Poor doors, social housing and the politics of accomodation

I'm starting to face the fact that I may no longer be working class.
Between myself and my wife we own four and a half degrees, three cats, one (mostly unused) bread maker and one house. We've also just started employing a cleaner. Or as a friend of mine neatly put it, "ha, you now have staff".

When we lived in Milton Keynes we had a rented house on a key worker estate. It was fine. Everyone was either a teacher, policeman, nurse etc and it was a pleasant enough atmosphere. We didn't feel like second class anythings. Skip forward to us finally getting our own house in Leighton Buzzard on a new build...and the first thing the estate agent said to us was 'how far away do you want to be from the social housing tenants?' We were genuinely shocked.
Our supposed transformation from one social group into another was brought back to me this morning when I heard about these so-called 'poor doors' and the growing economic divisions in the UK. Housing has always been political. It's been used to keep rich and poor apart since Victorian times but there's growing evidence that it's happening on a larger scale.

So with all that in mind I'd like to suggest some resources to you; firstly, a radio show called the Moral maze covered the topic of social inclusion from a moral standpoint last night (Wednesday) at 8pm on Radio 4. Just follow this link to listen again if you don't see this post until after it's been broadcast: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054qfjx  .

Finally, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation is constantly examining the links between housing, health and social standing. The full range of their published reports is available from here.

The What, Why and How of Podcasts

It's easier than it's ever been to make information come to you.
Missed a TV show? Just use catch-up or on demand services.
Missed a gig? Someone will have recorded it and put it online.

Very little media is now gone forever and radio shows can be caught up with via Soundcloud or Podcasts.

This post is just looking at Podcasts and how you can use and reference them effectively.
You can find Podcasts in every corner of the web and if you're unsure of what they actually are then it's simply a digital recording of a radio show which is converted into an MP3 format, so it can easily be downloaded. Podcasting is easy and all you need is a mic and a web-enabled device.

There's a lot of Podcasts out there (both on itunes and elsewhere)  that are certainly broadly relevant to the social sciences so you'll need to explore, but I'm going to suggest five specific Casts that I think are worth a listen.

1) Thinking Allowed is a Podcast covering the Sociology radio show on radio 4.

2) Digital Human is a show debating different psychological/sociological aspects of our relationship with the Web.

3) British Psychological Society (BPS) Podcasts page is a list of psychology-related programmes, some of which cover topics of interest to anyone studying criminology, child-related topics or mental health.

4) More or Less is a good listen for anyone trying to get their head around statistics and research-it's much more interesting than it sounds!

5) Podology is a general resource for sociological-related Podcasts. It's a bit of a mixed bag, but certainly worth an explore.

Finally, remember you can reference Podcasts. If you need help with that bit then use your unit handbook or contact me and I'll show you the format.

Happy listening.

Kate Tempest, subjectivity and truth and the need for more rap on this blog

As part of my critical thinking lecture I like to have a debate with you on what counts as truth or fact.
One of the reasons this is fun is because it's never the same twice. I can never tell which bit is going to rile people and which bit is going to go unchallenged. This week it was about whether countries (specifically Spain!) exist in any 'factual' sense. The idea that countries change borders, languages and populations to me suggests that countries are as transient as individual lives. Borders are often arbitrarily drawn up by third parties, as in the case of India and Pakistan. 

Anyway. In other news, I've been listening to the Kate Tempest LP a lot these past weeks (she should have won the Mercury prize this year...) and it's currently my 5th favourite LP of the year. These things matter. 



There's a track on it called The Truth which features these lines: 

"Whose truth even counts?


Is it the person who doubts


What a person proclaims they're about?

Whose version is perfect?


Is there a truth that exists


Outside of perception?


This is the question".

I love that. Clearly, I need to include more lyrics to illustrate my points. 

Expect a Coldplay song at some point in the future to illustrate how we're all doomed...

One final thing; it's also a bit sweary at one point so don't play if you're likely to be offended.

Alan

New TV programme on everyday sexism

This should be good.

Kirsty Wark is presenting a new 3 part series on the so-called 'New Battle of the Sexes'. It'll cover issues as diverse as 'jokes' about rape, pornography, pay inequality and sexual explicitness in pop music.

It starts tonight (Thursday) at 9:30 and you can find the details here.

My advice would be to take an hour long break from academia and watch a smart and informative programme on a hugely interesting issue.

Sex, crime, madness and Freud.

Sometimes you need a catchy title for a blogpost to get people's attention.
And sometimes a title promises something that the post can't live up to.

On this occasion I can deliver on all the elements mentioned in the title thanks to a new radio series covering the history of psychology. Now before you say anything I know you're not studying psychology. But, as I've said here before, psychological theory does inform some of the topics which you may well study and frankly this radio series is too good not to promote.

The show is called In Search of Ourselves and so far has been quite brilliant. It's basically a potted and highly critical history of psychology and if you feel like listening to something interesting whilst eating your tea you could do far worse than this.

All the shows so far broadcast are available from here.

A new film about childhood

One of my heroes is a film maker called Mark Cousins, a softly spoken  Irishman who wears his extensive knowledge of film very lightly. His new film, about how childhood is depicted in cinema, has just been released. It's called A Story of Children and Film and I would urge, implore, beg or bribe any of you who are on a course which includes the study of children to go and see it.
I'm going to see it today with my elder son and I simply cannot wait.

The video below is the film's trailer.

If you want to see where the film is showing in London then take a look at the TimeOut website here.

I know it's a mad time of year, especially for final year students, but everything I've read and heard about A Story of Children and Film makes me feel like it'd be worth closing the books and unplugging the laptop for a few short hours and seeing it. You can also watch a review by my favourite film critic Mark Kermode, from here.

And if you decide to take me up on my recommendation please do let me know what you thought of it.

15,000 kids and counting

A three part TV series on child protection and adoption began this week on Channel 4.
I watched the first episode last night and as tough and upsetting as it was, I would recommend it. I don't always promote these things beforehand because they can sometimes be rather 'all surface no feeling' ( I know Benefits Street upset a few of you) but I thought this got the balance about right between personality and process.
That said, I am acutely aware that I'm writing this for people who've worked in this very sector so if any of you think it was an unfair depiction of the job then I'd love to hear from you.

If you've used the Channel 4 on demand (4OD) website before then you'll know how this works, but if you haven't you'll need to register once you reach the log in page. All things being equal, just follow this link and you should be able to see the episode from last night.

If you need help creating your 4OD account then I'll guide you through it.

Last post of the year so it's a big one.

There's been a few reports and things I'd like to mention to you before 2013 waves goodbye.

I don't usually stick different things together like this, but I thought one message might be easier on this occasion.

So the first thing is the annual report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) looking at poverty in the UK. If you're a first year this may be your first introduction to the JRF. As a word of explanation they're a charity who conduct excellent research in the areas of housing, ageing, poverty and welfare. The new report is a vast exploration of social exclusion in the UK and you can read (and save) it from here.

The second thing may be of interest for criminology students. There's been a study looking at re-offending rates which the Guardian has reported like this. I think the full thing may be out tomorrow so I'll draw your attention to it in the new year.

OK. One more. An academic called Jock Young died a few weeks back. You may have seen his most famous book on your reading list (The Drug Takers) although he's done many more recent things on criminological theory.

Here is a video of him discussing the concept of moral panic.

I'm now away until January 8th so please don't be offended if you don't hear from me until then. As fabulous as you all are I'm really looking forward to doing nothing more academic than eating cheese for a few weeks. Thank you for all your encouragement this year, I hope your Christmas break is everything you're hoping for.

Al

Second episode of Whatever Happened to Community?

I didn't intend mentioning this series again after I drew your attention to the first episode last week, but episode 2 last night was just brilliant. Such an intelligent 30 minutes of radio touching on nostalgia, architecture and far right politics and the sort of thing that Radio 4 does brilliantly.

In conclusion, do yourself a favour and listen to this.

New series on the nature of community

Nice quick one today, but thought this was worth sharing.

A three part series begins on Monday looking at what the notion of 'community' actually still means.

All the details are here.

The Moral Maze this week

Just a quick plug for this week's Moral Maze which looked at foreign aid, charity appeals and whether it's better to 'look after our own'. This is a timely debate with relation to Children in Need and the current situation in the Philippines.

The show will only be available to hear via i-player for a week, but you can always download it as a podcast.

Click here to listen to it.

Last night's Panorama programme on child protection

The BBC broadcast a TV programme last night looking at possible changes to the law in relation to child sexual abuse. I must admit I thought it was already illegal to not report suspected abuse, but this isn't the case.

It's available for another 6 days from here.

If, after watching it, you'd like to reference it for assignments then contact me and I'll explain how to do it.

A debate on immigration

Hello.
A few months ago I drew attention to a debate I watched online concerning whether pornography was good for society. The debate was hosted by Intelligence Squared who can usually be relied upon to come up with lively topics and entertaining speakers to argue their points.

The latest of these has just been made available and covers the pros and cons of immigration.

Once again it's 'lively' but quite entertaining and not just in a Jeremy Kyle sort of way which is a relief.

Thinking Allowed

I haven't pushed Thinking Allowed for a while. I know I have mentioned it in the past but such a great show deserves to be mentioned more than once a year. For those of you new to the show, Thinking Allowed is a weekly radio show on all things sociological. It usually focuses on newly published research, but it's not dry in the slightest.

However, recently the show spent three weeks looking at theorists; Foucault, Goffman and Benjamin (which you can find on the website) and placing them within a historical context. The whole archive of shows are available for the foreseeable future from here.

In my opinion the easiest way to keep up with new shows is by subscribing to the podcast from here.
If you'd like any help with podcasts or in fact any other information about Thinking Allowed you've only to email me.