Relationships In England Research Articles

Absent parents, sick children, and epistolary relationships in England, c.1640-c.1750

ABSTRACT Through an examination of their personal letters, this article explores the ways in which seventeenth- and eighteenth-century gentry parents responded to the illnesses of their children. Correspondence was the lifeblood of elite families in this period, as members were increasingly peripatetic and regularly separated from one another. It was also the primary method by which parents communicated with their adult children who had established households of their own. Illness was one of the key subjects of such letters. The paper approaches childhood as a relational, continuous state and uses relative age and social rank, often overlooked in favour of gender in scholarship on early modern sickness and domestic medicine, as categories of analysis. Through close reading and application of literary, sociological, and historical understandings of both letter-writing and experiences of illness, it argues that parental letters about health had specific strategies and implications. Mothers and fathers intervened in the physical condition of their offspring throughout their lives. Their diverse reactions to news of poor health, from concern, advice, and sympathy to admonition and frustration, served various functions at different stages of the life-course. Parents fulfilled their duties, such as protection, discipline, and education, remotely via correspondence about health. Concurrently, they allowed space for negotiation of their own and their children’s identities and emotions, particularly during transitional phases such as young adulthood. By considering the ways in which parent-child dynamics shifted in response to the challenges and opportunities presented by illness, this study untangles one of the many points of connection between family, health, and epistolary culture.

An Exploration of Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships Experienced by Emerging Adults During the Covid-19 Lockdowns in England

Romantic and intimate relationships are crucial for the socio-emotional development of young adults. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting ‘lockdown’ restrictions imposed by the UK government limited opportunities for in-person relationships in England during 2020-21. This paper discusses young adults’ experiences of their relationships during lockdown, based on findings from 36 qualitative interviews conducted during 2021-22. The data suggests that relationships were shaped by socially and contextually contingent processes of meaning making and experience. Lockdown served as a defining condition, which constrained and reshaped these processes. The findings emphasise the importance of understanding relationships as entailing dynamic interactions between individual subjectivity, interpersonal experiences, and social norms. Identifying the evolving contextual conditions in which these processes occur is vital. While this study specifically examined the impact of lockdown, its implications extend beyond through shedding light on how young adults navigate social conditions and make choices for themselves and their relationships.

Articulated dissent and immediacy: a cross-national analysis of the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns

PurposeIn the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aims to explore how working remotely might impact the superior–subordinate relationship. Specifically, this study examines how immediacy explains articulated dissent, considers how an individual’s attitudes toward online communication predicts immediacy and articulated dissent and compares these relationships in England, Australia and the USA.Design/methodology/approachThree nations were examined: Australia, England and the USA (n = 1,776). Surveys included demographic questions and the following measures: organizational dissent scale, perceived immediacy measure, computer-mediated immediate behaviors measure and measure of online communication attitude.FindingsThe results reveal supervisors’ computer-mediated immediate behaviors and perceived immediacy both positively predict dissent. Some aspects of online communication attitudes positively predict computer-mediated immediate behaviors and perceived immediacy. In addition, attitudes toward online communication positively predict dissent. National culture influences some of these relationships; in each case the effects were substantively larger for the USA when compared to the other nations.Originality/valueThis study is the first to cross-culturally analyze dissent and immediacy. In addition, this study considers the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic influences the superior–subordinate relationship.

A new route towards more harmonious intergroup relationships in England? Majority members’ proximal-acculturation

Although the ways that immigrants relate to UK culture has been a hot topic since the EU-referendum, little attention has been given to how majority group members such as Host Country Nationals (HCNs) relate to immigrants’ culture. Thus, we explored English HCNs’ globalisation-based proximal-acculturation – the extent to which they prefer to adopt aspects of immigrants’ cultures and/or maintain their national culture. Using two-step cluster analysis, a pilot study (N = 63) revealed a separated, integrated, and undifferentiated cluster, with separated HCNs perceiving cultural diversity more as a threat and less as an enrichment. Using latent profile analysis in a second study (N = 220) also revealed a three strategy-solution, identifying assimilated, integrated and separated profiles. Again we examined how these strategies differed across perceptions of cultural threat and enrichment as well as other psychosocial characteristics: identifying with fellow English citizens, recognizing cultural differences whilst not being culturally embedded (constructive marginalization), and various forms of intergroup contact. Separated HCNs identified more with fellow English citizens, endorsed less constructive marginalization, perceived less cultural enrichment yet more cultural threat than HCNs following some of the other strategies. These results stress that the onus of cultural adoption lies with both groups – minorities and majority members – with English HCNs showing distinct proximal-acculturation strategies. Lastly, when exploring a variable-centred approach, proximal-acculturation orientations (cultural maintenance/adoption) mediated the relationship between cultural threat, cultural enrichment, and intergroup contact on positive feelings towards immigrants. Thus, the ways that HCNs acculturate may provide a new route towards harmonious intergroup relations.

‘Everyone knows someone in an unhealthy relationship’: young people’s talk about intimate heterosexual relationships in England

ABSTRACT Research suggests that intimate relationship violence and coercive control are prevalent in young people’s relationships. Furthermore, young people often fail to recognise such behaviour as abuse. While such findings indicate the normalisation of controlling and coercive behaviours amongst young people, there is little focus on how these behaviours are normalised. This paper presents findings from a study exploring young people’s experiences and expectations of intimate relationships. Focus groups were conducted with young people (aged 13 to 18 years) in schools in the West Midlands, England. Young people talked of navigating precarious and competitive heterosexual relationships. Their expectations and negotiations of these relationships often upheld and reinforced gender double standards around dating practices. Young people’s discussion also highlighted how they came to accept and rationalise controlling and coercive behaviours as ‘love’, ‘care’ and ‘protection’, legitimising these practices as reasonable. Heteronormativity remains a dominant discourse shaping young people’s experiences and expectations of relationships with coercion and control being defining features of this discourse. Supporting young people to critically examine constructs of heterosexuality and gender norms should be a key component of England’s forthcoming statutory Relationship and Sex Education.

An Uneasy Pleasure: Representing the Dangers of Skin-to-skin Contact in Eighteenth-century London 'The William Bynum Prize Essay'.

This article considers the social function of contagious disease as moderator of class relationships in England during the first half of the eighteenth century and takes into account the ways in which the 'communicability' of the plague, great pox (syphilis) and smallpox (variola) was used by authors to crystallise social interaction and tension along class lines. The essay begins by examining the representation of the plague, syphilis and smallpox in the medical tradition, before shifting its attention to the practice of maritime quarantine, as laid out by Richard Mead in his Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion (1720). By foregrounding medical writing on contagion through skin contact, I suggest that pornographic texts such as John Cleland's The Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill) (1748) had an interventionist function. Cleland is often charged with sanitising the true horrors of sex work in this period. This article proposes that if we take the time to appreciate the way infectious cutaneous diseases were believed to operate and spread we can recognise the moments in which he not only alludes to disease but invokes it for structural and thematic purposes. In proposing this, I am challenging the dominant interpretation that the problematic realities of eighteenth-century prostitution, especially disease, are subordinated to the narrative's greater interest in erotic pleasure.

Informal networking in the public sector: Mapping local government debates in a period of austerity

Studies in digital government research have not sufficiently considered the internal networking aspects of social media beyond interactions with the public. This article examines the function of social media as informal networks of professional practice within the public sector. The empirical study is based on a longitudinal analysis of the Twitter hashtag community #localgov used by British local government actors (dataset of 235,681 tweets posted within 2013–2015). In a period of significant budget reductions, Twitter conversations involved a wide range of responses about the impact of the cuts and future of services. #Localgov shows high level of cross-service exchanges in the institutional sharing of good practice while the dynamics of interaction reflect the traditional landscape of intergovernmental relationships in England. We argue about the importance and characteristics of hashtag communities like #localgov as spaces that bring together different actors with a public sector interest.

Tests as boundary signifiers: level 6 tests and the primary secondary divide

ABSTRACTThis paper addresses the question: How do teachers and school leaders respond to high stakes testing of pupils transitioning from primary to secondary school? It explores how a new test, the Level 6 test, operated with regard to primary/secondary school relationships in England. It draws on an analysis of qualitative interviews with teachers and school leaders in 20 primary schools that took part in the test, 40 school leaders that chose not to and 20 secondary‐school leaders. Theoretical work on social boundaries is utilised to develop an argument that this test and its results acted as a boundary signifier, crystallising many of the tensions between primary and secondary schools. These tensions included the role of accountability regimes in requiring schools to demonstrate progress; narrowing of the curriculum and teaching to the test; and the extent to which test results can provide a true representation of pupil attainment. We conclude by suggesting the potential of the boundary signifier concept in relation to other tests at the primary/secondary boundary and other key transition points in education, and consider whether such tests can act as an ideal boundary object, serving to help overcome, rather than cement, barriers between schools.

‘A question of equality and choice’: same-sex couples’ attitudes towards civil partnership after the introduction of same-sex marriage

ABSTRACTSince the introduction of same-sex marriage, there have been two parallel institutions (marriage and civil partnership) for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships in England, Wales and Scotland. The current study aimed to examine how those in a civil partnership or a same-sex marriage perceive civil partnership in the context of marriage equality. Eighty-two respondents completed a qualitative online survey, and their responses were analysed thematically. The respondents were divided between those who viewed civil partnership as: 1) a stepping stone to equality, and felt that civil partnerships should be discontinued; 2) a form of legal recognition free from cultural baggage, and argued the Government should make civil partnership available for all; or 3) those who displayed ambivalence and conflicting views. We conclude by discussing how the principle of formal equality underpinned opinions on all sides, and what implications this might have for how we understand discrimination.

Mapping policies and programmes: the use of GIS to communicate spatial relationships in England

It has long been acknowledged that there is a gap between the advancement of GIS in the research field and its application in planning practice. This paper demonstrates the potential for employing simple GIS mapping overlays as a way of communicating complex planning issues in a ‘language’ that is easily understandable and effective at stimulating policy debate, critical thinking, and learning. The analysis focuses on capturing the synergies and conflicts in two key planning challenges in England, progrowth and housing delivery agendas. In a political context where spatial evidence-based policy making has been eroded in recent years, the analysis demonstrates the need for policy makers to ‘think spatially, act spatially’ when developing different policies and programmes. The paper concludes that only by making spatial relationships of policies and programmes explicit in a manner that is easily understood by a range of actors, can different spatial scenarios and metaphors of future opportunities and challenges be developed to inform long-range development and planning.

Improving accountability through alignment: the role of academic health science centres and networks in England.

BackgroundAs in many countries around the world, there are high expectations on academic health science centres and networks in England to provide high-quality care, innovative research, and world-class education, while also supporting wealth creation and economic growth. Meeting these expectations increasingly depends on partnership working between university medical schools and teaching hospitals, as well as other healthcare providers. However, academic-clinical relationships in England are still characterised by the “unlinked partners” model, whereby universities and their partner teaching hospitals are neither fiscally nor structurally linked, creating bifurcating accountabilities to various government and public agencies.DiscussionThis article focuses on accountability relationships in universities and teaching hospitals, as well as other healthcare providers that form core constituent parts of academic health science centres and networks. The authors analyse accountability for the tripartite mission of patient care, research, and education, using a four-fold typology of accountability relationships, which distinguishes between hierarchical (bureaucratic) accountability, legal accountability, professional accountability, and political accountability. Examples from North West London suggest that a number of mechanisms can be used to improve accountability for the tripartite mission through alignment, but that the simple creation of academic health science centres and networks is probably not sufficient.SummaryAt the heart of the challenge for academic health science centres and networks is the separation of accountabilities for patient care, research, and education in different government departments. Given that a fundamental top-down system redesign is now extremely unlikely, local academic and clinical leaders face the challenge of aligning their institutions as a matter of priority in order to improve accountability for the tripartite mission from the bottom up. It remains to be seen which alignment mechanisms are most effective, and whether they are strong enough to counter the separation of accountabilities for the tripartite mission at the national level, the on-going structural fragmentation of the health system in England, and the unprecedented financial challenges that it faces. Future research should focus on determining the comparative effectiveness of different alignment mechanisms, developing standardised metrics and key performance indicators, evaluating and assessing academic health science centres and networks, and empirically addressing leadership issues.

Organizational Models of Emerging Academic Health Science Centers in England

Recent government policy initiatives to foster medical innovation and high-quality care in England have prompted academic and clinical leaders to develop new organizational models to support the tripartite Flexnerian mission of academic medicine. Medical schools and health care providers have responded by aligning their missions and creating integrated governance structures that strengthen their partnerships. In March 2009, the government officially designated five academic-clinical partnerships as England's first academic health science centers (AHSCs). As academic-clinical integration is likely to continue, future AHSC leaders could benefit from an analysis of models for organizing medical school-clinical enterprise relationships in England's emerging AHSCs. In addition, as the United States ponders health systems reform and universal coverage, U.S. medical leaders may benefit from insight into the workings of academic medicine in England's universal health system. In this article, the authors briefly characterize the organization and financing of the National Health Service and how it supports academic medicine. They review the policy behind the designation of AHSCs. Then, the authors describe contrasting organizational models adopted in two of the newly designated AHSCs and analyze these models using a framework derived from U.S. literature. The authors conclude by outlining the major challenges facing academic medicine in England and offer suggestions for future research collaborations between leaders of AHSCs in the United States and England.

Home and away: the changing impact of educational policies on disabled children's experiences of family and friendship

In the past 60 years there have been considerable developments in the policy and politics of schooling for disabled children, including a shift of rhetorical emphasis from more segregated to more inclusive approaches. Previous research with disabled children in England has raised questions about the educational and social impact of segregated educational provision, and about the role of special schools in an inclusive society. Specific concerns have also been raised about the social implications of policies and institutions that require some disabled children to live away from their families. Yet analysis of disabled people's own accounts of special schooling has focused primarily on the educational experience rather than on the implications for family life and friendships. This paper combines critical policy analysis with examples of qualitative life history data to examine how segregated educational provision has affected disabled children's family lives and relationships in England since the 1940s. In this way, it also demonstrates the potential for connecting public and private accounts of disability by linking macro and micro levels of analysis over time.

Property matters: Agricultural restructuring and changing landlord–tenant relationships in England

Little research has been conducted on the restructuring activities of tenant farmers in response to changing tenancy legislation and recent CAP reforms. This paper examines the geography of farm tenancy agreements in England since 1995 and presents some findings from postal and telephone surveys on the possible future business trajectories of tenant farmers and the changing nature of landlord–tenant relationships. A clear north–south divide is identified in terms of farm tenancy agreements and a complex array of different tenancy agreements is demonstrated. The relationships between landlords and tenants are changing and the increasing variety of agreements provides evidence of a more fluid (post-feudal) system of agricultural leases. Nevertheless, high levels of uncertainty and negativity characterise tenant farmers’ views on the impacts of CAP reforms. Crucially, the very identity of a tenant farmer is changing, towards an owner-occupier who rents additional land, and there is an urgent need for more detailed research on the ‘consequential geographies’ of farm property rights and the changing nature of landlord–tenant relationships.

NHS Purchaser–Provider Relationships in England and Wales: The View from Primary Care

Abstract Primary care organizations (PCOs) in the National Health Service in England and Wales are required to purchase most hospital‐based health care for their populations. This ‘quasi‐market’ in health care can be seen as ‘relational’, characterized by an emphasis on cooperative long‐term relationships rather than on true competition. The English government has recently introduced new market mechanisms as a response to the perceived weakness of the relational market. This article draws on three qualitative case studies of PCOs to investigate whether PCO personnel interviewed in 2005/6 concurred with that perception of weakness. Overall, relationships between PCOs and hospital services providers were regarded as unbalanced in favour of the latter, despite a shared framework of central government policy. Commissioners were seen as generally weak, and providers were judged to be generally unresponsive to PCOs’ wishes. Top–down pressure by governments on PCOs and providers of hospital services was more important than commissioning power in shaping hospital services. It remains to be seen whether the remarketization strategy succeeds in strengthening the commissioning function in primary care.

What is the association between sickness absence, mortality and morbidity?

This paper examines the area-level relationships in England and Wales between sickness absence (‘incapacity benefit’), mortality and morbidity. It uses a random sample of incapacity benefit claims, and population counts of mortality and Census morbidity for local government districts. Although there is little correspondence between sickness absence claims by specific cause and mortality, all cause sickness absence has a strong relationship with all cause mortality (male r 0.74, p = 0.00 ; female r 0.64, p = 0.00 ) and it also has a very strong relationship with the Census measures of morbidity: LLTI (male r 0.98, p = 0.00 ; female r 0.97, p = 0.00 ) and ‘not good health’ (male r 0.99, p = 0.00 ; female r 0.96, p = 0.00 ). Incapacity benefit claims by all causes has the potential to provide an ongoing measure of area-level health in England and Wales.

Women, Credit, and Family Relationships in England, 1300-1620

This article examines how women became involved in credit dealings and often in legal action as the result of family relationships between 1300 and 1620. It argues that women’s own personal standing and that of their family underlay their ability to function successfully in a world of financial credit that was based upon delayed obligations. It shows also that women displayed considerable knowledge of economic and legal systems as they attempted to pursue their rights or those of a relative. These observations force one to question any assumption that women’s position within the family was uniformly characterized by deference or reliance upon others.

Legal Professions: Work, Structure, and Organization

Changes in the Structure of Legal Professions: The changing patterns of career mobility in the legal profession - a log-linear analysis of Chicago lawyers (1975 & 1995), H.H. Kim The state-lawyer relationship in England and Wales, G. Hanlon Mergers, mergers everywhere - constructing the global law firm in Germany, S. Lace. Legal Culture, Professional Time, and Job Satisfaction: The symbolic meanings of professional time, C.F. Epstein, C. Seron Time, legal culture and legal process, R. Dingwall et al Explaining why lawyers want to leave the practice of law, J.E. Wallace. Lawyers and Their Work: We live on the edge of extinction all the time - entrepreneurs, innovation and the plaintiffs' bar in the wake of tort reform, S. Daniels, J. Martin Career activism by lawyers - consequences for the person, the legal profession, and social movements, L.C. Jones Lawyering in an age of popular politics - plea bargaining, legal practice and the structure of the Boston bar, 1800-1860, M.E. Vogel Perceptions of good and bad judging - an analysis of the Illinois Judicial Development Project, K. Cermak, R. Block.

Modelling government — voluntary sector relationships: emerging trends and issues

This paper evaluates the current attempt to develop local ‘compacts’ between local government and the voluntary and community sector, as an example of a relational contracting approach to structuring the evolving relationships between these sectors. It is structured in four parts. The first part charts briefly local government — voluntary sector (LG — VS) relationships in England over the period 1979–2000. It draws examples in particular from experience in the field of area regeneration. The second part introduces the concept of the Voluntary Sector Compact (VSC), and argues that it is central to the approach of the current Labour government to these relationships. It differentiates this approach from that of the previous government, denoted here as the service agency model, and situates it within the meta-paradigm of community governance. The third part explores the implementation of the Compact in England at both the national and local level. The final part draws out key lessons from this for the future of LG — VS relationships in England, situating these within an emerging model of LG — VS relationships.

Modelling the Challenge of Changing Institutional Relationships Between Government and the Voluntary Sector in the UK

Since the election of the New Labour government in the UK in 1997, the voluntary sector has been drawn from the margins to the mainstream of public policy making. At a political level the government has sought to change the nature of relationships between itself and the voluntary sector. In order to accomplish this, new institutional relationships need to be cultivated between public bureaucracies and voluntary sector institutions. This article evaluates the current attempt in the UK to develop institutional mechanisms for relationship building through the development of “compacts” between government and the voluntary and community sector. Such compacts offer a relational contracting approach to structuring evolving relationships between these sectors Since their inception in the UK, international interest in compacts has grown steadily. It is therefore important to begin to evaluate the key lessons from the UK experience to underpin discussions of policy transfer. This article is structured in four parts. The first part charts briefly government-voluntary sector (G-VS) relationships in England over the period 1979–2000. It draws examples in particular from experience in the field of area regeneration. The second part introduces the concept of the Voluntary Sector Compact (VSC), and argues that it is central to the approach of the current Labour government to these relationships. It differentiates this approach from that of the previous government, denoted here as the service agency model, and situates it within the meta-paradigm of community governance. The third part explores the implementation of the Compact in England at both the national and local level. The final part draws out key lessons from this for the future of Local Government-Voluntary Sector (LG-VS) relationships in England, situating these within an emerging model of LG-VS relationships.