Individualisation has become an ambiguous feature of late modern societies. It carries a sense of liberation, yet individuals are compelled to cope with a fragmented and pluralised social order largely by themselves. While the advance of individual freedoms is taken-for-granted, the seemingly unnoticed structural imposition to individually negotiate the boundaries between systemic and normative processes is portrayed as individual freedom and social integration. This thesis explores the ambiguities underpinning individualisation as they emerge from contemporary transformations of capitalism and work. As a result of a hyper-differentiated late modern social order the interface between functional and normative processes shifts from an institutional and organisational level to an individual one. Individualisation can no longer sufficiently be described as 'institutionalised individualism', either in respect to the realisation of a rather consistent normative infrastructure, or as mere individual responses to systemic dependencies. I argue that under the contemporary conditions of marketisation individuals increasingly become the focal point for the negotiation of systemic and normative processes. Substantiated by the theoretical argument of 'corporatisation' and the analysis of interviews with managers from international corporations, I contend that various workorganisational developments transform the subtle pressures to individually negotiate the demarcations between systems and lifeworld into an organising principle. I describe the emerging ambiguities with which individuals struggle, in particular at the workplace, as 'organised individualisation'. Individuals become 'active hubs' not only for the coordination but also for the reproduction of their own systemic dependencies which are organisationally pre-defined. While the responsibility to pseudo-negotiate systemic processes is put on individuals, the lack of opportunities to publicly debate and contest society's normative underpinnings generates deficiencies in social integration.

At present, there is speculation that women's alcohol use is a growing biomedical concern. Whilst not dismissing the potential health problems from excessive alcohol use by women that the evidence suggests, this thesis does not necessarily take the view that women's alcohol use/abuse is merely a reflection of a biomedical concern. Drawing predominantly from feminist tools of analysis, this thesis examines the discourse of alcohol use/abuse and reveals that mainstream interpretations of the epidemiological evidence are informed by an underlying sexism inherent in the research process itself. However, it is also argued that although popular interpretations can be contested on the grounds of sexism, there is a significant body of evidence that suggests women suffer more alcohol-related biological harm than men do. Given that epidemiological researchers are evidently observing something organically manifest, something perfectly correlative with the popular representation of a female vulnerability to alcohol related harm, this investigation cannot be reduced to the realm of cultural analysis and interpretation. The question then emerges, how can cultural assumptions that guide interpretations of the evidence become biologically manifest? Upon deeper reflection, this investigation turns its attention to relations of power and reveals the biological body and the discourses that produce it to be more closely aligned than generally presumed. This thesis argues that nature (the body) and culture (discourse) are not inherently oppositional, thus, the way we "conceptualise" the world must be inseparable from the "matter" under investigation. Based on this revelation, it is reasonable to consider that normalising discourse, which founds the meaning-making process of alcohol use, is not simply a re-presentation of the natural/organic world, but is constitutive of, and inherently writing the biological world it describes. Thus, rather than erecting material/conceptual borders that reinforce the polarisation of the nature/culture division, this thesis proposes a way to think difference more generously, in a way that allows for a closer reconciliation of the historical division between the "theory" and the "lived" experience.

What ways of being and knowing constitute the experience of healthy relational life? Ontologically, what takes place in the experience of meeting a loved one, face to face? What is ???good communication??? in an intimate relationship? What does commitment enable in relational life, and what constitutes healthy dedication in marriages? This thesis addresses the above questions through a conceptual analysis of the dual nature of social life: identity-based, self-reifying, object-focused, atomised and oppositional, and dialogical, relational and present. It does so with the help of qualitatively analysed interviews of respondents talking about their experiences of committed intimate relationships. The first part of this thesis discovers that current social theory links the increased fragility of intimate relationships to the individualisation of social experience, and the rise of discourses that encourage reflexivity and personal responsibility. I discuss specific funding strategies the Australian Federal Government employs in seeking to manage the risk of marriage breakdown in the community. I argue that while a complex mix of rational-instrumental reasoning, the neo-liberal ethos of self-enterprise and some Christian norms of family life underlie much policy, the actual practice of marriage education in Australia has a community basis, and has much potential for real relationships. I offer a critique of risk-preventative discourses in marriage pedagogy, and show that the key terms used by clinical researchers draw on the same methodological individualism as the economic model of relational life. I argue that often, social theorists also reduce relationships to dyads of competing individuals exchanging themselves as goods, or bargaining for the best deal while using their investments as threat points. I suggest that the identity struggles that ensue from such alienated relations in intimate lives can be understood through the Hegelian binary oppositional model, and also, through some psychoanalytical theory on differentiation. This thesis suggests that on examination of couples??? relationships, we find a different ontological structure in relationality. Relationships have the potential to transcend their total, additive, atomised form and be experienced as wholes. Couples teach us that love is not just self-directed action; that choice can burden, but responsibility to what is present can be freeing; and that relational ???success??? is more complex than simply staying together for life.

This study, completed in 2008, aims to address gaps in the literature on caring concerning the reluctance of CALD communities in Australia to use formal care. It hypothesises that broader cultural considerations, rather than merely language barriers and lack of information, are responsible for the preference of CALD communities for informal care. The literature on caring, mediated by certain aspects of Bourdieu??s habitus, is employed as a conceptual framework to analyse the informal and formal strategies employed by carers from the Italian and Greek speaking communities. The study concludes that habitus, informed by cultural factors, influences both the means of access to formal care and the type of formal care acceptable to these communities but differs between communities and between generations within each community. However,second and third order influences can lead to modification of habitus and caring strategies

The benefits of horse riding for people with disabilities have been recognised for centuries, however, there has been very little research that explores the significance and meaning of Riding for the Disabled (RDA) for riders and there are no studies of parents of riders. This thesis is based upon ethnography and interviews with riders and riders' parents at a Riding for the Disabled Centre in Sydney, Australia. It explores the perceptions and experiences of riders and also analyses the role of parents in influencing their child's experience of the RDA. It examines parents' experiences of the RDA and the impact that it has had on them and their family. This thesis is premised on three research questions. The three questions are; 'how do riders perceive and experience the RDA and how and why do these perceptions differ?', 'how do parents perceive the RDA and its impact on their child with an impairment' and 'how do parents perceive the RDA's impact on their family and themselves?' The study draws on a feminist framework and utilises the work of feminist theorists working in Disability Studies to 'broaden' the social model of disability. This framework facilitates the exploration of personal experiences of riding as it privileges the voice of the participants and also acknowledges the diversity of RDA experiences that exist amongst them. It also allows room for the physical, bodily experience of riding to be investigated. Furthermore, this research responds to Shakespeare's (2006) call for further research on the 'social relations of disability' - it investigates the relationships between volunteers who do not have an impairment, and the riders who have an impairment. The central argument that emerges is that Riding for the Disabled is a unique individual experience that holds varied meanings for riders. For some Riding for the Disabled is a central feature of their lives and has altered their world. For others, it is one activity among many and its impact is limited. The type of impairment an individual rider had was often a key determinant of how they experienced the RDA. For parents of riders the RDA exposes them to parents with similar experiences and enables practical knowledge and information to be exchanged.

This thesis explores thirty-two individuals?? experiences of involvement in Siddha Yoga. Such groups have often been labelled as cults and accused of ??brainwashing?? their followers. The conceptualisation of affiliation as brainwashing has been influential within the helping professions, including psychology, counselling and social work. However, this conceptualisation is not supported by empirical research on cults, or what have become known as New Religious Movements (NRMs). The research problem which this thesis addresses therefore is: ??If a brainwashing model of affiliation does not give an adequate explanation for cult/NRM involvement how else might it be understood??? A primary objective of this study was to inform the helping professions, in particular social work. A secondary objective was to add to knowledge about Siddha Yoga Practice in Australia, which no other study had addressed, and thereby to add to the growing understanding of NRMs in Australia. The study applied a qualitative research framework, informed by grounded theory, ethnography and phenomenology and used a purposive sampling technique. Materials were collected by semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observations and field notes, and analysed with the assistance of NVivo data analysis computer software. This study found that the conceptualisation of affiliation as brainwashing fails to account for the variety of individuals?? experiences of involvement in Siddha Yoga. Moreover, the findings highlight that involvement in regard to attraction, affiliation and disenchantment is not helpfully understood by adopting a ??brainwashing?? model and could be better understood through the lens of the sociology of religion, including studies of the experiences of those in mainstream religions. One implication of the findings for social work and other helping professions is that existing approaches to interpersonal helping could be used with individuals who seek assistance after leaving a NRM. For social work, this thesis also adds to the growing knowledge of the diverse religious orientations in the wider community. Such knowledge can enhance social work education, practice and theory in relation to social work??s diverse client population.

This thesis analyses conflict dynamics in West Africa and assesses the role of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a security organisation in its response to armed conflict. In so doing, it argues that conventional approaches misinterpret key feature of the civil wars in the “Greater Mano River Area” which includes Liberia, Sierra Leone and C??te d’Ivoire. It demonstrates that the progression and spread of conflict is engendered primarily by transversal political structures. The thesis utilises a critical international society approach to consider patterns of security and insecurity across the sub-region of West Africa. However, rather than accepting that West African politics operates within a single, comprehensive international society, it argues instead that it should be understood at two levels. One level is state-centric international society, where West African inter-state relations can largely be explained according to existing constructivist paradigms. At the second level is “transversal” society that cuts across state borders, generating a regional, normative structure that prescribes and constrains behaviour within and between communities outside of the international society framework. The thesis proceeds in two parts. In the first section it works towards an understanding of the transversal politics of regional conflict in the Greater Mano River Area. Conflict is nominally internal, and centralised state authority is the object of both attack and transformation. However, a close examination of civil violence in Liberia, Sierra Leone and C??te d’Ivoire reveals that it cannot be completely understood without recognising the non-state structures of authority and domination that disrupt the traditional domestic/international divide. The transversal communities generated by conflict create a regional cycle of violence that is resistant to efforts made to resolve it. The second section of the thesis is concerned with the ability of ECOWAS to foster durable peace. As West Africa’s key regional organisation, ECOWAS would seem well-placed to respond to regional conflict. It is well-integrated, has significant normative legitimacy and has developed sophisticated security mechanisms. Critically however, as it was created within inter-state international society, ECOWAS is limited by its assumption that states are and should remain unitary actors. Its failure ultimately lies in its inability to respond to the alternative political contours of transversal communities.

This research conducts a conceptual and qualitative investigation into the practices, rationales and functions of imprisonment in NSW. A specific system of imprisonment, in this case the prisons operated by the NSW Department of Corrective services, is explored in order to examine the practices, processes and justifications for incarceration. The various purposes, theories, rhetorics, practices and contradictions of the prison system in NSW and the ways in which the people who are responsible for the administration of this system make sense of its operations and its incoherencies, are central to this analysis. This research utilises a hybrid methodology involving aspects of content analysis and grounded theory. At the centre of this research are eight interviews with senior NSW Corrective Services staff. This analysis is supplemented by interview with ex-prisoners, and other people familiar with, but not working for Corrective Services. In addition a documentary analysis of both Corrective Services documents, and external literature examining NSW prison is carried out. The findings of these analyses are then explored with reference to both their internal coherency, as well as their relationship to a range of theoretical frameworks. The thesis connects abstract and philosophical questions of punishment and penalty with the logistics of running the prison system in NSW. This research found a diversity of practices, understandings and justifications of imprisonment which connected to particular cultural, social philosophical and structural trends. These included victimary discourses, the rhetoric of progress, the influence of managerialism, the faith in ???objective??? professionals, the increasing emphasis on empiricism, the conflicts between coercive practices and individual responsibility, the construction of prisoners as dangerous, and an ongoing struggle for purpose. Imprisonment in NSW was found to be characterised by discrepancies between the intentions of its administrators and pragmatics of its practice, conflicts between internal explanations of its purpose, as well as contradictions between internal Corrective Services accounts and external expectations about the roles, functions and practices of imprisonment. Theoretical perspectives explaining why these characterise imprisonment in NSW were developed. These perspective include the ???ought/is??? confusion of penal administrators, the inhumanity of humane containment, the myth of technocratic amorality, and the sedimentation of purpose.

Refugee studies often focus on the devastating effects forced migration can have on a refugee population, both mentally and physically. This research investigates the case of Saharawis living in refugee camps in south-west Algeria and the social change experienced over 30 years. The method was a case study with qualitative interviews supported with secondary data. The Saharawis went through a period of positive social change, to some a revolution, while living in the refugee camps. The empirical study identifies three theme areas; Education, Women??s rights and Democracy. These circumstances are unlike many other refugee studies, thus providing what may be a unique case of positive social change. The case demonstrates how forced migration of a population may not just be a destructive process, but instead has the potential to reconstruct a society. Theories of social change and unanticipated outcomes are explored. Utilising the theories of Bourdieu and Merton, it is proposed that the Saharawi refugee experience is the unanticipated outcome of forced migration. This thesis explores commonalities and differences between Bourdieu??s study of the Kabyle population, and whether his theory of habitus is applicable. Bourdieu??s theories, heavily criticised for being too structuralist, show their limitations when dealing with positive social change. Bourdieu??s approach can suggest that it is inevitable for refugee populations to spiral into despair. The Saharawi case challenges these presumptions and highlights that neither sociologists nor populations should exclude the possibility of unexpected outcomes. Unanticipated outcomes are an acknowledgement of social change and the fact that at its heart no one can predict the future.

This thesis documents the development of the Chinese government??s response to HIV/AIDS in the context of the global AIDS regime in order to assess when, how and to what extent international AIDS norms have had an impact upon China??s governance of AIDS. Employing an applied constructivist framework, the thesis argues that the impact of global norms at the domestic level has been contingent on a) the socializing actions of norm entrepreneurs, b) the domestic political context and c) crisis. In the case of China and the impact of global AIDS norms, the central argument is that key elements of China??s domestic political context minimized the socializing affects of the global AIDS regime until the SARS crisis in 2003 led to a reappraisal of AIDS in the context of political legitimacy, at which time global AIDS norms began to have increasing salience in China. This thesis begins by identifying the evolution of a global AIDS regime before moving on to an exploration of China??s domestic political context. The thesis then documents and analyses China??s governance of AIDS from 1985 to 2007 through the use of five indicators ?? political commitment, legislation and policy, representation of AIDS in the media, the participation of civil society, and international engagement. The findings demonstrate that there has been a significant change between China??s pre-SARS and post-SARS AIDS governance with China acting increasingly in accordance with global norms following the SARS crisis of 2003. The thesis proposes that the SARS crisis was catalytic in that it exposed the vulnerability of the Chinese government??s claims to legitimacy, and in so doing, enabled the domestic political context to shift, allowing health, and by extension AIDS, to be reframed as a political issue. Importantly however, when the Chinese government scaled up its response to the epidemic it was able to be guided by the normative framework prescribed by the global AIDS regime.