Recent
Report of an independent assessment
Two years ago, in the Children's Plan, the DCSF committed itself to commission an independent assessment of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing. That assessment, led by Professor David Buckingham, is now complete. As part of the process SIRC was commissioned to undertake two major reviews: Children and Family Life: Socio-Demographic Changes and The Ecology of Family Life. more
Psychological impact & the lessons of recession
There can be very few people in Britain who are unaware that we have been living in times of recession…It is clear that people — even those unaffected directly — are worried, especially about their future financial security. But are there some positive lessons to be learnt? more
The role and citizen impact of Public Service Broadcasting
As a complement to the extensive work contributed by other players on the rapid advances in technology and consumer behaviour, the work is designed to review and present the available data on broader social trends which may impact on PSB in the future…more
Passion, emotion and the 'beautiful game'
The Football Passions report summarises extensive sociological research across 18 countries in Europe. The objectives of the study were to capture the emotions of being a football fan and to compare the feelings, expressions and behaviour of fans associated with support of their football teams…more.
Lifelines
Irish Times – Monday, May 31, 1999
By Sarah Marriott
Do shock tactics for health campaigns work? No – according to researchers at the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, who have found they have the opposite effect. The three unwanted effects are: warning fatigue (people pay no attention to health messages); risk factor phobia (people over-react to health warnings); and forbidden fruit effect (particularly common among teenagers, who defy authoritarian health warnings). Warning fatigue is illustrated by the failure of campaigns to encourage people to exercise more and give up smoking, while risk factor phobics over-reacted to reports of health risks linked to the contraceptive pill, and stopped taking the pill (resulting in a 9 per cent rise in the abortion rate in the UK).
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