Alternative job search strategies in remote rural and peri-urban labour markets: the role of social networks

This paper examines the importance of informal methods (especially social networking) to the job search strategies used by unemployed people. It compares three areas: a small rural town; a larger, more sparsely populated, remote rural area; and a centrally-located, peri-urban labour market. The analysis is based first on survey research undertaken with 490 job seekers across the study areas. Emerging issues were then followed up during a series of twelve focus groups. The survey research showed that job seekers in the rural study areas were significantly more likely to use social networks to look for work. However, those who had experienced repeated or long-term periods out of work, the unskilled and young people were significantly less likely to use such networks. Focus groups confirmed the perceived importance of social networking to the job search process in rural areas, in contrast to the more marginal role such methods appear to play in peri-urban settings. For many rural job seekers, formal job search activities conducted through Jobcentres were seen as largely symbolic, lacking the practical value of social networking. These results suggest that service providers seeking to assist unemployed people in rural areas need to address the problems faced by many disadvantaged job seekers who are currently caught between their lack of social network relations and the absence of local public employment service facilities in more remote communities

Notorious places: image, reputation, stigma: the role of newspapers in area reputations for social housing estates

This paper reviews work in several disciplines to distinguish between image, reputation and stigma. It also shows that there has been little research on the process by which area reputations are established and sustained through transmission processes. This paper reports on research into the portrayal of two social housing estates in the printed media over an extended period of time (14 years). It was found that negative and mixed coverage of the estates dominated, with the amount of positive coverage being very small. By examining the way in which dominant themes were used by newspapers in respect of each estate, questions are raised about the mode of operation of the press and the communities' collective right to challenge this. By identifying the way regeneration stories are covered and the nature of the content of positive stories, lessons are drawn for programmes of area transformation. The need for social regeneration activities is identified as an important ingredient for changing deprived-area reputations

Environmental impact assessments of the Three Gorges Project in China: issues and interventions

The paper takes China's authoritative Environmental Impact Statement for the Yangzi (Yangtze) Three Gorges Project (TGP) in 1992 as a benchmark against which to evaluate emerging major environmental outcomes since the initial impoundment of the Three Gorges reservoir in 2003. The paper particularly examines five crucial environmental aspects and associated causal factors. The five domains include human resettlement and the carrying capacity of local environments (especially land), water quality, reservoir sedimentation and downstream riverbed erosion, soil erosion, and seismic activity and geological hazards. Lessons from the environmental impact assessments of the TGP are: (1) hydro project planning needs to take place at a broader scale, and a strategic environmental assessment at a broader scale is necessary in advance of individual environmental impact assessments; (2) national policy and planning adjustments need to react quickly to the impact changes of large projects; (3) long-term environmental monitoring systems and joint operations with other large projects in the upstream areas of a river basin should be established, and the cross-impacts of climate change on projects and possible impacts of projects on regional or local climate considered. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.Xibao Xu, Yan Tan, Guishan Yan

Pollock breasfeeding project: qualitative research project

The desired outcome of the research was to produce a model of good practice at Pollok which could be adopted by other primary care teams. A successful bid for funding from the Primary Care Development Fund in April 1995 enabled Pollok Primary Care Team to further the aims and objectives of the Pollok Breastfeeding Group. This research is designed evaluate the project to date

Sectarianism, Intolerance and Racism in Glasgow, 2002

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.Intolerance and racism have, as in the rest of the UK, long been issues of concern in Scotland. However in Scotland, there is the added dimension of sectarianism. While few would disagree that sectarianism exists in Glasgow in one form or another, there has been no consensus on the scale and nature of this phenomenon. Studies elsewhere in the UK, such as the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, have attempted to measure sectarianism in Northern Ireland. However, little hard evidence exists for Scotland and it is the intention that this research forms the benchmark for future research. This research aims to gauge intolerance, and sectarianism as they exist within Glasgow, and register a baseline for these against which future research can benchmark. Although sectarianism in the context of Roman Catholic and Protestant intolerance is largely unknown in the context of England and Wales, it has commanded significant amounts of political attention within Scotland since the creation of the Scottish Parliament. Equally, it is a matter of debate among Scottish academics, some of whom have dedicated a lifetime of research into the prevalence or otherwise of sectarianism in modern-day Scotland. The methodology utilised means that the database contains a wealth of other information about tolerance. This includes attitudes towards having homosexuals, asylum seekers etc. as immediate neighbours and the acceptability or otherwise of various slang terms used to describe different groups of people.Main Topics:The dataset contains the results of responses to 1,029 household interviews conducted within the City of Glasgow, primarily undertaken in order to ascertain the extent to which religious sectarianism was a determinant in a number of critical life choices. Questioning was undertaken using a combination of computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and computer assisted self-administered interviewing (CASI). The latter technique was employed for questions where it was believed the line of questioning was particularly sensitive. The dataset contains the codified results of these interviews.<br

Sectarianism, Intolerance and Racism in Glasgow, 2002

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.Intolerance and racism have, as in the rest of the UK, long been issues of concern in Scotland. However in Scotland, there is the added dimension of sectarianism. While few would disagree that sectarianism exists in Glasgow in one form or another, there has been no consensus on the scale and nature of this phenomenon. Studies elsewhere in the UK, such as the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, have attempted to measure sectarianism in Northern Ireland. However, little hard evidence exists for Scotland and it is the intention that this research forms the benchmark for future research. This research aims to gauge intolerance, and sectarianism as they exist within Glasgow, and register a baseline for these against which future research can benchmark. Although sectarianism in the context of Roman Catholic and Protestant intolerance is largely unknown in the context of England and Wales, it has commanded significant amounts of political attention within Scotland since the creation of the Scottish Parliament. Equally, it is a matter of debate among Scottish academics, some of whom have dedicated a lifetime of research into the prevalence or otherwise of sectarianism in modern-day Scotland. The methodology utilised means that the database contains a wealth of other information about tolerance. This includes attitudes towards having homosexuals, asylum seekers etc. as immediate neighbours and the acceptability or otherwise of various slang terms used to describe different groups of people.Main Topics:The dataset contains the results of responses to 1,029 household interviews conducted within the City of Glasgow, primarily undertaken in order to ascertain the extent to which religious sectarianism was a determinant in a number of critical life choices. Questioning was undertaken using a combination of computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and computer assisted self-administered interviewing (CASI). The latter technique was employed for questions where it was believed the line of questioning was particularly sensitive. The dataset contains the codified results of these interviews.<br

Scottish accommodation occupancy survey 2000 Final report

Prepared for the Scottish Tourist BoardSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:8205.9888(2000) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Scottish Accommodation Occupancy Surveys 1996; final report

Prepared for Scottish Tourist Board and Highlands and Islands Enterprise; STB 2852SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:8205.9888(1996) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo