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Karen Morgan

University of Bristol, School of Social and Community Medicine, Research Fellow

University of Bristol, School for Policy Studies, Faculty Member

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Karen Morgan is a Research Fellow in the School of Social and Community Medicine, at the University of Bristol. As well as over 10 years’ research experience mostly in gender-based violence, she also has experience from the voluntary sector of supporting survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.Currently, Karen is working on REPROVIDE, an NIHR-funded pilot trial of a domestic violence perpetrator programme, which is seeking to gather evidence as to the effectiveness of group programmes for male perpetrators.

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Papers by Karen Morgan

‘I'd rather you'd lay me on the floor and start kicking me': Understanding symbolic violence in everyday life

Women's Studies International Forum, 2006

Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships, in General, the... more Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships, in General, the letter of credit causes an electron. Skills-based caring for a loved one with an eating disorder: The new Maudsley method, meat and dairy cattle breeding dissonant lyrical Previous Previous article Next Next article Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution.

The determinants of public trust in English local government: how important is the ethical behaviour of elected councillors?

International Review of Administrative Sciences, 2013

One of the most difficult and under-examined issues in integrity research is understanding whethe... more One of the most difficult and under-examined issues in integrity research is understanding whether regulatory interventions designed to improve the ethical conduct of public bodies actually have any effect on public trust. In this article, we present the results of research which has sought to unpack this issue. Drawing on a large-scale public survey and case study analysis of nine local councils in England, the research examined the relative importance of ethical conduct (whether elected councillors displayed good behaviour) on public trust in local government. We found that contextual factors (such as the size of the population and its social and ethnic diversity) and the ethical standards and behaviour of councillors were among the more important determinants of public trust. The most important variable in explaining levels of public trust was how a council performed. Points for practitioners One of the aims of ethics regulation is to improve levels of trust by promoting changes ...

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a group domestic abuse perpetrator programme: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Trials

Background In contrast to evidence for interventions supporting victim/survivors of domestic viol... more Background In contrast to evidence for interventions supporting victim/survivors of domestic violence and abuse (DVA), the effectiveness of perpetrator programmes for reduction of abuse is uncertain. This study aims to estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a perpetrator programme for men. Methods Pragmatic two-group individually randomised controlled trial (RCT) with embedded process and economic evaluation. Five centres in southwest England and South Wales aim to recruit 316 (reduced from original target of 366) male domestic abuse perpetrators. These will be randomised 2:1 to a community-based domestic abuse perpetrator programme (DAPP) or usual care comparator with 12-month follow-up. Female partners/ex-partners will be invited to join the study. The intervention for men comprises 23 weekly sessions of a group programme delivered in voluntary sector domestic abuse services. The intervention for female partners/ex-partners is one-to-one support from a safety worker....

Veganism Contra Speciesism: Beyond Debate

The Brock Review, 2011

While the case for veganism may be argued to be beyond debate, ending the exploitation of nonhuma... more While the case for veganism may be argued to be beyond debate, ending the exploitation of nonhuman animals remains hindered by the ubiquity of speciesism. This paper therefore explores the resilience of the speciesist order in two related contexts: the cultural reproduction of speciesism, including the ridicule of veganism; the applicability of Cohen’s sociological theory of denial to the exploitation of nonhuman animals. In so doing, the paper points towards intersections between speciesism and other forms of oppression, which may in turn help to inform effective vegan activism and prevent veganism from being marginalized as a “single issue."

The role of gender, sexuality and context upon help-seeking for intimate partner violence: A synthesis of data across five studies

Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2016

The Symbolic Violence of “Protecting” Women from Sexual Abuse

What Determines Ethical Behavior in Public Organizations: Is It Rules and/or Leadership?

Public Administration Review, 2016

United Kingdom. His research interests cover theoretical and political aspects of the relationshi... more United Kingdom. His research interests cover theoretical and political aspects of the relationship between public policy and sustainable development. He has written widely on issues of governance, knowledge and decision making, policy integration, public participation, and trust, with a particular interest in ethics regulation.

Ethical framing of human-animal relations: The Animal - Rights Position

Show me the way to Vegetopia

Reciprocity and Disclosure in Research Interviews

The Discursive Representation of Nonhuman Animals in a Culture of Denial

Human and Other Animals

Our paradoxical relationship with other animals is most apparent in relation to whether we consid... more Our paradoxical relationship with other animals is most apparent in relation to whether we consider them to be ‘food’ or ‘friends’ (Masson 2003; Spencer et al. 2006; Jepson 2008; Cole and Stewart 2010). Rabbits, for example, may be perceived as ‘pets’ or ‘food’, ‘vermin’, ‘entertainment’ or laboratory ‘equipment’, depending on circumstances (Stewart and Cole 2009).1 While some animals are seen as essential parts of our emotional lives and granted subjectivity, others are viewed and treated as objects. This is despite the fact that objectified animals are those with whom we have the most intimate of all relationships: the incorporation of their flesh, eggs or bodily secretions into our own bodies. Consequently, those animals with whom we have our closest relationships are reduced to ‘animal machines’ (Harrison 1964). As individuals, these animals and their conditions of life and death are usually invisible to us although exceptionally, as we will discuss later, ‘farmed’ animals may act in ways that make it harder for us to deny their capacity for individual agency. The difficulty of sustaining a subject-object distinction is also manifest in the attempt to maintain the objectification of ‘food animals’ at the same time as appearing to grant them subjectivity, in the ‘happy meat’ phenomenon (Cole 2011; and see e.g. http://www.happymeats.co.uk/ or http://www.wellhungmeat.com/index.php). This is achieved through allowing selective visibility of the lives and deaths of these animals. In constructing some animals as subjects, or more accurately quasi-subjects who approximate to human subjectivity and others as objects, we categorize them depending on our use for them.

Cheating wives and vice girls: The construction of a culture of resignation

Women's Studies International Forum, 2006

This article examines the way in which discursive knowledge about women victims of violence in th... more

“But Sometimes I Think . . . They Put Themselves in the Situation”: Exploring Blame and Responsibility in Interpersonal Violence

Violence Against Women, 2009

This article draws on narratives of volunteers working with women who have experienced violence. ... more This article draws on narratives of volunteers working with women who have experienced violence. It explores how institutional discourses nurture a culture of blame and responsibility. Using qualitative data, it examines the ways in which women victims are seen as complicit in their own victimization. An indirect consequence of the blame/responsibility dichotomy is that victims are depicted as deserving their fate. There is, therefore, a culture of resignation in which violence is normalized. It proposes that if institutional practices are embedded in a feminist tradition, they can provide a more sustainable framework for challenging sexual and domestic violence.

Nominations: An Actor-Network Approach

Housing Studies, 2009

Vegaphobia: derogatory discourses of veganism and the reproduction of speciesism in UK national newspapers1

The British Journal of Sociology, 2011

This paper critically examines discourses of veganism in UK national newspapers in 2007. In setti... more This paper critically examines discourses of veganism in UK national newspapers in 2007. In setting parameters for what can and cannot easily be discussed, dominant discourses also help frame understanding. Discourses relating to veganism are therefore presented as contravening commonsense, because they fall outside readily understood meat-eating discourses. Newspapers tend to discredit veganism through ridicule, or as being difficult or impossible to maintain in practice. Vegans are variously stereotyped as ascetics, faddists, sentimentalists, or in some cases, hostile extremists. The overall effect is of a derogatory portrayal of vegans and veganism that we interpret as 'vegaphobia'. We interpret derogatory discourses of veganism in UK national newspapers as evidence of the cultural reproduction of speciesism, through which veganism is dissociated from its connection with debates concerning nonhuman animals' rights or liberation. This is problematic in three, interrelated, respects. First, it empirically misrepresents the experience of veganism, and thereby marginalizes vegans. Second, it perpetuates a moral injury to omnivorous readers who are not presented with the opportunity to understand veganism and the challenge to speciesism that it contains. Third, and most seriously, it obscures and thereby reproduces exploitative and violent relations between human and nonhuman animals.

Managing Politics? Good conduct and ethics regulation in English local government

In many countries, an important driver for concern about public values arises from falling trust ... more In many countries, an important driver for concern about public values arises from falling trust in public institutions. One widely identified explanation has been the conduct of politicians, to which governments around the globe have responded by creating systems of ethics regulation and reform. This includes England, where measures instigated by the 2000 Local Government Act took a particularly centralised approach to improving conduct in local government, consisting of a standardised and formalised code of conduct with which ...

From pillar to post: homeless women's experiences of social care

Health & Social Care in the Community, 2015

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal study of homeless women. Thirty eight women were ... more This paper reports findings from a longitudinal study of homeless women. Thirty eight women were initially recruited with a retention rate of 58% over three rounds of interviews. Interviews explored specific events in women's lives, their current living arrangements and how their experiences and needs, including for social care, changed over time. Women reported a range of complex issues and difficulties, consistent with experiences of deep social exclusion and received support from both statutory and voluntary agencies. Although women appreciated the support they received, many reported that services were fragmented and rarely personalised to their needs.

Voices of experience: service users as advisors in a research project on the needs of homeless women

International Journal of Qualitative Research in Services, 2015

Whilst researchers are increasingly required to demonstrate patient or participant involvement in... more Whilst researchers are increasingly required to demonstrate patient or participant involvement in the design, implementation, and dissemination of their research, very often that involvement is lacking in continuity, is defined by the researchers themselves, and is subject to the criticism of being tokenistic. This paper discusses the role played by service users in advising on a longitudinal study of the health and social care needs of a cohort of homeless women in a major city in England. It explores the experience and impact of including service user advisors within research from the perspective of the advisors themselves and researchers. Although it was a steep learning process for all concerned, the advisors became a valued part of the research team and valued the experience themselves.

Voices of experience: service users as advisors in a research project on the needs of homeless women

International Journal of Qualitative Research in Services, 2015

Whilst researchers are increasingly required to demonstrate patient or participant involvement in... more Whilst researchers are increasingly required to demonstrate patient or participant involvement in the design, implementation, and dissemination of their research, very often that involvement is lacking in continuity, is defined by the researchers themselves, and is subject to the criticism of being tokenistic. This paper discusses the role played by service users in advising on a longitudinal study of the health and social care needs of a cohort of homeless women in a major city in England. It explores the experience and impact of including service user advisors within research from the perspective of the advisors themselves and researchers. Although it was a steep learning process for all concerned, the advisors became a valued part of the research team and valued the experience themselves.

Developing rapport: the ethics of 'reciprocity

‘I'd rather you'd lay me on the floor and start kicking me': Understanding symbolic violence in everyday life

Women's Studies International Forum, 2006

Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships, in General, the... more Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships, in General, the letter of credit causes an electron. Skills-based caring for a loved one with an eating disorder: The new Maudsley method, meat and dairy cattle breeding dissonant lyrical Previous Previous article Next Next article Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution.

The determinants of public trust in English local government: how important is the ethical behaviour of elected councillors?

International Review of Administrative Sciences, 2013

One of the most difficult and under-examined issues in integrity research is understanding whethe... more One of the most difficult and under-examined issues in integrity research is understanding whether regulatory interventions designed to improve the ethical conduct of public bodies actually have any effect on public trust. In this article, we present the results of research which has sought to unpack this issue. Drawing on a large-scale public survey and case study analysis of nine local councils in England, the research examined the relative importance of ethical conduct (whether elected councillors displayed good behaviour) on public trust in local government. We found that contextual factors (such as the size of the population and its social and ethnic diversity) and the ethical standards and behaviour of councillors were among the more important determinants of public trust. The most important variable in explaining levels of public trust was how a council performed. Points for practitioners One of the aims of ethics regulation is to improve levels of trust by promoting changes ...

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a group domestic abuse perpetrator programme: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Trials

Background In contrast to evidence for interventions supporting victim/survivors of domestic viol... more Background In contrast to evidence for interventions supporting victim/survivors of domestic violence and abuse (DVA), the effectiveness of perpetrator programmes for reduction of abuse is uncertain. This study aims to estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a perpetrator programme for men. Methods Pragmatic two-group individually randomised controlled trial (RCT) with embedded process and economic evaluation. Five centres in southwest England and South Wales aim to recruit 316 (reduced from original target of 366) male domestic abuse perpetrators. These will be randomised 2:1 to a community-based domestic abuse perpetrator programme (DAPP) or usual care comparator with 12-month follow-up. Female partners/ex-partners will be invited to join the study. The intervention for men comprises 23 weekly sessions of a group programme delivered in voluntary sector domestic abuse services. The intervention for female partners/ex-partners is one-to-one support from a safety worker....

Veganism Contra Speciesism: Beyond Debate

The Brock Review, 2011

While the case for veganism may be argued to be beyond debate, ending the exploitation of nonhuma... more While the case for veganism may be argued to be beyond debate, ending the exploitation of nonhuman animals remains hindered by the ubiquity of speciesism. This paper therefore explores the resilience of the speciesist order in two related contexts: the cultural reproduction of speciesism, including the ridicule of veganism; the applicability of Cohen’s sociological theory of denial to the exploitation of nonhuman animals. In so doing, the paper points towards intersections between speciesism and other forms of oppression, which may in turn help to inform effective vegan activism and prevent veganism from being marginalized as a “single issue."

The role of gender, sexuality and context upon help-seeking for intimate partner violence: A synthesis of data across five studies

Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2016

The Symbolic Violence of “Protecting” Women from Sexual Abuse

What Determines Ethical Behavior in Public Organizations: Is It Rules and/or Leadership?

Public Administration Review, 2016

United Kingdom. His research interests cover theoretical and political aspects of the relationshi... more United Kingdom. His research interests cover theoretical and political aspects of the relationship between public policy and sustainable development. He has written widely on issues of governance, knowledge and decision making, policy integration, public participation, and trust, with a particular interest in ethics regulation.

Ethical framing of human-animal relations: The Animal - Rights Position

Show me the way to Vegetopia

Reciprocity and Disclosure in Research Interviews

The Discursive Representation of Nonhuman Animals in a Culture of Denial

Human and Other Animals

Our paradoxical relationship with other animals is most apparent in relation to whether we consid... more Our paradoxical relationship with other animals is most apparent in relation to whether we consider them to be ‘food’ or ‘friends’ (Masson 2003; Spencer et al. 2006; Jepson 2008; Cole and Stewart 2010). Rabbits, for example, may be perceived as ‘pets’ or ‘food’, ‘vermin’, ‘entertainment’ or laboratory ‘equipment’, depending on circumstances (Stewart and Cole 2009).1 While some animals are seen as essential parts of our emotional lives and granted subjectivity, others are viewed and treated as objects. This is despite the fact that objectified animals are those with whom we have the most intimate of all relationships: the incorporation of their flesh, eggs or bodily secretions into our own bodies. Consequently, those animals with whom we have our closest relationships are reduced to ‘animal machines’ (Harrison 1964). As individuals, these animals and their conditions of life and death are usually invisible to us although exceptionally, as we will discuss later, ‘farmed’ animals may act in ways that make it harder for us to deny their capacity for individual agency. The difficulty of sustaining a subject-object distinction is also manifest in the attempt to maintain the objectification of ‘food animals’ at the same time as appearing to grant them subjectivity, in the ‘happy meat’ phenomenon (Cole 2011; and see e.g. http://www.happymeats.co.uk/ or http://www.wellhungmeat.com/index.php). This is achieved through allowing selective visibility of the lives and deaths of these animals. In constructing some animals as subjects, or more accurately quasi-subjects who approximate to human subjectivity and others as objects, we categorize them depending on our use for them.

Cheating wives and vice girls: The construction of a culture of resignation

Women's Studies International Forum, 2006

This article examines the way in which discursive knowledge about women victims of violence in th... more

“But Sometimes I Think . . . They Put Themselves in the Situation”: Exploring Blame and Responsibility in Interpersonal Violence

Violence Against Women, 2009

This article draws on narratives of volunteers working with women who have experienced violence. ... more This article draws on narratives of volunteers working with women who have experienced violence. It explores how institutional discourses nurture a culture of blame and responsibility. Using qualitative data, it examines the ways in which women victims are seen as complicit in their own victimization. An indirect consequence of the blame/responsibility dichotomy is that victims are depicted as deserving their fate. There is, therefore, a culture of resignation in which violence is normalized. It proposes that if institutional practices are embedded in a feminist tradition, they can provide a more sustainable framework for challenging sexual and domestic violence.

Nominations: An Actor-Network Approach

Housing Studies, 2009

Vegaphobia: derogatory discourses of veganism and the reproduction of speciesism in UK national newspapers1

The British Journal of Sociology, 2011

This paper critically examines discourses of veganism in UK national newspapers in 2007. In setti... more This paper critically examines discourses of veganism in UK national newspapers in 2007. In setting parameters for what can and cannot easily be discussed, dominant discourses also help frame understanding. Discourses relating to veganism are therefore presented as contravening commonsense, because they fall outside readily understood meat-eating discourses. Newspapers tend to discredit veganism through ridicule, or as being difficult or impossible to maintain in practice. Vegans are variously stereotyped as ascetics, faddists, sentimentalists, or in some cases, hostile extremists. The overall effect is of a derogatory portrayal of vegans and veganism that we interpret as 'vegaphobia'. We interpret derogatory discourses of veganism in UK national newspapers as evidence of the cultural reproduction of speciesism, through which veganism is dissociated from its connection with debates concerning nonhuman animals' rights or liberation. This is problematic in three, interrelated, respects. First, it empirically misrepresents the experience of veganism, and thereby marginalizes vegans. Second, it perpetuates a moral injury to omnivorous readers who are not presented with the opportunity to understand veganism and the challenge to speciesism that it contains. Third, and most seriously, it obscures and thereby reproduces exploitative and violent relations between human and nonhuman animals.

Managing Politics? Good conduct and ethics regulation in English local government

In many countries, an important driver for concern about public values arises from falling trust ... more In many countries, an important driver for concern about public values arises from falling trust in public institutions. One widely identified explanation has been the conduct of politicians, to which governments around the globe have responded by creating systems of ethics regulation and reform. This includes England, where measures instigated by the 2000 Local Government Act took a particularly centralised approach to improving conduct in local government, consisting of a standardised and formalised code of conduct with which ...

From pillar to post: homeless women's experiences of social care

Health & Social Care in the Community, 2015

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal study of homeless women. Thirty eight women were ... more This paper reports findings from a longitudinal study of homeless women. Thirty eight women were initially recruited with a retention rate of 58% over three rounds of interviews. Interviews explored specific events in women's lives, their current living arrangements and how their experiences and needs, including for social care, changed over time. Women reported a range of complex issues and difficulties, consistent with experiences of deep social exclusion and received support from both statutory and voluntary agencies. Although women appreciated the support they received, many reported that services were fragmented and rarely personalised to their needs.

Voices of experience: service users as advisors in a research project on the needs of homeless women

International Journal of Qualitative Research in Services, 2015

Whilst researchers are increasingly required to demonstrate patient or participant involvement in... more Whilst researchers are increasingly required to demonstrate patient or participant involvement in the design, implementation, and dissemination of their research, very often that involvement is lacking in continuity, is defined by the researchers themselves, and is subject to the criticism of being tokenistic. This paper discusses the role played by service users in advising on a longitudinal study of the health and social care needs of a cohort of homeless women in a major city in England. It explores the experience and impact of including service user advisors within research from the perspective of the advisors themselves and researchers. Although it was a steep learning process for all concerned, the advisors became a valued part of the research team and valued the experience themselves.

Voices of experience: service users as advisors in a research project on the needs of homeless women

International Journal of Qualitative Research in Services, 2015

Whilst researchers are increasingly required to demonstrate patient or participant involvement in... more Whilst researchers are increasingly required to demonstrate patient or participant involvement in the design, implementation, and dissemination of their research, very often that involvement is lacking in continuity, is defined by the researchers themselves, and is subject to the criticism of being tokenistic. This paper discusses the role played by service users in advising on a longitudinal study of the health and social care needs of a cohort of homeless women in a major city in England. It explores the experience and impact of including service user advisors within research from the perspective of the advisors themselves and researchers. Although it was a steep learning process for all concerned, the advisors became a valued part of the research team and valued the experience themselves.

Developing rapport: the ethics of 'reciprocity