The impact of Covid-19 on Young Workers: a Qualitative Longitudinal Study

This paper reports on the progress and early findings from a small-scale qualitative longitudinal project entitled ‘Young People and Work in and Age of Uncertainty’ which is funded by the British Academy. Existing economic and political uncertainties, growing inequalities, and the technological transformation of work are having far-reaching impacts on labour markets and work across nations. Despite international, national and local aspirations for decent work, there are fears that an erosion and degradation of work is occurring for many in society. In times of uncertainty, amplified by Covid-19, young people as new entrants to the labour market may be more at risk of precarious/insecure working conditions. Our longitudinal, qualitative project (Neale, 2018) explores the personal, social and economic consequences of uncertain and disrupted working conditions, and also considers how young people are responding to and resisting uncertainty. Theoretically, our study draws from the psychology of working theory (Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016) and the principles of decent work (ILO, 2019). It adds to a burgeoning interest in insecure and precarious work (e.g., Work, Employment and Society, Special Issue, 2021). We use biographical interview methods (Merrill & West, 2009), and integrate anthropological social theory (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998), using detailed textual analysis to interrogate the interplay between structure and agency in participant reflections. Research interviews are being conducted in two waves (March and September 2021) and the study is based in Greater Manchester, targeting circa twenty young people (aged 18-30) who live and work in the city region. The research was conceived prior to the pandemic but its timing has led the research team to adapt our focus to the pandemic context. We are particularly interested in sectors that have been hardest hit by the pandemic, e.g., hospitality, retail and the arts. The timing of our research means that we are able to contribute original insights into young people’s experiences in extraordinary times. Findings from Wave 1 will be shared in this conference paper. Early indications are that the consequences of pandemic disruption are varied. Both negative and positive experiences emerge from participant narratives. Many of our participants have a liminal status in the labour market, neither marginal or traditional (Furlong et al., 2017) in their work conditions. We have observed disrupted, lives being put on hold and issues of wellbeing and mental health are important. We suspect that circumstances may change as we move into Wave 2

Greater Manchester's Hidden Talent: final evaluation and assessment

The Hidden Talent programme (January-June 2022) was managed by GMCVO and was funded by the Community Renewal Fund of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) acted as the lead authority for the programme. Hidden Talent was a youth employment project which provided support to young people who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) to progress into an education, employment or training outcome. This report is an independent evaluation of the programme

‘I expected just to walk in, get my tablets and then walk out’: on framing new community pharmacy services in the English healthcare system

Reconfiguration of the healthcare division of labour is becoming increasingly attractive in the context of increased patient demand and resource constraints. One example is the introduction of extended roles for pharmacists to provide patients additional support to manage their medicines, while also reducing work pressures experienced by other health professionals. Understanding how such policies are framed by those delivering and receiving care has been under‐theorised. Using Goffman's frame theory, we examine one newly introduced community pharmacy service (New Medicines Service (NMS)) to illustrate how a policy intended to support patient medicine‐taking through the extended roles of pharmacists is framed and where this deviates from its proposed aims. Three themes emerged: (i) the spatial‐material artefacts; (ii) existing discursive culture and practice around medicine‐taking; and (iii) the NMS interactions that shape and govern framing and subsequent interpretation of the NMS. Our study offers an explanatory and dynamic view of the framing process with important lessons for reconfiguring medicine management policy and practice. As well as illustrating framing as being variegated, complementary or conflicting, it also shows how this plurality and fragility had consequences for patient engagement and sense‐making. The consequences for engagement and recommendations for implementing future initiatives are discussed

Modelling Surface Water Acidification in the UK: Application of the MAGIC model to the Acid Waters Monitoring Network

The results of a detailed study in the mid-1990s involving the application of the MAGIC model (Model of Acidification of Groundwater in Catchments) to the 21 sites of the UK Acid Waters Monitoring Network and providing an assessment of the 1994 Oslo protocol to limit sulphur emissions across Europe. The MAGIC model allows long-term trends in soil and surface water acidification to be reconstructed and predicted at the catchment level. The report also provided an assessment of the combined effects of acidic deposition and land-use change

The impact of Covid-19 on Young Workers in England: young people navigating insecure work in Greater Manchester during the Covid-19 pandemic

This briefing outlines initial findings from the British Academy-funded project: ‘Young People and Work in an Age of Uncertainty. Originally conceived in 2019 in response to existing concerns about young people in the labour market, the research itself was conducted in 2021, coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic. Through qualitative,longitudinal methods, the research sought to capture in-depth insights into young people’s experiences and perspectives of insecure work at this unique period of labour market disruption. It includes recommendations for many stakeholders about what can be done to support young people to move into and progress into Decent Work

The Sociology of Literature

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La théorie de la littérature de Lukács

Swingewood Alan, Sonolet Daglind, Lorenceau Annette. La théorie de la littérature de Lukács. In: L'Homme et la société, N. 26, 1972. Art littérature créativité. pp. 19-44