PhD

So I have finished my PhD, had my viva, done all the corrections, got it hard bound and submitted it. I’m now just waiting to collect a bit of paper and walk around in a silly hat and I’ll be all done.  In the meantime there might be some people who are interested in reading it (or bits of it).

If you want to you can plough through the whole thing. If you want the highlights then I’d suggest you read chapters 7, 8 and 9 (which have my main theories, and arguments and show some of the implications of my findings).

The full title is: The Community of Intimacy: The Spiritual Beliefs and Religious Practices of Adolescent Quakers

It is a sociological study of the current generation of adolescent Quakers in Britain. It examines and analyses their beliefs and values; individual and group practice and how the group functions.

It demonstrates that for the adolescent Quaker group belief is unimportant and non-definitional; values are broad and open to individual interpretation, although key shared values have an optional influence on behaviour. Involvement in Quaker activity is extensive, corporate worship is central and internal discipline is strong.

In my thesis I argue that the adolescent Quaker group represents a ‘Community of Intimacy’, a collective grouping which places emphasis on belonging, inter-personal networks secured by friendships, shared values, expression though individual and corporate behaviour, and the separateness of the group from other Quakers and other adolescents. This concept can be related to other groups and represents an original contribution to existing scholarship, providing a new way of describing groups and explaining how they function.

The research illustrates that while both the adult and adolescent Quaker groups have sect-like characteristics the sectarian nature of the groups is differently configured. I argue that the failure of the adult group to acknowledge the adolescent group as separate and different results in its cultural, institutional and theological marginalisation.

If you want to read it you can. Unfortunately it's too big to email but it is available to download as a pdf from googledocs (as long as you promise not to nick the ideas)! Just click on the link in the title above or here: The Community of Intimacy