P J Collins
Biographic Data
| ID | 1737973 |
|---|---|
| NAME | P J Collins |
| GIVEN NAMES | P J |
| FAMILY NAME | Collins |
| SIGNATURE | COLLINS P J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4831-2524 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 98 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Global definitions of political determinants of health
OBJECTIVES: Political Determinants of Health (PDoH) are increasingly recognised as crucial influences on health inequities, yet their definitions and conceptual frameworks remain inconsistent and underdeveloped. This systematic review aims to clarify the scope and thematic composition of PDoH and explore their relationship with other determinants of health. METHODS: A systematic search of peer-reviewed English-language literature was conducted ac…
Site Formation History of Widgingarri Shelter 1, Northwestern Australia and Investigation of Postdepositional Disturbance With Single‐Grain OSL Dating and Soil Micromorphology
Widgingarri Shelter 1 (WS1) is a rock shelter site within a small escarpment and preserves evidence of late Pleistocene and Holocene human activity. The site was first excavated in 1985 and again in 2022. Here, we present the stratigraphy and chronology following the latter excavation. Site context and stratigraphy were investigated through field observations of the landscape, site and soil micromorphology. A chronological framework was establish…
“I-Chain” (Back Cover)
Possible worlds truth table task
Communicating and understanding pain
Pain communication in healthcare is challenging. We examine use of pain scales to communicate pain severity via a case study of people with sickle cell disorder (SCD). We show how pain communication involves complex social interactions between patients, healthcare professionals and significant others - none of which are included in pain ratings. Failure to account for relational aspects of pain may cause problems for any patient. For SCD, mutual …
True clauses and false connections
Indicative conditionals—that is, sentences typically, though not exclusively, of the form “If p, (then) q,”—belong to the most puzzling phenomena of language. One of the puzzles that has recently attracted attention of psychologists of reasoning stems from the fact that on the majority of accounts of indicative conditionals, “If p, (then) q” can be true, or at least highly acceptable, even when there is no meaningful connection between p and q. C…
Conditionals and testimony
Conditionals and conditional reasoning have been a long-standing focus of research across a number of disciplines, ranging from psychology through linguistics to philosophy. But almost no work has concerned itself with the question of how hearing or reading a conditional changes our beliefs. Given that we acquire much-perhaps most-of what we believe through the testimony of others, the simple matter of acquiring conditionals via others' assertion…
T ylor, E dward (1832–1917)
Edward Burnett Tylor, thought by many to be a founding figure of anthropology, is representative of the school of cultural evolutionism. His major works, Primitive Culture and Anthropology , helped to define the context of the scientific study of anthropology, based on the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell. He believed that there was a universal, functional basis for the development of society and religion. Tylor's scholar…
The History of a Modern Millennial Movement
The History of a Modern Millennial Movement: The Southcottians." Journal of Contemporary Religion, 33(3), pp. 614–615
Food for thought
Emergency foodbanks have become an increasingly prominent and controversial feature of austerity in Europe and the USA. In the UK, foodbanks have been called a 'public health emergency'. Despite this, there has been no UK research examining the health of foodbank users. Through an ethnographic study, this paper is the first to explore the health and health perceptions of foodbank users via a case study of Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of Eng…
Transition as Normative
This article presents a consideration of the ways in which current Quaker belief and practice exemplify the condition identified by Zygmunt Bauman as liquid modernity. After a brief overview of Bauman’s thesis, we describe recent patterns of believing within British Quakerism within its socio-cultural context. While belief has been cast as marginal by scholars of this group, with the creation of habitus centred on behavioural codes or values narr…
Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare
This textbook, which is part of a series from Oxford University Press dealing with health matters, provides a timely overview of an increasingly significant, though diffuse, subject. Even the most
The Death of Sacred Texts
Religion and Ritual
The Anthropology of Religious Controversy
I (Peter) remember sitting in a departmental meeting, doodling, preoccupied with the image of a hospital chapel. I had recently been involved in a research project seeking to document and explain the construction of religious/spiritual space in National Health Service (NHS) acute-care hospitals in the north of England. What was becoming more and more obvious was the growing tension between the distinction that staff and patients were making betwe…
A Royal Society for technology
In the early 1960s the Royal Society came under increasing pressure to be seen to be fostering the applied sciences and technology. This was perceived to be a key element in improving Britain's industrial performance and international competitiveness. The Society was regarded as the body best able to raise the status of technology, just as it had raised the status of ‘pure’ science. The default position would be to create a separate, parallel bod…
A role in running UK science
The election of a new President of the Royal Society in 1945 was enlivened by a petition, signed by 20% of the Fellowship, promoting a vision of the Society as playing a strong role in managing UK science. One of the signatories was Howard Florey. During the final year of Cyril Hinshelwood's presidency in 1960, and throughout Florey's subsequent presidency, the Society fought hard for a share of the action as publicly funded science, managed by G…
Religion and Ritual
The Problem of Quaker Identity
The paper constitutes a summary of my attempts, during the past 15 years, to understand contemporary Quakers and Quakerism. The issue on which I focus is the difficulty in representing Quaker identity given the heterogeneity of Quaker belief. During the last decade I have found three approaches useful in analysing this problem. In the first place, I found that Quaker identity is revealed through their talk in and around Meeting. Although each ind…
I am dynamite
Locating Bourdieu - Reed-Danahay, Deborah
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a ‘Ritual’
Ritual' has long been a key concept in anthropology and many 'rituals' have been identified, described, and interpreted. In most cases, those interpretations have been generated and presented by anthropologists. Occasionally, however, the interpretations of participants themselves are presented and can be equally multifarious. These sets of ways of looking at 'ritual' may or may not overlap. In this paper, I present thirteen ways of looking at on…
Storying Self and Others
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken among British Quakers this article attempts to elucidate some of the connections between the narrative quality of everyday interaction and the local construction of self. Focusing on the Quaker Meeting, we find that the social identity of individual participants is precipitated in the interplay between three modes of discourse: the prototypical or individual, the vernacular and the canonic. For individ…
Habitus and the storied self
It is increasingly argued that individuals comprise multiple selves, and from this it follows that they manifest many identities. During my research among British Quakers, I found that there is, furthermore, an implicit tendency to articulate these several selves in order to promote, consciously and/or unconsciously, a measure of coherence, of unity, and of harmony. Newcomers to meeting on Sunday mornings came with identities that they presented …
Discipline
Quakerism emerged from the religious, social and political turmoil of the Interregnum when sects multiplied and many diverse individuals were joined in their criticism of the state church. What began as a loose network of Seekers, united largely in their opposition to Anglicanism, was organised and given a distinctive shape by several energetic visionaries and most notably George Fox, a Leicestershire artisan. From 1650, this pioneering group pre…
Food for thought
Emergency foodbanks have become an increasingly prominent and controversial feature of austerity in Europe and the USA. In the UK, foodbanks have been called a 'public health emergency'. Despite this, there has been no UK research examining the health of foodbank users. Through an ethnographic study, this paper is the first to explore the health and health perceptions of foodbank users via a case study of Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of Eng…
The 'Plain' and the 'Positive
This paper argues that sharp distinctions between formal ritual action and everyday practice cannot always be sustained. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among British Quakers and Swedish charismatic Protestants, we seek to show that both groups manifest an experiential aesthetic that constructs and is constructed by engagement in daily life. The Quaker aesthetic we call 'the plain', and the charismatic aesthetic we term 'the positive'. In prese…
Storying Self and Others
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken among British Quakers this article attempts to elucidate some of the connections between the narrative quality of everyday interaction and the local construction of self. Focusing on the Quaker Meeting, we find that the social identity of individual participants is precipitated in the interplay between three modes of discourse: the prototypical or individual, the vernacular and the canonic. For individ…
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a ‘Ritual’
Ritual' has long been a key concept in anthropology and many 'rituals' have been identified, described, and interpreted. In most cases, those interpretations have been generated and presented by anthropologists. Occasionally, however, the interpretations of participants themselves are presented and can be equally multifarious. These sets of ways of looking at 'ritual' may or may not overlap. In this paper, I present thirteen ways of looking at on…
Plaining’
This paper seeks to establish that Quakers, who are often presented as and who often present themselves as disinterested in ritual and symbolism, do indeed practice symbolisation. However, it suggests that this practice is best understood not as a simple series of one‐to‐one correspondences between signifieds and signifiers, but a cognitively‐based process which we call ‘plaining’. This process is shown to be a manifestation of the more general s…
The Coming Deliverer
Equilibrium and the end of time - the roots of millenarianism deliverence and human destiny in Zoroastrianism Maitreya, the Buddhist messiah the coming deliverer - a Sikh perspective messianic hope in second temple Judaism eschatological hope in the early Christian community - New Testament perspectives beware the trumpet of judgement - John Nelson Darby and the 19th-century Brethren take one, it's free! - the story behind the Worldwide Church of…
Habitus and the storied self
It is increasingly argued that individuals comprise multiple selves, and from this it follows that they manifest many identities. During my research among British Quakers, I found that there is, furthermore, an implicit tendency to articulate these several selves in order to promote, consciously and/or unconsciously, a measure of coherence, of unity, and of harmony. Newcomers to meeting on Sunday mornings came with identities that they presented …
Discipline
Quakerism emerged from the religious, social and political turmoil of the Interregnum when sects multiplied and many diverse individuals were joined in their criticism of the state church. What began as a loose network of Seekers, united largely in their opposition to Anglicanism, was organised and given a distinctive shape by several energetic visionaries and most notably George Fox, a Leicestershire artisan. From 1650, this pioneering group pre…
Communicating and understanding pain
Pain communication in healthcare is challenging. We examine use of pain scales to communicate pain severity via a case study of people with sickle cell disorder (SCD). We show how pain communication involves complex social interactions between patients, healthcare professionals and significant others - none of which are included in pain ratings. Failure to account for relational aspects of pain may cause problems for any patient. For SCD, mutual …
Transition as Normative
This article presents a consideration of the ways in which current Quaker belief and practice exemplify the condition identified by Zygmunt Bauman as liquid modernity. After a brief overview of Bauman’s thesis, we describe recent patterns of believing within British Quakerism within its socio-cultural context. While belief has been cast as marginal by scholars of this group, with the creation of habitus centred on behavioural codes or values narr…
Disrupted Lives
Short Notices
Public Sector‐private Sector Cooperation and Competition as Government Prepares for the Twenty‐first Century—the 1994 Spann Oration
Plaining’
This paper seeks to establish that Quakers, who are often presented as and who often present themselves as disinterested in ritual and symbolism, do indeed practice symbolisation. However, it suggests that this practice is best understood not as a simple series of one‐to‐one correspondences between signifieds and signifiers, but a cognitively‐based process which we call ‘plaining’. This process is shown to be a manifestation of the more general s…
The Coming Deliverer
Equilibrium and the end of time - the roots of millenarianism deliverence and human destiny in Zoroastrianism Maitreya, the Buddhist messiah the coming deliverer - a Sikh perspective messianic hope in second temple Judaism eschatological hope in the early Christian community - New Testament perspectives beware the trumpet of judgement - John Nelson Darby and the 19th-century Brethren take one, it's free! - the story behind the Worldwide Church of…
Disrupted Lives
Tales of the City
Part I. Opening: 1. Story: 'the orders by which we live our lives' Part II Stories of Cities and of a City: 2. Abstract tales: the narrative in urban theory 3. Storying the concrete city: cows, gardens and other urban tales Part III. Storied Lives and Urban Experience: 4. Stories and lives: the lates of individual urban dwellers 5. 'That's my story': narrative conventions in personal tales 6. Personal narratives and urban images Part IV. Ending: …
The 'Plain' and the 'Positive
This paper argues that sharp distinctions between formal ritual action and everyday practice cannot always be sustained. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among British Quakers and Swedish charismatic Protestants, we seek to show that both groups manifest an experiential aesthetic that constructs and is constructed by engagement in daily life. The Quaker aesthetic we call 'the plain', and the charismatic aesthetic we term 'the positive'. In prese…
Habitus and the storied self
It is increasingly argued that individuals comprise multiple selves, and from this it follows that they manifest many identities. During my research among British Quakers, I found that there is, furthermore, an implicit tendency to articulate these several selves in order to promote, consciously and/or unconsciously, a measure of coherence, of unity, and of harmony. Newcomers to meeting on Sunday mornings came with identities that they presented …
Discipline
Quakerism emerged from the religious, social and political turmoil of the Interregnum when sects multiplied and many diverse individuals were joined in their criticism of the state church. What began as a loose network of Seekers, united largely in their opposition to Anglicanism, was organised and given a distinctive shape by several energetic visionaries and most notably George Fox, a Leicestershire artisan. From 1650, this pioneering group pre…
Storying Self and Others
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken among British Quakers this article attempts to elucidate some of the connections between the narrative quality of everyday interaction and the local construction of self. Focusing on the Quaker Meeting, we find that the social identity of individual participants is precipitated in the interplay between three modes of discourse: the prototypical or individual, the vernacular and the canonic. For individ…
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a ‘Ritual’
Ritual' has long been a key concept in anthropology and many 'rituals' have been identified, described, and interpreted. In most cases, those interpretations have been generated and presented by anthropologists. Occasionally, however, the interpretations of participants themselves are presented and can be equally multifarious. These sets of ways of looking at 'ritual' may or may not overlap. In this paper, I present thirteen ways of looking at on…
I am dynamite
Locating Bourdieu - Reed-Danahay, Deborah
Religion and Ritual
The Problem of Quaker Identity
The paper constitutes a summary of my attempts, during the past 15 years, to understand contemporary Quakers and Quakerism. The issue on which I focus is the difficulty in representing Quaker identity given the heterogeneity of Quaker belief. During the last decade I have found three approaches useful in analysing this problem. In the first place, I found that Quaker identity is revealed through their talk in and around Meeting. Although each ind…
A Royal Society for technology
In the early 1960s the Royal Society came under increasing pressure to be seen to be fostering the applied sciences and technology. This was perceived to be a key element in improving Britain's industrial performance and international competitiveness. The Society was regarded as the body best able to raise the status of technology, just as it had raised the status of ‘pure’ science. The default position would be to create a separate, parallel bod…
A role in running UK science
The election of a new President of the Royal Society in 1945 was enlivened by a petition, signed by 20% of the Fellowship, promoting a vision of the Society as playing a strong role in managing UK science. One of the signatories was Howard Florey. During the final year of Cyril Hinshelwood's presidency in 1960, and throughout Florey's subsequent presidency, the Society fought hard for a share of the action as publicly funded science, managed by G…
Religion and Ritual
The Anthropology of Religious Controversy
I (Peter) remember sitting in a departmental meeting, doodling, preoccupied with the image of a hospital chapel. I had recently been involved in a research project seeking to document and explain the construction of religious/spiritual space in National Health Service (NHS) acute-care hospitals in the north of England. What was becoming more and more obvious was the growing tension between the distinction that staff and patients were making betwe…
The Death of Sacred Texts
Transition as Normative
This article presents a consideration of the ways in which current Quaker belief and practice exemplify the condition identified by Zygmunt Bauman as liquid modernity. After a brief overview of Bauman’s thesis, we describe recent patterns of believing within British Quakerism within its socio-cultural context. While belief has been cast as marginal by scholars of this group, with the creation of habitus centred on behavioural codes or values narr…
Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare
This textbook, which is part of a series from Oxford University Press dealing with health matters, provides a timely overview of an increasingly significant, though diffuse, subject. Even the most
Food for thought
Emergency foodbanks have become an increasingly prominent and controversial feature of austerity in Europe and the USA. In the UK, foodbanks have been called a 'public health emergency'. Despite this, there has been no UK research examining the health of foodbank users. Through an ethnographic study, this paper is the first to explore the health and health perceptions of foodbank users via a case study of Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of Eng…
T ylor, E dward (1832–1917)
Edward Burnett Tylor, thought by many to be a founding figure of anthropology, is representative of the school of cultural evolutionism. His major works, Primitive Culture and Anthropology , helped to define the context of the scientific study of anthropology, based on the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell. He believed that there was a universal, functional basis for the development of society and religion. Tylor's scholar…
The History of a Modern Millennial Movement
The History of a Modern Millennial Movement: The Southcottians." Journal of Contemporary Religion, 33(3), pp. 614–615
Sociology (22 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · History (13 works) · Epistemology (11 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · History (10 works) · Anthropology (8 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Aesthetics (7 works) · Political science (7 works)