The increase in direct personal investment in capital market assets by Australians over the past two decades represents an unprecedented engagement with that sector of Australian economic life. This dissertation critically investigates claims that this engagement heralds a shareholder democracy. Increased economic participation based on private direct ownership of corporate securities could be interpreted as a weak form of democratisation. Using a class-theoretical framework, the dissertation conceptualises the private shareholder phenomenon as a process of embourgeoisement and argues that the development of a macro-level mass consumer financial products market is the result of capitalist class development and expansion. A thesis of strong democratisation proffers the notion that the private shareholder, as an ascendant class of financial actor, engages with real democratic processes in addition to simply owning securities. To test this thesis the dissertation measures the extent to which small shareholders control the objective conditions under which they accumulate greater wealth by seeking evidence of potential or actual engagement with macro-market and meso-corporate level social processes. The dissertation assesses macro-level practice by drawing on the work of Bourdieu and on notions of the social field. It considers the entry of the new class of financial actor to the financial field and analyses their capacity to accumulate and deploy informational capital, and compares their ability to influence a state-sponsored economic reform process (CLERP) with that of other actors. The dissertation analyses longitudinal ownership and shareholder voting data from a set of over 30 major Australian companies. It finds that the new class of economic actor is most prevalent in privatised state-owned enterprises and mutuals. In the context of an ideal Habermasian public sphere, the study considers the potential for small shareholders to participate in meso-level, corporate agenda-setting and deliberation. Using the ideal political space of Arendt, it searches for methods of achieving democratic outcomes. The dissertation finds that while the personal ownership of tradable financial assets may constitute a weak form of economic democratisation, small shareholders?? inability to influence real outcomes, even in companies in which they constitute the majority, places substantial restrictions on the overall strength of the share ownership-as-democracy thesis.

The paper examines ??red packets?? ?? a form of informal payment ?? in the Chinese health-care system from the perspectives of power and ??inxit?? theories. Drawing on qualitative data collected from focus groups, interviews and documentary sources, the research investigates, from doctors?? perspective, the giving, taking, declining and disciplining of and solutions for red packets. Findings testify to four hypotheses developed from the theoretical perspectives, leading to the conclusion that red packets emerged from and can exert an influence on the power relationships between doctors, the Party-state and patients, and are a response to distrust and quality shortage in the health-care system.

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has for centuries been known as an isolated island of archaeological mysteries; yet after a rapid modernisation this is today an international tourist destination, a World Heritage Site and a glocalised community. This anthropological study based on long-term fieldwork among young Rapa Nui on the island and away, describes how it can be to grow up in and to belong to such a place. Place is seen as a continually constructed social space and is influenced by Miriam Kahn??s use of Henri Lefebvre??s concept thirdspace. Rapa Nui, as a place, people and community, is here understood as continuously formed by global and local influences. Thus, although historical, global and national influences can seem overwhelming in such a small tourist destination with a turbulent colonial history, this study also sees the opinions and practices of the inhabitants as important agents. This thesis shows how young Rapa Nui are both influenced by and influencing what Rapa Nui is and becomes. Above all, their guiding principle seems to be a continuing strong attachment to their land ??also called Te Pito o te Henua (??The Navel of the World??).

Since its first use in criminal investigations in 1987, DNA profiling has become the new gold standard for investigations and prosecutions. Academics, politicians and law enforcement officials have presented DNA evidence as a ??scientific hero?? that is capable of solving crimes and preventing miscarriages of justice. However, in spite of this reputation, few studies have explored the impact of this technology on criminal justice practitioners, or on the process of investigating and processing criminal offences. This dissertation provides a comparative study of the use of DNA profiling in two jurisdictions: New South Wales (NSW) in Australia and the Thames Valley in the United Kingdom (UK). Interviews canvassed the perspectives and experiences of police officers, scene of crime officers (SOCOs), forensic scientists, criminal lawyers, and judicial officers from these areas. These interviews were analysed in conjunction with appeal judgments and police statistics to reveal how DNA evidence has been used in the NSW and Thames Valley. The research presented in this dissertation indicates that DNA profiling is having a number of far-reaching effects on both criminal justice systems and is seen as a reliable forensic tool by criminal justice practitioners. Practitioners routinely use DNA evidence throughout the various stages of the criminal justice process and are actively changing their practices to utilise the technology more effectively. One of the main impacts of the introduction of DNA evidence into criminal investigations has been the need to provide substantial resources and infrastructure for the collection, analysis, and storage of samples. Both jurisdictions encountered a number of problems because they provided insufficient resources to effectively use DNA profiling. This study also offers insight into how criminal justice practitioners perceive the dangers of using DNA evidence and how miscarriages of justice can occur. Finally, through an analysis of the combined experiences of criminal justice practitioners, this dissertation challenges the widespread acceptance and routine use of forensic DNA profiling. It further suggests that it is now time to re-consider current practices in relation to how resources are devoted to the technology, and how criminal justice practitioners are using the technology.

Australia has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world. Epidemiological data indicate that young men (15-25 years of age) make up one of the most vulnerable groups. The print media regularly portray men in this age group as aggressive and violent in various ways (on the sporting field, at war, in their cups, in contests and in leisure, all of which which take on many different forms). This dissertation presents a collection of such images gleaned over a number of years, the purpose of which is to evoke Durkheim's notion of suicidogenic currents that flow through the ??collective consciousness??, finding, according to Durkheim, their clearest expression in suicide rates. Using the notion of ??suicidogenic current?? as a sensitizing concept, this thesis traces the way in which violence weaves its way through social life and influences social relations that may be conducive to suicide. It will be argued that the images presented ?? arranged, for effect, as photomontages ?? express the celebration of violence as a powerful social trend which runs not only through social activity, but also through hearts and minds of contemporary persons; as such, it constitutes one of the suicide-inducing conditions in contemporary society.

At a peripheral glance the collective action of a social movement group creates a perception of rational and homogenous internal group identity. This fa??ade has led some social movement theorists to take for granted the internal cohesiveness of the groups they are studying. Yet this emphasis on the rationality and structure of collective action over-simplifies the complex and dynamic interactions that occur in the construction of individual and collective identities. Accordingly, the constructivist New Social Movement theoretical paradigm actively eschews these misleading assumptions, instead granting primacy to the study of the reflexive, complex and dynamic interactions that occur in the construction of individual and collective identities. By employing the tools provided by New Social Movement theory my study unravels one such under-researched identity, namely the diverse and multifaceted ??eco-spiritual?? identity. The rich narratives of actors who consider themselves spiritual and are environmental activists are analysed through a case study of the Wilderness Acton Group, a collective within The Wilderness Society, Sydney. Analysis of the fieldwork data informs a theoretical and empirical understanding of social movements with regard to the negotiation and construction of political goals; trajectory and rejuvenation; individual movement motivation and participation; ongoing construction of group identity and solidarity; emotional commitment; action event selection; and group rituals, activism and practices

The thesis documents the changes in Italian public opinion towards the Euro. Its aim is to assess the relevance of economic factors for the decline in Italian support for the common currency. The thesis begins by assessing the extent to which support for the Euro has declined in Italy. While there has been popular, media and political comment on this issue, the thesis investigates the changes in attitude through the use of survey material and concludes that there is compelling evidence that public support for the Euro has declined in Italy. The thesis adopts a utilitarian/rational choice approach in order to investigate the reasoning behind the Italian public's developing relationship with the single currency from 1998 to the present. Its central question is: How have economic factors impacted on the Italian public's support for the Euro? The analysis focuses on Italians' perceptions - not their actual knowledge - of national and individual level economic changes brought about by the single currency. The thesis investigates how such perceptions have impacted Italian popular support for the Euro over the period 1998-2007. The method employed in this thesis is primarily based around analysing quantitative data gathered from Standard and Flash Eurobarometers. Other sources considered are academic literature and newspaper articles. The analysis clearly suggests that Italians' optimism towards their national and personal economic situations have all decreased since the Euro was introduced, concurrently with their diminishing support for the Euro. This work suggests that the main reason for decreased support lies in Italian perceptions that the Euro has contributed to worsening economic situations at both the national and individual levels. In particular, Italians believe the Euro has spurred inflation and diminished their purchasing power, and accuse it of failing to promote economic growth and jobs. However, Eurobarometer data combined with newspaper articles indicate that it is the perceived economic consequences at the individual level - loss of purchasing power due to Euro-related price increases, and pessimism towards their household financial situation - that more strongly determine Italians' decreasing support for the Euro.

In diverse societies like Australia, Britain, Canada and The Netherlands, government policy has increasingly focused on inter-citizen relations. There have been demands for citizens to respect each others?? differences, as well as fears about declining social cohesion and acts of intolerance. In political theory, these themes also have currency, although here they often have been obscured by a tendency to think in terms of ??majorities?? and minorities??, and ??we?? and ??they??, rather than in terms of the state and the individual citizen. This thesis argues that while respect of difference may seem to be the best way to successfully accommodate individual difference, it is an indefensible demand on the citizen: such a demand is both excessive and unnecessary, and has the potential to unjustifiably limit individual freedom and the accommodation of difference. Further, the requirement for social cohesion is often overstated, while acts of intolerance are best avoided by citizens respecting each others?? sameness (citizenship) rather than their difference. As far as the state is concerned, by clearly distinguishing specific instances of tolerance (which always involve forbearance) from the general practice of toleration, the thesis defends toleration as a general and maximally permissive practice ?? one which is compatible with both liberal neutrality and the maximal accommodation of individual difference, and thus the freedom of individuals to live their lives as they see fit.

The concepts of power and state - particularly embedded in the idea of the Great Power, with a geopolitical perspective and a profoundly aggressive character - are tantamount in importance to the Russia's elite political ideology. However, the existence of different emphases within such a political ideology, ranging from the active-obstructive to the passive stances, brings into question the factors of variation that might be responsible for the elite's level of determination to pursue these concepts over an internal or foreign policy development. In addressing this query, two tasks are set: descriptive - involving a survey of the content of Russian aggressive political ideology over different periods in history; and explanatory - determining circumstances that might account for the empowerment of one or other option of Russian aggressive political ideology. Therefore, the thesis includes a comparison of historical periods with similar relevance to the Russian state. The concern here is in relation to shifting factors of variations of aggressive political ideology acting in the space-frame of one state, but in different time-frame. Resting on these frames the thesis explores the shaping of the Russian elite's defining principles of state internal and foreign policy development and traces the factors of variation responsible for the empowerment of one or other particular form of the aggressive political ideology. The factors of variation discussed in the thesis are different in nature and intensity. The primary impetus for variation in the form that aggressive political ideology would take is determined by the factor of national distress. Other factors (regime volatility, political and economic motivations, information dissemination, and challenges within the international system) are responsible for the depth and extent to which aggressive ideology is going to resonate. No factor could create the variation by itself. The argument is that a specific set of factors is required to create the conditions for variations in the form the aggressive political ideology would take and to determine whether aggressive ideology would generate or not an obstructive political decision.

In Tanzania where HIV transmission is high, decisions to avoid or modify breastfeeding are crucial for infant survival yet difficult due to competing risks. This thesis explores the attitudes towards HIV and infant feeding of mothers and significant members of their social networks in Central Tanzania. It seeks to understand the perceived and potential role of social dynamics in infant feeding decisions to prevent HIV. Qualitative data was collected from in-depth interviews with twenty key informants, six HIV-positive mothers and four relatives of HIV-infected mothers. Thirteen focus group discussions were conducted in one urban and three village sites in the Dodoma region with mothers, fathers, grandparents, traditional midwives and healers, village leaders and people living with HIV. This process was adapted to benefit and maximise participation of respondents and people with HIV. Data was analysed using grounded theory and natural Swahili language. Cases of HIV-positive mothers and their close networks are used to explore the findings. Social graphs visually map and communicate the complex social context around infant feeding in new ways. Emerging themes based on Swahili categorisations provide original conceptualising of how social relations (jamii) are involved in decision-making. In the context of HIV, infant feeding is a moral issue of fear and safety (salama): decisions seek to maximise kinga (immunity). Social ties wield influence on infant feeding decisions by acting as kinga, and as gates or open paths for the flow of capacities (uwezo) into and within networks. Various kinds of capacities affect perceived possibilities for infant feeding and how social ties are involved. The embracing or rejecting of responsibilities within ties, especially after HIV status disclosure, affects mothers?? networks and choices. Networks of influence are constantly changing: resource availability and social support are dynamic. Original conceptualisations of infant-feeding, risk, trust and disclosure networks and their interaction and change explain these patterns of involvement. Swahili-based conceptualisations are used to explain how social ties manage HIV and infant feeding in complex, dynamic ways. This thesis helps reposition approaches to working with Tanzanian mothers, families and communities to enhance support for mothers?? choices by building on collective capacities and responsibilities.