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There's more to health than HIV : social capital & health in the gay community

Goldring, JE

Authors

JE Goldring



Contributors

P Bellaby
Supervisor

S MacKian
Supervisor

Abstract

The legal climate for gay men in the UK has undergone enormous change since the
decriminalisation of 'homosexuality1 in 1967 with changes in the social climate following.
Bringing together concepts of 'social capital 1 and 'reflexive individualisation', the research
explores how the changes have helped shape the gay experience, especially in terms of
health and well-being. In recent history, gay men's health has been located within the HIV
discourse, assuming a homogeneous gay identity and community. Yet gay men have various
identities and a full spectrum of health needs, well beyond HIV and AIDS alone. The
research pursues ethnography as method to provide 'thick description' of gay men's lives in
context. After immersion in the context, access was gained to 24 gay men whose ages
ranged from 17 to 73 years old. There were also five non-gay participants and six
representatives of gay themed organisations. Participant observation, field notes and
Internet data complemented semi-structured and unstructured interviews. The data were
analysed using the thematic and grounded theory approach. This identified generational
variations within the experience of gay men characterised by how the law defined them.
The findings indicated that the social capital framework does not account for the
experiences this minority group or the variations within it. Gay men displayed different
styles of embeddedness, and ways of developing trust in others. Self-censorship hindered
the development of these important skills. It also seemed plausible that these same
conditions promoted reflexivity through the need to manage multiple identities in various
social settings. With respect to health, it was HIV that structured much of their accounts,
although they did vary across generations. Generation also structured the experience and
practice in other areas of health. The project demonstrates the importance of both sexual
orientation and masculinity in the construction of all men's health.

Citation

Goldring, J. There's more to health than HIV : social capital & health in the gay community. (Thesis). University of Salford

Thesis Type Thesis
Deposit Date Aug 18, 2021
Award Date Jan 1, 2007

This file is under embargo due to copyright reasons.

Contact Library-ThesesRequest@salford.ac.uk to request a copy for personal use.





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