Thesis and Research Data Repository Leeds Beckett University
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Understanding and improving children and young people’s developmental outcomes in sport: a psychosocial perspective
No full textSport participation is widely believed to positively impact on the psychosocial development of children and young people. Due to the nature of existing research, a full understanding of this process is, however, lacking. The purpose of this thesis was thus two-fold: i) to establish the philosophical and structural foundations of the field to propose a way forward; and ii) to develop a comprehensive picture of the process of psychosocial development through regular organised sport participation.
A variety of novel methodologies established that positivistic and post-positivistic epistemologies dominated the field, while quantitative methods accounted for the majority of research designs. Findings also revealed the predominance of negative views, emphasising the risks of participation and a fragmented structure divided in thematic silos. Based on the findings of the philosophical and structural analysis, a comprehensive and integrative, two-staged, case study was conducted based on an English youth performance basketball club, informed by Realist Evaluation.
Findings confirmed that participation in a performance youth development sport setting can lead to a broad range of psychosocial developmental outcomes including self, moral, emotional, social and cognitive development. Significantly, the case study also reported the potential of sport to produce negative effects, such as low self-esteem, social isolation and decreased emotional wellbeing. Nevertheless, stakeholders were overwhelmingly in favour of the positive impact of the experience. Four principle concurrent mechanisms were identified: i) directing the attentional focus of the young person; ii) engaging in structured and unstructured skill building activities; iii) providing deliberate and incidental support; and iv) regularly experiencing personal growth. Findings point towards an understanding of sport-based personal development as the deliberate and/or incidental continuous acquisition and maintenance of positive attitudes and behaviours moderated by the young person’s internal disposition and the environment’s contextual features. While sport is not a ‘one-size fits-all’, many of the elements that contribute to positive development stem from when coaches and sport clubs become more ‘deliberately developmental’.</p
‘That’s Problematic’: Tracing the Birth of Call-Out Culture
No full textThe word ‘surveillance’ finds its etymology in 19th century French, meaning literally to ‘watch over’ (Harper, 2017), yet is now defined by Sociologists as the ‘focused, systematic and routine attention to personal details for purposes of influence, management, protection or direction’ (Lyon, 2007: 14). This can include observation, supervision, inspection, recording, and monitoring, in which the information is produced for the use of others; in that one person in this definition is the surveiller and one is the surveilled, it presupposes a power relation.</p
Gig Economy: Construction vs Reality
No full textLooking at the dominant labour processes of a society can reveal a lot more than just an insight into the world of work, it can often tell us about the values and ideologies of that society. After the crisis of Fordism we saw a transition to a post-Fordist approach to work which incorporated features such as flexible specialization (Piore & Sable, 1984), incorporation of new technology and ICTs and re-demand for skilled workers and as a result it was seen as best fit for an increasingly consumer society. However, these processes are not just confined to work they are an ideology, post- Fordism is an ideology that is influenced by neoliberal capitalist principles in the sense that it is presented to us as beneficial for society in its entirety when in reality it is beneficial to those at the top.</p
Exploring consumer attitudes towards humour and celebrities in the TV advertisements for Polish banking products
No full textHumour and celebrity endorsements are popular tools used in advertising to evoke emotions in advertising around the world. However, these tools have only recently been used in Polish advertising campaigns. This change occurred after the fall of Communism in 1989. Prior to that for over forty years bank advertising was rare and provided only by Government agencies (Alozie, 2011). Now virtually all bank advertisements in Poland include humour and/or celebrities. However, due to the lack of research in humour and celebrity endorsements from a Polish perspective and of Polish Bank TV advertising there are gaps in knowledge. This thesis makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to knowledge by adding to our understanding of the different humour types and celebrity attributes depicted and preferred in Polish Bank TV advertisements. The theoretical contribution includes, firstly, the Product Colour Matrix (PCM) for main banking products and services in Poland. Secondly, an attitudinal model of Polish TV banking advertisements using humour and celebrities. Thirdly, the typology of the main and detailed types of humour in banking advertisements. And fourthly, humour types and celebrity attributes preferences models. Methodological contributions include a specific philosophical framework and research design to scientifically investigate humour types and celebrity attributes preferences dependent on the specific banking product and the age group. Practical contributions encompass, firstly, humour types and celebrity attributes preferences models. Secondly, a product/humour type preferences and product/celebrity attributes preferences typology for banking products.
A deep understanding of the phenomenon of humour and celebrity endorsement in advertising required a mixed methods approach using interpretivism is the underlying philosophy with the qualitative research dominant. The mixed method form was concurrent Qual/Quant with the data from the survey being the confirmatory element. Open ended questions in the survey, focus groups and depth interviews provided extensive narratives which revealed participants’ attitudes toward humorous campaigns and led to the product/humour type and product/celebrity attributes preferences typologies presented as two models. These models can be useful as a guideline for the advertising industry. Academically, the outcome will help to close the knowledge gaps and will serve as a guideline for further empirical studies.
The key findings demonstrated that not all humour types and celebrity attributes are relevant for particular products and different generations. The findings suggest different generations different life experiences and the advertising industry must appeal appropriately to each (if they are the target market). Therefore, different humour types and celebrity attributes should be tailored to the type of the banking product and the age group
Understanding youth tennis players' psychological development through critical realism and action research
No full textAlthough youth athletes’ psychological development is increasingly understood as an important social phenomenon, it has typically been studied through relatively narrow theoretical lenses. To understand and improve psychological development from a holistic perspective (i.e., one that considers the wide ranging relational systems in which processes are embedded) this thesis draws on the philosophy of critical realism: an approach that facilitates the in-depth exploration of complex social phenomena. After engaging in a two-part systematic review that clarified the psychological terms and frameworks offered in the talent development literature, a four-phased action research study was conducted in one successful English tennis club. A fifteen-month immersion approach was taken that allowed for the development of authentic relationships with eleven youth athletes (aged 8-16 years), fifteen parents, and three coaches. Data was collected through observations, field notes, informal chats, formal interviews, athlete and coach workshops, and athlete-tasks. Findings highlight the key contextual factors that penetrated athletes’ micro- to macro-system (action research phase 1), as well as the underlying causal powers of this system (action research phase 2), that impacted upon athletes’ psychological development. Nine specific mechanisms were identified that triggered athletes’ development of a series of psychological outcomes. Mechanisms were plagued by a reactive common sense nature, which impeded the psychological development of athletes. The behaviour was underpinned by a lack of capability and opportunities that taught, particularly coaches and parents, the knowledge and skills necessary to foster athletes’ psychological development in a systematic and proactive way. After implementing targeted athlete and coach psychological workshops (action research phase 3) and evaluating the effects of my time at the club (action research phase 4), improvements in coaches’ and athletes’ capability to use and develop psychological skills and characteristics more consistently and explicitly were identified. Based on the findings, short- and long-term recommendations that call for the prioritisation of youth athletes’ psychological development were offered for sport psychology practitioners, researchers, and National Governing Bodies. Finally, the thesis outlines the potential of critical realism as a novel and valuable underpinning framework for sport psychology and talent development research and the creation and evaluation of interventions
The socially constructed and embodied meanings of effectiveness in the lives of physical education teachers: An ethnographic study
No full textWhile teacher effectiveness research is well established, much of it centres around linking teaching to pupil achievement and identifying specific teacher characteristics. In physical education, little evidence has been generated through gaining an understanding of teachers’ experiences and by listening to their voices. To establish how physical educators have come to conceptualise effectiveness, this inquiry moves away from simply documenting teachers’ assertions, by focusing upon its construction through the contexts of their professional and personal lives.
In understanding how effectiveness has been socially constructed, it was therefore necessary to use a flexible approach that considered teacher subjectivities. An ethnographic study was conducted in the physical education department at Northton High School* over a period of nine months. Methods were guided by Wolcott’s (2008) thinking around experience, enquire and examine, and specific data were generated using participant observation, a field-work diary, biographical semi-structured interviews, and by scrutinising school documentation. The resulting data was subject to thematic analysis, while a series of life-history narratives were used to demonstrate an understanding of how effectiveness came to be conceptualised by the different teachers in the department.
Findings highlighted how differing sets of beliefs about the nature of physical education operated amidst several whole school discourses that focused specifically upon the teachers meeting Ofsted criteria for ‘Outstanding’ teaching, and sustaining high levels of examination success. This led to contestation, co-operation and conflict; and micropolitically, power was used to consolidate and strengthen the whole school discourses, leading to performative and normalised teaching behaviours. To help develop teaching to consistently ‘Outstanding’ levels, a CPD initiative based upon Ofsted criteria was introduced and used as an instrument to fabricate the Senior Leaders’ vision for effectiveness. This normalised the dominant discourses and led to the CPD initiative being used by Senior Leaders as a disciplinary surveillant mechanism, rather than a pedagogical tool.
Teachers were seen to be nameless faceless bodies valued only for generating a series of results that would deem them, and thereby the school to be effective. As well as performing effectiveness, the research also detailed ways in which the PE teachers’ embodied effectiveness, and demonstrated how their identities were constructed through (re)negotiating biographical, social, political and cultural contexts. Thus, the thesis recognises that physical education teachers’ understandings of effectiveness are socially constructed and must take into account the contextual nature of their lives, and the complex environments of schools.</p
Oil Is Thicker Than Water: the Global Thirst for Oil vs. the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
No full textAn examiniation of the detrimental effects of oil extraction on local communities and the inconsideration of companies such as Shell (petroleum company) whose actions effect peoples’ access to clean water. By exploring the damaging effects of oil extraction on water and the surrounding nature, this reflection highlights the relationship between those with power and those who are constantly paying the price.</p
Preface and Editorial
No full textAs Sociologists we develop a keen sociological imagination with which we can think critically and reflexively about the social world around us, helping us to make sense of the momentous changes happening within it. This collection of critical reflections written by students on the BA (Hons) Sociology degree at Leeds Beckett University underlines both the breadth of the subject and its power to shed light on the familiar and the taken for granted. The essays in this volume tackle a wide range of issues, from surveillance and the information society, through environmental degradation and indigenous rights, to neoliberalism and politics in the era of Trump. As such they stand as a record and analysis of some of the most pressing issues of our times. This collection is a testament to both the students and staff of the Sociology degree. For the students, each of the reflections emphasises the skills they have developed individually – in applying the tools of the social sciences to analyse and interpret current trends and developments and, just as importantly, communicating incisive, critical commentary; the end product is also a collective editorial effort. Each essay also underlines the strong commitment the course team have to developing students as active producers of knowledge and the support that they provide as part of this to enable them to develop their intellectual skills and abilities. I hope that readers of these reflections enjoy the perspectives offered, and are themselves further challenged, encouraged or inspired to reflect on the contemporary social world.</p
Webster: A modernist lens over a postmodern vision
No full textPostmodernism theory raises many questions regarding the epistemological status of modernist claims to knowledge. In his 2006 book Theories of the information society Webster engages with some of this theory in probing the many renderings through which theorists have sought to de facto validate the concept of the information society. The problem is that Webster attempts to situate said theory within a thoroughly modernist paradigm. The argument this essay pursues is that this constitutes a complete misunderstanding of what postmodern theory has to offer. Moreover, it thus fails to address the criticisms contained within postmodern theory as they pertain to Webster’s own argument.</p
"Love"...In "Reality"
No full textReality television has seen phenomenal success in recent decades, which reflects structural changes in society that have enabled the success of such a genre. The obvious influences stem from pure technological advances, which have accompanied and caused the shift into an increasingly individualised society structured around consumerism (Lyon, 1988; Giddens, 1991; Cartmel, 2007). These developments have created a space and an audience accepting of such programmes, especially in the narrower definition of romantic reality T.V. that have allowed such a style to flourish. This is essentially due to one of the most defining features of a late modern society that displays elements of a reflexive, liquid life we inhabit today. Not only have these complex changes facilitated these shows to run popularly, they would in fact not exist without key the key developments of society.</p