Peter Somerville
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 253065 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Peter Somerville |
| PRENOMES | Peter |
| SOBRENOME | Somerville |
| ASSINATURA | SOMERVILLE P |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Lincoln |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4213-7211 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 39 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 409 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 39 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1989 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2024 |
| ÍNDICE H | 11 |
The Use of Turning Points in Understanding Homelessness Transitions
We argue for use of the narrative concept of the “turning point” in homelessness research from a critical social psychology perspective.Background:Turning points are often understood as rifts in the life course followed by significant change in direction. However, within narrative theory they are not events but subjectively significant features of the person’s life-story.The turning point as narrative tool:The analysis identified how turning poin…
Further Comments on Ecologically Unequal Exchange
This short piece further asserts the utility of the labour theory of value, the importance of global value chains and the incoherence of the concept of ecologically unequal exchange (EUE).KEYWORDS: Labourexchangevalue Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)
A Critique of Ecologically Unequal Exchange Theory
Ecologically unequal exchange theory has become popular in recent years but it is confused, internally inconsistent, and misrepresents the nature of global extractivism and labour exploitation
Ecologically Unequal Exchange Theory
Hornborg's concepts of ecologically unequal exchange and social-material metabolism are incoherent and therefore of no scientific value. Capitalism creates real expanding value through labour exploitation, and this is the main source of economic and social inequality. Issues such as the distinctiveness of value under capitalism, the difference between labour and labour-power, and between exploitation and appropriation, are important for understan…
The continuing failure of UK climate change mitigation policy
Failure to take climate change seriously enough has resulted in the world now facing a climate emergency, with rising global temperatures, melting polar ice caps, increasingly frequent and severe storms, floods and droughts, and rising sea levels. Despite being the first country in the world to set statutory carbon emissions reduction targets (in the Climate Change Act 2008), the UK government since 2012 has fallen increasingly behind, even by it…
Revisiting Connections Between Capital and Nature I
This paper reconsiders Marx’s theory of capital in the light of more recent discussions of the relationship between capital and nature. It points out how this theory continues to be misrepresented and misunderstood by a number of scholars, and argues that one reason for such failings is a tendency to neglect the role of labour in mediating this relationship. Further, the paper reviews literature relating to the value of nature, primitive accumula…
Revisiting Connections between Capital and Nature II
Following on from an earlier paper that emphasized the importance of the concept of labour for understanding the relationship between capital and nature, in this paper I attempt to apply this understanding to the issue of climate change. I criticize approaches that regard climate change as a purely technical issue or economic issue or ecological issue, and distinguish four more broadly political positions, namely: green-growth capitalism, steady-…
A critique of climate change mitigation policy
Global institutions and national governments have failed to provide effective policy guidance or leadership on tackling climate change. The extraction and combustion of fossil fuels continues apace, resulting in continual rising of greenhouse gas emissions, which pose a threat to all life on earth. However, the global climate regime continues to underestimate the need for immediate, radical and powerful action. Dominant framings of the problem co…
Degrowth
Counterblast to Robert Pollin’s programme in NLR 112 for a green-growth new deal, arguing that a radical reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions requires a smaller global economy. Proposals for a drastic overhaul of production, construction, transportation and agricultural practices
A Sceptic Looks Again at “Housing Theory”
I am grateful for being given this opportunity to comment on the Focus articles by David Clapham (This issue) and Hannu Ruonavaara (This issue). Since the two papers are very different, I will comm
Preventing Catastrophic Climate Change
The end game for fossil
Illegal diversification strategies in the farming community from a UK perspective
The dark side of the rural idyll
Work and the welfare state
This book looks at the project of “workfare” or labour market activation primarily in the US but also in The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Australia and the UK, and its emphasis is on the role of
Changing homelessness services
This paper argues that the increasing international salience of homelessness can be partially explained by reference to the revanchist thesis (involving processes of coerced exclusion and abjection), but the situation on the ground is more complex. It reports on interviews with 18 representatives of 11 homelessness service providers in one city in England. As Cloke et al. found, these providers tended to be either larger, more 'professional', 'in…
Interpreting Rurality
Understanding Homelessness
This paper reviews the literature on understanding homelessness. It criticizes approaches that ignore, distort or diminish the humanity of homeless people, or else, add little to our understanding of that humanity. In particular, it rejects what it calls “epidemiological” approaches, which deny the possibility of agency for homeless people, insofar as those approaches view the situation of those people largely as a “social fact”, to be explained …
Promoting Social Cohesion
Peter Ratcliffe and Ines Newman (Eds) Bristol, Policy Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-84742-694-9 Reading this book served to remind me of why I have kept my distance from debates about social/community co
Young People Living in the Ymca
This article presents interim findings and reflections from a case study of multiply excluded homeless people in Stoke-on-Trent. The article focuses on the experiences reported by a group of twelve such people living in the YMCA hostel. From the interviews, a large number of thematic structures were identified, of which only a few are outlined here, due to restrictions on the article length. The article concludes that the YMCA has had an importan…
Introduction
Many of New Labour's welfare initiatives were underpinned by a stated desire to combat social exclusion among disadvantaged sections of the population. Allied to this, a commitment to end street homelessness/rough sleeping was an enduring feature of their term in office (for example SEU, 1998; DCLG, 2008). Of course, concerns about social exclusion predate New Labour, and a lack of meaningful involvement in many key areas of wider social life (fo…
Multiscalarity and Neighbourhood Governance
This article deploys a concept of multiscalarity to criticise current theoretical approaches to governance and to make sense of neighbourhood governance. Drawing on Kooiman’s distinction between hierarchical, self- and co-governance, it is argued, first, that state strategies need to be re-examined in the light of the multiscalarity of governance. Using the example of the neighbourhood and evidence from the author’s own research, the article then…
Swept Up Lives
‘The feeling’s mutual’
This chapter reviews the current understanding of mutual respect and recognition, identifying it as a general form of cooperative interaction and identifying is as practices of civility, sociability and intimacy. The chapter also differentiates the 'thick' and 'thin' variants of civility and sociability and offers a new perspective on solidarity. It aims to determine the correlation between disrespect and social inequality and attempts to illustr…
Marginalised or Enabled Voices? ‘User Participation’ in Policy and Practice
The idea of participation has been central to many policy developments in recent years. Both Conservative and Labour governments have used notions of participation and involvement in attempts to justify and implement their social policies. Yet, despite a plethora of initiatives and guidance around ‘participation’ emerging from all levels of government, and a substantial academic literature, there remains a major, and potentially damaging, lack of…
Prospects for Local Co-Governance
British local authorities and their partners are increasingly developing new ways of working together with local communities. The nature of this co-working, however, is complex, multi-faceted and little understood. This article argues for greater clarity of thinking on the topic, by analysing this co-working as a form of political co-governance, and drawing attention in particular to issues of scale and democracy. Using evidence from a study of 4…
Homelessness and the Meaning of Home
This paper has several objectives. These are: (1) to analyse the meaning of homelessness in the light of recent contributions on the meaning of home: (2) to criticize some current perspectives on homelessness as a social problem; (3) to identify and explore a number of different dimensions of the meaning of home and homelessness; (4) to reassess the evidence on the context of home and homelessness, and re-examine the meaning of homelessness in th…
Understanding Homelessness
This paper reviews the literature on understanding homelessness. It criticizes approaches that ignore, distort or diminish the humanity of homeless people, or else, add little to our understanding of that humanity. In particular, it rejects what it calls “epidemiological” approaches, which deny the possibility of agency for homeless people, insofar as those approaches view the situation of those people largely as a “social fact”, to be explained …
The dark side of the rural idyll
Community governance and democracy
This article reviews key issues of governance and democracy and asks what current theory and evidence have to teach us about how local governance should be changed in order to make it more conducive to human emancipation. A distinction is drawn between governance and metagovernance, and the potential is assessed for the democratisation of both at community level. Particular attention is paid to the 'persistence of oligarchy' and its manifestation…
Constructionism, Realism and Housing Theory
This paper considers the theoretical postulates of the discourses of 'objectivist realism' and social constructionism and discusses their relevance to housing studies. In place of such theories, the paper puts forward a theory of contextualised rational action. This theory is then applied in the contexts of 'tenant participation', 'housing management' and 'comparative housing policy
Work and the welfare state
This book looks at the project of “workfare” or labour market activation primarily in the US but also in The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Australia and the UK, and its emphasis is on the role of
Explanations of Social Exclusion
This paper takes the view that concepts of social exclusion are socially constructed by different combinations of economic, social and political processes. It is suggested that the core meaning of social exclusion is bound up with social isolation and social segregation, and it is therefore argued that an analysis of social mobility (or the lack of it) is crucial to understanding the content and extent of social exclusion. Three approaches to the…
Empowerment through Residence
What does it mean to empower people through the housing in which they live, and how is this empowerment to be achieved? These are the questions which are examined in this paper. Typologies of empowerment processes are devised in an attempt to make sense of the conceptual and empirical variety involved. The distinction between 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' empowerment orientations is argued to be particularly important for understanding the content, …
Home sweet home
While accepting the need for research which focuses on the social meaning of the home, this article takes issue with some of Saunders’ and Williams’ formulations for a research programme — in particular, the emphasis given to physical and design features of the home at the expense of an understanding of more fundamental gender and generational relations within the home. It attempts to uncover the assumptions lying behind those formulations, to cl…
Prospects for Local Co-Governance
British local authorities and their partners are increasingly developing new ways of working together with local communities. The nature of this co-working, however, is complex, multi-faceted and little understood. This article argues for greater clarity of thinking on the topic, by analysing this co-working as a form of political co-governance, and drawing attention in particular to issues of scale and democracy. Using evidence from a study of 4…
Marginalised or Enabled Voices? ‘User Participation’ in Policy and Practice
The idea of participation has been central to many policy developments in recent years. Both Conservative and Labour governments have used notions of participation and involvement in attempts to justify and implement their social policies. Yet, despite a plethora of initiatives and guidance around ‘participation’ emerging from all levels of government, and a substantial academic literature, there remains a major, and potentially damaging, lack of…
State rescaling and democratic transformation
This article is concerned with the rescaling of the state and with the impact of this rescaling on processes of democratisation and empowerment and, in particular, on the growth potential of movements for local urban and rural social justice. State rescaling is defined, and then explained, using a distinction between state functions and state strategy and, correspondingly, between political governance and metagovernance. An initial attempt is mad…
Illegal diversification strategies in the farming community from a UK perspective
Tenure, gender and household structure
Starting with a review of recent literature on gender and housing, this paper goes on to develop a new theory of household structure, in which concepts of gender and generation play a key role. The utility of this theory is then demonstrated in the analysis of data from a survey of households in the City of Salford
Homelessness Policy in Britain
This paper reviews the history of homelessness policy in Britain, with special emphasis on the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. The structural changes in society which made the 1977 Act possible are identified, and the immediate causation of the Act itself is examined in detail. The consensus view that pressure groups played the main part in bringing about the legislative change is criticised, and instead it is argued that the Department of t…
A Sceptic Looks at “Housing Theory”
I am a long‐time admirer of Jim Kemeny's work, but I start from a position of scepticism about all “housing system” theories, i.e. theories that posit a general causal relationship between features
Making oneself at home
This paper builds on previous work on resident participation and the mediation of housing policy at the residential level. The paper reviews different types of residential mediation arrangement, that is, types of arrangement whereby residents become more at home in their living environments, associated with an increase in social control over those environments. After examining evidence from a number of countries, in particular the UK and Sweden, …
A Critique of Ecologically Unequal Exchange Theory
Ecologically unequal exchange theory has become popular in recent years but it is confused, internally inconsistent, and misrepresents the nature of global extractivism and labour exploitation
Changing homelessness services
This paper argues that the increasing international salience of homelessness can be partially explained by reference to the revanchist thesis (involving processes of coerced exclusion and abjection), but the situation on the ground is more complex. It reports on interviews with 18 representatives of 11 homelessness service providers in one city in England. As Cloke et al. found, these providers tended to be either larger, more 'professional', 'in…
Ecologically Unequal Exchange Theory
Hornborg's concepts of ecologically unequal exchange and social-material metabolism are incoherent and therefore of no scientific value. Capitalism creates real expanding value through labour exploitation, and this is the main source of economic and social inequality. Issues such as the distinctiveness of value under capitalism, the difference between labour and labour-power, and between exploitation and appropriation, are important for understan…
The difference that tenure makes
This paper argues that housing tenures cannot be reduced to either production relations or consumption relations. Instead, they need to be understood as modes of housing distribution, and as having complex and dynamic relations with social classes. Building on a critique of both the productionist and the consumptionist literature, as well as of formalist accounts of the relations between tenure and class, the paper attempts to lay the foundations…
Revisiting Connections Between Capital and Nature I
This paper reconsiders Marx’s theory of capital in the light of more recent discussions of the relationship between capital and nature. It points out how this theory continues to be misrepresented and misunderstood by a number of scholars, and argues that one reason for such failings is a tendency to neglect the role of labour in mediating this relationship. Further, the paper reviews literature relating to the value of nature, primitive accumula…
A critique of climate change mitigation policy
Global institutions and national governments have failed to provide effective policy guidance or leadership on tackling climate change. The extraction and combustion of fossil fuels continues apace, resulting in continual rising of greenhouse gas emissions, which pose a threat to all life on earth. However, the global climate regime continues to underestimate the need for immediate, radical and powerful action. Dominant framings of the problem co…
Preventing Catastrophic Climate Change
The end game for fossil
Introduction
Many of New Labour's welfare initiatives were underpinned by a stated desire to combat social exclusion among disadvantaged sections of the population. Allied to this, a commitment to end street homelessness/rough sleeping was an enduring feature of their term in office (for example SEU, 1998; DCLG, 2008). Of course, concerns about social exclusion predate New Labour, and a lack of meaningful involvement in many key areas of wider social life (fo…
Home sweet home
While accepting the need for research which focuses on the social meaning of the home, this article takes issue with some of Saunders’ and Williams’ formulations for a research programme — in particular, the emphasis given to physical and design features of the home at the expense of an understanding of more fundamental gender and generational relations within the home. It attempts to uncover the assumptions lying behind those formulations, to cl…
The difference that tenure makes
This paper argues that housing tenures cannot be reduced to either production relations or consumption relations. Instead, they need to be understood as modes of housing distribution, and as having complex and dynamic relations with social classes. Building on a critique of both the productionist and the consumptionist literature, as well as of formalist accounts of the relations between tenure and class, the paper attempts to lay the foundations…
Homelessness and the Meaning of Home
This paper has several objectives. These are: (1) to analyse the meaning of homelessness in the light of recent contributions on the meaning of home: (2) to criticize some current perspectives on homelessness as a social problem; (3) to identify and explore a number of different dimensions of the meaning of home and homelessness; (4) to reassess the evidence on the context of home and homelessness, and re-examine the meaning of homelessness in th…
Tenure, gender and household structure
Starting with a review of recent literature on gender and housing, this paper goes on to develop a new theory of household structure, in which concepts of gender and generation play a key role. The utility of this theory is then demonstrated in the analysis of data from a survey of households in the City of Salford
Homelessness Policy in Britain
This paper reviews the history of homelessness policy in Britain, with special emphasis on the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. The structural changes in society which made the 1977 Act possible are identified, and the immediate causation of the Act itself is examined in detail. The consensus view that pressure groups played the main part in bringing about the legislative change is criticised, and instead it is argued that the Department of t…
Explanations of Social Exclusion
This paper takes the view that concepts of social exclusion are socially constructed by different combinations of economic, social and political processes. It is suggested that the core meaning of social exclusion is bound up with social isolation and social segregation, and it is therefore argued that an analysis of social mobility (or the lack of it) is crucial to understanding the content and extent of social exclusion. Three approaches to the…
Empowerment through Residence
What does it mean to empower people through the housing in which they live, and how is this empowerment to be achieved? These are the questions which are examined in this paper. Typologies of empowerment processes are devised in an attempt to make sense of the conceptual and empirical variety involved. The distinction between 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' empowerment orientations is argued to be particularly important for understanding the content, …
Making oneself at home
This paper builds on previous work on resident participation and the mediation of housing policy at the residential level. The paper reviews different types of residential mediation arrangement, that is, types of arrangement whereby residents become more at home in their living environments, associated with an increase in social control over those environments. After examining evidence from a number of countries, in particular the UK and Sweden, …
But Why Social Constructionism
Understanding Contextualised Rational Action - Authors' Response
CLEARING UP SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGSAllow us first of all to take the opportunity to thank all commentators for careful reading and interesting and thought-provoking comments, some of them encouraging and others more critical, but all useful in our future work within our perspective of contextualised rational action.The original aim of our paper was to provoke a debate on the use of theory in housing research, and on that point, if nothing else, we…
Constructionism, Realism and Housing Theory
This paper considers the theoretical postulates of the discourses of 'objectivist realism' and social constructionism and discusses their relevance to housing studies. In place of such theories, the paper puts forward a theory of contextualised rational action. This theory is then applied in the contexts of 'tenant participation', 'housing management' and 'comparative housing policy
State rescaling and democratic transformation
This article is concerned with the rescaling of the state and with the impact of this rescaling on processes of democratisation and empowerment and, in particular, on the growth potential of movements for local urban and rural social justice. State rescaling is defined, and then explained, using a distinction between state functions and state strategy and, correspondingly, between political governance and metagovernance. An initial attempt is mad…
A Sceptic Looks at “Housing Theory”
I am a long‐time admirer of Jim Kemeny's work, but I start from a position of scepticism about all “housing system” theories, i.e. theories that posit a general causal relationship between features
Community governance and democracy
This article reviews key issues of governance and democracy and asks what current theory and evidence have to teach us about how local governance should be changed in order to make it more conducive to human emancipation. A distinction is drawn between governance and metagovernance, and the potential is assessed for the democratisation of both at community level. Particular attention is paid to the 'persistence of oligarchy' and its manifestation…
Marginalised or Enabled Voices? ‘User Participation’ in Policy and Practice
The idea of participation has been central to many policy developments in recent years. Both Conservative and Labour governments have used notions of participation and involvement in attempts to justify and implement their social policies. Yet, despite a plethora of initiatives and guidance around ‘participation’ emerging from all levels of government, and a substantial academic literature, there remains a major, and potentially damaging, lack of…
Prospects for Local Co-Governance
British local authorities and their partners are increasingly developing new ways of working together with local communities. The nature of this co-working, however, is complex, multi-faceted and little understood. This article argues for greater clarity of thinking on the topic, by analysing this co-working as a form of political co-governance, and drawing attention in particular to issues of scale and democracy. Using evidence from a study of 4…
‘The feeling’s mutual’
This chapter reviews the current understanding of mutual respect and recognition, identifying it as a general form of cooperative interaction and identifying is as practices of civility, sociability and intimacy. The chapter also differentiates the 'thick' and 'thin' variants of civility and sociability and offers a new perspective on solidarity. It aims to determine the correlation between disrespect and social inequality and attempts to illustr…
Young People Living in the Ymca
This article presents interim findings and reflections from a case study of multiply excluded homeless people in Stoke-on-Trent. The article focuses on the experiences reported by a group of twelve such people living in the YMCA hostel. From the interviews, a large number of thematic structures were identified, of which only a few are outlined here, due to restrictions on the article length. The article concludes that the YMCA has had an importan…
Introduction
Many of New Labour's welfare initiatives were underpinned by a stated desire to combat social exclusion among disadvantaged sections of the population. Allied to this, a commitment to end street homelessness/rough sleeping was an enduring feature of their term in office (for example SEU, 1998; DCLG, 2008). Of course, concerns about social exclusion predate New Labour, and a lack of meaningful involvement in many key areas of wider social life (fo…
Multiscalarity and Neighbourhood Governance
This article deploys a concept of multiscalarity to criticise current theoretical approaches to governance and to make sense of neighbourhood governance. Drawing on Kooiman’s distinction between hierarchical, self- and co-governance, it is argued, first, that state strategies need to be re-examined in the light of the multiscalarity of governance. Using the example of the neighbourhood and evidence from the author’s own research, the article then…
Swept Up Lives
Promoting Social Cohesion
Peter Ratcliffe and Ines Newman (Eds) Bristol, Policy Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-84742-694-9 Reading this book served to remind me of why I have kept my distance from debates about social/community co
Interpreting Rurality
Understanding Homelessness
This paper reviews the literature on understanding homelessness. It criticizes approaches that ignore, distort or diminish the humanity of homeless people, or else, add little to our understanding of that humanity. In particular, it rejects what it calls “epidemiological” approaches, which deny the possibility of agency for homeless people, insofar as those approaches view the situation of those people largely as a “social fact”, to be explained …
Work and the welfare state
This book looks at the project of “workfare” or labour market activation primarily in the US but also in The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Australia and the UK, and its emphasis is on the role of
Sociology (29 obras) · Political science (26 obras) · Economics (19 obras) · Law (15 obras) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (14 obras) · Law (14 obras) · Epistemology (12 obras) · Homelessness and Social Issues (11 obras) · Philosophy (11 obras) · Philosophy (11 obras)