title: Review: Radical reforms: perspectives on an era of educational change

authors: Thrupp, Martin

subjects: education

abstract: Book review of Radical reforms: perspectives on an era of educational change.

text: Review: Radical reforms: perspectives on an era of educational change Book review of Radical reforms: perspectives on an era of educational change.

year: 2009

title: Surface tension: Place/poverty/policy: From "poverty" to "social exclusion": Implications of discursive shifts in European Union poverty policy, 1975-1999

authors: Peace, Robin M.

subjects: discourse analysis

abstract: This dissertation addresses four substantive issues or arguments that are linked in an interdisciplinary discussion informed by contemporary feminist and cultural geographies, feminist political philosophy, policy studies and discourse analysis.
The first argument is that there are flexible and contingent uses of discourses of 'social exclusion' in the supranational context of the European Union. The concept of 'exclusion' as the 'new kid on the welfare discourse block' has a distinctive provenance. I discuss the development of Poverty Programmes, and European Union social policy more generally in the liberal democratic milieu of the European Union over the period from 1975-1999.
My second argument concerns the relationships between policy and place. I develop a number of arguments about paradoxical spatiality and social policy. Metaphors of 'subsidiarity' and 'solidarity' have key place-effects in relation to anti-poverty discourse. Regional policy produces countervailing effects to supranational and national policy configurations. Projects, such as those developed under Poverty 3 of the European Union Poverty Programmes, clarify the scale of operations of European Union policy initiatives and highlight the local level. Migrant bodies exemplify many of the axiomatic ways in which the principles of solidarity and social cohesion intersect in social exclusion discourse. All of these circumstances identify and reiterate the mutually constitutive and paradoxical nature of place / policy / poverty interactions.
The third issue relates to the metaphors and metonymic figurations that produce, and are in tum influenced by, particular interpretations and enactments of social policy. On the one hand, 'social exclusion' is linked to metaphors of 'social integration' and 'social cohesion'. This suggests that anti-poverty policy is part of a complex of social control measures. On the other hand, metaphors of economic 'progress' are linked to discourses of employment, employability and citizenship rights in a way that occludes the discursive space of poverty, and makes it appear as if economic progress is the sole motivation for anti-poverty policy. In either of these circumstances certain categories of poor unwork( able) bodies continue to be excluded from discourses of social exclusion.
The current discourses of 'social exclusion' are also producing new ways of 'targeting' 'poor bodies'. This final issue is taken up through a discussion of the relationship of social exclusion, as it is currently deployed in European Community discourse, to 'politics of recognition' and 'politics of redistribution'. Both of these dominant organising strategies for politicised policy initiatives have unanticipated outcomes for the social exclusion of unwork(able) 'poor bodies'. Care needs to be taken, in re-categorising the poor as 'excluded', to ensure that a 'politics of cohesion' does not produce new economies of disregard.
The thesis is also experimental in a number of ways. A specific 'technical' objective was to 'test' an approach to policy analysis through the application of textually oriented discourse analysis (TODA), following work pioneered by Norman Fairclough (1992, 1994), coupled with the use of a computer assisted qualitative data analysis system (CAQDAS). I used Qualitative Systems Research software (QSR): NUD.IST© as the tool. The method entailed the development of an online document corpus and also encouraged the use of the Internet as a data source.

text: Surface tension: Place/poverty/policy: From "poverty" to "social exclusion": Implications of discursive shifts in European Union poverty policy, 1975-1999 This dissertation addresses four substantive issues or arguments that are linked in an interdisciplinary discussion informed by contemporary feminist and cultural geographies, feminist political philosophy, policy studies and discourse analysis.
The first argument is that there are flexible and contingent uses of discourses of 'social exclusion' in the supranational context of the European Union. The concept of 'exclusion' as the 'new kid on the welfare discourse block' has a distinctive provenance. I discuss the development of Poverty Programmes, and European Union social policy more generally in the liberal democratic milieu of the European Union over the period from 1975-1999.
My second argument concerns the relationships between policy and place. I develop a number of arguments about paradoxical spatiality and social policy. Metaphors of 'subsidiarity' and 'solidarity' have key place-effects in relation to anti-poverty discourse. Regional policy produces countervailing effects to supranational and national policy configurations. Projects, such as those developed under Poverty 3 of the European Union Poverty Programmes, clarify the scale of operations of European Union policy initiatives and highlight the local level. Migrant bodies exemplify many of the axiomatic ways in which the principles of solidarity and social cohesion intersect in social exclusion discourse. All of these circumstances identify and reiterate the mutually constitutive and paradoxical nature of place / policy / poverty interactions.
The third issue relates to the metaphors and metonymic figurations that produce, and are in tum influenced by, particular interpretations and enactments of social policy. On the one hand, 'social exclusion' is linked to metaphors of 'social integration' and 'social cohesion'. This suggests that anti-poverty policy is part of a complex of social control measures. On the other hand, metaphors of economic 'progress' are linked to discourses of employment, employability and citizenship rights in a way that occludes the discursive space of poverty, and makes it appear as if economic progress is the sole motivation for anti-poverty policy. In either of these circumstances certain categories of poor unwork( able) bodies continue to be excluded from discourses of social exclusion.
The current discourses of 'social exclusion' are also producing new ways of 'targeting' 'poor bodies'. This final issue is taken up through a discussion of the relationship of social exclusion, as it is currently deployed in European Community discourse, to 'politics of recognition' and 'politics of redistribution'. Both of these dominant organising strategies for politicised policy initiatives have unanticipated outcomes for the social exclusion of unwork(able) 'poor bodies'. Care needs to be taken, in re-categorising the poor as 'excluded', to ensure that a 'politics of cohesion' does not produce new economies of disregard.
The thesis is also experimental in a number of ways. A specific 'technical' objective was to 'test' an approach to policy analysis through the application of textually oriented discourse analysis (TODA), following work pioneered by Norman Fairclough (1992, 1994), coupled with the use of a computer assisted qualitative data analysis system (CAQDAS). I used Qualitative Systems Research software (QSR): NUD.IST© as the tool. The method entailed the development of an online document corpus and also encouraged the use of the Internet as a data source.

year: 1999

title: Volunteering at the edge of chaos: A case study on the self-organising of younger volunteers during the Rena oil spill crisis

authors: Lockwood, Sarah Jane

subjects: volunteer

abstract: This thesis investigates the self-organising of younger volunteers during the 2011 Rena oil spill crisis in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It builds on emerging research that considers the relationships between volunteering and activism and focuses on the ways in which younger volunteers carved out a ‘volunteer-activist’ space for themselves on the edge of the formal crisis responses.  
The research adopts a case study approach and uses an interpretive lens to investigate three research questions: (1) How was volunteering conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?; (2) How did the generational dynamics of younger volunteers affect the various organising responses to the Rena event?; and, (3) How was self-organising conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?
The data comprised interviews with 53 participants, 38 of whom were classified as younger volunteers (16-29 years of age) and 15 who held positions of authority in the Rena crisis response and who had high levels of engagement with the younger volunteers. By examining the intersections and overlaps of self-organising, younger generations of volunteers, and crisis events through a social constructionist methodology combined with an interpretive lens and reflexive position, the thesis makes several theoretical and practical contributions.
At a theoretical level, the thesis challenges traditional crisis management approaches dominated by command and control, formal, or top down organisational structures and arrangements. The thesis demonstrates how, as active members of society, younger volunteers developed alternate forms of participation to strengthen crisis response. 
Power tensions between younger volunteers and crisis officials were grounded in a deep sense of frustration resulting from negative societal views toward younger generational cohorts and the structural workings of a risk society. By reconciling social and institutional grievances through self-organising, younger volunteers could take advantage of their marginalised position and enact self-reflexive responses in ways that were not readily available to them in everyday life. This sense of empowerment helped younger volunteers navigate the structural uncertainties they faced as they transitioned towards a competitive labour market and also to take greater control of their lives during a crisis.
From an Aotearoa/New Zealand, perspective, the thesis also provides insights into how younger Māori participants made sense of and enacted their ‘volunteer’ experience and how this experience was influenced by culturally embedded principles. Importantly, there appeared to be no generational differences between how younger and older Māori participants made sense of their ‘volunteer’ experience. Both groups were driven by collectivist orientations, which highlights the importance of contextualising culture in volunteer sector research. 
The social constructedness of the media technologies used by participants exposed broader power structures that existed within their generation-specific social worlds. To this end, media multiplexity showed how use of different communication technologies (1) supported the maintenance of relationships between participants and (2) was fundamental to the meaning participants attached to the different forms of technologies. These findings indicate the need to move away from the current literature’s focus on the tools of communication technologies used by younger people during crisis events, towards the meanings that exist behind the use of such technologies as well as the digital relationships fostered among volunteers. 
This thesis contributes to the scholarship on volunteering and activism by showing how self-organising emerged as an alternative form of activist—or activator—approach to volunteer participation within a crisis response. This approach enabled young volunteer-activators to move beyond their perceived sense of marginalisation and avoid those formal organisational forces that limit their sense of freedom and personal development. The result was an alternative crisis response of self-organised volunteering on the edge of chaos.

text: Volunteering at the edge of chaos: A case study on the self-organising of younger volunteers during the Rena oil spill crisis This thesis investigates the self-organising of younger volunteers during the 2011 Rena oil spill crisis in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It builds on emerging research that considers the relationships between volunteering and activism and focuses on the ways in which younger volunteers carved out a ‘volunteer-activist’ space for themselves on the edge of the formal crisis responses.  
The research adopts a case study approach and uses an interpretive lens to investigate three research questions: (1) How was volunteering conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?; (2) How did the generational dynamics of younger volunteers affect the various organising responses to the Rena event?; and, (3) How was self-organising conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?
The data comprised interviews with 53 participants, 38 of whom were classified as younger volunteers (16-29 years of age) and 15 who held positions of authority in the Rena crisis response and who had high levels of engagement with the younger volunteers. By examining the intersections and overlaps of self-organising, younger generations of volunteers, and crisis events through a social constructionist methodology combined with an interpretive lens and reflexive position, the thesis makes several theoretical and practical contributions.
At a theoretical level, the thesis challenges traditional crisis management approaches dominated by command and control, formal, or top down organisational structures and arrangements. The thesis demonstrates how, as active members of society, younger volunteers developed alternate forms of participation to strengthen crisis response. 
Power tensions between younger volunteers and crisis officials were grounded in a deep sense of frustration resulting from negative societal views toward younger generational cohorts and the structural workings of a risk society. By reconciling social and institutional grievances through self-organising, younger volunteers could take advantage of their marginalised position and enact self-reflexive responses in ways that were not readily available to them in everyday life. This sense of empowerment helped younger volunteers navigate the structural uncertainties they faced as they transitioned towards a competitive labour market and also to take greater control of their lives during a crisis.
From an Aotearoa/New Zealand, perspective, the thesis also provides insights into how younger Māori participants made sense of and enacted their ‘volunteer’ experience and how this experience was influenced by culturally embedded principles. Importantly, there appeared to be no generational differences between how younger and older Māori participants made sense of their ‘volunteer’ experience. Both groups were driven by collectivist orientations, which highlights the importance of contextualising culture in volunteer sector research. 
The social constructedness of the media technologies used by participants exposed broader power structures that existed within their generation-specific social worlds. To this end, media multiplexity showed how use of different communication technologies (1) supported the maintenance of relationships between participants and (2) was fundamental to the meaning participants attached to the different forms of technologies. These findings indicate the need to move away from the current literature’s focus on the tools of communication technologies used by younger people during crisis events, towards the meanings that exist behind the use of such technologies as well as the digital relationships fostered among volunteers. 
This thesis contributes to the scholarship on volunteering and activism by showing how self-organising emerged as an alternative form of activist—or activator—approach to volunteer participation within a crisis response. This approach enabled young volunteer-activators to move beyond their perceived sense of marginalisation and avoid those formal organisational forces that limit their sense of freedom and personal development. The result was an alternative crisis response of self-organised volunteering on the edge of chaos.

year: 2019