Yvette Morey

The Case for ‘Everyday Politics’: Evaluating Neo-tribal Theory as a Way to Understand Alternative Forms of Political Participation, Using Electronic Dance Music Culture as an Example

This article argues that youth cultural leisure and consumption practices have the potential to be sites for alternative political participation, an ‘everyday politics’ that involves a personalizing of politics and an ‘aloof ’ stance regarding official institutions. Drawing on the work of Harris (2001) and Maffesoli (1996), the article outlines the lenses that make up ‘everyday politics’, namely ‘sociality and proxemics’, ‘solidarity and belonging’, ‘hedonism’, ‘vitality and puissance’, and ‘sovereignty over one’s own existence’; empirically examining these lenses using qualitative data from a project on participating in electronic dance culture (clubbing, raving, partying). The article suggests that everyday politics is a useful concept in understanding alternative forms of political activism and calls for broader definitions of political participation, including those that do not have a social change agenda. The need for future work in theorizing and empirically examining how everyday and traditional political activities interact is highlighted.

The 'pleasure citizen' Analyzing partying as a form of social and political participation

In this article, we explore the potential for leisure as a site for new forms of political participation. Using electronic dance music culture (EDMC) as an example, we locate our analysis within theories of neo-liberalism and neo-tribalism, both of which suggest that political participation may be occurring at an informal level through consumption. Interview and focus group data on participation in EDMC in the southwest of England were analyzed, producing the themes of ‘community, sociality and belonging’, ‘hedonism’, ‘multiplicity and flux’ and ‘Sovereignty’. These themes provided evidence for EDMC as a site for neo-tribal social and political participation, in which people created local and informal spaces of au-tonomy characterized by a celebration of community, sociality and hedonism. However, participants also drew on neo-liberal discourses of individualism, rights and responsibilities to make sense of their participation in EDMC, producing a move from economic and consumer citizen subjects to the ‘pleasure’ citizen.

Ketamine: The Divisive Dissociative. A Discourse Analysis of the Constructions of Ketamine by Participants of a Free Party (Rave) Scene

This article examines the multiple and contradictory understandings that participants of a free party (rave) scene in the South West of England drew upon when talking about ketamine, and the role of these understandings in identity and consumption practices. The data is drawn from 19 semi-structured interviews and one focus group conducted in two phases over a period of 17 months with participants associated with a particular sound system. The data was analysed using discourse analysis, identifying three interpretative repertoires namely ‘communality and sociality’; ‘ketamine as alien invader’; and ‘rights and pleasures of extreme intoxication’. Different understandings of ketamine were used to articulate a contradictory set of values about the free party scene, and drawn upon to negotiate the heterogeneity of this scene. This also entailed the negotiation of wider neo-liberal discourses around individual rights and freedoms to consume, and individual regulation and responsibility for these freedoms.

Adolescent self-harm in the community: an update on prevalence using a self-report survey of adolescents aged 13–18 in England

Background To establish an estimate of prevalence in a nationally representative sample of community adolescents. To examine associations between self-harm and wellbeing. Methods An anonymous self-report survey completed by 2000 adolescents aged 13-18 years across England. Wellbeing was measured using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS). Results In total 15.5% (n = 309) of participants reported ever having self-harmed (95% confidence intervals 13.9-17.1). The median age of onset was 13.0 years. Females aged 13-15 years reported the highest incidence of self-harm within the past year (54.9%). Cutting elsewhere (other than on the arms) was more prevalent amongst females (56.4%). The mean wellbeing score for the whole sample (45.6) was lower than the WEMWBS validation score (48.8). Self-harm was associated with a significantly lower wellbeing score, with mean scores of 38.7 (ever self-harmed) and 46.8 (never self-harmed). Conclusions Self-harm remains prevalent amongst adolescents aged 13-18 years in England. An awareness of the age of peak incidence and risks associated with preferred harming behaviours is crucial during assessment and intervention. The promotion of wellbeing is important for all young people. Further study is needed on the ways in which wellbeing may prevent, or ameliorate, the distress associated with self-harm.

The Rise of the “Pleasure Citizen”: How Leisure Can be a Site for Alternative Forms of Political Participation

This chapter examines the idea that alongside a decline in traditional forms of political participation, new forms of political participation are emerging within the realm of leisure. Exploring these ideas through theories of neoliberalism and neo-tribalism, we report an empirical analysis of ethnographic observations, interviews and focus groups with 31 participants of electronic dance music culture (EDMC) from two case studies (attendees of ‘drum and bass’ club nights and illegal ‘free parties’) in the South West of England. These events were characterised by hyper-sociality and hedonistic intoxication. Participants made sense of their participation in EDMC through collectivist discourses of sociality and belonging, and with individualistic discourses that constructed their partying as an exercise of personal freedom, individual responsibility and consumer choice. Our analysis suggests evidence of a new subject position, the ‘pleasure citizen’, in which rights to autonomous consumption and personal risk management are claimed as markers of citizenship.

The social and cultural uses of ketamine

At the time of writing, the BBC’s radio station aimed at young people – Radio 1 – featured an advice programme in which a doctor discussed how a ‘dangerous’ drug called ketamine is ‘sweeping the nation’ (BBC Radio One 2007). Ketamine is quickly coming to be construed as the latest in a long line of ‘drug problems’, despite scant evidence of widespread health or social problems associated with ketamine usage. This Special Issue on Ketamine was born out of a desire to explore less polemically the practices and meanings of ketamine, ketamine use and ketamine user groups. This Special Issue presents a diverse set of papers exploring the impacts and significance of ketamine use from the users’ perspective, employing a range of research methods, and involving users in different contexts and in different continents, as well as from a range of social groups. The authors in this volume systematically explore the contexts of ketamine use, including the social locations of its consumption, the particular social groupings involved and their preferred technologies of consumption. They ask what it means to be a ‘ketamine user’ and how ketamine is ‘made to mean’ through for example the socio-cultural norms and values associated with particular contexts and patterns of consumption, including co-drugging and poly-drugging. Contributions include investigations into divergent consequences of ketamine use amongst those occupying different social positions: from American offenders engaging in risky sexual practices (Oser et al. 2008, this volume) to Hong Kong working class party-goers in a burgeoning entertainment scene (Joe et al. 2008, this volume). From this it becomes clear that negative consequences of ketamine use are as much about understandings of the perceived appropriateness (or otherwise) of consumption by certain social groupings and in specific social settings as about the pharmacological properties of ketamine itself (Moore and Measham 2008, this volume; Riley et al. 2008, this volume, see also Perrone 2006). However, as Newcombe’s psychonautic explorations (this volume) attest, the unique pharmacological properties of ketamine, implicated in the

A Content Analysis of Thinspiration, Fitspiration, and Bonespiration Imagery on Social Media

BackgroundOn social media, images such as thinspiration, fitspiration, and bonespiration, are shared to inspire certain body ideals. Previous research has demonstrated that exposure to these groups of content is associated with increased body dissatisfaction and decreased self-esteem. It is therefore important that the bodies featured within these groups of content are more fully understood so that effective interventions and preventative measures can be informed, developed, and implemented.MethodA content analysis was conducted on a sample of body-focussed images with the hashtags thinspiration, fitspiration, and bonespiration from three social media platforms.ResultsThe analyses showed that thinspiration and bonespiration content contained more thin and objectified bodies, compared to fitspiration which featured a greater prevalence of muscles and muscular bodies. In addition, bonespiration content contained more bone protrusions and fewer muscles than thinspiration content.ConclusionsThe findings suggest fitspiration may be a less unhealthy type of content; however, a subgroup of imagery was identified which idealised the extremely thin body type and as such this content should also be approached with caution. Future research should utilise qualitative methods to further develop understandings of the body ideals that are constructed within these groups of content and the motivations behind posting this content.

‘We achieve the impossible’: Discourses of freedom and escape at music festivals and free parties:

In this article, we explore the notion of freedom as a form of governance within contemporary consumer culture in a sphere where ‘freedom’ appears as a key component: outdoor music-based leisure events, notably music festivals and free parties. ‘Freedom’ is commodified as central to the marketing of many music festivals, which now form a highly commercialised sector of the UK leisure industry, subject to various regulatory restrictions. Free parties, in contrast, are unlicensed, mostly illegal and far less commercialised leisure spaces. We present data from two related studies to investigate how participants at three major British outdoor music festivals and a small rural free party scene draw on discourses of freedom, escape and regulation. We argue that major music festivals operate as temporary bounded spheres of ‘licensed transgression’, in which an apparent lack of regulation operates as a form of governance. In contrast, free parties appear to ‘achieve the impossible’ by creating alternative (and illegal) spaces in which both freedom and regulation are constituted in different ways compared to music festival settings.

Subtle Sophistry or Savvy Strategy: Ethical and Effectiveness Issues Regarding Product Placements in Mass Media

Product placement involves the introduction of a identifiable branded product into the content or background of media broadcasting formats. Placements take place in traditional media as well as newer formats such as games and social media sites. A distinguishing feature of product placement is that – unlike traditional advertising – it takes place within the context of entertainment and is shaped or scaffolded by an immersive narrative (Cowley and Barron, 2008) thus making it difficult to avoid and often difficult to detect (La Ferle and Edwards, 2006).

Research Association 2012 annual conference: Digital Methods as Mainstream Methodology (DMMM)

The National Centre for Research Methods’ (NCRM) Networks for Methodological Innovation programme funds several Networks to promote debate, innovation and the dissemination of methodological skills in the social sciences . Both Networks discussed here, Digital Methods as Mainstream Methodology and Blurring the Boundaries – New Social Media, New Social Science, are concerned with the implications of the tools and possibilities offered by digital methods and social media for social science researchers . We summarise a plenary session of the Social Research Association Annual Conference where Drs Yvette Morey and Grant Blank, respectively, described the events and activities of each Network team . Please refer to the links at the end of the paper for further information about the NCRM and the Networks for Methodological Innovation . Information about the projects and their respective team members can also be found by following the links provided .