Good Social Spaces and Places: Interactional Dynamics and Inclusion of People with Hearing Loss
This project investigates barriers and supportive mechanisms of social inclusion for both adolescents and adults with hearing loss. Four sub-projects are studying the development of good social spaces and places in education and work life.
Micro-sociological theory is used to identifying basic interactional mechanisms, which generate social bonds and high emotional energy in support of social relations (e.g., friendship) and group belonging.
In particular, the project generates new knowledge of how adolescents and adults partake in interactional settings with others (micro); their group exclusion/inclusion (meso), and comparisons of social participations on population level between hearing and people with hearing loss (macro).
Overall, the project provides new knowledge about hearing loss and social inclusion in a societal perspective, including new understandings about people-technology-community relations.
A: Impaired face-to-face interaction and the mechanisms of group belonging: A micro-sociological approach
Purpose: To develop a micro-sociological approach to investigate interactional barriers or supportive mechanism for social participation when taking group compositions and spatial variables into account. Focus is on group dynamics and implications of robust social relationship such as friendship for social participation.
B: Self-defensive and re-socializing strategies – impaired interactions in the workplace for people with hearing loss
Purpose: To explore work situations - how it is difficult to attach to others and how strategies are developed to fit into interactional situations. Focus is under what social and physical circumstances are interactions damaged in the context of the work place, and how do employees navigate difficult aural-verbal situations.
C: General measures of social inclusion
Purpose: To explore the extension of problems related to social exclusion and the relative meaning for people with hearing loss. Focus is to what extent social problems are related to social participation and psychosocial difficulties similar or different from normal hearing people, who also depend on channels of communication, ease and concentration.
D: Social challenges of hearing loss - professional knowledge and practice
Purpose: To explore and synthesize multi-disciplinary expert knowledge about people with hearing loss in order to support everyday life participation and social well-being for the target groups. Focus is to explore the knowledge bases of how professional groups deal with issues of social inclusion.
Researchers
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search in Name | Search in Title | Search in Phone | |
| Inge Kryger Pedersen | Associate Professor | +4535323229 |
Funded by:
Good Social Spaces and Places: Interactional Dynamics and Inclusion of People with Hearing Loss has received a three year funding from The Velux Foundation
Project: Good Social Spaces and Places: Interactional Dynamics and Inclusion of People with Hearing Loss
Period: 2021-2025
Contact
Inge Kryger Pedersen
Associate Professor, PhD
Department of Sociology
E-mail: ikp@soc.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35 32 32 29
Public dissemination
The project's research dissemination to a wider audience is primarily in Danish. However, two journalistic presentations are available in English:
13 February 2024: An article describing the project's film, which describes how it is possible to overcome some of the social barriers in everyday life: New film shows ways to a good school and working life
4 December 2024: An article conveying the project's quantitative data from two surveys: Social isolation is often the most serious handicap
External researcher
- Steen Bengtsson, VIVE: The Danish Center for Social Science Research
Collaborators within the practice area of hearing loss
- Frijsenborg Boarding School / Brian Ovesen,
- Castberggård Folk High School & Center for Employment Training / Solveig Højgaard
- The Danish Association for the Hard of Hearing / Anne Mette Paarup Kristensen)