Search

Costumes played a significant role at the royal courts of King Henry VIII, and courtiers maintained scrupulous cautiousness regarding their presentability and dress. Theatricality is a persistent trope in Mantel's Neo - Tudor novels, often exercised through strategically displayed extravagant fabrics. This study interprets the clothing culture at the courts of King Henry VIII, as represented in the three Wolf Hall novels. As social classes became increasingly stratified during the Renaissance, the bourgeoisie distinguished themselves from the commoners and sustained inclusivity into the monarchical elite by enacting strategic theatricality. This paper demonstrates how the theatricality of magnificence was performed through the politics of apparel, ornamentation, and distinguished fashion. Referring to works by John Matusiak, Tracy Borman, Maria Hayward, and Elizabeth Currie, this study argues that fashion was at the core of Royal Tudor governance, and Mantel utilises this trope to camouflage or amplify the magnitude of a political persona. In the context of the Tudor Sumptuary Laws, this paper also analyses how Mantel used dress as a motif of theatricality to demonstrate class segregation during sixteenth-century England. The gendering of clothes and its political ramifications shall be another issue tackled by this paper, focusing on the sartorial choices of the characters of Anne Boleyn, Katherine, and Jane Seymour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Associations between structural inequalities and health are well established. However, there is limited work examining this link in relation to mental health, or that centres public perspectives. This study explores people's experience and sense‐making of inequality in their daily lives, with particular consideration of impacts on mental health. Methods: We conducted a peer research study. Participants had to live in one of two London Boroughs and have an interest in inequalities and mental health. Using social media, newsletters, local organisations and our peer researchers' contacts, we recruited 30 participants who took photos representing their experience of inequality and discussed them during semi‐structured interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three themes were identified in this study: (1) inequalities are unjust, multilayered and intertwined with mental health. Accounts demonstrated a deep understanding of inequalities and their link to mental health outcomes, describing inequalities as 'suffering' and 'not good for anyone'. Financial, housing, immigration and healthcare problems exacerbated poor mental health, with racism, gender‐based violence and job loss also contributing factors for both poor mental health and experiences of inequality; (2) inequalities exclude and have far‐reaching mental health consequences, impacting personal sense of belonging and perceived societal value and (3) moving forwards—addressing long‐standing inequality and poor public mental health necessitated coping and resilience strategies that are often unacknowledged and undervalued by support systems. Conclusion: Lived experience expertise was central in this study, creating an innovative methodological approach. To improve public mental health, we must address the everyday, painful structural inequalities experienced by many as commonplace and unfair. New policies and strategies must be found that involve communities, redistributing resources and power, building on a collective knowledge base, to coproduce actions combatting inequalities and improving population mental health. Patient or Public Contribution: This study was peer‐led, designed and carried out by researchers who had experiences of poor mental health. Six authors of the paper worked as peer researchers on this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The system of secure care for young people in England and Wales comprises youth justice, welfare and mental health facilities. Empirical studies have failed to investigate the system as a whole. The National Adolescent Study in 2016 was the first to provide comprehensive system wide information. This paper, derived from that data set, addresses equity of service provision for young men and women in secure care who have mental health problems. Methods: The detained census population of English young people in 2016 was 1322 and detailed data were available on 93% of this population, including 983 young men and 290 young women. The descriptive census data were interrogated to identify associations between gender, other sociodemographic and clinical variables, using Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Results: Numerically more young men in secure care than young women in secure care warrant a psychiatric diagnosis but young women had a 9 fold increase in the odds of having a diagnosis compared with the young men. The pattern of mental health diagnoses differed significantly by gender as did the legislative framework under which females and males were placed. This different pattern of secure care placement continued to differ by gender when the nature of the mental health diagnosis was taken into account. Conclusions: No definitive explanation is evident for the significantly different placement patterns of young men and young women with the same mental health diagnoses, but the anticipated consequences for some, young men and some young women are important. Proper explanation demands an examination of process variables outwith the remit of this study. The lack of routine scrutiny and transparent processes across secure settings could be responsible for the development of these differential placement practices; these practices seem at odds with the duty placed on public services by the Equality Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In common with other OECD countries, there is a gender gap in educational achievement in England favouring girls. This carries through to tertiary education. On the other hand, boys are far more likely to engage in STEM in post-16 vocational education and at university. The underachievement of boys overall, but over-representation in STEM, presents significant challenges for policy. This paper documents changes in the gender gap over the last 20 years in England and discusses findings in the light of international evidence. It concludes that education policies, in academic and in vocational spheres, can be designed to reduce gender inequalities that exist in both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores academic staff and departmental research and teaching cultures in the Education Departments of five universities in Scotland and England, countries with increasingly diverging public policies in respect of education. The relationship between research and teaching, how the purposes of universities are defined and the status of research in Education are current UK higher education policy preoccupations. Data is drawn from interviews with 40 academics, observation of department settings, documentation and websites. The analysis draws on the work of Bourdieu, considering the changing habitus of individual academics, their departmental and academic subject context and the forms of symbolic capital now required in Scottish and English Education departments in response to new policies affecting their academic field. The paper also utilises recent literature on the research–teaching relationship. The career trajectories of respondents, their habitus and the forms of symbolic capital that they bring to academic life are examined, as are the extent to which the teaching and research cultures in each of the five departments studied mirror each other and whether these also reflect the two different policy contexts. The themes how academic cultures are shaped and research/teaching connections viewed have international as UK relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixteenth-century discourse is filled with criticisms about the ambition of women and the proletariat. This article explores the connection between gender, ambition, authority, reputation, and the language of condemnation at the Jacobean court. It argues that the prevailing rhetoric vilifying female ambition reflects contemporaneous anxieties about female dominance and authority. In turn, male invective, libel, and slander, directed toward politically active elite women, represent men's attempts to re-exert their authority over women perceived to be subverting established hierarchies of power. By tracing the use of invective in letters, court poetry, and moral essays, this paper reveals the ways in which abusive language was used to damage women's reputations in order to establish and maintain male authority over women and other men in the court of James VI/I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intersecting socioeconomic and demographic reasons for physical activity (PA) inequalities are not well understood for young people at risk of experiencing marginalisation and living with disadvantage. This study explored young people's experiences of PA in their local area, and the associated impacts on opportunities for good physical and emotional health and wellbeing. Methods: Seven local youth groups were purposefully sampled from disadvantaged areas across urban, rural and coastal areas of England, including two that were specifically for LGBTQ + young people. Each group engaged in three interlinked focus groups which explored young people's perceptions and lived experience of PA inequalities. Data were analysed using an inductive, reflexive thematic approach to allow for flexibility in coding. Results: Fifty five young people aged 12–21 years of different sexualities, gender and ethnicity took part. Analysis yielded four themes: PA experiences across spaces; resigned to a lack of inclusivity and 'belonging'; safety first; complexities in access and accessibility. Young people felt more comfortable to be active in spaces that were simpler to navigate, particularly outdoor locations largely based in nature. In contrast, local gyms and sports clubs, and the school environment in general, were spoken about often in negative terms and as spaces where they experienced insecurity, unsafety or discomfort. It was common for these young people to feel excluded from PA, often linked to their gender and sexuality. Lived experiences or fears of being bullied and harassed in many activity spaces was a powerful message, but in contrast, young people perceived their local youth club as a safe space. Intersecting barriers related to deprivation, gender and sexuality, accessibility, disability, Covid-19, affordability, ethnicity, and proximity of social networks. A need emerged for safe spaces in which young people can come together, within the local community and choose to be active. Conclusions: The overarching concept of 'physical activity insecurity' emerged as a significant concern for the young people in this study. We posit that PA insecurity in this context can be described as a limited or restricted ability to be active, reinforced by worries and lived experiences of feeling uncomfortable, insecure, or unsafe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores why and how sexuality intertwines with gender in the organizational context of academic institutions. Drawing on insights from the work of psychoanalyst post-structuralist feminists Luce Irigaray, Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva, we explore the institutionalized abjection of the real and imagined (woman's) body as the root cause of her relative exclusion from knowledge (creation) and her subordinate position in it. The project is analytical as well as political: it both unravels and opposes the ways gender is superimposed on sexuality and how we as academics might collude, legitimize and perpetuate and gendered sexualized (and therefore exclusionary) ways of organizing in/of society. The findings of an empirical study of a sample of women academics in management and business schools in England are discussed in the light of the proposed theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports a study of children's attitudes to school based on a questionnaire survey of 845 pupils in their first year of secondary school in England, together with interviews with a sample of the children. A clearly structured set of attitudes emerged from a factor analysis which showed a distinction between instrumental and affective aspects of attitudes but also dimensions within these, including a sense of teacher commitment and school as a difficult environment. Virtually all children had a strong sense of the importance of doing well at school. However, a substantial minority were not sure that they would stay on after 16. There were few differences between boys and girls or between children from different socio-economic backgrounds but children planning to leave at 16 enjoyed school less and were less sure that it had anything to offer them. There was an almost universal commitment to the value of education but, for a minority, an ambivalence about the experience and relevance of schooling for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Women and ethnic minorities have historically been underrepresented in some STEM fields. It is therefore important to understand the factors influencing students' persistence in STEM fields, and what STEM belonging means from the voices of socio-demographically diverse students, in order to ensure equity among students in STEM fields and to increase their belonging to this field, which has not been clearly defined in the literature, and there is a lack of agreement about the definition of belonging itself. For this purpose, the perspectives of students in England are brought together in this study in an attempt to better understand the concept of STEM belonging within a broader context of integration. Result: The inductive thematic analysis with the voices of socio-demographically diverse 313 A-level, undergraduate and postgraduate Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry students showed that compared to male students, it was mostly female, non-binary, non-White, and first-generation students who defined STEM belonging as 'Feeling safe and comfortable in the STEM community and settings'. This theme was defined by the participants as the group/community/learning environment in which the individual belongs, the interaction with the people in the field, and the comfort that this participation/interaction creates. Students stressed the importance of creating a supportive and welcoming STEM environment so that individuals can feel at home, as well as a safe and comfortable STEM environment for people of all identities, genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Based on the participants' responses, this study also conceptualised the concept of STEM belonging as having four phases: the 'adaptation phase', the 'integration phase', the 'continuum phase', and the 'transition phase'. These four phases which comprise the STEM belonging concept are consecutive and interconnected. Conclusion: The study concluded that all human beings are connected in a relational way (either strong or weak) and that the concept of STEM belonging develops as a result of interactions with 'self' and 'others' who have a shared passion and an interest in STEM fields. Although individuals have intrinsic motivation and individual prompts in STEM fields (i.e. resilience, beliefs in their capacity/ability and curiosity, etc.), social determinants (i.e. receiving adequate support from members of the STEM community, social capital and social cohesion, etc.) also play a significant role in influencing individual's sense of STEM belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses network theory and network analysis to propose a new approach to analyzing cross-dressing in Shakespearean drama, specifically the key questions driving much of the scholarship on that topic in recent decades: What kind of disruption to the social order did cross-dressing represent in Early Modern England, and what did it mean to shift that disruption from the street to the stage? We know that the laws and customs of the age emphasized clothing that matched the outward appearances of people to their places in the social order. Network analysis allows us to analyze how characters become gendered through a non-linear, non-hierarchical lattice of social relationships. As the characters interact and social relationships change, the individual's gendered subjectivity also transforms. We find that cross-dressing protagonists propel themselves from isolated social worlds into a complex web of relationships through cross-dressing, and that entry into sociability follows predictable patterns. By following those patterns, the characters combine roles--the broker and the heroine--that are normally separate in Shakespearean comic plots, creating a hybrid type that becomes visible through network analysis. Using network theory to analyze cross-dressing in Shakesperean drama. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Alderley Sandhills Project (ASP) was designed to archaeologically explore the transformative roles of industrialization and de-industrialization on the working communities of rural England. Collection of oral histories was an intrinsic element of fieldwork, with project participants including elderly former residents and neighbors of the excavated cottages. Their narratives provided a crucial source for understanding social meanings of the archaeological objects and places within this study site, particularly over the inter-war decades of the early twentieth century. Drawing from elements of this multi-year project, this paper will explore the dynamic maintenance of community life through the composition of social memories, and the materiality of social belonging, to illuminate the inner world of the Hagg Cottages of Alderley Edge, Cheshire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Whilst many studies have analysed predictors of longitudinal cognitive decline, few have described their impact on population distributions of cognition by age cohort. The aim of this paper was to examine whether gender, education, social class and birth cohort affect how mean population cognition changes with age. Methods: The Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC CFAS) is a multi-centre population based longitudinal study of 13,004 individuals in England and Wales. Using ten years of follow-up data, mean Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were modelled by age and birth cohort adjusting for nonrandom drop-out. The model included terms to estimate cohort effects. Results are presented for five year age bands between 65-95 years. Results: At a population level, women show greater change in MMSE scores with age than men. Populations with lower education level and manual work also show similar effects. More recent birth cohorts have slightly higher scores. Conclusion: Longitudinal data can allow examination of population patterns by gender, educational level, social class and cohort. Each of these major socio-demographic factors shows some effect on whole population change in MMSE with age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The overall purpose of the paper is to understand the barriers to women's progression to senior positions in universities. It aims to explore similarities and differences between the career experiences and leadership styles of men and women in middle- and senior-level positions at one university. The ultimate aim is to identify interventions to help create a more equal gender balance at senior levels. Design/methodology/approach - A mixed methods approach was adopted. In-depth interviews were conducted with a quota sample of 53 men and women in order to explore their lived career experiences. In addition, 50 questionnaires were received from the same sample in order to compare factual data about the participants' life histories and biographical circumstances. Findings - The findings show that women's human capital and career progression to date are at least equal to those of men and that this has been achieved without women sacrificing a holistic family life. They also show that there are still some important differences between men and women in the way they plan and manage their careers and the leadership style that they adopt. Practical implications - A five-level framework is proposed which, sets down the types of intervention that are required to create a more equal gender balance in senior positions. It is argued that this should be used to shape the gender equality schemes developed in universities under the Gender Equality Duty. Originality/value - The paper provides new evidence about the residual differences between men's and women's career experiences, even in an employment context, which is particularly supportive of women. It also makes a significant contribution to the debate about the gendered nature of leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Few studies describe supportive care needs among young adults (YAs) with cancer ages 25 to 39 using validated questionnaires. Previous findings identified the need for psychological and information support and suggest that gender, age, psychological distress, and coping may be associated with greater need for this support. To substantiate these findings, this study aimed to (1) describe the supportive care needs of YAs in each domain of the Supportive Care Needs Survey and (2) explore the relationship between unmet supportive care needs and clinical and demographic factors, health-related quality of life, psychological distress, illness cognitions, and service needs using latent class analysis. Clinical teams from six hospitals in England invited eligible patients to a cross-sectional survey by post. A total of 317 participants completed the survey online or on paper. YAs expressed the most need in the psychological and sexuality domains. Using latent class analysis, we identified three classes of YAs based on level of supportive care need: no need (53.3%), low need (28.3%), and moderate need (18.4%). In each class, median domain scores in each domain were similar. Low and moderate need classes were associated with worse health-related quality of life and greater helplessness. Unmet service needs were associated with the moderate-need class only. Patients with unmet supportive care needs should be offered holistic care across supportive care domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This paper describes prevalences, time-trends and characteristics of self-reported never-drinkers, during the period 1994-2003, focussing particularly on white adults aged 18-54. Methods: Data on 122,809 adults (18+) were obtained from the Health Survey for England (HSfE). Logistic regressions were used to estimate time trends in self-reported never-drinking, and associations between never-drinking and living alone, and educational qualification. Analyses were stratified by gender, age group and period. Results: The overall proportion of white, female never-drinkers was 5.5%, rising monotonically with age. Proportions among men were much lower, with the lowest proportion (1.1%) in the 30-54 age group. Odds of never-drinking increased by 3% per year in those aged 30-54, a trend not explained by any covariates. Smaller increases were seen among those aged 18-29. Never-drinking was strongly associated with living with another adult and with lower qualification. The association with qualification increased over time among young women, and the association with living with another adult increased among men aged 30-54. Conclusions: : Never-drinkers are a significant minority in England, whose prevalence rose, between 1994 and 2003, among adults aged under 55 years. The prevalence varies considerably by age, sex, and social characteristics, and the social discrepancies in never-drinking appear to be widening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Literature & Humanities / Edebiyat ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Ataturk University Coordinatorship of Scientific Journals and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The demography of the medical profession is changing as more women join the workforce. Traditional assumptions about the personal qualities required to be a successful surgeon may change as more women join the specialty. While exploring the attitudes and beliefs of doctors in their second 'Foundation' year of post-graduate training (FY2) about their choice of specialty, evidence emerged about how the stereotype of the surgeon influences professional identification and beliefs about person-specialty fit. Methods: Qualitative telephone interviews with 24 FY2 doctors, 17 women and 7 men, in South-West England. Results: Many participants reported exposure to stereotypes about the personal qualities desirable in a surgeon. Senior doctors and other trainees were the primary source of these stereotypical views. Experience on surgical placements could either reinforce stereotypes or challenge them, the latter particularly where senior surgeons provided positive role models. As more women enter the surgical specialties, they are increasingly challenging the traditional stereotype and sub-culture. Conclusion: Gendered stereotypes about surgical roles persist, and for some this can hinder professional identification with the role. Positive role models and mentoring can encourage and support women who are interested a surgical career to identify with the role, but there is a need for a broader debate encompassing job redesign and surgical identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, including Norway and England, there is a concern about the low number of students continuing with post-compulsory mathematics, and especially the low number of girls. Drawing on socio-cultural perspectives on the construction of identity, this paper explores the role of cultural models in choosing post-compulsory mathematics in the context of contrasts between Norwegian and English education systems, practices and policies. Specifically, we seek to interrogate the extent to which a Norwegian public discourse of egalitarianism, particularly gender equity, impacts on girls? and boys? accounts of choosing mathematics. We conclude that there are more similarities than differences between the two countries, and note the potential impact of neo-liberal discourses in eroding Norwegian equity discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that children of immigrants experience inequality. Less is known about how inequalities compare across multiple life domains and multiple generations. We conduct a case study of England and Wales, focussing on children of Caribbean immigrants (the 'Windrush generation'). We use large-scale census data to compare inequalities across five domains of life—education, employment, occupation, housing, and health—separately for women and men across three distinct generations: the one-point-five generation, second-generation, and two-point-five generation. The children of the Windrush generation experience social inequality in all life domains, relative to comparable groups of the White British population, although there is considerable variation according to sex and generation. Men of all generations are uniformly disadvantaged; children of the Windrush are more disadvantaged if they belong to the two-point-five generation. Inequality is pervasive, persistent, and strongly indicative of segmented adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In her final novel, Between the Acts, Virginia Woolf placed the self within a national, historical narrative. The novel is rich with the anti-fascist agenda of Three Guineas, told through the lens of women's stories and, significantly, their historical clothing. Specifically, Woolf used Elizabethan costume to reflect on the role of dress in women's lives. This article considers why Virginia Woolf selected the Elizabethan era as a sartorial and psychological alternative to her present. In a study of both sixteenth- and twentiethcentury dress, this article explores how the Renaissance may have posed a more malleable, self-assertive antidote to the pressures of modern fashion-and the systems it upheld. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We identify socioeconomic disparities by region in cancer morbidity and mortality in England for all-cancer and type-specific cancers, and use incidence data to quantify the impact of cancer diagnosis delays on cancer deaths between 2001–2016. Methods and findings: We obtain population cancer morbidity and mortality rates at various age, year, gender, deprivation, and region levels based on a Bayesian approach. A significant increase in type-specific cancer deaths, which can also vary among regions, is shown as a result of delay in cancer diagnoses. Our analysis suggests increase of 7.75% (7.42% to 8.25%) in female lung cancer mortality in London, as an impact of 12-month delay in cancer diagnosis, and a 3.39% (3.29% to 3.48%) increase in male lung cancer mortality across all regions. The same delay can cause a 23.56% (23.09% to 24.30%) increase in male bowel cancer mortality. Furthermore, for all-cancer mortality, the highest increase in deprivation gap happened in the East Midlands, from 199 (186 to 212) in 2001, to 239 (224 to 252) in 2016 for males, and from 114 (107 to 121) to 163 (155 to 171) for females. Also, for female lung cancer, the deprivation gap has widened with the highest change in the North West, e.g. for incidence from 180 (172 to 188) to 272 (261 to 282), whereas it has narrowed for prostate cancer incidence with the biggest reduction in the South West from 165 (139 to 190) in 2001 to 95 (72 to 117) in 2016. Conclusions: The analysis reveals considerable disparities in all-cancer and some type-specific cancers with respect to socioeconomic status. Furthermore, a significant increase in cancer deaths is shown as a result of delays in cancer diagnoses which can be linked to concerns about the effect of delay in cancer screening and diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health interventions at regional and deprivation level can contribute to prevention of cancer deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is associated with lower educational attainment, but there has been little investigation of long-term educational trajectories in large cohorts with diagnosed depression.Aims: To describe the educational attainment trajectories of children with a depression diagnosis in secondary care, and to investigate whether these trajectories vary by sociodemographic characteristics.Method: We identified new referrals to South London and Maudsley's NHS Foundation Trust between 2007 and 2013 who received a depression diagnosis at under 18 years old. Linking their health records to the National Pupil Database, we standardised their performance on three assessments (typically undertaken at ages 6-7 years (school Year 2), 10-11 (Year 6) and 15-16 (Year 11)) relative to the local reference population in each academic year. We used mixed models for repeated measures to estimate attainment trajectories.Results: In our sample of 1492 children, the median age at depression diagnosis was 15 years (interquartile range = 14-16). Their attainment showed a decline between school Years 6 and 11. Attainment was consistently lower among males and those eligible for free school meals. Black ethnic groups also showed lower attainment than White ethnic groups between Years 2 and 6, but showed a less pronounced drop in attainment at Year 11.Conclusions: Those who receive a depression diagnosis during their school career show a drop in attainment in Year 11. Although this pattern was seen among multiple sociodemographic groups, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status predict more vulnerable subgroups within this clinical population who might benefit from additional educational support or more intensive treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society remains gender-differentiated, and the development of inappropriate stereotypical attitudes appears to be one factor preventing many individuals from achieving their true potential. A significant level of attention has been given to challenging inappropriate stereotypes in older children. However, previous research suggests that many gender stereotypes already exist by the age of three. Therefore, it could be the case that well-established stereotypes are being challenged too late and in inappropriate ways, due to a lack of understanding as to how experiences impact on complex development. This small-scale, in-depth study explored the links which nursery children made between the sound of a musical instrument and notions of gender. More specifically, the research focused on the thought process whereby that link is made. A total of 83 children from five nurseries in England participated in a bespoke activity in which they were played a series of musical excerpts and asked to attribute these to a cartoon image. Recorded data were transcribed and a three-level qualitative analysis was carried out, using a 'ways of power' conceptual framework. Our analysis suggested that the children's decisions were influenced by a number of 'ways of power', regardless of whether they had 'direct' or 'indirect' knowledge of the instrument. Even the youngest children seemed able to draw on a wide range of experiences that enabled them to construct a range of meanings about themselves, gender and the roles they play in the various contexts in which they live. The study draws attention to how very young children are able to reason, evaluate and think in complex ways which go well beyond simply adopting and enacting the attitudes of those around them. Schools, and nurseries in particular, should be fully aware of the level of thought that young children appear to bring to the experiences they gain on a daily basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the feminist literature on social reproduction is broad and diverse, one area that has remained relatively under-explored relates to the linkages between social reproduction and finance, particularly between social reproduction and household debt. In our contribution to this Special Issue, we seek to document and to analyse the structural linkages between social reproduction and debt, with a specific focus on pawnbroking in early modern England and contemporary Pakistan. We have four main aims in this article. Our first aim is to contribute to feminist theorizing about social reproduction by showing both how the daily and generational reproduction of households has relied upon historically specific forms of credit and how these social relations of credit/debt have been central to the development and reproduction of capitalism in different times and places. Second, we show how particular forms of 'everyday finance' are gendered and, specifically, how they are feminized. Our third aim is to elucidate the relationship between pawn loans, which have received almost no attention from feminist or other critical political economists, and the social reproduction of households in England and Pakistan. Fourth, we elucidate some of the gendered implications of the growing incursion of masculinized capitalist finance into new spaces of everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mental illness is highly prevalent among prisoners. Although psychotropic medicines can ameliorate symptoms of mental illness, prescribers in prisons must balance clinical needs against risks to safety and security. Concerns have been raised at the large number of prisoners reportedly receiving psychotropic medicines in England. Nonetheless, unlike for the wider community, robust prescribing data are not routinely available for prisons. We investigated gender-specific patterns in the prevalence and appropriateness of psychotropic prescribing in English prisons. Methods: We studied 6052 men and 785 women in 11 prisons throughout England. This represented 7.9% of male and 20.5% of female prisoners nationally. Using a cross-sectional design, demographic and prescription data were collected from clinical records of all prisoners prescribed psychotropic medicines, including hypnotic, anxiolytic, antipsychotic, anti-manic, antidepressant and Central Nervous System stimulant medications. Percentages and 95% CIs were used to estimate the prevalence of prescribing. The Prescribing Appropriate Indicators tool was used to determine appropriateness. Prevalence Ratios (PR) were generated to make age-adjusted comparisons between prisoners and the general population using a dataset supplied by the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Results: Overall, 47.9% (CI 44.4-51.4) of women and 16.9% (CI 16.0-17.9) of men in prison were prescribed one or more psychotropic medicines. Compared with the general population, age-adjusted prescribing prevalence was six times higher among women (PR 5.95 CI 5.36-6.61) and four times higher among men (PR 4.02 CI 3.75-4.30). Undocumented or unapproved indications for prescriptions, not listed in the British National Formulary, were recorded in a third (34.7%, CI 32.5-37.0) of cases, most commonly low mood and personality disorder. Conclusions: Psychotropic medicines were prescribed frequently in prisons, especially among women, and for a wider range of indications than are currently recommended. These findings raise questions about whether the prescribing of psychotropic medicines in prisons is wholly appropriate and proportionate to the level of clinical need. Prisons need to develop a wider array of treatment responses, other than medicines, to effectively tackle mental illness, challenging behaviours and distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An early twentieth-century assemblage dating to ca. 1913-21 associated with staff that worked for and lived in the associated hostel of the Robert Sayle department store in Cambridge, England, contained a mixture of material that was supplied by the business for communal activities and personal items. The contrast between these two types of material allows the relationship between the business and its staff to be explored. The assemblage is also considered in terms of the class, gender and age composition of the hostel population and the concept of resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses concepts of biological sex, gender, and sexuality as related to women's bodies in 17th-century England. Particular focus is given to the regulation of sexual differences through law and social norms. It is suggested that reproduction was a key element of early modern discourse on sexual difference. Details on the case of Anne Stacy, a servant woman who became pregnant by her master and was tried for infanticide, are presented. Other topics include touch, modesty, rape, and women's participation in the English legal system.

The compensatory schema hypothesis (Hoffmann and Bartkowski, Soc Forces 86:1245-1272, 2008) has been used to explain why women seem to have higher levels of biblical literalism than men in some Christian denominations. Based on social structuration and gender theories, it proposes that biblical literalism is a key social schema in some denominations that deny women access to institutional power. Women compensate for the lack of access to institutional social resources (leadership) by stressing the accepted schema (literalism) more strongly than men. The theory was tested using two samples from the Church of England, one lay ( N = 394) and one ordained ( N = 1,052). Laywomen were more literal than laymen among evangelicals and Anglo-catholics, where opposition to women's ordination is highest, but in both cases the difference was largely explained by differences in education levels between the sexes. Clergywomen, with access to leadership resources, were less literal than clergymen in both Anglo-catholic and evangelical traditions. The results offer rather weak support for the compensatory schema hypothesis, and alternative explanations of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study ability peer effects in English secondary schools using data on four cohorts of students taking age-14 national tests and measuring peers' ability by prior achievements at age 11. Our identification is based on within-pupil regressions exploiting variation in achievements across three compulsory subjects tested at age 14 and age 11. Using this novel strategy, we find significant and sizable negative effects arising from bad peers at the bottom of the ability distribution but little evidence that average peer quality and good peers matter. However, these results are heterogeneous, with girls benefiting from academically bright peers and boys not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the analysis of three important texts-Gerald of Wales's Topographia Hibernica, the poem known as both The Song of Dermot and the Earl and The Deeds of the Normans in Ireland, and the 1367 Statutes of Kilkenny-this article seeks to demonstrate that characterizations of the Irish by the English during the first centuries of conquest and settlement established the Irish as differently gendered from the English. This is shown through the use of terms that define the Irish as sexually, socially, and culturally deviant, as unmanly and emasculated, and as legally and culturally inferior even to English women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on a wide range of literary and archival sources in order to explore the cultural resonances of drumming in England during the 16th and 17th centuries. It concentrates not on instrument design and playing techniques but on the varied meanings that contemporaries attached to the ubiquitous sound of the drum. The discussion begins and ends with the unmistakable military associations of drumming. In between, consideration is also given to a range of interconnected but sometimes contradictory resonances that appear to have endowed drums with considerable cultural significance. Drums spoke, for example, of authority and they worked hard to impose order in urban streets. They also played their part in the contemporary culture of punishment, and many miscreants were subjected to the humiliation of public percussion. Beyond this, drums were particularly potent in their ability to express masculinity, and female drummers were rare and remarkable. The primal potency of the instrument also rendered it valuable to the insubordinate, and rioters — like soldiers — were regularly called together ‘by the drum’. Lastly, the sound of the drum was sometimes intensely festive and could also be used to publicize special events such as dramatic performances and the display of curiosities. The repercussions of drumming were thus varied, and confusion sometimes resulted when the different possibilities became entangled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sick children were ubiquitous in early modern England, and yet they have received very little attention from historians. Taking the elusive perspective of the child, this article explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience of illness in England between approximately 1580 and 1720. What was it like being ill and suffering pain? How did the young respond emotionally to the anticipation of death? It is argued that children's experiences were characterised by profound ambivalence: illness could be terrifying and distressing, but also a source of emotional and spiritual fulfillment and joy. This interpretation challenges the common assumption amongst medical historians that the experiences of early modern patients were utterly miserable. It also sheds light on children's emotional feelings for their parents, a subject often overlooked in the historiography of childhood. The primary sources used in this article include diaries, autobiographies, letters, the biographies of pious children, printed possession cases, doctors' casebooks, and theological treatises concerning the afterlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine who the winners are in science problem-solving contests characterized by open broadcast of problem information, self-selection of external solvers to discrete problems from the laboratories of large research and development intensive companies, and blind review of solution submissions. Analyzing a unique data set of 166 science challenges involving over 12,000 scientists revealed that technical and social marginality, being a source of different perspectives and heuristics, plays an important role in explaining individual success in problem solving. The provision of a winning solution was positively related to increasing distance between the solver's field of technical expertise and the focal field of the problem. Female solvers—known to be in the "outer circle" of the scientific establishment—performed significantly better than men in developing successful solutions. Our findings contribute to the emerging literature on open and distributed innovation by demonstrating the value of openness, at least narrowly defined by disclosing problems, in removing barriers to entry to nonobvious individuals. We also contribute to the knowledge-based theory of the firm by showing the effectiveness of a market mechanism to draw out knowledge from diverse external sources to solve internal problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw on case-study research at a high-achieving secondary school in London to illustrate how school experiences may influence drug use and reproduce inequalities in reconstructed ways in late modernity. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, and observations. We focus in particular on the accounts of three female students expressing a shared counter-school identity and style to explore how drug use has become an important source of bonding, identity construction, coping and excitement for young women from disadvantaged families at high-achieving schools, including as part of strategies to resist the narrow focus schools can place on academic attainment, monitoring and discipline. We propose that, in late modern times, class-based counter-school cultures are being replaced with new consumer-based ones, but that secondary schools continue to act as sites for the reproduction of social stratification, as well as risk and harm relating to drug use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The juxtaposition between refinement and barbarity was a critical one in eighteenth-century England. This essay examines the gendered aspects of this distinction as it was manifested in the meanings associated with punchbowls, teacups and punch pots. The new hot drinks of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are now a well-examined subject of historical research. Work on coffee has emphasized consumption in male-dominated coffee houses, places which also served as loci for concerns about uncivil behaviour. In contrast, tea drinking is seen as central to polite domestic sociability, linking women and the home. Punch and the material culture of punch drinking, however, has been subjected to very little historical attention. This essay considers eighteenth-century juxtapositions of tea and punch, exploring therein the distinctions between refinement and barbarity, women and men and home and outside. The article then examines developments in the material culture of punch drinking and the appearance of punch pots from mid-century. The article closes with the argument that these hybrid vessels playfully united masculine homosociability and feminine domesticity, at a time when the discourse of domesticity was being consolidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent years the findings of a number of quantitative research studies have been published in the UK on gender and achievement. Much of this work has emanated from Stephen Gorard and his colleagues and has not only been highly critical of existing approaches to handling quantitative data but has also suggested a number of alternative and, what they claim to be, more valid ways of measuring differential patterns of achievement and underachievement between groups. This article shows how much of this work has been based upon rather under-developed measures of achievement and underachievement that tend, in turn, to generate a number of misleading findings that have questionable implications for practice. It will be argued that this body of work provides a useful case study in the problems of quantitative research that fails to engage adequately with the substantive theoretical and empirical literature and considers some of the implications of this for future research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although high-stakes tests play an increasing role in students' schooling experiences, scholars have not examined these tests as sites for socialisation. Drawing on qualitative data collected at an American urban primary school, this study explores what educators teach students about motivation and effort through high-stakes testing, how students interpret and internalise these messages, and how student hierarchies develop as a result. I found that teachers located boys' failure in their poor behavior and attitudes, while arguing that girls simply needed more self-esteem to pass the test. Most boys accepted their teachers' diagnosis of the problem. However, the boys who felt that they were already 'doing their best' and 'working hard' began to doubt that educational success is a function of merit and effort. I conclude that students learn about much more than the three Rs through their experiences with high-stakes testing, and argue that future research should attend to the social dimensions of these experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article takes a look at the radical movement that produced the famous 'Peterloo massacre' of August 1819 in Lancashire, England, and how it was experienced by women and men in different ways. Catherine Hall's article "The Tale of Samuel and Jemima" is based upon Samuel Bamford's classic memoir about the massacre. Bamford was among the local radical secretariat who organized the event, constructed the ceremonial and rituals, and trained the men to march in disciplined ranks. While Jemima contributed a short account to her husband's work in the hope that it might not be devoid of interest.

The author revisits gender agenda discussed at The Subordination of Women in Developing Societies (SOW) conference held at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in England in 1978. She presents comments on the repositioning of gender in women's empowerment and women's rights in the political context. Also noted is the Gender and Development (GAD) agenda which was formed against socialist feminist critiques of liberal feminist efforts to divide a role for women in development.

Economic inequality is increasing but has been sidelined in some of the recent debates in urban and regional studies. This article outlines a holistic frame- work for economic geography, which focuses on understanding social and spatial divisions, by drawing on economists' ideas about the new economy and feminist perspectives on social reproduction. The framework is illustrated with reference to the emerging new media cluster in Brighton and Hove, which, as a consequence, emerges less as a new technology cluster and more as a reflection of increasing social divisions in the new economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research presented in this article was undertaken to establish the extent of victimization of various groups of staff in the county of Hertfordshire's Probation Service. In particular, it aimed to examine issues of gender in relation to such victimization. Staff were invited to detail incidents which they had experienced, and what factors led them to decide what to do about such incidents. In particular, reasons for reporting--or not reporting--were addressed. The research also had the aim of analysing how staff viewed issues of violence from their own perspective, and their suggestions for improving safety at work in relation to such violence. The research demonstrates that, in the main, probation service staff are safer than their counterparts in, for example, social services departments, and that they report incidents of physical violence to a greater degree than other incidents. It highlights that sexual aggression is not uncommon, but is largely unreported. The research also shows that staff who have been victims have clear ideas of the support they should receive, and how agencies should respond in a positive manner to aggressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the conceptions of subjectivity and social practice in cultural studies undertaken by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at the University of Birmingham in England. It attempts to address the issue of how subjectivities are forged and how persons emerge and change through engagement in social practice. It traces the history of the Centre and examines the challenges faced by CCCS researchers in exploring class cultures. The various factors which challenged the dominance of class analysis at the Centre, including the concept of poststructuralism and postmodernism are discussed.

Objectives: To examine the difference in gender and its impact on selected quality-of-life (QoL) domains of Social Production Function theory among older adults in England. Method: Based on an annual national adult social care service user survey conducted in the United Kingdom in 2016. QoL was assessed by a single-item construct, and independent variables were home design, access to information and local area, self-rated health, perceived pain/discomfort, perceived anxiety/depression, activities of daily living, use and satisfaction of formal and informal care, and demographic variables. Results: A total of 28,955 respondents aged 65+ years were interviewed. Multinomial logistic regression analysis found four interaction effects for predicting a very good/good QoL: (a) Female receiving non-co-residing informal care (odds ratio [OR] = 1.501, p <.01), (b) female feeling safe (OR = 1.499, p <.01), (c) female feeling satisfied with social contact with people (OR = 1.465, p <.05), and (d) female being helped in the use of time (OR = 1.370, p <.05). Conclusion: Findings suggest gender differences in QoL as men and women are heterogeneous with different health and disease patterns, health-/help-seeking behaviors, roles and responsibilities, and levels of resilience, needs, risks, and access and control resources. Practitioners should adopt a gender-specific assessment and personalized interventions to promote gender equality, empowerment, and long-term sustainable development for an aging society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The SELPHI study (An HIV Self-Testing Public Health Intervention) is an online randomised controlled trial (RCT) of HIV self-testing (HIVST). The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of recruiting UK men who have sex with men (cis and trans) and trans women who have sex with men to the SELPHI pilot, and the acceptability of the HIVST intervention used among those randomised to receive a kit.Methods: A mixed-methods approach to assessing trial feasibility and intervention acceptability was taken, using quantitative data from advertising sources and RCT surveys alongside qualitative data from a nested sub-study.Results: Online recruitment and intervention delivery was feasible. The recruitment strategy led to the registration of 1370 participants of whom 76% (1035) successfully enrolled and were randomised 60/40 to baseline testing vs no baseline testing. Advertising platforms performed variably. Reported HIVST kit use increased from 83% at two weeks to 96% at three months. Acceptability was very high across all quantitative measures. Participants described the instructions as easy to use, and the testing process as simple. The support structures in SELPHI were felt to be adequate. Described emotional responses to HIVST varied.Conclusions: Recruiting to a modest sized HIVST pilot RCT is feasible, and the recruitment, intervention and HIVST kit were acceptable. Research on support needs of individuals with reactive results is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]