Only the lonely ....

The issue of lonely 21^st century keeps rearing its head up. With some media focus being placed upon the UK being cited as one of loneliest places in Europe (and the world?). Reasons ranging from death oflong time spouse to workplace isolation or moving to a new town and not fitting in. What is apparent is loneliness is ever evident. So where do we go from here?

In isolation comes strength:

How did we get here? ‘Death of community’ in the 1980’s and 1990’s? Where do we go from here? One the reasons loneliness occurs is many good individuals choose not to stand with the negative facets of their families, friends, communities (children who refused to join gangs, students who choose not to join in with sexist activities, professionals who deny the gossip networks etc.) yet just because they lean away from the bad things – it does not necessarily mean they have anything positive to lean towards.

Perhaps the internet was cited as anew outreach phenomenon with the invention of blogging and chat rooms, net meets in the 1990’s; yet the internet can be a double edge sword as we become distracted with so many things that take up our time – often sending us down the wrong pathway.

Efforts to re-engage the lonely?

Everyone is aware that data canbe integrated into mapping systems to highlight regional/district variations. Authorities are then expected to ‘do something’ when the weaker variations are identified. What can local government do?

What about individual choices? Half of adults many define that they are lonely; many people are undertakingvolunteering and it contributes significantly to local communities and wider society particularly in a period of mass austerity.

Volunteering is not just about helping others (elderly, disabled, schools, youth centres etc.) or helping the natural environment or built environment – it’s an opportunity to engage other volunteers and this can lead to new social bonds. Common interest can be found – finding a local volunteer group will help battle your isolation and integrate you into a wider social/professional network of people.

With all the efforts going towards micro-sociality; in times where you may not know your neighbour – reach out to your street. Ask them if they have an opinion on local issues? You may be surprised by the responses …. Once correlated the street, and the larger community can begin working together.

What can you do? Engage your locality - bring people together!

Will the economics ever really work ....

What if economics were all wrong? The system that defines us financially giving us materialism we could do without, causing unnecessary problems of deviant level competitiveness in the workplace of dog-eat-dog world dominance where business shortfalls turn into substantial lies and PR campaigns which just will not effectively deliver on the long term … with an end result of destroying our true livelihoods and community resilience?

The NEF (New Economics Foundation) has reported recently that thirty international universities have signed up to a campaign for economic reform; rebuking the existing one of neoclassic economic theory.

The current neoclassic model of economics has proven to cause boom and bust consistently over the last century to the present financial crisis; with many suffering the negative side of economic inequality and a minority retaining all the power and the wealth.

Maximizing profits and gains, minimising inputs which the majority of the time comes at great cost of compromised ethics, higher standards, good work practise and transparency. What a country in the richer north may deem appropriate may be seriously compromising for another country in the poorer south.

As India and China begin to pick up the pace on becoming the world’s stronger economies; will they make all the same mistakes that Europe and North American have undertaken the last 100 - 150 years with its negative reciprocating effects upon the rest of the planet socially, economically and environmentally.

With austerity measures being put in place in many countries, a real emphasis has emerged upon civil/community responsibility where now the general public are expected to pick up the slack which before many took for granted as local authorities tasks (pick up litter, clean up graffiti, clean the autumn leaves away, dealing with local trouble-makers through calm communication, networking up a more localised economy.)  What if a new economic theory could come from all these activities and how it ties a community together and makes it more functional?

As we make fundamental shifts towards real localism on a rural and dense urban level (streets clubbing together within districts, within local authorities, within city boundaries within counties, within countries etc. etc.) results in communities will simply hve to make more localised connections in order to progress in an appropriate manner where society can function properly and effectively without health compromise, greed, crime and overall poor wellbeing being supported.

Economics of neoclassical variety take a stance where one size fits all countries economics systems appropriately. It may be a more appropriate economic system is designed for specific localities: will one system of economics based on a small level of only ten thousand people in a dessert arid region be appropriate to transfer to a very different location five thousand people in a lush mountainous region.

Is an international economy really going to ever work? With the 2008 financial crisis sat on the back of the 2007 credit crunch, sat on the back of a booming early to mid-2000’s global economy – where risks were being taken by banks, lenders and other entities – yet when the USA economy sneezed the entire planet economical system caught the proverbial cold.

Is economic localisation the real step forward? Can theories of economics be revised an new models created based on local geography, local resources, local real needs (not wants) which may support a more efficient agricultural system (food miles significantly reduced) providing healthier food first for the locality of half a million people, with emphasis on appropriate taxes and incentives to help people live healthier lifestyles and not a ticking time bomb of our expanding global obesity problem, failing medicines against the superbug, chronic inequality between the districts, counties, countries and international borders.

What economic model will be best? The new eco-local-nomics model?

What is micro-sociality? How will this be a saviour as we head into challenging years of austerity and social difficulties?

With all countries Governments forced to make cutbacks and all services are reduced in this period of austerity the public will be expected to contribute to their locality. In many respects communities will pick up where we were a century ago where the locals would clean the streets of leaves in autumn or clear the snow during winter. There were few public services then to look after the elderly as many families functioned in a generational capacity often with three generations being under one roof.

So what is micro-sociality?

It defines micro sociality as all or any interactionbetween people; something as small as smiling at people you recognise from frequent sightings but do not know, to groups working for common goals like acommunity centre, to the various behaviours of the state through formal and informal interaction (Studdert and Walkerdine) The School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University hosted a conference on ‘micro-sociality’ on Monday 14^th April.

Several large organisations have funded research into micro-sociality as the onus dawns on a deeper emphasis on localism and empowering communities to be able to deal with their daily challenges as they see fit from a bottom-up approach and not following a top-down authoritative approach.

As so many small problems are being tackled now by locals who have given up waiting on the councils, third sector or other entities – many voluntary groups, or neighbourhoods have begun taking action into their own hands to rise to the challenges of constant problems.

One example is individuals who have begun cleaning up entire streets on their own, or the creation of community gardens or river, beaches and park clean-up efforts. With the emergence of social enterprises people are trying to create services to deal with individual problems that exists in one area – which requires a solution that can only be created in that specific locale. Other areas on the other side of town or the country will require their own individual bespoke practice to meet these challenges.

These are very difficult times we live in …. Yet it could be our saving grace as towns, villages and cities begin to function more efficiently, in a more responsible manner with ties being stronger than ever which creates the true definition of a functional community.

Micro-sociality may be a new academic buzz word … yet it may become more common place and acceptable term in the 2020’s and 2030’s. Communities can be a thriving more functional place. Yet first we have to listen to the bottom upwards. Each town has a unique dynamic which requires unique solutions.

There is a lot of work ahead of all of us ….

Human slavery, forced labour and the public social responsibility.

Human slavery in the early 21^st century has been well documented now and the general public understands that such a terrible social phenomenon still exists. Yet there may be hesitation over what to do – how would you know if slavery was occurring in your local district? It goes without saying that human slavery/trafficking/forced labour is hard to track. When each story breaches in the media the decent locals all say the same thing: “I can’t believe this sort of thing was happening in our nice neighbourhood”. It would seem much of this oppressive slavery is hidden in plain sight. What can you do? Where would you report to? Are there signs that we should be able to pick up on?

In Wales the November 2012 BAWSO conference did an exceptional job of bringing together many organisations dealing with their own areas of stopping human slavery and increasing co-ordination and co-operation between all these groups, researchers, charities, police and Government.

In 2013 this was followed by Ben Cooley’s Hope for Justice conference where videos, papers, presentations were all contributed in the hope of raising awareness and co-ordinating efforts to reduce the terror of human slavery. The 2014conference will be held in Leicester.

As these groups are all brought together, information is shared; networks to beat these crimes are developed. Everyday people can develop knowledge and skills on how to beat the slavery issue. Academic research from groups such as Joseph Rowntree Foundation have contributed work on trafficking/forced labour to the public. Some very brave journalist have gone undercover to investigate this emerging social phenomenon.

Men , women and children may all be in danger – it is not just ethnic minorities that are sold as sex worker slaves – yet men and children used in similar terrible ordeals; or used as forced labour on farms, nail shops, domestic servants, or any other establishments which we could not predict slavery may be occurring within.

These networks, charities and government agencies who are combatting the slavery issue are dealing primarily with the ‘end-of-pipe’ event where victims are picked up by the police. As further investigation continues the sources (international trafficking rings) are being investigated which hopefully will lead to arrests.

As awareness is raised we all become increasingly vigil (or paranoid?) yet one should not investigate themselves – rather raise your concerns with the appropriate charities or tell your local police station. As more concerned citizens contribute information the greater the problems can be solved by the authorities.

Step up – report what you suspect is going on. If enough people do it a national network of informational reporting will evolve – the authorities will build up complex models and tackle the problems. Human slavery can be tackled … together we can understand our world and make it a better place.

Skirting around the issue of Children and Pornography at home, schools and wider society.

One of the classic examples of denial is when parents blame the locality or the schools for their children learning their first curse words and foul language. If this was not least of our problems we’d be a better social world. Yet bad language aside – pornography is still far too much a taboo subject, and as such has been allowed to permeate all levels of society.

As a parent are you still in denial of this?

Granted pornography has been creeping into society for a very long time, with the advent of the Internet, faster download speeds, 3G in 2000’s, 4G in 2010’s, 5G in 2020’s: it is virtually ubiquitous AND easily accessible. It is having a deeper impact upon our younger (and always impressionable) generation now and the next one to come.

Parents may be more vigil due to young vulnerable girls being sex-trafficked around the UK, yet most of these girls came from decent families with a good upbringing and therefore it was impossible to tell who would be caught and manipulated into these sick abusive trafficking events.

Pornography is not such far cry from this. Access is so easy at such young innocent ages – it permeates their minds, hormones will react, excitement and interest will be peaked … desire to find more of it becomes an awkward addiction that many do not know how to treat.

The negative social impacts of being brought up on a staple input of pornography will cause the user a deleterious effect upon their lives. Many will sexually objectify the opposite sex, or whichever gender they may desire. Making Love will be replaced with a colder approach of basic sex and sexual gratification. The possibility of becoming perverted on many sexual levels is an avenue that many pornography users may find themselves inextricably drawn to …. For all these reasons – the users (particularly the young) need some guidance to a normal and healthy, loving approach to normality and intimacy in relationships and not the cold dark side that pornography may possibly inflict.

An upcoming report from The Social Researcher will deal with tackling school pupils from challenging schools with the issue of pornography and highlight why children and teenagers are so desperate for guidance yet do not know who to turn to for fear of revulsion from their parents, being labelled a pervert by their peers or being reported to the local youth worker if their teacher found out the young individual was accessing pornography.

Thankfully a demand from higher management in schools has publicly been received that head teachers believe that pornography should be discussed in schools, be it as part of a sex education format or child sexualisation debate. In any case – the issue is forced now … so lets us all deal with this together.

You must all believe that this young generation today (the so called ‘lost generation’, or ‘entitlement generation’ – which is actually a more empowered generation that many elders would have acknowledged or feared to have acknowledged!) can deal with the burden of pornography.

It is not time to say who is to blame; parent’s groups may be established to revile pornography, councils and governments may be pressured to deal with pornographic grip on society etc. yet now it is here – we should just deal with it. By allowing our younger generation to be harnessed with the knowledge that the beast does exist; you may be well surprised how well children and teenagers can deal appropriately with pornography and not allow it to consume them (which thousands of adults suffer now from baseline pornography in the mid to late 20^Th century).

The responsibilities put upon our civil servants in education, social welfare, community safety and other area’s is constantly getting larger. Perhaps each county or district will need to set up a new position of child sexuality consultant who will go into schools, community centres, support centres, help workshops etc. to talk to young impressionable children and teenagers – open a dialogue and allow the younger people to have a balanced view rather than an ‘access and misinterpretation’ stance/viewpoint.

One thing is for certain – we may be entering an increasingly transparent society of information, location, updates etc. yet we must be vigil. Your children want to come to you and discuss what they have ‘found’ …. Will you react appropriately to your child, your pupil, your young neighbour finding pornography?

Publish and be damned for it .....

Publishing ones research is a contentious field. Many veteran academics have openly spoken of once they have published with good intent - it has rocked the proverbial boat higher up the hierarchy; often met with real disapproval. Many times the publishers are punished and scapegoated for the outcome, too many times the research owners/funders pre-empt what the public reaction may be and attempt to distance themselves from the research outcome by blaming the researchers for the way the publication was portrayed. There are parables here to [subjective] journalist who will be scapegoated by news/media businesses they work for ... So - should we publish independently then?

There is no final word; although there is a line we should all tow of academic guidelines of ethics, report structure, referencing etc; which is then all handed over to the main avenues of communication (the news) one must consider or rather have faith that the general public who receive your research will make the appropriate independent decisions based on the correct information you have provided in your research.

Yet how can one make a statement like the above when deep down academics and industry recognise that all research outcomes have a planned agenda or biased ending based on the funding party’s desired conclusion. It is a complex area with complex outcomes.

In this era of an untrusting public who have no faith in the Government, we have all become continually more questioning and objective about the information we come into contact. Are we really as manipulated by the news or advertising as some industries would believe us to be? Many of us will complain that all media news is bad news, yet objectively and realistically we would all rather know than not know about current events. We still get on with our everyday lives and adapt accordingly.

Your social research may be critical in our national and global social development. You may have great angst about producing your publication as was executed on a really complex or contentious social phenomenon such as gangs, fraud in companies, informal economy, drug culture, black market etc. yet your research is important as it may encourage others to publish their work as they approached your subject matter from a different angle. The more research undertaken into many social phenomenon will support gain a more rounded insight into how said social phenomenon affects our society for the better or worse; if it is the latter what can we do to improve the situation through practice and policy?

Obviously issues of media portrayal of your research may be subjective and not objective –or there may be some miscommunication in the ranks and your work (or your career!) ends up getting setback along the way. It is a risk that may hold back some incredible research that may benefit us all .... so if you are feeling brave; go ahead and publish and be damned for what you truly believe in!

 

 

"What is Social Research?"

 

Video by TheSocRes (The Social Researcher) encouraging

professionals and the public to partake in Social Research. Available on YouTube.

We have several videos available to support your Research work.