Publications

In this paper I propose that identity is momentary, fluid, and multiple while simultaneously providing us with a sense of sameness and continuity. Building on Valsiner’s ideas about human sense-making I suggest that we can reasonably deal with the multiplicity/unity paradox if we conceive of this process as resulting in the construction of a fuzzy…

This article examines the post-application employment consequences for individuals registering complaints to Employment Tribunals following dismissal or redundancy. We consider several pieces of evidence: (a) the probability of finding another job, (b) the time taken to get a new job and (c) the pay/status of the new job. Our results indicate that age plays a…

A recent study of the educational attainment of British children found that boys who live in poverty are more educationally disadvantaged even than girls in similar circumstances (Mensah and Kiernan, 2010). The author’s recent work in the south Wales ex-mining valleys has brought her into contact with boys who are disaffected from school and who…

Who, or what, is English? Drawing on qualitative interviews with white majority interviewees in three locations in England, this article explores local interpretations of English and Englishness. The article investigates the way members view their local environment as being ‘English’, and examines the criteria underpinning such interpretations. While various meanings are identified, it is found…

Mobile research methods seek to observe “directly or in digitally enhanced forms mobile bodies undergoing various performances of travel, work, and play” (Sheller and Urry 2006: 217). In recent years a small, but growing, number of academics have begun to use ‘walking interviews’ as a legitimate mobile method (cf. Ricketts Hein et al. 2008; Lorimer…

“To question the habitual. But that’s just it, we’re habituated to it. … What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms” (Georges Perec 1999: 210, my emphasis) This paper is about walking as both practice and potential method. It…

The journey to school is a daily ritual for millions of families. This form of everyday mobility gives shape to most children’s and their parent’s daily routines. Concerns over sedentary lifestyles, traffic congestion and environmental degradation have brought this rather mundane and commonplace travel behaviour into recent academic and policy focus. Among primary school children,…

Issue 12 of WISERD’s Qualitative Researcher contains: Editorial – Kate Moles The restorative dynamic of walking together – Karolina Ronander Exploring spatial (dis)locations through the use of roving focus groups – Joshua Inwood and Deborah Martin Toy tours: reflections on walking-whilst-talking with young children at home – Olivia Stevenson and Claire Adey Walking with Andrei…

Mobile methods, and in particular walking methodologies, are increasingly adopted by researchers wishing to engage with ideas of place and identity. Walking is a fundamental practice in our social lives, and it has also been a common method adopted in much anthropological and, increasingly, sociological fieldwork (Lee and Ingold, 2006). Such approaches are underpinned by…

Recently, social scientists have increasingly been seeking analytical purchase on the mobile nature of everyday life (Buscher, Urry & Witchger forthcoming; Buscher & Urry 2009; Ek & Hultman 2008; Ross, Renold, Holland & Hillman 2009) and the performativity of social action (Crang 2005; Cresswell 2002; Lorimer 2005; Thrift and Dewsbury 2000). The purpose of this…