Welcome to the University of Lincoln, College of Social Science Research website. This website aims to provide an overview on the wide range of research undertaken within the College of Social Science. It contains details of events, current studies, community resources and information on how you or your organisation can become engaged with research within the College.
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This Week’s Featured Research
Dr Catherine Bochel and Dr Mark Bennister
Academic Fellows in Parliaments: Impact, Lessons and Challenges
Parliamentary Fellows on the Political Studies Association (PSA)/House of Commons Fellowship Scheme (also launched in November 2016) hosted a workshop in the House of Commons on 16 November 2018, together with Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) staff. The purpose of the workshop was to inform an evaluation of the more structured fellowship schemes that have been set up by legislatures in recent years. It brought together current and former Fellows with parliamentary staff, and other interested parties such as learned societies and research councils, to share their experiences, highlight best practice and shape the future of the fellowship schemes in the UK legislatures.
Latest News
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Academic Fellows in Parliaments: Impact, Lessons and Challenges...
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How Public Engagement Became a Core Part of the House of Commons Select CommitteesThis article explores the role of public engagement by select committees of the House of Commons. It shows that committees’ public engagement activity has been transformed since 1979, when departmental select committees were introduced. We start by outlining the different elements of public engagement, showing that it entails a wide range of types of activity from information about committees’ activity to opportunities through which citizens can shape parliamentary decisions. We then proceed to outline how public engagement has become a core activity of select committees in the House of Commons. We show developments taking place within all elements of public engagement. Through the use of case studies, we illustrate specific innovations that have led towards more agile and inclusive ways to consult and involve the public into committees’ activities. We finish by identifying some of the challenges still present, namely the need to reach new and more varied audiences....
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Masculinizing Care? Gender, Ethics of Care, and Fathers' Rights GroupsThis article contributes to theoretical debates around caring masculinity, especially attempts to integrate feminist ethics of care with masculinities scholarship. I apply ethics of care and masculinities theories to an illustrative case study of fathers’ rights group (FRG), (Real) Fathers 4 Justice, who, I argue, employ aspects of care perspectives framed as a “new man/new father” masculinity. Applying ethics of care to analyze caring masculinities demonstrates that men care and that caring masculinity can potentially destabilize dominant notions of masculinity. However, care is also coded masculine in complex, sometimes troubling, ways. The promise of masculinized care in the context of fathers’ rights is limited as, ultimately, gender binaries are reinforced more than they are rendered contingent. As well as contributing to analyses of the gender politics of FRGs, I argue that we should pay careful attention to the contexts within which caring masculinities may be strategically and problematically employed....
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Comparison of individual and group-based load-velocity profiling as a means to dictate training load over a six-week strength and power interventionPURPOSE: To explore the effects of two velocity-based loading methods over a six-week strength and power intervention in resistance trained males. University of Lincoln, College of Social Science Research Harry Dorell, University of Lincoln, School of Sport and Exercise Science...
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Millions struggling to pay council tax and other essential bills, says new Financial Inclusion StudyPoverty is rising for all groups - even those in work – according to a new financial inclusion monitor report. Research from the University of Birmingham and the University of Lincoln shows nearly 1.6 million people falling behind with council tax payments, with six in ten people in the poorest fifth of the population reporting they are in problem debt – mainly council tax payments, rent or utility bills. University of Lincoln, College of Social Science Research...
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Markets for rules: the promise and peril of blockchain distributed governancePurpose: Explore the possible contributions of blockchain technology to creating new governance structures that facilitate social cooperation. Methodology: Conceptual analysis with key ideas in new institutional economics and political theory. Findings: Blockchain technology provides a new tool through which political entrepreneurs can credibly alienate some of their power within a system of rules that they have established. Originality: Links discussion of blockchain entrepreneurship in commercial markets to research into private governance and political thought....
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Women in the Profession: An Update on the Gendered Composition of the Discipline and Political Science Departments in the UKThis article updates and broadens research undertaken eight years ago on the status of women in UK political science. As Bates et al. then argued (2012: 139-40), research on women in the discipline is important, not only because of issues of equality, justice and self-reflection within the discipline, but also because of the privileged role political scientists play in the creation and flow of knowledge about gender inequality and women’s underrepresentation in positions of power, as well as other important political issues more generally. University of Lincoln, College of Social Science Research...
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Non-state actors and change in foreign policy: the case of a self-determination referendum in the Kurdistan Region of IraqThis article bridges the gap between referenda and foreign policy, emphasizing the role of non-state entities as (f)actors of change in the formulation of foreign policy. Using a multi-layered (rather than a normative) analysis, it examines the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as a novel, non-state case in the international relations and foreign policy analysis literature. It argues that referenda can be pursued by non-state entities, not just state actors, and analyses the parameters of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG’s) unilateral declaration and conduct of the 2017 referendum. It perceives referenda as tools for the formulation and possible facilitation of foreign policy objectives and, in particular, claims to the formation of statehood undertaken by a non-state entity. The study, therefore, pursues a multi-level analysis looking at the contributing dynamics at the domestic, regional and international levels which demonstrate the impact of referenda on foreign policy-making and examines the catalyst role of the unit level that stands out as a determining factor....
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The “Youthquake” in British Politics: Myth or Reality?...