David Bell

Bio: David Bell is an academic researcher from University of Leeds. The author has contributed to research in topics: Tourism & Queer. The author has an hindex of 52, co-authored 214 publications receiving 14873 citations. Previous affiliations of David Bell include University of California, Los Angeles & Staffordshire University.

Surveillance is Sexy

Abstract: This paper considers sexualization of surveillance as a mode of resistance. It explores various modes of sexualized surveillance, from ‘reality porn’ to webcam footage, and focuses on the ways in which voyeurism and exhibitionism are mobilized within an emerging ‘surveillance aesthetic’ across these forms. Building on work that considers ‘playful’ engagements with surveillance, and discussions of forms of counter-surveillance, the paper attempts to locate ‘sexy surveillance’ within this body of critical engagement that seeks not to hide from surveillance, but to confront its logics head on. In exploring how the omnipresence of surveillance shifts experiences of voyeurism and exhibitionism into new contexts, the paper argues that sexualization is one possible response for the ‘surveillance-savvy’ subject to utilize.

Social Contagion and Trial on the Internet: Evidence from Online Grocery Retailing

Abstract: For a traditional retailer, the size of the customer pool can evolve over time but is largely bounded in space. In contrast, an Internet retailer with the appropriate shipping infrastructure can draw customers from a wide-ranging geographical area (e.g., the entire United States). We examine the trial decision for customers shopping at an Internet grocery retailer. Drawing on literature in economics, marketing and sociology, we conjecture that the trial decision may be subject to social influence or contagion. That is, exposure to the actions of proximate others - either through direct social interaction or passive observation - influences the trial decision of individuals who have yet to experience the service. This idea is tested in a discrete time hazard setting in which consumer trial decisions arise from utility-maximizing behavior. Moreover, our derivation allows use of region-level data to estimate a model consistent with individual utility maximization, even in the absence of individual level covariates. We find that the marginal impact of the so-called neighborhood effect is economically meaningful as it results in an approximately fifty percent increase in the baseline hazard of trial. This effect is robust to the inclusion of a broad set of covariates, region-level fixed effects, and time-dependent heterogeneity in the baseline trial rate. The model is calibrated on a unique dataset spanning: (1) 29,701 residential zip codes, (2) 156,049 customer transactions over forty-five months, and (3) zip code specific contiguity data from Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis. Substantive implications for customer base evolution and Internet retailing are discussed.

Pleasure Zones: Bodies, Cities, Spaces

Abstract: "Upstairs/Downstairs Place Matters, Bodies Matter," Jon Binnie, Robin Peace, and Robyn Longhurst "Trim, Taught, Terrific, and Pregnant," Robyn Longhurst "Producing Lesbians: Canonical Properties," Robin Peace "(Dis)Comforting Identities," Ruth Holliday "Fragments for a Queer City," David Bell "The Erotic Possibilities of the City," Jon Binnie

Sex Lives and Audiotape: Geography, Sexuality, and Undergraduate Dissertations.

Abstract: The dissertation is commonly the largest piece of work conducted by UK geography undergraduates. There has been an increase in dissertations on topics grouped under the heading ‘sexual geographies’. This paper addresses some of the practicalities in doing a dissertation on sexual geographies, from choosing a topic to selecting a relevant methodological framework. It also draws attention to issues in the ethics of independent research in this area.

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Abstract: The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Economics of Information

Abstract: The author systematically examines one of the important issues of information — establishing the market price. He introduces the concept of «search» — where a buyer wanting to get a better price, is forced to question sellers. The article deals with various aspects of finding the necessary information.

Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists

Abstract: The demarcation of science from other intellectual activities-long an analytic problem for philosophers and sociologists-is here examined as a practical problem for scientists. Construction of a boundary between science and varieties of non-science is useful for scientists' pursuit of professional goals: acquisition of intellectual authority and career opportunities; denial of these resources to "pseudoscientists"; and protection of the autonomy of scientific research from political interference. "Boundary-work" describes an ideological style found in scientists' attempts to create a public image for science by contrasting it favorably to non-scientific intellectual or technical activities. Alternative sets of characteristics available for ideological attribution to science reflect ambivalences or strains within the institution: science can be made to look empirical or theoretical, pure or applied. However, selection of one or another description depends on which characteristics best achieve the demarcation in a way that justifies scientists' claims to authority or resources. Thus, "science" is no single thing: its boundaries are drawn and redrawn inflexible, historically changing and sometimes ambiguous ways.