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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Violence against Muslims: Conquered, not fully colonized, in the Making of the Muslim “Other” in the Central African RepublicMuslims in the Central African Republic have experienced extreme violence for more than a decade. Through ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, this article shows how the foundations for contemporary violence were created through colonial and postcolonial state-making. The civilizing mission of republican colonialism set Muslims apart. Lifestyle and mobility were never fully colonized; escape depicted difference. Nationalist liberation mythologies render Muslim citizenship as foreign, precarious, and subject to ongoing contestation. Pentecostalism, a lateral liberation philosophy presented as patriotism, provides power to anti-Muslim discourse. Violence against Muslims is situated in an accumulated “pastness” of state-making and struggle in Central African historiography.
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Conclusion: Knowledge and skills partnershipsResearch in youth justice is vast and varied, meaning that those seeking to identify ‘good practice’ or ‘evidence’ must navigate multiple studies, large and small, from every jurisdiction and academic discipline. The scholarship has been produced using diverse methodologies and approaches, and although there is an increasing focus on policy impact and practitioner perspectives, its breadth and depth can make this vast literature difficult to access by those interested in an evidence-based approach.
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Introduction: Knowledge/evidence production and utilizationThere are different types of knowledge relevant and applicable to the youth justice context that can be developed or acquired through engagement in academic study/scholarship and mastered through professional practice. Evidence-based practice, defined in different ways, is informed and guided by empirical research, theoretical insights, young people’s narratives and professional knowledge/expertise (Baker et al., 2011). The focus of this edited collection is on forms of knowledge exchange (transfer) between professionals and academics in the youth justice context. The phrase ‘Knowledge and Skills Partnerships’ is invoked, and covers a spectrum of meanings, employed as an umbrella term that encompasses the exchange and transfer of knowledge between stakeholders and translation of theory/evidence into practice. This emphasis on the construction and dissemination of knowledge in youth justice was the theme of an event on Wednesday 8 June 2022. Dr Jayne Price, Dr Sean Creaney and Gareth Jones chaired a one-day online conference 1 about ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnerships’ between youth justice practice and academia. The event was hosted by Cheshire Youth Justice Services, Edge Hill University and the University of Chester, and focused on knowledge/evidence production and utilisation in youth justice practice. The catalyst for the event was HM Inspectorate of Probation’s (2021:6) report on Cheshire Youth Justice Services: We were impressed with the [Youth Justice Service] YJS’s use of evidence and academic research to inform and develop practice and services. This is some of the strongest we have seen. The inspectorate alluded to the benefits of a well-established knowledge and skills partnership and how evidence is used to inform practice. It was heartening to see such value placed on research-informed and evidence-based practice, highlighted in the final inspection report that was then published online (HM Inspectorate of Probation, 2021). It is important to emphasise the opportunity which this conference and book presents of drawing together other expertise in this area. This includes creating a space to disseminate achievements (including proactive knowledge exchange strategies), engage academic/practice experts and heighten the importance of knowledge and skills partnerships by creating a space for professionals to reflect upon their own beliefs and values, including principles that underpin meaningful knowledge exchange activity. Understanding the environments within which practitioners operate is of paramount importance, (re)attaching value to ‘knowledge from practice, or practice wisdom’ (Gibson, Vaswani and Dyer, 2024), when seeking to nurture the development of evidence-based policy and practice within organisations.
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“Just keep on going”: An exploration of the childhood experiences of young men whose parents were imprisoned in Singapore and the perspective of professionals involved in care and supportThis study explores into the childhood experiences of young men whose parents were imprisoned in Singapore, and the perspectives of professionals involved in the care of these young people. Using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) research method the research delved into the lived experiences of three young people and five professionals, using semi-structured interviews to understand their retrospective worldview. The findings showed shared negative impacts which permeates various facets of a young person’s life across the young participants. The professionals shared the same perceptive as the young people of parental imprisonment. Professionals highlighted systemic issues, emphasizing the lack of synergy between systems, while unanimous consent existed among young participants and professionals regarding the insufficiency of financial support for families with imprisoned members. Although this research aligns with existing literature at a broader level, it introduces nuanced experiences influenced by culture and ethnicity, often overlooked in Western-centric literature. The research also identifies the importance of prioritizing the voices of young people in shaping effective practices, especially within the Southeast Asian context. The research recommends the establishment of a dedicated agency to oversee the well-being and support of children with imprisoned parents, coordinating assistance from the point of parental arrest. It’s also recommends training for caregivers, focusing on parenting skills, enhancing connections with children, and offering guidance on communication. Emphasizing schools as vital social support for children of imprisoned parents, the study suggests enhanced training for professionals to guide the young people. Furthermore, the research underscores the importance of soliciting input directly from young people themselves to identify their needs and support needed while under the care of guardians.
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Conducting a co‐operative inquiry in the field of counselling: Critical reflections and learnings from a ‘first‐time’ inquirerINTRODUCTION: Co-operative inquiry, a form of participatory action research, has been utilised as a method within the counselling field for some time, and whilst reflections have been shared about the use of this outside of the field, little commentary has been offered from within it. This paper outlines critical reflections and learnings from conducting a co-operative inquiry as a ‘first time inquirer’ to provide insight for other ‘first timers’, and those conducting this method within the counselling field. METHOD: Nine co-researchers met on 11 occasions from March to October 2022, exploring various aspects in relation to the research topic. Thoughts and experiences were communicated in a variety of ways, through poetry, storytelling, and journaling. The researcher kept a reflexive journal throughout the co-operative inquiry process, noting the importance of this process to participatory research. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION: The reflections highlighted are based around key areas of the inquiry, such as how the group set off, the nature of meetings, and how the data analysis process was managed. Various points of discussion are highlighted such as the use of a working agreement, power dynamics, and the impact of the day job. In addition, this paper outlines a pragmatic approach to co-operative inquiry suitable for doctoral level research
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‘Marked Out’: An exploration of the role of stigma in the marginalisation and racialisation of young peopleStigma and the labelling process have been conceptualised and debated for decades (Link & Phelan, 1999). Stigma was first examined by Goffman (1963), whose work was valuable in explaining and drawing attention to stigmatisation and individual strategies of stigma management. This thesis moves beyond this individualising definition to consider stigma as a mechanism of power, examining the role of stigmatisers in conveying and (re)producing labels and stereotypes (Link & Phelan, 2001) through exploring the potential influences of institutional structures on stigmatisation. Through an examination of the lived realities of young people, this thesis seeks to understand the role and reproduction of stigma in their lives, tied to the determining contexts of race, gender and class, and created within constructs of power. This study provides an empirical example of stigma power in the lives of young people living in two Manchester neighbourhoods. Working with 28 young people aged 16-19 in two stigmatised areas of Manchester, this research was grounded in ethnographic principles, serving as a foundation for a participatory-informed research design developed to discover, interpret, and apply knowledge. In addition to conducting over 300 hours of participant observation of the young people’s lives, the research involved the use of participatory-informed, creative methods. In consultation with young people, this was facilitated through various creative approaches, including geographical mapping, creative writing, flashcards, and a blog. Based upon its findings, this thesis will argue that the lives of young people are layered through pre-existing faultlines that can be understood and determined within the structures of society. By revealing the experiences of young people through the institutional structures of public and media narratives, and police and educational encounters, this thesis illustrates how institutionalised narratives may contribute to the (re)production of stigmatised identities. By understanding how the lives of young people can become structured within the determining contexts of society, directly from the individuals to whom this applies, this thesis offers the potential to explore how the lives of some young people are (re)produced through cycles of stigma.
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How can we make HE more accessible for those with criminal convictions?Students with criminal convictions are often left out of higher education widening participation efforts. This resource challenges the narrative and offers strategies to support them
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Ungendered flesh: Racial grammars in Western engagements with sexual violence in the DRCThis article centres Hortense Spillers’ vocabulary of ‘flesh’, ‘ungendering’ and ‘pornotroping’ in order to analyse the racial grammars and continuing coloniality that informs western engagements with sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Contextualising international interventions within a longer colonial history of gendered, sexualised and racialised violence, this article traces the modern industry that has developed around survivors of sexual violence, voyeuristic representations of violated bodies and strategies to elicit western audiences’ empathy through restaging scenes of violence as occurring to white bodies. It argues that such interventions risk reinforcing aspects of the colonial ungendering of black women through reproducing them as objects in global political economies and visual regimes of violence and through rendering their suffering as visible and intelligible only in relation to white liberal humanism. In doing so, it makes the case for further engagement with Spillers’ work in critical and feminist International Relations.
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Suicide risk isn't binaryCounsellors and psychotherapists who work in private practice have much to offer clients who present at risk of suicide. They are not defined by organisational policies and process they might have had little input into and can, therefore, shape their practice within broader ethical and legal parameters. Such work does not come without additional professional considerations however, and this article aims to outline key aspects for good practice in a private practice context with clients at risk.
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Measuring the Social Impact of Mental Health Interventions for Low-Income FamiliesCharitable sector services play an important role in providing mental health support to those who struggle to access professional help from the public or private sector. Platform for Life is a charity that offers free of charge counselling services to low-income families struggling with poor mental health. The demand for the charity’s service continues to grow but securing funding to meet this demand is challenging. Funders want tangible evidence to prove their money is making a substantial impact in the community. This research project aims to evidence the social impact of the services provided by Platform for Life.
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Navigating the Research Process as Newbies: Personal ReflectionsAs part of the Division’s Research Seminar Series, Dr Emma Price and Dr Wayne Campbell are presenting on their personal reflections for navigating the research process as early career researchers. The presentation will reflect on their personal anxieties for beginning their research career, the pressures to publish in academia and the emotional impact of navigating the processes and systems involved in research and publishing.
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Building a community of inquiry for Pluralistic PracticePluralism offers a means of recognising the value of multiple voices and perspectives and has emerged as an increasingly significant guiding framework for making sense of the complexity and diversity of contemporary social life. Pluralistic Practice is an open access journal created with the intention of supporting the development of a global community of inquiry within which practitioners, communities, and citizens can share knowledge, experience, and evidence around the challenges and benefits of working pluralistically to facilitate individual and collective well-being, solidarity, and justice. The present article offers an introduction to how the journal will operate and what it hopes to achieve and extends an invitation to be part of this endeavour.
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Governing access to nationality through paperwork: The discretionary uses of documentation for naturalisation in Belgium, France and the United KingdomIn this paper, we examine the discretionary uses of documentation in the implementation of naturalisation through a comparative perspective focusing on Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. We investigate the organisational and professional factors that are likely to impact variation in the uses of discretion based on documentation. Belgium, France and the United Kingdom represent three interesting case studies involving different actors with different mandates. In Belgium, municipal agents are responsible for a mandatory check of applicants' documents before transferring the naturalisation application to public prosecutors. While only the latter have the mandate to check that the legal requirements are met, most municipal agents are involved in the examination of the requirements. In France, before the digitisation of nationality acquisition in 2023, the initial acceptance of an application involved prefectural agents who had the power to refuse application registration if the documentation was deemed insufficient or ‘non‐compliant’. In the United Kingdom, ‘Nationality Checking Services’ (NCS) were available until 2019 in local register offices for an optional check of the application before the transfer to the Home Office, which remains the decision‐making body on nationality applications. As United Kingdom law regulates strictly immigration advice, NCSs were often unwilling to express themselves on the chances of an application. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork consisting of interviews with implementation agents in the three countries and observations of their interactions with applicants, this paper contributes to shedding light on what drives variations in the governance of access to nationality through paperwork.
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Inclusive Environments: Designing a Framework for Environmental Justice (Full Report)This research builds on the report and recommendations of the Cheshire and Warrington Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Commission (SIGC) (2022) (Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Commission, 2022) . It seeks to develop an inter-disciplinary Environmental Justice Framework (the Framework) for use by public and private sector decision makers. This aims to ensure inclusivity and environmental justice is mainstreamed throughout the development, implementation, and monitoring of environmental sustainability (ES) policy and actions introduced across the subregion of Cheshire and Warrington. This Framework will seek to reduce inequalities in ES development and implementation and ensure that ES measures are built on inclusive foundations of environmental justice to ensure equity, efficacy, and impact. This research builds upon existing strengths and sub-regional work and addresses identified challenges. It brings together partners from industry, local government, community and voluntary sector, academia, and communities (particularly, marginalised voices).
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Inclusive Environments: Environmental Justice FrameworkOver the last few decades, there has been an increasing focus on ensuring that organisations (both public and private) seek to ensure that decision making around environmental challenges and sustainability is carried out in accordance with an ‘environmental justice’ approach.
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Inclusive Environments: Designing a Framework for Environmental Justice (Summary Report)As we move on from COP28 and the world continues to seek to demonstrate commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals in a meaningful way, there is a clear need to ensure that disproportionate environmental burdens don’t continue to fall on already marginalised groups within society.
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An Exploration of Whether Searching for Birth Origins Can Lead to Post-Traumatic Growth in Adult AdopteesAdoption is a lifelong process in which adoptees have to incorporate their adoptive status into their sense of identity throughout their lives. It is a developmental trauma which impacts adoptees on many levels. This study uses poetic inquiry to consider whether adult adoptees from the closed adoption system in England and Wales have experienced post traumatic growth following a search for their birth origins. Following semi-structured interviews with the participants, found poems were created of their experiences of being adopted and searching for their birth origins. As an adoptee who has searched, I provide a reflexive response to the poems and have used the heuristic processes of indwelling and focusing to provide greater insight into the meaning of my own creative writing undertaken throughout my own search and this research. The aims of this research are firstly to establish whether searching for birth origins can lead to post traumatic growth in adoptees, and if this is the case, then secondly, how does the search lead to post traumatic growth. I have taken an interpretivist approach in order to understand the subjective experience of adoptees, together with how historical and cultural influences have impacted their experience. In creating the found poetry, I considered the whole life experience of the participants as adoptee, from growing up adopted, deciding to search, the search process and after the search. This provides a narrative poetic approach and has allowed an exploration of adoption narratives and how these change and adapt during and following the search in order to provide a more coherent sense of self. There are four overarching themes that arose from the poems, and these provide an overview of the whole experience of adoptees. The themes are anger/rage; connections/roots; identity; and authenticity. The research demonstrates that adoptees are given incoherent and illogical adoption narratives that they have to incorporate into their sense of self. Social and cultural narratives around adoption make it difficult for adoptees to challenge these. In searching for birth origins, adoptees can challenge the narratives given to them both by their adoptive families and by wider society and reframe them to provide a more coherent sense of self. This in turn leads to a greater sense of well-being and allows them to find meaning in their experience.
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‘You can’t sacrifice nothing’: Exploring the lived realities of chronic poverty in a cost-of-living crisis through participatory researchThe current portrayal of the cost-of-living crisis as an isolated, unexpected issue neglects the ongoing struggles of those in chronic poverty. This article utilises agnotology and zemiology to explore these overlooked experiences. Through the use of participatory research, the article reveals the state’s neglect of chronic poverty amid public discourse on the cost-of-living crisis, and critiques proposed solutions that demand further sacrifices from those already suffering. The article highlights the lack of accountability for neoliberal policies that exacerbate poverty and vulnerability. It exposes the institutional violence and stigma against the structurally vulnerable, whose hardships are normalised. Through a zemiological and agnotological lens, the article stresses the need to reframe the cost-of-living crisis by acknowledging chronic harm and amplifying the voices of those experiencing entrenched poverty. This reframing is crucial, not only during times of crisis, but also within the broader context of systemic structural inequality.
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The evolution of the disaster risk management cycle and its continuing applicability to an evolving flood threatGlobally, hydroclimatic hazards are becoming more frequent and severe, driven by a warming climate and urbanization. With the evolving nature of flooding, research focus remains strong in this discipline. However, despite the changing nature of hydroclimatic hazards, the importance of the disaster management cycle has endured. Since its inception in 1979, the cycle has evolved, enabled by its open-system nature, through the inclusion of additional stages and stage weightings. Interpretation of the cycle has proven particularly influential in understanding how practitioners have focused most significantly on the mitigation and post-disaster stages substantiated by their continuing dominance in flood risk management. However, contemporary research and disaster risk reduction frameworks such as the Global Sendai Framework stress the importance of the preparedness stage in assisting society with an effective response and recovery. Therefore, increased research focus on the preparedness stage is viewed as a facilitator for an effective response and recovery.
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‘It’s a sixth sense…I see you, you see me, and we’ve been there’: Benefits And challenges of developing a peer mentoring scheme with young people in youth justice servicesThe aim of this paper is to explore the development of peer mentorship within Youth Justice, including the value and utilisation of lived experience. Children and young people who have acquired specific experience of system contact can accrue experiential knowledge and become ‘experts by experience’. These children and young people are potentially capable of providing unique insights, which include sharing knowledge and experiences of navigating welfare and justice services. This research paper provides in-depth insight from an ongoing study about the experiences of those involved in delivering a peer mentoring scheme within a youth justice context. Data from semi-structured interviews with lived experienced peer mentors and practitioners were analysed using thematic analysis to explore participants’ opinions, attitudes and beliefs regarding the design and development of a peer mentoring scheme. The article contributes to a conceptual understanding of the design and delivery of peer mentorship within youth justice.
