Search results

This chapter explores the queasy relationship between food and sex on The Archers. For listeners, food provides an imaginative reference point; consumption of food hints towards characters embodiment and occupation of physical space. To the extent that these characters have boundaries, the way they approach and react to food reveals their rigidity or permeability, and the tones in which characters offer, provide, prepare, coax and force food upon one another tells us a lot about the sexual politics at play in Ambridge. In The Archers, women cook and men eat. Characters who rebel against this norm often subvert traditional masculinity in other ways.

Through close reading (and obsessive listening), this chapter analyses the ways in which food allows the relationships on The Archers to act as foils to one another. It also explores: food as metaphor; food used both to sustain and fortify the boundaries of the self and to besiege the ego boundaries of others; how characters are given weight in acoustic space; female emancipation; male helplessness; the hunger/satiety/aural claustrophobia of listeners.

“What kinds of internships are possible?” “How should we decide whether to utilize internships, and if so, how can we ensure they will pay off?” The purpose of this paper is to help answer these key questions facing talent management professionals, educators, and interns.

This is achieved by reviewing the scattered literature to distill the lessons regarding internships for each of these stakeholders. First, the paper better defines internships through enumerating 11 key dimensions, helping give all internship stakeholders a common language to clarify communication. Second, the paper synthesizes and lists the potential benefits and costs/pitfalls of internships for interns, schools, and employers to provide a fuller view of internships from all stakeholder perspectives. Third, the paper summarizes recommendations to help stakeholders maximize the actual benefits obtained from internships while minimizing the costs and avoiding common pitfalls.

Many benefits for interns have been identified in the literature. These can be categorized as job-related benefits, career-related benefits, and networking/job market benefits. For most interns, the costs of the internship are minimal. Nevertheless, potential pitfalls stem from the fact that employers and interns often do not have consistent or shared expectations regarding the internship. The benefits of internships for schools can be significant. These include filling an important modern need for experiential and vocational learning. For employers, hiring an intern for a full-time position after the assignment can lead to savings in the areas of recruitment and selection.

The paper provides stakeholders with “one-stop shopping” for the best general advice about creating and growing successful internships.

Considers the history of one fruit – the apple – and one vegetable – the potato. Outlines the mythological, cultural and social context in which attitudes to both of these have been shaped. Demonstrates the relevance of these histories to the study of fruit and vegetable consumption in lower income groups. Highlights the importance of psychological factors in the choice of food, and of awareness of the cultural context in which foods are consumed.

This study examines the inter‐relationship between a person's role as appraisee and/or appraiser in a performance appraisal system (PAS) and level of satisfaction expressed with the system. It builds on earlier US studies which found that being an appraiser and, therefore, also an appraisee increased a person's satisfaction level compared with those who were appraisees only. Data were gathered from 382 respondents to examine three aspects of organisational justice which are known to influence satisfaction with PASs. The results indicate no intrinsic difference in satisfaction level linked to role in administering a PAS and that the source of satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction with the PAS was not equally attributable to all aspects of organisational justice.

Does an Outward Bound type training course help young buyers and executives improve their management skills? Bob Forrester describes how a group of executives from the Clydesdale Group stretched themselves physically on a weekend course at Ormidale House, and how it affected their performance in the training room afterwards.

This paper aims to explore the perceptions and experiences of a group of extra care tenants, who, as novice internet users, began to maintain their social relationships online. Housing transitions in later life may jeopardise existing social relationships, leading to loneliness and social isolation. More recently, Covid-19 restrictions have limited familial face-to-face contact and wider social interactions. Thus, extra care tenants, who are not already online, may benefit from acquiring internet skills. This paper aims to enhance understanding of the participants’ transition from novices to experienced internet users and the impact on their social relationships and sense of self.

A longitudinal, hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted over eight months in two extra care housing schemes in north east England. Ten participants (56–98 years) with age-related physical, sensory and cognitive losses were recruited to the study. A series of semi-structured interviews and participant diaries captured the participants’ experience as they developed internet skills and communicated online.

All participants, including a blind individual, learnt to communicate online. Personalised adaptive strategies, peer support, training and management involvement facilitated internet uptake. Participants felt their social relationships were supported, and they regained biographical continuity, through being and feeling they belonged in the modern digital world.

The online experiences of extra care tenants are rarely voiced. Their perceptions may assist others to engage online, maintaining social connections, which could otherwise be lost.

Mobile technology and applications offer a new approach to personalised care for older people. Hear Me Now (HMN), developed by Maldaba Ltd, is an application for smartphones and tablets. Although originally conceived and co-produced by individuals with learning disabilities and their supporters, anecdotal evidence from specialist practitioners indicated that older people with chronic health conditions and frailty might also benefit from use of the HMN app. This feasibility study sought to explore whether older people could use the HMN app and examine their usage. The aim of this feasibility study was to explore whether older people could use HMN and to examine their usage of this application.

A purposive sample of six individuals (M = 4; F = 2) aged between 65 and 90 years was recruited for the study. Following training, the participants used HMN at home for different purposes over three months. Concurrently, the participants took part in an online interview every three weeks (N = 5 interviews). They also completed the Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) questionnaire during Weeks 1 and 12 and the system usability scale during Week 12 to assess usability of HMN.

The participants used the HMN app for a range of purposes and indicated that their confidence and skills increased when using HMN. Though the participants reported diverse experiences of using HMN for different purposes, it was clear the majority considered this app helpful in managing daily life and their health conditions; however, they also experienced barriers in its use such as dexterity and visual problems.

This is a small feasibility study that was restricted to older people using the HMN app. Though valuable insights were obtained from the participants, the evidence that older people could use HMN to support their personal activities and to self-manage health conditions remains anecdotal. Further research is therefore warranted following adaptation of HMN for use by older people.

This study indicates that patient self-management apps such as HMN have the potential to enable older adults with long-term health conditions to play an active role in managing their condition.

Four months after I got to America, I was invited to a Christmas party. I brought some chicken wings stir-fried with wine, soybean sauce, sugar and ginger, partly to show appreciation to my new friend, partly out of my smug thought that I was here on a mission to bring authentic Chinese food to American people. Yet the chicken wings were removed from the table not long after the party began, even when there were still plenty of them. Those that were already in people’s plates were at most lightly touched. I moved among people pretending to have a good time yet feeling bashful, defeated and dismayed. How come the other Chinese lady knew better? She brought in a pretty fruit pie, the kind that has cream, peach, strawberry and nuts in it.What we found great about CM grocery store was that they have some rare kinds of ethnic foods. It happened that day that my husband, Li, and I wanted some pig’s feet. In China, this part of pigs is a special delicacy. It is our belief that slowly cooked pig’s feet are desirable for preventing skin aging and for women who just give birth to babies. As we checked out, the cashier, a tall, young man, picked them up, examined for a second and made a light remark, “Dog food!” It was so soft that Li did not hear. The boy had such light blue eyes and light freckles on his face. I found myself scouring my brain for words to say but could not come up with anything.No more showing off of my food! Shawn and Jill¹ just had three new-born babies. To help them out, some of us in the department took turns to contribute food. They are a very easy-going couple and they said they liked ethnic foods. Still I got restless when it was my turn. After some careful rumination, I ordered a vegetable pizza from Papa John’s.

This study examines liberal second-wave feminists’ writings about cooking. Most scholarship of liberal feminism has focused on the attempts to integrate women into previously male-dominated public spaces such as higher education, the professions, and political office. Less attention has been paid to how these feminists politicized feminized spaces such as the home. A longstanding tension between the housewife role and feminist identities has led many to theorize that feminists avoid or resent domestic tasks. However, I argue that some liberal feminists in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s suggested engaging with cooking in subversive ways that challenged patriarchal institutions and supported their political goals.

I analyze 148 articles about cooking in Ms. magazine between 1972 and 1985. I also analyze the copy and recipes within four community cookbooks published by liberal feminist organizations.

I find that liberal feminists suggested utilizing time- and labor-saving cooking methods, encouraged men to cook, and proposed that women make money from cooking. These three techniques challenged the traditional division of domestic labor, supported women’s involvement in the paid workplace, and increased women’s control of economic resources.

This study turns the opposition between feminism and feminized tasks on its head, showing that rather than avoiding cooking, some liberal feminists proposed ways of cooking that challenged patriarchal institutions. I show how subordinate populations can develop ways of subversively engaging with tasks that are typically seen as oppressive, using them in an attempt to advance their social position.

International relocation is undoubtedly a source of stress for families, and in particular for married couples. Yet, despite familial challenges and the fact that “family concerns” remain a top reason for assignment refusal and assignment failure, including a growing body of anecdotal evidence suggesting that many expatriate marriages fail often at huge cost to organizations, there is not one academic study yet published on expatriate divorce. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the causes and consequences of expatriate divorce.

In this exploratory case-based study, the author uses respondent data from 13 face-to-face interviews and 25 online survey participants.

Findings demonstrate that expatriate marriages end in divorce for two main reasons: first, a core issue in the marriage that exists before going abroad (e.g. alcoholism, mental health problems) and which continues while abroad; and second, when one or both spouses is negatively influenced by an expatriate culture to such an extent that a form of “group think” results in polarizing behavior that is counter to how they might behave “back home” (e.g. infidelity, sexual misconduct). The consequences of divorce for expatriates are immense and include bankruptcy, destitution, homelessness, depression, psychophysiological illness, alienation from children, and suicide.

Data are cross-sectional and findings are limited by single-response bias. Future studies would do well to research matched samples of couples engaging in global work experiences over different points in time in order to track longitudinal changes in marital quality, including why some go on to divorce while others recover from marital breakdown and stay married.

One of the strongest pieces of advice offered by most of the respondents is for spouses, and trailing spouses in particular, to know their legal rights and entitlements in each country where they are living in the event of divorce.

This is the first study to empirically explore the lived experience of expatriate divorce.