I completed my PhD in Politics at Oxford Brookes University. My BA was in Politics and Sociology, and my MA in International Studies, with a focus on citizenship and theory. Between 2014 and Feb 2017, I was Research Fellow on the FP7 funded project RESCuE, based at the University of Hertfordshire. The project investigated how households in nine European countries responded to hardship in the context of the financial crisis, and the ways in which (if any) they were able to develop resilience to socio-economic shocks. It investigated socio-economic resilience in relation to networks, capacities, cultural and socio-economic practices, and the role of formal structures such as the welfare state. I have expertise in qualitative methods, particularly semi-structured every day and expert interviews, focus groups and (critical) discourse analysis. I have also used visual methods, and I am interested in how more causally driven qualitative methods can contribute to my research.
My research interests are situated at the intersection of social policy, politics, and sociology. Broadly, I am interested in the policy and politics of social citizenship and social cohesion, participation and integration, particularly within developed welfare states such as the UK. I am also interested in the role of discourse and ideology in policy development and implementation, as well as its impact on citizens’ interaction with policy in these areas. My PhD research critically analysed New Labour’s approach to welfare reform and Community Cohesion policy in the UK, paying special attention to the construction and inculcation of discourses, and citizens’ internalisation of these in Bradford and Birmingham. My current and planned research combines my interest in social citizenship, cohesion and elements of resilience, exploring these issues in the context of contemporary political, social and economic uncertainty.
Household Responses to economic hardship in post-crisis Europe and insights about ‘resilience’: a critical assessment. (2017). Invited speaker (with Prof. H. Dagdeviren) at Conceptualising and applying resilience in a social policy context. Sheffield Institute of Policy Studies, Sheffield Hallam University, February 2017
Hardship and Resilience in Post-Crisis Europe. Dagdeviren, H., Donoghue, M (2017). View Online
Exploring Socio-Economic dimensions of Community Resilience: Community, Participation and Politics in Post-Crisis Britain. (2016). 2016 ESA RN9 Economic Sociology Midterm Conference, Madrid, Spain, September 2016
Regressive innovations in the context of post-crisis welfare reform: Social Economy and the UK welfare settlement. (2016). Annual ESPAnet Conference, Rotterdam, Netherlands, September 2016
Resilience, Coping and Crisis: How European households deal with hardship after the 2008 Financial Crisis. (2016). 23rd Conference of Europeanists, Philadelphia, PA, USA, April 2016
Exploring citizens’ understandings of Community and Cohesion in New Labour’s Britain. Donoghue, M (2016). Politics Journal blog, 12th May. View Online
Labour and the Ideology of Aspiration. (2015). Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) blog, 8th July View Online
Back to the future of community cohesion? Learning from New Labour
2018 |
Chapter
New Labour developed an ambitious programme to address what it saw as increasing social divisions in British society caused, primarily, by ethnic and cultural difference. Developed in 2001, community cohesion became embedded in many other social policy areas, especially regarding social inclusion, a commitment to empowering both individuals and communities, and developing a sense of British identity compatible with a rapidly globalising world. Though it was marginalised during the Coalition and Conservative governments, rising uncertainty and increasing division in the current period warrants a re-assessment of the utility of a discrete social cohesion policy framework. This chapter assesses New Labour’s approach to community cohesion, drawing out lessons from its use in the New Labour years and asks whether policymakers should return to a focus on social cohesion and what, if anything, should be done differently in a uncertain political and social landscape.
social cohesion, New Labour, Integration, Ethnicity, Inequality
Beyond Hegemony: Elaborating on the Use of Gramscian Concepts in Critical Discourse Analysis for Political Studies
2018 |
Journal article
party politics, policy impact, methodology, Gramsci, subaltern citizens
The narratives of hardship: the new and the old poor in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis in Europe
2017 |
Journal article
Cohesion as ‘common sense’: Everyday narratives of community and cohesion in New Labour’s Britain
2016 |
Journal article
Resilience, Hardship and Social Conditions
2016 |
Journal article
Welfare and cohesion contested: A critical discourse analysis of New Labour's reform programme
2013 |
Journal article
welfare, cohesion, citizenship, policy, inequality, New Labour
