Engaging Sociology

Thursday 4 April 2013 at 13:30 - 15:00
CULTURE, MEDIA, SPORT AND CONSUMPTION 2 HOLBORN SUITE
Scott, A. University of Chichester
The Occupational Practices of Allied Professionals in Sport: A Case Study of Sports Therapists
In recent years there has been a surge of healthcare experts defined as part of the multi-disciplinary sports
medicine team. While research has highlighted areas of collaboration among these professional groups, elements
of inter-professional conflict remain. This is pronounced in those fields that are seen to incorporate parallel skills,
and has led to challenges in establishing jurisdiction over professional practice. Drawing upon questionnaires and
interviews with sports therapists and physiotherapists, this research seeks to develop greater understanding of the
social organisation of these allied health professions in sport, the impact of these relationships on professional
practice and the potential consequences for athlete care. Findings seek to inform practitioners working in the sports
medicine team with meaningful data about their relative skill sets and the organisation of their respective
professions so that they may work more successfully in the multi-disciplinary sports medicine team.
Appleford, K. London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London
Shopping with Mother: Learning Classed Practices in Fashion
Mothers are, as many authors note (Boyd, 1989; Chodorow, 1978; Dally, 1976; Eichenbaum and Orbach, 1982;
1993), an important influence in their daughters‘ lives. Women learn ‗how to be women‘ by following the practices
of their mothers (De Beauvoir, 1996 [1949]) and as Bourdieu (2005 [1984]) argues, our tastes in clothing, food and
furniture are heavily dependent on our ‗early learning‘, because they are not practices which are supported by the
education system. Women‘s fashion practices and fashion tastes then, are likely to be influenced by the lessons
and guidance that come from their mothers. Indeed, the research for this paper suggests that mothers are key
influences in women‘s fashion habitus.
As Skeggs (1997) notes however, notions of femininity and fashion tastes are subject to class distinctions, with
appropriate femininity being constructed with the context of middle class habitus. Consequently, it follows that
mothers are not only important in informing women‘s tastes and practices in relation to dress, but that they play an
crucial role in cultivating class differences.
The aim of this paper, then, is to demonstrate the significance of mothers in cultivating classed practices and
attitudes amongst their daughters, in relation to fashion. Using interview and observational data, the paper
demonstrates class differences in the way in which mothers educate their daughters about fashion tastes and
consumption practices. It explores how mothers cultivate class attitudes and class evaluation, notions of femininity
and respectability, and moreover, it shows how these ‗lessons‘ remain with women long after their childhood.
Visanich, V. University of Malta
The Seduced Youth: A Consumer Culture
The aim of this paper is to make sense of the way young people are seduced through consumption. This paper
digs deeper into the roots of cultural meanings of consumption and the market's pervasive effects on youth.
Despite the increase in inequalities in the West, the youth generation are more than ever being seduced by
corporations to have an affluent lifestyle irrespective of the fact that they are facing a harsh reality of rising costs,
higher education and housing as well as undermined employment rights and pensions. The neo-liberal hegemonic
stamp is being imprinted in the everyday life experiences of youth; experience becomes a commodity, time
becomes a commodity and even social interactions today are becoming commodified.
This paper outlines how the neo-liberal ideology is not simply present in consumer-based capitalism and marketing
tactics to sell, but has become obscured and have infiltrated the hearts and minds of people whilst making itself
seen as a typical part of the everyday life. It refers to studies that regard youth resistance as simply a product of
marketing machines and corporations, aimed at creating a diversification in the market. This conception is arguably
the strongest when looking at the contemporary popularisation of youth (sub) cultures by marketing industries to
promote a more hip, non-conformist style in fashion.
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