Sociology - Doctoral Theses

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Framing justice in ‘unjust times’: critiquing Irish legal, political, and medical debates on the right to die
(University College Cork, 2023) Keogh, James Patrick; Skillington, Tracey; O'Neill, Maggie
Against the backdrop of notable legal challenges here in Ireland, this research examines the enduring discord between the widespread societal endorsement of assisted dying and the prevailing legislative rigidity that unequivocally rejects it. To support this investigation, a qualitative methodology was applied, involving frame analysis of legal case documents and semi-structured interviews, supplemented with elements of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). This approach helped identify the most dominant interpretive positions that constitute major sticking points of the right to die debate, and explore how these positions are shaped by ideologies, biases, and power dynamics that structure the exchange of ideas, arguments, and counter-positions. Drawing from critical definitions of justice (Forst, 2007; Honneth, 1995; Fricker, 2007) and Foucauldian considerations of power concerning both the physical and the body politic (Foucault, 1978), this study posits that end-of-life controversies are more usefully conceptualised as ‘pained’ experiences (Scarry, 1985), defined from the viewpoint of the suffering body. Providing detailed accounts of how justice regarding the right to die has been constructed in formal decision-making arenas and publicly challenged by an emerging social movement that considers it ‘unjust,’ this body of work observes the residual effects of a deeply conservative Catholic state on experiences of dying. Despite its loosening stranglehold on contemporary Irish society, a nexus of legal, political, and medical power structures continues to thwart efforts to legislate for assisted dying. These forces successfully frame the conditions for its possibility as morally reprehensible and as an extension of suicide, leaving legislators hesitant to take decisive action. Frustrated by the lack of progress on the issue and driven by the desperate pleas of loved ones, this study crucially documents the justifications employed by individuals for taking matters into their own hands and laying a claim upon death themselves. This subversive response, though shrouded in secrecy, speaks to the pressing nature of unfulfilled human needs and the desperate yearning for the fundamental requisites of compassion and agency. It represents a poignant manifestation of the stark realities faced by those entangled in end-of-life crises – realities that demand more urgent and heartfelt engagement from policymakers than currently offered.
Mapping the production of knowledge of cyberterrorism and hacktivism research using an integrated bibliometric and content analysis framework
(University College Cork, 2024) Hosford, Kevin; Windle, James; Lynch, Orla
The proliferation of Internet Communication Technologies (ICT) has prompted scholarly interest in role of ICT in facilitating cybercrime, particularly in the domains of cyberterrorism and hacktivism. Exploration of cyberterrorism and hacktivism has faced challenges stemming from the absence of dedicated platforms, such as academic journals and conferences impeding a consistent research output and hindering collaborative research. In contrast to more established domains like terrorism studies and organised crime studies, the research on cyberterrorism and hacktivism is still in its initial stages within the academic discourse. This doctoral thesis seeks to map the conceptual understandings and production of knowledge surrounding cyberterrorism and hacktivism research throughout a twenty-year period (2000-2020). Employing a modified version of Creswell and Clark's ‘Triangulation Design: Data Transformation Model,’ the research employs bibliometric analysis for a knowledge mapping of the academic domain. Additionally, a quantitative content analysis of definitions pertaining to cyberterrorism and hacktivism sheds light on key issues within the scientific domain. The investigation reveals a dominance of male, single-author publications, primarily originating from the global north, suggesting a potential lack of collaborative trans-national research amongst a backdrop of an array of multi-disciplined parties. The absence of consistent high-impact journal contributions, lack of knowledge cohesion, coupled with an over-reliance towards secondary sources, further hinders the rich and dynamic collection of researchers from achieving a cohesive academic discourse leading to the issue of knowledge fragmentation within academia fields. The analysis of definitions exposes cyberterrorism as predominantly hypothesised, emphasising unspecified actors and potential harms, diverging from conventional notions of terrorism as a spectacle. In contrast, hacktivism is characterised by more group-oriented definitions, rooted in specific events, their injustices, and associated hacktivist campaigns. Recognizing the distinct ideological motivations behind both cyberterrorism and hacktivism, this thesis concludes by proposing an ontological framework in effort to decentralise the dependency towards specific research definitions. This framework aims to facilitate the collection and dissemination of event details related to these phenomena, fostering more extensive and collaborative research efforts in this evolving field.
The power of empty places. A re-appraisal of modernity through void experiences
(University College Cork, 2023) Bollard, Kate; Szakolczai, Arpad; Boland, Tom
Social media has been established as a central feature of the modern world and a propagator of contemporary culture. The problematic effects of engagement in the social domain have been widely recognised across various disciplines. However, the compelling force and limitless nature of social media have previously gone undetected because they are veiled by its innovativeness and suitability to the fast-paced modern world. This thesis will employ anthropological theories to help understand the modern world. The theory of the void is utilised to examine the destructive features of social media that induce an unreality and provoke users to unfold in alternate ways. Voids can be regarded as brutal traps that promote capturing, limitlessness and disconnectedness. Application of void theory to the realm of social media highlights its vicious qualities such as an entrapping force and transformative power. Classifying the realm of social media as a void illustrates how the intangible non-place is a divisive feature of modernity. To gain comprehension of the pervasive void created by technology, historical phenomena must be considered and evaluated. Comparative analysis of the most varied types of voids offers insight into how voids operate to exert dominance over their respective cultures. The circular formation of stone circles establishes a void, which functions as a representation of the realm of social media. Evaluating tangible characteristics of stone circles, such as their material character, configuration and optical display on the solstice offers insight into how social media operates to lure people into its domain and promote entrapment. Social media and stone circles are analogous void typologies that possess the ability to disrupt an individual’s internal equilibrium and alter reality. Envisaging highly influential facets of society as voids highlights the prevalence of absurdity in the lifeworld.
Symptom or Sickness? - A sociological (re)imagination of the high rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm amongst young adults in Ireland as social pathologies through interviews with counsellors
(University College Cork, 2023) Meyer, Melissa Isabella; Keohane, Kieran; Balfe, Myles
This multi-disciplinary, qualitative study investigated the high rates of mental illness and distress amongst young adults in Ireland through the perspectives of the counsellors and therapists that they turn to for help. The study explored whether viewing these high rates of pathologies as ‘social pathologies’ might offer new and valuable insight into the problem. This was done by relying on equal parts interdisciplinary literature and interview data in trying to establish what it was about this generation that made them more susceptible to ill-being. Data was collected through the Delphi method with two rounds of in-depth interviews (N = 16) and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. The participants were counsellors and therapists who self-identified as working with young adults at colleges in Ireland and on the IACP website’s databases. Findings suggest that the most dominant underlying factor was social acceleration, as conceptualised by Hartmut Rosa, and its damaging consequences on the individual’s self-concept and relation to themselves and their world. Interviewees reported that young people today seem to be suffering from a ‘performance anxiety’ as they’re caught between the need to ‘keep up’ at all costs and that perceived failure is experienced as a profoundly distressing personal flaw, which is greatly intensified by social media and the highly competitive nature of contemporary life in educational, occupational, and social spheres. The resulting mental distress young people experience was reconceptualised as ‘strains’ using an adapted model of general strain theory. This enabled us to map out how these strains developed and what can be done to intervene in a way that is more effective and sustainable. The thesis concludes with recommendations on how therapists can be empowered through training that incorporates a more robust socio-political understanding, and efforts to encourage employment in trades for young people instead of conventional higher education.
The sociology of unpopular music: permanent liminality in post Celtic Tiger Ireland
(University College Cork, 2020-05) Corcoran, Robert; Szakolczai, Arpad; Keohane, Kieran; Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
The central focus of this thesis involves the combined application of reflexive historical genealogy and liminality theory to investigate emergent forms of social networks organized around specific forms of cultural activity, specifically in this instance, the realm of independent alternative music. This liminal borderland of cultural and subcultural activity is characterized in the context of globalized neoliberalism as instantiated in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland. These undertakings are achieved by constructing a large theoretical edifice which is periodically supplemented with a wide range of empirical data and hermeneutical analysis invoked illustratively, selectively and strategically throughout. The range of research is spread across four major research chapters which apply this theoretical framework and the concomitant methodology to topics surrounding the emergence and ultimate decline of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economy, the periodic renegotiation of music and noise over the last century, the emergence of ‘alternative’ as an aesthetic and socio-cultural designation quite distinct from its original meaning as the inverse of mainstream practices. This discussion highlights a variety of social science research initiatives into the relationship between youth groups and popular/fringe music forms to evaluate if any privileged relationship between the two can be established. Once such a framework is advanced in suitable detail, the focus is switched to the manner with which contemporary communications technology has modified such activities, paying particular attention to the conditions which both give rise to such technology and the forms of consumption and communication which they subsequently instantiate. The final section of the research attempts to assess how the major themes and discussion up to this point are discernable within the contemporary context via the incorporation of observational, ethnographic and hermeneutic methods.

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