14,134 research outputs found

    Building body identities - exploring the world of female bodybuilders

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    This thesis explores how female bodybuilders seek to develop and maintain a viable sense of self despite being stigmatized by the gendered foundations of what Erving Goffman (1983) refers to as the 'interaction order'; the unavoidable presentational context in which identities are forged during the course of social life. Placed in the context of an overview of the historical treatment of women's bodies, and a concern with the development of bodybuilding as a specific form of body modification, the research draws upon a unique two year ethnographic study based in the South of England, complemented by interviews with twenty-six female bodybuilders, all of whom live in the U.K. By mapping these extraordinary women's lives, the research illuminates the pivotal spaces and essential lived experiences that make up the female bodybuilder. Whilst the women appear to be embarking on an 'empowering' radical body project for themselves, the consequences of their activity remains culturally ambivalent. This research exposes the 'Janus-faced' nature of female bodybuilding, exploring the ways in which the women negotiate, accommodate and resist pressures to engage in more orthodox and feminine activities and appearances

    Development and evaluation of a treatment package for men with an intellectual disability who sexually offend

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    Sex offending in the general population has been a focus of interest for some time due to the damaging nature of the behaviour, and the need to reduce recidivism. Theoretical and clinical advances (Finke1hor, 1986; HM Prison Service, 1996; Marshall, Anderson, & Fernandez, 1999; Serran & Marshall, 2010) in treatment for sex offenders in the general population have been extended to men with an intellectual disability at risk of sexual offending (Lindsay, 2009). The purpose of this project is to develop and evaluate the SOTSEC-ID version cftrus model. Participants are adult males from 15 different locations across England and Wales, with an intellectual disability or borderline cognitive functioning and who have committed sexual offences. A pilot study clarified assessments and procedures, and individual data over several years is presented. A qualitative study using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (JP A) illustrates the 'meaning making' of participants' treatment experience through six major themes. A reliability and validity study assesses the four main quantitative measures, QACSO, SAKA, SOSAS, and VESA, finding limited support for criterion validity for the SOSAS and SAKA, excellent inter-rater reli"ability for all four main measures, and good to excellent inter-rater reliability on all but the SAKA Finally, a quantitative study, in collaboration with the wider SOTSEC-ID group, uses a repeated measures design to compare the QACSO, SOSAS and SAKA across pre-group, post-group and follow. up. Significant main effects and post-hoc comparisons were in the predicted direction for all measures. A range of information on demographic, clinical and criminogenic factors including offending during treatment or follow-up are also presented. A recidivism rate of 12.3% over a year was calculated for the sample. The treatment model and collaborative framework is recommended for wider adoption

    Political Islam and grassroots activism in Turkey : a study of the pro-Islamist Virtue Party's grassroots activists and their affects on the electoral outcomes

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    This thesis presents an analysis of the spectacular rise of political Islam in Turkey. It has two aims: first to understand the underlying causes of the rise of the Welfare Party which -later became the Virtue Party- throughout the 1990s, and second to analyse how grassroots activism influenced this process. The thesis reviews the previous literature on the Islamic fundamentalist movements, political parties, political party systems and concentrates on the local party organisations and their effects on the party's electoral performance. It questions the categorisation of Islamic fundamentalism as an appropriate label for this movement. An exploration of such movements is particularly important in light of the event of 11`x' September. After exploring existing theoretical and case studies into political Islam and party activism, I present my qualitative case study. I have used ethnographic methodology and done participatory observations among grassroots activists in Ankara's two sub-districts covering 105 neighbourhoods. I examined the Turkish party system and the reasons for its collapse. It was observed that as a result of party fragmentation, electoral volatility and organisational decline and decline in the party identification among the citizens the Turkish party system has declined. However, the WP/VP profited from this trend enormously and emerged as the main beneficiary of this process. Empirical data is analysed in four chapters, dealing with the different aspects of the Virtue Party's local organisations and grassroots activists. They deal with change and continuity in the party, the patterns of participation, the routes and motives for becoming a party activist, the profile of party activists and the local party organisations. I explore what they do and how they do it. The analysis reveals that the categorisation of Islamic fundamentalism is misplaced and the rise of political Islam in Turkey cannot be explained as religious revivalism or the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. It is a political force that drives its strength from the urban poor which has been harshly affected by the IMF directed neoliberal economy policies. In conclusion, it is shown that the WP/VP's electoral chances were significantly improved by its very efficient and effective party organisations and highly committed grassroots activists

    Towards the development of care management in community care for elderly people in Korea

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    This study is concerned with the feasibility of several forms of care management in the development of community care for elderly people in Korea. Chapter one introduces the background of community care in Korea in the light of demographic, socio-economic, and political realities. This chapter reviews the changing Korean society as a barometer to understand the scope, size, and speed of social needs, especially community care for elderly people, over the last few decades. Chapter two explores various definitions, concepts, and theories of community, community care, and care management by building upon trends previously established in the research. This helps to identify the different models of care management and the pre-conditions necessary for the application of different models in Korea. Chapter three explores what factors have affected the development of community care, and what community dare has achieved for elderly people in the UK. Especially, care management in community care for elderly people in the UK is examined in detail. Chapter four details the findings of field research on community care for elderly people in Korea. This covers the needs of elderly people and their carers, and the social worker's tasks and available resources. The potential for the use of care management based on the findings of field research is assessed. Chapter five investigates whether the UK models of care management are suitable for Korean society, which interventions are useful for developing care management, and the strategies, and principles involved

    Understanding the adoption and implementation of Sector Skills Councils in Chile

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    Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policies have gained increased interest in global agendas, being a particular concern in ensuring that youths have the skills needed to enter the labour market. In this line, international organisations and cooperation agencies have widely promoted sector skills bodies. This policy seeks to involve employers in skills formation and foster collaboration among different stakeholders to ensure that the skills developed through TVET meet labour market needs. However, academic research about this specific policy is limited. Moreover, even when several countries have adopted these bodies, little is known about them from a policy transfer perspective (i.e. studying the travel of an education policy from one place to another). This thesis addresses this gap by examining the adoption and implementation of private-led Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in Chile. Thus, two main research questions guided this study: Why and how private actors in Chile have adopted SSCs? How have different employers and TVET providers implemented SSCs’ initiatives in Chile? This qualitative research utilised a multiple-case study design for which data was collected through semi-structured interviews and documents analysis. First, based on a Cultural Political Economy approach, the adoption of SSCs was investigated by examining the main factors that could account for the mechanisms involved in the process. Second, the implementation of SSCs was studied by considering a policy enactment focus and the principles of the Realist Evaluation approach to understand how two main actors affected by the policy, employers and TVET providers, have fulfilled the policy expectations. The findings of this thesis show the crucial role of ideational factors (i.e. the influence of policy entrepreneur) to trigger policy change and the specific economic, institutional, political and educational conditions at the national and sectoral levels that may explain the adoption of SSCs. As a result, it advances our understanding of the different roles played by ideational and material factors in adopting SSCs as a TVET policy. Likewise, given the unusual private-led adoption of these bodies, this study provides an empirical demonstration of this uncommon situation. Simultaneously, it offers potential new insights about the assessments made by employers and their business associations when deciding to involve in skill formation policies. Moreover, by investigating the implementation of SSCs from the perspective of the main actors expected to enact the policy, this thesis provides an initial understanding of the varied contextual and stakeholder conditions affecting these actors’ responses to SSCs. In doing so, this thesis also offers an empirical demonstration of the limitations of SSCs adopted and implemented with a skills supply orthodoxy rhetoric

    Solving the Rubik’s cube of Indian sport: exploring impactful factors and alternative ways to facilitate success

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    The heavy investment of nations in high-performance sport seems justified by the belief that high-performance sporting success can lead to national pride and mass participation. This would then provide a larger pool of talent for selection of future successful athletes, whilst also promoting participation and greater physical activity for others. Although India too seems to follow a similar philosophy, and has consistently been investing in sport, its performance at international sport, especially the Olympic Games has not been impressive. This is particularly distressing when considered against the country’s large population. Given that India sees worth in investing in high-performance sport, potential ways to facilitate sporting success need to be explored. Consequently, this thesis adopted a pragmatic approach to explore sport development in India. Specifically, potential factors contributing to the limited success were explored and potential alternatives to facilitate India’s ongoing efforts of achieving sporting success on the international stage were proposed. The first step involved exploring Indian sport from a policy viewpoint to gain deeper knowledge about potential reasons that might be limiting the impact of numerous policies implemented so far. A long-standing issue with policy implementation and a potential lack of policy learning were concluded as two of the main reasons impacting sporting success. A potential for India to adopt bottom-up and top-down approaches to policy implementation and policy transfer were proposed as alternative ways for India to overcome the policy issues. There was, however, a need to gather a rich picture of the current scenario of Indian sport. Therefore, perceptions of high-level key stakeholders were explored through a semi structured interview to gain in-depth knowledge about Indian sport. Reflecting the challenges of size and scope, and the consequent need to triangulate and generalise the conclusions, further exploration was completed through a quantitative survey. Significant findings from these empirically driven studies included: i) a lack of sporting culture; ii) a need to develop quality Indian coaches and a coaching system; and iii) a need to increase use and knowledge of sport science support. Of these conclusions, coach development was prioritised for three main reasons, its significance in the wider literature, the fact that India lacked a coaching system and Indian coaches being criticised for their relatively poor knowledge (including misconceptions and limited use of sport sciences). Therefore, an India-specific model aimed at developing quality Indian coaches and a coaching system was proposed. Given the policy implementation issues, however, the feasibility of the model was tested through another empirically driven study. Finally, a revised model for coach development was offered that might contribute to India’s efforts of succeeding at international sports

    Examining the opportunities for agricultural experiences as part of Scottish secondary school pupils’ learning under Curriculum for Excellence

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    Society is increasingly disconnected from the processes and practices of agriculture as food production, and therefore the true cost and value of food. A way in which to overcome this disconnect would be to increase agricultural literacy levels through education. Learning outside the classroom has been shown to benefit children and young people including personal development and increased care towards the environment. Sustainability learning, including outdoor learning, as an approach to developing sustainable behaviours is the focus of much research. There is, however, a gap in research on the potential for agricultural learning experiences that demonstrate the positive role agriculture plays within global environmental systems. Agriculture is often portrayed in a negative framing in regard to the impacts of human action on the environment. The aim of this study was to examine opportunities for Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) to deliver lasting impressions of farming and food production for secondary school pupils in Scotland through a concept of agricultural experiences. This research was conducted through qualitatively-driven mixed methods consisting of survey, interview, and focus group methodology with a range of school-based and rural-based participants. The research found that CfE inadvertently maintains an anti-rural position, reflected in the lack of any meaningful reference to agriculture within the Experiences and Outcomes; framing agriculture within a context of negative environmental impact. There exist clear opportunities, as well multiple benefits, for agricultural experiences under CfE learning, however, there remain challenges for implementation within current CfE cultures and structures. Pupils and teachers recognised the value of agricultural experiences to deliver meaningful experiential learning experiences, as well as developing knowledge and skills for lifelong learning. Scottish agricultural stakeholders and farmers feel that media misrepresentation contributes to societal disconnect and thus the attitudes and perceptions of agriculture, particularly livestock farming, while often negating to recognise the primary function of agriculture-as-food within the current challenges facing global environmental systems. Five recommendations are put forward as a result of this research: Words Matter, Framing Farming, Balanced Environmental Education, Build Partnerships, and Be Bold. These capture ways in which agriculture and agricultural experiences can be better incorporated through a ‘Minimum Effort Strategy’ which would strengthen current CfE structures, and a ‘Radical Strategy’ which envisions a planetary or agricultural phronesis challenging us to a transformation in sustainability learning that re-imagines our human relation to the world

    Making Sense of Ayahuasca Non-Sense: A critical study of UK groups consuming a psychoactive plant mixture and their struggle to find religious meaning

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    How we make sense of ourselves, and the cosmos is an ongoing concern, guided by the people we meet, environments we exist within, and plants we consume. Having spent over a year observing forty-nine participants within three UK-based ayahuasca churches, it is clear that the psychoactive 'brew' ayahuasca creates intense changes to how individuals think about themselves and the world they live in. At the heart of the ayahuasca experience are non-sensical hallucinations and visions, which often exist outside of perceptual understanding, leaving individuals feeling lost in an unknowable universe. As we will come to see, making sense of non-sensical ayahuasca experiences requires individuals to negotiate multiple 'common-sense' views of reality. Taking a view that mind is something that happens within life, this ethnographic study uses participant observation, interviews, conversations, personal diaries, and my experiences as an ayahuasca tourist to detail how making sense of reality is also an act of making oneself. In so doing, I argue that ayahuasca hallucinations and visions function as a source of ongoing mental innovation, facilitating preferred views of reality throughout these psychoactive churches. Critically, we will see how frequent ayahuasca consumption engenders in-depth beliefs in the supernatural, and in particular, devotion to the goddess Ayahuasca, who functions as the unchallengeable road to knowing oneself and reality. Acting as an otherworldly guide, the immaterial goddess Ayahuasca plays a key part in how individuals convert non-sensical experiences into sense, while providing practical advice for how to achieve salvation. Problematically though, positioning the universe and oneself as predominantly supernatural tends to erode beliefs in the physical world, leaving these churches with incoherent views of reality, and at the periphery of everyday social life. As such, church doctrines seem increasingly unable to cope with life outside of their groups, and thus, tactically stigmatise competing views of reality as sinful and individuals espousing such heresies as under the control of malevolent demonic beings. Not surprisingly, this binary belief in a good and evil cosmos is a powerful regulatory force dictating what reality is within these churches, and who church members can claim to be
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