Rituals of gothic recreation: an analysis of the personal and social significance of Whitby Gothic Weekend

This paper was published in a book of conference proceedings from the 22nd International Oral History Association Conference. It explored the significance of attending and participating in Whitby Gothic festival. It draws upon Vicor Turner's analysis of status reversal to argue that the festival is a form of renewal and that the event symbolises a set of idealised goth values

Are ‘cultures of worklessness' passed down the generations?

This report critically investigates the idea of ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness ’ and that there may be families where ‘three generations have never worked’. Although there is relatively little solid research evidence to support them, these ideas are said to help explain worklessness in the UK and continue to inform recent and current government policy agendas. Our study used qualitative research methods, with families in Middlesbrough and Glasgow. The report: • explores the existence of permanent worklessness across generations within families; • concludes that even two generations of extensive or permanent worklessness in the same family is a rare phenomenon; • examines whether families experiencing long-term worklessness can be described as having a ‘culture of worklessness’; • shows how the impact of complex and multiple problems, rooted in long-term experiences of deep poverty, can distance people from the labour market; and • argues that policy makers should abandon theories – and policies that flow from them – that see worklessness as primarily the outcome of a ‘culture of worklessness’, held in families and passed down the generations

‘Super disabilities’ vs ‘Disabilities’?:Theorizing the role of ableism in (mis)representational mythology of disability in the marketplace

People with disabilities (PWD) constitute one of the largest minority groups with one in five people worldwide having a disability. While recognition and inclusion of this group in the marketplace has seen improvement, the effects of (mis)representation of PWD in shaping the discourse on fostering marketplace inclusion of socially marginalized consumers remain little understood. Although effects of misrepresentation (e.g., idealized, exoticized or selective representation) on inclusion/exclusion perceptions and cognitions has received attention in the context of ethnic/racial groups, the world of disability has been largely neglected. By extending the theory of ableism into the context of PWD representation and applying it to the analysis of the We’re the Superhumans advertisement developed for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, this paper examines the relationship between the (mis)representation and the inclusion/exclusion discourse. By uncovering that PWD misrepresentations can partially mask and/or redress the root causes of exclusion experienced by PWD in their lived realities, it contributes to the research agenda on the transformative role of consumption cultures perpetuating harmful, exclusionary social perceptions of marginalized groups versus contributing to advancement of their inclusion