Taking a Position

2021 ◽  
pp. 544-560
Author(s):  
Stephen Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Scientific Representation ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Uk

This chapter is stimulated by the author’s collaboration with the renowned choreographer Sharon Watson and dancers from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance to produce a contemporary dance work exploring the feelings of people who had voted for and against Brexit in the UK referendum of 2016. Suggesting that through attention to corporeal experience we might find ways of encapsulating prevalent political moods, it considers the ways in which political affect can exceed the capacities of typical scientific representation. Focusing on what it means to take a position, the chapter argues that dance has the potential to provide ways of attending to deep, prereflective, affective moods underlying and surrounding political situations. The chapter reflects upon the work of translation through which a choreographic devising process was informed by qualitative data. The idea of affective framing is outlined as a new way of thinking about such translatory work. Four arguments for further imaginative collaboration between artists and social scientists are offered, with a view to developing modes of political attention that capture the dynamics of politics as a felt experience.

Researching (with) Major Food Retailers

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Evans
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Major Food ◽  
Food Retailers ◽  
Food Retailer ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Opening Up

This paper considers the relationship between social science and the food industry, and it suggests that collaboration can be intellectually productive and morally rewarding. It explores the middle ground that exists between paid consultancy models of collaboration on the one hand and a principled stance of nonengagement on the other. Drawing on recent experiences of researching with a major food retailer in the UK, I discuss the ways in which collaborating with retailers can open up opportunities for accessing data that might not otherwise be available to social scientists. Additionally, I put forward the argument that researchers with an interest in the sustainability—ecological or otherwise—of food systems, especially those of a critical persuasion, ought to be empirically engaging with food businesses. I suggest that this is important in terms of generating better understandings of the objectionable arrangements that they seek to critique, and in terms of opening up conduits through which to affect positive changes. Cutting across these points is the claim that while resistance to commercial engagement might be misguided, it is nevertheless important to acknowledge the power-geometries of collaboration and to find ways of leveling and/or leveraging them. To conclude, I suggest that universities have an important institutional role to play in defining the terms of engagement as well as maintaining the boundaries between scholarship and consultancy—a line that can otherwise become quite fuzzy when the worlds of commerce and academic research collide.

scholarly journals The Sleeping Lives of Children and Teenagers: Night-Worlds and Arenas of Action

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 133-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Moran-Ellis ◽  
Susan Venn
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Sleep Time ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Constructions Of Childhood ◽  
The Uk

Most research into sleep, even that which includes a sociological dimension, tends to focus on sleep outcomes, in effect following an agenda set by the natural sciences and psychology. The work reported in this paper engages with the material and social dimensions of sleep from within social constructionist and interactionist frameworks, seeking to explore and theorise the meaning and experience of sleep from the perspective of the sleeper. In doing this, we examine how contemporary constructions of sleep and constructions of childhood and adolescence arise and are linked in the UK context. Sleep time tends to be constructed as empty of activity other than sleeping and devoid of the sorts of interactions that characterise wakeful day-time. However, a grounded analysis of qualitative data generated with 9 children and 20 teenagers suggested that the assumption of absence of activity and interaction was misleading: their nights were populated by a range of actors, presences and activities. Placing our focus on these aspects of our participants’ accounts of their sleep we found that the temporal, spatial and interactional dimensions of routine sleep served to create a definable arena of action (Hutchby and Moran-Ellis 1998) which was marked out both materially and socially. We conceptually frame this arena of sleep as a night-world (Moran-Ellis, 2006).

‘Who Wants to be a Social Engineer? A commentary on David Blunkett's Speech to the ESRC’

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hodgkinson
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Politics And Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
Education And Employment ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
The Uk

This article is a response to a speech addressed to the Economic and Social Research Council which was made, in February this year, by the UK Secretary of State for Education and Employment, David Blunkett. The speech was entitled ‘Influence or Irrelevance: can social science improve government?’ . Blunkett's programme for engaging social science in the policy process is far from unique and many of the arguments have been heard before. However, the curiosity of the speech lies in the fact that the conception of social science which Blunkett advocates mirrors the approach New Labour itself has to politics and government. This raises some rather interesting difficulties for social scientists. How do we engage in a debate about the role of social scientific research in the policy process when our own conception of the discipline may be radically at odds with that of the government? Furthermore, New Labour's particular conception of the relationship between social and policy-making means that we not only have to contest their notion of what it is we do, but also challenge their conception of the policy process. We cannot ignore this engagement, even if we wanted to. The challenge is to address it and to do so, moreover, in terms which Blunkett might understand. This article is an attempt to start this process.

Co-creation and Engagement: What Festivalgoers Want in the UK Rock Festival Experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa Eve Brown
Keyword(s):  
Rock Music ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Consumer Behaviour ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Positive Word ◽  
Music Festivals ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Positive Word Of Mouth ◽  
Practical Implications

This paper seeks to better understand the festivalgoers’ experience by determining what festivalgoers want at UK rock music festivals. Examining the experience journey, important attributes were identified in pre-, peri- and post-festival phases. Qualitative data was collected from 124 festivalgoers through semi-structured group interviews that were conducted on-site at three different UK rock festivals. Thematic analysis revealed the importance of co-creation and engagement through each phase of the festivalgoer experience. The practical implications of this study provide festival organisers with the opportunity to direct their management efforts on the strategic optimisation of experiences that may promote preferred consumer behaviour through positive word of mouth and future reattendance. Moreover, this article offers a conceptual model of the festivalgoer experience.

Social Media and Its Implications for Marketing Communications

2015 ◽  
pp. 252-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Yankova ◽  
Wilson Ozuem
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Customer Retention ◽  
Marketing Communications ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Marketing Communication ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Uk

The field of marketing communications studies is often called on to close the gap between marketing and computer-mediated studies. This chapter engages with the concept of social media in the design and implementation of marketing communication programmes, particularly in the UK Fashion sector. The chapter goes on to conclude, rather sceptically, that understandings of the various nuances of social media platforms could engender effective customer retention programmes. It also offers a new way of thinking about customer engagement, incorporating social media platforms.

scholarly journals The culture of UK employee-owned worker cooperatives

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 761-776
Author(s):  
David Wren
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Employee Ownership ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Additional Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Worker Cooperatives ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Ownership Types

PurposeThis paper presents exploratory, empirical data from a three-year study of organizational culture in for-profit, employee-owned businesses within the UK, comparing ownership types (direct, trust, and cooperative). It outlines the study and then focuses on worker cooperatives. Culture is illuminated through the lens of performance and reward management.Design/methodology/approachQualitative data was gathered from three worker cooperatives based in the North of England, using semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document review and was compared to qualitative data collected from other types of employee-owned businesses.FindingsThe findings suggest a distinct culture within worker cooperatives encompassing five key values: a whole life perspective, consistently shared values, self-ownership, self-control, and secure employment.Research limitations/implicationsAdditional time with each cooperative and a greater spread of cooperatives would be beneficial. The research was carried out during a period of organizational growth for the case organizations, which may influence attitudes to reward and retention management.Practical implicationsThe results inform recruitment and retention policy and practice within worker cooperatives and highlight concerns regarding the stresses of being a self-owner. These are important considerations for potential worker co-operatives alongside policy recommendations to advance employee ownership.Originality/valueA comparative analysis of culture, performance, and rewards across different employee ownership types has not been undertaken before. This addresses an under-researched area of employee ownership regarding HR practices. Within the UK, recent research on the culture(s) of worker cooperatives is limited.

scholarly journals The variable and evolving nature of ‘cuckooing’ as a form of criminal exploitation in street level drug markets

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Spicer ◽  
Leah Moyle ◽  
Ross Coomber
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Crack Cocaine ◽  
Drug Markets ◽  
Drug Supply ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Criminal Exploitation ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
The Impact

AbstractA form of criminal exploitation rarely mentioned in the academic literature has recently emerged, evolved and taken meaningful hold in the UK. Hundreds of cases of ‘cuckooing’ have been reported, where heroin and crack cocaine dealers associated with the so-called ‘County Lines’ supply methodology have taken over the homes of local residents and created outposts to facilitate their supply operations in satellite locations. Dominant narratives surrounding this practice have stressed its exploitative nature and the vulnerabilities of those involved. Combining qualitative data from two studies, this paper critically analyses the model of cuckooing and the experiences of those affected. In turn it explores the impact of County Lines on affected areas and local populations, a topic that has received little academic scrutiny. Four typologies of cuckooing are constructed, highlighting its variance and complexity. Findings also suggest it to be a growing method of criminal exploitation beyond drug supply with a possible burgeoning presence being realised internationally.

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