Embalming and the social construction of the corpse in contemporary England

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This research study analyses the construction of meaning surrounding the embalmed corpse in contemporary England. It documents a process of social change in which Legal, Medical and Religious discourses concerning the dead, once dominant and unchallenged, now co-exist, if somewhat uneasily, with modern constructions of death and the possibility of an after life. The meaning of the embalmed corpse is considered to be constructed by different elements which are presented historically. Initially religious discourses governed the meaning of the body, which was preserved for religious reasons. 17th century surgeon-embalmers requisitioned the corpse for reasons of status assertion, presenting their arguments in medical terms. Contemporary hygiene issues, in tandem with legal issues, today have a powerful impact on the corpse, which is usually experienced by mourners in the context of contemporary consumer culture, after the process of embalming has occurred. The decline of religious practices also mean that the contemporary corpse has assumed a far greater significance than in the past. From the perspective of the sociology of the body, based on the seminal work of Turner, this thesis discusses how changing experiences of live bodies are inextricably linked with changing experience of dead bodies in contemporary societies. This is accomplished through an interpretation of the different meaning attributed to embalmed corpses, together with an appreciation of the work of Hertz and Van Gennep, both of whom identified, in pre-literate societies, the centrality and embeddedness of the treatment of the corpse to funeral rituals. The thesis reports some empirical investigations of embalming-related issues which provide an analysis of contemporary meanings of the corpse and cast light upon the contemporary structure of the English funeral world. Embalmers expect to produce a culturally acceptable ‘death disguise’ for the benefit of mourners whose encounters with the corpse are surprisingly numerous in contemporary death-denying society. Culturally acceptable death images appear to focus upon the dead being in a condition of 'liminal repose', where the illusion of rest is constructed. Embalmers and funeral directors comprise occupations that are quite distinct, although working with the dead in different parts of the same process. Highlighting the significance of corpse appearance, whereby it is rendered 'normal', has also highlighted the socio-cultural process whereby this transformation occurs. As the dead are carefully re-presented, this has hidden the 'true' condition of the dead and therefore also hidden the covert technicians, embalmers, who accomplish this transformation. Embalming therefore appears a hidden aspect of the social construction of the dead, as death is now estranged from the popular context

Workload: Measurement and Management

Poster: The workload research project has as its task to survey the available literature on: (1) workload measurement techniques; and (2) the effects of workload on operator performance. The first set of findings provides practitioners with a collection of simple-to-use workload measurement techniques along with characterizations of the kinds of tasks each technique has been shown reliably address. This allows design practitioners to select and use the most appropriate techniques for the task(s) at hand. The second set of findings provides practitioners with the guidance they need to design for appropriate kinds and amounts of workload across all tasks for which the operator is responsible. This guidance helps practitioners design systems and procedures that ensure appropriate levels of engagement across all tasks, and avoid designs and procedures that result in operator boredom, complacency, loss of awareness, undue levels of stress, or skill atrophy that can result from workload that distracts operators from the tasks they perform and monitor, workload levels that are too low, too high, or too consistent or predictable. Only those articles that were peer reviewed, long standing and generally accepted in the field, and applicable to a relevant range of conditions in a select domain of interest, in analogous "extreme" environments to those in space were included. In addition, all articles were reviewed and evaluated on uni-dimensional and multi-dimensional considerations. Casner & Gore also examined the notion of thresholds and the conditions that may benefit mostly from the various methodological approaches. Other considerations included whether the tools would be suitable for guiding a requirement-related and design-related question. An initial review of over 225 articles was conducted and entered into an EndNote database. The reference list included a range of conditions in the domain of interest (subjective/objective measures), the seminal works in workload, as well as summary work

Industrial Strategy and the Regions : the shortcomings of a narrow sectoral focus

Key points - The new money that the UK government has allocated to support its industrial strategy is targeted at R&D in an exceptionally narrow range of sectors – healthcare & medicine, robotics & artificial intelligence, batteries, self-driving vehicles, materials for the future and satellites & space technology. - Even on a generous definition of the industries that might benefit from the new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, these sectors account for little more than 1 per cent of the whole economy (by employment) and 10 per cent of UK manufacturing. - The jobs in the sectors targeted by the Fund are highly unevenly spread across the country. The pattern is more complex than a simple North-South divide but a number of places in southern England have substantially more jobs in these sectors than industrial cities such as Bradford, Leicester, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Stoke and Swansea. - The distribution across the country of research and development establishments – along with universities and R&D labs in large companies likely to be first in line for the new R&D funding – is particularly skewed in favour of an arc to the immediate north, west and south of London. - Even excluding its famous university, the Cambridge area (population just 285,000) has twice as many jobs in scientific research and development establishments as the whole of the Midlands, more than Scotland and Wales combined, and only 2,000 fewer than the whole of the North of England (population 15.2 million). - The report concludes that the government’s sectoral focus is exceptionally narrow – too narrow alone to provide a base on which to build a revival of British industry. - The report also concludes that the government’s narrow sectoral focus threatens to widen regional divides. It is Cambridge, Oxfordshire, the Thames Valley, Hertfordshire and London itself that may gain most in the first instance

The real level of unemployment 2017

Key Points - This report challenges the view that the UK economy is operating at or close to full employment. It presents alternative estimates of the level of unemployment, based on a re-working of official statistics, for every local authority district in England, Scotland and Wales. - The report estimates that in 2017 the ‘real level of unemployment’ across Britain as a whole is nearly 2.3 million. This compares with just under 800,000 on the claimant count and 1.5 million on the wider ILO measure of unemployment preferred by the government. - The report estimates that there are some 760,000 ‘hidden unemployed’ on incapacity-related benefits (these days primarily Employment and Support Allowance). These are men and women who might have been expected to be in work in a genuinely fully employed economy. They do not represent fraudulent claims. - The real level of unemployment and the scale of hidden unemployment have both fallen since 2012. However, there remain almost as many unemployed ‘hidden’ on incapacity benefits as ‘visible’ on the unemployment claimant count. - Hidden unemployment is disproportionately concentrated in the weakest local economies, particularly Britain’s older industrial areas and a number of seaside towns. The effect is to mask the true scale of labour market disparities between the best and worst parts of the country. - In a number of local economies, including much of North East England, East Lancashire, Merseyside, the Welsh Valleys and the Birmingham and Glasgow areas, the real level of unemployment remains at or just below 10 per cent of the working age population. Much of southern and eastern England outside London, with real unemployment in the 2-3 per cent range, could however lay claim to operating near full employment