111 research outputs found

    Living apart, losing sympathy? How neighbourhood context affects attitudes to redistribution and to welfare recipients

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    Rising levels of income inequality have been directly linked to rising levels of spatial segregation. In this paper, we explore whether rising segregation may in turn erode support for the redistributive policies of the welfare state, further increasing levels of inequality – a form of positive feedback. The role of the neighbourhood has been neglected in attitudes research but, building on both political geography and ‘neighbourhood effects’ literatures, we theorise that neighbourhood context may shape attitudes through the transmission of attitudes directly and through the accumulation of relevant knowledge. We test this through multilevel modelling of data from England on individual attitudes to redistribution in general and to welfare benefit recipients in particular. We show that the individual factors shaping these attitudes are quite different and that the influence of neighbourhood context also varies as a result. The findings support the idea that neighbourhood context shapes attitudes, with the knowledge accumulation mechanism likely to be the more important. Rising spatial segregation would appear to erode support for redistribution but to increase support for welfare recipients – at least in a context where the dominant media discourse presents such a stigmatising image of those on welfare benefits

    Crime at the intersection of rail and retail

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    This chapter examines shoplifting at rail station shops over a 12 month period in England and Wales. Key findings were: shoplifting is concentrated at particular stations; the top 20 stations account for 85% of shoplifting. Clear temporal patterns were evident; shoplifting was higher on weekdays and during holidays with higher levels of travel; shoplifting is lower when there is a reduced rail service. There was no clear relationship between shoplifting rates outside of a station at shops nearby, and shoplifting within a rail station. It is suggested a correlation may occur for medium and smaller size stations. Large stations may attract offenders in their own right without other shops being nearby. The similarities observed between shoplifting patterns at rail stations and those at non-rail station shops suggest the learning from successful crime prevention measures applied outside of the rail environment could successfully transferred to rail stations

    Social presence and dishonesty in retail

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    Self-service checkouts (SCOs) in retail can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff, together with reduced queuing times. Recent research indicates that the absence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly, consistent with a perceived lack of social presence. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of various instantiations of embodied, visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on opportunistic behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. This was partially supported by the results. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework in social presence research. We concluded that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence in technology applications to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study.<br/

    Comparing cost-effectiveness of surface water flood management interventions in a UK catchment

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    This is the final published version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Despite significant consequences caused by recent events, surface water flooding has historically been of lower priority relative to fluvial and coastal risks in UK flood management. Legislation and research proposes a variety of innovative interventions to address this; however, widespread application of these remains a challenge due to a number of institutional, economic, and technical barriers. This research applies a framework capable of fast and high-resolution assessment of intervention cost-effectiveness as an opportunity to improve available evidence and encourage uptake of interventions through analysing permutations of type, scale, and distribution in urban catchments. Fast assessment of many scenarios is achieved using a cellular automata flood model and a simplified representation of interventions. Conventional and green strategies are examined across a range of design standard and high-magnitude rainfall events in an urban catchment. Results indicate high-volume rainwater capture interventions demonstrate a significant reduction in estimated annual damage costs, and localised surface water drainage interventions exhibit high cost-effectiveness for damage reduction. Analysis of performance across a wide range of return periods enhances available evidence for option comparison decision support and provides a basis for future resilience assessment of interventions.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

    The choice-structuring properties of security consumption: An exploratory study of security consumption culture within small shops

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    Using Manunta’s and Manunta’s (2006) theory of the security process and the concept of choice structuring properties as heuristic devices, this paper develops a conceptual framework designed to aid our understanding of the factors that drive security consumption within the context of small shops. The conceptual framework is developed through a number of exploratory interviews with the owners of convenience stores. These suggest a security consumption culture exists that is generated by a desire to protect businesses from crime threats and a sense of isolation from local criminal justice agencies. A self-protection mentality and functional form of worry is observed that creates demand for security, but decisions to purchase specific security objects are dictated by choice structuring properties focused around subjective anxieties about crime events, the extent security devices are seen to offer reassurance and financial constraints. Of course, these findings are (at best) tentative but help to set an agenda for further research in this area

    Whatever happened to compassionate Conservatism under the Coalition government?

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    Following David Cameron’s election as leader of the Conservative Party in late 2005, a series of initiatives suggested that he was seeking to reposition the Conservative Party, or perhaps to introduce some new thinking to the Party and to align it with interests and issues that it had not been linked with since at least the start of the Thatcher period. At the time, views among commentators varied about whether this was a genuine attempt to change the Conservative Party, including through a more compassionate approach to some social groups and problems, or whether it was simply designed to ‘detoxify’ the Party and to make it electable once more. However, many observers were unconvinced that the five years of the Coalition government saw significant evidence of the ‘compassionate’ ideas that Cameron and others sought to highlight prior to the 2010 general election. This article explores a number of possible reasons for the apparent disappearance of compassionate Conservatism in relation to social policies under the Coalition government. It suggests that rather than any one explanation, drawing upon a number of interpretations may provide the best understanding of the role and impact of compassionate Conservative ideas from 2010 to 2015

    National survey of retail theft and security Final report

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    SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:q94/07034 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

    Making shoplifters pay Retail civil recovery

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    Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:8310.951(28) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo
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