'A Slice of Life': Food Narratives and Menus from Mass-Observers in 1982 and 1945

This paper reports on an analysis of hitherto unexamined documentary data on food held within the UK Mass Observation Archive (MOA). In particular it discusses responses to the 1982 Winter Directive which asked MOA correspondents about their experiences of food and eating, and the food diaries submitted by MOA panel members in 1945. What is striking about these data is the extent to which memories of food and eating are interwoven with recollections of the lifecourse; in particular social relations, family life, and work. It seems asking people about food generates insight into aspects of everyday life. In essence, memories of food provide a crucial and potentially overlooked medium for developing an appreciation of social change. We propose the concept \'food narratives\' to capture the essence of these reflections because they reveal something more than personal stories; they are both individual and collective experiences in that personal food narratives draw upon shared cultural repertoires, generational memories, and tensions between age cohorts. Food narratives are embodied and embedded in social networks, socio-cultural contexts and socio-economic epochs. Thus the daily menus recorded in 1945 and memories scribed in 1982 do not simply communicate what people ate, liked and disliked but throw light on two contrasting moments of British history; the end of the second world war and an era of transition, reform, individualization, diversity which was taking place in the early 1980s.Mass Observation Archive; Food and Eating; Qualitative; Personal Food Narratives; Secondary Analysis; Longitudinal

Studying complex places : change and continuity in York and Dijon

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Class, space and community : a workshop conference

Class, Space and Community: A Workshop Conference was organized by the Sociology and Social Policy Department at the University of Durham on April 6–8th, 2001. Academics from a variety of disciplines were brought together to explore the social and cultural implications of deindustrialization on people and communities whose identities were once founded on industrialism and manufacturing. From the detailed accounts about individual lives, communities and regions, and the exact changes they have all been forced to undergo, a general story was told. That is, many areas have recently witnessed the rapid and complete elimination of their industrial bases with seemingly nothing left in their place. Today, the problems these areas face go beyond the matters of massive unemployment. There is also a sense of “folding in on oneself” as the community attempts to find new structures upon which to reinvent itself. “Soft outcomes” such as preserving a sense of pride, dignity and respectability were also shown to be significant to processes of social and economic regeneration. This story is true for places throughout the world. What was especially highlighted by this conference was the way in which an emergent international perspective on deindustrialization was reflected in the combination of very local descriptions of particular localities. Whether it be in Youngstown in Ohio, Consett, Sunderland, or South Shields in northeast England, Nowa Huta in southern Poland, Karhula in Finland, or in South Africa's East Rand, the impacts of globalization and deindustrialization are both real and present for us all today

The clinical utility of the assessment of learning potential following brain injury

Our current evidence base for predicting outcome following an acquired brain injury (ABI) identifies factors such as the severity and impact of the injury, as well as pre-injury information as potential predictors. However current physical, medical and neuropsychological predictors are inadequate. There is a great deal of confusing and conflicting information which makes it difficult for the professionals involved in the care of those who have suffered an ABI to determine how much improvement an individual can be expected to make and what is the appropriate intensity of a rehabilitation programme. As a result patients can receive a range of treatments from different services over several years without indicators to reliably gauge outcome for all the effort both patients and staff put into this change process. The empirical research reported here suggests that limitations with current outcome predictors are that they fail to consider the individual as an active participant in their recovery process. This research explores the utility of the theory of learning potential and dynamic assessment as a tool in the field of ABI to assess the potential of an individual to adapt, and their ability to engage in the recovery process. Learning potential measures a latent or dormant ability that is brought out by a third party during dynamic training. It was predicted that dynamic testing, as opposed to simple static test administration of the same tests, could reveal important additional information to predict outcomes of ABI. In this research dynamic testing involved a pre and post test administration that sandwiched a training element. Learning potential using the Explicit Verbal Learning system was investigated with an adapted, dynamic version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Non-Verbal Learning potential was investigated with a dynamic version of the Ruff Light Trail Learning Test (RULIT) and Latent Implicit potential to learn using the Tower of Hanoi (ToH). A Rasch Analysis Model was used to examine the data in terms of the construct validity and hierarchy of the items of each test and the individuals who completed it, both pre and post-training. Individuals were grouped into different dynamic learner classifications according to their position on this scale. The results indicate a clear advantage in outcome prediction using dynamic testing. Of the three aspects considered, the measure of learning potential that added most to our understanding about the individual and outcome was the assessment utilising the Verbal Learning system (Dynamic WCST). The assessment measuring Latent Implicit learning potential (ToH) also added significantly to predicting ABI outcome. The assessment of learning potential using the Non-Verbal/Visuospatial Learning system (RULIT) however, did not add further information to help prediction of outcome. The information from the above model guided multiple regression analyses to examine the predictors of ABI outcome using each of the measures of the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) as the dependent variables. Independent variables were Dynamic Verbal learner status (derived from Rasch); socio-economic status; severity of injury; predicted pre-injury intellectual functioning; education levels and current intellectual functioning. With integration status as the dependent variable (measured by the Total CIQ), Dynamic Verbal learner status and socio-economic status were the only significant predictors. Subscales tapping specific aspects of integration were not predicted by any the independent variables other than Social Integration scores, which were predicted only by pre-injury and current intellectual functioning. Collectively these results indicate that learner status may help determine the extent to which an individual can adapt following an acquired brain injury and that this latent ability significantly influences their outcome. These dynamic assessments have clinical implications in determining the level of support or treatment that an individual may require

Data diffraction : challenging data integration in mixed methods research

This article extends the debates relating to integration in mixed methods research. We challenge the a priori assumptions on which integration is assumed to be possible in the first place. More specifically, following Haraway and Barad, we argue that methods produce “cuts” which may or may not cohere and that “diffraction,” as an expanded approach to integration, has much to offer mixed methods research. Diffraction pays attention to the ways in which data produced through different methods can both splinter and interrupt the object of study. As such, it provides an explicit way of empirically capturing the mess and complexity intrinsic to the ontology of the social entity being studied

Emma Uprichard: most big data is social data – the analytics need serious interrogation

In the final interview in our Philosophy of Data Science series, Emma Uprichard, in conversation with Mark Carrigan, emphasises that big data has serious repercussions to the kinds of social futures we are shaping and those that are supporting big data developments need to be held accountable. This means we should also take stock of the methodological harm present in many big data practices. It doesn’t matter how much or how good our data is if the approach to modelling social systems is backwards. This interview is the last installment of our series on the Philosophy of Data Science. Previous interviews: Rob Kitchin, Evelyn Ruppert, Deborah Lupton, Susan Halford, Noortje Marres, and Sabina Leonelli