Search

This paper describes the Research Methods programme of the Economic and Social Research Council and discusses some of the methodological developments in the academic sector that can have relevance to the non-academic market research community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

British trade union renewal has focused on the twin strategies of organising and partnership. Drawing on experience from North America, and fledgling developments in Britain, this paper argues that reciprocal community unionism could provide another weapon in the union movement's armoury for reversing decline. The paper provides a brief historical overview of the intersection between unions and community in Britain before addressing reciprocal community unionism in more detail. The final part of the paper then looks at the work of Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council's Organising Centre in South West London during 2000 and 2001. The case study highlights the ways in which trade unionism can develop when focused on a particular locality, and the advantages of having extra-workplace organisation in any place. The case also illustrates some of the barriers preventing this model of trade unionism being translated to other boroughs, towns and cities in the UK. In the conclusion, the paper then calls for further experimentation in the development of reciprocal community unionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates the relationship between working-class participation in higher education ( HE) in England and social and cultural mobility. It argues that embarking on a university education for working-class people has been construed in governmental discourses as an instrumental means of achieving upward mobility, or of aspiring to 'become middle class'. Education in this sense is thus not only understood as having the potential to confer value on individuals, as they pursue different 'forms of capital', or symbolic 'mastery' ( Bourdieu, 1986), but as incurring a form of debt to society. In this sense, the university can be understood as a type of 'creditor' to whom the working-class participants are symbolically indebted, while the middle classes pass through unencumbered. Through the analysis of empirical research conducted with staff from working-class backgrounds employed on a university Widening Participation project in England, the article examines resistance to dominant educational discourses, which understand working-class culture as 'deficient' and working-class participation in HE as an instrumental means of securing upward mobility. Challenging the problematic notion of 'escape' implicit in mobility discourses, this paper concludes by positing the alternative concept of 'fugitivity', to contest the accepted relationship in HE between creditor and debtor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents news updates on the Sociological Society of Great Britain, compiled as of January 1913. The meetings of the Session 1912-13 began on October 15 (evening) with a lecture on "Mythology and Life: An Interpretation of Olympus"; On October 29, at an evening meeting, F.W. Mott, read the paper on "Is Insanity on the Increase?"--Edward Brabrook was in the chair. On November 12, at an afternoon meeting, A.K. Coomaraswamy read a paper on "Sati: A Vindication of the Indian Woman"--Sir Francis Younghusband was in the chair. The paper will be published in the April number of the "Sociological Review." On November 26, at an afternoon meeting held in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society, B.L. Hutchins read the paper on "Fatigue and Efficiency."

Power indices are general measures of the relative a priori voting power of individual members of a voting body. They are useful for both positive and normative analysis of voting bodies particularly those using weighted voting. This paper applies new algorithms for computing the rival Shapley-Shubik and Banzhaf indices for large voting bodies to shareholder voting power in a cross section of British companies. Each company is a separate voting body and there is much variation in ownership between them resulting in different power structures. Because the data are incomplete, both finite and ‘oceanic’ games of shareholder voting are analysed. The indices are appraised, using reasonable criteria, from the literature on corporate control. The results are unfavourable to the Shapley-Shubik index and suggest that the Banzhaf index much better reflects the variations in the power of shareholders between companies as the weights of shareholder blocs vary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the outing of the Section of the History of Medicine of the Royal Society of Medicine held June 18, 1994. The author discusses the key factors contributing to the success of the outing. Mr. Douglas Johnson discussed Sir John Floyer's "Book of Country Receipts." Professor Isoble Grundy presented a paper entitled "Medical Advance? Medical History: Small innoculation and its after-effects."

Subscribers to the British Sociological Association will be aware that its newsletter, Network, has recently been carrying correspondence on the ethics of covert observation, provoked by Roger Homan's paper, in a previous Sociological Review, 'Interpersonal Communication in Pentecostal Meetings'. Homan, himself, has contributed to this correspondence and defended his stance at more length in a paper, published with a rejoinder by Martin Bulmer, in the British Journal of Sociology.[1] I am not, however, convinced that we have yet reached some of the core issues in this area, because the ethical discussion has become so far removed from an adequate understanding of the nature of fieldwork. In this paper, I want to reunite these two topics, partly because I believe ethical debate to be a rather futile activity if it is not grounded in everyday practice and partly to show that there are so many grey moral areas in ethnography that an over-academic analysis may ultimately be inimical to our continued use of this approach to social life. Although I shall concentrate on field practice, this should not be taken to imply a disregard for planning and writing-up research. Plainly the ethical questions are at least as important, but their better documentation makes an extended consideration a less urgent matter for this present paper. By ethnography I intend to include all research based upon naturalistic modes of inquiry within a predominantly inductivist theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the Assisted Dying Bill in Great Britain. Proposal to change the law to decriminalize euthanasia and physician assisted suicide; Call to members of the Task Force of the European Association for Palliative Care to engage in direct and open dialogue with those within medicine and healthcare who promote euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

Bipolar disorder is an important and serious mental illness associated with significant morbidity and mortality. However, unfortunately, the evidence base regarding treatment is less than satisfactory. In such circumstances clinicians often resort to reputable sets of guidelines. A number of these currently exist; in the United Kingdom the most prominent being that produced by the British Association of Psychopharmacology (BAP). This paper reviews the methodology of this guideline and its recommendations regarding the long-term treatment of bipolar disorder and compares this with guidelines produced by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and the Texas Implementation of Medication Algorithms (TIMA) for bipolar I disorder. It is concluded that the BAP guidelines continue to be a reasonable set of recommendations, though there are new data available since their publication. All the guidelines reviewed place lithium and valproate at the top of the list of options for long-term treatment. There is a trend to increasingly recognize atypical antipsychotics, particularly olanzapine, as an additional alternative and an increasing prominence of lamotrigine for prevention of depressive relapses. All other treatment options currently have an extremely limited evidence base and do not feature consistently in the published guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of multicentre research committees in the UK, local research ethics committees (LRECs) are required to advise only on issues relating to the local acceptability of a project. We looked at the handling of two commercially sponsored studies, one initiated before the change and one after, confining the analysis to 21 LRECs approached in both. As judged by the amount of paper per application, the new system for LRECs is simpler and should be less costly. However, there was an increasing tendency for LRECs to charge for their services (30% study 1,47% study 2) and these charges varied by more than 400%. If such fees must be levied, a common scale is desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on capitalist states, and under governments explicitly dedicated to the reduction of the interference of the state in the economy and the trend towards the dominance of the state that has continued. This article is intended as an illustration of one possible outcome of such a situation - the 'capture' of a part of the voluntary association leadership by societal elites, and its reintegration into the structure of these elites. At an empirical level the subject of the paper is a study of the relations between the broadcasting organizations in Great Britain, and the Christian denominations. The study therefore raises questions for further investigation about the relationship between integration at different levels of analysis. While in this present context it is necessary to stress this point with respect to the theory of voluntary association, it is evidently a problem of far wider significance in sociological theory. It is hoped that this small investigation will have reopened these theoretical questions, and suggested lines along which they might be pursued in the field.

The article presents information regarding the International Association For Dental Research proceedings of the British Section School of Dental Surgery at the University of Birmingham, in Birmingham, Great Britain on April 2-3, 1954. An index of participants and corresponding abstracts is provided. A list of papers read by title is presented.

Background: Cardiac Cachexia is a wasting syndrome that has a significant impact on patient mortality and quality of life world-wide, although it is poorly understood in clinical practice. Aim: Identify the prevalence of cardiac cachexia in patients with advanced New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class and explore its impact on patients and caregivers. Design: An exploratory cross-sectional study. The sequential approach had two phases, with phase 1 including 200 patients with NYHA III-IV heart failure assessed for characteristics of cardiac cachexia. Phase 2 focussed on semi-structured interviews with eight cachectic patients and five caregivers to ascertain the impact of the syndrome. Setting/participants: Two healthcare trusts within the United Kingdom. Results: Cardiac Cachexia was identified in 30 out of 200 participants, giving a prevalence rate of 15%. People with cachexia had a significantly reduced average weight and anthropometric measures (p < 0.05). Furthermore, individuals with cachexia experienced significantly more fatigue, had greater issues with diet and appetite, reduced physical wellbeing and overall reduced quality of life. C-reactive protein was significantly increased, whilst albumin and red blood cell count were significantly decreased in the cachectic group (p < 0.05). From qualitative data, four key themes were identified: (1) 'Changed relationship with food and eating', (2) 'Not me in the mirror', (3) 'Lack of understanding regarding cachexia' and (4) 'Uncertainty regarding the future'. Conclusions: Cardiac cachexia has a debilitating effect on patients and caregivers. Future work should focus on establishing a specific definition and clinical pathway to enhance patient and caregiver support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent paper in this journal it was suggested that the conventional knowledge practices of disciplines are the fundamental obstacle to mutual understanding between academic experts. Such a position, we argue, underplays the institutional relationships that recreate expert and disciplinary divides. To demonstrate our case we discuss how in the UK the evolving relationship between the government and research councils has crucially altered the context for efforts to stimulate interdisciplinary research. Our analysis highlights the scope for changes in institutional structures and practices that would facilitate broader and more encompassing research into complex sustainability problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This successful meeting, organised by the Rolling Committee of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining with the support of the Institute's Steel Division, was the first UK conference on sections for some years. It took place at the Society of Chemical Industry, London on 9–10 November 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a position of relative isolation, trade unions have become increasingly important agents in local and regional development and governance in the UK since the election of the New Labour government in 1997. Analysis of the experience of the Northern Trades Union Congress (NTUC) suggests that devolution and regionalisation are exerting increasing pressures upon trade union federations to adopt a multi-level approach to organisation across a range of scales--local, sub-regional, regional, sub-national, national and international--to connect with the evolving multi-layered governance structures of the UK political economy. Strategic multi-level organisation suggests the decentralisation of power, authority and resources within the labour movement--challenging the national and centralised legacy of its collective bargaining history--and a division of labour and set of priorities at the different scales to build the links between local and regional engagement and trade union renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at a meeting that assessed the performance of the National Health Service (NHS) of Open Section on October 19, 1987 is presented. It focuses on the tasks of NHS in running an efficient health service in Great Britain. Ian Kennedy, chairman of NHS, said that the society needs further understanding and improvement on its task in improving public health.

Whereas historically the UK television industry has been characterized by hierarchy and vertical integration of programme production within a few large broadcasters, new neo-bureaucratic temporary organizational forms have proliferated in the industry in the past 20 years. This has been a product of a variety of factors, including globalization, technological change in the industry, deregulation and cost-cutting. This article draws on research involving 75 participants working in the large broadcasters, independents and as freelancers. The temporary form in the industry is an extreme case, in that they can be of very short duration (under a week). This has far-reaching implications for industry coordination and control. However, these forms are far from ‘one-offs’ and they are continuously reinvented and recast. This neo-bureaucratic form is controlled and regulated by the major producers through a set of powerful normative methods, based partly on an evolving custom and practice, but also in the extreme familiarity of people in the industry, across the large broadcasters, the independents and freelancers. The article evaluates how the structures, processes and coordination of these organizations through the manipulation of social capital in the industry are used to regulate and control a set of confused and ‘messy’ temporary arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a significant increase in funding for health programmes in development over the last two decades, partly due to the formation of public–private partnerships. This article examines the impact of public–private partnerships from the perspective of women’s health, asks whether the current culture of funding has led to an increased instrumentalism in women’s health programming and what effects this has on how women’s health is addressed at the level of practice. The article is based on research carried out with UK-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and its conclusions raise further challenges for improving women’s health policies and programmes in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops theoretical understanding of the involvement of wealthy entrepreneurs in socially transformative projects by offering a foundational theory of philanthropic identity narratives. We show that these narratives are structured according to the metaphorical framework of the journey, through which actors envision and make sense of personal transformation. The journey provides a valuable metaphor for conceptualizing narrative identities in entrepreneurial careers as individuals navigate different social landscapes, illuminating identities as unfolding through a process of wayfinding in response to events, transitions and turning-points. We delineate the journey from entrepreneurship to philanthropy, and propose a typology of rewards that entrepreneurs claim to derive from giving. We add to the expanding literature on narrative identities by suggesting that philanthropic identity narratives empower wealthy entrepreneurs to generate a legacy of the self that is both self- and socially oriented, these ‘generativity scripts’ propelling their capacity for action while ensuring the continuation of their journeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the 1976 graduate conference of the British Political Studies Association. Theme of the conference; Program for the conference; Proposal to establish a British and Irish Development Studies Association; Attendees of the conference.

The article discusses the changes in the leadership literature with regards to culture and anthropology in the development of leadership in organizations. It explores five case studies in Great Britain on leadership development work that are based on culture to assess results and impact. It concludes that having a culture-based approach enables an in-depth appreciation of the effects of leadership development in organizations.

In this article, we explore the institutional negotiation of public engagement in matters of science and technology. We take the example of the Science in Society dialogue program initiated by the UK's Royal Society, but set this case within the wider experience of the public engagement activities of a range of charities, corporations, governmental departments, and scientific institutions. The novelty of the analysis lies in the linking of an account of the dialogue event and its outcomes to the values, practices, and imperatives-the institutional rationality-of the commissioning organization. We argue that the often tacit institutional construction of scientific citizenship is a critical, and relatively undeveloped, element of analysis-one that offers considerable insight into the practice and democratic implications of engaging publics in science and science policy. We also present evidence indicating that over time the expanding ''capacities'' associated with dialogue can act in subtle ways to enroll other elements of institutional architectures into more reflexive modes of thinking and acting. In the concluding section of the article, we consider the ways in which research and practice could (and we believe should) engage more squarely with facets of institutional context and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the British Educational Leadership, Management ∧ Administration Society (BELMAS) forum held at the Institute of Education on October 8, 2008. Focus was given to the evaluation of the Education Reform Act (ERA) 1988. Three themes were discussed during the forum which are curriculum and assessment, the role of teachers in policy-making, and the extension of local economy for schools. Recommendations are also given including focusing on social rather than academic outcomes.

Most commonly associated with the legendary golfer, Ben Hogan in his famous golf instruction book, the concept of swing plane is used by many contemporary golf coaches – including Hank Haney, who is Tiger Woods' current coach. While contemporary golf coaches point to flaws in Hogan's concept of swing plane, their own concepts do not fit easily with scientific accounts of swing plane, such as that in the book, The Search for the Perfect Swing, published in connection with the research carried out by the Golfing Society of Great Britain Scientific Working Party in the 1960s. There are clearly differences between 'scientific' and 'teaching' theories of swing plane. This article attempts to reconcile the science of the swing plane with the art of coaching this concept to players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the outcome of a meeting held by the British Association for Psychopharmacology in Newcastle, England in 2006 to discuss acute mania treatment and relapse prevention. Factors affecting the diagnosis of bipolar disorders; Results of an assessment of clinical trial data on the efficacy of available therapies, including lithium and anticonvulsants; Analysis of the role of psychological therapies.

The article focuses on the guidelines of the British HIV Association on the management of lipid abnormalities in HIV patients. Included are basic guidance on the management of dyslipidemia, in which statins and fibrates are recommended. Possible drug interactions of statins with protease inhibitors are provided. Patients should be monitored and lipid and blood sugar tests should be performed a month after treatment starts.

This article explores an area of British political party funding that is overlooked, under-researched and under-regulated: party commerce. A comparison of the trading activities of five large and five small political party headquarters units is presented using audited political party accounts made public by the Electoral Commission in 2003, the first year in which such data became available. The anomalies in party funding transparency arising from the lack of regulation of political party commerce are discussed. The dangers of allowing party commerce to continue unregulated, or of inappropriate regulation, are debated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the Lewis Carroll Society of Great Britain, suggesting parallels between popular media fandom and the "high cultural" literary society: the need for community, the obsession with close reading, the pleasures of pilgrimage, and the importance of defending the chosen text from criticism. However the Lewis Carroll Society diverges from popular fandom in its comparatively greater cultural power, its potential to guide meanings in broader social discourse, and its blurring of the lines between amateur and academic publishing. Through these points of sameness and difference, it offers new insight into practices common to both popular and high cultural fandom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article outlines the medical history of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) in Great Britain since 1907. It could be noted that RSM's transformation from the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society loosely designated specialist. This transformation could be attributed to the merger of 17 societies with the federal structure. This is considered to be the first acceptance made by a national institution assessing that the practice of medicine is becoming specialized.

The article offers a brief account of the Political Studies Association (PSA) of Great Britain. The most notable activities of the Association include the publication of the "Political Studies" and the Annual Conference. According to the author, membership of the Association has contributed to the increase in the circulation of the periodical. The Association has contacts with the Politics Association, which is concerned with political studies.

The article examines the history and state of retail organizations in Great Britain. It compares and contrasts the adolescent retail representation movement with the older and mature manufacturing industry representation movement, particularly the Confederation of British Industry. The cyclic rise and decline of the Retail Consortium, founded in 1967, and the evidence for the hypothesis that increased government intervention in particular sectors of the economy gave rise to business interest groups, are explained.

Examines the implications of organizational dependence upon customers and owners in Great Britain. Interrelationships between organizational structures and environments; Factors influencing the internal structure and functioning of organizations; Interaction effects with production technology.

The article focuses on the origin, nature and history of the Institute of Sociology or Sociological Society and its dissolution. The Sociological Society began in 1903. It was first a small group of men concerned to work out a social theory which would react on practice. It was an urge to interpenetrate every department of human investigation with the scientific idea. Its programme issued at the first meeting provided a framework for the Society. The various tasks included in the programme were to publish a Journal of Sociology, to hold meetings for lectures and discussions as customary to an efficiently organised learned society, to collect relevant periodicals and books and maintain them for reference in an adequate library, to maintain an interest in sociology in the universities and colleges in this country, to provide a research centre to aid the progress of systematic sociology and to establish and maintain a press for sociological publications. Director and treasurer of the institute Alexander Farquharson's death in 1954 created a state of emergency in Institute affairs. At the Council Meeting held on 7th July 1955, a declaration of solvency was made and at the extraordinary general meeting, which followed, a special resolution was passed to wind up the Institute voluntarily under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1948.

The article examines the efforts towards national planning Great Britain. In all forms of economic life the tendency is towards large-scale units. Man's inventive genius has annihilated both time and space, factors which in the past have helped to segregate communities. Rapid travel, wireless telegraphy, the newspaper, the cinema, broadcasting, flying are all busily engaged in breaking down the barriers which formerly kept community life intact. The old-fashioned countryman works in harmony with the power behind the wind and the blowing seeds. For generations he has stood up to nature in all her moods. His clothes have taken on the color of her fields and woods. His home is little more than a huge bird's nest. All his customs come from age-long experience gained in his battle with storm and tempest, rain and sunshine. To him these things are life. The small village communities have grown up under the hands of such people. They depend for their continued existence on conditions not too far removed from those which created them; the need that is for a combined effort in comparative isolation.

The article presents the author's views on problems related to sexual relationships between doctors and patients. The issue became public after a research over the subject by the Royal Colleges, or the General Medical Council (GMC), Great Britain. American psychiatrists also surveyed the behavior of their own profession and found an alarming result.

Focuses on the Roads and Road Transport History Association based in Great Britain. History of the association; Corporate members; Schedule of congresses and symposiums.

The article reports that the Medico-Pharmaceutical Forum has moved into an office on the third floor of the renovated part of the Royal Society of Medicine in Great Britain on June 9, 1986. R. T. Hewitt, retired executive director of the Royal Society of Medicine, played an important role in creating the Forum. It cites the aims of the Forum, such as to consider matters of joint interest to the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry.

The article focuses on the meeting of the Section of Oncology of the Royal Society of Medicine that was held on November 13, 1991. The speakers at the meeting discussed the funding of clinical cancer research in Great Britain. It is observed that the number of patients over the last 5 years entered into the Medical Research Council (MRC) cancer trials has doubled. The MRC has admitted that it has spend 8 of its £200 million annual budget on cancer research.

Provides information on a meeting conducted by the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) in Newcastle, England in 2006 to discuss strategies for acute mania treatment and relapse prevention. Comparison of the importance given to the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia in Great Britain; Background on guidelines published by BAP in 2003 for the treatment of bipolar disorder; Importance of recognizing the limitations of the data base in the area of maintenance and prophylaxis in bipolar disorder.

The article points out that one campaign for the protection and status health workers in war zones as been supported by the Physicians for Human Rights in Great Britain. This organization has established a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence and Integrity of Health Professionals. This was launched in 1996 in the Netherlands and has since been adopted by a group of health and human rights associations and the British Medical Association.