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This paper investigates alcohol consumption within cultures of football fandom through the innovative combination of theories of the carnivalesque and Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field, and capital. Focus groups (n = 79) were conducted with football supporters in England and Scotland. Semi-structured interviews (n = 15) were also conducted with key organizational stakeholders. Research explored the importance and role of alcohol consumption for supporters when watching or attending matches.. Participants confirmed the cultural significance, perceived normalcy and historical links between football and alcohol consumption. Supporters highlighted the importance of the sociability, friendship, and social capital aspects of alcohol consumption. Participants believed football supporters are perceived differently in comparison with supporters of other sports, arguing that legislation surrounding alcohol consumption at other sports allowed supporters to enhance the carnivalesque by drinking alcohol, whereas football fans were more restricted. Participants agreed the habitus of excessive drinking and violence associated with football supporters led to a bad reputation, however, this view was outdated. Participants also recognized a growing drug culture in football. The findings draw attention to the alcohol-sport relationship and the contested relations, and diverging interests and influences, within the social field of football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United Kingdom, people with non-white ethnicities are more likely to report being in worse health conditions and have poorer experiences of healthcare services than white counterparts. The voices of those of Black ethnicities are often merged in literature among other non-white ethnicities. This literature review aims to analyse studies that investigate Black participant experiences of primary care in the UK. We conducted a systematic literature review searching Medline, Web of Science, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Social Policy and Practice, CINAHL plus, Psych INFO and Global Health with specific search terms for appropriate studies. No publish date limit was applied. 40 papers (39 articles and 1 thesis) were deemed eligible for inclusion in the review. A number of major themes emerged. Patient expectations of healthcare and the health seeking behaviour impacted their interactions with health systems in the UK. Both language and finances emerged as barriers through which some Black participants interacted with primary care services. (Mis)trust of clinicians and the health system was a common theme that often negatively impacted views of UK primary care services. The social context of the primary care service and instances of a cultural disconnect also impacted views of primary care services. Some papers detail patients recognising differential treatment based on ethnicity. The review included the voices of primary care professionals where descriptions of Black patients were overwhelmingly negative. Views and experiences of Black groups may be radically different to other ethnic minorities and thus, should be teased out of broader umbrella terms like Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) and Black Minority Ethnic (BME). To address ethnicity-based health inequalities, culturally sensitive interventions that engage with the impacted community including co-designed interventions should be considered while acknowledging the implications of being racialised as Black in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental element of quality healthcare is that provision is accessible to all users and culturally sensitive to them. However, there is evidence to suggest that there is inequity of provision across all cultures. Furthermore, there is a paucity of published research in the United Kingdom concerning palliative care for minority ethnic families with a life-threatened or life-limited child or young person. The article sets out to discuss the findings of a literature review and, drawing on current work by the Centre for Children and Families Applied Research at Coventry University under the leadership of Professor Jane Coad, to explore the interface between South Asian cultures and the experience of palliative care services of children, young peoples, and families. All families require a broad range of services which are appropriately delivered and accessible throughout the trajectory of their child's illness. The literature review findings reveal that how families understand concepts such as health and disease arise from the complex interaction between personal experience and cultural lifestyle including language, family values, and faith. There is an urgent need to involve South Asian families in research in order to provide a robust evidence-base on which to develop service provision so that care is matched to the unique needs of individuals concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decolonisation is a socio-political movement which challenges Eurocentrism and post-colonial notions of power. This has numerous implications for higher education institutions (HEIs), where the content and delivery of curricula may be seen as products of colonial legacy. The decolonisation agenda has increasing support from students, the academy, and regulatory bodies, which together are invoking HEIs to act. This paper reports on research undertaken within a UK HEI, which benchmarked the extent to which programmes followed characteristics of (de)colonised curricula. A survey, based on existing open access resources, was completed by 99 staff and 290 students across four schools. Findings suggest differences in how curricula are perceived by staff and students, and between white and minority ethnic student groups. Given growing global interest in decolonisation and associated social justice themes, this research has important applications for other HEIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the engagement and attitudes of students in a UK school learning about the Holocaust, with a focus on refugee students. This paper explores students' behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagement with the subject, with a focus on the students' experiences. Findings revealed an enthusiasm and understanding from most students, but particularly refugee students. The culture in the classroom was also studied, showing that there were pockets of antisemitism in its contemporary form present in the classroom, impacting student learning. This paper explores the links between these findings, the implications and suggestions of what this means for current practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is bodily-material dynamics of urban trauma in ruins of Miners' Welfare institutions in the Nottinghamshire coalfield, UK. Emergent geographical work on urban trauma has explored how attritional 'slow' violence enacts in space and time, emphasising the complexities of spatiotemporal processes of collective trauma. Processual theorisations in urban trauma literature are prefigured by those in recent ruins research where there is a retheorisation from ruin as object to ruins contingent of spatiotemporal processes of ruination. Bringing recent literatures on urban trauma into closer dialogue with ruins research, this paper makes a methodological contribution to bodily-material dynamics of urban trauma in spaces of ruination. Contributing to theoretical and empirical debates on industrial ruins and ruination, I advance two interrelated methodological positions: archival research and critically reflexive embodied ethnographies. Following a tracing of their development, I situate Miners' Welfares within theorisations of urban trauma and ruin(ation) before proposing a pluralistic and processual methodological framework. The utility of this framework is then enhanced by an empirical section arguing that bodily-material dynamics suggest moments of 'fast violence' imbricate the slow violence of ruination to constitute how urban trauma is textured into, and evoked by, the decline of Miners' Welfares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racism is often perceived as a conscious choice an individual makes to abuse another, or an explicit statement that a group of people are inferior to another. Less often is racism construed as a product of institutional culture. This inability to accurately depict the problem has stunted the ability of lawmakers to craft legislation that will adequately combat racism. This paper explores attempts in the recent past that have provided remedies for those subject to racism rather than addressing its systemic causes. S149 of the Equality Act in the United Kingdom bucked this trend by obligating public authorities to take proactive steps to eliminate discrimination. This paper examines the challenges the provision has faced, explores how it could work to prevent racism in the coming years, and argues that it remains important today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents summaries of literature reviews conducted on the role and scope of spatial planning, community engagement and culture change. The reviews were intended to add to the understanding of the scope and potential of spatial planning through a systematic and reflective review of research and comment from Great Britain and mainland Europe.

While the impacts of cultural mega-events on a city's projected image have been extensively explored, less attention has been devoted to their role in relation to territorial stigmatization. These events have, in some cases, engaged with issues of stigmatization, as happened in Glasgow (European City of Culture 1990) and Derry-Londonderry (UK City of Culture 2013). This paper explores how built heritage is mobilized through a cultural mega-event in relation to stigma, through a case study of the city of Hull, in Northern England. Despite being among the country's main ports until the 1930s, Hull suffered from steady structural socio-economic decline, in particular due to the demise of its fishing industry from the 1970s onwards. Hull UK City of Culture 2017 was understood as an opportunity to counter negative external perceptions. Heritage was mobilized to tell the story of the city, engage residents and visitors in cultural activities and boost civic pride. Events in 2017 and beyond promoted heritage learning in innovative ways, also through the spectacularisation of heritage spaces. However, the official evaluation of Hull 2017 shows how positive immediate results were later scaled down, suggesting that these events are not sufficient on their own to counter stigmatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: A Society's view of disability may influence the perception and use of Assistive Technology (AT) products. Semantic cues or cultural coding provide the viewer with a series of visual stimuli to be given or ascribed meaning. Previous research has shown cognitive approaches to visual perception and assignment of meaning vary between diverse cultures. This study reviews the influence of contextual settings on perception, to provide the basis for a debate on the societal perception of communicative content (semantic/meaning) of an AT product; and, the relevance of different cultural cognitive styles. The paper explores, from a cultural viewpoint, the overall understanding of disability internationally. Method: A Semantic Differential (SD) scale was used to obtain views on the image of an attendant wheelchair from nine hundred and ninety-one (991) young adults from the United Kingdom (UK) and Pakistan (PAK), reflecting the individualist and collectivist societies, respectively. This survey follows a previous paper-based study using the same image and protocol. Comparing the two surveys, a consensus of views from the two groups was achieved. Results and conclusion: The responses from the UK group were skewed towards a negative view of disability compared to the Pakistan group. This inferred greater social stigma associated with this AT product in the UK. The combined findings from both surveys provide insights into societal perception of AT products and disability. Areas for future research are suggested, including what visual components of an AT product (graphemes) appear to be associated with positive or negative responses for collectivist and individual societal groups. Assistive Technology (AT) product designers, academics, professionals and stakeholders need to be aware of challenges which are originated from one's socio-cultural environment. AT products convey certain meanings, semantics, which are interpreted by the society and are subjective to a specific cultural setting. •For the effective communication of meanings and values an AT product relies on the visual clues and design features embedded within the design. However, there have been a limited number of studies reviewing this aspect of product semantics. •The survey and associated testing has highlighted the differences in cultural perception towards AT products and demonstrated the importance of effectively designing the semantic attributes of an AT product as well as its function. •The demonstration of the efficacy of methods within the study for exploring the interpretation of semantic attributes of AT products will help designers and developers better understand the perceptions of individual cultures and societal groups. •A better understanding of different cultures and societies will enable designers and clinicians who specify AT products to reduce AT product abandonment; and, the associated stigma around disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there has been increasing focus in recent years on interdisciplinary approaches to health and disease, and in particular the dimension of social inequalities in epidemics, infectious diseases have been much less focused on. This is especially true in the area of cultural dynamics and their effects on pathogen behaviours, although there is evidence to suggest that this relationship is central to shaping our interactions with infectious disease agents on a variety of levels. This paper makes a case for a biocultural approach to pandemics such as COVID-19. It then uses this biocultural framework to examine the anthropogenic dynamics that influenced and continue to shape the COVID-19 pandemic, both during its initial phase and during critical intersections of the pandemic. Through this understanding of biocultural interactions between people, animals and pathogens, a broader societal and political dimension is drawn as a function of population level and international cultures, to reflect on the culturally mediated differential burden of the pandemic. Ultimately, it is argued that a biocultural perspective on infectious disease pandemics will allow for critical reflection on how culture shapes our behaviours at all levels, and how the effects of these behaviours are ultimately foundational to pathogen ecology and evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on 12 months of ethnographic research to explore the drinking experiences of young people, aged 15–24, living in the suburban case study locations of Chorlton and Wythenshawe, Manchester, UK. This paper moves beyond the contemporary geographical imaginary of alcohol consumption as a city centre issue, to explore suburban indoor and outdoor drinking cultures. Through paying attention to atmospheres of darkness and lightness, I show how drinkscapes are active constituents of young people’s drinking occasions, rather than passive backdrops. More than this, I illustrate how young people transform dark and light drinkscapes, thereby shaping the drinking practices of themselves and others. Through looking at the interplay between the curating of an atmosphere, and the experience of that atmosphere when bodies, and practices are inserted into it, this paper offers a different take on the ‘drinking at home is bad, drinking in public spaces is good’ argument, with original policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to analyse and evaluate the subject of supporter ownership as a form of football governance. The historical evolution of football has seen the game transform into a contemporary global product that transcends geographical boundaries, culture and tradition. The formation of Supporters Direct in 2000 represents the formalization of supporter activism as supporters sought to promote democratic practices within the game in search of a sustainable sport. The emergence of Supporters’ Trusts across the UK and Ireland symbolizes a significant shift in the governance of football. The embracement of community as a concept and an awareness of group ideology, has enabled the Supporters’ Trust model to prosper at a lower level of the game. This paper seeks to trace the conditions which contributed to the emergence of supporter ownership; explore how the concept has been formalized; and examine the role of active supporters in the League of Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a case of social conflict in an overlooked corner of England (Lincolnshire) in the late 1980s when self-described 'local' people opposed private housing developments and the migration of 'southerners', 'townies' and 'commuters' into their towns and villages. Protestors lamented change and disliked newcomers. This was a reaction to the arrival of affluent, 'post-industrial' workers on the back of a booming service sector. They personified a series of complex, interconnected socioeconomic and cultural changes which disrupted patterns of life rooted in disappearing productive industries and destabilised communities amidst factory closures, agricultural mechanisation, job losses and now suburbanisation. This affected meanings ascribed to places and introduced hierarchies and conflicts structured around Britain's transition towards a service economy. Opposition was expressed through nostalgia, conservationism, inverse snobbery, anti-metropolitanism, attachment to 'local' identities, and concerns about declining independence, community and power. This paper argues that these protests demonstrate the emergence of new ideas about social relations, difference and distinction in post-industrial England. The findings also highlight feelings which would slowly seep into a new, reactionary politics foreshadowing the way that many towns and rural areas (including Lincolnshire) embraced a new political right in the first decades of the next millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper reports findings from a one-year UK knowledge exchange (KE) project completed in 2015. Stakeholders’ experiences of evaluation were explored in order to develop online resources to strengthen knowledge and capacity within the arts and health sector (www.creativeandcredible.co.uk). Methods: The project used mixed methods, including a survey, interviews and focus groups, guided by a Stakeholder Reference Group comprised of 26 leading UK evaluators, researchers, artists, health professionals, commissioners and funders. Results: The project identified opportunities for arts arising from current health and social care policy agendas. It also identified challenges including the lack of agreed evaluation frameworks and difficulties in evaluation practice. Conclusions: Co-production between stakeholders is needed to strengthen evaluation practice and support the development of the arts and health sector. Effective co-production can be undermined by structural and cultural barriers as well as unequal stakeholder relationships. The paper discusses recent initiatives designed to support best practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The current trend in public policy is to valorise culture as a tool for social, economic and political transformation. This paper offers a direct contribution to debates that seek to unpack and problematise cities of culture. We adopt a more circumspect approach towards some aspects of the anticipated transformative powers of culture, and in particular the tendency to fetishize the economics of culture. Our empiricism is grounded in a detailed study of Derry~Londonderry as the inaugural UK City of Culture in 2013. We question whether City of Culture was 'life and place changing' or a '12 month party', and reveal different interpretations of success. In our view there is more potential in viewing culture as a peace resource for overcoming divisions in a socially and culturally segregated city, rather than its ability to tackle entrenched economic problems. Moving beyond the specifics of the case study we also provide lessons for future cities of culture and more generalizable insights for the academic and policy literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although considerable attention has been given to issues impacting on the educational experiences of Gypsy/Traveller learners in the UK, most of the literature is oriented towards ethnicity rather than gender. This paper illuminates the experiences of young Gypsy/Traveller women who are engaging with secondary education, and functioning in a dual cultural framework, in a time of increased gender equality. The intersectionality of culture, class and religion frequently conflicts with the notions of gender equality and education, requiring young women to make difficult choices. It is suggested there is an urgent need to problematise and deconstruct stereotypes typically held about Gypsy/Traveller girls, as not all young women feel disengaged, restricted, excluded and in conflict. While some young women, as is their right, wish to conform to cultural-gendered norms, this study has revealed some strong, resilient women who critically challenge values and norms within their community, which negate their right to a full education, to bring about positive change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes research undertaken as part of an MA study in leadership. It draws on interviews with six high profile leaders at the fore front of end of life care sector in the UK. Its findings and emerging themes offer insights about the opportunities for social work leaders in palliative care in the future and how the profession and palliative care sector address current barriers to taking advantage of such opportunity. The main focus of this paper is leadership related to palliative care social work. However, it relates to much broader themes including the history, politics and culture of this profession and the requirements for leadership on the part of social work in the broader contexts of health and social care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 20 years, industrialised Western nations have witnessed a marked increase in right-wing social movements and political parties. While the origins and agendas of these groups differ in important ways, all arose in a climate of intensifying globalisation. All arose in the context of a widespread embrace of multiculturalism and cultural diversity. And all are keenly focused on the perceived threats posed by immigration. This paper examines immigration threat narratives constructed by four of these groups: the British National Party, the One Nation Party, the Tea Party Patriots, and the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Striking similarities in the narratives employed by these groups suggest the emergence of a transnational right-wing populist ‘playbook’. The paper further argues that even when the direct electoral impact of such groups is relatively small, they have the potential to substantially reshape broader political discourse and public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: The purpose of this paper was to highlight the importance of cultural infl uence in understanding hearing-help seeking and hearing-aid uptake. Design: Information on audiological services in different countries and ' theories related to cross-culture ' is presented, followed by a general discussion. Study sample: Twenty-seven relevant literature reviews on hearing impairment, cross-cultural studies, and the health psychology model and others as secondary resources. Results: Despite the adverse consequences of hearing impairment and the significant potential benefits of audiological rehabilitation, only a small number of those with hearing impairment seek professional help and take up appropriate rehabilitation. Therefore, hearing help-seeking and hearing-aid uptake has recently become the hot topic for clinicians and researchers. Previous research has identified many contributing factors for hearing help-seeking with self-reported hearing disability being one of the main factors. Although significant differences in help-seeking and hearing-aid adoption rates have been reported across countries in population studies, limited literature on the infl uence of cross-cultural factors in this area calls for an immediate need for research. Conclusions: This paper highlights the importance of psychological models and cross-cultural research in the area of hearing help-seeking and hearing-aid uptake, and consequently some directions for future research are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The recognition of medical professionalism as a complex social construct makes context, geographical location and culture important considerations in any discussion of professional behaviour. Medical students, medical educators and practitioners are now much more on the move globally, exposing them to cultural and social attitudes, values and beliefs that may differ from their own traditional perceptions of professionalism. Aims and Methods: This paper uses the model of the intercultural development continuum and the concept of 'cultural fit' to discuss what might transpire when a student, teacher or doctor is faced with a new cultural environment. Using our own experiences as medical educators working abroad and supported by evidence in the literature, we have developed four anecdotal scenarios to highlight some of the challenges that different cultural contexts bring to our current (Western) understanding of professionalism. Results and Conclusions: The scenarios highlight some of the potentially different regional and/or cultural perspectives and nuances of professional behaviours, attitudes or values that many of us either take for granted or find difficult, depending on our training and socio-cultural upbringing. With this paper, we hope to start a long overdue conversation about global professionalism amongst medical educators, identify potential areas for research and highlight a need for medical schools to embrace a 'global' approach to how professionalism is embedded in their curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study highlights the importance of international spectator sports in the maintenance of collective identity among international students. No research has been conducted on the international student experience of sport fandom away from home and on the impact of such a following on national identification. Using qualitative findings from interviews with international postgraduate students in England, this paper shows how the FIFA World Cup tournament in 2010 offered the opportunity to celebrate and consolidate national and regional identity, as well as to heal wounds. Far away from the home country, the televised football matches galvanised students into forming temporary conational communities in a bid to recreate some of the atmosphere of celebration taking place at home, and to bond at a distance with the home culture. This paper offers an important contribution to the literature on international education by pointing to the role played by sport in the international student experience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There has been increasing media and political questioning of the national loyalties and identities held by young British Muslims, with a particular focus on those seen to separate themselves through strict and religiously observant dress and lifestyles. This paper draws primarily on research focusing on the meanings of ‘Britishness’ held amongst a group of visibly observant young Muslim adults. Empirical evidence is provided to demonstrate that although these young adults demonstrated an explicit and visible sense of Muslim identity, this co-existed without any conscious conflict with their British identity. The young adults’ acknowledgement of their religious attachment developed from a positive and proactive identification with Islam rather than one in opposition or rebellion against a British identity. Therefore, in a wider context, their lives must not be analysed only through the lens of religion, dress and appearance as this has repercussions in relation to national policy formation and subsequent perceptions of wider society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about cultural variation in perceptions about the age when youngsters should be regarded as competent to make decisions. This is of particular importance as research has shown the significant effect of parental influence on their children’s decision-making. A public survey of 400 adults from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds in the UK and Spain was carried out. Their attitudes regarding adolescents’ ability with regard to common areas of decision-making were assessed using case vignettes including discontinuing family traditions and religious practice. It was found that White British adults agreed for younger adolescents to make decisions about themselves compared with the other ethnic groups. High religious practice was associated with later age to make decisions. The paper argues that there is socio-cultural variation in adults’ attitudes regarding the age when youngsters should make decisions about themselves and for the need of professionals to take this into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The paper plots some shifts in educational policy between 1988 and 2009 in England that launched the rhetoric of a ‘gender gap’ as a key political and social concern. The rhetoric was fuelled by a rise in the importance of quantification in technologies of accountability and global comparisons of achievement. A focus on boys and attainment emerged, along with new requirements for measuring educational achievement in the context of debates about standards and the growing marketisation of education following the 1988 Educational Reform Act (ERA) in England and Wales. Purpose: Theoretically, the paper explores the effect of ‘gender gap’ rhetoric on pedagogy. The arguments about pedagogy presented here are based on the premise that sex-group is different from gender. Sex-group is a form of labelling and categorising persons as either male or female with reference to a biological classification that focuses on genitalia and reproductive organs. The emergence of ‘gender gap’ rhetoric is investigated within a temporal perspective, through an overview of guidance to teachers about pedagogy published between 1932 and 2007. This temporal lens becomes a heuristic for presenting the main point of the paper, which is that technologies of measurement construct reified representations of the learner. This is used to demonstrate how gender, as a sociocultural and political phenomenon, morphed into sex-group, a biological categorisation, and how this has had unintended effects of pedagogy. Sources of evidence: Analysis of three landmark educational documents focuses on changes in representations of society, the learner and pedagogy. The documents are the Hadow Report (1931), the Plowden Report (1967) and a guidance document for teachers called ‘Confident, Capable and Creative: supporting boys’ achievements’ (Department for Children, Schools and Families 2007,http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Confident_Capable_Boys.pdf). Main argument:Analysis demonstrates the way that technologies of measurement construct reified or ‘ideal’ representations of the learner and how technologies used for measuring sex-group difference have changed across time. Shifts in representations of the learner, from the ‘bone child’ to the ‘gene child’ and eventually to the ‘masculine child’ were detected. These shifts represent a gradual decline in the emphasis on pedagogy as nurture, towards a heightened focus on the supposedly innate characteristics of individuals, in line with neoliberalism. Conclusions:The discussion points to some of the unintended effects on pedagogy and practice that take place when gender becomes sex. If teachers are constantly presented with the message that boys and girls learn differently due to innate genetic make-up, they may assume that whatever pedagogic strategies they employ, these will be ineffective in the face of what some educational consultants tell them are boys’ and girls’ innate genetic features. In effect, teachers are being told that biology controls learning and that social and cultural contexts, and thus their own classroom environments, cannot counter the forces of nature. Some methodological implications of studying gender as opposed to sex-group are discussed. The conclusion advocates a shift back to the study of gender as a historical, sociocultural phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Raymond Williams once remarked that 'Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language' (1983). He never said what the other ones were but had he been writing today, one of these might well have been 'heritage'. Indeed, the imbrications of 'culture' and 'heritage', and the vexed nature of their relationship, particularly with regard to popular music, are such that each has come to serve as a synonym for the other in the wider sociocultural imaginary. This paper casts a critical spotlight on discourses of cultural heritage in the UK by questioning what makes popular music culture 'heritage' and considering the extent to which the UK popular music has become increasingly heritagised. Relating the specific example of popular music to wider debates on cultural heritage and heritagisation, the paper calls for greater problematising of discourses of popular music as cultural heritage, and considers, by way of conclusion, how a critical focus on the lived, performative and 'hauntological' dynamics of music heritage practices can illuminate understandings of the way cultures of music and memory are negotiated and transacted in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the Working Men’s College (WMC), this study charts the chequered fortunes of a Victorian project: providing workers with a ‘liberal education’. The paper analyses the project’s aim (making ‘better citizens’), its disciplinary content (the humanities and/or the sciences) and its challenges (the increasing prestige of vocational studies). It argues that, in an increasingly professionalised society, a ‘liberal education’ for workers became contentious ground. As the role of the sciences within a ‘liberal education’ diminished, and the provision of practical skills took precedence in the local-authority-funded courses, Victorian workers’ opportunities for education became polarised between ‘useful’ sciences and ‘profitless’ humanities. With natural scientists losing the intellectual independence of their discipline to technicians, the WMC Edwardian educators chose to side unequivocally with the humanities. The paper contends that it was in the Edwardian context of the adult education movement that the ‘two cultures’ debate first emerged in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The notion of evidence-informed policy making and the arguments in its favour are well established. At the same time, however, regular evidence use is yet to become a routine way of life for educational policy makers, particularly within the UK. This paper engages with the notion of expertise in evidence use, and with Flyvbjerg’s idea of phronesis. It also details how the phronetic approach can be adopted by policy makers and the potential implications for the policy development process. Given the issues that abound with current attempts to embed and enact evidence-informed policy making, the phronetic approach presents an alternative and viable way of both perceiving how evidence is currently used and also establishing enhanced levels of evidence use. In particular, the paper spotlights a need for current thought in this area to move away from rational and linear perspectives to encourage policy makers continuously to incorporate the most recent evidence into their thinking, and to make well-rounded decisions. The mechanisms required to facilitate phronetic expertise are examined as are the cultural issues that need to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores 'public' attitudes to the use of donated gametes in infertility treatment amongst members of British South Asian communities in the UK. The study included 14 single-sex focus groups with a total of 100 participants of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origins in three English cities and 20 individual semi-structured interviews with key informants. It explores five themes from the data: childlessness and stigma; using sperm and using eggs; cultural connections; choosing gametes; religion and the use of donated gametes; and disclosure and the management of information. The paper demonstrates that the socio-cultural context of fertility treatment is highly relevant and those delivering services and those consulting the public need to be aware of cultural and gender differences. Third party assisted conception represents a challenge to received ideas of identity and has implications for social reproduction and kinship which go well beyond immediate conjugal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines controversy concerning the televising of the documentary This Is the BBC (1959) and situates the dispute in a wider cultural context of media criticism of Oxford University in particular, and academic educators more generally, in the period 1956–1960. Technological change, increased television ownership and a growing interest in the irreverent portrayal of educators in popular culture all need to be considered when examining what the philosopher and historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin and the filmmaker Richard Cawston considered to be at stake when they squabbled over the right to use a few seconds of film footage of Berlin. Berlin objected to his voice and moving image being edited to present him not as a don but as a clown. The article also addresses the ongoing silences that become apparent when the montage is broken down frame by frame and the visual rhetoric is translated into written argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the principles and practices that have influenced outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand find their genesis in the United Kingdom and North America. In recent times, many of these foundational assumptions have been called into question. This paper highlights how emerging ‘local’ voices are questioning and reframing how outdoor education is conceptualised and practiced. In large part this is due to a sense of distinctiveness borne from the bicultural foundations that underpin governance and policy-making. This paper explores how outdoor educators are developing pedagogies that acknowledge the particularities of our context, particularly the bicultural foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand. The paper highlights how social and cultural influences shape educational policy and how outdoor educators are responding, both theoretically and practically, to meet the needs of learners in an increasingly diverse society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using the case study of Derry~Londonderry and its designation as ‘UK City of Culture 2013’, the primary objective of this research paper is to critically analyse the challenges associated with the production of a year-long cultural programme in a culturally and politically divided place. Given that Northern Ireland’s second largest city has been understood in terms of a conflict between ‘two traditions’, Irish/Catholic and British/Protestant, we critically assess the dialogue and policy negotiations with reference to public places as well as representations of collective memory and traditional music during the year. Fieldwork over two years has enabled us to investigate how culture and identity politics are played out in the context of a city undergoing a process of reconciliation. Placing our case study in a strongly comparative context, we argue that cultural concerns are pivotal points of (re-)negotiation in any society transitioning from conflict to ‘peace’ and that this issue, therefore, is of vital concern to academics and policymakers alike internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the political rationalities and discursive practices that epitomised adult education broadcasts in 1920's Britain. Taking as its keywords 'citizenship' and 'educated democracy', and its key practices as the dispassionate concern for truth and open debate, the paper will argue that early twentieth-century adult education, particularly as articulated in and through the BBC, was less concerned with the dissemination of knowledge than it was with endowing adult learners with new capacities for self-regulation so that they might better fulfil their newly acquired civic responsibilities following the long-awaited arrival of universal adult suffrage in 1918, whence adult learners were increasingly subjected to a series of self-governing, ethical obligations that are best characterised as 'civil prudence'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, attempts to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of both tourism and agriculture have been linked to the development of "alternative" food networks and a renewed enthusiasm for food products that are perceived to be traditional and local. This paper draws on research from two UK regions, the Lake District and Exmoor, to argue that local food can play an important role in the sustainable tourism experience because it appeals to the visitor's desire for authenticity within the holiday experience. Using evidence from qualitative interviews with tourists and food producers, the paper records ways in which local foods are conceptualised as "authentic" products that symbolise the place and culture of the destination. By engaging with debates surrounding the meaning of locality and authenticity, the paper challenges existing understandings of these concepts and offers a new way forward for tourism research by arguing that "local food" has the potential to enhance the visitor experience by connecting consumers to the region and its perceived culture and heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth and employment of non-traditional research methods have increased dramatically over the last few decades, especially within the USA and the UK. With the increase of globalisation of research these new methodologies are gaining use and credibility within the human disciplines in Australia. The following paper examines the new methodologies movement from an historical context, funding perspective and as part of the wider, morally oriented 'culture wars' that have been playing out on the main arena of Australian socio-political life over the past decade. In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of some of the issues, challenges and benefits of these new methodologies the paper proceeds to examine some of the methods involved in arts-based social inquiry. It argues that regardless of the increased call to employ engaged and innovative research, the constraints of the Australian funding and political environment has resulted in the maintenance and dominance of traditional methodological approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how differences in national and organisational welfare policies and in cultural norms on national, organisational, and familial levels influence work-family reconciliation for mothers. Drawing on case study and interview data gathered through a large European study of parenthood and organisations, we compare experiences of transition to motherhood in three organisations in Norway, the UK, and Portugal. The specific question which is considered in this paper is how mothers manage the reconciliation of work and family in the period of time following parental leave. Our case analyses highlight the differences in organisational, national policy, and family support in the three contexts, and show that having a child is still conceptualised as a predominantly 'private problem' in the UK and Portugal, while it has come closer to having the status of a 'public issue' in Norway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main question this paper seeks to tackle is whether men and women, as some argue, commit themselves to employment differently or for different reasons. The focus is thus on the mechanisms behind non-financial employment commitment (such as the possible effect of family situation, occupational position, and of different work-related preferences and experiences). The question is comparatively investigated in Sweden and Great Britain, where, in spite of many similarities, the existence of different societal/cultural contexts with relevance for gender and work has been suggested. The results in this paper suggest that the most important motivator for non-financial employment commitment is interesting work, which was found to have a positive effect both as a work goal and as experienced in the workplace. Although women and men in both countries displayed quite similar patterns, some country and gender differences appeared in the way occupational position and degree of education relate to this type of commitment. Higher occupational position and education where more clearly related to higher degrees of commitment for British women than for British men, while the Swedish gender pattern was reversed. In the concluding discussion, possible explanations and implications are discussed, and avenues for further research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apple's iPod and MP3 players in general have risen to cultural prominence in recent years. Figures now indicate that in Britain as many as 48 per cent of 16-34 year olds own some form of MP3 player, Apple have sold nearly 60 million iPods worldwide since their launch in November 2001, and the billionth worldwide legal music download was recorded in February 2006. In this context of relative mass and escalating appropriation we are faced with a series of pressing sociological questions concerning the transformative capacities of these technologies. This paper attempts to set out some of these questions for further investigation. Here it is claimed that the MP3 player has reconfigured and recontextualized music in distinct yet interrelated ways: (1) the reconfiguration of music as a virtual (MP3) rather than a physical cultural artefact (vinyl record, tape, or CD), which has implications for music collecting/archiving; and (2) extending the work of the personal stereo, the MP3 player is recontextualizing music by moving it out across the spaces of everyday life, a process that transcends boundaries between public and private zones. The paper concentrates on the former and suggests that the reconfigurations afforded by MP3 technologies can be understood in terms of Katherine Hayles' conceptualization of 'incorporative' and 'inscriptive' practices allied with Apple's own theory of the iPod as an 'iconic interface' cultivating an auratic 'veneer of simplicity'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to describe the Hong Kong (HK) school curriculum, especially the general curriculum for civic education and other social subjects, in relation to the political events of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident, and the return of HK's sovereignty from the United Kingdom (UK) to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. This paper will argue that since 1984, the school curriculum of HK has been marked by tensions brought about by political cultures shaped by the UK and the PRC, the bureaucratic mechanisms of which are used to make sure that those curriculum contents that are judged to be politically correct are taught in school. Over the last two decades the school curriculum has been depicted as being shaped by the emergence of the nation-state and the transfer of sovereignty. Granted that political and national education forms part of the school culture, the question of how to shape students to be patriotic through the curriculum will continue to be contentious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses of some changing aspects of learning and 'cultures of learning' in China: these are related to meeting the needs of Chinese learners studying in higher education in the UK. We use the term 'cultures of learning' to draw attention to the socio-cultural aspects of key practices, expectations and interpretations of learning and the term is understood to include diversity of practices both at individual and group levels. We use the notion of changing practices in a double sense: firstly, practices in learning at school and university levels are changing in China and hence the cultures of learning that are likely to influence students' pre-departure experiences include an aspect of dynamic change. Secondly, Chinese students in the UK change their practices in many respects as they learn in, and from, British academic cultures. The paper also delineates some long-standing features of learning in the Confucian heritage and summarises recent developments in the Chinese national curriculum for learning English. We propose a model of ‘participationbased’ language learning which includes cognitive, creative, cultural and affective dimensions. The paper considers practical issues related to the previous learning experiences that Chinese learners bring to the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to examine current and evolving supply side transition policy initiatives in the light of (a) particular demand side needs of urban young people classified as those most disadvantaged and potentially marginalized; and (b) the emerging realities of accessing and operating within particular examples of high value-added knowledge work arenas of the new urban economies in the UK. The paper is a synthesis of qualitative research undertaken by the author over the last five years that has examined notions of transition, development and learning for both young people and adults as they attempt to navigate their pathways in, and through, the new economies of the post-industrial urban context. The paper communicates the importance of a number of sociocultural theoretical concepts as a way of illuminating transition choices, actions and opportunities for disadvantaged young people. These concepts also enable a broader set of critical questions to be asked about current 14–19 transition policy and practice, particularly with regards to Connexions and the Careers Education and Guidance in England 11–19 National Framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study about the impact of ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic status upon health, and use and access to appropriate service provision. A total of 54 interviews were carried out with women who identified themselves as Muslim and Bangladeshi. Health and social care professionals were also interviewed. However, the focus of this paper is upon the ways in which women conceptualised their health and social care needs and concerns. Our findings indicate that individual characteristics serve to mediate the influence of gender and ethnicity on health, but for the women in our study, socio-economic status represents the most potent factor in adversely affecting their health status and access to health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to develop a more sophisticated notion of multiculturalism in Britain. It starts by examining the philosophical basis of the Crick Report on citizenship education to resolve the theoretical tension between liberal and multicultural approaches to the subject. To achieve this resolution, it compares the Crick Report to the Parekh Report on the Future of Multi Ethnic Britain, published on 11 th October 2000. The Parekh report is then used to critique the Crick report and re-theorise the practical imperatives of multicultural citizenship education. I claim that the Crick report, typical of liberal analyses, is suspicious of departure from the presumption of a unified social structure, and represents citizenship education as the imposition of a uniform standard applied to all groups and peoples. On this basis it is claimed that, although the Crick Report's conception of citizenship fails to adequately take account of cultural difference, it need not do so, as there is room within liberal approaches to citizenship education for a recognition of difference. The paper explains how such a resolution can be effected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores recent shifts in the meaning and culture of adolescent drug use, contrasting developments in the United Kingdom and Australia. Of particular interest will be the claim that drug use has become a normal feature of young people's life-experience. The paper draws upon Howard Parker's 'normalization thesis', arguing that Parker's approach has some value in accounting for the changing nature of adolescent drug use in Australia. Available epidemiological evidence indicates that young people's consumption of illicit substances has risen dramatically in Australia in the past decade, although not at quite the rates recorded in the United Kingdom. The paper also draws upon contemporary debates in sociology and cultural studies in an attempt to explain these shifts in adolescent drug use. I conclude that greater attention to consumption and identity formation within youth cultures offers important new ways of understanding recent changes in the culture and meaning of drug use for young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the benefits of regularly auditing culture during the course of a TQM implementation process. This paper is based on the authors' experiences of working on implementation projects with a number of large UK businesses. We give examples of the types of feedback given to senior management resulting from the survey results. Also we summarise the main learning points to emerge from the work that we have done in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stuart Hall made multiple and significant methodological and theoretical contributions during the years he directed the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. This essay highlights, critiques, and shows the continuing value and relevance of two works. Hall's (1975)Introduction to Paper Voices: The Popular Press and Social Change 1935-1965is an excellent example of an early methodological intervention by Hall. It remains a highly useful manual for discourse analysis. Hall's pioneering 4-part model of encoding and decoding is used to illustrate a major theoretical intervention. Hall wrote “Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse” in 1973 for students at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. The 1980 version is shorter and its politics somewhat tamed but even so it justifiably inspired considerable work on the articulation of producer and audience work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper draws on the views of lecturers working in and delivering college-based higher education (CBHE) in the UK. There have been numerous works on the culture of higher education in further education (HE in FE). However, as noted by some literati, the culture of further education (FE) is not easy to define, and does not readily lend itself to the incorporation of a higher education (HE) culture. This could be due to the large number of changes FE has had to adopt owing to various government policies. The study comprises 26 in-depth individual interviews conducted at various further education colleges throughout the Yorkshire and Humber region of the UK. Via the use of an interpretivist approach, common themes and word use were extracted from the narratives for analysis. The organisational culture of these further education colleges was relatively easy to define, the word ‘blame’ being one of the common themes. However, when identifying if the individual colleges had a HE culture; this proved more difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates young women's alcohol consumption in the United Kingdom within a widespread culture of intoxication in relation to recent debates about postfeminism and contemporary femininity. Young women are faced with an 'impossible dilemma,' arising from the contradiction between a hedonistic discourse of alcohol consumption and postfeminist discourse around attaining and maintaining the 'right' form of hypersexual heterosexual femininity. Drawing on a recent interview study with 24 young white working-class and middle-class women in the South-West of England, we explore how young women inhabit the dilemmas of contemporary femininity in youth drinking cultures, striving to achieve the 'right' form of hypersexual femininity and an 'optimum' level of drunkenness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology acceptance in policing is under-researched, yet mobile devices are widely implemented across UK police forces. The paper validates a mobile technology acceptance model (M-TAM) developed in a single police force. It shows that the M-TAM is transferrable to other UK police forces, and potentially worldwide. The influence of local supervision and fit of technology to roles and tasks are shown to be the most influential factors. Factors beyond the technology itself, such as the influence of peers and involvement of operational officers in technology investment decisions, must be considered to accommodate the strong cultural barriers in policing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous literature confirms that older black minority ethnic populations are less likely than white populations to contact dementia services in the UK. However, it is unknown whether this is due to a higher or lower prevalence of dementia or due to different needs or coping strategies within these communities. The aim of this study was to explore the understanding and perceptions of dementia amongst Sikhs living in the UK. Six focus groups were involved with 28 Sikh participants who were recruited from Gurdware (Sikh places of worship). Data were analysed using constant comparative methodology. The themes reported in this paper include “awareness and interpretation of the characteristics of dementia”, “multiple perspectives of the same symptoms” and “causes of dementia”. The findings have been discussed in the context of existing research and provide an introductory insight into informing culturally appropriate interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]