Graham Day

Locality and Community: Coming to Terms with Place

The paper seeks to examine how social science has attempted to combine the uniqueness of place with general social processes. Two concepts which have traditionally been used to this end are examined; these are ‘locality’ and ‘community’. It is argued that although community has fallen out of favour, problems associated with the use of ‘locality’ could lead to a revival in the use of the former concept. Case study material from rural Wales is presented to show how the two approaches might usefully be combined.

Social change, rural localities and the state: the restructuring of rural wales

Abstract This paper sets out a theoretical framework by means of which contemporary social change in rural localities may be analysed. It emphasises the advantages of theories of restructuring over alternative approaches, and pays particular attention to the role of the state in shaping the pattern of social reorganisation characteristic of contemporary rural change. The main part of the paper constitutes an application of this theoretical framework to an historical analysis of an area of upland Britain — rural Wales. Three phases of development — corresponding to ‘rounds of investment’ — are identified and their characteristics discussed. A fourth phase is suggested as emerging currently, reflecting both the development of a new ‘round of investment’ and the influence of the Thatcherite political project.

Chasing the dragon? Devolution and the ambiguities of civil society in Wales

Devolution promises a new and closer relation between civil society and the National Assembly for Wales, framed by principles of inclusivity and equality of opportunity. Supporters envisage the development of a stronger, more democratic civil society. This article critically assesses progress so far, and explores anxieties that, in the pursuit of improved governance for Wales, the Assembly may become too directive.

Bringing the ‘Local’ Back in: the Production of Welsh Identities

The period since the mid-1980s has witnessed a growing interest in questions of national identity. In part this development has been inspired by a sense of urgency; by the necessity to understand, and respond to what has, perhaps somewhat misleadingly, been viewed as a surprisingly vigorous ‘resurgence’ of nationalism. Debates on the time-space consequences of globalisation processes have also raised crucial questions with respect to the future role of the ‘nation’, and the changing forms of ‘national identity’ (Featherstone, 1995); (Lash and Urry, 1994). Additionally, recent studies have pointed to the need to address the more ‘banal’ (Billig, 1995) processes implicated in the production of forms of ‘national identity’. Furthermore, one of the most significant conceptual developments in sociology has been the re-prioritisation of the ‘local’, the implications of which have yet to be systematically explored with reference to national identity. While the notion of the ‘local’ has been a central feature of the debate on globalisation, it has also figured prominently, as might be expected, in examinations of ‘community’ and associated definitions of ‘belonging’, which we will argue have an intimate connection with ideas of national identity. Through the prioritisation of questions of ‘space’, ‘place’ and the ‘local’, particularly in terms of how they are socially constituted (and conversely, how social relations are spatially constituted), these studies have pointed to the contested nature of national identity.

Sociology in and of Wales: An Overview

Beginning with early fact-finding investigations this paper outlines the emergence of a distinctive sociology of Wales and relates it to changes occurring in the Welsh university system. It traces the tensions between emphases on language and culture, and on class and economy, and shows how the focus of sociological work has shifted over time, reflecting changes in Welsh society and political structures. Early preoccupation with community studies and the fate of the Welsh language gave way to questions of economic decline and structural inequality. Themes of uneven development, social and economic restructuring and internal colonialism were explored. The nature of Welsh identity was problematised. Devolution of political powers to Wales has opened up new questions about national belonging and civil society. It has brought Welsh sociologists closer to government and helped strengthen the research base in Wales, at some risk to the critical independence of social science.

International Education in the Life Course

Using data from the educationally mobile (EM) ‘sensitised group’ interviews1 this chapter responds to the question: do experiences of European educational exchange programmes or study abroad make the participants more ‘European’? The biographical approach allows experiences of international educational mobility to be interpreted within the life course as a whole and is designed to reveal the extent to which intra-European educational mobility has a lasting impact on biographical development. The next chapter is devoted to a detailed analysis of one EM interview, Majka, while here we present the broader analytical framework supported by brief examples and illustrations drawn mainly from three biographies: Maria, Reni and Joanna. The chapter’s sections build on some typical sequential patterns which appear in the biographies of the EM group. First, the narrative openings typically include the early stages of a person’s life, including those experiences and relationships which are used to make sense of later stages in formal education. The stories reveal the accumulation and circulation of educational and other types of ‘capital’. Second, there is the story of educational mobility to other countries, which can involve a variety of different institutions and programmes. Experiences of mobility are often connected to the third general theme, awareness of Europe as a common framework of reference within which multiple experiences, structures, influences and actions are linked to identifications which are supranational.2

Inside Out: An ‘English’ Dispersal into North-West Wales

This article is based on an empirical baseline study undertaken in 2005 which examined the experience of ‘the English’ who have moved and settled into north-west Wales. The movement of the British/white groups and their experiences have been less of a subject for examination and yet a dispersal of ‘the English’/British as both immigrants and colonisers has occurred and is ongoing. Migration between the constituent countries of the UK and the movement of English people into Wales has been a long-standing and accepted practice; it has been resisted by some in the more Welsh parts of Wales as a continuing ‘colonisation’. The rise of devolution within the UK and the burgeoning Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) with its increasing powers for self governance is leading to a decline of English dominance in Wales. This essay explores the experiences of ‘the English’ in Wales as Englands influence over Wales becomes diluted, the role of leader and led reversed, and as the ‘empire begins to bite back’ (with apologies to Paul Gilroy).