The Social Construction of Official Statistics: The Case of the UK ‘Measuring National Well-being’ Programme

2018 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
pp. 881-899
Author(s):  
Matt Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Official Statistics ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

Entanglements between Agency and Vulnerability in the Phenomenon of Birth. Reflections on Children’s Expressions about ‘Being Born’

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2-2020) ◽  
pp. 135-146
Author(s):  
Catrin Heite ◽  
Veronika Magyar-Haas
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Cultural Embeddedness

Analogously to the works in the field of new social studies of childhood, this contribution deals with the concept of childhood as a social construction, in which children are considered as social actors in their own living environment, engaged in interpretive reproduction of the social. In this perspective the concept of agency is strongly stressed, and the vulnerability of children is not sufficiently taken into account. But in combining vulnerability and agency lies the possibility to consider the perspective of the subjects in the context of their social, political and cultural embeddedness. In this paper we show that what children say, what is important to them in general and for their well-being, is shaped by the care experiences within the family and by their social contexts. The argumentation for the intertwining of vulnerability and agency is exemplified by the expressions of an interviewed girl about her birth and by reference to philosophical concepts about birth and natality.

scholarly journals Comparative characteristics of social approval of the phenomenon of vegetarianism in Russia and the UK

2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-116
Author(s):  
V. A. Pitkin ◽  
L. A. Holodnaya
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Vegetarian Diet ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Vegan Diet ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Social Approval ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

The article presents an analysis of the social phenomenon of vegetarianism from a historical, medical and sociological point of view. The purpose of this article is to analyze secondary data from cross-cultural studies in Russia and the UK. The main task was to highlight the main features of the attitude towards vegetarianism in the framework of the "Western" mentality and to study the perception of the phenomenon of vegetarianism in the minds of Russians, to compare the data obtained. To accomplish the set tasks, the analysis of theoretical material on the topic of vegetarianism as a phenomenon of modern society, its main types, specificity as a system of sociocultural patterns was carried out. In the course of an empirical analysis of intercountry trends in the field of attitudes towards vegetarianism, the following points were recorded using the example of two countries. The proportion of people on a vegetarian or vegan diet is higher in the UK. However, both in Russia and in the UK, 10–15% of respondents were found who could try this type of diet and stick to it for about a month. In Russia, personal well-being and health is more often the argument in favor of a vegetarian diet, while in the UK people are more interested in protecting the environment.

scholarly journals Living a good life from the perspectives of the Chinese migrants in Scotland

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Caroline Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Capital Theory ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Chinese Migrants ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

The 2011 Census shows 34,000 Chinese people living in Scotland, making Chinese the second largest minority group residing in Scotland. Among them, the asylum and refugee population continue to be largely invisible in the service delivery in Glasgow, which has been the only dispersal area in Scotland since 1999. Remarkably little research has been carried out on the UK Chinese migrant community in the literature, and this study proposed to fill the gap of finding out the wellbeing of this population. The researcher investigated the factors contributing to the wellbeing of twenty-five Chinese migrants, who are either asylum seekers or refugees in Glasgow as the first stage of a wellbeing study, adopting the concepts from the Wellbeing in Developing Countries framework (White, 2008). The Indicators of Integration (Strang & Ager 2008) and the Social Capital Theory (Putnam 1995) were used as reference points to explore the understanding of well-being and social connections. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to find out the core constructs of wellbeing from the Chinese peoples perspectives and thematic analysis was used in data analysis. The top five themes that emerged were childrens education, employment and financial independence, health care, freedom of speech and association, and support from own ethnic group.

Conclusion

A Child's Day ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 165-178
Author(s):  
Killian Mullan
Keyword(s):  
Time Use ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

This concluding chapter surveys the key findings and issues raised in the previous chapters. This study of a child's day provides the most extensive picture currently available in the UK, and elsewhere in the world, into how children's time use has changed over the past several decades. It identifies areas of expected change as well as other areas of surprising stability. It reveals how change and stability in children's time use blend together to comprise a child's day, uncovering also the multi-layered contexts of a child's day. Aspects of children's time use, and how this may have changed, will no doubt continue to surface in public debate in connection with their well-being. While welcoming this, it is necessary to always question and seek to understand how supposed changes actually fit within a child's day, the types of days where these changes are concentrated, among whom, and to seek out evidence on how such changes relate to other activities and the social contexts of daily life.

scholarly journals Whither development studies? Reflections on its relationship with social policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Copestake
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
International Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Development Studies ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Evolving System ◽  
The Uk

This paper contributes to an ongoing conversation between development studies (DS) and social policy (SP) as academic fields, particularly in the UK. Using Andrew Abbott's analysis of the social sciences as an evolving system of knowledge lineages (KLs), it reflects on the status of DS and its relationship with SP. Defining DS as a distinctive KL centred on critical analysis of ideas and projects for advancing human well-being, I suggest that it has lost coherence even as research into international development thrives. Indeed it is easy to envisage its gradual assimilation into other KLs, including SP. The two increasingly overlap in their analysis of the causes of relative poverty and injustice, and what can be done to address them, within countries and globally. Strengthening links between the two fields can be justified as a political project, even at the risk of some loss of plurality and plenitude across the social sciences.

scholarly journals Surviving rather than thriving: Understanding the experiences of women coaches using a theory of gendered social well-being

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 424-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne Norman ◽  
Alexandra Rankin-Wright
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Women Coaches ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
Dead End ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Hegemonic Femininity ◽  
Experiences Of Women ◽  
Depth Interviews

In shifting our gaze to the sociological impact of being in the minority, the purpose of this study was to substantiate a model of gendered social well-being to appraise women coaches’ circumstances, experiences and challenges as embedded within the social structures and relations of their profession. This is drawn on in-depth interviews with a sample of head women coaches within the UK. The findings demonstrate that personal lives, relationships, social and family commitments were sidelined by many of the participants in order to meet the expectations of being a (woman) coach. We locate these experiences in the organisational practices of high performance sport which hinder women coaches from having meaningful control over their lives. The complexities of identity are also revealed through the interplay of gender with (dis)ability, age and whiteness as evidence of hegemonic femininity within the coaching profession. Consequently, for many women, coaching is experienced as a ‘developmental dead-end’.

scholarly journals “Wipe them out”! The Social Construction of Children’s Centres

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-23
Author(s):  
Peter Goy
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Political Perspective ◽  
Vulnerable Families ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Four Discourses ◽  
Children’S Centres

Abstract The future for Children’s Centres in England looks bleak.. A change in government in the UK in 2010 saw a change in political perspective that was manifested in one way as austerity. The effects of austerity impacted on a range of public services including Children’s Centres. Children’s Centres also came under government scrutiny resulting in a change of focus in their activities from a core offer of providing services to having a core purpose. The study used a flexible qualitative design to produce a critical discourse analysis about the social construction of Children’s Centres. A range of publicly available documents were gathered to provide naturalistic data relating to Children’s Centres. In addition, six Children’s Centre workers were purposefully selected to take part in a semi structured focus group interview. The subsequent analysis of the document and interview data revealed a range of rhetorical devices used by speakers to construct their perceptions of Children’s Centres. These constructions were organised under four dominant discourses; a discourse of recognition, a discourse of pragmatism, a discourse of pessimism and a discourse of change. One common factor in these four discourses was the role of the UK government. Children’s Centres did not appear to get recognition for some the work they did with families but there was a pragmatism about what Children’s Centres could provide during a period of austerity. There was pessimism about what was happening to Children’s Centres especially in relation to vulnerable families but what seemed inevitable was Children’s Centres were changing.

scholarly journals Corresponsabilidad social en el cuido. La contribución del movimiento feminista en Costa Rica

2012 ◽  
pp. 200-227
Author(s):  
Ana Lucía Fernández Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Household Composition ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Las Mujeres

El presente artículo explica la construcción social de la división sexual del trabajo y cómo esta división asigna valores distintos a trabajos diferentes. El debate ha transcendido en la institucionalidad costarricense por medio de la corresponsabilidad social del cuido, partiendo de dos fenómenos todavía no resueltos: el cambio en la composición de las familias y la incorporación de la mujer en el mercado de trabajo, situaciones que han generado nuevas condiciones para las mujeres. Además, se abordan los avances en materia jurídica y de políticas públicas, el papel del movimiento feminista, con el objetivo de extender la corresponsabilidad social del cuido por parte de todos los sectores de la sociedad costarricense y alcanzar el bienestar de todas las personas. ABSTRACT The article describes the social construction of gender of the division of work by gender, and how this separation assigns different values to different jobs. This debate has transcended the Costa Rican institutionalization through co-responsibility for care work from two unresolved phenomena: the change in household composition and the entry of women into the labor market; situations that have created new conditions for women. Furthermore, the article addresses advances in legal and public policy matters, the role played by the feminist movement with the aim of extending the social co-responsibility for care work by all sectors of Costa Rican society and for the well-being of people.

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