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Figurational Dynamics And Parliamentary Discourses Of Living Standards In Ireland, Paddy Dolan

Articles

While the concept of living standards remains central to political debate, it has become marginal in sociological research compared to the burgeoning attention given to the topic of consumer culture in recent decades. However, they both concern how one does and should consume, and, indeed, behave at particular times. I use the theories of Norbert Elias to explain the unplanned but structured (ordered) changes in expected standards of living over time. This figurational approach is compared to other alternative explanations, particularly those advanced by Bourdieu, Veblen and Baudrillard. Though these offer some parallels with Elias’s theories, I argue that consumption …

Right By Children: Children's Rights And Rights Based Approaches To Policy Making In Early Childhood Education And Care: The Case Of Ireland, Noirin Hayes, Siobhan Bradley

Reports

No abstract provided.

Approaches To Qualitative Research: Theory And Its Practical Application (A Guide For Dissertation Students), John Hogan, Paddy Dolan, Paul Donnelly

Books/Book Chapters

Qualitative research is a multifaceted approach that investigates culture, society and behaviour through an analysis and synthesis of people’s words and actions. Qualitative methods produce compelling knowledge of how and why people behave as they do, whether in organisational, family, personal, or other social roles.

The primary objective of this book is to introduce students to the concepts underlying qualitative research and how this kind of research can be conducted in a practical manner. To this end, it discusses various approaches to qualitative research and provides examples of these approaches being carried out in practice. In doing so, the book …

Civil Partnership: Your Questions Answered - A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Civil Partnership Bill, Fergus Ryan

Reports

The Civil Partnership Bill 2009 arguably represents the most momentous change in Irish Family Law in a generation. The Bill proposes a substantial new legal status for registered same-sex partners, as well as important changes to the law as it relates to cohabitants. This report addresses the provisions of the Bill as initiated, analysing the potential impact of the Bill in clear and accessible language. The Report also highlights potential difficulties with the Bill, and suggests possible enhancements to the Bill as initiated.

The Very Basics Of Sustainability - An Alternative Viewpoint, Jim Mcgovern

Other resources

This paper examines the context and meaning of the term ‘sustainability’, the factors that determine and govern climate on Earth, the population of the Earth and its trends and influencers, the requirements for sustaining life and the options that are available to humankind. Some viewpoints are presented that are alternative to ‘conventional alternative’ thinking. The author advocates keeping an open mind on all available options, including the use of oil, gas, coal, tar sands, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power etc., as well as the technologies that are more widely considered ‘green’ and also argues that humankind needs to face …

The Very Basics Of Sustainability - An Alternative Viewpoint (Slides With Audio) (Large File! To Speed Up Download, Right-Click On "Download" Link To Save To Own Pc.), Jim Mcgovern

Other resources

This presentation sets out the very basics of ‘sustainability’, although a definition of sustainability is not attempted. Some of the very basics are the context in which the Earth and humankind exist in space and time, the Earth’s climate, the Earth’s population and humankind’s options and choices. The author advocates keeping an open mind on all available options, including the use of oil, gas, coal, tar sands, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power etc., as well as the technologies that are more widely considered ‘green’. The author also argues that, in addressing the challenges that humankind faces, globally concerted effort …

Re(Dis)Covering Organizational Forming: The Case Of Ireland’S Industrial Development Authority, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

Organizational form, as an issue, has been the focus of attention since Weber’s formulation of the ideal-type bureaucracy. For organizational scholars, the very concept of form is at the heart of organization studies, such that “[w]here new organizational forms come from is one of the central questions of organizational theory” (Rao, 1998: 912). The Weberian “ideal type,” with its focus on the ontological possibility of identifying form, represents the inaugural moment in organization theory. Since that moment, and based on the need to say what is “organization” as the condition for having “organization theory,” it is a requirement of organization …

The Supremacy Of Ec Law In Ireland, Elaine Fahey

Articles

No abstract provided.

Tracing The Path To 'Tiger Hood': Ireland's Move From Protectionism To Outward-Looking Economic Development, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

Up to very recently, Ireland was spoken of in very adulatory terms, to the point of being dubbed the ‘Celtic Tiger.’ Taking path dependence as lens, this paper looks at an early sequence of events that shaped the country’s path to ‘tiger hood’, i.e., the policy shift from protectionism to outward-looking economic development. From relatively contingent and unpredictable beginnings has evolved an institutional matrix, with a clear focus on the global, that, ex ante, could not have been predicted when it was first established.

Using Documents: A Figurational Approach, Paddy Dolan

Books/Book chapters

Notwithstanding significant changes in the research cultures of many social science disciplines, there remains a certain orthodoxy in the selection of qualitative methods for consumer research in particular. In this field, focus groups and depth (or qualitative) interviews reign supreme, while the use of documentary evidence is sparse. The obvious exception is the growing number of studies written by historians of consumer culture (see for example, Cohen, 2003; De Grazia, 2005; Donohue, 2006). Historians have traditionally used documents as evidence of particular events, values, ideas and practices at specific times and places. These events can then be organised into a …

The Treaty Of Lisbon And The Reformed Jurisdictional Powers Of The European Court Of Justice In The Field Of Justice And Home Affairs., Stephen Carruthers

Articles

This Article analyses the jurisdictional powers of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in respect of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) measures both under pre-Lisbon Title VI TEU and post-Lisbon under Title V of Part Three TFEU. In Part one, it assesses the deficiencies of the pre-Lisbon system. In particular it analyses the negative consequences for legitimacy arising from the restrictions on justiciability in respect of pre-Lisbon JHA measures in light of case law of the CJEU and the European Court of Human Rights. In Part two, it outlines the genesis and substance of the reforms in …

Keeping (Or Losing) The Faith: Reflections On Spiritual Struggles And Their Resolution By College Seniors., Jodi Fisler, Holly Alexander Agati, Shannon Chance, Amie E. Donahue, Gregory A. Donahue, Eric J. Eickhoff, Sara E. Kolb Gastler, Joseph C. Lowder, John D. Foubert

Articles

In this qualitative study, researchers examined how college seniors experienced and resolved spiritual struggles in college. Results indicated that academic activities provided opportunities to question, learn, and grow spiritually. Although a variety of external factors influenced students' explorations of their spirituality, participants looked inward to resolve their struggles in deeply personal ways. Spiritual struggle was often manifested as a reexamination of students' pre-college values, an ongoing process for many students. Researchers identified four ways of describing students' state of resolution: (1) recommitting to an existing faith, (2) slightly readjusting their spiritual or religious values, (3) blending spiritual traditions, or (4) …

Men And Literacy: A Study Of Attitude And Experiences Of Learning, Tanya Lalor, Adele Mckenna, Gerard Doyle, Aoife Fitzsimons

Reports

In recent years, significant resources have been invested in Ireland in researching men’s attitudes towards and involvement in learning, within formal, non-formal and informal learning settings. In conducting this research, NALA wished to identify literacy issues among men, specifically those in informal learning settings, and to assess the impact which these difficulties have on men’s participation in learning. This report details the findings from NALA’s study on men’s attitudes and experiences of literacy which was conducted between November 2008 and May 2009.

Encouraging And Evaluating The First Year Experience, Kevin Griffin

Other resources

No abstract provided.

Whistle Past The Church No More, Tony Kiely

Other resources

No abstract provided.

Masculinities And Affective Equality: Love Labour And Care Labour In Men’S Lives, Niall G. Hanlon

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Whistle Past The Church No More, Perceptions On Added Value To Industrial Tourism In Dublin's Liberties, Tony Kiely

Conference papers

Situated in the Liberties area of Dublin, and within a short walk of Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse serves as an iconic key attractor for up to one million visitors annually. The success of this visitor attraction can be directly attributed to a “brand immersion” strategy, which emotionally links the visitor with the brand through cultural identification alignment. Yet many tourists, in accessing Ireland’s premier tourist attraction, often pass within the shadows of a cluster of lesser known, but nonetheless significant church heritage sites. While acknowledging that at the extreme ends of an experience continuum “brand visitation” and “church visitation” …

Framing The Nigerian Transnational Family: New Formations In Ireland, Anaele Diala Iroh

Doctoral

No abstract provided.

Focusing On Process And History: Path Dependence, Paul Donnelly

Articles

In recognition of the calls for more processual and historically informed organizational theorizing, this chapter considers the notion of path dependency, an approach which holds that a historical path of choices has the character of a branching process with a self-reinforcing dynamic such that preceding steps in a particular direction induce further movement in the same direction, thereby making the possibility of switching to some other previously credible alternative more difficult. Path dependence seeks to assess how process, sequence and temporality can be best incorporated into explanation, the focus of the researcher being on particular outcomes, temporal sequencing and the …

The Civilizing Of Hurling In Ireland, Paddy Dolan, John Connolly

Articles

This essay examines the sport of hurling in Ireland through the theoretical framework of sport and leisure developed by Elias and Dunning. Through an analysis of newspaper reports of games, of rulebooks and codes of play, as well as historical data on increasing social differentiation and integration, we argue that hurling has undergone sportization and civilizing processes. However, due to the unevenness of wider figurational shifts these processes have been non-linear and fragile. Gradually, we see increasing numbers of rules, as well as increasing severity of punishment for the breaking of specific rules relating to violent play. The level and …

The Coke Side Of Life:An Exploration Of Pre-Schoolers' Constructions Of Product And Selves Through Talk-In-Interaction Around Coca-Cola, Olivia Freeman

Articles

Abstract Purpose – This paper proposes the activity-based focus group as a useful method with which to generate talk-in-interaction among pre-schoolers. Analytically, it aims to illustrate, how transcribed talk-in-interaction can be subjected to a discourse analytic lens, to produce insights into how pre-schoolers use ‘Coca-Cola’ as a conversational resource with which to build product-related meanings and social selves. Design/methodology/approach - Fourteen activity-based discussion groups with pre-schoolers aged between two and five years have been conducted in a number of settings including privately run Montessori schools and community based preschools in Dublin. The talk generated through these groups has been transcribed …

Social Practices, Moral Frameworks And Religious Values In The Lives Of Older People, Carmel Gallagher

Books/Book chapters

No abstract provided.