Social and Political Sciences, School of
Established in 2001, the School brings together core social scientific disciplines to promote the critical understanding of social and political processes and the development of effective policy and practice through a wide range of teaching and research programmes. The School was formed from the departments (now subject groups) of Politics, Social Anthropology, Social Policy and Sociology; the Graduate School of Social and Political Studies; the Centres of African, Canadian and South Asian Studies; the Science Studies Unit, the Research Centre in Social Sciences and the Institute of Governance. It has recently been joined by Social Work, and now forms part of the College of Humanities and Social Science.
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Recent Submissions
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Bittersweet: living with sugar and kin in contemporary Scotland
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-08-08)This thesis explores sugar consumption and kin-making in a north Edinburgh neighbourhood, and shows that sugar is central to processes of social relatedness. I argue that sugar reveals the meaning of kinship in Scotland, ... -
What role does family play? The relationship between living arrangements and the well-being of women aged 60 and over in China
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-07-29)In traditional Chinese family life, intergenerational households provided support for older people. Social and cultural changes in the past decades have seen a growing trend towards smaller families and new family ... -
Child and parental wellbeing during the Covid pandemic: summary of Highland research and workshops
(2022)The Covid-pandemic and the public health measures aimed at containing the virus such as lockdowns, physical distancing and self-isolating, radically changed family life and daily routines, and had particularly dramatic ... -
Villages, politics and the everyday statemaking of post independent Zimbabwe
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-30)In this thesis I retrieve a stubbornly enduring polity, villages, from the margins of society, and propose that the everyday moments of their inhabitants have been at the core of some of the very important post independent ... -
Institutional performance, public appraisals, and electoral governance in Kenya (2002-2017)
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-07-16)After Kenya adopted a new constitution in 2010, the country embarked on extensive citizen-oriented reforms targeted at improving the performance of key public institutions and Kenyans’ opinions of it. Much scholarly ... -
To GDP or not to GDP? Identifying the factors promoting and inhibiting the use and impact of well-being metrics in Scotland and Italy
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-24)Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is frequently used as a proxy for well-being. Such use of GDP is problematic for many reasons, for GDP excludes activities that contribute to well-being and includes others that have a negative ... -
Redefining the great powers: the revisionist model and the emergence of a global regulatory regime for cross-border tax intermediation
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-22)The international tax system has been the locus of both international scandals and sweeping regulatory change since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 (GFC). Starting with two highly publicised international tax scandals ... -
Inscribing markets, shaping policy: a sociological investigation into the yield curve
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-22)This thesis investigates the central mediating role of a device, the yield curve, in the enactment of sociomaterial agencements in and around the secondary market for sovereign bonds. In part 1, it traces the historical ... -
Holding space: friendship, care and carcerality in the UK immigration detention system
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-21)Friendship and care are important as ideas and practices for people navigating the asylum and immigration system in Britain, but are conditioned by the carceral space of the Immigration Removal Centre (IRC). Detention, as ... -
“You have to do everything in your power so that this does not happen to anyone else”. Contention dynamics against the Mexican war on drugs and crime: a case study of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-20)In 2006, then Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared a ‘war’ against criminal organisations that were beginning to control some of the country’s territories. Consequently, the number of murders and disappearances of ... -
Realising catastrophe: the financial ontology of the Anthropocene
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-15)This dissertation investigates how the financial risk management practice of catastrophe modelling is redefining the ontology of natural catastrophe. Drawing from and developing the concept of the ‘Anthropocene’, referring ... -
Scarlet letter effect: evidence of a single mother narrative
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-14)The thesis examines the stigmatization of American middle-class single mothers. In doing so, the research questions the extent to which being unpartnered as a mother influences stigmatizing experiences. Furthermore, as the ... -
Understanding the diffusion and adoption of improved cookstove technologies in Uganda through the technological innovation system
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-14)About 2.5 billion people in the world rely on the traditional use of solid bioenergy to cook their meals, and in Sub-Saharan Africa almost 80% of the population still cooks with solid bioenergy. Despite the multifaceted ... -
Fast forward: technography of the social integration of connected and automated vehicles into UK society
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-09)The emerging connected and automated vehicles (CAV) have caught much research attention in the past few years. However, a techno-centric bias in the CAV research domain implies the lack of in-depth qualitative studies. To ... -
Pursuing the good life: displacement, inclusion, and wellbeing among Congolese in Nairobi, Kenya
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-09)This thesis explores the everyday experiences and conceptualizations of ‘the good life’ among Congolese living in Nairobi, Kenya. Drawing on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2018/19, I argue that ... -
Pumping potentiality: studying the socio-material politics of solar irrigation pumps in rural India
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-07)Rural electrification and irrigation infrastructure improvements boost agricultural growth, but rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions require a shift in how irrigation pumps should be energised. In this thesis, I study ... -
Nation-building and political abandonment: a comparative historical sociology of rightist nationalism in post-war Britain and Germany
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-06-06)Rightist nationalist politics have emerged globally in recent years. This dissertation traces the developing character of rightist nationalism in Britain and Germany since the early 1990s. The primary aim is to better ... -
Changing stinking thinking: a comparative case study of the enactment, embodiment, and emplacement of social citizenship in the Pacific Northwest
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-05-19)Throughout history the agency of social citizenship has resulted in actions that both include and exclude certain individuals and groups through political, economic, and civic interaction. This creates abject spaces of ... -
Non-governmental organisations and the politics of mining law review in Malawi: subjectivities and bifurcated loyalties
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-05-16)This thesis examines the factors and relationships that impacted Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Malawi in shaping the review of the 1981 Mines and Mineral Act (MMA). In response to public outcry against environmental ... -
B/order work: recomposing relations in the seamful carescapes of health and social care integration in Scotland
(The University of Edinburgh, 2022-05-13)As people, ageing and living with disabilities, struggle with how care is enacted through their lives, integrated care has gained policy purchase in many places, especially in the United Kingdom. Accordingly, there have ...
