Accessibility statement

Gillian Loomes
PhD Student

Biography

My ESRC funded studentship explores the social world of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. In going beyond the ‘letter of the law’ I explore what actually happens in courtrooms, local authority meeting rooms, advocacy offices, individual homes, I analyze how the range of people involved in the everyday practices of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 construct and reproduce the personal and social worlds of decision-making within this revolutionary legal framework, and aim to find out how those who inhabit this world actually go about dealing with the burning social questions that lurk beneath the neat, tidy black-on-white letter of Mental Capacity Law.

 

Such questions include:

  • (How) can we speak on behalf of another individual? (How) can we represent their personal views, wishes, feelings and beliefs? And (how) do decisions made in this way both reflect and shape the social identity of that individual?
  • (How) do themes of social and group-based oppression impact on and shape discussions concerning the ‘Best Interests’ of an individual?
  • Are all decisions created equal? Can decisions concerning medical treatment and social care or welfare be made using the same framework? (How) do these social worlds overlap?

Contact details

Gillian Loomes
PhD Student
Department of Sociology
University of York
Heslington
YORK
North Yorkshire
YO10 5DD