/library/oar/handle/123456789/698 2026-05-30T11:59:56Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/146100 Title: (Re-) assembling the gilt-edged market : quantification, model misfire, and the politics of expertise in post war Britain Authors: Cassar, Dylan Abstract: This article explores the contested (re)-assembly of the UK gilt-edged market between the 1950s and 1980s, foregrounding the ever-shifting process of quantification in stockbroking firms that made and remade the market. Drawing on archival materials and oral history interviews, it first traces the consolidation of sociotechnical agencements, made up of actuaries, yield models and quantified evaluation practices in stockbroking research departments, which gained authority as investment became increasingly institutionalised. These calculative agencements reshaped trading practices, but were also subject to resistance, misfire, and rivalry as alternative, more formalised models were proposed. While actuarial authority was eventually displaced by ‘financial economics’ expertise, established valuation devices proved durable by being reconfigured and repurposed within new professional and institutional settings. The paper argues that the durability and performative capacity of models rest on their ontological mouldability: their capacity to be translated across successive regimes of expertise and institutional contexts while retaining practical relevance. The article contributes to recent scholarship in the Social Studies of Finance on performativity and post-performativity that emphasises the political, fragile, and historically situated nature of financial markets. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/145716 Title: Coastal communities must be at the heart of policy Abstract: Coastal policy in Malta needs a shift in perspective — from viewing coasts as economic assets to recognising them as lived social spaces where people connect, belong, and build their lives. In this article, I reflect on why communities must be placed at the heart of coastal governance, and ask a simple question: who are our coasts really for? 2026-04-13T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/145460 Title: SociologyMT : issue 2 Authors: Polidano, Kay; Cassar, Dylan; Falzon, Mark-Anthony Abstract: Table of Contents:; - Choosing Childfree: The Experiences of Women in Malta - Valerie Visanich and Solange Bonello; - A Place for Art: Art in the Museum and on the Body - Daniel Henry Solberg Bell; - For a global sense of place: Beyond ‘native’ and ‘migrant’ in St Joseph High Road, Ħamrun, Malta - Godfrey Baldacchino et al.; - Experiences of community and mobility within Ħal Qormi San Bastjan - Sara Mari Cardona; - ‘Should I stay or should I go?’: Young people’s perspectives on moving abroad - Elaine Sciberras 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/145459 Title: Choosing childfree : the experiences of women in Malta Authors: Visanich, Valerie; Bonello, Solange Abstract: This study explores the experiences of women in Malta who voluntarily choose to live childfree, situating their decisions within a sociological framework that considers personal choice alongside prevailing pronatalist ideologies in a context of very low fertility. Malta, like other Southern European countries, has experienced a sharp decline in birth rates and now records the lowest fertility rate in Europe. This demographic shift forms the backdrop to recent pronatalist measures and renewed emphasis on childbearing. Broader structural changes, including expanded access to higher education, increased female participation in the labour market, and evolving gender relations, have reshaped life trajectories, enabling women to prioritise autonomy, careers, and reproductive choice. The study adopts an interpretivist qualitative approach that values the lived experience of childfree women. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with 15 women aged 35 and over who had voluntarily chosen not to pursue motherhood while living in Malta. Thematic analysis was used to explore how participants construct identity, exercise agency, and navigate social expectations. Findings show that decisions to remain childfree stem from enduring self-awareness, careful reflection, and a desire to maintain autonomy, rather than from rejection of children or motherhood. Although participants described fulfilling lives without regret, their accounts also revealed persistent normative pressures, subtle stigma, and gendered expectations framing motherhood as compulsory and childfree lives as deviant. While these women exercise agency, their choices remain negotiated within enduring cultural, familial, and institutional constraints. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z