Shelley Budgeon

University of Birmingham · Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology

During the tenure of the UK Conservative‐led coalition government (2010–15) austerity policy was rolled out in response to the global financial crisis of 2007–08. In this article a discourse analysis of mainstream newspaper representations of austerity, which appeared throughout this period, is undertaken using the principles of Cultural Political...

The ‘personal is political’ has long been recognised as the definitive slogan of second-wave feminism but can it still inform our understanding of the contemporary practice of feminism? Questioning the importance of this claim now invites us to critically reflect upon the trajectory Western feminism has followed in light of the efforts made by the...

‘Learning Bodies’ addresses the gap in attention to the body in youth studies. Whilst a significant range of work in youth studies has explored gender, class, race and ethnicity and sexualities—all of which have bodily dimensions—the body is generally studied indirectly, rather than being the central focus. This edited collection draws together a s...

In this concluding chapter, we aim to draw together the conceptual, methodological and empirical threads that connect the chapters and sections in the collection; and to consider the implications of this work for the field of youth and childhood studies. We begin our discussion by considering the most recent theoretical developments in the field, i...

Despite increased acknowledgement of gender equality as a social good, there are some areas where the practice of women’s autonomy is apparently inconsistent with the normative prescriptions of a new ‘empowered’ form of femininity. Sexuality and personal relationship status are sites where women are positioned within neo-liberal and post-feminist d...

Women’s right to exercise choice has been one of feminism’s central political claims. Where second wave feminism focused on the constraints women faced in making free choices, choice feminism more recently reorients feminist politics with a call for recognition of the choices women are actually making. From this perspective the role of feminism is...

This chapter traces the appearance of the body as it has manifest in feminist studies of young women . In particular, the discussion focuses on a shift in emphasis away from young women as passive victims of various forms of cultural determinism to approaches which seek to complicate the relationship of gendered bodies and regimes of signification....

In this article theories of gender hegemony are utilized to assess how changing norms impact upon the binary construction of gender. Transformed gender ideals have materialized in the figure of the 'empowered' and autonomous yet reassuringly feminine woman. Despite the assimilation of key attributes associated with masculinity this particular expre...

In contrast to claims that feminism no longer retains currency in late modernity third-wave feminism asserts that feminism continues to be both possible and necessary.1 This position proceeds on the basis that the applicability of second-wave feminism to contemporary gender relations and social conditions is limited because the lived experience of...

Historically singleness has operated as a marginalized status while heterosexual couples have occupied a privileged position that confers upon its inhabitants a range of social, economic and symbolic rewards. However, demographics now indicate that single-person households are the fastest growing household formation in the UK, signalling the beginn...

Starting from the vantage point of a 'relational ontology' this paper explores the complex relationship networks of people who are single or are not living with a sexual partner. The ways in which people make sense of the boundaries of their connections is analysed. It is argued that the meaning of individual social bonds emerge relationally and th...

The authors argue that if sociologists are to understand the current state, and likely future, of intimacy and care, we should decentre the ‘family’ and the heterosexual couple in our intellectual imaginaries. In the context of processes of individualization much that matters to people in terms of intimacy and care increasingly takes place beyond t...

This article engages critically with issues surrounding the theorization of the self and body relation, where the body is interpreted as material increasingly open to human intervention and choice. It is argued that this theorization rests upon a mind/body split that limits an understanding of embodied identity. The significance for feminism of und...

The article seeks to examine identities young women are producing within late modern social conditions with the aim of exploring these identities in relation to the increasingly fragmented project of second wave feminism. In order to evaluate whether feminism has maintained intergenerational currency, the article, based upon interviews with 33 youn...

The aim of this research project is to examine theories of identity formation within the context of individualisation processes and the shift of social formations from modernity to postmodernity. The form and content of identity narratives being constructed by young women aged 16 to 21 are used as the empirical basis for addressing this research pr...

During the past few decades, fashion magazines have increasingly targeted young women as a specialty audience. Despite a large amount of theoretical work by feminists on women's magazines as socializing agents, very little research has been published on adolescent magazines. In this article we address this gap through an analysis of Seventeen publi...

Examining the ways in which 'femininity' is defined and reproduced via cultural representations has become an important part of feminist critical practice. By addressing the power that images of women have to define the feminine in specific ways, this work has contributed to our understanding of 'femininity' as ascribed and not as an intrinsic fema...