Publications

Global concerns such as climate change and food security have focused renewed attention on the future of rural space. Although the direct engagement of rural geographers with climate change and food security has been limited to date, recent research in rural geography holds a number of lessons on these issues, highlighting, for example, spatial and…

Network management is viewed as a way of dealing with uncertainty in complex policy networks, but little is known about the types of network management strategies employed by regional actors to manage vertical and horizontal relations. Two central questions guide this paper. What network management strategies were employed to manage complexity and uncertainty in regional…

This document provides an overview of some of the resources available for research within the Social Sciences. At the outset, it is acknowledged that there are difficulties in compiling a catalogue that is going to be ‘all things to all people’. It is not possible to include all available resources for research, or to cover…

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…

Health lifestyles are collective patterns of health risk behaviour that develop within a social habitus. An important area for research is the extent to which health lifestyles become more individualised over time and as people age, or whether health lifestyles remain socially structured. This article presents findings from a Multiple Correspondence Analysis of the British…

Business entrepreneurs are at the heart of a dynamic, knowledge based economy. Understanding the early stages of business growth is critical to the development of a thriving economy. However defined, the rate of entrepreneurship in Wales consistently lags behind most regions of the UK. This policy brief reviews the connection between entrepreneurial activity and socio-economic…

This paper was presented at the NCRM Oxford Methods Festival (2010) and considers some analytical problems observed within recent innovations in qualitative research; specifically, the use of GPS technology and the various ways in which such spatial data may be represented. The paper is intended as a reminder of the critique of the social sciences…

Many European countries have experienced a high level of immigration from all parts of the world in the past two decades and the population of visible minority ethnic groups has grown rapidly. Neighbourhoods with a high percentage of minority ethnic groups are expected to be relatively disadvantaged in social and economic terms. The in-movement of…

How far have social theorists in Russia engaged with the international academic world since the era dominated by Soviet-style historical materialism? Mainstream theories in sociology and ‘culturology’ use new vocabulary but remain loyal to ideological interpretations of society and culture. A minority of Russian sociologists have translated, adopted and critiqued Western ideas. Works by three…