Title:
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Positioning the environment as a health and well-being resource : a Bourdieusian approach
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Using Francis and Bessant (2005)'s concept of positional innovation, this thesis
investigates how the natural environment is positioned as a health and well-being
resource, and in addition how this can apply to market creation. The thesis
encompasses pilot data and two ethnographic case studies that were collected
through semi-structured interviews, ethnographic interviews and ethnography. The
research was sited primarily in Cornwall, UK but also a month long international
comparison was made in a secondment to Finland. The data suggests that the
natural environment is being positioned to replicate mental states used in treatment
of specific conditions, e.g. the calmness of an estuary is used to facilitate and
replicate meditative and mindfulness practises. The natural environment and
activities chosen were mapped to the individuals under therapy in a highly specific
manner. This then offers a vast range of possible therapies through the plethora of
natural environments found in the UK. In addition, the thesis tested the application of
Pierre Bourdieu's meta-theory of the general theory of economic practices as a
means for describing the phenomena of Positional Innovation, as well as contributing
to the literature on this topic. It was found that the general theory of economic
practices was extremely effective at describing the health and well-being service
innovation process, far more in the author's opinion than most other innovation
theories. Which are more focused on larger, corporate organisations and are
therefore of less use in a health related contexts.
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