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Professor Stephanie Taylor

Profile summary

  • Emeritus Professor
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Psychology & Counselling
  • Psychology
  • stephanie.taylor

Research interests

I am an Emeritus Professor in the School of Psychology & Counselling.

My current research concerns creative work and workers in the cultural and creative industries. I’ve also written on identities of relationship to place, including national identities. My research explores identification and a complex gendered subject using a narrative-discursive approach based in narrative and critical discursive psychology.

My 2018 Palgrave collection The New Normal of Working Lives: Critical Studies in Contemporary Work and Employment (co-edited with Susan Luckman) presented research on the changing meanings and values attached to work and a contemporary worker subject. You can watch a video about it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFYf3Lfr0dg 

Two earlier collections were the 2015 special issue and Sociological Review Monographs collection Gender and Creative Labour, co-edited with Bridget Conor and Rosalind Gill, and Theorizing Cultural Work: Labour, Continuity and Change in the Creative Industries, with Mark Banks and Rosalind Gill (Routledge, 2013).  I was interviewed about my research on creative work for a recent Editorial Conversation in the Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy (2022).

My 2012 co-authored monograph Contemporary Identities of Creativity and Creative Work (with Karen Littleton) was developed from three research projects on which I was PI, including a project for the National Arts Learning Network. The book explores the attractions and conflicts of creative work as a personalized, affect-laden project of self-making, perpetually open and oriented to possibility, uncertain in its trajectory or rewards.

I’ve published extensively on research methods and my work is widely cited, including a now classic chapter on qualitative research and discourse analysis: 'Locating and Conducting Discourse Analytic Research' (2001). I set out my methodological approach in detail in my 2015 article in Qualitative Research in Psychology.

Other research publications with a methodological focus include my flagship chapter on 'Discourse Research' for SAGE Research methods Foundations (SRMF) https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/sage-research-methods-foundations and the Sage Encyclopaedia of Research Methods; my 2017 chapter 'Psychosocial research' in The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Social Psychology and my textbook What is Discourse Analysis? (Bloomsbury, 2013). 

I’m co-editor for the Palgrave Series Creative Working Lives and I have co-edited a number of international collections that present new research on the experience of workers in the cultural and creative industries. My 2020 collection Pathways into Creative Working Lives, (co-edited with Susan Luckman), focuses on entry into creative work in a range of occupations and national contexts. It was developed from the Jean Monnet-funded project 'Creative Industries and the Digital Economy as Drivers of EU Integration and Economy as Drivers of EU Integration and Innovation' on which I was co-I.

My book Narratives of Identity and Place (Routledge, 2010) explores the importance of place-related identities in affluent contemporary societies, like the UK, in which it is usual for people to change residence and break the connections of birth, family and childhood which conventionally provided a link between place and identity.

Selected recent presentations

June 2022 Keynote Creative affect: Experiences of feeling and emotion in the creative process at conference Multimodus’22 – 1st International Conference on Sound and Image in Art & Design, in Portalegre, Portugal.

June 2022 Inaugural lecture Capturing feeling and experience in research about creativity

September 2019 Paper ‘Creativity: a failing promise?’ as part of the panel Re-Futuring Creative Work, 3rd CAMEo Conference, Re-Futuring Creative Economies, Leicester.

Selected research publications  

Taylor, S. (2023). Creativity: Celebrations and tensions Social and Personality Psychology Compass 17(4) https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12737 Published Open Access.

S. Taylor (2019) “A practitioner concept of contemporary creativity” Social Psychology Quarterly 82:4 (453-472).

S. Taylor and M. Paludan (2019) 'Transcending utility? The gendered conflicts of contemporary creative practice' Feminism & Psychology 30(1): 63-79.

S. Taylor (2019) 'Discourse research' in Paul Atkinson, Sara  Delamont and Richard  Williams (eds) Sage Research Methods Foundations London: Sage. 

S.Taylor (2015) ‘Discursive and psychosocial? Theorising a complex contemporary subject’, Qualitative Research in Psychology 12(1)

S.Taylor (2015) ‘A new mystique? Working for yourself in the neoliberal economy’ The Sociological Review 63: SI (174-187)

Teaching interests

During my 25 years as an academic in the Faculty, I've worked on a large number of modules and programmes. Most recently, I was part of the production team for the new Level 1 Psychology & Counselling module D120 Encountering psychology in context. I authored the chapter ‘Relationships and work’ and co-authored online material for Block 1. From 2018 to 2022 I worked on the postgraduate module Evaluating Psychology: Research and Practice DD803, including as Presentation Chair and MRP Chair. I co-chaired the production team for DD317 Advancing Social Psychology, with Eleni Andreouli. My other work on the current psychology programme includes contributions to Living Psychology (DD210), Investigating Psychology 2 (DE200) and Investigating Psychology 3 (DE300). I also wrote the chapter on Identities for the Level 1 module Understanding Social Lives (DD102).

My other OU teaching includes contributions to psychology, social sciences and research methods module presentation and production including: Qualitative Research (Module B1) on the full-time inter-faculty Research Masters programme; Introducing the Social Sciences (DD101/DD131/DD132); Social psychology (DD307) and the postgraduate modules Ethnography (D844), for which I authored the materials, and Discourse Analysis (D843), for which I co-edited the textbooks.

I also wrote a free short course for psychology students and graduates who may be interested in studying for a PhD in the future and would like more information about the PhD experience in the UK and how to apply. The course can be accessed here Applying to study for a PhD in psychology

Selected teaching publications

S.Taylor (2023) ‘Relationships and work’ Encountering psychology in context textbook.

S. Taylor (2017) 'Changing people, changing times? Questions for social psychology in the 21st century' in E. Andreouli and S.Taylor (eds) Advancing social psychology Milton Keynes The Open University

S. Taylor (2017) ' New workers as contemporary subjects' in E. Andreouli and S.Taylor (eds) Advancing social psychology Milton Keynes The Open University

S. Taylor (2014) 'Identities' in J.Clarke and K.Woodward Understanding Social Lives 2 Milton Keynes The Open University ISBN 978 178 00 7853 3

S.Taylor (2013) What is discourse analysis? London: Bloomsbury Academic  ISBN: 978-1780938493/ 978-1849669030

S.Taylor (2006) ‘Critical Readings in Social Psychology: An introduction’ and ‘Attitudes’ in D.Langdridge and S.Taylor (eds) Critical Readings in Social Psychology Open University Press.

S.Taylor (ed) (2001) Ethnographic Research: A Reader, London, Sage and The Open University.

S. Taylor (2001) 'Locating and Conducting Discourse Analytic Research' and 'Evaluating and Applying Discourse Analytic Research' in M.Wetherell, S.Taylor and S.Yates Discourse as Data: A Guide for Analysis, London, Sage and The Open University.

Publications

Mentoring as affective practice (2024-03-27)
Taylor, S. and Luckman, S.
International Journal of Cultural Policy (pp. 1-14)

'There's a lot of luck involved': Sustaining hope labour amid workplace inequality and precarity as a creative worker (2024)
Luckman, Susan and Taylor, Stephanie
Cuadernos de Relaciones Laboral, 42(1) (pp. 59-72)

Creativity: Celebrations and tensions (2023)
Taylor, Stephanie
Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 17(4) (e12737)

[Book Review] Youth, Work and the Post-Fordist Self by David Farrugia (2022-08)
Taylor, Stephanie
Work and Occupations, 49(3) (pp. 378-380)

Transcending utility? The gendered conflicts of a contemporary creative identification (2020)
Taylor, Stephanie and Paludan, Marie
Feminism & Psychology, 30(1) (pp. 63-79)

A practitioner concept of contemporary creativity (2019)
Taylor, Stephanie
Social Psychology Quarterly, 82(4) (pp. 453-472)

A new mystique? Working for yourself in the neoliberal economy (2015-05-01)
Taylor, Stephanie
The Sociological Review, 63(1_suppl) (pp. 174-187)

Gender and Creative Labour: Introduction (2015-05-01)
Conor, Bridget; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie
The Sociological Review(Vol. 63 S1) (pp. 1-22)

Discursive and psychosocial? Theorising a complex contemporary subject (2015)
Taylor, Stephanie
Qualitative Research in Psychology, 12(1) (pp. 8-21)

Researching the Psychosocial: An Introduction (2015)
Taylor, Stephanie and McAvoy, Jean
Qualitative Research in Psychology, 12(1) (pp. 1-7)

A response to Martyn Hammersley ‘On the ethics of interviewing for discourse research’ (2014-10)
Taylor, Stephanie
Qualitative Research, 14(5) (pp. 542-548)

Creative Britain (2014-08)
Taylor, Stephanie
The Psychologist, 27(8) (pp. 590-593)

‘Rogue’ Social Workers: The Problem with Rules for Ethical Behaviour (2014)
Weinberg, Merlinda and Taylor, Stephanie
Critical Social Work, 15(1) (pp. 74-86)

The meanings and problems of contemporary creative work (2012)
Taylor, Stephanie
Vocations and Learning: Studies in Vocational and Professional Education, 5(1) (pp. 41-57)

Special issue introduction: Creativity and creative work in contemporary working contexts (2012)
Littleton, Karen; Taylor, Stephanie and Eteläpelto, Anneli
Vocations and Learning, 5(1) (pp. 1-4)

One participant said...': the implications of quotations from biographical talk (2012)
Taylor, Stephanie
Qualitative Research, 12(4) (pp. 388-401)

Negotiating oppositions and uncertainties: Gendered conflicts in creative identity work (2011-08)
Taylor, Stephanie
Feminism & Psychology, 21(3) (pp. 354-371)

Book review: Angela McRobbie The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change (2010)
Taylor, Stephanie
Feminism & Psychology, 20(4) (pp. 564-567)

Art work or money: Conflicts in the construction of a creative identity (2008-05)
Taylor, Stephanie and Littleton, Karen
Sociological Review, 56(2) (pp. 275-292)

Choice and chance: negotiating agency in narratives of singleness (2007)
Reynolds, Jill; Wetherell, Margie and Taylor, Stephanie
Sociological Review, 55(2) (pp. 331-351)

Biographies in talk: a narrative-discursive research approach (2006-04)
Taylor, Stephanie and Littleton, Karen
Qualitative Sociology Review, 2(1) (pp. 22-38)

Narrative as construction and discursive resource (2006)
Taylor, Stephanie
Narrative Inquiry, 16(1) (pp. 94-102)

Identity Trouble and Opportunity in Women’s Narratives of Residence (2005-12)
Taylor, Stephanie
Auto/Biography, 13(3) (pp. 249-265)

Narrating singleness: life stories and deficit identities (2005)
Reynolds, Jill and Taylor, Stephanie
Narrative Inquiry, 15(2) (pp. 197-215)

Self-narration as rehearsal: A discursive approach to the narrative formation of identity (2005)
Taylor, Stephanie
Narrative Inquiry, 15(1) (pp. 45-50)

A place for the future?: Residence and continuity in women’s narratives of their lives (2003-04)
Taylor, Stephanie
Narrative Inquiry, 13(1) (pp. 193-215)

Places I remember: Women's talk about residence and other relationships to place (2001)
Taylor, Stephanie
Auto/Biography, 9(1-2) (pp. 33-40)

Rewriting the past: some factors affecting the variability of personal memories (2000-09)
Anderson, Stephen J.; Cohen, Gillian and Taylor, Stephanie
Applied Cognitive Psychology, 14(5) (pp. 435-454)

A suitable time and place: Speakers' use of 'time' to do discursive work in narratives of nation and personal life (1999-03)
Taylor, Stephanie and Wetherell, Margaret
Time and Society, 8(1) (pp. 39-58)

Reminiscence and ageing (1998-09)
Cohen, Gillian and Taylor, Stephanie
Ageing and Society, 18(5) (pp. 601-610)

Doing national construction work: discourses of national identity (1995)
Taylor, Stephanie and Wetherell, Margaret
Sites: A Journal for South Pacific Cultural Studies, 30(Autumn) (pp. 69-84)

What is Discourse Analysis? (2013-06-20)
Taylor, Stephanie
'What is?' Research Methods Series
ISBN : 978-1-78093-849-3 | Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic | Published : London

Contemporary identities of creativity and creative work (2012-08-01)
Taylor, Stephanie and Littleton, Karen
ISBN : 978-1-409426677 | Publisher : Ashgate | Published : Farnham, Surrey

Narratives of identity and place (2010-10)
Taylor, Stephanie
ISBN : 978-0-415-48047-5 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : UK

Creative Careers and Non-traditional Trajectories (2008-06)
Taylor, Stephanie and Littleton, Karen
ISBN : 978-0-9559473-1-5 | Publisher : National Arts Learning Network | Published : London, UK

Creative aspiration and the betrayal of promise? The experience of new creative workers (2020-07-11)
Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan
In: Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan eds. Pathways into Creative Working Lives. Creative Working Lives
Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan

New pathways into creative work? (2020-07-11)
Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan
In: Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan eds. Pathways into Creative Working Lives. Creative Working Lives
ISBN : 978-3-030-38246-9 | Publisher : Palgrave MacMillan

Discourse research (2019-09-09)
Taylor, Stephanie J. A.
In: Atkinson, Paul; Delamont, Sara; Cernat, Alexandru; Sakshaug, Joseph W. and Williams, Richard A. eds. The Sage Encyclopedia of Research Methods
Publisher : SAGE

Collection Introduction: The 'New Normal' of Working Lives (2018)
Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan
In: Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan eds. The New Normal of Working Lives: Critical Studies in Contemporary Work and Employment. Dynamics of Virtual Work (pp. 1-15)
ISBN : 978-3-319-66038-7 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : Cham

Beyond Work? New expectations and aspirations (2018)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan eds. The New Normal of Working Lives: Critical Studies in Contemporary Work and Employment. Dynamics of Virtual Work (pp. 327-345)
ISBN : 978-3-319-66038-7 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : Cham

Psychosocial Research (2017-04-12)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Gough, Brendan ed. The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Social Psychology (pp. 225-241)
ISBN : 978-1-137-51017-4 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan UK

Fact and evaluation in racist discourse revisited (2016)
Dixon, John and Taylor, Stephanie
In: Tileagă, Cristian and Stokoe, Elizabeth eds. Discursive Psychology: Classic and contemporary issues. Explorations in Social Psychology (pp. 271-288)
ISBN : 978-0-415-72160-8 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Gender and Creative Labour: Introduction (2015-05-26)
Conor, Bridget; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie
In: Conor, Bridget; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie eds. Gender and Creative Labour. Sociological Review Monograph Series (Vol. 63 S1) (pp. 1-22)
ISBN : 978-1-119-06239-4 | Publisher : Wiley

A new mystique? Working for yourself in the neoliberal economy (2015-04)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Conor, Bridget; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie eds. Gender and Creative Labour. Sociological Review Monograph Series (Vol. 63 S1) (pp. 174-187)
ISBN : 978-1-119-06239-4 | Publisher : Wiley

Identity Construction (2015)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Tracy, Karen ed. International Encyclopedia of Language and Social Interaction. Wiley-ICA International Encyclopedias of Communication (pp. 1-9)
ISBN : 978-1-118-61110-4 | Publisher : John Wiley & Sons, Inc | Published : Hoboken New Jersey

Discourse analysis (2014)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Teo, Thomas ed. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 449-457)
ISBN : 978-1-4614-5582-0 | Publisher : Springer | Published : New York

Discursive psychology (2014)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Teo, Thomas ed. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 463-467)
ISBN : 978-1-4614-5582-0 | Publisher : Springer | Published : New York

Identity (2014)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Teo, Thomas ed. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 933-936)
ISBN : 978-1-4614-5582-0 | Publisher : Springer | Published : New York

Place (2014)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Teo, Thomas ed. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1408-1410)
ISBN : 978-1-4614-5582-0 | Publisher : Springer | Published : New York

The lived experience of a contemporary creative identification (2013-11-29)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Chan, Janet and Thomas, Kerry eds. Handbook of Research on Creativity (pp. 175-184)
ISBN : 978-0-85793-980-7 | Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd | Published : Cheltenham

Negotiating a contemporary creative identity (2013-09-20)
Taylor, Stephanie and Littleton, Karen
In: Ashton, Daniel and Noonan, Caitriona eds. Cultural Work and Higher Education (pp. 154-171)
ISBN : 9781137013934 | Publisher : Palgrave | Published : Basingstoke

Introduction: Cultural work, time and trajectory (2013)
Banks, Mark; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie
In: Banks, Mark; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie eds. Theorizing Cultural Work: Labour, Continuity and Change in the Cultural and Creative Industries. CRESC (pp. 1-16)
ISBN : 978-0-415-50233-7 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

New creative careers: the problems of progression and uncertainty (2011-01)
Taylor, Stephanie and Littleton, Karen
In: Shaw, Jenny; Wise, Jan and Rout, Amelia eds. Research in the Lifelong Learning Networks (pp. 52-57)
Publisher : Lifelong Learning Networks National Forum | Published : York

Creative careers and non-traditional trajectories (2011)
Taylor, Stephanie and Littleton, Karen
In: Bhagat, Dipti and O'Neill, Peter eds. Inclusive Practices, Inclusive Pedagogies: Learning from Widening Participation Research in Art and Design Higher Education (pp. 266-271)
ISBN : 978-0-9559473-4-6 | Publisher : CHEAD/UKADIA | Published : London

'A suitable time and place: speakers' use of 'time' to do discursive work in narratives of nation and personal life (2009)
Taylor, Stephanie and Wetherell, Margaret
In: Harrison, Barbara ed. Life Story Research. SAGE Benchmarks in Social Research Methods
ISBN : 9781412935883 | Publisher : Sage | Published : London

A suitable time and place: speakers’ use of ‘time’ to do discursive work in narratives of nation and personal life (2008)
Taylor, Stephanie and Wetherell, Margaret
In: Harrison, Barbara ed. Life Story Research. Sage Benchmarks in Research Methods Series
ISBN : 978-1412935883 | Publisher : Sage | Published : London

Narrative as construction and discursive resource (2007)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Bamberg, Michael ed. Narrative – State of the Art. Benjamins Current Topics 6 (pp. 113-122)
ISBN : 978 90 272 2236 7 | Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company | Published : Amsterdam

Identity trouble and place of residence in women's life narratives (2005)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Kelly, N.; Robinson, D.; Horrocks, C. and Roberts, B. eds. Narrative, Memory and Everyday Life (pp. 97-106)
ISBN : 1 86218 075 X | Publisher : University of Huddersfield | Published : Huddersfield

Researching the social: an introduction to ethnographic research (2002)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Taylor, Stephanie ed. Ethnographic Research: A Reader (pp. 1-12)
ISBN : 761973923 | Publisher : SAGE Publications | Published : London

Locating and conducting discourse analytic research (2001)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Wetherell, Margaret; Taylor, Stephanie and Yates, Simeon J. eds. Discourse as Data: A Guide for Analysis (pp. 5-48)
ISBN : 761971572 | Publisher : Sage Publications Ltd. | Published : London

Evaluating and applying discourse analytic research (2001)
Taylor, Stephanie
In: Wetherell, Margaret; Taylor, Stephanie and Yates, Simeon J. eds. Discourse as Data: A Guide for Analysis (pp. 311-330)
ISBN : 0 7619 7157 2 | Publisher : Sage and The Open University | Published : London

Pathways into Creative Working Lives (2020-08-28)
Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan eds.
Creative Working Lives
ISBN : 978-3-030-38245-2 | Publisher : Palgrave MacMillan

The New Normal of Working Lives: Critical Studies in Contemporary Work and Employment (2018)
Taylor, Stephanie and Luckman, Susan eds.
Dynamics of Virtual Work
ISBN : 978-3-319-66037-0 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan

Gender and Creative Labour (2015-06)
Conor, Bridget; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie
Conor, Bridget; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie eds.
Sociological Review Monograph Series
ISBN : 978-1-119-06239-4 | Publisher : Wiley

Theorizing Cultural Work: Labour, Continuity and Change in the Cultural and Creative Industries (2013)
Banks, Mark; Gill, Rosalind and Taylor, Stephanie eds.
CRESC
ISBN : 978-0-415-50233-7 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader (2001)
Wetherell, Margaret; Taylor, Stephanie and Yates, Simeon J. eds.
ISBN : 9780761971559 | Publisher : Sage Publications Ltd | Published : London

Discourse as Data: A Guide to Analysis (2001)
Wetherell, Margaret; Taylor, Stephanie and Yates, Simeon eds.
ISBN : 9780761971573 | Publisher : Sage Publications Ltd | Published : London, U.K.

Constructions of national identity and the nation: the case of New Zealand/Aotearoa (1997)
Taylor, Stephanie Joyce Ann
PhD thesis The Open University