Introduction: social activism, belonging and citizenship in a period of crisis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shana Cohen ◽  
Jan-Jonathan Bock
Keyword(s):  
Social Space ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Just Society ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk

This chapter introduces the books and the individual chapters, which were written by both academics and practitioners in the field in Germany and the UK. The book reflects an interest in democracy and, more pointedly, in how to express and practice citizenship, particularly in relation to helping others and generating a physical and social space for individual belonging. The book builds a narrative of how policy has failed to account for social belonging and, likewise, provide a framework for social solidarity in welfare reform though in practice the experience of belonging seems critical for instigating changes in individual behaviour and self-confidence. Part I: The Social Consequences of Welfare Policy examines policy attempts to address related aspects of poverty and consolidate a social role for the state through specified responsibilities, whether through providing health services, unemployment insurance, or other benefits. Part II: The Practice of Social Good is comprised of practitioner case studies. The section shows how grassroots activism translates abstract notions of a just society fashioned by policymakers. Part III: Social Change and Neoliberalism returns to the presentation of academic research and Part IV: Situating Solidarity in Perspective continues providing a critical platform to discuss the meaning of citizenship.

Covid-19 as a Tool of Information Influence in the «Post-Truth» Epoch

2020 ◽  
pp. 72-85
Author(s):  
Nataliia Nechaieva-Yuriichuk
Keyword(s):  
Information Technologies ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Remarkable Feature ◽  
World Community ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk

he emergence of new information technologies has changed the course of human life – both modernizing and speeding its pace. A remarkable feature of the current socio-political situation is, in our opinion, is the (de) humanization of social communication. It is a question of actual change of a communication paradigm on horizontal and vertical levels. Virtualization as the basis of modern professional and personal life acquires more perfect forms. At the same time, according to the author, it is causing the destruction of the individual as such. The XXI century entered into the history of world civilization as an era of post-truth: in 2016, the Oxford Dictionary chose the term «post-truth» as the word of the year. In the last year of the second decade of the XXI century, Covid-19 became a top news not only in the field of health care, but also in other spheres of life of the world community, including the political sphere. The Covid-19 pandemic has become an instrument of informational influence, which in the post-truth era is one of the most effective in the context of transforming the individual and the mass consciousness in a «convenient» or «necessary» direction for a particular political actor. Since the beginning of the pandemic, disinformation about the origin of the coronavirus, ways of its spread, prevention measures, etc. has been actively spread. In addition, we observe purposeful activities to form an atmosphere of fear and panic among the masses; and in each region certain cases and features of the mentality are taken into account. Among the nations of the world, the United Kingdom has linked social activism to misinformation spread and the activity of various bots and trolls on networks. In March 2020, the UK government set up a special anti-disinformation unit. Dissemination of misinformation about the coronavirus is, in our opinion, one of the important tools to influence the world community in the context of changing worldviews and visions of national, regional and global development prospects. And a clear understanding of the purpose of these actions is a key for developing adequate mechanisms for protection against information violence, which in the post-truth era turns us into hostages to information flows.

scholarly journals Fighting for What? Couples’ Communication, Parenting and Social Activism: The Case Study of a “Christian-Muslim” Families’ Association in Brussels (Belgium)

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Cerchiaro
Keyword(s):  
Social Role ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Aims And Scope ◽  
The Public Sphere

Mixed families have historically been considered to be a direct consequence of a process of social and cultural integration of migrants within the host society, although this link has recently been problematized by scholars. By focusing on the case study of an association of “Christian-Muslim” families in Belgium, this article offers a better understanding of the social consequences of mixedness. The article seeks to shed light on the private and public life of the couples who are members of this association by answering the following research questions: Why do couples turn to this association? At what stages of their lives? What is the social role that the association aims to play in society? Using partners’ life stories and ethnographic observation gathered during the association’s meetings, the findings demonstrate how this association plays an important role at different levels and at different stages of a family’s life. The analysis will highlight that: (1) there is a specific aim to help new couples to face administrative, religious and cultural “obstacles” they encounter during the first period of their relationships, and (2) special meetings to discuss the challenge of parenting are at the core of the association’s activities. The “problem” of transmission requires of the couple further negotiations to find a way to balance their respective cultural backgrounds. These negotiations have to take into account the power misbalance within the Belgian hegemonic context. (3) The social activism of this association is an important aspect of its aims and scope. Some of the couples are active in countering a dominant stereotypical representation of mixed couples. They organize meetings and events to sensitize public opinion on interreligious dialogue, migration issues and the fight against racism. In this way, the association proposes itself as a new peculiar agent of social change in the public sphere.

scholarly journals Older people and creativity: What can a social pedagogical perspective add to this work?

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Social Pedagogy ◽  
Psychosocial Challenges ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Participatory Arts

While for some older people longevity is a blessing, for others it is a curse. This article draws on the author’s experience of working through the National Lottery Fund’s Ageing Better programme with groups of older people in Leicester, many of whom are marginalised in terms both of society and under-represented in research. Four psychosocial challenges are identified from this experience: handling change; chronic loneliness; meaninglessness; and loss of a social role. The article explores the significance of creativity whether linked to the participatory arts or creative thinking and problem solving in addressing these challenges. It acknowledges the value of the participatory arts but highlights problems of accessibility and sustainability. The article explores briefly the concept of ‘everyday creativity’ and touches on the underexplored areas of how creativity can link to freeing up some rigidities in mindset and opening older people up to new possibilities. Finally, it examines the principles and practices of social pedagogy. Despite there being very few examples of practice with older people in the UK named as social pedagogy, it is suggested that the perspective is highly relevant to this area of work. Not only do the values and skills match what is needed, but adopting a social pedagogical perspective across the sector might enhance the self-confidence of staff and volunteers, the quality of the work, and provide a much-needed common language. Psychosocial knowledge and skills could, with benefit, be integrated.

scholarly journals The price of everything, and the value of nothing? Stories of contribution in entrepreneurship research

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 918-938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Drakopoulou Dodd ◽  
Paul Jones ◽  
Gerard McElwee ◽  
Mohamed Haddoud
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Scholarship ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report findings from the first stage of a study that focusses on research in the domain of entrepreneurship as a process of knowledge creation and exchange. It seeks to discover what entrepreneurship scholars really believe that they contribute. Focusses on the entrepreneurship academic community and examine two issues: the value scholars perceive, in terms of both how an individuals’ work can be seen to be a contribution to knowledge, and what “contribution to knowledge” means to the individual researcher. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ a qualitative approach within which 20 entrepreneurship professors were asked to complete a semi structured research instrument to express their opinions on the value of the authors’ research and the extent to which the authors’ work contribute to knowledge and practice. The sample was drawn from full entrepreneurship professors from the UK, USA, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Findings Suggest that entrepreneurship scholars publish for a plurality of reasons including personal fulfilment, interest, and necessity. It was also noted that the motivations for academic scholarship have changed with increased internal and external pressures and a drive to publish in certain journals. Research limitations/implications This is a novel study not undertaken previously in the entrepreneurship discipline. The results will inform research practices within the entrepreneurship discipline and represent the basis for an ongoing large scale global quantitative study of the entrepreneurship discipline. Originality/value The outcomes of this research inform higher education stakeholders in the construction of valid research strategies thus providing a suitable impact upon academia and society. It provides an initial insight into drivers for academic research within the entrepreneurship discipline, and the opportunities, challenges and paradoxes which various approaches to research contribution entail.

Dowagers, Debs, Nuns and Babies: The Politics of Nostalgia and the Older Woman in the British Sunday Night Television Serial

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 769-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estella Tincknell
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Mature Female ◽  
Older Woman ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Position ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Popular Television

The extensive commercial success of two well-made popular television drama serials screened in the UK at prime time on Sunday evenings during the winter of 2011–12, Downton Abbey (ITV, 2010–) and Call the Midwife (BBC, 2012–), has appeared to consolidate the recent resurgence of the period drama during the 1990s and 2000s, as well as reassembling something like a mass audience for woman-centred realist narratives at a time when the fracturing and disassembling of such audiences seemed axiomatic. While ostensibly different in content, style and focus, the two programmes share a number of distinctive features, including a range of mature female characters who are sufficiently well drawn and socially diverse as to offer a profoundly pleasurable experience for the female viewer seeking representations of aging femininity that go beyond the sexualised body of the ‘successful ager’. Equally importantly, these two programmes present compelling examples of the ‘conjunctural text’, which appears at a moment of intense political polarisation, marking struggles over consent to a contemporary political position by re-presenting the past. Because both programmes foreground older women as crucial figures in their respective communities, but offer very different versions of the social role and ideological positioning that this entails, the underlying politics of such nostalgia becomes apparent. A critical analysis of these two versions of Britain's past thus highlights the ideological investments involved in period drama and the extent to which this ‘cosy’ genre may legitimate or challenge contemporary political claims.

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.

Sisterhood and After

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaretta Jolly
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Women's Liberation ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Collective Memories ◽  
Women’S Liberation ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Personal Accounts ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Cultural Taste

This ground-breaking history of the UK Women’s Liberation Movement explores the individual and collective memories of women at its heart. Spanning at least two generations and four nations, and moving through the tumultuous decades from the 1970s to the present, the narrative is powered by feminist oral history, notably the British Library’s Sisterhood and After: The Women’s Liberation Oral History Project. The book mines these precious archives to bring fresh insight into the lives of activists and the campaigns and ideas they mobilised. It navigates still-contested questions of class, race, violence, and upbringing—as well as the intimacies, sexualities and passions that helped fire women’s liberation—and shows why many feminists still regard notions of ‘equality’ or even ‘equal rights’ as insufficient. It casts new light on iconic campaigns and actions in what is sometimes simplified as feminism’s ‘second wave’, and enlivens a narrative too easily framed by ideological abstraction with candid, insightful, sometimes painful personal accounts of national and less well-known women activists. They describe lives shaped not only by structures of race, class, gender, sexuality and physical ability, but by education, age, love and cultural taste. At the same time, they offer extraordinary insights into feminist lifestyles and domestic pleasures, and the crossovers and conflicts between feminists. The work draws on oral history’s strength as creative method, as seen with its conclusion, where readers are urged to enter the archives of feminist memory and use what they find there to shape their own political futures.

Punk as Folk: Continuities and Tensions in the UK and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pete Dale
Keyword(s):  
Folk Music ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Collective Creativity ◽  
Living Tradition ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk

Numerous claims have been made by a wide range of commentators that punk is somehow “a folk music” of some kind. Doubtless there are several continuities. Indeed, both tend to encourage amateur music-making, both often have affiliations with the Left, and both emerge at least partly from a collective/anti-competitive approach to music-making. However, there are also significant tensions between punk and folk as ideas/ideals and as applied in practice. Most obviously, punk makes claims to a “year zero” creativity (despite inevitably offering re-presentation of at least some existing elements in every instance), whereas folk music is supposed to carry forward a tradition (which, thankfully, is more recognized in recent decades as a subject-to-change “living tradition” than was the case in folk’s more purist periods). Politically, meanwhile, postwar folk has tended more toward a socialist and/or Marxist orientation, both in the US and UK, whereas punk has at least rhetorically claimed to be in favor of “anarchy” (in the UK, in particular). Collective creativity and competitive tendencies also differ between the two (perceived) genre areas. Although the folk scene’s “floor singer” tradition offers a dispersal of expressive opportunity comparable in some ways to the “anyone can do it” idea that gets associated with punk, the creative expectation of the individual within the group differs between the two. Punk has some similarities to folk, then, but there are tensions, too, and these are well worth examining if one is serious about testing out the common claim, in both folk and punk, that “anyone can do it.”

scholarly journals COVID-19 Inequalities: Individual and Area Socioeconomic Factors (Aragón, Spain)

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6607
Author(s):  
Isabel Aguilar-Palacio ◽  
Lina Maldonado ◽  
Sara Malo ◽  
Raquel Sánchez-Recio ◽  
Iván Marcos-Campos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Retrospective Cohort ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Deprivation Level ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Multilevel Analyses ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second Wave

It is essential to understand the impact of social inequalities on the risk of COVID-19 infection in order to mitigate the social consequences of the pandemic. With this aim, the objective of our study was to analyze the effect of socioeconomic inequalities, both at the individual and area of residence levels, on the probability of COVID-19 confirmed infection, and its variations across three pandemic waves. We conducted a retrospective cohort study and included data from all individuals tested for COVID-19 during the three waves of the pandemic, from March to December 2020 (357,989 individuals) in Aragón (Spain). We studied the effect of inequalities on the risk of having a COVID-19 confirmed diagnosis after being tested using multilevel analyses with two levels of aggregation: individuals and basic healthcare area of residence (deprivation level and type of zone). Inequalities in the risk of COVID-19 confirmed infection were observed at both the individual and area level. There was a predominance of low-paid employees living in deprived areas. Workers with low salaries, unemployed and people on minimum integration income or who no longer receive the unemployment allowance, had a higher probability of COVID-19 infection than workers with salaries ≥ €18,000 per year. Inequalities were greater in women and in the second wave. The deprivation level of areas of residence influenced the risk of COVID-19 infection, especially in the second wave. It is necessary to develop individual and area coordinated measures by areas in the control, diagnosis and treatment of the epidemic, in order to avoid an increase in the already existing inequalities.

scholarly journals First-of-a-kind muography for nuclear waste characterization

2018 ◽  
Vol 377 (2137) ◽  
pp. 20180048 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mahon ◽  
Anthony Clarkson ◽  
Simon Gardner ◽  
David Ireland ◽  
Ramsey Jebali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Imaging System ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Laboratory Facility ◽  
Waste Container ◽  
High Resolution Images ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

In the last decade, there has been a surge in the number of academic research groups and commercial companies exploiting naturally occurring cosmic-ray muons for imaging purposes in a range of industrial and geological applications. Since 2009, researchers at the University of Glasgow and the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) have pioneered this technique for the characterization of shielded nuclear waste containers with significant investment from the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd. Lynkeos Technology Ltd. was formed in 2016 to commercialize the Muon Imaging System (MIS) technology that resulted from this industry-funded academic research. The design, construction and performance of the Lynkeos MIS is presented along with first experimental and commercial results. The high-resolution images include the identification of small fragments of uranium within a surrogate 500-litre intermediate level waste container and metal inclusions within thermally treated GeoMelt® R&D Product Samples. The latter of these are from Lynkeos' first commercial contract with the UK National Nuclear Laboratory. The Lynkeos MIS will be deployed at the NNL Central Laboratory facility on the Sellafield site in Summer 2018 where it will embark upon a series of industry trials. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Cosmic-ray muography’.

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