Psychosocial and symbolic dimensions of the breast explored through a Visual Matrix

This article explores knowledge about the breast in the psychosocial interplay of lived experience, addressing a gap in empirical research on this highly gendered cultural trope and embodied organ. We present findings from a study that used a free-associative psychosocial method – the Visual Matrix – in order to stimulate, and capture expressions of, tacit aspects of the breast that have evaded discursive representation, as well as to generate understanding of relations between embodied and enculturated experience. Little research has been conducted on women’s affirmative experience of breasts, possibly because their bio-psycho-sociocultural complexity affords an onto-epistemological and empirical challenge. Our data revealed how an aesthetic of the grotesque in one matrix allowed the mainly female group to use humour as a “creative psychic defence” against culturally normative and idealised aspects of the breast. This was expressed through sensual symbolisations of breasted experience, affectively delivered with exuberance and joy. There was an emphasis on the breast’s potency and its potential for both abundant nurturance and potent “weaponisation”. By establishing this feminine poetic mode, Visual Matrix imagery symbolised life and death as tolerable, inseparable yet ambiguous dimensions of breasts, thereby resisting anxious splitting. The breast’s life-affirming qualities included the sensual, the visceral and the joyful – a materialsemiotic knowing. This was in marked contrast to a second matrix where associations were weighted towards the spectacular breast of an ocular-centric culture that privileges heteromasculine looking. This matrix reflected a more ambivalent and sometimes troubled response among participants. Reasons for the difference between the two matrices are discussed in terms of how they responded to the tension between embodied and enculturated experiences

Exploring the relationship between media coverage and participation in entrepreneurship : initial global evidence and research implications

Using a set of variables measured in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study, our empirical investigation explored the influence of mass media through national culture on national entrepreneurial participation rates in 37 countries over 4 years (2000 to 2003). We found that stories about successful entrepreneurs, conveyed in mass media, were not significantly associated with the rate of nascent (opportunity searching) or the rate of actual (business activities commenced up to 3 months old) start-up activity, but that there was a significant positive association between the volume of entrepreneurship media stories and a nation&rsquo;s volume of people running a young business (that is in GEM terminology, a business aged greater than 3 but less than 42 months old). More particularly, such stories had strong positive association with opportunity oriented operators of young businesses. Together, these findings are compatible with what in the mass communications theory literature may be called the &lsquo;reinforcement model&rsquo;. This argues that mass media are only capable of reinforcing their audience&rsquo;s existing values and choice propensities but are not capable of shaping or changing those values and choices. In the area covered by this paper, policy-makers are committing public resources to media campaigns of doubtful utility in the absence of an evidence base. A main implication drawn from this study is the need for further and more sophisticated investigation into the relationship between media coverage of entrepreneurship, national culture and the rates and nature of people&rsquo;s participation in the various stages of the entrepreneurial process.<br /

Imagining transitions in old age through the visual matrix method: thinking about what is hard to bear

Dominant discourses of ageing are often confined to what is less painful to think about and therefore idealise or denigrate ageing and later life. We present findings from an exploratory psychosocial study, in a Nordic context into three later-life transitions: from working life to retirement, from mental health to dementia, and from life to death. Because, for some, these topics are hard to bear, and therefore defended against and routinely excluded from everyday awareness, we used a method led by imagery and affect - the Visual Matrix - to elicit participants’ free associative personal and collective imagination. Through analysis of data extracts, on the three transitions, we illustrate oscillations between defending against the challenges of ageing and realism in facing the anxieties it can provoke. A recurring theme includes the finality of individual life and the inter-generational continuity, which together link life and death, hope and despair, separation and connectedness

From hero of the counterculture to risk assessment : a consideration of two portrayals of the “psychiatric patient”

This article is based on a comparative thematic analysis of two novels that explore the experiences of institutional psychiatric care. Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a classic of modern U.S. literature. It is argued here that Kesey’s representation of the “psychiatric patient” as rebel was not only a reflection of some the changing societal attitudes in postwar America, but it also helped to shape them. The challenge to the asylum system was thus cast in terms of questions of the civil rights of a marginalized group. The main themes of the novel reflect those of protesters against the abuses of the asylum system—the poor physical conditions, the social isolation of the patients, poor physical care and abuse, and the use of ECT and psychosurgery. The rebellious spirit of Kesey’s work is contrasted with a recent novel—Nathan Filer’s 2012 award-winning The Shock of the Fall. In Filer’s work, the optimism and challenge to authority has dissipated to be replaced by a resigned fatalism reflecting the current crisis in mental health services

The childcatchers: An exploration of the representations and discourses of social work in UK film and television drama from the 1960s to the present day

Summary This article reports on research undertaken to critically examine portrayals, representations and discourses of social work and social workers in UK film and television drama from the 1960s to the present day. The research analysed four film and television dramas where social work and social workers were featured: Cathy Come Home (1966), Ladybird Ladybird (1994), Happy Go Lucky (2008) and Oranges and Sunshine (2010). The research aimed to examine portrayals and representations of social work and social workers in UK film and television drama; inform and develop an understanding of contemporary narratives and discourses about social work and contribute to debates about the purpose and future of social work. Findings Portrayals and representations of social work in UK film and television drama often encourage and reinforce an overly simplistic, hostile and negative impression of the profession, work which is presented as predominantly focused on child protection and the removal of children from families. Social workers are typically characterised as incompetent, bureaucratic, well-meaning but misguided. This potentially endorses neo-liberal ideologies and discourses about welfare, welfare recipients, welfare provision and social service. Applications This approach to the topic offers an accessible and interesting platform for research, teaching and policy development, which has the potential to critically inform debates about the future and purpose of social work and welfare in the United Kingdom

The Visual Matrix method in a study of death and dying: Methodological reflections

The Visual Matrix method is designed to elicit imagistic and associative contributions established collectively amongst participants in a group setting. In this article, a hard to-reach area of experience - death and dying - illustrates the production of shared cultural images beyond individual experience. Our dual purpose was to assess the suitability of the method for this challenging topic, and to understand the ways in which death figured in the imagination of the participants. Three theorists, Wilfred Bion, Alfred Lorenzer and Gilles Deleuze, enable us to theorise psychosocial processes of symbolisation beyond cognition

Progress and prospects for event tourism research

This paper examines event tourism as a field of study and area of professional practice updating the previous review article published in 2008. In this substantially extended review, a deeper analysis of the field’s evolution and development is presented, charting the growth of the literature, focusing both chronologically and thematically. A framework for understanding and creating knowledge about events and tourism is presented, forming the basis which signposts established research themes and concepts and outlines future directions for research. In addition, the review article focuses on constraining and propelling forces, ontological advances, contributions from key journals, and emerging themes and issues. It also presents a roadmap for research activity in event tourism