Entering the Street Field: A Case Study on Gangs

2021 ◽  
pp. 323-339
Author(s):  
Alistair Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Boundary Work ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Cultural Reproduction ◽  
Street Gangs ◽  
Distinct Form ◽  
Academic Field

This chapter makes the case for criminological ethnography as a form of negotiated boundary work between separate sociocultural domains. Drawing on the conceptualization of “field” articulated by Pierre Bourdieu, as a semiautonomous site of contest, the chapter conceives of fieldwork as a distinct form of emotional labor; in short, as fieldwork. In making this argument, the chapter presents findings from a four-year ethnographic study of street gangs in Glasgow, Scotland, which involved navigating multiple, overlapping fields. The first section introduces the study, covering the experience of entering the “street field” of Langview. The second and third sections outline two empirical contributions flowing from the study, covering cultural reproduction in the “street” field and bureaucratic misrecognition in the “police” field. The fourth is a reflexive account of the disjuncture between the “street” and “academic” field, and the reflections this prompted. In conclusion, the chapter suggests a number of implications and conclusions for ethnography, gang studies, and public policy.

scholarly journals The Unexplored Socio-Cultural Benefits of Coffee Plants: Implications for the Sustainable Management of Ethiopia’s Coffee Forests

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3912
Author(s):  
Bikila Jabessa Bulitta ◽  
Lalisa A. Duguma
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Gene Pools ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Cultural Services ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Jimma Zone ◽  
Food And Drink

Coffee is among the most popular commodity crops around the globe and supports the livelihoods of millions of households along its value chain. Historically, the broader understanding of the roles of coffee has been limited to its commercial value, which largely is derived from coffee, the drink. This study, using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, explores some of the unrevealed socio-cultural services of coffee of which many people are not aware. The study was conducted in Gomma district, Jimma Zone, Oromia National Regional state, Ethiopia, where arabica coffee was first discovered in its natural habitat. Relying on a case study approach, our study uses ethnographic study methods whereby results are presented from the communities’ perspectives and the subsequent discussions with the communities on how the community perspectives could help to better manage coffee ecosystems. Coffee’s utilities and symbolic functions are numerous—food and drink, commodity crop, religious object, communication medium, heritage and inheritance. Most of the socio-cultural services are not widely known, and hence are not part of the benefits accounting of coffee systems. Understanding and including such socio-cultural benefits into the wider benefits of coffee systems could help in promoting improved management of the Ethiopian coffee forests that are the natural gene pools of this highly valuable crop.

scholarly journals Professionalism, Payment by Results and the Probation Service: A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Marketisation on Professional Autonomy

2021 ◽  
pp. 095001702110038
Author(s):  
Matt Tidmarsh
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Community Rehabilitation ◽  
Probation Office ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Privately Owned

This article utilises Foucauldian understandings of the sociology of the professions to explore how marketising reforms to probation services in England and Wales, and the implementation of a ‘Payment by Results’ (PbR) mechanism in particular, have impacted professional autonomy. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a probation office within a privately owned Community Rehabilitation Company, it argues that an inability to control the socio-economic organisation of probation work has rendered the service susceptible to challenges to autonomy over technique. PbR was proffered as a means to restore practitioner discretion; however, the article demonstrates that probation staff have been compelled to economise their autonomy, adapting their conduct to conform to market-related forms of accountability. In this sense, it presents the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms to probation as a case study of the impact of marketisation on the autonomy of practitioners working within a public sector profession.

Examining the potential of textual big data analytics for public policy decision-making: A case study with driverless cars in Denmark

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 68-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aseem Kinra ◽  
Samaneh Beheshti-Kashi ◽  
Rasmus Buch ◽  
Thomas Alexander Sick Nielsen ◽  
Francisco Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Driverless Cars ◽  
Policy Decision Making

Social urbanism: public policy and place brand

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
Place Brand ◽  
The City

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on how a public policy designed to address a social problem ultimately became the place brand.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a qualitative case study approach focusing on the city of Medellín, Colombia. It draws from fieldwork conducted in Medellín over 2014 and 2015, including semi-structured interviews with an array of local stakeholders.FindingsThe paper concludes that local governments should be aware that the policymaking process can become part of their branding. It also shows the importance of the continual involvement of stakeholders in the place brand process to ensure it is a sustainable brand.Originality/valueThere are limited studies which focus on how a public policy designed to address a social problem ultimately becomes the place brand. This paper shows how a public policy, social urbanism, became the branding of Medellín.

Socio-Semantic Processes in Social Actors Representation: A Case Study of “Ya-Sin”

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-169
Author(s):  
Roghayeh Farsi
Keyword(s):  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Linear Nature ◽  
Do So ◽  
Semantic Processes

AbstractThe academic field of Qurʾānic Studies employs a wide range of approaches, each one of which helps to open up a new perspective on the Qurʾānic text. The Holy Book was revealed to guide people; it is thus of relevance to all aspects of people’s lives. This article focuses on the way social actors are represented in one Meccansūra, entitled “Ya-Sin”, and employs a case-study approach to do so. The analysis carried out includes the socio-semantic processes that thesūrauses in order to represent social actors either by behavior (action) or meaning (reflection), and it also analyzes the actors as they are represented in processes such as activation and passivation. The methodology adopted is eclectic and analytic. It is a hybrid of Swales’ move analysis, El-Awa’s identification of shift-markers, and Halliday’s and Van Leeuwen’s theories of social actor representation. This study shows how such an analysis can contribute to understanding the apparently fragmented and non-linear nature of “Ya-Sin”.

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