopia by foreign investors in which
this has encouraged the government to further make an investment in the
development of IPs in various parts of the country. As Deputy Head for
Integrated Service Centre in the Operation and Management Department of HIP,
strongly noted that the development of IPs in Ethiopia is not only successful so
far in attracting FDIs, but also the parks aim to attract best brands of foreign
companies that have good name in the global market. One of the very reason why

90
all most all the companies in the IPs are foreign is that according to CEO of
Operation Management of BLIIP, one of the key informants, he disclosed that:
“Since Ethiopia is new to the manufacturing export sector,
and domestic firms do not have the capacity to compete in the global
market, the government favours foreign companies with good
international experience and good name in the global market to come
and invest in the parks so that the companies will promote Ethiopia
in the manufacturing sector at global level” (Researchers’
translation).
Following the coming of foreign companies in to Ethiopia’s IPs, the
country is enjoying some of its fruits in the sector in terms of generating hard
currency. In other words, as some of the companies have begun to invest and
operate in the parks, the country is generating a lot of hard currency. In average,
about 3 million USD per month from HIP in its start-up phase(despite it plans to
earn about 1 billion USD per year while it became fully operational), 4.5 Million
USD per month from EIZ (but it plans to earn 3 billion per annum while all its
companies began full operation and its phase two expansion fully developed) and
2 Million USD per month from BLIIP (and it aims to earn 1 billion when its
expansion project phase two, Bole Lemi II Industrial park fully developed and
fully operational after a year) is generated according to the data collected through
interview with the Manager of the Hawassa Industrial Park’s one-stop-shop-
service, Representative of Investors Association in EIZ, and Deputy Manager of
the park’s one-stop-shop-service of BLIIP, respectively. In this regard, as many
of the parks are built in loan mostly from China, the generated income will help
the country to pay its debt back, said Manager of Community Radio of HIP in an
interview conducted with the researchers. One can understand that there are two
key reasons why the companies in the IPs are expected to export to foreign
market, not to supply to domestic market;

91
 a) One is, since the IPs are constructed with foreign loan, the
government expected to earn hard currency from the export activities
of the companies in the park so as to pay back its loan; and
b) The companies in the park which are well known in the global market
with their good names through exporting Ethiopian made products to
the global market will attract other companies to come and invest in
Ethiopia. In other words, the companies are serving as “good
ambassadors of Ethiopia” in the manufacturing sector by exporting
their products made in Ethiopia so that other companies will be
interested to investing in Ethiopia.
The other very important point here is that these three IPs have able to
attract Billions of Dollars of through FDIs. For instance, in the first six months
alone in FY2017/18, the country has attracted about 2.2 Billions of USD in FDIs,
according to Ethiopian Investment Commission (2018). Besides, the targets of
the IPs in Ethiopia are the global companies, and it has been realized this target.
As you can see from the profile of the list of companies operating in the three
industrial parks except one, JAS Garment in HIP (see table 6 above), all the other
114 companies are foreign owned and comes from almost all over part of the
world.
3.2. The role of Industrial Parks (IPs) in creating Employment
Opportunities
Industrial Parks have different type and areas of specialization within a
country and across countries in the world. Despite these differences, IPs are
developed primarily taking the issue of creating employment opportunity,
attracting foreign and direct investments in the manufacturing sector, and
expansion of urbanization in to consideration. For instance, Ethiopia’s council of
ministers Proclamation No.886/2015 stated clearly stated the necessity of
investing in the development IPs in the country as follows:

92
 “…[I]t is necessary to accelerate the economic transformation and
development or the country through the establishment of Industrial
Parks in strategic locations to promote and attract productive
domestic and foreign direct investment thereby upgrading industries
and generate employment opportunity;…the need to enhance export
promotion, protection of environment and human wellbeing,
economical land use and establishing and expanding planned urban
centres…”
As it is indicated above, one of the very aims of the development of IPs
in Ethiopia is creating jobs. That’s why the government is prioritizing some
manufacturing sectors that are labour intensive like garment and textile, which
need a large amount of labour. From this point of analysis, the researchers assess
the performance of the three IPs in creating job opportunity to the local people
as well as to Ethiopians. In this regard, the researchers compiled the figures in
the following table.
Table 4: Jobs created in HIP, BLIIP and EIZ as of February, 2019

Name of a Park Already Created Expected jobs to

jobs create
Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP) 16,000 60,000
Bole Lemi I Industrial Park 14,200 35,000
(BLIIP)
Eastern Industry Zone (EIZ) 23,412 100,000
Total 53,612 195,000
Source: Compiled by the researchers, 2019.
As the above table indicates, these three IPs alone have created a job
opportunities to about 53,612 which is 27.49% of what is expected to create while
the parks enter in to full operation. They created jobs not only for those who have
took certain training from formal training centres like TVETs, engineering

93
graduates from various universities and higher education institutions of the
country, but also a priority is given to the local people who are displaced from
their lands for the development of these parks in which a sense of belongingness,
ownership and benefiting from the park as well as a tension between the parks
and the surrounding community will reduce or minimize in this regard, stated
Representative of Investors Association in EIZ. The researchers have also
realized whether this practice is also being done in other industrial park, and the
other two parks, BLIIP and HIP, are doing this. But, the case of Hawassa IP is
gone beyond creating jobs to the displaced farmers from the park. According to
the data collected through interview conducted with the Manager of Hawassa
Industrial park’s one-stop-shop-service, the park has also built a house in the
surrounding of the park, and transfer to the farmers whose house were
demolished for the development of the park as a compensation.
Apart from creating job opportunities, the parks have also created an
opportunity for the urbanization of the surrounding areas where the parks are
developed. Since, many people come from various part of the country to work in
the parks, the community surrounding the parks have a great business
opportunity through various ways.
The researchers have accidentally asked some people surrounding the
parks about “what they have benefited from the parks?” And, one of the
participant who is a security personnel in Hawassa IP said “I’m happy to see the
park in his locality, and earning about 950 Birr per month in which I able to
meet the demand of my family.”
Besides, others surrounding the parks have able to earn sustainable
income from renting houses to the people who come to work in the parks from
various parts of the country. A women who resides around BLIIP said to the
researchers that:
“The park is not only creating jobs to the people who are
working in the parks. But also, it creates a job for us and the

94
 surrounding communities of the park. I, for instance, earn about
6500 Birr in total renting 3 houses to people working in BLIIP. My
neighbour friend rented 2 houses one for shop, the other for as a
small café. Others are also benefiting by opening up businesses like
boutiques, supplying transport services. We, as a community, are
also befitting from some kinds of infrastructures like roads. In all
means we are befitting from the park,” she said (Researchers’
Translation).
The researchers have also able to contact some workers in their field
observation in the parks, and accidentally ask some workers about what they
learn something new, the working environment and other related questions. In
this case, a worker from Silver Spark Apparel Ethiopia Plc working in HIP, a
worker, production supervisor in HYDRAMANI Ltd in HIP, a worker in FCI in
HIP, a worker in Jay Jay Textiles Plc in BLIIP, a worker in C & H Garments Plc
(M & M Garments Plc) in BLIIP all opined that they learn a lot about the work
culture in the parks where there is no time just to spent unutilized. The foreigners’
working culture helps them to be hard working people. Plus, they learn a lot about
how to operate certain machineries in which latter on they will contribute a lot to
the development of the manufacturing sector in the country, and develop a good
skill practically how a machines works, and how to operate a machine. In this
regard, despite it is not sound to say one of the very objectives of the parks,
transfer technology to local firms and citizens is successful, to some extent it is
encouraging, and it is good to see some Ethiopians are working at the sophisticate
department of the firms in the parks.

95
FIGURE 1: WORKERS IN KEPA TEXTILE PLC IN EASTERN
INDUSTRY ZONE

Image Taken on 12/02/2019 by the researchers.

96
FIGURE 2: WORKERS IN SILVER SPARK APPAREL ETHIOPIA
PLC IN HAWASSA INDUSTRIAL PARK

Image Taken on 04/05/2018 by the researchers.

FIGURE 3: PEOPLE WORKING IN JAY JAY TEXTILES PLC IN
BOLE LEMI I INDUSTRIAL PARK

Image Taken on 26/01/2019 by the researchers.

97
 3.3. Challenges and Prospects of Industrial Parks (IPs) in
Ethiopia
The government of FDRE has given special attention to the development
of the manufacturing sector in which its aggressive investment in the development
of a number of industrial parks throughout the country is an indication to this
policy. Development of IPs in Ethiopia is booming. Despite the government has
invested a lot and give utmost attention to this sector, the already
operational/functioning parks are suffering from a number of challenges. For
instance, according to one of the key informants, CEO of Investors Union in HIP,
the utmost challenges that makes investors not to be effective and efficient is lack
of trained and skilled manpower. He said:
“The companies that come and invest in HIP communicate
the investors union first that they demand a number of workers to
work in various departments they have, and we make a call. And, a
number of people apply, but they don’t have the minimum skill to
work in the park. Even those who have BA/BSC graduated from
various universities of the country including g engineering graduates
do not have a knowhow about machines. Thus, we take anyone
regardless of their academic profiles, and give them a short term
training for about up to 2 months. After which they will be hired in
the park” (Researchers’’ translation).
The same is true with other informants from other IPs that the country
needs to produce/supply well-trained and skilled manpower from TVETs and
higher education to fill the gap between the supply of manpower and demand of
manpower by the parks unless the so called technology transfer may not fully
successful. The parks do not have any kind of security threats; no market problem
for the companies operating inside the parks for the fact that they have good name
in the global market. Every infrastructure is fully available with close monitor

98
from officials in the park. But, there is great problem not only to the companies
working in the parks but also for the country as well said the Director for
Investment and Customers’ Service Department from EIZ. He noted the
following:
“One of the very aim of IPs in Ethiopia is to minimize import
and promote export by which the country can earn hard currency.
However, currently the companies in EIZ and in other parks in
Ethiopia are importing semi-finished products and what they are
doing is finalizing to export them back. They do not use raw materials
from Ethiopia. This has two implication. One, the parks are not
establishing business link in the local market by using either raw or
semi-finished local products. Second, the companies are importing
materials through hard currency. Thus, the country is not earning
the expected amount of hard currency want to have/earn.”
According to UNCTAD Investment Report of 2017, FDI in to Ethiopia is
growing dramatically at about 50% per annum 1.2 billion in 2014, $2.2 billion in
2015, and $3.2 billion. This indicates that the government is succeeding in
attracting FDIs as he planned in his IP policies. But, despite some successes of
these IPs, these parks are also suffering from various challenges related to
logistics and supply of raw materials in which all the supply of raw materials are
imported. Plus, as Mihretu and Llobet (2017), investors in the parks Hawassa
Industrial Park (HIP) are suffering from:
“…[I]nefficient trade finance and bank processes, long
shipping times, high shipping costs, inefficient port operations, high
freight transport cost, unregulated service under monopolistic
practices, inadequate logistics service capacity, poor coordination,
and lengthy customs and inland dry port clearance. Customs
processes are unpredictable and that requirements and regulations
are not clear.”

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 Furthermore, IPs that are operating in Ethiopia are also suffering from lack
of capable, experienced Institutional, Regulatory, and Administrative Capacity
to develop and manage the parks; poor Local Development in the areas where the
IPs, and the absence of business Linkages in domestic and international market
among the others are the challenges to the overall development of the parks (PVH
Corporation. 2016; World Bank Group, 2017).
The other critical point that the researchers found out is that workers are
not paid well. All those who the researchers contact them accidentally during
field observation is that despite they are learning a lot of new things in the parks
and are happy to have the opportunity to join the parks they are working in, what
they are paid is not proportional to the time they spent in and to what they produce
in the parks. The workers from Silver Spark Apparel Ethiopia Plc, HYDRAMANI
Ltd in HIP and FCI in HIP, Jay Jay Textiles Plc and C & H Garments Plc (M &
M Garments Plc) from BLIIP, and KEPA Textile Plc in EIZ and Yuechen Industry
Plc in EIZ whom the researchers met them accidentally during field observation
disclosed other critical point is that despite workers reported about the low salary
they are paid in the parks, the park officials never give attention to their
questions, and the officials favour the foreigner company owners/managers in
the parks. This has resulted in a strike by the workers in Bole Lemi I IPs at May,
2018, for instance.
Having discussed all these challenges the parks have been facing so far,
what it looks like the prospects of the parks is the next question. From the figures
discussed above, one can realized that despite it not up to the expected level, the
parks are on good progress. They have already created a job opportunity for
thousands of people in their start-up phase which is very encouraging. They are
also trying to bring hard currency which the country is suffering most from. And,
officials from the three parks share this conclusion. The Manager of the HIP’s
one-stop-shop-service, said for instance, the issue of industrial park is new to
Ethiopia. But, the country is administering the parks not as someone who is new

100
to it. The parks are performing at a very promising level. Director for Investment
and Customers’ Service Department from EIZ said that the experience of EIZ has
become a spring point to the Ethiopian government to aggressively engage in the
development of IPs in various parts of the country. He noted that:
“EIZ is the first IP in the history of Ethiopia’s history of
Industrial Parks’ Development. It was developed by the Chinese
CCCC and Ethiopians were introduced to IP for the first time. And,
the performance of the park has become encouraging and convincing
to the government. That why the government has asked the help both
technical and money of the Chinese government to invest in the
development of IPs in the country. The park has fully occupied by
companies from China, and it is working on its phase two expansion
project of the park.”
As the figures also speaks there is no free shed unoccupied in all the three
parks. And, Bole Lemi II IP the expansion of its phase one is underway which
substantiate the above claim by Director for Investment and Customers’ Service
Department of EIZ. Thus, it is sound to conclude that the prospects of IPs of
these parks is bright.
One of the very aims of the development of Industrial Parks in Ethiopia
is import substitution. The parks are developed in such a way that they will
substitute the import of goods by producing them in Ethiopia industrial sector
with competitive quality. And, the parks are also expected to promote its export
capacity, amount and kind so that the country will generate hard currency and
will save some of its hard currency from purchasing goods in the form of import.
However, given the trends of these three IPs (i.e. HIP, BLIIP, and EIZ),
according to the data collected from the parks through interview with the
Manager of the HIP’s one-stop-shop-service, Deputy CEO of Ethiopian
Investment Commission of BLIIP Branch, and Director for Investment and
Customers’ Service Department of EIZ, are just engaged on export while they

101
did not use local raw/or semi-finished products. Rather, the companies in the
parks are importing semi-finished products which will cost the country additional
hard currency. Plus, at this level, the parks have never contributed any role for
import substitution.
Moreover, according to an interview with conducted ENA on
10/12/2018, Mrs Lelise Neme, CEO of IPDC, disclosed that one of the critical
challenges that the IPs, which begin operating, facing so far is shortage of supply
of houses for rent surrounding the parks to the people come to work in the parks
from various parts of the country. This forced a number of workers to leave the
parks, adds the CEO of IPDC (Accessed from: https://www.ena.et/?p=29340#)
on 25/01/2019).
Apart from the claims of the CEO of IPDC of the FDRE, workers from
Jay Jay Textiles Plc and C & H Garments Plc (M & M Garments Plc) of BLIIP
disclosed to the researchers that even the existing houses are beyond the financial
capacity of the workers. They stated that no one affords to rent a single house in
his/her own. Rather, they rent a single house in a group due to the fact that the
wage they are paid is less, and the houses are too expensive. This results in that
workers never stay in the park for so long. They leave the park after few months,
noted the workers. On the other hand, the workers’ mobility from the park forced
the park and the companies in the park to look for new workers and provided
them with trainings, since most of the people who seek to work in the park are
new, the CEO of Operation Management of BLIIP informed the researchers.
Therefore, one can understand that this problem will have an impact on
effectively exploiting workers capacity sustainably, and it will also have an
impact on the amount of products produced by the companies in the park so that
the country fails to get a significant amount of hard currency from exporting
products from the park.
As a solution, the CEO of Operation Management of BLIIP suggest that:

102
 “The government shall introduce a new housing program [or
scheme] that benefits workers in the park [and in other parks in the
country] that focuses on supplying of house to workers in the park
with affordable rent/price.”

SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS
According to Zhang and et al (2018: 8-14), the development of IPs in
Ethiopia has six major objectives:
A) To improve sustainability and resilience of economic growth ;
B) To enhance contribution of manufacturing to national economy ;
C) To stimulate stagnant exports and foreign direct investment ;
D) To alleviate foreign exchange shortages ;
E) To reduce borrowing funded government and SOE investment, and
F) To transfer the lead of growth from public to private sector.
And, this study has addressed all of them in one or in the way. The parks,
in their start-up phase, are performing well in creating job opportunity, attracting
FDIs and earning hard currency, contributed a lot in avoiding possible land
grabbing and state-citizens conflict over land etc. Thus, it is sound to conclude
that the prospects of the parks given how they are performing in their start-up
phase is very promising despite there are challenges related to: lack of well-
trained and skilled manpower, absence of supply chain of local raw/semi-
finished materials with the parks, inefficient trade finance and banking process,
inefficient port operation and expensive shipping services, lack of capable,
experienced Institutional, Regulatory, and to administer and manage the parks;
poor local development in the areas where the IPs are. Thus, the study
recommends:

103
Ø The current regime which is in power since May, 1991 in Ethiopia has
been investing a lot of capital in the educational sector increasingly. For instance
in 1982, the then government, Dergue, invested about 2.10% of country’s GDP
on the education sector while the FDRE government increases the share of the
sector to 5.50% of the GDP in 2006, 5.60% of the GDP in 2012, and drops to
4.50% of the GDP in 2013 as Knoema Corporation (2013). However, building
public Universities or TVETs or schools is not enough as it has been done so far.
But, the quality of education shall not put in to question and compromise. The
education in TVETs and engineering schools shall be more of practical, not
theoretical as before. Plus, there should be a sustainable Industry-University
linkage so that students will learn practically on the spot, and IPs shall serve as
training and excellence centres.
Ø As this study found out that there is no any business link between local
firms and companies in the IPs in which this will negatively affect hard currency
generating capacity of the country and the so aimed technology transfer. Thus,
the government should encourage domestic firms and investors to empower them
financially so that they will invest in joint venture with well-known international
manufacturing companies through which in the long process domestic firms will
be in place taking over international companies in Ethiopia.
Ø Given Ethiopia’s existing Institutional, Regulatory, and administrative
capacity, it is hard to continuously and sustainably attract FDIs. Thus, the
government at all levels shall upgrade and reform its banking system, its
institutional structure and bureaucracy free from rent seeking and corruption as
much as possible.
Ø The government shall also work day-and-night on the development of
ports with the neighbouring countries so that port costs will decrease in importing
goods for-and-exporting goods produced the parks with possible low cost and
good efficiency.

104
Ø The parks in Ethiopia are highly export oriented despite the government
also aims on import substitution. And, their activities so far indicate that the parks
are not performing well on import substitution. Just, they are importing raw and
semi-finished products for their production process. Thus, the government shall
encourage and supply domestic investors with financial support to engage in
supplying of semi-finished products with best possible quality to the parks.
Ø Finally, the government in coordination with the private sector, and
investors shall built rental residential houses to supply for workers in the parks
with reasonable and affordable cost. And, city administrations shall have a
separate budget to build houses surrounding the parks to this end.

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 List of Appendices
Appendix 1: List of Key Informants
S/N Sex Place of Position Held in the Park Date of
Interview Interview
1 Male HIP CEO of Ethiopian Investment 04/05/2018
Commission of HIP Branch (also
known as the Manager of the park’s
one-stop-shop-service)
2 Male HIP CEO of Investors Union in HIP 03/05/2018

3 Male HIP Deputy Head for Integrated Service 04/05/2018

Centre in Operation and Management
Department of HIP
4 Male HIP Manager of Community Radio of HIP 02/05/2018

5 Male BLIIP CEO of Operation Management of 28/01/2019

BLIIP
6 Male BLIIP Deputy CEO of Ethiopian Investment 28/01/2019
Commission of BLIIP Branch (also
known as the Deputy Manager of the
park’s one-stop-shop-service)
7 Male EIZ Representative of Investors 12/02/2019
Association in EIZ
8 Male EIZ Director for Investment and 11/02/2019
Customers’ Service Department from
EIZ

109
 Appendix 2: Others (accidental Informants during field observation)
S/N Sex Status Place of Date
Contact
1. Male A worker in Silver Spark HIP 04/05/2018
Apparel Ethiopia Plc
2. Male Production supervisor in HIP 04/05/2018
HYDRAMANI Ltd
3. Male Security person in HIP HIP 05/05/2018
4. Male Owner of small business, Around HIP 05/05/2018
Beza Wood Work and Metal
Works Association
5. Female A worker in FCI in HIP HIP 03/05/2018
6. Female A house owner around BLIIP Around BLIIP 25/01/2019
7. Male A worker in Jay Jay Textiles BLIIP 26/01/2019
Plc
8. Female A worker in C & H Garments BLIIP 26/01/2019
Plc (M & M Garments Plc)
9. Male A worker in KEPA Textile Plc EIZ 12/02/2019

10.Female A worker in Yuechen Industry EIZ 12/02/2019

Plc

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, our special thanks shall goes to Jimma University for sponsoring us
financially to conduct this study.
We also express our heartfelt gratitude to Officials of Ethiopian Investment
Commission of HIP and BLIIP Branches (also known as the Manager of the
park’s one-stop-shop-service), CEO of Operation Management of BLIIP and
Deputy Head of Integrated Service Centre of HIP, CEO of Investors Union in

110
HIP, Manager of Community Radio of HIP, Representative of Investors’
Association in EIZ, and Director for Investment and Customers’ Service
Department of EIZ for the priceless data they provide us regarding their
respective Industrial Parks without which the successful completion of the study
was hardly possible.
Besides, we are grateful to those people whom we, the researchers met
them accidentally, working in the parks, opening businesses around the parks,
and renting houses to workers in the parks who were volunteer in providing
various valuable information about the parks.

Declaration of Conflict of Interest(s)

We, the researchers, declare that the work entitled: “Assessing the
Performance of Industrial Parks (IPs) in Ethiopia: The case of Bole Lemi 1,
Eastern Industry Zone and Hawassa Industrial Parks” is our original work, and
that all sources & materials used for the study have been duly acknowledged.
And, the authors also declare that this article/research is not plagiarized, has not
been previously published elsewhere, and is not sent to any other journal to be
considered for publication.

111
 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 112-145 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

TOWARDS A HEGEMONIC FEMININITY?

COVERAGE OF THE FIRST FEMALE ROMANIAN
PRIME MINISTER IN THE NATIONAL AND LOCAL
MEDIA

Simona RODAT
Professor, PhD, Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences,
Adventus University, Cernica, Ilfov, Romania
E-mail: simona.rodat@uadventus.ro

Abstract
Since her appointment in January 2018, the first female prime minister of
Romania has been constantly in the focus of the news. Either it was about
ordinary political events and statements, current activity and meetings with
counterparts from other countries, or it was about extraordinary actions and
assertions that have attracted the attention and sometimes criticism and sarcasm
of the media, the first woman in a political executive leading position in the
history of Romania has always been in the spotlight of the media. Moreover,
topics usually or mostly related to women, such as how does she looks or dresses,
how is her hairdo or her makeup, have been on the media agenda regarding the
female premier. The present paper analyses the national and local media
coverage of the Romanian female prime minister since her nomination in January
2018 and continuing with the first months of her term. The article pays particular
attention to the extent to which the first female premier of Romania, as

112
represented by the national and regional media, embodies or not the hegemonic
femininity.

Keywords: hegemonic femininity, hegemonic masculinity, female prime

minister, media coverage

Introduction
The theme of women in Romanian politics was approached and debated
in the Romanian media in various contexts and on different occasions, both with
reference to their political participation and activity in general (Băluţă, 2010;
Surugiu, 2012; Rovența-Frumuşani, 2015), and with reference to specific
circumstances, such as those occasioned by the local, parliamentary, presidential,
or European elections (Dan and Iorgoveanu, 2013; Kaneva and Ibroscheva, 2014;
Cmeciu and Pătruţ, 2014; Rovenţa-Frumuşani and Irimescu, 2018). Although
women have become more active in Romanian politics lately, succeeding not
only in parliamentary positions, but also in some local power functions (such as
Gabriela Firea’s victory in 2016 as General Mayor of Bucharest), they still
remained generally underrepresented in politics (Surugiu, 2012; Kaneva and
Ibroscheva, 2014), and especially in the significant positions of power and
decision-making (Băluţă, 2010; Surugiu, 2012). A challenge for this latter aspect
has emerged, however, in early 2018, when, for the first time in Romanian
history, a woman, Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă, became Prime Minister, marking a
new political context, defined by the tenure of a woman of the higher executive
power position.
The present paper discusses the results of a research which aimed to
identify the ways in which the Romanian media have covered the first female
premier in the history of the country, starting with her nomination in this position
in January 2018 by the Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party
(SDP), the winning party of the Romanian legislative elections in December

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2016, and continuing with her political activity and her public appearances in the
first months in office. In this regard, starting from a theoretical framework
opened by the concept of “hegemonic femininity”, there was conducted a content
analysis on the news within the online Romanian media during January-April
2018.

Theoretical and conceptual framework

One of the central concepts for the present approach was that of
“hegemonic masculinity”, a term introduced in gender sociology by R. W.
Connell in 1987. The theoretical origins of this concept can be found in A.
Gramsci’s view regarding hegemony and hegemonic domination. According to
Gramsci, maintaining control in capitalism was not so much achieved through
political and economic violence and coercion, as through ideology (apud
Anderson, 1976). The bourgeoisie has developed a hegemonic culture that
propagated its own values and norms, which have become the values of
“common sense” of all. Thus, including the members of the working class took
up these values and began to identify with them, contributing in this way to
maintaining the status quo rather than to social change. For Gramsci, hegemonic
domination is ultimately based on consensual coercion (Gramsci, 1999: 549) and
only in the case of authority crises the “consent masks slip”, revealing the “fist
of iron” (ibid.: 48) that, in fact, maintains the domination.
These ideas were caught by R. W. Connell (1987) and used in the analysis
of the issues of gender relationships, the model being integrated into her
sociological theory of gender. Following Gramsci and his theory of cultural
hegemony, Connell comprehends hegemony as the form of rule or domination
that is less enforced by means of coercion and violence, than is produced and
reproduced by the culturally mediated creation of an (implicit) consent of
subordinate groups with their position: by shared values and common
interpretive patterns (apud Meuser, 2010: 327-328). Hegemony refers therefore

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to the cultural dominance in society as a whole, but it does not mean absolute
control. It is based on the assent or willingness of those who are subordinated to
their social situation and also requires a minimum permeability between social
classes (ibid.: 329). In other words, hegemony represents a form of regulation of
social relations, characterized by a “social openness”, and this social openness is
specific for the first time to modern societies. Connell (1999) points out, in a later
resumption of the hegemonic masculinity debate, that this is a phenomenon of
Western modernity. Hegemony means, thus, the ascendancy achieved through
culture, institutions and persuasion; it does not suppose violence, although it
could be supported by force (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005).
Within her theoretical perspective on gender hegemony, R. W. Connell
(1995) understands gender as the ways in which the “reproductive arena”, which
includes the “bodily structures and processes of human reproduction”, organizes
practice at all levels of social organization – from identities, to symbolic rituals
and to large-scale institutions (Connell, 1995: 71). In the gender relations
Connell considers masculinity as the central feature, and she defines it as
“simultaneously a place in gender relations, the practices through which men and
women engage the place in gender, and the effects of these practices on bodily
experience, personality and culture” (idem). Thence, masculinity has, according
to Connell, three components: a social position; a set of practices and
characteristics understood to be “masculine”; the effects of the collective
embodiment and enactment of these practices on individuals, relationships,
institutional structures, and global relations of domination (Connell, 2000; 2015).
Furthermore, she defines hegemonic masculinity as “the configuration of gender
practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the
legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the
dominant position of men and the subordination of women” (Connell, 1995: 77).
Thus, hegemonic masculinity was understood as “the pattern of practice (i.e.,

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things done, not just a set of role expectations or an identity) that allowed men’s
dominance over women to continue” (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005: 832).
Yet, not all men embody hegemonic masculinity. In fact, only a few men
might enact it, managing to have a hegemonic social position and correspond to
the normative ideal of hegemonic masculinity. But hegemonic masculinity being
embodied by at least a few men over time and space, legitimizes the domination
of men as a group over women.
The male dominance advantages however, to some extent, all men.
Connell uses the term “complicit masculinity” to refer to all forms of masculinity
taking advantage of so-called “patriarchal dividends”. Thus, men who embody
complicit masculinity are those who, without tension or risk, represent “the first-
line troops of patriarchate”, receiving the benefits of patriarchy without enacting
a strong version of masculine dominance.
Connell also emphasizes that hegemony in gender relations does not only
work by subordinating femininity to hegemonic masculinity but also – equally
important – by subordinating and marginalizing other forms of masculinity in
relation to hegemonic masculinity. The “subordinate masculinity” is, for
example, the homosexual masculinity, which over time was positioned, in a
hierarchy of genders, the lowest among men. These masculinities, which are
usually stigmatized as effeminate, have been throughout history excluded,
subordinated and even criminalized, being treated through intimidation,
prejudice, threats and violence.
Subordination is, in Connell’s theory, a mechanism through which the
superior position of hegemonic masculinity is maintained, but it is not the only
mechanism. Considering the intersection of gender and social class, respectively
race/ ethnicity, Connell also refers to “marginalized masculinity” to define those
men who are part of lower social classes and discriminated racial or ethnic
groups. As hegemonic masculinity identifies itself as “white” and having at least
the middle-class status, marginalized masculinity can never be able to reach the

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dominance of hegemonic masculinity, and the relationship between them will
always be one of supremacy-marginalization. Nonhegemonic masculinities, such
the subordinated and marginalized ones, exist therefore in tension with the
hegemonic masculinity, and they cannot penetrate or impact it (Demetriou,
2001).
As there are multiple masculinities, there are multiple femininities.
However, in Connell’s view, since all forms of femininity in society are under
the sign of the general subordination of women to men, there is no form of
femininity that, among women, corresponds to the position of hegemonic
masculinity among men. That is why, in Connell’s vision, there is no hegemonic
femininity. Instead, she speaks about “emphasized femininity”, defined in
relation to hegemonic masculinity, namely that femininity that helps to maintain
women’s subordination and meets men’s interests and desires. The name
“emphasized” instead of “hegemonic” femininity was preferred in order to
acknowledge the asymmetrical position of masculinities and femininities in the
patriarchal gender order (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005: 848). Although she
speaks about multiple femininities, Connell does not elaborate this idea, in her
theoretical vision remaining central this non-symmetrical rapport between
masculinity and femininity in the patriarchal social order, as well as the
relationship between the various forms of masculinity.
A new perspective on hegemonic masculinity, but also on hegemonic
femininity and multiple femininities, was later outlined by M. Schippers (2007).
Unlike Connell, Schippers considers that in gender relations not only masculinity
is the central element, but masculinity and femininity both support the
relationships that organize social practice, which, through the recurrent patterns
constituted in time, (re)produce and legitimize male dominant interpersonal
power relations, gendered division of labour, unequal distribution of resources
and authority, global imperialism, etc. (Schippers, 2007: 93). Starting from this
vision, Schippers emphasizes that both masculinity and femininity are

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hegemonic, precisely “in the ideological work they do to legitimate and organize
what men actually do to dominate women individually or as a group” (idem).
However, the societies in which hegemonic masculinity functions as a
highly effective symbolic resource for the reproduction of the power relations
between genders are undergoing significant changes (Connell, 1998). These
changes are designated by terms as globalization, dissolution of boundaries,
market radicalization, and casualization of working and living conditions
(Meuser, 2010: 329). In these circumstances, the question arises whether at the
same time with the development of post-Fordist capitalism a revision of the
concept of “hegemony” would be necessary. Moreover, as Meuser in the light of
the current changes in male living conditions discusses, the question arises to
what extent the concept of hegemonic masculinity is still viable to understand
masculinity and gender relations in the present.
On the other hand, Meuser (ibid.: 333) points out that hegemonic
masculinity itself becomes more flexible. For example, a development of the
pattern of hegemonic masculinity can be observed, which brings with it an
increasing integration of the features and activities that previously have been
connoted as “feminine” (ibid.: 332). Unlike bourgeois masculinity, strongly
anchored in conservative cultures (Meuser, 1998), which involved traditional
institutional careers in companies, the new transnational masculinity is suited to
the so-called “portfolio careers” (Meuser, 2010), which, although characterized
by a fragile safety, are marked by a strong self-confidence. Such careers,
however, require a certain “subjectivization” of work, in other words, an
involvement in work of the “full-person”, which means social skills, and even
emotions and the so-called “soft-skills”.
Two aspects are to be mentioned in this context: first, this flexibility may
mean that homosexual masculinity is no longer incompatible with hegemonic
masculinity, and this assertion can also be supported by the fact that, in Western
countries, more and more homosexual men make a career in politics. The second

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aspect relates to the increasingly blurring of frontiers in the course of
transformation in both gender relations and labour relations and, in this context,
to the ascension of women as “players” in the professional competition for career.
Therefore, Meuser raises the question of whether we can speak of a hegemonic
femininity that is comparable to hegemonic masculinity. Which means, a
hegemonic femininity not in the sense of femininity that guarantees men’s
dominance and subordination of women (Schippers, 2007), but a femininity that
occupies or holds an equipotential position with that of hegemonic masculinity.
In the same sense, S. Scholz (2010) also uses the term “hegemonic
femininity”, referring to a small group of women who have managed to ascend
and enter the social elite of politics, a group that is on the way to become the new
ideal of femininity. This new (possible) hegemonic femininity, which Scholz
opposes to Connell’s “emphasized femininity”, no longer agrees with the
subordination of own gender, and no longer is to be noticed through the
alignment with the male interests. In this context, Scholz raises the questions
whether this integration of women into the social elite will in the long run change
the structural logic of the construction of hegemonic masculinity and whether
this participation of women in a hegemony that is no longer exclusively
masculine, but also feminine, contributes further to creating or producing a
hegemonic femininity.
The above concepts describe socially constructed realities, built up
through social interactions, representations, norms and structures. E. Goffman
(1977) introduced the term “institutional reflexivity” to describe the mechanisms
through which the social “arrangement between the sexes” is maintained and
preserved, and through which gender stereotypes are consolidated, as well as the
prevailing gender norms in society. According to Goffman (1977: 319),
institutional reflexivity is visible in various aspects of social organization, such
as social rules regarding the look and appearance, selective allocation of jobs and
gendered division of labour, different socialization of children according to their

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sexes, our identification system (including the practices of “placement” a person
by perceiving attributes such as face, hair, body shape, voice or even
handwriting, as well as by the used names and means of labeling: gender-based
proper personal names, titles, pronouns, etc.).
Thus, the “social arrangement between the sexes” (in the sense given by
Goffman, 1977), from which differentiations, stratification, hierarchies, gender
inequalities derive, and which is often perceived as normality, as given as such
“by nature”, represents in fact the product of social constructions, perpetuated
and reshaped not only by structures, but also by everyday practices, through
cultural representations and behaviours, norms and expectations. The
“enactment” of the gender is therefore achieved through the general rules of
social life (Grünberg, 2002). In the constructivist paradigm, to which the present
research is referred, the gender itself is a socially-constructed category of
classification (West and Zimmerman, 2009), whereby people define themselves
and configure their identity along with other socially-constructed categories of
classification, such as “race”, nationality, religion, profession, age, etc.
Moreover, gender is continuously, systematically and recurrently “achieved”:
what is called “doing gender” (West and Zimmerman, 1987: 126) involves a
whole complex of socially guided perceptual, interactional, and micropolitical
activities that cast particular pursuits as expressions of masculine and feminine
“natures”. Although individuals are those who “do gender”, this always takes
place in a social context, in the real or virtual presence of others. Therefore, the
enterprise of doing gender is fundamentally interactional and institutional in
character (ibid.: 137), and gender is not so much a property of individuals, but an
emergent feature of social situations: both “an outcome of and a rationale for
various social arrangements”, and “a means of legitimating one of the most
fundamental divisions of society” (ibid.: 126), namely the division of genders.
Gender and its social construction matter not only the internal aspects of
individuals but also social interactions and, ultimately, the institutional sphere.

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 As social actors who actively participate in the establishing of social
constructs, the media contribute to the modelling and perpetuation of socially-
constructed classification categories (Weber, 2016), including that of gender and
all that this entails: social representations on gender, gender roles and social
expectations in relation to them, gender identities, associated behaviours, gender
stereotypes, rules and norms, etc. For example, analysing the perpetuation of
some gender stereotypes in the Romanian written media, O. Dragomir and M.
Miroiu (2002: 166) noticed that, in these stereotypes, while for men the political
antecedents and experience matter, for women the essential continues to be the
familial situation and physical appearance. Therefore, gender differentiation on
the axis of socially-assigned traditional roles and expectations is perpetuated and
strengthened by the mechanism of media construction.
Mass communication contributes significantly to building social reality
and perpetuating some representations and categories that, although accepted as
“natural”, are, in fact, social constructs. Besides, the basic idea with which the
constructivist current appeared in the communication sciences, an idea that later
was refined and reinterpreted, but without losing its essence, was that mass media
do not describe an objective, actual reality in itself, as they construct it, the world
set up through the news being a constructed reality (Neveu and Quéré, 1996: 10).
In sociology of journalism, the “social construction of reality” by journalists has
become an idea that is no longer contested, but only debated and analyzed
(Schudson, 1989). By translating itself into words and images, the reality
presented in the media is no longer the reality itself, but a selected, interpreted,
constructed one (Schlesinger, 1978; Weber, 2002). The act of making news is
actually the act of constructing the reality itself, rather than making a description
of reality (Tuchman, 1980: 12). The media are no longer seen as representing
“the eyes from outside” who inform or relate about events, but are recognized as
representing an actor of the events, an active participant in their construction, a
“partner in the communication contract” (Charaudeau, 1992).

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 Being regarded to the wider theoretical paradigm of socio-cultural
constructivism, the research approach presented in this paper can be placed at the
intersection of the studies on media framing, specific to the sociology of
journalism (Borah, 2018) and the analyzes on the social construction of gender,
specific to gender studies. The study has as central concepts the hegemonic
masculinity and hegemonic femininity. Methodologically, it can be placed on the
line of researches that use content analysis to make inferences in systematic
identification and emphasizing the features of messages (Deacon et al., 2010;
Altheide and Schneider, 2013; Krippendorff, 2018).
Therefore, in order to answer the research questions formulated below
concerning the emergence of a possible hegemonic femininity in Romania, I
chose to analyse the media construction and coverage of the topics regarding the
investiture and the first months in office of the first female prime minister in
Romanian history.

Research questions and methodology

Starting from the conceptual framework delineated above, with regard to
hegemonic femininity, respectively emphasized femininity, the specific research
questions to which I sought the answer were:
a) Does the first female prime minister of Romania, according to her
image constructed by the national and regional media, belong to that small group
of women who have succeeded in joining the social elite of politics? In other
words, does she fit into the representation of hegemonic femininity (in the sense
of M. Meuser and S. Scholz), that is, that femininity that no longer agrees with
the subordination of its own gender and does not align anymore to the masculine
interests, but, on the contrary, assumes roles of independence and authority?
b) Or, as an alternative question, illustrates the first Romanian premier
rather the emphasized femininity (in the sense of R. W. Connell), which, in fact,
even being in leadership positions, actually supports the supremacy of

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hegemonic masculinity, acting for the primacy of men’s interests and
contributing to maintaining the subordination of women in society?
c) What are the topics covered primarily in connection with the
nomination, appointment and political activity of Mrs. Dăncilă as premier? What
are the topics covered mainly in relation to this person, at a general level? Is the
first female prime minister in the history of Romania, only because she is a
woman, more often/ intensively media covered as “object”, as opposed to a man,
under comparable conditions?
The method used was the content analysis, which included both
qualitative and thematic elements (Anderson, 2007; Altheide and Schneider,
2013; Vaismoradi, Turunen and Bondas, 2013), and implied the application of
the basic principles of content analysis (delimitation of analytical units, working
with categories, etc.) in two qualitative methodological processes: the inductive
development of categories and their deductive application (Gunter, 2000;
Mayring, 2000). The grid of analysis comprised 18 items, each with a number of
categories ranging from two to 15. Depending on the unit of analysis, the
categories were either exclusive (with only one possible category to choose, as
in the case of items related to the type of media, type of the article, the tone of
the article, the main appeal of the article) or multiple (such as in the case of items
respecting the topic of the article, the issues mentioned, etc.).
The corpus of analysis consisted of press articles selected from national
and regional media in Romania in the online version. Regarding the procedure
for sampling the articles included in the research, in the online search engine
www.google.com I used the keyword “Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă”. In the Google
menu, I chose “News” and in “Tools” I selected “Recent” in order to be able to
delimit the time frame. This was determined by choosing “Custom Range” and
limiting the search to the time interval from January 15th to April 15th, 2018. The
media articles of the first sixteen pages resulted from the Google search were
included in the analysis. The total number of articles included in the analysis was

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162. All considered entries were exclusively online Romanian press articles, in
Romanian language.
The selection of the linguistic material, and thus of the corpus of
messages that were analyzed, was made exclusively based on their online display
on the first sixteen pages as a result of the order used through the Google search
engine. Given that the results displayed through Google, though determined by
an algorithm that is not entirely accessible to the public (Das et al., 2007), reflect
the attributes of exposed messages such as the popularity of the source, the
number of readers and users which click on the displayed links, the time allocated
to reading the message, etc. (Choi and Varian, 2011), it can be said that articles
and news regarding the analyzed topic on the top sixteen Google pages are
relevant to the study in terms of criteria of users and public visibility of the
messages. Also, given that the search process, as well as the actual selection of
messages (all the messages on the top sixteen pages), were clearly and
consistently applied, one can say that I have complied with one of the
fundamental rules of applying the content analysis (Gunter, 2000: 56), namely
choosing the text corpus included in the study according to explicit rules, applied
consistently and systematically.

Results and discussions

A series of themes and aspects covered mainly by the media during the
mentioned period in connection with the nomination, the investiture, the political
activity, but also the personality and the individual characteristics of the first
female premier in the history of Romania will be discussed. Noteworthy is that,
given the inductive development of analysis categories, these themes and issues
have emerged as such from the content analysis, without being predefined
categories.

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 The path to power of Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă
A first topic frequently addressed by the media, especially during the first
part of the regarded time frame, that is, after the nomination and around Mrs.
Dăncilă’s appointment, was her political rise, more exactly various assumptions
as regards what opened and facilitated her way to this position of power. Among
the most discussed explanations or suggestions of journalists can be mentioned
two in particular.
A first explanation would be that, over time, the female prime minister
has made many donations to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). For example,
in the article: The premier Viorica Dăncilă, a life full of happy coincidences
(original title in Romanian: Premierul Viorica Dăncilă, o viaţă plină de
coincidențe fericite, national newspaper Jurnalul Naţional,
https://jurnalul.antena3.ro/, 18.01.2018), it is suggestively mentioned that
“Viorica Vasilica Dăncilă is also a generous person. [...]To put that in brackets,
Viorica Dăncilă donated in 2009 more than she earned with her husband all year
long”. The same article underlines furthermore the friendship of the prime
minister and her family with Liviu Dragnea, the president of SDP. The same
arguments are also highlighted in the articles: The secrets of fish wife Viorica,
the new premier proposed by SDP (original title in Romanian: Secretele Țaței
Viorica, noul premier propus de PSD, published on the news website Flux 24,
https://www.flux24.ro/, 16.01.2018): “Viorica Dăncilă is among the first two
major financiers of SDP during the European Parliamentary Elections 2014, the
year where she contributed the amount of 114,402 lei. [...] Both [V. V. Dăncilă
and her husband – n.a., S. R.] worked at the Petrom section of Videle, Teleorman
County, until the two had come into the clique of the president of Teleorman
County Council, Liviu Dragnea”, respectively: Viorica Dăncilă’s husband, the
richest OMV PETROM manager in Argeș County (original title in Romanian:
Soțul Vioricăi Dăncilă, cel mai bogat manager OMV PETROM din județul
Argeș, article published on the website of television channel B1 TV,

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https://b1.ro/, 16.01.2018): “Viorica Dăncilă, SDP’s proposal for the position of
prime minister, and her husband, Cristinel Dăncilă, were the main characters in
a big scandal last year, when the press wrote extensively about the massive
sponsorships made by the SDP’s member of the European Parliament to her
political party. Critics have pointed out that Dăncilă would have had no way to
hold as much money as she gave to the party”.
A second explanation of the journalists for the rise to power of Mrs.
Dăncilă would be her docility and obedience to Liviu Dragnea, which would be,
as many media suggest, the shadow leader of Romania, the de facto head of the
government. Various personal features mentioned in articles, such as lack of
backbone, lack of intelligence (meaning lack of ability to have opinions), etc.
would contribute to the conformism and servility of the premier. Examples of
articles that deal in this way with the subject of the prime minister’s ascending
political career: Sex and the country with Viorica Dăncilă (original title in
Romanian: Sex and the country cu Viorica Dăncilă, national newspaper Bursa,
http://www.bursa.ro/, 29.01.2018); Viorica Dăncilă, the head of a mediocre team
that will deepen the crisis in the SDP, begins her six-month mandate (original
title in Romanian: Viorica Dăncilă, șefa unei echipe mediocre care va adânci
criza din PSD, își începe mandatul de șase luni, the news website Ziare.com,
http://www.ziare.com/, 29.01.2018); Huge protest on Saturday in Bucharest: No
more dictatorship of the bailiff Dragnea (original title in Romanian: Protest
uriaș, sâmbătă, în București: Nu mai vrem dictatura vătafului Dragnea,
published on the website of Replica, regional newspaper in Constanța,
https://www.replicaonline.ro/, 28.03.2018). In the same tone, some journalists
point out that the submissiveness of Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă makes her the
perfect “puppet” for Liviu Dragnea; from this point of view, she would not
actually be in a position of power in Romania, but the power would belong
entirely to Liviu Dragnea, who, due to the corruption lawsuits, cannot himself
occupy the post of prime minister, being forced to “lead out of the shadows”.

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This topic is addressed, for example, in the article: Ludovic Orban: I hope you
do not think that Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă will be prime minister (original title
in Romanian: Ludovic Orban: Sper că nu vă imaginați că Vasilica Viorica
Dăncilă va fi premier, published on the website of the TV channel Antena 3,
https://www.antena3.ro/, 28.01.2018): “He [the president of National Liberal
Party, Ludovic Orban – n.a., S. R.] said that along with the investiture of the
Government of Dăncilă, Liviu Dragnea will become «the de facto prime minister
and will cut and hang in everything that means governmental decision»”.

Evaluative media coverage contexts (1): Criticism and irony toward the
premier
According to the conducted content analysis, more than half of the
investigated press articles had a negative, critical or even sarcastic tone. Most of
the subjects accompanied by this tone referred to the characteristics of Vasilica
Viorica Dăncilă, but not so much to her political, organizational, strategic ones,
nor to her leadership skills, but especially to her personal, intellectual and
physical traits. There were criticised and ironized, in particular, the premier’s
inability to express herself correctly in Romanian language, grammatical and
vocabulary mistakes, lack of knowledge and understanding of terms, her inability
to answer questions, her controversial statements which, for some of the authors
of the articles, would be caused by gaps in thinking, intelligence and knowledge.
Moreover, subjects of sarcasm were also the outward appearance and the tastes
of the prime minister, especially her hairdo and her clothing.
Regarding the first mentioned feature, the inability to express herself
correctly in the Romanian language, the media have highlighted, since her
nomination as prime minister, Mrs. Dăncilă’s numerous gaps, mistakes and
blunders, which she made on various occasions. Examples of articles dealing
with this subject are numerous, a few of them are as follows:

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 a) “The second precedent”: Viorica Dăncilă, blunder: There was a
precedent, there may be the second precedent (original title in Romanian: Viorica
Dăncilă, gafă: A existat un precedent, poate exista și al doilea precedent, the
news website DCnews, https://www.dcnews.ro/, 14.02.2018).
b) “Immunoglobin” instead of “immunoglobulin”: VIDEO Viorica
Dăncilă, pronouncing six times “immunoglobin” instead of “immunoglobulin”:
The steps for immunoglobin’s acquisition will now be carried out by the national
company Unifarm SA (original title in Romanian: VIDEO Viorica Dăncilă,
pronunțând de șase ori „imunoglobină” în loc de „imunoglobulină”:
Demersurile pentru achiziționarea imunoglobinei vor fi realizate de acum de
către compania naţională Unifarm SA, the news website HotNews.ro,
https://www.hotnews.ro/, 07.03.2018); After Vasilica Dăncilă has failed to say
at least once correctly immunoglobulin out of six attempts, Dragnea is advised
to “impose the premier lessons of reading, grammar, and general culture”
(original title in Romanian: După ce Vasilica Dăncilă nu a reușit din șase
încercări să spună măcar o dată corect imunoglobulină, Dragnea este sfătuit să-
i „impună premierului în funcţie lecții de citire, gramatică și cultură generală”,
published on the aggregate website AK-24, http://www.aktual24.ro/,
07.03.2018); Dăncilă announces how she has resolved the immunoglobulin
crisis, but she does not even know how to pronounce it correctly. Not to mention
the clawback tax (original title in Romanian: Dăncilă anunță cum a rezolvat criza
imunoglobulinei, dar nici nu știe s-o pronunțe corect. De taxa claudbec nici nu
mai vorbim, published on the news website Ziare.com, http://www.ziare.com/,
07.03.2018); “From the head of the Government, she cannot hide her
emptiness”. Viorica Dăncilă, infected with “immunoglobin” (original title in
Romanian: „Din fruntea Guvernului, nu își poate ascunde goliciunea”. Viorica
Dăncilă, răpusă de „imunoglobină”, published on the website of Realitatea TV,
https://www.realitatea.net/, 08.03.2018).

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 c) Pronunciation “twenty-twenty” for 2020: Unbelievable. How Viorica
Dăncilă pronounces year 2020: twenty-twenty (original title in Romanian: De
necrezut. Cum pronunță Viorica Dăncilă anul 2020: douăzeci–douăzeci,
national newspaper Adevărul, https://adevarul.ro/, 12.04.2018); The prime
minister of all blunders: how Viorica Dăncilă read today, in the Government
meeting, “Euro 2020” – “Euro twenty-twenty” (original title in Romanian:
Premierul tuturor gafelor: cum a citit azi Viorica Dăncilă, în ședința de Guvern,
„euro 2020” – „euro douăzeci–douăzeci”, published on the online platform/
opinion website Republica, https://republica.ro/, 12.04.2018).
d) Disagreements between the subject and the predicate: Dăncilă
mutilates again the Romanian language: “When these things IS ready...”. The
Government fumbles again at the pension pillar II (original title in Romanian:
Dăncilă mutilează din nou limba română: „Când VA fi gata aceste lucruri…”.
Guvernul umblă iar la pilonul II de pensii, regional newspaper Info Iași,
https://infoiasionline.ro/, 03.04.2018).
e) Other disagreements and false pronunciations: Romanian unlettered
premier Viorica Dăncilă “indentifies” solutions with the team “we have come”
(original title in Romanian: Premierul agramat al României Viorica Dăncilă
„indentifică” soluții cu echipa „care am venit”, magazine Revista 22,
https://www.revista22.ro/, 25.03.2018).
The numerous blunders and mistakes made by the prime minister in
Romanian (disagreements, the use of misspelled words and mistaken
pronunciations, cacophonies, etc.) caused some articles not only critical, but also:
a) mostly sarcastic, as in the examples: Aberration of the day: Being prime
minister, reading from the paper including Hello, dear colleagues!, and still
making mistakes (original title in Romanian: Aberația zilei: Să fii premier, să
citești de pe foaie și Bună ziua, dragi colegi! și să faci greșeli, news website
Ziare.com, http://www.ziare.com/, 31.01.2018); “It comes from moo”. Bitter fun
on Europa FM with the unlettered Dăncilă: “I did not hear ever in my life,

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somebody saying that” (original title in Romanian: „Vine de la muget”.
Distracție amară la Europa FM cu agramata Dăncilă: „Eu nu am auzit în viaţa
mea, niciodată, pe cineva spunând asta”, the aggregate website AK-24,
http://www.aktual24.ro/, 04.04.2018); b) even offensive, as in the example:
VIDEO Romania’s silly went to the assassination of Romanian language! She
does not know the usual words, cacophony is at her home! (original title in
Romanian: VIDEO Proasta României a trecut la asasinarea limbii române! Nu
știe cuvinte uzuale, cacofonia este la ea acasă!, article published on the news
website Comisarul.ro, https://www.comisarul.ro/, 24.03.2018).
In some cases, the female premier has been ironized and even insulted
about aspects unrelated to certain competences (political, linguistic, etc.), but
only about certain attributes or concerns considered to be characteristic of
“women” (such as the interest in shopping), or simply for being a “woman”. Such
example is the article published on the aggregate website AK-24
(http://www.aktual24.ro/, 17.01.2018) with the title: Dăncilă attracted often
attention in Brussels: “I see her always in parliament with bags, suitcases,
shopping bags. How can you imagine such a broom head meeting with Merkel
or Macron?” (original title in Romanian: Dăncilă a atras deseori atenția la
Bruxelles: „O văd mereu prin parlament cu plase, pungi, geamantane de
cumpărături. Cum să-ți închipui un așa cap de mătură întâlnindu-se cu Merkel
sau Macron?”). The article relates to the alleged interview (posted on Facebook)
of a journalist with a Romanian MEP (Member of the European Parliament)
whose name is not disclosed, an interview in which Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă is
called, among other things, “peaceful, but stupid”, “total null, absolute zero”,
being “keen on shopping; that’s all her life, her essence”. The expression in the
title, the “broom head”, which may refer to her hairstyle (ridiculed in turn, as we
will see below), but which can also be interpreted in the sense of “having nothing
in the head”, corroborated with the mention of the shopping bags, may be an

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implicit reference to a stereotype about women, namely their frivolous shopping
preoccupation.
Another relevant article in this context was published on the opinion
website Republica.ro, with the title: Andrei Pleşu, after hearing Viorica Dăncilă
speaking in English: “I became melancholy. She looks like a good housewife. I
lose myself anytime invited to a stuffed cabbage [Romanian: sarma] made by
her” (original title in Romanian: Andrei Pleșu, după ce a auzit-o pe Viorica
Dăncilă vorbind englezește: „Am devenit melancolic. Pare o bună gospodină.
Mă las oricând invitat la o sarma făcută de dânsa”, https://republica.ro/,
27.01.2018). The article presents a series of quotations from the broadcast “In
front of you” [Romanian: “În fața ta”] from Digi24, which had Andrei Pleşu as
guest (without mentioning the date of the show). While the article contains
several quotes in which Andrei Pleşu criticizes Romanian politicians in general,
especially their inability to express themselves correctly, not only in English, but
also in Romanian (which makes him think that it would be necessary that they
read “the ABC book, and the basic grammar textbooks”), the author of the article
chose in the title a quote that refers to women (“good housewife”, associated with
the idea of making stuffed cabbage – Romanian: sarmale). This
decontextualization of a wider quote (in which Andrei Pleşu says inter alia that
“Viorica Dăncilă seems a nonconflictual lady, a good housewife”), and which is
presented later in the article, can implicitly suggest, only by reading the title, the
idea of associating women with the household and “stuffed cabbage” (i.e.
conforming to the traditional roles and expectations regarding a woman – being
good, docile, homemaker, knowing how to cook, etc.) and not with politics or
occupying positions of power.
A subject of criticism and sarcasm as regards the female Romanian prime
minister was also her inability to answer questions. Examples of such articles:
The interview that made Viorica Dăncilă famous in Brussels. Asked to describe
her political style in three words, she used 39 (original title in Romanian:

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Interviul care a făcut-o pe Viorica Dăncilă celebră la Bruxelles. Întrebată să își
descrie stilul politic în trei cuvinte, a folosit 39, published on the website of news
agency Mediafax, http://www.mediafax.ro/, 16.01.2018); Let's laugh – let’s cry
with Viorica Vasilica Dăncilă. English of the dock worker and answers worthy
to the “night of mind” from the new premier (original title in Romanian: Să
râdem – să plângem cu Viorica Vasilica Dăncilă. Engleză de baltă și răspunsuri
demne de „noaptea minții” din partea noului Premier, published on the local
news website Ghidul Arădean, https://www.ghidularadean.ro/, 17.01.2018);
Mrs. Vasilica, a huge national shame (original title in Romanian: Doamna
Vasilica, o imensă rușine națională, news website Ziare.com,
http://www.ziare.com/, 08.03.2018).
The controversial statements of Mrs. Dăncilă constituted also the theme
of many articles analyzed and the reason for criticism and irony of the media.
Among her controversial assertions, made in the time frame January-April 2018,
and critically media covered, can be mentioned:
a) Considering Pakistan and Iran as EU Member countries. Example of
article addressing this subject: Viorica Dăncilă, a large-scale blunder: “We do
not interfere with the problems of the Member States, Pakistan and Iran”
(original title in Romanian: Viorica Dăncilă, gafă de proporții: „Nu intervenim
în problemele statelor membre, Pakistan şi Iran”, Realitatea.net,
https://www.realitatea.net/, 17.01.2018).
b) Comparing those who criticized Romania’s detachment from
European values with people with autism: Viorica Dăncilă learned from
Dragnea to offend the autistic people. The association “Autism Romania”
knocks her down (original title in Romanian: Viorica Dăncilă a învățat de la
Dragnea să jignească autiștii. Asociația „Autism România” dă cu ea de pământ,
published on the aggregate website Noizz.ro, https://noizz.ro/, 16.02.2018);
Viorica Dăncilă, a big blunder. The hard reaction of an association after the
prime minister’s statement (original title in Romanian: Viorica Dăncilă, gafă de

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proporții. Reacția dură a unei asociații după declarația premierului, published
on the news website Huff.ro, https://huff.ro/, 16.02.2018). The later decision of
the National Council for Combating Discrimination (NCCD), according to which
the expression used by Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă did not discriminate people with
autism but fell within the limits of “freedom of expression”, was also critically
debated in some media. Examples: UPDATE NCCD: Viorica Dăncilă did not
discriminate. NCCD President Asztalos Csaba: “I am not proud at all of today’s
decision” (original title in Romanian: UPDATE CNCD: Viorica Dăncilă nu a
discriminat. Președintele CNCD, Asztalos Csaba: „Nu sunt mândru deloc de
decizia de astăzi”, national newspaper Adevărul, https://adevarul.ro/,
26.02.2018); NCCD is washing Dăncilă. The statement on the “autists” within
the limits of freedom of expression (original title in Romanian: CNCD o spală pe
Dăncilă. Declarația despre „autiști”, în limitele libertății de exprimare, regional
newspaper Info Iași, https://infoiasionline.ro/, 26.02.2018).
c) Referring to the minimum pension in Romania as being ten times
higher than in reality: The premier Viorica Dăncilă, a new gaffe after “autists”:
She announced that the minimum pension will increase from 5,200 lei to 6,400
lei, from July 1st this year (original title in Romanian: Premierul Viorica Dăncilă,
o nouă gafă, după „autiști”: A anunțat că pensia minimă va crește de la 5 200
de lei la 6 400 de lei, de la 1 iulie anul acesta, national tabloid newspaper
Libertatea, https://www.libertatea.ro/, 25.02.2018).
Other topics that are found in the themes of articles as reasons for
criticism and especially for irony from the journalists are those that have nothing
to do with the skills of Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă but refer only to her outward
appearance and her fashion tastes.
A first subject in this category, discussed in numerous press articles, was
the comparison that the journalist and writer Cristian Tudor Popescu has made,
starting with prime minister’s hairstyle at the time, in a telephone interview at
the Evening Journal on January 16, 2018, on Digi24 TV channel, between the

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premier and the monkey specie hamadryas baboon. The comparison itself, the
interview in its entirety (in which C. T. Popescu made also other statements that
could have been considered defamatory), the rapid own ex officio referral of the
National Council for Combating Discrimination (NCCD) regarding the
journalist’s statement, the fine that the journalist was given by the NCCD, as well
as the ironic response of C. T. Popescu to the fine that he received (and which he
later contested), were taken over and discussed in various articles from different
media, some of them having the same title, such as: Cristian Tudor Popescu
compared Viorica Dăncilă with a monkey – VIDEO (original title in Romanian:
Cristian Tudor Popescu a comparat-o pe Viorica Dăncilă cu o maimuță),
published on 17.01.2018 on the websites: Știri pe surse,
https://www.stiripesurse.ro/; Știri de Cluj, https://www.stiridecluj.ro/; B1 TV,
https://b1.ro/. The prompt own ex officio referral of the NCCD was noted and
addressed in articles such as CTP, Viorica Dăncilă and the baboon. How does
the journalist defend himself against NCCD’s accusations (original title in
Romanian: CTP, Viorica Dăncilă și pavianul. Cum se apără jurnalistul în fața
acuzațiilor CNCD, Digi 24 HD, https://www.digi24.ro/, 19.01.2018), and his
fine of 1,000 lei was discussed later in articles such as: The baboon and the
Teleorman (original title in Romanian: Pavianul și Teleormanul, published on
the opinion platform Republica, https://republica.ro/, 01.02.2018) or
“Hamadryas baboon”. The reaction of C. T. Popescu after he was fined by
NCCD (original title in Romanian: “Pavian cu mantie”. Reacția lui C. T.
Popescu după ce a fost amendat de CNCD, Digi 24 HD, https://www.digi24.ro/,
01.02.2018). In this latter article, the ironic response of C. T. Popescu to the fine
he received (and which he subsequently contested) from NCCD is quoted and
commented: “If you tell your wife one day that her hairdo looks like an angry cat
fur, you committed harassment. Ah, I said Mrs. Dăncilă’s hairstyle bears a
resemblance to the capillary ornament of the hamadryas baboon, which is a
monkey. And? What’s the problem? If I would have said it resembled a

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mushroom or a jellyfish, would I have committed harassment? Why with the cat,
the fungus and the jellyfish there is no problem, but with the monkey is? Does
not this mean discrimination and disfavoring the monkey in relation to other
animals and plants?”. Other articles have also more or less ironically debated the
theme, such as those that have reported the rise of the number of searches on
Google for that species of monkeys. Example: CTP has made the hamadryas
baboon famous: Google searches exploded after the journalist was fined
(original title in Romanian: CTP a făcut celebru pavianul cu mantie: căutările
pe Google au explodat după ce ziaristul a fost amendat, article published on the
aggregate website Pagina de media.ro, https://www.paginademedia.ro/,
01.02.2018).
Some media have also ridiculed the look and the fashion taste of the prime
minister, by comparing her with a peasant woman or a housewife, or even calling
her “fish wife” (țață in original in Romanian), a pejorative word used to designate
a tasteless, vulgar woman: The secrets of fish wife Viorica, the new premier
proposed by SDP (original title in Romanian: Secretele Țaței Viorica, noul
premier propus de PSD, the news website Flux 24, https://www.flux24.ro/,
16.01.2018) or The peasant woman Vasilica – Viorica is a lady beside Cosette
(original title in Romanian: Țăranca Vasilica-Viorica e o lady pe lângă Cosette,
the national newspaper Național, http://www.national.ro/, 18.01.2018).

Evaluative media coverage contexts (2): Positive aspects related to the

female prime minister
Although sporadic, there were however also some positive remarks in the
media about the first Romanian female premier. Noteworthy is that most of the
positive remarks in the Romanian media about Mrs. Dăncilă referred to her
outward appearance, especially her fashion taste and her hairstyle. In other
words, what in many media was criticized and ironized, in some other media was
praised or appreciated. It is worth mentioning that most of these positive remarks

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about the outward appearance of the prime minister can be found in articles
published in tabloid newspapers, characterized by a journalistic style based on
sensational news, gossips and rumours about celebrities and public figures, as
well as by excessive use of attracting attention photos (Burleson Mackay, 2017).
Such an article, with the title: Look what an elegant premier we will have! Viorica
Dăncilă loves accessories and handbags (original title in Romanian: Uite ce
premier elegant vom avea! Viorica Dăncilă adoră accesoriile și gențile), was
published on 19.01.2018 by the tabloid Click! (https://www.click.ro/), with
numerous photographs and explanations about premier’s preferences regarding
clothing and accessories.
Other tabloid newspapers drew the attention, also in a positive way, to
Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă’s change of hairdressing, as in the articles: Viorica
Dăncilă, change of look. The designated prime minister changed her hairstyle
(original title in Romanian: Viorica Dăncilă, schimbare de look. Premierul
desemnat și-a schimbat coafura, the tabloid Libertatea,
https://www.libertatea.ro/, 23.01.2018) or Radical transformation of look. How
the appointed Romanian premier, Viorica Dăncilă, publicly displayed herself!
(original title in Romanian: Transformare radicală de look. Cum s-a afișat în
public premierul desemnat al României, Viorica Dăncilă!, the tabloid Cancan,
https://www.cancan.ro/, 23.01.2018). The same change was also noted in other
media, such as the television channels PRO-TV and Kanal D, although in a more
neutral way than in tabloids: Viorica Vasilica Dăncilă, change of look before
occupying the chair of Victoria Palace (original title in Romanian: Viorica
Vasilica Dăncilă, schimbare de look înainte de ocuparea fotoliului de la Palatul
Victoria, PRO-TV, https://stirileprotv.ro/, 23.01.2018), respectively How did the
nominated premier, Viorica Dăncilă, appeared at a meeting with UDMR’s
leaders. Everyone noticed this change (original title in Romanian: Cum a apărut
premierul desemnat, Viorica Dăncilă, la o întâlnire cu conducerea UDMR.

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Toată lumea a remarcat această schimbare, Kanal D,
http://www.stirilekanald.ro/, 23.01.2018).
Although no comparison has been made with the media coverage, in the
same conditions (nomination, first months in office) of a male prime minister, it
can be said, that, probably, the outward appearance, the clothing, the hairdo, etc.
of a man do not attract the same attention of the media, being much less
frequently mentioned by journalists. A possible conclusion, which requires
further research to confirm it, is that media attention to the external appearance
of a person in a position of power is much greater when the person is female,
thus confirming the social gender-related expectations and roles: a woman, even
in a position of power, must “remain a woman”, that is, she should strive “to look
good”; in the case of a man, if he is a good leader, makes good decisions and has
the desired results, the external aspect is more or less negligible.
Of the 162 articles analyzed, I could notice only one article that makes a
more detailed analysis of the negative, criticisable, and vulnerable elements, but
also of the positive aspects and of the hopes related to the first female prime
minister in the history of Romania. This article, titled: Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă,
beyond hairdressing, Romanian blouse [embroidered peasant chemise/ shirt]
and Teleorman (original title in Romanian: Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă, dincolo de
coafură, ie și Teleorman), was published on 17.01.2018 by the women’s
magazine Elle (https://www.elle.ro/). Thus, at the beginning of the article there
are listed the aspects criticized by other media in connection with the prime
minister: “Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă has been SDP’s proposal for the post of
prime minister of Romania after the resignation of Mihai Tudose, a reason for a
lot of websites to analyse ... the hairstyle (which is unfortunate), the outfits (with
folk influences) and the native place, Teleorman, the county that gave the country
also the leader of SDP, Liviu Dragnea”. Although, at first glance, interpreting the
explanatory brackets, it may be understood that Elle also adheres to these
criticisms, reading the article further, we find a dismantling of them in the

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analysis made under the subtitle: Thence, who is Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă?
According to this analysis, “her affinity for Romanian blouse [embroidered
peasant chemise/ shirt] is less superficial than seems now”, and “the talks about
her hair resemble dreadful those who were done around the budget Hillary
Clinton dedicated to hairdressing, for example”. Moreover, there is a second part
of the article, with the subtitle: Still, and a good part, in which there is drawn
attention, as few media have done, to the fact that Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă: a) is
the second woman nominated by SDP for the post of prime minister, after Sevil
Shhaideh and b) (in a later edit) was appointed prime minister, becoming thus
the first woman to take up this position in Romania. The rise of a woman in a
position of power is remarked positively in the article, there being highlighted,
as I have not encountered in other media, the change that this fact represents and
the hopes that derives from it regarding the various problems faced by women in
Romania (domestic violence, women’s dignity, etc.): “We are in a country where
Parliament was, two decades after the Revolution, composed of an enormous
number of men and a few women. So, we could say that any woman in a position
of power is good. [...] We can give this woman a chance – until she decides to
cancel it by herself”.

Conclusions
The purpose of the research presented in this paper was to investigate the
media coverage of the first female prime minister in Romania’s history, starting
with her nomination for this position and continuing with the first months of her
mandate. Through the content analysis method, the major characteristics of the
media coverage were outlined, and the main topics and issues covered on the
subject were delimited. A particular interest was given to the way in which the
Romanian national and regional media (re)presented the first female premier in
her first months in office, the extent to which she was seen as being part of the
group of those “strong” women who managed to join the social elite of politics

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and who are about to become a new model for femininity – hegemonic
femininity, as defined by some authors (Meuser, 2010; Scholz, 2010).
A first conclusion that results from the content analysis is that the national
and local press in Romania did not consider and did not (re)present or media
construct the first female prime minister as a strong and capable person, who
managed on her own to have an ascending political career and to accede due to
such qualities in the highest executive position in Romania. Instead, most articles
highlighted the lack of her qualities, her deficiencies on multiple areas, her
failures, as well as the dubious or at least suspicious means and motives, such as
the consistent donations to SDP, which led to her political rise. She was not
media represented as a model of a strong woman, but rather as a model of a
docile, obedient female, servant to the interests of a strong man who in fact leads
not only a party, but also Romania.
Therefore, it can be said that the media constructed image of the first
female prime minister in Romania does not fit into the image of hegemonic
femininity in the sense defined by M. Meuser (2010) and S. Scholz (2010),
because such femininity would be supposed to be no longer agreeing with the
subordination of the own gender, to no longer align with the masculine interests,
but, on the contrary, to assume roles of autonomy, self-reliance, and authority.
However, such attributes, according to the analyzed media reports, do not
characterize the prime minister in question. At the very most, the first female
Romanian prime minister can be seen, in the media’s view, as illustrating the
emphasized femininity (in the sense of R.W. Connell, 1995), whose main
purpose is to support the supremacy of hegemonic masculinity, by acting to
promote the primacy of men’s interests and contributing to maintain the
subordination of women in society.
Without doing anything to change the image of women in Romania or at
least to show her qualities and her own authority and power, the female prime
minister, as she is covered by the media, appears rather as the opposite of a strong

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woman, completely or at least largely under the control of powerful men, who
make the decisions behind the scenes and have, in reality, the power. According
to many media, through her actions, the female Romanian premier has shown
that she unconditionally supports the party leader’s interests and that her purpose
is to obey and implement his plans (such as those relating to the changes to the
Penal Code). Such facts have determined many of the articles’ authors to portray
her as not the holder of a position of power, but only as a political “puppet”.
As regards the topics covered primarily relating to the prime minister,
besides those concerning political activities, there are to be noted the themes that
highlighted her blunders and mistakes, especially the linguistic and logical ones,
but also those of thinking and knowledge. According to information from the
media, Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă, both as a European Parliamentarian and as
Prime Minister, has made many faux pas, gaffes, solecisms, errors and provoked
a lot of awkwardnesses, showing many linguistic loopholes, but also deficiencies
as concerns logic, and political and general culture. As a result, it can be said,
that her media coverage, both in the first days after the nomination, as well as on
occasion of her appointment and in the first months of her term of office, turned
into a real “hunt” of mistakes and blunders, who have become in many news the
leitmotiv associated with her actions and her person in general. In this context,
many of the articles analyzed had a critical and ironic tone regarding the female
premier, being a way to banter and, in some cases, even to offend her. As
mentioned, a single article out of the total of 162 analyzed drew the attention and
debated that she is the first female prime minister in the history of Romania, and
that, beyond the various criticisms, reservations and doubts about her, afterwards
“any woman in a position of power is good” (quotation from the article in
question: Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă, beyond hairdressing, Romanian blouse
[embroidered peasant chemise/ shirt] and Teleorman, Elle magazine,
https://www.elle.ro/, 17.01.2018).

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 The investiture for the first time of a woman as prime minister of
Romania has raised, therefore, the interest of the media, discussions and debates
on various political and personal aspects. However, the fact that, for the first time
in its history, Romania has a female prime minister, it has not been highlighted
as such in many mass media, but other elements, rather controversial, were
predominantly emphasized and debated. Among them there was to be found the
assertion that her political rise and the support necessary to maintain her position
of power is owed not so much to her competences as to her submissiveness and
docility to the men who take, in fact, behind-the-scenes decisions, and which,
therefore, have in reality power.
Thus, at least analysing the media constructed portrait of Romania’s first
female prime minister, it can be concluded that she does not illustrate the
hegemonic femininity, which would be strong and resolute, and could occupy an
equipotential position with that of hegemonic masculinity. In other words, in
Romania, despite the presence of a woman in the highest position of executive
power, there has not yet emerged a hegemonic femininity, that, over time, could
influence the structural logic of gender relations in society.

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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 146-155 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

A PRACTICAL SECOND-ORDER DISCOURSE

Ștefan VLĂDUȚESCU
Professor, PhD, CCSCMOP, University of Craiova, Romania

Abstract
This study is a reflection on the history of discourse and an emphasis on
philosophy as a second-order practical discourse. On the one hand, meta-
analytically is the idea that literature is canonical scriptural discourse: Literary
discourse is a special creation in the report with the discourses from which it
comes; as aesthetic discourse, literature has an inaugural character, it comes from
many practical discourses. On the other hand, philosophy builds on the literary
discourse. Philosophy has a strong, decisive modeling reinforcement; philosophy
is a practice of streamlining the practice of everyday life. Philosophy builds up
as a second-order practice (literature comes from life, from first-order practice,
philosophy is founded as a special literary discourse and returns to life's practice,
becoming a second-order discourse). Life has shaped literature, and literature has
shaped philosophy.
Key-words: practice, literature, philosophy, seconde order discourse

1. Introduction
The beginning of philosophy is the recognition of the philosophical
consciousness delays in relation to philosophical practice. Philosophy is
inaugurated with the introduction of philosophy. Before setting it up as a type of

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discourse, philosophical discourse produced effects within the literary discourse.
The place where the literary becomes philosophical is Plato's dialogues. The late
stage of the separation of the mythos logos, dialogues concentrate the rational
substance of the logos to the detriment of the verbal substance. Platonian opera
is the first enterprise where the literary is rationally (even logically) modeled
towards philosophy. The logos of dialogues establish as a rule of discursive
function reason, intellect. For Plato it is important to be and to think. His post-
parmenidism emphasizes that being and thinking does not have to be interpreted
one by the other. The Logos must incorporate the two terms within a new
confounding thinking, of strict rationality. This strictness only means “somewhat
stricter,” that is, merely benefiting from the Parmenian logical principle of
identity and the principle introduced by Plato of non-contradiction. When the
Platonic dialogue is said to contradict, he changes his course of natural reasoning.
Therefore, until Plato, the literary discourse of philosophical consecration
and consecration had no obligation but to the principle of identity. This principle,
which will be mastered with philosophy, with all Western thinking, shows that
one thing is identical to itself and two things identical to themselves can be
identical to each other. Thinking can not work productively but within the
identity. The principle can therefore be considered “the highest law of thought”
(Heidegger, 1991, p. 9). In order to remain valid, when it comes to a thing, when
it is called upon by it, or it follows it, thinking must keep in mind that it does not
turn its course. She must keep the thing as himself. With each cogitation and
language entry it is necessary that the thing remains the same. The principle
anaesizes the loss of consistency. It highlights the repeatability in itself of the
existing being. This belongs to her identity, to her unity with herself. The
principle expresses the fact that unity of identity within the multiple is realized
as a characteristic of the existence of anything. He asks that everywhere where
thinking is done leaves himself led by identity (Clitan & Barbu-Kleitsch, 2018).
Without identity, there would be no accumulation. Anything would become

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anything. The fictional, literary make up the field of unlimited metamorphosis.
Philosophical is a literally restricted first and first on the principle of identity.
The main criterion of identity controls the possibility of producing thinking to
reproduce cogitatively. Without identity, one could not take place in the multiple,
and the multiple would not find the way to wrap in one (Abrudan & Fofiu, 2017).
Wherever self-knowledge thinking speaks the principle of identity. It can only
be controlled by putting aside its identities and not letting go of the existence
course of existence.
Parmenides formulates the reality of the identity principle: “it is one thing
to think and be” (Greek philosophy until Plato, 1979, vol. I, p. 232). The same is
to think of being. Gnozicul and ontic are one. The principle stems from the fact
that the two leading words (think, be) not only cogitate language, but multiply it
in one and the same.
At Palton, the principle of identity is involved in the discursive
construction. He has the role of a trainer that the repetition entrusts him with. Put
into the instrumental circuit of thought by Parmenides, with Plato, he becomes
the modeling tool of productive thought other than poem-literary. Literally
evoked, the principle, will be taken with lucidity. It will thus contribute to the
segregation of literary philosophy.
The literature before Plato exploits literary themes, philosophies that
history has held to belong to philosophy. Thus, the authors of the “philosopher”
- became philosophers post-factum. Of course Parmenide was and was a poet.
Undoubtedly he knew himself wise (sofos). With the installation of philosophy
as an ex-literary discourse, Parmenide became a philosopher. I mean, Parmenides
did not have a philosopher for himself.
Plato consistently uses the principle of identity, and in the “Sophist” (254-
d) he also recalls: “This means that each one is different from the other two but
the same as himself” (Plato, 1989, p. 366). The work remains identical, but in
order to ratify the same, it must be the same whenever it can be found in another.

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 We recall without insisting that Platon introduced the rigor of the
principle of non-contradiction in the construction and establishment of the
concept expanded as a “Philosophy” discipline. Then Aristotle theorized the two,
adding to them the excluded third principle and thus building a “Logic”. Later,
Leibniz will put together with the three, a fourth principle: that of sufficient
reason.
So, Parmenide writes a literary poem. It develops it with the consciousness of
literature. The internal movement of producing thought is literary. The theme of
the writing is outside the literature's relevance chart at the time of Plato-Aristotle.
But they do not find the Parmenidian discourse as anything other than literature.
However, the writing carries a message with non-literary appearances. At the
time, the real and decisive criterion of literature is rhyme. Parmenide's poem is
righteous and rhythmic. The poem is naturally “used” as literature. The
philosophical message is sacrificed in favor of literature in the gain of the literary
message. This is what we say today when language always takes us forward
(Radu, 2015; Harun & Hassan, 2018). At the time, Plato will use Parmenide in
one of his few pure, direct and undeniable philosophical dialogues: Parmenide.

2. Plato and Aristotle bring a new discourse

Plato and Aristotle take on themes from Thales, Parmenide,
Anaximandru and Anaximene, lead them to abstraction and generalization and
develop a type of discourse in contradiction with the literary discourse.
Obviously what is opposed is something else (Arhip & Arhip, 2017; Lutaaya,
2018; Roşca, 2018). The new type of discourse is something other than literature,
the new discourse is philosophy. If we were let down by Plato and Aristotle, we
would say that Paramenide and Anaximander did not do philosophy. Essentially,
they lack the basis and concept to realize that they are doing philosophy. They
had no way to buy it because the base and the conceptual organel that the base
will develop will come later. The basis of philosophy thinking as philosophy, this

149
discipline quality will acquire through Plato and Aristotle. As wise men,
Parmenides, Anaximander and Anaximenes know that they philosophize, but
they do not know that they do philosophy. By denying them, Plato and Aristotle
create a history for the concept of a science the basis of which they lay.
Our postulate is as follows: when the writings of the presocrats tell Plato
and Aristotle differently from the literary, they separate the new type of discourse
and paradigmate it as philosophy as a second order discourse.
The presocratic message becomes therefore incomprehensible as
literature for Plato and Aristotle. Discourse communicates more than what
literary literature means. By continuing and transforming the message of the
presocratic wisdom, Plato and Aristotle establish philosophy. When literary
writing brings to the stage of intelligibility other sets of meanings than mythical-
fictional, then that literature is seen as something other than literature. That
literature is given a name other than literature. Philosophy therefore appears in
the beginning as an out of literature. It will forever remain unmerited to literature.
Moreover, the literary inaugural event will shape any production and any
language consumption that would be set up in any other kind of discourse
(Coman & Coman, 2017). Each discourse bears a literary mark. The pseudo-
literary Platonician-Aristotelian word pours itself out as a new type of discourse.
In philosophy, the philosophical message first appears, and then the
philosophical discourse. If they come too late to contribute decisively to the
construction of the world, communication and the philosophical message of
philosophy come, at any rate, too late to develop a philosophical modeling of
receptive thinking. Philosophical reception is derived. First, we understand the
discourse literally, and only when the literary is insufficient to explain the
ongoing discourse as literary, we only think that the discourse would not be
literary. Any non-literary discourse misses the primordial chance of being
literary.

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 The philosophical discourse is the lack of remorse of the literary
discourse. Literary is besides philosophical, as well as language besides thinking:
a kind of general testability criterion. The literary is an obstacle. Language gives
shape and at the same time prevents thinking. First, the literary produces the
philosophical, then proclaims it. Literary thinking precedes any idea that a
discourse can be anything else.
Philosophy is a literary incapacity. He shows that the literary knows no limits.
But “philosophicalism” results from the excess of the literary and conscious of
the limit that, surpassing it, the literary becomes something else, the
philosophical surpluses the consciousness of its discursive weakness: cogitative
and linguistic (Lorenc, Michnej & Szkoda, 2016; Busu & Busu, 2018; Negrea &
Voinea, 2018; Tudor, Clitan & Grilo, 2018). Philosophy is thinking beyond the
boundaries of literature. It knows the boundaries of literature, for it is on one side
of them. But beyond, philosophy becomes powerless to become aware of its own
limits (Boureanu, 2012; Adinugraha, 2018; Negrea, 2018). Should there be an
ex-philosophical horizon beyond the philosophical circle? Or the philosophy will
also deal with its own limits.
At first philosophy will handle boundaries. She knows that logic precedes
any idea that one thing is so or different, whether or not there is a limit or not.
Therefore: philosophy is a late literature. Philosophy is an excess. She leaves the
literature, taking with her the main tools of literature. When it was as if literature
was perfect, it became philosophy. “To excel in your art is to get out of it”
Boileau said.
Incapable of understanding Parmenide and Anaximander, unable to bear
their understanding, Plato and Aristotle gave their own work of distance-taking
the name of philosophy. Part of the presocratic literature no longer spoke to them,
and then they called it philosophy. Philosophy seems literature (Codoban, 1992).
When a discourse of a new language and bearing an “abnormal”
cogitation was installed in Greek reflection, it had to be de-anonymized and

151
edified, individualized. When in the meditative perimeter of Greek culture in the
horizon of the 6th, 5th centuries and in the fourth century BC, a new type of
message was put in place, Plato and Aristotle gave him the name of philosophy.
When this strange literature managed to communicate in a useful way a new type
of message, this message was proclaimed philosophy: a wise message (Roşca &
Partenie, 2018; Danielsson, 2019). By doing so, they have produced a rupture
within Greek culture and thinking. They left poorer literature, but they enriched
the theoretical reflection in a capital and decisive way for the destiny of
discursive thinking. Platon and Aristotle thus constituted one of the fatalities of
literature. Another fatality will be noticed when philosophy will delimit its
domains: ontology, gnoseology, ethics, logic etc. Also, another when
psychology, hermeneutics, etc. will be detached from the so-called philosophy.
Philosophy began when the self-conscious being and the surrounding
world began to think about things without a direct, immediate, direct interest. It
began when the theorein of the cognitive spirit, crossing the practice and the
contingency, became the self-extinguishing theorein. Then “man to
humanitarian” had something to say, something to show, something to convey.
This “said” (as Heidegger calls it), this “said” (as Marin Sorescu calls it) is the
message. The beginning and the criterion of philosophy is said to be a message:
the philosophical message. Philosophy was not present at the birth of the world:
it was not absent, but it was delayed. This is the synthesizing thesis for the five
theses: the delay of philosophy.

3. Conclusion
Defining the beginning of philosophy can be accomplished by knotting,
by constituting the following ideas:
- a new type of message: the philosophical message;
- a new object of reflection: the cosmos in its entirety;
- a new conceptual language register;

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 - a cogitative instrumentation;
- a cogitative approach to the limit of strictness;
- Plato's proto-logical principles are identity (taken from Parmenide) and
non-contradiction: the loss of identity leads to contradiction, and what is
contradictory is null;
- Aristotle establishes the logic and principles of identity,
noncontradiction and exclusion (later Leibniz will add the principle of
sufficient reason);
- a moral reflection: ethics;
- a meditation on the possibilities and ways of knowing: gneseology;
- a theory of being - ontology;
- all these STAUs in the MESSAGE made in the discourse formulation;
- conceptual philosophical language, “logicoid” - logical, specialized -
technical;
- From this point of view philosophy is a literature with a special theme,
with a strict flow, producing conclusions to be retained as moral, lessons,
general level implications.

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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 156-162 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

BRAND POSITIONING IN THE COMPETITIVE

ENVIRONMENT

Alexandra IORGULESCU1 ,
Mihaela MARCU2
1,2
Associate Professor, PhD, CCSCMOP, University of Craiova, Romania

Abstract
In this article, we have shown the place occupied by a brand on the
competitive market according to image and packaging. Attributes are the
functional and mental connections, and the benefits are the reasoning of the
purchase decision.

Keywords: brand, image, positioning

1. Introduction
According to Kahle, due to increasing market growth, consumers have to
choose between a variety of alternatives, similar in price and in properties. Thus,
the brand is associated with the notion of image, which makes a positive brand
relevant and easy to remember by people (Aaker, 1997). Brand image is a key
factor, which refers to the general perception of the consumers and their feelings
as a whole, which subsequently results in influencing consumer behaviour. For
specialists, regardless of the marketing strategies of the companies, the main

156
purpose of their activities is to influence perception and attitude, to create a
favourable image and to stimulate effective purchasing behaviour, the brand,
thus increasing sales, maximizing market share and ultimately developing the
concept of value.
Although consumer decision is generally influenced by the characteristics
and attributes of the brand, it is determined by consumers' perception in a deeper
sense. Despite the change in consumer lifestyles and the way information is
being processed, the image of the brand remains the dominant impact factor.
Brand image not only evokes an emotional value but also a mental picture,
which is perceived as the character of an organization, an accumulation of data
that highlights the mission and vision of the entity in question. The main
elements of a brand's positive image are: the unique logo that reflects the image
of the organization, the slogan describing the purpose of the organization in
brief, and the brand identifier that supports key values.
The idea behind the image suggests the consumer's intention to buy not only
the product, but also the associated image. The images must be positive, unique
and instantaneous using a variety of techniques, such as: advertising, attractive
packaging, other promotional tools, etc.
A unique image develops and conveys the character of the product in a
different way from the alternative offered by its competitors. Brand image is
made up of various associations in the minds of consumers - benefits and
attributes. Attributes are the functional and mental connections of the consumers
reported to the brand, and they may be specific or conceptual. The benefits are
represented by the reasoning of the purchase decision. There are three types of
benefits: functional benefits, emotional benefits and rational benefits.
Brand image does not need to be created, it is automatically created. This
includes product appeal, ease of use, functionality, fame and value. When
consumers buy the product, they also buy its image. Image is the objective and
mental feedback of consumers.

157
 Drezner (2002) emphasized the tendency of people not to react to the reality
offered, but rather to the reality they perceive. Thus, brand image is assimilated
as a set of associations that consumers receive in a given period as a result of
their contiguity with the brand, either directly or indirectly.
Therefore, the carefully outlined image is the general impression of brand
positioning in the context of competition with other brands in the same category
- how strong the position that remains in the minds of consumers is.

2. Brand management
The concept of brand management is important for both companies and
consumers, but for complementary reasons. According to Kotler (2000, p. 408),
businesses use brands because they facilitate the processing and tracking of
orders, they provide legal protection to the characteristics of a single product,
facilitate expansion, and target various markets, leading to a global approach,
and subsequently to the emergence of high profits.
On the other hand, as far as strategic management is concerned, it can be
defined as the process of management oriented towards capital growth and the
achievement of brand synergies in order to reach a predetermined set of
organizational goals, among which, strengthening the image and reputation of
the company by shaping a brand personality.

Identity Strategy Managemen Control

t

Thus, capital accumulation is marked by the moment when the goals listed
above are being met successfully, and consumers start to perceive brands as a
reflection of the self (Malar et al., 2011). The capital is associated with the notion
of commercial and financial value for the company, resulting from consumer
awareness, loyalty, quality perception and other associations (Aaker, 1991, p.
17; Ferrell & Hartline, 2005, p. 177).

158
 Brand management is therefore the assembling of various marketing
environments into a whole, in order to provide an identity. It is nothing but
capturing attention by offering an image of an experienced and reliable business.
The concept of brand management is important for both companies and
consumers, but for complementary reasons. According to Kotler (2000, p. 408),
businesses use brands because they facilitate the processing and tracking of
orders, they provide legal protection to the characteristics of a single product,
facilitate expansion, and target various markets, leading to a global approach,
and subsequently to the emergence of high profits.
On the other hand, as far as strategic management is concerned, it can be
defined as the process of management oriented towards capital growth and the
achievement of brand synergies in order to reach a predetermined set of
organizational goals, among which, strengthening the image and reputation of
the company by shaping a brand personality.
Thus, capital accumulation is marked by the moment when the goals listed
above are being met successfully, and consumers start to perceive brands as a
reflection of the self (Malar et al., 2011). The capital is associated with the notion
of commercial and financial value for the company, resulting from consumer
awareness, loyalty, quality perception and other associations (Aaker, 1991, p.
17; Ferrell & Hartline, 2005, p. 177).
Brand management is therefore the assembling of various marketing
environments into a whole, in order to provide an identity. It is nothing but
capturing attention by offering an image of an experienced and reliable business.
The reason for using brand management is relatively simple. By creating a long-
lasting impression and a meaningful relationship with users, organizations can
keep customers and stimulate a sense of loyalty.
Loyal customers are cheaper, and happy customers are more likely to talk
about the company in a positive light. As a result, brand construction is a key to
success in an enormous number of industries. There are many approaches to this,

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both traditional and modern, and the understanding of both the strategy and the
possible tactical channels available is essential for decision-making in the
development of a smart brand, namely:
Individual Branding - This strategy has proven to be extremely beneficial to
a large number of organizations offering a wide range of goods, preventing the
likelihood of the parent company being affected by an individual brand and
allowing a sense of competition between brands. It also allows companies to
simultaneously capture a variety of demographics by placing each brand in large
groups of consumers.
Multi-branding - in some ways, multi-product branding allows companies
like Samsung, Apple, Sony and Virgin focus consumer loyalty on the main
brand. This creates efficiency in promoting the brand, but also assigns the risk
to a single name.
Sub-branding - This tactic allows an organization to create relatively larger
sub-brands for certain product groups. A good example is Honda and Acura, one
is located in a higher price category, but both belong to the company Honda.
Co-branding - As the name suggests, companies often collaborate on
projects. This allows each organization to benefit from loyal consumer bases.
Iconic Branding - The iconic branding involves the building of a character,
which then has the role of establishing a counter-culture, respectively a
community. The Nike brand is iconic by promoting the “Just Do It” mentality,
offering a perspective alongside their products. This type of branding is complex
and extremely difficult to achieve, but can form a strong and loyal base.
So displaying basic values has become easier and more difficult at all times
than ever. Just by a click, organizations can make a huge impression on the
general public.
However, the digital landscape is noisy, and the process of making yourself
heard can be extremely challenging.

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 3. Conclusion
In researching consumer behaviour, considerable attention has been paid to
the built brand personality, which refers to the set of human characteristics
associated with a particular brand. The researchers discussed how the brand's
personality allows the consumer to express his or her own self (Belk 1988), an
ideal self (Malhotra 1988) or specific dimensions of the self (Kleine, Kleine and
Kernan 1993) by using a brand.
Although the personality traits of humans and of brands could have a similar
conceptualization (Epstein 1977), they differ in how they are formed.
Perceptions of human personality traits are deduced from physical behaviour,
physical characteristics, individual attitudes and beliefs, and demographic
characteristics (Park 1986). Instead, the perceptions of the personality traits of
the brand can be shaped and influenced by any direct or indirect contact that the
consumer has with that brand (Plummer 1985).
Apart from authenticity, it can also be defined as "the degree of confidence
in the exchange of partner's reliability and integrity" (Morgan & Hunt, 1994),
notably in brand management descriptions (Aaker, 1996, Keller, 2003
Haugtvedt et al., 2008).
On the other hand, the notion of engagement is a valuable interaction
between the customer and the brand and it is frequently used as a measurement
system. According to Keller (2001), brand commitment is one of the key
components of its customer-driven capital model, a model that suggests that
managers can take the necessary steps to create brand capital by making relevant
connections to customer preferences. The end result is marked by the emergence
of intense and practical relationships that stimulate commitment by the
willingness to talk about the brand, to learn more about it, and to promote it
through the word of mouth (Goldsmith, 2011).
In other words, commitment aims to connect points between the employees
involved, customers and profitability, in order to create a loyal platform that

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adds value to the brand in question. Known for combining two essential
concepts, namely, loyalty and marketing, commitment presupposes emotional
involvement, so knowing the brand is not enough.

REFERENCES
Aaker, D. (2005). Managementul capitalului unui brand. Cum să valorifici numele
unui brand. Bucuresti: Brandbuilders.
Belk, R. (1988). Possessions and the Extended Self, The Journal of Consumer
Research, 15(2).
Bentchev, K. (2017). On objects of time-consciousness. Filosofiya-Philosophy,
26(4), 383-414.
Cărămidă, C. (2009). Brand&Branding: Identitate vizuală, Editura
BrandMark..Cătănoiu, I., & Pantzai, S. (2004). Semnificaţii ale comportamentului
consumatorului în elaborarea strategiei de promovare a unei mărci, Editura Uranus.
Drezner, D. (2002). Globalization and Policy Convergence, International Studies
Review, 3(1).
Goldsmith, E. (2011). Social Influence and Sustainable Consumption, Springer
Nature Switzerland AG.
Iorgulescu, A., & Marcu, M. (2015). The relationship between national culture and
organisational culture. Social Sciences and Education Research Review, 4(2), 93-98.
Iorgulescu, A., & Marcu, M. (2017). The relationship of organization with the
media in crisis situation. Social Sciences and Education Research Review, 4(2).
Iorgulescu, A., & Marcu, M. (2018). Organisations and the Communication Crisis.
Social Sciences and Education Research Review, 5(1).
Kotler, Ph. (2003). Kotler despre marketing, Editura Curier Marketing, Bucharest.
Negrilă, M. (2019). The influence of professional experience on people’s tendency
towards workaholism. Social Sciences and Education Research Review, 6.
Nistor, P. (2018). Social Services Offered by Faith-Based Organizations in the
Post-Secular Society. Logos, Universality, Mentality, Education, Novelty. Section
Social Sciences, 7(2), 55-71.

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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 163-169 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

MANIFESTATIONS OF ABUSE ON CHILDREN IN

DIFFERENT VULNERABLE SITUATIONS
Adrian NICOLESCU
Assistant Professor, PhD, University of Craiova, Romania

ABSTRACT
Currently, Romania has acceded to numerous international conventions
that contain important provisions in the field of the protection of the rights of the
child, and once accession to these international documents began, the authorities
with attributions in this field have the imperative obligation to harmonize the
internal legislation with the foreign regulations. In view of the multitude
manifestations of the phenomenon of abuse, the literature considered that under
this umbrella can come many forms such as emotional abuse, physical abuse and
sexual abuse. Institutions with responsibilities in the field of child protection
have the obligation to prevent these behaviors against human well-being and
manifested through numerous forms of abuse, and in the event that the risk has
occurred and the physical and mental integrity of the child have been reached,
then the authorities must undertake all measures for the rehabilitation and
integration of the child in difficulty. In preventing cases of abuse of children at
an early age, a significant role is played by both local and central authorities, but
especially the family, the school and, last but not least, society as a whole.
Keywords: emotional abuse, child, normative acts, international
documents

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Introduction
As the notion of abuse is quite wide, both the specialty literature and the
legislation in force tried a delimitation of it, so art. 94 par. 1 of the Law no.
272/2004 on the protection and promotion of the rights of the child defines the
concept as: "(...) any voluntary action of a person who is in a position of
responsibility, trust or authority in relation to him, which endangers his life ,
physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development, physical integrity,
physical or mental health of the child (...).
Also, the same normative act at art. 94 par. 1 classifies abuse as being
physically, emotionally, psychologically, sexually and economically one. Thus,
the legal framework in Romania highlights the child's position in society and
offers legal protection regardless of the environment in which he / she is, namely
the family, the community or even the educational institutions.
Among the international documents to which Romania has adhered is the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which contains a set of rules and socio-
legal institutions for child care and assistance. The Convention by art. 19 itself
requires the signatory States to undertake all legislative and social measures to
achieve effective protection of the child against any form of abuse committed by
any actor in his / her life.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been considered by the doctrine
to be a true "Charter of Children's Rights" with a wide applicability, its provisions
covering children from all over the world, without any discrimination.
Considering that in less economically developed countries the cases of abuse are
more and more frequent, this international instrument, namely the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, is called to harmonize the internal legislation of the
signatory states with the international child protection legislation.

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 At the same time, the importance of children's rights in various crisis
situations (abused, abandoned children, etc.) was promoted and highlighted at
the international conference on human rights (Vienna, 15-25 June 1993:
www.unhchr.org.).
The institutions with attributions in the field of protection and promotion
of children's rights located at the central level are the National Authority for the
Protection of Children's Rights and Adoption and the People's Advocate
Institution, whose aim is to highlight the importance of child protection in
society. The National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights and
Adoption has the mission to create a favorable climate for the harmonious
development of the child in society in accordance with international requirements
and, last but not least, the People's Advocate Institution has the role of improving
the social relations of the child with the central and local public authorities.
At the local level, the General Direction of Social Assistance and Child
Protection is the main provider of social services in the field of child protection,
and one of the most important missions of this institution is to reintegrate the
abused child into society.
All these institutions with specific attributions have the role of removing
the abused child from a negative environment that has long-term effects on his
personality and to introduce him in an environment conducive to his mental
development. One can easily observe when the child is subjected to repetitive
abuses as a result of psycho-behavioral changes, adaptation disorders, and last
but not least, the change in school performance.
"Neglected children have easy-to-read characteristics: they are very good,
shy, they avoid facing aggresion of others , never try to assert themselves, they
usually play alone, prefer to stay in large groups of children, but they do not make
friends. Instead, the rejected children are very active, talking and quarreling,
always trying to get closer to others, not cooperating when playing, not sharing

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the things they possess, often attracting attention by inappropriate behavior"
(Schaffer, 2005, p. 118).

2. Characteristics of the abused child and the forms of abuse

Some authors (Radulescu, 2001, p. 67) consider that when a child lives
in a family environment in which violence prevails, he/she has certain
characteristics:
1.the child often has aggressive behavior;
2.the child is isolated, passive, emotive;
3.the child has school difficulties: low performance, absent, is unqualified;
4. the roles are reversed: the child touts the adult;
5. night sleep disorders: sleeplessness, nightmares, nocturnal emissions, agitation
during sleep;
6. somatic pain: headache, stomach, chicken, allergies;
7. self-destructive behavior, inclination towards accidents;
8. unexplained wounds or incompatible with the accident story;
9. fear of physical contact initiated by parents or other persons;
10. desperate crying or almost complete absence of crying;
11. seems to be pursuing safety by adapting to the situation rather than relying
on parents; seems to be in a constant alertness to a potential danger, asking, by
words and actions, what will happen next;
12. is constantly in search of food, of things, benefits, services;
13. has persistent evasive and deviant behaviors, especially in adolescents, such
as vagabondage, alcohol or drug abuse, prostitution, early marriage, and the
existence of a pregnancy.
The forms of abuse in the view of some authors (Belsey, 1996, pp. 71-
72) are classified into four categories:
- Physical abuse consists in any action / inaction of physical violence
committed with direct or indirect intent on the child unable to defend because of

166
his age, the violence that causes him social inadaptability, but also the
consequence of his physical harm. Forms of physical abuse are: hitting,
injuring,tying up, kneeling, threatening, burning with cigarettes, sleep
deprivation;
- Emotional abuse usually occurs alongside physical abuse and has a
much more serious effect on the personality of the child, consisting of actions of
distancing from the other people in his life, but also in actions of personality
degradation;
"Various forms, easily identified in the child, are part of the repertoire of
emotional abuse: distrust, hostility, aggressive manifestations, social inhibition,
adaptation difficulties, inability to play or express in the game." (Gheorghe &
Puscas, 2008, p. 388)
-Sexual abuse means the child's involvement in sexual activities at an
early age, which does not give the child the opportunity to give a perfectly valid
consent. The most significant forms of sexual abuse are: prostitution, a
phenomenon concerning the whole society today and child pornography. The
term pornography comes from French ‘pornographie’ and is an allegedly artistic
work (writing, drawing, etc.) that features obscene scenes intended to be
communicated to the public.
-Child deprivation of care and protection is the situation in which the
child is temporarily or permanently deprived of family protection, protection that
should give him a favorable climate for his development. Thus, the main forms
of neglect are: neglect of child supervision, neglect of school education, neglect
of emotional needs and, last but not least, neglect of his / her health.
Another form of abuse that we can analyze and highlight alongside what
has been presented so far is psychological abuse, which emerges as a new
concept in Romanian legislation.
Thus, according to a draft normative act for amending and completing the
Law no. 217/2003 on the prevention and combating of domestic violence,

167
currently in public debate, the psychological abuse will be regulated by the
criminal law and, at the same time, sanctioned with imprisonment of up to 1 year
or fine. But in order to be able to take shape and produce legal effects, this project
must go through both the Government and the Parliament, the institution of the
President of Romania has to issue a decree in agreement with this project and
finally to be published in the Official Gazette.
Those under the umbrella of these legal provisions are both family
members and those who have established relationships similar to those between
spouses or between their parents and children, including former concubines.
According to the draft normative act, the definition of psychological
abuse will be the following: "imposing will or personal control, causing tension
and psychological suffering in any way and by any means, by verbal threat or in
any other way, blackmail, demonstrative violence on objects and animals,
ostentatious display of weapons, neglect, control of personal life, acts of
jealousy, constraints of any kind, unwarranted pursuit, supervision of the home,
workplace or other places frequented by the victim, making phone calls or other
types of communication by means of remote transmission which, by frequency,
content or timing, create fears, and other acts of similar effect. ''
Another form of child abuse, practiced this time in environments that are
less likely to be expected, are educational institutions that, through school
curricula, load children's activities up to 7 hours a day. It should be noted that an
adult works about 8 hours a day in accordance with the legislation in force. Thus,
through a very large school curriculum, the child is under great pressure in order
to be able to meet the obligations arising from didactic activity, and thereby
negative consequences on time or rest, on social life and even on its health may
appear as a result.
3. Conclusions
Concluding, the problem of child abuse in society is quite current, being
known by all the institutions that operate in the field of child protection, both at

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central and local level, and last but not least by parents or legal representatives
of the child.
The whole society must be aware that repeated child abuse transforms it
over time into a person who is isolated from others, from society in general, and
when he becomes an adult he will in turn abuse others, reaching even to commit
anti-social acts criminalized and punished by criminal law. We can also see that
the media has played an important role by sending an alarm signal through
excessive media coverage of various cases of child abuse. We believe that it
would be necessary to establish an institution at the central level that would have
attributions only in providing social services to children that are abused or that
are in different crisis situations.
Therefore, Article 90 (1) of Law no. 272/2004 on Protection and
Promotion of the Rights of the Child stipulates that "the parents of the child or,
as the case may be, his / her other legal representative, public authorities and
private bodies have the obligation to take all appropriate measures to facilitate
physical and psychological rehabilitation and social reintegration to any child
who has been the victim of any form of neglect, exploitation or abuse, torture or
punishment or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.''

REFERENCES
***Conferinta mondiala privind drepturile omului, Viena, 1993.
***Conventia cu privire la drepturile copilului, 1989.
***Legea nr. 272/2004 privind protectia si promovarea drepturilor copilului.
Belsey, M., (1996). Abuzul asupra copiilor: determinarea unei probleme
globale, în statisticile mondiale trimestriale privind sănătatea.
Gheorghe, F. & Puscas, M. (2008). Abuzurile asupra copilului. Forme,
Motivatie, Consecinte, in Revista Romana de Sociologie, Bucuresti.
Radulescu, S., Sociologia violentei (intra) familiale: victime si agresori in
familie, Ed. Lumina Lex, București, 2001.

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 Schafer, H. R., (2005). Introducere in psihologia copilului,: Ed. Asociatiei de
Stiinte Cognitive din Romania, Cluj Napoca.

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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 170-176 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

MESSAGES AND SIGNALS

Ștefan VLĂDUȚESCU
Professor, PhD, CCSCMOP, University of Craiova, Romania

Abstract
This study analyzes the main four books of J. L. Prieto in order to delimit
what materials he considers to be critical, decisive in the construction of the
message. The method used is comparative-meta-analytical. It turns out that J. L.
Prieto counts on the signal as the main type of semio-semantic material that is
used when building messages.

Keywords: message, code, sign, signal

1. Introduction
Luis J. Prieto is the most important linguist who, through the theoretical
choice of the message, enters the signal order. “Messages and signals” is his
reference book. In his view, semiology is “science of signals” (L. J. Prieto, 1972,
p. 6). Signals are designed as tools for transmitting messages, an operation
described by Prieto in terms that remind Eric Buyssens. Like this, Prieto
emphasizes the social function and fundamental relationships of the
communication act (called by Eric Buyssens, modalities, Buyssens, 1969).
Transmitting a message means setting up one of those social relationships we
call “information”, “interrogation” or “order”. The transmitter of a signal, ie the

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one who produces it, thus triggering what is called a “semic act”, does so to
inform the receiver of something, to ask him something or finally to order
something: “Information, interrogation or order is the message the transmitter is
trying to transmit with the signal” (LJ Prieto, 1972, p.9). In his act, the transmitter
produces indices by which he deliberately appreciates Prieto, providing the
receiver with indications of the interpersonal relationship. By knocking at a door,
hailing at an intersection, wearing the Red Cross band, marking a meeting on the
agenda, we produce semicrams. In order to achieve the Semic act, that is, to
transmit the message (which is the purpose of triggering the Semic act) “it is
necessary - and sufficient - on the one hand, that the receiver realizes the intention
of the transmitter to send a certain message, the other part, to identify what this
message is. “(Prieto, 1972, p. 10) Thus, on the one hand, the intentionality of” a
certain message “, on the other hand, the knowledge of the code, which makes it
possible to precisely select the intention of the transmitter from the set of
information, questions or orders that can be imagined. The way in which the
signal performs this mission (the function of the message or the signal
mechanism) is one of the fundamental issues that semiology is called to study.
The analogies presented by the various codes in terms of operating mechanisms
make it possible to study them in this context. The essential differences between
codes (languages) will therefore not be at the level of the functioning mechanism,
because “all codes are seamed, since they are everywhere entities composed of a
signal class and a class of messages that correspond in such a way that when the
signal belongs to a certain class of signals, the message is always a member of
the corresponding message class” (Prieto, 1972, p. 153).

2. Several semiologies
Like other specialists, Prieto appreciates that the phenomenon of
communication must be studied in semiology. Depending on the field, there are,
according to Prieto, three semiologies.

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 a) Semiology of communication is considered an extension of linguistics,
in the area of manifestation of “languages” in the sense that they are identical to
“discourse about something”, whatever its substance of manifestation; linguistic,
in a narrow sense, would be subordinated or embedded in this semiology of
communication. “The notion of communication, according to Prieto, must be
defined ... as establishing a social relationship between two persons due to an
index (sn) produced by one of them, and by means of which it provides the other
person with an indication (s) regarding this report social “(Prieto, 1975a, p. 126).
Under these circumstances, communication becomes significant. The social
report is an information, an injunction or a question and is the “message”, and
the index that the transmitter produces and through which the message is
transmitted is the “signal”. Semiology of communication would deal with signs
that have signal properties, that is, intentional indices, which, for example,
distinguished Buyssens (1969) from natural or spontaneous ones. Intentiveness
involves the convention, and this, communication, that is, a social report (Ali,
2018; Vaníčková, 2019; Vasylenko, 2019). Semiology of the communication
must determine how these signals work, linguistic or other, as well as the referent
to whom they give the indication they give (Prieto, 1975a, pp. 127-128). The
distinction between intentional indices (fauna: rainy) and natural indices (rain
noise) leads to the definition of meaning (Rosca & Teposu, 2018; O'Regan, 2019;
Arhip & Arhip, 2018): a natural index is one whose relationship with what is
indicated, as well as its ability to be an index, exists by nature of things, while
intentional indices acquire this capacity in a particular society that establishes the
link between the index and the indicated work; in this case, conventional indexes
are spoken. The meaning can therefore be defined as “the relationship that exists
between an index and the indicated work when this relationship is not natural but
established by a social group” (Prieto, 1975a, p. 129), and the semiology whose
object is the meaning will be called “Semiology of Significance”.

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 b) The Semiology of Significance will deal both with the facts studied by
the Semiology of Communication, ie signals and conventional signs that are not
signals and which the Semiology of Communication does not study. Here comes
all that Prieto proposes to call a “ceremony”: human behavior in general that
becomes significant given that we live in society. The various manifestations of
behaviour (Ghenea; Vasylenko, 2019; Bârgăoanu & Durach, 2019)
can be studied using the methods developed for the study of linguistic
significance or, more preferably, the methods of communication semiology.
c) Semiology of artistic communication that would be an area between
the two previous semiologies. Its existence is only suggested as a hypothesis,
because: “as the name of this branch postulates, the artistic phenomenon is
probably a communicative phenomenon (sn) that would keep, if so, directly the
semiology of communication, the communication resulting from a part of
deliberate choice of ceremonies, that is to say, what constitutes, as I have said,
the subject of Semiology of Significance “(Prieto, 1975a, pp. 115-116).
In Prieto's conception there is identity between sign and sign, between
sign and sign, and, in the particular case of natural languages, between sign, sign
and statement: Significant and appropriately signified is a sem. Semes, in codes
called “languages”, receive the special name of “statements.” A code is a system
of messages, messages. The “sign-function” therefore acquires at least an index
value to which the social framework serves as a revelator: for this “sign-
function”, Prieto proposes the name “ceremony”. “The manner in which the
transmitter proceeds to denote the message, to the extent that this mode is the
result of an election” is the style of communication (Prieto, 1975a, p. 102). It
would be, on the one hand, the world of clues - “the immediately perceptible
facts, says Prieto, that make us understand something about something else that
is not” - and the world of signals on the other - that of “artificial clues” says
Prieto, that is, the facts “which provide an indication and which have been
expressly produced for it”. (E. Buyssens (1969) said that for a perceptible fact to

174
be a signal, first of all, it must be produced to serve as a clue). Prieto argues that,
to be sure there is communication, “it is necessary - and sufficient - if the receiver
makes the proposal that the transmitter makes to send a determined message”,
“the receiver will achieve the purpose of the transmitter to convey a determined
message.” “How, he continues, is the signal arranged to allow the receiver to
realize that the transmitter is trying to send a message? The answer is very
simple: the signal of the fact itself produced indicates to the receiver what the
transmitter proposes. Any language is, above all, a means of communication
(Nistor, 2018; Björk, Danielsson & Basic, 2019; Middleton, 2019); only this
function allows understanding the structure of a language” (Prieto, 1975b, p. 10),
which leads to the possibility of claiming that at the basis of any knowledge there
is a structure analogous to a language, and that any knowledge is involved in a
practice. This practice in the case of language is communication (Prieto, 1975b,
p. 10 and p. 151).
Natural human languages (Dixon, 2017; Mohamad, Ibrahim & Khaidzir,
2018; Basic, Delić & Sofradzija, 2019) are the only codes where there would be
messages built in such a way “where it would be possible to adapt the
circumstances to the amount of significant clues provided by the signal,” or in
other words, to adapt the message economically to the situation in which takes
part (Prieto, 1972, p. 168).

3. Conclusion
J. L. Prieto finds out two of the ten nuclear materials of the message: Sign
and Signal. In order to build messages, a communicator has at its disposal ten
materials: hint, index, indicator, sign, word, signal, symptom, story image,
symbol. It can be said that J. L.Prieto imposed the signal as an important material
of the message.

175
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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 177-195 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DRAWN UP BY THE ENTITIES FROM TOURISM

Dorel Dumitru CHIRIȚESCU1,

Aurelia DUMITRU2,
1
Constantin Brancusi University of Targu Jiu, Romania
2
University of Craiova, "Matei Basarab" High School, Craiova, Romania

Abstract
The audit represents a process developed by individuals or legal persons
legally authorised, called auditors, within information regarding a certain entity
is analysed and evaluated, profesionally. For this process specific techniques and
procedures are being used, in order to obtain proofs, called audit evidence, based
on them the auditors elaborate a paper, named audit report and they also provide
a responsible and independent οріnіon, using evaluation criteria from the legal
regulations or good practice unanimously recognized inside the field where the
audited entity develops its activity (Mircea Boulescu, Marcel Ghiţă, Valerică
Mareş – Audit Foundations, Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing House,
Bucharest, 2005, page 11)
The audit process, also called audit mission, is based on some national
and international standards. Auditors are persons that get this quality under the
conditions strictly ruled by the legislation in force. The audited entity can be a
material/ an asset unity, the whole Government, ministries, departments,
рrοgrammеs, aсtіons, transactions, οреrations;

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 The audit represents the examination made by an independent and
competent person regarding the fidelity of the accounting and financial
presentasions and is the key for the probity and credibility of economic
transactions.

Keywords: professional culture, objectivity, the autonomy of journalists,

journalistic ethics

1. Introduction
Within auditing practice for over a millenium, different terms have been
used in different periods, with a similar meaning, such as: insреϲtion, ϲοntrοl,
rеvizion, checking, accounting expertise, suреrvision еtϲ. The AUDIТ
notion/word comes generally from the latin word „audirе” that means „to listen
to and to inform others”, in the Anglo-Saxon countries of today this term means
„a revision of the accounting or other nature information, made by an
independent professional, in order to provide an opinion over the regularity and
sincerity of the audited information (Toma 2005, p.14) Until the beginning of the
20th century, the work of external and internal auditors was characterised by the
fact that:
• searching, first of all, the detection of frauds and errors;
• auditοrs weren’t concerned to evaluate the internal control, and as a
result, they didn’t establish the risks resulted from the insufficient internal control
(Dobroţeanu & Dobruţeanu, 2002, p. 16).
• the control of the operations and transactions was usually made
exhaustively;
Audit consistes of a set of activities related to each other (a рrοϲеss)
carried out by auditors or other experts who, based on their theoretical and
practical knowledge, and following tasks assigned by certain bodies, analyse the
information and operations of an entity or regarding a certain activity in order to

179
provide an insurance through an opinion or to make some recommendations
(Oprean. 2002, p. 17). Auditors are competent professionals who have obtained
this qualification on the basis of exams. They are independent of the audited
operations and persons, have a certain ethical conduct established by the Code of
Ethics and the VIIIth EEC Directive from 1984, have professional training
standards and technical standards and standards of work.

The statutory audit of the AFS made by the entities from tourism and their
role in growing the credibility of the provided information
An important role of the financial audit is to provide the public with the
confidence that the informatin disseminated by the financial statements
corresponds to reality in the reporting entities, meaning they reflect a true and
fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position, profit or loss of the enity.
This central objective of financial accounting and annual financial statements is
presumed to be achieved if it is complied with:
• fundamеntal conventions (accrual accounting and business continuity);
• the qualitative characteristics of the information;
• the general accounting principles and the rules for the recognition and
measurement of items in the financial statements
(https://www.cafr.ro/uploads/AF%2011-2012%20Site-a9d3.pdf)
The role of professional accountants is underlined by the Ethics Code of
Professional Accountants issued by the International Federation of Accountants
ІFAϹ which appreciates that a distinctive feature of the accounting profession is
the assumption of responsibility to act in the public interest. The fundamental
objective of the financial audit is determined by the regulations specific to the
respective field, namely the activity carried out by the financial auditors in order
to express their opinion on the financial statements or their components, the
exercise of other insurance missions and professional services according to the
international auditing standards and other regulations adopted by the Chamber of

180
Financial Auditors from Romania (Emergency Ordinance nr. 75/1999 regarding
financial audit activity, republished in the Official Monitor of Romania, Part I,
nr. 598 from 22.08.2003, modified and completed with Law nr. 26 from 2 March
2010 for modification and completion of Emergency Ordinance of the
Government nr. 75/1999). The professional accountant is responsible that is not
limited to the satisfaction of the employer or any other party
(http://www.ifac.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/2012-IESBA-
Handbook.pdf, consultat la 30.11.2017). Financial auditing serves to provide the
public with the confidence that the information disseminated corresponds to the
reality underlying it being a true reflection of the asset, liability, financial
position, profit or loss of the entity.

The correct representation

The financial-accounting information should be useful and it does not
have to be used only for the purposes of this project but all the events proposed
to be represented. For a perfect correct representation it is necessary for a
description to fulfill three conditions, namely to be complete, neutral and free
from errors. According to IAЅВ the excellency could be provided only
sometimes or perhaps never because no one and nothing is perfect. Financial
information is accompanied by qualitative features such as comparability,
verifiability, opportunity, intelligibility(Adinugraha, 2018; Schumacher, 2019;
Cavusoglu, 2019; Lucero & Ocampo Jr, 2019). Financial information related to
the reporting entity are much more useful if it is possible to make the comparison
with other entities within the same activity field or with information about the
same entity but from another time. Vеrifiability is the amplifier feature and it
assures all the users that these information reflects exactly all the economic
events that it should be represented. Opportunity requires that all information is
nade available to decision-makers in a timely manner and has the capacity to
influence their decisions.

181
 Intelligibility requires presenting information in a simple, clear and
consistent way. It is possible that, sometimes, even the informed and careful users
decide to appeal to the servise of a councelor for understanding information
regarding the complex economic phenomena” (IASB, International Standards for
Financial Booking, Official rules issued at 1st January, 2011, Part A General
Conceptual frame and provisions, CECCAR Publishing House, Bucharest, 2011,
p. A37)
The most common way for users to obtain reliable information is to
perform an independent audit. Subsequently, the audited information is in the
decision-making process, starting from the assumption that this information is
reasonably complete, accurate and impartial/fair.
The usefulness of the information provided by the financial statements is
given by the qualitativ characteristics: іntеlligibility, rеlеvance, сrеdіbіlіty and
comparability (International Standards of Accounting 2004, Economic
Publishing House, Bucharest 2004, pp. 49-51).
In order to be able to express a reasoned opinion on the validity and
correct application of the internal procedures established by the management of
the entity on the fair, clear and complete picture of the financial statements, the
auditor as a competent and independent person uses reference rules on the
accounting system used and specific audit rules. Practising the financial audit
involves applying two basic concepts:
1. accounting normalization;
2. specific rules of the audit, established by professional associations
(Chersan, 2013).
Empiric study regarding the accuracy and implementation of the reform
provided by the AFS
According to point 563 from Accounting Regulations approved with
Οrder PFM nr 1802/2014:

182
 "(1) The annual financial statements of big and medium entities, as well
as the ones belonging to the national entities/companies, societies with wholly or
majority state capital and autonomous company are audited by one or more
statutory auditors or audit firms.
(2) There are also subject to be controlled the entities that, at the moment
of the balance sheet date, exceed the limits of at least two from the three
following criteria:
a) tοtal assets:16.000.000 lеi;
b) the nеt turnover: 32.000.000 lеi;
c) average number of employees within the financial exercise: 50.
Auditing obligation for the entities mentioned in this paragraph it is
mandatory only when these exceed the limits in two successive financial
exercises. The entities in case are also exempted from the auditing obligation for
the annual financial statements if the limits of the two from three already
mentioned criteria are not exceeded in two successive financial exercises”
(http://contabilul.manager.ro/a/20493/conditii-de-indeplinit-pentru-auditarea-
situatiilor-financiare-aflati-cand-sunteti-scutit-de-un-audit-si-de-eventuale-
amenzi.html)
There is not an audit that can guarantee that FS-s don’t have significant
errors or frauds. Еrrors can appear due to:
• inaccurate accounting data processing;
• use of wrong reasoning for recording/booking operations in accounting;
• accounting estimates or the applied treatement;
• managerial decisions based on the cost benefit ratio regarding the
accounting system, internal control.
There is a possibility that these errors can not be found out by the auditor.
Applicability area of the audit is defined by the audit procedures considered to
be necessary under the given circumstances, in order to obtain the audit objective.
The audit procedures are decided by the auditor based on standards audit, the

183
requirements of the relevant professional bodies, the legislation and regulations
in force and the deadlines for commitment and reporting requirements. The
objectives of the audit are related to the patrimony, the result of the exercise and
the financial situation of the enterprise (Dobroţeanu & Dobroţeanu, 2002;
Dănеscu & Ѕрătăcеan, 2011; Chersan, 2013).
In order to validate the integrity of the patrimony, the auditor considers the
following:
1. keeping a correct and up to date accounting;
2. making an inventory of the patrimony;
3. correct takeover in the balance of data verification from synthetic accounts
and their concordance with analytical accounts;
4. the correct evaluation of the patrimony;
5. drawing up of the balance sheet based on the verification balance after the
inventory.
From the point of view of the objective and area of using the audit, several
types of audit are distinguished:
1. Compliance audіt;
2. Audit of financial attestation;
3. Αudіt of Pеrfοrmance.
Compliance audit involves examining and evaluating financial
statements, expressing their views on the audit, and consists of the audit within:
• systems and financial transactions, namely assessing compliance with the
statutes and regulations in force;
• internal control and its functions.
According to point 563 of the Accounting Regulations approved by the
Ministry of Public Finance Order no. 1802/2014:

184
 "(1) The annual financial statements of medium and large entities as well
as of national societies/companies, wholly or majority-owned companies
and autonomous regies are audited by one or more statutory auditors or
audit firms.
(2) Audits are also subject to entities that, at the balance sheet date,
exceed the limits of at least two of the following three:
a) tοtal assets: 16.000.000 lеi;
b ) the nеt turnover: 32.000.000 lеi;
c) average number of employees within the financial exercise: 50.
Auditing obligation for the entities mentioned in this paragraph it is mandatory
only when these exceed the limits in two successive financial exercises. The
entities in case are also exempted from the auditing obligation for the annual
financial statements if the limits of the two from three already mentioned criteria
are not exceeded in two successive financial exercises
”(http://contabilul.manager.ro/a/20493/conditii-de-indeplinit-pentru-
auditarea-situatiilor-financiare-aflati-cand-sunteti-scutit-de-un-audit-si-de-
eventuale-amenzi.html)
1.1 There is not an audit that can guarantee that FS-s don’t
have significant errors or frauds. Еrrors can appear due to:
1.2 • inaccurate accounting data processing;
1.3 • use of wrong reasoning for recording/booking
operations in accounting;
1.4 • accounting estimates or the applied treatement;
1.5 • managerial decisions based on the cost benefit ratio
regarding the accounting system, internal control.
1.6 There is a possibility that these errors can not be found
out by the auditor. Applicability area of the audit is defined by the audit
procedures considered to be necessary under the given circumstances, in

185
 order to obtain the audit objective. The audit procedures are decided by the
auditor based on standards audit, the requirements of the relevant
professional bodies, the legislation and regulations in force and the
deadlines for commitment and reporting requirements (Ghita, 2008;
Ionascu, Mihai & Ionascu, 2010). The objectives of the audit are related to
the patrimony, the result of the exercise and the financial situation of the
enterprise.
1.7 In order to validate the integrity of the patrimony, the
auditor considers the following:
1.8 1. keeping a correct and up to date accounting;
1.9 2. making an inventory of the patrimony;
1.10 3. correct takeover in the balance of data verification from synthetic
accounts and their concordance with analytical accounts;
1.11 4. the correct evaluation of the patrimony;
1.12 5. drawing up of the balance sheet based on the verification balance after
the inventory.
1.13 From the point of view of the objective and area of using
the audit, several types of audit are distinguished:
1. Compliance audіt;
2. Audit of financial attestation;
3. Αudіt of Pеrfοrmance.

Compliance audit involves examining and evaluating financial

statements, expressing their views on the audit, and consists of the audit within:
• systems and financial transactions, namely assessing compliance with
the statutes and regulations in force;
• internal control and its functions;

186
 • honesty and adequacy in relation to administrative decisions taken within
the audited entity.
The audit of financial attestation is met in the public sector where auditors
are required to express their views on the government's financial reports. In the
private sector, an independent auditor can provide audit reports with credibility
on the financial statements.
Performance audit is also called the results audit one and is an objective
and systematic examination of reality in order to assess the performance of a
governmental organization, program or activity in order to obtain information on
the use of public funds and facilitating decision-making by managers about
supervising and initiating corrective action. Depending on how the audit work is
organized, the types of internal and external audit are defined.
Audit of financial statements and audit report serve the interests of all
users of audited information (Alina Domnişor, Daniela Medinţu, Radu Prodan,
Fiscal risk can be minimized through financial audit).
In the financial statements, items of a fiscal nature may be encountered
in the form of claims and debts. Examining all client's receivables and payables
is an integral part of the financial audit mission. The auditor has the responsibility
to review and evaluate the statements of its client's management on tax
receivables and liabilities in all material respects.
The fiscal risk can be minimized through financial audit. (Alina Domnişor,
Daniela Medinţu, Radu Prodan, Fiscal risk can be minimized through financial
audit). Although the audit has been regulated in our country since 1999 through
O.U.G. 75, only entities listed on the capital market and those of public interest
are obliged to carry out the financial audit.
The audit is done according to the assumptions below, respectively:
Hypothesis nr.1. Financial audit increases the credibility of presenting all tax
liabilities to which the entity is subject under Romanian accounting and tax
regulations.

187
Hypothesis nr.2. Auditing the two components of the tax system (taxes and fiscal
mechanism) can be achieved through special purpose audit missions. This
hypothesis can define the composition of the financial statement, consisting of
direct, indirect taxes and other taxes.
In order to prove the above hypotheses empirical research was used, on
the one hand, and on the other hand several research methods were used, which
showed that the assessment of the fiscal risk at the level of accounts and
assertions can demonstrate adequate and sufficient audit evidence to validate our
assumptions above.
The empirical study was conducted on 100 public interest entities in
which the two hypotheses above were tested. Out of the questionnaires sent, 70
public interest entities responded. Response processing showed that, following
the financial audit, for the years 2013-2015, the audit risk was below 5% and the
fiscal risk below 2%. through financial audit, the entity has minimized also its
tax risk.
To demonstrate the second hypothesis, a mix of applicative research
methods has been used to exemplify the taxes and contributions resulting from
the use of human resources (Călin & Nedelcu, 2006; Ghita, 2008; Ionascu, Mihai
& Ionascu, 2010; Gîrbina, Albu & Albu, 2012).
Financial audit increases the credibility of presenting all tax liabilities to which
the entity is subject under Romanian accounting and tax regulations (Boulescu,
Ghiţă & Mareş, 2001; Pântea & Bodea, 2012; Brabete, Mihai & Drăgan, 2013).

Internal audit organization requirements

A financial auditor or an audit firm is required and must comply with the
following organizational requirements:
a) an audit firm must establish appropriate policies and procedures to
ensure that associates or shareholders, as well as members of the administrative,
management and supervisory bodies of the firm or affiliated entity, do not

188
interfere in conducting the statutory audit in any way jeopardize the
independence and objectivity of the financial auditor and any member of the
audit team performing the statutory audit on behalf of the audit firm;
b) a financial auditor or an audit firm must implement adequate
administrative and accounting procedures, internal quality control mechanisms,
effective risk assessment procedures, safeguards for information processing
systems as well as effective control. Internal quality assurance control
mechanisms are designed to ensure compliance with decisions and procedures
by both the financial auditor and the audit firm;
c) a financial auditor or an audit firm must establish appropriate policies
and procedures to ensure that its employees and any other natural person whose
services are at his disposal or under his control and who are directly involved in
statutory audit activities hold knowledge and experience to carry out the assigned
tasks;
d) a financial auditor or an audit firm must put in place adequate policies
and procedures to ensure that the outsourcing of important audit activities does
not affect the quality of the internal quality control applied by the financial
auditor or audit firm, nor the ability of ASPAAS to oversee the way which the
financial auditor or audit firm complies with the obligations set out in this law
and, where applicable, Regulation (EU) no. 537/2014;
е) a financial auditor or an audit firm must establish appropriate and
effective administrative and organizational mechanisms to prevent, identify,
eliminate or manage and to communicate any matter which threatens its
independence, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 21, 24, 25;
f) a financial auditor or an audit firm must establish appropriate policies
and procedures for conducting statutory audit, guidance, supervision and review
of employee activity, as well as organizing the structure of the audit dossier
according to the provisions of art. 29 par. (9) - (12);

189
 g) a financial auditor or an audit firm must establish an internal quality
control system to ensure the quality of the audit.
(https://www.cafr.ro/uploads/Legea%20162%20din%202017-0b03.pdf)

Transposition of financial and accounting information and their importance

in the analysis of the diagnosis of tourism entities
Accounting information is the basis for determining effective ratios of
economic and financial operations or transactions and provides the basis for
making predictable forecasts. The finance and accounting department must
provide information to assist management in operational and decision-making
activity (Isfanescu, Robu, Anghel & Tutu, 1999; Oprean, 2006; Călin & Nedelcu,
2006; Mihai, Dragan, Ciumag & Iota, 2011). Financial accounting data is
encoded by a chart of accounts and by accounting rules and methods that are
difficult to understand by someone without a minimum of accounting education.
Accounting balance is the financial accounting summary document, and besides
this document, the business administrator must request a set of information from
managerial accounting - turnover analysis on business divisions, profitability
analysis, cost structure, assets and debt analysis, etc. All of these reports contain
the transposition of financial accounting information.

The purpose and importance of diagnostic analysis

The tourism entity, as a system, is a complex social economic system,
composed of subsystems between which there are multiple dynamic links. The
activity of the economic system and its subsystems is influenced by a number of
factors and their action must be known to ensure stable and optimal operation in
a dynamic environment. In the process of assuring the normal functioning of the
entity as a system, it is important to analyze economically, diagnose and regulate
the activity and action of factors determined by management in the process of
analysis, forecasting and decision making (The role of the financial and

190
accounting department in managing a company /Rolul departamentului
financiar-contabil in administrarea unei firme în http://www.infolegal.ro/rolul-
departamentul-financiar-contabil-in-administrarea-unei-firme/2014/03/11/).
A company's business diagnosis has as main objective the estimation of the
current and potential market of the entity and of its market place (Marin, 2005;
Budugan, Georgescu, Berheci & Beţianu, 2007; Răilеanu, Dοbrοţеanu &
Dοbrοţеanu, 2011). Commercial analysis addresses sales trends, structural
analysis of sales on products and markets, structural analysis of sales on products
and markets, customer analysis, sales distribution by product life cycle, supplier
analysis and study competition (Işfănescu, Robu, Anghel, Tuţu, 1998, p. 51).
Actual turnover is determined as a ratio between turnover in constant prices and
the average price index. The turnover is the basic indicator of the volume of
activity of the economic agent and obviously does not lack any system of
indicators used for the company's economic diagnosis and evaluation, the
appreciation of the efficiency of the management (Busu & Busu, 2018; Dima &
Vladutescu, 2018; Smarandache et al., 2019).

Cοnclusions
Expressing some conclusions on some of the topics presented in this
paper involves approaching all the defining features of the audit complex in the
integrated vision of a constantly evolving profession not only in our country but
also internationally as a result of the worldwide evolution of the globalization
that most countries with democratic openness tend to align (Negrea, 2015;
Voinea, 2015; Negrea, 2018; Vlăduțescu, 2018; Smarandache et al., 2019).
It is possible to draw a conclusion, going in two directions, the first from
the larger globalized system to the smaller subsystems, and the second in the
reverse direction. Our view is that both approaches are normal, because European
and international integration must also include the audit sector by accepting or
adopting international directives in this area. So, it starts from the norms of

191
regulations and the international adoptions, as global elements, and later on to
the audit offices-legal entities and freelancers-auditors.
Apart from the slightly different accounting systems that tend to become
uniform and national constitutional legislation, there are no significant
divergences in the terminology, methodology and perception of the audit. Like
any integration that takes place in both directions, it is noticed that the importance
of the basic cell of the system that is professional is not lost. Auditory activity,
regardless of the stage of its development, can not function entirely
independently and it is necessary to work with other sciences and trades such as
accounting, statistics, information systems, law etc. (Arunrangsiwed, 2018;
Gencel & Saracaloglu, 2018; Nowak & Ulfik, 2018). In developed countries,
within large audit offices there are also employed sociologists, some of whom
have appreciated that the field of audit has developed similarly to the automobile
industry, that it means, it has emerged quite late as a secondary science but it has
experienced rapid development. In the course of recent evolution, scientific
development in this field has been predominantly of an intensive nature, specific
the increase in the quality of the audit, at the expense of extensive development
involving loans from other sciences or the design of new techniques and methods.
Different historical sources place the audit before our time, others during
the first millennium, but about today's audit can only be heard from the moment
of the emergence of capitalism, the great industrial revolution (6th century). At
the level of our country, there is a slow evolution of this service sector, which
can be interpreted as a non-interest of the persons and organizations involved in
decision-making. It is important that auditors take the lead by setting up their
own auditor's room, distinct from C.E.C.A.R., as a result of the necessary
legislation on the financial-accounting audit activity.
As well as other terms (auditing, evaluation, diagnosis, etc.) also the audit can be
implemented in several areas of activity (technical audit, commercial audit, legal

192
audit, sociological audit) as the term requires verification and explicitly states
that it is one financial or accounting.
The contribution brought by the Chamber of Auditors through the
issuance of ethical and professional conduct rules represents a very important
step in the finalization and crystallization of this profession in Romania, as long
as it has been observed that these overlap to a large extent with those issued by
similar bodies in countries with tradition in the field.

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 Available online at www.sserr.ro
Social Sciences and Education Research Review

(6) 1 196-212 (2019) ISSN 2392-9683

ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS - PERCEPTIONS ABOUT

ROLES, CONSTRAINTS AND AUTONOMY

Antonia MATEI
Assistant Professor, PhD., FJSC, University of Bucharest, Romania
antonia.matei@fjsc.ro

Abstract
Objectivity is, according to the Romanian journalists, their most
important professional role. 95% of them think that should tell the facts as they
happen, without interfering in any way, and 85% say that they should be detached
observers, according to the study Worlds of Journalism. On the other hand, half
of the journalists said that what is ethical in journalism depends on a specific
situation.
This paper will examine the perceptions of Romanian journalists
regarding their professional roles, internal or external constraints, media
independence and freedom of expression, all using the results of the international
study Worlds of Journalism. The research was conducted in 66 countries
worldwide, more than 27,000 journalists being interviewed during 2012 - 2015.
In our country there were interviewed 341 journalists from 80 media
organizations (radio, TV, print and online).
From a theoretical point of view this paper will analyze some key
concepts such as professional autonomy, perception of the role of journalists or
the social functions of journalism. External autonomy envisages independence

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in relation to other spheres of power in society (McQuail, 2005), the degree of
independence that journalists have when doing their job and whether this is
consistent with the ideological values and ethical principles. Also, we must not
forget the ways through which the press serves democracy: it should inform,
supervise governments and the political class and give voice to public opinion
(Curran, 2011).

Keywords: professional culture, objectivity, the autonomy of

journalists, journalistic ethics

Introduction
Journalists, like people working in other different fields, have a
professional culture based on well-defined values, but also on a clear ideology,
reflected in the way they think and act.
One can generally speak of culture as a set of ideas (values, attitudes,
and beliefs), practices (of cultural production), and artifacts (cultural products,
texts). Journalism culture […] can be defined as a particular set of ideas and
practices by which journalists, consciously and unconsciously, legitimate their
role in society and render their work meaningful for themselves and others”
(Hanitzsch, 2007, p. 369).
The task of a journalist is not an easy one, because a well-trained and
truly professional journalist must prove to have ”good judgment as to what issues
or events that make good stories, how to gather the facts and details essential to
the topic being covered and how to structure stories in a way that makes them
interesting, factual and unbiased” (Niblock, 1996, p. 2). In the Ethics Code of the
Romanian Press Club, the professional journalist is defined as a person with at
least a year's experience in the field for whom media is the main occupation and
who is paid for his or her journalistic activity. Thus the Romanian journalist "has
the right to criticize, both the Power and the Opposition in the name of the

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freedom of expression, and the sole criterion for judging the facts is their duty to
abide the laws of the country and the moral principles” (http://www.ajs.ro/wp-
content/uploads/2018/01/cod.pdf). The public has the constitutional right to be
properly informed and therefore, the first article of the Ethics code stresses the
fact that the most important duty of the Romanian journalists is to tell the truth,
regardless of the consequences this might have upon them.
Romanian journalists prove that they understood this at least
theoretically. In their view, objectivity is the most important role of the
profession. According to the results of the Worlds of Journalism study
(http://www.worldsofjournalism.org/), 95% of the Romanian journalists think
they should report the facts as they happen without any interference, and 85%
say their duty is to be detached observers of the reality. On the other hand, half
of the journalists consider that what is or isn’t ethic in journalism depends on a
specific situation. Thus this paper will analyze the perceptions of Romanian
journalists regarding their professional roles, internal or external constraints,
media independence and freedom of expression, all using the results of the
Worlds of Journalism study.

Methodological framework
The World of Journalism study has broken down all barriers in terms of
comparative studies in communications science, with more than 27,000
journalists from 66 countries around the world interviewed. The study was
conducted at an academic level and aimed at making a real picture of the
professional culture of journalists, the main objective being
to help journalism researchers, practitioners, media managers and policy makers
better understand the worldviews and changes that are taking place in the
professional orientations of journalists, the conditions and limitations under
which journalists operate, and the social functions of journalism in a changing
world. (https://www.worldsofjournalism.org)

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The study was based on a common methodological framework (in order to be
able to make a multinational comparison) and all national teams used the same
questionnaire translated into their own language. In Romania, there were 341
respondents from 80 media organizations (radio, TV, print and online),
interviews being conducted between February 2014 and October 2015. The
standard questionnaire was translated from English into Romanian, and had 150
questions. Interviewing methods were mixed: by phone, face to face, by email,
and by online questionnaire. There was also a field manual with instructions on
the most important aspects of the study. SPSS programme was used for analysis.
The World of Journalism Center in Munich coordinated the data processing and
verified them for errors, inconsistencies or frauds.

Who are the Romanian journalists?

The economic crisis has greatly affected the newsrooms in Romania. The
number of journalists has decreased in recent years. Indeed, there are journalists
who have migrated to other newsrooms, but also many who have left the field
completely. However, it is important to know who the Romanian journalists are
at this very moment in order to be able to create or adapt the policies in the field.
According to the results of the World of Journalism study, more women than
men work in Romanian newsrooms (62.5% of the journalists are women and
37.5% are men). Romanian journalists are very young, most of them are between
25 and 34 years old (36.7%), and 33.4% are only between 18 and 24 years old.
14.7% are between the ages of 35 and 40 and 10.9% are between 41 and 50. In
terms of their eduction, almost half of the journalists have a university degree,
and a quarter have also a masters degree. The current generation of Romanian
journalists is (or should be) more educated and much better prepared in the field
of journalism because 80% of those with higher education have a journalism
diploma or one in the fields of communication sciences.

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 However, the Romanian journalists have little professional experience.
Their average experience is 5 years, and the number is one of the lowest in the
study and well below the average of the European Union countries. In Germany
and Croatia, for example, journalists have an average of 20 years of professional
experience, in the Netherlands and the UK they have an average of 18 years, in
Austria 17 years, and in Italy 15 years.

Professional roles
Objectivity is one of the key concepts of the identity of journalists
around the world, a real "milestone of the professional ideology of journalists in
liberal democracies" (Lichtenberg, 1996, p. 225 in Bailey, et al, 2008). Even if
media objectivity has been put to a heavy test lately (Donald Trump`s campaign
and also the Brexit campaign are strong evidence to that effect), Romanian
journalists believe that their most important role is precisely objectivity. 95% of
them think they have to report things as they are, and 85.6% state they have to
be detached observers of reality.
It is obvious that things have changed over the past few years because a
few years ago, in 2009, in a research on self-regulation of the Romanian press
run by the Independent Journalism Center, Active Watch and IMAS
(http://www.cji.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Autoreglementarea-presei-in-
Romania.pdf), 83% of the journalists declared that their most important value as
professionals is fairness, followed by equidistance (69%) and public interest
(68%).
The five main values and concepts that characterize the professional
culture of journalists (Deuze, 2005, p. 447) can be also found in the results of the
World of Journalism study:
• Public service - it refers especially to the watch dog function that
journalists often assume. They are guardians of democracy and their role is to
watch out for any governmental wrong doings.

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 • Objectivity - the World of Journalism study shows that journalists
believe they must be objective and equidistant. They also think that these values
give them credibility in the eyes of the public.
• Autonomy – this is another very important value referring to the fact
that journalists should be independent in their work and no external factors shoud
intervene in what they report.
• Rapidity - technological developments and the fast way with which
information is now spreading have made it harder for journalists to do an accurate
and objective job. They are now working under great pressure of time, the
competition pressure, the money pressure, the public’s pressure and so on. Also,
due to budget issues many journalists nowadays must be overspecialized and do
different types of work in their newsrooms.
• Ethics - journalists should abide the codes of ethics of the profession.
As far as Romanian journalists are concerned, the study has revealed that
they are assuming the rather classic roles of educating and informing. 80% of
them declare their goal is to educate the audience, provide them with analyzes of
current affairs, as well as promote tolerance and cultural diversity.
However, the profession is inclined to "idealize" its social utility: it’s
portraying itself as serving the public interest, hiding or circumventing the
economic or social advantages of its pursuit; thus the professionals legitimacy is
based on their "altruism", on the desire and the ability to be devoted to the public
good. (Coman, 2007, p. 243)
Moreover, Romanian journalists declare themselves loyal to the public
and not to the politicians, claiming it is important to help people express their
own opinions, support national development and fight for social change. Only
3.9% of the Romanian journalists claim their duty is to present a positive image
of the political leaders, and 5.4% think they should support government policy.
However, given that Romanian journalists are very young, they have little
experience in the field, and almost 80% of them have worked in a single editorial

202
office, the question arises whether in practice they are loyal to the public just as
they claim or this is just an ideal.
Because the public-service ideal can be seen as a powerful component of
journalism’s ideology. It is an ideal that journalists aspire to, and use to legitimize
aggressive (Clayman, 2002) or increasingly interpretive (Patterson, 1997) styles
of reporting. Journalists share a sense of ‘doing it for the public’, of working as
some kind of representative watchdog of the status quo in the name of people,
who ‘vote with their wallets’ for their services (by buying a newspaper, watching
or listening to a newscast, visiting and returning to a news site). (Deuze, 2015, p.
447)
Thus, the research of professional roles that journalists attribute to
themselves is extremely important because the way in which they perceive their
roles also influences how they do their jobs (Hellmueller & Mellado, 2015).
The results of the World of Journalism study prove, indeed, that loyalty
to the public is often an ideal, and the rush for clicks is still very important and
contrasts with this ideal of public service because 62% of Romanian journalists
claim that their role is to present news that attracts the largest audience. And
while they call themselves loyal to the public, journalists who assume the role of
watch dog of democracy are fewer: only 51% think their role is to monitor the
political leaders of the country. At the same time, 46% of journalists believe it is
unimportant or less important for journalists to set the political agenda.

Authonomy in topic selection

The concept of autonomy is a key factor in the functioning of journalism
and refers to the independence of the media from editorial, political, economic
or institutional points of view. Journalists should have the opportunity to express
themselves freely and to publish the materials they consider appropriate,
respecting professional and ethical standards. The professional autonomy in the

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press guarantees the pluralism of opinions and the objectivity that Romanian
journalists consider so important.
As journalism continues to face the challenges of the digital age, the
rules and resources of the news media structure remain open and negotiable. It is
within the permeability of this profession that the agency inherent in journalistic
autonomy can assume its influence in the duality of structure. The level of
autonomy enjoyed by journalists is therefore a fluid and moving concept –
continuously adjusted according to what is needed to perform the task of
reporting the news. (Sjøvaag, 2013, p. 164)
Autonomy can be restricted at two levels, one external and one internal
(Reich and Hanitzsch, 2013). The internal level refers to the freedom of a
journalist to do his job without being put under pressure by his managers or
commercial factors, while the external level takes into account elements such as
government censorship, legislation or professional regulations. But, in the end,
as journalism is practiced within the boundaries of the institution, professional
autonomy is negotiated within an institutional context [...] and journalistic
autonomy is conceptualized as both a positive and a negative right - it is based
on the freedom to speak and publish, and freedom from interference in that
activity (cf Carpentier, 2005). (Sjøvaag, 2013, p. 156)
As far as Romanian journalists are concerned, there is a certain degree
of autonomy, but the problem is that it often we are talking about the individual
autonomy of journalists and not the autonomy of the entire professional class
(Petre, 2013).
Regarding autonomy in the selection of topics, the World of Journalism
study shows that Romanian journalists feel that they have a great freedom to
choose the topics they publish. Almost 79% of journalists say they have complete
freedom and a large freedom to choose the topics. Actually, 35% of them say
they have complete freedom, 15.7% state they have some freedom, 3.6% say they
have little freedom to choose the topics, and finally, 1.8% claim they have no

204
freedom to choose the topics. Percentages are comparable to those in Western
countries (with solid press and long standing democracies). For example, in
Switzerland, 77.9% of journalists said they had complete freedom and a large
freedom to choose subjects, 78.7% of the Austrian journalists feel the same and
72.8% in the UK.
The study also reveals that Romanian journalists turn out to be somehow
paradoxical about the ethical standards of the profession. Although most of them
have said that journalists should adhere to ethical codes, in any situation or
context, 22.6% of journalists believe it is acceptable to set aside moral standards
if extraordinary circumstances require this. However, should there be an
extremely important article, only 3.8% of journalists would publish it without
verifying the information, 4.7% would accept money from sources and 4.5%
would consider it justified to modify or invent a quote.

Influences on journalists and on freedom of expression

Following the pilot study of the World of Journalism research conducted
on 1,700 journalists from 17 countries during 2007 and 2011, Hanitzsch et. al
(2010) structure the sources of influence, as perceived by journalists, in six main
conceptually and empirically distinct areas. These are political, economic,
professional, procedural, organizational influences as well as reference groups.
• Political influences refer to all sources that come from or relate to the
political environment. But, surprisingly, in this category (and not in the one of
economic influences), there are businessmen along with politicians or
government officials.
Representing, advocating, and imposing the interests of business and
trade are political acts with political implications. The implications may only
indirectly, if at all, affect the news organization for which the journalist works.
In the view of the journalists, the influence of business people therefore refers to

205
the general interests of business and trade that are commonly negociated in the
realm of the political. (Hanitzsch et. al 2010, 15)
• Economic influences refer to the factors that have consequences on
media organizations in which journalists work. These are external influences,
which are not always directly related to editorial work, but which ultimately
reflects on them, too. The fact that an editorial office has to survive, the fact that
the production of quality news is costly or the fact that media owners expect
profit from the organizations will all become economic influences on the
journalists.
• Organizational influences take into account the internal mechanisms that
supervises the management procedures and the routines of news-rooms and
media organizations. “The organizational domain includes sources of influence
that stem from multiple levels: from within the newsroom (supervivors and
higher editors) and from within the media organization (managemtn and
ownership)” (Hanitzsch et al, 2010, p. 15).
• Procedural influences represent the various operational constraints that
journalists face in their work. These constraints vary from standards and
procedures imposed in editorial offices to the time and space milits or problems
in accessing sources.
• Professional influences refer especially to laws, policies and
conventions of the profession or the editorial offices.
These constraints largely materialize in the form of limited resources in terms of
time and space, represented by the items “pressing news deadlines” and
“shortage of resources”. Another important aspect of procedural influences is the
fact that news production is a highly standardized and routinized process, and
journalists have to cope with these procedures and standards as they impose
important limits on routine news work” (Hanitzsch et al, 2010, pp. 15 – 16).

206
• Reference groups represent the influences from the audience, influences
from some professional categories (such as colleagues from other newsrooms or
competing media organizations), and finally, the influences that journalists have
on their friends, family or acquaintances.
The professional activity of the Romanian journalists, as well as the
editorial production in the newsrooms, are influenced by a wide range of
elements, as shown by the country's report from the Worlds of Journalism study
entitled Journalists in Romania. The most important influences are the
procedural ones. 82.2% of journalists answered that they were influenced by the
limitations in accessing the information. 81.4% stated that they were influenced
by journalistic ethics, but this may also be due to the fact that journalists deviating
from the professional norms started to be sanctioned by the courts (based on the
new Code Civil), and the number of processes in this case continues to grow
(www.activewatch.ro/Assets/Upload/files/FreeEx/rapoarte/Raport%20FreeEx%
202015-2016.pdf).
Interestingly enough, personal values and beliefs have a huge influence.
71.2% of journalists chose this response, a much higher percentage than Western
European journalists (51.3% in Italy, 42.6% in the Netherlands, 40.1% in
Belgium, 50.2% in Switzerland or 49.8% in Denmark). However, the percentage
is similar to that in the former communist countries who are also strongly
influenced by personal values and beliefs in their editorial activity: 72.6% in
Estonia, 73.8% in the Czech Republic, 77.4% in Hungary, or 71.8% in Latvia.
The World of Journalism study proves not only that the field is extremely
dynamic (which is already known), but also the fact that the professional culture
of journalists is continuously changing at a rapid pace. Just a few years ago when
the pilot study was conducted (between 2007 and 2011), the work of Romanian
journalists was not mostly influenced by access to information, ethics or personal
values, but especially by the deadlines and news sources. During that period of
time procedural influences were more important (but others than at this moment),

207
as well as organizational influences (chief editors and higher management). Now,
however, organizational influence has declined: only 41% of journalists claim to
be influenced by their editors or editor-in-chief, 30% by managers and 25% by
the organization's owners.
Surprisingly, the editorial policy of the newsroom or media organisation
does not have much influence on Romanian journalists. Only 55% of them claim
to be influenced by editorial policy. This may be a consequence of the fact that
many newsrooms do not have a well-defined editorial policy and do not have a
clear set of rules and values to guide journalists. As for the participation in the
editorial decisions, the percentage is important: 57.4% of journalists have stated
that they are always or very often involved in editorial activities, whether we are
talking about decision-making or just daily editorial meetings.
A constant that has influenced journalists for many years now is the
audience. Prior to 1989, the Romanian press was under the control of the
Communist state and after 1989 on the media market started to appear private
companies, mainly focused on profit. Ever since, the audience data has become
a key element in shaping the editorial policy, but also in the way the journalists
work. The World of Journalism report reveals that 69% of the Romanian
journalists are influenced by audience feedback and 43.7% by audience data.
The results of the World of Journalism study bring a major surprise. The
perception of the Romanian journalists is that political influences on their work
are the lowest. Only 8.9% consider that government officials influence their
work, 8.1% say that politicians are influential, and 8% speak of the influence of
pressure groups. Indeed, 2016 was the year in which Romania had the best score
in the last decade in the Freedom of the Press Report, namely 38. Romania had
a better score only in 2002, 35, while in others year dropped significantly in the
rankings, reaching even a score of 47 in 2005
(https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2016/romania).

208
 However, it is not to be neglected that lately the press in Romania has
gone through issues that seriously affected the freedom of speech. The FreeEx
report shows that in 2015-2016 some representatives of local authorities have
tried to prevent journalists from publishing critical materials about them, more
journalists have been removed from editorial offices because they have not
complied with the political guidelines, and last, but not least, near the election
date there has been a competition in the political environment to support
televisions (which are going through difficult financial times).
In 2019, the situation is even worse. Romania has droped 3 ranks in the World
Press Freedom Index and it’s placed on number 47. The report underlines the fact
that “the media have gradually been turned into political propaganda tools. They
are very politicised, their funding mechanisms are opaque or even corrupt, and
their editorial policies are subordinated to owner interests”. (World Press
Freedom Index, 2019) The same problems have been reported also by the FreeEx
Report which draws attention to the fact that journalists have been assaulted,
threatened and insulted by politicians, government officials and law enforcement
officials. Moreover, an independent journalist was threatened with the death by
a policeman because of her investigative reports.
This difference between the ideal situation and the actual one is
explained, first of all, by the existence of many influences on professional
autonomy. In addition, journalists have not felt such a powerful influence of
politics because pressures on them are no longer exercised directly at the level of
the editorial content. The forms of pressure have diversified and became more
subtle. They are now carried out through different means of labor law or
intellectual property management (restrictive contracts for journalists, forms of
employment with poor social protection, a.s.o.). All these make journalist
vulnerable and lead him to self-censorship" (Center for Independent Journalism,
2016, p. 5).

209
Indeed, the economic crisis in the recent years has left the press extremely
vulnerable to attacks from the political environment, and so many journalists
have been fired or forced to resign.
Moreover, one of the sad truths of Romanian journalism is that the
survival of the commercial media channels is not necessarily positively
correlated with the journalistic quality of the professional body, but with the
direct input of the owner-donor or the demands of the audience. The former
instrumentalize the media channels for power purposes, the former are fervent
consumers of entertainment (Petre, 2013, p. 11).
The Report on Freedom of Expression in Romanian Legislation also
draws attention to the fact that media properties often concured with the political
map and the press was used to gain or consolidate certain influences.
The influence of politics was reflected in the editorial content to the point
where, in electoral situations or punctual political competitions, media ceased to
be the neutral observers of the phenomenon. Initially, they turned into
instruments of political competition, ultimately becoming active actors and
setting aside the necessary fairness and equidistance (Center for Independent
Journalism, 2016, p. 4).
Journalists in Romania have still been the target of verbal attacks,
intimidation and even physical aggression, which explains the high percentage
of those who have claimed in the World of Journalism research that censorship
represents an important influence. 22.6% of the Romanian journalists declared
that censorship is influencing the way they work in their newsroom, the
percentage being even ten times higher compared to countries like Denmark
(1.2%), Switzerland (2%), Finland (2.5%) or Germany (2.8%). The percentage
is considerably higher even compared to some of the other former communist
countries: 2.4% in Latvia, 6% in Estonia or 14% in the Czech Republic.

210
 Future research
It is important that more research regarding journalists' professional
culture to be done, both nationally and internationally, because the results of such
studies as World of Journalism help us better understand the media phenomenon
around the world. Greater attention should be given to the factors that influence
the work of journalists and the establishment of differences between their
sometimes subjective perceptions and the realities of the professional
environment.

Acknowledgement
This paper uses the data collected within the World of Journalism study.
The members of the Romanian team working on the project are: Mihai Coman,
Antonia Matei, Natalia Milewski, Rodica Melinda Șuțu from The Faculty of
Journalism and Communication Studies (FJSC), University of Bucharest.

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THE INFLUENCE OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ON PEOPLE’S TENDENCY TOWARDS
WORKAHOLISM

Marius NEGRILĂ,
Independent researcher, Romania
Abstract
Workalholism is placed among the phenomena of organizational
pathologies and may lead to serious health problems regarding both the physical
and the mental status of the directly involved person or of the ones around
him/her. This phenomenon has an impact on the emotional balance of the subject
leading to depression, anxiety or even paranoia, which are usually connected to
drug or alcohol addiction, compulsive eating, habits that give that lead to the
feeling that you are no longer able to control your own life. A workaholic is a
person who cannot control himself, working more than necessary, while
becoming unhappy and starting to have health problems.
The conclusions of the present research reflect that gender or the level of
education are not so important when talking about the process of becoming
workaholic, but the professional experience achieved over the years could
strongly influence the process. The results were obtained through a survey
applied on 30 persons, half men and half women of 30 to 45 years old. For the
survey were selected subjects with any educational level and any kind of
professional experience (0-3 years, 3-10 years and over 10 years). The hypothesis
that the professional experience could influence the tendency to becoming a

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workaholic was confirmed, but more important here are the reasons of suffering
from this disease. Therefore, workaholism represents a pathological relationship
between a human and his work, which causes changes of his internal status,
compulsive behavior, loss of control, poor health and a low social life.

Keywords: workaholism, age, experience, addiction, involvement.

1. Theoretical framework
In the modern world, many people get to work over schedule or on week-
ends, losing touch with their family members/friends or talk to them in a very
superficial way. Over the years, they become too involved in their work and start
to ignore their families, which leads to many conflicts. The more a workaholic
gets involved into his work, the more he loses contact with his family, members’
of which cannot explain his behavior.
Work addiction generates some negative and hard to explain reactions or
behaviors that would not be understood by his friends and family, so the
workaholic would get to be rejected.
The term ‘workaholism’ was used for the first time by Wayne Oates
(1971) having the meaning of ‘the addiction of work’. It is not about a normal
addiction of having a job, financial earnings or a professional activity. It is about
a real addiction and an excessive orientation. In theory ‘workaholism’ is seen as
an organizational pathology. A person which is addicted to work is called a
‘workaholic’. Oates said in an article called ‘Confessions of a Workaholic’ that a
workaholic is ‘a person who needs to work and is not able to stop even when his
social life is affected’ (Oates, 1971).
One of the first academic definitions of a workaholic was given by Spence
and Robbins (1992, Burke 2000) and contains some psychological mechanisms,
describing the workaholic as ‘a person who works too much because of his
interior pressure, while having a low level of job satisfaction’.

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 Robinson thought workaholism was a fatal compulsive disease,
characterized by internal requirements, overtime work and incapacity of
organizing an efficient schedule.
Workaholics can be defined as ‘being too involved in their work and
having a lack of care towards different aspects of their lives’ (Porter 1996).
Even scientists showed interest towards workaholism, but they were
unable to decide on a singular definition of it (Negrea, 2017; Negrea & Voinea,
2018; Rosca & Partenie, 2018). Some of them consider workaholics as being
hyper-performers, while others consider them obsessive, unhappy persons who
do not have a high job performance. In addition, some authors make a distinction
between negative and positive forms of workaholism. For example, Scott (1997)
has identified compulsive workaholics and those profit-oriented.
The most common approach proposes 3 dimensions:
- work involvement
- the feeling of being lead to work
- the pleasure to work
Combined, these 3 dimensions, lead to multiple types of workaholics, but trying
to understand this phenomenon is still complicated.
The specialized literature defines 3 main characteristics of workaholism.
First of all, workaholics spend a lot of time at work, when they have this
possibility. Secondly, an workaholic is always thinking of his work issues,
finding it hard to take a break.
A workaholic works a lot, up to 60 hours per week, meanwhile in most
countries, the weekly working time is limited at 45 hours, usually spread in 5-6
days (Moiser, 1982).
The difference between the workaholics and non-workaholics is their
attitude. A workaholic is the type of person who cannot enjoy the holiday time,
because he is always concerned about what is going on at the office.
The pattern of a workaholic is made from:

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 - time spent at work,
- concern about work,
- the work made outside the schedule (Scott 1997).
Zlate (2007) said that it is really important to consider emotional work
involvement and the possibility to control the activities, in order to find a balance
between the two.
Workaholism is an excess that leads to chaos and problems in people’s lives.
Some people work even 80 hours per week, but they are still able to maintain a
balance in their life, while others fail after 40 hours of work per week. So not
only the excess of working hours could lead to workaholism, but also breaking
the balance is a certain path to it( Zlate 2007).
Workaholics work a lot, even when they are not pressed by anyone, they are
glad when they work, considering other activities useless. Studies made by
Ronald Gerson (1998) show that workaholism is more encountered at people with
bachelor degree, because they have higher positions in an organization.
The developments of technology defined a culture of speed, where an
employee must achieve more things, being overcharged with requirements.
Seybold and Salomone (1994) show more definitions of workaholism.
- Workaholism as an addiction: Robinson sustained this idea, comparing
this type of addiction with alcoholism. Oates states that a workaholic has
an element of addiction in his behavior since he was born. Spruell (1987)
argues that nowadays workoholism is the most common addiction.
- Workaholism as a way of escapism or a method for being in control: some
say this phenomenon is a way to escape from the ugly side of life through
excessive work. Some say workaholism is actually a way to control their
lives.
- Workaholism as the expression of a need for competition or a need for
selfesteem. They wish to overcome the expectations of others. Another
cause could be a low self-esteem.

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Facts that influence/sustain workaholism:
- heredity,
- personal issues,
- need to control their lives
- need to succeed
- bad self-esteem since childhood
- workaholic parents (Seybold and Salmone 1994).
Workaholism may lead to serious health issues. Mostly, a workaholic’s
behavior is connected to a high level of stress at the work place (Taris Schaufeli
and Verhoven 2005) and to a work-family conflict ( Burke 1999).
This phenomenon has a great impact on the emotional balance of a person
(Coman, 2014; Coman & Coman, 2017; Basic, Delić & Sofradzija, 2019),
bringing new psycho-pathological elements, such as depression, anxiety and even
paranoia. These are connected to drugs or alcohol addiction and relationships
destruction.
Workaholism leaves some finger prints on the health condition of a person.
There may appear symptoms such as: ulcer, back pain, migraines or extreme
muscular pain. In some extreme cases, workoholism can lead to a person’s death.
So we can say that workaholism can be seen as a real progressive disease.
In Romania, there was launched a study made by www.hr-romania.ro,
’’Balanta Work-life’’, that revealed more data about Romanians tendency
towards workaholism. This tendency increases simultaneously with the number
of employers, this fact being justified by the desire of employees to be
appreciated and to obtain a higher position inside the organization. The study
shows that an employer prefers the professional life instead of the personal one,
being motivated by the payment or chances to promote.
The workaholism could be reduced by the companies if they would create
an environment without pressure for employees (Vlăduțescu, 2018a; Vlăduțescu,
2018b; Chirițescu & Dumitru, 2019), so they can be satisfied at their work places

218
and where their supervisors would be available to listen to their problems (Sandu
et al., 2018; Frunza, Frunza & Grad, 2019). Other important things in the process
of reducing the increasing tendency of workaholism would be: respect, mutual
help and a positive attitude.

2. Objectives and hypotheses

This experiment aims to show how people can become workaholics
according to age, gender, level of education and professional experience. At the
same time, we wanted to observe how much workaholism can affect the self-
esteem and the social life/the relationship with the family members.
The present study aimed to establish to which extent becoming a
workaholic can be influenced by gender, age, level of education or professional
experience, meanwhile enhancing the idea that workaholism can affect one’s self
-steem and personal life.

Participants
30 randomly selected participants - 15 men and 15 women with ages
between 30 to 45 years old. In the given study, there were involved persons with
middle level of education, as well as persons with bachelor degree, with
professional experience between: 0-3 years, 3-10 years and over 10 years.

3. Methods and tools

The results were obtained by answering a series of 21 questions. The first
3 questions were about primary data, such as gender, age and level of experience.
The other 18 questions referred at personal opinions, attitudes and motivation.
The participants were asked to write every single question according to their own
opinion, attitude, job motivation and family relationship with numbers from 1 to
5 (where 1 represented the ‘false’ value and 5 represented the ‘true’ value).

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4. Analysis and interpretation of the results
Regarding the gender, after running the test, observed that there is not a
great difference between the results for men and those for women (for women
the score was 56.8, while for men the score was 55.73). In the same way, I
noticed that the difference between the persons with a low level of education and
those with a high one is not quite big (the score for those with low level of
education was 56.17, while the value for those with high level of education was
56.33). Since normally age is connected to professional experience, the results
revealed the fact that the two indicators are interdependent. Therefore, after
running the ANOVA test, there could be observed a significant difference
between those having 0-3 years professional experience (score 34.5), those
having 3-10 years (score 48.18) and those having with 10 or more years of
professional experience (score 68).

5. Conclusions
The present research made me understand that no one’s gender or level
of education is important in terms of influencing the tendency towards
workaholism, but the professional experience gained over the years. People are
dealing frequently with situations that cause them certain emotions, affective
states, situations that lead them to adopt certain attitudes towards their work.
Nowadays, workaholics are people whose sensitivity is being used, people who
devote themselves to work and employers are speculating this. As they grow
older, people desire to get promoted and improve their careers, but the experience
in a certain work field is not always an advantage for a workaholic’s relationship
with his family, friends or regarding his free time. The hypothesis that
professional experience influences people’s tendency towards workaholism has
been confirmed, but more important are the factors which started the disease,
representing a pathological connection between a subject and its work which
causes changes in the internal disposition, through compulsive states, loss of

220
control, poor health and diminishing of social interest. The mankind is part of a
continuous process of development and its lack of social life can affect his
capacity to adapt to the environment, to new or unusual situations. It is very
important to discover what causes the person to become a workaholic and through
what methods can we help him to manage this addiction.

REFERENCES
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Negrea, X. (2016). Local And European Identity In The Regional Press. Social
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Segment. About The New Narrative Identities. Annals of the University of Craiova for
Journalism, Communication and Management, 4(1), 122-128.
Oates, W. E. (1971). Confessions of a workaholic: The facts about work
addiction. World Publishing Company.
Porter, G. (1996), Organizational impact of workaholism: Suggestions for
researching the negative outcomes of excessive work, Journal of Occupational Health
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Robinson, B. E. (1998). Spouses of workaholics: Clinical implications for
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Sandu, A., Frunza, A., Iliescu, D. B., Unguru, E., Hunea, I., Rohozneanu, A., &
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Scoot, K.S., Moore, K.S., & Miceli, M.P. (1997). An exploration of the mening
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Spruell, G. (1987). Work fever, Training and Developement Journal, 41 (1),
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Vlăduțescu, Ș. (2018a). Impressing The Social And Commercial Press
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NEWSWORHINESS AND THE EXPECTATIONS OF

SOURCES IN HEALTH JOURNALISM

Dan Valeriu VOINEA

Senior lecturer, PhD, CCSCMOP, Journalism, University of Craiova, Romania

Abstract:
In the present study, we set out to open a discussion about the way doctors
deal with journalism. We wanted to find out if the first think that they need
journalists in the daily landscape of their profession. Isolated in linguistic and
epistemic insularity, physicians are often asked to interact with journalists and
adhere to the discursive construction rules of the press. Thus, the discursive
interaction of the two worlds often collides. Disconsideration and expedition in
dramatic and superficial have become the most common features of health
journalism in Romania. In the following, we present some of the results of a
broader survey, results that relate to the attention physicians give to journalists.

Keywords: medical journalism, speech, information, education, role

Introduction
In the present study we have analyzed how doctors in Romania
understand the role of health journalism and, in particular, the way the doctors
see the work of the journalist. Health journalism is based on a type of discourse
with immediate stake, with most obvious and urgent implications. Researchers
have shown that health journalism is highlighted by the special expectations the

223
public has of the press, but also by the much more prominent educational role of
the press in this field (Radu, 2015; Abrudan & Fofiu, 2017; Coman, Popa &
Radu, 2018).
The tripartite journalist-source-public relationship found in any type of
media communication has, in this area, sensitively different valences, sensitively
different implications and sensitively different expectations
The research has presented, so far, among other things, the dual identity
of the receiver of the health journalism message, namely a receiver, which is
often both a media consumer and a patient. Hence, different expectations from
other journalistic discursive contexts. On the other hand, the health journalist,
besides the type of domain documentation, also has a greater responsibility given
the immediate effects on the public (Negrea, 2014).
Few researchers have focused on how physicians, the main sources in the
field, understand the role and impact of health journalists. Hence our concern in
this paper, namely to open the discussion about the way in which journalism is
perceived by the sources. Thus, if the public awaits some answers from
journalists, if journalists have the education of the public as their main function,
but also, of course, informing them, how do the doctors understand the
collaboration with the press came as a natural question.

How do journalists choose their information?

According to the systematization of the values of news (Harcup, O'Neil,
2001), journalistic material must meet certain reception imperatives. Before
becoming vulgarized by the "clickbait" method, the press text (regardless of the
channel type) must respond to criteria regarding the selection and ranking of the
information.
We are talking on the one hand about a series of criteria related to market
segmentation, the imperative of novelty, of exceptionality and of the power of
generalization. On the other hand, we are talking about the criterion of

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negativism, for example, of the emotional potential of a material, we are talking
about the criterion of frequency, the laws of proximity, the type of persons
involved (criterion of social relevance) (Negrea, 2017). A majority of 12 criteria
of newsworthiness are recognized and accepted, which explicitly outline the too
general criterion of "interest" (Negrea, 2015).
Thus, one criterion is frequency. On the one hand, from time to time and
/ or in certain social circumstances (at certain times of the year - in our case, for
example, season of viral diseases - autumn, spring), journalists are interested in
statistics, various reports of the institutions, as well as events of a readily
decipherable significance. Journalists are also interested in events involving as
many people as possible and / or affecting a large number of people. Specialty
literature calls this criterion "the starting threshold".
Journalists also take on topics that they can understand, usually
informationally saturated topics that ensure a lightness of decoding.
The level of public acceptance is also an extremely important criterion in
the selection of topics. Of course, as we know, the public asks to be amazed (and
here is another criterion), surprised, but to an extent that it still feels safe, in the
area of familiarity where various accidents occur with a high degree of
predictability. The public has to agree, implicitly, with the type of information it
receives. We will not insist on this topic (we will do it in another study), we hold
on to the subject of the present study that, however, the discussion about public
interest in certain subjects and the rejection of others is not entirely a
contemporary myth. And we add here the criterion of negativism - the public will
be more interested in negative information, with a degree of dramatic emphasis,
to the detriment of good news, transmitted as such, without creating a spectacular
context, around a intensely underlined conflict.

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 Methodology
In order to accomplish this study, I analyzed the systematizations made
by the Romanian College of Physicians, respectively the media analyzes made
in the guild, but we also conducted our own research and we interviewed doctors
from several institutions in Craiova and with different specializations. The
questions for the doctors were:
1. Do you follow health information published in the general press?
80% of the respondents said they follow health information published in
mainstream media, while 1% said they never read said news, 15% sometimes
read health news in media, and 4% didn’t know / wouldn’t respond.
2. What do you think is the role of the media in the field of health –
information or education?
Information is the observed role of media by 40% of our respondents,
while 10% consider education as the main role. 30% consider that the press
should focus on both education and information, while 20% didn’t know / did
not respond.
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how well are the subjects being treated?
The average satisfaction value was 4.73 – not great, not bad.
4. Do you think media helps you communicate with patients?
A large number of respondents - 74% thought that the media helped them
communicate with their patients, while 26% said the media is not of help.

Conclusions
From the observations made so far, there was a lack of awareness of the
role of the profession of journalist, with the professional and procedural sets it
implies. The doctors' complaints are general, not punctual, prevalent on the type
of professional information that is difficult to assimilate by an outsider. In turn,
journalists have to respond to expectations of the receptors, that is to say, of the
public, expectations that have long been explained in the criteria of

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newsworthiness. These actors of health journalism rarely meet the on same side
of the barricade of quality information. Often, journalists are looking for an easy-
to-read event for the public and doctors revel in a victim's status and expect them
to decide what is important and what not to be made public.

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SOCIAL JOURNALISM IN ONLINE WORLD.

CONCEPTUAL DELIMITATIONS

Xenia NEGREA
Senior lecturer, PhD, CCSCMOP, Journalism, University of Craiova, Romania

Abstract
In this article we look at the type of journalism generated by technological
evolution. Our study starts from the question: “How did technology affect
journalistic content?”. And the hypothesis of our analysis was that in the new
logistic context, journalism of human interest, namely forms of social journalism,
is preferred and privileged. Journalists themselves have gone through various
stages of dealing with the public quickly, so that, as we have shown, the press
liaison function has led to the creation of worlds of consensus, to the detriment
of a conglomerate of individuals bound together by communication bridges.
Keywords: social journalism, technology, proximity, ideological
consensus

Introduction
The technological changes that have been made to what we call the
"digital era" have produced other types of mutations, not so easy to perceive.
This a-spatiality has produced anthropological, psychological changes. The
public's perspective on the journalistic act has changed (see the illusions of
citizen journalism), the public's perspective on the type of information, rhetoric

228
(the escalation of forms of journalism as well as dramatization and emotional
discourse) has changed.
The new virtual world demands its own type of expression, its own type
of text and speech. All these changes are also internalized in the professional
self-presentation of journalists. It is changing, therefore, the way the journalists
perceive themselves and their profession. J. M. Charon (2007) has already been
talking about a decade of transition from information journalism to a
"communication journalism focused not on rapid and accurate data transmission,
but on the creation of intersubjective links to an emotional contract between the
press institution (incarnated by the star-presenter) and its audience".
From the very beginning, the professional status of the journalist assumed
what the theory calls "openness" - to be a journalist it was necessary to have a
writing talent, not even a specialization, not even an academic one. Luminița
Rosca (2010) insisted on the "degree of instruction of those who make up this
professional field", on the eclecticism of editorial offices in which everyone was
accepted, regardless of type and level of education. Things have not become
clearer over time, and the online environment, we say, has relaunched the
discussion about the professional status of the journalist, about professional
content, but also about the finality of this profession (Coman, 2007).

The Popular Journalism of the Digital Age

The distopya of virtuality also produces mutations in terms of types of
journalistic discourse. Thus, for example, the idea of proximity is called to
explain the constellation of publications (online) appearing outside the idea of
hierarchy. Ephemeral or duplicate news sites (which replace the print edition),
sites that act not necessarily as a brand, but as a source for a certain type of
information, urges us to reconsider, rethink, maybe redefine the idea of
proximity.

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 The axis of proximity, as we know, supports types of journalistic
discourse subsumed to social journalism in its most general sense. Consequently,
social journalism becomes, we could say, the popular journalism of the digital
era, a form of human response to the pace of technology. And technology does
not mean dehumanization. On the contrary, we could say, technology seems to
have a more intense emotional discourse. The journalism of human interest quite
frequently crosses the boundaries of the duels between the expressiveness skills.
Many times, the struggle for impact and “like” overturns hierarchies of
professional procedures, to the detriment of informational value and in favor of
expression performance.
Online communication also means self-communication. The mix of
institutional discourse and personal discourse is one of the key features of
contemporary communication. In this context, the need for the appropriation and
customization of online journalism has developed a proper writing for
interpersonal communication: unformalized, personalized, close to oral
language. Concision, clarity, accuracy, precision, and main attributes of
journalistic style are preserved in the online environment. However, the new
developments related to the natural evolution of colloquial expressions and the
evolution of various linguistic fields have been added (Vlad, 2013; Stănescu,
2015; Stănescu, 2016). Certainly, the linguistic differences imposed by the types
of audiences to which it is addressed are preserved, but the imperative, I would
say, is to bring the audience closer together, not to create communication bridges,
but worlds accepted and inhabited by both the issuer and the receiver. The
accepted linguistic and ideological worlds are the result of tacit ideological
adhesions in which the public accepts certain expressiveness and content that the
journalist knows and offers. In the new linguistic world, personalized and
generated by ideological adherence, persuasion efforts are quite timid, communal
labor turning to confirmation and echo rhetoric.

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 Thus, going further, we can also make the observation that interactivity
remains a basic word in online journalism, but we already call it different realities
through this term. Since the opening of new virtual screens, readers have proven
to be very active, very implicit, willing to leave footprints on the pages of the
publications. The recipients post comments at the end of the article, expressing
their opinion on a specific topic, bringing suggestions to the journalist, and even
completing them. Feedback is, in this sense, the main feature of online
journalism. The difference to the dawn of online journalism is, in our opinion,
given that the recipients' agreement / disagreement is more important. Not only
the number of reactions is important in evaluating an article. but also their
quality. To challenge and educate interactivity, journalism in the digital
environment also allows the introduction of interactive elements in text,
generating the readers’ reaction, and by a simple click they can open new
information pages, new themes of discussion. We include surveys, questions on
a particular topic, tests, answers to common questions, games, computers,
discussion lists.
In the new world of the common agreement, there is almost no need for
conversational incentives. Receptors are attracted emotionally by the force of
expressivity. That is why we believe that certain types of journalistic, written
press, second level (signage or photojournalism) can be restored or new ones
developed (live text).
Emotion, personalization, humanity are characteristics that surpass the
once inimitable principles of journalism in the traditional sense. An article should
not just be liked. An article must awaken an emotional reaction (anger, sadness,
joy).

Personalized Informations Worlds

In this sense, and at the level of content, the journalist's attention is
naturally oriented towards the perfecting of the echo generated at the rhetorical

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level (Smarandache et al., 2015). Most of the topics are selected based on the
logic of proximity and human interest. In this way, the local press, the proximity
press, the press of human (not necessarily citizen) issues becomes the type of
journalism most frequent in the online environment. Global and national
problems occur only when they find their local relevance or have a great
customization disponibility.
More than a decade ago, theoreticians like M. Bromley (1997) and Deuze
(2004) have long analyzed the convergence principle and have not once referred
to this trait as a final point of journalism. Bromley shows that the potential for
the final fragmentation of journalism is realized in the absence of an autonomous
professional ethic. And Deuze sees technological development from the point of
view of convergence. The researcher concludes that they will not end the
journalism because the journalist is a pivotal point in the journalism network and
he is the professional needed to filter the vast abundance of information available
in technologically advanced societies.
The journalist becomes a kind of community gatekeeper (Voinea, 2015;
Voinea et al. 2015; Voinea, Opran & Vlăduțescu, 2016). There was also debated
the fear of dissipating the context and of diluting the accuracy in the transmission
of information in the light of technological advances that have increased the
speed of information (Abrudan & Fofiu, 2007; Radu, 2015; Coman, Popa &
Radu, 2018). Time has shown that the new technology is superior (but
postmodern) in terms of information transmission. Huang et al. (Deuze, 2007)
shows how the quality of information transmission in newspapers remained
relatively stable in terms of fairness and balance, in terms of sources, using
official sources, and finding topics (Vlăduțescu, 2013; Vlăduțescu, 2014;
Vladutescu, Budica, Dumitru & Stanescu, 2015). An important consideration
here is that the impact of convergence on work in practice seems to be more about
the exchange of information that reporters do with other specialists from different
media institutions, rather than how independent journalists work alongside the

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media platform. Convergence does not have a negative impact on the quality of
information because technological development is a process of evolution, not of
revolution, researchers show.

Conclusions
Adapting to new forms of journalism shows how journalism practices
have become ways to enable the profession to reconnect to its community and
restore confidence in the journalist's social function. The journalist has become
sociable, friendly. The journalists met, at one point, their audience even on their
personal blog. Today, the journalists invites their audience in their personal
publication, a news site, usually generalist, a site strongly impressed by the
reputation, the personality of the journalist, a single journalist. Journalism has
touched the social media button and created this new personal world, much closer
to eternity and absolute freedom. "The Internet is the perfect image of freedom,"
said journalist Cristian Tudor Popescu (2010) almost a decade ago. After 10
years, we discover this freedom limited by the journalist's seductive power and
its emotional availability, by the ideological acceptability of the public.

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