'An Apotheosis of Well-Being': Durkheim on austerity and double-dip recessions

This article is an attempt to contribute a view on the economic crisis from classical sociology, a voice often missing from the sociological response to the crisis. The work of Émile Durkheim provides a unique perspective here centred on morality and inequality produced in a historical context akin to our neoliberal times. It is argued there are four key points to take from Durkheim’s work. Firstly, that the initial credit crunch can be more fully understood with reference to the economic anomie which Durkheim sees as ‘chronic’ in a time of marketization. Secondly, that this creates an antagonistic relationship between a supposedly self-dependent rich and lazy poor. Thirdly, this conception of self-dependency and individual initiative makes any attempt to regulate the economy akin to sacrilege. Finally, the state is unwilling to intervene due to the emergence of ‘pseudo-democracies’. Therefore, Durkheim’s theory accounts for the initial crisis, austerity and double-dip recessions in a sociological framework. The article concludes by returning to the centrality of morality to the crisis for Durkheim and highlighting the omission of this in contemporary debates

Neoliberalism is not a theory of everything: a Bourdieuian analysis of illusio in educational research

 Despite the frequency with which the concept of neoliberalism is employed within academic literature, its complex and multifaceted nature makes it difficult to define and describe. Indeed, data reported in this article suggest that there is a tendency in educational research to make extensive use of the word ‘neoliberalism’ (or its variants neoliberal, neo-liberal and neo-liberalism) as a catch-all for something negative but without offering a definition or explanation. The article highlights a number of key risks associated with this approach and draws on the Bourdieuian concept of illusio to suggest the possibility that when as educational researchers we use the word ‘neoliberalism’ in this way, rather than interrupting the implementation of neoliberal policies and practices, we may, in fact, be further entrenching the neoliberal doxa. That is to say, we are both playing the neoliberal game and inadvertently demonstrating our belief that it is a game worth being played. In so doing, this article seeks to extend understandings of what illusio means within the context of educational research

Introduction to special issue:New Times Revisited: Britain in the 1980s

The authors in this volume are collectively engaged with a historical puzzle: What happens if we examine the decade once we step out of the shadows cast by Thatcher? That is, does the decade of the 1980s as a significant and meaningful periodisation (equivalent to that of the 1960s) still work if Thatcher becomes but one part of the story rather than the story itself? The essays in this collection suggest that the 1980s only makes sense as a political period. They situate the 1980s within various longer term trajectories that show the events of the decade to be as much the consequence as the cause of bigger, long-term historical processes. This introduction contextualises the collection within the wider literature, before explaining the collective and individual contributions made

Ethics as teamwork

Ethics as Teamwork details how well-planned collaborative teamwork processes offer opportunities to develop an ethical research praxis that extends well beyond formal ethics reviews. The chapter provides an analysis of teamwork processes involved in the “reimagining” ethnographies and their impact on procedural ethics (formal ethics reviews), practice ethics (issues emerging while conducting the research), project ethics (issues related to the international, interdisciplinary, and collaborative project design). Processes identified include building consensus through meetings of many kinds, problem-solving consultation, team reflexivity and the use of discretion when democracy was not possible. Situating these processes within the frame of critical feminist research, the chapter makes links between these ethical processes and research that aims to create change

The masculinization effect: Neoliberalism, the medical paradigm and Ontario's health care policy

Drawing from three empirical studies, this article argues that neoliberal policy logic and the medical model have combined in Ontario's health care policy to privilege values, people, professions and most closely associated with the cultural imaginary of elite masculinities. In women's health services decisions, in 9-1-1 emergency medical care developments and in service expansion for those with intellectual disabilities and mental illness, the epistemological biases of these dominant perspectives appear to provide the basis for a masculinization of health care and health care policy

Snap-happy? The promise and problems of photovoice

Although photovoice is often hailed as a method that includes and gives voice to those whose perspectives are left out of research, this chapter details limits of photovoice within the context of rapid ethnography and institutional research. Although photovoice proved its worth in offering a fun, interactive way to engage residents in research, and in generating rich data on their perspectives of care home life, we experienced challenges incorporating this method into the project. We were unable to obtain ethical approval for its use with our original target group of those living with dementia, a limitation that changed our use of the method considerably. We also faced time constraints: our ethnographies were not long enough to recruit, teach camera usage, take and develop pictures, and conduct a follow-up interview. Ethical restrictions were placed on publishing photographs, limiting the ability to connect visual representations to narratives, which impacted presentation of findings