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This chapter is part of a larger program of research on health social movements. The authors focus upon the most recent developments in their program. First, they elaborate on how they intend to study institutional fields of health social movements. They introduce a historical dimension to fields, emphasizing the lineage of where the health social movement comes from in relation to other social movements. For instance, the environmental justice movement develops out of both the environmental movement and the earlier civil rights movement. That legacy influences the expectations and beliefs of current participants. Second, the authors turn to a methodological development in their work, the writing of policy ethnographies. The policy ethnography helps them to be reflexive as they untangle the activities of movements, themselves as participants, and others in the development of policy. It also adds descriptive richness to the study of movement process and movement outcomes.

This chapter examines the systemic issues of implementing evidence-based practice in schools. The organizational change process provides insights into the cornerstones of change, the different types of implementation, and the different stages of implementation. There are four barriers to implementation. The first impediment is a lack of time. Three strategies include release time, use of interns, and focusing on prevention first. The second barrier is a lack of relevant information. Two solutions are increasing the relevancy of research for real world settings and improving practitioners' access to research. The third obstacle was the lack of technology skills and researcher-practitioner partnerships were suggested. The final roadblock was institutional issues. Four solutions include aligning the change to the school's vision, a qualitative focus on process issues encountered during dissemination, more attention to contextual influences in outcome evaluation, and more recognition of school staff that employ evidence-based practice.

This chapter proposes a new approach to the ethnography of contested illnesses that is multisited and focused on policy: policy ethnography. Policy ethnography employs field analysis as one analytical tool. It explores the spaces and boundaries between science, policy, and civil society. Specifically, policy ethnography combines traditional interviews, content analysis, and participant observation with historical analysis of movement trajectories, evaluation of current policy strategies, assessment of political contexts and opportunities, and the evaluation and use of scientific evidence. Most important, policy ethnography assumes a policy goal. In some cases, those carrying out policy ethnography are themselves actors in the policy realm.

Chapter seven reveals how many practitioners and academics have misread the concept of territoriality. It argues that territoriality is a metaphor for the habitus and the body corpus of the gang which means incursions are seen as personal violations. This reveals a different approach to the so-called Postcode Beefs in south London. This chapters discusses how social field analysis permits this new perspective on territoriality

The book opens by unpacking Mahalia Jackson’s January 20, 1952, appearance on the nationally televised CBS variety show Toast of the Town, hosted by Ed Sullivan. Jackson’s performance of the W. Herbert Brewster gospel song “These Are They” raises a host of issues that situates her and contemporary performers within the black gospel field. The Sullivan appearance carried considerable significance for African Americans, introducing both Jackson and black gospel singing to a national television audience. The latter half of the chapter assesses the attribution of exceptionalism to black vernacular culture and the literature on Jackson and on gospel music, and closes by delineating a field analysis approach that helps identify forms of prestige that gave meaning to the practice of gospel singing after World War II.

This introductory chapter describes how the research study was conducted, detailing the number, type, and characteristics of the various respondents. The research study examines how London-based urban street gangs establish county line drug-supply networks into the Home Counties. It draws upon two principle theoretical perspectives with great explanatory value regarding street-gang dynamics: social field analysis and street capital theory. Active participants in county lines were interviewed in one-to-one qualitative interviews, shorter street-based interviews, or short focus groups. All were aged over 16 years old and the study acknowledged their status as victim, offender, or both. The chapter then explores the methodological challenges of the research, including ethics, limitations, negotiating access, and the usefulness of participant observation.

Playing a role often provides an authentic way to learn truths about the real world. Suiting the action, as Hamlet says, by teaching with an experience simulation method such as role playing, effectively stimulates students toward their own learning. Role plays make students sit up and take notice. A variant of or an adjunct to the case method, role plays arouse students interest because they resemble real practice experiences. Role players speak in the first person. Rather than commenting indirectly on what they think clients might say, they speak as if they actually were the clients. Key is having students immerse themselves in a realistic situation and then imagine themselves as the person in that situation. In other words, engage fully, intellectually and emotionally, in assuming a part in the play. Effective role plays simulate reality as they stimulate learning. They support knowledge and skill attainment along the four axes identified by Kolb (1984) concretely experiencing, observing and reflecting, abstract reasoning, and actively experimenting. At the same time, they involve learning by doing with the fundamental five-step, problem-solving paradigm proposed by Dewey feeling a need, analyzing the difficulty, proposing alternative solutions, experimenting with various solutions, and applying the solutions to new and different settings. Role plays likewise meet Knowles (1980) requisites for adult learning empowering students to take responsibility for their own learning, drawing upon their unique experiences and strengths, making learning closely parallel practice, providing opportunities for students to reflect on their work, and engaging students in critical thinking. A plastic and fluid method, role play constantly expands students involvement and allows them to test knowledge and skill by repeated and rehearsed use. It subsequently has educational and practice relevance. By assuming various roles in a contrived yet nevertheless authentically represented situation, students reframe their understanding and develop alternative definitions of themselves and others. Role play therefore addresses four broad categories of professional practice objectives: it assists students to implement new information, sensitizes them to their own attitudes and beliefs, enlightens them to the motives and behaviors of others, and focuses on why.