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Purpose: Serious case reviews remind us that there is much to learn about inter-agency activity. Professional identity is a key phenomenon influencing work behaviour, especially during inter-agency activity. Yet, this link is complex and not well understood within the context of UK children's services. With an agenda of improving outcomes for children and their families, The purpose of this research paper is to conduct a systematic literature review on this topic to develop a conceptual model aimed at informing how practitioners mobilise their professional identity during inter-agency activity. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used meta-ethnography to synthesise the available research. This method is suitable for researchers who are interested in conceptual or theoretical understandings of a particular phenomenon as opposed to describing individual accounts or experiences. Findings: The findings support postmodern accounts of identity and show the construct as fluid, contingent and constituted within interaction. Professional identities are mobilised through the sharing of professional knowledge, which is underpinned by the performative nature of language. Mobilisations can lead to both positive and negative consequences, which can act as a barrier to and facilitator of inter-agency activity. Originality/value: Inter-agency working is integral to the function of children's services but remains an undertheorised concept, and this had led to a dearth of guiding theory on inter-agency practice. By drawing on relevant psychological theory, the proposed model provides a unique psycho-social perspective that articulates the important role of identity during inter-agency activity, which would be of interest to professionals working in children's services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social housing in Britain is managed by a large grouping of 'housing managers', an occupational label which is viewed as unproblematic by most housing academics, and therefore, is largely taken for granted. Urban sociologists posit that a collective identity is crucial to professional status, and hence have been sceptical of housing managers' prospects of furthering their aims collectively. The paper departs from this focus on the collective endeavours of housing management as a profession to examine how housing managers themselves create and present self-identities. Specifically, it argues that housing managers use the lack of a collective identity as an opportunity to manage the 'spoiled identity' of being in an 'invisible' and marginalised profession. In doing so, they construct individualised occupational trajectories which bear little relation to the domain professionalism of more established occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the visual print culture of Britain during World War II. Case-notes on Picture Post, the Army Bureau of Current Affairs and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents are used to support the argument that the circumstances of war transformed the print culture of Britain. The impact of new technologies of mechanical reproduction made the widespread use of photography and visual propaganda possible and this, in turn, played a crucial role in raising political consciousness at home, in the forces and in the workplace. The effects of these transformations played themselves out through the collective politics of 1945 onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the literature of social movements and emotions, this article analyses a case of the union-led movement against outsourcing in the UK. Our focus is on the emotional processes of collective identity formation and the movement culture of new grassroot unions, addressing the themes of movement culture, collective identity and political solidarity. Data consists of participant observations, interviews, and additional website and media material. The results show that the movement culture of the new grassroot unions is characterised by direct action and a collective identity based on a proud re-centring of BAME workers as subjects of labour struggles. Key emotional processes consist of sharing emotions of humiliation, anger, and exclusion, but also joy and feelings of solidarity. A crucial part of the movement's expansion is due to the construction of political solidarity and coalition-building. The results demonstrate the importance of heeding the crucial mobilising power of shared emotions in the analysis of new labour unions. The article contributes to labour movement research with an enhanced understanding of immaterial claims on dignity, respect and care, alongside the cognitivist focus on material work conditions and labour rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the future of Britain and Britishness considering simultaneous challenges from immigration, devolution, and further integration into the EU. These three challenges are discussed from six different perspectives, namely Welsh and Scottish nationalism, English nationalism. Conservative and Labour's British nationalism, and that of ethnic minorities. I explore whether Britishness has been shared or denied and reinforced or weakened among these different groups. I also explore how these groups justify their position on devolution, European integration, and multiculturalism. This essay eventually focuses on New Labour's rationales to reshape Britain and reinforce Britishness in terms of a multilevel governance entity, and a combination of pride and interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written in recent years about the growing impact of social media on social movements. While authors have extolled the virtues of Facebook and Twitter as organisational and informational tools for a range of movements from the Arab Spring to Occupy, evidence remains patchy as to under what conditions social media is most effective at engaging and mobilising the wider public. Drawing on the work of Tarrow, this article considers the impact of cycle effects on the effectiveness of social media as a mobilising and organising tool for the 2010/11 U.K. student protests. Although preceding the broader ‘movement of the squares’ contention cycle, the protests made similar use of social media for generating mass participation. Yet, its mobilising power was dependent on a number of temporal factors, including amplification through mainstream media and the urgency of its initial campaign goal. Moreover, towards the end of the cycle, activists were found to be using social media – via ‘secret’ Facebook groups – in ways that reinforced emerging group hierarchies, arguably contradicting their initial commitment to open-access networks and participatory democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reflects on the forging of a collective black identity among professionals working within the criminal justice field in the aftermath of the Macpherson Report (1999). Drawing on interviews with the Chairpersons of 'black' and 'Asian' professional associations, it describes the familiar tensions associated with mobilizing against racism and discrimination in the workplace. These include the viability of an inclusive black political position and the challenge of 'fighting from within' or being a 'critical friend' of criminal justice services. The political backdrop is one in which the policy goal of eliminating 'institutional racism' has given way to a discourse of 'promoting race equality and embracing diversity'. Despite the obstacles, these professional associations provide a safe and supportive network for members which is grounded in a powerful, shared history of occupational racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]