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ESRCow research making an impact spring 2016 issue 24

Referendum time Will this be the most important vote of a generation?

Migration: Budget: Voices: How Looking for Sizing up Social science answers to the winners contributes to the crisis and losers our security Welcome to the Spring issue of Society Now, the ESRC’s regular magazine which showcases the impact of the social science research we fund. This issue is focused on the Europe referendum, migration, the recent budget, and 10 13 biosocial science. With a few weeks to go before the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, is this shaping up to be the most important vote of a generation? The Mediterranean Migration Research Programme, launched in September 2015, is starting to report its findings. What does UK social science tell us about the migration issue? We look at the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ (IFS) analysis of Chancellor George Osborne’s 18 22 March Budget presentation – who are the winners or losers? Professor John Hobcraft explains biosocial science – the study of how our behaviours and experiences alter our biology, and our biology plays a part in shaping our behaviours. And Professor Paul Taylor looks at the major security challenges society faces and the contribution of social science to helping us become more secure. 24 26

Nick Stevens, Editor - [email protected] A ll S ociety Now photography © lamy unless otherwise marked

PLUS Society So ciety BY NUMBERNow RARA S ILIL TRTRAANN SSPPORORT Features

ESRCRowC RESERESEARCH MAKING AN IMPACT SPRING 2016 ISSUE 24 In this issue 10 Ready for the referendum? Simon Usherwood of the ESRC UK in a REGULARS Changing Europe initiative looks at how the Referendum time Will this be the most important political landscape is shaping up in the run-up vote of a generation? 3 News

Migration: Budget: Voices: How Looking for Sizing up Social science to the Europe referendum. answers to the winners contributes to the crisis and losers our security 13 opinion The views and The effects of social media on UK adolescents 18 aBCDE of Biosocial Science statements Professor John Hobcraft explains the study expressed in this 15 opinion of biosocial science – the common ground publication are What social science can say about the Zika virus between biology and sociology. those of the authors and not necessarily 28 opinion 22 understanding migration those of the ESRC The continuing decline of ‘Britishness’ The Mediterranean Migration Research Programme projects are starting to report 20 the UK by numbers: Rail transport initial findings. What have they discovered? 24 Sizing up the Budget contributors The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ (IFS) analysis of Chancellor George Osborne’s March John Hobcraft is Professor Professor Melissa Leach Professor Paul Taylor is Budget presentation. of Social Policy and is Director, Institute of Director of the ESRC Centre Demography, University Development Studies for Research and Evidence 26 Voices: Securing the state of York and former Director, on Security Threats (CREST) Professor Paul Taylor of the Centre for STEPS Centre Dr Matthew Johnson is Dr Simon Usherwood is Research and Evidence on Security Threats a lecturer in politics at Dr Cara Booker is Research Senior Lecturer in Politics at (CREST) explains the major security Lancaster University and Fellow and Deputy Director of the University of Surrey, and challenges society faces and the contribution a regular commentator on Graduate Studies at ISER at senior fellow on the UK in a CREST and social science can make to helping British cultural politics the University of Essex Changing Europe initiative us become more secure.

2 society now Spring 2016 Campaigners and retailers agree on food waste ‘outrage’ n Early years professionals need more apps training n Child friendships cross ethnic divide n Racism takes its toll on child wellbeingNEWS n History lessons on child sex abuse n Africa overlooks ‘slum superstars’ n Good memory not key to older people’s happiness n Alcohol does not affect victims’ rape evidence n Multi-platform media poses challenges n Positive house moves do not disrupt early childhood n Coalitional presidentialism costs n NEWS Health policy neglects potential of online patient communities n

Campaigners and retailers agree on food waste ‘outrage’

he UK’s food waste the growing use of food banks, clearer focus on helping consumers problem is galvanising and concerns about food security, to avoid waste. agreement between retailers, environmental sustainability and The reasons for supermarkets policymakers, NGOs, climate change, have all come together getting on board are complex, but Tactivists, campaigners and consultants, to transform responses to the challenge they do believe customers care about says research from the Sustainable of food waste reduction. food waste and inactivity could lead Consumption Institute (SCI) at the University of Manchester. Until recently, responsibilities for food One third of the food currently produced for humans to eat is wasted. waste were pushed onto the shoulders of Until recently, responsibilities for food “individuals and households waste were pushed onto the shoulders of individuals and households. “Initial “Our research suggests that a them to shop elsewhere. Among all responses either blamed consumers surprising multi-stakeholder coalition stakeholders, researchers identified for their assumed lack of concern and has rapidly developed around this issue a sense” of moral outrage regarding cooking skills or else positioned food and there is broad consensus among food waste and a genuine shared waste as a matter of consumer choice retailers, activists and policymakers,” desire to tackle the problem. “It will be and behaviour change,” says project explains Dr Evans. “Crucially, there is interesting to see if this move beyond leader Dr David Evans. recognition that we must move beyond behaviour change and the cohesion But research by SCI shows that ‘behaviour change’ and recognise, and between parties that are usually rather the issue is much more complex. A advocate for, distributed responsibility.” antagonistic is indicative of broader survey of 2,800 consumers shows that Supermarkets, who are directly change in how retailers and their conventions generally seen as positive responsible for only five per cent of stakeholders approach other social or – cooking from fresh ingredients, the food waste, are taking measures to environmental issues,” says Dr Evans. n nuclear family meal, and eating with help suppliers and customers waste friends and extended family – are less. Current initiatives include i Contact Dr David Evans, University more likely to give rise to surplus food, the introduction of guaranteed of Manchester Email [email protected] which is at risk of becoming waste. minimum orders for suppliers, better Telephone 0161 275 0258 Moreover, since 2012, austerity, redistribution of surplus food to ESRC Grant Number ES/L00514X/1 food price inflation, food poverty, charities, improved packaging and a

Spring 2016 society now 3 IN BRIEF BLOWING THE WHISTLE Four-fifths of people in the UK believe they would speak up if they witnessed serious corruption in their organisation. But while whistleblowers perform a vital role, many are forced to leave their organisations and struggle financially. Researchers will examine what happens to whistleblowers and explore interventions that help existing and future whistleblowers by providing advice on income generation and rebuilding Early years professionals careers. ESRC grant number ES/N007085/1 INTEREST GROUPS need more apps training The influence of interest groups Initial training for early years Crush and Temple Run which are not in politics poses a potential professionals should include guidance appropriate in that we observed that threat to democracy. Theory on how to use tablets effectively and they foster little creativity and learning suggests that groups most likely how to choose apps suitable for under- when pre-schoolers use them,” she to be represented will have fives, says a study of pre-schoolers’ explains. Moreover, some parents concentrated economic interests use of apps. Parents, too, need further did not monitor under-fives’ app use or intensely held beliefs that guidance and support on choosing sufficiently well. Safety settings to may result in policies at odds apps for young children, and family ensure safe access to the internet were with general public opinion. digital literacy programmes should not always employed: nine per cent of ‘Agendas and Interest Groups’ be developed which can be offered by parents admitted their children had is a comparative project that will early-years settings and schools. been exposed to content that made address concerns about the role of “All the evidence tells us that the them uncomfortable and 10 per cent of interest groups in setting policy. right age-appropriate apps can promote children had made an in-app purchase ESRC grant number ES/N018915/1 play and creativity in the under-fives by accident. and help them build a broader range of “Age-appropriate apps have a REFERENDUM RESOURCE skills and knowledge such as problem- range of benefits for young children Weekly summaries and analysis solving, prediction and logic: all skills but we can’t just leave them to it,” she of official and unofficial important for science, technology, insists. “Given the extent to which EU Referendum campaign engineering and mathematics young children who live in households materials form one strand of subjects,” explains researcher Professor with tablets use them, we would a project aimed at improving Jackie Marsh. recommend much more support and understanding of the European Currently, a quarter of pre- guidance for parents offered by health Union and the UK’s relationship schoolers have no access to tablets visitors, parenting organisations, with it. Through original research in their homes. And, in a survey of childminders and early-years settings and a wide range of outputs, this 2,000 parents of under-fives, only on how to choose apps for this age Fellowship aims to help people three per cent of parents reported that group and how to support children in make more informed decisions their children had access to a tablet using them. Also, while more early in the June 2016 Referendum on when at school, nursery or in their years settings need to ensure pre- membership of the EU. childminders’ home. “Clearly there’s a school children have access to tablets, ESRC grant number ES/N015479/1 danger that these children will be left early-years practitioners also need on the wrong side of the digital divide,” more training in the use of apps to says Professor Marsh. support creativity and learning.” n But survey findings suggest that simply ensuring greater access to i Contact Professor Jacqueline Marsh, tablets is not enough. “We found University of Sheffield Email [email protected] pre-schoolers were using tablets on Telephone 0114 222 8166 average about 80 minutes a day, but Web www.techandplay.org were surprised by how much they were ESRC Grant Number ES/M006409/1 using apps such as Angry Birds, Candy

4 society now SummSpringe r2016 2011 Child friendships cross ethnic divide IN BRIEF Primary-aged children are more likely to Inside school, the majority of children had have friends in a different ethnic group than close friends (one of their top five friends) a different social class, according to a recent across different ethnic groups and class study in three primary schools across London. backgrounds. Outside school, however, Researchers explored the friendships friendships were less diverse because, say parents and children made through primary researchers, parents tend not to encourage school. Findings show children were more friendships out of school with families very likely to mix across social class and ethnicity different to their own. n than their parents. However, social class proved a more i Contact Professor Carol Vincent, University SECURITY THREATS impermeable divide than ethnicity for both College London, Institute of Education The Centre for Research adults and children. Three-quarters of the Email [email protected] Telephone 0207 612 6915 and Evidence on Security children interviewed said their best friendships Web www.friendshipacrossdifference.com Threats (CREST), based at crossed ethnic lines. But only a quarter of best ESRC Grant Number ES/K002384 Lancaster University, brings friendships were across class divides. together academic researchers, government and industry stakeholders and communication specialists to use economic Racism takes its toll and social science research to understand, mitigate and counter on child wellbeing security threats. Commissioned in partnership with the UK Children’s health and Millennium Cohort Study. Findings security and intelligence agencies, development is adversely affected by show that children with mothers who CREST aims to transform our racism, says recent research from had experienced racism first hand were understanding of, and capacity to the ESRC International Centre for around one and a half times more likely counter, contemporary threats. Lifecourse Studies at University College to be obese than children of mothers ESRC grant number ES/N009614/1 London. “There’s now a compelling who had not. Children living in areas body of evidence linking racism with where the mothers described racism UNDERSTANDING NEETS poorer health and development in as common were more likely to have In 2012, 15 per cent of children, something which has long- social and emotional difficulties and young people aged 15-29 in term implications for their wellbeing,” performed worse in tests. OECD countries were Not in says researcher Professor Yvonne Kelly. “Racism needs to be firmly in Employment, Education or Researchers looked at the social, the mix of priorities to tackle when Training (‘NEETS’). Researchers emotional and physical development policymakers are trying to ensure will investigate the patterns, of children and discovered links the health and happiness of the UK’s causes and consequences between the racism their parents children,” Professor Kelly concludes. n of NEETS and improve experience and behavioural problems, understanding of country poor performance on tests of cognitive i Contact Professor Yvonne Kelly, University similarities and differences ability and obesity. In the first study College London through in-depth analysis of five Email [email protected] of its kind, researchers explored how Telephone 0207 679 1632 country cases combined with mothers’ experience of racism affected Web www.childofourtimeblog.org.uk cross-national analyses of 24 the physical and mental health of ESRC Grant Number ES/H034862/3 advanced economies. more than 2,000 five-year-olds in the ESRC grant number ES/N018672/1 FOOD FRESHNESS Fresh’ and ‘natural’ are key words in the food industry. A new study will focus on the commercial, environmental and social significance of ‘freshness’ as a central issue in the production and consumption of fish, poultry, fruit and vegetables in the UK and Portugal. Findings will inform food businesses, government, food-related charities and NGOs. ESRC grant number ES/N009649/1

summSpringer 20162011 society now 5 IN BRIEF History lessons on child sex abuse For more than a century, policymakers, since missed numerous opportunities to define the criminal justice system and press have and highlight child sexual abuse as a problem. missed numerous opportunities to act on child Researchers say their findings on historical sexual abuse, according to a recent review of abuse will contexualise current public inquiries the past social, legal and political responses and contribute to future policymaking. n to the problem. In 1925, for example, an important Departmental committee on Sexual i Contact Professor Louise Jackson, Offences against Young People made key University of Edinburgh recommendations to tighten the law and protect Email [email protected] Telephone 0131 650 3837 TACKLING SANITATION children. Yet legal objections meant that it took Web www.historyandpolicy.org/projects/ The lack of decent sanitation in many decades before young people’s rights were project/historical-child-sex-abuse densely-populated low-income fully recognised. The press, too, first highlighted ESRC Grant Number ES/M009750/1 urban settlements in Africa is the evils of child prostitution in 1885 yet has an important cause of under-five mortality, through diarrhoeal diseases. Despite significant Africa overlooks ‘slum superstars’ investments by governments and international donors in Government teachers and Although the children were taught bringing sanitation to low-income education officials in developing mostly by rote, test scores reveal that households, adoption of improved countries too often believe that children they were just as creative as Western sanitation has been low. Building from poor families with illiterate children, including some with on literature that stresses the parents lack talent and ability. Contrary exceptionally high ability. “Prior to our importance of social networks to this belief, a new study based in the research some educational officials as on influencing individuals’ slums of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania well as teachers held the belief that behaviour, researchers will identified children with extraordinary poor children could not be gifted,” explore the potential for more and exceptional abilities and potential. says Professor Dixon. Indeed, when effective interventions. “Currently the contribution of these researchers told one father that his ESRC grant number ES/N006984/1 children to economic growth and daughter was very talented, he refused development is wasted because no-one to believe it, explaining that he thought ‘HONEYPOT BRITAIN’ believes they exist,” says researcher only the rich could be talented. There is a perception among parts Professor Pauline Dixon. “It is important that we dispel of the public that migrant workers In an 18-month project, researchers this myth as too few development come to the UK to claim benefits collected data from 24 teachers, nearly experts believe that part of the solution – a phenomenon described by 2,000 children and 17 government to poverty can come from the poor the tabloid press as ‘honeypot schools as well as 200 parents ro themselves, says Professor Dixon. “Our Britain’. Researchers will examine investigate how ‘giftedness’ is currently research reveals an enormous waste of exactly what migrants are entitled regarded in a low-income setting in human capital if the resource of gifted to under EU and UK law, how Dar Es Salaam. Children took part in ‘slum superstars’ remains untapped.” n many migrants claim benefits and a range of creativity and IQ tests as the experience of being an EU well as describing what they thought i Contact Professor Pauline Dixon, migrant coming to the UK. of their own intelligence. The children University of Newcastle Email [email protected] ESRC grant number ES/N015436/1 were also asked to identify three Telephone 0191 208 5047 children in their class they thought ESRC Grant Number ES/K011987/1 PHYSICAL ACTIVITY were gifted giving the reasons why. Brazil has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the world and increasing levels of obesity and other conditions associated with a lack of physical activity are emerging as a public health priority. This study will develop policy tools, partnerships and evidence for increasing physical activity levels of older adults in Brazilian cities with the aim of benefiting economic development and wellbeing. ESRC grant number ES/N013336/1

6 society now SpringSumme r2016 2011 Alcohol does not affect victims’ rape evidence

Following a new study from the University of Leicester, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Leicestershire Police are working to develop national guidelines for interviewing sexual assault victims who were intoxicated during the crime. Research, led by Dr Heather Flowe, suggests that even if a victim was drunk at the time of a sexual assault, they can still Good memory not key to accurately remember details of the crime. In the study, researchers examined the influence of alcohol older people’s happiness on remembering an interactive hypothetical sexual assault in New research into the people, the same relationship between a laboratory setting. Female relationship between memory, identity identity and wellbeing did not occur. participants completed a memory and wellbeing in older people could When their memory performance test 24 hours and four months later. lead to better support for people was tested, younger participants in “Although intoxicated with dementia. the study were able to remember participants reported fewer pieces Changes in memory, as people more than older participants. But, of information about an assault, grow older, can have a major impact on interestingly, although older people the information they did provide daily life and relationships with others. scored less highly on memory tests, was just as accurate as sober As well as forgetting simple day-to-day even when older people reported only participants,” says Dr Flowe. tasks, people can forget personal and very positive memories, this was not It is a long-held misconception life events. related to their general wellbeing. that victims and witnesses who are “This type of memory – “Our results suggest that wellbeing intoxicated are not able to give as autobiographical memory – plays a in older age does not depend on what good an account as they would when central role in our sense of identity you remember, or even how good your sober, she says. By working with the and we wanted to explore how it memory is – what is crucial is how CPS and police the research team would relate to wellbeing,” explains you conceptualise your identity in the aims to improve the quality of how researcher Dr Clare Rathbone of present moment,” says Dr Rathbone. testimony is gathered from sexual Oxford Brookes University. These findings could, researchers assault victims, which could result in As part of this three-year study, suggest, pave the way for future a higher rate of prosecutions. n researchers tested 32 younger and research aimed at supporting 32 older adults on their memory, wellbeing in people with very severe i Contact Dr Heather Flowe, sense of identity and wellbeing. memory impairments and even Loughborough University [email protected] Surprisingly, perhaps, findings show Email dementia. “Having a sense of identity Telephone 01509 226353 that general forgetfulness, a common does not require complex memories ESRC Grant Number ES/J005169/1 experience among many older adults, for support,” she says. “By finding is not related to wellbeing at all. “Not new ways to help older people develop being able to remember things or life more positive views of themselves in events to the same extent as younger the present moment it may be possible people didn’t mean older people felt – despite memory loss – to support unhappier with life,” Dr Rathbone wellbeing in later life.” n points out. “Rather, we found that older people tended to be happier i Contact Dr Clare Rathbone, Oxford with their descriptions of ‘who they Brookes University Email [email protected] were’ and having a positive view of Telephone 01865 483772 their self-image or identity was key ESRC Grant Number ES/K000918/1 to their wellbeing. Among younger

Spring 2016 society now 7 Multi-platform media poses challenges Today, more content is accessible, in more formats, on more devices, for more people than ever before. But quantity does not necessarily mean quality. Research into how media companies are transforming from single sector (eg, print or broadcast) to digital multi-platform suppliers of content highlights a tendency in some cases to re-use a narrow pool of material. Many media companies embarked on multi-platform strategies when, because of recession or competitive pressures, their budgets were constrained, says Professor Gillian Doyle. Although investment in new equipment and skills has improved cost-efficiency, what has made the journey to multiplatform feasible is, in many cases, recycling of output rather than any wholesale increase in productivity. Positive house moves do While adding to a cornucopia of media content, multi-platform expansion also poses not disrupt early childhood challenges for media pluralism. “Pluralism is about having different voices in the Many parents worry that instability, this does not mean it is media,” she says. While some argue there is the disruption of moving home never detrimental, say researchers. no need to worry about promoting pluralism may be harmful to young children, Children whose moves did not improve in a digital era, Professor Doyle disagrees. but research from the Centre for their living space or area were more “More volume is not the same as better and Longitudinal Studies suggests that likely to have behavioural problems more diverse,” she says. “We are not talking house moves which are good for the and marginally worse vocabulary about supplying cars or baked beans, but family do not appear to jeopardise scores than non-moving children. the avenues through which people form their child development. Moreover, the housing scene ideas about how the world works. I’m not Analysis of more than 14,000 UK has changed since the mid-2000s. convinced recent developments in the sector children born in 2000-01 and followed A decade on, moving home could adequately serve these ends.” n by the Millennium Cohort Study finds prove more detrimental if moves are that 40 per cent had moved at least once ‘forced’, due to housing becoming i Contact Professor Gillian Doyle, by the age of five and five per cent had more unaffordable. “The question University of Glasgow changed home more than three times. remains as to whether the current lack Email [email protected] Telephone 0141 330 3806 Researchers examined the children’s of affordable housing and reduction in ESRC Grant Number ES/J011606/1 experiences of moving in relation to rent subsidies in the UK will increase their scores on cognitive assessments, the number of young families moving and whether they had any behavioural for negative reasons,” says Professor problems at age five. Findings Heather Joshi. “Policies should enable confirm that it is events such as family families to move to meet changing disruption and loss of employment, needs, without undue stress. We along with social disadvantage – must also ensure that support for indicated by low education, poor children during their ‘early years’ physical and mental health of the includes suitable housing for low mother, low family income, not income families.” n owning the home and living in disadvantaged areas – that account for i Contact Professor Heather Joshi, Centre for the apparent adverse association of child Longitudinal Studies, UCL Institute of Education Email [email protected] development with moving. Telephone 020 7612 6874 While residential mobility does not ESRC Grant Number ES/K000438/1 necessarily equate with undesirable

8 society now Spring 2016 Coalitional presidentialism costs IN BRIEF Coalitional presidential democracies politics and presidential systems has not in Africa, Latin America and post-communist created political stability, but strengthened Europe, where a president whose party is without presidents’ policy decisiveness. Researchers a majority in the lower house of parliament warn that the dominance of presidential seeks a durable cross-party alliance, are already coalitions has produced democratic costs common and expected to increase. which could create longer-term problems. n In the first cross-regional study of coalitional presidentialism, researchers interviewed 350 i Contact Dr Timothy Power, University of Oxford MPs from emerging democracies in Armenia, Email [email protected] Benin, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Kenya, Malawi, Telephone 01865 284779 Web www.area-studies.ox.ac.uk/presidentialism Russia and Ukraine. Findings suggest that the ESRC Grant Number RES-062-23-2892 INTENSIVE CARE STUDIES anticipated ‘difficult combination’ of multiparty Recruitment of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients to take part in clinical research poses significant challenges, not least because Health policy neglects potential many patients are unconscious and unable to consent. of online patient communities Researchers aim to investigate stakeholders with recent first- Government, the NHS and of providing more direct support hand experience of ICU treatment professional healthcare bodies have online for healthcare professionals, the and research to inform good embraced social media networks as difficulties of determining who would practice on recruitment and dissemination tools, but frequently pay for digital healthcare and concerns consent to future ICU studies. overlook their potential for peer-to-peer around patient confidentiality. ESRC grant number ES/N006372/1 support by people with chronic illness, Co-researcher Dr Daniel Hunt says: says a new study of how people with “By retreating from providing care MANAGING BY NUMBER diabetes use social media. through social media, the government Public service policymaking “Lifelong self-care is critical for both misses opportunities and devolves activities and administrative people with diabetes, which means risks onto the public and non- control are increasingly they have a lot to gain from asking government organisations. Crucially, structured around numerical questions, joining communities and without a change in policy and working calculations ranging from cost- sharing information on networks like practices to reflect how the public use benefit analyses to rankings Facebook,” says researcher Dr Nelya new media, our healthcare professionals and ratings. Researchers will Koteyko. But, based on a major study of will remain out of the loop with scrutinise relationships between social media and healthcare, researchers emerging patient practices.” n quantification, administrative conclude that policymakers regard capacity and democracy across social media as a tool for delivering i Contact Dr Nelya Koteyko, Queen Mary three policy sectors (health/ information to aid choice, rather than University of London hospitals, higher education, Email [email protected] an opportunity for peer support. Telephone 020 7882 8790 criminal justice/prisons) and Government caution is ESRC Grant Number ES/K005103/2 across France, Germany, the unsurprising given the potential risks Netherlands and the UK. ESRC grant number ES/N018869/1 UNIVERSITY INEQUALITIES Inequalities in university access, attainment and labour market outcomes persist. New research aims to understand the association between parental socio-economic status and student drop-out rates, degree class, employment, earnings and participation in post-graduate education over the last decade. Researchers will investigate how inequalities arise and what interventions could reduce them. ESRC grant number ES/M008622/1

summSpringer 20112016 society now 9 feature Ready for the referendum? Ready for the referendum? Simon Usherwood of the ESRC UK in a Changing Europe initiative gives his opinion on the implications of David Cameron’s negotiation of the UK’s terms of membership of the EU, and how the various in or out camps are shaping up pre-referendum. Will this turn out to be the most important vote of a generation?

nd so it finally begins. Two years but it also made clear that it will not enter into after David Cameron’s Bloomberg effect until the UK formally notices the EU speech, where he committed to holding that it wishes to remain a member, ie, after the a referendum on the UK’s membership referendum. Only then will its various provisions ofA the European Union (EU), we now have a date: be pursued, and most of those are simply 23 June. commitments to open legislative procedures, which Before considering the value of Cameron’s leaves them at the mercy of other member states, ‘settlement’ with the European Council in February, the European Parliament and, eventually, legal it is perhaps useful to dwell on how he came to find challenge before the European Court of Justice. himself in this position in the first place. Even on the most generous interpretation, Cameron does The British public is neither not hold strong opinions on the European Union, other than that it holds the potential to distract him very knowledgeable nor very (and his government) from other things. If the main “bothered about the EU work of the current Conservative administration is to reshape the British state, then the EU is only one In more substantive terms, the text covers four element within that. main areas. On Eurozone governance, there is Unfortunately, for Cameron, many in his agreement that the Eurozone and the ‘outs’” will parliamentary party disagree on this ordering of respect each others’ positions, with the latter able to things, especially on the back benches. Thus, while ask for more debate of relevant issues if they have he has tried to ‘stop banging on’ about Europe, they concerns. But there is no veto power implied therein. have recognised that he is biddable on points of On sovereignty, the European Council policy. From his first decision as party leader in 2006 reiterates its 2014 agreement that the phrase to withdraw Tory MEPs from the European People’s ‘ever closer union’ does not, in itself, imply any Party through the Bloomberg speech itself, all can be further integration, although this also does not read as an effort to get his back benches in order. mean that member states are not bound by all the All of this is a necessary prelude to understanding other, substantive provisions of the treaties. If a how Cameron found himself sweating out two days majority of national parliaments have a problem in Brussels in February, to agree a deal that, on the with a legislative text, then they can block it. But, face of it, is nothing much to behold. given that most member states are parliamentary Legally, the settlement lacks much substance. democracies, it is hard to see any such legislation The entire package is described as ‘legally binding’, passing the Council in the first place. On competitiveness, there is agreement that this should be pursued, by securing more trade How does the EU make laws? agreements internationally, continued rigorous The European Commission (essentially the EU’s civil enforcement of existing subsidiarity provisions, service) is responsible for drafting and proposing and the checks to make sure that smaller legislation. The European Parliament (elected by EU businesses are not over-burdened. citizens) and the Council of Ministers (representing Finally, on welfare, there is the possibility of national governments and attended by national indexing child benefit paid to EU nationals living ministers) amend the draft proposals and vote on in other member states, whose children do not live whether these proposals should become EU law. National in that state, to the cost of living in that state, from governments and the European Commission are then 2020 onwards. This will only apply to new migrants responsible for seeing that those laws that are passed and will not be extended to other benefits. Member are then implemented. states will also be ‘reminded’ about their powers to The two most common forms of EU legal act are remove EU nationals who abuse free movement, regulations and directives. Both regulations and including criminals. directives are legally-binding and both are applicable to It is only on the safeguard mechanism that the all 28 countries of the EU. UK has any special provision (everything else being Source: ukandeu.ac.uk available to all member states): The European ▲ Council accepts that Britain is already in an

10 society now spring 2016

feature Ready for the referendum?

The Bloomberg Second, the clear signposting of his renegotiate- speech itself can and-vote strategy has allowed the Remain camp be read as an effort by David Cameron to form a single organisational pole around which to get his back to build. Even if Stronger In has not got the benches in order extended track record of campaigning that many on the Leave side do, the avoidance of challenger organisations has given it a much clearer path to official designation by the Electoral Commission. Finally, by holding back his own campaigning, Cameron has allowed for a more accommodating space for Remain arguments to develop. Even though he has taken on this role, he will be just one voice among several making the case, alongside several colleagues who might have taken against him. The Leave campaign, by contrast, faces a more difficult time. Despite the stronger mobilisation to ▲ ‘exceptional situation’ with regards to the volume date, and the much better honed lines of argument, of intra-EU migrants, which would allow it to apply the organisational challenges seem more daunting. transition restrictions to in-work benefits over a In part this is a problem of personalities. The seven-year period. British Eurosceptic movement has always suffered The most useful summary is thus the European in this regard, with deep divisions between the Council’s own comment that this is ‘within the ‘fundamentalists’ (who oppose membership no treaty framework’, ie, it is not a fundamental, or matter what) and the ‘realists’ (who take a more even a limited, change in the UK’s relationship opportunistic approach), to borrow from the with the Union. At best, it is a clarification of the literature on challenger parties. margin of manoeuvre that exists, bar the safeguard But, more profoundly, this is a problem of mechanism, which will need some careful legal alternatives. Beyond a dislike of EU membership, work not to fall foul of the Court of Justice. the Leave camp is deeply split on what should come So far, then, so bad. But to look at the instead. Is it about turning our back on the world settlement in narrow legal terms would be to and finding somewhere tucked away, or are we to misunderstand the British referendum debate. become a ‘Singapore on steroids’, riding the waves As research has repeatedly shown, the British in search of global opportunities? public is neither very knowledgeable nor very To a certain degree, such divisions do not matter. bothered about the EU: European integration has The evidence from other EU-related referendums is that they are won by broad coalitions, articulating The EU referendum has been diverse messages to specific audiences. Just as Cameron will do well not to make it about his views, presented by many as the most so too will the Leave camp do well by embracing “important vote in a generation their diversity. In an age where the media has become more atomised and personalised, such not had a high profile as an issue since the mid- diversification is both possible and desirable. 2000s, when the Constitutional Treaty’s death at The EU referendum has been presented by the hands of French and Dutch voters killed off the ” many as the most important vote in a generation post-Maastricht cycle of integration. At best, the EU and there is something to that. Whether it will result is understood through the lenses of other issues, in a national debate about the UK’s place in the such as immigration, the economy or welfare. world is something that remains to be seen. n This matters because Cameron has long relied on the impression of renegotiation counting for much more than the substance. Just as the 1975 referendum was not fought primarily over Harold Wilson’s renegotiation, so the 2016 vote will not hang primarily on Cameron’s settlement. Instead, the campaigns will be about the value and costs of The UK in a Changing Europe Initiative promotes rigorous, membership in much broader brushstrokes. And high-quality and independent research into the complex and in that, Cameron has laid the ground well. ever changing relationship between the UK and the European First, by conceding that he would not whip his Union (EU). party or Cabinet on the issue, he has reduced the It provides an authoritative, non-partisan and impartial risks associated with making this a referendum reference point for those looking for information, insights on his own popularity. Instead, he can share a and analysis about UK-EU relations that stands aside from stage with political figures across the centre of the the politics surrounding the debate. spectrum and deny the Leave camp the resources ukandeu.ac.uk of the two main political parties.

12 society now spring 2016 Cara Booker opinion Managing social media Is the increasing use of social media among UK adolescents reducing their levels of wellbeing and, if so, what can parents do? By Dr Cara Booker

alk anywhere today and you are likely to see a group of teenagers sitting together but with their eyes on their smartphones, usually accessing Wsome social media network. The use of social media among UK adolescents is higher than in other age groups and is increasing. As the increase in social media use increases in this age group, their levels of wellbeing are amongst the worst in Europe. Are these two trends linked in any way? Are UK young people less happy if they use more social media? Using data from the ESRC Understanding action from these firms is necessary. Car seat belts, Society: the UK Household Panel Study, we found removal of lead from paint, and pasteurisation of that adolescents who used social media one to three milk all required changes from the industries that hours on a normal school day were more likely produced the products and these changes have had to have lower levels of happiness. Additionally, major impacts on the health of the population. they were also more likely to have more social and emotional problems. We also looked at patterns of The long-term relationship use by age and gender among these 10- to 15-year- olds and found that girls used more social media between social media use and than boys and use increased with age. If the trends “wellbeing is not fully understood of decreasing wellbeing, increasing social media use and this link between the two are persistent The irony of the situation is not lost – we would and affect each other over time, we have the be asking social media developers to encourage potential for having a generation of young people their largest and most valued consumers to reduce ” with low levels of wellbeing who will grow up to be their social media use. But, as it might be the adults with low wellbeing. quality of friendship of the interactions rather When I presented this information to our than the time spent on them, perhaps a reduction university’s parent network the question we kept is not necessary; instead, a combined effort by returning to during our discussion was ‘What can parents and firms to educate young people about parents do to reduce use?’ This is such a difficult the most effect and healthy ways to engage with question to answer as each child is different and the social media. However, as the research suggests, it reasons why they are engaging with social media might be time spent on social media, and perhaps might be different – and may actually be increasing the addition of usage timers or reminders to take their wellbeing. Some studies suggest that young a break after a certain amount of time might be people who use social media for informational useful in reducing time on social media and may purposes, or with friends with whom they have lead to participation in other activities that might high-quality relationships, increase their wellbeing increase current and future wellbeing. compared to those who interact with friends they Just as other industries were necessary in might not know as well, or have never met. This making large-scale public health changes, social would suggest that parents speak to their children media firms will be necessary if current trends hold about who they are interacting with when they are and this becomes a greater public health issue. The on social media apps or websites. long-term relationship between social media use While parents are the obvious targets for and wellbeing is not fully understood, so we need engaging young people in a discussion about to act now rather than waiting until the effects are their social media use patterns and who they are too great or long-lasting. We need to understand engaging with, there are other avenues to explore. how wellbeing and social medial use affect each One, which has been suggested in a report by the other to begin to reverse the ongoing trend of Strategic Society Centre, based on this research, is unhappy young people in the UK. n the producers of social media platforms. What, if any, responsibility do they have to their consumers i Contact Dr Cara Booker, University of Essex to inform them of the risks to their wellbeing as a Telephone 01206 873026 Email [email protected] result of high levels of use? If we approach this in Web www.understandingsociety.ac.uk a manner similar to previous public health issues,

Spring 2016 society now 13 NEWS Global Challenges Research Fund Going global The new Global Challenges Research Fund will bring together the UK research communities, governments and international partners to tackle the most pressing and life-changing issues in developing countries. Jeremy Neathey, ESRC’s Deputy Director for Research and International, explains

he Autumn 2015 Comprehensive approach and investigate topics such as anti- Spending Review not only outlined the microbial resistance, or conflict, migration and risk. Government’s spending priorities for UK Single discipline strategic programmes and research but also included the launch of the bilateral collaborations – Not all challenges require Tnew £1.5-billion Global Challenges Research Fund multidisciplinary approaches. It will be vital to (GCRF). The fund will be delivered over the next five complement the multidisciplinary fund with a years to enable the deployment of the UK’s research parallel focus on research projects and capability strengths, across all disciplines, and across UK development in focused topic areas or through research councils, to help meet social, environmental new bilateral partnerships. These programmes or and health challenges across the world. collaborations could examine programme themes What are the fund’s aims? such as making rural places and developing cities The key aim of the GCRF is to promote the and economies work better; or expansion of health welfare and economic development of people in research programmes. developing countries and is part of a new Official One key aim of the GCRF is that research Development Assistance (ODA) strategy for the UK. collaborations should be broadened to include not The fund will be used to support research into only established national research organisations but multiple challenges and objectives through a mix also NGOs, charities or business – not the usual of strategically driven programs and UK researcher- organisations that apply for development grants. generated projects. Challenge areas will be selected The longer-term aim is to build research capacity in due to their strategic relevance to ODA objectives countries and also research infrastructure. and the quality of proposals as assessed through Why is social science important in international competitive processes. development research? How does the GCRF differ from existing government The ESRC has extensive and valuable experience research funds? in funding international research, particularly As well as the GCRF there are a range of international development research. This includes funds for development-relevant research across work with governments, the private sector, major Whitehall, including the Newton Fund, Ross Fund, international donors and the aid ‘industry’ itself. Fleming Fund, and the ODA-eligible research Social science research also represents, for budgets of DFID, Defra, Department of Health, many lower income countries, a relatively untapped and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The resource for development, and it can provide challenge is to ensure that these funds are used evidence and insights at the level of individuals, in complementary ways without unnecessary local networks, institutions and societies. duplication. The GCRF differs from the Newton The ESRC’s strategy under the GCRF should fund, for example, in that the Newton fund only encompass the commissioning and management applies to countries on the (OECD) Development of excellent science, but also concerted efforts Assistance Committee (DAC) list and requires to support the enhancement of social science match funding from partners in the country where capabilities within developing countries the research is taking place. themselves. In this way, the ESRC’s ambition in Some initial work has already been done within delivering the GCRF should not only be to deliver the research councils to identify topics that are excellent social science for development, but to likely to form the basis for initial research priorities support the strengthening of social science in but there will also be extensive consultation with countries as a valuable development end in itself. stakeholders both within the UK and in developing The ESRC international team is highly countries themselves to refine those priorities. This experienced in managing funding calls for research will also raise awareness of the fund within the of this kind and their experience means we will countries themselves. be able to start managing allocation of the fund What type of research approaches will be funded? immediately. Initial funding is available and a There will be two core components to the call will go out later in 2016 for projects to start funding: Multidisciplinary Challenge Fund – This in 2017. The aim is for the ESRC to announce stream will address challenge areas that require specific funding calls in late Spring/early Summer a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research which will be advertised on our website. n

14 society now spring 2016 melissa leach opinion Understanding outbreaks Social science can reveal vital socio-cultural dimensions and stories to help responses to epidemics such as the Zika virus. By Professor Melissa Leach

ika virus is the latest emerging the country not to get pregnant until 2018, was infectious disease epidemic to hit global this due precaution, or overreaction? As scientific headlines. First identified in Uganda controversies in many other arenas have shown, in 1947 and transmitted mainly by openness about uncertainty, and deliberation theZ Aedes aegyptii mosquito, the virus is now by scientists, policymakers and publics, is a less spreading rapidly across Latin America and beyond. risky route than false confidence that may prove Many cases just have flu-like symptoms, but the unfounded and undermine trust. virus is also blamed for complications such as A second narrative shows the Zika crisis less Guillain-Barré syndrome and, most significantly, as a dramatic new event than an exposure of a dramatic upsurge in birth defects, including longstanding system failures and social faultlines. thousands of cases of microcephaly in Brazil In Brazil, the Aedes mosquito has proliferated since October 2015. amidst deeply inadequate sewage systems, The Zika story bears many characteristics unplanned urban development and poor access of what has been termed ‘the global outbreak to drinking water, making it necessary to store narrative’. A mysterious microbe emerges ‘out it. Those most affected are the poorest people. of Africa’ or ‘out of Asia’ and spreads rapidly in As local commentators have emphasised, Zika an interconnected world to threaten ‘us all’. The is unmasking a country characterised by huge outbreak narrative typically concludes with the inequalities and a fragile public health system. heroism of an international response, as medics, And it is exposing societies whose religious epidemiologists and humanitarian agencies unite moralities oppress women and undercut to put science, power and money behind halting reproductive rights. the outbreak. We have heard versions of this narrative many Local knowledge and times – with H5N1 avian flu, SARS, H1N1 ‘swine flu’, and in 2014-15 with the Ebola crisis in West cultural logics might hold vital Africa. The speed with which the World Health “keys to defeating the virus Organisation categorised the Zika epidemic as a ‘health emergency of international concern’, A third narrative shows the possibility that mandating inter-governmental response, is surely community-led responses, local knowledge no coincidence. Blamed for doing this several and cultural logics might hold vital keys to ” months too late for Ebola, they understandably do understanding and defeating the Zika epidemic. not wish to be caught out again. This was the big story that eventually emerged But, as our work in the ESRC STEPS Centre through the Ebola crisis, assisted by international on epidemics has shown, global outbreak networks of social scientists such as those we narratives may dominate but they are always convened in the Ebola Response Anthropology partial. Other stories need to be brought to light, Platform (www.ebola-anthropology.net). We do and social scientists can play key roles in finding, not yet know whether citizen responses might researching and revealing their significance. So help turn the Zika crisis around – but the detailed what other narratives deserve more attention engagement and dialogues with local communities around Zika? that can find out needs to happen. One concerns the dilemmas of policymaking Effective preparedness and response to under scientific uncertainty. The Zika epidemic emerging epidemics needs good global health presents many puzzles and mysteries. What are governance, effective public health systems, and the actual dynamics of transmission, and the rapid response capacity. While the value of social roles of mosquito ecologies and human-human, science in all of these is increasingly appreciated including sexual, routes? To what extent is the our contribution must go beyond simply adding virus actually responsible for the upsurge in birth the social and cultural to established responses, to defects – and what other immunological, social reveal and explore the less-told stories too, and to or environmental factors might be involved? show why they matter. n The vital science around these and other questions is a work in progress and fraught with i Contact Professor Melissa Leach, Director, Institute of Development ambiguities, raising real questions for how policy Studies (former Director, STEPS Centre) Email [email protected] and communication should proceed. When the Web steps-centre.org government of El Salvador advised all women in

Spring 2016 society now 15 FOCUS ON SOCIETY

Winners of the 2016 ESRC Focus on Society photographic competition impressed judges with their skill and creativity, while tackling a range of hard-hitting issues

K Society in 2016 has been of Cambridge House, a South London charity encapsulated in the ESRC’s annual established in 1889 by Cambridge University to photographic competition, Focus tackle poverty and social injustice; Sophie Batterbury, on Society. Now in its third year, the Head of Pictures at The Independent, i and The competitionU asked young people aged 14-18 to take a Independent on Sunday newspapers; Jacky Clake, Head shot that demonstrates how they see the world around of Communications for the ESRC; Ollie Smallwood, them from a social science perspective. More than a portrait and documentary photographer; and Jodie 850 children from across the UK took part, entering a Krause, an Art Foundation in Design and Media vast range of inspiring and thought-provoking images student who has won awards at the last two ESRC taken with cameras, mobile phones and tablets. photographic competitions. In March, at a ceremony at the Espacio Gallery in This year’s categories included Cradle to the grave; London, the overall winner was announced as Joanne There’s no place like home; Green and pleasant land; Gallagher who took home the overall prize of £200. From rags to riches; and Variety is the spice of life Joanne’s photo, ‘Stand up for who you are’, looked at – which opened the opportunity for photos covering issues surrounding transgender. a wide range of subjects such as family, economy, Other awards, totalling £2,800, were presented politics, culture, health and sustainability. to six category winners, and five judges’ choice In addition to the prizes, each of the winners’ awards. Judges of this year’s competition were ESRC photos were showcased at an exhibition at the Espacio Council Member Karin Woodley, Chief Executive Gallery in Shoreditch, London. n

16 society now spring 2016 focus on society

Opposite, clockwise from top right: Above, clockwise from top right: Stand up for who you are Joanne Gallagher, Reepham High School and College, Every beginning has an end Scarlett Armstrong, Amersham School, Norwich, Norfolk Amersham, Bucks Winner: Variety is the spice of life category; Overall competition winner Cradle to grave category; Judge’s favourite: Karin Woodley Dismal days Dina Sharer, Hasmonean High School, Barnet, London Rooted on Roundway Olivia Arnold, St Augustine’s Catholic College, Variety is the spice of life category; Judge’s favourite: Jacky Clake Trowbridge, Wiltshire Doing things differently Kiya Jordan, Loreto Sixth Form College, Hulme, Manchester Joint winner: Green and pleasant land category Winner: From rags to riches category Shower Olivia Reynolds, Reepham High School and College, Norwich, Norfolk We are the creators Natasha Wigman, Amersham School, Amersham, Bucks There’s no place like home category; Judge’s favourite: Jodie Krause Joint winner: Green and pleasant land category Portraits of Amod, Sally and Izzy Stanley Chick, Chatham & Clarendon Grammar 1,642,500 nights Ella Tilley, St Catherine’s School, Twickenham, Middlesex School, Ramsgate, Kent Winner: Cradle to grave category Variety is the spice of life category; Judge’s favourite: Sophie Batterbury Not just black and white Tegan Johnston-Brunn, Farnborough Sixth Form College, Sussex by the sea Anne Daly, Peacehaven Community School, Peacehaven, Farnborough, Hampshire East Sussex There’s no place like home category; Judge’s favourite: Ollie Smallwood There’s no place like home category, Winner: Mobile device Mein Nimra Shahid, Surbiton High School, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey www.socialscienceforschools.org.uk/photography-competition Winner: There’s no place like home category

spring 2016 society now 17 feature ABCDE of Biosocial Science ABCDE of Biosocial Science Our behaviours and experiences alter our biology and our biology plays a part in shaping our behaviours. These mutual interplays occur throughout our lives and come together in the study of biosocial science – the common ground between biology and social science. By Professor John Hobcraft

an we understand choices Contexts and ‘social’ Experiences are core and behaviours without combining elements of much social science research. neuroscience and social science? Can Contexts include both structural elements, such we understand employment and social as gender, class, ethnicity, schools and work, or Crelationships without attention to mental and neighbourhoods, and inter-personal ones such as physical health, and the underlying biological family, friends, and peer groups. These can alter pathways? Can biologists and medical scientists the Experiences of an individual, whether through ignore the roles of social and economic experiences constraints on opportunity or, for example, through in the study of health and disease, or the study of bullying or partnership breakdown. genomics? In all cases the answer is predominantly Much social science research examines the no, whether for ‘no brain’ or ‘disembodied’ social consequences of adverse experiences through the science or for ‘asocial’ medicine or biology. life-course in shaping outcomes and behaviours. The need for biosocial science is most evident There is considerable interest in persistent effects for understanding the pathways and mechanisms of adverse experiences, for example short and involved for any process or behaviour. Feedbacks long-term consequences of poverty or parental across levels ranging from molecular biology to divorce, or ‘scarring’ and health effects of spells of macro-level contexts (‘cells to society’ or ‘neurons unemployment. Persistence of these effects is partly through ‘biological embedding’ whereby the adverse Biosocial science is at the experiences ‘get under the skin’ to alter biology at one or more levels. This biological embedding can threshold of exciting and include lasting physiological responses in the body, “innovative developments lasting cognitive and affective changes in the brain, and deeper epigenetic or other molecular responses to neighbourhoods’) all matter in shaping on the genome. individuals and their responses to experiences. A There is already considerable evidence for biosocial research agenda demands collaboration” biological embedding of adverse experiences: across the biological, medical and social sciences. income or class is clearly associated with allostatic The AB(B)CDE of the article title refers to load (wear and tear on the body which grows over Alleles, Brains, Bodies, and Contexts interplaying time when the individual is exposed to repeated or with the individual through Development and chronic stress) as a pathway to disease. And harsh Experience over the life-course. parenting and child poverty have been linked to lasting epigenetic changes. But how does experience get biologically embedded? Experience of poverty has to operate through channels that act as pathways to embodiment: stress, diet, disease, health behaviours, memory, and exercise are examples. The embodiment may be modified by personality, immune systems, or the genome. Biology can also get ‘outside the skin’ to affect behaviours, choices and outcomes. At a high level mental and physical health have strong reciprocal associations with lifestyles, choices and social inequality. There is growing evidence on genetic differential susceptibility to environments and parallels have been drawn to comparisons between orchids (environmentally reactive) and dandelions (less reactive). For example, children with more ‘reactive’ alleles (one of a number of alternative forms of the same gene) show a greater deterioration in behaviour when their fathers leave

18 society now spring 2016 ABCDE of Biosocial Science feature

of incipient ill health such as ‘allostatic load’ that indicate systemic signs of health deterioration. At the molecular level DNA has been genotyped for several studies and attention is also turning to deriving epigenetic markers, such as methylation (DNA is the blueprint but epigenetic changes alter how this gets translated into proteins and reflect the impact of experience on the genome). As part of its ongoing commitment the ESRC developed its Framework to Enable Biosocial Research (2014). This stressed the need for ‘Building Partnerships, Resources and Capacity’. A particularly fruitful institutional partnership has been developed with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. This has led to an exciting jointly funded £3-million portfolio of eight research projects on social epigenetics and a significant step towards greater capacity-building through a jointly commissioned Biosocial Centre for Doctoral Training that will be awarded later the mother, compared to those with fewer reactive Ageing studies this year. Work continues to build similarly fruitful genes; but a different group of ‘reactive’ children and the older partnerships in the biosocial domain with the MRC. birth cohorts whose non-resident fathers at birth subsequently are exploring Biosocial science is at the threshold of exciting cohabit with the mother show differential how biology and and innovative developments. There is clearly a improvements in behaviour. As yet we have very experience interplay need to strengthen training and capacity-building to little direct evidence that epigenetic differences or throughout life to enable effective communication, mutual respect and shape cognitive and changes have consequences for behaviour, but this physical decline understanding for interdisciplinary collaboration. is an important emerging topic for research. Extending awareness and use of the core biosocial ‘Development is a dynamic process that longitudinal resources among social, medical and involves interplay between genes and the biological scientists is essential. Further targeted environment’ (Kundakovic and Champagne multi-disciplinary initiatives are required to leverage 2015). A rapidly growing body of research focuses high-quality research with impact from the current on the interplays of early experience with child extensive resource investments. development. Two key topics are emerging: the role Many new domains and initiatives will emerge of experiences in shaping the synaptic pruning that as biosocial science matures and demonstrates is a critical stage in brain development; and the role importance and impact. A promising example is of experiences in shaping the epigenome. During the interplays of behaviours, choices and lifestyles adolescence there is a further critical period of with cognitive and social/affective neuroscience, brain development associated with mechanisms of for example covering behavioural neuroeconomics, control; and exploration of the epigenetic changes partnership and reproductive behaviours, or effective during adolescence and their interplays with education. There will also be demand for improved experience is under way (in the US Fragile Families social science measurement and for extended Study, for example). and repeated biomeasures, covering longitudinal At the other end of the life-course, ageing changes in blood analytes and epigenetics within studies and the older birth cohorts are exploring individuals and their links to experiences. how biology and experience interplay throughout The core goal is increased understanding of life to shape cognitive and physical decline. Among pathways and mechanisms involved in individual the key questions are whether early or more recent development and response to experiences over the experiences exert stronger roles on biology and life-course. This will enable improved targeting behaviours, and what pathways are involved. Early of interventions, with policies that take account of experiences often do matter a lot. The long running previous life experiences and social and biological UK Birth Cohort studies are a critical evidence base. embedding, and lead to more precise ways of The ESRC has invested significantly in reversing these consequences. n extending its ‘jewel in the crown’ longitudinal studies to encompass biomeasures. Direct mental i John Hobcraft is Professor of Social Policy and Demography, and physical measures now include cognitive University of York. Professor Hobcraft has for several years been a Strategic Advisor to the ESRC on data resources in the longitudinal performance, indicators of depression, height and and biosocial domains. weight, grip strength and exercise levels. There Telephone 01904 32 1278 are also ‘biomarkers’ derived from blood or other Email [email protected] tissue samples that can be used to assess health, Web www.esrc.ac.uk/research/our-research/esrc-research- such as indicators of stress or inflammation. investments-biosocial-research Sometimes these are combined into measures

spring 2016 society now 19 the uk by numbers THE UK by numbers rail transport We present an at-a-glance overview of the key issues in Britain today. This issue our focus is on rail transport. All statistics from the DfT 2015 Rail Trends Factsheet and 2014/15 Public attitudes towards train services report

RAIL USAGE NUMBER OF RAIL The number of rail journeys in the United Kingdom Passenger journeys on the rail network have JOURNEYS IN was the second highest of any country in the European 2013/14, BY REGION more than doubled since rail privatisation, Union in 2014. Germany was the only country to record from 735 million in 1994/95, to 1.65 billion more with a total of 2.7 billion rail journeys. journeys in 2014/15.

Rail passenger journeys Scotland 91m North East 15m 1200 1,155 1000

800 Yorkshire & Humber 66m North West 122m 600

400 365

200 Passenger journeys (millions) 134 East Midlands 0 West Midlands 78m 1994-95 1999-00 2004-05 2009-10 2014-15 31m

Rail passenger kilometres 30 29.6 Wales 29m East of England 25 165m 20.8 20

15 12.0 South West 47m 10 London

Passenger kilometres (billions) 5 835m

0 KEY STAT 1994-95 1999-00 2004-05 2009-10 2014-15 The number of ● Journeys to/from region rail journeys has Sector (franchised operators): ● Journeys within region doubled in the ● London & South East ● Regional ● Long-distance Total number of Journeys (millions) South East 289m last 20 years

SHORT-DISTANCE RAIL SERVICES LONG-DISTANCE RAIL SERVICES

44% of adults Overall, 74% of Overall, the DfT The most had used users and 61% of estimates that popular short-distance non-users rated 30% of adults reasons given rail services in the the quality of short-distance had used long-distance train for using long-distance previous 12 months with rail services positively. Users services in the previous 12 rail were that it was journeys most often made rated the cost of fares for months. The most common quicker by train (42%) for days out, shopping short-distance rail services purpose of long-distance rail or it was easier by and visiting friends more positively than in 2012 journeys was visiting friends train (40%). or relatives. (up from 22% to 34%). or relatives. PERFORMANCE/INFRASTRUCTURE For 2014/15, 89.7% of trains were ‘on time’ in Great Britain. PASSENGER NUMBERS / STATION USAGE The proportion of long-distance trains ‘on time’ remains lower than the regional and London and South-East services. The 10 stations with the highest number of entries and exits in Great Britain in 2014/15:

WATERLOO PASSENGER99,201,604 ⬆ 1% The length of In 2014/15, There were In 2014/15, The average VICTORIA route open 33.5% of the 2,552 carbon age of rolling 85,337,996 ⬆ 5% to all traffic route was passenger emissions per stock in GB LIVERPOOL STREETNUMBERS/ 63,631,246 ⬆ 1% in 2014/15 electrified. stations in passenger km at the end of LONDON BRIDGE in GB was compared to GB in fell by over 2014/15 was CROWDING49,517,854 ⬇ 12% 15,760km 22.7% in 1985/86 2014/15 21% 20.2 years CHARING CROSS 42,978,890 ⬆ 7% EUSTON 100% 42,952,298 ⬆ 2% PADDINGTON % OF TRAINS ‘ON TIME’ BY RAIL SECTOR 35,724,684 ⬆ 2% BIRMINGHAM NEW STREET 35,312,788 ⬆ 2% 90% KING'S CROSS 31,346,862 ⬆ 5% STRATFORD 30,974,204 ⬆ 17% 80% Entries and exits per station for the 2014/15 financial year, with percentage change from 2013/14 Sector (all franchised): ● London & South East 70% ● Regional ● Long-distance SAFETY From 2010-2013 the UK ranked KEY STAT second out of 28 european There were no countries that submit data passenger or staff to the European Railways Agency, in both fatalities due to train the average number of accidents and the accidents in Great 10 FINANCE Government average number of fatalities and weighted Britain in 2014/15 for serious injuries per million train kms. Ireland In 2014/15, government 9 Rail Support the eighth year support to the rail Franchised is the only country to rank above the UK. running. industry was £4.8 billion. 8 Passenger This comprised the £3.8 billion Revenue 7 SAFETY STATISTICS FOR 2014/15 grant paid to Network Rail, and a £1.1 billion grant for Crossrail. 6 Train operating Companies paid a 332 558 13,156 5 premium of £0.8 billion. FATALITIES MAJOR INJURIES MINOR INJURIES

In 2014/15, franchised train £ billions 4 operators received £8.8 billion in 3 3 Passengers 296 Passengers 1,075 revenue from passengers. 31% SHOCK/TRAUMA came from off-peak tickets, 2 3 Staff 175 Staff 28% from anytime/peak tickets, 937 1 and 24% from season tickets. 293 Suicides 50 Suicide attempts SUICIDE ATTEMPTS The remainder came from other 0 ticket types. 2004-05 2009-10 2014-15 33 Other public 37 Other public

TRAIN TICKETS

Overall, 29% Thirty-one per cent of users Almost half (45%) of those who of rail users claimed to have fully purchase rail tickets said they and 21% of understood the different normally did so at a ticket office; non-users thought that types of tickets available, with 37% said they normally purchased there were too many ticket 29% who said that they did not their tickets online from a website. types available when understand. Two in five users said The majority of users (85%) rated the ease of travelling by rail. they partly understood the different purchasing tickets using their main method of types of tickets available. purchase positively. feature Understanding migration Understanding migration

Projects funded under the Mediterranean Migration Research Programme, launched in September 2015, have been gathering evidence and are starting to report initial findings

he summer of 2015 will be etched n Transcapes: transient populations transforming in the memory for most as a time when the European political space – Dr Antonis the eyes of the media first turned to the Vradis, Durham University ‘migrant crisis’. We witnessed the tragedy n Unravelling the Mediterranean migration Tof the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing crisis (MEDMIG) – Professor Heaven Crawley, their homes in the search for safety by whichever Coventry University means they could – often leading to disastrous n EVI-MED – Constructing an evidence base outcomes as they endeavoured to cross the of contemporary Mediterranean migrations – treacherous Mediterranean from unstable North Professor Brad Blitz, Middlesex University African states. n Precarious trajectories: Understanding the The issue is vast and complex – but, crucially, human cost of the migrant crisis in the central is not appeasing. According to The Office of the Mediterranean – Dr Simon Parker, University United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees of York (UNHCR), winter has not stemmed the flow of n documenting the humanitarian migration crisis people deserting their homeland. By the turn of in the Mediterranean – Professor Elspeth Guild, 2015, the number of people seeking asylum in the Queen Mary, University of London European Union reached 1,255,600 – more than double that of the previous year. And in March Deaths of migrants at sea 2016, UNHCR stated that 135,711 people had reached Europe, by sea, since the start of 2016. will only stop once legal and safe They state that the conflict in Syria is the “means of migration are available biggest driver of migration. But violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, abuses in Eritrea, as well as Craig Bardsley, Head of International poverty in Kosovo, are also causing people to look Development Research at the ESRC, explained: to begin their lives elsewhere – quite often “Given the unprecedented levels of migration across ” in Western Europe. the Mediterranean in the spring and summer of So what is the role UK social science can play in 2015, and the catastrophic death toll that resulted, tackling the issue? there was an urgent need for new research to better This was the question set out by the ESRC back understand the dynamics and drivers of the crisis.” in May 2015 when is launched its first call under And some six months on since the its Urgency Grants Mechanism, with co-funding Mediterranean Migration Research Programme from the Department for International was launched, the findings of this ‘new research’ Development (DFID). are beginning to come to light. The Council was looking for leading UK social Warwick: Dr Vicki Squire and her team scientists to conduct research with migrant and have assessed the impact of government policy refugee populations who entered Europe across interventions from the perspective of migrants the Mediterranean. and refugees themselves. The first phase of Within the space of just a few months the the project is based on 150 in-depth qualitative Mediterranean Migration Research Programme interviews, conducted since September 2015 was launched, and in September £1 million was across three Mediterranean island arrival points: split between eight projects: Kos, Malta and Sicily. On the basis of these n Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by boat: interviews, the project has drawn attention to Mapping and documenting migratory journeys ineffectiveness of deterrent policies, particularly and experiences – Dr Vicki Squire, University given the partial knowledge of these policies of Warwick by people on the move. The project has also n Missing migrants and deaths at the EU’s emphasised the complexity of migratory journeys, Mediterranean border: Humanitarian needs and with many involving stops along the way. Findings state obligations – Dr Simon Robins, University indicate that a clear-cut migration strategy of York from the start is rare, with multiple conditions n Transitory lives: An anthropological research of prompting movement. Dr Squire explains: “The the migration crisis in the Mediterranean – Dr project therefore shows there is not a singular Elisabeth Kirtsoglou, Durham University ‘migration crisis’, but diverse experiences of this.”

22 society now spring 2016 Understanding migration feature

systematic and comparative research on the experiences and motivations of those who crossed the Mediterranean in 2015. Data has been collected from 500 refugees and migrants, as well as more than 100 stakeholders, with the fieldwork taking place in 10 sites across four countries (Italy, Greece, Turkey and Malta). The team’s initial findings, recently presented in Oxford, suggest that the failure of policy responses to the current crisis are due in part to underlying assumptions about why people are on the move and the journeys that they take. Findings show: n There are significant differences in the nationality, age, gender, family units, educational and employment backgrounds, duration and cost of journey of those crossing Central and Eastern Mediterranean routes. n Although the increase in the scale of flow of people is partly explained by the deteriorating situation in Syria, the drivers of migration to Europe are complex and multi-faceted. n Whilst public attention has been captured by In February the team launched their first Findings show that a journeys across the sea and through the Balkans, phase policy suggestions in Brussels, highlighting clear-cut migration many people have been displaced or were four key recommendations: Replace deterrent strategy from the migrating for longer periods of time. start is rare, with n border control policies with interventions that multiple conditions Refugees and migrants often lack information address the diverse causes of irregular migration; prompting about migration policies in particular countries, Revise migration and protection categories to movement and the decisions about where to go are more reflect the multiple reasons that people are on the often based on a whole range of intervening move; Open safe and legal routes for migration, variables and opportunities that arise on the and improve reception conditions and facilities; journey or by those who facilitate the journey. Improve rights-oriented information campaigns York: Dr Simon Parker and his team have across neighbouring, transit and arrival regions. examined the policies and practices that affect York: The impact of the failure of European migrants’ routes and their condition whilst on land ” authorities is evident in the data collected from and sea, within and at the borders of the EU. families of missing migrants by Dr Simon Robins The first phase involved conducting over 80 and his team. Families from Tunisia, Syria and in-depth qualitative interviews with migrants who elsewhere have been interviewed and confirmed have crossed the Mediterranean and arrived in that they are living with ambiguity, not knowing if Sicily and in Greece since September 2015. They their loved one is dead or alive. have also interviewed smugglers, border guards, The situation of families suffering from the coast guards, humanitarian aid-workers, first trauma of ambiguous loss is often characterised reception operators, and city mayors. by depression, anxiety and family conflict. Most A report is due in April concerning the deadly have no contact with either their own authorities effects of the ending of the Italian Mare Nostrum or European states through which they can explore operation in early 2015, arguing that the crossing routes to learning the truth about the fate of their of the central Mediterranean became much more relatives, prolonging their suffering. Despite being dangerous as a result of the EU’s decision to a large-scale humanitarian crisis, the problem of prioritise border control, which left a huge gap in missing migrants is one of the few aspects of this rescue capabilities. crisis that the EU authorities can effectively address The report will make several with no threat to their sovereignty. recommendations: chiefly that deaths of migrants So far, the findings from Dr Robins’ team show at sea will only stop once legal and safe means that European states and regional organisations of migration are available. It suggests that in the should prioritise the collection and centralisation of absence of such a policy, it is the minimum duty post-mortem data from the bodies of migrants who of EU member states to continue effective Search die at their shores, and the creation of mechanisms and Rescue operations that may limit the deaths to reach out to families in states of origin to collect resulting from the European Union’s policies ante-mortem data that can permit identification. of closure. n The project will use its data to advocate for such approaches. i Web www.esrc.ac.uk/news-events-and-publications/news/news- Coventry: Professor Heaven Crawley and items/1-million-urgency-grant-to-fund-social-science-research- into-migration-crisis/ her team are undertaking the first large-scale,

society now spring 2016 23 feature Sizing up the Budget Sizing up the Budget

Another year of austerity has been pencilled in, but the chances of having a surplus in 2019/20 are only 50 per cent, concluded Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), in his analysis after Chancellor George Osborne’s March Budget presentation

lthough 2020/21 may become part overriding priority – even if it entails tweaking of the austerity era, with public cuts of between fiscal years, such as moving corporation about £10 billion, the Government is taxing so the revenue is shifted into 2019/20, or still steering for a budget surplus by scheduling a sudden burst of public spending cuts 2019/20A – even if economic clouds are gathering. for the same year. A gloomy economic outlook from the Office “The focus on the 2019/20 target is obvious for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has given the throughout,” says Johnson in his comments to Chancellor much less wriggle-room than expected the analysis. – with a forecast going from a modest budget surplus to a black hole almost twice the size, in the The increases in threshold for space of four months. “The Chancellor made rather too much of the tax-free personal allowance will £27 billion the OBR found down the back of the “also come with a price tag sofa in November,” commented Paul Johnson when the IFS presented their analysis the day after the “There is no net tax increase over the period as Budget announcement. a whole, yet there is a tax increase of over £6 billion “What Mr Osborne didn’t tell us is that rather in 2019/20 specifically. Capital spending increases” than finding £27 billion, the OBR lost £56 billion in 2017/18 and 2018/19, but falls in 2019/20. down that same sofa. As it happens, the total loss to There is no proposed additional spending cut in the sofa across the two fiscal events is £29 billion,” 2018/19; there is a £3.5 billion cut plus an extra he said. £2 billion imposed on public sector employers in Lower growth than expected 2019/20.” The reason for this downgraded forecast is However, even these strategic tweaks might not changes in assumptions about future growth in be enough to balance the books in time. productivity – leading to lower economic growth “(The Chancellor’s) chances of having a surplus over the rest of the parliament. in 2019/20 are only just the right side of 50:50,” According to the IFS, if the Chancellor aims suggests Johnson. “If the deficit hasn’t completely to reach his target of clearing the gap between tax gone by then, it will – dreadful economic news income and Government spending before 2019/20 aside – be nearly gone. That will represent a huge he’ll need to make further spending cuts of £3.5 turnaround over the decade.” billion – but so far we don’t know where that money will come from. In the Budget he unveiled a range of new measures, with major ones including: n Increasing tax-free personal allowance to £11,500 n Raising the threshold for paying 40p tax to £45,000 n Freezing duties on fuel, beer and cider, but increases for tobacco n Cutting corporation tax to 17 per cent by 2020 n Cutting capital gains tax from 28 per cent to 20 per cent for top rate taxpayers n Introducing a new sugar tax on soft drinks n ISA limit raised to £20,000 (from around £15,000) n New Lifetime ISAs for those under 40 (offering £1 from the government each year for every £4 saved). Fifty per cent chance of hitting target Overall, the Budget announcement shows how a budget surplus by 2019/20 remains an

24 society now spring 2016 Scrapped cuts and sugar tax While duty on beer, “Given that fuel duties bring in a handy £28 The proposed cuts to personal independence spirits and cider billion a year this has to be a big worry for the was frozen, the IFS payments, which would hit disabled people, were analysis singled out Treasury.” quickly scrapped by the Chancellor after fierce the freeze for petrol Tax-free for low earners opposition – adding another £1.3 billion a year to and diesel duty as The increases in threshold for tax-free personal the welfare budget. However, according to OBR particularly notable allowance will also come with a price tag: raising figures this will not prevent the Government from the threshold to £11,500 (in April 2017) will cost achieving its budget surplus target, but merely £2 billion. Further up the income scale, raising the reduce the overall surplus. higher rate threshold for 40p to £45,000 carries a One of the measures attracting attention was cost of £0.5 billion. the introduction of a ‘sugar tax’ on soft drinks, to “This latter move should stop the numbers (of protect children’s health in particular. But it could people) paying higher rate tax from rising beyond have unintended consequences. five million – but it will still leave the numbers two “Only around 17 per cent of added sugar million higher than was the case back in 2010,” consumed comes from soft drinks, though the Johnson adds. proportion in households with children is a little Looking at Budget outcomes in terms of higher. Obviously the soft drinks tax won’t have income distribution, the IFS analysis showed that any impact on the other 80-plus per cent of sugar it’s the richest 20 per cent who will do best out consumption – indeed it might increase it as of the measures that were announced – both in people move away from soft drinks to other sugary cash terms and as a proportion of income. Those products,” warns Paul Johnson. towards the top of the income distribution gain Instead of having a tax per gram of sugar the most, while most people towards the bottom which rises in proportion with the sugar content, remain largely unaffected. the tax will be triggered at specific thresholds, and The status for the UK economy remains be most costly for drinks containing 4g of sugar tentative and vulnerable to future shocks. “If per 100ml – while more sugary drinks are taxed at there was another downgrade in fiscal forecasts a lower rate. of a similar magnitude (as the recent adjustment) Freezing the fuel duty and the Chancellor did wish to remain on While duty on beer, spirits and cider was frozen, course to deliver a budget surplus in 2019–20, the IFS analysis singled out the freeze for petrol and then this would surely require more real policy diesel duty as particularly notable: “After six years change – presumably incorporating at least some of freezes (ie, cuts in real terms) one must begin to permanent tax rises and specific spending cuts,” wonder whether these duties will ever rise again, predicts Paul Johnson. n especially given current low oil prices. Real duties are now back at levels not seen since the mid 1990s. i The ESRC funds the Centre for Microeconomic Analysis of Public Add in the effects of improved efficiency, and the Policy and the Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice at the IFS. IFS: Budget 2016 cost of a driving a mile in a new car is now at easily Web www.ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/budget/512 its lowest level since then,” Johnson points out.

spring 2016 society now 25 voices Paul Taylor Securing the state Professor Paul Taylor of the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) explains the major security challenges society faces, the role of technology in countering security threats, the trade-off between privacy and being safe, and the contribution CREST and social science can make to helping us become more secure

Is the world a more dangerous place today than it has been for a long time – or is it just our perceptions that have changed? Our perceptions of threat and our expectations around what security we deserve are evolving, as is the nature of the threat itself. The landscape is shaped by global factors, such as geopolitical events and abuses of scientific innovation, and by local factors, such as community grievances and criminal activity. One of the significant contributions of the economic and social sciences is to better understand and anticipate this changing landscape so that governments and society can be better prepared. Do we have unrealistic expectations of how secure we are? It is unfortunately common for people to have unrealistic expectations of how secure they are. would be prevented if people can be persuaded to implement simple computer ‘hygiene’. This Today’s challenges are a makes it important to develop interventions and technologies that allow people, businesses and combination of longstanding threats governments to act in a more secure way without “that have evolved into new forms compromising privacy or standard of living. This is a social science problem. Its about understanding For example, in 2013, the UK National Audit Office why people act the way they do and what can be estimated the annual cost of cyber crime as more changed within society to enable them to act than £18 billion, and that 80 per cent of attacks ” more securely.

26 society now spring 2016 Is it possible for a society to offer both privacy Above: Our law enabler. It has radically changed how we collect and security? enforcement and and examine data, and how we implement security. security services Yes, it is possible, but the solution almost need information But tackling security threats requires multi- inevitably involves a trade-off: our law enforcement to be able to make agency co-operation, it requires making sense of and security services need information to be able to judgements about very different forms of evidence, and it requires make judgements about whether or not somebody whether or not judgements about risk and proportionality that somebody is a is a threat. They currently obtain this within a threat cannot easily be served solely by technology. framework of legal restrictions and independent Opposite: In what areas can CREST and social science contribute to scrutiny that are designed to protect privacy. As Longstanding Government efforts to tackle security threats? threats have society attaches greater value on privacy, so the evolved into new Social science can help us understand the proportion of information that is encrypted and forms, such as complex individual and social factors that lead therefore inaccessible to investigators increases. the violence we people and governments to attack our interests, as This may be where as a democracy we want to end continue to see in well as what might lead them to desist. Through Northern Ireland up with our privacy. But it is not clear to me that research we can also better understand how we have truly understood what this means for our to create societal and organisational cultures security, nor that we have had a sufficient public that encourage secure practices and make such debate about what the trade-off means. attacks more difficult. The other area where social What are the major security challenges of our time? science is making a valuable contribution is in the Today’s challenges are a combination of investigation of threats. Research can help uncover longstanding threats that have evolved into new the nature of decisions and team-working in fast- forms, such as the violence we continue to see moving, high-risk environments, as a way to make in Northern Ireland, and relatively new threats, practice more efficient and improve the welfare of such as the large-scale cyber attacks that target UK personnel. It can also help us understand when, Intellectual Property. The challenge is to stay one where and how people co-operate, which provides step ahead of these threats. To not only be tackling the evidence base for developing, for example, the imminent threats but also to be investing long- interview techniques that enhance memory recall term through the refinement and development of and make deception easier to spot. n new knowledge and techniques. The value of this investment can sometimes be harder to quantify i The Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), – a challenge much of social science faces – but I based at Lancaster University, brings together researchers at the universities of Birmingham, Cranfield, Lancaster, Portsmouth and remain convinced it is critical if we are to ensure a the West of England to deliver a national hub for independent safe society in years to come. research, training and knowledge synthesis. The Centre is funded Is countering security threats first and foremost about over three years with £4.35 million from the UK security and people, not about technology? intelligence agencies, with a further £2.2 million invested by the Yes, people will remain at the heart of founding institutions. our efforts to counter security threats for the @crest_research Web crestresearch.ac.uk foreseeable future. To be clear, technology is an

spring 2016 society now 27 opinion Matthew Johnson Shifting identities Dr Matthew Johnson looks at the concept of the nation state and why ‘Britishness’ is being replaced by separate identities within one country

ver the past three years, the and needs to be sustained by political bodies. concept of the nation state and the The development of nationalised industries and shared cultural understandings which universal health, education and welfare systems underpin it, have been examined in was central to the building of an overarching British Oa participatory project involving people from two identity during the mid-20th Century post-War groups which are increasingly alienated from consensus. Those institutions were achievements their respective states: people from Ashington, which most citizens supported and from which Northumberland, which has seen its traditional most could feel some sense of collective pride. In source of livelihood decline in the wake of the communities like Ashington they provided a secure dissolution of the mining industry; and people foundation upon which relatively stable, productive from Aboriginal Australian communities around forms of collectivism developed. Brisbane, which have seen their traditional lives With the decline of these UK-wide institutions, destroyed during colonialism. one of the key bases of post-War nation-building The project, which is an application and is being removed. As a consequence, the notion examination of ideas developed during an ESRC of Britishness is being supplanted by identities shaped by those derived from nation-building People have no essential activities in the constituent territories. As the popularity of the petition suggested, identification with the state the nationalism of the SNP looks much less like “in which they live the banal flag-waving of days gone by and much more like a social democratic nation-building PhD Scholarship and articulated in Evaluating movement grounded in resisting a neoliberalism Culture (Palgrave Macmillan 2013), has involved the which undermines the collective interests of groups acting as small-scale political” entities while those outside financial sectors in the South East embedded in each other’s communities over the of England. People can be attracted to nation- course of month-long visits. building movements like that whether or not they The project emerged at a time when the future are Scottish, especially when there has been no of the UK as a state is increasingly under question comparable movement in England. as a result of emerging nationalisms. This includes The communities’ work on identity shows that the North of England, where Jeremy Corbyn has people have no essential identification with the attempted to reach out to an electorate ‘deceived’ state in which they live. In the current atmosphere by George Osborne’s proposal to create a ‘northern of austerity, people in both groups feel that their powerhouse’. And also the support for a post- interests could better be realised in different states Election petition to allow the North to secede from with different identities. This should be of grave the UK and join a ‘New Scotland’. concern in the UK and England, in particular. The The co-researchers’ work highlighted not danger that the stripping back of the state will lead simply that Aboriginal Australian people have to the stripping back of affiliation with that state never identified with the Australian state, but also needs to be taken much more seriously. n that, increasingly, the Ashington participants and many people in the North East more generally, do i Dr Matthew Johnson is a lecturer in politics at Lancaster University. not feel ‘English’ in any meaningful sense. Indeed, He has written on British cultural politics for Foreign Affairs, The Conversation and The London Economic, is a regular commentator increasingly they feel distant from or even hostile for BBC Radio Newcastle, Cumbria and Lancashire, was Election towards ‘England’, which several in the project Night analyst for BBC Cumbria and has worked on issues of northern equated with London and the Home Counties. cultural politics as part A Cross-Cultural Working Group on ‘Good It was felt that the North is attacked by ‘England’ Culture’ and Precariousness, a collaborative project between for its aberrant dialects, behaviours and social academics and non-academic community co-researchers in Ashington, Northumberland, and Aboriginal communities around ills. Much effort was made by the Ashington co- Brisbane, South East Queensland, aimed at identifying and fostering researchers to explain to the Aboriginal participants cultural responses to precariousness capable of promoting wellbeing. that they did not feel part of such an England and This project was covered by Al Jazeera, BBC One’s The One Show and that to describe them as English was to assume a The Independent. homogeneity which had never been present. Contact Dr Matthew Johnson, University of Lancaster This rejection of Englishness, and Britishness Telephone 01524 594254 Email [email protected] with it, should not be surprising. National identity Web wp.lancs.ac.uk/good-culture is not fixed. It is constantly under production

28 society now Spring 2016 infoUPrmationDATES & IN&F upORMdateATIONs

News briefs New senior research Institute of Economic and Social Professor Damien Chalmers, fellows to analyse Research (NIESR). London School of Economics (LSE), UK-EU relationship The new fellows will join the nine for the Resituating EU Law project; The ESRC has appointed seven new senior fellows who are already part of Dr Sara Hagemann of the senior research fellows to its ground- the initiative, bringing the total to 16. London School of Economics, who is breaking initiative on UK-EU relations They will work closely with director, running the project Role of national ahead of the country’s referendum on Anand Menon, Professor of European parliaments in a changing European membership of the European Union Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s Union; – The UK in a Changing Europe. The College London, across a wide range Dr Alison Harcourt from the initiative is contributing to policy of projects. University of Exeter, for the project and political debates and delivering The fellows will provide evidence The UK communication industries: independent social scientific research and analysis across a wide range of the impact of a proposed UK Brexit to key stakeholder groups. issues facing the UK and EU, such as from the EU; The new fellows are some of the foreign and security policy; banking Dr Simon Usherwood from the world’s leading authorities on Britain’s and financial services; social policies; University of Surrey, for the Mapping relationship with Europe. and the impact of EU law. the EU referendum debate project; They include: London School of The seven new fellows are: Professor Richard Whitman of Economics’ (LSE) Professor Damien Dr Angus Armstrong of NIESR, the University of Kent, for the project Chalmers; University of Cambridge’s who is running the project EU The interrelationship of UK and EU Professor Catherine Barnard, who membership and the ‘British foreign policy: costs and benefits.n advised the British government on its dilemma’; For more information see: ukandeu.ac.uk review of the balance of competences Professor Catherine Barnard of between the UK and the EU; and the University of Cambridge, for Dr Angus Armstrong, director of the project ‘Honeypot Britain’: The macroeconomic research at leading lived experience of working as an independent think-tank the National EU migrant in the UK;

New centre to measure ESRC and the Natural Environment input for particular policy initiatives the effectiveness of UK Research Council (NERC) in and innovations. energy, water, environment collaboration with the Department for Work at CECAN will include and food policies Environment, Food and Rural Affairs developing and enhancing methods Finding new ways to understand (Defra); the Department of Energy for evaluation of policies in complex how the lives of people in the UK are and Climate Change (DECC); the settings; piloting these methods affected by government decisions is a Environment Agency (EA); and the on a range of evaluation projects; central aim of the new Centre for the Food Standards Agency (FSA). organising educational programmes Evaluation of Complexity Across the The centre will foster an ‘open for practitioners, academics and Nexus (CECAN). research’ culture of knowledge policymakers; and publishing guides The new national research hub, exchange founded on a growing and toolkits for evaluators, those initiated by a consortium of leading network of policymakers, practitioners commissioning evaluations, and UK bodies, will be developing new and researchers – whilst at its core policy audiences. ways to measure the effectiveness of will be a strong group of experienced Nigel Gilbert, Professor of domestic policies on energy, water, academic and non-academic experts. Sociology at the University of Surrey environment and food (the ‘nexus’), Each member of the core CECAN and Director of CECAN, said: “We and how they affect wider society. team is an expert in their particular expect to have a substantial impact on The focus of CECAN will be to research area, has worked with or for how public policies are formulated, pioneer, test and promote evaluation policymakers or in policy-relevant monitored and evaluated. The centre approaches and methods across areas, and is a methodological pioneer brings together an outstanding team the energy, environment and food who in his or her own way has from universities in the UK, Europe nexus where complexity presents contributed to and created cutting- and the United States, as well as a challenge to policy interventions, edge methodological approaches to business consultancies and institutes and so contribute to more effective understand these complex problems. that provide evaluation services to policymaking. Supplementing the core centre government.” n Based at the University of Surrey team, a network of academic and non- For more information see: and launching on 1 March 2016, academic fellows and associates will www.thenexusnetwork.org/centre-for-the- CECAN has been backed by £2.45 join the centre. They will offer expert evaluation-of-complexity-across-the-nexus- million of funding provided by the advice on areas that need specialist announced

spring 2016 society now 29 UPinfoDATrESmation & INFO RM& upATIONdates

People

New Year Honours 2016 Investigating how South researchers in the UK and South A number of prominent social African cities can lead Africa. The main objective of this scientists and ESRC grant holders the way for the African project is to examine the interplay have been honoured in the New Year continent between urban spatial transformation Honours list. Four new studies aiming to analyse and social attitudes towards Knight Bachelor how South African cities can mould a inequality, attachment to place, Mr Paul Grice, Clerk and Chief sustainable future for the nation and and social inclusion. Executive, Scottish Parliament and the wider African continent have been Community-led upgrading for self-reliance former ESRC Council member. For awarded more than £1.8 million from in South Africa: Integrated construction services to the Scottish Parliament and the ESRC and the National Research and environmental management systems in voluntary service to Higher Education Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. informal settlements and the community in Scotland In the future South African cities will Dr Maria Christina Georgiadou Dame Commander of the Order of the have a fundamental role to play in (University of Westminster) and British Empire developing sustainable pathways for Dr Claudia Loggia (University of Professor Henrietta Moore, Director, Africa, including the potential to act KwaZulu-Natal) Institute for Global Prosperity; as test-beds in urban growth, The project will focus on the Chair, Culture, Philosophy and economic development, and processes and techniques involved Design, University College London; environmental innovation. in ‘upgrading’ slums in and around and former ESRC grant holder. For Urban Transformations in South Durban. The overarching aim is services to Social Sciences Africa will support four projects, to investigate current practices of Commander of the Order of the British Empire headed by world-leading experts in community involvement in improving Professor Paul Boyle, former ESRC their field, to look at the challenges their homes and neighbourhoods to Chief Executive, and current President South African cities face in overcoming formulate integrated and collaborative and Vice Chancellor, University legacies of segregation and inequality. strategies that suit local needs. of Leicester. For services to Social Each of the studies will also Living the urban periphery: investment, Science investigate the cities’ positions in infrastructure and economic change in Professor Karen Mumford, former global flows of trade, finance, people African city-regions ESRC grant holder. For services and resources which can mean that Dr Paula Meth (University of Sheffield) to Economics and Labour Market they face greater challenges in urban and Professor Alison Todes (University Diversity development around manifest issues of the Witwatersrand) Professor David Ulph, Professor of such as job creation and growth, The project compares two city Economics and Director of the Scottish housing and infrastructure, as well as regions in South Africa with Addis Institute for Research in Economics, social and environmental resilience. Ababa in Ethiopia. The specific University of St Andrews, and former Part of the Newton Fund – a objective is to understand how urban ESRC grant holder. For services to £375-million fund provided to the transformation in the peripheries of Economics and Social Sciences Research Councils as part of the UK’s these African cities, particularly in Officer of the Order of the British Empire Official Development Assistance terms of infrastructural investments Professor Susan McVie, Professor of (ODA) commitment to develop science and economic change, is shaped, Quantitative Criminology, University and innovation partnerships that governed and experienced, and of Edinburgh and Director of the promote the economic development how these processes impact on ESRC-funded Applied Quantitative and welfare of developing countries urban poverty. Methods Network (AQMeN). For – the Urban Transformations in Urban transformation in South Africa through services to Social Sciences South Africa project has awarded just co-designing energy services provision over £1.6 million of ESRC funding, pathways Professor John Urry in addition to 5.9 million RAND Dr Federico Caprotti, (King’s College We are sad to report the death of (equivalent to more than £255,000) London) and Professor Harold Winkler Professor John Urry on 18 March. from NRF, to the following projects: (University of Cape Town) Professor Urry was instrumental to Changing socio-spatial Inequalities: This project will look to help creating the world-leading sociology Population change and the lived experience transform energy pathways in urban department at Lancaster University of inequality in urban South Africa areas of South African municipalities. and was a former Head of the Professor Christopher Lloyd The project’s objective is to move Department, Dean of the Faculty of (University of Liverpool) and Professor towards integrated energy strategies Social Sciences, and University Dean Ivan Turok (Human Sciences in different cities, with a view to of Research. Professor Urry also Research Council) reducing carbon intensity, increasing made a significant contribution to The project focuses on geographic the electrification of specific the establishment of the Academy of inequalities in South Africa, involving neighbourhoods, and combating Social Sciences. a collaborative partnership between energy poverty. n p 30 society now spring 2016 information & updates

Publications Events Empire of Things The Life Project 6 May What we consume has become the defining In March 1946, scientists began to track Youth mental health and feature of our lives: our economies live or die by thousands of children born in one cold week. wellbeing, Seminar 5 spending, we are treated more as consumers No one imagined that this would become the This seminar will focus on digital technologies than workers, and even public services are longest-running study of human development and innovations that have been implemented presented to us as products in a supermarket. in the world, growing to encompass five into practice to promote young people’s In this monumental study, historian Frank generations of children. Today, they are some mental health and wellbeing. The seminar Trentmann unfolds the extraordinary history that of the best-studied people on the planet, and provides an opportunity for researchers, has shaped our material world, from late Ming the simple act of observing human life has health professionals, industry, policymakers, China, Renaissance Italy and the British empire changed the way we are born, schooled, parent young people and family members to learn about emerging technologies that are to the present. Wide-ranging and richly detailed, and die. This is the tale of these studies and making an impact on young people’s health Empire of Things explores how we have come to the remarkable discoveries that have come from nationally. www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/ live with so much more, how this changed the them. Touching almost every person in Britain groups/mental-health/projects/youth- course of history, and the global challenges we today, they are one of our best-kept secrets. n mental-health.aspx face as a result. n The Life Project: The Empire of Things by Extraordinary Story of 18 May Frank Trentmann. Our Ordinary Lives by ESRC Strategic Network: ISBN 978- Helen Pearson. ISBN tackling obesity with Big 0713999624, 978-1846148262, Data, Seminar 3 (hardback), 880pp (hardback), 416pp This is the third of four seminars held by the @ £20.40. For more @ £13.60. For more ESRC Obesity Strategic Network, to explore information see: information see: how Big Data can best be used to understand www.penguin.co.uk/ www.penguin.co.uk/ and tackle obesity. The seminar will be books/55961/empire- books/195897/the-life- presented by Jaap Seidell, Pablo Monsivais of-things project and Claire Griffiths.The panel discussion will be facilitated by Christina Vogel and include seminar speakers along with Graham Clarke, Thomas Burgoine and Darren Dahly. www. fourth Digging into Examples of previous challenge cdrc.ac.uk/research/obesity/network- Data Challenge winners include: meetings The Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) n Trees and Tweets: developing tools is launching a groundbreaking pilot to analyse big data from family trees 15 June programme: the T-AP Digging into and tweets to understand patterns of Managing, sharing and Data Challenge. Based on previous large-scale migration and language archiving social science collaborations, the Challenge is aimed variation in the UK and the US. research data at supporting projects that address n IMPACT: establishing an online, This workshop is designed in particular for social science and/or humanities web-assessable, computerised ESRC grant-holders, researchers and research research questions through the database of radiological studies managers at ERSC research centres, who development and innovative application of ancient Egyptian mummies. are expected to archive their data with the of tools and methods for capturing and n diLiPaD: developing tools to UK Data Service for future re-use. Also other analysing ‘big data’. compare, visualise and analyse the researchers interested in archiving data to The T-AP, an EU-funded Platform extensive court records of more than make them available for re-use or as evidence encouraging and facilitating increased 197,000 individual trials held over for a published paper will benefit from this co-operation between funding 240 years at the Old Bailey. workshop. www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/news- agencies in Europe and the Americas, This exciting opportunity is open and-events/eventsitem/?id=4489 has enabled the Digging into Data to international projects comprising 22-26 August Challenge to be expanded in terms of teams from at least three participating the number of funders (from 10 to 16), countries seeking to address any social International Population the number of countries (from four to science/humanities research question Data Linkage Conference 11), and the overall ambition. Whilst by using large-scale, digital data This unique conference is designed to provide the core goal of Digging into Data analysis techniques, and show researchers, policymakers, practitioners, remains the same – to help create the how these techniques can lead to administrators, regulators, and data new research infrastructure for 21st- new insights. guardians opportunities to learn more about century scholarship – an increasingly The deadline for final applications the cutting-edge work on linking disparate population-scaled datasets that is underway digital and interconnected world is 29 June 2016. n across the world, together with a chance to For more information see: diggingintodata.org/ presents new challenges of scale that showcase their own achievements, and to require specific attention in order awards/2016/news/announcing-t-ap-digging- listen to talks from international leaders in to unlock their research potential. data-challenge-2016 the field.www.ipdlnconference2016.org

spring 20112016 society now 31 Making sense of society

The ESRC magazine Society Now aims to raise PLUS Society So ciety BY NUMBERNow RARA S ILIL TRTRANAN SSPPORORT awareness of our research and its impact. It

ESRCRowC RESERESEARCH MAKING AN IMPACT SPRING 2016 ISSUE 24 addresses a wide range of readers, from the MP to the businessperson, the voluntary worker to the teacher, the public through to the social scientist, Referendum time Will this be the most important vote of a generation? and is published four times a year (spring,

Migration: Budget: Voices: How Looking for Sizing up Social science answers to the winners contributes to the crisis and losers our security summer, autumn and winter). Society Now offers a readable, intelligent, concise overview of current issues concerning society. To subscribe to the magazine, please send an email including your full name and address to: [email protected]

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funds research into the big social and economic questions facing us today. We also develop and train the UK’s future social scientists. Our research informs public policies and helps make businesses, voluntary bodies and other organisations more effective. Most important, it makes a real difference to all our lives. The ESRC is an independent organisation, established by Royal Charter in 1965, and funded mainly by the Government. Web: www.esrc.ac.uk @ESRC Economic and Social Research Council Polaris House North Star Avenue Swindon SN2 1UJ Tel: +44 (0)1793 413000 Fax: +44 (0)1793 413001 Editor in Chief Jacky Clake [email protected] Editor Nick Stevens [email protected] SUB-EDITOR AND RESEARCHER Debbie Edginton [email protected] INFOGRAPHIC Tidy Designs