New appointments in Criminology and Sociology

We are pleased to announce the appointment of two new staff members.  Dr Mwenda Kailemia has joined us as a Lecturer in Criminology.  His PhD thesis focused on the ground level policing of the impact of transnational migration after the expansion of the European Union.  Mwenda will be leading our level two module, 'Policing and the Police'.  His wider research interests are in transnational security, policing governance, and anti-terrorism in emerging economies.

Dr Ala Sirriyeh will take up her post as Lecturer in Sociology later this month.  Ala's PhD research has been published as Inhabiting borders: a study of 16-25 year old refugee women's narratives of home.  Ala has research interests in migration, identities, cities, and personal relationships.  She will be contributing to a
range of teaching on the sociology programme, including
our introductory module, 'Social inequalities in the contemporary world'.     

New publication - Living with 'Aliens'

                                                       

Clare Griffiths, Lecturer in Criminology, explores public attitudes towards immigration in a new article in Criminal Justice Matters

According to a recent article entitled 'Immigration is British society’s biggest problem' (Boffey, 2013) nearly a third of the British public who took part in a survey perceive immigration to be one of the greatest causes of social division. Segregation and the ‘parallel lives’ that diverse cultures lead have been high on the political agenda ever since the 2001 Northern riots in the towns of Oldham, Bradford and Burnley. Government policies have attempted to promote community cohesion and integration in diverse neighbourhoods. The topic of immigration and its imagined ‘threat’ to ‘British’ values and to ‘British’ communities has arisen again recently with both the Romanian and Bulgarian migration flows, and the killing of British soldier Lee Rigby; both of which have sparked a hostile response in negative media portrayals of immigrants or in protests against immigration involving the far right. This paper, however, attempts to paint a less gloomy and more complex picture of public attitudes towards immigration and its assumed association with crime and insecurity by showing how polite and civil social exchange can exist at the local level of social life.

The Policing of Petty Crime in Victorian Cumbria

By Guy Woolnough 

Guy Woolnough recently completed his PhD in Criminology at Keele.  In this post he outlines the key themes of his thesis.  Guy maintains his own blog and recommends that readers wanting to know more about his work start here or here.  The images below are examples of the kind of historical artefacts that have been used in his study.   



Report of a stolen turnip

My study is an innovative analysis of the policing of petty offending and the work the police in Cumbria. I have used the neglected minutiae of police and court records to deconstruct the role of the police, discretionary policing by men on the beat, public expectations of the police, and the growth of police bureaucracy. I have been digging through some of the most trivial of records, many of which have been lost, but there have been a few pockets in which a wealth of random paperwork has survived. For example, Maryport where for a few years Inspector Grisdale failed to throw away his correspondence, amongst which the words and opinions of humble police constables and ordinary Cumbrians have survived, reporting or complaining about stolen peas, a turnip robbery or a missing husband. Another survival has been the daily reports of the Grayrigg constable. He served alone at his isolated Cumbrian police station, where he completed the daily reports that monitored his work, reports which ended almost everyday with the words ‘nothing to report.’

My work problematises conceptions of policing and its history. The detailed study of what police were actually doing calls into question both the idea of a ‘golden age’ of policing and the claim that there has been an explosion of bureaucracy in late twentieth century policing. These are the issues that dominate the contemporary discourses on policing, though this study makes clear that assumptions are made today that are not supported by the history. The themes of this study are as relevant today as they were 150 years ago, for this work is interdisciplinary, situated in the social sciences, particularly criminology and history.

A lost banjo

My work examines the police’s role at a time of social, economic and bureaucratic change. It links the development of police expertise and professionalism with the process of state formation. The historiography and nature of Victorian policing are tested by this study of Cumbria, a remote and unique region which was culturally, economically and agriculturally quite atypical of Victorian England. 

This study is a cultural history, for it considers the ways in which the police defined and tackled problems such as vagrants, fairs, blood sports, traditional recreations, drunkenness, pick pocketing, violence, gambling. Police acted in ways which defined and targeted outsiders or deviants, and how they identified and dealt with problems on the streets is central to this study. Discretionary policing, which is shown to be culturally determined and rooted in the working class cultures of Cumbria, is the constant theme. Anthony Giddens structuration theory provides a model for understanding of how policemen, exercising culturally informed discretion, were the crucial agents in the policing of Victorian Cumbria.

Keele rated second in the country for student satisfaction

Keele University has been rated second in the country for student satisfaction.  This is excellent news, and comes after some impressive results for sociology and criminology at Keele in the national league tables. 

The University, with an exceptionally high overall satisfaction score of 93%, exceeds the national satisfaction rate of 85% in the latest National Student Survey.  Keele’s overall satisfaction score is its highest ever and places the University among the country's top universities for student satisfaction, topping Oxford, Cambridge and the Open University, with only Bath, of the mainstream universities, ahead by one percentage point.

 Keele students found their courses were intellectually stimulating with the staff good at explaining things and enthusiastic about what they are teaching. Furthermore, the University has improved its performance on all areas surveyed, except for Teaching, which was unchanged. There were particularly significant rises in the performance of Learning Resources and the Students' Union over the last 12 months.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, said: "These are very impressive results! I am delighted that Keele has been so highly rated by our students in the National Student Survey. This year’s exceptional results underline our commitment to excellence in teaching and learning and improving the all-round student experience.  "Students look for a more holistic experience combining quality research/teaching with a community environment and strong employability record. They are also looking for better value from their university and Keele is adapting its offering to suit these demands. This is why Keele has launched the Distinctive Keele Curriculum, which is designed to better prepare students for life after university."

In each of the eight categories covered by the survey this year, satisfaction has either improved or stayed the same as in 2012. In particular, students’ satisfaction has increased in the areas of Assessment and feedback and Learning resources, with an improvement of 2 per cent in both categories.

Around 304,000 final-year students responded to the survey this year, from 154 HEIs and FECs from across the UK. This represents a response rate of 68.6 per cent, the highest rate in the nine years that the NSS has been running.  Questions in the survey included the teaching on courses, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management and personal development.  The results of the survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI, provide valuable information for prospective students, and help universities and colleges to further improve the education they provide. 

Universities Minister, David Willetts said: ‘It is very encouraging to see student satisfaction is continuing to rise. University is a hugely enjoyable and life-enhancing experience for most students, as this survey shows.

‘The National Student Survey plays an important role in providing students with information to help them make choices about higher education. It can also help universities to understand how they can offer students the best experience.’