Author: Francesca Halstead

Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Research Brief / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Children / Sociology of Culture

Trans Children & Pathologisation in the UK

What happens when a society, backed by powerful institutions, media and majority culture designates a minority population as inherently disordered? When that categorisation and stigma is weaponised to legitimise abuse and discrimination? A new study highlights the legacy of one example of such pathologisation, focusing on transgender children in the UK. Introduction Across the globe, growing numbers of transgender (trans) children are being supported to live authentically in childhood. Global healthcare consensus now recognises trans identities, including in childhood, as...

Opinion / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Children

Readiness for independent living of youth in residential childcare: A comparative study

Transition to adulthood has become an increasingly extended and complex period for young people, which is not usually completed until the late twenties in most European countries. However, for people who have been placed in alternative care during their childhood or adolescence after being separated from their families of origin, this process is especially difficult. In addition to their early adverse experiences (such as neglect, abuse, abandonment, etc.), they are usually forced to face a much more abrupt and compressed...

Books and arts / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Children

Discarded Data

Data, if not saturated, Often are discarded. Data that affect are fated To be disregarded. * In my BA we were all taught Research starts with a gap. Sara Ahmed sparked a new thought: Why not start with a snap[1]? * I used a box to try to contain Data that were troubling. The lid came off under the strain; Spilt, the mess was bubbling. * The focus on relaxation Transformed into unrest. To defend such deviation: Put research skills...

Research Brief / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Organizations & Work

If you want to prevent accidents at work – then think about social, cultural or organizational aspects – before the individual.

Accidents at work are estimated to kill more than 380,000 workers worldwide every year (Concha-Barrientos et al., 2005; EU-OSHA, 2017). Although the risks of accidents at work have been reduced over the last about 30 years, the increased complexity and multidimensional characteristics of risk to workers have challenged the existing approaches to accident prevention. In recent years social, cultural and organizational aspects have become important additional perspectives included in accident prevention programs at work, and referred to as the “third...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of the Family

A look beyond poverty – what role does economic support play in (re-)producing inequalities?

In countries of the global South, social relationships often function as channels for support essential for making a living. Studies that created a comprehensive overview of all forms of welfare benefits people have access to (for example Bevan 2004), acknowledged these forms of support as informal social protection. Informal as they do not follow a formal, written script and thus differ from the well-defined welfare provisions of governments. Instead, informal support is embedded in social relationships and can thus take...

Research Brief / Science & Technology / Social Theory / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Health & Illness / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Put to the test: For a new sociology of testing

A test can be defined as an orchestrated attempt to reveal an entity’s potentially unknown properties or capacities. A drug trial, a pregnancy test, and a planetary probe are all procedures designed to ascertain the properties of some entity. However, while tests and testing are well‐established social forms, their role in culture, economy, politics, and everyday life seems to be expanding. With smart city experimentation, randomized controlled trials in economic development, and apps to test your personality and the performance...

Applied Sociology / Opinion / Sociology of Children / Sociology of Health & Illness / Sociology of Organizations & Work

School Closures During COVID-19: Potential Impacts on Homeschooling Regulation

Life as we know it is rapidly changing in the current coronavirus pandemic. While many Americans are experiencing unprecedented financial hardship as unemployment rates are skyrocketing, others with relatively unaffected jobs are nonetheless worried about other aspects of this “new normal”: no handshakes, no large gatherings, and even moving freely about or visiting with loved ones is restricted. Many, of course, are also falling ill or losing family members and friends. Although some states are more affected than others, the...

Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Health & Illness

No Time for Blind Optimism

The world is facing the most serious health catastrophe since 1918.  A global pandemic—one that many medical authorities warned would happen sooner or later—is here.  The coronavirus travels quietly, widely, and can have deadly consequences.  At this writing, well over 1.5 million people have been infected and close to 90,000 have died.  Compare this to the SARS epidemic of 2002-2003 which infected 8,098 people and killed 774 or the 2014 outbreak of the Ebola virus which infected 18,000 people and...

Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Sociology of Health & Illness

Money, markets and trade caused coronavirus pandemic

In recent weeks, the microscopic bundle of genes and proteins that comprises the Covid-19 coronavirus has been ascribed almost miraculous powers to infect huge and growing numbers of human bodies.  The media coverage of the outbreak  has ensured that few are unaware of the respiratory tract symptoms that the infection produces: symptoms that – in the case of the most vulnerable – can kill. However, this account has largely sidelined the social, economic and political environment that has contributed to...

Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Social Identity / Sociology of Health & Illness

‘Women of my age tend to drink’: Understanding how older Australian and Danish women negotiate the pleasures and risks of their alcohol use

When we think of risky drinking, typically we think of young people ‘binge drinking’, passing out on the footpath and generally looking a bit ‘messy’. The media reinforces the notion that drinking is primarily a problem among young people by regularly circulating stories and images of young people being drunk in public and causing problems either to themselves or bystanders. This emphasis on young people’s drinking is not surprising, particularly since they are more likely to drink in public places,...

Feminist Theory / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Research Brief / Sociology of Health & Illness / Sociology of Organizations & Work / Sociology of the Family

Pregnancy and childbirth in prison

“I’ve got baggy tops, so I just always have to hide my bump, and like most people couldn’t recognise that I’m pregnant, so that’s a good thing”. With a prison population of approximately 9000 women in England, it is estimated that approximately 600 pregnancies and 100 births occur annually.  Despite there being an extensive literature on the sociology of reproduction, pregnancy and childbirth, there has been scarce qualitative research looking specifically at pregnant prisoners. Our recently published open access paper:...

Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Sociology of Health & Illness / Sociology of Media & Communication

Vaccine frictions – one rationality does not fit all

This blog piece highlights some points of my on-going multi-sited research project on HPV vaccination in Finland. The findings presented are based on my open access research article, What kind of ‘a girls’ thing’?, published in Sociology of Health and Illness. When you are vaccinated, you get protection against the cancer‐causing HP virus. On the front page of the Finnish HPV vaccination campaign site. That vaccine protects from papillomavirus (not directly even from cervical cancer), which is very effectively prevented...

Population & Demography / Research Brief / Rural Sociology / Social Welfare / Sociology of Health & Illness

The impact of care farms on quality of life, depression and anxiety among different population groups: A systematic review

This is a plain language summary for a new Systematic Review published in Campbell Systematic Reviews, aimed at understanding the impact of care farming on quality of life, depression and anxiety, on a range of service user groups. Care farming is the therapeutic use of agricultural and farming practices. People value the farms, but the evidence on their effectiveness is limited. What is this review about? Care farming (also called social farming) is the therapeutic use of agricultural and farming...

Opinion / Peace, War & Social Conflict / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Media & Communication

How do refugee organizations communicate about forcibly displaced people?

© DFID – UK Department for International Development published under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) http://bit.ly/33MnkXX  70.8 million. That is the enormous number of people who were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2018. Many of them are confronted with hostility, xenophobia and/or increasingly popular far-right movements.[1] While states have the basic legal responsibility to protect and assist these displaced people,[2] in recent decades, several states worldwide have implemented increasingly restrictive asylum policies.[3] In protecting refugees’ rights and...

Opinion / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Social Welfare / Sociology of Children

How can we foster positive outcomes for children and young people in care, and what can we learn from ‘success’ stories?

‘Graduation was a really happy day. When I went on stage [my former counsellor] was cheering and stuff and you’re not supposed to do that. She was so excited. She was crying actually; it was so embarrassing. I feel very proud. No one thought I would…genuinely, other than [former counsellor]. In my care reviews, it would be like, lots of people don’t succeed at university. So, to me that [graduation] was like, in your face!’ *Karen ‘She [social worker] understood…She...

News / Science & Technology

The Humanities in Technology: What Kind of World Do We Want?

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on the work of artificial intelligence, machines, and automated learning, where does that leave the Humanities? How can we use these technological tools to inform research without compromising the necessary human contributions to these fields? Machine-learning and AI algorithms are becoming ever more commonplace within research, and are beginning to find their uses within the broad scope of Humanities scholarship. At its most ambitious, AI aims to equal, if not outstrip, human intelligence. AI...