PhD Studentship “Everyday practices of oral care through the life course”, a collaboration between the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield and the School of Clinical Dentistry.
Project Details: The everyday practices associated with oral care change throughout the life course. From the first moments of learning to brush our teeth, through to the first visits at the dentist and the purchase of toothbrushes and toothpaste. As we move through the life course we may not be aware that we accumulate a set of practices that are ingrained, which combine a particular worldview that is itself already historically specific and changing, with embodied know-how and a set of physical objects. The meaning, technologies and knowhow associated with oral health may change over the life course as experiences accumulate and bodies change, but might also vary at each stage between different groups of people. As a consequence groups of people come to occupy different positions within different time frames and subsequently develop different sets of practices of oral care. Some groups might dream of tooth whitening and electric toothbrushes whereas others of tooth picks and well-fitting dentures.
Later in life we might have accumulated practices that have been antiquated by social change. This study will enable the student to contribute to wider debates on the nature of practices over the life course. It will also be the first study of its kind in oral care.
This project would be suitable for a candidate with a background in social sciences, particularly sociology.
Further details can be found here.
Applications are due by 27th February 2015. Prospective candidates should contact either Barry Gibson or Kate Weiner.