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This decade represents a critical period to profoundly rethink human–nature interactions in order to address the interwoven climate and biodiversity crises. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) demonstrate promise for increasing ecosystem resilience and reversing habitat and population declines, but outcomes vary considerably from context to context. Partially protected areas offer a compromise between ecological recovery and the social needs of local communities, but their success is contingent on an array of factors. This in-depth review summarizes 15 years of marine conservation research and impact in Lyme Bay (southwest UK), to serve as a model for the future adoption of partially protected MPAs. The findings from the UK's longest integrated socioecological monitoring MPA study are presented and supplemented by an evaluation of the whole-site management approach as a core element of Lyme Bay's achievements. The journey from research to improved monitoring and ambitious policy is illustrated within and interspersed with stories of novel discoveries, ongoing challenges, and method developments. What started as a dedicated group of community members has grown into an immense collaboration between fishers, scientists, NGOs, and regulators, and their combined efforts have sent ripple effects of positive change across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the social construction of house size expectations in two national panel datasets: German Socio Economic Panel Study (GSOEP) and the British Household Panel Study (BHPS). More specifically, it tests the aspiration spiral theory and positional good theory using data on housing/life satisfaction and house size judgements. In both countries, it finds substantial evidence that the current space expectations of individuals who have 'upsized' depends on the level of living space they experienced in the past year. For downsizers, however, the evidence in support of the aspiration spiral theory is weaker. In terms of the positional good theory, this paper finds no consistent evidence that an individual's space expectations are influenced by those around them. In both countries, the paper tests for two reference groups – the average level of living space in the region, and the mean size of the largest decile of houses in the region – and neither are found to be significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescent multiple risk behaviour (MRB) is associated with negative outcomes such as police arrests, unemployment and premature mortality and morbidity. What is unknown is whether MRB is associated with socioeconomic status (SES) in adulthood. We test whether adolescent MRB is associated with socioeconomic status (SES) in young adulthood and whether it is moderated by early life SES variables. Methods: Prospective cohort studies; British Cohort Study 1970 (BCS70) and Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), born in 1991–1992, were used and two comparable MRB variables were derived. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between MRB and young adult SES. The moderating effect of three early life SES variables was assessed using logistic regression models with and without interaction parameters. Evidence to support the presence of moderation was determined by likelihood ratio tests ≤p = 0.05. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data. Results: Adolescents had a median of two risk behaviours in BCS70 and three in ALSPAC. Adolescent MRB was negatively associated with young adult SES (university degree attainment) in BCS70 (OR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.76, 0.86) and ALSPAC (OR 0.85, 95% CI: 0.82, 0.88). There was a dose response relationship, with each additional risk behaviour resulting in reduced odds of university degree attainment. MRB was associated occupational status at age 34 in BCS70 (OR 0.86 95% CI: 0.82, 0.90). In BCS70, there was evidence that maternal education (p = 0.03), parental occupational status (p = 0.009) and household income (p = 0.03) moderated the effect of adolescent MRB on young adult SES in that the negative effect of MRB is stronger for those with low socioeconomic backgrounds. No evidence of moderation was found in the ALSPAC cohort. Conclusions: Adolescence appears to be a critical time in the life course to address risk behaviours, due to the likelihood that behaviours established here may have effects in adulthood. Intervening on adolescent MRB could improve later SES outcomes and thus affect health outcomes later in life. Evidence for a moderation effect in the BCS70 but not ALSPAC suggests that more detailed measures should be investigated to capture the nuance of contemporary young adult SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies in the United States show that school students from some ethnic backgrounds are susceptible to stereotype threat, that this undermines their academic performance, and that a series of virtually zero‐cost self‐affirmation writing exercises can reduce these adverse effects. In England, however, socioeconomic status (SES) is a much stronger predictor of academic success than is ethnic background. Aims: This study investigates whether self‐affirmation writing exercises can help close the SES attainment gap in England by increasing the academic performance of low‐SES (but not higher‐SES) school students. Sample: Our sample consisted of students aged 11–14 in a secondary school in southern England (N = 562); of these, 128 were eligible for free school meals, a proxy for low SES. Methods: Students completed three short writing exercises throughout one academic year: those randomly assigned to an affirmed condition wrote about values that were important to them, and those assigned to a control condition wrote about a neutral topic. Results: On average, the low‐SES students had lower academic performance and reported experiencing more stereotype threat than their higher‐SES peers. The self‐affirmation raised the academic performance of the low‐SES students by 0.38 standard deviations but did not significantly affect the performance of the higher‐SES students, thus reducing the SES performance gap by 62%. The self‐affirmation also reduced the level of stress reported by the low‐SES students. Conclusions: The benefits of this virtually zero‐cost intervention compare favourably with those of other interventions targeting the SES academic attainment gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article responds to the contemporary debates in UK higher education about the need to 'decolonise the curriculum', with particular attention to the implications for the discipline of history. The author positions these important debates as one outcome of a transnational movement led by students of colour whose grievances reach into and beyond the classroom. The first part of the article examines the origins of this movement identifying some important antecedents as well as the broader political and socio‐economic forces that propelled its rise in 2015. There then follows an examination of the movement's multidimensional critique of the university sector, which includes—but is not limited to—the call to 'decolonise the curriculum', before considering potential implications for academic workers labouring in the discipline of history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass expansion of the UK Higher Education (HE) sector is eroding its well-documented benefits – leading many to question whether HE remains worthwhile. Avoiding the traditional approach of estimating the returns to HE, we investigate why many now feel that attending university will not yield any financial benefits. Using BSA data from 2010 we find that this negativity is being driven by perceived lack of graduate job prospects, the rise in tuition fees and wage underpayment. We conclude that this may well fuel uncertainty and reduce demand for HE from lower socio-economic groups while increasing intra class conflict in higher socio-economic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An article is presented which offers incipient theoretical analysis and reflections on the recent rises in Great Britain. It suggests that the ultra-realist concept of the "pseudo-pacification process" provides a useful means of furthering our understanding of these rises in the current socioeconomic context of post-crash capitalism. It presents information on civilizing process.

This article reports on a qualitative study in the UK of women as co‐offenders, their pathways into crime and offending motivations. What was found in the analysis of the women's narratives was that while co‐offending relationships were a central pathway into offending, this often intersected with other circumstances in the women's lives, including drug addiction, socio‐economic circumstances, and 'significant life events'. These findings suggest that those working with this cohort of women must recognise the complexities and contexts of co‐offending to understand, and accurately represent, women's experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In British social mobility discourse, the rhetoric of fair access can obscure wider issues of social justice. While socio‐economic inequalities continue to shape young people's lives, sociological work on class dis‐identification suggests social class is less obviously meaningful as a source of individual and collective identity. This paper considers subjective understandings of the post‐16 education and employment landscape in this context, drawing on qualitative research exploring the aspirations of young men and women as they completed compulsory education in north‐west England, and the hopes their parents had for their future. It shows how unequal access to resources shaped the older generation's expectations for their children, although this was rarely articulated using the explicit language of class. Their children recognized they faced a difficult job market but embraced the idea that success was possible through hard work. Both generations drew moral boundaries and made judgments based on implicit classed discourses about undeserving others, while at the same time disavowing class identities. There was a more explicit recognition of gender inequality among the parents framed with reference to hopes for greater freedom for their daughters. Opportunities and inequalities were thus understood in complex and sometimes contradictory ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decade has seen increasing evidence from the UK on the social divide in language learning. To date, there are no studies that relate the views of school stakeholders (senior management, language teachers, students) on modern languages to actual language policy in individual schools, and the socio-economic characteristics of the schools themselves. This article reports on interviews and focus groups conducted in four schools in north England, an area with below (national) average uptake of language learning beyond the compulsory age. In each school, focus groups with students (aged 13/14), and interviews with language teachers and senior management were undertaken. The data was analysed using thematic analysis, and corpus linguistics. Results reveal that students from all school types, including in areas of strong deprivation, rate and value languages. School management, however, may articulate a wide range of possible rationales for languages, but tend to justify their own language policies, citing performance-driven pressures, the academic and social background of their schools’ intake, and the purported professional aspirations of their students. In this manner, school management teams shape opportunities to learn languages based on the socio-economic characteristics of their intake and contribute to the social divide in language learning in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how governance actors in regional business systems engage with foreign-owned multinational corporations which are present within their territory, in attempts to retain investment and link their regions to global production networks. This is done through a qualitative analysis of policy and practice in six sub-national regions in three advanced industrialized economies (Canada, Spain and the UK), thus permitting both international and intra-national comparisons. We find that while there are broad similarities in the types of governance mechanisms used, there are notable differences in the extent and intensity of forms of market, state and associational governance of foreign direct investment. These differences partly correspond to broader institutional differences in the nature of business systems, and partly to the socio-political construction of sub-national governance space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is upon the educational background of academic lawyers in England and Wales and the extent to which qualifications from certain institutions may be seen as acting as a proxy for social class. In recent years higher educational background and socio-economic background have been significant topics of research relating to entry to the legal professions and judiciary in England and Wales. There is a relative absence of such research relating to academic lawyers. The research discussed in this paper aims to close that gap. The paper argues that critiques relating to the elite nature of the traditional legal professions in terms of educational background have parallels within the academic legal community, evidenced by a dominance of those educated at Cambridge, Oxford and other Russell Group institutions, with relatively lower proportions of graduates from other sectors, most notably the post-1992 universities. The paper further argues that economic hurdles to entry to an academic legal career are significantly higher than those for other law related careers, potentially exacerbating issues of socio-economic exclusion. The conclusion drawn is that law schools should engage proactively with measures to expand opportunities for entrants into the academic legal community from candidates from a much wider range of educational backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous U.K. population‐based studies have found associations amongst early speech and language difficulties, socioeconomic disadvantage and children's word‐reading ability later on. We examine the strength of these associations in a recent U.K. population‐based birth cohort. Analyses were based on 13,680 participants. Linear regression models were fitted to identify factors that were associated with word‐reading score at the age of 7 years. Path analysis models were fitted to examine phonological skills as a mediator of the relationships. We found that male gender, preterm birth, naming vocabulary at age five, concerns about speech and language, maternal education, type of housing tenure, lone parenting, parent attachment and frequency of reading to the child were all independently associated with word reading. For each of these predictors, there was evidence suggesting that a substantial proportion of the effect may be mediated by phonological skills (ranging from 52 to 89%). Despite policy intervention, many of the same risk factors identified in previous studies still predict children's word‐reading ability in the United Kingdom. Results support the phonological model, with phonological skills on the pathway to word reading. What is already known about this topic?: A range of studies has implicated poor socioeconomic background and disadvantaged family circumstances as risks for children's poor word reading. Good early development of language skills is firmly established as a pathway to promoting reading ability. Not all poor readers show deficits in phonological skills, although such deficits correlate highly with reading difficulties. What this paper adds: This is an original analysis of factors in a recent cohort of U.K. children, using stratified sampling to be representative of the U.K. population as a whole. A range of child‐specific, family socioeconomic and family relationship factors were independently associated with word‐reading ability when children were age seven. For each of the predictors, there was evidence suggesting that a substantial proportion of the effect, if causal, may be mediated by phonological skills (ranging from 52 to 89%). Implications for theory, policy or practice: Despite policy intervention, many of the same risk factors identified in older studies still predict children's word‐reading ability in the United Kingdom. Results lend weight to the phonological model, where deficits in phonological skills are on the pathway to word reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupations traditionally played a central role in stratification accounts. In the wake of the Great Recession, debates regarding the extent and nature of occupational stratification have been reinvigorated. An exploration of occupational wage stratification patterns defined by both detailed occupational unit groups and the broader occupational class categories of the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) reveals the proportion of wage inequality between occupations and occupational classes has remained broadly stable 1997 to 2015. No compelling evidence is found for growing wage inequalities between detailed occupations within NS-SEC categories. This article underlines the continued utility of occupations and particularly the NS-SEC grouping of them in describing the structure of stratification in contemporary Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several reports have highlighted that, within Britain, allegations of electoral fraud tend to be more common in areas with large Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. However, the extent of this association has not yet been quantified. Using data at the local authority level, this paper shows that percentage Pakistani and Bangladeshi (logged) is a robust predictor of two measures of electoral fraud allegations: one based on designations by the Electoral Commission, and one based on police enquiries. Indeed, the association persists after controlling for other minority shares, demographic characteristics, socio-economic deprivation, and anti-immigration attitudes. I interpret this finding with reference to the growing literature on consanguinity (cousin marriage) and corruption. Rates of cousin marriage tend to be high in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, which may have fostered norms of nepotism and in-group favoritism that persist over time. To bolster my interpretation, I use individual level survey data to show that, within Europe, migrants from countries with high rates of cousin marriage are more likely to say that family should be one's main priority in life, and are less likely to say it is wrong for a public official to request a bribe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past 70 years have seen a dramatic change in the structure of the dairy industry, driven by socio-economic changes and by the dramatic improvements in knowledge of the physicochemical and microbiological state of milk and milk products. Production processes have been revolutionised by improvements to process hygiene and by automation. Energy efficiency will continue to have a major influence on manufacture and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low fertility across Europe highlights the need to understand reproductive decisions in high-income countries better. Availability of support may be one factor influencing reproductive decisions, though within high-income countries availability varies between environments, including socio-economic environments. We test whether receiving higher levels of support, from different sources (informal and formal) and of different types (practical and emotional), is positively correlated with second births in the United Kingdom (UK) Millennium Cohort Study, and whether these relationships differ by socio-economic position (SEP). Our hypothesis is only partially supported: receiving emotional support correlates with higher likelihood of second birth, but the opposite is true for practical support. Availability of different types of support varies across SEP, but relationships between support and fertility are similar, with one exception: kin-provided childcare increases the likelihood of birth only among lower-SEP women. Our results highlight that not all support is equal in the decision to have a second child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a case of engaged ethnography developed by a group of geographers from the University of Cagliari focusing on the everyday experience of urban marginality by the residents of Sant’Elia, a low-income district in Cagliari, Italy. Stigmatised for being ‘at the margins’ of the city, the district reveals on the one hand, degraded socio-economic conditions and, on the other hand, a strong sense of identity and belonging among its inhabitants. The main aim of the study is to discuss and contrast the stigma affecting Sant’Elia through the direct involvement of a group of women living in the district in participative fieldwork utilising a mixed set of both quantitative and qualitative tools and aimed at collecting a multilayered reality of ideas, emotions, perceptions, experiences and images of the district as perceived by its own inhabitants. By presenting the different phases, methodologies and results of the study, the paper operates at two different, albeit interconnected, theoretical and methodological levels. From a theoretical standpoint, it deconstructs the concept of marginality, showing what it means to live in a ‘difficult’ district on a daily basis. From a methodological point of view, it proposes a wider reflection on the politics of multimodal ethnography, by focusing on how the different positionalities of researchers and residents have been challenged by the fieldwork activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-regional correlations between average IQ and socioeconomic development have been documented in many different countries. This paper presents new IQ estimates for the twelve regions of the UK. These are weakly correlated (r=0.24) with the regional IQs assembled by Lynn (1979). Assuming the two sets of estimates are accurate and comparable, this finding suggests that the relative IQs of different UK regions have changed since the 1950s, most likely due to differentials in the magnitude of the Flynn effect, the selectivity of external migration, the selectivity of internal migration or the strength of the relationship between IQ and fertility. The paper provides evidence for the validity of the regional IQs by showing that IQ estimates for UK nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) derived from the same data are strongly correlated with national PISA scores (r=0.99). It finds that regional IQ is positively related to income, longevity and technological accomplishment; and is negatively related to poverty, deprivation and unemployment. A general factor of socioeconomic development is correlated with regional IQ at r=0.72. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to model the travel behaviour of socially disadvantaged population segments in the United Kingdom (UK) using the data from the UK National Travel Survey 2002–2010. This was achieved by introducing additional socioeconomic variables into a standard national-level trip end model (TEM) and using purpose-based analysis of the travel behaviours of certain key socially disadvantaged groups. Specifically the paper aims to explore how far the economic and social disadvantages of these individuals can be used to explain the inequalities in their travel behaviours. The models demonstrated important differences in travel behaviours according to household income, presence of children in the household, possession of a driver’s licence and belonging to a vulnerable population group, such as being disabled, non-white or having single parent household status. In the case of household income, there was a non-linear relationship with trip frequency and a linear one with distance travelled. The recent economic austerity measures that have been introduced in the UK and many other European countries have led to major cutbacks in public subsidies for socially necessary transport services, making results such as these increasingly important for transport policy decision-making. The results indicate that the inclusion of additional socioeconomic variables is useful for identifying significant differences in the trip patterns and distances travelled by low-income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence-based policy-making has been a much-debated concept. This paper builds on various insights for a novel perspective: policy-driven, narrative-based evidence gathering. In a case study of UK priority setting for bioenergy innovation, documents and interviews were analysed to identify links between diagnoses of the problem, societal visions, policy narratives and evidence gathering. This process is illuminated by the theoretical concept of sociotechnical imaginaries- technoscientific projects which the state should promote for a feasible, desirable future. Results suggest that evidence has been selectively generated and gathered within a specific future vision, whereby bioenergy largely provides an input-substitute within the incumbent centralised infrastructure. Such evidence is attributed to an external expertise, thus helping to legitimise the policy framework. Evidence has helped to substantiate policy commitments to expand bioenergy. The dominant narrative has been reinforced by the government's multi-stake- holder consultation favouring the incumbent industry and by incentive structures for industry co- investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the policies of European Union (EU) Member States that approaches public procurement and its socio-economic dimension. It mentions that Great Britain public procurement law, policy and social value underpins the interpretation of the public procurement rules. It states that the French law, policy and social value is committed to sustainable socio-economic development. It mentions that German law, policy and social value is complex and based on the cascade principle.

An increasing number of eligible citizens in North America and Europe were born outside of these countries. As remarked by Heath et al. [2011. “Ethnic Heterogeneity in the Social Bases of Voting at the 2010 British General Election.”Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties21 (2): 255–277], in the case that voters with migration background respond differently to established correlates of turnout, understanding the role of immigration-specific factors becomes particularly important. On the basis of individual-level register data from the 2012 Finnish municipal elections (n = 585,839), we examine whether the effect of socioeconomic status on turnout differs according to citizenship status and test which indicators of social and political integration boost participation among foreign-born voters. We find, in line with the different response model, that the impact of age and education is weaker among voters with migration background. In addition, having a native spouse and minor children, past eligibility and being born in a democratic country increase turnout among foreign-born voters, lending support for the assimilation, exposure and transferability models. Finally, the findings concerning the resistance model were opposite to our expectations. Older age at the time of immigration increases participation, but only among migrants born in a democratic country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The electricity infrastructure in many developed countries requires significant investment to meet ambitious carbon emissions reduction targets, and to bridge the gap between future supply and demand. Perennial energy crops have the potential to deliver electricity generation capacity while reducing carbon emissions, leading to polices supporting the adoption of these crops. In the UK, for example, support has been in place over the past decade, although uptake and the market development have so far been relatively modest. This paper combines biophysical and socio-economic process representations within an agent-based model (ABM), to offer insights into the dynamics of the development of the perennial energy crop market. Against a changing policy landscape, several potential policy scenarios are developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the market in providing a source of low carbon renewable electricity, and to achieve carbon emissions abatement. The results demonstrate the key role of both energy and agricultural policies in stimulating the rate and level of uptake; consequently influencing the cost-effectiveness of these measures. The UK example shows that energy crops have the potential to deliver significant emissions abatement (up to 24 Mt carbon dioxide equivalent year −1 , 4% of 2013 UK total emissions), and renewable electricity (up to 29 TWh year −1 , 8% of UK electricity or 3% of primary energy demand), but a holistic assessment of related policies is needed to ensure that support is cost-effective. However, recent policy developments suggest that domestically grown perennial energy crops will only play a niche role (<0.2%) of the UK energy balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reforms which increase the stock of education in a society have long been held by policy-makers as key to improving rates of intergenerational social mobility. Yet, despite the intuitive plausibility of this idea, the empirical evidence in support of an effect of educational expansion on social fluidity is both indirect and weak. In this paper we use the raising of the minimum school leaving age from 15 to 16 years in England and Wales in 1972 to estimate the effect of educational participation and qualification attainment on rates of intergenerational social class mobility. Because, in expectation, children born immediately before and after the policy was implemented are statistically exchangeable, the difference in the amount of education they received may be treated as exogenously determined. The exogenous nature of the additional education gain means that differences in rates of social mobility between cohorts affected by the reform can be treated as having been caused by the additional education. The data for the analysis come from the ONS Longitudinal Study, which links individual records from successive decennial censuses between 1971 and 2001. Our findings show that, although the reform resulted in an increase in educational attainment in the population as a whole and a weakening of the association between attainment and class origin, there was no reliably discernible increase in the rate of intergenerational social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of the socio-economic and dwelling factors contributing to high electrical energy demand in UK domestic buildings. The socio-economic, dwelling and electricity consumption data were collected during a large-scale, city-wide survey, carried out in Leicester, UK, in 2009–2010. Annual electrical energy demand was estimated for 315 dwellings and an odds ratio analysis used to identify the socio-economic and dwelling factors that led to high electricity consumption. The effects of a number of socio-economic and dwelling factors which have not previously been studied for the UK domestic sector are included. Thus, for the first time, presence of teenagers, having electric space heating as the primary form of heating, portable electric heating and electric water heating were identified as significant drivers of high electricity demand in UK homes. The employment status and education level of the Household Representative Person, the number of floors in a dwelling, presence of fixed electric heating, and the proportion of low-energy lighting were shown to have no effect on high electricity consumption in UK homes. Given the impetus to reduce electricity consumption and CO 2 emissions from the domestic sector, these observations can help shape energy saving campaigns and future energy policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic science is often described as having a moral economy underpinned by curiosity, creativity and a love of the subject. It is also described as having a political economy tied to national programmes for socio-economic growth. According to many writers, in recent decades those moral and political economies have become disconnected through greater managerial, audit and commercial practices pervading the academy. Classic ideals of professional norms and ethos have been eroded in these new economically incentivised environments. Biomedical scientists working at a major UK university echoed these sentiments, lamenting a lost ‘golden age’ of science characterised by intellectual freedom, serendipitous discovery and a love of doing science. In practice, their lamentation serves as a myth and expresses a key tension in pursuing science as a job and as a vocation. Playing a performative role in scientists' own self-understanding, the myth not only underwrites scientific identity, but also supports research management by demarcating ‘science’ from the practices that manage, measure and commercialise it. The ‘golden age’ emerges as a significant explanatory narrative in contemporary science. It embodies a moral economy that is detached from its institutional contexts, and thus unable to resolve the inequalities and tensions produced through the political economy that relies on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence is mounting that area-level socioeconomic indicators are important tools for predicting health outcomes. However, few studies have examined these alongside individual-level education. This nested cohort study within the control arm of the United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) assesses the association of mutually adjusted individual (education) and area-level (Index of Multiple Deprivation-IMD 2007) socioeconomic status indicators and all-cause female mortality. Methods: Participants resident in England who had completed both baseline (Wave 1) and follow up (Wave 2) questionnaires were included. Follow-up was through the Health and Social Care Information Centre with deaths censored on 31st December 2012. IMD, education and a range of covariates were explored. Cox regression models adjusted for all covariates were used. Sensitivity analysis using imputation was performed (1) including those with missing data and (2) on the entire cohort who had completed the baseline questionnaire. Results: Of the 54,539 women resident in England who completed both Wave 1 and Wave 2 questionnaires, 4,510 had missing data. The remaining 50,029 women were included in the primary analysis. Area-level IMD was positively associated with all-cause mortality for the most deprived group compared to the least deprived (HR=1.42, CI=1.14-1.78) after adjusting for all potential confounders. Sensitivity analyses showed similar results with stronger associations in the entire cohort (HR=1.90, CI=1.68-2.16). The less educated an individual, the higher the mortality risk (test for trend p=<0.001). However, the crude effect on mortality of having no formal education compared to college/university education disappeared when adjusted for IMD rank (HR=1.08, CI=0.93-1.26). Conclusion: Women living in more deprived areas continue to have higher mortality even in this less deprived cohort and after adjustment for a range of potential confounders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent investigations indicate that personality traits are unevenly distributed geographically, with some traits being more prevalent in certain places than in others. The geographical distributions of personality traits are associated with a range of important political, economic, social, and health outcomes. The majority of research on this subject has focused on the geographical distributions and macro-level correlates of personality across nations or regions of the United States. The aim of the present investigation was to replicate and extend that past work by examining regional personality differences in Great Britain. Using a sample of nearly 400,000 British residents, we mapped the geographical distributions of the Big Five Personality traits across 380 Local Authority Districts and examined the associations with important political, economic, social, and health outcomes. The results revealed distinct geographical clusters, with neighboring regions displaying similar personality characteristics, and robust associations with the macro-level outcome variables. Overall, the patterns of results were similar to findings from past research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] British adults with intellectual disability have significantly poorer self-rated health than their peers without intellectual disability. [•] They are also significantly more likely to be exposed to socio-economic disadvantage, discrimination and violence. [•] These factors account for over 50% of the risk for poorer self-rated health among adults with intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasingly understood that the physical environment remains an important determinant of area-level health and spatial and socioeconomic health inequalities. Existing research has largely focused on the health effects of differential access to green space, the proximity of waste facilities, or air pollution. The role of brownfield--or previously developed--land has been largely overlooked. This is the case even in studies that utilise multiple measures of environmental deprivation. This paper presents the results of the first national-scale empirical examination of the association between brownfield land and morbidity and mortality, using data from England. Census Area Statistical ward-level data on the relative proportion of brownfield land (calculated from the 2009 National Land Use Database), standardised morbidity (2001 Census measures of 'not good' general health and limiting long-term illness), and premature (aged under 75 years) all-cause mortality ratios from 1998/99 to 2002/03 were examined using linear mixed modelling (adjusting for potential environmental, socioeconomic, and demographic confounders). A significant and strong, adjusted, area-level association was found between brownfield land and morbidity: people living in wards with a high proportion of brownfield land are significantly more likely to suffer from poorer health than those living in wards with a small proportion of brownfield land. This suggests that brownfield land could potentially be an important and previously overlooked independent environmental determinant of population health in England. The remediation and redevelopment of brownfield land should therefore be considered as a public health policy issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the quintessential “person–environment” relationship that forms the core of the subdiscipline of social geography within the context of a national accountability shift from state to society in England. Two Audit Commission datasets are mined to establish homogeneous clusters of residential socioeconomic status and quality of life status before being cross-tabulated to detect genuine issues that affect each characteristic locality. In three of the four cross-tabulations, significant differences on economic well-being, life-long learning, and health distinguish correspondences, whereas in the other, less tangible, case, such factors as the use of cultural facilities, community cohesion, and people’s access to work seem to matter. The implications for research, policy, and practice are duly considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the potential to mobilize in an urban context the key insights of the burgeoning literature on the performativity of economics. It argues that our understanding of contemporary urban political-economic transformation needs to explicitly recognize the active role of economics in making and remaking the urban world, as opposed to merely describing and analysing it in some kind of passive, detached fashion. It develops this argument through the elaboration of a case study of just such world-making in action: the growing use in the United Kingdom, since the early 2000s, of economic models for assessing the viability of affordable housing provision in new residential developments. The world of urban redevelopment that such models attempt to describe formulaically has, the article submits, increasingly come to act according to the model and the assumptions it contains; the model, in this sense, has been progressively actualized in the urban landscape. The article conceptualizes such performative economic models as examples of what Michel Callon calls economics 'in the wild', and it focuses on the work of the leading commercial developer and marketer of such models in the affordable housing planning environment over the last decade - a consulting company called Three Dragons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper estimates the pattern of private and public physician visits and hospitalisation by socioeconomic position in two countries in which private healthcare expenditure constitutes a different proportion of the total amount spent on health care: Britain and Spain. Private physician visits and private hospitalisations were quantitatively more important in Spain than in Britain. In both countries, the use of private services showed a direct socioeconomic gradient. In Spain, the use of public GPs and public specialists tends to favour the worst-off, but no significant differences were observed in public hospitalisation. In Britain, with some exceptions, no significant socioeconomic differences were observed in the use of public health care services. The different pattern observed in the use of public specialist services may be due to the high frequency of visits to private specialists in Spain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The burden of childhood thinness in the UK is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and year-on-year trends of childhood thinness in a population born between 1970 and 2006 in North East Scotland. Methods: Measurements were routinely collected by school nurses as part of school medical entry. Trends in International Obesity Task Force thinness grades 1, that is, body mass index (BMI) corresponding to adult BMI <18.5 kg/m² but ≥17 kg/m² or grade ≥2, that is, corresponding to adult BMI <17 kg/m² were analysed over time by sex and socioeconomic deprivation quintile. Results: Data were obtained for 194 391 children, 52% boys, mean age 5.6 years (SD 0.8). The prevalence of thinness grade 1 was 6.5% (95% CI 5.9% to 7.2%) and 4.8% (4.2% to 5.5%) for those born in 1970 and 2006, respectively, but between these years was variable with the fluctuations being greater for boys than girls. The prevalence of thinness grade ≥2 fell for those born between 1974 and 1985 from 6.1% (5.5% to 6.8%) to 1.3%, (1.0% to 1.6%) and remained relatively stable thereafter in boys and girls. Thinness grade ≥2 was initially less prevalent in more affluent communities, but for those born in 1990 and afterwards, prevalence was equal across deprivation quintiles. In contrast, there was no interaction between deprivation quintile and year of birth for thinness grade 1. Conclusions: Thinness has become less common in this population. While thinness was initially more prevalent among deprived communities, this association is no longer apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveTo investigate the associations between sociodemographic factors and both diet indicators and food security among socio-economically disadvantaged populations in two different (national) contextual settings.DesignLogistic regression was used to determine cross-sectional associations between nationality, marital status, presence of children in the household, education, employment status and household income (four low income categories) with daily fruit and vegetable consumption, low-fat milk consumption and food security.SettingSocio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK and Australia.SubjectsTwo samples of low-income women from disadvantaged neighbourhoods: (i) in the UK, the 2003–05 Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey (LIDNS; n 643); and (ii) in Australia, the 2007–08 Resilience for Eating and Activity Despite Inequality (READI; n 1340).ResultsThe influence of nationality, marital status and children in the household on the dietary outcomes varied between the two nations. Obtaining greater education qualifications was the most telling factor associated with healthier dietary behaviours. Being employed was positively associated with low-fat milk consumption in both nations and with fruit consumption in the UK, while income was not associated with dietary behaviours in either nation. In Australia, the likelihood of being food secure was higher among those who were born outside Australia, married, employed or had a greater income, while higher income was the only significant factor in the UK.ConclusionsThe identification of factors that differently influence dietary behaviours and food security in socio-economically disadvantaged populations in the UK and Australia suggests continued efforts need to be made to ensure that interventions and policy responses are informed by the best available local evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The appropriate use of medicines continues to be an important area of inter-disciplinary research activity both in the UK and beyond. Key qualitative work in this area in the last decade has included the 'medicines resistance' model of medicine-taking, which was based on a meta-ethnography of 37 qualitative studies. This model proposed that patients approach medicine-taking as 'passive accepters', 'active accepters', 'active modifiers' or 'complete rejecters', of which the latter two categories were considered to show 'resistance' to medicines. However, critical assessment of the model appears to be currently lacking, particularly in terms of its use in clinical practice. This paper seeks to contribute to the literature in this area by critically examining the practical application of the model in light of the findings from a qualitative, follow-up study of cardiac rehabilitation patients' perspectives and experiences of using medicines.Methods: Following ethical approval, in-depth, audiotaped, qualitative interviews were conducted with fifteen patients who had completed a UK hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation programme. Participants were aged 42-65, white British and from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Interview topics included perspectives on coronary heart disease, medicine-taking and lifestyle changes. Follow-up interviews with ten patients approximately nine months later explored whether their perspectives had changed.Results: The findings suggest that the active/passive and accepter/modifier distinctions may not allow for clear determination of which profile a patient fits into at any given point, and that definitions such as 'accepter' and 'resistance' may be insufficiently discerning to categorise patients' use of medicines in practice. These problems appear to arise when the issue of patients' accounts about medicines adherence are considered, since patients may have concerns or disquiet about medicines whether or not they are adherent and the model does not consider disquiet in isolation from adherence.Conclusions: Practical application of the 'medicines resistance' model of medicine-taking may be problematic in this patient group. Dissociation of disquiet about medicines from medicines adherence may allow for a focus on helping patients to resolve their disquiet, if possible, without this necessarily having to be viewed in terms of its potential effect on adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recent studies examining the relationship between family income and child health in the UK have produced mixed findings. We re-examine the income gradient in child general health and its evolution with child age in this country, using a very large sample of British children. We find that there is no correlation between income and child general health at ages 0–1, that the gradient emerges around age 2 and is constant from age 2 to age 17. In addition, we show that the gradient remains large and significant when we reduce the endogeneity of income. Furthermore, our results indicate that the gradient in general health reflects a greater prevalence of chronic conditions among low-income children and a greater severity of these conditions. Taken together, these findings suggest that income does matter for child health in the UK and may play a role in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

From the mid-1950s, social scientists in the USA began trying to understand the geography of economic problems using quantitative methods and theoretical models. Subnational regions had the ideal proportions for performing this research, which led to the creation of a new subject area, ‘regional science’. When regional economic imbalances shot up the political agenda in Britain in the 1960s, advocates of regional science saw an opportunity to expand the reach of their subject. This article examines the migration of American regional science to Britain and explores why its ideas and organisational model met with opposition. It argues that the transnational transfer of academic networks is more complex than has been acknowledged and that British regional research and policy was more influenced by American ideas than is commonly recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on the notion that entrepreneurship is a 'local event', the literature argues that entrepreneurs are 'rooted' in place. This paper tests the 'residential rootedness' hypothesis of self-employment by examining for Germany and the UK whether the selfemployed are less likely to move over long distances (internal migration) than workers in paid employment. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), and accounting for transitions in employment status we found little evidence that the self-employed in Germany and the UK are more rooted in place than workers in paid employment. Generally speaking, the selfemployed were no less likely than workers in paid employment to migrate over longer distance. In contrast to the residential rootedness hypothesis we found that entry into selfemployment and female self-employment are associated with internal migration, and that the self-employed who work from home (home-based businesses) are fairly geographically mobile. The gendered results suggest that women might use self-employment as a strategy to be spatially mobile with their household, or as a strategy to stay in the workforce after having moved residence until they find a job in the more secure wage and salary sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the expansion of the automobility and social change in urban areas of Great Britain between 1955 and 1970. It examines what the author calls the motor revolution in Great Britain during the 1950s, particularly the development of urban motorways and the sharp increase in the number of motor vehicles in Great Britain, and the expansion of automobile ownership. The article discusses the impact of automobiles on social mobility, the political significance of the expansion of automobility, and the socioeconomic aspects of car ownership.