Will Mason
Biographic Data
| ID | 3857128 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Will Mason |
| GIVEN NAMES | Will |
| FAMILY NAME | Mason |
| SIGNATURE | MASON W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Sheffield |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1673-524X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 114 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Student Stickers: Reflecting upon Joyful Learning, Co-Creation, and the Politics of Playful Dissemination
‘Towards Joyful Learning’ is a participatory research project that has explored the role of joy and enjoyment in higher education. Our students co-produced stickers which acted as a visual and material artefact to showcase much of this work. Our six stickers (inclusive of our central project logo) offer playful visualisations of substantive contributions from the student co-production project on calls and recommendations to move us towards a joyf…
Towards a pedagogy of joy
This paper presents an original empirical case for taking joy seriously to create a more inclusive and connected education. Drawing on a co-produced research project with students (n = 21) at a UK Russell Group university, we share reflections on students’ experiences of joy in higher education. Our students co-constructed meanings of joy and its relationship to their educational journeys. They revealed the conditions necessary for a joyful pedag…
Understanding how voluntary and community sector resources impact the mental health and wellbeing of young people living in context of disadvantage: A realist review
Mental health is an escalating problem for young people. Open access community services may offer ‘safe spaces’ and a sense of belonging. However, the function and impact of voluntary and community sector (VCS) resources, such as youth clubs and community sports initiatives, in supporting young people’s mental health is not currently well documented or understood. A realist review was conducted in line with RAMESES quality and reporting standards…
Examining longitudinal associations between early environmental deprivation and unpredictability and dietary quality and eating behaviors a decade later
The Unity Gym Project Podumentary: Joint Enterprise, Anti-Racism and Community Partnership
This text introduces the Unity Gym Project (UGP) Podumentary (a portmanteau of 'documentary' and 'podcast'). The UGP Podumentary is a youth-led output, generated as part of an ongoing university-community partnership in the North of England. The episode presented here profiles the work of JENGbA (Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association), a grassroots campaign established to challenge the legal doctrine of Joint Enterprise. This work is part of…
Academic reading as a grudging act: How do Higher Education students experience academic reading and what can educators do about it
This article examines Higher Education students’ experiences of academic reading as a grudging act: something that is performed reluctantly or half-heartedly, because it has to be done. Drawing on group interviews with 30 social science undergraduates, registered at a research-intensive UK university, we offer a reflexive thematic analysis of academic reading, experienced as ‘a struggle’, as ‘a chore’ and as ‘pointless’. Our analysis centres the …
On staying: Extended temporalities, relationships and practices in community engaged scholarship
This article examines the complexity and affordances of staying in 'the field'. Time as a resource for qualitative research is widely experienced as diminishing. Yet increasingly, academic emphasis is also being placed on the merits of time intensive approaches, like participatory scholarship. This tension raises critical questions about the ethics and practices of collaboration within arguably narrowing parameters. Taking a view from the edges o…
CiviAct: Negotiating 'fields of paradox' in anti-racist university community partnerships
This article introduces and critically reflects upon the development of CiviAct - a multi-agency project that partners six anti-racist activist organisations and two universities in the North of England. CiviAct seeks to support and realise the benefits of youth and community-led civic action. It does this by: (i) financially resourcing the work of six anti-racist activist organisations; (ii) connecting those organisations with each other to crea…
Reading Sociological Theory
Understanding out of Home Care Rates in Northern Ireland: A Thematic Analysis of Mixed Methods Case Studies
Research exploring inequalities in UK child welfare interventions has produced counter-intuitive findings with respect to Northern Ireland (NI). Despite experiencing the highest levels of deprivation, NI also displays the lowest rates of children in care of all the UK nations. With reference to wider evidence in the field of child welfare inequalities, this article details the findings of two exploratory mixed methods case studies, located within…
Toward Full Integration of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Case Study Research: Insights From Investigating Child Welfare Inequalities
Delineation of the full integration of quantitative and qualitative methods throughout all stages of multisite mixed methods case study projects remains a gap in the methodological literature. This article offers advances to the field of mixed methods by detailing the application and integration of mixed methods throughout all stages of one such project; a study of child welfare inequalities. By offering a critical discussion of site selection an…
Poverty, inequality, child abuse and neglect: Changing the conversation across the UK in child protection
No One Learned’: Interpreting a Drugs Crackdown Operation and its Consequences Through The ‘Lens’ of Social Harm
This article seeks to extend studies of social harm by detailing the ways that harm is interpreted, identified and reflected upon by social actors in a specific empirical context: a drugs crackdown operation in a northern English city. Using a longitudinal ethnographic approach, unique insights are reported both from the time that the operation took place and a point in time five years afterwards. The data offer rich accounts of the immediate, sh…
Introduction: Families, Social Work and the Welfare State: Where Contemporary ‘Family’ Meets Policy and Practice
This themed section brings together the disciplines of sociology, social work and social policy in order to examine the ways in which contemporary familial diversity is recognised in comparative welfare state regimes. Contributors interrogate the ways in which such diversity is supported in national legislation, policy developments and acknowledged in everyday social work practice. In doing so, the section examines if and how these demographic tr…
Some Useful Sources
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Walking the Walk: Changing Familial Forms, Government Policy and Everyday Social Work Practice in England
Although contemporary sociological thought reports a diversification of family forms in society, ‘the family’ continues to influence national and international political agendas. Social workers, as ‘street level bureaucrats’, are social agents that both work with citizens and implement policies made by senior officials. Despite this, the extent to which conceptual and policy developments in family diversity manifest in family-based social work pr…
Social work, poverty, and child welfare interventions
The relationship between children's material circumstances and child abuse and neglect raises a series of questions for policy, practice, and practitioners. Children and families in poverty are significantly more likely to be the subject of state intervention. This article, based on a unique mixed‐methods study of social work interventions and the influence of poverty, highlights a narrative from practitioners that argues that, as many poor famil…
Swagger: Urban Youth Culture, Consumption and Social Positioning
Sociological studies of youth culture have often focused on processes of social identification. Though some of this work has explored the importance of consumption within young people's identity practices, much has foregrounded the effects of economic marginality and neglected the importance of 'race'. This article explores the role of clothing and embodied dispositions, popularly referred to as 'swagger', within the ways that young people positi…
Poverty, child abuse and neglect: Patterns of cost and spending
This article examines recent data on the costs of poverty, child abuse and neglect (CAN), paying particular attention to contemporary patterns of spending in England. The discussion explores the ‘reactive’ spending necessary to deal with the short/medium term consequences of poverty and CAN and the ‘preventative’ spending associated with some interpretations of early intervention The evidence outlined suggests that the financial costs of poverty …
Social work, poverty, and child welfare interventions
The relationship between children's material circumstances and child abuse and neglect raises a series of questions for policy, practice, and practitioners. Children and families in poverty are significantly more likely to be the subject of state intervention. This article, based on a unique mixed‐methods study of social work interventions and the influence of poverty, highlights a narrative from practitioners that argues that, as many poor famil…
Poverty, inequality, child abuse and neglect: Changing the conversation across the UK in child protection
On staying: Extended temporalities, relationships and practices in community engaged scholarship
This article examines the complexity and affordances of staying in 'the field'. Time as a resource for qualitative research is widely experienced as diminishing. Yet increasingly, academic emphasis is also being placed on the merits of time intensive approaches, like participatory scholarship. This tension raises critical questions about the ethics and practices of collaboration within arguably narrowing parameters. Taking a view from the edges o…
Swagger: Urban Youth Culture, Consumption and Social Positioning
Sociological studies of youth culture have often focused on processes of social identification. Though some of this work has explored the importance of consumption within young people's identity practices, much has foregrounded the effects of economic marginality and neglected the importance of 'race'. This article explores the role of clothing and embodied dispositions, popularly referred to as 'swagger', within the ways that young people positi…
Toward Full Integration of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Case Study Research: Insights From Investigating Child Welfare Inequalities
Delineation of the full integration of quantitative and qualitative methods throughout all stages of multisite mixed methods case study projects remains a gap in the methodological literature. This article offers advances to the field of mixed methods by detailing the application and integration of mixed methods throughout all stages of one such project; a study of child welfare inequalities. By offering a critical discussion of site selection an…
Walking the Walk: Changing Familial Forms, Government Policy and Everyday Social Work Practice in England
Although contemporary sociological thought reports a diversification of family forms in society, ‘the family’ continues to influence national and international political agendas. Social workers, as ‘street level bureaucrats’, are social agents that both work with citizens and implement policies made by senior officials. Despite this, the extent to which conceptual and policy developments in family diversity manifest in family-based social work pr…
Understanding out of Home Care Rates in Northern Ireland: A Thematic Analysis of Mixed Methods Case Studies
Research exploring inequalities in UK child welfare interventions has produced counter-intuitive findings with respect to Northern Ireland (NI). Despite experiencing the highest levels of deprivation, NI also displays the lowest rates of children in care of all the UK nations. With reference to wider evidence in the field of child welfare inequalities, this article details the findings of two exploratory mixed methods case studies, located within…
Poverty, child abuse and neglect: Patterns of cost and spending
This article examines recent data on the costs of poverty, child abuse and neglect (CAN), paying particular attention to contemporary patterns of spending in England. The discussion explores the ‘reactive’ spending necessary to deal with the short/medium term consequences of poverty and CAN and the ‘preventative’ spending associated with some interpretations of early intervention The evidence outlined suggests that the financial costs of poverty …
CiviAct: Negotiating 'fields of paradox' in anti-racist university community partnerships
This article introduces and critically reflects upon the development of CiviAct - a multi-agency project that partners six anti-racist activist organisations and two universities in the North of England. CiviAct seeks to support and realise the benefits of youth and community-led civic action. It does this by: (i) financially resourcing the work of six anti-racist activist organisations; (ii) connecting those organisations with each other to crea…
Poverty, child abuse and neglect: Patterns of cost and spending
This article examines recent data on the costs of poverty, child abuse and neglect (CAN), paying particular attention to contemporary patterns of spending in England. The discussion explores the ‘reactive’ spending necessary to deal with the short/medium term consequences of poverty and CAN and the ‘preventative’ spending associated with some interpretations of early intervention The evidence outlined suggests that the financial costs of poverty …
Introduction: Families, Social Work and the Welfare State: Where Contemporary ‘Family’ Meets Policy and Practice
This themed section brings together the disciplines of sociology, social work and social policy in order to examine the ways in which contemporary familial diversity is recognised in comparative welfare state regimes. Contributors interrogate the ways in which such diversity is supported in national legislation, policy developments and acknowledged in everyday social work practice. In doing so, the section examines if and how these demographic tr…
Some Useful Sources
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Walking the Walk: Changing Familial Forms, Government Policy and Everyday Social Work Practice in England
Although contemporary sociological thought reports a diversification of family forms in society, ‘the family’ continues to influence national and international political agendas. Social workers, as ‘street level bureaucrats’, are social agents that both work with citizens and implement policies made by senior officials. Despite this, the extent to which conceptual and policy developments in family diversity manifest in family-based social work pr…
Social work, poverty, and child welfare interventions
The relationship between children's material circumstances and child abuse and neglect raises a series of questions for policy, practice, and practitioners. Children and families in poverty are significantly more likely to be the subject of state intervention. This article, based on a unique mixed‐methods study of social work interventions and the influence of poverty, highlights a narrative from practitioners that argues that, as many poor famil…
Swagger: Urban Youth Culture, Consumption and Social Positioning
Sociological studies of youth culture have often focused on processes of social identification. Though some of this work has explored the importance of consumption within young people's identity practices, much has foregrounded the effects of economic marginality and neglected the importance of 'race'. This article explores the role of clothing and embodied dispositions, popularly referred to as 'swagger', within the ways that young people positi…
Toward Full Integration of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Case Study Research: Insights From Investigating Child Welfare Inequalities
Delineation of the full integration of quantitative and qualitative methods throughout all stages of multisite mixed methods case study projects remains a gap in the methodological literature. This article offers advances to the field of mixed methods by detailing the application and integration of mixed methods throughout all stages of one such project; a study of child welfare inequalities. By offering a critical discussion of site selection an…
Poverty, inequality, child abuse and neglect: Changing the conversation across the UK in child protection
No One Learned’: Interpreting a Drugs Crackdown Operation and its Consequences Through The ‘Lens’ of Social Harm
This article seeks to extend studies of social harm by detailing the ways that harm is interpreted, identified and reflected upon by social actors in a specific empirical context: a drugs crackdown operation in a northern English city. Using a longitudinal ethnographic approach, unique insights are reported both from the time that the operation took place and a point in time five years afterwards. The data offer rich accounts of the immediate, sh…
Reading Sociological Theory
Understanding out of Home Care Rates in Northern Ireland: A Thematic Analysis of Mixed Methods Case Studies
Research exploring inequalities in UK child welfare interventions has produced counter-intuitive findings with respect to Northern Ireland (NI). Despite experiencing the highest levels of deprivation, NI also displays the lowest rates of children in care of all the UK nations. With reference to wider evidence in the field of child welfare inequalities, this article details the findings of two exploratory mixed methods case studies, located within…
CiviAct: Negotiating 'fields of paradox' in anti-racist university community partnerships
This article introduces and critically reflects upon the development of CiviAct - a multi-agency project that partners six anti-racist activist organisations and two universities in the North of England. CiviAct seeks to support and realise the benefits of youth and community-led civic action. It does this by: (i) financially resourcing the work of six anti-racist activist organisations; (ii) connecting those organisations with each other to crea…
On staying: Extended temporalities, relationships and practices in community engaged scholarship
This article examines the complexity and affordances of staying in 'the field'. Time as a resource for qualitative research is widely experienced as diminishing. Yet increasingly, academic emphasis is also being placed on the merits of time intensive approaches, like participatory scholarship. This tension raises critical questions about the ethics and practices of collaboration within arguably narrowing parameters. Taking a view from the edges o…
Academic reading as a grudging act: How do Higher Education students experience academic reading and what can educators do about it
This article examines Higher Education students’ experiences of academic reading as a grudging act: something that is performed reluctantly or half-heartedly, because it has to be done. Drawing on group interviews with 30 social science undergraduates, registered at a research-intensive UK university, we offer a reflexive thematic analysis of academic reading, experienced as ‘a struggle’, as ‘a chore’ and as ‘pointless’. Our analysis centres the …
The Unity Gym Project Podumentary: Joint Enterprise, Anti-Racism and Community Partnership
This text introduces the Unity Gym Project (UGP) Podumentary (a portmanteau of 'documentary' and 'podcast'). The UGP Podumentary is a youth-led output, generated as part of an ongoing university-community partnership in the North of England. The episode presented here profiles the work of JENGbA (Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association), a grassroots campaign established to challenge the legal doctrine of Joint Enterprise. This work is part of…
Student Stickers: Reflecting upon Joyful Learning, Co-Creation, and the Politics of Playful Dissemination
‘Towards Joyful Learning’ is a participatory research project that has explored the role of joy and enjoyment in higher education. Our students co-produced stickers which acted as a visual and material artefact to showcase much of this work. Our six stickers (inclusive of our central project logo) offer playful visualisations of substantive contributions from the student co-production project on calls and recommendations to move us towards a joyf…
Towards a pedagogy of joy
This paper presents an original empirical case for taking joy seriously to create a more inclusive and connected education. Drawing on a co-produced research project with students (n = 21) at a UK Russell Group university, we share reflections on students’ experiences of joy in higher education. Our students co-constructed meanings of joy and its relationship to their educational journeys. They revealed the conditions necessary for a joyful pedag…
Understanding how voluntary and community sector resources impact the mental health and wellbeing of young people living in context of disadvantage: A realist review
Mental health is an escalating problem for young people. Open access community services may offer ‘safe spaces’ and a sense of belonging. However, the function and impact of voluntary and community sector (VCS) resources, such as youth clubs and community sports initiatives, in supporting young people’s mental health is not currently well documented or understood. A realist review was conducted in line with RAMESES quality and reporting standards…
Examining longitudinal associations between early environmental deprivation and unpredictability and dietary quality and eating behaviors a decade later
Sociology (13 works) · Political science (11 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Social science (9 works) · Law (6 works) · Medicine (5 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (5 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (4 works) · Economic growth (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works)