Criminal Degradations of Consumer Culture

In this chapter I take a ‘social harm’ approach to explore some of the degrading impacts of modern consumerism. My aim is to explore the harmful, often criminal, sometimes fatal consequences that attend the supply of consumer goods in contemporary capitalist societies. At the same time, I note that a focus on social harm begs some very fundamental questions about criminology as an academic discipline – or ‘field’ of study. When a cradle-to-grave assessment of consumer goods is undertaken it reveals that many personal and environmental degradations are nothing more than the ordinary means by which objects are produced, distributed and discarded in contemporary societies. In order to unpack the mundane character of the degradations of a consumer culture I use the example of prawn production but my more general argument is that what is true for prawns is true for (almost) any consumer object

The Deviance of the Zookeepers

In May 1968 Alvin Gouldner published his attack on the ‘Becker School’ of sociology (‘The Sociologist as Partisan’). The essay was a sometimes sarcastic and brutal but characteristically insightful and sharp critique of what he called the ‘Becker School’ of sociology – especially as it related to law-breaking and norm-transgressing outsiders. In attacking the failure of ‘sceptical deviancy theory’ to confront the wider structural sources of power and authority, its seeming inability to address gross social divisions of wealth and status, and its lack of attention to the larger political and economic interests that were embedded in departments of State and industrial and financial corporations alike, Gouldner pinpointed with some accuracy the radical motivations of the soon-to-emerge ‘new criminology’ – in both its ‘left idealist’ and ‘left realist’ guises. What Gouldner’s essay really exposed was a certain kind of ‘deviant imagination’ (c.f., Pearson, 1975) prevalent in the emerging critical criminologies of 1960s America (and then the UK, see Young, 1969). In this paper I use Gouldner’s essay as a lens to investigate the ‘deviant imagination’ of contemporary critical criminologies and ask: who are the zookeepers of contemporary criminology and what is their deviant imagination

Testing for Asymmetric Pricing Behaviour in Irish and UK Petrol and Diesel Markets

This paper empirically tests whether Irish and UK petrol and diesel markets are characterised by asymmetric pricing behaviour. The econometric assessment uses threshold autoregressive models and a dataset of monthly refined oil and retail prices covering the period 1997 to mid-2009. A methodological note is included on the importance of the specification of the number of possible regimes. In particular, the possibility of conflicting price pressures arising from short-run dynamics in retail prices and responses to disequilibrium errors needs to be explicitly modelled. For both the Irish and UK liquid fuel markets at national levels, the paper concludes that there is no evidence to support the “rockets and feathers” hypothesis that retail prices rise faster than they fall in response to changes in oil prices. It is still possible that a lack of competition at a more local level may accommodate asymmetric pricing behaviour.

A “Lasting Transformation”: From food stocks to feedstocks’

In this article I link surplus food with the politics of capitalist production and consumption in order to shed some useful light on the strange case of food not being food once it has been discarded but not thrown away. I develop an analysis of waste policy as a dimension of capitalist surplus management (after Sweezy, 1962) by reconfiguring Claus Offe’s (1984) essay on the state and social policy and construe waste policy as effecting a ‘lasting transformation’ of non-accumulating capital into accumulating capital. My intention is to provide a sketch of the labyrinthine semantic and political structures that are emerging around waste, in general, and waste food, in particular. I show that transforming waste food into capitalist surplus is a multi-layered and multi-stranded endeavour that is embedded in larger political, economic and cultural arrangements and cosmologies. The article explores the transformation of waste into surplus by exploring, first, waste as an imaginary construct; second, the strange case of discarded food not being discarded (and not being food, either); third, the convoluted cosmology of European waste policy; and, fourth, aspects of political sociology which help to reveal the status of waste as a source of capital accumulation. I conclude by proposing a sociological account of food waste that situates the critique of excess not in the ignorant, sordid voraciousness of individual citizens but in the structures and institutions of capitalist accumulation

Investigating Nonlinearity: A Note on the Estimation of Hamilton’s Random Field Regression Model

This is a revised and extended version of the authors’ 2003 Trinity Economic Paper. It describes Hamilton’s (2001) approach to nonlinear econometric modelling and some of the methods of nonlinear optimization, as before, but adds significantly to the investigation of Hamilton’s Gauss program for the implementation of his methodology. Specifically, it reports on the performance of this program using data relating to Hamilton’s US Phillips curve example, the use of two versions of the Gauss software and a range of numerical optimization options. It also examines the impact of changes in initial parameter estimates, the use of algorithm switching strategies, and the e?ects of changes in the sample data on the results produced by Hamilton’s procedure. The new results presented suggest some further clear conclusions that will be of value to those using Hamilton’s method.

Synthesis of PbS nanocrystallites using a novel single molecule precursors approach: X-ray single-crystal structure of Pb(S2CNEtPri)2

The synthesis and characterisation of some lead(II) dithiocarbamato complexes Pb(S2CNRR¾)2 is reported. These compounds were used as single molecule precursors to produce nanocrystalline PbS by their thermolysis in trioctylphosphine oxide. The optical and morphological properties of the resulting PbS nanocrystallites were investigated; the influence of experimental parameters, such as precursor, growth time and temperature, on the final nanodispersed materials is also reported

Med ett helt språk in i framtiden ­ en intervjustudie med sex lärare om en "helspråkssyn" i undervisningen

Bakgrund: Vi är intresserade av den tidiga tal-, läs- och skrivutvecklingen och har blivit inspirerade av att arbeta utifrån en "helspråkssyn", som grundar sig i synsättet Whole Language. Vi har fått ta del av detta synsätt i vår utbildning i teorin, men vi har upplevt en brist på konkret verklighetsförankring. Vi har sett att inslag av en "helspråkssyn" finns ute i skolorna, men den visar sig bara i isolerade företeelser och sammankopplas inte medvetet med resten av undervisningen. Vi vill därför se hur detta synsätt kan omsättas i praktiken. Syfte: Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka vad det innebär för vissa lärare att ha en "helspråkssyn" i sin undervisning och vad denna kan få för effekt på elevers tal-, läs- och skrivutveckling. Vi funderar också över varför inte alla lärare arbetar utifrån en "helspråkssyn". Metod: En kvalitativ metod med intervjuer som grund för att samla in data har använts. Sex intervjuer genomfördes med verksamma lärare; en förskolelärare och fem grundskolelärare. Intervjuerna har sedan analyserats för att få en inblick i och förståelse för vad en "helspråkssyn" innebär för dessa lärare. Resultat: I resultatet framkommer vad lärarna menar med en "helspråkssyn" och vad det innebär för dem i sin undervisning. Genom att utgå från meningsfullhet och sammanhang, samtal och kommunikation, skönlitteratur och elevernas erfarenheter formar lärarna sin undervisning i tal-, läs- och skrivutvecklingen på olika sätt. Vi har fått goda kunskaper om hur detta synsätt kan omvandlas i praktiken. När det gäller frågeställningen om varför inte alla lärare arbetar utifrån en "helspråkssyn" menar de tillfrågade lärarna att det kan bero på okunskap, brist på fortbildning samt att det kan vara svårt att bryta "traditionella" mönster. Betydelse för läraryrket: Vi anser att en "helspråkssyn" i undervisningen påverkar lärarens roll i klassrummet. Istället för att läraren sitter inne med all kunskap och förmedlar denna till eleverna, utgår läraren från eleverna och låter dem styra vilken riktning undervisningen kan ta. Läraren ska finnas där som en hjälp och en god handledare. På detta sätt tror vi att läraryrket hela tiden utvecklas och att lärarna kan finna nya vägar för att stimulera eleverna i deras tal-, läs- och skrivutveckling

The dialogic city: towards a synthesis of physical and conceptual artefacts in urban community configurations

This paper addresses a question in urban research relating to definitions of the physical and conceptual artefacts that comprise local urban communities. These artefacts are, we suggest, products of complex relationships between discursive and non -discursive agencies in urban contexts. We focus on the problems of defining conceptual artefacts by considering how urban communities’ social meanings are embedded in their spatial configurations, conceptualizations and practices. Considering the relational nature of the built environment, we describe the interplays of space, society and meaning as being ‘dialogic’. By this we mean that the urban environment’s discursive and non-discursive agencies inform and transform each other through processes of their complex inter-dependencies. These dialogic processes also occur where professional and community practitioners seek to transform the built environment by exchanging their conceptualizations and definitions. Towards a refocusing upon conceptual artefacts in the built environment, we review a selection of diverse research from the fields of space syntax, actor -network theory in architecture, and urban sociologies of crime and deprivation. We sample from specific studies of urban spatial effects upon local community behaviours. We observe that processes of conceptualization are revealed in professionals’ definitions of urban environments. Moreover, we draw attention to the lack of community -membership definitions in many urban interventions. We argue that this lack persists because community conceptualizations, based upon ‘mental models’, tend to be reflected in quotidian or sub -conscious practices, which do not enter the standard professional discourse. We reflect critically on the urban research studies sampled, considering in particular their treatment of the role of conceptualizations in shaping the urban environment. Building on this critique, we argue that the notion of ‘mental models’ is overlooked in the urban research literature and warrants further investigation. Working towards a synthesis of physical and conceptual artefacts, we attempt an outline of the significance of inter -dependencies in urban formations. Hence we consider the role played by local conceptualizations in phenomena such as neighbourhood boundaries, community foci, stereotypes of others and place -specific community values. Finally, we outline the requirements for a method to examine these conceptualizations

Cooperative Control Design for Robot-Assisted Balance During Gait

Avoiding falls is a challenge for many persons in aging societies, and balance dysfunction is a major risk factor. Robotic solutions to assist human gait, however, focus on average kinematics, and less on instantaneous balance reactions. We propose a controller that only intervenes when needed, and that avoids stability issues when interacting with humans: Assistance is triggered only when balance is lost, and this action is purely feed-forward. Experiments show that subjects who start falling during gait can be uprighted by such feed-forward assistive force