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The article discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by Sociological Research Online (SRO) in the digital age. The journal aims to adapt to digital transformations and social changes by providing an inclusive and accessible platform for sociological research. The editorial team plans to publish a special issue reflecting on the journal's history and implement social content that engages the sociology community in new ways. They also emphasize the importance of open dialogue and inclusivity in sociology to create new possibilities and generate new knowledge. [Extracted from the article]

There has been much debate about the study of British youth cultures, often involving the analysis and critique of two dominant theoretical frameworks: the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) "subcultural" position and the "post-subcultural" position. This paper, will engage in this debate by offering an alternative set of arguments, drawing attention to the early empirical contribution made by the Chicago school of sociology to the study of youth, and the inadvertent role some of their work played in developing the first model of "subculture". To demonstrate this, the work of Cressey (1932), who explored the "social world" of young female taxi-hall dancers, will be considered, and in highlighting its relevance to the study of contemporary youth cultures, his work will be discussed in relation to a recent ethnography of lap dancing in which a hierarchical occupational subculture of dancers has been identified. Both Cressey's (1932) "social world" of taxi dancers and the subculture of the contemporary lap dancers, share similar features that define the unique, enclosed worlds of which each respective group is part. By drawing on Cressey (1932) and this recent study of lap dancers, not only are mainstream notions of youth culture questioned, but it is suggested that modes of work, as well as leisure, may hold "cultural" significance. (Contains 25 notes.)

The following extract is taken from my field diary, which I used to record observations I made while recently studying a group of fellow lap-dancers who worked in a club [...]

Drawing upon findings from an ethnographic study of lap-dancing club customers, and those generated from desk-based research which examined lap-dancing club websites and promotional materials, this article will argue that the lap-dancing club is a heteronormative space, in which male customers practice normative masculinity. In exploring normative masculinity, this article will draw upon the work of Connell (1995) , to demonstrate how different normative masculine practices are evident in the different attendance patterns of lap-dancing club customers. Overall, the findings discussed in this article make two important assertions, in support of Connell's work. First, that masculinity is fluid, and context dependent; men can enact different versions of masculinity in different social spaces and situations. Second, normative masculine practices are pervasive, and encouraged, aided through heteronormative spaces such as lap-dancing clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England and Wales, with the introduction of Section 27 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009, lap-dancing clubs can now be licensed as Sexual Entertainment Venues. This article considers such, offering a critique of Section 27, arguing that this legislation is not evidence-based, with lap-dancing policy, like other sex-work policies, often associated with crime, deviance and immorality. Furthermore, it is argued that sex-work policies are gradually being homogenised as well as increasingly criminalised. Other criticisms relate to various licensing loopholes which lead to some striptease venues remaining unlicensed and unregulated, potentially impacting on the welfare of erotic dancers. In addition, restrictions on the numbers of lap-dancing venues may exacerbate dancer unemployment, drawing these women into poverty. Finally, The Policing and Crime Act reflects how the political focus is being directed away from the exploitation of workers, on to issues relating to crime and deviance, despite limited evidence to support this focus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Striptease venues have been the subject of considerable public debate following the emergence of highly visible ‘lap dancing’ clubs in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Accused of promoting forms of criminality and nuisance, the state and the law has nonetheless stopped short of banning such venues in England and Wales, with Section 27 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 allowing for regulation through locally devolved systems of licensing. This article accordingly analyses the licensing of sexual entertainment venues (SEVs) enacted at the local level and demonstrates how the deployment of these local powers is capable of removing such businesses from select cities simply on the basis that they are ‘out of place’. Given this is a form of spatial regulation against which there is little legal recourse, the article highlights the particular role played by municipal law in the regulation of sexuality, stressing the growing importance of environmental, planning and licensing law – as opposed to criminal law – as a means of regulating sexual conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]