Programme full

Thursday 16 April 2015 11:00 - 12:30
PAPER SESSION 4
This paper illuminates participants' own narratives of identity and wellbeing. Entwined online and offline relations offer
new forms of visibility and affirmation. This paper draws attention to the affective dimensions of online spaces for
queer youth. Alternative aesthetics and everyday intimacies are shared, and these contribute to the construction and
experience of community. The paper concludes by seeking to use these findings to suggest new directions for further
research and policy.
Real Life Parenting as it Relates to the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Children: Lessons for Public
Policy
Kiely , E., Ging, D., Kitching, K. Leane, M.
(UCC)
In recent years the commercialisation and sexualisation of children have become a focus of public policy in a number
of different contexts (Rush and La Nauze 2006; APA, 2007; Buckingham, et. al., 2009, 2010; Papadopoulos, 2010;
Bailey, 2011). In 2012 the Irish Government Department of Children and Youth Affairs, commissioned a research
project, which was predominantly concerned with accessing parents' views on issues pertaining to the
commercialisation and sexualisation of children. Seventy eight self-selecting parents of children in Ireland, who
participated in interviews and focus groups, discussed issues pertaining to support, intervention and regulation with
respect to childrearing, children's wellbeing and children's rights in a contemporary Irish societal and cultural context.
In this paper we explore the various positions taken up by parents on questions of social, corporate, institutional and
individual responsibility as they relate to sexualisation and commercialisation. We use this data to argue that public
policy and educational initiatives designed to respond to the implications for children of commercialisation practices
and the sexualisation of culture would have to acknowledge and accommodate considerable diversity and complexity
in parental values, positions and practices, constitutive of real life parenting in relational contexts.
Supportive Networks as a Resilience Building Factor: Birth, Foster and Non-kinship Families in the Lives of
Looked After Young People
Kukhareva, M.
(University of Bedfordshire)
The paper is based on the findings from a qualitative doctoral study, which explores experiences of young people
placed in care or in alternative education.
While the young people are navigating complex transitions through the care, education and welfare system, as well as
adolescence, their lives are are 'embroidered' with a web of multi-layered complexities. The latter can present
cumulative stress factors, which may negatively impact on the young people's current experiences and future
development. At the same time, presence of protective factors can counteract cumulative risks and promote resilient
patterns in these young people.
Supportive networks and environments can act as a strong protective factors. This includes birth and foster family, as
well as non-kinship family connections. At the same time, it may be difficult to develop, and maintain these networks
for the young people who have to move between foster and school placements. The paper draws attention to the
scarcity of these connections for the young people in question, and, at the same time, the dramatic difference these
relationships can play in fostering a child's resilience.
The paper carries messages and implications for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.
Frontiers
W308, HAMISH WOOD BUILDING
BIG DATA AND DIGITAL FUTURES: SOCIOLOGY PRIZE WINNER’S EVENT
This event will celebrate the success and impact of research published in Sociology the flagship journal of the BSA.
Building on successful events in 2013 and 2014, the main focus will be the 2014 prize-winning paper by Susan
Halford, Catherine Pope and Mark Weal (University of Southampton), which examines the potential impact of the
development of the Semantic Web on sociological research. We have also invited the lead author of another closely
related paper discussing the use of Big Data in sociology to join Professor Halford. Both authors will present the
substantive content of their papers, as well as reflecting upon how they believe the discipline of sociology will develop
methodologically in the next few years. The authors will also discuss their experiences of the need for interdisciplinary
collaboration posed by these developments in ICTs. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session.
151 BSA Annual Conference 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University