Press coverage from previous years
SIRC in the News
Press coverage in 2012
- Metro — 12.12.2012.
What are your life goals? You have probably heard of yuppies, dinkys and even sinbads. Now meet the yeppies. Anthropologists are calling the dithering twenty-something generation yeppies – Young Experimenting Perfection Seekers. Yeppies are ambitious but confused and won’t commit to anything until they know it will bring them enduring happiness. The Social Issues Research Centre said today’s graduates are adopting a ‘browsing’ approach to jobs, homes and relationships.
- Novo Argumente — 12.09.2012.
Kate Fox: Anti-Alkohol-Kampagnen: Wenn „Aufklärung“ besoffen macht
Hier und in der aktuellen Printausgabe von NovoArgumente zeigt Kate Fox, dass die Wirkung von Alkohol auf das Verhalten von kulturellen Regeln und Normen geleitet wird, nicht von chemischen Reaktionen des Ethanols. Statt Anti-Alkohol-Kampagnen brauchen wir eine vernünftige Trinkkultur...
- BBC — 12.09.2012.
Should we all be 'mirror-fasting'? There is a small but growing fashion in the United States for 'mirror-fasting', deliberately shunning the use of any mirror and those who have done it say that if you stop looking at yourself you become more confident. Dr Kate Fox, an anthropologist at the Social Issues Research Centre, said that it actually "highlights and increases the fixation on one's appearance".
"It almost feels more self-obsessed and self-absorbed," she told the Today programme.
- New Straits Times — 05.09.2012.
Mirror, mirror off the wall. Kate Fox, a social anthropologist with the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, England, said mirror fixation is not necessarily a sign of vanity or narcissism but rather a normal response to a society that emphasises appearance. "The standards for beauty today are higher because you see images of outstandingly beautiful people in the media all the time", she said (often Photoshopped ones).
- Cosmopolitan — 03.09.2012.
The new rules of flirting. Experts used to suggest we look - and then look away - three times to get a man’s attention. But is that too much? According to the Social Issues Research Centre, maintaining too much eye contact is the most common mistake people make when flirting.
- BBC — 22.08.2012.
Harry photos: Is it normal to drink and end up naked? The prince was just behaving like a typical young British man, says Kate Fox, a social anthropologist at the Social Issues Research Centre, which has done research for both the government and the drinks industry. "It does seem to be common, particularly among people who do difficult and dangerous work, like soldiers and medical students, who normally have to be in such control of their behaviour."
- Independent — 21.08.2012.
We may be fat, but we don't like the Government going on about it. The independent Social Issues Research Centre has been studying obesity for several years. Its numbers are intriguing. Children, despite endless headlines suggesting that they are all now spherical and would be rolled over their school sports fields if they still existed, are getting slimmer. Fewer children are either obese or overweight than in 2004, and more now eat five portions of fruit or veg a day. Fewer of them smoke or drink alcohol than did so in the late 90s. And slightly more now take an hour of physical exercise a day than children did a decade ago.
- Mens Health — 20.08.2012.
The Power of Eye Contact. Want to raise your chances of a good first impression? Then raise your eyebrows. You’re probably already doing it to people you know, without even realising it: raising your eyebrows for a tenth of a second in what social psychologists like Kate Fox, of London’s Social Issues Research Centre, call an 'eyebrow-flash'. "If you are desperate to attract the attention of an attractive stranger across a crowded party, you could try an eyebrow-flash," Fox writes in a study titled, promisingly, The SIRC Guide To Flirting. (If you’re interested, it’s available online at sirc.org). -
- Guardian — 19.08.2012.
Don't look now: US bloggers claim avoiding the mirror can improve your image. Kate Fox, a social anthropologist at the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, agrees the concept is not constructive: "It's true that avoiding something in such a dramatic and drastic manner can only be temporarily liberating. It's throwing the issue of appearance into sharp relief in the same way that crash dieting often serves to make people obsess even more about food. To me, it smacks of narcissism more than looking in the mirror like a normal person."
- Telegraph — 19.08.2012.
No time for self-reflection as new trend sees women giving up mirrors. A recent study, published in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy earlier this year, found that British women look in the mirror around 38 times every day and men 18 times a day. However Kate Fox, a social anthropologist at the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, said mirror-fasting is just another way of fixating on appearance.
- Jamaica Gleaner — 10.08.2012.
Olympics: Short-Term Drop In Productivity But Long-Term Gains, Says JPC. Campbell references an earlier study The impact of sport on the UK workplace published in June 2006, to support his view. Conducted by The Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC), the study's findings are based on information gathered from qualitative and quantitative research, which consisted of focus groups, one-to-one interviews, and a national poll of 2,000 people aged 18 to 70 years old. The results assert that sport can have a positive impact on boosting morale and improving mood, motivation and productivity in the working environment.
- Spiked — 09.07.2012.
Just shut up about school meals. If school meals really were responsible for killing children, this furore might make some sense. But there is no basis for this claim whatsoever. Life expectancy continues to rocket upwards. Children born today can expect to live past their eightieth birthday. Childhood obesity rates are actually falling, as a recent report by the Social Issues Research Centre reminds us. Claims about school performance and the new nutrition standards don’t stand up to scrutiny.
- El Bebe — 25.05.2012.
La cara cambiante de la maternidad: La crisis dificulta la tarea de las madres. El estudio "La Cara Cambiante de la Maternidad en Europa Occidental", realizado recientemente por The Social Issues Research Centre y promovido por P&G, analiza la situación de las madres en España. Consulta aquí sus interesantes conclusiones. La cara cambiante de la maternidad: La crisis dificulta la tarea de las madres. El estudio "La Cara Cambiante de la Maternidad en Europa Occidental", realizado recientemente por The Social Issues Research Centre y promovido por P&G, analiza la situación de las madres en España. Consulta aquí sus interesantes conclusiones.
- Telegraph — 10.05.2012.
Life was better in 1977, poll finds. Seven out of ten people over the age of 40 say that Britain is a worse place to live today than it was in 1977, research shows ... Peter Marsh, a director at the Oxford-based Social Issues Research Centre, said that people always tend to assume that life in the past was better than it was. "People think that the 1970s were a better time? It was always thus. You can even go back to the ancient Greeks. They were always moaning that the present generation has lost respect," said Dr Marsh.
- Huffington Post — 10.05.2012.
Wait 'Till the Fat Lady Sings. For centuries physical attractiveness has been overwhelmingly important in society. In fact, studies from the Social Issues Research Centre show that attractive people receive distinct advantages - attractive children are more popular with their classmates and teachers; people react more favourably to attractive people; and physically attractive people are perceived as having desirable other characteristics such as intelligence and confidence.
- El Dia — 27.04.2012.
Las madres españolas dedican 5 horas a sus hijos y 40 minutos a ellas. Se trata de un estudio sobre el papel de la mujer actual en la dinámica familiar, que ha desarrollado por The Social Issues Research Centre entre más de 9.500 madres de trece países europeos, entre ellas 1.014 españolas, la mitad de las cuales considera que la crisis les dificulta su tarea como madres en mayor o menor medida.
- The Florentine — 29.03.2012.
Comparing the changing norms of Europe's modern families.
Thirty-eight minutes a day, and not a minute more, is the time Italian fathers spend with their children and look after the home, earning them the rank as the worst dads in Europe, according to a recent study conducted by P&G and Social Issues Research Centre.
- Independent — 25.03.2012.
A tax on bargain booze is a cheap trick. It is popularly supposed that alcohol is to blame for the loud, loutish, promiscuous and violent behaviour on weekend nights in our cities. The social anthropologist Kate Fox disagrees. It is not drink that prompts the "Oi, what you lookin' at?" or "Hey babe, fancy a shag?" behaviour. Experiments show, she argues, that when people are drinking alcohol, they behave according to their cultural beliefs about how it will affect them. Those vary from one country to another, from the Mediterranean to the Barbarian, which is why behaviour shifts too. "Our beliefs about the effects of alcohol act as self-fulfilling prophecies – if you firmly believe and expect that booze will make you aggressive, then it will do exactly that".
- BBC News — 09.03.2012.
Would you want to be a Freemason? They designed the pyramids, plotted the French Revolution and are keeping the flame alive for the Knights Templar. These are just some of the wilder theories about the Freemasons. Today they are associated with secret handshakes and alleged corruption in the police and judiciary. But dogged by this "secret society" image, the Freemasons have launched a rebranding exercise. On Friday, the United Grand Lodge of England, the largest Masonic group in Britain, publishes its first independent report. The Future of Freemasonry, researched by the Social Issues Research Centre, aims to start an "open and transparent" discussion ahead of the group's tercentenary in 2017.
- Daily Telegraph — 09.03.2012.
Handshakes and trouser legs — secrets of the Freemasons. The Grand Secretary is here, in his office in the Freemasons’ Hall in London, to discuss a report called The Future of Freemasonry, commissioned by his organisation. Prepared by a think-tank, the Social Issues Research Centre, it seeks to place the Craft in a modern context, shedding light on an organisation regarded by many as a secret society populated by the rich and powerful, and liable to you-scratch-my-back corruption. Or worse.
"None of the researchers were Masons," says Mr Brown. "Our aim was to show that we are relevant and transparent. Secrecy is one of the greatest myths, and our aim is to get rid of myths. I’m here to tell you that there are no secrets — that is probably the greatest secret."
- Daily Mail — 08.03.2012.
Majority of British mothers feel guilty about going out to work and not spending enough time with their children. Researchers surveyed more than 11,500 working mothers in 13 Western European countries to discover how they coped with holding down a job while bringing up their family ...
The report, entitled the ‘Changing Face of Motherhood,’ was prepared by the Oxford-based Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) on behalf of multi-national Procter & Gamble (P&G) to coincide with International Women’s Day.
- Familien Leben — 08.03.2012.
Moderne Mütter sind trotz Mehrfachbelastung zufriedener. Moderne Schweizer Mütter sehen sich als Familienmanagerinnen mit vielfältigen Pflichten. Trotz der Mehrfachbelastung sind sie jedoch zufriedener als Mütter vor 30 Jahren ... In welcher Rolle sehen sich die heutigen Mütter? Um diese Frage beantworten zu können, führte das «ocial Issues Research Centre (SIRC) eine internationale Studie durch, in welcher 9'582 Mütter in ganz Europa zu ihrem Rollenbild befragt wurden.
- Guardian — 14.02.2012.
Richard Dawkins has uncovered a very British form of Christianity. We have always been instinctively wary of the bright-eyed, fanatical enthusiast, of whatever hue. We don't really do big ideologies or revolutions — and when we do, we never see them through to their conclusion. We prefer modest proposals, pragmatic solutions, and a bit of muddle — so long as it works. As Kate Fox rightly observes in Watching the English, our natural response to anyone who believes in their own propaganda too much is: "Oh come off it."
- Cosmopolitan — 11.02.2012.
The most common mistake people make when flirting is overdoing eye contact — Social Issues Research Centre.
- MSN Lifestyle — 10.02.2012.
Dating rules you need to break. "Everyone knows the best way to flirt is with eye contact. Look at them - and then look away - three times to show you're interested." Why you should break it: We've all read books on body language but sometimes a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. According to the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, maintaining too much eye contact is the biggest mistake people make when flirting.
- Psychology Today — 08.02.2012.
You Stink! Smell and Politics. As a result of these and other observations I have asked myself the same question over the years, "We know that real smells can evoke strong emotional reactions; however, can reports of smells we don't even smell sway our perceptions and judgments of others?" According to the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) a non-profit research organization in Oxford, England, the answer is yes. They report that "olfactory likes and dislikes are based purely on emotional associations." This includes evidence that our expectations of an odor, rather than direct exposure to it can have similar perceptive results.
- Ghana News — 01.02.2012.
The Quest for a Perfect Figure. Those who take fashion too seriously can become overly concerned about their appearance. Fashion models are usually tall and slim, and their images bombard us constantly. The “right” physique is used to market everything from cars to candy bars. Britain’s Social Issues Research Centre estimates that "young women now see more images of outstandingly beautiful women in one day than our mothers saw throughout their entire adolescence."
- Alcohol Help — 15.01.2012.
Time to change attitudes to alcohol? Cultural attitudes to alcohol and its effects could have greater bearing on how people behave under its influence – more so than its chemical properties. This is according to social anthropologist and director of the Social Issues Research Centre Kate Fox, who told the BBC that different nations regard drinking in different ways. She claimed in the UK, people consider alcohol as a disinhibitor — something that can encourage aggressive or amorous behaviour — and this has been proved in studies using placebos.