Ruth Woods

The use of religious metaphors by UK newspapers to describe and denigrate climate change.

British newspapers have denigrated anthropogenic climate change by misrepresenting scientific consensus and/or framing climate change within unsympathetic discourses. One aspect of the latter that has not been studied is the use of metaphor to disparage climate change science and proponents. This article analyses 122 British newspaper articles published using a religious metaphor between summer 2003 and 2008. Most were critical of climate change, especially articles in conservative newspapers The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and The Times. Articles used religion as a source of metaphor to denigrate climate change in two ways: (1) undermining its scientific status by presenting it as irrational faith-based religion, and proponents as religious extremists intolerant of criticism; (2) mocking climate change using notions of sin, e.g. describing ‘green’ behaviours as atonement or sacrifice. We argue that the religious metaphor damages constructive debate by emphasizing morality and how climate change is discussed, and detracting attention from the content of scientific data and theories.

The use of aggression in primary school boys' decisions about inclusion in and exclusion from playground football games

BACKGROUNDnSociometric studies have shown that some aggressive boys are popular, perceived as popular or cool, dominant, and central in the peer group (Estell, Cairns, Farmer, & Cairns, 2002; Milich & Landau, 1984; Prinstein & Cillessen, 2003; Rodkin, Farmer, Pearl, & Van Acker, 2006). This is not predicted by social information processing (SIP) models which see aggression as socially incompetent, resulting from distorted understanding of the social world (e.g. Crick & Dodge, 1994). However, sociologists of childhood have argued that some aggressive boys are popular because they use aggression to gain status and dominance, to undermine those of lower status, and to achieve hegemonic masculinity (Adler & Adler, 1998; Ferguson, 2000; Renold, 2007).nnnAIMSnThis study aims to connect psychological and sociological literatures, asking whether social processes of status formation contribute to the link between popularity and aggression identified sociometrically.nnnSAMPLEnThe paper describes case studies of three boys, aged between 8 and 10 years, attending a London primary school.nnnMETHODSnSociometric data on liking, disliking, and aggression are combined with ethnographic and interview data for each case study.nnnRESULTSnThe data show that one way in which aggression aids popularity and dominance is through boys strategic use of aggression to enforce decisions about inclusion and exclusion in desirable activities. It can be difficult for individual boys to achieve acceptance without resorting to aggression.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe data provide support for sociological explanations of aggression in terms of status and inclusion, and challenge the SIP claim that aggressive children are socially incompetent and biased.

When rewards and sanctions fail: a case study of a primary school rule‐breaker

UK schools commonly employ a behavioral discipline method comprising rules, rewards awarded when children follow the rules and sanctions when children break them. To date, this approach has had only limited success in halting classroom disruption (Render, Padilla and Krank, 1989; Riley & Rustique‐Forrester, 2002; Gutherson & Pickard, 2006). This paper sought explanations for this limited success through a case study of a British primary school boy who persistently broke school rules. Participant observation, interviews and questionnaires were used to explore his perspective over a period of over two years. The data pinpoint three issues which were implicated in the boy’s antagonistic response to school discipline: emotions (particularly anger), perceptions of fairness and trust, and the role of the peer group in providing alternative morals, rewards and punishments which conflict with those operating in the classroom. It is argued that behavioral discipline methods sometimes fail because they neglect these important dimensions of children’s experience.

The development of non-essentialist concepts of ethnicity among children in a multicultural London community

Ethnic constancy, the belief that a person cannot change ethnicity, is an important component of ethnic essentialism, the conviction that members of ethnic groups share an immutable underlying essence. Most children in previous research viewed ethnicity as increasingly immutable with age. However, some evidence suggests that children growing up in communities, which define ethnicity primarily in terms of changeable features (e.g., lifestyle) rather than fixed features (e.g., ancestry), may not follow this trajectory. This study examined ethnic constancy development in a community which defined ethnicity primarily in terms of changeable features. It was hypothesized that older children would view ethnicity as more changeable than younger children, but that because of personal investment which increases with age, children would view their own ethnicity as more stable than a peers ethnicity, entailing a significant interaction between age and self–other. Ninety‐two children in three age groups (mean ages 7, 9, and 11 years) from a multicultural school in London were interviewed individually. Their ethnicities were 45% Indian, 16% English, 7% Pakistani, 7% Somali, 2% unknown, and 25% other. Childrens explanations were analysed thematically. All hypotheses were supported. Childrens conceptions of others’ ethnicity as changeable were supported by definitions focusing on religion, and by the concept of freedom of choice. This suggests that in a community in which ethnicity is primarily defined in terms of attributes which are seen as mutable (in this case, religion), children may not essentialize ethnicity. Still, ethnic change may rarely occur in practice due to an emotional commitment to ones own ethnic group. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Most research finds that children develop concept of ethnicity as fixed and essential; But limited evidence of non‐essentialist developmental pathways for ethnicity For gender, children assert constancy more for themselves than others What does this study add? Evidence of developmental pathway to non‐essentializing, mutable concept of ethnicity Evidence that definitions of ethnicity centred on religion may encourage ethnic non‐essentialism Children are more willing to embrace ethnic mutability for others than for themselves

“I like to see my worst people get voted off” Big Brother viewing among British primary school children

Controversial TV show Big Brother has proved popular in many countries including the UK (van Zoonen, 2006). Adult viewers enjoy several aspects of the show, particularly watching other peoples daily lives, interactions and disputes, diary room disclosures, and weekly tasks, and assessing authenticity (Hill, 2002, 2004; Jones, 2003; Nabi, Biely, Morgan & Stitt, 2003; van Zoonen, 2006). Thus far children have been relatively neglected in this research. This article describes questionnaires with 39 British children aged 8 to 11 years, plus interviews with 14 of these children, exploring their viewing habits and perceptions of the show. Over a third of the sample claimed to like Big Brother and to watch it regularly—most with their families. Several said that they thought about, discussed or played games based on Big Brother, indicating that the show is impacting their everyday lives. Young fans particularly liked watching interactions between contestants (including arguments), tasks, and voting out and evictions. It is argued that tasks appeal to children because of their playful character, and that voting out and evictions resonate with, and potentially exacerbate, childrens preoccupations with popularity, acceptance, and rejection among their peers.

Moral (dis)engagement with anthropogenic climate change in online comments on newspaper articles

Abstract Anthropogenic climate change (ACC) is widely acknowledged to be morally significant, but little is known about everyday moralising around ACC. We addressed this gap via quantified thematic analysis of 300 online comments to British newspaper articles on ACC, drawing on Banduras moral disengagement theory. Moral disengagement through denial of ACC was widespread. Other disengagement strategies, such as palliative comparison and diminishing agency, occurred less often. There was also some moral engagement, most often through assertions of the existence of ACC and/or its harmful effects. Moral disengagement was significantly more common in comments on right wing than left wing newspapers, whereas the opposite was true of moral engagement. Although Banduras framework provided a useful starting point to make sense of ACC moralising, it did not capture moral concerns that extended beyond its “harm/care” remit. In particular, many “denial” comments included a “dishonesty” discourse, whereby ACC proponents were accused of deception for ulterior motives. To classify this discourse as moral disengagement obscures its engagement with a different set of moral issues around trust and honesty. We suggest that Banduras theory represents one possible “moral landscape” around ACC and could be extended to encompass a broader range of moral concerns.

Changes in out of home care and permanence planning among young children in Scotland, 2003 to 2017

UK policy has increasingly promoted early intervention and permanence planning for children who experience, or are at risk of experiencing, abuse or neglect, raising the question of whether these practices have actually increased ‘on the ground.’ There is already evidence of growing early intervention in the form of out of home care, in England as well as Australia and Canada. However, we do not yet know whether this trend also exists in Scotland. Furthermore, there is no research investigating whether rates of permanence planning have changed anywhere in the UK or globally. The current study addressed these gaps through a comparison of two samples of children in Scotland: 110 children born in 2003 and 117 born in 2013, all of whom were placed under compulsory measures of supervision prior to three years of age. The 2013 cohort was significantly more likely than the 2003 cohort to be removed from their parents at birth, to reside away from parents throughout the first three years of life and to live apart from parents at three years of age. Significantly more of the 2013 cohort than the 2003 cohort had a plan for permanence by three years. These findings are consistent with the view that policy changes in the UK are affecting practice (although practice changes may have resulted from other sources as well/instead). The fall in parental care was largely compensated by an increase in the use of foster care, which has resource implications. Children removed from their parents at birth were usually not returned in the first three years of life, not raised by extended family members, and were separated from one or more siblings. This typically reduced instability for young children, but also entailed substantial birth family fragmentation. The impact on children and families of early removal into foster care must therefore be carefully assessed in light of the increasing prevalence of this practice in Scotland and elsewhere.

A Critique of the Concept of Accuracy in Social Information Processing Models of Children’s Peer Relations

According to Kenneth Dodge’s social information processing model, children who behave aggressively do so because they interpret others’ behaviour, and evaluate aggressive acts, inaccurately. The concept of accuracy is inappropriate here because members of different social groups can differ systematically in their interpretations and evaluations of behaviour. Imposing the concept of accuracy exalts one social group’s views as accurate, with others seen as flawed. Social information processing models could remove the concept of accuracy by drawing on the theory of autopoiesis, which states that an organism’s response to a stimulus is specified by the organism rather than by the stimulus itself. Thus the environment is seen not as information to be (in)correctly interpreted, but as a set of triggers in a person’s phenomenological world. This approach is strengthened by attention to the myriad ways in which a person’s interpretations are informed (but not determined) by other people, explaining why we are likely to form interpretations and values similar, but not identical, to others in our social groups.

Response to Rollock

Taylor and Francis Ltd QSE_A_287070.sgm 10.1080/09518390701868995 International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 0951398 (pri t)/1366-5898 (online) Original Article 2 08 & Francis 1 000Ma ch-April 2008 RuthWo s ru h.woods@canterbury.ac.uk I thank Nicola Rollock (this issue) for her thoughtful response to my paper. I have argued elsewhere that ethnographic data should be more widely used in psychology (Woods 2005, 2007b), and I welcome this opportunity to contribute to a dialogue on how such data should be analysed. Rollock argues that the paper neglects Zak’s level of educational achievement, and fails to critically interrogate his teachers’ actions towards him. In particular, she argues that these aspects should be examined with reference to Zak being a Black African boy. In support of this argument, she draws on literature showing that on average, children of his ethnicity and gender achieve less academically than the average White British child, and are framed as problematic within dominant school practices (e.g. DfES 2006; Youdell 2003, cited in Rollock 2008). Rollock’s primary concern thus seems to be that the paper did not attend to the ‘intersected complexities of race, gender and social class’ Below I discuss three issues arising from Rollock’s critique. Firstly, I argue that because my research question differed from the one that Rollock asks, I did not collect the kinds of data that would enable me to make the argument that she suggests. Secondly, Rollock seems to be arguing that ethnicity, social class and gender are critical considerations in all social science research. I question whether this is a reasonable expectation. Thirdly, I consider how we might link my analysis of children’s responses to punishment with Rollock’s argument that teachers read children’s behaviour through a lens of ethnicity, social class and gender.