Consumed with Sleep? Dormant Bodies in Consumer Culture

Abstract: This paper takes the neglected sociological matter of sleep and applies the insights contained therein to issues and debates within the sociology of consumption. Sleep, it is argued, is pursued if not consumed in a variety of ways in consumer culture, including its (lifestyle) associations with health and beauty, leisure and pleasure. It is also increasingly recognised if not contracted for in the workplace, construed as the 'ultimate performance enhancer' and the 'cheapest form of stress relief'. These and other insights are located in the context of a burgeoning 'sleep industry' and the consumer identities it spawns: one which is busy capitalising on this dormant third part of our lives through a range of products, from beds to bedding, night-wear to night-cream, pills to pillows. Sleep, it is concluded, is a crucial element of consumption, augmenting existing theoretical and empirical agendas in significant new ways. The broader sociological implications of sleep are also touched upon and addressed, as a stimulus to further research, discussion and debate.Beauty; Consumption; Health; Leisure; Sleep; Work

Medicalisation, pharmaceuticalisation or both? Exploring the medical management of sleeplessness as insomnia

In this paper we examine the medical management of sleeplessness as ‘insomnia’, through the eyes of general practitioners (GPs) and sleep experts in Britain. Three key themes were evident in the data. These related to (i) institutional issues around advocacy and training in sleep medicine (ii) conceptual issues in the diagnosis of insomnia (iii) and how these played out in terms of treatment issues. As a result, the bulk of medical management occurred at the primary rather than secondary care level. These issues are then reflected on in terms of the light they shed on relations between the medicalisation and the pharmaceuticalisation of sleeplessness as insomnia. Sleeplessness, we suggest, is only partially and problematically medicalised as insomnia to date at the conceptual, institutional and interactional levels owing to the foregoing factors. Much of this moreover, on closer inspection, is arguably better captured through recourse to pharmaceuticalisation, including countervailing moves and downward regulatory pressures which suggest a possible degree of depharmaceuticalisation in future, at least as far prescription hypnotics are concerned. Pharmaceuticalisation therefore, we conclude, has distinct analytical value in directing our attention, in this particular case, to important dynamics occurring within if not beyond the medicalisation of sleeplessness as insomnia

Transition Dynamics in Vintage Capital Models: Explaining the Postwar Catch-Up of Germany and Japan

We consider a neoclassical interpretation of Germany and Japan's rapid postwar growth that relies on a catch-up mechanism through capital accumulation where technology is embodied in new capital goods. Using a putty-clay model of production and investment, we are able to capture many of the key empirical properties of Germany and Japan's postwar transitions, including persistently high but declining rates of labor and total-factor productivity growth, a U-shaped response of the capital-output ratio, rising rates of investment and employment, and moderate rates of return to capital.

Ligeti and Stockhausen: A concert of piano and electronics works from the 195

I curated a concert of piano and electronics pieces including the premiere of my new realisation of Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Studie II.

Environmental (waste) compliance control systems for UK SMEs

While the ‘environment’ is often perceived as a heavily regulated area of business, in reality, directly-regulated businesses represent a small proportion of the business community. This study aimed to evaluate and outline potential improvements to compliance controls for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those involved in the waste sector. Forty-four SMEs from England were interviewed/audited between April-September 2008. Using a UK-based system as a case-in-point, the Environment Agency’s (EA) Operational Risk Appraisal (‘Opra’)/Compliance Assessment Report (CAR) system was analysed. Environmental compliance performance indicators and an initial assessment methodology for SMEs were developed. The study showed:• Compliance with permitting legislation was poor in many areas.• Regulatory authorities are either unable/failing to implement their enforcement policies or unable/failing to identify non-compliances due to the infrequency or limited nature of their inspections.• Improvements are needed to the EA Opra/CAR system – control measures are not fully taken into account when calculating risk.Recommendations to improve SME compliance controls include using internationally applicable general and specific compliance and non-compliance performance indicators, re-designing the Opra system and using an initial assessment methodology based on understanding the hazardousness of SME categories, compliance levels and operator competency.<br/

East African topography and volcanism explained by a single, migrating plume

Anomalous topographic swells and Cenozoic volcanism in east Africa have been associated with mantle plumes. Several models involving one or more fixed plumes beneath the northeastward migrating African plate have been suggested to explain the space-time distribution of magmatism in east Africa. We devise paleogeographically constrained global models of mantle convection and, based on the evolution of flow in the deepest lower mantle, show that the Afar plume migrated southward throughout its lifetime. The models suggest that the mobile Afar plume provides a dynamically consistent explanation for the spatial extent of the southward propagation of the east African rift system (EARS), which is difficult to explain by the northeastward migration of Africa over one or more fixed plumes alone, over the last ≈45 Myrs. We further show that the age-progression of volcanism associated with the southward propagation of EARS is consistent with the apparent surface hotspot motion that results from southward motion of the modelled Afar plume beneath the northeastward migrating African plate. The models suggest that the Afar plume became weaker as it migrated southwards, consistent with trends observed in the geochemical record

The usefulness of Visitor Expectations Type Scales (VETS) for tourist segmentation : the case of cathedral visitors

This study applies Jungian psychological type theory to assess and to interpret the expectations of cathedral visitors. The Visitor Expectations Type Scales were developed among 35 individuals trained and qualified as type practitioners and then tested among a sample of 157 visitors who also completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The data demonstrated: the coherence and internal consistency reliability of the Visitor Expectations Type Scales; the particular emphases placed by cathedral visitors on introverted expectations, feeling expectations, and perceiving expectations; and the complex relationship between visitor expectations (conceptualised in psychological type categories) and their personal psychological type profile. The Visitor Expectations Type Scales are commended as providing a more valid assessment of the psychographic segmentation of cathedral visitors than could be provided simply by the administration of a recognised measure of psychological type. Such assessment has implications for the marketing and management of cathedrals within the tourism industry

[Review] Marja-Leena Sorjonen, Liisa Raevaara and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen (2017) Imperative turns at talk

This monograph, the 30th in the John Benjamins series on language in social interaction, examines the production of imperatives in naturally occurring talk. The collection of 12 empirical papers is intended for a specialist readership, but with its multimedia format and meticulously constructed argument the book will also be accessible to graduate students with an interest in conversation analysis (CA). Like others in the series, it is noteworthy for its breadth, depth and presentational quality: in this case, the cross-linguistic nature of the content; the treatment of similar problems in different environments (e.g. the circumstances in which an imperative might be repeated, with or without variation, by speaker or addressee); and the high production values of the volume, with its charts, colour photographs and line drawings

[Review] Siân Preece (2016) The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity

Like others in the same series, the The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity offers a timely review of a major sub-discipline within applied linguistics. The book is marketed as a reference tool for a general academic readership from (Applied) Linguistics, Education and TESOL, a breadth that is reflected in the range of its contributor backgrounds. The Handbook is organised in five parts: theoretical perspectives on language and identity (seven chapters); social determinants (eight chapters); research approaches and considerations (five chapters); case studies (eleven chapters); and discussions around future trends (six chapters). Most of the contributors take either a social constructionist or poststructuralist approach to understanding identity, which is defined by Joseph in the opening chapter as ‘who individuals are, understood in terms of the group to which they belong’ (p. 25)