Martin King

The childcatchers: An exploration of the representations and discourses of social work in UK film and television drama from the 1960s to the present day

Summary This article reports on research undertaken to critically examine portrayals, representations and discourses of social work and social workers in UK film and television drama from the 1960s to the present day. The research analysed four film and television dramas where social work and social workers were featured: Cathy Come Home (1966), Ladybird Ladybird (1994), Happy Go Lucky (2008) and Oranges and Sunshine (2010). The research aimed to examine portrayals and representations of social work and social workers in UK film and television drama; inform and develop an understanding of contemporary narratives and discourses about social work and contribute to debates about the purpose and future of social work. Findings Portrayals and representations of social work in UK film and television drama often encourage and reinforce an overly simplistic, hostile and negative impression of the profession, work which is presented as predominantly focused on child protection and the removal of children from families. Social workers are typically characterised as incompetent, bureaucratic, well-meaning but misguided. This potentially endorses neo-liberal ideologies and discourses about welfare, welfare recipients, welfare provision and social service. Applications This approach to the topic offers an accessible and interesting platform for research, teaching and policy development, which has the potential to critically inform debates about the future and purpose of social work and welfare in the United Kingdom.

The Criminal Entrepreneur in David Peace’s Red Riding

Abstract Purpose David Peace’s Red Riding quartet ( 1974; 1977; 1980; 1983 ) was published in the UK between 1999 and 2002. The novels are an excoriating portrayal of the violences of men, focusing on paedophilia and child murder, the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper and, predominantly, the blurring of boundaries between the activities of police officers, criminals and entrepreneurs. This chapter aims to examine the way in which the criminal entrepreneur draws on socially constructed ideas of masculinity and the capitalist ideal in order to establish identity. This will be achieved through an examination of John Dawson, a character central to the UK Channel Four/Screen Yorkshire’s Red Riding Trilogy, the filmed version of the novels, first screened in 2009. The central role of networks of powerful men in creating space for the criminal entrepreneur and the cultural similarities between police officers and criminal entrepreneur will be explored. Methodology/approach Using the research approach of bricolage, the chapter provides a reflexive commentary on the films, drawing on a number of other texts and sources, including news accounts of featured events and interviews with the author David Peace and the series co-producer Jamie Nuttgens – an analysis of the texts, using a framework suggested by van Dijk (1993) and McKee (2003) features. Findings The centrality of the idea of hegemonic masculinity to the activities of both police officers, and criminals and businessmen and Hearn’s (2004) assertion that the cultural ideal and institutional power are inextricably linked are examined through an analysis of the role of Dawson (and his three linked characters in the novels) in the Red Riding Trilogy. Research limitations/implications The chapter provides an analysis of one film series but could provide a template to apply to other texts in relation to topic. Social implications The social implications of the findings of the research are discussed in relation to work on the impact of media representations (Dyer, 1993; Hall, 1997). Original/value It is intended that the chapter will add to the growing body of academic work on the criminal entrepreneur and the ways in which media representation of particular groups may impact on public perception and construction of social policy.

Rhetorical organizations of defense in primary care

The sustained movement towards a more primary health care led National Health Service in the UK has involved individuals and organizations developing more effective ways of working. This has resulted in changes to the structure and functioning of primary care organizations, the development of new workers and, in some instances, handing over work to other health and social care agencies. These changes have contributed to what for many staff is a turbulent organizational and practice environment. Data from a 3-year project, commissioned by the North West Development Agency, is used to explore how staff involved in these changes dealt with this turbulence; 350 staff working within 18 Primary Care Trusts participated in the study. A multi-methods approach was used which facilitated an iterative analysis and data collection process. Thematic analysis revealed a high degree of congruence between the perceptions of all staff groups with evidence of a generally well-articulated, but often rhetorical view of the organizational and professional factors involved in the changes experienced. This rhetoric was used by individuals as a defense mechanism in dealing with the turbulence of change. The article discusses how these defense mechanisms need to be recognized and understood by managers so that a more supportive organizational culture is developed.

Promoting Public Health: Media Constructions and Social Images of Health in a Post-modern Society

The key points discussed in this chapter include: mass media approaches to health education as part of a strategy to improve the public’s health the need for professionals involved in public health work to note the power of media constructions of health and the way in which public perceptions of health are influenced by the media the lessons to be learnt from an analysis of previous health education campaigns.

Reimagining Undergraduate Health and Social Care Education: A Workforce Fit for Purpose in a Changing Landscape of Care. A Position Paper

NHS England’s Five Year Forward View outlines new care models and the need for a workforce that has the skills, values, and competencies to deliver this vision. This is a position paper detailing the context, method, and intentions of a Health Education England funded project led by Manchester Metropolitan University in the North West of England, which the authors see as making a key contribution to addressing issues of illness, crisis, and loss in the changing landscape of health and social care provision in England. Using an action research methodology and drawing together key stakeholders from the sector, the project aims to explore the potential for creating a professional health and social care graduate workforce which meets the needs of an integrated service delivery landscape by identifying key issues to be addressed when redeveloping the undergraduate curriculum.

‘Drowning in here in his bloody sea’: exploring TV cop drama's representations of the impact of stress in modern policing

ABSTRACT Policing is widely recognised as one of the most stressful occupations. Numerous studies have explored the ways in which stress impacts on the personal and professional lives of officers. Using this literature as context, the article explores the way in which representations of policing in film and TV have changed to reflect this issue, to the point where the predominant mode of representation is the dysfunctional officer broken by the job. Using bricolage as a research approach, three twenty-first-century examples are examined; Wallander from Sweden, The Wire from the US and Red Riding from the UK, raising questions about the dystopian pleasures of these media texts with a suggestion of further work to explore the relationship between representations and the reality of the stresses of policing.

Disclosure decisions within transition narratives: How ex-drug users decide what information to share when working toward employment in the substance misuse field

Abstract Ex-user narratives often “end” at the point where treatment ends, leaving much to discover regarding what happens next. Within this post-treatment experience, ex-users making the transition to work in the drugs field must decide whether or not to disclose their past substance use and, if they do disclose, further personal decision-making relates to how much to disclose, to whom, and in what context. This article explores ex-drug users’ decisions around disclose of their background to colleagues and service users. In-depth narrative interviews were undertaken with 11 ex-drug users to explore their journey to become substance misuse practitioners and their decisions around disclosure within this transition. Process-mapping was used to enable participants to structure their story in their own way. Following thematic analysis, it became apparent that most participants received little or no guidance regarding disclosure. In the absence of clear guidelines regarding personal disclosures, reflective practice could be seen as a potential tool to enable participants to assess such risks and rewards. Alongside personal reflexivity, consideration should be given by service providers to disclosure policies, induction and ongoing training, and supervision in order to support ex-user drug workers’ disclosure decision-making.

Our Side of the Mirror: The (Re)-Construction of 1970s' Masculinity in David Peace's Red Riding

David Peace and the late Gordon Burn are two British novelists who have used a mixture of fact and fiction in their works to explore the nature of fame, celebrity and the media representations of individuals caught up in events, including investigations into notorious murders. Both Peace and Burn have analysed the case of Peter Sutcliffe, who was found guilty in 1981 of the brutal murders of thirteen women in the North of England. Peace’s novels filmed as the Red Riding Trilogy are an excoriating portrayal of the failings of misogynist and corrupt police officers, which allowed Sutcliffe to escape arrest. Burn’s somebody’s Husband Somebody’ Son is a detailed factual portrait of the community where Sutcliffe spent his life. Peace’s technique combines reportage, stream of consciousness and changing points of views including the police and the victims to produce an episodic non linear narrative. The result has been termed Yorkshire noir. The overall effect is to render the paranoia and fear these crimes created against a backdrop of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Peace has termed his novels as “fictions of the facts”. This paper will examine the way that Peace uses his account of Sutcliffe’s crimes and the huge police manhunt to catch the killer to explore the society that produced the perpetrator, victims and the police. The police officers represent a form of “hegemonic masculinity” but one that is challenged by the extreme misogyny, brutality, misery and degradation that surround them. This deconstruction of the 1970s male police officer is contrasted with the enormously popular figure of Gene Hunt from the BBC TV series Life on Mars.