RSS 1.0Social and Political Science
There is a strong culture of research activity in the Department of Social and Political Science which informs academic teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Staff are engaged in research of both national and international significance and are also involved in publication, peer review, professional practice, postgraduate training and Knowledge Transfer activities. A number of PhD students supervised by Social Studies and Counselling staff also contribute to the vibrant research culture of the department and are usually offered both teaching and publication opportunities. There is an active research culture in the department with regular research seminars at which staff and postgraduate research students present their most recent work. Research and scholarship has developed and flourished around a number of key areas in the department: Criminology; Sociology, Health and Social Policy; International Development; Political Communications; Counselling and Trauma.
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Oil-driven consumption in rentier economies: Evidence from a proxy-based MPC model in the Gulf Cooperation CouncilThis study proposes a novel macroeconomic approach, specifically formulated to estimate the Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC) in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies, based on high-frequency commodity price and trade data. As there are no reliable household consumption datasets, U.S. imports are used as a proxy for consumption, while crude oil prices serve as an instrument for measuring income. Controls are included for the American Consumer Price Index (CPI), bilateral exchange rates, and international uncertainty, as measured by the Volatility Index (VIX). Estimation via a fixed effects pooled panel regression model, covering the period from January 1992 to April 2025, yields an estimated MPC of 0.68. Controlling for demographic variations—specifically, expatriation induced lower consumption rates—the population-weighted adjustment yields a citizen MPC close to 1.0. Additionally, simulation analysis reinforces model robustness by demonstrating uniform and proportionate import responses to crude oil price shocks. These findings have significant implications for shaping fiscal policy decisions and macroeconomic forecasting in energy-exporting economies that struggle to utilize microdata, while also serving as a valuable tool for policymakers and researchers. Moreover, this novel macroeconomic model, with its forward-looking features, has significant potential to predict the demand-side effects of energy price volatility and inform adaptive and equitable energy policy decisions in the context of the GCC region.
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Archaeology as alternative prison educationThis paper presents the educational focused outcomes of a set of workshops entitled 'Introduction to Archaeology’ that were delivered within a prison. The workshops were delivered as part of a project that seeks to explore the pro-social benefits and social capital (i.e. social and structural aspects that support positive identity formation) that could be developed through engagement with archaeology, specifically for those within the criminal justice system. The workshops offered a bespoke, alternative, educational offering within an adult male prison in Wales. It was designed and delivered by an archaeologist who has an established background in the field, especially in relation to community engagement and education. The social experiences of prison participants were recorded via multi—modal methods and analysed by a criminology researcher. The inter-disciplinary project did not specifically seek to consider how archaeology can offer an innovative, alternative prison education. However, the potential of the inclusive learning that it offered through exploration of artefacts, activity and discussion in small group environments, has been revealed. The paper outlines the potential of such an approach and sets out the benefits within wider literature on prison education, public archaeology and archaeology education.
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Religion, spirituality and ultimate beliefAn exploration of religion, spirituality and ultimate belief in counselling and psychotherapy.
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A Person-Centred Perspective on SuicideThis article explores whether suicide has the potential to be considered an expression of the actualising tendency.
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Working with riskThis chapter will cover devising and using a comprehensive risk assessment
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An exploration of the experiences of women and non-binary counsellors in relation to Gendered Power Dynamics in the therapeutic relationship: A constructivist grounded theoryThe purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of women and non-binary counsellors in relation to gendered power dynamics (GPD) in the therapeutic relationship. This research aimed to understand counsellors’ experiences to establish a theoretical model for GPD in the therapeutic relationship from the perspective of women and non-binary counsellors. This research took a multi-disciplinary approach, exploring sociological and feminist literature on gender and power, alongside counselling literature on the therapeutic relationship. A co-operative inquiry group was established to research this area. Further theoretical sampling, in line with the principles of constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014), was done using one-to-one interviews and a group interview. Ethical approval for this study was granted by the University of Chester. A theoretical model was constructed made up of five core categories moving beyond a descriptive account. These core categories are: making sense of gender; experiencing gendered power and its influences; identifying factors which impact the therapist’s response; being impacted by the work; exploring the difference identity can make. The creation of the model, rooted in feminist epistemology, was developed through collective knowledge building, considered to be the heart of feminism (Ahmed, 2017). It transforms the issue of GPD from an individual problem to a structural issue, enabling the field to explore it through this lens. The model can be used by counsellors, trainers, and supervisors to bring to the surface something that may otherwise be left hidden. This research found that the experience of GPD begins before the client and counsellor meet and has the potential to continue after the relationship has ended. A great deal of training and research is focused on the power dynamics between the counsellor and client, encouraging an intersectional perspective based on reducing client harm. However, research exploring the counsellor’s experience, including potential counsellor harm due to the power held by the client, appears to be limited, although negative impacts in relation to practice have been noted (Ali et al., 2005; Porter et al., 2015; Wright & Murphy, 2024).
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“Played like a deck of cards” Youth workers’ accounts of Adverse Childhood Experiences and engaging in Trauma Informed Practice. Analysing discourse and its impact on professional identityThrough engagement in in critical and social constructionist research this thesis demonstrates prevailing discourses about youth work, its identity as a profession, and the way Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have come to be understood within, and to inform, contemporary youth work practice. Initially the historical, theoretical, and practical underpinnings of youth work in England and Wales is considered and its evolution is situated within broader socio-political and economic contexts. Competing paradigms framing youth work are noted. The tensions between those paradigms, one focussed on empowerment and social justice, the other on personal development within existing structures, are explored. Historical shifts in youth work are analysed, from its philanthropic beginnings and the "golden age" following the Albemarle Report to its neo-liberal reframing under austerity policies. Particular attention is given to how ACEs have recently emerged as a construct shaping youth work discourse, often pathologising young people while obscuring structural inequalities. The methodology for the thesis is then explained. It is noted that the thesis draws on insights from critical and constructivist research and that a critical discourse analysis approach, examining youth workers’ account of contemporary practice, is undertaken. The choice of methodological framework is justified on the basis that it facilitates a critical understanding of how a concern for ACEs is applied when youth workers engage with young people. Also, on the basis that it facilitates an exploration of how power, knowledge, and identity are constructed and contested as youth workers give account of their profession and work. The findings address issues of fragmentation in youth work's professional identity, exacerbated by competing definitions and models of practice. While ACEs is presented as providing a lens for understanding individual trauma, its uncritical adoption is shown to depoliticise youth work, steering it away from structural critiques towards individualised and therapeutic interventions. Youth workers are shown to articulate a desire for greater clarity and coherence in professional standards, emphasising the importance of voluntary engagement, relational work, and empowerment. However, medicalised and neo-liberal discourses are shown to 5 constrain these ideals, leading to prioritisation of targeted interventions over universal provision. The findings, however, also address the potential for a reinvigorated form of youth working focussed on transformative conversations. Transformative conversations are relational, dialogic exchanges that can foster critical reflection, empowerment, and subject re-positioning. Spaces for such conversations, which have the potential to challenge dominant discourses, are identified to enable youth workers to question societal norms and their positioning within power structures. An interface between transformative conversations and the discourse analytic approach to the research is noted. This is because both are founded on deconstructing language and power dynamics to reveal how meanings, albeit shaped by broader societal discourses, are also co-constructed. Accordingly, it is shown how insights from discourse analysis can be used to inform transformative conversations to potentially resist oppressive narratives, aligning with a youth work agenda focused on social justice and empowerment. The discussion situates the findings within the broader context of social justice, arguing for a reinvigoration of youth work’s emancipatory ethos through transformative conversations and dialogue. The need for a renewed commitment to addressing systemic inequalities through collective, rights-based approaches is emphasised. The thesis concludes with a call for a reimagining of youth work as a radical, transformative practice that resists neo-liberal commodification. The thesis contributes to the academic and practical understanding of youth work by offering a critical lens through which contemporary and future challenges may be viewed.
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From Kenya to Kendal: Colonel Edgar Garston Harrison’s taxidermy collection, Kendal MuseumThe collections at Kendal Museum date back to 1796 when the museum was first formed as a private collection. Today the collections are publicly owned by Westmorland and Furness Council, cared for by longstanding curators Carol Davies and Morag Clement, and managed through Kendal College. One of the major donors to, and benefactors of, the museum in the 20th century was a local man called Edgar Garston Harrison (1863-1947), of High Hundhowe, near Staveley. A soldier and big game hunter, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Kings African Rifles, Harrison was active in several military campaigns related to British colonialism in eastern Africa between 1895 and 1905. During this time Harrison acquired a significant number of ‘hunting trophies,' mounted taxidermy animal heads and animal skins of the characteristic fauna of the region. In 1937 Harrison proposed to donate £2,000 towards the building of an extension to the museum’s existing buildings, on condition that this be used to display his collection of hunting trophies and other artefacts to the public, the majority of which were at that time housed in his purpose-built trophy room at High Hundhowe.
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Introduction: The Dynamics of Migration Policy Implementation: The Frontline and BeyondThis special issue examines the complex dynamics of migration policy implementation across different contexts, in Europe and beyond, contributing to both implementation studies and migration studies by highlighting how policies are transformed through everyday bureaucratic work. The articles demonstrate that understanding migration policy implementation requires attention to interactions extending well beyond traditional frontline encounters. Through ethnographic and historical research across domains including asylum, nationality, detention, family reunification and border control, the collection reveals how implementation emerges through collaborative negotiations between multiple actors—street-level bureaucrats, legal experts, civil society organisations and private intermediaries. Three theoretical innovations emerge from this analysis. First, the collection shows how implementation involves collaborative knowledge production and epistemological negotiation, where different forms of expertise are assembled across institutional sites. Second, it demonstrates how documents and digital technologies fundamentally reshape implementation landscapes, creating new dependencies while promising efficiency. Third, it highlights how language, translation and communication practices become crucial sites of power negotiation in policy implementation. By examining implementation ‘at the frontline and beyond’, this collection advances understanding of migration governance as a multi-actor, technologically mediated and communicatively complex process, offering essential insights into the gap between policy intentions and outcomes in contemporary migration control.
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A scoping review of sexual and reproductive health recommendations in the context of migration to EuropeIn recent years, growing instability and conflict around the world have continued to fuel outward migration, including migration to the EU/EEA. Many migrants hail from countries and regions with a higher burden of STIs-including HIV-and are exposed to enhanced risks of sexual and gender-based violence leading to sexual health issues during their journeys. This scoping review aims to identify existing sexual health recommendations for non-European migrants in the EU/EEA and identify gaps in their implementation. Sexual health recommendations formulated in relation to the migrant population in peer- reviewed journals or by expert consensus, between 2010 and 2021, were included. A keyword search was used to retrieve relevant publications on PubMed, ScienceDirect, the Cochrane Library databases, WHO and ECDC websites. The search strategy employed was charted in a dedicated Prisma Chart. Overall, 180 publications were retrieved. Based on the abstract and after eliminating duplicates, 33 publications were included for full-text reading. The references of these publications were screened. In total, 19 publications met the inclusion criteria. Evidence-based sexual health recommendations target only newly arrived migrants and migrant children (at arrival and during stay in the country). Screening practices are mostly informed by the country of origin and related prevalence, which remains a limitation; challenges faced during migration should also be considered. Implementation and compliance with these recommendations remain uncertain, as sexual health is not funded and addressed in a uniform manner across Europe.
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Knowledge partnerships in youth justice: Building learning and evaluative culturesHM Inspectorate of Probation is committed to reviewing, developing and promoting the evidence base for high-quality probation and youth justice services. Academic Insights are aimed at all those with an interest in the evidence base. We commission leading academics to present their views on specific topics, assisting with informed debate and aiding understanding of what helps and what hinders probation and youth justice services. This report was kindly produced by Dr Sean Creaney and Dr Jayne Price, highlighting the purpose, value and functioning of knowledge partnerships in youth justice. These partnerships involve the sharing of ideas, insights and experiences between members of the research/academic community and youth justice professionals. Through aligning the worlds of academia/ research and practice, the partnerships can be mutually beneficial, bridging gaps between evidence and action while also facilitating the further development of the evidence base. Furthermore, the partnerships can help to build evaluation/research cultures across the youth justice sector, with research and evidence moving from a marginal to more central role within organisations and services. For the partnerships to function effectively, meaningful participation and reciprocal collaboration are essential components, enabled through trusting and respectful professional relationships, with everyone recognising each other’s areas of expertise, experiences, interests and priorities. Within the inspectorate, we collaborate with academics and external researchers in numerous ways, looking to utilise and maximise the knowledge, experience and skills across the research community, helping to produce a rounded and balanced view of the evidence base, while also recognising that the evidence base never stands still. Critically, knowledge partnerships and research collaborations can help drive the continuing development of rights-respecting, child-centred practice.
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Are we witnessing a revolution of the Italian citizenship regime? Postscript to the special issueWhile we were completing this special issue, in spring 2025, three possible changes to the Italian citizenship law developed that could lead to a deep transformation in the way Italian citizenship has been historically ruled and produce multiple effects on the citizenship/mobility nexus. We therefore felt the need to acknowledge them through adding this collective post-script, even if it is too early to provide a comprehensive in-depth analysis.
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Reimagining the World Wildlife Gallery, Kendal Museum: A Community Engagement and Reinterpretation ProjectFounded in 1796, Kendal Museum is a small public museum in the northwest of England. The museum’s collections reflect both the social history of the area and the connections between the district and the wider world. Particularly significant, in this respect, is the museum’s “World Wildlife Gallery,” a permanent display of hundreds of taxidermy animal and pinned insect specimens, arranged thematically by continent in “naturalised” dioramas. In 2023/2024 Kendal museum began a project to “reimagine” the World Wildlife Gallery, through engagement with regular museum visitors and the local community more broadly. Project and Community Officer, Ila Colley; local artist and community contributor Lavinia Haslam; academic and researcher Joe Rigby, and friend of the museum and contributor to a recent reinterpretation of the museum’s geological collection, Peter Lincoln, reflect on their experiences of the “Reimagining the World Wildlife Gallery” (RWWG) project.
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Perceived Changes in Sexual Interest and Distress About Discrepant Sexual Interest During the First Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-Country Assessment in Cohabiting Partnered IndividualsDue to COVID-19 pandemic, different restrictive measures in terms of physical distancing and lockdowns have been introduced in most European countries, affecting all facets of social life. Currently, little is known about how partnered individuals perceive changes in their sexual life during this complex emergency. This study explored retrospectively assessed changes in sexual interest for one’s partner and levels of distress related to perceived sexual interest discrepancy during the first phase of the pandemic in a large-scale online sample of partnered individuals (n = 4813; Mage = 38.5 years, SD = 10.74) recruited between May and July 2020 in seven European Union countries and Turkey. We also examined the possible role of approach/avoidance motives for sex in reported changes in sexual interest and associated distress. Most participants (53%) reported no change in their sexual interest during the pandemic, followed by those who reported an increase (28.5%). The pattern was similar across the eight countries. Distress about discrepant sexual interest, which was only weakly related to changes in sexual interest, was significantly associated with relationship quality and emotional closeness with a partner, coping with and worrying about the pandemic, and specific motivation for sex. In contrast to avoidant and relationship-focused approach motivation, ego-focused approach motivation was related to stable sexual interest during the pandemic. The current study contributes to the understanding of the link between sexual interest and complex emergencies. Considering that the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the reported experiences and perceptions are prone to change.
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Assessing the role of the oil market in rising food prices: Strategic implications for food security in Gulf Cooperation Council countriesThis study examines the relationship between oil prices and food prices, with a focus on key agricultural commodities in the United States, including corn, soybeans, wheat flour, meat, and milk. Using a regime-switching cointegration approach, the research investigates both the long-term and short- term dynamics of oil’s impact on food prices. The findings indicate that oil prices exert an asymmetric influence on the food market. While oil prices play a relatively limited role in determining certain production costs, particularly for meat, compared to other economic factors, they nonetheless hold strong predictive power for food price forecasts. Notably, any short-term disequilibria in prices prompt a rapid adjustment back to equilibrium, contributing to market stability. The study suggests that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which rely heavily on food imports, can leverage their energy resources to alleviate the inflationary pressures in food markets resulting from global demand increases. A key long-term strategy involves investing in energy-intensive agricultural technologies, such as desalination for water supply and controlled-environment agriculture (e.g., greenhouses), underscoring the need for strategic foresight and comprehensive planning in agricultural investments.
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Changes in Intimacy and Sexuality During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of Data from a Survey on Partnered Individuals in Eight European CountriesThis qualitative study explores experiences of intimacy and sexuality during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic of 3357 participants from Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey. Data were collected through open-ended questions within a survey on sexuality during the pandemic. Based on a reflexive thematic analysis three themes occurred. The first theme No change was described by 41% when summarizing their sex life during the pandemic. The second theme Positive change was experienced by 25%, and the third theme Negative change by 21%. An overarching theme then emerged as: “Still the same trajectories, but the pandemic could be a catalyst for improved or worsened sex- life.” For those intimate partnered individuals who already had problems with intimacy and sexuality before the COVID-19 pandemic it seemed to remain the same or deteriorated throughout the pandemic. For those with positive experiences of intimacy and sexuality before the COVID-19 pandemic it remained the same or improved throughout the pandemic. These findings are relevant for researchers and clinicians in developing preventive and supportive interventions in the context of crisis and social isolation.
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An IPA Study Exploring the Lived Experiences of Young People and their Perceptions of High School Bullying, and Societal ViolenceBackground and Context: the motivation of this thesis was to conduct a qualitative exploration on the lived experiences of bullying of high school students, and whether they considered this a factor in future societal violence. Methods: the methodology was Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), with data gathered using semi structured interviews, later transcribed and analysed to find emerging themes. Participants were recruited using academic posters (see appendix M). Two participant information sheets were provided for young people and guardians, offering details about the project. Participants: the participants were (n=6) with ages ranging from 13-16 years, selected from three separate high schools in the United Kingdom. Three of the participants were cis boys, and the other three participants were cis girls. Findings: bullying is an individual experience, which can occur in primary and high schools, and is repetitive. Consequently, the participants reported being subjected to name calling and hitting, which has implications for mental health. Verbal and physical bullying can affect future verbal and physical violence, with grudges influencing violence towards bullies. Rational thinking can become impacted, with potential violence used in relationships. Violence may be used to prevent bullying from reoccurring, and to regain power and control. Future measures which may prevent future societal violence, including greater interventions and awareness in academic institutions, bullying to be considered within criminalisation, with institutions erected specifically to help victims. Conclusions: cybercrime and cyberbullying should be considered by practitioners, and researchers. Interventions should be used to effectively by school staff to gain justice for pure-victims and bully-victims, with training in mental health and bullying needed. Schools should reintegrate pure-bullies into the school system, with bullying prevention and intervention programmes encouraged. Grudges require attention from researchers and practitioners working with pure-victims and bully-victims. A lack of empathy from future intimate partners may lead to verbal violence in intimate relationships. Practitioners should consider emasculation and racial abuse from bias-based bullying as possible precursors to societal violence. Societal violence may be enacted through self-righteous reasoning, and bullying may require criminalisation. Posttraumatic growth should be considered, with school bullying viewed as a social justice issue.
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Disenfranchised griefThis is an teaching exercise to help students to understand the concept of “disenfranchised grief” originally coined by Doka in 1989. Learners will explore how grief which is incurred through loss can be unacknowledged and not recognised leading to disenfranchisement of self and others (Corr, 1999; Cesur-Soysal & Ari, 2022). The exercise hopes to promote person-centred values along with empathic and non-judgmental listening skills as well as develop learner’s self -awareness, helping them to see grief from their own and other people’s perspectives. Drawing on further work from Doka (1999 & 2017) social and cultural contexts of loss will be explored. We will then explore how we might enfranchise people’s grief by validating and acknowledging their experiences.
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Eligibility of athletes with a difference in sex development in elite sport: Opinions of national, elite and world class athletesThere have been limited studies allowing key stakeholders the opportunity to voice their opinions on DSD athlete participation in elite sport. The purpose of this study was to survey athletes eligible to compete in the female category regarding DSD athletes' inclusion. This study surveyed national, elite and world class athletes (n = 147) competing in the female category regarding their opinions on the eligibility of DSD athletes in elite sport. The study compared current and retired Olympic sport athletes, elite versus world class athletes and current Olympic sport versus current Olympic‐recognised sport athletes. Most athletes believed that it was an unethical requirement to medicate in order to comply with eligibility regulations (67.2%). Overall, athletes did not support a separate category for DSD athletes, an opinion most strongly held for precision sports (69.5%) and a majority believed their participation in the female category was fair (54.4%, precision sports). This opinion was more commonly held by Olympic‐recognised sport than current Olympic sport athletes, particularly for sports heavily reliant on physical capacity (61.1% vs. 20%). More current Olympic sport athletes believed that the eligibility of DSD athletes for the female category was unfair, compared to Olympic‐recognised sport athletes. Athletes agreed that sports federations could be doing more to make sport more inclusive for DSD athletes (82.2%), with only 8.2% believing such athletes were treated fairly. After reviewing these novel results, the athletes' voice (in combination with scientific evidence) should be utilised to create appropriate policies that align with the collective values of athletes.
