Ribbon-wearing : a sociocultural investigation

Ribbon-Wearing: A Sociocultural Investigation explores the sociological significance of 'awareness' ribbons, such as those worn for AIDS or breast cancer, in contemporary British society. The thesis discusses the ribbon's place in the culture, examines the meanings that ribbon-wearers attach to the symbol, considers the social and cultural context out of which awareness campaigns emerged, and integrates these analyses into a critique of the project of 'showing awareness'. The work is based upon primary data collected from in-depth interviews, participant observation and questionnaires, as well as a wide range of secondary data, including political speeches, newspaper and magazine articles, films, and novels.

Using the work of sociologists such as Giddens, Goffman, Sennett, and Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, Ribbon-Wearing provides a wide-ranging analysis and includes discussions on, among other topics, the lived-experience of risk, the nature of contemporary mourning practices, the sociology of compassion, the marketing discourse of charities, and the relationship between 'awareness' and consumerism. These various points of discussion also work toward a more general assessment of contemporary British society and culture. In particular, my work points to a two-way social trend in which a heightened interest in personal authenticity is coupled with a widespread distrust and repudiation of social institutions. This social current is traced back to the counter-cultural period of the 1960s and 1970s, a time during which a desire for self-fulfilment and cynicism about social authorities became particularly marked.