Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Thesis advisor: Peter H. Weiler / In 1997, New Labor embraced an ideal of multiculturalism in an attempt to foster a particular brand of open communication and respectful cooperation among different individuals and cultural groups. This MA thesis investigates the background to one aspect of this multiculturalism, New Labor's education policies. The thesis shows how New Labor's current multicultural ideal originated in the 1960s in Labor's attempts to combat racial discrimination. As its attempts proved inadequate, Labor expanded its understanding of what was necessary to create a tolerant society, including educational policies that fostered tolerance, respect for different cultural groups, and personal responsibility. During eighteen years spent in opposition to a Conservative majority government, Labor refined its ideal of multiculturalism in debates, forging a path from the idealistic and radical reforms of the 1960s and 1970s toward New Labor's middle way. This thesis describes how New Labor utilized a variety of tools to achieve the goal of a tolerant, cooperative, multicultural society, including repurposing Conservatives' policies. This thesis defends multiculturalism as an appropriate response to a changing political environment, one that attempted to deal with the exigent circumstances presented by racial discrimination, class and cultural based underachievement, and underlying cultural tensions. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

Depuis des décennies. The Economist est considéré comme une référence incontournable pour tous ceux qui s'intéressent à l'actualité politique et économique internationale. The Economist apparaît comme un journal d'opinion qui vise à renforcer l'influence d'une élite possédant un pouvoir économique et culturel dans le monde. L'hebdomadaire vante souvent son objectivité, son indépendance ainsi que sa vocation internationale ; cependant, le lecteur averti perçoit The Economist comme un magazine qui n'est pas si différent des autres dans la mesure où il cherche à défendre sa cause, sa doctrine et à faire valoir sa propagande. Cette thèse tente d'analyser l'image d'une personnalité politique, le Premier ministre britannique, Tony Blair, et de mettre en relief sa politique européenne et sa relation anglo-américaine à travers unelecture critique de The Economist de mai 1997 à mai 2005. Cette étude, qui se base sur l'approche de l'analyse critique du discours, envisage de souligner l'absence de partialité de The Economist, qui défend des valeurs néolibérales et tente ainsi de répondre aux attentes des lecteurs et de défendre sa vision du monde / For decades. The Economist has been considered as an indispensable reference for those who are interested in international, political and economic news. The Economist has established itself as a journal which aims to reinforce the elite's influence on decision-making in economics, politics and culture in the world. The weekly magazine frequently proclaims its objectivity and its independence as well as its international appeal; nevertheless, the alert reader perceives The Economist as a magazine which is not so different from the others in that it defends its own cause, advocates its own doctrine and promotes its chosen propaganda.This thesis tries to analyze the image of a political figure, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and to focus on his European policies and Anglo-American relations through the study of The Economist between May 1997 and May 2005. The methodology of critical discourse analysis will help to demonstrate the partiality of The Economist, which vehicles neoliberal ideas, thus fulfilling readers' expectations while defending its own vision of the world

From the 1980&rsquo / s onwards a new conceptual framework which will be subsequently called neoliberalism has become hegemonic by transforming and redefining the common sense. In the midst of the world economic crisis in the 1970s which would bring the collapse of Keynesian paradigm, a new political culture promoting the superiority of market-based order has started to emerge. Subsequently during the 1980s, by establishing &lsquo / market-oriented society&rsquo / as the new dominant paradigm, neoliberal hegemony has realized furher seperation of &lsquo / economics&rsquo / from the &lsquo / politics.&rsquo / In this respect, regarding the implementation of neoliberal policies, Great Britain can be considered as a prime example. During the last three decades, political atmosphere of Great Britain has to a large extent been shaped under the influence of neoliberal hegemony that has engendered a significant paradigm shift in the country&rsquo / s political economy. Meanwhile in the rapidly changing political atmosphere of 1980&rsquo / s and 1990&rsquo / s, British Labour Party has also gone through a gradual ideological transformation that culminated in the emergence of New Labour. Despite its initial claim to novelty, since New Labour is itself an actor that is formed during the hegemony of neoliberalism, its possible affiliation with the neoliberal paradigm deserves attention. In this sense, in order to analyse its affiliation with the neoliberal hegemony, this thesis attempts to develop a discursive enquiry into the political economy of New Labour. Consequently, by relying on remarkable findings which indicate the commonalities between New Labour and neoliberalism, this thesis advocates that although being different from the initial neoliberal stance of &lsquo / Thatcherism&rsquo / , New Labour perpetuates neoliberal hegemony insofar it takes neoliberal political economy&rsquo / s basic premises as for granted.

Research indicates that large numbers of young people are underachieving in UK schools, and that school exclusion levels are unacceptably high. In addition, there are increased numbers of students unable to secure a place in mainstream schools. These unplaced and excluded young people are described by New Labour as `vulnerable', `disaffected' or at risk of disaffection (Social_Exclusion_Unit 1998b). The numbers of young people considered `disaffected' indicates a national problem and so, in response to this, there is a government led drive to `socially include' `excluded' young people and young people considered `at risk' of `exclusion'. This UK study examines the principles and practices of practitioners working with identified `at-risk' and `hard to reach' populations. This thesis seeks to unpack this complex situation of social `exclusion' and `inclusion' as it relates to education by asking; who are the `actors' in this expanding world of `social inclusion'? How can some practitioners `reach' and `include' so called `hard to reach' `disaffected' young people? This research explores socially inclusive practice. It aims to investigate whether a model of socially inclusive practice exists or can be established that could be used by educators, parents, human resource (HR) professionals and others concerned with client services in the helping professions. Social exclusion is one of the key concerns of the New Labour agenda. Inclusive education is perceived as central to promoting social inclusion (Social_Exclusion_Unit 1998b) and as a result there are a number of social inclusion projects operating throughout the UK. These projects generally offer provision for young people who, in the judgement of excluding mainstream practitioners, should be placed outside of their responsibility. These excluding practices reflect the values and ideal of the institution and how they perceive their own ability to respond to the total needs of the learner in their care. Excluded young people are typically referred to pupil referral units (PRU's), study centres or other education provision established to meet the statutory requirement of the education authority to maintain education provision. The practitioner is the focus of this investigation and preliminary issues associated with an investigation into social inclusion practice will be considered in an attempt to identify `what works' in opening up educational opportunities to an inclusive culture. This study then, examines the practice and rationale employed by staff at a project providing education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) to young people unplaced, excluded or at risk of exclusion from mainstream school by analysing empirical data collected over a 3-year period using qualitative instruments. Grounded Theory is the methodological approach used to elicit data and the findings provide valuable insights into inclusive education practices. In addition, a number of relevant and important issues are identified. The theoretical model that emerges is informed by the insights and issues that emerge in this, the first major UK study, into inclusive practice in education where the practitioner is the main focus of the study. This research puts forward a model of professional understanding for inclusive education and makes a contribution to the development of new approaches. The results offer clear indicators for a transferable framework of socially inclusive practice.

This is an investigation by a participant researcher into the 'hidden world' of Further Education (FE). I became interested in how the many innovations, which have occurred in the past twenty years have made FE staff feel and how this effected their work and how they coped with what often felt like the conflicting demands of constant change. This is longitudinal insider research with a political edge as it is an examination of one of New Labour's major inclusion strategies, as it covers almost all of the twelve years they were in power. Over this period I have seen staff concerns change, as have their 'folk devils', and as lecturers and support staff went through different 'moral panics' during a period of massive change and uncertainty in the post compulsory sector. The original grounded theory type emergent categories and my own personal ontology lead me to adopt the position of a 'critical realist' where I have also attempted to incorporate a Feminist stance with some insights from sociological theorists like Bourdieu. Through the Literature Review I looked at the wider social and political issues of 'new managerialism', 'globalisation', 'proletarianisation', 'intensification of labour', the 'audit culture' and the casualisation and 'deprofessionalisation' of academic staff. These and other issues had emerged as possible reasons for the way staff said they felt in my interviews with tutors and my long term participant observations in three colleges and the results from one local stress survey and one national questionnaire of college managers. My conclusions are that many staff who choose to stay in FE are to a degree alienated but not anomic, they still believe in their role despite the changes and take pride and pleasure in their work, especially their interaction with students. The work place and division of labour are gendered both vertically and horizontally. Staff and trainers are unsure of the effectiveness of the new training but recognise that they need more skills to deal with the newer student groups. The different cultural capital, 'habitus' and 'fields' work against a common professionalism developing and these are unlikely to disappear.

This critical review of four novels by Celia Brayfield, Getting Home, Mister Fabulous And Friends, Heartswap and Wild Weekend, outlines the themes that give the works defining coherence, which are a feminist evaluation of gender roles and an exploration of the relationship between space or place in millennial Britain. The author contextualises her novels in considering literary representations of the suburb in literature and use of the device of gender reversal in fiction. The review demonstrates that the novels make a significant and coherent contribution to knowledge as resonant and well-received creative works and provides an assessment of their international and national impact. In discussing the inspiration and influences of her work, her choices in characterisation, narrative and dramatised argument, and in particular her decision to create responses to two classic texts using the device of gender reversal, the author justifies the overarching approach and methodologies used for these novels.

The New Labour government’s (1997-2010) policy of personalised learning was announced as an idea ‘exciting’ the profession and promising ‘radical implications’ for the shape of education in England. The policy attracted much debate and criticism and its enactment is a site worthy of research. This study makes a contribution to knowledge through researching the rarely heard stories of young people in this policy enactment. It makes a further contribution to policy scholarship through the interplay of the data from school practices and moral philosophy drawn from Alasdair MacIntyre.Qualitative interviews and focus group activities were conducted with young people in three different secondary schools in order to understand their stories of personalised learning some two years into New Labour’s third term of government. To understand more of the context for the stories of the young people, some strategic actors in policy dissemination were interviewed, as were the headteachers of the three schools.Personalised learning promised to engage the voice of the learner in learning practices. The research finds a young peoples’ story that is consistently one of a mute and invisible identity within the schools. An argument is presented that the purposes of schools ought to be judged on standards of excellence definitive of, and extended by, a concept of virtues. A distinction is made between effectiveness in producing exam results and a richer sense of excellence in education practice. It is argued that virtues that define standards of excellence at the institutional level of practice can enrich and prefigure wider concepts of justice than are contained in policy. Young peoples’ stories in this research indicate that, contrary to policy ideals, they often perceived unfairness and arbitrariness in their school experiences. Personalised learning needs to be set within the narrative of the personalisation of public services: a reforming rubric, employing the motif of the citizen-consumer as a proposition about social justice and modernisation. New Labour’s ideology and models of governance are explored and related to the testimony of headteachers to understand more about the young peoples’ perceptions. Literatures are drawn upon to place personalisation in a historical context, linking it to moral orders of contemporary social imaginaries. New Labour made a case for personalised learning as furthering the cause of social justice and is thus a policy in need of ethical examination. Following MacIntyre, it is argued that modernity has left few moral resources by which to evaluate the personal, but the experiences of young people suggested that a richer moral agency is glimpsed within their stories of schooling. The social practice at the level of schools is thus critical but requires policy to enable ethical spaces for schools to re-invigorate their purposes. I argue that in the light of some critical fault lines, such as neoliberalism and a reconfiguration of tiers of local governance, personalisation as a ‘modernising’ policy proposition could do little to extend the goods of schooling beyond some narrow conceptions of effectiveness.

The goal of this dissertation is to find out how the ideological position of the British Labour party has changed between 2010 and 2015. This is achieved by content analysis of electoral manifestos for the House of Commons elections of 2010 and 2015. The results are achieved via the MARPOR RILE method. The result of this research serves to verify a theory created by Danish authors Martin Bækgaard and Carsten Jensen who claim that in political systems dominated by two large parties, these big parties react to electoral losses by moving the party from the median voter position towards their party base. This paper implies that the Labour Party has moved to the left on the left-right axis between 2010 and 2015 which means it has moved towards its party base. This means the aforementioned theory has been strengthened. Apart from the empirical result, this work also provides an overview of the party's policies in both points in time. These policies are divided into individual thematic categories.

Storbritannien präglades på 1990-talet av politiskt och kulturellt nytänkande med New Labour och kulturfenomenet Cool Britannia samtidigt som IKEA försökte etablera sig i landet. Min diskurshistoriska analys undersöker hur IKEAs reklamkampanjer “Chuck out your chintz” och “Stop being so English” anpassades till framväxande föreställningar om ett nytt Storbritannien. Studien motiveras av att det finns ett forskningsgap när det gäller IKEAs reklamanpassning i nationella marknader och utgår från Douglas B. Holts kulturella varumärkesteori om hur varumärken blir ikoniska genom identitetsmyter som riktar sig till kulturella motsättningar. Resultaten pekar på interdiskursivitet i New Labours och IKEAs kommunikation med ett ideologiskt narrativ om ett modernt och klasslöst samhälle. I “Stop being so English” framträder även en ideologi om sexuell liberalism som kopplas ihop med IKEAs svenska betoning i sin marknadsföring. Analysen indikerar att IKEA konstruerade en identitetsmyt som jämnade ut kulturella motsättningar om social klass och nationell identitet där människor kunde delta i det nya Storbritannien som konsumenter. Då företag som IKEA använder kulturell marknadsföring kan reklam tillämpas i idéhistoriska undersökningar för att belysa samhällsförändringar. Reklam kan vara ett kulturellt uttryck som är bärare av föreställningar och genom att identifiera identitetsmyter i reklamen kan man urskilja de ideologier som verkar i en kultur.