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July 7, 2025

Nature-friendly farming budget swells in UK – but cuts elsewhere make recovery fraught

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nathalie Seddon, Professor of Biodiversity, Smith School of Enterprise and Environment and Department of Biology, University of Oxford

Skylarks are a red-listed species, which means they are of high conservation concern in the UK. WildlifeWorld/Shutterstock

Nature in the UK appeared to receive a rare funding boost in the June spending review, with the government setting a spending target of up to £2 billion a year for England’s environmental land management (ELM) scheme by 2028-29.

By steering public funds toward farmers who restore hedgerows, soils and wetlands, England’s ELM programme is meant to renew landscapes that absorb carbon, support pollinators and keep water clean while helping rural businesses stay viable in a changing climate.

If delivered in full, the package would elevate the UK’s post-Brexit model of investing public money in shared ecological care (rather than payments based on acreage) to one of the most generously funded in the world.

Yet, scrutinise the details and a more complicated story emerges.

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The review has trimmed the day-to-day budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in real terms. Defra now faces the unenviable task of signing and monitoring thousands of new ELM agreements with fewer staff and shrinking data resources. Without the capacity to check whether fields really have become richer in skylarks or streams clearer of fertiliser, large sums could be delayed or misdirected.

Scale is another challenge. An independent analysis published in 2024 estimated that roughly £6 billion every year across the UK is needed to bring agriculture in line with the Environment Act targets for habitat restoration and net zero commitments.

Even the full £2 billion promised for England would meet only about half of that evidence-based need. And the “up to” £400 million for trees and peatlands is not new money: it is funding that was first promised in 2024 and the payment schedule has still not been confirmed.

A woodland clearing. — Money could be paid to farmers for allowing woodlands to regenerate.
Richard Hepworth, CC BY

While the review earmarked £4.2 billion for flood and coastal defence, it does not specify how much of that will support nature-based measures such as floodplain restoration, or the creation of saltmarshes or riparian woodlands. The Environment Agency is consulting on a funding model that could embed such solutions, but the Treasury papers are silent on who will pay for that shift.

Tech spending dwarfs habitat investment

Contrast this with the sums heading to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Roughly £30 billion is earmarked for nuclear fission, fusion research and carbon-capture hubs. These projects are heavy on concrete and steel (materials with a hefty carbon cost) but have no immediate ecological benefit.

While new low-carbon technologies are crucial, thriving and resilient soils, wetlands and woodlands nourish food systems, safeguard water and hold vast stores of carbon – benefits that deepen and become more cost-effective over time.

Nature-based solutions can also revitalise local economies. The Office for National Statistics estimates that replacing the benefits flowing from the UK’s forests, rivers and soils – flood buffering, crop pollination, cleaner air, recreation and more – would cost about £1.8 trillion, a figure that only hints at their deeper, immeasurable value.

Yet the review sets out no plan to safeguard these life-support systems, or to factor their decline into the Treasury’s green book (the rule book used to appraise public investments) or the Bank of England’s stress tests, which check how shocks could ripple through the financial system.

This is also a matter of fairness and public health. Growing evidence shows that regular contact with nature lowers the risks of heart disease and anxiety, while improving children’s cognitive development. These are benefits with a value that defies any price tag.

Yet the places with the fewest trees and parks tend to be the same post-industrial towns ministers want to “level up”. The review is silent on biodiversity net gain (the flagship policy meant to channel private finance into local habitats) and on a proposed national nature wealth fund that could blend public and private capital for large-scale restoration.

Housing money could repeat past mistakes

One line in the spending review could still shift the balance.

The chancellor has earmarked £39 billion for building social and affordable housing over the next decade. If every development delivers at least a 10% net gain for biodiversity onsite, and if schemes build in climate-smart design (living roofs, shade-giving street trees, permeable surfaces) with local residents, Britain could pioneer the world’s first large-scale, nature-positive, net-zero housing programme.

Without those safeguards, “levelling up” risks repeating old mistakes: sealing green space under concrete today and paying tomorrow to retrofit drainage, shade and parks.

Two new-build homes. — Green space is scarce on this new housing estate near Cardiff, Wales.
Shutterstock

That risk is heightened by the government’s planning and infrastructure bill, now before parliament. In an open letter to MPs, economists and ecologists warn that the bill would let developers “pay cash to trash” irreplaceable habitats by swapping onsite protection for a levy, a move they describe as a “licence to kill nature”.

At the next UN climate summit, Cop30 in Brazil in November 2025, the UK will have to show the world that its domestic spending matches its international rhetoric.

More than 150 UK researchers made that point in an open letter to the prime minister, urging him to put nature at the centre of the UK’s Cop30 stance. Converting the Treasury’s headline figures into habitat gains and locking robust rules into both the planning bill and the housing drive would give ministers credible proof of progress when they update the UK’s climate and nature pledges on the Cop30 stage.

The spending review may have nudged farm policy in the right direction and set a new higher water mark for nature-positive agriculture. Yet amid the squeeze on Defra, the recycling rather than expansion of tree and peat budgets and the continued dominance of technology over habitat, nature still comes a distant second to hard infrastructure in the UK growth model.

There is still time to change course. Guaranteeing Defra’s capacity, publishing a timetable for the tree-and-peat fund, reserving part of the flood budget for community-led nature-based solutions and hardwiring strong biodiversity net gain rules into housing and planning reforms would turn headline promises into projects that enrich daily life while stewarding public money wisely.

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Nathalie Seddon receives funding from UKRI and the Leverhulme Trust and sits on the UK Climate Change Committee. She is also a trustee of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and is a non-executive director of the social venture, Nature-based Insights.

– ref. Nature-friendly farming budget swells in UK – but cuts elsewhere make recovery fraught – https://theconversation.com/nature-friendly-farming-budget-swells-in-uk-but-cuts-elsewhere-make-recovery-fraught-259091

July 7, 2025

US backs Nato’s latest pledge of support for Ukraine, but in reality seems to have abandoned its European partners

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham

Recent news from Ukraine has generally been bad. Since the end of May, ever larger Russian air strikes have been documented against Ukrainian cities with devastating consequences for civilians, including in the country’s capital, Kyiv.

Amid small and costly but steady gains along the almost 1,000km long frontline, Russia reportedly took full control of the Ukrainian region of Luhansk, part of which it had already occupied before the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

And according to Dutch and German intelligence reports, some of Russia’s gains on the battlefield are enabled by the widespread use of chemical weapons.

It was therefore something of a relief that Nato’s summit in The Hague produced a short joint declaration on June 25 in which Russia was clearly named as a “long-term threat … to Euro-Atlantic security”. Member states restated “their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine”. While the summit declaration made no mention of future Nato membership for Ukraine, the fact that US president Donald Trump agreed to these two statements was widely seen as a success.

Yet, within a week of the summit, Washington paused the delivery of critical weapons to Ukraine, including Patriot air defence missiles and long-range precision-strike rockets. The move was ostensibly in response to depleting US stockpiles.

This despite the Pentagon’s own analysis, which suggested that the shipment – authorised by the former US president Joe Biden last year – posed no risk to US ammunition supplies.

This was bad news for Ukraine. The halt in supplies weakens Kyiv’s ability to protect its large population centres and critical infrastructure against intensifying Russian airstrikes. It also puts limits on Ukraine’s ability to target Russian supply lines and logistics hubs behind the frontlines that have been enabling ground advances.

Despite protests from Ukraine and an offer from Germany to buy Patriot missiles from the US for Ukraine, Trump has been in no rush to reverse the decision by the Pentagon.

ISW map showing the state of the conflict in Ukraine, July 6 2025 — Russia is now claiming to have completed its occupation of the province of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
Institute for the Study of War

Another phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on July 3, failed to change Trump’s mind, even though he acknowledged his disappointment with the clear lack of willingness by the Kremlin to stop the fighting. What’s more, within hours of the call between the two presidents, Moscow launched the largest drone attack of the war against Kyiv.

A day later, Trump spoke with Zelensky. And while the call between them was apparently productive, neither side gave any indication that US weapons shipments to Ukraine would resume quickly.

Trump previously paused arms shipments and intelligence sharing with Ukraine in March, 2025 after his acrimonious encounter with Zelensky in the Oval Office. But the US president reversed course after certain concessions had been agreed – whether that was an agreement by Ukraine to an unconditional ceasefire or a deal on the country’s minerals.

It is not clear with the current disruption whether Trump is after yet more concessions from Ukraine. The timing is ominous, coming after what had appeared to be a productive Nato summit with a unified stance on Russia’s war of aggression. And it preceded Trump’s call with Putin.

This could be read as a signal that Trump was still keen to accommodate at least some of the Russian president’s demands in exchange for the necessary concessions from the Kremlin to agree, finally, the ceasefire that Trump had once envisaged he could achieve in 24 hours.

If this is indeed the case, the fact that Trump continues to misread the Russian position is deeply worrying. The Kremlin has clearly drawn its red lines on what it is after in any peace deal with Ukraine.

These demands – virtually unchanged since the beginning of the war – include a lifting of sanctions against Russia and no Nato membership for Ukraine, while also insisting that Kyiv must accept limits on its future military forces and recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea and four regions on the Ukrainian mainland.

This will not change as a result of US concessions to Russia but only through pressure on Putin. And Trump has so far been unwilling to apply pressure in a concrete and meaningful way beyond the occasional hints to the press or on social media.

Coalition of the willing

It is equally clear that Russia’s maximalist demands are unacceptable to Ukraine and its European allies. With little doubt that the US can no longer be relied upon to back the European and Ukrainian position, Kyiv and Europe need to accelerate their own defence efforts.

A European coalition of the willing to do just that is slowly taking shape. It straddles the once more rigid boundaries of EU and Nato membership and non-membership, involving countries such as Moldova, Norway and the UK.
and including non-European allies including Canada, Japan and South Korea.

The European commission’s white paper on European defence is an obvious indication that the threat from Russia and the needs of Ukraine are being taken seriously and, crucially, acted upon. It mobilises some €800 billion (£690 billion) in defence spending and will enable deeper integration of the Ukrainian defence sector with that of the European Union.

At the national level, key European allies, in particular Germany, have also committed to increased defence spending and stepped up their forward deployment of forces closer to the borders with Russia.

US equivocation will not mean that Ukraine is now on the brink of losing the war against Russia. Nor will Europe discovering its spine on defence put Kyiv immediately in a position to defeat Moscow’s aggression.

After decades of relying on the US and neglecting their own defence capabilities, these recent European efforts are a first step in the right direction. They will not turn Europe into a military heavyweight overnight. But they will buy time to do so.

Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

– ref. US backs Nato’s latest pledge of support for Ukraine, but in reality seems to have abandoned its European partners – https://theconversation.com/us-backs-natos-latest-pledge-of-support-for-ukraine-but-in-reality-seems-to-have-abandoned-its-european-partners-260334

July 7, 2025

What people really want from their GP – it’s simpler than you might think

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Helen Atherton, Professor of Primary Care Research, University of Southampton

Booking a GP appointment is a routine task, yet for many people it’s a source of frustration. Long waits, confusing systems and impersonal processes have become all too familiar. While much attention has been paid to how difficult it is to get an appointment, less research has asked a more fundamental question: what do patients actually want from their general practice?

To answer this, my colleagues and I reviewed 33 studies that were a mixture of study designs, and focused on patients’ expectations and preferences regarding access to their GP in England and Scotland.

What people wanted was not complicated or cutting edge. People were looking for connection; a friendly receptionist and good communication from the practice about how they could expect to make an appointment. And they wanted a general practice in their own neighbourhood with clean, calm waiting rooms. So far, so simple.

People wanted booking systems that were simple and user-friendly, without long automated phone menus (“press one for reception”). Preferences varied. Some patients valued the option to book appointments in person at the reception desk, while others preferred the convenience of online booking.

Regardless of how they booked, patients wanted shorter waiting times or, at least, clear information about when they could expect an appointment or a callback.

Ideally, general practice would be open on Saturdays and Sundays for those who cannot attend during the week.

Remote consultations – by phone, video or email – have become more common since the pandemic, and many patients found them helpful. For those with caring responsibilities or mobility issues, they offered a convenient way to access care without needing to leave home.

However, remote appointments weren’t suitable for everyone. Some patients lacked privacy at work, while others – particularly those with hearing impairments – found telephone consultations difficult or impossible to use.

What patients consistently wanted was choice, particularly when it came to remote consultations. While in-person appointments were seen as the gold standard, many recognised that telephone or video consultations could be useful in certain situations. Preferences varied widely, which made the ability to choose the type of consultation especially important.

Patients also wanted choice over who they saw, especially for non-urgent issues or when managing ongoing health conditions.

In today’s general practice, care is often delivered by a range of professionals, including nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists. While many patients were open to seeing different healthcare professionals, older adults and people from minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to prefer seeing a GP.

Overall, patients wanted the option to choose a GP over another healthcare professional – or at least be involved in that decision.

Satisfaction at all-time low

Unsurprisingly, what patients want from general practice varies, reflecting different lifestyles, needs and circumstances. But what was equally clear is that many people are not able to get what they want from the appointment system.

According to a recent British Social Attitudes survey, patient satisfaction with general practice is at an all-time low, with just below one in three people reporting that they are very or quite satisfied with GP services.

Some elements of the UK government’s recently announced ten-year plan for the NHS in England may address some of these concerns, but it remains far from certain. The emphasis on the NHS app as a “doctor in your pocket” does not align with what many patients are asking for: genuine choice over whether they access care online or in person.

A mobile phone showing the NHS app. — Not everyone wants a doctor in their pocket.
NHS/Shutterstock.com

The proposal to open neighbourhood health centres on weekends could benefit those who need more flexible access. However, simply increasing the number of appointments misses the point: patients want more than just availability. They want care that is accessible, personalised and responsive to their individual needs.

The evidence is clear and the solutions simple, yet patient satisfaction remains at an all-time low. The government must stop assuming technology is the answer and start listening to what patients are actually telling them. The cost of ignoring their voices is a healthcare system that serves no one well.

Helen Atherton receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research and the Research Council of Norway.

– ref. What people really want from their GP – it’s simpler than you might think – https://theconversation.com/what-people-really-want-from-their-gp-its-simpler-than-you-might-think-260520

July 7, 2025

Georgia: how democracy is being eroded fast as government shifts towards Russia

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natasha Lindstaedt, Professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex

Georgia was once considered a post-Soviet success story. After years of authoritarian rule, followed by independence which brought near state collapse, corruption and chaos, Georgia appeared to have transitioned to democracy.

In a period after independence in 1991 and before 2020, elections were regularly held and were deemed mostly free and fair, the media and civil society were vibrant and corruption levels had diminished significantly.

The “Rose revolution” in 2003 ushered in an era of unprecedented reform and suggested a move towards democracy and a closer relationship with the west. Georgians were full of hope for the country’s future, and prospects of joining the European Union – or at least moving closer to Europe.

Fast forward two decades and Georgia has fully returned to authoritarianism. Six opposition leaders are in prison or facing charges and now thinktank leaders are being targeted with investigations that could land them in prison. Typically these charges centre around accepting foreign funding or criticising the government.

In moves in line with other authoritarian regimes around the world, opposition organisations such as thinktanks are being told to produce financial documents in short timeframes, and accused of financial mismanagement and threatened with prosecution if they don’t.

In May 2024, Georgia passed a Russian-inspired foreign agent law — which would require non-governmental organisations (NGOs) receiving foreign funding to register themselves and face restrictions. Protests erupted each time Georgia’s parliament debated this measure, but eventually the pro-RussianGeorgia Dream party prevailed. More than 90% of NGOs receive funding from abroad, so the new law cripples the efforts of some 26,000 of them.

Many Georgians were outraged that the passage of the bill may end dreams of one day becoming a European Union candidate country. Regular surveys have found that about 80% of Georgians have aspirations for their country to join the EU.

Though Georgia faces a host of economic problems, the Georgia Dream party has campaigned on delivering a return to traditional values. Like Russia they have also passed a series of laws in 2024 that target the LGBTQ+ community, such as banning content that features same-sex relationships and stripping same-sex couples of rights, such as adoption.

Parallels with Russia?

Georgia Dream also passed legislation making treason a criminal offence, a clear attempt to eliminate political opponents. Any insults of politicians online are also considered a criminal offence.

Also, in June of this year civil society organisations in Georgia received court orders requiring them to disclose highly sensitive data. Meanwhile, members of the Georgia Dream party were accused of assaulting opposition party leader Giorgi Gakharia suffering a broken nose and a concussion, which they denied.

In another effort to exercise greater control over the state, since the beginning of this year more than 800 civil servants have been dismissed. Similar to the purges that took place in Turkey — this is not being done in the name of efficiency, but to ensure that the bureaucracy is loyal to wishes of the Georgia Dream government.

This hasn’t happened overnight, as the laws had already changed several times to weaken legal protections for civil servants.

During its time in government, the Georgia Dream party has moved the country much closer to Russia, often by portraying the nation as locked in a cultural struggle against the west. Despite this, 69% of Georgians still see Russia as Georgia’s main enemy, up from 35% in 2012.

Though the Georgia Dream party faces increasing public opposition to its rule, it gained nearly the same amount of votes in the 2024 elections as it did in 2012 – when it was at its peak of popularity. The election result in October 2024 may be partly explained by accusations of fraud and other irregularities.

How did this happen?

One of the first big threats to Georgia’s democracy came in August 2008 when Russia invaded the country to offer support for two breakaway regions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia which declared themselves independent from Georgia. The international community did little to censure Russia, giving Russian president Vladimir Putin the confidence to engage in further acts of aggression.

Russia has maintained troops in South Ossetia, only about 30 miles from Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, and continues to play an important role in Georgian politics, undermining democracy.

Iran
Infogram

The next threat came from within. Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili was elected prime minister of Georgia in 2012 as the leader of Georgia Dream. despite the fact that he officially stepped down from this position in 2013, he has wielded power behind the scenes and is still widely considered to be the de facto leader of Georgia.

Though Georgia did not immediately slide towards autocracy under the Georgia Dream party, today there are few remnants of democracy left. The major opposition parties are banned, opposition politicians and journalists are spied on, and protests are repressed by the police.

Cameras are now installed on the streets of Tbilisi as part of a crackdown on protest and fines for protesting have increased. Elections are no longer considered to be free and fair by the European Union and others as the Georgia Dream party uses its access to the state resources to dole out patronage to its supporters and intimidate voters.

In just over two decades, Georgia has managed to plunge back to authoritarianism. Once hailed as a beacon of democratic reform, the country is now gripped by a Russian-influenced ruling party that has consolidated power through repression, surveillance and manipulation.

But while the Georgia Dream party has tried to dismantle the country’s democratic institutions, support for resistance is high. According to a poll in 2025, more than 60% of respondents supported protests against the government and 45% identified as active supporters. And 82% feel Georgia is in crisis, with 78% blaming Georgian Dream.

It appears that Russia may have succeeded in undermining democracy in Georgia, but not in shaping hearts and minds.

Natasha Lindstaedt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Georgia: how democracy is being eroded fast as government shifts towards Russia – https://theconversation.com/georgia-how-democracy-is-being-eroded-fast-as-government-shifts-towards-russia-260430

July 7, 2025

From Seattle to Atlanta, new social housing programs seek to make homes permanently affordable for a range of incomes

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Susanne Schindler, Research Fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard Kennedy School

Activists in Seattle gather signatures to put a social housing initiative on the ballot. In early 2025, voters passed the measure, which implements a payroll tax on high incomes to fund the program. House Our Neighbors, CC BY-SA

Seattle astounded housing advocates around the country in February 2025, when roughly two-thirds of voters approved a ballot initiative proposing a new 5% payroll tax on salaries in excess of US$1 million.

The expected revenue – estimated to amount to $52 million dollars annually – would go toward funding a public development authority named Seattle Social Housing, which would then build and maintain permanently affordable homes.

The city has experienced record high rents and home prices over the past two decades, attributed in part to the high incomes and relatively low taxes paid by tech firms like Amazon. Prior attempts to make these companies do their part to keep the city affordable have had mixed results.

So despite nationwide, bipartisan skepticism of government and tax increases, Seattle’s voters showed that in light of a severe affordability crisis, a new role for the public sector and a new, dedicated fiscal revenue stream for housing were not only necessary, but possible.

As a trained architect and urban historian, I study how capitalist societies have embraced – or rejected – housing that’s permanently shielded from market forces and what that means for architecture and urban design.

To me, Seattle’s social housing initiative shows that the country’s traditional, “either-or” housing model – of unregulated, market-rate housing versus tightly regulated, income-restricted affordable housing – has reached its limits.

Social housing promises a different path forward.

The rise of the ‘two-tiered’ system

After World War I, amid a similarly dire housing crisis, journalist Catherine Bauer traveled to Europe and learned about the continent’s social housing programs.

She publicized her findings in the 1934 book “Modern Housing,” in which she advocated for housing that would be permanently shielded from the private real estate market. High-quality design was central to her argument. (The book was reissued in 2020, reflecting a renewed hunger for her ideas.)

Early New Deal programs supported “limited-dividend,” or nonprofit, housing sponsored by civic organizations such as labor unions. The Carl Mackley Houses in Philadelphia exemplified this approach: The government provided low-interest loans to the American Federation of Full-Fashioned Hosiery Workers, which then constructed housing for its workers with rents set at affordable rates. The complex was built with community rooms and a swimming pool for its residents.

Black and white photo of a swimming pool surrounded by an apartment complex. — Financed by $1.2 million in federal funds, the Carl Mackley Houses, completed in 1935, provided homes for union workers.
Alfred Kastner papers, Collection No. 7350, Box 45, Record 12, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming

However, the 1937 U.S. Housing Act omitted this form of middle-income housing. Instead, the federal government chose to support public rental housing for low-income Americans and private homeownership, with little in between.

Historian Gail Radford has aptly termed this a “two-tiered system,” and it was problematic from the start.

Funding for public housing in the U.S. – as well as for its successor, private-sector-built affordable housing – has always been capped in ways that fall far short of demand, with access to the homes largely restricted to households with the lowest incomes. Private-sector-built affordable housing depends on dangling tax credits for private investors, and rent restrictions can expire.

While the U.S. promoted this two-tiered system, cities like Vienna pursued a different path.

In Austria’s culturally vibrant capital, today half of all dwellings are permanently removed from the private market. Roughly 80% of households qualify to live in them. The buildings take a range of forms, are located in all neighborhoods, and are built and operated as rental or cooperative housing either by the city or by nonprofit developers.

Rents do not rise and fall according to household income, but are instead set to cover capital and operation expenses. These are kept low thanks to long-term, low-interest loans. These loans are funded through a nationwide 1% payroll tax, split evenly between employers and employees. Renters also make a down payment, priced in relation to the size and age of the apartment, which keeps monthly rents down. To guarantee access to low-cost land, the municipality has pursued an active land acquisition policy since the 1980s.

A blue, modern-looking, two-story dwelling with red flowers in the windows. — Vienna’s Pilotengasse Housing Estate, a social housing development featuring low-rise buildings with abundant greenery, was completed in 1992 and serves a range of income groups.
Viennaslide/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images

Housing shielded from the private market

The inequities created by the two-tiered system – along with the absence of viable options for moderate- and middle-income households – are what social housing advocates in the U.S. are trying to address today.

In 2018, the think tank People’s Policy Project published what was likely the first 21st-century report advocating for social housing in the U.S., citing Vienna as a model.

Across the U.S., social housing is being used to describe a range of programs, from limited equity cooperatives and community land trusts to public housing.

They all share a few underlying principles, however.

First and foremost, social housing calls for permanently shielding homes from the private real estate market, often referred to as “permanent affordability.” This usually means public investment in housing and public ownership of it. Second, unlike the ways in which public housing has traditionally operated in the U.S., most social housing programs aim to serve households across a broader range of incomes. The goal is to create housing that is both financially sustainable and appealing to broad swaths of the electorate. Third, social housing aspires to give residents more control over the governance of their homes.

Social housing doesn’t all look the same. But thoughtful design is key to its success. It’s built to be owned and operated in the long-term, not for short-term financial gain. Construction quality matters, and developers realize it needs to be appealing to a range of tenants with different needs.

Early successes

In recent years, there have been significant wins for the social housing movement at the state and local levels.

In 2023, Atlanta created a new quasi-public entity to co-develop mixed-income housing on city-owned land. In 2024, Rhode Island voters and the Massachusetts legislature funded pilot projects to test public investment in social housing. And 2025 has seen the the passage of Chicago’s Green Social Housing ordinance.

Many of these programs were directly inspired by affordable housing initiatives in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Since 2021, the county’s housing authority has used a $100 million housing fund to invest in new mixed-income developments. Through these investments, the county retains co-ownership and has been able to bring down the cost of development enough to offer 30% of homes at significantly below market rents, in perpetuity. If Vienna is the global paragon for social housing, Montgomery County has become its domestic counterpart.

In Seattle, social housing will mean homes delivered and permanently owned by Seattle Social Housing, which is funded through the payroll tax on high incomes. The initiative envisions developments featuring a range of apartment sizes to meet the needs of different family sizes, built to high energy-efficiency standards. Homes will be available to households earning up to 120% of area median income, with residents paying no more than 30% of their income on rent. In Seattle, that means that a single-person household making up to $120,000 will qualify.

Activists stand on steps holding colorful signs while a woman stands in front of them speaking from a lectern. — Members of the New York City Council hold a rally with housing activists to promote social housing legislation in March 2023.
William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit, CC BY-SA

Ongoing debates

Despite these successes, many Americans remain skeptical of social housing.

Sign up for a webinar on the topic, and you’ll hear participants question the term itself. Isn’t it far too “socialist” to be broadly adopted in the U.S.? And isn’t this just “old wine in new bottles”?

Join a housing task force, and established nonprofits will be the ones to push back, arguing that they already know how to build and manage housing, and that all they need is money.

Some housing activists also question whether using scarce public dollars to pay for mixed-income housing will yet again shortchange those who most need governmental assistance – namely, the poor. Others point to the need to provide more ways to build intergenerational wealth, especially for racial minorities, who have historically faced barriers to homeownership.

Urban planner Jonathan Tarleton has highlighted another important issue: the danger of social housing reverting over time to private ownership, as has been the case with some cooperatives in New York City. Tarleton stresses the need for “social maintenance” – the importance of telling and retelling the story of whom social housing is meant to serve.

These debates raise important questions. Social housing may be a confusing term and an aspirational concept. But it is here to stay: It has galvanized organizers and policymakers around a new approach to the design, development and maintenance of housing.

Social housing keeps prices down through long-term public investment, ensuring that future generations will still benefit. Developers can design and provide homes that respond to how people want to live. And in an increasingly polarized country, social housing will allow people of various backgrounds, incomes and ideological persuasions to live together again, rather than apart.

Whether it’s the kind found in Seattle, in Maryland or somewhere in between, I believe social housing is needed more than ever before to address the country’s twin problems of affordability and a lack of political imagination.

This article is part of a series centered on envisioning ways to deal with the housing crisis.

Susanne Schindler receives funding from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

– ref. From Seattle to Atlanta, new social housing programs seek to make homes permanently affordable for a range of incomes – https://theconversation.com/from-seattle-to-atlanta-new-social-housing-programs-seek-to-make-homes-permanently-affordable-for-a-range-of-incomes-255097

July 7, 2025

Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Shaon Lahiri, Assistant Professor of Public Health, College of Charleston

Misinformation on social media has the potential to manipulate millions of people. Pict Rider/iStock via Getty Images Plus

In 2019, a rare and shocking event in the Malaysian peninsula town of Ketereh grabbed international headlines. Nearly 40 girls age 12 to 18 from a religious school had been screaming inconsolably, claiming to have seen a “face of pure evil,” complete with images of blood and gore.

Experts believe that the girls suffered what is known as a mass psychogenic illness, a psychological condition that results in physical symptoms and spreads socially – much like a virus.

I’m a social and behavioral scientist within the field of public health. I study the ways in which individual behavior is influenced by prevailing social norms and social network processes, across a wide range of behaviors and contexts. Part of my work involves figuring out how to combat the spread of harmful content that can shape our behavior for the worse, such as misinformation.

Mass psychogenic illness is not misinformation, but it gives researchers like me some idea about how misinformation spreads. Social connections establish pathways of influence that can facilitate the spread of germs, mental illness and even behaviors. We can be profoundly influenced by others within our social networks, for better or for worse.

The spreading of social norms

Researchers in my field think of social norms as perceptions of how common and how approved a specific behavior is within a specific network of people who matter to us.

These perceptions may not always reflect reality, such as when people overestimate or underestimate how common their viewpoint is within a group. But they can influence our behavior nonetheless. For many, perception is reality.

Social norms and related behaviors can spread through social networks like a virus can, but with one crucial caveat. Viruses often require just one contact with a potential host to spread, whereas behaviors often require multiple contacts to spread. This phenomenon, known as complex contagion, highlights how socially learned behaviors take time to embed.

Watch the people in this video and see how you react.

Fiction spreads faster than fact

Consider a familiar scenario: the return of baggy jeans to the fashion zeitgeist.

For many millennials like me, you may react to a friend engaging in this resurrected trend by cringing and lightly teasing them. Yet, after seeing them don those denim parachutes on multiple occasions, a brazen thought may emerge: “Hmm, maybe they don’t look that bad. I could probably pull those off.” That’s complex contagion at work.

This dynamic is even more evident on social media. One of my former students expressed this succinctly. She was looking at an Instagram post about Astro Boy Boots – red, oversize boots based on those worn by a 1952 Japanese cartoon character. Her initial skepticism quickly faded upon reading the comments. As she put it, “I thought they were ugly at first, but after reading the comments, I guess they’re kind of fire.”

Moving from innocuous examples, consider the spread of misinformation on social media. Misinformation is false information that is spread unintentionally, while disinformation is false information that is intentionally disseminated to deceive or do serious harm.

Research shows that both misinformation and disinformation spread faster and farther than truth online. This means that before people can muster the resources to debunk the false information that has seeped into their social networks, they may have already lost the race. Complex contagion may have taken hold, in a malicious way, and begun spreading falsehood throughout the network at a rapid pace.

People spread false information for various reasons, such as to advance their personal agenda or narrative, which can lead to echo chambers that filter out accurate information contrary to one’s own views. Even when people do not intend to spread false information online, doing so tends to happen because of a lack of attention paid to accuracy or lower levels of digital media literacy.

Inoculation against social contagion

So how much can people do about this?

One way to combat harmful contagion is to draw on an idea first used in the 1960s called pre-bunking. The idea is to train people to practice skills to spot and resist misinformation and disinformation on a smaller scale before they’re exposed to the real thing.

The idea is akin to vaccines that build immunity through exposure to a weakened form of the disease-causing germ. The idea is for someone to be exposed to a limited amount of false information, say through the pre-bunking with Google quiz. They then learn to spot common manipulation tactics used in false information and learn how to resist their influence with evidence-based strategies to counter the falsehoods. This could also be done using a trained facilitator within classrooms, workplaces or other groups, including virtual communities.

Then, the idea is to gradually repeat the process with larger doses of false information and further counterarguments. By role-playing and practicing the counterarguments, this resistance skills training provides a sort of psychological innoculation against misinformation and disinformation, at least temporarily.

Importantly, this approach is intended for someone who has not yet been exposed to false information – hence, pre-bunking rather than debunking. If we want to engage with someone who firmly believes in their stance, particularly when it runs contrary to our own, behavioral scientists recommend leading with empathy and nonjudgmentally exchanging narratives.

Debunking is difficult work, however, and even strong debunking messages can result in the persistence of misinformation. You may not change the other person’s mind, but you may be able to engage in a civil discussion and avoid pushing them further away from your position.

Spreading facts, not fiction

When everyday people apply this with their friends and loved ones, they can train people to recognize the telltale signs of false information. This might be recognizing what’s known as a false dichotomy – for instance, “either you support this bill or you HATE our country.”

Another signal of false information is the common tactic of scapegoating: “Oil industry faces collapse due to rise in electric car ownership.” And another is the slippery slope of logical fallacy. An example is “legalization of marijuana will lead to everyone using heroin.”

All of these are examples of common tactics that spread misinformation and come from a Practical Guide to Pre-Bunking Misinformation, created by a collaborative team from the University of Cambridge, BBC Media Action and Jigsaw, an interdisciplinary think tank within Google.

This approach is not only effective in combating misinformation and disinformation, but also in delaying or preventing the onset of harmful behaviors. My own research suggests that pre-bunking can be used effectively to delay the initiation of tobacco use among adolescents. But it only works with regular “booster shots” of training, or the effect fades away in a matter of months or less.

Many researchers like me who study these social contagion dynamics don’t yet know the best way to keep these “booster shots” going in people’s lives. But there are recent studies showing that it can be done. A promising line of research also suggests that a group-based approach can be effective in maintaining the pre-bunking effects to achieve psychological herd immunity. Personally, I would bet my money on group-based approaches where you, your friends or your family can mutually reinforce each other’s capacity to resist harmful social norms entering your network.

Simply put, if multiple members of your social network have strong resistance skills, then your group has a better chance of resisting the incursion of harmful norms and behaviors into your network than if it’s just you resisting alone. Other people matter.

In the end, whether we’re empowering people to resist the insidious creep of online falsehoods or equipping adolescents to stand firm against peer pressure to smoke or use other substances, the research is clear: Resistance skills training can provide an essential weapon for safeguarding ourselves and young people from harmful behaviors.

Shaon Lahiri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it – https://theconversation.com/misinformation-lends-itself-to-social-contagion-heres-how-to-recognize-and-combat-it-254298

July 7, 2025

Are people at the South Pole upside down?

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Abigail Bishop, Ph.D. Student in Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

At the South Pole, which way is up? Abigail Bishop

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

Are people on the South Pole walking upside down from the rest of the world? – Ralph P., U.S.

When I was standing at the South Pole, I felt the same way I feel anywhere on Earth because my feet were still on the ground and the sky was still overhead.

I’m an astrophysicist from Wisconsin who lived at the South Pole for seven weeks from December 2024 to January 2025 to work on an array of detectors looking for extremely high energy particles from outer space.

I didn’t feel upside down, but there were some differences that still made the South Pole feel flipped over from what I was used to.

As someone who loves looking for the Moon, I noticed that the face of the man on the Moon was flipped over, like he went from 🙂 to 🙃. All the craters that I was used to seeing on the top of the Moon from Wisconsin were now on the bottom – because I was looking at the Moon from the Southern Hemisphere instead of the Northern Hemisphere.

An image showing the Moon and the Earth, and how the Moon looks different from one end of the Earth than the other. — How the Moon looks depends on your point of view.
The Planetary Society, CC BY-SA

After noticing this difference, I remembered something similar in the night skies of New Zealand, a country near Antarctica where my fellow travelers and I got our big red coats that kept us warm at the South Pole. I had looked for Orion, a constellation that in the Northern Hemisphere is viewed as a hunter holding a bow and drawing an arrow from his quiver. In the night sky of New Zealand, Orion looked like he was doing a handstand.

Everything in the sky felt upside down and opposite, compared with what I was used to. A person who lives in the Southern Hemisphere might feel the same about visiting the Arctic or the North Pole.

A view of Earth from space. — ‘The Big Blue Marble’ photo, taken in 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17.
NASA

An out-of-this-world perspective

To understand what’s happening, and why things are really different but also feel very much the same, it might be useful to back up a bit from Earth’s surface. Like into outer space. On space missions to the Moon, astronauts could see one side of the Earth’s sphere at once.

If they had superhero vision, an astronaut would see the people at the South Pole and North Pole standing upside down from each other. And a person at the equator would look like they were sticking straight out the side of the planet. In fact, even though they might be standing on the equator, people in Colombia and Indonesia would also look like they were upside down from each other, because they would be sticking out from opposite sides of the Earth.

Of course, if you asked each person, they would say, “My feet are on the ground, and the sky is up.”

That’s because Earth is essentially a really big ball whose gravitational pull on every one of us points to the center of the planet. The direction that Earth pulls us in is what people call “down” all over the planet. Think about holding a baseball between your pointer fingers. From the perspective of your fingertips on the ball’s surface, both are pointing “down.” But from the perspective of a friend nearby, your fingers are pointing in different directions – though always toward the center of the ball.

These relationships between people on the Earth’s surface are good for a little bit of fun, though. While I was at the South Pole, I pointed my body in the same direction as my friends in Wisconsin – by doing a handstand. But if you look at the picture the other way around, it looks like I’m holding up the entire planet, like Superman.

A person does a handstand on a white surface near a red-and-white striped pole surrounded by flags of various nations. — This is the right way up: Abigail Bishop does a handstand at the ceremonial South Pole.
Abigail Bishop

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Abigail Bishop receives funding from National Science Foundation Award 2013134 and has received funding from the Belgian American Education Foundation.

– ref. Are people at the South Pole upside down? – https://theconversation.com/are-people-at-the-south-pole-upside-down-256754

July 7, 2025

Immigration de travail : au-delà des idées reçues

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Hippolyte d’Albis, Directeur de recherche au CNRS, Paris School of Economics – École d’économie de Paris

L’immigration de travail est devenue un sujet tellement passionnel que les réalités statistiques finissent pas en être oubliées. Or, loin des discours sur la submersion, l’immigration de travail reste un phénomène marginal et plutôt contrôlé. Si « grand remplacement » il y a, c’est celui de la raison par les affects.

Partenaire des Rencontres économiques d’Aix, The Conversation publie cet article. L’immigration sera le thème de plusieurs débats de cet événement annuel dont l’édition 2025 a pour thème « Affronter le choc des réalités ».

L’immigration suscite toujours des débats et controverses passionnés. Mais force est de constater que le cas spécifique de l’immigration pour raison professionnelle engendre des positions particulièrement polarisées. Ses partisans s’appuient sur sa longue histoire et mettent en avant tous ces « étrangers qui ont fait la France », des prix Nobel aux ouvriers des usines des Trente Glorieuses. Ses opposants avancent, quant à eux, l’idée qu’il est illogique de faire venir des étrangers pour travailler en France alors même qu’il y a tant de personnes sans emploi et que, facteur aggravant, le taux d’emploi des étrangers est inférieur à celui du reste de la population d’âge actif.

Du fait de son poids dans le débat politique, il est indispensable d’analyser l’immigration de façon rigoureuse. Les faits, souvent occultés par les passions, révèlent une réalité bien différente des discours convenus. L’immigration de travail en France, loin du raz-de-marée dénoncé, demeure un phénomène quantitativement marginal aux effets économiques bénéfiques à tous.

Tout d’abord, l’État français ne recrute plus de travailleurs à l’étranger depuis 1974.

Après avoir organisé pendant les Trente Glorieuses l’arrivée de six millions de travailleurs – d’abord d’Italie, puis d’Espagne, de Yougoslavie, du Maghreb et de Turquie –, la France a officiellement suspendu l’immigration de travail le 3 juillet 1974. Cette suspension a duré vingt-cinq ans avant d’être remplacée par un système de contrôle et de régulation des recrutements de travailleurs étrangers.

Ouverture européenne

Mais la construction européenne a transformé la donne. L’Union européenne forme aujourd’hui un gigantesque marché du travail de 220 millions d’actifs, dont seulement 15 % résident en France. Du fait de l’article 45 du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l’Union européenne, le marché français est totalement ouvert à près de 190 millions de travailleurs européens. Paradoxalement, cette ouverture massive – qui rend ridicule l’idée d’une France fermée à l’immigration – génère des flux annuels inférieurs à 100 000 personnes, soit à peine 0,1 % de notre population.

La régulation par l’État ne concerne donc que les ressortissants des pays dits tiers, ceux dont les ressortissants sont soumis à une obligation de détenir un titre de séjour pour résider en France.

Avec Ekrame Boubtane, nous avons reconstitué l’évolution de cette immigration professionnelle depuis 2000 à partir des bases de données exhaustives du ministère de l’intérieur. Les chiffres sont sans appel : en moyenne annuelle, moins de 13 400 personnes ont obtenu un premier titre pour motif professionnel. Comparé aux 750 000 jeunes qui arrivent chaque année sur le marché du travail, ce flux représente un phénomène quantitativement marginal.

Trois catégories distinctes

Cette immigration extraeuropéenne se décompose en trois catégories distinctes. La première concerne les personnes hautement qualifiées, baptisées « talents » par une terminologie révélatrice d’un certain mépris pour le reste de la population. Encouragée et mise en avant depuis la loi RESEDA de 1998, cette immigration, qui a la faveur de beaucoup de responsables politiques, a représenté 6 500 personnes en 2021.

La deuxième catégorie regroupe les salariés et saisonniers moins qualifiés mais disposant d’un contrat de travail français. Leur recrutement, soumis à un processus administratif lourd transitant par Pôle emploi (aujourd’hui, France Travail), a concerné 11 900 personnes en 2021.

La troisième catégorie, la plus importante, rassemble les régularisations de personnes en situation irrégulière. Ces procédures « au fil de l’eau », en constante progression depuis 2012, ont bénéficié à 12 700 personnes en 2021, soit 41 % de l’immigration professionnelle totale.

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Fausses évidences

Les craintes relatives à l’emploi et aux salaires sont souvent présentées comme les plus rationnelles. Le raisonnement paraît imparable : l’immigration accroît l’offre de travail, ce qui fait baisser les salaires ou augmente le chômage si les salaires sont rigides. Cette logique semble frappée au coin de l’évidence.

Pourtant, des décennies de recherches empiriques démontrent le contraire. Les études les plus célèbres ont analysé des « expériences naturelles » telles que l’expulsion par Fidel Castro de 125 000 Cubains vers Miami en 1980, ou l’arrivée de 900 000 rapatriés d’Algérie en France en 1962). Dans les deux cas, ces chocs migratoires considérables n’ont eu aucun effet significatif sur les salaires et le chômage des populations locales.

Ces résultats, confirmés par de nombreuses études dans différents pays, s’expliquent par trois mécanismes principaux. Premièrement, les étrangers subissent des discriminations sur le marché du travail, parfois pour des raisons objectives (moindre maîtrise de la langue), parfois par xénophobie. Ils ne peuvent donc « prendre la place » des nationaux qu’en cas de pénurie de main-d’œuvre, principe d’ailleurs institutionnalisé par les procédures d’autorisation de travail.

Deuxièmement, les étrangers se concentrent dans certains secteurs : 39 % des employés de maison, 28 % des agents de gardiennage, 27 % des ouvriers non qualifiés du bâtiment en 2017. Ces emplois, souvent délaissés, génèrent des externalités positives. L’exemple typique est celui des gardes d’enfants : leur disponibilité permet aux femmes nées localement de travailler davantage, augmentant ainsi leurs salaires).

France 24, 2025.

Troisièmement, les immigrés étant en moyenne plus jeunes, ils contribuent positivement au taux d’emploi de la population, marqueur crucial de la santé économique d’une société vieillissante. Cet effet démographique améliore l’équilibre des finances publiques et le niveau de vie générale).

Des discours privilégiant l’émotion à la raison

L’analyse factuelle révèle donc une immigration de travail d’ampleur modeste, sans effet délétère sur la situation économique des travailleurs français. Cette réalité statistique n’empêche pas le rejet persistant chez certains, alimenté par des discours politiques qui préfèrent l’émotion à la raison.

Le défi intellectuel et démocratique consiste à maintenir un débat rationnel sur ces questions sensibles. Car très vite, hélas, il n’y a plus de débat du tout : les positions se figent, les nuances disparaissent, et les préjugés l’emportent sur l’analyse rigoureuse.

L’objectif n’est pas de nier les préoccupations légitimes de nos concitoyens, mais de les éclairer par une connaissance précise des phénomènes en jeu. Car seule une approche factuelle permet de dépasser les postures idéologiques et de construire des politiques publiques efficaces. C’est à cette condition que nous pourrons enfin avoir un débat à la hauteur des enjeux de notre époque.

Cet article est publié dans le cadre d’un partenariat de The Conversation avec les Rencontres économiques, qui se tiennent du 3 au 5 juillet d’Aix-en-Provence. Plusieurs débats y seront consacrés à l’immigration.

Hippolyte d’Albis a reçu des financements de la Commission européenne.

– ref. Immigration de travail : au-delà des idées reçues – https://theconversation.com/immigration-de-travail-au-dela-des-idees-recues-259463

July 7, 2025

Quand le cynisme mine l’engagement dans la fonction publique…

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Youssef Souak, PhD – Assistant Professeur- INSEEC Business School, INSEEC Grande École

La rétention et la fidélisation des employés sont fréquemment citées comme des défis contemporains majeurs dans le monde du travail et la fonction publique n’est pas épargnée. Les nouveaux modes de management ont, en effet, ébranlé l’engagement de certains agents, convertis, malgré eux, à une forme de cynisme.

Une étude publiée par France Stratégie en 2024 soulignait une augmentation de la proportion des fonctionnaires démissionnaires au cours de la dernière décennie. Par exemple, la part des enseignants qui ont quitté volontairement les rangs de la fonction publique par rapport à l’ensemble des départs observés de ce métier est passée de 2 % des effectifs en 2012 à 15 % en 2022.

Ce phénomène ne serait certainement pas si inquiétant si les démissions ne concernaient que les stagiaires ou les jeunes recrues qui découvrent le métier. Désormais, même des agents chevronnés démissionnent après plusieurs années de service.

L’évolution du management public conduit les agents à ressentir un manque de soutien de leur hiérarchie qui peut conduire au développement progressif d’une posture cynique vis-à-vis de la fonction étatique. Alors que les organisations publiques étaient jusqu’alors épargnées par la concurrence intense, les restructurations et les changements de politique de gestion sont devenus une réalité dans la fonction publique. Parmi les principales évolutions, notons l’essor des systèmes de rémunération liée à la performance et le constat de licenciements croissants. La loi de transformation de la fonction publique de 2019 et le recours croissant à des agents contractuels ont effectivement multiplié les possibilités pour se séparer des fonctionnaires.

Nouvelle gestion publique, nouvelles préoccupations au travail

Cette réalité connue sous le nom de « nouvelle gestion publique » a pris forme depuis le milieu des années 1980. Sa mise en œuvre s’est intensifiée pour permettre aux organisations publiques de s’adapter à un environnement de plus en plus exigeant. Cette hybridation du modèle managérial public a entraîné une perte de repères des fonctionnaires et un niveau de stress ressenti plus élevé chez les travailleurs par rapport à leurs homologues du secteur privé. Les conséquences sur leur bien-être se manifestent alors de différentes manières : perception d’une ambiguïté des valeurs et des objectifs du service public, manque de reconnaissance, incertitude croissante, perte de sens.

Les recherches se sont intéressées aux leviers de mobilisation des fonctionnaires au travail, notamment grâce au concept de motivation du service public. Ce phénomène désigne la « prédisposition à répondre à des motivations enracinées principalement ou exclusivement dans les institutions et organisations publiques ». Les fonctionnaires choisiraient alors spécifiquement une carrière dans le service public pour des raisons altruistes, animés par le désir de contribuer au bien-être des autres et de la société.

Le cynisme comme modèle de réponse

La tradition philosophique attribue à Diogène de Sinope (v.413-v.323 av. n. è.) la conception du cynisme comme un modèle d’insolence et de protestation se manifestant par des actes délibérément provocateurs. Dans le champ de la gestion, le cynisme peut être considéré comme la réaction négative d’un individu envers son employeur en raison du manque d’intégrité de l’organisation. Il comporte à la fois :

une dimension cognitive fondée sur la croyance que l’organisation manque d’intégrité,
une dimension affective relevant des émotions négatives naissantes,
et une dimension comportementale liée à des attitudes réactives et progressives telles que le retrait, le désinvestissement ou le désengagement.

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Cynique. Et alors ?

Le cynisme devrait être une source de préoccupation majeure. Par exemple, une étude menée en 2019 par Dobbs et Do mettait en évidence l’inquiétude grandissante de l’armée américaine concernant les effets néfastes du cynisme sur le maintien de l’ordre et de la discipline dans ses rangs. Même constat en France, où une étude, menée par Sandrine Fournier en 2023 auprès d’enseignants, souligne la propagation du cynisme parmi les enseignants d’un établissement scolaire, qui mine leur attachement affectif, le sens donné à leur travail et finalement l’implication dans le suivi des résultats de leurs élèves.

Il faut alors comprendre comment une personne devient cynique ? Dans le secteur public, le cynisme trouve son fondement dans l’ambivalence et les paradoxes inhérents au discours réformateur. D’une part, on observe une rhétorique soulignant l’importance des valeurs républicaines d’entraide et de solidarité dans le service public, et d’autre part, on assiste à la mise en place d’une logique de rationalisation croissante pour sauver ce même service public.

Il devient particulièrement préoccupant lorsqu’il touche des fonctions vitales de la structure étatique. Une recherche menée en 2015 soulignait le rôle particulièrement important de l’inadéquation des valeurs et des discours dans le développement du cynisme et en particulier dans le secteur public. Cela s’expliquerait par le rôle du sens et de la vocation dans les choix de carrière des agents de la fonction publique. Certains évoquent la responsabilité des organisations publiques, dès lors, de promouvoir les politiques publiques avec un sens de la « mission » pour l’État et ses citoyens.

Fonctionnaire rationnel ou affectif ?

L’engagement des agents de la fonction publique repose à la fois sur une dimension axée sur la performance et sur le sens du dévouement. Dans cette perspective, il faut identifier le fonctionnaire rationnel et le fonctionnaire affectif. Ce dernier est attaché au sens et à la mission et se consacre à servir plutôt qu’à l’accomplissement de la tâche seulement. Or, l’intelligence émotionnelle et l’implication des fonctionnaires sont communément citées comme des leviers de qualité du service public.

France 24, 2023.

Alors, pour enquêter plus en profondeur sur les causes du cynisme organisationnel et sur ses effets sur l’engagement des agents du service public, nous avons mené en 2024 une étude quantitative impliquant 321 fonctionnaires français, opérant dans les secteurs de la santé, de l’éducation et de la recherche.

Dans cette étude à paraître, nous avons considéré la théorie du contrat psychologique comme une grille d’analyse pertinente pour étudier le cas des fonctionnaires. La notion de contrat psychologique renvoie à l’ensemble des engagements fondés sur des croyances partagées et des engagements mutuels et qui sont rarement explicités formellement. Cette grille de lecture trouve son intérêt dans le contexte du changement pour comprendre comment des mutations dans les attentes réciproques peuvent affecter les attitudes et les comportements individuels. Nous nous sommes intéressés plus particulièrement à l’impact de ces attentes informelles sur l’engagement et à l’intention de quitter l’organisation des fonctionnaires.

Partage de valeurs

Nos résultats montrent le rôle central du partage de valeurs. Les agents qui sont plus en phase avec les valeurs et le fonctionnement de l’organisation sont moins critiques à l’égard de ses échecs ou de ses lacunes. Les agents restent particulièrement attachés au sens, à la mission et à la vocation qu’à la volonté de faire carrière dans l’administration publique. Ainsi, lorsque leur conception du métier et leurs valeurs sont en phase avec ce qu’ils trouvent sur le terrain, les fonctionnaires développent un lien affectif fort avec leur institution. Ce lien pourrait expliquer la posture peu critique de ces agents, même lorsque leur employeur montre des défaillances ou une incapacité à tenir ses promesses.

D’un autre point de vue, nos résultats expliquent également les postures beaucoup plus critiques de ceux dont le contrat psychologique est rompu ou brisé. Il s’agit des agents qui ne comprennent pas les changements dans la logique institutionnelle parce qu’ils sont insuffisamment soutenus ou simplement incompris.

Notre recherche met en évidence différents profils :

les cyniques cognitifs ou affectifs qui resteront dans leur organisation, mais seront moins efficaces dans leurs tâches ;
et les cyniques comportementaux qui utilisent le dénigrement, la critique ou l’humour pour se distancier des ambiguïtés et des frustrations.

Pour les agents qui souhaitent rester fidèles et loyaux à leurs valeurs, ce désalignement entre imaginaire et réalité peut constituer une rupture de ce contrat psychologique. Il s’agirait alors pour eux de préférer la loyauté envers soi-même à la loyauté envers l’institution. Les salariés qui s’engagent en quête de sens au travail, en acceptant de faire des sacrifices en termes d’avantages matériels, peuvent revoir leurs conditions d’engagement lorsqu’ils ne sont plus convaincus que rester est un bon choix.

Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.

– ref. Quand le cynisme mine l’engagement dans la fonction publique… – https://theconversation.com/quand-le-cynisme-mine-lengagement-dans-la-fonction-publique-256606

July 7, 2025

Comment gérer l’isolement professionnel des travailleurs free-lance ?

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Aneta Hamza-Orlinska, Professeure assistante en gestion des ressources humaines, EM Normandie

Beaucoup de travailleurs free-lance éprouvent ou disent éprouver un sentiment de déconnexion vis-à-vis de l’organisation qui les emploie et de leurs collègues. Cela génère chez eux des sentiments d’aliénation, de stress et de frustration qui relèvent toutefois davantage de l’isolement professionnel que social. Comment les entreprises peuvent-elles repérer ces signaux faibles et mettre en place des mesures pour mieux les intégrer ?

Le travail indépendant a connu un fort essor ces dernières années avec le développement de la « gig economy », ou « économie des petits boulots ». Apparues avec les plateformes collaboratives telles qu’Uber ou Deliveroo qui n’emploient pas de salariés, mais travaillent avec des micro-entrepreneurs, ces nouvelles formes de travail ont engendré un malaise de plus en plus important chez les personnes ayant choisi ce statut professionnel. Si l’indépendance présente des avantages, elle rime aussi souvent avec isolement.

Les travailleurs free-lance se retrouvent, tant physiquement que mentalement, déconnectés de leurs collègues et de l’organisation, cumulant souvent plusieurs emplois et travaillant à distance. Malgré les opportunités d’intégrer des communautés virtuelles, ils demeurent particulièrement vulnérables à l’isolement, plus encore que les salariés permanents ou ceux en télétravail. Par ailleurs, leurs interactions avec les managers, superviseurs ou prestataires de services tendent à se réduire à des échanges strictement transactionnels, accentuant ainsi leur sentiment de solitude, qui demeure essentiellement professionnel.

Les entreprises font de plus en plus appel aux travailleurs en free-lance, qui opèrent parallèlement aux salariés traditionnels. Cependant, les dispositifs mis en œuvre pour identifier et intégrer ces professionnels restent identiques à ceux employés pour les équipes permanentes, alors qu’une intégration véritablement inclusive devrait prendre en compte la nature autonome, asynchrone et transactionnelle de leur mode de travail.

Deux formes d’isolement

Les travailleurs en free-lance peuvent ressentir l’isolement professionnel sans forcément se sentir isolés socialement. En effet, la recherche établit une distinction claire entre ces deux concepts.

L’isolement social découle du fait que les besoins émotionnels ne sont pas comblés, notamment en raison de l’absence de liens spontanés et de relations de travail que l’on retrouve habituellement en présentiel, un phénomène exacerbé par le télétravail. À l’inverse, l’isolement professionnel se traduit par le sentiment d’être déconnecté des autres et privé d’informations essentielles, compromettant ainsi les interactions clés au sein de l’entreprise.

Bien que ces deux formes d’isolement soient liées à la séparation d’autrui, l’isolement social se caractérise par l’absence de proximité avec les autres, tandis que l’isolement professionnel se manifeste par une déconnexion perçue vis-à-vis des collègues ou par l’accès insuffisant aux ressources et à l’information nécessaires pour accomplir le travail.

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Des demandes paradoxales

Les travailleurs indépendants se trouvent souvent géographiquement éloignés et n’aspirent pas nécessairement à établir des liens sociaux dans leur environnement professionnel. Parfois, ils sont amenés à collaborer sur des projets avec des salariés permanents ou d’autres free-lances dans un même espace, en ligne ou en présence physique. Pourtant, malgré ces interactions, ils se perçoivent souvent comme des externes, peu enclins à créer des liens sociaux, leur mission étant généralement limitée dans le temps.

Notre recherche, menée entre 2022 et 2025, se base sur une cinquantaine d’entretiens et l’observation de travailleurs indépendants employés par des plateformes ou des entreprises, révèle que ces travailleurs peuvent éprouver un isolement professionnel sans pour autant se sentir socialement appauvris. Pourquoi ?

Les travailleurs indépendants adoptent une approche purement professionnelle de leurs relations. Ils n’ont pas d’attentes sociales élevées dans le cadre professionnel, car ils perçoivent leur mission avant tout comme une transaction plutôt que comme une opportunité de tisser des liens personnels. Les indépendants compensent leur manque de socialisation sur leur lieu de travail en se connectant avec leur entourage personnel, amical et familial.

Leurs besoins affectifs se trouvent souvent en dehors du cadre professionnel. La différence avec les employés permanents est qu’ils bénéficient, en plus de leur réseau personnel, d’une socialisation quotidienne avec leurs collègues, souvent par des interactions informelles (conversations autour de la machine à café) reconnues comme favorisant la coopération et le développement du réseau professionnel en entreprise – ce dont les travailleurs en free-lance sont généralement moins concernés.

L’un des travailleurs indépendants interviewés dans le cadre de notre recherche, un copywriter ( en marketing, rédacteur de contenu web) de 50 ans, a déclaré :

« C’est très limitant sur le plan professionnel lorsqu’il y a des ressources auxquelles on ne peut pas accéder à cause de l’endroit où l’on se trouve. Je trouve cela très isolant. »

À l’inverse, beaucoup d’autres affirment, à l’image d’un webdesigner freelance (35 ans) :

« Je ne me sens pas isolé socialement. Je suis tout à fait à l’aise avec cela. »

Pour certains, la distance physique et la flexibilité, inhérentes au travail indépendant, ne sont pas perçues comme des obstacles, mais plutôt comme des atouts. L’absence de contraintes sociales imposées par un environnement de bureau traditionnel peut être libératrice et permettre une meilleure gestion de leurs interactions sociales. Pour d’autres types de freelances, notamment pour ceux ayant auparavant exercé en tant que salariés permanents en entreprise, une période d’adaptation peut être nécessaire pour s’ajuster à ce nouveau mode de travail.

Un manque de reconnaissance professionnelle

Isolés d’un point de vue professionnel, ces travailleurs se retrouvent déconnectés. Ils n’ont pas de feed-back constructif de la part de leurs responsables de mission et se sentent négligés dans leur rôle professionnel. L’absence ou la nature négative du retour d’information empêche les travailleurs indépendants de sentir que leurs contributions sont reconnues, ce qui renforce leur sentiment d’isolement professionnel et limite leur capacité à ajuster et améliorer leur travail.

De plus, les échanges majoritairement transactionnels, souvent via des canaux numériques dépourvus de signaux non verbaux, rendent difficile l’établissement d’une véritable connexion avec les managers et l’accès aux informations nécessaires pour un travail efficace. Étant rarement intégrés aux processus décisionnels, ces travailleurs se retrouvent en marge des discussions stratégiques, accentuant ainsi leur déconnexion par rapport aux dynamiques organisationnelles et à l’évolution de leur rôle professionnel.

Une meilleure intégration serait-elle possible ?

Les pratiques traditionnelles d’intégration ou d’inclusion, qu’elles soient sociales ou formelles, reposent sur l’hypothèse que la cohésion d’équipe et le sentiment d’appartenance se construisent par des interactions sociales régulières et des dispositifs d’inclusion institutionnalisés au sein des organisations.

BFM Business, 2021.

Or, pour les travailleurs indépendants dont la relation avec l’organisation est essentiellement transactionnelle, ces mécanismes se révèlent inadaptés. Par conséquent, les dispositifs traditionnels, focalisés sur la socialisation, ne répondent pas aux enjeux spécifiques de ces travailleurs.

Il apparaît donc crucial de repenser l’intégration en adoptant une approche d’« inclusion professionnelle » qui privilégie une communication adaptée, la participation aux processus décisionnels et le renforcement des liens fonctionnels avec les acteurs organisationnels clés.

Pour les travailleurs indépendants, être intégrés dans la prise de décision concernant leurs tâches est particulièrement important, car ils sont recrutés pour leur expertise. Cela renforce le sentiment d’inclusion professionnelle, puisqu’ils peuvent voir les résultats de leur investissement et de leur travail.

Un autre élément clé est la communication : non seulement la diversité des outils de communication disponibles, mais aussi la capacité à transmettre efficacement les messages et à accéder aux informations nécessaires pour accomplir leurs missions, généralement fournies par le client ou un manager. Enfin, fournir un feed-back sur leur travail permet non seulement de les valoriser, mais aussi de leur faire comprendre leurs contributions et les attentes du manager.

Un aspect à garder en tête pour les responsables RH concerne la requalification des free-lances en CDI.

Cette possibilité se présente lorsque des travailleurs indépendants, jusque-là très autonomes et engagés dans une relation purement transactionnelle, commencent à s’intégrer davantage à l’équipe, à collaborer de façon rapprochée et à tisser des liens relationnels plus forts, ce qui réduit la distance physique et l’autonomie propres à leur statut initial. Les politiques RH ne soulèvent pas encore cette problématique, qui pourrait toutefois prendre de l’ampleur à mesure que le monde du travail évolue et se transforme.

– ref. Comment gérer l’isolement professionnel des travailleurs free-lance ? – https://theconversation.com/comment-gerer-lisolement-professionnel-des-travailleurs-free-lance-258651