Fire Fighters, Neighbourhoods and Social Identity

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Fire Fighters, Neighbourhoods and Social Identity Fire Fighters, Neighbourhoods and Social Identity: the relationship between the fire service and residents in Bristol Kate Matheson A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of the West of England, Bristol, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Environment and Technology University of the West of England, Bristol April 2012 Acknowledgments The people and organisations who have supported this project are many and varied, and, inevitably probably too many to name. Any omissions are omissions only from this formal expression, and not from my personal gratitude. Of those who can be named, my first thanks must go to Great Western Research, who, along with Avon Fire and Rescue Service funded this research. Other institutional partners included Bristol University and the University of the West of England, which has become my second home over the last four years. My particular thanks go to Rachel and Sara, supervisors of great distinction, and the other academic staff who have had input to the project: Christine, Ron, Derrick, Stuart amongst others. Like many involved at the start of this project, many of them will have moved on by the finish. I couldn’t have asked for better office mates, and there have been innumerable fortifying conversations in office, corridor and kitchen with PhD colleagues and those in the neighbouring research centres who have proffered with great kindness their superior experience and childcare hints. There are also those without whom I wouldn’t have started this project: Dr Groves at Marlborough and Veronique in Manchester who helped me find a way to ask the right questions; Nicole at Bristol who steered my through my Masters, and Rob, the ex colleague who pointed me in this direction. Thank you all. My gratitude also goes to those who have supported this research: the staff of AFRS, residents of various neighbourhoods and my focus group guinea pigs. The research could not have happened without you. Nor could it have been done without the wonderful staff of school or nursery, who have ensured childcare was one thing I didn’t need to worry about. A further debt of honour is owed to my friends, who bought me the mug I drank my first cup of research coffee from, who have supported me through academic and personal crises, and who have always been on hand to share a laugh, a tea or a bottle of wine; and to my parents, who have always helped, even if they’re not sure why. However, my particular thanks go to my husband, Nicholas, who has gone to some extreme lengths to get my attention over the last four years, and to our lovely boys. I started this research project with a toddler and baby. As I come to its end, they are now big school boys with a little brother to look after and lead astray. Although I won’t be the first to compare my thesis to my babies, my thesis is now complete. They are still my works in progress. 1 Abstract Although sporadic attacks on fire crews have long been acknowledged as an occupational hazard facing the fire service, in the mid 2000s, attacks seemed to be increasing in both prevalence and severity, accompanied by a feeling that fire safety messages were being resisted in certain communities. However, those communities were also those typified by numerous fire risk factors, potentially endangering people and property. In recognition of this growing problem, Avon Fire and Rescue Service (AFRS) and Great Western Research (GWR) established this research project at UWE to explore issues of hostility and resistance to fire safety messages, particularly in certain communities. The research is underpinned by social identity approaches, which look at the nature of the group dynamic and interaction between residents and fire fighters, positing that group membership has the potential to lead to conflict in and of itself, but especially where those groups are in proximate and appropriate contexts, such as those found in hard pressed neighbourhoods. This research project utilised qualitative methods to examine this relationship, starting with an ethnographic enquiry alongside operational fire fighters. A second study used focus groups in three neighbourhoods to examine residents’ perspectives, and a third looked at a series of interactions in community settings. Findings suggest a mutual distrust of non-group members, whereby residents resent fire fighters for their intrusion into neighbourhoods and fire fighters resent residents for requiring interventions into their community. Both parties had strong feelings about what fire fighters ought to be doing, and this fitted in with ideas of traditional roles of fire fighting and gender distinctions within communities. There are a number of implications for the FRS in this research project, including an ongoing need to address expectations both of operational fire fighters, for example through recruitment, and residents themselves who engage with fire fighters as one of a panoply of public services, rather than as the unique service provider that fire fighters consider themselves. 2 Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 1 Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 2 Preface: All in a day’s work ...................................................................................................... 8 Chapter One: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 10 This research project .......................................................................................................... 10 The structure of the thesis ................................................................................................. 11 The research context ......................................................................................................... 17 Introducing Avon ............................................................................................................ 17 Chapter Two: Background Literatures from Social Psychology, Human Geography and Urban Studies ......................................................................................................................... 19 Thematic literatures ........................................................................................................... 19 Identity ............................................................................................................................... 20 Self Categorisation Theory ............................................................................................. 22 Stereotyping ................................................................................................................... 23 Social conflict ................................................................................................................. 24 Crowds ............................................................................................................................... 26 Theories of the crowd .................................................................................................... 27 The St Pauls Riot............................................................................................................. 29 Football and protest crowds .......................................................................................... 29 The contact hypothesis ...................................................................................................... 31 Community engagement ................................................................................................... 35 Police engagement ......................................................................................................... 35 Engaging communities to reduce ASB ........................................................................... 39 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 41 Place ................................................................................................................................... 41 Place identity...................................................................................................................... 42 City-Identity-Sustainability ............................................................................................. 44 Place as a social construct.................................................................................................. 46 Neighbourhoods ................................................................................................................ 48 Exclusion ............................................................................................................................ 49 Social capital .................................................................................................................. 51 Anti social behaviour.......................................................................................................... 52 Broken windows theory ..................................................................................................... 53 3 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 54 Chapter Three: Fire Service Literatures ................................................................................
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