Matt Tidmarsh
Biographic Data
| ID | 4369075 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matt Tidmarsh |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matt |
| FAMILY NAME | Tidmarsh |
| SIGNATURE | TIDMARSH M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Leeds |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6063-9805 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Making it count? Introduction to the special issue on professional registration in probation
A professional register for probation practitioners in England and Wales: Opportunities and challenges
Implemented in September 2024 against a backdrop of significant organisational challenges, the ‘Probation Professional Register’ aims to enhance confidence in the probation service in England and Wales, strengthen professional identity, and improve training and practice. It mandates, among other things, that probation officers evidence their qualifications; adhere to personal and professional standards of conduct; and commit to continuous profess…
Gender in a ‘caring’ profession: The demographic and cultural dynamics of the feminisation of the probation service in England and Wales
The number of women working in occupations that lay claim to professional status has increased markedly in recent decades, but the speed and extent of the ‘feminisation’ of the probation service in England and Wales render it unique. Such change has occurred against the backdrop of attempts to present the service in more ‘masculine’ terms, to increase punitiveness while maximising its efficiency. This article seeks to move explanations for femini…
Legacies of Change: Probation Staff Experiences of the Unification of Services in England and Wales
A discourse of professionalism has proved crucial to driving recent organizational restructurings of the probation service in England and Wales. The Coalition Government argued that bureaucratic, state provision of services had stifled probation practice—for which the introduction of market logic, via the 2014 Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms, would restore professional discretion. And yet, the detrimental impact of TR on practice meant t…
A pedagogy of ‘public criminology’ as a counter to marginality? Lessons for community sanctions and measures from the Pedagogy of the Oppressed
As a subject of study in higher education, criminology has never been more popular; and yet, criminologists occupy an increasingly marginal position within political and media spheres. This marginalisation has arguably been to the detriment of those with lived experience of the criminal justice system, an oppressed class whose number has grown exponentially after several decades of a ‘tough on crime’ consensus on criminality. While much research …
Professionalism, Payment by Results and the Probation Service: A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Marketisation on Professional Autonomy
This article utilises Foucauldian understandings of the sociology of the professions to explore how marketising reforms to probation services in England and Wales, and the implementation of a ‘Payment by Results’ (PbR) mechanism in particular, have impacted professional autonomy. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a probation office within a privately owned Community Rehabilitation Company, it argues that an inability to control the socio-econom…
Making, unmaking, remaking: Mapping the boundaries of professional legitimacy, identity and practice in probation in England and Wales
This article maps the (shifting) boundaries of professional legitimacy, identity and practice in probation in England and Wales. Probation established itself in the 20th century as a core institution in the modernist pursuit of offender rehabilitation; however, changing political economic priorities in recent decades have prompted a new consensus that also incorporates mentalities of punitivism, managerialism and risk. With a particular emphasis …
Professional Legitimacy, Identity, and Practice: Towards a Sociology of Professionalism in Probation
This paper draws from Foucauldian understandings of the sociology of the professions to explore legitimacy, identity, and practice in probation after the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms to services in England and Wales. A discourse of ‘professionalism’ was crucial to the Coalition Government’s mobilization of TR; however, the contested nature of the term is rarely acknowledged in a probation context. Based on an ethnographic study of a p…
Professionalism in Probation: Making Sense of Marketisation
The right kind of person for the job’? Emotional labour and organizational professionalism in probation
Transforming Rehabilitation: Probation practice, architecture and the art of distributions
This article explores probation practice through the architecture and arrangement of a probation office led by a Community Rehabilitation Company. It presents findings from an ethnographic study of a probation office in a large city, combining observations of the research site with data derived from interviews with 20 members of staff. Drawing on Foucault’s art of distributions, the article highlights how the managerial dynamics of recent decades…
Transforming Rehabilitation: The micro-physics of (market) power
This paper explores the impact of the introduction of competition and profit to the probation service in England and Wales following the implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms. The paper adapts the ideas advanced in Foucault’s Discipline and Punish to draw similarities between the characteristics of ‘disciplinary institutions’ and a micro-physics of (market) power in probation under Transforming Rehabilitation. It utilises Fouc…
Transforming Rehabilitation: Probation practice, architecture and the art of distributions
This article explores probation practice through the architecture and arrangement of a probation office led by a Community Rehabilitation Company. It presents findings from an ethnographic study of a probation office in a large city, combining observations of the research site with data derived from interviews with 20 members of staff. Drawing on Foucault’s art of distributions, the article highlights how the managerial dynamics of recent decades…
The right kind of person for the job’? Emotional labour and organizational professionalism in probation
Legacies of Change: Probation Staff Experiences of the Unification of Services in England and Wales
A discourse of professionalism has proved crucial to driving recent organizational restructurings of the probation service in England and Wales. The Coalition Government argued that bureaucratic, state provision of services had stifled probation practice—for which the introduction of market logic, via the 2014 Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms, would restore professional discretion. And yet, the detrimental impact of TR on practice meant t…
Professional Legitimacy, Identity, and Practice: Towards a Sociology of Professionalism in Probation
This paper draws from Foucauldian understandings of the sociology of the professions to explore legitimacy, identity, and practice in probation after the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms to services in England and Wales. A discourse of ‘professionalism’ was crucial to the Coalition Government’s mobilization of TR; however, the contested nature of the term is rarely acknowledged in a probation context. Based on an ethnographic study of a p…
The right kind of person for the job’? Emotional labour and organizational professionalism in probation
Transforming Rehabilitation: Probation practice, architecture and the art of distributions
This article explores probation practice through the architecture and arrangement of a probation office led by a Community Rehabilitation Company. It presents findings from an ethnographic study of a probation office in a large city, combining observations of the research site with data derived from interviews with 20 members of staff. Drawing on Foucault’s art of distributions, the article highlights how the managerial dynamics of recent decades…
Transforming Rehabilitation: The micro-physics of (market) power
This paper explores the impact of the introduction of competition and profit to the probation service in England and Wales following the implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms. The paper adapts the ideas advanced in Foucault’s Discipline and Punish to draw similarities between the characteristics of ‘disciplinary institutions’ and a micro-physics of (market) power in probation under Transforming Rehabilitation. It utilises Fouc…
Professionalism in Probation: Making Sense of Marketisation
Professionalism, Payment by Results and the Probation Service: A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Marketisation on Professional Autonomy
This article utilises Foucauldian understandings of the sociology of the professions to explore how marketising reforms to probation services in England and Wales, and the implementation of a ‘Payment by Results’ (PbR) mechanism in particular, have impacted professional autonomy. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a probation office within a privately owned Community Rehabilitation Company, it argues that an inability to control the socio-econom…
Making, unmaking, remaking: Mapping the boundaries of professional legitimacy, identity and practice in probation in England and Wales
This article maps the (shifting) boundaries of professional legitimacy, identity and practice in probation in England and Wales. Probation established itself in the 20th century as a core institution in the modernist pursuit of offender rehabilitation; however, changing political economic priorities in recent decades have prompted a new consensus that also incorporates mentalities of punitivism, managerialism and risk. With a particular emphasis …
Professional Legitimacy, Identity, and Practice: Towards a Sociology of Professionalism in Probation
This paper draws from Foucauldian understandings of the sociology of the professions to explore legitimacy, identity, and practice in probation after the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms to services in England and Wales. A discourse of ‘professionalism’ was crucial to the Coalition Government’s mobilization of TR; however, the contested nature of the term is rarely acknowledged in a probation context. Based on an ethnographic study of a p…
A pedagogy of ‘public criminology’ as a counter to marginality? Lessons for community sanctions and measures from the Pedagogy of the Oppressed
As a subject of study in higher education, criminology has never been more popular; and yet, criminologists occupy an increasingly marginal position within political and media spheres. This marginalisation has arguably been to the detriment of those with lived experience of the criminal justice system, an oppressed class whose number has grown exponentially after several decades of a ‘tough on crime’ consensus on criminality. While much research …
Gender in a ‘caring’ profession: The demographic and cultural dynamics of the feminisation of the probation service in England and Wales
The number of women working in occupations that lay claim to professional status has increased markedly in recent decades, but the speed and extent of the ‘feminisation’ of the probation service in England and Wales render it unique. Such change has occurred against the backdrop of attempts to present the service in more ‘masculine’ terms, to increase punitiveness while maximising its efficiency. This article seeks to move explanations for femini…
Legacies of Change: Probation Staff Experiences of the Unification of Services in England and Wales
A discourse of professionalism has proved crucial to driving recent organizational restructurings of the probation service in England and Wales. The Coalition Government argued that bureaucratic, state provision of services had stifled probation practice—for which the introduction of market logic, via the 2014 Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms, would restore professional discretion. And yet, the detrimental impact of TR on practice meant t…
Making it count? Introduction to the special issue on professional registration in probation
A professional register for probation practitioners in England and Wales: Opportunities and challenges
Implemented in September 2024 against a backdrop of significant organisational challenges, the ‘Probation Professional Register’ aims to enhance confidence in the probation service in England and Wales, strengthen professional identity, and improve training and practice. It mandates, among other things, that probation officers evidence their qualifications; adhere to personal and professional standards of conduct; and commit to continuous profess…
Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (7 works) · Public relations (7 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Politics (5 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (5 works) · Ethnography (4 works)