bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Conclusion: beyond the post-industrial: narratives of time and place
Authors: Madgin Rebecca , Kintrea Keith
Published: September 2020

This chapter examines the extent to, and ways in, which Glasgow is moving beyond characterisation as a post-industrial city. To achieve this the chapter first re-examines the term ‘post-industrial’ and then moves on to consider where cities like Glasgow fit with key debates within the urban studies field. The chapter then turns to consider two analytical approaches to engage with the question of whether a city can still be characterised as post-industrial. Here we foreground how an analytically-informed urban biography can open up a discussion on the particularities of place and time. We then conclude the chapter with some overarching themes that have resulted from the use of place and time as analytical categories. These themes, we argue, are central to an examination of whether cities are moving beyond being characterised as post-industrial.
De-Professionalism and Austerity
Authors: Malin Nigel
Published: September 2020

The main arguments in this book reflect the politics and social climate created by austerity in the early 21st century and provide an analytical framework for examining the notion of ‘de-professionalisation’ and how it has emerged. The centrepiece offers a part- historical narrative for understanding an evolving process (of ‘de-professionalisation) and poses a question as to whether the direction and substantive nature of this process may have been altered by austerity, or whether this should be regarded as continuity rather than any radical change. Other policy questions include whether social investment as a means of increasing productivity has played a positive role in economic regulation and investment in human capital - training and education - and social programmes. The book sets out the main theoretical frameworks used to study the work of professions, contrasting disciplinary perspectives in the context of their application to different policy fields. Perspectives on professions and professionalism, taken from disciplines such as sociology, social policy, and public administration, are set against a contemporary and contrasting paradigm, for example managerialism or collaborative professionalism, with a purpose of ingraining new ways of deepening accountability towards more collectivist values.
Perspectives used in studying professions: sociology, social philosophy
Authors: Malin Nigel
Published: September 2020

This chapter sets out some of the main frameworks used to study the work of professions from a classic sociology, social philosophy perspective. It is possible to compare and contrast individual disciplinary perspectives and apply them to a specific field of activity, for example teaching and education, delivering health and social care or criminal justice work. The perspectives can also be used to understand and validate the work of professionals, as each reflects a particular emphasis, orientation and contextual prism.
The impact of service cutbacks, job insecurity and globalisation
Authors: Malin Nigel
Published: September 2020

The austerity agenda links deficit reduction to cuts in public service budgets. The main argument is that de-professionalisation lies at the heart of assessing the impact of the ‘commercial model’ in the form of efficiencies, pay cuts, rationing, reduced training/staff development and potentially affecting overall economic productivity. This chapter begins to shape an analytical framework for understanding the UK context in which a process of de-professionalisation exists within an employment culture dominated by inequality, precarity, globalisation and declining solidarity.
Conclusion: professionals as entrepreneurs in an age of austerity
Authors: Malin Nigel
Published: September 2020

This chapter derives a number of conclusions in consideration of specific evocative themes used to discuss de-professionalism and austerity. These include the following areas of debate: the rise in social inequalities and the impact of neo-liberalism ideology, the role of professionalism and the imperative for a workforce strategy to sustain public services, and the role of regulation, professional autonomy and methodology for achieving best outcomes for users of public services. Additionally they include a demand to harness a set of facts and arguments in support of a proposal that would collectively agree on a need to enhance the skills and expertise of practitioners, to extend their entrepreneurial role; and to design research studies aimed at sustaining ‘the professional project’.
Coordinated policy-making in lifelong learning: functional regions as dynamic units
Authors: Amaral Marcelo Parreira do , Lowden Kevin , Pandolfini Valeria , Schöneck Nikolas
Published: September 2020

The assumption that the implementation of Lifelong learning (LLL) policies is best studied at the regional/local level invited us to take a more differentiated look than the national level allows for. By adopting the concept of ‘Functional Region’ (FR), we aim at conceptually taking into account not only their administrative aspects but also their functional dynamics, their interrelations with other units as well as the interaction of their different sectoral policies. This chapter presents FRs as a concept to understand differences in planning and implementing education, labour market, and economic policies at regional/local level. It first introduces the concept FR; second, it presents the units selected for research, focusing on functional and thus on dynamic rather than administrative units of the research sites. In a third section, the chapter discusses the value-added of the insights gained and the challenges related to this conceptualisation in order to draw first conclusions as to the utility of the concept in supporting the formulation of coordinated policy-making in the field of LLL.
Are lifelong learning policies working for youth? Young people’s voices
Authors: Kovacheva Siyka , Jacovkis Judith , Startari Sonia , Siri Anna
Published: September 2020

LLL policy programs and initiatives at the national and local level rarely begin by investigating the needs and aspirations of young participants, and even less opportunities are provided for young people to participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of policy interventions. In this chapter we attempt to highlight the views of young adults on how effectively policies support their personal life projects, educational and professional aspirations and more broadly, their need for empowerment in the transition to adulthood. This chapter presents young adults’ perspectives on their participation in LLL policies. The role of LLL programs and measures in shaping young adults’ life trajectories is best captured at one of the most pivotal turning points in their lives – the transition from school to work. To explore this, we apply a life course perspective to the analysis of a rich data set of 168 qualitative interviews. Interviews were conducted in 2017 with participants of diverse LLL policies across two functional regions in each of the nine partner countries in the YOUNG_ADULLLT project.
Assessing young adults’ living conditions across Europe using harmonised quantitative indicators: opportunities and risks for policy makers
Authors: Scandurra Rosario , Hermannsson Kristinn , Cefalo Ruggero
Published: September 2020

This chapter uses harmonized quantitative regional data on the mediating role of LLL policies in the configuration of individuals living conditions. We focus our attention on four indicators: youth unemployment, tertiary education enrolment, early school leavers and NEET rates. To analyse the determinants of the contextual living conditions we fit persistence models, attempting to explain the status in 2014 with the observed conditions in 2006. We find strong evidence of path dependency. This indicates that the regional contextual living conditions of young adults are overwhelmingly dominated by a combination of the region’s history and developments at the national level. Looking forward, a historically prosperous region in a positive national context is likely to remain so, whilst equally a weak region within a weak national context is likely to remain so. If policy makers are intending to influence the contextual living conditions of young adults, they need to be aware of this inertia. Policies at the national level can be changed and they can be devolved. This could be one way of tackling the inertia, i.e. by providing more policy authority to NUTS-2 regions. Highlighting existing data gaps and improving the availability of territorial information are crucial steps to achieve better targeted policy that isn’t contingent up nation-state-based measures.
The level-headed approach on errors and mistakes in Dutch child protection: an individual duty or a shared responsibility?
Authors: Zeijlmans Kirti , Yperen Tom van , López Mónica López
Published: September 2020

The leading discourse in the Netherlands on errors and mistakes is focused on cases that have resulted in fatal injuries. These have shocked the nation, sparked debate and inspired change. In the Netherlands, the most profound debate resulted from the death of 3-year old Savanna in 2004, the first case where an employee of the child protection agency was prosecuted for manslaughter by negligence. Over the years, the case of Savanna became an iconic part of the discourse on child protection policy, in which the term ‘Savanna-effect’ was used to refer to the shift by child care workers to risk-averse practices for fear of prosecution. Initiatives aimed at improving timely detection of children at risk, such as the reporting code of conduct (‘meldcode’) and the Reference Index for High-Risk Youngsters (‘Verwijsindex Risicojongeren’) were introduced. The discourse turned when critics claimed that the system focused too much on a fear of incidents, causing a disproportional number of children to enter out-of-home placements. This observation inspired the Youth Act 2015, which promotes the restoration and strengthening of the parents’ problem-solving abilities and responsibilities, and aims to reduce regulatory pressures on youth care professionals. This chapter reports on two studies conducted in the new child protection system: an analysis of Dutch reports on major calamities since 2015 and a media analysis of the same period. These studies indicate the current public discourse as well as the underlying problems that were identified by the Youth Care Inspection.
Errors and mistakes in child protection: an unspoken issue in Italy?
Authors: Bertotti Teresa
Published: September 2020

The issue of errors and mistakes in child protection is very rarely addressed explicitly in Italy There have been few public scandals of unprotected children or situations ‘denounced’ to the media by parents or families who felt to be victims of injustice or abusive practice. Unlike Anglophone countries, the Italian child protection system is not used to have enquiries on fatal cases nor in cases where conflicting interest arises, as divorce cases. Some reasons for this could be found in the ambiguity of the child protection system in itself (swinging from a narrow forensic child protection approach to a family support approach), or in the cultural attitude to keep hidden the recognition of errors. Following this discussion, the chapter presents an overview of existing domestic literature and research. It briefly traces the main elements of the Italian child protection system, with its changes from a paternalistic/specialised approach to a neoliberal and ‘familistic’ asset focusing on its fragmentation, ambiguity and unclear definition of responsibilities. It outlines the places where different discourses on errors and mistakes in child protection appear, (considering the public media, court proceedings and professional reflections, and how they have changed in the time. It describes the strategies adopted to deal (or to prevent) errors, drawing on results from qualitative research on how social workers deal with ‘difficult decisions’ and ethical and considering professional and institutional guidelines.
Introducing social work: who are social workers? Why do we need them?
Authors: Bell Linda
Published: September 2020

This introductory chapter introduces social work and social workers. It also considers other questions related to social work, infusing the discussion with some personal reflections. It asks how we address the taken-for-granted nature of social work. The influences of the state, social policy, and public perceptions (including users of social work services) on social work are also explored. The chapter includes some extracts taken from recent interviews with workers about social work as they have experienced it in the past and the present, and how they view its future prognosis. Finally, the chapter also outlines the outsider approach that this volume will take towards exploring social work.
Becoming: being admitted, educated and trained in social work
Authors: Bell Linda
Published: September 2020

This chapter focuses on issues relating to social work education and training in the UK and, comparatively, in a few other countries. It identifies some initial themes relevant to taking an anthropological perspective, specifically: ‘becoming’, or motivation — with examples from recent interviews with informants and an auto-ethnographic example. The chapter also discusses current threads based on what social workers need to know. The structure and content of education and training is introduced using a 1990s' policy example relating to Community Care. In doing so, this chapter sets the scene for further discussions, particularly on experiencing social work education, from student and educator perspectives.
Valuing and transgressing
Authors: Bell Linda
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores social work values. These values, such as promoting social justice, are considered key to this occupational group. Many of the chapter's interviewees seem to share similar values; however, these values sometimes seem to vary culturally and geographically. International social work espouses additional values by placing an emphasis on globalisation and international development. In addition, the chapter is concerned with what happens when social workers fail to live up to their professional standards, and what sanctions may be applied. Here, the chapter draws upon published research as well as data from the author's own studies into recent, publicly available material on social workers' processes of deregistration and other sanctions. The chapter ends with a look ahead to the imminent establishment of the new social work regulator for England, Social Work England.
Introduction: Planning reform and state spatial rescaling
Authors: Sturzaker John , Nurse Alexander
Published: September 2020

This chapter considers the pressures and drivers for change facing cities all over the world, specifically in England, and identify the range of governance approaches adopted to confront them. It situates the discussion in the subsequent chapters within wider frameworks of urban governance, including the theoretical and analytical tools which can be used to explore governance practices.
Community-led governance: Opportunities and constraints
Authors: Sturzaker John , Nurse Alexander
Published: September 2020

The notion, and practice, of devolving power to communities is now widespread, and since 2010 has been a particularly important element of the reforms to urban governance instituted by successive UK Governments. There has been a great deal of entirely justifiable scepticism about this, but recent evidence suggests that there may be scope for some of the reforms, specifically new “Neighbourhood Plans”, to play a progressive and emancipatory role in cities. This chapter reviews the contested history of governance at the community scale, considering both the formal devolution of power and more radical community-led approaches. It contrasts a predominantly top-down approach in England with seemingly more genuine attempts at devolution elsewhere, and introduces empirical data on Neighbourhood Plans in urban areas.
Moving beyond discourses of agency, gain and blame: reconceptualising young people’s experiences of sexual exploitation
Authors: Beckett Helen
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores the relationship between victimhood and agency, and the unhelpful binary ways in which it has often been conceptualised within child sexual exploitation (CSE) discourse and practice to date. It observes how adherence to dichotomous conceptualisations of those experiencing CSE, and associated narrow understandings of CSE victimhood, have served to diminish our responses to particular populations and particular manifestations of harm; namely those typified by any degree of observable agency on the part of the child. Here, reframing young people's experiences of CSE through the lens of structuration theory offers a much-needed way to move us beyond the observable simplistic binary conceptualisations of victimhood versus agency. It helps us to better understand and respond to the widely variable and complex dynamics and contexts of CSE. Specifically, reconceptualising young people as ‘reflexive agents’ operating within a ‘structure of constraint’ offers us a means of concurrently recognising the range of biographical and contextual factors at play in any given situation, and allows us to move beyond exclusionary ‘idealised’ victim-based patterns of identification and response.
Some psychodynamic understandings of child sexual exploitation
Authors: Luxmoore Nick
Published: September 2020

This chapter tries to understand child sexual exploitatio (CSE) through the lens of psychodynamic theory. As babies and as children growing up, the chapter considers how a sense of who and how we are supposed to be is developed. It also looks into how one's potentially loving, creative, assertive parts get distorted and damaged, and how one's earliest relationships affect the anxieties driving subsequent behaviours. The chapter examines defence mechanisms against powerlessness and shame. It also seeks to understand why perpetrators and victims often find themselves stuck in certain roles. In this light, the chapter investigates how hatred and guilt, as well as aggression and sexuality, is understood in relation to CSE. In short, the chapter looks at how CSE becomes the focus of intra-psychic and inter-personal dynamics.
Understanding models of disability to improve responses to children with learning disabilities
Authors: Smeaton Emilie
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores the differences between a medical and a social model of disability to support application of these models to children with learning disabilities who experience, or are at risk of, child sexual exploitation (CSE). Medical knowledge about learning disabilities can support with assessment and understanding the physical symptoms that accompany a learning disability. The social model reinforces how social, cultural, material, and attitudinal barriers also form a disability and, in relation to children and young people with disabilities who experience, or are at risk of, CSE, highlight the importance of ensuring that this group, along with their non-disabled peers, have the support and opportunities to develop safe and healthy relationships. The chapter includes an overview of how disability intersects with abuse in general and CSE in particular. In addition, it draws upon evidence-based learning to consider how theory-informed services can identify children with learning disabilities affected by CSE and implement accessible services that deliver preventative and responsive practice to meet their needs.
British Columbia’s fast ferries and Sydney’s Airport Link: partisan barriers to learning from policy failure
Authors: Newman Joshua , Bird Malcolm G.
Published: September 2020

This chapter examines situations in which the incentives of partisanship can encourage a government to actively seek to exacerbate an existing policy failure rather than to repair it. Under these circumstances, the certain benefits of shaming the political opposition outweigh any potential rewards of improving specific policy outcomes. The chapter considers two cases of policy failure in the late 1990s in the transportation sector. The first case explores an effort by the British Columbia Ferry Corporation (BC Ferries), a public provider of marine transportation on Canada's west coast, to introduce a fleet of high-speed aluminium catamaran ferries (the ‘fast ferries’). The second case investigates a public–private partnership scheme to build and operate an urban rail link between the central business district and the airport in Sydney, Australia (the Sydney Airport Link). In both cases, policy options were presented that had the potential to mitigate financial losses and to redirect the project back toward the achievement of stated policy objectives. However, these options were rejected by decision-makers in favour of actions that did nothing for the success of the project but that did deliver some short-term political and electoral rewards.
That’s (not) me now: development, identity, and being in time
Authors: Luttrell Wendy
Published: September 2020

This chapter describes how the young people, now in their late teens, returned to their childhood photographs and reflected upon their past selves. For those who were able to participate in the creation of an additional set of still and video images, the author examined how they used their cameras to represent their present lives and “what matters most.” Two things would shape the approach to analyzing the images, sounds, and sensibilities of what the young people produced as teenagers. The first was a shift in gaze—what some scholars have characterized as a move from “a familial gaze” to a “youth-culture gaze,” where young people can produce narratives that may be inaccessible to adults. The second was a tendency for the young people to self-consciously position themselves straddling different systems of value: the banal and the singular; the familial and the youth-cultural; the “interesting” and the “boring”; the ordinary (“normal”) and extraordinary aspects of their working-class and racialized lives and identities. Both of these patterns constitute what social theorist Michel Foucault called “technologies of self.” He used the term to describe a range of activities individuals engage in to refashion themselves, re-orient or maneuver emotions, re-shape values, and feel “agentic” in their lives.
Notes on reflexive methods: past, present, and future
Authors: Luttrell Wendy
Published: September 2020

This postlude evaluates the author's research process over time. It accounts for the choices made, offering a portrayal of reflexivity in action. As the author's relationships with the young people stretched out in time, and the world changed (including new technologies), the author found that older ways of doing visual analysis were no longer sufficient for the task. The author reflects on crossing into new theoretical, methodological, and ethical territory, stepping outside her comfort zone as a researcher, and highlights the value of creative collaboration that resulted in the digital interludes that accompany this book. These videos intentionally blur borders between research and art; analysis and evocation; looking and feeling; seeing and knowing. Characterizing her style of research in terms of what has become known as slow sociology, the author stresses the value of time and being open to life's disruptions that require care and repair as well as the joys of connectedness as “what matters most” in life and intellectual labor.
Straight up! From HMP to PhD
Authors: Akpabio-Klementowski Stephen
Published: September 2020

Stephen Akpabio-Klementowski describes his journey from growing up in poverty on a council estate in London, dropping out of school to deal drugs and ending up in prison. In prison The Open University module ‘An Introduction to Social Science’ marks the beginning of another journey, out of prison and into Higher Education. It culminates in his enrolment for a PhD with The Open University and employment offering support and encouragement to prison learners. An unfinished lifelong journey that pays tribute to his determination and persistence.
From Open University in prison to convict criminology upon release: mind the gap
Authors: Irwin Michael
Published: September 2020

A long prison sentence leads Michael Irwin to a revelation that his experiences of studying criminology with The Open University and discovering classic prison research studies might offer him a new path. Convict criminology combines personal experience of imprisonment with conventional ‘book learning’ about prison. Irwin tells of his struggle to combine the two and contribute to the emerging work of British Convict Criminology.
From D102 to Paulo Freire: an Irish journey
Authors: McKeown Laurence
Published: September 2020

Surviving the H-Block prisons and hunger strikes of the 1970s and 1980s in northern Ireland, Laurence McKeown connects his political struggles as an Irish republican to his learning journey with The Open University. The politics of struggle mesh with the politics of learning as Republican autonomy and resistance to British attempts to criminalise their struggle collide with The Open University’s demands for academic assessment. McKeown’s intriguing account of exceptionally challenging circumstances is extraordinary testament to The Open University’s innovative courage, the determination of a brilliant student and the power of a good mentor.
Online Child Sexual Victimisation
Authors: May-Chahal Corinne , Kelly Emma
Published: September 2020

Focusing on online-facilitated sexual abuse, this book takes a rigorous approach to existing literature to address some of the most pressing public and policy questions on this type of abuse. The book examines which children are most vulnerable, how their vulnerability is made, what they are vulnerable to and how we can foster resilience. It begins with an overview of online child sexual abuse. Victims are made both by the acts perpetrated on them and by the social context in which these acts take place and the consequences that are felt. The book examines online-facilitated child sexual abuse research through the lens of this social context, which contains multiple definitions of what is childhood, sex, and abuse as it connects to the Internet. The book calls for greater clarity and agreement on definitions and measurement practices concerning online child sexual victimisation. In conclusion, it recommends that guardianship responsibility is extended to children themselves and considers some of the technical tools that might assist their participation.
Young children: the visibility paradox
Authors: May-Chahal Corinne , Kelly Emma
Published: September 2020

This chapter reviews what is known about child sexual abuse media, with a particular focus on the abuse of young children (those under the age of 10). Young children are seldom the subject of research on sexual violence, yet the online-facilitated sexual abuse of these children is known to exist. In the past, child sexual abuse has been described as a hidden phenomenon that is made visible through a child's disclosure or evidence in and on their bodies. Online child sexual victimisation (OCSV) experienced by young children is still hidden in this traditional sense but at the same time highly visible through images that are both detached from the child yet traumatically attached through their creation and continued circulation throughout childhood. Indeed, most of what can be known about OCSV and younger children is through analyses of images harvested online and analyses of law enforcement and non-governmental organisation (NGO) image databases. These sources suggest that OCSV involving young children is different from that experienced by those who are older. It more often involves parents, carers, and family members; it is legally and developmentally impossible for children to consent to it; and images and videos of the abuse are more likely to be trafficked.
Vulnerability and resilience intersections
Authors: May-Chahal Corinne , Kelly Emma
Published: September 2020

This chapter examines the concepts of ‘vulnerability’ and ‘resilience’, noting that most research focuses only on an individualised understanding of these terms. What can be known from empirical research is reviewed through the lens of intersectional theory, which accentuates the need for a whole-system approach to afford children greater protection. Just as online child sexual victimisation (OCSV) is not homogenous, neither are children. Their age, gender, race, sexualities, migration status, and class intersect and change over time. Vulnerability and resilience can be time and identity specific. They can also be fluid; a prior victimisation does not necessarily result in vulnerability, and resilience to one form of OCSV may not provide resilience to another. From a child's perspective, OCSV experience holds similarities and important differences in terms of perpetration and consequences, requiring tailored intersectional responses at the appropriate level.
Purity
Authors: Liu Helena
Published: September 2020

Having interrogated hegemonic white masculinity in the previous chapter, this chapter presents a critique of white femininity and the rise of postfeminism. Entrenched in imperialist notions of beauty, delicacy and purity, this chapter examines the fraught performances of white femininity in our current age as it attempts to balance between asserting dominance and maintaining an idealised innocence. The chapter investigates the ways organisations prioritise a white patriarchal feminine subject, for example, how research of women in leadership has overwhelmingly focussed on the needs and interests of elite professional women at the expense of queer, working-class and non-white women. Consequently, organisations waving the banner for ‘gender equality’ can often end up reproducing heterosexism, classism and racism. Carolyn McCall and Sheryl Sandberg’s media profiles are analysed to explore white femininities in leadership.
Sustainable Corporate Governance: Trimming or Sowing?
Authors: Boeger Nina
Published: September 2020

This chapter traces two conceptual perspectives on sustainability through current reform proposals for more sustainable corporate law and governance. From the viewpoint of ‘sustainable capitalism’, these reforms require adaptation of existing economic and corporate systems and their operating principles to ensure sustainable economic growth and socially embedded global markets. This perspective assumes that, much like we might trim a hedge or tree to adjust it to its environment, so we must regulate our established (corporate) systems to align them with political concerns for greater sustainability. A ‘sustainable systems’ perspective, on the other hand, insists that the scope and urgency of sustainability challenges today require more fundamental systemic revisions, including of the growth objective itself. In other words, rather than trimming a hedge or tree – a process of curbing excess through intervention – this view encourages that we should sow, and grow, alternative seeds (operating principles) that will yield alternative corporate organisms (systems). The chapter argues that while express linkages between corporate governance and sustainability are a relatively recent phenomenon, these conceptual distinctions are central to the framing of sustainable corporate governance reform.
Sustainability and Marine Conservation Law
Authors: Pieraccini Margherita
Published: September 2020

This chapter takes at its point of departure SDG 14 (life below water) and the specific target of conservation (SDG 14.5). It shows that interpreting SDG 14.5 within the context and purpose of Agenda 2030 means paying attention to three main sustainability criteria. The first relates to substantive socio-ecological inter-pillar relationality, that is to say an acknowledgement of ontological relationality between pillars, beyond an understanding of sustainability as trade off. The second relates to intra-pillar relationality, that is links between conservation and other environmental sectors and the third to procedural inclusion through participatory decision-making in line with the epistemic pluralisation of sustainability. These three criteria are used to assess the sustainability of current EU marine conservation law. One legislative instrument on marine conservation in EU law is chosen as example, namely the Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The Habitats Directive is the cornerstone of conservation law in the EU and it is among the instruments listed by the European Commission as ways to support the implementation of Agenda 2030 and target 14.5.
Introduction
Authors: Carter J. Scott , Lippard Cameron D.
Published: September 2020

The attack on affirmative action has come from a select few individuals with resource. This fight was thought to have culminated with the end of affirmative action signaled by the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin Supreme Court case. However, the policy received a surprising victory and continues to be an object of disdain by many conservatives today. With that being said, this chapter outlines the role of elite actors in framing prominent social issues, including affirmative action. This chapter also describes how certain frames may be used to not only minimize the discussion of race surrounding the policy but will also attempt to use threat and emotion to produce animosity in order to remove the policy from higher education.
Who is Fighting the Fight?
Authors: Carter J. Scott , Lippard Cameron D.
Published: September 2020

The purpose of this chapter is to assess who are the actors leading the charge for and against affirmative action in the most recent U.S. Supreme Court cases on affirmative action in the 21st century. We are interested in the primary “lobbyist” of the Court during cases dealing with higher education and affirmative action (Gratz/Grutter and Fisher I and II) who make use of amicus briefs to make their cases for and against the policy. Amicus briefs are often described as “friends of the court” because they provide unique information to the court as well as elucidate broader social and political implications of the case's potential decision. However, scholars also argue that such briefs act to lobby the court for a specific resolution. While we look at all variation in authorship (e.g., individuals, civic organizations; universities, etc.), we pay particular attention to advocacy groups who have joined the fight for and against affirmative action in the public arena. Concerning opponents of affirmative action, scholars have stated that the backlash in the U.S. over policies and initiatives associated with the Civil Rights Movement has been led by elite-backed advocacy organizations, including special interest groups and think tanks.
What is a Child?
Authors: Fowler Timothy , Fowler Timothy
Published: September 2020

This chapter outlines an account of what it means to be a child, and why childhood matters as a moral category. I argue that despite concerns, a theory should take childhood simply to mean people below the age of 18. I argue that childhood matters because children’s malleability and vulnerability mean they are poorly served by existing accounts of liberal justice.
The Currency of Children’s Justice
Authors: Fowler Timothy , Fowler Timothy
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores different theories of advantage in the context of childhood. It argues that both subjective theories of advantage, which measure mental states like happiness, and resource theories must both be rejected. Resource based theories are attractive in the case of adulthood when a person can rightly be held responsible for their choices but cannot capture important threats to children’s interests. In their place I propose a wellbeing theory drawing on Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities view.
The Case against Neutrality
Authors: Fowler Timothy , Fowler Timothy
Published: September 2020

In this chapter I consider and reject various leading arguments for liberal neutrality. I show that the extent of so called ‘reasonable’ disagreement about the good is much less than is often supposed. Much of the disagreement about ethics exist because of the human tendency to adopt the beliefs of one’s community. This tendency, rather than the limits of reason, better explains why many views continue to be widely held. Since children have a powerful interest in holding an epistemically reasonable conception of the good, they have an interest in being raised with a sound view of the good. I argue against the view that equal respect requires state neutrality, since respect for children requires giving them a good upbringing. Finally, I show why perfectionism for children need not be illegitimate.
Perfectionism and Parenting
Authors: Fowler Timothy , Fowler Timothy
Published: September 2020

Here, I defend perfectionist parenting, according to which parents have a direct moral duty to promote the best views of ethics to their children. I argue that this duty is in part justified by parents’ duties to other children, since the actions of one child will matter a great deal for other children. In the final part of the chapter I consider the extent to which perfectionist parenting limits parental freedom. A proper recognition of value pluralism shows why there is still very wide latitude for parents to shape their children’s values such that they share cultural reference points and have interests in common.
Migration Governance at the State Level: Policy Developments and Effects
Authors: Helbling Marc
Published: September 2020

This chapter presents insights into the migration governance of host countries and its effects on immigration flows by drawing on the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) dataset. The IMPIC dataset allows to fill a big gap in the literature and to take a closer look at how migration policies have developed over the last decades. The author argues that the immigration policies of OECD countries vary in terms of how liberal or restrictive they are. Between 1980 and 2010 immigration policies on family reunion, labor migration, and asylum have become more liberal. However, the control of these policies has become more restrictive, especially in the EU. Policies are more effective for migrant flows from countries with the same colonial heritage. The author analyzes migration flows in general and argues that while it is not yet possible to study environmental migration separately, it should follow the same pattern.
Conflict-Prone Minerals, Forced Migration and Norm Dynamics in the Kimberley Process and ICGLR
Authors: Grant J. Andrew
Published: September 2020

This chapter examines if and under which conditions natural resource governance regimes can mitigate the likelihood of violent conflicts and, consequently, reduce sources of forced migration. Focusing on the trajectories of the Kimberley Process and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the author specifically examines the norm dynamics in and the effects of these two governance regimes that strive to regulate conflict-prone minerals. By means of a ‘conflict-free mineral norm’ both regimes strive to regulate global supply chains that prevent illegal extractive activities, which have effects on environmental considerations and the violent conflicts that generate forced migration flows. While success rates are moderate, both governance regimes have increased transparency where it did not exist before. The chapter concludes by arguing that further academic research needs to be done to understand the complexities of the environmental-conflict mineral nexus.
A New Approach to Understanding Union Identities
Authors: Smale Bob
Published: September 2020

This chapter explains the construction and operationalisation of a new approach to understanding union identities and niche union identity based upon a multidimensional framework of analysis. It explains the methodology used to gather data in support of this approach and the limitations of the research together with the epistemological approach. It outlines the process through which the sources of union identity emerged both deductively from the extant literature and inductively through analysis of data on observable characteristics in order to construct the multidimensional framework. It explains the significance of primary and secondary sources of union identity which relates to unions’ membership territories, together with additional sources indicating other significant components of union identity. The chapter also considers alternatives to the multidimensional framework, arguing that it is superior to either the rigidity of categorisation or the limitations of a one-dimensional continuum.
Geographical Union Identity
Authors: Smale Bob
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores geographical union identity which is projected by unions with membership territories other than those of Great Britain or the UK. These unions project three forms of geographical identity, namely, ‘subnational union identity’, where unions such as SSTA organise an area within Great Britain, ‘binational union identity’ where unions including NUJ are based in two countries, or ‘multinational union identity’ where unions operate in multiple countries as represented by Nautilus, which was formed by cross-border mergers. The analysis recognises that four Northern Irish unions are certified separately and that some Irish unions also organise there. The chapter explores the observable characteristics of geographical union identity together with the impact of mergers, membership benefits, affiliations and political alignment. The work identifies the potentialities for union responses to any reconfiguration of the UK following either Scottish independence and/or the reunification of Ireland and for the formation of multinational unions in order to provide a more effective challenge to multinational capitalism.
Passing the Abortion Act 1967
Authors: Amery Fran
Published: September 2020

This chapter looks at the debates surrounding the passage of the Abortion Act 1967 and how it operated to extend medical power over abortion. It argues that in order for medicalisation to take place, it was necessary to convince doctors that they had a legitimate ‘social’ as well as ‘medical’ role. This was achieved in particular through a series of revisions to the controversial ‘social clause’ of the Act, which provided for abortions for non-medical reasons. Constructions of women seeking abortion as victims or essentially vulnerable – and therefore in need of the authority and paternalistic guidance of the doctor – were central to this process.
Backlash and Appropriation
Authors: Amery Fran
Published: September 2020

This chapter assesses abortion debates in the 1980s and 1990s. By this point, anti-abortion actors were attempting to solve their PR problem by mimicking their opponents’ arguments, moving away from a conservative emphasis on morality and vice, and towards an appropriation of the liberal-paternalist and feminist arguments that had been put forward in support of legal abortion. This was done by adopting seemingly feminist language in talking about medical power, exploitation and women’s rights. Pro-choice and feminist actors, on the other hand, typically avoided challenging the logics underpinning the Abortion Act. Few alternatives to the current, highly medicalised system of abortion provision were proffered; rather, pro-choice actors were forced into a reactive position defending the Abortion Act from anti-abortion attacks.
Conclusion
Authors: Amery Fran
Published: September 2020

This chapter places abortion debates in Britain in the context of both anti-abortion strategy worldwide and the global struggle for reproductive justice, touching on issues of race, ethnicity, migration and nation. There has recently been a twofold shift in the terrain of British pro-choice argument. One the one hand, the British pro-choice coalition has shifted from a politics of protection – which emphasises women’s vulnerability and thereby supports a paternalistic, medicalised regime of abortion regulation – to a politics of liberation, which emphasises women’s authority over their own reproductive decisions. On the other hand, there is a growing need to acknowledge intersectional or reproductive justice claims in abortion politics. The chapter closes by asking whether the pro-choice movement is being pulled in two different directions, and how it can steer between them.
‘Uni-Culti’ Myths and Liberal Dreams: Brexit and Austerity from the Perspective of Migrants
Authors: Nowicka Magdalena
Published: September 2020

This chapter discusses the post-Brexit condition from the perspective of the margin: of an outsider to Britain as well as of Britain’s marginal men, migrants from Poland. It considers anti-immigrant populism and austerity as transnational rather than national phenomena. Thereby, the chapter address the neoliberal reforms as well as the newest political context, including the advance of nationalist rhetoric, the ‘war on gender ideology’, as well as anti-immigrant populism in Poland. The chapter uses the case of Polish migrants in Britain to critically discuss how the interest in the return of migrants is interwoven with neoliberal as well as culturalist logics. These two logics represent migrants either as rational economic agents or passive victims of anti-immigrant populism. Both perspectives underestimate the dynamics of migrants’ aspirations as well as the complexity of their embeddedness in multiple locations. The lesson learnt from studying Polish migrants’ aspirations is a new perspective on the nexus of anti-immigration populism and austerity in Europe.
More Than the Border? Looking at Brexit through Irish Eyes
Authors: Bean Kevin
Published: September 2020

During the first phase of the Brexit negotiations the question of Northern Ireland’s border with the Irish Republic emerged from decades of political obscurity to become one of the major themes of the controversy surrounding Britain’s future relationship with the European Union. Existing freedoms to act have been called into question not only by Brexit, but also by the Irish government’s determined positioning alongside its fellow member states of the EU around the negotiating table. The chapter looks at three aspects of Anglo-Irish relations. Initially it considers the development and current state of these relationships during the opening phases of the Brexit negotiations. The chapter continues by assessing the debate about Brexit amongst Irish policy-makers and commentators and how this has subsequently fed into political and cultural debates in Britain as well. It concludes by looking at how these assessments by Irish politicians and cultural commentators go beyond the immediate issues of the future of Anglo-Irish relations and pose existential questions about the nature of contemporary Britain.