Unsettling Relations: Disrupting the Ethical Subject in Fan Studies Research

This paper takes as its focus the strategies by which ethical stances are established and legitimised in fan studies writing. It argues that, as a matter of ethics, such stances should always be placed under interrogation. This can be achieved by disrupting the entities that are often invoked in claims about what constitutes ethical practice in research – ones that may otherwise quickly become naturalised points of reference. Using as an exemplar Busse & Hellekson's articulation of the 'fans first' principle, the paper considers how ethical positions become sedimented and normalised within academic fields of practice. In doing so, the paper develops some counter-principles for an ethical destabilisation and (where necessary) dismantling of received ethical subjectivities in fan studies research

Intellectual Property and the Construction of Un/Ethical Audiences

Audiences have always misbehaved. Yet the form that this ‘misbehaviour’ has taken has changed over time, in the face of shifting notions of the ‘rights’ of audiences and varying ideas regarding ‘appropriate’ audience behaviour (Butsch, 2000). As industry struggles to regulate the activities of contemporary audiences, this chapter examines the ethical stances constructed by academics in their work on audiences and intellectual property. Drawing from constructionist/discursive approaches to the audience, the chapter argues that just as the audience ‘does not exist,’ neither do the ethics of audiences. It suggests that scholars might reflect on how they deny/assert the rights and responsibilities of audiences, and how, in positioning the audience as ethical/unethical, they also position themselves. A distinction between ethical competence and ethical performance is presented as providing one way of interrogating the ethical positioning in this scholarship. This distinction provides a conceptual framework for examining researchers’ assessments of the ethics of contemporary audiences and the slippages between normative and descriptive formulations in this growing body of literature

Authority and ethics: A case for estrangement in educational research and research education

This article focuses attention onto an underexamined issue in the literature on educational research ethics: how ethical authority is established in educational research. We address this from a perspective that disrupts naturalised approaches to ethics, arguing that rather than seeking ‘rights’ or ‘wrongs’ researchers are always tasked with constructing ethical stances. Attention can then be placed onto the array of embodied and objectified resources that might be recruited in establishing these. Through an engagement with published academic accounts of ethical reflection and decision-making, the article explores the ways that educational researchers achieve or sometimes question their ethical security in respect of their research activity. The analysis we present draws out the referential strategies that constitute ethical subjectivity and maps the diversity of anchoring points that might be recruited in this action. We also draw attention to the process of recontextualisation that is inevitable when one activity (or aspect of an activity) regards another, introducing necessary incoherence into ethical practice. The case we present celebrates rather than seeking to conceal or repair such disruption.</p

Epistemological breaks in the methodology of social research: rupture and the artifice of technique

As has often been noted, Gaston BACHELARD’s counter-intuitive orientation to scientific inquiry, with its rationalizing insistence on relational anti-essentialism, has profound implications for social research methodology. The question remains how this orientation might inform the actual practice of research. In this article we present a pragmatic response, one that emphasizes the need to scrupulously avoid the use of essentialized categories. Doing so involves much work and constant vigilance, for which technique is an absolute requirement. Our reading of BACHELARD therefore insists that productive research requires the artifice of a methodological technology that wrenches research from self-evidence whilst avoiding its ossification in theory. We argue that this continuous disruption and rebuilding of forms of thought is necessary but often neglected in social research; often simply because suitable technology is unavailable. Developing work by DOWLING (2013, 2009), we then suggest one that is. This is demonstrated by contrasting a diagrammatic technology known for only breaking weakly with established categories—Howard BECKER’s classification of deviance—with a relational space that achieves the rational artifice required (one in fact more consistent with BECKER’S own pragmatic project). The value of the artifice a relational space achieves is then illustrated in the empirical context of digital file-sharing.</p

Is social media bad for mental health and wellbeing? Exploring the perspectives of adolescents

Despite growing evidence of the effects of social media on the mental health of adolescents, there is still a dearth of empirical research into how adolescents themselves perceive social media, especially as knowledge resource or how they draw upon the wider social and media discourses to express a viewpoint. Accordingly, this paper contributes to this scarce literature. Six focus groups took place over three months with 54 adolescents aged 11–18 years, recruited from schools in Leicester and London (UK). Thematic analysis suggested that adolescents perceived social media as a threat to mental wellbeing and three themes were identified; 1) it was believed to cause mood and anxiety disorders for some adolescents, (2) it was viewed as a platform for cyberbullying, and (3) the use of social media itself was often framed as a kind of ‘addiction’. Future research should focus on targeting and utilising social media for promoting mental wellbeing among adolescents and educating youth to manage the possible deleterious effects

Whose responsibility is adolescent mental health in the UK? Perspectives of key stakeholders

The mental health of adolescents is a salient contemporary issue attracting the attention of policy makers in the UK and other countries. It is important that the roles and responsibilities of agencies are clearly established, particularly those positioned at the forefront of implementing change. Arguably, this will be more effective if those agencies are actively engaged in the development of relevant policy. An exploratory study was conducted with 10 focus groups including 54 adolescents, 8 mental health practitioners and 16 educational professionals. Thematic analysis revealed four themes: 1) mental health promotion and prevention is not perceived to be a primary role of a teacher; 2) teachers have limited skills to manage complex mental health difficulties; 3) adolescents rely on teachers for mental health support and education about mental health; and 4) child mental health responsibility extends to parents. The research endorses the perspective that teachers can support and begin to tackle mental wellbeing in adolescents. However, it also recognises that mental health difficulties can be complex, requiring adequate funding and support beyond school. Without this support in place, teachers are vulnerable and can feel unsupported, lacking in skills and resources which in turn may present a threat to their own mental wellbeing

What does local food mean to you? Report of findings

This report sets out the findings of ‘What does local food mean to you?’, a research project conducted in 2012/13 by the University of Leicester’s Cultural Production and Consumption Research Group