ABSTRACT
This chapter maps out the grey area between the strictly social and the explicitly political. The threshold in this zone is one of politicization for the controlled and governance or governmentality for the controller. For the controlled, social activity becomes more explicitly directed at political claims-making activity and the attainment of political goals as individuals begin to identify with specific groups, their ideologies and their political goals, and to imagine possibilities for participation in political life. For the controller, ideology, political and organizational culture, and government structures, influence decision-making as the state switches from social institutions of control to the more explicitly political ones of rule-making, policy-making and implementation, consensus-building, and the fair distribution of power and resources. Issues to be examined include: the role of ethnic and religious minorities, immigrants, refugees, and diaspora communities in social and political advocacy and protest; single-issue and identity politics; public education and the role of old and new media in shaping public opinion and attitudes toward government; and understanding and dealing with the ideas that underpin the use of terrorism in social and political life in all their ideological, political, social, cultural, and religious aspects.
